Series: James
Lesson #
Title: Word of Truth
Scripture: James 1: 13-20
Date: December 16, 2009
Place: PA
The end of everything God does for the believer is to bring his children to the feet of Christ Jesus. In the great day of our Lord Jesus Christ, the end for every man will be: at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. For those who are given faith to believe, the end of the law is Christ Jesus, the LORD our Righteousness. So it is when God gives trials to the believer, the end of the trial is bring us to turn from ourselves to cast all our care on Christ Jesus for he is the one who careth for us.
When thru fiery trials thy pathway shall lie
My grace, all sufficient shall be thy supply
The flame shall not hurt thee
I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine
When James says in verse 4: “let patience have her perfect work” he is simply saying, “Wait until God has brought you to the feet of Christ.” If you are one for whom Christ died, the end of the trial will come when you are brought to look up to
Christ your Savior, beholding, with the eye of faith that in Christ Jesus you are perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
In verse 5, James says, “If any of lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” If you are one he has everlastingly loved, the end of the trial will be when, God has turned you from all else, from your wavering, from looking to yourself while you prentend to trust God, where once again of God, Christ Jesus is made your Wisdom.
Illustration: Cross your eyes. Peter walking on the sea
We must continually be made to know that we have no sufficency in us, that is Christ alone who is our Savior and who is all our salvation. James says therefore when you suffer these different trials, “Count it all joy.” Rejoice, that God is faithful to continually bring the rich man of our depraved flesh low, as he renews the inner man day by day. Because, happy is the man that endureth trial, for the end of the trial, is the reward, Christ Jesus our Life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Yet, in the midst of trial, we far too often attempt to cast the blame for our rebellion on another. Most of the time we even go so far as to say our intentions were for the glory of God.
James 1: 13: Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15: Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16: Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18: Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Lay the error and the truth side by side.
Verse 13: Let no man say when he is tempted (turned), I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted (turned) with evil, neither tempteth (turneth) he any man [with evil]…17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Verse 14: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed…18: Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth
Verse 15: Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death….18: Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
We have here, two beginnings, and two endings described: one is of man, the other of God; one is the lust of man, the other the will of God; ne is the deceit of man, the other the Word of truth; man brings forth death, God brings forth life.
I. THE BEGINNING OF SIN (Genesis 3)
Genesis 3: 1: Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2: And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7: And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8: And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
In the very first trial: who turned from God rather than patiently waiting on God? Man did. Who lusted after his own wisdom rather than bowing to the all-wise God? Man did. Who became rich in his own self-righteous works? Man did.
James 1: 13: Let no man say when he is tempted (turned), I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted (turned) with evil, neither tempteth (turneth) he any man [with evil]. 14: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
What did turning from God to man result in?
Genesis 3: 8: And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
James 1: 15: Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Genesis 3: 24: So [God] drove out the man;
Turning from God resulted in separation from God.
Romans 5: 12: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Romans 4: 10: As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12: They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Now when the natural man hears the word of truth: that he must be born of God, ask God, patiently wait on God, instead fleeing to the All-Wise God the natural man manifests the deceit of his own heart by saying, “No God!”
The fall of man results in man calling bitter sweet and sweet bitter.
James 3: 14: But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15: This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16: For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Earthly wisdom is envious of glory that belongs to God alone. A bitter rivalry against God and against man. Earthly wisdom is full of strife--striving against God and against man. Earthly wisdom is sensual—natural—it is the heart all men are born with by nature.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Earthly wisdom is devilish. It is the product of man turning from God to Satan. The result of man’s wisdom is confusion and every evil work.
Proverbs 16:25: There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
II. THE BEGINNING OF LIFE.
James 1: 16: Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
In the beginning God.
Genesis 1: 17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above—from God.
Everything God created he called “good.” Every good gift and every perfect gift is from God. The curse of this world and everything in it is because man turned from God. With man is only variableness and turning. But the reason God did not destroy Adam and end all mankind when Adam sinned is because God is the Father of lights, there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning with God.
God did not destroy because before the beginning as we know it was the Word of Truth.
John 1: 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2: The same was in the beginning with God. 3: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4: In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
God chose a people in Christ Jesus the Word.
Ephesians 1: 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6: To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
God is the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
The way God created the first creation is the way God makes recreates his children anew. How did God create light?
Genesis 1: 3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
James 1: 18: Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,
The Word of Truth is Christ Jesus the Son of God the gospel we preach. The gospel Word is the living Word because it proclaims Christ the Living Word.
God is the Father of lights. Of his own will he comes to dead sinners and rebirths us. He does so with this Word of Truth, the ministry of righteousness. In this Word of Truth the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. God’s law must be honored in precept and in penalty. The wages of sin is death. In order for God to be merciful and remain just, God’s glory must be upheld, all those he saves must die the death of justice. In the gospel we behold the righteousness of God, the faithfulness of God, the holiness of God, in the faithfulness of his Son who suffered death for all those given him.
Romans 5: 19: For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
The Father of lights creates light and life in dead sinners the same way he created light and life in the creation of this world—by his Word. He removes the veil of darkness, when the Spirit of the Lord enters into dead sinners.
2 Corinthians 3: 18:…with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 4: 4:…the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, shines [in] unto [us who were blinded in sin]…6: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 1: 30: Of God are you in Christ, who of God is made unto wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. 31: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Man’s will, man’s way, man’s turning, brings forth fruit unto death. God brings forth living fruit, new creatures, a new creation, created in righteousness and true holiness.
that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Brethren, do not err. God who does not change, God who does not turn, saves continually in the midst of every trial the same way he saves in the beginning: BY HIS OWN WILL WITH THE WORD OF TRUTH.
James 1: 19: Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
May God give us grace to do so!