Verse by Verse, James 1:2-18

Right, we're going to look at James chapter 1 this evening. It's going to be a little bit more informal, just kind of stepping through the verses and looking at these. So we might get all the way through verse 18, we might not. We'll just see where it is that we end up and go from there. So let's, if you will, look with me at James chapter 1. And we'll go ahead and read verses 2 through 18. James tells us this, he says in verse 2, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat, and withers the grass its flower falls, and its beauty perishes, and so will all the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast in her trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But with each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers, every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. James, one of the great things about the book of James is it's incredibly practical. James kind of jumps from topic to topic. Some of the letters that we have in the New Testament is kind of this flow. You get this thought and it kind of moves through and everything's building upon each other. James is a little different. James kind of goes thought here, thought here, thought there, thought over here, and kind of hits all these different areas. But one of the things that's great about James, if you ever need the spiritual baseball bat taken to you about where you are in your practical walk, all you have to do is read through the book of James. Because you'll read this little paragraph, and whap, here we go, okay, here's an issue on trials, you know? You know, want something on wisdom? Whap, you know, take another hit, here he is, he's got you on wisdom. You kind of just go through, and James kind of just takes these quick little shots, but as small as they are, and as compact as they are, it's amazing the amount that's in here to challenge us on our walk with Christ. And this first thing, and this is, you know, this is a famous couple of verses here when it comes to dealing with trials in our life. James says to count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. So one of the first things that we get here is that trials are inevitable. They're coming. There's no way to avoid them. They're going to happen. But we as Christians are to have a different view on trials than what most people view. What does what does he tell us to do? He tells us here in verse two to count it all joy. You go. This is kind of a strange response to trials. Trials mean difficulties. And so scripture is telling us to count it all joy. You think of the things that we like to count all joy in our life, the milestones that we reach, the things that we have. I mean, let's think Byron and Brianna, you're coming up on your wedding. Byron, there was that time where you got engaged and you're like, all right, step accomplished. Here it is. We're moving towards this goal. There's this joy of moving towards this goal. You think, okay, there's this joy that's associated with this process. Well, likewise, James is saying when you face trials, there's joy. Why is there joy? It's not just, oh great, trials come, yay, trial in itself. The reason why we're to count it all as joy is because there is a progress in our faith that's coming in association with these trials. There is, in other words, we're moving towards a goal. And so we should actually look at trials and situations and say, OK, great. This is helping us in this process of moving towards this goal. What is the goal that we're moving towards? So we're counting all joy when we meet various trials, when we meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith. OK, so what's happening? This trial comes. This is what's happening. A decision is being made when you are impacted with or faced with a trial in your life. The decisions being made, what am I going to do? And it's a testing of your faith. What is it? What is it we know about faith? Who knows the quick summary definition of that? We have a faith in Scripture. Hebrews 11 one. It's the assurance. The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. This is the things that we see in Hebrews 11.1, the challenge that we have. And so here we have this decision when a trial comes, how are we going to respond? Is our assurance and conviction of those things hoped for and not seen going to remain in place in the midst of the trial? Are all we going to turn inwards on ourselves? Are we going to turn outwards to other sources? Are we going to continue to look to God? So this trial is coming. It's testing our faith. And here's what it's supposed to do. It's supposed to produce steadfastness. Or some of your versions might read endurance. And so here it is, it's this ability to be able to continue. Your ability to last. This is what this trial is accomplishing in your walk. Ability to be able to continue to last the things that you have in this life. If God tarries and you live the life of an average human here in America, you'll find yourself anywhere from the mid-70s to early 80s in your life. And there's going to be lots of things that are going to happen over that time period. that are going to challenge you, that are going to allow you to be examples for others. And it's these trials that you face that basically allow you to endure. It's kind of like with your kids. Let's say if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger. Okay? You know, they're doing something, they fall down, they scrape something, they do something worse, but yet we talk about this as it builds character. This is what this does. This is good for you. Well, it's the same thing with us with trials, with Christians, is this has a result. This is why it is that it's joyous when a trial comes, because what we want is to grow in godliness. There's lots of things we want in life, but one of the things that we should want foremost is to grow in godliness. And so therefore, a trial is coming and it's going to help us in that process. That's why it is that we have this strange response to trials of joy. That's why when we're joyous, quite honestly, it's an opportunity from a missionary effort, from an evangelistic opportunity, to be able to look at somebody and explain, excuse me, why are you joyous? I mean, do you know what's happening to you? Do you know what's going on? Say, yeah, I don't care. It's fine. God's going to continue to provide for me. This is going to push me along in my faith. And they go, what? And you talk about an incredible opportunity then to lay out in front of people, in front of a lost and dying world, the hope that you have in Christ. So here it is, it's coming, it's testing your faith, it's going to produce steadfastness. And then in verse 4, it says, let steadfastness have its full effect. So you see this process that's going on? Trial's coming, we're considering it joy, it's testing our faith, it's bringing about steadfastness, and guess what? This steadfastness then also has a goal. What is that goal? Let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So basically, what these trials are doing is they are equipping us. We are being then prepared for life because of these things. I was a scout growing up. Our motto? Be prepared. That was the thing that we always had before us. My sons and cub scouts right now, same thing. Be prepared. And what happens with these trials is they prepare us. for the continuation of life. They prepare us for the things that we have in front of us. And so this steadfastness, this endurance, is going to have this effect of making us perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So therefore, when the next trial comes, when the next difficulty comes, and we look at it and we go, eh, you know what? I know how to handle this. I know how to rely on God to allow Him to give me the faith and the ability to be able to last through this particular trial. Because I've seen this before, I've seen His faithfulness, I've seen how He provided for me, and I've seen how this made me better in my walk for Him. And so this is how this endurance has this perfect and complete effect, and the ability that it makes us in a position of lacking in nothing. And what you see in that from James' perspective, is you see what really is important from God's perspective. When we think lacking and nothing, what we think of are a lot of times the material things of this world. We think of the fact that it is our 401k funded. When I'm looking at the degree standpoint, am I at the place where I'm going to be able to finish, to be able to get a good job, to be able then to provide for myself? These are the things that we look at and we think, okay, lacking in nothing in what we have. But yet it's funny to hear what James is saying from God's perspective is actually what is being developed in us from the faith side of the equation. This is really what God looks at as lacking in nothing. Quite honestly, as we see later on in James, you can have riches, you cannot have riches. It doesn't matter for your standing before God. You can be in a place like we see with the seven churches in Revelation where there are various levels of persecution that you're facing. It doesn't impact that God looks at you different other than the fact that He is wanting you to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing, and therefore these trials are bringing this about in our life. So it's interesting as he deals with this, and as James kind of goes, although these sections aren't completely connected, you do see some connection with these. From verse 5 he switches over to this issue of wisdom, and you can see, okay, To basically look at two through four correctly, I've got to be in a right mindset of how it is that I'm understanding these things that I'm facing in my life. I've got to be in a right mindset. The only way you're going to be in the right mindset is to have the wisdom that only God can provide. That's really the only way that you can look at these things properly. And so in verse five, he gives this encouragement. If any of you lacks wisdom now, he's being kind when he says if what he's saying is all of you lack wisdom. This is what he's really getting at here. He's not saying that there are some of you in this room that you've achieved when it comes to godly wisdom, you've achieved where you need to be. And there's others that are around here that are in this room that haven't. So this is speaking to them. This passage is actually speaking to all of us in this room, saying if any of you and hence saying you do lack wisdom, there's something that you're supposed to do. If you will ask wisdom, it says this, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him. You think about that. That's absolutely incredible. You talk about one of the great promises of God is that God has very clearly promised in this passage. If we lack wisdom, which we know we do, there's only one thing we have to do. We have to ask for it. And the promise is God will not only give, but how is it described? He will give generously. Overflowing the amount that he's going to give, if you remember, in first Kings, chapter three, Solomon, as he's taking the throne after David's death, Solomon is is approached by the Lord Gibeon. And he said, what do you want? What can what is it that I can do for you? And of all the things that Solomon could ask for, what he asked for is basically wisdom, the understanding to know what's right and wrong. And God came back from that and said, OK, not only am I giving you that because you've asked for it. And because of the fact that you didn't ask for things like silver or gold, or because you didn't ask for things like your enemy's head to be given to you, or other things, he says, all of these things I'm giving to you. But the first and foremost thing is this wisdom. And we see this wisdom played out where most of the Proverbs that we have were written by King Solomon. There's some from some others. But these Proverbs written by King Solomon, and that's why you can turn to Proverbs today and you can look and go, wow, how incredibly practical these things are. in dealing with everyday life situations, because of this wisdom that was endowed upon Solomon by God, because he asked. This is yours. In other words, you don't know what you're supposed to do in a situation. What does scripture tell us? Ask for wisdom. And the promise that we have is that he will give generously. Without reproach, it's going to be given to us, is what he said. So basically, he's not going to hold back anything and give you this wisdom. Wisdom, basically, the way to understand this, it's being able to look at a situation rightly and know what to do. This is what wisdom is. It's being able to look at a situation rightly and know what to do. We face this all the time in life. We want God, what is it that I should do in this situation? All we need to do is ask for wisdom. He'll give us the proper perspective on those things and the knowledge to be able to accomplish it. Matter of fact, it's one of the things that you see in Colossians chapter one, when Paul is praying for the believers in Colossians, he says that I'm praying for you that you might be filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding, talking about basically this full realm. You know what's out there and you know what to do about it. And this is the wisdom here that we are to ask for. This is something that we should ask for regularly in our life. I would not recommend that this is just something that when you feel like you're facing tough times that you ask for, but even during the good times, you're asking God, give me wisdom during these times, and then he will give generously. But here is one caveat that James gives in this, the way that we ask. You go, okay, wait a minute. Maybe I asked and I don't think God gave me wisdom. Maybe he did. Maybe your flesh was still controlling your life at that point in time. You hadn't submitted yourself to the Spirit, and so therefore you weren't following hard after him and saw what it is that he gave. But also, though James puts in front of us that there is another reason why, and it's because of the way we asked for it. Look at verse 6. But it says, Let him ask in faith with no doubting. All right, we've already dealt with faith. The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. OK, so wisdom is this kind of. Thing that's hard for us to put our hands around, it's not like God, give me a bottle of Coke right now and a Coke bottle of Coke shows up in front of you and you have physical, you have empirical evidence at that point in time that God delivered a Coke to you. Wisdom, it's harder. We ask for God for wisdom. One, we're doing one thing, we're asking for a God that we don't have the ability to be able to see physically at this present time in our lives. One day we will see him face to face, but right now we don't. So not only are we asking of a God that we don't see, but we're asking for something that's really kind of hard to wrap our arms around and know how it is that these things apply in our life. So sometimes there are people you admit we've all been this. I've been in this place in my life. We ask for things from God and it's like we hope that we shoot an arrow up in the air and that it sticks to something. We're not quite sure. Is anybody listening? Is that there? One of the things that we have that John tells us in first John, he says that that that he answers that he hears us and that he answers that he answers our prayers if we ask them according to his will. And so in this passage here in James, what we see. is that we are to ask in faith. Basically, there is a confidence when we approach God of saying that God has asked us to pray. He has told us to ask for these things, and therefore there is a confidence in our asking of knowing that these things might not come. In other words, what Scripture has said here clearly, there are lots of things in life that we can pray for that we don't know what the outcome is going to be. We might be experiencing some kind of a sickness, somebody in our family might be. We might pray for healing, but healing might not come. We don't know necessarily what the outcome is going to be of those. But one thing that we do know, clearly, there's an outcome. If we ask for wisdom, he gives it to us, generously. This is the thing that he's got for us. But we are to ask with faith, with no doubting. We're not to sit back in our seat I wonder if this is actually going to work or not. You know? Is he actually going to give me wisdom in this situation? We're not supposed to sit back there. We're supposed to have a confidence going forward that he has promised this and he is going to give. So how does James describe this person that asks with doubts? For he says that the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. You can think of a major storm out on the sea. The waves being kicked around in all different directions. There's basically no sense to what it is that they're doing. You see the power of the wind and being able to move a body of water that in one part of the world is completely calm, but in another part of the world is stirred up and is kind of like this cauldron of chaos that's going on. The ability for the wind to be able to impact what's going on with these waves. And this water, basically, it doesn't have its own will. It can't decide, OK, you know what? On its own, this wave is now going to rise up and it's going to go this direction. It's going to do this. It's all dictated by the wind. And so what James is saying to us here is that the person that asks with this doubting, this doubting in the back of their mind or even in the front of their mind, if explicit even, is that they are like this wave that's basically just being tossed around. So what he's saying is your doubt is controlling your life in such a way that it impacts your ability to be a faithful child of God. And so this doubt should not be present in our life as a child of God, for he says in verse seven, clearly, for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. You see the transition we've gone here in verse five, you ask, you receive. In verses six and seven, you ask with doubting, just forget about receiving. It's not happening. So here the challenge before us as believers is to ask this so that we might not be classified, like he says in verse eight, as being a double minded man, unstable in all of his ways. That's a pretty harsh criticism. that James gives, that this person you think, you know, here's this person, you know, this poor person, they're just simply, they don't know, they're just simply trying to ask, and look how hard James is being on them. He says that they're unstable, they're double-minded, unstable in all their ways. But this isn't who God has called us to be. God has called us to be one who asks things of Him and asks them confidently. In faith, knowing that he is a God that provides. And in this specific example, wisdom, that if you ask that you will receive. So what do we take away from this in verses five through eight? One, we take away that of all the things that we can pray about and we're not sure what God's will is in the matter, there are certain things that are in scripture that are very clear that they're God's will. And one of them is to ask for wisdom because we lack. And the promise that we have is that we will receive it. So if you want a prayer that you can write down, if you keep a prayer journal and you want to say answered prayer, answered prayer, answered prayer, what is it? You ask in faith for wisdom. And you can answer it and mark it answered every single time. You ask in faith for wisdom, it's going to happen. It's a guaranteed. If it doesn't, scripture is lying to us. And we know and we trust from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the conviction and the attestation in our own lives that Scripture is true. And if Scripture is true, then we take this seriously. That's why it is that we can ask without doubting, because it's clearly stated to us in Scripture. So we have the trials that we faced. We have this idea of then asking for wisdom. Quite honestly, if you want to tie these two together, if you're facing a trial in your life and you're wanting to know what it is that you should do, ask for wisdom. And it says that he's going to give and he will give generously. But make sure you ask with a firm conviction, with true faith, with the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Now, in verse nine, he switches over to this other issue of the rich and the poor. He says in verse nine, let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like the flower of a grass, he will pass away. All right. James is going after the rich folks. It's time for them to get something. Well, let me tell you something. From a worldly standard, we're all rich that are sitting in this room. Okay? We have a tendency to contextualize rich and poor. We have a tendency to look in America and say, okay, yes, those are the rich people, and these are the poor people. Yes, from within America's economic system, there are those that are rich and poor within that context. But even from an international standpoint, all of us that are in this room are incredibly rich in what it is that we have. And so really, quite honestly, when we look at this is we need not to fall into the trap of tell it to the rich people what it is that they need to hear. We need to realize that we're actually in that rich category and what it is that we have. So he says here for the poor person, let him boast in his exaltation. Why? Because he has nothing, but everything that he has is in Christ. One of the things that Christ said to one of the seven churches is he tells them, he says, that you think you're poor, but you're actually rich because of what it is that they have in Christ. And so let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation. If there's anything that we boast in, it's boasting in Christ. It's boasting in what it is that he's provided for us. And we are to boast in that. But there is a warning that we are to, for the rich, that we can all put place ourself in this category in this room and the rich in his humiliation. Because of the fact that basically this richness is only because of the fact that God has put this in our hands. It's not because of our own ingenuity. It's because of the things that God has given to us. And the fact in our own humiliation, because quite honestly, this isn't going to last. This is why it is that Christ challenges us in the Sermon on the Mount to tell us to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven and not here on earth. Because why? Because moth and rust come and destroy the things that are here on this earth. But the treasures that we lay up in heaven are permanent. The things that are described in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, when we're tested by fire during that time and it's told us that the works that we do that are like wood, hay and stubble will be burned up. But those which are like precious jewels will last. The rewards that we have in heaven. And so we are to realize that all that we have in this world, and this is really freeing, all that we have in this world is just temporary. We can't take it with us. It doesn't matter how nice of a suit that you're buried in. It doesn't matter how elaborate of a funeral that you have. In the end, if you're a believer in Christ, you end up in the same place. In the end, if you are not a believer in Christ, you end up in another place. And it's this great leveling that goes on. And that there are some people, quite honestly, that are rich in this world that will find themselves from a work standard, from a heavenly perspective, lacking. They might be saved, but they haven't done much when it comes to laying up for themselves treasures in heaven. And Paul writing to Timothy, one of the things that he's very clear about In chapter 6, verse 18 of 1 Timothy, starting actually verse 17, he says, As to the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. What are they to do with the riches? They are to do good. They are to be rich in good works, to be generous, and ready to share. Thus, storing up treasure for themselves is a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. This is what it is that God has set before them. So the fact is, is that this is going to come, this flower of the grass is going to pass away, verse 11, the sun rises with the scorching heat, withers the grass, its flowers fall, its beauty perishes, and so the rich man fade in the midst of his pursuits. We primarily grow where we live, I'm not sure which y'all are growing up here, fescue. And the front of our yard has got full sun pretty much the entire day. We've got no irrigation system. So come springtime, if you aerate and seed properly, the grass is beautiful. Come the summer, the sun hits it and bakes it all day, our yard is brown about the middle of the summer. Looks horrible. It doesn't matter because it's this hill. It doesn't matter how much water you throw at it because the water just kind of rolls off the hill. It really doesn't soak in. If we spent the dollars on an irrigation system and really did this, we could probably have this yard there. But we see the impact of the sun, really how this picture is described here. The sun comes up every morning, it bakes the yard, goes down. Comes up every morning, bakes the yard, goes down. Next thing you know, the yard is completely destroyed because of what the power of the sun has. And so what James is telling us is that same way, riches gone like that, gone like that. All these things that you've accumulated, built up in your life, gone like that. And the only thing that's left are the treasures that we've laid up for ourselves in heaven. So therefore, we are to not find ourselves boasting in our riches, but we are to find ourselves boasting in Christ. And then in verse 12, he flips back to these issues of trials. He says in verse 2, when we go back, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect. Now in verse 12, he says, blessed, blessedness is happy. This is like we see in the Beatitudes. Happy is the man who remains steadfast under trial, the one who endures under trial. So happiness here, back into this whole theme of consider it all joy. Why? There's a result. For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. There's something that's waiting for us, and that is the crown of life. This is the ultimate goal, the ultimate riches that we have. And because basically, as you encounter all these various trials, if you are a believer, you will endure these trials. And therefore, waiting for us is this crown of life. All the persecutions, all the different things that we face. And so therefore, when we look at these, we are to continue to look in this happy state of realizing that God is refining us through these trials. There's this purpose that is associated with them. And it says here, though, in verse 13, when he flips over the word tempt, we always have this issue of kind of figuring out temptation trial. What's going on? I do not think that temptation and trial are interchangeable words. It's not talking about the same thing. I think that temptations can come in the midst of trial. But the temptations and trials, not the same things, also temptations can come outside of trial. But it says here. That let no one say when he is tempted that I am being tempted by God. So the issue that James is dealing with is trials. We know where trials come from. God either directly sends or allows or we face trials that are in this world because of the sin that is either in our life or the sin that is around us, we face trials. The reason that we deal with cancer. We deal with cancer because of the fact that we are fallen man. Our bodies are no longer perfect. That's why we deal with cancer. If Adam and Eve had not eaten of the fruit of the tree, there would not be cancer. There would not be death that we would have to deal with. But these things that we deal with now. So temptation and answering the question is where in the world is this temptation coming from? Trials come in or come from or are allowed by God. Temptation, on the other hand, is not. And let us never be caught in a situation where we say that we are being tempted by God. And what's James's reasoning? For God cannot be tempted with evil. We know this. What is one of the things that we learn about Jesus in Hebrews? He's like us because he's been tempted by us in every way, yet without sin. This is what sets Christ apart from us. And so here in this temptation that's going on, no one is saying he's tempted. I'm being tempted by God because God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. There's no evil within God. And so God is not setting evil in front of us. Temptation trying to draw us into sin. When we face trials, there are temptations that are going to come. It's a testing of our faith. What's the temptation that comes on? Will our faith remain true? Will we follow hard after what God has provided for us or will we follow after a route that the world provides for us? So let us never say that we are being tempted by God. But verse 14, where is this coming from? But each person is tempted when he is in lured and he is enticed by his own desire. So if you face temptation, where do you get to place the blame? You. You get to look at yourself and you get to you get the point to blame it yourself. We like to shift blame. That's our favorite thing to do. This wasn't my fault. It was that person's fault. They're the ones that did it. When it comes to temptation in our life, when we face it, we look at ourselves. The situations that we've placed ourselves in, the thoughts that we've allowed to enter into our minds, we look at ourselves and we say, this is where the issue is with the temptation that we face. So when you find yourself in a situation of temptation, realize that you are there, and if you carry out and you follow through with that temptation, it's no one else's fault but your own. This is where it is that you find yourself. Each person's tempted when he's lured, enticed by his own desire, and then the fact is that there's an end result. Just like if you endure through trial, The testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Steadfastness has its full effect, making you perfect and complete. There's a result that's going on here. Likewise, there is a result in temptation. You follow through with temptation, there's something that's going to happen. And it's this, verse 15. Then when desire, when it has been conceived, it gives birth to sin. It's this incredible picture here that's being painted of this kind of birth analogy and what's going on. Desire starts. It's something that's in our heart. Nobody sees it. Nobody knows about it. Nobody knows what's going on. It's something that we're struggling with. But then, all of a sudden, it bursts forth. We give birth. The desire brings forth and it creates sin in our life, is the effect that it has. And then likewise, when sin has fully grown, it brings forth death. This is what we learn from Romans when we learn that the wages of sin is death. The fact is, here is the result that is coming because of the sin that is in somebody's life. So in verse 16, then he says, Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. And when he says do not be deceived, when he's going in here to this issue of gifts, he's basically setting up the situation. Understand what comes from God and what doesn't come from God. This is what he's painting the picture from. We assign God lots of different things that he's done, but make sure you're assigning the right things to what it is that God has done. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Verse 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down with the father of lights, whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. So everything that we have in this life that is good for godliness, and keep in mind, one of the things that we learn in 2 Peter is that we have everything that he has given us, everything pertaining to life and godliness. You realize that as a believer, when it comes to life and godliness, that you're not lacking anything? Scripture tells us that you, that he has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness. And so every good gift, every perfect gift that we have is from above. We're not to look at anything of the ingenuity of our own hands. We're not to look at anything and just solely upon the graciousness of somebody else. But we are to realize that in those situations of where we're able to apply the wisdom or the skill or the ability that we have in our own life, or we experience the graciousness of other people in our lives, that all of this is coming from God. This is not coming from ourselves. And so every good and every perfect gift is coming from above. It's coming down from the father of lights, this description of God, whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In other words, in all of the years of human history, God's not changed one ounce, one iota. Nothing has changed about him. He wasn't one way and then became something else. There is no change with him. It's the same God. He desires the same from his people from beginning unto end. And he gives us these things. He is the giver of good gifts. He is the one who gives us our family, gives us our friends, gives us our local church, gives us the possessions that we have. All of these things are there. And it says in verse 18, the greatest gift of all of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. We saw the birth analogy, desire gives birth to sin, sin fully grown brings forth death. What do we see on this other side? God has brought us forth of his own will, God's own desire. One of the greatest gifts that we have is the salvation that we experience. And it says that this is the result of God's very hand, because he says of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth so that we could be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. We are the ones that know that we will be co-heirs with Christ, that we will reign with Christ is what scripture tells us. He has brought us forth so that we could be this kind of first fruits, this display that he has given here of the greatness of the bounty of what it is that he has done. So of all of this we look, if you want to tie all of this together and looking at this faith and your wisdom and all of these things, is to realize what actually comes from God. Trials. either come directly from the hand of God or allowed by God, and they have a purpose for our godliness. Temptations don't come from God. They come from our own sinful desire. That's where they come from. And so realize where these two things are coming from. Realize that all of us are lacking wisdom, especially in these times that we face trial. And we should ask clearly for his wisdom. And the fact is, is that we know the concrete promise of God that he will give. If you ask with faith tonight for wisdom, you know with certainty you're going to get it. Realizing what it is that you're trusting in. You're trusting in what it is that God has given you through your salvation in Christ. That's what we boast in. Not the riches that we have, not the things that we've obtained, because all these things are simply going away. So all this is given here from a very practical standpoint of how it is that we live our life on Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday at lunchtime, Thursday for breakfast, whatever it is, all these things are given to us so that we can deal with these things on a day-to-day basis. God's not left us alone. He's not left us to say, all right, get out there and figure it out on yourself. He's given us the ability to make it through trials to endure. There is no trial that you can face in your life that you can't handle by God's grace. There is no temptation that you face in this life that you have to give into. Because we know, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians, that he has given us always a way out. There is no temptation that is greater than that we're able to handle. But realize that when we do this, the blame is on ourselves. And so what we have again in this passage is a very practical statement of how it is that we live in our life. So what I hope you've found yourself challenged to do is to realize first and foremost that we have this goal in our Christian life and that is to continue to grow in godliness. So when you face difficult situations in your life, thank God for them. That this is all part of the process. that's going on. Thank God that He's going to provide for you just like every good and perfect gift is from Him. All of these things are coming. But at the same time, continually ask for wisdom from Him and that He would provide for you. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the fact that You are a good and a gracious God and that You have provided for us. Lord, it's difficult when we face trials because all of a sudden we become focused on ourselves and We don't look to you. Dear Lord, when we face trials in our life, let us run to your scripture to find out what it is that we are to do. On a day-to-day basis, we lack wisdom. Remind us to ask for it. And we praise you for the promise that you've given us that you will give. Lord, give us the ability to ask with full faith and great faith so that we might not be like those waves that are just simply tossed to and fro by the wind. Lord, we pray that scripture might become real to us, not just simply something that we encounter from time to time, but something that is living, it's active, sharper than any two-edged sword. Lord, this is what we pray that we might realize in our own life. In your mighty and your wonderful gracious name, we ask that these things be fulfilled. Amen.