SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: Well, as we start into this series on the goodness of God, we uh we're going to um go ahead and uh start by defining what that means for us.
SPEAKER_01: What does it really mean that God is good?
SPEAKER_01: You know, when you grow up in church or you spend a lot of time in church, you will find out times uh that there are we say things in church that sound spiritual, like God is good and things like that.
SPEAKER_01: And those are great sayings and they have rich meaning for us as church members, but when you say them over the years, they can tend to get a little cliched or just sort of so familiar they've lost a little bit of their flavor.
SPEAKER_01: And God is good is one of those things.
SPEAKER_01: But what I want you to see is that the question of whether you believe that God is good is an existential fundamental question in the life of every person.
SPEAKER_01: When you make a choice of faith, when you decide I'm going to step out in faith on a promise of God, you in essence are building on the foundation that I believe God is good and that he means something for that.
SPEAKER_01: When you, all of us in our lives, when we face those times, we will oftentimes, unfortunately, step away from the Lord and chart our own course.
SPEAKER_01: Inherent in that decision to walk away from him is a question, you know, I just don't think God is as good as he says he was.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to choose my own way instead of his.
SPEAKER_01: When we walk by faith with the Lord, faith is something that is built on trust.
SPEAKER_01: And inherent in the question of how much we trust in the Lord is this understanding of whether we believe that God is good.
SPEAKER_01: So today we're going to talk about and build a foundation of the character of God, his goodness.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: We have been singing, Great is Thy Faithfulness, Good, Good Father.
SPEAKER_01: This is a very common, familiar verse.
SPEAKER_01: If we took a poll of favorite verses in the congregation, a lot of folks would say this is in their top five.
SPEAKER_01: This verse about every good gift and every perfect gift is given from above and the father of lights in whom there is no shadow of turning.
SPEAKER_01: It's a verse that we know, but in the context of this passage, it really is written to teach us this image of God as a father, one who gives good gifts, is answering this question in our lives can we trust that God is good?
SPEAKER_01: As we read this passage this morning, I want to give you a thought that I want you to carry through this morning as we read this passage of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And this is going to be the working definition of God that we're going to use.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's really practical.
SPEAKER_01: I've tried to not have all kinds of theology and all kinds of stuff in it, because we want to really see what God's goodness means in your daily walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So as we read this scripture this morning, and over the next few weeks, we're going to unpack these truths.
SPEAKER_01: This is the central truth of our theme that God's attributes, that's his character, his attitudes, that's how he thinks, how he feels, how he addresses things towards us, what his perspective is as God towards us, and his actions.
SPEAKER_01: They are driven by both of these two characteristics.
SPEAKER_01: They are driven by God's holy righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: God is good.
SPEAKER_01: He is morally and spiritually right and good.
SPEAKER_01: His holy righteousness and at the same time his benevolent grace.
SPEAKER_01: When we say God is good, that means he is a God who loves and he's rich in mercy.
SPEAKER_01: And he sent Jesus to be our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And when he looks at us, he says, as it says in Jeremiah, I know the plans that I have for you.
SPEAKER_01: Plans for good and not for evil.
SPEAKER_01: And so as you see this, a full-blown, complete picture of the goodness of God involves both of these truths and both of these character traits.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there you are in James chapter 1, and let's read this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to focus on verses 12 through 18, but I want to start in just the first verse here and see what it says.
SPEAKER_01: James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: This is his intro.
SPEAKER_01: This is a letter that he's written to Christians, and this is the heading of the letter.
SPEAKER_01: He says, James, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in the dispersion greetings.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's an important thing for us to park on right here.
SPEAKER_01: Because as we know, all scripture is inspired by God.
SPEAKER_01: So when James sat down and wrote this, these were not his thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: God used James.
SPEAKER_01: He worked through his minds and perspective, but every word chosen in this letter was chosen by God.
SPEAKER_01: Every word is directed for a purpose, and he selected on purpose.
SPEAKER_01: And when we come to study God's word, we're not studying the writing of James, we're studying the writing of God that he used a man named James to write.
SPEAKER_01: And so every single word of this is vital and important to us.
SPEAKER_01: And so here in the setting of this letter, he sets up for us a theme carried out through this book.
SPEAKER_01: To the twelve tribes in the dispersion.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what is the dispersion?
SPEAKER_01: If you read the book of Acts, you'll know the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and empowered Peter and the other men, and they preached, and thousands of people were saved.
SPEAKER_01: And as you read through Acts chapter 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, two weeks ago, Marcus Brown, when he preached, he walked us through some of those pictures of as the church exploded in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: And we talked about chapter 6 there.
SPEAKER_01: And as the explosion of the gospel multiplied greatly, there also began to be persecution.
SPEAKER_01: And we know right after that, a man named Stephen was the first Christian martyr and was put to death for preaching Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And then the Bible tells us in the book of Acts that that persecution exploded in Jerusalem as people fought back against the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And then, as Marcus shared with us a couple of weeks ago in that history, in the narrative of the book of Acts, it tells us that Christians began to disperse around the world, running for their lives from the persecution in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: And as they scattered out, men of God like James and Peter and others wrote letters specifically designed to speak to Christians who were under persecution.
SPEAKER_01: Christians who had been put in difficult circumstances, Christians who had been pushed out of their ancestral home and had to make a life and raise their families in places to which they had never been.
SPEAKER_01: And they're out there and they're faithful to serve Jesus, but they're also struggling in these questions and why all that happens.
SPEAKER_01: So here in the book of James, he sets up immediately, he is writing to us as people who struggle in a fallen world.
SPEAKER_01: He is writing to speak to us about the character of God and his goodness, understanding the difficulties of life in which we struggle.
SPEAKER_01: That's why he tells us then in verse 2 consider it a joy, my brothers.
SPEAKER_01: When you experience various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance.
SPEAKER_01: Now, who loves to go through struggles?
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Throw me into another battle, right?
SPEAKER_01: But that's what life looks like.
SPEAKER_01: And so he is addressing that directly.
SPEAKER_01: Now look what he says here in verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: A man who endures trials is blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's easy to read stuff.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to feel it, right?
SPEAKER_01: A man who endures trials is blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Because when he passes the test of faith in that moment, he will receive, he will be given the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
SPEAKER_01: No one undergoing a trial should ever say, I am being tempted by God.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, the goodness of God involves his holy righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: God does not put us in those circumstances for us to fail.
SPEAKER_01: That's not who God is, and he couldn't do that by the nature of his own holy character.
SPEAKER_01: And so James is building that part of the goodness of God for us.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, For God is not tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt anyone.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, this is how we are tempted to sin.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.
SPEAKER_01: All of us are sinners by birth, by nature, and by choice.
SPEAKER_01: All of us have fallen short of God's glory.
SPEAKER_01: All of us are tainted by sin.
SPEAKER_01: All of us have that struggle.
SPEAKER_01: It is inherent in who we are.
SPEAKER_01: And what he says is in each of these, there is something that entices in the world that tugs at that sin in us, and we're in a spiritual battle.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, after desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, for the wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_01: The holiness of God, we know, demands that sin must be punished.
SPEAKER_01: God is good.
SPEAKER_01: He is holy, he is righteous, he is moral.
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, God is good to us.
SPEAKER_01: He is a God who loves us, He's a God of mercy and grace and salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And so what James is setting up here is listen, when you're in struggles, when you have questions of life, do not question the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: That is not who God is.
SPEAKER_01: God is good.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, he's holy.
SPEAKER_01: He would never tempt you to do something wrong.
SPEAKER_01: But on top of that, God is good.
SPEAKER_01: So look at what he says as we go into that verse today.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be deceived, my dearly beloved brothers.
SPEAKER_01: He is trying to get their attention.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I love you.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to know how good God is.
SPEAKER_01: Every generous act, or your version may say, every good gift, every one of them, everything good that's ever been given to us in life was crafted and birthed in the mind and heart of God and played out in the fullness of his omnipotence in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Every good gift and every complete and perfect gift is from above.
SPEAKER_01: That's the only place that true goodness comes from.
SPEAKER_01: And everything that we receive is good comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: It was birthed in his mind and his heart, and it is placed in our lives because of his love and benevolence.
SPEAKER_01: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.
SPEAKER_01: With him there is no variation or shadow of turning.
SPEAKER_01: We sang today, great is thy faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Think about this: the goodness of God and his benevolence that he gives us all these good gifts.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes you question, man, I've sinned, Pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I've royally messed up.
SPEAKER_01: Is God still going to still going to give me those gifts in my life?
SPEAKER_01: Have I pushed him away because of how I failed?
SPEAKER_01: And listen, James is saying no.
SPEAKER_01: Just like God's goodness and his benevolence grace drives his giving gifts, I want you to know that God's holiness, his goodness because of his righteousness means that by his own holiness, he could never forsake you.
SPEAKER_01: He could never step away from his love for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been saved, you've given your life to Jesus, you will never lose your salvation because God will never walk away from the promise which is sealed in the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The Father of lights is a picture of God as the creator.
SPEAKER_01: It means God, He has created all of that, the sun and the moon and the stars, and the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2, and it was good.
SPEAKER_01: He is the Father, He is the creator of all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And this week, we've had some sun in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Man, there are some days you walk out there and it is bright, and you like can't even you close your eye, it is bright.
SPEAKER_01: Even in the brightest summer June sun in Fort Smith, if you stand a certain way, there'll be a shadow cast.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you what, the created sun may have some shadows, but the creator God never has a shadow.
SPEAKER_01: The creator God is always faithful.
SPEAKER_01: You see how his holiness and his benevolence, his grace work together.
SPEAKER_01: And it makes him God, our Father.
SPEAKER_01: It makes him lets us see the magnitude of who he is as the creator God.
SPEAKER_01: And you see, when we say God is good, it is a deeply profound, powerful statement that we make when we say God is good.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's unpack this a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to show you three things this morning, three truths that you can take with you that you can walk through and use in your quiet time and all of that during this week.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the first truth that I want you to see this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And James addresses it directly.
SPEAKER_01: Is God good?
SPEAKER_01: Is a fundamental human question.
SPEAKER_01: It is a question that all of us ask, and we ask it on a fairly consistent basis in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: You ask that when you begin to think about or talk about or question who God is.
SPEAKER_01: As a pastor, one of the most common questions that we get is why does God, if he's so good, let bad things happen to good people?
SPEAKER_01: Or some version of that question.
SPEAKER_01: Or someone is in a struggle and they'll come in and they'll say, Pastor, I don't feel like my prayers are getting through.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what God's doing.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: Is he still there?
SPEAKER_01: Does he, and and and it's just that circumstance that creates that question in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We ask those questions.
SPEAKER_01: James talks about temptation, and when we're in the throes of temptation and that struggle in our life that we're trying to work through, really, one of the places that you begin to fight that temptation should be this.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that God is good.
SPEAKER_01: And this temptation is asking me, am I going to choose my way and what I want, or am I going to invest some trust and faith in God that his way is a better way?
SPEAKER_01: And when we're facing that temptation, you see, there's a broken sin desire in us that we struggle at.
SPEAKER_01: But what he says is, listen, if you will see that God is good and every good gift and every perfect gift comes from him, and he'll never let you down and he'll never walk away from you, and you are tempted to want to do it this way, but God says, do it this way.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll go back to the goodness of God, He designed this for our best.
SPEAKER_01: He designed this to protect us, He designed this to guide us.
SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden that temptation looks like a different thing.
SPEAKER_01: That may be appealing, but man, God is good.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not going to question the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now you know this is a fundamental question because look how this scripture is written.
SPEAKER_01: Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, James writes to people who are in struggles.
SPEAKER_01: Multiple times he talks about their struggles.
SPEAKER_01: Written to the dispersion, count it all joy.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12 a man who endures trials is blessed.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what he says twice.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever say, if you're undergoing a trial, I'm being tempted by God.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever say that.
SPEAKER_01: For God to write that, there must be times that we say that in our lives, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then look at what he says in verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be deceived, my dearly beloved brothers.
SPEAKER_01: If he is taking the time to stop and repeat it again and to say, listen, I love you, I want you to hear me, don't be deceived, then this must be a struggle in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: It must be a question that happens in our lives and we face in these times Am I going to trust God's plan or am I going to trust my own design in this?
SPEAKER_01: And when I choose my design, I am saying, God, I am better than you are, and I really don't believe that you're good.
SPEAKER_01: Now, where does that question come from?
SPEAKER_01: Here's what's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: That is the very first lie told in all of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: It is the very first lie told in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned for the first time and threw us all in the mess we live in, right?
SPEAKER_01: I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: It's just the third chapter in Scripture right there.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll remind you as you're turning what Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2 tell us.
SPEAKER_01: They tell us that God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And then he goes through the process and he says, He made the sun, the moon, and the stars.
SPEAKER_01: And what does the Bible say every time God creates?
SPEAKER_01: It is good.
SPEAKER_01: He made the animals and the beasts of the field.
SPEAKER_01: It is good.
SPEAKER_01: He made the fish, swim in the sea.
SPEAKER_01: It is good.
SPEAKER_01: He made every tree and every bush and every grass.
SPEAKER_01: Man, no crabgrass in the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_01: Are you feeling me?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even sure there was Bermuda grass in the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to weed that Bermuda grass over our flower blood.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm telling you, it's awful.
SPEAKER_01: I'm beginning to think that's not a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Bermuda's not a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we saw it, but it was all good.
SPEAKER_01: And then the Bible tells us he made man and woman in his own image.
SPEAKER_01: And then in chapter 2, it tells us that he is working with Adam, and he's thinking, boy, Adam, it is not good that you're alone, son.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it never says it's not good for wives, it just says for husbands, like, it's not good that they're alone.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And uh, and so, you know, here he is.
SPEAKER_01: Adam and Eve, they get married, they do all that, and then we find them in chapter three.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter two, he tells us he put them in the midst of the garden, and it was lush, and it was green, and it was fruitful.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Of the fruit of every tree in the garden, I want you to enjoy, because when I made it, I pronounced it good.
SPEAKER_01: Because I want you to remember I am a good, good father.
SPEAKER_01: I am a good God, and I love you, and I love you in benevolence.
SPEAKER_01: I am also good in my holy righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: So he put one tree in the center of the garden, he said, Don't eat that fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Because you see, when you walk with the Lord, this is a relationship.
SPEAKER_01: It involves trust, it involves love, it involves sacrificing yourself for the other.
SPEAKER_01: We are not automatons or robots that were built and put in the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_01: God put that tree there so that there is a choice of love that Adam and Eve make.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, all of this is good, and you don't need this one tree because all of this is good, and you can love all of this, but I want this to be a relationship, and I want it to be love, and I want it to be trust.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm gonna give you one rule and trust you not to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Do not eat from this one tree.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna warn you, because I am holy and righteous as a good God, if you eat from this tree, that is sin.
SPEAKER_01: You have chosen to reject me and my plan and path as the creator.
SPEAKER_01: And if you reject me and you sin, there will be consequences to that, because I must judge that sin.
SPEAKER_01: And so we find them then in Genesis chapter 3, and the Bible says the serpent was most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made.
SPEAKER_01: He said to the woman, he sees her, he plans, he creates a strategy.
SPEAKER_01: Did God really say you can't eat from any tree in the garden?
SPEAKER_01: And of course he lied to her, and of course that's not what God said.
SPEAKER_01: But look how he begins to turn this.
SPEAKER_01: God says, you can't eat of all these trees.
SPEAKER_01: No, God said you can lavishly gorge yourself on every tree in the garden except for just this one that I'm asking you to trust me about.
SPEAKER_01: But Satan is planting a seed.
SPEAKER_01: God's not good.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't love you as much as he says he does.
SPEAKER_01: God's holding out on you.
SPEAKER_01: There's a selfish side to God.
SPEAKER_01: There's a mean side to God.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't want you to have everything he's created.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he created all of these blessings, and he's not even letting you have all of them.
SPEAKER_01: He tells you he's good, but he's really not.
SPEAKER_01: You see what he's doing here?
SPEAKER_01: And he says, the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, You must not eat it or touch it, or you will surely.
SPEAKER_01: Die.
SPEAKER_01: And that's when he has her, and he says, No, you will not die, the servant said to the woman.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
SPEAKER_01: You see, that's the lie that Satan tells us.
SPEAKER_01: There's a better way.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're not happy?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's because God's holding out on you, and there's a better way to be happy over here.
SPEAKER_01: He lies to people in marriages that are struggling, and he says, Listen, you need to be happy and you can go and throw your marriage away and do all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, No, there's a better way.
SPEAKER_01: You come to Jesus and let me heal that.
SPEAKER_01: We get in times of struggle and pain, and we're in this frustration and this thing, and people turn to alcohol and drugs and other kinds of things to try to salve that pain.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't trust that in God's grace, He has a plan that heals from those things.
SPEAKER_01: And we say, no, I'm going to do it my way.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to find what I want.
SPEAKER_01: With people who are living what on the outside seems like a good life.
SPEAKER_01: They got money, they're successful, they're doing well, they're plowing, everything's great and all that.
SPEAKER_01: And they've decided I know better than God, and I'm going to invest all my energies here.
SPEAKER_01: And they say no to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Or they reject the godly ways to do things.
SPEAKER_01: Or they find their own path.
SPEAKER_01: Or they sacrifice their families or whatever on that.
SPEAKER_01: And they don't choose to build their lives under the structure of the faith of God.
SPEAKER_01: And on the outside it may look good, but on the inside, there is a failure in that, and there is sin and there was loss.
SPEAKER_01: And it happens because when we make those fundamental decisions, we choose: do I believe that God is real or not?
SPEAKER_01: And do I believe God is good or not?
SPEAKER_01: Do I believe the lie that there's something else out there that God is holding away from me?
SPEAKER_01: Or do I believe God is good and He's given me all that I need in life?
SPEAKER_01: You see, it is a fundamental question that we struggle with, all of us.
SPEAKER_01: Am I going to trust God in this moment because I believe He's good?
SPEAKER_01: Well, truth too, James walks us to is this God is good.
SPEAKER_01: But he doesn't just say that, or he doesn't just present it to us.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how he presents it in a powerful way.
SPEAKER_01: God's gifts to us are tangible, credible proof of his goodness.
SPEAKER_01: You see, it's not just some ethereal thing we have to believe, but we can see God's hands at work in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We can see tangible ways that God loves us.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the reasons I think he picks this picture of a father in this scripture.
SPEAKER_01: He says, every good gift and every perfect gift comes from the Father of lights.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have an innate understanding that either dads do or they should provide.
SPEAKER_01: They should give.
SPEAKER_01: They love us.
SPEAKER_01: They take care of us.
SPEAKER_01: My dad was that kind of dad.
SPEAKER_01: I was blessed.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't get to choose the family that I was raised in, and I got to have a godly dad.
SPEAKER_01: Now he was tough.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was, he was, he loved us, but he was also tough.
SPEAKER_01: I had some guy tell me one time, my dad was tough.
SPEAKER_01: Man, it was my way or the highway in our house.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Your dad's a wimp.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't get the highway option in my house.
SPEAKER_01: Dad's way was it, bro.
SPEAKER_01: It was dad's or death.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's all it was.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not sure he'd let us die.
SPEAKER_01: We were still gonna do it anyway, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he, but my dad was fun.
SPEAKER_01: He was intense, he was powerful, he was strong, he was very successful in his career, but he loved God.
SPEAKER_01: He was a Bible teacher, he loved Jesus, he taught us, he had a strong testimony, and so it was great to be raised in that.
SPEAKER_01: And so for some of us, the picture of a father is a struggle.
SPEAKER_01: And if the picture of a father is a struggle for you, I want I don't want you to let that put you off.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see God heal that picture of a perfect father, of who a heavenly father can be and who God wants to be for you.
SPEAKER_01: And then for those of us who we love Father's Day, we have dads like that, it's good to just kind of reminisce about them.
SPEAKER_01: Especially this verse.
SPEAKER_01: This is a picture of God as a giver, as a father who gives.
SPEAKER_01: My dad was like that.
SPEAKER_01: My dad loved to give gifts.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't ever want gifts.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, he got weird when you gave him a gift, right?
SPEAKER_01: He didn't want a gift, but he wanted to give them.
SPEAKER_01: Man, it was a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: He gave stuff, he did all kinds of crazy stuff when he gave.
SPEAKER_01: I'm wearing cufflinks that were, um he had made.
SPEAKER_01: He was a coin collector, and I've got 19 uh nickels minted in 1965 that were the that was the year that I was minted.
SPEAKER_01: So don't hurt yourself.
SPEAKER_01: I'm 57, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I'll do the math for you.
SPEAKER_01: So he gave cool stuff that was like meaningful like that, but he also gave just ridiculously silly stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean, he was just like fun.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, dad was the dad that you never knew.
SPEAKER_01: You would open your present on Christmas, and it might be clue to another clue, and you'd go over the house, and you'd open nine things, chasing these silly clues all over the house before you ever got to your present, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so that was my dad.
SPEAKER_01: He would do all that, he made giving fun.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one year mom had been harassing him about they needed a new toilet seat in the master bathroom.
SPEAKER_01: And my dad was not a handyman, right?
SPEAKER_01: He did not know how to do any of that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure he could even change this.
SPEAKER_01: Two bolts, but I'm not sure even he could have changed that.
SPEAKER_01: And so she's bugging him about you gonna call somebody to like go fix that, and you know, because that's like a problem.
SPEAKER_01: If the toilet seat doesn't work, that's a problem in your house, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so she's like, she's not harassing him, she's just saying, look, John, this is a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: I need this again, all again.
SPEAKER_01: And so we get, and so man, Christmas is big in our house.
SPEAKER_01: Dad loves it.
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, we owe we put the tree up, we did all this stuff early.
SPEAKER_01: And mom's like, what are you, why are we putting the Christmas tree up before, you know, Walmart or whatever?
SPEAKER_01: That didn't even make sense.
SPEAKER_01: But he's putting it on, and then all of a sudden, we know why he put the Christmas tree up because this big old huge heavy box shows up under the Christmas tree with mom's name on it.
SPEAKER_01: Now, mom, you know, back in the day would love to shake things, and you shake this thing and it'd like you couldn't pick it up, and then it goes cathump, cathump, cathump every time you shake it.
SPEAKER_01: And so then we start to get into it.
SPEAKER_01: What in the world did Dad do?
SPEAKER_01: Dad's crazy.
SPEAKER_01: What did he do?
SPEAKER_01: You shake cathump, cathump, cathump, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, we're trying to figure all this out.
SPEAKER_01: We come to Christmas Eve because families that love Jesus understand the structure of Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: If you love Jesus, your family opens family gifts on Christmas Eve, and then you have more gifts that show up on a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: Can I have an amen?
SPEAKER_01: Who are my people out there, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's how it works, right?
SPEAKER_01: People love Jesus, understand Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: And so what happens is we're opening all these Christmas presents and all that kind of stuff, and mom opens this big old monster gift.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody wanted that to be first.
SPEAKER_01: Mom opened that, and what does she open?
SPEAKER_01: A new toilet seat.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's my dad, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's just it's just fun.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't bring just the gift, he brought fun to it.
SPEAKER_01: He brought joy to it, he brought life to it.
SPEAKER_01: Everything he did when he gave again, he would write these long, detailed, corny poems that you would read.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they were awful.
SPEAKER_01: But like if you didn't get a poem, you thought, what dad doesn't love me, man?
SPEAKER_01: What did I do?
SPEAKER_01: I want to I want one of those corny poems.
SPEAKER_01: It was so fun.
SPEAKER_01: And he did all that.
SPEAKER_01: And if you have that picture, that's what James is trying to create for us.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, God is good, but I don't want you to just hear me say that as a preacher.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see in a tangible way in your life that every good gift that ever happened in your life was conceived and birthed in the mind and the heart of God, crafted in his omnipotent hands and placed in your life because he loves you from a goodness that is driven by who he is as our Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_01: God loves you.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, listen, I want you to think about these gifts.
SPEAKER_01: If you read through chapter one, he talks about this.
SPEAKER_01: If you need wisdom, you ask and God will give it to you.
SPEAKER_01: If you are faithful in the trials of life, God will give you the crown of life.
SPEAKER_01: As you continue to read through the book of James, there are so many times he says, over and over and over, the gifts that he gives you, the goodness of God, the tangible way that he loves you.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to just think about a few things that Scripture tells us are gifts that God gives.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, in this passage of Scripture, he makes it very clearly back in very clear back in James that salvation is his gift.
SPEAKER_01: In the context of every good and perfect gift, in verse 18, he says, by his own choice, he wanted you to know that we are saved because of God's goodness.
SPEAKER_01: That he loves us.
SPEAKER_01: By his own choice, he created salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Out of his own benevolence and his grace, he created for us.
SPEAKER_01: By his own choice, he gave us a new birth by the message of truth, so that we would be the firstfruits of his creation.
SPEAKER_01: First fruits is a picture that goes back to their Jewish heritage when they would harvest, and their very first offering, they took the best and primest of the first 10% of their crops and they gave that to the Lord as an offering, saying, We know you have provided.
SPEAKER_01: We know that you love us, you are our provider, you are the God of the harvest and God of creation, and we want to give you the best because we know the rest is going to be awesome and fruitful because of who you are.
SPEAKER_01: And what God is, what James is saying to them, look, God is giving you such a beautiful and precious salvation.
SPEAKER_01: He is going to make you the first fruits.
SPEAKER_01: As people look at you and your salvation and wherever you've ended up, you will be an example of the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: You will be a blessing to the place where you are planted.
SPEAKER_01: As God flourishes and gives gifts in your life, people around you are going to want to know how do I get that gift in my life?
SPEAKER_01: I want that.
SPEAKER_01: That's what God does with us.
SPEAKER_01: That's how much he lavishes these gifts in salvation.
SPEAKER_01: You think about what that means for us.
SPEAKER_01: John 3.16, a verse that we all know and love, says this For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
SPEAKER_01: Salvation is a gift of God.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_01: For by grace are we saved through faith, and that not ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: It is the gift of God.
SPEAKER_01: Salvation is a gift from God.
SPEAKER_01: All of us are sinners by birth, by nature, and by choice.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says when Adam and Eve rejected God and said, we don't believe he's that good, we're going to choose our own way.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to choose this lie.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that God was true to his holiness.
SPEAKER_01: God is good, his holy righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And sin entered into the world, and then death entered into the world because of that sin.
SPEAKER_01: And in the book of Romans, the Bible teaches us what that means.
SPEAKER_01: All of us now have inherited that sin nature.
SPEAKER_01: One of the guys stopped me in Hall this morning and said, Hey, you and I, we share the same nature.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we do.
SPEAKER_01: But we have the same Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And what happens is when you realize you're a sinner, you realize that the gift of God is so great that God looked out of heaven at his creation.
SPEAKER_01: He is good, holy, and righteous, and must judge that sin.
SPEAKER_01: But because God is good, he said, Those are my children.
SPEAKER_01: That is my earth.
SPEAKER_01: That is my creation, and I do not want let Satan have the victory.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that Greg has made a mess out of his life, but I love him as a father, and I'm going to send my own son to die on the cross to pay the price for his sins.
SPEAKER_01: That's what salvation is, that's what the message of truth is that God has given us.
SPEAKER_01: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus went to the cross and there died in our place.
SPEAKER_01: The book of Romans says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Not only in this salvation is he giving us the gift of salvation, but you think about this: Jesus himself is our gift.
SPEAKER_01: Multiple times Scripture tells us that not just salvation is gift, but how it came about that he loved us so much, he gave us Jesus his son.
SPEAKER_01: In essence, God himself stepped out of heaven and went and took our own punishment on the cross in the person of Jesus, and then rose again, conquering death and sin.
SPEAKER_01: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
SPEAKER_01: 1 John the Bible says this, not that we loved him, but he first loved us and gave his son to be the payment of our sin.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, if you have some question in your life about whether God is good, listen, that right there ends it all.
SPEAKER_01: God loves you so much that He stepped out of heaven and gave you the gift of salvation by taking our sin, your sin and punishment on the cross in the form of the person of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: What happens to you when you get saved?
SPEAKER_01: Your sins are forgiven, you enter into a relationship with him, and then in order to enhance that relationship, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tells us that when you are saved, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of us.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to think about it this way, Pastor, where I used where I grew up used to say this all the time that Jesus is God for us on the cross, and the Holy Spirit is God in us.
SPEAKER_01: And he lives in us.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus told us from the very beginning, John 14.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna have to be in the Father and prepare a place in heaven and all those things, but he says this: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever.
SPEAKER_01: He is the Spirit of truth.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus described who the Holy Spirit was and what he would do in our lives and guide us into all truth and bring all the things that God has taught us to our remembrance.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tells us when you're saved, he births a new gift and ability in you as a member of the body of Christ that we call spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_01: All of these things the Holy Spirit has done in our lives, and he is God's gift to us that he lives in us.
SPEAKER_01: He's given us the gift of spiritual blessings.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Peter chapter 1, I love this verse.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna study this in a couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what he says in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: His divine power, God's divine power, has given us everything required for life and godliness.
SPEAKER_01: Everything.
SPEAKER_01: Man, there's nothing else, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's all of it.
SPEAKER_01: He has given us everything we need through the knowledge of Jesus, his gift, salvation through Jesus, who has called us by what?
SPEAKER_01: His own glory and goodness.
SPEAKER_01: It is by God's goodness and the fullness of that goodness that he has blessed us with everything we need to be transformed in the image of Jesus, to understand the struggles that we're in, to have the strength of his goodness that he gives to us as a gift in our lives to carry us through those moments and to flourish so that when we endure the trials of life, we receive the crown that he talks about in James.
SPEAKER_01: Man, he's given us everything we need.
SPEAKER_01: That verse in Ephesians, he says, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.
SPEAKER_01: In Romans chapter 8, the Bible says this all things work together for good to those who love God and called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: You see, he has blessed you with everything you need.
SPEAKER_01: So when James says every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, I'm telling you, that is a rich, deep statement that is life-altering when you begin to understand it.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Pastor Greg, that sounds awesome when you stand up there and rant and rave and do it, but how do I know it's really true?
SPEAKER_01: Well, God has given us the gift of scripture to teach us that.
SPEAKER_01: You see, in Scripture, right here, he has given us every promise.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to know what every good gift and every perfect gift actually is.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to know how it works in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And he's given it to us here.
SPEAKER_01: And it is by his goodness he has given us scripture.
SPEAKER_01: He has empowered scripture into our lives.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: It says all scripture is inspired and is what?
SPEAKER_01: Profitable, or you could say is good.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because it was written by our good God.
SPEAKER_01: It was written in his goodness to help us understand how this works and give us foundations on which to stand.
SPEAKER_01: God has given us incredible gifts.
SPEAKER_01: And when you step back and begin to understand what God has done for us, he has actually put in tangible ways salvation, the Holy Spirit living inside us, the empowering word of God teaching us and building our faith.
SPEAKER_01: He has blessed us with those gifts that guide us and teach us and strengthen us and empower us.
SPEAKER_01: And when you step out into life, you step in the power and the strength of the goodness of God when you know him as your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: So that brings us to the final truth.
SPEAKER_01: If God is good, it demands for us a response.
SPEAKER_01: If God has created salvation out of his goodness, we must respond to that gift.
SPEAKER_01: Every gift has a giver.
SPEAKER_01: Every gift has a cost.
SPEAKER_01: And every gift is either received or rejected.
SPEAKER_01: For by grace are we saved.
SPEAKER_01: Salvation is a gift of God's benevolent grace.
SPEAKER_01: We are saved by grace through faith.
SPEAKER_01: It is we receive that gift of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus paid the price for that gift on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: You see, there's a giver, there's a gift, and there's a call to receive it.
SPEAKER_01: And when you walk by faith or obedience with the Lord, it is a direct indication on if you believe that God is good.
SPEAKER_01: Are you going to trust him with your marriage kids?
SPEAKER_01: Are you going to trust him with your future, with your identity?
SPEAKER_01: Are we going to trust him with whatever struggle or question we're going through?
SPEAKER_01: All of that indicates whether I truly believe that God is good.
SPEAKER_01: And if I do, I'm going to trust him.
SPEAKER_01: And if I trust him, I'm going to obey him and I'm going to walk by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you three responses to take away today.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you three responses.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is this if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, in just a moment, I'm going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: God's people are going to stand and sing an invitation to him, and I'm going to invite you to come and receive the gift of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to invite you to come and to give your life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You see, salvation is a gift that God is offering you.
SPEAKER_01: If you've heard me online, on television, or if you've been here this morning, you have heard that God loves you and that he gave Jesus to be your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard that in his holy righteousness, he has to punish your sin.
SPEAKER_01: He can't not do that because of his holiness.
SPEAKER_01: But because of his grace, he has stepped out of heaven and paid the price for your sin and offers you the gift of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And in order to receive it, you don't clean yourself up, you don't make yourself better, you don't change your life.
SPEAKER_01: What you do is you come by faith and you say, I believe that you are good.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that Jesus paid the price for my sins, and I receive that by trusting in you.
SPEAKER_01: See, fundamentally, it is.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that God is good and he did that for me.
SPEAKER_01: For those of us who are saved, two things I want you to see.
SPEAKER_01: It's part of why Janet created that playlist for us.
SPEAKER_01: It's part of why we're giving those bumpers, it's why we give notes and I structure this way.
SPEAKER_01: Because I want you to walk out of here and I want you to know how to grow closer to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to ask you to begin working on this.
SPEAKER_01: Develop a habit of praising his goodness in specific ways.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in that temptation and you're looking at that and you're saying, that looks appealing, I want you to stop and say, God has made a different path.
SPEAKER_01: Is it good?
SPEAKER_01: And I want to thank God for doing that for me.
SPEAKER_01: Before you get in a struggle or a question of life, you should be praising and knowing God is good, God is good.
SPEAKER_01: So when that temptation comes, you're already in the mindset of God is good.
SPEAKER_01: If you're questioning, I don't know which direction I could go, what is God's will for my life?
SPEAKER_01: The foundation of that first is whatever God calls me to or wants me to do, it is birthed in his goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Praise him for his goodness.
SPEAKER_01: And then invest yourself in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: James says very clearly, by his own choice, he gave us a new birth by the message of truth.
SPEAKER_01: The world will lie to you, Satan will lie to you, but God will never lie to you in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: How's your quiet time?
SPEAKER_01: Church family, do you spend time in the Word?
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you to invest in Scripture in your life so you can know the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: You bow your heads as we close this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask this question.
SPEAKER_01: Has there ever been a moment in your life when you trusted Christ as your Savior?
SPEAKER_01: I know we have a lot of folks saved here, but we have other folks, man, there watched, and or you've been here, and you may not have ever done that.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been struggling on this question, and I want you to know what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: In just a moment, we're going to stand and sing.
SPEAKER_01: God's people who are saved are going to sing a testimony of the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: And our pastors will be here at the front.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here at the front.
SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to talk to someone about being saved, I want to invite you to come.
SPEAKER_01: We're not going to pressure you.
SPEAKER_01: If you need a conversation, we'll schedule a time to have a conversation.
SPEAKER_01: Man, if you're ready, you need to be saved right now, we'll pray with you right now.
SPEAKER_01: We're here to serve you and what you need and to show you from Scripture how you can be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Some folks you may be wondering what's going on at that church.
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, come join and be a part of what God's going to do.
SPEAKER_01: I want to invite you to come.
SPEAKER_01: We may have some folks here, you're struggling with a call to ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And your question is, do I trust God with my family's future?
SPEAKER_01: Whatever question you have this morning, an invitation is an opportunity for you to leave different than you were when you came in.
SPEAKER_01: I want to invite you to trust in God's goodness in your life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: God's people are going to stand and sing, and you come.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we thank you for this incredible scripture that teaches us the meaningfulness and the depth and the breadth of who you are as our Father.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that you will drive home answers and truth to the questions of our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: That you are good.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, this morning, if there's someone who needs to be saved or make a spiritual decision or turn something over to you or join or whatever it is, but especially if they need to be saved, I pray, Father, you will give them the freedom to come.
SPEAKER_01: We're just family here.
SPEAKER_01: No one will rejoice more.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, give them the freedom to come.
SPEAKER_01: We pray these in the saving name of Jesus and all God's people said.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.