: How To Avoid Deception In Trials

good morning would you stand and worship with us this morning lord you are good and your mercy endureth forever [Music] lord you are good in your mercy endureth forever let's sing that again lord you are good and your mercy endureth forever [Music] lord you are good in your mercy endureth forever [Music] people from every nation in tongue from generation to generation we worship you hallelujah hallelujah we worship you for who you are [Music] and we worship you [Music] hallelujah hallelujah we worship you for who you are [Music] you are good feel free to clap this morning if you want [Music] lord you are good and

your mercy endureth forever [Music] and lord you are good in your mercy endureth forever people from every nation people from every nation and tongue from generation to generation we worship you hallelujah hallelujah we worship you for who you are and we worship you hallelujah hallelujah we worship you for who you are you are good [Music] and you are good all the time all the time you are good you are good all the time all the time you are good you are good all the time all the time you are good you are good all the time all the time you are good lord you are

good and your mercy endureth forever [Music] and lord you are good and your mercy endureth forever [Music] and lord you are good and your mercy endureth forever [Music] and lord you are good in your mercy endure it forever and people from every nation in tongue from generation to generation we worship you hallelujah hallelujah we worship you for who you are [Music] and we worship you [Music] hallelujah hallelujah we worship you for who you are [Music] who you are and who you are and you are good [Music] amen we're so thankful that you are here this morning at the district church this next song we're going

to sing is titled the goodness of jesus and boy how good is jesus when i think about um the goodness of jesus in my life and i continue to dwell on that and read scripture on that just be reminded of that through song i'm often just lead led into rest every time i'm reading about just how great and how wonderful his love is for me it just continues to to have that rest overflow in my life and so i just want us to focus as a church on just how does that provide rest in our lives whatever circumstance we are in he is there also

and he is greater than whatever circumstance that is and that should provide us so much rest in my opinion there's no other passage better to lead me under rest than psalm 23 and so this morning i just want us to meditate on the words of that psalm and let's just let let us go into rest this morning psalm 23 says the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me besides still waters he restores my soul he leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake even though i walk through the valley of the shadow

of death i will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they come for me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i shall dwell in the house of the lord forever would you sing the goodness of jesus with me this morning [Music] now to jesus come you anxious soul now and see [Music] there is perfect love and comfort for your tears rest here in his wondrous peace oh the goodness the goodness of

jesus satisfied he is [Music] i rest all my days in the goodness of jesus [Music] the common find this world cannot offer come and find your joy here complete taste the living water never thirst again rest here in his wondrous peace know the goodness the goodness of jesus [Music] satisfied he is all that i need may it become what may that i rest all my days in the goodness of jesus [Music] [Music] come and find your hope now in jesus he is all he said he would be and grace is overflowing from the savior's heart rest here in his wondrous peace oh the goodness the

goodness of jesus satisfied he is all that i need may it become what may that i rest all my days in the goodness of jesus oh the goodness the goodness of jesus satisfied he is all that i need may it become one day that i rest all my days in the goodness of jesus and oh the goodness the goodness of jesus satisfied he is all that i need may it be that i rest all my days in the goodness of jesus [Music] [Music] tune my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never see seen call for songs of loudest praise teach me something [Music]

[Music] praise the mountain fix the point me [Music] here i raise my everything [Music] safely to arrive at home jesus on me when a stranger wandering from the fold of god he to rescue me from danger interpose his precious blood [Music] oh to grace door to grace how great a dead daily i'm constrained to be let thy goodness like affair by my wandering heart to thee prone to wonder lord i feel it prone to leave the god [Music] prone to [Music] [Music] here's my heart [Music] above you guys can be seated um we're gonna get into some scripture here but this is uh this is

something really good for me to hear so i hope it blesses you guys as we just dial in here and just set our sights on christ and prepare our hearts to just go to him and confess we live in a world where information is at our fingertips we can find pieces of information um and even sometimes parts of all of it honestly with google and all our resources before us yet with all this information it still seems like it's so easy to be deceived by things we read because it's close to the truth or it sounds partially true this can be true about the christian

faith and things we hear on social media from other believers or from pastors who claim to know the truth that is separate from the word of god and that hit me you know i grew up in the church but man if i can tell you the amount of times i've been sort of deceived by things that sounded uh right you know like there's part truths but it wasn't in context of all of scripture or um it was it was pastors trying to serve me and make me feel good instead of show me my sin to point me to the gospel a cool verse that i

was just reflecting on after reading this confession this morning was from ii timothy 4 and it says for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths isn't a new problem it's been going on for a long time but the bible tells us a way in which we can we can combat such deception and not be deceived by something that sounds right but is in fact incorrect listen to what paul says in colossians 2 he

says for i want you to know how great a struggle i have for you to reach all the riches of full of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of god's mystery which is christ and whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge i say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments paul tells us that it is by the understanding and knowledge of christ that we can be protected from deception and arguments that sound true or are so close to the truth but but are inherently wrong the only way for us to have this knowledge is to have

the bible dwell deeply within us our souls and the whole bible dwell deeply within our souls but how easy is it for us to put the bible aside for something else how hard it is for us to get into a routine of reading and treasuring the scriptures and again just looking at myself you know it's funny as a christian who knows a lot of scripture and says i'm walking with the lord but yet i treat that relationship differently you know sometimes it's like how can i say i have an active walking relationship with god when i'm not reading his word every day you know like

it doesn't make any sense like we you guys talk to your spouse every day and there's a relationship there right and so to claim we have a relationship with christ there has to be um us reading his word and soaking that in and praying back to him right in our time of confession this morning let us confess where we are allowing worldly understanding to shape our minds and not the word of god and let's plead with the lord to renew our desire to know him more and give us a greater desire to study his word so let's just take some time and confess that lord

we come to you this morning we just uh we praise you god for giving us your word lord you didn't have to but you gave us your word god and you gave us the holy spirit that opens our eyes to understand it god lord we want to understand it in the way that you desire lord we want to stay true to what you've said god you say your word is truth lord may the word of christ dwell in us as a body richly god may we treasure it lord may it penetrate even the deepest parts of our heart lord and i pray god that um

you would start correcting those things that maybe we've we've created as idols or those misunderstandings or those things we've taken out of context or whatever it is lord anywhere we're lifting up the views of the world or even of a good teacher lord maybe it never stand ahead of your word god and so this morning god is you just um prepare our hearts to hear your word spoken and taught to us by josh god i pray that you would prepare the way lord you would teach us holy spirit if you don't teach us it doesn't matter god we need you to help it seal in

our hearts lord so do that for us this morning god help us to become a body that breathes in your word lord daily god and that we would walk with you and have genuine relationship with you god you're awesome thank you for this morning in jesus name amen amen good morning everyone this time i'm gonna go ahead and dismiss our kiddos so if you're between the age of three to seven so three and five six and seven we're gonna have two classes for you this morning so if you will follow tim out to the back you guys can go and learn about jesus together all

right i think i asked this already but how are we doing this morning everybody good good okay some of us are some of us are not it's all right um my name is josh i'm one of the lead pastors here at the district church for those of you who don't know me and some of you may have forgotten about me just because i've been in and out of church the last couple of weeks uh last week i was actually down in one of our partner or sister churches being able to just fill in uh the role of preaching for them as the main pastor and

his wife uh just had their second kid so we were able to help them out dwayne i think we'll also be going down there and being able to help them as they transition into another child and they're able to celebrate the growth of their family so that was a great task to be able to be a part of but it is good to be back it is good to be able to worship with the people god has called me to um and being able to sing and hear god's word preached so i am honored um and it is a joy to be able to open

up god's word this morning with you guys so if you have your bibles go ahead and open to james chapter one uh we are continuing in our steadfast faith series as we walk through the book of james and what we've been taking a look at in the last couple of weeks is james's encouragement to his brothers and sisters in christ who are walking through various trials and his encouragement starts in verses two through four that they would remain steadfast under trials and we see in verse four the the purpose for them remaining steadfast is this that they would be perfect and complete lacking in nothing

it's important for us to remember that this is the framework that james especially his encouragement up until verse 18 that we were reading through today this is the framework that we see his encouragement through or the the lens in which we must remember this is how and why he is writing this passage in order for the brothers and sisters who are under various trials to be made perfect and complete and the reason i bring this up is because sometimes we can look at verses like the one we have today and use them as coffee cup reminders and this verse these these couple of verses they

present a universal truth and it's good and it's right but what james is doing is he's taking this universal truth and then he's applying it to their lives and so what we need to understand is the context in which james is writing these verses in order that we don't misinterpret what he's having to say when we apply it to our own lives or we give it to others as encouragement themselves so remember this framework is james is talking and he's telling his brothers and sisters in christ to not be deceived don't be deceived in the midst of trial he's giving them encouragement under these various

trials to not be deceived to look to the lord to understand his goodness and his grace so that when you come out of these trials you will be perfect and complete lacking in nothing so let's see what james has to say starting in verse 16 writing to these jewish brothers and sisters in christ james says do not be deceived my beloved brothers every good gift 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 first fruits of his creatures this is god's word this morning let us go to him in prayer and ask him to open our hearts and minds to what he has to say lord you are good as we just saying lord i ask that you would show more of your goodness to us this morning as we open up your word lord let us find these truths to be helpful when we're walking through trial that we may not be deceived that we would have encouragement and doubt that we would not be tempted to blame you for our sin in the midst of trial but

that we would look to you knowing that these hard times these trials that we may walk through have a purpose that first purpose is to glorify you and the second is to be made perfect and complete lacking in nothing so help us to fix our eyes on christ help us to learn more about who you are from your word so that we may be mature in him in jesus name amen so i read this week that one of nigeria's largest industries is the con artist industry many of you might have received the email that the prince of nigeria needs money to help him out because

whatever reason is happening he needs it now unlike michael scott when he says when the son of the disposed kingdom of nigeria emails you directly asking for money you help him we should not be deceived in this manner deception is real though and to be honest we probably love deception more than we're willing to admit right i'm a huge star wars fan so jedi mind tricks are great right these aren't the droids you're looking for we love ocean movies we love the italian jobs we even love as dwayne even though he's not in here loves his logan lucky movie which is the redneck version of

ocean's eleven we love good magicians we love sleight of hand tricks the list can go on and on and on right we love these types of deceptions unless the deception harms us or happens to us now i know these are light-hearted deceptions these are things that we can laugh about we can enjoy together but scripture shows us that there is a spiritual deception that we must be on the lookout for as believers in christ a deception that comes from the father of lies as john 8 44 shows us the father of lies also employs his angels of false prophets who disguise themselves as angels of

light as paul tells us in second corinthians 11 these deceivers promise answers to our deepest questions to our longings and concerns but in the end they deceive us into thinking incorrect thoughts about god and ourselves these incorrect thoughts lead us to spiritual pain spiritual depression dark nights of the soul weight that we can't and should not bear our own on our own and sometimes they even lead us to spiritual destruction one of the greatest places that we are often tempted to be deceived is in trial this is why it was important for me to open up and show that this entire encouragement is based on

the believers walking through various trials because james knows that it is in trial that we can be deceived the most satan likes to employ attacks against god and his goodness and tries us tries to get us to question god in the midst of trial we saw this in the beginning in genesis 3 right what does satan bring to eve in tempting her did god really say that satan will also try to get us to question god's goodness and asking if he is so good why are you in the midst of this terrible tragedy why has he allowed you to walk into this trial and why

hasn't he stopped it warren wirsby says one of the enemies tricks is to convince us that our father is holding out on us and that he doesn't care for us maybe you've experienced this type of deception maybe you've experienced the pain of feeling like you don't have enough faith because your pain or your health is failing you and it just won't change or maybe you have felt this deception because the things that you've longed for and prayed for aren't happening either as quickly as you'd like or not at all and satan has deceived you in thinking that god is not good and he doesn't care

for you satan deceives us by getting us to compare ourselves to others that their lives are somehow better than ours whether they're a believer or not this is what assets cry in psalm 73 is all about as he looks around to the people of this world and he sees them excelling and he sees them taking the people of god away from the truths of god he begins to question where god is and his goodness satan even deceives us into thinking that we can take care of ourselves or others better than god can often times when i prepare for sermons what i like to do is

i like to take the text and see how it applies to my own life first to have a bit of realness i don't want to get up here and tell you things about the word of god that has not impacted myself and this truth that i just shared with you that satan can deceive us into thinking we can take care of others better than he can is something god gently reminded me of as i walked through this passage you see i am walking through some family trials right now and this passage gently reminded me that it is not me who can bear the weight of

my family it is not me that can bear the weight and truly care for my family like god can and so what i had to do was come to the lord i had to repent and and bring this to him and say lord i can't care for them like you can and oftentimes satan can deceive us in the midst of trial to thinking that we can bear the weight that only god can now what i want us to look at as well is last week's passage well they're excited about this as well i want us to connect to last week's passage in understanding why james

has shifted into this language of do not be deceived because what we saw last week is that james is talking about temptation in the midst of trial right he's he's telling his brothers and sisters blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he walks through it he will receive the crowd of life that god promises to those who love him but then he says when you're walking through temptation don't say that it is god who tempts you and what james is getting at is a universal truth applied to a specific situation the universal truth is that temptation does in fact lead us

to sin and that our sinful desires are the things that entice us to sin but in the midst of trial james is saying don't give in to this temptation to think that it is god who's tempting you that it is god's fault because you sinned in the midst of this trial james is saying in the universal truth of our own lives because of our sinful nature sin still comes and leads us into sin and it's our sinful natures that cause us to doubt god's goodness in the midst of those trials james is trying to show that it's not trials that lead us to sin they

might reveal our hearts very much like a bad fruit will reveal where a tree's truly rooted in the trials don't cause us to sin and it's wrong to think that it is god who gives us these temptations in the midst of these trials to sin and so james is bringing that to light and then contrasting and encouraging his readers to look at god's character and his goodness in the midst of the trial that you're walking through because ultimately it is good for us it is good for our maturity we see in this passage that it is god who doesn't give us temptation but in fact

he gives us good and perfect gifts namely himself and even in these good and perfect gifts ultimately we may walk through trials and we can see those trials as gifts because we know that when we remain steadfast in them we will be perfect and complete lacking in nothing so this morning what i want to answer is this question how do we avoid deception in the midst of trials how do we avoid deception in the midst of trials so the answer to that which will kind of be the umbrella of what we're going to be taking a look at is this by believing in god's sovereign

goodness and his unchanging love for his people we can avoid being deceived in the midst of trials by believing in god's sovereign goodness and his unchanging love for his people that is how we avoid deception in trials so let's first take a look at god's sovereign goodness james shows us in verse 17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from the is from above coming down from the father of lights so what james shows us first and foremost in god's sovereign goodness is that he is the source of all goodness he is the source of all the perfect gifts that we receive we sang

this song this morning that has a phrase that i grew up with and i'm i'm kind of gonna i'm gonna test if everybody else grew up with this phrase but what do you say when you hear the phrase god is good and all the time amen and where james is showing us this truth is starting in this verse he's showing us that god is good he is the source of all good and perfect gifts that we receive these gifts don't come from within they don't come from around us but they come from above they come down from the father of lights he is the source

of all that is good james emphasizes this by repeating this word every twice every good and every perfect gift comes from above what's interesting is there are actually two greek words in this verse that are both translated into gifts and what these terms symbolize are that we see god's goodness in two different ways the act of giving and the nature of his gifts so they work synonymously together to show us god is good in his act of giving and the nature of his gifts so that first aspect the act of his giving this aspect of god's character should not be overlooked it should not be

a shock to us that we see god giving good gifts this is a part of his nature this is a part of his character when james writes every good gift he is focusing on the act of god giving to his people but let's be real not every act of giving is good now from god it is but from our own personal lives our own experience we can recognize that every act of giving is not always good think about this christmas is coming up right how many of you can honestly say that you're going to give all of your gifts out of a pure love for

someone else yep some of us buy gifts for people because they have received one the season before and they feel like they need to give it back in order to pay someone back or we buy gifts because we know that we are going to offend someone or they might feel hurt if we don't buy them a gift but the act of god giving is good and perfect he doesn't give out of want or desire to receive something he gives because he is good and he gives good gifts to his children and then we see the nature of god's gifts we can ask the question what

does he give he gives perfect gifts this word perfect is the second time and kind of book ends james's encouragement to those believers in christ james is using this word perfection not as a way in which he is encouraging his brothers and sisters to be sinless and spotless which he is calling them to be but he's telling them that in the midst of trials perfection is spiritual maturity the trials of life are not meant to cause us to doubt god or to question his goodness or lead us into temptation they are designed to lead us into maturity in christ that's what that phrase perfect and

complete lacking in nothing means now here's the reality of trials here's the reality of walking through struggles it does not mean that every gift even though it is perfect meant to grow us in maturity doesn't mean that god's gifts of trial are desirable comfortable or pleasurable not every gift is going to be comfortable not every gift of trial is not is going to be desirable joseph would not have wanted to be sold into slavery i would not have been desirable or comfortable but what does he say at the end of his time in genesis 50 when he's speaking to his brothers and he reminds them

of god's goodness he says what you meant for evil god meant for good we're reminded of paul's writings in romans 8 when he says and we know that for those who love god all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose god's good and perfect gifts are helped are meant to help us grow in our maturity and this is the nature of his gifts to make us more like christ so this is the first point that james shows us is that he is the source of all good and perfect gifts now in his sovereign goodness james shows us that

it is a process in which we receive these good and perfect gifts that grow us he says coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change james shows us that coming down is a way in which he shows more of god's continual sovereign goodness in blessing his children now i don't want to really get super technical with you guys this morning but coming down in greek means is it is a present participle which means that it is a continual never-ending flow so god's good and perfect gifts coming down means that they are constantly being brought to

the people of god h.b charles jr says every good and perfect gift is from god above who pours them down in a constant stream that never ceases to flow lamentations would remind us the steadfast love of the lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness so here is the wisdom that james calls us as we read this passage to seek when it comes to not doubting when it comes to seeking the wisdom of god he says the way in which we respond to trials the way that we respond to tests the way that we

respond to temptation is by looking to god to god because he is the author and perfecter of our faith as david writes in psalm 121 i lift my eyes to the hills from where does my help come from my help comes from the lord who made the heaven and the earth so god in his sovereign goodness blesses his children pours out his goodness to them as a constant stream that never ceases to flow and then we see james calling god the father of lights where there is no variance or shadow due to change so every good and perfect gift comes down from god it is

a continual stream that comes from the father above now this phrase father of lights is a typical jewish way in which they write about god without directly writing his name or mentioning him as yahweh or lord yet this reverent ascription says so much about god the father and his character and we see two themes being highlighted in james's phrase father of lights the first is that he is the creator of all things and the second is that he cares for his people he is the creator of all things being that he created creation and what james is trying to get us to think about is

the creation story the lights mentioned here are referencing the heavenly lights above the sun the moon the stars the planets all of the heavenly bodies and to say that god is the father of these lights is to say that he created them and he controls them and he sustains them genesis 1 1 proves this the beginning in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth david reminds us in psalm 19 the heavens declare the glory of god and the sky above proclaims his handiwork god the father created all the heavens and when scripture affirms god's truth about creation there's an always an embedded theological

assumption that we have to understand the one who creates a thing is greater than and thus controls the thing he creates and so when james calls god the father of lights what he's doing is saying that god reigns over these heavenly bodies with sovereign authority and being the one who controls all things having sovereign control over all things he is able to give what is necessary useful and good for those to be sustained but also flowing into the lives of his creatures made in his image which would be us he's able to then give every useful necessary and good gift for our maturity yet sometimes

we doubt god in our trials sometimes we are deceived that he's not there we're deceived that he doesn't care for us we're deceived in thinking that he isn't comforting us so i want to encourage you by this example that i read from a w robertson talking about the father of lights he writes being that god is the creator of the son we know that it was created for light this is its essential nature and like the sun god does not vary in his essential nature that is he is always good but on earth we do not always experience the steady light of the sun it

varies on cloudy days at night and with changing seasons james means that when we experience what seems to be cloudy days or dark nights of the soul we must not make the mistake of thinking that god has changed his essential goodness towards us towards you his nature and his purpose towards his children are steady and unchanging therefore we as his children can trust him at all times in every difficult circumstance because he is sovereignly good so what do we do when we are walking through the dark nights of the soul what do we do when it doesn't feel like the sun is shining upon us

like a dark cloud is over us we turn our eyes to jesus as the old hymn says we look we look full in his wonderful face and the things of this world will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace in your trials trust in god's goodness who gives good and perfect gifts to his children even when you can't feel it even when it doesn't feel like he is comforting you or he's there for you he is because his character never changes and that's the next thing that james shows us is that god is never changing his goodness never changes for his

people this word variation used here is only used in this passage in this new in the new testament and what james is trying to highlight here is a constant change of heavenly bodies he's saying that the sun the moon the stars they absolutely do change now maybe from our perspective doesn't always look like that but we know that stars die we know mutations happen we know that there are variations of different kinds that are constantly constantly taking place in the heavens but this is not the case with god and this is what james is trying to draw out that there is no variation in god

he is as most theologians would call him immutable he never changes hebrews 13 8 reminds us jesus christ is the same yesterday and today and forever he never changes and as james goes on to say there is no shadow due to change he is further rooting this reality this truth what he's trying to show is that in this world there are things that change there are things that seem to be with variation that brings shadows but just because things change in this world god does not and the things that change in this world they cannot block hinder obscure or eclipse the goodness of god towards

his people life may be hard from my own experience of pastoring as well as in my own life we all fall into three different camps when it comes to trials we either walking into a trial we are in the midst of a trial or we are walking out of a trial but god is still good and the difficulties of life do not cancel out the goodness of god i love this story told by a pastor he's talking about this old couple who were riding together they were reminiscing about the early days of their relationship and the wife said to her husband do you remember when

we used to sit so close that people couldn't tell which one of us was driving and the husband responded oh i'm sorry then she asked the question why aren't we close like that anymore the husband responded i don't know but i haven't moved it's this reality that when we don't feel close to god or it feels like things have changed god's character is not his goodness has not and so if god seems far away maybe it is us that needs a different perspective or a different understanding or maybe we are being deceived in the midst of trial because god is a good god who gives

good and perfect gifts to those he loves he is the same yesterday today and forever and even in the middle of our trials he remains the same his love never fails so run to him fix your eyes on him trust in him god is good all the time and all the time god is good and his perfect goodness and in his perfect goodness he gives good and perfect gifts to his children look at those gifts that james shows us in verse 18. of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his

creatures he brings us forth that we may be first fruits i want you to see two things from this verse that show us that god gives us perfect and good gifts the first is possession he brings us forth he calls us his own of all the gifts given to us the greatest and most important gift is new birth and regeneration a new heart being called to god and called his own this phrase he has brought us forth shows us the doctrine of regeneration that we find in the new testament and regeneration is the sovereign and gracious act by which god gives us new life those

who are once dead in their sins and trespasses god brings forth and brings them and gives them a new heart and shows them new life this is what jesus explains to nicodemus in john 3 when he says that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit do not marvel that i've said this to you you must be born again the wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound but you do not know where it comes from or where it will go so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit this is

what god has done to us if we are in christ he has brought us forth given us new life we have a new heart we have new perspectives we are united in christ it is no longer than we that live but christ that lives in us this verb is the same word used in verse 15 when james says sin when it is fully grown brings forth death and what james is trying to contrast here is sin brings forth death but god brings forth new life this brought forth is a is emphasized by james showing us that this has happened once and for all that you

and i who are born again it is done once and for all it is not that we are born again and again and again and again god has brought us forth into new life that is it and we praise him for it for his good gift of mercy and grace to us who are once far off we have now been brought near by the blood of christ and he did this by his will and through the word of truth here is the beautiful reality of regeneration and salvation for those of us who are in christ god saves us by a deliberate act of his sovereign

goodness and grace james emphasizes here the source of regeneration the source of a new heart is not our own works is not something that's done outside of ourselves that we can muster up but it is god's good will and it's god's good grace that he would choose to give us new life before christ we are dead in our trespasses and sin we don't have the ability or the will to choose god but in his sovereign grace and mercy he chooses to bestow his love upon us a sinner cannot choose god any more than a dead man can choose to get up out of the grave

and james shows us that it is god who brings forth new life by his own will and as paul shows us before the foundation of the earth as he writes in ephesians 1 blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through jesus christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace which

has been bestowed upon us in the beloved god brought us forth by his will before the foundation of the earth not because he saw some goodness in the future that you might have or that you might choose him and therefore he brought you a part of his will back in time no it is his sovereign goodness and mercy that has saved us in christ and he does this through the word of his truth this word of truth is the testimony of jesus christ god saves sinners who hear and trust and believe in this truth romans 10 13 says for everyone who calls upon the name

of the lord will be saved this is how new life is formed god calls us he gives us a new heart he gives us new desires a new nature he forgives us forgives us of our sin redeems us adopts us and calls us his own and anyone who puts their trust and hope in him will also receive this reality this new heart this new heart also shows us that we have a purpose we have a purpose in being saved to show the glory of god and grow in maturity that we might as james says be the first fruits just as salvation is a gift from

god so are the trials that we walk through as god refines us we reflect more and more of his glory we bear more fruit and we receive greater rewards spiritual growth often comes from god's will and often times through trial as billy graham says comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has this is our purpose as believers in christ this is what we are called to do when we obey the command of loving god we remain steadfast under trial that grows us in maturity and we as we are growing in maturity are able to shine the light of the gospel

in a dark and dying world and those fruits that we are showing that we are bearing brings god glory and ultimately grows his kingdom which is more fruit this is why we're considered the first fruits because our fruit then leads to more so this is what james is calling his readers and us too this is why he's encouraging them to not be deceived but to trust in the goodness and sovereignty of god that he has called us by his own will in order to be the type of first fruits that proclaim his name so how do we avoid deception in the midst of trial how

do we remain steadfast by believing in his sovereign goodness in unchanging love for us his people this is what we must do this is what we must battle and we do this god gives us these tools communion is one of them and we're going to take that here we're going to celebrate and remember what god has done for us in christ but there's other tools that are all around us god's word his community singing songs of praise hearing god's people sing songs of praise these are tools that help us to see the goodness and mercy of god and fight this deception so guys this is

why it's so important to get into god's word to memorize it to have it written on our hearts to be plugged into gospel community that isn't just going on a surface level type of community but one that allows people into our your lives our lives in order for them to share the goodness and mercy of god so how do we avoid deception again by believing in god's sovereign goodness and unchanging love for his people and one of the ways that we do experience this as i mentioned earlier is in communion we experience this reminder and it should be a way in which we fight the

deception of satan because we are looking at the truth that god has broken his body and shed his blood in order for us to be redeemed and adopted in and so anytime we go to this table we should be reminded this is our reality that christ died for me and that now i live for him because he lives in me so if you guys don't have any of the elements i'm going to encourage you to go grab some and as you come back i'm going to read first corinthians 11 and we're going to partake of communion together and then i'll close in prayer and then

we will celebrate this reality that we have this barrier that we have that we no longer have to be deceived uh first corinthians 11 says this for i have received from the lord what i also delivered to you that the lord jesus on the night he was betrayed took this bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body for which is for you do this and remember remembrance of me in the same way he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink in remembrance of

me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes hear what paul says again for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes this is how we fight deception this is how we can battle doubts in the midst of trial it's by taking communion and proclaiming to ourselves and proclaiming to others what christ has done for us so go ahead in your own time take communion and i'm going to close us in prayer and then we're going to continue celebrating and worshiping this good

and merciful god let's pray lord just as we sang this morning you are good and your mercies endure forever lord i pray as we hear your word this encouragement from james to not be deceived in the midst of trials to not be tempted to think that you have caused us to sin to not doubt lord but to seek wisdom all these things are ways in which we can have joy in the midst of trials that we can remain steadfast knowing that as we remain steadfast lord you are working in us to make us mature and complete lacking in nothing and so lord i pray as

we walk through this week for those who are in the midst of trial encourage them by your word by this gospel community around them that they don't have to be deceived that you care for them that you are with them and that your love for them never fails help them to be reminded that the weight that they're carrying is not meant for them but as you remind us lord to cast all our burdens on you because you care for us so for all the weary and all the broken hearted in here this morning may you remind us of this gentle truth it's in jesus name

we pray amen foreign um do i would be hopeless without your goodness i would be desperate without your love slave to the darkness if it wasn't for the cross stand with me you have won me with your kindness chased me down and i was lost where would i be if it wasn't for the cross hallelujah thank you jesus i [Music] hallelujah for the cross all my shame oh my shame was met with mercy now your mercy will be my song and all the glory though the power hallelujah [Music] thank you jesus i was a praiser now [Music] sing hallelujah again hallelujah thank you jesus i

was a prisoner now i'm not with your blood by your death i live the power of sin is overcome it is finished it is done by your stripes i'm healed by your death i live the power of sin is overcome it is by your stripes by your stripes i'm hit by your death valley the power of sin is overcome it is finished it is done by a strike time by your death i live the power and sin is overcome it is finished hallelujah thank you jesus i was a prisoner now i'm not with your blood you [Music] hallelujah for the cross hallelujah hallelujah thank you

jesus i was a prisoner now i'm not with your blood but my freedom [Music] hallelujah for the cross hallelujah just your voices hallelujah thank you jesus i was a priest [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah thank you jesus [Music] stripes by your stripes [Music] the power of sin is finished [Music] is [Music] thank you jesus [Music] yes god we praise you this morning god thank you that you've set us free lord that we were slaves to sin god but you broke the chains and you set us free god that we were dead in our sin but you made us alive lord that we were sleeping but

you woke us up lord that we were haters of you but you made us lovers of you god that we are we are rebels lord and now our disciples lord we praise you for these things lord only you could do that work we've seen the weight of our sin god we've seen how uh how sick we were lord but we praise you we are now born again god and we we give you all the glory lord not to us lord but to your name be the glory we praise you this morning god it's all for you in jesus name amen amen you guys can go

ahead and have a seat um if i could have david free and curiana up here on stage calling them out no i'm just kidding