Please turn with me in your Bible to our text this morning. So our text is the epistle of James chapter 1. And today, we are going to look at verses 16 through 18. James 1:16-18. Okay, let me first read our text, beginning in verse 16: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”.

Alright our subject this morning is God or more specifically the goodness of God. So I entitled this morning’s sermon as “God Is Good”. You see, our concept of God is very important. I’m not sure what comes to your mind when you think of God. I assume that probably different things come to your mind, but I think I can also safely assume that many of the ideas that you have of God are actually unbiblical. You see, we are so influenced by our surroundings, by our culture, by what we see and hear, now such that we form our idea or concept of God differently, very much based on our surroundings rather than from the Scripture. And that’s the reason why it’s very important that we go to the Scripture. It’s very important that we believe in the God that is revealed in the Scripture.

Now thankfully there are many hymns that have been written that help us to have this clear and biblical understanding of God. Now some of these hymns are very simple. Some of you when you grew up in the Sunday school might remember this little song. They call it song because they are very short, but in a sense they are hymns. And one such hymn, Sunday school hymn is “God Is So Good”. I’m sure most of you remember or know of that song. “God is so good, God is so good, God is so good to me.” Now it might be just a simple line, but it is a profound truth.

I’m not sure how much you know of this has come into your mind and your heart when you think of God that God is good, that God is so good. I think perhaps we have not given enough thought to this truth about God. And what James is writing here in this text is to impress upon us the goodness of God. And so he writes in verse 17: “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights”. As I say, he is here trying to impress upon us the goodness of God. So again I ask: What is your concept, your ideas of God? Is He powerful? Is He kind? Is He good? And what does that mean? How should that truth impact you?

And so James wants us to see so God is good. You see, many Christians are deceived as I said and actually have a very faulty view of God, especially in times of trouble. That is where we begin to see or to realise people’s or Christians’ understanding of God. I said especially in times of trials, now many Christians are troubled. Remember James is still talking about trials in life and temptation that we face in our life. And he says that many Christians or so-called Christians in times of suffering begin to have unworthy thoughts of God. Why? In what sense? In a sense that we think that God is the One to be blamed for all our troubles.

Isn’t that very common even of Christians to challenge God, to ask God why, and even to be angry with God? You’re angry with God? And we have no shame. Now when we speak of God in this way and we dare to be angry with God, we think of God as the One who is holding back our happiness. He doesn’t want us to be happy. He’s the great killjoy. You see, these are unworthy thoughts of God because God, the God of the Bible is not like that. And so in many people’s minds or many so-called Christian’s mind, they asked if God is so good, how come I’m unemployed?

If God is so good, how come I don’t have a car? If God is so good, how come I fail my exam? If God is so good, how come I fall sick? How come I get Covid? And how come this and how come that? How can you say that God is good? You see, that is from the devil. But from the Scripture, the Scripture still maintains. Whatever might happen to you, God is still good. Do you believe in that? Do you really believe that God is good and such that His goodness, this thought that God is so good gives you great comfort in your life, give you great joy as a Christian because you know whatever might be happening to you now, He cares? He cares. He knows. He’s concerned. He doesn’t leave you nor forsakes you.

Now this is the God of the Bible alright- this is the God of the Bible. And that’s the reason why our text here begins in verse 16: “Do not be deceived”. Do not get this wrong, that’s what James is saying. Now, in what sense? Now you see, again you see James in verse 16 is transiting from the previous section to this present section, the same way we see in verse 12 transiting from the previous to the next section. You see, verse 16 is the conclusion of the previous section as if to say to the Christians, he said: “do not be deceived my beloved brethren”.

God is not the One who tempt you to evil. God is not the One who tried to make you sin. We discussed that last Sunday. Rather, God is the One who gives us good things. So God is not the One who gives us bad things as it were, but verse 17 he says God is the One who gives us good thing because “every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above”. That is what James is talking about now. He said God is good. He doesn’t give us bad things. He doesn’t try to destroy us. He doesn’t try to cause us to sin. He doesn’t bring evil upon us. But rather, He gives us good things. So God, he says, is good. That is the God of the Bible.

And in what sense is He good? And so we will look at these two verses (verses 17 and 18) and see how James alright flash it out. Verses 17 and 18. He said God is good because He gives us gifts. God is good because He gives us gifts because every good and every perfect gift comes from God, comes from above. Remember every breath that you take, every progress that you make, everything that you get are good and perfect gifts from above. Now you see, that’s the reason why we ought to remember to give thanks to God every day in our life. We wake up early in the morning, the first thing is to give thanks, not simply to rush off and to try to do your things but to remember that this is the day of the Lord.

This day is a gift from God to us. It’s not you know, we are not entitled to another day. Remember that we are not entitled to another day. You’re not entitled to another moment. See, every breath we get, you see we ought to give thanks to God. Every blessing received, every good night’s sleep, every pain relieved, we have to give thanks to God. How many of us rise up to the next morning and say good night’s rest, thank God. You know how many people in the world today that they did not have a good night’s sleep last night and you had? And you ought to be thankful. You ought to be thankful because these are gifts. Gifts mean that these are not rewards.

These are not rewards. Your life is not a reward. The things that you get are not rewards. They are gifts from God. Now turn with me to First Corinthians alright- 1 Corinthians 4:6-7. And this is what Paul told the people in his letter here. 1 Corinthians 4:6-7, he writes: “Now these things, brethren, I figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. (Verse 7) For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?”.

Now always ask ourselves the question: What is it that we have that we did not receive? These are all gifts from God. You see, God is so good, and He’s such a kind God now such that He actually blessed people generally in this world. In fact, it is a sin of anyone in this world not to be thankful for all that they have. In fact, our great sin is that we are not thankful because God gives to everyone generally. And that’s what He tells us in Matthew chapter 5 alright- Matthew 5:45, now this is the goodness of God.

Matthew 5:45 says: “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”. Even though the people of the world rebel against Him, they do not live according to His will, but God is still good to us in this world. Generally, His common grace He blesses people. He gives to all liberally. The sun shines and the rain falls on everybody alike. But He gives to us, His children specially. You know that is a special grace to His children that He will care for us in ways that He will not care for other people. I’m not sure whether as a Christian you feel the privilege, you feel the blessing.

And this is what Jesus tries to help the disciples to see in Matthew chapter 6. In Matthew 6:26 where Jesus says: “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”. You see, Jesus said look at these creatures of the air that they are being cared for by God. And you know who is God? God is your heavenly Father. And so He ends in verse 26: “Are you not of more value than they?”. If God cares for the non-Christians; if God cares for all those people who are rebelling against Him who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; if God cares for the birds of the air and the animals in the jungle, wouldn’t He care for you, His precious children?

I’m not sure how often we feel the privilege that we are God’s precious children. You see, this is our problem, and often in our life, we forget. We forget that we are precious to God because we are saved by His grace, saved by the blood of His Son. Are you not of more value? And that is from Jesus. He said you have more value. God is good. He’s good to all generally, but especially to His children and you are a child of God. Now you can take comfort in this truth. If you are a child of God, this is God’s assurance to you that He will never leave you nor forsake you. Does that sound good? Unless you don’t believe in that- now unless you don’t believe it, and unless you don’t meditate on that.

But this is the precious truth of the Scripture. This is our God. This is our heavenly Father. And so we say that God is good because He gives us gifts. These are gifts. These are not rewards. And these gifts are good and perfect gifts. Note, these gifts are good and perfect gifts, James tells us. He says: “every good and every perfect gift comes from above”. You see what James is trying to help us see is he says that you see, we not only receive gifts. And then he kind of contrast it with the gifts that we so often receive from humans, from men.

But you see very often we are disappointed with the gifts that we receive from people. isn’t it not because they are not often perfect gifts alright. They may be good gifts, but they are not perfect gifts. In what sense? Well, you see again in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:11. Now Jesus says: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”. So Jesus is like making a contrast here, a comparison to help us see that when we receive gifts from God, the gifts are different now at least in these two senses.

Man’s gifts very often are not perfect in the sense that they are insufficient gifts. They’re insufficient. Very often we hear appeal for help. People are suffering today and they ask for help. And all we can give is old clothing. And when they receive on the other end and they feel that it doesn’t fit. It’s not sufficient. It doesn’t really. These are not perfect gifts. And worse, they get a lot of underwear alright which they do not need. Now you see, these are the gifts of men. I say God’s gifts are not like that. God’s gifts are not like that.

Now also men’s gift, they are not perfect in the sense that very often they are not suitable. They are good gifts but imagine that Oliver receives a wedding gift, a tie. A pink tie alright. You might be wondering it’s a good tie, but whether that is a suitable gift for him. Or we may have Bryanna receiving a gift for Chinese New Year or for Christmas and it’s electric shaver alright. Say it’s a good gift alright branded but not a suitable gift. See, God doesn’t give us gifts like that. God knows exactly what you need alright and He gives you a good and also a perfect gift. So God’s gifts are good and perfect in the sense that it is complete, it is lacking in nothing alright. It’s complete. It’s perfect in that sense. It is just what you need.

See, when God gives you a gift, He gives you just what you need. And so when you receive a handphone, it’s just a Galaxy 4 (I think no more Galaxy 4 alright instead of an iPhone), but that’s just what you need alright. Or maybe you get a car, it’s an Axia alright instead of a Vios, but that is exactly what you need. Or you might think that when God gives you a gift in the form of a spouse and you look at your wife and she nags, nags, nags, nags alright and you wonder that is the perfect gift from God. Sometimes that is what you need alright- that is what you need. You need someone to nag at you. Or you look at your sister.

Now some of you have sisters alright. I told my sons, look at your sister. She is God’s good and perfect gift alright. The sons sometime may not agree alright, but she is a good and perfect gift from God. Look at your situation in life. You see, very often we can’t see why that is God’s good and perfect gift. But remember, that is still the situation that God wants you to be in. That is the situation God wants you to be in so as to sanctify you, to mould you, to make you to be more complete or perfect or matured in Christ. So God is good because He gives us gifts. The gift are not rewards, but His gifts are good and perfect.

Now secondly, James tells us that God is good because He never stops giving. Now turn again back to James 1:17 and see how James puts it. James 1:17, he says: “Every good and every perfect gift is from above”. And then he says: “and comes down from the Father of lights”. I’m not sure your translation the phrase “comes down” now how is it being translated. Here it says “and comes down”, but the idea here, the tense is that it conveys the idea of a continuous outpouring, keeps coming down. That is the idea there. So God’s gifts come down to us continuously. So first, it speaks of abundance. It keeps coming down. It is God keeps pouring into our lives blessing upon blessing.

And that’s why we sing the hymn “Count your blessing and name them one by one, and you will be surprised what the Lord has done”. Now that is what James is saying here. So that is God’s gift. That is why James says that God is good. He never stops giving to us. It speaks of abundance. It speaks of abundance. He keeps pouring and pouring and pouring His blessing upon our lives. And so the psalmist remembers in Psalm 103 cries out as he remembers the goodness of God, as he remembers the mercy and the kindness of God. He writes: “Bless the LORD, O my soul”. Psalm 103: “All that is within me, bless His holy name!”.

You see, when a person understands something of the goodness of God, now his soul- his soul will pour forth praise. His heart will rise up and he will open his mouth to praise God. You see, every week when he comes here and sings praises to God, now that ought to be the way we praise God with the way we sing hymns, hymns of praise. It should be from our heart. It should be with that realisation of how much God has done for me that I’m so blessed. “O Bless the LORD, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name!”. Why? He said: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits”.

Now, that is praise. That is a person who understands that God is One who never stops giving and all His benefits. And then he begins to list them one by one as it were in verse 3 and verse 4 and verse 5. Now that is what James is talking about that God is good because He never stops giving. He speaks of abundance. It’s like a parent. It’s like a parent. A mom never stops giving to her children. Mom will always be giving her milk, food, toys, education, her time, her energy, losing sleep, everything. And she’s been pouring and pouring and pouring upon her children. And even when the children have grown up and when she comes back, when the children come back to her mom will still be pouring blessing upon blessing to her children.

Now that is what James is talking about. Now you see, when James says that God’s blessing keeps coming down, he also speaks of constancy. Comes down from above also speaks of constancy. Again in verse 17 where James continues that “it comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning”. No variation or shadow of turning. It means that God is faithful. He will always be faithful even when we are faithless. Now so often we find that we don’t deserve. Yes, God doesn’t wait for you to be deserving before He gives us. He will constantly because it’s not dependent upon us; because it is dependent upon Him. And that’s why He gives in that way constantly. There is no shadow or turning means what? It means that He will always do it.

Remember tomorrow the Sun will rise and the rain will come. Constantly, now every day we see God blessing us with sunlight, with rain. You know a time when the sky was filled with haze, but we know that God is good. One day the haze will go away and fresh air will return. Today our airs are filled with viruses, but God is still good. God is still good. Believe that one day God will remove this from us and it will be God who is doing it, not science. God is in charge. You see, that’s why in hymns we sing of God’s faithfulness to us.

You might know of a hymn that says that His mercies are new every morning. “Morning by morning new mercies I see. All that I’ve needed Thy hand had provided”. Now that is the goodness of God faithfully, every day, constantly pouring into our life blessing upon blessing. Now to say that God giving or blessing upon us is constant, there’s no variation or shadow of death of turning, it’s also to say that God does not give according to His mood. So one day when God is happy, He gives us more. Second day you know He feels unhappy, He gives us less. No, God does not like people rising up one day on the wrong side of the bed alright, and then He’s moody, and then we are in trouble that day.

See, people change, and that’s why we cannot trust them. But God does not change. Our God is immutable, unchangeable, the same yesterday today, and forever. Therefore, He never stops giving. God is good because He does not, He never stops giving. And finally, James tells us that God is good because He gives us the best gift. He gives us the best gift. What is that? Verse 18: “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”.

You see, earlier on in verses 14 and 15, James tells us that God does not give us temptation that leads to death. God does not give us temptation that gives birth to death. And then here in verse 18 (the contrast), God gives us His Word that gives birth to life. The contrast, not giving birth to death but conception, that gave birth to life. He chose us (in the NIV alright)- He chose us, but He chose to give us birth through the word of truth. Now that is the meaning here in verse 18. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth. So what is the best gift from God? What is the best gift? It is eternal life. It is life.

And that’s the reason why when Jesus asked the disciples this question in John chapter 6 and the disciples understood what really is the best gifts from God. Now listen as Jesus asked the disciples this question in verse 67: “Then Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” (Verse 68) But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”. You have the words of eternal life. You see, Peter priced this gift from God. And that is what James is talking about here that this great gift of God, the gift of eternal life alright- the gift of eternal life, now is that what you treasure? Is that what you want? That is what God is giving to us.

You see, you may be very blessed in this life, blessed in the sense you are blessed with the material things of this world- blessed with a house, blessed with a car, blessed with an education, blessed with many things. But this is the best alright- this is the best, eternal life. Now how does this gift come to us? How does this gift come to us? James clarifies that alright- he clarified. “He brought us forth (or He give us birth) by the word of truth”. By the word of truth and that we might be the first kind or a kind of first fruit of His creature. And so that is how we receive this gift by the Word of truth.

Now Peter concurs when he writes in his letter in 1 Peter 1:23, and this is what Peter writes: “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever”. Now that is how we receive this life. We receive this life through the incorruptible word of the living God. And so James says that God is good. He’s so good to us. He gives us good and perfect gifts, and His gifts keep coming down upon us. And the best- the best is that He gives us eternal life through His Word. You see, God is not a giver of evil. God is a giver of good. God is a giver of good and especially to us, His children. Let us pray.

“Our dear Father in heaven, we thank You again for this wondrous truth of the goodness of God. Lord, how often we think of You with as someone as not faithful and someone who often neglect us, as someone who actually caused us to suffer and sin. Lord, we pray that we might come to Your Word so that we might have an accurate and bright view of You and to know that You are such a wonderful God. Indeed You are a God who gives us Your best and even your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now help us as Your people to know You as You truly are as You have been revealed in the Scripture. And help us to love You for who You are, for we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.