Of his own will begat us

'Of his own will begat us'

— James 1:18

Without question, the Word of God plainly teaches us that the source and cause of salvation is the sovereign will and pleasure of God (Rom. 9:16). The will of man is in no way the cause of salvation. Man’s will has nothing more to do with the accomplishment of salvation than his works. ‘Salvation is of the Lord’ ⎯ entirely of the Lord! Yes, man must believe. Man’s will must be incurred towards Christ. The sinner must willingly repent, believe and bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. These things are acts of the human will. They are all necessary for salvation. No man will ever be saved whose will is in rebellion to God. God will have a willing people to worship him. However, man’s will is not the cause of God’s saving grace. The cause of grace is the will of God alone and it is the grace of God that causes his people to be willing in the day of his power (Ps. 65:4; 110: 3).'Whosoever will’, let him come to Christ and be saved, and let him know assuredly that grace has made him willing to come. Otherwise he would never have the will to come.

I contend that every saved sinner gladly acknowledges the fact that the cause of, and reason for his salvation, is not his will, but God’s will. Paul’s experience of grace was a pattern, showing forth the experience of believers (I Tim. 1: 16) and it is certain that Paul’s will was not the cause of his salvation. Read Acts 9, and you will see that Paul’s will did not even co-operate with God’s will in saving him. Paul’s will was the destruction of all who worshipped Christ and the utter annihilation of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ from the earth. Grace absolutely arrested Paul. By irresistible power and grace, God made Paul fall to the ground and revealed his Son in him. Not until God had put him down in the dust on the Damascus road was Paul willing to hear his voice and trust his Son. Any man who experiences the grace that Paul experienced will gladly acknowledge what Paul acknowledged: ‘When it pleased God ... he revealed his Son in me.'