I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of James, chapter one. James,
chapter one. Let's ask our Lord's blessing
this evening. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for the time that we have to call upon you in the name
of Christ Jesus, our Lord. We ask you to have mercy. Lord,
teach us this evening, help us, help us to worship, and forgive
us where we fail you, for Christ's sake. Amen. I'm gonna be looking at verse
18, James chapter one, verse 18. There's a truth that is found
throughout God's Word that is the most despised, hated, rejected
truth by this world and its false religion. And here's that truth,
that doctrine. This is the most despised truth. all of the scriptures. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Well, I want us to for a few
minutes just to look at this passage of scripture and let's
see what God has to say concerning this truth. And may we recognize
that God is true and every man is a liar. Now here's what God
has to say. The Holy Spirit moved upon the
Apostle James to pen this verse. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth that we should be kind of firstfruits of his
creatures now according to the scriptures Almighty God has set forth that
of his own will now the the miracle of This truth is set forth when
we understand exactly what was just said. The word own, O-W-N,
of His, now here's the meaning of that word, of His private,
of His separate will. intent of his private separate
will and intent when it comes to salvation this is what that
verse of scripture right here says the only one that has a
will when it comes to man's salvation is the Lord that's what that
verse just said of his individual, private, separate will. God has a will concerning man's
salvation and that is the only will concerning salvation toward
men that exists. Man died spiritually in the garden
and therefore he can do nothing. because he has no will to do
anything that is good before God. The Lord told Moses, Exodus
33, 19, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will. Individually. I will separately. I alone will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy. So what, according to
the scriptures, did God do for hell deserving sinners concerning
His will, His intent, His own individual separate desire? What did God do to show mercy
to sinners? Alright, hold your place there
and just look at this very familiar, Ephesians chapter 1. I love that
passage of scripture. Paul says, for me to say the
same things to you is not grievous to me. He said, for you it's
safe. It's the Spirit of God solidifies
in the minds and hearts of His people by us hearing over and
over and over. What did the Lord separately,
individually, What did God do concerning His will to show mercy? Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 it
says, He placed all that He purposed to show mercy in Christ before
the foundation of the world, the city of refuge. Ephesians
1 verse 4, According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, for this intent, for this reason, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. God purposed that
His people were going to be justified, holy, without blame, before Him,
in love, in Christ. How was He going to do that? Well, the scripture says that
God put them in the city of refuge. In the haven of rest, that's
what He did. And I realize that the scriptures
are written such in a chronological way, but God eternally purposed
all of this. And so when we look at it, we
can't say He did this first, then He did this, You know, Brother
Henry was asked one time, let me ask you, what came first,
faith or belief? He said you can't separate them.
When God grants faith, man believes. It's instantaneous. So what did
God do? Well, according to the scriptures,
He purposed to show mercy by putting His people in the only
safe place that they could be in. He put him in his son. And then the scripture declares
in verse 5 that he adopted all of his elect in Christ. He adopted
them as his children. These are my children. I'm adopting
them. The scripture says having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. And then the scripture declares
that He accepted us. He chose us in Christ, adopted
us in Christ, and accepted us in the only one in whom He was
well pleased, verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace
wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. And then the
scripture says, according to His will, He redeemed us by the
shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby
released us from the bondage of sin. Verses 7 and 8. In whom,
that is in Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence and then the scripture
says according to his own will and grace he was pleased to tell
us about it in time he revealed this truth to the objects of
his mercy verse 9 having made known unto us the mystery of
his will According to the good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself. Now God has a will. He's willed
to save his people. Chose them, adopted them, accepted
them. told him about it. That's what
we're doing right now. He's telling us about it. Telling
us afresh and solidifying by faith this truth that we understand. And then the last part of this
portion of scripture right here, he willed to have all his people
with him everlastingly and to give them the kingdom. to give them all that He's ever
prepared. This is what, in verse 10, that
in the dispensation of the fullness of time, He might gather together
in one all things in Christ. both which are in heaven, which
are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."
So the scripture declares back in James chapter 1, verse 18,
of his own will. God did something. for those
that he provided all of these blessings and gifts that we just
read about in Ephesians chapter 1. This is what he did. He begat
us. He generated us. He produced a new man. Now here's the first promise
the open manifestation of God's will to show mercy and compassion
to His people. This is how you know those that
God has everlastingly purposed to show mercy. The Spirit of
God births them from above. He creates a new man. They are made to be partakers,
the scripture says, of a divine, of the divine nature. Now this is a miracle of God's
grace. Here is a man, a woman, sinners
by birth. Sinners by choice, sinners by
practice. And Almighty God takes that sinner and He creates life. creates a new man, a new creature,
created in righteousness. Creates a new man, a new birth. There's a new person, a new nature. And it's a holy, a divine nature. It's created in Christ. It's
Christ in you, the hope of glory. God Himself inhabits His people. They are not divine as God is
divine. It's divinely created, is what I meant to say. So here's
the promise. God creates a new man, forms
a new creature. And according to His will, Almighty
God is pleased to do this. One way, and one way only. This is the only way that Almighty
God creates, begats of His own will, His creatures. This is
the only way. Verse 18, James chapter 1, of
His own will begat He us with the word of truth. This is it. There's no other
way. I can't talk you into it. I have no power, no ability,
no verbiage to be able to create such wonderful sounding promises
and gifts. I cannot create life in you. God Almighty alone, by His singular
will, Creates life in his people and he does it by the word of
truth by the proclamation of the gospel that message that
gives all glory and honor and praise to the God of all grace
every time I stand up I I'm listening to what I'm saying And I'll take
these notes, and I've gone over them, and I'll go over them again,
and I'll go over them again, and I usually rewrite them about
two or three times, and I'll finish a message, and she'll
ask me, she says, now how many times are you going to rewrite
that? And I said, well, two or three, something like that. I
will go over these notes and I want to say this exactly the
way as much as in my power that I want to say it. I want to say
it clearly, but I realize that my best efforts of writing down
a set of notes means nothing unless God blesses it. I want
to preach the gospel. What is that message? It is the
message of God Almighty's grace and mercy to helpless, hopeless,
impotent sinners in themselves. And that message that gives all
the honor, all the glory, all the praise unto God Almighty
and none to the recipients of His grace. It gives God the glory. It's the gospel that praises
the God of all grace. This truth exposes all of man-centered,
self-willed preaching that declares man to have the last word in
salvation. It sets forth the heinous lies
of men that are left to themselves to accept or reject the gospel. Salvation is of the Lord. If God is pleased to save a sinner,
According to His word and His will, that sinner must hear the
gospel of God's grace. He must believe. He must believe. Can a sinner
be saved without believing? No. No. He that believeth on
the Son hath life. He must hear the gospel. He must
believe. And Almighty God grants His people
faith. And they are willing in the day
of God's power. And they do believe. So, He,
by His own will, begat us with the word of truth. With the gospel
of God's free grace. 1 Corinthians 1, 17-18, For God
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom
of words. Not trying to embellish. You
know, this is what when we stand or any man stands in this pulpit
to preach. Tell us what God has to say. Don't try to improve on what,
don't try to make yourself, don't, not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cross And I've said before, the preaching of
the cross is the declaration of the gospel of God's free grace,
that which Almighty God purposed to do before the foundation of
the world. Not just the crucifixion. The crucifixion was the epitome
of what Almighty God did in the redemption of His people. But
Almighty God's will and purpose for all eternity is the preaching
of the cross. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish, or the wording is literally, is to them that
are perishing. Foolishness. The preaching of
the gospel is foolishness to those that are perishing, but
unto us which are saved, which are being saved. And God's people
are being saved right now. He has saved us. He saved us
and called us. So, eternally, Almighty God will
save His people and what God will is done. He's saving us
right now. Right now we're being kept by
the power of God. And we shall be saved if we endure
to the end. And unless He keeps us, we won't.
We're kept by the power of God and salvation. But this message,
the preaching of the cross is to them, their perishing is foolishness
unto us which are saved. It's the power of God. Brethren,
the preaching of the gospel of God's grace. It's not just another
message that God blesses to the calling out of His sheep. It
is the only message. There is no other message. There is no other message preached. Men stand up in pulpits every
week and they declare that they're preaching an offer to men. It is not the gospel and God
does not bless it to the salvation of men's souls. Men, women are
not saved until God saves them unto the preaching of the gospel. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, 14. I
love this passage. You know that we're bound to
give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel. to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This gospel is the message that
must be preached. Turn with me to Mark, and I'll
try to wrap this up. Turn with me to the book of Mark,
chapter 4. Mark chapter 4, verse 21. The Lord is preaching
here. He said, Mark 4, verse 21, He
said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or
under a bed, and not to be set on a candlestick? Not only do
we need to hear the truth of the gospel, but those that have
been taught the gospel are to be telling others what the Lord
has done for us. Candle is not to be lit and then
concealed, it's to be placed on a candlestick for the benefit
of others. Therefore, knowing that, We are
to be prayerfully seeking God's direction. Keep back nothing
that would be profitable to the people of God. We do not shun
the declaration of the whole counsel of God and the preaching
of the gospel. That is the whole counsel of
God. Listen to what Peter said in
1 Peter 4.10. We need to tell people, I do
understand Many times people will, you want to say something
to them, and I've often said the best thing you can do for
anybody is just tell them, say, look, why don't you come and
just sit and listen to the pastor? That's the safest thing you can
do. Just invite them to come. Many will tell you, well, I'm
not interested. I understand. I understand. But,
listen to Peter. First Peter 4.10. And as every
man hath received the gift. Now what gift? Well, for by grace
are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for by
grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. God Almighty gives His people
a gift. He gives them Christ, God's salvation,
as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same
one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
We're ambassadors for Christ. You say, well I'm not a preacher.
You're a human being. You see people, you meet people,
you work with people. Ask them to come. Oh, they won't
come. How do you know? You came. How
do you know that God won't be pleased? I don't know who the
Lord is going to show mercy. I don't know who the Lord's sheep
are. I don't know who they are. But I do know how He's going
to save them. I know what He's going to do in calling them out. We tell them the truth. We invite
them to come and pray the Lord blesses it according to His will.
We tell them, come here, come at the woman at the well. What'd
she do? The Lord told her all things
that ever she did. She went and she told some men,
she says, come see this man that told me everything I ever did.
Is this not the Christ? And they came. They came. So
Mark 4 21 he said unto them is a candle brought to be put under
a bushel or under a bed not For there is nothing hid which shall
not be manifested Neither was anything kept secret, but that
it should come abroad. What is he talking about? He
said this God has a people God's going to save His people. He's
going to call them out of darkness. And there's nothing, this candle
is put on a candlestick and we invite men to come and tell them. And if the Lord's pleased, they
come. He gives them a desire to come. I had somebody tell
me the other day. They said, I'm coming Easter
Sunday. I said, great, great. I've been
asking her. I said, won't you come? And she
said, I'm going to come Easter Sunday. I said, wonderful, we
have a meeting. Lord willing, we're going to have two men come
preach the gospel to us. Won't you come and listen? So
I pray that she does. I hope she does. But here's what
the Lord's promised to all that He's everlastingly willed to
show mercy. He said in verse 22, there is
nothing hid. That is, there's nothing within
the secret counsel of Almighty God, the mysteries of God's will
and purpose that God is pleased to reveal. There's nothing that
will be withheld. for the good of those that God
has purposed to show mercy. His sheep are going to hear. This candlestick is put forth. And when His people come and
God's pleased to open their eyes and give them light, this is
what He's saying. There's nothing that's hidden
now from them which shall not be manifested. Think about what
the Lord has taught us. I mean, so many here that have
sat under the gospel for years and years and years. And you
think, what we learned, what God has been pleased to teach
us through this candlestick that's been set forth. Neither was anything
kept secret that it should come abroad. Now here's what He says
in verse 23. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. The candlestick is the gospel.
He's promised there's not going to be anything hidden from God's
people. God Almighty is going to bless
it, and God gives them ears. If any man by grace have spiritual
ears or right understanding of what the Lord has said, that
understanding that He's given that man is going to hear. He's
going to hear in his heart. Then He said in verse 24, and
He said unto them, Take heed what ye hear. with what measure
ye meet it shall be measured to you and unto you that here
shall more be given." Now what is he talking about? Here's a
word of caution. Here's a word of caution to everyone
that has ears to hear. Here's the caution. Give diligent
attention to whatever you hear. Take heed to what is preached. Take heed. Don't accept something
just because I said it. Search the Scriptures and see
if these things be so. Search God's Word. Listen to
what's said. God's going to manifest His truth.
If man has ears to hear, he'll hear. He will hear. Let him hear.
But take heed what you hear. With what measure you meet, it
shall be measured to you. If the Lord has given us understanding
in His Word, we're going to measure some things. We're going to measure,
first of all, ourselves and our continual need to be taught.
We're going to measure what God has to say about us. You know,
we're going to realize I'm a frail creature that needs to be taught. I don't know everything. I know
in part and prophesy in part. There's some things that God's
taught each of us. We know the truth, salvation
is of the Lord. But I'll tell you this, we don't
know everything. There's some things that I read, and I just
have to be honest with you, I don't know, I don't know. The Lord's
not been pleased to reveal everything to all people, but I'll tell
you this, we'll measure ourselves. And another thing that we'll
measure, we'll measure every time we hear the glory of God
in Christ, we'll measure that. Is he getting all the honor,
glory, and praise? We ask and we seek and we knock
at the door of mercy, and he's promised, he said, it'll be revealed.
So he said, take heed what you hear, with what measure you meet,
it shall be measured to you. None to you that hear shall more
be given. I'll teach you. We'll grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, for he that hath, hearing ears,
to him shall be given, and he that hath not from him shall
be taken, even that which he hath. To the awakened soul there'll
be a growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord, but to
those that have not the knowledge of Christ, those who possess
but a speculative notion of the gospel without a work of God
in their heart, in their soul, their pretended faith, their
pretended hope in Christ shall eventually It may be in the day
of judgment, but eventually it's going to be discovered. And even
their empty hope will then be taken away from them. Lord, we
prophesied, we cast out devils, we've done so many wonderful
works in your names. Depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. So the end
of God's will and purpose to save His people through the means
of the preaching of the gospel comes down to this, this last
part back in James, that we should be a kind of first fruits of
his creatures. The first fruits were those fruits
that came of the promise of a full harvest that would come. That open manifestation was that
first promise that this is what the Lord says that we shall be.
Here God calls out His people and here's the manifestations
of God's kindness to hell-deserving sinners. He created man in innocence,
man rebelled on purpose, and God Almighty purposed according
to His will to save His people, and He's going to do it. He's
going to call them of His own will. begat he us with the word
of truth that we should be kind of first fruits of his creatures. He willed to pay our debt that
was owed to his broken law. He willed by being made flesh
to earn a righteousness as a man, the God-man, mediator, as a man
Christ earned a righteousness. Almighty looked and said, this
is my beloved son whom I'm well pleased. You hear him. That righteousness,
Almighty God was well pleased with. His obedience robes every
believer now. Right now. We stand before God
Almighty with no condemnation. I pray that God be pleased to
teach us afresh this glorious truth that we love. We love this
truth. Salvation is of the Lord. May God bless it to our hearts
tonight again, for Christ's sake. Amen.