Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. If you would like to turn with
me in your Bible, we're going to be in James chapter one. And our text is going to come
from one verse of scripture. And this verse is so clear. I have loved this verse for years. This is such a clear declaration
of the gospel of salvation. This is such a clear outline
in how our Lord saved his people. And it's verse 18, James chapter
one, verse 18. It says, of his own will, begat he us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. And don't you love how clear
God's word is? Isn't that so clear, so easy
to understand? Of his own will, begat he us
with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits
of his creatures. What he is giving us is a who,
what, how, and why. If you really think about what
that verse of scripture is saying, he's telling us who, how, who,
what, how, and why. of his own will." Who? Of his own will. What? Begat he us. How? With the word of truth. Why? That we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. Now, the reason people go to
church Or let me say it like this, this
ought to be the reason why all men and women go to a place to
worship God, hear from God. The reason that men and women
go to church is to find out something about salvation. We need to know
the truth about salvation. We need salvation. What motivates men and women
to go to a place And hear a man preach from the Bible is deep
down, they know, we all know that we're sinners. We all know
that. And that's the motivation to
go hear about salvation and hear about the things of eternity. We know that we're sinners and
we know that we have a need. Now, the problem for men and
women all over the world is they go to a place to hear from God's
word. But most men who stand in pulpits
today do not preach God's word. That's a big problem, isn't it?
They go to hear the truth of what God has to say concerning
the salvation of a sinner. But men do not stand up and preach
the truth of what God has to say concerning the salvation
of a sinner. And that's a big problem. Instead
of declaring this good news, it's called, the gospel is called
good news. It's good news of a finished
salvation in the blood of Jesus Christ. But instead of declaring
that, instead of standing up and just like Moses said, be
still. and see the salvation of the
Lord. Wait, rest. That's the message of the gospel
rest. But instead of saying that these men will stand up and spend
all of their time trying to get men and women to do something. Now I want to Back up a little
bit and repeat this. The gospel is stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Rest in Christ. Look to Christ. But instead of telling people
that, men stand up and they try to get men and women to do something. Now, you think about the times
that you have sat in a church service, listened to a man stand
up and tell me if that is not so. They stand up and spend all
of the time that they're given trying to get men and women to
do something. They want them to do something.
You have to do something. If you want to get right with
God, you need to do this, or you need to stop doing this. And sadly it works. Their tactics
work. Men and women start doing. or stop doing. And the lies fool
these poor souls. And these poor souls leave that
place wherever they went and whoever they heard, they leave
that place saying things like this. I got saved. They listened to
what the man said, do they decided to do it? So they say, I got
saved. Or they say, I made my decision
today. I made my decision. Now, is that
what the declared truth of God's word? Is that what the truth
of God's word will cause a sinner to say? Is that the response? When God's truth is declared,
when a sinner hears what God has said, Is that the response
that that sinner has? I made my decision to get saved. Is that what men and women say
after they truly hear from God? God opens their eyes, opens their
ears. The answer is that's not the
response. That's not the response. And
I want to ask all of us this morning, this question. I want
to ask myself, and I want to ask you both of us, and let's
answer this in our hearts. Let's answer this honestly in
our hearts. Who decided to save us? Who decided
to save us? Did we decide? Or did God decide? Who made the decision to save
us? Well, what does our text say?
James 1 verse 18 says, of his own will. Of his own will. Somebody will say, they'll try
to make the argument that we need to at least consider man's
free will. We don't. We don't. We don't even need to give it
the time of day. I don't know why this flesh tries to convince
itself that it has a free will. The flesh loves the thought of
a free will. It has the final say in the matter. That's what the flesh believes.
I have the final say over whether or not I'm going to be saved.
In John six, this is what our Lord said. He said, you cannot
come to me. You cannot come to me. In John
five, our Lord said, you will not come to me. Even if you could,
you won't. And even if you wanted to, you
couldn't. If it was left up to our will,
and this is what God says, this is not any man's opinion, this
is what God Almighty says. If it was left up to our will,
no one would be saved. Cannot come, will not come. If it is finally in my hands,
I have no hope. No one would be saved. And here's
the reason, if you're looking with me here at James 1, verse
13 says, let no man say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of
God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he
any man. But every man is tempted when
he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin. That is what is original
to man. Sin. Sin. Lust of the flesh. And that bringeth
forth sin. And sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death. Death. The only thing that's
original to man is sin, and that sin brings death, spiritual death,
and eventually physical death. Ephesians 2 verse 1 says that
every man and woman born into this world is born dead in trespasses
and sins. That's how we come forth, dead
in trespasses and sins. A dead man cannot come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Can't do it. A dead man will
not come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He won't do it. He's dead. He
can't. And he won't. And you know, God could have
left us there. That's where we. Began as we
entered this world, we began this world dead and God could
have just left us there. He could have just been done
with us. left us for dead. But do you
know what the glorious news of the gospel is? The glorious news
of God's own word is this. Of his own will, he didn't leave us. Of his own
will, he begat us. of his own will. He begat us
because he wanted to. That's why he did it because
he wanted to because of a compassion that originated in him. Not because
of any work that the dead man did. Not because of any feeling
or emotion or decision that the dead man made. of his own will,
all because he wanted to. It's what he wanted to do because
of a compassion that originated in him. He begat us. Now, if you're turning with me,
look at Romans 9, verse 15, Romans 9, verses 15 and 16. They say,
for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, no sinner, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. What that means is he did it. He did it all. He is the one
who did every bit of it. Our salvation, all done by him. The most amazing thing about
it to me, this is something that I ponder often. This is so amazing. It's called amazing grace. And
this is what makes it so amazing. He wanted to do this. Seeing
just a little bit of the depravity of man, seeing a little bit of
the death, the decay of the flesh, the stench that we are before
God, it's amazing that God even wanted to. But he did. He did. We were nothing but rebellious
against him, nothing but enmity against him, and he could have
just been done with us. But he did not do it. He didn't
do it. Of his own will he begat us. Now what does that mean? What
does begat mean? Well according to the dictionary
it means to bring forth. It means to give birth to. It means to generate. To generate. Look with me at John chapter
1. Over in John chapter one, it says in verse three, all things
were made by him and without him was not anything made that
was made. Jesus Christ made everything.
everything. Jesus Christ generated everything. Jesus Christ formed man from
the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. Jesus Christ did that. He is
the one who has given life and birth to every man and woman
on this earth. If life comes forth, God did
that, God gave that. But when man sinned against him
in the garden, when Adam sinned and Eve sinned, every man that came from Adam
and Eve died with Adam and Eve. When man sinned, man died, spiritually
died. Because of that sin, the Apostle
Paul called this body the body of death. Spiritual death, which
leads to physical death. And it does not matter how much
religion a man has. It does not matter how much religion
a man has. Men and women just immerse themselves
in religion, religion. And it does not matter how much
religion a man has or a woman has. It does not matter how good
a man is as he walks this life. It does not matter how moral
a man is. It does not matter how much a
man tries to obey the commandments of God. When it comes to the
issue of eternal salvation. A man or a woman only has one
hope. He or she can try to be as good
as they can be. But here's why I say it doesn't
matter. It's never going to be good enough. Never. Never. A man or a woman only
has one hope. There is one hope. One hope alone. Our Lord told a man named Nicodemus
what it was. If you look over a couple of
pages at John 3, verse 1 says, there was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man was a preacher. He was a preacher, a religious
man. Verse two says, the same came
to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou
art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles
that thou doest except God be with him. He said, we know that.
He knew that Jesus Christ was of God. He acknowledged him to
be so openly. Our Lord, though, is about to
tell him, and he's about to tell us by recording this for us,
that this man, Nicodemus, still was not saved. He was a preacher. Not saved. A not saved preacher. That's what he was. He was a
devout religious man. He went to church. He went to
church and he was not saved. He was a ruler of the Jews, a
respected man, a moral man, and not saved. Not saved. None of those things mattered
when it came to the issue of eternal life. Verse three says,
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Unless a man is born again, Nicodemus,
you're doing all these things, you're a ruler of the Jews, but
he said, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Unless a man is generated again. God generated every man and woman
on this earth. Because of sin we lost it all
we lost life. We lost spiritual life If God
leaves us alone If God leaves us alone, that's how we will
remain for all eternity Spiritually dead spiritually dead physically
dead The only hope that any of us have, starting with me, the
only hope that I have is if God of his own will will come to
us, you and me, and regenerate us. That's the only hope, regenerate
us. Over in 1 Peter chapter three,
chapter one, verse three says, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy,
hath begotten us again. Oh, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy,
hath begotten us again. unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's what it took. That's what
it took in order to remove the sin. As long as sin is there,
there can be no life. As long as sin is there, there
can be no life. Sin only brings death. The wages of sin is death. And in order to remove that rotting
decay of sin from us, in order to pay off the debt with God
that that sin incurred, In order to put the fresh, sweet, as the
scripture says, do of youth, do of youthful life back into
us, there was only one thing that could accomplish that. One
thing of his own will. Begat he us with the word of
truth. It took the word of truth. Now. John chapter one, we were
just there in John chapter one. Verse one says, if we want to
answer the question, what is the word of truth? John one verse
one says in the beginning was the word. The word was with God
and the word was God. Verse 14 says, and the word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ is the word of truth. He said, I am the way I am the
truth. I am the life. In John 3, he
told Nicodemus, here he is telling this man, this religious man,
Nicodemus, he told him exactly what it took to save every soul
that God of his own will purposed to save. John 3, verse 14, he
said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Moses and the children of Israel
were out in the wilderness and these deadly snakes were killing
and biting and killing the venom of these snakes that were killing
the people and God said, you make a snake that looks just
like the one that's killing the people out of brass, put it on
a pole and you lift it up and you tell the people to look to
that brazen serpent and whoever looks will live. And the reason
God told Moses to do that is because verse 14 says, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
son of man be lifted up. Even so, in order to save a soul
and regenerate a soul from the sin that was killing it, Christ
had to be made the very sin that was killing his people. He had
to. Christ had to take that sin upon
himself and hang that sin in him on a pole, on a cross. And he had to suffer the effect
of that sin in his own body. He had to die. He had to die. And the moment he did that, The
moment he died, God's people lived. Every soul that he died
for lived at that very moment. Of his own will, begat he us
with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits
of his creatures, that we might live. As he is, so might we be. He arose and we arose with him. He brought faith to us and caused
us to look to him. We were dead, but now we see.
And he did all this because he loved us. He loved his own. And because of that love of his
own will, he gave his only begotten son. That's amazing, isn't it?
That's amazing. He bought us with his own blood.
I want to tell you a story. And I love this story and I believe
this is a very good illustration of what Christ did in order to
save his people. There's a man that I love very
dearly. He's been a missionary to Mexico
for decades, many, many years. And he tells the story of a young
boy down there in Mexico, that very young boy, this was many
years ago, but he wanted a kite. And his family, like many of
the families down there, they live in grass huts and they don't
have hardly anything. His dad was a very poor man,
barely put food on the table. And he didn't have the money
to buy a kite. And that little boy wanted one so badly. And his
father felt so sorry for him because he couldn't afford to
buy him a kite. But he told his son, he said, let's make one.
So they went and got some small straight sticks and they got
some lightweight cloth and he tied that cloth around that frame
that they made and put a tail on it and put a string on it
and flew it up and it flew. And that boy was so excited.
And it went higher and higher and higher until the string broke. And the string fell, and the
kite flew over the trees and out of sight. And that little
boy went looking for it, and he couldn't find it. He was so
heartbroken. His dad was heartbroken for him.
Well, a day or so later, the little boy was walking in the
village, down the main street in the village, and he looked
over in a shop right there in the village. And on a shelf in
that shop was his kite. And he ran into that store and
he told the owner of that store, he said, mister, that's my kite.
And the man said, no, son, that's my kite. He said, but sir, I
made that kite with my father. We made it together. And he said,
son, I found this kite stuck in the weeds and it's mine now. And if you want it back, it's
going to cost you two pesos. So that little boy ran home and
he said, dad, I found our kite. It's in a store in the village.
And he said, it's going to cost two pesos to get it back. So
his father reached in his pocket and had two pesos. He gave them
to his son and that little boy ran back in town and laid them
on the counter and said, two pesos. And that man grabbed the
kite and handed it to his son. And that little boy hugged that
kite. Oh, he hugged it. He was so happy
to have that kite back. And the store owner heard that
little boy say as he was walking out the door, he said, you're
mine. You're mine. He said, you're twice mine. I
made you and I bought you. And that's what Christ did for
us. May the Lord reveal that to our
hearts and bless us by it till next week. May the Lord bless
his word. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of sovereign grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.