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. I invite you to turn in your
Bibles with me to the book of James chapter 1. James 1 verse
18 says this, 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 one verse gives us the who, what, how, and why of the gospel. The gospel is who, what, how,
and why. Of his own will, Begat he us
with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. The gospel means good news. That's the definition of the
word gospel, good news. If people are hearing the gospel,
they're hearing good news. And what is the good news? It's
how a sinner can be justified with God. It's good news. The truth is, in Adam, in this
flesh, all die. In Adam, all perish. Every man born in Adam has sinned. That's the truth. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's in Adam. But in the
Lord Jesus Christ, all live, all are saved, and all are justified. Now the question is, who decides? Who decides whether a person
is in Adam or in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it man? Does man decide? Does man choose
God? Do I decide for myself? Is it
of my own will? Is that what the Word of God
says? No, it does not. Verse 18 here in our text says,
of His own will. If a man or a woman lives, if
a person who's about to perish is saved, and if a sinner is
justified, cleared, who did that? God did it. Who made the decision? God made it. When did He make
that decision? The scripture says He made it
before the foundation of the world. Salvation is of His own
will. Salvation belongeth to our God. He said, I am Alpha. I'm the
beginning. I'm the author. And I am Omega. I'm the end. I'm the finisher.
He's the first, he's the last, and he's everything in between.
He's our all. He's everything. He's in all.
Our hope of glory is only in the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope of glory is only in
the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. If he wills, then we're going
to receive glory. Now somebody's going to hear
that and say, prove that to me, prove that. Okay. James one verse
18 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. If the
Lord says it once, it's bound in eternity forever. But let
me show you another one. John chapter 15 and verse 16
says this, ye have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit. You have not chosen me, but I've
chosen you. Now, the most amazing part of
salvation to me is that he actually wanted to save me. To say it's
of his own will means he actually wanted to. Why is that so amazing? Here's why. Verse 18 here in
our text says, he begat us. He made us. He created us. In Genesis 1, verses 26 and 27,
it says, And God said, Let us make man in our image. Let us,
the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness. and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in
His own image. In the image of God created He
Him, male and female, created He them." God created us. He made us. He owns us. And He warned us in Genesis chapter
2 verses 16 and 17. It says, And the Lord God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not
eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die." That's the sentence. Do not disobey
my commandment. Do not disobey my law. In the
day that you do, you're going to surely die. He lovingly warned
us. But in chapter three, verse six,
it says, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and
that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave
also unto her husband with her and he did eat and we died. We died. God said, in the day
you do, you'll surely die. And they did, and we died. In Adam, all die. Now it is appointed unto man,
once to die. A lot of people say, that is
not fair. That is not fair. I was not there
in the garden. I didn't eat of the fruit. Why
should I be punished for what they did? Don't lay that on me. I didn't do it." Yes, we did. Every person born
into this world has on their own, by themselves, sinned against
God. Every single person fails. Isn't that sad? Every single
person falls. Oh, why does that happen? Why does every single person
fall? It's because sin is what we are. It's what we are. Sin is what
we do because sin is what we are. We were conceived in sin. And this flesh, the scripture
says, is enmity against God. That means an enemy of God. But bless the Lord God. All praise
and all glory and all thanks be unto Him," the scripture says,
of His own will, He did something. He did something for some, not
for all, only for some. But the good news is He did something
for some. None deserved it, but in His mercy He did something.
Alright, let's see this in Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 says this,
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, great. And that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Oh, isn't that us by nature in
our flesh? Verse 6 says, And it repented
the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart. And this is what the Lord said
in verse 7. The Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping
thing and the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have
made them. But that's the gospel. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Did Noah deserve to find grace?
No. Was Noah any different or any
better than anyone else? No. Why did Noah find grace? Well, that's a mystery. As Ephesians chapter 1 says,
a mystery of His will. Noah by nature, he was no different
than any other man. Noah was a sinner, just like
every other man. But the Lord did something for
Noah. The Lord did something to Noah. The Lord caused him to differ. What did the Lord do to Noah?
He did the same thing that he does to each person whom he chooses
of his own will. Our text in James chapter 1 says,
Of his own will begat he us. He begat us. What does that mean? It means
he gave life to us. It means he caused us to be born
by him. WE WERE BORN THE FIRST TIME IN
ADAM. HE CREATED US IN ADAM AND WE
SINNED AGAINST HIM. SO IT'S AMAZING THAT OF HIS OWN
WILL HE BEGAT US A SECOND TIME. THE LORD IS GOOD. SO GOOD. 1 Peter 1 verse 23 says this,
BEING BORN AGAIN. BORN AGAIN. not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever." We were born again. The Lord told Nicodemus in John
chapter 3, here's his story, says, there was a man of the
Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to
Jesus by night and said unto him, 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. 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. Cannot. Nicodemus saith unto him, How
can a man be born when he is old? What do you mean, born again?
Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be
born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. THAT WHICH IS BORN OF
THE FLESH IS FLESH, AND THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT IS
SPIRIT. MARVEL NOT THAT I SAY UNTO THEE,
YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN. THE WIND BLOWETH WHERE IT LISTETH,
AND THOU HEAREST THE SOUND THEREOF, BUT CANST NOT TELL WHENCE IT
COMETH, AND WHITHER IT GOETH. SO IS EVERY ONE THAT IS BORN
OF THE SPIRIT. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? How? Who of His own will? What begat He us? We were born again. And Nicodemus
is asking, how? How is this possible? Well, our
text, James 1.18 says, With the Word of Truth. With the Word
of Truth. The same Word that was in the
beginning with God and was God. The same Word that was made flesh
and dwelt among us. He is the One who did something. He begat us. HOW IS A PERSON BORN AGAIN? BORN AGAIN TO WALK IN NEWNESS
OF LIFE? THE LORD ANSWERS THAT QUESTION
RIGHT HERE IN JOHN CHAPTER 3. VERSE 14 AND 15 THEY SAY, AS
MOSES LIFTED UP THE SERPENT IN THE WILDERNESS, EVEN SO MUST
THE SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP. THE PEOPLE WERE BEING BITTEN
BY SERPENTS. And these were deadly serpents
and it was killing the people. They were bitten by these serpents
and they were dying by this bite. And Moses made a serpent of brass
and put it on a pole and raised it up and told the people, whosoever
will look unto that brazen serpent on the pole will be healed of
his disease. Shall not die. And it says right
here, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up on a pole, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. As Moses took the very thing
that was killing the people and put it on a pole and lifted it
up, even so must the Son of Man become the very thing that is
killing us. Our sin. He became sin. The one who knew no sin. The
one who did no sin. Can you believe that? He became
sin. He was pure and perfect, and
He became sin. More importantly than that, He
became my sin. My sin. The song says, Oh, the
bliss of this glorious thought. My sin. Not in part, but the
whole. was nailed to the cross and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord,
O my soul. He took my sin and He put it
on Himself. Oh, the grace of God, the glory
of God. Can you believe that? Can you
imagine? He took my sin And he put it
on himself. What love he became my substitute,
my substitute. And he died. He died being me. He died as me. He hung there for me. And therefore I died in him. I was supposed to die and I died
in Him. It is given unto man once to
die and for every person who He chose to save of His own free
will. When He died on that cross, they
all died. All who the Father gave Him,
they all died. Nevertheless, they live. The scripture says, nevertheless,
they live. When he arose from the dead on
the third day, they all arose with him. When he got up, they
got up alive again, born again. They died and then they were
born again. And they all say, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in this flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me." And he did every bit of that of his own will. WE WERE
BORN THE FIRST TIME DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS, BUT HERE'S THE GREAT
NEWS OF THE GOSPEL. ALL WHOM HE BEGAT ARE BORN THE
SECOND TIME ALIVE. ALIVE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU. BUT
YOU ARE WASHED. but you are sanctified, but you
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. We were redeemed, redeemed by
love divine if we were bought with a price. What was the price? It was the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It was the shedding of His own
blood. That's what it cost to pay my
price. That's what it cost to redeem
me. Now I want to tell you a story
and it's a true story. It happened a few years ago down
in Mexico. There was a little boy down there and he wanted
a kite very badly. And he told his dad, oh, dad,
I want a kite. I want a kite. And his father
was a hardworking man, but he just didn't make much money,
not at all. They didn't have much. And he told his son, let's
make a kite. He couldn't afford to buy his
son a kite, but he said, let's make a kite. You and me together.
So they went and got some small sticks and they cleaned them
up and they tied them together in an A-frame. And then they
got some thin cloth and they wrapped it around that A-frame
and they sewed it up, sewed it all together. And then they tied
a long tail at the end of it. And then they put a string on
it. And they let it fly up into the air, and the wind caught
it, and it took it up, up, up, until finally, the string broke. And that string fell back to
the ground, and that kite blew away. It blew over into the next
village. And the next day, that little
boy, he was in town. Obviously, he just crushed, just
crushed. They worked so hard on that kite.
And the next day he's in that town and he's walking down the
street there and he looks over into a store and he sees on the
shelf his kite. And he's so excited and he runs
in and he tells that man, sir, that's my kite. And the owner
of the store said, no son, that's my kite. And he said, but sir,
my father and I, we made that kite together. That's my kite.
And he said, son, I found this kite on the side of the road.
That kite is now my kite. And if you want it, it's going
to cost you two pesos. So the little boy, he ran back
home, ran back to his dad. And he said, dad, I found our
kite. And the man said, if I want it,
it's going to cost me two pesos. It's in a store downtown. And
if I want to get it, it's going to cost two pesos. So the father
reached into his pocket and he pulled out two pesos, handed
them to his son. And his son ran back into the
town and he ran into that store and he laid his money on the
counter and he said, two pesos. And that store owner grabbed
his kite off the shelf and handed it to that little boy. And that
little boy hugged that kite. Oh, he hugged that kite tightly.
And that store owner said he heard that little boy say as
he was walking out the door, you're mine. You're mine. He said, you're twice mine. I made you and I bought you. The truth comes to a person when
they hear the Lord Jesus Christ say, you're mine. That's the
truth. You're my property. You belong
to me. You're not your own like you
think you are. You're mine to do with as I please.
The gospel comes to a person when they hear the Lord Jesus
Christ say directly to their hearts, you're twice mine. I made you and I bought you."
Now, the last question in our text is, why? Why would He do
this for us? It says that we should be a kind
of first fruits of His creatures. When the Lord made us, God said,
let us make man in our image, our image. And God saw everything
that He had made and behold, it was very good. But when he
fell, when we fell in Adam, when we died spiritually, that's when
man became to look upon as filthy rags and putrefying sores in
the eyes of God. That's when man became a horrible
stench in the nostrils of God. And God said, now there is none
good but God. He said, Only my beloved Son,
the firstborn, the only begotten, only in Him am I well pleased. And the Lord Jesus Christ, of
His own will, for the joy set before Him, said, Father, I will,
that where I am they may be also. So I will make a covenant with
you concerning them. will take their place. I will die in their stead. All
of the sins that they've committed against you can be charged to
my account. And by the shedding of my blood,
which is the remission of their sin, I will, of my own free will,
by myself, clear the guilty. And God the Father said, I accept
your covenant. And I will accept any sinner
that approaches me in your covenant, for they will be restored back
into our image." Renewed. Regenerated back into the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if He chose of His own will
to beget us with the Word of Truth, right now are we the sons
of God. If He chose us. We are a kind
of first fruits of His creatures. We're like Him, like the firstborn. As He is, so are we. Why did He do this? It's because
of this covenant of mercy. The good news is His mercy is
going to endure forever. Of His own will begat He us. with the Word of Truth that we
should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. Until next
Sunday, may the Lord bless His Word to our hearts. 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, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning at 10.30
a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m. Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.