Thank you, Brother John. It is
my blessing to be here. So so blessed to be here. I thought two things while that
song was being sung. The first thing was. I thought
I'm I'm that makes me excited to sing in the congregation of
glory. And then the second thought I
just had was I am singing in the congregation of glory. What a blessing it is to be a
part of God's family. What a blessing. We are a privileged
people. So privileged. I am so privileged
to be here and I pray that the Lord will let all of us worship
Him tonight. And tomorrow and Sunday, that's
our desire. I pray He will let us worship
Him. I am so thankful to all of you for your kindness and
your generosity to us in Kingsport. So many of them said to tell
you hello and that they wish they could have been here. I
had many, many say, please tell them I wish I could have been
there, but it is my honor for sure. Turn with me, if you would,
to the book of James. James chapter one. I want to open this message and
open our weekend together by acknowledging that all of God's people love His
sovereignty. God's people love God's sovereignty. There's a dear brother in Kingsport. I love him so much. And every
time the word sovereign comes up, or we talk about God's sovereignty,
his face lights up. And mine does too. And all of
God's people, we love God's sovereignty. We truly do. We love the fact
that God has the right to be God. Don't we love that? We love the fact that God has
the power to be God. In my flesh, fear comes up all
the time and different things crop up in me until the Lord
in His goodness by His Spirit reminds me, God is sovereign.
And God is all power. Such comfort. God's people love
the fact that God has the wisdom to be God, and the judgment to
be God, and the authority to be God, and the command to be
God. The God who does what He will
with whom He will. Aren't we so thankful for that?
I'm so glad He did with me what He wanted to do with me in spite
of me. I'm so glad. We love knowing and believing
in our hearts that we have a God that is reigning over us. When I was growing up, I wanted
to get out of dad's house until I got out of dad's house. And
then all I wanted to do was get back in dad's house. I want somebody
to reign over me. And God's people love knowing
that they have a true and living God that reigns over them. We
could spend all of our time here together pointing out all the
ways that false religion has gone wrong in not declaring and
believing and bowing to God for who He is. We could spend all of our time
pointing out how man has brought God down in his mind and in his religion. Man has tried to bring God down. Man cannot bring God down. But
he's tried to bring Him down in his mind. Man has tried to
bring Him down in his religion. We could spend all of our time
pointing out the error that man believes he has a say with God. Or man believes he's in a cooperation
with God. the audacity of man, man thinking that God needs him
because God can't do anything without man. We could spend all of our time
here exposing the lie of man's will, man's work, man's worthiness
in anything before God, but we're not going to do that. We're not
going to do that at all. We are going to declare the sovereignty
of our God. That's what we're going to do
in my brief moment here. And then after we declare God's
sovereignty, I'll sit down. Our sovereign, sovereign God. Our message tonight is a who,
what, how, and why message. I love this verse of Scripture. I have preached from this verse
of Scripture, I don't know how many times. I love this verse
of Scripture. Turn with me here in James 1,
look with me at verse 18. James 1, verse 18. It says, Of His own will begat He us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."
That's a who, what, how, and why truth concerning our God. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." From that
one verse, we can clearly see that our God reigneth. Our God reigns. That's what Isaiah
52 says. It says, How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good. that publisheth
salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." That's one of the most comforting
things. I can tell you moments in my life when I have, like
Peter, he was doing fine walking on the water until all of a sudden
he wasn't. And that scripture comes to my
mind or somebody will lovingly quote it to me, Thy God reigneth. what peace it brings, what absolute
peace it brings. You know, that is the awakening
cry of the truth to sinners. Whenever the Lord speaks to sinners,
He says, Behold your God. Behold your God. Turn with me,
if you would, to Revelation 19. Revelation 19 verse 1 says, And
after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven,
saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power unto
the Lord our God. For true and righteous are His
judgments. For He hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath
avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. And again they said,
Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever
and ever. And the four and twenty elders
and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne
saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear
Him, both small and great, And I heard, as it were, the voice
of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and
as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth." He reigns. He reigns. Look at verse 16 right here.
And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written,
King of kings and Lord of lords. That means He's the greatest.
That's what it means. He's the greatest. He's the highest. I look so forward to being in
the presence of true worship. True, true worship. Where sin,
there's no hindrance. The flesh is no hindrance. And all of God's people with
one heart, mind, and soul cry, He's the greatest. He's the highest. Everything is subject to Him.
The Lord is King and bow to Him we must. Great is He. Great is
He. Crown Him with many crowns. Crown Him Lord of all. He does
what He wants. That's wonderful. He does what
He wants. And He does it when He wants
to do it. Not whenever I think He ought
to do it, but He does it at the right time. When He wants to
do it, and He does it with whom He wants to do it. His ways are not my ways, and
I don't understand His ways all the time. But they're right.
Everything He's doing. That's what a true sovereign
is. In Daniel chapter 4, King Nebuchadnezzar found that out
the hard way. He thought that he was somebody
and you know his story, God dealt with him very harshly. He was
lifted up with pride, look at everything I've done, look at
this city I've built, and the Lord said, you're going to be
in the field for a while. The Lord dealt with him very
harshly, but then the Lord dealt with him very mercifully and
restored him and brought his mind back to him. And Nebuchadnezzar
said, I was wrong. That's what he said, I was wrong.
He said, I used to honor myself, but I don't do that anymore.
He said, I now bless and praise the Most High. He said, I now honor Him that
liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and
His kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and He doeth according to His
will. in the army of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or
say unto him, What doest thou?" That's what all of God's people
say. All of God's people say, In my
flesh, in my pride, I was wrong. And He's right. In Isaiah 43, the Lord said,
I am God, I will work, and who shall let
it? Who will stop me? Or who do I have to get permission
from? Who do I have to get permission from? Don't we honestly, I said
we weren't going to talk about it, but don't we honestly hate
the lie of false religion? This lie that puts everything in our hands
and says that you have to let God do something? The pastor just read this. Turn
with me to Psalm 115. Psalm 115 verse 1 says, "'Not unto us,
O Lord, Not unto us, but unto Thy Name
give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake." Honestly,
that's what God's people want. That really is what they want.
Not unto me. You know, the flesh is just so
prideful and it's just so... But whenever God's Spirit overrules
the flesh, we honestly say, it's not unto me. It is not unto me. Unto your name give glory for
your mercy and for your truth's sake. Verse 2 says, wherefore
should the heathen say, where is now their God? Verse 3 says,
our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. He's in the heavens doing whatever
He has pleased. Before I make my next statement,
I want to say that again. I want us to really get a hold
of that. He's in the heavens doing whatever He's pleased to
do. Alright? He's in the heavens
doing whatever He's pleased to do. Now, the reason I'm here
right now is because I'm very happy to tell you what He's pleased
to do. Very, very happy. He is sovereign. He is sovereign. He can do anything
He's pleased to do. And the glorious news of the
gospel is, this is what He's pleased to do. Of His own will, begat He us. with the Word of truth, that
we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Right here in Psalm 115, verse
4 says, Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they
see not. They have ears, but they hear
not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but
they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk
not, neither speak they through their throat." That means you got to help them. That's what it means. You have
to help them. But our God doesn't need any
help. Not our sovereign God. Of His own will begat He us. They begat their own gods. But of His own will begat He
us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." Now, the first
phrase says, of His own will. Salvation is of His own will. Somebody will say, I don't believe
that. It's irrelevant. Salvation is of His own will. Creation was of His own will. Election was of His own will. Redemption. The payment of the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that put away all the sin of
His people. How amazing is that? It's so amazing that He would
put away all of my sin, but all of the sin of all of His people
throughout all time on this earth. All of that sin put away. All
of that was of His own will. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord. Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans 9. Romans 9 verse 15, it says, For
he saith to Moses, 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, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. It is not of man's will, it is
not of man's work. Salvation is of the Lord. Man
does not have a free will. He has a bound will to sin. And if it was left up to man,
this is the honest truth, if it was left up to man, if salvation
was left up to man, there wouldn't be any salvation. None whatsoever. Because man would remain bound
to sin, and rebellion against God. And man would do nothing
more than willingly reject God. That's so sad to me. Isn't that
so sad? How sad. In John 6, the Lord
said, No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me
draw him. But He said in John 5, You will
not come to Me that you might have life. It'd be one thing
if man wanted to and couldn't. Which I have to say, whenever
I was young and I'd heard of election, you know, God choosing
one and not choosing, that's how I thought it was. You know,
somebody would say, well, I wish I could. Nope, you're not one
of the elect. That's not how it works. Only God's elect want to come. Outside of God's election, nobody
wants to come. The Lord said in John chapter
1, My people were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Of God. So of His own will, begat He
us. Begat He us. The word begat means
to bring forth. It means to birth. It means to
give life to. And that's what God did for His
people. He gave life to them. Man enters into this world spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. Physically alive. But spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins. And this is something that many
people don't understand because they're physically alive. What
do you mean I'm dead? I'm alive. What we need to realize
is that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit.
And we're born into this world spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins. Men and women believe because
they can do work physically, they believe they can do work
spiritually. But it doesn't work that way.
That which is flesh is flesh. And that which is Spirit is Spirit. There's an old saying that's
been passed down to us, wrong on the fall, wrong on it all. And if we don't realize what
happened when man sinned in the garden, then we won't realize
anything else. When man sinned against God,
he didn't just get in trouble, he died. He died. He spiritually died. This has
to be by grace. Because a dead man can't do anything.
He's dead. who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead." In sins, He quickened us together
with Christ. He begat us in creation. When God made Adam, He made him
spiritually alive. And he lost it. He died, but
in the goodness of His grace, God gave life again. He begat
again. Man threw it away. He gave it
again. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. He begot us again by the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. And that's our third
phrase here. Of His own will, begat He us
with the Word of truth, by way of the Word of truth Himself."
Christ the Word, Christ the truth. John 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. We were just
in Revelation 19, and it says there, it describes Christ as
sitting on a white horse, and in righteousness he doth judge
and make war. It says, his eyes were as a flame
of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name
written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed
with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word
of God." The Word of God. The very One
who said, I am the truth. This is the truth. He said, I
am the truth. He said, if you know the truth,
the truth will make you free. Christ Himself. Free through
that vesture dipped in blood. He dipped Himself. You know, we don't get a hold
of this. This rolls off the tongue. It just rolls through the ear.
He dipped Himself in all of our sin. Can you imagine? I don't like being
in my own sin. I don't want to be in anyone
else's. He bore all of that sin and then
He dipped Himself in His own blood. Covered in sin, covered in blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. So Christ, the Word, the Truth,
He came and He shed His own blood. And He died so that His people
might live. When He died, they lived. When
He became guilty before God, bearing their sin, they became
innocent before God. not bearing any sin, bearing
His righteousness. That's the last phrase, alright?
"...of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, by
the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His
creatures. He begat us And we died. We lost it. And then He redeemed us. He begat us again so that we
might belong to Him. He gave us life. We lost it. And then He redeemed us with
His own blood. Made a payment with His own blood.
So that we might have life again. Now, one of these days, I'm going
to get a new batch of illustrations. But I just kind of like the old
ones too much. If you know this, this has been around a long time. And every time I hear it, you
just have to say the first couple of words. It's almost like you don't even
have to tell the story. But if you haven't heard this, this is a
wonderful story. I believe Brother Walter Groover was the one who
told it. But this is an illustration of exactly what Christ did for
us. He said there was a little boy
down in Mexico who wanted a kite. And his father was a very poor
man, a very hardworking man, but they didn't make hardly any
money. And he could not afford to buy
him a kite. But his son, he just wanted one
so badly, so his father said, let's make a kite. And that little
boy got all excited. Yeah, let's make a kite. So they
got some small straight twigs and whittled them smooth and
tied them up into an A-frame and the little boy's mother had
a lightweight cloth and they sewed that cloth on it and they
put a tail on it and put a string on it and threw it up in the
air and the kite flew. And the little boy let the string out
and the kite went higher and higher and higher until the string
broke. And it blew over the trees. And
that little boy was so sad. That dad was so heartbroken for
his son. A few days later, that little
boy was walking down the main street in the village, and he
looked over in a store, and sitting on a shelf in that store was
his kite. So he ran into that store, and
the store owner was behind the counter, and he said, Sir, that's
my kite. And the store owner said, no
son, that's my kite. And he said, but sir, my father
and I made that kite. And he said, well son, I found
this kite stuck in the weeds. And it's mine now. And if you
want it, it's going to cost you two pesos. So that little boy
ran home. And he said, father, I found
our kite. It's in a store in the village.
And the store owner said, if I want it back, it's going to
cost me two pesos. So the father reached in his
pocket, handed the little boy two pesos. That little boy ran
back into the village and ran into the store and put his money
on the counter. Two pesos. And the store owner
took the kite off the shelf and handed it to the little boy.
And that little boy hugged the kite and he said, you're mine. He said, you're twice mine. I
made you and I bought you. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did for us. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for us. God made Christ to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, so that we could be the very righteousness
of God in Him. That's what God was pleased to
do. How amazing! We talk about grace, but how
amazing, how amazing is grace. Because He's sovereign, our comfort
is in the fact that He's sovereign. Because He's sovereign, He can
do anything He wants to do. And the greatest news a sinner
will ever hear in his life is this sovereign God of His own
will, Begat he us with the word of truth that we might be a kind
of first fruits of his creatures. All right. Thank you, Brother
John.