This is one of those foundational
verses, one of those verses that the Lord has greatly used for
many. Verse 18, James 1, 18, Of his
own will begat he us. Speaking of God the Father, of
his children, of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. This is the truth so plain and
simple that even a little child could understand it, at least
in the head. And I didn't plan it this way,
but the next message in the next hour goes right along with this. It just happened that way. All
the scriptures is of this truth of God's sovereign electing grace
now only twenty three words in this verse twenty one words have
one syllable. Pretty simple isn't it? Pretty
simple and I intend to keep it simple and not so much explain
it as just declare it. Now verse seventeen he's speaking
of the father said every good at well verse sixteen do not
err my beloved brethren he's speaking to brothers and sisters
in Christ, in the faith. Verse 17, every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above. All God's people know that, everything. And cometh down from the Father,
the Father of his people, the Father of life, of whom is no
variable, with whom is no variable, through the shadow of turning,
and of his own will, that is, the Father. With the word of truth, every
time you see the word of in the epistles know this that is speaking
of God's people, not all people, but God's people of his own will,
beget he us the father of his children. Now he said, every
gift, every gift we have, everything we have, what do we have? We
have not received all came from. God, our Father, and every perfect
gift. We saw that a perfect gift of
that which perfects us, that which makes us wholly and complete
is to be found in Christ. This is the gift of eternal life. That's what he's speaking of
here. It's a gift. It's not an offer. This is what
religion says today. False religion calls it an offer
that is offered to everyone, all men and women. That is not
true. This is what we're seeing here.
Our Lord said of his people in John 10, I give unto them, my
sheep, eternal life, and they shall never perish. I give of
his own will, begat he. Begat means to be born. Some
of you begat children, didn't you? Did they cooperate with
you? Did Andrew and John Thomas cooperate
in their birth, Catherine? Oh, no. They kicked. That father
begat them and you gave birth to them. They had no part in
it. Nothing could be clearer. And all of God's children know
this. I'm not going to argue with anyone
today. I'm not going to do that at all.
Just plainly declaring what God's word says. Of his own will begat
he, gave birth, salvation, eternal life. It is completely by the
will of God from start to finish. Start to finish. Look at John
chapter one with John. of his own will. Only God has
free will. Only God has free will. Man does not have a free will. Free means you are able to do
what you will. We cannot say, we can't even
say, I will breathe a minute from now. We cannot say we will do anything. We hope to. We wish to. We pray that God will enable
us to. But we can never say about anything, I will do this. To have free will means you do
what you will, when you will, because you will. Nothing and
no one has any control over your will. That's free will. Only
God has free will. Sovereign. That's sovereign.
I can do whatever I will. Whatever I will. Scripture says
man is dead in trespass and sin. Dead in trespass and sin. Look
at John chapter 1. John chapter 1 and verse 12. It says that many have received
him. To them gave he power, the right,
the privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. All right. And the world sees
a verse like this, to see you've got to receive it. And they use
the word accept, accept Jesus as your personal Savior. Number
one, accept Jesus is not in the Bible anyway. Not in the Bible
anyway. You're not born. I just gave
it away. You're not saved by accepting
Jesus. You're born again. Our Lord said
that to a Jewish Pharisee named Nicodemus in chapter 3 of John. He said, you must be born again,
born from above. Just as you had no part in your
first birth, you have no part in this second. All right. But
verse 12 of John 1 doesn't end with a period, does it? which tells us grammatically
that the next verse tells us why. The reason for it. As many as received him, verse
13, were born. Not of blood, that is, because
they're Jews, children of Abraham. We're going to see that clearly
in the next message. Nor of the will of the flesh,
that is, no man, no woman, exercise their free will, made their decision,
nor of the will of man. Mom doesn't pray ascend to heaven. Dad doesn't pray ascend. No soul
winner, but of God, born of God. See that? So free will means
you do what you will without any anything affecting your will
at all or hindering your will. Now, this is not a matter of
doctrine here. What we're dealing with here
is not just a matter of doctrine, but it's a matter of who God
is. It's a matter of who is the living
and true God. And our Lord said in John 17,
this is life eternal. These are they that have eternal
life. These people know that the living
and the true God. Now, he's not God who's dependent
on man to do anything. He's not God if you let him do
anything. He's not God if you make him. Christ is not Lord if you make
him Lord of your life. Now, this is what religion says,
and it's all false, all right? We're talking about the living
and true God, and this is when life eternal comes to a human
being, when God gives you life, And the first thing you know
is, he is God. And you're not God. Man's not
God. God is God. Creator. And God says, cannot
I do with my own what I will. He worked with all things. Daniel
4. We go to Daniel, chapter 4, the book of Daniel. And someone
does not know the living God, the true God. and does not have
eternal life if they do not know that God is God. He that cometh
to God must believe he is. Hebrews 11. If anyone believes
that man has a free will, they don't know God. This man named Nebuchadnezzar,
this man named Nebuchadnezzar thought he had free will. And he got so lifted up, he was,
you know, a mighty ruler with a great vast kingdom. And he
said, look what my hands have done. And God said, I'm going to bring you down to
being an animal. Your hair is going to grow out. Your nails
are going to grow out. You're going to realize. I'm
going to make you to know who God is. Daniel 4, look at verse
17. Now, this matter. What we're
talking about, the truth, is by decree of the watchers, that's
God's prophets, preachers, and demand by the word of the Holy
One, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth
in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. Most people, religious people. About all they know is whosoever
will. John 3, 16. They don't know John
3, 18. They don't know John 3, 36. It's
all part of John 3. They don't know John 3, 5, 7,
and 9. There's lots of verses in John
3. Whosoever will. Why? Because God makes them willing. But he gives this kingdom to
whomsoever he will. And he's the one set up over
it, even the basest of men. Look at verse 25. They'll drive thee, he said to
Nebuchadnezzar, they're going to drive you from your dwelling,
from men. Thy dwelling shall be with the
beast of the field, make you eat grass like an ox. See, this
man thought he could do what he will. And you'll be wet with
the dew of heaven. Seven times shall pass over thee,
till thou know that the most high ruler in the kingdom of
men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." Verse 32, "'They shall
drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast
of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen. Seven
times shall pass over thee, until thou knowest that the Most High
ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he
will.'" How many times does God have to tell us? Look at verse
35. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing, and he doeth God according to his will
in the army of heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can say his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? How blank? How blank can he be? Here's the problem. Go with me
to Romans chapter 3. Here's man's problem. He is dead
in trespass and sin. He doesn't have a will to choose
between good and evil. He dead before Adam fell. Remember? All of you in here,
nearly everyone in here knows that well. I've been taught from
the beginning the truth that man had a free will, Adam, and
Satan tempted our first parents, Adam and Eve, according to the
will of God, the permissive will of God. And this is what Satan
tempted the woman with, you will. You're a God. Who does God think
he is to withhold this fruit from you? You're God, you're
creating this image, you have the free will to choose what
you will, choose it. Well, they chose to rebel against
God, evil. And our God said to Adam before
that happened, he said, the day you eat there, the day you rebel
against me, thou shalt surely, what? Die. Did Adam die? He lived 930 years. 930 years. But God said, the day you eat,
you shall surely die. Not get sick. Not just lose your
understanding a little bit. You've got to get it back. Die. Die. He died spiritually. He
became, his understanding was darkness. This is Romans 1. His
understanding was darkened. Sin entered his being, and hate,
and this thing called sin entered his mind, his soul. He became a sinner, and now from
there on out, he can't do anything but sin. If he does anything
good, God does it. Every good gift comes from above. He has to receive it. He was
an independent creature, free, and he died in sin. And now his
children, that's us, are born dead in trespass and sin. If you offer them good or evil,
choose evil. You don't have... David said
this, he said, I was shapen in iniquity. In sin did my mother
conceive me. A father, my mother was sinner.
I was born a sinner. Unable to do good. Not knowing
God, not seeking God, not wanting God, not loving holiness, loving
sin. Cannot do what I would. Salvation
is dead. But God. Have quicken you who are dead.
Quicken Romans 3. These are such foundational truths.
Like I said, I'm just plainly telling the truth. Someone believes
that salvation is by man's choice, by man's faith, by man's decision,
by man's works. They don't know God. They were never dead in Christ.
They're still dead in Christ. They're still dead. All of God's people know they
were dead. Lazarus knew. I was dead, and
the only reason I'm alive now is because man is born of a Roman
screw. This is what God says now, not
John Calvin, our Lord God. He looked down on the children
of man, and verse 11, verse 10, said, There's none that righteousness
know, not one. There's none that understand
it. This is Psalm 14. There is none that seeketh after
God. None. Zero. They are all gone
out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Verse 17. The way of peace have
they not known? Men actually think that they
can do something to make peace with God. God's people don't
think that. They know. Christ made peace. Verse 18, there's no fear of
God before their eyes. And it says, whatever the laws
say, verse 19, it says, every human being that every mouth
may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. Ephesians
2. Ephesians 2, go over here. Ephesians
chapter 2. Of his own will, he get he up. Ephesians 2. We're going to look at chapter
1 a little bit in the next message. But it says in verse 1, you have
he quickened, who? God, who were dead and trespassed
and sinned. Wherein in time past, and now
it talks about being dead. You walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
They have another spirit, not the Holy Spirit. Among whom also
we all had our conversation, life, and time past, the lusts
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the
mind, were by nature children of wrath, even as others, but
God, who is rich in mercy. For His great love were with
the loved us. Who's the us? Not everybody,
but His people, His chosen. Even when we were dead in sin,
have quickened us together with Christ, raised us up. You see
who's doing all this? Verse 7, why do we do all this?
That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace and his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. So, and I'm not, and Paul said,
our Lord said, don't strive with pot sherds, don't argue with
people, and I'm not here to argue with anybody or prove anything. God's people know this. You know,
you can't argue with a dead man. You can't argue with a blind
man. Well, you can. I mean, you can argue all you
want, but he can't see. He can't see. And once you've been born of
God, quit arguing. It's all clear. What's the point,
preacher? The point of salvation is the glory of God. He gives all the glory. God, whose name is Jealous. He said, My name is Jealous.
He said, I will not share my glory with another. He gets the
glory for doing the choosing. Now either he did it or we did
it. What did our Lord say to his
disciples? He kept telling them over and over again, you did
not choose me. I chose you. Did they know that,
John? Every single one of them. They
were dead. They were in those boats, lost,
as we'd say, as a goose in a snowstorm. Dead. and trespass and sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ came
by one day. Didn't ask them to follow him. Told them. Called them out of
darkness into light from death unto life. Just no less than
he called Lazarus from that tomb that day. When he said, Lazarus
come forth, he called him by name. If he had said, if anybody
wants to, come forth. Nobody would have listened. He
said, Lazarus come forth. He went out, there was a bunch
of boats in that harbor that day, and he went and he looked
right at James and John's boat and said, follow me. Quicken. Given life. Chosen by God. They didn't choose him. He chose
him. They know it. All of God's people
know it. And somebody said, no, I chose
him. He's sharing his glory, trying to. You don't know God. This is something all God's people
know. Now, we're talking about a new birth. Out of his own will
begat he us. And our Lord said this to Nicodemus
in John 3. He said, you're a master in Israel
and you don't know this. Why? Why did he know this? He
hadn't been born again. He hadn't been born again. Soon
as he is, he will. He'll know. He'll know it's a
new birth, a new creature, a new man, creature. We don't create
ourselves. It's not possible to give birth
to yourself, is it? You say that's ridiculous. Yes, it is. That which is born
of the flesh, our Lord said in John 3, is flesh. That which
is born of the spirit is spirit. Your dad and your mother gave
birth to you the first time. He didn't contribute. didn't
even cooperate. God the Father gave birth to
you the second time, and the Holy Spirit, and Christ the Son.
You didn't contribute. You didn't cooperate. He gets the glory. It's not possible when nothing
becomes something. It's created itself. So who gets
credit for salvation? Who gets credit if you're born
of God? Who gets credit for that? All the boys. God does. None
of us ever go around bragging about how we let our parents
be our parents. Or I look in our text from James
1. What could be clearer, huh? And again, this is not a point
of doctrine. It's not a point of doctrine.
This is whether or not you've been born again or not. He said, am I a liar? Am I a
liar? Yes, I am. I'm standing here. Why? Those
two beasts right there. I mean, how? How can anybody? The reason I'm standing here
today is because of those two beasts right there. And every
single person that stands in glory before God, if you ask
them, to a man, why are you here? Because of him. 100,000% because of him. I had nothing. I didn't choose him. I didn't
let him. He chose me. He let me. He redeemed me. He died for me. I didn't make him Lord. God made
him my Lord. Born again. You understand who
your parents are. With the word of truth, James
says in verse Of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth." And of his own will means God did it because he would.
Nothing he foresaw in us, not anything we would do. No, he
did it long before we were born, before the world began. He chose
his own. speak of his people with the
word of truth. What is the word of truth? Everything
I've said thus far. I'm just telling you the truth
from God's word. And everyone who came out of
false religion, such were some of you, most of
you, came out of false religion. If you attended somewhere before
you came here, You know you can use false religion doesn't matter
if Methodist or Catholic or Baptist. Free will Baptist is just as
false as Catholic. Why? They believe in free will. Don't believe in God's will.
Don't believe God's God. Don't believe God's God. Don't
believe God chose the people. They don't believe that they're
salivating 100% in Christ, but know that they have success. Don't believe it's the Holy Spirit,
they had to let him. Not God's people. And everyone
that came out of that, when you heard the word truth, true God,
the true Christ, the truth of what man is, when you heard this
word of truth, and this is what God did. Oh, man calls it foolishness. 1 Corinthians 1, please God by
the foolishness of preaching. It's not foolish. Those that
are saved, preaching of Christ is the wisdom of God and the
power of God. 1 Peter 1, look over here more
specifically, and it speaks of the word of truth. 1 Peter 1,
look at this, 1 Peter 1, verse 2 and 3. And folks, those of you who know
Scripture, John 1, Romans 1, 1 John 1, they all begin this
way. Ephesians 1, Colossians 1, it
always begins with 1 Peter 1, it begins with what? Elish. Look at it, 1 Peter 1,
verse 2, Elish. according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Not what he foresaw we would
do, but knew us beforehand, like Adam knew his wife Eve, entered
into a relationship, chose them, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God, through a set-apart, sanctified by the Spirit, unto,
that is, given the obedience and the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ. Yes, grace to you and peace to
most of us. Read on. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. See who he's talking to? The
elect, born again, chosen of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, begotten of his will, which accorded his abundant mercy
hath begotten us. unto a lively or living hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." And look
at verse 23. Now, he says, you were born again. Verse 23, being born again. Not of corruptible flesh, that
is, the flesh. The will of the flesh. You read
it with me, didn't you? In John 1. Not the will of the
flesh, not the will of man, not of blood. This incorruptible
seed is the Word, incorruptible, the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. This is a mystery, and I'm not
trying to explain it. Well, I'm kind of trying to,
but it's not something that can be explained. It's something
you just understand in your head. It's something that happens to
you. God takes this, we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
preaching of the Word. just mere men, but these men
were moved by the Holy Ghost. And this is the Word of God,
the incorruptible Word of God, like seed. It's spiritual seed. And when God, the Holy Spirit,
wills it, not when you accept it, but when God, the Holy Spirit,
wills it, He takes this seed, the truth of who God is, who
Christ is, what you are. And in a dead, dark heart, one
day, when he wills it, Paul says, when it pleased God to reveal
his son in me, Paul said, I was saved not when I got ready, but
when it pleased God. He was lost. He was a religionist.
He was in false religion. Paul, it's all a person. But
when it pleased God one day on the road to Damascus, he said, He sent the word and pierced
his hard heart, planted it in his heart, the word of truth.
What's that? More specifically, read on. Verse
24, all flesh is grass. You see that? The glory of man
is the flower of the grass. The grass withers, the flower
fades away. It's just dead flesh. But the
word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Let me look at this with me in
closing. John chapter one, go back there,
John one, you didn't. Yeah, you did turn with it in
John one. Look at this. The word of truth is not just
preaching the Bible. Preaching who God is. And it's
preaching Christ and him crucified. He is the word. He is the truth. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth. No man cometh under the Father, but by me. No man. He said, I give him eternal life.
Christ's death is what saves us. The Holy Spirit's regenerating
work is what saves us. God's choice of us is what made
us His children. Nothing could be plainer. All
of God's people know this. John 1, in the beginning was
the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God, speaking of
Christ. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life. The life was the light of men.
The light shineth in darkness. The darkness comprehended it
not. See that? We're in darkness. We were in
darkness. Verse 14 says, The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. Who did? John said we beheld his glory.
How, John? We were sitting in a boat one
day. We weren't sitting in a church.
We weren't calling on God. We weren't walking in the night. But God. Manifest in the flesh,
came where we were. He called us, quickened us, and
we beheld His glory. This is the word of truth. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. We beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Oh my, Christ crucified. Christ said when the Spirit of
God comes, He'll convince the world, the people out of the
world. Of every tribe, kindred, nation, and kind of sin? Dead and crisp and clean. Of
righteousness? You're unrighteous and holy.
You can't produce one. Of judgment? You've got to stand
before God in the judgment some day. How? Let go and let God. Accept Jesus. Christ said, my
man. My man. 100% my man. And he said in James 1 that we
should be a kind of first fruits in our text. James 1, 18. He did this, that we should be
a kind of first fruit of his creature. First fruit. Fruit
of love, joy, peace, gentleness. Love of who? All the laws fulfilled in this
word is love. What's love? Who? God. When Romans 3 said they hate
God. But when the true God, and you preach this, what I'm preaching
today, an average person would say, like a woman hairdresser
told my wife one day, I hate your daughter. And all she's
doing is telling her who God is. And she proved it. An average person will say that. because they're taking credit
for their salvation. They're defending a false profession. And our Lord convinces us of
sin, righteousness, just the first fruits, love, joy, joy
in Christ, not in yourself. Love, joy, gentleness, goodness,
meekness, faith, faith, one Lord, one faith, one hope of your calling,
one thing, And what is fruit for? Christ said, herein is the
Father, what? Herein is the Father glorified.
And He said, we're going to be, we're the first fruit of His
creature, kind of the first fruit of His creature. Man was created
for His glory, and all that sin comes far short of the glory
of God. God created a new people in Christ
Jesus. completely for his glory. Are you born again? Have you
been born again? Well, I'll tell you this. I'll
tell you what you'll know if you've been born again. You'll
know you didn't choose God. To a man. Don't argue that. It's not doctrine. It's just
the way you were born. You'll know that you were dead
and he caused you from death to life. And you'll start crying
and you'll know it's like a child was born. Here's a child. I was
there when my daughter was born and she had nothing to do with
it. All right? And she was brought
forth and they handed her to me and now she's got her eyes
closed and she looks dead. And that physician, the first
thing he did was cause pain. Boy, and then the air filled
her lungs and she started crying. The only reason you cry, the
only reason you call on God, you have life. Calling doesn't give you life. You have life. He that believeth
on the Son Doesn't want, doesn't say we'll have life. Have life. It's already been given. Call Joel 232. The minutes of
call have been called. You begin to hunger and thirst.
That little girl, first thing she wanted when she was born
was something to eat. What? Only one thing was satisfying.
Milk. You've been born again. What
I've been saying this morning is What you touch your teeth
on, your spiritual teeth on, you can never get enough of milk,
the sincere milk of His Word. This is the truth of how you
were saved. And you never get tired of hearing it. You don't
argue with it. You rejoice in it. And you hunger and thirst. And
you begin to walk. You begin to grow. Faith grows
stronger. Faith in who? Faith in Christ,
not yourself. Assurance in Him. Of His own
will, And again, he asks, with the word of truth, that we should
be a kind of first fruits, all for his glory, to the praise
of the glory of his grace.