Now, turn with me in your Bibles
to the book of James, chapter 1. James, chapter 1. And this morning,
I'm going to be speaking on this subject, the gifts of God's grace. The gifts of God's grace. Now,
obviously, this is a time of year when people are talking
about gifts. Although I have to admit to you,
it's getting to the point where it's about every time of year
we're talking about somebody's gifts, aren't we? The children
are thinking, what are we going to get? The parents are thinking
about, what are we going to give? The children, they're thinking,
well, we can't wait until it gets here. And the parents are
thinking, well, we can't wait until it gets over. And it's
just the way it is, isn't it? And of course, this is a time
of year when many people get religious. and really do it up
pretty good, you know. And of course, religion for religion's
sake is bad. It's not a bad thing for people
to think about the birth of Christ. Obviously, it's a great truth.
It's a necessary truth. It's a gospel truth. And so we
think about that. I just it's just sad that some
people only think about it one time a year. We think about it
every day, don't we? We who know the Lord and we celebrate
it every every day, because it's our salvation, our hope, because
he was born, he was made flesh, dwelt among us, that he might
go to the cross. And there's the issue, isn't
it? There's the issue, the finished work of Christ, not the beginning
work of Christ. The beginning's necessary. The
beginning had to happen. He had to identify with his people,
his sheep, God's elect, in our name and in our nature, without
sin. But had he just been born and
not done the great work that he accomplished in redemption
on the cross, this would be a time to celebrate our misery and not
our victory. Because our victory is on the
crucified Christ who died, was buried, and rose again the third
day for our justification. And so I hear people sometimes
talking about the greatest gift, which is Christ himself. I'm
going to talk about that this morning. Let's read in verse
16 of James chapter 1. He says, Do not err, my beloved
brethren. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, there's no change, neither shadow
of turning, And of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."
I'm going to talk about the giver and the gift. And as you know
this issue, when he says, do not err, that literally means
don't get off track. Don't stray away from the basic
truth that's being taught here on this matter. Don't get thrown
off course by thinking that God's ways and God's wisdom, God's
providence, and God's will are not good for his people. He's
been talking about trials. Every believer is subject to
trials from God, and they're good for us. These trials are
gifts. We don't necessarily look at
them that way every time, but they are gifts from God because
saving faith must be tried. Do I really know and trust the
Lord Jesus Christ as my all in all? The only way I can know
for sure is through these trials that God sends. And these trials
are meant for His glory and our good. These trials reveal faith.
They don't give us faith. They don't create faith. Faith
is a gift of God. And we'll talk about that by
the power of His Spirit. And every believer has faith.
That's why I read in Ephesians 2, for by grace are you saved
through faith and that not of yourselves, it's not in us naturally,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. How can faith not be of works?
Because faith looks to Christ as the only one who accomplished
all the work for my salvation. It's by his blood and righteousness
alone. And so he says, for we are his workmanship. Whatever
I am as a sinner saved by the grace of God, I'm not a self-made
man. I'm his workmanship created in
Christ Jesus. In other words, my status and
standing before God as a justified, sanctified sinner is because
of what I am in Christ, my union with Christ. I was united to
Him before the foundation of the world in divine electing
grace. God chose me in Christ. That's
what the Bible teaches. I know men like to avoid that,
but don't avoid it. It's glorifying to God. If it
honors God, it's good for me, good for you. We were united
to Christ at the cross in redemption. God gave Him our sin. That's our gift to Him, you might
say, our sin. What a gift. But our sins were
laid upon Him, charged to Him. And He was made sin for us, Christ
who knew no sin. And we have the gift of His righteousness
charged to us, given to us. And then we're united to Christ
in the new birth, sanctifying grace again when we're brought
to faith in Christ. And that's a gift of God where
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, not because
of. But unto good works, which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So everything
that we have that's good from God is a gift. We didn't earn
it, we didn't deserve it. You hear me say that all the
time, but that's the best way to put it, I think. I didn't
earn it, didn't deserve it. Still don't earn it, still don't
deserve it. Even now. Tomorrow be the same thing. And
when I step into glory by God's grace, I will have to say I didn't
earn it and didn't deserve it. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.
How about that? That's the way it is. That's
our song. That's the song of the redeemed, isn't it? That's
the eternal hymn, somebody said. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.
But then we have our temptations to sin. He talked about that.
And we can't blame God when we're tempted to sin. There may be
a trial from God, and we may be tempted to sin, but the temptation
to sin is not from God. That's from our own lust. Sin's
a heart problem. It's not just an outward thing. It's not just what we do. It's
what we are. And even as believers, we're sinners saved by the grace
of God. We have a struggle with those lusts inside. We have a
desire to serve God given to us. That's a gift from God, isn't
it? The desire to serve God, the desire to worship God, the
desire to follow Christ and obey Him. That's a desire that's given
to us, but we have an unholy desire, too, to fulfill the lust
of the flesh. And that's the battle. That's
the warfare. But that's not a gift from God, you see, that's us.
He says, remember back here, he says in verse 14, but every
man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And you remember last week, if
you were here, I showed you the difference between the temptations
that we go through and the temptation that our Lord went through. He
didn't have that unholy desire that we have. He had the weaknesses
and infirmities of the flesh that we have, the hunger, the
pain, the sorrow, but he didn't have the unholy lust that we
have. But he says here that don't err
from that. Don't go astray from that. The
grace of God. Keep your eyes fixed on Christ. I love those psalms where the
psalmist says, my heart is fixed. My heart is established. Firmly
on the foundation. Now, who fixed it? I didn't.
God did. My heart is established. The
writer of Hebrews wrote, it's a good thing for the heart to
be established with grace. I love that. Established with
grace. Firmly fixed on Christ. And so
he says, in light of that, every good gift and every perfect gift
is from above. Now, there are two different
words for gift here. Looks the same in English, but it's two
different words in the original. One refers to the act of giving,
and the other refers to the object that is given. And what he's
saying here is this, every act of giving on God's part and every
gift that God gives is perfect and complete and sufficient and
beneficial, lacking nothing. In other words, you're never
going to get anything from God, child of God, It's kind of like
when the child opens the present on Christmas morning, and they're
expecting one thing, and they get another, and they say, oh,
I'm disappointed. You'll never be that way with
God's gifts, with His giving and His gifts. You'll never be
disappointed. We may be disappointed in ourselves,
and we are quite often, should be, but we'll never be disappointed
with God's gifts. The giver or the gift, the act
of giving, it's always perfect. And so don't stray away from
that truth on that matter. Don't get thrown off course by
thinking that God causes us to sin or that sin doesn't have
any consequences, even in believers now. Don't stray away from the
truth of the goodness of God and the necessity of the trial
of faith, gifts from God, and don't err concerning the gifts
of God's grace. Turn to John chapter 4 with me.
I want to show you something about the gift, or the gifts
of God. We'll speak of them both in singular
and plural. The gifts of God's grace. Our
Lord here, as he went through Samaria, you remember he told
his disciples that he must needs go through Samaria. And we know
why he must needs. Why was it necessary? That was
not the way that a Jew would go. If he were going on a trip,
he wouldn't go through Samaria. But he says in verse 4 of John
4, he must needs go through Samaria. And the reason is because one
of his sheep was there. One of his sheep was there. Remember,
he said he laid down his life for the sheep. He said, my sheep. He said, I know my sheep and
known of mine. My sheep hear my voice. I give them eternal
life. None shall pluck them out of
my hand. Here's one of his sheep, an adulterous Samaritan woman
at a well. at the well of Jacob. And he
began to look at her, and he said to her, when she was drawing
water, he said, Woman, give me to drink, in verse 7. Give me
to drink. And look at verse 9. Listen to
her answer. He says, Then saith the woman
of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest
drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have
no dealings with the Samaritans. That just shocked her, that he,
a Jew, would ask a Samaritan woman for a drink. Because that
was unheard of. But look at our Lord's answer
in verse 10. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest
the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to
drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given
thee living water. Now, she didn't understand what
he was talking about at the time, but he's talking about salvation.
Salvation. Who has salvation? Who has this
living water? Those who know the gift of God. Do you know the gift of God?
That's what he said. If you knew the gift of God,
what's he talking about? Well, the problem with men and
women by nature is that we don't know the gift of God. And you
can see that prominently in religion, because in man's religion, even
the religion that comes in the name of Christianity, man is
going to somewhere, at some stage, to some degree, interject his
own works, his own goodness, as that which in some way, or
again, some degree, at some stage, will earn or deserve God's blessings. At some stage there now. It may be at the beginning. It
may not. It may be at the beginning. It may be in the middle. It may
be at the end. But somewhere you're going to
hear a man talk about what you deserve, what I deserve, or what
we've earned from God. And you know what the problem
is? They don't know the gift of God. Turn to 1 Corinthians
2. Let me show you that. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Here he's
talking about the glory of God in 1 Corinthians 1. The gospel
that no flesh should glory in his presence. How do men glory? Well, they boast of what they
have done, are doing, or going to do. Tell men glory. What they've earned from God.
You know, this is why I'm so adamantly opposed to this false
doctrine of earned rewards in heaven. What in the world do
you think you could earn from God? Somebody said, well, you
don't really earn it, you throw it at His feet. Now let me tell
you something, that is just religious double-talk. Religious double-talk. Do you know the gift of God? Well, look at verse 14 of 1 Corinthians
2. He says, but the natural man, that's man of the flesh, man
born in Adam, fallen man, fallen human nature, receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God. Whatever the Spirit has, this
natural man doesn't receive, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned, they are spiritually understood. by the power of the
Spirit. Now, what is it he will not receive? Now look back up at verse 12
of 1 Corinthians 2. He says, Now we have received,
not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God,
that we might know the things that are what? What's that word
there? Freely given to us of God. What's freely given to us? Well,
some people say, well, All the salvation, that's right. Some
say half of it, some say 99 and 44, 100 percent of it. No, all
of it. Do you know, what does the Spirit
of God give? What is the work of the Spirit
of God in the new birth? It's to show us our sinfulness
and our depravity and the fact that we don't deserve and cannot
earn anything from God but death and hell. and to drive us to
Christ and Him crucified and risen again for all blessings. Blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Not just some. Not that
some of you are going to earn some and some of you are going
to earn more. No, we are all equally blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is freely
given. Freely given. And every good
gift, James says, God works all things together for good, but
every good gift is from God. God is ultimately in control
of all things, but only good things come from the nature of
God. God's in control of everything now, don't get me wrong. He controls
all things. You say, well, you mean He even
controls evil? Well, the Scripture says He does. He sure does. You say, I don't understand all
that. There's nothing evil in the nature of God, yet He's in
control of all things. Now, I don't know how to explain
that to you, but I just know it's so because this book says
so. So what are God's gifts? Let me give you several here.
First of all, we can talk about the gift of Christ Himself. Really, if you think about it,
that's the one and only gift, because all gifts are wrapped
up in Christ. Turn to Isaiah chapter 9 over
in the Old Testament. This is a passage that many people
read in this time of year, and that's okay. Look at verse 6
of Isaiah chapter 9. This is a prophecy of the birth
of Christ. But it's more than a prophecy
of his birth. It's also a prophecy of his finished
work, what he came to do, what he was going to come to do in
Isaiah's day. or as Isaiah looked at. But it says in verse 6 of
Isaiah 9, for unto us a child is born. Now that's speaking
of his humanity. Born of the Virgin Mary without
sin, without the aid of man. This child was born. His humanity
was created for him in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit.
The angel called it that holy thing. Now, that was not being
disrespectful. I think that it was just a way
of describing the indescribable. There was nothing like him before,
and there's never going to be anything like him after. God-man,
God in human flesh, residing in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Isn't that something? But you
see, that's how it had to be. I'll show you why. Now, it says,
look here in verse For unto us a child is born, but look, unto
us a son is given." Now that's speaking of his deity. His deity
was not born. His deity was not created. His
deity always was, always is, always will be. That's why he's
called the Alpha and the Omega. Without beginning, without end.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You see,
his deity was not born or created. He came to earth. That's his deity, and he united
with flesh without sin. Our humanity in our name and
in our nature, except not our fallen nature, but human nature. So he had two natures. He had
the divine nature and the human nature, and they're united, and
that's how he exists today as God-man. There's a man in glory. And if he didn't exist like that
today, then we wouldn't be in glory. He's God, ma'am. So that speaks of his birth here.
A child is born, a son is given. But now it doesn't finish there.
Look at the rest of it. He says, and the government shall
be upon his shoulder. Now, what does that mean? When
you put something upon somebody's shoulder, that means they bear
the burden of it. They bear the responsibility
of it. And the government, what government is he talking about?
Is he talking about the government of Israel and Jerusalem? No.
He's talking about the government of the church, the government
of grace, the government of the covenant, the government of the
heavenly Jerusalem, the government of all whom he came to save.
In other words, the responsibility and the burden of my whole salvation
has been placed or had been placed upon the shoulders of this child
who was born, this son who was given, the God-man. All the conditions
of my salvation, all the responsibility of my whole salvation, all the
stipulations that had to be met to save a sinner like me were
placed upon his shoulders. And we see that. That's why he
was made sin, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. And it says his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. You can't name him with just
one name. It takes all these names to describe the grandeur
and glory of his person. His name shall be called Jesus,
that means God our Savior, Jehovah our Savior, for he shall save
his people from their sins. His name shall be called Emmanuel,
which means interpreted God with us. That's from Isaiah chapter
7, where the virgin birth is prophesied. A virgin shall conceive. And then it says in verse 7,
now here's the finished work of Christ. of the increase of
his government and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne
of David." That's David typically. It's not a literal throne here
on earth, but it's the scepter of Judah, which typifies the
rule and reign of the Messiah, of whom David himself typified.
And notice it says, the increase of his government, there shall
be no end. What that means is that his government's going to
be accomplished. His church will be saved. There's
no ifs or ands or buts about this thing. He didn't come to
try to save anybody if they'd let him. And listen to me now. I heard this on the radio the
other day. A fellow talking about, well, he looked down through
time and he foresaw that he would have a people. My soul. Listen
to me now. That's not the God of this book. That's not the God of this book.
The Bible says there's none righteous, no not one, none good, no not
one, none that seeketh after God. The two times in the book
of Psalms it says God did look down over there. It wasn't to
find out information that he didn't know before, believe it
or not. It was to make a point to us. And what did God see? He saw depraved, fallen, ruined
humanity who would not by their own free will, seek them. They
don't have a free will. Who would not seek after him?
And so he sent forth his son to save his people from their
sins. And it says here in verse 7, it says, and to establish
it upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with
judgment and with justice. That's the death of Christ right
there. How was this government, this
kingdom, established with judgment and justice? Christ died the
just death for all our sins. Judgment came down upon him for
the sins of his sheep. Justice was satisfied." Listen,
I heard a fellow preaching the other day talking about in the
Psalms, these Messianic Psalms, where Christ said, my sins, well,
they were his. Our sins, the sins of his sheep,
became his. Literally, his. They were charged
to him. He took responsibility. He said,
like Paul said to Philemon about the runaway slave Onesimus, he
said, put it on my account. I'll be responsible for it. And
that's what Christ did for his people. And he drank damnation
dry. Justice from henceforth, even
forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it. Now
turn over to John chapter three. John chapter 3, the gift of Christ
Himself. In John chapter 3 and verse 14,
Christ had been speaking to Nicodemus here about the new birth. And
here's the foundation of the new birth right here. He says,
verse 14, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That's the cross.
that whosoever believeth in him." Now, what is that believing?
That's faith. Where do you get faith from? It's the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. "...but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, the gift of Christ, that whosoever,"
what? "...believeth in him." That's
not all without exception. That's not the redemption of
every individual without exception. No, sir. That whosoever believeth
in him. Now, what is believing? It's
faith. Where do you get faith? It's the gift of God. Believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. Now, you
know why? Because the world was already
condemned before the Son of God came to this earth. He didn't
have to come to condemn the world. It's already condemned. He says
that later on. And he says, but that the world
through him might be saved. That's not all without exception.
That's his people. The world is going to be saved
through the salvation of his people. And then look at Romans
chapter 8. Turn to Romans 8. The gift of
his son. Listen to this one here. Romans
chapter 8. He says in verse 31. What shall we then say to these
things? Talking about the grace of God
in salvation. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things?" Freely! Do you know the gift of God?
If you have Christ, you have all things. That's what he's
saying. All things good, all things eternal. We can talk about
the gift of forgiveness. Ephesians chapter one, I know
I'm having you turn to a lot of scripture this morning, but
you need to exercise and I do too. Ephesians chapter one, the gift
of forgiveness. If we have Christ, we have forgiveness
of sins. The Bible says without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission, no forgiveness of sins. Blood
of bulls and goats won't do it. What did it take? The blood of
Christ. Blood had to be shed for forgiveness. You see, now
listen to me. I say this a lot, but it's important.
It's not your tears or my tears of repentance that washes away
our sins and brings forgiveness. It's not the waters of the baptismal
pool that washes away our sins and brings forgiveness. It's
the blood of the crucified one. the blood of Christ. Look here,
Ephesians chapter 1, where he talks about those having predestinated
us, verse 5, unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. That's
a gift of God. We didn't earn forgiveness. You
don't earn forgiveness from God. Christ earned it for us. And
then look at Romans chapter 5. Here's the gift of righteousness.
He speaks of that. Look at Romans 5 and verse 15. Talking about the offense, that's
Adam's sin in the garden that brought down the whole human
race. Ruined by the fall. And he says, but not as the offense,
Romans 5, 15, so also is the what? The free gift. And I always
think about that. Woman, if you only knew the gift
of God, Christ said to that woman and thought, not as the offense,
so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by
grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that
sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to
condemnation." That's what we got from Adam, our union with
Adam. But he says, "...but the free
gift is of many offenses unto justification." In other words,
when Christ came and did His work, we're justified before
God in Him from all our sins. Not just from the sin of Adam
that we're identified with, but all our sins. And he says in
verse 17, For if by one man's offense death reign by one, much
more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ." If we have Christ, we
have all righteousness before God. Somebody says, well, you
better start trying to get one of your own, make one of your
own, work for one of your own. That's, my friend, let me tell
you something, that's deadly. That's deadly. We can talk about
the gift of eternal life. Look at verse 20 of that same
chapter, Romans 5. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did not much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. It's a gift. Go back to James
chapter 1 now. It's a gift. When Christ told that woman,
if you knew the gift of God, you'd ask of Him. And who it
was that spoke to you. You see, you can't know the gift
of God, the benefits of salvation, without knowing the gift of Christ
Himself. And who it is who asked you for
water, you'd ask Him for water, and He'd give you the water of
life. Living water. Free. You notice here in James
1, verse 17, he says these gifts, every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights.
The Father of lights, that's just one of the old Jewish ways
of referring to the God of creation, the God who said, let there be
light, and there was light. Now what he's saying here is
this, that the same God who is the light of creation, who spoke
into existence all life, that same God of creation is the God
of our salvation. The creation of this world is
a gift. Your very physical life is a
gift from God. It's not something you earned.
You weren't like some little angel up in heaven walking around
and say, well, it's time for you to be born again or born
into the world. And you know, I saw a movie like
that one time. I'm serious. Crazy. I mean, you know, that's
not the way it was. Or you're some kind of a fleeting
spirit out in outer space. And then all of a sudden God
says, well, you've earned it. I'm going to give you a body. No,
no, it's a gift. It's a gift that God even brought
us into existence. But the same God, the very same
God, the God of all grace, the God who freely gives all things
into his people by Jesus Christ, that same God. who spoke this
world into creation, the Father of Light, the God of all creation,
is the God of redemption through Christ. And therefore, Christ
is the Light of the world. He's the Father of Light. And
with Him is no variableness. That means He won't deceive you,
He won't repent, or He won't lie. What He says is true. Any sinner who wants salvation
God's way through Christ And not on their own terms, by their
own works, based upon what they think they've earned or deserve.
Anyone who comes as a sinner, knowing that we deserve nothing
but death and hell, who comes begging for mercy from God in
Christ, he'll save. Anyone. He'll never turn you
away. And he doesn't change his mind,
neither shadow of turning. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore, you sons of Jacob, sinners, are not consumed. Malachi 3, 6. But then here's
another gift. Look at verse 18. He said, 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's he talking about there?
He's talking about the gift of the Holy Spirit and the new birth.
In the book of John, chapter 16 and verse 7, the Lord told
his disciples when they were in their despair, knowing that
he was going into Jerusalem and he was about to be arrested,
knowing that the religious leaders in the Roman government and even
the Gentiles would put him to death. And they were in despair
because in their own weak human minds, they were anticipating
in the sense of, or dreading rather, that they wouldn't see
him anymore physically. And he told them in John 16,
verse 7, he said, it is expedient, necessary for you that I go away. He said, for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come. And he said, but if I go away,
if I do my work, going away, meaning to the cross, to die,
to be buried, to rise again and ascend unto the Father, He said,
I will send him unto you. That's the Holy Spirit. You see,
the Holy Spirit as the advocate, as the comforter. Now, the Holy
Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He's not a thing.
He's not an it. He's the third person of the
Triune Godhead. He's very God. Equally God with
the Father and the Son in every attribute of His character and
nature. But the Holy Spirit's work as comforter is the fruit
and the result and the effect of the death of Christ on the
cross. In other words, without Christ dying on the cross and
being buried and raised again the third day, there would be
no new birth. There would be no eternal life.
And that applied to the Old Testament saints too. Their new birth was
based upon the promise of Christ coming to die, to be buried again,
to be raised the third day and ascend to the Father. That's how they were born again.
Not because there was some kind of a special dispensation at
the time that made them different from all the rest of us, but
that it was sealed in fact and history that the Messiah would
come in time and do His work. And that's what Christ was teaching
His disciples. The new birth in us, the work
of the Holy Spirit in us is not, now listen to me, and I know
you may think I'm splitting hairs here, but I'm not. The new birth
in us does not make us righteous before God. What Christ did on
the cross makes us righteous, made us righteous before God.
The new birth by the Holy Spirit brings us to a knowledge and
an understanding and a dynamic of who Christ is and what He
did and why He did it. It brings faith and repentance. and perseverance by the grace
of God, serving Him as willing, loving bond slaves, not because
we think we can earn it from Him, but because He loved us
and gave Himself for us. The work of the Holy Spirit in
us, the new birth, is not the completion of what Christ left
unfinished on the cross. Do you remember what He said in
John 19, verse 30, right before He gave up the ghost? He said
what? It is finished. The work of the Holy Spirit in
us in the new birth is the fruit of what Christ finished on the
cross. That's a big difference. He said of his own will. The
new birth is by the will of God. Look at John chapter 1. And I'm
going to go over this some more next week when we get into the
engrafted word. But look at John chapter 1. Now,
you remember James there, he said, of which we are kind of
first fruits of his creatures. He's talking about the Jewish
believers. Because in the New Testament church, in the establishment
of the New Testament church, the Jewish believers were the
first ones to come to faith in Christ. That's why he said, when
Paul said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first. And then to the Greek or the
Gentile, Romans 1.16, that's what he means. To the Jew first,
because they were the first ones in time to come to a saving knowledge
of Christ. And here he says it's of his
own will. Look at verse 11 of John 1. Christ came into the
world, he came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Most commentators agree that's his own nation. And they received
him not. But as many as received him,
There were some who did receive him, Peter, James, John, Andrew,
we could go on and on. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power. Now, power there is not the same
word power like the Gospels, the power of God and salvation.
That's where we get our English word dynamite from. Power here
means the right or the privilege. This is a privilege or a right.
And in other words, it's not saying here he gives you power
to do something you couldn't do before, but you have a right
or a privilege here. So as many to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,
which were born, not of blood, not of physical generation, nor
of the will of the flesh, not by the will of other men, nor
the will of man, but of God. The new birth is of the will
of God. It's a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit. bringing
us to Christ. The new birth is the gift of
God, which comes to us by Christ, who is our life, because of his
resurrection, righteousness established, and through the sovereign agency
of the Holy Spirit, and by means of the word of God, James 1.18,
of his own will beget he us with the word of truth." The word
of the gospel. Now, I'm going to conclude with
this. Turn back to 2 Thessalonians 2, and I'm going to pick up there
next week on this. Listen to what he says here in
2 Thessalonians 2. This is why I had Brother Jim
read this passage. He's talking here in the last
days, many people are going to be deceived. They're going to
be deceived. Why? Well, in 2 Thessalonians
2, he tells us, he says down here in verse 10, because they
receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. The
love of the truth. The gospel. And God will bring
judgment on those who don't. They're held fully accountable.
Somebody said, well, if they can't of their own free will
do, how can God hold them accountable? You go home today and you figure
that one out and come back and let us all in on it. I just know that he does because
the Bible says he does. You're never going to reconcile
what the Bible portrays as the sovereignty, the absolute sovereignty
of God and the responsibility of man. You're never going to
do it. I know some people say they can
buy their quaint phrases and all that, but they can't. You
just can't do it. The secret things belong to God.
The revealed things belong to us. And we bow to what God reveals. And you and me, we're all responsible
and accountable to seek the Lord. But here's what we don't want
to do. You don't want to deny the word of God to make a job
in your mind. You don't want to go around denying
God's sovereignty or man's responsibility. They're both true. Someone said
they're like a like a rope hanging from a ceiling. And if you look
above the tiles there, you'll see a pulley. They're not opposite.
They're together, but they're there. But here's the issue. He says, God will send them strong
delusions that they believe a lie. But look at verse 13 now. But
we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. That's election. And then he
says, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. That's the new birth. Setting you apart. That's what
sanctification is. By the Holy Spirit in believing
the truth, you were an unbeliever. Now you're set apart. You're
a believer. You have spiritual life. Verse 14, whereunto he
called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He called you by our gospel.
It's of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. That's how the Holy Spirit does
it. He brings sinners under the preaching of the gospel and brings
them to faith in Christ. And you know what? That's a gift. That's the gifts of God. Every
good gift and every perfect gift. All right.