Amen. Okay, open the Bibles to
the book of James. We'll continue our study in the
book of James. And this book is written to the
twelve tribes by our dear brother James. And the author, the true
author of this book we know is God the Holy Spirit. Holy men
of God were moved. by the Holy Spirit, and they
pen these words. But the true author of these
words is God the Holy Spirit. Today's message is called, Born
Again By His Will. By God's will. I'm excited about this message.
It's absolutely wonderful. As we journey through this world
of woe, And that's what it is, isn't it? It's a world of sorrow
and sickness and pain and suffering. We're going to a place, though,
where there'll be no more suffering, no more pain, no more sorrow. We who are the people of God.
And remember this, this is the only tribulation that we who
are the people of God will face. This is it. This is it. Well, we're here
on this earth. This is the only tribulation.
This is the only trials that we'll ever face. The minute we
step into glory, it's all over. No more struggle with sin. No
more struggle with things of the world. Nothing. It's finished. No more sorrow. No more sickness.
No more pain. No more sin. Hallelujah. Because we're just saved sinners,
aren't we? We who are the people of God. I'm just a sinner saved
by grace standing before you, telling you about Christ. I struggle with sin every day,
and I know you do too. But praise be to God, there'll
be no more struggle with sin. All those things will pass away.
In our study today, we'll be looking at verses 18. Verse 18
will be the main one. But I'd like us again to look
at the context of this verse James is writing to saints who
are going through various trials and tribulations. And that's
so for us today, too. See, the Word of God is timeless.
It transcends time. It transcends cultures. We're
one in Christ as believers. It transcends time. James wrote
this to the Twelve Tribes. And here we are studying it.
And we're getting a blessing out of it, too, aren't we? Because
God, the Holy Spirit, is the author of these scriptures. And
there's much instruction for us, as believers, within these
words. James is writing to saints, again,
who are suffering through various trials in this world. So with
that in our minds, let's read verses 12 to 18. Blessed is the
man that endured temptation, for when he has tried, he shall
receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them
that love him. And that's eternal life. Let no man say when he
is tempted, I am tempted of God. Why? Well, it's self-explanatory
here, right? For God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth He any man. Here's the root cause of
sin. Here's the root cause of evil,
right here. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away
of his own lust and enticed. Sin comes from within, not from
outside. It comes from within. The root
cause of sin is in our hearts. Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. So James gives a warning
here. Now look at this. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above. That's Christ. Christ is the
good gift sent from above. He came down from above, didn't
He? He came here to what? To save His people from their
sins. He came here to save sinners.
That's good news for me because I'm a sinner. Has God shown you
that you're a sinner? That's the question of the ages. A lot of people, they don't think
they're sinners. But God's people, we've been
shown we're sinners, haven't we? And we take sides with God against
ourselves. and say, if God was just, I'd
go to hell. But praise God for His mercy.
Praise God for His grace. He saves sinners. How? Well, by the good gift. The Lord Jesus Christ who comes
from above. With whom is no variable, neither
shall I turn. He never changes. So if Christ
never changes, and God never changes, Then His eternal love
that was set upon His people, right, who were chosen in Christ
and before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1, 4, there's
no denying that. If His love was set upon us then,
is His love the same now? Oh yeah. He hasn't changed, has He? Will
His love be forever set upon us in eternity? Hallelujah, yes
it will. He never changes. His love is
ever set upon His people. Even when I was shaking my fist
at God. The Lord saved me late in life. I
was shaking my fist at God for years. And all that time, His love was
set upon me and I had no clue at all. And I know it's so for you, too,
who believe. That's amazing grace, isn't it? That's absolutely incredible.
It goes on to say, Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom
is no variables, neither shadow or eternity. It doesn't change.
Now look at this. This is our verse. Of His own will. So right away we see whose will
is being bought forth here. Now man's will is bound to our
nature, right? We have a dead nature. All we're
going to do is sin. That's why we need a new nature. We need to be born again. Says
here, of His own will, God's will. What did He do? He begat
us with the Word of Truth. My, oh, my. Scripture says here
that it was God's will that we'd be born again. It was God's will that that rebel
was shaking his fist at God that whole time in his sin. We might
not have ever said, oh, we hate you, God. But in our actions,
we did, didn't we? And the Bible says, I had a good
discussion with somebody yesterday, I've been meeting with. I had
a good discussion with this fella, and I'll tell you what, he's
really coming around. He came in there yesterday and he said,
there's none good, no, not one. And I said, Amen. He said, even
them little babies coming into this world, they're born in sin.
Amen. That's what I said to him. He used to think there was a
spark of goodness in them. Well, the Lord's teaching them something,
isn't he? And then he said, I've learned that there's none that
seek it after God, too. Oh, hallelujah. That's right. There's none of
us that seek after God in our natural state. Of His own will
begot He us. There it is. He seeks us out. He seeks us out. Mine. Of His own will begot He
us with the Word of Truth. That we should be a kind of first
fruits of His creature. Now, years ago, I heard a preacher
mention that the Holy Spirit regeneration, or being born again,
had been replaced by making a decision. Now, I had come out of religion,
and whenever I used to go out and evangelize, I always used
to say, well, you need to make a decision. You need to pray
this prayer. Little did I know that God begets
people by His own will. There has been so many people
who have made decisions for Christ that is nothing but a false profession. There's no life. They may have cleaned up their
lives. That's what I did. Come from heathenism into religion.
Cleaned up my life, No life inside. Biggest Pharisee around. But when God does a work, when
He begats us by His own will, we take our place before Him
as the worst sinner in the world. And we cry out to the public
and say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Oh, have mercy
on me. God does, doesn't he? And we
see in our day that it's evident. Years later, from what that preacher
said in the 70s, to now, it's still evident, isn't it? Just
make a decision for Jesus. Well, how can a dead person make
a decision? Can't, can they? No. Not at all. And we're born dead in trespasses
and sins. Dead spiritually. You must be
born again. Look what the text here says
in verses 17 and 18 again. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above. It comes from the Father. And
cometh down from the Father of lights. Well, this again is speaking
of Christ. With whom is no variableness, neither shadow or turning. Of
His own will. Look at that. God's will. Not
our will. God's will, of His own will be
guided us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first
fruits of His creatures. So we see in verse 17 the origin
of the good and perfect gift. It comes from the Father. The
Father sent His Son into this world to save sinners. Isn't
that amazing? Sent His Son in here to die in
a room and place of sinners, the perfect one, the Holy One.
The sinless one, the Lord Jesus Christ, was sent into this world
to die for sinners. And if you're a believer, put
your name in there. He came to die for Wayne. Wayne
Boyd. There's other Wayne Boyds in
this world. But he came to die for this Wayne Boyd. Isn't that
amazing? Travis and Karen. There's other
Travis and Karen Thorns, I bet you, in the world. There's all
kinds of names. But He came to die for you guys.
Saved you by His grace and His mercy. Begot you by His own will.
Isn't that amazing? It's stunning, isn't it? And
every believer can say that. It's stunning. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
3. And we will see here... Actually, turn first to John
chapter 1. Speaking of the good and perfect gift, I felt like
we needed to touch a little bit more on this than we did last
week. The scripture proclaims that
light came into the world, but you know what? Man loved darkness
rather than light. We were there, weren't we? That's
why we can't look at sinners and say, oh, look at those sinners,
because we're still sinners, number one, saved by the grace
of God, number two, And we're no better than them. Actually,
I struggle with sin more than I ever have before. Is it true
for you who believe? Now, I struggle with sin more.
Sin didn't bother me before. Oh my, but it bothers me now.
Look at this in John 1. Oh, the light came into the world. Look at this. In the beginning
was the Word. And the Word was with God. And
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him.
The One, the very Creator, comes into this world. Why? To save
His people from their sins. Isn't that amazing? The One who
spoke everything into existence. The One who the stars are in
order because of His power and His will came into this world
to save us. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. Even the
people who cursed His name. They were all made by Him. He
gave them the very breath to breathe. Everything was made by Him. There's
nothing that wasn't made by Him. Nothing invisible or visible
that wasn't made by our great King. In Him was life, and the
life was the light of man. And the light shineth in the
darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. So a natural man cannot
comprehend the things of God, it says right there. Because
we're in darkness. We're born dead. We're born in
darkness. Spiritual darkness. We have no
idea who God is. We won't seek Him. There's none
good. We're all full of sin. From the
top of our head to the bottom of our feet. Still are even after
we're saved, right? But now the Holy Spirit works
in us and convicts us of our sin, and we still keep coming
to Christ, don't we? We still keep coming and saying,
Lord, please. I'm so sorry, Lord. But all that
time, our sins are all forgiven. Isn't that amazing? It's not
based upon what we do. Our salvation is all based upon
what Christ has done. Period. There's not a stitch of our righteousness,
which is filthy rags, in the perfect spotless righteousness
of Christ that we're clothed in. There's not a stitch of our
works. It's all by what Christ has done. Now, that caused you
to shout, eh? What a Savior. And look at here,
we'll see how important the new birth is. And again, it's by
God's will, of his own will, begot he us with a word of truth.
Look at John chapter three, verses 18 to 20. Actually, no, hold on. I thought I pasted
those in my notes, but I didn't. Let's go to John chapter three
again. I'm looking at my notes, going,
there's something missing there. Okay. Look at verse 3 of John
3. Jesus said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. Bing! There it is, right there.
Bam! That's the Master saying that. That's the King of Kings.
He says, you must be born again. You must be regenerated. You
must be, or you cannot see Heaven. And then he says in verse 5,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except the 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 said unto thee,
Ye must be born again. And it says, The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof. But canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whence it goeth. So is everyone
that is born of the Spirit. And then let's go back to our
verse with that in our minds, okay? We saw that you must be
born again. We can't make ourselves born
again, can we? It's impossible for us to regenerate ourselves,
to bring ourselves out of the darkness. If we're dead in sin,
it's impossible for us to make ourselves alive. Of His own will begat He us,
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. It's a total work of
God. It's a total work of God. Look
at verse 18 again. Of His own will. God's will.
So it's God's will that His people would be born again. How? By
the Word of Truth. By the preaching of the Gospel.
That we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. My,
oh my. So the gift of salvation, the
Lord Jesus Christ comes down from the Father of light sent
into this world on a mission. People say, oh, look at Christ.
He's dying on the cross. What did He say to those ladies
at Jerusalem? Weep not for me. Why do you say
that? Because He's on a mission. Don't
shed your tears for me. I'm going to the cross to redeem
my people from their sins. Wonder of wonders, eh? For we
who are in that number. Oh, my. He came into this world
to save sinners. Again, the question is, are you
a sinner? Is God showing you your desperate need for Christ? If He regenerated you and has
granted you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's
a gift from God. You know how we know that? Because
he answers in verse 18. Look at these words. Of his own
will begot he us with the word of truth, that we should be a
kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Remember the scriptures in Ephesians
chapter 2, for by grace he is saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves. What does it mean, not of ourselves?
Well, it means not of our works. It means we're saved not by our
own works, but by grace he is saved through faith. And who's
that faith in? Who's the object of our faith? The Lord Jesus
Christ. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. Oh, it's
a gift of God. It's a gift from above. It's a gift from above. Not of
works, again he tells us, not of works, lest any man should
boast. So from beginning to end, our
great God, our Savior is Alpha in our salvation, and He is Omega. He's the beginning, and He's
the end, and He's everything in between. Can you keep yourself? I can't. But God keeps us, doesn't
He? He preserves us. He preserves us. Think of how
we would be if it wasn't for the grace of God when a trial
would hit us. If it wasn't for the grace of
God, it would destroy us, wouldn't it? But He keeps us, beloved. He keeps His people. The love
of God shed abroad in our hearts. He keeps us. He keeps us. It's wonderful. I often used
to say, I don't say it much anymore, I used to say, well, how did
I do it without the Lord before? Well, now I know the answer to
that. He was with me. It had nothing to do with me. Charlie, you and I have talked
about it when we were younger, how many times we manned things,
just reckless things we did. And the Lord spared us. Amazing. Just amazing. Absolutely incredible. So it
says here of his own will, God's will be God. He asked with the
word of truth. But what's that? That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. Turn, if you would, to first
Peter, chapter one, we'll see the dynamics of the new birth.
It's a mystery, beloved, much like the wind. But where you
find the new birth, you know what? Where you find the new
birth, you'll find the Gospel. And where you find the Gospel,
you'll find the new birth. It will be there. Won't be making
no decision. You're going to be running to
Christ. You're made willing. And as Brother
Rupert said, a team of wild horses couldn't stop you from running
to Him. Oh my, look at this in 1 Peter 1. Look at verses 22
to 25. See, you have purified your souls
in obeying the truth through the Spirit. So we obey the truth
through who? By the power and might of the
Holy Spirit of God. Scriptures tell us to flee to
Christ. Look unto me and be you saved, right? In our natural
state we can't look to Christ, but by the Spirit we can. of
His own will, begot He us by being born again of the Holy
Spirit. Now we can look to Christ because He's given us the gift
of faith to look. Oh my, look at my King. Look
at Him. Look at the Savior of sinners.
And once we get that first glimpse, we never look away, do we? Now
we may get caught up in the things of the world and we may get our
eyes off Him a little bit, but we're always getting refocused,
aren't we, to Him. Always. Constantly. Constantly. Seeing you have purified your
souls and obeying the truth, and that's the commandment to
flee to Christ, through the Spirit unto unfrained love of the brethren.
Well, we love one another, don't we? We're born again by the same
Spirit. We have the same Father. We have
the same Redeemer. Oh, my. See that you love one
another with a pure heart fervently. Look at this. Being born again
not of corruptible seed. So that's not of Adam or not
of our parents. Right? Because I'm a product
of my dad. My dad was born a sinner, therefore
I'm born a sinner. My son and my daughter, they're
sinners because I'm a sinner. And that's corruptible seed.
But incorruptible, look at this, by the Word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. So God takes the Word and the
Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and He regenerates His people. It's marvelous. Again, it's the
work of God. Of His own will begot He us. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man is a flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever. Think of this. Empires have risen.
Empires have risen. Rome was a great nation. I love
studying Rome. It was a great nation. Huge. It's covered so much. Persia,
the Medes and the Persians, and all these great empires that
rose, they're all gone. But what's still here? Amen. The Word of God. The Word of
God is still here, isn't it? They're all gone, but the Word
of God is still here. It endureth forever. And Christ
is the Word of God, isn't He? He's the Word of God. And this
is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. This is
the Word of God. This is God's Word preached unto you. And the Holy Spirit takes the
words of the preacher and takes the words of the Scriptures and
uses them for His glory. And we stand in awe as Gospel
preachers. We're just in awe. He uses clay pots with a bunch
of holes in them. It's incredible. Do you know
that God's gift and calling are without repentance? Turn, if
you would, to Romans 11, verse 29. Receiving Christ and believing
in Christ are inseparable. If one believes on Christ, they've
received Christ. It's inseparable. They're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. And people who spend time trying
to discern the difference or elapse the time between life
and faith, that's just wasted time. That's just wasted time. People waste so much time. debating
things and looking at things. It's just a waste of time. I'm
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. I've been given faith
to believe. I've been given life. Praise God. It's wonderful. Look at this in Romans 11.29
and think of our salvation. Now, think of this in light of
our salvation. For the gifts and calling of God, and think
of this in our regeneration too, being born again. For the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance. He won't take them
away. See, when I was in religion,
it was all about myself, keeping myself, right? Is it so for you
when you were in that, eh? Or you kept hearing, oh, you
just got to keep doing this, you just got to keep doing that.
Praise be to God, it's all done. Christ did it all. Period. And the gifts and calling of
God are without repentance. Those He saves He will never,
ever, ever lose. He'll bring every one of them
home to glory. There will not be one missing. Because it's
God who saved us. It's the Word of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ who saves us. So those for whom Christ died,
those for whom He shed His precious blood to redeem, those He justified
when He rose from the grave, they shall never, never, never,
never perish. Even though they're still sinners, they'll never perish. Because our salvation is not
dependent upon us. Now again, it doesn't give us
the license to go out the door and go crazy, does it? Not at
all. God's people won't do that. Scripture says the love of Christ
constrains us from sin. We hate sin now more than we've
ever hated it before My what a change he's rotting
us but God's people He saves them they're never perish and
in why because they're kept by the power of God Think of that
the same power that saves us is The same power that keeps
us is the same power that created all the world we see and everything
in it and keeps everything together. That's the God of the Bible.
That's my Savior. Is He yours? He has all power. There's nothing
He can't do. Nothing. So saving the soul for
Him, well, it cost dearly, didn't it? the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, dying in the room in place of sinners. Turn, if
you would, to Colossians chapter 2. See, the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. And the Scripture says, again,
by His own will begot He us through the word of truth. So we're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God through the preaching of the
gospel. Look at this in Colossians chapter 2. Do you know that we're
born again by the operation of the Holy Spirit of God? of His
own will, Begadias. We'll see it right here. The
operation of God. We were dead, right? Spiritually. Couldn't do nothing. Now we're
born again. Now we have life. Now we can
serve our King gladly. Now He gives us an understanding
of His Word. And unveils to us more and more
His mercy, His grace, His love for His people. Listen to this
though in Colossians 2. This is just extraordinary. Colossians
2 verses 11 to 15. In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands. That's being born again. And putting off the body of the
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with Him in
baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him. So we're risen
with Christ. Scripture says we're already
seated in the heavenlies with Him. Look at this, though. You're risen with Him through
the faith of the operation of God. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not of our doing. It's of
the Lord. By the operation of God, we're born again. Who hath
raised Him from the dead. So the same power that was used
to raise Christ from the dead is the same power that raises
us from the dead. Death spiritually. We're dead
spiritually. Raises us up. Makes us alive in Christ. Isn't
it wonderful? Absolutely wonderful. And then
look at this. And you. Being dead in your sins. In the uncircumcision of your
flesh. That was our state. Hathi Quicken. We're alive now. Now we're alive. Born again.
Hathi Quicken. Together with Him. Heaven forgiving
you. How many trespasses? How much of our trespasses are
forgiven? All trespasses. And never forget
that every one of our sins was future when Christ died on Calvary. So if He died for all my sins,
He died for all of them. Scripture says He died for them
all. So if someone ever tells you,
oh, he died for your past sins and your present ones, but not
your future, you just say, no, that's not true. Because every one of my sins
was future at Calvary. And it says here in the Scripture,
that you being dead in the sins and the circumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, that's Christ, heaven
forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against you. That was against me. which was contrary to us, took
it out of the way, nailing it to His cross, paid in full. It is finished. The work's done. And heaven spoiled principalities
and powers. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them. And this speaks of a Roman triumph.
When a Roman general came back from a battle and he had triumphed,
they would have a triumph, a huge celebration in Rome. That's what
that's speaking of. He's the victor. He's the victor. So the new birth, beloved of
God, is evidence that you belong to God. It's evidence that you
belong. If you're born again, it's evidence
that you belong to God. And so is everyone born of Him. They are His. They've always
been His. And they always will be His. And that will never change. You know why? Because God doesn't
change. Isn't it wondrous? It's absolutely incredible. So
marvel at these truths. Marvel at these truths. We're
redeemed by God. Because Christ is God in the flesh. He purchased
us with His own precious blood. We're born again by the power
of God. And then one day when we breathe our last breath on
this earth, we will be presented faultless, faultless before His
throne. Why? Because of what Christ has
done. Because He saved our eternal
souls by the shedding of His