lesson this morning, the new
birth. And we'll begin where we left off last week in verse
17, where James says, every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every good gift,
every perfect gift must come down to us, must come down from
God to us. They can't come from us, can
they? John Gill said this, he said, this is a settled and certain
point that all the good that is in men and is done by them
comes from God. And all the evil that is in them
and done by them is of themselves. Now, the only goodness that we
have is what God has given us. And of all the gifts, and how
long could we talk about all the many gifts that God gives
to His people, but the preeminent, the most perfect gift is the
gift of His Son. The gift of eternal life in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The new birth is a good and perfect
gift. It's a perfect gift. The birth
of a perfect man that comes from God to sinners. Now what more
gracious and loving gift could there be than eternal life from
above? And that's what James talks about
in verse 18. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of
his creatures. Now I have four points on the
new birth just from this one verse this morning. The will
of God, the work of God, the agent of God, which is the word
of God, and then the results of the new birth. At first, the
reason for the new birth is the will of God. Of his own will
begat he us. All of salvation is done by the
will of God. God's election of a people, that
was God's will, his purpose, his choice. Christ coming to
die for those people. God, the Holy Spirit, calling
those people. giving them life, giving them faith, granting them
repentance. And God keeping those people, God keeping them, God
feeding them, God bringing them all the way home, all of that
is done by the will of God. And man's will, man's goodness,
never enters into that equation anywhere. It's a good thing. It's a good thing that salvation
is of the Lord because man left to his own will would never choose
Christ. Never. What is man's will? Man's will is summed up in this
one statement. Remember Pilate kept trying to
find every way he could to let Jesus go. He did not want to
crucify this man. And he finally gave in and he
delivered Jesus over to their will, to the will of that mob.
And what was their will? They said, give us Brabus and
destroy Jesus. That's man's will to crucify
Christ and put him off the throne Get it to where we don't have
to deal with Him anymore. That's man's will. And man... You know, when I say man, I'm
not just talking about everybody out there. I'm talking about
us. This is the will that we're born with. Every one of us here.
Man left his own will. We'll go further and further
and further and further away from God till we end up in hell. Now, more than likely, we'll
do it in a religious way, won't we? But there's a way, Solomon
said, that seemeth right unto a man. But the end thereof are
the ways of death. That is the end of man's will
every time. So the new birth is a good and
perfect gift that can't come from the will of man. It must
come from the will of God. Because nothing good can ever
spring from our dead, depraved nature. It's got to come from
God's good and holy, perfect nature. You know, there's no
such thing as free will. You know, people talk about free
will and, you know, you can decide for Jesus, you can decide to
let Jesus in your heart, you can decide to be born again.
And they call it free will. You've got to make a choice.
But you know, there's no such thing as free will. Anywhere,
anywhere, our will is always controlled by our nature. That's
true even of God. God's will is controlled by His
nature. God cannot lie because His nature
is holy. And in the same way, man's will
is not free. Man will never freely choose
salvation in Christ. Man will never freely choose
to come to God because man's will is controlled by a wicked,
sinful nature. Now, we can make decisions. We
can decide to go here or go here, to do this or not do this. But
it's like a prisoner in an 8 by 10 cell. Yeah, he can choose
to walk in certain bounds, right? He's controlled by his cell.
Well, man's will is controlled by his nature. It'll never choose
Christ. It'll never choose the way of
holiness because the carnal mind, Scripture says, is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither, indeed, can it be. It's impossible. The only
way a sinner will ever willingly choose to come to Christ and
beg God for mercy for Christ's sake is for God to impose His
will on that sinner. That's the only way. So thank
God, God's sovereign in salvation. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7.
God's will reigns in salvation. God's will reigns in salvation.
The Savior said, you've not chosen me. But I've chosen you. Deuteronomy 7 verse 6. For thou
art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath
chosen thee. He chose you to be a special
people unto himself above all people that are upon the face
of the earth. Now, the Lord did not set his love upon you nor
choose you because you are more a number than the other people.
There wasn't anything about you, no goodness about you, because
God chose you for you are the fewest of all people. And you
can say the same thing. God didn't choose you because
you're better than anybody else because you're the worst of all people.
But why did God choose people? Because the Lord loved you. and
because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your
fathers, that's why the Lord hath brought you out with a mighty
hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondman from the
hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. See, all that happened because
God's will reigns in election. God chose a people to save, and
God's will reigns in the redemption of those people. By the witch
will, the writer to the Hebrews said, By His will, we're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. By whose will are we redeemed?
By God's will. His will reigns in redemption.
And God's will reigns in the new birth. Our Lord in His great
high priestly prayer says, as thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. All that's done by the will of
God. Now, who is the us that James talks about here? Of his
own will begat he us. Well, that cannot be talking
about God giving eternal life to every son of Adam, can it?
It can't be, because many die in their sins. So who is the
us? Well, the us can only be God's
elect. They can only be the people that
God the Father sovereignly chose to save. And I can show you that
in 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter 1, who is this us? It's the same
us mentioned all throughout the word of God. It's God's elect.
2 Peter 1 verse 3, according as
his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness through the knowledge of him that called
us to glory and virtue. whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that's
in the world through lust. Now, the only people that us
can be talking about is God's elect. It's obvious he's not
talking about every son of Adam without exception. Now that's
the us. Well, what's God's will for those
people? God's will for those people is eternal life through
the new birth. Look at 2 Peter 3. Same book,
just a few chapters over. 2 Peter 3 verse 9. The Lord's not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but as longsuffering
to usward. Now, who is He longsuffering
to? Who's the us? It's this us that He said over
here in verses three and four of chapter one, it's the same
us. That's who He's longsuffering toward, His people, the people
that He chose to save. And He's not willing that any
of those people should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's the us. The us is not
everyone. It's the people that God chose.
And those people will never perish. Because that's God's will for
them. Thank God His will reigns. The reason for the new birth
is God's will. God's will reigns supreme. Because God is God. You and I
are the creatures. That's why His will reigns supreme. So if, like false prophets say,
a man could decide to accept or reject Jesus, if that's true,
whose will reigns? Man's will reigns, doesn't it?
Man's will reigns supreme over God's will. If salvation is up
to us, if it's up to us to accept it or reject it. The reason for
the new birth, the reason for salvation's got to be the will
of God alone. And here's great comfort to lost,
dead sinners. If you want to be saved, and
you know, I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't make myself
believe. I can't give myself life. I can't
make myself come. Here's comfort for a dead, lost
sinner. I know you can. But God can. His will is always done. Whoever it is that God willed
to be saved, will be saved. Whoever it is that God willed
to give the new birth, will be born again. The new birth comes
from the will of God. All right, second, here's the
work of the new birth. The work of the new birth is
the work of God alone. He begat us. He did the begatting, not us.
We didn't begat ourselves. We didn't decide to be born.
We didn't decide to be born spiritually any more than we decided to be
born physically. God willed to give his people
life and then God gave it to them. He willed it and he performed
all the work necessary so that his people would have eternal
life. The regeneration is giving life giving spiritual life where
there was no life before. Well, then it ought to be obvious
to us, regeneration can only be the work of God because only
God can give life. Now that's true physically. You
all have known, you may know them now or you didn't know them
in the past, young couples, after they've been married a little
while, they say, well, we're trying to have a baby. Call it
a phrase, we're trying to have a baby. You know why they say
we're trying to have a baby? Because no amount of effort,
no amount of will, no amount of concentrating on the part
of a human being can make life spring forth in the womb. Only
God can do that. That's true physically, isn't
it? Well, the same thing's true spiritually. No amount of work
and concentration and focus and willpower can give eternal life
to anybody. Now we do what we're told to
do, what the Lord told us, go into all the world and preach
the gospel. He told us to pray. He told us to read God's Word,
to preach the Word. This is the seed sown that God
uses to give life. We do those things, but only
God can give life in the heart, spiritual life in the heart of
His people. The work of spiritual life cannot
be or cannot come from our work or our decision because we're
already dead. We can't work. We can't decide
to do anything. The only thing we can do is stink
because we're dead. The only thing we can do is sin
because we're sinners. That's our nature. So the work
of spiritual life has got to be a work done for us by somebody
outside of us. And that work is the work of
God. The only one who can do it is God. And that's why David
prayed, create in me a clean heart, oh God, because you're
the only one who can create it. Paul said, I've planted, and
Paul's of water. Paul and Apollos went preaching
everywhere, didn't they? But only God can give the increase.
And you have He quickened. Who quickened? He quickened.
He quickens you who were dead and trespassing sins. Well, if
you're already dead and trespassing sins, the only way you can be
quickened is if God gives you life. We are His workmanship,
we're His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. It's obvious
to us then, the work of the new birth is the work of God alone.
All right, now the agent of the new birth is the seed of the
word of God. Of His own will begat He us with
the word. And it's the word of truth. It's
got to be the word of truth. Nobody can be saved by believing
a lie. Nobody can be saved by a false
gospel, a lie, that tells us about another Jesus. Can't be
done. You can never get an apple tree
from a tomato seed. Can't be done. Well, in the same
way, a dead seed cannot produce spiritual life. A lie cannot
produce truth. A sinful seed cannot produce
holy life. God saves sinners one way. One way. Through the preaching
of his word. This word is the seed of life. And that's why it is so important
for us to hear it. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. In verse 19, in our text here,
James 1, James says, wherefore my beloved brother, and let every
man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Let every
man be swift to hear because of how necessary it is to hear
the word of God. Life comes from this word, be
swift to hear it. This is the seed. Life can only
come from the seed. Now, you all remember the parable
of the sower, our Lord told. In that parable, there's a stony
ground here. There's the thorny ground here,
and there's the good ground here. Well, the sower is God's preacher
who sows the word, who sows the seed by preaching the word of
God. Now, the seed is not just sown everywhere. You're not just
going to go out and randomly find seed somewhere. Where are
you going to find seed? where it's being planted. You're only
going to have this seed through the preaching of the Word of
God. It's pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them to believe. So the sower is God's preacher,
sowing God's Word. And the seed that gives life
is the Word of God. Now life is given when God causes
that seed to take root in the heart, the deep down roots that
take root in the heart. That's the new birth. James calls
it, in verse 21, at the end of the verse there, the engrafted
word, which is able to save your souls. He calls it the engrafted
word because God made it part of you. He put it in your heart,
caused it to take root, and made it part of you. Look over at
1 Peter 1. Peter talks about this scene. Verse 23. be born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass. This
can't be a fleshly seed. And all the glory of man is the
flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower
thereof falls away. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. This seed This incorruptible,
holy seed is the only seed that can produce holy, sinless life,
spiritual life. That's what the Apostle Paul
told the church at Corinth, I've begotten you, he said, through
the gospel, through the preaching of the word of God. The word
of God is the agent that causes the new birth to spring up in
the hearts of God's people. So the new birth has got to be
by the will of God. It's got to come from the work
of God. It's got to come from the Word of God. And we're talking
about the new birth. The new birth is the will of
God. The new birth is the work of God. The new birth comes from
the seed, the Word of God. Well, what is the new birth exactly? What is it that's born in the
new birth? Well, a spiritual man. A spiritual
man is born. Dan said in asking his prayer
that the Lord speak to the new man. Because the new man is the
only one who can hear. It's a spiritual man. He's new.
He's brand new. James does not say, of his own
will, the Lord changed us into something he can use. He didn't
say that. Of his own will begat he us. The word means birthed
or generated life in us. It's new life. It's a new man
who's born who never existed before. In the new birth, the
flesh is not changed in any way. And I say that so you won't be
discouraged. You know, to think, well, look
at me. I'm just as sinful as I ever was. I must not be born
again. That's not evidence of lack of the new birth. Because
when someone's born again, the flesh isn't changed at all. The
Lord doesn't change the flesh. He causes a new nature to be
born in the hearts of His people. And that new nature is holy.
He's holy. Because he's born from holy seed.
Just like you're going to get a tomato, it's about time to
start planting tomatoes, isn't it? Pretty soon. I don't know
when you're supposed to, but it's got to be soon. Well, when you
plant tomato seeds, you're never going to get a peach tree, are
you? Now, whatever seeds you plant, the plant is going to
be the nature of the seed. Is that right? Well, this new
man, this new nature is holy. Because he's born from holy seed.
He cannot sin. The new man cannot sin. Because he's born from sinless
seed. Look at 1 John chapter 3. Don't
take my word for it now, let's see what the Word of God says.
1 John 3 verse 9. Whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him.
He's got the nature of that seed and he cannot sin because he's
born of God. That new nature, born of God,
believes God. He can't not believe God. Because
it's his nature to believe. That new nature, born of God,
loves God. The carnal mind doesn't. The
natural man hates God. But that new man, he loves God. And he can't not love God. Because
his nature is a nature of love. And it's the new nature who sees. The new man sees. He sees things. He understands things. He could
not understand before. That's what our Lord told Nicodemus.
He said, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, unless he's born
from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He can't, not
only can he not enter it, he can't understand it. Unless someone's
born again, they can never understand the gospel. They can't see it. They can't love it. They can't
understand the kingdom of God. If we're not born again, this
is what we'll think. We'll think the kingdom of God is meats and
drinks and religious days and morality and works. And that's
what we'll think. It couldn't be more wrong. It's
the opposite of the truth. But that's what we think because
we're blind and we cannot see. Only the new man sees that the
kingdom of God is spiritual. There's life and joy and peace
in the Holy Ghost. The new man sees the gospel.
He understands it and he loves it. He might have heard the gospel
for years and years and years. And one day he says, I see. What happened? He is born again
and had eyes to see. He can understand. And here's
another thing the new man sees. Only the new man sees the sinfulness
of the old man. Only the new man sees our need
of Christ. You never knew you had an old
man until you got a new man. Because only the new man can
see. You never knew you had an old sinful nature until God gave
you a new holy one in the new birth. That's what the new birth
is, that can only come from the will of God. It can only be done
by the work of God. And it can only happen from the
seed of the word of God. Now here's fourthly, the blessed
results of the new birth. That we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. Now if there's first fruits,
we know this, God has a harvest of souls. The Savior told his
disciples, the harvest truly is great. But the laborers are
few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he sends forth laborers to the harvest, to his
harvest. Now the Lord has a large harvest
of souls, all those souls that he willed to save. And every
one of his people are the first fruits. The first fruits are
not those that have been saved many, many years ago and they're
taking the glory. Now, you know, the Lord's just finishing up
the dregs of the harvest. All of his people are the firstfruits,
every one of them. Now why is that a blessing? What
are the firstfruits? Well, the firstfruits are the
bestfruits, the best ones. Janet and I are by no means gentlemen
farmers. Our neighbors call us gentlemen,
but no, we're not very good at it. But we do get a few tomatoes,
we get a few cucumbers, we get a few peppers. And those first
ones are the best, aren't they? Oh, they're so good. You just
think, oh, how did I live all this time? I forgot what tomatoes
tasted like. I forgot what real cucumbers
tasted like. First fruits are the best. All of God's people
are first fruits. God has made everyone of them. He's made them the best. He's
made them perfect. He's made them precious in His
sight. That's true of the first one.
And that'll be true of the last one. They're all the firstfruits.
The firstfruits were holy to the Lord. God has made all of
his people holy in Christ. And the firstfruits belong to
God. Whenever they gathered up the
firstfruits, they took them in a basket and took them to the
Lord. They all belonged to the Lord. Should belong to the Lord. The
Lord's the one that gave the harvest. He's the one that caused those
seeds to grow up and the fruit to spring forth. They should
have took them to the Lord. But the same thing's true of
God's people. All of them are the first fruits and they all
belong to the Lord. They're all precious to Him.
And they should belong to the Lord. The only reason they have
life is God willed it. The only reason they have life
is God gave it to them. They belong to God. What a blessing
to belong to God. And the firstfruits were brought
to the Lord willingly. If you go back and read the law
of the firstfruits, you didn't have to. You didn't have to.
It was done willingly. Well, that's God's people. Every
one of them is willing. God has no unwilling sons because
He made them willing in the day of His power. He made them willing
when He gave them a new nature that is willing to be saved on
God's terms. Only the new man is willing to
be saved by Christ alone without any help from me. Only the new
man is willing that God get all the glory in salvation. If you're
willing like that, I'll tell you the reason. God gave you
a new want to when he gave you a new nature. Made you willing. Then the first fruits are fruits
of faith. Now you imagine, today if you
grow a garden or something, you're not going to starve if that garden
doesn't produce. There's a grocery store just
down the street. But these folks, now they lived on what they planted. That was their food. If the crop
fails, they're going to starve. And they got those first fruits,
the first ones that came up, and they went out and picked
them, put them in a basket, and took them to the Lord. That was
done in faith, wasn't it? They brought the first fruits
to the Lord before there were any second fruits. How do I know
if I'm going to have anything to eat? If I take these fruits,
how do I know there's going to be some second fruits for me
to eat? How do I know that? Faith. Faith. Because God said
there's going to be. God gives all of His people,
every one of them, Faith, the exact same faith. Faith in Christ. And this goes right along with
that. If there are firstfruits, that tells us there are more
to come. He didn't say this is all the
fruits. No, if there's firstfruits, there's more to come. This is
so encouraging to me as we continue to meet week after week. God's
not yet done saving His people. He's not yet done. Today is still
the day the gospel is being preached. It's still the day that the seed
is being sown. Then there's more harvest to
come. There's more coming. Then I pray God will make us
faithful to preach this. This is the only way anybody's
going to have life. It's the only way the sheep are ever going
to be fed. God make us faithful to preach His words. God make
us faithful not to get our attention off on something else, but to
faithfully preach Christ. It's my earnest prayer every
day. I do pray that the Lord have
a harvest of souls, that He save His people. But if I'm being
real honest, you know where I really want to see a harvest? North
King Road. The tri-state area. That, honestly,
is the prayer that's closest to my heart. Well, the only way
the Lord's going to cause a harvest here is if we're faithful to
sow the word, to preach the word. God make us faithful to do it.
All right, I hope the Lord bless that too.