Of His Own Will
James 1:16-18
Verse 16-18, Do not err, my beloved brethren. {17} 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. {18} Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth
Contrast:
James 1:12-16 – The opposite of receiving the good gift of eternal life through the preaching of the word of God is following our own wills to our complete and utter destruction.
Matthew 13:15 - For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are full of hearing and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them. They retained their religion because that is all they had to hang on to. If they would abandon their religion, they would be able to find the true religion.
Romans 10:8-10 - believe in heart, make confession with mouth. A person cannot believe in their heart until they come to see that God accepts no man’s person, Gal. 2:6.
Salvation is the foundation of all the rest.
Matthew 7:22,23 - Many will say to Christ in that day, "Have we not cast out devils, and preached and done many wonderful works in your name." But Christ will say, "Depart from me, I never knew you."
Matthew 8:2 – The leper came to Christ saying, "…Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."
John 1:12-14 - Verse 13 says we are born of the will of God.
1. Not of blood - Not of the blood of circumcision, animal sacrifices, or in a particular blood (family) line.
2. Not of the will of the flesh - man’s free will, which is corrupt, and at enmity with God, and unable and unwilling to come to God.
3. Not of the will of man - Regardless of how much any man wants his friends, relatives or acquaintances to be saved, they are unable to bring them to Christ, or save them.
The Holy Spirit of God always uses the declaration of the Word of God to bring conviction of sin and repentance and faith which is eternal life.
A. I Corinthians 15:1-4 – The word of truth is the gospel message.
1 Corinthians 1:18 – For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. See also verse 21 and 23.
The Holy Spirit of God uses the truth of God, declared to those God makes willing to hear, and written in the Bible, as the instrument to bring salvation.
B. Eph. 2:8-10 - Grace is unmerited favor, or receiving from God that thing that we do not deserve.
1. We don’t do anything to receive grace or salvation. Some religions (especially Catholics) believe that good works is the means whereby a person is able to come into a position to receive the grace of God. They erroneously believe (and it fits the thinking of man) that their works make them better than the other fellow, and makes it more likely that Christ will come to them instead of the other fellow.
2. The truth is that only those who admit their total fall into sin, their total dependency on God and their total inability to come to Him come to the position of being able to receive the grace of God. Grace is blessings we receive from God because we don’t deserve it, not because we have put ourselves into a position to receive it.
a. Don’t go to church so God will like you and save you.
Don’t give money to church or anybody else so God will like you and save you.
Don’t get baptized in order for Christ or God to save you.
Don’t join the church so God will like you and save you.
Don’t be good so God will like you and save you.
Don’t be a such a good neighbor that God will see that you are better than all the other neighbors and He will save you.
C. The "means", "method" or "way" of coming into God’s grace is HIS love for us. That comes from within HIM, not from within US. A "means", "method" or "way" of coming to Christ for salvation that reflects our love for Christ is wrong. This is because salvation is God’s gift to us, not our gift of love to Him. Our gift of love to God comes after we are saved, not before.
1. I John 4:19 - "We love Him because He first loved us."
2. It is easy to see how despicable we are before God when we say we loved Him first or that we love Him more than He loves us.
I Tim. 2:4 (Who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth) It is the will of God that all be saved, but many have sought out their own ways. Eccl. 7:29 - God hath made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions.
Must have grace because of Total Depravity.
1. Gen. 3:8 - Adam hid from God when he realized he was naked. Man also hide from God today. They pretend nothing is wrong with them, but there is some sort of misunderstanding between them and God.
2. Gen. 3:12 - Adam blamed the woman for his sin.
3. Ps. 14:2-3 - The Lord looked down from heaven to see if there was anybody that was just and good and if anybody was seeking Him.
Faith is simply believing what God said. It is not a feeling or fad.
First-fruits
I Corinthians 15:20 – But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1. As God had claimed the first-born of man and beast, so also he claimed the first of the first-fruits, that they might be presented as an acknowledgment that God was the giver of them, and thanks be rendered for His gifts. All the males were to present themselves three times in the year before God, and these occasions were arranged at the times of ingathering of the barley (at the Feast of Unleavened Bread); of wheat (at the Feast of Weeks); and of the vintage (at the Feast of Tabernacles). #Ex 23:16,19 34:22,26 De 18:4 26:10 Eze 48:14.
2. Christians are said to have the first-fruits of the Spirit: they have the earnest or pledge of still future and larger blessing. #Ro 8:23 2Co 5:5 Eph 1:14.
3. Those first gathered to God in any economy are called the first-fruits, #Ro 11:16 16:5 1Co 16:15 Jas 1:18 Re 14:4.
4. Christ, being raised from among the dead, is the first-fruits of them that sleep. #1Co 15:20,23. ‘First-fruits’ necessarily imply that there are more like them to follow.
a kind of first-fruits—Christ is, in respect to the resurrection, "the first-fruits" (#1Co 15:20,23): believers, in respect to regeneration, are, as it were, first-fruits (image from the consecration of the first-born of man, cattle, and fruits to God; familiar to the Jews addressed), that is, they are the first of God’s regenerated creatures, and the pledge of the ultimate regeneration of the creation, #Ro 8:19,23, where also the Spirit, the divine agent of the believer’s regeneration, is termed "the first-fruits," that is, the earnest that the regeneration now begun in the soul, shall at last extend to the body too, and to the lower parts of creation. Of all God’s visible creatures, believers are the noblest part, and like the legal "first-fruits," sanctify the rest; for this reason they are much tried now.