take your copies of the God's Word and to open with me to the New Testament epistle of James. James, we're gonna be in chapter one and verse 18 this morning. And our sermon entitled, The Bountiful Blessing of the New Birth. Continue to walk verse by verse through James's epistle. In our sermon series, Loving Wisdom and Living Well, We're in chapter one, we're in verse 18 of James. The text reads, of his own will, he, that is God, brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. This is the Word of God. Let us hear it, heed it. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord, it will stand forever. My prayer earnestly is that this morning God will do what this verse says, that in many hearts God will bring forth out of His will them by His Word that we might be the kind of firstfruits of His creatures. As you know, our nation has set aside this Thursday of this week every year as a national holiday dedicated to the notion of giving thanks to God. And as you know, it's traditionally celebrated, and many of you are planning on this, with an elaborate feast, which is supposed to represent the abundance of God's kind providence in our lives. God in what is often referred to as common grace has given good things to all people. That the proverbial or the actual rain falls upon the just as well as the unjust. that the gardens of the unjust as well as the just grow and bring forth fruit, that it's not just the tables of believers that will be filled with food this Thursday, but that God has sent these blessings to the households of unbelievers as well, even to those who don't thank Him for His many gifts. God, in His righteousness, sends good things even to those who don't truly thank Him, to those who don't honor Him, that don't worship Him, that unbelievers are able to enjoy the blessing of marriage and children and families and jobs and homes and cars and sports, et cetera, et cetera. But if we Christians If we have placed our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we have much more than just those things to be thankful for, don't we? We are saved and it is God who has saved us. Now, we didn't deserve to be saved. We were sinful rebels against the Lord. We were enemies that had been invited to sit at his table. We live lives characterized by ungodliness and we were those who suppressed the truth in our unrighteousness. We were those who were children of wrath like the rest of mankind, spiritually dead in our sins and in our transgressions. We sought our own pleasure. We followed the world's values. We fed our carnal appetites. We had a disobedient spirit. We served our father the devil. But not only did we not deserve to be saved, we didn't do anything to achieve or earn our salvation. When I say that we should thank God for saving us, I'm not saying that God has merely done what was necessary to make salvation possible. Or in that case, that it was you that added the final ingredient to what God had done. I'm not suggesting that God has only made you savable. I'm instead declaring that God has actually saved you. And that's because that salvation is truly all of God. It is all of grace. that this biblical teaching is seen and reflected in those five Latin phrases that are defined on the back of our bulletin. That in accordance with Scripture alone, that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. Now if we contributed anything to our salvation, then there would be grounds for us to boast in that. We could boast about that part that we allegedly added. For we added it when others chose not to. We made the righteous choice that they refused to make. We made the smart play that they were too ignorant to see. We succeeded where others had failed. There's no grounds for boasting when it comes to salvation. There's only room for thanksgiving. The triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have authored, accomplished, and applied salvation to those that He has chosen to redeem. And He has done so to the praise of His glory, to the praise of His glorious grace. that soli deo gloria, glory to God alone, is at the very heart of thanksgiving. Now when we look at James 1.18, we see that it has at least three contextual links which connect what James is saying here to what he has already said in the book. And noting these links are important for our full understanding of the passage. The first thing that I want you to see is that there is reproductive imagery that is conjured by the language in verse 18, that it says that God has brought us forth, that the King James says that He begat us, and the NIV says He chose to give us birth, which is repeated in several other versions. So this is birthing imagery. God giving birth, metaphorically, to believers. Well, James has just used birthing imagery, hasn't he? Back in verse 15. Then desire, our sinful desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. So there's this stark contrast that James is making between what we bring forth and what God has brought forth, right? Through what one commentator calls our unplanned pregnancy, we only give birth to sin and to death. But in contrast, God intentionally decides to transform us sinners by regenerating us in order to produce redeemed children for himself. In fact, Daniel Doriani points out that this rebirth keeps our sin from giving birth to death in us, ultimately. See what kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God. A second link stems from the previous verse, that's verse 17. Every good and every perfect gift is from above. God doesn't give temptations, God gives good and perfect gifts. And verse 18 points to one such good and perfect gift. That's the new birth. In fact, in John chapter three, the locus classicus, when it comes to this born again language, Jesus talking with Nicodemus when he comes to him at night. that he tells Nicodemus that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven one must be born again. And Nicodemus, you'll remember, interprets that to mean maybe born a second time. For he says, I can't climb back into my mother's womb to be born a second time. So clearly, Nicodemus is taking it as being born again. But just the phrasing in the Greek language doesn't necessarily mean that. It's more ambiguous. It could be taken as born a second time, born again. Or it could be born from above. And literally, Jesus means both. You have to be born again from above this time. But in this case, what we see is that clearly the new birth is both a rebirth, a second birth, as well as a God-wrought birth that is from above. Every good and perfect gift is from above. And this new birth is also from above. The third link then is found in the title that James uses for God in verse 17. There he calls God the father of lights. Now I said two weeks ago that this is the only place where God is referred to by this phrase. And James doesn't call God the creator or the maker of the lights, even though that's what he's meaning when he says it. God is the one who made the sun and the moon and the stars and the planets. Now what James says, he calls God the father of these lights, reminding us that it was God through his word that gave birth to the first creation. And likewise, it is God who through his word is giving birth to his new creation. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 4.6. that the God who said, let light shine in the darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So then having examined where and how James 1.18 fits into the context of James's letter, let's look at then what verse 18 specifically teaches. And I wanna draw out five points from the text this morning. The first is this, the supernatural reality of the new birth. The supernatural reality of the new birth. I wanna focus on the phrase that he brought us forth, that he brought us forth, that he gave us birth, that he begat us, that he brought us forth. We've already talked about this is reproductive language. It's what theologians refer to as regeneration, this rebirth that's being talked about. That each of us, if we're alive, and I think everyone here this morning is, if we're alive physically, we've experienced a natural birth. But James is here speaking of a second and a supernatural birth that's being talked about. This kind of doctrine, this doctrine of regeneration or born again language appears in other places in the Bible with different emphases. Jeremiah talks about it, that this new life that's going to come to us in the new covenant, this promise of the new covenant that comes in Jeremiah 31, where he talks about that a new covenant is promised to Israel and the people of God in Judah. It's not going to be like the old covenant that he has made in those former days. He says, I will put my law within them. and I will write it on their heart. So he's gonna be one that not merely the law remains external to them, but he gives them the power in a transformed life and a new heart to do what he has commanded for them to do. I will be their God. They will be my people, so there's this possession language. No longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each brother say, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest. So in this new covenant, it's gonna be not a mixed group of some believers and some unbelievers, it's gonna be a group of all believers in the new covenant. They all know the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, I will remember their sin no more. This is a covenant that there's forgiveness when transgression is made. Ezekiel, likewise, is gonna speak of a new heart. And Jesus is gonna refer to this when he talks to Nicodemus and John. that Ezekiel 36, 25, I will sprinkle clean water on you. You must be born of water and the Spirit. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanlinesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you. Just as we read this, pay attention to how many times God says I will. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. So this is Ezekiel talking about what Jeremiah talked about. This new covenant that involves a new heart God takes out our stony hearts and gives us a heart of flesh that is able to keep Him, keep the law. Jesus, as we've already mentioned in John 3, talks about this new birth, this birth from above, this birth that He says is by the Spirit, that the Spirit works. that truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Paul, when he picks this up, is gonna talk about being a new creation. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away, behold, the new has come. That's 2 Corinthians 5, 17. He tells us to put off our old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. John, of course, and specifically, not just in his gospel, but in 1 John, will talk again and again about being born of God, being born of God. So that's the, this supernatural reality of the new birth. Secondly, I want you to see the spiritual agent of the new birth, that it is He who brought us forth. God has brought us forth, the supernatural agent of the new birth. The emphasis is that this new birth has been accomplished by God, that God is the sole actor here. that Jesus has just spoken of the person of the Holy Spirit as who affects the new birth. The one who is born again is born of the Spirit, that which is born of flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel, Jesus said, that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, you hear it sound, you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit, The Spirit gives us new birth from above. Paul says in Titus 3.5 that He saved us, God has saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. First Peter in chapter one in verse three is gonna say something very similar, that he says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But regeneration is not simply a rebirth, it is a resurrection. Bringing life from the dead. James has already held out the crown of life to us. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life. That's back in verse 12. There's a problem, however, with natural men taking hold of that crown. The problem is that men are naturally sinners. We don't pass the test that God sends our way. We don't perfectly, personally, and perpetually remain steadfast in times of trial. Anybody want to claim that they have? Instead, we fall into temptation. We're lured away and enticed by our own evil desires. And our desires then give birth to sin, and sin gives birth to death. We have these evil desires because we are sinners. We don't become sinners because we commit sins. We commit sins because we are sinners. We are by nature in Adam spiritually dead in our sins and our trespasses. Let me let you in on a little secret that you already know. The spiritually dead aren't able to offer any contribution to their spiritual life. Their contribution to, and use an apt description, it stinks. Alec Mortier says, it is no more possible for us to be agents or contributors to our new birth than it was for us to be so in our natural birth. All the work from initial choice to completed deed is his and so is all the glory that goes along with it. You didn't decide to get born. Listen, I was born a light-haired, blue-eyed, Caucasian male on June 13, 1977 in Birmingham, Alabama, the first child of Jim and Nancy Summerhill. Do you know how much I contributed to any of that? None. Zero. You want to take a guess how much of that was the product of my decision or my choice? Ephesians 2, 5. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He has loved us, even when we were dead and our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved. What I want to convey to you is the picture of salvation that is like Jesus' friend Lazarus. You know the brother of Mary and Martha. You remember that Jesus found out that Lazarus has died, and he showed up at the tomb four days after that death. Jesus told the mourners and the onlookers to open the tomb, and the people warned him that he'd been dead so long that he was starting to stink. Now what ought to be obvious to all of us is that Lazarus is completely dead and that Lazarus is utterly incapable of coming out of that tomb and coming back to life. Reverse that order. Coming back to life and then coming out of the tomb. You know what? Jesus brings Lazarus forth. Jesus brings Lazarus forth, and He brings Lazarus forth as a preview of coming events by His Word, right? God calls to Him. I mean, He says, Lazarus, come forth! And Lazarus comes stumbling out of the grave with the grave clothes wrapped around him still. And that's what James is describing happens in the life of believers. that God caused them, brings them forth from the spiritual death to spiritual life. God is the spiritual agent of the new birth. Thirdly, I want you to see the sovereign grounds of the new birth. The sovereign grounds of the new birth. So far, we've argued that our experience of the new birth is not just a natural occurrence, but it is instead a supernatural reality. We've also argued that it is God himself, God the Holy Spirit, who is the divine agent that has brought us forth, that he is the one who's produced in us this new birth. I wanna carry that idea, however, even further. Notice how the ESV translates our verse. It states, of his own will, he has brought us forth. Instead of, he has brought us forth by his own will. It's kind of like Yoda. Of his own will, he has brought us forth. Sorry for that. I couldn't resist. It's reflective, however, of the way that the passage is written in Greek. The phrase of his own will is placed in the place of emphasis. means that it was not only God who produced in us the new birth, but that He did so on the basis of His own sovereign will. So this word will in this case is not some casual wish that God makes. It's referring to God's divine decree, sovereign purpose. that the basis or the grounds of God giving us spiritual rebirth lies in His own sovereign decree and not in anything about us that He sees. God's choice is an unconditional election. It's not based on our wealth. It's not based on our social status or our intelligence or any inherent righteousness within us. It's not even based on our foreseen fate. I'm not in any way trying to negate the need for faith. or to undercut the necessity of our real and conscience embrace of Jesus Christ. We must personally call on His name. We must confess Him as Lord. We must believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. But what I am trying to communicate is that our faith itself is a gift of God's grace. that those who believe are those whom God has granted a second birth, that faith is the result of regeneration and not the other way around. To his disciples, Jesus would state it this way, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Now is it the case that Jesus' disciples never made a choice for Jesus? Of course they dropped their nets and followed after Him. Of course they, like Peter, they said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. But then the Lord said, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for it is not, you know, anything in your flesh that has revealed this, but My Father. It's not flesh and blood that has revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Why have they chosen him? Because Jesus first chose them. Their choice of him happened after Jesus's choice of them and happened because of Jesus's choice of them. It was Jesus's choice that was prior to their choice and which brought about their choice. That's again why birth is such an apt analogy for our conversion. As one commentator stated, birth is something that happens to a child based upon the decisions and the actions of others. It'd be silly to write a book as has been written, how to be born again. It'd be like writing a book, how to be born. It doesn't up to you. James is here speaking of something that John would make plain in his gospel later. To all, in James, this is John 1, 12 and 13, to all who did receive Jesus, who believed in His name. He gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Notice that John speaks of faith, of believing in His name, of receiving Jesus. He talks of that. He doesn't deny the presence or the need of faith. But those who receive the Lord Jesus and believe in His name, when He explains that these believers have been granted the privilege of being God's own children, have not been born on these basis. First of all, it's not their blood. Didn't matter who their ancestors are, what nation or tribe or family they belong to, who their grandparent was, if he was a preacher or not, doesn't matter. Natural birth was not a factor in their new birth. Their birth was not contingent on having the right bloodline. Nor was it at the will of the flesh. This right decision can't be produced by sinful flesh. Those who are totally depraved can't conjure up faith within themselves. Nor is it the will of man. Their birth isn't the result of any human choice or human decision. Neither their own or anyone else's. He ends by stating that they have received and believed in Jesus Christ. They have been granted the right to be children of God because they have been born of God. It was God of His own will. Of His own will He has brought them forth. Surely He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. What I'm saying is that having been born is based on the prior decision of God, that just as newly born infants cry when they're first born, newly born Christians believe when they're first born. Now at this point you may be asking me, Pastor Dax, why are you emphasizing these things? Why is it important that I believe this? And my first response is that it's because James emphasizes it as the truth, that the Bible over and over again emphasizes God's sovereignty and salvation. But a second reason that I hope you find very encouraging is for the assurance of your salvation, for your confidence in the work of God on your behalf. Again, I'm going to quote Moitner here. He says, Inherit in this great truth of the new birth is the security of our salvation. Were salvation to depend on my choice, it would be as uncertain as my will which fluctuates. It blows hot and cold. It reflects my divided, fallen nature. But it is His choice. And until that will changes, which there is no variation or shadow due to change in Him, His word alters or His truth is proved false, then my salvation cannot be threatened or forfeited because He has brought me forth by His own will which doesn't change. Fourthly, I want you to do the scriptural instrument of the new birth. The scriptural instrument of the new birth. Painters paint. Sculptors sculpt. Musicians play. Carpenters build. Farmers plow. They are agents who produce the action. But painters have their paints and their brushes Sculptors have their clay, marble, wood, and chisels. Musicians, their guitars, pianos, violins, or other instruments. Carpenters, their hammers and nails, and all the other tools, wood and saws. Farmers, their tractors and their implements. Every agent has an instrument. And the instrument that God uses to bring us forth from death to life is His Word. He brought us forth by the word of truth. Just as in the first creation, God spoke, let there be light, and there was light. So also in the new creation, God speaks into the darkness of our souls. and says, let there be light. And there's light. And he speaks into the deadness of our hearts and says, let there be life. And there is life. Three verses later in verse 21, James is going to command us to receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your soul. There he speaks of the word's ability. It is able. Able because God is able. God saves our soul through his word that he plants like a seed into the fertile soil of our souls and it grows and it produces fruit. Peter speaks of the new birth using similar language in his first epistle. We've already quoted 1 Peter down in verse, back in 1 Peter. three of that epistle. Now verse 23, you've been born again, Peter says, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. And this word is the good news, he says, that was preached to you. And that seems to be true in James as well as in Peter. When he uses the phrase, the word of truth, he means specifically the gospel message. Paul makes this clear in two places as well. Ephesians 1.13, in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, which he says is the gospel of your salvation. And Colossians 1.5 and 6, of this you have heard before, in the word of truth, which he says the gospel, which has come to you. Can I just say something by way of a philosophy of ministry? That this is the reason why Paul, in his last and dying words to Timothy, in 2 Timothy, charged him before God and Christ Jesus to preach the Word. To preach the Word, in season and out of season. It's the reason that Pastor Jamie and I, along with Paul and all the other long line of faithful ministers of which we're not worthy to be counted among, And the words of 2 Corinthians 4 have denounced, renounced disgraceful and underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's Word. Instead, by open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. If you're wondering why week after week we do no frills here, we just open up the Bible and say what it says, that's why. Because God brings new birth by the Word of Truth. So I'm not gonna replace it, or dull the instrument of God, or use something else to bring people forth. This is God's tool of conversion. I can't grant anyone the new birth. I can't convert anyone, I can't save anybody's soul. But I can seek to faithfully preach God's word, to rightly divide the word of truth, and God can take that and use it to convert people's souls. I'll be honest, I look with extreme skepticism at those who boast of large numbers of conversions and baptisms, yet speak so little of God's word. There are many who proclaim that numerous decisions were made following a talk that contained little to no gospel whatsoever. I'm not jealous of their ministries or their large congregations. I weep for them. You and I, we have the word of truth, the word of life, the living and abiding word. that is sharper than any two-edged sword, that's piercing to the very division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow. Let's be reminded of the logic of Scripture and our call to evangelistic mission. How will they call on Him they've not heard? I mean, have not believed. And how are they to believe in Him they've never heard? How are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News. Romans 10, 14 and 15. A.T. Robertson says, We must reach men with the Word of God. We must pass it on to the thirsty, the hungry, the dying. Every church is or ought to be a life-saving station, a rescue mission, a teaching center, a powerhouse, a lighthouse radiating knowledge of God in Christ. May God form such in us. Lastly, I want you to see the special result of the new birth. The special result of the new birth. The birth closes with the stated goal or purpose or result of God's own decision to bring us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Now this concept of Christians being a kind of firstfruits is based on agricultural imagery from the Old Testament. especially teaching coming from Exodus 23 and 34 and Deuteronomy 18. In those passages, Israel was instructed to set aside all of the first and the best of their livestock and produce and to give them to God as an offering. This practice is acknowledged that God was the giver of all these blessings that He would continually provide for His people throughout the year. The offering of the firstfruits demonstrated the people's faith in God's promise that there would be a greater harvest yet to come. So given this background, what does it mean that Christians, as those who have been brought forth by God, are to be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures? It means to communicate several truths to us, and I'll be quick. First to be firstfruits means that we belong to God. That we belong to the Lord. All the produce or flock and field came from God, but the firstfruits were especially His. The rest of the food was for daily use, but the first fruits came to priest and the tabernacle. Deuteronomy 18, for the first fruits of your grain, of your wine, of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. Exodus 34, 19, all that opened the womb are mine. All of your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. So similarly, Christians are those whom God has redeemed out of this world. We are God's people. He is our God. We are His treasured possession, the people that God has formed for Himself to declare His praise, beloved of God, belonging to Him. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10. Secondly, being firstfruits means that we're holy to the Lord. Not only that we belong to Him, but we're holy to the Lord. Because the firstfruits are separated out, they're set apart. More than that, they were the best of flock and field. The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. Exodus 23, 18 and 34, 25. Jeremiah 2, 3. Israel was holy to the Lord. The firstfruits of His harvest. Now as the firstfruits of God's creatures, you and I know that God has not chosen us because we are holy. or the best of all that He's made. Indeed, He's chosen those who are low and despised in this world. But we are holy because God has set us apart. Because God has rescued us out of the world. And we are the best in the sense that God has set us apart for Himself and chosen to save us out of all the other people in the world. God has consecrated us. God has sanctified us. Christians are the best of all people because they are valuable as the redeemed segment of the society. Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth, the lie of the world. Just as he has called us as holy, so we're to be holy in all that we do. He has saved us by grace and through faith, but we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that we should walk in them. Third, being firstfruits, means that God will continue to provide and care for us. The first fruits were an annual confession that God supplied the year's bounty. That He was faithful to His covenant people yet another year. It's a promise that God is faithful. He has not only brought us forth, but He will bring us home. And lastly, the first fruits were just a foretaste. They were a promise that there was a greater harvest yet to come. Therefore, being the first fruits of God's creatures means that there is a greater fulfillment, a greater blessing yet ahead of us. Just as we have experienced the new birth, so will others from every tribe, nation, people, and language. And just as we become new creatures in Christ, So we can look forward to the fullness of the new creation, where we will dwell with Him for eternity. In us, the new creation is already, but we look around this world and we see that it is also not yet. In Christ, the kingdom has been inaugurated, but one day it will be consummated. In that day, those who have received the new birth will also dwell in the new heavens and in the new earth. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.