Introduction

James 1:18 ESV  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

• We just got done with a large section of James about trials and tribulations… how the enemy uses pain and suffering to tempt us into sin, to tempt us to curse God, to leave God…
  • But how God takes those things from the enemy, and uses them for our good.
  • That’s the gist of James 1:2-17… and we spent a good deal of time in there…
• But not James is changing subjects. For James 1:18 to the end of the chapter the subject is The Word of God.
  • Reading it, doing it, not being offended by it, living by it.
  • It’s all in the context of God’s Word.
• And todays verse, James 1:18, is an introduction to this topic of the word of God…

James 1:18 ESV  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

• James is saying “You need to take God’s Word seriously, because it is by God’s will through His Word that you have been saved”.
• And what is wonderful about this is two things, it displays the importance of God’s Word in His eternal plan for mankind… but it also shows us, without a shadow of a doubt, what the will of God is.
  • So let’s talk about that this morning.

• Discerning The Will of God For Your Life
  • Today I just have a simple message: This is what God Wants For You.

Point One – God’s Will is For You to be Saved

• Point one this morning is that it is God’s will for you to be saved.
  • It is God’s will for you to be saved…
• Now most of you probably already know that… but maybe some of you are struggling with this…
  • With questions like “Does God really love me?”
  • “Can God really forgive me for what I have done?”
  • “Am I too evil to ever be loved by God?”
    • You know I was watching a secular TV show while I was sick last week, and  there was a scene in a church.
    • And the pastor was preaching on forgiveness…
    • And a man walked in and loudly proclaimed “Bologna! Do you think God will forgive you for what happened back in 84? With all those women? Do you think God forgot about all the drugs we did and all the crimes we committed? Who are you fooling?!”
    • The church was visibly shocked! How DARE their pastor have a past…
    •  And the pastor didn’t know what to say, so he beat the crud out of this guy in the middle of the church aisle with everyone watching…
  • And I remember watching this scene unfold and thinking “This is so dumb… church is nothing like that… no one who writes for this show must be a Christians if they think that is what following Jesus is like…”
    • Then I realized… people really believe this… people who don’t know Jesus really believe that Christianity is only for “good people”.
    • That if you have a sinful past, you will never be qualified to be a pastor.
    • That if you did some awful things in your life, you have no business being in a church.
    • The writers of this show believed these lies so much that they thought it made perfect sense to put it in the middle of their plot line…
    • Because the writers of that show don’t know the will of God…
  • God’s will is to forgive you of your sins… God’s will is to save you!

James 1:18 ESV  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

• Of His own will He brought you forth! Of His own will He saved you. Of His own will He forgave you!
  • Your salvation is not a happy coincidence.
  • Jesus didn’t just come to save somebody else and you happened to be in the right place at the right time.
    • NO! God thought about YOU. He considered YOU. And all that you are… and have done… and will do.
    • And after considering all of that, God said, of His own free will “I am going to send my Son to die for YOU! That YOU may be saved. That YOU may be forgiven. That YOU may be redeemed.”
  • If some guy walked down the aisle of this church while I was preaching and started listing off all the horrible things I did before I was a Christian… I would just be like
    • “Amen… I was a pervert!”
    • “Amen… I was a thief”
    • “Amen… I did dishonor my parents”
    • “Amen… I did worship false gods”
    • “Amen… I was a liar… a compulsive liar”
    • “Amen… tell it all… because you think you are showing how bad of a person I am, but in reality you are showing how great my God’s love is for me!”
    • “Because despite of my filth, my sin, my wickedness… despite of all the things you listed that I had done… GOD STILL LOVED ME ENOUGH TO WANT TO SAVE ME! IT WAS STILL HIS WILL THAT I WOULD COME FOURTH AS A NEW CREATION.
    • DESPITE OF ALL OF THAT GOD STILL DIED FOR ME.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV  Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,  (10)  nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  (11)  And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

• Paul says: Some of you were sexually immoral,
  • some of you worshiped false Gods,
  • some of you cheated on your spouses,
  • some of you had homesexual sex,
  • some of you were thieves,
  • some of you were greedy,
  • some of you were drunks,
  • some were cheats and others were violent jerks…
  • but you are all now saved, you have been cleansed of these things! Jesus Christ has made you holy again, made you in right standing with God… made you justified.
    • And if He can do it for you, He can do it for others… so don’t withhold the things of God from people who do these evil things… BECAUSE IT IS GOD’S WILL THAT THEY WOULD BE SAVED.
• I believe… no, I KNOW that it is God’s will for every homosexual to be saved and go to heaven.
  • For every adulterer to be saved and go to heaven.
  • For every thieve and drunk and swindler… to be saved and go to heaven.
    • I KNOW IT IS GOD’S WILL FOR THESE PEOPLE TO GO TO HEAVEN BECAUSE IT IS GOD’S WILL FOR EVERYONE TO GO TO HEAVEN.

2 Peter 3:9 KJV  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Titus 2:11 ESV  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

• God is not willing that ANY should perish but that all should come to repentance.
• Salvation has come for ALL people!
  • THAT MEANS HIS WILL IS THAT NO ONE WOULD GO TO HELL BUT EVERYONE WOULD GO TO HEAVEN.
    • Including the worst of the worst of people.
  • Some people say that God doesn’t care about numbers… well they are wrong… these two verses right here says that God cares about numbers…
  • Not willing that any should perish but that ALL should come to repentance.
  • God’s grace has brought salvation for ALL people.
    • THAT “ALL” IS A NUMBER! It’s about 7.9 billion right now.
    • That is why I want our church to grow… not because we are the coolest church in town, we are not… but because there are people in Cedar Rapids who are still not saved and I want to do all I can do to change that.
  • Now these verses don’t mean that everyone will be saved, we know that is not true… most people won’t be according to scripture…
    • But just because they wont be saved… doesn’t mean God is happy with that outcome…

Ezekiel 33:11 ESV  Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

• When I pray “Your will be done” I am literally praying let the people of Cedar Rapids be saved!”
• But the question has got to be, as it is with any sermon, “Ok, pastor, but what do I do with this information?”.
  • Well if you are not born again, it’s time to get born again, get saved! It is 100% God’s will for your life that you would be saved and forgiven… set free, redeemed, made righteous. And at the end of this message there is going to be a chance for you to be saved, to be forgiven… to be completely made new in Christ Jesus… like most everyone in this church has done…
  • But if you are saved… here are two take aways:
    • First, never stop praying for the unsaved. God’s will is for them to be saved.
      • Your family, you coworkers… no matter what they have done, or who they are… God died for them! DON’T GIVE UP HOPE. NEVER GIVE UP HOPE. WAR FOR THEM!

James 1:18 ESV  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

• What is beautiful about that word first fruits is what it implies…
  • You see, the word first fruits is the first part of the harvest…
  • Traditionally when a harvest comes in, the first part of the harvest would be offered to God.
    • The saints that James was writing to were literally some of the first Christians EVER! They were literally the first fruits of salvation.
  • But here is the thing, here is the implication… when a harvest has good first fruits, the farmer knows that the rest of the harvest is going to be plentiful.
    • You get a good bounty on those first fruits, man the rest of the harvest is going to be AWESOME!
    • So James is kind of prophetically saying here… “Not only are YOU saved, but you are the first fruits of a much larger harvest!”

Matthew 9:37-38 ESV  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;  (38)  therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

• So if you are saved, the first take away from this message is to never stop praying for the unsaved… But second, if you are saved… STAY SAVED.Now I don’t want to get into a fight about once saved always saved…I just want to be clear… the Bible says that those who are living in unrepentant sin ARE NOT SAVED.

Philippians 2:12 ESV  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

• Constantly grow towards Christ… constantly draw near to him…
  • Don’t be worried that you may lose your salvation… but never neglect it either…
  • GOD’S WILL IS FOR YOU TO BE SAVED, AMEN?
• Now that brings us to point two: God’s will is for you to be in the Word!

Point Two – God’s Will is For You to be in the Word

James 1:18 ESV  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

• Church I want to suggest something to you… I want to suggest that you may not be giving God’s Word enough credit…
  • Of His own will you were brought forth, you were saved, BY THE WORD OF TRUTH!
    • YOU WERE SAVED BECAUSE OF GOD’S WORD.
      • I am not sure we give God’s word enough Credit in our testimonies.
      • In our lives.
      • In our prayers.
      • In our daily habits.
        • Church, saints, you may not be giving God’s word enough Credit.

Psalms 19:7a KJV  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul…

• The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul… That phrase, the Law of the Lord, means “God’s Word” it specifically meant the first 5 books of the Old Testament, but we know now it means all of God’s Word.
  • It’s perfect in converting the soul.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  (17)  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

• Listen to me… without the Bible you probably wouldn’t be saved.
  • The Jesus I believe in is the Jesus of the Bible.
  • The God I preach about is the God of the Bible.
  • The church that I run strives to be a Biblical church.
  • The principles that I live by are the principles the Bible teaches.
  • The way I raise my kids is how the Bible tells me to raise my kids.
  • The way I treat my wife is the way the Bible tells me to treat my wife.
    • IF IT WAS NOT FOR THE BIBLE I WOULD BE A SHELL OF A MAN.
      • And I truly believe that I would not have been saved without the Bible.
        • In fact I had a dream about a Bible verse before I was saved… a verse I had NEVER read before… God sent it to me in a dream… GOD USED HIS WORD TO CALL ME.
• And if it wasn’t for the Bible then I might not have been saved because Pastor Matt lead me to Jesus… and Pastor Matt is the Man that He is because of the Bible.
  • And the Gospel that he preached that lead me to repentance was the gospel of the Bible.
    • And maybe you are thinking “Well no one read the Bible to me before I came to Jesus.”
    • And that may be true… but who lead you to Jesus… did they read their Bible?
    • Who lead THEM to Jesus? Did they read their Bible?
      • I GUARENTEE THE BIBLE HAS A LARGE PART TO DO WITH YOUR SALVATION STORY.

James 1:18 ESV  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

• I once was accused of “worshiping the Bible” and that kind of took me aback a little bit… until I was like “Yeah man, I do worship the Word of God”.
  • How can you say that pastor, it is an inanimate object?
    • NO! You think to little of the Bible… have you not read John Chapter one?

John 1:1-3 ESV  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (2)  He was in the beginning with God.  (3)  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:14 ESV  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

• Literally Jesus is the Word of God.
  • This Bible here is not just some inanimate object… the words on it’s pages are God’s Words…
  • Jesus walked the earth as a physical embodiment of these words.
  • These aren’t just love letters FROM GOD, though they certainly are they…
    • They are not just love letters from God, they are God’s actually breath.
    • GOD IS IN THESE PAGES.
    • The word is active and alive and more powerful than any human force.
    • BECAUSE JESUS IS THE WORD.
      • Let me read Hebrews 4:12 in context… get this…

Hebrews 4:12-14 ESV  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  (13)  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  (14)  Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

• Boom! The word is living and active and sharper than any two edge sword, no creature is hidden from it, it is our great High pries who is Jesus the Son of God.
  • Now I don’t mean to say that this book is physically Jesus… no this is some nice goatskin wrapped around some dead tree pulp that was turned into paper and printed on with probably laser printers…
    • This is a book.
    • But the content of this book, the spirit of this book, the power of this book is From Jesus, through Jesus, and by Jesus.
    • Jesus lived by these words, taught these words, embodied these words.
    • These words are His words, but more than that they are God’s breath, His spirit is in this book.
• Therefore I think maybe it is possible that we are not giving His word enough credit.
• Listen to me, IT IS GOD’S WILL FOR YOU TO BE IN HIS WORD.
  • It will change you.
  • It will transform you.
  • It will lead you to salvation if you are not already saved.
  • It will guide you.
  • It will teach you.
  • It will encourage you.
  • It will bring you closer to God, because it is HIS WORD.
  • To spend time with it is to spend time with God.
    • If you don’t like reading the word then you need to repent and pray that God will change your heart.
    • “CREAT IN ME A CLEAN HEART OH GOD AND RENEW A RIGHT SPIRIT IN ME”.
      • Because this is His word and if you don’t like hearing what He has to say then heaven might not be that fun for you!
• Everyone I have ever talked to who struggles to hear from God… they are not reading their Bible.
  • How can you hear God’s spoken word if you don’t read His written Word?
• When people come to me in calamity… I can almost guarantee they are not in the Bible.
  • Because when someone is grounded in God’s word they face calamity different.
    • “Pastor I don’t know what to do my life is falling apart”
    • “Well are you in your bible?”
    • “Well, no, not as much as I should”.
    • “Pastor I feel lost and hopeless”
    • “Are you reading your Word?”
    • “Well… no not that much”.
    • “Pastor I just don’t want to go on like this anymore”
    • “I see, are you spending time with God in the Word?”
    • “Well… I know that I should but…”
  • BUT WHAT?! You don’t have time? You have time to eat don’t you?
  • BUT WHAT?! It’s not that interesting to you? Cancel your Netflix and Hulu accounts… stop feeding your brain worthless amusement and watch the words come to life.
  • BUT WHAT?! Your not a strong reader? Listen to an audio Bible, the Bible was written with the intent to be read aloud?
  • BUT WHAT?! You don’t know where to start? Your Bible doesn’t have page numbers? Start on page 1 if you have to!
  • BUT WHAT?! You don’t understand it? Then pray that the Holy Spirit would help you understand it.
• Listen, if you have never read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation… GET SIGNED UP FOR B90! DON’T WAIT.
  • But that’s just too much reading in one day…
  • WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT… Are you saying you are spending too much time with God? WHAT ARE YOU REALLY SAYING. JUST DO IT! Get signed up and do it. JUST DO IT! Watch it change your life.
• It is God’s Will for you to be in His Word!
  • But pastor how do I read the Bible?
  • You know what that is a great question… and I am gonna let Billy Grahm answer that Question, He is a better preacher than me anyway…
  • We are gonna close with this short video clip… if I can get someone to come play the piano after Rev Grahm is done preaching…

Show How to read the Bible? What to expect from reading? – Billy Graham – YouTube

Conclusion

• Now the first point of this message is that it is God’s will for you to be saved… if you are not saved this moment is for you. God has brought you here for this moment…
• Gospel Call
• Praise God… saints, what is God’s will for your life? His will is that you stay saved, work out your salvation daily… keep growing towards him, never give up.
  •  God’s will is that you would not give up praying and evangelizing to those who are not saved… He is not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance… so don’t give up.
  • And God’s will is for you to get into your Bible.
    • We are going to talk more about the Bible in the next few weeks, but for now… start reading it… read it more and more and more… let it be an integral part of your life because GOD is an integral part of your life!