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New Birth Leads to HolinessJames 1:18

James 1:18“In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be, as it were,

the first fruits among His creatures.”

Looking back four Sundays . . .Lesson One – Introduction (1:1)

About James, and How his letter is a series of tests, designed to determine the genuineness of

our faithLessons Two & Three – (1:2-12)

How we respond to tests and trials gives us a test to measure the genuineness of our faith,

The Test of Perseverance

Lesson Four – (1:13-18)Temptation – The Process, and Whom Do You

Blame When You Sin

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and

enticed by his own lust.Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin;And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death

James 1:13-17

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from

above,Coming down from the Father of lights, with whom

there is no variation or shifting shadow.

The primary difference is not in the Greek term he uses, but in a person’s response to it.

If a believer responds in faithful obedience to God’s Word, he successfully endures a trial; if he

succumbs to it in the flesh, he isDoubting God and disobeying, he is tempted to

sin.

Right response leads to spiritual endurance, righteousness, wisdom, and other blessings (vv. 2-

12)Wrong responses leads to sin and death (v.15).

1 Cor. 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful,

who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the

way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

No person, including the most spiritual Christian, can escape temptation.

Even Christ (in His humanity), who was without sinful flesh, was “tempted by the devil.” (Matt. 4:1)

Just as it is common to man to be tempted, it is also common for him to blame someone or

something else, not only for being tempted but also for his giving in to it.

If you respond to a trial with obedience, then you find it a means of spiritual growth. If you respond

to a trial with disobedience it has turned into a temptation and you have fallen prey to it.

Every trial has the potential to become a temptation, depending on our response.

Trial

Endure

SpiritualGrowth

Doubt God + Sinful Desires

Temptation (Yield)

SINGlory to God

Every Christian

has a choice to

make

This issue of who is to blame in temptation for sin is the heart of this passage.

Adam and Eve are great examples:Gen. 3:11-13, “Have you eaten from the tree of

which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The

serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

James is saying how you respond to temptation and where you put the blame is another indicator of the genuineness of your saving faith, or the lack

of it.James 1:13, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt

anyone.

He goes on to give four strong proofs that God is not responsible for Our temptations, or

Our giving in to our temptations

The Nature of Evil

The Nature of Man

The Nature of Lust

The Nature of God

DesireDeception

Design

Disobedience

Discussion QuestionWhat actions should you take at each step of the

above temptation/sin process, to maintain a

holy life?

The Nature of Evil

The Nature of Man

The Nature of Lust

The Nature of GodThe Nature of the

New Birth

James 1:18“In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be, as it were,

the first fruits among His creatures.”

5. The Nature of the new birth

This is another piece of evidence we can add to verses 1:13-17

That God is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for our temptations, nor our sins.

James is now dealing with the very nature of regeneration itself.

When a person is “born again” he is re-created, given a completely new natureThat has no part in sin or evil

Our own lust brings forth sin and deathThe gift of God in Christ brings life

Paul quoted from Psalm 14 when he said,Rom. 3:10-12, There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together

they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.”

Besides Jesus Christ, not one human being since Adam and Eve’s fall has been born righteous or become righteous or morally pure and right with

God through their own efforts.There never has been, and there never will be in

this present age

John said, in John 3:19-20, “The Light has come into the world, and men

loved the darkness rather than light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil

hates the light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed”

Man’s condition is by nature, as well as by choice

Paul said in Eph. 2:1-3,And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in

the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of

wrath, even as the rest.

Before salvation our conduct was dictated by the evil system in which we lived, because our evil

natures readily responded to itBecause fallen man’s problem is internal, the

solution to his problem must be internalMan cannot act righteously or talk righteously, and

really be righteous

Mankind (you and me) need an entirely new heart, a new nature, a new being

We need to be re-created, changed to a new nature of holiness and life.

In verse 18, James answers four questions about regeneration, the new birth, that shed light on the

proof that God is not responsible for our temptations or sins.

God IS responsible for our righteousness

James 1:18, “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we

would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

v. 18a “In the exercise of His will”God exercises His sovereign will, and, He

Washes away sin, grants forgiveness, and plants new life

A completely new nature within each person who trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

He takes residence in that life through His indwelling Spirit

1. Who Does it?

God’s sovereign and uninfluenced will is the source and basis of the new life in Christ

Isaiah 46:8-10, “Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Not only theologically, but logically, that is the only way life could be given to those who are deadThe dead (all unsaved are dead spiritually) have no awareness or understanding of sin, no desire to

turn from it

John 3:19-20, “This is the judgment, that the Light (Jesus Christ) has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their

deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for

fear that his deeds will be exposed”.The (spiritually) dead have no power or resources

to change, even if they wanted to

The spiritually dead person does not even know that he is dead

Regeneration could only happen by the sovereign will and power of God

Who is the Source and Giver of spiritual life

John 1:12-13, “But as many as received Him (Jesus Christ), to them He (the Father) gave the

right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man,

but of God.”No child has ever been born into the world by its

own will or plan. The same is true in the spiritual realm

Its conception, gestation, and birth are completely out of its own consciousness and control.

It is merely the passive recipient of the will and action of its parents.

Just as certainly, no person wills, much less creates a new spiritual nature within himself.

Jer. 13:23, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good

Who are accustomed to doing evil.” Jer. 31:31-34, “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

The natural man cannot make such a change in himself. Apart from God’s revelation, he does not

even know that he needs a changeLet’s say that one might think he needs a change, He will underestimate the change that is needed

1 Cor. 2:14, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they

are spiritually appraised.

But remember, it is God that does the changing:Eph. 4:2-5, “But God, being rich in mercy,

because of his great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions,

made us alive together with Christ.”The only way a spiritually dead person (all

unbelievers) can have spiritual life is to receive it as a gift from God through faith in Jesus Christ

Jesus said: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” John 6:44

Later, Jesus said: “You did not choose Me but I chose you” John 15:16

Make a note of the followingJohn 3:2-8

Eph. 1:4-5; 2:8Phil. 1:29

John 3:2-8, “In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless

he is born again.”4 “How can a man be born when he is old?”

Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can

enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or

where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

2 Cor. 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away;

behold, new things have come”The new birth results from God sovereignly coming down to a sinner and by His grace cleansing him,

planting His Spirit within him, and giving him a completely new spiritual nature.

We may say, “I remember my experience of conversion, of believing in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection on our behalf, of committing my

life to Him”But this is all the consequence of His sovereign will

1 John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be

the propitiation for our sins”

Rom. 8:29-30, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the

image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and

these whom He justified, He also glorified.

James 1:18a, “He Brought us forth”“God gives birth to a new spiritual life

Regeneration is a miracle of God by which the principle of new life is implanted in man

And the governing disposition of his soul is made holy.”

This is being “born again”

2. What Is It?

And this regeneration . . . New birth . . .Is evidenced in a transformed life

John 10:10, 28, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly . . .; and I give eternal life to

them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

James 1:18c, “by the word of truth”This phrase means all of Gods Word . . . The BibleEph. 1:13, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with

the Holy spirit of promise”

3. How does it happen?

1 Thess. 2:13, “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as

the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

Rom. 10:14, 17, “How then will the call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?

“ . . . So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

1 Pet. 1:23-25, “You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is through the living and enduring word of God. For

all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but

the word of the Lord of the Lord endures forever.”

James 1:18d, “do that we would be, as it were, the first fruits among His creation.”

The primary purpose is not to benefit man, but to fulfill God’s sovereign purpose of believers

becoming . . .“as it were, the first fruits among His creatures”

To understand this, we need to remember how it is used in the O.T.

4. Why is it done?

The first fruits, in the sacrificial system, were the first and best of the crops that were harvested.

God commanded the Israelites to use the first fruit of their harvest because it was the most cherished part

of the harvest-- It was an indicator of what the rest of the crop would

be like-- A farmer would store it in case the rest of the

harvest might be lost

In relationship to those who are “born again”-- this world will not continue as it is

-- God will re-create a new heaven and a new earth, after the present heaven and earth have

been destroyed-- We, as believers in Jesus Christ, will be the first

fruits among his creatures in this newly created heaven and earth

We should be anticipating this . . .Rom. 8:19-22, “The creation waits in eager

expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who

subjected it, in hope

“that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious

freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been

groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

1. Why is it important for us to understand that God chose and called us to Him before

we even knew we needed Him?2. Is it possible to be saved without hearing the

Word of God?3. If you had to choose one word to describe

God’s part in our salvation, what would it be?Searchthescriptures.edublogs.org

Discussion