Over the centuries of years God's Word has been rejected, ridiculed, and ignored by countless millions. We can naturally expect the unbe lieving liberal to wrest the Scrip tures, challenging their authority, but how sad to see some evangel icals raise questions about the total inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. This ought never to be. James entertains no doubts what soever concerning the Word of God. He recognizes it for what it really is. He knows it is the means by which sinners are saved and Christians are delivered from the power of sin. Regeneration, as shown in verse 18, is one of the good and perfect gifts which comes down from the Father of lights. The Lord pays no respect to a man's merit. Apart from any consideration of human effort God has given us new life in Christ. As Jesus told Nicodemus the indispensable prerequisite for entering the kingdom of heaven is a spiritual experience known as being born again (John 3:7). By His own sovereign will and grace we were given the gift of salva tion. In the final analysis we are saved because God willed it to be so (Eph. 1:5, 9, 11). No one can ever be saved apart from the exercise of personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8, 9). New life in Christ is a permanent act. The tense of the verb "begat" (vrs. 18) indicates completeness and prom inence. This is an act never to be repeated, never subject to change or variation and never retractable. The Lord uses the seed of the Word of God as a means of pro ducing the miracle of salvation.
The purpose of our regeneration is that we should be a kind of "first fruits of His creatures" (vrs. 18). Salvation is not an end in it self. We have been saved to serve. I Cor. 15:20 reminds us that Jesus Christ is the true first fruits when it comes to the resurrection. First fruits are the initial part of the har vest. When the priest in the Old Testament brought the first fruits, it became an evidence of the kind of harvest that could be expected to follow (Lev. 23:10). Eternal life is not merely given for our own personal benefit. God's higher pur pose in saving grace is that we should represent Him before those who know not the Saviour. Liter ally, we have been saved to serve. Our lives belong to Him. They have to be cleansed if they are to be effective. You and I from start to finish are the handiwork of God (Eph. 2:10). Christ has appointed the means to bring it to pass. James is clear and forceful in his presentation of the grace of God in salvation. Unfortunately our society has made a systematic attack upon moral absolutes. There is always the danger of relaxing standards once for all established by God. The faith we profess in private should be real in our contacts with others. This is no time for secret followers of Christ. There must not be double standards of living. Liv ing for Christ demand s involve ment of a more substantial nature than just reverent attention to the sermon on Sunday morning. We must apply biblical principles to all our experiences. Let us be careful that Jesus Christ has the preemi nence in our lives as we seek to live for the Lord each day. Page 55
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