This is Walking With Jesus, a devotional journey through books of the Bible brought to you by Forest Hill Presbyterian Church. I'm Pastor Jason Van Bemmel. We are on day 7 of the book of James, looking at verse 18 of chapter 1 and asking this question, why were we saved? James 1.18 says, Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. That's James 1.18 in the English Standard Version. Last time we discussed how important it is in teaching our children to address the question of how. But of course, we all know that every child's favorite question is not how, but why. Each of my three children went through a phase when their mouths often opened with the words, Daddy, why? Or sometimes, Daddy, how come? Daddy, why is the grass green? Daddy, why do birds fly? Daddy, how come we can't fly? And then there's the loud one in the middle of Walmart. Daddy, why is that man so fat? As children of God, we often want to ask our Heavenly Father why. Most of the time, God doesn't answer, and we can't handle the answer. John MacArthur said in a sermon that God trying to explain why to us is like trying to pour the Atlantic Ocean into a Dixie cup. Sometimes God does tell us why, so we'll understand His purposes when we need to know them. James 1.18 answers two different why questions about our salvation, or you could say it answers the question, why were we saved in two different ways? What was the cause of our salvation and what is the purpose of our salvation? So, what was the cause of our salvation? Why were we saved? We were saved not by our own will, nor by our own power, but, James says, of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth. It was his will that was the origin of our being brought forth to eternal life. And it was his word of truth that actually brought us forth into eternal life. Thus, our salvation is the work of God, just like creation was. God willed, God spoke, and it was good. And what was the purpose of our salvation? Why were we saved? We were saved by God that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. This one's a bit more complicated. What does it mean? Well, Romans 8 tells us that God is going to redeem all of creation when Jesus comes again, and that all creation is groaning in eager expectation as it waits for this final redemption. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, the first fruit of the new creation. Then, when Jesus comes again, his trumpet call will raise us to eternal resurrection life. We will be the first thing Jesus brings to perfection in body and soul. How incredible is that? God desired to save us, so he spoke the word of truth to our hearts and saved us. He did this so he could bring us to eternal life, body and soul, at the coming of Jesus, as an eternal display of his saving power and goodness. Wow! That is a much better answer to the why question than anything I ever told my kids.