The True Light: Part 3

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Jesus Calls His First Disciples: Part 4

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It's really been a one message in three parts. I had to break it up because it's so much depth here, but still speaking on Jesus Christ, the true light.
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And what I'd like to do as we look into the text this morning, as we go to the
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Gospel of John chapter 1, I'd like to read verse 1 to 13, since this is really packed into one message.
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But everything from verse 1 to 13, the flow of it, and the order of it in which the
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Apostle John, through the Holy Spirit, has given us. God breathe, isn't it wonderful that we have
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God's very word, His revelation to us this morning. Hear the word of the
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Lord, John chapter 1, beginning of verse 1.
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In the beginning was the word, the Logos, and the word was with God, and the word was
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God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
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In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it, did not overpower it, did not extinguish it.
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There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, and that all through him might believe.
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That's a key word. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
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That was the true light, which gives light to every man coming into the world.
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He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive
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Him. But, don't you love that? But, as many as received
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Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.
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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.
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Please bow with me in prayer, as we seek our Lord's face within this hour, and ask of His help, by His Spirit, as we approach verse 12 and 13.
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Our Father, and our God, how wonderful it is who
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You are. How glorious that You've revealed Yourself in the pages of this wonderful book.
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What a glorious revelation, what a glorious privilege we have today, to bow our hearts in prayer, and to enter into the most holy throne of grace.
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Oh God, we are in great awe before You, in this word before us.
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Now Lord, I pray, help us, by Your Spirit, to have great respect before it.
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Give us understanding Lord, through Your Spirit, because we cannot understand it within our own fleshly ways, our own carnal ways.
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God forbid. So Lord, when the Bible speaks, You are speaking.
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This is You speaking to us. So Lord, may we never forget that.
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So Lord, as Samuel said, Speak Lord, for Your servant hears.
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Give us ears to hear, oh Lord, what the Spirit is saying to the church within this hour, this desperate hour, oh
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God. And may we all have a heart to obey You, and to obey
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Your Word. We ask this for Your honor and glory, in Jesus' name
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I pray, Amen. Amen. In this wonderful Gospel of John, as I've just read, beginning at verse 1 to 13, basically we've seen in verse 1 through 2, 1 and 2, we have seen the pre -existence of the
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Word, the Logos, the Logos, the pre -existence of the
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Word. In verse 3 through 5, we have seen the work and the nature of the
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Word. And in verse 6 through 8, we have seen the forerunner of the
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Word, who is John the Baptist. Last Lord's Day, we saw in verse 9 through 11, the rejection of the
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Word, the rejection of the Word. And now today we see, in this glorious passage of these two verses, verse 12 and 13, the reception of the
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Word, the reception of the Word, the receiving of the Word. God's Word is received through arraignment.
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Thank God for that arraignment. As one commentator says, the end of the story is not the tragedy of rejection, but the grace of acceptance.
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Verse 12, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power, the power, the right, the privilege to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
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So now our Lord offers Himself to mankind again through the general revelation, through the special revelation
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He speaks, especially through the special revelation of His Word. But He offers
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Himself through common grace to those who receive
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Him. He gives the right, the special grace, and the authority to become children of the living
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God. This wonderful verse tells us clearly how we can become children of God. John's words are so profound, even the greatest theologian cannot plummet it.
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But yet, if you notice, his words are so simple, a child can receive it and understand it.
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It is not by good works, as we will see. Brother Keith has mentioned this this morning.
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It's not of good works. It is not by church membership.
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It's not even by becoming a preacher, being ordained of men.
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That makes one a Christian. It is not by water baptism that one is to become a
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Christian. It's not by trying with all of our best and our energy, but it's by trusting in Jesus Christ alone, by faith alone.
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But, notice that word with me. Let's look at this little word, but. It's by receiving
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Him, receiving Jesus Christ by faith alone and believing in His name. Pastor MacArthur, once again, makes a wonderful observation concerning verse 12 and 13.
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Quote, he says, in these verses, stand in contrast to verse 10 and 11,
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John softens the sweeping rejection of the Messiah by stressing a believing rendement.
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A believing rendement. This previews the book since the first 12 chapters stress the rejection of Christ, while chapters 13 through 21 of John focus on the believing rendement who received
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Him. End quote. Never seen that before, but it's there. Actually, his rejection is seen through chapters 13 all the way through 21.
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But there is a believing rendement. Notice with me verse 11.
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He came unto His own, His own did not receive Him. We looked at that last Lord's Day, but to understand this text before us, we must see that rejection.
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But, that's a key word. We're going to see why this word is so key.
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But, beloved, whenever we see that word, we encounter this term of contrast, we should ask, what is the author contrasting?
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What is the author contrasting? In this case, it is unbelief by His own.
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It is the unbelief by His own. And then, with belief, by which
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He says, but as many as received Him. In faith.
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Trust. I love John Phillips' commentary on this.
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He says this, Oh, and that's a word of worship. He's worshipping already. He says, Oh, those revealing butts of the
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Bible, they are small hinges on which great truths and destinies swing.
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Isn't that beautiful? End quote. Beloved, oh, how we need to pause with a sila when we come to those butts and ponder when we encounter those little hinges in the
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Bible. We never know what the great truth that God has for us, the teacher, the
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Holy Spirit, who is the real teacher, might illuminate to us as we read the text and the context.
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And, in this context, notice, we are grateful that John 1 -11 was not the end of the story.
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As we've seen, it begins with revelation from God. The revelation comes from God.
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And then, revelation brought rejection. I love these three
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R's. Revelation, rejection, but you have reception. First there's revelation, then you have rejection, then praise
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God through His Spirit. It is wrought with reception. He's received.
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And we're going to see that this receiving of Christ is not something we do. Even though it is on our side, but it is divine.
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It is by the power of the Spirit of the living God that God the Spirit, He does this work within us,
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He does that work in which we cannot do for ourselves. And so, while the majority of the
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Jews, in context here, rejected the Messiah, He came unto His own, His own did not receive
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Him. His own family, His own people, mankind, yes, but His own people.
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There was, as has always been throughout the Old Testament, a remnant.
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A remnant. A small, little group of people that enters in through that small and narrow gate in which only by God's grace they can enter in.
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How? By good works? Can't happen.
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By the good works of Jesus? You bet. You can bank on that one.
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But it's not by our good works. It's by the works of Jesus. Only His works were approved by God.
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And that's why we must come through faith alone, by faith alone in Christ.
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Nothing else is going to do. Nothing else. Not of good works.
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Not of works, as Paul says, lest any man should boast. No one will boast in heaven.
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That's why all will be bowing and throwing their crowns before His feet. But by grace through faith, we enter into the kingdom of God as a little child coming.
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With simple trust and belief that Jesus Christ is who
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He is, says who He is, His claims, and everything He says
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He is. We come with simple childlike faith. Spurgeon notes here of this but, this transition, this hinge, this little hinge that opens up that door.
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He says this, quote, This is a blessed but. Though Christ His own nation, the
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Jews as a whole received Him not, there was a rendement according to the election of grace.
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There were some who received Him, but, praise
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God, unquote, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the power, the right, the privilege.
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Think of that, folks. The privilege to become. God does this.
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Children of God were adopted. Note three verbs here.
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Received, become, believed. Received, become, believed.
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Now, place them in order of the occurrence. Received, believed, become.
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That's really the order. But, the hinge, opens up the door to the revelation.
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But as many as received Him, as many as received Him. This is a wonderful phrase that is equivalent to the pronouns whosoever, whoever, will whosoever.
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Will Webster says of this whosoever, anyone without exception, any person, whatever, whatsoever.
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Anyone, any person, whatsoever. Whosoever will.
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Which opens the door of salvation to both Jew and Gentiles. In other words, the gospel is given to all of humanity.
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Now, does that mean that all will come? No. Most will reject Him, as we've seen in the pages here of Scripture.
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They rejected Him. But, as many as received
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Him, to them He gave the privilege. Sadly, this was a truth that the
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Jews, as you see in Scripture, had a difficult time accepting the early church and the early church for they felt that they had special benefits based on the lineage, which was,
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I am the seed of Abraham. I am of Moses. How many times have we heard that from the
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Pharisees? They were claiming that Abraham was their father and Jesus told them who their real father was.
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The devil. They didn't like that. But Jesus told them the truth. That's God.
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They thought they had special privileges because of circumcision, the law, the covenants, and so forth.
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They thought they had a right to it, but they were in darkness. Yet, this open imitation, so to speak, is very similar to Paul's declaration and the quoting as Paul the
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Apostle quotes the Old Testament prophet Joel 2 .32.
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And this is found in Romans 10. That whosoever will call upon the name of the
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Lord will be saved. That name is all that God is in His characteristics.
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Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord, and notice it follows that calling upon His name is one of the aspects of receiving
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Him. We must call on the Lord, right? We must call on His name.
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That's part of receiving Him. And I like what the Scripture says is we should go and seek
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Him and search for Him with all of our heart. It's with the heart man believes into righteousness, right?
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It's not with the mind. It's with the heart. That heart is everything that we are in our soul, our mind, and all that we are.
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In Mark chapter 1, Jesus, as He began His earthly ministry in verse 14 and 15, notice what it says.
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Now after John was put in prison, transition has been made.
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Jesus comes on the scene. He begins His earthly three -year ministry. Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.
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This is the King. And the very first thing He says, the time is fulfilled. The time is fulfilled.
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This is Jesus speaking. And the kingdom of God is at hand. This is our message, folks.
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And what does He say? Repent and believe. Notice the and.
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The and is almost like two sides of the coin. Repent and believe in the gospel.
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Repent and believe in the gospel. Beloved, we are to receive and believe the gospel. We are to repent and believe the gospel.
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Both are acts of commitment of faith and to receive Him who is the
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Word, the Logos, means to acknowledge His claims of who He is and place one's complete faith and trust in Him thereby yielding allegiance to His Lordship.
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Preach that today. You get kicked out of church. It's sad, but it is the truth. They don't want to.
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They want Jesus as Savior. They want to get to heaven. But talk about His Lordship.
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No, Jesus has rights over you. He owns you. He rules over you. No, no, no, no, no.
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I don't want that. I want to do what I want to do. What does the Bible call that?
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Licentiousness? Yeah, idolatry is another word. You can't have
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Christ unless you come on His terms. See, that's the problem. People have tried to put Jesus in the hot seat.
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But they don't know this. They're really in the hot seat when they start doing that. Because they're going to have to stand before Him one day by the words they speak.
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Wow. Repent and believe. Repent and believe. They go together.
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You cannot separate that. You got a coin. It's one coin.
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Repent and believe. Heads and tails. Repent and believe the gospel. Here we see the negative repentance.
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Repentance means what? To change one's mind. Change one's direction. That is the negative.
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It means from. You are to come away from. To change your direction. Do a 180 degree turn.
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You are to leave that idolatry life, that idolatrous life, that hellish life, that rebellious life and repent and turn away from it and then turn towards God in faith.
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And believe. That's the positive. Always a negative, always a positive.
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A battery doesn't run on two positives, does it? A battery doesn't run on two negatives.
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It must have a negative and a positive. Which is the positive side of faith.
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That means to lay hold of. In which He has laid hold of us. To lean.
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To believe. To receive Him means to lean on Him with all of our might and strength of who
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He is. Leaning on those everlasting arms. And He saves us to the uttermost.
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But as many as received Him. This reflects the Father's heart toward His rebellious creatures, beloved.
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Revelation 22, 17 says, With open arms, and the Spirit and the bride say,
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Come. And let him who hears say, Come. Listen to that.
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God bids us come and let him who thirst come. It's the problem.
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People's not coming because they're not thirsty. Look around in America. They got everything they want.
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But not what they need. They got everything external. But they don't have what they need internally.
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They're not desperate internally. Whosoever will. Whosoever desires.
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Let him take the water of life freely. So gracious.
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So gracious is the invitation by the Spirit of God. It remains open for now because of God's long suffering and His mercy, right?
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But one day that long suffering is going to come to an end. His patience is going to come to an end as the ark closed.
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God closed the door of the ark. And then it was closed for good.
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No more mercy. It's going to come. But right now, the door is still open until God closes the door of mercy.
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Then He pours out His wrath. His justice. But it's open.
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Open to come to the cross. Open to anyone that could come that would receive
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Him. Open to come by faith alone to Jesus Christ to receive the Lord's gracious offer of eternal life.
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Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. He's good.
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He's good. I love that word. The word receive here means to receive with favor.
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Favor. That means with grace. Unmerited favor. God's riches at Christ's expense.
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Think of that. Everything that He gives us, He offers Himself, is all through the blood of His cross.
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It's all through the cross. It's all through the cross. If anyone bypasses the cross, it's not
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Christianity. If anybody bypasses the cross and the crucified Christ, it's not
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Christianity. And there's a lot of bypassing it today. Must come by the old paths.
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I'm telling you. There's a new cross about us today. There's another gospel today. And God does not accept it.
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It's the way of the world. All you got to do is read that story in Samuel how David took a new cart.
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And look at the lesson there. And it was severe. And David knew it.
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He adopted that new cart by the philosophy of the world. God's terms was to take the
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Ark of the Covenant on the poles, through the loops, and no one is to touch the
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Ark of the Covenant. It was the Levites, the priests, appointed duty to carry that the way
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God said it. David says, no, we're going to do it an easy way. He said, I got a better way.
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I got a better way. We're going to put it on the new cart. He was very sincere, but he paid a price, didn't he?
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He put it on the new cart, and you know the story. Severe consequences.
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We only do it by God. We come to God by God's way. Everything that God has said, that story goes back to Genesis, Cain and Abel.
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Cain wanted to do everything his way. Abel says, no, Lord. I'm going to do it your way. There's a song out there.
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It's been around a while. Frank Sinatra sung it. Elvis Presley sung it. I did it my way, and then it leads you right to hell.
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Even in Christianity, you can't do it your way. You can't do it my way. It's God's way.
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Whether we like it or not. But it has great benefits. Great benefits.
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Receive is to receive it with favor and grace. It implies a welcome. Tragically, folks, instead of a welcome mat, so to speak, that we put at our homes, right at the door,
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Jesus had a door mat, a door slammed in His face, with hatred and rejection by His own people.
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And you know, you still see that in Revelation 3, in verse 20. It begins with the apostolic church, and it ends with the apostate church.
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And the lukewarm church at Laodicea, and Jesus is still outside.
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We see Him outside of the church. And what is
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He saying? Notice how gracious our Lord is. He's not beating down the door.
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By the way, He could beat down the door because He's the head of the church. But He's doing this. It says it.
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Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice...
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Listen to that. That's the problem, folks. People is not hearing this. They're not hearing
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His voice. There's a famine in the land. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
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I will come into Him and dine with Him, and He with me. He still gives...
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He's the Lord of the church. He's the head of the church. He's outside. He's knocking.
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So many times in evangelism, they use that, knocking at your heart's door. No, it's talking about Him at the outside of the church.
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Doesn't that break your heart? You know why it breaks my heart?
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Because God is so good and gracious and longsuffering. He knocks and He knocks and He knocks.
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With grace, let me in, and I will sup with you and you with me. But yet, people do not want to let the
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Lord of the church in His own church. God have mercy on us.
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Jesus is seeking entrance into His own church. And He's the head of it.
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He's the one that began it. Can you imagine you being the head of something and the creator of something and they won't let you in?
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But this is the Lord of glory outside of it, knocking.
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And if yet one member would recognize his spiritual bankruptcy and be broken to repentance and be broken to powder and knowing that they are repentant and believing and respond to His word and faith alone,
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Jesus would enter into the church and transform it. Amen? But as many as received
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Him. And what does this mean, receive Jesus? There's a lot of different interpretations to this today, isn't it?
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You know, it really means that when Jesus offers Himself to us, we welcome
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Him into our lives. We welcome Him. Say, so be it, Lord.
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Yes. Take my life and let it be. Consecrated Lord to be.
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Lord, take my life. I want to deny myself. I want to take up the cross and follow
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You. Died to myself daily. John Piper put it this way.
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I love this. I wrote this down. If He comes to you as Savior, you welcome Him in salvation.
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If He comes to you as leader, you welcome His leadership. If He comes to you as provider, you welcome
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His provision. If He comes to you as counselor, you welcome His counsel.
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He's Lord, right? He goes on. He comes to you as protector. You welcome
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His protection. If He comes to you as authority, you welcome
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His authority. And if He comes to you as king, you welcome
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His rule. fall at his feet. I really believe we've lost the majesty of God.
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Who He is. Who He is. Amen.
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Look around you. There's such a cheap Christianity in the name of God. And yet people want to do what they want to do.
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There's no cross. And that means there's another gospel. It must be the
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Jesus of the Bible. There's this new movie out today, Jesus Revolution. Presenting Jesus as this welcoming, peaceful, hippie -ish dude.
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I even hate saying it. And somebody approached me at Target about this and said,
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Have you seen the Jesus Revolution? I said, Lady, I don't need to see it to tell you what I think about it.
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And it's not what I think about it. I said, What does the Bible say about Jesus? I said, Have you read Revelation? I said,
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Have you seen the Jesus in Revelation? I said, His eyes are like a flame of fire.
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I told her this. His feet are like burnished brass. And when He speaks, it's like the sound of many waters.
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And she said, You know, I believe what you're talking about is the real Jesus. I said, Because the
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Bible says it. I said, Not because of these movies and this Hollywood trash.
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Does God think about it? No wonder there's judgment. But as many as received
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Him. Aren't you glad for the rendement? And we're going to look that the receiving of Him from the rendement is not something because we're special.
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We're nothing. But it's His favor that He has placed upon us.
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That's why it humbles us. So receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior means that I take
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Jesus into my entire life for who He is. And what the
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Bible says He is. Does not mean this kind of peaceful, co -existent, passive, hippie -ish
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Jesus who makes no claims. As though He can stay in the house as long as He doesn't play
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His music loud. No, He's Lord of all. And we give allegiance to Him.
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We give allegiance to Him. In everything. In everything. But as many as received
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Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God. Now, hang on until you see belts. How glorious is this?
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Did you hear that? Look at what our Lord offers them.
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Let me quote you something by J .I. Packer. And I hope I can get through this because I've read a lot of J .I. Packer's books.
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And I'm telling you, his classic one theologically is Knowing God. But this is one of the greatest quotes
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I believe he's ever made. About adoption. Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel.
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I want you to think of this. He says, The traitor is forgiven and brought in for supper and given the family name.
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I want you to think of that. Traitor is forgiven.
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He's brought in for supper. He's given the family name. You know where you got that? Go to Luke 15.
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I don't have time to preach on Luke 15 but I'm going to give you a little bit of it because this is exactly what the
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Lord was talking about. We must understand the love of God. Look at this in this wonderful parable of the lost son.
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It really speaks of two lost sons. The elder son and the younger son. Verse 11,
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Then he said, A certain man had two sons. Verse 12, The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.
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So he divided them to his livelihood. I want you to see adoption in this. Not many days after the younger son gathered all together, journeyed for a far country, there he wasted his possessions with the prodigal living.
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Wasteful living. That's what it means. Wasteful. He wasted it. The father let him go.
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But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in the land. He had no control over this.
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And he began to be in want. See, this is where people need to be before they come to Christ.
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There has to be brokenness and bankruptcy. He lost everything. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of the country and he sent him into the fields to feed swine.
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You don't get no lower than this to a Jew. He would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate and no one gave him anything.
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No one. No one was there. Folks, there's still a father at home that loved him.
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But when he came to himself, that's key. He came to his senses in a sense here.
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He came to himself. That's where we must come. And then he said this.
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How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to spare and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father.
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He's made up his mind. He's going to repent, folks. I will say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you.
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This is repentance. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
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Make me like one of your hired servants. Do you see that? Do you feel that?
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And he arose and came to his father. And when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion on him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
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Do you see the love of God? Do you see the love of the Father in this? And the son said to him,
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Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
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Look at what the father does. But, there it is, there's that hinge that opens up the revelation the father said to his servants.
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Here's adoption, folks. Bring out the best robe. Doesn't it blow your mind?
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The best robe. Put it on him. He puts it on him. Put a ring on his hand.
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This is the inheritance. Sandals on his feet. The father says,
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Bring the fatted calf here and kill it. Let us eat and be merry. This is my son was dead and is alive again.
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He was lost and was found and they began to be merry. And there's a problem now. Now the old pharisee in the back, his older son was in the field.
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And as he came and drew near the house and he heard the music and dancing, so he called one of his servants and asked him these things, what they meant.
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And he said to him, Your brother has come and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.
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They're having a party. Notice the attitude.
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But, he was angry. He was angry. And would not go in.
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This is the attitude of a pharisee. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him and he answered.
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And said to his father, Lo, Did you get that? The father came out and pleaded with him. The father was even being gracious to him.
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Even though he had a bad attitude. So he answered and said to his father, Lo, These many years,
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Listen to this. I've been serving you. Serving you. Did this.
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Did that. Did this. Did that. I never transgressed your commandment at any time. And yet you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends.
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But as soon as this son of yours, You can almost see it in the text there. With his attitude.
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This son of yours came who has devoured your livelihood with harlots. And you killed the fatted calf for him?
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And he said to him, Son, you are always with me. And all that I have is yours.
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Even the response of the father. He didn't scold him. He said, All that I have, son, is yours.
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To give graciously to you. Verse 32,
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It was right that we should make merry and be glad. For your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found.
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Story ends there. I'm sure there's more to the story. But you know something? Look at adoption.
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The son is given the very best from the father. This blows my mind.
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Romans 8, 14 through 17, As many as are led by the Spirit of God, These are the sons of God.
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You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear. But you received the spirit of adoption.
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By whom we cry, Abba, Father. You know what that Abba means? Father, Father. Almost like my daddy.
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No disrespect implied. It's like he is my heavenly daddy.
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He's my father, father. The heart cry is,
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Oh God, Father. Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness,
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Listen to this, With our spirits that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs. And then heirs of God, Listen to this,
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And joint heirs with Christ, If indeed, A lot of people leave this out, But this goes with it.
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We suffer with Him, Suffer with Him, That we may also be glorified together.
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Suffering goes with it. Everything that belongs to God in Christ is ours.
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All things. Folks, when you think about that, Ponder on that, It's absolutely staggering.
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He gives us all things to inherit. The best, In Himself. See, it's all in Christ.
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Jesus. All things. God has appointed His Son as heir of all things.
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Hebrews 1 -2. And every adopted child of God Will receive by divine grace
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The full inheritance that Jesus Christ Receives by divine right. And as Jesus has received it,
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We received it. Because we received Jesus. Right? But as many as received
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Him, To them He gave the power To become the sons of God. Go with me to Ephesians 2.
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You know this wonderful text. Ephesians 2. It's by grace through faith, right?
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Let me begin reading verse 1. And you He made alive Who were dead in trespasses and sins
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In which you once walked According to the course of this world, According to the prince and the power of the air,
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The spirit who now works on the sons of disobedience, Among whom also we all once,
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Listen to this, All once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, Fulfilling the desires of the flesh
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And of the mind, Were by nature children of wrath, Just as the others.
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We were right there with them. How about that little hinge, folks?
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But, God. Don't you love that? See what that hinge opens up to?
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But God, who is rich in mercy, He's rich in His compassion, Because of His great love
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With which He loved us, Even when we were dead in trespasses, Made us alive together with Christ, By grace you have been saved,
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Nothing of us, And raised us up together, And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, That in the ages to come,
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He might show the exceeding riches of His grace And His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
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For by grace you have been saved through faith, If that not of yourselves, It is the gift of God, Not of works,
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Lest anyone should boast, For we are His workmanship, Created in Christ Jesus for good works,
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For good works, folks, Which God prepared beforehand, That we should walk in them.
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You know what melts in my heart in this whole text? The goodness and kindness and mercy of God.
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It's like it pulls me like a magnet to repent. It makes me want to hate my sins
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More and more. And love my Savior more and more. To hate the sins in which
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I should hate, If that God would show me Deeper my pride in my hateful sins
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Before His face, And to love my Savior more and more. His goodness and His kindness and His love.
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Basically it means believers are receivers. Believers are receivers. The greatest gift is what
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Paul says, Thanks be unto God for this unspeakable gift, Which is Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ.
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All in Jesus Christ. Jesus, Jesus, and Jesus alone. We must have Jesus. Amen? Give me
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Jesus. Take this world. Give me Jesus. In the morning when I rise,
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Give me Jesus. When I'm alone, Give me Jesus. When I die, Give me Jesus. That's all
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I want, Is Jesus. Because everything's in Jesus. Oh, how tragic this is.
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So many people reject this Lord. This priceless, gracious treasure.
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Treasure of all treasures. Scripture calls it the pearl of great price.
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The greatest pearl of all. And as John Owen put it,
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The Puritan says, They drink a drop of pleasure for a sea of wrath. Doesn't it blow your mind?
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In comparison to eternity? You think about eternity for a minute.
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MacArthur says when he was young, Before conversion, He said, You just think about the thought he would get sick. He'd literally get sick and vomit.
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You know folks, That's the way it should be. Because eternity is so real.
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And you see people perishing. And thousands by the millions. And yet, There's no second chance.
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But yet Jesus comes, And He does. He gives Himself. He offers Himself. And people say,
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No, I don't want nothing to do with Him. But yet, He's given everything in His goodness. In His loving kindness.
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His best. God gave His best. He gave His one and only Son. Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish,
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But have eternal life. So how does the receiving and application here happen?
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How does it happen? Look at verse 13. It's really called, Back in John 1. It's really called,
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Regeneration. That's what it's called. That's the theological word.
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But this is how John puts it. They believe in His name.
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They believe in His name, Who were born, Not of blood, Nor the will of the flesh,
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Nor the will of man, But of God. But of God. Salvation is of the
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Lord. This is why people don't see it.
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We can't make them see it. Because it's a miracle of God. But to become a child of God, God the
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Creator must create. They must be born from above, right?
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In a physical sense, One must be born. So also, To become a child of God in the spiritual sense,
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He must have a second birth. Isn't that what Jesus told a Pharisee? By the way, It wasn't a sermon
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Jesus was giving him. It was a one -on -one conversation. He said, Nicodemus, You must be born again.
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You must be born again. Moses, surely,
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Verily, verily, I say unto you, He says, I say to you, Unless one is born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God.
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Moses, surely, verse 5, Moses, surely, I say to you, Unless one is born of the water and of the Spirit, He cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
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He cannot enter into it. He cannot see it. Verse 6, That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
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And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't be surprised. Do not marvel. That I said to you,
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You must be born again. And then He gives this great mystery. The wind blows where it wishes. And you hear the sound of it.
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In other words, There's effects of the wind. You can't see the wind, But the effects are there. But it cannot tell where it comes from,
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And where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Well, this text in John, Here in application,
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Let me give you application to this. This is wonderful. Tells us three ways in which we are not born again.
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Isn't it interesting how the Scripture says, It tells us three ways in which we are not born again.
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Let's look at them. Not of blood. Who were born, not of blood.
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Not of blood. This means that a person does not become a Christian, And a believer, Through having
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Christian parents. See? Just because your parents are Christian, Does not make you a
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Christian. Or make me a Christian. Salvation is not passed down from parent to child,
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Through the blood stream. Not of blood. Not of blood. Second, it says,
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Nor the will of flesh. I tell you Armenians need to really study this verse. Nor the will of the flesh.
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Two times it says, Nor the will of the flesh, Nor the will of man. Twice. Not of the will. Not of the will.
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How does one come to God? The Father draws them. There's a drawing.
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John 10. Not of the will of the flesh. In other words, What is he talking about?
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A person does not have the power. We do not have the power in our own selves,
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In our own flesh. Our flesh is too weak to produce new birth. We cannot do it.
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No matter how hard we try. A person can know this
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Bible inside and out, Unless the Spirit of God, Illumines them, Enlightens them, And turns the lights on.
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They would not be able to see, Or enter into the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit must do the work folks.
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Flesh cannot produce new birth. That's the doctrine of inability.
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Inability. We cannot make it happen. No matter how hard we try. No matter how hard anyone tries.
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He must be willing though, In order to be saved. And who makes us willing? God. He must be willing to say,
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If you see this in Romans, Go to Romans 9. Very quickly.
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There it is in Romans 9. Let me read 14 through 18. What shall we say then?
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Paul says, Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Certainly not.
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For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, And I will have compassion on whomever
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I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills, Nor of him who runs,
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But of God who shows mercy. God is the one that makes that decision.
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For the Scripture says, Notice what Paul says, The Scripture says to the
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Pharaoh, For this very purpose I have raised you up, That I may show my power in you, And that my name may be declared in all the earth.
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God is sovereign, right? Therefore he has the right to do whatever he wants to do.
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Therefore he has mercy, compassion on whomever he wills. He wills now.
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And whomever he wills, he hardens. Our people don't like that, but that's the way it is.
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And you will say to me, Then why does he still find fault? Good question, isn't it?
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For who has resisted his will? Paul answers this, verse 20, But indeed, old man,
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Who are you to reply against God? What a reply. He replies it with a question.
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Another question. Who are you, old man, to reply against God? Will the thing that formed
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Say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay?
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For the same lump to make one vessel of honor for honor And another for dishonor? What if God wanted him to show his wrath
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To make his power known? Endured with much longsuffering The vessels of wrath prepared for destruction
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That he might make known the riches of his glory And the vessels of mercy Which he had prepared beforehand before glory.
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And I'll stop right there. It basically tells you that God is sovereign in salvation. Look back to John.
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Look. Not of the will of man. Not of the will of man. First he says we're born not of blood
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Nor of the will of the flesh Nor of the will of man. What's that saying? No other man or person can save us.
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Only Christ. He's the only man. The capital M -A -N. A preacher can't save us.
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A preacher can be desirous for a person to come into the kingdom of God But he can't do the saving. Only God can give the second birth.
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But of God. There it is. That's the answer. But of God. This means simply that the power to produce the new birth
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Does not rest in anything we do But in God. Go with me to Luke chapter 23.
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In closing. I got one more after this. But I better not say in closing.
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I better watch my time. Yeah, my time's up. Well, let's hurry up. Chapter 23.
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We go to the cross, right? You know this wonderful story? There's two thieves at the cross.
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Jesus dying on the cross. Notice. Verse 39.
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One of the criminals who were hanged, blasphemed him. Saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us.
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That's the rejecter, folks. He's mocking him. But the other answered and rebuked him.
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Saying, do you not even fear God? This man's on a cross, naked and dying.
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And he says, seeing you are under the same condemnation. His last breaths.
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This is some of his last words. Not the last words. But he's rebuking this other thief for mocking
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Christ. And then in verse 41. We indeed justly. There, right there. He says, that's a key.
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In other words, I deserve this. Justly. For we receive the due reward of our deeds.
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But this man has done nothing wrong. He realized that Jesus was sinless. How did he know that?
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God. God was upon this man. Bringing him. Drawing him to himself.
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And then he said to Jesus. Lord. There's another key word. He called him Lord. And he meant it.
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Remember me when you come into your kingdom. I love what
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Alistair Begg says here. The man in the middle says, I can come. Jesus said to him, as surely
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I say to you. Today you will be with me in paradise. When Jesus says it. You can guarantee it.
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It's going to happen. He was with him. As he entered in. How does the new birth happen?
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Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. By the way, in our study.
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In R .C. Sproul. That's our next prophet we're looking at, right? Ezekiel 36 says it.
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Here's how the new birth takes place. And this is what Jesus was actually rebuking the Pharisee Nicodemus about.
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He said, you are a teacher of the Jews. And you don't know these things. It's in the Old Testament. And right here.
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Notice what he says in verse 23. I will sanctify my great name. Which has been profaned among the nations.
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Which you have profaned in the midst. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord. Says the Lord God. When I am hallowed in you before their eyes.
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When I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations.
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Gather you out from the countries. All the countries. Will bring you into your own land.
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Listen to what God says. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you. And you shall be clean.
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And I. Notice what God says. I will cleanse you. We don't cleanse ourselves. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness.
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And from all your idols. I will give you a new heart.
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And then put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh. And give you a heart of flesh.
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I will put my spirit within you. And cause you to walk in my statutes. And will keep my judgments and do them.
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I'll stop right there. Notice how many times God says. I will do this. I will do it. Believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt be saved. I know that sounds simple. But it's in believing. We're not going to sing it.
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We're going to sing only trust Him. But let me give you the words of Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages cleft for me.
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Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood. From thy wounded side which flowed.
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Be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath make me pure. Could my tears forever flow.
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Could my zeal no longer know. These for sin could not atone.
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Thou must save and thou alone. In my hand no price
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I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath.
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When my eyes shall close in death. When I rise to worlds unknown.
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Behold thee on thy throne. Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee.
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Only in Jesus Christ we can hide ourselves. From the wrath to come.
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I love what R .C. Sproul says. The glory of the gospel is this. That God saves us from God.
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The one that saves us is the one He saves us from Himself. In other words,
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His grace saves us from His wrath. God saves us from God.
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That's the glory of the gospel. God does the saving. He comes as Savior in Jesus Christ.
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And He saves us from the wrath to come. Isn't it wonderful? Let's pray.
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Oh God, our Heavenly Father. Just to know Thee. Just to know
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Thee as Jesus prayed. That they may know Thee the only true God in Jesus Christ.
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Whom Thou hast sent. Father, we thank
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You for these things as written as You say in Your Word. That You may believe that Jesus is the
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Christ. We must believe. We must believe. And we know that believing is Your ability.
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Is You coming to rescue us. Giving us the willingness to come to You. That in believing
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You. We may have life in His name.
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Father, we thank You for this great revelation. We thank You for the old, old story of Jesus Christ.
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Who came in flesh to save us. Who came in His incarnation.
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His death. His burial. And His resurrection. Father, help us to truly trust in this living
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Savior. In living and in dying. We pray this in Jesus' name.