Know, Receive, and Believe - Part 2 Receiving — Derek Melton

We pray that you and your family have a rich celebration and not only celebration of the holiday itself but the celebration of the faithfulness of God in giving you good bounty providing for you. Let's not go through the holiday rhetoric and lose the mindfulness of gratitude shown towards our benefactor who has supplied us with tremendous benefits as his children.

Amen. Even the benefits that he bestows upon the unjust. He's even good to those who hate him. It's amazing. Amazing. Now we're going to go to the gospel according to John and we're going to start in verse one and again we're going to continue in our our exposition of John chapter one and we get to the end of the of the chapter which however long that may take.

We will then ponder and consider whether we're going to go further. At this point we're focusing and concentrating our energies and our thoughts and our heart upon that which is before us and that's the first chapter of which we've not got too far but it has been I believe significant and and fruitful.

The Word Who Was With God and Was God

It says in verse one in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.

He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not.

He came into his own and his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God.

Let's pray. Father as we come before this colossal text Lord help us by your holy ghost the great revelator that we might have a revelation of what your spirit is saying to your church. Lord that it would not just be the pastor speaking but Lord that would be the holy ghost speaking through the pastor as flawed as he might be but Lord that your living word might be declared and made known and revealed to the hearts of your people that are in this place and those that will be listening abroad via the internet.

Father God that you would speak to us that it would not just be human learning or wisdom or any such thing but Lord it will be revelatory that it will be of the holy ghost who makes things that are dead come to life.

Lord I pray that you would make these words come alive to us but not just to us but in us. Let your word live in us let our hearts be seized upon and gripped taught instructed of the Lord. Father overthrow all of the pretentious notions that we've had and Lord let your word be inscribed upon our heart by the very finger of God.

Lord give us teachable spirits and right attitudes in Jesus name amen. Going back to verse 9 that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world the world was made by him the world knew him not.

Receiving Jesus Christ Rather Than Merely Claiming Him

Last week we talked about knowing Jesus Christ. He came into his own but his own received him not. Today we're going to talk about receiving Jesus Christ but as many as received him to them gave he the power to become sons of God even to them that believe on his name.

And so this is all dealing with our relation to Jesus Christ and so this is of absolute imperative importance that as the people of God that we understand what the apostle is laying out before us that we unpack it that we can have a scriptural and biblical understanding of what it means to receive Jesus Christ.

Last week I believe that we did somewhat of a healthy unpacking of what it means to know him. I believe that we're living in a day and time where the terminology is very familiar but the understanding of such terms is unfamiliar that we hear a lot about knowing Jesus and I think it's such as that today about receiving Jesus.

There's a lot of talk about this many received Jesus that many received Jesus but I think that it is a popular cliche but I'm not too sure that the true biblical definition of receiving Jesus Christ is correctly understood by many that confess or profess to have received him in our modern era in our churches.

And so it says which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God and we'll get to that in the weeks to come but today by the grace of almighty God we're going to focus and attempt by the grace that's been supplied to us to unpack what it means to receive Jesus to receive Jesus Christ and I want you to put on your thanking caps but also I'm pleading with you to be attentive.

It's easy for us as as as human beings sinfully flawed to fall prey to late nights on Saturday and then and we are committed people and we will be in the house of the Lord on Sunday morning but beloved I believe that we need to be in the house of the Lord refreshed and alert and ready to receive an expectation of what God's going to do in and through the scriptures in our heart and our minds and in our lives.

And to not come in here on a Sunday morning with a mind that has been dulled by the lack of sleep by the undisciplined lifestyle of staying up too late and the partaking of other things when there are greater things at hand the subsequent morning that need to be attentively laid hold of amen.

And so what I'm saying in that is don't stay up too late on Saturday nights. Get to bed at a reasonable hour. Give your body its proper rest. If you were going to be taking the college exam you wouldn't stay up till two or three o 'clock in the morning just running around having a great time.

No you would get your proper rest so that you would be adequately prepared to give your full capacities over to that which is at hand. And how much more. As we as the children of God when we come to hear the timeless truths of the word of God that is able to save our souls.

So let's challenge ourselves people of God. But does what good does it do for me to spend a week on my knees praying and seeking God about a word from heaven and to spend hours to rightfully divide the word of truth to prepare a sermon that we're so sleepy that we don't understand.

Or that we don't give proper thought to that we just allow to fall to the ground. What good does it do. We need to labor together the pastor in his study but the people and their preparation and also to in their disciplines to get to have themselves presentable for the gospel whenever they have opportunity to hear it and that'll preach they'll again it comes down to integrity.

So once again i believe that receiving jesus is a very familiar statement in christendom modern christian christendom and in the local churches abroad saying things such as i have received jesus. But again i reiterate i'm not too convinced that we have an adequate understanding of what it means to have received jesus christ.

We don't understand what it means and what it implicates to have received jesus christ. And now from last week we learned that the apostle is beginning his gospel with a prologue it's an introductory synopsis of of his gospel.

And this synopsis is really it's none other than an outline. It's within this outline or it within this prologue the order of such is somewhat chronological. And what does it mean to be chronological.

It means that it follows a certain order in sequence. So last week we spent an hour unpacking what john meant when he made mention that they did not know him mentioning it in the negative. We tried to bring that over into the positive about knowing jesus christ.

And we mentioned that knowing jesus christ is the most fundamental fundamental or the most elementary position in our relation to jesus christ our lord and savior. And so to follow the sequential pattern as prologues follow the next word that we draw from the text in regard to our relation to jesus christ is the word receive.

And we see the apostle saying he came into his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him to them gave he the power to become sons of god. Now this this word receive is a different word than knowing that we dug into last week regarding our relation to jesus christ.

And whereas knowing uh relates more to our identifying it relates more to our recognizing and to our acknowledging receiving is even more relational it knowing does lend itself to awe and reverence and recognition and acknowledgement.

But receiving goes another step it is it is more revelatory regarding our relation to jesus christ. But the one that says that he he came into his own and his own did not receive him. Jesus came to his own and that that just simply means he came to the lost sheep of the house of israel.

You remember the story in matthew chapter 15 starting in verse 22 it says. And behold a woman of canaan came out of the same coast and cried into him saying have mercy on me. Oh lord thou son of david.

My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. Now this woman was not a jew and we see his response quite staggering. If we don't understand that he came to the lost sheep of the house of israel. He answered her not a word he would say how rude is that.

And his disciples came and besought him saying send her away for she crieth after us. But he answered and said i am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of israel. And of course we know the story on how it goes that the lord was merciful toward her and how she did make mention that even the crumbs falling from the table the dogs get to partake of.

And the lord said he blessed her. So this great faith he blessed her. And that he he healed he healed this child. The child was indeed set free. But the statement i'm i'm focusing in on and and making mention of is the very inference that he gives.

And he says i am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of israel. He came to his own. That's the lost israelites. But they did not know him. They did not recognize or nor did they acknowledge that he was the messiah of god.

They didn't recognize nor did they acknowledge that he was god's promised deliverer. Now we see john addressing the jews regarding their own failure to recognize the christ saying this i baptized with water.

John is saying this. But there's standing one among you. He's saying this to the jews who you know not the one that created the very world the very planet the very earth that your feet are standing on.

And you don't know him. You don't recognize him. You do not acknowledge him. You do not reverence him as it says in john 1 26. You do not know him. He's standing here with you and you don't even know him.

He's come unto you lost israelites. He's come unto you. You lost jews. He's come unto you. But you don't recognize him. You've not acknowledged him. He's saying you do not know him. Jesus came into his own and they did not know him.

Also john states this that they did not receive him in john 1 11. And john takes great care make note of this. He takes great care to give us words in progression that carry with them. Different definitions regarding our relation to jesus christ.

Different definitions. And it's and it's building and we see this that it's in such order. So not only did the jews not know. Not only did the jews not recognize. Not only did the jews not acknowledge christ jesus they also did not receive him.

What is what does it mean to receive someone. Isn't it the welcoming of them. Isn't that's right that whenever you have a guest that comes to your home and they knock on your door you acknowledge them.

You know them. Right. There's a there's a there's a knowledge of who they are. There's a recognition there is. They're not. But when you open the door there has to be a receiving of them a receiving. And that's a welcoming of them.

And that's what it's making inferencing of here in this passage of text. Welcoming them into your home is the act of receiving them. And they enter in. We receive them. And it's a welcoming do. So do you see the progression of this.

Knowing has to do with recognition. But receiving has much to do with welcoming. Beloved. Have you received jesus christ. And there's no need to answer that yet because we have to talk about this more.

So what does it mean to receive someone. What is it to welcome a certain person. Doesn't it mean that you're accepting them. Doesn't it mean that you're delighting yourself in them. And who that person is.

And this is what the jews were missing. Not only did they not know him but they were in fact repulsed by him. To receive is indicative of welcoming. But the jews not only failed to receive and to welcome him they were repulsed by him.

Receiving Christ as Lord, Savior, and Master

Listen to the words of of uh how the of jesus about the about the jews and and how they were regarding christ and how they were not only not receiving but they were repulsed. They repudiated him they they pushed him away.

Turn with me. In your bible to john 10 just over a few chapters in verse 14 our lord says i am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine as the father knoweth me even so know i the father and i lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep i have which are not of this fold.

And by the way that's not talking about the jehovah witnesses. I believe this is making a great inference to the gentiles. Therefore does my father love me because i lay down my life that i might take it again.

No man takes it from me but i lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down and i have the power to take it again. This commandment have i received of my father. Verse 19. And there was a division therefore again again among the jews because of these sayings and many of them said he hath a devil and is mad.

Why hear ye him. You see this. They were not only repulsed but indignant. These words were spoken by a lord and they caused a great division. And i put in my notes this is not a singular instance. If we so many times do you you we read through the gospels and we see that jesus would leave a certain area and flee to another because the jews were seeking him out to kill him.

So not only did they not receive him they rejected him. They were repulsed by him. They were indignant toward him. They hated him. They were at enmity against him. They were saying he had the devil. He's mad.

He's crazy. Why are you listening to him. So christ was not received but he was rejected. He was not welcome but he was hated. The apostle paul in romans 8 gives great identification to the inward anomaly that is on the inside of all of us including you your children mine and my soon-to-be grandchildren the apostle said because the carnal mine in romans 8 7 is at enmity against god.

If you'll look that up in the greek it means it's hostile. The natural man the natural born man the natural condition and the native birth condition is at enmity. At hostile against this is the jews but this is us.

Is it not not only the jews but also the gentiles we're all born at enmity against god we are not subject to the law of god neither indeed can we be. And is this not the case with the jews that we are reading of our lord came to save the lost sheep of the house of israel but they were hostile toward him and this brings us to another realization regarding the receiving of someone.

Does it not when someone is received listen to me when someone is received you receive everything about them. When someone is received you receive everything about that person you receive everything they say and you receive everything that they don't say.

You receive everything that they do, and you receive everything that they do not do. You receive everything that that person represents, and you also receive everything that that person does not represent.

This is the act of receiving. Beloved, have you received Jesus Christ? Have you received, have you welcomed Him, and everything that He has said, and everything that he has done, and everything that he represents.

Have you received Jesus Christ as such? When addressing the Jews in John 10, Jesus was revealing himself. He's revealing himself as their Messiah, saying, I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

I am the Good Shepherd, and my sheep I know, and I am known of mine. And as the Father knoweth me, even so I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, and I take it again.

No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down, and I have the power to lay it down, and I will have the power to take it again. This is the commandment that I've received from my Father. And not only did the Jews not receive his words, the Jews were indignant.

They hated them. Beloved, Jesus has revealed himself to us through the Scriptures. And do we receive everything? Young people, listen. Do you receive everything that Jesus Christ has said about himself?

Have you received it? Have you welcomed it? Everything that he has spoken, everything that he has said regarding himself, do we welcome what he has said? Beloved, receiving Jesus Christ is not only receiving those things that he has disclosed to us in Scripture, but it also includes the receiving or the welcoming of the very statutes that he requires of us.

Have you welcomed? Have you received and welcomed every requirement that Christ has set before us in Scripture? That's receiving Jesus Christ. And so receiving Jesus Christ also includes the receiving of and the welcoming of every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God.

It's all been inspired by him. There are commands that Jesus has given to us, that he has spoken to us, beloved, that must be received. These commands must be welcomed. Not only received, listen to me, not only received, but welcomed.

Not only welcomed, but delighted in. His commandments are not grievous to us. We delight in them. Have we received the instructions of Jesus Christ regarding forgiveness of those that have caused ought against us?

Have we received and welcomed the strong words of Jesus? Mark chapter 11, verse 24 to 26, Jesus says, Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them.

And when you stand praying, forgive if ye have ought against any. That your father also, which is in heaven, may forgive your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father, which is in heaven, forgive your trespasses.

Beloved, there is no act that is more Christlike than forgiveness. But here we find Christ handing down his laws to his people. They are his words. They are his requisites. They are his commandments. And do you have ought with any?

He commands you to forgive. Have you received it? Do you welcome these words of Jesus? Do you prefer them? Beloved, if we do not forgive, Christ clearly states to us that we ourselves will not be forgiven.

And the question is this. Have you received what Jesus has given to you? Have you welcomed his words? Have you welcomed his requisites? Have you welcomed his commandments? Have you? Have you? Are you beginning to see what it means to receive Jesus Christ?

Receiving Christ’s Commands in Personal Holiness

And let me ask you this question. Is this not gravely different than what you see being taught in modernized Christianity? Now let's look at some more of what Jesus commands. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5, 27. You have heard it said by them of old times, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her in his heart.

And of course, we know that the apostle Paul gave us the indictment that there is no adulterer that's going to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Even lust, looking upon a woman and lusting men. Women looking upon a man and lusting in your heart.

These are requisites that are handed down to us from Jesus Christ or his commandments. Now, I know that most of you are so familiar with this text. But I want you to understand something. Familiarity with the text doesn't mean you've received it.

Are you receiving what Jesus has said? Familiarity with the scripture doesn't save you. The receiving is what Jesus said gives the power to become a child of God, son of God. Are you receiving what Jesus said?

Are you welcoming what Jesus has said as true and as good and as beneficial and as preferred? Beloved, the knowledge of the wrongs of adultery is not the fulfillment of what Christ requires. The knowledge of adultery is wrong.

It's not the receiving of it. It's not the welcoming of it. In obedience and actually the performing and the preferring of it. When our Lord is speaking of lusting in our hearts for a woman or for a man that was never to be gender exclusive.

But the question is, is are we receiving and welcoming what Jesus has said to us in a good and beneficial manner in so much that we receive it in our hearts with gladness? If not, we have not received Jesus Christ.

We have not. Now, what about what our Lord mentions about divorce? And I know that I'm not going to make friends, but beloved, I'm here to make a witness of Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Mark 10. I know that our Lord must be repulsed by pulpits that will not speak what he has spoken in regard to these sins.

Receiving Christ’s Teaching on Marriage and Divorce

What about what our Lord has given to us in Scripture regarding divorce? Mark 10 2. And the Pharisees came to him and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, tempting him? And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?

That's the law. And they said that Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement to put her away. And Jesus had and Jesus said unto them for the hardness of your heart, he wrote this precept to you because of the hardness of your heart.

Verse six. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female for this cause. A man shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. And they twain shall be one flesh. So then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

Verse nine. Look at this. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Beloved, answer me this question. Which court holds the ultimate authority? The court of man, the court of God.

And I know that we are walking on thin ice with so many people when we make mention of what Jesus has said. And I agree with what David Platt when he got himself in such trouble just by quoting the scripture that you can find yourself in somewhat of a trouble just for quoting what Jesus said.

But what God has joined together, let no man put asunder. God granted Moses a writ of divorcement for a man to put his wife away because of hard hearts. But Jesus says this. He says that that was because of the hardness of your heart.

You're in a new and living way. And now let no man put asunder what God's joined together. And in the house, privately, I'm sure. Verse 10. His disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he said unto them, whoever shall put away his wife and marry another committeth adultery against her.

And if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another, she committeth adultery. Beloved, our culture has mocked and spat in the face of our beautiful Savior and his decrees. We will receive a Jesus that gives love as long as he gives no commands that will hold us responsible.

We'll receive a Jesus that loves us, even though we love no one else. We'll receive a Jesus that will forgive us, even though we will forgive no one else. We will receive a Jesus that will give us mercy, but that will never visit us with vengeance for our unbroken pursuit and gratification with sin as our chief lover.

We will receive a Jesus that will accept us and cuddle us, even though we purposely trample over everything that he has said to us about divorce and the sanctity of marriage. And this is the Jesus that we love and the Jesus that we receive.

But it's not Jesus at all. It's American religious mythology. Beloved, Jesus requires us to take up our cross. He requires us to deny ourself and to follow him. Do we receive his words? Do you receive them?

Do you welcome them? Do you delight yourself in them? He tells us the words that I speak to you, their spirit and their life in John 6, 63. Beloved, it is impossible for us to receive Jesus and to not receive his words, all of them.

It's impossible for us to receive Jesus and not receive everything that he has said and everything that he represents and everything that he hands down to us as requisites. It is impossible. Have you received Jesus in the biblical way?

Quiet little Presbyterian church we have this morning. Beloved, have we? Have we? I'm not saying these to offend you. I'm saying these to declare to you what our Lord holds us responsible for, receiving every word that comes down from him.

We live in such a pragmatic generation. Do what we want. Try to justify the end. Beloved, when Jesus commands us to put our hand to the plow and to look back in John 9, saying that you're not fit for his kingdom, have you received his words?

Do you welcome his words, putting your hands? This is a labor intensive calling. Or do you breeze over them and apply them to your pastors alone, but negate them for yourselves? To labor in the local church, to witness, to hand out gospel tracts, to pray, to be a witness, to be an ambassador for Christ in your workplace, to labor in the local church, to teach the little ones, to do all that is needed to be done, to put your hand to the plow and to give no thought to yourself because you've died to self.

Beloved, these are requisites that our Lord has handed down. Have you received Jesus and his words as such? Because this is receiving Jesus. Have we received Jesus? Because receiving Jesus is indicative of receiving everything that he has said, everything that he represents, everything that he has said about himself and everything that he gives to us as a requisite, everything that he requires of us, that we receive it, and that we welcome it and that we prefer it.

Have you received Jesus? It has nothing to do with what you speak out with your mouth and confess. It has everything to do with what your heart has yielded itself to. Have you received, preferred, welcomed Jesus Christ and everything that he has said, everything that is required, everything that is handed down to us in Holy Scripture?

Receiving Christ Through Repentance and Spiritual Poverty

Have we? Have we received Christ? And beloved, if we have not welcomed these words, these requisites, we have not received Jesus Christ. Please do not be deceived. And lastly, in this word receive, there's a yearning to welcome and to prefer the entirety of Jesus Christ, to prefer the entirety of Jesus Christ.

And the basis for this yearning is a deep awareness of our own sufficiency, insufficiency mingled with a deep revelation of Christ's sufficiency. Friends, one of the archenemies of receiving Jesus Christ in this biblical sense that we're making mention of this morning is the inordinate obsession that we have with ourselves, whereby we fall prey to the mental delirium of being confident in our own ability to navigate life without receiving him and taking confidence in our own native goodness to justify us before God at his holy tribunal.

Beloved, is it not the poor in spirit that inherit his kingdom? Is it not? Is it not the poor in spirit that enter into the kingdom of heaven that inherit it? Is it not those who have a deeper, a keen awareness of their need for him?

Are these not the ones who receive Jesus? Are they not? Are they not the ones who have no confidence in themselves? Those who see their sins, those who see their inability to self-remedy. Are these not those who welcome Jesus Christ, the one that he has came to save those that he has come to rescue from their sins?

Are these not the ones who receive and welcome and long for him? Those that are poor in their own estimation. Those that are small in their own eyes. Those that have no ability in themselves natively to rescue and ransom themselves.

Those that have nothing good to offer. Those who, in their own estimation, are nothing in the eyes of God and in the eyes of themselves. Are these not the ones who long for him, the ones who welcome him and the ones who receive him?

Indeed, indeed. And now the question proposes itself to us. Have you come to the point that you, in your own estimation, have become so low and despised because of your own sinfulness and lack that you welcome Jesus Christ and everything that he is, everything that he has said about himself, everything that he has set before us as a requisite, every principle, every law, every word that comes forth from his mouth, that you welcome it, that you receive it, and that you indeed do prefer it and delight in it?

Have you become so helpless in your own sinful infirmity, having suffered it many years, pressing in even as the woman with the issue of blood, thronging to Christ to touch the hem of his garment to be healed by him?

Church, is your own wretched, poor condition even recognized by your own heart? Have you even recognized your need? Have you recognized your need? Beloved, if there's no recognition of your need, there can be no receiving of Jesus Christ, your Deliverer.

If there's no recognition, if there's no knowing, acknowledging of your sinfulness, there's no receiving of Jesus' sufficiency. There's no receiving of his statements regarding himself and his requisites and requirements regarding us.

There can be no receiving of them, and there can be no receiving of Jesus Christ at all. And so, have you felt the hopelessness? Have you felt the vileness of your condition? In so much that you see your need for him, and that you welcome him, and that you receive him, that you acknowledge him, that you know him, and that you receive him, and that you welcome him as your Deliverer, as your Savior, as your Lord, as your Master, your King, your everything.

Have you received him in this biblical manner? The Word of God says in Acts 2, 36,. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God made Jesus, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ, Lord and Christ.

Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Now, beloved, does not this word repentance carry with it the turning from sin to the welcoming of Jesus Christ? Does it not? It does. And beloved, listen, if you are hearing these words today, and your heart has not received Jesus Christ in this biblical manner, no matter how many times you've confessed Christ, no matter how many times that you've prayed the prayer, or have been baptized, I want you to hear me now.

Repent, turn from your sins, and receive, and welcome, and believe in Jesus Christ, and you shall have your sins forgiven, and you will indeed receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. John 1, 12 says,. But as many as received him, but as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. But as many as received him, received what he has said, received what he has revealed to us in the scriptures about himself, received every word that He has spoken to us as a requisite regarding ourselves.

All the things that He has told us and commanded us that we lay down and take it on ourselves, every requisite that He has commanded that we take upon ourselves, that we have received it, that we have welcomed every word of God, that we forgive if He commands forgiveness, that we take heed regarding the sanctity of marriage as He has given it, and the putting away of lust and fornication and all of these things as He has given us commandments in the multiplicity of other requisites that He has handed down to us in His words.