The God Who Gives - [John 1:6-13]

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I have a question for you this morning. What pops into your mind when you first think about God? What comes to your mind when you think of God?
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And I've referred to this man many times, and I'm going to refer to him again because he is the most popular atheist of this day.
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And he wrote this, Richard Dawkins, in a book called The God Delusion. He doesn't mince too many words.
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He says this, the God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction, jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak, a capriciously malevolent bully.
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As I studied this passage, I thought, that's not the God of the Old Testament.
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That's not the God of the New Testament. That's not the God who exists. There is no difference between the
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God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. That's a false dichotomy. There is but one
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God. And as we enter John's Gospel, and that's where I would invite you. Well, actually, I'm going to invite you to turn somewhere else, so don't go there.
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Open to Matthew 21. I've never done this before. I've never started with a passage other than what
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I'm going to preach. But I'm going to do it this morning. We're going to look at John's Gospel, but I think it's good to remind ourselves that as we just enter, as we just get our toes wet into the
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New Testament, the Old Covenant, and thus the Old Testament law are still under effect.
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They're still... We haven't seen Christ fulfill the law at this point. Still under the
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Old Covenant. In fact, I'm going to argue in a little bit that John the Baptist was the last prophet of the Old Testament. But now we live under the
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New Covenant. Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf. But again, we're still in this particular passage here.
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But open to Matthew 21, verses 33 to 41. The parable of the tenants, the parable of the vineyard, however you want to phrase it.
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And I thought, this gives us a picture of God. And I think, as I just studied this passage,
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I thought, this is a fulfillment in real life of this parable.
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As we know, a parable is a story that Jesus would tell with a singular spiritual point that he was trying to make.
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And he would use things that were common, that people would understand, to make a point. Look at verse 33.
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Here, another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leashed it to tenants and went into another country.
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When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.
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And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another and stoned another.
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Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did the same thing to them.
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Finally, he sent his son. He sent his son to them saying, they will respect my son.
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But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.
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And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Verse 40, when therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?
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Jesus really sets them up here because they don't really fully realize that he's talking about them and their response to him.
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Look what they say. Verse 41, they said to him, he will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.
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I'm going to get back to this parable in a moment. But this is a picture of certainly the sinfulness of man, but also of our remarkably giving
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God. In this parable, what does he do? He plants a vineyard and then he takes every possible care for it.
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He puts up a fence. How many of you have gardens? Ever have problems with rodents?
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That's the idea of putting up a fence. You want to keep those little rodents out of there. Why a tower?
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To protect it from birds. And he even built a wine press within the vineyard.
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Why? So that these precious grapes wouldn't have to go very far. They could just be pressed right there. He's done everything he can so that this vineyard will produce plenty.
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It will do very well. These tenants should...
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I mean, they're living on Easy Street. This is like somebody does all the work and they just say to you, you know what, if you wouldn't mind for your $100 ,000 a year salary, would you mind just taking the rubber stamp that I've left on your desk and the pad that I've left open for you, and would you just take that rubber stamp and just stamp the pad of paper?
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$100 ,000 just for doing that. They've got it made. They're not having to do all these things to prepare the vineyard.
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It's done. But when he sends his men to receive his share, in other words, the rent, what's due him, they kill his men one after another.
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Finally, he sends his ultimate representative, his son. Do they yield to him?
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The answer, of course, is no. We're going to see this parable acted out this morning in John chapter 1, so please turn there,
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John chapter 1. We will see a loving God lavishly giving to his people.
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And we'll see their response. We'll see their rejection of him. And then we'll see his response to their rejection.
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I want to just kind of set this up a little bit. I've been in John a few times here. The Gospel according to John, what's its purpose?
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It's written with one specific purpose, to demonstrate beyond a doubt that Jesus is
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God. The other Gospels were written with different purposes, Gospel of Matthew, to demonstrate
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Jesus as Messiah, as King, as the fulfillment of Old Testament promises. Mark, to show his servanthood, his servant nature.
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Luke, to show his divine or his human nature, I'm sorry. But John's purpose is clear.
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In John 20, 31, he says, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
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Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
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Last time, a couple of Sundays ago on an evening service, we looked at verses 1 to 5, and I asked five questions.
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And I'm going to quickly recap those. First question, has Jesus always existed? Now, for some of you, you say, well, certainly he's always existed.
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But this has been a source of controversy throughout the history of the church. In fact, one man basically gave his life in this matter to uphold it.
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But in verse 1, the Greek language is unmistakable. Before anything existed, before there was time, before there was anything other than the
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Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Word, whom we will later find out is
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Jesus, was in existence. He was there. There was never a time when he did not exist.
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And that is in stark contrast to heretical pseudo -Christian sects which claim that he is a creation of God.
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Again, the Greek language could not be more clear. He was there before anything existed, could not have been created.
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Second question, is Jesus God? Again, verse 1 could not be more clear. The Word was, always existed as God.
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He is the ultimate communication. That's why the word, Word, is used in Greek logos.
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He's the ultimate communication of the nature of God to mankind, the very living and breathing Word of God.
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Third question I asked, is Jesus eternal? Again, you might say, well, that's easy. We know that.
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Not always understood. Did he exist before anything else? Before time?
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Again, he was in the beginning. Again, that word, was, carries a very clear meaning that he was, and I'm sorry
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I have to drink a lot of water, but I've been coughing all week, so, that he was in the beginning.
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He always existed. He was eternal. Carefully chooses words, John does, so that we understand that he is both
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God, and that he is fully equal with the Father. There isn't some kind of, God the
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Father up here, and Jesus is somehow lesser, that he's a lesser God. Fourth question
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I asked, is Jesus the creator? Verse 1, or verse 3, tells us both positively and negatively, that the
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Word, Jesus, is the agent through whom everything came into being. Again, that would completely undercut the idea that he could be a creature.
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He cannot have created everything, and then, be a creature himself, because he can't create himself.
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That's an inherent contradiction. The fifth question I asked, is
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Jesus the provider of life and light? Verses 4 and 5 tells us that he is the source of physical life, and he is the source of spiritual life.
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He is the source of all light, also, both physical and spiritual.
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We could go to many places, Colossians 1. I mean, if he, if Jesus, as the sustainer of life, were to take one moment off, what would happen?
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Everything would cease to exist. So, we come to verse 6. There was a man sent from God, whose name was
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John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all men might believe through him.
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He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
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The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
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He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 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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And this morning, I want to draw your attention to three gifts from God, three gifts from our giving
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God, so that you will see him for the gracious, loving, generous
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God that he is, not some capricious deity. I want you to see these three magnificent gifts from God, that he has given to the world, and specifically to those who love his son.
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If you don't know Christ, or you're not sure if you know Christ, this will be a great spiritual checkup for you this morning.
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The first gift from God is John the Baptist, and that's clear from verses six to eight.
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Some people say, well, we know John the Baptist. Isn't he that crazy looking guy? You know, that comes out of the wilderness?
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Well, yes, he is. Matthew chapter three, verses one to four, says this, in those days,
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John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the
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Lord, make his paths straight. Now, John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
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I mean, he probably looked like one of these nuts, you know, I'd probably seen in Berkeley, California or West Hollywood.
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I mean, he looked kind of crazy. Why? Because he was under a
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Nazarite vow. There were things that he could and couldn't do. You know, combing his hair and all that.
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But what else do we know about John the Baptist? Because we're not going to see that much of him here. Well, we know that he rejoiced, even in the womb, at the announcement of the
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Messiah's miraculous conception, Luke 141. John the
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Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets, as I said before. In fact, Jesus said of him in Matthew 11, 11, among those born of wisdom, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the
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Baptist. No one greater than John the Baptist. That's pretty high praise. So, you know, if you were in the audience that day, you might have said, well, what about Abraham?
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Well, he's at least the equal of Abraham, no one greater. What about Moses? No one greater.
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What about Enoch, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, any of the Old Testament prophets? And the answer would be there's no one greater, period.
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That verb arisen in Matthew 11, 11. It is used only of prophets in the
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Old Testament version of the Greek text. Had the Lord merely wanted to speak of John the
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Baptist's birth, he could have done so. Instead, he stresses the calling that was given to him.
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How famous was John the Baptist in those days? Well, in Acts 18, 25, we're told that Apollos, remember when he gets corrected about his teaching, that he knew only of John's baptism.
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John the Baptist was a huge figure in early Christianity. And so he appears right here in the beginning of John's gospel.
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So why is John the Baptist a gift sent from God? Again, look at verse 6.
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There was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now, I can't resist a slightly esoteric point, so just bear with me a little bit.
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In the ESV, the King James and the New King James, it says there was. And in English, that word was is was.
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You know, it's just past tense of is or to be, right?
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But it's that same verb. If you look at back at verse one, it says in the beginning was the word in English would be the same was was.
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And we think, well, there's no difference between John the Baptist and Jesus. But there is a difference.
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The Greek verb was in verse one tells us that Jesus existed, as I said before, before anything else existed.
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But the same was that's in English in verse six is not the same Greek word. That verb in verse six means to become, and it carries the idea of having a particular starting point.
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John is very careful about the words he chooses by the power of the Holy Spirit. And we'll see that over and over again in his gospel.
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Sometimes it doesn't quite come out in English, and I want to highlight that. There is a difference that John brings out between the ever existing word and John, this man who became he came into the world.
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Very clear difference between the creator and the creature. But John the
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Baptist was as great a naturally born man as has ever existed.
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And he was the creation of God, of his Lord. Notice also that John the
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Baptist was commissioned by God to complete a particular mission. He was sent from God, created, commissioned, called and sent at the perfect time to fulfill
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Old Testament prophecy. Even as I read earlier from Isaiah, he was to prepare the people of God for the
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Son of God. And since the Apostle John's purpose is to demonstrate that Jesus was in fact
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God, why does he mention John so early in his gospel? Why doesn't he just get on talking about John baptizing and all those kind of things?
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Well, there's some theologians who say that, you know, in the early church, there was an elevated view of John the Baptist.
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And so he wanted to create that distinction between creator and creature right away. And we do know that there was some problem even in the early days of the church.
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I mean, think about this. In Matthew 16, Jesus says to his disciples, he says, in verse 13, he says, who do people say that the
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Son of Man is? And they said, some say who? John the
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Baptist. Why would they say that? Because they knew that John the Baptist was an important figure.
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Others say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. So John's not denigrating
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John the Baptist at all, but he is pointing to this specific difference between the two.
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And it's interesting because even John's name is indicative of him being a particular man chosen for a particular mission.
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His name means God is gracious. And it's interesting. I won't get into all of it. But when his name was chosen, what did they say?
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They said, look, according to Jewish tradition, what do you do? You name your children after one of your relatives.
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And they said, there's nobody in our family named John. But that was his name. God is gracious.
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God was very gracious to send John the Baptist. And his mission is plain.
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He was sent to be a forerunner who would testify of the Messiah. Look at verse seven. He came as a witness to bear witness about the lie.
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I mean, it's like we're supposed to get the idea that he's a witness. How do you establish the apostles premise that Jesus Christ is
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God in the flesh? The second person, the Trinity come in a body. How do you establish that?
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By providing witnesses. And John the Baptist is but the first in a long line of witnesses that John will present in his gospel.
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In fact, even in the last time that he is mentioned in the gospel of John, Jesus said of him that everything that this man said about Jesus was true.
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He was a true witness. You know, sometimes I mean, when we think of a witness,
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I, you know, maybe I'm a little bit cynical because we used to have this thing in court where we would listen before I was saved, where somebody would say, you know, you testify to it and or you say something and I'll testify to it.
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You know, it was kind of this conspiracy thing. But this is what we're assured about in this gospel is that everything that John the
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Baptist said was true. Well, what was his goal? Why did John come? I mean, what a calling he had.
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Again, look at verse seven, that all might believe through him. Literally, he came in order or so that with the purpose of being a testimony.
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So the light or to the light so that all might believe in Christ through him.
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I mean, this is interesting. I don't know that I've ever seen this. I'm sure it exists in other Greek passages, but I haven't really noticed it before.
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It's a double purpose. It's a we use the word Hina. That's a Greek word to show purpose.
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And there's a purpose and then another purpose. So it says that he came with the purpose that he might be a testimony to the light with the purpose that all might believe in Christ through him.
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By the way, also, never does the Bible speak of believing through Jesus.
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It says that here about John, that people might believe through him. But it never says that we should believe through Jesus.
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He is not the agent of faith. He is the object of faith. John the Baptist was the agent.
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He was the testifier. He was the person saying you need to believe on him. But no one is said to ever believe through Jesus.
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We believe through the words of John the Baptist. He was to point to the
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Messiah. He was sent to the world by the father to speak truthfully of the identity of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. John repeats himself, the apostle does for clarity and emphasis again, verse eight.
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He was not the light. Look, I don't want you to mistake him. He was a great man, but he was not the light.
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He came to bear witness about the light. He was testifying of it. He was not the light.
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What a gift to prepare his people for the arrival of his son. The father sent a great prophet.
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No greater man has ever existed to testify of his son. No greater human gift could have been given.
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Second gift, second gift from God. The light of the world.
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Look at verse nine. Jesus, as we'll find out later on in this chapter, is the true light.
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So many had come before Jesus and claimed to be enlightened.
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I mean, I could give you a list of all the false prophets and all the false teachers that are out there.
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I mean, somebody will say, well, Zoroaster said that he was the light of the world, or Buddha said he was enlightened.
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Many have come and said they were enlightened or they were the source of enlightenment. But they were liars.
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Even Satan describes or disguises himself as an angel of light.
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But there is only one true light. And such is the state of the nation of Israel that they would need a man like John the
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Baptist, this great prophet to testify of the true light. Why? Because they were blinded.
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I mean, when Jesus confronts them about the way that they're being taught, you have heard it said, but I say to you over and over again, they were being led astray by the very religious leaders who were supposed to tell them the truth.
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They were blinded by their own sin nature. They were blinded by their teachers and they were blinded by the work of Satan, who blinds the minds of unbelievers.
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Yet our text tells us that the true light enlightens everyone.
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Well, how so? Does Jesus so come to everyone so that they all have an opportunity equally to believe?
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In what sense does the light come to everyone? Well, we know some things. We know that everyone has enough light, enough information, enough general information, enough general revelation to know that there is a
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God. Everyone is responsible in that sense.
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But the true light comes from the father of lights in whom there is no variation or shadow.
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One man said it this way. Jesus is the genuine and ultimate self -disclosure of God to man.
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Everyone's going to be held accountable for what they do with Jesus. But he doesn't enlighten everyone to the same extent.
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And we're going to see that developed. It's clear that he doesn't have the same impact on everyone.
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He doesn't have the same influence on everyone. Look at verse 10. He was in the world.
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And the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. Now, world can be a tricky term.
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Does it mean every single person who ever existed? Does it mean every single person who was in existence at the time
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Jesus came into it? Does it just mean the physical world? I don't think so.
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I don't... it certainly doesn't mean that. In this verse, is Jesus... are we just being repeated, repeatedly told that Jesus created everything and then he came into his creation?
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I don't think that goes far enough. Here's the question. Did the whole world not know him?
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Just as it says there at the end of verse 10, the whole world, yet the world did not know him. Is that every single man, woman and child?
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No, we know that that's not right because we see in verse 12 and 13 that some will come to faith, some will come to know him.
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So what's the point? Well, just from the construction of that verse right there, we know that when it says that the light was in the world, again, that verb was means that he was there for an extended period of time.
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It's an imperfect tense and it means that he was there for a notable time period. Jesus was on the earth for some 33 years, more or less.
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The world, those around him, had ample opportunity to know him.
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So it can't just mean like, you know, I mean, there were people who said, well, isn't that Joseph and Mary's son? That's not the idea.
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It's not just that they knew about him or that they knew him personally. So they know him intimately.
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And we're going to develop that a little bit more. But also, as the author makes plain in verses 3 and 4, everything does owe its creation and continuing existence to the
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Lord. But did these who were literally dependent on Jesus, did they marvel at his condescending love?
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Did they think, you know, this Jesus left his father's throne above and came to serve us?
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No. Were they swayed by his miracles? No. Were they swayed by the way that he healed the sick?
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He gave sight to the blind. He caused the lame to walk.
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Did those things move them? No. Did they heed the words of John the Baptist or the authoritative teaching of Jesus?
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No. Multitudes heard. Many, many, many thousands. We don't even know how many thousands heard and saw
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Jesus teach. They saw his miracles. And did they believe? No, because in the end, we're left with a handful of believers.
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Again, the text is clear. The world did not know him. And to know literally means to indicate that one does know, acknowledge, recognize, listen, as that which one is or claims to be.
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In other words, to know Jesus is to accept his claims for who he said he was.
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And that world did not know him, did not receive him for who he is.
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The world here is clearly unsaved humanity. Those with whom he spent many years, the last three plus of his life, teaching and preaching.
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Specifically, the world there means most of Israel. The true light was right before them, and they would not acknowledge that he was the light.
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In fact, they demanded what? His death. The nation of Israel rejected
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Jesus. Look at verse 11. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him.
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Now, some commentators argue that his own could well be understood as even taken as far as his own property or his own home.
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This is Israel, the nation that he had in the Old Testament, preserved, protected, and even driven to repentance when she went astray.
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Think of all the care that God had poured out over this nation over the centuries. They alone had the word of God.
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They alone had his prophets. Yet time and time again, Israel faithlessly sought after idols, false gods.
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And here we have the ultimate act of faithfulness by God, fulfilling the messianic promises, all the things that he had ever promised
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Israel he was going to do. And what was their response? They did not receive him.
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They did not receive him. They should have welcomed him with open arms. They should have said, at long last, the promised
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Messiah. In fact, the response should have been exactly what
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Simeon's was when he held the infant Jesus in the temple. In Luke chapter 2, verses 29 to 32,
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Simeon says this. And this is beautiful. He says, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.
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According to your word. In other words, he's going to die and he's going to die in peace because he had prayed for this day.
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Verse 30, for my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the
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Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel. Look at how
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John stresses the complete rejection of the Messiah. Verse 5, the darkness has not overcome it or apprehended it.
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Some translations will say. Verse 10, the world did not know him. Verse 11, his own people did not receive him.
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God sends this magnificent gift, the light into the world. And what happens? As we're going to see later on in the
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Gospel of John, people see the light and they love the light.
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No. They reject it. They love the darkness. They love their own sin.
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Third gift from this giving God. First was John the Baptist. Second was the light of the world,
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Jesus himself. Third gift is adoption. Adoption. Some did receive him.
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Many did not, but some did. We know that from verse 12. Look, verse 12, but to all who did receive him, there was a group who received him.
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So you say, well, that's pretty easy, right? We should just encourage people to receive Christ. That's what we have to do.
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Just receive Jesus. Not so fast. Look at how that is qualified.
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Look again at verse 12. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name.
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That's a great way of translating that, by the way, because what it does is it puts it in parallel.
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To receive him, to receive Jesus, is to believe in his name.
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Now, that's deceptive to our modern ears, because we don't understand the idea of what is fully contained in the idea of a name.
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If somebody says, well, your name's Steve, they don't think of me, they don't go to their dictionary and go,
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Steve means, I think it means Prince or something like that. So they don't think, well,
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Prince Cooley. But in the ancient world, and specifically to the
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Hebrew mind, if you said somebody's name, if you equated, well, or let's put it another way.
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A person was equated with their name. You couldn't receive
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Jesus without believing everything that he was. His entire being is equivalent to his name.
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You had to believe all that he was. This is a Hebrew idiom. And in the Hebrew mind, someone's name is equated with their entire nature, with their entire being.
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Now, today, many people claim to be Christians or, you know, more popular, become popular, be a follower of Jesus.
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But what do they do? They kind of pick and choose what they want to believe. That's just not a biblical option.
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If you want to receive Christ, you have to believe in his name, which means you have to accept everything that he said, everything that he said he was.
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You cannot legitimately claim to be in Christ without believing he has always existed as God, that he's the second person of the
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Trinity, that he voluntarily came to this earth to obey his father's will, lived a perfect life in your place, died a death that you deserved, was raised on the third day, and now sits at the hand of the father.
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You can't ignore commands on homosexuality, fornication, adultery and other sins because the times have changed.
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You have to accept everything that he has said. I was listening to a message last night and someone said the verses 12 and 13 mean that God chose you because you chose
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Jesus. God chose you because you chose
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Jesus. Well, that almost makes it sound like God is learning something. He had absolutely no idea that you were going to choose
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Jesus and you didn't. So on that choice, he decided to pick you.
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And I thought about that a little bit. And I said, you know what? That view of adoption, that'd be something like this.
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A couple of kids come around the neighborhood. They ring my doorbell. I open the door. He goes, hey, dad, what's up?
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I look at Jen and I go, you know anything about this? And the kids say, mom, we're home.
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And they just come in and we're stuck with them. They're our kids now. That's the picture that many of the church today have of adoption.
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That God has these kids who just kind of come up to him and say, dad. And he goes, oh,
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I don't know what we're going to do with them. We'll just have to find room. It just turns the whole thing on its head.
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When we understand what the Bible says here, listen, one man said that believing in the name of Christ, listen, is the equivalent of being owned by him.
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When we believe, we yield ourselves up to be possessed by him in whom we believe.
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To be a Christian is to belong to him. Not to simply say, well, you know what?
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I know I'm not an atheist. I know I'm not like that Dawkins guy. I know
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I'm not a Muslim. I know I'm not a Buddhist. I thank you, Lord, that I'm not a universalist.
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It's nothing like that. It means to say, I'm going to submit to the will of God. I'm going to accept everything that Jesus said, everything that he is.
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This idea is furthered by the verb believed in our text, which is a present active participle.
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This is an ongoing, permanent, all -consuming belief. This is a lifelong characteristic, not a label or some kind of simple choice.
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It's not ABC or Christian. And look at the result of believing in all that Jesus is, all that his name represents.
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What happens? By virtue of that, look, he gave the right to become children of God.
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Now, right can also be translated authority. The idea is that they are now these people who have believed on the
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Lord Jesus Christ, who have received him, who have accepted all that he is, believed in his name, now have the right to become children of God.
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They have the right to do something that they previously would not have had the right to do. Listen, when
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I joined the Sheriff's Academy, when I joined the Sheriff's Department, I got the right to carry a gun.
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It's amazing, isn't it? One day changes everything. One day, if I'd gone out on the street with a gun, I would have been subject to arrest.
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The next day, it's perfectly fine. And that's the idea. One day, if you would have said that you were a child of God, you would have been a liar.
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And the next day, you have that right. This is the most amazing gift ever.
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Again, before believing, you had no right to claim God as your father. You were not his child. Once in Christ, you become irrevocably the teknon, the dear child, the adopted child of God.
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And it's interesting because, and I mentioned that Greek word teknon, because there are two words that describe son or child.
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We have teknon, but then we have hwios. You know that only Jesus is ever referred to as the hwios of God.
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Only he is. We are adopted, but Jesus is fundamentally, essentially the son of God.
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But adoption is not a matter of biology, human desire, or human choices. I indicated before,
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I mean, think of the absurdity of that. I choose to be adopted. Therefore, God is obligated to adopt me.
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Look at verse 13. It couldn't be more clear. Verse 12 ends, he gave the right to become children of God.
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Verse 13, 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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Again, this idea of just randomly adopting is totally thrown out. This birth is not physical.
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It is a spiritual birth, being born again, if you will, as we'll see in chapter three. And that can only be accomplished by God.
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Only God can do it. John's very clear, not of blood, ends the idea of salvation by heritage.
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The fact that your parents were Christians doesn't save you. And to John's audience, the idea that the
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Jews would somehow be saved was very popular, as we'll see later on in John's gospel. What was their defense?
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We're Abraham's children. We've never been a slave to anyone. We are God's people.
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People even today, many Jews say that, you know, if you were to ask them why they're going to heaven, well, they're
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God's people. But it's not your blood.
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It's not your heritage. It's not even whether your parents had you baptized when you were a baby. None of that counts for anything.
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Every human desire and action is incapable of granting this one spiritual birth.
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Again, look at the text. Nor of the will of the flesh. It's not a matter of your parentage, of your heritage, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.
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That's a couple of different ways to say this. It is not up to you. I don't care how bad you want it or what you're willing to do to be adopted as God's dear child.
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It is his choice. God goes first in salvation. You might say, well, then so what do
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I do if I'm sitting here and I don't know Christ and I've just been told it's not up to me? What can I do? Believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. But you just told me that I can't believe on my own.
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That's true. I'm not asking you to believe on your own. I'm repeating what the Lord Jesus Christ himself has said.
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Believe. I'm calling upon you to recognize that your sin has separated you from a holy
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God and that no matter how you might feel or what you might do, you cannot save yourself.
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Yes, God is sovereign and he does choose, but you are responsible to repent and to embrace all that Christ is and all that he has done.
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First gift, John the Baptist sent to prepare the way for Jesus. Second, Jesus himself, the light of the world.
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Third adoption, that magnificent gift by which God takes us the refuse of the world and says, you know what?
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Because of what my son has done, I am going to give you the right to be my sons and daughters.
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Let's go back to Matthew chapter 21. I'm going to finish that section after this parable and their response to it.
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Jesus said to them, these Jewish leaders, have you never read in the scriptures?
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The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the
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Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
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And that's exactly what we see in John 1 verses 12 and 13. People who produce its fruits, they believe in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. They accept all that he is. And by the way, when you're adopted, you reflect your father.
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Christians in some way, shape or form resemble Jesus Christ. They don't resemble him perfectly, but that's the idea.
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You produce fruit. Again, think about that parable and the parable.
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The vineyard owner did everything to prepare his land to ensure a perfect crop. In our passage, the fathers made every effort to prepare his people to receive their king and their
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God. In the parable, the vineyard owner sent servants who were all killed and finally sent his son, whom they also killed.
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They should have joyfully paid the owner for what he'd done. They should have given him his due.
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In our passage in John 1 this morning, the father had sent many prophets. And now sent the greatest prophet ever to declare the arrival of the promised
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Messiah, his son. Just as they did with many of the prophets, they put John to death. And then the vast majority of the nation refused to heed his words.
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And they subsequently put Jesus to death, even though he did many miracles. Again, think of all that was done for them.
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What more could he have done? They rejected him. And explaining the parable, the
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Lord told the Jewish leaders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to those who would believe.
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In our passage, only those who believe are granted adoption as sons and daughters taken from Israel, given to those who would believe.
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And you must be born again. It is an act of God. And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have in the past identified yourself as a
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Christian, you've just decided, you know, I'm going to have a helping of this and a scoop of that. But I don't know if I really go for, you know, this bit about abstaining from fornication, or I don't really know if Jesus really talked about homosexuality, or I don't really know if I need to obey.
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John couldn't have been more clear. You have to receive everything about Jesus.
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All of it. You have to love the Lord Jesus. Your idea of God must be his idea.
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It must be what he says, not what you would like it to be. If you don't know Jesus Christ, may
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I just urge you, if you're not sure if you know Jesus Christ, may I urge you to talk to me, talk to one of the men today and get right with Christ.
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You need to repent and believe. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the wondrous gifts that you have bestowed upon us.
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We just think about your word, how it makes so clear that each one of us, apart from you, could do nothing.
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That we have, by our nature, by our inclination, and by our own actions, denied you, estranged ourselves from you.
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But Father, in your love, you sent your Son. You gave us your word, the living word and the written word that we might know you.
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That we might see ourselves for who we are, that we might be enabled to turn from our sin and to believe fully on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Father, for any who are here today who don't know you,
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Lord, I just pray that there would be such a conviction upon them that they would not be able to rest or sleep or think of anything else other than eternity in hell, apart from your goodness and kindness, unless they repent.
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Lord, I pray that you would bring a conviction upon all of us, just of the goodness and love that you have shown us.
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Father, even as we sang this morning, just reminded again and again of all the things that you have saved us from.
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Father, let us love you and honor your Son more and more every day, I pray.