You Must Receive Christ - [John 1:9-13]

Don't you love spring in New England? I know I do. This is great.

Well, I would invite you to open up your Bibles this morning while we're rejoicing in the

Lord's goodness to us in providing this unusual weather to John chapter 1.

This morning's message, I thought, that's a little bit provocative. Maybe it'll be more provocative as we move on, but you must receive

Christ. That seems like a pretty basic concept. I mean, what could be controversial about that?

And you know me, if you know me at all, you know I like controversy, but there's not much controversial about you must receive

Christ. But sadly, this and other basics of the

Gospel, that's what's under attack right now within the visible body of Christ, within the church itself today.

People are wrestling with such issues as, do you really have to take Jesus as Lord, not just Savior, in order to be saved?

Isn't there a broader road, a greater grace, another way to get to heaven?

The latest assault is on the veracity, the reliability, and the clarity of Scripture.

Can we trust the Bible? Can we understand it if we can trust it? I'm not going to answer all of those questions this morning.

I'm not even going to answer most of them. But we will get to one that is very similar.

Does God require us to do what we cannot do? Does God require us to do what we cannot do?

And you might think, well, that's impossible. Well, let's see, right off the top of my head, how about this one?

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. God commands it.

Can you do it? The answer is obviously no. And we're told in our text this morning that only those who receive

Christ will be saved, or as it says here, will be given the right to become the sons or the children of God.

But the problem we have here is that we cannot do it, at least not of our own volition, not on our own.

Let me give you a little background so that we know where we are. The Gospel of John, written by John, was written several decades after the other

Gospels. And it's written by the Apostle John to provide an eyewitness account of the divine nature of Jesus.

Indeed, John's Gospel provides the clearest claims of Jesus himself with regard to his deity.

In John chapters 8 and John 10, his statements were so clear that his original audience sought to stone him because they understood precisely what he was saying, that he was

God -made man, 100 % divine and 100 % human.

And they did not respond very well to that. They got angry. They wanted to kill him.

John introduces us to Jesus in a rather unusual way. He doesn't even tell us his name.

John 1 .1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the

Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. John calls

Jesus the Word. In Greek, the Logos. John tells us that this

Logos, this Word, Jesus, always existed. He was in the beginning with God.

He was, he existed in the very beginning of time, before time was.

John tells us that Jesus created everything, and that Jesus is the source of all life.

Now, how do I know that John is describing Jesus? Verse 14 makes it plain.

And the Word, this incarnate, or this eternal

Word, ever -existent Word, became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the

Father, full of grace and truth. The eternal Logos, the second person of the

Trinity, took on a human nature without ceasing to be God. Peter, James, and our writer

John were permitted to see his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. Now, verses 6 to 8 of chapter 1 tell us of John the

Baptist and his role as a witness of the light, one who would proclaim the arrival of Jesus.

And after 400 years of silence, the sight of John the Baptist was quite an announcement in and of itself.

He was a startling sight, to be sure. But this morning, as we walk through our text, in John 1, verses 9 through 13, we'll see four inescapable truths about receiving

Christ that will remind you of the great work of God in your salvation.

If you don't know God, this is going to show you what

God requires of those who would be his children. Let's read our text.

There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 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 those who were his own did not receive him.

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, even 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.

This is a fantastic text this morning. One that, as I read through, I was just amazed at the theological truths that are presented here.

The first thing I want you to notice is that everyone, every single person, is exposed to the light.

Verse 9. There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. The true light, as set apart from any false light, refers to Jesus.

As the true light, he is the only source of every spiritual truth.

So, in contrast, anything not of him, not having as its source Jesus Christ, would be not true or false.

So, I just immediately thought of the application of this. If something is not of Jesus Christ, if it does not have as its source the true light, it's false.

So, what would that say about Buddha? Mohammed? The Watchtower?

Confucius? Joseph Smith? On and on. Ellen G. White? On and on and on it goes.

All these people who have other sources, other lights.

There is only one source of spiritual truth, of true spiritual enlightenment.

You can't get it by going to the Himalayas and hanging out with monks for several months.

You can't get it any other way. Not by washing in a river. Not by making spiritual journeys halfway across the world.

There is one source of spiritual truth. The second person of the

Godhead, Jesus Christ. In verse 8, it said of John the

Baptist that he was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. John prepared the way as it were.

In fact, verse 8, that but there is a strong adversative.

Meaning, to make it clear, look, John came and he proclaimed the coming of the Messiah. He said that the light was coming.

But let's make it perfectly clear, he was not the light. He was not the

Messiah. He was the forerunner. In fact, John the Baptist in verse 23 of John 1 said,

Now the King James version of verse 9 says, In other words, they attach this idea of coming into the world to man instead of the true light.

But the effect is the same. Jesus Christ came into the world and every person was enlightened because of it.

The difference though between the King James, the New King James and the other versions is that the other style fails to really highlight what

Jesus did. Jesus left his rightful place of fellowship with the

Father and the Spirit and he took on a body of flesh and blood.

He came into the world. Now, coming into the world, just a note about the world itself.

John uses world 78 times in his gospel. And the expression can mean the physical universe, all of creation.

It can mean a large number of people. But most characteristically, it refers to sinful humanity.

Sinful humanity. So Christ, holy, perfect, ever -existent, second person of the

Trinity, untainted by sin, descended into a sinful world.

He enlightened everyone. He brought light into this world. Everyone was exposed to the light.

But that light does not save everyone. And one of the things I like best about John and the gospel of John is that he's a very careful theologian.

You read the gospel of John and one of the things I always encourage people to do if they're not a believer or if they're a new believer is to read the gospel of John because you get to meet

Jesus Christ and it's like a Christology. It is like a theological treatment of the

Lord Jesus Christ because you get to learn about Jesus in a very precise way.

You read through John 17, Jesus' high priestly prayer, and it leaves you no doubt that while we may think of ourselves as special, the only reason we're special is because the

Father gave us to the Son and the Son will give us back to the Father. That's what makes us special. It's not anything inherent in us.

It's the love that they show for one another as they hand us back and forth. And on and on it goes.

Every bit of John is just packed with very carefully done theology.

And here what he wants us to understand is not everyone gets saved. The light comes into the world and what does the world do with it?

Well, that's our second truth. Everyone makes a decision about the light. Clearly not all receive the light.

The truth is available and people shun the truth. We would, in our humanness, in our sense of fair play, we would like to believe that everyone has an equal opportunity to receive the gospel, that everyone's on the same playing field.

Well, in one sense we are because in and of ourselves we can't do anything. But the reality is that everyone knows enough about God, everyone has enough enlightenment to acknowledge

Him, not in a saving way, but even just to recognize His power. But they don't even do this.

Romans 1, 18 tells us that men suppress the truth about God and unrighteousness.

18 to 20 in Romans 1 tell us that by virtue of creation, by virtue of the created order, they know enough to know that there is a

God but they don't worship Him. They suppress that truth. Romans 2 tells us that they know, everyone knows, the difference between right and wrong because God has given them not only a conscience so that they feel guilty when they're doing the wrong thing, but that He has placed

His law in their hearts so that they have a keen awareness of what is right and wrong.

So what does man do with that knowledge? With the knowledge that truth has come into the world?

He suppresses it. He ignores it. Why? John would tell us because light has come into the world and what do men do?

They love their sin. They love the darkness. The truth is, if you would receive

Jesus Christ, you cannot see Him for less than what He is.

And this is what the world does. They minimize Jesus Christ. They believe that He's a good man, a good teacher, a prophet maybe.

That's what Islam says, that Jesus is a prophet. You know, they even believe He's going to return. But if you've ever talked to a

Muslim, you recognize that they don't believe that He ever claimed to be God.

That's why it's so key, I think, to have a firm grasp of the Gospel of John because you need to be able to go to the passages where Jesus says,

I am God, as evidenced by the audience's reaction. But if you see

Him only as a wise man, if you see Him as a good teacher, if you see Him only as a prophet, you've minimized

Him. If you believed He sinned, now this is incredible. We were talking about this Friday night

Bible study. Brian Casey mentioned that there are some Catholics who actually believe that Jesus Christ sinned.

Now, if you believe that, you've got a very faulty view of Jesus Christ.

And there's a word for having a wrong view of God, and that's idolatry. If you are not worshiping the true

God as He is, you are engaged in idolatry of some form or another. Now, our text tells us that the world rejects

Christ. Verse 10, He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know

Him. That verse is just, it's ironic, and it's very, very sad.

Jesus is the creator, the creator of everything that is. But the creation, the text tells us, did not know

Him. The world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. Now, the Greek verb translated know is more than mere intellectual rejection, and it carries the sense of a willful refusal to accept or believe in someone or something.

So this isn't just, you know, receiving the information and rejecting it out of hand.

This is a matter of will. People willfully refuse to accept

Jesus Christ. In other words, the world at large has rejected the message and the person of Jesus Christ.

Well, what did He say about Himself? He claimed equality with the Father. The world rejects that.

He claimed to be the only way to the Father. The world rejects that. He claimed in many ways to be the very incarnation of God, God enfleshed.

The world rejects that. He is rightfully due worship on His terms, not on ours.

The world rejects that. And sadly, many who would claim to be

Christians today reject those truths, in whole or in part. The world rejects

Christ. He created everything. He sustains everything, and His creation rejects

Him. Notice also that the nation of Israel rejects

Christ. Verse 11, He came to His own, and those who were

His own did not receive Him. You know, it's bad enough that pagans throughout the

Roman Empire rejected Him, and that Gentile people to this very day reject

Him. But the Jews? He was their long -anticipated

Messiah. The fulfillment of promises that they knew and had read and heard for centuries.

These promises go back all the way to Genesis 3, back to Adam and Eve. And our text tells us that Jesus came to His own.

Now, the Greek word here, to get a little technical, is gender -neutral, is neutral in gender.

And it indicates that He came to what was His. Again, it's

His creation, so He's kind of repeating Himself here. But then to heighten the irony, John writes that Jesus was not only rejected by the world generally, but He was specifically rejected by those who were

His own. The term is that second time we see His own, it is masculine, and it points directly to His chosen people, the nation of Israel.

So it's as if John wrote, this is shocking. It's shocking that the creation rejected

His Creator, but even more shocking that His chosen people, those whom

He had done so much for, rejected Him. They should have responded like Simeon in Luke 2, verses 25 to 32.

Luke 2, verses 25 to 32. And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was

Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel.

And the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the

Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child

Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, then he took him into his arms and blessed

God and said, Now, Lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to your word.

For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the

Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel. Jesus was the promised

Messiah. The rightful heir to the throne of David. The fulfillment of prophecy after prophecy in the

Old Testament. How could he be rejected by his own people? Why did they not rejoice as Simeon had?

He believed the promises of God. And he longed to see the deliverer of his people so much that God granted his desire.

Not only that, but after he held the baby in his arms, after he looked at his

Savior, he said, I can die now. I'm happy I am fulfilled. John gives us the answer.

How they could do it. Why they did it. John 12, 37 to 43.

But though he, talking about Jesus, had performed so many signs before them.

I mean, think about all the miracles that the Lord did. Yet they were not believing in him.

This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah, the prophet, when he spoke, Lord, who has believed our reports?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason they could not believe.

For Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes, and he hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and be converted, and I healed them.

These things Isaiah said, because he saw his glory, and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many, even of the rulers, believed in him, but because of the

Pharisees, they were not confessing him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the approval of men, rather than the approval of God.

John answers our question by quoting from the prophet Isaiah. Chapter 6 and 53.

And he notes that they rejected

Christ. They feared men more than they feared God. And also, that God sovereignly blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts.

Is there a contradiction there? They rejected him, but God prevented them from seeing who he was.

God is sovereign. Man is responsible. They rejected him, and he hardened their hearts.

Those are both true. I don't have to reconcile them, because John, with the help of the

Holy Spirit, didn't reconcile them. They're both true. Now, everyone has been exposed to the light.

Everyone makes a decision about the light, about Jesus Christ. No one is neutral.

You're either for Christ, or you're against him. Thirdly, you must believe in his name.

Verse 12. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name.

Now, to receive Jesus is to entrust oneself fully to him, to accept his claims, to confess him as Lord, and to surrender one's life entirely to him.

Believers, that is, those who have received Christ, are by no means the majority of people on the earth.

We've seen that array. The Gentiles, by and large, rejected him. The Jews, by and large, rejected him.

But our text equates receiving Christ with believing in his name. Those two ideas are parallel.

And I'll get back to believing in his name in just a moment here. But first notice it says here that he gave them the right to become the sons of God.

First notice that he gave them that right. This is no causal relationship.

In other words, it's not because they accepted Christ that he gave them the right to become the children of God.

We can't get caught up in the exact order of the text. We can't think this is how people get saved because this would imply that men go first.

And we're going to see that that's not right. Faith, like salvation, is always and utterly, thoroughly a work of God.

If anyone, apart from the regenerating work of the Spirit, were able to believe, God would then be held hostage to the whims of men.

He would be, as I heard it preached, from the pulpit of one of America's biggest churches in heaven, wringing his hands, hoping that we would make the right decision.

Beloved, that is not a picture of the God of the Bible. He goes first in salvation.

A few verses to consider before we get back to our text. 1 Corinthians 1 .27 1

Peter 1 .3

Ephesians 2 .4 -5 We were dead in our transgressions.

Made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.

It is not because we were dead that we decided to believe. It's not even possible that while we were dead we could believe.

It is because of God's mercy and love that he brought us to spiritual life.

That's what the verse says. It is not because we chose to be born again that we were. 1

Peter tells us God caused it. It is not because of our wisdom that we chose or we caused, as unbelievers, ourselves to believe.

God chooses the foolish. God chooses the weak. Before salvation, every single person, every single

Christian was foolish. What's the very definition of foolishness? The fool says in his heart there is no

God. Every single person before coming to faith was a fool. God goes first in salvation.

Salvation is of the Lord, Jonah says. It is ever thus throughout the entire Bible. Now the

Greek word back in our text, the Greek word translated right, means potential or resource to command, control, or govern.

Capability, might, power. It indicates the thing, a thing, one is able to do.

God gives them ability, the ability, the power that they were previously not capable of.

They did not have the power in and of themselves to choose to be children of God until God gave them that ability.

Children of God, that term, denotes a sharing of nature. That when we come to be the children of God, we come to share in some sense in the nature of God, and it's in this sense.

We are born again. We are, in a sense, recreated how? Spiritually. Spiritually.

We could say that every single person is a child of God in the sense that they are created in his image.

But there's that general sense of being a child of God, and there are many rebels who are children of God in that sense.

But when we are adopted, when we are brought into the family of God, when we are made his child, as it says here, technon in the

Greek, it denotes a change of nature. We are not divine, but we have become God's children.

In this sense, we are being transformed into the image of his perfect son. Here's how

I would say it. We are his children now, but we are becoming more like his children every day.

In fact, John says it quite well, naturally. In 1 John 3, 2, he says,

Beloved, now we are children of God. Right now.

Every believer is a child of God. And it has not yet appeared as yet what we will be.

We know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

We are being transformed step by step into the image of the perfect son of God.

We will not be divine, but we are being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

Now, those who believe, the term there, is a present tense participle, meaning that it is an ongoing belief, a characteristic of those the word describes.

I love participles because they give you a picture of, it's a piece of you.

It's part of your DNA. So, if we have a participle that describes believers, it is an ongoing characteristic, a part of my spiritual

DNA, something that cannot be changed. If I'm a believer today, I will be a believer forever.

Now, those who believe in his name is found only in the writings of John. This means, this concept of believing in his name means that you must believe everything the scripture says about him.

MacArthur notes, it is the idea of trust proper only towards God. You can't be like Thomas Jefferson, third president of the

United States, who actually took scissors and cut out the parts of the Bible he didn't like, including the miracles of Christ.

It's true. In fact, I saw this week that congressmen actually took an oath of office on the

Koran that Thomas Jefferson once owned. But Thomas Jefferson cut out the miraculous parts of the

Bible and had his own Bible. And you know what? We laugh at that, we chuckle at that, but that's what the church is actively doing today.

Isn't that self -evident? Isn't it obvious that you have to believe what the Bible says about Christ in order to be a

Christian? As of 2001, according to one poll, 77 % of Americans self -identified as Christians.

And as I've often said, I don't know how that could be, if you look around you, that seems a little confusing to me, but I wonder what the percentage would be.

If you said to those 77 % of Americans who say that they're Christians, if they believe everything the

Bible says about Jesus Christ, I think it would be pretty small. Very small.

So we've seen that everyone is exposed to the light. Everyone makes a decision about the light.

You must believe in His name. Why? You must accept everything about Jesus Christ in order to be given the right to be a child of God.

You must accept what the Bible says about Him. Fourthly, you cannot receive

Christ by any earthly power. Verse 13. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Beloved, again, you must receive Christ. There is no other way to be one of the children of God which is synonymous with being saved, but you must be enabled by God to do so.

Look at the text. It rules out every human means.

James White has said, every possible aspect of human action is denied a place in bringing about the new birth, including the will of man.

We do not become children of God by enabling God to adopt us, as if it is our action that determines our entrance into the family of God.

The Bible is very clear. We are adopted into the family of God. He chooses us.

Again, look at this. Look at the text. Verse 13. Can we be brought into the family of God by virtue of birthright?

What if we're the sons of Abraham? No. John rules that out.

He says, who were born, not of blood. It's the very opposite of natural birth that God requires.

You must be supernaturally born. You must be born again. Is it choice?

No. Again, the text. Nor of the will of the flesh. Flesh, by the way, does not refer to our sin nature.

Why would our sin nature choose to be saved anyway? But it refers simply to our physical, natural abilities.

And naturally, physically, given the way we are apart from God, we cannot choose to receive

Christ. Nor of the will of the flesh. It couldn't be any more clear. By parental decision.

One possible interpretation of this. No. The text says, nor of the will of man.

The NIV says, children born not of natural descent or of a husband's will.

This is something completely outside of human capacity to affect. MacArthur says he thinks that this is a religious system.

Whatever the third part is, whether it's parental decision, whether it's a religious system, what

Dr. White says here is clearly correct, that what John is doing is systematically ruling out any form of human involvement in this process.

Amazingly, though, I think this is wild. Verse 12 is frequently used to indicate that we creatures have the capacity to choose

God apart from God. That is, and it's done this way because they either stop, the people who do this, stop at verse 12, they don't follow the admonition of our pastor to keep reading, or they misinterpret verse 13.

In fact, as an example, one writer responding to Dr. James White's claim of the sovereignty of God being central in verses 12 and 13 responded this way,

Surely, White can't seriously mean that those who receive Christ do so because they are born of God.

The text says the opposite. Clearly, those who received him and believe in his name become the sons of God.

I read that and I think man goes first. Then I go back and I say, well, that's not what the text says.

It says that those who received him and believe in his name do so because they were born of God.

God did it. God went first. It is Dr. White who is correct and this man who has twisted the scripture to mean precisely the opposite of what it clearly says.

Now, responsibility, as an aside here, responsibility does not equal ability.

Just as I said before, God says be perfect. We don't have the ability to do that. If we did have the ability to do that, the gospel wouldn't be good news at all.

We would go to people trapped in sin and we would just say perfect yourself. That's what religions do.

That's what every religious system says. Get better. Stop sinning.

Do it on your own. You can do it. You have the capacity within yourself. If our text said that we went first, not

God, then that would be the truth. But it's not what the Bible says.

Now, please don't misunderstand me. You must believe.

You have the responsibility to believe. Every single person here this morning, Spurgeon said this, you must believe for yourself.

I have had to even remind some that the

Holy Spirit himself cannot believe for them. He works faith in you, but you have to believe.

The faith must be your own distinct mental act. Faith is the gift of God, but God does not believe for us.

How could he? It is for you distinctly to believe. Yet, the truth is, apart from the gift of faith, you cannot believe.

Apart from being born again, you cannot believe. So we have two great truths of the

Bible side by side. God is sovereign salvation. He must go first, but you must believe.

God is sovereign. Man is responsible. Again, how could both be true?

Because they are. The Bible doesn't reconcile them, and I'm not going to either.

Now again, you must receive Christ. How does one do that?

Since God goes first, since it is he who gives you the right to become a child of God, how do you receive

Christ? And the answer is ever the same. Study the word of God in print and in sermons.

And as you do so, dear friends, you will quickly recognize that these are the issues. God is holy.

God is without sin. God cannot abide sin. God demands perfection.

And you, like everyone else on this planet, are not perfect. You sin in thought, in word, and in deed.

And yet anything less than perfect, anything less than perfection, is enough to send you to eternal punishment.

But God, but God, being great in mercy, sent his own son to this earth.

He sent the true light to this world that he created to redeem a people that the

Father had chosen before time. And in time, Jesus, though remaining fully

God, took on an additional nature, that of a man. He became flesh and dwelt among us.

As a man, he was subject to hunger, emotion, fatigue, but in every situation, he obeyed the

Father's commands perfectly, never sinning in any way. When his people rejected him, the

Bible tells us he was put on a cross by the Romans because of the trumped -up charges of the

Jewish religious establishment. And yet the Bible also tells us that this was

God's plan. God wanted this to happen. Again, God sovereignly decreed it, and those men who did it are 100 % responsible.

God is sovereign. Man is responsible. Jesus did not sin, but he died a death that the

Father views as payment in full for every sin, every sin ever committed by those who come to faith in Christ.

Forgiveness for the past, forgiveness for the present, forgiveness for the future.

When God promises to wipe away every tear in heaven, it's because there are going to be no regrets, no thoughts about things that we would have, could have, should have done.

Forgiveness full and freely given. Jesus Christ died on that cross, was buried, and rose gloriously on the third day, giving proof that he was the

Son of God and guaranteeing eternal life for those who would follow him.

And what does it mean to follow him? It means simply the surrender of yourself.

It costs you nothing, and it will take everything. You must repent, that is to turn away from your sins and turn away from your reliance on your own goodness and rely completely on the finished work of Jesus Christ.

You must believe what the Bible says about him, what he said about himself. You can't pick and choose what you will believe.

To believe on his name is to believe in him totally, to invest yourself fully, to turn yourself over completely.

Do this, and you shall be saved. And if you're not here this morning,

I would urge you, even as our pastor did a few weeks ago, to beg and plead with God.

And I would plead with you, be reconciled to God, flee to the cross. There is forgiveness available, no matter what you've done.

The vilest sinner who truly believes that moment from Jesus, a pardon receives.

Spurgeon said, have you taken such a step, dear friend? Can you say, yes?

Let others do as they will. As for me, Christ is all my salvation and all my desire.

And at all hazards, I am quite content to be counted singular and to stand alone.

I have lifted my hand to heaven and I cannot draw back. Whatever others may do,

I say, Christ for me. Is that the testimony of your heart this morning?

Would you say, Christ for me, apart from anything else? Recognizing his goodness, his kindness, the offer of salvation.

You must receive Christ. You must accept all that he is. Our Father, we are so thankful that you have not left us prey to our own desires, our own devices, our own thoughts of you, but that you have given us your written word, that you sent the incarnate word your son to take a body of flesh, to walk on the earth, to dwell among men,

Lord, to enlighten every man. Father, we yearn for the day that we will be your true children indeed, being in your presence forever and ever.

But Lord, in the meantime, would you make us those who would proclaim Christ, every bit of Christ, from the

Old Testament to the New Testament, every truth that you proclaim in your word. Father, would you put in our tongues that we might proclaim your excellencies and the offer of a pardon full and forever.

God, I would pray for anyone here this morning who is not saved, that you would so work in their hearts that they would put off every thought of self -sufficiency, every thought of being good enough, every thought of receiving

Christ as they would have him, editing

Jesus, taking what they like and rejecting what they don't. Lord, would you open their hearts to receive him as he is, as you have presented him in your word.