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Kevin Thacker

Receiving Christ

John 1:10-13
Kevin Thacker August, 4 2021 Audio
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John

In Kevin Thacker's sermon titled "Receiving Christ," the central theological topic is the nature of receiving Christ as explained in John 1:10-13. Thacker argues that receiving Christ is not merely a passive acceptance but an active, transformative act of faith that requires divine initiative. He emphasizes the necessity of being born of God, in contrast to relying on heritage, personal effort, or the will of man. Specifically, he highlights John 1:12-13 to illustrate that true reception of Christ empowers believers to become children of God, emphasizing that such new birth is a sovereign act of God. The practical significance of this sermon stresses that all genuine responses to Christ are generated from a pre-existing spiritual life granted by God, reminding believers to continuously seek a deeper relationship with Christ throughout their lives.

Key Quotes

“Receiving Christ isn't left up to chance. The Lord doesn't send His Scriptures out and hope somebody digs it up... It's not put into the hands of men and women to choose Him or not to choose Him.”

“Receiving Christ, calling on Him, drawing near, being made one with Him, being saved. This is the work of the triune God. Not a man.”

“Receiving Christ is a response to spiritual life... If we receive Him, we draw near to Him, we associate with Him and His people, we call to Him.”

“We may have seen Him, have we received Him? To call on, to come to, to catch, to attain. That's to receive Him.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Turn back to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. Some of these old writers had
funny ways of putting things. There's three types of preaching,
they say. Expositional preaching, where you go verse by verse.
Experiential preaching, where I tell you what experiences I've
had. an evangelical preaching. I tell people to come to Christ. How in the world could you get
up and preach the truth of God and not do all three? If you
don't go by according to the Scriptures, you're in trouble.
If I've never experienced it, I'm in trouble and you're in
trouble. And if I don't call on men and women to come to Christ,
they won't know to come to Christ. And they say, well, I come to
Him 75 years ago. Well, come to Him today. We need
to hear that, don't we? Just don't get old hat if you're
His. What is it to receive Christ?
Have I received Him? Have you received Him? That's
my question. And how do sinful men and women
receive Him? And how don't we receive Him?
Well, a lot of people stand on a foundation from a long time
ago that ain't worth a nickel. We need to examine ourselves,
don't we, according to God's Word. I want to know these things. It says here in John 1, verse
10, He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and
the world knew Him not. And He came unto 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." Received
here in our text is defined in that Greek lexicon as to associate
with, to draw near, to be in proximity to, to learn of in
truth. Here's an important one, to be
amazed. Are you amazed? Or is there something
else more important? Something else to fiddle with?
We may have seen Him, have we received Him? To call on, to
come to, to catch, to attain. People say, why attain? Did I
climb that mountain? No, that word attain means to
realize, to be revealed in. Has He been revealed in us? That's to receive Him. If I reveal
something, it's already there, isn't it? Have I received Him? Have you received Him? to come
to Christ, to have faith in Him, to learn of Him, to call on His
name, to be amazed in Him, to be associated with Him, that's
to receive Him. You can interchange those words
right around. That's to receive Him. This world takes that word
received, and in our just spoiled, little pampered state, we think,
well, that means it's offered to us. Because we have so much
that we can refuse things. Somebody got you something for
Christmas you didn't want. No, that's just too much. I already
have three of them. You take that back. We think
we can refuse things. I've told you that before. That
glass receives water. It's because I put water in it.
I've received whippings. I didn't have a discussion if
I wanted a whipping offered to me. I received it. It came in
power. Altar calls. People come up to
the front of the church and sit down at the altar. That's receiving
Jesus. False. That's unbiblical. You can't
find it nowhere. False prophets teach those things.
If you chose to accept Jesus at a very young age, if you let
Him into your heart under a false gospel, out of some Jesus that's
just begging you to help Him out, you had mercy on Him, you
did not receive the adoption of children. You were not saved
then. It didn't happen. I stress this
because it's our nature, this flesh of Adam, to just soothe
ourselves, isn't it? I heard somebody tell me one
time, they said, well, my son's going to church down there and
they don't preach the gospel, but I'm just glad he's going
to church. I'd rather him go to a bar. That's dangerous. You're
juggling hand grenades. That is not good. It's dangerous. It's deadly. The Lord does not
and will not save His people through the preaching of a false
Christ. We must receive Him, not another Jesus. And if some
other Jesus is preached, you ain't going to receive Him. You
have to know the person and the work of the God, Christ Jesus
our Lord. It says in verse 10, He was in
the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him
not. born of this flesh, worldly, earthly, without the revelation
of Christ in us, we do not know Him. Until He reveals Himself
to us, until we receive Him, you don't know Him. I didn't
know Him until I knew a lot of facts about Him. Boy, I could
argue tooth and nail. I could write books on doctrine.
I was well affluent and astute in the doctrines of grace, and
I did not know Him. He hadn't been revealed unto
me yet. He came into the world. What a thought. God came into
this world. You and I who know Him, you've
truly received Him. You've been given power to become
the sons of God. Wouldn't it make you happy if
He was here now? If He come here right now? Don't you want to
be with Him? Heaven ain't a place, it's a
person. It's not a golden parachute. It's the God-man. That's what
Heaven is. He came into this world that
He made. He was in the world He made, and He attended a wedding. Did you know that? Where'd Christ
go on Saturdays? He attended public worship of
God, didn't He? He never missed a service. Scriptures
say that was as was His custom. He didn't miss. And He preached. He preached. It's one thing to
read old-timey writers. One thing to read a message.
It's another thing to listen to a message or watch one on
TV. It's a completely different experience to be in person. Could
you imagine the God-man sitting down in front of you, opening
the scriptures up, looking you in the eye, and Him preaching
Himself out of the scriptures? I've got a ball game. T-ball
is firing up. You say, no! He came into this
world. He was in the world. Everything
was made by Him. Every person was made by Him,
and they did not know Him. They didn't receive Him. They
didn't draw near to Him. They didn't call on Him. They didn't
learn from Him. They weren't amazed by Him. They despised
Him. The world despised Him. Some may say, well, they didn't
know any better. It couldn't be their fault. They just didn't
have Bibles. Like those people with the funny
haircuts put Bibles in all the motels. That doesn't save nobody.
What does an Ethiopian eunuch have in his hand? And if he was
ever reading a scripture that would point man's nothing and
God's all and salvation is of the Lord, there it was and how
he did it. He'd have somebody sent to him. John the Baptist
had to come here in chapter 1, didn't he? The Lord has to send
his people, send his preachers. What if someone knows a lot about
the Bible and they've learned a lot about Christ? They haven't
learned from Christ. but they learn a lot about Him. And they
know He is wisdom, but He ain't their wisdom. Surely, surely
if someone knows that much, if they've dedicated their lives
to this, they stop working. They retire and all they do is
sit around and just read the Scriptures and study. Surely they've received
Christ. Surely they know Him, don't they? Is that close enough? Not so. Look here in verse 11.
He came unto His own. He came unto the world and the
world didn't know Him. He came unto His own and His own received
Him not. All the physical benefits that
Israel had, that physical nation. They had all the types and pictures
and the ceremonies. He was worried about the Passover.
You want instructions on how to run your home? Here it is. When your children ask you, why
do you do this? You tell them what God did for
his people. That's the preeminence of Him. Physical Israel had these pictures
all around them, surrounding them. And they didn't call on
Him. They didn't perceive Him. They didn't associate with Him.
They weren't amazed by Him. They didn't have Him revealed
in power to them. That physical nation. Think of
having a scriptural quoting contest with Saul of Tarsus. You think
he'd win? Before the Lord saved him, he
knew a lot about the Scriptures, didn't he? Oh, he could tell you all
about the history of the Hittites and how that ties into this and
that and what happened and what order. He didn't have Christ
revealed to him. He didn't receive Him. You see,
receiving Christ isn't left up to chance. The Lord doesn't send
His Scriptures out and hope somebody digs it up like they did in Josiah's
day and blows the dust off of it, and they'll find Him, He's
just waiting and sitting up for chance. It's not put into the
hands of men and women to choose Him or not to choose Him. It's
not up to us to figure it out on our own. Left alone, the world
will not, and those turned over, the Lord turned them over to
religion, they cannot and they will not receive Him. We looked
the other day, the Lord said, blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach unto thee. That's the blessed
man, isn't it? I can't do none of these things.
He draws us, doesn't He? If it was left up to my choosing,
my drawing near, my learning, there's no hope for me. And there's
no joy in it. There's no rest. There's no assurance.
But when we are blessed by the Lord, when we receive Him in
spirit and in truth, there's rejoicing. We're happy because
there's something to rejoice about. Turn over to Jeremiah
chapter 3. Jeremiah chapter 3. Receiving
Christ, calling on Him, drawing near, being made one with Him,
being saved. This is the work of the triune
God. Not a man. We are truly His workmanship.
And it's not of our doing. Here in Jeremiah 3 verse 18.
It begins, In those days the house of Judah shall walk with
the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the
land of the north and to the land that I have given for an
inheritance unto your fathers. This is still the Lord speaking.
He says, But I said, How shall I put thee among the children,
and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the host
of nations? And I said, Thou shalt call me
my father. and shalt not turn away from
me." We're going to call on Him. We weren't able, were we? Look
in verse 20. Surely as a wife treacherously
departed from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with
me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. A voice was heard upon
the high places, weeping, supplications of the children of Israel, for
they have perverted their way, they have forgotten. They didn't
know Him, the Lord, their God. They've forgotten Him. He's not
in their thoughts. Now the Lord gives a command. He said, you're
going to call on me, you're going to call me your father, but you
ain't able. So he'll give a command for his
children. Verse 22, return ye backsliding children, I will
heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee, for
thou art the Lord our God. God commanded it, and they received
the command. He said, return ye backsliding
children, I will heal your backsliding. Behold, We come unto Thee, for
Thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation hopeful
from the hills." There's climbing mountains and screaming to Him.
And from the multitudes of mountains, truly in the Lord our God is
the salvation of Israel. How are we going to receive Christ?
How are we going to obtain salvation? Salvations of the Lord. He must
do it in power. He must come to His people when
it pleases Him. He must do it all. Believers
will call on Him. We will catch Him. I don't think
of that when you run Him down. That's more like you've got a
baseball glove. It gets thrown at you. We'll believe on Him. We'll catch Him. We'll associate
with Him and His people. We'll be amazed in Him. And we will be made willing in
the day of His power. That's where it comes from. But
the whole disposing of, the whole ranging of all that, the power
of all that is the Lord of our salvation. The Lord God. Back
in our text here in John 1. It says in verse 10, He was in the
world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him
not. And He came unto His own. and
His own received Him not." If we stop there, there's nothing
but despair, is there? There's nothing but just sadness
and bleakness. That's who I am. Verse 12, "...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." Who received Him? Them that He gave power to become
the sons of God. Man that had no power of himself.
That's all we were. Like that treacherous bride that
ran away, but God. He gave the power to receive
him. The power to believe on his name. The word power here,
it doesn't mean the ability to make a decision. That's a different
word. If you have a marginal reference
there, it says for power means right. and the privilege, right? And privilege to receive Christ,
to be saved from ourselves, for Him to choose the people and
come to them in power because of what His Son did on this earth.
In a room instead, as our acceptable substitute. Boy, what a privilege. He gave you power. He gave you
privilege, didn't He? That's true privilege. And it's
right. Oh, it's right. Because of that
work on the cross. Because my sin has been atoned
for. Atonement has been made between
me and the God I offended. Because He sent Himself a Lamb. And that blood was effectual.
Because of that, the law has been satisfied. And I must be
saved. The law demands it. There's no double jeopardy. I
can't seek corruption again. I can't be faced with these charges
again. What a privilege that He's right. What a privilege He's right.
That's the Lord's power. Receiving Christ is a response to spiritual
life. If we receive Him, we draw near
to Him, we associate with Him and His people, We call to Him. We praise Him. That's a response
to a life that was already there. After the Holy Ghost moves on
our hearts through the preaching of Christ, the truth, who and
what He is, not another gospel, the gospel, we cry out. We call
to Him. We beg for mercy, don't we? Physical
birth. Whenever you have a child, that
baby is born, they exhort that child. And they're listening
for a cry, ain't you? Now whenever that baby cries,
does that make it alive? No. You want to hear it cry because
then you know it was alive. It's alive. That's why it cries,
isn't it? Same thing spiritually. We don't call on the name of
Christ. We don't get the proximity of Him. We don't draw near so
that we can get life. All the work is done in us. We
are made alive and then we respond. Then we respond. Then we receive
Him. We call on Him. Draw near to
Him like blind Bartimaeus. We cry out for mercy. Jesus,
Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Why did Bartimaeus cry
all that out? Because he already had life in
him. Just like a baby, like a child, he cried out. It's man's responsibility. We have a responsibility to receive
Him, don't we? What's our response? Our responsibility is our response
to His ability. When it comes to us in power,
we respond. There'll be a response. We'll
see what we are. We'll see who He is. We'll know
that judgment's done, and we'll cry out begging for mercy with
a full assurance that mercy's given. You say, why would you
cry for mercy? Ain't you got it? I want more
of it. We'll see that in a minute. When does all this take place?
When is someone received? When have they received God?
We just read in Galatians 1, but when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, it's the same one, He called
me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. When was a man saved? When it pleased God. When is
he revealed and received? When it pleases Him. Ecclesiastes
says, to everything there's a season and a time to every purpose.
under heaven. You think that excludes salvation?
That's everything. Everything in the Lord's purpose.
There's a time for it. There's a time of revelation for His
children. Somebody said, well, how come
the Lord saved some folks 5,000 years ago, and He saved some
2,000 years ago, and He saved some last week, and some today,
and He might save some a couple hundred years from now? It pleased
Him. That's exactly when it took place
and why it took place. He was pleased to do it that
way. That's why we exhort people, loved ones, friends, to come
to the Lord. It may be their season. We don't
have tomorrow. Life's a vapor. Death, that final
day, meeting God in judgment. The Lord said it's going to come
like a thief in the night. We don't know when that may be.
When I was young, I thought, well, all these things seem true,
but I'll worry about this when I'm older. When I come back to religion
as I get older, once I've sowed my wild oats or seen the world
and traveled a whole bunch, I'll settle down one day and then
I'll start going to church. And I'll do that when I'm older
and this is where I'll go. What foolishness and what a horrible
thought of me. as the Holy Ghost saith today,
if we will hear His voice, hear the Word, harden not your hearts. That's an exhortation, isn't
it? Paul wrote to us and said, for He saith, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. When is it acceptable to
approach God, to receive Christ, to call on Him? When is it acceptable?
Now. Not just today, like a whole
day. Right now. Do you know what the
right time is going to be in two hours? Right now. Now is
the day of salvation. Knowing election. Knowing the
Lord chose a people. Knowing He put them in Christ
before the world began. And Christ was our surety. He
entered that covenant of grace. for His people and it was sealed
right then. Guaranteed, like we don't even
understand guaranteed. It was effectual then when He
said it. And that can come to pass. I can have all the confidence
in the world to tell everybody I can hear, that will hear me,
to call on Christ, receive Him, admire Him, come to Him, believe
on Him. How can I do that? He said, well
you preach election homes, you just preach to the elect. Old
Brother Spurgeon said, well you go mark them for me and I'll
preach to them. I call on all men and women to do that. I'm
told to. That's how I can do it. He said, go into all the
world and preach the gospel. And I read this in Ezekiel. And what a blessing it is that
I don't know the difference and I don't have to know the difference
between a bunch of old dried up white bones and petrified
sticks. I'm not a paleontologist. I don't
have to be. And He said unto me, prophesy
unto these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the
word of the Lord. He just called out, didn't He?
He didn't sort the bones over on one side and make sure all
the dried white sticks were on the other side and tried to line
them up into people. He called on the dry bones. And
you know what happened? So I prophesied as He commanded
me, and breath came into them and they lived. His people lived. He came to them in power. and
has stood upon their feet an exceeding great army." As long as there's breath in
the lungs of a person, there's hope. Today might be their day
of salvation. They might see Him. We see what
receiving Christ the light is, His work in us, and our childlike
response to that. And it's ongoing. When we come
to Him and we receive Him and we call on Him, it's not one
and done. It's continuing. Paul said that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is God by faith, that I may know Him.
That I may know Him. Hadn't Paul already received
and won Christ? Didn't he already know Christ?
I want to know Him. I know Him. I knew Him. I want
to know Him. I want to keep knowing Him. I
want to know more of Him. And the power, that right of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings being made conformable unto the death, if
by any means I might attain, I might receive unto the resurrection
of the dead. We come to the Lord Jesus, we
call on Him, we're taught by Him, love Him, and we continue
to find comfort in Him because we see His promises. Because
we have received Him, we trust Him. Because we have known Him
for the first time ever, we trust Him. And we're shown over and
over that His word's true and every man's a liar. What promises
we have. What sure hope we have. Turn
over to John chapter 3 there. John 3 verse 33. He that hath That's present tense, isn't it?
Always. He that hath received his testimony, the testimony
of Christ, who he is, what he did, hath set to his seal that
God is true. If you've received Christ, you've
called on Him, been drawn to Him in power, You know Him. If you're saved by Him, you're
going to take sides with God. In His Word, you'll say, God's
true, and every man's a liar, and I'm every man. You'll take
sides with God against yourself. Everything I thought before,
everything Mommy and Daddy thought, everything my kids thought, my
loved ones, my co-workers, it doesn't matter. What some old
commentator wrote 400 years ago, me celebrating the dead, it don't
matter. What does God say? It's true. I may not understand
it. I may not be able to wrap my head around it. I may not
be able to explain it fully. But whatever it is, that's true.
The Lord is true. What are things that may look
like receiving Him to natural man but aren't? People play religion. They go to church, don't they?
It's something to keep them occupied. It's a hobby. A dangerous hobby. I would encourage skydiving or
discount bungee jumping or something. That's a hobby to most people.
It's something they do one or two days a week and the Lord's not
in their thoughts. They don't know Him. But what
would it look like receiving Him? What would a natural man
consider that to be? Here's three ways that a man's
not saved. Here's three ways that a man does not receive Christ.
Look here in verse 12. Back in our text. John 1 verse
12. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, and to
them that believe on His name." Colon. Colon. They're going to list some stuff.
Some things are going to be listed to us. Verse 13, "...which were
born..." Those people that received Christ, they were born, "...not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God." They were born of God. which were born. They were given spiritual life. What's that mean? In our terminology
nowadays, they were saved. Christ saved somebody. They were
born. But it says not of blood. Not of blood. This isn't speaking
of the blood of Christ. Blood here translates of heritage
or blood sacrifice. And it's not what we offer in
bulls and goats. We know that's not it. The Lord
tells us He doesn't want that. He takes no pleasure in that.
And in our day, it's not giving up something as an offering.
Well, I sacrificed so much for the Gospel. I sacrificed so much
for God. I gave up, list anything. I gave
up sports or whatever. It's not of blood, not of our
sacrifice. It's not us stopping doing something. And it's not
of who we're related to, is it? John the Baptist warned those
around him and said, And think not to say within yourselves,
We have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you, God is able
of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. You'll think their
heritage is something so important. My mom and daddy's belief. I
lived it. St. Bain words, I'm telling you.
Both my parents were saved. The Lord did a mighty work in
them. They served Him and His people. I saw that from my youth
up. And I thought, well, I'm good.
I go to the same church they do. Everything must be fine.
The Lord can go take a rock out of that parking lot and make
something a whole lot better than me. He can raise up children
of Abraham out of rocks. Paul told us that. He said, "...not
as though the word of God had taken on effect, for they are
not all Israel which are Israel." They're not all the Lord's people,
that's His physical Israel on this earth. "...neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they children, but in Isaac
shall their seed be called." That is, they which are children
of the flesh. These are not the children of
God. And who you're born to, but the children of promise are
counted for the seed. The ones that God promised these
things to in Christ before time. It's not of our natural birth
or anything we can muster up in this flesh that has blood
running through it. Any work we can do. It says there,
which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh.
It doesn't matter how much I really, really want to go to heaven.
How much I really, really don't want to go to hell. That doesn't
matter. It doesn't matter how hard I try in this flesh to do
good things. All of our works, all of our
righteousness, it's every bit filthy rags, isn't it? Here's
what our Lord told Nicodemus. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of heaven. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. I came into this world, but it's going to perish with
this world because it ain't nothing but worldly. And that which is born
of the Spirit, capital S, Spirit, is Spirit. How are we born again? How do we receive Christ? The
Spirit has to give us life. Born of the Spirit. Paul told
us, "...Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."
So it can't be of our flesh and it can't be of our blood. We
must be born again. God must do it. He must perform
it. Turn over to Matthew 16. Y'all got to see this recently
when Cody was here. Matthew chapter 16. Verse 13, Matthew 16, 13. When
Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His
disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?
And they said, Some say thou art John the Baptist, some say
Elias, other Jeremiah's, or one of the prophets. Those are all
good things. He said unto them, But whom say
ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, your God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
You know that. You've received Him. How'd that
happen? The Father in heaven ordained it. That's how it was
purposed. A saving knowledge of Christ,
receiving Him, receiving eternal life. It can't come by flesh
and blood. Back in verse 13 of chapter 1, John 1, verse 13,
it says, "...which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man." Nor of the will of man. I chose Jesus as my personal
Savior. I accepted Him into my heart.
He was trying for a long time, and I finally let Him. What blasphemy! What blasphemy! Here's the will
of man. Our Lord said in John 5, and
He will not come to me that ye might have life. Will not. What's your will do? It's bound
by its nature, isn't it? We don't want nothing to do with
Him. We will not come to Him. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
and that seeketh after God. When we cry out, when we come
to Christ, when we understand some things, we cry out to Him. If He does a work in us, you're
going to understand some things. He's going to reveal our sin
to us. He's going to reveal Christ's righteousness to us. And that
all judgment's wrapped up in Him. He's satisfied. We'll know
Him. And we seek Him. When we come
to Him, we cry to Him, we seek Him. That's proof that we've
had this work done in us. That's the proof of life. We which were born, not of blood,
nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. You
who are born of God. It was His doing, start to finish,
Alpha to Omega. Every bit of it. James told us
of His own will. His own will. Begat He us with
the word of truth with Christ. How are we born of Him? Because
of Him that we should be the kind of first fruits of His creatures. How did that take place? Where
was all this? People worry about the how. How could this happen? Look up
in verse 1. John 1. In the beginning was
the Word, And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14, And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. In His grace, in His truth, in
His mercy, in His power coming to us. Rightfully, and oh what
a privilege that is, we beheld His glory. What does it receive
me to admire Him? Do you admire your own glory,
your own works, your own understanding, your own wisdom, your own learning,
or do you admire Him? John said we admire Him. He came
here on this earth, became our substitute, lived and died for
us, and was risen for us, and we admire Him for every bit of
it. Every bit of it. Our heritage. Him. The blood
that was accepted. Him. The will. His will. Every
bit of it in it. Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. The Lord said, I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I'll
be merciful. And a lot of people stop there,
don't they? They stop there. The Lord is giving them truth.
He said, you don't choose grace and mercy. I give it. I'll be
gracious to him, I'll be gracious. And he said, And he said, Thou
can't see my face, for there shall be no man see me and live. We're unworthy. He's a holy God. He's gracious to him, he's gracious.
We're unworthy, we can't look at him. And the Lord said, Behold,
there's a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. Your
foundation is going to be Christ. And it shall come to pass while
my glory passes by that I will put thee in the cleft of the
rock. How do we receive Jesus? How do we come to Him? Call on Christ. We're put in
Him. We're put in Him. The Lord did it. And I will cover
thee with my hand while I pass by. I'll cover you up, secure
you, and comfort you. All with one hand touch, isn't
it? In Christ as He passes by. I want to associate with. I want
to be close to. I want to know more of. I want
to be amazed. I want to call on, come to continuously,
possess, attain. and have this Christ revealed
in me. That's how I want to receive Him. Do you? Do you? If you do, if you call on Him,
that's proof of life. The Lord's done a work in you.
Amen. I hope that's a blessing to you.
Let's pray together.
Kevin Thacker
About Kevin Thacker
Kevin, a native of Ashland Kentucky and former US military serviceman, is pastor of the San Diego Grace Fellowship in San Diego California.

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