After God's prophet Malachi spoke
his last word, there were 400 years of silence in heaven. There was not another word of
revelation, not another prophet to give a new word from God for
400 years. The heavens were silent. No question
God had his witnesses that were scattered here and there as he
always maintains his own witness in this world, but there was
no new word of revelation from God for 400 years. During those 400 years, there
was 400 years of religious hypocrisy and pretense among the scribes,
And the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the priests and the Levites,
the Babylonians had taken the furnishings out of the temple
when they came and destroyed Jerusalem, and those furnishings
were never returned. So that every year when the high
priest would go into the Holy of Holies and pretend to observe
the Passover, he just faked it. There was no mercy seat. There
was no Ark of the Covenant. There was no place of atonement.
The high priest just faked it. Faked it to maintain the status
quo. He faked it to maintain his religious
position. He faked it to maintain the religious
order they defended. There were 400 years of every
man doing that which he thought was right in his own sight in
the name of worshiping God. Then there was a man sent from
God. A man sent from God. That's my subject this morning.
Turn with me to John chapter one. John chapter Find me a man sent from God,
and you have found a man you would be wise to hear. Find a
man sent from God, and you have found a man just like any other
man, sinful, weak, in constant need of grace, and yet a man
altogether unlike any other man. Find a man sent from God, And
you found a man who is God's messenger for your soul. In this place, you've had the
privilege of having the ministry of a faithful man for 50 years. What an honor. What a privilege. And God has done something for
you that he has done in few places that I know of throughout history.
He sent you another man with the same message of God's free
grace. Brother Carl and I were talking
about this down in Florida a couple of weeks ago. I can count on
my hand, I can count on my hand the number
of congregations that have succeeded in maintaining the witness of
the gospel beyond one generation. Is that right, Pastor? You don't
deal more with that? Have God blessed you. Have God
blessed you. In Ephesians chapter 4, the Spirit
of God tells us of our Lord's ascension gifts to His church
in this world, and He names those gifts as men who are gifted and
sent of God for the work of the ministry. And the purpose is
that the Lord God might dwell among them. He specifically says
he gave some apostles and some prophets and some pastors, teachers,
and some evangelists for the perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, that you should not be tossed to and
fro with every wind of doctrine, but built up in the faith of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the ministry of those men
is not a comfortable option in God's church. It's absolutely
vital to the benefit of your souls. Understand what I said. The ministry of God's service
is not an option in God's church. It is absolutely vital to your
soul's everlasting good. Many churches seem to think They
can get along fine without a man sent from God. They seem to think
they get along fine without a pastor. We can fill in, take care of
things. Us men can handle things all right. You will make a mess
of it, I promise you. It will not happen. God's church
functions in this world under the instruction and direction
of faithful men sent of God, gifted to minister to that particular
local congregation, a man sent from God. conducting things as they normally
do when I'm gone. Brother Linwood Campbell is preaching
for me. Sometimes some of our men preach for me who are gifted
to preach. Brother Lindsey Campbell teaches the adult class. I have
other teachers in the congregation. I write all the lessons, and
they all teach them. And I never tell a person what
to say, what to teach. I wouldn't even think about telling
one of the preachers to get up and say, you can't say this,
you can't do that, you must do this. I wouldn't think. If I
had to do that, it wouldn't be that. I wouldn't do it. But not
one of them would dare get up and say, well, I know Brother
Don doesn't believe this, but this is what I believe. Not more
than once. Not more than once. How come?
Because I'm responsible for the teaching of Grace Church in Danville,
Kentucky. I'm the pastor teacher. That's
God's order. And then there are evangelists.
Best I can determine, that's what we would generally refer
to as missionaries. evangelists, missionaries, men
who go about establishing gospel churches and assisting those
churches that are established in the gospel. Brother Walter
Gruber, Son Cody, Brother Lance Heller, Father Cliff, our missionaries
we support in various parts of the world, they establish gospel
churches. And then they assist those churches,
weaker, smaller congregations. They assist them in conducting
the work of the ministry. But the Apostle Paul tells us
also about prophets. Prophets. And he doesn't say
prophets and apostles. He writes distinctly apostles,
prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists. Prophets. Now we generally think about
prophets just in the sense of the Old Testament prophets. But
clearly there is a distinct gift of men who are prophets in God's
church. Men who stand out distinctly
as preachers, leading God's church and kingdom, gifted of God distinctly
for the work of lifting up their voices and guiding the church
of God in their day in the truth of God. Prophets. Men who are
not after-dinner speakers and polished and trained to be good
socializers and such as that, but preachers, preachers. The
prophet may be a pastor, he may be evangelist, but he's a prophet.
He's a man who distinctly speaks for God in his day. And there's certainly a sense
in which every pastor must be such. Standing forth to speak
God's truth in a day of darkness. to hold out the light of the
gospel in a world that despises the gospel. The prophet is a
man with God's message, a message that he will deliver. These days,
the church tries to accomplish by pep and propaganda and programs
what was once done by preaching. You don't build God's kingdom
by programs, and you don't build God's kingdom by putting on a
show. You build God's kingdom by the
preaching of the gospel of the grace of God. The church of Jesus
Christ is a sounding board for the gospel in the generation
in which we live. The prophet is just that, God's
spokesman and nothing else. He gives himself to the work
of the ministry. He labors in the word and he
proclaims the gospel. devotes himself to making God
known in his generation. Someone said any young Elisha,
anyone Elisha in line for Elijah's mantle will need the mind of
a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of a rhinoceros.
He may irk folks in the church. He may irk folks in religion,
people who like to preserve things as they are. because he will
be a disturber of Israel, but no one else can take his place. Not in the purpose of God. God
put you here to speak for him, and that's what God has you here
for. God put me in Danville to speak for him. That's my purpose
for life. God put you where you are to
speak for him. That's our business in life.
and the prophet tries to do something else, he'll embarrass himself
and everybody else. All right? Look here and read
about a man sent from God. John chapter 1, verse 6. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. Here John the Apostle introduces
John the Baptist. The same came for a witness. He came for witness. God's prophet
is God's witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through
him might believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was
in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. He came into his own but 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
which 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. And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Now back up to verse one. John
began his gospel by declaring to us the eternal being and the
eternal Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ, declaring Him to be the
Creator of all things. In the beginning was the Word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God. In the beginning was this one
who is God's revelation of himself, this one by whom God expresses
and reveals himself to men, the man Christ Jesus. Now, his manhood
is not eternal. His manhood came to be in time. but he stood forth in eternity
as the God-man mediator, and he is himself the eternal God. The Word was God. Quite literally, read it, God
was the Word. God was the Word. Brother Watson
Dufour, who pastored for many years in Anstead, West Virginia,
preached to me just 40 years ago at Lookout, and he made a
statement. I'd never heard anybody make
the statement like this before. And it kind of shocked me. Some
of you will remember hearing him say it. And he said it again
and again and again. About the third time, I just
beamed with delight. He said, Jesus is God. Jesus
is God. Jesus is God. I'd never heard
anybody say that. Never heard anybody say that.
We've been taught to say that Jesus is God and man. Jesus is
a man who is God who assumed man's nature. Jesus is God incarnate. But don't say Jesus is God. The
book says the Word was made flesh and God was the Word. He who is our Savior is God our
Savior. God gave himself for us. God redeemed us. God saved us. Jesus Christ is the Word who
is God. Read on. The same was in the
beginning with God. In the beginning, face to face
with, equal with God. He thought it not something to
be sought after to be equal with God. He is God. All things were
made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. He created the universe. God
made the world by this man by whom he redeemed and saved his
people in the world. God made the universe by Jesus
Christ, the God-man mediator. He made the world by that man
who rules the world, who would save his people in the world.
Read on. In him, in this man who's God,
In Him, the God-man, our Mediator. In Him, our Surety, the Son of
God, was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. He is Life. He is Life. All Life comes from
Him, and the Life was the Light of men. In Him was Life, and
the Life was the Light of men. The Light shineth in darkness. The Light He shineth in darkness. He shines in this dark world. He has from the beginning. He is shining now. He will continue
to shine in this world until the world is no more. And the
darkness comprehends it not. He shines. He shines wherever
the gospel is preached. He shines through all His creation.
And yet the darkness doesn't comprehend Him. The darkness
of this world cannot grasp Him. Now, having declared our Savior's
eternality, His eternal Godhood, showing Him to be the creator
of all things and the source of light and life, John proceeds
to introduce to us this man, John the Baptist, and his ministry,
this prophet. John the Baptist is held for
us in Scripture as an exemplary gospel preacher. Like John the
Baptist, every true gospel preacher is a man sent from God. Now here is a divinely inspired
description of a man sent from God. He is sent for a witness,
to bear witness of the light that all men through him might
believe. What's a preacher? is a witness. He's a witness. A witness testifies
of that which he knows firsthand. That which he knows by experience. Bible colleges and seminaries
train professional preachers to conduct themselves as professional
preachers. And certainly there is a sense
in which every preacher ought to recognize he has a responsibility
to conduct himself as a man who's dead serious about the business
he's in, and that's preaching. That's it. That's it. But God's
servants are not mere trained professional preachers. They
are witnesses. I went to school with fellows.
I know them to this day. I know something about their
ministries. And I'll tell you what they do. parrot exactly what they heard
other people say. They don't ever think about saying
something else. They repeat what they've heard
others say. You've seen these parrots, maybe
some of you've had them, and you teach them to say something,
and the parrot repeats after you, and preachers are much that
way. Not God's service. God's service
don't just repeat what they've heard others say. but rather
they bear witness of that which God has revealed in his word
and revealed in their hearts that which they know by experience
and they can speak and do speak with authority for the speak
from experience as witnesses. You see an accident out here,
you're standing right there when it happens, you know exactly
what happened and somebody else comes along and they hear what
you've described and say, well, no, I think it happened this
way. Think what you want to, this is what happened. This is
what happened. Nothing changes. They bear witness
of the truth. Ruined by the fall, redemption
by the blood, regeneration by the Holy Spirit. And their doctrine
doesn't change. Their doctrine doesn't change.
You find a man whose doctrine changes, you find a man who's
not God's witness. A man I know very well began
to alter his doctrine to suit the fellows he started running
with. And he sent out what he called a clarification. This
is exactly what he said about his clarification. This is exactly
it. What I might have said or written
in the past was because others said it. That reveals a ton. That reveals
a ton. what I might have said or written
in the past that I now renounce. And what he particularly was
renouncing is the fact that Christ was made sin for us at Calvary,
the fact that the believer has two natures constantly opposing
each other. He said, what I might have said
or written in the past was because others said it. If that's my
authority for anything, I have none, and it will change tomorrow. God's servants, God's messengers,
do not alter their doctrine as they grow in a mold after other
men. They're not seeking a higher
place in the synagogue or a bigger synagogue. They're here to declare
God's message. Look at 1 John chapter 1. This
is how John the Apostle speaks of himself and of all others
that follow the mold of John the Baptist. 1 John chapter 1,
verse 1. You talk about an intensely personal
witness. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we've seen with our eyes, which we've
looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life. For the life was manifested,
and we've seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. That which
we have seen and heard declare we unto you. I'm sometimes accosted,
you know, they'll accost me to other folks, I don't give much
of that face to face, but accosted because of my dogmatism. Man,
this generation doesn't want anybody dogmatic. We offer an
opinion, let me share with you my opinion. I'm not here to share
anything. I'm here to tell you what God
has revealed in His Word. And they'll say, well, how can
you be so dogmatic? What if your doctrine changes? And my response is, it's not
going to change. Well, how do you know? Because I'm not looking
for anything. I'm not looking for anything.
I know what God's revealed in me and done for me. I know who
Christ is and what He accomplished, specifically. That man who is
sent of God bears witness to this blessed revelation. Jesus
Christ the Lord is the only Savior of men, the only light through
whom sinners believe. Gospel preachers bear witness
to Jesus Christ. They testify of the Son of God,
who He is, what He did, where He is now, and what He's doing
there. They bear witness to His eternal
Godhead, His everlasting suretyship as our mediator, His incarnation,
His obedience in life and His obedience in death. They bear
witness to His resurrection glory, to His sovereign dominion, to
His glorious second advent. Like John the Baptist, they constantly
say, Behold the Lamb of God! Behold the Lamb of God! He is the one of whom the book
speaks. He was promised in the scriptures.
He was promised and typified when Abraham took Isaac up to
Mount Moriah. Isaac said to his fathers, I've
got the wood for a burnt offering. I've got the fire for a burnt
offering. Where's the lamb? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. He didn't say
God will provide for himself. He said God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. And you know the story. He was
about to sacrifice Isaac, and he saw a ram caught in the thicket,
and the angel of the Lord said, Slay the ram in your son's place. Abraham said, This place from
now on we'll call it Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will see, the Lord will
provide, and the Lord will be seen in the provision he makes.
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Takes away the sin of God's people
scattered through all the world. Read on, back here in John 1.
The word's all men. He bears witness of the light
that all men through him might believe. All men. What's that
talking about? All men. Well, it's not referring
to all men absolutely. Well, how do you know? All means
all, doesn't it? No. Never does. Never does. Not absolutely. Some men were
already in hell. He didn't bear witness to them.
Some men never heard him speak. He didn't bear witness to them.
There are some men who never had the privilege of hearing
the gospel. No witnesses were born to them. What's this talking
about then? These all men refer to all men in various places
of the world. All gods and lamps scattered
among the nations of the world, north, south, east, and west.
black and white, male and female, bond and group, bears witness
to all men that all men, that is, all God's elect, scattered
among the nations, might believe. Well, aren't we seeking the salvation
of all men? No. That's not our mission. We're seeking the Lord's sheep.
We're seeking the Lord's sheep. Our Lord Jesus said to the folks
standing before Him, said, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. He said, my sheep will hear my
voice. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them
eternal life. And the Pharisees said, well,
we don't like that. He said, I didn't expect you to. You're
not my sheep. You're not my sheep. You believe not because I said
unto you, you are not my sheep. Well, what's this then that we
preach to all men? Why? Because God's elect are
scattered among all men. And we proclaim the gospel looking
for God's elect among them. that they who are chosen and
redeemed of God, called by His grace, may receive the light
of the gospel. And the means by which God gives
that light is the preaching of the word. If God speaks to you,
if God ministers to you, if God causes you to know Him, If God
gives you comfort from his word, I'm not talking about an imaginary
delusion you get while you're sitting on the riverbank thinking
about religious things. I'm talking about if God speaks
to you, it'll be by God's servant through his word, by the preaching
of the gospel. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God. If men are born again, they will
be born again by the hearing of the gospel. We are born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And he's talking about
this book right here. You mean men are regenerated by the Word
of God? Yeah. Yeah. By the power of God the
Holy Spirit. The gospel. Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation. You know what that word power
is? If you were to transliterate it, just write out the Greek
letters in English letters, it'd be dynamite. Dynamite. I like Clint Eastwood Westerns.
I especially like the ones where he throws dynamite. You know
what to do with dynamite? You light it, you throw it, and
you get out of the way. That's what we do. We preach
the gospel and wait to see what God does. Just get out of the
way. Just get out of the way. Preach the word. The consequences
are not my responsibility. Preach the word. What you do
with it is not my responsibility. Preach the word. What God does
with it is not my responsibility. It's my business to light the
dynamite, throw it in the crowd, and step aside. Get out of the
way. Get out of the way. This is the
word, Peter says, which by the gospel is preached unto you.
so that it doesn't matter where Brother Nybert takes his text
from in just a few minutes, if he preaches the word, if he preaches
the word, whether it's in Genesis 25 or Leviticus 21 or whether
it's in John chapter 1, if he preaches the word, he preaches
the gospel. And if he doesn't preach the
gospel, he doesn't preach the word, no matter how true what
he says is. If he doesn't preach the gospel,
He doesn't preach the Word, no matter how theologically accurate
what he says is. You mean, Brother Don, that the
whole Word of God is understood by the preaching of the Gospel?
I believe that's what the book says, isn't it? This is the Word
which by the Gospel is preached unto you. But no man can effectually
preach the Gospel and the power of God except he be sent of God. Let me tell you what I've been
praying for myself this morning as I anticipate hearing this
man preach to me. Oh God, will you send your servant
with a word to me this morning? With a word to me. me. As your pastor stands to preach
here, as he goes other places and preaches, pray that God will
open the door of utterance before him. And make the word effectual
by him. Because no man can preach except
he be sent. Not at any time. Not at any time. That's the struggle in preaching.
Seeking God's direction, God's power, God's blessing continually. Oh God, don't let me stand here
by myself. But rather, speak through these
lips of clay. Teach my lips to preach like
you taught David's hands to war and cause the Word to go forth
in power. might seem to be a redundant
statement. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. Why would he say that? Because some folks thought he
was the light. Some folks, they said, tell us, are you the Christ?
He said, no, no. I'm the voice of what's crying
in the wilderness. And there are many who treat
preachers as though they were the light, as though they were
Christ. We are but God's messengers to
declare Christ to you. We don't pretend to be your priest,
your mediators, your intercessors. We are God's messengers to your
souls. I don't engage in this business
of pastoral counseling and all that stuff. And nobody would
want me to. I'm not much good at it. But
I tell you what preachers do. I hear preachers talk about,
well, you know, I pastored them through that problem. Huh? Yeah, I spent a lot of time talking
to husband and wife and children. I pastored them through that.
Darryl, these folks who go to the preacher for counseling all
the time, they want the preacher to be their priest. And the preachers
usually want that. They want you to depend on them.
My business as a preacher is to make you understand that I
am not the one who can heal your problems and bear your burdens
and help you through them. Yes, I delight and rejoice to
share the sorrows and the joys of God's people. I'm available
to God's people anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, all the
time. But I cannot, I cannot, Do for
you what Christ can. Take your burden to Him. Cast
your care on Him. Seek Him. My business is to preach
Him to you that you may go to Him and worship Him and follow
Him. What's a preacher? I love what
Brother Scott said years ago. I forgot where it was when I
first heard him say this. He said, a preacher. A preacher
is a nobody. Said to tell everybody. about
somebody who can save anybody. That's it. A nobody sent to tell
everybody about somebody who can save anybody. All right,
let's move on. Look at verse 9. That was the true light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Christ is to the souls of men
what the sun is to the world, light. He's here called the true
light, to distinguish him from all the typical lights of the
Old Testament. You remember the priest had the
Urim, called the lights, in his ephod, carrying it on his breastplate
before the Lord, by which God's people sought counsel from the
Lord. Christ is the true light. They
had the candlestick. Christ is the true light. They
had many types and pictures given. Christ is the true light. They
walked by the pillar of fire. Christ is the true light. Christ
is the light that gave light to the dark earth in the beginning.
He is the one who said, let there be light, and there was light.
And he is the light of all men. So that all the light of nature,
all the light of reason, common sense, intelligence, that men
have, Christ gives them, and gives them to them exactly as
He will. Men have sufficient light from
Christ, read the first chapter of Romans, to show them light
and truth. Not sufficient light to save,
but sufficient light to condemn, because the light that is in
them is darkness. And our Lord said, if the light
that's in you is darkness, How great is that darkness? Brother
Todd and I were talking yesterday about men's understandings of
things. I forgot it, I remembered it.
Whatever a natural man thinks, whatever a natural man thinks,
you who are here without faith in Christ, whatever you think
about anything spiritual, it's dead wrong. It's dead wrong. So anybody who understands what
humility is, nobody can. No, they can't. Moses was the
meekest man on earth. Now explain to me what humility
is. What? That's a humble man who goes
into Pharaoh and says, let my people go? And I know you won't
because God's going to send you to hell. That's a meek man? Yeah. A meek
man has boldness like a lion. A meek man is altogether different
than what you thought. He knows what he is. And he knows
whose he is. He belongs to God. And he acts
like it. Acts like it. Whatever a natural
man thinks about anything spiritual, righteousness, redemption, sanctification,
meekness, love, humility, whatever the natural man thinks about
those things is always wrong. The only light we have for those
things is in this book. by Christ Jesus the Lord. And
we will not understand the light given in this book, except God
calls the light to shine in the darkness of our hearts, revealing
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
warns us plainly about the light in men that is darkness. He alone
brings life to light, and He does it by the gospel. We read
the other night in 2 Timothy. All right, here's the third thing.
Look at verses 10 and 11. John tells us that Christ, who is
the light of the world, is completely unknown by the world. Read these
five statements in verses 10 and 11, just as they stand. He
was in the world. When? When was He in the world? Well, in His incarnation. He
hadn't got to that yet. He gets to that in verse 14.
When was He in the world? He was in the world before the
world was ever made. Proverbs chapter 8, His delights
were with the sons of men in the habitable part of the world
before ever the earth was made. His heart was here with His people
in the world. He was in the world throughout
the days of the Old Testament, though not visibly in his body,
and yet sometimes coming in those pre-incarnate manifestations
where the angel of the Lord came to Manoah and his wife and showed
himself, where the Lord came down and spoke to Moses on the
mount. The Lord Jesus was always in the world revealing light,
but men did not understand the light. He gave his law. and the
ordinances and the ceremonies of the Old Testament. He sent
prophet after prophet, but the world knew him not. He was in
the world and the world was made by him. This one who created
the world, he made this world to be the place where he would
accomplish redemption of his people for the glory of his name.
Now, look at the third statement, and the world knew him not. Why? Because they couldn't see. Darkness. Darkness was upon the
face of the deep and it still is. We preach to folks who grope
about in darkness and no need to get angry with them or frustrated
with them because they can't see. They're blind. They're blind. No need for you to think you
can make them see. You can't. They're blind. The
only way they will ever be made to see the light is if God does
something on the inside causing them to have the ability to see.
It's called the new birth. The darkness comprehended it
not, and the world knew him not. Man, by reason of the fall, lives
continually in darkness. Now watch this. He came unto
his own. This doesn't refer to Him coming
to His elect, His redeemed ones in time who shall be made willing
in the day of His power, but rather refers to the many appearances
of our Lord Jesus, to the relentless revelation He made in the Old
Testament. He came to His own, to the Jewish
people out of whom Christ Himself would come into this world. Before
His incarnation, He came to them in all the laws and ceremonies
with all His prophets and His own received him not. But that, too, was according
to the purpose of God. Turn back to Hosea. Hold your
hands here, John. Turn back to Hosea, chapter 9,
verse 17. My God will cast them away, because
they did not hearken unto Him. and they shall be wanderers among
the nations. And so it came to pass, when
the Jews nailed the Son of God to the curse tree, and as the
apostles preached the gospel to Jerusalem first, and in all
Judea, and they continued to reject the light of the gospel,
reading Romans 9, 10, 11, God cast them off. He cast off the
physical seed, that he might send the gospel into all the
world to gather the true Israel of God his spiritual seed, and
so all Israel shall be saved by the power of God. This too
is according to the purpose of God." Oh, how wicked, how desperately
wicked the heart of man is. Christ was in the world invisibly
long before the Word was made flesh. He was in the world from
the beginning, ruling, ordering, governing all things, but the
world would not have him. And so it is today. After he
came in the flesh, the world wouldn't have him, and to this
day, the world won't have him. But there is a far greater proof
of wickedness and depravity in the human heart than this. Some of you sitting here this
morning, have heard the gospel preached all your lives by faithful
men and you sit with your fist clenched and shoved in God's
face and say, get out of my way, I won't have you. Christ Jesus
has been evidently set forth crucified among you and you will
not believe. Why? Because of a desperately
wicked sin darkened heart. But there is another people.
John tells us about another people. The Jewish nation refused Him,
but the purpose of God is not thwarted. Let God be true and
every man a liar. 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. Received Him. Received Him. Saving faith is an active reception
of Christ, a deliberate reception of Christ, an anxious, willing
reception of Christ. Now, that reception is caused
by a work done in us. It is the gift of God the Holy
Spirit. And yet, it is something that
we do and must do. We receive Him. if I can illustrate
it for you. Some of you have heard me tell
the story, but I like to tell it. It makes me look good. Shelby
and I started dating, and she swept me off my feet when I was
16 years old. 17, excuse me. 17. And just look at her. You
can understand why. She looked just like that then.
And we'd been dating a couple of weeks, and I told her I wanted
to marry her. And as you probably have not heard me say, she's
older than I am. And she looked at me and said,
you're crazy, you don't know what you want. So I proceeded to court
her. I would drive clean across town,
stand to carry her books a half a block. And every time I got
a chance to, I'd take her to McDonald's, I'd get her any flavor
of milkshake she wanted, 29 cents. And I courted her every day when
I wasn't working. Every night if she wasn't working.
We were somewhere. And about a year later, we're
up in the mountains in North Carolina, My family had all gone
to bed at my aunt and uncle's house and Shelby and I were in
the living room and sitting on the couch and I got down on my
knees and I proposed to her, asked her to marry me. I knew
she about jumped off the couch with excitement to say yes. But
what happened? What happened? She saw something
a year later. She had no ability to see the
year before. It had never been revealed to
her. Now, the other stuff I hear,
I kept that secluded. But she saw the very best of
me all the time. And this is what happens when
sinners receive Christ. You walked in here this morning,
and you say, I won't have Him. I won't have Him. No, I won't
have Him. Maybe before we get done, God
will reveal His Son in you, and you'll cry, oh, give me Christ
or else I die. I've got to have Him. I've got
to have Him. He alone is life, so that we
reach out and take Him. And you know what He says in
response to that? Thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace.
How can that be? How can it be that me receiving
Him makes me whole, when the making me whole is altogether
His grace? I cannot apprehend His grace. until by gracious faith given
me by God, I receive him to myself. And believing on the Son of God,
I have God's word for it. I have everlasting life. He that
believeth on the Son hath life. I believe on the Son. That means
I have life. Who are these many who receive
him? They are those who are born of God. being redeemed by the
blood of Christ, called by the Holy Spirit, they are born of
God. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name. Several years ago, before the
folks down in Arkansas called Brother Darwin Pruitt to be the
pastor, he walked in my office one Tuesday night, and he said
to me, With regard to this twelfth verse, whether, Don, does that
word power mean ability or authority? I said, yes, sir. That's what it means, ability
and authority. We were adopted as the sons of
God before the world began. And because you're sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts crying
Abba Father. Brother Todd, I remember what
it was to be terrified of God. Utterly terrified at the thought
of God. Terrified at the prospect of
meeting God. Terrified at the thought of eternity. And now, that same holy, righteous,
just, and true God who terrified me, the cause of my guilt, I
lift my heart to heaven and say, my Father, God, my Father, and I dare, what
a sad word to use, no, I joyfully, delightfully, with no sense of
possible rejection, call God Almighty, my Father. That's called
free grace. That's called free grace. Now,
how did this happen? How did this happen? Look at
verse 13. Which were born, not of blood,
not of blood. Brother Marvin's got a whole
string of his blood kin here. Are you listening to me? Listen
to me, honey. Being kin to that fine man who
knows God's grace and walked with God ever since I've known
Him won't do anything for you. Won't do anything for you. You
mean being related to such a man doesn't make me acceptable to
God? That doesn't mean God's going to be gracious to me? No.
No. You have no claim on God because
of whose you are. We're not born of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh. Not because you choose to be
born, nor the will of man. Not because mama and daddy try
to persuade you to believe. Not because the preacher has
exceptional gifts and talents and is able to work a crown. But of God. But of God. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Many women are born again by
the sovereign omnipotence Irresistible power and grace of God the Holy
Spirit. Would you be numbered among these
who are called the sons and daughters of God Almighty? Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. If right where you're sitting,
without moving a muscle, without even saying a prayer, without
moving your lips, you will receive the Son of God, which is to believe
Him. Life eternal and heavenly glory
is yours by the power of God. Do you find yourself now believing
on the Son of God? Confess it and go home rejoicing. in this God-given faith. Now
look at the last verse, verse 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, tabernacled
among us. You remember the instructions
God gave for the building of the tabernacle and all its furnishings,
priesthood and services and ceremonies? All the way through the book
of Exodus, He's telling Moses, this is how you do it. He took
him up in the mount and showed him a pattern. The pattern is
called the Word who is God. The pattern is Christ the Redeemer. God showed Moses the goodwill
of him that dwelt in the bush. God showed Moses how he would
save his people. And then in the last chapter
of Exodus, at the very end of the chapter, the tabernacle is
pitched and the glory of God Fill the tabernacle! Because
the finished tabernacle is the picture of finished redemption
and finished salvation. And so the Word was made flesh
and tabernacled among us. He tabernacled among us. He came
here in this tabernacle of clay and fulfilled all that was typified
in the Old Testament, prophesied in the law. He is the Christ! And having fulfilled it all,
We beheld the glory of God in Him. The Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He became a man that He might
suffer and die for men. He became a man that He might
sit on the throne of the universe. and rule the world as a man.
He became a man that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest for us in things pertaining to God. He became a man that as the God-man,
he might be able to succor them that are tempted. How long has
it been since you heard anybody use that word, succor? We just
don't use it much. We use the word help. Help is
not the same word. To sucker is what a mother does
when her infant child is injured and she snuggles it up to her
breast and cares for it. To sucker is what a father does
when a fearful child runs to him and jumps on his lap and
he holds it snug against his strong chest. To sucker is to
help. with passionate feeling to help
as one who cares. I've had a lot of nurses the
last few years, good nurses. I appreciate it. I've had a lot
of help, but none like that one. None like that one. You see,
for the others, that was their job. That one, it's her delight. Now will you hear me? It is the
delight of the incarnate God to help you through your pilgrimage
and carry you home with the joy of a man who is omnipotent and
one with you. Amen.