in your Bibles back to John Chapter
13. In John's Gospel there are many
issues of darkness and light, aren't there? There are glorious
declarations of the Gospel and then glorious sobering warnings
for us and I pray that we would be those who go away from here
in the words of verse 30. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that
receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. Last week we endeavoured
in our faltering way to try and proclaim something of the glory
of God and something of the gospel that was the declaration of Christ
by the apostles, the sent ones. They just declared Him. They just kept on declaring the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I want us to look at what
it is for us to be receivers. To be a receiver of the Lord
Jesus Christ is to be a receiver of God Almighty. And to be a
receiver according to the scriptures is for him to be indwelling you. You're there just on the same
page in your Bibles in John chapter 14. It speaks of this day that you
shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I
in you. Do you believe that? John 14.20,
in that day, the day when the Lord opens our eyes to see the
glory of who He is and what He's done and what He is for us. Go with me across the page to
verse three of John chapter 14. He says that, I go, if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto
myself. What's it going to be like to
be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? There are times when I so readily
cling to this world that I wonder whether I do really want to leave
here because there's so much of it that's so extraordinary
and so much of it that's so enticing. But what a glorious prospect
there is for the children of God. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake in His likeness. In that day you shall know that
I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. There is an indwelling of God
in His people. 2 Corinthians 3 says we see through
a glass, we see darkly, we don't see clearly. One of the evidences
of Him taking up residence in us is that there begins a warfare
that was never there before. There's a fight, there's a battle
that begins between the flesh and the spirit. And so the children
of God are tried in so, so many ways. I want us to look a little
bit at what it is to receive him. But I want us to also be
reminded that the scriptures speak of people who receive Him
and do so with joy. Turn with me to Luke Chapter
8. It's the parable of the soils.
As you well know, it's called the parable of the sower, but
also it's the parable of the soils. and he speaks of the sower
going out to sow and some fell on a rock, verse 6, and as soon
as it was sprung up it withered away because it lacked moisture
and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up with it
and choked it and some fell by the wayside, verse 5, and was
trodden down and the fowls of the air. The Lord explains this
parable Doesn't he? Some falls on that good ground.
The parable, verse 11, the parable is this, the seed is the word
of God. Those by the way are they that
hear, then cometh the devil and taketh the word out of their
hearts. It's actually gone into their
hearts a little bit, hasn't it? Been taken away from them. lest
they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they which
when they hear, receive the word with joy. Doesn't that sound
good? They receive the word with joy. And these have no root, which
for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. So you can imagine someone going
out to a garden and you cut off a nice healthy growing plant
and you immediately dig a hole beside it and plant it, stick
it straight in the hole and for all the world from any distance
at all, it looks like it's a genuinely growing thing, isn't it? What's the root? Christ in you. They receive the Word, they're
delighted in it, and they're delighted in salvation, all of
grace. You, like me, many of you like
me, have experienced many, many people who have found the Gospel
to be absolutely delightful. But in the other accounts of
it, they fall away because of the Word and the trials that
necessarily come with it. The problem is they had no root,
which for a while, For a while, that word means a seasonal convenience. It's convenient for people, isn't
it, to hold on to and be seen to be a part of a Christian fellowship
and to take comfort from that. Seasonal convenience. May it
not be us. When temptation, temptation comes,
when it's put to the test, When God sends a trial because of
the gospel, people fall away. They can't cope with the word,
declaring himself to be the word as he declares himself to be
the word in the scriptures. And so they'll find all sorts
of ways to go away. Always, from my experience, they've
gone away in their hearts before they go away physically. Always
they've gone away because they find something in the word offensive,
and the thing that they find offensive almost invariably is
that their religious righteousness is taken away by the declaration
of the gospel. that they have attained something
in their Christian life which causes them to be esteemed by
other people in religion and the gospel strips men. The gospel
strips men. And so in essence, what is it
to be a receiver? It's to have empty hands, to
have needy hands, is to be emptied of all of our righteousness by
God, is to be emptied. the work of God in us, to bring
us to himself, to bring us low. When God reveals to us what we
are, what we really are, God's people will cry out to him. And
the power of the stories throughout the gospel accounts are accounts
of people who have been stripped and made low and made needy. again and again and again throughout
John's gospel to be one of the receivers is to have nothing
and to be made to be seen to have nothing and have Christ come in all of his
fullness and fill us It's to have nothing that you've
earned. It's to have nothing for which
you deserve a reward. That's what it is to be a receiver,
isn't it? At the wedding feast, if you
go through John's Gospel, just think of some of the stories
in John's Gospel at the wedding feast. They had no wine. to the
great embarrassment of the bride and groom and everyone there.
The woman at Sychar had no righteousness of her own. And she was made
to see that the religious righteousness that she was clinging on to was
just empty rubbish, wasn't it? The nobleman in John chapter
4, he had no one else to go to, he had no other hope. The cripple
at the pool had no one to take him to the pool. It's not as
if he had a little bit of help. He had no one to take him into
the pool. The blind man had no one who could heal his blindness
at all. He was left, wasn't he, completely
and utterly dependent on the promised Messiah, doing what
the promised Messiah alone could do, which was open his eyes.
Lazarus was... What was he? He was dead. This religious world who says
the gospel is an offer make out that Lazarus wasn't really dead.
He was only partially dead. Just like they make out that
the fall of Adam only caused men to be a little bit injured,
weren't they? As if he fell over and broke
his little finger. God says he's dead. God says
he's dead. Dead people need life. Dead people
need life before they can believe. That's why receivers need to
receive absolutely everything. I need to receive the grace of
God to come. I need to receive the grace of
God to be called by him. I need the grace of God to be
seen, to be like that leper in Matthew 8 in Luke's Gospel. And
he was full of leprosy, full of leprosy. See, only empty vessels
can be filled anew. Only empty vessels are able to
receive something, aren't they? If you have a vessel which is
full, a cup which is full, it can't receive anything at all. Blessed ones, blessed ones are
receiving ones. As we saw last week, to receive
is to receive him in the totality of his being as he declares himself
to be. It's to receive the totality
of his word. It's to have him come and reveal
himself in glorious ways to us. I want to be a receiver. And
the other mark of receivers is that having received, they'll
keep on being And they'll be as in much need
of the grace and mercy of God as they draw their last breath,
as they did when they first believed. I love what Spurgeon said. He said, if on the journey to
heaven, I am left at the gates of heaven with one step to make,
I'll go to hell because I can't make it. Needy. Needy. We need him. We desperately need him at the
beginning. We desperately need him at the
end, and we desperately need him to hold us on all of the
journey. We need him. We need him. And the essence is, as Job asked
the question, isn't he? He said, why are you persecuting
me? And he says, in not the root of the matter. is that if the root of the matter
is found in you, then you will be one of those who is made to
be empty, and made to be a beggar, a mercy beggar. The root of the
matter is the Lord Jesus Christ, and if he's So receiving him is to receive
him as a mercy beggar, to receive him is to receive him as Lazarus
did in that command where life comes from death. And that's
exactly what happens when the Lord causes his people to be
born again. It's to hear him speaking through
his sent one. I just wanted to go through some
of these glorious descriptions of what it is to be a receiver
in John's Gospel and you can follow along with me or you can
listen in if you like. But in John chapter 1 verse 12
and 13, to receive him is to be given power. dynamite from
God to become the sons of God, born not of blood, not of the
will of the flesh, not of the will of man, not on the basis
of a bunch of men all getting together and trying to manipulate
someone into the kingdom of God. It is to receive John 1 16, to receive
grace, full grace, And I love the first words of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter one, verse 38,
he says, what do you seek? It's a good question, isn't it?
It's a good question. And he says to them, you come
and see and follow me. He says to Nicodemus in chapter
three, you must be born from above to see and to enter the
kingdom of God. John 3, verse 11, it's to receive
our witness. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
bringing a witness on his own. God's servants sent into this
world don't have a witness on their own. They have a witness,
which is a witness that's come from the Lord Jesus Christ and
a witness that's come from God the Father. All of God's servants
stand here in this world proclaiming exactly the same Gospel wherever
they are. Whatever the circumstances are,
whatever the time in history is, they're still going to proclaim
exactly the same Gospel over and over again. Why? Ben read
it to us in 2 Corinthians 3. We all read it. They're made
of God. Do you think if God makes witnesses,
he's going to make them all witness the same thing and testify the
same thing about the Lord Jesus Christ? That's one of the delightful
things that we experience when our friends come from overseas
or when we get to go to those other churches. You can take
this congregation here and you could go to Kingsport, Tennessee
and we would fit like this. We would sit under Gabe's or
Greg's or Todd's ministry and we'd be there nodding our heads
and saying, Amen, Amen. And we would be embracing those
people in warm, sweet fellowship of the gospel. See, it's receiving, verse 11
of chapter three, it's receiving our witness. We speak what we
know and we testify what we have seen. And to be a receiver is someone
who is declared by the Lord Jesus Christ in John 3.21 to be a doer
of the truth. Isn't that a remarkable statement
from our God about us? That's what it is to be a believer.
But all the doers of the truth are doers of the truth that his
deeds may be manifest. All that he does, all that he
does, he's not running around patting himself on the back and
saying, look what I've done, look what I've done. Listen to what
the Lord says in John 3, 21. He says, but he that doeth the truth cometh
to the light. God's children come to the light,
continually coming to the light. that his deeds may be made manifest,
that his deeds may be seen clearly, that they are wrought in God. They are God's work. They are
God's work. We want to so proclaim the gospel
that all the fruit of the proclamation of the gospel is seen to be God's
fruit in the lives of people. Men can be manipulated into all
sorts of things. We are, like Jeremiah says, we
are people who have hearts that are deceitfully wicked and beyond
cure. Men can be manipulated and the
most poisonous manipulation in all of this world is the manipulation
of religion. Satan's field of activity in
this world is in religion. Satan's servants in this world
stand behind pulpits in this world, declaring a God who will
fail unless you help him out. A God who will fail unless you
accept the offer that he makes. He offers to all the world. If you were dead and something
is offered to you, what's gonna happen? It would be an embarrassing
thing, wouldn't it, to go up to the cemetery up the road there
and hand round the most beautiful plated cakes and other things. We say that about God in this
world. God wants to save everyone. God
offers. No he doesn't. God saves. You'll
call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. We preach a gospel that cannot
possibly fail. It's just, but all works are
gonna be manifested though, mate. They are wrought in God. John
3, 27, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Do you think when heaven gives,
there is a reception of what is given? Always, always there
will be. A man can receive nothing. unless it's given him from heaven.
I love that the scriptures say, open your mouth wide that you
might receive. Comes a beggar. Lord, have mercy
upon me. John 3, 33 to 36. He that has
received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
down to that Samaritan village, The woman went back to that village,
didn't he, of those despised Samaritans. How the Jews must
have been enraged to think that someone who proclaimed himself
to be a rabbi and a teacher and a holy man went down amongst
that scum of the earth. And then he found the worst of
the worst. And then she went back to the village, and then
they called him to the village. And I love what it says, isn't
it? Many more believed because of his word. Verse 42 says, we
have heard him ourselves. Wouldn't that be a wonderful
thing if someone today heard him ourselves? I heard him. That's the great prayer of anyone
who preaches, isn't it? That they would hear the voice John chapter 4, the nobleman
believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him. What a remarkable
act of faith that nobleman displayed. This is what it is to receive,
isn't it? His son was dying and he went on that long journey
all the way up there to see the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord
spoke a word and he stayed the night and didn't He stayed the night, and he found
out about the time that the Lord had spoken, and when he'd spoken,
his son was healed. It's a glorious story, isn't
it? That's what it is to be a receiver, isn't it? I just believe God. Receivers just believe God. John 5, 38, talks about those
who don't receive, if you turn there with me. He says some serious
things to these people who, had hatred in their heart for him,
but also not only did they have hatred in their heart for him,
they had absolutely no care whatsoever for a man who had been crippled
for all of those years. Just as in John chapter nine,
they had no care whatsoever, no joy whatsoever in the healing
of a blind man. They couldn't care less about
it. The only thing that they used it for was a means of being
critical of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he did it on a Sabbath.
And he did it on a Sabbath so that he provoked them to this
action. And we would see the gospel in
it. We would see something of the hardness of the hearts of
people in religion. He says in verse 38, you have
not his word abiding in you. For whom he has said, him you
believe not. He says in verse 42, I know you
that you have not the love of God in you. I come in my father's
name and you receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him you will receive. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another? This is religious honor he's
talking about amongst these Pharisees in Jerusalem. these men that
knew their Bible off by heart. What was their religion about?
It was about receiving honour from men. They weren't empty,
you see. Empty vessels are vessels fit
to be filled. You receive honour one from another
and seek not the honour that cometh from God only. In John chapter 6, to receive
him is to, verse 56, 54, is to eat his flesh and drink my blood,
have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Obviously this is spiritual language,
talking about the fact that as food and drink sustain us, what
sustains the child of God is what the Lord Jesus Christ did
in his flesh, and what the Lord Jesus Christ did in shedding
his life's blood for his people. That sustains our lives. But
listen to what he goes on to say in verse 54. He whosoever
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. We live by him. That's what it is, to eat and
to drink, isn't it? And he that eateth this bread,
verse 58, shall live forever. To be a receiver is to be like
the apostles at the end of John, chapter six, when they've all
gone away and the Lord says, there's the door. There's the
door. I haven't come for a popular
election here. I'm not up for election. I'm
not here to win a popularity contest. I've come here to save
my people from their sins. I just love Simon's reply. It's
a reply of all the believers, isn't it? Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Is that your testimony? We believe
and are sure it's the apostolic testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. To receive Him is to receive
Him as the light of the world. We've quoted it so often, I trust
you know it well, but the story of that woman in John chapter
eight is just a glorious description of what it is for that light
to come and that light to shine and that light to say, woman,
we are thine accusers. I'll put away all your accusers
and I'll put away all your sin. How did she receive him? She
was brought to him. It's exactly how everyone comes
to receive him. She was brought. She was brought. Those wicked people had absolutely
no idea as they plotted and schemed her death and his embarrassment
that they were bringing her to the foot of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has his way with his people. They'll all come. They all come. In verse 53, to be a receiver
is to be someone who keeps his saying, to lays hold of his saying. If any man keep my saying, he
shall never taste of death. To be a receiver is to be like
Abraham. All of God's faith children are
like their father in faith, Abraham, aren't they? Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. There's a rejoicing in seeing
the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a rejoicing in seeing
how glorious he is. There's a rejoicing in seeing
his victory. There's a rejoicing that Abraham saw in the glory
of his substitution on that mountain. And God says, I'll provide myself
the lamb. I'll provide myself the lamb. One of the marks of being a receiver
of the Lord Jesus Christ. in the scriptures is in verse
34 of chapter 9. They cast him out. They cast
the man who could see out of the synagogue. This religious
world cannot stand the presence of the children of God amongst
it. And they will cast you out. You
go on reading in The Upper Room Discourse the Lord Jesus Christ
promised, he said, there'll come a time coming when you apostles
will be killed for my name's sake, and the people who kill
you will think that they're doing God's service. Paul's thought
of Tarsus was typical of them. Cast out. Cast out. That has been the experience
of many of us, isn't it? This religious world. Despite
all of our efforts to love and to care and to bring the truth
to them and to protect them from the errors that they've fallen
into, they just cast you out. They cast you out. To be a receiver in John chapter
10 is to be someone the voice, and hears the voice. Don't you love what verse 4 says?
It says, He putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them,
and his sheep follow him, for they know his voice. They know
the voice of the shepherd, and they know the voice of the hirelings. They know the difference between
the voice of the shepherd and the voice of the hirelings. Because,
he says, Verse 3, he calleth his own sheep by name, and he
leadeth them out. Verse 5, and a stranger will
they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the
voice of strangers. John chapter 11, it's to receive
the glorious words of whom the Lord Jesus Christ is, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live, verse 26, and whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe that? To
receive him is to believe what he says. And he goes on to say,
he said, if you would believe, verse 40, if you would believe,
Thou should see the glory of God. To be a receiver is to be
a believer and to see the glory of God. To be a receiver is to
be like Mary. That's one of the most glorious
pictures in all of the Bible, isn't it, that Mary breaking
that alabaster jar and wiping the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's to come to his feet, all of God's receivers in the scriptures
come to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and they worship
Him as the Lamb slain. Verse 25 of John Chapter 12 says, of these receivers. He that loveth
his life shall lose it. And he's talking about religious
life here particularly. He that loveth his life shall
lose it. And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep
it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him
follow me. Receivers serve him. We want
to honour him with every ounce of our being and we delight in
the opportunities to serve and we grieve when the opportunities
to serve are taken away in some sense. I love what Paul prayed,
he said he prayed for a door of utterance to be given him.
A door of utterance, that the Lord would open a door so that
there would be a conversation about the Lord Jesus Christ.
We'd have an opportunity again to declare his glory for his
glory's sake. And for our good, and Lord willing,
the good of those that we speak to. Serve him, to follow him,
to be with him. I'll just finish with these verses
out of John 14, because they are so delightful. To receive
him, if I go, John 14 three, if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again. and receive you unto myself. That's what it is to be received,
isn't it? Is to be received unto him. Unto him. What's the goal of
salvation? Is to know him, to be in his
presence, to receive him as he is. I will come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. We receive Him. We receive Him. We receive His Father. We receive His testimony about
Himself. We gratefully and delightfully
receive all of what He is to us. We receive His rebukes. We
receive His promises. We receive His providences. We
receive His people. We receive His gospel. And the
goal of it is to be in his company, isn't it? John, in John 13, just
lay on his bosom. What a remarkable thing, that
in this world, sinners like John can recline, feeling the heartbeat
of the Lord Jesus Christ. May he take you in his arms and
may he make us receivers like Abraham, rejoicing to see his
day when he receives his home. Amen.