Well, is it going to trick me? It keeps turning the wrong way. There it is. Okay. I thought I'd have to read it like this tonight, but...

All right. If you'll take your Bibles and turn back with me to John, John chapter 1. The songs went very well unknowingly, but I think that's so. I think they went very well with the message tonight.

Entitled this message receiving Christ Receiving Christ a text to be found in verse 11 through verse 13 the scripture says he came unto his own and His own received him not But as many as received him To them gave he the power, or the right, the privilege, 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."

So I'll lay it out for you. I want to see first of all this idea of receiving Christ. that this is an act of sovereign will. Whether one receives Christ or one rejects Christ is not based on the sovereign will of man but the sovereign will of God. Then I want us to look at the heart of man. I want us to see the causes of as to why men will not receive him. Now men will not receive Christ and there are multiple causes given to us in the heart of man. These things reside in the heart of man as to why they will not receive Christ. And then I want to look at those that receive Christ. What is the cause of those that receive Christ? And then we're going to see the initial The cause of it is found in verse 13. The birth. The new birth. We're going to find out exactly where this new birth comes from. By which we receive Christ.

So, there's kind of an outline of where we're going. I pray that God gets us there. I pray that God gives us the ability to see this. Pray for me in this. I want you to be able to follow along. I want to make this as clear as I possibly can. I want to make it plain so that everyone would understand.

Now, when our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, John declares that He is God. He says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Then in verse 14, He tells us who the Word is. He said, And the Word was made flesh. That can only be one person. It's not a theoretical term, Word. It's not some intangible thing that people really can't grasp or understand. It's Christ. It's Jesus. He's the Word. And the Word was made flesh.

So when Christ came into this world, He came in such a time of great hypocrisy. Great hypocrisy.

Now, in times past, the nation of Israel had problems worshipping other gods, false gods, idols of stone and wood. But after the captivity of Babylon, when God brought them back, from that point on, they never resorted back to worshipping gods of stone and wood. groves and things like that. And so as this time, they never turned back to that kind of idolatry.

But this was much worse than that. Because their worship was only lip service. It was only lip service. Their worship of God was nothing more than a vain show of religion. The nation of Israel was simply going through the motions. They'd get angry if you tried to put a statue of Caesar. As a matter of fact, they even, they even, well, it was going to go to war with Rome over it. They put a statue of Caesar out there and they were defiant against that. But really, they were only going through the motions.

And we know this because our Lord Jesus said it in Mark 7. He said, well had Isaiah the prophesied of you hypocrites, you actors. pretenders. As it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

What a reflection of the generation we live in. What a reflection of the generation we live in. Those who we see many profess to be Christians. This is quite vogue. It's quite popular now. They don't bow down to gods of stone and wood. They go to church. They obey the traditions of the church. They perform their religious rituals faithfully. They go through the motions.

Well did the prophets say this, they worship me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

So many today in religion are professing to worship Christ with their hearts and their minds and their bodies and their flesh. is totally devoid of any interest in the things of Christ, the gospel. Now they're interested in religion. Don't get me wrong, man is just like the Jews of this day. They're interested in the sights and the sounds and the emotion of religion, how it makes them feel. So men today are like the Jews of that day. They love the ceremony. They love to have men watch them go into these religious places and go through the worship, the exercise of religion. Truly, their hearts are far from them, and we know this because they don't have any interest in the gospel. They have no interest in hearing of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, no interest in His resurrection, no interest in His ascension to the throne of God, no interest in His authority to rule as the sovereign ruler. They have no interest in these things.

John says the light had come into the world. John, he said, John the Baptist, bear witness of this light, that light had come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light. And so tonight I want to set forth Christ, I want to set forth Christ, I want to I want you to see Christ. Behold, the light has come. Behold, Christ, who is God, manifest in the flesh, has come into the world. He who is robed in glory and majesty, laid aside His glory, He came into the world as a man for this purpose, to redeem His people, to save His people from their sins.

His first message was that quote in Isaiah. He said, I am come to give sight to the blind. You know who that's exciting for? Blind people. You know, to give deliverance to the captives. You know who's excited about that? Captives. Sinners. He came to save sinners. Because that's who his people are, they're sinners. When he came into the world, listen, he was not readily accepted. He was not readily received. Scripture says in our text, he came into his own and what happened? His own received him not. His own received him not. But here's the good news, as many as, but, I like those conjunctions, but, as many as received Him. To them gave He the right to become the sons of God, and He tells how they were born. They were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but by the will of God.

Now, as we see these two groups of people, those that have received Him and those who have not received Him, that encompasses everybody, doesn't it? Listen, tonight you have either not received Him or you have. You're in one of these two groups. You're in one of these two groups. Now notice I didn't say accept Him. There's no such thing as accepting Him as Lord and Savior. The word accept has the idea of two equals. If I come to you with something and I present you something, and you either accept it or reject it, we do that as equals. Salvation is not a matter of equals. This idea of receiving is simply the idea of this. I was thirsty, I received the water. I received it because what? I was thirsty. And now then the water has become one with me. I didn't accept the water, you receive it. And that's the idea here of the word receiving.

Now, you're in one of these two groups. Now, why the difference? What makes the difference? This is my first point. What makes the difference between someone who will not receive Him and someone who does receive Him? Simply it is this. It is the sovereign will of God that makes the difference. It is the sovereign will of God. You have two people sitting in the same place, you got two Jews, the Lord comes to His own, you got two Jews in the same place listening to the same message, witnessing the same miracles, hearing the same word, and one receives Him and one does not. Why? This is not my answer, this is the answer of the Word of God. the sovereign will of God. The sovereign will of God. That God determined both the rejection and the receiving. He determined both. He determined the one who will not receive Him and He also determined the one that would receive Him. Those that receive Him are no different than those that do not. According to Scripture, we're all the same. If you have received Him, are you any different than those that have not? No. By nature, we are all the same. Dead in trespasses and sin, and listen, I'm going to get to this later, incapable of receiving Him. Both of us. The only cause for salvation and faith is the sovereign will of God.

Go to Romans 9. Go to Romans 9. It's vitally important that you understand this matter of receiving Him is not an act of the sovereign will of man. It is the sovereign will of God.

Now, the problem in Romans 9 that Paul is dealing with is this matter of Israel. God promised in the Old Testament to save Israel. Well, when Christ came, Israel, the nation, rejected Him, crucified Him, as a group of people, as a nation of people. And so then Paul asks this question, Well, is God's Word null and void? Now God promised to save Israel, but they crucified Him. Now tell me, is God's Word, is His promises now void? He says, No.

Look at verse 6, Not as though the word of God had taken none effect. Now why? For they are not all Israel which are of Jacob. Neither because they're the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Then he explains that. That is, they which are the children of flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of promise are counted for the seed.

The children of promise are the elect of God. That's who they are. They are the Israel of God. They're the ones God chose from eternity that He would save. He determined on them to show mercy. It is the elect alone who will receive Christ. No one else. No one else will receive Christ except the elect of God.

And they'll receive Him not based on their merits or their own power. Matter of fact, everything is supplied of God that you need. You that receive Christ, you understand this, that everything you needed to receive Him was supplied to you. You didn't have any of it. So you understand this, if you have received Him, you know this, it was only by the will and the power of God that I have received Him. There is no glory here. There is no benefit for me to brag or boast over anyone else. I received Him only because God had willed it so.

But I want you to know this, that conversely, conversely, those who are not chosen of God, pictured by Esau in this text in Romans 9, were hated of God from eternity. And it was the will of God that these should live in constant rejection of Christ. It is the will of God. Look at it for yourself. Romans 9 and verse 11, for the children, talking about Jacob and Esau being twins in the womb of the same mother. The children, neither having done any good or evil, why? That the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It is said to her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Now I just told you something and this is a natural objection. Men will always have a natural objection to this. And Paul anticipates the objection. What is it? Read the objection. Is there unrighteousness with God? Now God loved Jacob and hated Esau before they had done anything. determined to save Jacob and determined to damn Esau before he'd done anything. And so you're going to say to me this, is there unrighteousness? Well, God will answer the question, is there? Is God unrighteous? What does He say? God forbid. Now, He doesn't back up, but doubles down. He doesn't crawfish. Look at this. He said, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom? On whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion. On whom? On whom I will have compassion. So then, what's the conclusion of this? What's the conclusion of this receiving Christ and not receiving Christ? Listen to this, It is not of him that willeth. nor of him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy." In this matter of receiving Christ, it is by the divine will of God. And then he uses Pharaoh in the next few verses to prove the rejection of this. He said, I raised Pharaoh up just to destroy him.

Now then, you're going to say this to me, look at verse 19, now then this is another objection you're going to have to me. You're going to say, well why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? Look, if he chose to damn this person, if he chose that this person should never receive Christ, and everybody always obeys his will, then how can he find fault with that guy? You know what his answer is? Who do you think you are? Nay, O man, who art thou to reply against God? Shall the thing form, saying to him that form, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the... Listen to these two words, same lump. That's vitally important. Of the same lump to make vessels of honor and dishonor. You see, if you were in a righteous lump and God took you out of a righteous lump and made you a sinner, yeah, then you'd have something to complain about. But God does no injustice to anybody to take us all from the same sinful lump. God willing to make this person a vessel of honor and this person a vessel of dishonor, what is that to you? Hath not the potter power over the clay? Who's sovereign here, you or him? So in this matter of receiving Christ or not receiving Christ, ultimately, it is the will of God. It is the will of God.

But now that I want to turn our gaze from that, I want you to turn now to the heart of man. To the heart of man. We see that this is true. Salvation is by the will of God and I know this everyone received Christ to do it by the will of God and if you don't According the will of God But now let's gaze it from the sovereignty of God and look at the working and Influences of the human heart. I want us to look at the Internal causes both of receiving rejecting and receiving

Now those who receive Him not, they really know nothing of the sovereignty of God. I mean, you take somebody out there, they're just in the world, they've never heard of these things that I've just said, and they don't like them anyway, and they reject the sovereignty of God. Yet their rejection of Christ, is always according to their own minds. God's not really doing anything to their minds. They do not receive Him because that's what they will do by nature. And yet all the while they're doing the will of God. They're doing what they want to. When men will not receive Christ, nobody's forcing them. They're doing exactly what they want to do, and yet, in not receiving Christ, get to what they're doing. They're doing exactly what God determined they do.

Isn't this true of the crucifixion? Jesus Christ was determined by God to be crucified. Peter said that, Him being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. Listen, you by wicked hands are crucified and slain. They did what they wanted to do. Yet in doing so, what do they do? They fulfill the will of God.

Now, looking on the heart of man, the first cause of man's not receiving Christ is spiritual blindness. Spiritual blindness. The apostle in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 18, listen, says, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because, here's the reason, because of the blindness of their heart. Now if you were to look into a man when he is born into this world, this is how he's born. He is born in darkness. He's born in darkness. He's blind. He's spiritually blind. This is the root cause of man's Rejection in himself is that he is ignorant of his need

He is ignorant of his need Isaiah when he in Isaiah 53 he prophesies of this for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant as a root out of dry ground Listen, he hath no form nor coming in this and when we shall see him There is no beauty that we should desire Him. Why will men not receive Christ? Because there's no beauty. When I preach the Gospel of Christ, if I preach it over and over and over and over again, they get tired. They don't like it. There's no need. I was talking to a pastor concerning one of his grandsons. And he said, you know, he just don't come, and this is what he told me. He said, I don't see a need. Now why will you not receive Him? Because you don't see a need. You have no desire for Him because you can't see your need of Him. You don't see your need of His obedience, of His blood, You see no value in Him. That's why you do not receive Him.

Secondly, you do not receive Him because of self-righteousness. This is a cause of why men will not receive Him, because of self-righteousness. Now, men by nature, because they are ignorant of the righteousness of God, what do they do? They don't understand what God wants, they don't understand what God requires of them, so what do they do? They're groping in the dark trying to find out what God wants. And I know they do this, we do this by nature, we look within and see what we want and we suppose that's what God wants. Well this thing makes me feel good, so obviously it makes God feel good. You know, I feel real emotional, and I feel really zealous, and surely God receives that. How do you know? Well, you don't. They're just groping. Why do you think the traditions of the false church are so dead gum thick? Why are the books so large and so many? Because they just keep adding to it. They find out that that was not enough, so they got to add something else. Why do you think they got to bend down 27 times and make the sign of the cross this way and, you know, hold it, you know, like when you go fishing, they say you got to hold your mouth right. That's how they do with religion. You know, you got to be accepted God, you got to hold your mouth right. You got to do this, got to do that. And they just keep adding. Why? Because they're blind. They're groping in the dark. And so because they're blind, they perceive that God requires their righteousness to be accepted.

Paul said this about the Jews. He said, My heart to God, I wish that God would save them. I long for God to save them. My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Romans 10. But I bear them record they have a zeal for God. But listen, not according to knowledge. Were they being ignorant of the righteousness of God of going about to establish their own righteousness? Tonight, if you are going about to establish your own righteousness, it is because you're ignorant of the righteousness of God. And you have not submitted yourself unto the righteousness of God, which is what? Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Like these Jews, they claim to worship God, they claim to have a great zeal, but they will not receive Christ because they want their own righteousness. They want to contribute. And they only do that because they're ignorant.

The next thing that causes men not to receive Christ is simply this, their worldly lusts and affections. The natural heart is set on the things of time and sense. touch, taste, smell, emotions, feelings, passions. This is what man wants in religion. So man being dead in sins has no spiritual life. All he has is what he can touch, taste, and smell. He has no spiritual understanding. He's dead. They have an appetite for religious exercise that appeals to their fleshly senses, but they have no appetite for the gospel of Jesus Christ. They don't want to hear of Him. A natural man has no understanding of his need of the gospel of Jesus Christ, no understanding of the salvation of God by grace, through the death of Jesus Christ.

Look at 1 Corinthians. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul explains the gospel in a very short little segment here at the end. He says we preach the gospel for this purpose. God's going to save men through the preaching of the gospel. And this is why He's going to do it. That no flesh should go in His presence. Ain't nobody here going to glory in His presence. If somebody receives Christ this evening, nobody gets the glory here. No one. But of Him are you in Christ Jesus? Are you in Christ Jesus? Who put you there? God did. And God, He made Him to be our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Paul says, We know that salvation is totally, completely of the Spirit of God. But because of the natural man's total depravity, he concludes this. Look at verse 14. This is why men will not receive Christ. He says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. First of all, they're foolishness. Don't you realize why people don't come here? Because it's foolish. They won't tell that to your face. Maybe they will. I don't know. But they don't like this because it's foolishness. What you're doing is foolish. Why do they say that? Neither can he know them. Because he is spiritually condemned. Man will not receive Christ because he is spiritually judged.

And the main reason is unbelief. So he's ignorant. He's ignorant of God. He's spiritually discerned. He's dead. He desires the things of the world, the lust of the flesh. He desires the senses to be used. But he's ignorant. The righteousness of God. And the underlining cause is unbelief. Unbelief. He will not receive because he will not believe on the Son of God. Unbelief is the underlining prevailing cause of man not receiving Christ.

It was most surely the determinate counsel of God to withhold faith. That's true. I like what he said to his disciples, he said this, it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to them it is not given. Why won't men not believe? First of all, they can't. And second of all, if they continue in their unbelief, it's because God refused to give it to them. Unbelief. Behold how the natural man is shackled to his unbelief. The natural man being blind, self-righteous, loving the world, he will remain in unbelief and continue unless God give him life.

Now listen to this tonight. If there are some who have not received Him, if you continue in this course, You'll die in your sins. You'll die in your sins. And the only hope for you is that God give you life. God give you faith. But these are the causes as to why men will not receive Christ.

But now, let us consider, though the masses reject Christ, though the multitudes will not receive Him, Yet God has chosen some that will. God has chosen some that will. But, the scripture says in our text, many rejected Him, but as many as received Him. As many as received Him. Friends, these are the elect of God. God is not frustrated. Do you realize that? I know this, I get frustrated, I do. It boggles my mind as to why men won't believe. The believer doesn't long for less faith, we want more. We believe, God help my unbelief. And so it boggles our mind as to why they will not believe, but they won't. Yet God is not frustrated, that's important. God has chosen a people before the foundation of the world. These elect who he loved and put into union with Christ. It was most surely why Christ came into the world, to save them, to be their representative, to obtain their righteousness. As their high priest, he was to offer himself to God, and his blood has redeemed his elect.

Jesus as our surety having redeemed us is now risen from the dead and seated on the throne of God for the singular purpose of calling every one of his elect so that they'll do what receive him he will make sure that every one of his elect receive him he said that didn't he all that the father giveth me shall do what shall come And when they do, I will in no wise reject them. Our Father has determined to call and quicken His elect. Therefore, consider this, His elect by nature are no different than anyone else. They're just as blind as the next guy. They're just as ignorant. We saw no value in Christ. just like everyone else. We esteemed our righteousness capable of pleasing God like everyone else. We lived in unbelief like everyone else. We were vile as everyone else. But because they were vessels of mercy, it was determined that the light of the gospel would shine on their hearts and in doing so they would believe.

You that believe. Isn't it comforting to know that this was determined? You weren't going to miss it. There was no way for you to miss it. You know, I bring J.D. up a lot about that because he was worried about that when they didn't want to come into the building and they didn't know if they were going to come in. And he said, man, what if we didn't come in? I said, no chance of that. God determined that his people should believe. that His people should receive Him.

Even though He came to His own and His own received Him not, the Scripture says, here's a ray of hope, as many as. As many as. You know who's going to receive Him? As many as. Scripture says, as many as the Lord our God shall call. I don't know how many elect there are, but I know this, Our Lord's going to call every one of them. And every one of them will receive Christ.

Now then, look at the cause of those that receive Christ. What is the cause? You that receive Christ. And make no mistake, I want you to understand receiving Christ is simply this. You believe on Christ. That's what it is to receive Him. It is to believe on Him. To trust Him.

How is it that you believe? You that believe, what's the cause of you believing? Well, first of all, those that believe are quickened by the power of the Holy Spirit. The reason for man's blindness and self-righteousness and worldliness and unbelief is because he is born dead. Therefore, no man by nature can come to Christ. No man can come to Christ. Our Lord Jesus, as I just quoted in John 6, He says, As many as the Father giveth me shall come to me. And then they murmured among themselves when He said that. They started bickering, saying, How can this be? What do you think? Who cares what you think? Listen, and Jesus said in John 6, verse 44, No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him here. You see, no man can receive Christ by nature. except the Father, which hath sent him, draw him. And he says, As it is written, they shall all be taught of God. Behold, the manifestation of the spiritual life is this, that we have been taught of God. And he says, Everyone that is taught of God does one thing, they come to me. They come to me.

Now you that are born again of the Spirit of God, and you come to Him, what's the first thing He taught you? The first thing He teaches us is our ruined condition, our need. Whereas I was blind to my need, now I see my need. I see my need. When a man is regenerated by the Holy Spirit, he feels his guilt, he feels the bondage of his nature, he sees his utter hopelessness, and God pulls out all the props from underneath him. I truly understand how Mephibosheth felt when they dragged him out of his house and threw him on the floor before David. That's what the Spirit of God did to me. He dragged me out of my house of Lodibar. That's where Mephibosheth was. The house of no bread. That's where I lived. The house of no bread. I was lame on my feet, incapable of coming, and worthy of death, just like Mephibosheth. And God brought me to the feet of Christ and I fell as dead before Him. Oh, I knew my need then. I was kind of careless as to my need of Christ when it suited me until He brought me to His feet. And we say, like the publican, Lord, be merciful to me, thee, sinner.

Everyone God quickens, He brings to see their need, He also shows them Christ. When He brought you and you saw your guilt. Wasn't it glorious then to see Christ? God brings us to see Christ. He preaches the Gospel to us. He sends a preacher and he preaches Christ. And the Gospel is no longer words and phrases and doctrines and things to be academically understood. It's a person! The gospel is a person.

He brings me to Christ. And I see in Christ all that I need. I see I need righteousness. And where do I find it? I find it in Christ. I need redemption. I need atonement. I need my sins to be paid. And I find it in Christ. I need to be justified before God. I need to be pardoned. I need to be cleansed. I need a new heart. I need a new nature. I need a new mind. And I find that where? I find it all in Him. I find it all in Him.

It is the most natural thing in the world for one who is born again to receive Christ. The illustration is like a man dying of thirst and you give him some water. Is it an option? To a man dying of thirst, is water an option? It's not an option. He has to have it. That's how I feel about Christ. When I receive Christ, I have to have Him or I die. It's not a, well, let me just weigh this out. You just see, if you're doing this, dead. You don't have any life at all. If you're weighing out this option of receiving Christ tonight, it's because you're dead. You're not alive. This is not an option. This is not one accept or reject. No, this is a necessity. I receive Him because I need. I need Him.

You see, I don't need Christ to be part of my salvation. I need Christ to be all of it. It's not a cooperative effort. If it's a cooperative effort, I'm damned. I have no hope. It's not a cooperative effort. When God teaches a man by, He's quicken a man, He shows his guilt, He shows him Christ, and that man needs Christ. And what is the natural thing to do? He believes on Christ.

You that believe, do you somehow want to not believe? Do you want to quit? Do you want to give up this? I've got no place to go. You've got any place else to go? That's what the disciples said, isn't it? Lord, to whom shall we go? There's no place else. There is no other Savior. This is what it is to believe. It is to rest the weight of your soul on Christ alone. That is to receive Him. That is to receive Him.

And everyone that receives Him loves Him and loves His people. I know this, before He came to me, I had no love for Him. But I know this, I do love him. Not like I want to. Not like I should. And the only reason I love him is because he first loved me. The only reason. There is no reason in myself that I love him. but that He loved me. And because I love Him, I follow His commandments. I follow His commandments.

In John 15, He said, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. And what are His commandments? Are they the Ten Commandments? No. Are they the Law? No. John, in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 23 and 24, He lays out the commandments, the commandments that are not grievous to us, which is what? To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you believe already. You know what His commandment is? Keep believing. Is that grievous to you? Is that hard? No, you want to keep believing and you curse the fact that your faith is weak. And he says this, Love the brethren. Love the brethren. Only a hypocrite would say, I believe on Christ and not love the brethren. It baffles me to people to say I believe on Jesus Christ but have no desire to be in the service with God's people. I don't understand that. You love the brethren but yet you don't want to spend any time with them. You don't want to be around them. You don't want to hear the gospel. You say you love Christ but you don't have any love for his gospel. You're a hypocrite. Something's wrong with that.

God's people obey his commandments and they're not grievous. To love you is not grievous. I know to love me might be grievous. It might be hard for you. For me to love you is not. But each esteem other better than himself. Is that not to desire your heart? To esteem one another better than yourselves? He is God's people. Why? Because this is who receives Christ.

Now then, what's the blessing of receiving Christ? Look back at your text. There's a blessing. Look at the blessing of it. But, as many as received Him, those who are born of the Spirit of God, to those who are given to see their guilt, their need, and come to Christ by faith, who love Christ, who love the brethren, listen, here's the blessing of it. As many as received Him, to them gave He the right, the privilege, to become the sons of God. If you received Him, you have a right. You have a right to be called the sons of God. You know why? Because you were always His sons. In the beginning, God purposed you predestinated you to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ from eternity. You were His sons.

I like what it says. This is how it says in Galatians chapter 4. He says this, Because you are sons. That's first. Second, God sent forth His Spirit into your heart. Now which was first? Because you were His sons. God sent forth his Spirit into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. You received him, why? Because you were already sons. And I like the way Paul says it in Romans 8, because you are sons, then it concludes this, you are heirs. Heirs of what? God. You understand that your inheritance is God. That's the inheritance. God. You are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Whatever He has is yours. So what are you missing? What are you lacking? You that received Him. If you are sons and heirs, then what are you missing? Peter says this inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away. Listen to this, reserved. It's already reserved for you. And you can't do anything to screw it up. That's what he said. You can't mess this up. It's undefiled. You can defile it. It's incorruptible. It's not going to fade away. It's yours forever. It's always been yours. to those that receive Christ, to those that receive Christ by faith.

Now, listen to this. I'm going to get this real fast, which were born. Now, here's the root cause. I told you spiritual birth. You were born dead in sins and you're you're given life. Now, where does this come from? Where does this all come from? As I told you at the beginning, it comes by the sovereign will of God. Look at this. You were born. He's talking about spiritual birth and he gives three negatives, not of blood. Now you're not born again because of your parents. Now my children have two believing parents, but if they ever believe, it's not because they have believing parents. That's not the reason for their spiritual birth. I think it's also important to say if you've got two ungodly parents, that would never cause Christ to restrain himself from calling you. There's no hindrance to him. Listen, you are not born by the will of the flesh. This does away with all free will works religion. It just does. It eliminates it. You are not born based on your will. That's religion. It is 90% of religion. And God does away with it in a few words. You're never born again based on your will.

nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. Now, this does away with the Roman Catholic Church, as though the priest has some other man, and his will made you alive. No. We who receive Christ understand that we were born by the will of God. That's it. You've received him. We know this. It is by the sovereign will of God. Why? Salvation is the work of God. All of it. Our elections of God, our redemptions of Jesus Christ, who is God manifested in flesh, our calling and quickening is by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And listen, our keeping ourselves is not in our power either. Peter said you're kept by the power of God unto salvation ready to be revealed. You know, you don't know everything about this salvation yet. You don't know everything. And you've not experienced everything yet. It's ready to be revealed. How do you know you're going to make it? You that receive Christ, how do you know you're going to endure? Because you're preserved. be kept by the power of God.

And so I ask this, have you received it? What is that? It is to believe on you. Now God already determined who will and who won't. That's just so. But look in the root causes why you won't. Because you're blind, you're self-righteous, you have no need of Christ Therefore, listen, you'll never see Him. You'll never believe on Him. Unless what? Unless God gives you life. And when God gives you life, you see what? You see your view, you see your need, and you see Christ. And you do what when you see Him? You believe in Him. Why? Because He's everything. He's all of it. We'll receive Him. We believe on Him to be all our salvation, all our righteousness, all our sanctification, all our justification. We know this. Our spiritual birth is not by blood or the will of the flesh or the will of man. We know this. It's of God. It's of God. You've received Him. You understand that. This is the work of God. Jesus said that. This is the work of Him that sent me that you believe. We're just saying that tonight. Faith is a gift of God. It's not an act of will, though the will is involved. I'm willing, aren't you? You're not hog-tying me to this. I want this. I know there was a difference. There was a time I wasn't, and now I am. And who made the difference? God did. God did.

All that sinners would receive. It would be my joy to know that God would call sinners to Himself. And as many as received Him, then gave you the right to become a sinner. I pray that God bless this to your heart. You've received Him. I want you to be so comforted. I would hope and pray that He'd wrap His arms around you and show you again how much you are loved and how much He has redeemed you in spite of all your circumstances. But if you've not received Him, you're in trouble. There's only death. for those who will not receive Him. And listen, in the end, you won't be able to blame God. Now, you can say, well, it's election's fault. You won't blame God in that day. I don't care if you can reconcile those two things or not. It don't really matter. You will not receive Him. All God did really was just leave you to yourself. Because all those things are in you. I'm so thankful he's given me grace to receive him, to believe on him.

Let's stand and be dismissed. My Father in heaven, we thank you for gathering us here together tonight. Gathered around this throne of grace once again, and here in Jesus' life. So we're thankful for this gospel, and we're thankful that and free and sovereign, the grace of God is only found in Christ Jesus.

Lord, we're thankful that you came into this world to save sinners. And we confess our sins tonight, and Lord, you're our only hope, and we ask that you keep us for a few more days before we meet again. And Lord, we pray that you continue to flood your life to share the full God with Christ, and that you bless our paths in this congregation, Lord, that we continue to hear the priest preach to many days to come.

And Lord, we pray this not for us only, but for all the churches that you raised up, that you have blessed them for Christ's sake. Lord, we'll praise you and we'll thank you for it. Just keep us, I pray, and we thank you