Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles now and turn with me to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. I've entitled this message, Who Receives
Christ? Who Receives Christ? John chapter
1, beginning in verse 11. 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 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. When our Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world, John confesses that the Word that was with God
and the Word that was God, in verse 14, I believe it is he
said, the Word was made flesh. He came unto His own. God manifests
in the flesh. The promised Messiah came. God swore He would come. beginning
and now he had come to this nation of Israel. And I want you to
see that at this time, the nation of Israel was at its greatest
hypocrisy. At this point, the nation of
Israel was at its highest point of self-righteous. Now in the times past before
their captivity in Babylon, you remember they were held captive
in Babylon because of their worship of false gods. They bowed down
to sticks and stones. And you remember God put them
into captivity but After their return, after 70 years were determined
and God caused their deliverance, after that time, from that time
until the time of Christ, never was it again that Israel bowed
to stalks and stones. Never again did Israel outwardly
turn to false idols. They never bowed down to those
false gods. of other nations, but after their
return from Babylon, they never committed open idolatry, they
never bowed to those gods, yet, listen, their worship of the
living God was nothing more than a vain show, was nothing more than an empty
bodily exercise. Outwardly, they were perceived
as righteous people. Outwardly, they manifest that
they worship God outwardly. But this is what Christ said
of them. He said, Well said Isaiah of
this generation. They worship me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me. How truly does this speak
of our own generation? We see that many profess to be
Christians in our generation. They won't bow down to wood or
stones or idols of gold. They go to church. They obey
the traditions of men. They faithfully perform all the
rituals and ceremonies provided them. They go through the motions
of religion. But well does the prophet say
of them, they worship me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from me. So many are walking in religion,
professing to worship Christ with their hearts, yet their
minds and bodies are given over to the world and to the flesh
and to false religion. given over to trust in their
own self-righteousness. They're given over to vain dreams
of pleasing God by their works and by their will. They have zeal, yet it's empty. Those Pharisees in Christ's day,
there is nobody more zealous than they were. Nobody more zealous
to obey the law of Moses than they were. And yet Christ says
this, that's a vain show. All it is is a vain show. Such was the time of our Lord's
coming, the light of the world had come into His world. And yet, what was His testimony? Men love darkness. rather than
light, because their deeds were evil. And he's not just talking
about wicked, evil men. He's not outwardly overt sinners. He's talking about the religious
people. The self-righteous people. Not just those that love adultery, fornication, and all
that. Those who love self-righteousness. Their deeds are evil. He who made all things, sustained
all things, and suddenly come unto His own. Isn't that what
it says? He came unto His own. He came unto His own. The Son
of God robed in glory and praise and power from the beginning
of eternity, yet now He laid aside His garments of glory and
robed Himself in human flesh and came to His own. His own creation. His own people. The Son was promised to come, and yet He was rejected, despised,
and hated. The Son that was promised had
now come to save His people from their sins. He had come to redeem
Israel. To set the captives free. Recovery
of sight to the blind. To preach the acceptable year
of the Lord. Year of Jubilee! That's what
He came. He came to preach Jubilee! Joy! Freedom! But what did they do to Him? Did they receive Him? Did they
bow down and worship Him? No. The text says, He came unto
His own, and His own received Him not. They received Him not. But I'm thankful for the next
verse, as many as. But, but, as many as received
Him. In other words, some did receive
Him. And to them gave He the right
to become the sons of God. Now, this text before us is a
microcosm of all of you here. Matter of fact, it's a microcosm
of all men everywhere. We fit into one of these two
categories. Either you receive Him not, or
you receive Him. There's no middle ground here.
You are either one who has received Him or you have one that has
not received Him. Two groups. Those who reject
Christ and those who receive Him. The text reveals that there
is joy and privilege to those that receive Him. To them, as
many as received Him, to them gave He the right to what? Become
something they weren't. The sons of God. They have a right to be called
the sons of God. These that receive Him are born,
not of their will, not of the will of some man, not because
of their blood relation. They were born by the will of
God. What a privilege! What a grace!
What a mercy! And yet those who received Him
not, listen, only death and judgment awaits them. There's no blessing
in not receiving Him. Now then, I want to know what
the difference is, don't you? Paul asked that question, Who
maketh thee to differ from another? There's a difference here, isn't
there? A great difference between those who receive Him and those
who receive Him. What is the reason? How is it that these
men, now Christ came into His own, and think about this, these
people that were listening, they saw the same man, didn't they?
They heard the same message, they witnessed His miracles,
all of them. They saw Him crucified. They
saw Him raised from the dead. And yet, some received Him and
some did not receive Him. What made the difference? What's the reason? They witnessed
His righteousness, His death, His resurrection. Why did some
receive and believe on Him while others did not? The only answer of the Word of
God is simply this. Listen very carefully. The difference
is the will of God. That's the difference. The will
of God. Which were born. What made the
difference? Now what's the cause of their
birth? Not their human relationships. Not their own will of the flesh,
nor the will of some other man. Here's the difference. It is
the will of God. That is the difference. The sovereign
will of God. That God determined both the
rejection of one and the reception of the other. God determined both the reception
and the rejection. Those who received Him being
no different by nature from those that received Him not. There's
no difference in the person. There's no difference. You that
received Him, you understand this. That there was no difference. There was nothing different between
you and Esau. Naturally. Nothing. There's nothing
different between you and the worst pedophile that ever lived
upon the face of the earth. There's no difference. And if
you believe there's some difference, it's because you've not received
it. You believe that you're better than somebody else, it's because
you've not been given sight to see who you really are. You still
think you're somebody. You still think you've got some
power. You've got some control over this matter. You have no
control. None whatsoever. The difference
is the will of God. I kick and spit and cuss all
you want to at it. It ain't gonna do you no good. It is the will of God that makes
the difference. The only cause for the salvation
in faith is the will and power of God. Even so, those who received
Him not, it is because of this, the will of God. You suppose those who receive
Him not are somehow outside of the will of God? Oh wow, what
happened there? God didn't know what happened.
Why are they not receiving Him? I don't understand. No, He willed
it so. He willed it so. This is plainly
revealed in Scripture. I'm not going to give you my
opinion. Who cares about my opinion? Go to Romans 9. Romans 9. Paul makes a big to-do about
the Israelites. He said, look, they've been given
blessings. They had the law. They had the prophets. They had
everything. God swore to save Israel. And now then, he's asking
the question, why did Israel crucify the Lord? Why did they
reject Him? He tells us plainly why they
rejected Him. He says, the Word of God of none
effect. God says, I'm going to save Israel. And yet, look, Israel,
they crucified Him. What does He mean? Well, He says
this in verse 6. The Word of God is not taken
into effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, they which are children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Just because
you're born in Israel doesn't mean you're a child of God. You're
not going to heaven because you're a child of Abraham. That's not
what He's saying. He said because you're an Israelite,
God didn't send Christ just to save you because you're a child
of Abraham. That's not who He came to save. He came to save
another Israel. Spiritual Israel. And He says
that is, now He's explained Himself. They were to the children of
flesh, these are not the children of God. But who are the children
of God? The children of promise are counted for the seed. These
children of promise, who are they? They are the elect of God. It is upon these that God determined
to show mercy. It was these alone who were given
to Christ. The Father chose a people for
Himself. Who cares what men think about
this? This is the facts. This is truth. God chose a people
for Himself and put the responsibility of their salvation solely on
the shoulders of Jesus Christ. He gave them to Christ. Why do you suppose Christ was
not frustrated when men rejected Him? I'd be frustrated, wouldn't
you? He got thousands of people. He just fed thousands of people
with a few loaves and fishes and now they follow Him across
the sea and He's preaching to them and all the while they don't
believe. Christ knows this. They're going
to go away. And yet He's not disappointed.
Why is that? Because He knows His sheep. He said, I know my sheep. You believe not. You will not
receive me because, now listen, because you are not of my sheep. That's why you won't receive
me. But my sheep, they hear my voice, they receive me. And they
follow me. And I give to them eternal life. And they shall never perish.
God chose a people, gave them to Christ, not by any merits
of their own, but by His own sovereign will and power. And
conversely then, those who were not chosen of God, in this text
of Romans chapter 9, He pictures by the man Esau. Jacob is a picture
of spiritual Israel, Esau is a picture of the reprobate. Look
at this in verse 11, He said, Not yet being born, neither having
done good or evil. Nothing in them. Nothing in them provoked God's
choice. For this purpose, the purpose
that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of
works, But of him that calleth, he said to her, The elder shall
serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. What in the world are you going
to say to that? What shall we say then? He's
already anticipating your objection. You're going to say, is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God unrighteous to do such
a thing? Oh, shut up. God forbid you should
say such a thing like that, you wicked man. God forbid. God is not unrighteous. You're
unrighteous. For He said to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, here's the conclusion.
Here's the conclusion. It is not of him that willeth.
You got that? Why did you receive Him? Well,
I willed it so. You've just contradicted the
Word of God. It is not of Him that willeth.
You got that? Is there anybody who misunderstand
that word? Now, you may not like it. You may misunderstand it.
It is not of Him that willeth. It is not of him that runneth,
or worketh, or doeth the ceremonies, or rituals, or going to church,
or getting baptized. It's not because you did all those things. Why is it you received him? But
of God that showeth mercy. But of God that showeth mercy.
Well, you're going to have a further objection to this. Look at verse
19. He answers your further objection. Well, if God chose a people,
and only those people are going to be saved, and God's going
to only have mercy on those people, and God has rejected the others,
and they will never come to Christ, never receive Christ, thou wilt say unto me, why does
he find fault? Well, if God did not choose them
and they have no hope of ever coming to Christ, then why does
He find fault with them? For who hath resisted His will? No. Here's the answer. No. But who are you? Who are you to reply against
God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast
thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Listen, very important, of the
same love. You got that? Now listen, if
you were righteous and you deserved heaven and God rejected you,
surely you could say something. You deserve heaven? Do you deserve God coming to
you? Does God have to come to you for some reason? No. You're in the same lump of Adam's
fallen race. You and I deserve only hell. That's what you deserve. That's
what I deserve. And if God gives me what I deserve,
hell is it. But of the same lump. Consider
the grace of God of the same lump. He make one vessel to honor
and another to dishonor. Vessels of mercy and vessels
of wrath. So regardless of man's rejection,
salvation is according to the will of God. It just don't matter. No matter
what you say against it. This is just so. Salvation is
of the will of God. Now, I want us to turn. Boy,
the time goes so fast. I want us to turn now from looking
at it in God's perspective. And I want us to turn within.
Let us turn within and take our gaze from the sovereignty of
God and look at the inner workings. I want us to see the inner working.
of the human heart. Let us look at the instrumental
causes of both rejection and reception of Christ. I want to
see the instrumental causes. We know it's the sovereign will
of God. You know, God's got to elect people. I don't know who
they are. Do you? The Virgin said that one man
objected and said, well, sir, if God is only going to save
the elect, why preach? And Spurgeon said, sir, if you
would kindly point out the elect to me, I'll only preach to them.
I don't know who they are. We preach to everyone because
I don't know. Puradventure. Oh, merciful. God would be gracious and cause
you to receive Him. But I want to see the inner workings.
Those who received Him not, surely those that reject Christ know
nothing of the sovereignty of God. Isn't that right? Matter
of fact, they hate the sovereignty of God. They reject it all together.
They know nothing that God accomplishes all things after the determined
counsel of His own will. So then, in their rejection of
Christ, they are following their own minds. Isn't that right? If you reject Christ, it is because
of this. You're following your own will.
You're doing exactly what you want to do. You're doing according to your
own desire. Yet unknowingly, you are doing the will of God.
Isn't this what happened at the crucifixion? Listen to what Paul
says about the crucifixion, or Peter, in Acts chapter 2 and
verse 23. He said, Christ being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now was
there anything going to stop His crucifixion? He said, this
hour? He said, look, I came to this
hour. This is the whole purpose I came for, this hour. God determined
the crucifixion of Christ. Yet you, by wicked hands, have
crucified and slain the Lord of Glory. They fulfilled the
will of God and yet they did exactly what they wanted to do. And you know what? They are right
now in hell for killing the Lord of Glory. Those who would not
receive Him kill the Lord of glory and they are being punished
for their sin. Their sin. Now, let me give you
some causes of the rejection of Christ. First of all, spiritual
blindness. Men will not receive Christ because
they are spiritually blind. Jesus said, if you were blind,
then should you see. But because you say, I see. your sin remaineth. There are a lot of religious
people saying, I see, I know, I know. All the while they don't
know. They don't see. The apostle says in Ephesians
4.18, he says, having the understanding darkened. Being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. Because of the
blindness of their The root cause of man's rejection is in himself. He's blind. He's ignorant. He's ignorant of his spiritual
need and of Christ's value. Why will men not receive Christ?
Because He holds no value to them. This is the instrumental
cause. They're blind to see His value. They're blind to see their need
of Him. Listen to what He said in Isaiah
chapter 53. He says He shall grow up before
Him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. Listen. He
hath no form nor comeliness, that when we shall see Him, there
is no beauty that we should desire Him. Therefore, he is despised
and rejected of men. Man of sorrows, acquainted with
grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised
and we esteemed him not. If you will not receive Christ,
it is because you see no beauty in him. You see no value, no need. Therefore,
you reject him. You despise him. You hide your
face from Him and esteem Him not. Now listen, the Christ of
your own imagination you will receive. I'm talking about the sovereignty
of God. I'm talking about a sovereign Christ. And the natural man,
he doesn't want a sovereign Christ. He wants to have some part in
His salvation. And He's blind to see He can't.
He's blind to see that He has no ability to add anything to
the work of Christ. Therefore, He will not receive
a Christ except He can have some part in it. Well, Jesus did all He can do,
and you know, you've just got to fill in the blank. Okay? Why do they say that? Because
they're blind. They don't see who they really
are. They still think they got something
to give to God. You think you got something to
give to God? You're blind. You're blind. Second of all,
self-righteousness is a reason men won't come to Christ. This is the operation in hearts
of man is self-righteous. Man by nature, because he's ignorant
of the righteousness of God, ignorant and blind as to what
God requires, therefore the natural man goes about to establish his
own righteousness. That's what Paul said of those
people that rejected Christ, that would not receive Him. Listen
to what he said. He said of his nation of Israel,
he said, I bear them record, they got a zeal. Boy, you should
see them. Boy, they worship. Boy, they
really try hard to obey the law. I bear them record, they got
a zeal. But not according to knowledge. They are blind. What are they blind of? They
are ignorant of the righteousness of God. And going about to establish
their own righteousness, They have not submitted themselves
to the righteousness of God. What is the righteousness of
God here? It's for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Christ is the righteousness of
God. And yet these blind, ignorant men are so proud that they assume
that their self-righteousness can have some merit before God. This is why you will not receive
Christ. It's because you believe you
have something to offer. You don't realize that all your
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Thirdly, they reject Him
because of worldly lusts and affections. The natural man's
heart is so set on things of time and sense. He being dead
in sins has no spiritual life and therefore no sense or heart
for the things of God. I know this, man has a hunger
for religion. That's natural for a man to hunger
after religious exercise. Religion, it appeals to his fleshly
senses. They have an appetite to hear
the gospel of works. A message that somehow they can
please God. They desire that message. Paul said that's nothing but
sensual, that's nothing but will-worship. Yet the natural man has no understanding
of his need of the gospel of salvation by the sovereign grace
and power of God. You remember in 1 Corinthians,
Paul lays out the gospel, he says this, but of Him, of God
are you in Christ Jesus. Who of God has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. For this purpose
that it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So then why would men not receive
that message? Why do you not want to hear that? Why would you not receive the
Christ that has accomplished redemption? Here it is, in 1
Corinthians 2 and verse 10, he said this, The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him,
neither can he know them, because he is spiritually discerned.
So Jesus told Nicodemus this, except, except you be born again,
you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God. You cannot
see it and you will not enter. And the last one is unbelief.
Surely unbelief is the prevailing cause. It was most surely the
determinate counsel of God then to withhold faith. Remember what
He told His disciples? He was speaking in parables and
His disciples asked Him, why are you speaking in parables?
He said, listen, because it is given to you to understand. But to them, is not given. Why do you understand it? Why
do you see it? Why did you receive Christ? Because
it was given to you. Why does He not? Because it is
not given to Him. Behold how the natural man then
is shackled to his unbelief, whereby he not only desires to
remain in unbelief, but he himself cannot believe unless God give
him faith. Faith is a gift of God. To receive
Christ is a gift of God. A natural man then being blind,
self-righteous, loving this world, he will remain in unbelief and
continue in it unless God gives him life. Now let us consider
that the massage had rejected Christ, though the multitudes
refused to receive Him and feel no need of Christ. I want you
to understand, God is not frustrated. I feel frustrated, I do. I would
that all men that I preached to would come to Christ. I would,
that you would all receive Him. But listen, God is not frustrated. His will is not thwarted. His purpose and will are not
thwarted as the false religion supposes. Behold, God has chosen
a people before the foundation of the world, and these elect,
these beloved of God, were put into an immutable union with
Christ. And it was most surely that Christ
came into the world to save them. came as their representative
and for them obtained righteousness. Jesus came as their representative
and offered Himself a sacrifice to God for their sins. Jesus
Christ rose again from the dead for their justification. Jesus Christ now is ascended
and sits on the throne of God for this purpose. that everyone
the Father gave Him should have eternal life. He said, all powers given unto
Me in heaven and earth, that as many as the Father had given
Me should have eternal life. That's what He's doing. He reconciled us to God as our
surety is seated, ever living to make intercession, to make
sure that all of His elect are called and quickened You know, over in Acts chapter
2, the Apostle Peter gives out those promises, those great promises
that are listed in the prophecy of Joel. He said, unto you and
unto your children are these promises given. Well, who? Who are these promises given
to? Even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Now, that's
who the promises belong to. as many as, as many as received
Him, as many as the Lord our God shall call. He says in Acts
chapter 13, as many as were ordained to eternal life received Him. That's who's going to receive
Him. God's not frustrated. He knows who His own are. Therefore, no matter how blind
and ignorant the elect may be, Remember, there's no difference,
right? Everything I said about those who received Him not is
true of those who were receiving. We were blind. By nature, we're
blind. By nature, we're self-righteous.
By nature, we're worldly. By nature we did not believe,
but no matter the depth of our depravity, no matter the depth
of our blindness and the wickedness of our sin, no matter the greatness
of our unbelief, because we are vessels of mercy, the light of
the gospel will shine in the eyes of His elect. It will shine
in their hearts. And they shall behold the vileness
of their own nature. and by grace they will receive
Christ. Even so, though He came unto
His own, His own creation, His own people, and they received
Him, not yet. Here is the ray of hope, as many
as received Him. Now consider briefly then, we
want to consider the inward working of those who received Him. The cause of those who receive
Christ. As we trace it out, surely it
is the sovereignty of God that causes us to receive Him. But
what are the inner workings of this? What must take place before
a man will receive Christ? First of all, listen, he must
be born. Look at the text. As many as
received Him, them gave you the right to become the sons of God,
which were born. Born. This is not a earthly birth. It is the quickening power of
the Holy Spirit. For a man to receive Christ,
he must be raised from the dead. I know a man, well, he's my brother. I've known
him all his life. And we were talking about faith
and Christ He was troubled. He said, I don't think you believe
that I'm a Christian. I said, well, the problem is,
you were never lost. If a man is never lost, how can
he be found? If he's never blind, how can
he receive sight? If he's never been dead, how
can he be quickened? You see, in order for a man to
be quickened, he has to be dead. The reason for a man's blindness
and self-righteousness and worldliness and unbelief is because he is
dead. Therefore, no man can come to
Christ. This is why you can't come to
Christ. Because you were born dead. And if you're not dead, if you've
always been alive, then you've not been quickened. No man can come to Christ except
the Holy Spirit give him life. That's what Jesus was talking
about in John 6. If you read John 6, you see this very plainly.
He is confident. He says, as many as the Father
had given me, they shall come to me. Now, does that sound indefinite? Does that sound possible? He didn't say, as many as the
Father had given me, they might come to me, if they just will
exercise their will. No, He didn't depend on them.
He said, They shall come to Me. And Him that cometh to Me, I
will no wise cast out. This is the Father's will that
He sent Me, that of all He hath given Me, I should lose. How
many? How many will He lose? How many
does false religion tell you He'll lose? False religion says
He died for all men everywhere without exception. He lost a
lot, didn't He? His death accomplished nothing
for millions, billions of people. I don't know who that Christ
is. That's not Him. My Lord says I will lose nothing. So how many will I lose? Huh? Nothing. Why? They all shall
come to me. And when they come, I will not cast them out. But
let me tell you why you won't come. use that will not receive
Me. He said this, in John 6, in verse
44, He said, No man can come unto Me. You don't have
to be an English scholar to understand that, do you? Grammar, you don't
have to be a grammar Nazi to understand that. No man can,
has the ability to come to Me. except the Father which hath
sent me draw him. The same thing happened to Lazarus.
When he was dead, he could not come to Christ unless Christ
drawed him, gave him life. As it is written, they shall
all be taught of God. And behold, the manifestation
of all spiritual life is this. We have been taught of God. What
is the first thing you've been taught of God? You that receive
Christ. What is the first thing you've been taught? You've been
taught that you are blind, self-righteous, worldly, and you have nothing
to offer God. That's the first thing you've
been taught. You see the ruin of your nature. You see the need
of your soul. You are laying in the ashes of
your ruin and have nothing to offer. You ever been there? If
you haven't, you've not received Him. I like that, I think I put it
in the bulletin somewhere. You don't have to read it now,
but this is good what Bunyan had said. He said, conversion
is not smooth, easy going as some men think. It is a wounding
work. It's breaking of the hearts and
without wounding there is no saving. You got that? God must first wound you in order
to save you. And when He quickens you, that's
the first thing He does, He wounds you. He strips you of your self-righteousness. Have you ever been stripped? Exposed? Have you ever been guilty before
God? If you've not, you've not been
quickened. This is the first work of the Spirit to bring us
to nothing. And the second work of the Spirit
then is to impart faith. That's the second word. As many
as received Him, they were born again. They were born of God. They were quickened. Therefore,
they received Him. This word received is a very
simple word. If you were... I'm thirsty. I receive the water. Now why
did I receive the water? I was thirsty. Why is it that you receive Christ?
Because you hunger and thirst for righteousness you can't provide. You have a man that's not thirsty
and you offer him water, why would he take it? You have a man dying of thirst
and you offer him water, is it an option? necessity. You receive Christ. Was it an
option or necessity? You that still believe on Christ,
is it an option or necessity? I have to have Him. I receive
Him because I need Him. before I die. It's that vital. It's that important. As many as received Him, they
believed on Him because they need Him. What do they believe? I believe He is the Son of God.
I believe He's God manifest in the flesh. I believe He came
to save Israel. He came to save His people. He
came to save them by His own obedience. He came to save them
by offering Himself a sacrifice to God for their sins. He came,
He died, and He rose again. I believe that. I trust that
with all my soul. I need that. I have to have it. He didn't rise from the dead.
I have no hope. He's not seated on the throne
of glory. I never would have been called. I never would have
believed had He not sent His Spirit to do it. And I tell you
this, I would still be in unbelief. I would quit had His Spirit not
kept me. And I would never make heaven
without His power. And I drank this in. I received
this into myself for life. It's my life. It's my necessity.
I receive Him. I must have Him. And those who receive Him love
Him. Love Him. What's the evidence
of faith? Faith worketh by love. Listen, you confess to me you
believe in Christ all you want to. If you don't love Him, And
you don't love His people? John said, you're a liar. I like the way John talks in
that book. He's out there outspoken. He said, you don't love God's
people. You don't love God. Shut up. You're a liar. So many people say, oh, I love
Jesus. I love Jesus. I have no desire to spend any
time with God's people. Liar. Truth's not in you. Why? Because you love God. You love
His people. And I tell you this, you love
His message. What have I said that's not the
Word of God? Tell me. Take this book and show
me. Don't give me your feelings,
don't give me your opinions, show me. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'll confess. I've showed you
everything from the Word of God. I love it. I love this message. I love this message because I
love Him. I love Him. And listen to what
the Scripture says of the blessed privileges. They that receive
Him, as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to
become the sons of God. Listen, by nature, we were not
the sons of God, we were sons of Adam. By nature. Yet, by grace, through faith,
we are now become something we weren't. It's true this, that
we were children of God from eternity. We were predestinated
under the adoption of children. Paul says in Galatians, I believe
it's chapter 3, he says, because you were sons, therefore the
Spirit has sent into your heart crying, Abba, Father. Because
you were sons. Because you were sheep. That's
why you were caught and that's why you believe. But I know this,
I had no experience of it until the day I received Him. And the
moment I received Him, this is my privilege, I am a son of God. Now, John says, it doth not yet
appear. Isn't that right? Look in the mirror and tell yourself,
I'm a son of God. Your conscience will bring you
to the dust, except God said you are His son. And it does
not appear what we shall be. I know this by faith, we may
proclaim this to be, we have a right to this. Now you got
this, I have a right to something. I have a right to be called the
sons of God. Why? God gave me that right. Who's
gonna take it from you? Did you make yourself a son?
Did you? Listen, if you made yourself
a son, surely you can take yourself out of that sonship. I didn't
make myself a son. God made me one. Who then can
take me out of it? I am a son of God. An heir of
God. A joint heir with Jesus Christ
and all He has is mine. It's mine. All of it. Mine. It's an inheritance Peter
said is incorruptible, undefiled. You can't defile it. You can't
corrupt it. It's reserved in heaven for you
because you are sons of God. Now why are you sons of God?
Not by blood. This is happening today more
than any other time. These religious parrots. They see their children and they
push their children into some kind of profession. I think the
other day at my daughter's school, they had some little kid baptized
and they all kind of just pushed him into it. You know, you want
to go to hell? No. Well, you need to believe.
Okay. Who wants to go to hell? Raise
your hand. Anybody want to go to hell? No, you force anybody
to say something like that and dunk them in water and say, oh
no, he's a child of God. No. It's not by that. You're
not a child of God because your parents were. Your parents are
Christian, that doesn't mean anything. You're not born again by blood,
nor by the will of the flesh. Now you got this, this does away
with all Arminian teaching right there, not by the will of the
flesh. Nobody is born by the will of the flesh. Nobody is born by his own will. Well, preacher, I was. No, you're
dead. You're dead. The Word of God tells me that
they that received Christ were born not of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of some other man. In other words, no matter
how eloquent the preacher... Somebody thinks that if we just
make the service so eloquent, if we just put a bunch of music
in, somehow that would help. Entertainment! We should have
a lot of entertainment! That would help! Nope. Not by
the will of some other man. This is the only way you'll receive
Christ. The will of God. Now you that receive Christ,
is this not your confession? It was God that chose me. It was Christ that redeemed me. It was the Spirit that quickened
me. And the faith I now have and
exercise is a gift of God and not of works. Therefore, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. It is salvation by the grace
and power of God. Have you received Him? Now listen, if you will not receive
Him, surely, and you die on your sins, it is the will of God.
But you will not go to hell because of God's reprobation, you'll
go to hell because of your own sins. Nobody's in hell because of God's
reprobation. They're in hell because of their
rejection of Christ. But if you receive Him, what's
the cause? It was God. It was God who gave
me such grace. I pray that God will bless this
to you. If you've not received Him, I pray that God give you
such grace even now to abandon all your thoughts of self-righteousness
and receive Him. If you received Him, what do
you continue to do? This morning, when you hear this
message, are you not receiving Him? Faith is a continual thing,
isn't it? I receive Him now. And now. And now. What a gift of God. I pray that
Christ is magnified and honored through His Word. Let's stand
and be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father, dismiss us with
Your benediction and blessing. O God, that You'd pour out Your
Spirit upon us, that You would teach us Your Word. Father, we
should abandon all refuge of lies and flee to Christ, be found
in Him, in His righteousness. Forgive us our sins. And bless
us again that we may come and return and worship Thee through
the preaching of Your Gospel, I pray in Christ's name. Amen.