Good morning everybody. It's
mighty good to see you. We're going to start off this
morning in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. John chapter
1. Our subject this morning is one that is vital to the health
of our souls, and it is, What is it to receive Christ? What is it to receive the Lord
Jesus Christ? I'm going to try my best this
morning to answer that question from as many different angles
as I can find help to show me these things in the Scriptures.
So first of all, we're going to take a reading out of John
chapter 1, the first 14 verses that you've heard over and over,
but you cannot ever hear them enough. And that's true of many
of the vital issues regarding salvation and eternal life. So,
let's call on the Lord together and ask for His help. If He would come and put His
blessing on those parts of His Word this morning that we will
consider, and they're numerous. So I have finally let my wife
print off some verses that will save you some time. You know, I need all the time
I can get, but I'll see how that goes. All right, let us pray. Lord, we call upon your name
this day through your blessed Son, the
Lord Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Sacrifice, our Rock of Ages. Your book, and thankfully many
hymns, are just simply running over with declarations concerning
the precious Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope. all of our hope. Let us this day, as we study
the scriptures together, find out if indeed and in fact that
is the case, or if I may be overstating things in regard to myself. Lord,
we beg for your aid. We beg for your blessing. We
thank you for your goodness. What a wonderful day this is. We ask you to guide us and lead
us as we study this book this morning. We thank you in our
Savior's precious name. Amen. Alright, John chapter 1
and verse 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now, anybody that denies the
Godhead and Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ can't even get past
the first verse of John chapter 1. The Word was God, and Christ
is that Word. The same was in the beginning
with God. There's no difference in the
holy three in one. They're each one equal to the
other. They share attributes. So it
tells us that Christ, the same, was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made. Now, if that ain't simple enough,
I don't know what is. Who made this world and all these
planets in space and everything on this globe? Who made it? God
did. And what's his name? Jesus Christ
the Lord. In him was life, verse 4, and the
life was the light of men. He's called elsewhere in this
gospel, the light of the world. And the light shines in darkness. And the darkness comprehends
or apprehends it not. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. Not our writer of this gospel,
mind you, but another John. We'll tell you in just a moment
who he is if you've not already figured it out. The same came
for a witness to bear witness of the light. that all men through
Him, through Christ, might believe. He was not that light. This John
fellow was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that
light. This is John the Baptist, who
is called in the Old Testament, the forerunner of Christ. That
was the true light which lights every man that comes into the
world. He was in the world, speaking
of our Lord Jesus, and the world was made by Him, and the world
knew Him not? We didn't even know our Maker. That's exactly right. And every
son and daughter of Adam is in the same boat. And you can deny
it all you want to, it doesn't change anything. I'm not going
to get red-faced and mad. I'm surprised we don't have more
opposition instead of less. But maybe that's because they're
not here, and you are. I hope that's the case. Verse 11, He came unto his own,
and his own received him not. Now, we've already learned back
in verse 10 what happened on a universal scale all over this
globe. But now we've learned that our
Lord, do you know? I won't call His name, but a
fellow that I've done business with in past years has started
reading the Bible now that he's in his 80s. He's getting help from the wrong
place. And something happened. Somebody
said something. Anyway, he calls me to give me
his religious questions. He said, Was Jesus Christ a Jew? I said, Man, you've had a Bible
at your house how long and you don't even know that? And that's just a symptom of
what we all are. Human beings have a way of making
this book say what we want it to say. Now, have you ever done
that? Lord, I was born in that. for longer than I care to admit.
I claim to be a preacher in that false religion. He came unto his own, verse 11,
and his own received him not. And if we had time, we could
go look in Luke chapter 4 and find out what happened the first
time he went back to Nazareth after he began his public life
and ministry. They physically thrust him out
of the city and were going to cast him down headlong down a
steep cliff upon which that village was built. And he passing by
went right through the middle of them. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them
that believe on his name." And then it defines these people
for us that received him, because that's not the norm. It is by far the exception. Verse 13, which were born, these
people that received Christ, which were born, this is not
talking about our physical birth, every human being has been born
at least once, but this is talking about a second birth, which were
born, not of blood, has nothing to do with our ancestors or with
them giving us some advantage in the knowing of Christ. which
were born not of blood. Salvation is not in groups. It is one by one. Most people are born believing
in household salvation. If the parents are Christians,
then the children must be Christians too. So we baptize them at ridiculous
ages, four, five, and six, and all the way up the ladder from
there. Not so, it's not of blood. Who my mama and daddy were has
nothing to do with this, but I heartily followed their religion
until many years later, which were born not of blood,
nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. It's not
my will. It's not other people's will.
Salvation is by what? Whose will? The will of God. We have to be made willing. We're
not born willing. "...which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." I take that sentence, that verse, to
be from the Apostle John, the writer of this Gospel. So here's
the question. What is it to receive the Lord
Jesus Christ? But before we take up the subject
of receiving Christ, It is a most important matter must be addressed
before we tackle that. Namely, Christ receiving me. That, my dear friends, is the
rub. It's not, will I have him? Will
he have me? Let's look at that just a bit.
In our Bibles, we can find various statements of one kind or another
in both Testaments. For example, we take Noah in
the Old Testament. Noah is said to have found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. And yet, in Noah's day, how many
people were on the earth, I have no clue. I doubt anything like
is on it now. Noah and his wife and his sons
and their wives are the only people on board that ark. The
Bible says, few. Do you know exactly how many?
Eight souls were saved on that ark. And that ark is a picture
of God's salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Noah preached how many years,
Craig? 120. Before the ark was complete
and the flood came. We read about Moses. Moses prayed,
Lord, if I have found grace in your sight. And he goes on and
makes requests. Thirdly, we love him. We love the Lord Jesus. But get
this now, don't miss this part. Because why? He loved us first. In everything about this believing
and trusting and coming to Christ, you just remember that little
rule. God must do it first. And then give it to us. And we'll
come to Christ. We come because we must. We have
to. We cannot refuse. So we love
Him because He first loved us. That is a principle that runs
all the way through the Scriptures. That particular expression occurs
in 1 John 4.19. Fourthly, a man can receive nothing
except it be given him from above. Not anything unless it be given
him from above. receives sinners before sinners
receive Christ. You following me now? We don't take the initiative.
God does. Always. Now if you want to talk
about sin, you can put the cap on our head and climb to the
top of the ladder. That's what we are, sinners.
Sinners. Another matter now in regard
to how does Christ receive sinners. He must receive me before I receive
him. Now I'm going to make use of my wonderful gift here on this
sheet of paper. It will stay where it's supposed
to. I'm going to read you from John 6. I know you're close if
you want to turn to it, fine. Verses 37 through 39. One of these days when I get
enough money, I'm going to buy all of you one of these notepads
or whatever they're called. I won't have to wait for you. John 6, 37-39, all that the Father
gives me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will in
no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do my
own will, but the will of him that sent me. Now listen carefully
to verse 39, and this is the Father's will which has sent
me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day." All of Christ's sheep will be
in heaven when this world is finally ended. Every last one
of his elect, all the people that God gave to Christ in the
covenant of grace before this world was ever made, Every last
single one of them will be present. They cannot do otherwise, because
our Lord Jesus purchased us with His own blood. Here's another scripture that
may help us, John chapter 10. And look at there, it's on the
same page in my Bible right now. John 10. No, I'm at the wrong spot, y'all.
Here it is. Oh, boy. John 10, verses 14 through 16. I am the good shepherd, and know
my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knows me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep."
Well, what about the goats? Christ didn't die for the goats.
And a good passage to see that is Matthew chapter 25. We don't
have time at the present. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."
There is not a Jewish church and a Gentile church, an American
church and wherever else a church. All believers are one in Christ. This world is trying their best
to do what they call an ecumenical movement. to get believers to
all be one. I got news for you, there ain't
never been anything else but one. I'm serious. We might even call
ourselves by different names, such as Baptist. I ain't as fond of that name
as I used to be. these people that Christ receives,
these sinners, the Holy Spirit calls them to Christ. Let me read you, before you get
a chance to try to turn to it, I want to read you some verses
off this sheet of paper. And then I'll tell you what they
are. For whom he did foreknow, not what, whom, He did foreknow. He also did predestinate. People somehow, man, I mean,
the hair stands up on their back when you talk to them about predestination. My soul, it's just all a matter
of who does the predestinating. And if it's God, it's got to
be right. Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate. Now,
how long has He known them? Forever. Forever. When He gave them to Christ in
the covenant, He gave them to Him by name. Whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified. I don't know how your math is,
but mine says there ain't none missing. Whatever we started with, we
end with. Whoever God foreknew in the sense
of foreloved are the very same ones that the last sentence in
the 30th verse says, them he also glorified. So it's hard to believe, I know,
but there ain't no turning back. There ain't no people that give
up and quit, because God's almighty grace won't let us. If He left
us to ourselves a split second, we'd be gone. By the way, you thought I wasn't
going to tell you, but that scripture was Romans 8, verses 29 and 30. And there's another statement. I'm
not going to turn to this, but I'm going to tell you it's Ephesians
2.1 and it reads, And you has God quickened who were dead in
trespasses and in sins. The people, all the people that
God saves, all of them are sinners. You follow me? Who were dead
in trespasses and sins. Alright, we come now to these people that come to
the Lord Jesus in faith. And we read in our Bibles, all
that the Father gives me shall come to me, and him that comes
to me I will in no wise cast out." Psalm 110, verse 3. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. This is God the Father speaking
to God the Son. Your people shall be willing
in the day of your power. When our Lord grants us the necessity,
the need, as well as the ability to come to Him. You has He quickened,
made alive, because before we were dead in trespasses and in
sins. And these people, when they come,
they come to Him in faith. Our Lord reads it this way in
a verse that we've already read, and I shall read it again. All
that my Father gives me shall come to me, and him that comes
to me I'll in no wise cast out. Take, for example, Mark 16. In
fact, let's just turn to Mark. I don't know where you've got
your Bible open or if it's even open, but in case you forgot
the order, it's Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, so we're going
to take the second gospel. I thought you'd like that, but
some of you didn't. You made me lose my place. The
last chapter of Mark. The very last chapter. Chapter 16. Our Lord is just before ascending
to glory, which takes place in verses 19 and 20. But in verse
15 of Mark 16, Our Lord said to these disciples,
go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,
every created human being. You don't preach the gospel to
animals nor to angels. They certainly don't need the
gospel. They've been confirmed in holiness
and they'll be that forever. Go you into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. Now why would the Lord Jesus
tell the apostles that if it wasn't necessary to the salvation
of sinners? And yet there are people going
around every day in all kind of religions and claiming this,
that, and the other, and they say you don't even have to hear
the gospel to be saved. You can be saved by the watching
of a sunset, the singing of a bird, or this, that, or the other.
Then why send these men, in many cases, to their death in order
to communicate this truth? Somebody's lying, and if you
ain't totally dumb, you ought to be able to figure that out.
Let's read that again, because I want to get to verse 16. Our
Lord said to the apostles, Go you into all the world and preach
the gospel. He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned." Now, don't say that I said you
have to be baptized to be saved, because that ain't so. And that's
not what this is saying. But mull that over. It's certainly
a vitally important statement in our Bibles. Now, I had some other parts of my outline hidden
from your view. Well, not really hidden, but
where I can find it when I need it. Let's work on this matter of
receiving Christ. My first statement on that is, to receive Christ, is to be convinced
of the reality of Christ, that He is a real person, that He
is the God-man mediator that the Scriptures proclaim Him to
be. Boy, I don't know why I did that.
I need to read you some other statements in the Scriptures.
The first one here is Hebrews 11, verse 6. No, I was not going to read it.
I was going to ask you to turn with me. I'll try to spare you the rest
of the way. Hebrews 11, 6. But without faith, Hebrews 11, 6, but without faith
it is impossible to please Him, that is, to please God. And that
faith has only one object, and that object is Christ and Him
crucified. Without faith it is impossible
to please God, for he that comes to God must believe that God
is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. Therefore, all saving faith is
founded on knowledge and understanding. You cannot believe what you don't
know. We cannot receive An unrevealed
Christ. The only way to know Him is for
God to reveal Him to my soul, my heart, my inner person. All right, here are three or
four questions quickly. in regard to this saving knowledge
and understanding of Christ and the gospel of Christ. Who is
Jesus Christ? The old theologians used to say,
He's very God of very God. That's God all the way through,
ladies and gentlemen. No hitch. Well, what did he do when he
came to this earth? What did our Lord Jesus Christ
do? Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.15,
it's a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And then he adds,
of whom I am chief. Or you can take Matthew 21 when
the angel said to Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people
from their sins. And that's what he's doing today,
yesterday, tomorrow, as long as this world stands. There's
no purpose in this world without our Lord's redemption being compensated
perfectly and fully. So why did the Lord Jesus do
what he did to redeem his people? So that God might be just, that's
holy, righteous, and still justify the ungodly. Preacher, why do you say the
ungodly? Those are the only people that God saves are ungodly people. Frankly, there ain't nobody else
on this earth but ungodly people. Where is the Lord Jesus now?
He's at the right hand of God. The second thing, that having
to be with the first statement about knowledge and understanding,
the second thing is conviction. Conviction is born from a knowledge
of the law, not the gospel. of the law. And if you want a
good sampling of that and maybe want to test yourself about this
matter of the law and being convinced of who God is, who Christ is,
what grace is, what the gospel is, if you want a way to determine
that, this conviction, if you'll take the second half of Romans
7 and read what the apostle says to you about the law. He's talking
about himself, but he's also talking about us. And I challenge
you to try that, see what you think of it, and let me know
what you find out. The third thing is repentance
is born of the knowledge of my sin. You cannot repent and not
be a sinner. You don't have anything to repent
of unless you're a sinner. Now, I know. I was born this
way. I was taught that God saves good
people. But that ain't so. I mean, if for no other reason
it ain't so. You can't find anybody that's
good except God. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. And faith, conviction is born
of the knowledge of the law. Repentance is born of the knowledge
of my sin. And faith is born of the knowledge
of Christ. Let me read it to you, and then
I'll give you the text. For the which cause, this is
Paul in one of his letters, for the which cause, yes, that's
right. For the which cause I also suffer
these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom
I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto him against that day. And that's
2 Timothy 1.12. What a statement that is indeed. What a statement. What a statement.
Alright, we move now. Still pursuing our overall subject
of receiving Christ. How it is that a person receives
Christ. To receive Christ, is to be convinced
of the reality of Christ. The reality of Christ. You remember the statement that
I read earlier? Let me read it again. This is Hebrews 11, 6. But without faith it is impossible
to please Him, to please God. For he that comes to God must
believe that God is, and that He is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. Then if you'll listen while I
read you some statements out of Romans 10. No, by golly, I
just don't want to do it that way. I want you to see it and
hear it. Romans 10. And I'm sure we've been over this
dozens of times. Romans 10. And verses 13, 14,
and 15. Now, if you've been to many churches over your lifetime, however long
that is, you've heard this statement, till the cows come home. Verse
13, Romans 10. Romans 10 and 13, for whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And we've got all kinds of quickies
that we can get people to do. If you'll just get up from where
you're sitting and come to the front, God will save you. If
you take the preacher's hand, He'll save you. No, He won't. No, they won't. That's making a religious decision. That is not being born again. To be born again requires a miracle
of God. And this religious world has
found out how to do these things for God so they don't need Him. They'll do anything in the world
to get you. And then they have to do anything in the world to
keep you. I don't want them. Just go somewhere else. Go somewhere
else. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now here are four Hows, H-O-Ws,
four of them, that must be addressed in order for us to understand
verse 13. Alright, here's the first one
in verse 14. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? Calling is the result of believing. And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they've not heard. You've got to tell them who God
is, who Christ is, who we are, and what salvation is. You just
don't. You know, it's like a person
inheriting a farm, and he ain't never farmed in his life. And
he just thinks he can just go there and go to it, and it's
done. That is nothing compared to this. But that's impossible. Third is, how shall they hear
without a preacher? So if preaching is not necessary
in order for sinners to be saved, then why is this statement in
our Bibles? It's here because it is true
that we must hear the Word of God preached. It doesn't have
to be in person. It can be on a television. It
can be on a CD, or this, that, or the other. These things are
immaterial. How shall they hear without a
preacher? But I'm here to tell you, it'll
take more than some sorry preacher like me. If God doesn't take hold of the
situation, then it ain't nothing going to happen. We'll go out
the door the same we came in. And you know that is absolutely
the truth. How shall they preach, except
they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things! But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed our report?" That's the opening phrase in
Isaiah 53. And the rest of it goes on to
say, Lord, who has believed our report? And the answer is right
there in Isaiah 53 verse 1, To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? So who will be converted? To
whomever the arm of the Lord is revealed. That's the arm of
His power. of his Godhead. Oh, what a glorious,
glorious thing indeed. To receive Christ is to rest
upon the testimony of God's Word as being infallible and unquestionable. So what is our source of information? and revelation concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Word of God and what
it has to say about Christ and about salvation. His deity, His
eternal existence, His incarnation, His life of obedience, His death,
His resurrection, His ascension, His mediatorial work, His return
to glory. And all the revelation found
in Holy Scripture. Let's see if I've got one more
verse in this thing. Somehow I think I don't. I'm going to turn and I think
I'm going to stop here after we cover some Scripture in 1
John 5. 1 John chapter 5, verses 10 and
11. 1 John 5, 10 and 11. He that
believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself. He that believes not God has
made God a liar, because he believes not the record that God gave
of His Son. And this is the record. This is what is found all over
the Bible, because He believes not the record that God gave
of His Son. And this is that record that
God has given to us, eternal life. And where is this life? It is in Christ. It is in God's
Son. In God's Son. To receive Christ is to receive
all that He is. all of his attributes, all of
his work, all of his words, we have to receive him. That's what
it is, is receiving Christ. You can't receive the things
of Christ without receiving him. You know, everybody and his brother
wants to go to heaven when they die, but I'm sorry you ain't
going to get there unless you know Christ. Well, that's enough. That's enough.