again today, if you would be
so kind as not to feel bad at me. I can't remember how many
weeks we've been in John, but it's been a good many. But this
morning I'd like to read for you the first 14 verses of John
chapter 1. The Gospel of John chapter 1. And then our text will come from
two verses out of this chapter. Now, if you've lived in America
for any number of years, and some of us have lived a good
many, this whole world is totally confused
about who God is, who we are, who Christ is, and what it means
to be saved, those four issues, is apparent everywhere you go,
anywhere on this globe. But most especially, we are familiar
with what is going on in the country in which we live. Today's religion is concerned
about numbers There is a statement in 1 Timothy
6 that says, oh goodness, I just
had it on the tip of my tongue, but let me just run over there
and read it to you real quickly. I have to find it again. In the fifth verse of 1 Timothy
6, the last half of that verse says,
supposing that gain is godliness, and Paul says to Timothy, from
such withdraw yourself. I call it six B's by which Baptists,
generally speaking, thank God no longer in this place, though
it once reigned supreme right here. We had 700 in Sunday school
back in the 70s, I'm told, and an auditorium that won't even
hardly hold 200 people. Now, there's something wrong
with that picture. Godliness with gain. Gain is
godliness. Here are the five B's. Buildings. Lord, we've got too many of those.
Bodies. Baptisms. Blessings. Budgets and busyness, and that's
where it's all, you can see it everywhere you go. Every road
in this county, in this state, and in this country is measuring
spiritual things with physical things. That's a misnomer. That cannot be. Now let's find out what this
book really does say about God, about me, about Christ, and about
salvation. Back to John chapter 1. Let's bow in prayer together
first. Lord, we come to you through the righteousness
and blood of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. We come calling upon your name. We are on this earth witness to blasphemous things that are
said to be your doing. Lord, we come now to your holy
word. Please give us, by your grace
and your Holy Spirit, an understanding of what we read. If man is so confused, if religion
is so misguided, how on earth can we find out what is really
true? We make no appeal to numbers,
nor to money, nor to buildings, nor anything else in this world.
Lord, what we need above all else is that you would see fit to
presence yourself in this place. We are not many and we are not
much, but we believe that you have taught us the true gospel
of Christ. Lord, if that be so, if my poor
soul has the right understanding of these divine and precious
things so necessary to our soul's health. And if many of these, my friends
in this place, have embraced this same gospel, Lord, if you
do not own it, if you do not come and enable us to speak plainly
and clearly concerning these things, But even more than that,
if you yourself do not send your Holy Spirit to this very place,
then our words are virtually meaningless and can accomplish
nothing. We know who we are. We are nothing,
we have nothing, and we can do nothing. But this triune God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit does as he pleases in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of men. Lord, that's what we're
begging for this day. Bless your word. Help this poor
creature to declare things crystal clear. Give us an understanding
Correct us where we are wrong. Bless us when we find, by Your
grace, that which is right. Oh, how desperately we need divine
aid and help. We beg it in Christ's name. Amen. Now, I can't stop long. making
comments as I, and I know you don't, some of you don't believe
a word of what I'm fixed to say, but I'm going to try to read
it as nearly straight through as I can with just little tiny
things here and there that can be better worded perhaps. All
right? John chapter 1, verse 1, in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. Now who is that Word? None other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the Word of God. The same
was in the beginning with God. Now, there is one God in three
persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Verse 3, speaking of
Christ, all things were made by him. Ain't nothing in this whole creation,
in this whole universe, that the Lord Jesus didn't make. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him not
only was life, but in Him is life. There are three kinds of
life, did you know that? One is physical, the second one
is spiritual, and the third one is eternal. And our Lord dispenses
all three at His pleasure. And it ain't what we deserve.
That is not what we get. If you ever find out who you
are and who God is, you'll beg Him not to give you what He owes
us. We'd all be in hell already, and I'd be in the front of the
class. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent
from God whose name was John, not the writer of this gospel
now. This is not John the Apostle. This is John the Baptist, the
forerunner and announcer of our Lord Jesus Christ. The same John
the Baptist came for a witness to bear witness of the light
that all men through him might believe. John was not that light. but was sent to bear witness
of that light, that was the true light which lights every man
that comes into the world. Who is that? If you'll refer
back to verse 4, it is the very same as stated in that verse
that this is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
light that lights every man that comes into the world. Verse 10,
the Lord Jesus was in the world and the world was made by him
and the world knew him not. Something wrong with us if we
don't recognize our own maker. Yeah, there is. We're insane. We're blind. We're dumb. You
know, we're everything you can name. And that's how come we
don't know God. If he doesn't come to us, we
won't ever find him. We ain't even looking for him.
We're looking for an imposter. He came unto his own, verse 11,
and his own received him not, but as many as received him. To them gave he power, some people
say authority, to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name. Now you understand that all the
names in the Bible that are the names of Christ, this describes
his character and his being, as well as his work. Verse 13. I change the word which to who,
it's talking about people who were born, these people that
received him. Now you understand that already
in verse 10 as well as 11, it tells us about those that did
not receive him. And you and I are listed in that
same group of people until a miracle of grace removes us out of it
in order to believe and trust Christ. Verse 13, here's what
happens to those people who believe and trust and worship God the
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, which were born. Now, they're already
born with physical life, or this would not pertain to them. They're
already born, so this is a spiritual birth. Spoken of in our Bibles,
the closest place to us is John chapter 3. But it's called in
some places, regeneration. In some places it's spoken of
as being born again. And then there's another expression. What is the third one, Curtis?
I can't get it to come to mind. Oh well. Being born again. Regenerated is the other word
that is often used in our Bibles. Who were born not of blood. Now, there are some people who
believe that if parents are believers, their children automatically
will become believers. That is a bunch of you-know-what. Bull. It ain't so. It is not so. Now, thank God,
many believing parents do have children who turn out to be believers.
But that ain't what caused it. Not of blood. It's not inherited. You might inherit your mom and
daddy's money, but you can't inherit Christ. God must do a
work of grace in your soul as well, if indeed He's actually
done one in theirs. Secondly, it is not of the will
of the flesh. It's not the sinner's will. That's
not what does it. Our will is locked in reverse
against God and against his grace in Christ. Only a miracle of
that grace can cause us to come to Christ and plead for mercy
and grace. In verse 13, there are three
of these expressions, nor of the will of man. I cannot will your salvation,
and you cannot will mine. In fact, neither of us can will
either. But it is the will of God that
determines things. It is God saves whom He pleases. And some people that you'd automatically
suspect should be believers turn out not to be. John Newton said
when he got to heaven, John Newton wrote Amazing Grace and a number
of other songs. But he said when he got to heaven,
he expected three surprises. He said he would be looking for
some people and they weren't there. That surprised him. There
were some other people that were there that he didn't expect to
be there. But he said the most amazing thing of all, the fact that John Newton was
there. John Newton, slave trader, immoral
to the hilt. God conquered him by his grace.
Made a preacher out of him, and a wonderful preacher indeed. So how were they born? these
persons who are being described. And how are people born again
today? Just one little expression there at the end of the verse.
Three little words. But of God. That's who does it. And he does
it quite well. Our Lord boasts in many places
in the scripture. that he's not lost a single one
of God's sheep that was given to him in the covenant of grace
in old eternity. You can sing that song, Will
the Circle Be Unbroken, all you want to, but I can tell you there
ain't no such thing as a break in that circle. We might be disappointed
in persons that we knew while in this life and are surprised
that they have no interest in the grace of God. That's one
thing, but this is another. This is indeed another. All right,
one more verse, verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. This Word is God. Remember back
in verse 2 and also verse 1? The Word was made flesh. God
became a man. Now, there's a huge difference
in the human nature of Christ and our human nature. When we're
born in this world, we're born sinners, because Adam is our
father. But Adam is not the father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Right? Surely. All of you who've been frequenting
this place for any time at all, you know that. You must know
it. that this nature of our Lord
Jesus, His human nature, is called in 1 Timothy 3.16, God manifest
in the flesh. I'm telling you, His human nature
is absolutely perfect. It was perfect when He came out
of Mary's womb. And it was perfect when He was
hanging on that cross. And now He's seated in glory.
Oh my, what a sight, what a sight. 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 full of truth. That's the
Christ of the Bible. I want to concentrate on verses
12 and 13. I call this my text, though I've
already pretty much explained it to you. If you caught all
of that, then, well, I don't want you to take a nap. I might
take up my old habits of throwing songbooks. So I'd appreciate
it if you didn't. The older I get, the easier it
is to sleep. Sitting, standing, it doesn't
make any difference. Verses 12 and 13, receiving Christ,
that's just what we call this, simply. The purpose, now let
me make one other statement. I'm trying to confine your turning
with me to the gospel of John, but there's one or two places
we just might have to violate that rule just a little bit.
All right, here we go. In regard to receiving Christ,
in John chapter 6, to which I am turning, and you may or may not
turn as you please, I cite you two verses. The first
one is verse 37. Now, I want you to tell me as
I read this verse. I really want you just to talk
to yourself, you know, inside your head. And you tell me if
the Lord Jesus is having any difficulty getting His sheep
to come to Himself. All right? Verse 37, John chapter
6, All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and him
that comes to me I won't ever cast out. Now try verse 45 on
for size. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
has heard and has learned of the Father, what do they do?
We come to Christ. No wonder His grace is called
irresistible grace. Because I'm telling you, when
that day comes, brother and sister, you can't resist it. I don't
care if you've got a team of horses pulling the other way.
Never, never, never. Secondly, receiving Christ is
the work of God the Holy Spirit as well. He is the one who performs
what is called the new birth. Take this statement in, we'll
not turn to yet, 1 John chapter 5 and verse 1. Whosoever believes
that Jesus is the Christ, What about him? Is born of God. God the Holy Spirit. You and
I cannot come to Christ. We won't. Until we're born again. And then we can't have it. We have to go. And go we do. Thirdly, receiving Christ is
the business of preachers and preaching. Now, I have to read
you a statement that I have affixed to a particular piece of paper
here, if I can quit my hand from shaking. I want to read you this
verse and then I'll tell you where it is. Alright? Paul writing to Timothy, Therefore
I endure all things for the elect's sakes, for those that God has
chosen unto salvation, their sake, that they may also obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Wonderful, wonderful statement
indeed. Let me give you another one.
Let's see, that one I forgot to give you then, the text. That's
2 Timothy 2.10. Now this one is back in 1 John,
but I won't divulge the verses yet, or the chapter for that
matter. He that believes on the Son of
God has the witness in himself. He that believes not God has
made God a liar. Now, when you run across a statement
like that in our Bibles, that we make God a liar, it means
we do our dead level best to, but we never succeed. You can't
make God a liar. For one thing, one of his other
names is truth. And one of the blessed names
of our Lord Jesus Christ is truth. He has made God a liar because he
believes not the record. that God gave of His Son. Now, John chapter 1 is part of
that record. That's why it's in our Bibles.
And it goes on to say, this is the record that God has
given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Verse 12, he that has the Son
has life. He that has not the Son of God
has not life. We may have religion, we may
be Baptist or any other name in the book, but it ain't worth
two cents. Not worth a hill of beans as
we say in these parts. Those last statements that I
read to you have to do with receiving Christ. And in this case, some
rejecting, which is always the case. But it is the purpose of
the gospel. I forget the scripture in Acts,
but it says, some believe the things which Paul and his fellow
missionaries preached. You know, some believed. But
it adds, and some believe not. And that's still how it is. I
don't care if it's in America or in Timbuktu or where it is.
That doesn't change anything. People are the same in regard
to who God is and who we are and what salvation is and how
a sinner comes to be saved. In John 8, if you would turn
there please. Verse 24, John chapter 8, our Lord is speaking to some
people that are disappointed in Him and expecting Him to do
all kinds of stuff, you know, that selfishly they want for
themselves. But the Lord Jesus tells them
in verse 23 of John 8, You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not
of this world. Now here's a dead serious statement,
verse 24. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins of all kinds of death, That's
one death you don't want. To die in our sins. For if you believe not that I
am, the word he is italicized, telling us that the King James
translators inserted that word, it's not in the original. And
if you remember when Moses was asking God The Lord is commissioning
him to go to Egypt and lead the children of Israel out of the
Egyptian bondage. He said, now when they ask me
who sent me, what am I to say? And the Lord said, tell them,
I am that I am. That's who God is. I am that I am. And our Lord
uses an abbreviation of that very expression right here in
this statement. You believe not that I am, you
shall die. in your sins. Oh, that's the
death of all deaths. That's not only the death of
the body, but it is the eternal dying of the soul. If you don't
have Christ, I don't care what else you've got, you ain't got
nothing. It's not enough to be religious.
It's not enough to be a member of somebody's church. It's not
enough to be baptized, to take the Lord's table, to believe
in certain doctrines, it's not even enough to be moral. I guarantee
you there's plenty of moral people already in hell. The rich young
ruler in Luke chapter 18 is one of them. So what is in Christ that makes
it so important for us to receive Him? To receive Christ. as all our
salvation, all our hope, and as David said in his dying words,
all my desire. In John chapter 4, the Lord Jesus
is in Samaria. His disciples did their best
to get him to take the long route around and not go through Samaria
because the Jews hated the Samaritans. And the disciples were, for the
most part, in fact, altogether, I suppose, all of them were Jews,
and they just despised the Samaritans. Now, the Samaritans were half
Jews and half something else. And sometimes, even today, people
are shunned because of that. But our Lord said, I must needs
go through Samaria. There's a woman that I'm going
to meet there at Jacob's well. She's virtually a prostitute.
She's been married like four or five times. But he said, I
must needs go through Samaria. And he's talking to this woman. And she does her best to evade
the statements that he makes. If one thing about this whole
chapter of John chapter 4 is overwhelming is that she did
her best to get away from him, but he just kept saying words
that just, she could not leave. Even though they were words she
did not want to hear. For example, later on in his
conversation, he said, go call your husband and come back. You
know, go back to town and bring your husband. I want to meet
him. She said, I don't have a husband. Our Lord said, I know you've
had four, and the man you have now is not your husband. Now,
I'm not here forcing marriage on anybody, but I'm trying to
tell you this woman, this woman wasn't a member of the, you know,
the top class of people in this little village, but she was there
nonetheless. And our Lord keeps talking to
her, and now she gets on religious questions. The Samaritans worship
in Samaria, and the Jews worship in Jerusalem. She said, now,
where is the right place to worship? And that question for this generation
and for many in the past is a moot question. It ain't where It's
whom. It ain't what kind of building.
It ain't how it's built. It can be a tent or an open air.
It does not matter. If Christ is not preached, God
is not there. So if you've turned to John 4,
Our Lord says in verse 23 to this lady, But the hour comes,
and now is, when true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him. I'm telling you, if God didn't
seek us, we wouldn't ever seek Him. And then he goes on in verse
24, God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship
him how? In spirit, that is spiritual
worship. It's not making the hair stand
up on the back of your neck. It's not crying at an altar. It's not any of that junk. That's
false religion. I don't care what it's called,
Baptist or otherwise. I used to practice that same
religion, I ought to know. I was born into that religion. I hate it today with a passion.
It is damning the souls of men. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. The woman said to him, I know
that the Messiah is coming. I am looking for him. I know
he is coming. And when he's come, he'll tell
us all things. He's already told her everything.
But she still don't know him. Now she's standing inches or
feet, I don't know how close, it don't matter how close they
were. She's looking straight at him and they're the only two
people on that part of real estate right then. And she doesn't know
him. And that's exactly how stupid
I am and you are when it comes to finding God. He can be right in front of us.
And we don't know it. You can open this book and be
one of the best texts in all the Bible. And we can't see it. Is that what you said about those
Psalms this morning, Curtis? Read them a hundred times. Not
have a clue. Not a clue. Well, she said in
verse 25, I know that Messiah comes which is called the Christ.
When He has come, He'll tell us all things. I don't think
you'll find a plainer statement anywhere in the Bible where the
Lord Jesus makes this statement. Jesus said unto her, I that speak
unto you am He. Meaning, I am the Messiah. And this woman forgot about her
water pot and ran back to the village to tell anybody that
would listen to her, I've found the Christ, the Messiah. Come
and see. And they did. Oh my soul, I tell
you, this thing of finding Christ and receiving Christ has got
some turns in it that you and I would have never believed if
it wasn't right here in this book. It will take me a week to finish
this sermon. Gosh! God is in Christ. The only God you will ever know
is the God-man, Christ Jesus. The other God, Father and Holy
Spirit, are both invisible. The Lord Jesus, though in heaven,
is still wearing our flesh. Sin accepted, of course. His
human nature is pristine, absolutely holy. I couldn't put mine in that category. Not one out of my 69 years could
not do it. God is in Christ. And if we're to find him, if
we're to know God, we'll know him in his Son, in the gospel,
or we won't know him at all. Secondly, the love of God is
also in Christ. John, hey, right across the page
in my Bible, John 3.36. John 3.36. The love of God is in Christ.
He that believes on the Son has what? Everlasting life. All but preacher or person can
lose their salvation. Oh, you can lose the salvation
that we find ourselves, but you can't lose this one. Else the
Bible is alive when it says everlasting life. If the Lord Jesus lives forever,
all of his people will too. They're his bride, his church,
his chosen. He that believes not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. I tell you, this is serious business,
folks. Most people don't know this,
but thirdly, righteousness is also in Christ. I'm going to give you the text,
but I'm not going to turn. I think I can quote these, because
I'm just going to make a little short statement, and they're
both virtually the same with the exception of one word. In
Jeremiah 23.6, there are eight times in the Old Testament when
the Lord Jesus is described as Jehovah hyphen
something else. One of those, and the one that
I need this morning to illustrate this, is Jeremiah 23.5, and it
is Jehovah our righteousness. I suppose the Hebrew word is
Jehovah Sidkenu, T-S-I-D-K-E-N-U. But it means righteousness. Righteousness. The Lord Jesus
is the only righteousness a sinner can have. Now, if you're without
sin, you can just walk right into heaven and take a front
seat. The rest of us will have to come through the blood and
righteousness of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. Now,
there is another place in Jeremiah, 33 verse 16, but get this one
now. That one said, He is our righteousness,
and this one says, She is our righteousness. The bride of Christ
is as righteous as her husband. You follow me? Jeremiah 23. Oh, I forgot the verse. Jeremiah 23.5, I think it is,
is talking about Christ Himself. And Jeremiah 33.16 is talking
about the church. She's the bride of Christ. My
soul, read the Song of Solomon. I really have trouble with that
book. But there are some statements in there just utterly plain,
but not all of them. I'll grant you that. So God's
salvation is in Christ and no place else. That's where it is. That's where it is. Now, I've
got another page of notes, but I doubt I'll get to do much with
it, but I'm going to try. To whom is Christ preached? If receiving Christ is our business,
to whom is he preached. When the angels fell from heaven
at the same time Lucifer got booted out, he did not come to the fallen
angels. How do we know this? Because
in Hebrews chapter 2, it says that Christ took not on him the
nature of angels, But he took on himself the nature of Abraham. What kind of nature did Abraham
have? Just like us! A human nature! He did not come to save angels. And he did not come to those
already in hell. And there were many in that category. And in our generation there are
millions if not billions of people to whom Christ has not come. I don't think I recall in the
last umpteen years since we've been carrying a daily paper to
ever have seen an edition without an obituary column. I honestly
don't believe I have. And sometimes I'm like Mark Twain,
I look and see if mine's in there. and see if the news of my death,
like he said about his, has been grossly exaggerated. That's supposed
to be funny anyway, but it didn't go over too big. So what is the danger of hearing
of Christ? reading about him, singing about
him, what is the danger of having all of those things and not ever
receiving them. Go through all the motions, but
there's no life in it. No life in it. Paul said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because you've hidden these things from the
wise and the prudent." I'm sorry, these are the words of Christ
in Matthew chapter 11, and has revealed them unto babes. Our Lord is rejoicing in that
fact that God does not seek to save everybody. If he did, they'd
all be saved, because I guarantee if he's trying, well, trying
ain't even a good word. I can't use that word with God.
If he's intending on saving a soul, he's going to save it. And I'm telling you, this issue
of who it is and who it isn't was settled in old eternity before
this world was ever made. The names of all of Christ's
sheep were written in the Lamb's Book of Life in old eternity. That means He's known us forever,
and we ain't known Him but just a short while. Thank God. Thank God. The question is, have we received
Him? I think we just sung these words
this morning, In my hand, no price I bring. simply to thy
cross I cling." If we have to come up with anything,
I mean even with sincerity, we ain't going to make it. Now, I said I might ask you to
make two little excursions. Well, I'm going to bring that
down to just one, and it's Matthew chapter 7. How many times, Curtis? Matthew 7, which is a portion of what is
called the Sermon on the Mount, and in Matthew's Gospel it occupies
three chapters, 5, 6, and 7. But in the seventh chapter, beginning
at verse 21, we have an amazing and awful
statement. Matthew 7.21. Not everyone that
says unto me, these are the words of our Lord Jesus, who by the
way will be the judge on this last day that he is describing,
not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father
which is in heaven, Now, you and I, if we had to
describe Judgment Day, the only thing we could do is make wild
guesses. There's not much hope that we'd get very close to the
truth. But if the Lord Jesus is telling us what's going to
take place on Judgment Day, this is what's going to take place.
Here's what he said. Verse 22, Many will say to me
in that day, Lord, Lord, Have we not prophesied or preached
in your name? And in your name have cast out
devils. Haven't we been fighting social
ills in your name? Trying to get people to straighten
up and fly right? And in your name cast out devils. And in your name done many wonderful
works. Now here are people on judgment
day expecting to be rewarded, but instead they will be damned. Let me finish it. One more verse.
Verse 23. These are our Lord's own words.
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. You claim to know me, but I don't
know you. You're not one of my elect. You're
not one of my sheep. You're not a part of my bride.
I never knew you. But this is what ices the cake.
Depart from me, you that work iniquity. Now, my dear friends,
these are religious works that are considered to be wonderful
things for people to do. But instead, they are works of
iniquity. I'm telling you, the worst sin
is not immorality. Heavens know, the worst sin that
this world has ever seen is the sin of unbelief. Not trusting
Christ. Not receiving Christ. Not coming to Christ. Now let
me tell you one other thing, and I'm through. Coming to the
front of this building, this room, whatever you want to call
it, it's an auditorium, it's not a sanctuary, and there ain't
no birds in here anyway, so it can't be called a sanctuary.
Coming to the front, taking a preacher's hand or any other kind of song
and dance that people tell you is part of being saved is just
pure malarkey. I'll tell you one thing, if God
opens your eyes, to who the Lord Jesus is. You might try to keep
it secret, but I'll guarantee you one thing, it will leak out
on you.