Alright, we're going to be looking
back at John chapter 1 that Brother Joe read, but I want you to turn
to Ephesians chapter 1 to start off with. Ephesians chapter 1. Now, the title of the message
is Receiving Christ. Receiving Christ. And I want
to start off by giving you some gospel facts. gospel facts. You know, people have different
ways of expressing the gospel. You know, the word gospel means
good news. And most people today, especially,
I think it's probably more popular in our day, they like simple
formulas, the ABC, the one, two, three, you know, repeat after
me and then say a prayer and bam, you're saved, all that kind
of stuff. Of course, you know that's not scriptural. That kind
of thing is not scriptural. You know, the gospel, we can
state it in different ways, but it all needs elaboration. You
know, I know people say, well, I'm not sent to explain or proclaim. Well, it needs proclamation then.
That's fine. You know, whatever. You've got
to say something from the Word of God. If I tell you that the
gospel is Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that's true, isn't
it? That's a truth. But who is Jesus Christ? People
say different things about him. People have different ideas about
him. Some say he's God. Some say he's not God. Some say
he's man. Some say he's not man. Some say
he was a sinless person. Some say he became or made a
sinner. You know, there's different things
said about Christ. What we need to be assured of is that what
we know of him is found in this book. What God says about him. So let me give you some gospel
facts. Now the gospel is more than just fact. Things written
on a page. I mean, the gospel, the scripture
says in Romans 1 16 is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believe it. There's a power there. These are words of life. But
here's some gospel facts. The Bible teaches that man fell
in Adam. Fell into sin and death depravity
all without exception because all without exception are sinners
Romans chapter 5 says for as by one man sin entered the world
and death by sin for that all sin Romans 5 and verse 12 and
that's why we need salvation we cannot save ourselves Man
at his best is altogether vanity. The best, the highest, the best
that man can attain in life politically, philosophically, economically,
or religiously cannot make him righteous before God. That's
what the scripture says. And so therefore, here's a gospel
fact, if salvation were conditioned on us in any way, to any degree,
at any stage, where would that get us? What does the Bible teach? I know what man says now. They
say the condition is faith. Well, that's not the way the
scripture puts it. We must believe. That's why I'm
talking about receiving Christ. We must receive Christ. But if
salvation were conditioned on man, that would doom all men
forever. That's a gospel fact. We're sinners. That's total depravity. We're
going to talk about that. Now listen to what he says here
in Ephesians 1. Look at verse 3. He says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going
to give you some more facts here. He says, Who hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Here's a gospel fact. All salvation
and its blessings are in Christ, conditioned on Christ. The Bible
teaches, look at verse 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. Now I didn't write that. God did. So if you're going to
argue with what I'm about to tell you, then your argument's
with God. It's not with me. I used to argue against that.
And then one day I figured out I was arguing against the Lord,
not against Brother Man or whoever was preaching. That's what he
says. According as he hath chosen us,
the us there, that's a personal pronoun that refers to people,
doesn't it? It's not just a destiny, not
just a future state of existence. That's people. He chose us in
Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. Now, here's a gospel
fact. Before the foundation of the world, God chose a people
and gave them to Christ, conditioned all of their salvation upon Christ. And what were those conditions?
Well, let's look. Verse 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should behold him without
blame, set apart and justified before him in love. There's love
now. You want to see love, there it
is. It's not just some kind of an arbitrary emotion, some kind
of a desire. You know, most people think of
God's love as just being a desire. He desires you. He wants you. He's trying to get you to do
something for Him. No, no, no. Here it is. Here's what God's Word says now.
That we should be holy, that set apart, separated from the
world, and without blame, justified, sanctified, made holy, before
Him, before God now. In love, verse 5, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children, there's predestination, by Jesus
Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of whose will? His will, God's will, not your
will, not my will, God's will. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, what's grace? That's unearned favor, unearned
blessing. Whatever this is talking about,
you didn't earn it and didn't deserve it, I didn't earn it,
didn't deserve it. Wherein He hath made us accepted, accepted
before God in the Beloved, in Christ. all salvation conditioned
on him in whom we have redemption through his blood now there's
the condition for salvation right there his blood death that equals
righteousness in whom we have redemption through his blood
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace all
salvation conditioned on christ that's a fact Here's another
fact. Christ fulfilled all the conditions
of the salvation of his people. He fulfilled them. How do you
know? He obeyed unto death. He was
made sin. In other words, he bore the penalty
of the sins of his people to the cross and died for them.
The soul that sinneth must surely die. Without the shedding of
blood, there's no forgiveness. Whose blood? Christ's blood. Righteousness must be established.
God's law must be satisfied. God's holy character and nature
must be honored. There's the conditions. You can't
do that. I can't do that. Not even at our best. Man at
his highest cannot do that. That's how bad this thing is
with us. You say, well, surely somebody, somebody can do it. There is a somebody who did do
it, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a fact now. And
then here's another gospel fact. All for whom he died and was
buried and rose again shall be saved. God will give them the free gift
of his grace. Now, go back to John chapter
1. Now here is something that most people see as an objection
when it is really not an objection to this gospel message, these
facts of the gospel. And immediately, the reason I've
been thinking about this is because this came up with a friend of
mine down south. Somebody says, oh, but you must
receive the gift. And they state that as an objection
to these gospel facts. But my friend, in the Bible,
it is no objection. Now let me tell you something.
You must receive the gift. There's no doubt about that.
It's called receiving Christ. But let's put it in a scriptural
context. Let's see what the scripture
says about that reception, receiving the gift. What does it say? Well,
he's talking here in John chapter 1, as you know, about Christ
the God-man. Verse 1, in beginning was the
Word. That's Christ, the living Word.
He is the embodiment of the Word of God. We've got a great outline. It talks about Christ being the
Word. He's the living Word. He is the incarnate Word. That's down in verse 14. We'll
get there in a minute. Word was made flesh. He's God
and man in one person. He's the preached Word. He's
the uttered Word. Because this book is about Christ,
you see. Christ is the Word of God. In
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. That's the
distinction of persons in the Godhead. God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Somebody says, well, I'm not
going to believe that because I can't explain it. Well, you're not
going to believe much. But that's what this book says. Christ is
God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, co-equal with
the Father and the Spirit in every attribute of His nature.
And I cannot explain that to you. I can't get into the basic
properties of that, as they might say. But the Word was with God,
and it says, and the Word was God. That's amazing, isn't it? He is God. He says in verse 2,
the same was in beginning with God. That's His eternality. Has
no beginning, no end. He described Himself in Revelation
1 as the Alpha and the Omega. without beginning, without ending.
Verse 3, all things were made by Him. This whole thing, this
whole existence that we have was made for the glory of God
in Christ. He says without Him was not anything
made that was made. We don't believe in evolution,
we believe in creation. Verse 4, in Him was life. The
life that we have, the breath that we take, and the life was
the light of men. In other words, this life we
have is a light in that sense. Nature itself is a light. Psalm
19, we're going to read that tonight. The heavens declare
the glory of God. That's what he's talking about
there. This life itself is a light. It's enough light, the creation
itself is a light. It's enough light for God to
hold men and women responsible for not seeking Him. And then
it says in verse 5, now here's the sinfulness and depravity
of man, but I'm going to talk more about that in just a moment.
He says, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness
comprehended it not. That's sin. That's us. What do
men do if left to themselves? Looking at the light of nature.
Read Romans chapter 1. We don't have time this morning
to go through Romans 1. Beginning at verse 18. That's
where he talks about how God has given that light of nature
where men can see His glory and His wisdom and His power. But
what will men do, what will men and women, natural man and woman,
do with the light of nature if left to themselves? What will
we do? We'll worship the creature and not the Creator. Some men
worship the sun. Some men worship Mother Nature.
How many times have you heard that about Hurricane what, Sandy?
Mother Nature. Mother Nature didn't do that.
There is no Mother Nature. There's only Father God. And
He's in control. That's what this book says now.
Isn't that right? And so, men will worship the
Son, they'll worship Mother Nature, they'll worship themselves. That's
really where it all goes to, isn't it? Man worshiping himself.
Now, as I've told you many times, don't you dare get the accept
me syndrome. Somebody says, well, you're talking
about somebody else, but not me. My friend, if left to ourselves,
where would we be? The darkness comprehended it
not. Didn't understand the glory of
God. And then he says in verse 6,
there was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now that's
John the Baptist. He's the preacher. He's the one who points sinners
to Christ. It says in verse 7, the same
came for a witness, to bear witness. And that word bear witness is
like a courtroom term. I'm bearing witness, I'm testifying
of the light, of Christ who is the light. that all, men's in
italics, that all through him might believe, all kinds of people,
that's what he's talking about. Now we preach to everybody who
will listen. If you're here this morning, I'm preaching to you.
You may not comprehend it, you may not want it, but I'm going
to preach it to you anyway, I don't know. It may be the Lord will
be gracious this morning and bring a sinner to see the glory
of Christ. That's our prayer, isn't it?
You say, well, how do you know that the Lord might do that?
Well, he brought me there. He brought some of you there,
didn't he? And if he'd left me to myself, I know where I'd have
been. So he said, talking about believing here. Believing what?
Not just believing now. He's talking about believing
something. Believing in the light. Believing in Christ. And he says
in verse 8, now he was not that light. I think that's important.
I know it is. Because you need to understand
that the preacher, even John the Baptist, is not the light.
You need to understand that salvation is not following men. It's following
Christ. It's serving Christ. It's believing
and resting in Him, His blood, His righteousness. You may know
of famous preachers in the past who were martyred for the faith,
and that's a noble cause. And I'll tell you what, it takes
the grace of God to do that. But their blood doesn't wash
away your sins. Christ's blood washes away my
sins. He's the light. John the Baptist
himself was martyred for the faith, wasn't he? But John's
blood didn't wash away our sins. John didn't work out a righteousness
for me to be accepted before God. Christ did. That's why John
said, I've got the decrease. He's got to increase. Christ
must increase. So he said he was sent to bear
witness of that light, verse 9, that that was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Now how
does Christ light every man that comes into the world? Every man
and woman. Tell you how. Gives them a conscience. The
natural conscience is a light that every man who comes into
the world has. Every woman who comes, you've got a conscience.
Now, we fell in Adam. It's a depraved conscience. It's
a sinful conscience. But it's there. Some people spend
their lives trying to squelch that conscience. And some are
successful doing that because God lets them go. Again, read
Romans chapter 1. He talks about the reprobate
mind. Well, what is a reprobate mind?
It's a mind that's void of conscience, void of judgment. Everything
goes, you see. No right, no wrong. If it feels
good, do it. That's what that is. But you
have a conscience which accuses or excuses. He mentions that
in Romans chapter 2 when he talks about the Gentiles who didn't
have the law of Moses. He said they are without excuse
because they had a conscience. They had laws, legal systems.
They had prohibitions. And that's the way it was. It
was their conscience. But verse 10, now listen to this. He says, he was in the world,
that is Christ. Now he became incarnate and walked
this earth, but he was in the world before that, wasn't he?
He's always been in the world in a sense. He was in the Old
Testament. He was in the garden. I believe
that's who appeared before Adam and Eve in his pre-incarnate
existence, appearance. And the world was made by him
and the world knew him not. Verse 11, He came unto His own,
and His own received Him not. Verse 12, But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them which believe on His name, which were born, not of
blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory. The glory is of the Only Begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now let me give you
these four things. Number one, the world by nature, all men
and women by nature are in a state of spiritual death. Spiritual
death. Where do you find that? Verses
10 and 11. Look at it. He, Christ, who is the light. Christ who is the light. Christ
who is God. Christ who walked this world
as God in human flesh. Christ who died was buried and
rose again the third day. Christ who raised the dead healed
the sick. Christ who calmed the storm.
He was in the world. He was in the world back at the
Red Sea when it was parted. He was in the world. He wrestled
with Jacob. Jacob wouldn't let him go. That
was according to God's purpose and plan. He was in the world. And here's the two things that
prove spiritual death. Ignorance and rebellion. Look
it, here's ignorance. And the world was made by him
and the world knew him not. Now think about that. The one
who created the world was in the world and the world, that's
all men and women by nature now, that's the unbelieving world,
the world knew him not, didn't recognize him. Isn't that right? Look over at Isaiah 53. You say, well, that dirty old
world, huh? Those rotten people. My friend,
that's you by nature. That's me by nature. If you know
Him, if you recognize Him, you know what it is? It's not a testimony
to your goodness or your being less rebellious or your being
better than everybody else. It's a testimony to the sovereign
grace of God who lifted a wretch like me off the dunghill of my
natural depravity. That's what it is. You say, well, not me. You must
have been a pretty bad preacher. I wasn't like that. Oh yes you
are, or were. But look at it, verse 1 of Isaiah
53. Who hath believed our report,
our doctrine, our preaching, our message? What was Isaiah's
message? Christ and Him crucified and
risen again, coming in the future. And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Anytime you see in the scripture
the arm of the Lord, do you know what it's talking about? It's
talking about His power. to whom is the power of God,
not the power of the sinner revealed, because the sinner has no power. He's impotent. The sinner is
impotent by nature in these matters of salvation. Now, he may be
able to do a lot of things. He can become religious. He can
go through the motions. He can build cities and raise
armies and make money, but he cannot save himself from sin.
All right? He cannot wash away one stain
of old sin. He cannot make himself righteous
before a holy God. So to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? The power of God. Well, what
is the power of God? Well, Christ is the power of
God. He says in verse 2, now here's what he says, for he shall
grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a
dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness
and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire
him. Verse 3, not only that, he's
despised and rejected of men. Now again, don't get the accept
me syndrome here. That's self-righteousness. Did
you know that? Oh, not me now. I'm not in that, but oh yes I
am by nature, that's where I was, boy. In my religion, that's where
I was. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised
and we esteemed him not. And then he goes on talking about,
keep your finger there at Isaiah 53, I'm going to go back to,
but he was despised and rejected of men. Ignorance and rebellion.
Look back over at John chapter 3. This is spiritual death. If
you want to define spiritual death, listen to me now. And
I know people will argue over this and they shouldn't. Now, you can hear what I'm saying
to you. When I used to sit back there and listen to Brother May,
I heard every word he said. And let me tell you something, I
knew what he was saying too. I mean, I didn't walk out like
a deer in the headlights. I knew exactly what he was saying.
Here's the problem. I didn't believe it, didn't want
it, didn't love it. In fact, I hated it. Now, that's
spiritual death. That's right. I guarantee you
every sinner in Jerusalem, every unbeliever in Jerusalem that
picked up a rock and threw it at Stephen knew exactly what
Stephen had just said to them. The problem is they didn't want
it, they didn't love it, they hated it, they didn't believe
it. And they hated the messenger. They knew that Stephen was telling
them that they were lost and that their religion was filthy
rags in the sight of God. They knew that. And they hated
him for it. But look at John chapter 3, look
at verse 19. Well, look at verse 18. He says,
He that believeth on him is not condemned. That's Christ. He
that believes on Christ is not condemned. There's no condemnation
in Christ. John 3, 18. No condemnation in
Christ. But he that believeth not is
condemned already. That's how we're born. In Adam. He says, because he had not believed
in the name, the name there is his glory, that which identifies
and distinguishes him as the one and only Savior of sinners,
the God-man who met all conditions of our salvation. And he says,
of the only begotten Son of God, verse 19, and this is the condemnation,
that light has come into the world, and men love darkness
rather than light, Why? Because their deeds were evil. Now, deeds there means their
best works. In other words, what he's saying
here is when the gospel is preached that Christ is the only way to
God, no other way, His work, His death, His righteousness
imputed alone, where does that put my works, my best efforts
that by nature I'm so proud of? What does that say about me?
It says they're nothing but dung. That's what Paul called them
in Philippians 3. In fact, my best efforts to be saved by my
works are an abomination in the sight of God. That's the evil
deeds he's talking about. And people by nature just don't
want to hear that. That's not the message that I
wanted. I listened to a fellow today on TV talking about forgiving
one another and all that, and what he said was good in that
sense, but that's his whole gospel. It's salvation by what they do. Now, if I were to go in there,
or any true preacher of the gospel, go in there and tell them people,
now let me tell you something, what he just told you is nothing but
filthy rags. What do you think the crowd's
going to do? They applauded him. You think they'd applaud me?
No, listen, we ought to forgive one another all the time, without
end. I mean, there's no end to the
forgiveness that we should be... We should fall over ourselves
trying to forgive one another in every way. But that is not
what saves us. You see? That's not what makes
me righteous before God. My best act of forgiveness will
not wash away one sin. For that, I need Christ. And
that's why I should forgive you. And you should forgive me because
Christ forgave us without any condition put upon us. That's
why. Look on in verse 20, he says
in verse 20 of John 3, for everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light,
neither cometh the light, lest his deed should be reproved or
discovered, brought to the surface, exposed for what they are. But
now look at verse 21, but he that doeth truth, now what is
it to do truth? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He comes to the light. that his
deeds may be made manifest, be exposed as they are wrought in
God." They're the work of God. Not my work at all. The Bible
says, "...the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them." They're spiritually discerned.
So that's spiritual death, ignorance and rebellion. That's all of
us by nature. Now go back to John 1, verse
11. Here's the rebellion. John 1.11. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. Now a lot of people say that
means He came unto His own nation, the Israelites. And His own nation
received Him not. And that's true. Israel didn't
receive Him. But I'll tell you who else didn't
receive Him. I didn't receive Him. You didn't receive Him. Now that's right. By nature now
I'm talking about. His own people, His own, God's
elect, by nature would not receive Him. We have all, what does it
say over in Isaiah 53? It says in verse 6, all we like
sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way.
Now he's talking about people whom he redeemed here. We've
every one turned to our own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him
the iniquity of us all. He died for me when I didn't
know Him, didn't receive Him, didn't want Him. He died for
me before I ever existed. What he's talking about is man's
natural rebellion here. The message of God's grace in
Christ, man will not receive by nature. But look on, now that's spiritual
death. In fact, if you want the best way to determine total depravity,
Think about it this way, how does a sinner react to the preaching
of Christ? 1 Corinthians 1.18, it's foolishness
to them that are perishing. It's the power of God to them
that are being saved. But look on, now here's the second
thing, spiritual life and standing. Look at verse 12. It says, but
as many as received him. Now remember what he said in
verse 11. He came unto his own, his own received him not, but
as many as received him. So there's some people who do
receive him. Somebody says, you must receive
the gift. Oh, yes, you must. Well, what does the Bible say?
Well, as many as received him, to them gave he power. Now that
word power there speaks of right or privilege. In other words,
it's a way that I have of supporting and identifying myself as a child
of God. He says, but as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. That
is, to be called the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. What is it to receive him? It's
to believe on his name. It's to do truth. It's to rest
in Christ. In other words, those who receive
him, they have spiritual life. They've been resurrected from
the dead. That's what's spiritual. They
have a standing before God. It's a standing of a son in the
kingdom of his father, in the family of his father. They've
been set free by the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They've been
set free indeed. And then over in Isaiah 53 and
verse 10, listen to this. Isaiah 53 and verse 10. He says,
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that is in the place of
his people, The many sons, they're called in Hebrews chapter 2.
He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin. That's what Christ was. He was
a sin bearer and a sin offering. He shall see his seed. That's
his offspring. Now what offspring is he talking
about? He's talking about those whom he redeemed by his blood. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He's going
to glorify God in doing it. Verse 11, he shall see of the
travail of his soul. The language there is indicative
of like a woman in childbirth bringing forth a child. Christ
going through that cross, that travail of the cross, what does
it say? He shall see that offspring,
that child, his people, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, make them righteous before
God. How is he going to do it? For
he shall bear their iniquities. In other words, if he bore your
iniquities, you're righteous before God. Verse 12, Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide
the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors, sin was imputed to him, and he bared the sin
of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. In other
words, if he died for you, he's making intercession for you.
And there's no way you can end up in hell. He's an advocate. That's your standing before God.
That's being a child of God, a son of God. Go back to John
1. As many as receive. Have you received Christ? Do
you believe on Him? Do you rest in Him as your only
salvation? His blood for the forgiveness
of all your sins, His righteousness imputed as your only justification
before God? then you have the right to say,
I'm a child of God. I believe in His name, that which
identifies and distinguishes Him. Look at verse 13. Here's
the third thing. Spiritual power. Now let me ask you this question.
Have you received Him? You say, yes. Where did that
power come from? That power to receive? You know,
it takes power to receive Him. You think about it now. A sinner
coming to faith in Christ, and repenting of everything else.
You know, that's a powerful work. I mean, that's a sovereign work. Think about Saul of Tarsus. He
spent his life trying to work his way into God's favor, didn't
he? And you know, people, I know
people, they'll think about their past religious experience. Boy,
you talk about somebody with past religious experiences. You
couldn't outdo Saul. And every bit of it was real.
And the reason I say I've had people say, oh, but that was
so real back then. Well, I'm not questioning the
reality of it. I'm questioning the validity
of it. You know, hell is real, but I don't want to go there.
How about you? So it has nothing to do with
whether you had a dream. It was real. OK. Could be a lie,
though, couldn't it? You had an experience, and I
just felt this way. You know, people say, I just
felt the Spirit. Well, was it the Holy Spirit
or a lying spirit? Oh, I know it was the Holy Spirit.
Let's test it with the Word of God. How about that? Would you
be willing to test it? A lot of people aren't. No, I'm
not going to listen to you. Just listen to God's Word. We're
talking about salvation here. We're not talking about investing
your money. We're not talking about your
health on there. We're talking about eternal life
here. So here's Saul of Tarsus spending
his life trying to recommend himself unto God and I believe
he was about 40 years old on the road to Damascus. So he'd
been doing this for 40 years and then all of a sudden, bam,
he's turned around and he says, now everything that I've been
working for for 40 years is nothing but dung that I may win Christ
and be found in him. Now I want to tell you something,
that's power. Where did that power come from? Did it come
from Paul? No, sir. Did it come from His
will? No, sir. Somebody changed His
will. Look at it, verse 13. Those who
receive Him, who have that right and privilege to call themselves
the sons of God, who believe on His name, which were born. They were born, but not of blood. In other words, this didn't have
anything to do with your physical birth. doesn't have anything
to do with your heritage. That's important for this because,
you know, remember the Jews, they would say, Abraham's our
father. No, sir, that doesn't have anything to do with your
family heritage, your physical birth, which were born not of
blood. That's not talking about a physical
birth now. Nor of the will of the flesh.
Now, what I believe that's talking about is the works of the flesh.
What the flesh desires is self-righteous. Paul talked about it in Romans
7. He said, when we were in the
flesh, the passions of our sins did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. It's not by... Listen, it's not
by physical birth. It's not by physical... It's
not by works. And then it says, nor of the
will of man. It's not by your will. You say,
well, I made the decision. I made the difference. Oh, no.
Oh, no. That's not where the power comes
from. Where does it come from? Which were born of God. The power came from God. This
is the new birth over in John 3. Look at it. Lord Christ tell
Nicodemus. Here's Nicodemus, a Pharisee. What was Nicodemus desiring? He was desiring to recommend
himself before God by his works. Christ said it in verse 3, Jesus
answered and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man
be born again, literally born from above. Spiritual birth,
the new birth, regeneration, conversion. He cannot see. That word see there means to
understand. He cannot understand, saving
thee the kingdom of God. All we know by nature is work
salvation, conditional salvation. We'll even make faith a work.
We'll even make receiving Christ a work. That makes the difference
between heaven and... Oh, no. Oh, no. I'll tell you
what makes the difference between heaven and hell. I'll tell you
what makes the difference between saved and lost, Christ and Him
crucified and risen again. Must you receive Him? Yes, you
must. But my friend, all who do are
born again from above. Verse 4, Nicodemus saith unto
him, How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter in the
second time into his mother's womb and be born? No, it's not
of blood, Nicodemus. Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. That water there,
I believe, represents the word of God. James 1.18 says, We're
begotten again by the word of truth. And you hath he quickened,
Ephesians 2.1, who were dead in trespasses and sin. It's a
quickening. My friend, the power to receive
Christ and submit to Him is of God, not of you, not of me, not
of our will, not of our works, not of our heritage. It's of
God. That's what he's saying. Well,
look at the last one. Here's the spiritual foundation.
Now, here's the foundation for it all, verse 14. Here's the
ground of salvation, the foundation of salvation. Here's the source
of the new birth. Here's where the gift of receiving
Christ, the gift of faith comes from. And the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. That's Christ, isn't it? That
word dwelt there, you know, means tabernacle. Tabernacle is the
presence of Almighty God. You want to see God? Look to
Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And John says in parenthesis, and we beheld His glory. Not
by nature we did, and we esteemed Him not. Remember back in Isaiah
53? If God left me to myself, I wouldn't
see His glory. I'd just esteem Him not. I'd
hide my face from Him. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of what? Grace. Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord and truth. Let me show you one more scripture
and I'll close. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. There's the foundation. The foundation of salvation,
the ground of justification, the source of regeneration, The
Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, and that means more
than just live among us, it means He also died among us. That's
what that tabernacle was all about. You know that whole tabernacle,
that whole temple, you know it was built for one purpose, to
house the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat, the Holy
of Holies. And what was that all about?
The high priest going in one time of year with the blood of
the lamb to sprinkle it upon the mercy seat. Because God said
right there, that's where I'll meet and commune with you. Nowhere
else. All of that pictures Christ who
lived among us, died among us, was buried and rose again among
us. That's the tabernacle, you see.
Look at Hebrews 2.14. He says, for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also, himself
likewise, took part of the Son. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
amongst. That through death he might destroy him that had the
power of death, that is, the devil. And as the devil brought
in condemnation, Christ removed the ground of that condemnation
and delivered them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. That's man by nature. Oh, except
me. No. That's all of us by nature. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but took on him the seed of Abraham. Who's
the seed of Abraham in the scripture? All who receive him. All who
submit to him, believe in his name. Children of the promise. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him, or he was indebted for us to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in all things
to God to make reconciliation, that's propitiation, satisfaction,
for the sins of the people our sin listen Christ died for you
he satisfied God he satisfied the law satisfied justice and
he says in verse 18 for him that he himself has suffered being
tested tempted he is able to sucker or to comfort them that
are tempted there's our comfort that we receive yes we must receive
him but my friend the power to receive him is of God not of
you not of me And the foundation for that receiving Him is the
Word made flesh, living, dying, being buried and raised again
among us so that we might come unto God by Him.