Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. In John chapter one, verse 12,
we read these words, 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. I want to preach upon this subject,
receiving Him. What does it mean to receive
Him? I can remember as a young man
hearing a preacher say, receive Him. And I can remember the thought
going across my mind, what does it mean to receive him? I can't see him. I can't touch
him. What does it mean to receive
the Lord Jesus Christ? Now this is found in John chapter
one, which every time I've ever preached from this, portion of
God's Word. I think it's the Mount Everest
of the Scriptures, these first 18 verses of John chapter 1,
where John clearly identifies Jesus Christ as the Word. Every
time I've ever preached from this passage of Scripture, I've
always left it feeling I've left much unsaid, and I suppose I
will, this morning as well, this is such a glorious passage of
scripture, these first 18 verses of John 1, which tell us who
Jesus Christ really is. Oh, that interests me. And I
want to receive Him, whatever it means to receive Him. Now, there is no salvation apart
from you and me personally receiving Him. If I do not receive Him,
I will not be saved. That's how important this subject
is, receiving Jesus Christ. Now, if I do not receive Him,
He was never given to me. Somebody says, well, if you don't
receive him, it's because you rejected him. I'm not going to
completely deny the truthfulness of that statement. You did reject
him if you don't receive him. But if you and I don't receive
him, it's because he was never given. Paul said in 1 Corinthians
4, verse 7, who maketh thee to differ from another? And what
do you have that you did not receive? Now, I would ask that
you would pray for yourself that you would be enabled to receive
the Lord Jesus Christ and pray for me that I might be enabled
to preach what it really means to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 10 of this chapter
in John chapter one, it says, he was in the world and the world
was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his
own, and his own received him not, but as many as received
him." There are 15 times in this several verses of Scripture that
the word him, he, or his is used. Who is he? Who is this him that
the world refused to receive? Now, this is known in this passage
of scripture. And we can't proceed until we
determine by the grace of God, from God's word, who he is that
we're called upon to receive. Now in verse one, John says,
in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. as a distinct person, and the
Word was God. The same was, eternally was. This is speaking of his eternal
isness as God. He is God. In the beginning,
he already was. He didn't begin at the beginning,
he had no beginning. He is the eternal Son of God. Now, look what it says in verse
three, All things were made by Him. This one we're to receive
is the Creator. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. Now, inherent
in Him being the Creator, that means He is He who is all-powerful. He created the universe from
nothing. And inherent in Him being the
Creator is nobody made Him. He is eternal. He made this,
no one made him. This is the he that's being referred
to. Verse four, in him was life. He has independent life. You and I are so dependent, we're
dependent upon air, we're dependent on food, we're dependent upon
sleep, we're dependent upon shelter, we're dependent upon clothing,
we're dependent upon him for the next breath we take. He has
no needs. He is utterly independent. He doesn't have to have something
to preserve his life. He himself is life. We are utterly dependent upon
Him who is independent. He is life and the life was the
light of men. The only life or the only life
that you and I are going to have as to how God can accept us is
seen in His life. This is who He is. Verse 12, But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God. He's the giver.
If you're gonna have life, it's because He gives it to you. It's up to Him as to whether
or not you're going to have life. Now understand this. People think,
well, all I gotta do is make up my mind to accept Jesus Christ
as my personal Savior and He'll save me. It's up to my free will.
No, it's not. It's up to Him. I've heard people
say, won't you make Jesus the Lord of your life? You can't
do that. He is the Lord of your life. And salvation is not up
to you. It's up to Him. This is the one
we're talking about. Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
one who gives. You see, verse 14 says, with
regard to Him, 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. Now, He is the Word made flesh. Paul said in 1 Timothy 3.16,
great is the mystery, God was manifest in the flesh. The Word,
the second person of the Trinity, the eternal God was made flesh. bone of our bones and flesh of
our flesh, a human being, a man. There's one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. This is who He is that
we must receive. And He's the one who possesses
glory. He is described in Hebrews 1.3
as the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his
person. The glory as of the only begotten
of the father, the soul and only representative of the being and
character of him who sent him. The image, Paul says in Colossians
1, verse 15, the image of the invisible God. Now this begetting
as the only begotten Son of God, spoken of in Psalm 110, when
God said, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. This
is not an event of time. This is a fact. irrespective
of time, the only begotten and well-beloved Son of God. The only thing you and I are
going to see of God is the Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord. In Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, possessing
every attribute of pure Godhead. The Lord said in John chapter
14 verse 9, he that has seen me has seen the Father. Now you think of the magnitude
of that statement. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. And he is the one, John says,
who is full of grace. and truth, and of his fullness
have we all received, and grace for grace, for the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. This is
the one we are called upon to receive, the one who is full
of grace and truth. Now, grace, when I try to describe
grace from the scriptures, I usually call it, and this was a good
definition, unmerited favor. But the grace the Lord Jesus
had was not unmerited. Oh, how the Father favored him. Full of grace. Oh, the Father
loves the Son. Full of truth, so much so that
he said, I am the truth. And then John says the law was
given by Moses. And the law is true, but it's
not the truth. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. John goes on to say in verse
18, No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son who
is in the bosom of the Father. That's His nearness to His Father. He's in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him. All you
and I will ever know of God is what He declares to us. Now, this is the one we are called
upon to receive. But as many as received Him. Now, once again, look in verse
11. He came unto His own, He, this
one who is God. He came unto His own, the Jews. And His own received Him not. They had no love for him. They
had no regard for him. And this is the way we all are
by nature. You see, verse 10 says, he was
in the world and the world was made by him. And the world knew
him not. Now this world, he made it. It's his. The earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. You're on his earth right now.
You're a subject of his. And he can evict you at any time. This planet belongs to him. The
earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. He came into his own. He came into the world and the
world knew him not. You know what that means? Nobody had any love for him.
He came into this world. His brothers and sisters, they
didn't know who he was. They had God manifest in the
flesh, living in their home with them every day, and they didn't
get it. Now, what this thing of knowing
him not means, the world had no love for him. This one who
is so glorious, the world had no love for him. What a crime
to not love him who is altogether lovely. The world knew him not. But, this is the but of grace,
but, as many as received Him. As many as received him. Now don't miss this word, as
many as. As many as received him. We find
this phrase quite often in the scriptures. As many as means
all in that group. All in that group. For instance,
Acts 13, 48, as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Who believed? As many as were
ordained to eternal life. That's talking about God's elect.
Peter said on the day of Pentecost, the promises to you and your
children, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. As many as I love, Christ
said, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent.
As many as received him. The receiving of Jesus Christ. That's what those who are given
to Him do. They receive Him. Now, if a man doesn't receive
Christ... He will not be saved. If a man
does not receive Christ, Christ was never given to that man.
Now, false religion, and I don't use that term flippantly, it's
a very solemn thing that there is such a thing as false religion. And if you and I are in false
religion, we will not be saved. But false religion makes the
act of the reception of Christ the saving act. It's something
like this. God loves you. Christ died for
you. He put away all your sins. And
He wants to save you. But it's up to you as to whether
or not you'll be saved. God wants to save you. Christ
died for you. God the Holy Spirit's calling you. But it's up to you
as to whether or not you will be saved. You must receive Christ. The act of reception is the act
of salvation. And if you're damned, if you're
not saved, It's because you failed to receive Him. And if you are
saved, it's because you decided to receive the free gift of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You make the difference. Now,
think about this. What if you give somebody a gift
freely, and it's an act of goodwill on your part, they didn't really
deserve it, but you decide of yourself to give them a gift
freely. What if they took that gift and
said, the reason I have this gift is because I received it.
At least I received it, I ought to get some of the credit for
that. You know, if you did that, I'd probably take the gift back.
Yet that's the way men act with regard to this thing of receiving
of Christ. They make it a work. It's a work
you must perform. And if you don't perform this
work, you will not be saved. If you do perform this work of
reception, you had more wisdom than the person that didn't,
and you're going to be rewarded with the gift by receiving it. Now, that's salvation by works. That's salvation ultimately dependent
upon what you do. Your act of reception is the
act of salvation. If you're in heaven and somebody
else is in hell, the reason you're in heaven is because you decided
to receive what that person rejected. Therefore, you get at least some
of the credit in salvation. My dear friends, that's just
not so. That is false religion. That is salvation by works. If I receive Him, it's because
He was given to me. Freely you have received. Freely give. Now what does it mean to receive
Him? as many as received Him. To them gave He the power to
become the sons of God. What is it to receive Him? I will not be saved if I don't
receive Him. What does it mean to receive
the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, you receive Him, first
of all, when you receive His words, what He says. John chapter 17 verse 8 says,
I've given to them the words thou gavest me and they have
received them. To receive him is to receive
his words, everything he says, we bow to what he says. When the Lord looked at the disciples
who were leaving him, they claimed to be his disciples and they're
leaving him and he looked at the 12 and he said, will you
also go away? He's not going to have any unwilling
disciples. And Peter's answer was, Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life. Every doctrine of the scripture,
the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. We believe
his words and we receive his words. The Lord said in Mark
10, verse 15, verily I say unto thee, whosoever shall not receive
the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Now, when I was a child, when
my father told me something, I believed him. I believe what
he said to be true because of who he was. Now, when children
get older, they start becoming suspicious of their children
and start becoming know-it-alls and they think they know everything.
But as a child, you receive what your father, what your mother
says. That's true. And this is what
every believer who receives the Lord Jesus Christ does. They receive as a little child
His Word as true. It's true because He said it. I love what I Thessalonians 2.13,
it says, when you received the Word of God which you heard of
us, you received it, not as the Word of man. Not as man's opinion,
not as man's thoughts, but as it is in truth, the word of God,
which effectually worketh in you that believe. Now, what is
it to receive him? Verse 16 of this same chapter
says, in John chapter one, of his fullness. have we all received. And grace, for grace to receive
Him is to receive His fullness. Colossians chapter 2 verses 9
and 10 says, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and you are complete in Him." You see, when I receive Him,
I receive all that He is, and I receive all that He's done.
I receive His person, I receive His work. I receive His righteousness. as my personal righteousness
before God. I receive his redeeming work
on Calvary's tree as the putting away of all my sins. I receive
his grace, his free favor as to why I would be saved. I receive
his mercy. I receive all that he is. I receive him in his fullness,
redeeming grace, electing grace, justifying grace, regenerating
grace, calling grace, preserving grace, Sufficient grace? The Lord said to Paul, my grace
is sufficient for thee. We receive him in all of his
fullness. Now, but as many as received
him, What is it to receive Him? It's to receive Him in who He
is. It's not to receive a false Christ,
but the truth Christ, the Christ of the scripture, and we receive
Him in all of His fullness. Now look at the next thing He
said, but as many as received Him. You receive Him because
He's given. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God. John said, behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be the
sons of God. For whom he did foreknow, Then
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, sons of
God, little brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the
body. This is the benefit of receiving
him. In receiving him, you are a son
of God with God as your father, with God as your savior, with
God as your provider, with God as your all in all. Now, the natural man is not going
to receive him. First Corinthians 2.14 says,
And the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither indeed can
He know them because they're spiritually discerned. You see,
to receive Him, you're going to have to be born of God, as
we're going to see in this passage of Scripture. 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." Now, here's what it
means to receive him. It means to believe on his name. It's
that simple. His name represents his attributes. It's the person behind the name,
the Christ of Scripture, the Christ who is God. The Christ
who has all the attributes of God, the Christ who is absolutely
sovereign, able to save, all-powerful, merciful, gracious, absolutely
just, holy, To receive Him is to believe on His name. You call
on His name to save you. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, save me as an act of Your
sovereignty. Save me as an act of Your justice.
Save me as an act of Your grace. Save me as an act of Your mercy.
Save me as an act of Your power. Save me as an act of Your wisdom
wherein You found the way to be just and justify the ungodly. To receive the Lord Jesus Christ
is to believe, is to rely upon His name. Now, verse 12 does
not end with the period. Verse 13, which were born. These people who received Him
were born, were birthed. This is speaking of the new birth.
Why is it that a man receives the Lord Jesus Christ? Because
he's been born of God. Now, listen to this scripture.
To as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become
the sons of God, even to them which believed on His name, which
were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not
of the will of man, but of God, born of God. Now, if you're born again, it's
not because of blood. It's not because your mom and
dad were born again. There's no fleshly connection
between the new birth and any man. Somebody says, well, I was
born into a believing home. Well, that's a great blessing,
but that doesn't mean you'll believe. The new birth doesn't
have anything to do with any connection with your mom or dad
or bloodlines or flesh. The next thing he says, they
were born not of the will of the flesh. You're not born again
because of an act of your free will. Free will is the biggest
lie the devil's ever told. There's no such thing as free
will. God is not free in the sense
that he can't be what he's not. Your will is controlled by your
nature. God's nature is holy. His nature is righteous. We have
a sinful, fallen nature, and to say that we have a free will
is to deny the sinfulness of the flesh. You can't be born
because of an act of your free will. Not of the will of man. A man's not born again because
a bunch of men got together and said, we're going to pray and
we're going to beg God. We're not going to give him any
peace until he saves this man. No one is saved because of the
will of man. Men getting together and saying,
we're going to do what it takes to get this man saved. Now I
want to pray for people, but that's not what saves. We were
born, not of blood. Not of the will of the flesh,
not as an act of free will, not of the will of man, not because
a bunch of men got together and said, we're gonna make sure this
person is saved. Born of God. That's how someone receives the
Lord Jesus Christ. They are born of God. May the Lord enable, by His grace,
me and you, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ and believe on His
name. Amen. To receive a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at
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