Good evening. I'd like you to
mark two texts tonight that we're going to refer back to. One is
Colossians chapter 2. And also Romans chapter 15. Let's go to Colossians 2 to read
one of my opening texts that we're going to keep. Colossians
2, we're going to read verse 6. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in Him. The question that
I would like us to ask tonight to each person in here is have
you received Christ Jesus, the Lord? Why ask that question here? Why ask that question in a church
on a Sunday night to people that often attend here most Sunday
nights and come in here? Why ask them, have you received
Christ? Why not ask somebody else that's
out not attending a place where the gospel is preached? The reason
I ask that question is because there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets showing great signs and wonders, and for what
purpose? The purpose is to deceive you.
I don't want to find out one day that I've been deceived and
have been following a Christ that is not Jesus Christ the
Lord. I want to make sure, and I need
to know from the scriptures, and is the one I've been following
Jesus Christ the Lord? Have I received him? So this
question is to you, not to them. Have you received Jesus Christ
the Lord? And notice I did not ask you,
will you accept Jesus Christ the Lord? Would you receive Jesus
Christ the Lord? Won't you receive Jesus Christ
the Lord? I didn't ask you any of those
questions. You see, these words are not befitting of my Lord.
He's not a choice amongst other things that can be picked up
and then put down when not needed or sat in a corner and forgotten
when not needed anymore. you see, or to receive him when
only it's convenient for us. Will you, would you, and won't
you all denote you having a choice in the matter, or you having
the capacity to even make the choice at all. It may be that
you have, or that one day you will receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, but one thing is certain, you and I never chose him. If
we say different, the scripture testifies against us. Turn to
the first chapter of John. In verse 6, we'll start the first
chapter of John. There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John. The same came for a witness,
to bear witness of the light. that all men through him might
believe. He was not that light, but he
was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 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. So right there it says in itself
that the world didn't know him and even the people that did
know him, they didn't really know him. They didn't know him.
They may have known him as the person, you know, Jesus of Nazareth
in the town that he lived in, but he was nothing more than
that. They didn't know him as the light. So keep reading. And in verse 12 it says, but
as many as received him. So there was some who did receive
him. And those are the ones that I
want to know about. What is it that says about them? It says,
to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. He gave them the right, he gave
them the power to become the sons of God, which were born,
verse 13, not of blood, not a familial right. It's not who you are,
who your parents are, who your grandparents were, whether they
all believe. That doesn't guarantee me any
right to have received him. It was not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh. It's not through anything that
you did. No works can make me acceptable
and therefore you can receive Jesus Christ, no. Nor of the
will of man. This does not appeal to the intellect. This is not, there's no manner
of learning and Understanding that what's in the scripture
and connecting this to that because one thing is certain from that
there are many people that know much more than me and One thing
is certain from all those even the greatest of those no amount
of learning ever led men to Jesus Christ But as only those who
have been born of God if you believe if you've received Christ
Jesus the Lord it's because you've been born of God and Now turn
with me over to Romans 15, this is our other text. In verse 7, wherefore receive
ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. The intent tonight is to talk
about the three types of receiving that we see in the scripture.
First is Christ receives us, and this is in verse 7 here.
Second, we receive Christ. That was the verse we read in
Colossians where it says, and you have therefore received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. And the third is we receive
one another. And that's in Romans 15 as well.
So the first, Christ Jesus the Lord receives us. It must start here, because the
scripture says, you did not choose me, I've chosen you. And we must
admit this glorious news of the gospel, that Christ chose somebody. This is glorious news to somebody,
and only to the somebody that believes they really don't have
a reason for God to choose them at all. So those are the only
people that it is good news to. If you have a reason and you
feel like you've been denied or defrauded something by not
being chosen, that's not good news to you because you don't
really know what the outcome is if you've not been chosen
and been owed it. But if you have no reason for God to choose
you, this is good news that Christ chose somebody. So our response
to that is, who are they? And I want to be one of them.
Well, it tells us who they are. If you just turn back a few chapters
to Romans 5, who the us that Christ receives, in verse 8 of chapter 5, but
God commendeth his love toward us, this is the us, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Look up in verse 6. For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly." So those are the ones that said
that Christ died for, the ungodly, those without strength, and for
sinners. Doesn't tell us anybody else.
If we wish to be a partaker of the us, whom God chose, whom
God received, in Romans 15, that Christ chose, I must be ungodly,
without strength, and a sinner. Those are the only ones Christ
died for. This is what God says we are, ungodly, sinners. Somebody might be thinking, I
don't really like the way that sounds. Well, what difference
does that make? When did that ever have any impact
on whether it was the truth or not? Any man's mother who's locked
up in the correctional institute down here on the outside of town,
if you ask them about her son who's locked up, her response
would be, but he's a good boy. He just got mixed up in the wrong
thing, but he's a good boy. Well, if he stands or falls by
what his mother thinks of him, then he's going to be okay. But
the problem is he's still locked up. And that's not going to change
whether his mother thinks he's a good or a bad boy. What changes
his outcome is what the judge thinks. But the judge looks at
what he's done and he says, you're not fit to be out. We're going
to lock you up because you have broken the law and now you have
to go away. So he stands or falls by the
judge, not by what his mother thinks or what anybody else thinks.
So what we think about ourselves, we don't like hearing ungodly.
We don't like hearing without strength. We don't like calling
ourselves sinners, but yet this is what God says we are. And
so it doesn't matter what I might think about it. I'm to agree
with what God says. The scripture says, and you are
being dead in your trespasses and sins. What that says is you're
dead. Before the law, you're dead.
You violated and broke the law, you're dead. The term dead man
walking, they talk about a man on death row and they take him
from the cell to the electric chair. They say dead man walking.
And that's the last few steps that he's going to take because
that saying is the judgment is so sure between the time he leaves
that cell and gets to the end of that hall, justice will be
enacted upon him. He will be put to death. He will
be made dead. And so he's as good as dead because
what's going to happen between there and there, those 40 steps
or whatever he takes? So before the law, we're dead.
and the man that is put to death, his crimes put in there. Well,
my crimes against God, my sin, they condemn me to death. The
problem is we forget. It's kind of like it's not real
because if I think I've never really ever been punished for
my sin, not yet anyway, I've gone 12,245 days and nothing's
happened. Yes, there's certain things I
might do. If I put my hand on a hot stove, I'm going to get
burned, but there's a cause and effect there. But so far, I've
had sin, but yet I don't see any consequence from it in terms
of being eternally punished. But yet, the Scripture says in
Ecclesiastes 8, verse 11, because sentence against an evil work
is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men
is fully set in them to do evil." So we forget, because it's not
executed, it's like it's not real, so I'm going to keep going
on in the way I'm going. But it is still executed, and
there's not one sin that ever is going to go unpunished, because
the justice of God must stand. And if God hates sin, and must
punish sin, and I'm a sinner, that which God hates How can
Christ receive me? How can he even bear my presence?
Ungodly? Sinner? Well, turn over to Romans
11, a few pages back. What we read actually this morning
kind of added this in the first verse of verse 10, Todd commented,
where it said, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer for God to
Israel is that they might be saved. Implication being, It
didn't appear that they were. If we pick up in the first verse
of chapter 11, Paul says, I say then, have God cast away his
people? Because from all we can see,
it would appear that way. God forbid, for I am an Israelite,
the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast
away his people, which he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture
said of Elijah, how he maketh intercession of God against Israel,
saying, Lord, They have killed thy prophets, they have digged
down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved
unto myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to
the image of Baal. Even so then, at this present
time, there is also a remnant. according to the election of
grace. And you might as well read that
election of grace as the choice of grace. That's actually how
it's written in the original. I like that, the choice of grace,
those whom grace chooses. And I'm so glad that he chose
before. Because otherwise, what would
he choose? Me? I know what I've done. You? You know yourself. You can't
choose you and what you've done based on what you've done in
your life. If he can choose me through anything I've done, or
it's even associated with me, then it's of works. Pick up in
verse 6. And if by grace, then it's no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, based
on something I've done, then it's no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it,
and the rest were blinded. And that may as well read that
verse as well, but the chosen hath obtained it, and the rest
were blinded. So we see there that if I'm chosen,
it's because God chose me. It didn't have anything to do
with me doing anything. I'm chosen by grace because God
loved. Because God is love. But he's
also just. And both must stand without opposition. I can't have the love of God
if it violates God's justice. And the same is God's justice
if it violates the love of God. So they both have to be without
opposition. So the only way that can be is
if God loved and chose a people because he loved them. He didn't
ever want to be separated from them. So then Father entrusted
their lives, their safety, and their purity all to His Son,
Jesus Christ the Lord. And what happened? Christ received
us. Anyone who wasn't given by the
Father received? No. Only those who the Father
gave Him, He received. Because the Father loved them.
And Christ loved them and united them with himself forever. As he lives, so do I." Turn over
to John 15. This illustration, I think, seemed
very clear to me, at least, how the branches and the vine, how
it's actually one plant. And think about that when you're
reading this. When you look outside and look at a tree, You don't
say, well, you say, what is this tree here? Well, it's branches,
and it's a trunk, and it's leaves, and it's roots. No, you say it's
a tree. If you point to the branch of the tree, you still say that's
the tree. It's all part of one thing. If the branch is separated
from the tree, it's a branch. It's no longer part of the tree.
And so that's kind of the illustration the Lord's giving here in John
15, when he says, I'm the true vine. My father is the husband. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he takes away, and every branch that beareth fruit
he purges, that it might bring forth more fruit. Now you were
clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide
in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it bite in the vine, no more can you except
you abide in me. I am the vine, and you are the
branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, is saying,
bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and
is withered. And men gather them, and cast
them into the fire, and they're burned." So that same water that
those roots pull up, the xylem and the phloem, that's one of
the few things I remember about tree biology. The water goes
up through the trunk, into the branches, into the leaves, and
it comes back down through the whole body of the tree. There's
no separation of saying this part of the trunk is the tree,
but the branch is not. If it's connected, it's all one.
And the same is what Christ and his people are. The way I think,
at least, is you think of Christ and then somehow I'm united to
him, but we're all one. It's all of one. There's no Christ
over here, but me and this group over here. It's all of one. And
so that's what he's saying here where he says, I'm the life.
If you're separated from me, there's no life apart from me.
Once you break the branch off that tree, it's immediately from
that point on dead. It cannot live by itself. So
I cannot live outside of Christ. But if I've been received of
Christ, I have life in him. There's so many that cringe and
are offended by election. Election never kept anyone who
desired faith and believed in Christ from it. The scripture
says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. By calling, I show my election of God, not merit it.
Election happened before I ever was. Christ received me. And those who will not call show
that they never were elect. If they were, they'd call. Calling,
believing, and trusting in Christ is just showing what's already
been done. It's not making a case for it.
If you make a case for it by what you do, that's worse, and
then it's no more grace. Christ received us, and then
the us believe. And they believe because they're
elect of God, and they're elect because God loved them. Men get
hung up with the means God uses and forget they're dying. What
happened with Naaman? You think about him. He was a
leper. At one point, he probably forgot
about it during the day. He went about, he was dressed
up, and he was a real important general in the army, and he's
an important somebody. But every night, he had to come
home, take his armor off, and look at himself, and know, I'm
rotting and dying. And how much he hated that. To look at it every day, it never
gets better, it only gets worse. And then one day, his king hears
that in your enemy's land, there's somebody that can heal you. And
he thinks, I'll do anything to be healed. I will do anything
to get to him. And so he says, fine, I've made
a way, you go to it. He's going to heal you. This
wasn't something that happened in a few hours. We get in the
car or on a plane and go somewhere and in a few hours we're there.
He probably had a week to think about this as he went with his
big parade of people down there and everything that he was going
with. And every day and every night he had to think of how
excited it was, I will do anything to get cleansed of this and not
have these rotting sores on me and everything going on. But
yet, whenever a nobody came out to him, he didn't even see the
guy he came to see. He saw his servant, somebody who was nobody.
When he told him to go wash in a dirty river, Naaman got mad.
All that time, every night, he was sitting there thinking, I
won't do anything to be clean. But yet, as soon as he's a little
offended, his pride's offended, he forgets all about being clean
and he's focusing on the means. He doesn't like this nobody.
I don't want to get in a dirty river. But yet, he's dying. He's forgot that he's dying.
And so this shows that we're focusing on the means. Don't
look at the means of election. That's the means God uses. Focus
on that you're dying. And that if you do not have Christ,
you will die in your sins. Thereby proving the weight of
his need to be cured is Naaman's response when he got angry. You
and I are before God dead in our sins, ungodly sinners. Call upon the Lord to save you.
Call on him to be true to his name, Jesus, Savior. And in calling on Him to save
me from myself and my sins, trusting only in Him, I thereby reveal
my election of God, and that Christ receiveth even me. Christ receiveth us, and we receive
Christ. Turn over to Colossians 2 here.
This is where we're going to pick up this portion. We'll read
this again. Colossians 2, 6, says, You've therefore received
Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk ye in Him. We receive Christ. Now, how did
you receive him? As an insurance policy? Just
in case. I don't really think about my
insurance until I wreck my car. You don't think a thing about
it. You pay it every month, you pay it every month, you throw
that piece of paper in your glove box, but until you get a speeding
ticket or you wreck your car, somebody hits you, you don't
think about insurance whatsoever. If all Christ is is an insurance
policy in case you get in trouble, in case he's right, if that's
all he is, then that's all it'll ever be, and there's no love
in that. You forget it when you don't need it. If all Christ
is is an escape from hell, I know I've done bad things. I know
I don't want to go to hell. I don't want to be punished.
Well, who does? Fear of death, fear of hell, and fear of punishment
never produce repentance. it might produce a form of repentance. But when the trial goes, then
the repentance goes with it, and we forget all about it. What
about, how did you receive him? As a way to live? It may be a
good thing not to be a wicked, selfish, hateful jerk. If Christ
is just a way to live, and nothing more, then he's a law, a bunch
of do's and don'ts. There's no love in the law. The
law can't save. The law can only condemn you.
We that receive Christ all may come from different experiences
and all have different roads of travel, but we have one unifying
factor, there's one commonality of all those who've received
Christ. We receive Christ as weak, needy sinners who would
otherwise be condemned if Christ didn't do something for us. He
is not just what keeps me from punishment. He loves me. He redeems
me with his own blood. He's cleansed me from my filth.
He clothes me with his righteousness. He feeds my soul in his word
through prayer and through preaching. We receive Christ. We're not
giving up anything. People talk about things that
they've given up for Christ. All that is is some sin that
somebody's gloried in in their past, something that's given
false glory. When compared to Christ, you
never know that you've had nothing until you've had Christ. Anyone
who looks back on some past glory they gave up for Christ never
met my Lord. Remember Lot's wife, when she
obeyed, by leaving Sodom. God said, get out of Sodom, I'm
gonna destroy it. Was she obeyed by leaving Sodom?
Technically. Albeit she was pulled by the
hand the whole way. But her heart never left. You
see, her heart was back there. Even though she was going through
the motions of being, obeying, her heart never left. And she
turned and she was destroyed because that's where her heart
was. So it's not in the form and the motion, this is the thing
of the heart. This thing of receiving Christ. We received Christ as
all, as everything. I didn't know I didn't have anything
until I found Christ. What about Lazarus? How dead
was he until the Lord called him? So Lazarus at one point
was sick. He knew he was sick and he probably
thought, you know, I'm so tired I'm going to lay down and take
a nap. He died. You aren't aware of being dead.
And of the three days, he was dead. How aware was he of being
dead? He was totally unaware of being
dead until the Lord gave him life. He said, Lazarus, come
forth. And Lazarus woke up and said,
I've been dead. I'm in a cave. I mean, he's a
human. He woke up. It's not that he
just sat up and didn't have a reaction. He was a man that woke up in
a grave and realized I've got grave clothes on. So he wasn't
aware that he was dead the whole time. But when Christ came and
restored him unto life, only then did he realize he'd been
dead. And apart from having life, we can't see that. We receive
Christ as our answer to all fear and to all doubt. How are you
elect of God? Well, I'm in Christ. And it's
certain that I did not put myself there, and it is also certain
that I cannot remove myself from there. How do you explain your
sins then? Well, in Christ, I'm justified. I have no guilt. It's Christ
that died. Who's going to lay any charge
to God's elect if Christ is the one that died? Well, how are
you viewed by God? Over here in Colossians 1, verse
20, it says, peace by the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile
all things to himself, by him I say, whether it be things in
earth or things in heaven, and you who were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you, this is
how we're viewed, holy, unblameable, and unapprovable in his sight.
How can this be so? Look over in chapter two, verse
12. I was buried with him in baptism,
wherein you are also risen with him through the faith of the
operation of the God who hath raised him from the dead. You
see, when I'm united in him, remember the vine and the branches?
If you chop the roots of the vine, then the branches die too.
Well, if I'm united to Christ, and I'm buried with him in baptism,
I'm united with him in his death. And so if he is made alive, I'm
united with him just as much then as when he died. And so
then, I'm made alive with Christ. In verse 13, and you, this is
our part, if you want a part in the whole story of salvation,
this is your part right here in verse 13. And you, being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, heaven forgiving you all trespasses. blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and he took it out of the way, nailing it to
his cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it." So this here shows us that he's blotted out our
sins. If he's raised alive without
guilt and without sin after having paid them, How can I then be
punished for him again? I can't. We receiving Christ
go something like this. He united himself to us in election. He stood as our substitute, dying
for our sin. He called us. He gave us a new
nature. He caused me to live. He made
the word effectual to the heart. He brought me the gospel. He
made me to hear. And we received Christ. That's
what receiving Christ is. It's the free, unmerited gift
by the grace of God. And in verse 6 of chapter 2,
our text again, it says in the second half, so walk ye in him. Turn over to Romans chapter 12. Read verse one. I beseech you,
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present yourselves,
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to
this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. So you see here, we're to live
a life conformed with unity with Christ. There's no glory for
me in this. It's not because I'm different.
It's not because I'm better. It says this is our reasonable
service. This is what we ought to do.
Ought not I walk in this world in a way that glorifies and adores
the love that Christ has shown me? Ought not I walk in a way
that honors him? I don't want to sin against him. If I'm given the grace to walk
after this matter in a way that glorifies and exalts Christ in
the way I live, remember it's still by his grace that I'm able
to do so. If I'm led to look down on a
brother who isn't, all I've proved is how far removed I am from
remembering where the Lord found me. So puffed up, self-righteous,
judgmental, Lord deliver us from this spirit. We are to receive
one another, and that's what our last point is in Romans 15,
verse 7, we'll read it again. Wherefore, receive ye one another,
as Christ also received us to the glory of God. We are to receive
one another, faulty, sinful, foolish, hurtful people, none
of which is perfect. We're to receive one another
in love, for Christ's sake, not begrudgingly, not because you
have to. Well, it says I have to, but I don't like him, but
I'm going to receive him. That's not receiving him. We're to do it because he said
to, because it's what's right. And there are some of us who
are more awkward and more hurtful and more foolish than others,
and I'm talking about myself, and I realize that. If I can't
receive my brother, there's something wrong with me. Maybe I'm too
puffed up, and maybe I'm too full of myself. Look at verse
1 of this chapter. We then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Maybe my brother is weak, and
there's no excuse for it. There's no excuse for unbelief.
There's no excuse for hurtful words. There's no excuse for
thoughtless actions. But the scripture tells me, you
help them. This is the Spirit of Christ.
How long, you consider this, how long has the Lord suffered
you? Has it been a relationship that's been blissful, that he
could look and rejoice in, in suffering you, in time with you,
or has it been one of long suffering? He sought me out even when I
wasn't even asking for help. You know why? It's because I
needed it. Have you been a faithful servant
since he revealed himself to you? No, I'm afraid not. I'm ashamed of my love. I'm ashamed
of what I would profess for him. We are to receive one another,
to forgive one another as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. How? Freely, frankly, no strings
attached. This means not being easily offended.
If given the choice, choose not to be. You will if you love your
brother or sister. This is the spirit of Christ.
We are all the body of Christ. We can't be divided over nonsense
in this life. Let it go. So freeing, so liberating
not to be mad and to be at peace. The scripture taught open with
how blessed it is for brethren to dwell together in peace. He
knew when we receive one another because God for Christ's sake
receiveth us. He knew what we were. Remember,
he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the earth. Those
holes in his hands were there then. And because he was the
lamb slain, so he knew what he was going to have to do in order
to account for our salvation. And how much less we endure suffering
one another. than he did when he received
us for even to save one of us, what the Lord had to endure for
me. If you will turn over to 1 John, we'll close with the
scripture. 1 John 4, sorry. 1 John 4 and verse 7. Let us love one another, for
love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us. because God sent his only begotten
son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation, the accepted sacrifice for our sins. Beloved,
if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No
man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. Jump down to verse 19. We love him because he first
loved us. If a man say, I love God, and
hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
This is the commandment we have from him, that he who loveth
God love his brother also. If we have to wait to love one
another until we acted like we wanted each other to act, then
we certainly would be waiting forever. I'm so thankful that
God doesn't look at me that way. He hasn't looked to how I'm acting
as his reason for why he loves me. He looks to Christ for everything. We're to look at receiving one
another in light of Christ receiving us, being what we are. If the
grace I've been shown doesn't lead me to do the same, all I
prove is that I've had no love for Christ. We're to receive
one another as God, for Christ's sake, received us. So my question
in the beginning still stands. Have you received Christ Jesus,
the Lord? Well, if you have, it's only
because Christ received us, and in turn, we receive Christ. And
if we receive Christ, we will receive one another.