I'd like for you to open your
Bibles with me to the book of John. I'll be speaking this morning
from John 1, verses 10 through 13. That's the first chapter
of the book of John. I'm going to read a portion of
verses 10, 11, 12, and 13. Here's our subject. What is it
to receive Christ? Now, my purpose this morning
is not just to cry, believe, believe, but I want to tell you
what it is to believe. My purpose today is not just
to cry, receive Christ, receive Christ. You've been told to receive
Christ. You know to receive Christ. But
let me ask you this, what is it to receive Christ? Just what
does the scripture mean when it says to as many as receive
him? to them gave he the right to
become the sons of God. What is it to receive Christ?
And that's our subject. Now let's read the scripture
found in John chapter 1 beginning with verse 10. John writes, he
was in the world and the world was made by him and the world
knew him not. We're talking about Christ our
Lord. He was in this world and this world was made by him. And
the world didn't know him. He was despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The world
didn't know him. He came unto his own, that is,
his own people, the Jews, his own things. He came unto his
own, and his own received him not. His own temple, his own
sacrifices. But as many, now watch this,
as many as received him, received him. To them gave he power, that
word is the right or the privilege, the glorious, blessed privilege,
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe 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. Now, here's the question.
What is it to receive Christ? But before we take up that matter
of our receiving him, there's another very important matter
to discuss, and I think it's the most important matter of
all. And that is not my receiving Christ, but Christ receiving
me. Not this sinner accepting him,
but Jesus the Lord accepting this sinner. Now, this is scriptural,
all the way through the book, through the word of God. We're
told that before sinners receive Christ, Christ receives sinners.
Before sinners call on Christ, he calls on them. Before they
seek him, he seeks them. Before they call on Christ, he,
by his Spirit, has called upon them. Now, that's so. Abraham.
God found Abraham down among a people who were idol worshipers,
and he called Abraham. And he said, Abraham, get thee
out of thy father's house and go to a land that I will show
thee. And Abraham heard God and followed God. Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. It said, even Moses, when he
prayed, said, Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, show
me thy way. We do love Christ. Peter said
to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. But
John tells us we love him because he first loved us. Herein is
love. Here's the definition of love,
the description of love. Not that we love God, but that
God loved us and gave his son to be the sacrifice and mercy
seat for our sins. We love him because he first
loved us. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. So that's the most important
matter to discuss and to consider. It is Christ receiveth sinful
men. Sinners do receive Christ, and
that's what I'm talking about. We do receive Him, but first
of all, He receives us. Who loved whom? He loved us first,
and then we loved Him. How does Christ receive sinners?
We talk about sinners receiving Christ in the song, Christ receiveth
sinful men. Just how does Christ receive
sinners? Well, first of all, the Scripture
tells us that He received them. as a gift from his Father. He
said, All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. This is the will of him that sent me, that of all which the
Father hath given me I will lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. Where did Christ receive his
people? The Father gave them to him.
And then another answer to that question is this. He purchased
them. He bought them. That's right.
He paid for them. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. Our Lord Jesus Christ bought
his people. He said, I'm the good shepherd.
I know my sheep and am known of mine, and I lay down my life
for the sheep. He purchased us. He redeemed
us with his own blood. We're his not only by God's gift,
but by his purchase. And then where does Christ receive
sinners? He receives them from the Holy Spirit who calls them
to him. That's right, the Holy Spirit
calls us. We are the called of Christ Jesus. You hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. He said whom he foreknew,
he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom
he predestinated, he called. And whom he called, he justified,
and whom he justified, he glorified. So when we're talking about receiving
Christ, the first thing we must consider and is that Christ receives
us. He receives us before we receive
him. He seeks us before we seek him.
He loved us before we loved him. His was the first love. His was
the first seeking. But, now here's what we're saying,
his people do come to him. He said, all that my Father giveth
me shall come to me. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. They're two marks of a sheep.
He's branded on his ear, and he's branded on his foot. He
hears the voice of his shepherd. He hears the voice of the Master,
and he follows the Master. They will hear, and they will
come. All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh I will in no wise cast out. God does seek them,
but they seek him. God does call them, but they
call him. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. David wrote in the Psalm 110, verse 3, Thy people
shall be willing." They are thy people, but they shall be willing
in the day of thy power. Our Lord told his disciples in
Mark 16, 15 to go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. He that
believeth not shall be damned. So they do come. They do come
to Christ. They do believe on him. They
do receive him. And that's what our text is saying.
He was in the world. He made this world, but the world
didn't know him. He came into his own, to his
own temple and people and ceremonies and law and to his own, the things
that were the types of himself. And they didn't receive him either. But as many as received him,
to them gave he the privilege, the right to become the sons
of God. Now here's the question, and I want to deal with it as
plainly as I can and as simply as I can. I think we need to
simplify our message. Paul said, I tremble and I'm
greatly concerned about you talking to the church at Corinth. He
said, lest Satan, through his subtlety as he deceived Eve,
should take your minds from the simplicity of Christ. So I'm
going to deal with this question as simply as I know how. What
is it to receive Christ? What is it to come to Christ?
And I'll give you four or five answers. Now, here's the first
one. Listen carefully. To receive Christ is to be convinced
of the reality of Christ. Now, in Hebrews 11, verse 6,
the Scripture says, without faith it's impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, he
that cometh to God, and receiving Christ, and coming to Christ,
and believing on Christ, and embracing Christ, and laying
hold of Christ, are the same thing. It's the same thing. To
come to Christ, If any man come to God, he must believe that
God is. He must believe in the reality
of Christ. Christ is not a myth, he's a
person. Christ Jesus is not an influence
or an idea, he's a person. He must believe that Christ is
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Paul said in Romans 10, they can't trust an unknown Christ.
They can't trust an unrevealed Christ. A man must have some
information, some knowledge, and some understanding of who
Christ is. Now listen to Paul in Romans
10. He tells us, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. But he says in the next verse, How then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? I'm saying that
all saving faith is founded upon knowledge and some understanding. In other words, who is Jesus
Christ? Who is Jesus Christ? Well, they
said he's the carpenter. Some said he is an unlearned
man. He didn't go to school. They
called him different names, a winebibber, a gluttonous man, and so forth.
But who is Jesus Christ? He asked his disciples, he said,
whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, well,
people out there saying you're John the Baptist or one of the
prophets, But he said, whom do you say that I am? And Peter
said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Whom do
you say that Jesus Christ is? I say he's very God of very God.
I say he's very God. He's God in human flesh. He is
God incarnate. And what did he do? Well, Paul
said he came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief.
He came into the world and was tempted and tried in all points
as we are yet without sin. By his obedience, he made righteous
many people. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world, obeyed the law of God, was crucified on a cross,
was buried and rose again, and ascended back to heaven. Why
did he do that? Well, the Scripture says, in
order that God may be just and justifier, in order that God
may be reconciled to sinners, in order that our sins might
be put away, in order that by his stripes we may be healed.
in order that we might have a perfect righteousness before the law
and a perfect holiness before God's justice. That's why he
did it. Well, where is he now? Is he in the grave in Jerusalem?
Where is he now? Is he in some misty place between
heaven and hell? Where is he now? The scripture
says he's at the right hand of God, where he is our great high
priest, where he is our only mediator. So I'm saying that
in order for a man to come to Christ or to receive Christ,
he must have some understanding. of who Jesus Christ is, and why
he came into this world, and what he did, and where he is
now. You can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. Faith must have a fixed object. Coming to someone indicates
that there's someone to whom we can come. We must believe
in the reality of Christ. Listen to 1 John 5, 20. And we
know, we understand that the Son of God has come. and hath
given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true,
and that we are in him, that is, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. And this is the true God, and
this is eternal life." You see, my friends, conviction of sin
is founded upon a knowledge of the law. Paul said, I wouldn't
have known sin had not the law said, thou shalt not covet. Paul
said, I didn't understand sin. I didn't understand the nature
of it. I didn't understand the depth of it. I didn't understand
the exceeding sinfulness of it until the law taught me what
sin is. So conviction has got to be based
upon understanding of the law. And then repentance is born of
a knowledge of my sin. Not a general knowledge of everybody
else's sin, but David said, My sin is ever before me against
thee, and thee only have I sinned. A man not repent till he in his
own eyes becomes an offender, till he becomes a sinner. So
knowledge is the basis, understanding is the basis of any act. We act
on our understanding. We act on our knowledge. And
faith is born of a knowledge of Christ. In 2 Timothy 1.12,
Paul says, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that
he's able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. You see, faith is not just some
misty, unknown, performance of an experience or feeling or an
emotion, faith is based on fact. Who Christ is, what Christ did,
why he did it, where he is now. Just like the woman with the
issue of blood, she knew her need, she knew no one else could
meet that need. She'd spent everything she had,
wasted her life saving, was no better, no one could help her.
She found out about Christ. She said, if I can get to him,
And but touch his garment, I shall be made whole. And she knew,
she made her way to Christ based on her understanding of her need,
her inability, the inability of anyone else to help her, and
the ability of Christ to meet that need. And she came to Him,
and she was made whole. So I'm saying this to you. What
is it to receive Christ? It's not just some strange religious
emotional experience. It's not just some feeling that
that makes you feel strange or wonderfully good and so forth,
it's knowledge and understanding of the reality of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the reality of my sin and my need and my inability
and his power to do all that he says. Now, here's the second
thing. What is it to receive Christ? Secondly, to receive
Christ is to rest entirely upon the testimony of his word as
infallible and unquestionable. Now, you remember that. That's
important. To receive Christ is to rest upon the testimony
of his word as infallible and unquestionable. Now, let me ask
you something. And you think about this. What is our one source
of information? Our one source of information
and revelation concerning Jesus Christ and salvation? Now, you
think about that a moment. Don't just answer right off.
What is the one source? His deity? How do we know he's
God? His eternal existence? How do we know that he's always
lived? His incarnation? You say God became a man? Who
told you that? His life and obedience? His death
on the cross? His resurrection? His ascension?
His mediatorial work? His return? His coming again? Where did you learn these things?
There's only one source, and that's the Word of God. That's
the only source of information. That's the only source of revelation.
And if you put a question mark on his word, then you have no
foundation for your faith. How do you know God will forgive
sin? Well, I just believe he will. Well, who told you that?
You know how I know he'll forgive sin? He said it in his word.
How do I know that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life?
He said it in his word. That's the only way I can know
it. Listen to 1 John 5, 10, and 11. Now, in the preceding verses,
he said, if we receive the witness of men, The witness of God is
greater. God cannot lie. Man can lie,
and will lie, and does lie. In fact, all men are liars, but
God cannot lie. Now listen to this. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made God a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God hath given of his Son. What is the record?
His word. That's the record. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That's the record.
And this is the record. that God hath given to us eternal
life, and that life's in his Son. Isaiah said, if they speak
not according to the Word and according to the prophets, it's
because there's no light in them. Now, Satan's policy, always has
been, is now, always will be, is to put a question mark on
the Word of God. If he can make you doubt God's Word, he can
shake your foundation, because that is the foundation of your
faith. Satan's policies to put a question mark on the scripture.
He started that in the Garden of Eden. He said to Eve, yea,
hath God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the garden?
She said, well, we can eat any of it except one tree. He said,
and if we eat that, we'll die. He said, you'll not die. You'll
not die. That's not true. You see, all
acts of faith, now listen to this, all acts of faith, all
feelings of faith, or religion, or just supposition, supposition
if they're not based on Scripture. Now that's the fact. To receive
Christ is to receive Christ as he's revealed in the Scripture.
Paul said out there on the deck of that ship, the ship was about
to go down and the crew was about to panic and he told them, he
said, sirs, just stay where you are. Don't anybody jump overboard.
God said that not a life would be lost and sirs, I believe God. Now that's the foundation of
faith. And you can't receive Christ or believe Christ or come
to Christ except on the basis of one thing, and that's He has
said it in His Word. And you better watch these preachers
and modernists and liberals today who put a question mark on the
Word of God. If it's not all true, none of it's true. All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God. And all Scripture is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness. Now, that's the fact. Holy men
of God speak and will move by the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures
God breathed. It's infallible. It's unquestionable. I believe
it because God says so. Now, here's the third thing.
To receive Christ is to be assured, to be confident that all that
I need, all that God requires of me, I'll find in Christ. Now, man's got to be assured
of that. He's not coming to Christ unless he's assured that all
that he needs he'll find in Christ. When our Lord preached to the
multitude, which he had just fed, 5,000 of them, and they
refuted his words and they rebelled against what he said and finally
walked off, our Lord turned to his disciples and he said to
them, will you also go away? And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? To whom shall we go? And that's
my question. If salvation is not in Christ,
where is it to be found? If eternal life is not in Christ,
where is eternal life to be found? It's not in the law. It's not
in the church. It's not in men. It's not in
Reformation. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. A man will
not embrace Christ in true saving faith until he's persuaded beyond
a shadow of a doubt in his heart that all he needs, all he needs,
will be found in Christ. Because if I'm lacking in any
one thing, To offend in one part of the law is to be guilty of
the whole law. God must receive me as perfect or not at all.
God must receive me as complete or not at all. God must receive
me as entirely righteous or not at all. And 1 Corinthians 1.30
says, Of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It's all in Christ.
Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And Colossians
2, 9 and 10 says, In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and you are complete in Him. Abraham believed God,
that God was able to perform all that He promised, and it
was counted to him for righteousness. And Paul said in 2 Timothy 1,
12, He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him. And again
in Hebrews 7, 25, He's able to save to the uttermost them that
come to God by Him. John said now unto him who is
able to keep us from falling. I'm hungry Christ is bread and
meat indeed and all I need I am thirsty Christ is the living
water. I Am weary and Christ is my only rest. I am condemned
by the law and Christ is my righteousness I am unclean by nature birth
and practice Christ is the fountain open. I am ignorant Christ is
wisdom Jesus Christ is made to me all I need all I need he alone
is all my plea all I need wisdom Righteousness and power holiness
forevermore my rediction full and sure All I need now man who
finds in Christ all he needs He'll come if he finds that pearl
of great price He'll sell all he has and buy that perfect and
that's what I'm saying to receive Christ is to be convinced, assured,
beyond a shadow of a doubt, of the reality of Christ, is to
come to Him on the basis of His Word, believing His Word, trusting
His Word, infallible and unquestionable, inerrant, verbally inspired.
God said it, that's sufficient. And it's to find in Christ all
I need. All I need. Perfect. I'm complete
in Him. I need nothing to be added by
anything or anyone. To receive Christ is to receive
him entirely and undivided. Entirely and undivided. There
are two words important in our text. Very, very, very important. All of them are important, but
there are two specifically that are most important. Now read
the text again. But as many as receive him, to them gave he
the right, the privilege, to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. Now hear the two words. Him,
Him. And this is where so many people
miss it. Will you listen to me a moment? As many as receive
Him, not His, not His things, not even His word or His doctrine. A man can be burst in the doctrine
and miss the person. Not receive, not as many as receive
His ordinances, baptism in the Lord's supper. There are a lot
of people who've been baptized who've never received Christ.
It's not to receive His church. or his ministers, or his Lord.
It says, as many as receive him, him personally, Christ personally. I receive him as my prophet to
reveal God to me. He that has seen me, he said,
has seen my Father. Show us the Father, one of the
disciples said. Well, you said you'd seen me, you'd seen the
Father. Have I been so long time with you and you don't know me?
He's my prophet. He's my priest to atone for my
sins. He's my King to reign over me.
To as many as receive Him, Jesus Christ, to be prophet, priest,
and King, Lord and Savior, Master, Sovereign, Ruler, Indwelling
Christ, Shepherd, Brother, Friend, Husband, all that I need. Him, Him. Bow to a person, not
to a doctrine, not a religious experience, not a theology, a
Denomination is to embrace a person Now watch this even to them that
believe on his name his name whosoever shall call upon the
name There's none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved What does a name tell you about a
person tells you all about him? It tells you all about when you
call a person's name you think first of all of his appearance
his personality, his attributes, his characteristics, his reputation,
his honesty or dishonesty, the whole person is included in that
name. And that's true of Christ. When we think of Christ, you
can't separate him from his name. His name indicates who he is,
even the men that believe on his name. There are a lot of
people who would like to have the benefits of Christ, but not
the person of Christ. But to receive Christ is to receive
him. And last of all, it's to receive
him freely as the gift of God. He is the gift of God. As I come
to Christ, in my hands no price I bring. Simply to the cross
of Christ I cling. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal know respite? No. These for sin could never
atone. Christ must save, and Christ
alone. I come to Him, and I come to
Him without offering or giving or bringing anything, with no
merit of my own. It's all in Him, freely the gift
of God.