A preacher was on a radio program where the interviewer was an atheist. The atheist demanded that the preacher NOT quote any scripture during the interview. “I don’t want to hear any Bible on my airways. You got that? No Bible on my airwaves.” So, then the interviewer started the program by saying: “I submit that you Christians are not respectful of my opinion. I believe I should be able to get into heaven because I’ve been a good person. What do you say to that?”
The preacher thought about it for a moment and then said “Let’s say you go to the wealthy side of town and approach a beautiful mansion. You ring the doorbell and when they answer the door you inform them that you expect to be able to move in. What do you think they’d do? You don’t know them and they don’t know you – WHY should they let you move in? It’s the same with heaven. You’re trying to tell me that God should let you into heaven just because you’ve come to His gates and demanded to be let in. But you don’t know Him and you’ve spent your life attacking His character. Heaven isn’t about how good you’ve been. It’s all about knowing Jesus. Jesus said that no one gets into heaven except through Him and you don’t know Him.” (From a sermon by Sean Busby)
Now that makes sense doesn’t it. Why would anybody let you stay in their house if they don’t know you? Particularly if you make it clear that you don’t like them and you don’t WANT to know them.
That’s essentially what our text this morning is all about. “To all who received him, who believed in his name, He gave the RIGHT to become children of God.” (John 1:12) We get into heaven because we WANT to know Jesus. And once we decided we want to know Him, and we want what He has to offer, then we weren’t some stranger knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door. We get to move in with Jesus because we are given the right… to be children of God.
The Declaration of Independence has an intriguing phrase that says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator (God) with certain unalienable RIGHTS, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In other words – the Declaration declared that God gives us rights. But there’s one right that’s not mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. And it’s a far greater right than any rights those listed in that document “To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the RIGHT to become children of God.” John 1:12
Essentially, we have the right to a vast and powerful inheritance because of our faith, all because we’ve BELIEVED in His name - all because we wanted to receive what Jesus offered us.
Now, as we enter the Thanksgiving season, we need to realize how thankful we should be for that inheritance. Think about this – what do you have on earth that’s more important than heaven. What would you be willing trade for an eternity with Jesus?
Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:44-46
What’s Jesus saying? He’s saying that there’s nothing on this earth that could possibly begin to equal the value of eternity with Jesus. What we have with Jesus is worth EVERYTHING, and NOTHING we have (on this earth) compares to Jesus and what He offers.
Francis Chan and the Rope illustration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5t5CXP9PlE (timeline 0 to 2:57)
OR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br0nrszoPiw (0 to 2:36)
Paul said it this way: “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” Philippians 3:7-8
So, the question is - how much is eternity in heaven worth to you? What would you pay to get Jesus and what He offers? Well, our passage says that the way we can get Jesus is to RECEIVE Him on His terms, to BELIEVE in His name! “To all who received him, who believed in his name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12
So, what does that mean? What does it mean to receive Jesus/ to believe in His name? Well, it helps to know what it DOESN’T MEAN! Notice the next part of our text: “Those were given the right to become children of God “were born, not of blood; nor of the will of the flesh; nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:13) So, there’s only one way to become a child of God. How??? By being born OF God. But, there are 3 ways you CAN’T become a child of God.
You can’t become a child of God BY BLOOD! In the Old Testament, you became a Jew because you were born into a Jewish family - by blood. But you can’t do that with Jesus. You can’t become a Christian by being born into a Christian family. You could come to church for decades with your Christian family. But YOU are the one who has to decide that YOU want TO RECEIVE; and YOU want to BELIEVE; YOU are the one who has to make the decision.
And you can’t become a child of God by the “Will Of The Flesh.” This means that you (in your flesh) can’t decide that YOU’RE good enough to be good enough to please God. A lot of people believe – if they do enough good things they can EARN salvation. That way, it’s their own RIGHTEOUSNESS that gets them in. And frankly, God couldn’t keep them out if He wanted to because they’ve EARNED their spot. But Jesus said: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
You become a child of God ONLY by receiving Jesus!
And 3rdly – you can’t become a child of God by the “Will Of Man.” Somebody else (like your father/mother/best friend) can’t decide for you that you will become a child of God. That’s one of the problems with infant baptism. The baby didn’t believe in Jesus. The baby didn’t decide that they wanted to be a child of God. Somebody else did that for them.
ILLUS: Rod Cameron (a former missionary to Africa) was once approached by a leader from an African town in which he was ministering who wanted his 2 children baptized. When asked how old the children were, the man responded “ages 3 and 5.” Rod thought on that a moment and replied, “John, why do you want your children baptized?” John responded “My wife and I have been reading the Bible and we believe that we need to have our children ready to go to Heaven.” Rod said, “well then, why don’t we just baptize everyone in the village? You’re a strong man, we’ll start with the oldest and work our way down, and we’ll drag them down the river one by one and put them under water.” Puzzled, John asked “Why would we want to do that? They may not want to be baptized!” “That’s right,” said Rod, “you really need to want to become a Christian to be baptized, and your children aren’t ready for that yet. Now, how about you and your wife? Are you ready to make that commitment?” Sometime later, John and his wife were baptized and raised their family to love God.
Jesus said: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:16
So, let’s review: you can’t become a child of God. By being born of blood (i.e. – being born into a Christian family);
By the will of the flesh (you – in your FLESH – can’t decide you’re good enough); Nor by the will of man (your friends/family can’t make that choice for you). In short - you can’t become a child of God on your terms. You’ve got to do things - God’s way. But how do you do things… God’s way? What does God say in the Bible that I need to do to “receive” Jesus?
First I need to believe in His name… (that’s what it says here in John) John 1:12 says “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” What do I need to believe about Him? Well, it’s not that hard. All I’m supposed to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh and that he’s come to change my life. “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
(PAUSE) Faith as the foundation of our salvation shows up a LOT in Scripture, but does that mean I don’t need to repent as well? NO – I need to repent. Acts 3:19-20 tells us “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you.” Repentance means to “TURN BACK” – turn away from a sinful lifestyle. God says that repentance is part of what we do to have our sins forgiven.
(PAUSE) So, Faith and Repentance are vital for salvation, does that mean I don’t have to confess Him? NO… confession is important too. Romans 10:9 says I need to confess that Jesus is Lord. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Notice, it doesn’t say I am confessing my sins. Instead it says I must confess that Jesus is now my LORD. I’m confessing that Jesus will now own me and all that I have because He’s my Lord!
(PAUSE) So, Faith, Repentance, and Confession are all part of our appeal to God for salvation. Does that mean I don’t have to be baptized? Well… that’s not what the Bible says. When the crowd was convinced that they’d crucified their Messiah, “they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and BE BAPTIZED every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:37-38
Notice, these folks already believed at Pentecost (they were convinced they’d crucified Messiah) but apparently, they hadn’t “repented” or been baptized. But when they made that decision to repent/ and when they were baptized they received a promise. They were promised to be forgiven of their sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
So those are GOD’S way of RECEIVING Jesus as your Lord and Savior - accept no substitutes.
One last thought. Right after the book of John tells us about how to become Children of God it makes this statement “And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14) Why would it be important that we’d know Jesus dwelt among us?
CLOSE: An atheist told a friend of mine about his visits with his 18-month-old granddaughter. He said that he regularly made an hour ½ drive once a month to visit her. And he said “I don’t push myself on her. I don’t even go and pick her up… because she might cry. But I go and visit so that she will know WHO I am. My hope is that – as she gets older she will eventually come to me because I SHOWED UP.
Jesus was God - who SHOWED UP in the flesh - so that we’d know WHO He was. He came to earth to be with us… so we’d know how much He loved us. And eventually (because we saw who He was) we’d COME to Him because we saw the God who cared enough to die for us.
INVITATION
