CLARIFICATION: (Spurgeon once said, ‘All originality and no plagiarism makes for dull preaching.’ I in no way claim ‘all’ originality in my sermons for I look to a variety of Scholars and Pastors for help in crafting the content and structure of a sermon. At the same time I try to give credit where credit is due about 85% of the time. The 15% that I don’t cite is due to carelessness or laziness. My citations are not scholarly but I give credit where credit is due so I try not to fall in the unethical pit (sin) of plagiarism. Now that my conscious is cleared I hope you enjoy the sermon.)
John 1:9-13
Rejected Light
I became a Christian in college. When you first become a Christian everything is fresh and new to you and you just want to know all about the Lord that you can. A common thing among believers is to have favorite Bible verses and when I was in college I liked to know what some persons favorite verses were. I asked this one person what their favorite verse was and they said they would not tell me because it meant to much to them. So, a few days passed and I asked again and they still would not tell me. A long time later I asked again and they said they did not want to tell me because their favorite verse was so dear to them that it made them cry when they read it and they would be embarrassed to cry in front of me. So, I said just tell me on the phone. So, they said, I will tell you but you have to look it up later and read it.
That person’s favorite and saddest verse is in our Scripture reading today. Let’s read John 1:1-13 on page 788-789 and see if you can see which one this person was speaking of. (Read it)
It was verse 11, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive Him.” Jesus was the creator of all who has ever existed. He came to the people of the world, but the world did not receive Him. He came to Israel but they did not receive Him. He came to Santa Monica, but His own, those whom He created did not receive Him. He came to Yale Street, but His own, did not receive Him.
Isn’t that one of the saddest verses in the Bible? This verse reminds me of a woman who was part of the college ministry BASIC that we have at Santa Monica College. Nicole was a woman about 24-25 and she had a form of Autism, but you would never really know it. She interacts so well with people. And she is possibly the nicest person I know. She knows all the names of the people in my family and the names of my pets. When I talk with her she asks me how our pets our doing by name. I have never seen her do anything wrong to someone else, I don’t think she even thinks about harming people with words or violence. She is so pleasant to speak with anybody. When she walks in a room, she carries herself to say, I am here, let me greet you and really invest in your life. But there have been times in Nicole’s life, when she was younger and even now when she goes into a classroom full of her peers or into a group of people and acts all nice and people just ignore her b/c she is different. They just continue on doing there own thing. We all have had times of thinking we were going to be received well but were just given the cold shoulder. It hurts.
Jesus was rejected and he showed His emotions when He was rejected, but not because of feeling sorry for Himself but for those who had rejected Him. Do you remember when He wept over Jerusalem b/c if only they had know that He could have brought them peace, but they rejected Him.
Jesus, who is God and creator, came to His creatures as Creator and Savior. And most ignored Him, some took interest and killed Him. Jesus still comes today to people, and few are hostile, but most just ignore Him. But if you look in verse 12 you will see that some receive Him, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” Jesus comes here today and He made you and He is your creator, there is nothing you can do to change that, but do you know Him as Savior?
This morning we are going to explore two things: What does it mean to receive Jesus and what does it mean to believe in Jesus? The reason why you need to listen because ultimately it is a matter of Heaven and Hell, but also I would hate to be included at the end of my life with one of the saddest events of all history: Jesus coming to me and me being part of those who do not receive Him (Pray).
“Cary Grant once told how he was walking along a street and started to pass by a man who began staring at him with a look of excited recognition. The man said, “Wait a minute, you’re... you’re — I know who you are; don’t tell me... uh, Rock Hud... No, you’re....” The famous actor interrupted him, thinking he would help him out a bit, and finished the man’s sentence: “Cary Grant.” But the fellow said, “No, that’s not it! You’re....” The irony was that Cary Grant was standing right in front of the man and identified himself to him, but he would not take Cary Grant’s word for it. He was sure that he was not who he said he was, and yet equally sure that he knew who he was — even though he was completely wrong.
Look at verse 10, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize him.”
“Jesus often found himself in the same situation as Cary Grant. He stood in front of people and claimed to be the incarnate presence of God, yet people said to him, “No, that’s not it. You must be someone else — a prophet, or John the Baptist back from the dead” (Matthew 16:14). Jesus made claims to be the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, Deity itself (Mark 14:61-62, John 10:33), yet people confronted with this truth said, “Surely, that’s not who you are. You must be someone else. The miracles are impressive, but you could not be Messiah. We know where Messiah comes from and what he will be like, and you don’t match the description we had in our minds” (John 9:29). John spoke the truth when he said, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him” (John 1:10).”It is incredible, is it not, that the Scriptures are so clear in telling us who Jesus is, and yet we still seem so uncertain about his identity?” (Rodney Buchanan)
This brings us to the first thing I want to speak with you about today: What does it mean to receive Jesus? Let me put it to you simple as I have learned it this week from John Piper: To receive Jesus means welcoming Him into your life as He is. If He presents Himself to you as Savior, welcome Him as Savior. If He presents Himself to you as Lord, welcome Him as Lord. If He presents Himself to you as Leader, welcome Him as Leader. If He presents Himself to you as Counselor, welcome Him as Counselor. If He presents Himself to you as Protector, welcome Him as Protector. If He presents Himself, to You as Authority, welcome Him as Authority. If He presents Himself to you as King, welcome Him as King.
However Jesus presents Himself to You, welcome Him into your life as He is. Receive Him into your life for who He is. But that is not what we hear today as what it means to receive Jesus, what we hear today on receiving Jesus has a different meaning. Let me share with you the popular notions of the day. You might have heard this before. Jesus knocks on the door (knock, knock) and you open it and say, “Oh, Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God, come on in. Here’s your room. (Shut the door). You may stay here as long as you don’t play your music to loud b/c I dance to another tune over here.” So, now I have received Him and He is in my life and I am saved. One has said that the problem with this kind of receiving is that in the New Testament it is exposed as a sham. (All of this is from John Piper)
In Luke Chapter 4 Jesus enters a synagogue in His own hometown of Nazareth. Jesus reads from the scroll and when he was done all the people spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words from his lips. They received Him. But 6 verses later it says that they were furious with His words and tried to throw Him off a cliff. What happened? Jesus pointed a finger at their pride. They did not receive Jesus. Receiving Jesus is not about welcoming Jesus into our house and putting Him off into that little rooms of our lives called, “Religion.” Receiving Jesus is not a peaceful co-existence with a man who makes no claims. Receiving Jesus into your life means to welcome Jesus into your life for who He is, not for who you want Him to be. Jesus is Savior and Lord and you can’t receive Him as Savior and not Lord. Jesus is both Savior and Lord and that is how He presents Himself to You. So, to receive Jesus into your life means to welcome Him into your life for who He is.
Look again at verse 12, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed (believe – present tense) in His name, he gave the right to become children of God…” Let’s look at what it means to believe in Jesus. Please take some time with me to understand this. Living in a supposedly Christian nation has really watered down our understanding of what it means to believe.
“Drunks on the street say they believe. Unmarried couples sleeping together say they believe. Elderly people who haven’t sought worship or fellowship for forty years say they believe. All kinds of lukewarm, world-loving church attenders say they believe. The world abounds with millions of unconverted people who say they believe in Jesus.” To tell somebody to ‘believe’ is so empty and meaningless in our culture. What is the truth that is conveyed when we are telling somebody to believe in Jesus? The words are not magic in order to gain salvation. What does it mean to believe in His name?
Let’s take a short journey in the book of John so that we can see what it means to believe (John Piper lead me in this direction).
Look at John Next look at John 5:43-44, where "receive" and believe" are used again in close connection the way they are in 1:12. "I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?"
Do you see what verse 44 implies about believing? It implies that you can’t believe in Jesus if you love the praise and glory of men. This means that believing is so contrary to pride and self-exaltation that it involves a deep humbling. It means abandoning the craving for human praise, and caring more about the praise of God. Part of that humbling also realizes that you can do nothing to save yourself, none of your good works will do. If you truly believe then you must be humbled. Believing is not merely intellectual assent to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God.
Next look at John 6:35. "Jesus said to them, ’I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." This verse teaches that believing in Jesus means being satisfied with Jesus. It means that Jesus is the food that feeds the hunger of your soul. Believing is not merely intellectual assent to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God.
We could go on to John 8:42 (talks about loving Jesus) and 12:36 (Talks about Trusting Jesus) and 12:46-49 (Believing in Jesus means stepping away from darkness). All these texts, plus the ones we have seen show that believing is a deep work in our heart, not a mere agreement with doctrinal facts. It includes breaking free from the craving for human praise and it includes being satisfied with Jesus as the bread of life.
So Piper would paraphrase verse 12 like this: "But all who received Jesus into their lives for who he really is, and who feed upon him as the all-satisfying bread of life, to them he gave authority to become the children of God."
Conclusion:
You need to understand that you become a child of God in this life. No one becomes a child of God in the next life. Once this life is over, its over. Jesus is coming to people all over the world through the Gospel and people are not receiving Him at all. No one who chooses to not receive Him now will have a chance to receive Him later. You have your chance now.
Nicole, the girl I spoke about earlier. Became a Christian while she was in college. You see, Nicole has to have a helper every where she goes. And her helper was a woman named Connie, who was a dear sweet saint in the Lord, who lead Nicole to the Lord. Nicole is so excited about her new faith. She sings to the Lord. When we do evangelism on campus she passes out hundreds of tracts and comes back to get more. But she still faces the cold shoulder from a lot of her peers b/c not only is she different, but she is really different now that she is a Christian.
Two weeks ago on a Friday night Nicole called me. She asked me how my family was doing and how my pets were doing. She told me that she was going to be on Wheel of Fortune on Monday and I thought that was neat that she was in the audience for a taping of a show. So I asked her about how the show was from where she was sitting or something like that and she said that she was a contestant. I try to sound positive but I am thinking, “Yeah Right.” Then I just asked her how she did. She said I won rounds 2, 3, 4, and 5 and the bonus round. I’m thinking, “Yeah Right.” Then I said what did you win, she said, “About 10,000 in the rounds and a new Honda Prelude Car in the bonus round.” So, I got off the phone with her and said to my wife, “You will not believe what Nicole just told me.” I repeated it and then said out loud, “Yeah, Right.” Melissa said, “Jason, has Nicole ever been one to lie or make up anything.” I said, “No.” Feeling so ashamed that I was joining the list of scoffers that have doubted things she said or given her the cold shoulder.
So, we turned on the TV on Monday and there she was and she did exactly how she said she did. She won the money and the car. It was perfect and I think God loved every minute of it. Here was a girl who had been treated badly her whole life because she was different and God saves her and decides to bless her in this way. And you know what I bet happened, people probably started to call her and say, “Nicole, O’l buddy O’l pall, can I borrow some money.” Oh no, it’s too late now. You had your chance.
Don’t think you will get another chance to receive Jesus after your dead. The time is while you are alive. But I am not trying to rush you, but I do want you to know that when you receive Jesus you must receive Him for who He is and finding satisfaction in Him alone.
