Believing and Receiving Jesus: A Christmas Advent Message

Understanding the Incarnation and its meaning

The choice to receive and believe in Jesus

Becoming a child of God through faith

Assurance of salvation and the impossibility of losing it

John chapter 1. We have been away from each other for three weeks in relationship to studying this passage. And we were studying this passage in relationship to Christmas, a new perspective in relationship to the Incarnation from the Gospel of John instead of the other three Gospels, which are more the events that have to do with the actual birth of the child this is much more of an in-depth look at the meaning of that birth and all that that entails and a very, very, very beautiful description of it. In fact, the last thing that we were looking at was verses 9 through 14 and many of you should have a sheet that has 9 through 14 on it and we have actually covered the first 9, 10, 11, and 12. We're just barely on 12 when we finished up. We are going to finish with 12 and 13 today. That's all that we'll probably get through. 12 and 13, we may not actually get through that far in relationship to where we are. This passage, as we mentioned to you last time as you approach Christmas, this particular passage introduces an idea that none of the other Gospels introduce in relationship to the coming of the child, the purpose and the meaning of the coming of the child. And what that is is that man will now have to make a choice. He'll have to make a choice. The coming of this revelation of God to humanity through the coming of Jesus into this world now provides a strong, definite, clear choice. And the two words that he uses that basically talk about it is receive and believe. Receive and believe. And it says that most everybody did not. That the word came, it became flesh, and it was not received by man. it came at a particular point in time. And that's one of the things that's important in part of this passage. It uses a Greek tense called the aorist tense, which means that it came at a particular moment in history when that particular event occurred. And that particular event now causes mankind, all mankind, to make a choice. and the two words that are used there are they were to receive him and they were to believe on him and most chose not to do so it says he came home actually one of the literal translations is he came home it says he came unto his own but it really means he came home and essentially man still rejected him even though he was the one who created the home. And so that's what we have looked at so far. We've looked at all the meaning of what the word was and all that had to do with light and all that had to do with life that was a part of what he was and when he was and what he was in terms of God himself and that that particular light and that particular life now has come to be in the form of a man. And so this is what we have seen so far and we've looked at. We're going to look at verse 12 and 13 today and that's the sheet that you received. The other sheet at the very bottom of it most of you have that one. I didn't run off another set of those. But at the very bottom of the sheet began this study, and it says 9 through 14, the word incarnate, has to do with the concept which we just mentioned in the sea. This is found in several different passages. That word actually is found in the other gospel account in another direction, and then we wanted to look at just a little bit about this passage as well. So I'm going to put those up there. is on the other sheet that you had that we talked about last time and those of you who were here last time had that sheet and I didn't bring it to hand out I've got too many of them as they are to keep up with them but we are looking at the word received and believed so let's read that beginning in verse 10 he was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him he came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. and we beheld his glory glory as the only begotten from the Father for the grace grace and truth So we looking at verses 12 and 13 What is it that this little set of verses is so easy to run through because you're wanting to get to verse 14. Everybody knows verse 14. And so you're quickly moving through this little passage that I read to get to that beautiful verse that begins a very, very beautiful section. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. That is the incarnation. And so from there on, there's an enormous amount that is given about this incarnation and the beauty of it and the meaning of it. But right in front of it is the question that basically the birth of Christ brings to us. do you receive him and believe in him or do you not? And almost everybody in this room and probably everybody in this room has received him and believed him. But it explains to you and me, those who have received and believed, essentially what that was that we did and what every man must do. And then it explains to us what we become. and so it's something that if you kind of flow through it too fast you miss a lot of the beauty that is yours when he comes and he offers this choice and you do receive and you do believe you find that you become a child of God and it explains to you how that happened okay so that's what you're going to see so you make the choice and when you make the choice you have a right you have a right that is given to you that is a gift okay and that right is defined and it explains to you what you are you are a child of God because you chose to receive and believe. Okay? Now, what you can understand here is that when you read verse 14, it basically says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his grace and his truth. All of them beheld. Everybody beheld the grace and the truth. Every person that Jesus came in front of beheld his grace and his truth. Okay? Everybody understood that this man was unusual and unique, even though they didn't like him and didn't receive him. So they all saw it. If you go back to verses 11 and 12 and 13, what you find is what happens to those who received him and believed in it. Because everybody saw it, but most did not receive it or believe it. And what happened to him? What happened to us? And what's the process that causes you and I to become a child of God? It's explained in verse 13. And if you take this and you run it across chapter 3 of John, where all this is repeated, when Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night and wants to know how a man is born again. How a man can possibly be born again. All of that is described in these two verses, verses 12 and 13, run up right against chapter 3 as Jesus begins to explain all this. And you put them together and you get one of the greatest statements in the Bible about your assurance of salvation. how can you be sure that you are a child of God? And then how can you be sure that you can never lose it? Okay. Now you're in a church that believes that statement. There are churches that you can go to, Pentecostal churches, Assembly of God churches, different places that don't believe this. they believe that you can lose it church of Christ these are folks who will say to you I'm in a school Christian school that I teach in and it's opened up to any Christian group or really non-Christian and we have lots of different denominations that come in and this eventually becomes a big cutting edge in the group okay And I have to deal with that in love. So I have to see both sides of the U and understand both sides. But both sides are saved. And one of the reasons they're saved is because of what we're studying right this minute. You cannot lose your salvation. You are born of God. And he doesn't take that away. And he is the one who chooses the imagery to explain to you how you became born And he basically uses the imagery of birth from a man and a woman My son is my son. He will always be my son. That girl over there is my daughter. She will always be my daughter. that is the fundamental concept that you draw out of verse 12 and 13 and John chapter 3 how are you born again just like you were born the first time except this time it is God who is the male and you are the female and he well you're not the female he is the one who basically brings himself into you and you become a new creation so this is what you're seeing in these verses it is God who chooses this imagery this imagery is extremely in the flesh it has a lot of sexual overtones to it that basically drive us into the idea of how do you explain this new birth? You explain it in the same way that you explained the first birth. And that becomes an assurance to you because you cannot lose that once you are born a child of God. You can't lose that. And so this is what we're going to see in this plural passage. It's very, very beautiful because it explains that. All right. The first word that is used is the word receive. That is not on your sheet. It's on the previous sheet at the very bottom. If you have the previous sheets, you've got it there so that you can follow that. But I'm going to just go over that and tell you what's on that sheet, and then we'll move into the passage itself. Okay? The one that I gave to you today. The word received is different than the word knew or know. It actually talks about in the previous verses that they knew him. They knew him. That means that they understood him. They understood who he was. It's an intellectual knowledge. the words received and believed go into a complete giving of oneself to another concept or another person the way it's defined, the word received that you find in verse 12 actually, it actually starts in verse 11 where it says they didn't receive him then it says, but as many as received him so it uses that word and then later on it says those who believe in his name so those are the two words that are used to tell you you have become a child of God so what is it that you have to do to become a child of God you have to receive and you have to believe that's the two words that are used here so what does the word receive mean it is a verb so it's an action it's not a concept it's an action that a person takes God uses the word receive not know and this verb is a definition of taking a person to oneself in an intimate relationship that's what it's defined at now that's what's on that sheet that I previously gave to you but if you want to write that down it is essentially what it means is the taking a person to oneself in an intimate fellowship or relationship. This verse, Matthew chapter 1, verse 20 through 40, talks about Joseph taking Mary and it says he received her unto himself. Okay? Now what that means is that he took her as his wife and became intimate with her. He became intimate with her. In other words, there was an intimacy that was developed than just I know you or I know you. This is something far more deep and personal where the two come and become almost one in that kind of concept. So the word received, in this case, is very, very strong. and this one you have it again John chapter 14 verse 3 where Jesus is using the same word and let me read that to you for you're all pretty well familiar with that verse alright on your Matthew on verse 24 it says the Lord commanded him and he took to him his wife but 25 said and did not know her until so So receive, it sounds like receive means more than just a physical receive. Yes, it is. That's exactly right. It's more than a physical receiving. Knowing is in this case knowing and the word does have to do with the sexual okay But the word receive and the other that we talking about is that there is far more than just those particular aspects In other words, the word receive is this intimacy that's very, very deep between two people, even though the word know has some context to that. But the word know used in this chapter is not that. It means like I intellectually know you. There are two different ways of saying that word. Okay, let me read John chapter 14 so it gives you another picture of this word. Most of you know this passage. Very, very close. This is where Jesus is talking to Peter. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. that where I am, there you may be also. And the concept here is I am receiving somebody that I am intimately involved with. It was almost like I'm going through the door and I'm opening the door and I put my arms around somebody that I deeply am in love with. I knew them a long time ago. I know them now, but I am receiving them into my own heart and my own presence to where they can be with me forever. So it's a very, very intimate word in relationship to what that says. So that's the first word that's being used by John to describe the act. It's a verb. The act that you do in relationship to Jesus himself. All men can see his grace and his truth. All men can see that. I mean, you can read book after book after book, man after man after man, who will say, Jesus is a great man. But they do not receive him in terms of all that he is. In fact, the next word believe gets right down kind of to the nitty gritty, is the word name. All but those who believe on his name. And what that really means is there is this deep understanding of who he is, but there is an enormous submitting of one's life to the authority and the essence of this particular person. Their name meant not a tag that you use to call on somebody. It meant essentially that that was their essence. so their name is their essence to a Jewish person so essentially that's why they would try to name their child on some kind of thing we try to do the same thing we name a child hoping that they become that their essence and that's exactly what it's saying you believe, it's a different belief Satan believes too that Jesus is the son of God but he does not believe in a way that he accepts the name in terms of its essence and he submits his life to that essence he doesn't do that so that's the difference that you see received and believed okay let me get on the sheet that you have there the word believe and faith are described at the very bottom of that sheet that I gave out this morning. And it talks about what faith is, and it explains to you that faith to John is interesting. John never used the word faith in all of his gospel. He didn't use the word faith. That's a noun. He did not believe, he didn't want to talk about doctrines. He used the word believe because it was a verb. Because it's an action that a man must do. It's like you have to put your arms around something and love it. You have to bow and say that he is Lord. Because that's what he is. And you know that. You recognize that. And you receive it into your soul. That's the difference. It's not somebody sitting there and watching and following Jesus around and seeing the grace and the truth and the revelation of the dwelling of the flesh. John says that's not receiving. That's what they all did. But those of you who did receive him and this personal submission of your life to him and the believing of his name. Now, this is what you have become. Because you did that act. so what did you become so this is the description that he says but as many as received him to them he gave the first thing that you see is that this is a gift again we're all back to the very concept for God so loved the world that he gave Ephesians 2.8.9 for by grace you're saved through faith This is a gift that is given to you. So this is not something that you did except to receive it and to believe it. So he gave it. It is something that he gave out of his soul to you and me. And that's become the grace and the truth that we basically received.

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