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Let's turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 1. John chapter 1 working on the prologue to John's gospel, that's verses 1 to 18 here in John chapter 1. I think the three main sections is in the first place the divinity of the word in verses 1 to 5, secondly the mission of the word in verses 6 to 13, and then thirdly the incarnation of the word in verses 14 to 18. 

So the grand movement in the chapter is to display or demonstrate how the divine word of verses 1 to 5 came into the world to do what is explained in verses 6 to 13, and that through the incarnation, the second person of the triune God, taking on our humanity with all of the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof, and yet without sin. It truly is a marvelous display of theology, and as we move through this, you'll notice I'm leaning heavy on the early creeds and confessions of the church, as well as our own confession. 

I am also using some words that perhaps you haven't ever heard before or thought about before, and that is with purpose. There is a lot of bad teaching out there today at the level of Christology and the Trinity. And it's happening in Protestantism, it is happening in Evangelicalism, it is happening in the Reformed community as well. And so it is important for us to understand the nomenclature, the terminology that is used, and the meaning behind that language, so that we can, with the Church, understand who our triune God is, such that we can worship and glorify and honor him, and as well, we can defend this doctrine against the hordes and against the devil and against those who would seek to destroy it. 

So if there is something that perhaps is unclear, feel free to call or write or email or ask any questions. I can point you to some good resources on these wonderful truths. 

So beginning in John 1 at verse 1, 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which gives light to every man coming into the world. 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 His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, 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, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." 

Well, let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for this section of Holy Scripture and the light that it shines upon our blessed Savior. We thank you that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Thank you for that blessed reality that He comes into this world to save His people from their sins. And thank you, Most High God, for calling us to believe on Him. for causing us to be born of God, causing us to reap the benefits of that redemptive work of the one called the Word of God in this passage. Help us now to stand amazed at the glory of the Word, to stand amazed at the glory of His redeeming work on behalf of sinners, and cause us to respond with worship, with praise, with adoration, and with great hearts filled with gratitude. Forgive us again for all of our sin and everything that darkens our understanding, and guide us now by Your Spirit. And we pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Well, as I said, in verses 6 to 13, the emphasis falls on the mission of the Word. And last time, we looked at verses 6 to 9. The precursor or the forerunner for the Word was John the Baptist. He came to announce the coming, the arrival of the King himself. And so what John the Apostle says is he gives us or indicates something of the ministry of John the Baptist in verses 6 to 8. And then there is this statement in verse 9, that was the true light. That is pointing to the word, to the one that John testified concerning, which gives light to every man coming into the world. So that's a bit of a general statement concerning the words coming into the world.

Now we notice specifically what the word does when he comes into the world in verses 10 to 13. And that mission is very clear. If you notice specifically at verse 12, it says, but as many as received him, to them, and here it comes, he gave the right to become children of God. So that's the mission. If we boil it all down with reference to the Son of God, it was to confer that right to become the children of God. Now that's amplified later on in the gospel narrative, it's amplified in other passages, but when you boil it all down, if you ask the question, why does Jesus Christ or why did Jesus Christ come into the world? The answer is simple, sinners to save. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15 indicates that. Jesus to Zacchaeus says the very same thing. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Certainly Jesus affords for us a good example that we by grace should follow in our lives of sanctification, but the emphasis in the New Testament and old falls on the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not that he came to be an example, but that he came to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Because the grim reality is, is that God is perfect. That's not the grim reality. But we are highly imperfect. We are sinners. We are lawbreakers. We go astray like sheep. We are foul and polluted. And the only means by which we will be recovered is based on the redeeming work of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's where the emphasis falls in the prologue in terms of the word's mission in this world. He gave the right to become children of God.

Now, in terms of verses 10 to 13, which is our focus this morning, we see two specific emphases there. In other words, what John the Apostle is highlighting is the responses to that mission. So we'll look first at the rejection of the Word in verses 10 and 11, and then secondly, the reception of the Word in verses 12 to 13. So let's look first at the rejection of the Word in verses 10 and 11, and there are four things to consider here.

In the first place, the Word was in the world. Notice in verse 10, He was in the world. In fact, verse 10 is a curious passage of Scripture because it uses the same Greek word, world, three different ways. Sometimes you'll hear Arminians say, well, God so loved the world, that means everybody's going to be saved. Well, Universalists say that. Arminians say everybody can be saved. Well, that's not necessarily the case. We must let context dictate how we understand the usage of words. And in this particular passage, Jesus was in the world. That means the earth. The world was made by him. Not just the earth, but the entire cosmos. He made Pluto too. But then the world did not know him. And there the word is being used in its ethical sense. The world of men, filled with rebellion, did not receive him. So in this one verse, the same word is used in three different ways.

But the first is this, the word was in the world. I should tell you that some of the older commentators take that as a reference to prior to the Incarnation. They say that verse 14 gives the description of the Incarnation, and verse 10, when it says that the Word was in the world, means in the Old Testament that by general revelation, the heavens declare the glory of God, Jesus Christ is the second person of the Godhead, but as well through the prophets, special revelation that came through Isaiah. that came through Ezekiel, that came through Jeremiah. They say that verse 10 does not mean that Jesus was physically present in the world, but it's more of a general reference, more of an old covenant reference, that Christ as God was that light that enlightened every man. And that in the world simply meant, again, by the manifestation of Christ through the created order or through the prophets of God.

Now the other position is the one that I take. I believe that verse 10 does refer to the Incarnation. He was in the world in order to save his people from their sins. I think that verse 10 is a general reference as to how or as to the fact that the word of verses 1 to 5 comes into the world. But how does he come into the world? Does he come by general revelation? Does he come through the prophetic word? Verses 14 to 18 give us a specific explanation of how the word came to be in the world. It was by virtue of the hypostatic union. The one person of Christ, the two natures, the divine Christ, the Lord Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, took on our humanity. So I take verse 10 as incarnation. Christ was in the world, and I think that's the emphasis in this particular passage.

Notice, secondly, the Word made the world, verse 10b. It says, He was in the world and the world was made through Him. This repeats or reiterates verse 3. And it indicates something to us in terms of God's purpose in and for the world. Christ not only made it, but Christ possesses it, as we'll see in just a moment. But Christ not only made it and possesses it, He comes into it Himself. You see, throughout history, man has desired to be as God. What we have in the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is God Himself taking on our humanity, identifying with us in order to redeem us and to save us from our sin. So He was in the world and the world was made through Him. And again, we need to remember the doctrine of inseparable operations. The creation or those things that are outside of God are attributed to the Godhead. Each of the three persons of the Trinity are responsible for creation according to the one divine essence. But there is the appropriations. Certain things are appropriated or predicated of one of the persons of the Trinity to show us something of the distinction and to draw out our hearts to worship.

Again, consider this. Christ made the world. The world rejects him. The world rebels against him. The world, as it were, raises his fist to him, and yet he leaves heaven above, comes into this world, the world that he had made, the world that he possessed, but the world that is in rebellion against him, in order to exercise his mercy and his grace and to exhibit what he does say to Zacchaeus, the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Our Creator did not leave us in the mess that we made. Our Creator redeems us from the mess that we made. And so the spotlight upon the redemptive work of Christ in this passage is in the larger context of what Christ has done in terms of creation. It's revealed in terms of what man, the creature, has done with reference to him. It's similar to what we have in verses 4 and 5. Notice, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

So John reiterates, reemphasizes, as he hones in on the ministry of the Savior, and specifically with reference to those who reject, in verse 10. He was in the world, and the world was made through him. And then notice, and the world did not know him. Again, John is not painting some sort of utopian picture here. There is darkness in this world. There is sin and depravity in this world. There is evil in this world, and it's obvious when the Creator of the world comes in our flesh, and we do not esteem Him. We do not regard Him. We do not own Him as our Lord. We do not confess Him and bow down to Him. But in the person of the Jews in the first century, we cry out and say, away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him.

So He was in the world, the world was made through Him. and the world did not know him." That sets the stage for the mission as it's revealed here in verse 11, and that brings us to the beginning part of verse 11. Notice it says, he came to his own, and in this particular situation, he own means his world. What he makes, what creature there is, belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Christ owns this world, but then notice that it goes on. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

Likely, that's Israel. Likely, that's the Jews. Likely, that's the Old Covenant people of God. He comes to his own in accordance with the prophets, in accordance with the promises made to the patriarchs. He comes to his own, and his own do not receive him. He's Israel's Messiah. But by and large, Israel rejects. By and large, Israel wants politics, not redemption. By and large, Israel wants the subjugation of the Roman Empire. They want the exaltation of a geopolitical Israel. So, with reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, they deny him, they reject him, they refuse to bow the knee to him in his life and ministry.

This is precisely what the fourth servant song in the prophet Isaiah chapter 53 indicates. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from him. There was nothing about him. that called or allured our hearts, unredeemed as they were, to this blessed one, this one who does come in accordance with all that had been spoken of him in the Old Testament. I mean, the Old Testament even specified where he would be born. And there were still those rebels that denied that he was, in fact, the Messiah. When Jesus claimed to be from the Father, they rejected that. When Jesus said concerning his own identity, I am, they pick up rocks to throw at him. 

And so John is setting the stage in terms of the mission with reference first to those who reject that mission, which is the mass of humanity that is undone because of sin that does not know God's grace. And so John points that out. He says that he came to his own, the world, his possession, the earth that he had made, and his own, the Jews specifically, who had heard of him and who had read of him, did not receive him. 

And then that brings us now, having looked at, well, I just want to tease this out for just a moment. This was not new in Israel's history. The fact that they rejected Jesus shouldn't cause any of us to go, wow, I can't believe it. If you say that, you don't understand the doctrine of sin. If you ever say, wow, I can't believe that anybody would do such a thing, then you're tacitly admitting that you have not come to deal correctly or honestly with the scriptures. When the scripture deals with man, it's not a pretty picture, brethren. When scripture describes what we are in Adam, I don't think any of us should be engaged in self-congratulations. None of us should pat ourselves on the back. None of us should say, wow, what virtuous, wonderful creatures we are, having come from the hand of God. 

back in the prophet Isaiah at the very beginning of the book, a book that was intended to prophesy concerning the judgment coming upon Judah, specifically, before the actual Babylonian captivity. In chapter 1 of the prophet Isaiah, verses 2 and 3, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not consider. 

It's a very similar sort of a thing that we find here in the prologue, specifically at verse 11. Listen again. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children. He was in the world. The world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 

It's the same sort of motif. God Most High has created Israel. God Most High sustains Israel. God Most High nourishes Israel, and the people of Israel forget Him. They turned the back on him. In fact, that's one of the indictments that the prophet Jeremiah uses with reference to the children of Israel. When in their apostasy, when in their rebellion, when in their idolatry, you know what he says? He says, or God says through the prophet, you have turned the back to me and not the face. 

It's the same sort of thing that Paul picks up on in Romans chapter 1 with reference to the rebel sinners there. They did not even want to retain the knowledge of God in their thoughts. In other words, it's not just that we're not consumed with them as we ought, but we don't even like to think about it. We don't even like to acknowledge Him. We don't even like to think that there is in fact a God. That's why all this atheism and agnosticism and that's why all this attempt to run from God. Paul again describes it well in Romans chapter 1. The problem isn't a lack of evidence. The problem is hardness of heart. The fact that men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. Jonathan Edwards renders that passage this way. The fool says in his heart, no God. In other words, it's not just this intellectual, there's no such thing as God, but there's an ethical rebellion against God.

And so Christ understands that all too well. because he comes to his own and his own do not receive him. It is the most glorious context for the work of redemption undertaken. In other words, Adam is created upright by the hand of God and placed in paradise. Adam is placed in a paradise situation. He's given a prohibition against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In paradise, every tree, you may freely eat, just not that one. So the devil comes, and what happens to Adam? He submits to the cunning, and he engages in rebellion in a paradise situation.

When the Lord Jesus is marked out as the last Adam, when the Lord Jesus goes to the waters of baptism, it is then that the Spirit drives Him out to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days. It's not paradise. It's not glorious. It's not wondrous, it's not miraculous and splendid, but rather it is hard, it is agonizing, it is difficult. And yet Christ, the last Adam, is victorious.

And so Christ, as Redeemer, doesn't come into the world that is praising Him and fawning all over Him and glorifying Him and acknowledging Him and delighting in Him. He made the world and all things in it, but the world did not know Him. And then He comes specifically to His own, and His own do not receive Him. But praise be to God, that's not the end of the story. Praise be to God that the mission of the Messiah was not a failure, that the mission of the Messiah was triumphant, and that the mission of the Messiah carries on even now through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This word is to go forth to every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation. This word is to be proclaimed throughout the earth, and we have great confidence, great expectation, and great hope that a massive multitude of sinners will be saved. This idea that there's going to be five of us in heaven is absolutely contrary to Scripture. Remember the patriarchal promise. God says to Abraham, look up at the sky. Can you count the stars? Well, of course Abraham couldn't count the stars. They were more numerous than he could get his mind wrapped around. What does the Lord God tell him? So shall your descendants be. Not in the physical sense, not that he would people all the nations with his old wife and they would live happily ever after, but it's through his seed which is identified by Paul in Galatians 3 as Jesus Christ the Lord.

There was another instance where God, again, God in His grace and in His mercy, took patience with Abraham. Several times He leads Abraham by the hand to increase and to help his faith along the way. He tells Abraham, look north, look south, look east, look west. Some of you are going, that's not north, that's not south. Please don't. Get me on the directional findings here of the compass. But this is what God tells Abraham. Do you know that Abraham looked and saw the world? It wasn't just the geography of Israel. Romans 4.13 tells us that the promise to Abraham was that he would inherit the world. Again, not because Abraham was a great guy, but because Abraham is the one from whom the seed comes, and that seed, told about in Genesis 3.15, comes in the fullness of time, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.

So again, as we stand and reflect upon the reality that the Savior comes into the world that he made, the Savior comes into the world that he possesses and he owns, we need to always remind ourselves that this world was hostile toward him. There's nothing new under the sun, brethren. Jesus will draw out that lesson in John 15. If the world hates you, know that it hated me first. In fact, in John 16, at the end of the Upper Room Discourse, he tells them, in this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.

You see the same motif in Psalm 2. You see the mutiny of man. Why do the nations rage and the people plot of vain things? The kings and the rulers, they set themselves together against Yahweh and against His Christ. Well, if that was all there was to it, brethren, we should hang our heads and mope and whine and grumble and complain. But that's not what happens. The scene shifts from the mutiny of man to the calm dignity of the throne room on high. And Yahweh says that He will install His King on His holy hill of Zion.

You see the same contrast in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 13, the world goes after the beast. And we might be inclined to say, oh, the beast wins, the beast is victorious, the beast is successful. How does chapter 14 begin? It's the lamb with his fair army standing on Mount Zion.

And the same motif is reflected in the span of two verses here. He comes to his own, but his own do not receive him. But John goes on to indicate in verses 12 and 13, there is a contrast. It's not the case that verse 11 describes a universal situation. He comes to his own and his own do not receive him. That doesn't mean every single Jew. That doesn't mean every single Gentile. It's more of a comparative statement to underscore for us that the light having come into the world doesn't mean that all the darkness is vacant or all the darkness is absent now or evacuated. There is still that tension that does obtain, but there is that blessed contrast.

So you have the rejection of the word in verses 10 and 11, and then you have the reception of the word in verses 12 to 13. Now here I want to look at two things. First, the identity of those who received the word, verse 12, and then the grace given to those who received the word in verse 13.

But notice the contrast, verse 12, but as many as received him. It's not a universal statement. He comes to his own, his own do not receive him. Matthew did. John did, Paul did, Peter did. Those men that had Israel's blood in their veins received Him. Not because they had Israel's blood in their veins. John will make that very clear in verse 13. But there was the case that Jews did receive Him. There was the case that there were those in Israel that responded favorably and believed the gospel. So there is this contrast, verse 12, But, as many as received Him. In contrast to, He comes to His own and His own do not receive Him.

But then notice the privilege conferred by the Son. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. Isn't that a beautiful statement? To them he gave the right. That Greek word could also be translated authority. Right is better. There is a right to this, not because of our goodness, and verse 13 will make that very, very clear, but because of Christ's goodness. 

He's not only the creator of all things seen and unseen, he's not only the creator of every blessed thing out there that today demonstrates the majesty and the glory and the righteousness of God, but he's also the redeemer of God's elect. He is the one who confers upon people that right to become children of God. I love that language, brethren. 

It does seem to contrast with something we've experienced over the last little while, and I'm just using this analogously. We are citizens with certain rights and entitlements, not because we're good, but because this nation is good, and it therefore has protected those things. It doesn't feel good or it doesn't feel right to have those rights violated. But when you, by God's grace, are conferred the right of sonship by Christ himself, there is no one, devil, world, or flesh, that can undo that. There is no one that can violate that. It is sacred, it is blessed, it is wondrous. 

In other words, in the language of the Apostle Paul, who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? No one can. We have the right of sonship. We have the right of children ship to our blessed God. And that is not because we arrived on it with our free will. Again, verse 13 is going to make that clear. It's not because we arrived on it because of our good works. We're already told that in our own strength we wouldn't receive him. The light shines and the darkness does not comprehend it. 

But in the strength of God Most High and in the power of this Redeemer, he confers this right of sonship upon the elect of God. And sonship includes ladies as well. I am not being a gender unconscious guy here for the wackos out there. Sonship always has included ladies. Men has included, collectively, men and women. And we ought not to sacrifice the usage of language because we end up in the sexual perversion that we see now in our own situation. But the Word confers the right to become children of God. 

Hermann Ritterbosch makes this observation. He says, the ability to confer this right marks his exclusive relationship to God and his utterly unique position as the way to the Father. John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. It is Christ who confers the right. No one comes to the Father except through Him, nor does anyone become a child of God except by the Son. 

We need to emphasize that, brethren, because it's not us who have saved ourselves, it's not us who have helped Jesus save us, but Christ is the Savior for sinners. It is Christ who confers the right of child-ship upon the children of God. And John comes at this in the language of born of God, or begotten of God, or sonship, or child-ship. Paul comes at it through that juridical viewpoint of adoption. Paul speaks of adoption in Romans chapter 8, and then again in Galatians chapter 4. Paul underscores the adoptive privileges that we have as joint heirs with Christ, according to Romans 8, verse 17. John again highlights that we're born of God, begotten of God. It's not two different things being taught. It's two different ways of looking at the same blessed truth. that God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and that it's Jesus Christ who is the Savior, it is Jesus Christ who confers this privilege, it is Jesus Christ alone upon whom this emphasis falls.

So we have the contrast with verse 11, we have the privilege conferred by Christ, but now notice at the end of verse 12, this instrumentality of faith. This further explains, or it illustrates, or it amplifies how it is that we receive Jesus.

Notice in verse 12. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." So in other words, what does it mean to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? It means to have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our confession picks this up in 2nd London Confession, chapter 11 at paragraph 1. They receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have, not of themselves, it is the gift of God.

So this receiving and resting is metaphorical. We receive Jesus. We rest upon Jesus. The illustration or rather the explanation of that metaphor is faith. That's why the Gospel of John, for instance, in many, many occasions calls upon sinners to believe, because that is the means by which we receive Christ. It is the instrumentality of faith.

Let's just rehearse a few of those passages, because it is most important. In our context, notice the mission of John the Baptist in verse 7. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all, through him, might believe, that all through the ministry of John the Baptist might believe on Jesus Christ the Lord, and thus by grace receive Him.

Notice in John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. You see, the emphasis is on faith.

In this church, we like to preach that doctrine, justification by grace through faith in Christ, or historically it's been called justification by faith alone. It's not the works of our hands accompanying our faith, but it is rather Christ the Lord and His works that the instrument of faith lays hold of.

And that faith, as our confession reminds us, picking up correctly the apostles' emphasis in Philippians 1.29 and in Ephesians chapter 2, faith is a gift given by God. So not only does God require it in terms of the instrument by which we receive redemptive benefit, but God supplies it.

And when we ask the question, why is that? Because we're dark, because we're sinful, because we're depraved, because we're unable.

Notice John 4, verse 41. John 4, verse 41. Well, we'll pick up in verse 39. It might be a little while before we get to Jesus and the Samaritan woman. But notice in John 4, 39. So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them. and stayed there two days, and many more believed because of his own word. Then they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

Again, the word world there doesn't mean everybody without exception. It means everybody without distinction. World there is Jew-Gentile. Even Samaritans come to Israel's Messiah and believe.

Notice as well in John 6, 29. John 6, 29, Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. See, when preachers say, well, this is the work of God, go try harder, go do more, go be more pious, go be more righteous, and then you will be saved, or that will help you to become saved, or that will make you save a bull, they're lying to you. It is grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, by which a sinner gets peace with God.

Notice in John 6, 40. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life. And I will raise Him up at the last day.

John 7, 37 to 38. on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. See again, this is a metaphor. It's not Jesus holding buckets of water, come and have a drink of water. Metaphorically, drink from him, receive him, rest on him.

But what is the explanation of those metaphors? Notice in verse 38, he who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Chapter 8, verse 24, most important, most essential. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. And this statement, brethren, is another reason why we're going slow through the prologue to make sure we understand who Jesus is. Because here he says, unless you believe that I am, And the background here is the prophet Isaiah and the burning bush in Exodus 3.14. Unless you believe that I am Yahweh, you will die in your sins.

It is most crucial that we understand who Jesus is in His person and as well what He does in His work. But I think you get the point. in terms of faith. We could have many more passages here that speak to this same issue. And, of course, 20, 30, and 31, John says, the purpose for which he write is so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Now, go back to John 1 as we look at something else. Something about the chronology here. We need to understand what John is not saying, and we need to understand what John is saying. Look at John 1, 12. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name who were born of God. We'll look at the rest of that in a moment. But the order is not, listen to what I'm about to say, the order is not receive him by faith and then become born of God. That's not what John is saying. John is saying the exact opposite. It's those who are born of God that receive him by faith.

In other words, this isn't a passage that underscores an Arminian approach to things. He is not teaching that faith precedes regeneration. He is teaching what is everywhere taught in the Bible, that regeneration, or being born of God, or being born again, precedes faith. The emphasis by Paul in Ephesians chapter 2 is that you were dead in your trespasses and sins and God made you alive together in Christ. So for John, in this instance, he's not saying those who receive by believing in his name are then born of God. That's not the text.

In fact, if you want to see a clearer explanation, not that I think this isn't clear, turn to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. This is an old heresy that we need to make sure we don't fall prey to. This idea that we can believe or we do believe to initiate the redemptive process. In other words, the moment I believe, then God causes me to be born again. Or the moment that I believe, then God regenerates me. You'll see books at the thrift store. Happily, they're at the thrift store. That means people didn't want them. With titles like, How to be Born Again. Well, the emphasis in books like that is, well, believe and receive the Savior, and then you'll be born again. That's not what John's saying. 

John is saying those who receive the Savior through faith have been born of God. In other words, the efficient power behind our faith in Jesus Christ is not our free will, it's not the blood in our veins, it's not any desire of anybody around us, but the power belongs to God. And in 1 John 5, Greek grammar shows us that Arminianism is absolutely wrong. 

Verse one, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now that seems a simple statement, and it is a simple statement, but when you understand the grammar involved, it shows us how wrong Arminians are. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, that's called a present participle. That means that if you right now are believing that Jesus is the Christ, it is an evidence that you are born of God. And this is what's called a perfect passive indicative. A perfect is something that happens in the past and has present and abiding results. The passive is just what it suggests. We are passive in the transaction. God causes us to be born. God causes the new birth. And as a result of that causation, that efficient power, it's then that we believe. 

The same construction that John uses here is found in chapter 2. If you look at chapter 2, specifically at verse 29, it's a similar way or a similar description of things. It says, if you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness, those practicing righteousness presently, give evidence that they are born of God, something that happened before with present benefit now that issues forth in 1 John 5.1, belief in Christ, and here in 1 John 2.29, works of righteousness, not unto salvation, but because they are born of God. 

So this is very crucial, brethren. Pelagianism denies the supernatural essentially in the work of salvation. Man can ascend God, according to Pelagius. And I think that that species of preaching is probably more rampant in evangelicalism and, dare I say, Reform teaching today. Well, hopefully not in Reform. But this kind of stuff isn't confined to the United Church. There's evangelicals that sound Pelagia. There's evangelicals that would make, you know, the Armenians of yesteryear probably vomit. John Wesley wouldn't be down with preaching that doesn't emphasize the sinfulness of man and the necessity of the new birth. He wouldn't be okay with that, but such is times preaching today. 

Just be a better version of you. Try a bit harder. Jesus will help you. I mean, brethren, if that's all that Jesus came to do was to give us a little bit of help or to give us a little bit of an example, why the cross? Why in the world would that have been necessary if it was simply a mission of example? Or it was simply a mission of accompaniment? He came to save his people from their sins and that reality is lost on Pelagian. but as well on our minions. This idea that man has the free will to choose for Jesus is not scriptural, brethren. And I realize that may be a sacred cow to some, and I realize that people may have a real difficulty with that statement, but it is true. Paul tells us in Romans 9, 16, it does not depend upon him who wills, or upon him who runs, but upon God who shows mercy. Now it's typically here that persons will say, well then that strips the sinner of his hope. That strips the sinner of his ability. That strips the sinner of any thought of ever closing with Jesus Christ.

No, it's the foundation for hope for the sinner too close with Christ. Because man in sin doesn't want God. Man in sin can't change his own heart. Man in sin has no desire. It is God who shows mercy. It is God who gives the new birth.

The same thing is illustrated in John chapter 3. Jesus speaks to Nicodemus. Nicodemus comes to him by night. Teacher, we know that you're a man sent by God. No one could do the works that you do unless God sent him. Jesus gets right to the point. He says, unless one is born again, he shall not see the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus isn't saying, go out and believe and then God will make you born again. No, this must happen to you. It must happen from without. It must happen from above. It must happen anew. It must happen in God's sovereign grace.

But to encourage hope on the part of persons here or listening that may be hopeless, God is in the business of saving. Christ came to his own. Christ was in the world. Christ confers this right of childship upon sinners every day. It's not something that he's not familiar with or acquainted with. There is great hope, not in your will, not in your ability, not in your law-keeping, but in the God of mercy, the God of grace, the God of kindness, the God of goodness, the God who made the world and all things in it, and the God who sent His Son in the fullness of time, taking on our humanity in order to redeem those under the law.

We need to make sure we're clear on the order. So let's go back to John 1 and then finish off with verse 13. the grace given to those who receive the word. Notice, who were born of God. That's the short answer. That's the positive affirmation, but there's some negative things. There's some things that we need to make sure that we're not looking to first. He says, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.

I'm not going to lie to you, this is a bit of a tricky statement. Most commentators, a lot of commentators, see all three referenced to natural generation. And I don't think that's wrong. I think that idea of natural generation, natural means you were born into this world because of a father and a mother. And the NIV picks up on this. It says, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

And certainly the three clauses can be understood that. Not born of blood, it's literally bloods, or of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. But I think it does expand a bit beyond just natural generation when we look at the rest of the Bible. I think A.W. Pink is helpful at this point. He explains not of blood as bloodlines or physical descent or heredity. Pink says regeneration does not run in the veins. In other words, those born of God are not so because they are fleshly Israelites. Those born of God are not so because they were in the right family. Those born of God are not so because of anything physical in nature. There's nothing owing on the part of God to somebody born in a particular family. The emphasis here is falling upon the sovereignty of God, the supremacy of God, the glory of God in the salvation of sinners. In that next clause, we have, nor of the will of the flesh. Again, a reference to the physical act involved in begetting. So just because your parents are saved doesn't mean you're going to be saved. Just because your grandfather taught Sunday school at an Anglican church 50 years ago doesn't mean everything is okay with you.

Now if that seems a bit puzzling, go door to door sometime and engage in some evangelism and witnessing. When you try to tell people about Jesus Christ, you'll get answers like that. Oh, I'm okay. You know, my uncle taught Sunday school 25 years ago in this church setting. Really? That's what you're hanging your soul, your hope of eternal life on, is what your uncle did way back when?

The idea is not I have some connection in my life to somebody who's a spiritual person, but rather the connection is God's grace, God's supremacy, God's majesty, God's glory, God's power, God's efficacy.

And then that last statement, again, I think A.W. Pink highlights it, nor of the will of man. Pink says, quote, the new birth is not brought about by the well-meant efforts of friends, nor by the persuasive powers of the preacher. In other words, it's not the case that you want your little, you know, I was going to say Johnny, to be saved, and therefore he's going to be. No, it's God's grace, brethren.

And again, this does not strip sinners from hope. This is the foundation for hope, because God Most High is not constrained to who you belong to, to who wants you in or out, or to who doesn't. The Lord God Most High chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1.4. The Lord God Most High sent His Son on this mission to confer the right to become children of God on the sons of man. The emphasis here falls on God's supremacy, God's sovereignty, and God's glory.

Turn over to John 6.44. John 6.44 indicates the power behind our salvation. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Turn to Romans 8. Romans 8, specifically verses 7 and 8, showing us the inability of man. The inability of man, not only depravity, but inability. A corollary to the doctrine of total depravity is the doctrine of total inability. Not only are we totally depraved, that doesn't mean we're as bad as we could possibly be. It doesn't mean we're all Hitler. It doesn't mean we're all Pol Pot. It doesn't mean we're all Charles Manson. But it means that we're affected in our totality by our sin, our in Adam. We all die.

Notice in Romans 8, 7. because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, that's your total depravity, nor indeed can be, there's your total inability. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Turn over to Romans chapter 9. The emphasis by the apostle, again, is on the election of God's grace, not the power of the sinner to make himself saveable, and the power of the sinner to save himself. He points to the twins. Look in chapter 9 at verse 10. And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls.

And then in verse 16, I've already cited, so then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. There are several other passages in the New Testament that illustrate this for us. or amplify this for us. Pelagianism is heretical. Arminianism is severely wrong. Do not play games when it comes to the matter of salvation. Do not play games with this idea that man's free will is the decisive factor, that man chooses that man sort of directs the ship, and it's at that time that God causes him to be born of God. That's not John's emphasis. John is simply saying that those who receive the Savior through faith manifest the reality that they have been born of God. 

We see it again, John 3. You see it in Acts 13, 48. All those who had been appointed to eternal life believed. Why did they believe? Because they had been appointed to eternal life. You see it in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. Paul says, but of him you are in Christ Jesus. Not because of you, you didn't place yourself there. John Gill as well said, election doesn't find men in Christ, election puts men in Christ. That's the emphasis in the Bible, and that's the foundation and the ground for hope. 

We preach, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because we know the God who gives the command also has power to enable compliance with it by changing the old stony heart into a new fleshly heart, by granting the graces of faith and repentance, both of which are graces, gifts given by God according to the scripture, such that they may close or receive Christ and have that blessing, that joy of everlasting life. 

I mentioned Ephesians chapter 2, Titus 3, by the washing of regeneration which God undertakes. James 1, James says, of his own will. He brought us forth by the word of truth. We don't bring ourselves forth. God brought us forth. God begot us. God caused us to be born again. And God caused us to see that Christ is altogether lovely, that Christ is chief among 10,000, and that Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto him or unto God through him. All glory, all honor, all worship, all praise is owing to our God for the matter of salvation. That's John's point, not how to be born again by your faith. 

Well, in conclusion, we have just a few summary thoughts. First, the Word and the Father. We can't forget the one who comes into the world is the one who is co-eternal with the Father, according to verse 1a. He is distinct from the Father, according to verse 1b, and he is consubstantial with the Father, according to verse 1c. The one who comes into this world, sinners to save, is God. The one who comes into this world, sinners to save, is Creator. And we need to understand that as well. 

So what John is doing is moving from theology, or theologia, the imminent trinity or the ontological trinity, to what's called the economy. He moves from who God is at intra, the internal relationships between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to what God does external to Him. So He moves from that, verse 1, to verse 3, Christ is the Creator. And now He moves to not only creation, but new creation, which is redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

And with reference to the word and creation, let us always remember, not perhaps in the exact language, but at least in terms of the thought of Cyril of Alexandria. He said, who would be so stupid and have such folly in their mind that they would suppose that the one through whom the world is said to be made is not completely other than the world? In other words, for those who deny the divinity of the Word, they are completely messed up. The Word is on the side of Creator in John 1, in Colossians 1, and in Hebrews 1. He goes on to say, who would not put the creature in its own place, distinguish the Creator from it in thought, and exalt His divine nature? After all, what was made has to be by nature different from its maker, or else the maker and what is made are clearly the same thing. In other words, there's a distinction, that old brother says, between the creator and the creature.

And if you see Jesus on the side of creature, in terms of who He is, essentially, then you've missed the boat. You have missed John's emphasis. The glory of the prologue is that the Creator comes to the creation in order to save His people from their sins. And that, my brothers and sisters, ought to get from us praise, worship, and adoration.

Glory to God Most High. Glory to the Son of God who loved us and who gave Himself for us. If this isn't fuel for praise, I can't help you. If this isn't fuel to cause you to want to run heavenward and bow before the Redeemer of your soul and body, then I don't know what will. This is our only comfort in life and death. This is our chief end. This is everything for the people of God.

Jesus is the altogether lovely. Jesus is the chief among 10,000. And I want to close with this emphasis. If you do not know Jesus today, believe on Him. Look unto Him. Listen to John the Baptist. Listen to John the Apostle. Listen to the Lord Jesus. Listen to the prophet Isaiah. Listen to God Most High and look unto Jesus Christ the Lord and be ye saved.

Well, let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for the blessedness of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And I pray that we would have a good understanding of the Trinity. We'd have a good understanding of Jesus, specifically in his person and work. and that it would indeed melt our hearts afresh, that it would cause us to praise and worship and to glorify you and to honor you in all that we do, think, and say.

I ask for your blessing now upon this local church. I ask for your blessing upon all of the churches here in Canada, and we pray that your name would be magnified, glorified, and praised. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.