In the sermon 'Predominantly Rejected, Selectively Received' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on John 1:10-13, which highlights the paradox of Jesus being largely rejected by the world despite being its creator. The sermon begins by revisiting John the Baptist's role as a witness to Jesus, reinforcing the idea that his mission was to point others to Christ, not to elevate himself. The sermon emphasizes that even though Jesus was the light and the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. This reflects a deep-seated flaw in humanity, stemming from sin, which has plunged the world into spiritual darkness. The sermon draws parallels between the rejection Jesus faced and the rejection of God seen throughout the Old Testament, emphasizing the need for salvation through Jesus. Despite widespread rejection, those who receive Jesus and believe in his name are given the right to become children of God. The sermon clarifies that this transformation is not due to human effort or lineage but is a result of being born of God. This new birth gives believers a legitimate claim to be children of God, a status that is secured by faith and the grace of God. The speaker concludes by urging listeners to reflect on their relationship with Jesus and to fully embrace him as Lord and Savior, pointing out the urgency of receiving Jesus before his second coming.

The sermon this morning is from John 1 10 through 13. I will start reading in verse 6 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 our God I thank you for the sermon that we're about to hear because it is based on your true word as you've given us your word to learn from. So I thank you for your word. I thank you for the scripture. I thank you for the sermon that you have helped and enabled Jason to prepare.

God, would you enable Jason to preach with the power that only can come from you that would give us ears to hear the mighty truth to see your greatness. Would you give Jason's voice strength for this sermon? I Thank you for healing him and giving his voice more power than last week. Please keep it strong. We thank you for what we're about to hear.

In Jesus' name, Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is predominantly rejected, selectively received. And that's because really the weight and thrust of our text this morning paints a picture of Jesus overwhelmingly being rejected by those He came to when He came to earth. And yet, He was not comprehensively rejected. Some received Him and they were given mind-staggering privileges to all who received Him.

That's really what our text is about today. Last week in last week's text we were introduced to John the Baptist. The text said that John the Baptist was sent from God. We went to Luke chapter 1 and saw how very explicitly he was sent from God. In other words, Luke 1 doesn't leave us guessing who sent John.

John was announced by an angel to his father Zechariah when he was ministering in the temple. His mother clearly had a picture of what John would be doing. When we see Zechariah's prophecy towards the end of Luke chapter 1, we see that God had shown Zechariah and Elizabeth exactly what John's mission was to be. John was truly sent by God. And his mission was his message.

And his message was to point to the Lord Jesus Christ. We also saw that John the Gospel Writer, in other words we are studying the Gospel of John, John the Gospel Writer and John the Baptist have exactly the same objective. And that is to testify that Jesus is the Christ, He is the Son of God, that as a result of their testimony that we would believe and that a result of our believing we would have life in His name. We saw that explicitly in verse 7. Yes, that all through Him might believe.

That all through John the Baptist and his testimony about Jesus we would believe. And at the very end of the Gospel of John in John chapter 20 verse 31 when John says, here's why I'm writing this Gospel, he says almost exactly the same things and the same word. I write these things that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that in believing you might have life. So John the Baptist and John the Gospel writer have exactly the same objective. The main point is this, or the main point was this about John the Baptist.

John The Baptist was a great, great man. He was a mighty prophet. Jesus said that among those born of women, there was no one ever who has been greater than John the Baptist. But he was only a man. So this is true of the greatest of men and women.

They are only men and women. Even this great great man, this mighty prophet, his whole purpose in life was simply to point to Jesus. This is very instructive. This should tell us about ourselves. Whenever we are feeling a little too high and mighty, we should just look at John the Baptist who Jesus said such staggering things about and know that even as mighty as he was as a prophet, his ministry was simply this to point to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This week we are given the two receptions experienced by the Maker of all things when He came into the world. This is what our text is teaching. The one through whom all things that have ever been made were made came into this world and his creation didn't even recognize him. And yet, Some, a few, did receive Him and believe in His name. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer.

Our God, we come before you, humbling ourselves, knowing that this is the right posture before you to be bowed down in our hearts, acknowledging that you are everything, that we are nothing, that anything that we have has come to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And God, we are praying that you would be wholeheartedly received by us. That the Lord Jesus Christ would be wholeheartedly embraced, received, loved by us through complete trust in Him. That all trust in any other thing would be abandoned this morning in favor of throwing ourselves on the mercy of your Son. Use this text to accomplish this purpose among us we pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Well we've got four verses. I'd like to break up the text this morning by looking at the first two together and then we'll look at the second two together. So hopefully your Bibles are open to John chapter 1 and follow along as I read verses 10 and 11. He, the Word, 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.

Here in these two verses we have the Lord Jesus rejected. If you are filling in blanks on the handout, it is rejected. The Lord Jesus rejected. Of course, I am using terms that have not yet been introduced by the Gospel writer John. When I say the Lord Jesus, John hasn't called him the Lord Jesus yet.

He's called him the Word so far, and he's called him the Light so far, but he hasn't called him Jesus. But we know this Gospel, so we know He is the Lord Jesus. Verse 10 makes an astounding statement, a sweeping statement, that the Word was in the world that he spoke into existence. In other words, everything that has been created was created through him. It was his voice speaking all things into existence from nothing.

And yet when he came into this creation that the world didn't know him at all, his creation didn't know him at all, even though he was the creator of all these things that didn't recognize him. John has already introduced this thought. Look back at verse 5, where John says, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. In verse 5 he is beginning to introduce the incarnation, God taking on flesh and he begins by stating it in these terms, the light, the ultimate expression of the truth of God shined into the darkness. We learn about the state of the world when Jesus came.

Darkness, utter darkness, but now Jesus is invading. Light is shining into the darkness, but the darkness doesn't comprehend it. And the darkness did not comprehend it. There was no understanding of Jesus and the ultimate expression of the truth of God when he invaded the world through the incarnation. The message is this, something is terribly, terribly wrong in the world.

John is just repeating this truth in our text. Something is fatally flawed in the world that the created things would not know, acknowledge, recognize the Creator when He came into the creation. Listen to Genesis chapter 3 verse 8. This is right after, this is the verse immediately after the first sin that was ever committed in the world. And then we get this in Genesis chapter 3 verse 8.

And they, they being Adam and Eve, and they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. Before sin came into the world, the sense of this verse, Genesis 3 verse 8, the sense of that verse is that this was a normal thing. They recognized the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. They knew who that was. This was not an unusual thing as the sense of the verse.

Man walked with God in a very face-to-face way before sin came into the world. And now, during the time of the Gospel writer, now Sin has so permeated the world, overrun the world, that with the exception of a single nation, the nation of Israel, the whole world is plunged into idolatry. Meaning that the knowledge of the true and living God, the God of the pages of the Scriptures, has been lost everywhere except for this one nation where God went out of His way to care for them in a special way. No one outside of Israel is even waiting for a Savior, with a sense that there must be a Savior if anyone is to be saved. That knowledge has been lost in the earth except for this one nation.

Darkness is overwhelmingly the state of the world that Jesus comes into. A complete ignorance of the true and living God as revealed to us in the Scriptures. God has not been hiding Himself. As you read the Old Testament, God has been revealing Himself through words and through appearances and through prophets. God has never been hiding from mankind and yet the state of mankind is so dark that there's no recognition of God.

This is the world that Jesus came into. Every single one of us is a descendant of Adam. Adam knew God. You have to think from Genesis 3 to John chapter 1, what in the world happened? We all came from a Father who knew God, who walked with God face to face in the garden in the cool of the day and now Jesus comes into the world and He is the creator of all things and no one is even waiting for Him.

No one is even expecting Him. No one even recognizes Him when He comes into the world. Noah. We are all descended from Noah. Noah knew God.

What has happened in this world? Verse 11 bears down on the topic. So verse 10 gives us this sweeping statement that the Creator came into the world but the creation is completely ignorant of Him and doesn't recognize Him in any way. Then verse 11 just bears down on that topic. And it says that Jesus came to His own.

This is the first time own is in this verse. And in the Greek it's neuter. So a Greek word will be either masculine or feminine or neuter The this first time that we see on the Greek word that is translated on is neuter so you could reasonably Translate it he came to his own things And Not masculine or feminine, but just he came to his own stuff. He came into his own things. And his ìownî, The second time that we see own in that verse, it's actually a masculine version of the word.

Now these are nuances that we don't have in the English, so it's just own and own. But there is this nuance in the Greek that I'm now explaining, which means the first time it would be right to say he came to his own things and his own masculine, his own people did not receive him. In other words, he came into the created order, all things that he had made, not just the people that he's made, but He made the animals, He made the creeping things, He made the fish, He made the land and the seas, the skies, He came into all of this created order and His own people, the people that He had made, did not receive Him. Now there are a couple of things to know about the words used in verse 11. The first is this.

The word receive. His own did not receive Him. There are a couple of elements of the definition of this word that I want to make sure that you grasp. The first is this. It means to join to oneself.

To receive Him. To join to yourself. His own people did not want Jesus joined to themselves. And there's another element to this word. To accept or acknowledge one to be such as he professes to be.

Did you get that? To accept or acknowledge one to be such as he professes to be. In other words, Jesus came and he said, I am this. I am this. And there was not a receiving of that.

There was not a willingness to take what Jesus said about Himself in a special relationship to God the Father and his mission as the Redeemer of sinners, there was not a willingness to say, yes we agree with you about who you say you are. This is what it means that his own, people that he had made, did not receive Him. They were not willing to be joined with Him, associated with Him. They were not willing to acknowledge and accept Jesus to be what He professed to be. This is what it means, that his own did not receive him.

Secondly, this can be taken in a broad sense. In other words, Jesus made the world and everything in it, all things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that was made. We've already studied that. Every person who has ever lived in the world was made through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In that sense, he came into his own created order and his own people, he made all people, you can keep it broad and understand it broad or this can be understood in a narrower sense. The land of Israel, even within the created order, the land of Israel was special. It was marked out by God. What do we call it even today? I went to visit the Holy Land.

It's known as that today. God's special land, even within the world, of course He owns everything, He made everything, but even within what He has made, He has marked out a special territory. It's called His own inheritance. The land and the people are called his own inheritance. The people of Israel were marked out to be God's own special people.

So this could be understood in a broad sense or in a narrow sense. I understand it in the broad sense, and I'll tell you why, and I'll tell you why I don't think it matters a whole lot. I understand it in the broad sense, and I'll tell you why, and I'll tell you why I don't think it matters a whole lot. I understand it in the broad sense. God made everything.

He came into His created order of everything. And He made all people, and none of them knew him, none of them received him. I believe that's consistent with the immediate context of him as the maker of all things in the earlier verses. But also when we get to the next verse, verse 11, it says, as many as received Him, I don't know how you then broaden that out to Jews and Gentiles alike if you've narrowed it in verse 11. So I don't like the narrowing it to just Israel in verse 11.

But here's why I don't think it matters much which you take it. First of all, both are true. Secondly, even understanding it in the broad sense, I look at the narrow sense, Jesus coming to the special people of God, the people who were marked out by God, and I see that driving home the desperation of the condition. Let me explain what I mean by that. Israelites were marked out as a special people, but there was nothing inherently special about them.

Can we agree to that? They didn't have a different nature. They weren't some sort of alien people on the earth. They had the exact same human nature that people in every other nation had. They had standard human nature.

They were not inherently better or worse than anyone else. What made them special was God says, you are special to me. That's it. And as a people marked out by God as being special in that way, they were given revelation that no one else was given. They were given privileges that no one else was given.

They were cared for by God in intimate and special ways that no other nation enjoyed. And yet, with all the advantages and the privileges, when Jesus came into this world, They were just like every other nation. They did not know Him. They did not receive Him. How desperate is the condition?

Oh, don't think in your heart. If Jesus had just come into another nation, they would have known Him and received Him. It's not true. The Jews were not fundamentally inherently different than any other nation on the face of the earth. They're just representative of what human nature is like and what it's capable of, even if you give us every advantage.

I Understand what we see in the Gospels with Jesus being rejected by the Jews of all people. By the Jews of all people. And how this sheds light on the desperation of the human condition. Every advantage given to the Jewish people. Not only the general revelation, I'm speaking now in the terms of Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God.

You have to be a Jew to know that? No, absolutely not. You just have to be under the heavens from time to time and you get a declaration of the glory of God. That the works of his hands declare that there is a creator God. This is called general revelation.

But the Jews had something much more wonderful than that. They had specific revelation. The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. That's the second half of Psalm 19. Specific revelation.

Extra wonderful privileges that the nation of Israel was given that no one else on earth was given. And then God keeps sending prophet after prophet after prophet to say, return! Why would you choose death? Repent and live! Again and again and again and again.

God is sending prophets. God is giving more specific revelations so that He'll know His heart for His people, but they will not turn. This isn't because they're Jews. This is because they're humans. And there's something wrong with us since sin entered the world.

It warped us so that our inclinations are towards loving ourselves and serving ourselves when we should love God and serve God. Something is wrong with us. Don't look at the stubbornness of the Jews and say something is wrong with Jews. You are just like them. You are made out of all the same stuff as them.

What we are seeing in our text tells us how bad it is. In summary of these first two verses, verses 10 and 11, something was and is terribly wrong with this world and this people that necessitated the word coming to save sinners. This is what John is setting up in his gospels. Do you see how terribly dark things are when Jesus came? That's why He had to come.

Sinners could never be saved in all this darkness unless Jesus shined into this darkness and bled and died for sinners. John is setting up the Gospel by helping us understand how terribly wrong things are with us. That nothing short of the Son of God taking on flesh and coming in and laying down His life will save us. Verses 12 and 13. Now we are moving on to the second two verses.

John 1 verses 12 and 13. Follow along. 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." In these two verses we have the Lord Jesus received. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's received. The first two verses was the Lord Jesus rejected.

Predominantly He's rejected. He came into the world. The world did not know him. His own did not receive him. Now we are in the second two verses.

The Lord Jesus received, but some did receive him. Selectively. And this is not new, is it? In other words, the Lord God, the Creator, being rejected by the most but received by a few, is not new in the Bible. It doesn't start in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, does it?

Isn't it always looking through Old Testament history? It's a remnant. Even within Israel, often God was overwhelmingly rejected and he preserved a remnant for the sake of his own name. So this is not new. This does not start with the New Testament.

Though there is a particular and special manifestation of it with the coming of Jesus. I just love the way this starts. But, Jesus was rejected, he was not known, he was not received, but, this reminds me so much of Ephesians chapter 2, but God who is rich in mercy. In other words, there is a story, and it's a bad story, and it's a predominant story, but it's not the end of the story. God has the final say in these things.

God doesn't let the whole race run headlong into destruction whistling the whole time. Loving sin, choosing destruction the whole way, out of that flood, He plucks the Psalm for the sake of his own name to display that he is a good God and a God who is full of mercy and grace. But, though the world did not know him, though his own people did not receive him, as many as received the Lord Jesus through saving faith, believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God. I want to draw out four truths from verse 12. Are you ready?

Four truths from verse 12. Number one, those who receive the Lord Jesus are those who believe in His name. Now these things are separated by a phrase in the middle, but don't get confused by that. I mean this is clearly taught in this verse. Those who receive the Lord Jesus are those who believe in his name.

Now these things are separated by a phrase in the middle, but don't get confused by that. I mean this is clearly taught in this verse. Those who receive the Lord Jesus are those who believe in his name. This is not two categories of people. Some receiving him and some believing in him.

No, it's one, John is teaching us what it means to actually receive him. You receive him if you believe in his name. Believing in his name describes those who actually receive Him. Number two, those who believe in His name are those who accept His total self-revelation. So what does it mean to receive?

What does it mean to believe in His name? What does it mean to believe in His name? It means that you receive His total self-revelation. In other words, Jesus has revealed himself. Is that the Jesus you are receiving?

If someone says, I believe in Jesus, a really good question is, which one? Especially in America, especially in 2017. Ah, I believe in Jesus. Which Jesus do you believe in? Because there's a lot of them floating around, I noticed, out there.

Jesus isn't a non-descript person who came out of nowhere and can be molded into whatever form. Jesus is a thoroughly described person who God promised to send the minute sin came into the world. We have sin in Genesis 3, We have the curse in Genesis 3. We have the promise in Genesis 3 that God will send a seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. That is Jesus Christ.

He was promised to be a savior as soon as sin came into the world. So the description of who Jesus is and what Jesus will do starts in Genesis chapter 3. Jesus said I didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets, I came to fulfill them. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. Do not ever for a second in your life be content with a malleable, shapeable, formable Jesus that you can use like clay to form into whatever image you want.

The image is defined. The mold for Jesus is here. Who he is and what he will do is not up for discussion and debate. God has given this to us in his word. Jesus isn't a nondescript person who came out of nowhere.

Jesus is a thoroughly described person who God promised to send. And who told us who he would be and what he would be doing. A good place to start in believing the name of Jesus is to start with the names of Jesus. Jesus is a word that has meaning. That word actually means Jehovah is salvation.

His name means God saves. So that's a good place to start with believing in the name of Jesus. We've already been given two other names already in John chapter 1 and we're only in verses 10 through 13. He's called the Word. Okay, what does that mean?

Well, we've been studying it and there's a rich treasury of what it means that Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is called the Light. That is another name or title for Jesus. Well, there is a rich treasury of what it means that He was the light. Jesus is called the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

He actually wears that inscription in Revelation. There is a rich treasury of what it means that Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The point is, when you believe in the name of Jesus, you are receiving what Jesus has described Himself to be in His Word. What God has described His Son to be in his word. There is a danger of over complicating the gospel and thinking if I don't understand every nuance of everything I can't possibly be saved that is to over complicate the gospel.

The gospel is actually very wonderfully simple. But I think a greater danger in our day and age is the oversimplification of the gospel where Jesus is undefined and left to be formed and shaped into an idol. Into an idol. When you take the name Jesus and you're not receiving his self-revelation, but you're forming and shaping, you're actually making an idol to worship and slapping the label of Jesus on it. That is idolatry.

No one has ever, ever, ever been saved by doing that. You cannot be saved by believing in the name of the Jesus that you invented. The name of Jesus has been carefully defined and you are accepting or rejecting that Jesus. So number one was those who receive the Lord Jesus or those who believe in His name. Number two was those who believe in His name are those who accept His total self-revelation.

Number three is believing is one part assenting to the truth, two parts consenting to the person. So I said this last week, but I want to just keep hammering on that. The word that is translated believe or believing here has two elements to it. So when I say one part this and two parts that, I'm not giving a precise recipe. I'm just saying that there are two elements to this word.

They should not be separated because they go together and the emphasis is actually on the second part. That's what I'm trying to communicate when I say it's one part this, two part this. There are two elements, you cannot strip them one away from the other, but understand that the emphasis, the greater weight is actually on the second part. Believing is one part, assenting to the truth. Yes, Jesus is revealed to be this.

I submit myself to his self-revelation. I agree that he is what the Word of God says that he is. It is one part that, assenting to the truth, But two parts, the emphasis is here, the greater weight is here, consenting to the person. This means more has to happen than your brain Getting wrapped around a certain group of facts that does not save James the book of James actually says devils have that part of salvation down They they understand the true facts. They understand the propositions and those are inescapable to devils But what they don't have is the consenting to the persons, the transfer, the full transfer of trust to the person.

So if we're examining ourselves to see if we're in the faith, we would say, have I ascended to the truths? Jesus is revealed to be a certain person and to have done a certain work. Do I do I assent to that? Do I agree with that? But the greater weight is have I consented to the person?

Have I been shown the folly, the utter foolishness of entrusting my salvation to anything that I can do and so that I've transferred all of that trust, every bit of that trust to the person of Jesus Christ who did the work of Jesus Christ. Assenting to the truth. Consenting to the person. Many, many, many, many, many, many, many have assented to the truth with never consenting to the person. Number four.

Saving faith gives a person a legitimate claim, And the exact words in the text are the right to something completely contrary to his or her nature. In other words, you are given the right to something you have no right to. What? Right to. What?

Consider Ephesians chapter 2 verse 3 which says that we are all by nature children of wrath. This is by nature. Not just what you've done, but what's at the core of what you've done, which is what you're like. You're by nature children of wrath. If you back up one verse to Ephesians 2.2, it calls us all sons of disobedience and says that the devil is at work in us.

It's describing the unbelieving person. Son of disobedience, the devil is at work in you. By nature, a child of wrath. This goes right to what John is describing. The light came in the darkness, the darkness did not comprehend it.

Jesus came into the world even though the world was made through him, the world didn't know Him, His own people didn't receive Him. Ephesians 2 tells us why this is. We are sons of disobedience. The devil is at work in us. We are by nature children of wrath.

Just who we are means that God ought to be angry with us, just who we are. Now imagine someone in that condition laying claim to being a child of the holy God of the Bible. What does the Bible say about God? It says that He is utterly holy, that in Him is light, He is light, in Him is no darkness at all, 1st John. God is light, in Him is no darkness at all.

Now, take this one who is by nature a child of wrath, who is a son of disobedience, the devil is a work in him and now he lays claim, you are now my father. Outrageous, impossible. Can such a person make a legitimate claim to be a child of God? No, never! But saving faith enacts the Gospel exchange.

The gospel exchange is that you trade places with Jesus. This is the offer of the gospel that Jesus who is perfectly undefiled will trade places and you get to be considered perfectly undefiled because you switched places with him. And you, with all your defilements, with all your sin, with all your rebellion against God, Jesus will take that place and God's anger towards it, instead of being poured out on you who deserve it, it will be poured out on Jesus on the cross who never deserved it, who only deserved the favor of God. So that By being joined to Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, we will study that next week. Son whom the Father loved, you trade positions with Him.

Them. This is why in our text gaining the right to be children of God, to become children of God, the glory of that is laid at Jesus' feet. That's why. Because He bought that with His blood. He purchased it for you and me with His blood.

Listen to what John says in not the Gospel of John, but his first letter, 1 John 3, verse 1. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. This is sort of John reflecting on John. In the Gospel of John chapter 1, he says, Those who received Him by believing in His name, to them, to all of them, He gave the right to become children of God. And now in His first letter, 1 John chapter 1, he reflects on that and the glory of that.

And he says, behold, just view this. Think about this. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. John can't believe the truth that he's been teaching. They can't really believe it, but John is in awe of the truth that he's been teaching.

So he reflects on it. He says, what kind of love is this that people like us would be given the right to become children of God? What manner of love is this that would take an enemy and make it not even make that enemy a slave but make him a son or a daughter. What kind of love is this? Our study of this week's text, heaven forbid that it would be a cold intellectual exercise.

We should be struck to marvel and worship at what God has done. He would let sinners become his children. He would give them the right. He would give them a legitimate claim to sonship. You really are his son.

You really are his daughter by faith. Receiving him by faith. You really are. It's a legitimate claim. He's given you the right to it.

You really are it. What manner of love is this? We should marvel and worship. Finally, verse 13, our last verse, make sure that we don't misunderstand verse 12. I actually think verse 12 in isolation is tremendously risky.

In other words, if you were to just separate out verse 12 and teach that, it's so easily misunderstood in a way that lays glory at man's feet, takes it away from God who did this wonderful thing and lays it at the feet of man. John hasn't left us there. He gives us verse 13 so that we don't misunderstand verse 12. Salvation must be attributed to God alone and never to man in any way, not anything that man does. You cannot become a child of God through your familial bloodline.

Children, children, not one single one of you is saved because your parents are saved. Not one of you. It's impossible. It cannot be so. Listen to what John the Baptist said when these Pharisees and Sadducees came to him.

This is Matthew chapter 3 verses 7 through 10. This is John the Baptist. But when John the Baptist saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father." By the way, that's exactly what they'll end up saying to Jesus. We have Abraham as our father.

John the Baptist warned them. Do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Could John the Baptist be more clear? That though corruption does come through bloodlines, grace does not.

Oh yeah, you get your corruption very honestly. We get it from Father Adam. And it's come through and you're happy to play your part in it. But grace never did come through bloodlines. Grace never did come through bloodlines.

Did come through bloodlines. He is saying to these very conscientious Israelites, you have to repent and bear fruit that shows that your repentance is genuine and not just a sham. Or the axe is laid to the root of your tree. You'll be chopped down and cast into the flames. Could it be any more clear?

You cannot become a child of God through your familial bloodline. There are a thousand blessings to being born in a Christian home. You should thank God every day for them. They do not save you. Not one of them saves you.

God has no grandchildren. Just children. God has no grandchildren. Only children. Only those who have repented and believe the gospel belong to God and are the objects of His grace.

You cannot become a child of God through the will of your flesh. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 3 verse 20. This is Romans 3 verse 20. This is Romans 3 verse 20. This is the Apostle Paul.

He writes, Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. By the deeds of the law, No flesh will be justified in the sight. Did you know that flesh can work on the law? Flesh can take the law. God says do this, God doesn't say that.

You and your flesh, without any help from God at all, can go to work on that scheme. Read Martin Luther's biography and the brink of insanity that he came through by outside of Christ, in the flesh, going to work on the scheme of the law. He almost went insane. Till the grace of God came to him, and he became convinced that salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone. No amount of exertion and exhaustion in going to work on the scheme of the law makes you right in God's eyes.

You cannot become a child of God through the will of your flesh. No enemy of God can decide to make himself or herself into a child of God by effort and exertions. That's not possible. Think of how crazy that idea is, even though it's so commonly embraced. That an enemy of the king would say, I'm going to make myself into your son by working Madness.

You cannot become a child of God through the will of man. There are many understandings among the commentators of what that means. I think J.C. Ryle gets it right. Here's what Ryle says, you cannot become a child of God through the will of man.

Ryle says, nor yet did believers become what they are by the will of man, that is by the acts and deeds of others. Neither ordained ministers nor anyone else can confer grace upon another. Man cannot regenerate hearts. Believers become what they are solely and entirely by the grace of God. What is Ryle saying this means?

You cannot become a child of God through the will of man. He is saying look at all of a scheme where a man can pronounce something on you that is ultimately what you need to be saved. John is teaching and Ryle is saying, that's never so. That has never been so. The will of man, anything anyone else can confer on you will leave you short of salvation.

I'll say that again. Anything that any man can confer upon you leaves you short of salvation. The best that man can confer on you leaves a chasm between you and being saved. It is only by the grace of God. Which brings us to the final truth.

If you are a child of God, it is because, and it is only because, you have been born of God. You have been born of God. And born of God is such a helpful analogy. Birth as an analogy here is perfect because it strips away anything from us that we might want to attribute to ourselves. Let me ask you.

Your natural birth. What part did you play in that? Did you decide to be naturally born? Well done. Did you pick your parents?

You looked down in the pre-born state. Those two will do. Those two would make fine parents. I think I'll enter her womb. Ridiculous.

Why do we think anything else with spiritual birth? This is why the analogy. It is to strip away from us anything we can take pride in. And to hand all the glory to God because all the glory belongs there. All the credit belongs there.

No work that you can do does this. You don't decide to be born again. God in His mercy lays hold of you. When Calvinists are accused of following a man. You just quote Calvin, you quote Calvin, all you care about is Calvin, you're just following a man.

What did Calvinists do in defense? Like no, that was Paul. Paul teaches that. Calvin just systematized what Paul clearly teaches in the New Testament. So we're not following this man, we're following Paul and he's an apostle and that's better.

I think we're going to exit the Gospel of John declaring that Jesus is the great teacher of the sovereignty of God and salvation. So it starts here. This is John. We have not actually two red letters. You have the things that Jesus actually uttered himself.

But John learned all this from Jesus. It's simple to attribute this to Jesus. And so the teaching on the sovereignty of God in salvation that you're only saved if you're born of God. Not family lines, not the efforts of the flesh, not something that another man can confer on you, you're only saved one way, if you're born of God. So that all the glory is God's and he won't be robbed of one ounce of it.

Three applications out of this text. Number one, never let yourself underestimate the resistance to the Lord Jesus or His people. Never underestimate the resistance to the Lord Jesus or His people. How are you going to talk somebody into the kingdom of heaven? Jesus, God came and took on human flesh and preached perfect sermons.

He actually said everything just right. And he was overwhelmingly rejected. He wasn't even recognized. He wasn't even waited for and anticipated in almost all of the world. And now you are going to be clever enough to string phrases together so that someone will be swept into the kingdom of God by your eloquence?

You idiot! This helps us to know what we are up against. What it means is only a work of the Spirit of God in the heart of man brings people to salvation. We have a duty to perform. We are given work to do to proclaim Jesus Christ as Savior.

But only a work of the Spirit of God. Don't be surprised by the resistance to either Jesus or to you talking about Jesus and trying to live out the life that Jesus has given us to live out. Don't be surprised by the resistance to that. Jesus Christ himself was killed. Was killed when he came here.

They killed him. For us to expect a cheerful reception is unrealistic. So be happy when you get it. Know that the Spirit of God did that. Number two, if you receive Him by assenting to the truths of self-revelation and you consent to His person, you have a legitimate claim to being a child of God.

There are unsaved people who are hearing this. I have no doubt about it. That's always true in a group this size. And the offer of the Gospel is on the table today. If you assent, if you agree, if you embrace, if you accept the truths of self-revelation, in other words Jesus as He is described in Scripture, If you agree with that and you consent to the person, you forsake every other kind of trust and you trust only in this person, God's Savior, the one God sent to save, you will be saved.

And you will be made not just a slave in his house but a son in his house or a daughter in his house. You will be his and you'll have the rightful claim to call him father. Though the moment before you were his enemy and by nature a child of wrath. Why would you choose death by waiting another day? Why?

Choose life, a sense to self-revelation, Embrace the truths of what scripture says about the Lord Jesus Christ and consent to his person. Throw yourself on his mercy. That's all that means. Just throw yourself, put all the eggs in that one basket. Listen, if we're not saved through Jesus Christ, this God is not going to be saved.

I have got all my eggs in that basket. That is what the Bible tells us to do. Cast yourself completely upon Him. I don't have a backup plan. Jesus is it for me.

Jesus is worthy of being it for you. Number three. Jesus came in the flesh the first time, he was not known, he was received. That's a polite way to say he was rejected by men. He's coming again.

There will be no mistaking Him. And it will be too late to receive Him. We're studying something wonderful, but know this, it's not the only time Jesus is coming. We're not studying the only time Jesus is coming. He's coming back.

He's coming again. It's been a long time. You shouldn't be surprised if he comes in our lifetime. Many people have died convinced that he was going to come in their lifetime. So I don't know when he's coming.

But I'm not disturbed by that because the Bible says you're not going to know when he's coming. It's been a long time. It's closer now than it ever has been. He's coming again. We will know Him.

He's coming in glory. He's coming to judge. Be wise. He could come today. My understanding of everything that we see in the Bible is I don't know what else must happen before He comes.

God, I thank You for Your Word. I thank You for truths that are familiar but need to be pounded home. I Thank you for things that we've never thought of before. All this helps us. God make us good students who aren't just acquiring facts, but whose hearts are being transformed week in and week out by happily coming under the authority of your word, wanting so much to be transformed from what we are to what we know we ought to be, having enjoyed so many privileges.

Oh, change us by your word, Lord. Send your spirit to do work on our hearts. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.