The World's Response to the Light part 2

I'll take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the Gospel of John, John chapter one and we're going to continue in our series Christ the Son of God Believe and Live. John chapter one, our verses this morning will be verses 12 through 13 but they do tie into last week's verses and we'll get into that in just a moment. Now if you remember last week's verses verses 9 through 11, in our study of those verses last week we saw the true light, that true light that came into the world. Now we saw the fact that the true light which is Christ that came into the world was rejected by many.

We saw in those verses that it was Jew and Gentile alike that did reject Christ Jesus. Matter of fact verse 10 there was the key word that I wanted you to hold on to and that word is no. That word is no. It says that they did not know Him. It's not that they did not know of Him intellectually, it's that they did not know Him personally. We will illustrate that and explain that a little more as we proceed. But I want you to see and I want to reiterate that this word no, it is not an intellectual knowledge. It is not something that we can check off on some list. Remember last week I gave you a great illustration of Adam and Eve.

That is our example of what this word no means. As a matter of fact I kind of picked back up with that Wednesday night during our prayer meeting time and our Bible study time. Remember that God created Adam and God created Eve but God created Adam first and in creating Adam he gave Adam a wife, he gave him Eve. And the scripture says that they were joined together by God. They came together. Yes, God brought them together but they came together willingly. And as we study their lives we see that they committed to one another and there's a little trick-a-roo there with some math because what does the Bible say?

God took Adam and God took Eve and he joined them and God said one plus one equals one. Our math teachers would fail us there, would they not? But what scripture says that. But there was a oneness. There was a oneness from the time that they came together all of the days of their life because they were joined by God and out of this relationship, Adam and Eve's relationship, they shared a purpose in life, a singular purpose. They shared a singular direction in life and they also shared a future under God as they walk with God and serve God. There was a oneness not only in their coming together but there became a oneness in their nature.

What do we see? They knew one another. And this is a great example of knowing that we are looking at in John chapter 1 in verse 10, really all of these verses, verses 9 through 13, they knew one another. I'm going to give you another example that will help you with this. I don't know if you're a fan of history but this particular day in 1945, one of the most famous presidents that we ever had died, Franklin Roosevelt, better known as FDR. Now you could know a whole lot of information about FDR.

If you're a student of history or maybe you took college courses that helped you understand, maybe you were just taken upon yourself to study all about this man named FDR. I've already given you the information that he died on this date in 1945. But you know you could study about his upbringing, about how he was related to the other famous Roosevelt, that was Theodore Roosevelt or Teddy Roosevelt. There were two families, the Roosevelt families, they were close but yet they were rivals. You could study about FDR's upbringing and upstate New York about his education, about how he married his wife and had six children.

You could study about how he contracted polio in 1921 and he had this personal will and fight in him to overcome that and enter into public life again. As a matter of fact, in 1932 he became president. He became president in the height of the depression and he led the country out of the depression and in the World War II as that great conflict just fell into his lap. What am I showing you? There's information that we can study about an individual named Franklin Roosevelt but let me show you something. You can never know Franklin Roosevelt. You can know all of the intellectual knowledge that is out there about this man.

As a matter of fact, you can study it so much that you can almost feel like you know the man but you've never met the man. He's dead, he's gone. Even if you had all the money at your disposal, you could still never meet the man. You can never know him. Now what am I trying to illustrate for you? One's use of this word, "No," because what does it say? We saw that the true light came into the world and the world did not know him, Jew and Gentile alike, although the Jews knew so much information about the coming Christ. Intellectual knowledge is not it. Now what is the importance of this review?

Why do I take some time to go back over what we learned last week? Last week I said that verses 9 through 13 are one message but we needed to divide them because of time. And see, sometimes review helps us understand what we have learned and what we learned last week needs to be brought back to this week because we must tie these two messages together. And also we must understand, now listen close, that this message and these verses, verses 9 through 13, are part of what we have seen as the introduction, the prologue to the book.

Remember I explained to you in the beginning of studying this book that these verses all the way down to verse 18 starting in verse 1 are the introduction to the book and what John is wanting to do is to give foundational information that must be digested and understood to be able to get all that John wants to give. Let me give you an example. I can't wait till we get to John chapter 3. There's a lot of information that we must cover. There's a lot that the Lord needs to teach us before we get to John chapter 3. But in John chapter 3 we see Jesus teaching on the new birth. But let me tell you something.

You and I can never understand John 3 until we understand what John is trying to teach in verses 9 through 13, the verses from last week and this week. You get the importance? This is foundational truth that we must digest and have in our mind and our hearts if we are going to get all that John wants us to have, all that the Lord Jesus wants us to have. Because listen, this isn't just a letter from John. This is a letter from God. Every word, every phrase, every paragraph, every comma, everything is pregnant with the Word of God because what have we learned? This is the Word. This is Christ.

Everything that God wants us to see and understand can be found in His book. And so we're not just seeing what John wants us to see. We're seeing what God wants us to see. Now I will put on the screen for us the title of the message and like I said last week was part one but this morning the title of the message is "The World's Response to the Light, Part 2." Now also you'll see on the screen that I've given you the two main truths that we looked at last week. We saw out of verses 9 and 10 that the light came and we saw out of verses 10 and 11 that the light was rejected. The light came, that true light, and the light was rejected.

We saw that man exercised his will, both Jew and Gentile alike. They exercised their will in rejecting and not knowing Christ. But let's just pick up right where we left off and I want us to see number 3 or the third main truth out of these verses and that is the light was received. The light it was received. Let's go back and read our verses. I'm going to start in verse 9 but we will only divide verses 12 and 13 this morning. Let's go to the scripture together. Verse 9, "There was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him.

He came to his own and those who were his own did not receive him." Here's where we will be this morning, but it's a natural transition there. "As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name." Verse 13, "Who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but born of God." So we see that third main truth that will help us finish this message out of these verses and that is number 3, the light was received. Now if verses 10 through 11 are considered negative, and they are, because what did we see? That man rejected Christ.

That is negative in its message and in its content. Well if that's the case, verses 12 through 13 are positive, are they not? Because what do we see? That there are some who did receive Christ. So I want you to see that there is the negative and then there is the positive and this morning is where we will be in the positive. So let's break these verses down. Verses 12 and 13, and I want us to see first, man's action. First notice man's action. Go back to verse 12, "But as many as received him," there's action, "to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believed in his name." There is action. There is action.

There is the exercise of man's will that we see in verse 12. And I want us to see that, man's action. But I want you to see two key words here. Sometimes it is necessary for us to focus on key words. We saw that the key word in verse 10 was the word "no." That's why I'm not letting go of it because all these key words tie together. But notice verse 12, there are two key words and I want you to underline them or note them. The first key word is "receive." But as many as received him, note that word "receive." And then what does it say?

"Even to those who believe in his name," note that word "believe." Those are the key words that deal with man's action. And I want you to remember them. As a matter of fact, every translation that we have before us this morning, they use these words "receive" and "believe." So let's notice the word "receive." In the original, this word can be translated "take hold of" or "to grasp." Let me say that again. In the original, this word "receive," it means or it can be translated "to take hold of" or "to grasp." This is a rejection, now listen, of mere intellectual head knowledge. This word does not mean that. It means to apprehend.

It means to take hold of an object. It means to grasp. It means to hold on to, take hold of. This is not intellectual head knowledge. One of the commentators or resources that I use is called "Vincent's Word Studies." It's a very good resource if you ever run across it. And Vincent says this, "To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is not merely to believe in the facts of his historic life or of his saving energy as facts." Now notice, he says, "But to accept him as Savior, Teacher, Sympathizer, Judge, to rest the soul upon him for present and future salvation and to accept and to adopt his precepts, an example is binding upon the life." What is Vincent doing?

He's illustrating and explaining what this word "receive" means. It's not intellectual knowledge. It is to take hold of. It is to grasp a hold of. It is to apprehend. So John purposefully moves away from language that would cause the reader to think this is intellectual knowledge. Notice the word "believe." Notice the word "believe." What does he say at the latter part of verse 12? "Even to those who believe in his name." Again, every translation that is before us uses the word "believe." And to believe here is more than intellectual acceptance of information. It is to accept information or a person. It is to trust them.

It is to offer oneself unto them. Let me give you that definition again. It is to accept information, yes, but it is to accept more. It is to accept information or a person. It is to trust in that. And it is to offer oneself unto that. Let me go back to what Vincent says. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is not merely to believe the facts of his historic life or of his saving energy as facts, but to accept him as Savior, teacher, sympathizer, judge, to rest the soul upon him for present and future salvation, and to accept and adopt his precepts an example as binding upon the life. Do you get that?

Vincent takes man, and what Vincent says is to receive and to believe is to accept everything about Christ and to bind one's life to Christ. And the definitions move away from intellectual knowledge. Now this demands us to ask a couple of questions. You can write these down if you want for your notes or maybe just ponder them. But the first question that a lot of people would have is, what does it mean to receive? What does this look like? To receive Christ is to receive, now listen, the total Christ. To receive him as the virgin born sinless and the sacrifice of God for sin. Now what am I showing you?

That is a very short synopsis of who Christ was and what he did. To receive Christ means to receive the total Christ. To receive everything that the Word of God says about Christ. And to receive all that we can find in the scripture about Christ, that means to receive Christ. Yes, he walked on water. Yes, he performed great miracles. Yes, he rose from the grave, and we can accept all of those. But listen. But to receive him for who he is, now listen to this, as well as what he does.

Because see, a lot of people make the mistake, there is a grave error that is committed today, and that is that we can receive Christ for what he can do and not for who he is or who he was. That is divorcing Christ. That is taking a razor knife and trying to split Christ and accept what he can do for you and reject who he is. And that is not what this means. So what does this look like? What does this look like? A vince that helps us to understand. It is to bind one's life. It is to receive him in his totality. Yes, for what he can do, but more for who he is.

Yes, he is Savior, but he is judge, and he is Lord, and he is teacher, and he is master, and he is boss, and it is Jude who helped us understand that, because Jude says we come to him as slaves. There is a great error today, because some believe that they can receive Christ for what he can do and ignore Christ for who he is. No man, no woman ever followed Christ in the Scriptures that way. So that is what it means to accept or receive Christ. The second question, what does it mean to believe in his name?

Go back to that verse, "even to those who believe in his name." See, to believe in his name is to believe by faith in the totality of Christ. The construction of the language indicates, now listen to this, a continuous activity of belief and trust in faith. This is not a one-time event. This is a one-time event that has continuing consequences, because this word "believe" means that one is in a continuous activity of receiving, of believing, of having faith and trust in Christ, the totality of who he is. Now I like to give us biblical examples, and I'm going to cheat a little bit, and I'm going to get ahead of us in John.

As a matter of fact, John chapter 6. I have spoken of John chapter 6 and even preached from these passages before. You don't have to turn there. I would love for you to note this for your latter study. But in John chapter 6, there is a great two-day event. Jesus has been teaching. As a matter of fact, in John chapter 6, he performs a great miracle by feeding the 5,000, and then a little later, walking on water, this is a two-day event. So Jesus had these vast crowds that were following him, and on the second day, Jesus begins to teach the Word of God, and he begins to prove them and to test them.

Now listen close to see if they truly received him and believed in him. But what happened was, as Jesus was teaching the Word, the crowds began to fall away. They began to leave. They began to disperse. And at the end of that great two-day event, Jesus turned around and he looked at the disciples because there were only 12 left. Now think about the success of that and our eyes. Day one, he has 5,000 plus. Day two, they're all gone but 12. Most churches would fire you for that. But what does Jesus do? He turns and he looked at his disciples and he says, "Do you want to go away also?" But what does Peter say in verse 68?

"Simon Peter answered him, 'You have the words of eternal life.'" What is that? That is the totality of who Christ is. And what does he say, "And we have believed," there's that word again, "and we have come to know," there's that word again, "that you are the Holy One of God." And in the construction of the language, what Peter is saying is, "We believed yesterday, we believed today, and we will continue to believe tomorrow." It is in the construction where it has a lasting effect. It is not intellectual knowledge. All the others had intellectual knowledge, did they not? All the others said the right words.

We will get to John 6 one day and we will see how the crowds reacted to the message of God. But what is Peter saying? We have received and we have believed in the totality of who you are. That's why he looked up and he said, "You have the words of eternal life. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. There is nowhere to go." Now does that not fall right in line with what Vincent said? He said that those of us who have received and believed, our lives are bound to him. That's all Peter was saying, "My life is bound to you. I can't go anywhere. You're it." And that's what it looks like. And I wanted us to see this example out of John.

And see, this is none other than man's response to Christ and salvation. Now listen, in a positive biblical manner, verses 9 and 10, they were negative. Christ was rejected. But here we see those who reacted in the biblical positive manner to God's way of making man right with God. This is man's will again, but this time reacting correct to the person and the work of Christ. Now, I'm going to give you a warning. And I want everybody to listen close. This is where many evangelicals fall into error in dealing with lost individuals. There have been countless pastors and ministers and evangelists who have dumbed the meaning of these words down.

And what do they say? "Oh, sir, oh, ma'am, oh, young person, all you have to do is pray and receive Christ. That is not what John says." That's why it is important to do the hard work to learn what the language says, even the construction. Because John is not saying, "All you have to do is profess Christ." No, he is saying, "If you are going to receive and believe, your life must be bound to Christ." Peter did not stand up and say, "Well, Lord, we just believed. No." He said, "We don't have anyone else. We are in a continuous state." And look, this same error, the same error John is refuting, because what was going on?

The beginnings of Gnosticism emphasized an intellectual knowledge, although it was erroneous, and John is moving away from that. John is refuting this error. And look, I'm afraid that the same error John was dealing with is the same error that we have that is sending people to hell by the thousands in Baptist churches. Head knowledge. Head knowledge. That's what many of the readers had. That's why John is having to elevate the deity of Christ, and then also what it really means to be a Christ follower. And just like in John's day, many people believed those lies, and they went to a devil's hell. There are many people in our Baptist churches.

They've been led astray by pastors and evangelists and peoples in the lives of the church who have said, "All you've got to do is just receive Christ." No, it's not all you've got to do. You've got to give your all. You've got to be bound to Christ the way the Scripture says. Head knowledge is not knowing Christ. What did Peter say? We have nowhere to go. We are bankrupt in life. We have nowhere to go. We do not want to go anywhere. We believed yesterday. We believe today, and we will continue to believe we know you. That's not intellectual knowledge. You know, I thought about it like this.

This might seem like a strange example, but I think it helps us see it. In our culture, there has been a people, and I would assume that this has gone on other times, but we see it now, there are people who will put on military uniforms who did not serve in the military, and they will parade around like veterans. There's a term for it today, and many lawmakers are pushing to have laws on the books to prosecute these people. It is called stolen valor. Individuals will put on uniforms, and they will portray themselves as veterans, and they will say, "Yes, I serve my country on the foreign field.

I serve my country in the service," when actually they did not, and it's called stolen valor. There are a lot of people who have stolen Christianity. They profess words, and preachers and churches will pat them on the back, run them through the baptistery, when actually they have not been born God's way. They're not Christians God's way. They are not bound to Christ, and that's why our church roles are full of hundreds of thousands of people that you can't find. Jesus couldn't get rid of Peter and the disciples. He couldn't get rid of them. As a matter of fact, persecution and death couldn't get rid of them either. So what do we see?

Man's reaction. Now, we must see the other side of the coin, and that is second, God's work. God's work. Now, we're still under this third main truth, the light was received. We've seen first man's action, and now second, God's work. Now, let's go back to the verses, and I want you to notice God's activity now. But as many as received him, to them, notice, he gave the right to become children of God. Notice God's activity. Even to those who believed in his name, now notice God's activity in verse 13, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of God, but of God. This is God's work.

So now we move from man's reaction and the exercise of man's will. Now we move to the actions and the work of God. But let me give you a warning before we dive into this. One cannot come at the expense of the other. You must take what the text gives. John gives us the exercise of man's will, and John gives us the work of God. The error that a lot of people make is they move too far to the right or to the left. They emphasize the work of God at the expense of the will of man, or they emphasize the will of man at the expense of the work of God. You must take it as the text brings it. So let's notice God's work in these verses.

Notice that he gave power. Look at verse 12. What does it say? But as many as received him, to them, he gave the right to become children of God. Now there are different translations that deal with these words differently. The English Standard, the new American that I'm reading from, say the right to become children of God. The King James uses the word power. The Amplified reads it like this. Power privilege right to become. The NIV says the right. And really the word right, the right to become, is a little bit weak. The reason I'm saying that is because the original language deals with a power that can only come from God.

This is the work of God. This is not the work of man. So the word power needs to be mentioned. And the word right, I believe, needs to be mentioned as well. He gave the power. He gave the right. He gave the ability to become what? Children of God. So I want you to notice that it is God who gives the power. Notice also that he made them children. That as many as received him to them, he gave the right or the power, the ability, notice to become children of God. Now the more accurate translation in the original is children. Now the King James reads son.

Now that is not an error by using the word son, but John uses the word children more so than Paul. Paul uses the word sons in his language or in his writings. But John has the habit of using the word children in the gospel of John and in first John. But what I want you to see is both are true, but John uses the word children in his writing and what is John saying? It is God who gave the power. It is God who gave the ability. It is God who did the work in making them children of God. But notice again, this comes from verse 13. They are born. They are born. What does he say?

Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Now John turns to the negative again. Why does John turn to the negative? John turns to the negative to dispel error. And I want you to see John is saying in verse 13 that this is not from heredity. Go back to that word blood. What does he mean by that? It is not your heritage that makes you right with God. It is not that one of the traps that the Jews seem to fall into. Jesus would be preaching and teaching and the religious leaders would come up to Jesus and what would they say? They would say, oh, but we are descendants.

We are children of Abraham. What is he saying? What are they saying? We are right with God because of the blood that flows in our veins. We are right with God because of our heredity. And what did Jesus say? Abraham knew me. If Abraham was here today, he would know me. And if you were true children of Abraham, you would know who I am. See Jesus is dispelling this heredity. No one can claim that they are right with God because of their heritage and their heredity. Also I want you to notice he says not from man's desires. What does he say? You were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh. John is dealing with man's desires.

Now this might sound strange to you, but I want you to see something. No man, no woman, no young person can ever be born again out of their desire. A man can be as honestly motivated as he knows how to be. A young person can be as honestly motivated as they know how to be. And they can stand before God and they can pray and they can confess and they can pray and try to commit their life to God. But that young person, that man or that woman will never be saved because of their desires. I've heard people say, well, they were honestly motivated. Oh, I was there when little Johnny prayed. I knew his heart. Listen, what John is saying.

It is not hereditary and it is not out of the desire of a man's heart. That's why I am so against a lot of these VBS evangelistic pushes. You can take a room full of children and every one of them will want to go to heaven. None of them will want to go to hell. Now I'm not saying a child can't be saved, but a lot of times the preacher will take people and he'll get them to nod their heads and say the right words. And what will they do? They will lead them look to make a decision, a choice of their own. And what John is saying is it is not hereditary and it is not come out of a man's desire. Also, what does he say?

It is not from man's systems who were born, not a blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. That word can be translated mankind. What do we see here? John is saying our man's systems will not do it either. Judaism could not do it. And you know, fast forward to our day, our evangelistic systems and organizations, what? They cannot reach mankind. I love what Vincent says. The new birth is not brought about by descent or desire or by human power. We see human power and so many of the evangelistic organizations. There's so much money. There's so much influence. There's so many famous people involved.

And what John is saying is that won't cut it. I love what John MacArthur says. He goes on to say that salvation, that is receiving and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is impossible for any sinner. Why? Because it is not from heredity. It is not from our desires. It is not from man's sinners. Man's not from man's systems. What do we see? They are born, but not from these things. But look at verse 13. Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. But this can almost be overlooked, but of God. John is saying your heredity won't save you. Your desires won't save you. And our systems won't save you.

He says that we are only born from God. Let me continue with MacArthur's quote. He says salvation, that is receiving and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, is impossible for any sinner. God must grant the power supernaturally and with it the divine life and light to the lifeless, darkened sinner. What is he saying? It comes from God. And again, let's look at another example. What is John chapter 6 verse 44 say? Jesus in the middle of that great two day event, what does he say to those lost people? He says no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. Does that not line up with what John is saying?

John is saying that it is not by your desires. It is not by anything that you can do. You can only be born from God if God draws you. Also we see Paul say the same thing in the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2. Here's what Paul says in verses 8 and 9. He says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is a gift from God." It is a gift from God, not as a result of works that no one should boast. What is Paul saying? It's not what you have done, it is what God has done. It is a gift. A gift is something that is freely given and that is what John is trying to do. He is saying that God has given the power.

God has enabled us to become children of God. We are made children and we are born not of anything that we have done, we are born of God. Look, either we say God's actions or, earlier, excuse me, we saw God's actions or response to God, but look, now we must see how God works in salvation. Man reacted, yes, man received, man believed, previously some rejected, but now we see God's work. Now this information, this scripture, this message could be new to some of you. There are probably some of you here who have never heard this. Most in the church today, it's sad to say, have never heard, now listen, God's side of salvation.

But salvation begins with God. It is an active God in the heart and the life of the sinner. But let me issue you a warning. This is where many pastors and evangelists completely fall into error today and that is being ignorant or ignoring how God works in the life of a sinner. Thousands of people in our Baptist churches are on a conveyor belt straight for hell because they have intellectual knowledge and their salvation is not a work of God. There's nothing supernatural about it. They were born of the flesh, they were born of the will of man, they were not born of God. I'll give you an example. This is an imperfect example.

We are familiar with adoption. I'm pretty sure that Lucas told you, our friend Luke who is missionary in India, I'm pretty sure he's told us or told you that he was adopted. If you ever met his parents, you would probably know that because he didn't look anything like him. You would say how in the world could something that big come from two little bitty people like that? Luke was adopted. But you know, adoption is a beautiful thing. What do we have? A man and a woman, what do they do? They choose, they go to that child and they literally choose that child and it is a work of the mother and the father and those who are involved.

It is a work outside of that infant, outside of that child. It is a work that comes from others. A man, a woman, an agency. And that is similar to the way salvation works scripturally. It is God who chooses to work. It is God who moves on the lost and dead and reprobates sinner. It is God who chooses to work. But yet that is an impartial, excuse me, that is a slightly inaccurate example because John is taught that man can reject, God is taught that there were those who did not know him, they rejected him. But yet in verse 12 we see, in verse 13, that they have a responsibility to receive and believe.

But what I'm trying to show you in the illustration is it is God who works first. It is God who chooses and no man, no woman, no young person can ever receive and believe until God works first. That's what John is saying. Jesus says in John 644, "No man can come unless the father enables him." No man can come unless the father works. Man is utterly and totally dependent upon God. Now as I close, I want you to really pay attention. First in conclusion, words have meaning and the meaning of these words matter. The word know, the word believe and receive.

The meanings of the word matter and listen, the usage of the words help shed light on the true meaning of the word and all through the book of John you never see that easy believe is in gospel preached. Peter did not say we made a profession of faith. He said, "Christ, Lord, you're the Son of God. I committed, I believed, I trusted. My life is bound to you. It happened on that seashore when you were preaching the gospel and I left my nets." Peter said it happened yesterday, it's happening today and it's going to happen tomorrow. And so words and the meanings of the words and the usage of the words all throughout the scripture, it does matter.

And that's why it's so imperative to get into the scripture to see where the words are used, how they were used, the examples of the words from Paul to John all over the scripture and to understand the meaning of the words and that helped shed light on what Christ is teaching. The second thing, the work of God. We must emphasize, I'm afraid today, that salvation is a work of God, but yet it does include the will of man. And the reason I believe we must emphasize that salvation is a work of God is because like I've said, so many have moved away from it and it has become man centered.

It is empowered by God and we believe that people can be quote unquote saved by their own desire and through our systems. And look, let me tell you, unless God is drawing, unless God is working, a person can say the most beautiful prayer of confession and accepting Christ and they'll never be saved. I've said it to young people like this. You know, you can't come over to my house and sit down at my table and eat my food and enjoy my company unless I invite you. No man, no woman, no young person can receive and believe unless God invites them. Unless God works in their life. That is God working sovereignly in salvation.

And look, let me just show you how this is fleshed out in the life of the church. So many people, what have they done? They prayed the sinner's prayer. First of all, the sinner's prayer is not in the scripture, but what's happened with the sinner's prayer is it's become so humanistic and what we have done is we have a prayer that Taylor, that is Taylor made in fits man desires and man systems because what do we do? We have a revival service and invite people to come down and if they have the desire, they can pray and through our system, they can be declared right with God. The problem is John doesn't show us that.

The only sinner's prayer that I can ever find in scripture is when men and women cry out after they have first been under the convicting work of God himself and they cry out for mercy. The sinner's prayer, another one is the profession of faith. John did not profess faith. He possessed it. You can possess faith all day long. Listen, what did James deal with? James says, I don't care what you say, the demons, they believe in Christ, they profess Christ, they know exactly who he is and they're not saved. A profession of faith will never save you.

It is a possession of faith and that's why when Peter journeyed through his life, when he was persecuted and when he was ridiculed, what did he do? He held onto that faith because it was not a profession, it was a possession. He had apprehended Christ and Christ had apprehended him and he was a child of God. Another thing that we've brought in the life of the church is the plan of salvation. You know, the Roman road. If you can answer these questions just right. As a matter of fact, we have gotten so good at it, we can have it neatly packaged in our nice little bulletins, can we not?

When I used to travel and preach some, I would look at church's bulletins and when I would find those little boxes that were full of heresy about accepting Christ and making a profession of faith in the plan of salvation, I used to keep them. The plan of salvation is not in the scripture, it's just not there. But what we do see in John is the work of God in a lost person's life and the work of God bringing them to a point where they can receive and believe. What am I showing you? Am I just standing on my soapbox this morning? Yes.

I must stand on my soapbox because I want you to see just how people have taken these verses and they have watered them down, they've moved away from the meanings of the word and the usages all through the scripture and we have a whole system that is just putting people on the conveyor belt to hell. Oh, they have the right desires. They've been through the right systems. But it doesn't save because what does John say? It's the work of God. It's the work of God and in the midst of that work of God, a man has the ability from God to receive and to believe and to be bound to Christ.

Now as I close, I want to read you a testimony that beautifully illustrates this. I tried to be a student of church history and every so often I come back around full circle to being a student of revival. We cannot deny revival. God has poured his spirit out in history. Some we have detailed historical accounts and some we do not. But in the late 1940s, off the coast of Scotland in what's called the Hebrides Islands, God poured out his spirit on a community of Presbyterians. They were what is called hyper Calvinists. They believed that there was nothing that man can do.

But yet there were a group of people who did trust and believe the words of God and there were people who cried out for God to pour out his spirit. And the history of revival tells us that God did provide his spirit on those islands and hundreds and hundreds of people were swept into the kingdom of God and real true revival affects the community. It affects the society. The preacher that God used was a man named Duncan Campbell. But I have a testimony of a young lady who was born again during the revival and in that testimony I want you to notice you find the teachings of John. Listen to their testimony.

This is a summation of it, but it helps us to see. For three months I struggled. I saw some wonderful sights. This is in the midst of the revival. She said I heard some wonderful prayers. I met some wonderful people, the people of God. And still I had no assurance of salvation. I believe that anybody and everybody could get saved. But there was some kind of something in me whereby I couldn't get the assurance of salvation. Let me stop there. See today we would have come alongside her and we would have led her in a prayer. But notice what she says.

But one night at the end of my tether, in other words the end of her journey, on the 24th of August 1950 I was sitting as usual in the prayer meeting and the men were praying one after the other and the minister got up to close in prayer and I prayed in my heart. And I noticed her prayer. "Oh God, I love your people. I can't explain it, but I love your people and I want to be in their company. And Lord I want to stay in their company for the rest of my life and then send me to hell, for that's what I deserve." Do you see what she's saying? She says I'm lost. I am lost and without Christ, but yet I'm drawn to the work and the people of God.

Notice as she continues. "Here I was brought up in a society that was moral and religious and yet I felt such a sinner in the sight of God that I could not see how he could save me. But that night after the minister closed her prayer he quoted a verse in Isaiah 53. "Suddenly it seemed as if I were transported from that prayer meeting to the place called Calvary and there I was alone, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was laid upon him and with his stripes we are healed. And suddenly I felt healed. Nobody needed to tell me.

The Spirit of God through his word witnessed with my spirit that miracle of miracles I became a child of God." You see? The work of God. Giving her the power, the ability to become a child of God. And in the midst of that what do we see? This hungering to receive and believe, but she could not receive and believe until what? God gave her the ability to be born of God. And that is so contrary to what we see and hear in the life of the church today. But yet that's what John gives us. So what do we see this morning? A world's response to the light, part two. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, I pray that you will help us to understand all that we've looked at. Lord, we need an understanding that only comes to us.