John 1:9-13

-The Eternal Son of God

-The Light of the Gospel

-God born of flesh to Cause us to Be Born Again

Christmas time seems to be most gift giving time of the year. We give all sorts of gifts and receive all sorts of gifts. What are some of the craziest gifts you have received? Have you ever received a gift that you did not want to receive. Perhaps you responded with: you shouldn’t have… James wrote that every perfect gift comes from above from the Father, no gift compares to gift of the Eternal Son of God who became man

John has already settled that the Son is God and is Eternal, the Eternal Son is the light that has come into the world, He is the light of the Gospel, the light unto salvation, the light that shines in our hearts in which we can respond Abba Father

In our text this morning John conveyed that not all receive the light, but many reject the light

-He was in the world = the incarnation

-world was made through Him = magnifies the glory of the incarnation

-the tragedy = the world did not know Him

-How horrendous! The God of all creation. The Holy of holies became man, and they did not know Him

-Worse yet, He came to His own and His own people did not receive Him. You would think the people to whose ancestors had longed for the coming Messiah would themselves open their arms to Him, notice the imagery here. He was in the world within reach, yet the world did not know Him, He knocked on the doors of His own people and they refused to answer

Luke 4:24 ESV

24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.

Isaiah 53:2–3 ESV

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

-What do we make of this? The world did not know Him, Israel refused Him, well there is good news:

-to all who did receive Him, perhaps the point John made here is that Christ would be received not just by the Jews but the Gentiles as well

-John pointed out the human side of salvation - what is required of sinners, it is not works, it is not striving for human perfection because it is unattainable, it is not solely religion, but it is simply receiving the Lord Jesus Christ and believing in His name

-How does one receive the Lord Jesus Christ for this why He came, so that we may receive Him? And what is the result of receiving Him? To answer these questions we must start in v. 13

1 Born of God

-We see the human side of salvation in receiving the Lord Jesus Christ

-Here we see the Divine - those who receive Christ are born of God

-it is not born of blood

Genesis 22:18 it does not matter if one were to trace their lineage all the way to Abraham himself that is not how one is able to receive Christ

Genesis 22:18 ESV

18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

AW Pink - Regeneration does not run in the veins

-it is not born of the will of the flesh, that is to say of not our choosing, man does not choose God because of sinful depravity we cannot, we are opposed to God and have no will towards God

-This is all to say that being born again is a work of God, we cannot be physically born into it, we cannot achieve on our own effort, it is a Divine work

I am not saved so that I may be born again. I am born again so that I may be saved.

R. C. Sproul

-Now you may struggle with the thought of your new birth not being in your control, well we have seen it in Scripture, lets think of it logically, who chose who they were going to be physically born to? Or who chose which hospital in which they were going to be born? We had no control over our physical birth, the point being is that God is in control of our regeneration. Now we must respond in faith and that is why John wrote that to those who receive and believe in His name

-It is accomplished by the Holy Spirit according to His will

Ephesians 1:11–14 ESV

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Acts 13:48 ESV

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

-This is the amazing grace of God, that He would cause us to be born again, this is what we studied in Ephesians 2:5

Ephesians 2:5 ESV

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

1 Peter 1:3 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

2 Privilege of Adoption

-gave the right = the capability

apart from Christ there is no capability, apart from being born of God there is no capability

made it possible for them to become children of God

Ephesians 1:4–5 ESV

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

-to those who believed

Galatians 3:26 ESV

26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

John 11:51–52 ESV

51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

John Calvin - The Son of God became the Son of man that the sons of men might become the sons of God

1 John 3:1 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

-This is the grace of God. This is the purpose of the Eternal Son of God becoming man, that we may be born again and become a child of God. Praise God.