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  (JOHN) AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM
  by Brian Brodersen
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Summary: Jesus is the true light that gives light to every man, and his
coming into the world marks the fulfillment of prophecy and the
beginning of the messianic age.

Duration: 50:25 Topics: "General Revelation", "Divine Witness"
Scripture References: Genesis 1:3, Psalm 19:1, Isaiah 49:1-6, Matthew 5:14-16, John 1:1-14

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DESCRIPTION
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In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that no one has an excuse for
their unbelief because God has given a universal witness of himself.
This witness can be seen in three areas: above us, around us, and inside
of us. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his
handiwork. The preacher also highlights the connection between John's
Gospel and Genesis, specifically focusing on the introduction of light
as a parallel between the two.

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CONTENT
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All right, let's turn to John's gospel. And we are in the introductory
part of this gospel here. And tonight we're going to be looking
specifically at.

Verses 6 through 13, but let's go back again to the beginning and just
get the connection from right back there in verse one 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 continually in the darkness and the
darkness did not overcome it.

now in the fourth and the fifth verse we have this introduction to light
and remember we've been noticing the parallel between John chapter 1 and
Genesis chapter 1 and remember there in Genesis chapter 1. The very
first thing that occurs is light God said let there be light and here in
John's gospel. He's talking also about light. He said in Jesus Christ
was life and the life was the light of men and we talked about this in
the previous study, but I wanted to just go back and touch on it for a
moment tonight.

It is no doubt spiritual life that John's referring to when he talks
about in him was life and the life was the light of men Jesus has
brought us spiritual light man apart from Christ is in darkness and it's
only through Christ that we can have an understanding of spiritual
things in the true sense. There are a lot of people that dabble in
spirituality and are into different kinds of spiritual things. But of
course, they're connecting with the wrong sources.

The only way to connect with God with the true spirituality is by doing
so through his son Jesus Christ. So it's it's through that that
spiritual life that he gives us that we receive the true light
concerning God. Now in verse 6 John the apostle briefly introduces us to
another John John the Baptist and we're going to just skim over these
verses pertaining to John the Baptist and we'll pick them up again a bit
later when we come to verse 19, but let's look at it to see the
connection here.

He's talking about the fact that in him was life. The life was the light
of men. The light shines in the darkness of darkness did not overcome
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
so John the Baptist came to bear witness to the light now notice in
verse 8 John the apostle tells us he was not that light but was sent to
bear witness of that light. So John wasn't the light of course and as we
move on in the gospel, we're going to find that when John began his
ministry the people in his generation, especially the leaders they came
with that very question. They came thinking maybe he was the light or
they came thinking that perhaps he was the Messiah and they came and
they asked him are you the Messiah and then he explained to them that he
wasn't but John tells us here that he was not the light but he came to
bear witness of that light and then he says this that was the true light
which lights every man coming into the world or gives light to every man
that is coming into the world.

And so this is where we really want to pick up tonight. We want to pick
up in our exposition in verse 9. So John says concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, of course, we know who he is talking about because we've read
the rest of the story. So we're not in any mystery regarding who he's
referring to.

He's talking about the Lord and he says that he was the true light.
Jesus is the true light. And John says which gives light to every man
coming into the world or another way to translate that is that he is the
true light which coming into the world gives light to every man so it
can be translated either way.

So it's either referring to he's giving light to every man that's coming
into the world or it's saying that in coming into the world the true
light as he's coming into the world. He's coming and he's giving light
to every man. I tend to think that it's probably a reference to his
coming in because of course when he says he gives like to every man
that's all inclusive.

You don't have to add to it the idea of the man coming into the world.
So John tells us that Jesus gives light to everyone. Did you know that
there is not a person and never has been a person that actually has an
excuse for their unbelief? Because the Bible tells us that God has born
witness of himself and that's really what is being talked about here.

Although the world is steeped in darkness, although the world is covered
in darkness. God has not left himself without a witness and God holds
all people accountable to respond to the witness that he's given God has
given a universal witness to man of his reality and that universal
witness is found in three areas. It's above us.

It's around us and it's inside of us. Psalm 19 says the heavens declare
the glory of God and the firmament or the sky shows his handiwork. So
you see here's the reality, you know, people say all the time.

Well, I don't see any evidence for God. Well, just look up. That's what
God said.

The heavens declare the glory of God. These heavens, these stars and
these heavenly bodies, the moon and the sun and these things, the
planets. God says this is all a testimony of my glory.

Now scientists have all kinds of theories about how large the universe
is and I think the most recent speculation on it. It is it's something
like 20 billion light-years in diameter. That's it's pretty big to say
the least, you know, and there's theories about, you know, we live in
one galaxy and then there's you know, galaxies upon galaxies and so on
and so forth and and it's just obviously it's this incomprehensibly vast
thing.

The heavens are and in the heavens there are these bodies the sun and
the moon and the stars and and of course the sun is is our sun. It's
within our system and it and it provides for us here upon the earth, but
it's a star basically and it's a big star, but they say that it's an
actually a small star in comparison to other stars that are out there.
And when you look at the vastness of the universe, you know what it is
meant to communicate.

It's meant to communicate one simple thing. God is great beyond
comprehension. The fact that God stretched out the heavens the fact that
these things exist and you know, of course, they're all in their their
perfect position within heaven.

They're all sustained there in heaven by God's power. Obviously Job back
in his day. He said that the Lord hangs the earth on nothing in those
days.

Nobody knew that Job knew it by Revelation of the Spirit, but you you
look up at the moon. You know, what is it hanging on? It's hanging on
nothing. You look at the sun.

What is it hanging on? It's hanging on nothing. What is the earth
hanging on? It's hanging on nothing. God's the one who's sustaining all
of this.

And so the heavens themselves, they testify. To the glory of God. So we
look above us and we have a witness.

We look around us. And we have a witness as well. You see God expects
man to look at creation and to draw the most reasonable conclusion.

There must be a creator. That is the reasonable. That's the logical
conclusion to draw when you look around at the created world and God
holds man accountable for the created world around him as being a
testimony to his reality.

But then we have something even beyond that. We have an internal
testimony. We have within us that sense that there is a God we have all
of us within us as we've talked before.

We have that sense that there are things that are right and there are
things that are wrong and they have been instilled in us not by our
parents not by culture. They've been instilled in us by God himself. And
Paul tells us in Romans chapter 2 that there are remnants traces of the
law of God that reside in the heart of every single man.

You see when God created man, he created man with the law of God in his
heart. It was written upon the heart of Adam. But of course, we know
that Adam sinned and so that law that was written there became darkened.

And of course as the generations have passed Adam passed on to us that
sinful condition. And so with us to the law is there but yet it's
darkened. But yet we still know.

We still know when we're doing things wrong. We still know that we
should do certain things and we shouldn't do other things. We know it
intuitively.

You see that's the witness of God to us. But John is actually talking
about something just a little bit different because he's talking about
something that Christ brought when he came. Jesus brought additional
light to us.

You see we have the light of the heavens the light of the creation
around us and we have the testimony within but Jesus came and he brought
something beyond that. And although all of man is in darkness by nature
because we're in sin yet God has given us an amount of light enough
light to be able to make the right decision to be able to hear the
gospel and respond to the gospel and believe in the gospel. Theologians
refer to this as Provenient Grace.

Provenient Grace is a way of saying that God has illuminated man to the
extent that every man has the ability to believe the gospel even though
man is in darkness. God has lifted the darkness just slightly and given
enough light for men to be able to hear the gospel and respond to it and
be saved. And so as Jesus came into the world the true light he gives
light to every man.

So the idea that there's some poor soul out there that would have gotten
saved if they would have just had that opportunity but oh they missed it
and now they have to go to hell. That poor soul doesn't exist. That
scenario is not a reality.

There's no person that will end up in hell that would have gone to
heaven had they had the opportunity but because they didn't have an
opportunity had to go to hell. There's no such thing. And yet, you know
people come up with those kinds of scenarios, but they're they're
imaginary.

They're not real because God is going to get his salvation to every
person that desires it. You can bet your life on that. There's not going
to be anybody that didn't make it to heaven because the missionaries
didn't arrive on time.

It doesn't happen that kind of thing doesn't exist. So John says
concerning Christ. He was a true light now.

We can develop this whole thing of him being the true light, but we're
going to come back to this later because Jesus will refer to himself
later it with that same terminology. So we will wait till we come to
that but as we move on notice now verse 10 and these are these are
profound statements here. Speaking of the Lord Jesus.

It says he was in the world and the world was made through him, but the
world did not know him. What an indictment he came into the world and
the world had actually been made by him. You see that's what John's
telling us here in no uncertain terms the creator came into the world.

That's who Jesus is as we've already seen as we studied previously. All
things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was
made not even one thing was made apart from him and John is reminding us
once again that it's the creator who came into the world and it says
that the world did not know him now think about this when the creator
came into the world Jesus of Nazareth. It wasn't the world of nature
that didn't know him because as you read through the Gospels you
discover the world of nature actually didn't know him.

You see that Jesus was acknowledged by nature the wind knew him it's
submitted to him when he commanded it to cease blowing and the waves
knew him. They calmed down at his command. And the animals knew him the
fish jumped into the net at his command.

You remember that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt the full of a
donkey and we are specifically told that no man had ever ridden that
animal now, you know, you can't just hop on the back of a donkey or a
horse and ride it. Jesus did. What does that tell you? It tells you that
that little colt knew who was being carried on its back.

The rocks knew him and you remember what Jesus said when the Pharisees
were indignant that the children were crying out and you remember they
were saying oh save now son of David and the Pharisees said you tell
them to be quiet. They're calling you the Messiah and Jesus said I'll
tell you the truth if they were to keep quiet the very stones would cry
out. I don't think that was hyperbole.

I don't think that was exaggeration. I think that was fact the stones
would cry out, you know back in the Old Testament prophets. It is
somewhat poetic language, but it talks about the trees of the field
clapping their hands and the mountains breaking forth and praise.

I think there's something more to that than just poetic. I think that we
will see someday that all of creation as the scripture says truly will
and truly has praise the Lord. So it's not the world of nature that
didn't know him.

But the great tragedy is that it is the world of men who did not know
him and think of the irony in that because man is the pinnacle of
creation man is the only creature made in the image of God. No other
life form was made in the image of God man alone is made in the image of
God and the very creature that's made in the image of God doesn't know
his maker when he comes unbelievable. But you see atheism is something
that men hope is true.

It's it's wishful thinking men say there is no God because they hope
there is no God because they don't want to face the fact that there's
someone above them someone over them someone who has a right to require
certain things of them. Sigmund Freud was an ardent atheist yet
amazingly interestingly he was preoccupied his entire life with the idea
of God's existence now here's the irony about it Sigmund Freud said that
that religious ideas were a sign of man in his infantile state he
referred to all religious sentiment as a fairy tale he referred to all
religious experience as hallucinatory psychosis. I mean this guy was an
ardent atheist but interestingly his entire life.

He was preoccupied with the question of God's existence. Dr. Armand M.
Nikolai jr. In his book entitled the question of God states this
concerning Freud.

He says letters written throughout Freud's life are replete with words
and phrases such as I passed my examination with God's help if God so
will the good Lord taking the Lord to task into the keeping of the Lord
until after the resurrection science seems to demand the existence of
God God's judgment God's will God's grace God above if someday we meet
above in the next world and my secret prayer now listen to what he says
he says what does this mean can we not dismiss all this as merely
figures of speech and then he says this yes if it were anyone but Freud
but Freud insisted that even the slip of the tongue had meaning you've
heard that term of Freudian slip you know somebody will say something
say oh you know that's what you really think that's what you really feel
and that came from

Freud he he theorized that well here's a guy who he had several slips of
the tongue at 82 years old his final book was entitled Moses and
monotheism his whole life he couldn't escape this issue of the question
of God yet he remained firm in his atheism and what you really see as
you look at him is here's a man who everything in him told him there was
a God but he simply did not want to consider that as a possibility lest
he have to submit to God and do things God God's way instead of his own
and when John tells us that he was in the world in the world was made
through him but the world did not know him that's what he's talking
about he's talking about man's refusal to acknowledge his creator and so
Jesus came into the world but the world didn't know him now to some
degree at the time of

Jesus's coming into the world you might be able to at least partially
excuse the the world at large the Gentile world because for millennia
they had been left really without any specific revelation because you
remember God many centuries earlier he sort of removed himself to some
extent from working among the nations in general and he set apart a
specific nation to accomplish his work in and through them and that was
the nation of Israel so to some degree you could understand a little bit
how the Roman world or the Greek world might have missed him when he
came what you could never understand is how the Jews missed him but
that's what John goes on to say in the very next verse he said he came
to his own and his own did not receive him he came to his own people did
you know that literally

you could translate this and I find it quite interesting you could
translate this literally he came home and when he came home his own
family didn't receive him you could you could translate that he came
home all throughout the history of the Jewish people as a matter of fact
the rabbis themselves you know the rabbis have a statement in any
rabbinic literature you find if you open up the Talmud which is a
compilation of all the rabbinic writings throughout all the centuries at
the very introductory part of the Talmud it says this the rabbis have
written that the world was created for the Messiah so these guys had a
messianic ideal they had a messianic concept they had a an expectation
of the Messiah but amazingly when he came home to his own family they
did not receive him and this is

really inexcusable because there was a portrait that had already been
painted I mean in a sense it was like God had in advance given them a
portrait this is the guy right here check it out when you see him he's
the one because that's what prophecy is really it's a it's a portrait in
advance and when you think about what was given to Israel they knew that
the Messiah would be a descendant of David they knew that the Messiah
was to be born in Bethlehem they actually knew if they studied hard
enough and many of them did they actually knew the very day of the
Messiah's arrival because back in the prophecy of Daniel it was declared
that it would be 173,880 days from the day a decree went forth to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem and that decree was given by King
Artaxerxes of Persia to Nehemiah

and approximately 445 BC some people say March 14th was the actual date
might have been so from that date all you had to do was count ahead
173,880 days and you come to the very date of the Messiah's arrival and
amazingly that is the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem on that little
cult that we were talking about earlier Daniel had made it clear that
the Messiah would come that he would be cut off and the term the Hebrew
term that he used speaks of being murdered put to death and that all of
this would occur before the temple was destroyed now the temple was
destroyed in 70 AD so all of these things had to have occurred before 70
AD as a matter of fact amazingly at the time that Jesus came there was
not only a Jewish expectation for a Messiah but even among non-Jewish
authors and

historians there was the idea that a ruler would rise out of Judah to
rule the world you can find it in secular literature of the time so
there was in those days not only amongst the Jews but amongst their
neighbors as well there was a messianic expectation but Jesus didn't it
wasn't only that he was a descendant of David and born in Bethlehem and
and met the those exact dates and so forth but he did the very things
that the Messiah would do he went around doing the very things that
would mark the messianic age and you know that he gave hearing to the
deaf and the ability to speak to those who were mute he gave sight to
the blind and the lame were leaping for joy all of these things were
things that the prophets had said the Messiah would do you know later in
this gospel we're going to

read the story of Jesus healing a man who was born blind and and when we
read that story you're going to see there is this intense opposition
from the religious leaders and an absolute refusal to believe this guy
was blind from birth they refused to believe that to the point that they
finally tracked down his parents and say is this your son he says he was
born blind we don't believe it they said this is our son and he was born
blind you know why they were so resistant to it because they themselves
taught that only the Messiah could give sight to someone who was born
blind so you see he came to his own he came home and yet he was rejected
his own people did not receive him but here's the hinge but this did not
thwart the Messiah's work you know there's an interesting prophecy in
Isaiah 49

and it's actually a a description of what the Lord himself experienced
in his being rejected by his people and God's response to that listen to
what it says in Isaiah 49 verses 1 through 6 listen O coastlands to me
and take heed you peoples from afar the Lord has called me from the womb
from the matrix of my mother he has made mention of my name he has made
my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand he has hidden me
and made me a polished shaft in his quiver he has hidden me and he said
to me you are my servant O Israel in whom I will be glorified then I
said I have labored in vain I have spent my strength for nothing and in
vain yet surely my just reward is with the Lord and my work is with my
God and now the Lord says who formed me from the womb to be his servant
listen to

bring Jacob back to him so that Israel is gathered to him for I shall be
glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength indeed
he says it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise
up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel I
will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my
salvation to the ends of the earth now remember that in light of verse
13 he came to his own and his own did not receive him the Lord said
through the prophet Isaiah I have labored in vain I have spent my
strength for nothing you see there was that sense with the Lord himself
that because of that rejection by Israel that his mission had failed but
then he encourages himself yet my work is with the Lord and then God
goes on to promise him

you're not only ultimately going to restore Jacob and bring back Israel
but I am going to give you as a light to the Gentiles you're going to be
my salvation to the ends of the earth and so he came to his own his own
did not receive him but as many as would receive him as many is a
reference to everybody outside of Israel the Gentile nations God has now
extended because of Israel's rejection of their Messiah God extends the
salvation out to the ends of the earth and so John tells us that even
though he was not received by the very ones that should have recognized
him when he came that as many as would receive him to them he would give
the right to become the children of God you know I don't know if you've
ever thought about this I have thought about it and I don't know if it's
even worth

thinking about it but I've often wondered what would have happened had
Israel received the Lord because of course we know that Jesus had to die
the whole redemptive plan was contingent upon his death and we know of
course from history that it was the rejection of Jesus by Israel that
led to his death they rejected him and they had him crucified by the
Romans but I thought well what what if the Lord would have been received
by Israel what would have happened then you know what I think would have
happened he would have been embraced by Israel they would have hailed
him as their king the the Messiah is here the son of David is here and
now the kingdom is coming and the Romans would have swooped in and
arrested him and they would have taken him and crucified him for an
insurrection against

Rome you see either way the crucifixion was inevitable but it didn't
happen that way did it so that's why I said I don't even know if I
should mention it but sometimes it's fun to just think about some of
these things so John says as many as received him to them he gave the
right the authority or the power can be translated any one of those
three ways to become the children of God now take note of that you see
it's a mistaken notion to think that all people are God's children
that's not a biblical idea all people are God's creatures every person
of course is created by God God is the creator of all men but he's the
father only of those who received Jesus Christ so you see a person who
hasn't received Christ is not a child of God Jesus is the only one that
can give the right or the

authority or the power for a person to become a child of God why because
he is the only unique son of God and sonship or that relationship can
only be imparted through him nobody else can impart it it's impossible
so when you hear people make reference to you know maybe people of
another faith as well of course they're God's children and then with
this group they're God's children and and we're all God's children it's
not a biblical idea it's as a matter of fact it's contrary to the Bible
the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that our natural state is a
state of condemnation that we are actually by nature the children of
wrath we come into this world in sin and under the judgment of God I
have to be born out of that state that's I have to be born again of
course Jesus will say that

clearly when we get to the third chapter but that's what John's talking
about right here so as many as received him to them he gave the right to
become the children of God even to those who believe in his name and now
he defines that verse 13 who were born not of blood nor of the will of
the flesh nor of the will of man but of God so a person who is a child
of God is a person who has been born of God and John spells it out very
clearly that this cannot happen through any human effort nothing there's
no human contribution to it whatsoever born not of blood it's not passed
down through the bloodline what's passed down through the bloodline is
sin and condemnation it's not passed down through the bloodline it
doesn't matter if your parents are devout Christians it doesn't matter
if you're go

back generations in your family it doesn't matter if you had uncles and
relatives that were in the ministry none of those things matter someone
has said God has no grandchildren you come straight in you can't get in
on the coattails of somebody else not born of blood nor of the will of
the flesh determination will not produce the life of God you can be so
determined I am going to be spiritual I'm going to be holy I am going to
live that right life so I can come before God someday and say here I am
I succeeded it'll never happen it's an impossibility I don't know if
you've ever tried to do that before but I have and it just doesn't work
you put your best effort forward and you might do okay for a brief
period of time and for that brief period of time you might fool yourself
into thinking I

can do this it's gonna be alright but it won't take long before you
realize it's an impossibility because of course we have this problem we
have this in nature we have this darkness that's in us and our
inclination is to go in that direction so it's not of blood nor is it of
the will of the flesh it's it's not do any thing that I can perform
anything that I can do nor is it finally of the will of man no man no
person can make anyone else a Christian when I was I don't know to 18
months I don't remember exactly how old I was at the time but they took
me down to the church and they tried to make me a Christian they got out
the water and they dripped it on my head and I understand that my
original sin was taken away and I was a Christian at least that's what I
was told well you know the

further along I got in on in life the more I realized that it didn't
work it didn't take because I was not a Christian by any stretch of the
imagination and I know I'm sure that priest who did that for me was
sincere he probably was very sincere and baptizing me and thinking that
he was cleansing me from my original sin and making me a Christian but
it doesn't work that way it's not through the will of man it's not
through membership in a church sometimes you ask people are you a
Christian sure I'm a Christian I belong to such-and-such a church well
that doesn't necessarily mean you're a some people say yeah I'm a
Christian Billy Graham made me one I've even heard people say Chuck
Smith made me a Christian I've heard people say that to Chuck Chuck you
made me a Christian Chuck says oh I

hope not if I did you're in bad bad shape you know people say this and
sometimes of course they just don't realize what they're saying I
remember one time Chuck and I were walking through the parking lot at
Corona Del Mar after a baptism and one guy comes up and he and he
literally said he said Chuck you're a hell of a pastor he said you're
the one who saved me and I remember Chuck's reaction you know as we got
in the car he was just sort of laughing you know there's no man that can
make you a Christian only God can do it and that's what that's what
we're told here they're born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man but they are born of God born of God it's a
supernatural thing God himself he is the one who gives us new life how
does it happen notice as many as

received him to them he gave the power it happens by receiving Christ
this is such an important thing I and I know many others I believed in
Jesus I think probably my entire life I grew up in a Roman Catholic home
somewhat nominal but I went to Catholic school as a kid for a few years
and and for some years I was forced to go to church on Sunday and you
know just go through the whole routine and although I didn't like it and
I didn't necessarily buy into any of it I was of course just busy being
a kid but I'll tell you this I always believed in Jesus I believed he
was the Son of God I didn't have any problem with that theologically I
remember when I was a boy I'd watch some of those movies you know that
they would come out with about Jesus and I would be very moved by that
but I never

heard of the idea of receiving Christ and so I can look back and I can
say you know I believed in Jesus in the sense I believe he was a
historical figure I believe he was a son of God I believe he died on a
cross to save people from their sin I believed all of that but it had no
effect on me whatsoever it did not do one thing for me because it was
never made personal you see I'd never received him and I think there are
so many people still around today in that exact same situation and you
might even come across them and they will tell you well I believe in
Jesus ask him this have you received him because to as many as received
him to them he gave the power to become the children of God you see
because it's not a matter of just acknowledging Jesus's existence in
history it's not even a

matter of acknowledging that he was the son of God you might believe all
of that you know there's such a thing a term it's the term is dead
orthodoxy and the idea behind it is that you believe all the right
things but you have no experience of it you're dead and there are people
who believe all the right stuff but they've never had it applied to
their own life and so they're dead they're not alive spiritually they're
not children of God the power hasn't been imparted to them because they
haven't personally received Christ see that's the thing the only human
component in salvation is you personally receiving Christ you exercising
your will to say Lord I want you to be my Lord you see it's not anything
less than that if you can say Jesus is my Lord then you're saved if you
can't say he's my

Lord you might even say well he's the Lord but is it your Lord you see
when you receive him then you say he's my Lord because I've received him
and that's how this miracle takes place it takes place by receiving
Christ by inviting him into our lives sometimes people say hey where do
you find the sinner's prayer in the Bible you don't find it in the Bible
the sinner's prayer is something that has been developed in relatively
recent times to help people through you know some steps to make that
connection with the Lord sometimes a connection is made because the
prayer is said in absolute sincerity other times the prayer is just
rattled off and nothing happens because there was no genuine desire
behind it but of course you don't even have to say the prayer I've
talked to so many people who

have come to me and said I need to get saved meaning I need to say that
prayer and in the course of talking to him I say you're saved already
don't worry about it I will say the prayer for to make you feel better
but I'm telling you you're saved you can sense it you can see they
describe what's going on in their life and you you're there you say hey
you're already there because it's a matter of the heart I receive Christ
I give him the authority over my life I invite him to come in and you
see when I'm inviting Jesus to come in what I'm basically doing is
saying Lord you're in charge here's the keys I'm resigning as the
landlord here and I'm giving you charge of my life and when a person
does that they are born of God and that new life is then theirs and then
at that instant you become a

child of God oh you're a child of God and in your heart you cry out Abba
Father and now you sense that oh God is with me and you his love is shed
abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit and you know that he's there to
protect you and provide for you and all those things that come with that
and all of this of course has come to us because the word was made flesh
and dwelt among us and we'll get back into that 14th verse once again in
our study next week but as we close tonight if you haven't received
Christ yourself personally maybe you're somehow trusting that through
your parents or your wife or your husband or your girlfriend or your
boyfriend or some person your connection with them is going to get you
in the door it it's not you need to personally receive Christ and over
in the prayer

room tonight that room right back over there that door is going to be
open after the service and they're going to be a few people in there and
if you haven't received the Lord make your way over there they want to
pray with you and lead you in a prayer and give you a Bible and
encourage you to follow through and to walk with the Lord

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Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/11/SID11257.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/brian-brodersen/john-as-many-as-received-him/
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