John 1:6-13

[0:01] All right, so John chapter 1, before we go anywhere, let's bow together. Let's just go to the Lord and have a word of prayer together. Father, please bless this Sunday school hour as we open up this Holy Bible and attempt to teach and proclaim its truth.

[0:17] God, these words are pure and they're holy, they're eternal, they're divine. They are over our heads, humanly speaking. They are spiritual and God, we believe that every word is true.

[0:32] And Lord, there's light in this book that even we haven't seen yet. I fully believe that and I'm not trying to uncover that this morning, but just trying to present and proclaim truths that we can understand and relate to.

[0:45] So please guide our studies this morning and make this profitable and help it to edify each one. God, we're thankful for this Bible that we can open up. Help us to never take it for granted and to overlook it.

[0:58] And help us, God, to always seek to know the truth and to never just assume that we've been saved and we know everything there is to know. But help us to approach this with a contrite spirit.

[1:12] And may your Holy Spirit guide us into all truth. We pray these things in Christ's name this morning. Amen. Amen. Amen. Alright, so we've gotten into an introduction here. We've explained clearly that John's purpose for writing this book is to get the reader to believe on Christ.

[1:30] And I'd like to just... My intention, as I said earlier, is not to delve into some deep thing and to just go off the rails into something that's in there and related to something we don't fully get, but rather to just let that theme come through clearly and let us all get a great grasp on John's purpose.

[1:53] And last week we got into just the beginning. It did start a little heavy with creation, with before creation. And that was that the Word, the eternal Word, the second person of the Godhead existed before there was any creation.

[2:08] He existed with God in the bosom of the Father. And then He was begotten or came forth from God and created all things. The Bible says that God created all things by Christ Jesus.

[2:21] And so the Word is Jesus Christ and the name Jesus is not revealed. It's not necessarily His... It's His human name, but not necessarily His name or title in eternity in heaven.

[2:35] He's called the Word. And we saw that in 1 John chapter 5 where there are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. He's also called the Word of God.

[2:47] He's also called the Word of life. And there's that term life in verse number 4 that just drives me nuts. I thought about it some more this week as I talked about what life is and trying to define it and describe it without using the word life or the word living.

[3:07] And the greatest thing I can do is connect it to spirit and to something that is spiritual and to God's spirit. As the Bible says in John 6 that it is the spirit that quickeneth or maketh alive.

[3:23] And John 6, 63, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And you cannot... I don't believe you can separate life. We can't separate it from God, from His person.

[3:36] Without Him, there is no life. And so in Him, in Jesus Christ, was life. And He said, I am the life. The way, the truth, and the life. The resurrection and the life.

[3:48] And so God in His being, life exists. Outside of His being, no life exists. But then God will bring or give or infuse His life into dirt that He creates.

[4:02] And He'll mold that dirt and then breathe into its nostrils the breath of life. And now that dirt becomes alive and is a living soul. And all of that kind of just, that's tough.

[4:15] It is not easy to just, it's easy to say it, but to really fully understand what life is. It may be simpler than I'm making it. It may be just that fact.

[4:26] It's God's, a power of God, a force of God that without Him, it doesn't exist anywhere. And it does exist where He puts it, where He places it, where He calls for it to live.

[4:40] So anyway, we're moving into verse 6 where we read about John. And we ended last Sunday that this is John the Baptist. And John, as we closed last Sunday, was about just clarifying that we are not a Baptist church because of this man, John.

[4:59] Our title Baptist on our church has nothing to do with this man at all. He's not even in the conversation. The reason he got the nickname John the Baptist was because he baptized people.

[5:12] That was not happening in that day. And then he comes on the scene doing something and preaching something. And so he got a following and he got a nickname. And we have a title or a nickname given to us because we don't sprinkle our babies and think that they're free of any original sin.

[5:33] We actually believe that when you take Jesus Christ as your Savior, that's a personal decision you make. And then after that, you testify to everybody in the world or to those that are present that I am identifying with Jesus Christ, with His death, burial, and resurrection.

[5:51] And that, therefore, you get baptized in water to outwardly symbolize or to declare this is who I am now. I'm a new creature in Jesus Christ.

[6:02] It does not wash away your sin. It is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, like Peter says. It is just an outward symbol. And so Bible-believing Christians that immerse themselves in water to declare as a testimony to everybody, to their family, to their friends, to their neighbors, that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ now and I'm a believer in Him.

[6:25] And it's His death, burial, and resurrection that has brought me to God. And that baptism is why the title Baptist got plugged onto certain people over the course of time.

[6:38] And we've retained that title, and that's all it is. So anyway, we're moving on past that. There was a man sent from God whose name was John, verse number 6. This is John the Baptist, and he's going to come on the scene from out of nowhere, in a sense.

[6:52] It's been a long time since God has spoken through a prophet to anybody. To just give you a little background, he spoke by the angel Gabriel.

[7:03] We know that from the book of Luke, that he came down while John's dad was ministering in the temple, doing his duties as a priest. And the angel pops in there and tells him, you're going to have a son.

[7:15] And that was kind of out of the blue. But the angels aren't showing up with messages, and the prophets aren't preaching, and the Spirit of God is not moving and inspiring these men to be preaching messages.

[7:28] So it's what they call the silent years. But then God sends a man. And you could understand how they'd be weary and just be skeptical, because out of nowhere, in all their upbringing and generations, they've never had a preacher.

[7:43] They've only had the scrolls, the Word of God. They've had their priests or their scribes and their religious leaders teaching them and sitting them down and saying, this is what Moses said, this is what the prophets say, and this is what we believe.

[8:00] And as we know, Christ had to really try to unravel a lot of garbage that they brought into their culture that was not scriptural. They pretended it was. They pretended it was holy or of God, but it wasn't.

[8:12] And so a man shows up, and he's not dressed well. He's a rugged man. He's got Campbell's skins, and he's eating locusts and wild honey, and he's coming out of the wilderness like he was raised by animals.

[8:31] He's just a wild man. And he doesn't give a rip about how pretty they are and how polished they are. He doesn't care about how they talk and their little circles and their elitists and who they know and if they have any clout or any pull with the Roman government.

[8:51] None of that means a thing to John. He just has a message to preach. And this is why John, he's one of my heroes in the Bible, because all of the politics just let him burn and go to hell.

[9:03] It means nothing to him. He has a message from God, and he's going to preach it, and he doesn't get intimidated by anybody. I just love that about John. I love that he's a man, that he's a preacher.

[9:14] And so he's sent from God. Know this, that God will send a man. He's not using a council. He's not using a committee. He's just picking one guy and putting his hand on him and putting his words in him and saying, now go out there and proclaim my words.

[9:32] And I love that. God still does that today. He still looks for men that will proclaim his words. You don't have to have a message. Like, you don't have to say, well, what am I going to say?

[9:44] The message is this book. The message is what God has already declared. And if the Lord puts his hand on you, or if the Lord stirs in your heart to be a voice for him, then you don't have to, like, well, I'm not prepared.

[10:00] I don't have all these qualifications. Who cares about that? What you have is the word of God. And you might need some training in the word of God to know what you're talking about, because it's a tricky book.

[10:11] You might need to get a handle on it, which would be wise. But nevertheless, it's already recorded. It's already written what your message is, what the world needs to hear. And all they need to hear is what thus saith the Lord.

[10:24] So there's a man sent from God whose name was John. Verse 7 says, The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe.

[10:35] There we are jumping right in to the purpose even of John showing up, is to bear witness of the light. Why? So that everybody would believe. And that's the purpose and the role of this book.

[10:47] So right away from the beginning, even connecting it to John the Baptist. Now, it's a capital L. It's a reference to a person. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's called the light here.

[10:58] Now, light, light mentioned in verse number 5. And there's this kind of imagery of it shining in darkness. Darkness. And it's something you can... It's a human relatable concept of darkness and light.

[11:13] It's something you can physically see with your eyes. Light has physical properties. And so it's a relatable thing. But know that calling Jesus Christ the light... Light has more than one application or meaning, maybe.

[11:29] Like, it has to do with understanding. Right? Like, the entrance of thy word giveth light. It giveth understanding to the simple. Psalm 119.

[11:40] Light can mean... He lighteth every man. Let me see... Verse 9 says, That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

[11:51] Now, I don't believe that's a literal shining of God's heavenly light upon a man. It's not a reference to the sun that's shining and shedding light upon this planet right now. But it's a reference to God giving men understanding.

[12:07] Every man giving him understanding. So what's interesting to me is when the Bible uses a word to describe Christ, it can mean literally a brightness in this case.

[12:18] It can have an absolute literal meaning. But it can also have a secondary meaning. Or maybe not even secondary is not the right way to say it. But it can have another meaning to refer to giving understanding.

[12:30] That Christ in his appearance is giving an understanding. And what is that? Well, look at verse 18. It says, No man hath seen God at any time.

[12:42] The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. So the Lord Jesus Christ shows up and gives a comprehensive idea or an understanding of the Father, of God, of His person.

[12:57] God is a spirit. God is a spirit. But now He's standing in front of you in the flesh of a man describing to you the ways and the nature of that eternal being.

[13:11] He declares Him. Not just with words but just His works, His presence, His perfection, His attitude, His response, His stand.

[13:23] so going back to light I don't think it's I say sometimes that the Bible has layers to it and it has there's multiple applications to some things it may not be layered as in levels to think of it but maybe like spokes on a wheel the wheel the hub being one word or one phrase but it can go this direction and have meaning over here it can go this direction and have meaning over here and there's probably other meanings that when you look at this Bible that's just over our heads the content and the truth in it till you start digging in and pulling out and studying and connecting words and spiritual things with spiritual you'll find that this thing just has probably more applications and more spokes so to speak than we've even realized and we'll get our Bible lesson one day and understand it all by and by but know the word light has more than one application and it's a purposed choice word to describe Jesus Christ now considering that just give you some more references on it look over at chapter number 8

[14:31] John chapter 8 and verse number 12 then spake Jesus again unto them saying I am the light of the world he that follow with me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life and there's those two words connected again as it was back in John chapter 1 and verse 4 the light of life and so this light is is capable of giving life life I want to say it can't exist without light but I suppose some scientists will talk about the Mariana Trench and something like that and I don't nevertheless you can't and plant life and anyway he says I am the light of the world he says it again in John chapter 9 and verse 5 as long as I am in the world

[15:35] I am the light of the world now Jesus Christ is a literal light as he comes and stands as a man and says those things he's saying them with application of I'm giving you understanding and comprehension of God and of his truth and of his expectation he says that in chapter 3 actually flip over to chapter 3 and look at verse verse 19 chapter 3 verse 19 says this is the condemnation that light is come into the world that's Jesus Christ and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved but he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought in God that tells a lot of it tells on us those couple verses there it tells a lot about you it's got the Bible's got your number and the reason why you don't come to the word of God like you ought to or get on your face and seek the Lord's will and prayers because you love something else more than the light that he'll give you some people won't ever seek God's will for their life why?

[16:57] because they love what they have or what they want and men love darkness rather than light now in John chapter 3 there's a man named Nicodemus that comes to Jesus by night and he says in verse look at verse number 2 the same came to Jesus by night and said unto him Rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from God so how do you know that Nicodemus?

[17:25] well because no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him and so this man Nicodemus had some light he had some understanding and it was just by seeing the miracles that Jesus Christ did he said well you have to be from God other people didn't say that you know what some of his contemporaries said he hath Beelzebub and by the prince of the devils he's casting out devils so Nicodemus had some light and the light was you came from God he didn't have all the light and so he sat down with Christ and Christ said you must be born again and that went right over his head and then he explained and shined some more light into his mind and into his heart of who he is now there's there's that application of light that we're discussing but there's another one that I'll just throw out here the good reason why he's called the light is because in his eternity that's what he is the Bible speaks of him of God dwelling in a light which no man can approach unto in 1 Timothy 6.16 in Revelation 21 the city in New Jerusalem had no need for the sun to shine by day nor the noon by night why?

[18:45] because the Lamb is the light thereof the Lamb of God Jesus Christ is the light thereof his countenance is as the sun shineth in its strength the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 that Christ is the express image of his person he is the brightness of his glory speaking of the Father of God the Spirit God in his existence anything you see visibly any outward shining forth it's Jesus Christ he is the light he is the word of God what comes forth from the Father is Jesus Christ so it's tough to understand this being and when it gives words when the word of God it's revealing to us God this is a revelation of God so in the narrative of John the Baptist we have a word that is very significant it's just not just a word play it's colorful it's descriptive it's accurate it's authentic and it is literal that he is that light and so verse number 7 again the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe he was not that light that is John

[20:05] John was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light an awful lot of mentions of a light and there's more to come that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world so if he has to describe that Jesus Christ was the true light that would make me lead me to believe that there are false lights or that there's someone else who shines as a light or maybe as the Bible says as an angel of light does that ring a bell but Jesus Christ was that true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world so every man has some light or some understanding and as I showed you Nicodemus had some not all of it but he had some and he came to Jesus Christ and got more verse number 10 he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not why is that the case how can God come into the world in a miraculous fashion and the world doesn't know who he is look later in the chapter at verse number 26 when John's speaking with these Jews the priests and Levites from Jerusalem in verse 26

[21:27] John answered them saying I baptize with water but there standeth one among you whom ye know not he's in here he's somewhere in the room but you have no idea which one of us he is why is that well it shows you the humanity of Christ he blended so well in in that sense flip back to Isaiah 53 because Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah that would come would just look and be like one of them all the way back to Isaiah and he knowing that seeing as a prophet seeing that the Messiah would be a normal man and not powerful and glorious he began this chapter saying nobody's going to believe what we report about the Messiah they'll believe that he'll come in power and glory and conquer enemies but they're not going to believe this part about him

[22:32] Isaiah 53 verse 1 who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant he's likened to a tender plant that's something that's not powerful not not dominant as a root out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him so he's just even in this chapter unnamed unidentified looked normal he's despised and rejected of man a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and through all these things they hide their faces they despise him they esteem him not if he was a king they would have esteemed him they would have given him honor but the Lord

[23:38] Jesus Christ came unto his own and they rejected him back in John chapter 1 verse 10 says he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not you've probably seen the show or at least heard of it undercover boss where the CEO or the founder of the company the most important employee you know their names on the building just dresses to a normal degree and shows up or even puts on the work gear and goes out into the workforce and just pretends to be a new employee and just looks like talks like acts like the rest of them and they have no idea this is the one that signs my paychecks this is the one that gave me my job this is the one I owe everything to right here and there's Jesus Christ just showing up like one of them a normal man a Jew born in Bethlehem the city of David of the seed or of the tribe of

[24:40] Judah just like the rest of them just right there he is grew up in town right there he is there's Joseph and Mary there's his brothers and sisters there he is just one of us didn't stand out at all until he spoke but he was in the world what an amazing thing in verse 10 and the world was made by him and the world knew him not you know it leads me to say that you can walk through this world too and be blinded to the hand of God not only in the world around you but in your own personal life you can be just as dead and blind as these people were in this day right here because you can get up in the morning and reach for your phone and and then you can go on into your day and just get in the car turn on the music turn on the radio and just absorb and listen to those words and that language and those events and you can go from the beginning to the end of your day entertaining yourself taking care of your chores doing the things that you need to accomplish for you and for your life and for your family and you you you as if you're in his world made by him and you're not even acknowledging his hand not even acknowledging that he's he let your car start when you sat down and turn the key not even acknowledging that there was food when you opened that refrigerator door it wasn't empty the lights were on when you flipped the switch by the grace of

[26:23] God and you say well yeah those are just things you could yeah you could do every day you could do all day I know yeah but do but you you you see the idea acknowledging his hand in your life and so many people were are just enjoying the fruit of the Christian life and the peace of eternal life and the blessings of security in Christ and yet giving nothing back to him giving no worship at all during your week what a shame that he can be in the world he can be inside of you he could be inside of you in this world and that's a new creature that's made by him and the world never gets to see it because it never comes out of your mouth it never shows on your face that Jesus Christ is in you verse number 11 says he came into his own who would that be that that'd be Israel he came unto his own and his own received him not so the Jews rejected him John writes this in the past tense this has already taken place he's generations down the road a little bit and he looks back and says he came unto his own his own received him not and there's a word that showed up for the first time here received him they didn't receive him what did they do they rejected him they murdered him but and thank God for that next word but as many as received him some of them did to them gave he power to become the sons of

[28:10] God and even he adds on and clarifies even to them that believe on his name now that's not past tense there do you see that the end of verse 12 even to them that believe that's the point of this gospel on his name not believed on his name like as many as received him those disciples those followers of Christ as many as most rejected him his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them present tense as he's writing and into the future that believe on his name and that's that's me right there in that them I'm not the ones that received in the past tense as John writes but I'm the one that gets to believe on his name and I get born verse 13 says which were born not of blood has nothing to do with your race has nothing to do with your ethnicity or your parents nor of the will of the flesh it's not something that you can conjure up within yourself it's not something that you can meditate upon and make the firm and devotion and decision that I'm going to be this the birth doesn't come by the flesh nor of the will of man but of God so man can't bring in the new birth man can't meditate into the new birth man can't as a as a society or culture bring it together in this utopian kingdom where we're all one with God it's not possible the birth the last two words are of God the birth is of God it's a spiritual birth does God does God have physical babies we're not Mormons we don't believe that we go inhabit planets and and have babies and and that's what Adam was or God did and God did it through

[30:23] Adam that's not what we believe that's garbage God gives birth to a spirit or spiritually look at chapter 3 this is what he says the Nicodemus in verse number 5 I'll back up to verse 3 Jesus answered and said unto him verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God now pause here let's connect this back to chapter 1 because he said as many as received him that may be power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born of God by believing on his name you can be born of God and this is the new birth as we call it or as Jesus Christ says being born again being born a second time verse 5 Jesus said verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh that's the water birth he mentioned in verse 5 and that which is born of the spirit is spirit and so this is a spiritual birth as opposed to a physical birth the physical one's easy to understand but the spiritual one by believing exercising faith by believing on Jesus Christ

[31:55] God births or creates in you a new creature where he resides and I'm not going to run you through all the references I think you pretty well have a handle on that but I'll give you a few more here look at first is it first Peter I think it's first Peter chapter 1 verse number 3 1 Peter 1 verse 3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God unto faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last time I think that's I'm a lot of people have some things to say about that inheritance and rewards the reward of the inheritance I'm really leaning toward that being the new body that is incorruptible according to Paul and it's reserved for us and it's going to be revealed and the word salvation anyway look at chapter 1 verse number 23

[33:32] I'll back up to 20 21 says who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit and the unfeigned love of the brethren see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever for all flesh is as grass and the glory of man is a flower of grass the grass withereth the flower thereof felleth away but the word of the Lord endureth forever this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you now Peter talks about the new birth and he references that that we're born again and that we're born again begotten unto something that's going to be revealed in the future now come back to John chapter 1 and verse number 12 we read this this phrase that we often overlook it says to them gave he power to become the sons of

[34:41] God even to them that believe on his name what does that mean he's he gave them power to become he didn't say he made you yet this yet but gave you power to become something and that is the sons of God take your Bible and I want to say it's Matthew 22 I think flip back to Matthew yeah Matthew 22 just give you one cross-reference and we'll move on in believing on Christ and this is something we studied I say a Wednesday ago a week and a half ago in Romans 8 that you you had to do with your eternal security and showing you that you've been you're called a child of God that we are the children of God the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God of him we're going to be like him he's going to fashion our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body the Bible says that through Romans 8 that we're going to it's going to be the manifestation of the sons of God and that's a passage you'll have to look at later so there's this spirit of adoption that we've received and we're waiting for the adoption but we've received the spirit of adoption we've been given the power to become the sons of God but we haven't yet realized or it's not yet been manifest who we are in Christ and what

[36:26] God as heirs of God Matthew 22 so they pose these guys Sadducees pose this question about the resurrection about somebody having a wife and and so forth and her being passed to his brother and on and on and on and Christ just rebukes them for their lack of knowledge of the scriptures in verse 29 and then in verse 30 he says for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels of God in heaven so the resurrection you're as the angels of God in heaven and these angels before God created the world in Job chapter 1 the sons of God are shouting for joy they're singing together and shouting for joy and so these are they're called the sons of God it's suggested it doesn't say it in this verse here but it's been suggested that we get to replace those that fell I don't know if that's accurate or

[37:28] God's intention I don't know what that is I can't preach that as truth but nevertheless when we come up with our incorruptible bodies that are glorious bodies and those bodies are called the sons of God and that's what he says here in John 1 verse 12 as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God I might also note that John's gospel refers to receiving him not something you do through water as in baptism not something you do by a wafer as in eating his flesh like many teach receiving him is likened to eating something like drinking partaking of the water of life or eating the bread of life I am the bread of life he that eateth me he's not literally telling you to eat his flesh but he's telling you to receive him and it's illustrated by drinking that's pretty simple it's illustrated by eating which is very simple and here it's just called believing on him in verse 12 even to them that believe on his name you don't have to eat a wafer to get born of

[38:45] God putting something in your mouth does not automatically constitute eternal life for your soul but exercising faith in the gospel does the Bible says in Galatians 3 verse 26 that we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord and it's always believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth the gospel your salvation in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and so it's calling for faith and belief never for action or for duty so Jesus Christ you can become the son of God by believing on the son of God and by being born again religions make it complicated and it doesn't have to be and so it's by faith praise the Lord for that moving again verse 13 which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God if anybody claims that they are just a good person they're not born again they need to be spiritually born again the flesh profiteth nothing Christ said or yeah so the birth has to be of God it's important to to nail down that birth I grew up as a as a kid in a Christian home and hearing the gospel all the time and always being unsure if I said the right words if I prayed the right prayer and I'm telling you I heard the gospel presented I couldn't count how many times even in a week's time I would have heard in Sunday school probably in our junior church probably at Sunday night at the end of the service when pastor gives an invitation Wednesday night in my classes perhaps in Christian school Bible classes chapels I couldn't tell you how many times even a week I've heard the presentation of the gospel and I know that makes me sound pretty spoiled and and rotten but the gospel was it's easy and it was there now there had to be a there there was a birth in order for me to become or power to become the sons of God or this futuristic thing there has to start has to be a starting place of birth when people are confused about their salvation and they don't know how to answer if you say are you saved and they give me some my I'm looking for a birth I'm looking for a moment a day when they trusted Jesus Christ when they by faith came to God as a sinner and called out to

[41:38] Christ for their salvation I'm not looking to hear well I've I love Jesus and I've I've always been in church and that's not a birth and a lot of people are confused about terminology most people that come walking in this door here that that are out here in the world they don't have the gospel presented to them left and right all of their lives they don't even know the terminology some of them for instance Greg came in here saved and on his way to heaven but he didn't even know it because he didn't know the terminology and he was confused about it but he remembers when we talked about it and we clarified it I'll you remember Lucy what's Vic's wife Lucy she one morning I'll just have to close with this one week I'm studying and I'm in John chapter 4 this woman at the well this woman of Samaria and I'm I'm just I can't get away from it the Lord just keeps driving my heart to that spot and and I'm thinking this is like a salvation message and everybody that's here is going to be saved and and I thought but I wonder if

[42:49] Lucy will show up because she really wasn't coming very often back then she was just showing up once every two to three months and I just started she was on my heart and every time I'm reading that passage and studying that passage she is the woman at the well in my mind back in my study there and so I commit to the Lord okay I'll preach this even if it's just for her I don't know I'll just preach it and so that's that Sunday came and there she was and I just felt like you know total confirmation from God that what I was wrestling with and afraid to do was okay the whole time and so I preached about this woman at the well and her coming to Christ and getting living water and the service ended and somebody's talking to me right up there by that door and she walked by and and her and Vic walked by and they went out the door pretty quickly and and somebody's talking to me I kept my eye and I just felt like man I don't want I just I don't know I want to and I watched them get to the car and they're talking and they're kind of arguing but not arguing and he's just he's just saying you know

[43:49] I could see his hands going it was it was something going on and I'm like oh something is happening what is happening and she turns and starts walking back toward the church and now I'm getting excited like oh yeah I think this girl needs to get saved or and anyway I'm trying to make this short but she comes back in and she's like looking around she's I could tell she wanted to talk to me but this person was still talking and talking and talking and it wasn't you Mrs. West but it might have been no but they were they were talking about whatever it was on their heart and and I could see that she you know she came back for a reason and it wasn't because she forgot something and so finally I just said can you excuse me for a second I was like Lucy do you need to do you need something do you want to talk about and she's like oh could you know could I and so we went back in my office and we went over the plan of salvation and she was confused because she she had quote-unquote done that like prayed and asked Christ but nothing no glorious light showed up in the room and she didn't get lifted up under cloud nine and get flowed away into heaven and she she just like did it happen did I get saved I she didn't know she didn't know Bible she didn't she didn't have anybody really guiding her through the scripture at the time and so when we went over it and I emphasized a moment of her coming to Christ as a sinner and believing on him placing her faith in him and no family no religion no thing that you can do or offer him just him take him alone she just a a smile and a peace came across her like a wave right across her face just a glow and she's just like okay I've done that and she smiled she got it and she was confident and she got up with her Bible and went out with a smile on her face and she saw Vic right out here and Vic's like he's just like you you good and she's like I'm good and she said it with a smile with joy because she realized there was a birth that took place spirit there was a moment that she could now identify a nail and say based on the word of God

[45:56] I placed my faith in Jesus Christ for my salvation and when I talk to anybody about their soul and about heaven and hell I want to know is there a birth is there a time I don't want to know if you went back and got drunk and did drugs and got tattoos and earrings and are living in hell and in this world and sin and then therefore I don't know if you're saved I want to know was there a birth because if there was a birth a spiritual birth where you came to Christ and received him what you do after that's on you and between you and the Lord your your new father but that doesn't what you do after that doesn't mean you never had that birth and I can give you a ton of stories of kids that walk away from God doesn't mean they're not saved the word of God's still in there the birth was still real and so make sure you have one if you can't nail down the date in the moment like it was vague to you or you were young I'm not saying it didn't happen if you know you're saved you know you're saved but if you don't if you don't have anything to put your finger on and say well

[47:04] I came to Jesus Christ as a sinner I'm believing on him just don't pretend that you were born into it because you're your parents or because you come to church or because you have a good heart or because you go to church and your friends don't that's that's not salvation it's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ all right we got to close there and take a few minutes and we'll come back for the second hour so you