Amen.
Kiddos, you are now excused to your King's Kids class.
!
He was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him, the Word was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John, JTB, John the Baptist.
He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through Him.
He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, the Word, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
He, the true light, the Word, was in the world, and the world was made through Him,
yet the world did not know Him.
He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him,
but to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name.
He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh,
nor the will of man, but of God.
May God bless the hearing of His Word.
Christmas time is crooner time.
If you're not familiar with who a crooner is, typically a man, smoother operator, singer,
like Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby.
Jenny and I started watching Holiday Inn last night.
Modern day crooner, Michael Buble.
And of course, Nat King Cole.
And Nat King Cole's version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing is iconic.
Does everybody agree?
All right, let me just remind you of the third stanza of Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
We're going to close the service by singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing, but listen to this.
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace.
Hail the Son of Righteousness.
Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by Philippians 2.
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth.
Born to give them second birth.
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King.
Now, wouldn't it be nice that when we do sing this at the end of the service,
that all of us would be singing this song with crooner-like voices?
Wouldn't that be great?
I mean, we all know there's only two men in the room who have crooner-like voices,
Zach and myself.
And so, it's okay.
We'll all make a joyful noise together.
I don't know why you're laughing.
What this Christmas carol gets at, this born to give them second birth,
is why Jesus Christ, the Word, became flesh.
To give a second birth.
Or, as I'm going to argue this morning from this passage,
His light gives us life.
So, believe in Him and live.
Last week in John 1, 1-8, we learned that the Word is a He, a person.
He was in the beginning.
And that's a Genesis 1-1 shout-out.
In the beginning, He was distinct from God the Father,
yet He was in relationship with God the Father,
yet He, the Word, was totally God.
And He, the Word, is the uncreated creator of all things.
In Him was life.
Not just physical life.
Eternal, spiritual life.
And that life is the true light of God's salvation shining into the darkness.
Think of Jesus as God's revelation of His salvation for sinners.
So, the question we're going to ask this morning is,
how do we respond to this light of life shining into our darkness?
Well, our culture responds to this incredible good news
with seasonal sentimentality.
You know what I'm talking about.
Just Christmas comes and goes in our culture.
Our culture doesn't pause to think about the good news of God becoming flesh.
But for Christians, we're always celebrating Christmas
because Jesus, once He became fully human,
has been fully human ever since and will remain fully human.
Totally God.
Totally man.
He is right now the light shining into the darkness of our world in 2025.
And so, by His light, we live.
So, I'm going to make three points this morning.
Reality, response, result.
A bright reality, a believing response, and a born-again result.
His light gives us life.
So, the way to respond is to believe and live.
So, let's look at a bright reality.
We see it in verses 9 and 10.
Let me just remind you of that.
The true light, which gives light to everyone who was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him.
Yet, the world did not know Him.
So, let's define some terms.
The true light.
That word true is the first time that John uses that word in this gospel.
And when you hear the word true, you need to be thinking real.
You need to be thinking what is.
But what we'll see is that John doesn't just use the word true to speak about reality.
John uses the word true to speak about ultimate reality.
Let me give you two examples.
In John 6.32, Nate Olson touched on this yesterday at the men's meeting.
Jesus refers to Himself as the true bread from heaven.
And what He's saying there is that unlike manna, which God gave to Israel in the Old Testament,
they ate it and then they got hungry again.
The true bread from heaven, you eat of Him and you will never be hungry again.
You eat of Him and you will be satisfied.
And so, what's being said there by Jesus Himself is that I am the ultimate bread.
The real, ultimate, soul-satisfying bread.
And then in John 15.1, Jesus calls Himself the true vine.
And what Jesus is saying there is that He is the ultimate vine.
We'll get there.
I'll explain that more when we get there months from now.
But in both examples, bread and vine, they are both life-giving examples.
And so, when we read about the true light, this is God's ultimate reality of salvation in Christ for the entire world.
It is the full and final revelation of God's salvation.
And so, do you remember Hebrews chapter 1?
Long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.
The full and final revelation of God and His salvation is in this true light shining in the darkness.
And we read that He was coming into the world.
This is the first reference in the Gospel of John of the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity.
How did the second person of the Trinity, who is eternally existent from eternity past,
How did He become a man?
Well, John 1.14 says,
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Well, how did He do that?
How did He become a human being?
Well, we know from the Gospels that the first person of the Trinity, God,
conceived the second person of the Trinity, fully God, fully man,
by the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, in the Virgin Mary's womb.
That's a miracle.
That's a triune miracle.
And that fulfills Isaiah 7.14.
The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us.
So, this true light was coming into the world.
It's actually ascending.
John 3.16, remember that?
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
And it's that word world that I just want to make sure we're all on the same page on.
If you look at verses 9 and 10,
you will see that the word world, it appears four times.
And my guess is when you hear the word world, you equate it with Earth.
You hear the word world, and you think of that iconic 1968 photo from the Apollo 8 space mission
of this picture that's titled Earthrise.
It is a spectacular picture of the Earth.
But it may surprise you that John doesn't always equate world with Earth.
Sometimes, even more often than not, John equates world with humanity.
And not just a neutral understanding of humanity.
Specifically, when John uses the word world,
he is speaking about sinful humanity in organized rebellion against God.
And that's how he's using it here.
The true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
The darkness.
He was in the world.
Sinful humanity in organized rebellion against God.
And the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
Do you know, this is just crazy.
The uncreated creator comes into the world that he made,
and the world doesn't recognize him.
It's shocking.
It's deeply ironic.
That the uncreated creator would come to his own as one of us,
but the world didn't recognize him.
The darkness, this sin in each of us,
this sin in each of us,
which Paul David Tripp describes like this,
but if the greatest danger to all of us lives inside of us and not outside of us,
then the radical intervention of the incarnation of Jesus is our only hope.
It is this new, bright reality shining into our darkness.
It's glorious.
Have you ever wondered why our culture doesn't celebrate the Christ of Christmas at Christmas time?
Because they're blind.
Living in the darkness.
They're trying to make sense of Christmas without Christ.
I used to do that.
This spiritual blindness that's a result of living in the darkness,
of being dead in our sin,
it goes by another name.
It goes by the name unbelief.
The true light of life is shining today,
but the darkness of sin blinds us to this bright new reality,
this new creation that has dawned
and is shining into our darkness
for all to see,
but not everybody is going to see it.
So we move from this bright new reality,
this true light shining,
God's salvation shining into our darkness,
and now let's talk about how to respond.
A believing response.
How do we who are spiritually dead
and blind,
how do we respond to the true light shining in the world?
Well, this passage in verses 10 and 11
shows us two responses.
Those in darkness respond to the true light
in one of two ways.
Either you will not receive Jesus,
or you will receive Jesus.
You will not have eyes to see Him,
and you will respond to Him in unbelief,
or you will be given eyes to see Him,
and you will respond in belief, in trust.
Let's look at this first one.
Those who do not receive Him.
This unbelief.
We already saw in verse 10,
the world sinful humanity
in organized rebellion against God.
Well, they did not know that.
They didn't recognize Him
because of their sinful blindness,
their moral blindness,
their moral wrongdoing.
And if you turn just a couple pages
in the Gospel of John
to John 3,
not 16,
but 19,
you will see
why
people do not
see
the Christ.
We read this.
And this is the judgment.
The light has come into the world.
The Word is shining.
And people love the darkness
rather than the light
because their works were evil.
They were blinded.
You see,
what ultimately is going on here
is a heart condition
for those who are apart from Christ.
If their hearts,
they love the darkness
more than the light,
and so they remain blind
to the light shining
around them,
to them,
through Christ.
in verse 11,
we learn that
not only did He come
to the whole world,
He came to His own.
And He's speaking
of the Jewish people.
And of all the people
on the planet,
His own,
the Jewish people,
should have recognized Him
and received Him,
believed in Him,
submitted to Him,
found life in Him
because the Old Testament Scriptures
had been testified
to the coming of this one
since Genesis 3.
Genesis 3.15
speaks of this offspring of Eve
who will crush the head of the serpent.
That's the first,
it's called the proto-evangelium.
It's the first gospel
of the coming of the second person
of the Trinity.
In Genesis 12 and in Genesis 22,
we learn of this offspring of Abraham
in whom God will bless
all the nations of the earth.
In 2 Samuel 7,
we learn that David,
there will be a descendant of David
who will sit upon His throne forever.
Psalm 110 fulfills that.
Isaiah 7.14,
a virgin will conceive
and give birth to a son
and His name shall be called Emmanuel.
Isaiah 9.6 and 7,
there's this child born,
the son given,
and His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
which is a reference to kingship,
Prince of Peace.
Of His government and of peace,
there will be,
of the increase of His government
and of peace,
there will be no end.
Isaiah 40, Isaiah 53
are all anticipating this one coming,
but His own people,
they were unwilling
because they were living in darkness,
loving the darkness
more than the light.
They did not receive
the promised Messiah.
And the result of rejecting
the true light of God's salvation
is steep.
It's not something that's easy to hear.
It's God's judgment you face.
It's God's wrath you face.
It's eternal suffering you face.
If you look at John 3,
not 16, not 19, but 36,
whoever believes in the Son
has eternal life.
Whoever does not obey the Son
shall not see life,
but the wrath of God
remains on him.
Not to receive the Word,
the true light,
will result in eternal condemnation.
That's what it means
is to not receive him.
It's spiritual blindness,
it's spiritual deadness,
it's unbelief.
But now let's look at
what it means to receive him.
And what it means to receive him
is spiritual sight,
it's belief.
And what we read in verse 12
is this,
but to all who did receive him,
who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become
children of God.
When we talk about
believing in his name,
what we're not talking about
is thinking that
if you just chant the name
Jesus Christ enough,
you will be saved.
In our culture,
when we talk about a name,
we're talking about
primarily designating
one human being
from another.
Like, there's Jim
and there's Lisa.
We're designating them.
There's Mike and Matt.
We're separating them.
We distinguish them
from one another.
But in the culture
that this was written in,
a name carried
all so much more.
it represented that person.
It's to believe in his name
is to believe in who he is
and what he's done.
To believe in all of who he is.
To believe that he is
the true light,
shining.
To believe that he was
in the beginning,
that he was distinct from God,
but with God.
To believe that he's fully God
and yet fully man.
It's to believe
that he is God's salvation
shining into the darkness,
miraculously conceived.
Lived a sinless life,
died a substitute for sinners,
raised from the dead,
reigning on high,
will one day return,
will judge all,
and then he will recreate
the heavens and the earth
where we will be with him
forever face to face.
When we believe in his name,
we are saying
we believe that
he is Emmanuel,
God with us,
the fullness of that.
When we say
we believe in his name,
we're saying
you are the wonderful counselor.
You have the best,
wisest counsel of all.
We believe that
you are mighty God,
that you are God
in the flesh,
all powerful
in all that you do.
When we say
call him by name
and say you are
the everlasting father,
we are saying
you are the everlasting king
from here on out
and we bow our knee
to you.
When we say
you are the prince of peace,
we are recognizing him
as the one
who brings full
shalom
comprehensively
to our lives now
and ultimately
we'll bring the
full and final version
of that when he returns.
So when we talk about
believing in his name,
we're talking about
believing in all
of who he is
and what he's done.
He was born
to give us
second births.
I just want to camp out
on this idea of
this word believe
because I think
that there's some
misunderstanding out there
what this means.
In 112,
but to all who did
receive him
who believed in his name,
to receive Christ
is to believe in his name.
When we use
the word believe,
we generally use it
in one of two ways.
We use it as
like passive
acknowledgement.
I believe there's
a Bigfoot.
Or we use it
in terms of
like active trust.
I believe the stage
can hold my weight
and I'm demonstrating
that belief
by standing on it.
I live by
Lincoln Park
and Lincoln Park
is home
of the Lincoln Park
Lagoon.
Anybody been there?
Yeah.
Anybody be on the bridge?
Yes.
Right now it's frozen.
Let's say you and I are,
you and me,
you and I,
we are standing
on the sidewalk
looking at
Lincoln Park
Lagoon
and it's frozen.
I pull out
a crisp $100 bill
and you're like,
ooh.
I'm like, yeah.
I pick up a rock.
I wrap
the $100 bill
around the rock.
I wrap
some elastic bands.
I drop it
into a very bright
yellow festival bag.
Wrap the end
and I toss it
into the middle
of Lincoln Park Lagoon
so it's sitting
on the top of the ice
in the middle
of the lagoon.
And I look to you
and I say,
it's yours for the taking.
What would you need
to do
in order to make
that $100 yours?
You would have
to exercise faith,
wouldn't you?
You would have
to step out
on the ice.
Now, if you're
standing next to me
and I look to you
while the yellow bag
is in the middle
of the lagoon
and you say,
oh, I believe that.
I believe that ice
can hold my weight.
I will say to you,
no, you don't.
You don't believe that.
You say you believe that,
but you don't believe it.
Why?
Because you're
standing next to me.
Now, if you walk out
onto the ice,
pick up the bag,
and you're like,
I believe.
I would say,
yes, you do.
That $100 is yours.
You see,
when it comes to belief,
what we're talking about
is the object
of your faith.
What you're actually
trusting in.
What you're actively
trusting in.
Not what you think
you're trusting in,
but what you're
actually trusting in.
And when it comes
to Jesus Christ
and salvation,
passive acknowledgement
does not save you.
Even the demons believe.
It is this active trust.
It is stepping out
onto the ice
of Jesus,
of His name,
of all that He is
and what He's done.
And you might walk
out there
and you're like,
is it going to hold
my weight?
He will hold your weight.
That,
if you want to push
the analogy,
that ice,
like,
goes through
the entire planet Earth.
It is,
He is
fully trustworthy.
And when it comes
to your salvation,
there's no one else
that can save you.
there's no other
true light.
There's no other
God in the flesh
who paid for sins.
He's the object
of your faith.
And that act of trust
is what it means
to be convinced.
It's biblical faith.
It's biblical trust.
Now,
if you are not
a Christian in the room,
I've got a couple
questions for you.
Are you aware
of your own
sinfulness
towards God?
That when you do
something wrong,
not only are you aware
that you've disappointed
yourself and you've
hurt others,
but your sin
is against the God
of the universe.
Are you aware
of that?
If you are aware
of that,
that is God's
kindness to you.
He's making you aware
of your sinfulness
so that you
can become aware
of His salvation
in Jesus Christ.
And
to receive Christ
is something
you must do
to rescue you
from the darkness.
And it's not
some kind of
passive acknowledgement.
If you're not
a Christian,
you need to step
out onto Jesus
and He will
hold your weight.
And then you
keep stepping out
onto Jesus
for the rest
of your days.
that is the life
of faith,
trusting in Jesus
again and again.
Now,
if you are a Christian,
are you actively
trusting in your Savior?
Or are you
passively
acknowledging Him?
Have you just
kind of gone
seasonal sentimentality
with the Christmas season
and you're just
kind of going
through the motions?
Don't go
through the motions.
Just
give yourself
fully to Jesus.
Go all in
with Him.
Go out fully
on the ice.
Find joy
in Him
this Christmas season
that will go
beyond
the Christmas season.
And by the way,
there's no
havesies.
There's no
half in,
half out.
There's no
one foot
in the darkness
of the world
and one foot
in the kingdom
of light.
You know what?
You've seen those
videos of like
someone getting
on a boat
and that boat
is moving away
from the dock.
They've got one
foot on the boat
and one foot
on the dock
and it's spreading
and eventually
it's not going
to be good.
You need to make
a decision.
I used to live
that way
as a young man.
It was miserable.
If you're a
non-Christian,
if you're a Christian,
go all in.
Full all of your
weight,
all of your trust,
all of your
salvation,
all of your
future
onto Christ.
Two responses.
not to receive
Him,
unbelief,
eternal destruction,
or to receive
Him.
And what we see
happen
is the next
point.
The born
again result.
And this is in
verses 12
and 13.
Let me just
read it for you.
But to all
who did receive
Him,
who believed
in His name,
He gave the
right to become
children of God.
I hope your
heart,
Christian,
just rises
to that.
Who were born
not of the
blood,
nor of the
will of the
flesh,
nor of the
will of man,
but born of
God.
Miracle!
The immediate
result of not
receiving the
true light
is to remain
in the darkness,
is to remain
dead.
And eventually,
the ultimate
result of that
unbelief is to
be cast out
into the
outer darkness
where there is
weeping and
gnashing of
teeth,
if I may
quote Jesus.
But when you
believe,
when you
come into
the knowledge,
when the
light is
shining,
and you're
like,
I am a
sinner,
and you're
becoming aware
of these
things,
life has
come!
His light
gives us
life.
And there
were two
ways in
this two
verses that
that shows
up.
It's a new
status and a
new birth.
The new
status is
verse 12,
He gave us the
right to become
children of God.
He gave us the
right to become
children of God.
We believe,
and He gave us
the right to
become children
of God.
The best way
to understand
that is through
kind of a
legal framework,
a change of
your legal
status in
God's eyes.
You've heard us
talk about
justification
along these
lines.
The same
applies to
adoption.
Before,
when you were
in the world,
you were
spiritually dead,
blind.
You were a
rebel under
God's wrath.
But now,
the light has
shone.
there's life
that's resulting
in a belief
that you see,
that you see
who God is,
you see who
you are,
and when you
believe,
it's evidencing
that you have
been given
new life,
and you're
made a child
of God.
Have you ever
needed to bring
your birth
certificate
somewhere to
prove your
identity?
You need to
bring your
papers?
If you
believe in
his name,
not passive
acknowledgement,
but active
trust,
you have
been legally
declared a
child of the
living God.
You're legally
his.
John 1.12
becomes your
adoption
certificate.
you're like,
oh,
I don't know
why I believe,
but I believe
in Christ
alone for the
forgiveness of
my sin.
I believe who
he is.
I believe what
he's done.
I believe apart
from him,
there is no
salvation on
those grounds
by believing
you have been
given the
right of
sonship,
of daughtership.
God's
irrevocable.
Once you've
been legally
adopted by
God,
you'll always
be God's
child.
It's
status.
It's legal
status.
And if you're
in the room
right now and
you're thinking,
well,
isn't that
convenient?
I just need
to call upon
Jesus,
I'll be
declared a
child of God,
and then I
can do
whatever I
want to do.
Blank
slave,
you know,
got a
blank check.
Do you know
how someone,
how you can
see if someone's
a legitimate
child of God
or not?
Has this
faith in
his name
resulted in
life change?
When you
believe in
the Son,
when you
believe in
him,
it will result
in becoming
like him.
When you
have a new
status of
becoming a
child of
God,
it will result
in a new
way of
living as
God's
children.
So you
have a new
status.
But you
also,
it comes
from the
result of
a new
birth.
In
verse 13,
we were
born,
not of
blood,
nor the
will of
the flesh,
nor the
will of
man,
but of
God.
You
could also
read it
as you
were born
of God.
Those who
believe in
his name
experience a
new kind
of life.
In
John 3,
Jesus
meets with
a Jewish
religious
leader in
the dead
of night.
His name
is Nicodemus.
And Jesus
tells him,
you must
be born
again.
And then
he goes
on to
explain to
him that
this being
born again
is a
working of
the Holy
Spirit of
God.
And the
way you
know that
the Holy
Spirit is
moving,
it's like
the wind
in the
trees.
You can't
see it,
you see
the results
of it.
It's not
of blood.
It's
becoming a
child of
God,
being born
of God
is not
the result
of your
bloodline.
Becoming a
child of
God is
not the
result of
the will
of the
flesh,
of sexual
union.
It's not
the result
of human
procreation.
It's not
that.
That's not
how you
become a
child of
God.
Nor is
it the
will of
the flesh.
No,
excuse me,
the will
of man.
You cannot
will
yourself
into becoming
a child
of God.
Nor can
you will
someone
else to
become a
child of
God.
And what
these three
little statements
have that are
all like
negative
statements,
not of
blood,
nor the
will of
flesh,
nor the
will of
man,
what all
these have
in common
is a
denial of
a human
centered
cause to
becoming a
child of
God.
We don't
make ourselves
children of
God.
We don't
have the
ability to
make ourselves
or others
children of
God.
Only God
can cause
this second
birth.
Only God
can make us
his children.
We must
be born
again.
That which
is born of
the flesh
is flesh.
That which
is born of
the spirit
is spirit.
And what
Jesus is
talking about
is this
new creation
that dawned
at his
birth,
at his
coming.
This new
creation in
which this
new light
of life
is shining
into the
darkness.
And that if
you can see
him and see
your sin and
believe in
him,
you will be
made new.
You will be
born again.
This is
fundamentally a
different kind
of life.
This is
eternal life.
This is
spirit-given
life.
And this
starts at
conversion.
Now the
question that
this can
raise is a
chicken and
egg question.
Which comes
first?
Belief or
birth?
Do you
believe and
then you are
born again?
Or are you
born again and
then believe?
And what we're
talking about,
we are,
this is a
very nuanced
debate.
I believe
that the
Bible teaches
that we are
so sinful,
we are so
dead in our
sin,
that we are
spiritually
flatlined,
incapable of
anything,
anything towards
God.
We're dead to
God.
We're so
blind that we
are unable
to believe
without the
spirit of
God first
giving us
life.
In other
words,
God must
give us
a new
heart in
order to
believe.
It's this
regeneration
miracle.
And these
things happen
so quickly
that they're
very difficult
to parse
out.
In order
for you to
see the
true light
that is
shining,
that gives
life and
believe,
it is all
a work of
God's grace
beginning to
end.
To truly
live,
you have a
new status
because of
the new
birth.
And you
know what it
makes you
want to do?
If you're
getting this,
it makes you
want to
sing.
It makes you
want to
like,
glory to God
in the
highest.
It makes you
want to say,
God, you are
amazing to do
this.
You,
Jesus,
were born
to give
me second
birth,
to give
you second
birth.
The
appropriate
response to
this is
worship.
His light
gives us
life,
and we
believe in
him and
live.
A bright
reality,
new reality,
a believing
response,
and a
born-again
result.
Because we've
been able to
see the true
light and
believe,
if you're a
Christian,
we are now
children of
God,
and so you
are.
We're going
to finish
up in a
second.
I'll pray,
and then we'll
sing Hark the
Herald,
Angel Sings.
But if this
morning you've
realized you're
not a Christian,
you've just been
doing this passive
acknowledgement of
who Jesus is,
after we sing,
will you come
down front?
Let's talk.
Because today,
today, you can
become a
child of God.
Let's pray.
Father God,
thank you so
much for your
kind work of
your spirit.
Lord, we want
to behold your
son in his
glory.
We want to
behold his
face.
We want to
behold your
glory, God,
in the face of
Jesus Christ.
God, would you
do a work in
us this
December
2025,
that you would
move us from
a seasonal
sentimentality
into a deep,
abiding,
active trust
in you.
God, as we
sing,
hark the
herald angels
sing,
would you
stir our
hearts all
the more
towards you.
In Jesus'
name we pray.
Amen.