WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.060 Well, good morning. It is great to see you all. I'm glad you have joined us for worship this morning. 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:19.519 It is the third Sunday in Advent, so we are hurtling along, hurtling along towards 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:27.679 Christmas Day. So it's good to be able to celebrate. I just want to say Pastor Nick 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:33.200 was really kind to me about these cards, because last week I said after today they're scrap paper. 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:40.359 They're not scrap paper. They still have good information on them. So just wanted to point 00:00:40.359 --> 00:00:45.820 those out. They're great for information all the way through this month, so please continue to 00:00:45.820 --> 00:00:53.100 take advantage of them as you can. You know, as we begin this morning, I want to talk a little bit 00:00:53.100 --> 00:01:00.780 about a deep human longing that we have, and that is to belong. Because many of us experience, 00:01:01.900 --> 00:01:11.180 well, let me start this. Lots of stories in the world have, as its beginning, orphans. Think about 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:18.560 all the orphans that you know of throughout great stories. Spider-Man is an orphan. Frodo Baggins 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:26.980 is an orphan. Harry Potter is an orphan. Little Orphan Annie. Well, that's kind of obvious, right? 00:01:28.180 --> 00:01:37.040 The Boxcar Children, if you're of my generation or you have kids and you pulled in, it's a great series, 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:43.740 starts with four kids who live in a train boxcar because they're orphans. 00:01:43.739 --> 00:01:54.959 Why is this such a powerful theme in literature? Well, it's because I think we all have a longing 00:01:54.959 --> 00:02:01.879 to belong to a family. Now, some of you have grown up feeling like orphans yourselves. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:08.959 Some of you have grown up in wonderful families and yet felt like you never fit. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:19.860 Some of you have grown up in really dysfunctional and broken families where you were disregarded and 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:28.740 discarded by those closest to you. Some of you may actually be orphans. You have lost parents and 00:02:28.740 --> 00:02:35.980 you've been adopted or you found your way in the world. Now, some of you have grown up in 00:02:35.979 --> 00:02:43.659 families where you have felt loved and embraced. But regardless of your family background, 00:02:44.359 --> 00:02:51.379 when we have healthy families or healthy surrogate families, we still often find ourselves disappointed 00:02:51.379 --> 00:02:58.879 or frustrated or longing for more in our familial relationships. We have a deeper longing, 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:06.639 something that no human relationship can actually meet. Not because our families have failed us, 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:13.460 but because our human families are finite. And the desire that we have to belong 00:03:13.460 --> 00:03:20.659 is something that God has given us to point us to something greater, a longing to belong 00:03:20.659 --> 00:03:28.120 to a part of His eternal family. And this brings us to our Advent text this morning. 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:33.840 If you want to turn with me, we're in the Gospel of John. We're going to be looking at John 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:41.180 chapter 1, verses 6 through 13. That's page 833 in the Pew Bible, if you want to turn there with me. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:46.900 And it'd be great if you could do that, because we'll be looking at it fairly carefully as we walk 00:03:46.900 --> 00:03:52.560 through it this morning. And remember what we've seen in the last couple of weeks in the beginning 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:59.340 of the Gospel of John, the first verses of John 1. We see this cosmic word from the beginning, 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:06.680 a person of the triune God who reigns over all things and who is active in creating all things. 00:04:07.980 --> 00:04:13.120 He is the life-giving word, the light that has come into the darkness of our world. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:16.500 Come to master it. 00:04:19.180 --> 00:04:23.819 And this leads us up to the passage that we're looking at this morning. And remember, 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:30.040 if you remember, there's a rubric in this large section, verses 1 through 18. There's a rubric of 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:35.300 the Word is introduced, and then we see three major things that He does. The Word is active in creation, 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:41.879 the Word is active in redemption, and the Word is active in revelation. So Nick talked about creation 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:46.360 last week. We're going to talk about redemption this week, and next week we'll talk a bit about 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:52.079 revelation along the way, I think. Right, Nick? Something like that? Okay. So that's where we're 00:04:52.079 --> 00:05:00.600 going to go this morning. In this section, having talked in verses 1 through 5 about this cosmic word 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:09.680 and these grand themes, He then dives in and connects with the real world in very important ways. 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:15.780 And He's going to anticipate what He says in verse 14 when He says, 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:21.379 the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we're going to look at the coming of Jesus, 00:05:21.960 --> 00:05:29.080 the Word to this world. So let's look at John chapter 1. We're going to read verses 6 through 13 together, 00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:34.539 and then I'll pray for God's help, and then we'll dive in. So let's read God's Word together. 00:05:36.359 --> 00:05:43.639 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light 00:05:43.639 --> 00:05:50.879 that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 00:05:51.500 --> 00:05:56.719 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:01.340 and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, 00:06:01.380 --> 00:06:08.020 and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, 00:06:08.080 --> 00:06:15.640 he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 00:06:15.640 --> 00:06:21.400 nor of the will of man, but of God. Let's pray together. 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:32.339 Oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer, we pray this morning. We pray that you would be our help. 00:06:33.179 --> 00:06:38.659 Lord, for we know that in and of ourselves, Lord, we would misunderstand your Word, and we would be led 00:06:38.659 --> 00:06:45.799 astray. But Lord, because you have made yourself known to us and given us your Spirit, Lord, you have 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:53.220 made it possible for us to understand your Word. And I pray this morning for your help. Lord, I pray for 00:06:53.220 --> 00:07:00.680 us that we would have minds alert to understand the truths. Lord, that we would have wills that are 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:07.379 willing to submit and receive these truths from you. And Lord, hearts that would treasure and love 00:07:07.379 --> 00:07:13.960 the truths that we learned this morning. Lord, I pray for your help. Lord, that you would give me 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:20.299 words to speak. That I might speak all that you would have me to say. And that we together might 00:07:20.299 --> 00:07:25.060 sit under your Word this morning. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:07:31.319 --> 00:07:35.979 The big idea of this section of John, I believe, is that Jesus, the Word, has come 00:07:35.979 --> 00:07:41.919 so that we might belong to the family of God. So let's look at that. We're going to look at three 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:47.920 sections of it. In verses 6 through 8, we're going to see that Jesus comes with family roots. 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:55.620 We're going to see in verses 9 through 11 that Jesus faces family rejection. And verses 12 through 13, 00:07:56.280 --> 00:08:08.420 Jesus comes to—well, I didn't say this rightly—Jesus comes to recreate His family for us. So that's—those 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:15.120 are our three ideas. Family roots, family rejection, and family recreation. So let's see, for those of you 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:19.640 who are taking notes, if you get all that. So, all right. First of all, the beginning of this. 00:08:21.020 --> 00:08:26.939 Jesus' family roots. You may be asking, why did I pick family for this? Well, there are two reasons. 00:08:27.060 --> 00:08:33.180 One is at the very end, because He talks about being children of God, being born of God, and these are 00:08:33.180 --> 00:08:37.360 family relationships. So that's where we're going to get to at the end. But at the beginning, 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:43.220 one of the questions that I asked that you might have asked right off the bat is, why do we suddenly 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:48.840 turn from this transcendent Word who is the bringing light into the darkness of the world to 00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:54.899 John the Baptist? And He isn't even called John the Baptist. He's just called John. And if you're 00:08:54.899 --> 00:09:00.779 confused, there are two Johns here. There's John the Apostle, who's written this gospel, but never calls 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:10.159 himself John. So he never names himself in the gospel. And so, when he just refers to this other 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:18.100 guy, the cousin, relatively, of Jesus, John the Baptist, right? He was a cousin once removed, we think. 00:09:18.579 --> 00:09:26.079 So, but John the Baptist, he just says, there was a man sent from God, and his name was John. And we move 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:31.800 from this cosmic story to this very nitty-gritty, here's a guy on the ground that everybody knows. 00:09:31.800 --> 00:09:37.040 And as you see John the Baptist playing out, you see John the Baptist plays a really critical role 00:09:37.040 --> 00:09:43.360 in the broad sweep of the storyline of the Scriptures. Because what John the Baptist represents 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:51.400 is the family tree of the nation of Israel, and the role of the last prophet of the nation of Israel, 00:09:51.399 --> 00:10:00.019 the descendants of Abraham, who comes and he identifies Jesus from the very start as the one 00:10:00.019 --> 00:10:07.319 who has come to fulfill all of the promises and to bring them to fruition in the world in God's 00:10:07.319 --> 00:10:13.959 redemptive work. And so we see in the second half of John chapter 1, it's John the Baptist who sees 00:10:13.959 --> 00:10:20.340 Jesus as an adult, and he says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:29.000 And this is what John the Baptist's role is throughout Scripture. And we see him in the other, 00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:34.840 we see him in all the other gospel accounts. He's the one who comes to bear witness. And this is what 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:42.639 John emphasizes. John the Baptist has come to say, he's the one. John the Baptist is the spotlight that 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:49.379 shines his light on Jesus as he begins his ministry. And throughout his ministry, actually, to say, 00:10:49.379 --> 00:10:58.279 this is the one that we are waiting for. He is, and as this passage 6 through 8 goes on, 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:03.820 he's saying, this is the one. He is the light that I'm bearing witness to. The true light that 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:11.059 has come into the world. The light that is the light of life from verses 4 and 5. John the Baptist is saying, 00:11:11.059 --> 00:11:18.439 he's the one. And it's like John the Apostle is pulling out his family photo book. And he's saying, 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:25.279 remember Uncle John? Uncle John the Baptist? Remember what he said about Jesus? This is where Jesus comes 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:33.500 from. So when Jesus enters into the stage, this cosmic word is also rooted in God's work in history and 00:11:33.500 --> 00:11:44.600 and the people of God up to that point. So this is the idea. This is why I think the family roots are 00:11:44.600 --> 00:11:51.740 important for Jesus as we see this. He's merging the cosmic reality with this real family history 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:58.840 so that we would know that Jesus comes to enter in for us as a human and as God. 00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:04.860 These are the roots of Jesus as we see here. 00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:14.780 John then moves on from that in verses 6 through 8 to how the world received Jesus coming into the 00:12:14.780 --> 00:12:21.019 world. So verses 9 through 11, the true light which enlightens every man was coming into the world. 00:12:22.180 --> 00:12:28.000 There are two key ideas in this section 9 through 11 that we need to see. First is that he came to 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:34.299 the world. Now, we might think that that's synonymous with saying he came to his creation. 00:12:34.759 --> 00:12:39.240 But in fact, that's a misreading of this because when you read through the gospel of John 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:46.000 over and over and over again, when the word world is used, this is the old-fashioned idea of worldliness 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:51.000 that we don't tend to talk about in our 21st century church but used to be talked about in the church 00:12:51.000 --> 00:13:01.799 all the time. The world is the systems, the thought patterns, the perspectives, the morality of a world 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:09.159 that is in rebellion against God, that rejects the God of the Bible and chooses to go a different way. 00:13:09.899 --> 00:13:15.399 And so when John says he came to the world, he's not saying he came into a neutral creation 00:13:15.399 --> 00:13:21.120 to try to figure out if he could slightly improve it. But he came to a world that was in rejection 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:32.519 of God. So he came into this. But it is true that he came to both his creation broadly and his people 00:13:32.519 --> 00:13:40.399 in particular, right? So we see in verse 11, right? He came to his own. Verse 10, it says, 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:44.519 he came to the world, the world that was made through him, and yet the world did not know him. 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:52.819 So it is true that all of creation is rejecting this word who's come in. But then particularly, 00:13:53.000 --> 00:14:00.500 he came to his own people. He came to the Jewish people who had Abraham and Moses and David, 00:14:00.500 --> 00:14:07.120 who had the Old Testament scriptures, who had seen God work in the Exodus, who had seen God work in 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:12.799 judgment, who had seen God work in bringing people back from exile, who had seen God work in all of 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:20.799 these ways. And they too, when the word arrived, they rejected him. 00:14:23.720 --> 00:14:30.060 He came to all these things as the true light. We see this in verse 9. The true light means that 00:14:30.060 --> 00:14:35.740 he's the real thing. We see in other parts of the Gospel of John that we're supposed to be true 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:41.840 worshipers in chapter 4, and that Jesus is the true bread from heaven. Not manna, which was the sign, 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:49.139 but Jesus is the true bread from heaven. He is the true vine in chapter 15, verse 1. He is true God 00:14:49.139 --> 00:14:58.019 in chapter 17, verse 3. So John is saying, this light that's coming in, this is the real thing. 00:14:58.019 --> 00:15:08.600 The creator coming into his creation, the light coming into the darkness. Not as an idea, not merely as a 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:18.419 verbal message or luminous celestial glow, but in a person, the person of Jesus. And when he comes, 00:15:18.419 --> 00:15:28.860 he is rejected. And I wonder, I wonder if we get the impact of that. 00:15:31.439 --> 00:15:39.479 Because in the face of the cosmic word coming into his creation, coming to his people, what was the 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:55.480 response? Hostility, questioning, distance. He was not embraced. And we have to see that this isn't just 00:15:55.480 --> 00:16:02.159 for all of creation or for the Jewish people in particular. They weren't particularly bad in the 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:07.600 way that they responded. They knew more, and so they were responsible for that. But they actually were 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:16.279 more of a paradigm, a picture of all of us. Maybe some of you have had the privilege of growing up 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:22.080 in a Christian home where you didn't know a time when you didn't know Jesus. But that wasn't true for 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:27.779 me, and I'm sure it's not true for many of you. And it certainly isn't true for much of the world. 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:36.340 And when you raise the name of Jesus, we shrug, say, yeah, really? Does it really matter? 00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:43.220 Does he really matter? Does he really matter? We resist? What? He claims to be God? He wants to be 00:16:43.220 --> 00:16:51.720 Lord over my life? We reject. No, I don't want him in my life. I want to do it my own way. 00:16:53.379 --> 00:16:58.920 Rather than embrace him, we would rather pursue life on our own. Rather than submit to him, we would 00:16:58.920 --> 00:17:05.539 rather assert our own freedom from him. And rather than love him, we would treat him with casual 00:17:05.539 --> 00:17:16.759 disinterest. And John wants us to see how cosmic this offense is. It is unbelievable that the creator 00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:24.659 of the world would come and his creation would say, eh, not interested. Well, thanks, but no thanks. 00:17:24.660 --> 00:17:34.180 Our rejection of the light of life is the reason why we live in darkness. Our refusal of the word is the 00:17:34.180 --> 00:17:42.940 reason why we live in confusion and despair. And our abandonment of this word, of this one who has 00:17:42.940 --> 00:17:47.400 come for us, is the reason for our alienation and our aloneness. 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:57.019 I wonder. I wonder. I wonder this for me, and I wonder this for you. Where's your heart this Advent 00:17:57.019 --> 00:18:07.740 season? As you think about this grand story, do you find yourself shrugging? Do you find yourself 00:18:07.740 --> 00:18:17.140 too busy to care? Do you find yourself resisting, knowing that there's part of your life or all of your 00:18:17.140 --> 00:18:27.820 life where you want to live it apart from him? Maybe you know how much you long for that 00:18:27.820 --> 00:18:40.880 sense of belonging again. Hopefully this Christmas, God will meet you and restore that to you today. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:48.120 Because there's hope for us. There's hope that Jesus has come for us. That though he was rejected, 00:18:48.260 --> 00:18:54.540 not only by people out there, but by us in our own hearts, Jesus, the word has come to make us 00:18:54.540 --> 00:19:02.320 a part of his family. To make us anew through himself and to make us a part of his family. This is what we 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:12.139 see in verses 12 and 13 of our passage. Jesus come to recreate a family, a forever family, 00:19:13.099 --> 00:19:19.460 of being part of God's people. There are a couple of critical aspects in verses 12 through 13. I'm 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:24.279 going to read it for us so we remember it, and then we're going to look at a couple of the key words 00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:33.440 here. It says, verse 12, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:41.079 become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:51.119 but of God. First thing I want to note here is that his offer of recreation is given to all people. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:59.139 It says, to all who received him. Though Jesus came rooted in the Jewish people, though Jesus came 00:19:59.139 --> 00:20:06.559 out of this redemptive plan that focused on the descendants of Abraham, we now see a fullness that 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:11.419 was hinted at throughout the whole Old Testament. This isn't a new idea, but this is a fruition of an 00:20:11.419 --> 00:20:17.779 idea that's been there from the very beginning, that the Jewish people were the stepping stone towards 00:20:17.779 --> 00:20:24.779 a greater people that would include people from every tribe and tongue and nation across the globe. 00:20:28.639 --> 00:20:34.539 And when Jesus comes to make family, there is not one of those people who are excluded. 00:20:35.579 --> 00:20:40.539 There's not one of them that Jesus would look at and say, no, I didn't come for your people. 00:20:40.899 --> 00:20:45.899 I didn't come for people who look like you. I didn't come for people who speak that language. 00:20:45.900 --> 00:20:54.220 But that Jesus came to all. And I have to say, one of the things that I've loved about Trinity over 00:20:54.220 --> 00:21:01.120 the years is that God's given us a little glimpse of it in this church. Not perfectly by any means, 00:21:01.280 --> 00:21:08.500 but, you know, we have people from every continent in this church every Sunday. It's pretty cool. 00:21:08.500 --> 00:21:14.660 It's pretty amazing. And if you don't know that, spend a little time after the service looking around 00:21:14.660 --> 00:21:20.720 and talk, introducing yourself to people who you don't know so that you can learn what an amazing 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:29.000 community God has given us here at Trinity. It's part of the fruit of this offer that is given to all 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:35.599 people. But the second thing is a recognition that Jesus comes, but, and his offer of recreation 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:44.240 demands a response. Because though he came to his creation, right, not all of humanity, not all of 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:51.099 his creative people are inherently a part of God's family. Being a creature is not merely enough to 00:21:51.099 --> 00:22:00.359 call God Father and Jesus Brother. Our heart that has rejected God puts us outside of that family. 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:09.119 And John clarifies for us to those who received him, to those who believed in his name, 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:19.439 these are the ones who are able to be a part of God's family. To believe in his name is merely more 00:22:19.439 --> 00:22:25.659 than acknowledging what he is called. Yeah, I know that there's a guy named Jesus. It is a confession of 00:22:25.660 --> 00:22:36.720 loyalty to a person, a trust in their character, not just a label. Commentator D.A. Carson says that 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:43.560 to believe and to receive is one who yields their allegiance to the word, who trusts him completely, 00:22:44.180 --> 00:22:48.259 acknowledges his claims, and confesses him with gratitude. 00:22:48.259 --> 00:23:00.279 Friends, this is the offer that Jesus comes. The word comes and says, will you respond by turning away 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:08.700 from your rejection and saying, yes, I receive you. I believe that you are who you say you are. I put my 00:23:08.700 --> 00:23:18.079 trust, my spiritual hope in what you have done. It is not merely to acknowledge Jesus, but to embrace 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:28.460 him. Not merely to speak with our lips, but to put our whole life in knowing and following this word who has 00:23:28.460 --> 00:23:40.599 come for us. Pastor John Piper has helpfully commented on the breadth of what it means to receive. 00:23:40.619 --> 00:24:01.119 He said this, he said, if Jesus comes to you as a savior, then you welcome his salvation. If he comes to 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:04.039 to you as a prote Burberry, then you welcome he针 vendo confus restfully electric guitarist. Any measure or 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:10.399 backpackers will embrace your age. If he comes to you as authority, you welcome his authority. And if he 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:20.360 comes to you as king, you welcome his rule. I think that's a good word to help picture. What does it 00:24:20.360 --> 00:24:28.080 mean to receive him, to believe in his name? Because his name is this great name that above all names, 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:33.280 this word of God, the second person of the Trinity, and he's come for us. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:44.200 And when we receive him, he gives us the right, the privilege, the reality of becoming 00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:52.440 a part of God's forever family, becoming a child of God. And this is the amazing thing. 00:24:52.879 --> 00:25:01.039 When we receive him, we become a part of God's family. Verse 13 is fascinating though, isn't it? 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:07.639 Because if verse 12 emphasizes this action on our part of response, we need to respond, 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:13.779 we need to receive and believe and do these things. Verse 13 reminds us that this is God's 00:25:13.779 --> 00:25:20.599 recreative work in our hearts, that he spells this out. It's not because of your bloodline. It's not 00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:26.059 because of your heritage. It's not because of your family background. It's not because of the will of 00:25:26.059 --> 00:25:35.279 your parents or the will of your father, that you could do this, right? Born not of these human 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:46.000 activities, but born of God. And this is the amazing thing. And we see this in lots of places in 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:50.980 Scripture. We'll see it in two. If you read ahead in the Gospel of John, we'll see John talking to 00:25:50.980 --> 00:25:59.240 Nicodemus about and saying to him, you must be born again to enter into God's kingdom, to be a part of 00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:06.160 his family. We see it in Ephesians 2 where the apostle Paul tells us, you were dead in your sins and 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:14.960 trespasses. But God who is rich in mercy, because of what he's done in Christ, he has made you alive 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:23.980 and raised you up with him to a new life where you are now his forever. This is the great work 00:26:23.980 --> 00:26:30.759 of regeneration. This is why that phrase born again became such a buzzword in the 20th century, 00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:35.220 because Billy Graham said, this is the most important thing that we could say about the 00:26:35.220 --> 00:26:43.140 gospel, that God can take us as dead people and make us alive spiritually. He can remove us from the 00:26:43.140 --> 00:26:49.080 judgment of death that comes because of sin and bring us into the family of God where we have an 00:26:49.080 --> 00:26:59.900 eternal life that is unshakable and unlosable. And here John overlays that with, and we are born 00:26:59.900 --> 00:27:09.640 of God to be a child of God and to be a part of his family. And God becomes our heavenly father. 00:27:09.640 --> 00:27:17.020 And Jesus, our savior, becomes our brother as well as our Lord. And we are his eternal children. 00:27:19.480 --> 00:27:27.940 Friends, what good news this is that God has done this. And look, we don't have to spend the rest of 00:27:27.940 --> 00:27:33.540 our day wrestling through, well, how much of my receiving him is my work and how much of it is 00:27:33.540 --> 00:27:38.340 God's work? We don't have to do that because if you're ready to receive him, then God is at work in you. 00:27:38.339 --> 00:27:45.119 And just do it. Receive him. Embrace him. Let him be yours. And then you'll be his. And then you won't 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:51.359 have to ask those questions anymore because you'll know what a gracious God who has come for you. 00:27:52.819 --> 00:27:59.500 And this is the whole message of Advent, is that he's come for you. Not because you were good enough. 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:04.159 Not because you were religious enough. Not because you were a faithful enough church member that 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:09.019 suddenly God looked at you one day and said, okay, you finally passed the test. You've met the standard. 00:28:09.420 --> 00:28:17.980 Now you're my child forever. No. He has come for you in the darkness of your sin and said, come. 00:28:18.700 --> 00:28:24.720 He has come for you in the alienation and the rejection that you have given to him and said, 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:28.759 I'm going to bring you in. I'm going to bring you in. I'm going to make you new. And you're going to be 00:28:28.759 --> 00:28:39.860 my child. And you will know my embrace. The only thing we have to do is to be humble enough to receive it. 00:28:39.859 --> 00:28:51.819 And so, friends, the longing of our souls to belong, Advent gives us good news. 00:28:53.719 --> 00:29:03.079 To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gives us the privilege of being a child of God. 00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:08.039 What good news that is, this Advent season. 00:29:09.819 --> 00:29:12.599 So what will you do with him this morning? 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:20.000 It's easy for us to be distracted in this season with busyness and with lots of activity. 00:29:21.740 --> 00:29:27.199 But I encourage you, set aside time to meditate on this great gift 00:29:27.199 --> 00:29:32.000 and the great invitation to be a child of God this Advent season. 00:29:33.079 --> 00:29:38.119 And maybe some of you are here this morning, and this is a new message for you. 00:29:38.599 --> 00:29:41.480 Maybe you're exploring Christianity and trying to figure out what it means. 00:29:41.919 --> 00:29:45.599 Maybe you've been a part of the church for a long time, but this is new. 00:29:48.220 --> 00:29:51.339 John and Jesus and I will all want to say to you, 00:29:52.899 --> 00:29:57.759 receive him, believe in his name, and become a child of God. Let's pray. 00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:02.720 Lord, we love you. 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:10.440 Lord, how amazing it is that you, the creator of all things, 00:30:11.319 --> 00:30:17.259 the cosmic word, the eternal light that brings light and life into the world, 00:30:18.740 --> 00:30:21.640 Lord, that you have entered into the darkness of our sin. 00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:30.980 By your life and death and resurrection, you have achieved a salvation that now you work in us. 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:37.320 Lord, we pray this morning that our hearts would receive you, 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:41.100 that we would embrace you, 00:30:42.280 --> 00:30:46.740 that we would know the joy of being your child this morning. 00:30:46.740 --> 00:30:51.259 We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.