He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him.He came unto his own, and his own received him not.He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not.
15 sermons cite this verse
… and I've got good news for you. God, he says, didn't appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He came to his own, says John in his opening prologue, and his own received him not but to as many as received him. To them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So that's what it means to be an evangelical Christian, in part. It is to say to people, listen, because Jesus died on the cross, it doesn't mean you're automatically forgiven. You're not. That's why you don't feel forgiven. That's why you still feel guilty. That's why you go and do religious things, and it doesn't meet the longings of your heart. Because Jesus died on the cross, it doesn't mean you're automatically set free. What do you need to do? You need to come to him personally, acknowledge your predicament, and ask him, by his mercy and his goodness, to remove you from your predicament. He appoints, we receive. And there is no other way to go. There is no other person to whom we may go. …
He acknowledged that. And the fact, he came to his own and his own received him not. There is no extension to that verse that says, and he decided they are no longer his people. You have to understand the reason why Satan is working extra hours to brainwash all these young people nowadays against Israel. It's because Israel is so central in the Bible. And so central in the heart of God and the plan of God. That's why Satan is working overtime. Genesis 12, I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse he who curses you. And in you, that nation that comes out of Abraham, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In Deuteronomy 7, it says, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord God has chosen you to be a people for himself. A special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. Now, that's not because they were great. It's because he decided so. …
Somebody ought to thank God that God opened up that door. the scripture says in John 1 12 he came unto his own and his own received him not they didn't receive him but thanks be to God they didn't because when they didn't it gave you and I an opportunity to have a personal relationship with God and you know what that means? That means he made us his people. Go ahead, look at your neighbor and say, you his people. You're a part of his family. He opened up the door for you and I to be saved. I'm giving God the praise. I'm thanking. I'm running around this building. I'm giving God the glory because he made us his people. I'm a child of the most high God. I am a servant of the living God. I am an instrument of the almighty God. My life, I'm an instrument of God. I am his servant. I don't deserve to be here. I didn't get here. I didn't get to do what I do because I dotted every I and crossed every T. …
… The very first verses of the gospel, John 1, verse 11 says, he came to his own and his own people did not receive him. why did so many not believe? Why do you not believe if you don't believe this morning? that's the question at the heart of this text. Before I get to Jesus' answer in our passage, we've already gotten two major answers in the book of John so far. Why does anyone reject and hate Jesus? First, they don't believe because they love their sin. They don't believe because they love their sin. This is John chapter three, verses 19 and 20. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed. Why do people hate and reject Jesus? Because they secretly love darkness. They love their sin. …
… I love this. John 1, verse 11. He came to his own people and even they rejected him. What about John 7 verse 5? For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Look at Matthew 13. Then they scoffed. He's just the carpenter's son. And we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas, and all his sisters live right here among us. Where did he learn all these things? And they were deeply offended, and they refused to believe in him. They said, come on, Jesus. You stop all that. You're not that great. You're not that anointed. See, you're not that called. Remember, familiarity breeds contempt. They couldn't receive from him because they didn't believe in him. I wanna preach to somebody today. You're about to outgrow some friends this year. You're about to outgrow some people that don't want you to become who God has called you to become. Come on, clap a little bit louder. Don't listen to the naysayers. …
… and the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. The question we have is, is that worth the wait? Like, is what God has done, is that worth the wait? Because think about this, from the beginning of the story, from the actually very first story. Here's Genesis chapter one and two, chapter three, everything falls apart. But in the midst of Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three, verse 15, God promises, he promises that there is going to be one who crushes the head of the serpent. There is gonna be one who restores all things. And then the whole rest of the story is people waiting from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, to the judges, to the kings, to the divided kingdom, to the civil war, to exile, through all the whole entire story, all the way to Jesus. is that worth the wait? I was thinking about, you know, this, think of right now, Christmas Day. I think a lot of us, we get really excited. …
… into the world. He 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. I hope that's not you. Now, that's talking about his own Jewish people, but you think of all of the privileges we have in a place like Charlotte, in a place like Christ's covenant, a good Bible denomination like the PCA, a part of the country that still has lots of Christians and churches to his own people? Will you receive him? What have you done with the Lord's second chance, third chance, 400th chance? Zechariah blew it in his moment. Some of you can look back on this week or you feel like your whole life has been an episode of failing the moment God gives you. Well, he gives you now another moment. He's opening his mouth through this word, speaking to you. Do you have ears to listen? Because Zechariah announces this amazing good news to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins. …
… This is a divine miracle. What is it? How do I experience it? So to answer that question, what is the acting of faith? Let's go first to John chapter 1, verses 11 to 13. Very familiar text. Even if you don't look it up, you're sure welcome to look it up and follow with me. But if you don't, you'll recognize it, probably. Jesus came to his own. This is John 1, verse 11. Jesus came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, now notice, you call that a positive in grammar. To all who did receive him, comma, who believed in his name. So believing, receiving. interpret each other. He gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So John chooses to report this language to make plain, receiving Jesus is what believing does. …
And every year I enjoy hearing it sung on Candlelight Christmas Eve. It happens after the sermon and before the passing of the candlelight. And because I've been here 35 years, this will be my 36th Christmas Eve as your pastor. and I often will have eight or nine services that I preach and I've heard it over 200 times. It's etched in my memory and on my heart and the words and the melody, they just touch me. And so today we're going to kick off a series of sermons for Advent in which we're going to look at the Advent message through the lens of that song, through its lyrics, its music, and we're going to learn a little bit about the song today. We're going to learn a little history about Israel today, a little history of France, and then we're going to try to ask what is this message of Advent about hope and the message we hear from the book of Isaiah. What does it mean to us today? How does it speak to us today? I want to begin, however, by mentioning, as we said at the beginning of the service, some of you weren't here yet, the word Advent comes from the Latin adventus. It means arrival or coming. And we got that name for this season of preparation and, you know, reflecting and getting ourselves ready for the celebration of the birth of Christ and for His second coming from the Romans. So, the Romans, when the Roman emperor would travel across the …
… Nobody was waiting, right? He came to his own, and his own, by and large, received him not. They should have been waiting. They should have been prepared. Why? Because all through the Old Testament, going all the way back to Genesis 3, God said he's going to come the first time. He's going to come. He's going to come. He's going to come. They should have known he was going to come. And guess what? Christmas is when he came. So why should we believe the apocalypse? Why should we believe and not go, oh, the sky is falling and all that? Because he said he was going to come and came. And there are five times as many prophecies about the second coming as there are the first. So you don't think he's going to come? You don't think he's going to return? Well, that's what the devil wants you to think. What Jesus wants you to think is what he said in John 14. I go, leaving, to prepare a place for you. …
… In fact, John sums it up. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Their exploitation of Jesus, their superficial interest in Him grew to become hostility. That hostility grew to become hatred. That hatred reached a point where they collectively said, we will not have this man to reign over us." And they screamed, crucify Him. Their hostility escalated all the way to the cross. It has already begun by the time you get to the third chapter of Mark, if you look back at verse 6, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the Herodians, sort of the political side of religion, were together plotting how to destroy the miracle worker, to destroy the one who banished illness, who spoke like no one ever spoke, who created food to feed 25,000 people, created it out of nothing. How much they hate Him to want Him dead when He provides so much for them. So the disciples were trying to deal with this hostility at a high level, at the level of leadership, and as well at a populist level. …
… 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 of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. He says, so this is what happened. The light, Jesus, came into the world. But the world that he made didn't know him. And earlier in that passage, the world actually preferred darkness. It's like the light was coming to the world, but there's some people in the world, the Bible says, that actually prefer darkness. They don't want light to come in and expose what they've been doing. And I was talking to some of my friends in the TL that live in SROs. They go, gosh, I just want all my windows blacked out, my doors just closed. I just don't want anyone to see me. …
AND THE BIBLE CALLS THAT THE NEW BIRTH. THE BIBLE SAYS, CONCERNING THE LORD JESUS, HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN, AND HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT. BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, TO THEM GAVE HE POWER TO BECOME THE CHILDREN OF GOD, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE ON HIS NAME. HAVE YOU BELIEVED ON HIS NAME? THE WORD BELIEVE DOESN'T MEAN JUST INTELLECTUAL BELIEF. IT MEANS TRUST, TRUST him. Trust him. Believe on him. Pray like this, oh Lord Jesus, I believe on you. I receive you. I believe you're the son of God. I believe you paid for my sin on that cross. I believe that you were buried. I believe that you were raised from the dead by the power of God. And you told me if I would trust you, you would save me. And I do trust you right now. Friend, I promise you on the authority of the Word of God, if you trust Christ, He'll save you. The same Jesus that saved me so many years ago when I was a teenager will save you. And the same Jesus that has kept me and kept millions will keep you. And the same Jesus who is filling me WITH JOY THIS MOMENT WILL FILL YOU WITH JOY. I WISH SOMEHOW THERE WAS SOME WAY THAT I COULD GO SIT IN YOUR SEAT AND MAKE THAT DECISION FOR YOU AND GIVE MY HEART TO JESUS ON YOUR BEHALF. …
… The world was made through Him, but the world didn't even know Him. He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. Many years ago, I was being interviewed by Dr. James Montgomery Boyce in Philadelphia for his radio program. And we were talking about John 3.16. Everybody knows what that says. God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. Whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Jim goes on to say to me, he says, R.C., everybody knows John 3.16. He says, what's John 3.17 say? John 3.17. That He sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but through the world, through Him should be saved. So the examination kept going. He said, okay, let me hear John 3.18. And I said, this is the condemnation that men loved the darkness rather than the light. And he said, why is that? And on his radio program I said, because their Eads are deevil. That was the end of that interview. …
… again and again. But when the Messiah that the Old Testament taught on every page appeared in the midst of the people, he came to his own, and his own received him not. The light came into the world, but men preferred the darkness rather than the light. And they brought that darkness with them even when they searched the Scriptures. Now, how easy it is for us, 2,000 years removed from that situation, to look back in a spirit of judgment and condemnation on those foolish people of the first century when we're in danger of doing exactly the same thing today. you are not willing to come to me. That's why they don't listen to His voice. They don't want to come to Him. I lectured several years ago at a college, and I was invited to lecture on the existence of God by a group on campus whose name was the Atheist Club. So it was a pleasant dialogue. I went to Romans chapter 1 and talked about how God had manifestly, clearly, with no ambiguity, revealed Himself to every creature, and that that knowledge gets through to every person, and as much as we fight and kick against it, we can't extinguish that light or obliterate that light, and so we are left, according to the apostle, without excuse. …