But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name:
17 sermons cite this verse
… And if you want to experience God's miracles in your life, the single greatest thing you can do is become a part of God's family. And you do that by faith. John 1 12 says, as many as received Jesus to those, he gave the privilege to become the children of God, even to those who believe on his name. God's power is primarily reserved for his children. Principle number two, God's power is generated by the Holy Spirit of God. God's power is generated by the Holy Spirit. We'll talk about that in the weeks to come, but two things under that I want you to write down. First of all, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit once for all at our salvation. We are indwelt by the Spirit once for all at our salvation. 1 Corinthians 12, 13 says, for with one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body. The moment you are saved, you receive all, not part, all of the Holy Spirit of God. It's one of the benefits of salvation. We are indwelt by the Spirit one time at our salvation. But statement number two, we are to be controlled by the Spirit continually throughout our life. Indwelt once, but continue to be controlled. The word the Bible uses for control Ephesians 5.18 says, do not get drunk with wine for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. You know, it was the Roman philosopher Seneca who said drunkenness is nothing but voluntary insanity. It is nothing but insane to allow some foreign substance in your life …
… And you do that by faith. John 1.12 says, As many as received Jesus to those, he gave the privilege to become the children of God, even to those who believe on his name. God's power is primarily reserved for his own children. Friend, don't miss the heart of what we've seen today. The same power that split the Red Sea, that fell on Mount Carmel, that raised Jesus from the grave, That very power is at work in you. If you belong to God's family, you are not left to face life on your own strength. His limitless power is reserved for His children. Now, let me ask you to do something. I want you to be among the first to own my brand new book, Divine Invasions. This isn't merely a book to read and stick on the shelf to gather dust. When you take these biblical principles and put them to work, something happens. You become living proof that God still does the impossible, and that becomes your legacy. …
… 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. …
… Children of God. John chapter one, verse 12. But as many as received him, To them gave he the right to become children of God. Who are they? To those who believe in his name. That's a decision you have to make. He wants you to receive him, but he'll never make you receive him. You've got to invite him in like you would any friend. Romans chapter 8, verse 16. The Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit himself, bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Church family, listen, this is so serious. The Bible says right here, the Holy Spirit will confirm to you that you belong to God. If tonight you don't know that, why are you in doubt? You're probably in doubt because you're not a child of God. You may be religious, but a child of God, the Holy Spirit tells them, convinces them, you belong to me. Oh, please research your life and dig deep and find out if this is a reality for you. …
… We have seen his glory. They say you have to see it to believe it, but back up to John 1, verse 12. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. See it? Circle the word believed, Justin. Believed in his name. Verse 14 again. And the word became flesh, that's Jesus, and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory. Circle the word seen. Sometimes you have to see it to believe it. I get that. But sometimes you have to believe it to see it. See, if I don't believe that God is my provider, I won't see the provision. You get it? It's a complete inversion. That's why Jesus' kingdom is upside down, but it's actually right side up, because it's a complete inversion. The Gospel of John is not just about miracles. The Gospel of John is not just happy meals being fed to a crowd of 5,000. The Gospel of John is not just water walking in storms. The Gospel of John is not just unique conversations. The Gospel of John is themed around belief, belief in the Son of God. Belief in Jesus, not just what he did but who he is. It is the theme of the gospel. …
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. …
… 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. …
… Worship team, come join me. John chapter 1, verse 12. Yet to all who did receive him. Come on, receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave them the right to become children of God. See, we are receiving him. We are not rejecting Jesus. we are not turning our backs to Jesus we are saying to this child wrapped in cloths lying in a manger we believe in you and we receive you from you. And we don't want less of you, King Jesus. We want more of you. and so you are welcomed in this place you are the honored guest nothing like hosting at your house nothing like having people come to your house get all the candles lit and get all the bathrooms scrubbed down and make sure everything is good and get all the food ready and the i'm preaching to somebody on those bathrooms now come on somebody but i'm getting you know you because you got to scrub them get them ready and you're getting everything ready in your house getting everything prepared. Why? Because there's a guest that's on the way. And I want to encourage you, Jesus is on the way. Jesus wants to be in your life. He doesn't want to be a part of it. He wants to rule it. He wants to control it. He wants to show you where to go, what to do, what to say, how to live. …
… That's what it's like to know that he came and he is coming again. 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. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, may you do this work of light and life for us. We pray that we would not be hard of hearing, that we would be like Zachariah, full of faith and obedience and contrition, and do this work in our midst by your word and your spirit, that we may lift up our heads and be ready to welcome the Savior.
… 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 …
… Listen to John 1, 12. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. There's no cross yet. There's no resurrection yet. They weren't required to believe in His death and resurrection. It hadn't happened. But to any who received Him, having believed in Him, believed Him to be who He claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God, and received Him as Savior and Lord without even knowing anything concerning an as yet unfulfilled event, the cross and the open tomb. He gave them the right to become a child of God, so they could believe and they could receive Christ and have nothing in their minds at all about His death and resurrection, and they would still be children of God. Go over to the familiar third chapter of John. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, not in the cross, not even in the resurrection, but believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life. …
… 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. I want to be in the darkness. …
… the primary part of the metaphor that the biblical authors have in mind when they talk about it. John chapter 1 verse 12 says, as many as believed, received him, as many as believed in his name, he gave rights to become children of God. There it is. The first thing you have to understand is being a child of God is not automatic, except in the most general sense. It's a relationship you can enter into. You're either not in the family or you can come into the family. That's the first, you got to know that or you'll never get in. If you don't know you're out, you're never going to get in. Okay. Number one, number two, first was the preliminary step. Secondly, the transformative step. And what's the transformative step? You have to have your heart melted into a relationship of filial love toward your father by seeing how it's possible. that the great king of the universe would be your father, that the universal judge of the universe would be father. …
… receive Him as my Savior. But as many as received him, not facts, as many as received him to them, gave he the right to become the sons of God. Are you certain that you've ever placed your trust in him? Now, as I said, I'm not being critical. I'm just simply saying this. You may believe a lot of things as facts, but have you ever moved from being an observer, a distant kind of believer, to entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by placing your trust in Him as your personal Savior. Have you ever said to Him, yes, I do believe the testimony of Scripture. I do believe that you're the Son of God. I do believe my sins have separated me from you. I do believe you died on the cross. I do believe that you rose from the dead. I'm asking you to forgive me of my sins, and I'm placing my trust in you that you'll do what you said. you'll forgive me and you'll make me one of your own. …
… 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. …
… created the heaven and the earth. John is saying, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. That sentence in and of itself was enough to keep the theologians busy for three hundred years because on the one hand the Word is distinguished from God and then from a different perspective is identified with God. And since we looked at that somewhat closely during the Advent season, I'm just going to remind you that it's there as pregnant as it is in significance and is the basis basically more than anything else for the church's confession of Trinity. We read, He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him nothing was made that was made. So that Jesus who came to this earth is now identified as the incarnation of that member of the Trinity for whom, by whom, and in whom all things were made. So that what John is saying in extraordinary ways is this, the one I'm going to tell you about, the one that I want you to believe in, and the one in whom there is life is the one who created you in the first place. …