Sermon
Becoming a Child of God
March 18-19, 2000
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'd like for you to take your Bible and if you're new with us today, we're delighted that you've come. We started some weeks ago our study in the Gospel of John, and my approach to preaching is just simply to slowly move along verse after verse, sometimes word after word, and chapter after chapter, and John has a considerable number of chapters so we'll probably be here till Jesus comes, or at least a couple of years, but I'm in no hurry. I want, with you, to grow in the knowledge of God's Word and so that's my prayer, that the Word and the Scriptures will become alive and vibrant in your hearts. Turn with me to 1 John chapter 1, and if you're going to use the red pew Bible, it's page 713. And I'm going to read the first 13 verses of this beautiful portion of God's Word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Last Lord's Day we came to verse 11 and I suggested to you that it's probably one of the most tragic verses of Scripture because it defines a moment in world history that something happened that was tragic. Jesus Christ the Creator of the universe comes to His creation, verse 10, He was in the world, and the world was made by Him. We learned that in verse 3, that nothing was made that was made. He came to His own creation, and His own creation did not recognize Him. I suggest that it's a verse that's pregnant with loneliness. The divine Son of God came to a world where foxes had holes and the birds of the air had their nests, but the Bible tells us He had nowhere to lay His head. He came to the world He created, and it didn't recognize Him.

Verse 11, He came to His own. And we went through the Scriptures last week to find that that has direct reference to the children of Abraham, because in the beginning of God's dealing with mankind, He selects the children of Abraham to be a nation through which He wants to manifest His glory to the world. He comes to them. He has already revealed His words. He has revealed His laws. He has demonstrated His power and His glory. He comes to His own people, who knew the prophecies that fill the words of the prophets, yet they turned Him aside and finally arranged for Pilate to get Him crucified by the Roman centurions. He came to His own, but His own rejected Him. And I've suggested to you that that is probably one of the most tragic events of history, because it set in course a history that has been hard to understand by most people who study the peoples of the world.

And we often ask the question, why is it that the Jewish people have been so mistreated for 2000 years? Why is that? In every nook and corner of the plant they have been persecuted, killed, murdered by the millions. Why? You remember at the moment of the trial they made a statement, let His blood be upon us and upon our children. A curse they called down upon themselves as a nation that they've lived with for 2000 years. And what they were simply saying, if there's any guilt within this death, pile it on us and on the generations to follow. And they have lived with that tragedy for 2000 years. I told you that there have been many books that have been written. One was written some years ago by a man by the name of Max Dumont, and the title of his book was 'Jews, God and History', and he has a statement in there that has always haunted me since I read it. And this is what he said; the Jewish people are the spiritual castaways of history. What he was simply saying, here was a nation so divinely blessed by all that God wanted to give to His people, but they ultimately rejected it all.

Now let's go to our notes today and we'll just kind of move in and out of our notes. These are my study notes. They've been unedited. They've got errors in them, and as you know I'm writing a commentary and so these are study notes that eventually this material will go into the text itself. But I begin by saying that the opening verses of John's Gospel have already introduced us to two very significant themes: the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the depravity of man. Because in these verses we've just read John exalts Jesus Christ and says that He has always been. He's existed for eternity and He is God Almighty, because it says the Word, we have it in the text Word, but in the original it's Logos and it simply stands for Christ. It says in the beginning was Christ, Christ was with God, and Christ was God. Now John lifts Jesus Christ into an exalted position. He said nothing was made, verse 3, that was made. So he gives Him the designation of the Creator of the universe, but we read a few verses and we find that the Creator comes to His creation, and because of the depravity of their human hearts, they turn around and nail Him to a cross. The themes are foils to one another. For in this magnificent prologue to the Gospel, the depravity of man is seen precisely in the fact that men failed to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ when He came among them. No sooner has this been said, however, then someone will ask, "But certainly there should be an exception to this blanket description of human depravity. Haven't you forgotten about the Jews, His own people? They had the prophecies of His coming. They had the law. They even had John the Baptist. He came to them especially. Surely, they must have recognized Him?"

The John answers that this is no exception, for "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." John would say, it is in the light of this inexplicable rejection of Jesus by the Jews that we see the depravity of the human heart most clearly. When the Lord Jesus Christ came He was received with contempt and disdain. Thus, toward the end of His ministry, but before His crucifixion, He summed up their reaction in the parable known as the landowner and the vineyard. In other words what I'm saying is John says He came to His own, but His own rejected Him.

Jesus had already foretold of that moment by telling a story in parable form. It's found in Matthew 21. Let's read it. There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and he set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to the vinedressers and he went into a far country. Now when vintage-time, that would be harvest time, drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. They were sharecroppers and the owner wanted to get his portion of the increase of the land. The vinedressers took his servants, they beat one, killed one, and stoned another. And he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. And last of all he sent his own son, saying, "They will surely respect my son." But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, "This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and we'll get his inheritance." So they took him out and cast him in the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those vinedressers? So the people listening to this parable said, well, what he'll do he will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. In other words he'll release it to people who will give him part of his profit. Jesus then said, "Have you ever read the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, it's marvelous in our eyes"?

Now here's the verse, Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you. What's the kingdom of God? Well as far as the nation of Israel was, it was God ruling in their lives and they had that glorious designation of being the evangelists of the planet. God wanted through the nation of Israel to show forth His glory to a world. They were to be the world's evangelists, and tell of the glory of Almighty God! That was their assignment. That was their part in the kingdom, and Jesus said, because of the way they treated the owner's son, speaking of Himself, their divine appointment of being the chosen people with a chosen task will be removed from them and given to another nation. That's interesting.

Now the question is, let's put ourselves in the position of the people listening to that parable that day. We're Jewish people now and we're listening to this man of Galilee, and he's telling this story about this vineyard, and verse 45 in your text it says; when they heard His parables, they knew He was talking against them. How did they know that? How did they align the concept of the vineyard in his parable with them as a nation? Because they said he's talking against us. Why did they say that?

Go in your Bible to page 462, to the book of Isaiah chapter 5, and here is a fascinating, a fascinating parable of the Old Testament that parallels this parable that Jesus gives in Matthew 21. Isaiah chapter 5 page 462 in your red Bible, and this is the way chapter 5 begins; Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard. Ah! Same subject, isn't it? My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out the stones, and He planted it with the choicest vine. And He builds a tower in the midst. It's the same words Jesus used, right? in Matthew. Then it says and also He made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. I mean the vineyard turned out to be a total flop. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please come between Me and My vineyard. What more could I have done for My vineyard? And what He's speaking of here referencing His nation as a vineyard, He said what more could I have done for the children of Israel? I called them out, I designated them as My chosen people, I blessed them with the law, I gave them My blessing, I'd delivered them out of the land of Egypt, I cut the waters of the Red Sea so they could walk across on dry land, I rained bread from heaven! What more could I have done for a nation? for My vineyard? that I have not done. Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? God says I've done everything a good landowner could do and looked at what it turned out. Now, please let Me tell you what I will do with My vineyard.

This is what I'm going to do. I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. And I will lay it waste; and it shall not be pruned or dug, and there shall come up briars and thorns. And I will also command the clouds that they rain no more rain on it. God said because they rejected, I'm going to pass out judgment. I'm going to destroy it.

And you say, well how do you know that that vineyard has reference to His nation? Look at verse 7. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. It's clear isn't it? Here's a parable, a story, where the Old Testament writer says the nation of Israel is likened unto a vineyard, and God did everything He could for that nation, and yet they turned around and became sour grapes.

Back to our text. John says He came to His own, and they rejected Him. And there's the other side of the coin, He rejected them. Now that's fascinating because we don't often see that side of the story. Because look at what Jesus said, verse 45, I'm going to take away their divine assignment as a chosen people and I'm going to give it to another nation. Ah! Question. Who's the nation? What is the nation to which God gave the divine assignment to pick up the task that He had given to the nation of Israel to show forth His glory?

The answer, page two of our notes. Look at 1 Peter 2:4-10. I find this to me a tremendous, glorious truth of theology and oft times we never hear it. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. The same words of Jesus, he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. The exact words that Jesus used in His parable, isn't it? Stumbling, they stumble, being disobedient to the word, speaking of the nation; they had the word of God. They had all the prophecies, stumbled over it all. The greatest event. Their Messiah comes, and they stumble over this marvelous coming of history, the Messiah.

But here's the word, look at, now, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. Who's he talking about? Us, Christians, the body of Christ. Look how I know that. Look at what it goes on to say, because that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

What's Peter saying? Yes it is sad that He came to his own, and His own rejected Him, but He transferred the divine assignment of exalting God in our world to the church, to you and me as Christians. That's our assignment. We now have become inheritors of that glorious kingdom and Paul tells us we by faith are the children of Abraham, and all that was promised to Abraham now has been transferred to us the church. And we now are to go out in our world and live forth the praises of Him who took our darkness, our spiritual ignorance, and He removed it and opened our eyes so we could understand spiritual truths and become believers in Jesus Christ. Yes, He came to His own. His own rejected Him, but Jesus said I'll take the kingdom and give it to a nation, and the nation is the church, that's you and me.

You know, when you see that glorious truth now you can understand the scope of God's history. We now are the chosen people of God, it's not a nationality. We, the church, are the focus of His love, and His grace, and His mercy, and His promises; and now we're joint heirs with everything He's promised to Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Well, He brought Christ back into heaven's glory, and we're going to be joint heirs so you and I one of these days we're going to enjoy the glory of heaven. We're going to live with Christ for all of eternity. We're joint heirs with everything God promised His son, that's ours as Christians. He came to His own, His own did not receive Him.

But, verse 12, as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the son's of God. What did he mean by that? What's the word? If we were reading this in the original Greek text it would be, to us who believe that Jesus is everything He said He is, which we do as Christians, we believe that He's the divine Son of God, the Savior of the world, that He died on the cross for all mankind, He died to pay the penalty for our sin. When we receive Him, verse 12, He gives us the right. Do you know what that is in the original text? He gives us the honor. Ah! He gives us the honor of calling ourselves Christians. Had you ever thought of it that way? The honor of going into our community and realizing that God Almighty is our heavenly Father, and that I'm part of His family. I'm honored to bear the name of Christ. Some people gloat in being from lines with great people, great people of history. So what if you're the grandson of Churchill. It doesn't make any difference. You and I have God Almighty as our Father, and we have the honor of being children of God. Now there's an interesting touch to that verse if we read it again. The implied is that we become a part of the family through a very unique process, adoption. And throughout the Scriptures you'll read that God designs or defines this experience of bringing us into His family as an act of divine adoption. That's a beautiful word to me because it's associated with wonderful thoughts.

We have a family who sits here at 7:00 in the morning and their son and daughter traveled clear over to the Ukraine and they found in a God-forsaken little orphanage, way out in the middle of nowhere, they found this little girl that was born without arms. The product of that Chernobyl blast was the deformity of children, unwanted, unloved, put in the corner of the orphanage. This lovely family went there, loved that little girl, filled out all the papers, paid the large price, adopted her, and now she's surrounded by love. It's a beautiful scene. You just can't help but be touched to think that here are people who loved a little one 10,000 miles away, and went there and adopted them to live in their home.

I have a lovely couple who said here in one of the services and they have two children they hold in their arms today, and two or three years ago they couldn't have children, and so we prayed, so these children came up for adoption and there was this little baby dying, I mean it was dying. The doctor said there was no possibility for it to live, and this mother wanted that little baby. She wanted to adopt it and give that baby a home, and so she went to Sacramento and day after day, and night after night, she cuddled that little almost lifeless body and loved that little one back to life. And now the little guy sits here and watches me preach. And every time I see that little guy, I think of two people who went that tremendous mile and that distance to show love and bring someone into their life that almost was lifeless. That's the same picture John paints here for us. We, those who received Him, to them gave He the right to become His child. He gives us by adoption the honor of going into our world and saying I'm a child of God. That's an honor.

Now John goes on to say, verse 13, who were born, not of the will of man, not of blood. You say, what did he mean by that phrase, not by blood? Well it's a Jewish phrase, which when they referenced birth or human linage, they say, they use the term blood. The life is in the blood so when Jewish people talk about the blood, they're talking about linage and family generations. So here's John's point, John says no matter who you were born, you can't be born into the kingdom of God through a human family. My boys could say we're Christians because dad's a Christian. No, you can't do that. Human birth has no influence on divine birth. There's no way through human linage can a person be born, just because they were born in a Christian country, maybe born in church, may be born in a Christian family, it doesn't make them Christians. John says you can't become a child of God through blood, through human lineage, or the will of man, or the will of the flesh. And he's speaking there of human emotions and human decisions. There's no way by human decision can you become a child of God. Then you say, Pastor, then how do people become Christians? And that brings us to the next subject; total depravity.

Go with me back to our notes to page 2. This is a term that you don't here frequently, but let me explain it to you. When we say that we as human beings suffer from total depravity, what do we mean by that phrase? It sounds a little strange. Well in our notes down about halfway it says the phrase total depravity is commonly used to make explicit the implications of original sin. Scripture diagnoses sin as a universal deformity of human nature, found at every point and every person. Both the Old and the New Testament have names for it that display its ethical character as; here's the definition of sin, it is rebellion against God's rule. It's missing the mark God has set for us to aim at. It's transgressing God's laws. It's disobeying God's directives. It's offending God's purity by defiling oneself. It's incurring guilt before God the Judge of the ages.

On down to underline, thus, total depravity signifies a corruption of our moral and spiritual nature that is total not in degree (for no one is as bad as he or she might be) but in extent. Now let me explain. It declares that no part of us is untouched by sin, and therefore no action of ours is as good as it should be, and consequently nothing in us or about us ever appears meritorious in God's eyes. We cannot earn God's favor, no matter what we do.

Total depravity entails total inability, that is, the state of not having in oneself to respond to God and His Word in a sincere and wholehearted way. You say wait Pastor, just a minute. What I'm saying is sin did something tragic to this human nature. It made me unable to make any spiritual decisions about God. I'm totally depraved. There's nothing in my human disposition because of my sin that has any capacity to make a spiritual decision.

Now take your notes and go with me to page 8 of your notes, and we'll finish up our text today. Notice what it says on page 8. In evangelical circles, we hear much about the subject of the free will of man, implying that we have within ourselves the ability to make spiritual choices when we are sinners and enemies of God. It is suggested that we can make the decision in our unregenerate hearts to receive Jesus Christ as Savior, and that our salvation is the result of our personal decision. That's not what John said. We don't become Christians, we don't have the capacity to believe, we can't make spiritual decisions because that's an act of God so we can't do it.

Now look at 2 Corinthians 2:14; But the natural, non-spiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts, the teachings and the revelation of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (that is they are meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them. What's Paul saying? A sinner man has no possibility and no capability of making a decision for Christ. We're totally incapable.

Look at Romans 8, and I'll just go to the portion that I've underlined; [That is] because the mind, that's with its carnal thoughts and its appetite. That's a nonbeliever, that's a non-Christian, without any spiritual light. The mind of man is hostile. In the old King James he's at enmity against God. You see what sin did? When Adam and Eve fell it not only made us totally depraved, it turned us as enemies of God. And in every heart that's not a Christian is that hostility against God. I don't want Him. I don't need Him. I'll live my life without him. I don't want Him. That's the normal disposition of a sinful heart. He's hostile to God. So John says if we believe it all started because of an act of God, John says, you didn't choose Me, I chose you.

You and I are Christians today, not because of anything we did. You say, but I made a decision for Christ. Well let me tell you, you didn't have the ability to make it before God started doing something in your heart. What happened is, somehow in God's dealings and His Grace, He allowed you to come within the environment of either a church or hearing the gospel, and it might be all of a sudden, maybe it took time. You began with spiritual blinders, because the Bible tells us that Satan hath blinded our eyes so that we cannot understand the great gospel truths, and what God begins to do with our spiritual eyes, He begins to take away the blinders. And you sit here for a couple Sundays and say, this is starting to get clearer to me, and maybe a little longer, and all of a sudden you find the heart, you find your resistance beginning to disappear and there's an openness.

Last evening, before the service, a lady stood in the aisle here all alone, crying. And I walked up to her and said, is there something I can help you with? And she said, I want to talk with you Pastor. She said I've been coming to church, and she said I sit here and cry because she said I feel God is doing something inside. And she said but my problem is that the longer I sit here the more I realize the awfulness of my sin, and I've got to confess it, I've got to get it cleared. So she poured out her heart to me and I turned to the Scriptures and it says, if we confess our sins, 1 John 1:9, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Just with looking through her tears and her mascara running down her face she said, you mean He'll take away all my sin? I said, little lady, you can ask Jesus to forgive you tonight, and when you walk out, you walk out just as if you had never sin ever before in your life. You see that's the miracle of the new birth. She said with tears, really? You mean all my sins He'll forgive? Yes, He will. I took her hand and we prayed and I'll tell you there was a change. But you see this was a process. God kept opening her heart and the resistance started to break down. You are here because the work of the Holy Spirit started work. Somehow in God's timetable He put His finger on you and said, I want you, I want to adopt you into My family, and then He allowed the Holy Spirit to begin His work in our lives and our hearts became softened and our eyes became opened. And John says it's not anything we do, it's all of God.

You say, how does that affect you Pastor? I'll tell you how it affects me. There are over 6 billion people who live on this planet, and I think it is tremendous that God put His finger on me and said I want you to be a part of My family, not anything you'll do, I've done it all. I just want you to open your heart and receive. And now I walk the streets with you as Christians, and I have the honor with you of saying I am a child of God, not because of anything I did, but by His Grace and His mercy He's touched my heart, and I have responded by saying Jesus You be my lord. John said it's not the will of man, not the will of the flesh, but all of God. And when you really get that in your heart, you won't be able to walk home, you'll fly. That is a divine truth that should lift you into the heavens, and when you get in your car say, thank God I'm a child of God. You can't have any greater honor this side of heaven.

Let's pray. Father, what a wonder You are. That You would in divine mercy lead our lives down a pathway that allows us to become influenced by divine truth, and then in Your own gracious patience, deal with us in our rebellion and our blindness, and then divinely adopt us to be Your child. You left heaven to come all the way to this planet to adopt us. That is fantastic and may we as Christians rejoice in it. And everybody said, amen. God bless you folks. God bless you.