BY THE REV. D. MACFARLANE, DINGWALL.
Preached on Sabbath, 24th February, 1918.
“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.”—JOHN i. 12.
OUR text begins with the word “but,” which is a disjunctive term separating two things by way of contrast. In the preceding verse, it is said that Christ came to His own (the Jews), and His own received Him not. “But” there were some among them that did receive Him. The contrast is between those who received Him not, and those who received Him. When Christ comes in the gospel to a people, many do not receive Him, but some do. The Jews looked for the coming of the Messiah, but when He came, they received Him not. They rejected Him, and because of this sin, they are, as a body, under the curse of God.
In addressing you from the words of our text, we call your attention to three particulars.
I.—The Person received;
II.—The exercise of receiving this Person; and
III.—The privilege of those who received Him.
I.—The Person received.
The other three evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, begin their gospel history by speaking of Christ’s humanity, but John begins his gospel history by speaking of Christ’s Divinity. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Here we have the eternity of His personality and His Godhead. He was in the beginning—that is, from all eternity—and His personality is spoken of in the phrase, “He was with God,” as a distinct person. There is but one Godhead, but there are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and it is clearly stated that He was God. The Jews denied that He was God; Unitarians deny it also. Should there be no other testimony to His Godhead than what we have in the first verse of this chapter, it ought to be enough to convince any reasonable man who believes the Bible that Jesus of Nazareth was and is God, the same in nature with God the Father, and equal with Him in power and glory. He is called “the Word,” because, among other things, He reveals what was in God’s mind and purpose concerning the salvation of sinners of the human race. Your fellow-creature does not know what is in your mind till you express it by speech or some other sign. No creature, man or angel, knew what was in God’s mind, as the God of salvation, till Christ revealed it. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (v. 18). “No man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” (Matt. xi. 27). None can be our Saviour but He who is God. Christ is God; “the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person” (Heb. i. 3).
The Apostle speaks also of His human nature. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (v. 14). He took to Himself the nature of man, which consists of soul and body. He took to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul. This is stated in the Shorter Catechism to confute certain errors which some held concerning Christ’s human nature. They denied that Christ had a true body, and affirmed that He had only the appearance of a body like that in which angels appeared to men. Others denied that He had a reasonable soul, but that His divine nature supplied the place of a soul. To refute this error the Westminster Divines stated that Christ took to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul. It was the Father that prepared human nature for Christ. “A body hast thou prepared me” (Heb. x. 5). He prepared a soul for Him too. Christ’s human nature was created by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, “and born of her without sin.” Though there was sin in her, He did not partake of it. As it was the Father that prepared human nature for Him, it was He himself that assumed it or took it into union with His divine person, so that He is God-man in two distinct natures, but one person. His human nature cannot be called a person, because it never existed for a moment apart from His divine person. Besides that it was necessary that He should take to Himself human nature in order to suffer, it was calculated to teach that, although man by sin forsook God, and is by nature afar off from Him, he is to be made nigh again in Christ. The union between human nature and Christ, who is God, teaches this. As Christ never parted with His human nature after uniting it with His divine person, it teaches that those united to Christ by faith shall never be separated from Him. And the fact that He took that nature with Him to heaven, teaches that He will bring all that are united to Him to heaven also.
In other parts of Scripture He is spoken of as to His threefold offices as Prophet, Priest, and King. He was appointed by the Father unto this threefold office to meet our threefold need.
We lost the spiritual knowledge of God, and there is not a ray of that knowledge in man in his fallen condition, and it is Christ in His office as Prophet that restores that knowledge by His Word and Spirit. “All thy children shall be taught of God” (Isaiah liv. 13), see also John vi. 45. The United Free Church, according to her creed, has no need of Christ as Prophet. In that creed it is stated that, notwithstanding the fall of mankind by sin, man has a knowledge of God and his duty. There is, indeed, an innate knowledge of God in every man by which he knows that there is a supreme being to whom he is responsible. The heathen have this kind of knowledge, but the knowledge which is part of the image of God, we lost, and in order that it might be restored, Christ was appointed Prophet.
The second need we have is pardon of sin. We are not only ignorant but also guilty, and we cannot by anything we do or suffer atone for our sins, but Christ was appointed Priest to make atonement. In His office as Priest, He, by the sacrifice of Himself, satisfied divine justice and reconciled us to God.
We are by nature, not only ignorant and guilty, but rebellious, and we are not able to subdue our rebellion. Hence our need of Christ as King. He executes the office of a King in subduing us to Himself, in ruling us by the law of His Word, in defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. Many a rebellious sinner He by His kingly power subdued to Himself.
This, then, is the Person received. He is received in His glorious person as God; in His human nature; and in His three-fold offices. In all these aspects the Colossian believers received Him: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col. ii. 6).
II.—The exercise of receiving this Person.
There are several things implied in receiving Him. There is, first, a sense of our need of Christ to save us. None ever received Him without being convinced of their sinful condition. “They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick” (Luke v. 31). The sinner that received Christ has been convinced of his sin and misery. This is done by the Holy Spirit. “When he is come, he will convince the world of sin” (John xvi. 8). So long as you are ignorant of yourself as a sinner, you will not receive Him; and if you received Him, there was a time in your past history when the Holy Spirit convinced you of your sin and misery, so that you had no doubt whatever that you were in a lost condition, and that if you died in that condition, you would be lost forever in eternity.
It implies, also, that those who received Him have heard of Him. Hearing about Christ is necessary to receive Him. The Apostle Paul shows the impossibility of receiving Christ without hearing of Him. “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?” “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans x. 14, 17). In the creed of the U.F. Church, to which we have already referred, it is stated that the heathen, who never heard of Christ, may be saved, but the Apostle Paul knew better than those who framed that creed, and we are to believe him before any man that speaks to the contrary. Receiving Christ implies also that He is offered to those that receive Him. He is freely offered in the gospel to sinners. He is offered by the Father; He offers Himself; and He is offered in the preaching of the gospel to all sinners who come to hear the joyful sound.
There is implied in receiving Him that those who receive Him are regenerated and born again. We have this stated in the context. “Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (v. 13). A change of nature is necessary in order to receive Christ. The grace of faith is necessary in order to receive Him. Faith is not to be found in the natural heart, but it is in the new nature created by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit in all His graces dwells there, and faith is the first grace which goes forth to receive Christ in the offer of the Gospel. Faith is like the needle, and Christ is like the loadstone which attracts the needle. When the loadstone is brought to within a certain distance of the needle, it is powerfully attracted by the loadstone, and they cannot be kept apart. In like manner, when Christ is set forth in the preaching of the Gospel, those who have faith are powerfully attracted by Him, so that they cordially close with Him as He is freely offered in the Gospel. It is not enough for you to hear of Christ, or that He is offered to you. You must receive Him before you can be saved. To reject Him is the condemning sin, for “He that believeth not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John iii. 36). In “Effectual Calling” (Shorter Catechism), receiving Christ is spoken of as “embracing” Him. In embracing a dear friend you use both hands. The two hands by which we receive Christ are the understanding enlightened by the Spirit, and the will renewed. There is the assent of the understanding, and the consent of the will. He is received not only as a person we need, but also as a person we love.
III.—The privilege of those who receive Him.—Power is given to them to become the sons of God. “To them he gave power to become the sons of God.”
Some understand this “power” to mean the power of the Spirit in regenerating them, but that is not the meaning; for this is a “power” that is given them after they are regenerated and born again. There are two words in the original meaning power, the one means power in the sense of might or strength; the other means power in the sense of right, or privilege. It is the latter that is used here. It is the privilege of adoption, “Whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God” (Shorter Catechism). Among men, adoption means a man’s receiving of a child out of another family, with a view to bring it up as his own child. God brings all His children out of the devil’s family, and adopts them as His own children. All are by nature of their father the devil. The privilege of adoption is the greatest privilege in this world. There are several things in this privilege.
(1) God is their Father.
In the form of prayer Christ taught His disciples. He teaches them to address God as their Father. “Our Father who art in heaven.” Many repeat this form of prayer who have no right to call God their Father; but if we have received Christ, we have a right to call him our Father. He is the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and our Father also. He is His Father by eternal generation, and He is our Father by regeneration and adoption. When about to leave this world, he said to Mary, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God” (John xx. 17).
(2) Another thing in the privilege is that Christ is their brother.
Though he is infinitely above them in dignity and glory, “He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. ii. 11). Though they are in the state of imperfection ashamed of themselves, He is their elder brother, and deals tenderly with His little brethren, watches over them, and attends to their comfort; as He said to His disciples, “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come again” (John xvi. 18).
(3) Another thing in the privilege is that the Holy Spirit is theirs.
He dwells in them, and abides with them for ever.
(4) It is their privilege that they are heirs.
Heirs of what? “They are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans viii. 17). They may say with the Psalmist, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup; thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage” (Is. xvi. 5, 6). This inheritance belongs to them, because they are God’s children. Among men, if a man claimed a share of an inheritance, he would require in certain circumstances to prove that he was a son of the man to whom the inheritance belonged. Failing this, he would not be put in possession of the inheritance.
(5) “All things” are theirs.
The Bible is theirs. The means of grace are theirs. The ministers of the gospel are theirs. Life is theirs. Death is theirs, to remove them from a world of sin and sorrow to a world of perfect felicity. Heaven is theirs as the inheritance of saints in light, the earnest of which they receive in this world. And the earnest of a thing is of the same nature as the whole, as a small drop out of the great ocean is of the same nature as the ocean out of which it comes. So that they know on earth what heaven is.
This is a great and glorious subject. The Person received is a glorious person. The work of the Spirit enabling sinners to receive Him is glorious, and the privileges of those that received Him are great and glorious. Christ came to you in the word of the gospel, and He is offered to you every time you hear the gospel preached. Have you received Him? Examine yourselves as to whether you have received Him or not. Self-examination on this important subject is very rare in this evil generation, but the Lord’s people examine themselves daily. But whether you have received Him or not, He is offered to you. The time is coming, however, when He shall not be offered any longer, when death shall remove you from this world. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. vi. 2). O the need of the Holy Spirit to awaken dead sinners to a sense of their lost condition that they may see their great need of Christ to save them! He came “to seek and to save” lost sinners.
Cast yourself upon Him as a lost sinner. One may say, “I received Him long ago.” If so, you will be receiving Him again and again. If you received Christ, He is precious to you. As the Psalmist says, “Whom have I in the heavens but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee,” and you seek His glory and the coming of His kingdom, and the destruction of the kingdom of Satan.