Habakkuk 2:2-5, How Shall the Righteous Person Live?

 How Shall the Righteous Person Live? Habakkuk 2:2-5

This morning, I would like to continue our series from the Book of Habakkuk. This will be our third sermon in the series and there will likely be three or four more in this book then, when we have finished Habakkuk, we will go on to the book of Nehemiah.

The events in Nehemiah take place after the prophecies we are studying here in Habakkuk have been fulfilled; after the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel were carried off by the Persians and the people of the southern Kingdom of Judah were carried off by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.

The prophetic statement in Habakkuk 3:16 is fulfilled in 539 BC when the Persians defeated the Babylonians. We will dive into that a little deeper in a few lessons time.

Before we look at today’s passage let me ask you a question: How Shall the Righteous Person Live?

We saw in our previous lesson together that Habakkuk recognized the Holiness of God, and we examined together that holiness is one of the attributes of God that are transferable to us, and we are expected to live a life of holiness as followers of Christ.

We discovered that holiness does not mean sinlessness, it does not mean perfection. Holiness means obedience to God’s teachings. As young Joshua told us in his message in August, we are to strive to live like Jesus by avoiding people or situations that will cause us to sin. We are to resist old habits and temptations by keeping short accounts with God for our thoughts and actions.

How then, shall the Righteous Person live? Does our personal relationship with Jesus Christ impact our daily life? Does our relationship with Jesus cause us to live differently than our godless or pagan neighbor? Can we honestly claim, “I am a Christian, therefore I live differently than my lost friend or family member?” If not, maybe you need to ask yourself, “How can I turn my life around and start walking in the way of Jesus?”

In the passage that we are going to look at today, the LORD answers Habakkuk with an impactful statement that applies to us even today. “The righteous shall live by his faith”. Here is a bit of a teaser: That statement may not mean what you think. I will explain further when we get to that portion of the message, so stay tuned.

Today, we will look at the importance of faith in our daily walk with Christ. Even though this prophecy was written over 3,000 years ago, I promise there are timeless messages that still apply to us today.

Let us look together at the book of Habakkuk 2:2. This morning I will be reading from the NIV translation.

READ HABAKKUK 2:2-5

PRAY

We have seen in our previous messages that Habakkuk lived from 612 to 589 BC. He was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom of Judah like the prophets Jeremiah and Obadiah who were also alive in the time of Habakkuk. All three prophets were used by God to try and warn the people of Judah of the impending judgment that was coming to them, but the rulers and the people refused to listen.

In 605 BC, the first captivity of Judah occurred, and Daniel was taken… In 597 BC the second captivity of Judah happened, and Ezekiel was taken captive…, and finally, in 586 BC the Kingdom of Judah fell and remained in ruins for 50 years until 536 BC when some exiles were allowed to return and began to rebuild.

For the context of what the fulfillment of this prophecy from God looked like for the people of Judah, one can simply read the Book of Daniel to see what living in exile under the Babylonians looked like.

But all of that is yet to come for the people of Judah at the time of the writing of this book. By the time that the original audience would have been reading this part of the prophecy, they would have recognized that they had reached the apex of the book. God is going to answer both complaints and explain why the wicked rule in Judah and the more wicked Babylonians will also rule. Yahweh is about to instruct the prophet on how to speak to his congregation, and God does not want them to miss the apex either.

Look at what Yahweh says in verse 2, “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.”

We see God giving the prophet clear instructions on what he was to do with this prophecy that Yahweh was giving to him. This was not a private prophecy that Habakkuk was to keep to himself. This was a prophecy to be shared with the whole Kingdom of Judah.

“Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets”. The original Hebrew makes it obvious that this information is to be written in such a way that the information is to be plainly declared to the people.

Look at the second half of the verse. Some translations simply say, “so he may run who reads it”.

This brings us to the first of Pastor Paul’s Points: identify the pronouns. Throughout today’s passage, we will see a fair number of pronouns used, and some of them are used in the middle of a contrasting statement which will often make it difficult at times to follow exactly what the original author intended. I will show you exactly what I mean here in a moment, but for now, let’s take a quick turn through this passage and take a few moments to identify the pronouns.

This is not only helpful in this passage, but it is a great rule of thumb to use whenever you are studying scripture. This is a technique that I learned back in Bible College, and this is a technique that I taught and use in the weekly bible study that we hold in our home for young adults.

Let’s go through the verses and identify the pronouns. Starting at verse 2.

^“Then the Lord replied:” So far, so good. No pronouns here, just the name LORD in all-caps which represents what? The Tetragrammaton. In Hebrew was known as the four letters “YHWH” which denoted the Holy and personal name of God. Not exactly a pronoun, more like an alias as the Hebrews felt that God’s name was too Holy to actually speak or write down.

Continuing in verse 2, let’s see if we can find a pronoun, “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets” stop right there. “Make it plain on tablets”, make what? The word “it” here is referring to the revelation that Yahweh is giving to Habakkuk. The LORD wants Habakkuk to write the message down that Habakkuk is receiving, on tablets in such a manner that the meaning will be clear to all who read it. The “it” being the revelation, the prophecy from God.

Carrying on in verse 2, “so that a herald may run with it.” Ok, in this little section we have two pronouns. I just mentioned earlier that in the original Hebrew, a pronoun is used to indicate the person reading the prophecy. The ESV translates the Hebrew as, “so he may run who reads it”. The Legacy Standard Bible says something very similar. The King James Version says, “That he may run that readeth it.” And the Christian Standard Bible says, “so one may easily read it” and the CSB doesn’t even mention running in the main body of the text. Yet the footnote that accompanies this passage says, quote “Literally: one who reads in it may run”. End quote.

So, I think that here, the NIV does a pretty good job helping us to determine who is running and why he is running. The man who reads the prophecy is running because that’s his job.

In ancient times, a herald, in a primarily illiterate culture, was like an ancient-day anchor on CNN. It was his job to go from town to town and proclaim the news.

But, what about the second pronoun here in this short section, the second “it” of verse two? This “it” is also referring to the prophecy that was written on the tablets. That was the news that the herald was running from town-to-town proclaiming. The prophecy that the LORD is about to dictate to Habakkuk.

Moving on to verse three,

“³For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.” OK, stop there for a second, another pronoun, another “it”. The LORD is still referring to the prophecy that He is dictating to Habakkuk. “The revelation awaits an appointed time”. Remember this line and we will come back here when I make my second point.

 Let’s continue with verse 3. Pay close attention here because the meaning of the word “it” is about to change. The subject of the pronoun is about to change. The LORD is about to move from referring to the prophecy and begin referring to the coming judgment that the prophecy represents.

 “Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” “Though it linger”, with that phrase Yahweh has shifted the subject of the pronoun “it” in the sentence to His coming judgment. Yahweh is no longer speaking about the prophecy; He is referring to the actions that the prophecy is speaking about. The three pronouns, the three “its” if you will, all refer to the same thing and that is the punishment that God is about to pour out on the Kingdom of Judah.

 When we look at the words, “The revelation awaits an appointed time” from verse three and the words, “Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”  These two sentences contained in verse three make the second point in today’s sermon. “The LORD’s promises are certain”. Yahweh is telling Habakkuk that though it may appear that my judgment is not arriving, though it looks like I’m delaying in delivering on my judgment, make no mistake, this promise is certain and will happen.

What God was showing Habakkuk here was… that the prophet needed to adjust his sense of timing. What Habakkuk needed (and received from Yahweh) was a larger and slower worldview, one that allowed for God’s slow-moving justice. God moves on His own schedule, and what may seem like a long delay to us, is God’s perfect timing.

 This thought reminds me of another passage that I was reading and reflecting on this week. Romans 9:22-23 says, “What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?  What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us,”. Paul is telling us here in the Book of Romans that God delays His judgment as a sign of mercy and to make God’s riches of His Glory known to us. His Patience is one of the biggest indicators of how much God loves us.

 Let me ask you something. Does that thought make you uncomfortable… the thought that God judges people or nations…and that He pours out His judgment and wrath on them? If we are being honest, it kind of makes a person squirm a little, doesn’t it? In this day and age when “anything goes” and we are constantly being told “not to judge”, or “it's not my place to judge” the fact that there is a Holy and Just God sitting and judging us makes us uncomfortable.

 The, ”it’s not my place to judge” excuse was used by a couple of people in the movie we watched Wednesday night. When the interviewer asked the question, “Is abortion wrong?’ a couple of folks tried avoiding answering the question by making the statement, ”it’s not my place to judge”. We avoid passing judgment on the actions of others because we want to avoid the thought that God is passing judgment on us.

 I mean if God is love, then He can’t possibly have a problem with the way that I am living right? I mean I’m a good person, especially compared to my neighbour, and you should see how he lives, so based on my neighbour I should be going to heaven, right?

 As sinners, we want God to be loving and not judging. Judging someone is unloving, at least that is what culture would have us believe. “Love is love” we are told, even when it is the most immoral type of “love” that mankind can imagine. Even if it is the most destructive type of love to the family and to society, we are told to accept it and not be judgmental because “love is love”.

 Being truthful is also being loving. Imagine, you see a young couple running through a meadow, laughing and kissing and holding hands and staring longingly in each other's eyes completely oblivious to their surroundings. They are so wrapped up in each other’s love that they don’t even know you exist.

 Would it be a loving thing to yell at them and break their trance, and bring them back to the real world? To scream at them like a madman and tell them to wake up and pay attention to the world? Would that be the loving thing to do?

 It would be loving, if… they were staring into each other’s eyes so intently that they didn’t realize that they were running towards a cliff and they were about to fall to their deaths. If they were about to “love each other” right off a cliff, the most unloving thing for you to do would be to remain silent and watch it happen.

 But that is exactly what too many people, and dare I say it, too many churches with too many complacent preachers are doing right now in our country. They remain silent while our society is loving itself right off a cliff.

 Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am not judging anyone because I think I have it all together and I am so perfect. The exact opposite is true. I’m just as much of a mess as they are. My answers and my wisdom do not come from me, it comes from God’s Word and His Holy Spirit. It is only because of His intervention in my life that I am no longer running towards the cliff with the rest of them.

 And, of course, I still sin. Every day, I commit some type of sin against God. I am a constant disappointment to myself in my lack of perfection. But I am not a disappointment to God. I serve an all-powerful and all-knowing God, who chose to love me enough to show me the truth of my life.

 He loved me enough, to reach out to me in a very personal way and save me from running off the cliff. Jesus loved me enough, to wake me up and knock me off the path of destruction and hell, and He loved me into heaven and an eternal relationship with Him. He knew every sin I had committed and every sin I would commit after He saved me, but He still chose to love me enough to save me.

 Stay with me here, I know it seems like I lost my way. The uncomfortableness that we experience when we feel that God is judgmental and is judging our lives and the way that we are living… is the wake-up call of a loving Father using the Holy Spirit to knock us off the path of destruction.

 When we feel uncomfortable with our actions and the thought that God is judging us, that is the Holy Spirit yelling at you to wake you out of the trance of self-love as you run towards the cliff. Society tells us, “Love is Love”. Bookstores are filled with books in the self-help section on how to “love yourself”, and even preachers are telling you that “God is Love” and the preacher stops there because they want you to be happy.

 I want you to be happy too. But I don’t want you running blindly off a cliff happily on your way to hell!

 God cannot love us so much that He violates His own character. He cannot love us enough to ignore our sins and thus ignore His Holiness and His perfect Judgement. But what He can do is find a way, to love us back to Him without having to rely on His own stubborn children to find a way on their own. What is that way? I’m glad you asked.

 The way back for us sinful children… to come back to a loving relationship… where we will be accepted, unconditionally by the Father… is through the completed work of Jesus on the cross.

Only by trusting in His work completely, and not on any of our actions to earn favour with the Father, can we be restored to God.

 It is a thing called Grace. God sees the sin of man… God judges man… God must condemn man to hell.

 God came up with a plan before the foundations of the world were laid. Before He even made the first man. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit made a path back to Him. God sent His Son, to be born of a virgin, to add humanness to His eternal Godliness, and to live a perfect and sinless life. Only then, could Jesus be offered up as the perfect lamb without blemish and be sacrificed as an atonement for all those who accept the gift of Grace.

 This sacrifice was done on the very day that all of Israel were making their yearly sacrifices at the temple in an attempt to be right with God.

 The sacrifice of the blood of Jesus was so perfect that God the Father no longer required the blood of innocent animals to be offered to Him as a way into a relationship with Him. The Father was pleased with the work of the Son and accepted His sacrifice on our behalf.

 All that we must do, is to repent, to change our attitude and actions from sin toward obedience to God. Place our trust in the completed work of Christ and then we will receive His righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus, and be clothed in that so that we may stand before God as heirs and adopted children of His.

 If you do not know Jesus is this way, if you are not secure in your Salvation and relationship with Jesus, then please come and talk to me after the service. It doesn’t matter if this is your first day in church or if you have been coming to church for forty years, if you don’t have security in your relationship with God, then you may not know the True and Living God and we should have a discussion. A judgment-free discussion.

 Alright, let’s get back to the pronouns in today’s text. Verse 4 and the first half of verse five continues, ⁴ “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness-- ⁵ indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest.” Stop right there for a moment. The break in the verse here is at an unfortunate place. Verse 5 should have started after this period right here. This entire passage is one thought with a contrasting thought in the middle. We have a lot of “he’s” and “him’s” and they do not all refer to the same person.

 First, let me point out the contrasting statement in the middle, “but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—” this is a new person that is introduced into the thought and is referring to someone different from the rest of the sentence. We will come back to this in a second.

 The first and last part of this verse refers to the enemy, the Chaldeans, also known as the Babylonians whom God is about to unleash on the Kingdom of Judah. God is warning Habakkuk that the people of Judah are about to experience unholy terror in their nation.

 I use the word “unleash” here very intentionally. God is about to “unleash” the Babylonians. He is not causing them to sin, the LORD is simply removing His restraining hand from the hearts of the Babylonians and turning them over to their own sinful and lustful intentions unhampered by the influence of God.

 Look at the remainder of verse five, “indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.” Again, the pronouns here are all referring to the Babylonians. The thought and meaning behind the reference to wine was seen as the unsavoury practice of plying someone with much drink for the express purpose of taking advantage of them in a sexual manner.

Isn’t it interesting that the greed and the lust of the Babylonians are compared to the grave? In the original Hebrew, the words would have been “as wide as Sheol” as the ESV translates it into English. This thought relays the message that “as wide as” was an ever-expanding area and Sheol represented death and the grave, so the passage conveys the thought that the grave never “fills up” and just as the grave is never “full”, the greed and the lust of their natures are never filled, the Babylonians are never satisfied.

God identifies the exact sins that are driving the Babylonians: pride drives their desires and arrogance; lust also drives their desires; and finally, greed is also driving their actions in the invasion that is about to happen. These are the impulses that Yahweh is about to remove His restraining hand from and to give them over to.

Now, for the final point of today’s sermon, let’s go back to the contrasting point in the middle of verse four, “but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—”. The author of Habakkuk, who of course is God Himself, really throws a curveball here. There are two pronouns in this little statement and at first glance one would think that they are referring to the same person, the righteous person. I’m going to show you that they are not referring to the same person. We are going to use Scripture to interpret Scripture.

First, the righteous person as applied to us today, is referring to those who have placed their trusting faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ. They are righteous, not because of what they have done, but rather, because of the righteousness of Christ that is bestowed on us when we accept the gift of Grace.

Paul, in his second letter to the church in Corinth, said this of Jesus, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” What Paul is saying is the “righteousness of God” is essentially the covenant dealings between God and his people, who are given a new humanity. Their heart of stone is replaced by Jesus with a heart of flesh. The covenant represents a sacred and binding relationship between God and His people.

The righteousness of Christ does not make us perfect or sinless. Rather, we are clothed, or covered if you will, in the righteousness of Christ so that our sins are no longer held against us by the Father. Because Jesus paid the price, we can enter a rightful relationship with God as heirs and adopted children of the Father.

That is who the righteous person is, the one who is in a proper relationship with God the Father because of the actions of Jesus Christ the Son on the Cross at Calvary.

So now that we have identified the righteous person, who does the pronoun “his” represent when God is telling Habakkuk about “faithfulness”? “but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—”.

First we must define the word “faithfulness”. In the original Hebrew, the word used carries with it the meaning of trustworthiness and integrity in a moral sense. Because it is used in a moral sense, it is used to reveal God’s character, and it is often used in a sense of praise towards God.

So who’s faithfulness is God referring to here?

Well, we know that God is not referring to the Babylonians. Yahweh had just finished telling Habakkuk that “the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright.” That certainly doesn’t sound like a righteous one or a person of faithfulness.

God is not referring to Habakkuk the prophet. God did not say, “But the righteous person shall live by your faithfulness”. Nor, is God referring to the faithfulness of the scribe who wrote down the prophecy, nor of the herald who ran with the prophecy from town to town.

As a matter of fact, would you want to rely on the faithfulness of any man? Would you want to depend on the faithfulness of a friend, spouse, or relative to ensure your righteousness?  Who then is this person on whom we should rely on their faithfulness?

Again, using Scripture to interpret Scripture, turn with me to Galatians 2:20. Paul makes it clear whose faithfulness we are to live by.

READ GALATIANS 2:20

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The one who trusts God in faith lives faithfully by his Word. Conversely, the one who is faithful to his Word also clearly trusts it and has faith in the One who gave it. Jesus is the only one who is trustworthy enough to be faithful and thus deserving of our faith.

I’m running out of time here so let me conclude with these thoughts.

CONCLUSION

The enduring message of Habakkuk is carried in the words “The righteous will live by his faith”. These words are quoted three times in the New Testament (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). The original Hebrew is “the righteous will live by his faithfulness,” or, possibly, “the righteous will live by its faithfulness” referring to the word of God given to Habakkuk in this “revelation,” that we looked at today.

The righteous will believe what God is about to say and live by trust in his word and thus in Yahweh himself. The meaning of this text (and its use by people of faith through the centuries) relies on the relationships between the faith and faithfulness of the believer and the faithfulness of God.

 Finally, these forms of judgment are not swift. Like history, they take time. God’s delay is a sign of His patience and love for us.

 Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit to interpret and understand your Word. What a marvelous gift you have given your adopted sons and daughters.

We thank you for your faithfulness and your unchanging Nature. You are the same today as you were yesterday and as you will be tomorrow and for all of eternity.

We can build our faith and lives on the firm foundation of You and Your Son. It is in the completed work of Jesus that we can rest assured that we have Salvation and that we will spend eternity with You.

Because of this, we thank You for Your Grace and for Your Love, Amen

Finally, let me send you off with this benediction:

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

 Colossians 3:17

 

Have a blessed week.

MVEMC Prayer Night October 1, 2024

 MVEMC Prayer Night Date, October 1^st, 2024

Tonight, we are praying over two topics. Topic one is asking for discernment for the body of this church. We have tough decisions to make in the future. Topic two is a request to the Lord to show us chances for evangelism and how to reach our neighbours.

Instructions: Read the suggested passage offered (or, if you are praying at home and the Holy Spirit brings a different passage to mind, use that passage) in the various translations listed under it. Pay attention to the different English words used by the multiple translators. After reading the translations offer up your praise and prayers to the Lord. Take your time moving on to the next prayer. Wait for a short time in silence listening for anything that the Holy Spirit may say to you. Take this prayer time as an opportunity to grow closer to Jesus in your prayer time.

Topic One: Discernment For the Body

Passage One: James 1:5

 “⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” NIV

“⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” ESV

“⁵ But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” LSB

“⁵ Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.” CSB

“⁵ If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” NLT

Passage Two: Matthew 7:24

“²⁴ Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” NIV

“²⁴ Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” ESV

“²⁴ Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” LSB

“²⁴ Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” CSB

“²⁴ Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.” NLT

Topic Two: Chances For Evangelism

Passage One: Psalm 105:1

“¹ Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.” NIV

“¹ Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!”  ESV

“¹ Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!”  LSB

“¹ Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; proclaim his deeds among the peoples.” CSB

“¹ Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.” NLT

Passage Two: Isaiah 6:8

“⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” NIV

“⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ESV

“⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” LSB

“⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us?” CSB

“⁸ Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” NLT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John: So That You May Believe...Gospel of John, Part 04, John 1:12-18, The Logos Received

 September 29^th, 2024

From The Series: John- So That You May Believe

Part 04 The Logos Received

John 1:12-18

Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church

Here we are in the final portion of the prologue this morning. Here is a quick recap: the first 18 verses of chapter 1 are considered the prologue or introduction of the Book of John. In the first two messages from the prologue we examined the use of the word Logos to describe Jesus of Nazareth and we saw how Jesus was, and continues to be rejected by many.

This morning, we will see how John announces that the Logos is received in this last part of the prologue. This receiving is not a Plan B by God, we will see this morning that this was always part of the original Plan of Redemption that was decided upon by the Godhead. Our attitude about this issue speaks directly to our understanding of the Sovereignty of God. We will address this further in the final point of this morning’s message.

I am going to quote and reference a fair amount of Scripture today because I want you to realize that what I am saying is what the Bible says and not just my opinion. Not all Scripture that I quote will be on the screen this morning, but it will be listed in the bulletin. Follow along with your bulletin open and a pen in hand. If I say something that piques your interest, put a star beside that passage and go home and verify what I said was accurate and in context by reading the paragraph before and the paragraph after the section that I quoted. These things are important, and I want you to be paying attention. We will be feeding on some really important issues this morning.

For context, I will read the entire prologue again this morning before we jump into the final section for a deeper look. Please open your Bible to the first chapter of the Gospel of John and I will read the first 18 verses.

READ JOHN 1:1-18

“¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

PRAY

The three points that I see emerging from this passage are:

1. Christians are children of God. Contrary to what you may have been told in the past, the Bible says that we are not all children of God. We will deal with this shortly.

2. The second point I see emerging from this text is that Christians are born of God. Scripture is clear in multiple places that this is an action of God, by God. We will see what Scripture has to say about that in a few minutes.

3. The third point I see emerging from this text is Christians are given Grace. I always seem to need more time for the third point, so I hope we have enough time to examin the doctrine of Grace, moving beyond the brief dictionary definition we all know.

With that being said, let’s jump to the first point: Christians are Children of God. The first thing we need to do is understand that there is a difference between being created by God and being a Child of God.

We are all created by God. Every person, animal, insect, and plant is created by God. Everything in the Universe is a creation of God. Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created…” God continues to create today, He has simply changed His methods of creating. Now the Lord creates through procreation.

I like the way that the New Living Translation puts it, “¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13. Make no mistake, procreation is the method, but God is still the Creator. As a man married to a creative person who crochets, I like the image that this verse brings to mind. It is God who knits us together in our Mother’s womb, even the delicate inner parts of our bodies.

So, that is the Creator God. But not all those who are created are Children of God. Now, don’t get mad at me, I know this is offensive to some people. I’ll let you in on a secret, I don’t know who is and who isn’t a child of God. Most likely, neither do you. That is why we must approach everybody we come in contact with as if they are a child of God. It is not our job to prequalify people before we share the Gospel with them. Keep that in mind. But, the Bible is clear that some are born of God and some are not.

In his first epistle, John goes into this thought in greater detail. We are not ALL Children of God. Some in this world, I would say most, are children of the devil. How can we tell the difference? 1 John 3:10 says, “¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”

What is our proof of being a Child of God? 1 John 5:2 gives us some ideas, “¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ and is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.” Living our lives according to the commands of God is proof that we are His children. Living out the commands in a loving and obedient manner, not from a sense of obligation, or in an attempt to earn favour with God.

It is true that we are living in a period of Grace, but that does not mean Grace replaces the Law. This is a misinterpretation of God’s Word. It is a misunderstanding known as antinomianism and was taught to be a heresy by the early church. In Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus taught us these very words, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” In other words, Jesus not only fulfilled all that the prophets proclaimed about Him, but He also fulfilled all the requirements of the Law in order to try and earn your way to heaven. Jesus’ once for all our sins sacrifice was sufficient to repair our relationship with the Father.

But what does it mean to believe “that Jesus is the Christ”? James 2:19 tests us with this thought, “¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” Think back to the many encounters that Jesus had with demons in the Gospels. The demons recognized Jesus when they came face-to-face with Him. One even asked if it was the appointed time for His appearance.  So, James tells us that simply recognizing that there is one God is not enough to save us. Believing there is one God is not enough to save us. We must believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that His completed work on the Cross was complete and accepted by the Father as payment for our disobedience and sin against Him as God.

This is important and worth a slide. The good news is that even belief and faith are gifts that are supplied by God to us. Ephesians 2:8-9 explains this to us, “⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—⁹ not by works so that no one can boast.” We must recognize that even our faith is a gift from God. If we received Grace from God as a result of our faith, then it would be by our works that we are saved. Verse 8 proclaims that both grace and faith are gifts from God. This is why verse 9 is in the text, “so that no one can boast.”

This thought, that I can do nothing to earn my way to God was one of the primary reasons that I recognized the Christian faith as true. The false religions that I had been studying earlier in my life all contained an aspect of works. A balancing of good deeds versus bad deeds. All in an attempt to show that I was worthy of entrance to heaven. Only Christianity teaches that you can do nothing before Salvation, it all falls on Jesus and the Holy Spirit to do the saving. Our work begins after Salvation through the sharing of the Gospel to bring more to the Kingdom of God and living an exemplary life by following the commands of God.

Let’s look back at the first two verses in today’s passage, verses 12 and 13, “¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Let’s circle back to what it means to be Children of God and Born of God.

To become Children of God is not our doing. Verse 13 says, “Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Let’s take these one at a time. Children born not of natural descent. John is referring primarily to the Jews here who were so proud of their heritage and genealogy. But the same applies to us who are not of Jewish descent but may have been born into a Christian home or family. Your Christianity is an individual calling and applies only to you. You do not inherit your Christian faith from your Christian mother, father, or grandparents.

The same applies to your children. Don’t get me wrong, I think being raised in a Christian home with godly parents who live out their faith daily, is a tremendous advantage. It is a moral head start that will help your children do well in the world. But are you teaching them God's Word in your home? Do you, or did you, practice family devotions in your home when the children were young? Was Jesus present in the home Monday through Saturday, or just evident in your life for a couple of hours on Sundays?

The second point in this verse makes it clear that your being saved was not your decision. “Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision…” Don’t get mad at me, that’s what the Bible says. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is the source. While Jesus was talking with the Pharisee Nicodemus at night, Jesus taught him some interesting things. John 3:3, 5-6 records, “³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” By the way, the born of water does not refer to Baptism as you might think. Water is often used as a metaphor for the Word of God or Scripture. Being “Born of Water and the Spirit” refers to the hearing of God’s Word and the work of the Spirit in us.

Paul writes the same instruction to Titus in the Letter that bears his name, “⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,” Titus 3:4-6. According to these passages, regeneration happens before salvation.

Just as the LORD told the prophet, Ezekiel, “²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27. This is more proof that salvation is of the Lord. Can you give yourself a new heart?

Scripture tells us we were dead in our trespasses. What can a dead man do to save himself? I have heard the analogy of sinners being like a drowning man clinging to Jesus as to a life-preserver. But Scripture says we were dead, not drowning. We were unable to cling to anything when we were still lost in our sins. Praise God we were born again! Born into the family of God. We are now heirs, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the proof of this inheritance.

Believers no longer belong to the devil, nor to those whose father the devil is. 1 John 3:7-8 gives us this promise. Listen to this, “⁷ Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Do you believe what Scripture says here, friends? “The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.” Identify the pronoun here: “The one who does what is righteous”, that would be you and me as believers, “is righteous, just as he is righteous”. Just as who is righteous? Who is the only one righteous? Who is the “he” in this verse? Jesus Christ. But, “⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.”

Are you prepared to believe as Christians that you are Children of God, not born of heritage, merit, or your choice, but Born of God through the work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit?

There is another requirement of God’s Children besides just obedience to Him. God's children are to love one another. John 13:33-35 says, “³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Being Children of God has a vertical aspect to it and a horizontal aspect to it. This is why we are to reconcile with others in Christ, who we have a disagreement with. This is how we show we are true disciples of Jesus Christ.

One last thing before we move onto the point that Christians are given Grace. At the moment, today in our present lives, we do not fully appreciate what this means: to be a child of God. 1 John 3:1-2 explains this to us, “¹ See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” We will not fully appreciate what it means to be a child of God until we are in His presence. It is not until we see His perfection for ourselves in the New Eden that we reach our state of perfection in our Glorified bodies and our sanctification is complete. Oh, what a day that will be!

Ok, let’s move on to the final point for this morning’s sermon, “Christians are given Grace”. Look at verse 16 of John Chapter One with me, “¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.” The phrase “grace in place of grace already given” refers to the piling on of grace that one experiences as they go through life with Jesus. As we grow in our maturity and sanctification with Jesus as Lord, the Grace that we receive only multiplies and we experience God’s blessings in more and different ways. Even when we go through hardships, if we are mature enough, we can recognize the blessings those hardships contain and we receive more grace in our lives.

But what does it mean to speak of “the fullness” of Jesus Christ? Out of His fullness means that Jesus contains the full attributes of God, not just Love. We cannot speak of God's love without speaking of His wrath. We cannot speak of His mercy without speaking of his judgment. We cannot speak of heaven without speaking of hell. We cannot speak of a Saviour without speaking of our sinfulness.

Why is this important to grasp? It is important to understand the true Jesus in all His fullness, or we risk our salvation. 1 John 1:1-3, "¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." In these three verses, John is attempting to impress upon us the fullness of Jesus Christ. That Jesus shared all the attributes of the Father and that they were one in purpose and essence. Jesus and the Father are one.

We do not have the option to paint a different Jesus than He actually was. We must accept and worship the fullness of Jesus, not some pared-down idol of our own making. To worship any other Jesus than the full and complete version of Jesus causes us to risk our salvation, because we are not following the true Jesus.

We have pastors and denominations leading people away from the true Jesus. Many false teachers give you the sugar-coated Jesus because He is easier to sell and fill the church with.

John makes this point again in verse 18, “¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” No one is closer to the Father than the Son. It is the closest relationship that has ever been. Closer than any husband and wife, or parent and child. The only way that you could have a relationship that is close to being this close is to clone yourself. But even then, it would only be a shadow of this true relationship because the Father and Son and Spirit have been one since eternity past.

We cannot have this level of closeness, but we can still receive the benefit of this fullness from Jesus. Colossians 2:9-10 says this, “⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.” In Christ we are complete. The grace of Jesus Christ permits us to rest in His completed work for our salvation.

But what of grace? God’s grace flows out of his inter-trinitarian, gift-giving life. Even in humanity’s fallen state, God freely grants to his creatures good things they do not deserve. The greatest of these goods is Jesus Christ.

One of the most amazing ways that God show His grace to us is explained in Exodus 34:6 which reads,  “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”. Think about that for a minute. The point that God is slow to anger with His rebellious creatures should cause us all to shout hallelujah choruses all day long. The fact that the Lord did not erase us from existence the first time we sinned or even the last time we sinned against Him is a testimony of His love for us.

Because of our rebellion, we are all deserving of hell. The people who question God by accusing Him of sending good people to hell is absurd. Romans tells us that there is no one good, not one. We as humans like to grade goodness on the bell curve, and even then it does not look good for us. In our fallen state, everyone fails to reach that 100% mark in goodness. It is part of our human nature to think that good is all relative. We constantly compare ourselves to our neighbours, friends, or family members and we tell ourselves that we aren't that bad, so-and-so is worse, look what they have done.

The problem is that we are comparing ourselves to the wrong standard. Our standard for goodness is not our neighbour or even our parents. The Gold-medal standard for goodness is found in the person of Jesus Christ. So, when you compare yourself to Jesus, how’s that workin’ for you so far?

When we understand that God’s grace is the unmerited divine favour, a favour from which comes many gifts and that the greatest of these gifts is Jesus Christ, then friends what more could we need? Our fullness in life should be found in Jesus. If you lost all the blessings that you have received from God tomorrow, would you still love your Lord?

If you were like Job of the Old Testament and lost all your children and grandchildren, all your belongings and all your savings, would you be like Job and say to the Lord,

“² “I know that you can do all things;

no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

³ You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me to know.

⁴ “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.’

⁵ My ears had heard of you

but now my eyes have seen you.

⁶ Therefore I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes.”   Job 42:2-6

Is repentance a regular occurrence for you? When was the last time you repented of your sins to the Father? The World hates that question! When we repent, we are forced to remember our mistakes and our shortcomings. We are forced to admit our imperfections, our need for a saviour. The Worldly do not wish to be reminded of their needs in this area.

Don’t be like the World, be like Job. I ask you again if you lost everything tomorrow, would you still love Jesus? Would your salvation be enough? Have you accepted the salvation that He is offering you?

CONCLUSION

I want to close with this quote from C.S. Lewis who once described himself as the most reluctant convert in all of Britain.

“I never had the experience of looking for God. It was the other way round: He was the hunter (or so it seemed to me) and I was the deer. He stalked me like a whitetail, took unerring aim, and fired. And I am very thankful that this is how the first (conscious) meeting occurred. It forearms one against subsequent fears that the whole thing was only wish fulfillment. Something one didn’t wish for can hardly be that.” [C. S. Lewis, Christian Reflections^[1]

            Take joy in the fact that you had nothing to do with your salvation. As Lewis said he was glad he didn’t wish or ask for salvation, if it was of Lewis’ doing, he might change his mind and walk away.

Doxology:

In place of the usual doxology, let me leave you with these words from Jesus Christ:

“³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Go in peace, you are dismissed.

Pastor Paul’s Points:

1) Christians Are Children of God.

2) Christians Are Born of God.

3) Christians Are Given Grace.

 

Questions to meditate on this week:

A. Have you accepted the fact you are a Child of God?

B. Have you accepted that not all are a Child of God?

C. Have you accepted that salvation is of God?

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^[1] Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 177.