But to All Who Receive Him

“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 was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5 ESV)

Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, is The Word, the living word of God. He was God in the flesh when he walked the earth. And he is our creator God. We were all made by him. For he always existed with God and he was with God in the beginning, and he is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And he is The Way, The Truth, and The Life (John 14:6), and no one comes to God the Father except through him. And no one comes to faith in Jesus unless persuaded of God (John 6:44).

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:9-13 ESV)

Jesus Christ is the true light. And the light is truth, righteousness, the word of God, and the gospel of our salvation. And light is the opposite of darkness, and darkness is what is evil, wicked, immoral, and disobedient to God. So light is moral purity, uprightness, integrity, honesty, faithfulness, and the like. Light is the divine character and will of God. It is all that is of God and that brings truth and righteousness to the hearts and minds of human beings. And Jesus came to shine on us that true light.

Jesus Christ always existed with God, and he is God, yet he humbled himself and came to the earth and was born as a human baby to a human mother, but he was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Thus, God the Father was his birth father, and so Jesus was not born as we are with sin natures in the image of Adam. And since he never sinned when he lived on the earth, he was able to be our blood offering on that cross for the sins of the entire world. For he who knew no sin became sin for us on that cross that we might become the righteousness of God, but not in status only, but in daily practice.

Although Jesus Christ was in the world, and the world was made through him, the world did not know him, and his own people did not receive him as their Lord and Messiah, the Christ who was to come and who had now come. Some of them did, but most did not. But to receive Jesus Christ is not a mere formality of saying a prayer after another person or of making a public declaration of him as your Lord and Savior. To receive Jesus is to accept him for who he is and for what he did for us and all that he requires of us, too, as his followers. It is to welcome his word into our lives in daily practice.

So, when this says that “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, we need to read that in the context of the New Testament Scriptures, as whole, and in the context of the book of John, as a whole. For belief in Jesus Christ is something that is continuous and it involves death to sin and walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands. For faith is obedience, and disobedience is unbelief (see Romans 6:1-23; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13)

Too many people are claiming to believe in Jesus Christ but they are still living in sin, still making sin their practice and not righteousness, and not obedience to the Lord. But we need to understand that faith that saves comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, and it is persuaded of God. It is not of our own doing, not of the will nor of the flesh of man, but of the will of God. And so to have this faith which saves we must be those who are actively doing the will of God, in the power of God, in walks of obedience to our Lord. For if we do not, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[See: Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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