Mensa Otabil - As Many As Received Him
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John chapter 1, verses 12 and 13: But as many as received Him, 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. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, He gave them the right to become the children of God.
I like the phrase «as many as received Him.» There’s no restriction on «as many as,» meaning whoever receives Him. Christ is God’s gift of salvation, and a gift can either be accepted or rejected. A gift is not earned; you don’t work for a gift, and you don’t do good for a gift. A gift is what you receive because you didn’t work for it and you don’t deserve it. It is given to you. If you get what you have worked for, that is a reward. A gift is not a reward. Salvation is not a reward; it is a gift. Christ is not a reward; He is a gift, and He is a gift to be received or rejected.
If you reject it, there are consequences; if you receive Him, there are consequences too. And He says, «As many as receive Him,» the consequence is they are given the right to become the children of God. That’s a very curious statement because many times we speak as if every human being is a child of God. There is a sense in which we can say that this is accurate, in the sense that we are all creations of God; we came from God. But this phrase «child of God» refers to a relationship we have with Him- not just that we came from Him, but now that we are related directly to Him. That relationship comes by receiving the Son of God as God’s gift to us.
I have said many times that Jesus did not come for Christians. He didn’t come for one particular religion or one particular faith; He came for the whole world. Christianity sometimes has religious boundaries, but Jesus has no boundaries. He’s the boundaryless one. As many as received Him, no matter which part of the world they come from, no matter their social standing, no matter their religion, as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.
It then says that those who become children of God are born. Isn’t that amazing? Of course, every human being is born; we’re born by our mothers into this world. But the passage says those who are born of God are not born of the flesh. In other words, they are not born of their mothers, but they are born of God. There is a new birth that is different from the old birth that your mother provided for you to come into this world. So, our mothers brought us into the world, but Christ brings us into God’s kingdom.
As many as received Him, He gave the right to become children of God, born of God-not born of blood, not through human generation, not born of the flesh, not born of the will of man. In other words, we can’t will ourselves to be children of God, just as a child cannot will himself to be born. You didn’t just stay one day and say, «I’m going to be born; I’m going to be born,» and then your mother gave birth to you. No, you were born by your mother, not of your own will. You came into this world and one day realized you had been born.
It’s the same way; we don’t will to become children of God. We are born to become children of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don’t know Him as your Lord today, you can receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Let us pray: Say with me, «Heavenly Father, I receive Christ as my Lord and Savior. Thank you for the gift of salvation. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.» Well, I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.