I'd like to turn this evening back to the Gospel of John, chapter one, and I'm going to read tonight verses 10, 11, and 12. John chapter one, and verses 10 to 12, and we're thinking tonight of Christ's embrace being received. We read here, he was in the world, And the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power. to become the sons of God, even to them that believe upon his name." Well, I don't think there's anything more human than to give or receive an embrace. I know as teenagers you start to get older, perhaps you don't want mum or dad to give you an embrace. Like once you did, perhaps us British people are not very good at giving people embraces. I know in Africa, they are very affectionate in this way and warm. And yet deep down, I'm sure we're all conscious of the need that we have at times to know the affection and the loving arms of another, especially in times of rejoicing and also of course when we need comforting. Of course we were all starting out in our life cradled in the arms of our mother and our father. Their touch was so important for us and reassuring and so their affection and their warmth was so necessary and yet As we get older, we seem to be weaned of these things as teenagers grow up. But one day, we long again for the embrace of loved ones who have parted us and gone before. They're sorely missed. We cannot any longer feel their embrace. They've left this world. I think a few years ago there was one image on the news that really stuck in my mind and I often think about it even now. It was that of a Syrian refugee lad lying lifeless on a beach. The boat had capsized and he'd lost his life and yet across the beach came His father, with such purpose, he picked up that lifeless corpse and carried it away with such affection and emotion. What a picture, and yet in a strange way. That is an outline for us here this evening of the love, the compassion, of God for lifeless sinners that we are. We're all ruined by nature, tossed about we might say on the rough waves of life away from God and yet Christ came to the shores of this world for such needy sinners as we are to bring us new life and new hope. And here John tells us in these verses of the unimaginable depth of that great love that brought the Son of God into this world. It was in a sense the most momentous embrace that this world has ever known. The incarnation, the birth of the Son of God. The Word, we're told here in verse 1. He was with God. He was God. He was truly God of God, the Eternal Son. He was called also here the True Light. And God longed for that love that was in his heart to be expressed and shown into this poor world. He knew we needed comfort and spiritual life and hope and he took pity upon us. And so in verse 14 here we read, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And yet really, though the heart of God was so filled with mercy towards this world, Christ's embrace of it was a painful experience. The first thing I'd like you to notice here tonight is the embrace of Christ toward this dying world in verse 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. It was refused, this embrace of Christ. The world was made by him. We see it again there in verse 3. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. Every atom, every particle of this universe was brought into being by Christ. The entire cosmos, all the laws of nature, the great environmental cycles, every aspect of this glorious creation. The earth was the Lord's and he came into the world. Now when we visit a friend and we get to the door, there's that brief moment, isn't there, where you might pause and you might say, what kind of reception will I receive today? Maybe you haven't been in touch with them like you promised, or perhaps you've not seen them for some time. We long for a sincere reception. We long for a welcome. We fear Perhaps just a few mumbled words and the door open and a gesture to say come in, but perhaps with no great surprise or interest. Well, look at what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ when he came into the world. There was no greater benefactor than he was. He had no more glorious intention in his heart than had ever been expressed towards this world. Christ came with that gracious desire to bless the world but what was the reception that he received? Well it says here he was cold-shouldered and despised. The world knew him not. Now of course the triune God had long promised and long planned the coming of Christ into this world. It wasn't, in a sense, something that was quickly thought up or purposed in the mind of God, but there was a great desire in the heart of God. Century after century, the prophets were sent reminding people of the coming of Christ, of the coming of the Messiah, And yet when he came, when he came into Bethlehem, that little village, there was no room for him, was there? Just a few shepherds would hear the angels' praises. The system of this world, the mindset of this world was against Christ. It would not have him to reign over it. But then we think of it like this. Of course Christ knew that. He knew it. He knew that when he came into the world, the world would not receive him. And yet he still came. There would be no trumpets sounding, as it were, on the streets. People welcoming him. But still he came into the darkness. knowing how he would be treated as the offscouring of the earth. The world knew him not. But we can see then, his embrace of the world was a painful one. But secondly, we can notice here that his embrace of the Jewish people was rejected. In verse 11, he came unto his own and his own received him not. What is it speaking of here? This is the very people of God. This is the people to which the Lord had revealed through Moses the law of God. This nation which had been redeemed out of Egypt had been blessed with the scriptures. This nation which had the sacrificial system all picturing the Lord Jesus Christ and the way back to God from the dark paths of sin, this people were a greatly favoured nation. But not only that, Christ was born and descended as a son of Abraham. He was to be circumcised as a child of Abraham into that same line, into that same faith, into that same family. But how was he received? Among the very people of God, he came unto his own and his own received him not. They had no time for him. They had no place for him. There was no room in the inn. There was no room in Bethlehem, ultimately. He had to escape to Egypt. There was no room in Nazareth, eventually. They wanted to cast him over the cliff. Foxes have holes, he said, and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head. There was no room for him in his family. His brothers, his sisters mocked him. There was no room in the Jewish towns. Eventually, they would not accept his preaching or his person, and they took up stones to kill him. There was no room in the temple for him, for his teaching was rejected. There was no room in the affection of Judas who had been with him all those years. He turned against him and betrayed him with a kiss. He wept over Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. How oft would I have come to you and blessed you, but ye would not. He was cast out of the city and hung up and crucified outside the city gates. He came unto his own and his own received him not. There was no room for him in their hearts and they buried him in a borrowed tomb. He came to them, the very people of God who should have welcomed him But Christ knew the pain of being reviled and rejected by his own, pushed out of his own land and from among his own people. Now I know a number of believers who have had to leave their homes because their parents do not accept them as Christians and when they came to faith they turned against them. And it's a painful thing to be rejected by a child or by a parent because of our faith. But we look to Christ and we see he experienced the same. He came unto his own and his own received him not. Later on we read, consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. But thirdly here tonight, it goes on doesn't it here in verse 12 and it talks about Christ's embrace of those who received him. But as many as received him to them gave he power or the right to become the sons of God, even to them that believe upon his name. Now this is so wonderful, isn't it, when we think about it because it's talking about Christians. They receive him. That's what it is to be a Christian. He came near unto us in all of our need. He came down into this world, why, for sinners, for the most unworthy, for the most broken, for those who were the outcasts. They were the Gentile people in large measure, but some of them heard of him and received him. When we were children perhaps we learnt about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's one thing isn't it? But to receive him into your heart, to take him as it were by faith and love him and serve him and rejoice in all that he has done for us. When we were like lepers with all of our sinfulness He healed us, he cleansed us, he restored us. When we were, as it were, so unworthy that we could not, because of our sinfulness, like that woman with the issue of blood, we were ashamed of ourselves. But we came behind, as it were, and touched the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. We embraced him and he made us whole. as many as received him. You see, it doesn't really qualify the kind of people, does it, here? All kinds of people receive the Lord Jesus Christ, but as many. Yet we haven't seen him as we physically, but with the eye of faith, we receive him into our heart. We believe that he gave his life upon the cross for us, that he came for us. He came into the world to save us, to prepare us, to stand before God, to give us an inheritance in heaven, to give us a hope. And he gave to us a cleansed heart and restored life and new hope. This is what Christ does for those who receive him. Have you known such an embrace? You have looked to him by faith but he has embraced your soul and loved you in return. This is the greatest need that we have this evening and yet here in verse 13 we notice that this is not something that we have the power to do for ourselves, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Christ had to come and he had to go up to the cross of Calvary And he had to have his arms, as it were, outstretched upon that cross in agony and in suffering because of a broken law. We could not save ourselves. We could not give ourselves life or give ourselves a place in heaven. But Christ had to come and do it for us. and to give us a new birth in our soul, and to turn our feet toward heaven. We cannot turn, as it were, our feet in the paths of heaven, not one step. But it is the work of Christ. This is why he had to humble himself so, to come into the world for such sinners, and to stoop so low, to become the innocent lamb of God, to be the sacrifice, to answer all the types of the sacrificial system, to give of himself in order to embrace sinners with his love, in order to pardon them and forgive them. It is the only way. We cannot save ourselves. It's not the will of man. It is God. This is God's work. He sent his son to be the propitiation for their sins, to give his life for them. And this is why we love him. This is why we rejoice in him because of all that he has done for us. In Psalm 85 we have this beautiful expression of what God has done. Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth. and righteousness shall look down from heaven. You see, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, in his sufferings on the cross, that was the only way that the mercy of God could be brought to sinners. The justice of God, his righteous law, his truth, met together. kissed each other on the cross. Christ said, indeed, I am the truth, the pure word. There was no secret in Christ, but he brought to us the truth. He must fulfil the law on our behalf. that mercy might flow down to us from a gracious God. And so this is why in the Gospels we have wonderful messages of encouragement. Sometimes Christ puts it like this, Son, be of good comfort, thy sins are forgiven thee. Another time he says, daughter, be of good cheer. Thy faith has made thee whole. Go thy way. Thy faith has saved thee. Behold, thou art made whole. Go and sin no more. How has it happened? It's because Christ has embraced them with his love. Despite all the pain, the agony, He knew it would cost him, yet he embraces sinners still. And he can never let go one whom he has embraced, one who has put their trust in him. None, he says, can pluck them out of my hand. Are you his tonight? as the Lord Jesus Christ embraced your soul. You look to him as the Lamb of God, the suffering servant, the man of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief. He knew all that grief could ever throw at him or throw at anyone. He trod the winepress of the wrath of God on our behalf. While some are not here tonight, some from amongst us have gone to glory this year, even this past month. What kind of reception did they receive? The Bible tells us, doesn't it? Those immortal words, come in, thou blessed of the Lord, Wherefore standest thou without? You see, this is what the work of Christ did when he came for sinners. He made a way for the worst of sinners to be brought to heaven. And now for them, there's no more sin, no more suffering, no more fears, No more gloomy hours of sorrow in this cold and demanding world because the Bible teaches us so much of the glory of the atmosphere of heaven that is our true home. Soon we'll be there if we're one of the Lords tonight. The choirs will be heard eternally by us on the hills of glory, and we shall see that One who came for us, glorified and exalted, no longer despised and rejected of men, or a man of sorrows, but now the King, forever crowned. Do you believe upon Him That's what John says, doesn't he? As many as received him, to them gave he the power or the right, by his grace, to become the children of God, even to them that believe upon his name. Do you have faith in Jesus Christ this evening? You think of Simeon as he saw Christ come in to the temple. He was watching, wasn't he, and he was waiting. And he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, now I can depart in peace. For mine eyes have seen the salvation of Israel. Have you embraced Christ with such faith tonight? Do you love him? Have you received him? Have you believed upon him? Can you see that in him is all that you need for the forgiveness of your sin and to give you justification, right standing in the presence of God on that great day. Do you confess like Asaph, whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become. the sons of God, even to them that believe upon his name. May the Lord bless these thoughts to our hearts and cause us to embrace him in the arms of faith. Closing hymn tonight is number one. All my heart this night rejoices as I hear far and near sweetest angel voices. Christ is born. Their choirs are singing till the air everywhere now with joy is ringing. Number one.