to be together tonight. Is there any place in the world you'd rather be? I hope not. It's so good just to be together here as the family of God, to be worshiping together, rejoicing, and praying, and just the goodness of the Lord poured out upon us as we gather together. John chapter one, I'm gonna begin reading at verse one. We'll read through verse 13 and be looking specifically at verses nine through 13. This is God's Word. 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 anything 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. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 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." Let's just once again ask the Lord to bless His Word. Father, now as we've opened Your book, we pray that You would bless us as we meditate on these inspired words. knowing that, Lord, these words are not trivial. These words are our life. And that you spoke these words through the pen of the Apostle John, so that we might believe in Jesus, and that by believing in Him, we might have life in His name. And Lord, may that be the case for each one of us tonight. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, tonight we wrap up the holiday season, Christmas and New Year. All around the world, families gather together, of course, for the celebration of these holidays. For most children, this is the most wonderful time of the year. I remember looking forward with incredible eagerness and anticipation for Christmas and New Year's Day. These would both be days for family gatherings. I remember gathering with my cousins at Plymouth Christian School, And the adults would be playing rook, and us kids would be flying around the halls playing tag or throwing balls at each other, whatever it might be. But it was just wonderful, exhausting fun. Of course, we always had to leave at 4.30 to go do chores, but that's another story, and I'm not here to complain. The holidays were a time for family, being connected, belonging. But for many children, of course, the holiday seasons are full of heartache. You see, many children are orphans. They don't have a family. It's estimated that there are 153 million boys and girls in the world today who don't have a family. And if they received any gifts at all this Christmas, it wasn't from mom or dad. And do you know what those boys and girls wish for more than anything else this Christmas? Well, they wish for a mom and a dad. Someone to love them and care for them. They wished for brothers and sisters who would play with them, who would grow up with them. They wished for a family to whom they would belong. Some boys and girls received that gift. Gideon's adoption papers came in the mail the day before Christmas. I saw just the cutest heartbreaking video, a short video of a little guy named Carter. You can see it online. Carter's probably eight years old. He was being fostered by a family, the Kiphart family. And this is Christmas Day, 2018. They gave him a present. Well, they gave him many presents. He was, the video shows Carter sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room, and he's kind of a chunky little guy. He's got a pile of presents there at his feet. But they had one final present to give him, and so they give him a box, and they ask him to open it up, and he opens it up, and there's a picture of the family, mom and dad, and there's about four kids, I think, some of them older. And so he kind of looks at this picture of the Kipphart family and not quite sure what to do with it. He's a little confused and then the mom says, Carter, there's a note in the box. Get the note, read the note. And so Carter finds the note and this is what Carter read. This is the most recent picture of our family. All of us would love for you to be in the next picture and to be a part of our family. Carter, would you like to be a Kipphart and be a part of our family? Well, Carter's reading that note out loud until he gets to the last part, and then he just covers his face and begins to sob. And all he could say through the tears was, thank you, thank you, as he's just weeping. None of his other presence made him cry. Just that one. You see, Carter had received the deepest gift, the deepest wish of his little heart. He received a family. He belonged. On the first verses of John's Gospel, he's been telling us about the glory of Jesus, the one who was with God from the beginning, the one who made all things, the one who is light and life. But in verses 9 through 13, we really, in a sense, get to the essence of the glory of Christmas because John tells us that Jesus did not simply come to shine light into the darkness or give life to dead men, but the greatest gift, the ultimate gift, is this gift, the gift of belonging. To those who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That's the greatest gift, the precious gift at the heart of Christmas. Well, every adoption story, of course, begins with a tragedy, and the same is true in this story. The tragedy is found in verses 10 through 11. John says, 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. This world, of course, has seen countless tragedies over its many years. Wars and devastations caused by that, deadly diseases, famines that wipe out millions, earthquakes and tsunamis and storms of all sorts. And those are just the massive ones. And every day there's the senseless random acts of violence and tragedies of lives taken and families breaking apart of betrayals. The world is awash in tragedy. But the greatest tragedy in the history of the world is what we see here in verses 10 and 11. Jesus, the Son of God, the one who made the world, came into the world, but the world did not know Him. He came to His own. The Greek there literally reads, he came to his own things. The idea is coming to the people and the place where you belong. In John chapter 19, you find the exact same word, and it's translated there as home, where John the Apostle took Mary, Jesus' mother, into his home. And so what the text is telling us is that Jesus came to his home, his own people, his own family. and his own people did not receive him." In a culture that prized hospitality and exalted family, this is a stunning statement. It would have been bad enough, right? One thing, if he had gone to the Romans or the Greeks or the barbarians up in Scotland, right? If he had gone there and they did not receive him, that would have been horrific enough, being as he was the creator of the world. But Jesus didn't go there. He went to his own family. He went to the people whom he had blessed and led through all the years. He went to the children of Abraham. He went to the people that he had rescued through Moses and blessed with King David and spoke to by the prophets. The people that he had bound to himself in covenant love. His own people, his own family, his covenant community. And they rejected him. One commentator says, imagine if you had been out at work all day, and you came home on a cold, dreary February late afternoon. It's getting dark, and you get to the porch, and you realize that you didn't have your house key with you. But you know your wife and children are inside, so you go to the door, and you ring the bell or maybe pound on the door, and you tell them to open the door and let you in. But they don't let you in. You know they're in there, and maybe, in fact, they come and they pull aside the curtains and they look at you, but then they turn around and walk away. They reject you. They don't receive you. They go back to doing whatever they were doing before. Now, you might think, well, that's impossible. They would never do that. Well, they did it to Jesus. It's exactly what happened to Jesus. He came to His own, and His own rejected Him. And to make matters worse, you see, the tragedy is highlighted by the fact that Jesus had come to rescue them. It's like you going home after work and your house is on fire, and you're pounding on the door, telling your family to open the door because the house is on fire, and you need to rescue them. They're in imminent danger. And then they reject you. And then they turn around and walk away. You can understand why Jesus wept over Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you. How often would I have gathered you, your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing." They were not willing to be gathered by Jesus. They weren't willing to be rescued by Jesus. They rejected Him. That's the tragedy of verse 10 and 11. It's a tragedy of the Jews in particular, but of course it's a tragedy of the human race in general. The fact is that left to ourselves, this is exactly what each one of us would do. It's the nature of sin. It's the demonic nature of sin to reject the God who is the fountain of goodness in life and to despise His Son whom He sent in love to rescue us. We are not alienated from God by accident. We are not spiritually orphaned by some misfortune, but rather by choice. We chose this. That's the tragedy of the world. And it's impossibly dark. You can't fathom the tragedy. of men and women made in the image of God and given the gift of life, and in Jesus Christ, the offer and promise of eternal life, and yet we reject it by nature. Well, in stark contrast to that tragedy, we find a great gift, the gift of God. Verse 12, to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Maybe the most important word or phrase in that sentence is He gave. Because you see, the miracle of the gospel is that God has come to this world with a gift. A gift, pure gift. The gift that answers the deep emptiness of the human soul and the deepest longings of the human heart. Ever since Adam and Eve, we have been spiritually orphaned. And we sense that things are not as they ought to be. We've been cut off from our soul's deepest communion. We sense that we were made for more. We're just like little Carter, sitting there in the middle of the living room with temporal toys all around our feet, but wishing, desperately wishing for something more. This can't be it. You ever feel that when you get done opening your presents and there's just this sense of, that was nice. But that can't be all. I remember Tom Brady gave an interview after winning the fourth Super Bowl and he said, if this is all it's about, then life is just a farce, it's a joke. There has to be something more than this. And he's absolutely right. So what's the something more? This is the something more. God comes to this world full of orphans and he gives the gift of belonging. He gave the right to become children of God. Let me point out just a couple of truths from this verse. First, just notice, no one deserves to be a child of God. We don't have an inherent right here. It's a gift that God gives. Little Carter didn't deserve to be adopted. Maybe that's why he's crying as he says, thank you, thank you. Tears of gratitude. There's nothing that we could do to merit it. We can't be good enough to earn this right. It's a gift that God gives. But what God gives is the right to become children of God. You see, the wonderful truth here, the treasure here is that you're not kind of a child of God. It's not like you're a child of God. It's not an analogy. It's not a metaphor. He gave the right, the authority, the full legal status of children of God. When the judge signed little Gideon's adoption papers, Gideon in that moment becomes a son of Josh and Amanda by full legal authority and right. He has a rightful claim to their attention and their care. He can say to them, you're my dad and mom. You need to take care of me. He has the right to that. He has a full right to the intimacy and love of the family. He has a rightful claim on their vast inheritance. This is what God gives, right? When he gives the right to become children of God. It's the right to say to God, you're my father. I belong to you. And I have a right to lay claim to your love and your care and your protection. I'm your child. It's the right to say to Jesus, you're my precious elder brother. You gave your life for me and now we're bound together in this eternal sibling love relationship. Jesus, you're my champion, right? Big brothers are supposed to watch out for us and take care of us. Jesus does all that. We have the right to have the Holy Spirit abide in us. Think of that. That's the gift that God gives to His children. Remember, Jesus says, if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? And it's His children who ask. We have the right to an eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ. We have a right to call ourselves the children of God. It's unbelievable, it's the most incredible blessing and privilege you'll ever receive in time or eternity. It doesn't get higher than this. There's not some status above this. Well, who receives that right? It's clear from the text that not everyone does. There's a distinguishing between men. Some receive it, some don't receive it. The question, of course, is on what basis is that distinction made? And John points to two things. It's based on what you do with Jesus, first of all. It's based on what you do with Jesus. To all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, the way to become a member of the family of God is by faith in Jesus Christ. And there's no other way. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. All those and only those who who received Jesus, acknowledging Him as the Word made flesh, acknowledging Him as the Savior of the world, acknowledging Him as Lord of lords, King of kings, dedicating their life to Him. They received the gift. That's why we're to call each other to faith. Don't just assume because you go to church or because you were born to a good home, that you're a child of God, because that's not how it works. As John points out in verse 13, those who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The question is, how do you become a child of God? And John says, first of all, it's given to those who come to Jesus, those who receive Jesus. I'll never forget, and I don't know why this made such an impact on me, but we were in the barn and talking about a sermon, I believe, and Dad just made this statement that when we get to the end of our life and we stand before the throne of God, the question will be, what did you do with Jesus? What have you done with the Christ? That just always struck me. And so Jesus is how we become children of God. But John also then points out the wonderful grace here that it happens not by human initiative. John has three negative statements here and one positive. It doesn't happen of blood. It doesn't happen by family lineage. There are some people who receive titles and domains because they were born into a wealthy family. Well, that's not how it happens in the kingdom of God. Your parents can't make you a child of God. It doesn't happen by blood. It doesn't happen by the will of the flesh, by human effort, human initiative. The flesh can only give birth to the flesh, John says in chapter 3. Human ability is not gonna be able to accomplish it. You can be as religious as you'd like to be. It will not make you a child of God. Little Carter could do his very, very best. He could be the best kid possible, do all his chores, and never do anything naughty, and none of that gives him the right to be a Kippart. Same with Gideon, same with all of us. It doesn't come that way. Nor the will of man, John says. Some translations use the word husband here. It means not by husband's desire. Children are born by a husband's desire. But that's not how you're born into the family of God. You see, John piles up this list of negatives to show that becoming a part of the family of God has nothing to do with anything human. Either your ancestors or your parents or you. Nothing human or natural can make this miracle happen. Only God can make it happen. Morris says, none of our puny efforts can make us fit for membership in the family. For that a great divine action is needed and that action began with the sending of the Son of God to become man. God has moved to make us children of God. Those who are born into the family of God are born into that family by the will of God, and by the power of God, and by the grace of God. It's just this burst with grace and love. Remember what John says in 1 John 3, Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God, and that is what we are. What love. That the Father should make you children. He doesn't make angels children. He's made you His children, His family. And so you see, the grace is overwhelming, it's abounding, and it's our message then to the world is not clean up your act and maybe God will let you in. The message is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be born again. Come to Christ and be born anew into a new family, a new creation with a new heart and a new relationship to God where He is your heavenly Father and Jesus is your precious elder brother and the Spirit is your constant companion. Come to the family of God. Be born again by the power of God. That's what we invite people to. And we can promise them all that scripture promises to the children of God. Righteousness and joy and peace and holiness will be yours as a new creation, as a child of God. Heaven will belong to you. You are made a co-heir with Jesus Christ. The angels of heaven are your servants. The saints of God are your eternal siblings. You're no longer an alien. You're no longer an orphan. You belong. You belong to the most glorious institution and organism, the most wonderful family. that's ever existed, the family of God. Bill and Gloria Gaither had a song, many of you might remember it, I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. Been washed in the fountain, cleansed by his blood. Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, for I'm part of the family, the family of God. The second verse goes like this, from the doors of an orphanage to the house of a king. No longer an outcast, a new song I sing. From rags unto riches, from weak to the strong, I am not worthy to be here, but praise God I belong." Praise God I belong. Have you ever just thanked God that you're a part of the family of God? been on the outside looking in. Have you ever seen maybe some group that you just, maybe it was in high school, right? And all the cool kids were over there and you desperately wanted to be part of that group. I've shared this story before, but it's the deepest experience I think I've had of this. There's been several, but one was just a couple years after college. The Dort College Choir, concert choir, came. Dale Grotenheiss was leading it, and they gave a concert at CRC Church in Jennison. I remember sitting, and the music was so unbelievably beautiful. I was just weeping. They sang a song that Dale Grotenhuis wrote when his son Jack was killed in a motorcycle accident. And it's from the book of Revelation. How great and awesome are your deeds. Think of that. Who will not worship and fear you? After his oldest son had been killed. It just broke me up. And it was so beautiful. And I wanted so desperately to be a part of that choir. I wanted to be up there singing with them. I hope you feel that way about the church. Can you imagine on the last day when all the saints of God are gathered together and all that is sinful and broken is gone? And you see these beautiful people who've been loved with an infinite love. And they're brothers and sisters, and God is their Father, and Jesus is their brother. And the Father says, welcome. Enter into your eternal home. I want to be in that group. I want to be in that number. And the wonderful message of the gospel, of course, is that we can be. Anyone can be, because it's all of grace. Grace means that there's no merit system. It's just given as a gift to those who recognize they don't deserve to be there, but by grace receive the gift that God gives. And it's a gift He gives in the most ironic way. Remember, Jesus being the true Son of God came to this earth and was rejected, despised by men, and abandoned by His own Father there on the cross so that, friends, you and I could be welcomed and received. so that we could become the children of God. We're starting a new year. I'd like it to be the year of the church or the year of learning how to love each other well, learning how to walk together with joy and truth and peace and grace. I've said this to some people before that Harvest Church is sort of a reputation for solid preaching, great singing, good fellowship. But wouldn't it be wonderful if a year from now we could say that what really distinguishes Harvest Church is the Spirit of God has been poured out and we love each other. And the love of Jesus Christ is so wonderfully evident. And there's grace and there's humility and there's kindness and compassion and generous, sacrificial benevolence and love. If you want to get a sense of the love of God, Just go worship with God's people. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? We don't deserve it, but we can ask for it because God gives the Holy Spirit to his children as we pray. Let's bow together. Oh, Father, who are we that we should belong to the family of God? We have sinned in so many ways. We've been rebellious and stubborn. We've rejected you. We've turned and gone our own way. And yet, Father, I thank you that you spoke your gospel to us and gave us the ability to believe it and to receive Jesus Christ and all of his saving power. And thank you, oh God, that we, by the power of your spirit, have been born again so that we have new desires, new hungers for the things of God. Oh God, keep us from just pretending that religion and missing the heart of the gospel, missing the glory of this truth. the precious reality of the grace of God and the gift that He gives. Father, I pray that there be any here tonight who does not understand or know that in truth that they are part of the family of God, oh God, that they would deal with Jesus Christ and that they would love Him and receive Him and trust in Him, embrace Him, And in that know that the love of God has been poured out upon them and their children. So Lord, forgive us for living like orphans. Forgive us for living in fear and anxiety. Lord, I pray that this congregation this year will abound in love as the family of God. that we would delight in each other, we would receive each other as gifts we don't deserve, as siblings that we will enjoy through all of eternity, and may we serve each other and love each other and bless each other, forgive each other, Lord, in ways that only can come from your Spirit. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for making us part of the family of God. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together in closing song. All my heart this night rejoices. As I hear far and near Jesus' angel voices, Rises on when I am sleeping. Till the end every man now can joyous dream. ♪ And lost his pleasure ♪ ♪ Who to save really gave ♪ ♪ His most cherished treasure ♪ ♪ To redeem us he hath given ♪ ♪ His own Son from the throne of his blighting death ♪ ♪ The Lamb had taken ♪ ♪ Sin, love, hate, and glory ♪ ♪ All are told and taken ♪ ♪ For our life is of eternity ♪ ♪ And the race by its race ♪ ♪ Keeps our glory ever ♪ ♪ On your sadness ♪ ♪ One and all, free and strong ♪ ♪ Love with songs and gladness ♪ ♪ Love can move when love is moving ♪ ♪ Hear the star, near and far ♪ He will I cherish, though my breath fail in death, yet I shall not perish, but with Thee, of Thy glory. Now the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you and abide with you all till Christ come again. Amen.