Light in the World Pt. 2

We express our gratitude to all
of you. If you would, take your Bibles
and turn back once again to the Gospel of John. John chapter
one, where we have been for a number of weeks, it’s a rich, rewarding
section of scripture, referred to as the prologue, where essentially
John, the apostle, is heralding the Lord Jesus Christ. We opened
in that great section where he began to tell us about the Lord
Jesus Christ and then he began to tell us in verse six about
the witness, God’s witness in the ministry of John the Baptist.
We find ourselves in that third general section which we entitled
Light in the World. not the light of the world, not
here anyway, but light in the world that Jesus Christ has come
into the world. And in that, we began to look
at humanity and humanity’s reaction to the light, to the glory of
Christ. In order that we can set the
tone and properly grasp the context, if you would, I wanna go all
the way back to verse one once again. where John the Apostle
wrote, 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 came into being through
Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come
into being. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from
God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify
about the light, so that all might believe through him. He
was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. There
was the true light, which coming into the world enlightens every
man. He was in the world, and the
world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He
came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive
Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right
to become children of God, even 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. And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us. And we saw His glory, glory as
of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. We began to see as the Apostle
John heralded the Word, he heralded the Lord Jesus Christ, but he
referred to Him as the Word, and thereby he drew in Greeks
in curiosity and Jews. as they pondered the meaning,
the significance of this term, the word. We began to see that
the word was eternal in nature. He was in a relational position
with God himself. He had a divine identity. He
was God. He had a distinct personality.
Though he was God, he was not God the father. He was with God
the father, even face to face. We saw His creational power that
all things came into being through Him. We saw His gift of illuminating
light, life rather, that in giving life to every human ever born
on the face of the earth, He gave them also conscience and
an ability to look and to see and perceive that God in His
handiwork is alive and making witness of Himself every moment
of every day. And yet that witness was inadequate
in a great measure to lead people to faith. We saw that the light
shines in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. Nevertheless,
there was victorious revelation. It’s not God to blame. But God
is not done bearing witnesses. God calls to the stand one John
the Baptist, a man sent. for a specific task that was
merely to bear witness of the light, to bear witness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He had an evangelical mission.
He was sent by God with an evangelical mission to tell people about
the Lord Jesus Christ. But John the Apostle makes it
very clear this is not the light. John the Baptist was not the
light. John the Baptist was not there to call attention to himself
at all. John the Baptist was here and
sent by God for one purpose, and that was to point others
to the Lord Jesus. And with that, John opens up.
into this really new and detailed description of Christ. And really,
not just a description of Christ, but a description of humanity’s
interaction with the Lord Jesus. We began to pick up in chapter
one, verse nine, that as we began to step back and contemplate
what we’ve referred to, rather, as the points of light, we saw,
first of all, the light and his effect. What was the light and
his effect on mankind? Look at verse nine. By way of
review, we looked and we saw that for the first time now,
John has referred to light in a very general fashion in verses
four and five, a little more pointedly referring to Christ
in verses seven and eight, but now he speaks specifically and
exclusively of Christ as being the light. There was the true
light. which coming into the world enlightens every man. It
was that entrance into the world that the light of Christ’s witness
really began to shine, and in a very real way. Just like the
sunrise, just like the beauty of God’s creation is a testimony
to Him, Jesus Christ came as the full and final testimony
to God, and in a very real way, he enlightened every man. Everybody
knows that Christ existed. Everybody knows, even if all
you were to do is look at the date on your newspaper, you know
that something happened 2015 years ago. You know that there
was a historical figure named Jesus Christ, and you know that
he existed. There was the true light, which
coming into the world enlightens every man. God said it’s time. He sent his son, born of a woman. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ. We pondered also, as we began
to look at light in the world and humanity’s reaction to the
glory of Christ, we saw not only the light and his effect, but
we saw the light and his general rejection. Shocking. You would think that as Jesus
Christ came into the world, the very light of God, the very revelation
of God, that He would be readily received. And He wasn’t. Look
at verse 10. He was in the world. And John
is merely alluding to the incarnation here at this point. He’s telling
us that Christ is coming. He’s telling us that Christ,
that He will unfold the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
here He just takes an overarching view of all of Christ’s ministry.
And He says He was in the world. And the world was made through
Him. That point has already been registered, verse three. Everything
came into being by Christ. There wasn’t anything that was
ever, that has ever been made that was entered into the world
apart from Christ. He was in the world, and the
world was made through him, and the world did not know him. It literally did not recognize
him. It didn’t know him for who he was. It had a general understanding
of Christ, but it didn’t receive him as such. There was a testimony
of the light, but men in their darkened hearts did everything
they could to suppress the light. Paul, in writing to the Romans,
testified of that. Even though they knew God, they
did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile
in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became
fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for
an image in the form of corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed
animals, and crawling creatures. They began to worship and exalt
the creation above even the Creator Himself. Jesus Christ came as light into
a darkened world, and yet the average person, the general report
was that Christ was essentially rejected. I’m thankful there
was a third observation that we made about the light. And
here we come into the new section. We’re looking at the light of
the world, true light, where Christ is truly shining. He is
light in the world. He has come incarnate, taken
on human flesh, and he is manifesting God’s presence in the world. We saw that in humanity’s reaction,
there was not only the light and his effect and the light
and his general rejection, but thirdly, the light and his particular
reception. The light and his particular
reception. And essentially what John, the
apostle, wants to do is take us from this general perspective,
which was one of rejection, to a specific, almost case-by-case
basis. and to look at what was the reception
to Christ. It wasn’t universal rejection. We’ve already determined that.
People didn’t say in wholesale fashion, we don’t want Christ. There were some. There are always
some. Look at verse 11. The light and
his particular reception. He came to his own. and those
who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him,
to them he gave the right to become children of God, even
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. You say, pastor, You just said
that this was, this third point was about particular reception. And then as you read verse 11,
you immediately see that they didn’t receive him. I didn’t
say that the reception was all good. I didn’t say that people
in their reception of Christ embraced him. But there was a reception. And
there’s a reception of Christ that every person, will answer
to God for the way that they received Him. Every person will
answer to God for that. If you would glance down at verse
11 as we begin, the light in this particular reception. Where
we just read, He came to His own. We can pause right there.
And really, you don’t even need to read that far to get the simple
sentence. He came. Now that statement is
a complete sentence in itself. And it’s striking considering
the territory that we’ve already covered. Everything up until
now considered the word, the light, the Lord Jesus Christ
in view of eternity. And specifically pointing that
he did not come into being, but he simply was, remember? Look
back at verse one, in the beginning, was the Word. He was already
in existence in that same point in time where Moses takes us
in Genesis 1, and Moses takes and moves forward. John the Apostle
here takes us to Genesis 1 in the beginning, and he points
us to eternity past, and he says at that point in time, Jesus
Christ simply was. He was already in existence.
He was eternally in existence. He says, he uses the same verb
again. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was God. He didn’t come to be God in a
point of time. He was always God. He simply
was God. He says it again. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was not only God himself, but he was also face-to-face
with God. And he goes on to make the same
point in verse 2 that he was separate and distinct from the
Father. He was face-to-face with him because he was separate and
distinct, and yet they were both deity, both God. Look at verse
4. In him was life. He didn’t come into existence.
He simply was. Look at verse 9. there was the
true light. Pictures Jesus Christ shining
really from all eternity, that he has always been a witness,
he has always been a testimony, he has always been a light. Look
at verse 10, he was in the world. In a very real way, even prior
to the incarnation, Christ was in the world, Christ was there
at the creation, Christ has been there at every point in time
since. Christ was plainly evident. But suddenly John changes everything
and he says he came. The word, the light, our Lord
Jesus Christ was, but now John suddenly says he came. It’s very
striking. What amazing words of hope are
these two little words. Two little English words, he
came. It might have been encouraging,
in a sense, if John had stopped at verse 10. Just reminding us
that Jesus was from all eternity, that he had a personal relationship
with God. That’d be comforting to know,
wouldn’t it? That there was this being, this multi-faceted being,
and that he was eternal in his existence. That’s important to
know. Those things would have been encouraging. It would have
been important to know that he, in fact, was God, that he’s part
of the Godhead. We may not ever understand it
really and fully, the threefold nature of God, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, but it’s good to know. And that would
have been encouraging, even if John stopped there. But he didn’t. All of that would
have been encouraging enough. The life that he gives, the conscience
that we have, Just the ability to realize, you know what? I
am without excuse. If I can’t look out and see God’s
handiwork, I’m without excuse. All of that would have been encouragement,
the life that he gives us, the conscience. It would have been
enlightening to ponder for the rest of our days, just looking
for God, looking for God’s handiwork, and the stars, and the sun, and
the moon, and life itself, the birth of a baby. It might have
been additionally encouraging to learn that in addition to
our own conscience and the light of the testimony of creation,
that there was another light. That Jesus Christ himself was
God’s greatest light, and maybe John the Baptist, or John the
Apostle could have stopped there. Just telling us that there is
another light, that if you look deep enough and you ponder long
enough, there is the light of Christ shining throughout eternity. But even in it, there is a clue
here. There’s a hint, there’s a forecast
to this statement. He came. There’s another clue. John the Baptist came to proclaim
that light. What would light be if it never
shone? Would you pause to think about that? What would that point
of What would the point be of light anyway if it never illuminated
the darkness? Last Lord’s Day we took a look
at these additional clues in verses 9 and 10. That there was
interaction between the light and every human conscience. That this light was in the world
and even though it was generally rejected. So John to a degree
here in verse 11, he reaches a culmination When he says the
word, the light, the Lord Jesus Christ, he came. He really came. It was enough to talk about him
in eternity past and talk about his features and talk about who
he was and what he was like, but now he says he came. And now every soul, every born
on the face of the earth must deal with the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to a world he created.
a world of sin and lost sinners, but He came. Stepping from eternity
into time, from His divine station with the Father and the Spirit,
into human flesh, into His divinely ordained role as a Savior, He
came. He came in the flesh, definitively,
to bring the world to salvation. First to His people, but ultimately
to the world, but He came. Look again at verse 11. Where the apostle John simply
writes, he came to his own. And those who were his own did
not receive him. We’ll get to that second statement
in a moment. I wanna just continue to try to tackle the first. And
so he came. No longer this theoretical God,
this conceptual God, this God of whom John was describing in
those first 10 verses. He came. And not only did He
come, but He came to a people, not exclusively, as we’ll learn
almost immediately, but primarily. First and foremost, He came for
a people. He came for a Jewish nation.
He came for Israel. Look, if you will, at the passage,
verse 11, where it says, he came to his own. Okay, and it’s fair, it’s even
necessary that we pause and we inquire, to what does this refer,
his own? What or who were his own? I’ve tipped my hand already suggesting
that primarily Jesus Christ came for Israel and then ultimately
for the whole world to bring salvation. But there’s an interesting
feature here that should not be ignored. John twice refers
to his own in verse 11. He came to his own and those
who were his own did not receive him. Okay, and so here’s the
fascinating thing, now that you’re sitting on the edge of your seat.
There’s a feature in the Greek language called gender. Many
languages utilize that feature, not so much in English. But in
gender-oriented languages, a word can occur in the masculine gender,
in the feminine gender, or even in neutral gender, and it affects
the meaning of the word. Those differences are important,
and they affect the meaning, as I say. And here in verse 11,
for the first time that John says his own, it’s in the neutral,
the neuter gender, referring to things. It’s as if John said,
neither male nor female, he came to his own things. John, Can’t
be talking about people here, not specifically. He’s talking
about things, but what things? When John says he came to his
own, what kind of things could he possibly be talking about?
Let me take you to just a couple of passages. We’ll exercise our
fingers quickly. John 16, John chapter 16. In John chapter 16, just glance
at verse 32. Behold, an hour is coming, and
it has already come for you to be scattered, each to his own
home, and to leave me alone, and yet I am not alone, because
the Father is with me. He uses it right in that sentence.
Did you catch it? Each to his own. And there translated,
home. It doesn’t say home, not in the
Greek text. Each to his own. John chapter 19 if you would.
John chapter 19, look at verse 27. Down in verse 27, then he said
to his disciples, behold, to his disciple rather, this is
Jesus on the cross presenting his mother to John and John to
his mother. Then he said to the disciple,
behold your mother, from that hour, The apostle John, the disciple,
took her into his own household. It doesn’t say household. That’s
interpretational. He took him to his own. Back
to John chapter one. In a very real sense, we could
look at John chapter one, verse 11, and say, when John records
that he came to his own, he came to his own house, he came to
his own household. That would be somewhat interpretational. and really somewhat vague. Jesus
didn’t have a house. That’s precisely the point of
Luke chapters one and two, right? Born in a stable. When John says
that Jesus came to his own, what kinds of things could he be referring
to here? What was Jesus’ property? What
were Jesus’ possessions? What did Jesus have? Well, we
know that Jesus had an inheritance. We know that He had a thing that
was rightfully His. It was the nation of Israel.
In a very real sense, it was His property. He had created
it. In fact, He had created the whole
world. He had called this nation. He
had formed this nation. He had redeemed it and called
it and protected it. It was His. It was without question
His property. Psalm 85.1, You poured out your
blessings on your land. It was God’s, and it was Christ’s. John isn’t speaking here in a
general way of just any kinds of possessions. He’s talking
very specifically. He has something very specific
in mind. It was the nation of Israel that could specifically
be called his. The nation of Israel belonged
to the Lord Jesus Christ, but it goes well beyond that. When
John says, literally, he came to his own things, he’s literally
saying he came to the all things that we learned he created in
verse 3, right? He created all things. When he
came to his own, he owned the whole world. Not just the nation
of Israel. Not just a particular continent. He created everything that has
ever been made. All things are His. I love the
way J.C. Ryles summarized it when he said,
our Lord came to a people whose land, territory, cities, temple
were all His property and had been originally granted by Himself. The Jews, Palestine, the temple
were all Christ’s peculiar possession. Everything belonged to Him. And
so when it says that He came to His own, it wasn’t just to
the Jewish nation, but to everything, everything in the world, the
creation that God had made through Christ, the world that God had
made, the heritage that He had cultivated throughout human history.
with the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel itself,
given its rich spiritual history with God, and the covenants,
the law, the temple, the priesthood, all the sheep and the cattle
Christ owned, even the flowers on the hillside. Everything was
His. But especially the people. Especially
the people. But look again at verse 11. He
came to His own. He came to everything that He
had ever created, the entire world, but specifically the nation
of Israel, and the people, and the temple, and the priesthood.
And those who were His own did not
receive Him. Now a moment ago, I pointed out
that there’s an interesting feature here, right? One that we can’t
overlook. John twice refers to his own.
He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive
him. And we looked at the first, occurring
in the neuter gender, and it referred to things, but this
second occurrence is used in the masculine gender. Now it
absolutely refers to people. It refers to His people. It refers
to God’s people. It refers to the people that
specifically belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s not talking
about things in general anymore. He’s not talking about general
regions. He’s talking about people, one
by one. He’s talking about His people.
He’s talking about the people of Israel, the Jewish people.
And these were the very people that God had chosen and taken
to Himself in a very exclusive and special way. Listen. Just a few verses. Exodus 19.5. Now then, if you
will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall
be my own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth
is mine. In other words, God says there
exactly what John the Apostle says here in John 1 11. Jesus
owned the whole world already. But this one particular nation,
this one particular nation was absolutely God’s. It absolutely
belonged to the Lord Jesus. Listen to a second, Deuteronomy
7.6. You are a holy people. Did you
know, and this is why I love to refer to God’s people as the
saints, you’re the saints. You’re the set-apart ones. You
don’t have to wait to die to be nominated and voted on to
become a saint. Paul says if you have placed
your faith in Christ, you are already considered a sanctified
one, set-apart for Christ himself. You’re a saint. That’s exactly what he told the
nation of Israel. You are a holy people. You have been set aside
for God’s own use. You’re a holy people to the Lord
your God. The Lord your God has chosen
you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples
who are on the face of the earth. In fact, just listen. Just a
few minutes. Think of all the times where
God refers to this nation as My people. Exodus 3.7. The Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of My people. Exodus 3.10. Come now, I will
send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring My people, the sons
of Israel, out of Egypt. Exodus 6.7. I will take you for
My people. Leviticus 26.12. You shall be
My people. 1 Samuel 2.29. The choicest offering of My people, Israel.
2 Samuel 3.18, David and I will
save, pardon me, by the hand of my servant David, I will save
my people Israel. 1 Kings 6.13, 2 Kings 25, and
on and on and on the list goes. They were his people. It was
the nation of Israel that was Christ’s special possession. And their entire history was
a preparation to receive him when he came. We read last Lord’s Day, verse
10. He was in the world, and the
world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. That’s
sad. It was a terrible thing to learn.
But not surprising. Not surprising to learn that
this fallen, sinful world was so spiritually dull and blind
to the entrance of Christ into the world that they missed it
entirely. They didn’t catch Him. But Israel? God’s chosen people? Primarily for whom the Messiah
would come? Wouldn’t they be ready? Wouldn’t
they receive him, the very place in the world where he surely
would have been welcomed? I love the way one faithful shepherd put it. Never, it seems, had the Jews
better deserved the title of honor from Jehovah, his people,
than at the moment when Jesus appeared. Did you hear what he
said? They never deserved that title more than when Jesus arrived
on the scene. They were his people. They considered
themselves such. They were waiting on him. He
continues. Their monotheistic zeal that
one God. They were the people that believed
in, everybody else had idols. Israel believed in one God. Their monotheistic zeal, their
aversion to idolatry had reached the culmination point. The nation
in general seemed to form a messianic community, altogether disposed
to receive Him who should come. They were waiting. They were
anticipating the Messiah. They were ready to embrace Him
when He came. They were His people. The eager
welcome, which the Messiah had a right to expect, that welcome
should have been a solemn and official reception on the part
of the whole nation, hailing its Messiah. And what it should
have done is bled over from there into every nation. The testimony
of Israel’s own faith in the Messiah, the reception of him,
should have been a giant witness to the entire world. But look at verse 11. He came
to His own. He came to His own things. He
came to the world. He came to the world that He had created.
He came to Israel, which was His own possession. He came to
the temple. He came to His people. He came to everything that belonged
to Him. And those who were His own, the
very people, the very people for whom He came, did not receive
Him. His own people. the nation of
Israel, the Jewish people, by and large, did not receive them.
The word here, receive, did not receive, literally means to take
from the hand of another, to accept what is offered. This
is graphic imagery. They literally put their hand
up. Maybe they put their hands behind their backs. They didn’t
want what was offered. This wasn’t foisted upon them.
That’s not God’s way. Do you know where and when this
word is used? This beautiful word. To accept from the hand
of another. Listen to Matthew chapter 1 verse
20. It’s used of Joseph and Mary. Remember, Joseph wants to divorce
Mary. He’s discovered that she’s pregnant, miraculously so, we
know that now. And Joseph is gonna put her away,
remember? But when he had considered this,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your
wife. That’s a precious word. Do not be afraid to take Mary
as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is
of the Holy Spirit. That’s exactly what Joseph did.
Matthew 1.24, just a few verses later, Joseph awoke from his
sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, always the
wise thing to do, and he took, he received her as his own, he
took her into his own hand as his own. Beautiful image. Matthew uses it elsewhere. Remember
the Mount of Transfiguration? Well, Jesus could have gone up
there all alone, but he brought with him three friends. Six days
later, it says, he took with him, in that same beautiful word,
took them into his hand. They didn’t deserve to be there.
He took them, and they received it, and they came with him, Peter,
James, and John, up onto the Mount of Transfiguration, which
had to be, on an earthly perspective, one of the most amazing sights
ever. I’ll tell you another place where it’s used. It’s used to the Philippian jailer. Remember Paul had abused or been
abused by the Philippian jailer, beaten, thrown in prison. And
then they came to Christ through miraculous means. And it says,
they took them that very hour of the night and they washed
their wounds and immediately he was baptized, him and his
whole household. It’s a beautiful word, this word received. Still
another describes it as taking a person to oneself in intimate
fellowship, which we saw in Joseph and Mary. Still another describes
it accepting or acknowledging one to be what he professes to
be receiving him. And while humanity in general
didn’t recognize and respond accordingly to Christ’s entrance
in the world, the world he created, surely the nation of Israel should
have accepted Christ. They should have welcomed him,
shouldn’t they? They should have embraced him in warm fellowship.
They should have affirmed and believed what he said and what
he taught. Surely they would recognize the
Messiah. Surely they would receive him.
But they didn’t. You already know that I love
the rich imagery of our English translations. And I don’t typically,
kind of an advertisement of sorts, I don’t typically care for the
message. The translation officially called
the message, but this, their translation here is very interesting.
It interprets this passage very bluntly. He came to his own people
but they didn’t want him. Wow. There was a decisive rejection
on the part of this people. This wasn’t a case where they
simply didn’t recognize him like the world and so much ignorance. This was a case where they knew
but they didn’t welcome him. Occasionally you’ll see these
signs on people’s front doors, right? No solicitation. And you know, in this day and
age, we practically need those signs to keep people from bugging
us. Or the telephone equivalent, right? You call and you’re on
the do not call list. There’s an announcement to that
end. This is effectively what Israel,
as a people, did to Christ. They pulled up the welcome mat,
slammed the door on his face, as if he were peddling magazines.
They had him on the ultimate do not call list. Isaiah records
the nation of Israel chapter one verse two, listen O heavens
and hear O earth, for the Lord speaks, sons I have reared and
brought up but they have revolted against me, an ox knows its owner
and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know, my
people do not understand. I want to take you, in closing,
to a living illustration, if you would, to Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20, if you would,
look at verse nine. He, that is Christ, went on to
tell the parable, the people rather, this parable. A man planted
a vineyard and rented it out to some farmers and went away
for a long time. At harvest time, he sent a servant
to the tenants so that they would give him some of the fruit of
the vineyard, but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty
handed. He sent another servant. But that one also, they beat
and treated shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. He sent
still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. Then the
owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my son,
whom I love. Perhaps they will respect him. But when the tenants saw him,
they talked the matter over. This is the heir, they said.
Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. So they threw him
out of the vineyard and killed him. You see Jesus, Jesus knew
this story well. Jesus didn’t make it up on the
spot. Jesus had witnessed this story unfold for the centuries.
God was the vineyard owner, the vineyard was the people of God,
Israel. The harvest was the fruit of
righteousness and repentance and faith. The vine grower, the
tenants, were the religious leaders to whom Jesus was speaking. The
slaves were those sent by God to call people back to God’s
standard, to the vineyard owner’s standard. The son, the beloved
son, is Jesus Christ himself. It’s a masterful presentation.
But it’s not new imagery. There’s a nearly identical image
presented by Isaiah. And perhaps that’s why Jesus
used this, because he knew that those, his detractors, would
know this image well, Isaiah 5. Let me sing now for my well-beloved,
a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well beloved
has a vineyard on a fertile hill and he dug it all around and
removed its stones and planted it with the choicest vine and
he built a tower in the middle of it and he hewed out a wine
vat in it. Then he expected it to produce
good grapes. But it doesn’t end there. That
it produced only worthless ones. Israel over and over again rejected
not only Christ, they rejected God as well. It was a perfect
vineyard that God had established with perfect vines, everything
that it needed to be fruitful. Matthew adds an interesting twist
here. When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine
growers to receive his produce. It was God’s land. It was God’s
plan of redemption. God had a right to receive what
was his. God had a right for them to receive
Christ. And we saw that over and over
again, they just beat the slaves. Christ would go on to point out
that these were all the prophets that God kept saying, when did
that ever happen? It’s the history of Israel. Remember Jezebel? Jezebel didn’t
care for prophets much. Jezebel destroyed the prophets
of the Lord. Elijah, 1 Kings 19.10, your altars
are torn down, your prophets are killed with the sword and
I alone am left and they seek my life to take it away. Micah,
Micah was thrown into a dungeon by Ahab. Uriah, killed by Jehoiakim. Elisha, threatened by Jehoram. Zechariah, stoned at the commandment
of Joash. Jeremiah was stoned by the exiles
in Egypt. You’re talking about a tough
ministry. See, whenever you’re having a bad ministry week, you
just read Jeremiah. You shall speak all the words
to them, but they will not listen to you, Jeremiah 7.27. Pashor had Jeremiah beaten and
put him in the stocks, Jeremiah 20. Over and over again in Jeremiah’s
situation, Isaiah, according to Jewish tradition, Psalm 2,
Ezekiel fared less better. At one point they said to him,
alas, Lord God, all they say is they’re saying of me is, he’s
just speaking parables, he’s just up there rambling. He has
nothing to say to us. Amos was told to flee and deliver
his, take your prophecies, take your little preaching, go somewhere
else. Great summary in the book of
Chronicles, chapter 36, verses nine through 16, but it summarizes
this at the end. They continually mocked the messengers
of God, despised his words, scoffed at his prophets until the wrath
of the Lord arose against his people and there was no remedy. That was heartbreaking to Christ
because He knew that it ultimately meant rejection for Him. He pointed out to them in Matthew
chapter 23 that they were those who murdered the prophets. And He pleaded with them at the
end, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to her. That was Israel’s way. And so they rejected Christ.
As one pastor said, this verse describes the unbelief of the
Jewish nation after the incarnation of Christ and during his ministry
among them. He came to a people who were
peculiarly his own by their redemption from Egypt, by their introduction
into the land of Canaan, by their possession of the law of Moses
and the covenants, and yet they did not believe on him or receive
him. But they actually rejected and
slid in. And so you say, you called this
the particular reception. And it doesn’t sound like much
of a reception, and it wasn’t. It wasn’t at least by his people,
but not all of them. Some of them, and many others
believed, look at verse 12. But as many as received him, which included not only Greeks,
Gentiles, it also included Jews, as many as received him to them,
he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe
in his name. Would you bow before him? Our merciful God, it is easy for us to sit here
this morning and be critical of Christ and Christ rejecters,
to be critical of those who did not warmly welcome him. Yet Lord, we must deal first
and foremost with our own cruel hearts. Some of us have taken
Christ, but we’ve taken Him casually. Some of us continue to defer
until later, until we can ponder these things further. Lord God,
that even those of us who have placed their faith in Christ,
sometimes we’re far too casual about the Savior that came and
gave His life for our own. Lord God, for those of us who
do know you, we plead with you to grant us the grace and renew
the passion in our hearts to follow Christ. May it never be
said of us that we did not receive him, did not welcome him, did
not embrace him fully and faith. Lord God, if there are any others
behaving like the nation of Israel, deferring, putting off, pondering,
ignoring, closing him out. Lord God, appeal
to their hearts. Press upon them that this is
the very God of the universe who has come and taken human
flesh for sinners. sinners such as
us. Lord God, we plead with you that
you might so work in the hearts of people that they would receive
you warmly even this day. We thank you and we praise you
in Jesus’ name. Amen. As we close, let’s sing
the two verses listed in your bulletin of In Christ Alone.
Let’s stand and sing. Mm-hmm.