John 1:10 - 13 "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 on his name: Which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
God told us in John 3:16 “For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.” With everything that
happened in the fall of Adam and Eve God elected to love a remnant of the world
out of love, mercy, and grace, therefore He sent that only acceptable sacrifice
(His Beloved Son) to this world as a sacrificial Lamb in the person of Jesus
Christ. However, God said, "He was in the world, and the world was made
by him, and the world knew him not.” And today over 2000 years the people
in this world still do not know Jesus Christ. The world will never know who
Jesus Christ is because the world hates Jesus Christ, His Father, His people,
His word, and His churches. Even as long as man lives on this earth the world
will always hate and reject Jesus Christ, this hatred of Jesus is even extended
His chosen Nation Israel. Jesus Christ came to this world to save sinners, all
those saved sinners rejected Him until the power of God. Oh, how blessed we are
to be called God’s children. God went on to say, “He came unto his own, and
his own received him not.” His own would be the nation of Israel, Jesus
Christ who was born in the likeness of sinful flesh, came in flesh, without sin,
to His very own chosen Israel only to be rejected by them. The very Messiah
they were waiting on, the very Saviour they were told was coming, came to only
be rejected by the very people who should have recognized Him and accepted Him.
So, what is this rejection? They called Him a Devil, they mocked and crucified
Him for being God’s Son, they rejected Him as the Messiah and the God sent
redeemer God promised in Isiah 53. Are the Gentiles any better, no they are
not. People today reject Him as Saviour, reject Him as God’s Son, they reject
His abilities to save the sinner, just as they reject God’s ability to save.
People believe it is in this rejection that they believe God nor Jesus cannot
save the sinner, and believe they can do it themselves, because they have a
free will to do so. But do they, does the lost sinner have the power and
ability to repent and save themselves? If the lost sinner has the ability to do
so, then why must God give us the power? “But as many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God,” To those who do believe it
is by God’s power and not ours, remember we rejected Jesus Christ, we refused
to accept Him as Saviour, God gave us the power and the faith to believe in Him
as Saviour. God gave it because it was not within us. Now, God gives us the
reasons the power came from Him. “Which were born, not of blood” Listen
closely to the language in 1 John 5:1 “Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth
him also that is begotten of him.” These two words are almost
exactly the same in the Greek, so why did God use both words? Because they are
a slight but important difference in them, “begat” means – those of us
who are saved are “born of God” meaning God gave us the birthing or birth
us just like our mother did. – The word “begotten” means the same thing
but has an addition to it, Listen to Albert Barns as he defined it, “The
general idea is, that as all Christians are the children of the same Father; as
they constitute one family; as they all bear the same image; as they share his
favor alike; as they are under the same obligation of gratitude to him, and are
bound to promote the same common cause, and are to dwell together in the same
home forever, they should therefore love one another. As all the children in a
family love their common father, so it should be in the great family of which
God is the Head.” When Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 “Except a man be born again” Jesus
was telling Nicodemus you must be born from above, by the power of God because
no child of anything has been born of themselves. So just as your mother gave
birth to you, God likewise caused you to be born again in the second birth from
above. That is God “begetting” us by His power from above. God said, “nor of
the will of the flesh” You were not born of God because you chose too, it
was God’s gift to you not your gift to God. God also said, “nor of the will
of man” I personally would like to see the worlds population saved, but I
can not make that happen. We cannot cause people to be saved no matter what we
do. Salvation is not in man’s hands, Isaac and Rebekah could not cause Esau to
be saved no more than they could cause Jacob to be saved, just as we cannot
cause our children to be saved. The reason for this salvation is not in our
hands, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God." God saved us, begat us, delivered
us, put it any way you want, but if God did not bring it about by His power
through the Holy Spirit, it is a failure. These verses explain it all, “Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John
3:5 – 6
