|
“As Many As
Received Him…”
By Dr. Curtis Hutson
(1934–1995)
Editor of the SWORD OF THE LORD,
1980–1995
“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.”—John 1:10–13.
There are two groups in the
world. Not everyone is a child of God. There is a modern
teaching concerning the universal Fatherhood of God and the
universal brotherhood of man, but here we read: “But as many
as received him [Jesus], to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” I think
the word “sons” here could be translated “children” because it
has reference both to men and women.
In John 8:44 Jesus said to
another group, “Ye are of your father the devil.” So there are
plainly two groups in the world: those who have trusted Jesus
Christ as Saviour, and thus God is their Father by
regeneration; and those who have never done anything about the
matter of salvation and are lost. Every person in this room
this morning is in one of those two groups.
Do You Know
You Are a Child of God?
Suppose I were to ask you this
morning, “If you were to die today, do you know for sure you
would go to Heaven?"
If you say, “I hope so,” or,
“I think so,” or, “My chances are good,” then just regard that
as “No.” If you “hope so,” that indicates you lack assurance
of salvation.
“Well, Dr. Hutson, nobody can
really answer that question. Nobody can say for sure that if
he dies, he will go to Heaven,” you say.
I beg to differ with you. The
entire First Epistle of John was written for that purpose. In
I John 5:13 the apostle says, “These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye
may know that ye have eternal life.”
Paul said, “For I know whom
I have believed, and am persuaded [thoroughly convinced] that
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day” (II Tim. 1:12).
In Job 19:25,26 Job said,
“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my
skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see
God.” That is assurance.
The blind songwriter, Fanny
Crosby, wrote:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is
mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of
God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
I trusted Jesus when I was
eleven years old; but I lacked assurance of salvation, not
knowing upon what to base my assurance. One day I would think
I was saved, and the next, I would wonder if maybe I was wrong
about it and perhaps was lost; until finally I came out of the
darkness of doubt into the broad daylight of certainty. I
based my assurance on the promise of God, “He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). I decided
either I have everlasting life or God’s Word is not true. The
only thing I can doubt is that I am trusting Him or that He
meant what He said, “He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life.” When I doubted I was trusting Him, I didn’t
argue about it; I just prayed again and told the Lord if I had
never trusted Him, I was then trusting Him.
When the Devil would say, “How
do you know you are trusting Him?” I would pray out loud,
“Dear Lord, if I have never trusted You, I am trusting You
now.” Immediately all doubt would leave.
I am more sure that I am going
to Heaven when I die than I am sure I am standing on this
platform. I am more sure that I am going to Heaven when I die
than I am sure that I am married. And I know I’m
married.
Suppose somebody had asked me
a few minutes after I was married, “Are you married?” and I
answered, “Well, I hope so.”
“What do you mean, you hope
so?”
“Well, I can’t say for
sure.”
Everyone knows for sure
whether he is married, divorced or single. And everyone who is
saved ought to know it. Everyone ought to know that when he
dies, he is going to Heaven—and he can know it. It is the
birthright of every born-again, blood-washed
believer.
You are in one group or the
other. You are either a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ,
or you are a child of the Devil by the fact that you simply
never trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour.
One fellow arguing with Billy
Sunday said, “Yes, I’m a child of God.”
Billy Sunday asked, “Where do
you get that?”
“We are all children of God by
creation.”
Sunday replied, “The Lord
created the monkey and the donkey. Does that make them your
brothers?”
You are not God’s child by
creation. You are God’s child by regeneration.
How Does One Become a Child of
God?
“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.”—John 1:11,12.
“Not of
Blood”
Now, look at verse 13: “Which
were born”—that is the new birth. Then it goes to the negative
side: “not of blood.” This simply means you are not a
Christian because your father was a Christian or your
grandfather was a Christian. You are not going to Heaven
because you belong to a religious family.
On a train one day Dr.
Ironside asked a man about his salvation. “O Sir, religion
runs in my family,” he answered.
Dr. Ironside said, “The only
thing that runs in your family is your sinful
nature.”
Someone said there is a little
spark of divinity in all of us and all it needs is a little
fanning to flame up. There is a little devil in all of us, but
I have never found a little spark of divinity in
anybody.
When a baby loses his temper,
Mamma says, “He’s just like his daddy!” He loses his temper
again, and his daddy says, “He’s just like his mother!” I have
said that. But the truth is, he is like both his mother AND
daddy. When you get the devil that is in Mamma and the devil
that is in Daddy together in the child, you have a devil of a
mess!
Oh, you think yours is a
little angel. No. He has a sinful heart. My children were not
born saying, “Yes, Sir,” and “Yes, Ma’am,” and “Thank you.” We
had to slap their hands and say, “You give it back if you
can’t say, ‘Thank you.’” Yes, they would say, “Thank you,” but
not mean it. They had no real gratitude because of their
sinful nature. Something inside was pulling them in the wrong
direction.
The Bible says you are “born,
not of blood….” You do not owe your second birth to blood. The
only thing you inherit from your parents is your sin nature,
the thing inside that drives you in the wrong
direction.
In Psalm 51:5 David said,
“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me.”
Romans 5:12 states,
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned.”
Romans 5:19 reads, “For as
by one man’s disobedience many were made
sinners.”
You were born with something
inside that pulled you in the wrong direction, and that is
called a sin nature. You are not a sinner because you sin; you
sin because you are a sinner. Sins don’t make the sinner; the
sinner makes the sins. Sins are the fruit; sin is the root.
You do what you do because you are what you are.
You are not born again of
blood. No matter if your mother sings in the choir, your
father receives the offering, your brother leads in prayer and
your sister shouts while they sing—unless you are born of the
Spirit, you will go to Hell when you die! You can join every
church in town and be baptized in every creek in your county,
but if you are not born again, you are on your way to
Hell.
“Nor…of the
Flesh”
Second, he said, “Which were
born, not…of the will of the flesh.” Nothing you can do in
your flesh will save you.
Now I am for reformation, as
long as reformation is in the right place; but if reformation
is used as an instrument of salvation, then I detest
reformation. The fellow who believes he can gain acceptance
before a holy God by reforming his life is as lost as a
goose!
The Bible says in Isaiah 64:6,
“All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Not the
worst you can do but the best you can do is like a dirty,
filthy rag in God’s sight.
I will probably shock you with
this statement: I had as soon trust my sins to get me to
Heaven as to trust my righteousness. I don’t think any man
would press his dying pillow and start bragging, “I deserve
Heaven because I’ve lived so good! I don’t smoke, chew nor run
with those who do!” I’m living right, but none will go to
Heaven because they live right.
“Which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh….” That leaves out
everything having to do with the flesh, including
baptism.
I’m a Baptist. We baptized
more converts than any other church in the state of Georgia.
For the last three years, we baptized over eight hundred
converts each year. But we know one is not saved by being
baptized.
I am for reforming. When a man
is saved, he ought to live right. But until he is saved, he
doesn’t have anything with which to live right. The Christian
life is not an imitation of the Christ life. The Christian
life is Jesus living in you, according to Paul’s statement in
Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
“Which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh….” You can turn over a new
leaf, but you don’t need a new leaf; you need a new life. You
can resolve to live better, but you don’t need a resolution;
you need regeneration. You can join, but you don’t need
joining; you need Jesus.
“…Nor of the Will of
Man”
No man can do one thing to
bring about this regeneration. That leaves the Catholic priest
out. Catholics believe that when they baptize an infant, it
does away with his original sin and keeps him out of limbo in
case he dies in infancy but it won’t keep him out of Hell
unless he gets all seven sacraments—seven channels of grace,
so to speak. They call the priest “Father” because he gives
them their spiritual birth when he baptizes them. But new
birth doesn’t come through any rite performed by the Catholic
priest nor any rite performed by the Baptist preacher nor of
the will of any man, no matter who he is.
“…But of God”—Receive
Him
“Which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God.”
If you do not become a child
of God by the will of the flesh or by blood or by the will of
man, then how do you become a child of God?
“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.”
How does it take place? There
it is in verse 12: “But as many as received him”—not “as many
as received it,” but, “As many as received him.” Salvation is
not a program; it is a Person. Salvation is not an endurance
test; it is a Person. “As many as received him”—Jesus
Christ—to them gave He the right to become the sons of
God.
What does “As many as received
him [Jesus]” mean? I don’t see Jesus. Where is He? You show me
Him, and I’ll receive Him. I can’t see Him. What does it mean
to receive Jesus? The last expression in the verse explains
it: “…even to them that believe on his name.” To receive Jesus
is to believe on Jesus.
If I understand anything about
salvation, there is one determining factor: faith in the
finished work of Jesus Christ. The Bible has many such
verses:
“He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on
him.”—John 3:36.
Here Jesus divides the world
into two groups.
He again divides the world
into two groups:
“He that believeth on him
is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.”—John 3:18.
“He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be
damned.”—Mark 16:16.
Why will men be damned?
Because they won’t believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It
doesn’t say, “He that believeth not and is baptized not and
does not keep the Ten Commandments and does not receive the
seven sacraments and does not get the last rites shall be
damned.” It just says, “He that believeth not shall be
damned.”
Someone asked Dr. Bob Jones,
Sr., “Doesn’t the Bible say, ‘He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved’?”
Dr. Bob answered, “Yes. And
the rest of it says, ‘He that believeth not shall be damned.’”
He continued: “Sir, that is like saying, ‘He that getteth on
the plane and sitteth down shall fly to Tampa, Florida; but he
that getteth not on the plane shall not fly to Tampa,
Florida.’”
It is the getting on that gets
you there, not the sitting down. And “He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be
damned.” It is the believing that gets you saved, not the
being baptized. But any sensible person knows if you get on an
airplane, you ought to sit down! And any sensible person knows
if you get saved, you ought to be baptized. But faith is the
determining factor in salvation.
A lady had been a Christian
only a few years. After she died, her son came to me and
asked, “Do you think my mother went to Heaven?”
I said, “Yes.”
Then he asked, “Do you really
think my mother was good enough to go to Heaven?”
I answered, “No.”
“Well,” he said, “you
contradicted yourself. You said you thought my mother went to
Heaven; then you turned right around and told me you didn’t
think she was good enough to go to Heaven.”
I said, “I didn’t contradict
myself. I do think she went to Heaven, but she didn’t go to
Heaven on her goodness; she went to Heaven on Christ’s
goodness. Her righteousnesses were like filthy rags; but when
she put her faith in Jesus Christ and confessed herself a
poor, lost sinner and trusted Jesus Christ completely for
salvation, she had imputed to her the righteousness of God.
And she is as righteous in God’s sight as Jesus Christ
Himself.”
That is enough to make a
Presbyterian shout!
How does one become a child of
God? “…not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God.” How does it happen? “As many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name.” That simply means if
you put your case in His hands, believe you are a sinner,
believe Jesus Christ died for you, believe He paid your sin
debt at Calvary, and trust Him completely, without
reservation, you are going to Heaven.
I don’t know about you, but
I’m afraid to trust myself. I try to live right. I think I
could brag a little, maybe, in the things I have never done: I
don’t know what whiskey tastes like; I don’t know what beer
tastes like; I never gambled in my life. I’m glad I lived like
that, but I would just as soon go to Heaven and tell God how
bad I have been as to tell Him how good I have been and expect
Him to let me in, because all my righ-teousness stinks in His
sight. I have to have something better than what I can
do.
“Except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven”
(Matt. 5:20). There is not a Christian I know of who lives as
righteous as scribes and Pharisees. You have to have something
better than they had. They wouldn’t eat an egg laid on the
Sabbath Day! They tithed everything. I don’t know one
Christian who has always given a tenth of his income from the
time he was saved.
I don’t live as good as the
scribes and Pharisees, but Jesus did; and I am
Dressed in His righteousness
alone,
Faultless to stand before the
throne.
The only way you will get
there is through Jesus—J-E-S-U-S:
Jesus
Exactly
Suits
Us
Sinners.
Jesus paid our debt and
suffered our Hell; and “as many as received him [believed on
Him, trusted Him], to them gave he power to become the sons of
God.”
If you are trusting Jesus plus
something, you are lost. The “plus” will send you to Hell. If
I put my confidence in this little clergy seat to hold me up,
with ninety percent of my weight on it and ten percent on a
rope, the ten percent destroys the ninety percent, because the
ten percent says I am not fully, completely trusting this
chair—just in case it won’t do it, I want this
rope.
And you are not going to
Heaven until you fully, completely, unreservedly,
wholeheartedly trust Jesus Christ to get you to
Heaven.
Set out to be the best
Christian you can be. Be baptized as the first act of
obedience after salvation. Join a Bible-believing church where
you can serve God. Learn the Bible. Grow in grace. Become a
witness and try to win your friends to Christ. Try to raise a
good Christian family and be a good example.
I hope, if you have trusted
Christ, you will make up your mind about these other things. I
hope, if you have never really trusted Him completely, that
you will throw yourself on Him this morning and say in the
words of the songwriter:
My hope is built on nothing
less
Than Jesus’ blood and
righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest
frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’
name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I
stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
Editor Urges You to Be
Sure You Are Saved
God has given us the written
Word as the basis of our assurance of salvation. And Dr.
Hutson has quoted many Scriptures showing how one may know he
is saved. Salvation is a free gift, and all one can do is
receive it.
Our only hope of Heaven is the
promise God has given us in His Word: “He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). If you will trust
Christ as Saviour—that is, believe on Him—you can know you
have everlasting life because God says so.
What does it mean to believe
on Christ? It means to trust, to put one’s full confidence in
Jesus and rest in Him for salvation.
There is no promise in the
Bible to those who partially believe on Jesus. One must fully
trust Jesus and nothing else. He who is trusting Jesus plus
his baptism is not fully trusting Jesus. One who trusts Jesus
plus the sacraments is not fully trusting Jesus. One who is
trusting Jesus plus his church membership, good life,
morality, promises to do better, or anything else, is not
fully trusting Jesus. It is Jesus, period.
One should live as good as he
possibly can, but he doesn’t go to Heaven because he lives
good. He goes to Heaven because Jesus Christ paid his sin
debt, and he trusts Christ as his Saviour.
If you have never trusted Him,
will you do so now? Romans 10:13 says, “Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” If you will trust
Him, I suggest you pray this simple prayer:
Dear Lord, I admit I’m a
sinner. I do believe You died for me and arose from the grave
to be my Saviour. I do right now trust You to forgive my sin
and save me. From this moment, I am fully depending on You to
take me to Heaven when I die. Thank You for paying my sin debt
and receiving me as Your child. Amen.
If
you prayed that prayer, then I would love to hear from you. I
have some free literature that will help you as you set out to
live the Christian life. All you need do to receive it is to
fill out the decision form and send it to me. How glad I will
be to hear that you now have trusted Christ as your Saviour
and are on your way to Heaven!
Decision
Form
Dr.
Shelton Smith
Sword
of the Lord
PO Box
1099
Murfreesboro,
TN 37133-1099
Dear
Dr. Smith,
I have
read the sermon entitled “As Many As Receive Him,” by Dr.
Curtis Hutson, and have made the decision to receive Christ as
my Saviour. Please send me the free literature that you
mentioned that will help me to grow in my Christian life and
that will help me to share with others the message of
salvation.
Date_____________________________
Name____________________________
Address___________________________
__________________________________
|