[0:00] He gave the 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.
[0:20] But it is a trite saying that it takes all kinds to make a world.
[0:35] And so far as wordly philosophy goes, that may have a semblance of a truth. And so far as we resort to the truth of the scriptures, it isn't so.
[0:53] No, because the biblical teaching on this matter is that the world of mankind contains but two classes of people.
[1:09] For it is divided between the saved on the one hand and the unsaved on the other.
[1:20] It is not an equal division. There is the division between God and Satan.
[1:36] And this is clearly taught in the words which God addressed to the serpent in the Garden of Eden when he declared, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.
[1:59] It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now so early in the biblical revelation are we taught that there are these two generations, these two kingdoms, the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God.
[2:32] There is the seed of the woman and the seed of the devil. There is a spiritual posterity belonging to God.
[2:47] There is the natural posterity of which Jesus said, ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do.
[3:04] So right at the outset, the Bible stresses this, that there are distinctive opposing forces.
[3:16] the children of God, and the children of Satan. Now you will see what a stark contrast is made here.
[3:31] For an individual, according to biblical truth, an individual is either a child of God, or a child of the devil.
[3:44] He is either spiritual, or he is still natural. He is either a child of like, or else he is a child of unbelief and darkness.
[4:02] The contrast becomes all the more stark as the biblical truth continues. For as we go on through the scriptures, the teaching is expanded, and we are taught that a child of the devil is a captive, being led captive by the devil at his will.
[4:32] held and bound in the chains of Satan and of his sin. Whereas on the other hand, the child of God is free, enjoying what the Bible teaches, the liberty of the sons of God.
[4:54] A child of Satan is naturally vile. Whereas the child of God has been washed from his sins, he has been made pure and made suitable for the kingdom, the everlasting kingdom of God.
[5:16] And as this teaching is further expanded throughout the scripture revelation, it is taught that the child of Satan, if he remains a soul, will ultimately share the doom of a Satan.
[5:36] Whereas the child of God will have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God and his eternal glory.
[5:50] That is the Bible's teaching on this matter. So far as the gospel of John is concerned, three times within this gospel, it is assertive that because of Jesus there was a division among the people.
[6:21] Christ, you see, causes divisions. He said on one occasion, I am not come to bring peace upon the earth.
[6:32] I am come to bring a sword. Whatever else he meant by that expression, certainly it comes home to us in this way, that a sword is that which divides and which cuts.
[6:51] Christ, in his earthly ministry, made divisions amongst the people.
[7:05] The people were divided because of Christ. For there were those who believed and trusted in him and were saved by his grace.
[7:18] but there were others, particularly the religious leaders, who remained hostile and stubborn towards him and rebelled against him, would have none of his teaching and they outrightly rejected him.
[7:37] And it is still the same. Christ comes unto his own and his own receive him not.
[7:53] It is a matter of observation to note that families are divided because of Christ.
[8:03] for there are families within which there are the saved and the unsaved. The family is divided because of Christ.
[8:18] Friendships are severed because of Christ. When I was saved so long ago, one by one, my old companions drifted away from me.
[8:35] Christ made a division. He does yet. Congregations are divided because of Christ.
[8:49] Divided between the saved and the unsaved. But my dear friend, what I want to emphasize tonight is this.
[9:02] The genius of the gospel consists in this as Paul preached and taught that there is such power in the Lord Jesus, power that enables him to open your eyes and to turn you from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that you may obtain the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ.
[9:43] The gospel message is directed towards sinners of mankind to save them out of the family of Satan and to place them into the family of God.
[10:07] May I ask you this evening are you God's child? God in the eighth chapter of Romans and in the third chapter of Galatians the apostle Paul teaches the gracious and the lovely and the wonderful doctrine of divine adoption.
[10:40] He shows it there most clearly the glory of an individual saved by the sovereign grace of God changed by that saving converting experience that transforms the individual from being a child of darkness a child of disobedience a child of Satan into becoming a child of light a child of obedience a child of God to the Galatians he concludes this teaching with these words we are the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ that's how John puts it similarly he says as many as received him the
[11:44] Christ of God to them give he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name now have you done that have you received the Lord Jesus have you trusted him personally for yourself have you exercised faith in him as your savior for the gospel teaches and insists upon this that it is the only one fundamental experimental way of becoming a child of God and that is to receive Christ as he is offered and presented in the gospel to close with him to take him as God given and the very instant that you do that
[12:48] God by the miracle of his grace makes you to become his child out when the Jews led claim to this that God was their father the Lord Jesus devastatingly disproved their claim and he told them most bluntly and plainly ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father it is your will to do the solemn truth is that sinners of mankind are all in that category by nature by their natural corruption they are thus naturally related to
[13:57] Satan now this is demonstrated it is proved not only by the word of God which says concerning the Ephesians who underwent the saving change regenerated by the spirit of God brought into the family of God by faith in Christ Paul said to them in time past you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience so sinners of mankind are described as being the children of Satan the children of disobedience but again this is proved not only by the clear teaching and the statements of the word of God but it is demonstrated also out of a personal experience because of those who have been saved by the power and the grace of
[15:06] God always testify that their saving experience has consisted in this that they have been saved out of Satan's family they have been brought into the family of God once they were darkness now they are light in the Lord and every honest individual who faces up to this matter will confess that deep down in his soul he knows that it is the very truth of God that in individual experience the individual is held captive and led captive by the devil we cannot gainsay we must not gainsay the teaching of
[16:07] Christ on this matter and the devil makes approaches to the souls of men along three avenues those three avenues are these they are delineated by John in his first epistle for there is first of all the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life do we need to elaborate upon these things do we need to detail the aggravated sins and corruptions to which they lead living in this age as we do an age which has seen the advent of the film industry and television programs and salacious publishing houses and the pornographic literature these are the works of a
[17:25] Satan by which he beguiles unstable souls leading them not only into secret sin but also into open profligacy the pride of life through that he encourages the covetousness of the human heart to go in for all the grandeur of a vain glorious life the accumulation of riches the mad hunting after pleasure souls forget that it is written in God's word that God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil now the consequence of continuing in such a condition is this that sinners will share the ultimate doom of
[18:46] Satan and this is where the teaching of the Lord Jesus concerning everlasting punishment comes in if we know anything of this solemn teaching we owe it to the Christ of God who gave it forth what we understand and learn and know of hell and its torment belongs to the teaching which the Lord Jesus asserted and emphasized and his teaching is to put it briefly that those who continue in their sins without this saving change without this saving transformation of character and family that they will ultimately share the doom of
[19:54] Satan Jesus told us in his teaching that even if a person demonstrated a respectable and some form of righteous life but that they were never converted never convinced of their state never saved from their sins that that fearful sentence would fall upon their ears depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels God to save the soul out of the clutches of
[20:57] Satan and to plant that soul upon the firm ground of salvation procured by the redeemer it is the diabolical purpose of Satan to bring souls to share in his everlasting damnation it is the gracious purpose of God to save those souls out of the clutches of the devil now the devil is wise but he is not all wise the devil is mighty but he is not all mighty the devil is powerful but he is not all powerful all wisdom all might and all power belong to the
[22:00] Christ of God this is the glory of the gospel that it sets forth a redeemer who can proclaim to all the world all power and authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth and God through Jesus Christ his son can deliver sinners from the power of darkness and translate them into the kingdom of his dear son he can save them out of darkness bringing them into his marvelous light he transforms them from being children of disobedience and of Satan to becoming the children of God the purpose for which Christ came was to demonstrate this superior power read the first epistle of John in which we are told for this purpose was the son of
[23:02] God manifested that he should destroy the works of Satan and this he did witness his power over Satan when he was tempted in the wilderness and how the devil recoiled from him in everlasting defeat and dismay witness his power over Satan in the case of Mary Magdalene out of whom he cast seven demons or the maniac of Gadara out of whom he cast a whole legion of demons those demons cried out and acknowledged the superior authority and power of the savior of the world but witness the power of Christ over Satan upon the hill of Golgotha where the son of God was put to death and crucified for the salvation of sinners we're told that
[24:06] Christ endured the cross despising the shame he resisted the taunts of that devil inspired multitudes he overcame Satan he did not come down from the cross but what he took in hand to do he gloriously finished there is an accomplished redemption through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by which sinners of mankind can be rescued out of the clutches of Satan and be transformed to becoming the children of God we don't need to stumble over God's method of grace because he has reduced it to the most simple terms and here it is he has given his son as a free gift to sinners to be their savior to be their lord to be their redeemer their ransomer and as many as received him to them give he power to become the sons of
[25:34] God even to them that believe on his name christ is offered in the gospel as an all sufficient savior nothing less than an all sufficient savior could accomplish the mission of redemption by reason of his personal deity the lord jesus is all sufficient for he is the eternal son of god he is god he is the creator of all things he is the omnipotent god he is all powerful he is the omniscient god he knows all things and he is the omnipresent god he is everywhere at one and the same time in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge it is this that makes him totally sufficient and able to save to the utter most all that come unto god by him in the gospel in the scriptures the lord jesus is shown to be the almighty the all worthy the all powerful the all divine son of god if you consider his rank he is co equal with the father if you consider his power and his glory i say to you consider these things consider christ in all his authority in all the unsearchable riches of his grace then turn the question into your own heart would he be a sufficient savior for me surely your heart will answer lord thou art sufficient thou art able to save even the likes of me but christ is offered not only as an all sufficient savior he is given in the gospel as an all suitable savior my dear friends he suited himself to your need and to mine and he did this by girding upon himself our humanity yet apart from sin he took into union with his divine nature our human nature he bound it to himself he assumed it and this is the greatest miracle this is the most stupendous fact in the history of providence and redemption that the son of god should incarnate himself dress himself in our humanity but he did this in order to make himself suitable to our need it was this consideration which brought to the lips and to the pen of the apostle these great words great is the mystery of godliness and that without controversy manifest in flesh let me use again that illustration of a
[30:02] Hudson Taylor accommodating himself to the people of China in order that he might get near to them with the message of Christ he clothed himself in the dress of the Chinese people he became one of them discarding his own address he made himself as like to the Chinese as he possibly could but what comparison does this hold to the conduct of the Lord Jesus who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross he made himself to be a suitable savior dressed in our humanity so suitable was he that he experienced weariness he knew what it was to be hungry and to be thirsty he knew the agony of a human spirit the sorrow of a human soul he took our nature into union with his own
[31:38] Godhead nature and upon that human nature there was place to the burden of our guilt and sin on the cross of Calvary it was judged there that mysterious imputation was laid upon him he bore our sins in his own body to the tree he did this that he might be an all suitable savior we sang in the 107th psalm that he satisfies the longing soul and he fills the hungry soul with good things he does that I knew it and it is this that makes him to be an all satisfying savior for as there is everything in his deity to make him all sufficient everything in his sinless humanity to make him all suitable so there is everything in his glorious and surpassing excellent person to make him all satisfying for in his presence is fullness of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore surely it was this that prompted
[33:14] Charles Wesley to testify thou oh Christ art all I want more than all in thee I find now it is a wonderfully happy experience to be able to say I have found that which perfectly satisfies my heart and soul I have found Christ for you see Christ is represented in the gospel as being altogether lovely and the chiefest among ten thousand the unsaved whose minds are blinded by Satan they see no beauty in Christ that they should desire him but once the scales are removed from the eyes of the unsaved and the veil is torn away from their hearts they see and have such an appreciation of the glory of the redeemer that they can do no other than receive him as he has offered in all his loveliness in all his beauty in all the charm of his person and work do not doubt that he is such a savior and it is as such a savior that he is preached in the gospel and offered to sinners of mankind it is
[35:02] Ezekiel Culverwell the Puritan preacher who is credited with formulating this saying that God has made a deed of gift and grant of his son to sinners of mankind and if you receive him as God offers him to you at that precise instant God makes you to become his child now it is the privilege of those who are thus saved by Christ and who have received him in all his saving fullness in their communion and fellowship they can adopt the language of the apostle John and say behold now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is we are all of the children of
[36:09] God says Paul we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus that is the essential thing personal faith in him and so it is that God proffers his son in gospel terms God has opened his heart to sinners do you refuse to open your heart to him and to receive the gift of his son which he gives to you I would like to hold out to you the Christ of God as your savior I would like to extend to you the benefits that are to be found in Christ there is a forgiveness through his blood there is acceptance through his righteousness there is sanctification by his
[37:18] Holy Spirit in closing I should like to quote some words of Murray McShane preaching one summer Sabbath evening he said to his congregation words like these the sun of grace may set not like the sun of nature there may be no calm and tranquil twilight when you think of the coming darkness and flee to him who is the light of the world however that may be there is enough surely in this fact that the spirit of God withdraws from those who resist him whether suddenly or gradually to move every one of you to an immediate closing with
[38:20] Christ it must be now or it may be never if you refuse Christ tonight the frosts of an eternal night may settle down upon you hardening you until the son of grace sets upon you forever more the Lord Jesus he came unto his own and his own received him not but as many as received him to them give he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name let us pray our heavenly father we marvel at thy redeeming love towards us sinners we cannot pretend to understand what moved thee to show such love to us but we are bound to believe it because we have it revealed and represented both in thy word and in the person of the
[39:51] Lord Jesus we thank thee for the redemption that is in Christ Jesus our Lord the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace forbid Lord that there should be any who would reject such a savior may there be that glad reception of him as he is offered in the gospel of thy grace not only here but in every other place where Christ is preached may there be a closing with him and this we pray for his glory amen