John 1:12-13: “…but to as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, 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.”
In working through memorizing John 1:1-16, I was stricken with awe and wonder as I meditated on the above-stated verses. The idea has been tumbling around in my mind for quite some time: the gospel is not just for unbelievers, but for believers as well. It’s not good for only saving sinners, but for changing saved saints. I see in this snippet a plea to at least three types of people: (1) the discouraged believer, (2) the prideful believer, and (3) the unbeliever.
(1) To the discouraged believer: You can rest assured that amidst your discouragement, you remain steadily gripped in God’s powerful hand, and He will never let you go, for nothing can deliver out of His hand (Deut 32:39). The life and spiritual journey of a believer is marked with seasons of peaks and valleys, highs and lows, joy and sadness. Yet, we can be assured, as the parable of the soils (Matt 13:1-23) teaches us, that it is God who sows the seed, God who tends the soil, and God who makes the seed grow. The reason you are saved is because of God’s great love for you, a sinner who was His enemy, to be reconciled to Himself. The price tag for giving you life was the death of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. He loves you not because of the Cross; He loves you: therefore the Cross. Jesus Christ cried out in agony from the Cross, “I am forsaken!” so that you will never have to. The price for you HAS BEEN paid and is complete: remember John’s words, “you WERE born”. Your salvation cannot be taken away! Take heart, for you ARE a child of the King.
(2) To the prideful believer: You believe God has blessed you because you have lived a more righteous life than the next person, but the Cross tells us that you are righteous only by the grace of God extended to you. You received Christ not because you tilled your own soil, or planted your own seed, or made yourself grow. It is God who is the gardener, and your salvation is a result of only His work in you. You are no more special than the next guy, and you are no more preferred than the next woman, for we were ALL enemies of God when Jesus Christ extended grace to us from the beams of the Cross. You were saved, not by your good works, but by God’s grace (Eph 2:8-9, Titus 3:5). Don’t be puffed up in yourself, for your righteousness is like muddy rags to God. Be humble, for God has adopted you as a child according to His perfect will.
(3) To the unbeliever: If you are reading this, it may very well be that God has been – and is now – tilling and working and tending your soul for the reception of His word. There is still hope while you have breath in your lungs. As you are mired by sin, there is One who has paid the penalty for sin. Receive Him, for He has borne the heavy, condemning wrath of the Father so you don’t have to. Then, you will be called His child, adopted into His family. Be saved, for God has extended the offer to you to be His child made perfectly clean in His sight because of the Cross.
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