The World Rejects the True Light
Tom Shrader walks through John 1:9-13, examining why the world failed to recognize Jesus as the true Light despite His role as Creator and the centuries of Jewish preparation for the Messiah. He identifies four reasons people reject Christ — unwillingness, spiritually blinded minds, past sin patterns, and religion as a substitute — drawing on supporting passages throughout Scripture. The teaching culminates in a careful exposition of the new birth in verse 13, emphasizing that salvation is not by ancestry, emotion, or human will, but entirely by the sovereign work of God.
“You were lost, and there's not one thing you could do. But God, in His grace and mercy, reached down and gave you life.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: A Study Of The Life Of Jesus Christ (2003/2004)
Recorded: 2003 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr 19 min
Themes: rejection of christ, new birth, salvation, spiritual blindness, light, faith, creation, messiah, seeking salvation, doubting faith, new believer, spiritually lost, raised in religion, questioning god, young adult, struggling with unbelief
Scripture: John 1:1, John 1:3, John 1:4-5, John 1:6, John 1:7, John 1:9-13, John 1:14, John 3:3, John 3:19, John 6:44, John 20:30-31, Isaiah 40:3, Matthew 1:21, Matthew 3:4, Luke (Acts reference), Acts 16:14, Romans 3:10-11, Romans 8:29-30, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 2:1, Philippians 1:6, Titus 3:5
Theological Themes: soteriology, regeneration, new birth, sovereign grace, deity of christ, total depravity, biblical inerrancy, gospel of john
Full Transcript
Introduction to John's Gospel
I invite you to open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, John chapter 1. We are continuing our study, The Life of Jesus Christ. It could easily be titled The Biography of Christ, with the author being God Himself, the Holy Spirit. What we are doing is looking at the four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — and bringing them together the best we can in chronological order, so that when we are done, we have as complete a composite picture of Christ as we can glean from the Scriptures.
We begin that study by looking at the first 18 verses of John's Gospel. Tonight we will look just at verses 9 through 13, and then two weeks from tonight we will finish with verses 14 through 18. After that, if you want to read ahead, we will head to the genealogies found in Matthew and in Luke, and then we will move into the Christmas season. As we do that, in God's providential timing — and I am not smart enough to figure these things out — we will study the announcement of the birth of the King of Kings, and then we will study the Christmas story as we head into, through, and then after Christmas.
John tells us — and he is the only Gospel writer who does this — why he wrote his Gospel. In chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, he tells us that there were other things Jesus said and other things Jesus did that are not in this book, but these were selected under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for a specific purpose: that you might believe. That word, believe, is an important word in John's writing. If I recall correctly, it appears something like 35 or 36 times, and 15 times in verb form in John's Gospel. He wants us to believe.
What is it that we are to believe? That Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him we would have life. That is John's purpose in writing. It is not surprising, then, that when he begins this Gospel, he begins with a focus on the deity of Christ.
The Deity and Themes Introduced in John 1
Look at verse 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." From the very beginning we are reminded of the deity of Christ. Verse 3 tells us He created all things — everything that came into being was created by Him, and nothing came into being apart from Him. Then in verses 4 and 5, John introduces two major themes we will find throughout his Gospel, two major pictures. Jesus was the life — the idea of true life — and Jesus was the light of men, and that light now shines in the darkness.
John the Baptist: The Witness to the Light
After focusing on the deity of Christ, John introduces us in verse 6 to a new character. His name is also John. Let us make sure this is clarified: John the Gospel writer never identifies himself by name in this Gospel. He refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. When he comes to the man we know as John the Baptist, he identifies him merely as John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all refer to him as John the Baptist or John the Baptizer, but John the Gospel writer simply calls him John.
Here is what we discover about this John: he was sent from God. God is about to break His 400 years of silence to the nation of Israel, and John the Baptist is a key part of that. John is the one Isaiah told us was coming to clear the way for the Lord. Isaiah 40, verse 3, speaks of one who would make smooth in the desert a highway for our Lord. Matthew confirms that this was indeed John the Baptist, and that it was John's message.
Matthew, in chapter 3 verse 4, tells us a little more about John. He wore a garment of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he had a somewhat peculiar diet of locusts and wild honey. He was apparently quite popular. Matthew tells us that people were going out from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the districts of the Jordan to see him, and they were being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
John was a popular man with broad appeal. He is the one the prophet said would come, and his message was essentially: I am a bulldozer, making clear a path for the Lord. He came, as verse 7 tells us, to bear witness, to testify, to point, and to say, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." John the Gospel writer then points out that John the Baptist was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light.
Do not miss this. John is merely pointing the way. He is deflecting any attention that anyone might want to give to him. A little later, as his ministry begins to wane and Jesus' ministry begins to grow, John says that is not a problem — "He must increase and I must decrease." John puts the focus not on himself but on the Lamb of God. He says plainly: I am not the light.
The True Light Enters the World
John the Gospel writer tells us in verse 9 that there was a true light which comes into the world. Here we are introduced to the idea of the incarnation. Look ahead to verse 14: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Remember, from verse 1, the Word is Jesus Christ. He became flesh and set up house here, taking up temporary residence in this earth suit, on this planet, at that point in time. And He was the true light.
John had available to him two Greek words that could be translated as "true." The one he selected means the opposite of what is fictitious, counterfeit, or imaginary — in other words, it means genuine. Here comes Jesus Christ, and He is the true light as compared to the other lights around Him that are not the real light. Those others are partial. They are not complete.
James Montgomery Boice offers an interesting insight at this point. Here is what he writes: every now and then we hear a Christian say that there is no good to
Christ as the Only True Light
There are good things in life when seen from man's perspective. The things referred to earlier fall into the category of inventions, philosophy, law, atomic energy, and adventure, and we would be poorer without them. John is not denying that these things have value in a limited way. However, he is saying that these lights are only partial lights and are misleading if they are followed exclusively. Christ alone is the light that enlightens all darkness and gives illumination spiritually.
If we want to talk about man-made truth, man's inventions, civilization, and law, man brings something to that discussion — partial and incomplete. But if we want to talk about God and who God is, the only source we are interested in is God Himself. If we want to talk about theology, we are not interested in partial light or counterfeit light. We want the true light, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and Christ alone is who we want to hear from when we talk about spiritual truth.
No Negotiating with God
Consider how Christ comes to us — on His terms. In commercial real estate, a seller comes along and says he wants to sell a piece of land for a million dollars. A buyer comes back at $800,000, the seller counters at $950,000, and they work back and forth until you reach that magic moment — the meeting of the minds, the negotiated settlement. You hear that phrase over and over again: negotiated settlement. That is the way man thinks about so many things.
Even when we turn to the subject of God, we think in terms of negotiated settlements. Man says he will give God this much, and God says no, here is My standard. Man comes up a little more, and God says there are no negotiations here. God is a tough seller. But I need to understand God as He really is — not a partial view, not an incomplete view, not man's view of God. I need God's view of God and God's view of man.
God demonstrates His eternal power and His divine nature through creation. But if I need and want to understand Him in a saving way, it is going to require Jesus Christ — Christ coming into my life. Jesus Christ is the only true light to all men, Jew and Gentile, male and female, in the world.
The World Did Not Know Him
Verses 9 and 10 read: "He who was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him, and He came to His own, and those who were His did not receive Him." What is striking about this passage is that it does not even feel entirely new to us. John is talking about Jesus Christ coming into the world, and for his original audience there was no point of reference for that moment. Yet in our lives, Jesus has always been there, hasn't He?
When we were little children, we either performed in a play dressed as a shepherd, Mary, or Joseph, and we just knew Jesus. The word was all around us. There is even the odd phenomenon of the name of Jesus surfacing in the most unexpected places — like a Little League baseball coach, in the heat of an argument over a close play at first base, shouting the name of Jesus. And somebody has since observed what many of us have noticed as well: no first base coach in the heat of an argument has ever yelled Buddha, Confucius, or Muhammad. Jesus is just there. That is the point. Jesus has always kind of been there for us, and so the idea of Him coming into the world does not carry the same shock.
Revolutionary News for the Jews
But this was revolutionary to the people John was writing to. The Jews had heard about Jesus for hundreds and hundreds of years. They had anticipated His arrival, and now He had come — and many of them missed it. That was John's mission: "Behold, the Lamb of God." That phrase does not mean a great deal to us, really, but to the Jew it meant everything. They understood the imagery. Blood had been shed — bulls, goats, lambs, doves — but now here was the Lamb, the supreme sacrifice.
This was what they had waited for, this very moment: the Messiah to come and once and for all make sacrifice. A few years ago, the church decided to hold Seder dinners. There was a great deal of preparation involved, and the ladies took charge. They called and said there was a problem — they did not know how to prepare the lamb for the Seder dinner.
The World Did Not Recognize Him
"Behold, the Chicken of God" — the imagery gets lost. The Lamb of God: they knew this. There is something in verses 10 and 11 that is very dark, very gloomy, very discouraging. One author paraphrases these verses this way: "He was in the world, but the world, although it owed its existence to Him, failed nevertheless to recognize Him."
Jesus comes to the world that He created, and the world did not know Him. He comes to His own — that is, He comes to the creation. Then He comes to the nation of Israel, who had been prepared for this moment, and yet when He comes, they deny Him. They do not receive Him.
Four Reasons They Did Not Receive Him
Why didn't they recognize Him or receive Him? There are four reasons.
**First, they didn't want to.** John 3, verse 19: "This is the judgment that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than light, for their deeds are evil." They were comfortable in their sin. Life was fine. Don't bug me.
If I say that I met this week with a husband and wife who were non-Christians and one of them was converted, you almost instinctively assume it was the wife. Yet in our ministry out in the marketplace, there are a lot of men who come to our studies confused and lost, and God uses those studies to open their eyes. We have the privilege of being there as they are born again and God brings them into the family of God — it is an extraordinary moment. What happens next might surprise you. They will often go home, and their life will begin to change right before the eyes of their wife, and the wife will push back and say, "I don't want that. I like the life we have. I like the sinning, the drinking, the dancing, the messing around. I don't want to go to church."
**Second, their eyes were closed.** 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3: "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they may not see the light of the gospel for the glory of Christ." Natural man cannot understand spiritual things. Their eyes are closed — they do not get it, and in a sense they cannot ever get it on their own. Luke tells us in the book of Acts about a time when Paul came and preached and there was a woman there by the name of Lydia. She heard the gospel and responded, and Luke tells us it was God who opened her eyes — she could not see or understand it before that moment.
**Third, their past was in their way.** They were comfortable with the life they had, and they had a hard time seeing themselves as sinners. Their grandfather was a preacher. They hadn't done anything too bad. Consequently, they didn't think they needed a Lamb to come and make sacrifice for them. I've had people say that to me directly: "I don't need a savior." That is a bad and inadequate view of sin.
**Fourth, their religion was in the way.** That is what the Jews said: "Abraham is our father. We have our religion." The religion itself became the obstacle. Let me try to illustrate this as best I can.
When Religion Gets in the Way
Since our girls were small, one of my great concerns has been that they were raised in a Christian family — and that may sound odd to you. From the time they were born, they had a mother and a father who loved them, cared for them, and shared the truth with them. They had a church where they could hear these stories and this truth. They even had the opportunity to attend a school that, at least in name, is a Christian school. But as they got into high school, it was clear — everybody knew it — that not all the kids in that school were Christians. They had this extraordinary privilege and opportunity to hear the truth.
And often when I had a chance to talk to those kids, they would point me back to some moment in time — when they were five years old, or in the third or sixth grade — when they had asked Jesus into their heart. Nothing ever happened, but they had said the words. Their mother loved them, they loved their mother, and they were in church. What had really happened is that the religion had gotten in the way. Now, if I had it to do over again, I would still love my kids, still have them in church, and still share the truth. But I would be working hard to see whether it is real.
That is the challenge for parents. These kids don't have to be around very long before they can answer every question. Whatever you ask — any Bible question — they know the answer. And they can even seem like pretty good kids. It is genuinely hard to distinguish between a compliant child and a converted child. So many times when we stand here on Baptism Sundays and hear testimonies, we hear people say, "I was raised in a Christian home, I went to summer camps, I went to Young Life camps, but there was no change in my life. I was never converted." Sometimes religion itself can get in the way.
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. This is a key point in John's Gospel.
The Glory of Christ and the Depravity of Man
James Montgomery Boice writes this: if we have understood the significance of the fact that men and women did not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ when He came into the world, then we have also begun to understand three of the most important teachings of John's Gospel. First is the glory of Christ. That theme runs all through the Gospel. Look at verse 14: "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory." To see Him high and lifted up, to see His name exalted — He is the Creator God. John begins with that very idea, and it is a preeminent thought in his Gospel: the glory of Christ.
Secondly is the depravity of man. It is not just John's Gospel, but it is all through the Scripture — it is in the very verses we just looked at. Jesus comes into the world and they do not recognize Him. Once I understand the depravity of man, all of a sudden I understand the necessity of God's sovereign and unconditional election in our salvation. And that is what John introduces to us in verses 12 and 13.
Receiving Him: Belief and the Right to Become Children of God
Let us read those verses: "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."
Look at the contrast between verses 10 and 11 and verses 12 and 13. Verses 10 and 11 are dark. There is an ominous cloud that seems to hang over them: "He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him. And He came to His own and they did not receive Him." There is almost a sense, not just of discouragement, but of despair in that. On the other hand: "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." John is saying there are those who reject Him, but standing in opposition are those who receive Him.
What does it mean to receive Him? The idea is right there in the text: "as many as received Him, that is, those who believe." Believe and receive are essentially the same idea. It is not merely mental assent. When Jesus walked the earth, He came into contact with demons, and those demons would cry out and say, "You are the Holy One, You are the Son of God." They spoke the truth, but they did not believe it — and we do not expect to see those demons in heaven. It is not just acknowledging the truth. It is not just getting the doctrine right. It is truth that moves from the head to the heart and changes the way that we live. I put my faith and trust in this truth. The way I find myself saying it is this: I believe Jesus is who He was and who He said He was, and now I trust Him for my life. I trust my death in Him. I am trusting this Word to be true. Those are the ones who believe in Him.
To those who receive Him, He gave something. He gave them the right to become children of God. Some translations may say "the power" or "the authority," but look where it comes from — this right comes from God Himself. God gave them the right to become His children. That means by nature we were not His children. Paul tells us we were children of disobedience, children of wrath. That is how we come into this world — separated from God, not in union with Him, antagonistic toward Him, not open to Him. We come into this world spiritually dead, and we need life. We need the light of this world. We need Jesus Christ.
Born Again: Not by Blood, Flesh, or Will, but by God
Jesus said that Himself. Look at John chapter 3 — the familiar story of Nicodemus. There is a man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who comes to Jesus and says, "Rabbi, we know that you come from God as a teacher, for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you are born again" — you are spiritually dead and you need to be born again. And Nicodemus misses it entirely. He is thinking physically while Jesus is speaking spiritually. He says, how can this possibly be? You must be born again. You are spiritually dead. You need life.
How does that happen? John chapter 1, verse 13 gives us the answer. John states it first in the negative: it is not by blood, not by flesh, not by man's will — but it is by God. It is not by blood. It is not a birthright. It is not something I inherit. The Jews could cry out and claim their ancestry, but in the same way, Martin Luther's children need a Savior. John Calvin's children need a Savior. Spurgeon's children need a Savior. Sproul's children need a Savior. MacArthur's children need a Savior. Blomquist's children need a Savior. There is no birthright here. It is not an issue of ancestry.
It is not an issue of flesh either. In the New Testament, the idea of flesh often carries with it the idea of emotion or desire. This is not something that gets carried away in our emotions or our desires. It is not an act of my will. It is not simply a decision I make or something I can will into being. We see that assumption so often, especially in the business world. Some go to seminar after seminar being told: if you can conceive it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can accomplish it. Set those goals, set those dreams — pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.
Salvation Is Entirely God's Work
Our culture loves a rags-to-riches story. Picture a speaker who says, "I was born in a house with a dirt floor, and we didn't have anything. Now we have a house over in La Jolla, a house in the mountains, cars and airplanes and boats — everything. We started with nothing, but with hard work and determination, I was able to do it. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps." Don't we hear that over and over again? "I did it. I did it. You can do it." That is really what the culture screams at us.
What is interesting is that every conversion is a rags-to-riches story — but it is not man pulling himself up by his own bootstraps. It is the Creator, God Himself, coming to those people who acknowledge that they are spiritual beggars in need of a Savior, and God moves. It is not of ancestry. It is not some emotional experience. It is not of my determination. It is not me self-willing salvation. It is of God.
A Review of Man's Condition and God's Remedy
Let us review this quickly. When Adam sinned, he plunged all of us into sin. At that moment, we became unable to apprehend or to believe any spiritual truths — we were deaf, we were blind. Ephesians 2:1 tells us we were dead in our trespasses and sin. Romans chapter 3 declares there is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. That is the condition of man.
Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him." It is totally and entirely a work of His. He sent Jesus — why? Matthew chapter 1, verse 21 tells us that He would save His people from their sin. Because before the foundations of the earth, Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4, God chose us in Christ.
He washed us, not based on anything that we had done. Titus chapter 3, verse 5: "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing, the regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Spirit." At that moment the Holy Spirit invades our life. Ephesians 1:13 tells us He seals us for the day of redemption. Philippians 1:6 assures us that He who began that good work in our life will continue it. Romans chapter 8, verse 29: "For all that He foreknew, He predestined. And all that He predestined, He called. And all that He called, He justified. And all that He justified, He glorified." What a magnificent truth.
Do Not Let This Truth Become Ordinary
Do you understand what we just said? You were lost, and there is not one thing you could do. Nothing. Nothing you could do, nothing you desired to do, nothing you would ever do. But He, in His grace and mercy, reached down and gave you life.
Unless you come back to that point again and again and acknowledge your brokenness before Him, that truth is going to become a yawner. You are lost, you are depraved, you are helpless, you are hopeless, you are a spiritual beggar. But God — in spite of you, not because of you, not because of anything you could do, not because of a pedigree, not because of a decision — but God, for His own purpose, in His own time and His own way, chose you and saved you.
That is an extraordinary truth. And that magnificent truth can become just ordinary if we do not come back to it again and again with fresh eyes.
A Closing Prayer of Thanksgiving
As we prepare for communion, I want us to pray. Grab a couple of people around you — the pew behind you, the people next to you. The dominant note of that prayer should be praise and thanksgiving to God for what He has done. If you are His child, you are His child by His work. He gave you the right to be called a child of God. Pray out loud, and we will take a couple of minutes before I close our time together.