THE GREATEST FATHER’S DAY GIFT

Bethany Bible Church Father’s Day Sermon Message June 15, 2025 John 1:12-13

Theme: As Jesus’ followers, we “always ought to pray and not lose heart.”

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning, for Father’s Day, I ask that we turn our attention to the heavenly Father Himself. We have great reason to celebrate Him today; because He truly is the greatest Father there is. And as we seek this morning to appreciate and honor His fatherly love toward us, I ask that you look with me at the first few verses of the Gospel of John. It begins with these words from the apostle John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:1-5).

Those words—which are among the most profound words that human beings could ever consider—describe our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the eternal Word of God who was with God and who was and is God. When we talk about God the Father, we must begin with His Son—because, as verse 18 makes clear to us, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Jesus is the unique Son of the Father—His ‘only begotten Son’. We can only know the Father through knowing His Son—He who is the Light who is the life of men. John the apostle went on to tell us about the ministry of John the Baptist:

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world (vv. 6-9).

As John baptized people in the wilderness, he told them about Jesus. He even publicly declared, “I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (v. 34.) And this is what John the apostle then went on to tell us about this One who was declared to be the Son of God;

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him (vv. 10-11).

Think of it! We’re told that God made the world through His Son; and His Son came into that over which He has all the rights of ownership because He made it all; and yet, the people of this world didn’t know Him or recognize Him for who He was. And more specifically, He even came to His own nation, and to His own kingdom—that is, the Jewish nation and into the Jewish temple; and yet, the Jewish people didn’t receive Him or welcome Him as their promised King. But that leads us to the verses that I most want to draw your attention to this morning. They tell us what this all has to do with us—and how it resulted in our having been offered the greatest Father’s Day gift that could ever be given:

But 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 (vv. 12-13).

Ordinarily, we give a Father’s Day gift to our father. But here, we’re told of how the Son of the heavenly Father gives a glorious gift to us. And that gift is this: to whoever places their faith in Him, Jesus gives the right to be the children of His Father. This truly is the greatest Father’s Day gift that can ever be given. And it was given to us!

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It’s hard to express the magnitude of this gift. But there’s a need within us that helps us to appreciate the value of it. Every human being needs to have a father. All of us owe our existence to a father, because we could not exist without one. And though none of us have had perfect fathers, we’ve all nevertheless needed what only a father can ultimately give: protection, security, love, instruction, discipline, affirmation, inspiration; and perhaps most important of all, a purpose, a place and an identity that make us know that we really belong somewhere and truly are somebody. A father gives us the ability to say, “This is who I am, and where I belong, and why I’m here.” In the Scriptures, the sense of purpose, place, and identity that comes from a father is strongly emphasized. Throughout the genealogies of the Bible, you can see it plainly. Important people aren’t identified primarily by their birthplace, or their accomplishments, or even their Social Security number. They were identified by the fact of having been born of their father. They were referred to as the son or daughter of this man, who was the son of that man, who was the son of that other man, and so on. We even know certain people in the Bible by the name of their father. We know the apostle Peter, for example, by the alternate name ‘Simon-bar-Jonah,’ which meant, ‘Simon, son of Jonah’. That’s how people had a sense of purpose, place, and identity in ancient times; and in many cultures and in many ways, that’s how people have such a sense even today. This is even true on a national level. One of the ways the nation of Israel had a sense of purpose, place, and identity in the Old Testament is that God called Himself their ‘Father’. In Isaiah 63:13, for example, the prophet wrote of God and said;

Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name (Isaiah 63:16).

And God even identified Himself as Israel’s Father. In Hosea 11:1, He declared;

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son (Hosea 11:1).

But in all the ways that the people of Israel spoke of God as their Father, there’s one thing that stands out in a remarkable way. They would never have dared to think of God as ‘Father’ in the intimate way that He is spoken of in John 1:12-13. God was certainly the One who gave birth to the nation. He declared Himself to be their Helper, and their Protector; and He was certainly sensitive to them and forgiving toward them, and He taught them, and He even claimed them as His own. But it wasn’t expressed in the intimate kind of way that this morning’s passage describes. In fact, this morning’s passage speaks of the relationship in a way that the people of the Old Testament wouldn’t have even imagined they could have with God. In this morning’s passage, we’re being told that we’re given the gracious gift of being called God’s tekna. That’s a word that describes someone’s own beloved little children who are born to them. I felt this the other day when I was watching my own grandson. I looked at him and marveled at the fact that he came from me. He has a piece of me in him. I love him in a way that is different from any other little boy his age, because of the organic relationship we share. He’s my ‘beloved little grandchild’—born of me. The Bible sometimes talks about our being ‘adopted’ by God. Galatians 4:5, for example, says that we were redeemed from the law “that we might receive the adoption as sons”; or Ephesians 1:5 says that God has “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself”. And to be ‘adopted’ by God in this way is a truly wonderful thing. It means that we are given all the rights and privileges that come with full ‘sonship’ or ‘daughtership’. But the word that is used in this morning’s passage means something much more profound than ‘adoption’ alone. To be ‘adopted’ means that we—at one time—had no legal privileges of true sonship or daughtership; but that we have now been chosen and brought into the legal possession of those privileges through adoption. But the word that’s used in this morning’s passage means that we have been made to belong in God’s family by being born of Him. You can say that ‘adoption’ speaks of our rights and privileges; but being God’s ‘little children’ speaks of our purpose, place, and identity. Can you think of a greater Father’s Day gift than that?—that sinners like us, who had been alienated from Him because of our sins, can be washed clean of our sins and brought into such a relationship of love with the Father to now have a permanent position and a sense of belonging in His own household as His own beloved little born ones?—the objects of His deep, eternal love in a way that’s true of no other of His created beings? To come to grips with that would be to come to grips with the most life-changing reality there could ever be! As the apostle John put it in 1 John 3:1-3 to his fellow Christians;

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:1-3).

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So; in honor of Father’s Day, let’s look more closely at John 1:12-13 and grow in our appreciation of this wonderful gift. Let’s look at it in terms of (1) who may have it, (2) what its nature is, (3) how we acquire it, and (4) Who the true Author of it is. First, let’s consider …

1. WHO MAY HAVE THIS GIFT.

In verse 12, we’re told ‘who’. It begins by saying, “But as many as received Him …” Think of that contrasting word ‘but’. What the apostle John has said before this was that Jesus—the Creator of all things—came into this world as the Son of God in human flesh; and yet, the people of this world didn’t ‘know’ or ‘recognize’ Him for who He is. And John said that Jesus came to His own, that is, according to the original language, His own ‘things’—meaning His own kingdom, and His own temple, and His own rights of rule; and yet His own ‘people’ didn’t receive Him. Instead, they rejected Him as their promised Messiah, and arrested Him, and handed Him over to the ruling government of this world to be crucified. “But” though some rejected Him, some others “received Him”. And the wonderful gift described in this passage is for those who thus receive Jesus for who He truly is. He proved to everyone who He truly is by being raised from the dead. Just think of what an amazing thing this is. He came into the world and unto His own people. But His own people officially rejected Him—although some accepted Him. And the phrase “as many as received Him” means that He is no longer being offered just to His own nation and His own ethnic people group. The Bible promises that one day, He will come again to His own people, and they will indeed accept Him and receive Him as their promised King. But at this present time, He is being offered to the whole Gentile world and to whatever individual man or woman in the world will receive Him—no matter what nation or people group or ethnicity from which they may come. And gives us the answer to the question of who may have this great gift of becoming a beloved child of God. It’s ‘as many as receive’ Jesus His Son. As it tells us in John 3:16-17;

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16-17).

As it tells us in Romans 10:11-13;

For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:11-13).

So; that’s the breadth of availability of this gift. It’s offered to whoever will receive Jesus, His Son. And next, let’s consider …

2. WHAT THE NATURE OF THIS GIFT IS.

John tells us in verse 12 that “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God …” To say that we’re given ‘the right’ to become children of God means that we’re given the authority or privilege of doing so. We could never—on our own authority—declare ourselves to be ‘children of God’ in the sense of being His own beloved little born ones. We were born in a condition of sin because of the fallenness of our first parents, Adam and Eve. And our own sins have separated us from Him. We may have been created by Him; but we’re not by nature His ‘little born ones’. Something else has to happen in order for it to be possible for us to have the right to become the children of God. And that ‘something’ has happened. Jesus—God’s only begotten Son—came into this world in obedience to the Father, took the guilt of our sins upon Himself, and paid the death penalty for our sins in our place upon His cross. And now, when we ‘receive Him’—when we say ‘yes’ to His death on the cross for us, and place our faith in what He did for us—He gives us the right to become ‘children of God’. Do you remember what Jesus said after He died on the cross for us and rose again? He met Mary at the tomb and told her,

“… go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’” (John 20:17).

His death on the cross for us makes it possible for us to call Him ‘our Brother’ and His Father ‘our Father’. We can even call the Father by the most intimate and loving name, “Abba”—the familiar name by which little children in eastern nations call out to their own fathers. As it says in Romans 8:15-17;

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together (Romans 8:15-17).

And notice that it’s Jesus Himself who gives this gift to us. He is the “He” in the phrase, “He gave the right to become children of God”. And truly, as God’s only begotten Son, only He can give us this privilege; and only He—by dying on the cross in our place—could make it possible. So then; that’s the greatest Father’s Day gift there is—that we may call the Father of the Lord Jesus our own Father. And the next thing that this passage tells us is …

3. HOW WE ACQUIRE THIS GIFT.

As verse 12 tells us, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name …” That’s how we receive this gift from Jesus. We must “believe in His name”. This doesn’t mean that we simply believe in the letters of Jesus’ name—as if there was something magical about how He is designated to us. To believe in His “name” much more than that. His “name” represents the fullness of who He is. And to believe in His name is to place our faith in His whole person—the whole story of who He is and of what He has done for us. It means to wholeheartedly believe that He is the eternal Son of God who came into this world—as verse 14 tells us—as “the Word become flesh”. It means to believe that He was born into the human family through the virgin Mary; so that He bore no guilt of sin inherited from Adam. It means to believe that He lived a sinless life in perfect obedience to the Father; and that, at a point in time, He bore the guilt of our sins upon Himself on the cross as our Substitute. It means to believe that He died for us, was buried, and was raised from the dead for us three days later. It means to believe that He ascended bodily to heavenly glory, sits now as our Advocate at the right hand of the heavenly Father, and will one day come again to receive us to Himself forever. That’s what it means to ‘believe in His name’. It means to believe the whole story of the gospel as it’s declared to us in the Bible, and to yield ourselves completely and personally to Him by faith as our Savior, Redeemer, Master, and Friend. The great invitation is given to us in Acts 16:31—in as simple a way as it can be given:

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved …” (Acts 16:31).

As Jesus Himself said in John 14:6;

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

The great privilege of becoming a child of Jesus’ own Father is a gift that is given to us by the Lord Jesus Himself. And just like any other gift, we acquire it by receiving it. We receive it by placing our faith in what Jesus did to make it possible for us to have it. As verse 12 tells us, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name …”; and I sincerely hope you are one of those who have received Jesus and believed on His name. To be given the right to become a dear, beloved, born one of God is the greatest Father’s Day gift that could ever be given. And before we depart from this, let’s consider one more thing; and that’s …

4. WHO IS THE GREAT AUTHOR OF THIS GIFT.

Look at what verse 11 tells us about those who receive this gift; that they are those “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Those who become ‘the children of God’ do not do so by being born into that relationship ‘by blood’. They don’t enter in through inheriting it from their parents. It may be that our mother and our father were faithful believers who trusted in Jesus; and as a result, it may be that they received the right to be ‘children of God’ by faith. They may have even raised us up in that faith and encouraged us to believe on Jesus. But that doesn’t mean that they can pass on that right on as an inheritance to us. God has those who are His beloved ‘children’; but He doesn’t have any ‘grandchildren’. This great gift doesn’t get passed down through ‘blood’. Nor can those who become ‘the children of God’ do so by being born “of the will of the flesh”. That means that no one can make the decision to—by the power of their own will and of their own efforts—earn the right to become the children of God. The Bible warns us that all of our ‘good works’ by which we try to earn His favor are nothing more than ‘filthy rags’ in His sight. All that our own human efforts can do is make us more guilty in His sight. This great gift cannot be earned by the efforts and accomplishments of our own fleshly power. Nor can those who become ‘the children of God’ do so by being born “of the will of man”. In fact, the way this is put in the original language is that it’s not of the will of “a man”—that is, “a male of the human species”. Our earthly father can cause us to be born as a child of himself; but he cannot cause us to be born as a child of God. In fact, no human being in the sense of any kind of mediator or advocate or priest can ever make us to be born as a child of God. The only way that someone can be the child of God is through the grace of God Himself. And this means that God the Father is the ultimate divine Author of this great gift that is given to us by Jesus Christ. He is the one who could look down upon us in pity, see our desperate need, and send His only begotten Son to pay the price for our salvation and to make it possible for us to have the right—the privilege—of becoming one of His own beloved Children. It’s He Himself who so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son for us. And do you know what this means? It means that in order to be one of His beloved born ones, we must be ‘born again’—that is, ‘born from above’. As Jesus Himself said in John 3:3;

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

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How can all of this happen? How can we be born again, and become one of God’s beloved children? Let’s close with one more look at what our two verses tell us about the Lord Jesus:

But 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.

Can you think of a better day than Father’s Day to make absolutely sure you have received this greatest of all Father’s Day gifts? AE AE