John 3.16 is the Bible's most famous verse, of course, and our familiarity with it also means that this verse can easily slip into the Christian jargon that we sling around, and we assume it. But the verse is staggering, and in it we come to understand what it means to receive Jesus Christ into our lives.

John Piper explained in his 2009 sermon titled "God So Loved the World, Part 1." Here's what he said. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. Muslims and others stumble over the idea that God has a son. So let me say a few things, and perhaps say them in a way, and specifically with verses, so that you can help your friend who stumbles like that.

God did not have sex with Mary in order to have a son. You hear that all over the world in Muslim contexts. God did not have sex with Mary in order to have a son. Turn with me, please, back to chapter 1, where the basic understanding that John has laid for us, knowing this is a strange, strange thing to say that God has a son.

That's a strange thing to say. We Christians, we've taken it for granted for decades, but a brand new person who's never stumbled onto Christianity and hears that God has a son won't have any idea how to conceive of such a thing. He must have had sex with some goddess or something, you know.

So John knows this is coming. John is giving us help here. He's not leaving us adrift with conceptual confusion about how to think about this. So read the first verse of the Gospel with me. We're in John 1, verse 1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Now, so far, no mention of any son.

Just Word. And he says three things about the Word. Number one, He is God. The Word was God. Number two, He is with God and therefore distinct from God. The Word was with God. Number three, He has always been in existence and did not come into being because He was God.

"In the beginning was the Word." Those are three absolutely, massively important and crystal clear statements from verse 1. You don't need a seminary education to see that. Those are simple, straightforward, gargantuanly, mysteriously important. All right? Just clear. Now, drop to verse 14. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory." Now, here it comes.

"Glory as of the only Son from the Father." Now you've got an idea about the Son. It's not some product of sexual union with a goddess or Mary. This is the Word. And now we know something about the Son. The Son is God. He is God. Number two, we know He is with God and therefore distinct from God, which is why He is called Son and the One who sent Him is called Father.

This relationship, number three, has always existed and never had a beginning. Hard to conceive. Little children will ask you, "Where did Jesus come from? Where did God come from? How did they get started?" And there is no answer to how they got started, because they didn't get started. This is the most mind-boggling reality that is, God is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

One God, one divine essence, one divine nature in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, existing in a relationship of infinite purity and joy, always. World without end or beginning. That's who He sent. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. In John 1, verses 11 and 12, there is another word used to explain "believe." I'll read it to you.

You can look at it if you want. John 1, 11. "Jesus came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, that is, comma, who believed in His name," See the connection there? "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God." So receiving Jesus is another word used to describe believing.

So believing and receiving interpret each other, explain each other. You say, "What does it mean to receive?" It means to believe. "And what does it mean to believe?" It means to receive Him. That point is worthless without the next one. I hope that you are not among the number who sling around religious jargon with no meaning.

To say, "I received Jesus," means nothing until you have answered the question, "As what?" An unwelcome guest in your house whom you are going to poison? A person you had to let in because he wants to work on the furnace, and you stick him down there and don't want to talk to him?

There are all kinds of ways to receive Jesus that have zero effect on your eternity, except to make it worse. So the last point is, "As what?" Receive as what? And surely the answer to that question is, "Receive Him as what He is." Not what you think He is, or what somebody told you He is, or what you'd like Him to be, but as what He is.

I'll give you one. There are many verses that describe what He is. Like all of them, almost. But here's one. John 6.35. Jesus says, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst." Whoever believes in Me will never thirst.

I'm bread. I'm water. If you believe, you receive Me as that. Bread for your soul. Water for your soul. You got thirsts? You got thirsts? Ha! You got thirsts. Your heart is a thirst factory. You wake up with thirst. You go to bed with thirst. You enter one thing after another.

You got thirsts. You all thirst for a thousand things. Jesus says, "I am the kind of being that if you would drink here, your thirst would be satisfied." All of them. Or, "I'm food, and if you eat here, you won't have that gnawing, craving that's ruining your marriage. It's wrecking your sex life.

It's making you greedy and dishonest at work. Just controlled by these cravings and these longings." Because Jesus is bread. And when you received Him as a six year old, you received Him as a ticket out of hell, you carried Him in your back pocket, and frankly, when you sit down, it makes you uncomfortable.

That's not saving receiving. He's Christ! Son of God! Savior, wrath remover, sin forgiver, righteousness provider, soul satisfier, strengthener. Oh, what isn't He for us? All in all, Paul called Him, when you believe that's what you receive, and that means that the rest of life is growing up into that.

Which means that receiving the gospel is the way you solve every problem in your life. Marriage problems and health problems and every other problem is, "I need more, I need more, you're everything I need, and I got a lot yesterday, I'm tank empty today, so I'm back at the gospel fountain where the blood buys me everything, though I'm such a jerk." An incredible clip.

This one comes from John Piper's sermon on May 3rd, 2009, titled "God So Loved the World, Part 1." It was sent in to us by Jeff Mullen in Stewart, Florida. Jeff, this is exactly the kind of gold we're looking for. Thank you. Send us your favorite John Piper clips.

Tell us the sermon name and when and where the clip occurs in the audio recording, and we will share it here on the podcast and give you credit for the find. And you can do that through our app or online at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. Tomorrow we talk about a question that is faced by just about really any and every Bible teacher, whether you preach or teach or write or even just tweet about the gospel.

And this is the question, "How do I know if in my reading and study I am delighting in God, or whether I'm delighting in others being impressed by my discoveries about God?" Do you see that difference? What a question. John Piper joins us tomorrow to explain. I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.