Sunday Morning Worship Service October 4, 2020

Good morning to you all. It is good to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. Amen. This call to worship this morning is from Psalms chapter 95 verses 6 and 7a. Says, O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, for he is our God.

Congregational Worship and Opening Prayer

So turn in your hymnals, if you would, to number 67. In your hymnals, number 67, brethren, we have met to worship. Let's stand all together, please, and sing all three verses of number 67. Comes down.

Brethren, pray in holy manner. We'll be showered all around. Brethren, see sinners round you, slumbering on the brink of woe. Death is coming, hell is moving. Can you bear to let them go? Our fathers and our mothers and our children sinking down.

Brethren, pray in holy manner. We'll be showered all around. If you're just coming in, we're singing the third verse of number 67. Let us love our God supremely. Let us love each other too. Then he'll call us home to heaven.

Till our God makes all things new. Then he'll call us home to heaven. We'll sit down. Christ will augur himself. Let's bow for prayer. Our Father, again, we are grateful and thankful you have raised up this church, the foundation upon which it stands forever.

That is Jesus Christ. We thank you for the opportunity to come and to worship, to praise you, to sing praises, and to lift up your name amongst ourselves to you, and our thanksgiving as well. The things all that you have given us, for you have given us all that we have.

We thank you for that. We ask your blessing upon this time, this service, preaching of the word. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. You may be seated. The reading for today is that Psalms 37. It's on the back of your little yellow paper there, your bulletin.

Psalms 37 and follow as I read it through. Verses one through nine. Psalms 37. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

Trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily shalt thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way into the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.

And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon day. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. The Lord have the blessing of reading of his word.

Take, if you would, your blue books and on page 61, your hymn supplement, and we'll sing together, O Sovereign God, number 661. O Sovereign God, Eternal King. Several things I want to go over. In the announcements for this week, Wednesday again, we have the midweek Bible study, and the teens meet at 6 45.

Seven o 'clock is the Bible study and prayer service here in the auditorium. Pastor Taylor will bring the Bible study, and looking forward to that, as well as October 11th, Pastor Taylor again will be here that day and that week.

Also, then in the latter part of the month, Ron Burnett will be bringing the messages of the day, and next two weeks, that is November, excuse me, the last two weeks of October. In November, Chuck Kemp will be with us for a Bible conference, and he also is the missionary of the week this week.

So we want to remember the Kemps, Chuck and Ruby. Ruby, as you know, has ongoing physical problems, has for years. I'm gonna pray for her, and she's unable to be at the meetings, and that has to be a burden for Chuck as he leaves all the time on missionary journeys and so forth, that you would be a blessing to them during the time that they are here, as they are a blessing to us.

We're looking forward for them to come, and I do want to read a message from Pastor Chris. They sent this to me to read to you. They miss us, and somewhere out there, they're watching us live stream, and hi, Pastor Chris, from all of us there.

He says, and Pastor writes, in many ways it seems incredible that Chris and I haven't missed being together with you in a year. Well, accepting the COVID lockdown weeks, even then we still met with you virtually, so it certainly feels strange to be away from you this first Sunday of October.

This Sunday marks a special day for us. Pastor says it was 18 years ago today that we had our unofficial beginning of the ministry together. When we return, our first Sunday back, we'll begin our 19th year together.

Wow, it doesn't seem that long, does it? While we certainly sense the need for this time away, being apart also creates a sort of conflict within, for we so greatly enjoy our fellowship together. Please know that we are indeed with you virtually, joining in the service by live stream, a new experience for us, but likely not for most of you.

Our hope and prayer is that you will gain much from the ministry of Pastor Taylor today. He and Raina are always a blessing, and Pastor Taylor's messages tend to be just what we need at the time. Isn't that the truth?

May the Lord grant you his richest blessings as you worship him together today with our love and unceasing prayers, Pastor and Chris. So, I appreciate that. Also, we want to, before we go in prayer, we want to remember Kathy and Bob Kline.

Kathy is doing well. She's had some problems with the knee, as you know, and some good signs this week, and she's struggled in the therapy and the pain and the undoing and the redoing, and she's, as shared with my wife, is excited about the improvements, and this week especially, and the therapy that's going along.

Pray for her. It's not easy to struggle in pain day after day. She needs our prayers. Appreciate you upholding her in prayer throughout this time in the days ahead. Also, for Bob Kline, good report this week from Jerry that his chemo treatments have are doing very well.

The Lord's hand of healing, the cancer that he has, either some of it has gone, disappeared, or in remission, and we praise the Lord for that. So, continue to keep Jerry and Bob in your prayers as well.

Also, don't forget Chris and Pastor as they're away. Nico and Melissa will be traveling back this Thursday, I believe, and also remember our nation and our president. Of course, you know, he's got the virus in the hospital, and it's opened a lot of eyes to how the virus has no, doesn't select who it wants to infect, and no exception to our president, but many believe that he is in that position, possibly.

Of course, we know God sets up kings and kingdoms, and that if it is President Trump, I say if it is President Trump, that allows that circuit court judge to take that position, and that hopefully abortion will be abolished, and the millions of lives that will be saved, newborn, praise the Lord.

We don't know, but we do know that he is against those things that we are against as well, as far as that goes. So, pray for him, and our country, and the unrest. This country is still founded upon biblical Christ principles, and as long as the church is alive and well, which it is, so is the spirit of God that moves upon the face of the earth.

So, let's unite our hearts together in prayer. Our Father, again, we are grateful that you are in our presence. Jesus said that when two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm in the midst. We thank you for that, for sending the spirit of God that dwells in the hearts of the believers, and Father, we ask your blessing upon this service.

We thank you for the church, the foundation upon which it stands, that is Jesus Christ, the rock. We thank you, Father, for the members thereof, those that are in need, many needs today, spiritual needs.

We think of physical needs as well. We pray for Kathy, and your continued healing, and in the days ahead, as she and Denny desire to be back with us once again. We pray also for Bob Klein. We thank you for answered prayer there as well, and strength for Bob and Jerry both.

We pray for Pastor and Chris, as they are away, and time of refreshing, and encourage, that you might encourage them in the Word, and that you would bring them back safely, and into the ministry here, that you called them.

Father, we pray for our president, and our nation, President Trump, and that you might influence his thoughts in the ways that we'd be honoring to you, those that are around him, that would be a godly influence, and testifying of Christ to him, that he might be saved, Father, and come to know Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, and what a wonderful thing that would be, that this nation would be controlled by one who is controlled by you.

Father, we pray for our missionary of the week, Chuck Kemp, and for Ruby, and as he is on the evangelistic trail in a church, wherever that would be today, that you would give him the words, that your spirit would work in the hearts of men, and women, boys, and girls, that hear the Word, that are encouraged from your Word, challenged from your Word, that decisions might be made for Christ.

We pray it's your strength for Ruby, and comfort for her as well. Father, we thank you for Pastor Taylor and Raina, as they have come, we ask your blessing on the Word of God, that is open to us this morning, that you might open our ears, and our understanding to these things, that we might apply these truths to our lives, and be encouraged by them.

For we ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen. Take your hymnals, if you would, and page 190, and let's stand together, if we would, and we'll sing all the verses of 190, which is, there is a Redeemer.

All three verses together, as we stand together, there is a Redeemer. Jesus, God's own Son, Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy, Holy One. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and leaving your Spirit, till the work on earth is done.

Jesus, my Redeemer, name above all names. Praise, Lamb of God, Messiah, all for sinners slain. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and leaving your Spirit, till the work on earth is done. When I stand in glory, I will see His face.

There I'll serve my King forever, in that holy place. Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son, and leaving your Spirit, till the work on earth is done. Please be seated. Pastor Taylor, would you come this time?

The New Birth in John 3

Give us what the Lord has laid upon your heart. I didn't ask if you wanted the scripture read this morning. I presume you're going to do that. Thank you, Jim. Scripture this morning is from the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 1 through 21.

I'll read in your hearing. The Gospel of John, chapter 3, reading verses 1 through 21. I would guess there's hardly anyone here this morning that is unfamiliar with this scripture today. Perhaps one of the most familiar passages of scripture of the saints of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's always worthy for us to consider it.

So follow as I read from John, chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Jesus answered, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said to him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen and you do not receive our witness.

If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the son of man who is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. And whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.

And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God. So the reading of God's holy, inspired, and inerrant word. We thank God for his word. Let's pray together.

Our Father, we have a book open before us, a book that was authored by the Holy Spirit whom you sent to carry holy men along as they wrote. We believe that. So we know this is truth, but oh how we need help to understand and profit from this word.

For we still have sin remaining in us. So we ask that you be pleased to open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things out of your law. Help this preacher. Help everyone who listens to profit from the word.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen. My text is John 3 .16. 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. It was 1952 or perhaps 1953.

My father used this verse to point me to Jesus Christ. We were cleaning out the chicken house at the South Place and I confess I had not given much thought, if any, to my soul. But he brought that verse up and he told me, he said, Gordon, you can put your name in there.

For God so loved Gordon that God gave his only begotten son that if Gordon would believe on him, Gordon would not perish but have everlasting life. And in those moments, Jesus Christ became very important to me.

Although I'd heard of him all my life, I was quite young then, I had never given thought to Jesus Christ. And so I knelt with my father on the cement floor of that chicken house and I asked the Lord to save me.

I often wondered whether I was really converted at that time, but I do know this. I do know that the Lord worked in my life at that point and that my life was changed. Now, who should be thinking about John 3 .16?

What did you think when I announced my text this morning was John 3 .16? Perhaps some of you thought, oh, this is a verse that we preach in an evangelistic setting to the unsaved. True, it is a verse that's very appropriate to preach in a setting where there are many unconverted people to point them to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

That's very true. But also, this is a verse that for those who have known Christ for 60 plus years to think about and to meditate upon. Let me give you some reasons. I give these so that you who know Christ will have reason to listen to what I have to say.

I hope you will anyway, and to listen to what the Spirit of God has to say in this verse. First, because we need to know more and more of the love of Christ and the love of our God. The Apostle Paul says, I believe it's in chapter 3 of Ephesians, I think it's verse 18, 19, somewhere in there.

He prays for the Ephesian Christians. He said that they may know more of Christ's love, how wide and deep and long it is, and so that they may be filled with the fullness of God. So we need to think about God so loved the world.

And also, we as Christians need to think about this verse because if we remember, what is the first fruit listed in the fruit of the Spirit? The fruit of the Spirit is love. And then come all the rest.

There's a sense of which all the fruit of the Spirit flows from love. And so that's another reason for us to consider this verse and to think about God's love. Another reason for us to think about this verse is because love is really the root of God's grace.

Romans chapter 5 we read, but God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He commended his love for us, the text says. And then also, because it is this attribute of God that is especially highlighted in the scriptures.

Many places we find this, for instance, the John and his epistle says, God is love. God is love. Jeremiah lists this attribute of God first when he talks about, and Lord willing, we'll look at these two verses tonight in Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, when man's not to glory in his wisdom, not in his strength and so forth, but he who glories, glories in this, that he knows and understands God and understands, and the first attribute of God which he lists is the loving kindness of God.

That's where he starts. That's where Jeremiah starts. And so I say it's appropriate for us to think about this verse, for God so loved the world. Now what I want to do this morning is to look at some five thoughts that we can glean from this verse.

First of all, I want us to consider the source of this sacrificial love of Jesus Christ that God sent his son. Secondly, I want us to consider the sinful objects of this sacrificial love. Thirdly, I want us to consider the awe-inspiring expression of this sacrificial love.

Fourthly, I want us to consider the single requirement to experience this sacrificial love. And then finally, fifthly, I want us to look at the eternal results of this sacrificial love. But let's begin first of all at the divine source.

We read in the Bible, God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, God. That is God the Father. Romans 5, 8. But God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans chapter 8, verse 32. He, that is God the Father, did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. First John chapter 4, verse 10. In this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

That is the one who would satisfy his own wrath, his own justice. This is God the Father. Peter, when he preached in Acts chapter 2, 23, in the day of Pentecost, he says him, that is Jesus Christ, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.

You have taken by lawless hands and have crucified him and put to death. But Jesus Christ was delivered to the cross by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of the Father. It was his purpose to do this.

Or we can look at Isaiah chapter 53, verses 4 and 5. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten, that is struck down by God, and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

Who is it that laid the iniquity on Jesus Christ? Who is it that sent him to the cross? Who is it that determined that he should die? It was God the Father. And Jesus Christ obeyed his Father, knowing that that is why he was sent into the world, he obeyed his Father, and he went to that cross willingly.

We read, for instance, in Isaiah 53, 6. All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Chapter 53 of Isaiah, verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to crush him. Just one more verse, Isaiah 26, 16.

Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, says the Lord God. Now this is very important that we emphasize this in our own minds, and it's very important that I emphasize it to you, because there's a couple of reasons.

First of all, this is a truth that has a great comfort to every believer here this morning. It's a great comfort to grasp this simple truth that it is God who determined and planned, and by his foreknowledge said, my son I'm sending to die because of my love for the world, because our whole salvation and the assurance of our salvation rests upon that truth.

Some have suggested that Christ's death was to secure the love of the Father. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing could be further from the truth. His death did not secure or gain the love of the Father.

It was the love of the Father that sent his son. So you see, Jesus didn't die to plead with his Father, as it were, please save these people that I die for. No, the Father said, I love these people. I love them so much.

I love the world so much that, son, I send you to be the redeemer of my people. Christ died because the Father already loved us, and that gives us a sweet assurance of our salvation. We come to the Father boldly in the name of Jesus Christ because we know, first of all and foremost, the Father loved us, planned this salvation, and sent his son to die for us.

And I also emphasize it because this is a hope to unbelievers. You see, there's no prior conditions for someone who is yet not a Christian to come to Christ. Christ is offered to you in the gospel because of God's love for the world, for sinners, and so he's freely offered to you.

There's no hindrance. There's nothing you need to do. You don't need to try to appease the Father. Jesus didn't appease the Father. Jesus simply obeyed the Father because the Father loved a sinful world.

Now, I'm going to be opening up that truth in a little bit, just shortly, but I want you to know that everything originates from God's love. And again, I say there are theologies, there are churches that teach quite opposite of what the Bible says who would indicate that somehow Jesus had to appease the Father to love us.

No, no, no, my friends. The Father loved us and sent his son. Let's look at our second idea or thought here, and that is the sinful objects of this sacrificial love. Now, let's think about synonyms for sinful.

Depraved, debased, immoral, debauched, or to put it another way, transgressors of the law of God, people who have broken the law of God. This is the people, the kind of people that God loved. He loved the world.

Listen to these verses and listen to them in thinking in terms of the kind of people that God loves. Galatians 5, 19 through 21. Now, the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.

Of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, I hope you don't look at that and say, well, I'm glad I'm not guilty of any of that, because if you do, Christ probably didn't die for you.

He didn't die for good people, friends. He died for sinners. He died for sinners. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

And listen to this next sentence. And such were some of you. If you wanted to be in a place where there were good people, you wouldn't have joined the church of Corinth. There were homosexuals that have been converted, adulterers, fornicators, the whole list.

It's not a place for self-righteous people to be. Such were some of you. And then he says, but you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of God.

These are the people that God has loved. Sinners of the worst sort, of the very worst sort. He loved the world. I really appreciate William Hendrickson. He's one of my favorite New Testament Bible commentators.

And I think he gives the best explanation of the world here. He says, fallen mankind in its international aspect, men from every tribe and nation. In other words, he's saying it encompasses people from Africa and Asia and even the United States and North America and South America and Russia, you name it.

And it's all in this international aspect. This means men who are alienated, who are separated, totally separated from the life of God. Men who were guilty and deserve nothing but the wrath of God. Men like Manasseh.

Remember Manasseh? When you read your Old Testament and you read about Manasseh in the book of Kings, I mean, he is the worst possible king that ever reigned over Judah. And he reigned like for 55 years.

He did evil after evil after evil. I mean, he offered children as sacrifices. He brought in all kinds of idols for false worship. And he led the people. He stopped the worship of the true and the living God of the temple and made a shambles of it.

He was so wicked. And when you read Kings, you say, well, that man's in. And then we read Chronicles. And to our amazement, we read that this most wicked king that Judah ever had, a king because of his sin, God says, now I'm going to destroy this nation.

They're going to be captured because of the sins of Manasseh. We find that toward the end of his life, that the spirit of God worked in his heart and gave him repentance. He repented. The most wicked of kings.

And now he's in heaven. That's the kind of people that God loved. Or men like David who stole a man's wife, had him killed. You know that. That's so familiar. Or men like Saul of Tarsus who agreed to the killing of Christians.

And yet the great apostle, God so loved the world. A world that is alienated from him, from every tribe and nation in the world. And I thank God that he's loved sinners because that's who I am. A sinner deserving the wrath of God.

And this is, we are to be amazed at the love of God. Are you in that class of people that are amazed? You can sing our national folk song, which most people don't have any idea what it means. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch, a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. Thank God he saves wretches. Wretches like me. Thank God he does that. Well, you see, this is, and remember what Jesus said. Jesus said, I came to seek and to save those which are lost.

He said, I didn't come for the righteous. They don't need a physician. I came for sinners. I rejoice in that truth. Do you? I hope you do with all your heart. Well, we've looked at the divine source of this love.

It is God the Father. We've seen the sinful objects, which they are a pitiful group of people that deserve nothing but wrath and separation from God forever. And yet he saves them. Now thirdly, let's consider the awe inspiring expression of this sacrificial love.

And it's all wrapped up in that little word in John 3 16 for God. So it's all wrapped up in the word. So literally it could be translated for God in this manner, in this way, if you please. It's the it's it is an awe.

I say it's an awe inspiring expression because it takes us immediately to the person of Jesus. He's so loved in this manner that he sent his son. So our focus becomes on Jesus Christ. This is how he loved us.

He said, now who is Jesus? Who is the son of God? Do you know him? Do you have any idea what he's like? Well, let's think about it for a while. Think about who he is. Well, he is a preexistent one. You remember Micah, the prophet said in Micah chapter five, verse two, he says, but you Bethlehem Ephrata, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth whose goings forth have been from of old and everlasting.

And so when the wise men came to Jerusalem and said, we've seen his star, they said, where can we find him? Of course, Herod had no idea. So he brought in the scribes and the Pharisees and they said, well, he's he had to be in Bethlehem because that's where the Messiah is going to be born.

And so they went to Bethlehem and lo and behold, they found him. His goings forth have been from of old from ever. He is the eternal son of God who became flesh, the babe in the manger, the one that sometime later the wise men worshiped.

Oh, my friend, this is amazing. God manifest in the flesh that Mary bore him and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger. It's awe inspiring because of the perfection of the God, man, Christ, Jesus.

You know, I know, you know, but in case you don't, I want to tell you that this man, Jesus, lived a life without sin. Most of us haven't lived this morning without sin. And all of us is true of if we only knew about our sin.

We are sinners. We lose our temper. We get angry with our wives or with our husbands. We get upset with our children. We all kinds of things that come in upon us. And we're sinners. And here is a man who at his trial was testified by a by an earthly judge by the name of Pilate.

He said, I find no fault in him. Ah, but even more, his closest associates. Like his disciples, Peter testified, there was no guile found in his mouth. Never did a ill word come out of the mouth of Jesus.

None of you can say that. None of us can say that. We are guilty, but not Jesus. He was perfect without sin. He did not sin. He is the spotless lamb of God in the words of scripture. It's awe inspiring because of not only who he is, not only because of his perfection, but also because of the sacrifice of this person.

The sacrifice of Jesus. Think of the glory of Jesus Christ. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

And then think of the sufferings of Jesus Christ on the cross. The perfect lamb of God, no sin. And there he is hanging on that cross. And even that one of the thieves said, this man isn't there for any of his own crimes, any of his own sins.

And yet there he is taking all the abuse of the horrible death of crucifixion. And that's horrible enough. But what was even worse, three hours of darkness, when the wrath of God was poured out upon him so much so that he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And when we look at the cross, we're not to feel sorry for him. Oh, I know that wells up within us. And I understand that. But more than that, we are to see a man who is willingly suffering for our sins.

He's willing, willingly enduring what you and I deserved. And that's why he died. He died to take our place, to be our substitute, that we might have life. Oh, I wish I could paint the love of Jesus more vividly for you this morning, to think of the cross and how he died on that cross.

Oh, if I only had the voice of angels to tell you of the love of Jesus, a love that is so great and so amazing, far above everything that we can think. There are poets who have been able to do that. I thought of the hymn by Horatius Bonar, around 1861.

Horatius Bonar says this, he says, oh, love of God, how strong and true, eternal and yet ever new, uncomprehended and unbought, beyond all knowledge and all thought. He goes on to say, oh, love of God, how deep and great, far deeper than man's deepest hate, self-fed, self-kindled, like the light, changeless, eternal, infinite.

And remember the apostle Paul prays, I think I've mentioned this already in Ephesians 3, 18 and 19, that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God, that we can comprehend this.

But it passes knowledge, it's beyond knowledge. The wisest, most brilliant person in the world, even if he were a Christian, cannot comprehend the greatness of Christ's love, the perfection of his person, that he would die as a substitute for sinners.

That's the awe-inspiring expression of this love, God so loved, so loved that he sent his son, who, like his father, loved the world. Well, let's consider together this fourth thought, and that is the single requirement to experience this sacrificial love.

Think about it with me if you would. Here is what Jesus said, God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Whoever believes.