The Love of God and Salvation — Roy Daniel

Well, as you heard, my name is Roy Daniel and I'm very privileged to be here and to be able to preach to you. Some people think that sometimes things are preachers and there are certainly preachers who think it's their right to be able to preach.

But I consider it a privilege and a real responsibility to stand up from the pulpit. The Bible says, Be not many masters, for we shall receive the greater condemnation. I'd like us to open our Bibles to John chapter 3 verse 16.

The Preciousness of John 3:16

It's probably, along with Psalm 23 and a few other verses in the Bible and chapters of the most famous portions in the Bible, and probably the most famous in the entire Bible is John chapter 3 verse 16 as far as verses go.

But to many people this verse, even though it is staggering and it is a verse that is amazing in what it says, to many people it's just another verse. It's not precious to them simply because they've heard it so much.

If you come to South Africa, you'll meet many people living in the most beautiful city probably in the entire world, much more beautiful than Rio de Janeiro and more beautiful than San Francisco and all these different places across the world is Cape Town.

It's an amazing, amazing city, very, very beautiful, and yet people who live there do not appreciate the beauty. Many of them say this until they leave there after 13 years and they long back for it. And there's people when it comes to Bible verses that they've so many times heard this Bible verse that its meaning and preciousness is not there, very real in their life.

Now I'd like to read with you this morning John 3 verse 16, one of the most precious verses ever to be penned. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Let us pray. Father, I just thank you for the privilege this morning of being able to stand up here and preach. I ask for thy mercy and thy grace and thy anointing through Jesus Christ alone, not through anything else, but thy Son.

Father, I ask you to bind the devil and his demons in this meeting in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ. I ask you to open up our eyes of understanding, to behold the wondrous things in thy law. And I ask thee to speak with us and above all to be present as we talk of thy wondrous gift, the greatest gift that was ever given, Jesus Christ, thy Son.

I ask all this in Jesus' name, Amen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I often ask the question, I wonder if people realize how much God gave when he gave his Son.

You know, I have an aunt in South Africa, and I've got a few aunts, but this particular aunt used to live in Johannesburg, she now lives in America. And she came down to visit with her children, my mother, she came to visit my mother in Cape Town when I was a little boy.

And I remember we went to church on Sunday at the church we were going to that stage, and there was a parking lot outside, but we didn't park in the parking lot, we parked in the road next to the parking lot, and there were cars going past.

And my aunt at that stage had a little baby that had been born recently, and there was a baby seat in the back of the car. And I remember to this day, even though it might seem not an important thing that happened, I remember to this day, a little thing that happened was when that little baby, when she opened the door at the back, that little baby somehow fell out of that car and fell head forward onto the ground.

And I've never ever heard someone scream in anguish and fear, almost, as I heard my aunt scream, as that little baby, which she loved, was in danger, was falling to the ground in that busy road with cars going past, she screamed out in fear that her little child could be hurt.

Do you know how much more God loved his son than any mother could love her child? You know, when I think of the story of Abram in Genesis 22, where he was told to offer up Isaac, we have in that story so many parallels between Isaac's offering and Jesus being offered on the cross.

You have the three days before he died, you have that he was carrying his wood, so Jesus carried his own cross. You have so many pictures of Jesus in the story in Genesis chapter 22. But I often think when I look at that portion, that it wasn't just that God was giving a picture of Jesus Christ, but God was, yes, showing to a single man what it is like to send your only son up a lonely hill to die.

He was giving a taste to a man what it meant to give your son to die. You know, last year, October 9th, I got married to the prettiest, loveliest, most wonderful lady on earth. I always thought my mother was that until I met Jerusa.

And she's wonderful. We are happily married. We love each other. She's phenomenal. She doesn't change. She's just absolutely wonderful. I'm not going to spend the whole sermon telling how wonderful my wife is, but she is wonderful.

But generally what happens when you get married is your wife falls pregnant, and she did. And we were so excited for about three months. You know, people start giving you... We had two suitcases full of baby socks.

I didn't know if it was a girl or a boy at that stage, so they were giving pink socks and blue socks. It was absolutely wonderful. We had baby cots given to us. You couldn't believe... Actually, our flat was too small for all the stuff, so it's good it stopped eventually.

But I remember one night after we were so excited for so long and dreaming of this little child that was coming, I remember one night, what happens to many people on various occasions, there was a miscarriage, and we lost that child.

I remember it was late at night, about 12 o 'clock, I was sleeping in bed, just I don't know what I was dreaming of, but suddenly I felt a tug on my hand, and my wife was standing there, and she just looked down at me with a white face.

And she said, Roy, we've lost the baby. And I don't know how to explain to you the anguish, the confusion in that moment, especially if it's the first one, and you're sitting there and you don't know what to do.

And I stood up, and obviously, there was the practical implications for a few hours that we had to deal with. But I remember after that, we, at about three o 'clock in the morning, we were lying in bed.

And I don't believe in visions, I don't believe in dreams and strange stuff like that, there wasn't any strange dream or strange vision or anything like that, but just as a dad sitting there on his bed, it came to me this thought that was a bit like a dream, a daydream, and I saw a little child, about three years old, that looked a little bit like a combination of my wife and me.

And this blonde little fluffy-haired child cried out, Daddy, Mommy. And I remember sitting there on that bed, and I began to sob and to sob and to sob. It's for the first time I realized how much I loved this little child that I'd never seen before.

You know, the next morning I woke up, and I took my guitar, I'm not a very good guitar player, but I took my guitar, and I started to just strum to myself, and I wrote down a little song. Thank you, Father, for giving your son.

I can't understand why you did. But when I think of the one that we've lost, I thank you for giving Jesus. Thank you, Father, for giving your son to die on the cruelest of trees. Thank you, Jesus, and thank you, God, for doing this for me.

Moody and the Gospel of Divine Love

You know, the great preacher, the Baptist preacher, Deal Moody, in the 1800s, he used to preach hellfire and brimstone, just like Vinnie did, just like many others did, with great effect, and people were saved.

But there came a day, a day which changed his life, when a young man from Europe wrote him a letter, and in this letter he said, I've been called of God, or God is leading me to come preach a series in your church, could I preach in your church?

And Deal Moody, I think, sat down with Torrie also, I don't know if Torrie was around at that stage, and they kind of decided that he shouldn't preach, because they didn't know who he was. But in those days, you didn't have telegrams that could go to Europe as easy, and so on.

You might get a letter one day, and you get the person the next day. And it came that this man came to their church, this young man, and Deal Moody just felt obliged to let him preach a whole series of meetings, I think at least seven days.

And he stood up, and he preached on one verse, and only that verse, John 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And that series of meetings changed Deal Moody's life forever. He became known as, figuratively speaking, the apostle of love. Yes, still he preached against sin, but he preached with love. In fact, when he came to Europe and preached, I think it was either Cambridge or Oxford, and they asked, why did Spurgeon not have as great an effect as Deal Moody?

When these people broke before God, and many of them got saved and turned from their love of money, and love of drink, and love of worldliness, and love of everything, and people who used to laugh at the gospel were seeking God, why was it then one man said, never man spake as Deal Moody spake with such love for my soul?

That's what melted me. One of the illustrations that this young person used in that series of meetings was, he said, if you could climb Jacob's ladder, and get up to heaven, and stand at the gates of heaven, and ask the angel, Gabriel, just one question, how much did God love the world?

He said, Gabriel wouldn't answer, God loved the world this much, or God loved the world that much, or anything else. He said, he probably used just one verse. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The Trainmaster's Sacrifice

You know, there's a story, I believe it's a true story, that a preacher, a train master preacher used to preach, and he had this illustration of a young child, a father that used to work at a drawbridge.

And there was a railroad tracks that went over this drawbridge, and he had to fix a mechanism or something, or run it. And he took his little child with him one morning, and his child, a little child, was playing under the great instrumentation that he was fixing.

And suddenly there was no train, in spite of the fact that there was no train scheduled for that time of the day, suddenly a train came around the corner and was rushing towards him. And he had a few seconds, a few split seconds, to decide, must I pull down the lever bringing down that drawbridge and crush my son, and so save this train and all the passengers?

Or must I jump, save my son, and those people would be smashed? In one moment he brought down the lever. That drawbridge came down upon his son. And then a father sat with his hands on his head, grief torn through his body while a train passed by.

You know the hardest part for that father was when he looked up, and he looked at the passengers passing through the window, and he saw them smiling and joking, and they were playing cards. And they had no idea of the sacrifice it took for them to be able to live.

You know there's so many people across this world who have no idea of what it cost God to make it possible for them to be able to come right with him. There's another story, a true story of a man who was rebellious against his parents.

And he had such an argument with them that eventually he left his parents. And he ran away, and for about ten years he was away from his parents. I think his dad died in that time. And then he met a person, I don't know the exact way that he got saved, but I know that he got saved in a meeting or through someone witnessing to him.

And he got radically changed. When your heart is changed, you want to make right with those that you have wronged. And this person wanted to go back to his mother. But he was dead scared. He was dead scared that his mother would say, I don't want to see you, because he was such a rebel when he had been in the house.

And so, he wrote a letter. And he sent this letter off to his mother, and in that letter it said, Mother, I'm going to drive past on the train that goes past your house. And when I come past your house, if you want me to come back, if you're willing after all that I've done, and I understand if you don't want me to come back, but if you want me to come back, then please put a white handkerchief in the tree that's in the garden.

And so he got, and his friend was with him into the train, and they started going along the line, and they were going nearer and nearer to the house, and he was so scared that his mother might not want him to see him, because of all the terrifying things that he'd done.

But he said to his friend, Friend, look out the window, I don't want to look. And suddenly, as his friend was peering through the window, and they came nearer to the house, there came a time when his friend said to him, Look!

He looked out the window, and he was amazed. There wasn't just one white handkerchief. That mother so wanted, so loved, so wanted her rebellious child to come back, that she'd literally put towels right through the garden, white towels and sheets, and everything that was white that you could see, she didn't want him to miss it.

You know, in Luke chapter 3, verse 38, we read that Adam was the son of God. And he rebelled, and he ran away. And God so wanted all of mankind to know what He would do, and His love for them to be able to come back to Him, that He literally put through the Old Testament a river of blood, pointing to the day when His Son would die with open arms for our sins, so that we could come and surrender to Him, receiving eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Salvation, Repentance, and the Love of God

I have a friend who came to visit me from America. My dad preached at his wedding. A lovely Christian. But he wasn't always a lovely Christian. He used to be a rebel. He used to sit at the back of his church, his father's church, where his father preached, and tried to irritate him by playing the drums.

And that wasn't the only thing he did. He was getting into very lots of wrong things. He was on his way to hell. Because if you're rebellious against your parents in a godly home, I can guarantee you, you're not in submission to God.

But he heard the preaching of a preacher. And under this preaching, he got saved. And he told me, I want to tell you the story of how this preacher got saved. He said, as a young person, I think the guy's name was Billy, as a young person, he experienced absolutely no love.

His father and mother used to swear at him, and throw knives and forks at him, beat him up. He never ever experienced one word of love from one person that he could remember. And there came a day as a young teenager, that he decided, what's the use?

He said, I'm going to take my life. So he walked down American road, and he looked. In South Africa, we don't have very high water towers. But over there, there was a... In America, you've got lots of water towers in different places.

And there was a ladder. And he started to climb up this ladder towards the top. He went up, and up, and up, and up, until he got to the very top. And there was kind of a ledge, or a pipe, or something.

He started edging his way out, hanging, so that he could jump. And as he hanged there, trying to work up courage to be able to jump, and take his life, suddenly, as he was hanging there, longing to die, to get out of this world where no love is, he heard a voice.

Now, I'm not a charismat, and I don't believe in voices from heaven all the time. In fact, I'm very scared if I hear a voice. But this voice didn't tell him to speak in tongues, or fall over, or anything like that.

All that this voice said was to him, Billy, I love you. And he was so shocked that somebody out there actually loved him, that he went back, and he climbed up. Now, the next day, or within a few days, there were a Baptist couple, a man and a wife, walking down the street.

And the lady, also not a charismat, not being led all the time, I get scared when people get led to eat green fruit, and, you know, they're led in every single direction. But this lady said to her husband, I don't know why, but something is pressing upon my heart, that I have to go to that door, knock on that door, and just say something.

And the husband said, sure, and they went and knocked on the door, and Billy came to the door, and this Baptist pair looked at this boy and said, we just, I don't know why, but we've just been led to say that Jesus loves you.

And he was so shocked after experiencing that on the water tower, that he went with them to church. Now, I'd like to say a very important thing. He wasn't saved. Voices do not save you. In fact, they're very dangerous unless you're led by.

Jesus, the fact that Jesus loves you does not save you. In that meeting, he heard the old-fashioned gospel of Jesus Christ. As he heard of sin, and high on fire, and judgment, he started to realize where he stood before God.

And then he heard of Jesus dying on the cross for God, Son of the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And as he heard this message and realized that he'd been going his own way and he needed to repent, he came and surrendered to the King and he was saved as a free gift from God.

And then he became a preacher. And he started to preach in different churches. And he preached in this conservative church where my friend was, and sitting among his friends who were rebels, all of them on their way to hell, they called themselves Christians, all these young people in rebellion against the adults in the church because they old-fashioned.

And from the pulpit, he didn't say God is a God of love! In love, he cried out to those youth, who are you following to hell? Because that's where you're going without Christ. And as he sat there, he realized that this person loved him as he said, who are you following to hell?

And my friend came to Christ that day and became a minister later on. And my dad preached. Although my dad might not know all those stories about him because he spent a lot of time with me. My dad preached at his wedding.

Sin, Suffering, and Human Rebellion

Some people say God doesn't love. Look at the sin of this world. Look at the death, the disease, the suffering, the murder. In Africa, when we go to schools, almost every single parent is divorced. We sit with little children tears going down their faces.

They talk about their parents being Satanists. Beat them up and they don't tell anybody. People say to me so often, Roy, how can you call God a God of love with all that goes wrong in this world? You see, they're blaming God for what man has done.

In my Bible, in the King James Bible, when I read Genesis chapter one and so on and I memorize it or whatever, then I come to the verses which God says looking around him and all the things which he created.

It was good. And God saw that it was good. And God saw that it was very good. There was no sin, no disease, no suffering. God created a perfect world. And into this world, man did a very stupid thing.

He rebelled against God. He ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And at that moment when he did that, sin entered in the world. A curse entered into this world. Disease, suffering. And sin became an avalanche.

One little stone on a mountain will often start other stones growing and eventually it becomes an avalanche. And that's what happened through time. Adam and Eve ate a fruit. Cain killed. There were then gays.

There was idolatry. There was murder. There was the Holocaust. There were so many things that happened every day. There's the most hideous diseases out there. Divorces are everywhere. Children are being destroyed in this avalanche of sin through the ages.

And only one thing in time could stop that avalanche. And that is the cross of Jesus Christ 2000 years back. Don't blame God for what man did. And what man brought into this world through his sin. You say God doesn't love.

Do you know how much God gave when he gave his son? Do you know what God went through when in Gethsemane he saw his own son crying out in Matthew 26 verse 39. Oh my father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt.

As his son was calling out to his father he was about to become the substitute for sin. Not become sin. For he had made him to be sin that knew no sin. That we might become the righteousness of God in him.

That verse doesn't mean that Jesus Christ became sinful in his nature as the word of faith, Joyce Meyer, Joel Sting all these rubbish preachers. Sorry to say they're not even preachers. Their doctrine is so heretical.

As these people preach that Jesus became sinful. No Joyce Meyer stands up and she says he was born again in hell because he became sinful. No the Greek there means that he was put in the place of sinners.

Not that he became sin. Sometimes for the Catholics and the word of faith and the charismats we have to go to the Greek and just help them. But when Jesus stood there in the place of sin so in the place of sin that his father is written in Isaiah 53 verse 10 yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.

At that moment he was so in the place of sin so much a substitute for sin that God the Father looked down upon his son and bruised him. Do you know what he went through when he did that to his son? God loves.

Romans 5 verse 8 for God commendeth his love towards us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Amazing thing is he didn't die for wonderful people. People all over that love him from birth and just do what he wants.

No Romans 5 verse 6 for when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. He tasted death for every man. Even on the cross as he died he showed forth his love when he said Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

And it's at this point in this sermon that I'd like to read a verse. Isaiah 53 verse 6. Most of you know it. All we like sheep have gone astray. It's a hard verse. Most people don't accept that they've gone astray.

That they're on their own way. Especially people grow up in evangelical conservative homes. I haven't gone astray. I'm on my way to heaven. I believe in God. But there's another thing that we get from these sheep.

So many people so many people don't realize that they're not just 1 in 7 billion people. They know God loves them and I remember I struggled with this as a child. God loves me but you know I'm just one in many people and he does love me and he did die for me but what did he save me?

And I know the Bible says he'll save me but am I important for him to stop everything and do a great work in my heart? You know when Zacchaeus was in the tree and Jesus walked past and there was a crowd of people and this little dwarf was in the tree.

I think he got the biggest shock in his life when Jesus stopped everything looked up and called him by name. Because that moment he suddenly realized I'm not just one in the crowd this God knows me by name He took time to worry about me a sinner.

I'd like to read with you Luke chapter 15 verse 4 to 7. What man, what man of you having a hundred sheep if he lose, listen, not ten of them, not twenty of them, not thirty of them, one of them doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it.

And when he hath found it he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he cometh home he calleth together his friends and neighbors saying unto them rejoice with me for I found my sheep which was lost.

Christ Seeks the Lost Individual

I say unto you likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner not that believeth that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. You know there's a song I used to when I was a Bible college we used to go to the fisherman's villages on the weekends for two years to different farms to preach to people, to hold children's meetings, to gather people together in houses and preach to them.

We also went to prisons. I remember before I went to the prison to preach the one day in maximum security or was it in the juvenile, I can't remember. I remember late at night taking out this little song about eight years back and crying as I thought of how God loved those prisoners murderers and rapists.

And I'd like to not sing it to read the song to you. It's a song you all know there were ninety and nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold. But one was out on the hills away far off from the gates of gold, away in the mountains wild and bare, away from the tender shepherd's care away from the tender shepherd's care.

Lord thou hast here thy ninety and nine are they not enough for thee. But the shepherd might answer. This of mine has wandered away from me. And although the road may be steep and rough and steep I go to the desert to find my sheep.

I go to the desert to find my sheep. But none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the water's cross nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through ere he found his sheep that was lost out in the desert.

He heard his cry sick and helpless and ready to die sick and helpless and ready to die. And then my favorite verse Lord whence are those blood drops all the way that mark out the mountain's track. They were shed for the one who had gone astray ere the shepherd could bring him back.

Lord whence are thy hands so rent and torn. They are pierced tonight by many a thorn. They are pierced tonight by many a thorn. All through the mountain's thunder-riven and up from the rocky steep. There rose a glad cry to the gate of heaven.

Rejoice. I have found my sheep. And the angels echoed around the throne. Rejoice. Rejoice for the Lord brings back his own the love of God to every individual. Black white Indian child beggar blind. Mark 10.

We read of a rich young man and one of the most amazing things about this rich young man is that we read that Jesus loved him. And let me repeat just because Jesus loves you doesn't mean you're on the way to heaven.

This rich young man came to Jesus and I'm going to say to him my own words. But he ran up to him knelt down to his knees and basically cried out good master what shall I do that I may be saved or have eternal life.

And Jesus looked at him and said why do you call me good. There's none good but God. And Jesus wasn't saying that he wasn't good for God. But what Jesus knew is that the way that this person reasons of what good is was by works.

Why do you call me good. Do you call me good. Because I do good works like you do good works. He said. Basically if you want to have eternal life then you should keep the commands the ten commandments the law.

And that young man looked up and he said I've kept it for my youth every single one. I've been good to my daddy. I've been good to my mommy. I've done all these different things. And Jesus pointed down loving him.

Jesus showed shine as Jesus is the light in the darkness of this world. Jesus shone upon him and showed him his sinful heart and deeds. When he asked him to sell all that he had and he showed this person you have a love for money in your heart.

And that man though Jesus loved him walked away. Sad. Let me tell you something. Just because Jesus loves you doesn't mean that you're going to heaven. I've said that already but unless you're willing to surrender to Jesus Christ to realize that your good works don't make you good.

That you're helpless before God willing to give up your old life and surrender to Jesus. Then even though he loves you you will walk away. Though you ask for eternal life you will walk away without it.

I can just see many preachers. This young man came to them and said sir I want to be saved. You want to be saved. Wonderful. Sit down. We've got a convert. Let's get the books ready for the statistics so that everybody can know.

Another soul has been saved. Soul sits down. Now listen. You are a sinner. Repeat after me. I am a sinner. Jesus Christ died for your sins. He did. Wonderful. Now accept Jesus Christ. Say this after me.

I am a sinner and I want to repent. And I ask Jesus into my life. I am a sinner. I ask you to repent and I'm going to repent and I ask Jesus into my life. Now you are a Christian. Welcome into the family now.

That sounds pathetic but that's how most Christians start. They walk nowadays. It's not like Jesus. Are you willing to give up the sin. Are you willing to give up your sin. Well wait a minute. We grow slowly after salvation.

Just ask Jesus and we will deal with that later. No that's not how it works. You have to come to God to surrender. Yes there is a growing process afterwards. But you have to turn from your life of sin number two.

You have to realize that you are helpless. You know there was a great preacher in South Africa about 30 years back and one of my friends was saved under him. And my friend's dad used to beat people to death.

And he wasn't much better than his dad quite a hard fellow even though he went to church and traditional church. And he came under the preaching of this great old Afrikaans preacher in another language.

And as he was sitting there for the first time under the gospel message he saw this man do a strange thing. The preacher and he asked could there be a volunteer. And one man came to the front and he took big ropes up and he started to tie that man this volunteer to the chair around and round and round and round and eventually with many knots he tied him so that he couldn't move.

And he looked at the man and he said man untie yourself. And the man tried and the man tried and the man tried and he couldn't. And then he asked a very simple question. What does this man have to do to be set free.

And someone cried out. I wasn't there to see exactly how it goes. It's a basic story. But someone cried out someone has to come from the outside to set him free. There's only one person that can set you free spiritually from the outside and that's Jesus Christ.

If the son therefore shall set make you free you shall be free indeed. John 8 verse 36. You have to realize that you're helpless good master what shall I do. That I might have eternal life. It's not what you can do.

It's Jesus setting you free. It's Jesus coming in and making if you're willing to surrender as a free gift making you a new creature. I'd like to quickly look at a few people that were willing. First of all Luke 23 verse 42.

There was a man on the cross amazing a thief. And yet as he was hanging on the cross and he looked at Jesus and he realized that he was a sinner and he was willing in his heart to surrender to the king that was hanging next to him.

And he said these simple words. Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And you know he was saved just like that. Amazing. The lesson I get from that is that Jesus always has time even when he's dying on the cross.

Don't let the devil lie to you and say that Jesus is the busiest person on earth. He doesn't have time for you. God has time for a sinner even on the cross to grant him eternal life. Then we have the blind beggar.

This wasn't to do with salvation but it just illustrates the point just outside Jericho blind Bartimaeus. In Mark 10 we read him crying out Jesus the son of David have mercy upon me. When he heard that Jesus was passing and all the people they said you're not important enough.