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It's all about His great love toward us, because that's what brought the Savior into this world.
For it's God that so loved the world. Think of that. So loved the world.
I'd like to speak to you this morning from John 3 .16. As you turn there, I want to give you a quote from C. H. Spurgeon on this Christmas morning as we focus on the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ and God's great love to this world.
Nothing can match it. Nothing. Nothing in this world, beloved, can even come close to it. Spurgeon said this, The love of God is a wonderful thing, especially when we see it on a lost, ruined, guilty world.
So, what was there in the world that God should love it?
There was nothing lovable in it.
No fragrant flower grew in that. Arid desert, enmity to Him, hatred to His truth, disregard of His law, rebellion against His commandments. Those were the thorns and the briars that covered the wasteland.
But no desirable thing blossomed there. Where did this love come from? Listen to that question. Where did this love come from? Nothing from anything outside of God Himself. God's love springs from Himself.
He loves because it is His nature to do so. God is love, 1 John 4 .8. Nothing on the face of the earth could have merited His love, though there was much to merit His displeasure. The streams of love flows from its own secret source in the eternal deity.
And it owes nothing to any earth-born rain or stream. It springs from beneath the everlasting throne and fills itself full from the springs of the infinite. And the gift of His one and only Son, God commended His love to us.
And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5 .8. The black background of sin makes the bright line of love shine out the more clearly.
Listen to this, folks.
When the lightning writes the name of the Lord with flaming finger across the black brow of the tempest, we are compelled to see it. So also when love inscribes the cross on the tablet of our sin, even blind eyes must see that love consists in this, 1 John 4 .10.
Now, beloved, that's a wonderful quote by C .H. Spurgeon. He's one of my favorite preachers. He's been known as the prince of preachers, but I'm going to have to draw back from that a little bit because we're going to actually hear from the prince of preachers himself this morning.
I love Spurgeon, but there's one I love better than Spurgeon, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the prince of preachers, folks. Now, I had to give you that quote from Spurgeon because he says it well, doesn't he?
But there's someone else that says it much more clearly, and he's the one that came from heaven, speaking about the great love of God. These are good words, I said, again, by Spurgeon, but now we're going to look at the Master.
We're going to look at the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has to say about the love of God because He is love manifest in flesh. He is that love of God. So, if you're not already there, John 3, 16, we're looking at this one great verse.
We should all know this by heart. It's no doubt one of the most familiar verses amongst Christians. Actually, Jesus summarizes the good news of the gospel into 25 words.
Think of that.
In 25 words, Jesus Himself gives us the whole plan of salvation in this one verse. It is called the gospel in a nutshell. Remember what Jesus said about His words? Now, Spurgeon's got good words, right?
I love the Puritans. But Jesus said, my words are spirit and they are life. So, the life-given power is in the words of Jesus. Jesus is speaking to a Pharisee, by the way. When He is speaking this great verse, He's speaking to Nicodemus.
Very religious man. He would be considered a conservative theologian of our day. A very religious man. A very upright, devout. He knew theology, but his theology was somewhat messed up. Jesus straightens him up.
But we must approach this, by the way, this great verse, with an attitude of awe and reverence within our hearts. So, as we come before this burning bush of the Bible, bow with me just for a few minutes as we pray.
And let's ask the Holy Spirit to help us within this time and remaining hour of worship. Our Father and our God, as we come to Thee now, we come before Your throne. We thank You, Father, for the blessing that we've already received.
But Lord, we want to bless You because You are the great giver. Every perfect gift comes from You. And You have given us the greatest, the most perfect gift from Heaven. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, as we pause to think about this, it is unspeakable.
The unspeakable gift.
There's no words that can utter it because all of Heaven is in Jesus. Heaven would not be Heaven if You take away the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Lord, we thank You this morning for Your one and only Son that You sent.
Your one and only great Son. We adore Him. Lord, we honor Him. Because we know when we adore Him, we honor You. Lord, we come to You and we worship You. And Lord, in joyful delight of Your gift of love to us, save us from apathy, Lord, of being so over-familiar with this verse.
And warm our hearts this morning as we hear from the words of Jesus. Speak to us from Your Word. Because we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by Your Word. We pray, O Lord, that You would open our eyes, the eyes of our hearts today, as we take off the sandals of our hearts before You, before we come, as we come to this great burning bush.
So may we never be the same. Change our hearts, O God. And we ask this for Your honor and glory in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. John 3 .16. I'd like for us to do something I've done here or there. Very seldom I have preached on such a great verse.
And I do not approach it lightly. It is one of the greatest verses in the entire Bible. So let's all read this awesome verse together in strong voice. 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.
Isn't that wonderful?
Praise God.
Wonderful verse of Scripture. Wonderful verse. Words of life. Words of life is no doubt the most well-known passage in all of Holy Scripture and all of Holy Writ. No doubt one of the most familiar, as I said, in the Bible.
We see it on bumper stickers nowadays, don't we? We see it in banners. We see it waved on poster boards as athletes use it. I've even seen a nail salon on my milk route. It said nails, John 3 .16. People use this verse and I don't believe that's right.
There should be more respect to the Word of God and leave businesses out from it, away from it because it is separate in of itself. Now, we even hear it quoted by some politicians, shamefully to say, from time to time.
It is one of the first verses, actually, that children and adults, we have learned to recite it from memory. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think it should be one of the first verses we should teach our children.
I'm not going to speak against that, but for some people it is the only Bible verse they can identify with reference and it's a good one, but there's much more in the Word of God. I will say it is the heart of the Bible and is the burning bush of the Bible and reads everything else in the Bible and the whole gospel and the whole counsel of God along with it.
But, again, with verses that people can identify by reference, that's a discussion for another time. Suffice it to say that John 3 .16 is one of the most familiar verses in the Bible, rightly so, but what makes me tremble is this, folks, is that we have become too familiar with it.
We can quote it, and I think it's wonderful to quote it, I'm not saying anything against that, but do we really know the meaning of it? Do we really get what Jesus is saying.
When He says,.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life? Now, this has been called the gospel, the pro-evangel, in a nutshell.
A summary of Scripture and a blueprint for salvation is also a wonderful verse to reflect on and meditate on with respect to missions and bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world. Rightly so, rightly so.
And it is within that context I would like to somewhat look at, but I also like for us to look at the surrounding verses around John 3 .16. Now, to get the meaning of this wonderful verse, we must see and hear by the help of the Spirit of God, what is God saying?
What is God saying through His Son, Jesus Christ? As Jesus mentions, For God so loved the world. We must see the context in which our Lord is speaking. And this is a wonderful chapter. Now, I'm going to go through this as fast as I can so we can get to it.
It's going to take me a few minutes to get to John 3 .16, but we're going to look at the passages that comes before it and some that comes after it at the conclusion of this message. But this passage comes right in the middle of a conversation between Jesus and one of the most learned teachers of Israel.
Think of that. He was a well-known teacher in Israel. He was a ruler of the Jews. His name was Nicodemus. Now, according to John 3 .1, this is a man of the Pharisees. There's been different views and commentators saying, why did he come to Jesus at night?
This is very interesting. This man comes to Jesus by night. And I'm going to say probably because of being afraid of the implications of associating with Jesus, possibly, open conversation with Him.
In daylight.
So he comes to Jesus by night. So his fellow Pharisees and his fellow theologians would not say anything to him about approaching Jesus. Now, Jesus has become, at the beginning of His ministry here, after cleansing the temple, He goes to Jerusalem, and His popularity is beginning to grow.
Miracles.
He's performing miracles. Many things have taken place here. He's already turned, in chapter 2, the water into wine in Canaan and Galilee at the wedding feast. That was a great miracle. And that miracle has a great significance and symbolism to it of the wine, symbolic of His blood and His death.
Now,.
Since the Pharisees were Jesus' number one enemy, I want you to keep this in mind as well.
Think of this.
This religious party.
Are the ones that eventually ended up killing Jesus. Jesus called them out.
Many times.
He calls them out and calls them hypocrites, whited sepulchers. He was not afraid to get the truth because He is the truth. He's going to tell the truth and that's what love does. So love is not a fuzzy feeling.
It tells truth and warns people of the wrath to come. Jesus is here to be Savior. He comes in this first Advent and He comes to save. But He still warns these Pharisees and these religious people and He calls them hypocrites, flat out play actors and vipers.
He calls them these names and He's not out just calling names to be mean. He is actually telling them.
The way they are.
In their hearts. Now, listen to this. Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night and at least... I will say this for Nicodemus. At least he comes. He's a hypocrite but he comes. He comes to Jesus and by the way, he goes to the right source.
He goes to the right person. He goes to the truth. And in verse 2,.
Listen to this,.
Nicodemus approaches Jesus and he addresses Him, this is interesting,.
As Rabbi.
He addresses Him as Rabbi.
That means teacher, meaning teacher.
And notice what he says. We know, we know, he's talking about the Pharisees or the Jews, the Jewish people, that you are a teacher come from God. Okay, you're a teacher. For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with Him.
Right here, I want to bring out something very interesting. Nicodemus acknowledged the Lord to be a teacher sent by God. Now, and somewhat there's some truth to there. You can kind of sense there's some flattery going on.
And Jesus doesn't go for it. Okay, and I will show you how in His answer He does it. Since no one could perform such miracles, Nicodemus says, without the direct help of God.
That's what he's saying.
But in spite of all his learning, Nicodemus did not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ as God manifest in the flesh. He did not see this. He saw Him as just another miracle worker and a teacher. Now, this is interesting because Nicodemus was like so many other people like in our day.
And that they addressed Jesus, they know Jesus as a great man, a wonderful teacher, He's an outstanding example, He's an example to follow, even a good prophet. I've heard the cult say that, folks. He's a good prophet.
He's a good teacher. He is all these things. But all of these statements fall very, very shy and short.
Of the full truth of who Jesus really is.
Jesus was.
And is God. And I don't know, and as you read through the whole entire Gospel of John, that is the theme.
He is God.
In flesh.
He is the God man. There is none other.
At first sight, the answer of the Lord Jesus does not seem to be connected with what Nicodemus just said. But, Jesus is right on target, folks.
And I want you to see this.
In Scripture. This is beautiful.
According to John 2, let me read it. John chapter 2. Go back one chapter. Look with me at verse 23 and verse 25. You know what this is telling us? Jesus is the discerner.
Of hearts.
He searches the.
Reins of hearts. He knows our hearts. He knows our thoughts. And He knows all people's thoughts and hearts. Listen to what He said. Verse 23. Now, when He was in Jerusalem, at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.
But notice the next verse.
But.
Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men and had no need that anyone should testify.
Of man,.
For He knew.
What was in man. That is a powerful verse that Jesus knows our hearts.
The hearts.
Of depraved men cannot be trusted. Deceitful,.
Wicked, naturally. Adamic,.
Fallen. And Jesus knew this. Even the most religious men. And you can kind of connect this this last piece of these last verses in chapter 2.
To Nicodemus.
Now, Nicodemus. Jesus answers Nicodemus. Now, He's answering a comment. This conversation.
Begins.
Not with question from Nicodemus. You notice that. I think Nicodemus was very teachable though. We're going to see that in a minute. But He starts with a comment, a flattery. Then Jesus in John 3 -3 gets right to it.
Jesus answered Nicodemus and said to him, most assuredly. Now, in some translations, whatever you have, says, some says barely, barely. Or truly,.
Truly. You know what that means? That means.
Amen and amen. Jesus connects two amens before He makes the statement. We usually say amen after a truth is being.
Stated. Jesus.
Says amen and amen because He is the truth. And by the way, when He speaks of this, I heard R .C. Sproul speak about this. He said, when He is saying that we better have a tent of ears because He's saying something very important.
Anytime in the Gospels when you hear Jesus saying most assuredly or barely, barely or truly, truly, amen, amen, we better pay close attention to it. Now, all the words of Jesus we pay close attention to, but really, when Jesus is saying this, Jesus is saying something, a revelation that's anew.
And He gives, He reveals this and He says, truly, truly, I say to you,.
You,.
Unless one is.
Born again, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. What our Lord is saying to this very religious man, this ruler of Jews, in essence is, Nicodemus, you have to come to me, you come to me for teaching, but what you really need is to be born again.
That's what He's really saying, in essence. He says, you need a new birth.
You know what He's.
Saying in that? This is a very old religious man that's been religious all of his life, and Jesus is saying, Nicodemus, you must begin all over again.
Throw away.
All your religion.
Dump it. Paul says.
It was like manure to him. That I may win Christ. Read it. You can read it in Philippians chapter 3. Paul says that. And Paul even says, I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. But when I came to Jesus, when I saw Jesus, when I was born again, basically Paul was saying all that religion.
Is manure.
Manure.
Throw it out. You've got to begin all over again. You must be born from above. You must be born again. You must have a spiritual birth, a new birth. Otherwise, you cannot never see or enter into the kingdom of God.
Very serious.
There's no other way to get into the kingdom of God, folks. One must be born again.
And when Jesus.
Says that,.
It's serious. It's very serious.
And being naturally fallen in his lost condition, of course, Nicodemus, he refers and he comes back with a question now. Now, notice he doesn't get it.
He says,.
How can a man be born when he's old? How can a boy be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
He's.
Thinking fleshly. Jesus answered, it's kind of comical and humorous in a sense, but the master comes back and he says, he says it again, amen, amen.
You better pay attention. I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh.
Is flesh.
That which is born of the spirit is spirit. And he says, do not marvel, that means don't be surprised, Nicodemus. Do not marvel that I said to you, notice the you, it's personal, you must be born again.
Verse 8, the wind blows where it wishes. And now he's speaking about the working of the spirit of God, folks. He's referring to the wind. You can't see the wind, but you can see.
The effects of it. That's what he's saying.
The effects of the spirit, you can't even see the wind, but the effects, you can see it. And Jesus says, you can hear even the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit.
It's outside of ourself, folks. It's the spirit of God that must regenerate us and make us new creations. And he's referring to Ezekiel and the new birth. He's referring to that when he takes out the stony heart, puts in a heart of flesh and he writes God's laws on it and it says time and time again, God says, I.
Will, I will, I will.
It's not us, our will.
It's God's will.
That does the work. How many times have you heard people say, I have Jesus, I gave Jesus my heart. Hey, look, Jesus, you can't get into the kingdom of God by giving Jesus your heart.
It's God that gave. It's God that gave.
His son. It is God that gave his gift. And we.
Receive it by faith.
Alone, see. It's the operation of the spirit of God. And all this, Jesus has taken Nicodemus somewhere. Now, I'm not going to break down verses 9 through 13. I want to read it, but not break it down. Because I think it's very important for us to get it.
Look at verse 9 through 13. Nicodemus answered, said to him, how can these things be?
That's a good question.
Very good question. And Jesus answered, and Jesus has got an answer for it. And you can guarantee it. The answer that Jesus gives is just not a partial answer, or it is the answer of answers, folks. It is the truth from heaven.
This is a revelation.
Jesus answered and said to him,.
Are you a teacher of Israel and do not know these things? It's like Jesus.
Is basically saying, it's in Ezekiel,.
It's in Jeremiah. You're a teacher of the Jews, and you don't know this? And then he says, most assuredly, again, verily, verily, truly, truly, amen, amen, I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness, if I have told you earthly things, and you do.
Not believe, how will you believe.
If I tell you heavenly things? No one, no one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven.
When we come to verse 14,.
Jesus.
Is about to unpack some powerful truth, folks. Now, I want you to keep this in mind. I mentioned it already. Nicodemus' theology.
Is messed up.
It is messed up. His theology is not sound. He really doesn't know anything about the new birth which is taught in Ezekiel and Jeremiah.
How's this man.
A teacher of the Jews?
He's a ruler of the Jews, and Jesus has already lovingly rebuked him for that in a sense. But some of the greatest truth that's about ever to be given is about to be said. So, we better pay close attention.
The penalty of man's sin, folks, must be met. It must be dealt with. Now, people cannot go to heaven in their sins.
Nobody,.
Not a one of us. I don't care how devout, how religious somebody is. This man, Nicodemus was one of the most religious men in his day. Paul the Apostle as he was Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee of Pharisees.
And he had to dump all of his religion. But in verse 14, Jesus gives this revelation. Listen to this. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be.
Lifted up.
Now, folks, this is powerful. Now, listen.
To me very closely. What's Jesus.
Referring to?
He's going to Numbers. We've already read through that. Numbers chapter 21. You can read it in your devotional time. Verse 4 -9. Let me give you a little, just a briefing on it here. As the children of Israel had been bitten by snakes, they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years.
In the wilderness to the promised land. They were going in circles. Disobedient to God. Murmuring. Complaining. The children of Israel became very discouraged. Very impatient with the Lord. They murmured.
They complained against the Lord. And to punish them for their sins, the Lord sent fiery serpents among them.
Many, many of them died.
The survivors cried out to the Lord in repentance. You can read the story. The Lord in His grace told Moses. Moses, that's God's man. God's prophet. He said, you take a serpent made of brass and you put it on a pole and you.
Lift it up for them.
To see it. And as the bitten Israelites who would look on the brass serpent, as He lifted up that pole, was miraculously healed by God. Now, I'm telling you, there's a great truth behind this. What Jesus is quoting in here, in the Old Testament incident, is to illustrate how the new birth.
Takes place.
It's basically this old song I used to sing years back.
Called, Look and Live.
I wish I had the words to it, but I can find it one day for you, but it means look and live. And it's based upon that incident in Numbers. All men and women, folks,.
Have been bitten by the deadly.
Vipers of sin.
Everybody.
And all are condemned to eternal death and hell. And by the way, to suffer justly under the wrath of God. We deserve it. We have been bitten by Adam's sin.
We come into the.
World already condemned. There's nothing we have to do to go to hell.
It's what you don't do.
That takes us to hell.
And that's not to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The serpent of brass in the Scriptures was a type or a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, that picture, I'm sorry, the brass in the Bible speaks of judgment.
Okay?
That speaks of judgment. The Lord Jesus was the spotless, the sinless, perfect son of God, without sin, the just one, the righteous one, but in His great love, He was our substitute. He took our place.
He took your place. We're the ones that deserve the death. We deserve the wrath. We deserve the hell. Jesus came.
As our substitute.
Folks, this is the gospel.
This is the gospel. The perfect son of God, the Lamb of God, bore the awful consequences of judgment in which He was so, in which we so deserve, and He did not. He did not deserve it. He was the perfect one.
But yet He chose to come.
In His love, and the Father's love, to take your place and my place of all that judgment, and all that hell that is placed upon man for all eternity.
Brother Keith referred.
To it this morning. By God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Right there, those three hours, as Jesus died on the cross, He was taking that eternal judgment upon Himself.
That we deserve.
Folks, this pole is beautiful because it speaks of the cross of Calvary. That's what Jesus is talking about. He says, that pole, as Moses lifted up that pole with that brass serpent, so also shall the Son of Man.
Be lifted up.
For the world to see.
Folks, I can't help it. It warms my heart to think of this. That's the altar, the mountain of God. It's the mountain that we all must go to to get into heaven and to have the new birth. That's what Jesus is referring to, to this religious.
Man.
The lifted up pole is referring,.
Jesus says, I'm going to a cross.
See, He knew that mission.
He knew every step. He already knew it from eternity past. And He lovingly, gladly went there, folks.
He knew all of it.
He knew what He would bear.
Beloved, we are saved by looking to Him. In faith.
By faith alone.
By receiving Jesus Christ. Not by good works. Not by going to church. Folks, people can go to church and be as religious as Nicodemus and go to hell. You must be born again. This is the gospel. Verse 15.
He's coming to verse 16, but notice what He says in.
Verse 15. That.
Whosoever believes in Him.
Should not.
Perish but have eternal life. See, that's the latter part of John 3, 16. But that's in verse 15. He's basically saying whosoever believes in Him should not perish.
But have eternal.
Life. We must get that. Beloved, the Savior was made. This goes right along with what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21. That He was made sin for us. He who knew no sin was made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
My friends, let me tell you this. This is the very heart of the.
Gospel. You take this.
Out. You take out.
Imputation. You.
Take substitution out. You've taken out reconciling. You have taken away the gospel. This is why Paul says, I know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There's nothing else that really, I'll be honest.
With you. I'll quote.
Spurgeon one more time. He says, if I preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified,.
That would be sufficient.
For me to preach while I live here on this earth. Now, we're to preach the whole gospel, the whole counsel of God.
But I'm telling you,.
Everything from Genesis to Revelation and back, all points to the cross. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why He came.
He was born in that manger, folks. The shadow of the cross was over that manger. He was born to die. That was His mission. And He passionately went there for you and me. Now, using the principle of imputation in that great verse, God treated His one and only Son as if He were a sinner.
And I'll take it a step further. As that sinner,.
As Jesus,.
Though He never committed a sin,.
God the Father.
Crushed Him. God the Father.
Treated Him.
As all the sins.
Of the world, of every person past, present, and future will ever commit upon Jesus. I want you to think of that.
Of all the wicked and evil that you.
And I see in this day, all that sin was placed on Jesus. All that wickedness was placed on Jesus. That sin that a holy God abhors and hates placed on Jesus. And the Bible says,.
And it pleased God to crush Him.
It pleased the Lord to crush.
Him. I want you to think about the love behind that. Romans 6 .23 says it. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You know what that says? Number one, the wages of sin, the soul that sins.
Shall die.
Spiritual death is the paycheck, folks, of every man's slavery to sin. Now, that's the bad news.
But how can we.
Know the good news unless we know the bad news?
You see,.
The good news comes eternal life. It's the free.
Gift of God.
We don't deserve that free gift. God gives us that free gift. See, through Jesus Christ and undeserving sinners who believe in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We see this burning bush before us, and now Jesus comes to John 3 .16. Now, the translators made it John 3 .16. There was this.
One flow of scripture at that.
Time, but it's broken up. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Folks, this verse is absolutely awesome.
It summarizes the Lord Jesus had been teaching Nicodemus concerning the manner.
In which the new birth is to be received.
This is what He's talking about. How is the new birth received? Well, it's answered. This is the great doctrine of the good news of the glorious gospel. The good news for God so loved the world.
Here it is. For God.
So loved the world. Let's look at it. Let's break this down.
For.
What does that little word mean? Well, the word for gives us the reason for God giving eternal life in reference to verse 15. You see what He says? Verse 15 to whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Then He gives the reason for it.
The reason.
Having made a statement about death, Jesus now shows how God the Father would demonstrate His saving plan of salvation around and centered.
On the death of Jesus. Jesus,.
The Lamb of God, the perfect Lamb of God, without sin. No sin in Him. That's why He was a virgin born. He did not inherit Adam's sin, folks. That's how God entered into this world without Adam's sin. That's why the virgin birth is so critical.
If we deny the virgin birth, we deny the sinless Savior, folks. That is crucial because Jesus must be sinless without spot, without wrinkle, I mean perfect. So He was born to take away the sin of the world.
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
He shall.
We see it also in John 1 .29. In chapter 1, verse 29. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Verse 36. John sees Jesus coming down that dusty road, looking at Jesus as He walked.
He said, Behold the Lamb of God. He pointed people to Christ. That's a true minister, folks. That's a true preacher. A preacher does not point people to himself. If He is, He's a false preacher. He's a false.
Prophet.
He points them to Jesus.
That's what John, John says, I'm just a voice, crying in the wilderness. And that's all the heralds, that's the preacher's job. Is to herald the gospel and say, hey, this is the one right here, Jesus.
God so loved.
The world. For God so loved the world. The greatest lover.
So loved.
The greatest degree. The world, the greatest number.
For God.
Listen to that. For God. Now, let's talk about God. It's important to understand that salvation is of the Lord. And only of the Lord.
It's not a man.
God is the originator of salvation. He drew up the plan. Eternity passed. Before this world even was created, folks. Before the stars were made, and the sun was made, and the universes were made, and the galaxies were made.
He already had it drew out.
He knew.
He already known.
Isn't it amazing? Paul said this before the foundation of the world.
So God is.
The originator. He takes the initiative. God is the seeker. You know, don't you hear the opposite.
Of today? You've got to do this to get into heaven. You've got to do.
That. You've got to obey God. Obedience is important, but obeying God does not get you to heaven. It's the fruit of salvation. Jesus paid it all, folks. And when we get a hold of that, the fruit of salvation comes.
It's like the works follows what is the source of that salvation when the change has taken place. You see, God is the originator. Salvation is God. Salvation is God's idea. It's God's plan. For salvation not only comes from God, but it's only in God.
And by the way, it's only through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the link. He's the bridge.
To get us. He's the mediator.
Listen to this. Acts 4, 12. Nor there is salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among.
Men by which we must.
Be saved. 1 Timothy.
2, 3 through 6.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men. The man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
Why is it in this world today that we're hearing that there's so many ways to God? Even the Pope.
Gets up.
And brings ecumenically all these other.
Religions. They got a.
Way to God. They got a way to God. We just need to be friendly and respect one another. But folks, I want to tell you the truth. There's only one way to God. Somebody asked John MacArthur this question one time.
He says, well, all these religions and this person says, are you to tell me that all these other religions are wrong? He said, yes, sir.
If there was 43 ways to God, I'd preach all 43 ways. But there's only one way to God.
Jesus said it.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me, he said. We don't hold.
To that. Folks,.
We're preaching lies. We're preaching damnation. One way to God. Jesus said it. I am the way, the truth, and the life. That is absolute truth. And we need to stand on that truth. Die for that.
Truth.
Hey, even the multitudes could say something else different, folks. The Bible says there's only one way to God, and that's through Jesus Christ.
The word for.
Gives the reason. God is the source. What about that little word so?
Brother Keith.
Loves this word, and I want to tell you, I appreciate that, Brother Keith, because it's a good reason. You know what so means? It's the manner.
It's the way. It's the degree.
It's the intensity.
Of that.
Love that comes from God.
Two words.
So.
For God so.
Loved the world.
You know what God is showing us?
He's showing us the great.
Depth, the degree of love, that love gift, His love sacrifice towards the world. For God.
So loved the world. So loved.
This is the scope of God's.
Love.
God is no respecters of persons, folks. The scope of God's love covers the whole entire planet. It doesn't matter the color of people's skin. It doesn't matter their language. Their language differences.
It doesn't matter what tribe they're from. God has no respecters of persons. He loves everyone on this entire planet with a common grace. Now there's a special grace. There's a special love for God's people.
We're going to look at that in a few minutes. But Revelation chapter 7. Listen to this. 9 and 10. John, the apostle, is on the Isle of Patmos and he sees these visions of things to come. After these things, I looked and behold, a great multitude which no one could number.
Listen to what it says. And all nations, tribes, peoples, tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with.
White robes,.
With palm branches in their hands. Verse 10. They're crying out. They're worshipping with a loud voice. And what are they saying? Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. To God and the Lamb.
You get that? See, it's God and the.
Lamb. All these.
Different tribes, all these different peoples, the different languages with a loud voice. It's got to be like thunder. And it explodes in praise to God. It's amazing. All the angels and all the universal bow before the Lamb and worship Him.
People have no idea.
How great and powerful this is. For God so loved the world. Teaches us the great degree of the scope of God's love. God's great love extends to all people. Next we see in John 3 .16 the depth of God's love.
The depth, the depth of God's love. Now what is that? What is that? It means His one and only Son.
You know what that means?
His unique Son.
God gave His.
Best. He didn't send an angel. He didn't send His top angel, Michael.
Or Gabriel.
In which we know their names from Revelation and Scripture. He sent His one and only.
Son.
We don't get... Our little minds can't wrap around this folks. I want you to listen to this. It's more of a modern day hymn. It says like this. Oh how deep the Father's love for us. How vast.
Beyond all measure. Beyond all measure.
That He should give His.
Only Son to make a wretch.
His treasure.
Don't you love that?
The extent, the depth of God's love surpasses all knowledge. Paul the Apostle literally prays for this in Ephesians chapter 3. Turn with me very quickly to Ephesians chapter 3. I want you to see this.
Just want to read it. But listen to what Paul says. For this reason, verse 14, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named and that He would grant you.
Listen to what he prays. That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. I need that don't you? That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
That you, listen to what he says, be enrooted and grounded in love.
That's what we're.
Rooted and grounded in. Is the love of God.
And listen to what he says.
May be able to comprehend with all the saints.
What is the width and the length and the depth and the height to know.
The love of Christ which passes knowledge.
Do you get that?
That's what he's praying for the church. That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. And then he gives a doxology to it. Now to him.
Who's able to do exceedingly.
Abundantly above all what we can ask or think according to the power that works in us. To him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations forever and ever. Amen. What a doxology.
But notice.
The prayer.
God gave His best when He gave His son Paul through the Holy.
Spirit.
Says this in 2 Corinthians 9 .15. Thanks be to God for His.
Indescribable gift. Indescribable.
The Old King James.
Says His unspeakable gift. I like both of them. Both mean the same but both words are.
Sufficient. Glorious isn't it?
Now.
Jesus chose to lay down His life.
Go with me to John chapter 10.
And read a few verses here. Listen to this in John chapter 10.
Jesus speaks.
This whole chapter is about the.
Good Shepherd laying down His life. Oh this chapter will take you into the depths of God's love if you read it. And by the way it also.
Shows that Jesus.
Lays down His life for His sheep.
He specifically, even though in common grace God loves the entire world and He does not desire no one to perish. That's the general call. There's also an effective call to the elect. In other words, those who believe will be those that are elected of God.
We don't know who they are folks. People try to figure this out. Spurgeon said this, if I knew who the elect was I would go to him but God has not marked him out.
For us to see.
God has marked him out and He sees him. So it's the general call. That's why Jesus says.
To those.
As He's preaching, come unto me all you laboring heavy laden I'll give you rest.
But see He's.
Given them a call to come to Him. And that's why in the Christmas story it's to all peoples. God does not exclude no one. If anybody goes to hell it's not, like I said, it's not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not God's fault. A lot of people try to even put the fault on God. But it's not God's fault because God is just judge folks. He desires all people to come to the knowledge of the truth.
A lot of people.
Have a hard time and I like the way MacArthur explains this, you have the sovereignty of God and man's responsibility. They run parallel. They do not intersect. They run parallel.
They do not contradict.
Each other. If you read it, you know I like what one old preacher said. You'll like this. He says when I come to the verses that says whosoever will, I'm going to preach whosoever will. And then when I come to the scriptures that says Esau.
I've hated and Jacob I've loved,.
I'm going to preach it. You see, in other words, we leave.
The results with God.
Because it's God who brings people to salvation.
You see that.
Man can't do that. We can't even bring our own selves to salvation even though we must repent.
God gives us the gift.
Of faith, of believing, and repenting and those are twin gifts. We must believe, we must repent. God's not going to do it for us. It's like he gives us the gift and that gift is in.
Jesus Christ. See, he's.
The link. He's the key.
But notice what he says here. I don't want to read all of it. In verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for.
The sheep.
But a hireling who is not the shepherd,.
He who is.
Not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. That's what false.
Teachers do. The wolf.
Catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he's a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
Jesus said this,.
I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and I am known by my own. Notice what he says in verse 15. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father and I lay down my life for.
Jesus is the good shepherd.
There's no other way the sheep.
Can come through. It starts by the beginning of this. Most assuredly, there it is. Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say it to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
And basically he says to him, the doorkeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice and he calls his.
Own sheep by name and he leads.
Them out. And then basically Jesus says, I am that door. I am that one that brings the sheep in and I lay down my life. Notice the last part of that. Verse 17, therefore my Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it again.
In other words, and what he's saying, no one takes his life from him. He has the authority and the power to lay it down. No one,.
He chose to do that.
No one could do that. And if you remember the story when they came to arrest him, he, and I'm sorry, right before he goes to the cross, they basically said, don't you know we have the power.
To.
Release you?
I think Pilate said that, didn't he? And he said, don't you know that I have that power over you? And then Jesus spoke out on this and he said, no you don't. You don't have no power unless it's given to you from God.
And then Jesus.
Says, I have all.
Power. He says, I'm the one that lays down my life. I give it.
And I take it back up again.
No one takes it from me. Verse 18, no one. When Jesus said no one, he meant no one takes it from me, but I lay it down to myself and I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
Notice what he says, this.
Command I have received from my father. In other words, that was a covenant that the son made with the father in eternity.
Before he came to this.
Earth, folks,.
That this was already in the plan of salvation. Now I gotta move on, but this is the great love of God. The greatness of God's love that brought him here. Isn't that glorious? For God so loved the world.
There's not two ways, there's only one.
Way.
But look, look at how God loves the world. There's two things I'd like.
For us to look at very quickly.
Look at what God loved.
And two, look at what God gave.
He loved the world and he gave his son. You know, think about that. Meditate on that. That's two great truths. You'll find yourself lost in the words of in no time whatsoever and humbled to the dirt. You think about that.
God loved the wicked world. Not the sins of the world, but he loves the world. Not the wickedness of the world. Not the world's system, but he loves the people,.
The souls.
Not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God is no one.
Loves like God.
Paul says, and you he made in Ephesians 2, made alive and were dead in trespasses and sins in which you were once walked according to the course of this world. Listen to this. According to the prince and the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh.
Isn't that what the world lives for? For the flesh, for the flesh and of the.
Mind were by nature.
Children of wrath. And then this says, it's just as the others, verse 4, but God, the transition, God intervenes. Who's rich in mercy because what? Of his great love we're with. He loved us even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
A dead man can't.
Choose by his own will to come to God. He's dead.
He stinks.
Amen. By grace.
Then in parenthesis, by grace you've been saved. Raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. The Father gave. The Father gave. And he gives and he gives and he gives. No wonder Wesley sung it.
And can it be that I should gain an interest.
In the Savior's blood?
Died for me. Died he for me who caused his pain.
For me who.
Loved him to death,.
Pursued amazing.
Love. How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? And also Frederick Lehman.
Who wrote.
The Love of God, he says it like this. The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the high star. It goes beyond the high star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bowed down with care.
God gave his son to win. His erring child he reconciled and pardoned from his sin.
When.
Years of time shall pass away and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall when men who here refuse to pray on rocks and hills.
And mountains call,.
God's love so sure shall still endure. All measureless and strong, redeeming grace.
Don't you love that name?
To Adam's race the saints and angels sung. Third stanza. Could we with ink the ocean field? Were the skies a parchment made?
Were every.
Stalk on earth a quill? And every man a scribe by trade? To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole. Though stretched from sky to sky. O love of God, how rich, how pure, how measureless and strong.
It shall forever endure. The saints and angels sung. It's glorious, isn't it? For God so loved the world. The greatest lover. The greatest degree. The greatest number. That he gave the greatest act. His only begotten son.
The greatest gift. That whosoever the greatest invitation believes the greatest simplicity in him the greatest person. Should not perish the greatest deliverance. But the greatest difference. Have the greatest certainty.
Everlasting life. The greatest possession.
I need to wrap this up and give you some application here. There's several things here. How much time I got left?
It's gone. But I'm gonna finish it.
There's several things.
That's very important here in this application.
We must get this folks. Jesus says you gotta believe.
That's really.
The key.
To everything here. We must believe it.
That word.
Believe. Whosoever.
Believes. The.
First thing is meaning everybody that would benefit from Jesus what he came to do. Whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Tragically, the rest will perish and not have eternal life.
Those that do not believe.
We know that's.
An eternal.
Tragedy. The important.
Thing is believe it.
Trust.
The word believe.
Means to trust, to receive,.
To embrace.
True means to trust in Jesus Christ. To lean, to embrace, to cling to him. To lay hold of eternal life like Paul said. Third, to receive it. Believing and receiving it.
Is.
Together. A person must receive the free gift of eternal life. Receive what Christ has done for you.
Before God.
Will pardon and give eternal life.
It's by faith alone.
So receiving and believing Jesus. And you can see that in Romans 10, 9 and 10. If you shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe.
In your heart.
That he died,.
He rose again, was buried, rose again, and shall be saved. This is not just mere repetition. This is actually.
Because he says with the heart.
You believe unto righteousness. It's not with the mind. It's with the heart.
That's what we better get a hold of.
As a child takes.
A hold. Fourth, if we ask and receive it shall be given.
To him. Jesus said that. Seek and you shall find.
Receive.
Him as what? Receive Jesus as what he is and all that he says he is and all his claims.
Everything.
In John 3 .35, for example, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall not thirst. So here believing means coming to Jesus, receiving him.
As the food.
And drink that satisfies our.
Souls, folks. Nothing.
Else is going to satisfy us. Notice people in the world look for everything else to satisfy them, but only Jesus can satisfy.
Oh, I'm telling you.
Beloved, it's only in Christ and Christ alone. And I will preach that to the day I die. What is eternal life? Jesus answered that, John 17 .3. And this is eternal life that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
That's important, folks. Knowing God. Knowing Jesus Christ. Notice he does not exclude Jesus Christ. Jesus is praying for his disciples in John 17. So eternal life is received by believing by faith alone.
Faith comes by what? Hearing and hearing by the word of God. There is life-giving power.
In this book, folks.
Like I said in the beginning, I love Spurgeon and everything he says, but this book right here has power. It has the power to raise dead men. It's powerful. It's like that makes me think about it. God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones.
A pile of bones. Thousands of millions of them.
And he.
Preached the word of God and he gave the word of God and all of a sudden you see them bones coming together. And muscles and sinew and a whole powerful army came out. Folks, you're looking at a world that God spoke with his word and his word is that powerful.
And why is the church now without power? It's because we've departed from this Bible. I'd say, God, help us. We must get back to this Bible.
Lord, help us. Lord, help us.
That's the only way we can have a revival again, folks. And I've been hearing on Christmas Day, churches canceling services because of families. Folks, that's a problem. Because on Christmas Day.
Should be like no other.
Because God is God and God is above family. We love our family, yes, but God gave us the family. But God is the giver of gifts. He's the giver of all. Come on. I'm telling you, folks, we must come back to this and know that God is Lord.
Hallelujah.
I better.
Stop before I get beside myself because I'm telling you, this is so important. One more thing I've got to say.
The most.
Important thing here, and it makes me think of Psalm 212.
The.
Psalmist David says, kiss the.
Son. Least.
He be angry and you perish.
There's that word perish.
What you got to do? You kiss the.
Son. And we're not talking about.
A Judas kiss, folks.
We're talking about.
A worshiping, loving.
Kiss of adoration.
To love God.
And Jesus Christ.
Kiss.
The son. Least he be angry with you. You perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. And then it.
Says this, blessed.
Are all those who put their trust.
In Him.
Blessed are those who put their trust.
In Him. Let's pray. Father, we thank.
You.
Lord, we adore You.
Lord, we bless You. We thank.
You that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And He who believes in Him, though He may die, and we're going to die because it's appointed for once man to die and after this.
The judgment.
But we shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me, Jesus said, shall never die.
Do You believe this?
That's a question to each and every one of us.
Do we believe this?
Oh, hallelujah.
There's no other.
Hope for mankind. There's no other hope for this dying world. There's no other.
Hope for us.
But only in the living hope who is the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus Christ.
Father, I pray that seal this.
Great truth to our hearts today as we have heard it. That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and to seek and to save the lost. Father, help us to turn this world upside down and spread this gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Fill us with Your Spirit. Father, we thank You for this, Your wonderful unchanging love. It never changes. Wherewith You have loved us, You have set Your love and Your affection upon us, Lord. Even while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for us.
Hallelujah, what a Savior. And we ask this in Jesus' wonderful holy name. Amen.