The Greatest Story Ever Told

The greatest story ever told. The greatest story ever told. It's given to us in the Bible, isn't it?

And it is the revelation of God. It's the good news of the gospel. It's the story of redemption.

The story of redemption. And let me say this at the offset, at the beginning here.

It's amazing that within this one verse of Scripture, God, the

Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, who Jesus Christ being God in the flesh, the

Son of God, as he speaks this to Nicodemus, in one verse has compressed, packed in, the whole story of redemption in this one verse.

Isn't that amazing? And just a few words, the story of redemption is given here in John 3 .16.

The greatest love story that the world will ever know. That the world will ever hear. And it's almost frightening too, that there's so many people right now that's just gone amok, and they know this in their head, but they have not really believed it in their heart.

There are wonderful summarizing statements of the gospel given throughout the entire

Bible, and the Old Testament, and more so revealed to us in the unfolding way, in such glorious beauty in the

New Testament as well. But there's none more familiar than this beloved, wonderful verse,

John 3 .16. A .W. Tozer called this wonderful verse of Scripture, the burning bush of the

Bible. I like that. The burning bush. It burns. It's like it lights up right here on this mountaintop.

Therefore, we do approach God's word, as we do so with great awe and reverence within our hearts before this burning bush.

And we take off the sandals of our feet, and our hearts, so to speak, in the presence of God.

As we come before this wonderful word, we rejoice with eternal delight, and we do so in the fear and trembling.

It's a wonderful mingling, isn't it? Fear and trembling, but we rejoice. We rejoice because of this burning bush.

What I'd like to do, I'd like for all of us to read this together, out loud, with a strong voice.

And I'm reading from the... I know you got to probably different translations, but I'm reading from the

New King James Version here, so let's read it all together. 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.

Amen. That's good. Amen. I even seen the children back there saying it, so praise

God. It's something I was thinking of, that I definitely have a desire for these children to know

God, and know Jesus Christ, and the way they come to know Christ is through this word.

And faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. So the word of God has such power, doesn't it?

Amen. And we pray that God richly blesses this word. Amen. Let's have another word of prayer this morning.

Father, and our God, we bow in Your presence, and we thank

You that heaven and earth will pass away, but Your words will by no means ever pass away.

It stands forever. Your words abide forever. Not one word of it can fall.

Every single syllable of it is true. It's truth. Every promise is yes and amen.

Every jot. Every tittle. Every dotting of the I. Every crossing of the

T. Every word, Lord, from Your lips is pure, because You're pure.

You're holy. Your word is holy because You are holy. And Lord, we thank You this morning,

Lord, for giving Your eternal word. And through Your eternal word, there is eternal life.

There's warnings, but there's promises. So Father, we thank You that it's given to us in such simplicity that even a child can wade in the shallows of it.

And a theologian, Your word has such depth, it would drown the theologian.

So Father, we thank You. We thank You, Lord, for Your great love that You have for us today and for the world.

And only Your truth has the power to sanctify our hard hearts this morning. So Lord, I would pray, help us,

Lord, by Your blessed Holy Spirit, not to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from Your mouth.

Lord, we pray, speak, Lord, for Your servant hears. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.

This beloved verse, this beloved verse of Scripture is so glorious, isn't it?

John 3 .16 is no doubt one of the most well -known passages in all of Holy Scripture, I believe that.

And that's saying a great deal, isn't it? Many of us learned this wonderful verse of Scripture, perhaps on our mother's knee.

Many of us learned it in vacation Bible school, maybe. Maybe we heard it from a pastor or just simply hearing the

Scriptures read somewhere, but it came to us, and aren't you glad? And I would like for this to be as fresh as it was when you first heard it.

That God would save us from apathy, amen? That God would save us from being over -familiar with it.

That yes, we could quote it, and I think we should learn to quote it. We should hide it in our hearts that we may not sin against God.

But it's come to us, through the pages of Scripture, it's come to us maybe in vacation

Bible school or on our mother's knee or hearing it. May God help us not to be apathetic concerning this verse.

And we pray that the Holy Spirit will help us receive it with newness. So this wonderful passage comes right in the middle of a conversation that Jesus is having with a ruler of the

Jews. And you know the story, Will, in John chapter 3, that this man is a very religious man.

Isn't that interesting? He's a very religious man. He's a man of the

Pharisees named Nicodemus. Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Now let me stop right there.

We give him a hard time about coming at night, but I tell you, Nicodemus did come. What's important is come to Jesus.

Come to Jesus. So you come. Jesus says,

Come unto me all you labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. The Scripture says come.

That's the invitation. That's the revelation. So Nicodemus does come.

It's at night, but he does come. And let me say this at the offset.

He was very confused about what he had been seeing in the life and the ministry of Jesus.

He saw many miracles. Nicodemus had heard Jesus' teaching. Actually in verse 2, if you look in John chapter 3, let me read a few verses here.

It says this man came to Jesus by night, Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, and he said to him,

Rabbi, that means master or teacher, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs.

Notice right there, he's looking at the miracles and the signs that you do unless God is with him.

And that says a very true statement. He was noticing the miracles.

He was noticing the signs. But Jesus did not want him to go away just recognizing those things, right?

He says, you do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

So he was very confused. But what Jesus is noticing, you know,

Christ points this out constantly. People can see the great wonders and see the great miracles and see the signs and be lost and go to hell.

They can see healings. And Jesus is concerned for Nicodemus' soul.

He's concerned, as Brother Ben mentioned, the worth of the soul is great.

How much is a soul worth to God? And here,

Nicodemus is very religious. When Nicodemus was confused, he was looking at the external signs, the miracles, and then

Jesus says something profound. And I love this. It's very simple, but it's simply profound. Verse 3.

And Jesus immediately gets right to the heart and the root of the problem. He says, most assuredly.

That's a new King James Version, but the old King James says, verily, verily. I like that.

Because verily, verily basically means truly, truly, or amen, amen.

Jesus says the amen twice before He says the statement. He says, amen, amen, verily, verily,

I say to you, unless one is born again, born from above, that's what He's saying, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And again, the ruler of the Jews, the so -called teacher of the

Jews was very confused, wasn't he? Verse 4. 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? Notice how he's thinking.

He's thinking all natural. He's not thinking of the Spirit. Nicodemus is confused.

He doesn't understand. That's proving Jesus' point. It's really a very humorous yet interesting conversation to say the least.

But a very, very important one. Because within this great chapter of John's Gospel, the revelation of God's salvation through Jesus Christ unfolds.

And this is a pivotal chapter, it really is. All of the chapters are very important, but this one is really paramount.

Because everything is said here speaks about Jesus' mission to this world.

Brother Keith sent me something really good from Elmer Townes. He knew I was going to speak on this, and I asked him, can

I get permission to use this? So it's kind of an outline of Elmer Townes, but I'm not going to use it, okay?

But I want to read it to you. And it speaks about John 3, 16, the greatest verse in the

Bible. This is Elmer Townes. For God, the greatest being, so the greatest degree, loved the greatest affection, the world, the greatest object of love, that He gave the greatest act,

His only, the greatest treasure, begotten, the greatest relationship,

His Son, the greatest gift, that whosoever the greatest company, believes the greatest trust, in Him, the greatest object of faith, should not perish the greatest deliverance, but have the greatest assurance, eternal, the greatest promise, life, the greatest blessing.

Isn't that wonderful? I wanted to shout when he sent that. I said, praise

God. With no doubt, this is the greatest story ever told. Amen? And it's packed in one verse.

In the greatest verse of Scripture. So within this wonderful verse, like a shining diamond,

I like to picture, as we would like to hold a huge, if I had a diamond the size of a football, which would be glorious, wouldn't it?

But like a shining diamond, we could hold it up to the light, and by the illumination of the

Holy Spirit, to see every facet, by God's Spirit, of the truth that is given to us, in this great verse.

So I pray that this will be a blessing, and that the Holy Spirit would just, just pour the

Gospel within our hearts, and just open floodgates of joy, of what we have in Jesus Christ.

Because there's such assurance here. The outline that I've chosen is this, and this will help, it helps me stay on course, and it'll help all of us to stay on track.

I need it, of course. The first point is, for God so loved the world, declares

God the Father's love. So there's a declaration of God the

Father's love. Secondly, that He gave, determines God the

Father's giving. Third, His only begotten Son, describes

Christ's great relationship. I'm sorry, great sacrifice. Describes Christ's great sacrifice.

Fourth, that whosoever believeth in Him, this defines God's terms, should not perish, this decries man's sin.

And sixth, last, but have everlasting life. This details

God's gift. God's gift. So, let us begin, and let's look at these points, for just a few minutes this morning, in our worship time.

For God so loved the world, here is the declaration of the

Father's love. It declares God the Father's love. What a glorious revelation.

What a glorious revelation. We are sinners, and that's really the first thing we must know.

This is where Paul takes the people, the believers and non -believers, whoever may read it, and the book of Romans.

He begins at bedrock, showing that the whole human race is under the condemnation sentence of a holy

God. And God declares all of the human race guilty, condemned.

We are sinners. We are lawbreakers. We have broken

God's word. We have rebelled against Him.

We have all fallen short of God's glory. It's amazing that Brother Ben brought that out this morning, because I was going to go there, and it's like, you know,

God puts Moses, and Moses had a desire to see the glory of God in His fullness.

And God says, you cannot see Me face to face and live. He couldn't do it.

But He says, but I will put you in the cleft of the rock. That rock is a type of Christ.

And God says, when I pass by, you can see my backside, and see my glory, but that's it.

And notice what the Scripture says, I appreciate Brother Ben bringing that out, the goodness, the goodness of the Lord, and everything that's good is given to us through Jesus Christ.

He is the Savior. Now when He comes back again, it's going to be over with, it's going to be judged.

But right now, Jesus is Savior. And that's our message to the world. As bad as this world is, and as evil as this world is, and as hateful as this world is, the love of God's been shed in our hearts by the

Holy Spirit. Changed our natures. That our message is a message of God's great love.

Yes, we tell people the bad news that they're under the guilt sentence. But we take them to the cross as well.

We must give them the whole counsel of God. We just can't, I like what

Ravenhill says, give them sloppy evangelism. Okay, God loves you, on their way.

No. We must tell them the love of Jesus Christ on the cross.

But before we take them there, we must say, okay, you're under the death sentence. You're under condemnation.

Now, they're already condemned, and Jesus didn't come to condemn them. He came to save them.

But the problem is today, sadly to say, people know nothing of the holiness of God.

So if, and let me say this, let me back that up a little bit. They know nothing of their sin.

So how can they know who they are until they know the law of God?

First, we must point out the bad news to understand the good news. The good news becomes even more glorious when we understand the bad news.

Now, children, I want you to listen to Pastor Peepaw this morning, okay?

I have my grandchildren here, for those that are hearing me by sermon audio.

But for all children and all adults here, the

Scripture says that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. We've all sinned. All of us. We've all been born sinners.

That's the problem with people. They're too prideful to admit and recognize that they have sinned.

They want to point out somehow that they're good. Have you noticed that in the world in which we live?

I'm a good person. I don't need God. As a matter of fact, let me wear this tie.

As a matter of fact, I've talked to people about this, and they say, oh, it's almost like they're almost better than Christians.

I don't need to go to church. I don't need God. So basically, they're good within themselves. Oh, my.

How lost and blind they are. They have not even got to first base. They have not even got to the foot of the cross.

Well, the Scripture says all of us has fallen short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord. Romans 5 basically tells us that we are enmity with God.

We're enemies of God. Human beings are not

God's friends by birth. Right? We're born with pride.

We're born with the Adamic nature. So what do you have to do to be a sinner?

Nothing. Just be born. You've already been born a sinner.

That's why we all must be born again, as Jesus says. Well, we are at enmity with God.

We are God's enemy, not God's friend. And the only way we can become God's friend, children, is to know

Jesus. We must know Jesus. And God desires us to know

Jesus. So apart from our own works, I'm sorry, but God's work of grace, we cannot know

Jesus. God's favor comes to us through Jesus Christ.

So as the law was given by Moses, grace and truth comes by Jesus Christ.

That's the gospel. So we want to do everything our own way, right?

When we're born, notice that these little sinners, they already come with a birthday gift to rebel, to say no, to say,

I'm going to do things my way. And they don't want to hear parents say, okay, no, you do it this way.

You do it the right way. So they're already coming into this world, fighting against God.

We all do. We are naturally born depraved rebels, right? Against a holy

God. God is holy, and we're not. That's the dilemma, isn't it?

There's a gulf. This is what people say. Like I started this morning,

Isaiah. Our sins have separated us from a holy

God. We are all vile sinners. Jonathan Edwards preached a wonderful, powerful message years ago.

I read it. It was required. I'm sure some of you read it as well. I was required to read it in seminary.

Sinners in the hands of an angry God. Now let me point this out. God is equally just and holy and wrathful, as He is equally merciful and good and loving.

It's just which side are we going to be on. And the only side that we can be on, on God's mercy and grace, is in Jesus Christ.

There's none other. If we're outside of Jesus, there's going to be wrath.

The Bible is so black and white about this. See, God is holy and we're not.

We're sinners. We're vile sinners. And like Edwards said, and he preached, we are sinners in the hands of an angry

God. Scripture says that. God's angry with the wicked every day.

God is angry with the wicked every day. So we deserve justice, right?

That's another problem people don't come to realize. They feel like they deserve heaven.

They're not going to get into heaven until they realize that they're undeserving of heaven and they deserve hell.

See, they're upside down. They think they deserve heaven and don't deserve hell.

But the real believer understands we deserve hell and don't deserve heaven, right?

That's grace because we see that the Holy Spirit, and by the way, that's the only way that their eyes and the light can cut on, is by the

Holy Spirit showing in this. Because we can't make them see it. We can't make them see the light.

So that's why we pray, right? That God would intervene. But there's good news too.

Jesus says in John 3, verse 16, for God so loved the world. God so loved the world.

Jesus, the Son of Man, the Son of God, He's on the

Father's mission. He comes from above. It's amazing, isn't it?

He comes from the world of light, as the old hymn says. And He comes to a world of darkness.

And He enters into it to redeem us, to rescue us.

So it's like God sends the Son to save us from His wrath.

He sends us the Son in His love to save us from His holy wrath.

God saves us from God. That's the problem people have. It's a

God problem. So the Father's desire is all bound up in the supreme love of God for the evil, sinful world of humanity.

That is rebellion and rebellion against Him. For God so loved the world.

Don't you love that? He's so loved. And here we see the great intensity of the greatness of the loving kindness of God.

Don't you love that? He's so loved. He's so loved.

The Father's love, that's the declaration. That God is concerned for you.

You matter to God. Isn't that great? He's personally concerned for you.

Children, God loves you personally. You matter to God.

You matter to Him. He cares for you.

And He desires to give you eternal life through His Son. Romans 5 .8,

one of my favorite verses. But God demonstrates His own love.

Listen to this. His own love toward us and that while we were yet still sinners,

Christ died for us. Christ died for us.

The great love of God in Jesus Christ. God so loved the world.

Let's go to the second point. What did He do? That He gave.

That He gave. He determines. This determines

God the Father's giving. First as a declaration of His love, now we see as giving.

James 1 .17 and 18. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.

It's not from this earth. It's from above. Comes down from the

Father of lights with whom there's no variation or shadow of turning of His own will.

There it is. His own will. And what does that tell us? Salvation is of God's own will.

It's not our will. This is a good one for our Armenian friends. And a lot of people say, yeah, but you're preaching from an

Armenian verse. Hey, not really. It's God that does it all.

You see this? I have no problem as a Calvinist of looking at this verse and seeing

God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. I have no problem with it. Because it is to the whosoever will, right?

But salvation is of His own will that He brought us forth by the word of truth.

So what he's saying is there is a responsibility on our side, not a cooperation.

There's a difference. There is a responsibility that we have to repent and believe the gospel.

But God does the work. You see this? God does the work.

How does He do it? I don't know. But I do know this. What's revealed to us is given to us,

Deuteronomy 29, 29, to the sons of men. But those other things, the mysteries of God, that's

God's business. I do know this. He does a great work by His Holy Spirit. That's all

I can tell you. And that is through the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit was brooding over the darkness of the waters, and then

God eventually speaks to the darkness. Let there be light. There was light.

But how does God do it? He does it through His word and His power. But I know He does it.

How does faith come? How does believing come in? But it's the work of the Spirit. That's all I can say.

The mechanics of it, we don't know. And you know it's not for us little creatures to know those things.

Because God is God and we're not. But He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.

Notice back in John 3, Jesus our Lord says to Nicodemus, look at verse 13 through 15,

No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the

Son of Man, who is in heaven. See, this is a heavenly message. When we tell people about Jesus, it's not an earthly message.

This is just not another book. This is a divine book from God. The words we speak is

God's words. And then Jesus says, I come from heaven, 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. That whoever believes in Him, there's the word believe, should not perish, there's the word perish, but have eternal life.

So God is concerned with saving us from perishing. Now I think that's a great salvation because we're all going to die because of sin.

But God has come to rescue us from perishing. Isn't that wonderful?

I'm telling you, this is the gospel and it's something to rejoice about because we don't have to fear death and we don't have to fear the grave when

Jesus is our friend. And we know Jesus has covered us with His blood and washed us and cleansed us by His precious blood.

And then we've come and repented and believed the gospel. This is wonderful.

He says that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. He repeats that.

So this determines the Father's giving that He gave, that He gave. God's a giving

God, isn't He? That He gave. One look at what

God's love, look at God's love to the world.

And two, we look at what God gave. One, we look at what

God loves, the world. Then we look at what God gave, His Son, Selah.

Meditate on that for a few minutes. And that great truth will humble us to the dirt.

Look at what God loves, the object of worthless vile sinners.

Look at what He gave. You know, I like what Luther said. He says, when I look at myself,

I cannot see how I can be saved. But when I look at Jesus, I cannot see how I can be lost.

Don't you love that? The world, the world is a rebellion against God. And even to this day, you look at it, it's vile and sinful and polluted and so hateful toward God, using

God's name constantly almost. But yet God so loved the world.

The world's hell bent. God so loved the world. The world's going to hell.

But God so loved the world. Sinners in opposition against the Holy God. But God so loved the world.

Oh, look at what God gave. He gave His one and only Son, His only begotten Son. That's my third point.

His only begotten Son describes Christ's great sacrifice. Christ's great sacrifice. It makes me think of Titus.

You can go there with me if you like. Look at Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 says this,

For the grace of God, now this is salvation that's given. The grace of God that brings salvation.

That is what has brought salvation, is God's grace. Children, you know what grace is?

Children, you know what grace is? It's when God smiles.

It's when God gives you favor. God desires you to be saved.

Isn't that wonderful? God desires you to be saved. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

Teaching us. God's grace teaches us something. Listen to this. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust.

That means worldly desires. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great

God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Notice what it says there. Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He's God. He's Savior.

Matter of fact, His name Jesus actually means Jehovah Saves. Who gave

Himself for us. There's the sacrifice right there. He gave Himself. Who gave

Himself for us. Why? That He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people zealous for good works.

Now here we see the plan of salvation and we see the purpose of salvation. God's plan and God's purpose.

It's fulfilled in Jesus Christ. To redeem us basically means this is regeneration.

To purify Him for Himself His own special people. That's sanctification. Notice that.

First there's redemption. Then there's sanctification. First there's regeneration.

Then sanctification. Always in that order. Not the other way around. Our Catholic friends has got it the other way around.

Sanctification is cooperation with God. We're looking at that in 2 Peter, right? Well they feel like somehow through their sanctification they're going to give themselves to heaven.

It doesn't work that way. It is God through regeneration makes us sanctified.

There has to be a creative new heart. There has to be a new heart. Children, did you know that God desires to give you a new heart?

He wants to give you a heart of flesh. He wants to take out a hard heart.

A stony heart. That's what He calls it. It's like rocks. It's like a rock. You know, a heart like a rock doesn't have tenderness and love toward God.

But when God gives you a new heart and it doesn't mean your physical heart I'm talking about who you are.

Who you are. He wants to change who you are. He wants to make you like Jesus.

So He does that in salvation, right? To redeem us. Redeem us means to release someone that's held captive.

That's in bondage. On the payment of a ransom. Someone that is a slave on the market of sin.

That's the way people are. They're in bondage to sin. They do that naturally.

But Jesus paid the ransom. What was the ransom that He paid?

His precious blood. That was the price. The price was the precious blood of Jesus Christ to satisfy

God's holy justice. Folks, that is the gospel. And Jesus comes as the

Lamb of God as our substitution. He dies in our place so that we would not suffer under the wrath of God forever.

He takes our place. And that's why when you put your full trust in Jesus Christ and what

He did for you, that's what brings salvation. We'll look at that in a minute.

But notice in John 3, chapter 3, verse 18 through 21.

I've got to read this. Notice this. In context to everything that Jesus says in John 3, verse 16.

Notice verse 18. 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. Notice that? The condemnation is already there to those that do not believe.

And then He says in verse 19, and this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world.

You know, that's what people hate. They hate the light because darkness does not like light.

Men love darkness. Notice what He says. Men love darkness rather than light. That's the problem with the world.

They love darkness. They don't love the light. That's why they want the light to go away.

Put them to death. Get the messenger out of the way, but you can't kill God.

Well, God's already come and done that in Jesus Christ, right? But as the eternal being of God, God cannot be touched because their deeds were evil.

See? They 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.

You know, you ever expose people for their nastiness and their ugliness? They get awful mad, don't they?

Matter of fact, I'm sure murder gets in their heart and they would like to just do away with you. Well, that's what they did to Jesus.

He was the light of the world. He is the light of life. Do away with them.

Because they knew that they were being exposed for who they were. And that's what the truth does.

It exposes us for who we really are. If a person is a liar, the truth comes and exposes that liar.

But notice in verse 21, but he who does the truth comes to the light. That's repentance right there.

You want to do the truth? You repent. Comes to the light. In other words, comes to Jesus.

That his deeds may be clearly seen and that they have been done in God.

See, if you cover your sin, you're in trouble, aren't you? But if you come and confess, if you come and confess and forsake your sin, then you will receive mercy.

Well, let's go on to the next point. Jesus Christ gave

Himself as a sacrifice. So this describes

Christ's great sacrifice of giving Himself up to die for sinners once and for all in our place as our substitute.

He is our substitute. He was the Lamb of God. So He took our place.

He took our sin. So God gave His only begotten

Son. Next we see 4th defines God's terms. Does God's terms, what's

God's terms? Well, notice with me. That whosoever believes in Him, whosoever believes in Him, this is so important.

Here we see the gracious promise of God. God's gift, Jesus Christ given once and for all on the cross for our sin.

He took our place. He took your place. Jesus says in Mark 1, 14 and 15, now this is talking about believing.

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Now this is right when Jesus launches out into His ministry. And the very first thing that comes from the lips of Jesus is this, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

This is what we need to tell people. There's an urgency. There's an urgency here.

The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.

There you have it. Repentance and faith. Repentance and believing the gospel.

Let's look at that very quickly. Repentance means, in the Greek, original Greek, it means a change of mind.

We have a change of mind, so if you have a change of mind, you have a change of direction. There's a 180 degree turn.

There's a change of direction, there's a change of life, and that's what Jesus does in conversion here.

This is conversion now, not regeneration. Regeneration is the act of God, but in conversion and repentance, which

God, by the way, gives us the gift to exercise, we turn from our sin, we turn from sin,

I should say, and in faith, we believe in the gospel. We trusted the gospel.

In other words, you throw all your weight on God. Isn't that great?

All that weight on God, that's to whosoever will.

Man's requirement. That's a command to every man, and Paul preached this, by the way, on Mars Hill, that God commands every man to repent.

There's no argument to that. There's no debate to it. Every man must repent or he's going to perish.

Jesus said that. Repent or likewise perish. So here is

God's free invitation of His gracious gift. Acts 20, 21,

Paul says this, testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our

Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance toward God and faith toward our

Lord Jesus Christ. This is essential of the gospel, repentance and faith. Repentance and faith, right?

Go with me to Romans 10. Let's look at it. Romans 10, Paul breaks this down.

You know what I love about Romans 10? Have you ever thought of this? Look at where Romans 10 is.

It's very evangelistic. It's right after Romans 9, the sovereignty of God, working in Israel and through Israel's rejection, the gospel goes to the

Gentiles. Then Paul goes very evangelistic and then in Romans 11, he gets into the grafting of the olive tree of how the church is grafted in and to those that are elect of God.

Isn't that great? But right in between those two great chapters, there's something evangelistic.

Listen to what the Word of God says. Let's begin at verse 4.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Now he's talking about believing.

For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law. The man who does those things shall live by them.

But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Now what's he talking about?

That righteousness of faith is in who? Jesus Christ. In Jesus. Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven that is bring

Christ down from above or who would descend into the abyss that is to bring Christ up from the dead.

But what does it say? What does it say? The Word is near you in your mouth and in your heart.

That's how near the Word is. In your mouth and in your heart. That is the

Word of faith which we preach. And notice this. Now pay close attention to this children.

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Jesus is

Lord, right? And believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead.

You will be saved. He tells us exactly right there how to be saved.

And then He says this. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness. I love that because He doesn't go back and say with the head man believes unto salvation.

No, it's not with the intellect. It passes through the intellect. But it goes to the heart.

That's what God wants to change is our heart. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confessions made unto salvation.

For the Scripture says whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

For the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. In other words, God doesn't care about your creed.

He doesn't care about what race you come from. We're all of one race. God requires and He desires for people and all peoples to come to Him.

That's why Jesus says go into all nations and preach the gospel. Amen?

That's what our call is. That whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That's a promise. Now what does it mean to call on the Lord? Well, we just looked at it.

Repent and believe the gospel. That's how you call on God. We repent.

We turn from our wicked ways. In other words, you make a decision. I make a decision every day to turn from these wicked ways because repentance, even in salvation, is continual, isn't it?

There's a sense that our salvation will be fulfilled one day. We are saved by grace through faith and what

Jesus did in the past, He saved us. But our sins include our past, present and future.

Isn't that wonderful? But whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And then

He goes on to say, How then shall they call on Him whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher? In other words, God has means. That's His means of bringing the gospel of salvation.

It's like what I'm doing right now. I'm speaking out loud the word of truth. And that word of truth penetrates our hearts.

It's not my words. It's God's words. And if somebody is sitting here, if somebody is sitting here without Jesus Christ, our little ones or whoever it may be, that word, it could be one word, and God could do a miraculous work and bring them right into Christ.

That they see their sin and that they see the Savior. It's glorious, isn't it?

And He goes on to say, How shall they preach unless they are sent as they are written? How is it written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who brings glad tidings of great things, but they have not obeyed the gospel.

For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? And then he says, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Isn't that glorious? I'll stop right there because I've got more to say. Now let's go to our next one.

Here it basically tells us to repent and believe the gospel.

We see the details of God's gracious gift, and that is everlasting life.

This is 6. And this is the final one. We see the details of God's gracious gift, everlasting life.

I love what Jesus prayed in John 17. Don't you love John 17? There is the great high priestly prayer of Jesus.

You really enter into holy ground. And Jesus says this in John 17 3. He prays to the

Father, and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

That's the one verse that the Puritans preach more than any other verse in the whole Bible, because of the great importance of it.

And Jesus says in John 3 16, 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.

Everlasting life. That's what God gives, right? We see the giving of God, and that giving and that gift is everlasting life.

And by the way, that everlasting life is in Jesus Christ. It is.

A lot of people look at it, okay, it's going to be in heaven. It is. But it begins now.

Isn't that glorious? It begins now. The only true

God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent full atonement, can it be?

Hallelujah, what a Savior. Jesus comes as the Savior. Jesus came to rescue us from God's wrath.

And the only hope anyone has, and the only hope that can be found is in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, by faith alone.

There's no other way. There's no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved, but through the name of Jesus.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me. Scripture says, there's a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof is death.

Isn't that in all the religions of the world? There's a way that seems right. Look at how many people are deceived at this very moment.

As you and I in small number sit here listening and knowing and lavishing the gospel and know the truth of the gospel, and there's literally billions of people perishing.

But yet God desires them to be saved. Now, will they all be saved?

We know that's not going to be the truth, right? Because Jesus says, straight is the gate, narrow is the way that leads to life.

Few there be that find it. Because broad is the gate, broad is the way, the path that leads to destruction, to death.

That's the way that people are going to perish because people would rather try to go to heaven on their own good works, doing something that they got to do rather than letting

God or trusting in God that God did it all. And by the way, Christianity is the only...

You put Christianity against all the religions of the world, Christianity is the only true religion, let me put it that way, that God comes to man rather than man giving to God.

Because it's Christ that came. Hallelujah. What a Savior.

There's a way that seems right, but the way is death. But Jesus is the way of life.

Now, I love this word life. There's two Greek words of life in Scripture.

One is the life that's called bios. That's where we get the word biology.

There's life in the sense of general life, there's biological life, there's life that we live every day, we get up Monday morning,

Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning, Friday. We live life, right? We live through life.

We do this, we do that, we perform, right? But that's not the kind of life God is talking about here.

The kind of life that God is talking about is the zoe life. It is the life of God.

Isn't that glorious? When we come to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, He gives us

His life. And I like to put it this way, it's just not quantity of life, it's quality of life.

It is intimate life with Jesus because Jesus is that life. Oh, hallelujah.

Jesus said this, the thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but I have come that they might have life.

Zoe! That they might have eternal life, that they may have it more abundantly.

Isn't that glorious? That life in Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus says,

I am the life. He is the life. There would be no life outside of God, right?

Because God spoke all things into existence. But what He's talking about is an eternal life in Jesus Christ.

I like what Paul said, fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Well, let me close with this one thing. Go with me to John chapter 12. The whole book of John is all about eternal life, isn't it?

Everywhere you turn, there's eternal life, eternal life, eternal life. And notice

Jesus here speaks about this eternal life and He gets very specific in how it's obtained, received, right?

That's the word. Notice verse 20. Now there were certain

Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and asked him, saying,

Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Isn't that our cry? Oh, sir, we wish to see

Jesus. Don't you wish to see Jesus? Amen.

Philip came and told Andrew. And in turn, Andrew and Philip told

Jesus. And notice what Jesus says. I love this. But Jesus answered them saying,

The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Now keep in mind,

Jesus is very near to going to the cross. He's getting nearer. And He knows

His mission. He knows why He came. He came to die as the Lamb of God and take our sins and take our place as the

Lamb of God as the substitutionary sacrifice. Now here

He says, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, or He says, Verily, verily, once again,

Amen, Amen. When Jesus says these words, we better pipe up right quick. I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls.

Now He's speaking of Himself right here. Jesus is that one grain of wheat.

Falls into the ground. Dies. Notice the picture He gives. It's almost agricultural.

It remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain.

It produces much grain, or much fruit. Then He speaks to His disciples.

He who loves His life will lose it. And he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

There it is. So the essence of the gospel is denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Jesus.

In other words, if Jesus had to die, now by the way, His death was different than the disciples' death and our deaths.

Jesus is that one grain of wheat. He set that example. He's the first fruit.

See? He dies on the cross. But if the Master dies and if the Master suffers,

He says, How much greater, how much greater the Master than the servant?

See, the followers. How can people, you see, people want to bypass suffering. It is not going to happen.

I'm telling you, it's not going to happen if we're going to reign with Jesus eternally. That's why

Paul says, if we're going to reign with Him, we're going to suffer with Him. If there's a crown on the other side, there's going to first be a cross.

He who loves His life will lose it. In other words, you know what he's saying? If you love your life, you're going to die and go to hell.

You're going to perish. But if you hate your life, and what he's talking about, this self -centered, ugly sin in us.

In this world, you will keep it for eternal life. In other words, you give up that life, you give up all for Jesus.

I've decided to follow Jesus. The cross before me, the world behind me. Hallelujah. If anyone serves me, let him follow me.

There it is right there. This is the cost of discipleship. And where I am, there my servant will be also.

If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him. Oh, listen to what he says.

Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? You know, I read that as such compassion and love here.

For God's so loved, my soul is troubled. He dies for His people.

He dies. But for this purpose, I came to this hour. This purpose.

He was born to die. And then he says, Father, glorify

Your name. Just right out of that, he says, Father, glorify Your name.

And listen to what it says. Then a voice, an audible voice, came from heaven, saying

I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. Notice what it said. Therefore the people who stood by heard it, and said it had thundered.

Wow. Others said angels had spoken to him. Jesus answered and said,

This voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. And notice what he says.

Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

You know what he's doing? He's going to give Satan a death blow. That's what he's talking about. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,

I will draw all peoples to myself. And he said, this he said signifying what death he would die.

Notice that back in John 3. What did he say?

John 3, 14, is as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the

Son of Man be lifted up, that 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 whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

May we praise Him for this eternal life that is given in Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray.

Our Father and our God, how wonderful it is that we are such vile sinners here standing in Your presence, but yet we're redeemed vile sinners.

We're redeemed now through the precious blood, all because of Your infinite love.

You have demonstrated by giving Your one and only Son that we might not perish, but have eternal life.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for giving Yourself up for us on the cross, for taking such a cruel death, not only externally, but internally taking the wrath of God, that You quenched

God's wrath. You quenched the frown of God, and You have given us

God's smile. Hallelujah. Lord, help us to trust in You, to believe in You, to place and throw all of our weight on You by the power of the

Holy Spirit and to You alone, on that one sacrifice that You gave

Your one and only Son, the one and only Son who was lifted up on the cross.

Lifted up was He to die. It is finished was His cry. Hallelujah, what a

Savior. Two thousand years ago, You died so that we can live eternally.

You died for You did not send Your Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Jesus, through Jesus, might be saved.

For this we praise You and give You glory and honor and thanksgiving.