Returning to John 3, 16. John 3, 16. This is a familiar
verse to most of us. John 3, 16. For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I remember as a young child,
a boy, and I would sometimes watch TV on Saturday afternoons
and there would be something on about the NFL, the football
league, and it seems every time that there was a crowd where
a camera was going to be panning across that crowd. There was
always somebody, especially in the 70s and 80s, there was always
someone standing in that crowd holding up a sign reading John
3.16. And I remember finally, I'd seen
it enough times that I ran to my Bible. Thankfully, I had a
Bible. I went to the Bible and looked it up and there it was.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. And if you've been in a Sunday
school you've heard that verse. You've probably been taught to
memorize that verse or parent helped you memorize that verse
and it's a good verse to memorize. These things stay with us and
go through our minds from time to time. I remember when I was
a painter there was a man from the Philippines that I worked
with and he often did the very high up sections where it was
a bit dangerous hanging off the ladder or something like that
and I was speaking to him as a teenager having just begun
to seek the Lord on my own and I was speaking to him about the
Lord and He told me that when he feels scared, he would remember
not this verse, that would have been good, but he would remember
a song that he was taught, and you probably know that song too.
Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little
ones to him belong. we are weak but he is strong
and I remember that. Just remember it. Now that's
one thing but this is a good verse to memorize and I know
it's familiar. I know it's familiar and there's
a sense in which familiarity breeds contempt and When we hear
grace, there's a tendency where we might be tired of how people
have misused and abused this scripture. But it is the gospel. And it is beautiful. It is sweet
to the sinner. And we rejoice to hear it. So
I want to, Lord willing, preach to you the gospel from this verse
this morning. It begins with the phrase, For
God so loved the world. God so loved the world. And we're often told that speaks
to the amount by which God loved the world. We're told that it's
more of an amount. God immensely, God so greatly,
God so abundantly loved the world. And I suppose that is true. That is so. There's a truth in
that. However, when you look that word
up, most of the time, most every time, that word so means in this
manner. For God in this manner loved
the world. And it really is amazing to see
how God loved His people. in the world, scattered throughout
the world. There's another verse I want to bring in here that
I've been reading lately and looking at lately from 1st John
chapter 1 verse 5. The Apostle John says, this then
is the message we have heard and declare unto you that God
is light and in him is no darkness at all. And that really puts
me in my place because all I am by nature is darkness. All I
know by nature is sinful things, foolish things, dark things,
not knowing the true and living God who is light. And that describes everything
that God is. God is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. And so whatever we're talking about with regards to the Lord,
it is pure, spotless, holy, righteous, perfect. And all his character
is defined by this light that me as a man by nature knows nothing
of because all I am is darkness and sin. Even believers, Paul
said, we see through a glass darkly. Darkly. There's a lot
that we don't understand just how perfect and holy God is and
how merciful He is. And that light describes His
mercy. It describes God's forgiveness.
It describes God's love. It describes God's kindness and
gentleness and care and provision for His people. God is light. And you take that and bring that
to bear on John 3, 16. For God, who is light in this
manner, loved the world in this manner. Now this word world, we should
say a few things on this word world because we're often told,
especially with regards to this verse, that this world here speaks
of every single individual without exception. But that's not how
the scriptures define the word world. And when we see what our
God has done, we see that God did not fail in his love for
his people. God did not come up short. Christ
is the successful Savior who accomplished redemption for all
his people. If this word world here means
every individual without exception, then what does Romans 9.13 mean?
when our Lord tells us that Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated. If God loves every single individual
without exception, how is it that Jacob I love? But Esau have
I hated. How is such a thing possible?
What that means, what the Lord is saying there in regards to
Jacob is that he came and intercepted Jacob on his mad dash to hell. Jacob and Esau, both grown up
in Isaac's house, saw their father and their grandfather Abraham
worship the true and living God. They partook of those things.
They were part of that, those times of worship, when their
daddy and their granddaddy would worship the Lord and bring an
animal to sacrifice. And yet they had no care, no
interest in it whatsoever. Not Jacob, not Esau. And it wasn't until Esau was
going to murder his brother Jacob, because his brother Jacob did
him dirty. He wronged his brother Esau. He was wrong for what he did,
speaking in human terms. And Jacob was fleeing from the
face of his brother Esau. And that is where God met Jacob
and revealed himself to Jacob at Bethel. And Jacob, from that
time, began to learn of the Lord. The Lord had mercy on him. That
night, he was saved and delivered from darkness. And he began to
see the true and know the true and living God. So that at the
end of his life, Jacob spoke of the angel of the Lord that
redeemed me, who redeemed me. When he was talking to Joseph,
he spoke of the angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ, is what he
was talking about, who redeemed me. He saw Christ, and he saw
his day as his grandfather Abraham saw his day, and he rejoiced
in Christ. who redeemed him, who kept him,
who provided for him all his days. And so what it means is
that God was gracious to Jacob. God came into Jacob's life in
such a way so as to deliver him from death and darkness and to
give him life by the blood and life of the Lord Jesus Christ,
by him and him alone. And Esau, he left him to himself. He didn't come to him in a gracious
way. Esau saw all the same things Jacob saw, and it did nothing
for either of them until God gave his spirit and revealed
himself in the face of Jesus Christ, in the face of the Son
of God, and he rejoiced in his Redeemer. You're in John, so
go to John 17. John 17. This is the high priestly
prayer of our Lord. And He says in verse 9, I pray
for them. Speaking of His disciples that
the Father gave Him, John 17, 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given Me. They are Thine. They are Thine. So our Lord has
a people whom he provides for, whom he has redeemed. Now our Lord here is speaking
to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. He's speaking to a man named
Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. a teacher of the Jews, someone
of significance among the Jews. And he's saying to Nicodemus,
Nicodemus, you and the Jews, they expected that when Messiah
came into the world, he would set up an earthly kingdom. He would establish an earthly
kingdom where the Jews would conquer the Gentiles and make
the Gentiles their servants and their slaves. And they would
rule over them in this carnal manner. And he's saying, no Nicodemus. That's not what I've come to
do. I've come to establish a kingdom, a spiritual kingdom made up of
Jew and Gentile, Jew and Gentile. And that's what Jacob and Esau
pictured, that God has a people whom he chose and makes his kingdom
and leaves all the rest behind. Esau got the name Edom. I forget exactly where he picked
that up, but he was called Edom. The land of Edom is where Esau
settled. And Edom means red. And think of what it sounds like.
Adam. Edom. Adam. It's almost the exact
same word. It's derived. It's just a hair
off, I don't know, a little mark or something, but it's Adam.
It's red. And Jacob, we understand, most men understand that God
chose Israel. But not everyone in Israel. He
has a people in Israel. And God chose the Gentiles, his
people, out of the Gentiles the exact same way. So that the chosen
Jews and the chosen Gentiles are one people in the Lord. Turn over to John chapter 10.
John 10. And look at verse 15 and 16 with
me. Here our Lord defines who the
world is that he came to save. Because it's speaking of his
people, Jew and Gentile, scattered throughout the world. As the
Father, verse 15, as the Father knoweth me, even so know I the
Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And Christ never refers to the
dead of this world who have no part in him as his sheep. He
calls them goats. They're goats. But he's speaking
here of his sheep and says, I lay down my life for the sheep. That's who I came to save. Now
he goes on, verse 16, and other sheep I have. He's talking to
the Jews and he's saying, I have a people among the Gentiles.
I have other sheep that are not goats, but sheep. And he says,
that are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And so there we see the success
of Christ, the accomplished redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ for
his people. They shall, not maybe, not I
hope so that they'll hear my voice. No, they will not come
short of my salvation. They shall hear my voice and
they shall follow me and there will be one fold and one shepherd. That's what Christ does for us.
What our Lord is saying to Nicodemus is there is one Savior, one salvation
that the Father has provided for the whole world. For Jew
and Gentile, there is one Savior, not many ways. Not, well, some
will come up through this way, and some will come up through
that way in that religion, and it's all OK. No. There's one
Savior, one salvation. As Peter said, Peter and John
said in Acts 4.12, neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. If you're going to be saved by
God and have life with the true and living God, it's going to
be through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only salvation of God
and that's what Christ is revealing here to Nicodemus. In Revelation
5, I want to read this to you because Revelation 5 verse 9,
I'm going to come back to this verse in a few minutes. Revelation 5, 9. And they sung
a new song. John is seeing into heaven. He's
seeing all the people of God, all the hosts of heaven and the
redeemed people of God. This new song they're singing
is the song of redemption. They're the ones who know the
song. You that believe Christ, who have been redeemed by Him,
know this song of redemption. This is what you sing of. This
is your joy. This is our rejoicing. We've
been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. He's put away our sins. And God receives us and blesses
us. This is the new song we sing.
Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof.
That's speaking of when John was weeping because there was
no one found worthy to take the book from the father and open
it and establish the will of God until Christ came. Until
Christ came and he's worthy because he laid down his life and he
takes that book and he opens the seals. fulfilling all the
will of God and purpose of God in the earth. He takes the book,
for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us, purchased us to
God by thy blood. Now here's what I want to show
you. Out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. Kindred,
tongue, people, nation. Kindred, tongue, people, and
nation. In other words, for the whole
world, there's one Savior. one salvation, regardless of
your kindred, your language, your people, or the nation you're
from, there is one Savior. And that's what Christ is emphasizing
here. For God, who is light in this
manner, so loved the world of his people, the sheep of his
people, regardless of their kindred, tongue, people, or nation. He is the Savior and He accomplished
our redemption. He did not, He does not fail. He cannot fail. Listen to John,
go back to John 10, verse 15 and 16. Here our Lord
is speaking to the unbelieving Jews. There's believing Jews
and there's unbelieving Jews. Verse 15, sorry. I'm sorry, verse 26, 26 and 27. He says, but ye believe not,
because you're not of my sheep, as I said unto you. Now, you
that don't believe me, anyone who doesn't believe that our
God, our Lord, has chosen people, thinks I just read, they heard
me say, but you don't believe because, I'm sorry, you don't,
You're not my sheep because you don't believe that's what most
that's what a lot of people in the world think that verse says
You don't you're not my sheep because you don't believe that's
not what christ said He says you don't believe because you're
not my sheep Right. It's not that we're not his sheep
because we don't believe it's we don't believe because we're
not his sheep And if we do believe it's because we are his sheep
That's what it means. Ye believe not, because ye are
not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. Christ is the successful
Savior and He has redeemed. He has purchased His people,
given to Him by the Father before the foundation of the world,
and has successfully put away all their sins and gives them
life. And it pleases Him to bring the salvation and reveal it in
our hearts. He doesn't leave us in darkness. He saves us. And just so you
know, when I'm talking about the election of God, Ephesians
1, Verse four and five says it this way. According as God hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us. These Ephesian believers, these
Gentiles, is what he's talking to. There's an elect people among
the Gentiles, not just among the Jews. We've been chosen of
God before the foundation of the world and given into the
hand of our surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, to provide for
us. Because we can't provide for ourselves. We can't work
a righteousness for ourselves. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will not my will not my works it's
not my decision that saves me it's God's decision that saves
me and all his people in the Lord Jesus Christ and those that
are the sheep for whom Christ died they hear the word and they
believe and we rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ he gives it
to us it's not our works we have nothing to glory him save Jesus
Christ so world. God who was light in this manner
loved the world, his sheep, his sheep. Now God who was light,
it says that He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son. He gave his only begotten son. And he accomplished many things
in this giving of his darling son. In one sense, he's speaking
of how that the son of God who is in the bosom of the Father
and with God for all eternity, laid aside that glorious robe
of His power and glory there, and took upon Him the weakness
of this flesh, and came so that we who are in darkness and know
nothing about the true and living God according to truth and that
which is of his spirit, we know nothing, but he came in the flesh
so that we would hear him and see him and handle him and partake
of him. so that when he accomplished
redemption and he returned ascended to the father now we that are
his know him. Now we have an understanding
of who the true and living God is. Christ came down in the flesh
so that we would know the father and know him because we don't
know the father except through Christ the son. That's how we
know the father and know who he is and so That's one sense
in which he gave the Son, and the other sense is that he spared
him not. Not only did he give Christ,
but he gave Christ as the servant of God to come and lay down his
life For his people, in darkness, sinners who cannot please God,
don't know God, are just bouncing off of walls and going about
in ignorance, thinking we know God, and we don't know anything.
And yet he gave his darling son to lay down his life, to suffer
and to die on the cross, to put away the sins of his people.
And he died and was buried in the ground, and yet God raised
him from the dead. for our justification, for our
justification. So God gave his son and spared
him not. And in this way, God loved his
people. In this way, God loved his people
so that God, who is perfect, in whom is nothing but light,
he is light, and in whom is no darkness, that God would be just
to forgive us of our sins. God is holy. He can't just say,
well, I'll just let that one go. No, that every sin, every
offense, every guilty, wicked deed we thought done or wanted
to do has a punishment, has a penalty for it. And Christ paid that
penalty in full, the debt in full for his people. Put it away
forever. He did it by the death of himself.
By the death of himself. He bore it as our shorty and
made eternal redemption for us. He pleased the Father well in
all things. And so Christ did this for all
his people, Jew and Gentile, because all are sinners. And none of us can make ourselves
righteous by our works. And so Paul said it this way.
In Romans 4, verse 25, he speaks of Christ who says,
he was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel, brethren. And then, so for God, who is
light, in this manner loved his sheep, scattered throughout the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Who is this whosoever? It is all that believe, so that
all who believe Christ without exception are delivered from
their offenses and are justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. What
he's saying there is that there's not a sin that any of us have
committed or can commit that the blood of Christ cannot purge
and deliver his people from. There is no sin so dark, so filthy,
so vile that the blood of Christ is not able to deliver and put
away that sin. That's how effective, how powerful,
how sovereign Christ is and His blood, how saving His blood is.
It doesn't matter how deep the stain goes, Christ's blood purges
the stain of sin from His people, purges us of that sin that we
might be made righteous in Him and stand before Him accepted
and received of the Father perfectly. And another glorious thought
comes back to that kindred, tongue, people, and nation. You think
of the variety of all that difference there of kindred. That's speaking
of family. We come from family. And in kindred,
among kindred, there's customs and traditions that are very
important to family. And you grow up in that, and
you know. You've been taught you do it this way, and you don't
do it that way. And it doesn't matter what family
you're in. You know there's rights and wrongs. And if you cross
that line, you're in trouble. You've done wrong in your family,
your kindred. But Christ is able to reach even
them in different kindred. Then tongue, that speaks of language. And the language, when we speak
in different languages, you know that there's different ways to
say things in another language. You don't just translate it verbatim. So when we don't feel well here
in America, someone says, oh, you don't look so good. Yeah,
I'm a little under the weather. You wouldn't say that in Dutch.
You wouldn't say it that way in French or in Chinese or whatever
the language. They don't use that word. If
you said that, if you just translated it directly, they'd look at you
and say, I'm not really sure what you mean. I think in French,
I think, they say, I'm under the cockroach. Well, we would
think, well, what do you mean you're under the cockroach? Again,
it's language. There's differences in language.
And yet, no language can prevent or stop the blood of Christ from
hearing of Christ. He overcomes all our language.
People. People speaks of different races,
different types of people. Wherever they are in the world,
that race has a way that they've perceived and come up. And they
perceive the world a certain way. And the world perceives
them a certain way. And that follows them around. And in nations. You could have nations that are
very singular in their race. And you could have a nation like
ours that has many races. And yet, in the nation, there's
different laws. And each place you go to in a
different place, it's different. And you might break that law,
but you're still responsible to know those laws and to not
break them. And they have different holidays
and different ways and customs that they also do things. But
none of that, kindred, tongue, people, or nation, can withstand
the grace of God revealed in Christ so that he conquers all
of it. He is the one Savior, the one
salvation that the Father has provided to save all his people
regardless of our kindred, our language, the people that we're
part of or the nation. None of it can withstand Christ.
He is sufficient. You think about that. It doesn't
matter what we came from or what variety of those things we are.
Christ, you that are sinners, Christ meets the need and washes
his people clean of all their sins and offenses and makes us
acceptable to the one true and living God. Nothing can stand
against him. And God, who has done this for
us, manifests this salvation in his people through his spirit,
by his word, hearing his word, and they believe him by faith. And faith is the gift of God.
And it's how God reveals them that are his. And his people
know, I'm a sinner. I can't save myself. Whatever
kindred you came from, whatever language you speak, whatever
people you're of, whatever nation you're in, God's people know,
I'm a sinner. And Christ is the Savior of sinners. And his blood is sufficient for
me and has prevailed for me. And we rejoice in him and give
God thanks for what he's done. And that faith is the evidence
that Christ has died for you, because he overcomes your darkness,
he overcomes your folly, your foolishness, all your unbelief
and vain confidences. And he says, you that believe
in me shall never die. Never die. You have life, because
Christ is life. And you that have Christ have
life. You have eternal life in him. Now just a couple more. In Acts 13. Acts 13. Paul there says this, I've said,
this whosoever speaks of all who believe, all who believe,
right, that there's nothing that could stand against Christ's
blood. Who he died for, they are saved. They are saved, and so Acts 13,
38. 38 and 39. Paul and Barnabas preached be
it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him
all All that believe by him whosoever By him, all who believe are justified
from all things from which he could not be justified by the
law of Moses, or could not be justified among your kindred,
or among your tongue, or among your people, or among your nation. They couldn't do it. Nothing
can do it. And nothing can stop Christ. Christ has overcome it
all, brethren. And you have life because he
is life. And God reveals it to us that
Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. It's all of Him. It's all of Him. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians 2
verse 13 and 14, so that we see who we glory in. We boast in
Christ. We boast in our God, not in ourselves. We've done nothing. Anything
we've done, is the produce of his fruit in us, of his spirit,
of his grace working in us to deliver us from death and darkness.
But we, Paul said, are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation. Maybe not your brother, maybe
not your sister, maybe not your dad, maybe not your friend or
your neighbor, but he's chosen you that believe. He's revealed
this salvation in you. He's chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
That's how we know. He's given you a Spirit who has
set you apart unto this gospel and given you faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ to confess and believe Him whereunto He called you by
our gospel to the obtaining, so that you would not come short
of this, but to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. So brethren, John 3.16, For God,
who is light in this manner, so loved his sheep, scattered
throughout the world among Jew and Gentile, that he gave and
spared not his only begotten Son, that whosoever, that all
who believe him, regardless of kindred, tongue, people, or nation,
would have life in him, would not perish, but have everlasting
life. And I pray he bless that word
and make it fruitful in our hearts. Amen.