If you look with me in John chapter
3, the last time we looked at that
16th verse, and tonight we may not make a
lot more progress looking at the 17th verse. In verse 17, he says, "'For God
sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through Him might be saved.'" Now, in order to understand
any verse of Scripture, We have to look at it in its
context. We need to find out who is speaking,
and we need to find out who it is that he is speaking to. Do we remember who the Lord is
speaking to? Back in verse 1, it says, "...there
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews."
This is a Jewish man. He is a Pharisee. He is raised up not only in that
religion, but also with that Jewish mindset. And that was that they interpreted
all the Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel and the nations
of the world as pertaining to them literally. They believed
that Messiah would come and He would rescue them, bless them,
and that He would destroy all the other nations. But Christ here shows us that that is not the case. Because the nation of Israel,
that earthly nation of Israel, is not the true Israel of God. They are a type, or a picture,
of the people of God, of His elect nation, described by the
Apostle as that holy nation, and they represent those favored
spiritually by God in every age. You'll hold your place and look
over in Romans chapter 9, At that sixth verse, after Paul
is dealing with the fact that the majority of that earthly
nation, his own people, they would have nothing to do with
Christ. They said, as a people, we will
not have this man to rule over us. And he says, verse 6, "...though
it is not as though the word of God hath taken none effect."
In other words, because this earthly Israel, as a majority,
has rejected Christ, refused the true Messiah, That does not
mean that the Word of God, the promises and pledges of God in
those Old Testament prophecies, it doesn't mean that they are
now made non-effectual. And here's the reason why. For
they are not all Israel which are of Israel. that ought to really reveal to
us and teach to us so much as far as interpreting the Scriptures,
those Old Testament Scriptures especially. And then if you'll
turn over another page or two to Romans chapter 11, And look down at verse 26 where
he warns all, especially Gentiles, that they not have the same conceit
that Israel as a nation has, because they now look and see
these Israelites not believing the truth. He says in verse 25,
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this
mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness,
in part, is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles
become end. And so, all Israel shall be saved."
That is another statement by the apostle that ought to show
us a great deal. As it is written, "...there shall
come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob." Now Jacob and Israel are the
same persons. But Jacob is that name given
to the man Jacob which shows his natural character apart from
the grace of God. But God gave him that name Israel,
or Prince. to show him what he had made
him to himself by his grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we are to understand that
all throughout time, up to this point, there was a division among
the people of this world into two categories. There was Israel,
the Jews, and everybody else made up the nations of the world,
or the Gentiles. And there had long been this
barrier that had existed between Jew and Gentile which was broken
down. You can read it in Ephesians
2, I think it is. That was broken down at the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when that is broken down,
oftentimes in the New Testament, we find such words as the word
world, or a phrase like all men, referring to each and every one
now since that barrier has been broken down. Nicodemus has an
interest of some kind. Most likely it began with a religious
intellectual interest about what he's hearing about this man Jesus
of Nazareth. But if you remember, it was of
that very place that the Jews, especially the Pharisees, said,
can any good thing come out of Nazareth? They did not know,
they did not want to know that He was, as Messiah was prophesied
to be, born in Bethlehem. And so he comes to the Lord Jesus,
and Christ knowing this mentality of such like him, not only a
Jew by birth, but also a Pharisee. And so he comes and he starts
dealing with how God's grace and mercy has come to the world. that He has sent His Son to be
the Savior of the world. He has not come, He was not sent
into the world to judge the world. But He says He was sent to be
the Savior of the world. And so, what he is saying is
that even though he will judge the unbelievers of this world
at his second coming, he has first come into this world as
the Savior, and goes by that very name, the Savior of the
world. But he is not saying that Christ
came into the world to save every person in the world any more
than he is saying in verse 16 that God loves every person in
the world. We saw last time how the Scriptures
say that God hated Esau, hates all workers of iniquity, hates
him who sows discord among brethren. So he is no more saying that
God loves everybody in the world, any more than he is saying that
Christ came to be the Savior of every person in the world. But Satan deceives men and women
into thinking this, Because his mission is to make the mission
of Christ to be a total failure. And that is exactly what the
Lord Jesus Christ would be if He came to be the Savior and
came to save every person in the world when He Himself says,
there are few that be saved. He Himself says in Matthew 7,
broad is the way, wide is the gate that leads to destruction,
and many there be that go in thereat. But He says straight
is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life. and few there be that find it."
So rather than letting the devil deceive us into thinking such
foolishness is this, or so as to make the love of God to be
a weak and ineffectual emotion, we need to find out what it means
for him to be the Savior of the world. Now, I want to read you
a verse of Scripture. And it is one of those verses
in the New Testament where we have to honestly deal with what
is being meant in the context when God uses the word, world. Let me read it to you. It's in
John 12 and verse 19. Here are these who, like Nicodemus,
are Pharisees, Jews. It says, "...the Pharisees therefore
said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing?" You
gain nothing? Really, you gain no one? You remember it was the Pharisees
that Christ said, they were so zealous in their kind of evangelism,
they crossed land and sea to make one proselyte. But He said, when you make him,
he is two-fold more the child of hell than you are. And so
these same people, the Pharisees, therefore said among themselves,
Perceive you how you prevail nothing? Behold, the world is
gone after him. They just used that expression,
the world has gone after them. Some say, if it says world, it
means every person in the world. That cannot be. Number one, common
sense ought to tell us that every single person in the world at
that time had not gone after the Lord Jesus Christ. These
Pharisees hadn't. These people who said the whole
world has gone after Him, they hadn't gone after Him. They weren't
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yesterday I got behind a vehicle,
and I'm pretty much a bumper sticker reader. And there was on the vehicle
in front of us a bumper sticker, supposedly by its own mark, being
one of the Episcopal Church, so-called, it said, God loves
you, no exceptions. No exceptions? Well, if you believe
that God loves every person in the world, And you believe that
Christ came into the world to save every person in the world? I guess that's what you'd have
to put on your bumper sticker. But what men put on bumper stickers,
even what they preach from pulpits, Even what men and women so zealously
say they believe and defend, that doesn't change the Word
of God. That doesn't alter what He says
in His Word not one little bit. You see, Christ came into this
world to save a people from among the Jews and the Gentiles, all
according to His will, according to His choice, according to His
purpose, and all by His grace, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there is a verse that you
are very familiar with, but I have to show it to you one more time
tonight. And that verse is found in Matthew
chapter 1 verse 21, and it is on the occasion of the angel
telling Joseph just exactly What this child that is to be born
of Mary is to be called or named. Look down in verse 21. And she shall bring forth a son. This is a truly heavenly messenger. This is the angel. and thou shalt
call his name Jesus." Now what does that name Jesus mean? It means Jehovah is salvation. Jehovah is salvation or maybe
even Jehovah the Savior. Why? is He to be called this
name which means Jehovah is salvation. 4. He. This has to do with what
He as the Savior is said to do. For He shall without any doubt
without any possibility of failure, without any help, He shall save."
What a wonderful word to a sinner. He saves from sin. He saves us from the power of
sin. He saves us from the bondage
of the devil. He saves us from ourselves and
our self-righteousness. He saves totally, completely,
freely, and eternally. For He shall save His people. An old preacher by the name of
William Tiptaff once, before a house full of noble people,
preached from this text one time. And when he got to that point,
he left such an impression that he had much trouble over it. He shall save his people. Now when you hear that, there's
one thing you have to know, and that is not only is this who
He saves, but they're His people when He saves them. He saves
His people. They don't become His people
because He saves them. They're His because the Father
in love gave them to the Son. He saves His people from their
sins. That's who He came to save. And that is exactly who He saves. And that people is a people from
all the peoples of the world. They are called a remnant according
to the election or choice of God's grace. And so God, in those
Old Testament passages, oftentimes has the prophet to speak this
in His name, such as in Isaiah 45 and verse 22. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else." Now you stop and think about this. Here is this Jewish
prophet, who comes from a long line of Jewish prophets, no prophet
being sent to any of the Gentile people, and yet God all the time
giving little whispers and glimmers of this which He calls a mystery,
that is, that His people are from among the Gentiles as well
as the Jews. And here's a prophet like Isaiah. And what is he saying? He's saying,
God says this, "...Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the
ends of the earth." There's not a Savior for the Jews, and then
a different one for the Gentiles? There's not a Savior for the
men, and then another one for the women? I hate these Bibles
that are supposedly just for women or just for children. No. There is one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He alone is the only Savior there
is in this world. But you see, Christ is always
dealing, as His servants are always dealing, with the natural
prejudice of all men. I hate it when somebody comes
on television in the news, most of them being what would be called
liberals, and they claim no prejudice. They scold everybody else for
their prejudice. And then five minutes later,
they've displayed and demonstrated their prejudice. Every person
being a sinner, by nature, is prejudiced. Nicodemus was. And that is true of all men,
of all nations, of all communities, of all races, of all types. Me and you included. Now we're just self-deceived
if we think not. But the gospel is to be preached
to all people as God in His sovereignty determines, as He opens the door
for His Word to go. I'll tell you this, two things.
Number one, obviously, It has not been His will that every
single person that comes into this world hear the gospel. Because many have lived long
lives in this world, and they never heard a gospel phrase or
word their whole lives. But something else also, God
displays His sovereignty, His right as God, not only to not
send the gospel, but to not send it where men seem to want to
send it. You say, that couldn't be God's
will. It is God's will. Paul and those
that were with him, after he heard or saw that vision of that
man of Macedonia saying, come over and help us, they were headed
in one direction, but the Holy Spirit forbade it. They headed
in another direction, and the Holy Spirit forbid it. They headed
in another direction, and the Holy Spirit forbid it. And then
he showed him a man of Macedonia saying, come over and help us.
You know what Paul said? He said, we knew then, I knew
then, that God was sending us to those people in that place
to preach the gospel. You look in Acts 10 and see if
that's not true. Actually, that's not in Acts
10. What I'm about to tell you is in Acts 10. Same thing. Because another man, another
apostle, the apostle Peter, is about to get a call from a man,
a messenger to his door, a Gentile by the name of Cornelius. Cornelius. Cornelius of the Italian
band it calls him. I have a friend who lives in
New York and he's from the Italian band and I nicknamed him Don
Cornelius. Just a dear brother. But if you
remember Peter's up on the rooftop at Joppa and he's about to be
met with messengers in a short period of time sent from Cornelius,
who's a Gentile. And Peter, as we say in the South,
bless his heart, he had that natural prejudice as a Jew, that
natural self-righteousness. And so in preparing him for what
God has called him to do, he sees a sheet held by the corners
of it, being lowered down to the earth, and it's full of four-footed
beasts, those things that under the law were considered unclean. And the Lord says to him, Arise
and eat. Oh, no, no, no, no. I can't do that, Lord. Nothing unclean like that has
ever entered into my mouth." And you know what the Lord's
words were to him? He said, Peter, what I've called
clean, don't you call unclean. Because in just a little while
later, maybe almost momentarily, Those men from Cornelius are
going to tap on his door and they're going to say, our master
sent us to call you to his house to preach the gospel. Now that
didn't happen to every Gentile household. It certainly did not
happen to every Gentile soldier. But that's the sovereignty of
God's grace. And when our Lord sent those
disciples out, first of all, preaching, He said, don't go
preaching among the Gentiles yet. He said, you go only to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Turn over to 1 John 2. Look down in verse 2 of 1 John
2, where John says, speaking of Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for
our sins. And not for ours only, but also
for the whole world." Now, I'm sure your Bible reads, but also
for the sins of the whole world. But I hope it's written in italics,
which means that was added by the translators. Because if it
had said, really, for these sins, or all the sins of the whole
world, we might could let somebody build a little hope for universal
atonement right there. But that's not what it says.
The whole world is used in that verse just as it is in our text
verse and just as it is so many times to show that broken down
now is that separating barrier. It is not just the Jews. And
it is not even just the Gentiles now. But it is a people of Jew
and Gentile. He's the propitiation for the
sins, John says, our sins, and not only for our sins. I don't
know if he's speaking there as a Jew or as those who simply
are believers at that time. But he says, but also for the
whole world. There's only one propitiatory
sacrifice. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn over to Revelation chapter 4 now. And listen to the language. As
the people of God are seen in this vision that is given to
John the Apostle when he's on the Isle of Patmos, in Revelation
14 and verse 4, when he sees them, it says, These are they
which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are
they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." He's talking about
the fact that they were not deceived, kept deceived by the harlot Babylon,
false religion. But these are, as Paul said,
presented as chaste virgins to Christ. These were redeemed from
among men. They were redeemed from among
men. Christ did not redeem all men. But He did redeem all kinds of
men. All kinds of women. All kinds
of people. And then look at verse 6. He
says, And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having
the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. In another place, they raise
up a song to the Lamb. They sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation." I said, all kinds of people. If you look over in John chapter 4, where our Lord has met this woman
at the well. We'll look at this more closely
later. But verse 42 says that many others
besides her believed on Christ. because of His own Word. And said unto the woman, Now
we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard Him
ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior
of the world." Now with the reputation of this
Poor but blessed woman. Had five husbands. She's at the
well at a time when most women, decent women so-called, would
not be at the well. She's a Gentile. Talking to a
Jew, that was a no-no. She knew that. But the Lord saved her. He came
to save her. He must need to go through Samaria.
And most likely, the crowd of men that came out as a result
of her going back into the city, leaving her water pot, most likely
that was a pretty diverse group also. And when they heard and
believed, they said, we know He's the Christ, the Savior of
the world. And so our Lord gives this instruction
to us. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. In another place, go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem." That's where it did begin. But thank God, that's
not where it stopped. In God's amazing purpose of grace,
it found its way down through the ages of time, down through
all the workings of providence, it found its way by God's purpose
for us to hear. We're not Jews by nature, by
flesh. But thank God, He's not a Jew
who's one outwardly, but He is a Jew who's one inwardly. And
circumcision is not of the flesh, but of the heart. The psalmist would give us hints. All the ends of the world shall
remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations
shall worship before Thee, that Thy way may be known upon earth,
Thy saving health among all nations. Declare His glory among the heathen,
His wonders among all people, He hath remembered His mercy
and His truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation of our God." And in a prophecy concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, He says, it is a light thing that thou
shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to
restore the preserved of Israel. I also will give thee for a light
to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end
of the earth. The Lord hath made bare His holy
arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God." Surely we know that that
does not mean every person is going to believe Christ is going
to save every person. No. But a people out of all peoples. The angel said unto them, Fear
not, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall
be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, a light
to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." That's why we support those missionary
brethren. You look on the bulletin board,
you see the recent letter from Brother Stephen Bignall in Australia,
and see the faces of those aboriginal people. Some of them are God's
sheep. For Brother Jean-Claude Souillot,
when he goes down especially to French-speaking Africa, In
all the various places, the providence of God opening doors and bringing
people together for Him and for others that He might instruct
and who already have understanding of the truth, to have fellowship
with each other, and to preach the gospel. The brother Miles
McGee, who preaches the gospel A country
just bound in the things of Catholicism. Brother Lance Heller there in
Papua New Guinea, amongst people so remote that the only way they
can be reached is by walking, by translating Scripture into
their language. I remember something Brother
Bill Clark said, who was himself a missionary,
he said, we don't need just more missionaries. He said, we need
more missionaries who will preach the gospel. And that is true. And even in a place as obscure
as the place we live, sometimes I'll travel Somebody
will say, and where is it you're from? I'm from Jacksonville,
North Carolina. And you see this big question
mark in their face. Where in the world is that? Sometimes
I'll say, just to help a little bit maybe, we're near the Camp
Lejeune Marine Base. And maybe a few have heard of
that. But he sent the gospel. And now in this present day,
in a way that just utterly amazes me, by means of the internet
and the messages that myself and others in God's providence
have put out to go out all over the world, you never know. You never know
who God will bring to their computer to hear the gospel. Sometimes the messages come from
England or the Philippines or other countries. Messages go
into places where a preacher like myself could never just
walk in and preach, such as China, Russia. A couple of messages from a lady
in Louisiana this week. A man from Texas. You just never
know. But I know this. He's the Savior of the world.
And I am to preach the Gospel wherever He gives opportunity. Whatever door He opens, calling
of His elect. They will, as His sheep, hear
His voice and follow Him. And the message of Christ crucified, the message of what Christ came
into the world to do, save sinners, will assure that He gets all
the glory. All the glory. For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved. And that world, meaning a people
from every part and people of the world, is the people that
He saves. Like I say, there are natural
prejudices always. But we ought to remember that.
Pray for these missionary brethren. Pray for me. Pray for these all
around us. They may not be from here, but
they may be bound for there. God help us to be faithful to
bear witness to the truth to all people. and He'll make manifest who His
sheep are. Father, tonight we give thanks
to You and praise You. We do pray for these brethren,
not only abroad, but Your servants wherever they are on this earth,
preaching to whatever people they preach to, whether they
be few or many, whether they be of one tribe or one nation,
no matter what the natural prejudices are between people and nations. Help us to be faithful, to preach
the gospel to each and every one, in the knowledge that your
sheep will hear your voice, and they'll follow you. They'll praise
you for the mercy and grace that You give us through the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that You'd watch over
us as we go out of this place and honor Yourself in all that
pertains to us. Do Your will. Help us. Have mercy upon us. For we ask
it in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.