I invite your attention to John's
Gospel, chapter 3. The Gospel according to John,
chapter 3. My text tonight is verse number
17. My subject is Jesus Christ. Savior of the world. I begin reading in verse number
14, where Jesus told Nicodemus that
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 whoever believes in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And here is
my text. For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. In our text, in verse number
17, We find four questions answered. First, why did God send his son
Jesus Christ into the world? And this question is answered
both negatively and positively. Negatively, God did not send
his son into the world to condemn the world. There's no need to. The world was already under condemnation. This word that is translated
condemned is probably better translated judged. It is usually
about 75% of the time. But again, Jesus Christ did not
come to judge the world when He came the first time. He will
judge the world the second time because God has appointed a day
in which He will judge the world by the man whom He has ordained.
And He has acknowledged this by raising him from the dead.
Paul the Apostle said so on Mars here in Acts 17. Jesus Christ
did not come to judge the world. He did not come to condemn the
world. Rather, He came to save the world. That's the reason why He came.
And He Himself acknowledged this in John 12, 47. He said, I did
not come to judge the world. I came to save the world. So why did God send His Son into
the world? Not to judge it. Not to condemn
it. God sent His Son to save The
world, our text declares so, does it not? Second question,
why was it necessary for God to send His Son into the world? First of all, God sent His Son,
Jesus Christ, to save the world because God loved the world,
had purposed its salvation, and in order for the world to be
saved, Christ had to come into the world. Notice our text. God loved the world. We're told that. God so loved
the world that He gave, didn't offer, He gave His only begotten
Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life. And therefore, since God loved
the world, had purposed the salvation of the world and had ordained
the means by which the world would be saved, it was necessary
that Christ come into the world to save the world because only
through Him can the world be saved. It was necessary also
for Christ to come to save the world because there is no other
way of salvation. There is no work that you can
do that will result in your salvation. You cannot be saved by keeping
the law because you cannot keep the law. And furthermore, by
the law is the knowledge of sin. You cannot be saved by baptism,
by doing penance, by joining a church. If you could be saved
by anything you could do, It would have been foolish for God
to send His Son into the world. It would have been foolish! And
God is no fool. God sent His Son into the world
to save the world because that is the only means by which the
world can be saved. Third, Jesus Christ came into
the world to save the world. That's why He came. Third question,
did he succeed? Absolutely yes. He did not fail. He came to save
the world, the whole world, and the whole world he came to save
is and will be saved. He did not fail. This we know because His apostles
declared to us that we have seen, His apostles tell us, we have
seen and we testify to you that the Father has sent the Son as
Savior of the world. 1 John 4, verse 14. Notice. He came to be Savior of the world. He is not the Savior of the world
unless He saved the world. You cannot be the Savior of the
world unless you saved the world. So I'm telling you, listen to
me carefully, He succeeded. He saved the entire world that
God loved. And the entire world to which
God gave His Son, the entire world that God sent His Son to
save, He saved them in its entirety. Now someone is going to say,
but now preacher, not everyone is saved. I mean, many folks will be judged
and condemned. That's right. But you just said
He saved the entire world. Exactly. But you admit He didn't
save everyone. Now listen carefully. The text
does not say He came to save everyone. Does it say that? Does
not say that. The text declares that God loved
the world. Doesn't say God loved everyone.
The text says God loved the world. sent His Son to save the world,
and I'm telling you, the Son succeeded. He saved the entire
world that God loved. He saved the entire world that
He came to save. But listen to me, there is more
than one world on this earth. There's more than one. How do
we know? Here we read that God loved the
world and Jesus Christ came to save them. That entire world
that God loved, Christ has saved. But there is another world. Because
Jesus tells His people, My Father has chosen you out of the world. That's another world. That's
a different world. There is a world of lost humanity
around us. And Jesus, in His high priestly
prayer in John 17, says, Father, I thank You that You have chosen
a people out of the world. They are Yours. You gave them
to Me. And I pray for them, but I do
not pray for the world. I pray for those whom you gave
me." Now do you see this? There is a world that God loved,
a world to which Christ came, a world which Christ saved, and
another world Christ says, I don't even pray for them. They will
not believe the gospel, I will not pray for them. But there
is an entire world of sinners. entire world of sinners. And
Christ came to save them and he succeeded. Now preacher, can
you prove it from other places? I'm glad you asked. And yes,
I can. I can show you from God's Word,
not only from our text here, I can show you that Jesus Christ
removed the sins of the world. Jesus Christ justified the world. Jesus Christ reconciled the world
to God. And number four, Jesus Christ
gives everlasting life to the world. I mean, to the world. This is the terminology of Scripture,
my friend. He does it to the world. Alright?
First point. Jesus Christ removed the sins
of the world. We know. Because of a preacher
by the name of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jehovah, and
he comes preaching, and he says, there's one coming after me,
whose shoelatches I am not worthy to unloose. Jehovah is coming
after me. I am come to prepare his way."
Now, in all probability, John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth
knew each other. They were cousins. They were
cousins. They were born within a short
time of each other. It is probable that they knew
each other. Evidently, John did not know
exactly everything regarding his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth. But John is preparing the way. And John is standing one day
in River Jordan, and he is baptizing, preparing a people for Jehovah. And he's giving to them this
baptism unto remission of sins and the baptism of repentance.
And as he's preaching, he's looking out over his congregation and
he takes a close look at somebody who's back in his congregation.
Behold! The Lamb of God who takes Away
the sin of the world. Note his terminology. He is the
Lamb of God and he takes away the sins of the world. And the entire world, he takes
them away. Now John is alluding to all those
lambs that were slain upon the altars of Israel beginning in
1440 B.C. and going until the time of Jesus
Christ. Folks, we're talking 1500 years
of offerings. Every morning, lamb brought out,
put on the altar and slain. Every morning. Every evening,
lamb brought out, put on the altar and slain. Every Sabbath
day, more lambs are brought. Every holy day, more lambs are
brought. When you sin, you bring a lamb. When you sin, you bring a lamb. For 1500 years, with the exception
of the 70 years of Babylonian captivity, but for those 1500
years from 1440 B.C. until Jesus Christ went to Calvary,
lambs were slain. Thousands and thousands and thousands
of lambs. And never was a single solitary
sin ever taken away until this Lamb came that was led to the
slaughter. And Isaiah chapter 53 describes
it, that Jehovah has taken the sins of His people and He laid
them on His Son, the Lamb of God. And the Lamb of God, Jesus
Christ, takes the sins of God's people and He takes them and
He is led as a lamb to the slaughter. And there on Calvary, He made
a sacrifice for sin because God said, I will make His soul an
orphan for sin. There He is on Calvary with the
sins of God's people laid upon Him. And he died in their place
instead, paid the penalty for their sins, shouted in glorious
victory, it is finished! And you know what happened when
he said it's finished? Their sins were taken away. As far
as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions
from us. It doesn't say as far as the
North is from the South. You can measure that distance.
You can measure the distance from the North Pole to the South
Pole. You cannot measure distance from East to West. It is immeasurable. Just go ahead and get on the
equator, and let's say you're in the West, and start going
East. Follow your compass. You'll go all the way around
the Earth, and you'll go all the way around the Earth, and
you'll never finish. And that's how far He took our
sins away. He took the sins of God's people
and carried them to the bottom most part of the sea. I say this
reverently, but I tell you that He took our sins, the sins of
the world, He took the sins of the world so far away that even
God Himself can't find them. God cannot find them because
God says, I will not find them. Because when the Lamb of God
took away the sins of the world, God said, their sins and their
iniquities, I will remember no more. They're gone! Gone! He took the sins of the
world and bore them away! And now no one knows where they
are. Not even God. And He did it for a whole world
of sinners. Think about it. Now, there is
a world of sinners for whom He did not do that. Jesus Himself
said so. Jesus Himself said to some folks,
He said, you are of this world. I am not of this world. But you
are of this world, and therefore I say to you, you will die in
your sins." You are of this world, you will die in your sins. I
say to you, you are of this world, you will die in your sins. It's
a different world he's talking about. There is a world of sinners,
and Christ took their sins so far away they'll never be found.
But there in John chapter 8, Jesus told some mothers, He said,
you're in a world of sinners and you will die in your sins
and your sins have never been taken away. Now I ask you, in
which world are you? You're in one of those worlds.
There are two worlds of sinners. There is a world of sinners and
Christ took away their sins. And there is a world of sinners
and they will die in their sins. Second, Jesus Christ justified
the world. I mean the entire world. He justified
the world. 1 John 2 verses 1 and 2 declare
that Jesus Christ the righteous is the propitiation for our sins,
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The whole world! Listen carefully
now. John declared that He, Jesus
Christ, He Himself is the propitiation for the sins of the whole entire
world. John said so. The same man who
wrote John 3.16 wrote this. Now what is a propitiation? It
is a guilt removing sacrifice. that results in the justification
of the one for whom the sacrifice was made. There's the altar. There's your sacrifice upon the
altar. That lamb on that altar, that
lamb that is to be made an offering, when that lamb is slain, It is
slain for certain people in their place instead, and when this
occurs, their guilt is gone. If their guilt is gone, they
necessarily are justified. They're guiltless. They were
guilty. But now they're justified. How
did this happen? By Christ, the propitiation.
And again, this is described in Isaiah chapter 53, where Jehovah
says of that offering, when I make his soul an offering for sin,
he says, for the transgressions of my people. Who's my people? That's the world God loved. For
the transgressions of my people, He was slain. I put their sins
on Him. He bore their sins. He died in
their place instead. And by His knowledge, my righteous
servants shall justify, note this, He shall justify many,
for He shall bear their iniquities. When Christ was slain on Mount
Calvary, he became the guilt-removing sacrifice that resorted in the
justification of God's people. And this is illustrated before
us in Luke chapter 18. Jesus said, and he told this
parable about two men. And he told it for the benefit
of those who thought that they were righteous in and of themselves
and they despised others. Alright? He told this and he
says, two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee
and the other a publican tax collector. And the Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself, and he said, God, and notice
Jesus' words very carefully, he said, the Pharisee prayed
with himself. To himself. Called himself God. God, I thank Thee that I am not
like other men. Adulterers, extortioners. I thank
you especially. I am not like that publican tax
collector over yonder. I thank you." And he began to
talk about what he had done. This man, this Pharisee, is probably
the only man in Scripture who in his prayer did not ask God
for anything and was not disappointed at not receiving anything. He
asked for nothing. that suited him. He received
nothing that suited him. And Jesus said, and over yonder,
standing afar off. Here is a man who is trying to
get as far away from any holy furniture, anything holy in that
temple. He's standing afar off. He would
not even Lift his eyes to heaven. He's afraid that if he looks
up, he might see God looking down at him. And he smokes his
breast. He says, God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. Jesus said, I tell you, that
second man, he went down to his house justified rather than the
other. Now, I want you to go back to
that publican's prayer for a moment. God, be merciful. Your English
text does not bring this out very well. But the verb that
is translated merciful, be merciful, that verb is from the same noun
translated propitiation in 1 John 2. And what this man is praying
is this, God, make propitiation for me. That's what he's praying. His prayer might be worded like
this. He's afraid to look at God. God,
if there's anybody in this building who deserves to die, it's me.
I am the sinner. And he used the definite article,
the. I am the sinner. I deserve your
wrath. I'm guilty. I'm vile. But oh, if you would be merciful,
if you would be merciful, make propitiation for me." And God
heard the prayer and answered it. How do we know? Because Jesus
Christ himself is the propitiation for the sins of the world. A
world of sinners just like that publican tax collector. A guilt-removing
sacrifice. And when your guilt is removed,
you're justified. And this is what it is. And Jesus
did it for a whole world of sinners. A whole world. He did not do
it for a world of Pharisees. But he did it for a world of
sinners who can say, Lord God, be merciful and make propitiation
for me. And Jesus did it for a whole
world of them. Third, Jesus Christ reconciled
the world. This we know because we read
that God was in Christ Reconciling the world. There's your term. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to Himself. There is a whole world of sinners
that are now reconciled to God, and God did it through Christ.
And He did it by not imputing their trespasses to them. A whole
world of sinners. The entire earth is populated
by people who are enemies against God. The entire earth is populated
by them. There are two worlds of sinners
and enemies against God. There is one world of sinners
that was reconciled to God through the death of His Son. And another
world that says, we will never bow. We will never submit. We will not have this man to
reign over us. But God was in Christ reconciling
the world. We read that when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. And having
been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only
that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received the reconciliation. There is
a whole world of sinners. A whole world of aliens, a whole
world of enemies against God that has been reconciled to God
through Christ. And who are they? They are those
who obey this command, you be reconciled to God. You be reconciled. There is a whole world of people
that God has reconciled to himself through Christ and every one
of them will obey the gospel command, be reconciled to God. I have come, I have laid down
my armor and my weapons. Lord, you won. You won. I fought against you. I hated
your gospel. But you won. And I surrender
to you. And that's when I hear that,
yes, you did. Because Christ reconciled a whole
world of sinners to you, like you to me. Alright, there's one
more. He gives everlasting life to
the world. Now, do you see the terms we're using? He bore the
sins of the world. He's the propitiation for the
world. He reconciled the world. And there's one more. He gives
everlasting life to the world. The world that God loved. The
world to which God sent His Son. The world that God told His sons
to go save, Christ did it as the Savior of the world. And
here's the last thing. Jesus said in John 6, verse 33
and 51, He said, The bread of God is He who comes down from
heaven and gives life to the world. There it is. He gives life to the world. A world of dead sinners. Stone cold dead sinners. And I give them life. I give
life to the world. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread,
he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give
is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. An entire world of dead sinners. will receive life and believe
on Jesus Christ. Think about it, the whole world
of them. Now, Jesus told this story, or pardon me, he told
this message on an occasion after feeding a few thousand people
miraculously, and then he tried to get away from them, But you
know, religious people, once you feed them, they will come. And they come looking for him.
He had already crossed the Sea of Galilee. He had already gone
across. And here they come. And he sees
them coming. Alright. Okay. They come. I'll go ahead and
preach to them. So he did. In John 6, Jesus preached. One of the strongest messages
you will read about the sovereignty of God and salvation, and if
you want to see the doctrines of grace, there they are in that
message. And these folks have been fed,
and now they come to hear Him preach. So He preached. And the more He preached, the
madder they got. Especially when He starts talking
about I'm going to give my life to the world. You what? I'm giving
it to the world. And they were mad. They were
mad. And he preaches and all of a sudden, one of them says,
Did he say what I think he just said? Did I hear him say that
I cannot come to Him unless God draws me? That's what he said.
I don't believe that. I've got free will, I can come
in any time I want to. I'm not listening anymore. Neither am
I. So here they go. And then there go two more. Then
there go two more. This is comparable to the biggest
church split in all of history. Because he's got a few thousand
people there listening to him. And all of a sudden, he looked
and there's only twelve left. Only twelve. Jesus, do you suppose He went
after them and said, you know, come on back. I'll tone it down.
I'll tone it down. Okay? I'll quit talking, Grace,
and I'll talk free will if you'll come back. Will you do that?
He didn't do that. He let them go. He just watched
them go. And they're all gone except twelve.
He looked over and said, you can go too. Go ahead. Go ahead. And Peter says, Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. That is the testimony of the
world. that Jesus Christ came to save.
You see those folks leaving him? That is a whole world of sinners
that died in their sins, dead in trespasses, no reconciliation
before God, no propitiation, no guilt-removing sacrifice. They don't want it. They will
not believe in Jesus Christ, and the whole world has departed
him. But there is another world. the
world that God loves and they therefore love him. They love
his son. They believe his son. Why? For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. There is a world of sinners
that will reject the gospel and die in their sins. There is a
world of sinners that will believe the gospel unto everlasting life. And you, and me, every one of
us, we are in one of those worlds. One of them. Now, in which world
are you? Are you in the world that Christ
will come back and judge and condemn? Or are you in the world
that He came to save and believes in Him unto everlasting life? Trust Him. Now.