I guess we have snow days, but
today wasn't one of them. I figured if I could get out,
you know, being a foreigner. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the gospel according to John, chapter three. John, chapter
three. I'd like to look this morning
at one verse of Scripture, verse 18. We're just going right through
the book of John, word by word. Let's look at John 3, 18, and
then after we read this one verse, we'll ask the Lord's blessing. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Let's pray together. Our Father, it is so good to
be able to call upon You and to know that we speak unto You and enter into holy of holies, heavenly holy
of holies, that place that was pictured only in the earthly
tabernacle where no one could enter except the high priest
one time a year. And Lord, now we can enter in
boldly to the very presence of Almighty God in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, our hearts are made to
wonder at the majesty of who you are, the grace and mercy
that you've shown us. Lord, would you speak today?
Bless our hearts with the hearing of the blessed Word of God. Cause
us to hear the voice of the Shepherd. For it's in His name we pray,
Amen. I've entitled this message, Why
Is a Man Condemned of God? You know, our Lord had been speaking
to Nicodemus, and He told Nicodemus in verse 12, He said, I've told
you some earthly things. And He said, you believe not. How shall you believe if I tell
you of heavenly things?" Now, these heavenly things, these
are truths that are only known by the revelation of the Spirit
of God. Things that you just can't know. Verse 13 was the first one that
He told him. He said this, And no man hath
ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even
the Son of Man which is in heaven." Now, what he said is this. He
said, I am the only one who has the right and the dignity
to ascend into heaven on his own merit. Now, man by nature
thinks. Now, you think about this. Man
by nature thinks. that he can ascend into heaven
by his own free will. I can do whatever I choose to do and
I can, the Lord said, no man hath ascended up to heaven. That
is on his own merit. examples of those that have been
translated, those that have been caught up, those that have not
ascended. No man has ascended on his own
merit except the one that came down. Here was the second heavenly
thing that was told. Verse 14, As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. It was another heavenly thing.
The Lord Jesus Christ as was pictured when Moses made that
brazen serpent. He made it in the form of a fiery
serpent, a snake that was biting the people. And he took a piece of brass and he
made a snake And he put it on a pole. And here was the heavenly
revelation. Whoever looked at that snake, whoever looked at that snake
lived. What did that set forth? Whoever by faith looks upon Christ
and Christ alone is going to live. and believes Him." That's
what He said in that next verse, "...whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life." Now listen, when we start
talking about looking upon Him, you have to understand that if
there is any leaven, you say, well, I'm looking at Christ,
but I feel that I need to I'm looking at Him, but also you
need to know, whosoever believeth in Him. Now, if you want to know
the difference between what the Scripture sets forth as salvation
by grace and salvation by works, it's this. A little leaven leavens
the whole lump. You say, well, you know what?
We believe. Ninety-nine percent of what you all preach there,
we believe that. You know, the only difference is we believe
that a little leaven leavens a whole
lump. Salvation is all of grace or
it is no salvation at all. Salvation is of the Lord and
anything that you add, any little addition, Well, we believe that
you shouldn't. Anything that you add, you leaven
the whole lump. Here's the next heavenly thing.
Verse 16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. The Scriptures never sets forth
that God loves every man without distinction. It never sets that
forth. Go back and re-listen to that
message again that I tried to set forth. What it's talking
about when He says the world, He's talking about the order,
the arrangement of mankind. God loved the arrangement, the
order of mankind, and was not pleased that mankind, the order,
Almighty God loved the people. So out of every nation and kindred
and tribe and tongue, He chose some. Go back and read it in
Ephesians chapter 1. God has a people. You say, well, I thought that
God loved everybody. God Almighty never says that
He loves everybody. You say, well, I don't think
that's fair. That doesn't matter. Let God be true and let every
man be a liar. See, the Lord was telling Nicodemus,
I told you earthly things and you don't believe. How are you
going to believe heavenly things? Can the thing made say to him
that made it, why have you made me thus? Who do we think we are? Who are we? We are dust. If Almighty God has been pleased
to show mercy to anybody, as I said before, whenever you start
thinking about the election of God, predestination of God, choosing
of God, understand something. If Almighty God left men to do
what man wanted to do, He'd condemn all of them. So whenever we start talking
about fair, Remember this, in Adam, left in Adam, considered
in Adam, all died. But that Almighty God would show
mercy and grace. That's a heavenly thing. How
can it be? Here's another heavenly thing.
God sent not, verse 17, His Son into the world to condemn the
world. but that the world through him might be saved." Now, for God to condemn this world,
He didn't have to send Christ. Just leave it alone. Let a man
do what he wants to do. Leave a man to himself and he's
going to perish. He's going to perish. God did
not send His Son into this world to condemn the world, but that
the world through Him, because of Him, might be saved. God would show mercy. Now, today
we're going to consider the next heavenly thing, and it is that
verse that we read, verse 18. Here's the next heavenly thing,
and it's this thought. There is the blessing of God
upon everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. And God's
judgment is upon all who leave this world without Him. Now, I'm going to tell you right
now that that verse of Scripture sets forth. And I thought on
this a few minutes ago while I was sitting there contemplating
this verse of Scripture. There is no Scripture that sets
forth more clearly the indescribable sovereignty of God than this
one. You talk about a passage of Scripture
that sets forth God's sovereignty, God's right, God's will, God's
purpose, and that's what it's all about. Who, Brother Scott, you say,
who's going to get the glory for this? Who's running this
show anyway? God is. Now, it's a miracle of God's
grace that we're even here this morning. But this passage of Scripture
sets forth the sovereignty, the omniscience of Almighty God. If we understood, and I pray
that we'll look at this for just a minute and understand what
is being said here, I'm telling you, it'll shut a man's mouth. It will shut him up. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. Now, this proves, first of all, I
don't think anyone here would doubt this, this proves the immense
importance of faith. Faith in Christ, believing. Nobody would doubt that. You
know that that's what it's saying. But let me set something forth
to you so that we can understand what is actually being said here. Now, let me tell you what any
man, any woman, let me tell you what the natural thinking thinks
is being said right there. This is what the natural, you're
naturally, your mind, your natural mind, this is what it, okay. He that believes, God then goes
from condemning him, because see, we're all born in trespasses
and sins. And therefore, when we come forth,
there's a time, Jeff, when man, he doesn't believe. There's a
time, I mean, you know, I had somebody tell me the other night.
They said, I love God. I've always loved Him. I've loved
Him since I was... I've always loved Him. And I
thought, that's a little bit too long. That's a little bit
too long. Because nobody is born into this
world loving God. Nobody. What people think that that Scripture
is saying is this. He that has come into this world
and is in a state of unbelief for a while, he's under the condemnation
of God, but then when he believes, he goes from being condemned
to a point to where he's not condemned anymore. Because he
believed, God then erased him from being under his condemnation
and then put him under grace. But he that believeth not is
condemned already. And so somehow you're trying
to justify that thing in your mind that you went from a state
of this to a state of this. Now let me tell you the problem
with that. I know and you know that God
doesn't change. Now you know that. Has God Almighty ever changed. You know He hasn't. Malachi sets
forth. He said, I change not. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. So the first thing that we know
is that God has never changed. Let me show you something else.
Turn to Acts 15. Now the problem is that we think
in a certain way, but the Lord says my thoughts are not your
thoughts. Your thoughts are not my thoughts. So the only thing
that we've got is the Word of God. That's all we've got to
go on. So if we do not take God's Word
as being so, then what is the basis? I mean, where do we establish
the lines? Acts 15, look at verse 13. After they had held their peace,
James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simeon
hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles
to take out of them a people for his name. And to this degree,
the words of the prophets as it is written, After this, I
will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which
is fallen down, and I will build again the ruins and set it up
that the residue of men might seek after the Lord. And all
the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who
doeth all these things." Now listen to this verse of Scripture. Verse 18, Known unto God are
all of His works from the beginning of the world. Known unto God are all of His
works from the beginning of the world. Now, my question is this. Does Almighty God do that which
is right? Yes. You know that. He said, I'm a just God. Does
Almighty God know that which He's going to do? Yes. That Scripture right there set
forth, known unto the Lord are all of His works. God Almighty
has never learned anything known unto the Lord or all of His works,
you and I will pick up something. We'll have something kind of
cut off. How do you realize that? Well, that kind of sets things
in a different light. I didn't, you know, not God.
God never changes. He that believeth, this is what's
being said, he that believeth on Him, is not condemned. Now before we go any farther,
we've got to realize how far back does it go that God's people
were not condemned. There is therefore now, Romans
8, verse 1 says, no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus.
And my question to you and to me is this, how long has God's
people been in Christ? Well, Ephesians 1 sets forth,
and we could read all these Scriptures, but for the sake of time, it's
Ephesians 1. Read about the first 10 or 11
verses. The Scripture sets forth that Almighty God, before the
foundation of the world, chose a people in Christ, and considered them
in Him, and looked upon them only in assurity, and considered
them in Christ, and all that He looked to them for was in
His Son. And He looked at His Son. and
trusted in His Son. And the Lamb who was slain from
before the foundation of the world, Almighty God. Known unto
God are all of His works. Always. Now, Almighty God has
never been surprised at anything. Now, when I told you a while
ago that we're talking about this verse of Scripture that
sets forth the indescribable sovereignty of God, does God
have a right to do what He will with His own? Now, you know He
does. Now, we're either going to argue
against God or we're going to bow one of the two. But let me
tell you who's going to win. You know who's going to win.
He said, My counsel shall stand. Now, here's what's happening. Almighty God has a people that
He chose before the foundation of the world. And He chose them
in Christ and considered them in Christ. And all that the Father gave
Him are going to come to Him. And they're going to call. And
they're going to believe. And He knows them. And none of
them are going to perish. None of them. Here's what's being
said right here. He that believeth, it evidences
that he was never under the condemnation of God. He that believeth is
not condemned. His faith did not put him in
a state of non-condemnation. He was never under the condemnation
of God. And faith evidenced it. You see that? He that believeth
is not condemned. God never condemned him. Why?
He had already considered him, looked upon him in his son who
was made a curse. Somebody said, well, what you're
saying is that salvation was finished. from before the foundation
of the world. I said, yeah, that's right. That's
what's been preached here for 55 years. Salvation is of the
Lord. That's what. God's not surprised. He's never surprised. Faith is
not the source of our justification before God. It's the evidence
of it. We've been justified freely by
His grace. In time, you and I found out
about this. But God knew this always. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Why? Because you're in His Son. He chose you in Christ. Does it matter what a man hears? Sure it does. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of God. It's the power of God and salvation.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. How are we going
to know this? You say, I didn't know that I
was always looked upon Him in Christ. How would we know that heavenly
thing unless God tells us? We could never make that up.
How could I ever come up with something like that? Somebody
said, well, you're making this so God-centered. I said, well, thank you. Thank
you. You understood what I said then.
I've had different ones tell me. They said, well, I'll tell
you one thing, Marvin. No doubt about this, everybody understands
what you're saying. I said, good. I just need to
make sure I'm consistent. He that believeth on Him is not
condemned. He that believeth. You say, well,
but there was a time when I didn't believe. I know that. God's longsuffering to usward. Not willing that any should perish.
Who are the uswards? Those that He's everlastingly
loved. He's longsuffering. You mean to tell me when I was
running around here thinking I was somebody? Yeah. Yeah. Long-suffering to me. Long-suffering
to every one of His elect. Why did He put up with Paul?
Because he had everlastingly loved Him in Christ. Christ had
answered for him, redeemed him. Here's the thing. I'm going to
tell you something. He that believeth on Him, we
must hear the Gospel. We're not fatalists. Now, there's
some that'll say there's no need. If God has everlastingly chosen
you, then there's no need for you to believe. That's not true. Almighty God has been pleased
through the foolishness of preaching. Somebody said, well, why did
He do that? Don't ask questions like that.
I'm talking to me and you. Why? Why would we question God? Almighty God said, that it pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching. So what are we doing
here? I'm standing here proclaiming
the unsearchable riches of the glory of God in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, if God's got a
people, He's going to save them. That's right. Well, if He's not purposed to
save them, then He'll leave them to do what they want to do. That's
right. Well, what difference does it make then if we preach
and we don't preach? God told us to preach. That's
the reason we do. We don't presume on God. We don't
question Him. God Almighty has been pleased
through the foolishness of preaching. And those that believe, let me
tell you why they believe. Because Almighty God gave them
a new heart. Just like He did Lydia. Lydia
was listening to Paul preach and she was worshiping God in
the best way she knew how. And the Lord opened her heart
and she attended then to the things that were spoken of Paul. Why did she believe? God gave
her faith to believe. If she believes, who gets the
credit for it? God's going to get the credit
for it. If she doesn't believe, who's going to suffer the consequences? She is. And whose fault was it?
It was her fault. Faith reveals that there is not
now or never has been any condemnation to those that be in Christ Jesus.
God never changes. He's never changed his mind.
He's never changed his attitude. There is no shadow of turning
with God. Just think, the insinuation that
there would be a change of mind from this to this would say that
God Almighty was not perfect. He cannot change. Faith in Christ. reveals why
there's no condemnation to the believer. Because Christ was
condemned in His stead. Now listen to this, Isaiah 53,
46. Surely He hath borne our griefs. Now I'll qualify this. I know
that if I have to qualify every statement that I make, every
service that I make, but I'm going to qualify this one. Do
you remember when the Lord said, I lay down My life for the sheep?
Do you remember that? I lay down My life for the sheep.
He told some Pharisees, He said, the reason you don't believe
is because you're not My sheep. The reason you don't believe is because
you're not My sheep. My sheep hear My voice. So God
has a people. And whenever the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I lay down My life for the sheep, do you know who He
laid down His life for? The sheep. of the sheep I have,
not of this foal, them I must bring." Now, here's the way it is. He said He laid down for those
that the Father gave Him. All that the Father giveth Me
shall come to Me. So when the Spirit of God through
the prophet Isaiah speaks and says, Our and We, the Lord Jesus
Christ set forth who He died for. You might say, well, I thought
he died for everybody. Well, the Lord didn't say that.
Men say that. The Lord didn't say it. And if
he died for everybody, then he shed blood that was not effectual. Then, therefore, he was a failure. He shed blood and it did not
accomplish what he purposed for it to do. That's what would be
said. And I'm telling you, He said, I lay down my life as
sheep. Now listen to these words. Surely He hath borne our griefs. He carried our sorrows. Yet we
did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He
was wounded, that is, tormented for our transgressions, bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. With His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray
and we've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Made the iniquity of all God's
sheep, all God's elect. Here we realize that Almighty
God was doing something in absolute justice because He's a merciful
God. God Almighty. is going to do
that which he's pleased to do. So he that believeth on him. You say, well, I didn't always
believe. But before you died, God's people are. They're going
to come to Christ. How many are going to come? How many are going to believe?
All that the Father giveth me, all of them, All of them. All of them. How many are going to be saved?
All of them. All that the Father giveth me
shall, shall, shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. He that believeth on him, he
who by faith lays hold of Christ, casts himself upon the mercy
of God in Christ, looks away from himself and forsakes all
other acts of self-righteous confidence in the flesh. He that
believeth on him is not condemned. He's never been condemned. He's
never been condemned. He's always been looked upon
in the Beloved, always in time We found out about it. God put
us under the sound of the gospel and we heard and we believed
him and said, oh, the mercy of Almighty God that God would not
leave me to myself. Justified by the grace of God,
warfare is accomplished. But he that believeth not, He that believeth not is condemned already. You say,
well, wouldn't it be the right thing for God to just at least
give him a chance, at least to the end of his life? I mean,
he that believeth not is condemned already. You see what I'm saying? He's already under the condemnation
of God. Is God Almighty just? This is an amazing thing here.
I was looking at this word here, He that believeth not. I looked that word up and it
said it was a qualified denial. That's what we're talking about,
Kevin. Qualified denial. A qualified denial. I thought,
qualified denial? What does that mean? It proves what God eternally
knew. He that believeth not is condemned
already. God's judgment for God Almighty who before the foundation of
the world knew all of His works. God Almighty declared that which He was pleased
to do and one that leaves this world not believing Christ And
let me be perfectly clear. Whose fault is it if a man leaves
this world not believing Christ? It's his own fault. It's his own fault. You're not
going to lay the blame of unbelief at the feet of God Almighty. If a man or a woman walks out
of this building and they refuse to bow, they say, you know what?
That's just a little bit too narrow. That's just a little
bit too... That's a hard saying. I'm not going to follow him anymore. The Lord asked His disciples,
will you go away also? Peter said, Lord, where are we
going to go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Let me ask you
this. Whose fault was it when Adam
rebelled against God? It was Adam's fault. Whose fault is it every time
a man or a woman disobeys, refuses to come? Whose fault is theirs? Is God just in condemning a man? Yes. You know that. You know that. Well, what if He chooses to show
mercy to some? He's got a right to do that.
Somebody would say, well, why did He not show mercy to everybody. The Scripture sets forth that
He did what He did according to His own will. And I'm telling
you, to argue against Him or to think against Him or to contradict
or try to... I'm telling you, we've got one
hope. Cast yourself upon the mercy
of God. Some might say, well, how can
I do that? Do you want to? Do you want to? If you want to,
it's because He's made you willing in the day of His power. But
if He leaves a man to himself, and that man leaves this world
screaming and cussing God and everything else, I'm telling
you, he is doing what he wants to do, and he will justly be
condemned No condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. This is this last verse of Scripture,
and I'll hush. I asked this question a while
ago and answered it too with this Scripture, but I want to
bring out one word in this verse of Scripture. Here's a question.
How long have men been in Christ? How long has there been no condemnation?
Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, According as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. Here again, I think that it's
right. I think it's imperative for a
preacher, any man is going to stand up and set forth the Word
of God. You ought to look. You ought
to study. Give yourself to study. I want
to thank the Lord for this body of believers that support me. That I might have the privilege
to be able to come sit in this study every day and study. I thank God for you. There are
a lot of places where maybe the pastor is not able to do that.
I don't know. Whatever. I can. Thank you. But to be able
to sit down and study, that word when it says that we should be,
it says that that is a present infinitive or infinitely present,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. In
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty has always
looked upon us in mercy. Moses asked the Lord, There. Lord, would you show me your
glory? Show me your glory. I've told
you this before. The root word of that word glory
there is to think. Your opinion. Lord, what is your
opinion? And this is what God told him
his glory was. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. The New Testament apostle said,
So then, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that shows mercy. Now, listen. We have one hope. We've got one hope. Almighty God has been pleased
to show mercy. God Almighty has set forth that
men are responsible for their rebellion. But man, left to himself, will
do one thing. He will always rebel against
God. But God Almighty is a merciful
God. And if He has given you a heart
to bow to Him, You see, here's what this comes down to. There's
no other hope. There's no other hope except
the Lord Jesus Christ. We can argue against it, you
know. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. May God Almighty deliver me from
attempting, thinking that I can hold on to something that I did,
or I could do, or that I'm worthy of. Salvation is all of grace, not
of works. If there's any works in it, then
it's not grace. It's all of grace. May God bless
these words to our heart and give us a heart It looks to Him
and says, Lord, You're God. Now, this is God. This is power. This is knowledge. This is revelation. Old Nebuchadnezzar, remember
when God put him out in the field there? He stood over there and
he looked around at them babbling. He looked just great babbling.
Look what I've done. Look at everything I've done. And he
took his mind away from Him. Seven years. gave his mind back to him. Nebuchadnezzar
said, you know what? He does as he will in the army
of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth, and nobody, nobody
stays his hand. Nobody has a right to question
him. I'm telling you, bow before him who is your only hope for
Christ's sake. Amen. Let's take a few minutes
break.