So we're going to turn to the
Word of God and Simon's going to pray in a minute, but I just
wanted to read these verses that we're looking at today. It says
verse 17 of John chapter 3, For God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might
be saved. 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. Thanks, Simon. Heavenly Father,
thank you that we have a place where we can come and hear the
gospel We thank you that it's a place that magnifies your son.
We, as we saw again today, are frail and desperately needy people. We can't enter your kingdom but
by the work of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Father,
by the power of your Holy Spirit, you just remind us of that and
keep us looking back from this world and looking back from ourselves
and our own endeavours and look to Him. Look to a finished work,
Father. I pray that in your mercy we
would just remind one another also, Father, of the wonders
of your grace in your dear and precious Son. We pray for those
that can't be here today, Father, We certainly think of your people
around the world, and I guess when we look at the people around
the world that try to meet Heavenly Father and the difficulties that
you've brought into their lives, we should be very thankful for
our situation here. I just pray, Heavenly Father,
that in your mercy, your sheep will hear your voice, they will
be gathered, and they will be gathered together at times, and
hear the gospel message that we declare in this world. So we just thank you for all
the mercies that he is to be children of the Most High God.
Let's pray, Father, that any mercy today will be grown again
in the grace and knowledge of our great King. And let's pray
all things in his precious name. If you turn back in your Bibles
with me to John chapter 3. This is all of one piece in the scriptures
and sometimes people wonder who's speaking. Well God the Holy Spirit
is speaking and I trust that he speaks to us because in verse
22 it says, after these things. So all of this is just a continuation
of this remarkable meeting of the Lord Jesus Christ with Nicodemus
and he's a glorious picture of a man. The Lord knew what was
in man. He's a glorious picture of a
man who's drawn out of darkness into the light of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here we have this remarkable
conversation, this remarkable commentary on these extraordinary
verses. We have been looking at John
3.16, and I want us to be reminded again that the gospel is in John
3.14 and 15. The gospel always comes with
words of absolute necessity. It's a must. It's must. The Son
of Man, just like the serpent in the wilderness, He must be
lifted up. The Son of Man must be lifted up. And whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish. but have eternal life. There is no gospel without the
cross. There is no description of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's no bringing bare to us
the object of faith without the cross and to understand who suffered
on that cross. the sin offering the blood redemption
who it was that died and who it was that put him there and
who it was that executed his holy wrath upon his son and he
was pleased the father to crush him There is no gospel without
this wrath expiated. There is no gospel without the
law satisfied with God's character magnified and God's reason for
grace revealed and God's love in action. John 3.16 is the reason
for the gospel. John 3.17 is the result. of the
gospel. It's the result of Christ's coming.
Let's read it again. For God sent his son into the
world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. And here's a glorious gospel
passage, isn't it? 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. the only begotten Son of God. What a remarkable statement. In verse 16 it says God gave
His only begotten Son. In verse 17 God sent His Son. And we mustn't for one moment
think that the Lord Jesus Christ was sent unwillingly, but it
shows us once again that this coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
is always going to be a Trinitarian coming, the great transaction
of your salvation, the great opening of the way to the Tree
of Life, as we saw earlier, is going to be a transaction between
God the Father and God the Son. God sent not his Son into the
world He didn't send him into the world
to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be
saved. We actually here have the reason why God did not send
his son into the world, and we have the reason why God did send
his son into the world. And this is a typical way of
John wanting to emphasize things, isn't it? He says that he made
everything, and then he said that nothing was made that he
didn't make. He makes everything. And John continually repeats
himself in this remarkable way. He wants to be clear. It's John's
way of emphasizing. And those of us who are commanded
of God and led of God to preach the gospel, we have one desire,
don't we? That we would be clear, and I keep praying that I'll
speak the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with the simplicity
that John spoke of, because the extraordinary thing about John's
gospel is the power in simple words and simple phrases. See,
the gospel is simple, brothers and sisters. It's only man that
complicates the gospel. The Gospel is really simple.
The Gospel is a person. The Gospel is defining the object
of our faith and holding him up. We lift him up before people,
just like the brazen serpent was lifted up in the wilderness,
so that we'll look to him. We don't want to have him covered
or clouded. Ben has a friend that says it's
lovely to have things nuanced. You know, there are nuances in
the Bible, aren't there? You know, it's a nuance. The
love of God is a nuanced thing, and the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a nuanced thing. Well, for a start, it wasn't
nuanced between God the Father and God the Son. It's not nuanced
by God the Holy Spirit at all. You know what? That's a lovely
French word. It sounds really, really intellectual, doesn't
it? You think, that's nuanced. You know what it means? It means
to cloud. to cloud. I want us to see the
brazen serpent lifted up. I want us to see the Lord Jesus
Christ with all the clarity that God would allow. And once again
very clearly, whoever the world is here, and people will debate
about the world, but whoever the world is here, the world
here is the one that's saved. And so in this particular verse,
whatever you might find in all the other verses, in this particular
verse, God sent his Son, not to condemn this world, but to
save them. And that word might be saved,
might cause us to think that there was a possibility or there
was somehow an offer that needed to be accepted, or there was
some slight doubt about it. There's just one word. It doesn't
mean what we think might means. It means that He will save them.
So the world is not all humanity. He didn't come to condemn. He
came to save. God sent His Son. It's good to
contemplate that, isn't it? God sent his son. We know what sort of reception
he had in this world. God sent his son into this world. The world was made flesh. The
creator of this world became one of the creation. He was made
like unto his brethren. The one who was life came here
into this world. The one who was light came in
a man. He came to save sinners. Came to save sinners. Paul says,
of whom I am chief. This is a faithful saying. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Save sinners. He came, as Isaiah says, as a
root out of dry ground. There was nothing about him that
would draw us to him in the physical characteristics of the Lord Jesus.
All of his glory was in what he said and in his words and
what he did. And he came to this world and
he was rejected by this world. He came to his own and his own
received him not, but as many as received him, to them he gave
the power to become the sons of God. He came as a king, but
the crown that man gave him was a crown of thorns. What a picture
we have of the depravity of man in that treatment of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I know what I think, and I can't say what
you think, because I can't look into anyone's heart, but whenever
I read those horrible accounts of what they did to the Lord
Jesus Christ, I immediately think, well, if I was there, I wouldn't
have done that. And immediately, as the very words come out of
my mouth, I say, you're a liar. That's just not true. And it's
the same applies for every one of us here. It is just an expression,
isn't it? He came as a king, and yet the
crown we gave him was a crown of thorns. He came as a king
with a scepter, and the scepter that man gave him was just a
hollow reed. He came to a throne, and the
throne that we gave him was a cross. He came as a friend of sinners,
and we made him a companion of thieves and robbers. And he came, he came with a purpose. There's a remarkable statement
in the scriptures that says they sat down and watched him. Those
men that put him to death, they sat and watched him. They sat and watched him. God gave, God sent. He became, he became, came into
this world, one who is God, omnipotent. And he had in his presence and
before us, wicked, deceitful, religious sinners break every
law. The Romans broke every law of
Roman law. The Jews broke every law of God. And together they broke every
law of just common decency. We are shocked by sins that come
upon us and sins that we see very quickly here in this world. But the sins exposed in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ should shock us all. What a remarkable
statement. God sent his son, didn't send
his son into the world to condemn the world. Dear oh dear, how
much condemnation did the world deserve? That word condemn means
to judge, to distinguish. to set one in a place of judgment. He didn't send his son into the
world to condemn the activities of the Lord Jesus Christ which
caused men to reject him and treat him the way he did. There's
a remarkable verse in Psalm 109 verse 4 and 5 where the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking as he does first and foremost in all of
the Psalms, he says, for my love, they are my adversaries, but
I give myself unto prayer. They have rewarded me evil for
good and have hate and hatred for my love. Once again I want us to be reminded
that in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the salvation
of his people. for my love, they are my adversaries. God the Father showed no mercy. God who is full of mercy and
God who delights in mercy, when he found sin on his son he showed
him no mercy. God who hears the cries of his
people in this world turned a deaf ear to his son. At the time of
the son's greatest anguish, at the time of his greatest faithfulness,
he was mocked. God turned his face from him
because he was made sin. God, who never forsakes his people,
forsook his son. God sent his son into the world
not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might
be saved. It was alone my Saviour died
on dark Mount Calvary. Alone He drained the bitter cup
and suffered there for me. He gave Himself to save His own
and suffered on Mount Calvary alone. Yet His holy fingers formed
the bow where grew the thorns that pierced his brow. The nails
that pierced his hands were mined in secret places he designed. He made the forest whence therefrom
the tree on which he hung. He died on a cross of wood, and
yet he made the hill on which it stood. The sky which darkened
over his head, by him above the world was spread. The sun which
from him hid its space, by his own hand was hung in space. The spear that shed his precious
blood was tempered in the fires of God. The grave in which his
form was laid, was hewn in rock his hands had made. if God would give us the grace
to understand what it was for God to give. The mighty cost
of him coming, that God sent his Son into this world. One
of the things that is so typified by the world's treatment of John
3.16 is that we are prone to treat holy things lightly and
carelessly and we commit the sin of those people in the desert
where they loathed the light bread. They esteemed it unsatisfactory,
unsuitable and inadequate for them. But if God would cause
us to see what a remarkable thing that the Lord of Glory, our Creator,
should come into this world. It should be the most remarkable
thing that we could ever possibly imagine, that God came as a man
into this world and walked the paths that His people walk in
this world without sin. He was tempted in every point
as we were. And what an extraordinary treatment the world gave Him. What an extraordinary treatment
the world gave him. God didn't send his son into
the world to condemn the world, but the world, that the world
through him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not
condemned. If you've seen anything of your
condemnation, you'll see the wonder of saving faith in Him. There are several things that
are so clearly evident in God sending His Son and what happened
to Him in this world. The first one, of course, is
that man must be in a desperate state. His sins, his sins against
God, As David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and
done this evil in thy sight every time we've ever sinned. We've
done it in the very sight of God. We must be in extreme danger. We must, our lostness must be
in extreme lostness. When people say the Lord Jesus
Christ came in as example, And he is an example, isn't he? But
he didn't come as an example, he came as a substitute. He didn't
die as an example, he died as a substitute. He didn't die as
an offering for sin for the world, he died as an offering for sin
to his father. People think that he died as
a martyr for what he believed in. Would God the Father do that
to his son? If he was just a martyr for a
cause? Would God the Father send his
son if there was some possibility of failure or rejection of him? Or that there might be even some
possibility that his mission into this world might fail? It's
blasphemy, isn't it, to think that way of God? It's blasphemy. It's not ignorance. It's just
blasphemy. He will not fail. Our God reigneth. All flesh is grass. The gospel
is simple, isn't it? This is the will of Him that
sent me, that all of which He has given me, I will lose nothing,
says the Lord Jesus Christ. He came here as a surety. He
came here because of eternal covenant promises that were signed
and sealed in the blood of the Lamb, slain from the foundation
of the world. He cannot fail. He's God. He must save His people from
their sins. All that the Father gave me will
come to me. The gift of the Father will be honoured and owned in
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in his glorious resurrection.
The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Does he find
what he seeks? Was he wondering where they might
be? You read Ezekiel 34, if the Lord allows you, when you go
home, and just look at the extraordinary acts of the shepherd, going over
hill and dale, and he causes these people to rest in the forest. He brings them safe home to himself,
and he's rejoicing. If God sent his son into the world
to save sinners, man, religion of this world allow
us for him to be. We had a debt that we couldn't
pay. We had a debt. We owed God perfection. Not our
best effort. We owed God holiness. We owed
God love with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind,
all of our strength. It's beyond us, brothers and
sisters. That's the glory of the gospel, isn't it? We're put
in a place where we have nowhere else to look. He hedges the way,
as he did with Goma. He says, I hedge your way with
thorns. When we run to our self-righteousness,
there are thorns there. When we run to despair, there
are thorns there. We run back. He hedges our way, the thorns. We need a savior. We have a debt
we couldn't pay. He came to do a work that we
couldn't do. The other thing that these verses
make it abundantly clear, there is only one way, there is only
one saviour, there is only one who saves, there is only one
who satisfies the justice of God and God's law must be honoured.
God's law must be honoured. Isaiah 42 says that he honours
the law, he magnifies the law and makes it honourable. One
of the problems with men is that they think the law is a carnal
thing but the law is spiritual and the law requires absolute
perfection. It doesn't require the best you
can do. The law of God is spiritual, and Paul says, I'm carnal, I'm
sold unto sin. When the Lord Jesus Christ met
Paul on the Damascus Road, Saul of Tarsus knew all of a sudden
that he hadn't kept one single law of God, and that all of his
righteousnesses, all of his righteousnesses were just filthy rags, just filthy
rags before God. God must be just. There is no
salvation without the justice of God satisfied. This is why
there's no condemnation, isn't it? Because of what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. His death satisfied justice. There is only one Saviour. There
is only one Christ. There is only one Jesus who saves. There is only one name. There
is only one mediator. There is only one that God has
sent into this world. There's only one that God gave
into this world. And it's not how much blood was
shed on Calvary's tree. The issue is whose blood was
shed. It's not the common blood of man. He bought his people
with his blood. He's purchased his church with
his own blood. And it's not a matter of how
long he suffered. It's a matter of who suffered
on that cross. It's not a matter of how long he took to die on
that cross. It's who died. He gave up the
ghost. willingly. Sin, sin must be put
away. He says be holy, as I am holy. And if you think holiness is
something you can do, the very first sermon I heard when I came
back from India was about holiness out of 1 Peter, and I just couldn't
believe what the man was saying. And he was saying that it's about
our holiness. It's about our doing holiness. If you think
you can do holiness, brothers and sisters, I pray that you
meet God very, very soon. Because holiness is His, isn't
it? Our only holiness is to be hidden
in Him. He's the only one that ever lived
on this earth and did anything that was holy. There's only one way. There's
only one Savior. There's only one way. There is
no other way to heaven. There is no other way to the
tree of life. But through that flaming sword
that we looked at earlier, there is only one foundation stone.
There's only one stone. It's a stone of stumbling and
it's a rock of offense. And the majority of this world
fall upon it. Don't fall upon it, they have
it fall upon him. Fall upon him. I love what Matthew
21 says of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, whosoever shall fall
on this stone shall be broken. To fall on this stone is to be
broken of your righteousness, to be broken of your doing. But
on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. Now is the day of salvation. There is just one place of refuge. There is just one place of refuge. We are in a hopeless, helpless,
lost state, and the condemnation is the condemnation that we've
earned. We've earned it in the garden and we earn it by our
own activities in this world. And there is one Saviour. There
is only one Saviour from this condemnation. It's not Him plus
anything else. It's just Him. There is no other
way. I am the way, He said. The truth and the life. The other
remarkable thing about our great God sending His Son and giving
His Son is that God is in the business of saving sinners. God
sent his son into the world not to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved. We know that God is going
to save some sinners. He's been saving them since the
garden Abel was saved. Abel was declared by God to be
righteous. Isn't that remarkable? Clothed
with the very righteousness of God. God is saving sinners. And these verses remind us yet
again of how much we are encouraged and want to encourage others,
as Simon prayed, that we look to Christ. Look away, look away,
look away, look away from yourself, look away from the sins of this
world. Just look, look. You've been bitten by the serpent
in the wilderness and you're dying with that poison in your
body. Look, look. and live. Come you sinners, poor and needy,
wounded by the fall, Jesus stands ready to save you, full of pity,
grace, and power. Let not conscience make you linger,
or a fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is
to feel your need of him. God sent his son into the world,
to a lost world, show that there is just one way and there is
a way what a remarkable thing there is a way there is a way there is a way but the world
through him might be saved and how's the world saved Verse 18,
he that believeth on him is not condemned. He that believeth
on him is not condemned. Unbelief is the master crime,
isn't it? Unbelief. Unbelief. Unbelief is the cause of almost
every problem we have in this world. If we could look and see
a sovereign God behind everything, we would find ourselves at peace
in the midst of the storms of this world. Unbelief. Unbelief leads to hell as carcasses
of those Israelites fell in the wilderness and they couldn't
enter in. They couldn't enter into the tree lot because of
unbelief. Just listen to what the Lord
says in John 3.36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. It's the position of God's people.
They have everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. If you contemplate that for very
long, you'll find the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ
a precious thing, which is why we lift Him up. We lift Him up.
Lift him up as God. He's fully God. He is God and
he lived a perfect life. A perfect life, a life that we
couldn't live. He lived a life of perfect righteousness
before God. He lived and died. As a substitute,
he lived and died in union with his people. The law of God must
be honoured. I've kept the law of God perfectly. I did it 2,000 years ago. I've honoured God in heart and
mind and soul and I did it 2,000 years ago as the Lord Jesus Christ
walked on this earth. What's the difference between
believers and unbelievers? And it might well be said that
it's the grace of God and the work of God because faith comes
by hearing and faith is the gift of God. But the great difference
is need, isn't it? Do you need a saviour? If you're
condemned, you need a saviour. You don't need someone coming
along to you in the prison house after the judge has put his black
cap on and saying, well, here's the key, or here's some money,
if you can pay this money you can get yourself out. There is
no way out. There is no way to the tree of
life but by the Lord Jesus Christ. Just sinners have a need. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners. What's the result of seeing him
and believing? He's not condemned. Not condemned. That means that
you're justified. Don't you love Romans 8 verse
1? Therefore, therefore, there is
therefore Now, right now, no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walked not after the flesh but after the
Spirit. No condemnation from God. You might condemn yourself.
Others around you might condemn you. Satan might condemn you.
Conscience might condemn you. There's no condemnation for those
in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus had made me free from the law of sin and
death. I'm free from Moses' law. I've
kept it perfectly. God is satisfied with the perfect
obedience of his son. And he's satisfied with me because
I'm in his son. That's exactly what he's saying, isn't it? For
what the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his own in the likeness of sinful flesh
and sin, damned sin in the flesh. Listen to what it says, this
is the result of it, Romans 8.4, that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. That's what it is to be justified. It's how Abel was justified.
It's how Adam and Eve was justified. Justified by the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of my favourite passages
of scripture is in Romans chapter 4, isn't it? What shall we say
then that Abraham our father, pertaining to the flesh, has
found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he would have something to glory in. He'd have something
to boast in. He'd be able to tell people how good he was.
Abraham was an Iraqi idolater. That's where he came from, wasn't
it? But not before God. You might do boasting here, but
you can't do any boasting before God. Even Abraham couldn't do
any boasting. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. He believed the Lord Jesus Christ.
He believed the promises of God in him. Now, to him, that worketh is the reward not
reckoned of grace, but of debt. Cast your deadly doing down,
doing ends in death. You look to him alone. There'll
be plenty to be done, don't worry. You won't be caught idle, I promise
you. But you'll cast your deadly doing down. Listen to what he
says in verse five. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Listen to it again. To him that
worketh not. but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly. God had to take me to India to
teach me that verse, and I still remember, I still remember the
circumstances of that verse coming with power into my heart, and
I went around rejoicing, I just couldn't believe how good it
was. Because I'd been told it was all about what I had to do,
and I went out there telling them it was all about what they
had to do. And then God, anyway, it's just wonderful. We should
be rejoicing, brothers and sisters, to him that worketh not. but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ cried out
on the Calvary's tree, it is finished. It's finished. Finished. Finished. Across a bill that you owe, they
used to write that word. Paid in full, everything you
owe God has been paid. All the debt people since has
been paid. It's finished. That was his cry from the cross.
May it echo in our hearts and may we be caused to just rest.
Believing is resting. It's trusting. It's relying. It's having all your eggs in
one basket. And I'll finish by reading that
verse that you know well, don't you? I know whom I have believed. Believing's a whom. It's about
a whom always. It's not about us, it's about
Him. It's looking away from us. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded. May God cause you to be persuaded,
all of you who listen to me, I'm persuaded that He is able.
That means I don't have any ability of my own, He is able. He's able
to keep, He's able to guard, He's able to protect and preserve
that which I've committed unto Him against that day. Believing
is simply committing absolutely everything into the hands of
the sovereign saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. I've got nowhere
else to go. I hope you've got nowhere else
to go. I have no other plea but that Christ, Jesus, love
me and die for me. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father
we do. Thank you for the glory of the
gospel of your son and we praise you heavenly father that he cried
out before you and before this world and on behalf of all these
people heavenly father it is finished I just pray, Heavenly
Father, that you would cause your people to rest in the perfect
finished work of your dear and precious Son, and that may we,
Heavenly Father, just exalt him as we see him high and lifted
up, and may we find ourselves simply at rest. and the glories
of finished redemption. Perfect, completed redemption. No condemnation for those in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's borne all the condemnation.
that you poured out on him, Heavenly Father, and therefore there is
none left. There's nothing between us and
you because of your Son, but love and grace and mercy. Persuade us, our Father. Persuade
us of your ability. For we pray in Jesus' name and
to his glory. Amen.