This must be one of the best
well-known texts of scripture. Perhaps we could, most of us,
repeat this verse by memory. It is a clear, concise, beautiful
gospel text. And this text speaks of a gift. Many of you, perhaps all of us,
but the children particularly here are probably looking forward
to a week tomorrow when you hope at least you might receive some
gifts. And it's always fun and enjoyable
and a pleasure to receive these presents. We think of the Christmas story
when the wise men came and found the Lord Jesus, and they brought
gifts. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh,
and presented their gifts to him. And so this time of year,
Christmas is a time of giving. And there's great pleasure in
receiving, but also there's great pleasure in giving as well. We're told, aren't we, in the
word of God, it is more blessed to give than to receive. But this text tells us about
a different type of gift. This is not a present that we
might give one another or even like the gifts the wise men brought.
This is the greatest gift. This is the most precious gift. This is the most costly gift. This is a gift that God has given. He gave his only begotten Son. And this, of course, is a gift
which is joyfully received by God's people. It is a great blessing
to receive this gift and to rejoice and to know what it means But
as I say, it is more blessed to give than to receive. It is
amazingly, astoundingly, also a gift that God was pleased to
give. Here we have described in this
verse two parties, we could say. Two different peoples. On one side we have God. And on the other side, we have
the world. God and the world. And you say, we give gifts. And often, not always, we give
them to our friends, to our family, to people we get along with,
to people we like, to people we want to please. We want to
show our love, our appreciation to them, so because of the bond
we have, we give them our gift. But what makes this gift, in
this verse, all the more amazing, all the more astounding, is when
we consider who the giver and who the receiver is. Because on the one side we have
God. God. What do we know about God? Well,
one thing, of course, is that God is our creator. God is the
one who spoke the world into being, who formed everything,
and then who formed Adam and breathed life into him. And so all of us as descendants
of Adam and of Eve are children of God in that sense. He is our
Father, He made us, He formed us, He has breathed life into
us. None of us would exist, nothing
would exist were it not for the creative almighty power of God. And so we owe our very life,
our existence to God. The breath that we breathe as
a gift from God. The ability we have to breathe
it is a gift from God. Every heartbeat is a gift from
God. We are what we are because of
the creative power of God. He is the great, almighty, self-sufficient
One. Nothing would be and nothing
would exist without God. That's who this verse is speaking
of. the almighty creating God. And so nothing is beyond his
power and control. He is the almighty God. He can do anything and everything. You think of the power of God
in creation. He spoke, let there be light. And where there had never been
light before, where it had never been seen because the world was
void and without form and there was darkness over the face of
the deep. There was nothingness and yet God spoke and his creative
power by the power of his voice brought about light. The complete contrast from the
depth of the darkness to the brightness of the light. And
then as you work your way through the days of creation God said,
God spoke and it was done. And so from the power of his
word, there was all things made. He is the almighty, almighty
God. This is the God that's being
spoken of here. And not only is he the creator
of all things, but he is all-knowing. All-knowing. The Psalmist says,
Psalm 139, Whither can I go from thy presence? If I ascend into the heavens,
thou art there. If I descend into the depths
of hell, even there shalt thou see me. Wherever we are, he is
all-knowing. He knows where we are. He knows
what we're doing. He even knows the full intents
and motivations and thoughts of our hearts and mind. He is
omniscient, it's all-knowing God. And so it's not like this God
has made the world and formed us and then stepped back and
left us to it with no knowledge of what is going on in the world
that he has made. No, this is a God who is fully
aware, fully aware of everything. And so this God sees you and
me. He sees us this morning. He sees
our thoughts. He sees our desires. He sees
our motives. He sees the reason for our attendance
here today. He has seen everything that's
gone before. And He knows everything that
will come. There's nothing hidden from the Lord that we might hide
it from one another. There is nothing hidden from
Him. This is the God that is being spoken of. Our Creator
sees us today. Now the truth about this God
is that he is holy. He is a holy God. The angels in heaven, we're told
in Revelation, sing this song, holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty. holiness of God. Emphasized there,
repeated three times in his emphasis. Holy, holy, holy. There is no spot, there is no
error, there is no sin at all in this God. In his deeds, and
in his actions, and in his thoughts, he is pure, he is blameless,
he is holy in every possible sense. His very character is
one of holiness. So that even the angelic beings
of heaven who have not sinned and have not fallen, even the
sinless beings of heaven fall down at the holiness of God. Even they are amazed at the purity
of their God. And because of his holiness,
and because holiness is his very character, he is always consistent
to that character. He is always consistent with
who he is. He is always consistent with
his word. He never changes his mind. He
never fails in his promises. He never changes his view. We
are told, aren't we, so often to get more up-to-date, to change
our views in tune with time. At times, that's appropriate.
At times, it's not appropriate. But God does not change his view. God does not change his idea
in line with the time. He is faithful. He is consistent. He is Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday and today and forever. for him to fail in that perfect
character of holiness would be for him to cease to be God. This is who is described here,
God, the holy, almighty creator. But this God, in that position
as the sovereign Lord, is also judge. He is the judge of all
the world. As the creator, he has the authority
to judge, doesn't he? As the one who gave the law,
he has the authority to judge whether one has met the law that
he has given. As the great creator, he has
the authority and control over his creation. and so he applies the law that
he has given perfectly remember in character in line with his
holy character and so there's no mistake in the judgment of
God there are mistakes in the judgment of men as robust as
a legal system we might have there are mistakes there are
miscarriages of justice not with God God takes the law that he
has given and he applies it perfectly because he knows perfectly the
heart and intent of that person and he applies that law and judges
righteously, entirely, perfectly and comes to the right conclusion.
There's no mistake with God. You think, take the example of
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when they had sinned and
taken the forbidden fruit. The Lord knew that they had sinned. He knew what they had done. He
knew the sin that had been committed. He also knew the command that
he had given. And he judged rightly. He did not forget the command.
He did not forget the warning. He did not overlook and count
it unimportant, the sin that had been committed. He had said,
the day that you take of the tree, if the knowledge of good
and evil, thou shalt surely die. He took the law and he judged
rightly and true to his word, Adam and Eve died and were cast
out. from the garden. He was the judge
and he judged perfectly and he judged rightly in line with his
holiness. This is the God who is being
spoken of here. This is the God on the one side
of this text. But we owe everything to him.
Remember that this God is a God of kindness and compassion. Because
our very existence here and our continued existence is a result
of his kindness and compassion. Because on the other side we
have the world. God and the world. And what a contrast between these
two. What is the world like? What does the Apostle Paul tell
us? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Here is the glorious holy God
and here is all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have sinned. We have all
inherited the sinful nature of Adam and Eve. And we have all
worked out or walked out that sinful nature in that we have
all committed sin. We're told, aren't we, I think
it's the prophet Isaiah who says, even your righteousness is as
filthy rags. Even the things you think are
good, even the things you think are commendable, they're all
tainted in one way or another with sin. And we are not just those who
commit sin. Often it's, we look at sin as
if the things we have done, that's the outworking of sin. We are
sinners. It's what our nature is, it's
what our heart is. Because we're told in the book
of Jeremiah, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. And because of that, sin is the
outworking in our life. And so we do not meet the glory
of God. All have sinned and fallen short
of His glory. We do not meet that glorious
standard of the holiness of God, for we have sinned, for we are
sinners. We are by nature. enemies to
God. We are by nature facing in the
opposite direction from God. We are by nature running in the
ways of sin in our own way. We are by nature, you could say,
constantly looking and constantly taking of the tree of the knowledge
of good and of evil. We are constantly picking the
fruit. We are constantly indulging in what we think is good and
right for us. in blatant disobedience to God's
command. This is the world. You think of this morning and
try and understand the depth of our sins. You think of this
morning. Look back over the last few hours
since you got up. What have you done this morning?
What have you not done? What sins have you committed
this morning? Have there been moments of unjustified anger? Have there been moments of envy
and covetousness? Have there been moments of idolatry? You've put something else before
God? Have there been moments of disobedience? Be moments when we've lied, or
at least misled, for our own gain or for our own profit? Now, if we can find one sin in
the last few hours, you take that and you multiply that by
your number of days of your life. If we acknowledge that there
was one sin a day, one thing that was not right, one thing
that was wrong, one sin a day. If you were 10 years old, some
of you are 10 years old today, if you were 10, that means you've
committed 3,650 sins in your life. Now let's say you commit
one sin an hour. One sin, just one thing. The
rest of your life, the rest of that hour is perfect, but there
was just one error, one sin in your life. If you're ten years
old, then you have committed 87,600 sins in your life. And of course, the older we get,
the higher the number. But you see, it's not just one
sin an hour. 87,000? What a multitude. What a great multitude of sin. But it's a constant sinning,
isn't it? It's every minute, every second. And the older we are, the more
and more the weight builds up. Well, you take that number, 87,000.
But the Lord says, one sin. condemns you. If you are guilty
of just one element, then you are guilty of breaking the whole
law. One sin condemns you. And so
just that one moment, that one sin that we managed to find of
what we committed today condemns you. Just one. Just one. And yet look at the whole multitude
of sins that we have committed. Have you ever tried to stop sinning? Have you ever tried to stop?
To live rightly, to be perfectly, to resolve, to have a resolution
that you would be right and sinless today? Well, if you're honest,
you'll have to acknowledge that you couldn't do it. You'd have
to acknowledge that you constantly fell, that you constantly broke
the law of God. We are sinners. I wonder how many of the children
here remember a Sunday school opening that James did a few
years ago. What he did, maybe it was about
a year ago, he held up a piece of paper. It was a blank sheet,
a white sheet of paper. And he said, this is a representation
of God. There's no mark on it. It's not
spoiled in any way, nothing written on it. It's a white, it's pure. And then took another piece of
paper, and on that piece of paper was one small dot of ink. And we contrasted those two pieces
of paper. One was pure. One was no marks
in it at all. But one was not. It was not pure. There was a mark on it. There
was one mark on it. Which meant it did not meet that
purity of God. It was different. It was marred.
It was marked. That was a sin. on that representation
on that paper. But he then showed a third piece
of paper and said, but this is what we're like. And that third
piece of paper was scribbled all over it, was covered in ink. That's what we're like. You see,
just one mark means that we cannot We do not meet the standard of
God's holiness, but we're not just one mark. We are scribbled
on, we are full of sin, we are covered in sin. We have this
mountain of sin. This is the two in this text.
How can these two, God who is holy, God who demands holiness
from his people, and yet his people who are fallen, who are
sinners, who are in rebellion against him. How can these two
opposites be reconciled? Well, what's in the middle of
this first phrase? God so loved the world. The love of God. Let's be clear, this verse does
not say that God loves in a saving way all people. It does not teach
that the whole world, every single being of the world, is a recipient
of the saving love of God. It is speaking of all peoples
of the world. It's not a universal salvation
text. It's speaking of all peoples.
It is universal in the sense it is not only to Israel, that
is ancient Israel. And so it is a universal text
in the sense that it is not limited just to the Jewish people, it
is the world Jew and Gentile. But in the midst of these two
is the love of God. God reaches out. God has compassion on the world,
on the sinner. And God loves them. He doesn't
love their sin. He doesn't love the hardness
and deadness of their heart, but He loves them. He loves them. They're His child. They're His creation, yes, but
they're also the object of His special love. of his saving love. He reaches out to them, not them
that reach out to him. Now they will, as we'll come
to later, they will reach out to him, but the first action
is that he loves them. So undeserved. so unearned what
was there in the world that could ever merit this love of this
pure and holy god you see this god must deal with this sin he
must cast it out it is abhorrent to this god and yet instead he
looks on his people and he says i love them i love the world that is what grace is Grace is
the outpouring of the love and the goodness and the kindness
of God to those who are entirely undeserving of it. And this is
a love that we cannot understand. You and I will never understand
why does He love? What is the reason? Why would
He ever love us? We can't understand that. but
it's a love that's declared to be true. God so loved the world. Remember who said this? Wouldn't
it be wonderful if anyone said this word? But these are the
words of Christ. These are the words of Jesus,
God himself, who knows the very mind of God, who is the very
mind of God. God himself says, I love the
world. We do not understand. But yet it's like, isn't it,
that love that's described to the people of Israel in the book
of Deuteronomy. God did not set his love upon you because you
were greater or stronger or more in number than any other people,
but he loved you because he loved you. In accordance with his perfect
sovereign right, he set his love on you. He knows what you are. He knows
the world. He knows what state they're in.
He knows what they've done, and He knows what their heart is,
because He is, as I say, the all-knowing God. Where can they
go from His presence? Where can they flee from His
knowledge? He knows them entirely. And yet, and yet, He so loved
the world. This is an amazing and astounding
truth, that although we cannot grasp and fully understand or
fully reason out, we bow under its glory. While yet sinners, Christ died
for us. God so loved the world. How can these two be brought
together? What is the link, the love, the sovereign, gracious
love of God. God so loved the world. And we're told, aren't we, that
we should not love in word only, but in deed and in truth. Isn't it easy to say that we
love? To declare our love for someone?
Is he to speak? And yet love is seen in the doing.
Love is seen in how it's played out in what we do because of
the love we have. And so how can we know? Where
do we see God's love? Is it just God so loved the world? How do we know? Where do we see
it demonstrated? Where do we see it played out
in his glorious love? What does he do? What does he
do because of his love to his people in the world? God so loved
the world that he gave. This is where the gift comes
in, you see, he gave his only begotten son. A gift. A gift is not earned. If we go
to a shop and we pay our money for something we can't say that
was a gift can we we've paid for it we've given the money
over it belongs to us because of what we've we've given it's
not a gift a gift is unearned sometimes a gift is undeserved perhaps at times even a gift
is unwanted and then over time we learn to appreciate it here is a gift that it was unearned,
entirely undeserved. And at one time in the life of
God's people, it was unwanted. It was not seen to be precious
in any way. And yet God gave this gift in response because of his love. And there will come a time that
his people do value it. and do see the wonder and the
beauty and the application of that gift for them. They do value
this gift. Oh, and what a gift it is. His
son. He gave his only begotten son. So precious. So valuable. their son, who in the mystery,
in the eternal union of the Trinity, who had eternally I mean, with
the Father and the Holy Spirit in this perfect, sinless, holy
unity, where there was no division. There is this love flowing between
the persons of the Trinity. My only begotten Son, co-equal
with the Father and co-equal with the Holy Spirit. A Son who
was holy and spotless in Himself. This is the God whose character
is one of sinlessness. This is the Son. He has never
sinned. He has never fallen. He has never
disobeyed. There is no spot on the character
of the Son. And here is the Son who is the
object of the angelic worship. My Son. And He gives His Son. He gives this gift. Oh, and what he's given to. He
gave his only begotten son. What is he given to? He's given
to earth. The son who comes from the heights
of the worship of a holy perfection in heaven and comes to a stable
and comes to a manger and comes to the welcome a few shepherds, and who comes and immediately,
well within a few years at least, faces the hatred and hostility
and violence of Herod. Yes, he was welcomed by a few,
the wise men, the shepherds, Mary and Joseph, Simeon, Anna. There was a few who welcomed
to realize who this king was, and yet so many did not know. those who did did not care. He
came to a sinful world. He came to the world. And he came to live a life in
that world. He came to live a life of temptation
in the wilderness, the mockings of the people. the rejection of unbelievers.
You think this holy God came to be amongst the temptations
of the world and to face them himself. His gift was given to be under
the law, to be subject to the law of God, to in every way must
completely obey the command of God, to be the only perfect human. there ever has been. He was given
to be subject to humility, to be subject to weakness, to be
subject to frailty, to be subject to pain, to be subject to tiredness,
to be subject to hunger, to be dependent. Command these stones
that they be made bread. No, I'm dependent on the word
and the will of God. You see, Jesus did not, as it
were, live a life of supernatural power. He did not live an easy
life because he had the power to make it so. He came under
the law and he came into the life of pain and suffering that
his people know. And this gift came to suffer
humiliation, rejection, betrayal, beatings, scourging, mockings, and he came to die, and came
to suffer, came to carry the sins of his people, of this world,
of this filthy, black, darkened world, who are covered in sin
with this multitude, this great mountain of innumerable sins,
and he came to take all of those, to bear them, to carry them,
to carry the guilt of those sins all the way to the cross and
pay the price that the sins for the world deserve. And so God, who could not be
reconciled with this sinful world, turns his anger on his son instead. His son who has imputed, that's
laid on him, the sins of his people and therefore suffers
the due reward of those sins instead. This God who suffers
death, who suffers rejection, who suffers hell in the place
of his people. This is what this gift was given
to do. This gift has come to take the
sinner's place. Behold a scene of matchless grace. Tis Jesus in the sinner's place. The gift of gifts. And you see the wonderful truth
about this gift is that Jesus was willing. He was a willing
gift. He was willing to come. He says
through the Psalms, I delight to do thy will, O God. So he says, nevertheless not
my will be done. He says, the cup that my father
has given me, should I not drink it? And so he willingly sets
his face to Jerusalem. He willingly takes up the cross. He willingly bears the sins of
his people. He willingly drinks the cup in
Gethsemane to the very dregs of it. He willingly sweats great
drops of blood and bows under the agony of it. He willingly
gives his soul a sacrifice for sin. This was no unwilling sacrifice. And so God so loved the world
that he gave his son. And you could say God so loved
the world that he came. That he came. Unto you is born this day in
the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. That is the good news given to
the shepherds. That is the gospel declaration
given to us. God speaks to this sinful world
and he says unto you is born this day in the city of David
a saviour. The gift has come. The gift has
been given. The Savior has been born to save
His people from their sins. They cannot make themselves right. They cannot remove their own
sins. They cannot meet the holy perfection
of God. And yet here is the gift. Here
is the Savior who can wash you clean and who can clothe you
in His perfection. so that as God looks upon his
people, he sees them as white as snow, as pure as he is. Think of that. As pure as he
is. Because as Christ is as pure
as God, being God, being righteous in himself, he gives that perfection
to his people so that they are as righteous as God. He has made
Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. This is the gift of God. This morning, do we despair of
our situation? Do we despair of what we are
as sinners? Do we despair of a hopeless condition? How could I ever remove the sins
committed? How can I undo the sin committed
this morning? And how could I undo all the
sins committed in the past? I'm too bad, it's impossible
for me to be saved. Is that how you feel? God has given a gift. God has
given his son, the friend of sinners, Why not for you and me? Why not
for a sinner like you? Too bad the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Too much in the past, all
sin, taken away and born on the tree. Why not? Why not for those who
cry unto Him? Why not for you who comes with
the publican, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner? Could this gift
not be given? You see, this gift has never
been given to anyone who's worthy. This gift has never been given
to someone who's deserved it. You say, but I don't deserve
it. No one ever did. It was a gift. It's God's gracious,
merciful gift. And so you see, this time of
year particularly, But every day, it's about God's grace. It's about grace that He gives
salvation to all who call upon Him, to all who come to Him acknowledging
their sin and saying, Lord, I come just as I am, and I so desperately,
so urgently need this Savior. the only begotten Son of God.
The good news is that He has come. He's come to bear the sins
of His people, come to finish that work. He's come to save
His people from their sins. No one ever earned it, no one
ever deserved it. And yet God so loved the world. It's His love. How are we to
know that blessing? How are we to know it? You see,
it's wonderful. It's heartwarming. It's encouraging
for God's people to see his grace, to see his love in coming for
them. You might say, this is a glorious
truth. How am I to know it? How am I to experience it? How
am I to be blessed in my soul? The second half of the text. we hope to come to this evening,
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. God loves and it's his love which
takes the first action, but it's because of his love that we then
believe in him, that his people respond in love to Christ. And so, do not despair in your
sin. There is hope. There is life. There is a God of love. And here it is in this word,
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.