we have, and we have many. But we should take time often to give thanks to God for what we have. And I'll tell you, this congregation has much to be thankful for. We live in a land filled with religion. Very little gospel. Very few preachers of the gospel in this generation. And I'm sure there are more than I understand there are, and I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful there are preachers that I don't know, and they're still preaching the gospel wherever they are. God has them. We feel like Elijah, but there are many. There are many others who are to be thankful for that, Thankful that God has placed the gospel here. Thankful that God has kept the gospel here.

I was thinking this week of how many times I was sure that the light would go out in this place. And yet every time, God has sustained us. God has kept us. And I'm thankful that he has, that he is faithful. I'm thankful he's faithful. I'm thankful that this message is not dependent upon the faithfulness of man, but the faithfulness of God to deliver it. And the fact that God has given it to us, we should be thankful.

Thankful for the unity that we have. Unity is not something forged by the pastor, nor is it kept by the congregation. It's grounded in the gospel. It's grounded in Christ. We are in union with Christ. That's the source of our unity. So then, whatever you do to me, I can't help but see you as you are in Him. And how could I fault you when I have failed Him so often? This is the work of the Spirit in unity. And so we are to be thankful for the unity that we have.

Remember, it only takes one to disrupt unity. Just one. We don't need a bunch of people to disrupt unity. And the minute we try to unify by some work we do, we destroy it. The minute we put our hands to it and try to keep it, we destroy it. Thank God for the unity that we have. And we should not take these things for granted. They're gifts. They're gifts of God, and we ought to be thankful. I pray that God would give us such thankful hearts for these things and all the blessings that he gives us.

Pray for those churches without pastors. I long to see other men called into the ministry. I do. I long to see others preach the gospel. And in God's time, he will thrust forth laborers into his harvest when he sees fit. But pray for those who are waiting for pastors. Pray for those that are sick. Remember those who have needs in the body. I know my mom and Cheryl are sick, and they're doing better, but it still weighs off. It seems I'm coming to the end. It appears that I'm coming to the end of it, but we pray that God would continue to heal my family. Pray for them. Pray for those in our families who are lost. I know God has an elect people, but I just don't know who they are. I'm thankful for that, aren't you? I'm thankful that God doesn't allow us to see things like that. That's not our business. So we pray that God would open the eyes of those that are lost around us. So pray for them.

Any other requests need to be mentioned? I pray for those not able to be here. Let's go to him in prayer.

Our Heavenly Father, we come before you giving thanks. Father, we praise you for your grace and mercy that you've had upon us to sustain the gospel of Jesus Christ in this place. It is not according to the strength of the pastor or the skill of the pastor or the faithfulness of the men and women who come, but it is by the power of thy spirit. It is by thy grace alone that the gospel continues to be preached in this place. And I pray that you would be gracious to continue this, that you would Father, continue to allow the light to shine out of this place into this dark world full of religion. Those who have much religion but no light. It was surely similar in the same time our Lord came into this world. There was much religion among the Pharisees but no light. I pray that you would shine the light of the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, even tonight.

Father, you would, by the power of your Spirit, quicken the dead and comfort the living. I need you tonight. I cannot preach this without you. I cannot declare it except you give me the strength, the ability, the mind and the heart I do not desire to stand here alone. But in the power of Thy Spirit, I pray that You would pour out Your Word, not to any glory of this man, but to the glory of Christ our Savior, to the praise of the glory of Your grace, where You have made us accepted in the beloved

Thank you for the unity that we have. Thank you for the love that we have for each other. Cause it to grow. Truly, we can only love one another if we understand your love for us. Forgive us our sins. cleanse us of our unrighteousness. Father, I plead for those that are sick, those who are sick in the body and mind, and those who are brokenhearted. Be merciful. Bring them again to us. We miss them. Father, help us. Help those that have come to hear. I pray that you would open their ears. I pray they'd do this in Jesus' name. For his sake alone, we ask these things. Amen.

All right, John chapter 3. John chapter 3. I titled this message, The Nature of True Love. The Nature of True Love. Now my text is going to be found in verse 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Purpose. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Now, here before us is the most popular scripture in the world. It's in every football stadium, every NFL game. You'll see it on the side. pinned up there. I think one football player had it written underneath his eyes while he played football. It is the most quoted scripture in the Christian religion. It is quoted by those who preach, so-called preach the gospel, and it is quoted by those who have never read any other passage of scripture. They know it by heart. nor by heart. Yet it is the most misunderstood and misused passage in all of Scripture.

Most professing Christians of this day believe this verse to be the foundation of all their salvation. Ask them. They'll tell you. What's your hope? For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. They just quote it just like that. They'll just spit it out. Their hope is that God loves them, that Christ came to die for them, and yet they have no idea what they just said. When pressed to explain, they will say, what do you mean? You say, well, this text means this, that God loves everyone without exception. This is their meaning. That God loves everybody. God so loved the world. And they'll take that word world and they'll put that, they'll use that in ways that nobody ever used that word ever in any other place. They mean everybody without exception. God loves everybody. And He, because He loved everybody, He gave His Son to die for everyone without exception. for the purpose that whosoever exercises their free will receives then the love of God and the redemption of Christ. And whosoever believe it, whosoever accepts, now they use that word, not in the scripture, but they'll use it, accepts. the love of God, accepts the blood of Christ, somehow then it is made powerful to their souls. As though God's love and Christ's blood were the best efforts God could provide and they are not enough. It requires the will of man to make those things powerful to their souls.

When such doctrine, then, if you take that doctrine, and that is the doctrine. I'm not trying to set up a straw man. That's exactly what they believe. Without fear, they'll tell you. It's exactly what they believe. But yet, when you take that and you start to examine that doctrine in the light of Scripture, it is then they're offended. Why? You could take what I believe and examine it in Scripture. Take everything I preach and examine it in Scripture. Please, please, take what I believe and examine it in Scripture. I'm not afraid.

Spurgeon was talking to some Armenian preachers in a carriage ride and he said, what does it take for a man to be justified? And these preachers said, oh no, you're not going to catch us because whatever we say, you're going to have it published tomorrow's sermon. And he said, I'm not afraid to tell you how a man is justified, and you can publish it in your sermon tomorrow. We're not afraid. But when you examine this scripture, that doctrine in light of scripture, it is then they begin to mock you, it is then they begin to ridicule you, they call you a cult, they call you all sorts of names. And then they fold their arms, they close their mouth and hold their breath, stomp their feet and say, that's what it says, that's what it means, and I don't care what else.

Our Lord says there's a reason for that. Men love darkness rather than light. I don't love darkness. I want to know what I'm believing is true. I want to examine it according to the Word of God. And so it's my desire tonight to do that. I want to take this and I have to, you must, to understand this text. You cannot pull this text out and cram into it your doctrine. That's what they do. They take this text, they pull it out of its context, and they take what they believe in their head, and then they push it into the text. You'll find out it's not there. If you read in its context, context is key.

And so in order to understand this, you must begin where the Lord begins with this dialogue. This is the middle of the dialogue. This is not the beginning of the dialogue. This is the middle of it.

Nicodemus came to him by night because he was afraid. He didn't want to be seen with Jesus. And so he comes with these flattering words, Rabbi, we know you're a teacher come from God. And he expected accolades. He expected, well, good job Nicodemus. I'm so proud of you. I'm so glad that you came to such great knowledge. That's wonderful.

It's not what our Lord did. He cut right to the heart. He said, here's the issue. Accept a man, be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. That's where he begins. Accept a man, be born again. He introduces a necessity, new birth. Without it, there is no faith. You can't believe on Christ without it.

Religion believes this, that faith causes the new birth. They said the exercise of will demands new birth. Our Lord begins with this, you don't have any life, therefore you cannot perceive, you cannot understand the things of God. You must be born, you know the word again, you know what that means from above.

Nicodemus didn't understand, he said, what does that mean? He said, how can a man be born when he is old? So he's thinking physically. He's thinking like a natural man. Our Lord said, no, I'm not talking about physical. I'm talking about spiritual things.

He said, except a man be born of water, even of the Spirit. Now He tells you how a man is born again. He tells you it's by the Spirit.

Why does man need to be born again? Because Paul says he's dead. Ephesians chapter 2, And you hath he quickened, who or what? What were you? Dead. You see the necessity? We are dead in trespasses and sins.

What's the root cause of our death? Spiritual death. The root cause of scripture is very clear about the root cause. The root cause, it's not even me. I'm not the root cause of my death. Adam is. Go to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 verse 12. What Paul says about our again? We're talking about the necessity of the new life of of being raised from the dead Born of from above listen why because we were dead Romans chapter 5 well if I get over in the right place Romans chapter 5 in verse 12 Wherefore as by one man sin entered in the world you know Satan didn't bring sin in the world I? Satan's the father of it, but he didn't bring it into the world. Couldn't do it. Impossible for Satan to bring sin into the world. You know why? He represented no one. Adam was the representative man. Adam was the one God charged with all the creation of the world to care for it. Not Satan.

Wherefore, as by one man's sin entered into the world, what's the result of that? Death by sin. Immediately when he sinned, what happened? He died. But this death wasn't isolated, was it? So death passed upon all men. You know when Eve ate, you know what happened? Nothing. Why is that? She sinned. Why is it that nothing happened until He ate? When He ate, the scripture says, both of their eyes were opened to see what? They sinned. They were naked. You see, Adam was the cause. And when Adam ate, He died. But not only him, she died. And not only her, we died.

Do you see the necessity of the new birth? It's because we are born spiritually dead. Why? We all have sinned. We all have sinned. Look at verse 19 of Romans 5. For as by one man's disobedience many were made what? When were you made a sinner? You were made a sinner by His disobedience. Not yours, His. By His disobedience we were made sinners.

See then, the heresy of such a false doctrine as to say something like this, Jesus made salvation possible. And it's up to man to make the choice. Well, there's a problem with that. Because if we are born dead, then no one would be saved. You understand? Because none of us could regenerate ourselves. None of us could make ourselves alive. None of us had the ability then to make such a choice. Then there would be no hope. If he did his best and he left it up to us, there's no hope for any of us. Why? Because we must be born again. We must be born again. Without that, there's no hope. And why do we know that? Because Jesus himself said it. John 6 and verse 44. No man can come unto me. Is that not a very clear sentence, that's a very plain sentence, a very elementary sentence, no man can, no man has the ability to come to me. That's because we were born dead, and what do we need? We need life. We need to be born again. In that passage in Romans chapter 3, it describes our nature, it says, There is none righteous, no, not one. Listen to this, there is none that understands. Listen to this one, there is none that seeks after God. Well, if salvation is dependent upon you seeking after God, then none of us would because none of us seek after God by nature.

Listen, we are all together becoming unprofitable. You put all our good works together, they are unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. So no man can come in, except what? Now we come. Isn't that right? You that believe, don't you come? Well, how's that? Except. I love his words there. Except, the divine exception. Except the father which has sent me, what? Draw him, the words drag. In other words, it's not like he's pulling, kicking, and screaming. He's dead. There's no kicking and screaming. He's dead. In other words, God's bearing all the weight of the pulling, of the bringing. And that's exactly what is taking place in our text. Look back at your text. This is exactly what the gospel here that's being sounded.

Is that the new birth comes by who? Who gives this life? The Spirit. Except a man be born of water, even of the Spirit. He cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He said this in verse 7, marvel not that you must be born again. Don't marvel at this. Why is this such a complicated thing? It's not a complicated thing. Why are you marveling at it? For the wind bloweth where it listeth. You can hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.

Now listen, I preach the Gospel and I sound this Gospel out to everybody. I do. I say without hesitation, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. I sound that out to anyone that has got ears to hear, because that is the Word of God. No question about it. And so I declare this to everyone, but who's going to hear it? I say it to everyone, but who's really going to hear it? Listen to me, only those that are born again, nobody else.

Now, if I put some corpses out here in these chairs, and I sounded it to everyone in the room, now who's going to hear it? Only those living. That's it. This is the power of the Spirit. This is the work of the Spirit. The Spirit is the one that gives life. Now then, the Lord here, He tells us that the means of this new birth is the Spirit again. How is a man born again? I just said you need to be born again. You must be born again, but how? I remember one Armenian preacher. He said, you must be born again. Now let me tell you how. I don't know if the Lord cut the light on or what, but that dude went silent. You know why? He can't tell you how to be born again. He was going to give you five steps in order to be born again. He realized every one of them were foolish.

How is one born again? Does one's free will make one born again? Because that is the root of Arminian doctrine, is that the free will of man gives man life. That is not according to this text. It is the work of the Holy Spirit alone. We don't get to faith until the next couple of verses. It is the work of the Spirit. Now look, He describes it to you. Look at this in verse 8. How? How is one born from above? He said, The wind bloweth where it listeth. You can hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So. That word so is very important because we use this quite often in this text. God so loved the world. He said this is the same word here. Even so, just like that. That's what the word means. Just like that. He said just like the wind. Now you've got to puff a wind and it comes through and you can hear it whistling in the trees. Feel it on your face. Where'd it come from? Did you will the wind into existence? Can you do that? No, that stuff was blowing this morning and I was wanting it to go away. It was cold. It was freezing outside. No, my will had nothing to do with the wind. The wind blows where it wants to. You can't tell where it's coming. You can't tell where it's going.

Listen to this. Just like that is how the Spirit gives life. He moves whithersoever He wills and He gives life. And you know what? I can't tell where He's coming from and I can't tell where He's going. I can only tell where He's been. Isn't that right, the wind? All you can tell is where it's been. It hit my face. I heard it. It's been here. Where'd it go? I don't know. Where's it going next? I have no clue. Just like that. That's how the Spirit gives life.

You see why I preach to everyone? Because I don't know where He's going. I don't know whom He's going to give life to. That's not my job. I just declared the gospel and we're going to get to understanding why that's necessary in just a minute. Our Lord's going to explain it. He blows where He wills.

And so then we can see clearly free will does not cause a new birth. That's a foolish notion. It's not in the text. It's not there. Neither does merit cause the Spirit of God to give life. John chapter 1. What is the root cause of this new birth? The root cause, what is it? As many as received Him, to them gave you the right to become the sons of God. That's wonderful, isn't it? Isn't that faith? That's faith, isn't it? To receive Him? To believe on Him? It is.

But how do we believe? Which were what? Born. Born from above. How? Not by blood. I have two children that have made no profession of faith in Christ. And if they continue in that way, they'll die in their sins. And yet their dad is a preacher of the gospel. My blood in their veins has nothing to do with it. Nothing. If God gives him life, that's by the grace of God. Not by blood, nor by the will of what? The flesh. You see, birth doesn't come by the will of the flesh. Is that clear? Nor by the will of some other man, but of God.

So how does the new birth come? God. Who gets it? He blows where he lives. I don't know. I can't tell you. I just can tell the effect. What's the effect? The effect is always faith in Christ. Can't have one without another. You can't have a new man walking around being born again without faith. That's like having a man being alive without breath. They come together.

So now then the necessity of faith God, Christ reveals the means. Now look at verse 10. I like this. Are you a master of Israel and don't you know these things? These things I'm talking about are elementary, friends. These are rudimentary things Christ said I'm talking about. I'm not talking about heavenly things. I'm not talking about, you know, we use illustrations like streets of gold and mansions. It's not really how it is. It's just given us our minds can't reach that high. We don't know heavenly things. And people want to talk about some things that are just so high, and they ain't even got the basics. I think, you know, I'm talking to somebody, they're just a young believer, and they say, what about the book of Enoch? Oh my God. You haven't even got these 66 books. You want to take another book that's been rejected, been the canon, you want me to explain that to you? Okay, conquer these 66 books, and we'll talk about that other. That's what they want to talk about. They want to talk about higher things. Are you a master musician and you don't even know the elementary things? Start with the elementary things. I'll tell you what, the elementary things are pretty high. I think they're glorious. I think they're wonderful.

But notice this second part here, the necessity then of the gospel. Look, our Lord says, verse 11, He said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify what we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. He's talking about the Word of God. He said, I've testified to you the Word of God. I've sent my prophets to you. And what is the result? What is the result of the natural man to the Word of God? You receive not our testimony. This is what a dead man does. He cannot receive the Word of God.

Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Paul says in verse 7, he says, We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom of God, ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of the world knew. For had they known it, they would have not crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither entered in the heart of man the things of God hath prepared for them that love him. You see what natural man has done? Natural man, because he is dead, cannot receive the word of God. I don't care how plain you make it. I don't care how simple you make it. By the natural man, he cannot receive the word of God because he's what? He's dead. You that know it. How did you receive it? But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. Isn't that exactly what our text is saying? He revealed them to us by His Spirit.

Look at verse 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Listen, they're foolishness. This thing I'm talking about, God's sovereignty, God's regenerating grace and power, you know what that is to man's foolish? You just speaking nonsense and gibberish, preacher. Yeah, to you. Because you're dead. You may not like to hear that. Natural man receiving their foolishness unto him. Listen to this. Ability. Neither can he know them. Why? Because he's already condemned. He's spiritually discerned.

Now, when the Spirit moves and the Spirit comes to the dead sinner, what is always the means that He uses to give life? There's a means. A means. Always a means by which the Spirit gives life. And it is one means. It is the preaching of the Gospel. This is the means. Paul said, we speak the mysteries of God. They're not going to be understood by the natural man unless the Spirit of God gives him life. But when the Spirit of God gives him life, what does he understand? He understands the gospel.

I want to be clear, the gospel is not a system. A man can academically believe a system. A system of theology. He can list and check off systems of theology. The Gospel is not a system. It's a person. Jesus Christ is the Gospel. And when a person is born of the Spirit, what do I see? I see Him. And when I hear His doctrine, it's like, well yeah, that's the one I know. That's Him. The gospel testifies of the one I know, the one that's been revealed to me. He's revealed by the gospel.

Go to 1 Corinthians, look over in chapter 1. Paul says this in verse 17 of chapter 1 in Corinthians. He says, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but what? Preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, what is it? Foolishness. You know what we do here is foolish to the world. Preaching Christ, preaching Christ. All you do is preach Christ. All you do is talk about Christ. All you do is talk about Him crucified, Him buried, Him risen again, Him seated on the throne. All you talk about is Him. What about me? What about you? I'm not gonna preach you. I do preach you. Sinner, that's you. I'm here to preach Christ.

God sent me not to baptize. I would long to see people come and profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized, but that's not my purpose. My purpose is to preach the gospel. Why? To us, which are saved, the gospel is the power of God. It's the means. Look at verse 21. For after that the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. See why we preach? See why I declare, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved? Why? Because this is what the Spirit uses to give life. The gospel.

And notice what our Lord here says. Go back to your text. He's going to preach the gospel to Nicodemus. Look at this. He says in verse 13, here he is, he's going to preach depravity, right here. No man hath ascended up to heaven. Now wait a second. Didn't Enoch ascend to heaven? Enoch ascended to heaven. Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind. So it's not talking about a man going to heaven, because when we die, what do we do? We ascend to heaven. You that believe, you'll ascend to heaven. It's not talking about going to heaven. He's talking about ascending to heaven by merit. No man hath ascended to heaven except one man. And he says, who's that? The Son of Man, which is in heaven. And I'm not going to go into that. I was talking about God's Trinity and Christ's unity with the Father. Even though he was standing there talking, he was in heaven.

There's only one man who has ever obtained obedience by merit. That's Jesus Christ. No one else. He obtained merit by his obedience. For what purpose? He did this as a representative. I told you how we died. We died in a representative. So in that same verse in Romans chapter 5, the Apostle Paul declares to us how then we could be made righteous. By the disobedience of one, many were made sinners. Even so, just like that. Just like that, by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ came to be a representative man, to obtain righteousness, which Paul in Romans 3 declares he has. He says that the righteousness of God, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. See, he obtained righteousness all by himself.

Now did any man become a sinner by free will? Anybody become a sinner by free will? Did God come to you and say, ok, make a choice. Do you want to be a sinner? You were born a sinner. Why? You died in a representative. Guess what? Everyone who was represented by Jesus Christ, He obtained for them righteousness. Righteousness. Who are they? Whosoever, though the Spirit comes and gives life, to whosoever He gives faith. They're the ones Jesus obtained righteousness for.

And not only that, look at this, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Not only had He necessarily obtained righteousness by His obedience, He must also redeem them by His blood. Friends, God's justice demanded payment. And the only satisfactory payment for sin was the blood of His Son.

And he uses this illustration as Moses lifted up the serpent. Remember, they were bitten by those serpents. What a picture of us. We've been bitten. The venom of sin runs through our veins. And by nature, we were condemned to death. No physical remedy! But remember in Numbers 21, God made a remedy. He said, take a serpent, a brazen serpent, and put it on a pole and lift it up. And everyone that looked, lived. What a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, As Moses lifted up the serpent, and even so, just like that. There's that word again, so, just like that. The Son of Man must be lifted up. He must be made into the very image of the thing that bit us.

2 Corinthians 5, 21, God hath made him to be sin for us. For what? Why? That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Friends, Jesus was no innocent victim. He was determined to be lifted up. By the eternal counsel of God, He was crucified for the sins of His people, not all men without exception, Jesus never said He came to die for all men. You don't understand that? Never has Christ said that. Go to John chapter 10. Move faster, John chapter 10. Look at verse 11. Tell me who Christ died for. I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd giveth His life for who? The sheep. The sheep. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd. I know who? My sheep. And am known of mine as the father knoweth me, so I know the father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. He says it twice.

Go to John chapter 17. John chapter 17, look at verse Verse 2, he says, As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to, who? As many as thou hast given him. My sheep. Jesus said in verse 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world. Now would I say that Jesus never prayed for anybody? See that word world there? It must mean everybody without exception, right? Is that what it means? Because then we would have to say that Jesus prayed for no one. See how silly that is? It would be foolish to put that in there. He says, No, I pray for them which Thou hast given Me. Listen, out of the world. Thine they were and gavest Thou them Me.

So Christ came into the world and was lifted up. For who? His people, who are they? Whosoever believeth, I don't know. You're asking the wrong person. I know He has a people. I know He died for them. Who are they? I know this. I can't tell where the Spirit's going. I can only tell where He's been. And the Spirit gives life, that person's going to believe, and that person that believes, listen to that, there He is. There always He is. Why? Because He bared their sin in His own body on the tree, and He has redeemed us to God. He has redeemed us to God. When Christ was lifted up, He was lifted up for His people.

People want to use this in 2 Peter 3, verse 15. They said, listen to what the Scripture says, that God is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. See preacher? Everybody! He wants everybody to come to repentance. Wait a second, God is long-suffering to who? Us-ward. Not willing that any, who's he talking about? Us. Us-ward, the ones he's long-suffering to. Not willing that any of them should perish, but that all of them should come to repentance. Isn't that what happens? That's exactly what happens. Who is the us? Those that Christ came to save. These alone are born of the Spirit, and these alone believe, listen to that, go back to your text, that he was lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Who are they? Well, whoever is born of God. You see, this is not everyone without exception, but rather everyone without distinction. It doesn't matter you're young or you're old. It doesn't matter if you're rich or you're poor. That's what the word whosoever is. It's without distinction. The Jews made distinction. They said Jews, only Jews are going to be saved. You see why this is astounding to Nicodemus? He's saying, look, no, it's without distinction. Doesn't matter, Jew, Gentile, bond, free, male, female. It doesn't matter. It's not distinction. It's just whosoever. Whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And now then look at this last thing. Man, I'm not going to make this. I'm sorry. Look at this in your text now. For God so loved the world. I want to talk a minute about the nature of love. God's love is not like your love. Men, this is why men say that God loves everyone without exception, because they got an idea of what real love is and then They use what they know of love inside themselves and they project it onto God. God's love is nothing like your love.

I'll tell you what, I love my wife. I do. I do not love her the same that I loved her when we were young. My love has changed over the years. I say it grown stronger, but I'll tell you sometimes it's stronger and sometimes weaker. It varies. It depends on how I feel. Man, you ask me if you love, she comes to me, do you love me? Man, if I'm sick, don't ask then. Don't ask then, because I don't love anybody when I'm sick, it seems. Our love varies. Our love is dependent upon selfish needs. I love my wife because of what she can provide for me. You can't project that onto God's love.

Friends, God's love, listen to this very carefully. Whosoever God loved, His love is what we call immutable. It doesn't change. Whosoever God has loved, He loves and He shall love, and His love doesn't fluctuate, it doesn't vary. Why? Because that's who He is. He said this about Himself, I am the Lord and I change not. What does that mean? That means every attribute of God is changeless. His holiness, His patience, His long-suffering, His goodness, His righteousness, His justice, it is all eternal. So whoever God loves, He loved from eternity, He loves them now, and He will always love them. Wow! That is the nature of God's love. Stop trying to put your love on Him. Love is immutable, it's unchangeable.

But so is this hatred. Now you pay attention, God hates people. For Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's a quote from Malachi chapter one, verse two and three. God says, I hated Esau and I love Jacob. And people will automatically say, well, man, he's talking about nations. How does that make it better? How does that help your argument? You say, well, you don't hate individuals. He hates whole bunches of people. No. Paul explains that to us in Romans 9. It's not talking about nations. It is talking about people. It's talking about two distinct people in this world, the elect and everyone else.

Now listen, I know this is offensive, but I'm not going to change it because the scripture doesn't change. God loved Jacob before he was born, and God hated Esau before he was born. And his love is immutable, just as much as his justice and hatred are immutable, unchangeable.

So then God, when it says, God so loved the world, He has reference to His elect which are in the world, Jew and Gentile, all of His elect without distinction, regardless of who they are. God has loved them from eternity with an eternal immutable love and it is His will that they should be saved.

So in a covenant of grace, everyone God loved, He put in a covenant and put them into union with His Son, that when Christ should come, He should die for them, and then He should rise again for their justification. And as He sits on the throne, the scripture says this, that He should give eternal life to who? As many as thou hast given Him.

Now how great does God love His people? God so. just like this, listen to this, God loves you just like this, that he gave his only begotten son. You that believe, I know that you are in trouble, you're in trial, you're in pain, you're hurt, and you say, how is it that God loves me? You can't look at those things. The Scripture never tells you to look at providence to see God's love. Never. And yet you do it anyway. We do it anyway. How do I know God loves me? He so loved you that He gave the most precious thing He had. And Jesus so loved us that He gave Himself to die for your sins.

Notice the purpose is not questionable. Look at this, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world. Why is that? Not like we didn't deserve it. Why? Because we were already condemned. No need to double condemn us. But look at this. This is why He came into the world. That the world through Him, listen to this, that word might is not, horrible, in that day it was written was not a horrible translation, but in our vernacular it is. The word might means maybe to us, but the word there is should, emphatically. He didn't come to condemn the world, it was already condemned. He came to save it, that it should be saved, most definitely be saved.

Now, is every man saved without exception? No. Obviously, that's not what it means. Simply means this, every one of his elect in the world, whoever they are, wherever they are, they're gonna be saved. Our gospel is sure and definite, friends. Why? Because God's love is definite. Christ's blood is successful. It's not a venture. It's not to make salvation possible. His blood came to save His people. And it did! and everyone he saved at Calvary, the Spirit of God will come to their dead, lifeless soul and give them life. And they will hear the gospel, they will believe on Jesus Christ, and none of them shall perish. Not one. Not one. Why? Because God so loved them.

The love of God is greater far than tongue of man can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hail. The guilty pair bowed down with care. God gave his son to win. His erring child he reconciled and pardoned from his sins. The love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong, shall forever endure the saints' and angels' song.

God's love is immutable. Don't this comfort your soul, you the believer? Don't this give you peace? God chose you. Christ redeemed you. The Spirit called you. Quickened you. Gave you faith. Keeps you in the faith. And listen to this. You shall never perish. Even when you die, you don't die. You understand that? When you die, you don't die. The body is laid down, but you don't die. He said, I'm the resurrection and the life. Whoso liveth and believeth in me, what shall never die.

You believe that? You believe that because the Spirit of God taught you that. I pray that God blesses this too.

Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Tanner is dismissed in prayer.

And sometimes it can mean all of those things at once.

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