Go with me, if you would, back
to John chapter 3. John 3, considering the mindset
of this coming week, the next couple of days anyway. I thought
about this verse of Scripture, and I believe the Lord has laid
this on my heart to be our last message of the day. This wonderful
verse. John 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. What a gift. What a gift. That's the title
of the message. What a gift. What a gift. Now our Lord has
said a lot about giving. He said a lot about it. And as
I thought on and read and studied some of the things that He has
said in His Word concerning it, it struck me how our Lord has
never commanded us to do anything that He has not first done Himself. Never. He has never commanded
us to do anything that He hasn't done first. He only commands
us to do and be the way that He Himself is. The things that
He does and the way that He is. All through this Word, He commands
us to give. Giving is a good thing. All through
this Word, He commands it of us. He says, give to the Lord
your God. Give to the ministry of the Gospel. Give to your brethren. Give. Give. It's a good thing. How
much? As little as possible? All you can. all you can give
as much as you can as much as is in your ability to give everything
you can now people read that in his word and they think this
natural wicked flesh thinks how dare he command that of me That's what the selfish, wicked
flesh, that's the first thought that comes into the mind. How
dare he command that of me? What gives him the right? This
is mine. What gives him the right to command
that of me? Well, turn with me to 2 Corinthians
8. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9 says, For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich. He was rich, but for your sakes,
for our sakes, He became poor. How did He become poor? He gave. He gave. He gave. Hold your place
right here and go to Acts chapter 20. Now, think about this. Here is the one who had all things
Alright, here is the one who possessed all things. He was
in need of nothing. He was in need of nothing. Perfectly
content. Completely. He had nothing but
fullness. He felt nothing but fullness. He did not need a people. He did not, Heaven did not need
a redeemed people. Complete. Full. He did not need
praise. There was nothing that anyone
or anything could add to Him. Nothing. He was absolute fullness. Nothing could be added. He had,
and He enjoyed, and He personally was, all things. Everything. He was all. And this is what He said in His
heart, was the desire of His will. This is what He desired
in His heart to do. Acts chapter 20 verse 35, I have
showed you all things, how that soul laboring, You ought to support
the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how
He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Knowing that He had all things, He thought in His heart, I'm
going to do the most glorious and most blessed thing that could
possibly be done with all things. I'm going to give them. I'm going
to give it all. I'm going to give it all. I'm going to give it all. I'm
going to give my all to those who have nothing. I'm going to
give my all to those who have been cast out because they have
a debt that they cannot pay. Those who are drowning in their
emptiness. That's what we are in this flesh. There is nothing here. There's
nothing worth salvaging. You know, people think, well,
there's some good in there worth salvaging. No, there's not. This
is nothing but emptiness. And He said, I'm going to give
everything. I'm going to give My all. to
those who have nothing to offer me but a loathsome disease. That's
all they can give me. That's who I'm going to give
it to. Keep holding your place in 2 Corinthians and go to Matthew
chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. Verse 10, And it came to pass,
as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners
came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, He
said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but
they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I did not come to get, I came
to give. I came to give, he went on to
say, for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance. I came to give to those who have
nothing to give in return. Those who cannot offer a sacrifice
to me of any kind because they have nothing that is acceptable
to me, nothing. This is a very, very blessed
thing. This is a very blessed thing. Go back to 2 Corinthians 8, verse
9 says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you
through His poverty might be rich. Now let's think about this. Not only did He establish that
it is better to give than to receive. And not only did He
give, but it thrilled His heart to do so. It absolutely thrilled
His heart to do so. Don't you love getting something
for somebody that you know they're going to love it? Don't you love
giving it to them? It thrilled His heart to give. It thrilled His heart. Look at
2 Corinthians 9, one chapter over. 2 Corinthians 9 verse 7,
it says, Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart,
so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth
a cheerful giver." That's Christ. That is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the One who purposed all of this in His heart. It says, Every
man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give,
not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Go with me over to Hebrews chapter
12. Hebrews 12 verse 1, Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. For the joy that was set before
Him, He endured the cross. He did not just say, Father,
I will do Your will. He said, It's my delight. It's
my delight. I will delight in it. What was
His Father's will? It was that Christ should suffer. The just for the unjust. It was that He should endure
pain. That was the Lord's will. That He should endure pain, punishment,
agony, torture. It was that He should be spit
on. That was the Lord's will. that he should be spit on and
have his beard ripped out of his face. It was that he should
be mocked and ridiculed and despised and rejected. And the Lord Jesus
Christ said, I delight to do thy will. I delight, if it's your will
for me to give my body, then I'll delight in it. I'll
delight to give it. I will give my back to the smiters.
I'll give my head to the thorns. I'll give my hands and my feet
to the nails. I'll give my side to the spear. I'll give myself to the sin. I'll give my life to the grave. I'll give my glory to my people. I'll give them all my wisdom.
I'll give them all my righteousness. I'll give them all my sanctification.
I'll give them all my redemption. I'll give it all. I'll give it
all. And it'll be my delight to do
it. You know what God the Father says to that? He says, I love
a cheerful giver. I love a cheerful giver. Now
go with me back to John chapter 3. One man made this statement concerning
salvation. He said John 3 verse 14 is the
remedy. He said John 3 verse 15 is the
result. And he said John 3.16 is the
reason. So let's see that. Here's the
remedy. John 3.14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, Even so, must the Son of Man be lifted up. That is the only remedy. That
story of Moses, all of the fiery serpents entered into the camp,
and they were biting the people and killing the people. And they
came to Moses, and Moses went to God, and God said, You make
the very thing that's killing them, make a symbol of the very
thing. Snakes are killing them. Make
a snake, put it on a pole, and lift it up. And you tell everybody,
you look to that serpent on the pole, and whoever looks will
live. And Christ was made to be what
is killing His people. And God put that very thing,
made Him to be that very thing and lifted Him up. And whoever
looks, and the only way you can look is if God gives us eyes
to see. But if God gives us eyes to see
and causes us to look, we'll live. We will live. It's the only remedy. Christ
crucified. That's the only remedy for sin. Not Christ crucified plus anything
we add to it. Anything that we try to add to
it will only take away from it. Everything we try to add to Christ
crucified will only take away from it. That's all it'll do.
There's only one way. And there's one hope, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. Must, must. All right, now here's
the result of his remedy. Verse 15 says that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. That's
what he accomplished in the remedy, eternal life. Eternal life, life for His people. I can't enter into it. I try
to imagine it, but I can't enter into it. But I'm thankful for
it. I long for it. Eternal life. And this is the reason why He
did it. Verse 16 says, For God so loved. It was all because of His love
for us. Amazing love. How can it be that
thou, my God, would die for me, that you would love and die for
such vile, wretched, wicked sinners like us? That's amazing love. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
die for us so the Father would love us. He died for us because
God the Father loved us. You know, in the cross, we see
it's the centerpiece of everything. We see God's justice, we see
God's holiness, we see God's judgment. But that's not all
we see in the cross. We see God's love. We see the
love of God for His people. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation,
that victim, that covering for our sins. That's the reason for
it all. That's why the gift came to us
in the first place, the love of God for His people. Now, I
want us to quickly And I do mean quickly. I want to see seven
characteristics that are revealed in this verse of Scripture concerning
God's love. One of the commentary writers
pointed this out, and this is so good. This is so good. The first one is the tense of
His love. It's past tense. It says in verse
16, For God so loved. He loved us. He loved us before. He loved us before we existed. He loved us before we knew Him. He loved us before we ever bowed
to Him. He loved us before we ever loved
Him. We love Him because He before
loved us. And that's comfort for a child
of God. That's absolute comfort. There is nothing that we have
to do to try to earn His love. Let me repeat that. There is
nothing that we have to do to try to earn His love. He loved us. God's love is not
earned. God's love is not earned. It's
only freely given. It's only freely bestowed. He's
always loved His people in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is
everlasting. So all of His people in Christ,
it's an everlasting love. That's the tense of it. Second
characteristic is the depth of it. I love this. Verse 16 says,
for God so loved. It doesn't just say God loved,
it says God so loved. To what degree was his love?
How far was his love willing to go? All the way to the end. We have a little saying down
here on earth. We say to the moon and back. Not only did he say to the earth
and back, he said to the grave and back. I love you to the grave
and back. What was the depth? No love ever
went deeper. No love. The love that we know
and experience in the flesh, our Lord has given us a love.
He has put a love in here. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts. I'm grateful for it. I love you. I believe you love me. I believe
everyone in here loves each other. And I'm so thankful for that.
But we are so hindered, our sinful flesh is so hindered, we cannot
imagine, we cannot enter into the depths of the love that God
has for us in Christ His Son. We'll never be able to fully
understand that until we are removed of this body of death.
But we believe in the depths of His love, don't we? We see
our salvation in the depths of His love and we thank God for
the depths of His love. Alright, the third characteristic
is the scope of His love. How wide is it? Who all has He included in it?
Verse 16 says, For God so loved the world. He loved the world. I commented on that this morning
in Luke 2. Good news to all people. Well,
our Lord's love is to all who are in Christ. Every soul the
Father put in Christ, out of every tribe, nation, kindred,
tongue, people. It's to whosoever, whoever He
purposed to give it to. But the good news is, it's not
to one type. It's not to one status. It's
not to one place. Red, yellow, black, white. Jew,
Gentile, bond-free. Male, female. Old, young. I pray God will do something
for our young. I do. I pray that the Lord gives the
gift of grace to our young. Turn over to Acts chapter 2. Scriptures like this are such
a comfort to me. Acts chapter 2 verse 39. For the promise is to you and
to your children. And to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." You know what
that gives me hope for? This is what that makes me want
to cry. Even me. Even me. Let that blessing fall
on me. Let it fall on our children. Lord, you came to seek and to
save that which was lost. We're lost. Save us. Please have
mercy on us. All right, go back to John 3.
Here's the fourth characteristic. the proof of His love. Verse
16, it says, for God so loved the world that He gave. He gave. We have another saying
here on this earth. We say, well, it's the thought
that counts. That's not so. Not in this case. God loved His people and He proved
His love for His people. He saw that they had a great
need and He provided for it. For God so loved, He gave. He proved Himself. He proved
His Word. He proved His love. Here's the
fifth characteristic. The fullness of His love. The
magnitude of His love. Verse 16 says, For God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. We try to give gifts, we love
giving gifts, we give what we can, but none of us will ever
enter into the fullness of His gift. He gave His only begotten
Son. Oh, the fullness of God's gift
to us in every way. He did not give us heaven's leftovers. He gave His darling Son. He gave His only precious Son. The apple of His eye, the joy
and the glory of heaven. No gift has ever been so costly. No gift has ever been so sacrificial. There's never been such a sacrificial
gift. He gave His only begotten Son.
Here's the sixth characteristic. The design of His love. The purpose
for which He gave it. Verse 16 says, For God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish. The love of God sending the gift
of God, that's what redeemed us from destruction. That's what
redeemed us from perishing. If we are in the love of God,
we are in the safety and the peace of God. And the reason is because the
love of God is found in Christ. It's in Christ. Romans 8 says,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. If we are in Christ Jesus, it
says, if God be for us, if God is for us, He put us in Christ. If He loved us, and if He cares
for us, and if He's for us, this is what He did. He put us in
Christ. And if God be for us, who can be against us? Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. And this is what He said. Assurance
comes to us. Rest comes to us. And peace comes
to us. That Christ died for us and God
put us in Him. And His love was to us when He
puts faith in us to believe on Him and believe on His Word. See and believe that all of the
love of God is in Christ. When He does that, He gives assurance
to the heart. He died for me. He loved me. He said in John 3 verse 18, 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. But he said in verse 16, Whosoever
believeth, whoever God puts faith in, whoever God authors and finishes
faith in, whoever believes in and believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ, shall not perish. Whoever looks will live. Looks with the heart. And this
is the last characteristic of God's love, last one mentioned
in this verse, the resulting grace of it. Verse 16, for God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's what the love of God has
given to us. Eternal life. He said, he told a dear woman,
a dear sister in Christ, he said, Martha, he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. And then he asked her point blank,
he said, do you believe that? And she said, yes, I do. Yay,
Lord, I sure do. And we do too, don't we? We believe
him. We believe Him. That belief is
not of ourselves. That's the gift of God as a present. Here, have this. Oh, the gift of His love to us
in every way. What a gift. All right, let's
all stand together.