John chapter 3. John chapter 3. The title of
this message, For God so loved the world. God so loved the world. And He
still does. He still does. But I have to
say, John 3.16 is the most misquoted, misunderstood
verse in the Word of God. I believe it is. You see it everywhere.
Bumper stickers, everywhere you go, John 3.16. Every time I've seen it, it's
been misapplied. And hopefully I can handle this. by God's grace, properly this
morning. Now, before John 3.16, we have John 3.14. I don't know
why, that's what I'll be posting, if you're going to post something.
Christ crucified, if I be lifted up. He said, and Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. It's a must. You see, in John 3, verse 14,
we have the remedy for sin. This is how my sins can be put
away. This is how they are put away.
Not just can be, but are. This is how my sins are put away.
In verse 15, we have the results of Christ being crucified. Eternal
life to all who believe. That's the results. And in verse 16, we have the
cause of Christ being crucified, of Christ coming into this world
to die. God so loved. God so loved the
world. Now it was absolutely necessary
for the Lord Jesus Christ to come into this world and die. If sinners are going to be saved,
He's got to come into this world and die for those sinners. Not
just die for sin, but die for sinners, their sins. They belong to someone, is what
I'm saying. Sin is not just floating out there in the air. The sins
he died for belong to someone. And it was absolutely necessary
for him to come and satisfy justice on their behalf, so that God
could be a just God and save a wretch like me. The law is
taken care of, it's now out of the way, it's not in the way.
You see, the law stood in the way of God saving me. And the only way He can do so
is satisfy His own law. So it was absolutely necessary
that the Lord Jesus Christ come and be lifted up as that serpent
in the wilderness was. God cannot just forgive me because
I ask Him to. You and I can forgive one another
just for the asking, because we are sinful men and women.
We are sinners. James said, in all points, we
offend. We always, someone offends us,
we offend somebody. And we can forgive one another
just for the asking, but God cannot do that. God cannot do
that. God is holy, God is just, and
He must, listen now, He must punish sin. He's got to punish
sin. He can't let it go. You and I
can just let things go. He cannot just let it go, not
without satisfaction to His law. Sin is against God, it's against
God's law, and it's got to be dealt with. It has to be dealt
with. Either in me, or in my substitute, it's one or the other.
It's going to be one or the other. Christ crucified, listen, Jesus
Christ crucified is proof. Now, there is no greater proof
than this, that God will punish sin. When Christ was made to be sin
for us, God did not make excuse for Him. God punished His own
Son. He was put to death in the flesh. He suffered the hell of God's
wrath when sin was found on Him. He laid on Him the iniquity of
us all. He didn't let Him go. He forsook Him. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? God punished Him. He punished
Him for our sins. Our sins. That's proof. When you look at Calvary, you
see the proof that God Almighty will punish sin. Now today's
so-called Christianity does not know. They do not know what really
happened at Calvary. They don't understand justice
was executed upon a substitute, a substitute for someone, many
someones. And I'll show you who they are
here in a little bit. And that being so, God can now save me,
because my substitute took my punishment, took my hell. He
literally took my hell. And now God can have mercy on
me. God can have fellowship with
me. Now He can. Listen to this in
Romans 3, 25-26. whom God has set forth, speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness,
that He might be just, that God Almighty might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." The justifier of Him. The books are clear. The books
are clear. Now, in verse 16, we have the
root cause of Christ being crucified. For God so loved the world. God
did not give His Son because He was obligated to. He did not
give him because he was obligated to save men and women, because
men and women are saved by grace, not obligation. Obligation is
something you do when somebody works for you, you pay them.
That's an obligation. The wages of sin is death, and
God will pay that. But for us to have life is grace.
It's grace. God sent His Son because He so
loved the world. There's a world of sinners, multitude
of sinners, whom the Lord loves. Jacob have I loved. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. He gave Him willingly. God gave His best gift. His son. God gave the only one who could
keep the law, make it honorable. His son. He gave the only one
who could please him in all things. His son. He said, this is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased. When he was baptized,
he spoke audibly. This is my beloved son whom I'm
well pleased. Hear ye him. God gave his only
begotten son. You know what that says to me?
How willing must God be to save sinners? How willing must He
be to save sinners? How much He must love me as a
sinner? I believe the Lord has saved
me. I believe the Lord has saved the sinners. And there are some
sinners here whom the Lord has saved. How much does that say
that God loves you, that He gave His Son? You know why God forgives me
when I ask Him to? You know why God forgives you
when you ask Him to, you who believe? Let me read it to you
from the Word of God. 1 John 2.12, I write unto you,
little children, God's little children, because your sins are
forgiven, that your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. in honor of His Son that He gave
to die. In honor of Him, He forgives
all for whom He died. Listen to Ephesians 4.32, And
be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. You know why that's why
God has forgiven me? You know that's why God called me by his
grace? You know that's why God gave
me a new birth? You know why? For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Christ hung
on that cross. This is astounding to me. It's
astounding that he hung on that cross for me. If I was the only person in the
world whom God saved, Jesus Christ would still had to suffer the
same thing. He'd still had to have gone through the same torment. God has forgiven me and saved
me for Christ's sake, for His sake. Now he says, For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever,
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. No mention of works. No mention here. There's no even
mention of a person's distinct character as far as rich, poor,
tall, short, fat, thin. It just says, whosoever. That
opens the door up. You know, if you find a sinner
that's really under conviction of sin, okay, you find someone
that God Almighty has really convicted of sin, they have a
very difficult time believing that God's going to save them.
that God would forgive them, that God would receive them.
But this opens the door. And I say to every sinner whose
heart's broken over sin, God said, whosoever will, that's
you. That's you. If your heart's not broken over
sin, that's not you. But those whose hearts are broken
over sin, the door is wide open. But now I want you to listen.
Remember this. This conversation is going on
between the Lord and the highest ranking official in Jewish religion. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who made the statement of John 3.16. And He's saying it. Let's not
forget to whom He's saying it. He's saying it to the highest
ranking Jewish official. There in Jerusalem. A Pharisee
of the Pharisees, like Paul. A very moral man. A very moral
man. And our Lord shows Nicodemus
here. Now I want you to listen. He
shows Nicodemus, this Jew who hated the Gentiles. Our Lord shows Nicodemus how
broad the love of God really is. This is how broad, see, the
Jews had the love of God very narrow. They had it very narrow.
It was just to that little nation. It was just to those who were
circumcised, who were in the covenant, they thought, who were
connected to Abraham. They didn't think about the love
of God in any way, shape or form in their being saved. They didn't
even look at it as being saved. They just looked at it as being
connected to Abraham, a covenant connection. But our Lord says
this, salvation has to do with the love of God. And God so loved
the world." Now what's he talking about? The world of sinners.
Gentiles as well as Jews. That's what he's saying. He's
saying this to Nicodemus. He's saying, Nicodemus, God loves
Gentiles as well as Jews. God has included Gentiles as
well as Jews. You're living proof of it this
morning. Those of you who believe, you are living proof that God
loves the world. When the Jews spoke of the world,
who was they talking about? They were talking about the Jews.
I mean, they were talking about the Gentiles. They were not talking
about themselves as Jews. They didn't consider themselves
as part of the world. It was the Gentile world. And God is
saying that, or the Lord Jesus Christ is saying to Nicodemus,
God loves Gentiles too. God's love is broad. His love
is broad. Look over in Ephesians chapter
2. In Ephesians chapter 2, look in verse 11. Wherefore remember that you being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcised
by that which is called the circumcision by the Jews in the flesh made
by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But
now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made
nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who has
made both one, Jew and Gentile, Jew and Gentile, and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself of two, one new man. soul-making peace. You see, in
Christ we're all one. There's no distinction in Christ.
There's no distinction. You can read the rest of that
chapter when you have time, but there's no distinction made in
Christ. The Scripture says there's neither
male nor female. The Scripture says there's neither barbarian,
Scythian, bond or free, we're all one in Christ. Now you notice here, whosoever,
he says here, whosoever believeth, Whosoever believes the gospel,
it doesn't matter, like I said, your rank, your position. You could be the most vilest
person ever walked on this earth. Or the most self-righteous person
ever walked on this earth. But if God grants you faith,
if God grants you faith, God has saved you. God has saved
you. Whosoever believeth, And it also
means this, that believeth means keeps on believing, whosoever
keeps on believing. It's not a profession you made
years ago. It's keep on following Christ, you keep on believing
Christ, you keep on learning of Christ, you keep on loving
Christ. To believe is to trust the Lord
Jesus Christ solely and completely and to do so to the end. But
now he gives an eye-opener here to Nicodemus in verse 17, "'For
God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world.'" It dawned on me when I was reading
this again this week, the Jews were looking for the Messiah. They were looking for Him. Nobody
else was looking for Him. The Gentile world wasn't looking
for Him. The Jews were looking for the Messiah, but they were
looking for Him to come and set them free, set them free from
Roman rule, set up the kingdom of God, and condemned the world. That's what they were looking
for. They were looking for that. They were looking for the Messiah
to come and set them free and condemn the world. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the Messiah that the Scripture says or said
was coming, and the ones the Jews were looking for, And when
he came, he said to Nicodemus, I didn't come to condemn the
world. I didn't come to do that. You
remember the apostles one time, I think it was John, you know,
John, we think of John as sweet John, don't we? I mean, John
who leaned upon his breast. It was John, I don't know, John
and one of the other disciples, When they said one time concerning some, I'm going to say Pharisees,
I'm not sure if they were Pharisees, but anyway, here's what they
said. You want us to call fire down out of heaven and burn them
up? Oh, sweet John. You want us to call fire down
out of heaven and burn these sinners up? I didn't come to
condemn the world, I came to save it. I told you last week,
when all is said and done, God will have saved the world. Or
the whole world of sinners is going to be saved. Not everyone
in the world is going to be saved. But when it's all said and done,
and you see that whole redeemed race of sinners saved, they came
out of this world. Every one of them came out of
this world. None of them came from Mars. They came from this
world. That came from this world. There's a world of sinners that
God's going to save. But now here's a question. Here's
a question of questions. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Paul writes in Romans 5.6, He includes himself, writing
to the Roman church, Gentile church, for when we were yet
without strength to do anything good, do anything pleasing to
God, in due time, in God's time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now I'm asking you a serious
question. Have you ever really seen yourself ungodly? You ungodly rich. 99% of the
people are never going to go that far. The only ones who will
actually go that far are the ones whom God saves. He shows
them He opens the curtain and He lets them see what they are
by nature. If it were not for the grace
of God, there's not one thing on this earth, not one simple
wretched thing on this earth I would not do. I would do the most wretched
thing on earth if God would have left me alone and if He would
not have exercised His constraining grace on me even before I knew
Him. As Henry said once, don't confuse
sovereign constraint for personal holiness. The only reason you
and I have not done the most wretched things is because God
has constrained us. That's all. That's all. Listen to Romans 5.8, But God
commendeth His love toward us, He's speaking to a particular
people, us, in that while we and the same are us, are the
one and the same, while we were yet sinners, God-haters, wretched
human beings, Christ died for us. Christ never died for one
good person. You know that? He didn't die
for one good person. If you're good, you don't need
Him to die for you. Remember, Paul's writing to the
church in Rome and making these statements here in Romans 5.
He's writing to believers in Rome. And here's a rule. Here's a rule, remember this.
Always apply the Scriptures to the one it's written to, or to
the one it's describing. Don't just take it out of context
and apply it to everybody. It doesn't apply to everybody. It doesn't apply. The vast part of those who call
themselves Christians would not call themselves Christians if
they really knew what that means, if they really understood what
it means. A Christian is one who was ungodly. None good, no, not one. Well,
there's a little good in me. Well, I'm not talking to you. I'm not talking to you. You know,
Paul called himself a wretch. Oh, wretched man that I am. Does
this fit you? Does it really fit you? Christ didn't die for everyone.
Now listen, He did die for the ungodly. He did die for sinners. That's what the Scriptures teach
us. Most people are too good to be saved. Do you know that?
That's the problem. It's not they're too bad, they're
too good. That rich man left because his morality was his
undoing. He was just too good. He was
too good. I can tell you. I can tell you
why. Those who have never believed
on Christ, those who have never confessed Christ, I can tell
you why. Because they are just not that
sinful. They are just not that sinful. You don't need a Savior.
You really don't need a Savior. It's not until God Almighty opens
your eyes and your understanding that you understand your need
of Jesus Christ to save you, not from hell. from your sins. I need to be saved from my sins.
They are against God. David said, you know when David
there in Psalm 51, when he's repenting over the sin that he
committed with Bathsheba and against her husband. You know,
he says, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight. He doesn't say, I sinned against Uriah and
his family, I shouldn't have done that. He says, God, I sinned
against you. Because ultimately, all sin is
against God. All sin is an act of rebellion
against God Almighty. I might have hurt you, but my
sin's against God. It's an act of rebellion against
God. But it takes God to save us to
see that. It takes God to give us eyes to see that. Now, the
word here in this sentence, it says that they might be saved.
That's not a probability. That's not a possibility. It
means this, in order that. God so loved the world that He
gave His own Son that in order that He might save. Might save
the world. The world's sinners whom He chose,
He might save them. It's God's design to save sinners.
The Jew thought it was His design just to save them only. But it
was God's design to save them, some of them, and some of us.
Just like the angels. You know, you have the angels
that fell, then the angels that did not fall on me. They are
called the elect angels. They didn't keep their first
estate because they were more intelligent or more moral. No, God just chose them and He
said, you're not going to fall. Because they didn't fall by representative.
They fell individually. Now, verse 18. He that believeth
on Him is not condemned." You know, condemnation has passed.
It says in Romans 8.1, "...there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walked not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit." The condemnation is over. I don't have to worry
about condemnation. my condemnation. He took the
condemnation of a multitude of sinners that no man can number.
And God has reconciled to them. 2 Corinthians 5.18, And all things
are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. God reconciled
me to himself. I had nothing to do with that.
I had nothing to do with that. He reconciled me. This sinner,
this sinner. If I could find a sinner, I've
got good news. I've got good news. You've been
reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Colossians 1.21, And
you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled. God's done that. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already. Now,
you're not waiting on condemnation. You're just waiting on execution
day, but you're condemned already. Born into this world condemned.
And that doesn't scare anybody, does it? The only time a person
is frightened by that is when God wakes them up and you see
that the ax is hanging over your head. You understand. The noose
is around your neck. And you see it, and you understand
it. You understand that God has every
right to kick the chair out from under you and let you dangle. God has every right to do that. But he that believeth not is
condemned already. How sobering is that truth? How
sobering? Those who believe not are already
under the condemnation of God. Wolfers, anything that makes
you want to run to Christ, that ought to be it. And here's why, listen, here's
the reason for the condemnation. Because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Not because you committed
adultery, not because you committed murder, not because you're an
alcoholic or a drug addict, that has nothing to do with it. That
will add to your condemnation, okay? That adds to torment. There
are degrees of torment that adds to it. But here's the only reason
why that condemnation is on you. Here's the only reason why you
don't believe. You don't believe. "'Cause he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
It's not because of all the wretched things that I've done, it's because
I don't believe God. I believe God's a liar. See,
if you don't believe this, then you have to believe He's a liar
because He's telling us what we are. He's telling us we don't
believe. We don't believe Him. We're saying,
no, you don't. No, you don't believe in the
name, the person. The name reveals a person. You
don't believe in the person of the only begotten Son of God,
Son of God, Son of man. A lot of people will drop into
hell before this day is over. You know that? It's a moment-by-moment process.
It happens every moment. And they're going to drop there
for this one reason. John 5.40, you will not come
to me that you might have life. He says, come. He said, whosoever
will. And you won't do it. Every person
that perishes, perishes because they will not come to Christ.
That's the reason. Here is condemnation. Man has
a wrong understanding as to why men and women are condemned. They catalog sins. You know,
we do that. We're good about cataloging sin.
We like to do that. Verse 19, this is condemnation.
Light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light. It comes down to this. It comes
down to this. Who or what do you love? What or who we love will condemn
us or save us? You know that? Peter, do you
love me more than these? All men and women love their
sins. They love darkness. They prefer ignorance over light, error over truth,
superstition, superstition over to true religion. For everyone that doeth evil
hates the light. He said, they hateth, that's
continually. They hateth the light, neither cometh to the
light, lest his deeds should be reproved. I'm going to read
you what Henry wrote in his Bible lesson on this. Here's the final
test. Everyone that loves and practices
evil hates the light, the truth of God, neither comes to the
light. And here's why, lest his deeds,
error, and sin should be revealed and judged. That is why men,
religious and worldly, refuse the Scriptures as they are. God's
Word condemns us. God's Word convicts us. God's Word shuts us up to the
mercy of God in Christ. And men by nature, all men and
women, they hate the light of Scripture. They hate the truth.
They hate it. I hated it one time. I hated
it. But God gave me a new life. He
gave me a new birth. He gave me the love of God was
shed abroad in the heart. And now I love the word of God.
I love it. I look into the God's word for
instructions. I do. I look where, where shall a young
man cleanse his way by taking heed to God's word. And last
of all, In verse 21, "...but he that doeth the truth cometh
to the light." You know, Christ said, I'm the light. And the
Scriptures are light. His Word. "...he cometh to the
light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought
in God." Did not Paul say, I am what I am by the grace of God? He that doeth truth, which describes
the character of everyone who believes God." You do the truth.
You walk in the light of the Gospel. It's what you do. And
you come to it. What did you do this morning?
You came to the light. Didn't you? You came here to
hear the Gospel. You came to the light. You didn't
come just because it's Sunday morning, and it's what we do.
You came to the light to be instructed. by the Lord Jesus Christ through
His Word. Because you're not going to have
light apart from His Word. If you'll notice the present
tense here, He that doeth truth cometh, cometh to the light continually. This is a continual coming. He comes again and again and
again and again to the Word of God. You come to it now, you
go home, you open the Word, you read it this week, that's coming
to the light. to learn of God, to learn of
Himself, and of our Redeemer, you come to the light. I wrote
in the bulletin, don't study the Scriptures to prove a point
or a position. Study the Scriptures that you
may grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ. I've had two or three
statements this week from other people, not here, over that statement. It's the truth. It's the truth. We study the Scriptures, we come
to the light that we might know Christ. And in knowing Christ,
we'll know the truth. And we'll get the doctrine right.
Let's not get the doctrine right and the Spirit of Christ not
be here. We wouldn't be any better off
than Catholicism or any other kind of ism. I want to believe
God. I want to be a believer. I'm not trying to line up with
a certain ism or name or whatever. I want to know God. I want to
know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. That, He said, is
eternal life. That's eternal life. The believer
finds his or her comfort and strength and help in the Word
of God through the light which it gives. God so loved the world not only
the Jews, but also Gentiles, that he gave his son to die for
him. And he might be a just God and a savior. Aren't you glad
that God has given you an understanding of the scripture? I understand
what that means. I understand what that means. God so loved
the world. He means he loved wretches like me. And I'm one
of those whosoever will. I'm glad he didn't say you have
to be six foot tall By no stretch of the imagination would I make
it. But it's whosoever will. Lord,
I will. I'm serious. Lord, I do. Lord, I will. I come. I will. Lord, save my soul. Save
me from my sins. I will. Thank the Lord. He gave me a will to will. Thank
him for it.