There are a lot of people in
the Arminian circles who believe that we are afraid of John 3.16
and that it blows us out of the water who believe in the doctrines
of grace. So let's look at that this evening. To get a larger context, let's
read verse 14 through verse 17 of John chapter 3. This is the meeting of our Lord
with Nicodemus. You remember that. So verse 14
through verse 17, verse 16 being our main point of emphasis. And the Lord says to Nicodemus,
verse 14, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved." Now, you know, there are some scriptures that
are favorites with some people and are quoted by them more often
and are also proof texts in support of universalism. And that's how
we want to come at John 3.16 this evening It is one of the
main verses of Universalists as proof for their position. And you know why? Because it
uses the word world and such terms as all the world and the
whole world. There are many that stumble at
these things in the Scripture. Now, the argument for Universalism
usually falls into one of two or three category and the sorts
of scripture that are used and are lined up in each column. Number one, that those places
in the scripture where the word world appears, W-O-R-L-D, especially
in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. These are strongly emphasized
by Arminians and Universalists. Second, there is that collection
of text that uses the term all, everyone, every man, whosoever. And then thirdly, there are those
texts that use the terms all, purchasing, ransom, or redeeming,
or reconciling the world unto himself, which they take to be
all. Therefore, we want to closely
consider the verses that are marked in our Bible as John chapter
3 and verse 16. This is perhaps the most quoted
verse in all of the Scripture. the most often. And people might
say, this is their favorite verse of all of those that are in the
Scripture. All Scripture, they say, can
be summed up and can be reduced to the word of John 3 and verse
16. This they call their creed. This
they call the Bible. This they call the gospel in
a nutshell. John Owen, the poor Puritan,
however, was of another mind, and he said concerning John chapter
3 and verse 16, quote, This place do the universalists exceedingly
boast in, unquote. He went on to say they have little
cause or ground or reason to so boast in this verse, and that
actually, as Owen said, John 3.16, quote, is destructive to
their whole defense, unquote. Rather than support it, it actually
is against it. But in the mind of the universalist,
there are three key words in the verse that prove, they say,
their position and put the matter beyond question and beyond dispute. And the three words are loved,
world, and whosoever. Now, all of these we will consider
in the course of our study, if God be willing. But our first
order of business this evening, as dealing with any text of Scripture,
is to consider the overall context in which it is found in the Holy
Writ, that they cause the verse to stand alone, ignoring that
that is around it, that that is gone before and that that
follows after. So such question ought to be
raised in our study as following. Number one, who is the speaker
of these words that we have read this evening. And the answer,
of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, who is the
hearer? To whom are these words of our
Lord directed? Well, we know the answer. They
were to Nicodemus, who was a Jew, of course, and was in fact a
ruler of the Jew and was a Pharisee as to his denomination or affiliation
or sect, as we might say. And then the third question is,
what was the occasion of the Lord speaking these words unto
Nicodemus? He that had come to the Lord
by night for a conversation And this follows after a discussion
about the new birth and the necessity thereof. And in verse 3 through
verse 10 of this chapter in which Nicodemus exposes his complete
ignorance of spiritual regeneration. a teacher and ruler of the Jew,
and knew not regeneration, and all the prophets had said about
that. Then the Lord, in verse 11 through
verse 13, speaks of that great revelation which He had brought
from the bosom of the Father, how He had access to the Father
in heaven, And he knew that he was giving a true and accurate
testimony in the things that he said and what he had heard
and received from the Father. Then, in verse 14, 15, and 16,
Christ declares himself to be the way whereby sinners are saved. First of all, he presents himself
as the antitype of the brazen serpent upon a pole. You remember that in the book
of Numbers, that Moses was commanded to make a brazen serpent and
put it upon a pole. And all that had been bitten
looked upon that pole, and whosoever looked upon that pole was healed
and did not die. As all whosoever believe on him
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Then in verse 16, it opens
with the word far, which introduces a clearer explanation of what
has been said in verse 14 and in verse 15. Especially the 15th
verse. Look at it again. That whosoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. That is, He is lifted up by which
he refers to his being put upon the cross to die. He calls that
lifting up. You'll see it again in John 8
and verse 28, John 12, 32 through verse 34, that such as believe
in him shall not perish. as those in Numbers 21 looked
upon the serpent of brass upon a pole, and they lived. Then look at verse 16. For this
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Now have we mentioned the strong
similarity that we find between the first half of verse 15 and
the last half of verse 16. Verse 15 said that whosoever
believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. And the last part of verse 16
said that whosoever believes in him should not perish but
have everlasting life. Now, I'm told that there's some
manuscript that omit the word in verse 15, should perish, not
in some manuscript and version. But coming now to verse 16, and
the word loved. are so loved as it is in the
text. And the word world and the word
whosoever. Armenians are very quick to contest
the words together and say that loved and the world are one and
the same. saying that there is a declaration
of two things here that are to be found. Number one, that God
loves all without exception. That's the tenet of universalism. And number two, that Christ's
death was for all without exception. And this is the two rotten pillars
that hold up Arminianism. So let us concentrate upon these
things. First of all, the doctrine of
the love of God and the extent of the love of God, or shall
we say, the objects of the love of God. Who does God love? Who does God love? For the sake of time, we can
find the question to the human family. For we know that God
the Father loves God the Son and vice versa. But the universal
love of God is one of the most popular teachings in Christendom
today, particularly in Arminianism. And we could judge this, the
popularity of it, by the criteria that our Lord set forth in the
Gospel of Luke chapter 16 and verse 15. That which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. So that
which is popular, that which all or most men hold to, would
not be the truth of God. Now, to hold to the universal
love of God puts one in the company not only of evangelical Arminianism,
but it puts them in the company and in the camp with all universalism. That would be Unitarians and
Theosophists and Christian science and the Russellites and all of
them hold to the universal love of God. A. W. Pink wrote in his
book, The Sovereignty of God, written about 19 and 20, I think,
or published about that time, quote, that God loves everybody
is quite a modern belief. Think about that, if you will.
He also made the point, with the exception of John 3 and verse
16, no other statement can be found anywhere in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus declaring the love of God to all sinners. What's more, read in the book
of Acts. There are all the sermons of
the apostles, all of their preaching. But never once did any apostle
preach the universal love of God. In fact, if you look, the
word love, L-O-V-E, is not one time in the book of Acts. But it contains all of the preaching
of Paul and the apostle. Now, the one text found in Romans
9 and verse 13 actually breaks the back of universal love. and
of universalism. It says it. Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Now that's taken or quoted by
Paul from Malachi chapter 1 and verse 2 and verse 3. Here is one mentioned by name,
Esau, that God is said to hate. Jacob I love, Esau on the other
hand have I hated. There is Psalm 5 and verse 5. But God's love is everlasting. Jeremiah 31 and verse 3. Jesus, in John 13 and verse 1,
loved his own which were in the world, and
he loved them unto the end. Now, consider these distinctions
which are meaningless if God loves all equally and alike. These statements are without
meaning if universal love is true. Proverbs 3 and verse 12. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth."
Now there's a distinction. Hebrews 12 and verse 6 quotes
this again. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And listen to Revelation 3 and
verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Furthermore, Romans 8, 35 through
verse 39, nothing can separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus. That love set upon those will
ever be set upon them, and that for all eternity. So we would
ask the proponent of universal love to consider whether God
loves those that perish. The Arminian has no problem with
that. He says yes, yes indeed. Whether God loves those that
are now in the misery of eternal torment. If He ever loved them,
He loves them yet. For I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. And that love cannot change,
cannot increase, it cannot decrease, it cannot be evaded. But the
Universalist has another argument to fetch from John 3 and verse
16. if he'd be denied his appeal
to universal love, then he will bring forth new argument using
the word world. God so loved the world. The objects of the love of God
are described here as the world. And our minions always tell us
world means world. World means everyone, the whole
human family, All without exception. Every single person who has ever
lived is living now or will ever live. All that are saved, all
that are lost are equally the objects of the love of God. Now, it will be discovered when
we trace them out that our many universalists are, first of all,
they're not honest and they're not consistent in their use and
application of such terms as the world, the whole world, and
all of the world. For they ignore those places
where the very same word cannot mean all without exception, such
as Luke 2 and verse 1. Hear this, there went out a decree
from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Now, is that every man, every
person in every nation on the face of the earth without exception? Again, in John 12 and verse 19,
the Pharisees said this, Behold, the world is gone after him. That is, after the Lord Jesus. The world is gone after him. Could this mean all without exception? Could this mean all that have
ever lived? They themselves had not gone
after the Lord in that way. Another example, in Romans 1
and in verse 8, the apostle Paul wrote to them, I thank my God
through the Lord Jesus Christ that your faith is spoken of
throughout the whole world. The whole world. Can this mean,
again, everyone without exception had heard of the faith of the
Roman Christian? Then 1 John 5, And verse 19 ought
to settle the matter for us concerning these phrases. The whole world
lies in wickedness, John wrote. Now did he mean all without exception? I think not. Or he said we are
of God and the whole world lies in wickedness. But we especially
are interested in those passages where the terms are used in connection
with the redemption of our blessed Lord, such as John 3, verse 16,
where there is a case to be made. The world is a contrast between
the we of Nicodemus. When Nicodemus came, he said,
we know, chapter 3 and verse 2. And it is plural. It is not
I know, but we know. And in other places of his acquaintance
with the Jew, as A.W. Pink noted, Nicodemus, as a man,
and as a Jew, believed that God's mercies were exclusively confined
to the Jewish nation. Jews believed that. That was
their doctrine. That a simple physical ancestry
of Abraham was favored in the kingdom of God. In another text
that we have studied at times, it said that God was in Christ. reconciling the world unto himself. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse
19. It is acknowledged by some that
the Jews called the Gentile the world. This is how they referred
to those that were non-Jews. And Paul twice uses that distinction
in Romans chapter 11. And if you care, they are verse
12 and verse 15 of Romans 11. And three times he uses the word
Gentile as synonymous with the world. Thus, when the Lord Jesus
Christ used the term world, it is used in a way described by
John Owen, and I'm quoting, to give evidence of the removal
of all personal and national distinction, the breaking up
of all the narrow bonds of the Old Testament, the enlarging
of the kingdom of Christ beyond the bounds of jury, and abolishing
all old restriction and opening a new way for the elect among
all people on the earth." Now, as to the term world, all the
world, the whole world, to prove absolute universalism, as some
do, is to stretch them beyond the meaning of which they are
used by the Holy Spirit in the Word of the Lord, the Spirit
inspiring the Holy Scripture, especially if we remember that
until Christ came in the flesh, God's gracious dealing were restricted
to a single nation or a single people, and all of the rest of
the world was excluded. Amos 3 and 2, you only have I
known of all of the nations of the world. Acts 14 and 16, in
time had suffered all nations to walk in their own way. But with the appearing of the
God-man in the flesh and his death upon a cross, there comes
a great transition which is well described in this quote that
I found, quote, whereby all external differences are taken away, the
name of the Gentile removed, the partition wall broken down,
the promise of Abraham that he be the father of many nations
fulfilled, unquote. Abraham was not to be father
either physically or spiritually only of the Jew, but of all of
them that believe. And so in reference to the saving
work of Christ, such terms do not describe an absolute universalism
of all individuals, as some have claimed, but confirm the former
restrictions are no longer in place. They have been done away
with. There has been an enlarging of
the goodness and the favor of God to other people. One expositor
stated, these expressions such as world, all the world, the
whole world, and such like, quote, do but express the enlargement
of the kingdom of Christ, unquote, and thereby are they you, Him
having elect in many nations, yea, maybe in every nation. Earlier it was said that the
Armenians are not honest and they are not consistent in using
the texts that have the world, all the world, the whole world,
all men, etc., for they are set in the mold of absolute universalism
and have twisted the meaning of these words and passages of
Scripture to suit their own notion. So they steadfastly insist, world
means world and all means all. They're not so adamant about
words when they encounter Romans 9 and verse 13, however, they're
saying by the word world, world means world, all means all. But then they come to Romans
9, 13, Esau have I hated, and they do not scream out, hate
means hate. but rather they translate this
to love less. Jeesaw have I love less. That's a dishonest interpretation
of the scripture on both accounts. Now, as proof of the stubbornness
of the matter, let us ignore them to consider the context
in which the words are used, but let us bind them to the rule
of interpretation and to point them to the circumstances and
the places where the word appears, or how the words are used in
other places. in the holy and blessed scripture,
that they, in essence, we don't care about the historical context. I've heard them say that. They
don't like an historical context because it restricts them more
than they would. Give us the bare word. We're
all. It suits us well. And they accuse
us of explaining it away or, quote, exegeting it to death,"
is how some have said it. And they screech and they scream
and they stomp their feet and they turn purple in the face
and they say, world means world and all means all. And this only
will they have. But consider John 3 and verse
17. And the word world is used three
times being the same word as we have in verse 16. And it begins
also with a far And again, it contrasts from the we in verse
2, that is, from the Jew. And so verse 17 further confirms
verse 16 of John chapter 3, that God so loved and Christ came
to save all of those who believe, whether they are Jew or whether
they are Gentile. And believers are synonymous
with the elect in the Scripture. The faith of God's elect, Paul
wrote to Titus. The elect are made up of people
of all nations and all nationalities and all creeds and such like.
Both verse 16 and verse 17 declare the same thing, which is the
aim and the purpose of God in sending His Son. That is, that
believers from the whole world should be saved. And verse 16
declares it with singleness of mind. that by the death of Christ,
all who believe have everlasting life and will never perish. Verse 17 expresses it both negatively
and positively. God sent not His Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might
be saved. And again, the words world and
all the world and the whole world Do not intend every last individual
without exception, but people of every kindred and every tongue,
of every people and nation. Revelation 5 and verse 9. See also Revelation 7 and verse
9. In Revelation 14 and verse 6,
that out of all nations and tongues and such like shall come those
who shall sit down in the kingdom of God. Not to condemn the world
did Christ come, but to be a Savior of the world. They were condemned
already, and Christ came to save on a saving mission. Christ came
not to affect condemnation, but to save and to bring men to everlasting
life, not to condemn Jew or Gentile, but to save many of each one
of them. In 1 Timothy 1.15, a good verse,
this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, to save the world
of the elect, those given unto him by the Father. You know, those Samaritans, was
it last Lord's Day we were looking at John chapter 4, Those Samaritans
who heard and believed, first because of the saying of the
woman, then because of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, gave
this testimony in John chapter 4, verse 39 through verse 42,
and said, We believe, we know that this is indeed the Christ,
the Savior of the world. The Savior of the world. In 1 John chapter 4 and verse
14, we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Savior of the world. John's not shy about using that
word world. In fact, in 1 John are two places
where he uses the phrase, the whole world, those three words,
the whole world where it cannot mean all without exception. For in both places it is a contrast
with something else. And those two places are 1 John
2 and verse 2. We know that He is the propitiation
for our sin. The other place is chapter 5
and verse 19. Those places very definitely
the whole world not meaning all without exception. Now coming
to the word whosoever. That's another favorite word.
that gets great emphasis in John 3.16, over which many also stumble,
just as they do over the word world. For again, the Armenians
think the word whosoever means any and every Tom, Dick, and
Harry. Any and everybody. And they hold the word as part
of their free will. But whosoever will is not proof
of free will, nor does whosoever mean all without exception. Its extent is determined and
is restricted by the context in which it is found, and that
in both directions. Here are some examples. Matthew
5 and verse 21. Whosoever. shall kill, shall be in danger
of judgment." Matthew 5 and 22. Whosoever is angry without a
cause. Matthew 5 and 28. Whosoever looketh
upon a woman to lust. James 4 and 4. Whosoever will
be a friend of the world. Now all those places The word
whosoever does not mean every Tom, Dick, and Harry. John 3.16,
Whosoever believeth. Acts 2.21, Romans 10.13, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever,
that is, Jew or Gentile, whosoever of any nationality, or of any
nation." Now consider a double use of whosoever in John 4, 13
and 14. Whosoever drinks of this water
shall thirst again, but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall
give him shall never thirst. Thus the word whosoever has the
meaning R is equal to saying every one that. Or we could say
any, all that, the ones that. The margin has they which. They which believe. They which
do this. Thus, whosoever believes, be
it Jew or Gentile, male or female, a greater or a lesser sinner,
rich or poor, slave or master, as Gil said, of whatever station
and condition, age or gender, whosoever The passage in Romans
10, 9-13 kind of uses the word confess, believe, call interchangeably
in that passage. Whosoever believes, verse 11,
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, verse 13, all that
do. Everyone that does shall be saved. Whosoever believes shows that
faith is the means of experiencing the eternal life which Jesus
died to procure in His death upon the cross because of His
great love. But we learn from other places
that faith is not done by free will ability since we read of
some who cannot believe, whose eyes are blinded, and whose minds
are blinded. Faith is a work of divine grace
and comes not until and unless there is a divine quickening
at the hands of the blessed Holy Spirit. So, we close by saying
the verses that seem the simplest are sometimes the most perverting. The verses that people think
stand out as very simple and clear are those sometimes that
suffer the worst at the hands of men who twist them about to
some other meaning. Thus we see that John 3.16 in
no wise clashes with a particular purpose and death and calling
of the Almighty God and of His Holy Christ. Therefore, We're
not afraid of John 3.16, that we paint ourselves in a corner
or shoot ourselves in the foot or destroy our belief in the
sovereignty of God. It is in perfect harmony.