Now won't you look with me back
here in John chapter 3. You remember our Lord told Nicodemus
you must be born again. Nicodemus asked how in the world
can these things be? And this is the situation of
most masters. Most people who claim to be masters
of divinity and doctors of divinity and those kind of things. Are
thou master of Israel? And you don't know these things
that I talked to you about. The new birth. And our Lord said, we speak things
that we do know. Things that we do know. And we
only tell what we've seen. And he said, you don't receive
our witness. And if I told you of earthly
things, about a birth, about the wind, if I told you
earthly things, and you didn't understand them,
that's why you have to be born again. Because you can't even
understand earthly things. So what in the world good would
a dude tell you of heavenly things? Well, you don't even understand
the earthly things that I tell you. And that's the reason a
man has to have the new birth. And the new birth is not something
that you can do. You have as much to do with your
new birth in the kingdom of God, being saved by the grace of God,
being given life by Christ as you had in your first birth. God's got to do it. and then our Lord said here in
verse 14 and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness
even so must the son of man he that's born of a woman be lifted
up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have
eternal life here's my subject 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. God's blessed, blessed
love, the love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and
strong, it shall forevermore endure the saints and angels
song. Let me tell you something about
God. It's not God's severity. It's
not God's severity. It's not the wrath of God. It's
not some catastrophe that he causes to bring into your life.
It's not some tragedy that he has to bring into your life to
get you to trust him. But you know how God wins a heart?
How God wins a sinner to himself? It's the love of God. It's the
love of God. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth men to repentance. It's the long suffering of God
that we count to be salvation. It's the love of God, the goodness
of God that wins a sinner's heart and wins their soul. It's the
love of God, the goodness of God, the blessedness of God that
conquers His will. And it's a glimpse, it's a glimpse
of the love of God manifested in Christ crucified. That's why
the Lord said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
the only way you can be saved from that serpent's bite in the
wilderness, to get rid of that poison blood in the wilderness,
was by Christ, by the serpent, being lifted up. The only way
a man can have a new birth and be saved from that tainted, tainted
blood that he inherited from his parents, we inherited from
our father Adam, is for Christ to be lifted up. And when you
get a view of the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up, crucified for
you, bearing your sins, bearing your sins bearing the guilt and
the shame and the judgment do you if you see him bearing your
sins that'll win your heart that'll win your heart that'll crush
your heart that'll make you willing to come to Christ on his terms
his terms now let me say this also that God's blessed love
is only known by those who experience it. Those who experience it. To those who have had the love
of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost. Men talk about
how much God loves them and they've talked about the love of God
and made it to where it has absolutely no power or no effect on men
and women's hearts because it's just so common. But for those
who have experienced The love of God. Those who have experienced
the Holy Ghost, the love of God, shed abroad in their hearts by
the Holy Ghost. They're the only ones who can
appreciate it, though their appreciation is so inappropriate and imperfect. But I want to say several things
about the blessed love of God here. I'm going to give you several
things about it. And I want you to look at them
with me. The first thing I want you to look at is the tense of
God's love. Look what it says there in verse
16. For God so loved. Do you see how that says loved?
Not gonna love, not will love, but have loved. You know, when
it says loved, that means, beloved, it's not something's gonna happen
in the future, something's already happened. For God does love. God is love. It's not God loves, though He
does. But He loved. He loved. To love us now, that we're His
children, we can to some degree understand that. But to love
us before we were, before we became His children, Before we
ever existed that he loved us Now that's a whole horse of a
whole different color. I mean, this is what passes understanding
that he could love us the way we were and the way we are and
He loved us and you know as I said loved We fall in love And when
we pass this life here, they say that man loved his family. It's in the past. But our Lord
Jesus Christ, it says here, God so loved. Now I want you to look
at something with me. Over here, you keep John 3.16
and look in Romans chapter 5. Look in Romans chapter 5. Jeremiah says this, I've loved
thee. I have loved thee Jeremiah 31
I have loved thee with an everlasting love and you know how God manifested
that everlasting love He is going to tell us right here in Romans
chapter 5 look what it says here He just got through saying that,
you know, God makes hope not ashamed because the love of God
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which was given
unto us. When was this given unto us? Verse 6, for when we
were yet without strength. Yet without strength. What does
it mean to be without strength? That means you have no power.
That means you have no ability. That means you have no strength
to save yourself, no strength to pick yourself up, no strength
to come to Christ. They talk about a man's will,
where does he get the strength and his will to come? And oh my, when we are without
strength, no ability, no strength. In due time, right on time, in
God's time, Christ died for who? People without God. That's what
that means. People without God. It don't
mean somebody that's out here ripping and roaring and tearing
up everything and getting drunk all the time, spending all of
his money and, you know, womanizing and all that. That's not what
it means. It means just to be without God. So we were without God. We're
ungodly. Ungodly. Ungodly in our thoughts
about God. Ungodly in our thoughts about
ourselves. To be self-righteous is ungodly. To think you can be accepted
of God by your works is ungodly. To think you can come to God
by your own power and free will is ungodly. That's a different kind of ungodly,
ain't it? But look what he goes on to say
here. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Now our Lord
Jesus Christ said, I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. Now if you accept somebody that
you think is a righteous man, you say, well why in the world
would I need to die for a righteous man? He's righteous in himself.
He can do his own thing. He can stand on his own two feet.
So there's no reason to die for him, yet maybe for a good man. Well, he's a good fella. He's
a good fella, so I might, you know, I'll die for him. Maybe,
maybe. But that's not the way God does
things. Look what he says. But God commendeth his love toward
us. Now is that love again toward
us? Listen to it now. In that while
we were yet sinners. Oh, did you hear that word? Sinners. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Thank God that he did. and I
tell you this love is sure in the present because he said he
loved and it'll be sure in the future because he loved. He loved. Here's the next thing about the
love of God back over here. The tenth of his love. He loved.
He loved. He's not gonna lie. He loved.
And let me tell you this. Everybody whom Christ loved and
God loved They're going to experience the
love of God. They're going to experience it. Believe me, they're going to
experience it. If God's loved you, and gave you a son, mark
it down, you're going to experience that love. It may be ten years
down the road, it may be today, and it may be tomorrow, but if
God did it, you're going to experience it. You're going to experience
it. And oh my, look at the magnitude
of it. Here, back over here in our John
3 16. So God loved. Look at the magnitude of it.
The greatness of His love. And that word soul. God's soul. Soul. The greatness of His love.
Soul loved. Soul. Oh my. How do you define, how do you
measure that little word soul? So loved, so loved. We can't
measure the love we feel for our own families. You know, people,
you know, they fall in love and they were really in love and
then they'll have a baby and they said, I didn't think I could
ever possibly love anything as much as I love that baby. And
then that love just sometimes it fills you so full that you
just feel like you don't match with it. But still yet, no matter
how much we love, it waxes and it wanes. It's hot and it's cold. And no matter how much we love
somebody, it's never perfect. It's always got something wrong
with it. But not God. How do you measure the love of
God? Now keep John and look over here
with me in Ephesians 3. I want to show you something
over here if I can. Ephesians 3. It runs hot and cold. Our love
does. But God's love is a bottomless
well. It's an unscalable mountain. People just glance over John
3.16 and base their whole theology on it and don't understand what
it means. But look what the Apostle said here in Ephesians 3.14. For this cause, for this reason,
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because
the whole family of heaven and earth is named through our Lord
Jesus Christ. And that He, Christ, would grant
unto you, the Father would grant unto you according to the riches
of His glory. to be strengthened with might
by His Spirit in that man that's inside you. That Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith and that you being rooted and grounded,
watch it now, in love may be able to comprehend with all saints
what is the breadth, the length, the depth, the height And to
know the love of Christ. Now listen to this now. He said,
I want you to know these things. But to know the love of Christ
which passes knowledge. I want you to know it, but still
yet when you know it, it passes knowledge. And that you might
be filled with all the fullness of God. Oh my. You see, He said, I want you
to know. I want you to know how long it
is. I want you to know how high it is, I want you to know how
deep it is. And yet, it passes knowledge. Passes knowledge. Oh, listen. God's love, they
talk about He so loved the world. I tell you what, His love was
so great. So great. So glorious. So blessed. Because He so, so, so loved. And look now at the scope of
God's love. Look what he says here. God so
loved the world. The world. That's the thing that
people get hung up on. That's worlds within a world.
John 1 and 10 describes three different worlds in one verse. Three different worlds. The world
was lost. this is condemnation that light
came into the world world and if God loved everybody in the
world light come into the world and men loved darkness rather
than light the world was lost the world was guilty the world
was condemned all that was in the world is the lust of the
flesh the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That's all
that was in this world. But, bless His glorious, blessed,
holy name. God's love, when He said He so
loved the world, it wasn't limited to the Jews alone. It wasn't
limited to the Jewish nation. It meant that He's going to love
the Gentiles, The bond, the free, the male, the female, the bondy,
the sithian, the barbarian, every person. Every type of person. It says that he's going to love
sinners out of every nation. Out of every tribe under heaven. And you know, men, we separate
ourselves by class in this world. There's the upper class, there's
the middle class, and the lower class. There's the ruling class
and the class that's ruled. There's the wealthy, there's
the poor. There's the aristocracy, and
then there's the peasants. Everybody's put in a class. God loves me in a better class. I don't know what class you're
in, but we're all in somebody's class. Men got to put us in a
class. Middle class, upper class, poor
class, somebody. But I tell you somebody puts
you in educated class, uneducated class. But this is the thing,
every class, no matter high, low, middle, don't make any difference
to every kind of people without distinction. God truly is no
respect of persons. And that's why it's Smith's here
that God so loved the world over job John chapter 4 verse 19 It
says this the whole world lies in wickedness Now I was in that world of wickedness,
how'd I get out of that world of wickedness I Christ loved
me, God loved me, sent His Son, and His blessed Son died for
me, and that's the reason, without any distinction, shows that God's
no respect of persons. If He had been a respect of persons,
would He have saved you? If He had been a respect of persons,
would He have done anything for you? Men here respect people's persons. They shouldn't do it, but they
do. I mean, people are always trying
to get on somebody else's good side. Trying to snuggle up to
somebody's Godson, when they don't have anything. But God's
not that way. When He looks at you, when He
looks at the President, and He looks at the lowest, uneducated
person on this planet, God sees no difference in either one of
them. Ain't that right? When he sees that woman, that
purest woman, that I mean, she's never known a man, she's holy,
she's what they call pure, pure woman, and over here's a man,
and he's the same way, and then there's somebody out here selling
themselves, in God's sight, no difference! People say, that's
just not right. It is right! I tell you what, I don't care
how pure somebody is in their own eyes and how pure they are
in somebody else's eyes. In God's sight, there's none
righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seek after God. There's no fear of God in
their eyes. And I tell you what, we've talked,
we've talked, we make such a distinction between men and women in this
area. Little girls are sugar, spice, and everything nice. They're
little princesses. And so they grow up thinking
they're little princesses, and they grow up to be queens. And then boys are puppy dog tails
of snails. But we, you know, and here's
the thing about it, the gospel don't view nobody that way at
all. Queens, you know what Job said? God has taken the crown off my
head. And that's what, and over in
Isaiah he said he come to stain the pride of man. I tell you
one thing, he's going to take that crown off your head and
then he's going to come along and he's going to stain your
pride. Hey, I didn't say he's going
to kill it, but he's going to stain it. He's going to make that thing
when you look at it how dirty it looks and how dark it looks
and how awful it looks. You say, you ought not talk to
people that way. Listen, you wait until you face God. You
think I'm talking to you, Ralph. Wait until you face God. When he judges the secrets of
men's hearts. You go out of this world without
God and I tell you what, you'll hear things that you never dreamed
you'd hear. Oh my, God's love. Listen, He loved the world. He loved an old sinner out of
the world like me. He loved an old ignorant boy
like me. He loved an old boy that didn't
have a mother and father that would give him the time of day
from the time he was six years old. Love me. There's a river that flows from
the heart of God that reaches into the deepest recesses of
black hearted, hard hearted sinners and wins them to himself. wins them to himself and to his
blessed son. And here's the nature of God's
love. Look what it says here back over there again. He loved. He so loved the greatness of
it and the world, the scope of it, the world of sinners, the
world of the lost, the world of people without strength and
without ability, with no worth, no righteousness, no help to
themselves. And look what he's had here now,
that he gave, he gave, he gave. You know, love, and I see this all the
time, love, real love, always, always seeks the highest best
of others. If you love somebody, you want
the very best for them. You think of them before you
think of yourself. You think of doing for them before
you think of doing for yourself. Love is unselfish. It gives. It gives. And that's been manifested
to me so many times from this people in this congregation,
places from other places. It gives. God's love by its very
nature must be expressed. If there's love in your heart
and there's love in you, it must be expressed. You cannot have
love in you and not express it. Is that not right? It can't be
done. If you love your wife, it's got to be expressed. If
you love your husband, it's got to be expressed. If you love
your children, it's expressed. If you love one another, it's
expressed. It comes out, it shows on you, it tells on you. Well,
I'm going to tell you how God expressed His love. He gave. He gave. Now, God's love by its
very nature must be expressed. And we can see how glorious it
is by nature by whom He loves. Jacob, have a loved. Esau, have a hated. Look at whom he loved. Look at
whom he loved. I can't get over, I read a little
thing this week, where a woman told Mr. Spurgeon, since the
Lord saved me, he ain't never going to hear the last of it. He ain't never going to hear
the last of it from me. And nobody else is not going
to hear the last of it. He says, He saved me. He's not
going to hear the last of it from me. I'm going to praise
Him. I'm going to bless Him. I'm going to thank Him. He gave. He raised bears. Bears. Where did He raise them up from?
Off the dunghill. And then not only did He raise
them up off the dunghill, but He took them over here and He
set them among princes. Here I am sitting among princes. And here's the thing about it,
when you live on a dunghill, you're not conscious you're on
a dunghill until you're picked up off of it. And you say, that's
where I lived? That's where I lived. I lived
on that old stinking pile there. I lived on that place there so
nasty and so dirty and so corrupt and was so awful. You don't know
you was on a dung hill until you got off the dung hill. Then
you look back and say, oh my, is that where I was? Was I? Whew. But he raised his beggars
off of the dung hills. Then not only was God's love
that he gave, but look here what else it says. God's love was
sacrificial. Look what he said. He gave his
only begotten son. God spared not his own son. Spared not his own son. But you know what he did? He
delivered him up. Here he is. He delivered him
up. Well, there's hell and more there.
He delivered him up. The men despise and reject him.
Delivered him up. There's no beauty about it that
we should decide. He delivered him up. We're going
to hate him without a cause. He delivered him up. Oh my. And when it says God gave
His only begotten Son, He gave the Son of His love. John 1.18
says He was in the bosom of the Father. In the bosom of the Father. In His heart, in His warmth,
and embraced by His blessed Father. And it says here that even He
came, the Son of Man, which came down from heaven. And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, He's got to be lifted
up. This is the Son. When our God,
our Father said this, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well
pleased. Here's the thing that we know,
our sons are sons of flesh. sons of sin like we are but he
was the son of God unto us a child is born unto us a son was given
and how he gave him you know first thing he did he gave him
in promise then he gave him to the virgin's womb to unite himself
with humanity to unite himself with manhood perfect manhood
and he gave him up to beloved to start his life in this world
as a tiny baby as an infant as an infant and then when he grew
up he gave him to labor gave him to work he was a laboring
man And he gave him to come into
this world to be among men and women who hated him, despised
him, and rejected everything there was about him. He gave him to hunger, gave him
to poverty, gave him to thirst. When he said, I thirst, you know
what they gave him to drink? Vinegar. He gave him and his back to the
smiters. Gave his cheeks to those who
plucked out his beard. Gave him to a group of men that
he fellowshiped with and taught for over three years. And he
gave him to one who would sell him for 30 pieces of silver and
the rest of him would deny and flee from him. gave him into the hands of his
enemies to scorch him, to beat him, to mock him, to slap him,
to spit in his face, and finally gave him to death, gave him up
to death, a criminal's death, even the death of the cross. This gives us just a small, small
idea, very little idea of what it means when God gave His Son. He gave Him the just for the
unjust, the guilty, the innocent for the guilty, the righteous
for sinners, the obedient one for the disobedient. And I tell
you what, His giving of His Son was complete was perfect without
any conditions on it without any bars on it he gave his son
freely his son freely came and he came to pay a ransom for our
souls and make us acceptable to God Almighty let me show you
this here's the design, here's the
reason of this blessed love That whosoever believeth, believeth
not just anything, not just anything, but believeth in Him, in Him,
in Him, should not perish. Not just believe anything, believe
in Him. Not just some things about Him,
in Him. when they were in the wilderness
coming through the wilderness multitudes and multitudes died
in the wilderness when Moses lifted up that serpent he said
God Israel rebelled and God sent fire serpents among them they
got bit and they were dying God told Moses Moses make a brass
serpent put him on a pole and lift him up set him up And whosoever,
now listen to this, whosoever is bitten, bitten, if they look, kill that quick. But you notice he said everyone
that was bitten, you ever been bitten? You been bitten by the serpent?
You been bitten by that serpent of sin? That serpent of rebellion? That serpent of disobedience?
That serpent that without God, without Christ, you've been bitten
by that serpent? Has that serpent come along? And I'll tell you
something. That serpent is, you think a rattlesnake's poisonous?
The poison that's in your heart's worse than any rattlesnake that's
ever been. Without Christ. You think a copperhead's
bad? Poison and animosity and all
that's in your heart a copperhead won't hold a light to watch in
us And I tell you what when you
hear the gospel if God don't have mercy on you that poison
in there that that That old poison in your heart will strike out
at God strike out at God strike out at God Strike out at being called sinner.
Strike out at being called worthless. Strike out at being called no
good. Strike out at being without God,
without Christ, and without hope. Strike out! You don't know what
kind of fine fellow I am. Striking at God. Oh my. Now let me tell you. Multitudes died in the wilderness
and Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness. It wasn't
Moses fault that they died. It wasn't the Poles fault that
they died. It wasn't the serpents fault
that they died. And if you perish, God provided
the remedy for them. If you perish, I'm going to tell
you something, it won't be God's fault. It won't be God's fault. It won't
be God's fault if you've ever heard the gospel. And I tell
you what, it won't be the pole's fault. I'm just a pole. That's all I am. And it won't be the son's fault.
He died. God gave him. He died. It won't be God's fault. You
hear the gospel, it won't be God's fault that you perish.
It won't be the son's fault. He came here. It won't be the
Pope's fault. It won't be the preacher's fault. You know why it will be? It will
be because you will not believe on the Son of God. You will not
believe on Christ. God so loved that He gave Him. God's the love that he lifted
him up. And if you perish, if you leave
here without Christ, you leave here because you're waiting for
a feeling, you're waiting for some experience, you're waiting
for some evidence, you're waiting for whatever reason it is to
false in you that you're waiting. God's gave His Son. God gave
Him for sinners. God gave him to save men from
sin. And God loved his people, loved
sinners. Christ loved sinners. Christ
died for sinners. And the only qualification you
have to have to come to Christ are you a sinner. And you know how you get to Christ?
Right from here. But I tell you this, if you get
to Him from here to where He's at now, you're going to tell
some people that's here, here now. You can't keep that to yourself. God could not keep His love to
Himself. He expressed His love. How did
He express it? By giving His Son. How did He
express it? How did Christ express it? Having
loved His own, He loved them in the world unto the end. How
did our Lord do? He said, Father, forgive them.
They don't know what they do. Don't leave here. Please don't
leave here. After all these years of hearing
the Gospel, don't leave here without trusting Christ. Because God, He's provided everything
that a man needs. What are you waiting for? What
are you waiting for? Whatever reason you give, whatever
reason you give from trusting Christ, God will take that reason
that you have and cause it to be a worm to eat on you throughout
eternity. Oh my, well let me give you the
last thing. The benefit of God's love. Not
only whosoever believeth on him. That shows you that he's no respective
person. He don't care who it is. He don't
care who you are, don't care where you've been, don't care
what you've done, don't care how bad you are. He don't care
anything, the only thing he cares about is his son and you coming
to his son. Oh, but not only should not perish,
but listen to this, have everlasting life. What's everlasting life? Well,
don't have no end to it. He'll live forever. It's everlasting. The cause is John 3.14. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of
Man should be lifted up. And here's the reason He was
lifted up. That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have what? Eternal life, whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. And you know what everlasting
life is? It's the quality of it. It's the quality. It's the
life of Christ in you. It's God in you. It's Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Now I had life. I lived before
God saved me by His grace. I had natural life. I had a life. But when God saves a man, when
Christ comes in a man, The quality of his life changes dramatically. And that's why when a believer
is called to go home, that's what we call it. God called him
to go home, to come home. You know, beloved, they don't
enter into life when they die. They entered into life when Christ
came into them. And that's why we look at a body,
but they're not there. Where are they at? They're living.
They're really living now. And we really, really live in
Christ and by Christ. I enjoy life. Nobody enjoys living
more than I do. You know why? Because of Christ,
what He's done for me. I know how to enjoy what God's
given me. It's not peculiar to me, but
ain't it that way for you? I mean, don't you love living? Because it's the life of Christ
in us. James, whenever they bring your
body up in front of me or me in front of you, I say, bless
you. Oh, bless the Lord all my soul. He's going to be with Christ.
The one He longed to see, the one He's trusted in, the one
He wants to see. Now ain't that right? Our Lord
Jesus Christ said, I come, I come. I am come that they might have
life and have it more abundantly. You think you had life before? Oh, the life that He gives. This
is what God gives to everyone, everyone who believes, who comes
to and trusts in His Son. Huh? Behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the
sons of God. Amen? Christ died and life's the benefit
of it. I hope that was a blessing.
I hope it was a blessing. Our Father, the precious, precious
name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, the Gospels and the fruit and effect of it
is in your hands to do us in with you good. But oh Lord, I pray that you
would be pleased to save by your precious grace. Manifest yourself in a wondrous
way, blessed way. Thank you for meeting with us
today. Thank you for your precious, precious gospel. Thank you for
the joy and peace that it brings. and the rest of heart and soul
and conscience He gives. We thank you for it. In Christ's
name. Amen. Let's get our course book. Number
21. Let's stand together. The love of God is greater far
than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond God gave His Son to win. His erring child He reconciled
and pardoned from. so Harshman Bay, where every storm
on earth occurs.