You open your Bibles with me
to the book of John chapter three. John chapter three. I've been
preaching through this chapter beginning with the Lord Jesus
Christ dealing with a Pharisee named Nicodemus telling this
man that in order for a sinner who is by nature dead in trespasses
and sins to see or understand, believe, embrace, and enter the
kingdom of God, that he must be born again. The reason we
must be born again is because our first birth, our physical
birth, we're born in sin and death, spiritually speaking. We fell in Adam, the scripture
teaches that. All people fell in Adam, the
representative of the whole human race under that covenant of works
where God told him, in the day that you disobey, in the day
that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And of course, we
know what happened according to Genesis 3. Adam ate and he
fell and we fell with him. And as a result of that, we're
born spiritually dead. We're born physically alive,
obviously, And I've often said, you know, this argument that
people have of where does life begin? That's a silly argument.
It begins at conception. No doubt about that. In life,
the principle of physical life is given. But being born in sin
and death, we're born spiritually dead. That means we have no desire,
no knowledge, no real understanding of spiritual things. the things
that glorify God. We're spiritually dead. We're sinners and we're totally
depraved. Now, what does that mean? You
know, somebody said, well, are you saying everybody's a raven
lunatic out here? Just, no. Even sitting in a church pew
believing something that is false, as far as salvation goes, is
a sign of depravity. It means we have no capacity
to come to God on our own. Someone said one time, if God
came down to earth and gathered the whole human race together
and said, I'm gonna leave it to your choice, do you want me
or do you want the devil? He said, according to the Bible,
everyone without exception, the best of us, the least of us,
the worst of us, would say we want the devil. If you don't
understand that, there's something missing in your understanding
of the scripture. The natural man, 1 Corinthians
2, 14, the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit
of God, neither can he know them, they're spiritually discerned.
You must be born again. And that's what Christ told Nicodemus. And how does this new birth come
about? Well, people today say, well, you make your move, you
make your decision, you believe, and then you're born again. But
the Bible doesn't teach that. You may think it does, but it
does not. And I can show you clearly where
it does not teach that. And Christ told Nicodemus, the
Spirit, listen, he says in verse eight, the wind bloweth where
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone
that's born of the Spirit. It's the sovereign, invincible
work of Almighty God. It's not you make your move and
then God makes His. God is not some cosmic chess
player who acts and reacts and responds to your moves. That's
not the way it is. That's not the God of the Bible. And so with that in mind, we're
gonna look at this verse, John 3, 16, which says, 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. Now
that's a verse that just about everybody knows. A lot of people
quote. If you watch football on TV,
you'll see some of the players, they'll have it scribbled on
their cheeks or somebody in the stand with a sign, everybody
quotes it. Most people say, well, that's the gospel in one verse.
Well, it can be. if you understand what it's saying.
But let me give you two things to start off with here. The first
thing is this. If you really wanna know what
God's word teaches, if you're really interested in finding
the word of God, what God the Lord speaks, not just man's opinion
now, not just what this denomination says and that denomination says,
Not what just this preacher says or any preacher. But you want
to know what God's Word is. Well, then one of the worst things
you can do in seeking to find the true meaning of the Scriptures,
the Word of God, is to bring your preconceived beliefs and
notions and ideas with you and subject your understanding of
the Scriptures to those preconceived beliefs. That's one of the worst
things you can do. Now we all have preconceived
notions, especially if you were raised in religion. But we even
by nature have preconceived notions and ideas. So what should I do
then? I mean, it's no shame simply having a preconceived belief.
But don't bring it to the scriptures and make the scriptures subject
to what you already think you know. So what should you do? Be willing,
now listen to me. Be willing to put all your preconceived
notions and beliefs and ideas to the test of God's Word. You know how the Bible commands
you to do that? Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
Here's what I think. Is that what God's Word teaches?
It may be, it may not be. Are you willing to put it on
the line? You see what I'm saying? Because if you're not, you're
not seeking the Lord. You're just seeking confirmation.
You're just seeking somebody to agree with you. I've had people tell me after
hearing a sermon on certain subjects, they say, well, I'll never believe
that. And I say, well, I just put it, I just read scripture
to you. In other words, their mind's
already, their heart's hardened. That's what happens. You say,
well, you've preached something and that's not what I've been
taught all my life. And mom and daddy wouldn't teach
me wrong. They would if they're wrong. Wouldn't they? Do you know something? Let me tell you something that
might shock you. Saul of Tarsus had a mama and a daddy. And he
was taught by his mama and his daddy. And they thought they
were teaching him right, didn't they? Your mom and your daddy,
your grandmother, they would not teach you wrongly if they
knew it was wrong. But what if they didn't know
it? You see what I'm saying? We've got to be, you know, somebody
said, well, you need to come to the scriptures with a blank
slate. Well, that's hard for us to do. But what we need to
do is say, I'm gonna put it on the line. I wanna know what God
says. I wanna know what God's word
says. And then the second thing is
this, understand that one of the most essential rules of right
interpretation of the scriptures is the rule of context. There's the context of the whole
Bible, Genesis to Revelation. I know, listen, here's what I'm
saying. I know that whatever John 3.16 says, it's not gonna
contradict any part of the Bible. And if I see a contradiction,
the problem is with me. And you know why I believe that?
Because this is the word of God. And I'm a simple, fallible man.
So whatever it does say, it's not gonna contradict what the
other scriptures say. And if you don't believe that,
then why are you even reading the word of God? You don't have
any respect for it. There's the context of the whole
Bible. There's the context of the book of the Bible. This is
the book of John. What is John writing about? He's
writing about the new birth based upon the death of Christ. Look
at verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the servant
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Now that's the death of Christ. The death of Christ is the accomplishment
of redemption for God's people. It's not Christ trying to save
anybody. Oh, he's trying to save you,
if you know that the Bible doesn't say that. It's the accomplishment
of redemption, where he put away the sins of his people and established
a righteousness whereby God justifies them and gives them life from
the dead. And there's the ground of salvation.
And here's the fruit, verse 15, look at it. that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have ever eternal life." Now
verse 15 is not the ground or the cause, it's the fruit, the
result. Verse 14 is the ground. And you know what it teaches
us? That all whom Christ redeemed on the cross will believe and
have everlasting life. That's what it says, that's what
the Bible teaches. What about John 3.16? Does this mean, all
right, for God so loved the world. The word world is something that
catches a lot of people there. Does this mean that God loves
every person who's ever been born, ever living, ever will
be in the world, in the whole world? And the answer is no.
No. And people are ignorant of the
Bible's teachings and they're told by false preachers. They
say God loves everyone without exception. Christ died for everyone
without exception. And the difference between saved
and lost, the difference between heaven and hell is totally up
to the sinner's decision. Is that what the Bible teaches,
I'm asking? And the answer is no. The Bible teaches us that
if it's left up to us, we will not receive him. Look over at
John chapter one, verse 11, talking about Christ coming into the
world. He came into his own. and his own received him not.
That's all of us by nature. Verse 12, but as many as received
him. Now, whoa, there's some who received
him. To them gave he power. Now that
word power doesn't mean ability. It means the right, the privilege. To them gave he the right, the
privilege to become the sons of God. Am I a child of God? Are you a child? What right do
I have to make that claim? even to them that believe on
his name." Do you believe on his name? And his name identifies
him and distinguishes him, his person, his work. Now look at
verse 13. Now who are those that receive
him? Look at verse 13. Which were born not of blood,
didn't come through physical pedigree. And he says, nor of
the will of the flesh. I believe that's referring mainly
to the works of the flesh. nor to the will of man. They
were born not by their will, but they were born of God, by
a sovereign act, invincible calling, the new birth of the Spirit of
God. So a lot of times when people
come to the Bible, they'll read words like all, all have sinned,
all this, or everyone. And the word world, which we
have here in John 3, 16, in connection with God's love and the death
of Christ, and they wrongly assume that that includes all people
without exception that have ever lived, are living, or ever will
live in this world. And therefore, the message is
this. This is common here, what preachers
say in invitations. God loves you, Christ died for
you, now the rest is up to you. Even hear preachers say, did
he die in vain for you? Let me tell you something, folks.
If you read the Bible, Christ didn't die in vain for anybody.
Back in the 40s, I think it was, there was a preacher out of Chicago
who preached a message on hell, and here's how he put it. Hell
is a monument to God's failure to save people. Well, hell's
not a monument to God's failure to do anything. Hell's a monument
to God's justice. And so people believe that God's
love and Christ's death in reality secured the personal salvation
of no one. It suggested that one must accept
him personally or else his death is not efficient for that person.
So many people today who claim to be Christians believe that
their faith, their decision for Christ is what made his death
effectual and successful in their salvation, not the other way
around. But the Bible reveals that Christ's
work, His finished work, is what makes salvation effectual. His
blood, we're gonna be taking the Lord's Supper, His blood
is the finished work that ensures the salvation, the effectual
application of all benefits and blessings, even the faith that
God gives. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of
works lest any man should boast. Even that faith which God gives
us for us to believe in him is a gift from God, brought from the death of Christ. So when you read this, for God
so loved the world, what does world mean in the Bible? Well,
it means different things. Give you some examples. There's
a verse in Luke chapter two, verse one. And this is revolving
around the birth of Christ. And it's talking about Caesar
Augustus. Now he was the Roman emperor
at that time. And here's what the verse says,
Luke two and verse one. And it came to pass in those
days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all
the world should be taxed. Now do you believe or do you
imagine that that means every individual that has ever lived
or ever will live? Well, no. It's talking about
the Roman Empire. The world over which Caesar ruled
was to be taxed. But now let me give you one in
association with salvation. This is John chapter six and
verse 33, where Christ is talking about himself being the bread
of life. And in John 6, 33, listen to this. It says, for the bread
of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto
the world. Now, he's not talking about physical
life there. I believe back in John 1, he
speaks of physical life, and God is the author of all physical
life. You wouldn't be here without
God, physically. But Christ is talking about spiritual
life in salvation. He's the bread that comes down
from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Now, does he give
spiritual life and salvation to the whole world, every individual
without exception? The answer is no. And in verse
51 of that same chapter, John six, it says this, Christ says,
I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any
man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that
I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. Now you see that if any man eat
of this bread. Somebody says, well see there,
it's conditioned on my eating it, my believing it. No, that's
not a condition for you to receive eternal life. That's an evidence
that you have received eternal life from him. Give you this one, 1 John 5,
19. Keep this in mind now. John concludes
his first letter. And he says in verse 19, and
we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. The whole world lies in the wicked
one, that's what that means. Is the whole world there, every
individual of that except? No, he says we are of God. He
makes the distinction right there in the verse. Who is of God? Those who believe on his name.
They've been born again. They've been given the gift of
faith. And all the rest who are in unbelief are under the power
of the wicked one. John 3, 16 does not say that
God has set his sovereign redemptive love upon every individual. It
does not say that Christ died for every individual nor that
God is trying to save every individual. The substance of John 3.16 would
be something like this. God loved, Christ died for all
believers in this world, believers composed of both Jews and Gentiles,
not just Jews. When John the Baptist came along
and he said, as recorded in John 1.29, behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sins of the world. What's he teaching
there? that the sins of all the whole
world, every individual without exception has been taken away.
Well, if their sins have been taken away, guess what? They're
saved, they're okay. What John the Baptist was showing
those people is that Christ, that salvation, the God of all
grace, he was not sent here just for the Jews. He was sent for
God's people all over this world, Jew and Gentile. There's no Jewish
distinctions and Gentile distinctions in this thing of salvation. For
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of
God and the salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first,
the Greek or the Gentile also. For there is the righteousness
of God revealed. God's purpose in creating this
world and populating it with people was not just so it would
fall into a state of sin and death and be condemned. His purpose was that he be glorified
in saving a people whom the Bible says he chose before the foundation
of the world, before the world began, whose names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, from every nation all over this world,
Jew and Gentile, and saved them by his sovereign grace through
the giving of his only begotten Son, to accomplish their complete
and eternal redemption, taking away their sins. and bringing
forth an everlasting righteousness by which God justifies them eternally. Mark read about it. All whom
he justified, all who, they're saved. And the source of salvation
is God's free, unconditional love that results in redemption
and salvation of all the objects of that love. The world here
in John 3.16 is the world of God's chosen, justified, redeemed,
and regenerated people, and it's evidenced by their believing
in him, for God so loved the world. And this speaks of the intensity
of God's love. How much did God love his people,
Jew and Gentile, his chosen people? He sent his son into the world.
The Bible says in Romans chapter eight that he that spared not
his own son, How shall he not with him, with his own son, freely,
unconditionally give us all things? You see it? Let me give you these
points. First of all, the Bible does
not teach that God loves all without exception and that Jesus
Christ died for all without exception, saving them only upon the condition
of their believing. The Bible doesn't teach that.
The Bible teaches that God hates all workers of iniquity, Psalm
5.5. Somebody asked me one time, said, well, aren't we all workers
of iniquity? We are by nature sinners, but God's people have,
God has taken the sins of his people, the iniquities of his
people, and he gave them to Christ. He imputed them, charged them
to Christ. That's why David wrote in Psalm
32 one, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. He doesn't charge his people
with their sins. God was in Christ, 2 Corinthians
5.19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Is that
everybody? No, not imputing, not charging
their sins to them. Who did he charge them to? He
charged them to Christ. Whoever the world is in 2 Corinthians
5.19, God doesn't charge them with their sin. And let me tell
you something, if God doesn't charge you with sin, you cannot
perish forever. Bible says that God loved Jacob
and hated Esau. Now you may have heard some preachers
say, well, that means God loved Esau less. That's not what the
word means, friend. It may be what you want it to
mean, but that's not what it means. What does it mean? Now God's hatred is not like
ours. Our hatred is sinful, selfish. But God's hatred is righteous
indignation, justice, rejection of a person based on a just ground. And remember what I said this
morning, neither Jacob nor Esau deserved God's love or earned
God's love. Both Esau and Jacob deserved
God's wrath, but God in his, read that in Romans nine sometime.
God in his sovereign purpose chose Jacob and loved Jacob. And what did they say? Look over
there at Romans nine, just a moment. Now, what's the charge that always
comes? Look at what he says here. Verse
13. We'll go back to verse 11, talking
about the children being not yet born. That's Jacob and Esau,
born to Isaac and Rebekah. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil. Now, do you read
that? Now this is what God the Lord
speaks. He said, this is not something I came up with. He
says, not having done any good or evil that the purpose of God
according to election might stand not of works, but of him that
calleth. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger,
that's Jacob and Esau. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Now,
what does the natural man argue? That's not fair. That's unjust. Well, look at what Paul writes.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God being unfair and unjust here? And here's your
answer now. You want the answer? Now, you
can go to Plato and Socrates and whoever you wanna go to,
and they're not gonna give you the answer to this dilemma. They
don't know. And I'll tell you something else.
You go to a lot of preachers and they don't know either. They
try to figure it out. But here's your answer. God forbid. God's in control. God's the creator. God's the father. Do you think
you're on any level to debate with him? As the old poet said, your arms
are too short to box with God. Look what he says. God forbid,
look at verse 15. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. It's God's will. And you remember
when Moses asked that question back in the book of Exodus, you
know what God was answering? You know what the question was
that God was answering? Moses asked this question. He
said, Lord, show me your glory. And God gave him this answer.
Here's my glory. I'll have mercy on whom I have
mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. That's God's
glory. And so why does God have it this
way? Look at verse 16. So then it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
not of the will of man. It's not of the will of the sinner.
If it were left up to our wills, we would never believe God. We would always continue on our
own way, believing what we want to believe, not what God says.
Well, the Bible teaches that Christ died only for his sheep.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And he'll
have his sheep, he says. He said in John 6, 37, all that
the father giveth me, what? Shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Somebody asked me one
time, said, well, if I'm not one of whom God loves, one whom
God chose, and I want to come to him anyway, will he reject
me? Let me tell you something. If you're not one whom God loves,
whom God chose, you won't ever want to come to him, not him.
Now you might want religion. You might want some semblance
of what people call God, but not the God of the Bible. He says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. He said, this is the will of him that sent
me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. So what does God do? Well, he brings them under the
preaching of the gospel. Look at it again. 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. If Christ had not died on the cross, you could believe
till you're blue in the face and it wouldn't equal everlasting
life. Life comes from him. The Bible
teaches that we are by nature so sinful and depraved that if
left to our own choice, none of us would choose Christ. The
Bible teaches that if any of us believe, it's because we're
born again by the Spirit that God has given us spiritual life
in the new birth and has given us faith to believe. Listen to this, all whom God
loves, he sent Christ to be their propitiation. Look at 1 John
4 and look at verse 9. Now do you know what a propitiation
is? Basically it's this, it's satisfaction. It has to do with a sin bearing
sacrifice that brings satisfaction. Not an open ended pardon, but
a satisfaction, a redemption accomplished. he says in verse
9 of 1st John 4, in this was manifested the love of God toward
us because that he sent his only begotten son into the world that
we might live through him and hear in his love not that we
love God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. God's love is a just love, is
a righteous love, It cannot be expressed arbitrarily. God's
hatred is a just and righteous hatred. And what this Bible teaches
us is this, there is absolutely no love from God outside of Christ. And so God sent his son to be
the propitiation for our sins. That is the satisfaction to God's
justice because of righteousness established by Christ. If justice
is satisfied for us, we cannot be condemned. cannot be condemned. And the death of Jesus Christ
secured and ensures the complete salvation of all for whom He
died. His death ensures the work of the Holy Spirit within us
in the new birth and giving of that faith that unites us with
Him. And that's actually what John
3.16 teaches. Turn to Romans 8 that Mark read
and I'll close with this. The Bible teaches that all whom God loves, He does
not charge them with their sins. He doesn't impute sin to them.
Look at it. It says here in verse 31, What shall we then say to these
things? The things that Paul had written about salvation by
the grace of God. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now God is for those whom he
loves. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all, all of his people. How shall he not with him also
freely, unconditionally give us all things? If Christ died
for me, I must be given all things, all the blessings, all the benefits
of salvation. here's the basis of it. Look
at verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Now
to be justified means this, it means my sins are forgiven. On
what ground? The blood of Jesus Christ. They've
been taken away. They've been put away by the
blood of And to be justified is to be declared righteous in
God's sight. How can I, a sinner, be declared
righteous? Only by Christ's righteousness
charged to me. God doesn't charge me with my
sins. He charges me with the righteousness of his Son. And
so he says in verse 34, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ
that died. He didn't say, now look, he didn't
say who is he that condemneth, you believed. He said, it's Christ
that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. If Christ
makes intercession for all whom God loves, they cannot be condemned.
And so he says, who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ?
Who's going to do that? Will trouble do it? Tribulation,
distress, persecution, famine? Nakedness or peril or sorrow,
as it is written, for thy sake, we are killed all the day long.
We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. People of God suffer
all the time. But it doesn't separate them
from the love of God in Christ. Verse 37, nay, in all these things
we're more than conquerors because we're so powerful and so good.
It doesn't say that, does it? We're all more than conquerors
through him that loved us. And I'm persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The objects of God's love cannot
be condemned, cannot be separated. The law of God cannot condemn
them to eternal death because they have Christ's righteousness
imputed to them. Their sins are not charged to
them. Christ intercedes on their behalf. And they cannot be separated
from his love by anyone or anything, the scripture says. It's all
accomplished. How do we enter into that? How
do I enter into that personally? By God-given faith. That's what
he's talking about. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him, Somebody
said, well, then I don't have to believe. No, you must believe.
But that believing doesn't come from you. It comes from God working
through you, giving you a new heart, a new mind, new life. You must be born again. And all
those who believe in him, they cannot perish, but they have
everlasting life by virtue of God. what Christ accomplished
on Calvary to put away our sins. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly
Father, we thank you for that great love wherewith you loved
us through Christ our Lord and sent him to be the propitiation
for our sins, to die for us, that we might believe on thee
and have everlasting life from him. We thank thee in Christ's
name and for his sake, amen.