Come with me, please, in your
Bibles to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Let's pray together. Almighty God, we approach Thee
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we thank Thee for
this opportunity to worship Thee together. We thank Thee for the
promise of Thy presence with us, and we pray that as we gather
around Thy Word and as we wait quietly and solemnly in Thy presence,
that thou wilt be pleased to speak to us and that there will
be those moments of blessed communication as the Lord Jesus Christ himself
speaks to his people and thy spirit amongst us witnesseth
with our spirit. We ask that our worship will
be acceptable unto thee this day as it comes from hearts that
have been touched by the power of thy spirit and truth. We pray
that this gathering here will resonate to Thy glory, that it
will shine in Thy presence, and that Thy people here will be
blessed to know that the Lord is pleased to own us. We thank
Thee for all that Thou hast brought us through and given us thus
far. We anticipate Thy continuing faithfulness to us. And we thank
Thee for all that we possess in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I want to read from John chapter
3 this morning. Verse 1. There was a man of the
Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to
Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou
art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. 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 every one that is born
of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, At our master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and
testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If
I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall
ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended
up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son
of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even 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 believeth 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. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, But he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God. After these things came Jesus
and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried
with them and baptised. And John also was baptizing in
Enon, near to Salem, because there was much water there, and
they came and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into
prison. Then there arose a question between
some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And
they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was
with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold,
the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. John answered and
said, A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness
that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of
the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease. He that cometh from above is
above all. He that is of the earth is earthly,
and speaketh of the earth, He that cometh from heaven is above
all. And what he hath seen and heard,
that he testifieth. And no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony
hath said to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath
sent speaketh the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Amen. May God bless to us this
public reading of his word. It's a delight to see you this
morning. Lovely to be back amongst friends
and to be able to share fellowship as we worship the Lord together.
Thank you very much for the warm welcome you have given to us
both. I want you to begin this morning
by drawing to your attention something that is perhaps very
obvious and yet it behoves us to remind ourselves from time
to time just how small the church is and just how few there are
who receive the things of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus, has taught the Church
never to be preoccupied with numbers. Some preachers measure
their success by the size of their congregation, and some
congregations will do ever so many imaginative things in order
to boost and bolster their numbers. The true Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is eager to hear the Word of the Lord in spirit and in
truth. And if that be just a few in
number that gather faithfully week by week, without all of
the razzmatazz, without all of the silliness that goes on in
so many places, then so be it. for thereby the Lord is pleased
to meet his people and is pleased to gather in with them and gather
them to him." Here, in this passage, we have
one of the greatest preachers who ever declared a sermon. The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher
of truth. And here, the sermon that he
preached was preached only to one person. Just one man heard
these words flowing from the Lord's mouth. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. The Lord Jesus himself was often
quick to hide himself from the large numbers. He would see a
large crowd and he would secret himself away. He would move away
when he knew that there were people waiting for him. We always
have to remember that the Lord was keen to seek and to save
that which was lost. He didn't get involved in all
of the other complications and all of the other things that
were unnecessary. He sought out the ones and the
twos. He sought out the few that had
to hear his word and he ministered to the hearts of those chosen
few. Our Saviour is not interested
in numbers. If He were, then the churches
that preach the Gospel would be full and bursting. There is
a danger in numbers, but He calls the little flock. He calls the
few. Gospel doctrine will never charm
the masses. but it will always draw the elect. That's what we seek as we preach
the gospel, to discover the Lord's people, to find those diamonds
in the dirt, to find those who from amongst the multitude of
goats are the true sheep, the lambs, the flock of God. And it is the preaching of the
gospel that gathers the people of God. The sermon, the words,
the message that the Lord Jesus Christ preached to Nicodemus
on this evening stands perhaps amongst some of the best-known
passages in the whole of Scripture. And perhaps, too, it is one of
the most misrepresented passages of Scripture. If ever a portion
of the Word of God spoke of sovereign grace, this does. If ever a portion
spoke of the glory of God and the necessity of a divine work
in the life of an individual before any true spiritual life
could be experienced, felt, or manifested, this is the passage
that we go to. Here we see distinguishing grace
to the four in the Lord's words, and yet this passage is misused
and misunderstood by many. Except a man be born again. Change is required. A radical change, a complete
change. That's what the notion of the
rebirth is all about. It's a being born again, it's
a brand new start, it's a complete change around. It is an alteration
of such dramatic effect that it is called a new birth. and
except a man be born again, except a man be born of water and the
Spirit from the outside of him, except those changes be effected
in that man's life, in that woman's life by God Himself through the
power of the Holy Spirit, then that which is born of flesh is
flesh. and it can never change. It's
fleshy, and it's material, and it's earthly, and it's worldly,
and it's preoccupied by the senses of these things. But that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. God is a spirit. eternal, infinite,
unchangeable, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit. Therefore the spirit needs to
affect, the spirit needs to enter, the spirit needs to change that
which is fleshy. And so the word of God tells
us clearly that God must take the initiative in the alteration
of an individual's mind, his heart and his soul. He must bring
that individual through such a conversion, such a change,
that a new birth is the only and proper way to describe that
which is effected. Then the Lord goes on in his
narrative to Nicodemus to say this, the spirit moves where
he wills. It's not the will of the individual
who is fleshy, but it is the will of the Spirit that brings
on the changes of grace in the lives of men and women. The Spirit
moves where He wills. It is a sovereign, it is a God-inspired
change that is effected and it is at God's initiative that that
new birth takes place in the life and in the soul of an individual. This passage, in truth, I believe
has Nothing, very little or nothing, to do with the evangelistic offers
of grace and the peddling of a decision-making process that
it is so often employed to deliver. This is speaking about sovereign
grace. It is speaking about a grace
that is divinely inspired and a grace that comes according
to the will of God. One verse, pretty much, taken
from its context in this chapter, wrenched out of its place in
the narrative of the Savior to this inquiring man, has spawned
so many fables. What I want to do this morning,
as the Lord enables us, is to simply take four lessons that
we can draw from John chapter 3 and verse 16. Four lessons that are plain,
clear, easy and incontrovertible. Just before I touch upon these
four points then, I want to mention one other thing, or two other
things. I'm going to keep count, so don't
you worry. Two other things. Firstly, how
do we know about this sermon? You ever wondered that? How do
we know about these words that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to
Nicodemus? Well, I think that the best explanation
for that, we could shoot the breeze and speculate a little
bit, but I think the best explanation for that is that Nicodemus told
John what he'd heard from the Master. that Nicodemus told John
what Jesus had said to him. The implications of this passage
is that here was a secret meeting. Here was a meeting that took
place at night, a meeting that took place out of the limelight
or the awareness of other people. Perhaps Nicodemus, because he
was Afraid of the Jews, perhaps because of the religious position
that he held, perhaps because of his standing in society. And
yet these questions gnawed at his soul. He had to have an answer,
so he crept secretly into the presence of the Lord that he
might inquire of him. It's a conversation that might
have taken place and never have been heard of again. The Lord
says what he has to say, and Nicodemus received that which
was spoken and disappeared. And yet we have the pleasure
of knowing that Nicodemus was a child of God. He was a believer,
and at the end of the Lord Jesus Christ, and on a couple of occasions
throughout the ministry of the Lord, we discover Nicodemus taking
a stand, though ever so softly at the beginning, for the Lord
and for the well-being and safety of the disciples. Then in the
end, together with Joseph of Arimathea, they came out as at
least two of the Pharisees that had been altered, changed, converted
by the ministry of the Lord Jesus. And I am sure that it was Nicodemus
himself that after the Lord had died, as John sat down to pen
his book, spoke to him of the things that the Lord had said
to him that night and recounted this message to him. The second
thing that I want to say just in the introduction here is this. These are the heavenly things
that the Lord is referring to in verse 12. He says, if I have
told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe
if I tell you of heavenly things? And then the Lord Jesus Christ
goes on to speak exactly about those heavenly things. He's been
speaking a little bit previously about the way in which individuals
can come to knowledge of God. Nicodemus says, who are you?
We know that you're something special. You must be from God. The things that you do. And the
Lord says, these are the things that are happening. These are
the miracles that are taking place. You can see these earthly
things. You can see these tangible manifestations
of power. Yes, there is a water. changing to wine. There is a
power over the elements of the earth. There are many ways in
which physical things are being altered to show God's power at
work in the life of Christ. But I'm going to tell you not
about these earthly things. I'm going to tell you something
heavenly. I'm going to tell you something
about the way of salvation. The miracles in themselves, though
they were manifestations of power, though they demonstrated the
Lord Jesus Christ's true identity, they were enjoyed, they were
participated in by many who were not changed as a result of their
occurrence. But here, a heavenly message
was being given to Nicodemus. And when we are told that he
is being told heavenly things, what he is being told is the
way of salvation. He is being told that Christ,
God himself, is come to earth. He has been told that the way
of salvation is through God Himself in the person of the God-Man,
as a representative of man in the flesh, is going to be crucified,
is going to be lifted up upon a cross, is going to have the
sins of His people laid upon His shoulders, and is going to
be the representative and substitute This is the heavenly revelation
that the Lord Jesus Christ came with and fulfilled. The prophets
had anticipated it for hundreds and hundreds of years, but in
these last days the Lord Jesus Christ came with the fullness
of the revelation of God's will and purpose to mankind. And these are the heavenly things,
the heavenly things of grace and of salvation and of redemption
and of reconciliation between God and man through the work
and sacrifice of a mediator. Here the gospel was preached
to Nicodemus. He heard heavenly things and
it changed his heart and it changed his soul. There must needs be
a spiritual regeneration and that is the message of John 3
and 16. There has to be a spiritual regeneration. What does the verse tell us?
It tells us this, for God so loved the world Jesus is going
to set before Nicodemus heavenly things. The fact that Christ
himself as God came to earth. God himself as Christ came to
earth. This is what Nicodemus is being
shown. And here the Lord, immediately
after these verses which tell Nicodemus of these heavenly spiritual
things, gives the motivation for Christ coming to earth. God
so loved the world. Here is the motivation. Salvation
is the designed end of Christ's incarnation. Christ came to save
His people from their sin. That was the very name that He
took. That was what the angel declared.
Call Him Jesus for this reason. This is the end of His coming,
that He should save His people. And redemption by blood is the
acceptable means by which such salvation would be effected. Not the blood of the goats, Nicodemus,
not the blood of the animals, not the doves, not the lambs,
not the bullocks, not the oxen that have been slain. and opened
and consumed in the fires of Jewish altars for hundreds and
hundreds of years. Not that. Just a picture, Nicodemus.
Let me tell you of heavenly things. If I'm telling you of earthly
things and you can't hardly believe them, hear what is happening
now in your very sight. Here is Christ come as the sacrifice
for sin. Lord Jesus Christ is saying to
Nicodemus, I am come to lay down my life for the sheep. I am come into this world because
of the love of God in order to save men and women from their
sin. It is God's love that inspired
His covenant of grace and peace towards us. We've been thinking
a little bit of the covenant already. God's love inspired
that covenant of grace and peace. Love for whom? The world. Love for the world. That's easy, isn't it? That's
what the verse says. And that's true. But when we read these verses
and we understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking about
heavenly things, we have to ask the question, who is the world? What is the world? What is this
spiritual activity that has been spoken of with regards to the
world? What is the purpose of God here
in sending his Son into the world? John, as I'm sure you're well
aware, and I'm not going to spend too much time on this particular
part this morning, because I guess I'm speaking to people who understand
these things largely, but let me just mention this. John uses
the word world in several different ways in his writings. Just if you flick back a couple
of pages, look at John chapter 1. Verse 10. He, that is Christ, was in the
world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him
not. Here we see John using the word
world in a sense that doesn't mean every single individual
in the world. Indeed, John uses it in this
context with reference to the earth, the physical globe. He uses it to do with all things
that are in the world, all those things which have been created
by the Lord Jesus Christ, all the trees and the animals and
everything else that's in the world, the all things. And in
the context of that particular verse, it seems very clear that
it has a peculiar reference to individual people because it
means the unbelieving Jews at the time of the manifestation
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the world, at the time of his incarnation. A little bit later, in John chapter
15, you don't have to turn to it, but He says in verse 18,
If the world hates you, ye know that it hated me before it hated
you. If ye were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because ye are not of the
world, for I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you. Six times there. The Lord Jesus
Christ uses that word, world, or John employs that word, world,
to be haters of the Lord and haters of his people. In John 17 verse 9, I pray for
them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me, for thine, for they are thine. There he is using
the word world to mean all the reprobate people for whom the
Lord makes no intercession before his Father. Wherever we are reading
the use of the word world by John, we need to look at its
context and understand what it is he's talking about. In John
12, 19, the Jews were looking at the Lord Jesus and they said
of him, the world has gone after him. Well that can't mean the
whole world, every single individual that lives or ever lived in the
whole world. Because the Jews were making
a statement about the fact that Jesus had a popular appeal. Who then are these people that
are spoken of? Simply this, it is those whom
the Father loves in the world. Those that the Father loves in
the world. Or let me put it this way, it
is the world of His love. The world of His love. And remember, our God is eternal
and unchangeable. He is eternal and He is unchangeable. That means that He hasn't changed
for all eternity. There is no change with God.
If God loves one day, He loves the next day. He always has loved,
He always will love. Here is a continuity of affection
and love that He has towards a people, a people who are bound
up in the world of His love. And who are these people? I have loved thee, says the Lord
to Jeremiah, with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. In Romans chapter 8 we hear a
little bit of that love explained to us. He says, just turn with
me if you will to Romans chapter 8, it's worth reading these verses
in the context of what we are thinking about here. Romans chapter
8, verse 29. For whom he did foreknow,
that is, whom he loved before time. That's what that word means. That is speaking of the everlasting
love that God revealed to Jeremiah. Whom he did foreknow with an
everlasting love, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn amongst
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called, and whom he called, then he also justified,
and whom he justified, then he also glorified. What shall we
say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall slay anything to the
charge of God's elect, it is God that justifieth. Who is He
that condemneth, it is Christ that died, ye rather than is
risen again. Who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. who shall separate us
from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is
written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am 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 unchangeable God has a love
for His people that will preserve them through all eternity. We
cannot, if we are honest to the Word of God in any way, regard
that the love of God must be a universal love, nor indeed
that the salvation of God is a universal salvation. For we
know that there will be condemnation, and there will be judgment, there
will be separation, and there is a hell to come. there will
be a day of accountability. And the fearsomeness and the
awfulness of hell speaks about God shunning a people and separating
that people from himself. That that people will rest eternally
under the anger of God. It is a fearsome thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. And it is a looking forward
to that ought to cause men and women to tremble. We were speaking
just the other day about those who take that precious life that
God has given. and end it prematurely because
they don't want to face the troubles and the rigors of their old age
or the disease that is ravaging their body. And we discover that
men and women are seriously considering the viability of self-murder. We call it suicide. It's from
the French. Murdering yourself. What does
it mean? They call it euthanasia, they've
got another name for it these days, it maybe just softens reality
a little bit. Once you're dead, as a murderer
before God, you are in hell. and there for all eternity. That
is the awfulness of leaving this scene of time, leaving this life
without Christ as your Saviour. There is a love of God. There
is a world of God's love. But it is a specific, determined
group of people in this world. And the unchangeable God will
never allow one of those people to be separating from Him, no
matter what the trials and difficulties and problems of this life might
be. God's love is not passive. but it secures and accomplishes
His purposes. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. Still the Lord Jesus Christ is
speaking of these heavenly things. He gave His only begotten Son. See what God has done for the
world of His love. He gave His Son, the Eternal
Son of His Affection, the Son of His Abusim, the Son that He
looked upon and cherished and loved with a fatherly love. He gave His Son by sending Him
into the world to die the most cruel and rigorous death in order
that the other children of his love might be recovered and redeemed
and restored to their father's affection. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to fulfill his Father's will and purpose. He manifested
obedience in undertaking this task. Again, back to the covenant,
he took upon himself the obligations of the covenant, the requirements
of the covenant, those things which needed to be done in order
for the government, the covenant to be secured and the Lord Jesus
Christ willingly undertook these tasks. Angels can't conceive nor men
explain the great work of redemption and salvation. Immanuel is God
with us. so that God can die, so that
God can lay down his life, so that God can take away the sins
of men. The Father gave his only begotten
Son and he gave him to be bruised He gave him to be battered, he
gave him to be beaten, he gave him to be bloodied, he gave him
to suffer and to die. Why would he do that? Because this was the only way
that God's justice could be satisfied and his mercy applied to sinners. Romans chapter 3 says, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, 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 past. through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness,
and that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth
in Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ was given
in order that God might be just and the justifier of those who
were sinners. Do you see what is in Christ's
sacrificial death? Do you see what is there involved
in this substitutionary atonement? Do you understand the heavenly
things here being explained? How can you, if the world that
you live in is fleshy, if the mind that you think with is fleshy,
if you are sinful in the depth of your soul? These things must
be spiritually understood. for they are heavenly declared,
they are brought to earth in a spiritual way. So the Spirit
gives understanding and the Spirit gives illumination. We call it
regeneration, we call it the quickening the new life that
comes from the Spirit. Why? Because it is the new birth
of the Spirit from on high, by which a true understanding of
heavenly spiritual things may be obtained. My little children,
says John, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for
the sins of the whole world. not the whole world of every
person without exception, then there would be no hell, then
there would be no judgment, then there would be no distinction
between those who have faith and those who have no faith.
but rather we see in John 3 and 16, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. You see, there is a belief that
is required, there is a belief that will be evidenced, a faith
that will be seen. And our Lord Jesus Christ clearly
declares here to Nicodemus that the mark of the evidence of spiritual
life is believing in Him. That's all. Faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Many would tell us that the mark
of a Christian is that you do certain things and you live in
certain ways and you follow certain courses of action and your life
is a picture of goodness and light and victory and happiness. No, that's not what the Lord
says. You see what happens when you take verses out of context
and misapply them? What does the Lord say? The Lord
says that it is faith, it is those that believe in me, whosoever
believeth in him should not perish. And all those who are born again
of the Spirit from above believe in Him, whosoever they might
be. Whosoever they might be, all
who believe in Him are born again from above. They might be Jews. or they might be Gentile. They
might be old or they might be young. They might be rich or
they might be poor. They might be wise or they might
be uneducated. Whosoever it is, these qualities,
these earthly characteristics are of no importance. What is
important is that a spiritual work has been effected by the
Spirit that moves where He will, And that spiritual work of new
birth manifests itself in faith in Jesus Christ. And thereby
we know that an individual has passed from death to life. All the world of God's love will
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. For he it is who bestows saving
faith upon them. Free will preachers, they love
to emphasize the whosoever. And they emphasize it to us when
we speak to them, almost as if we are selectively blind. It's as if we've not noticed
that whosoever is in that verse. Well, I see it. I see it. I know it's there. Indeed, Jesus
repeated it. He said it already in verse 15.
So he said it twice. And if the Lord repeats something,
it's well worth taking notice. That's why he said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, you better take notice of this. If I'm repeating
myself to you, sinner, If I'm repeating myself to you,
you better take note. God only needs to speak once
and we need to hear Him. He doesn't tell the angels repeatedly
what to do. Lord Jesus Christ emphasises
His words to men by repetition. We've seen it often. But we have
no problem with the whosoevers of Scripture. Far from it. They are glorious. They tell
us something of the magnanimity of God. They cause us not to
be limited in our understanding of who the Lord's people are.
They give us our motivation to take the Gospel from the uttermost
to the guttermost. Because we know that the Lord
will find His people everywhere. And you know and I know that
very often it is a hard thing to get a hearing from men and
women in this world, but we preach the gospel to whomsoever will
hear us. If they'll give us a hearing,
we'll tell them what we know. We're not frightened about the
whosoevers, nor are we embarrassed about them in the Word of God. Listen to this. What have these
verses got in common? John 11, 26. Whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. John 12, 46. Whosoever believeth
on me shall not abide in darkness. Acts 10, 43. To him give all
the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. Romans 9, 33. Behold I lay in
Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever believeth
in him shall not be ashamed Romans 10, 11. For the Scriptures say
it, whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed. Are you ashamed this morning? Are you ashamed of who you are?
Are you ashamed of what you've done? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whosoever believeth on him will not be ashamed, nor in God's
court, nor in the presence of Almighty God. nor in that day
when the books are opened. They will not be ashamed, for
there will be no accusations, there will be no condemnations,
there will be no sins rolled out on that day to the shame
and embarrassment of the people of God. They will not be ashamed. Why? Because their sins have
been taken away. Because, as Jesus told Nicodemus,
he had come down from earth in order to die on the cross, to
be lifted up like that snake was lifted up, that serpent was
lifted up in the wilderness. And in the lifting up of the
Lord Jesus Christ, all the shame and all the sins and all the
guilt and all the culpability and responsibility and wickedness
and iniquity and transgressions of the people of God were laid
on Him. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish. It is believing that distinguishes
between one and another. And whosoever, it doesn't matter
who they are or what they are or where they are. It is as they
have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that they are evidenced
to be those upon whom the covenant blessings rest. Faith in Christ
is that which distinguishes between one and another. And whosoever
believeth in him shall not be ashamed. Faith, of course, is
God's gift. It is a gift of grace. If it
was of works, if it could be earned, if it was to do with
reward, then the people that worked the hardest would have
the most, because God's just. He doesn't shortchange people.
He doesn't give you half of your wages when you've done a full
day's work. If it was of works, then the
people that worked the hardest, did the most, would have the
most grace and the most faith. But it's of His gift. He gives
it to whomsoever He will. He gives it to those that He
has loved before time. He gives it to those in whom
He gives it to those he has placed in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John chapter 5 says, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. The new birth,
this new birth that must come out. Marvel not that I say unto
you, you must be born again. You must be born again, Nicodemus. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born again. Believing is not the cause of
our salvation, but it is the evidence of it in our lives. We believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ as God's way of salvation to us. when we are born again
from above by God the Holy Spirit. Before that, we're dead to these
things. Before that, we're ignorant of
them. Before that, it's in one ear and out of the other. It
is inconsequential. It is of no importance. When
God the Holy Spirit moves in an individual's life, He opens
up an understanding. He gives a wisdom of spiritual
things. Then faith is manifested in believing. No believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ will ever perish. Now that's not talking about
this flesh. Every single human being will
go the way of death. Except those few. who are peculiarly
blessed in Scripture by being translated immediately into the
presence of God, and except for those who will be upon the earth
in the last days. But, unless you, well you can't
be of one group, because that's already passed, unless you're
going to be of the other group, you're all going to taste death.
Sooner or later, this body has to go back to the grave. Sooner
or later, We'll all stand around the graves of one another as
these bodies are put in the earth. And someday it will be your body
and your friends and your family will place you there. But those who have Christ have
a soul that lives forevermore. Those who have Christ have a
spirit that cannot perish and will live forever in the presence
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ says they
have everlasting life. What is everlasting life? It
is eternal life. It's the same thing. John tells
us in chapter 17 verse 3, And this is life eternal, that they
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent. It is a spiritual knowledge of
God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who believe Christ have
that spiritual everlasting life. They have it now and they have
it forever. Somebody says to us, do you believe
in once saved, always saved? Is there any other kind of salvation? Of course we do. If it's everlasting
life, it's everlasting. If it's eternal life, it's eternal.
God doesn't give it and then take it back again. He's not
a yea and nay God. His gifts are given for keeps,
and if He makes us one of His, what a blessing to possess everlasting
life. You might not be a rich man,
you might not be a healthy woman, but if you've got everlasting
life, you've got more of the riches of God than this world
will ever know. Everlasting life is knowledge
of God in Christ. That makes you wiser in spiritual
things than the most qualified professors in the universities
of our great nations. smarter than they are because
you know God through the Lord Jesus Christ and you have peace
with Him. That's what it is to know Him,
not as an enemy, not in some fearful way, not in a cowering
way, but as a friend and as a father. everlasting life is spiritual
life. It is beyond this corrupt flesh. When this body is laid down,
there will be the fullness of the manifestation of the perfection
of holiness and the perfection of knowledge when we enter into
the presence of our God. Yes, they're limited just now
because of our humanity, because of our physicality. But even
now we already have that earnest of the Spirit, that new life
living within us. We are a born-again people. Everlasting life is a life of
never-ending pleasure. You guys that have to get up
and go to work tomorrow morning. Maybe not the best thing that
you have to do in your week, face another Monday morning,
it's not pleasure. Because there's work in this
world, there's labor, there's hardship, there's trial. But
then there will be pleasure unlimited, unending. There will be satisfaction. Everlasting life is satisfaction
to the full. We could ask for no more. We
are satisfied. We are filled. We are happy. Everlasting happiness in the
presence of our God. Everlasting peacefulness in the
presence of our Savior. Everlasting fulfillment as we
look upon God and serve him for all eternity. A life free from
all sorrow, all distress, all hurt, all imperfection, all regret,
all pain, all gone. And it will go on, and on, and
on, and on, and on, and on, and on. Forever. It's everlasting
life. And that's our possession in
Christ. That's why the Father sent Him. That's why the Father gave His
only begotten Son. And that is why faith in Him
is so blessed and beautiful for those who have been touched by
the power of His Spirit. What does the Lord Jesus Christ
say to us in this passage? He says this, John 5, 24. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. May it be this morning that each
of us gathered here will hear that word of Christ resonating
in our souls this morning. May he grant us faith to believe
and to trust in him. May God our Father free us from
the fear of all condemnation and cause us to know that we
have passed from death unto life everlasting. Amen. Our gracious God, we thank Thee
that we can once again pause in the busyness of our life and
the difficulties that we face and the challenges that beset
us. The wearisomeness of this flesh
And be reminded from thy word according to thy faithfulness
towards us of the great things which thou hast done and the
wonder of thy ways and the majesty of thy salvation. And be reminded
that there is a world of God's love, and that God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. O God, give us that life. Give it to us, we pray, that
we might know thee, that we may learn to love thee, that we may
trust in thee, and that we may have every help in our day-to-day
experience as we face the trials of this Pilgrim Way. And we ask
that thou wilt give us occasion to worship thee, and to praise
thy name, and to honour thee with our lives as we seek to
follow after the example that the Lord Jesus Christ has left
us. And may it be that therein we find places of service and
help and comfort to one another, that thy church, thy congregation,
thy people, thy saints may be blessed in their passage in this
world to the glory of thy name and thy purpose. We thank Thee
that as we meet together we are not preoccupied with the needs
of one another, we are not preoccupied by the demands that are placed
upon us externally, but we have the privilege of looking beyond
these things to the One who has given His all for us. And we
thank thee that the giving of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the way of salvation to sinners such as we are. We're about to
take the emblems that thou hast left and delivered to thy church
and allow them to pass from person to person that we might share
together in that communion with thee and one another. of the
blessedness of the sacrifice which thou hast made. We remember
the broken body. We remember the blood that was
shed. We remember the sacrifice that was given and the atonement
that was made. And we pray for the benefits
and blessings of that redemptive work in our own souls. lest we
should pass from this scene of time without a Saviour into eternity. May it be so, for Thy name's
sake. Amen.