I have a friend in Madisonville,
Kentucky that I love dearly, he and his wife. They have a
nice but moderate home there, but it has five acres that are
just beautiful. It's so well kept. It's almost
like a park. One evening, he and his wife
invited us over to to eat dinner in fellowship with a visiting
preacher who was also a friend of ours. And we had a wonderful
meal, and after we ate, my friend and Brother Dale, we went outside. It was a beautiful fall evening. The weather was just wonderful,
and the leaves were turning and falling, and it was just Absolutely
gorgeous. And my friend, he had an old
dog. I mean she, vet had told him
that she was dying of worms and this was four years and she's
still alive. Just, you know, old faithful
dog. This dog enjoyed the freedom
of the five acres. Was able to go wherever she wanted
to on the property. But he had a small dog pen close
to the house and every evening he would put that dog in the
pen for the evening. Just a little six foot by ten
foot, I'd say, be my guess, dog pen. And we were outside and
he just simply looked over at the dog and he said, get in your
pen. He didn't say it loud. He didn't
make any gesture. He didn't grab her by the collar
and pull her in. He just said, get in your pen.
And that dog walked directly in the pen. And I was amazed.
I've had dogs, but I never had one quite that obedient. I looked
over at Brother Dale, and he was as astonished as I was. And
I said, did you see that? He said, yeah, I did. Without
hesitation, that dog went in from just a simple command. from
her master. And his brother Dale and I were
there just shaking our heads, just amazed at this dog's obedience. My friend overheard us talking
and he said these words, when I put her in the pen at night,
I feed her. I feed her. That dog was glad
to give up. the free run of that five acres
for a small six foot by ten foot pen because that's where she
was fed. On the drive up here you couldn't
help but to notice how many large church buildings I saw. Many
of these churches were absolutely humongous. Only word I can think
of. Even little small towns that
I drove through. If you ever go up or down Highway
59, you go through a lot of them. And there were churches that
were absolutely, why, they're four-years. The little four-year
area was bigger than our little church in New Caney. So I asked,
what would cause folks in New Caney to come to our little small
church? What would cause you to come
here to this small church in Taylor, Arkansas. The same thing
that caused my friend's faithful dog to go into her small pen. This is where we're fed. This
is where we're fed. And friends, it's not the size
of the building or the magnitude of the congregation that's important
to a child of God. I hear people all the time say,
oh, you ought to see our church. And I say, oh, you ought to see
my Lord. You all see my God. God's people
go. where they're fed. They go where
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified is preached
without compromise. They won't settle for less. What
a blessing it is to feed upon Christ service after service,
week after week. And I know you don't have to
be told. I know that. What a blessing it is that God
raised up a man here that has the message of God. It's the
message because it's Christ and Him crucified. And may God help
us to never ever take it for granted. He can take it away.
He has in other places. As I said earlier, your pastor
has been a tremendous blessing to me as I know that he has you. And I want you to know again
what an extreme honor and privilege it is that he would trust me
to stand in this pulpit. That says a lot about a man's
confidence in someone like me. And I want to tell you that when
I'm here, I feel like I'm at home. And you are my brothers
and sisters. We have the same God. We have the same Savior. We have
the same gospel, the same spirit, the same faith. It was the same
grace that saved each and every one of us. So this morning, I
want to just as simply as I can talk to you about the love of
God. if you would turn with me to John 3.16. I looked at this
a week or so ago and brought a message and then came down
last night and almost completely changed it. Not that it needed
to be changed, but it just seems like every time I read it, God
shows me something new. John 3.16. You really wouldn't
have to turn there, would you? I bet there's not one here that
couldn't quote that Scripture. 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, I just can't think,
friends, of a more blessed and simple truth throughout the whole
Bible. This verse was ingrained in me as a youngster, so much
so that I could quote it before I could even read or write. It
seems that men and women, boys and girls all over the world
can quote this verse whether they go to church or not. How
many times have you driven down the highway, maybe not so much
anymore, but you see somebody stand on the side of the road,
John 3, 16 sign. It's depicted in movies. It's probably the most popular
and quoted verse in the whole Bible. But I'm going to tell
you something, to simply memorize it will not profit a person a
thing unless God Almighty makes it effectual to your heart. I
knew a man who was a friend of my father who literally had a
brilliant mind and had memorized the whole New Testament, word
for word. memorize the whole New Testament.
And you could say 1 Corinthians 12, 1, and he'd start right there
and quote you as far as he could. And I remember being impressed
by that when I was young. It wasn't but a few years later
that that man took a gun to his head and killed himself. Memorizing
scripture will not profit you a thing unless God, let me say
it again, unless God makes it effectual to your heart and you
see in whom that scripture refers. I say it all the time. I've heard
other men say it. It wasn't original with me. Nothing's
original with me. I'll just tell you right now.
But they said, this is a hymn book. H-I-M. You've heard that, haven't you?
It is. It's a hymn book. And thank God
that He's revealed to us Him in the Scriptures. Now, over
the years, men have endeavored to tarnish this beautiful proclamation
of the truth and its meaning. And they've set out to belittle
the sovereign and loving and merciful God of whom it speaks. And as always, the Scriptures
save some while condemning others. You know, it's the same gospel
that condemns a man for not believing is the same gospel that saves
a man who believes it. I was thinking about this amazing
verse, and I don't think until a couple weeks ago I'd ever used
it as a text for a message. And I confess that it was probably
because religion has put such an emphasis on God saving and
loving the whole world and proclaiming that Christ died for everyone
in it, that I just avoided it. I just, you know, spend the whole
time trying to to explain or to show that the word world there
doesn't mean the whole world and everybody in it. So I think
it's important to get that error out of the way first so that
you can dwell on the beauty of this verse. Now friends, if God
is God, I mean really God, sovereign, omnipotent, controlling all things,
ruling all things, working all things after the counsel of His
own will, would it not be safe and reasonable to say that He
accomplishes all that He sets out to do. That's what Psalm
115.3 says. We quoted it earlier. Our God's
in the heavens. And He's done whatsoever. He's pleased. Anything God pleases
to do, He does. And if Christ is Christ, I mean
if He's really the Son of God, the Savior, God in the flesh,
in whom God has committed all things unto His hand, isn't it
reasonable to say that all those that He died for will be saved?
Can he fail in any way to say that Christ bled and died to
save someone and that someone's not saved unless he agrees to
it? That's nothing less than blasphemous.
to say that Christ shed His blood in vain? To say that He shed
His blood for a sinner and that sinner must somehow decide, accept,
or exercise their free will, quote, to be cleansed? That puts
the sinner's will over God's will. And it endeavors to make
the blood of Christ, as Paul said, of no effect. It simply
is not so. What kind of a loving Savior
would Christ be if He loved the whole world and yet didn't pray
for them? And in John 17, he said, I was
with them in the world. I kept them in Thy name. Those
that Thou hast given me have I kept, and none of them is lost
but the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
He said in verse 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world,
but for them. He hath done great things. For who? For us. Which Thou hast
given me, for they are Thine. A true child of God, find no
argument here. Make no argument here. He's been
shown the true God and the Christ in the whole context of Scriptures. This is the same God that said
to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll
have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. What are you
going to do with that? He said, so then it's not of
Him that will it, What are you going to do with your free will
on that? And God says, it's not Him that will it. Nor of Him
that runneth, but of God. But of God that showeth mercy. And then He goes on to tell us
that the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up that I might show what? My power in thee. Who's in control of all this?
Why, God is. And that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. I'm going to tell you something.
When God delivered Israel out of Egypt, the word spread. The
word spread. The other parts of the world,
they say, you hear what's going on down in Egypt? Did you hear
what happened down in Egypt? Well, God delivered those folks.
And as they walked out, the Egyptians was handing them their stuff
and said, here, take this with you. You'll need it. That's God,
isn't it? I guarantee you that He raised
Pharaoh up that His name might be declared throughout all the
earth, and it was. And then it concludes this in
Romans 9, verse 18, Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will
have mercy, and whom He will, He hardeneth. Well, the Apostle
Paul continued in Romans 11, he said, concerning Elijah, he
said that he made intercession to God against Israel. Look at
that. Hold your place here in John.
You don't have to because you know it. Look at Romans 11, verse
3. Verse 2 tells us what I said.
He said, don't you know that the Scripture saith of Elijah,
how he made a tender procession to God against Israel, saying,
Lord, they've killed Thy prophets, and they've digged down Thine
altars, and I'm left alone, and they seek my life. Woe is me. You ever have a pity party? I
have them all the time. Elijah was having a pity party.
He said, I'm the only one that loves you. I'm the only one that
cares about you. And if you don't do something,
they're going to kill me. And what did the Lord say? What
saith the answer of God unto him? Verse 4, I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. Even so, then at this present
time also there is a remnant according to what? The election
of grace. And let me tell you something
else. God didn't look ahead in time and see who was going to
believe and then chose them on their merit. If that's true,
then salvation's a work. But it's not. It's of grace.
God said, I got 7,000 men that love me. And they won't bow to
this God named Bill. And the Apostle Paul reminds
sinners that even so. Even so. And it's the same at
this present time. It's the same and relevant today. That even now, there's a remnant. Now you know what a remnant is.
A lot of times you got a small bathroom or something, you're
wanting a floor. I always do because I'm a cheapskate. I go
to the floor and come, I say, you got any remnants? It's a
small part of the whole. And it's according to the election
of grace. If God had not reserved for Himself,
dear brothers and sisters, none would be saved. I have reserved
for Myself. And in verse 7, what then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, but the election hath attained it. And the rest were what? Blinded.
find it. Now the President of the United
States, and it's been this way since George Washington and every
President thereafter, does not make himself President. He's
elected by the people. And sinners cannot save themselves
by a work that they call righteous. A fallen and desolate sinner
cannot make themselves saved by some power or free will decision
of their own. A sinner can't make themselves
a child of God. God must reserve, elect, and
determine them to believe. Now that's just the truth. That's
the Bible. And I'll say this, your pastor
preached as clear a message as I ever heard. I think it was
in 2007, it was called, For God So Loved the World. Right here,
many of you probably remember it. And he dealt with the subject
of the world and it was as clear a message as I've ever heard.
If you've got somebody that wants to argue that for God so loved
the world, then get him to make you a copy of that message and
play it for them. So, I know that you understand
that. And I know you understand that
when it says here in John 3.16, for God so loved the world, that
it doesn't mean God universally loved and saved everybody. God
loved and redeemed a chosen people by the blood of His Son. Revelation
says, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation,
they are the world of whom this verse speaks. So I'm not going
to spend my time in trying to convince you of something that
you already believe. So we got that out of the way.
Now I just want to give you three simple truths from this wonderful
passage of scripture. I want to talk to you about the
love of God. For God so loved. He so loved. He loves His people
so much that it seems to me in John 3 that John can't even seem
to express how God so loved His people. Can't express the vastness
of it. Now, we know that the love of
God is a most wonderful thing, especially when it's set upon
lost, ruined, and guilty, no good for nothing, dead dog sinners. Well, when you put it up against
the light of that, it's even more marvelous, isn't it? Who
was in the world that God should love it? There was nothing lovable
at all in it. There was nothing in us but enmity
against God. There was nothing in us but hatred
of His truth, disregard of His law, and rebellion against His
commandments. Yet God so loved. Why? Why? That's a reasonable question
because He had a chosen people before the foundation of the
world and He determined to save them by giving His precious Son
that they might believe on Him. For God so loved the world, what?
That He gave. That He gave. Well, where did
that love come from? It didn't come from anything
outside of God. God's love springs from Himself. He loves because it's His nature
to do so. God is love. And yet men take
that and make a whole gospel out of it, don't they? All my
life I heard, God is love, God is love, God loves you, God wants
to. God is holy. God is holy. He's just. The guilty
are not going to be pardoned That's how strict and just His
law is. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. As I've already said, no one
upon the face of this green earth could have merited His love,
though there was much in us to merit His displeasure. And friends,
I proclaim to you that God's love springs from His own heart. You know, God has a heart. He
prayed to his Father and he said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. And
He did so in sovereign grace and mercy. So what are you saying,
Brother David? I'm saying God loved simply because
He would love. When we inquire why the Lord
loved this man or that woman, we've got to come back to what
our Savior Himself said. Well, what did He say? He said,
Even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. That's the only
answer we can give. It pleased the Father to do so.
Even so, it seemed good in His sight. That's the only reason
any of us have life. Fallen in Adam, sin is what we
are, and we commit great sin because we're great sinners.
Being guilty of our offenses, the law of God has given us over
to perish. Already dead. and trespasses
in sin. Born dead. Born dead. And I don't
know if you've noticed this, and I know you have. I mean,
it runs rampant. This religious world and even
the irreligious world alike, looking for miracles, aren't
they? Miracles. Looking for signs. Looking for
miracles. It was the same in the Lord's day. Show us a sign. That's what Herod when in Herod
or Pilate I said, show us a sign. He said he'd been desirous to
see Jesus. He wanted to meet Him because
he wanted to see if there was anything to Him. Show me a sign.
And yet they cannot see, blind to the greatest miracle of all.
God's free and sovereign grace and the regeneration of a fallen
sinner is absolutely the greatest miracle ever performed. There was a song written several
years ago called, It Took a Miracle. It says, it took a miracle to
put the stars in place. It did. It took a miracle to
hang the world in space. You think about that, that everything
evolves perfectly in perfect timing. Is that just by chance? Somebody says, well, you know,
it was a big boom. Well, who lit the fuse? It took
a miracle to hang the world in space. But when he saved my soul,
cleansed and made me whole. It took a miracle of love and
grace. Three things. First of all, I
would have you consider the gift. For God so loved the world that
He gave what? His only begotten Son. It would
do us good to slow down in our reading, wouldn't it? God so
loved the world first that He gave. This is a gift. You go
out and buy yourself something, and it's not a gift. You might
say, well, I got myself a gift. No, you didn't. You just got
yourself something. And there's nothing wrong with
that. A gift is something that's given. That's what makes it a
gift. He loved the world, his people
in the world that he gave his only begotten son. And you know
something that I think I'm beginning to learn, I think I am, I hope
I am, is that those who love much, give much. Isn't that right? You can usually
measure the truth of love by the self-denial of the one who
give it and the self-sacrifices that the one who gave it gave.
That love which spares nothing but completely spends itself
to help and bless the object of the gift. That's true love.
That's love. I think about my mom and dad.
I was adopted when I was five days old. My folks couldn't have
children and they made arrangements to get me before I was ever born. They loved me before I ever came
from my mother's womb, my natural mother's womb. They'd already
chosen a name for me before I was ever born. They sacrificed for
me every day of their life. And I only wish they were here
where I could tell them that I now see that. I don't see as
great a love as they had for me that even compare with the
love that God has for His people. Spurgeon once said, little love
like Simon the Pharisee forgets to bring water to wash the Lord's
feet. But great love like that woman
who washed his feet with her tears and dried his feet with
her hair. And Christ said, since I walked
in the door, she's not ceased to do so. And she broke that
box of alabaster and anointed his head. He said, Simon, two
men owed something. One owed $50, the other owed
$500. And the creditor frankly forgave
them both. Which one loves him more? And
Simon begrudgingly says, I suppose the one for whom he forgave most. He said, you're right. You've
answered correctly. This woman, this sinner, she's
been forgiven much. And she loves much. What was
the gift that God gave while it was His only begotten Son?
His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. I have three sons,
but I've never had a son to give like this son. And when the great
God gave His Son, He gave God Himself. You see, Christ is in
His eternal nature no less God than God is. When God gave God
for us, what did He do? He gave Himself. What more could
He give? God gave His all. He gave Himself. Who can measure that love? Those
of you that have sons and daughters, I ask you simply, could you forgive
that little sweetie sitting next to you right there? Could you
give her in the place of a rotten criminal murderer, worst of the
worst? I'm going to be honest with you,
I couldn't. God did. God did. Well, there was no higher
proof of Abraham's love to God when he did not withhold from
God his only son, his beloved and cherished Isaac, whom he
loved. So there can certainly be no
greater display of love than that of the Eternal Father, which
gave His only begotten Son to die for us. Now, I once heard
a story that took place a long time ago during the Great Famine,
and from what I read, I suppose it's true, but whether it's not,
it serves as a wonderful illustration. There was a father and a mother
and four boys, four sons, who were starving in this Great Famine. The only possibility of preserving
life for any of them was to consider selling one of the children into
slavery. So they considered it. The pain
of their hunger had become unbearable. And their children would say,
Mommy, we're hungry. Daddy, we're hungry. And it was
even more painful than their hunger. More painful to their
hearts than even their hunger. They must entertain the idea
of selling one of their sons to save the lives of the others.
They had four of them. Which one of these should be
sold, they thought? Well, it couldn't be the first.
How could they spare their firstborn? The second one was so much like
the father that his mother said, no, she wasn't going to part
with him. The third son was so much like
the mother that the father said, he'd sooner die than deliver
this boy into bondage. And then the fourth, wow, that
was their baby. That was their last, their darling. And they could not part with
him. So they concluded that they would just soon all die together
than part with any one of their children. Now, do you see where
I'm going with that? Can you see the love of God and
the sacrifice that He made for God so loved the world that He
gave? And that gift, dear friends,
was His only begotten Son in whom He was well pleased. Why,
He did not spare Him that He might spare us. At that time,
we were children of wrath, even as us. He permitted His Son to
perish that whosoever believeth in Him would not perish, but
have everlasting life. The greatest gift ever given
by God was His precious Son God gave Himself. That's the first
thing, the gift. What's the second thing? The
Gospel is for whosoever. Whosoever will believe on Christ. And I'm going to tell you something,
I am so glad that the Word of God says, whosoever. Whosoever
believes on Him. You know why? It doesn't leave
me out. It doesn't leave me out. And
listen, friends, to the hyper-Calvinists of the world, I'd say that there's
no contradiction whatsoever in sovereign grace and the Word
whosoever. There's not. Whosoever believes
are those who were chosen by God in eternity past. If He does
the saving, if He does the revealing, then whosoever are those that
He chose before the foundation of the world. Whosoever believes
are the who's that God elected and gave to Christ long before
this world was ever made. And I'll tell you right now,
I don't know who they are. Do you? Someone asked, I believe
it was Spurgeon one time, well, if you believe in election, why
don't you just preach to the elect? He said, you go stick
a red sticker on them and I'll just preach to them. I don't
know who they are. So what do we do? We preach to
whosoevers. Whosoever will hear, whosoever
believes, whosoever comes, whosoever confesses, whosoever bows to
His will, whosoever shall lose his life, whosoever shall humble
themselves, whosoever believes in Christ shall not perish, but
have everlasting life. I say to each and every whosoever
that's here this morning, God has promised in His Word that
if you believe on His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that you shall
not perish. You shall not perish. But, you'll
have everlasting life. And that's not my promise. If
it was, you'd have something to worry about. But that's God's
promise to whosoever will believe on His Son. And the third thing,
the purpose of God. in the giving of His Son. God's
a God of purpose. We talked about that earlier.
He's a God of purpose. And this purpose is said to be
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. That's the purpose of God giving
His Son, that sinners might be saved. Paul said Christ came
into the world to save sinners. He said, I'm a chief one. And
you know what? If there was ever an argument,
I bet Peter would have said, no, I'm the chief one. And James
would have said, no, I'm the chief. And John would have said,
no, I'm the chief of center. And every one of you, I would
say that if there's anything that you and I disagree upon,
it's which is the greatest center. I live with me, and you live
with you. I'm chief. And you're going to say, no,
you're not as bad as I am. That's a work of grace. It's
a work of grace because men think way too highly of themselves
by nature. The covenant of grace is as different
as the covenant of works, as light is from darkness. Now,
it doesn't say that God has given His Son to all who keep His law. Is that what it says? That's
something that none of us can do. And therefore, what kind
of gift would that have been? God gave His Son to His elect,
chosen people who were called by His grace and taught by His
Spirit. God gave the gift. And that gift was His Son. God
gave His Son that we should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Do you believe on Christ? Do
you see the salvations in Him, in Him alone? If you do, it was
a gift. that God gave you. To believe
in Christ is to bow to the truth. What is it to believe in Christ?
Well, first of all, it's to bow to the truth about who you are
and who God is and what He's done for you. I remember Brother
Mahan telling me one time, he said, you always remember this
when you prepare a message or when you preach. Three things. How holy is God? He's infinitely
holy. How sinful is a sinner? He's
no good, rotten, depraved is the word we use. How can the
two be reconciled? Only one way. God gave His Son. God gave His Son in the room
instead of guilty men and women, and He died in their place. And no man took His life. He
laid it down. Paul said, oh yeah, you with
your wicked hands, you've taken and you've crucified the Lord
of glory. But it was by the will and purpose
of God. The determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. All
those that are ordained, ordained into eternal life will believe.
So it's the bow to the truth. The truth that God sent his son,
his only son, born of a woman. to stand in the room instead
of guilty men and women and die in their place. And it's to believe
that God put on Him all the iniquities of all His people throughout
all time. Did you know that your past sin
is forgiven? Your present sin is forgiven?
And oh, rejoice in this, even your future sin is forgiven in
Christ. I say we continue in sin that
grace may be on God forbidden. Somebody asked me long ago if
I believed in progressive sanctification. I said, how can you progress
from perfect? Sanctified is set apart. If I'm
set apart, I'm perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we grow
in grace. We grow in the knowledge, grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But as rotten a sinner
as I am, dear friends, I can tell you this, something different
about me. I hate that sin. I used to. Oh, there was pleasure in sin
for a season, wasn't there? Oh, I used to love it. But now,
by the grace of God, I hate my sin. I hate it. Friends, to believe on Christ
is to believe that God put all our sin on Him and He bore the
punishment due for all our transgressions and sin. How? Being made a curse
for it. A curse is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. To believe in Christ is to believe
your sin is gone. That's one of my biggest problems.
As we were talking earlier, I keep looking in here. I've got to
look to Him. I've got to look to Him. God
made Him to be sin for us, even though He knew no sin, that we
might be what? Made! Just as He makes that vessel
of honor as the potter. God has determined to save chosen
sinners by the sacrifice of Himself. Sin is punished in the person
of Christ, yet mercy is extended to the guilty, and they're the
whosoevers that believe in Him. Oh my, that's the best news I
ever heard. In Christ, mercy is sustained
by justice. And justice is satisfied by an
act of mercy. God's holy justice is kept by
Christ. Therefore, you stand, who trust
in Him, you stand perfectly righteous and holy and just in His sight. He's both just and what? Justifier. Did you know that salvation is
in a person? And that person is the Son that
God gave. People ask me all the time, well,
you're preaching on Sunday. I say the same thing. I preached
last Sunday and the Sunday before that and the Sunday before that.
And they say, well, I bet your congregation is getting tired
of that, aren't you? And I say, no, they love it. I'm preaching
Christ! Just from different places in
this book. But it's all about Him. So we bow to the truth. Then God calls us to understand
that it's for us. I see how God saved you, but
I tell you, I can't fathom how He would save me. It's personal. And I do believe by God's grace
that Christ died for me, the chief of sinners. It's to simply trust wholly in
Christ as your substitute. That's what it is. In my hand,
no price I bring. It's simply to your cross. I
claim the Christ of the cross. There's no sin, friends, and
I'll tell you this in closing, there's no sin that you've ever
committed that Christ's blood cannot cover and that God cannot
forgive. None. There's not one sin. Not one. You know the only thing
that'll keep you out of heaven? Unbelief. That's the only thing
that'll keep you out. Unbelief. You've got to remember
this is the blood of God that was shed. And some say, well,
I just don't feel worthy. Guess what? You're not. Don't give that a second thought.
If you feel worthy, there's something wrong with you. If you feel worthy,
you've yet to see the beauty of the Gospel. It don't have
anything to do with that. If you're worthy, it wouldn't
be mercy. To deny that God can forgive every and all your sin
is to deny that God's God. Let's just break it right on
down to the nitty gritty as they say. Salvation has nothing to
do with what you do for God and everything to do with what God
does for us. Let me say that again. Salvation
doesn't have anything to do with what you do and everything to
do with what God does for you. You say, well, I've got to believe,
don't I? Yep. But you wouldn't do that if God hadn't done it
for you. You wouldn't do it. Look to Him alone. That would
be my word to you. Look to Christ. Look to Him alone. God set Him forth to be the propitiation
for sin. And that's what every believing
child of God does even at this moment. Right now, those of you
that trust Him, you know what you're doing? You're looking
to Him, aren't you? If you're back in John 3.16,
let me read this to you and I'm done. Look at verse 14. 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." Now if there be one here
this morning that doesn't know Christ, I pray that the sweet
Spirit of God lead you to trust in Him and Him alone. That's
your only hope. That's it. God help us to believe.