John chapter 3. Let me read this
account here to you, beginning in 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 you, Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
said 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 you, 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, that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you,
you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes,
blows where it will, where it listens. And you hear the sound
thereof. You can't tell from where it's
coming and where it's going. So is everyone that is born to
the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Are you a master of Israel? and know not these things. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, we speak what we know, and we testify
what we have seen, and you receive not our witness. If I have told
you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if
I tell you of heavenly things? And no man has 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 coming to the world,
and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. For every one that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. But he that doeth truth comes
to the light. that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. You know you and I have such
a positive message, don't we? The Bible has a positive message. The Gospel is a positive message. For God so loved the world. Not animals. Does God care for
oxen? God doesn't marvel, as you and
I do, at His creation sometimes. Look at the beautiful mountains.
Or, oh, I just love it up here. I just love it down south. I
just love this weather. I just love this country. That
doesn't impress Him. My hands have made all these
things He said. But God loves humanity. For God so loved humanity. I think sometimes if there was
ever a Scripture, if there ever was a Scripture that you and
I have to remember, who the Lord was talking to. This is one of
the Scriptures that we have to remember. Who was the Lord Jesus
talking to? Well, He was talking here to
this self-righteous theologian, a Jew. And this teacher of the
Jewish people taught these two things. Here's something that
he believed with all his heart, these two things. And I think
when we remember what this man believed and what he taught,
It will go a long ways in opening up this passage of Scripture
to us. First of all, this man believed this, that God's love
was limited to the Jewish nation. And he had a reason, really,
to believe that. When the Lord chose Abraham's
seed, He said, I have not chose you because you were many, not
because you were more than other nations, but because I loved
you, I chose you. I love you. There's no nation
like you. You of all the nations of the
world, I've chosen, and I'm your God. I love you." And Nicodemus
limited the love of God to the Jewish nation. He never could
have believed that God could have loved a Gentile. They were
at this time, this present time, under the tyranny, under the
rule of a Roman Empire. Nicodemus never could have believed
that God could have loved the Romans, that God could have loved
the Asians, that God could have loved the Africans. And when
the Lord Jesus, here in verse 16, told Nicodemus, for God so
loved the world, Nicodemus had to be amazed. John wrote of this
world. When you see all the controversy
in here, all the controversy over this word world, it's mostly
John that caused all that, because he's the one that used this word
so often. But John wasn't an apostle to
the Jews. And when he wrote of the world,
it simply meant that not to the Jew only, but to the Asians,
to the Africans, to the Romans, to those in Spain. The love of
God is greater far than tongue or pen can tell. In its scope,
it reaches not to the Jewish nation only, but also to the
Gentiles. Nicodemus should have known this,
because the Lord had told Abraham this. Especially he told Abraham
this. Remember when he called Abraham
out of Mesopotamia, and he made him this promise. He preached
the Gospel. Paul said, the Scriptures preached
the Gospel unto Abraham. And here's the way he preached
it. In thee, in your seed, in Christ, shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. Not just the Jews, but all the
nations of the earth. And when John saw that vision
in heaven, and the multitudes of people there around the throne,
The spirits of just men made perfect, and a glorified humanity
there in heaven. Remember what he said about them?
They were from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue all
over the world. They'll come from the east and
from the west, and we might add, too, from the north and the south.
From the uttermost parts of the earth have I called my children.
That's the world, isn't it? That's the world. And I think
if you and I will remember here who the Lord Jesus is talking
to, it will help us to remember that He is not talking about
every last individual, but He is talking about the entire world
as opposed to just the Jewish nation. He is the Savior of the
world. Ain't He that? And aren't you
thankful for that? John said he's the propitiation
for our sins, the Jews, but not for the Jews only, but for the
sins of the whole world. Aren't you thankful for that?
One of the best illustrations I ever heard of this, a man told
one time about a particular breed of cat was
about to become extinct. And somebody said, let's save
the cat. They saved the cat. And they
saved the cat. It didn't mean they saved every
last cat without exception. But in ten years, they looked
back down the road and said, well, we've saved the cat. Has
God saved humanity? Has Christ saved the world? Absolutely
He has. He saved you, hasn't He? And
look, yonder in heaven, those spirits of just men made perfect.
And when the last child of God is redeemed and when the graves
open and heaven is populated with a glorified humanity, you
know what we'll say? He saved the world. He saved
the world. He's the Savior of the world.
And that's why he made this statement, God so loved the world. Oh, how can it be? Love of God. Nicodemus was amazed by it. Because
he didn't believe that. And secondly, Nicodemus believed
and taught this. that the love of God was for
good people. It was for good people. It was
manifest to the righteous, not bad people. And you know something
about Dickon Demas? He thought he was one of them.
He is one of those Pharisees the Master said went up to the
temple to pray and said, God, I thank you that I'm not like
other men. I'm better than everybody else. And he thought, that's
why God loves me. Because God loves good people,
and I'm one of them. I'm a good man. Why wouldn't
He love me? And I've done such good things.
God loves me. Can you imagine Nicodemus' surprise when the Lord Jesus came here
and told him what kind of people he was dying for? Condemned people. Perishing people. Nicodemus believed,
as all the Jews believed, that Christ could not come until Israel
had prepared itself. They kept telling, preaching
to the Jews, you know, the Messiah cannot come, the Messiah will
not come until we get good enough. We have got to get our house
in order for the Messiah to come. Did the Messiah come? Because
they were worthy of His coming. When He came, what did they do?
He came to His own, and what did His own do? They turned Him
away, didn't they? He came to His own, and His own
received Him not. Did that stop Him from coming?
He came despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow. Did
that stop Him from coming? That's why He came. Nicodemus
thought he was going to come and throw off the yoke of that
Roman government and set up a kingdom here upon this earth and reign
in it there in Jerusalem. But he said, we've got to be
prepared. We've got to make ourselves ready. We've got to be a good
holy people or He won't come. Christ didn't come because they
merited His coming. He didn't come because we deserved
His coming. Why did He come? Great love. The Father sent Him. God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son. I would be prepared,
brothers and sisters, to say that Nicodemus knew nothing of
the love of God. He knew nothing of the love of
God. And if I limit it to myself,
I know nothing of the heart of God. And if I say the love of
God is for good people and I have to prepare myself, I know nothing
of God's love. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. There is the love
of God in it. And when did He quicken us? When
we had prepared ourselves, when we had cleansed ourselves, or
when we were dead in trespasses and sin. God commendeth His love
toward us when we were dead in trespasses and sins, for His
great love was with the loved ones. He gave us life. That's
love. That's unconditional love. The
love of God. And I would say this poor man
here knew nothing really of it. And the Lord tells him here in
verse 14 that I read to you, that he wasn't coming to set
up a kingdom. He wasn't coming an earthly king
to sit on the throne, to throw off a yoke of the Roman government.
But he gave this story to Nicodemus that I'm sure he could relate
to at least with his natural mind. He had read this. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. That's the gospel. I was always
amazed as I look at this, and the Lord Jesus interrupted Nicodemus. He came here to flatter the Lord.
That's what this was all about. We know that you're a good man.
We know that you're a great man. You're a man from God. You can
never do this. He was just going to go on and
on flattering the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus knew what was
in him. I don't need you to testify of me. I know what's in you."
So he stops him. And he says, you must be barned
again. And he confused this man. So what does he do? No sense
talking about the new birth. No sense explaining anymore about
what it means. But what does he do? He goes
right to the gospel, doesn't he? He goes right to the gospel. I've heard men try to explain
the new birth, and if I had much confidence in them, I'd be convinced
that I never had experienced it. But when you go to the Gospel,
I say, there it is. I believe the Gospel. And when
you believe the Gospel, you can know that you've experienced
the new birth. So the Lord Jesus, He leaves this doctrine of the
new birth and regeneration, and He comes here and He begins to
tell Nicodemus the gospel. And what does He say? Nicodemus,
do you remember when the children of Israel wandered in the land,
in that wilderness, in the desert? And they had sinned against God.
They had complained because the way was rough. Would to God we
had stayed down in Egypt. You brought us out here to kill
us. And they sinned against God. And He sent these fiery serpents
among them. And they bit the people. And
a lot of them died. A lot of them died. Before that serpent was ever
lifted up, a lot of people died. Before the Lord Jesus came and
died on that cross, a lot of people died lost. And since he's
come and died, a lot of people have died lost. Everybody's not
going to be saved. But he said, take that serpent.
Moses said, Lord, what can we do? He said, take your piece
of brass and make it into a serpent and hang it up on a pole. My
goodness, ain't that strange? Here they were bitten by a serpent.
And now he says, you've got to look to a serpent to live. God's
ways are above our ways, aren't they? And everybody that was
bitten by a serpent, when they looked and they beheld that serpent
of brass, what happened? They lived. You know what that
is? That's the new birth. When they
looked, they lived. We can discuss about the new
birth coming before faith or faith before the new birth. But
when they looked, they lived. It confuses me when you talk
about the new birth and get in great detail about it. But this
don't confuse me. This straightens me out. Look
and live. And that's the new birth. Don't
worry about what it is until you've looked. And then when
you look to Christ hanging up on a cross, you'll live. You'll live. That's the gospel
that he preached to Nicodemus. There in verses 14 and 15. And he tells Nicodemus here in
verse 16 and verse 19, of the poor, lost, condemned condition
this world was in. And this is the reason for His
coming. He has a double condemnation
here, and look at it in verse 17. 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." Why
are men condemned? Well, here's the first thing,
they don't believe in Christ. That's probably the greatest
sin that any man can live in. We look upon people in our society
that have gone off into open and profane sins. We have all
kinds of drug addicts today, homes being broken up, adultery,
fornication, drunkenness, incest. And we look down upon these people
and we say, my, how awful they are. But look at the multitudes
of people that you and I meet who do not believe, and we think
little of it. And yet that's the very reason
they live and die lost and condemned. This is the condemnation that
I am coming to the world. Light has come. And here's the
greatest condemnation the Lord Jesus said you'll ever be involved
in. You don't believe me. Your heart
doesn't bow to me. You don't trust me. Ain't that
the greatest sin anybody can commit? Living in unbelief. He that believeth not. And then
here in verse 19, he tells them another. This is the condemnation. Here's another condemnation.
That light is coming to this world, and men love darkness
rather than light because their deeds are evil. It's not only what men think
of Christ. They don't believe Him. But here's
the condemnation. They love everything that's opposed
to Him. He's light, they love darkness. He's righteousness, and they
love sin. He's godly, and they love ungodliness. Your deeds are evil, and therefore
you're condemned. A double condemnation. Well, who are these people? That's
the kind of people the Lord came to save. Ain't that amazing? He only loves good people. We
must be good. We must make ourselves good before
He can save us. These aren't good people. God
sent His Son not to save the righteous, but sinners. I'll
never get over that, will you? I need to be taught this continually.
I'm continually forgetting this. I forget it with myself. And
when I go out to talk to other people, I look at people, I look
at them through this lens. I can't preach to you. I can't
witness to you. Why, you're a sorry man. You
have no interest. You're in unbelief. You're dead
in sin. And what do we do? We want to
wait until they get better. We want to wait until they show
some interest. or until they are awakened or they are concerned.
The Lord didn't come to save awakened sinners, concerned sinners. He just came to save condemned
sinners. And you know something? If you
and I don't take our place, it's that. And I don't know if we
have any interest or part in this great love of God that is
revealed in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son. What does He save us from? He
saves us from this double condemnation. There was a time in your life
when you didn't believe. You didn't believe Him. You weren't
born with faith. You weren't born believing Him.
You were without faith and you were condemned because of it.
There was a time when you were dead in sins. You loved darkness. You hated the light and loved
darkness. But He saved you from that, didn't He? You're the kind
of people He came to save. That's the love of God, brothers
and sisters. That's the love of God. And what
does He save us to? He not only saves us from this
double condemnation, but He saves us to everlasting life. He that believeth hath everlasting
life. And you know that's a long time,
ain't it? That's a long time. Everlasting
life. He that believeth in me shall
never die. Never die. Throughout eternal
ages, world without end, everlasting life. I always told my cousin,
the Free Will Baptist preacher, you're going to have to have
a big set of rubber lips to twist that to mean anything other than
life eternal. He never gives any other kind.
He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life. I wish we could get a hold of
that. It comes right back to what we talked about this morning,
doesn't it? We read these things, and we read these things, and
they don't get into our heart. We're not amazed by them until
the Spirit comes. And oh, He enlightens the understanding. And then we see it in our souls. Everlasting life. We're so concerned with this
temporal life. spanned this vapor that's appearing
for a while, and you and I are just so concerned with it. If we could just have this to
sink into our souls, we have everlasting life, eternal life. But then it's not only the length
of it, it's the quality of it. It's divine life. It's a life
that Christ gives, and it's what Christ is. He is the life that
He gives. This life is in God's Son. He is our life. When Christ who
is our life shall appear. Oh, that's a wonderful thing,
isn't it? Because it's not just what He gives, but it's who He
is. And that makes it a holy life. good and righteous. And it's
not only everlasting, but it's a deliverance from sin, never
knowing any sin, to be like Him, holy and harmless, undefiled
and good. Life. Life. And the life that
Christ is and gives can't be corrupted. It can't diminish. Never be brought to naught. Nothing
can ever enter in to corrupt it. Eternal life. And who has a right to live in
the full assurance of it? He that believeth. He that believeth. You know the love of God is only...
No, there's no sense talking about the love of God. But in
this life, these two lives, number one, there's no sense talking
about the love of God apart from the cross. There is no sense. It does no
good. It just deceives people. For me and you to go around telling
lost people, God loves you, that will do them no good. The apostles
never did it throughout the book of Acts. You never see them doing
that. Why? Why? Because the love of God
is seen in the cross. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son. And this is manifest, the love
of God, because He sent His only begotten Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. And for me to come to a lost
person and say, God loves you, would only cause them to deceive
themselves. Well, does He love them or not?
That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying no person can know
the love of God but as it's viewed and known in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly, the second thing
about the love of God, the only ones who can know it are believers. It's only revealed to them. We
have known. and believe the love that God
has to us. To who? His children, believers. You know what the message is
to the lost? You know what the message is to them? Repentance
towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not to
go to lost people and say God loves you. Well, if God loves
me, it's okay. Is that what they're saying in
our day? Everything's fine if He loves me. I'll just go off
and live in my sin. I don't have anything to worry
about. And they go off and deceive themselves. The message to lost
people is this, and you find this in the book of Acts. God
has sent His Son. He's died for the ungodly. He
has punished sin. And God has raised Him and exalted
Him at His right hand. He is Lord of all. Now bow to
Him. Turn from yourself. Turn from
your sin. Repentance towards God. Change
your mind towards God. Turn to Him and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That is the message to the lost
people. And then, and only then, Can they begin to sing? He loved
me, even me. He gave Himself for me. These
things have I written unto you that believe, and nobody else
but to you that believe. And you know something, brothers
and sisters? We preach this message to the world, every individual. This love, This great love of
God has caused missionaries to leave their families, leave their
jobs, and borrow money to go off into some foreign country
to preach this gospel. The love of God is wider than
Newcastle, Indiana. The love of God extends to Mexico
and extends to Russia and extends to Canada and all these other
tribes and nations and kindreds of this earth. And knowing that,
they left everything and went off to preach this gospel. But you know something? In spite
of all that, every individual in this world is not going to
believe this gospel. They are not going to. But here is something
encouraged. Whosoever will, let him believe. And I'm like old Todd and Albert.
I'm glad he didn't say Bruce Crabtree. Aren't you? You're
glad he didn't say Tarrant? Maybe another Tarrant somewhere.
Whosoever. Whosoever. If you will, then
come and take of this water of life freely. Do you want Him? Do you need Him? Then come to
Him. Whosoever believeth in Him. This door is wide open. It's
wide open. Whosoever. But it's whosoever
believeth in Him. In Him. That's a positive gospel,
isn't it? It doesn't shut anybody out.
It takes everybody in that wants to come in on His term. And you
and I love it. You and I love it. And we praise
Him for bringing us to meet His terms. The Lord will
save you on His terms. On His terms. He'll do it. You
come and try, if you will, and see He'll not save you on His
terms. He'll do it. Gracious Father, O our Father,
we call You our Father because You are in our Lord Jesus. Let us see more of this great
love this unconditional love, this love that paid it all, this
redeeming love. Thank You, Lord, for Your Spirit.
Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for giving Yourself,
all of Yourself, for our awful badness, for our sins. What great
love! Let us know it. It is love that
passes knowledge. Let us know it. And not only
us, but let many know it. O Lord, call many to Yourself. Open hearts of many. For Christ's
sake. Amen.