God Sent His Son Into the World

I want you to turn in your Bible
to, I guess, the most familiar passage of Scripture in all of
God's Word. John chapter 3, and we'll begin
reading with verse 14 and read through verse 17. I'm speaking
to you this morning on this subject. God sent his Son into the world. God sent his Son into the world. The Scripture says, and as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish, but have everlasting 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. Many years ago, I read an outline
by an outstanding old gospel preacher from these verses. He
said in verse 14 and 15, you have sin's remedy. The gospel
is John 3, 14 and 15. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That's the gospel. You don't have gospel, a gospel
without a cross. You don't have a gospel without
an atonement. You don't have a gospel without
a sin offering. So that's the gospel, John 3,
14 and 15. And then in John 3, 16, you have
God's reason for the gospel. The gospel is Christ. And the
reason that Christ came is because God loved. Not because we loved
God, not because God owed us anything, but because God loved. God is merciful, God is gracious,
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And then in John 3, 17, you have
the result. God didn't send his Son into
the world to condemn the world. The world was already condemned.
The world was already under condemnation, under the wrath of God. But God
sent his Son into the world to save. God sent his Son into the
world. You know, I don't think that
we realize the great impact and the importance. I don't think
we realize the true Meaning of these words God sent his son
into the world The word was made flesh the word in the beginning
was the word and the word was with God and the word was God
and all things were made by him and without him was not anything
made that was made and In him was life and that life was the
life of all men and he was in this world God became a man The
word became flesh Jesus Christ came into the world, Paul said,
to save sinners of whom I am peace. Now, he didn't come to
honor and to fame, but Jesus Christ came to an enslaved, forgotten
nation. Isaiah described it in this fashion.
He was a root out of a dry ground. And our Lord Jesus Christ did
not come to acceptance, but to rejection. He was a man of sorrows,
acquainted with grief. He was despised, and we esteem
him not. He was rejected of men. The Lord
Jesus Christ didn't come to acceptance, but to rejection. He didn't come
to riches, but to poverty. He said foxes have holes and
birds of the air have nests, but the foot of man hath not
where to lay his head. He didn't come to happiness,
but to sorrow. He didn't come to live on this
earth. But he came to die on this earth. They led him, as
a common criminal, to a place called Golgotha, and the scripture
says there they crucified him. His crown, the king's crown,
was a crown of thorns. The king's scepter was a hollow
wreath. The king's throne was a cruel
cross. The king's companions, thieves
and robbers. what was the law of love, not
force, the king's purpose to save his people from their sins. I wish I had the eloquence, but
I do not. I wish I had the ability, but
I do not. I wish I had the power to take
men to Mount Calvary, to Golgotha's hill, and hold them there and
keep them there for a sufficient time that they might somehow
understand what happened on that cross. Scripture says of those
who crucified him sitting down they watch him there I wish I
wish I could take you to Mount Calvary and get you to sit down
Get you still long enough and quiet long enough and settle
long enough Just to sit there and contemplate that cross the
meaning of it the depth of it the power of it To contemplate
that man on that cross who that man is What he's doing on that
cross Why he's hanging on a cross? Just to sit there long enough
to consider what's taking place here. The Son of God is dying
on a cross. Now, I know Mount Sinai is a
great mountain. There the lightning flashed,
and there the thunder rolled, and there the voice of God spake,
and there that mountain was robed in clouds and covered with smoke,
and God wrote the law with his own finger. Great is Sinai's
mountain. Great is Mount Horeb There's
where Moses talked to God There's where the bush burned but was
not consumed there where God said Moses take off your shoes
You're on holy ground great is Mount Horeb and great is Mount
Pisgah So great they wrote a song about it and from Mount Pisgah
to Laufey Heights I view my home and take my flight great is Mount
Morav There's where the Was revealed to Abraham and Abraham took his
son lifted his son Isaac off the altar and put the substitute
in his place there's where God taught salvation the substitution
salvation by a Substitute dying in the stand of another there
God taught Abraham the gospel Abraham saw my day Christ said
and that's one of the places where he saw Christ's day and
rejoiced and was glad that was a great mountain many people
say that That's the same place where Christ was crucified. I
do not know. But great is Mount Carmel. At Mount Carmel, Elijah
challenged 450 prophets of Baal. There, for the honor of God and
for the glory of God, this man of God called on God to reveal
himself, and God spake with fire from heaven. Elijah prayed a
short 63-word sermon on that mountain, and the fire of God
felled, and and consumed the sacrifice and the altar and licked
up the barrels of water that was surrounding that altar there
in the ditch. Great is that mountain. But Mount
Calvary, there are no words to describe its glory. Mount Calvary,
there are no words to describe its significance. Mount Calvary,
there God gave his Son to die. Mount Calvary, all the glory
of all the world, of all nations, of all men, of all generations
put together. couldn't come up to one millionth
of the glory of Mount Calvary, where Christ died, where God
gave his son, where Christ Jesus became our sin offering. There
God, at Mount Calvary, God with the power to destroy his enemies
with just a word, suffered his enemies to nail his son to a
tree. Mount Calvary, there God, who
delights to show mercy who is plenteous in mercy, and yet he
poured out his wrath on his only begotten son. Mount Calvary,
there, God who closed the lily, allowed his son to die naked
before the gaze of the rabble and the multitude. Calvary, there,
God who feeds the sparrow, and here's the raven cry, turn the
deaf ear to the cry of his son, who finally said, my God, Why
hast thou forsaken me? Mount Calvary, there God, who
never leaves us alone or forsakes us, left his Son to die alone. Mount Calvary, where God is able
to give water and nourishment to the world's population, yet
he heard not the cry of his Son, who said, I thirst. Oh, the glory
of that mountain. It was alone. My Savior died
on dark Mount Calvary. Alone, he drained the bitter
cup and suffered there for me. He gave himself to save his own
and suffered on Mount Calvary alone. And yet his holy fingers
formed the bough where grew the thorn that pierced his brow. The nails that pierced his hands
were mined in secret places that he designed. He made the forest
whence there sprung the tree on which his body hung. He died
on a cross of wood, and yet he made the hill on which it stood. The sky which darkened over his
head by him above the world was spread, and the sun that hid
from him its face by his own hand was hung in space, and the
stairs that shed his precious blood were tempered in the fires
of God, and the grave in which his form was laid was hewn in
rock his hand had made, the impact of it, the power of it, the force
of it, the importance of it, the glory of it. I don't think
a human mind or all the human minds of this world could possibly
comprehend what is wrapped up in that statement, God sent his
son into the world. And I fear that we take it lightly.
I fear that we use those words carelessly. I fear that we take
it for granted God sent his son into the world. I'm overwhelmed
that God should send his son into the world. I'm overwhelmed
that Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, should come into this
world. I'm overwhelmed that the Lord of Glory should come into
this world and die on a cross, give his life a ransom for many. That's the most startling discovery.
that the spirit of the living God has ever revealed that human
is. That's the most amazing sight
that human eyes could ever see. That's the most amazing truth
that the human heart could ever comprehend. God came into this
world. God came into this world. You
talk about if it was possible for an angel, one of the angels
from the third heaven, one of the named, recognized angels,
like Michael or Gabriel, to come down here to this earth and become
a worm, you'd say, what condescension, what humility, what abasement. But that's nothing. That would
be nothing when you consider that the Son of God, the infinite
God, became a man, lower than the angel. In fact, man is called
by God in the Holy Word a worm, thy worm, Jacob. It's a startling
thing, and from this startling revelation, God sent his Son
into the world. I have drawn four conclusions,
and I want you to think about these things now. I want you
to consider them carefully. I want you to consider this.
God sent his Son into the world. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Who made the world was in the
world and the world knew him not but now he came There are
four conclusions. I draw from this and I want you
to think about first one is this If God sent his son into this
world to save sinners to save me Then man must certainly be
lost in an extreme manner in an extreme sense now you think
about that If these measures are resorted to, that God would
send his son into this world to be made in the likeness of
sinful flesh, to be spit upon, and to be tormented, and mocked,
and ridiculed, and humiliated, and finally nailed to a cross,
to suffer and agonize in an extreme fashion, even under the wrath
of a holy God as our substitute, we must be in for a bad day.
We must be in pretty bad shape. We must be lost in an extreme
thing. Now to talk about Jesus Christ
coming into this world and God subjecting his son to sin's cruelty
and sin's consequence and sin's debt and sin's suffering as an
example. That's what some preach. Christ
came and lived and died as an example. To think about God subjecting
Christ to this kind of life and death as an example That's foolishness
to me. Christ is our example. No question
about that. But Christ is our substitute.
He didn't die as an example. He died as a substitute. And
to talk about God giving his son to die as a martyr, that's
what some people think. He died as a martyr. He came
down here and lived a perfect life, a holy life, and preached
his religion and preached his doctrine, and he died as a martyr
for what he believed. to win the pity and the goodwill
of the creature. That's ignorance. That's total
ignorance, to think that God, the Father, would subject his
son to the death of a martyr, to be taken at the will and by
the will of foolish men. That's ignorance. And then to
talk of God giving his son as an offer, only as an offer, with
the possibility of failure, because an offer always carries with
it the possibility of rejection, the possibility of failure. To
think of God sending his son on a mission that might not succeed,
that might fail, well, now that's blasphemy. That's not just foolishness,
and that's not just ignorance, that's blasphemy. Jesus Christ
came to save sinners, and he will not fail. He said, I came
to do the will of him that sent me, and this is the will of him
that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I'll lose nothing. but raise it up again at the
last day. I'm the good shepherd, I give my life for the sheep.
For the sheep I have which are not of this foal, them also I
must bring. And the Son of Man is come, not
to try to seek and to save the lost, not to attempt to seek
and to save the lost, he came to seek and to save that which
was lost. Jesus Christ came down here because
we needed him. He came down here because we
were helpless and hopeless without him. He came down here to pay
a debt we owed and couldn't pay. He came down here to do a work
that God required and we couldn't produce. He came to do what he
had to do, what he had to do to save his people. I know a
young lady in the northern part of our country. She was an only
child, a very lovely lady. She's now married and has children
of her own. But when she was a little girl, she was the only
child in the family. Her father was a physician. She
and her mother and father were in Florida on vacation one year.
Her father was not a strong man. He was not a well man. But they
were in Florida on vacation and she was out swimming in the ocean.
And her father saw that she was in trouble and she was going
to drown. He ran into the surf and dove
in, swam out and got her and brought her to the shore and
revived her, got the water out of her lungs and she was all
right. And then he fell over dead with a heart attack. But
he did what he had to do. He gave his life to save the
life of his child. If he had not gone in, if he
had not rescued her, she would have drowned. He did what he
had to do. There was no other way. He probably knew his heart
wouldn't take the strain. It wouldn't take the emotion
connected with such an event. But knowing all that full well,
he didn't hesitate. He went right into the surf and
brought his daughter out She was all right, fell over dead.
He did what he had to do. He gave his life for his own.
And that's what our Lord did. He came to this earth to die
for sinners because he had to, to redeem them. And that brings
me to my second point. If God sent his Son into the
world, he came because he had to. That's the only way. That's
the only way. Man is lost. And that's the second
thing. If God sent his Son into the world to be our Savior, then
he's the only Savior. Underscore that word. only Savior. Christ is the only Savior. Now
the law of God must be honored. God's holy law must be honored.
Man can't do it. Only the God-man can do it. Only
God in human flesh. And that's who Christ is. He
knew no sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ knew no
sin. Not only didn't commit sin, but
he didn't even know any sin. He was without sin. And the justice
of God must be satisfied. Man can't do that. The Church
can't do that. Only Christ can do that. And
Christ satisfied the justice of God by dying for our sins. The Scripture says the wages
of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. And we sinned, and our substitute
had to die to put away our sins. You see, I could never satisfy
justice. If all the angels and all the
men of heaven and earth died, it still wouldn't satisfy God's
infinite justice. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no longer know? No respite, no. These for sin
could never atone. Christ must save from Christ
alone. He's the God-man. It's not how much blood he shed,
it's whose blood. It's not how long it took him
to die, it's who died on the cross. The infinite God died
for our sins. And thereby he's satisfied God's
justice. Sin must be put away. The church
can't put sin away. The law can't put sin away. Man
can't put sin away. Water can't put sin away. Drops
of water can't put sin away. Confessional boots can't put
sin away. Prayer can't put sin away. No
way. He appeared in the end of the
world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Without
the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sin. Now that's
Scripture, Hebrews 9.22. Water can't put sin away. Sin
demands death, and Christ died. Sin demands punishment, and Christ
suffered. Sin demands God's judgment and
wrath, and Christ died under that wrath and judgment, so our
sins are put away. He's the only way from ruin to
redemption. He's the only way from darkness
to light. He's the only way from wrath to love. He's the only
way from guilt to glory. He's the only way from hell to
heaven. I must need to go home by the
way of the cross. There's no other way but this.
I'll never get sight. of the gates of life, that the
way of the cross I miss. For Christ said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. No man. Paul said, other foundations
can no man lay than that which is laid, Christ the Lord. Paul
said, there's none other name unto heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved. Only one name, and that's the
name of Jesus Christ. Only Savior. God sent his Son
into the world. And I'm telling you, men are
lost. They're in trouble. If it took
that extreme measure to save us, we're in trouble. And secondly,
if God sent his Son into the world to save sinners, he's the
only Savior. You can put that down. If there
had been any other way, God would have taken that way. His Son
coming into the world to save us, that's the only way. All
right? Thirdly, if God sent his Son into the world to save sinners,
then I'm sure of this. God intends to save some sinners. Isn't that good news? God intends
to save some sinners. If he, I know God will forgive
sinners. How do you know? How do you know
that God will redeem the people for his glory? How do you really,
actually, firmly, without doubt, know that God will redeem sinners,
that he will forgive sinners? How do you know? Well, first
of all, I know he will save sinners and show mercy to sinners because
God is love. That's right. God is love. I
hear people say God is a God of love. No. God is love. God's not a God of love. He is
love. That's what the scripture says.
God is love. That's one of his attributes. Just like righteousness
and holiness and glory and power and omnipotence and omniscience
are his attributes, love is his attributes. And love must be
expressed. I've heard people say, well, God could have damned
everybody or saved everybody. No. No, not being God. He couldn't
have damned everybody. Love must be expressed. If a
person has a characteristic or attribute of love, it must be
expressed just like any other attribute. God doesn't hide his
attributes, and I know he'll forgive sin because God is love.
Secondly, I know God will forgive sins because the Scriptures tell
me so. Throughout the Old Testament
and the New Testament, it says God will forgive sin. In his
everlasting covenant announced by Ezekiel, he said, I will forgive
their sins. But you know the chief reason
I know that God will forgive sin? Listen to Romans 8 31. If
God spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him freely give us all things? That's the
greatest proof in this world that God will forgive sin. I
take you to Calvary and I say, look yonder. Who is that on that
cross? That's Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Who sent him? The
Father sent him. Then if the Father sent his Son
to die for sinners, God fully intends, eternally intends, to
save sinners, to forgive sinners. He delivered Christ up for sinners.
The great argument, that's what Paul used. Paul in Romans 8.34
says, who is he that condemns? Christ died, yea rather is risen
again. who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Yes, sir, I know God
will pardon sinners. How do you know, preachers? Christ
died on the cross. The fourth thing, now this is
in closing. If God sent his Son into the world to save sinners,
what encouragement, what encouragement for sinners like me and you to
look to Christ and be saved. There's nothing to keep you from
looking to Christ but your own unwillingness. Christ said, you
will not come to me that you might have life. He said, O Jerusalem,
how often would I have gathered you unto myself as a hen doth
gather her brood, but you would not. You would not. That's the
only thing that keeps you from Christ. The way is prepared.
Christ said, I'm come that they might have life. The way is perfect. The Father has accepted him and
raised him from the dead with full proof. The way is free. There's no toll on this road.
It's free. Travel it if you wish to. Do
you? Come ye sinners poor and needy,
weak and wounded, by the fall Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and power. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is
to feel your need of him. Yes, I'll tell you it's a startling
statement. God sent his son into the world.
Now if he did, men are lost. And if he did, Christ is the
only Savior. And if he did, he fully intends
to save somebody. And if he did, that's encouragement
to me, to come to Christ and believe.

God Sent His Son Into the World

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God Sent His Son Into the World

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