Now, if you'll turn back in your
Bibles to the book of John, chapter 3, my message this morning is on
the subject, John 3, 16. That's my subject, and that's
my text. 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 we're met together,
I pray, with two objects in view. I thought about this. There's
the object of the preacher, there's the object of the hearer. I examined
my own heart and I asked myself this question. Why are you here? What are you attempting to do?
What is your primary goal? And after careful consideration,
I believe it can be summed up in this way. I am here to set
forth and proclaim, with the aid of the Spirit of the living
God, the blessings of the covenant of grace. That's why I'm here. I am here to set forth and proclaim,
if it please God's Spirit to give me the power, the blessings
of the covenant of grace. There's no greater calling, there's
no more profitable work, than to tell the sinners what God
is pleased to do for them through the merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ and through his eternal mercy. Now if my efforts, and
through my efforts a man becomes wealthy, suppose I give myself,
my time, what little talent that I have, to making men wealthy. Suppose through my efforts and
through my message a man becomes wealthy. He'll one day lose it
all. He'll one day come to possess nothing but a six-foot hole in
the ground. If through my efforts a man is
healed, and many people who give themselves to that, if through
my efforts a man who is very sick and not expected to live
should suddenly be healed, I would be acclaimed as a great healer. I'd be acclaimed everywhere as
a great man of God. But that man would soon get sick
again, and then he would die. If through my efforts a man is
educated and acquires great learning, he'll one day lose that, too,
and probably come down to the end of life having lost his skill,
lost his talent, and lost his learning. But if through my efforts,
through my preaching and teaching, a man comes to know Christ, the
Lord of glory, If through my efforts a man comes by the Spirit
of God to be born again, and is brought to a vital living
union with the Son of God, the wealth of all heaven is his,
and he'll never lose it, and no man can ever take it away
from him. He will be by the grace of God,
an heir of God, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. He may be
poor here, But when he dies and goes to be with God, he'll be
rich as the Son of God himself, because he'll be a joint heir
with Christ. Eternal riches. If through my
efforts a man comes to know Christ, eternal health will be his. Christ said, he that liveth and
believeth on me shall never die. Never die. I may heal bodies,
and they're still going to the grave, but if through my preaching
God heals a soul, it'll never die. Never die. And the wisdom
of God will be His. For Paul said in 1 Corinthians
1.30, He of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Turn to Galatians 4. I want you
to look at this scripture, Galatians 4, verse 19. Why am I here? What am I attempting to do? What
is my goal and my object? Paul summed up his with verse
19 of Galatians 4. He says, My little children,
of whom I prevail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. I am a Calvinist. I'm not ashamed
to own that, and you're not either. But I'm not here to make Calvinist
of anybody. I believe my theology can be
summed up this way, that all of the work of salvation, from
the eternal past to the eternal future, is of God and of God
only. The royal bath in which black
souls are washed white from their terrible sin and guilt and stain
is drawn from the blood of Jesus Christ and Christ alone. The
banquet of mercy is served up by one host, the Lord of Glory.
If any man is saved, God will save him. If any man goes to
hell, it will be his own responsibility. But salvation from beginning
to end is of God and of God only. He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the author and finisher of our faith. That's my theology.
But I'm not here to make a Calvinist of anybody. You can be a Calvinist
and go to hell. I'm not here to make a Baptist
of anybody. I'm a Baptist. I'm not ashamed
of it. As I read to you a moment ago in John 3, the Scripture
says John was baptizing in a certain place because there was much
water there. Much water there. The reason
he needed much water is because he was baptizing people by immersion. That's why he needed much water.
And the Scripture says they went down into the water, both Philip
and the eunuch, and when they had come up straightway out of
the water, both Philip and the eunuch. perfectly clear to me
how that men are baptized. Church government, these other
responsibilities which God hath given to us, in all of them I
am a Baptist, and not ashamed of it, but I'm not here to make
Baptists of people. A man can be a Baptist and go
to hell. And the general public has the idea that preachers are
They're out to make everybody moral and clean in their living
and straightforward and honest in their dealings with others.
Well, that's a good vocation. But that's not my primary purpose.
A man can be moral and go to hell. A man can be a law-abiding
citizen and go to hell. Because God looketh not on the
outward countenance, God looks on the heart. And sin is not
that which goeth into the body, it's that which comes out of
the heart. And a man can have clean hands and have an impure
heart. A man can have a clean outward
appearance and have an ungodly heart. A man or woman can appear
to be the most moral person in the world and have the most immoral
heart. A person's actions may appear
to be clean and pure and aboveboard, while his attitude is wicked,
and God looks on the attitude, not the actions. So I'm not here
for that purpose. What is my goal? It's that Christ
may be formed in you, that you might come to know him whom to
know is eternal life. For all these other things, wealth
and health and education, all of these other things Christ
said shall pass away. he that doeth the will of God
shall live forever." Charles Spurgeon told a story one time.
He said there was an old Christian who was dying. He was in his
late eighties, and through his sickness and hardening of the
arteries and other diseases, he was old and wrinkled and He
had been unable even to identify his children. He didn't know
his children, not a one of them. He didn't know his grandchildren.
He didn't even know his friends. He was lying there in the bed
dying, seemingly have forgotten everything and everybody. And
finally one of his sons came to him. His eyesight was gone.
His memory was dull. His body was weak and dying.
One of his sons came to him and leaned over and whispered in
his ear, and Spurgeon said, this is a true story, whispered in
that old man's ear, wrinkled and gray and everything gone,
all of his wealth and money and health and knowledge and memory
and everything. He was just lying there like
a vegetable waiting for God to take him. And his son came to
him and whispered in his ear, Daddy, you'll soon see the Lord
Jesus. And Spurgeon said, when that
boy said, The Lord Jesus, in that old man's ear, that a smile
came across his face. And he said these words, Ah,
Jesus, I know his name. I know his name. Brethren, it's
not a thing that I have, not a thing, that I possess in this
world that shall not be taken away. I wish we'd learned to
hold lightly to it. I wish we'd learned to count
it really as nothing. I wish we'd learned to look upon
it as Solomon who said, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. He tried everything that this
world had to offer, and he came to the conclusion that it was
all vanity. Oh, Paul said that I might know
him. I hope when everything that I've
got no car, and I've got no home, and I've got no clothes, and
I've got no family, and I've got no wife, and I've got no
children, and I've got no memory, I hope when I lie there waiting
for God to call that somebody says, you'll soon see the Lord
Jesus, that his name and image is so imprinted on my heart by
the Holy Ghost that I shall be able to say, Ah, Jesus, I know
his name. That's my object that you might
know Christ. The doctrines are important.
Our church government and our fellowship is important. Our
relationship with other people is important. But brethren, there's
nothing so important as to know the Lord. That's it. All right, what's your object?
I thought about this. Why are you here? Why are you
here? Well, I hope it's for this reason,
by faith. I'm here, preacher, by faith
to gain an interest in the blessings of that covenant. God has a people. There's no denying that. He gave
his Son a people. Christ said, I came down from
heaven to do my Father's will, not my own will, but 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." He has a people, and
he died for those people. He said, I'm the good shepherd,
and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He said
to Peter, I've prayed for you. Our Lord is the high priest of
a people. He has their names written on
his breastplate, just like Aaron when he went into the Holy of
Holies. And he pleads for them, and he prays for them, and he
intercedes for them. And God the Father hears him.
He always hears him. Well, I hope you're able to say,
I'm here this morning, not to be seen or to see. I'm here this
morning not to appear religious or to give the appearance of
being religious. I'm here by God's grace to gain
an interest in the blessings of that covenant. That's why
I'm here. I'm here seeking the Lord. Charles
Wesley put it this way, and can it be that I, can it be that
I, God doesn't know it till you, can it be that I, should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me, who caused his
pain? For me, who him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that
thou, my God, should die for me?" The average religious person,
preacher included out yonder today, thinks that God owes them
something. God owes you nothing. If God
sends you to hell, God will do what's right. If God Almighty
is pleased to save your soul, it will be undiluted, absolute
mercy. You don't deserve it. And can it be? that I should
gain." Today's God, like a valet, like a gentleman's gentleman,
is waiting in the wings for somebody to snap their thing and say,
All right, God, now I'll let you save me. You've got an amazing
revelation coming to you, my friend. The God of the Bible
does not owe you anything. The man who knows anything about
his guilt and about himself and anything about the God of the
Bible will be led by the Spirit to say, If there's water, let
me drink. If there's mercy for sinners,
Lord, make me an object. If there's forgiveness to be
had, Lord, forgive me. If there's a Savior for the guilty,
O God, I'm guilty. Will thou not show mercy? Lord,
lay not this sin to my charge." Our Lord shows his mercy in strange
places and in mysterious ways. I never cease to be amazed at
God speaking here and withholding his grace there. I never cease
to be amazed. God moves in a mysterious way,
his wonders to perform. A man whom I think is an object
of God's grace turns out to be a reprobate, and a man whom I
never expected to come to know the Lord, God miraculously saves. And the wind bloweth where it
lifted. And you hear the sound thereof,
but you can't not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth.
God may be pleased to show mercy to you. He may not. Mercy is
in the hands of God. John Newton, who knew a little
bit about God, who wrote the great song Amazing Grace, said,
Three things will amaze me in heaven. I'm going to see people
I never expected to see. I'm going to miss some folks
I did expect to see. And when I get there and behold
his glory, the thing that amazes me is the most that I'll be there.
That'll be the most amazing thing in all the universe, that John
Newton, Christ-curser, blasphemer, evil, wicked sinner, is in the
presence of a holy God. Brother Walter Gruber went out
to a little village, a little Pueblo, they call them down there
in Mexico, went out to a little Pueblo, called Jobain. Some of you men have been there.
It's a little white church that sits in a catty corner across
the court, across the square, Village Square, the Pueblo Square.
He preached that morning, and when he got through, he came
out of the building, was standing in front, and a woman came to
him, one of the members of the church, and she said, My daddy is dying. He's an old, old man. He's in
the home of my sister, a little old grass hut way off down in
the jungle. And I don't know whether it'll
do any good or not, Brother Grover, but somehow I just feel like
I'd like for you to go and speak to my daddy. He may not even
hear you. He may not even say a word, he
may not even respond, but I wish you'd go and just say a word
to him before he dies." Well, Grover said he took his Bible
and he went out to where the little grass hut was, the hut
of this woman's sister where the daddy was lying in the hammock.
Walter said he spooked down and went through the little door,
dirt floor, nothing in there just a little round grass hut
about 10 foot or 12 foot in diameter and there the old man was lying
in one of these hinnikin hammocks and he hadn't moved out of there
in several days and they hadn't cleaned up just allowed to avoid
himself right there in the hammock on the floor and the place was
just a stench terrible smell but Walter said I went in and
They pulled up a box for me to sit on, and I sat down by that
hinnokin hammock and looked at that old man, and his eyes were
glazed. He was staring straight ahead.
And he said, I thought how useless all of this is, but I'll do what
the woman asked me to do and do what God called me to do.
And so he took out his Bible, and he just talked about how
man is a sinner and how man how that salvation is provided by
God's mercy through Christ, how the Lord Jesus died on Calvary
to redeem the chief of sinners, and how that God invites men
to believe on Christ and receive him, and through Christ to have
everlasting life. The salvation was not in the
Catholic Church or the Baptist Church or any other church, but
in Christ. And he said, I went on for a
long time. I just talked and preached, and finally I prayed.
Then I closed my Bible. I got up and left. And he said,
a week later, I came back to obey him for another service.
He tries to get to each of these little churches at least once
a week. He said, I came back and this woman that had invited
me to talk to her father was just exuberant. She was just the happiest person
there. She said, Brother Gruber, you've
got to come back and talk to my daddy. I think he's seen something. He says God revealed Christ to
him. He thinks he's saved. And he's
so much better. Brother Groover said, after the
service, I journeyed down there to that little hut again, walked
in, and there lay that old man in the hamlet, and the glaze
was gone. And the smell was gone. And he was alert to a certain
extent. He was still frail and feeble and old and still awful
sick. But this time he talked to me and asked me questions,
and we sat there and talked about the Lord for a long time. And
finally the old man said, Brother Groover, I want to be baptized.
Brother Gruber said, You think you can? He said, I've got to.
I've got to confess my Lord. He saved me. He saved me. He saved me. Brother Gruber said,
Well, a few weeks later, when the old man got a reasonable
amount of strength, he walked on two canes. He said he took
him down to a little old sunoke, a body of water. Walter said
the mosquitoes were so thick they'd just brush them off your
arms. And it was in the dry season. The water was covered with slime.
It wasn't a pretty picture at all. You know, here in the United
States, we've got to have the organ playing and a few spotlights
on and a beautiful curtain and a robe and all these things to
make it look pretty. You know, we've got to appear
religious. Well, he went down there in the middle of that old
cenote, and that old man on his cane started in that water. And
Walter said he was trembling and shaking. His other three
daughters who were taking care of him had already given him
orders that if he was baptized, they would never feed him another
bite of food, they would never take care of him another day,
and they would have nothing to do with him. The old man, trembling on his
two canes, walked in the water, and Walter said he got about
knee deep. He looked at Brother Walter and said, I don't think
I can make it. And Walter said, I said in my heart, yes, he is
going to make it, too. And he said, I helped him, and
I put him down under that water, and I brought him up. And when
he got on his two canes again and started out, he kept saying
over and over again in Spanish, he saved me, he saved me, he
saved me. And sure enough, his daughters
kept their word. They never gave him another bite
of food. this one daughter who was a member of the church at
Jobain. She had to take care of her daddy until a few weeks
later. He died, but he died rejoicing
in Christ. And here a man or a woman, boy
or girl, may listen in the 13th Street Baptist Church to the
gospel all his life, and because of indifference and carelessness
and the concern of the things of this world and the riches
of this world and the popularity of this world, God may pass you
by. And God'll reach down to an old,
wrinkled, dying, illiterate, ignorant Mexican and reveal Christ
to his heart. But God's going to have people
in glory who'll praise his Son. He's going to have people. And
you wouldn't do it, you see. And so God's going to save somebody
that will, that'll praise his Son, that'll be able to go through
life on his trembling, feeble cane, saying, He saved me! He
saved me! Think of it! He, the Lord of
glory, saved me! He saved me. Think of it. I'll
never get over it. Like the old woman said, Lord,
if you save me, you'll never hear the last of it. You'll never
hear the last of it. May God bring us to the place
of need, facing death, facing judgment, facing hell, so that
we'll come to the ABCs of the gospel with a hungry heart, for
God so loved the world. We're talking about my world.
We're talking about a world of men and women who rejected God's
rule, a world of men and women who despised God's word, a world
of men and women who rebelled against God's law, a world of
men and women who nailed God's Son to the cross. God loved my
world. I can't understand it. Men don't
know how to love like that. Man is incapable by nature of
knowing or experiencing or demonstrating this kind of love. Tardy to talk
about it. Man loves the lovable. God loves
the unlovely. Man loves those who love him.
God loves his enemies. Man's love is bound by time. He may love for a He may love
for a long time, but God loves forever. God's love is everlasting. He said, I've drawn you with
an everlasting love. Man may love enough to lay down
his life for his friend, but God lays down his life for his
foes. Man tries to love. God loves because it's his nature. God is love. And I can never
be sure, I can never be sure of the love of a human being. Never. Never quite sure. But I can be sure of His love
because He gave His Son. For God so loved my world that
he gave his son." Somebody said, those who love much, give much. You can measure the truth of
love by its self-denial. You can measure the truth of
love by its sacrifice. That love which spares nothing,
that love which gives itself to help and to bless its object. That's love indeed, not in word
only. And for God so loved, He gave. God so loved, He gave. Let us
weep as our Master says, Simon, I came to your home and you gave
me no water to wash my feet. And this woman hath not ceased
since I came in here to wash my feet with tears. And Simon,
you gave me no kiss of greeting, this woman hath not ceased to
kiss my feet. And Simon, you gave me no oil
to anoint my head, and this woman hath anointed my feet. Simon,
to whom much is forgiven, he loved much." God gave His Son
to be tried in all points. Oh, the sorrow, man of sorrows! Oh, the grief, acquainted with
grief! Oh, the thirst and the hunger
and the disappointment! In every trial of every man He
was tried, yet without sin. God gave His Son to be crucified
and slain, not as a martyr. A martyr gets some credit and
some praise, but Christ didn't die as a martyr. He died as a
sacrifice. God gave his son to be crucified
and slain, not as a champion. A champion receives a medal. His son died as a criminal. God gave his son to be crucified
and slain, not as a comforted son, but as a deserted rebel. My God! Why have you forsaken
me? There's no greater proof of God's
love than God's gift, that's all I have to say. I don't have
to go from Genesis to Revelation and read proof texts to get across
my point that God loves sinners. God so loved he gave his Son. That's enough. If that doesn't
break your heart, your heart can't be broken. If that doesn't
bring you to the foot of the cross, you can't be brought.
If that doesn't humble your spirit and make you glad for the grace
of God revealed in Christ, you can't be humbled. God gave his
Son. The third thing that I see in
this text is the condition, for lack of a better word. God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth in him. Now, the way of salvation, one
old Puritan said, is extremely simple to understand once the
heart is broken. The way of salvation is extremely
easy to practice once the heart is broken. The way of salvation
is simple to see once the heart is broken. The way of salvation
is extremely easy to receive once the heart is broken. That's
the hook, that's the key, that's the whole thing. First the heart
must be made willing to be saved God's way. First the heart must
be made willing to see that we're saved on God's terms. First the heart must be broken
of its own righteousness, for man is a proud creature. But
once the heart is broken, once the heart is made willing, once
the heart of man sees his inability, he can see the way of salvation.
It's by paying in Christ alone. For there's nothing else that
I can pay. There's nothing else that I can bring. It doesn't
say whosoever keepeth the law shall not perish. It doesn't
say whosoever finds and joins the right church shall not perish.
It does not say, whosoever obeys the ordinance of baptism shall
not perish. It doesn't say, whosoever experiences
great valleys of despair or deep feelings of remorse. It says,
whosoever believeth in him, that's what it says. Faith, however slender, saves
the soul. Works, however great, can never
save the soul. What is it to believe on Christ?
Assuming that I know that I'm a sinner, assuming that I know
that I have no ability to please God or to satisfy and meet his
justice, assuming that I know I'm a helpless, hopeless, hell-deserving
sinner, what is it to believe on Christ? First of all, it's
to believe the record that God has given concerning his Son.
That's what the Bible says. I believe Christ is the Son of
God. I believe Christ was born of the Virgin. I believe Christ
came to this earth and lived a perfect life. I believe He
obeyed the law in every jot and tittle. I believe He went to
the cross and bore my sins in His body on the tree. I believe
He was buried and rose again. I believe He ascended to the
right hand of God. where he reigns forever. I believe
that he's the only high priest who can take my name into the
Holy of Holies and offer me, for me, an effectual sacrifice.
I believe that he will come again and I shall reign forever with
him. I believe the record God has
given, I don't doubt it. What is it to believe on Christ?
It's to trust him, to trust his ability and trust his power.
to save from all guilt. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. He can do it. I know whom I have
believed, and I am persuaded he's able. What is it to believe
on Christ? It's to receive him as my Lord
and my Savior. It's to surrender to him as my
King and my Ruler. And God says, listen, closing,
God so loved my world, he gave his Son. That whosoever keeps
the law? No. Joins the church? No. Is baptized? No. Does the best he can? No. Believe it. Believe it. Shall not perish. What is it
to perish? Well, first of all, it's the
return to a state of unbelief. The enemies of the gospel say,
Oh, he's made a profession. Oh, he's joined the church. Oh, he says God saved him. He'll be back. Leave him alone. He'll come back. He'll fall away. He won't last long. But the voice
of our Lord says, No, he shall never perish. That soul that
on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert
to its foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, never, never, never forsake. No, he won't either. My sheep
hear my voice, and I give them eternal life. and they shall
not perish, and neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand." A false professor may fall away, but not a believer. A church member may fall away,
but not a believer. A religious moralist or legalist
may fall away, but not a believer. They shall never perish, he said. What is it to perish? It's to
die without hope. whosoever believeth shall never
die without hope. I will be with you, he said,
even to the end of the earth. Yea, I am with you always, Christ
said, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Wherever the instrument of death descends upon my poor, feeble
heart, I know this, I shall not be alone." My Lord said he'd never leave
me. What is it to perish? It's to stand before the judgment
in that great day and hear Christ say, Depart from me, I never
knew you. A believer will never hear that.
Rather, he shall hear the voice of his Lord say, Enter ye, blessed,
into the kingdom prepared for you before the world began. Shall not perish. Shall not perish. John said, if they had been of
us, they no doubt would have continued with us, because Christ
said they shall not perish. They shall not perish, but they
shall have eternal life. What would you give in exchange
for your soul? What shall it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his soul? Take my family, take all my friends,
and God knows they mean so much to me, and take my help, and
take everything I've got, but don't take my hope in Christ. Don't take my hope in Christ.
When that becomes to you the most important, most vital thing
in all of the universe, you can say, He saved me. He saved me." Our Father used
this message for Thy glory. Oh, how we praise Thy matchless,
wonderful Name, for Thy grace revealed in Thy Son, our Lord
and Savior. break the heart of every person
in this congregation, bring us to see the vanity of this world.
Heaven and earth passeth away, but my word shall never pass
away. Grant, O Lord, that we shall
see the beauty, the power, of Christ our Lord, and come to
rest by faith in him. Whosoever believeth in him shall
not perish, but have eternal life. For Christ's sake we pray,
and in his glory. Amen.