John 3.16 is a very familiar passage to all of us, and one rightly so. We ought to refer to it often as it contains so much in terms of encouragement for God's people. Martin Luther referred to John 3.16 as the Bible in miniature. The Bible in miniature.
I think that's a good and fitting description of John 3.16. But I do want to read and set it in its larger context, so I'll pick up reading in verse 1 and we'll read the verse 21. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen. And you do not receive our witness.
If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven. but he who came down from heaven, that is, the son of man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light. because their deeds were evil.
For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Father, we come now to the Scripture and we pray for the Holy Spirit to be our guide and to be our teacher. We thank You that You have not left us as orphans in this world, but You've given another helper, one just like the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that He would be at work in our hearts and in our minds, that You would feed Your people and encourage us and strengthen us and cause us to rejoice in such a wonderful Savior. Father, we just praise You that You have orchestrated, you have undertaken on behalf of sinners to save us and to bring us into everlasting life.
God, we just ask now that in all that we do, we would bring glory to you. And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, the cross of Jesus Christ teaches us several things. I just saw a quote the other day. A man said, if you want to learn something about the love of God, look at the cross. But as well, if you want to learn something about the wrath of God, look at the cross.
The very cross that teaches us something about God's love here in John 3, 16, teaches us about God's wrath. At the end of the gospel accounts, when Jesus ultimately is hung on the tree, he cries out, why hast thou forsaken me? I would submit that is a demonstration of God's wrath. being poured out upon the son of his love. So there are many lessons that we can learn from the cross.
Paul says in Romans chapter three that one of the one of the lessons in the cross or at the cross of Jesus and the atoning work has to do with the righteousness of God. So while there are all these lessons today, we're going to focus on the cross as the manifestation of God's love, the cross as the manifestation of God's love. When we look to that cross, we ought to consider the love of God Most High. We ought to consider the love of the Father, the love of the Son, the love of the Holy Spirit.
As we consider John 3.16, we need to see it in its larger context. We saw several months ago, we looked at the new birth from John 3, verses 1 to 10. This was a dialogue wherein Nicodemus comes to the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus gets right to the point. You notice in verse 3, he doesn't play around.
He doesn't talk about the weather. Nicodemus says, We know that you are a teacher come from God. And here's Jesus response. Verse three.
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. It highlights God's initiation in salvation, unless a man is born again. This is not something that we have the ability to affect. Something outside of us must happen to us according to our Lord.
He illustrates it with the wind. We don't know where it's coming from. We don't know where it's going. But we certainly see the effects of it.
Such is the case with the Spirit. We don't schedule Him to show up at 11 o'clock on a Sunday morning. We pray for His arrival. We pray for Him to be with us.
But we are not the sovereign. The Spirit of God comes as He wishes. And He goes as He wishes. But we see the effects of His having been present with us.
So verses 1 to 10 highlight God's initiation, initiative rather, in salvation. And then in verses 11 to 21, he highlights man's response to Christ's belief. What is the first evidence that someone is regenerate? It's that they believe the gospel.
If you are born again, you will believe the Gospel. You don't have somebody born again, wandering around, who isn't a believer. When a man is regenerate, he believes on the Lord Jesus. And that's what Christ is highlighting in this particular section.
Believe is used seven times in this section. So when the Spirit regenerates us, the response is to believe on the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And then as we focus in, Jesus uses the parallel of what happened in Numbers 21. Remember in Numbers 21, the people of God, the people of Israel were complaining.
They were grumbling. They were whining. So God sent judgment. We may not like that.
I know that's not popular. We think that we should just get to sin all we want and God never responds. Well, that's simply not the case. That's one of the most offensive things about the Bible to the unbeliever is that God judges.
God punishes. Yet these same people punish their children. They long for the civil government to punish a man like Stephen Hayes. They long for the civil government to protect them from evildoers.
And yet when God inflicts punishment and judgment upon sinners, we just think that's offensive. Well, that's not offensive. It is the result of living in a moral universe governed by a holy God. The people of Israel grumble.
They complain. So God sends serpents to bite them. And as many of them died, God then instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent, hang it up on a pole, lift it in the wilderness. And the word was that if you look to that serpent, you will live.
Jesus likens his crucifixion and his atoning work to that serpent. Just as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so also must the Son of Man be lifted up. What's the point? The point is you look and you live.
The point is you look to Christ and you live. It wasn't look at that bronze serpent and then suck the venom out yourself and then heal yourself. No, it was look to that serpent and live. The same is true with the gospel and the atonement of Jesus.
We look and we live. That's what he's talking about. Belief. Belief on the gospel is necessary.
So
Five Observations on the Cross
I want to pull out five observations concerning the cross as the manifestation of God's love. And the first is
The Cross: God's Appointed Remedy
the cross is God's appointed remedy. We need to remember this. The cross is God's appointed remedy. When you start in the beginning of the Bible and you see mankind plunge into sin, The thing that you must notice is that it's not mankind who seeks after God, but rather it is God who seeks mankind.
God is a seeking God. Jesus defined his ministry with reference to Zacchaeus in these terms. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. The cross is God's appointed remedy.
We didn't make it up. We didn't think it through. We would have never designed a gospel or a good news account where the Son of God himself would come into the world to be hung upon the cross for the sins of his people. We need to understand that the cross is God's appointed remedy for the salvation of sinners.
Notice in verse 16, it starts with four. This is a reason. This is explanatory. This gives us further information.
While it may sound repetitious, verses 15 and 16, 16 explains more fully the flow of thought in verses 14 and 15. He says in verse 14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Four, it says, God so loved the world that He acted. God so loved the world that He took initiative.
God so loved the world that He orchestrated this plan to save His people from their sins. Sometimes people have it backwards. They think that Jesus came to change God's heart towards sinners. That's not the case.
Jesus came to apply God's heart to sinners. One man has well said, the atonement did not procure grace, it flowed from grace. It wasn't as if the good God of the New Testament appeased the mean angry God of the Old Testament. The one triune God works in perfect harmony and unity, and the sending of the Son reflects Love.
It reflects God's initiative in the cross. We are to see not an attempt to change God's mind, but the very expression of that mind. God so loved the world that He acted. God so loved the world that He took the initiative.
God so loved the world that He didn't leave us in our state. God so loved the world that He didn't leave us as those who go a-whoring from Him, as those who continue to trash His commandments, as those who continue to celebrate ungodliness and unrighteousness, who have degraded ourselves in idolatry. God undertook. God was pleased.
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law. John says it this way in 1 John 4, verses 9 and 10. 1 John 4, verse 9. It says, In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love.
Not that we love God. You'll have the biblical honesty of these authors. The amazing thing in this arrangement is not that we love God. He's altogether lovely.
We should love Him. Have you ever had it where one of your children does something wrong and the other one says, well, I didn't do that. You should reward me. No, you shouldn't do that anyway.
Why should I reward you? When you have done what you're supposed to do, you are still just a good and faithful slave. The issue in the salvation that God has orchestrated, what we ought not to be surprised about is that a bunch of rebel sinners love God. It's that a glorious, holy, righteous God loves rebel sinners.
In this is love, he says. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. We come to the table this morning as we consider the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to realize this was not a cunningly devised fable by a bunch of men on a drug trip.
This isn't some story that is parallel to many other religious fables in the world today. When we come to this table or when we think in terms of Jesus' broken body and shed blood, we need to see the glory of God and His divine plan in action. that He sent forth His Son, that He did not leave all men to perish in their sin and misery, that He undertook on our behalf. And the same God who sought out Adam and Eve in the garden, the same God who sought out Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees, the same God who came to Zacchaeus and said, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save, that which was lost is the same God who has sought us out. That is a means of encouragement.
The cross is God's appointed remedy. Secondly,
The Cross: God's Immeasurable Love
the cross manifests God's immeasurable love. That phrase is from B.B. Warfield, a sermon called God's Immeasurable Love, and it's a sermon on John 3.16. God, notice, so loved the world.
God's immeasurable love. He so loved the world. It shouldn't surprise us that God loves us now in Christ, but it should surprise us that God loved us even prior to Christ.
The World God Loved
God so loved the world. Isn't that Paul's thought in Romans chapter 5 verse 8? He says, God demonstrates his own love toward us. In that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
And I submit that the immeasurable love here is not seen in the fact that the world is big. You know, God so loved the world, we might think, because the world is a big place with lots of people. If we consider it now, maybe six billion people. The thought isn't God so loved the world and that that's what's great about it, that it's big.
I think the thought is that it's bad. God so loved the world, the immeasurable nature of that love is seen in the ethical state the world is in. God so loved the world, the world full of sinners, men from every tribe, tongue, and people, and nation that had degraded themselves in idolatry, that had gone astray from God, that had taken that holy law and cast it into the earth, onto the ground, and step on it, spit on it. God so loved this world.
D.A. Carson says, God's love is to be admired, not because the world is so big and included so many people, but because the world is so bad. God so loved the world. Isn't that Paul's, again, rhetoric or logic in Romans chapter 5?
He says, for scarcely for a righteous man would someone die. I mean, if somebody lobbed a grenade in here, The probable response is that all of us would run outside, more than likely. There might be one hero in our midst who would say, I'm going to jump on that grenade to preserve the health and life of my beloved brothers and sisters. More power to that brother.
Praise God for such men. But Paul's logic in Romans 5 is, scarcely will a man die for a righteous man. Scarcely. When you look at the sum and substance of humanity, there's a few out there that are willing to take the grenade.
And that for righteous people. It's on the heels of that that he states Romans 5.8. But God, you want to see what love is? Look at the cross.
You want to see what love is? God demonstrates His own love. Jesus jumps on the grenade. Jesus takes it in Himself.
Not for righteous men, but for ungodly men. For sinners. God's immeasurable love is manifested at the cross. But as well, we need to understand here, it says God so loved the world.
It teaches us something. We're not to just discount this world of men. We're not to be those cavalier types that say, I got mine. I've shared that ethic that happens, unfortunately, at the Butler household sometimes.
It probably happens in your household, too. We call it IGM. At dinner time, everybody gets their food, and they run to the table, and they're ready to pray. Everybody gets holy when their food is sitting in front of them.
They want to pray right now, because I, GM, I got mine. Usually, at least in our household, probably typical in yours as well, Mom's the last one to sit down. We really don't care whether she gets a hot meal, because we got ours. We have ours.
I want to eat right now. And unfortunately, that IGM infects the Christian church. I've got mine. Why should I care about what's going on out there?
Now, when he speaks of world here, I do not believe for a moment he means every man without exception. But I do believe he means every man without distinction. We saw a good definition of the world in Revelation 5. I read it for that particular reason.
He has redeemed us to God. Men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You've got to remember in this context, especially in dealing with Nicodemus, they thought God's love only extended to the Jews. So when Jesus says God loves the world, he means not just Jews, but Gentiles.
He means every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And we as Christians need to understand that. We need to be concerned about men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. You can't say, I've got mine.
I've got my salvation, so I'm not going to care about Haiti. I'm not going to care about North Korea. I'm not going to care about Asia Bibi. I'm not going to care about my mother and my father.
I'm not going to care about my child. I'm not going to care about my sister and my friend. No, God so loved the world. And use it as an argument, if God saved your wretched self, he can save others as well.
B.B. Warfield comments on this particular section of the verse. He says, through all the years, one increasing purpose runs. One increasing purpose.
The kingdoms of the earth become ever more and more the kingdom of our God and his Christ. The process may be slow. The process or the progress may appear to our impatient eyes to lag. But it is God who is building.
And under his hands the structure rises, as steadily as it does slowly. And in due time the capstone shall be set into its place, and to our astonished eyes shall be revealed nothing less than a saved world." Again, not every man without exception. But God so loved the world. There's a hymn that's often sung at this time of the year.
It says, He has come to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found. Far as the curse is found. Jesus will not be thwarted. Jesus will not be frustrated.
The Jesus who in Matthew 16 promised to build His church and the gates of Hades not prevailing against it is to be believed. He is to be trusted. And here He states that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Thirdly,
The Cross: God's Gracious Gift
the cross displays God's gracious gift. The cross displays God's gracious gift. God gave what? His Son.
Missionary agencies often use this reference. God had only one Son and He sent Him as a missionary. Isn't that a great thought? He had only one Son and He sent Him as a missionary.
Remember several months ago we considered, even more recently in our studies in Hebrews on Wednesday night, that scene with Abraham when he's told to take his Only Begotten. to take his one and only son, whom Moses is very conspicuous to underline and underscore and highlight over and over again with Abraham, the son whom he loved. The son whom he loved. The son whom he loved. So Abraham goes to Mount Moriah with the son whom he loved.
And the son whom he loved ultimately said, Father, I see that we have the fire. I see that we have the wood for offering. But where is the lamb? Abraham's instruction to him pointed to this.
He says, the Lord will provide. Abraham dutifully puts his son upon that altar, raises the knife, is about to dig it into his chest, and the angel of the Lord comes and says, stop. Now I know that you fear me. Now I know that you love me.
Well, what Abraham was stopped from doing, God gave. It pleased the Lord, according to Isaiah the prophet, to bruise Him, to crush Him, putting Him to grief. You ask the question, why? For sinners.
I just read something recently, and if it wasn't Spurgeon, I probably wouldn't repeat it. I think it's at least something that we need to think about. I don't know that I would even say it this way. But he says when you look at the cross and you see Jesus up there, giving His Son for us.
He says something to the effect, does He love me that much? Does He love me that much? The answer is yes. He actually says it a little bit differently.
If you want to know, I'll give you the quote later. The point is the cross displays God's gracious gift. Sometimes young men or young women, I hope it's just young men, or young women rather, Well, maybe it's young men. They get a flower and they pluck the petals and they say, he loves me.
He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me.
He loves me not. Any of you guys do that, come and see me. You've got some weird things going on. You get a daisy and you start plucking, she loves me.
She loves me not. Be a godly man so she has to love you. Sometimes Christians function like that with God. He loves me.
He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me.
He loves me not. You know what the remedy to that thought is? Look at the cross. Look at the cross.
And you will be amazed that He loves me so much. It's not a matter of love versus no love. It's, man, it blows my mind the extent that the Father loves me. The cross displays God's gracious gift.
Isn't that what the Old Testament was looking forward to? Was the gift of God? Back in Genesis 3, verse 15, the pronouncement of curse upon the serpent. God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.
He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God's sending a gift. God's initiative. God is undertaking.
Again, another popular verse at this time of the year. Something that I think goes unnoticed for most of us is in Isaiah chapter 9. A passage that I believe we're all familiar with, but we just sort of run through it and we don't think of John 3.16. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son.
He's what? He's given. He's given. What's the point?
God sees us in our depravity. God sees us in our sin. God sees us in our apostasy. And nevertheless, He gives us.
He gives us this Son. He gives us this Child. He gives us this One in whom alone is salvation. The cross displays God's gracious gift.
So if you ever start thinking for a moment, maybe God doesn't love me, may I direct you to consider the cross. May I call you to look unto the cross. Fourthly,
The Cross: Object of Saving Faith
the cross held the object of man's belief. He goes on in John 3 16 to say that whoever believes in him. When I was away last week I had some good time speaking with my family and especially talking about faith and at least one or two of them had this idea that all faith is good. Doesn't matter really what you believe it's just the presence of faith.
You heard that before. Especially in our generation, we can't ever tell anyone they're wrong because that's not nice. We can't tell somebody they're mistaken. That's not nice, at least in matters of religion.
I still would imagine that in the classroom you can tell a kid that two plus two doesn't equal five. But when we were talking, this idea that it's just faith. Let's look at faith for a moment. Let's trace faith to its object.
Some man believes in a rock. He says that rock will deliver him. That rock has power. That rock is amazing.
Well, let's take that faith, look at that object and say, does it deliver? No. A rock can't save you. Now maybe if you hurled it at an invading foe and knocked him in the head, in that respect a rock might do you some good.
But when you look at faith with reference to Christ, the object of our faith, does he deliver? Yes. Why? Because he lived in obedience to his father's law, and he died as a sacrifice and a substitute, and he is risen again.
That whoever believes in him should not perish. Christ delivers the goods. And it's by faith. It's not by faith in words.
The exclusivity of faith is highlighted in this passage and through the remainder of the Bible. It is an affront to Christ and his cross work if we think there is something in our hand that we bring. It is an affront. It is to say that what Christ did was in vain, that it was for naught, that it was empty, that it was useless.
It's by faith alone. It's what Jesus is teaching us. J.C. Ryle spelled it out this way, and I think wonderfully.
He said,
Faith Alone in Christ Alone
he that has faith has life, and he that has it not has not life. It's one way of salvation. Again, something very offensive to the non-Christian. They like Jesus as a teacher.
You know, when Jesus says, turn the other cheek, everybody roots for him. Right? When Jesus says, treat people the way you want to be treated, hip-hip-hooray for Jesus. That's a great statement.
When Jesus says good things that we agree with, we're His buddy. We're His friend. We cheer for Him. But when Jesus defines the nature of His mission as rescue sinners, as the only Savior for wretched, hell-deserving sinners, that's when He's in a front.
That's when it's offensive. That's when we will not have this man to reign over us. Isn't that amazing? Oh, Jesus, such a great moral teacher.
This is precisely why Paul said the Jews, they seek after sign. The Greeks, they seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ and him crucified. Christ, the power and the wisdom of God.
So Ryle goes on to say, nothing whatever beside this faith is necessary to our justification, but nothing whatever except this faith will give us an interest in Christ. We may fast and mourn for sin and do many things that are right and use religious ordinances and give all our goods to feed the poor and yet remain unpardoned and lose our souls. But if we will only come to Christ as guilty sinners, now listen to this. Not just calling on people who have believed the gospel.
If you're not a Christian here this morning, listen to the bishop, Bishop Ryle of Liverpool. He's simply explaining what Jesus' statement means here. He says, but if we will only come to Christ as guilty sinners. Notice, that emphasizes the truth of Scripture.
See, the sinner thinks, I've got to clean up. I've got to get better. I've got to reform myself before He'll take me. That's not the way of the Gospel.
The Gospel says you can't clean up. You cannot make yourself better. You cannot reform yourself. Believe, and the Lord Jesus will renovate you.
God, through the prophet Jeremiah, says to Israel of old, yet return to me, says the Lord. He says it five times in the context of explaining their gross sin and immorality. And at one point he says, return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backsliding. Ryle says, if we will only come to Christ as guilty sinners and believe on Him, our sins at once shall be forgiven and our iniquities shall be entirely put away.
Without faith there is no salvation. But through faith in Jesus, the vilest sinner may be saved. That's what he says. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish.
You hear that? Believe in Him and you'll not perish. Not believe in Him and go do this, but believe in Him. I used the illustration earlier.
When the Israelite looked to that serpent, he lived. It wasn't look to the serpent and then cut your limb off. Look to the serpent and then put a tourniquet on. And you know, quite frankly, I doubt Numbers 21 people were saying, that's not fair, there's only one way.
How dare God set up a pole that we look to and we live? He should set up five poles. He should allow all religions to be right. He should honor all faith.
I'm sure that when that pole went down, everybody looked and they lived without whining, grumbling, and complaining, like they do today. It's not fair that Jesus is the only way. It's not fair that Jesus is the only one. It's not fair the way God has designed it.
Oh, really? And when has sinful man become the arbiter of what is fair with God? Who do we think we are? Who do we think we are to define the terms of salvation with a holy God whom we have offended not once, not twice, but millions upon billions of times?
It's not fair that there's only one way. No, it isn't. There should be no way. That's fair.
One way is the demonstration of God's mercy, grace, and love.
The Cross: Source of Promised Blessing
The fifth observation before we close, the cross is the source of God's promised blessing. John 3.16, that whoever believes in him should not perish, notice, but have everlasting life. You'll not only not perish, but you're going to have everlasting life. You're not only not going to go to hell, you will stand in the throne room like they do in Revelation chapter 5.
You will see the Lamb seated on His throne. You will get to say, worthy is the Lamb. You will get to praise Him and honor Him and adore Him. You will get to do what God originally created man to do, to serve Him, to glorify Him. to honor Him, to think His thoughts after Him, to use your members as instruments of righteousness.
That's what we're heading for. That's what we considered on Wednesday night as well. Hebrews chapter 12. We are to run with endurance the race that is set before us.
We're to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has now been seated at the right hand of the Father. There's a pattern there. Jesus went through the cross to the crown. The sinner, redeemed by God's grace, goes through the cross to the crown.
Moses did what he did, not just because there was nobility and virtue in suffering. He did it because he counted the reward He saw there were greater riches to be had in serving Jesus. He knew that there was an exceedingly great reward laid up for him in heaven. Christian, we need to think about the reality that not only do we not perish, but we have everlasting life.
That we'll enter in. That John Newton's hymn will be true of us in the last day. When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise. than when we first begun. We need to think about the cross as the source of God's promised blessing.
We need to think in terms of what the cross teaches us in terms of God's appointed remedy, His immeasurable love, His gracious gift, that it held the object of man's belief for our salvation, and that it's the source of promised blessing.
Heaven-Bound in Christ Alone
We're heaven-bound. not because we're good. We're heaven-bound because Jesus is good. We're heaven-bound not because we performed well. We're heaven-bound because Jesus performed well.
We're heaven-bound not because we're better than anyone else. Far be it that we would ever think such a thing. We're heaven-bound because Jesus is far better than everyone else. It's by virtue of Christ's cross work that we have acceptance with our Father.
Please don't forget that. A justified man will then pursue holiness, to be sure. But that holiness is not the ground of our acceptance with God. It is Christ alone.
Nothing in My hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. That's the answer for our acceptance with God. If you are here this morning and you are not saved, believe on the Lord Jesus.
Believe on the One alone who can take away your sin. Believe on that One whom John saw in Revelation 5. Isn't that amazing? The lion of the tribe of Judah.
He says, I turned around and there, a lamb. A lamb as one having been slaughtered. The lamb ordained by God for the salvation of sinners. Christian, rejoice this morning as we eat the bread and drink the wine that represents the blood and body of Christ.
But non-Christian, don't leave here unsaved. Don't leave here rejecting. Don't leave here raising your fist at God or complaining that I should get saved no matter what. No, you should believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise God that he has undertaken on behalf of sinners. And something we need to notice before we close. That was a preacher's, this will be a conclusion. Preachers usually give like three or four conclusions.
There was a young man and his father sitting in the church and the preacher said, finally, and the young man said to his father, what does that mean, dad? And the father said nothing. Finally, as preacher talk for I got about 10 more things to say, I actually don't. You know,
Against Misreadings of John 3:16
this verse, unfortunately, has been wrenched out of its context and used for a couple of reasons or used for a couple of doctrines. It simply doesn't support God's soul of the world. The universalist tells us that everybody will be safe because God's soul of the world. That's not what Jesus means.
It doesn't mean every man without exception. Arminians take this verse and they say, well, there's the world. That means the gospel is for everybody in the same way. No.
Compare it with Revelation 5. Compare it with John chapter 1. John chapter 1, the author uses the word world in three different ways. So it's not always the case that world means every single human being living in the cosmos.
So universalists and Arminians take this verse and they try to wrench it out of the context and they make it broader or extend it further. You know, this verse teaches the exclusivity and particularity of the gospel as much as John 14, 6 does. What's John 14, 6? That's usually a target of people that hate, you know, these bigoted and narrow minded Christians.
Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the light. No one comes to the Father except through me. Isn't that what John 3, 16 says? Isn't that precisely what he says?
The verbal form used there is everyone believing in him. It's not indiscriminate. It's not just because you populated the earth in the 21st century that you have entitlement to heaven. It is very particular.
It is very exclusive. As much as this text holds forth the love of God manifest in the cross, it as well demonstrates the wrath of God. Because everyone not believing in Him will perish. They will not have everlasting life.
You need to learn from this text your danger. You need to understand today, if you're not a Christian, you stand on dangerous ground. You need to understand today that every time you reject the Lord Jesus, you are sealing your destiny even more so. My invitation is to forsake your wickedness, forsake your insistence upon your way and come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe in him and you will be saved.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, our text deals with very weighty issues, life and death, the most weighty issues. And I pray that we would take these things to heart. I pray, Father, that you would encourage your people that we would be struck afresh with your great love as it's demonstrated at the cross.
And I pray, Father, for any and all who are here that do not know you, that they would be struck maybe for the first time with the great love of God that is demonstrated in the cross. May it be that love, God, that constrains them. Cause them to believe Your gospel, to believe Your truth, and to know the joy of everlasting life. How we thank You, God, that You did not leave us in our state, You did not leave us to perish in our misery, but You undertook on our behalf and You sent the Son of Your love into this world.
And we pray that throughout the earth today, as this gospel is preached, more and more people would be believing in Him. And we ask through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.