McNeil, William: Studies In John 07 ~ John 3;16-21

And now, as we continue with our studies in the Gospel according to John, I want to read today from chapter three, commencing to read at verse sixteen, and we'll read through verse twenty one. John chapter three verse sixteen: 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 had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Sure the Lord will bless to us the reading of these verses. Let us bow for a moment of prayer. Our Father, we turn to thee again, and we seek to spread our request before thee, but we do so with thanksgiving. We thank thee for all that's past, for thy kindness, for thy love, for thy mercy, for all that thou has done for fallen humanity, for the giving of thy well-beloved Son to die at Calvary, we give thee thanks. But now we pray, O God, that the message of the gospel may reach some heart today, that the truth may come to every listener today in such a way that they'll all be strengthened and encouraged. May thy name be glorified, the Lord exalted, as we ask it in his precious name. Amen. Now, in our last study, we finished up at verse fifteen, making reference to the illustration that the Lord used in order to make it perfectly clear to Nicodemus what was meant by the new birth. What dying people need is life, and if you can give life to a dying person, then you've met their need. Now we realize this, that according to the word of God, the human race is dying, dying of that awful disease called sin. And what men and women need today is new life. They need what the Bible calls eternal life. And in order to obtain eternal life, one requires to be born of the Spirit. Remember, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Now he pointed out to Nicodemus then, just as God made provision for a dying nation and they had to look and live, so he has made provision for dying sinners in that the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross in order to give satisfaction to God and provide salvation for poor fallen sinners. Now, in the light of that, we come to this well-known text in the Word of God, John three sixteen. I suggest that in verses sixteen and seventeen of this gospel, there is set before us the glorious provision of God for poor sinners. But when we come to verse eighteen, we're faced with the great division, he that believeth and he that believeth not. Verses nineteen and twenty, there is the grave condemnation, men preferring the darkness and refusing the light. But in verse twenty one, there is the gracious manifestation, people willing and anxious to walk and work in the light because they're not ashamed of what has been and is being produced in their lives in the fear and strength of God. Now then, let us commence today at verse sixteen, and we'll see that in verses sixteen and seventeen we have the glorious provision of God. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. A text that has been taught to children in the Sunday school for many years. Most Christians know this. It has been referred to as the gospel in a nutshell. It has also been termed the best known text in the Bible. Now, some years ago, a young authoress was deeply in love with and was as deeply loved by a young man of her own age. He was on the point of leaving home to go to a foreign country in order to take up a government post. But before he was leaving, he wanted to propose marriage to his friend. He was somewhat of a shy and reserved nature, and as he could not bear to think of a refusal, he wrote her a letter. And he said in his letter that if she could not respond to his proposal, she was not to answer. Silence would be taken as refusal. He sent his letter proposing marriage. Being in love, the young lady had no difficulty in answering the letter. She wrote her reply right away. Now, it was a pouring wet day, and her brother undertook to post the letter at the local post office. Her lover never came. She never saw him again. Some years later, she heard of his marriage and of his remaining on in a foreign country, where he had an honorable and prosperous career. About five and twenty years after, the young lady's family moved into a new house, and at the time when they were moving, an old coat belonging to her brother was dragged into the light. When the pockets were turned out, there was the letter, yellow and crumpled with age, but with the seal unbroken and the stamp untouched. He had omitted to post it, and by his negligence had wrecked his sister's happiness. Now, as I speak to you today, I am very conscious of this, that every gospel preacher has been placed in the position of that. Every gospel preacher has been given the privilege to deliver the most wonderful love story that ever fell on mortal ears. Listen to it, my friend. 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. That truly is God's love story, for it tells of a love which is exhaustless in its source. It tells of a love which is expressive in its tone, a love which is extraordinary in its choice, and a love which is expensive in its gift. Not only so, but it is extensive in its offer, it is exceptional in its work, and it is eternal in its blessing. In this simple yet profound text, there are four things regarding God's love that arrest our attention. We have love's startling proclamation, we have love's striking proof, we have love's simple plan, and we have love's sweet promise. Look at love's startling proclamation. If it had said that God hated the world, I would not have been startled because of the sin and iniquity and vileness that is manifested in the human race. God might well have hated us. If it had simply said that God loved, I would not have been startled because God is love, and it is his nature to love. But the startling thing is that he loved the world. God's love is not an ignorant love, but is based upon perfect knowledge. He knows the worst about us and loves us just the same. He doesn't love the sin, but he does love the sinner. God's love is universal love, and it goes out to the whole world. You cannot nationalize God's love, for there are no favorites with God. God loved the world of sinners, lost and ruined by the fall. Salvation full at highest cost he offers free to all. God's love is also unending love. The Bible declares, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. That's Jeremiah chapter thirty one verse three. Give particular attention to the fact that the text says God loved, and again, I have loved thee in spite of our sinful condition, when we were still his enemies, before we ever thought of God, he loved us, and in spite of what we are, he still loves us and will continue to love us with an everlasting or unending love. This love is also unmerited love because God has loved us when there was nothing lovable about us. To think that God should love men and women who have been ruined by sin is startling beyond degree, but the fact remains God so loved the world. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. Look at love's striking proof. He gave his only begotten son. Love always does the best for its object, and God did not merely love in word, but he loved in deed, for he gave his only begotten son. The Bible turns this an unspeakable gift, for no one can estimate the value of this gift. God gave him up to earth's sorrows. He gave his son up to man's hatred. He gave him s- him up to Gethsemane's agony. He gave him to Calvary's shame for sin's penalty and death's sting. The poet well expressed this truth when he wrote these words, Jesus bruised and put to shame, tells us all Jehovah's name. God is love, we surely know by the Savior's depths of woe. Hereby perceive we the love of God, that he sent his son to die for us at Calvary. But look at love's simple plan, whosoever believeth in him. Have you ever read or heard of a plan so profound and yet so simple? It is wide in its scope and yet so wonderful in its simplicity. Think of that word, whosoever. It breaks down every barrier that men could erect. It breaks through the national barrier and makes its offer to the whole human race. It discards the social barrier and enters the house of poverty as well as the house of riches. It removes the intellectual barrier and makes its terms known to the simple, uneducated person as well as the lettered professor. It demolishes the religious barrier and presents its offer to all kinds and classes, all that whosoever, whosoever will may come. The Savior's invitation is freely sounding still. Whosoever will may come. But love's simple plan is not only wide in its scope, but it is also wonderful in its simplicity. Believest in him. Oh, how unlike the complex works of man is God's easy, artless, unencumbered plan. So said that great poet William Cowper. Now God, in his matchless love, has devised the plan that reaches to the utmost limits and brings its offer within the grasp of all. For it is possible to believe, no matter what circumstances you may be in. When a poor, distracted, convicted sinner cried out in the anguish of his soul, what must I do to be saved? The simple answer was given, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. This is love's simple plan, whosoever believeth. But we have love's sweet promise, should not perish but have everlasting life. Things of this world are passing and decaying. The pleasures of this world are only for a season. Oh, it was the great Scottish poet who wrote these words, pleasures are like poppies spread. You see the flower, the bloom is shed, or like the snowflake on the river, a moment white, then gone forever. And the man who wrote these words was one who had drunk deep at the cisterns of this world's sin. He had had his fling, as you might say, but he learned before the end of his days, and he died a young man, thirty seven years of age, and he realized that pleasures were only like poppies. You pick them up and they wither, or like the snowflake falling on the water, it's there for a moment, then gone. But God in his love makes the promise of that which is abiding, something that is everlasting. This indeed is the greatest possession anyone can have, and God in love makes the promise to all who will accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Could we with ink the ocean fill and every blade of grass a quill, with every man a scribe by trade and all the sky of parchment made, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor would the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky? Calvary is God's expression of matchless love to mankind, and God invites each one to come and accept his great offer of eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. So, my friend, I ask you, have you ever thought of what is said in John three sixteen? 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 then, I want you to notice that after passing through that verse, he says this, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Are you one of those, my friend? Are you one that has turned to the Lord and said, just as I am without one plea, for that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. If not, I want you to look at the solemn issue in verse eighteen that follows this great verse. In verse eighteen we have the great division. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Here is the great divide, right there by that word but. In the first part of the verse, it's he that believeth. The second part of the verse, he that believeth not. Lying on the one side, you're not condemned. On the other side, condemned already. Now notice what the great division is. The great division has to do with belief. He that believeth, he that believeth not, and the deciding factor is there because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Here is the great division of the human race. We are divided into two distinct sections, they that believe and they that believe not. Now, I care not who you are today. I care not your background, how you were raised. The important thing today is this, my friend. Are you a believer? There's hardly a week passes in my life when someone asks me a question. What I mean by that, I get asked a lot of questions, but there is one question that comes up continually. It may be in stores, or it may be when I'm talking to someone, and they'll ask this question as they look at me in a strange kind of way, and they'll say, where did you come from? They mean, of course, what country did I come from? What is my nationality? A- and as I look at them, I sometimes give them this answer. I say, look, where a man comes from is not the important matter. The important thing is, where are we going? Where we have come from may be one thing, it's where we're going that really counts. Now, I ask you, my friend, where are you bound for? Where are you going? That is a question that used to be asked on the high seas in the days when there was perhaps more shipping than there is now. People are flying more now than sailing, but when ships used to pass each other on the ocean, the one ship would send out its message to the other ship, whither bound, whither bound, and the reply would come back giving the port to which they were steering. Now, if that question was being put to us today, whither bound, a lot of people are beginning to take an interest in what they call their roots. They want to know where their ancestors lived. They want to know who their grandfather was. They want to know who their great-grandfather was, and so they want to trace back to their roots. May I suggest to you, my friend, there's a more important matter than that, not so much where we came from, for if you go back far enough, you'll discover you came from sinful Adam. But then the most important thing of all is this: where are we going? Here's great division. He that believeth on him is not condemned. Those that have believed in him are walking the narrow way that leads to life and glory. He that believeth not is condemned already because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God, and he that believeth not is still treading the broad road that leads to destruction. On which side of the line do you stand today? Then notice verses nineteen and twenty. Here is the grave condemnation. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Now, you will remember in our very opening message on John's gospel, we pointed out in the opening verses of this gospel, it says concerning Christ, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Now, Christ is the light, and when Christ shone into the darkness, men would not receive him. He was rejected, and here we're told right here that because of their rejection of the light, they stand to be condemned. This is a condemnation. Verse eighteen said, he is condemned already. Why should he be condemned? Because the light has come. The light has shone into the darkness, but men love darkness rather than light. They didn't want the light. They wanted to remain in the darkness, and the reason they wanted to remain in the darkness was because their deeds were evil. You know, my friend, men today still like darkness. There are certain things that go on in the dark. There are certain times when men are ready to commit sin, and they wait till the shades of night have fallen. There are certain things they want to do in the darkness. They don't want to do it in the light because they'll be seen. And so therefore, because their deeds are evil, they will not come to the light. But then, this condemnation has come upon them because the light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light. Here it is. Their desire is this, they prefer the darkness, and in preferring the darkness, they're refusing the light. And so therefore, they're turning to the deeds of evil, turning their back upon the Lord Jesus Christ, He who is God's glorious provision for the sinner, He who comes and stands right in the midst of men. There are some who believe on Him and some who believe not, and those who believe not stand to be condemned. Oh, what a grave condemnation that men will turn their back upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world. They prefer to continue in the darkness of sin, for the devil has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine in unto them, and of course, they would be saved. They prefer their sin, they prefer the evil, they prefer the darkness, and men who turn away from the light of God's truth and turn away from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world. Remember this, they're preferring the darkness, and they stand to be condemned. But verse twenty one says, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Here is the gracious manifestation. Here are people who are willing and anxious to walk and work in the light, because they're not ashamed of what has been and is being produced in their lives in the fear and strength of God. Many a person has seen their life completely changed. Men who were once feared by their neighbors became men who were loved in their neighborhood. I walked the street of a certain city one day with a man, and as we passed by every policeman at the corners, for there were many of them in the streets in these days, pointsmen, as they called them, and as we passed by these policemen, I noticed that each policeman touched his hat to the man that was walking with me. And after a time, he said to me, did you notice these policemen, Willie, who touched their hat? I said, yes. They all seem to know you. Yes, he said, these men knew me before you knew me. He says, there was a time in my life's history when these men would not be touching their hat to me. They'd be following me to see where I was going. But you see, I've been converted. There's been a change right now, and they've seen the change. Ah, my friend, he can change your life. Will you come and believe this very hour? Trust in the Savior's grace and power. Then shall your final answer be saved for a long eternity.