Bramhall, John W: Believe And Live ~ John 2

Station upon the Word of God today continues in the Gospel according to John. Our portion will be found in chapters two and three. We have a blessed topic given for our lesson, believe and receive life. So if you will find your Bible, John chapter two, and follow the supplication and prayer that we make as we seek God, and then we shall begin our study. Beloved and blessed Father, we pray thee to open our blinded eyes and our stubborn hearts. Melt them today, we pray, revealing by the Holy Spirit's convicting power, particularly to any unsaved, their need of the Savior, that they may find thy great salvation, which thou hast provided through him, a salvation that is not of works, but we thank thee it is entirely by grace through faith, and we ask it for the Savior's glory and in his worthy name, amen. Believe and receive life. That is the title of the lesson today. This is the most appropriate and practical title for the Gospel of John, for it is the very reason for which the apostle wrote this wonderful gospel. Contra- contrast the writing, if you will, of the Gospel of Luke, and notice it is at the commencement of the writing of Luke's gospel that Luke explains the reason why he wrote. But John does not explain the reason for his writing at the beginning of the gospel, but he waits until the end of that gospel is near. And in substance, he declares, believe and receive life. Listen to his words. We had them in our lesson a week ago, but we repeat them again. Chapter twenty, verse thirty one, thirty and thirty one, and verse thirty one particularly. These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. Yes, these very words emphasize the lesson theme today. Believe and live. We raise the question, friend, have you believed? Our first consideration is in John chapter two verses one through eighteen. It touches upon the miracle of Jesus in Cana of Galilee at the wedding feast, when he changed water into wine. But please permit me to add, it was more than a miracle. It was a miracle of special significance. We have no time in our limited program to take up the details of this incident, but consider the miracle, first of all, itself, the changing of water into wine. How many of you remember the preceding lesson in John chapter one? Did we not read that Christ was the creator, the creator of all things? All things were made by him. Now in Cana of Galilee, he manifests his power of creation as a creator, without any fruit, without any grapes, without any way of mellowing process. He furnishes the best wine and gives the full supply by changing the water into wine. All by using the water pots, filling them with water, and he commands, and it was done. Now, this is the evidence of his being the omnipotent creator. But then consider very carefully now the typical and the spiritual meaning of this particular miracle. Go with me in memory, if you will, to the first miracle of God's servant Moses, which he performed and which is in re- recorded in the book of Exodus, chapter seven. And Moses performed his first miracle in the land of Egypt. Now, Moses represents the dispensation of the law. Will you remember the words of John one verse seventeen? The law was given by Moses. And his first miracle, back in the book of Exodus chapter seven, he changed water, but he changed it into blood all through the land of Egypt. How symbolical of the law. The law can only sentence us to death, for the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. Now recall again with me the verse of John one verse seventeen, the remaining part of the verse, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Bless your heart. Not death, not judgment, but joy. The joy of the wedding feasts ran out, completely out, until Jesus in his grace and power provided the best wine, typical of joy, and the ministration of grace and blessing, even unto life. What a contrast between the law and grace. What a contrast between Moses and Christ. We do not intend spending time in detail on this incident, but let no- let us notice the result of it, which is the emphatic emphasis of the lesson today. We come to the climax of the whole truth. It is found in verse eleven of this second chapter of John. Listen to the words. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him. There are two facts that we must recognize. First, the Lord manifested, he showed perfectly by the miracle his glory, the glory of his person, that he was the Son of God and that he was the great creator. Then the second fact is the blessed effect upon his disciples. They were guests at the wedding, and what the Lord did had a tremendous effect upon them. It established their faith in him, and the wedding became the means of divine blessing to others outside the family. They believed on him, and they lived, not temporarily, but they lived eternally. They received more joy as the result of this wedding than even the happy bride and the groom. Oh, my beloved, let me ask the question. Please note the contrast. Yes, the wedding guest, the bride, the bridegroom, together with the one who was the host of the feast, the master of the feast. The disciples of Jesus got more joy out of that wedding than all the rest. They believed on the Lord Jesus as they saw his glory. Oh, beloved, let me say, do you have the joy that only Christ can give? If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart. Your sins he'll take away. Your night he'll change to day. Your life, he'll make it over anew. If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart. Beloved, dwell upon the miracle of the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Water changed into wine, symbolical of joy, which only the Savior could bring and did. But oh, better still and greater still, the joy of the disciples. They put their faith completely in that blessed man whom they were with. As they saw his glory, they believed upon him. Have you, my friend? Now we must go to the second section of our study, which is in John 3, and particularly touch upon verses sixteen through eighteen, Some of the most priceless, incomparable words that Jesus ever spoke, and particularly upon the theme of our lesson, believe and live. Oh, listen to the priceless statement. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now let us very carefully and prayerfully consider separately these verses. They are blessed verses of scripture. First, John three sixteen. Oh, the many sermons that have been preached and can yet be preached from these twenty five words. Those words have often been called by others in the past the gospel in a nutshell. But let me present just four definite wonderful facts this one verse presents to us. First of all, there is the revelation of a wonderful love. God so loved the world, meaning the whole world of sinners, ruined by the fall of man because of sin. Now, this does not mean the literal world, the physical world, the biological world. No, this embraces every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl, regardless of their race, regardless of their color, whether rich or poor, whether educated or uneducated. No person who arrives in hell will ever be able to accuse God of not loving them. Whether a drunkard, whether a burglar, whether a murderer, whether, whether indeed they may be a preacher or a merchant or a banker or a judge or a policeman, name all the characters of the world. And now some may ask, how do I know that God loves all kinds of people? Listen very carefully to the answer. My beloved, let me state very carefully, be very wise how you consider the reason and what you consider the reason to be that God loves you. It is possible you may have the wrong reason. Some people say, you know, I was in trouble. I cried to God to help me, and he helped me, and it proved that he loved me. Now look, John three sixteen doesn't say that. I have known men, Christian men, who perished, while others who were unsaved did not perish and lose their lives in catastrophes. Now let me ask you, did Lord God love one more than the other? Now don't take that for the answer. There's only one answer. How I know God loves every man, woman, boy, and girl, and here it is. A wonderful gift. He gave his only begotten son, the one who went to the cross of Calvary to save you and me. And my beloved, let me say, they were not very nice, sociable, upright, godly, but wicked men who surrounded that cross and put to shame the beloved son of God, stripping him of all that he had, nailing him in their hatred to that tree, beating him as they did upon the head with a crown of thorns upon it, smashing him in the face with a rod, and his back torn and bleeding and broken open, and then crucifying him upon the cross. Don't tell me that they were worthy of his love. They were not, but he loved them. And to them and of them he said, as he prayed the very first words upon the cross, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Yes, beloved, there's only one way to measure the love of God, and that measurement of his love must mean and must be Calvary, the cross. And may I state, you'll find it as a principle in the New Testament particularly. Wherever you will read of the love of God, you'll find in the context, either before or after the mention of it, that that love was demonstrated by the death of his son upon the cross. He gave a wonderful gift, his only begotten son, and you know, this means the cross of Calvary. My beloved friend, there on the cross he bore your sins and mine in his own body. Well, did John write later on, here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin. God spared not his son, but he delivered him up for us all, writes Paul, writes Paul in Romans eight thirty two. And should not you and I say today, oh, thanks be unto God for such an unspeakable gift. The third in our verse, there's a wonderful rescue, a wonderful deliverance, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Look at the word perish. What does it mean? It means to be lost, to be lost from God forever. It means everlasting punishment. It means eternal hell. It means destruction. Every man, woman, boy, and girl needs to be saved from hell, the place of eternal separation from God, where their sins must be an eternal torment. But my beloved friend, you don't have to go there. Believe! Whosoever believeth on him. It says nothing else. Whosoever believeth should not perish. Why don't you believe, my sinner friend? Take the words and say them to God. I do believe, I now believe that Jesus died for me, that on the cross he shed his blood from sin to set me free. And then there's a third, a fourth wonderful thing. God then gives to all who believe a wonderful life, but have everlasting life. Take a good hard penetrating look at the promise, friend. What kind of life? Everlasting, eternal, live forever. Said Jesus, I give unto my sheep eternal life, they shall never perish. In John chapter ten verse twenty eight. Not life for a day, not for a month, nor for a year, not even for a century, nor for a millennium, but forever. Oh, how, please may I ask, can God do anything better for you than that? Never. Now listen carefully to verse seventeen. God sent his son into the world not to condemn you, but to save you. For nearly two thousand years, the gospel has been preached by God's spirit, and the purpose for his son coming into this world was that the world through him might be saved. And please let me make it absolutely personal to every listener. God gave his son because he wants to save you from hell. And right now, God is emphatically telling you, I want to save you. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and live, writes Peter in his second epistle. And the purpose of Christ coming into the world was not to bring judgment, but to bring salvation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But last of all, we come to verse eighteen. Now listen very carefully. Here is a serious note, but a very clear one. Two facts are revealed. One is this, the person who believes is not condemned. He that believeth is not condemned. Second, but the person who refuses to believe is self-condemned already. Now, beloved, will you, will you consider these two facts in closing with me? First of all, oh, the happy believer, my fellow Christian, you and I who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no sentence of judgment that can ever be passed upon us, said the Lord Jesus. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation or judgment, but is passed from death unto life. John five twenty four. And we who have believed, we are not condemned. We are not condemned. There is no condemnation, there is no hell for me. The fire and the torment mine eyes shall never see. Faithfully wrote the Christian poet who believed upon the Lord Jesus. Believe and live. But now note the second fact again. Sinner, you who have not yet believed, your stubborn refusal to fall down before the Savior is your self-condemnation, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. My prayer is, my friend, do not continue thus. Listen to the heart of this lesson. It says, believe and live. Well, did the Christian hymn writer write the words that I valued in my early days when the Lord Jesus saved me as a young man? I have a message from the Lord, hallelujah. This message unto you I bring. It is recorded in his word, hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. Look and live, my sinner, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It's recorded in His word, hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. May I paraphrase it, taking the theme of the lesson? Believe and live, my sinner, live. Believe on Jesus now and live. It's recorded in His word, hallelujah. You have only to believe and live. Oh, my beloved, may I say, as I recognize that here we are at the close of nineteen eighty four, and the best way for any person to end this old year and to begin the new year, if they have never done so, is to start a happy new life by believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might live and live forever. Oh, my beloved friend, again, please let me emphasize, God has only one word that he particularly uses to emphasize his message of love and salvation to a ungodly sinner, to any sinner, whether he's an up and out sinner or a down and out sinner. We've got all kinds, but God has only one word that he emphasizes, and John uses it about a hundred times in some form of the word. Believe, believer, live, and beloved. It's believing that brings life. My beloved, let me say, not by works of righteousness that we have done, wrote the Apostle Paul in his epistle of Titus, but it, but through his mercy, God saved us. And you have only to believe and live. But let me re-emphasize as we did through the lesson, what does it mean to believe? To as many as received him. Believing means not mental assent, but oh, it's a faith in the heart. If, as Paul has well stated, if thou shalt believe in thine heart, the Lord Jesus, thou shalt be saved. We leave you with the message. My sinner friend, believe and live. Father, may some dear sinner believe now and live. And we who have believed, Lord, help us to rejoice in our Savior who saved us in his worthy name. Amen.