WHAT a blessed verse of Holy Scripture this is! It contains the glad tidings of God as announced by Jesus Himself. I used to think, what so many still think, that I had to love God, give to God, and do for God, before I could be saved; but this precious verse showed me I was all wrong, and that God had loved, God had given, and God had done all the work in Jesus on the cross that was needed for His own glory and my salvation, and that what I had to do to get everlasting life was not to love, give, or do, but simply to believe in Him whom God in love had given to do the work that His glory and my state required. Do you see it, dear anxious soul? Do you believe that you are an object of God’s love? This simple verse has been used of God to the salvation of thousands of souls. Many are now with the Lord; many others are on earth ready and waiting for the Lord; and not a few are preaching the gospel in many parts of this world, who owe their own salvation to the truth contained in this verse.
Some people say, “Oh, if I only knew that I was one of the elect, then I would believe!” but our verse says nothing about God loving the elect; it says, “God so loved the world.” Now if you cannot bring yourself to believe you are one of the elect, you surely will have no difficulty in believing that you are one of the world; therefore you are an object of God’s love. “But must I not love God first?” No; you must rest in His love to you, and then you will love Him because He first loved you.
When I last crossed the Atlantic ocean, the fog was so thick that the captain of the steamer I was in signaled to the engineer to stop the engines, and had the lead thrown overboard to see if we were near any rocks. A piece of butter was put at the bottom of the sounding-lead, so that when it touched rock it would bring up an impression of it, or if it touched sand or pebbles it would have some sticking to it when it was drawn up. It was an awful moment of suspense as the vessel rolled from side to side in the trough of the sea, for none on board knew whether we were in danger or not. Presently the captain gave orders to the officer who was throwing the lead to stop and pull it in, and when it was hauled up it showed no impression, and brought nothing up from the bottom, for the simple reason that, though many fathoms of rope had been thrown overboard, it had not touched the bottom. We were safe; we might breathe freely. The engines began to work again, and the vessel plowed her way through the mighty waters. I thought of the ocean of God’s love, which has never yet been fathomed, for it is bottomless. “The circumference of our earth, the altitude of the sun, the distance of the planets, these have been determined; but the height, depth, and breadth of the love of God passeth knowledge.”
I know a dear child of God who was once most anxious about her soul’s salvation. She asked kind friends what she was to do, and they set her a whole round of things to do, assuring her that if she persevered she would obtain what she longed for. She did persevere, but was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when one night, as she was lying awake in her bed, unable to sleep from anxiety about. her soul’s salvation, God brought the verse I am writing about to her mind; and as she slowly repeated, “God so loved the world,” she said, “Why, I have been trying to love God into loving me, and all the time God has been trying to love me into loving Him. ‘God so loved the world.’ I am a part of the world, therefore GOD LOVES ME.” It was enough; her soul was saved and satisfied, and she drank in the love of God, and began to love Him whom she now saw had first loved her.
And God not only loved, but He gave—not the archangel, or one of the angels, or a poor sinner like ourselves, but—His only-begotten Son; and that holy Son went to the cross, and bore all that God could possibly express against sin; and having satisfied the holy and righteous claims of God, He cried, “IT IS FINISHED.” And now He is in the glory of God as a proof that it is finished, and that God is satisfied; and now we come in, not to love, give, or do, but simply to believe in Him whom God in love has given to do the work. And God says we shall not perish (just what we deserved), but have everlasting life (just what we never deserved at all); and the moment we are satisfied that God should be first in loving, giving, and doing, He will put us in possession of everlasting life, and allow us to love Him because He first loved us, to give to Him because He has first given us everything in Christ, and to do for Him because He has first done everything for us in Christ. Is it simple to you, dear soul? Do you understand it? Do you believe it? You reply, “If I only saw my name down in the Lamb’s book of life, then I would believe it.” But, my friend, if you do not see your name first in John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) you are never likely to see it in the Lamb’s book of life. “What?” you say, “my name in God’s word?” Yes; only God does not spell it as you do. If He did, there are so many people by your name in the world that nobody would know which of them it meant; but God’s way of spelling your name is, “WHOSOEVER,” and if there are a thousand people by your name in the world “whosoever” takes them all in. It includes all, and excludes none but those who exclude themselves by their own guilty unbelief. A simple countryman once asked a boy what “whosoever” meant. The boy replied, “Why you, me, and anybody.” This definition made it quite clear to the countryman, who was anxious to be saved.
Have you got “everlasting life”? It is not something for a mere period; it lasts forever and forever: “He that believeth on the Son hath, everlasting life.” Mark, it is not he that believeth in himself, but “HE THAT BELIEVETH ON THE SON.” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36).)
I have done. Remember, God is first in loving, giving, and doing, and that we come in as believers in this wondrous love that gave its only-begotten to do all the work, when we immediately get everlasting life, and may love, give, and do for God in the power of the Holy Ghost, and may spread the blessed tidings far and wide that “God so loved the world.”