Gospel—C.D. Andersen
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What can wash out?
The world.
Shall we turn to John's Gospel Chapter 3?
I trust that this is a very familiar passage of Scripture to most everyone.
And this rule.
There might be a chance that there's someone here tonight that has never read this chapter, or has never heard it read, or has never heard the account that we find here.
And if such is the case, I'm very happy that you're here tonight.
Hear this account.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ and Nicodemus.
What a wonderful story it is.
And what a wonderful amount of light.
Is given to us right here in this third chapter of John's Gospel.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art the teacher, come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born to the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The wind blows weren't listed, and thou hears the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh. And whether it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel and north, not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak, that we do know and testify that we have seen and he received not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness?
Even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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.
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But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has 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 every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed 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.
One feels it of solemn responsibility to stand here, to give out the gospel to a company like this.
To stand, as it were, between the living and the dead.
To stand between the living Lord and dead sinners, to stand in the place.
To a point, the unsaved to the living savior.
The Lord Jesus Christ, because you know the Savior.
Is living.
We are not preaching.
A dead person. All their many religions tonight who are extolling a dead person. They're following a person who is dead.
Whose body is in the grave?
But friends tonight.
The one in whom we trust tonight, the one in whom I am trusting, is my Savior.
Is a living savior. He died, yes, and he was buried, but he didn't stay in the tomb. He rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures. Oh, what a wonderful gospel we have. What a wonderful savior. He's a living savior. He's living on high in the glory. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior?
Is he yours tonight? Have you received him? Or if you haven't received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?
If you haven't closed in with God's offer of mercy to you, tonight is the night for you.
Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the time.
To receive him and that's why we are here again tonight.
To preach the gospel that you might receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Now we read about this mind here, and it tells us that he was of the Pharisees.
A man of the Pharisees.
Well, the Pharisees were a class of the Jews, and they were very religious.
And I suppose they were looked up to.
By the people of their day as being the religious class.
And we know that the Pharisees themselves thought well of themselves, because we read of one who who was thanking God in a prayer that he was not as other men other men are, and comparing himself with a publican.
And said, I'm thankful I'm not as this publican. So the Pharisees thought very highly of themselves and it tells us that this man was of the Pharisees.
What kind of an opinion do you have of yourself? What do you think of yourself? Do you think you have a good chance of getting into heaven? Perhaps you say, well, I haven't done anything very bad.
I've been good to my neighbors. I've been neighborly.
And I haven't robbed a bank and I haven't killed anyone.
I consider myself a decent kind of a person and I think my chance is as good as anyone else's.
Is that the kind of an opinion you have of yourself? Is that the estimate?
You have of yourself. Are you like this, Pharisee?
All the Pharisees were considered self-righteous people.
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And the Lord Jesus Christ said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
If you think you're righteous.
The Savior is not for you. The Savior is for the one who takes the low place, owning himself a Sinner before God.
And we read about that public and that we mentioned that the Lord said about him.
But he went down to his house justified because after the Pharisee had prayed, why this publican prayed?
And he wouldn't Even so much as lift up his eyes to heaven and he smote on his breast.
As much as to say here is where all the difficulty is, here is where the sin is. And he said, God be merciful to me as Sinner.
He took the low place. He owned himself a Sinner. God came in and saved him, justified him. He went down to his house. Justified. That is, he was right with God. He wasn't trying to claim any righteousness of his own.
But God pronounced him righteous. Wouldn't you like to be pronounced righteous by God tonight? Well, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.
God will pronounce you righteous. It was on the ground of faith, faith in God, faith in His word that Abraham was pronounced righteous.
This man's name was Nicodemus and he was a ruler of the Jews.
And we also read further down that it says, the Lord says about him that he's a master of Israel, that is a teacher. This man was in the place of a teacher teaching his people. He had a very important place among the Jews.
Then in verse two it tells us he came to Jesus, He came to Jesus.
Was there any better place to go than to Jesus?
Have you come to Jesus? Can you think of any better thing to do than to come to Jesus?
You boys and girls who haven't yet come to Jesus, why don't you come to Jesus tonight?
I don't mean that your feet could carry you to Jesus because Jesus is up in heaven.
But by faith, you could come to Jesus, and you could tell the Lord Jesus that you're a Sinner. Tell him that you're a lost Sinner, a guilty Sinner. Tell him that you know you deserve to go to hell because of your sins.
But just tell him that you come to him and tell him that you know he died for you.
And tell him that you receive him as your savior. Have you come to Jesus? Just come to Jesus.
Or sometimes I'm afraid boys and girls think that it's a difficult thing to be saved, but you need to come to Jesus. Have you come to Jesus?
And have you told him everything?
Maybe you're worried about your sins. Maybe you're worried about going to hell, you're worried about a lost eternity, and you're afraid that you are going to spend it there.
God doesn't want you to be afraid. He wants you to have peace. He wants you to have it all settled.
So once you come to Jesus.
Oh, I'm so thankful to see that Nicodemus came to Jesus.
He was a Pharisee, no doubt. He had good thoughts of himself and all of that, but he came to Jesus.
And you know, if you come to Jesus, something is going to happen. And something did happen to Nicodemus because he came to Jesus, You may not know just exactly why you're coming to Jesus. You don't know, perhaps, what's going to happen if you come to Jesus. You don't understand all about it, and God doesn't ask you to understand.
He only wants you to come to Jesus, and if you come to Jesus, the understanding will come.
When he came to Jesus by night.
Well, we have wondered why Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.
Perhaps he was afraid that somebody might see him.
And so he came during the night time, when it wouldn't be such a conspicuous thing to come to Jesus.
Well, perhaps you wouldn't like to come to Jesus publicly. Perhaps right now you wouldn't like to confess publicly to everyone that you want Jesus as your savior.
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Perhaps you're a little afraid like Nicodemus.
But Even so, even though Nicodemus might have been afraid, and that was the reason that he came by night, he came to Jesus.
And even though you may be a little hesitant and you don't know just what you should do.
And you wonder what people are going to say. All come to Jesus. That's the important thing, is to come to Jesus.
But he has something to tell Jesus, and if you come to Jesus, I'm sure you'll have something to tell him too.
He says, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher, come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.
Or he had some sense of things. He had some sense of the Lord Jesus.
His person.
Not that he knew everything about the Lord Jesus.
But we were thankful for as much as he said. And perhaps if you come to Jesus tonight, you won't know very much about Jesus, and perhaps you'll have a very poor estimate of the Lord Jesus, a poor understanding of just who he is and his person and all. But the important thing is to come to Jesus.
And tell him what's in your heart.
Have you done that?
But the Lord Jesus has something to say to him.
Ah, this is what is important. And the Lord Jesus has something to say to you tonight too.
He says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Now this is a very important but the Lord is saying, because he says, verily, verily.
Which means truly, truly.
He wants Nicodemus to know.
That he is telling him the truth.
The whole truth. The real truth.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God, Perhaps you're saying. Well, I don't understand what that is. What's the Lord saying?
Well, that's what was the matter with Nicodemus? He asked the Lord. Well, what do you mean?
Nicodemus had an idea that it was something physical that the Lord Jesus was talking about. It wasn't that at all. It wasn't something physical. It wasn't something material.
It was a spiritual thing now that Jesus was telling Nicodemus he must be born again.
It wasn't to be born over again, just like we were born the first time. No, that isn't what it is.
Born anew, born anew is really what is meant except a man be born anew.
He cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Again, the Lord Jesus says in verse 5 Verily, verily, I say unto thee.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
First he says he can't see the Kingdom of God. Now he says he can't enter the Kingdom of God.
Would you like to be shut outside of the Kingdom of God?
To be shut outside the Kingdom of God would be an awful thing.
And there are many tonight.
Who have died without Christ, without hope, without God. In this world, they've already gone to a lost eternity. Their destiny has been sealed.
What a sorrowful thing it is for a soul to die without Christ, to die outside the Kingdom of God and go to a lost eternity.
Would you like to be in heaven?
Would you like to be with the Lord Jesus Christ? Would you like to be where there is no sin?
No sorrow, no pain, nothing to disturb peace and joy, everlasting happiness. Would you like to be there?
Well, if you want to be in the Kingdom of God, if you want to enter there, you'll have to take heed to what the Lord Jesus Christ says.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
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Or you say, does that mean I have to be baptized? No, that isn't what that means.
When it uses the term water there, I believe Peter tells us what it means.
And over in first Peter.
I believe we have it brought before us very plainly what is meant in the first chapter of First Peter verse 23.
Peter is speaking on this subject of being born again and he says being born again.
Not of corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible by the word of God.
Which liveth and abideth forever by the word of God. Now John says water, Peter says the word. And there are other scriptures to indicate that when water is mentioned, it's Speaking of the Word of God, the water of the Word of God.
And so, except a man be born of water, the Word, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. What do you think about the Word of God? Do you have any respect for the Word of God? When you hear the Word of God, does it bow your soul? Is your heart bowed in the presence of the Word of God?
Does this scripture mean anything to you?
It is the word of God.
Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
This Bible has been indicted.
By the Spirit of God.
Moving men to write it. This is God's word. God is speaking to you tonight.
This is not the word of men that we hold in our hands. Men wrote a truth, but it's the word of God.
If you've never had any respect for the word of God before, I trust that tonight.
You will.
Reverence the word of God, that you will begin to have a reverence for the word of God.
And own that this truly is the word of God.
You might take a textbook in school and you might be able to master that textbook. Men have done that, but you can't master this book.
This is this is an infinite book. This is a divine book. This is the divine word of God.
And you can't fathom there's not a human being that has fathomed this book. All there have been men who have expounded the word and they've gone into it deeply, but they've never gotten to the bottom of it. Oh, what a book we have. Thank God for this book.
Do you believe it tonight? Do you believe the word of God?
And there's something else here. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, is in this world today.
On the day of Pentecost, he came down, and he came to convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
And the Holy Spirit is here tonight, and he's speaking to you.
And God says, my spirit shall not always strive with man, but he is striving with your soul tonight.
He wants you to take the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
The Word is being given to you, and the Holy Spirit is present to take the Word.
And God, by his spirit, is applying the word to your heart tonight. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to say no, I'm not going to submit to the word of God. I'm not going to listen to the Spirit of God. Oh, what a solemn thing to take an attitude like that.
You know, there's a day coming.
When the Spirit of God is going to leave this seed.
And when that takes place, all God's people, all the children of God, all the saved ones will go to the Holy Spirit will be gone. All the same people will be gone.
And what about the word of God?
Will there be a question whether you'll be able to find the word of God?
At least it's going to be despised.
And we read that strong delusion is going to overtake this world and men are going to believe a lie.
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Because they wouldn't believe the truth of God's word.
Oh, what a solemn thing it is.
To refuse the word of God and to refuse to listen to the Spirit of God.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Then the Lord makes a very terse statement.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
Now he's talking about man as he is by nature born.
Naturally, into this world.
And that which is born of the flesh is flesh. God says flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God man as he is by nature.
Born naturally into this world, he cannot please God. He has no place with God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
And it will never be anything else but flesh.
Natural man will never be anything but natural man.
And man, as he is born by nature into this world, will never get up there, never get to heaven. But it goes on to say that which is born of the Spirit of Spirit.
That's a different kind of a birth, isn't it? There's a fleshly birth and there is a spirit birth.
That speaks of being born 2 Times here.
Born of the flesh, Born of the Spirit. Now have you been born again? Have you been born anew?
Some of us.
Can point back to a time when we took the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Perhaps we can't tell the day or the hour or so on. That doesn't matter.
But we know there was a time we passed from death unto life.
There was a time we were saved.
Just like the Philippian jailer.
He was told by the Apostle Paul, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and he believed and he was saved.
You have been told by God to believe in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
Have you believed? Have you received him as your savior?
Have you been born again?
Or are you still among that company that's been born only once?
Well, if you have been born only once, you can't enter the Kingdom of God.
The Lord says very plainly. Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must.
Be born again.
Ye must be born again. Well, why does the Lord say that? Because you must be born again.
Oh, that's very simple and it's very plain. And the Lord has put it in a few words. Ye must be born again. Only 5 words.
And they're not big words, either.
Any boy or girl that's learned to read can read it. Ye must be born again.
I venture if I would ask some boy here tonight, it's about 6:00 or seven years old.
That's just beginning to read. He could read it.
As far as the wording is concerned, it's very simple.
Ye must.
Be born again. But why does the Lord put it that way? Ye must be born again. Why is it so imperative?
Because here.
Is that which is needed by everyone.
New birth. Ye must be born again. You are born once to be on earth. You have to be born again to be in heaven.
You were born once. You became an earthly person in order to become a heavenly person.
One who belongs to heaven, you will have to be born again, born anew.
And the Lord says it must be that way and it can't be any other way.
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There are several expressions.
Or several things said about man here.
We have one there. In verse six he says that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
That tells us what the earthly man is made of. You have really here in this chapter, a contrast.
Between the Lord Jesus Christ, the Heavenly One, and Nicodemus.
The earthly man. And it tells us here that the earthly mind.
Is flesh. That's what he's made of.
He can lay claim to much of anything but that that he's made of flesh. He's born of flesh. He's a carnal man. He's a natural man. He's not a heavenly person. He's not a spiritual person. He's not born of the spirit.
And then we read on further down in verse 13.
Something about what man can't do. No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. Even the Son of man which is in heaven, no man hath ascended up to heaven that is of himself. No man is ascended up to heaven.
That's what the natural man and his sins cannot do. He can't get to heaven.
And dear friends, tonight, that's a solemn thing to think about. Because one of these days.
Perhaps at night.
We'll hear the shout. The Lord Jesus Christ will come.
And the dead in Christ will be raised. We which are alive and belong to him together with them we'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We'll go to heaven. We'll go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if all you are is an earthly person, you haven't been born again. You have to stay here. You can't go up.
You can't go to heaven. No. No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven, ah, that blessed one, that heavenly one who came from heaven, he went back to heaven.
Would you like to go to be with him? You'll have to be born again. You must be born again in order to go to heaven. Then we noticed down in verse 19 something else about.
These earthly men.
This is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
Think of it. Men love darkness rather than light. That's the characteristic of the earthly man, the man whose flesh.
And if you haven't been born again, God says that's your characteristic, that's what's true of you. You love darkness rather than light. The Lord is very plain, isn't he?
Well, I'm glad the Lord Jesus Christ has been playing. If he hadn't been playing, I'm afraid I wouldn't be saved tonight.
God had to speak solemnly and plainly to me to make me see that I was a poor, lost, guilty, hell deserving Sinner. And he had to make it very plain to me that it was the Lord Jesus Christ who died for my sins and that he was my only hope of salvation, and that I must receive him as my Satan. Oh, I'm glad God spoke plainly to me.
And God is speaking plainly to you tonight that you're the kind of a person.
That loves darkness rather than light because your deeds are evil.
Well, God knows your heart better than any of us here do.
And God has told us plainly that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Well, we can't know it, but God knows it, and he tells us the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked.
And the Lord Jesus, when he was here in this scene, said mentioned different things, wicked things that came out of the heart of man. Oh, what a catalogue, what a list of wicked things he mentioned.
That come out of the heart of man.
And if you read the first chapter of Romans, oh what a picture God has painted of man. They are not first chapter, all the lists of wickednesses and sinners.
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And in the third chapter of Romans, he finally says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He says there's no difference, no difference.
Perhaps you're patting yourself on the back and saying, well, I'm not so bad.
I'm not as bad as so and so.
But if you're looking at so and so, and you think he's worse than you are, God says there's no difference.
And we read another scripture that says.
As in water.
Face answers to face. So the heart of man to man. Have you ever stood by a pond or a stream, a body of Clearwater, and looked down into the water? What did you see down there? You saw your own face in the water.
And so.
When you look at another person.
And you look at his heart, You see your own heart.
That's what God says when you're looking at that other person and you're making an estimate of him.
You're just making an estimate of yourself what you say about him.
Is true of yourself.
All have sinned. There's no difference, no difference.
Down in verse 27.
There is another statement made about man.
A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
What can man receive?
You don't have strength even to lift a finger to receive anything from God's hand. God wants you to know that you're absolutely helpless.
There's no hope for you without God, and without hope IN this world, you can't receive a thing from God. You just have to take the low place.
Before God and admit to him, oh, I'm a poor helpless sin.
And then down in verse 31 Says he that cometh from above is above all.
He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all.
He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth.
Do you find yourself Speaking of the earth?
Earthly sage? Is that all you can think about? Is that all you know? Earth. Earth.
Are you earthly minded thinking only of Earth? Well, there are many people today who say I'd like to stay here on this earth.
They are earthly people. You know what's going to happen to this earth?
Heaven and earth shall pass away, God says, but my word shall never pass away. The elements are going to melt with a fervent heat.
This Earth is going to be destroyed. You want to stay here.
Is that what you're occupied with? Earth, the things of Earth?
That's what characterizes the man who is unsafe.
Who still in his sins.
He likes earth. He likes to talk about earth and earthly things and earthly pleasures.
God wants you to be saved tonight. He wants you to be born again. He wants you to have life in the Lord Jesus Christ now in this very chapter.
Since the Lord has said you must be born again, he has given us a foundation.
For the whole thing, it isn't simply that God says you must be born again and he leaves it there.
No. He has given us a foundation upon which we can be saved.
And we find it down here in verse 14.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Eve, and so must the Son of man be lifted up.
The must of God's demand.
Causes God.
To send his son into this world.
And leads him to the must.
Where his own beloved son must be lifted up on the cross.
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If the Lord says ye must be born again, God says Christ must be lifted up on the cross, and there's no other way for you to be saved. But through that blessed man of Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's lifted up there on Calvary Cross, there's the foundation for the whole thing.
I'm so thankful tonight that God has given us a solid foundation.
In the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Precious Blood being shed there on Cal.
For without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin.
God couldn't give you life. God couldn't make you a child of his apart from the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, there are many who are trying to get to heaven. They're trying to say that they're children of God, they're Christians and all of that, but they're not trusting in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there is no possibility that you can become a child of God apart from the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
No, the Son of Man must be lifted up. He must be lifted up.
He must die. The blood must be shed otherwise.
You could not answer.
To this other must that you must.
Be born again. And so the next verse says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
But have eternal life. You know what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ was put there on Calvary's cross? He was put there as a man.
Representing man.
Identified with Adam's race.
And when he was put to death there.
That meant that God had put an end to Adam's race. That is as far as recognizing Adam's race as being anything.
And being born into this world, born of the flesh, you of course are identified with Adam's race. Every one of us has been identified with Adam's race. But have you seen that when the Lord Jesus Christ went to Calvary's cross?
And was put to death there.
That that ended the history of man as identified with Adam.
And God cannot look upon you with any kind of favor.
He cannot recognize you.
As being any account or any worse to him.
Simply belonging to Adam's race.
No, God cannot accept you upon that basis simply because you're born into this world and have become identified with Adam's race because that whole race came to an end, their Calvary's cross. And that man, Christ Jesus, laid down his life, He died, his precious blood was shed, he was buried, and he rose again the 3rd day according to the Scriptures, and he came forth the head of a new race.
Do you belong to that race? Do you belong to that company?
Of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the head and resurrection.
Oh, it's so important to become identified with Christ, to receive Him as your Savior, to believe in Him, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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.
Well, that's all. Very simple. You've quoted this scripture perhaps many, many times.
And you can say it from memory. Boys and girls can say it by heart. Perhaps it's the.
The most memorized verse of Scripture in the Bible.
The best known verse of scripture.
In the whole of God's Word.
And no doubt many.
Dear Christians tonight are resting on that Gospel verse.
And it's a it's a precious verse. It's a wonderful verse. There are those who have called it the Gospel in a Nutshell.
Well, it certainly presents the gospel in a very small compass, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
Could God tell out his love in any better way than that?
We might say that God did the very best He could.
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But when God did the very best he could, man did the very worst because.
Man rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. And you notice in the very first chapter of this gospel, that's the way we see it, the rejection of Christ. In the very first chapter, He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Oh, what a sad, sad thing. Here's the Creator of the universe.
Comes down into this world, becomes a man, and they won't have him. His creatures won't have him. The creature won't have the creator. Oh, what a sad, sad.
State of affairs.
But yet God sends him into this world because he loves the word. God loves you tonight. Yes, he does. Perhaps you've had doubts about it. Maybe there are things that have come into your life and you've had doubts about God's love.
It's because you have a poor estimate of God. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ, God's gift.
Sending his only begotten son into this world.
Could God do anything greater than that? Anything better than that? He did it because.
He loves you.
And He wants you to believe in Him, receive Him as your savior, that you might have everlasting life that you might not perish.
We read that man doubted God's goodness back in the Garden of Eden.
Satan said Yeah, hath God said.
And he also said, you know that you'll be like gods when you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God isn't good to you. He's holding something back from you. He's holding out on you. He isn't good. Man doubted the goodness of God. He doubted the love of God. That's where man got off. That's where man found. That's where he sinned, got off the track, as it were. That was the point of departure. Now, here in this 16th verse of John's Gospel, God brings us right back to that point.
He says. You doubt it, my love, I'm going to prove it to you.
And God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
Will you let God prove His love to you tonight? Will you be convinced tonight that God loves you?
If you will be convinced tonight that God loves you and you say, yes, I believe God loves me, all right, put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him as your Savior.
And by that very act, you will come back, right back to the point of departure. And everyone, every Sinner, every person of Adam's race must come right back to the point where Adam fell and take up the case right there, where he doubted God's goodness and believed the goodness of God's heart, believe his love.
By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving him as Savior.
Will you do that tonight? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
Oh, this is the important thing. Christ died for our sins. His precious blood was shed. He was buried. He arose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures. He's gone back to the glory. He's coming again to take us home to be with himself. One of these days. Might be tonight.
Put your trust and confidence in him.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved whosoever believeth in him.
Should not perish but have everlasting life. That's God's desire for you. He doesn't want you to be lost. He wants you to be saved. God will have all meant to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Oh, what a loving God he is.
Will you believe his love and take the gift of his love?
What are you going to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of God's love? Are you going to spurn the gift of God's love? What an awful thing to do to spurn God's love by refusing to take his gift if somebody came to you and gave you a gift and you said I don't want it.
Would it be courteous? Would it be polite? It would be an offense.
00:50:03
While many people are doing that very thing to God tonight, don't you do it except God's gift. Tonight it's a free gift. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But he also says the wages of sin is death. Continue on in your sin, what are you going to get? Eternal death, eternal separation from God. But receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, You will have eternal life, the gift of God.
May God help you tonight to take the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. As many as received him, him a person to them. He gave the power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name receive him. He wants to come into your heart, he says. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. All that's good for you, boys and girls. He wants to come into your heart. He's standing there knocking. He wants to come in. Will you let him in?
Just say to the Lord Jesus.
I know I'm a Sinner. I'm a lost Sinner. I want you to save me. I want you to come into my heart. I need to be washed from my sins.
You can do it in all simplicity. Just open your heart to the Lord Jesus and he'll come in. Wouldn't you like to have him as your savior tonight? That loving Savior, the one who died for us, suffered all that agony on the cross and bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Wouldn't you like to have him?
As your Savior, May God help you tonight to take the Lord Jesus now before it's too late.
I.
Let's sing #1 on the hymn sheet #1.
Almost persuade.
Rise to.
Receive.