Now as we come to a close of our meeting this evening we turn to this most precious portion of Holy Scripture. I draw your attention this evening please to John chapter 3 and for the first time here for verse 16 and this word which is before us. I've called the message the gospel of God and I draw your attention especially to the first phrase and the first part of this verse where we simply read these two words for God. for God. We read here in verse 16 and the message is the gospel of God. Let's pray this evening as we think about this word. Lord in heaven, have mercy upon our lives this evening. We thank thee that we can sing of this powerful, strong salvation, that it's not my work and it's not my sufficiency and it's not my tears, none of these things, but it's thy love and thy grace and thy compassion. It is the gospel of God. Lord, hear our cry this evening. We need a word. We might be tired. The afternoon may have put us into a lull in a sense. Sleepy state. The eyes are tired. The mind is upon tomorrow. Lord, let none of these things be upon us just now. May there be a banishing of those things. A freshness, a vigour, a heart that burns inside of us hear this wonderful Word of God. And Lord, be with me in the pulpit. Let it not be a lonely place. May there be the sense of God at my right hand. Hear our cry, we ask in the Saviour's name. Amen. I believe many of us this evening have heard about the traditional seven wonders of the world, often called the seven wonders of the ancient world, or just very simply the seven wonders of the world. And they include, of course, an array of many things. the hanging gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Colossus of Rhodes, and many other things. But to this day, the only original seven wonder of the world that remains standing are the great pyramids of Giza. In more modern times, there have been an addition made to these wonders. And these so-called new wonders of the world have been added, which have become the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum, the Taj Mahal, among many things. And whether it's ancient times or whether it's more in modern times, it demonstrates that mankind by and large has a fixation and a fascination with feats of engineering and architecture. And of course, that's not a bad thing. It's a very interesting thing. And that interest never wanes. Well this evening as we draw our attention to an altogether different landscape of sights and sounds and images, we turn our thoughts to this great truth, this great edifice which was erected by the mouth and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and spoken in the years of Nicodemus on this occasion. It is the words of John chapter 3 verse 16. German reformer Martin Luther referred to this great verse of Scripture as the heart of the Gospel or the heart of the Bible. He also referred to it as the Gospel in miniature form. It is a verse that is well-read and well-known and well-loved and we've heard it many times and we'll hear it many times besides. But as we pause this evening by the grace of God and we seek to pause and to give ourselves week after week to every truth which is brought to our attention in His words. With the help of God I want to divide it as carefully as I can into these seven portions, into these seven messages and refer to what I've called the seven wonders of the Word. I have no doubt this evening as I stand before this precious truth that over the course of church history multitudes have found peace with God through these words. Can you imagine what heaven will be like when the notes are compared? What verse was it for you? What text of scripture brought you home? And more often than not we might say that John 3,16 was featuring there about somewhere, maybe to bring them to faith, maybe to give them assurance in the gospel. It was only on Thursday, it's a verse that just, one I had to use speaking to that lapsed Roman Catholic man because his words were all along the lines of many people. He says, I'm trying. He says, I'm trying. And the answer isn't trying, it's trusting the God of grace. And the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, well, how do you bring men and women and young people to understand this message, this Gospel truth? How do you bring it into a nutshell? How do you bring together this great wealth and realms of truth in the Word of God? Well, God has given us John 3, 16 to do this very thing. It's not the only verse by that means, but it's certainly one of the leading verses. I've always believed, and I like to believe this, And I believe with strong reasons that I have this conviction that the very first convert under John 3.16 was Nicodemus. And that's not me trying to think outside the circle or to be novel or new. That's just looking at what we have here in the Bible and making a conclusion for yourself. I believe he came to faith. And certainly he's the first man who heard John 3.16 being preached. But what impresses me the most about this, I believe, this truth regarding Nicodemus is that John 3.16 was a verse in Scripture that was not spoken to a notorious sinner. Or we might say a wretched individual, though he was a wretched sinner in the eyes of God. We're not dealing with the demoniac of Gadara. We're not dealing with Mary Magdalene. We're not dealing with someone who has a name or someone who is demon-possessed or someone of a sinful reputation. Well, who are we dealing with here? We're dealing with Nicodemus. We're dealing with a man of great religion. We're dealing with a man with standing, with a society, he has his religious garments, he's respectable, he's kind, he's thoughtful, he's sincere, he's approachable, he has all the right things to say. And in so many respects, you might look at this man and think to himself, well you know what, he's either there or he's not too far away. It's that type of man that our Saviour preached these words to. And therefore it's certainly a word for every single one of us this evening. Because with all that being the case in Nicodemus, he remained dead in sin and in his trespasses. My prayer this evening is that whatever we know of John 3.16 and whatever we have heard of John 3.16, will be further impressed upon your hearts, those of us who are saved or even if we're not saved, and that will bring with it a further assurance of the glorious salvation of God to our lives. And if that happens, it's a good thing. Let me say, if we get to an end of these messages and we come to that seventh message and we can leave by saying, you know what, I've been saved many years, but after hearing this message, my heart has been brought closer to God and I've got a far more fuller assurance of this gospel than I believe that's the job well done. Another message well preached. So you pray for these messages. Bring others with you and may God meet with us in the weeks to come. No better place to start this evening than how our Savior began. He begins with God, doesn't he? And he simply says, for God. It is the gospel of God. And I leave two things with you as we close this evening. First of all, the gospel of God, in it God's character is displayed. As we contemplate God's gospel, we remind ourselves that when Christ was preaching His words to Nicodemus, and He brings His opening phrase into the ears of this man who stood in tremendous need, that the first thing that Nicodemus must hear is all about God. We might say, but does he need to know this? This is a Hebrew. This is a religious man. He knows the Torah. He knows the law of Moses. He's well-versed. And isn't there a sense when he knows all about God, he needs to know something else? Well, we don't question how Christ begins, and this is how he begins. We must start where the Lord Jesus Christ started. And remember something, we begin with John 3.16, it does not appear in a vacuum. We all know, relatively all of us know what that expression means, and in case we don't know what it means for the younger ones, when we say that something doesn't appear in a vacuum, what it means is this, it's not found alone. It's not in isolation, John 3.16. Does that mean that we can ever preach in isolation? Well, I don't think so because we can. It's been preached many times as a standing verse on its own and it will be preached many times on its own because it lends itself to that type of preaching and that's fine, that's good. But I also would say that while we can certainly in Gospel missions and here in Sunday evening services or maybe a children's mission or whatever meeting we think of, we can take it from its page. We might not even need to refer to verses 1 to 15 or verses 17 to the end. But we will get so much more We would get so much more from the Word of God by remembering that our Saviour did not speak these words in isolation, but as part of a sequence of thoughts and truths. And that's why he says, for God, because he's been saying something to Nicodemus, and of course there is more to say. You know, we might expect, as a lot of evangelistic preaching is, for the Lord Jesus Christ to begin John chapter 3 with something like verse 16. Surely that's where you begin, isn't it? You've got a sinner in front of you, you've got an unsaved person in front of you, so why don't you tell them about the love of God and tell them the promise of eternal life? That's how you're going to draw people in, that's how you're going to win people, is it? Because I look at John 3 and I see a very different system of truth. Tell sinners about faith and believing and tell them about trusting and coming to Christ. Well, of course, we're going to preach all those things and that's what Jesus Christ preached. But in fact, what does the Lord Jesus preach, Nicodemus? He tells this needy soul, the kingdom of God is a closed place to sinners who have never been born of the Spirit of God. That's how he begins. That's how he starts. Nicodemus, the kingdom of heaven is close to you because you've never been born of the Spirit. Well, tell them about faith and trust. No. He tells them of the sovereign workings of the Holy Spirit of God. I remember the first time reading this and then thinking about this and asking the question. The Lord speaks about the sovereignty of the wind and the Spirit. He speaks about in verse 12 of earthy things, heavenly things. No man ascending up to heaven. I mean, that's not your average run-of-the-mill sort of three-point gospel sermon, is it? But listen to me this evening. Have you ever understood the manner and the reason why Christ preached in that manner and how he gets to verse 15 and 16? Because what he's doing, he's rendering Nicodemus speechless. He's rendering this man entirely speechless. He's got nothing to say. And Nicodemus, he's stumped by all this and he says, well, verse 9, how can these things be? And this man who was maybe quite confident in his religion and about quite comfortable in what he had, piece by piece and step by step there's a dismantling of his exterior and his interior and all those defenses and the Lord is making him realize, no Nicodemus, you've got this grave need, you're not born again, you're not born of the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God, you cannot discern the things of God, in fact you do not know these things and he admits as much, how can these things be? I just don't know any of these things. And that's when the Lord now brings verse 15 into the picture because now, now he brings him back to the Old Testament and he says, no Nicodemus you remember Moses and of course naturally we'll get to this part in our studies of Moses and you remember Nicodemus the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness do you understand what it means? do you get the message? you've got to believe just like they had to look and to live and whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." But then the Lord, He steps back and in that moment, now with this man's attention seized and grasped and a sense of realisation, how can these things be? I'm not right with God. I don't know what it means to be born of the Spirit. Do I even know God in the first place? Then He says, for God. And he brings God into the picture. Why would I go to length to saying it? Because you know as well as I do that we live in a world and it's the same in every age and every generation that men and women whether it's in churches like this this evening or whether in their homes or whether just going about their business they think they know God but they don't. And they think they understand God, but they don't. And they think they're worshipping God, but they're not. And even worse still, they think they're right with God, but they aren't. And we cannot begin the gospel without beginning with God. It's the gospel of God. And that's where our Saviour begins, for God. I realised that the moment I introduced this into the message that I'm facing an enormous, almost, humanly speaking, insurmountable subject. How do we just in a short time frame condense our thoughts to the Gospel being a reflection of God Himself? And in that moment my mind was instantly drawn to that very love, well-loved catechism answer, the shorter catechism that answers the question, what is God? And we know the answer, God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. And just those first three answers, without the rest, we've got the other parts as well, but consider how the gospel is a reflection of God in that sense. The gospel of God reminds us that God is infinite. You say, wow, is the gospel infinite? What do you mean by this? Well, by the word infinite, what we mean is this, that God is not limited by time or space. We might say this, He cannot be searched out and fully known in all that He is, despite revealing Himself to us. Our God is the infinite God. Time and space cannot confine Him. And therefore, with our thoughts and our minds and our understanding, we can know Him, we should know Him, but we'll never know Him in that perfect sense of the word. We'll never know Him, as Job says, unto perfection by searching. And so when we look at the gospel of Christ, there's that element to it. And I hope you understand what I mean this evening. We know it, but when we seek to know it even more, we go, it's almost of an infinite nature. How can we search it out? How can we ever fully know the depths of the love of God in Christ? This is the gospel of God, and it's infinite in a sense. I believe Paul touches on this in Romans 11 verse 33 when he was explaining the whole dealings of God with the remnant of Israel and then in the previous chapters with Jews and Gentiles and salvation and justification and I stand with Paul I think we all stand with Paul when he says in verse 33 he says, Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out no one has been his counselor No one has been his instructor. Have you ever been like that? Have you ever heard the gospel being preached and you say, the wonder of it all, it's beyond searching out, it's infinite. And the more we know it in a sense, the more we need to know more of it. And in that sense the gospel reflects God who is infinite. But what about the word eternal? Is that true of the gospel as well? I believe it is. No, I'm not suggesting that there's no sort of beginning or end to the gospel, because of course there is a beginning and an end in a sense. We can start with Genesis and the fall, and the entrance of sin, and the catastrophe, and the judgments of God, and then the incarnation, and the cross, and the empty tomb, and the apostolic church, and the coming of our Savior, and all these things, they fit together. What I mean by this when I say that there's the eternal element to the gospel of God itself is the Bible speaks of it in that form. Revelation 14, 6, it's the everlasting gospel which is preached to every nation, in every tongue, and every people. Paul says in Titus 1 and verse 2, listen to him, in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promises before the world began. In Ephesians 1, 4, chosen in us before the foundation of the world. That's why I say it's eternal. And it's impossible to escape this truth. And if we learn anything from it, we learn this, the gospel of God has always been the way that God saves. Has always been the way God saves. It's just that when we look at Genesis and right through we see this progressive revelation unfolding until the fullness of times itself when Christ comes. But it's always been His way and it will always be His way until our Saviour comes. It's the eternal gospel and then it's the unchangeable gospel of God. One of the attributes of God that has always blessed my own heart and I believe it's probably the same for you as well is thinking about the unchangeable nature of God. It's just, it's incredible, isn't it? And do you know why it touches my own heart? And I hope it's the same for you this evening. It's because I change. I change. And I'm not just talking about, you know, physically changing. And I'm not just talking about our appearances or even just our weakness and how we become weaker and more frail as time goes by. We change. And there's scenery changes and seasons change, but even the change that we might say is detrimental, the change that takes us away, the ups and the downs. And so we've got a reference point because we know it. And in all of these things we relate to what they mean. We think of God who is infinite because we know how limited we are and God who is eternal because we know we've got a beginning and an end and we know we're changeable people. But this gospel is the unchangeable gospel of God. And the Gospel of God does not change in what its fundamental message is. Nicodemus, for God, this message doesn't change. How can these things be, he says? It's always been before your eyes, you've just never seen it. You've never seen it. Many a sinner has said, how can these things be? Every single week is before their eyes. It's the same message and it has the same effect and it carries the same salvation. Be glad this evening if you're a Christian that this gospel which has saved your soul can never change because it reflects the nature of God and therefore it's forever. It's the gospel of God and it reflects His character. Well, our last thought is this. As we look at God's character, which is revealed in the gospel, we can then look at God's charter, which is declared in or by the gospel. God's charter. Well, that's not a word we tend to use too much these days, is it? A charter. What do we mean by that? What is understood by this? Well, by charter, we refer, and I guess there's probably different ways of defining it, but this is, I guess, the more common definition. It refers to a formal document describing the rights or principles of an organization or a group of people. It can have a sovereign element to it, or maybe even not, but it's a formal document. It's defining principles, establishing these things. And possibly the most famous charter is the Great Charter, which I mentioned earlier on. Or in Latin, the Magna Carta. It was the Royal Charter of Rights agreed to by King John of England on the 15th of June, 1215. And it prevents, among other things, the king from exploiting his power. Well, can we refer to the gospel as a charter? I hope you understand what I'm trying to say this evening. I'm using it to make a point because just as a charter or a constitution of any country or people or organisation, it sets out principles, we must remember the glorious gospel of God sets out the way to God. And that's what this phrase is saying. For God. It's His way. It's His charter. It's His message. It's not yours, Nicodemus, and it's no one else's. It's His. And it's wonderful. And we have to hold on to that with all of our hearts. With that in mind, it comes with sovereign authority for God. That's the ring of sovereignty. Have you paused ever to read John 3.16 and just thought about how it begins? Because it reminds me, it's like an echo of Genesis in the beginning God. An echo of Paul, but God who is rich in mercy. Every milestone, every key stage, every turning point, every juncture, it has to begin with him. It's all about him. What we have done over the years is that we've made John 3.16 sometimes too much about us. And I'm not saying that we don't receive the benefits of it. We do and we shall get there eventually about everlasting life and so on. But it's primarily about Him. And it's the gospel of God. It's not the gospel of men. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it declares His sovereign authority. He speaks in creation. And none was there to say to the Almighty, that's the wrong order of days and that's the wrong order of events. It's let there be light and there is light and there's the creation of everything from days one to six and all these things are in their place. Is it not so with the new creation? Of course it is. And this means that no one has the right to argue back and say, well, you know, why is it this way and why cannot it be another way? God declares that this is the way. It's the gospel of God, and he says to this man who's in a place of confusion, at this time, for God, it's authority. The Magna Carta, I believe, from what I was looking at in terms of a bit of study, I believe that it had 63 clauses. You'll be glad to say that I'm not going to read them out this evening, because I think you'll be throwing a charter back at my pulpit here, along with the tomatoes from this morning. It would be a bad day in the office in that sense. But it had 63 clauses at the beginning, with only a handful of them now in effect today, the most prominent ones, which still affect areas of justice and so on. No, I'm not saying that we come to the gospel and I'm not saying there are seven components to the gospel, there aren't. I'm just breaking the verse down into seven parts. But I will say this, there is not one detail, there's not one facet, there's not one part of this message that can be extracted, changed or altered. It's God's royal and sovereign charter and we must submit to every part of it. So when the Lord says to men and women and He calls us to faith and repentance and He says there's one sacrifice for sins forever, that's why we stand and we follow the pathways of the great reformers because we understand with them and the conviction must remain in our hearts and it's going to be something we hold on to day after day and year after year that these things don't change. They don't change, do they? It's God's royal charter. And when Jesus sounded these words into Nicodemus' ears and he says, for God, it was a reminder that this message comes with divine authority. When it comes with authority, you have to hear it. You've got to respond to it. You have to listen. And it comes with saving authority. Who can frustrate God? And so whereas maybe in documents and policies and agreements, we've all been, haven't we, sometimes in meetings or, you know, something's been agreed, it's not been fulfilled, something's been arranged, it hasn't followed through, there have been policies changed, there have been constitutions broken. We live in a world that we're filled with many things that rise and fall as of the sun, not so with the gospel of God. He says and he does for God. It's now the seal of assurance and saving authority. As I said, I believe Nicodemus eventually found that out for himself. And in a moment known to God and so precious to this man, there was that ray of light that came into his soul. And he realized that it's this God that I need who has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. And what Christ spoke had sovereign authority but it had saving assurance and authority. We have in John 3.16 therefore the complete message from beginning to end. It doesn't direct you to churches and to people and individuals. It directs you to God. God in Christ. God reconciling the world unto Himself. And He reveals His glorious character. as there is none like Him, there is none like it. And His royal charter, that God thunders from heaven and He speaks to us and He commands us to go to Him, turn to Him, believe on Him and be saved. May God bless His word to our hearts. Let's all close in prayer. Father in heaven, may we understand week after week this blessed message And may we come to love this verse all the more as a result. And may our hearts be won over time and time again to the greatness of the gospel of Christ so that it burns in our life to share with others the great things that God has done for us. We want to love thee and to glorify thy name. We want to put thee first in all things. And Lord, we pray that as we contemplate these truths in our homes and in our lives, that we shall give thee all the praise and all of the honour. Pardon us now with thy blessing and encourage us throughout this week. Let there be tokens of good and signs that follow the preaching of the word. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.