of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is Christmas month. And it is a practice of many people in almost every country in the world, a time where people buy presents and give to one another, especially among Christians. And it's a time, it's very joyful time, happy time. And In this month, we also want to think of God because God also gave us a present. Long ago, God gave the Lord Jesus Christ to us. And then, of course, it is the been accepted, He gave this on the first Christmas, 25th of December. The first time where Christmas was celebrated, where Christ was born. And that's the day when God gave the Lord Jesus Christ to us. Jesus Christ, His Son. So that was God's gift to us. And this all is recorded for us in his word, the precious word that you and I have here, that God has inspired. And it's through this word that we discovered this, that Jesus Christ, God's son, that God gave him to all of us. And so that was the first Christmas. Well, we can say that it was God's greatest gift to us. It was his only begotten son he gave to us. And I want to, the scripture passage for our consideration in meditation is John chapter 3 verse 16. It is a very familiar verse to almost all Christians. to almost all of you, definitely. I even asked one of you whether you can recite John 3.16. Of course, he recited in Chinese, but I'm not Chinese educated, but at least I can understand, especially John 3.16, who in my head was John 3.16 all the time, and as he recited in Chinese, in Mandarin, so I could kind of hear the meaning correct it was good you see all of us know and that's for our message today we're going to look into this passage it's a wonderful passage a great marvelous passage if we really think about it now in the past i was like one of you john 3 16 first time i became a christian i was taught also john 3 16 and have to memorize it and I memorize, and I can recite it, and once a time, they say, John 3, 16, why? Put up your hand, and I can recite it. 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. God, his son, believeth everything. And that's about all. Yeah, I know, I know, John 3, 16. But nowadays, getting much older and thinking of these verses, what does it really mean? how important or how wonderful how meaningful or what impact has this john 3 16 which is supposed which our chairman say the greatest verse in the scripture in scripture and all scripture are great all scriptures are great yeah it was the most wonderful verse in fact john 3 16 is a summary in fact the summary of the whole bible which the whole bible is telling about the story of god's salvation and it's all in john 3 16 all summarized in john 3 16 so the meaning is very impactful do you know the meaning. In fact, every word is in that verse. If we think very carefully, it has a lot of meaning. Let us consider some of the words, the important words of this verse, and see what it means, this verse, and what it means to us, to you. You are a believer, and if you know John 3, 16, and you know the impact of this verse, you shall always be grateful. You will never forsake God. You will never deny God. You may believe now, and if you understand the impact of this verse, you will never forsake God, never deny Him. Some people, of course, some Christians may tell you that, well, you deny, never mind. You can always deny, go into the world, and then you can come back again, can believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That means you can switch on and off, on and off, on and off. The Bible doesn't teach that. Afterwards, we shall look at it. The Bible doesn't teach that. And so there are certain Christians Certain denominations that teach that. This is not true. You have the Bible. How to know the truth? You have the Bible. And once you read the Bible, and you know the truth. And the truth as some aware, some Christians, some churches said, once saved, always saved. Which is true. Once saved, always saved. Again, how? How do we know? If we study John 3.16, we will know that once you are saved, once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved forever. Till the day you die, you go to heaven, or the day when Christ comes and you are waiting for Him and you are very glad that He will receive you. and you have the assurance that He will receive you. So let us look at John 3.16. Turn your Bible to John 3.16. All right, if you don't want to turn, it's also okay. Also, you can because you can memorize this verse. Now, first of all, it says, God so loved the world So the first important word there is God. G-O-D, God. Elohim, in the original language, Hebrew language. Elohim. And as you will find that in Genesis chapter one, verse one, in the beginning, God created Elohim, created the heavens and the earth. Elohim. created ever so he is our creator so god is that all-powerful when there was nothing in this universe nothing at all zero but there is god when there's no earth no planets no stars nothing but there is god And God created the heavens and the earth, the stars, the moons, the sun, and all the planets that we know, and even our own system here. Galaxies. And so God, this is God. God so loved the world. Now, The second thing we want to know about this God, because sometimes we use the term so often, God, we never think of many other things. We sometimes also, we can say, God is our creator. Now God is invisible. He's a spirit. And so you cannot see Him. Because no man has seen God and lived. So you can't see God. God is invisible. You can't see him. But he is there. He is this God, is the living and true God. There's only one living and true God in this whole universe. There's only one true living God. There's no one else. Other people may call other things God, or other people God, but there is no God at all. Only there's one God. One living and true God. The God of Abraham. According to the Bible, the God who revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God who chose the nation Israel has his people, the God. This God will reveal himself to these people. Only this God, in fact, is the God of the Bible, is the true living and true God. Remember this. So it is your God. If you are a Christian, you believe in the Bible here, and you believe in this God and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, You are a believer. Your God is the one true and living God. Others may say that they are God. Alright, let them say what their God is. But they are no God. They can say. You can allow them to say what they want to say. You don't have to argue with them. But you yourself, you know that God, this is the one living God and you cannot see Him. You cannot see Him. You believe it by faith. Now this God is a person also. a person like you and me, like you and us, like us. God has said in his word, when he created man, he created man in his own image. So we are like God. He thinks. He speaks. He feels. He wills. I will do this, I will do that. He loves. He can get angry also. So God created man is his own image. This is the one living and true God and this is your God. How wonderful it is. So you can say this is my God. The Lord God, in fact, showed this one to Israel. Let us turn to Deuteronomy chapter 4, chapter 6, verse 4. And I hope that you will always remember this. This is another important verse, a wonderful verse. I would rather say this is another wonderful verse. Deuteronomy chapter six verse four, you can underline it, you can highlight it, whatever it is. Now I read to you, hear O Israel. Hear God call Israel. His chosen people, hear Israel. What? The Lord, see the spelling there, capital L-O-R-D? In the Hebrew language, it's Yahweh. So the name is Yahweh. The Lord Yahweh, our God, our seer of Israel, our God, our Elohim. Now the word God here means Elohim. Powerful, all-powerful. And then he say what? He's one Lord. He's one. No others, only him one. Unique. And then the Lord again, and here the meaning it means what? It more than just, the meaning it's sovereignty. It's sovereignty and in control of everything. And so he called on the people of Israel, his chosen people, hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. in control of everything. One, no others. Remember this. Remember this verse. So you can say instead of here O Israel, we can put it here. O congregation of Kewri Pandang or Kewri Tengah, The Lord our God is one God. Remember this. Don't ever forget. And He is the living and true God. So God is invisible and this is the one and true God. And don't ever stray away from God. You stray away, you forsake God. You don't recognise Him also. You yourself have to be blamed. God wants you. God loves you. He wants you. For God so loved the world, He loves you. He wants you. He wants you to acknowledge Him forever and ever and ever as long as you live on this earth. When you come to know Him, you must not forsake Him. You must not deny Him. You must always have this relationship with Him. You must not break that relationship. He is God Almighty. We are the one who keep on changing. We must not change. Never, never, never change. Because our life here on this earth is very short, very short. How short it is. According to God, 1,000 years, if you read in the book of the epistle of Peter, 1,000 years is only one day. How many of us can live for 1,000 years? Maybe many of us nowadays can live to 100 years. 100 years is one tenth of 1,000. And 1,000 is close to one day. So our life is only so short. In another way, God says what? It's just like the grass, it grows up, and then in the afternoon, it dies, finished. Or like a vapour, water vapour, in a kettle, a boiling kettle, the vapour spouts out. As the moment it spouts out, it disappears. That is how short life is. And so, but, From human perspective, yes, maybe years, one year, two years. Oh, I've got so many years. I've got so many years more to live. And then if the years have passed, if you have lived 50 years, look back. How short it is. Another 40 years, you get 90 years old. Very short. You look and ask the people who are 97 years old. Alamak, you say, I'm now 97, you know. I remember I was a young boy and now I'm 97, passed like that. And he's waiting what? When to die. What kind of sickness will be so that I will die? See? But if you are 40, 50 years old, I can never mind so many years more, so many years more. No, our life is very short, so we must have this perspective. So God so loved the world, so the word God we must understand. All right, there's one living and true God. And since He created all of us, one day, one day, all of us must go back, must return or go back to God. We belong to Him, we will go back to Him. You cannot say that, I don't believe in God, when I die, I'm finished. Just like a chicken, when you die, it's finished. I die like a chicken, no. You're not a chicken, you're a man. When you die, you will return to God. God says in his word. And so we all will. We must always, therefore, never forsake God. If you believe, you must keep on believing. Never forsake Him. This is God. We must always remember this. So whenever you use the word God, we use the term God, we should always remember all these things. There's many more things. If you read the Bible, God will reveal about Him, Himself, His character, and all this. But these are the few things that is very important, essential. that we know Him as one true and living God, or living and true God, and as one only. Because when we are living in this world, and then you go around, you go out, you say, you hear from this person, you say, He's God, and you hear from this group of people who say, oh, their God is the true God, and you might be affected, might be believed. And they will say their God also can do miracles and all that. And then somehow you may be convinced, no, your God is the only one, one living and true God. Because the devil also can work miracles. And you will find that in the, God has said in the, if you read his word carefully, that In the period, the last days, when before Christ comes back, there were many people who would do a lot of miracles. Even the elect, that means all of us who truly believe, might even be deceived and follow them. No, we should not. And how we should not? We already said. The Lord, our God, is one Lord, one living and true God, and there's no one else, no one else. Other people may claim that their God is God, but our God is above all gods, the living and true God. So be proud of it. Now that you are saved, God has saved you and brought you close to Him. You have peace with Him. Now we can pray to Him. At first, before that, we cannot pray to Him. You will see in this verse. If we had not known Christ, we cannot pray to Him. But now we are His. So be glad, be happy. that you are so blessed. We are so blessed. All right. And it says here, God so loved the world. And God is love. While God is love, at the same time, God is holy also. Now, God loves the world. And here, the world here does not mean the physical world. It means the people of the world. And they are all sinners. The people of the world, the world has sinned against God. God gave one commandment, and the people, we are the people, have sinned against Him. Break that commandment, and so we are all sinners. And because of that, because of our sin against God, We are all condemned. We are all condemned. See? Yet, while we are sinners of going against God, yet God loves us. How wonderful it is. You can see very few people in this world. You are bad to him, And he also will see you bad to me, he will be bad to you. He doesn't love you. But here, we sin against God. He's angry, but he so loved us. Now as you read further, you see, you're nice. Now we love us, he also Show us how to demonstrate His love for us. Now, we don't say, I love you, and then you don't, it's cheap, you know, just to say, I love you, I like you. It's very cheap. God so loved the world, you just say, stop that, it's very cheap. But God showed His love, how? He gave His only begotten Son. Action. God say and God prove by action. He gave His only begotten Son. Now listen. His only begotten Son. Now don't get the idea that God has a mother or God has a wife and give His only begotten Son. No. God has no mother, no wife. God is in itself. Remember that. Some Christian religion will say, the mother of God. You see? God has no mother. God exists by himself. In himself. Before anything, In this world, God exists, self-existent. He is there. No woman or mother gave birth to him and then this is my son. No. All right, forget that. And so God gave his own in. You know why? That's why it says here, God gave his only begotten son. So there's only one son here, one, only one, and begotten. Begotten here, the word says, according to the dictionary, is a woman who begat and then gave birth. But this is not the meaning. The begotten here, it means that in the very beginning there was nothing else and God exists. So the begotten is self-existent. God existed. God in the very beginning gave his only begotten son. And the word begotten means self-existence. Not some woman begat the son. and now he is the son and he is the mother of God. No. Begotten is a Jew. So understand he is as self-existing. Alright. So that's it. And so he co-exists. The son co-exists with God. With God the Father. I hear we also, in this verse, we have now the understanding that in God there is one God but three persons, three distinct persons. You have God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three persons, distinct persons but they are one. Some people say, when I was a young Christian in a Malay school, the Malay religious teacher, he say, you Christians believe in three gods. No, one god. Because the Muslim believe in one god, Allah. I say, we also believe in one god, Jehovah. No, no, you have three gods. He say, you have got the father, right? Yes. You've got the Son? Yes. You've got the Holy Spirit? Yes. There are three Gods. It's not like that. You are saying 1 plus 1 plus 1 equals 3. Correct. Mathematically correct. 100% correct. But in the Bible, it's 1 times 1 times 1 equals 3 or 1? 1. So our mathematics is different. You are plus one, plus one, plus one. Ours is times one, times one, times one, equals one. Then it's, humanly speaking, you want to do mathematically, it means this. But God, so God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, so we have called it sometimes the Trinity, one God, the Trinity, or the Triune God. Now this Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, they are subject and object relationship. Their relationship is subject and object relationship. What does it mean? It means they are equal. First of all, they are equal, one, equal in everything, in substance, in power, in knowledge, in everything. But they are subject and object relationship, meaning that they are Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Their relationship is there, their difference. Father and Son, that's the Father, send the Son to Earth to become man and save us. And then the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to sanctify all believers. And this is the subject and object relationship, the functional relationship. But in terms of the Triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they are all equal in substance, in power, in everything. Now this is the Triune God or the Trinity. It's very complex. We can understand to this extent But to fully understand, we cannot. So you have some people cannot understand. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit is three gods. They cannot understand. We understand it's one times one times one equals one. But fully, the Triune God, the Trinity, is very complex. We cannot understand. And so we have here, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Why did he give his only begotten son? Now the son came down, God became man. Emmanuel, God became man. God chose one lady to be the instrument through which He sent the Lord Jesus Christ, so that Jesus Christ, His Son, can become man. And that instrument is the Virgin Mary. It's just an instrument used by God. Virgin Mary is also human, not the mother of God. Human. And you see the person who says that because Jesus Christ who is God and then she gave birth, the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ who is God and therefore the Virgin Mary is the mother of God. And then raise up and then quickly exalt Virgin Mary. Now to be equal with Jesus Christ. Comediatrics also can be saved. You pray to Mary and Mary will tell Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That kind. Or wrong. That's human thinking. One plus one plus one. Three. No. So God used Mary. Mary is a very just woman. And God was pleased with her and used her to send Jesus Christ. So God became man. The Word of God says Jesus Christ became man. Came here as a pape, born in Bethlehem, raised up in Nazareth, and at the age of 30 began to minister for three years. About three years he ministered to the people. That's where he showed that he came to die, to lay down his life, to save sinners. He is sinless, you see, because he's a son of God, he's sinless. And he came to lay down his life, to give his life, to suffer, to bled, to bleed, okay, to bleed. His blood, and died, buried, in order to save us. And on the third day, God the Father raised Him from the dead. He resurrected. That is what this John 3.16 says. God gave His only begotten Son. Gave, for what? to do this redemptive work in order to save the world of sinners. He saved us, guides. And then you carry on, that whosoever, anyone who believes in him, Not believes Him only. Believes Him in that, oh Jesus Christ, Son of God, okay, I believe you, finish. No, believes in Him, that means in all His work, in His redemptive work. In Him, born of a virgin, came down to die, to do the redemptive work, and on the third day, rose again from the dead. In Him, that means all that is about Him. In Him. should not perish. Now, believe first of all. Now, coming to the word believe. This is a word grammatically in the original, in the Greek language, it is participle, present, active. Again, participle, present, active. Whosoever believe, Participle, that means I-N-G, keep on believing. Believing, present, that's now, and active. Never change. That means keep believing. So the word believing, participle, present, active. Whosoever believe in Him, in all the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, believe in Him, not believe him, believe in Him, shall not perish. Shall not. What is the grammatical sense here? Means at that moment, believe that moment, one moment, That moment he passed from death unto life, shall not perish. That moment shall not perish. Now it is that person only. Now the grammatical is what? Shall not perish refers only to that person, not others that you cannot, I believe and then you say, no, believe on my own self, for myself only. Now that is the grammatical sense of the word there. Shall not that moment he pass from death to life. Instead of perishing, he becomes alive. Instead of perishing, he gets eternal life. One time. for that person only. Whosoever believeth shall not perish. That means that believing is and should not, okay, at that moment should not perish. Should not. Now the perish here it means to be cast into the lake of fire. To be cast into the lake of fire. How terrible it is. Now those people who died in the North Island of New Zealand who went to see the volcano and then they do not know and then suddenly now the volcano erupted and then eight of them or 15 of them got burned to death. Now that moment where they suffered the burn was bad, almost like that. You perish, you get burned. Lake of fire. Those who believe in the Son of God, in His redemptive work in everything, should not perish. That moment when you believe, you are safe. You are delivered, should not perish. You are not cast into the lake of fire. But have what? everlasting life. Not in the lake of fire, but in heaven with God. That means in the kingdom of God called heaven. Wonderful, isn't it? As I preach to you, I preach to myself many times too. And I smile all the time. And I thank God. I'm sure all of you, when you listen to this one, this is your belief. And this is your salvation. And you see, this, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever anyone who believes, and then what kind of believer, I just sort of taught you, what kind of believing must be present and active believing should not One moment, that moment you believe, that moment you are not. It's that moment you yourself do not perish, but you have everlasting life. You can enter, qualify to go into the kingdom of God. This is the meaning of that verse. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Wonderful. How wonderful. This is it. Which means what? If your belief is present, is participle, present, active, It means that you must keep on believing, present and active. Many years later, it is still believing, present and active. You cannot many years later, one time I believe, but now I don't believe. Cannot. Sometime later in the life you say I don't believe, you are finished. If you don't believe, here God's word says, John chapter 16 verse 18, you see? Verse 17, 18, he says what? He says here, if you do not believe, you are condemned already. So all right, John 3, 16, okay? So verse 18, he that believeth not, he says here, he that believeth not is condemned already. One time you believe, one time you don't believe, you are condemned already. It does mean that once you believe, your belief are safe for life. Once you are safe, you are safe for life. Yes, provided you keep on believing. Provided you satisfy the word there. Believe in Him. Participal, present, active. 10 years later, I still believe. The day I get sick, I'm going to die. Do you believe? Yeah, I believe. It must be like that. So you cannot halfway say, I don't believe. Then if halfway you say don't believe, then the question mark, as far as we are concerned, human beings are concerned, question mark. That means the first time when you say believe, your belief is, Fake news. False. Not true. You say believe and then you can change if you don't believe. And God never change. God's words say that. You keep on believing and active, you are safe forever. When He comes back, you are safe. And then if He doesn't call you, you just point to Him. John 3, 16. God, I understand this is His word. This is your word. You say it. And God is no liar. God will not lie and you will be safe. But we must not change a person who is, before he believes, of course, we are human beings, we cannot see the heart, you see, and then he wants to change it. No, you cannot. You know this, you do not, you keep on believing. So a person who is a believer will keep on believing. You cannot say, once I'm a believer, and next time I'm not a believer. Okay, I might change my mind and go and be a believer. I'll change my mind and go and be a believer. And when I'm a believer, I don't know, one day surely you remember you will fall into the lake of fire. You cannot. There's no such thing. Read the Bible. I'm sure you can read the Bible. That's the way. It's not my words, you know. It's the words of the Bible. We have an objective Bible here. You can read yourself. You find whether it's true or not. What I say is true or not. Can I be one time here and then one time there? I change my mind. I change my mind. Cannot. Cannot. The Bible says no. Believe in Him. Participle, present, active. So if you are a believer, you are always a believer. This is a wonderful verse. There's one more verse, one more thing that I want to ask you. One thing that's important, how do we respond? We human beings are sometimes very proud of ourselves or knowledge and all that. Now that's one characteristic that God requires of all of us, whether we are young or old. Very important. Now we hear all this. How do we respond? This one characteristic is about humility, humbleness. It's not about knowledge. You can have all the knowledge in this world. You can have all the riches in everything. But one must be humble. Humbleness. When you hear this word, you hear God's word say, yes I am humble. Believe. And God says that He is only one God. The Lord our God is one Lord. All others are not God's. I humble myself. I believe His Word. Yes, Lord, I believe. Be human. Be humble. Not only in this thing, but humility in everything. And God teaches us many things. And don't think that I know better. No. Always think before the Word of God, before God's Word. And God said, don't do it. Yes, humble. Lord, I don't know, what shall I do? And God say, this is thing, you must go this, do this. Okay, I'll do it. And when us, when we humble ourselves, God will bless us. You follow him, God bless us. Now he is very, very, very rich. I like to tell this story always. When I was in Australia, I went to one shop, no, fruit shop. And the old lady, Italian lady, say, why you don't have to work? Yeah, I work. I work for my father. And my father is very rich. Oh, very good, I say, very good. And when your father die, I say my father is old, I say he's very rich. And then... He said, good, when your father is old and die, you inherit everything, but my father will not die. And then when I say, what word? I got a church, you know a church? 10 Downing Street, no? The word, the church is at 10 Downing Street. In England, it's the Prime Minister's office, but here it's Oakley in Melbourne. It's 10 in Downing Street. And then straight, he realized, Or he was a Catholic. Oh, shut up, keep your religion to yourself. But you ask me what? You ask me. My father is very rich. So when I need anything, I don't have it, I send a telegram, I pray. Lord help me, I don't have this, this, that. And God send. God send. How wonderful it is, when we humble ourselves. Now, one person also illustrate the humility this way. It is like the mountain, this mountain, and then come to the valley, and then a mountain. Up in the mountain, what is that? Snow. No trees, nothing. Cold, empty. Down in the valley? You have trees, water, rivers, everything. All the animals, everything is there. So be humble. When your heart is humble, you have everything. All flow into the valley. You want to proudly up in the mountain? Well, you be proud. You can see many things, but you are always cold. Nothing there. So it has an illustration, but here God tells us to be humble. So when you hear the Word of God, you accept it, be humble, accept it as He said here, accordingly, and you'll be saved. How wonderful. How wonderful. So that when we are saved, we believe God cares for us. He will always care for us. Let us pray.