Now, we're going to look at three verses in God's Word, as we find it in John's Gospel, Chapter 3. And the title for the message here this morning is, Forgotten Love. And I think the greatest crime of all is that it's such special love that we've forgotten God's great love. I was very interested that the Boys Brigade theme on Friday night was centred on these three verses. I sent Stuart Luke a wee text yesterday, I said, I wish I'd sent these to you, the titles to you, because I send the audio-visual, the titles for the message every Thursday or Friday. Well, I usually send them on a Sunday morning, but I was going to send them on Friday, because this is exactly the three verses that they sent their thoughts on, so I thought it was remarkable. And I was just sorry I hadn't sent them before the boys we did display. These are very special verses. We can roll these verses off our tongue. Actually, I've been reading in faith here this morning. I forgot my glasses. But I think I haven't gone too badly so far. I'm glad I know these verses. I know them in my heart. I know the experience. But have we forgotten it? Have we forgotten His great love? Let's read together John chapter 3, verses 16, 17, and 18. 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. He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Amen, and we trust that the Lord will bless that reading of his word to all of our hearts. When you look up at the dark sky, especially when it's clear at night, And you see the vast galaxies and the vast expanse that God has created. We wonder in awe and worship of a God who created and do such wonderful things. The God who spoke billions of galaxies with trillions of stars into existence with nothing other than the word of his power. The psalmist said in Psalm 33, by the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. For he spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. When's the last time when you looked up in a clear sky and saw the stars and the billions of galaxies that are there that we know of? When was the last time you stood and gasped at the might and the wonder and the majesty and the splendor of His power? Or was it just like, oh, I see the stars are out tonight. Oh, I see the plough. I see the shepherd. I see whatever. I know nothing about stars. But you never looked at You weren't gripped by the wonder of the one who made it. There was an old park ranger who worked in a very, very well-known park. And he had his uniform on this particular day, and a lady kind of breezed over to him, this wonderful park where he was a park ranger. And she said, excuse me, Mr. Ranger, but I've only got an hour. to look around here, what would you suggest that I should do? He thought for a wee moment. He said, I'll tell you what I'd do, dear lady. I would go over to that rock, sit down, and begin to weep. He'd never lost the wonder of God's creation, the splendor into which he was set, and the magnificence of God's beauty in creation. They say that familiarity breeds contempt. They say it also breeds boredom. Who of us haven't read John's gospel chapter three and verse 16? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish. but have everlasting life. Who of us haven't looked and breezed over that verse and said, Lord, thank you for reminding me how lovable I am. We just breeze over it. Think nothing of the expense, the cost, the expanse of this great love. Sometimes we think far too highly of ourselves and too lowly of God. We think far too much of what we have come into possession of and not what God has done for us. Paul never lost the sense of wonder. He never lost the sense of praise and thanksgiving for what God had done for him in Christ. He said in Romans 5, indeed, God commendeth his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And even as he continued in Galatians chapter 2, he said, The Son of God, He loved me, and gave Himself for me. And as he wrote to Timothy, he said these words, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Paul never lost the sense of awe the sense of worship. He never lost the sense of unworthiness at the great cost and the great splendor of God's love for him. I wonder, am I speaking to someone today who has lost the wonder of love for you? Am I speaking, and as I was praying this morning about this service, am I speaking to people who do not know this love? Who profess salvation, but don't know this love? Who've never really comprehended the measure the greatness of God's love for you personally. In other words, you've never been saved. You've never been born again of God's Spirit, and the curtain has never been pulled back, and you don't know the extent, and the expense, and the expanse of that love for you. You somehow have fallen into this little channel, this little road of Christianity where you're just doing what other people have been doing, but never been gripped, never been changed, never been humbled. by the extent of God's love for me. It has never broken you. There's never been tears. There's never been appreciation. Christianity and the worship of God is just something that you take it or leave it. There's nothing special about it. I want, as I've sought the Lord, for him to so humble us this morning as we think of this verse, and I'm sure you've heard it preached on many times, because I've preached on it many times. I trust that God will grip our hearts again, the first this morning, that we look into the heart of God as we think of it. God so loved the world, stated. Do you know it was the Jew, as he read that verse, he said, so what? I've always known he loved me. I've always known. So he wrote that right from the beginning. In fact, the Jew would quote you from Deuteronomy chapter 7, where God spoke to him and said, For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor chose you because you were more in number than any other. For ye were the fewest of all people. He chose you because he loved you. The Jew would have known that. The Jew would have known the extent of God's love. Even a sinning Jew may have been able to comprehend. If it had been said that God so loved the Jew, if it had been said that God so loved the sinning Jew, they may have been able even to comprehend it. Because there are many times in the, as he was leading them from Egypt through the wilderness to the promised land, how many times did they offend God? How many times did they grumble against Him? How many times? I mean, we've already, quote, we've already looked at the bitter waters of Marah. We've already understood how they grumbled about God's provision. How that Moses had to strike a rock because they complained about having no water. Over and over again the sinning Jew spoke against God and God came again and rescued them. So even a sinning Jew could have somehow understood that God loved them. It was written in their history. Take you to the experience in Numbers chapter 21 where they complained again. And God sent fiery serpents. And not because there was anything loving or lovable about them. God sent and gave Moses instruction and he put a bronze serpent on a pole and he said, those who have been bitten, he says, if they look, they'll live. So they would have known something that even God would have shown his love towards sinning Jews. But this verse was not written to Jews. This verse was not written to sinning Jews. This verse includes them and includes everyone. God so loved the world. If it hadn't said God so loved the world, you and I could sit in this church today and we could be in doubt and we could lack assurance. And we could wonder, well I wonder does that include me or not? This included the enemies of the cross. This included those who despised and rejected Him. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. This included those that mocked Him. Those who put the purple robe on His back. Those who put the plaited crown of thorns on His head. This included the soldier that pierced His side. This included Pilate that tried the righteous holy judge of all the earth. This included ISIS. This included ISIL. This included every tongue and every people and every nation. God so loved the world. And He loved me. Me. God so loved the world. State it. I did something unusual yesterday, you know what I did? After about seven or eight hours preparation, I sat down and watched a film. And I like action films. Now, I'm not sure if it's right or wrong, but I like the man whenever he's been wronged to get his revenge, don't you? Don't you tell anybody outside these four walls that I made this confession. I mean, when somebody's been getting the tar knocked out of them, and they're getting kicked and about and all over the place, and the poor old weakling, you hardly think he's about to stand, and the next thing he gets is almost like Popeye getting his spinach. Remember Popeye? And the next thing, he's the man that's on top. I love to see him getting his own back. Listen, that's a confession over. I feel so much cleaner now. Listen to this. Did you know that no man can come to Christ except God which sent him draw him? You know that? Did you know that your ability to repent was first granted to you by God? Isn't that marvelous? Now, I'm after describing sinners. I'm after describing those who mocked and rejected and disowned and mocked Christ. I'm after explaining to you the world to which Christ came and God, no matter who they are, where they're from, granted them repentance unto salvation. You think about that. I mean, I'm willing to forgive loved ones often. Not all the time, unless I see genuine repentance. I mean, that's not right in saying that, because we ought always to forgive. In fact, someone asked Jesus, how often do I forgive my brother? Seven, 70 times. No, Jesus said 70 times seven. So 70 times seven adds up to 490. I'll tell you what, and you know I've said this before, all he's saying is make it a habit of forgiveness. I'll forgive my family. I'll even forgive my brothers in Christ. Can you imagine? Think of this. Can you imagine the people that mocked Christ and took Him? Now, I know Calvary was planned by God. Don't you know that? He was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I know this. But that doesn't relieve man of his responsibility. And I know this, that any person that mocked and rejected Christ, who has come to faith in Christ like the thief on the cross, even though men put Christ on the cross and killed the darling of his bosom, he grants them repentance. love of God stated. Don't miss what that verse is saying. God so loved the world, and His soul that was ever born was born with the opportunity that if they hear the gospel, respond to Christ, open their hearts to Him, have the wonderful opportunity of entering into the family of God. Not only that, but becoming a child of God. Not only that, but also inheriting the ivory palaces of glory. It states it. When have you thought about it? Wouldn't it be a terrible thing to sit in Abbots Cross all your life, hear the messages and be able to prove, ah, he was hot on it today, wasn't he? And though the day is never not so hot, isn't it an awful thing to be able to tell the difference between a hot sermon and a mediocre one and still not know Christ? To have watched your parents who loved the Lord, to hear the stories of God's breaking in where they had to put seats up the aisles and open the doors and people had to come an hour before the services. You were there for them all. Somehow your heart's so hard that you've never really been saved. God's love stated. Here's what it said in Acts 11, 18. When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Let me tell you, you don't stumble upon salvation. You didn't find Christ, sir, madam. He found you. God gave you every consciousness. God gave you every concern of soul and spirit that you would enter into life as he granted you repentance. What a wonderful God! God's love stated is before us all. God loved the world of sin and we can swing it on and we can sing along And we can sing it with a swing, but sing it in darkness. Here's the second thing I want to say to you. God's love for the world specified. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Ah, you say, let me say this, God's love upheld his holiness and his justice. Because some people say, well, why didn't he just forgive the world, wipe their sin onto the carpet and just forget it? I spoke to you earlier about forgiveness, didn't I? Well, what's the difference between God's forgiveness and our forgiveness? Well, there's a huge difference. God's holy. He's infinitely holy. I'm going to try and keep as simple as I can so I don't lose any of you, because you have to understand this. God is infinitely holy. He is awesome in splendor. He knew, knows no sin. There is nothing defiling about our God. He is absolutely, eternally, wonderfully, magnificently pure and holy. So how is He going to forgive and protect His character? He must judge sin. He must punish sin to protect His character. If He doesn't protect His character, He ceases to be God. How is He going to do it? I mean, you and I, we can forgive people. We can forgive anyone. We could even forgive someone for cheating on us. But how can God forgive you and me? I'll tell you the difference. You and I are fallen sinners. We have no standard or no holiness of ourselves to protect. But God who is infinitely, eternally holy must punish sin. So how is He going to forgive you? And how is He going to forgive me? And still protect His holiness? Jesus Christ, God so loved the world, He gave us His only begotten Son, and He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We breeze over it, God so loved the world he gave, but why did he give his son if he could only merely just sweep our sin onto the carpet to protect his holiness and to respect human responsibility? Paul says in Romans 3 that he might be just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus. God's love upheld His holiness and justice. God's love underpins our guilt. Some moment into a modern church, I have to say that alarm bells rings in my ears when I hear some of these terms, modern church. Do you know that the largest church in America, you've heard me say this before, I'm going to keep pegging this as well, the largest church in America says, we don't deal with the thorny issues called sin. Well, if we don't deal with the thorny issues called sin, then why does Calvary exist? Well, on this modern forward-thinking church that had John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believed in him would have life. Does anybody see anything wrong with that? The key phrase is missed out. Shall not perish, but have everlasting life. You remove the words perish out of John 3.16, listen, it means nothing. You getting it? It means nothing. I mean, if there is no eternal punishment and if there is no consequences for sin and if there is no punishment ahead of those who reject Christ, then what was Calvary about? What was God's holiness about? What was He protecting? It upholds His holiness. It underpins our guilt. Think of this now. I couldn't swim to save myself. Throw me into two and a half foot of water and I'm gone. Well, that's one to stand up for. One day I went on my holidays and I couldn't read Greek. Can anybody else here read Greek? Well I can't. It's all double Dutch to me. And I jumped into the pool. Guess what I did? I jumped into the wrong end. And the shallow end was six foot. And you know what I did? I could have drowned. I realised this. I did. I just tipped on my toes. You know how you do it in the water? Because I'm not afraid of water. I always have it hard. And on till I got to the edge and then I got to the end. And then you know how you try to slither out in case anybody would see you? Because then you couldn't swim. This young fella fell into the river. Father Dave came after him. And boy, he was a strong swimmer. Caught up with his son, and he pulled him out. That father had the ability to save his son. The strength, and the will, and the passion, and the desire. Because he knew if that son didn't survive, that son was going to die. See, if my son fell into the water, I couldn't save him. I would probably drown in the attempt. But I couldn't save him. If someone's going to save you, they have to have the ability, the will, and the desire, and the power to do so. God so loved the world. It wasn't your holiness. It wasn't your good looks. And it wasn't your breeding. And it wasn't your upbringing. It was Christ. because all we are is hell deserving sinners. Have you noticed modern preaching today has tried to erase the place called hell? Have you noticed that? Well if there's no place of punishment and perishing and if there's no place of eternal destruction and damnation then what's Calvary about? And if there's no consequences for wrongdoing, and if there is no consequences for sin, what's the point? It underpins our guilt. It underscores his wisdom. What do you mean, preacher? It underscores his wisdom. I love what Paul says in Ephesians 3.10, that you and I might show forth the manifold wisdom of God. To think, think of this. to think that all of heaven's intellect, all of God's heaven's knowledge would be invested in my life, in your life, yours Alfie, yours David. So that, like Job, when the powers that be in the heavenly places that we cannot see but know they're there, when they put you under scrutiny and focusing on you, oh, now I see the wisdom of God. He didn't save us because of what we were. He saves us because of what we can become. He doesn't discard us because God doesn't throw away but God remakes, recreates and instills into us His character and His nature and the world sees what God can do because God does it because God can do it. God so loved the world His love specified. His love stated, His love specified, His love simplified. Verse 17, we focused on that on Friday night. It says in John 3 and 17, For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through Him might be saved. There's only two classes of people in this service. And that's saved and lost. Did you hear me? There's only two classes of people in this service. Those that are saved and those that are lost. That's how simple it is. He came into the world to save the lost. Notice this. Salvation is his priority. Now, listen, he didn't come, as we heard on Friday night, he didn't come to judge the world. There is one day he's going to come and judge the world, you know that, don't you? This is a sobering thought for me. And I hope it's a sobering thought for every person in this church. And I hope it's a sobering thought for every member in this church. And I hope it's a sobering thought for every associate member in this church. And anybody else that's listening, one day every soul will stand before God and give account of their life. And it's all very well to go to the foot of the crossing and ask for God's forgiveness. And I understand that, and we do, and we are. And if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But every soul will stand before the judge of all judges, and he'll ask some very pointed and pressing questions of the church. What do you do with your spare time? What do you do when you're absent from the place of worship? What do you do whenever you're gossiping about other believers? What do you do when you're murdering someone's character? You'll have to answer for those things, as will I. But He came. So listen, it says in Revelation 19-11, in righteousness He judges and wages war. That's the way he's going to return. But his first coming, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. But then how do we reconcile that with John chapter 9? For here's where Jesus is. For judgment I came into this world, that they which see not might see, and they which see might not believe, may be made blind. How do we reconcile that? Let me put it like this, as simple as I can. Christ Jesus came into a condemned world to save some. But that doesn't guarantee world unity. Are you with me? Do you know you can travel right around the world and say you believe in God and you'll offend no one? Did you know that? If you're in the Freemasons, get you out as quick as you can because the devil's hurting your tail. But I was in the Freemasons for four months because I believe it was the last ditch attempt of the devil in my life to destroy me. And an uncle said to me, what are you doing in the Freemasons? And I said, well, they say they look after your wife and family if you die, and they look after orphans and strays, and that's how they sold it to me. And I, like a fool, I wasn't saved by the way. But as soon as I got saved, I got out, as quick as I would get out of hell's fire. But do you know that even in the Freemasons, they've got a God? Buddhists have a God. And as long as you don't specify who that God is, you're at home and welcome with them. You can go in any country in this world and say you believe in God, and you'll offend no one. But I've noticed, as soon as you name Christ, the world's against you. Have you noticed that? And I'll tell you why. Because as soon as you name Christ, you're nailing your colours to the mast and you're telling the world what you stand for. And you're telling the world what you stand against. And you're telling the world who you're with and who you're not with. And you're telling the world what you'll accept and what you won't accept. In fact, what you're doing is you're raising a standard of life that is opposed and anti to anything else that the world embraces. His priority is to save. Loss is his urgency. One day, everybody in this service will not be here anymore. Will we be generous and say, in a hundred years, not one of us will be here? That does not mean to say that you'll be annihilated or cease to exist. The word there, perish, does not mean annihilate. The word perish means to suffer loss. The loss of being lost from the presence and the power and the fellowship and the communion of our great God, to be lost for all eternity and to be damned in the caverns of hell for all eternity, because you will not cease to exist, but you will be in one of two places. And it was love, love that was breaking its heart over the loss, urgently sent Calvary, to plant calvary so that we might not be lost. By the way, I believe that the only sin that sends anyone to hell is the rejection of Christ. Do you think about that? Because the moment you accept Christ and trust Him as your Savior, every sin is wiped away. Losses is urgency. Relationships is expectancy. Ah, now we're getting into great ground here. Relationships is expectancy. See what he said? God shall love the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have the life of the Eternal One. That's what that says in the literal Greek. Those of you who are Greek scholars, that's what it says, that you might have the life of the Eternal One. He saved you for a relationship of joy, communion, fellowship, and He thought that that relationship was worth it, that He sent His Son. Now, do you realize how much God loves you? Let's bow together in prayer. Father, we pray that, oh God, bring us stillness into this service. Bring an emptiness, a humility, Lord. Bring a hunger. Lord, take away the veil. Bring revelation to darkened hearts. Lord, we as your people, we act like spoiled brats. We just think that everything that comes our way is expected of us. Father, forgive us for being familiar. Forgive us, Lord, when we second-rate the love of God and try to assimilate it and associate it with the love of men. Lord, forgive us for undervaluing your love, and Lord, therefore, for not responding to that love as we ought to. Forgive us, Lord. And we pray that you'll write your love on the tables of our hearts. As we confess our need and seek the Savior, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.