Sermon title is the incomparable love of God or the incomparably great love of God John 3 16 to 21 Hear the word of the Lord For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. Let's go before our Lord in prayer and ask for his blessing upon the preaching and hearing of his word. Our Father in heaven, once again, we thank you that you have called us here this morning to gather as your people, to come and to worship you. And now, as we gather around the preached word, we pray that you would help us, that you would attend to it, that you would bless the meditations and thoughts of my heart. Bless me as I preach. us as we hear your word, that you would again encourage us, challenge us, and send us out more conformed to the image of our great Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray these things in his name. Amen. For God so loved the world. This is a passage that is so familiar to us. And it's difficult to get unfamiliar with in order that it might come to us in a fresh way. We know those passages, don't we? Psalm 23 would be another example of that. And with that in mind, I want to begin by stating that the common rendering is not the best rendering. God so loved the world doesn't capture the sense of the text because it's not first and foremost about the degree or quantity with which God loves. It's not how much he loved the world. God loved the world so much that doesn't capture it. The better rendering is in this way. It's the better and the more literal rendering. It's in a strange and unusual way, such a condescending way. A love that gives up his own eternal son to death for those that oppose and rebel against him. It is a surprising love, a love we wouldn't expect. It's not the way, by any stretch of our imagination, that we would express our love. What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" The same word is used in that text. 1 John 3, 1. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. And it's fitting for, it's very fitting because this is not the way the people of the day would have had it. Certainly not the Gentiles. not the gods of paganism, and not even the Messiah that the Jews had postulated. Listen to one commentator on paganism, on the Gentile gods. He says, this attitude of God towards the world is in suggestive contrast with that in which the gods of paganism are represented. Thus, Juno says to Vulcan in the Iliad, Dear son, refrain. It is not well that thus a God should suffer for the sake of men. And Apollo to Neptune says, thou wouldest not deem me wise should I contend with thee, O Neptune, for the sake of men who flourish like the forest leaves awhile and feed upon the fruits of the earth and then decay and perish. Let us quit the field and leave the combat to the warring hosts. As I already mentioned, not only were the Jews not expecting God to come and suffer amongst them, they were expecting a conqueror. But the Gentiles weren't either. And what was there to love further? Of every human being on earth, in all of the world, what had they made of God's gifts? They had taken it all and turned it into thorns and thistles, into barrenness and unfruitfulness. He didn't come to find us loving Him, but hating Him. And He loved us anyway. He stooped to the dregs of humanity, to the world. We remember that the word world largely has negative connotations in John's Gospel. And here it is negative in its fullest sense. The world stands in a great and irreparable plight and something, something out of this world must happen for its salvation and reparation. And we see the one who loved is God loved. The father loved the world. It does not say Jesus, though Jesus does love you. The point is to emphasize that it is God the Father who has loved you with this love. Before the world was, he had set his love upon his fallen image bearers. Don't miss this. Jesus is not appeasing a hard father. It's not like Jesus comes and dies and rises again and now the Father can love you, but until then he had angry and hard thoughts towards you. His love is the driving force, the fountain. Any love you get as the Spirit's gift through Christ is first and foremost from the Father. John tips us to it here and he will further expand greatly on it in the Upper Room Discourse in John 13 to 17. I would encourage you to go ahead and read that and become familiar with that section. One of the most important sections in John and really in all of scripture. We need to remember, in light of this, in light of the Father's love, that while Christ-centeredness is great, it can quickly become a Christ-isolatedness. Christ-centeredness and God-centeredness go hand-in-hand. As John 17 3 says, this is eternal life, that you would know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Jesus is only everything to us as the gift of the Father and by the gift of the Spirit. If you embrace Jesus, you embrace the Father's gift and even the Father himself. If you see in Jesus your only hope, then this Holy Spirit has already beaten you to it. He brought you there. There is no moment in salvation history that is not Trinitarian, is what we're trying to get at here. And it is the love of the Father for you from eternity that is the fount of its expression in Jesus. And further, while this salvation is for all, it is held out to everyone. As the text says, it is not, however, an invitation. It's not, listen to this text, now will you accept Jesus? Will you give Jesus permission to enter your heart? This is a declaration and proclamation, as we've seen above, of the inexplicable love God has shown toward humanity. Now, you may use it in various ways as you evangelize, without a doubt, but this is not an invitation. The gospel is not an invitation. Everyone by natural birth stands under the condemning wrath of God. The gospel, this announcement, is your only hope. Jesus is your only hope. Just as you must be born again, you must repent and believe in Jesus and Jesus alone. There are no other options, no other sons given of the Father. There's no other way, no other truth, no other life, no other name under heaven by which men must be saved than the Lord Jesus Christ. The ones believing in Him will not perish. Whoever has not believed, the wrath of God remains upon him. And because it is not this casual invitation, because of the urgency of man's state, we take missions very seriously. We take missions seriously because we take man's depravity seriously. We must go into all the earth and call men and women to repentance, lest what? They perish. They need the gospel because the wrath of God has been and remains upon them lest they believe in Christ. If man has any good in him, then it would be best to leave these remote peoples alone lest they hear and reject the gospel and then bring condemnation on themselves. But that's not the case. Men and women are perishing every day, slipping into eternal ruin under the condemning wrath of God. Why? Because they are rebels and have been rebelling against their creator from their birth. They need the gospel. Do you ever wonder that that wasn't you? What did you do to be born at the time and place and circumstances that you were? where you would hear and believe the gospel and be here this morning as one born again by the Spirit of God. You did nothing. And again, this message is for all, whoever believes, literally all the believing ones, anyone and everyone who at any point in time believes. It's for all people at all times. There is no distinction, Romans 10, 12, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. And whoever calls upon Him will not perish. Will not perish. John 8, 24 says, Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. And what is it to perish? If the love of God is expressed in giving His eternal Son up to the shameful death of the cross, where the full wrath of God was laid upon Him for us, then what of the impenitent? The wrath of God remains upon you. And though it is upon you now, at this point it is mixed, isn't it? It is mixed with many gifts and kindnesses and with much longsuffering. His wrath is present now, even in His patience towards you. But to perish eternally is to bear God's wrath without any of these temporal reliefs. No more of His kindness, no more gifts, no more sunshine on the wicked and righteous alike, no more longsuffering and forbearance, but only the terror of His wrath upon your fallen and rebellious self, unmixed. You will cry out to be set free from his presence, but to no avail. Unbelievers can still hide from God under many creature comforts today. But at that day, no more hiding. This is where all of humanity is headed outside of Christ. They're literally on the highway to hell. Broad is the road to destruction and many are on it. And how do we escape this? Just pray this prayer and accept Jesus into your heart, right? No, repent and believe in Jesus. Believe in Him, all He is for us. What He, the Father and the Spirit through the Baptists say He is. That He is God's promised Messiah. He is God's eternal Son. He takes away your sin and gives you His Spirit. He was given over to death for your life. Faith is literally putting yourself inside of Jesus. I have no good in me, so I'm going to flee to Him. I'm going to come to Him for refuge. I hide in Him and enclose in Him. Will you accept Jesus into your heart, said no one ever in the Bible. Never. What does repentance and faith sound like? I don't deserve to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. That's what true repentance looks like, as R.C. Sproul famously says. And that is what the contrite heart, that's the contrite heart that the father will respond to. Come enter my rest, my beloved adopted son or daughter. And John, under the inspiration of the Spirit, knows of no other final state for humanity. You either have eternal life in Christ, or you perish eternally. He knows no other spiritual state one could be in currently. You either are dead in your trespasses and sins, in your natural state, or you are born again by the Spirit of God. And he knows of an exclusive salvation, not inclusive, exclusive. There is not another lamb. There is not another spirit giver. There is no other gift of the father. No other son of man to be lifted up on the cross. No other son of man to declare God's will to us. There is no other gospel. All other religions and saviors are excluded, bankrupt. It is by grace, through faith in Christ alone, brought to light in the scriptures alone and to the glory of God alone. And what is eternal life? This believing one possesses, in this believing one possesses eternal life now and will enter its consummation ahead. Eternal life is both now and to eternity. This is not something to be experienced only in the age to come, because the age to come is what? Already here, salvation is now. If you have said yes and amen to the Father's gift of Jesus, if the Spirit has shined on Jesus in such a way that you have said, yes, that is for me, that is the only hope for such a wretch like me, then you have eternal life now. It's already begun in you. That fellowship with the triune God that we were talking about earlier, that we will enjoy and experience for all eternity has already begun in you. Romans 5, 1-5 says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now, hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. It is now, and notice again, it is Trinitarian, through and through. And with that, I hope we understand that eternal life, heaven, is not first and foremost about being reunited with loved ones. It's about coming face-to-face into intimate fellowship with the only true lover, your Savior, who is nearer and dearer than family and friends, closer than a spouse, more intimate than any relation that you could have. Eternal life is coming to embrace your true husband and to taste and enjoy his pleasures now and forevermore. Brothers and sisters, your taste of heaven now is all about learning and experiencing once again how deep the Father's love in Christ is for you. and how great the grace of Jesus' life was and is for you, and how wonderful is the fellowship the Holy Spirit brings you into. And then understanding that all of this is for His own triune glory, and casting it back on Him, and saying, what shall I offer to the Lord for all the benefits He has given to me? I will lift the cup of salvation and call upon the Lord's name. It's all from Him and all back to Him. That is the main thing. That's our song for all eternity. Everything else flows out of that. Whatever other enjoyments come in heaven, it's out of this. And if that's not the main thing for us, then our thinking about eternity, our thinking about eternal life needs to be reoriented. In verse 17, we've already discussed the fact that man stands condemned. We'll get to more of that in verse 36. But listen, God did not send his son to condemn the world, but to save it. He came to bring salvation. This is gospel. God the Son has come to repair rather than condemn fallen image bearers. He could have come and condemned, but in His eternal counsels, our triune God determined that He would restore fallen image bearers. He loves His image in us that much that He would save it by lifting up the eternal Son on the cross for us. Even though at one of the same time, judgment comes. with his coming, necessarily, naturally it will come. If you do not believe in God's only begotten son, you remain condemned and are already in a state of judgment. And this is a major hurdle for the Jews. They thought Messiah comes and brings judgment on the Gentiles and then saves us. What Jesus says is that you are all under condemnation unless you believe in me. You can already see the difficulty that will come ahead with the Pharisees because of this false supposition that they start with. I will bring judgment to all of my enemies at my second coming. And unless you repent, that will include you. My mission at my first coming is to call all men to myself, not to condemn. And what is condemnation? It's to be pronounced guilty. Justification is to be pronounced righteous, not guilty. Condemnation is to be judged with a guilty verdict upon your head. The guilt of being under fallen Adam and the guilt of all your particular sins will be weighing down on you, waiting your just sentencing. He came not to condemn, but to save. What does it mean to be saved, not to be condemned? It means to be in Christ. Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. It's to be under the care of the good shepherd. John 10, 9, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. In verse 18, again, it is reiterated, he who believes. This is the fourth time believe is mentioned. This is the simplicity and freeness of it for all. It does not matter what your record is or where you've been. The message is for you, for the worst of sinners. It is for you today, children. Do not go on in unbelief. The pleasures of this world, the pleasures of sin can only bring you misery and ruin. You spend a whole entire day trying to find something that will satisfy me and last, and it never ever happens. The promise of joy, happiness, and thrill, they even provide a fleeting comfort to you. Do not go on chasing empty pleasures and empty delights. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and have lasting joy, eternal joy. And there are no steps to it. There are no preparations. You do not prepare to receive grace. You don't do X, Y, and Z and then you're ready to believe. Isaiah 55, ho, everyone who thirsts. Do you know that if you don't have Christ, you are thirsty? You are dying of thirst if you do not have Christ. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. He who believes in him is not condemned. Right now, if you believe in Jesus, you are not condemned. Praise God for that. But the end of verse 18, he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And men flee to the darkness because their evil deeds are exposed by Christ. Verses 19 to 21. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. Have you ever had your parents come and flip on the lights on your room at 5 a.m. on a cold, dark winter morning? Has anybody experienced that? What's the first thing that you do? You cover yourself with a blanket. Cover your light from the eyes. That's what the sinner does when come in contact with the gospel. Or with Christians, whom Christ indwells, he hides and covers his sin. Perhaps this is an allusion to Genesis 3, where Adam and Eve try to cover the shame of their skin with the leaves. But there are those who are in darkness who will come into the light through the faithful witness and faithful preaching. Praise the Lord. Remember, Nicodemus came to Jesus in the dark, in the darkness of his own soul. But he will come to the light. And that's because God provided him the only fit covering for his sin, which is Christ and His righteousness. And it won't be hidden, as we learned last time. The reality of the new birth and faith in Christ cannot be hidden. We see, just like in John's epistles, these general truths that John lays out for us. John is saying for us, in essence, consider these two people side by side. The one who practices evil will in no way come to light because that would expose his evil deeds. And naturally, since the fall, we always hide our sins. But the one who practices the truth, the one who has a new heart, who's been born again, he comes to the light so that everyone might see the work in him. He's not ashamed to be God's worksmanship. God has worked in me and it won't be hidden. I want people to see the effects of the spirit of God in me. That's what John is saying in the final two verses of this section. How incomparably great is the love of God to us. So unexpected, so condescending, so free, so abundant, so fruitful, so effective, so delightful, so sure and fixed for all eternity. Praise the Lord. Please pray with me. Our Father in heaven, we give you thanks for this wonderful passage, this wonderful consideration of your love for us and sending your son to live and to die for us, that we might be freely justified by faith, that you might send us your spirit and even now begin working new life in us. that we might begin to experience eternal life, that eternal fellowship with you, our triune God, that was lost in the garden, but that has now been regained in Christ. And not just regained, but brought to a state far greater than it was in the garden. He has brought it to an unchangeable state. And He is doing it. He will bring us to that glorified state. Whether He comes again or whether we die, we will be with the Lord for all eternity. What a glorious thought. We pray that for those that don't know you, that you would be pleased to soften hearts, grant repentance and faith. And for us that know you, that you would encourage our hearts this day and into this new week. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.