For God so Loved the World

Amen. I sure did enjoy that worship. There was one phrase that we were singing earlier, I'll call your attention to it, "Youth and beauty hurry by." Some of you, if you look in the mirror, you'll notice that "youth and beauty is hurrying by." It's not happening to me yet. We're going to kind of address that in the message, believe it or not. "Youth and beauty hurry by." Life is fleeting, folks. It's going by faster and faster. I think the gray hair that I do see in the mirror is telling me that. I try to ignore it, but it is a fact of life. Now before I get into the message, I want to offer a couple of words of thanks.

I want to thank those who preached while I was out. You know it is a tremendous blessing to know that not only when I am away, the church is in good hands, things can be taken care of. I'm very thankful that there are men who can feel the pulpit. We are blessed to have so many men who can feel the pulpit. I'm always thankful for Keith and Tommy and Jared when they feel the pulpit. I don't know if some of you were here or not, but on Wednesday night Travis Croft will feel the pulpit. He blessed me with a message that he preached on joy out of the book of James. As a matter of fact, that's one I'm going to go back and listen to again.

Now I point that out because I want you to see how blessed we are, that we have quite a few men who can preach and teach God's Word. I know that when others feel the pulpit, God uses them and it blesses me. It blesses me when I'm away and it blesses me when I come back and listen to how God used them. But I want to thank you all for sending us to Scotland on our missions trip. Most of you know that we have an Anchored and Truth partner church there in Scotland. That would be Grace Baptist Church, pastored by Allie MacLachlan.

Now the Wednesday night before I left for vacation, that was right after I had come back from Scotland, I gave kind of a full report about our trip. I shared about the work that we were involved in. It was all centered on and in evangelism. And I shared a lot about the church there in Edinburgh. And if you're interested in hearing some details, I know that that information is on the website. You can go listen to all that I shared. And if you have some questions about that work, I would encourage you to ask. One of the men stopped me in the hall and asked me and I was able to share some of that information with him. And I'm thankful to do so.

But this morning I want to share with you a similar message that I shared the Sunday morning that I preached in their church. Throughout the week of ministry with Grace Baptist, we had a series of meetings scheduled for the evenings. And I was asked to preach on the subject of life without end. That would be eternal life. So in preaching on life without end, I taught from John chapter 3, not just verse 16, but also verse 17 and 18. And I made two major points of application. First, as the love of God resides in us as believers, the love of God for the lost world should proceed out of us. Now how does that happen?

First and foremost, by sharing the gospel. We're going to talk more about that a little later on in our message. And then second, God sent his son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world. And those who truly believe in Christ will not perish, but have eternal life with God in heaven. And again, we will talk a little more about that as well this morning. Now to get all of the message that I shared with them, you're going to have to go listen for yourself. And I know that some of you have because I've gotten some nice comments and some good feedback.

But I would encourage you to do that because you can see and hear how God used you because I represent all that God is doing here. But this morning I want to share the heart of that message with all of us, but I want to make some unique application for us. And I believe God wants to teach us. I believe God wants to encourage us. I believe God wants to correct us. And I believe God wants to call us. I think there is a whole host of things that God wants to do in us through the message. So let's turn back to our verses. We read them earlier, but I want to read them again all together.

And we will read them all throughout the message because we're going to divide every one of these phrases. So let's look at John chapter 3 verse 16 to 18. We know these verses. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only Son of God." Now here in chapter 3 we have some of the most well-known passages of scripture found in all of the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament. I'm sure that we all know John 3.16. And it is safe to say that John 3.16 is the most famous, most loved single verse in all of the Bible. I think it is the most important. And I'm sure that we all know John chapter 3. John chapter 3 is famous for this meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus.

We know that in those verses, specifically verses 1 to 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that to enter the kingdom of God, He must be born again. But we must understand that this encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus represents the entire, the greater backdrop of all that is going on here. And we must see the entire backdrop. Verse 16 and the following verses to understand what the verses mean. Now what's this entire backdrop? It is not just the interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus. All that comes before verse 16. But the entire backdrop is how the Jews believed God saw and related to them and how He saw and related to the Gentiles.

That would be non-Jewish peoples. Simply for centuries the Jewish religious leaders had taught that when the Messiah of God did come He would accept and love the Jews but He would judge and destroy all of the Gentiles. And they came to this faulty conclusion. They came to this very, very gross misunderstanding by misapplying and misunderstanding books like the little book of Amos. But notice our backdrop. We have a backdrop to verse 16. We have been taught certain things about the meaning of verse 16. We can have misconceptions and misunderstandings about what verse 16 truly means.

You may not even realize it but there can be a large debate about what verse 16 truly means. And I believe that what I share this morning in the message will kind of help sort some of those things out for you if you have any struggles there. Now with a casual observation we can see that basically there are three things at the heart of what Jesus is saying here because Jesus is the one speaking in verse 16, 17 and 18. And I want to get into these real quickly before we get into the verses. First and foremost we see God the Father. I want to say it like this. God is the main character of these verses.

We see God the Father in His great love and we see His great love not just for a few people or a particular race of people but for the whole world. That would be the whole world of people. And then second we see God the Son and of course that's Jesus. Actually if you think about it and pay attention we see very little about God the Son in verses 16, 17 and 18. Now why is it important for us to see that? Verses 16 and 18 are primarily about God the Father. Again God is the main character. God, God the Father, He is the focus of all of the verses. And then third we see the spiritual condition and the spiritual position of men and people.

We see that there are only two spiritual conditions, two positions. The saved are the unsaved, the un-condemned are the condemned. And that is important for us to see and again we'll come back to this. Now as we divide the verses we're going to look at two major facts. First God loved the world and the second fact man is in a condition of belief or unbelief. So number one, our truth number one, God so loved the world. Look at the beginning of verse 16. You know exactly what it says, "For God so loved the world." Now just with that one phrase we see quite a lot about who God is. In verse 16 we certainly do see a demonstration of God's love.

We see an expression of God's love. But we must see that all that God did came out of who God is. We must see that God's expression, his demonstration of his love came out of who he actually is. In 1 John chapter 4 verse 8 and verse 16 those verses tell us that God is love. This means that by his very nature God is love. And this tells us that God demonstrated his love because he is by his very nature loving. And it is not that God chose to love so then he demonstrated that love. God never chooses to love. To say that God chose to love would imply that God could choose not to love. By his very nature God is love.

He is always loved and he is always loving. And it is out of this never beginning, never ending love that God gave his one and only son. He revealed, he demonstrated that never beginning, never ending love by giving his one and only son and that is Jesus. But notice the verse says that God so loved the world. And we must see that this word for world here it is a non-specific word for humanity. This speaks of humanity in a general sense like we would say men or mankind. I think you understand that language.

So we see that God so loved the world and this would be all of humanity and all of mankind not a particular race, not a particular class of people, not just the Jews but all men and all mankind. I love what the Bible scholar Leon Morris says here and I am quoting him, "This, all that I have explained, this is a distinctively Christian idea." And he goes on to say that God's love is wide enough to embrace all mankind. But remember this one phrase, "For God so loved the world." Remember that greater context? This was shocking and it was insulting to the Jews. I have already touched on this song. They believed that God loved them and them alone.

They could not comprehend God loving the Gentiles or all non-Jewish people. They actually believed that when the promised Messiah did come he would judge all of those Gentile peoples. And this is very important to see because how the Jews saw all of these things plays a major part in what verse 16 and the other verses truly, truly mean. But also this phrase for God so loved the world it can be shocking and insulting to some in the church today. You might say, "Pastor, really? Yes." For those who say that they are reformed in their theology and those who say that they believe in a limited atonement, now personally that is not my favorite term.

I do not think that that term is the most useful. I think it is more helpful to say that we believe in a particular atonement. We believe that when Jesus died on the cross he died for a particular people and that would be his church or his sheep. Ephesians 5.25 says that Christ loved the church and he gave himself up for her. Who is her? That is the church. And John 10 verse 11 says that the good shepherd, who is that? That is Christ Jesus. The good shepherd gives his life for who? For the sheep. So when we hear this phrase, "For God so loved the world," there are some that may resist that statement. Now why? Why would they do that?

That is because they are terribly fearful of a universal atonement. They are also fearful of a potential atonement. Let me explain. Of course we know these verses do not teach some kind of a universal atonement. We know that Christ did not die on the cross to make atonement for all so that all go to heaven. We know this because we know that all do not go to heaven. I thought about it. If we were to pick one character out of the Bible that we are sure did not go to heaven, I think it would be Judas. Think about it. If all men and mankind went to heaven, we know that Judas did not. So the Bible does not teach a universal atonement.

And we also know that this verse does not teach some kind of a potential atonement. Christ did not die on the cross providing atonement for all so God is somehow waiting on men to come and claim that salvation. The Scriptures say that Christ died on the cross for His sheep, for His church. And His sheep certainly will come to Him for salvation. Here is a key verse here. Jesus says in John 6.37, "All that the Father gives me will come to me." Let me repeat that.

Jesus confidently says, "All that the Father gives me, that would be His sheep, that would be His church whom He died for, all that the Father gives me will come to me." Now this is how I think it is best for us to see these things. This helps me and I think it will help you. First, the atonement is sufficient for all who will come. Let me repeat that. The atonement of Christ on the cross, it is sufficient for all who will come. Listen to the second part of John 6.37.

Jesus says, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." Notice, Jesus clearly says that whoever comes to Him, He will never, ever cast them out. But then second, the atonement is sufficient only for those who have been predestined according to the purpose of Him, who works all things according to the counsel of His will, Ephesians 1.11. And those who hear the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation, they have believed in Him and were sealed with the promise Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1.13.

So notice, the atonement is sufficient for all who will come, but the atonement is efficient for only those who are predestined and those who hear the gospel. They believe and they come. But think on what we've just seen here. Jesus says, "For God so loved the world, God is love, God always has and always will love and be loving by His very nature, God is love, and because He is love, He loved and loves the world, and the world is all people." I love what Mark says here, "God's love is wide enough to embrace all mankind." Now remember that greater context. The Jews hated this statement.

They misconstrued and misunderstood many portions of Old Testament scripture and they believed that God loved them and they believed that God was going to judge the Gentiles and because of their faulty understanding here, they hated the Gentiles and they felt like only God loved them. But again, I say there are some people who claim to be reformed in their faith and they resist this statement. They'll say something like this, "God only died for the elect." And then when they come across verses like 1 John 2, verses 1-2, they resist it. I remember years ago, we had some people in the life of our church who were in this kind of error.

Brother Keith led us in a very popular Charles Wesley hymn, very doctrinally sound, and it was a direct quotation of 1 John 2, 1-2, and they accused us of singing universal atonement. Why? Because they resisted what this verse said. They are out of balance. Now my point here is this. I got a reason for all of these things. No matter our background or what we've been taught, we must see and understand and accept the fact that God so loved the world and we must be willing to change what we think this verse means if we have been taught incorrectly. And I say this sometimes. Sometimes good preaching stirs up questions.

I may have answered a few for you, but all along I may have stirred up some questions and I can help you with that. But remember, there are some great mysteries here that we can never understand. And we hold these mysteries, these paradoxical mysteries in great tension with one another. Now at this point I want to ask two questions. First, how did God demonstrate that love? And then second, what was God's purpose in these things? The first question, how did God demonstrate this love? Look back at verse 16, the second part specifically of the verse.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." Here we see that God demonstrated His love by giving His only Son to die on the cross for the sin of men. Now the cross is not mentioned in verse 16, but Jesus had just said in verse 14 that He must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Of course this is a reference to the cross. But notice what is clearly stated in verse 16. Notice, Christ's death on the cross is a demonstration of the Father's love. The verse does not say that the cross is a demonstration of the Son's love. Verse 16 says the cross is a demonstration of God the Father's love.

Of course we know that Christ loved and gave Himself up for us, Galatians 2.20. But here in verse 16 we see that God gave His only Son and He gave us the cross and it is a demonstration of God's love. Morris says the Atonement proceeds out of the loving heart of God. And He goes on to say it, that's the cross, that's the Atonement, it is not something wrong from Him. And look at the depth of this love. It is not just that God loved the world, He demonstrated that love by giving that which cost Him the most. He gave His one and only Son, even giving Him up to the cross, death on the cross. I like what A.W.

Pink says here, he calls this the sacrificial character of God's love. Now what is my point here? We must see that the cross in Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross comes out of God's heart of love. The cross is a demonstration of God's love. The cross reveals God's very nature which is love. Remember the Atonement proceeds out of the loving heart of God. God's love was not wrong from Him. Man's sinfulness and His hopeless condition did not drag the cross out of God the Father and out of God the Son, no. But the second question, what was God's purpose in these things? We see this in the last part of verse 16.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." Here we clearly see why God the Father willingly, lovingly gave His only Son to don the cross. He gave His Son so that men may not perish but have eternal life. And this is seen both in the positive and the negative. He gave His Son to die so that men may believe and not perish, there's the positive. But if they do not believe, they certainly do perish, that's the negative. If they do believe, they escape God's final judgment of sin and eternal punishment, that's the positive.

But if they do not believe, they do not escape God's final judgment and eternal life and hell. That's the negative. But notice, both inherit eternal life. One with God in heaven and they are experiencing eternal happiness and one in hell and they experience eternal punishment. But both inherit eternal life because all men are eternal beings. Those who believe and those who do not believe have eternal life, the question is, where? Heaven or hell? Now what's my point here? We must see that all human life is eternal. All people possess life without end. All men, all people will spend an eternity in one of two places.

And you know, you already knew that. Long before I ever told you. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 11 says that God put eternity in the heart of a man. And what that means is instinctively, men and mankind know that they are eternal beings. Now they may suppress that truth, they may suppress that truth, but you know instinctively that you are not like some other animal. You are not an animal. You are created in the image of God. And God put within you the knowledge, the understanding of eternity. And we should think about eternity. Why? Life is fading fast.

Years are going by faster and we must understand and dwell on the fact that we graduate into eternity. The question is, where do we graduate to? And I would say to you, please do not wait till it's too late to ponder these things. Why you have life? Why you have opportunity? Ponder eternity. Because when it's too late, it's too late. So here in verse 16, we see that God has demonstrated His unfathomable love for all humanity. He revealed His love by sending His Son to die on the cross for men so that whoever, I love that, whoever would believe on Him would have eternal life with Him. God is love.

And out of His loving heart, He gave that which cost Him the most so that we may have eternal life with Him. So that is John 3 16. I know I haven't done it justice, but the most famous, the most loved, I believe the most important verse in all of the Bible. But there's more continuing with God so loved the world. We need to look at verse 17. Let's look at verse 17. For God did not send His Son into the world and condemned the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Now here in verse 17, Jesus was simply continuing on with what He taught in verse 16. He was expanding on what He had just said.

And He was continuing to contradict and to correct the false view of the Jews. Again, He uses positive and negative. And what Jesus was saying and His saying is simple, but it can be confusing. Simply the purpose of God sending His Son and the point of the Son giving Himself was not to bring judgment to the world. But if we know our Bibles, we know that there are times when Jesus did say that He came into the world to judge. Listen to John 9 verse 39. This seems contradictory.

Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind." So what do we do with this seeming contradiction? We must see that salvation for those who believe invariably brings judgment for those who do not. The fact that some do not believe automatically brings judgment upon them. They bring judgment upon themselves because of their unbelief and their persistent unbelief. So God's purpose and plan was to provide salvation to all of the world. Yes, all of the world. And that should be stated as loud as we can say it. Yes, to all of the world. Not that all of the world will be saved.

We know that all people will not be saved. We know that Jesus was not teaching some kind of a universalism, which would mean that all go to heaven and He was not teaching some kind of a potential salvation. Christ's Atonement was a particular Atonement and that Christ atoned for the sins of a particular people. Christ's Atonement was not a potential Atonement so that God is in heaven ringing His hands and hoping, hoping, hoping that people will choose Him. Remember, Jesus says in John 3, in John 6, 37, "All that the Father gives me will come to me." Does that tell us that God is ringing His hands and hoping that men will come? No.

But remember the great backdrop. God's plan, God's purpose was to provide salvation well beyond the Jewish people to all of the different peoples of the world. Not to all of the people of the world. No, we do not believe in universalism, but well beyond the Jewish people and to all of the different peoples of the world. Now think with me here. Let's fast forward past time in human history. We see that salvation does finally come to all of the peoples of the world and we see that in Revelation 7, 9 to 10. Yes, all peoples.

John says in Revelation 7, 9 to 10, "After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples in languages standing before the throne of the Lamb clothed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice." Notice, salvation belongs to our God. Those are the redeemed who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

And look, a God like this, a Messiah like this, a salvation like this was shocking and revolting to the Jewish people and they hated Jesus for saying, "For God so loved the world." And that was because they believed that God's Messiah would save them but judge all of the others. So look at what we've seen here in verse 16 and 17. It's a lot. "God demonstrated His life for all people. He did so by sending His Son to earth to die on the cross for men so that whoever, whoever, whoever would believe on Him would have eternal life with God. God did not send His Son to earth to judge the world.

He sent His Son so that a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples in languages could believe and have eternal life with Him." But a legitimate question that you should ask. Why have I taken so much time with verse 16 and 17? We must see that the cross and the Atonement comes out of the loving heart of God. And this Atonement is for the world, not just for a select few. The cross of Christ is for people from every nation, all tribes, all peoples, in all languages. Now how should that apply to us practically?

Besides learning about the love of God, besides learning about the Atonement, and besides stirring up some questions about the Atonement, what should we learn? Romans 5.5 says that God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And if God's love has been poured into our hearts, then the love of God and the Atonement should proceed out of our hearts as well. We should love all people just as God did and does. Let me say that again. We should love all people just as God did, just as God does. And we should love all people and desire to give them the gospel so that they may have eternal life.

Remember the Jews, they thought the Messiah was only for them. And those who were in what's called the reform world, whether they would admit it or not, they can think that Jesus is just for the elect. And with that attitude, they're scared to say, "God so loved the world." Now one more comment here before I move on. You have to believe in the elect because the scripture teaches it, but that's God's business. That's God's business. The scripture just says, "For God so loved the world, and I have to love the world." Remember the Atonement should proceed out of our hearts. And number two, man is in a condition of belief or unbelief.

Man is in a condition of belief or unbelief. Simply that's what we have here in verse 18, belief and unbelief. And this was going to be quite a bit shorter. Now let's read verse 18. Jesus says, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only Son of God." Now we've already seen certain facts. There are certain undeniable truths that we have studied. By his very nature, God is love. And he demonstrated his love how? By sending his son to die as the one and only Atonement for sin.

And God sent his son so that men may not perish but believe on him and have eternal life. Isn't that correct? Yes. And in verse 18, Jesus takes things one step further. Here Jesus is emphasizing the need for personal faith. That is because Jesus knew that it was not enough for God to just send him his promised Messiah. Jesus knew it was not enough to give himself up to die on the cross. Jesus knew that stopping there with those facts and those truths was not enough. You do realize that the demons in hell believe those facts. And here in verse 18, Jesus says that personal faith must be exercised. He takes it one step further.

Jesus says that in order to be saved and in order to inherit eternal life with his Father in heaven, people must believe they must exercise saving faith. And here Jesus contrasts the one who believes up against the one who does not. He starts with the positive and then he moves to the negative. So let's look at both of them real quickly. First the one who believes, the positive. Listen to the beginning of verse 18. "Whoever believes in him is not condemned." Simply the one who believes or the one who exercises saving faith is not condemned. This means they are not under judgment in life or in eternity.

They have been set free from eternal punishment and a punishment that they certainly deserve. How? Because they believed. I like what A.T. Robertson says here and I'm quoting, "Trust in Christ prevents condemnation for he," that's Christ, "takes our place and pays the penalty for sin for all who put their case in his hands. The believer in Christ as Savior does not come into judgment." Now before I move on I want to ask two questions. Sitting right here this morning, are you chained in judgment or are you free from condemnation?

This morning in my personal time and preparation I was worshipping by singing and meditating on some verses from a very popular hymn, "And Can It Be That I Should Gain?" It's by Charles Wesley. The chorus says, "Amazing love, how can it be that thou my God shouldst die for me?" And notice verse 3, "My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose went forth and followed thee." He became unchained from his judgment. And my question for you is this, are you chained, bound to that judgment, that condemnation, or are you free? And then second, the one who does not believe.

You see this in the second part of verse 18, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned," there's the positive, "but whoever does not believe is condemned already," there's the negative. Simply the one who does not believe, the one who does not exercise saving faith is already under judgment. They are already condemned, yes. They are in life already under judgment, they are already condemned. This means they do not have to wait until the final judgment to be judged and condemned. They are judged and condemned in life and they are simply waiting on the finalization of that judgment to come. Why? Because they persist in unbelief.

Their stubborn unbelief has closed them up in judgment. I like what John MacArthur says here, "While the final sentencing of those who reject Christ is still future, their judgment will merely consummate what has already begun." Remember those two questions? Are you chained in condemnation and unbelief or have you been set free from that condemnation and judgment? Remember the lyrics of that song, "Amazing love, how can it be that thou my God should die for me?" There's the atonement. In verse 3, "My chains fell off." Folks, when you come to saving faith, your chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose. I went forth and I followed thee.

Amazing love, how can it be that thou my God should die for me? And just in case there may be any confusion or doubt here, in the last phrase, Jesus clears that up. Jesus repeats and emphasizes what he's already said here. Listen to the last part of the verse, "But whoever believes in him is not condemned," there's the positive, "but whoever does not believe is condemned already," there's the negative, and here is the repeat, "because he is not believed in the name of the only Son of God." And this is what Jesus is saying.

I'm putting it in my words, "Whoever does not believe is condemned already." They are living in condemnation while they are waiting on that final sentencing. Why? Because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. They choose to remain in unbelief. So in summary, look what we see here. Look what we have here in verse 18. "Those who believe and those who do not believe in their condition and position, those who believe are not condemned, they are free from judgment, their chains have fallen off. Those who do not believe are condemned already, they are just waiting on the finalization of what has already begun." Why?

Because they refuse to believe. And for us today, we need to see that there are only two categories of people, those who believe and those who refuse to believe. Now my question for you is this, which category are you in? This is not a category of race or religion or class. It has nothing to do with that. There are only two, those who believe and those who persist in their unbelief. Which category are you in? I told this little funny when I was in Scotland, I do not know that I have ever shared this with you. I had a great aunt that I enjoyed spending a little time with. She was a believer.

I remember witnessing to her and sharing my faith with her when I first came to Christ and she shared how she had come to Christ and how God was working in her life. But I remember I went to church with her one time and at the particular church where she attended there were two front doors. And when we walked up in her humor, she said, "No, we go into the right because the sheep go to the right, the goats go to the left." I never could tell if she was serious or not. There are only two class of people folks, those who believe and those who unbelief. The sheep are the goats. Which are you?

And look, if you are in unbelief, if you do not possess saving faith, you are condemned already. Do you see that? Life might be going well, but you are judged already. You are just waiting on the finalization of your judgment. I thought about a good example here. In our culture, certain places, in our country, there are those who are sentenced to death. They go before a judge and a jury. They are convicted and they are sentenced to death and they wait on what is called death row. Oh, they are alive. They are eating. They are living life. But they know that that death sentence will be passed one day.

That is exactly how you live if you are in unbelief. You have been judged. You have been condemned. And you are waiting on death row and you are waiting on the finalization, the consummation of that judgment. And if that is you, please come. Believe in Christ and be saved. Now as I close, what is the title of the message? And what should these things produce in our lives? Now that is a loaded question. I title this message basically, "For God so loved the world." For God so loved the world. You could even say, "For God still loves the world." Because He does.

And these things should cause God's love, the atonement, the gospel and more to proceed out of our heart, out of our mouth, out of our lives. To who? Just a few? No. To all of the world. Does anybody know what an artesian well is? Some of you do. When I was a kid on our many journeys to my grandparents house we always would pass through the little city of Columbia. And there to the right, really in the edge of the Pearl River Swamps, there was an artesian well. An artesian well is basically this. It is a well that is under pressure. So the water just comes out naturally. It does not have to be drawn out.

And it seemed like every time we ever rode by that artesian well, people were out there getting water, getting water. Why? It was fresh, clean and clean. See, that's the way our lives should be. That's the way our lives should be. God's love has been shed abroad that King James language. It has been placed in our hearts. And God's love, the atonement, the gospel and more, it should proceed out of our hearts, out of our mouth, out of our lives. To who? All the people of the world. Because God loves the world. And if God loves the world, we should love the world.

And if we have some attitude that we only love a certain few, we're just like the Jews. These things should cause you to rush to Christ and believe. Some of you are in unbelief. You could be very religious. You could say that you're a Christian. You could say that you've been baptized. You might even point to external things. But you are in unbelief. You've never been savingly converted to Christ. And you are in judgment. Oh, you desperately need to see that you were condemned already. You are simply waiting on the finalization of your judgment. Remember, you are on death row.

And you might say, "Pastor, I think it's a little low of you to compare someone to someone who is on death row." No, it's not unfair. It's not enough. So, the thought of the message for God so loved the world. Let's pray. And then we're going to sing a closing song of worship.