The Goal of the Gift

Well if you would take your Bible and turn back to John chapter 3. We've been right here for 2 weeks. We're going to finish up this morning and this morning will be specifically in verse 17 and 18. Just like with the other 2 messages I will mention a few other verses along the way. Now most of you know that for 2 weeks we have been right here in 1 verse, that's John 3.16. And we have been studying the greatest gift that has ever been given. This is none other than Jesus. And that is the title of the series, The Greatest Gift Ever Given. Now in week 1 we looked at what I call the giver of the gift. Of course the giver of the gift is God.

And in that message we saw that God gave His Son out of a heart of love. And we saw the objects of this gift. God was motivated by love and God gave the gift of His Son to the world. And then last week we looked at what I call the greatness of this gift. In that message we examined 2 facts that really highlight and show us the greatness of this gift. First we saw that God gave His one and only Son. And it was not just that He gave His one and only Son, He gave us His one and only Son that He loved and He loved dearly. God declared His great love for His Son at Jesus' baptism.

In Matthew 3.17 a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased." And right here God plainly said that Jesus was His beloved or much loved Son. And God said this for all of us to hear because this is recorded right here in God's Word. And we saw that God gave up His much loved, His one and only Son to the cross for the world. And we learned that this was a must. Back in verse 14 Jesus said, "So must the Son of man be lifted up." Notice that word must there. So must the Son of man be lifted up. Jesus was saying that He must go to the cross because there was no other way for men and men to be saved from their sin.

Now think with me how humbling this is and how humbling this should be while we were sinners, while we were God's enemies, while we were rebels against Him. Before we could ever love God in return, God loved us and gave up His only Son for us. His much loved Son and He gave Him up to the cross. We can say that God gave His best but it was so much more than that. He gave up His one and only, His much loved Son. And then second, we saw that God gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

We learned that in one sense salvation in Jesus is not restricted in any way, any and all who would believe in Jesus may receive eternal life. And we learned that in another sense salvation in Jesus is definitely restricted. Only those who savingly believe in Jesus may receive eternal life. Those who do not savingly believe will not receive eternal life. We learned that they perish. That's another way of saying they are lost. And think about what this tells us. God's love is wide enough to embrace all mankind. This means that any and all who believe can and will be saved. No person is beyond the love of God. Now let that sink in.

And some of you need that more than you know because you have lost loved ones that you think can never be saved. But no person is beyond the love of God. And remember what we've been learning all along the way. All these things are at the heart of the Gospel. Well you may ask, Pastor, what is the Gospel? I have given this definition all throughout these messages. The Gospel is the message of salvation that has been accomplished for sinful people through the life, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Now there is something that I have been trying to say all along throughout these messages.

And we need to hear this and take note of this fact. All these things proceed from God and out of the loving heart of God for the world. Everything associated with the greatest gift ever given proceeds from God and out of the loving heart of God for the world. The Gospel and everything associated with the Gospel proceeds from God, comes out of God, comes out of the loving heart of God. God was motivated by love in all these things. And I will tell you, Church, if this does not humble us, if this does not move us to worship, then there is something wrong with us. There is something wrong in our hearts.

There is some type of sin itself that is impeding that word. God was motivated by love and all these things should motivate us to love Him in return. And if we are motivated by a love for God in return, we will honor Him, we will obey Him, and we will serve Him all of the days of our life in many ways just like He served us. Now this morning we are simply moving into verse 17 and verse 18 into God's goal in giving such a gift. That is the title of the message, "The Goal of the Gift." It is rather simple, "The Goal of the Gift." And we will examine two things here in verses 17 and 18. First, the purpose of God in sending His Son.

And then second, the possibilities for men and men in God sending His Son. So number one, the purpose of God in sending His Son. Now here in verses 17 and 18 we see that John does two things. The first is not so obvious while the other is very obvious. First John expands on the loving nature of God. We have learned that out of an eternal, never changing love for the world of lost sinners, God gave the greatest gift ever given. And as we see how John explains God's purpose in sending His Son, we will see more and more and more of the loving nature of God here. And then second, John expands on the purpose of God sending His Son.

He starts this really in the last part of verse 16 and then he continues in verses 17 and 18. Listen to verse 16 and see if you can hear the purpose of God in giving His Son. I'm going to read the verse. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." Now here's where we see the purpose. "That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." So let's get into verse 17 to see more of God's purpose and purposes in sending His Son. And I want us to do this by making two background observations and then two observations from the verse. First, the Jewish misconception about the world of Gentiles.

Now we have dealt with this already but it needs to be seen again. This is definitely in the background of everything that is going on here with the verses. But here John is challenging. Right here John is repudiating the prevalent belief among the Jews of Jesus' day that when the Messiah did come He would judge the Gentiles and bless the Jews. For centuries the Jewish religious leaders had taught that this would happen. They believed that the Messiah would come and destroy all the Gentiles and they came to this faulty conclusion and misunderstanding by misapplying books like Amos.

So when Jesus said, "For God so loved the world," this literally sent shockwaves into the minds and into the hearts of the Jews. God loving the world and even extending the offer of salvation beyond the Jews to the world of Gentiles was really revolting to the Jews. And when Jesus went on to say, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world," those shockwaves continued to reverberate in the hearts and minds of the Jews. Who would have heard these things? But all the Jews of Jesus' day should have known God's goal to take salvation to the Gentiles.

God had clearly said all throughout the Old Testament that salvation for the Gentiles was and always has been God's goal and God's plan. We see this as early as in Genesis 12 verse 3 and then in Genesis 18, 18. In Genesis 22, 18 we see this in Isaiah. Isaiah 42, 6 and 8. Isaiah 55 verse 1. And we even see this in Acts chapter 3 verse 25. Those would be some good verses for you to go study. So Jesus right here was continuing to dismantle and to destroy the Jewish misconceptions about how God saw the world of Gentiles. That would be all of the other non-Jewish people. Now folks, before we continue, we need to see there is a big lesson here.

We in our day cannot have any kind of belief that causes us to think that salvation is more for one group over another. We cannot have any kind of belief that causes us to think that God loves us more than them. Well, who is the them? Anybody else that we may think God loves less than us. You see? And that kind of thinking can slip into our minds if we're not careful. But then second, the condition of the world of Gentiles in their day. Now when God said that he sent his son not to condemn the world, that would have sent shock waves in the hearts of the Jews for another reason.

In their day, all of the peoples outside of the land of Israel were totally pagan. Those lands and those nations were filled with nothing but heathens and vile sinners. A knowledge of the one true God had mostly vanished among the non-Jewish people of the world. So they were all pagans. They were idol worshippers. Scholars and historians tell us that in all of those Gentile nations and Gentile peoples of their day, pagan idolatry and all sorts of vile immoralities were unhindered. Those things were unrestrained and those things were seen as good and normal.

As a matter of fact, today God gives us a description of these Gentile nations in Jesus' day. That might surprise you. God gives us a description of these peoples. I will read these verses. Romans chapter 1. Listen to how God describes these pagan peoples. Again, this could be used to describe those people in Jesus' day. Romans chapter 1 starting in verse 21. "For although they," that would be these types of peoples, "knew God." Now, how did they know God? Paul is saying they knew God by the creation around them. "For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him.

But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." What is Paul saying? They chose to worship the creation in idols rather than the God that was before them in creation.

Therefore, verse 24, "God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for Allah, and they worshiped and they served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passions for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, what does that mean? The knowledge of God that was all around them, the knowledge of God in the creation. God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die.

They not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. What am I showing you? That's exactly how these pagan peoples lived. So if the Jews of Jesus Day did not think that the Messiah would destroy the Gentile peoples because of a misunderstanding and misapplication of Old Testament scripture, they very well could have believed that the Messiah would destroy them simply because they were so sinful, so pagan, so godless in every way. Now folks, before we continue, I want you to see there is a very, very big lesson here.

As our culture becomes increasingly non-Christian, as a matter of fact when I read those verses in Romans 1, some of you thought, "Pastor, I think you're describing our culture, our country, our nation." But as our culture becomes increasingly un-Christian, we can have a tendency to think that the loss cannot be reached. We can think that if our culture was more externally Christian, maybe like it was in the 1950s, we can think that it would be much easier for us to reach the loss.

And listen, church, either the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, or we need to close up the church and just go deer hunting every Sunday. Either the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, or we just need to quit. So the big lesson we need here is this. God loves the world of sinful, pagan sinners, those that were alive then and those that are alive now. And He sent His Son to provide for their salvation. So we need to be busy telling them the gospel and waiting on what?

The power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. But as we get into verse 17, to me, we see two questions. We see the first question in the first sentence, which is negative. It's a negative sentence. And we see the second question in the second sentence, which is more positive. Notice John has a method here. In verse 17, he starts off with a negative and then he moves to the positive. And then in verse 18, he starts off with a positive and he moves to the negative. And he does that on purpose. That is part of his teaching. So when dealing with a verse, so first, the question of condemnation or salvation.

Look at verse 17 of the beginning of the verse. John writes, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world." Now here, John clearly says that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn or to judge the world. The Amplified says, "For God did not send His Son into the world to judge and condemn the world." That is to initiate the final judgment of the world. But if we know what our Bibles say, we know that there were times when Jesus did say He had come to judge. I'll give you one example.

In John 9, 39, Jesus said, "For a judgment I came into the 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 here? We must see that salvation for some automatically, unfailingly brings judgment for others. The fact that some do not believe simply brings judgment upon them. That judgment is automatic. But the point John was making here in verse 17 is this. "Thy primary purpose of God sending His Son into the world was not to condemn the world of lost sinners.

His primary purpose was to save sinners out of the world." But again, unfailingly, this does in fact bring judgment on others. Those who do not believe bring judgment upon themselves. So the question of condemnation or salvation is this. And it's really not a question of all, at all. God's primary purpose in sending His Son was salvation. And anything and everything connected to the greatest gift ever given came from God's goal. And God's goal was to save sinners out of the world. And second, the question of probability or certainty. Now look at verse 17 with me. This is, I want to focus on the second part of the verse.

I'll read all of it together. And you'll see the probability or the certainty. "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." Now we can clearly see this word might. We see this in the English Standard Version, the King James Version. Some of you have the Legacy Standard Bible. We see that. Same word there. But the New American Standard is different. It reads, "But that the world should be saved through Him." Well, which translation is right?

Again, the King James says, "But that the world through Him might be saved." The New American says, "But that the world should be saved." Now, which one is right? We need to see that this word translated "might" as a part of the verb here in the original. It expresses the idea of a specific and purposeful design. This means that when God sent His Son into the world, through Him the world should be saved. And that is because these things were a part of a purposeful plan by God.

That is why the New American says, "But that the world should be saved through Him." But the question we have been asking all along the way in this study, does this mean that all of the world will be saved? No, because Jesus said in Matthew 7, 13, "Enter by the narrow gate." "For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many." Clearly, many are not saved. So the point is this. God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.

The giving of the gift of His Son to the cross for the world of law sinners was by design God's plan so that law sinners should be saved, and many most definitely will be saved. And the lesson for us here is this. Salvation for law sinners from and in the world is a certainty, not a possibility. It is not if God will save sinners because He has said that the design of the Son being sent to the cross was so that the world should be saved through Him. Now let me show you the certainty. We see the certainty if we fast forward time, if we go into the future.

Revelation 7, 9 to 10, John says, "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number." This is the great multitude of the redeemed all around the throne of God in eternity future. Notice what He says. "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.'" Again, the lesson here for us is this.

Salvation is a certainty, not a probability. And notice, church, we can get in on God's design plan to save sinners out of the world, or He can use someone else. He can use someone else. So here we see the purpose of God in sending His Son to the cross for the world. Not that He would condemn and judge the world, but that the world of lost sinners and pagans would certainly come and be saved. Now one thing before we move on, look at the end of verse 17. Look at the end of the verse.

The English Standard reads, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world," notice, "might be saved through Him." Who is this "through Him" referring to? Is John talking of Jesus or God? Look at the verse. Here we see that God did these things. God did these things so that through Him, sinners out of the world should be saved. And this brings us all the way back to our first message. God was and is the giver of the greatest gift. Salvation is from God and through God. It all begins and ends with God, folks. And just like I said all throughout this teaching, this is all about the Gospel.

And the Gospel is the message of salvation that has been accomplished for people, sinful people, through the life, the death, resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So the purpose of God in sending His Son. And then number two, the possibilities for man in God sending His Son. The possibilities for man in God sending His Son. Now here in verse 18, John continues to do two things that we saw earlier. I said earlier that in verse 17 and 18, John expands on the loving heart of God. So here we see in verse 18, we see more and more of the loving nature of God.

And John is still expanding on the purpose of God in sending His Son. Here in verse 18, John moves from the fact that Christ died for men into how men are responsible in these things. But there's one more thing that John does here. John brings forward the importance of expressed and possessed faith. John has clearly taught that Jesus died for sinful men. But if John would have stopped right there, then men would not have been brought to faith. Sinful men must savingly believe if they are to attain saving faith. So listen to verse 18 and see if you can hear what men must do to attain saving faith.

John 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. Notice that three times John uses the word "believe" or a form of the word. You see that? I wonder if John is trying to stress a point here in using this word three times. Yes. Now I mentioned this earlier, but notice that John gives us truth in the positive. First, the one who believes is not condemned. The beginning of the verse says whoever believes in Him is not condemned. This simply means that the person who exercises saving faith is not condemned.

They are not judged, which is what condemned means. And that is because of what took place on the cross. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53.5. We see the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5.21. Paul says, "For our sake, He that's God made Him that's Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. And the one who has believed has put their trust in Christ." They have trusted Christ. They have trusted Christ's work on the cross for their salvation.

The scholar Albert Barnes says, "To believe on Him is to feel and act according to truth. That is to go as lost sinners and act toward Him as a Savior from sins, relying on Him and looking to Him only for salvation." So the one who savingly believes is not condemned. You see that in the verse? He is not condemned because there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8. Now question, has the burden of condemnation from being alienated from God been lifted from you? Or are you still under the burden of condemnation because you have not savingly believed in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins?

Listen, friend, do you see and understand what that burden or condemnation really is? Do you? The Holy Spirit is revealing to you that you are truly under the condemnation, the judgment of God. Do you see that? The Holy Spirit of God is revealing to you and showing you that you are truly under the condemnation and the judgment of God, but you may ask what should you do? Rush to Christ. Look to Christ and believe. Trust in Christ. I said this last week, if there is any reason that would keep you from rushing to Christ, that is sin. Let go of your sin. Let go of your pride. Let go of your rebellion against God. Come to Christ. Look to Christ.

Now I mentioned this earlier, but notice that He gives truth in the negative as well. Second, the one who does not believe is condemned already. Here we see the opposite of what John has just taught. The one who does not savingly believe, this means they are in persistent or continual unbelief. They are condemned already. They do not have to wait until the final day of judgment. They are already condemned because of their persistent unbelief that has shut them up in their condemnation. Something that John MacArthur says will help us understand this condemned already.

And I'm quoting, "While the final sentencing of those who reject Jesus is still in the future, their judgment will merely consummate what is already begun." But why? Why is this the case? John tells us, "Whoever does not believe is condemned already." Why? Because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. But I want us to see that there is much, much more to this condemnation. Man is actually condemned before God for two reasons. First, because of his very nature, man is condemned. Yes, because of his very nature, man is condemned. Ephesians 2, 3 says that men and men are, by their very nature, children of wrath.

Listen to Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2, verses 1-3. Paul says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, dead spiritually, in which you once walked." In other words, they were living dead men. Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived, in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Now this simply means that by their very nature, men are sinners because of the sin nature that they inherited from Adam.

Therefore, men and man come into the world, children of wrath, under the very wrath of God. This means that automatically they were appointed to death, appointed to condemnation, and appointed to judgment. So because of his very nature, man is condemned already. And then second, because of his own actions, man is condemned. This is what we see here in verse 18. John writes, "Whoever does not believe is condemned already." Why? Because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. So because of his very actions, man is condemned already. Now listen to how A.W. Pink ties these two condemnations together, and I'm quoting.

"He," that's man, "he enters the world with the curse of a sin-hating God upon him. If he hears the gospel and receives not Christ, he incurs a new and an increased condemnation through his unbelief." And he goes on to say how emphatically this proves that the sinner is responsible for his unbelief. And listen, folks, listen close. Man is responsible for his unbelief. If you are in here today, young or old or somewhere in between, and you are in unbelief, you are responsible for that unbelief. You've heard the gospel, and you've refused the gospel, and you are condemned two ways.

You are born as a child of wrath, condemned already, and you are condemned because of your unbelief. You've heard the gospel, you are responsible. You've heard the gospel, you are responsible. You know, everyone wants to talk about the man in the jungle who's never heard the gospel, about how they are judged and how they go to hell. No one comes to heaven but by Christ. And everyone wants to talk about the one who's never heard the gospel and how they go to hell. But look, we must think about the ones who were born children of wrath, and they stay in their unbelief, and they are double condemned, and they go to hell.

Think about the misery of their memory in hell, of how they remember all the times that they rejected the gospel. They rejected the gospel. And look, folks are responsible before God for the gospel. So the one who does not believe is condemned already. And again, I ask, are you still under the burden of condemnation? Because you have not, savingly, believed in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins? Listen, friend, do you understand what that burden of condemnation is? It's not your guilty conscience. It's not.

Although God may be using that, the Holy Spirit is revealing to you that you are truly under the condemnation and the judgment of God. Listen to what Pink says and how this applies to you, and I'm changing it. You entered the world with the curse of a sin hating God upon you. Why? Because of the sin nature you inherited. And if you hear the gospel and you do not receive Christ, you incur a new and an increased condemnation through your unbelief. You may say, "Pastor, what do I do?" There are people who are in this cage of condemnation, in the wrestling in this cage of condemnation. Well, what do you do?

Rush to Christ, look to Christ, look to Christ and believe. But I've yet to speak to us, the redeemed. For those of us who do believe, to borrow the words of Paul in Romans 8.1 and apply them to us, there is therefore now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. We're out from under our condemnation. We've been born again. We've been forgiven. We've been released. We can go back to that time and that place and that experience whereby God brought us to Himself. We trusted in Christ. We believed savingly. And we were released from that burden. Look folks, isn't it glorious? Isn't it wonderful? We are not under condemnation.

We've been forgiven. We are free. Just like I said all throughout this teaching, this is all about the gospel. And the gospel is the message of salvation that has been accomplished for sinful people through the life, the death, resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And of the possibilities for man and God sending His Son. Now as I close, I want to remind us of the reason for the series, these three messages. If we're not careful, all of the busyness of Christmas and being caught up in the many good things we enjoy this time of the year, it can cause us to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas.

All of the busyness and even these good things that we do can crowd out what should be on the forefront of our minds, what should be on the forefront of our hearts. So let's take what we've been studying here. Let's make sure we make Christmas all about John 3, verse 16, verse 17, and verse 18. The greatest gift ever given. Let's all pray over these things. Let's meditate over these things. Let's study these things even more, a little deeper, a little broader. Let's talk about these things in our homes. Let's talk about these things with our children, with our spouses, even with those we may come in contact with.

So the goal of giving this gift, God did all of these things, why? So that lost sinners in the world would believe and receive eternal life. Let's pray. And as we always do, let's commit these things to the Lord and let's look to the Holy Spirit to apply these things according to our need and His will and purpose in our life.