God So Loved the World

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God so loved the world is part of a scripture that you've probably seen at sports stadiums, on signs that people stood up. In fact, that's how it all began in the 70s. A man who was evangelical in nature wanted to spread the word. And he felt the best way he could spread the word was to bring what many call a miniature of the gospel, John 3 16. So you see that all, saw that all over the place. It started in the 70s. And then they began to create decals for bumper stickers on cars and put on this and put on that so that you could see this John 3 16 because they believed. And if you just read this scripture and you believed what it said, you would be saved.

It got really boosted in importance when Tim Tebow, who was a quarterback for the Florida Gators, was in the national championship football game in college and played the Oklahoma Sooners. And he brought them to victory. But when they honed in on him and calling the signals as the quarterback on his team, they noticed his eye patches.

One had John, the other side had 3 16. Do you know, after that game, 94 million people, 94 million people searched the Internet to find out what that meant. And its popularity has continued ever since. And in fact, in many countries in the world, I can give them to you. United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, Nigeria, Afghanistan, India, Philippines, Somalia, and Ethiopia all claim this as their favorite scripture.

And in fact, every month, 2.1 million people search for the meaning of John 3 16. It's the favorite scripture around the world. There are two scriptures that come in second, tied for second. Jeremiah 29 11, which says God knows has plans for you. And John 10 10.

No, not John 10. Philippians 4 13. Philippians 4 13. You know, we read that scripture is very important. Apostle Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And I think one of the basketball players, Steve Curry, used to put that on his basketball shoe.

Philippians 4 13. But one other scripture came in third, and that was John 10 10. But out of that group, the next closest one was 83,000. 2.1 million per month searched it for John 3 16 all over the world.

It's the world's most popular scripture. Many people look at it and see it and understand it sometimes. But what is this verse? Just 25 words Jesus Christ captures so much about God and His plan for humankind. In just 25 words. So let's take a look at it and read it in this version. New King James Version. I'm going to get my scriptures out. I have my Bible in case I need to rely on it.

But I want to go to this scripture that you have, John 3 verses 16, and I'm going to add verse 17 on it because it completes the thought. Verse 16, John 3 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. If you read it in the translation of the amplified translation of the Bible, here's what it says.

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten, unique Son so that whoever believes in Him, trusts in Him, clings to Him, relies on Him, shall not perish, but come to destruction, or be lost, but have everlasting life. So it is a scripture that encapsulates what God wants for this world and what Jesus Christ, His Son, came to do for this world.

How important is that scripture for us to understand? Greatly. Because many people just see it as a cliché or as an adage. Just some kind of a nice thought. But what is John 3, 16? And what does it really say as we unpack these 25 words in this verse? Because it's very important to understand, as you know, around this time of the year, the birth date of Jesus Christ is celebrated. However, in looking into the scriptures, you'll find it was more like September, October, not December.

And certainly not with all the accoutrements that are added this time. So let's take a look at John 3, 16 and let's understand the fullness of this very popular verse. Let's see the meaning of it. Let's understand what it says. So let's break it down. First of all, God. God so loved the world. God. Let's break down who is God. When you talk about God, what are you talking about?

Well, both Jesus Christ and God the Father can be called God. We know that from John 1-1. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1-1. In the beginning was God, was the Word rather, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was God in the flesh. When the angel came to reveal to Mary that she was going to have a son, miraculously, by the way, miraculously, conceived of the Holy Spirit, he said, he will be called Immanuel.

Immanuel means God with us. He was God in the flesh. We'll see some of those scriptures in a moment. But John 1, verses 1 and 2. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.

So Jesus Christ could be called the Creator too. Now God the Father was obviously the one giving the instruction to it, and Jesus Christ, the one who came, who was called the Word, the one who became flesh, who gave up his divinity. We'll see that in a moment. When he came to this earth, he gave up everything to be a human being, to be born of God in the flesh.

Some put it he was truly God and truly man, but I see it God's Spirit in him that made him that from the time he was a baby, from the time he was conceived, he had the Spirit of God within him. So when you talk about God, you're talking about here God the Father, but who does God encompass? The word God encompasses both God the Father and Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ said, I and my Father are one. I and my Father are one. In Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 to 28, I'll read this section. Genesis 1, verses 26 to 28, talking about God, we're breaking down what this verse means. Verse 26, that God said, let us make man in our image. You didn't say let us make man in my image. God said that, Elohim. God said that. What is it? Scofield margin says, tells us that God, the Elohim, could be a uni-plural word because it is plural. But it can also refer to singular.

So in the beginning, God made heavens and the earth. And here it says, let us make man in our image. According to our likeness, Genesis 1:26, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. But I'm making man to be the top ones on the earth. So God created man. How did He create him? In His own image. There's the use of the singular. In His own image. In the image of God, He created him.

Male and female, He created them. Mankind, humankind, He created both. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful, verse 28, and multiply and replenish the earth. Subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every creeping thing that moves on the earth. So God gave man that. That's why there can't be any dinosaurs here. Those happened before. Before man was created. A man could never control those until he developed weapons.

Maybe if you had a bazooka in your home, maybe if you had a missile, a sky missile, you might be able to take him out. But just with normal means, they would have taken man out. So they found bones, fossils, but that's not when man's age is. And so to try to compact all that, the one creation is not right. John 10 and verse 30, Jesus Christ said, I and my Father are one.

He talked about the unity of God the Father. So that's God. When we understand God, we're talking about God the Father. We're talking about God the Son. The Holy Spirit of God is that power and might and majesty of God that conveys God and His presence and His dwelling to everybody. That's what it is. It gives you the mind. It gives you His mind. It gives you connection with Him.

It's interesting that in the book of Daniel, chapter 2:47, Nebuchadnezzar called God after he saw all the interpretations that were done by Daniel. He called him a God of gods. He's a God of gods. He's better than all the other gods on this earth. So that's the first part. God, let's talk about the next part. So loved. God so loved. Why would God so love the world? Well, He made it. He made the world. And how did He make it? He made it beautiful. Genesis 1:31, He looked on it and He called it everything that He saw He said was good. In some cases, He said very good. So God's creation was made beautifully. Man has messed it up a lot. But God didn't mess it up. God made it beautiful. And He looked on it and He said it was good.

So why does God want to save the world? Because He loves people. Because God made people. Jesus Christ, remember, intimately involved. I always pictured as a toy maker, a doll maker specifically, making a doll. He fashions and forms this doll. It doesn't have any life in it, but it looks very lifelike. It's very beautiful, very well done, nice features. And He dresses it, and here it is. And it comes to life, and it spits on Him. Comes to life and rejects Him, speaks against Him, does contrary to Him. And yet God is willing to save that doll, which is a human being, humankind. God so loved the world.

1 John 4, verses 7 to 11. Notice John's love for the people. He calls them beloved. You know what beloved means? It means precious. It means dearly, dearly loved ones.

1 John 4:7 — Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. Love is of God. The right type of love comes from God. It enables us to be able to be outgoing and concerned, agape love, which means you have an outgoing concern for others. So easy to care for ourselves. Not so easy to care for others.

What are the Ten Commandments about? The first four, to love God—that's directed to Him. The last six, directed to how you love your fellow man. It's not about me. Oh, look how good I am. I keep these. It's about others. And that's the agape love that God wants us to have and that God does have. He so loved the world—no wonder He loves the world because He is love. So everything He does is out of love, even when sometimes it hurts. Everything He does.

I'll tell you, I don't speak for God. I've done funerals for little babies. Six weeks old, six months old, six weeks old, I think the one was—buried a little tiny pine box. What do you say to people? I didn't have the words. I don't know why God allowed that little baby to die.

I don't know why God allows good, decent people to suffer. I don't know. But I do know this—that God is love and everything that He does is out of love. Because He cares for you, even when He has to blot out a whole nation, which He's done.

And remember, God says, I kill and I make alive. See, with God, death is not the final step. We'll see that as we go along. So He loves the peoples of the world.

Let’s read on in verse 8. He who does not love does not know God. Here's the word—for God is love. If you want to describe God in one word, you say love. God is love.

In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world. Here’s how God showed His love. How do you show love to people? How do you show love to people? By what you do. Love is not just a feeling—it can be. Feelings are part of love, too. But it’s doing. It’s caring.

I think there are a lot of caregivers out there with people that are sick and afflicted. And I'll tell you, those people care, and they love.

Being a caretaker is not easy. They love. Because they're thinking of the other person. What can I do for them?

That God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. See, Christ came to bring us life. He didn’t come to condemn people, to run them down, to hurt them. Not now. He's going to save them.

But He came the first time. He didn't come to judge the world. Maybe He did. He said, it's all bad. Get rid of it. And He had to do it once, didn't He? For the flood—except for a few—started over again. But man had become so corrupt that all of his thoughts were only evil continually.

When it talks about before the flood, man’s thoughts were only evil continually. Can you imagine that? All you ever think of is how to do evil?

He destroyed the world, except for Noah and his family. And some of the animals.

But you know that world—when they come up in a resurrection—they're going to be quick to repent. God says, look, remember how you died? Don’t do this anymore. We don’t want to have to do this again to you.

Remember what it was like to see that ship being built, that ark being built by Noah? That took so many years, and he took so much flack and so much guff from people, insults hurled at him. What are you building this big ship for? In the middle of a desert, there’s not even a sea around here. How are you going to launch it? Couldn't launch it. God launched it.

And you imagine the people sitting there and looking when that ship started floating and the water started rising, and the doors were closed.

God loves the world, and those people He's going to save.

Jesus Christ died for all. This is love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And what I love about Jesus Christ is that when He came to this earth and died, He didn’t die for good people. Didn't die for good people? Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

He died for those who sinned. He died for those who were out of sync with Him, that one day His sacrifice may be applied for them too. Beloved, and he said, this is love of God—not that we loved God, but that He loved us first and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the atonement for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to pay it forward. We also have to love others too.

In the book of Isaiah—I'm not going to read it—Isaiah 14:4, if you want to write it down if you're a note-taker, He says that, when Israel repents, I will heal their backsliding, and I will love them freely. I will love them freely. God loves people.

So we have God so loved the world. Let’s take a look at “the world.” God so loved the world.

Well, Genesis 1:31—He saw everything was very good in the world.

In 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2, we read this:

1 John 2:1-2 — My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. I’m writing this to you to try to keep you out of sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

If we slip and stumble—and he said we all slip and stumble—when you slip and stumble, you’ve got Christ’s sacrifice for you. And if you’ve been baptized, you have Christ’s sacrifice available to you throughout your life as long as you want it.

I see the unpardonable sin as being—well, you don’t want it anymore. I don’t want to judge who people are, but I’ve met people who did not want it anymore. Did not want God’s way. I don’t want it.

You’ve got to want it. God will not force you to be saved. It’s a choice we all have to make.

So He gave His Son that He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, Jesus Christ—and not for ours only.

1 John 2:1-2 is marvelous. He didn’t come just to save the righteous. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, Christians, John’s writing to, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

A whole world that hates Him. A whole world that’s going to fight Him when He comes back. You can read that in Matthew 24. They’re going to fight Him. Revelation 19. They’re going to fight Him. They’re not going to welcome Him when Jesus Christ comes back.

John 17 — Jesus Christ said true Christians cannot be of the world because the world has gone the wrong way. It’s been under the influence of wrong sources—Satan the devil to be particular—and his ilk has been under their sway. And God has to rescue people from that.

But He said, “My people”—Jesus Christ did His final prayer—John 17:16, “They are not of the world.” They’re not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

He said, “I didn’t say take them out of the world.” They have to function in the world. We have to learn how to navigate through the world. We navigate through God’s strength, we navigate through God’s righteousness—not our own. We navigate through the love of God that He gives us through His Holy Spirit shed abroad in our hearts, Romans 5:5.

That’s how we navigate the world.

“They’re not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth.” You’re set apart because you believe the truth. You don’t want to swallow error.

You don’t want to swallow people’s statements, as we heard in the sermon. You can read many things online. All kinds of interpretations. There are all kinds of interpretations of John 3:16. You can see them.

I’m just giving you what the Bible interprets—the Bible, not Gary Antion interprets the Bible.

So the world was at odds with Jesus Christ and God the Father, yet He came to save them. He came to rescue them.

Okay? That’s the world.

Let’s talk about “that He gave.” For God so loved the world that He gave.

Why did God give His Son, and how did He give His Son? I’m going to share something with you in a few moments.

Why is He so giving? Because that’s the way God is. That’s the way God is. So He gave, and why does He give? He gave His Son. He gave His beautiful law. He gave His covenant. He gave His Spirit. He gave a beautiful world filled with animals and human beings who are fearfully and wonderfully made.

David said, I’m fearfully and wonderfully made.

Do you marvel at human beings and their ability to withstand all kinds of difficulties? To be able to triumph over so indescribable odds against them, and that they make it through? How? God’s Spirit gives them the strength. God’s making of them gives them the strength.

How do our bodies heal? I cut my leg just a little bit going into my office. I rubbed against the edge of a board, a box, and I cut my leg a little bit. It was probably not much. There was blood. So I got to fix that up.

How it heals. Your body is marvelous, David said, fearfully and wonderfully made. Why? You’re made by the Creator of the universe. And He installed so many good things like teardrops to wet your eyes so that you’re not dry-eyed. Teardrops. Windshield wipers. Your eyelashes go up and down. He made us so beautifully. He made us so wonderfully. All the systems that we have are so incredible. Because He cares.

He gave.

God’s love is agape, which means He considers others. God considers others. We need to consider others, too.

Jesus Christ said two great commandments when He was asked. Because they said, oh, He’s really an iconoclast. He’s knocking all these traditions by His teachings. And Jesus Christ said, when they asked Him, what’s the great commandment of the law?

He said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your might, all your soul, all your being. And the second is just like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I’ve taught many people the need to make sure you have good self-esteem. And I don’t mean that’s by pumping yourself up by your own bootstraps. I don’t mean that. But if you don’t have any self-respect and if you don’t have a love for yourself...

I could—if I didn’t have a love for myself—I could have come here unshaven. I could have come here with my hair all over the place, which there are fewer hairs now to go all over the place. But it would have been all over the place. I would have come here smelling that you wouldn’t want to be near me.

But I had enough pride, enough sense of self-care that I wanted to come here looking decently for God and you.

God says you should love others as yourself. You don’t know how to love yourself?

Whitney Houston—I used to teach the students in Big Sandy, Texas, at the summer camp in 1986—I taught them, played the song, The Greatest Love of All is the Love You Have for Yourself.

I said, now, let’s tamper that. You do have to have love for yourself. It’s not necessarily the greatest. You do have to have love. Because if the greatest thing I can do is take drugs, if the greatest thing I can do is get drunk, what am I going to tell you if you ask me what’s the greatest thing you can do?

Get drunk. Take drugs. Cheat. Steal. Get away with things. Lie.

It’s not what God has in store for us.

Remember Jesus Christ? He didn’t have one bit of gall. There’s not one bit of slyness. Jesus Christ is not trying to pull something over on somebody. He was not trying to get out of something. He was not trying to pull the wool over their eyes. He was not trying to cheat them.

God wants us to be like Him. And we have to love others.

So He gave His only begotten Son. And we’ll notice that now. He’s a giver. He cares about people. He wants us to care about people and Him.

Ten commandments—first four, how to love God; the last six, how to take care of your fellow man. Jesus emphasized the last six because the people in Jesus’ day, religious leaders, emphasized the first four. But they neglected the last six.

The last six tell you how to love your fellow man. And it’s more than that.

Love goes beyond.

You know, “I haven’t killed anybody today. I guess I love them.” “I haven’t stolen anything today. I guess I love them.” “I haven’t committed adultery today. I guess I love them.” “I haven’t lied today. I guess I love them.” “I haven’t coveted. I guess I love them.”

Is that what it is?

Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you’ve missed the boat. And the scribes and Pharisees did a lot about keeping law. How do you exceed that?

The Spirit of God gives you strength to have His righteousness—not yours. His, not yours.

So He gave. What did He give? His Son. And when we read this—He gave His Son.

Why? Because His Son’s life was worth more than all, since He was Creator and He was God in the flesh. Jesus Christ never once sinned. He said, “I’ve kept my Father’s commandments.” Not once.

He had God’s Spirit in Him from the time He was conceived. He had that strength of mind.

Remember—what does God’s Spirit give to you? A sound mind. It gives you—not a spirit of fear—but of power, of love, and a sound mind. It gives you power to control. It gives you a soundness of mind to be able to look and see and think straight and talk straight and understand straight. That’s what it does for us.

So His Son was worth more than all of us put together—because He made us. He made humankind.

I’m going to read some things from an additional sheet that I have here—yeah, there it is.

What did Jesus Christ give up when He became our Savior? What did He give up?

Philippians 2:5-7, New King James — Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let this mind. Don’t think your way. Think my way.

Now, He didn’t give you His IQ. That’s for you. It’s up to you to have your own. Some of us have more, some of us have less. But we can all have the soundness of mind that God’s Spirit gives us.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

See, He was God. He even prayed in chapter 17 of John. “Oh God, I long to come back to You that You could give me the glory that I once had with You when we were in the beginning, that I can have that glory back. I can’t wait to be with You.” — John 17.

He knew He would be resurrected three days and three nights. He already said that—after He was killed. His final prayer, John 17.

So He knew that.

Amplified Version puts it this way: that He existed in the form, an unchanging existence, of God. He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted as if He did not already possess it.

He knew He was God in the flesh. He was born to be God in the flesh.

At 12 years old, He was challenging doctors of the law. As He sat in Jerusalem at the temple discussing things with the learned leaders of His day, and He astonished them with His knowledge.

How did He do that? He had the Spirit of God with Him from the time He was little. He was God in the flesh. He had strength of character from the time He was little.

John 1:14 — The Word became flesh and lived among us.

He became flesh. It wasn’t God on Him—it was God in Him. He was God and man combined. When He died, the Spirit of God did not die. But the fleshly Jesus Christ died.

When the Spirit of God got back to Him, the only valid was put back in Him when He was resurrected after that.

Matthew 1:21-23 — That’s where He’s prophesied to Mary, who was a virgin. And probably a young girl, maybe anywhere between 14, 15, 16, 18. That’s what tradition says. She was a young lady.

I had an aunt, Syrian aunt, who was married off to a 26-year-old man at 13. I said, “How did you get along?” She would not go unless my dad, who was five years younger than she, went along. I said, “Well, Dad, where did you sleep?” He said, “Between them.” She had her protection for a while.

She gave birth to 15 children. Baked 35 loaves of bread a day. Changed diapers because they were coming every year and a half to two years. One set of twins and one set of triplets—some say two sets of twins. But sometimes when one of them died, the next one born, she would call that her twin to take the other one’s place.

She was young. Mary was a virgin.

Isaiah 7:14 — Talks about God prophesying a virgin to bring forth a child.

How does that happen? I don’t know. God knows. You can ask Him. Write it down as a question. You make it into the Kingdom, you can ask Him.

Jesus Christ came to die for all of us.

Matthew 1:21-23 — “Behold, a virgin shall be with child,” verse 23, “and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Those disciples who walked along with Him—they were walking along with God in the flesh.

And that’s why Jesus Christ is our example. Why? Because He came to walk this earth like we do.

God the Father didn’t. God the Father gave Him up. Let Him come to this earth to be the sacrifice for us all.

But He walked this earth. That’s why you follow Christ’s example on earth. You listen to God the Father and Jesus Christ—what they teach you and tell you. But Jesus Christ, the one who was in the flesh—He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin.

Romans 5:6–10 — We’ll read this. His only begotten Son gave His only begotten Son.

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die.

You’ve ever seen somebody unjustly convicted or heard about the case and thought, boy, that guy’s going to prison for something that really is not proven. Would you say, “Well, he’s a good guy. I think I’ll go for him. I’ll say, take me instead.” He’s a good guy.

Some might do that. Very few would ever give themselves up for someone else. Christ died for the ungodly.

Scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We were still sinners. Christ died for us. Christ came to die for the world—for all of us. Not just for you, but for your neighbors down the street. When they come to know and accept what it means to believe—we’ll come to that in a moment.

So again, He sent His Son to do that, and He is the propitiation of all the sins.

His one sacrifice paid the penalty for all. You don’t have to do sacrifices anymore. A lot of sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed to the need for a sacrifice—needing somebody to die for you.

Hebrews 10:8 — He talks about, they can never take away sin. All those sacrifices can never take away sin.

The blood of Jesus Christ can.

Hebrews 10:11–12 — That one sacrifice, this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

So He’s in heaven now to ever make intercession for us. That’s what He does. That’s what He is. That’s what He was all about.

Hebrews 2:10 — What is His purpose? What’s God’s purpose in making human beings?

I will read this:

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory…

God wants to bring all of us to glory.

…to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Who’s the captain? Jesus Christ. He’s the one who’s our captain.

Okay, so that’s His only begotten Son—that we may honor and glorify Him and be grateful for who He is and who He was.

Let’s look at “believes.” Whosoever believes in Him.

This part’s a part that some people misunderstand.

Is it enough to just say, “I believe in Jesus Christ”? Is that enough? Are words just enough? Let’s ask that.

And what does “belief” mean, anyway?

When you talk about faith or belief, it can mean three things.

People say, “What is your faith?” What they’re saying is, what are your tentative beliefs? What are your doctrines? What does your church teach?

We have a whole booklet on that—What is Our Faith? That’s our booklets. What we get it from—the Bible. Because we believe the Bible was inspired by God. All scripture is given by His inspiration.

We do that by belief. We didn’t do it because we saw Him write it. We didn’t do it because we could recognize His handwriting in here.

But we have reason to believe because it works.

The greatest proof the Bible is true? It works.

It works. When you live it, it works.

It’s better to tell the truth than to lie because one lie means you’ve got to lie again when somebody calls you on that one. And one lie leads to another. When you cover it up, you’ve got to keep covering. Keep your shovel handy. You make a lie—you’ve got to keep covering. It’s not going to work.

It also means you believe in Christ. You believe what He said.

And I can verify that in John chapter 8, where Jews who were accusing Him and critical of Him and trying to get Him in trouble heard Him speak, and it said those Jews believed on Him.

And what did Jesus say? “Good for you!” Is that what He said? No.

He said, “If you do… if you follow this… if you live in this way—the truth—you’ll see the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

You have to do something about it. You can’t just say it. You can’t just speak it. You must mean it.

Shouldn’t all of our words carry meaning?

If you promise something, shouldn’t that be your word?

Shouldn’t you live it?

You know, fathers who promise their kids something—it’s not a good idea if you’re not going to do it. Because then you turn out to be a liar. You didn’t deliver the goods that you said you would.

And also God’s plan—God has a plan for mankind revealed in His Word.

What is God working out here below? Is everybody called now? No, not everybody is called now. We’ve got a world out there.

Even if you take all people of all different Christian denominations and add them all together, they still wouldn’t make up the world.

I took a religion course as part of my verification or accreditation as an instructor at university. And the man said, “Well, if we just take those who are Christians now and those who aren’t, God is losing. We’ve got to figure out how God can win.”

So here’s how God is winning. All these various groups and religions worship other idols. Those idols, they worship—each one of them represents an aspect of God.

So see, in one sense, they’re really worshiping just parts of God. So therefore, they’re okay. Only those who are avowed atheists are not on God’s side.

That’s how he came down to it.

Now, it’s obvious God is not winning the world.

Luke 6:46 — Jesus Christ said about it: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things that I say?”

Why do you call Me that? Why do you say I’m your Lord and Master, but you don’t listen to Me? You don’t follow Me?

Matthew 7:21–24 — Here’s what He says:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’” — they’re saying it! — “shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father which is in Heaven.”

“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? Haven’t we done good things in Your name? Haven’t we cast out demons?’”

And what does Jesus Christ say in verse 23?

“And then I will declare to them…” — these are the words of Jesus Christ — “I never knew you.”

They said the words.

But He said, “I don’t know you.”

Because faith is more than just words.

Faith is more than just empty belief.

It’s a belief that you walk—take right down to your toes.

And I use the scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:7. I was in bed last night. I think that’s the scripture. I got up this morning, the first thing I did—run to my Bible, check and see if 2 Corinthians 5:7…

We walk by faith.

If your faith doesn’t go down to your toes and cause how your toes take you different places, and where it goes, and in different ways, then all line up with God—then you’ve missed the boat.

You do not have faith.

James 2:26 — It was put this way:

Someone will say to you, “You have faith, and I have works.” James replies, “Show me your faith without your works…”

And I can tell you, there are several scriptures in the Bible where Jesus saw their faith.

How do you see the faith of anybody? By what they do.

They put their money where their mouth is.

They don’t just say it. They do it.

If they believe it, they follow it. If they don’t believe it—empty words.

Empty words. They don’t follow it. They don’t follow through.

James continues: “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

“I’ll show you how I believe in God. He says, do this—I do that. He says, follow this—I follow that. He says, walk in this way—I walk in that way.”

Verse 26 — For as the body without the spirit is dead…

James 2:26 — For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

And I’ve been at hospitals where a beloved one died. And the mother and father were there. And they almost collapsed on the way out as they went in to see their daughter’s body once more.

And they came out. She had died. She had a problem with leukemia—severe leukemia—and died.

And when they walked out, I was walking with them, and the mother almost collapsed. I said, “That’s just your daughter’s body. Her spirit is with God. Her spirit went up to God, and it will be activated with the Holy Spirit because she was baptized. It will activate that when He resurrects her from the dead. You’re not leaving her. You’re just leaving her body behind.”

Those people had to grieve, and they grieved a lot—because she was only 18 or 19 years old. She was just a sophomore at college. Just began.

So faith without works is dead also.

You have dead faith if all you do is say you believe.

Do you practice what you believe—or not?

So again, whosoever believes in Me shall not perish.

The word “shall not perish”—you can look it up. Thayer’s Lexicon gives various translations of “perish” as blotted out or destroyed.

Blotted out or destroyed?

God will never let you be blotted out. Never let them be blotted out if they have the right faith to believe.

John 5:28–29 — Do not marvel at this, brethren, for the hour is coming in which all who are dead in the graves will hear His voice and come forth.

I’ve stood at cemeteries with all these gravestones around.

And I’ve told the people there, one day, everybody here—these gravestones—are going to pop open, people are going to stand, and they’re going to be alive.

That’s what God promises.

They’re going to live again. And they’ll come, they’ll hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

See, if they died condemned, they’re going to be resurrected condemned.

But they’re going to be raised and given a chance. If they’ve been deceived all their lives, they’ll have a first chance. That’s a beautiful part of God’s plan for them.

Titus 1:2–3 — I’m not going to read it. Just refer to it.

Titus wrote:

In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised from the beginning of the world.

Ephesians 1:13–14 — We can make it. We can be in God’s Kingdom. We can have a part in it because we have strength with us.

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise…

God’s Holy Spirit in you carries with it the promise of eternal life.

…which is the beginning of the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession…

You are that purchased possession by the blood of Christ, to the praise of His glory.

Jesus Christ died for you. Died for every person.

Jesus Christ died that we might live.

And Jesus Christ died that we may have God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in us afterward by the laying on of hands, which is one of the basic doctrines in Hebrews chapter 6.

Let’s see the conclusion of this matter. What is the end of it all?

Revelation 11:15 — Jesus Christ is coming back. The angels are going to be so delighted. But He takes His whole… this world’s in chaos. This world’s in a mess. This world has difficulties worldwide, right?

Nuclear bombs. Nuclear weapons. Threatening. Third world nations joining up with nations to fight good—good in this world.

China. Russia signing a pact. North Korea sending troops to help the Russians. All of them nuclear. Iran building a nuclear weapon—very close to it.

We live in a world that is sitting on a precipice, and it will take Jesus Christ. Not any man can do it. Not any man is going to stop it.

But Jesus Christ will.

And the angels are saying to Him, We’re so happy You’re going to take Your power and rule.

That’s in Revelation 11:15:

“The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”

Because God’s plan is not to swoop people away to heaven. God’s plan is to make this earth heaven on earth, with which God the Father will ultimately come back to.

Micah 4 — What’s going to happen to those peoples at the end?

“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’”

“For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

People are going to be hungering for God’s truth. People are going to be hungering for God to teach them the right way.

They’ll come to the Jews. God’s going to work with Israel again—first—as He did before and had to divorce them.

Zechariah 8:22–23 — “They’re going to come up and say to a Jewish man, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ Let us go with you.”

And now, my final scripture:

Isaiah 25:9 — What will the people say in those days?

“It shall be said in that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.’”

His salvation means a Kingdom that will never have any end. A Kingdom where righteousness will dwell, where everlasting joy and peace will be.

For this world, God is not taking people away. He’s coming here to straighten out the mess that’s on here, so that human beings may have a chance to be in the very family and Kingdom of God.

That’s John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

And always remember:

“God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it. He sent Him into the world to save it—to provide the means by which it could be saved.”

God be thanked and appreciated for putting John 3:16 in His Word—for all of us to read and understand.

Thank you.