Please open up your Bibles this morning to the Gospel of John.
Some of you may be here for the first time and think that we just happened to pick John 316 because it's Easter Sunday,
but we've actually been walking through the Gospel of John for a few months now together and in God's providence.
As I laid out the preaching schedule, I realized that here on Easter Sunday,
we'd have the opportunity to preach from one of, if not the most cherished, beloved, summary verses of the Gospel message in the entire Bible.
So if you would, open up your Bibles to John chapter 3. We're going to read from verses 13 through 16.
If you didn't bring your own Bible with you, we have a few Bibles there in the seat backs in front of you,
and you can find this passage on page 835 of those Bibles there in front of you.
Either way, I encourage you to have the Bible open because we're looking to the Word of God and not just listening to what I had to say this morning.
So if you would, John 3 verses 13 through 16. Follow along with me as I read.
Jesus says,
No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
This is good news.
This is the Word of God.
Let's bow and pray once more.
Father, we thank you for your perfect Word.
That is inerrant, it's infallible, it's living, and it's active.
And we pray now as it goes forth, would it accomplish the purposes for which you send it.
We pray in Christ's name.
Amen.
Friday evening, we gathered here for our Good Friday service just a couple of evenings ago
as we reflected on the death of Christ on the cross.
And the text that we considered here was 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18, which says this.
It says,
There is an eternal difference here between those who are perishing on one hand and those who are being saved on the other.
And the difference is how you view the word of the cross, the message of the gospel.
Is it foolishness to you or is it the very power of God for your salvation?
I love the story of Gaylord Kambarami.
Maybe you've heard this story before.
Mr. Kambarami was the general secretary of the Bible Society of Zimbabwe.
And he tells the story of how he once tried to sell a copy of the New Testament to a man who,
at least on the surface, appeared interested in what he was selling.
What turned out to be the case was, in fact, the man was not interested in the message of the book.
He was actually interested in the paper.
To his natural eyes, this word of God was just another book.
And he had a bad habit of smoking.
And so to his natural eyes, the size of the pages and the texture of the paper
was just the right size and material for rolling up his cigarettes.
And so Mr. Kambarami, he was confident that he wouldn't be able to change this man's mind,
but even more confident in the power of the message of the gospel, he made this man a deal.
He said, I will give you this book for free on one condition,
that you read every page before you smoke it.
15 years went by.
People didn't see each other, speak to each other, didn't know what had happened.
Mr. Kambarami attended a convention in Zimbabwe where the speaker was a church evangelist.
And to his surprise, the speaker looked out and singled him out from the audience.
And he said, this man doesn't remember me, but I remember him.
About 15 years ago, he tried to sell me a New Testament.
And when I told him that I would just use the pages to smoke and roll cigarettes,
he said, I'll make you a deal.
You read each page before you smoke it.
Well, I smoked through Matthew.
I smoked through Mark.
And then I smoked through Luke.
But when I got to chapter 3 of John, verse 16, I couldn't smoke anymore.
He said, my life was changed forever.
The message that that page proclaimed.
Friends, the message of the gospel is powerful to save any who would believe it.
This is what we profess this morning.
So I will make you a deal that if you will listen intently for the next 30 minutes or so
to what I have to say from this book, from what we're about to hear from the chapter that we're talking about in John,
if you will truly believe the message of the gospel this morning, then I guarantee that you too will be changed.
We're jumping in the middle here to a conversation that Jesus is having with a man named Nicodemus.
Nicodemus, and he's laid out for him the one necessary condition for anyone to enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus gave this requirement to Nicodemus, and he gives it to us here this morning.
A humanly impossible requirement.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus' last recorded words to this requirement, you see it there in John 3, verse 9.
He said, how can these things be?
How can these things be?
Our passage this morning, our verses that we're going to see here in just a few minutes,
is Jesus' response to this question.
He says, it's not by your goodness, not by your heritage, it's not by your works.
It is only by believing the message of the gospel.
By believing the good news of Jesus Christ.
And we see that good news here this morning in four parts.
If you're taking notes, this is going to be our outline this morning.
We see four life-changing truths of the gospel.
Four life-changing truths of the gospel.
We'll see the problem, the provision, the power, and the proof.
The problem, the provision, the power, and the proof.
First, we see here our great problem.
How can these things be?
This was Nicodemus' question.
Well, Jesus says in chapter 3, verse 13, that he is the one, he is the only one who has ascended up into heaven.
The only one who has descended from heaven.
So if we would learn anything about what it means to be born again, anything about what it means to enter the kingdom of God,
we must come and listen to him.
Listen to his authoritative voice.
And here's what he says, verse 14.
Look there.
I love this.
Here's this Pharisee who has spent his entire life devoted to the Old Testament scriptures seeking to understand God's word.
And Jesus here sums it up in a sentence.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
What is he talking about?
This is a reference that Nicodemus would have understood, but it's probably less familiar to us.
He's referring a story from the book of Numbers chapter 21.
So I'm going to read that story to us.
You can turn there if you'd like.
Numbers chapter 21.
And we'll see what Jesus is saying.
Here in Numbers 21, the people of Israel have come out of Egypt.
They've come out of their slavery in Egypt.
They're wandering in the wilderness.
And here's what happens starting in verse 4.
It says,
Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people.
And they bit the people, so that many of the people of Israel died.
And the people came to Moses and said,
We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.
Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us.
So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses,
Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole,
And everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live.
So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole,
And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
Now, I would be willing to bet that most of us in the room this morning
Have not been attacked by a big brood of fiery serpents like this event here in Numbers.
But I want us to see several lessons here from this account
Because we share the same essential problem that the Israelites had here in the wilderness.
This is an illustration of our sin.
So lesson number one, sin is foolishness.
Sin is foolishness.
There is nothing rational.
There is nothing logical about sin.
And since we are here on the outside of this story,
We can, from the outside looking in,
See all of this very clearly.
That it's foolish.
Do you see what was going on here?
These people are complaining that their deliverance from slavery is taking too long.
How foolish is this?
It says verse 4, Numbers 21,
They became impatient on the way.
God has just brought them out of their harsh slavery.
He's brought them through the Red Sea.
He's brought judgment on their enemies.
And in their foolish sin, they get impatient.
And what was their complaint?
They don't like the food.
They're hangry.
Verse 5, look there.
The people spoke against God and against Moses.
Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no food and no water,
And we loathe this worthless food.
Do you hear that?
There is no food,
And we hate this food.
This is foolish.
That's not really true.
What is true is that they are simply not content with God's plan,
Not content with God's provision,
Not content with God being God.
This is sin,
And this is foolish.
Lesson number two.
Sin brings disastrous consequence.
What happened?
Verse 6,
Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,
And they bit the people,
So that many of the people of Israel died.
This is quick and immediate consequence for sin.
Some of y'all I know don't mind snakes.
I've seen some of you move towards snakes before.
That's not how we roll in my house.
That's not how we handle it.
There's no such thing as a good snake in our house.
A few years ago I was in the garage with one of my sons,
And he was digging through the toys,
And he picked up a helmet that had been there for who knows how long.
I'm not sure.
He picked it up off the ground.
He tipped it up over his head.
You see where this is going?
And the snake came out of the helmet on top of his head,
Bounced off his head onto his foot,
Slithered away.
This was the judgment of God.
I'm not sure who sinned in that moment.
This was our worst nightmare.
My wife didn't go outside the whole summer.
I think we realized that summer that the water behind our house was prime territory for an abundance of serpents in our backyard.
I think I might have killed 20 or 30 snakes that summer.
If you're snake friendly, I don't even feel the need to apologize to you.
My wife did not go outside.
It was terrible.
But that was not even a fraction of what's happening here in numbers.
Of what this must have been like.
Fiery serpents,
Venomous,
Deadly,
Dangerous,
Not just a few,
But enough to come upon the whole people of Israel.
Angry,
Ready to strike.
This is clear,
Immediate,
Visible consequence for the people's sin.
And it says many of the people of Israel died.
This is shocking to us when we read it.
Why?
It's because we don't often see sin and consequence this closely together.
In fact, we often act surprised when we read scripture and we see punishment for sin.
This seems severe to us,
but we have to realize the seriousness of sin.
And until we do,
This will never make sense to us.
The cross will never make sense to us.
Sin is rebellion against God.
And we're told the wages of sin is death.
If you have sinned even once,
You have earned death for your sin.
Anything short of that is mercy.
Sin brings disastrous consequence.
And the reason that this sort of quick consequence surprises us is because in God's patient mercy,
He often withholds the punishment that sin deserves.
And we are so accustomed to the mercy of God that we're surprised by judgment.
But if we truly understood the seriousness of our sin,
Church, we would be surprised by mercy.
All of us live in a flood of incredible mercy.
But friend, do not be deceived into thinking that God's mercy towards sinners will last forever.
Because lesson number three,
All of our sin,
All of our rebellion,
Is an offense to God.
And it will be dealt with.
Ultimately, this event in Numbers chapter 21 is a picture of God's holy wrath against sin.
Some sin carries immediate consequence.
All sin carries eternal consequence.
God is just.
He will judge all sin.
We think that we can hide our sin from God like Adam and Eve hide ourselves in the bushes.
We cannot hide anything from God.
And the day is coming when all will be exposed.
And we all will give an account.
This is a great problem for sinners like me.
And like you.
Our greatest problem.
We need to see.
It's not stress.
It's not our jobs.
It's not our relationships.
It's not our financial situation.
It's not whatever political drama happens to be going on this week.
Our greatest problem.
The greatest problem for sinners.
Is the wrath of God that stands against you in your sin.
Our greatest problem.
Is that we must be born again of the spirit of God.
Washed clean by his spirit.
Or we cannot enter the kingdom of God.
So where do we turn?
We have a great problem.
But second.
The second gospel truth here is that God has made a greater provision.
Second.
God has made a greater provision.
The unbelievably good news of the gospel is that God himself has provided all that we need in order to be saved from his wrath against our sin.
Think back again to Numbers 21.
The Israelites are perishing.
The snakes are biting.
The people are feeling the searing pain and consequence for their guilt and their sin.
Look what he says to Moses in verse 8.
Chapter 21.
Numbers.
He says,
Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole.
And everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live.
So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole.
And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
The Lord provided a way of escape.
And this is incredible.
He does not have to do this.
He does not need to do this.
He's not compelled or constrained by any external cause to make him do this.
He's not compelled by our goodness, by our deserving, by our earning.
It is simply in his sheer heart of mercy and grace towards sinners that he chooses to provide exactly what we need to live.
He provides one effective way to be saved.
One effective way.
One way.
Some people take issue with this.
They want what they call the freedom of options.
To live and to worship how they want to be and to do and to live and to act however they please and all paths be equal.
The Israelites could have chosen any path they wanted.
They could have climbed to higher ground.
They could have shook the snakes off of their feet.
They could have called out the name of any false god of Egypt that they wanted.
And the result would have been that they would perish.
There is one path here.
One provision.
But when you are perishing and someone provides one cure, one cure is all you need.
If it is effective.
And we see here that it was.
The provision of God here in Numbers is that if any were bitten by this fiery serpent that they might simply look at the bronze serpent and they would live.
Now, do you see the comparison that Jesus is making here for us?
Flip back to John chapter 3 if you've been in Numbers.
Flip back there to John chapter 3.
Look at verse 14.
Here's the comparison.
Jesus says,
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
One effective provision for salvation that sinners like me and like you might not perish.
Jesus is showing us that this story of sin and salvation in the Old Testament was a pointer.
It was an indicator.
It was a shadow to which Jesus is the reality.
He's showing us that he and he alone is the true lasting provision of God for the salvation of sinners.
He and he alone.
That there is salvation in no one else.
There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved.
What Jesus is doing here is he's taking this blurry black and white image of sin and salvation from the Old Testament.
And he's showing us how he magnifies it, enhances it, enlarges it in full color, high definition in himself at the cross.
Just as the Israelites looked upon this image of their curse, they looked upon the very image of that which afflicted them.
They saw it with their eyes.
God's provision held up, lifted up.
They looked upon this gracious provision of God and escaped the wrath of God.
So must we behold the man upon the cross.
My sin upon his shoulders.
The call here is to behold the image of our sin lifted up.
We must look to what he accomplished on the cross and see it with eyes of faith.
And we will live.
Church, the only way that we can be saved from the wrath of God is if Jesus bears it in our place.
This is what Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5.21.
This might be my favorite verse in the Bible.
No sin will be found in the kingdom of God.
Not a trace.
If you have a trace of sin's venom running through your veins, you will not enter.
How many cures do you need for your sickness?
One effective provision.
We praise God.
The good news of the gospel is that God gave his only son.
Christ became sin for us.
That any who look to him in faith might not perish but have eternal life.
Church, this is the power of God for salvation.
The power of God for salvation.
This is our third truth of the gospel this morning.
We see the great power of salvation.
Look to verse 16, John chapter 3.
And here we come to this precious and beautiful and familiar summary of the gospel.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
How can this be?
How is it true that if we simply believe in this man Jesus that we will have eternal life?
How can this be?
It's because this message of the gospel is the power of God for salvation to any who would believe.
Do you believe?
Do you believe this message?
Through faith.
Sinners like me and you are united to Jesus Christ.
You know, faith is not simply believing intellectually.
It's just a fact like you believe any other fact to be true that has no bearing on your life whatsoever.
Like we believe the Eiffel Tower stands in Paris.
No, this faith, this believing in Jesus Christ is an all-in personal trust in the person and work of Christ.
An all-in personal trust that unless this Savior bleeds and dies and rises for me,
that I cannot be saved,
that He has died for me,
that He has risen for me.
So now the life I live,
I live by faith
in the Son of God who loved me
and gave Himself for me.
That is the faith of a Christian.
I think we need to demystify faith.
It's such a precious biblical word,
a precious Christian term,
but culturally it's been so watered down
that it just means absolutely nothing.
Just have faith.
Just believe.
My faith is as good as your faith.
Faith is what saves you.
That's not what this is.
That's not what Christ is saying.
Faith is not the power for salvation.
Faith is a channel.
It's a power cable.
It connects you and your life
to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ
so that if you are connected to Him by faith,
the life that He lives is yours,
the death that He dies to sin in your place is yours,
and the life that He lives
through His resurrection from the grave
by faith is yours.
Faith trusts Christ alone
to be the power of God
for your forgiveness,
for your joy,
for your hope,
for your peace,
and for your eternal life.
This is what He says here in verse 16.
Whoever believes in Him
might not perish
but have eternal life.
Someone asked me this week
what my Easter text was going to be.
I told him it was going to be John 3,
13 through 16,
and he asked,
well, how are you going to tie that into Easter?
Here it is.
Apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead,
there is no power for salvation.
If Christ is not risen from the grave,
actually, truly,
a fact of history
that He died and He rose,
our hope of eternal life is in vain.
There is no eternal life
apart from the eternal life
that Christ offers
through the power of His resurrection.
The fact that He lives
means that we live in Him
by faith.
We can no more perish
than Christ Jesus can perish again
if we are united to Him by faith.
The grace,
the grave cannot have us
because it could not have Him.
Sin will not conquer us
because He took its best blow
and rendered it powerless
if we are united to Him
by faith.
That's a big if, church.
A necessary if.
In this verse,
John 3.16,
there is both
an incredible availability
and an undeniable exclusivity here.
People want to emphasize
one or the other,
pit them both against each other.
They are both here
and both are precious.
Do not pit them against each other.
It is undeniably clear
that this salvation
is made available
to the whole world.
Whosoever would believe.
And this is,
this is something that would have been
just absolutely stunning
to Nicodemus.
The Jewish understanding
was,
was that God's love,
His covenant love
was only reserved for the Jews.
Now,
only the Jewish people
were included
in the love of God.
Out of all the peoples
of the world,
it was the Jews.
But here,
John tells us,
God so loved
the world.
Not just you,
Nicodemus.
Not just the Jews.
Not just all
and allians.
Even some of those people
from Mount Pleasant.
And Hugee.
in McClellanville.
Some of the transplants
from up north even
might get in on this.
Even me.
Even you.
You see,
this provision of God
is so powerful
that His effectiveness
is not drained
or lessened
or weakened
in the slightest
by making it available
to all the peoples
of the world.
Distance is no issue.
Any who hear this message
and believe
from Jerusalem
to Judea
to the ends of the earth
may not perish
but have eternal life.
Ability is no issue.
The world would rank
and rate you
based on your usefulness.
But God says,
Any who would look
and believe in my Son
may have eternal life.
The weak and the poor
to the rich
and successful.
Resources are no issue.
Stature is no issue.
Sinfulness is no issue.
This is unbelievably powerful.
It does not matter
how far you have gone,
how deeply you have rebelled,
what you have done.
If you would simply look
with eyes of faith
and believe
and trust
in this risen Savior,
you will be forgiven.
You will have eternal life.
That message
is proclaimed
to all who would hear it.
Yet,
there is also
undeniable
exclusivity
here.
Only
those
who believe
in Christ
will be saved.
Only
those
who look
to Jesus Christ
alone
for their salvation
will inherit
eternal life.
Why are not all saved?
Not all look.
Not all
trust.
Not all
believe.
And this
type of all
in personal
trusting and
believing
does not
come from us.
It can't.
It's a gift
of God.
We're saved
by grace
through faith
and this
is not
from yourselves.
It is a gift
of God
that no one
may boast.
The great evangelist
D.L.
Moody
he said
it like
this.
He said
written
on the
outside
of the
gate
of heaven
are the
words
whosoever
may come
and on
the inside
of the
gate
it reads
chosen
before the
foundation
of the
world.
Church
so long
as we
are here
on the
outside
of the
gate
our
responsibility
is to
proclaim
this
message
of hope
far
and wide
to any
who would
hear.
this
radical
availability
of the
gospel
hope
and the
confidence
that we
have
that God
will
save
his own
ought to
compel
us to
cast our
net
far
and
wide
and
proclaim
eternal
life
to any
who would
look to
Christ
and would
listen
and believe
that if
you will
look to
Christ
in faith
you will
live
trusting
that God
will
save
even
as he
has
saved
us
who
believe
this is
a
powerful
message
church
there's a
fourth and
final
gospel truth
here
that cannot
go overlooked
fourth
we see
the greatest
proof
of the
love of
God
the
greatest
proof
love
of
God
look there
to verse
16
one more
time
because
here we
see
the
grounds
the
basis
for this
incredible
provision
of God
and it
is
shocking
for
God
so
loved
the
world
that
he
gave
his
only
son
for
God
so
loved
the
world
this
world
that
has
spat
in
his
face
the
world
that
has
rebelled
against
him
in
every
way
the
world
that
would
hang
his
son
upon
the
cross
for
God
so
loved
the
world
that
he
gave
his
only
son
that
whoever
believes
in
him
should
not
perish
but
have
eternal
life
God
loves
us
he
does
not
desire
that
any
should
perish
John
Calvin
the
great
reformer
he
says
of
this
verse
our
minds
cannot
find
calm
repose
until
we
arrive
at
the
unmerited
love
of
God
as
the
matter
of
our
salvation
must
not
be
sought
anywhere
else
than
in
Christ
so
we
must
see
whence
Christ
came
to
us
and
why
he
was
offered
to
be
our
savior
both
points
are
distinctly
stated
to
us
namely
that
faith
in
Christ
brings
life
to
all
and
that
Christ
brought
life
because
the
heavenly
father
loves
the
human
race
and
wishes
that
they
should
not
perish
there
are
many
unknown
truths
about
God
it
will
take
all
of
eternity
for
us
to
plunge
the
depths
of
the
mysteries
of
the
wonders
of
who
God
is
but
we
do
know
what
he
has
revealed
to
us
and
we
can
know
with
certainty
without
an
ounce
of
doubt
that
God
loves
us
he
proved
it
on the
cross
imagine
with me
for a
moment
that you
were sick
going about
your life
doing what
you want
to do
not thinking
of it
at all
and
suddenly
you
begin
to
notice
the
symptoms
you
become
aware
of your
sickness
that you're
you're
sick
and you
look around
you see
it's not
just
you
but it's
everyone
in your
family
everyone
in your
family
is
sick
and not
just
your
family
but
everyone
in your
neighborhood
not just
your
neighborhood
everyone
in your
community
not just
in your
community
every
individual
of
every
nation
in the
world
is sick
and it's
terminal
you don't
know how
long
you have
but you
know that
it's
serious
and this
is a
great
and terrible
problem
but
you hear
a word
somewhere
there is a
great
physician
who has
come on
his own
dime
and
developed
a cure
one
effective
cure
would that
be enough
for you
of course
it would
the word
is that
this cure
is available
it's offered
to you
free of
charge
you couldn't
afford it
if you
tried
it's simply
given
freely
to any
who would
come
it's available
to any
who would
simply
come
and receive
it
why would
you not
come
and receive
the cure
I can
think of
a few
reasons
maybe you
don't
trust
the cure
to be
effective
you look
at it
scoff
you laugh
it off
you ridicule
the cure
and count
it as
foolishness
that anyone
would trust
this with
their life
maybe you
don't yet
realize the
depth
and the
severity
of your
sickness
you assume
that maybe
you have
more time
than you
really do
who could
know
maybe you've
trusted in
another cure
you think
you found
another solution
to the
problem
and so
you self
medicate
with other
false
hopes
false
cures
that will
never
work
but maybe
you don't
come because
the truth
is deep
down
you hate
the physician
so you
rebel
against him
and you
choose rather
to die
than to come
to him
for life
but now
ask yourself
what would
this tell
you about
the doctor
no one
has compelled
him to do
this
he's not
under any
compulsion
and the
word is
that this
cure has
cost him
a great
fortune
his greatest
treasure
that the
blood of
his own
son was
spilled
to provide
this cure
for you
and anyone
else who
would come
and be
made well
what could
we conclude
but that
this physician
deeply
loves
those
who are
perishing
friend
if you
are
our
guest
this
morning
I don't
know where
you stand
with God
but I
know this
I know
that God
loves you
and I
know that
Christ
stands
now
risen
and alive
ready
and able
to provide
the cure
that you
need
for your
sin
that in
him
and in
him
alone
can we
have the
power
of eternal
life
forever
with God
so if you're
hearing these
words and you
you don't
know if you
have that
eternal life
if you
if you don't
know whether
you've been
made right
with God
would you
now turn
from your
sin and
trust and
look to
the risen
Christ
and you
will live
what do
you see
when you
consider the
message of
the gospel
to the
perishing
world
they see
foolishness
a waste
of time
a waste
of energy
worth no
more than
to be rolled
up and
smoked away
but to
those who
have been
born again
by the
grace of
God
we see
the
undeniable
irreversible
irrefutable
proof
of the
love of
God
for sinners
God
demonstrates
his own
love for
us in
this that
while we
were still
sinners
Christ
died
for us
and we
know by
the grace
of God
that no
matter what
comes against
us in
this life
whatever
struggle
whatever
temptation
whatever
hardship
whatever
loss
whatever
suffering
we are
sure that
neither
death
nor life
nor angels
nor rulers
nor things
present
nor things
to come
nor powers
nor height
nor depth
nor anything
else in
all creation
will be able
to separate
us from
the love
of God
in Christ
Jesus
our Lord
the cross
of Christ
powerfully
proves
God's love
for the world
and the
resurrection
of Christ
powerfully
secures
our experience
of that
love
in ever
increasing
depth
and delight
for the rest
of eternity
this is good
news
church
should you
ever doubt
the depth
and seriousness
of your sin
would you
remember the
message of the
gospel
the love
should you
ever doubt
the holiness
of God
his justice
would you
remember
the message
of the
gospel
will you
ever doubt
the power
of God
for the
salvation
of any
who
believes
should you
remember
the message of the gospel.
Should you ever doubt the love of God
for a sinner like you,
remember the message of the gospel.
Look to Christ and live.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you and we praise you
for your love, undeserved, unmerited,
but given freely to all
who come to Christ in faith.
We thank you for this promise of eternal life
that whosoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life.
We pray that if there are any here among us
this morning who don't know you,
would you give them that gift of eternal life.
And Lord, for those who do belong to you,
Father, we pray that we would be moved
and encouraged and nourished
by the love of God
and the hope of the resurrection.
We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.