Sermon
delivered on March 24th, 2019
Sunday Morning Service
By: Pastor Greg Hocson
Scripture Text: John 3:14-21
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15: That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16: For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17: For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. 19: And this is the condemnation, that light is come into
the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were
evil. 20: For every one that doeth evil hateth the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21: But
he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God.
Introduction
Let me begin this message by saying that God has a
heart for the nations, not just our nation. We should never entertain the
idea that God loves just the people here in the America and that we are the
only ones that God cares about. I hope we don't have this wrong notion
that God doesn't care about other nations. For the Bible truth is that God
loves the nations, not just our nation. God has heart for other nations also;
yes even those who do not love Him right now. I hope you still remember when
you didn't care about God but He still cared about you. I hope you still
remember when you didn't love God but He still loved you. God still loves these
other nations and has a heart to see them come to Him.
God has a plan and mission for the nations. In Psalm 67:1-3,
we read, God be merciful unto us,
and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be
known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise
thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
When you read the Bible you will realize that God has a
mission for the nations and that mission is clearly revealed in the very begining. Please turn to ...
Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will shew thee: 2: And I will make
of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and
thou shalt be a blessing:
We have here the record of God giving Abraham three
promises, namely, that He would make him a great nation, that He would bless
him and that He would make his name great. But in these promises, God has given
Abraham great responsibility. God said to Abraham in verse 3, And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
What God is essentially saying to Abraham is, "I
will bless you and all nations on the earth will be blessed through you."
God will bless Abraham to bless others. This blessing is to
be one that reaches out to every nation. In one sentence, God has revealed His
plan for the redemption of the world.
Christopher J. H. Wright writes about this promise to
Abraham, "God's promise to Abraham is the key to the rest of Scripture.
It is the beginning of mission and at the heart of the gospel. When we forget
who we are and why we are here to participate in the mission of God then we
have lost the plot of scripture."
This morning I want us to consider three simple truths
about missions. It is absolutely essential for us to know who we are and why we
are or we will fail at the mission of life. What is the purpose of life? What
is our mission in life? It is easy for us in the busyness
of life that we forget our mission in life.
I Missions is the Heartbeat of Christ
In our text, Jesus makes it plain to us that He was sent by
the Father with a mission. God had only one Son, and He made Him a
missionary.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
And Jesus' mission was not to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved. Jesus came to die for guilty sinners. This is what
He proclaimed throughout His earthly life and ministry. He came to seek and to
save that which was lost. He came to save His people from their sins. Even His
name Jesus, meant "Saviour."
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he
shall save his people from their sins.
In Matthew
18:11, Jesus made clear His mission when He
said, "For the Son of man is come
to save that which was lost."
Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost.
While John was baptizing in the Jordan River, Jesus
appeared, and when he saw Him coming, John the Baptist exclaimed in John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world." John the Baptist understood fully the heartbeat of
Jesus to take away the sin of the world.
The Apostle Paul was clear about the heart Jesus' for
missions. Listen to what he said in 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;
of whom I am chief."
That was the heartbeat of Jesus. As someone has said, "Every
beat of His heart throbbed to save souls. Every person He healed physically, He
then forgave them of their sin. Every person He dealt with, He first caused him
or her to grapple with their sin and pointed them to Himself as the answer."
Winning the lost is the very heartbeat of Jesus. Man's
redemption is central in all of His plans and purposes. This is true from the
beginning of time and it has not changed up to this very hour.
II Missions is the Hope of the Condemned
Not only is missions the heartbeat of
Christ, it is also the hope of the condemned.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18:
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. 19: And this is the condemnation, that light is come into
the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were
evil.
The Bible is clear that the whole world is already
condemned.
1 John 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the
whole world lieth in wickedness.
Without the Gospel, lost sinners are helpless, hopeless and hell-bound.
Their only hope is the hear and believe the
Gospel. But none of them will hear without someone telling them.
Please turn your Bibles to ...
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved.
If the sinner calls, whoever they are and whatever
they have done, God is willing and able to save them. If the sinner calls
upon His Name He will answer. He will save, the humble, contrite
heart that cries out "Lord, save me!" Here we see both the
simplicity and the sufficiency of the Gospel. Even a
little child can understand that, and that's all one needs to do to receive
full pardon for sinsto call on the Lord and ask Him in faith to save them.
But Paul recognized a problem ...
Romans
10:14 How then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall
they hear without a preacher? 15: And how shall they preach,
except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that
preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
The Gospel is simple and sufficient but as as someone has asked, "Of what use is a salvation
offered to Jews and Gentiles if they never hear about it? The problem with
reaching the world for Christ is not the simplicity of the
Gospel, nor the sufficiency of
the Gospel, but the scarcity of the goers."
And what's even sadder is that the few believers who are
willing to go, have little support from their fellow believers. O, may we hold the
rope for those who are willing to go.
III
Missions is the Health
of the Church
First, missions is the heartbeat of
Christ, secondly, it is also the hope of the condemned and
thirdly, missions is the health of the Church.
As I have said at the outset God has a heart for the
nations. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance. It is God's will that the Gospel go to everyone in the worldthat
everyone have the opportunity to know Jesus Christ. Missions is God's
main business, and it must be our main business. And any church that isn't
in the business of carrying out God's business has no business being in
business to begin with.
May we take care of God's business. May we be known to be missions minded church.
That ought to be our heart's desire - to be known as a missions-minded church. God
has blessed us here at Grace & Truth Bible Baptist Church in so
many ways, but the best is yet to come for this church. And if
we are to continue to experience the blessings of God to the fullest
extent in the days to come then we must strive not to forget to fulfill
our missionary obligation.
The Gospel was not designed to be hoarded; it was designed
to be shared. You were blessed to be a blessing. Please turn to ...
Proverbs 11:25 The liberal [generous] soul shall be made fat [rich]: and he that watereth
shall be watered also himself.
This is one of the paradoxes of Christian life, the
more you give, the more you have. The more you give it out, the more God
gives to you. If you generously give out your faith to others, God will
replenish your supply. But if you hoard your faith and rarely share it with
other people, then you will find yourself stagnating spiritually. Here is our
choice: Evangelize or fossilize.
Closing Thoughts
Now that we know God's mission, we are to take up His
mission. We are to be His ambassadors, bringing the message of the gospel to
all nations, so that all nations will experience salvation.
Our Lord Jesus has given us believers our marching orders
when He said, "Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature."
The question is, What are we doing to reach the lost around the world with the
Gospel? That's what this missions emphasis is all about. Maybe you are not
called to go to foreign field, but every person in this room can pray and
you can give to send others to go to the mission field to
reach the lost around the world with the Gospel.
AMEN!