One of the greatest surprises of my life was to meet with a boy who did not know the great gospel text John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). Someone has well said it is the Gospel in a nut-shell. What beautiful words we have here.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I came across this boy when traveling. His was a sad story indeed. His father was killed in the war. His mother had died a few years before I came into contact with him. He was left alone in the world with no home, and no one to care for him, and had never heard the Gospel. He did not know the precious name of “Jesus” our beloved Saviour and Lord. What a joy it was to pour into his ear the glad tidings of the Gospel, of God’s wonderful provision in the gift of His Son. To tell him of a God who would be a Father to the fatherless, of a Saviour who would save to the uttermost all who would come, and would be Shepherd and Friend to all who would trust Him. I had to leave the poor boy where he could get some food, and press on my way, praying that God would bless the simple testimony borne.
How thankful our readers ought to be for the privileges they enjoy. Most, if not all, have heard the Gospel time and time again. Most have Christian friends who have some interest in their material and spiritual welfare. Will those who know the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, please think sometimes and pray, too, for the poor boys and girls who know nothing of God’s wonderful salvation, and have little to comfort in this life.
But to return to our text, think again on these wonderful words. Briefly put, this can be your experience, “God loved,” “God gave,” “I bieved,” “I have.”
The Apostle Paul knew this wonderful truth in his own blessed experience, and he said,
“The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.”
John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) is the Gospel for the world. Galatians 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) is the experience of the individual. The one who believes John 3:16,16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) singles himself out from the great mass, and knows the Lord Jesus as his Substitute, as Paul did.
Boys and girls are included in the sweeping statement of John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). They form part of the world, but was it not a little boy who told the old man long ago in reply to his question about the big word “whosoever,”
“It just means you and me and everybody else.”
You are included in the first part of the verse, boys and girls, but remember God intends you to be among the “whosoevers” in the second part.
“God loved the world of sinners lost
And ruined by the fall,
Salvation full at highest cost
He offers free to all.
“O ‘twas love, ‘twas wondrous love,
The love of God to me;
It brought my Saviour from above
To die on Calvary.”
ML 10/08/1944