“WHOSOEVER WILL”
John 3:14-16; Hebrews 9: 26 (from ‘But’)-28; 10:11-14, 19-22; Philippians 2:5-11
The gospel comes from the heart of God. It is not about man’s ideas, or what people might think, but it comes from God Himself. If anyone preaches the gospel or speaks to someone about the Lord Jesus, they are speaking on God’s behalf, and seeking to convey God’s thoughts. How great that is, how it characterises the present dispensation, “God’s dispensation, which is in faith” (1 Tim.1:4); in the glad tidings it is God who is speaking. The prophet says that: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts”, Isa.55:8. We might have certain thoughts about ourselves and about how we stand in relation to God, but His thoughts are so much greater than ours, and they involve the blessing of the sinner and God being glorified. The gospel is very great. I am sure I am speaking to a sympathetic audience, those who know God, but how great it is that the gospel comes from the heart of God Himself; it conveys God’s great purposes of grace and blessing. Persons tend to limit things; we would tend in that way to be selfish, to limit thoughts or ideas or blessing to ourselves, or to those that we know. That was seen in the Jews in particular when Jesus was here: they thought that as they were God’s chosen people, the blessing should only be for them and not for anybody else. But God’s thoughts are so much greater than our thoughts.
I read this first scripture, so well known, because of this word “whosoever”. It conveys the thought that the gospel is available to all. It is not limited from God’s side to a particular nation or to persons who come to meetings, or to persons who lead a good life. It is available to all; it is “whosoever”. That means you or me or anyone else: “whosoever”. And in that way, God’s thoughts are very wide. God’s desire is that “whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. What a word that is. What blessings are involved in that. God desires that you should receive them. Perhaps we might in some way seek to limit God’s thoughts or limit the blessing. We might say that we are too bad to be saved, or we might think we are too good to need to be saved, but we can all come into this very wide category of “whosoever”. So when the preaching goes out, there is no sense that you might be excluded from the appeal, or that God is not speaking to you. Whoever you are, you can come into blessing; it is “whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”.
I was thinking too that the Scriptures speak of another very broad category. It says in Romans chapter 3; “for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”(v 22). You come into that category too, dear hearer, and so do I. We have all sinned, there is no exception to that; we all come short of the glory of God. Think of how all-encompassing that is, that there is no one who has not sinned, there is no one who does not need the gospel, no man or woman or child who is not a sinner. But the wonder of the gospel is that there is no one excluded from hearing the gospel message or from receiving it. The righteousness of God is “towards all”, but also that it is “upon all those who believe”.
So the word comes to you tonight, dear hearer; there is a great opportunity as the gospel goes out to all. The question is whether you come into this category of those who believe on Jesus. The gospel is preached that you should believe. It is a critical moment. We do not know how much time there may be. Think of events in the world where persons thought they had time and their lives are brought suddenly to an end. Death, from that point of view, is very near, but in the word going out to all tonight, there is an opportunity for “whosoever” – you! – to believe on Christ. He has been lifted up on the cross. That is very affecting, for these are the Lord’s own words: “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up”. The ‘musts’ of Scripture are very affecting; He must be lifted up. Our Lord Jesus was lifted up to die as the perfect sacrifice for sins, and because of His completed work, the gospel goes out that you may believe on Him and come into the blessing of life eternal. I appeal to you from this scripture that you should not exclude yourself from the scope of the gospel. Have you responded to it? The Lord Jesus is presented as the only Saviour for sinners. That is another ‘must’ that comes into the Scriptures; “for neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved”, Acts 4:12. The gospel is not optional; you and I have a responsibility to answer to it because you are a sinner and I am a sinner. We all come into that category, but the gospel is going out to all. It also says, “For every one whosoever, who shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved”, Rom.10:13. Have you done that? Dear hearer, dear young one, have you called on the Lord Jesus for salvation? He is available. You must not think that the gospel is not for you personally. The word goes out to all: “whosoever”. I am just impressed with the greatness of it being available for all.
I read in Hebrews about the greatness of the glad tidings. We read of this one offering for sins; it says, “… the Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear to those that look for him the second time without sin for salvation”. Chapter 10 goes on to speak about the sacrifices in the Old Testament and how the priests were continually offering the sacrifices: they did not stop, they had to keep offering. The reason is given in verse 4 of chapter 10, “For blood of bulls and goats is incapable of taking away sins”. In the glad tidings there is one sacrifice for sins presented. I was thinking about the extensiveness of the glad tidings, but it is all