Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.
Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina. But have everlasting life. Don't you love that verse? It's a verse that even unsaved people, unchurched people have often heard. Between Psalm 23 and that, it's very familiar. So let's look at something familiar and find truths that will always be firm and faithful.
Let's pray. Lord, we love You. Thank You for our time today. Thank You for the music. Thank You for our choir, for the special music. Thank You for our people, being faithful to your house.
Thank you for the beautiful weather. And Lord, I pray that you would bless as we speak on the subject of a father's gift. And Lord, I thank you for my family, for my sons, and thank you for their desire to be good to me on Father's Day.
Thank you for that. And Lord, our desire is to be good to you on Father's Day. I pray you'd bless as we look at this most special verse. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now if you can just for a minute think about the fact, besides the thousand times you've heard John 3.16, let's have an open mind as we look at it this morning just briefly to be renewed and reminded of how wonderful this truth is. Notice first, if you would, for God so loved the world.
First we see an amazing love. What's interesting here, it says for God so loved. Now I've heard so many explanations about that word so, but it is the, literally it is the Greek word howto.
And it's H-O-U-T-O. You say preacher, what does that mean? Obviously I'm gonna tell you what it means, or I wouldn't have brought it up.
It means this, in this way, after this manner, in this fashion, like this. If you think about this first we see that it is an example type of love. For God so, this is the way that God loved the world.
It's an example to us. I was listening to the radio this week and a preacher was on there and a man was counseling with him, having some marriage issues. And the pastor said that the man literally said to him, he said, I tell you preacher, sometimes I just think that I just love my wife too much. And all the wives out there thought, wouldn't that be a great problem to have? And the pastor said, well let me ask you this, do you love your wife as much as Christ loved the church? And he said, no, he said, well that's how God said you're supposed to love your wife, so you're just not quite loving her enough.
For God so loved in this manner. In other words, what's getting ready to follow is this is how real love is defined. You and I use that word love so loosely for so many things and we all know that. Like, you know, I love these tacos. Or I, well we do really love those tacos, but anyhow, you know what I'm saying? I can't think of a food reference where I don't really mean that, but you know what I'm saying. Like I love to exercise, yeah right. You know, we know what you really mean there, kind of a thing.
I'm gonna go on to the next point if that's okay. It kind of ruined everything I was trying to say there. An amazing love, first it's an example type of love in this manner, notice second it's an extreme type of love. For God so loved, he didn't just love, he so loved. In other words, he didn't just say that he loved, he did something about it.
In fact, he didn't just do something about it, he paid a sacrifice that nobody has ever done. It's an extreme type of love. If you're here this morning, we often times will find folks come in and out of church. And a lot of times they'll end up in church because they're going through difficulty or things and you know, they probably really need Christ in their life and they need to re-prioritize and get their relationship with the Lord settled and all these things. But they're usually, sometimes can end up, they'll look at a place like a church or they'll look out for something because somebody hasn't loved them right, somebody's done them wrong, somebody hasn't shown love to them. And I'm here to let you know, if maybe for some reason here this morning you're just empty, lost, like I'm here at church, I don't know if my heart's really in it but I'm just, you know, preacher, Daniel, whoever you are, I just need something, I'm here to tell you that the Lord loves you with an extreme type of love. He so loves you. Notice the third thing I see here, it's an extended type of love. For God so loved who? The world.
Can you extend any further than that? That pretty much covers everybody. It doesn't matter what color, doesn't matter where we're from, doesn't matter what our background, doesn't matter what ethnic group we're from, that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what color we are, it doesn't matter where we were born, it doesn't matter what country that we've lived in or haven't lived in or whatever the case might be, I don't care how you whittle it down, this verse makes it clear that God has extended his love to every living person.
He so loves you. Now, I would love to be able to say I just love the world, but I don't. Number one, I don't know a lot of the world, obviously, but number two, I do know some of the world, and that's what makes it hard to love.
Y'all understand? Y'all ever met individuals in your life or family or whatever the case might be over the years that have been difficult to love? God extended his love to everyone. Wow, an amazing love. Notice second, an amazing gift. He said for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
Now, notice first, it's a personal gift. He gave. This is from God himself. Now, you gotta remember, God is the creator of the universe. God is the creator of you, and you need to understand that. You're gonna get messed up on a lot of doctrine if you don't have that clear, that God's the creator, and you and I have gotta understand that here is not just love shown to us, but this is love coming from the creator, the king of kings and lord of lords. God loves so much that he has given this. He gave.
Now, don't get confused. I've heard people saying, and God just took his son and gave him. No, listen, Jesus, the Bible says, willingly laid down his life. God didn't make Jesus do anything he didn't wanna do.
They're both God, but you have to understand that God as the father had to allow Jesus to give himself as a sacrifice. God had to give him to let him come, and he loved us so much, the whole world, that he gave his own, it's a personal gift. You know, I have seen sometimes individuals, I have somewhere a letter that I got from the president of the United States. I will tell you how special it is. I don't remember which president it was.
I really don't. I'm sure it was a stamped signature at the bottom of it. I got it from the office of the president of the United States. I don't remember, it was for some kind of commendation, I guess for just being wonderful. I don't know what it was that I got.
I get it all the time. So anyway, it was just another thing that I had received. And I'm sure that whatever president it was, I wish I could remember. I don't remember if it was Clinton or Reagan. I don't remember. Anyway, but I'm sure that it had nothing to do personally.
It's not like he's sitting in the Oval Office. Oh, here's Daniel Haughtry. You know, I'm gonna write him a letter.
You know, write me. It was, hey, you know, we're gonna do this. My people get their people, and those people get those people, and those people. There was nothing personal about it.
I'm grateful for it, thankful for it. Nothing personal about it. If I walked up to whoever that president was today, and you know, it's narrowed down.
I know it's between three or four men. But if I knew what the president was, if I walked up to them today or something and said, hey, you know, you wrote me a letter, thank you for that, they're not gonna look at me and say, oh, that's right, yeah, I'm glad you got it. There was nothing personal about it. But this gift is personal. God not only gave it to you, but God would have given it to you if you were the only person alive, a personal gift. Note a second, it's a precious gift.
He gave his only begotten son, his only. It's precious. There's not another one like it. You know what makes things collectible? The fact that there's few of them. You know, there's certain cars that really aren't that great of cars. But because there was only maybe 10 made, they're pretty valuable.
You know what I'm saying? You ever seen a gremlin? They're not that great of cars. You see some cars going through the auctions on TV, sometimes I'll watch that, you know, and you see a car going through and you look at what some of them are going for, and it's like, that doesn't even have air conditioning. You know, it's the first thing I notice.
So you're like, what in the world? But you know why they're valuable is not really just for what they can do, but it's because there's so few of them. But God gave us a precious gift. It was his only son.
Notice thirdly here, it was a painful gift. You see, when God gave his son, what did that mean? When God gave his only, his precious son, it meant that he was going to have to allow him to enter a sinful world. It means he was gonna have to allow him to become sin for us. It meant he was going to have to allow him to be beaten, spit upon, ridiculed, shamed publicly, all those things. And you know, I've often said it before, I'm not trying to draw a light necessarily to it, but you just think how disrespectful, how embarrassing it must have been for Jesus to hang naked on a cross.
Just that. Imagine the shame that you would feel. That means God had to allow that to happen. It was a painful gift. What's amazing is, imagine how painful this was to God the Father, to allow this gift to be given. And you and I complain that we need to give 10%. This really hurts.
Preacher, I put my $10 in this week. Really hurt? Oh really? Really painful.
Are you and I not like that sometimes? What we consider so painful to give to the Lord and yet we think of the gift that we received. A painful gift. Amazing love, amazing gift. Notice thirdly, an amazing offer.
Now it's amazing here he says this. That whosoever believeth in him whosoever believeth in him, that's the offer. Now when I hear of an offer at all, first we have to ask this question. Number one, who is it to? Who is the offer to?
Because that's gonna limit a lot. In other words, might as well not get excited if it's not an offer made to me. It's like when you see the commercial that if you call this number and get such and such, you're gonna be getting free cable for eight months and then you call and they're like, well yeah, but that's to a certain limited for you, it's going to be 5,000 a month or something like that. You're like, what in the world? You just advertised. So you gotta figure out, all right, is this an offer to me?
And so we gotta cover this first. He says this, whosoever. So whosoever means whosoever. It means anybody, anyone, and he's already covered that he loved the whole world. So he's given his son to the whole world and he has made this offer to every person. Now, not every person will take him up on this offer. Not every person will receive the Lord.
There's a lot of people that'll go through the motions, a lot of people that think that if I'm a good person that that means that's gonna make me a good enough person. If my good deeds outdo my bad deeds then I'll get to be in heaven and I'm a good enough person then God will let me in heaven. And dear friend, you know, I hope I've trained you and taught you and preached you enough over the years to know that is not the truth. The best you and I could do, the Bible said, is filthy rags in the eyes of Christ.
He's holy. The only way you and I get to heaven is through the blood of Jesus Christ. And this offer has been made to whosoever. So who is it to?
It's to whosoever, okay? Second thing is this, all right, this is an offer. What is required? I need to know because if I'm gonna make a decision on this thing, number one, is it even to me?
Okay, yes it is. What's required? Notice, what is it? Whosoever believeth in him. That's it. Believeth in him.
Not on, in him. So what does that mean? Well, even the demons of hell know that there's a God. They know there's Jesus. Knowing that he's there, believing he's alive, doesn't mean that you put your faith and trust in Christ.
It means this, that this is the offer. There's an amazing love that it's something that I have done and I've given a gift to the whole world and not only that, I've given this personal, precious, painful gift and I've given this offer to anybody that wants it. And the only thing they have to do is believe in him.
Him who? To believe in Jesus. The gift that he gave, we have to believe in that gift.
In Jesus Christ. That's it. What's amazing is there's a lot of things that maybe I could do that some of you couldn't do and there's a lot of things that some of you can do that I can't do. I mean, yesterday, last night, because I had recorded some stuff and I got home late, I was watching a little bit of the golf tournament. It's a US Open Major kind of a thing and I'm watching it and these guys are obviously, they're good and that course made them look bad yesterday.
But these guys are good kind of thing and you know what? I love to play golf and all this stuff but I cannot do what those guys do. I just can't. It doesn't matter if I want to, I can't.
I don't know how to do that. But the one thing that God required of us is something that everybody can do. You can believe.
You might not be able to do some things physically and you might not be as smart as other people mentally and there might be a lot of things going on and there might be a lot of limitations in your physical life or in your mental life or whatever the case might be. But he gave one requirement that every person that is interested in this offer can do. They can believe. Dear friend, we're not asking you to join a church to be saved. Joining a church doesn't make you saved. We're not asking you to change the way you dress. We're not asking you to start following a list of rules. We're not asking you that in order to be saved, you got to do this, do that, look like this, look like that.
This verse never says anything about any of that. The way you and I receive this gift is to believe. That's it. Notice number four, an amazing result.
An amazing love that produced an amazing gift that produced an amazing offer and depending on your decision produces an amazing result. Notice first, you escape death. Should whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Say, well, I'm gonna be honest with you, sometimes preacher life gets so hard. You know, how bad could it be?
Oh, listen to me, dear friend. If you die without Christ, it can be real bad. Worse than you ever thought. Worse than you ever thought. I don't get off on stuff, you know that, but I was driving back from Florida and there was a big truck hauling whiskey and I don't remember the brand name of what it was.
It had like a dragon, looked like a devil or something, breathing out fire. And excuse the expression, I'm just gonna tell you, I was driving by and I looked at that thing and it said on this, tastes like heaven, burns like hell. Little do they know how true they are. This world thinks that death is nothing. We're just gonna go to some party somewhere. We're just, you know, after this life, we're just gonna end up back as a cow or we're gonna end up back as something else. And dear friend, you have no idea what death would be without Christ.
But here's an amazing love that has given an amazing gift that's made an amazing offer. And the result is if you believe in Christ, you escape death. When I say death, I mean hell.
Dear friend, can you imagine? Our minds cannot fathom what it would be like to burn in hell for an eternity. I can't even imagine what it's gonna be like to live in heaven for an eternity.
Could you imagine any way to describe to end up in hell and know you will never, ever, ever get out. Here, Jesus dies on the cross. God the Father gives his son his precious gift so that you and I can escape death. Notice the second thing, a wonderful result is everlasting life. So whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It doesn't mean you're gonna everlastingly live which you are, it means you're gonna have everlasting life. You know there's a difference in breathing and living? When you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, God says you will not perish you will have everlasting life.
And if God, the Bible says, has offered life more abundant here on earth imagine what life is in heaven. It's amazing. Really Ben, if you have this picture, I have mentioned this here before, I wanted to do some research.
And you know, you're at the mercy of the stuff that you're able to look up. I did find this verified three or four places but you know, you don't ever know. And because I've told this before, because it's Father's Day I was thinking about this and I thought, is this really true?
And y'all might remember I've shared with this but I wanted to read just a few of the details. In 1937, a man named John Griffith and he lived through the Great Depression in the United States and he was living in Oklahoma trying to operate a farm and it failed. So this John Griffith moved from Oklahoma, took his wife and his young son, Greg or Gregory as he called him and he found work as a bridge operator on the Mississippi River. This is the actual bridge that he worked, that he controlled.
And obviously you can see this is a very, very old picture. And as he began to try to make a new life, this meant that he controlled this movement and draw bridges are different now, they're far advanced. There's large gears at the bottom of this type of bridge and a boat that was taller would have to go over just this small section. It was very archaic in its earliest form and he got work obviously controlling this and this is not a car bridge, this is a train bridge. And obviously, you know, back in 1937, trains were the main source of transportation and different things. So his job was to keep that bridge down when trains were due to come across and when a boat needed it, he would raise that up and they kept a very close schedule. And obviously that was his job. So one day he took his son, Greg, who was eight years old at the time, and he took him to work because he had hoped that in the next year he would start working there for the same company.
Yeah, you could work at nine and 10 years old years ago as they had just been through the Great Depression. And so this, his son Gregory watched him as he controlled and manipulated this lever that caused this bridge to go up and down. And apparently one day at lunch that John had raised the bridge for a boat coming through and he took his son to go eat some lunch. And the story goes that they were sitting there near that bridge, they were eating lunch, and all of a sudden in the distance they heard a train whistle.
And this John Griffith realized that, oh my goodness, that's right, the train is scheduled to come through and he had kind of forgotten, overlooked, taken a little bit more time at lunch. And he told his son, he said, you stay right here, I'll be right back. So he ran and climbed up through the gears and went up to the place where he was gonna lower that level and he didn't know, but his son had followed him trying to get there and was trying to climb up through the same place to get to the thing. And as John Griffith was trying to get up there to lower this bridge, where he would see, he looked down and his son had gotten stuck in those gears at this bridge. And he got a train coming with about 400 people on it. And literally he could see the train and he was at a moment, because of where he was, he couldn't get to his son, he could see his son through the window, but there's no way he could get down to him. And he had a decision to make. If he did not put the bridge down immediately, then that train would derail and 400 people might lose their lives, but if he did, it might would kill his son. Now, and you've heard me share this and sometimes I think, yeah, we come up with our stories, and is this true or not? And I don't know, I've got a name and I've got a bridge and things, but who knows, I don't know. But as I thought about this, if this is accurate at all, that here's a man looking, and I don't know how I could do that.
Now, I'm gonna be honest with you, I might be real tempted to let 400 people worry about their funeral plans. I don't know how I could do it to my son. But that day, that man, they said what he did was, apparently, according to the account that I can find, is that he covered up his face with his arm so that he wouldn't, and he pulled that lever down. And as that bridge went down, it crushed his young son, he died. But that bridge got down, as the account says, literally seconds before, and that train came through. And just the heartache of this man, and as that train went through, he was looking over, not to even look down. And as that train went by, there were business people on that train and different things. And they were just sitting there, and he almost became, obviously, hurt, but he was agitated, as if, did you not even know what I just did for you? But they didn't know.
And they just went on. And you know, it makes you think, and I don't know if it's true, if it's not true. But imagine a God, that God the Father, would be willing for mankind to sacrifice his son.
And imagine how many people, when they hear it, and hear the truth, don't even care about it. So what? So what that somebody did this. This morning, I was getting ready, coming out, and my wife had, you know, done the mother thing, make sure they fill out a card, kind of a thing.
Get the boys, get your card for dad. And all that stuff. And so, they came out and brought their, you know, cards, and I was standing there, and so Kayden came out, and he had his card, and he had a little bag, you know, but he was holding the card up, wanted me to see the card, kind of thing, so holding the card, so I opened up Kayden's card, and he had done his best to draw or write, whatever, in it, and it had a $20 bill in the card. And I was like, whoa. And I was like, look at this money. And he said, that's something for you.
You need to go buy something. I said, well, daddy will, you know, it's just wonderful. And so I was talking to my wife in the car, on the way over to church, and this morning, she went to get their cards, he was panicking in the bedroom upstairs, and he had his piggy bank, and he couldn't get it open. And he was almost crying, and she came in, she goes, what are you doing? He was just upset. He said, I've gotta get money out for daddy, it's Father's Day. And she said, well, what in the world? He said, I gotta get money out, he's been so good to me that I gotta give him something. My wife said, well, I got some cash.
What do you wanna give him? He said, 100. And my wife said, my wife said, we don't love daddy that much.
At least that's what I heard. And she said, I have a 20, or a 10. He said, give him a 20. What are you gonna do with that $20? You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna go buy that boy something.
When's the last time you broke the bank? Because God's been so good to you. I've gotta give him something.
I've gotta do more. He's been so good to me, I can't get enough to give him. Father's gift. Lord, I love you today.
Lord, some of us oughta break the bank. Some of us oughta take a hammer, smash it open because of the gift you've given us. God, you have shown us amazing love. You have given us an amazing gift.
You have made us an amazing offer. With our heads bowed and our eyes closed this morning, I want you to know this morning, I know it's Father's Day and I know we have a lot of things going on. But if you're here this morning and you do not know Jesus as your savior, if you've not put your faith and trust in him, please don't get confused. It can become so confusing. Man does so much to confuse God's word. But if you're here and you say, preacher, I don't really think I've done that, but I do wanna put my trust in Jesus Christ.
It is an amazing offer. And I believe what God's word says. Dear friend, it is simply a matter of you and I understanding first that we're sinners. Why would we wanna be saved if we don't think we need to be saved? We have to realize the need to be saved before we'll have a heart to cry out for Christ to save us. Do you believe that you're a sinner?
Do you admit that you've done wrong? Second thing is this, do you believe what God's word says? If you say, yes, I believe what the Bible says, the third thing is simply to believe in him, to trust him, to call out to him, to ask Jesus to save you. It's as simple as Jesus, I believe in you.
I know you died for me. Save me today with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. If that's you, dear friend, right now, with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, you can pray a prayer. Lord, I believe, I believe what your word says and I'm asking you to save me today.
There's a lot I don't understand and, boy, there's a lot of things in my life that I know probably need to change eventually. But, God, I'm putting my faith and trust in you today and I'm asking you to save me. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kirtland Baptist Church is located at 45th Street, Kirtland Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kirtlandbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kirtland broadcast today. God bless you. We'll see you next time.
