John 3:16 That Whoever Believes In Him Series

Note: Resources used was John 3:16 by Max Lucado

Title: That Whosoever Believes in Him

Theme: To show anyone that puts their trust in Christ shall be saved

Text: John 3:16 – 21

Offering - Thanksgiving

Psa 50:14-15 Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High. (15) Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."

Joh 3:16-21

(16) "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (17) "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (18) "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (19) "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (20) "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. (21) "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever

Whoever unfurls 3:16 as a banner for the ages. Whoever unrolls the welcome mat of heaven to humanity. Whoever invites the world to God.

Jesus could have so easily narrowed the scope, changing who-ever into whatever. “Whatever Jew believes” or “Whatever woman follows me.” But he used no qualifier. The pronoun is wonder-fully indefinite. After all, who isn’t a whoever?

The word sledgehammers racial fences and dynamites social classes. It bypasses gender borders and surpasses ancient traditions. Whoever makes it clear: God exports his grace worldwide. For those who attempt to restrict it, Jesus has a word: Whoever.

The Church and Whosoever.

Even though groups have always seem to hoard the message of Christ to their own little group Christ has always presented the gospel message as to anyone who believes.

In early Christianity the Jews tried to keep the gospel for themselves and to those who look like them. This became a battle of the New Testament Church.

Soon after that the Catholic Church tried to keep this message to themselves and those who followed their religious ways.

Then you have the protestants who adopted the teaching of “justification by faith” and made the gospel message more universal.

In the last two centuries we have seen groups rise and fall some trying to hoard this message as those who look like them. The Baptist and Pentecostals all would present themselves as owners of this gospel but thank the Lord they grew.

It seems that every time the Lord would give some new revelation of the scripture people would try to get people to follow them. Problem was the goal in the scriptures is always to get people to follow Christ and not follow them.

Usually when a message is presented to where there is a goal to get people to follow a man or a system outside of Christ a cult and/false religion is created such as: Jehovah’s Witness, Mormons, David Koresh, Worldwide Church of God, etc.

Our goal is to get people focused on Christ not on ourselves.

Jesus makes this clear as we read His accounts in scripture, He brings up this word whoever over and over again in the gospels.

Whoever of the Gospels by Jesus

Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. (Matt. 10:32)

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matt. 10:39)

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.(Mark 3:35)

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:16)

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. (John 3:36)

Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. (John 4:14)

Whoever comes to me I will never drive away. (John 6:37)

Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:26)

Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Rev. 22:17)

Titus 2:11 assures us that “the grace of God . . . has appeared to all men.” Paul contends that Jesus Christ sacrificed himself “to win freedom for all mankind” (1 Tim. 2:6 NEB). Peter affirms that “it is not his [God’s] will for any to be lost, but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9 NEB). God’s gospel has a “who-ever” policy.