An Offer No One Could Refuse? Series

John 3:16-21

• A deal too good to be true? Give you a 20 for every 1 in your wallet? Too good to be true? Yep it is. GODFATHER movie line ‘I’m going to make you an offer you cannot refuse’. God our Father has done the same, you would think.

• John 3:16: Most well know verse in the Bible which will also make it the greatest evidence against those who knew it and blew it by not accepting God’s forgiveness based upon what this passage says.

• BACKGROUND: Jesus is visited at night by a prominent Pharisee named NICODEMUS.(NICK AT NIGHT).

Imagine Billy Graham at Harvard(room full of most distinguished and educated professors) One message to them: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN! One of the most learned men in Israel needs to hear one message: You must be born again. Not you must work harder, try more, do more, ask more, be more religious…BORN AGAIN.

NICODEMUS did not own a bar, run a brothel, publish Playboy magazine….he was one of the most respected and accomplished in the community and the religious community. Room full of Pastors, Deacons, their wives and Sunday School teachers or speaking to rescue mission. SAME MESSAGE.

16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

WHAT IT OFFERS: 16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

1. Offer reminds us the DESIRE of a God who loves us. loved the world, Not just some of us but the whole world of us.

2. Offers shows us the DEPTH in that God was willing to His own Son to make the offer possible. gave His only begotten Son

3. Offer shows us the DEMAND in that it is available ONLY to those who believe by faith and trust in what His Son did in order to save them. whoever believes in Him

4. Offer shows us the DIFFERENCE it makes in that we are kept from persishing and receive ETERNAL LIFE. not perish, but have eternal life

a. PERISH:.

We live in a world filled with worry about health issues. Heart attack, cancer? Telethons and other fundraises to help protect us and heal us from these concerns. ONE DISEASE WE ARE ALL SURE TO GET: DEATH

GOD KNOWS OUR GREATEST NEED: Wages of sin is DEATH

b. More than eternal existence but Life beyond belief

WHY THIS OFFER IS MADE: 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

1. That SALVATION might be made possible: might be saved through Him

Ever get a phone call or have somebody show up at the door obviously selling something. They begin with all this sales pitch stuff and never really tell you what they are even selling. You want them to at least let you know what they are trying to sell you. I can tell you right now that I don’t need JESUS TELLS US RIGHT UP FRONT WHY HE IS HERE AND WHAT HE IS BRINGING US.

The Bible does tells us that Jesus will ultimately come as our Judge and we see that very vividly in the last part of the Book of Revelation but God did not send Jesus to the world to be a judge but to save the world through His death for us on the cross.

1 Tim 2:3-4 ) For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

{4} who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

“desires” speaks of God’s “will”, “wish”, what He “loves”, what He finds “pleasure” in.

Bible doesn’t say, “Go into all the world and tell those dirty rotten sinners that they’re going to hell”. Not send the BODY of CHRIST to Condemn the world