Let’s open our Bibles this morning to John chapter 3. We’ve been studying in John 3 for several weeks now; we’ve seen from verses 3-7 that the requirement of salvation is to be born again, we’ve seen from verses 15-16 that the method of salvation is Jesus’ death and our faith in Him, and we’ve seen from verses 16-17 the results of salvation which is eternal life. Today we are going to look at just one verse, verse 16. Now Martin Luther said that John 3:16 was the entire Bible in miniature form, and so in reality we’re going to study the whole Bible today. Let’s look at the most well-known verse in the entire Bible, here is the Bible in miniature:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)
Let’s pray together: “Father, please open our eyes to your truth, open our hearts to your love, and give us grace this morning to comprehend, and apply, and obey the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
Before we study together, I want to introduce our study by telling you about an English King whose young daughter had a deadly disease. The doctors told the King that he needed to stay away from his daughter’s face and under no circumstances was he to breathe his daughter’s breath because the King would then contract the disease himself and it would kill him too. A few days after hearing this warning the King went to visit his daughter. The daughter began to choke and as the King lifted her up to help her from choking and held her in his arms as his daughter died, the final words out of her mouth were “daddy would you please kiss me.” Even though the King knew that he would die from that act of love, that father leaned over his daughter and kissed her. Two months later the King was dead from the same disease.
2,000 years ago God the King, our Father came to this earth in a human body. He came to kiss this guilty world in love. 33 years later He was dead, having breathed our air, and kissed the face of humanity. But in that act of love, in giving His own life for us, He did something more than the English king did for his daughter; through Jesus’ death He actually healed us of our sin sickness, so that whoever believes will never perish but have eternal life. The kiss killed Him, but it gave us life.
Today I want to draw our attention to five points that come directly from John 3:16. Four of these points have to do with God, and one has to do with us.
1. God’s initiation of salvation (For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son)
2. God’s motivation in salvation (For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son)
3. God’s inclusion in salvation (For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son)
4. God’s action in salvation (For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son)
5. Our conviction in salvation (that whoever believes in Him will not perish)
1.The first point we want to notice is God’s initiation of our salvation: the verse says God so loved the world that He gave His Son. So that He took the initiative, He started it, He began the process, we didn’t. In Isaiah 65:1 God says, “I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me.” You see Him taking the initiative here. Revealing Himself to people who are not looking for Him. And that’s why the song says, “He did not wait for me to call out to Him, but He let me hear His voice calling me.” God initiated the process of salvation by sending His Son to die in our place, and His Spirit to live in our hearts. And that’s why Jonah says, “Salvation is of the Lord”. He initiates it. “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only son.”
God initiates His salvation. Remember when Adam and Eve had sinned in the garden? They were not looking for God, they were hiding from God, and God came to them, not in the heat of anger but in the cool of the day. He came to hold them accountable for their sin, yes, but also to clothe them, that is, to cover their shame. God initiated their salvation. In the same way, Jesus says to His disciples in John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.” In John 3:16 we see God’s initiation in salvation.
Now let’s apply this truth: To people who are rebelling against God and spurning His love and stiff-arming His Word, He comes to us in grace. He comes and says, “My child, I love you. I sent my Son to die for you, and my Spirit to wash you, and I freely forgive you. Now, come and follow me.”
2. The second point we want to notice is God’s motivation in salvation. “For God so loved the world the world.” God sent His Son because He was motivated by a heart of love. And notice that it does not say, “For God loved the world”, although that would be enough for us to understand His motivation. No it says “For God SO loved the world”. Oh what an eternity of love is wrapped up in that little word “so.” It’s the difference between me saying to my wife, “love you Jody” and saying, “I love you SO SO much.” God SO loved the world.
So that John 3:16 reveals the heart of God, it reveals to us that His love was as strong as death. I’d like to ask you to turn with me in your bibles to Song of Solomon chapter 8, as I want to illustrate the amazing love of God. I love these verses. Our family just got through reading the book of Song of Solomon and we just absolutely had a blast; if you want to have a good time in your home, just listen to your children try to keep a straight face when they read this passionate love story: “your neck is like an ivory tower, your teeth are like sheep freshly shorn, each has its twin.” The beloved says:
Song of Songs 8:6-7 (NIV)
6 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.
And in God’s case His love for you was as strong as death, even the death of His Son on a cross. I mean His love was so strong that He burned with passion for us, so that in giving us Jesus Christ He gave away all the wealth of His house. And how did the people respond? They utterly scorned Him. They mocked Him, spit at Him, tore out His beard, slapped his face and then hung him on an instrument of torture.
And you and I read that today and we’re shocked, how could anyone reject such love? But you know what? You and I scorn His love if we won’t accept His forgiveness of our sins. We scorn His love today if we refuse to give up our sinful habits.
But that’s how strong His love is. God SO loved the world that He gave His only Son, a love as strong as death. God’s motivation in salvation was His love.
So let me ask you this morning: do you know this amazing love? Has it filled your heart? Has it changed your life? Have you stopped looking for love in all the wrong places?
Well, we’ve seen God’s initiation and His motivation…
3. Next, notice God’s inclusion in salvation: God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish. “The world” and “whoever” are inclusive statements. Aren’t you glad it doesn’t say, “for God so loved the rich, or the famous, or the righteous, or the thin, or the pure, or the holy”? No God’s love is an inclusive love. God loves His world. See Jesus was talking to Nicodemus here, and Nicodemus thought that God only loved the Jews, but here Jesus says God so loved the world.
But question: isn’t there a limit? Surely there has to be an end to this love. You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But David the adulterer never found it. Paul the murderer never found it. Peter the liar never found it. When it came to life, they hit bottom. But when it came to God’ s love, they never did. You may have heard it said “When asked to describe the width of his love, Jesus stretched one hand to the right and the other to the left and had them nailed in position so we would know He died loving the world.”
Listen, you know why I pray for this church to grow? The same reason why I want all churches to grow. Because I want more people to experience God’s love. We’re praying that God would send more people to experience His love, so that we can all rejoice in His love together.
4. God’s action in our salvation. Love is action! The verse says, “God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son.” Isaiah 53 says “It pleased the Father to bruise Him and to put Him to grief.” Then it says “God makes His life a guilt offering.” Now that’s action: because God loves the world he bruised His own Son, He put His Son to grief, He made His life a guilt offering for us. That’s action! Love is action.
Let’s look at 1 John 3:16 again. Let’s actually look at 3 verses, 1 John 3:16-18, and let’s notice from this passage that love motivates us to action!
1 John 3:16 gives us the definition of love: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” So the definition of love is the cross. If God had a heavenly dictionary and we looked up the word “love” we would see a picture of Jesus dying on the cross. God so loved the world that He gave His Son. Jesus so loved the world that He gave His life. And now we know what love is; we know the definition of love because of what Jesus did. Love is action.
But his verse not only gives us the definition of love, but also the application of love: “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” Love is action, Jesus gave up His life for us, we should give up our lives for each other. Love is action.
Verse 17 gives us the illustration of love: “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” In other words, God saw us in our miserable condition; self-deceived, in bondage to sin and unable to help ourselves. But He loved us, He had pity on us, He sent Jesus to die for us.
Verse 18 sums it all up: Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. God did not merely shout from heaven, “I love you”, no God did not love with word or tongue, but in action and in truth. Jesus did not love with word or tongue but in action and in truth. God gave his most precious Son, the Son gave His most precious blood. That’s love in action, to give something precious.
And so here is a summary. We’ve seen the initiation of God (He began it), we’ve seen the motivation of God (love), we’ve seen the inclusion of God (the world), and we’ve seen the action of God (gave His Son).
But there is something remaining that we must see from this passage. That’s our conviction: “that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” You know what the biggest problem with that statement is? It’s that “belief” is not defined. Listen to James 2:19:
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. James 2:19 (NIV)
The demons are believers, did you know that? They believe there is a God, they even believe in Jesus, they believe He died on the cross and that he rose again. Demons have orthodox theology and are believers in Jesus. If they believe, why are they not saved?
Because are they are not changed in their nature. With their minds they believe, but with their hearts they still love the darkness.
You see when the Bible talks about believing, it does not mean giving mental assent to something. It means the life-changing kind of faith. For instance, turn over to chapter 6 and we will see what real believing is:
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35 (NIV)
So you mean, if I believe in Jesus I’ll never need to drink water again? What does it mean, “he who believes in me will never be thirsty?” It’s not talking about never needing to have a drink again, it simply means that before we are believers we are thirsting; that is, we have unsatisfied longings, we have cravings and yearnings of our hearts. Our souls are parched and dehydrated. And when we come to believe in Jesus we become satisfied because we have all we need in Him. Coming to believe in Jesus is exactly like a parched man in the desert finding a cool, tall glass of water.
See saving faith is thirst-quenching faith. It is satisfying faith. It is life changing faith. It takes a man who was a drunkard or drug addict and changes his life and quenches his thirst. Faith takes a man involved in pornography or gambling or any sinful habit and forgives his sin, purifies his heart and quenches his thirst. Faith takes a person who is discontent, unhappy with their circumstances, always looking for something better, and it brings heart-felt satisfaction to them. That is saving faith.
Let’s read the verse again this way: For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes, that is, whoever’s thirst has been quenched in Jesus, whoever’s life has been changed, will not perish but have eternal life.
So let me ask you today: do you have the kind of faith that the demons have, where they acknowledge the truth but continue to love the darkness? Or has your conviction about Christ changed your life?
So let me conclude with a word to any who may not be believers. May I invite you to receive forgiveness of your sins, and to believe in Jesus in such a way that quenches your thirst and makes you content in Him?
And to those whose thirst is quenched in Jesus, that is to those who are believers, may I invite you to simply rejoice that God SO loved YOU that He gave His only Son to die for you.
Several years ago in Otawa, Ontario, Canada, George and Vera Bajenksi’s lives were changed forever. February 16, 1989. A very normal Thursday morning. The phone rang at 9:15 a.m. "There’s been an accident..." It involved their son Ben. As they approached the intersection of Adelaide and Simcoe Streets near the high school, they could see the flashing lights of the police cars and ambulance units. Vera noticed a photographer and followed the direction of his camera lens to the largest pool of blood she had ever seen. All she could say was, "George, Ben went home--home to be with his Heavenly Father!" Her first reaction was to jump out of the car, somehow collect the blood and put it back into her son. She said, "that blood, for me, at that moment, became the most precious thing in the world because it was Ben’s life. It was life-giving blood and it belonged in my son, my only son, the one I loved so much." The road was dirty and the blood just didn’t belong there. And then George noticed that cars were driving right through the intersection--right through the blood. His heart was broken. He wanted to cover the blood with his coat and cry, "You will not drive over the blood of my son!" Then Vera understood for the first time in her life, one of God’s greatest and most beautiful truths...why blood? Because it was the most precious thing He could give-- the highest price He could pay.
