JOHN 3:16 WHAT DOES IT SAY? 5-3-08
Today I want to bring a few thoughts from this most informative verse, John 3:16, it has been called the gospel in a nutshell so I want you to pay close attention.
If this was the only verse the world ever heard it would be enough to save the entire world if people only believed it. The depths of this verse are inexhaustible.
Every verse in the Bible is great, but if there is a greatest verse in the entire Bible… it surely must be John 3:16.
I remember when Al Gore was running for President, and he was trying to convince people that he was a bible believer, he made the statement that his favorite verse in the bible was John 16:3, he got his program all out of line. John 16:3 says, And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.** These are the words of Jesus, but its not John 3:16.
Listen as I read today’s text verse, John 3:16
16For God so loved the world,**{population} that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Let me point out right here that God has many sons, such as we that are born again, spiritually born again. We read in 1st Pet.1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again**[to beget] unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, -- but Jesus didn’t have to be “begotten again-born again” because He was already { his only begotten Son}
God so loved the world.-- did you know that God never saved the world by love?, It don’t say that God’s love saved the world, the love of God alone could never save sinners, if His love was what was required to save sinners then Jesus would not have had to die. God does not save by love. God saves by grace! Eph. 2:8–9. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” so God saves by grace, not by love.
Notice the little word {in} that whosoever believeth in him -- which means believes in Christ. That is, we trust Him as the One who bore the penalty for our sins. This is a personal thing. Each individual person must believe that He died in our place and in our stead.
Because Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of God, this reveals to the entire world His love in giving him for us and in giving him to us proves to the entire world that he truly loves us.
He has given his only-begotten Son to die in sinful mans place, Jesus was perfect and holy, and He was willing to die in our stead.
Rom.5: 1 Therefore being justified by faith,** we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ----- 8-11 But God commendeth**{to set together, -to exhibit} his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified **by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled **{good standing} to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the at-one-ment. {at one with God}
Listen as I read the text verse again: 16For God so loved the world,**{population} that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
What we have here is the love of God shown in action. --Notice the source of this love—it’s of God. that he gave-- this is the greatest gift that any one could ever receive. And because it is a gift means that there is nothing that has to be done in order to receive this gift, in fact if we had to do any thing at all to receive this gift, then it would no longer be a gift because we had to put forth some type of works in order for it to become ours.
Rom. 6:23--- The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. There is no greater gift anywhere.
God has given him, that is, he has made an offer of him, to all, and given him to all true believers, to all the intents and purposes of the new covenant. He has given him to be our prophet, a witness to the-- -------people, the high priest of our profession, to be our peace, to be head of the church and head over all things to the church, to be to us all we need.
His enemies could not have taken him if his Father had not given him. Although he was not yet crucified, yet in the determinate counsel of God he was given up.
Acts 2:23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken,-
And what is the extent of this love—the world. -- 16For God so loved the world --the world includes every body, none are denied.--
1st JN. 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.-- propitiation; means that the Sacrificial death of His Son Jesus was the only Sacrifice that appeased Gods wrath against sin and sinful man, no other sacrifice would He accept, God was completely satisfied with Jesus as He was truly “THE LAMB OF GOD”.
Notice that [GOD sent Jesus} 1st JN. 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.--
Jesus said in, John 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me,--here is another good verse telling us that The Son was with the Father before He come to earth as Jesus. {JESUS} MEANS Saviour.
1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
And yet most of the world of mankind will perish, still God’s giving his only-begotten Son was an instance of his love to the whole world, because through him there is a general offer of life and salvation made to all. People perish because of their stubborn will, and unbelief.
But God has done all He is going to do to save lost people, He is holding back His Mighty Hand of destruction at this time simple because His grace is still abounding, but let me assure you that one day this day of grace will be over. And then let me read to you what He will have to say.
Proverbs 1: 24-33 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 [why] For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. --There’s still hope at this time.
The result of Gods love is —whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
It is the unspeakable happiness of all true believers, for which they are eternally indebted to Christ, they are saved from the miseries of hell, and they shall not perish. God has taken away their sin, they shall not die; they have been justified because of the death of the Savoiur. They are entitled to the joys of heaven: and now they have everlasting life.
Again Rom. 5:1-2 1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
In mans way of thinking, we can never understand this great love that God has for mankind.
The love of God is uncaused and uninfluenced. There was nothing in us to call for it. There was nothing in us to attract it.
IF we could say, “God loves us because we first loved Him” we might could understand it, but just the reverse is true.
The love of God is unchangeable. Sinners may go to hell unsaved, but they will never go to hell unloved.
There is no COMPARISON to His Love; and there is no CONCLUSION to His Love!
It is a love that supplies redemption. We never know how much one loves till we know how much they are willing to endure and suffer for us. It is the suffering element that measures love.
“FOR GOD SO LOVED.”
“So” is a real short word, but one of the greatest words in this verse.
God’s love is so important to one and all:
When something is loved, it surely must be of great importance and valuable to the One that loves it. The world, means all people is embraced by God’s love...none excluded, all is included...all colors and all classes. The only thing that attaches any worth to any of us is the love of God.
To know that someone loves you makes all the difference in life.
It was AN EXPRESSIVE GIFT!
Gifts are expressive of certain emotions and feelings. When we give gifts we do so to show: ADORATION - our love for someone--
It was an EXPENSIVE GIFT.
The gift of eternal life was not cheap. It was extremely costly. This was no cheap gift.
Salvation is FREE but it’s not CHEAP! --GOD sent His SON to die for our SINS!
John 3:16 has 25 words in it. It has GOD at the beginning of it and LIFE at the end of it.
It has the SON in exactly the center of it; - 12 words on either side! This gift centers around the SON of God.
Salvation is free, but it is not cheap. It cost God His only begotten and well beloved Son, and it cost the Lord Jesus a death of shame and agony on the cross.
God has declared that the blood shed for us is “precious blood” I Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
And so the cost of Calvary is beyond all human understanding; the value of the shed blood of Jesus is beyond all our comprehension.
You may GIVE without LOVING, but you cannot LOVE without GIVING!
It cost God the very life of His beloved Son. God gave His very best! God’s love-gift involved a great price and sacrifice. God gave His all!
God loved us and sent His Son to die for us. God so loved the world that He gave—what....the silver and the gold which are His? No. Such a gift would cost Him nothing....the cattle on a thousand hills? No. Such a gift would cost Him nothing.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son—that cost Him everything. That is the measure of His love for all of us.
When John says, “that he gave,” it means that He did something out of love for us—did it voluntarily, freely, without being forced or obligated.
~~One time a keeper of a drawbridge over a great river heard the sound of a train, and suddenly his little child, playing by his side, rolled down the sharp embankment into the water.
He knew if he plunged down after his child he could not close the drawbridge, and the trainload of passengers would plunge to their death. He hesitated a moment, and then slowly swung the bridge out to its place, and then jumped into the water and pulled out his dead child. ~~
He couldn’t save both. GOD couldn’t save His Son and save the world at the same time. SO He willing gave His only begotten Son.
It is an ESSENTIAL GIFT! Everybody needs it.
IT also SPEAKS OF THE GREATEST CHOICE A MAN HAS EVER BEEN APPOINTED.
There is no greater choice for any man to make. There is no greater choice that man has ever been charged with. It is the greatest choice a man will ever be faced with.
We are faced with choices and decision every day, but none are greater than the decision as to what we do with Jesus Christ. Our eternal destiny depends upon our choice
Perish or life rest on our choice.
And lets notice that God don’t force us to except His Only Begotten Son, He allows every person to decide for himself.
Becoming a Christian is not a matter of chance but of choice. It is a matter of our will. God does not violate our will “Whosoever believeth in him.”
Its Gods desire that we willing except His Son, plus nothing else and no One else. Notice: “Believeth in him” NOT plus Mary or any type of works.
1 John 5: 10-13 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.** 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
