SERMON OUTLINE:
• Comment: Clear & Simple (vs 16)
• Clarification: Belief & Unbelief (vs 17-18)
• Conclusion: Light & Darkness (vs 19-21)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and activist.
• He is widely regarded as one of the most significant;
• And celebrated sports figures of the 20th century.
• One of his many media tricks was to look down the lens of a camera and shout;
• “I am the greatest!”
• Many of his fans bought tickets to see the champion perform;
• And others brought tickets in the hope of seeing him humbled!
• He tells the story in his book, ‘The Soul of a Butterfly’,
• That one time while on board a plane,
• The flight attendant asked him to put his seat belt on.
• He said to her, "Superman don't need no seat belt".
• She smiled at him and politely replied; "Superman don't need no plane, either."
• TRANSITION: If there is one word in the English language;
• That is sure to cause a debate when spoken, it is the word “greatest.”
• In fact, take two people, any people,
• And you can always stir trouble by using this one simple word.
• For example, ask a couple of rival football fans;
• Who is the greatest team or who had the greatest player or manager;
• And they will debate with one another for hours.
• Ask two car enthusiasts what is the greatest automobile ever made;
• And they will eagerly debate their opinion.
• Ask two people what is the greatest movie ever made?
• Or the greatest singer or group or record ever made?
• Or who the greatest prime minister or the greatest politician was,
• And they’ll chase that rabbit as long as they have breath to do so.
• There is something about that word “greatest”
• It stirs up something inside of us.
For many Christians our passage this morning contains the greatest verse in the Bible:
• This verse is over used by Christians;
• They wear it t-shirts, wristbands, car stickers, posters and… well the list goes on and on.
• I was preaching in Chippenham recently and they have a café called ‘3:16’
Ill:
• In many sporting arenas (especially in the USA),
• It is not uncommon to find the reference ‘JOHN 3:16’ in large letters,
• Held up on a poster board somewhere in the crowd.
• In 2009 Tim Tebow (American professional baseball player);
• Wore this reference on his face during the National Championship game,
• He sparked off 90 million Google searches for the verse.
• TRANSITION: Now there are 31,102 verses in the Bible;
• So why does this one dominates the Christian ad campaign of promoting the gospel.
• In answering that question let me quote you the great reformer Martin Luther;
• He called John 3:16 “the gospel in miniature.”
• Others have called it “the Gospel in a nutshell.”
• It is the greatest verse in the Bible. It is the golden text of the Word of God.
• It is probably known by more people than any other verse in the entire Bible.
Ill:
• I have a Gideon New Testament that I like to preach from,
• It is not just any old Gideon New Testament.
• It is a presentation edition that was given to me in 1987;
• When I did some work for the Gideon’s at one of their conventions.
• In the front of my Gideon New Testament is John 3:16 in 25 languages.
• And I have over the years as I have travelled around in a number of countries;
• Been able to witness and point out this verse in that persons language.
Note:
• Some of you might be surprised to know that there is debate regarding these words;
• The debate surrounds who actually spoke them or wrote them.
• Some would argue that these verses (16 to 21);
• Are a continuation of the words of Jesus to Nicodemus;
• If your Bible have the words of Jesus in red, these verses will probably be in red ink.
• Other would say no,
• The words of Jesus to Nicodemus end in verse 15;
• And the apostle John’s comments begin in verse 16.
A number of reasons support this idea – let me suggest three:
(a).
• Jesus often refers to Himself as the Son of Man (3:15),
• But never as God’s “one and only Son,” or “begotten son.”
• Which is John’s way of referring to Jesus.
(b).
• Also, Jesus does not normally refer to God as “God,”
• But rather Jesus always refers to God as “the Father” especially in John’s gospel.
• (The only exception being when Jesus was on the cross - Matthew 27:46)
(c).
• For me I believe it is the apostle John giving clarity and interpretation;
• To the previous illustration and analogy of a snake on a pole (vs 15).
• John the apostle has already done this e.g. John chapter 2 verses 20-21;
• Where John gives clarity and interpretation regarding the temple and Jesus body.
Note:
• Even if these are the apostles John’s words,
• They are words of holy scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit.
• John writing them does not diminish or taint them in anyway.
• And they are given here in this gospel to explain in simple and clear terms;
• Why God sent His only Son to this world.
• Now having said all that;
• Let’s enjoy verse 16:
(1). Comment: Clear & Simple (vs 16).
Quote:
“The heart of the Bible is the New Testament.
The heart of the New Testament is John’s gospel.
The heart of John’s gospel is chapter 3.
The heart of chapter 3 is verse 16!”
THIS VERSE IS BUILT AROUND TEN KEY WORDS:
• (1). "God".
• (2). "Loved".
• (3). "World".
• (4). "Gave".
• (5). "Son".
• (6). "Whoever".
• (7). "Believes".
• (8). "Perish".
• (9). "Have".
• (10)."Life".
THESE TEN WORDS GO TOGETHER IN FIVE PAIRS:
• (1). "God & Son".
• (2). "Loved & Gave".
• (3). "World & Whoever".
• (4). "Believe & Have".
• (5). "Perish & Life".
THE FIVE PAIRS TEACH US FIVE ESSENTIAL TRUTHS:
• (1). "God & Son" - The ultimate giver and the ultimate gift.
• (2). "Loved & Gave" - The two expressions of God's compassion.
• (3). "World & Whoever" - The two-fold direction of God's loving and giving.
• (4). "Believe & Have" - The two things human beings are invited to do.
• (5). "Perish & Life" - The two final destinies of human beings.
I ENJOY PREACHING ON THIS OUTLINE ‘THE GREATEST...’
• “God” ……..The greatest lover.
• “So loved” ……..The greatest degree.
• “The world” …….The greatest number.
• “That He gave”. …….The greatest act.
• “His one and only Son” …….The greatest gift.
• “Everyone” …….The greatest invitation.
• “Believes” …….The greatest simplicity.
• “In Him”. …….The greatest Person.
• “Should not perish”. …….The greatest deliverance.
• “But”. …….The greatest difference.
• “Have” …….The greatest certainty.
• “Everlasting Life”. …….The greatest possession.
• John 3:16 really is “the gospel in miniature.”
• Or “the Gospel in a nutshell.”
• It says everything a person needs to hear and know to be made right with God.
(A). IT IS A CLEAR EXPLANATION OF GOD’S RESCUE PLAN.
Ill:
• Think of the human race aboard a hijacked jet-liner flying through time.
• God himself directed its take-off from the divine control-tower.
• The initiator of all evil, whom we call the Devil,
• Managed to get a boarding pass.
• When the plane reached its cruising altitude,
• Thus the plane hopped on fearfully through history;
• From airport to airport.
• Until it was caught on the tarmac at Jerusalem,
• An outpost of the Roman empire, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
• Where the Son of God offered himself as sole hostage;
• In exchange for the passengers and crew.
• TRANSITION: John 3:16 is a reminder of God’s rescue plan for a lost world,
• He initiated it, he paid the cost and he offers safety and salvation,
• To all who will respond to his offer.
(B). IT IS A CLEAR REMINDER OF GOD’S MISSION MANDATE.
• “The world!”
• Is God’s mission field and it ought to be ours!
• Quote: Jürgen Moltmann:
• 'It is not the Church of God that has mission but the missionary God who has a Church'
Ill:
• The population of the world at the time of Jesus Christ;
• Was between 200 million and 300 million;
• The world’s population today is 7 billion people.
• 7 billion people who need to hear john 3:16 and discover the one it is speaking of!
• Let’s break it down:
• There are about 230 countries in our world.
• Who need to hear john 3:16 and discover the one it is speaking of!
• Within those 230 countries you will find about 13,000 people groups.
• Who need to hear john 3:16 and discover the one it is speaking of!
• In the United Kingdom the population is around 66 million people.
• Who need to hear john 3:16 and discover the one it is speaking of!
• The population of England is around 53 million.
• The population of Fareham is 43,000 people.
• The population of your work place / college or school is?
• The population of your community / street is?
• Who need to hear john 3:16 and discover the one it is speaking of!
• We are plan A to reach this world;
• There is no plan B!
Quote:
“For God so loved the world, not just a few,
The wise and great, the noble and the true,
Or those of favoured class or rank or hue.
God loved the world. Do you?”
Note:
• The most common meaning for world in John’s writings is;
• ‘The created and fallen totality of mankind’.
• That is the who human race which is flawed and tainted by sin.
• i.e. John chapter 7 verse 7:
• i.e. John chapter 14 verse 17:
• That is the way John uses the word ‘world’ in his writings;
• Refers to the great mass of fallen humanity that needs salvation.
• So the term “world” refers to the quality of God’s love.
• Quote: Warfield convincingly states:
[World] is not here a term of extension so much as a term of intensity. Its primary connotation is ethical, and the point of its employment is not to suggest that the world is so big that it takes a great deal of love to embrace it all, but that the world is so bad that it takes a great kind of love to love it at all, and much more to love it as God has loved it when he gave his Son for it.
(2). Clarification: Belief & Unbelief (vs 17-18)
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Note: Three key truths in this verse:
• FIRST: God’s reason for sending Jesus Christ into the world;
• Was not for judgment, but for salvation.
• SECOND: Those who do not believe in Jesus;
• Are already under God’s judgment and headed for eternal condemnation.
• THIRD: Believing in “the name of God’s one and only son”;
• Means more than mental agreement, it means faith in who he is and what he came to do.
Now both verse 16 and verse 18 make it very clear;
• That the crucial issue on the part of every person is to believe in Jesus Christ.
• It is not presented as an optional extra or one of many options;
• It is the only option, the only way;
• Because Jesus Christ alone gave his life for the sins of the world.
Ill:
• On Tuesday morning I took a service at a local Nursing Home.
• Only seven people came into the lounge (we also had one career and one family member),
• Some of the residents are suffering badly from dementia;
• But a few are aware of what was happening.
• It is always good to remember that tWhat struck me the most was the way their faces lit up;
• And the
• One of the verses is childlike simplicity reminds of the truth;
• Only Jesus could give his life as an offering for many!
“There was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin,
he only could unlock the gate
of heaven and let us in.”
One of the other verses puts it this way:
“He died that we might be forgiven,
he died to make us good,
that we might go at last to heaven,
saved by his precious blood.”
Ill:
• The date was February 16th, 1989.
• The place was Oshawa, Ontario, Canada,
• The time was 9:15am in the morning.
• It was A very normal Thursday morning;
• But it would be a day that changed forever the lives of George and Vera Bajenksi.
• The phone rang at 9:15 a.m. "There’s been an accident..."
• And it involved their son Ben.
• They jumped into their car and headed for the High School,
• 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;
• It focussed on 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 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.
• George noticed that cars were driving right through the intersection;
• In fact right through the pool of blood.
• His heart was smitten.
• 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 strongest language God could have used.
• It was the most precious thing He could give-- the highest price He could pay.
• TRANSITION: The Bible says (1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18-19)
• “Not with silver or gold but we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ”
Now both verse 16 and verse 18 make it very clear;
• That the crucial issue on the part of every person is to believe in Jesus Christ.
• It is not just a matter of life and death but eternal life and eternal death!
Quote:
• J. C. Ryle was born in the 1800’s and was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool.
• He was was a prolific writer and author.
• In his book ‘Expository Thoughts on the Gospels’
• He comments on John chapter 3 verse 18:
“Nothing is so provoking and offensive to God as to refuse the glorious salvation He has provided at so mighty a cost, by the death of His only begotten Son. Nothing is so suicidal on the part of man as to turn away from the only remedy which can heal his soul.”
Ill:
• I was speaking at a coffee morning on last Wednesday,
• A lady called Joy came up to me afterwards and thanked me for what I shared.
• She had latched onto something I had said but to me it was a comment;
• But to her it struck a chord.
• She picked up on the two little words;
• The two words were “For me!”
• She told me she had parents who were Christians and she had always been taken to Church;
• She knew in her head that Jesus died for the sins of the world,
• But one day when she was in a service it suddenly dawned on her;
• Jesus died “for me” and not just for the world in general.
• And that day she came to faith in Christ.
• TRANSITION: Those who believe in Jesus receive eternal life.
• Eternal life does not only mean life without end, although that is one part of it.
• It refers to entering into a personal relationship with the living God and His Son;
• Jesus explained it this way in John chapter 17 verse 3:
“This is eternal life, that they may know You,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
• Eternal life with God begins the moment you believe in Jesus,
• We start to come alive spiritually;
• And start to discover the kind of life Jesus wants us to have.
(3). Conclusion: Light & Darkness (vs 19-21).
“This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
• These verses are a kind of postscript, an afterword;
• Explaining why some believe and others don’t.
• Darkness and light is one of the major themes in John’s gospel;
• And John does not pull any punches, he tells us straight.
• Because people love darkness, they want to carry on in their evil ways;
• And their desire for things that are wrong stop them coming to the light.
Ill:
• The story of the Prodigal, the lost son.
• He turned his back on his father and went to a foreign country,
• There he wasted his money on parties and prostitutes.
• There is pleasure in sin otherwise we would not continue to do it;
• And society would not propagate it.
• But the young man in the story got fed up with living in darkness;
• He came to his senses and he repented and he went back home.
• He was lost and became found. He was dead and became alive again.
• He was in darkness and found the light.
Note:
• These verses (16-21) follow on from your sermon last week;
• The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.
• And John in his gospel tells us that Nicodemus finally came to the ‘light’
• You can read about it in John chapter 19 verse 38-43).
• As he looked upon Jesus Christ uplifted and hanging on a cross;
• Maybe he grasped the illustration of the snake and the pole (vs 15);
• Or maybe the words of John 3:16 finally made sense to him.
• In John chapter 3 verse 2 he came to Jesus ‘at night’,
• He was physically but also spiritually in darkness.
• But in John chapter 19 verse 38-43 he assists in the burial of Jesus;
• He is no longer embarrassed to be seen with Jesus,
• He is now fearless and unashamed, and in the full light of day!
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=x4YTxa6Jqld60KWTubK5rz1SjZHSHbnL
