Think with me about some of the most famous sayings in history. Martin Luther King Jr said famously, “I have a dream…” John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” Perhaps there is no more famous sentence anywhere than John 3:16.
Find John 3, with me.
In London, on the banks of the Thames, stands a stone column called Cleopatra’s Needle. It is estimated that it was originally carved 3,400 years ago and stood in Egypt. Queen Cleopatra had it moved to Alexandria around 1,000 years later. Less than 200 years ago, this 180-ton, granite statue was moved to London. You may be wondering, “What does this have to do with John 3:16?” They made a time capsule to go along with the 68.5-foot statue. What would you place in a time capsule from 150 years ago, you ask? They placed a baby's bottle, some children's toys, 12 photographs of the best-looking English women of the day, a box of cigars, several tobacco pipes, and, most important of all, they placed a copy of John 3:16 in 215 languages.1
If you don’t already know John 3:16, prepare to fall in love with its message and words. John 3:16 is one of the most cherished and memorized Scriptures in all the Bible. Many, if not most, you love, love, love this verse.
John 3:16 was the most searched-for verse according to online search rankings last year. It’s special to so many of us.
Still, there are people who don’t know or understand it. Our goal is to examine in a little more depth the life-changing meaning behind this most famous of verses. If you are looking for a fresh start in life, here it is.
Today’s Scripture
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Again, John 3:16 has been memorized by countless Sunday School students. Many people think it perfectly encapsulates the Christian faith in just one sentence. Someone has said it is the Bible in a nutshell.
1. What is God Like?
Let’s look at many of the key words in this famous verse together.
1.1 God, the Father
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
There is a God. This is who Jesus taught us to call Him Father. This God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. This is the God who made you. This is the God who judges you one day. This is not a god, but this is THE God. God is the most blessed, meaning the most happy being in all the universe. He is eternal, self-sufficient, self-existent, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, and who is everywhere. Angels sing His praises, and all of the universe does His bidding at the mere mention of His words. This is the God of John 3:16.
Some feel that God is distant, disinterested, and unengaged. If you feel God is distant, then John has a surprise for you.
1.2 Loved
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Let me offer you 3 insights about God’s love here in John 3:16.
1.2.1 Be Amazed that God Loves You
Again, we should never hear those words: God loves the world, and we are not shocked by them! Would that every one of us flabbergasted that God loves us! One of my favorite presidents has been Teddy Roosevelt. This charismatic President, childhood asthmatic, and lover of the outdoors has been a favorite of mine since high school. Yet, his daughter may not agree with such a high opinion of her father. “When father goes to a wedding, he wants to be the bride; when he goes to a funeral, he wants to be the corpse.”2
Don’t be like Teddy Roosevelt here. Don’t be the center of attention. Don’t feel like you DESERVE to be the center of attention. Don’t feel like you DESERVE the love of God. Again, we should never hear those words: God loves the world, and we are not shocked by them! If at any time you feel like should automatically love you and you’re not shocked by John 3:16, you have a major spiritual problem.
1.2.2 Realize that God Loved You First
Later on, John will write these words: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Have you ever wondered why someone loves you? When I think of selfishness, I remember the story of Maria, who had broken up with Jimmy. Maria had enough of Jimmy, and she didn’t want anything to do with Jimmy anymore. She just didn’t want to be Jimmy’s girlfriend anymore. But after about a year of being broken, she wrote Jimmy a letter. This is what she wrote, “Jimmy, I miss you so bad. I think of you all day and all night long. You dominate my mind, and I just don’t want to be apart from you anymore. Jimmy, let’s reconnect as soon as possible.
Love,
Maria
P.S. Congratulations on winning the lottery, Jimmy. 3
It’s amazing how we reconnect when there is something in it for me! Pay attention to this: God gets nothing from loving you. You’re not “Jimmy,” and God is not “Maria.” God isn’t lonely, and you keep Him company on a cold winter’s night. God isn’t broke, and you spot Him a $100 when He’s down and out. You don’t add anything to God’s team when you become a believer. You’re not a 5-star recruit who adds to His brand when you are a Christ-follower. God doesn’t benefit from loving you. You benefit from Him loving you!
1.2.3 Love for the Lowest Points of Your Life
This love will balance your life, and it will be even for the lowest points in your life. Frederick Lehman wrote a hymn simply called, “The Love of God.” Frederick was dealing with some major financial issues and found himself working in a packing factory in Pasadena, California, moving 30 tons of lemons and oranges a day. He began life as an immigrant to the United States. He was writing this song, and he needed a third verse. It was then he remembered these beautiful words he had heard quoted recently:??
Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky.
Those lyrics were written on the wall of an insane asylum by an unknown inmate.4 Again, written on the wall of an insane asylum only to make it into one of the most beloved hymns over the past century.5
God didn’t say, “When you obey the Ten Commandments perfectly, you can earn my love.” He didn’t say, “When you follow the Sermon on the Mount, you can earn my love. No, thankfully, He loved us while we are still sinners and sent His Son to die for you. Yes, John 3:16 is durable enough for insane asylums.
1.3 No Ordinary Love
Look with me at the intensity of His love. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is no ordinary love. “God loved the world to such an extraordinary extent that he gave . . .”
The kind of love the Father is showing is a strong love that blesses us, the world. This is an intense love like no other. Marvel the love of God to love a people in opposition to Him. This is a love beyond imagination.
1.4 The World
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
When John’s Gospel talks about the world, he’s telling you how BAD it is, not how BIG it is. Let me talk about the world for a moment, or at least the United States.
1.4.1 Missing Children, Sexual Abuse, and Prisoners
An estimated 460,000 children go missing every year in the United States.6 Around 1 of every 3 children to experience this sexual abuse by a family member.7 It was thought that incest occurred in about 1 in every 1 million births in 1975. Due to the advent of DNA technology, it’s now estimated that incest is around 1 for every 7,000 people in Great Britain.8 What kind of world are we living in when our children aren’t safe with family? There are over 1.2 million people incarcerated in the US right now, with another 600,000 plus in local jails on top of that.9
Our God loves this Bad world.
1.4.2 Good Samaritan Laws
Why do we have Good Samaritan laws that require people to do something to assist someone who is being carjacked or something worse? In Minnesota, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and Vermont, you are legally required to offer emergency help. Why do we HAVE TO HAVE a law like this? Why do we have to make people do the right thing? John says because it is a messed up world.
1.4.3 Public Confidence in Institutions
Survey after survey shows us that we are experiencing one of the lowest periods of confidence in every institution. We don’t trust the church, government, police, or people of other races.10 Our trust in others is shot right now – the lowest it’s been in decades.
The world has rebelled against Almighty God. After all, the best human who ever lived was crucified for teaching, healing, and challenging religious injustice. When you see the word “world” in John, he means an organized system that stands in opposition to Almighty God. God loved that world!
Remember that even though the world was made by Jesus, the world did not recognize Jesus (John 1:10). The world hates Jesus because He brings evidence against it that what it does is evil (John 7:7). When John tells you God loves the world, he’s telling you that God loves the world despite how bad it is. Not how big it is.11
The world has rebelled against Almighty God.
Nevertheless, God still loves the world despite the way the world is. When John wrote these words, Jews would have thought God would love only the righteous. God would have loved only the Jewish people or the nation of Israel. The news that God loved the big, bad world would have been a shock.
The Bible doesn’t say God loves good-looking people. The Bible doesn’t say God loves rich and successful people.
1.5 The Popularity of John 3:16
Some of you may remember when Florida QB Tim Tebow placed “John 3:16” in his eye black when he beat the Oklahoma Sooners for the National Championship in 2009. After he did this, 94 million people searched for the term “John 3:16” online. The verse has also appeared on banners and overpasses. And it’s on cups from the fast-food chain In-N-Out Burger. Again, it’s so profound and so simple.
1.6 Putting the Phrase Together
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God’s love is needed when the young daughter returns home over Thanksgiving, and her mother asks why she hasn’t found anyone. God’s love is what is needed when the father slumps down in the corner of the Pediatric ICU, looking at his daughter hooked up to more tubes than he can count. God’s love is what is needed when the young foster girl bounces from house to house, looking for someone to love her.
1. What is God Like?
2. What Did God Do?
Look with me at the greatness of His gift.
2.1 His One and Only Son
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
It’s as if the Father searched around all of heaven as you would search all over your house. You scour the internet and catalogs for the very best gift. The Father scoured all of Heaven to find the very best, most valuable gift available – His one and only Son. Just how much did the Son mean to the Father? For starters, Jesus said that He and the Father were one (John 10:30). And the only time we ever heard the voice of the Father during Jesus’ three plus years walking on the earth, the Father repeated the same thing: ““This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight” (Matthew 3:17b). Eternity alone will reveal the value of this gift.
2.2 He Gave
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
If I wronged you greatly, would you then give me your very best?12
Who’s Idea Was It?
Now, pause and think a moment with me. Search all of Scripture from the front to the back. Scour every word of Genesis to Revelation and ask yourself this, “Who asked the Father to give us His Son?” Did an angel beg God to sacrifice His Son for us? No prophet, no angel, no patriarch, and no seraph had to suggest the ultimate solution to God, the Father. The Bible tells us that God, the Father, willingly offered up His son freely and without anyone asking: “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief…” (Isaiah 53:10a). I cannot conceive of anyone proposing such a thing to God, the Most High. No one lobbied Him as you would a senator. No one petitioned Him, as might your boss or your teacher. And no solicited Him to do this as you might barter with someone in the marketplace. None of that was necessary for God, the Father willingly offered up His one and only Son as a gift. Yes, He did so by His own initiative. Marvel with me at this. No one pulled at His shirt tail and pestered Him time and time again to make such a generous gift. Christ was offered to you, and no one even had to ask for such a marvelous, breathtaking gift!
Can you believe the Father would do this?
2.3 Putting the Phrase Together
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
2.4 The Popularity of John 3:16
Christians began to hold up signs of “John 3:16” in the 1970s at ballgames. One of the most famous figures of the time was an eccentric guy named Rollen Stewart. He was nicknamed the Rainbow Man. And he who wore a rainbow-colored wig and danced with a “John 3:16” sign behind goalposts at football games and baseball games. Throughout the 1980s, the Rainbow Man traveled 60,000 miles a year as a full-time spectator, living out of his car, and getting stoned. Stewart has been serving 3 consecutive life sentences since 1992. Stewart had this really bizarre incident in which he locked himself in a hotel room in LA. He held a maid hostage and threatened to shoot down airplanes in an 8-hour standoff.
2.5 Making John 3:16 Personal
Sitting in prison all these later, was it just an act for him? Does he get the impact of the verse he displayed for everyone? What about you?
What impact does John 3:16 make on you? You may not have run around the country displaying the verse at every sporting event, but what impression does this verse make on you?
1. What is God Like?
2. What Did God Do?
3. What Must I Do?
3.1 Whoever Believes
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
There are three hundred different philosophical “isms” in the English language. And John 3:16 refutes many of the faulty “isms.”13
For instance, it refutes Atheism, which says there is no God, because this verse says, “For God.”
Deism is the belief that if there is a God, He isn’t involved with His creation. But John 3:16 tells us there is a God who loves us.
Racism says some races are better and more highly favored, but this verse says that God loved the world.
Materialism says life is all about getting, more and more and more. But this verse says God so loved that He gave.
Legalism says you go to heaven by being good and doing good, but this verse says you go to heaven by trusting in God’s one and only Son.
Salvation isn’t a reward for the righteous; it’s a gift to the guilty.
Fatalism says that everything is fixed and we have no control over our destiny. But this verse says, “Whoever believes in Him.”
Universalism says ultimately everyone will go to heaven, and this verse emphasizes that only those that believe in Jesus go to heaven.
Pluralism says all religions are the same and there are many paths to God, but this verse says that there is only one way—Jesus.
Pessimism says life is hopeless for everyone, but this verse says you don’t have to perish.
Humanism says there is no God and this life is all there is, but John 3:16 promises that we can have eternal life. Believe, and you will be saved. Believe, and your sins will be forgiven.
3.2 Belief In Jesus
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Bible does NOT simply say, “whoever believes.” Instead, the Bible says, “whoever believes in him.” You must believe IN Jesus Christ. It’s not simply believing in anything. You must believe in Jesus Christ.
3.3 Accounting Mode
By the way, if God went into accounting mode and began to calculate your good deeds, how long would the tape be? How long would your personal tape be? And if he were to get a separate calculator out for the things you’ve done wrong, how long would that tape be?
3.4 Putting the Phrase Together
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
As parents, do we care more about grades, first chair, batting orders, class rankings, and college scholarships than we do about eternity? [Pause] Do we have the kind of love that prepares them for eternity, not just college? When was the last time you thought about the eternity of your spouse? Do you wonder about how they’re doing spiritually, or are you just too busy to pray for them or think about that? When was the last time you talked about what the Lord has been showing you?
1. What is God Like?
2. What Did God Do?
3. What Must I Do?
4. What Difference Does This Make?
4.1 You’ll Not Perish
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
There is one scary word in this verse. If John 3:16 is a beautiful bouquet of flowers, this one word is like a sprig of poison ivy in the bouquet.13
The word “perish” reminds us there is a place in creation called hell. Jesus said you will perish if you don’t believe. The alternative to not believing is something really serious.
Now, if you admire Jesus, pause and think: would the divine mind of God, the Father, and Jesus calibrate this whole plan if there’s nothing wrong with you? You don’t need surgery for a simple cold? You don’t need chemo for indigestion? You don’t send your one and only Son to die if humans are all going to heaven.
Wouldn’t the bad have to be really bad if Jesus were crucified on the cross? Wouldn’t the alternative have been horrific for this plan to be in place? Jesus says you will perish and go somewhere worse than any human can portray if you don’t believe in Him.
4.2 You’ll Experience Eternal Life
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
What is eternal life? I want to read you a letter from a young Lutheran German man named Hermann. Hermann was put to death in a Nazi death camp. This letter was published after the war. This is what he wrote to his parents the day he died. Listen to this.
When this letter comes into your hands I shall no longer be among the living. The thing that has occupied our thoughts constantly for many months … is now about to happen. If you ask me what state I am in I can only answer: I am, first, in a joyous mood and, second, filled with a great anticipation. ‘God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ What consolation, what marvelous strength emanates from Christ. I am amazed. In Christ I have put my faith, and precisely today I have faith in him more firmly than ever.
My parents, look up the following passages: 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 14:8. Look anywhere you want in the Bible, and everywhere I find jubilation over the grace that makes us children of God. What can really happen to a child of God? Of what indeed should I be afraid? Everything that till now I have done, struggled for, and accomplished, has at bottom been directed to this one goal, whose barrier I shall penetrate today. “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him.”
For me, believing will become seeing; hope will become possession, and I shall forever share in Him who is love. Should I not, then, be filled with anticipation? What is it all going to be like? The things that up to this time I have been permitted to preach about, I shall now see. There will be no more secrets nor tormenting puzzles. Today is the great day … From the very beginning I have put everything into the hands of God, and now he demands this end of me. Good. His will be done. And so, until we meet again above, in the presence of the Father of light. Your joyful, Hermann.15
4.3 Putting the Phrase Together
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
You can personalize John 3:16 by inserting your name in the verse.
EndNotes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra%27s_Needle,_London#cite_note-6; accessed April 16, 2024.
2 Mark Dever, Twelve Challenges Churches Face (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 142.
3 Tony Evans, “Part 7 ‘Connecting Loving God and Loving Others,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive. Tony Evans, 2015.
4 https://www.praisecharts.com/blog/measureless-story-behind-the-song/; accessed April 16, 2024. The words originally came from an eleventh-century Jewish poet from Germany named Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai.
5 Omitted in the interest of time: Agapao and Philéo Let me talk to experienced believers who have some responsibility to teach the Bible for a moment. The word here for love is the word that many experienced believers know as agapao. You’ve been told that agapao love is the highest kind of love, where the kind of love that eros and philéo is a lesser form. I was taught this in church when I was a young man. I thought it was so neat that God had 3 words for 3 different kinds of love or 3 different levels of love. We are told that eros was sexual love, phila was brotherly love (don’t you find that true of Philadelphia Eagles’ fans?), and agape is the highest form of love, God’s love. The problem is this: it’s simply not true. If you make agape the gold, philo the silver, and eros the bronze in love, you won’t find the Bible doing this. There is substantial overlap in the meanings of the Greek words for love. The Bible will use agapao interchangeably with philéo. Here’s an example: “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel” (John 5:20). “For the Father “philéo” the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel” (John 5:20). Surely, the Father’s love for the Son is the highest form of love there is and yet the Bible doesn’t use agapao here.
D. A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies, 2nd ed (Carlisle, U.K.; Grand Rapids, MI: Paternoster; Baker Books, 1996), 32.
6 https://globalmissingkids.org/awareness/missing-children-statistics/; accessed April 17, 2024.
7 https://www.incestaware.org/incest-rates-in-america-and-beyond; accessed April 18, 2024.
8 https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/03/dna-tests-incest/677791/?utm_source=feed; accessed April 18, 2024.
9 https://search.brave.com/search?q=how+many+estimated+prisoners+are+in+the+us&source=desktop; accessed April 17, 2024.
0 https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19/public-trust-in-government-1958-2023/; accessed April 17, 2024.
1 D. A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000), 17.
2 One of the reasons we think this isn’t Jesus speaking in John 3:16, but it’s John’s reflection is Jesus is never recorded as saying “one and only.” John calls Jesus the “one and only” several times in the Gospel of John, where it is clear it is John's writing. D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 203. Omitted in the interest of time: The Bible’s authors did not use quotation marks like we do today. The biblical authors wrote about the same way you text someone. Seriously, modern punctuation had not been invented yet. So, we are not sure if John 3:16 is Jesus’ words in His conversation with Nicodemus. Or are they John’s reflections the Spirit instructed Him to write on this conversation? Either way, the words come from God Himself, even if they were not spoken by Jesus. Red Letter Bibles Some of you have red-letter Bibles. I know this seems like a good idea. I mean who wouldn’t want to immediately know the words of Jesus? The original text of the Bible not only did not know modern punctuation, but it did not have red letters for Jesus’ words either. I may not convince many of you, but don’t go for red-letter Bibles. Here’s why: every single word of the Bible comes from the Holy Spirit, who is just as much God as Jesus (2 Timothy 3:16). While Jesus is the Son of God, and I love His words, the Holy Spirit has inspired categorically every single word of Scripture. So, to elevate Jesus’ words over the rest of the Bible is not biblical. It’s all the Bible. John 3:12, where we know Jesus is speaking, is not worth more than Hebrews 1:1, where we aren’t even sure of the human author. It’s all the Bible. So, when they try to sell you a red-letter Bible, just smile and say, “No thanks. It’s all red letters for me.
3 Thanks to Pastor David Dykes: https://gabc-archive.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/s091618.pdf; accessed April 21, 2024.
4 I owe this language to Pastor David Dykes: https://gabc-archive.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/s091618.pdf; accessed April 18, 2024.
5 https://contemplativeplanter.com/2016/10/19/a-letter-of-hope-in-the-midst-of-death/; accessed February 26, 2017.
6 http://magazine.biola.edu/article/08-summer/i-am-more-alive-now-than-i-have-ever-been/; accessed February 24, 2017.
