‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.’
Those are not only the most beautiful words ever spoken, but they are the most meaningful words ever spoken. Almost everybody knows this verse, but not everyone understands it.
A pastor was at a baseball game once, and there was a man with his young son sitting in front of him. Someone flashed the ‘3:16’ poster and the boy asked his dad what that meant. The father told the boy it meant ‘the Lord is my Shepherd.’ The pastor said he almost tapped the man on the shoulder to correct him, but realized that one of the deeper meanings of JOHN 3:16 is that the Lord is our shepherd.
Let’s talk about …
1. THE LOVE OF GOD
‘For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son…’
The first part of this verse tells us that God loves the world. God loves the world so much, says John, that He didn’t remain distant from our pain and suffering. God entered into this world - with all of its evil - and embraced us in the name of Jesus. The God of our salvation loved us enough to die for us.
And, like a great magnet, the shadow of His cross reaches across the years to offer us that same love today. And He cries out that if we will but lift Him up, He will draw all men to Him. But we have to lift His name up for that to happen. Are we lifting His name up in our daily lives, or are we trying our best to keep Jesus our own little secret?
So, if God loves us and wants to offer each of us salvation, why are so many people going to hell? In tonight’s verse, we see the key to receiving what God offers. It is found in our believing in Jesus’ holy name. It is in the “believing” that Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus is the only path, or doorway, to God’s Heavenly city.
But there is a catch. The catch is; to receive salvation through Jesus, we need to do one thing – we need to change. We need to change our hearts so that we can focus on Christ instead of ourselves. As the old saying goes, “Lord, put more of Thee in me.”
The year was 1968. The place was Viet Nam. There was a little hamlet along the Mekong River and some Viet Cong were holding some American’s captive. The jails were pits that were dug into the muddy ground with stone and mortar on the sides and a bamboo grating over the tops act as doors, and they were high enough off the floors to keep anyone from unlocking them. Sometimes, the Viet Cong would stand there and ridicule them or throw food on top of them, or worse.
Early one morning, the enemy received communication that the Americans were getting ready to overrun the hamlet, and in fear of their lives, they unlocked the bamboo cages and then fled into the jungle. The American prisoners didn’t know the gates were unlocked, though, so they just stayed there, not knowing what was happening above. Later that day, when the Americans came, all they had to do was to open the cages and let the prisoners climb free.
Just like the United States military sent its army to liberate those prisoners on the Mekong River, God sent His Son Jesus to liberate us. Now, nobody has to be a prisoner of this world any longer. The good news is that we are set free by the blood of the Lamb.
Now, let’s talk a little about ..
2. BELIEVING IN JESUS
If the key is to believe as our verse says, just what are we supposed to believe? Jesus tells us right here what we should believe. We should believe in Jesus – that He is the Son of God; that He is our only Redeemer; that through Him, all sin is forgiven. Notice I did not say that anyone who ‘feels’ something towards Jesus is saved, but only those who ‘believe’ in Him.
So the Good News is that God sent His Son, so that whosoever would believe in Him, as the Savior, would be saved from hell. Now, before I go on, let me throw a little something extra in. If a person really believes in Jesus, they will want to do all the things that God has told them to do. That includes being baptized the way Jesus was baptized (by immersion) and by doing the other things a Christian is supposed to do, like read the Bible so we can mature in our faith, love others in Jesus’ name, and such.
But there’s more good news. Having made our initial commitment to Christ, we are strengthened by Him to let go of the destructive and counterproductive things in our lives.
PHILIPPIANS 4:13 tells us how strong we are -
‘I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.’
Willie once told us how tribesmen would cut a coconut in half, clean it out, put an orange inside and then tie it back together again – with a hole in one side. This hole would let monkeys reach in and grab the orange, but with the orange in their hand, they couldn’t get their hand out, so they were held captive until the hunters came to get them. The monkeys could have escaped, but they refuse to let go of something they want, and that is what does them in.
Jesus tells us to let go of those things of the world that we’re hanging onto and to follow him. Knowing we do not have the resolve to do that, He strengthens us so we can do it.
Sometimes I think the church of America needs to hear more hellfire & brimstone messages. Some people want more and some want less. There are two ways to look at it, I guess. The first way of looking at it is to look at all of us as sinners and then start preaching the consequences of our sin. The other way to look at it, is to see us as children of the most High God, and then start preaching about how much He loves us. Perhaps a little of both would be the most appropriate, wouldn’t it?
Tonight’s verse reminds us of how much God loves us. It also talks about eternal life. God is telling us we have only two options; we can either perish or we can have everlasting life. Now, perish doesn’t mean to die and stop existing. It means to be away from God for eternity, never being able to be in His presence.
Remember when I preached about Lazarus and the rich man? I told how the rich man was in hell, but could see Lazarus over there talking to Abraham, and the rich man wanted Lazarus to bring water to him, but Abraham told him that the chasm between the two could never be bridged. And when we are absence from the presence of God, we have perished to the lake of fire.
When this verse talks about everlasting life, it is talking about spending eternity in the happiness and joy of Heaven. How long is eternity? It is longer than a year. It is longer than our lives. It is even longer than the time this world has been here. There is no beginning or ending in eternity. It is just … always. So, when we make our choice, be smart enough to choose the one that will benefit you during that eternity, not just the one you think is more fun today.
Now, as Paul Harvey would say, let’s talk about …
3. THE REST OF THE STORY
If the only Good News was that God loves us that alone would be enough to warrant our believing in Jesus. But because God loves us so much, we have even more Good News. That Good News is we can have assurance of our salvation. We can have confidence in God’s work in us, even if we don’t "feel" like it, we can know we’re a part of the family of God.
There were two men who lived in the same condominium complex, both with the same name – Paul Johnson. One was a sales representative and the other was the pastor of a local church. One day, Paul Johnson, the salesman, went on a business trip to Brazil, and the same day he left, Paul Johnson, the pastor, up and died.
Well, two weeks went by and finally the salesman sent a telegram back to his wife. Unfortunately, it was delivered to the widow. All the telegram said was, "Arrived safely. Heat unbearable. Made arrangements for you to come down here next week."
She fainted.
Will the Victory Singers please come back on stage?
The assurance is that you and I will never have to worry about our eternal future. Some people base their assurance of salvation on their particular denomination or church, while others base it on how they feel during a church service. These things are not meant to give any assurance at all. You can only have the assurance of salvation from one place, and that place is through a very personal relationship between you and Jesus. A church cannot get you to Heaven. A denomination cannot get you to Heaven. Feelings cannot get you to Heaven. Jesus Christ can, though.
Go back to that story about the American prisoners in Viet Nam. They were held captive on that last day, not by the locks, but by their lack of knowledge. They didn’t know their cages were unlocked.
Sometimes, we can be held captive out of ignorance, too. Many people live a life of captivity to bitterness, fear, hatred, or some other terrible thing. And they do not know how to get out of that captivity. Well, be of good cheer, because I am here to tell you that, because of Jesus Christ, the door to your cage has been unlocked and is waiting for you to walk out – victorious in Christ Jesus. Jesus has come to bring release to the captives and sight to the blind. He has come that we might have life and have it abundantly.
All you have to do is believe in Him.
‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.’
INVITATION
