The Gift Of Jesus Series

Introduction:

A. We all love to receive gifts, don’t we?

1. Christmas gifts, graduation gifts, wedding gifts, and birthday presents – we love to receive them all!

2. But what do you do when you receive a gift you don’t like or want?

B. Here are the Top Ten Things To Say About A Gift You Don't Like

#10. Hey! Now there's a gift!

#9. Well, well, well ...

#8. Boy, if I had not recently shot up 4 sizes that would've fit.

#7. This is perfect for wearing around the basement.

#6. I hope this never catches fire! It is fire season though. There are lots of unexplained fires.

#5. If the dog buries it, I'll be furious!

#4. I love it -- but I fear the jealousy it will inspire.

#3. Sadly, tomorrow I enter the Federal Witness Protection Program and I can bring nothing with me.

#2. To think - this the year I vowed to give all my gifts to charity.

#1. The Number One Thing to say about a gift you don't like: “I really, really don't deserve this.”

C. Today we are going to talk about a gift that all of us should be happy to receive.

1. It is one that we should not only like, but really love, because it is a gift that all of us desperately need.

D. Let’s return to one of the greatest verses in all the Bible – John 3:16 - 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.

1. Last week we examined the first phrase: “For God so loved the world.”

2. Today we want to focus on the next phrase: “that he gave his one and only son.”

3. There are two parts of that phrase that I want to zoom in on.

a. The first is the fact that Jesus is the one and only son.

b. The second is the fact that God gave us his one and only son.

I. Jesus is The One and Only Son

A. John 3:16 elevates Jesus to the highest of places and crowns him with the most regal of titles: “The One and Only Son.”

1. The Greek word for “one and only” is monogenes which is an adjective made up of two words a. Monos - which means “only.”

b. Genes - which means “species, race, family, offspring, or kind.”

2. When used in the Bible, “one and only” almost always describes a parent-child relationship.

a. Luke employs it to identify the widow’s son: “the only son of his mother” (Lk. 7:12).

b. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Abraham was ready to sacrifice his one and only son, Isaac. (Heb. 11:17)

3. John, the apostle and writer of one of the Gospels and several NT letters used the phrase – “one and only” 5 times, in each case he used it to highlight the unparalleled relationship between Jesus and God.

a. Look with me at the four other times (other than John 3:16) that John called Jesus the one and only Son of God.

b. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (1:14)

c. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. (1:18)

d. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. (3:18)

e. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (1 Jn. 4:9)

4. In three of the cases, monogenes modifies the noun Son.

a. In the two other cases, the word Son doesn’t appear, but is assumed as the monogenes is “from the Father” and “at the Father’s side.” (John 1:14, 18)

5. Therefore, we understand that John uses this phrase to highlight the unique relationship between Jesus and God.

a. Although God is the father of all humanity, Jesus alone is the monogenetic Son of God.

6. Other translations translate monogenes as “the only begotten Son,” rather than “the one and only Son.”

a. Unlike most children who are begotten by their parents, Jesus wasn’t begotten in the sense that he was conceived and had a beginning.

b. Rather, Jesus is the only begotten in the sense that He and God the Father have the same essence, the same eternal life span, the same unending wisdom, and the same ulimited power.

B. Every quality we attribute to God, we can also attribute to Jesus.