All sermons preached by the webmaster may be freely copied, printed and distributed. We ask only that the site name and homepage URL be included in all copies distributed. Thankyou.
‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16-18).’
This morning we are going to consider what is arguably the most well known and most memorised verse in the Bible. And what an appropriate occasion to do so, for today we once again celebrate the Lord’s Supper, remembering what God has done for us in order to deliver us from Sin and all its consequences.
The passage for consideration this morning fits into the context of our Lord’s discussion with Nicodemus, and we ought not to forget that, for if we do there is always the danger of putting our own spin on this famous verse. We are so prone to read into Scripture what we wish to see, and although this verse seems fairly simple upon repeating it as often as we do, I wonder how many truly appreciate the verse for what it actually says.
My quest today is to open up this passage to your understanding, by remembering the context in which it is set, and to give you the accurate meaning of this verse, with relevant application.
The context of the passage of course, is Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus concerning entrance into the Kingdom of God. So far in our studies in John 3 we have seen the necessity of the new birth because of sin, and have seen that without this spiritual new birth a sinner has no possibility of either entering the Kingdom, or understanding anything about the Kingdom. The new birth is an experience that must come first, and is not a human caused event, but comes from above. It is a work of the Holy Spirit, and not of man.
In our last study we saw how Jesus alone has the ability to tells us the truth regarding entrance into the Kingdom, for He alone has actually been in the presence of God in heaven. All other methods of salvation are to be regarded as spurious and false if they do not come from this One who has genuine first hand information regarding heavenly or spiritual things.
The Lord Jesus Christ was also seen to be the way into heaven. If entrance is to be had, it is to be gained by looking at the Lord Jesus Christ in a manner similar to that of the Israelites when they looked at the bronze serpent in the wilderness all those years ago. It is a look of faith, of confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ as the way into the Kingdom.
And so today we will delve further into the teaching here in John 3, and seek to learn more about the way of entrance into the Kingdom. And to do so, we must first consider the love of God.
1. God Loves the World
What was the point of the Son of Man being lifted up? Why did all this come about? How is it that a sinner can find salvation in a look at the crucified One? The answer to these questions and more are provided in the passage that we are considering this morning.
The passage begins with the word ‘For’. In other words all that we are now considering is linked to the previous part of John 3. What was the point of the Son of Man being lifted up, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ How is it that a sinner can find salvation in a look at the crucified One, ‘For God so loved the world...’
Entrance into the Kingdom of God has nothing to do with what you do. It matters little if you have tried to be good, have tried to be a fisher of men, have tried to keep the laws of God, or even if you have tried to believe. It matters not if you have been baptised, have been confirmed, have been going to church, or taught a Sunday School class. But what does matter is that ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son’. That is where the real important matter lies.
This world lies under the sway of the evil one, and its peoples are totally corrupted by sin in all of their being - not that they are as evil as they could possibly be, but that every part of their being is corrupted and polluted by sin. And yet, though this world is truly the enemy of God, and is in constant rebellion against Him - God loves the world.
What a terrible slander it is against the Father when Christians seek to disown the God of the Old Testament as cruel and harsh, for He is far from that. Christ only came to this earth because God loves man.
What hope would this world have if God did not love it - surely it would already be destroyed, not a man, woman or child would be left, but all would have been swept away before the all consuming holiness of God into the very pit of Hell to suffer the eternal torments of everlasting punishment.
But it is not so, ‘For God so loved the world’, and so it has been spared an immediate demise. Instead of immediate destruction we see in this text love. We see that God so loves the world that He Himself provides a way of escape to sinful men. ‘Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel (Ezek 33:11).’
The Lord God is not some harsh and cruel tyrant God who is keen to crush man, for He is ‘not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9).’ He will punish sinners, and condemn them to eternal damnation for their sin, but He would rather they live - and so He provides a way of escape for sinners.
‘For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (Jn 3:17).’
In fact the love of God for this world of sinners is such, that no description of its greatness has been given except by the word ‘so’, and then the gift of His great love is then described. Such a small word, yet it captures a love that is gloriously transcendent and surpasses any love that we can know.
It is a love that is directed toward the world, not just one small group of people that constitute the church, or that makes up the nation of the Jews, but the world. God loves the world - all of its people, whether they be Jewish, or Gentile dogs; whether they be the admired of the world, or the despised; whether they be the good people, or the evil - God loves the world.
Even those people we love to depict as the worst kind, even Muslims and communists, even criminals, politicians, and tax collectors - there is not one class or type of person whom God does not love.
Even though there is nothing within you to commend you to God, He loves you. That is what the text is saying here. Yes, even in all your wickedness He loves you - not because you have earned it, because you have nothing to offer Him - He simply loves you because He chooses to. Even though he maintains His right and determination to punish the wicked because of sin, He yet loves this world of sinful men, women and children. And it is only the Father’s love that gives this world any hope.
He loves this world so much that He sent His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for sin, so that sinners might be restored to a right relationship with Him. He sent His Son to die, to be despised and rejected of men, to be crucified and to be cursed - such is the love of God for this world of sinners - for you. ‘But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).’
Yes, even though He had every right to destroy man and to wipe him from the face of the planet he loved us. So great is His love, that He did not spare His only begotten Son. In self-sacrificing love, He sent this most precious and costly gift to sinners, demonstrating that He loves us. ‘In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 Jn 4:9,10).’
What a precious gift for those who did not love Him, that we might be spared the wrath of Almighty God that will indeed come upon sinful man as the just consequence of sin. A way of escape provided for His enemies and that through the gift of His only begotten Son.
Do you realise what a costly gift has been given by God for the salvation of sinful man? It is He who ‘was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him (Prov 8:30).’ This is the One who is so united to the Father that he is God Himself, in whom He is well pleased. This is the One for whom the Father has been the grounds of His eternal existence within the Godhead, the One who has such an intimate and close relationship with the Father as to be His Son. This is the cost of God’s love for sinful man, for He 'spared not his own Son (Rom 8:32)' - His only begotten Son. What a gift for His enemies! ‘Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift (2 Cor 9:15)’
He gave His only begotten Son unto death, to meet the price of man’s sin, ‘Who was delivered for our offences (Rom 4:25).’ Can you possibly imagine giving up your child for the deliverance of an enemy, yet this is in human terms, by illustration something like what God has done, and what a far greater sacrifice it has been for Him, ‘the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God (1 Pet 3:18).’
2. God’s Love Embraced
How is it that a person gains the benefit from the Father’s gift? Well for a start it is not by things that we do, and I will not labour that point again today.
This passage tells us that ‘that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ There is no need for any theatrics, elaborate rituals, or exuberant displays of emotion, only to believe. We do not need to feel a certain remorse for our sin, though that may often happen. All we need do is believe.
To believe is to trust the Lord, to believe that what He has said regarding the way of entrance into the Kingdom is true, and to act upon that belief. In other words, you rest in what Jesus has done as the basis for your entrance into the Kingdom, and that is it. You simply accept the God given plan or method of salvation, forsaking any others you may have heard of, and firmly hold to God’s alone.
This gift of salvation, this gift of entrance into the Kingdom of God through what the Lord Jesus Christ has done by being lifted up upon the cross becomes yours by simply accepting it, by simply believing it.
This way of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ is not available to everyone - but you say, it is, for the passage says ‘God so loved the world...’ Yes it does say that, but it also says, ‘that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’
Yes God loves the entire world, but clearly to enjoy the benefit of God’s love gift to the world you must believe. If you do not believe, though God still loves the world and obviously you, the way of salvation is not yours and you will perish.
And what is your case if you believe? ‘that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ This is yours even if you have been the greatest sinner in the world - Don’t despair, for God in Christ has met perfect justice by punishing your sin in the Lord Jesus Christ who became your substitute, suffering the wrath of God in your place.
If you believe in Jesus Christ as God’s way of salvation and entrance into the Kingdom, then it matters not how great a sinner you have been - for He has paid your debt - adultery, blasphemy, murder, rape, sexual immorality, stealing, hatred, lies, bitterness, hypercritical judging, covetousness, and so on, all is forgiven in Christ. ‘He that believeth on him is not condemned (Jn 3:18a).’
No matter what the person who believes might have done, what sins you may have committed, no sentence of condemnation will ever be given against you - ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).’
Do you believe, then you are acquitted from all sin; you have been pardoned in the Lord Jesus Christ, and delivered from all condemnation.
This is not a promise of long physical life, or of a deliverance from annihilation, but it is the promise of being kept from everlasting torment and torture forever, and the life of the future age being enjoyed even from the day of belief forward. This is the promise of eternal life now.
This life is one that has begun the moment the Spirit of God gave you spiritual life and enabled you to believe the Gospel, and it goes on throughout this life on earth, as you groan for deliverance from this body of death. When you die, this life continues under the altar of God and cries out how long Lord until I am reunited with my body. And then when reunited it continues on into eternity. This life continues through each stage within the presence of God with a quality of life unknown among those of the world, with joy unspeakable, and never ending.
What are you despairing for you of little faith - you shall not perish but ‘you shall have everlasting life.’ Yes I know you still sin, and I know you struggle to believe, and I know you find it tough when you are ridiculed and sick, and I know you find it hard going and are ready to give up at times when things don’t seem to work out for you - Do you believe? Then you shall not perish but ‘you shall have everlasting life.’ ‘And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand (Jn 10:28).’
3. God’s Love Despised
But what if you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, what if you despise the gift of God’s love to you? This passage says, ‘He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).’
If you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and have chosen to continue in your life of rebellion and unbelief, you are already condemned. ‘And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Mt 3:10).’
You my friend stand in a terrible predicament. God loves you and has sent His Son ‘that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ Do you see your plight this day - God is ready to move against you in His wrath as a consuming fire, and you will be cut down. It may not be today, but will it be tomorrow?
‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up (2 Pet 3:9,10).
Do not be deceived for the day of reckoning for you is coming, and if you will not believe than you shall perish in the Biblical way - that of everlasting punishment and suffering, away from the presence of God. You are as good as there now, so certain is your end if you will not believe.
And this is so also for all who seek a way of escape in any other direction, for ‘Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12)’, ‘He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (Jn 3:18).’
I would plead with you this day, do not treat God’s love with contempt, but embrace the gift of His love, even Jesus Himself - to despise this gift is to stand condemned, for there is no other salvation.
Why will you perish when the way of salvation in Jesus Christ has been offered to you so freely - reach out with the arm of faith and take it, and you will be saved and granted everlasting life? It is there for the taking - take it.
Outpost
Homepage
JOHN SERMONS
SERMONS
PAGE
NEXT SERMON IN SERIES
TOP
10/10/2006
AN OUTPOST PRODUCTION