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THE GOSPEL IN (JOHN 3:16)

 

PLEASE READ IN THE BIBLE (JOHN 3:14-19)

 

It says in, (John 3:16) “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”.  There is probably no verse in the Bible more well known than (John 3:16).  Sometimes, however, over familiarity can be a disadvantage.  There is a tendency to overlook or gloss over the words and as a result to miss the fullness and profoundness of these wonderful words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ.  This wonderful verse has been rightly described by Luther as, “The Bible in miniature”.  The Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus in (verse 12) “I tell you of heavenly things”.  The words in (John 3:16) reveal “heavenly truths”.  They are heavenly in origin and heavenly in content.  They are things that are new, things that have never been heard before.  You may have heard the expression, “say it in twenty five words or less”.  There are exactly twenty five words in (John 3:16).  Never has so much been said in so few words.  In these twenty five words of “heavenly content” we learn;

 

  • God exists.
  • God loves us.
  • God proved His love by sending His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Deity took on humanity).
  • God provided salvation for “whosoever”, for everyone and any one.
  • God offers salvation as a free gift.  All one must do to receive it is believe.
  • God says that if a person is not saved they will perish eternally.

 

These are profound and wondrous truths contained in a few words.  There is no other religion or system of man that has a gospel message like this gospel message.  In this message we want to consider (John 3:16) by looking at a few words or phrases at a time.  By way of outline we want to consider the following:

 

  1. “FOR GOD” = THE DECLARATION OF A DIVINE PERSON (THE DEITY WHO LOVED)
  2. “LOVED THE WORLD” = THE DECLARATION OF DIVINE LOVE.
  3. “SO LOVED THE WORLD” = THE DEGREE OF DIVINE LOVE. (A REMARKABLE FACT)
  4. “THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON” = THE DEMONSTRATION OF DIVINE LOVE. (AN AMAZING ACT)
  5. “THAT WHOSOEVER” = THE REACH OF GOD’S SALVATION.
  6. “BELIEVETH IN HIM” = THE REQUIREMENT OF GOD’S SALVATION.
  7. “SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE” = THE REWARD OF GOD’S SALVATION. (AN ETERNAL PACT)

 

Let’s consider first of all;

 

  1. “FOR GOD” = THE DECLARATION OF A DIVINE PERSON.

 

Do you believe in God?  Do you believe in the existence of God? The Bible never attempts to prove the existence of God.  The Word of God begins in (Genesis 1:1) with the words, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”.  In the Bible man is brought face to face with the declaration that God does indeed exist.  You must either accept it or reject it.  There is no middle ground.  It says in (Hebrews 11:6) “Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”.  Our faith is pleasing to God.  It is by faith that one believes in God.  God will reward those who diligently seek Him.  There is nothing about God that makes it impossible for men to believe in Him.  The difficulty is with the human will. 

 

  1. “LOVED THE WORLD” = THE DECLARATION OF DIVINE LOVE.

 

“God loved the world”.  Here is the “Declaration of His love”.  Not only does God exist but He also loves.  This is a wonderful truth.  God loves this world of mankind.  All God’s created beings are regarded with pity and compassion.  God’s love was not deserved by us.  We could never earn or merit His love by anything we could ever do or be in ourselves.  God hates sin but He loves the sinner.  God does not love this wicked world system but He loves the people in it.   It says in (1 John 4:7)”love is of God”.  God is the source or origin of love.  Love comes from Him.  Furthermore, it says in (verse 9) of that same chapter, that “God is love”.  God is love in His essential nature.  All of God’s works and ways (creation, redemption, etc.) are the result of this blessed truth that “God is love”.  Because God loves this world it says in, (2 Peter 3:9)”The Lord is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”.  God, in His love and patience, has extended these days of grace giving man an opportunity to be saved.  In (John 3:16) there is a little word with a big meaning that we should deal with it separately.

 

  1. “SO LOVED THE WORLD” = THE DEGREE OF DIVINE LOVE.

 

The little big word “SO” reminds us of “the degree of His love”.  It tells us of the great, boundless nature of God’s love.  God did not just love the world but He SO loved the world.  He loved the world so greatly, so much, so dearly that He gave this world a most wonderful gift.  This is “A REMARKABLE FACT”, a great and wonderful truth, that God SO loved the world.  The hymn writer expressed it as follows;

 

What was it, O our God

Led Thee to give Thy Son,

To yield Thy well-beloved

For us by sin undone?

Twas love unbounded led Thee thus

To give Thy well-beloved for us.

 

What led the Son of God

To leave His throne on high,

To shed His precious blood,

To suffer and to die?

Twas love, unbounded love for us,

Led Him to die and suffer thus.

 

  1. “THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON” = THE DEMONSTRATION OF DIVINE LOVE.

 

Here is “AN AMAZING ACT” that God gave His only begotten Son.  The Lord Jesus himself said in, (John 8:42) “I proceeded forth and came from God: neither came I of myself, but He sent me.  Do YOU believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He was sent into this world by the Father?  Because “God is love” in His essential nature and because God loves this world of mankind, His love had to manifest itself.  His love had to be expressed by giving.  His love had to be “demonstrated”. The greatest expression or demonstration of God’s love is the gift of His own unique, one of a kind Son.  It says in, (1 John 4:9) “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”.  There are at least three important things revealed to us about the love of God from this verse;

 

·        The Direction of God’s Love. – It was “towards us”.  God’s love has been bestowed upon us.  We are the recipients of God’s love.

·        The Display of God’s Love. – “God sent His only begotten Son into the world”.

·        The Design of God’s Love. – “That we might live through Him”.  As sinners, God says we are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).  Those who believe in Him and receive Him as their own personal Savior have eternal life. (John 3:15).  They “pass from death unto life” (John 5:24).  

 

It says also in, (1 John 4:10) “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation (satisfaction) for our sins”.  When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He settled the sin question.  As guilty sinners we needed propitiation.  It means that on the basis of an acceptable sacrifice, God’s justice is satisfied, God’s wrath is averted and God’s mercy can be shown to all who believe in His beloved Son.

 

Some who are reading this message might wonder, “Why did God give His Son”?  “Why did he come into this world”?  The answer is found in God’s Word in, (1 Timothy 1:15) “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”.  If YOU have taken your place as a sinner then Christ Jesus came into the world to save YOU.  Have YOU ever acknowledged before God that you are a lost, helpless, hopeless sinner in need of a Savior?  God says in His Word, (Romans 3:9-12, 23, and 19) “Jews and Gentiles, they are all under sin”.  “There is none righteous, no, not one”.  “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God”.  “There is none that doeth good, no, not one”.  All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.  “All the world is guilty before God”.  There are a multitude of problems in this world, but the universal problem is SIN.  “Sin” is man’s moral disease.  It is man’s greatest problem.  If your sin is not forgiven, it will keep you out of heaven and eternally separate you from God.  Your destiny is the place called hell and the lake of fire.  See (Revelation 20:15 and 21:8).  It is true that God is a God of love, mercy and grace.  This is why He provided a Savior and salvation to all who believe.  But, God is also a God of holiness, righteousness and justice.  As a result God can not overlook your sin.  He must and will bring you into judgment for your sin.  It says in, (Hebrews 9:27) “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”.  YOU can not escape the judgment of God.  YOU can not save yourself.  Your Priest, Rabbi or Pastor can not save you.  Your church membership, your baptism, your good works, so called, can not save you.  It says in, (Isaiah 64:6) “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteous nesses are as filthy rags”.   It says also in, (Ephesians 2:8, 9) “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that NOT OF YOURSELVES: it is the gift of God: NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast”.  Salvation is only in God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  It says in, (Acts 4:12) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”.  This is why God gave His Son, to save you from your sins.  God not only gave His Son, but He gave up His Son to suffer and die on the cross for your sins.  It says in, (John 3:14, 15) “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up”.  This a reference to an incident in Israel’s history, recorded back in the Old Testament in (Numbers 21:4-9).   It is a type or picture of the Lord Jesus Christ being lifted up on the cross.  Whosoever believeth on Him, or looks to Him by faith, will not perish but have everlasting life.    It says in, (Romans 8:32)”God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all”.  (Romans 4:25) ‘He was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification”.  (1 Peter 3:18) “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”.  (Hebrews 2:9) “Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man”.  From these verses you can see that Christ died for each one of us, for our sins, in order to provide salvation.  Who then can be saved?  Notice the next phrase;

 

  1. THAT WHOSOEVER = THE REACH OF GOD’S SALVATION.

 

The word “whosoever” is a word that encompasses all of mankind and includes every man, women, boy and girl.  Dear reader, this means that it includes you.  Since, as we have seen, all men before God are lost sinners, facing the judgment of God, a salvation was needed that was available to all men everywhere.  “Whosoever” is that wonderful word that is included in God’s closing invitation to man in, (Revelation 22:17) “Let him that is athirst come; and WHOSOEVER will, let him take the water of life freely”.  Will YOU come and receive God’s salvation as a free gift?  Will you be one of the “whosever’s” whose name is recorded in the “book of life”?  Or, will you be among those of whom it is written in, (Revelation 20:15) “WHOSOEVER was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”? 

 

  1. BELIEVETH IN HIM = THE REQUIREMENT OF GOD’S SALVATION.

 

The universal mistake of the natural man is that he must do something or be something to earn or merit salvation.  We read about this attitude in, (Matthew 19:16) “And behold one came and said unto Him, Good Master (speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ) what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life”?  To another person who ask a similar question, the Lord Jesus said, (John 6:29) “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent”.  It says in, (Galatians 2:16) “A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.  By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified”.   God’s “requirement for salvation” is that you must believe.  “Believe” in the biblical sense is more than an intellectual assent to historical facts about the person called “Jesus Christ”.  The Greek word for our English word “believe” means “adherence to”, “committal to”,  “reliance upon”, “faith in”, or “trust in”.  It means to trust yourself completely to the one in whom you believe.  “Belief” is synonymous with “faith”.  To truly believe in Christ is to have faith in Christ.  To believe involves not only the consent of the mind but it is an act of the heart and will.  It says in, (Romans 10:9, 10) “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus (Jesus as Lord) and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”.  “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”.  These verses tell us that a person must believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ in order to be saved.  Also, when a person believes in their heart, God’s righteousness is imputed to them.  Many people believe in something or someone.  In order to be saved, however, you must “believe in HIM”.  God’s requirement for salvation is that you must believe in His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Dear reader, do YOU believe in Him?  When a person truly believes in Him, God will save them.  They will be “born again” or “born from above”.  Read (John 3:3-8).  The Philippian jailor ask the question in, (Acts 16:30, 31)”What must I do to be saved”?  “They said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”.

 

  1. SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE = THE REWARD OF GOD’S SALVATION (AN ETERNAL PACT).

 

This “heavenly truth” reveals that before man is one of two destinies.  When death comes at the end of this brief time upon earth, those who have been saved have eternal life in heaven.  God has made this eternal pact in His Word.  Those who do not get saved will “perish”.  The word “perish” means “ruin” or “loss” not of being but of well-being.  Those who live in their sins and die in their sins will perish in the sense that they will miss heaven.  Hell and the lake of fire will be their eternal home.  It says in, (Revelation 20:15 & 21:8) “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”.  “The unbelieving shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”.  Dear readers,  which will it be for you?  Will your eternal home be heaven or hell?   Notice the two categories of people, believers and non-believers, and the destinies of each in the following verses;

 

  • (John 3:18) “He that believeth on Him is not condemned (judged): but he that believeth not is condemned (judged) already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God”. 
    • The BELIEVER is not condemned or judged (for his sins).  For the believer, Christ has already paid for his sins by His death on the cross.
    • The UNBELIEVER is even now under the condemnation and judgment of God.

 

  • (John 3:36) ” He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”.
    • The BELIEVER is promised everlasting or eternal life.  This is not only “quantity of life” but “quality of life” because it is in heaven with their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
    • The UNBELIEVING not only will “not see life” but also “the wrath of God” already hangs over them, ready to fall at any moment.

 

Dear reader, if YOU remain unsaved, it is not because God does not love you, or because God’s Son did not die for you, but it is because YOU have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Which will it be for YOU, RECEPTION or REJECTION of the Savior?  You are traveling the “highway of life”.  Now that you have read this message, you have come to “the crossroads”.  Which way will you go?  Will you continue to reject the Savior and God’s gift of salvation?  Or, will you believe on Him and receive Him as your Lord and Savior?  It is your decision and your responsibility.

 

Please give this matter your most serious attention.  Will YOU be a believer or a non-believer?  Your eternal destiny depends on your decision.

 

Christian Messenger