For God So Loved the World

Introduction.

To catch us up, let’s read John 3:1-21.

Reviewing last week, this conversation is between Nicodemus and Jesus.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee.

He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the religious ruling party in Israel.

He was also the foremost teacher of the Law in Israel.

Jesus rebuked both Nicodemus and the national of Israel for lacking faith in God, because they hadn’t accepted what Jesus was saying.

Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man.

A Messianic Title that Nicodemus should’ve known.

The reason why Jesus could even share these things with Nicodemus is because He was eternally preexistent, and had been with the Father.

He poignantly shared that we must believe in Him and trust all that He accomplished on the Cross.

He shares it by way of example, picturing Christ, He pointed to the serpent on the pole.

With that, we come to the most famous verse.

Salvation (v. 16).

The main point of this verse is not necessarily salvation, but the length God went to provide it.

Sometimes in Scripture the smallest words seem to carry the greatest impacts.

Like the words “but God”, we’ll see those later on. The word “so” in John 3:16 is incredibly important.

For God “SO” loved the world!

people tend to try and limit the extent of the word “world” here.

It can be difficult to grasp what John is saying though.

1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

If God loves the world, are we supposed to love the world too?

This passage is not necessarily focused on who God loved, but how He loved them.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world...”

A better way to say is “For God loved the world in this way.

How did God love the world? He gave his only son.

The Greek word is “monogenes”, or Only begotten son.

This means “only unique son”.

Hebrews 11:17.

Isaac was not Abraham’s only son. Ishmael was his other son. Monogenes means only unique son. This means that Isaac was the unique son of Abraham, by which the promise of God would pass through.

In what way was the unique Son of God given?

He was lifted up on a cross, to take the punishment of eternal wrath for the sin of the world.

2 Corinthians 5:19 “namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

1 John 2:2 “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”

How do we gain eternal life?

By believing in the Sent One!

Whoever would believe, will have eternal life.

“The free offer of the gospel is broad enough to encompass the vilest sinner, yet narrow enough to exclude all who reject Christ. But those who come to Him on His terms, Jesus gives the marvelous promise: John 6:37 ““All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” - John MacArthur.

Shall never perish.

This point to the eternal security of the believer.

This is the truth that whoever believes in Jesus and is granted salvation, will never lose their salvation!

John 6:37.

John 10:27–29 ““My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

Why do you think that there are some who don’t believe?

Why do you think that there were some even in Jesus’s day, who witnessed all of His miracles first hand, that didn’t believe in Him?

I think that

Judgment (vv. 17-20)

We must first recognize that Jesus’s first advent, or His first coming, was not to judge the world (v. 17).

Luke 19:10 ““For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””

Remember, John’s purpose for writing this: John 20:30–31 “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

We must recognize the reality of the coming judgment of Christ, when He returns.

Judging the nations at Armageddon: Revelation 19:11-21.

Judging the wicked after the 1000-year kingdom: Revelation 20:11-15.

But the judgment we see here in John 3 is different.

vv. 18-20 show us a people who love their evil deeds so much that they are unwilling to come to God. Therefore, the judgment that God gives them is their own sin. He leaves them blinded in their own sin.

John 12:27-50.

People literally heard a voice from heaven to indicate that what Jesus was saying was true, yet they still rejected Him, because they loved their sin more than coming to the light.

Romans 1:18-32.

v. 24—God gave them over.

v. 26—God gave them over.

v. 28—God gave them over.

Psalm 81:11-13.

Truly Saved (v. 21).

John shows us what a person’s life looks like if they are truly saved here.

This shows the regeneration of the heart.

The one who practices the truth show the ongoing work of God in their heart.

This isn’t a once in a while thing of doing religion. No, it is something real in the heart of a person.

Helpful passages:

2 Corinthians 5:16–17 “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Ephesians 2:1-10.

1 John 3:1-10.