The Salvation

Welcome

No greater time than to talk of the greatest gift ever given to man kind

That is the gift of salvation

Today is all about the gospel

as every week should be

But today is special in that we are covering

John 3:16-21

one of the greatest summaries in all of scripture of the gospel

John 3:16 is probably the most quoted verse in all of scripture

But we also must remember there is a 17-21 as well

So please stand as we read this most famous of all sections of scripture

Text

John 3:16–21 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.””

Illustration

Compass illustration

Charles Spurgeon tells a story about an American vessel

that was attached back in the 1800’s

when most ships were made of mostly timber

by what we can only assume

some say a large wounded whale, or it could have hit something

or it could have had a malfunction

the mode is not the point here

but as the story is told it was attacked by a large wounded whale

The story goes that the ship began to leak and show signs of sinking

so the crew began to gather the few necessities they needed for life on a rescue boat

They filled them and then shoved off away from the sinking vessel

Just then as they are several meters away from the sinking vessel

2 strong men jump out and begin to swim back to the sinking ship

the sailers saw these men climb back on the vessel

dissapeared for a moment

then would reppear

it looked as though they were looking for something

once they finally found what they were looking for

they swam back to the small rescue boats

and climbed abord holding something

what were they holding, what was this treasure that they

was of so much value that they had to risk their lives to get?

It was the ships compass

see without the compass there was no way they would have been able to find thier way out of those vast seas

that compass to them was life

without it they were lost

but with it, they were able to regain life

and its just that way with the gospel

These scriptures are our compass to life

life fulfilled through Christ

that is only possible through the gospel

The bible is our guide to Jesus and living a life worth dying for

Introduction

Rapid summary of 1st 3 chapters

those who believed in the signs but not the one that the signs gave testimony to

We saw that flesh out last week as Nicodemus thought his early credentials could earn his way into the kingdom of God

However, Jesus turned his world upside down

By telling Nicodemus you must be born again

That it does’t matter who we are, or what we have done

Sinner or saint

The only thing that will matter when we stand before God is the fact that we have been born again

cleansed by the blood of Jesus

made new from the inside out

This, this is our only hope

and rightfully so

Greatest gift

perfect gift giver

perfect gift

to the imperfect person

Points of the morning

The Savior (V16-17)

The Salvation (V 18)

The Sin (V19-20)

The Showing (V-21)

The Savior

John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Lets take note right off the bat that the first word of this verse is FOR

Which links it to that which is above it

John 3:14 ““Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,”

This is the how right,

This is the what must happen

What must happen in orfer for you to born again is

I (Jesus) must be lifted up

Referring to the cross

but why, why should Jesus be lifted up

why was he lifted up..

Well the for links that to here

where the question as to why is answered

And why must the son of God be lifted up

Why must he be tortured, hung on the cross and murdered

the answer is here in v16

LOVE

God loved the world in this way..

we could spend all morning on just these few words

we wont, but lets elaborate

lets look at the word world before we jump back to Love

In the prologue John notes that the world does not love God

that the world is dark, full of sin, evil, fallen

and rejecting of him

anyone here heard of Ray Comfort

Explain what he would do

Compare us to the 10 commandments

who in here has ever lied?

who in here has every stolen?

who is here ever wanted something that someone else had?

who in here has ever taken the lords name in vain?

who in here has ever gotten angry?

And Jesus expounded on that right

he essentially says who ever has even thought about doing these things in his heart commit them against God..

who would love that

See God doesn’t love us because we are something worth loving

God doesn’t love us because we are deserving of that love

God doesn’t love us because we were somehow able to earn that love (as Nicodemus was trying to do)

No, God loved us because he himself is Love

That is the only reason that God would create a species that he knew would rebel and reject him

Love

Romans 5:8 “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

He didn’t send his son to die for us once we got it all together

He didn’t send his son to die for us once we punched our church attendance card a sufficient amount of time

He came to die for us out of his own love

It is in this way that he loves

He loved us so much that knowing we would fall away from him he ordained a way that would bring us back to him

and what is this way

by giving “his one and only Son”

Jesus Christ

the only perfect one that has ever walked this earth

he gave him over for us

If the depth of love is measured by the value of its gift

Then Gods love could not be any greater

For he gave the most precious possession

his only, eternally beloved son

why again?

“so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”

everyone who believes

not just the jewish people, whom thought they were Gods only chosen people

but everyone who believes in Him

everyone who personally trusts in Him

will have eternal life and not perish

see it seems those are our only 2 options

eternal life, or parish

Eternal life is summarized by Jesus later in this gospel during his prayer to the father

John 17:3 “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.”

to have eternal life is to spend the rest of eternity in God’s presence, worshiping him, learning from him, its an un ending experience of joy and and glory in heaven

however, to perish is the opposite of that

it is to be eternally separated from that Glory

to be eternally separated from God

Now, I can assure you that is not was God wants

God wants to spend all of eternity with us

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.”

In this verse Peter is combating those that are arguing with him about when Christ is coming back and how he will do it

And Peter is answering with the fact that his grace is so sufficient that he is delaying coming back to so that even more will repent and be saved

Gods desire is for all to be saved, unfortunately, this is not the case

as we know, many will fall way

V17 says reinforces this.. John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Again, condemnation is not God’s purpose

instead his purpose for us is salvation

Salvation that he made available only through his son

Now, one would argue, if God wants all to be saved then why doesn’t he just save all

it could be that easy

Well, it could, but it isn’t

See one of Gods great attributes is Love

we just discussed that

But another one of Gods attributes is that he is just

he is righteous

he is fair

And therefore we must also think of him as a perfect judge

and since we are using legal terms here

according to our little pole earlier about just those few commandments we break

we stand guilty before God

now enter into Gods courtroom if you will

Where we are standing before God, guilty

And just when we think we are to be condemned

in walks a man

a man covered in blood

a make with scars all over his body

a man wearing what looks like a crown

but the crown is made of thorns

this man looks at the judge

and says, it is finished, I gave myself for him

Then the judge looks at us

and says

I find you guilty of sinning and breaking Gods law

However, this man, whom happens to be my son

I sent him to stand in your place

to receive your punishment

how do you plead?

If you plead guilty

This man is willing to take your place

If you do not admit guilt,

you will be judged based on law

how do you plead?

This leads us to our second point

The Salvation

John 3:18 “Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.”

Brothers and sisters, the cornerstone and initial response to believing is admitting that you / we have fallen short

admitting guilt if you will to stand in Gods courtroom

admitting that we are all sinners, whether we like it or not

that is the first step

then once we understand that have fallen short

once we understand that we are guilty

then we can fully comprehend the fact that we need someone to save us from that

And that person is Jesus Christ

By believing in him we get our sentence deffered

our sentence is then passed from us, to him

and we are no longer condemned but set free

This is salvation

The fancy word for it is the doctrine of salvation

loosely defined as

God rescuing us through Jesus Christ,

Specifically it was Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent resurrection that achieved that salvation for us

And again all we must do is receive that free gift and we will be saved through faith

Or not… or we could deny Christ, deny the fact that he died and rose again

We could reject belief in Him to cover our sins

Maybe we don’t even believe we are a sinner and even need a savior

I can assure you in this day in age there are many who believe that leading a good life will get you there

And I hope we established last week that it will not

But God isn’t going to drag you kicking and screaming into the kingdom of heaven

Just as God loves you enough to provide a way of salvation

He loves you enough let you deny him

And if you deny him here on earth

you will get exactly what you asked for in eternity

And that is eternal seperation from him

which is not a good thing

See even here on earth God gives us glimpses of what heaven will be like

the love we see in a new mothers eyes for her child

the love we see in a fathers eyes as he sees his wife holding that child

the beauty and majesty we see when looking at the sunset over the mountains or prairie

the vastness when looking up at the stars

the power displayed in a lightening storm or hurricane

see all of these things show us Gods glory

plainly, everyday

Romans 1:20 “For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.”

We are without excuse, these are great things that God shows us throughout creation

yet they are just glimpses of what heaven will be like

and that is what we have to look forward to when we get into the kingdom

to spend forever with the creator of all of these things

And most of us may find this obvious

but scripture tells us that many will still choose not to believe

many will choose not to put their faith in God and Jesus

Which brings us to our 3rd point this morning

The Sin

John 3:19–20 “This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.”

Why will some if not most reject the gospel and Gods grace

John just told us here in 19 and 20

eluding more on the darkness and light theme from the prologue we see why many will reject the gospel

Because they love the darkness rather than the light

The world itself, prefers darkness rather to the light

Just look at the movies and media

Look at the stuff produced

at the movies people flock to

and the websites that get millions of views

I can assure they are not family sites

Look at human trafficking, drugs,

Look at the greed,

shoot, just look at the billboards when your driving down the road

Or maybe don’t, haha

either way, the world loves darkness

People, we, love the darkness

and evil is the action side of darkness

people ask, why do bad things happen to good people

and I chuckle, because maybe the question should be why do good things happen to bad people

And the reason the world rejects the light is because the light shines and illuminates their darkness, eliminates the things that temporarily make them feel good

it illuminates the need for a savior

and many don’t want this illuminated

as it says they avoid the light because they do not want their deeds exposed

many don’t want their sin to be known

because as long as their sin, our sin, remains behind closed doors and in darkness

it doesn’t ever have to be dealt with

and perhaps that is why Christian’s face persecution

face ridicule

Which brings me to our final point of the morning

The Showing

John 3:21 “But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.””

Those of us that have repented of our sins, those of us that have been born again

Those of us that have began the process of being made clean from the inside out

See we begin to radiate Christ

we begin to radiate the light

Not because we are now perfect

No, we are still far from that

But we represent the one that is perfect

the one that is the light of the world

and since we are the light of Christ in a world of darkness, this world wants nothing to do with us

See true belief comes when we make the transition from no belief or intellectual belief

which is what I feel is the biggest problem in the American church right now

to belief with everything we have

and we believe with not only our intellect, but with our heart and soul

then it will show, and it will be shown in our daily actions

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Brothers and sisters we are to be light in this dark world

Conclusion

So where do you stand?

Have you admitted your guilt before God and asked forgiveness

Will you accept the perfect gift

from the perfect gift giver

to the imperfect person

As you know that gift is forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ

Ill tell you this last thing

It wasn’t nails that held Jesus to that cross

it was love

Lets pray