Why Did God Send His Son into the World?

Text: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

but to save the world through him” (John 3:17 NIV).

Scripture Reading: John 3:14–21

Introduction:

Not only was Benjamin Franklin a great statesman and inventor, but he was also a great correspondent and received letters from famous people from all over the world. One day he received what could well have been the most important letter ever to come to his desk. It was from the well-known British preacher George Whitefield.

“I find that you grow more and more famous in the learned world,” Whitefield wrote. “As you have made such progress in investigating the mysteries of electricity, I now humbly urge you to give diligent heed to the mystery of the new birth. It is a most important and interesting study and, when mastered, will richly repay you for your pains.”

The new birth is one of the key topics in John 3. In addition, in John chapter 3 we see Jesus Christ in three different roles: the Teacher (John 3:1–21), the Bridegroom (John 3:22–30), and the Witness (John 3:31–36). (1)

John, the beloved apostle, specifically reveals to us the controlling motive that guided him in the selection of both events and the words of our Lord as he wrote his gospel (John 20:30–31).

He was seeking to encourage and assist people in believing that Jesus is the Christ and that through believing they can receive the gift of eternal life.

John’s motive was evangelistic.

A seminary student was given an assignment to talk with successful people

about the essentials for success. A professor of psychology at a Christian

college gave him a good suggestion. She said, “Make the plan of salvation

very simple and repeat it often.”

c.John the apostle makes the plan of salvation easily understood, and he repeats it often throughout his gospel.

d. Our text speaks of God’s primary purpose for sending his Son Jesus Christ into the world.

e. John makes two complementary statements.

1. First, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it.

2.Second, he sent his Son so the world might be saved through him.

I. God sent his Son into the world to reveal his all-inclusive

love.

Some thought that God loved only the chosen people of Israel.

They believed that all others were under the condemnation of God.

Jesus came to reveal that both Jews and Gentiles were included in God’s love.

It was necessary that Jesus use some restraint in revealing how broad the love of God was lest he alienate people who had narrow views of God’s love.

“The sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands” ~ Martin Luther

It remained for the apostles, particularly Peter and Paul, to be used to show that God’s love also extended to other people.

Some people thought that God loved only the very successful who kept the law perfectly.

The Pharisees, the prominent and influential religious leaders of that day, were in this group.

They had a narrow concept of God’s love and believed that all who fell below the standard of perfect obedience to the law were outside God’s concern.

John tells us that God did not send Jesus Christ into the world to criticize, condemn, or cut off.

Instead, God sent his Son that the world might be saved through him.

II. God sent his Son into the world to save people

from perishing.

Christ came to save us from ignorance of the true nature of God.

He came to reveal that God is love, that God is merciful, and that God is

gracious.

ii.He came to reveal that the holy God comes to us with the offer of forgiveness and cleansing.

b. By his coming Jesus revealed human nature as God meant for it to be, and he revealed life as a qualitative experience spent in service to God and others as God meant for it to be.

c. Christ came into the world to save us from the stupidity of the self-destructiveness of sin.

i. The prodigal son is a classic illustration of those who neglect or refuse to believe that God is good and that the best place for us is in the Father’s house and in his will.

ii. Sin is a form of moral insanity. It is a road that leads to self-destruction in every area.

d. Christ came not only to save us from the consequences of our past sin, but also to save us from the power of sin in the present and the presence of sin in the future.

i. Christ came into the world to save people from perishing in both the present and the future.

e. Jesus speaks of a place called hell more than any other New Testament person.

i. He came that we might be saved from this terrible fate.

ii. He does not want us to die and spend eternity away from God.

f. Thus, he came that we might find the way to the Father (John 14:6).

g. By deciding to become children of God, we avoid spending eternity

in the place prepared for the Devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41).

III. God sent his Son into the world to provide a simple way of

salvation.

“. . . that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”

(John 3:16 NIV).

We will not find the way to God through obedience to a law or through outstanding efforts to achieve our highest and best.

We will find it only through faith in Jesus Christ.

To experience salvation we must believe with all our hearts that Jesus Christ is God’s Son.

Jesus is more than just one of the children of God.

He is the unique and only begotten Son of God.

He is the only one of his kind.

He came on a mission from heaven to earth as the eternal God in a human body.

To experience salvation we must believe with all our hearts that God is as Jesus declared him to be.

We need to respond to the revelation of the Father God in and through Jesus Christ.

As we believe that God relates to us as a loving Father, we find that we can commit ourselves to him with joy and confidence.

Only as we relate to him in a faith relationship can we experience the lifting power of his great love for us.

To experience salvation we must believe with all our hearts that God will do for us what he has promised to do.

The New Testament contains many promises from God to his people. We need to recognize and claim these promises.

The men and women of God through the ages who have experienced inward joy and who have achieved significantly in service to others have been those who believed that God was always faithful and reliable.

Conclusion

Charles Haddon Spurgeon said that there are at least three essential

elements in the faith that saves—knowledge,

mental assent, and trust.

1. You need to know something significant about God in order to be able to really believe in him.

To get this information about God, we need to study God’s Word.

The faith that saves is based on information we have about God that comes to us through the

Scriptures.

2. The second element of this faith that saves is mental assent. There must be a willingness in the mind to give consent and assent to the truth about God, humankind, and life as it is revealed in the New Testament.

3. The final element in this saving faith is trust.

This means to have a commitment to and dependence on God. It means to place confidence in God, making a leap of faith and pinning your hopes on Jesus Christ as the one who came to be your Savior.

4. The faith that saves is a decision made by an individual in response to Jesus Christ.

John wrote his gospel to help you have that kind of trust in Jesus.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to

save the world through him” (3:17 NIV).

1.Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 294.