John 3:16

INTRODUCTION

I want to welcome you again to First Christian Church this morning. My name is Pastor Shane, and I am so excited that you are here with us today. It is a great day to be in the house of the Lord, and I am glad to be with you today to do so.

If you didn’t know, today is March 16th. That is right, 3/16. Now, I am not a person who typically plans their sermons around the date of each Sunday. But I thought that today would be a great day for us to look at what is quite possibly the most famous verse in all of the Bible. John 3:16 has moved from just a verse early in the book of John, to the most seen of all verses.

On January 8th, 2009 the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners faced off in the BCS National Championship. 78,000+ people gathered to watch the top 2 ranked teams battle it out on the football field to see who would be the national champion. The Florida Gators were led at QB by the son of two missionaries. He was outspoken in his faith in Jesus, and that night Tim Tebow decided, felt led by God, to write on the eye black on his face “John 3:16”.

What may have felt like an insignificant move. Writing on his face would be hard for anyone in the stands to really see, and the t.v. cameras would have to be intentional to zoom in on his face to see it. Even with those odds, that night “John 3:16” sprawled across the face of the Gators QB, was seen by everyone tuning in that night. And according to Google, John 3:16 was searched online over 94 million times. It John 3:16 was not part of our culture yet, that night it was.

While I am thankful that the message of Jesus Christ went out from that football field into the world, there is also something that can happen when we see or hear something all the time. We can become blind to the truth behind it. We can miss the power in it. John 3:16 could be a verse we are so familiar with, we miss the meat of the message in it.

Today, as we look at this passage in John, I pray that our hearts can be kindled by the power of this passage. Would you join me in prayer this morning?

PRAY

When it comes to John 3:16 we have to apply a basic standard for our Bible reading, context. We love John 3:16, but we have to remember that there are 15 verses before it and 20 after it. When we come to study and see John 3:16 it is important for us to see where it falls in the narrative that John is giving. Let’s look at John 3:1-8

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a religious leader in Israel, and has come at night to speak with Jesus. With his role in the community, and the desire of the religious leaders to squash this following of Jesus, he comes at night to hopefully not be seen by anyone. While he is coming at night to not be seen, he acknowledges the teaching role of Jesus. Calling him Rabbi or teacher shows that there is a level of respect for the work that Jesus is doing.

While there seems to be some respect, there is still some worry. If I am honest, this interaction between Nicodemus and Jesus is very reminiscent of the world we see today. Nicodemus is searching for something. He is asking questions about spiritual matters and eternal life. In our world today we see similar things being played out. We see people asking about spiritual matters, and we see people seeking and searching for something. Unfortunately, so much of the seeking being done today is not people asking these questions to Jesus Christ, but to social media, to self-help guru’s, to people with a nice smile and an expensive camera, but they are dead branches with wax fruit taped to them. They are parading themselves around as the source for the answer, but they are not plugged into the source of ultimate truth, Jesus Christ.

Nicodemus is looking for truth, and he has rightfully come to the source of all truth. Of course, once he speaks with Jesus, Jesus gives him an answer to steer the conversation to something deeper. Isn’t it like Jesus not simply giving a yes or no but getting to the point and pulling at the heart of the matter? If we notice, Nicodemus doesn’t even really get a question out before Jesus gives him an answer. He gets to the heart of it: if you want to see the kingdom of God, you have to be born again.

The true heart of the message of Jesus is the need to be born again. If you have never been in church before, if this morning was the first time you ever heard someone say that you have to be born again, then you would probably respond the same way that Nicodemus does, how? How can a man be born when he is old? Can a man enter the womb for a second time? Jesus, make this make sense!

The answer is clear. Jesus is not speaking about a physical birth. While God is all powerful, and if he wanted to make a second physical birth happen He is well within His rights to do so, that is not what Jesus is speaking about. This birth must be a spiritual birth. It is a birth that comes from the work of God in our spirit, not a physical action that is taking place. And Jesus makes it clear that the transformation that takes place is spiritual in nature, and it is a work of God. Verse 8 paints the picture that we cannot see or expect what God might do. We cannot predict how the spirit might move, or who will accept the Good News of God.

The conversation continues in verse 9:

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

John 3:9–15.

The response from Nicodemus is the human response. How can this be! How can one be born again? And Jesus cuts to the quick. Calling out Nicodemus for being a teacher of Israel, but not knowing and understanding what Jesus is talking about. Nicodemus should be knowledgeable of what the Old Testament said about the Messiah, and the need for a sacrifice for the sins of man.

And Jesus lays down more truth about himself. No one has the spiritual authority that Jesus has. While there are Old Testament accounts of Moses meeting with God and Enoch and Elijah being taken into heaven, no one has ascended and descended into heaven like Christ has.

Verse 14 starts to bring us to the pivotal message Jesus is making. There must be a spiritual birth, man has to be born again to see the kingdom of God. For that spiritual birth to happen, there has to be a sacrifice. Jesus draws the mind of Nicodemus back to the story of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness.

Numbers 21:4-9 tells us this story:

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Numbers 21:4–9.

Jesus is drawing a clear picture here of what will happen. John is making sure we, the reader, know what is coming for Jesus. This story of Moses and the complaints from the Israelites has an immediate application to show how God handles the complaints from the Israelites, but from the time of John 3 forward, we see that this was a foreshadowing of what would happen to Jesus. It is the statement that Jesus is not a rabbi or leader in the form of Moses; Jesus is the greater Moses.

Jesus has to be lifted up in his sacrifice to save the world from the effects of their sins. Jesus is telling Nicodemus what must and will happen. The why of all of this is what verse 16 gives us.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

John 3:16–18.

The messiah has to be lifted up, just as the serpent was, to pay for the sins of the world, but why? Why is the son of God going to be killed? John 3:16 tells us why.

God loves the world so much that he is giving his only son. Giving his son to be the sacrifice so that all who believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. The central message of this whole book is wrapped up in this verse. The message that Jesus brings, the Gospel message, is just that! Adam and Eve sinned and in Genesis 3 we are given the promise of one who will defeat our enemy. The Old Testament is pointing us to the coming of this Messiah, and in Luke 2 we see the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. Here in John 3 we see how this will happen. The Lord must die for the sins of the world.

The love of God compels him to sacrifice his own son for the world. But he is not sending Jesus into the world to condemn it. We do not need God to come in and condemn us. The law given in God’s word, the description of what God calls sin, is all we need to be condemned. Jesus is coming so that we can be saved. We need Jesus to come to this earth, not to condemn us, but to die for our sins.

It is clear from Romans 6:23 that the wages of our sins are death. All that my sin does for me is earn me death. But it is through the death of Jesus for sin that we can have life. Our sin condemns us, but when we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can have eternal life with God.

Today on March 16th, we can be reminded of the starting block for the foundation of our faith. This block, the truth of the Gospel, that Jesus died for our sins. The reality that God loved the world so much that he sent his son to die for us. God sent his son to die in our place, to take the punishment for our sins, so that we could have life.

What can we take away from this?

First, we can rest in the fact that Jesus died for the sins of man. Not only did He die, but on the third day, he resurrected from the dead, conquering death, hell, and the grave. We needed someone to pay the price of sin. We had to have a perfect sacrifice to take on the punishment that sin demanded, and God supplied that sacrifice. The perfect sacrifice

We can be humbled that we get to carry the good news of Jesus with us everywhere. Just like Tim Tebow putting the reference to John 3:16 on his eyeblack, we have the opportunity to take the Gospel with us everywhere we go. It can be in big ways, getting to actually share the good news with someone, or in something small like eyeblack. God has given us the opportunity to tell others about what He has done. God gives us the good news to share with the world.

Finally, we can celebrate that it is not up to us to decide who responds to the Gospel. Maybe that sounds strange, but we can find comfort in the fact that we have been called by God to tell others, but we cannot make someone else believe. It is not up to us, but just as Jesus told Nicodemus, the Spirit will work in the hearts of men. We are called to spread the seed of the Gospel, to water that seed, and trust God to give the increase.

Growing up in the church, we went through many different ways that you could share the gospel. Different styles and methods were often shared, and even today, you can find many different resources on how you can more easily share the Gospel. I think that one of the simplest and most effective ways I have seen is to take John 3:16 and instead of reading “For God so loved the world…” you can put your name. “For God so loved Shane…” that He sent his son to die for him. God loved you so much that He sent his son to die for you.

If you have never decided to follow Jesus as your savior, why not make today the day? 3/16/25 can be your new spiritual birthday.