The 4 C's of Salvation

Intro: Billy Graham tells of a time early in his career when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Wanting to mail a letter, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy had told him, Billy thanked him and said, “If you’ll come to the Baptist church this evening, you can hear me tell everyone how to get to heaven.” “I don’t think I’ll be there,” the boy said. “You don’t even know your way to the post office.”

Even I can tell you how to get to heaven, its through God’s salvation! And, there is no other single verse in the Bible that lays out the Gospel in such simplicity, than John 3:16! Martin Luther called John 3:16 “the heart of the Bible—the Gospel in miniature.” Jerry Vines calls it “The Gospel in a nut shell.”

CPS: Today I want to take this single verse and tell all you need to know about salvation. I’m calling it the 4 C’s of Salvation. Its cause (love), its cost (God’s Son), its condition (faith), and its consequence (eternal life)!

I. Salvation’s Cause

Everything has a cause, or a reason which gives rise to an action. Daybreak is caused by the rising sun, the cause of rain is precipitation, tidal changes are caused by the gravitational pull from the moon, the cause of salvation is the love of God! For God so loved the World, “for” is the Greek conjunction gar, it is a marker for showing cause or reason for something. Perhaps a better translation would be, BECAUSE GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD!

God’s love for us is the motivating factor for His redemptive plan! We can be saved because He loves us! Loved is the Greek verb agapaō it means to show the highest form of love, that is the unconditional love that God has for man. He loved the entire human race! Jew and Gentile, black, brown, yellow, and white, EVEN in our fallen state! No matter who you are, what you have done, or what you are doing God loves you with an unconditional supernatural type of love.

Notice, God not only loves us, He so loved us! This is such a great love, Paul tells us that He shows us mercy “because of His great love with which He loved us (Eph. 2:4)! We are told that this love is so great that it surpasses knowledge (Eph. 3:18-19).

ILL: When I was a kid I use to tell my mom, I love you this much (spreading my arms out as wide as possible. Notice my hands were not bracketing but pointing in opposite directions)

(Now stand in front of the cross and do it,)

ILL: Fort Hancock is on the farthest tip of Sandy Hook, which reaches out into the Atlantic on the New Jersey coast. During World War II it was a military training center. A civilian of the area was eager to bring the good news of Christ to the thousands of young men stationed there. The military authorities would not permit him to enter in person. Not to be denied, he asked a firm that specialized in novelties to make several thousand mirrors about three inches in diameter. On the back of each mirror he had printed the words of John 3:16. Beneath these words he had this direction, “If you want to see who it is that God loves, look on the other side.” As each soldier looked at himself he saw the person whom God loved.

The cause of Salvation is God’s great love for you!

II. Salvation's Cost

Everything cost something. A car cost money, a hobby costs energy, a relationship costs time and effort. Salvation cost God the precious life of Jesus! Never has there been a gift that cost so much! God has given a gift to this world so immensely valuable, a demonstration of true love, to a race that is completely undeserving (Rom. 5:8)!

ILL: One Sunday a medieval monk announced he would be preaching on “The Love of God” that evening. As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left. There was nothing else to say.

God’s gift was His Son, His only Begotten Son (monogenēs), that means His unique Son, there is none like Him. Perfectly pleasing, without sin, who did no wrong and was perfectly and completely innocent! And on a hill far away, on an old rugged cross Jesus was hung between heaven and hell as He died the most brutal and tortuous death ever devised by man. I could only imagine the emotions that flooded Mary’s heart as Jesus died on that cross. The Bible tells us the effect it had upon God’s heart, He had to look away (Matt. 27:46). God gave us Jesus so our sins could be forgiven, (Heb. 9:22b). It is though the blood of Jesus, that forgiveness of sin is offered!

Salvation come at a great cost, when it comes to saving you, God spared no expense including His only Son (Rom. 8:32)!

III. Salvation’s Condition

God’s love is unconditional, but Salvation has a condition, it is faith! You need to understand, there is nothing you can do to be saved. You can’t lift one finger or toe toward your salvation. Salvation is not spelled “d-o” it is spelled “D-o-n-e!” Jesus’ dying words was “It is finished (John 19:30).”

ILL: One day Little Johnny’s 4th grade Sunday School teacher asked him if he was saved. He answered, Yes I’m saved. The teacher asked him to tell the class how he had been saved. His answer was “Well, I did my part and God did His.” The teacher asked Johnny to clarify his answer, little Johnny said “Well teach, I did all the sinning and He did all the saving!”

At the cross Salvation is accomplished, the gift was paid for, there is nothing left to do. Salvation’s condition is to simply receive God’s gift. You see, “Salvation is not something we achieve, but something we receive!”

Whoever (all who) believes in Him will be saved! Believe {pisteuō} means to trust, its implications is to believe to the extent of complete trust. I trust this floor to hold me up. Likewise, I trust Jesus to save me! What must I do to be saved was the question, the Jailer asked Paul in Acts 16:30, his answer was, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31).” Believe does not mean to give intellectual assent to the claims of Christ, it means to rest fully upon Him!

What is the condition of salvation, faith. It is faith that receives the gift of salvation.

IV. Salvation’s Consequence

We often look at consequences negatively, however it is the result or effect of an action, whether negative or positive. The consequences of dying in your sin, is perishing! That means facing the wrath of God forever in hell. But the consequence of salvation is positive, it is the blessed promise of not perishing and receiving eternal life!

God sent His Son Jesus into this world to die for our sin, when by faith we receive His gift of forgiveness, immediately we posses everlasting life. Everlasting (aiōnios) means eternal, an unlimited duration of life! One day this body is going to give up on me, but Jesus will not. When I draw my final breath, and my body says it’s had enough, then all my trials will be past and triumph will begin, and in that moment I shall be more live than I am right now, and in the very presence of God forever more!

For God… The greatest Lover, So Loved… The greatest degree, The world… the greatest company, That He gave… the greatest act, His Only Begotten Son… the greatest gift, That whoever… The greatest opportunity, Believes… the greatest simplicity, In Him… the greatest attraction, Should not perish… The greatest promise, But… the greatest difference, Have… the greatest certainty, Everlasting life… The greatest possession.

Friends, do you want salvation from sin and eternal life, or do you want to die in your sin and suffer what christ suffered on the cross for all of eternity. On the cross Jesus took your place, He took on your hell, He died the death meant for you, no body has to die and go to hell, anyone can be saved… that is the heart of John 3:16, its call is to receive by grace through faith God’s gift of salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.