Last week we saw by way of introduction why John 3:16 is such an important verse It has within it the CAUSE OF SALVATION, THE COST OF SALVATION, THE CONDITION OF SALVATION and THE CONSEQUENCES OF SALVATION.

It is perhaps not only the single greatest verse of scripture, but quite arguably also the greatest sentence ever spoken in human vocabulary!

So today we want to begin to study the world’s great love story word by word, and phrase by phrase for the next several Sunday mornings. This verse begins with these important words:

“For God”

what can we learn from this simple two word phrase?

I. It All Begins With God

Everything begins with God. The problems of the world would be solved if we would just understand this basic fundamental truth: that everything begins with God. It does not begin with us. We are not the center of this universe; GOD is. This world is not all about us; it is about God. “For GOD.” It is all about Him.

This is the first message that the Bible gives us. In its very first words it states:

“In the beginning, GOD …”.

And it is no accident that John 3:16 begins that way: “For GOD …”. Because it starts with Him.

It is significant that this verse does NOT start with man. It doesn’t say, “For MAN …”, but “For GOD.” But this is the problem that many of us have. We want everything to revolve around US.

Back in the olden days, when nations would make a map of the world, they had an interesting and very revealing habit: they would always put their own country in the middle of the map. All of the rest of the world would revolve around them. They did this of course because they felt like THEY were the most important people; that everything else in the world revolved around them. This is called “ethnocentrism”: ethno, meaning a specific ethnic group, and centrism, of course meaning at the center.

But the problem of mankind is not only that we are “ethnocentric”; it is that we are EGOcentric! The “ego” of course is the “I.” We think that everything is all about US; the whole world must revolve around US! It is basically selfishness; and it is the root of most of the problems we face in our families, in our economy, in politics, in our churches – in every sphere of life. This “egocentrism”; this selfishness is the very root of sin itself. We want everything to revolve around US.

But there are others who see that this world is NOT all about us, that this world was created BY God, FOR God, and for His glory. This is the Christian outlook. For the genuine Christian, it all starts with God.

This is where the so-called “prosperity gospel” falls short of being genuinely Christian.

Unlike John 3:16, which starts with God, the prosperity gospel starts with YOU: You dream your own dream, whatever it is, and God will be there to help you reach it. You pick out your goals, whatever you want them to be, and God will help you achieve them: He will make you rich; He will make you successful

This is what “being a Christian” means for a lot of people, but do you see what the problem with all of that is? It is all about YOU! This is not “Christian” at all. In this teaching it is as if God exists for YOU.

John 3:16 reminds us that God does not exist for YOU; YOU exist for GOD! It starts with GOD!

You were created to know God, and love God. Sin is self-centeredness and it separates you from God. When you are really saved, you don’t just “pray a prayer” and sign a card; you ask for His forgiveness through Jesus’ death on the cross, and put God in the center of your life where He belongs, and you make the rest of your life revolve around Him. “For God …”. John 3:16 reminds us that it is all about God!

II. A Very Specific God

This verse begins, “For GOD so loved the world.” In the Greek text it does not just say: “theos”, but “ho theos”. The word “ho”, is the English means “the”; it is what is called a “definite article”. It makes it definite: it is not just “a god”, but “THE God”!

So the Bible is not referring here to “just any” God, but to One, very specific God: “THE God”! The God of the Bible; the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ — this is a very specific God the Bible is referring to in John 3:16.

— This is not just “any” God the Bible is talking about here; this is THE God whom Genesis 1:1 says “in the beginning … created the heavens and the earth”.

— This is THE God who told Abraham in Genesis 12 that He would bless all the nations through him.

— This is THE God who told Moses in Exodus 3 that His name was “Yahweh”, “I AM that I AM”!

— This is THE God who promised His people in Isaiah 53 that He was sending a Messiah who would bear their sins in His body.

— This is THE God who said of Jesus, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

The Bible is not just speaking about ANY God here; it is speaking of THE God – the One True God; the Most High God – the Triune God, Who exists eternally as Father, Son & Holy Spirit. This is THE God, who is eternal, and holy, and spiritual, and omnipotent, and omnipresent, and omniscient and just and LOVE!

This is important, because there are a lot of people in our society today who believe in “a” god; but those beliefs vary widely. Surveys tell us that the number of people who believe in “god” is still over 90% of the American population – which is what it has been for a number of years. But in recent years there has been a growing difference: there are more people now in that 90% who do not believe in the God of the Bible necessarily, but in some other “god” of their own personal belief system. Man has a problem with creating God in his own image.

III. Salvation is from God

Most specifically, this verse reminds us that our salvation is from this God of the Bible.

In John 3:16, “For God …”. He’s saying that GOD is the One who initiated and brought about salvation. It doesn’t say “For Man …”

Salvation is of God’s doing not of man’s doing.

Ephesians 2:1–3 NKJV

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

This is a hopeless picture of every one of us: DEAD in trespasses and sins, facing the deserved wrath of God, like everyone else in mankind. But then :4 begins with those 2 great words: “BUT GOD …”. You should underline or circle those words in your Bible if you haven’t already, because those are the words that made all the difference for us: “But God …”!

Ephesians 2:4–9 NKJV

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

“But God”, Ephesians 2 says: GOD was rich in mercy; GOD had great love for us; GOD made us alive in Christ; GOD raised us up with Christ Jesus; GOD showed us His kindness in Christ; GOD saved us by His grace. “But GOD”!

Salvation comes from GOD! We must look to HIM for salvation.

Unfortunately, that is NOT what most people do. Most people look to something they can do to save themselves.

An extreme example of that is found in the true story of what happened in an airplane years ago. Pete Rose, the famous baseball player was once on a flight with his Cincinnati Reds teammates, and the plane flew into a terrible storm. They said it was so bad that even the veteran flight crew was shaken by it. Pete Rose’s teammate, Hal King, was sitting by him on that flight, and he said that during that storm Rose turned to him and said: “If this plane goes down, I am taking a .300 lifetime batting average with me. How about you?”

Now I don’t think most people would claim that their sporting skills are going to justify them before God and give them a place in heaven. But the truth is, many people DO look to their own good works and deeds, to justify themselves before God. They think things like: “I’m a pretty good person; I went to church; I gave some offerings; I cared about people. I haven’t sinned like some folks have”, etc.

But those verses in Ephesians we looked at a few moments ago tell us that we cannot save ourselves by our good works.

It says that salvation is “not of works.”

Romans 3:20 says: “

Romans 3:20 NKJV

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

You have to look to GOD for your salvation. It cannot come from yourself. “For God”!

Look to Him. This is the point of what I believe is one of the greatest pictures of the right and wrong ways of salvation in all the Bible: the story of the Pharisee & the Publican in Luke 18.

Jesus said there that two men went up to the temple to pray: a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee prayed and said, “I thank You that I am not like other men … I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all I get.” You notice the common word there: “I, I, I”! It was all about him, what HE could do that he thought made himself right before God.

But Jesus said the tax collector was unwilling to even lift his eyes to heaven. He just beat his chest and cried: “God, be merciful to me, the sinner.” He had nothing to offer God to justify himself; he just asked God to have mercy on him, to do for him what He couldn’t do for himself. And Jesus said THAT was the man who went home saved – the man who looked to GOD, not himself, for his salvation.

I think we basically have these same two kinds of people that Jesus talked about in Luke 18, right here in this room today:

Some of us are just like that Pharisee:

you are all dressed up, looking your Sunday best, trying every week to show God and others how good you are – surely you deserve a place in heaven; you’re so “religious”! But the truth is: you will NEVER deserve a place in heaven. NONE of us do. We have all sinned. You have sinned. And you can’t save yourself. And you will never be saved until you humble yourself and admit that you need God’s help in Jesus.

But others of us are like that second man in Jesus’ story:

when we think about Holy God, we wouldn’t even dare to lift up our head to Him in prayer. We know we are sinners; we have fallen short; we don’t deserve heaven. But we have asked God to have mercy on us, and do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves, and save us.

And every one of us who looks to HIM for our salvation, is just like that man Jesus described in Luke 18: we’re gonna go to our home today JUSTIFIED — right with God! — NOT because WE’ve done something — but because of what GOD did for us in Jesus Christ.

See, salvation is all about God. It is about looking to HIM to save us, when we couldn’t save ourselves. It’s all about God. That’s why it was no accident that Jesus began this verse the way that He did: “FOR GOD”!