God So Loved The World
Notes
Transcript
I would invite you this evening to turn in your Bible’s to John chapter three as we continue in our examination of Jesus and Nicodemus in the middle of the night. Tonight we see one of, if not the most popular verses in all of Scripture, . It is a verse that everyone knows. We see it on Bible tracts, we see it posted in churches, we see it on church signs, billboards. Tim Teebow wore it when he played in the NFL. Courtney and I were at Walmart last month and we heard it in a country song. Now, I can’t tell you what song that was because I hardly ever listen to music. But we see and hear this verse everywhere. Bible Gateway, a popular internet Bible, says it is the most looked up verse on their site. Everyone in America, it seems, knows this verse.
Many of us, I am sure, have known this verse since we were little kids. Growing up it was one of the first verses I memorized. It is popular, and rightfully so. After all, it is the very heart and soul of the Gospel.
But often, we forget that this verse was not written by itself. It is part of a larger context that gives more life and overall meaning, and grave warnings, to the verse itself. It is a verse that gives tremendous hope to the world. But it is also a verse, that, in context, should strike fear in the hearts of anyone who does not accept what it teaches.
And that is what we are going to discuss tonight. This great passage of truth, this encouraging, yet fearful, passage of what exactly God did for us. So let us look tonight at John chapter three verses 16-21.
16 “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. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Again, verse 16 is possibly the most famous verse in all of Scripture. God so loved the world that He gave His only son, whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. What a wonderful truth! What an encouragement. But, as I said, we need to make sure we do not lose this in the greater context. And to see that greater context, we also need to back up a few verses because this is a continuation of what we see in verses 13-15.
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.
We see Jesus giving comparison to what must happen to Him to the scenario we looked at last week in the book of Numbers chapter 21 with Moses and the fiery serpents. Jesus would be lifted up on that cross. Jesus would be given up for a people so that they did not have to perish, but have life eternal.
Now we are often tempted to read verse 16 like this.
For God loved the world so much, that He gave His only Son. However, that is not what the verse says, nor is it what the verse means. The word so here is not a marker of degree. It is the Greek word, houtos. It is the same word used in verse 14.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
It is a comparison. And remember, verse 16 is in the greater context of the verses preceeding it. The Christian Standard Bible translates the verse this way.
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.
That is the more literal and correct way to both translate and understand this verse. In this way, God loved the world. Just as Jesus had said, in this way, the son of man must be lifted up.
And what way is that? The way is that he gave his only son to be lifted up on the cross.
It’s not diminishing the theology or significance of the love of God. It is magnifying the impact of what God is giving up. His only son. And the word only there has a significance that we often overlook as well.
What we overlook is that Christ is unique. He is one of a kind. There is none other like Him. He is not the only child of God, we are given the right to be children of God. But He is the only Son of God. He is the only one that has that direct and absolute relationship to the Father.
There is nobody that could take our sin for us. He is the only one, that perfect and spotless lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. It is Christ and it is Christ alone. The only one of the Father.
We looked earlier in John at the parallel of the Lamb of God and offering up his only son with the parallel of Abraham offering up Isaac. And this is referenced in the book of Hebrews.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
We know that Abraham had other children, just as God has other sons and daughters by their spiritual rebirth, but Isaac was special. Isaac was the one that certain promises were made about. He was the unique one. He was special. He was Abraham’s only son of promise.
That is the same word being used to describe Jesus both here in and, as we saw earlier, the same word in .
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus is the only son. Jesus is the only way. Jesus is the only spotless lamb. He is the only one that is sufficient. He is the only one with the holiness of the Father. He is the only one who can save. He is the only one that was able to be perfect. He is the only one that was never, not one time, overcome by sin. He is one of a kind.
This fact should increase our awe and wonder, our appreciation, our thankfulness, our humbleness, regarding what happened on the cross. The value of Christ’s blood, the value of His sacrifice is immeasurable.
People put outrageous prices on items that are one of a kind. Think of sports memorabilia for a moment. In 1998, the baseball that was hit for the first home run in the original Yankee Stadium by Babe Ruth was sold for $126,500. It was one of a kind. It was unique. But it was a baseball! How much more should we value Christ and his sacrifice on the cross? How much more should we value the love of God? You can’t put a price on it.
But that is what God gave to the world. His one, only, unique, one of a kind, son. And why? That those who believe in him should not perish but have eternal life.
He loved the world. A world that rejected him. A world full of sinners. A world who does nothing good. A world who hates the things of God. God gave Jesus Christ up for that. He gave Jesus Christ up for you and for me. That right there should cause all of us to fall to our needs and cry out to God for forgiveness. We do not deserve his grace. We do not deserve his love. But he gave it freely.
He loved the world. Now, we need to look at the word world here because this verse is not speaking about individuals. It is the human race collectively. Remember, the context of this is that Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, a Pharisee. John is driving a point home, as he does throughout this book, that Jesus did not only come to save the Jews. That is the backdrop of Jewish thought up to that time. Remember, they were God’s chosen people. They were set apart. It was to the Jews that God gave the promises, it was to the Jews that he gave the revelation of Scripture through the prophets. It was through the Jews that the Messiah would come. They were his people. They had no use for gentiles as we will see as we go throughout this book. They were superior in their minds They were the ones who were worthy. But no, God loved all people. He loved the world. Not just the Jews.
And this should cause us to rejoice. Because of this fact, we are able to come to the feet of the Savior. We are able to be grafted into the family of God even though we are not the original chosen people of God we are the chosen children of God because God sent His son for all people. Not just the Jews.
But it is not enough that God gave his son. There is a requirement. Whoever believes in him. That is, whoever believes in Christ. And this will not be everyone. Not everyone is elect to salvation. We will see this further down the road clearly. There are two groups of people. Those who will believe and those who will not believe. Those who do will not perish but have eternal life. But what is the other side of that coin? If those who believe will not perish that means that those who do not believe will certainly perish. I’ll get into this more in just a moment but this is the sobering part of . If you reject it, if you do not believe, if you do not accept this truth, if you do not trust Christ and make Him Lord, you will perish. You will not have eternal life.
And this is not a one-time thing. This is eternal just like life. It is an eternal destruction, a ruin. This is not annihilation. No, this is something ongoing. It is a ruining that causes to be thrown out. In this case, thrown out into Hell. It is not salvageable. It is corrupt.
But this is not for those who will believe. And all that the Father has chosen will believe. I want to make this very clear. If you are in Christ, it is because God has chosen you from before the foundation of the world. Those who God has chosen will come to saving faith before they leave this earth. It is sealed. It has been decreed. I want to look at a few verses tonight on this plain truth. Several of those are here in John’s Gospel.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
Nobody comes to Christ unless the Father draws him. It has to be granted by the Father. Remember, it is God’s choice. Not ours. Those that the Father chooses to draw will be raised up on the last day.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
It is the sheep that hear Christ’s voice. The Father gives them to the Son. And nobody is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. Remember, your salvation is sealed. God chooses, God delivers, God saves, and God keeps. You cannot lose it just as you cannot gain it. It is of God and God alone. And affirms this. Whoever believes shall not perish. The ones who believe are the ones that God chooses and they will never perish.
Paul makes this clear as well in .
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Those who God foreknew. This is not God looking down the corridors of time to see who would choose Him. Remember, there are none righteous, there are none that seek after God. No, this foreknowing is to have an intimate knowledge of someone or something, it literally means to choose beforehand. Those whom he chose, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Who is conformed to the image of his son? Christians. Those who believe.
Those whom he predestined he also called. And this goes back to what we see in John’s Gospel. The ones the Father chooses he draws to Christ. Those that are drawn to Christ come to Him and Christ raises them up on the last day.
What a wonderful truth? That God in His infinite wisdom chose us out of the mire to be his children. That should encourage us, strengthen us, but it should also humble us and cause us to worship the Lord.
Whoever believes in Him, they will never perish. Now look at verse 17.
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.
At first this seems like a major contradiction in Scripture because we know that Christ does judge and condemn. After all, that’s what he said in .
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
But remember the context we are working with. For God so loved all people, all nations, Jew and Gentile. He did not come into this world to condemn the Gentiles and save the Jew only. No, God’s purpose has always been to save all people. That is not to be confused with every individual, we know that is not the case. But all types of people.
Look for a moment in the book of Isaiah chapter 42 and starting in verse six.
6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
7 to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
Israel would be a light for the nations. A purpose for all people. It is amazing that the Jews missed so much.
The Jews in the Gospels looked down upon the Gentiles. They were unclean, heathen, they were not the people of promise as the Jews were. They could not fathom a Messiah that would come to save not only them, but the Gentiles as well. Yet, that is exactly what verses 16 and 17 say. That the world might be saved through him.
Jesus purpose during his time on earth was one thing. To seek and save that which was lost. To redeem people. That was his mission. Judgement will come, but that was not the purpose of his earthly ministry. He came to save.
But why did Jesus not come to condemn? Verse 18.
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.
Again we see an encouragement and also a dire warning. Those who believe are not condemned. But those who do not are condemned already. When we are born we are born into sin. We must have a savior. We need to be saved. Until we are saved we are under the wrath of God. And what does it mean to be condemned? It means eternal death, punishment, it means separation from God’s communion, it means the eternal wrath of God is upon you.
This is the other half of the Gospel. If you do not believe you will be ruined, punished, eternally. We so often focus only on the good and warm parts of the Gospel but that does the Gospel an injustice. People need to know why they need to be saved in the first place. What are they being saved from?
I work with a group called the Christian Service Brigade. It is for middle and high school boys. A couple of years ago, I was giving a message one Wednesday night on the Romans Road and talking about salvation. And I read .
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And I wanted them to understand this death that is a result of our sin so I read,
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
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19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
And if those three verses weren’t enough, I finished with Jesus talking about the rich man and Lazarus in .
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
When I got done preaching the message, going over everything that we should fear if we are not saved and everything we should embrace if we are in Christ, one of the young student leaders said to me afterwards, “That was good but it felt like you were trying to scare people into Heaven.”
I was crushed. Not because I thought he was right, but because he thought that we shouldn’t preach about the other side of the Gospel. The Gospel has two sides. Eternal life, Eternal torment. We do not do ourselves or anyone else a service if we leave out the harsh realities of not accepting Christ.
The fact is that people should be scared! They should be terrified! They should be dropping on their hands and knees begging God to save them, pleading with God for the forgiveness of the great sin that they have committed against him.
The Scriptures say we are to fear God. We have referenced many times to show that there are none righteous, none that seek after God. But it says this in
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
There is no fear of God. The word fear in this verse means to show a deep reverence and respect as a product of an intimidating and alarming force. We should absolutely be in fear of the wrath and judgement of God.
Those who do not believe, they are already condemned.
So why would anyone not come to Christ? Why would people choose that path? Why would anyone not fear God enough and fear his wrath enough to make that decision to follow Christ? Verses 19-21 give us this answer back in .
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
The answer to this question is a simple one. People do not come to Christ because they love their sin. Their works are evil. They hate the light. They would rather be left alone in their sin than have to come to Christ ad believe that He is the way the truth and the life. They just want to be left to themselves to do as they desire.
And as we have said, this is all of us. We were all that way. We would have rather be left in our own sin before the Spirit changed us, gave us a new heart, a new mind, a new direction, and we followed Christ.
The word for loved with regard to the darkness is the same word for love that is used in verse 16 for God’s love of the world. Agape. A high esteem, satisfaction, regard, longing, affection for something or someone. Without the spirit we have a love that is so directly opposed to God that we are called evil. Their works were evil. We were literally morally, socially, worthless. That’s what evil means. We are so debase, so wicked, that we cannot love God in any way left to ourselves. And that is exactly what is written here.
They loved the darkness, they loved the wicked things, they hated the light, and they did not want their evil to be exposed. They hate the light, they detest it, they want nothing to do with it, they are malicious towards it in an unjustifiable way. And what is the light? Jesus is the light. They hate Christ. They hate everything Christ stands for. And do we not see this in the world today? Do we not see it all around us? Just a sheer hatred for Christ and anything that has anything to do with him. Darkness hates the light.
But there is hope. Verse 21.
21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Those that do what is right, those who strive to live righteously and follow God, their works have been carried out in God. It is God and God alone that gives us the power to live righteously. We cannot do it in our own strength. We do not want to do it in our own strength. But God gives us the power to do it in his strength. There is no evil in God. Through his son, we have the right to become his children. Through his son, we have been declared righteous.
This righteousness only is available by believing in Christ and what He has accomplished. It is by Christ’s obedience to the cross that we will be given the right to eternal life.
19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
In Adam, we all die. In Adam, we are born into sin and are children of darkness, hating the light. In Christ, we are made right. In Christ, we are restored to what God intended in the Garden of Eden. In Christ, we are declared to be good. In Christ, we live.
is a great verse in its own right, but when we look at it in its full context the verse has so much more power and weight. We serve a God who is love. We serve a God who made the greatest sacrifice with the most expensive and valuable of any sacrifice that could be made, his one and only unique son, Jesus Christ.
So often I think we take that sacrifice for granted. We hear those words and it doesn’t resonate as much as it should because we do not think about what they actually mean. God gave everything for us. He held nothing back. He put everything on the line so that we might be saved.
May we never take these truths for granted. God offers salvation to all people. We do not deserve it, but in his love he gave it.
Let us pray.