V.B.S. 2022 - Destination Dig

The Gospel

This week the kids have studied the life of Jesus from his birth through his ministry and death and resurrection. The final night they heard of Philip sharing the good news with others and the Ethiopian man getting saved.

Their Bible verse as they have shared with you was Jeremiah 29:13

Jeremiah 29:13 CSB

13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

Their motto

Seek truth - Find Jesus

These are all things that we even as adults need to learn and remember. As we sometimes forget.

This morning is all about the kids, and I was going to kind of summarize their week into the message this morning but then God told me they have already heard that, they need to hear something new.

He reminded me of a sermon I preached back in 2016, that I called the Gospel in a nut shell, and it is based on one verse.

With that it takes more or less what the kids have learned and brings it all together in the one verse and I believer this to be the greatest verse in all the Bible, it is the best loved and best known verse.

There are only 25 words in this verse yet no other single verse in all of Scripture has been as blessed in the salvation of so many souls.

I am referring to John 3:16, and Martin Luther called it the miniature gospel, it has been called a love letter from God written in blood and addressed to all.

If ever there was a verse that Satan would love to blot out of the Bible, it would be John 3:16. If ever there was a verse that makes hell tremble, it is John 3:16. If ever there was a verse that has lightened the path to heaven for multitudes, it is John 3:16.

If you are able stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

John 3:16 KJV 1900

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Pray

Let’s take and dig into this verse and see what God is saying to us.

For God

This verse begins as the Bible begins, with the existence of God. The whole Bible stands on belief in God.

There cannot be a here without a there, there cannot be an upper without a lower, there cannot be a before without an after, there cannot be a creation without a Creator.

For the world to exists there had to be a Creator, and that Creator is God, as we are told in Genesis 1:1

Genesis 1:1 CSB

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

For God so Loved

The word loved occurs 56 times in the Book of John. The dictionary says love is to have a feeling, affection, or regard for, to hold dear.

I find it so amazing that God has enough time to love me when He has the rest of the world to love. He loves me, this guy in little Red Level.

He loves you, He loves me, He loves us all, even though we are sinners, even though we do wrong. He even loves those who do not believe he exists.

He loves all of the atheists, He loves every person of this world, that does not mean He loves what we do, when we do things wrong, but He loves us, and we can be assured no matter what, God loves us.

We will never understand the love that God has for us. All we can say is the love of God is uncaused, uninfluenced, spontaneous, and sovereign.

God’s love is everlasting, unending love with no beginning. Our love for our parents or our kids has a beginning but God’s love reaches back to before the world was even created.

God’s love is the greatest love

And Real Love Begins with Christ

The World

The word world is found 77 times in John. This is not talking about the matter-world or the world system but the world people.

Walter Wilson Said that no one in all the world could possible love everyone in the world. In fact, most people find it difficult to love all their relatives.

But God has found it possible, with his great heart of love, to love every individual in the entire world in spite of their faults.

God loves people red and yellow, black and white they are precious in his sight.

God loves me but he also loves murderers, gamblers, bartenders, and thief's. God loves all, that is all colors, all social groups, all nationalities, all people.

That He Gave

The world knows a little about giving but God’s giving costs something. Most of the giving we know about is giving that really has no element of sacrifice in it.

I do not know why my life is so important that God allowed His only Son to go to the cross for my sins. He loves all of us so much that His Son made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

God did not give the cattle on a thousand hills or silver and gold. He gave all he had in the person of His Son. He gave means suffering.

We think a lot about the suffering of the Son but have you ever thought about the suffering of the Father.

Could you stand in a window of your house and watch an angry mob spit on, beat, abuse and kill your son with the power to stop it in an infinity of a second’s notice.

I do not have a son but I have daughters, a granddaughter, and a grandson, and the quickest way to get me mad is to mess with one of them, and I can promise you I could not sit and watch.

God could have stopped it but he gave, because he loved us.

God chose to allow his son, his perfect blameless son to die for me and you.

There is a story of a gem dealer who was strolling the aisles at a gem and mineral show when he noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato.

He looked it over, then, as calmly as possibly he asked the vendor, you want 15 for this? The seller, realizing the rock was not as pretty as others in the bin, lowered the price to 10.

The stone has since been certified as a 1,905 - carat natural sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. It was appraised at 2.28 million dollars.

It took a lover of stones to recognize the sapphire’s worth. It took the lover of Souls to recognize the true value of ordinary-looking people like me.

That is why he gave us the gift of His Son. The greatest gift of all.

His Only Begotten Son

Jesus is God’s one and only son, he did not have another son to spare. He was giving his only child, his only son as a sacrifice for all of humanity.

A child was once trying to quote this verse and said his only forgotten son and how true it is. He has been forgotten by most people today.

That Whosoever

Wow. This means all. This does not say to most or some, but whosoever, this is every person that has ever and will ever walk on this earth.

All have sinned and all need a Savior. It means any who will. It means those who believe. It means you and me.

Believeth

The word believe with its various endings occur 100 times in John. Believeth denies salvation by any other way but by faith. It denies works, even good works as a means of salvation.

Look at the context of our text in the beginning of the chapter and you will find Nicodemus, a very educated man, who was rich, that had morals, a religious leader, a church member, but not saved.

Jesus told him in John 3:3, ye must be born again. The doors of heaven swing on this experience. We are saved by faith and not by works.

In Him

Salvation is in a person and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not found in believing in the preacher, the church, a good Christian, but only in Christ.

John 14:6 CSB

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Faith in Jesus Christ. The believing in Jesus. Trusting in Him. That is the greatest of all faith. This faith is not something that we have just once - the day we were saved - and then goes away.

Faith in Jesus is to be refreshed in our hearts, minds, and souls every day. We refresh our faith by sharing it with others, and by spending time with Jesus in prayer, Bible reading, and worshiping Jesus in song.

Should not Perish

Men of the old world perished but Noah was spared. People of Sodom perished but Lot was spared. The first born of Egypt perished but Israel was spared. Jericho’s citizens perished but Rahab was spared.

Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish eternally in hell but make heaven their eternal home. There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun.

But have Everlasting Life

Life is mentioned 36 times in the Book of John. Notice the verse begins with God and ends with life.

Everlasting life is not just eternal existence because if that were the case, the devil and all people have it.

What is everlasting life? It is having Jesus and being in his presence for eternity.

The Greatest life is:

Life with Jesus is greater than any other life there is. I have had what many call the good times of life. I have smoked, drank, and partied. I have had All of that fun!!

All of that so called fun. Yea all it ever got me was in trouble, aches and pains to live with the rest of my life. It surely never got me anywhere.

If it had not been for Jesus rescuing me from that so called fun, I would have end up either in the grave yard or in prison.

And I will say as exhausting as this past week has been, I had way more fun and enjoyed it more than in the so called good ole days of parting.

Now I have Jesus fully in My life and I could never imagine life without him again. He gives us everlasting life.

He gives us opportunity for life with him. All we have to do is Admit we are sinners, Believe that Jesus has died for our sins and arose from the grave, and confess him as our Lord and Savior.

Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it.

The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. A pardon is a slip of paper, wrote Marshall, the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, there is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.

2,000 years ago God the Son - Jesus Christ issued a Pardon.

But just like in the case of George Wilson - the value of the pardon is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned, if it is refused, then there is no pardon.

Jesus is a gentleman, and will not force salvation on your, and we do not have to accept the life that Christ died to give us. You can refuse it.

God has given us the greatest love, the greatest gift, the greatest faith and the greatest life.

All we have to do is accept it. The love is free. The Gift is free. The faith is free. The life is free.

John 3:16 only has 25 words in it, but these 25 words are the Gospel in a nut shell.

John 3:16 KJV 1900

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Will you accept Jesus today?