| 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. John 3:16 Just a reference. Many people - perhaps you - ask the question: "What is John 3:16?" Here is the answer. Ponder it well. Receive it into your heart: It is a verse from God's Book - the Bible - and is the VERY HEART OF THE GOSPEL. 1) THE TREMENDOUS FACT For God so loved the world… A/ This was the world that turned its back upon its Creator & Saviour: The Bible says: He (Christ) was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. John 1:10 There was no room for Him when He was born at Bethlehem. Eventually we nailed Him to a Cross of shame. All this was known to God, yet He still loved us so much as to give His Son. B/ To snub Christ is to snub the Father who sent Him: Jesus said: He that honours not the Son honour not the Father which hath sent him. John 5:23 A world that despises the Lord Jesus, using His name as a swear word, denying the central truth's of the gospel that bears His name and substitutes another spits in the face of God. Yet God so loved such a sinful, rebellious world… C/ The world therefore deserved the wrath of God: God judges the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. So said the Psalmist in Psalm 7:11 God might be love (1 John 4:8) but He does not cease to be holy or righteous or just. Unsaved people are currently abiding under His wrath (John 3:18/36) None can complain…we are reaping our just deserts. D/ Although God is angry with the wicked every day, yet He shows us His love: Proven in our text. Love and anger are not totally incompatible. A parent can be angry with its dearest child. Love looks for a way whereby the anger can removed. This is what God has done. E/ God's love cannot be measured: The little word "so" means that we cannot measure the height or the depth of this love of God. F/ None need despair because God loves the whole world: There is a little chorus that goes like this: Red and Yellow/Black and White/ All are precious in his sight/Jesus loves the little children of the world. Settle this in your heart: I am a target of the love of God. Am I in the world? Am I of the world? Then I am included and embraced in this tremendous love of God. I cannot be excluded on grounds of race or colour or religion or creed. God does not necessarily approve of my creed or my behaviour. He might disapprove most strongly…but still, He loves me and has done something whereby the offensiveness of my sin can be removed. 2) THE TREMENDOUS ACT …that he gave his only begotten Son… A/ He loved His only Son deeply: Christ was with His Father in the past eternity, daily His delight. The Father said of Him expressly: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. There was no rift between the Father and the Son. No angry parting of the ways. B/ Yet He gave Him up to come into this sin cursed world: Knowing full well that He would be despised and rejected of men. Knowing that His holy soul would be repulsed by the sin that confronted Him. By the exceedingly low state of the professing church etc., Yet God freely gave Him up to be a servant. C/ He gave Him up to die upon Calvary's Cross: Was it not enough that He should suffer the sneers of men? That He should be hounded in His footsteps and His words carefully scrutinised in order to find fault? Slandered and misrepresented? Bluntly put: No! D/ Such was necessary if we are ever to be saved from our sins: He comes to be our SUBSTITUTE. He comes to take the sinner's place. He must shed His blood at the Cross in agony and shame, for the divine law demands that: without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22) There is no other way. There is no alternative. Mercy and truth must rejoice together. Only the Cross work of the Lord Jesus preserves both the mercy and justice of God. 3) THE TREMENDOUS PACT …that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. A/ Only Jesus Christ can save you: Note the word "Him" very carefully. It is not "them" no matter who or what they may be. Peter said of Christ in Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. If you are trusting in a church to save you - no matter what that church might be - think again! There is only way of salvation. Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) B/ Christ's work on the Cross is to be applied to our hearts: Let's illustrate: A man discovers the cure for some awful deadly disease. The cure becomes available - perhaps in medicine or tablet form or whatever. What does it avail the sufferer if he does not partake of the healing processes? It is useless to merely acknowledge that a cure has been found. Or even to rejoice or make the fullest research into it. To be able to explain it etc., The cure only becomes effective, when it is applied. Likewise the work of Jesus Christ. It is an historical event that took place nearly 2,000 years ago, but it needs to become the power of God unto your salvation. C/ This is done by faith alone: Faith is not works. Works will come after saving faith, but must not accompany them or worse, replace them when applying for God's remedy for your sin. There is no merit in faith. Faith reaches out like the drowning man to grasp the rope that has been thrown to him. The drowning man does his rescuer no favours. God offers the gift of eternal life. The beggar's hand simply receives it. D/ The gospel is offered to the "whosoever" And this means it is offered to you. Here and now, as you read this message, God says if you believe (i.e. trust with all your heart) this finished work of Christ upon the Cross, then you will be saved. Richard Baxter, commenting on this verse said that if the Bible said that Richard Baxter believing on Christ would have everlasting life, he still would not be happy. Perhaps it was for another Richard Baxter! Someone else with the same name…but not him. But the fact that it says: "Whosoever" brings us all in. E/ Those who forsake their sins in repentance have, in present possession, everlasting life. We need to be saved. We can be saved. We can know for sure that we are saved. The sinner is spiritually dead in trespasses and in sin (Ephesians 2:1) Christ came to give us life. This is a new life. Old things will pass away - old sins - old habits - old preferences - old chains of bondage - and you will become a brand new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) This is the reality of the gospel. F/ The alternative to saving faith in Jesus Christ is to perish everlastingly. God's gift - wonderful in the extreme of the extremes - can be yours. What folly to reject it or put it off a moment longer. You are perishing now because of sin and for want of a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This need not be. Why not avail of the offered mercy? These words are not cunningly devised fables (2 Peter 1:16) The gospel is no hoax, fit for old women or children. Sin is a reality. Hell is a reality. But so too is the salvation of God. And you can make it real in your heart by calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation. (Romans 10:13) If you would like further spiritual help, please email us. |