Scripture Reading:
John 3:14-21 NIV [14] Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, [15] that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” [16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. [19] This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. [20] Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. [21] But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Introduction
The apostle John, specifically reveals to us the things that guided him in the selection of the events he recounted in his gospel and his selection of the words of Jesus that he included. He wanted to be sure that we understood that believing that Jesus is the Christ leads to receiving the gift of eternal life.
Here is what he wrote at the very end of his gospel
John 20:30-31 NIV [30] Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. [31] But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John makes the plan of salvation easily understood, and he repeats it often throughout his gospel. The plan of salvation is that believing equals salvation and eternal life.
John 3:14-16 NIV [14] Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, [15] that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” [16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:34-36 NIV [34] For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. [35] The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. [36] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Our text for today gives us God’s primary purpose for sending his Son Jesus Christ into the world. Here it is;
John 3:17 NIV “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”
In this verse, John makes two complementary statements. First, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it. Second, he sent his Son so the world might be saved through him.
I. God sent his Son into the world to reveal his all-inclusive love.
A. Some people thought that God loved only the chosen people of Israel. They believed that all others were under the condemnation of God but Jesus came to reveal that both Jews and Gentiles were included in God’s love.
Galatians 3:26-29 NIV [26] So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, [27] for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the
promise.
B. Some people thought that God loved only the people who kept the law perfectly.
The Pharisees, the prominent and influential religious leaders of that day, were in this group. They had a narrow concept of God’s love and believed that all who fell below the standard of perfect obedience to the law were outside God’s concern. But that wasn’t the case. Here is what the Apostle Paul, who was, at one time, a prominent Pharisee, wrote after his encounter with Jesus on his way to Damascus. You can read about that encounter in Acts Chapter 9:1-9, Acts 22:6-11 and Acts 26:9-20.
This is what Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote about salvation and obedience to the law.
Galatians 2:15-16 NIV [15] “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles [16] know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Look at
Jeremiah 31:31-34 NIV [31] “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. [32] It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. [33] “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [34] No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Jeremiah said the new covenant would differ from the one given to Israel at Mount Sinai. It would have the power to work from the inside out. Instead of imposing His will in the form of external laws and commands, God promises “to put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts”. This involves more than remembering what God commanded. It is an internal knowledge of God rooted in forgiveness.
The old covenant set the standard and made demands. The new provides the means to comply by offering forgiveness and the righteousness of Christ as a gift to those who believe.
All of this means that God saves people through faith in Christ Jesus, not through their own efforts or works. God loves, forgives, and saves people because of the work of Christ, not because of who they are or what they do.
C. John tells us that God did not send Jesus Christ into the world to criticize, condemn, or cut off. Instead, God sent his Son that the world might be saved through him.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17 NIV).
II. God sent his Son into the world to save people from perishing.
John 3:16 NIV [16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
A. Christ came to reveal that God is love,
1 John 4:7-8 NIV [7] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:16 NIV [16] And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
This shows us that everything God does is because of His love for us. For example, John 3:16 says that God sent His Son, Jesus, because He loves us so much. Romans 5:8 tells us that Jesus died for us even when we were still sinners.
Romans 5:8 NIV [8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ came to reveal that God is merciful, and gracious.
Psalms 103:8 NIV [8] The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
Psalms 145:8 NIV [8] The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.[9] The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.
Christ came to reveal that God comes to us with the offer of forgiveness and cleansing.
I John 1:8-10 NKJV [8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
B. Christ came into the world to save us from the stupidity of the self-destructiveness of sin. The prodigal son is a classic illustration of those who neglect or refuse to believe that God is good and that the best place for us is in the Father’s house and in his will. That parable of Jesus is in Luke 15:11-32. Sin is a form of moral insanity. It is a road that leads to self-destruction in every area.
C. Christ came not only to save us from the consequences of our past sin, but also to save us from the power of sin today and the presence of sin in the future.
D. Christ came into the world so that we might find the way to the Father.
John 14:6 NIV [6] Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This verse indicates that Jesus is the way to God, and that following Jesus' teachings and accepting him as Lord and Savior is the only path to salvation and eternal life.
III. God sent his Son into the world to provide a simple way of salvation.
John 3:16 NIV [16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
We will not find the way to God through obedience to a law or through outstanding efforts to achieve our highest and best. We will find it only through faith in JesusChrist.
A. To experience salvation we must believe with all our hearts that Jesus Christ is God’s Son.
Romans 10:9-10 NIV [9] If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [10] For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Jesus is more than just one of the children of God. He is the unique and only begotten Son of God. He is the only one of his kind. He came on a mission from heaven to earth as the eternal God in a human body.
Let’s look at John 3:16 again this time from the NKJV
John 3:16 NKJV [16] For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
It’s the phrase "only begotten son " that causes problems. False teachers have latched onto this phrase to try to prove their false teaching that Jesus Christ isn’t God; i.e., that Jesus isn’t equal in essence to God as the Second Person of the Trinity. They see the word "begotten" and say that Jesus is a created being because only someone who had a beginning in time can be "begotten."
What this view fails to note is that "begotten" is an English translation of a Greek word. As such, we have to look at the original meaning of the Greek word, not transfer English meanings into the text. The Greek word is Monogenes. It has two definitions. For example in the KJV in Hebrews 11:17 it referred to Isaac as Abraham’s "only begotten son".
Hebrews 11:17 KJV [17] By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
Abraham had more than one son, but Isaac was the only son he had by Sarah and the only son of the covenant. Therefore, it is the uniqueness of Isaac among the other sons that allows for the use of monogenes in that context.
The second definition is "pertaining to being the only one of its kind or class, unique in kind." This is the meaning that is implied in John 3:16. John was primarily concerned with demonstrating that Jesus is the Son of God, and he uses monogenes to highlight Jesus as uniquely God’s Son—sharing the same divine nature as God—as opposed to believers who are God’s sons and daughters by adoption. Jesus is God’s “one and only” Son.
B. To experience salvation we must believe with all our hearts that God is as Jesus declared him to be. We need to respond to the revelation of the Father God in and through Jesus Christ. Only as we relate to him in a faith relationship can we experience the lifting power of his great love for us.
Conclusion
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said that there are at least three essential elements in the faith that saves—knowledge, mental assent, and trust.
1. You need to know something significant about God in order to be able to really believe in him. To get this information about God, we need to study God’s Word. The faith that saves is based on information we have about God that comes to us through the Scriptures.
2. The second element of this faith that saves is mental assent. There must be a willingness in the mind to give consent and assent to the truth about God, humankind, and life as it is revealed in the New Testament.
3. The final element in this saving faith is trust. This means to have a commitment to and dependence on God. It means to place confidence in God, making a leap of faith and pinning your hopes on Jesus Christ as the one who came to be your Savior.
The faith that saves is a decision made by an individual in response to Jesus Christ. John wrote his gospel to help you have that kind of trust in Jesus. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (3:17 NIV).
Prayer
"Father, thank You for loving me so much that when Jesus shed His blood on the cross, You freed me from my sins. I reaffirm my faith in You and give You praise for the gift of salvation. Thank You that I don't have to earn it. I accept Jesus' sacrifice for me and receive your forgiveness and cleansing. I rejoice in knowing that I am Your child, Father. Help me obey Your Word and each day to acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus in my life. Amen".
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