FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: John 3:1-18

The Incarnation’s Purpose (John 3:16-18) – Continued

From last lesson: The fact that Jesus provided this life does not mean that everyone automatically has it. It is available, but as stated earlier, only to the ones who believe in Jesus.

The next verses (17-18) stress the individual nature of salvation. “Condemn” literally means “to judge.” The purpose of the incarnation was not that the Son should come to judge the world. It was that through Him the world (whoever) might be saved. At His second coming the authority will be given Him and He will then judge the world. Those believing in Him are not judged, they are not condemned. They have already been judged in Christ, in His baptism of death, when He died for their sins. But the ones not believing in Him are already judged (perfect tense, a fixed, completed state). Why? Not because they are such terrible sinners. Rather, they are judged because they have not taken advantage of the given promise and have not believed (perfect tense again, has not and does not believe, a fixed state) in the only begotten Son of God.

So, the one sin that will send your soul to hell is an active, conscious choice, a fixed refusal, to believe in Jesus as your Savior. You can believe in Him, if you will to do so. But in what or in whom do we believe? The only way to be saved is through our personal faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).

We hear many sermons on what we must do to be saved. But what about what we must do to be lost? My conclusion has always been that you don’t need to do anything to be lost. Because of your sins you are lost already.

So then, the world’s problem is not how to be lost but rather, how to be saved. I was saved a few months before my seventeenth birthday. The Lord has been very, very gracious to me. I still remember the preacher’s text; “[God] who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.” (1 Timothy 2:4-6).

This presents your all-important choice. How will you respond to God’s desire for all men (personally, yourself) to be saved? The ball, as it were, is in your court. Understand this, faith and believing are not so much nouns when it comes to spiritual things, as they are verbs. They require actions. Upon your action and your answer hangs your eternal destiny.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: John 3:1-18

The Incarnation’s Purpose (John 3:16-18)

Some interpreters feel that Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus actually ended with John 3:15. They hold that John 3:16-21 is solely the apostle’s commentary. However, in light of all other Scripture, I see the whole as Jesus’ words. It is because of people’s lost condition that God became Jesus of Nazareth.

“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.”

This is the best known and most often quoted verse in the Bible. Yet seldom will you ever hear John 3:16 used as a sermon text, because when we quote it, we have said it all. It is the “little Gospel” or the gospel consummate. The best commentary on it is found in Philippians 2:6-11.

This most magnificent of verses accomplishes the following:

• It presents the greatest Lover: “God.”
• It expresses the greatest degree of love: “so loved.”
• It includes the greatest object of love: “the world.”
• It shows the greatest expression of love: “He gave.”
• It presents the greatest gift of love: “His only begotten Son.”
• It depicts the greatest response to love: “whoever believes in Him.”
• It declares the greatest deliverance of love: “should not perish.”
• It demonstrates the greatest result of love: “but have everlasting life.”

In the Greek text, this verse opens with the word for “so.” It shows the kind of love God has for a lost world. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” If you could have been redeemed by silver and gold, God could have given mountains of such and have had mountains of it left over. But He had to give all of something that He had. He has only one Son. So He gave Him to provide redemption from your sins.

But to me the principal word in this verse is “whoever.” Literally it means, “every single one of the whole, the ones believing in him.” I am so thankful for “whoever.” For “whoever” means me personally!

“Have,” in this context, literally, reads “may have.” This suggests the possibility that one may not come to have age-abiding or eternal life. The fact that Jesus provided this life does not mean that everyone automatically has it. It is available, but as stated earlier, only to the ones who believe in Jesus. But “whoever,” (every single one) means that Christ would have paid the price of redemption, even if you or I had been the only lost sinners in the world.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: John 3:1-18

The Conversation With Jesus (John 3:2-15) – Continued

From last lesson: Nicodemus was so ingrained to the natural that he still didn’t comprehend the spiritual. So he asked, “How can these things be?” If he, a recognized and honored teacher, did not understand the figure of the wind, how could he grasp the deeper things of the Spirit?

But Nicodemus was an expert in the Jewish Scriptures. So Jesus resorted to them. He cited the episode of the fiery serpents (Numbers 21:6-9). When the people cried out to Moses for help, Jehovah told him to make a serpent of brass, hold it up, and everyone who looked upon it lived. Apparently for the first time, a small light of understanding seemed to appear upon the face of Nicodemus. He recognized the passage to which Jesus referred.

Then Jesus related it to Himself, “Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

The Beloved Apostle was referring to Jesus’ crucifixion, something of which Nicodemus knew nothing at this point. At the same time Jesus introduced the element of faith. Why were the Israelites saved from the serpent bites? Because of the element of which the brass serpent was made? Or because of the excellence of the workmanship in making the serpent? Or because of the graceful way in which Moses held the serpent? All these questions call for a negative answer. They were saved simply because the people had faith in God’s promise to be healed and saved. They had to believe the Word of God.

Likewise you will be saved from sin only through faith in God’s promise to save all who believe in His crucified and risen Son. Moses’ act of lifting up the serpent did not heal all the Israelites. The promise was for all, but only those who responded to God’s promise in faith were healed. They had to look to the pole with the serpent. It was there all along, but they had to act. So it is that neither are all people saved from the penalty of sin because Jesus was crucified. Only those are saved who exercise faith in the promises of the crucified One. The Cross was for all, but people still have to look to, or act on the promise of the Cross.

“Whosoever” includes you, me, and all others who respond through faith in the Savior. “Perish” renders the word similarly  to Apollyon, the destroyer, one name of the devil. It might well read “be cast into hell.” Also “eternal life” is not just perceived and assessable at physical death. It is immediate and on-going, a quality of life received the moment we believe in Jesus and that abides in eternity.

Sadly, there are those who preach a message that says you will not know that you are saved until the final judgment. The gospel is that you can be saved here and now and know it. Many times prayers have been closed with the plea, “And save us in heaven at last.” All you have to do is follow “Christian” sites on social media to see prayers prayed often like this. Well, dear reader, unless you are saved now by grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8), you will not be saved “in heaven at last.”

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.