Dear Ones,

John 3:16-17

The good news of the Bible is that today is a day of grace.  Today we too can repent of our sins and turn to Christ for new life.  Let’s consider carefully, what John 3:16 says.

John opens the passage, “For God so loved”.  Let’s stop here.  These very first two words, “For God...” tells us that the gospel begins in the heart of God.  “For God so loved the world.”  God loves the world and the people whom he made in his image.  The word for “love” in this verse refers to “sacrificial love.”  This is the love that gives of itself for another.  And this is exactly what the next part of the verse says: “For God so loved the world that he gave...”  God gives of himself for the world.  God is not an impersonal deity, a theological abstract.  The Sovereign God of heaven and earth is a God who sees and hears and acts.  

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...”  There is only one eternal Son of God.  There is only One who was begotten from the Father.  There is only One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God has given him to the world.

Why would he do that?  Why has God given Jesus?  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish...”God loves; God gives; so that we can believe!  And because we believe we will not perish.  Without Christ we are all perishing.  We are objects of God’s wrath because we are sinners.  In our own stead we have nothing to look forward to but condemnation.  However, the gospel, the good news proclaims a different story.  The gospel says you do not have to experience God’s wrath.  We do not have to face condemnation.  God has loved you from eternity; God has given you his only begotten Son; you do not perish if you believe in him.

Who is Jesus?  That’s the ultimate question and John 3:16 tell us the truth: Jesus is the one and only Son of God; the only Begotten of the Father.  It then proclaims God’s grace.  “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.”  God loves; God gives; we can believe; we do not perish; we have eternal life.  That which begins in the heart of God overflows into new life for the repentant sinner.  By grace you are invited to believe.  By faith you will.  To be born again by the water and the Spirit is to receive grace and the gift of faith.

It’s a demanding gospel that we hear in John 3:16.  Love so amazing and so divine demands your soul, your life, your all.  John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  Verse 16 may demand your soul, your life your all but God sent his Son into the world to pay the ultimate price, to be lifted up, to hang on the cross so that everyone who believes on him may have eternal life.

John tells us his story that we might believe and follow Jesus.  The One who came from the Father full of grace and truth, arms open wide on the cross to receive all who believe. 

Blessings and love,

Pastor D