Note: The resources I used was John 3:16 by Max Lucado, Daily Study Bible by William Barclay
Title: that He Gave His Only Begotten Son
Theme: To show God’s love is a love of action.
Text: John 3:16b
Introduction
As we began this journey two weeks ago we learned the importance of being “born again”. This is a unique concept in that many people would love to have the opportunity to start over again. This is that opportunity we are amazed by the change that come on in a persons life because of salvation. We are enamored by the testimonies of people that we hear where they came from, deep in drugs and sin and the Lord came in and saved them.
Romans 5:20NKJV Moreover the law (revelation of God to what is right and wrong) entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5: 20 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. 21 All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life--a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.
Joh 3:3-6
(3) Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
(4) Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
(5) Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (6) "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
This is not just a change in life style or works. There are people out their who change. I talked with a young man the other day who boasted in the fact that 10 months ago he had quit drinking. This was good. Yet this “born again” change is by the spirit. The is not just something that shows on the outside but that which is done on the inside.
As we look at this next section I want us to go back to John 3:13. This is what sets the stage for this verse. We often quote John 3:16 by it self but to get a better understanding we must go back to a few verses before. For us this is not a new concept. As one has said, “In a America we are not short on hearing the gospel, our problem is following it.”
Most people have this verse and others memorized as a child yet never get the concept of what it means. So let us look back at verse 13.
Joh 3:13 "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Php 2:6 MSG He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7 Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!
(8) Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death--and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
(14) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Php 2:9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
This is a prediction of what would happen. At this time Nicademus nor the disciples could see what would happen. The talk of crucifixion and resurrection was rebuked by Peter and scoffed at by the Pharisees.
(15) "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
We will see this next week. The opening part of John 3:16 is God’s part. The next section goes into what we must do.
(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.
(17) "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
(18) "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
So here we are.
We saw this last week but it is important to have a quick review to understand this next section.
For God – the God of this universe who chose to create us. This vast God who set the stars in place and turned the earth on its axis so that it may contain His creation.
So loved – How deep and high is God’s love.
Ephesians 3:17 (And I pray) that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height; 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge
Nothing Can Separate us from His love
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39 NLT)
“the world” –
DSB
(i) It tells us that the initiative in all salvation lies with God.
(ii) It tells us that the mainspring of God's being is love.
(iii) It tells us of the width of the love of God
As Augustine had it: "God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love."
“that He gave”
This is the action of God’s love. This is bigger than we can imagine.
It is one thing to say that we love, it is another to show that love.
1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
New International Version (©1984)
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
“His only begotten son”
Jesus shares God’s DNA. Jesus isn’t begotten in the sense that he began but in the sense that he and God have the same essence, eternal life span, unending wisdom, and tireless energy. Every quality we attribute to God, we can attribute to Jesus.
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” Jesus claimed (John 14:9 NLT).
And the epistle to the Hebrews concurs: “[Christ] is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature” (1:3 NASB).
Jesus occupies the peerless “Christ the Redeemer” pedestal. He claims, not the most authority, but all authority. “My Father has given me authority over everything. No one really knows the Son except the Father, and no one really knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt. 11:27 NLT).
Don’t hurry through those words. They’re either the last straw or the ultimate truth. They warrant deliberate thought.
“My Father has given me authority over everything.” Does Jesus own the only scepter in the universe? One follower declared as much. A Roman officer sent a message to Jesus, asking the teacher to heal his servant. So Jesus journeyed toward the soldier’s house. But the man sent friends to intercept Jesus, telling him not to make an unnecessary trip. “Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it” (Luke 7:7–8 NLT).
This officer understood authority: when the one in charge commands, the ones beneath obey. The soldier effectively said, “Jesus, you call the shots, inhabit the throne. You wear five stars on your shoulder.” He saluted Christ as supreme commander.
And Christ didn’t correct him! Jesus didn’t dilute the man’s opinion or adjust his comments. “You flatter me,” he could have said. But he didn’t dismiss the adulation as overstatement; rather he accepted it as appropriate. “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” (v. 9 NLT).
Christ claims ultimate clout. Unshared supremacy. He steers the ship and pilots the plane. When he darts his eyes, oceans swell. When he clears his throat, birds migrate. He banishes bacteria with a single thought. “He sustains everything by the mighty power of his command” (Heb. 1:3 NLT).
Jesus’s claim – makes Him know
How much more does Jesus qualify as God’s! Jesus “who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day” (John 1:18 MSG).
When Jesus says, “In My Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2 NKJV), count on it. He knows. He has walked them.
When he says, “You are worth more than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:31), trust him. Jesus knows. He knows the value of every creature.
When Christ declares, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matt. 6:8 NAB), believe it. After all, “He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:2 NAB).
Jesus claims to be, not a top theologian, an accomplished theologian, or even the Supreme Theologian, but rather the Only Theologian. “No one really knows the Father except the Son.” He does not say, “No one really knows the Father like the Son” or “in the fashion of the Son.” But rather, “No one really knows the Father except the Son.”
Heaven’s door has one key, and Jesus holds it.
1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Conclusion
Why? Did he give His only Son
Perhaps you agree. You appreciate the teachings of Jesus. Admire his example. But no matter how you turn it around, you can’t see the significance of his death. How can the death of Christ mean life for us? The answer begins with a heart exam.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9 NKJV). The Spiritual Cardiologist scans our hearts and finds deep disease: “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly” (Mark 7:21–22). He describes our problem in pan-demic proportions: “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God” (Rom. 3:10–11 NLT).
A Chinese Christian understood this point. Before her baptism, a pastor asked a question to ensure she understood the meaning of the cross. “Did Jesus have any sin?” he inquired.
“Yes,” she replied.
Troubled, he repeated the question.
“He had sin,” she answered positively.
The leader set out to correct her, but she insisted, “He had mine.”4
Though healthy, Jesus took our disease upon himself. Though diseased, we who accept his offer are pronounced healthy. More than pardoned, we are declared innocent. We enter heaven, not with healed hearts, but with his heart. It is as if we have never sinned. Read slowly the announcement of Paul: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17).
