A Link or Bridge

Lesson #53

Our lesson today will focus on John 3:16 – 18 and then we will be ready to move on to verses 19 – 21. Read John 3:16 – 18 again: ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (NASB). First, look at the difference between verse 16 and 18, as shown in the diagram below.

The ESV translation uses the word condemned and the NASB uses judged. The sinner is judged by the law and is declared guilty and condemned to die. Verse 17 forms a bridge between two conditions. In John 3:16 and the second half of John 3:17, Jesus, the Son of God, was sent that the world might be saved through him. The first half of verse 17 links to verse 18 and the idea of judgment and being condemned. John 3:36 helps: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (ESV). Each of us is born into this world with God’s wrath on us. We are already judged and condemned to die. On this basis, Jesus does not come to judge, but to provide a way of belief and salvation.

Everyone is born guilty and condemned to death. Jesus was sent to provide a way to make guilty people non-guilty, condemned people not condemned and to make dead people eternally alive. In the providence of God some will accept God’s provision and the rest will remain in their condemned state. Understanding this I think we are now ready to move on to verses 19 – 21.

Prayer

Father, how marvelous are the Scriptures. It is like a rich mine waiting for one to dig and find the buried treasures. These treasures are like pieces of a magnificent puzzle and as we add pieces the picture becomes more exciting and the desire to keep digging grows. Father, my heart aches for those who just skim the surface and find only the edge pieces. I find that the pleasures and things of the world are a poor substitute for the treasures waiting to be discovered. Thank you for those hidden treasures.

Jesus Not A Judge

Lesson #52

After twelve lessons related to John 3:16, it is time to move on to John 3:17 – 21: ¹⁷ “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (NASB).

From John 3:16 we know that God loves everyone very much. In fact he loved us so much that he sent his only Son to purchase our salvation through his death. “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” Jesus comes because of our guilt as an expression of grace from the heart of God. Jesus does not come to judge because “he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” If we accept Jesus we are not judged and we receive eternal life and thus magnify the grace of God. But if we refuse his offer of salvation we remained under judgment and we perish eternally and magnify the justice of God.

We will begin our next lesson by comparing John 3:16 with John 3:18. It is an interesting comparison.

Prayer

Father, thank you that I no longer stand guilty before you because of my sin. Lord Jesus, thank you for taking my place and setting me free of guilt. Thank you, Father, for sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in me as assurance of my salvation. 

Love – Greater Love

Lesson #51

In his sovereignty, God can choose those he wants for his sheep, but if these chosen sheep are to come to faith there must first be the death of Jesus Christ to satisfy the justice required of the law. The high priest “prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:51 – 52 NASB).

“My sheep listen to my voice (that is how you know they are sheep), and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand” (John 10:27 – 28 NET). Each one chosen by the Father is provided with a homing instinct that directs them to the Savior. “Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away” (John 6:37 NET). “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44 NET). These who come have been granted permission to come. “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65 ESV).

Each one of us is born with a sin nature and as a result “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:10 – 12 NASB). In John 3:16, “Whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life,” but how does one who has turned aside ever come to belief? On their own it is impossible, but with God there is a greater love than John 3:16. It is a love that chooses the unrighteous one who is not seeking God and has turned aside and takes and changes that person from the inside out. I think of hardened terrorist who enjoys killing Christians who later become Christians and are themselves killed. This is clearly God’s doing out of his great love for them. God had a great love and an assignment for Paul and took a hold of him on the way to Damascus. My Damascus Road experience came as I watched a Christian film at church one night as a teen. I knew what had to be done that night and it was done. In one instant was new birth, eternal life and belief. That night began an amazing adventure which eventually took me into full time ministry and extended time teaching Bible in China. Such a great love he has for me.

Prayer

Father, such love I don’t deserve and in spite of that love I continue to sin. How thankful I am to know that you will continue to forgive me and that I am eternally secure in your love. Thank you for the promise that you will conform me into the image of your Son.

Love – New Birth

Lesson #50

In our last lesson we considered God’s greater love in his choice of Israel as a people he would reveal Himself to. In this lesson we will consider the movement of the Spirit, like the wind as it blows from place to place, as he moves among people choosing one here and another there as he pleases. We as spiritually dead people have no control over where the Spirit goes or who he touches. With his regenerating power he touches those of his choosing.

This choosing is an expression of his great love for us. Consider Ephesians 2:4 – 5: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (NASB). In 1 Peter 1:3, this “great love” is expressed as “great mercy”. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (NASB).

In John 3:16, God’s love provides salvation to those who believe, but his great love is what conquers our deadness and gives new life. It also brings us to faith and unites us to Christ and does it all in one sovereign instant. It is God’s quickening love that makes us alive. That is why we are able to believe. This causes me to ask the question, “Do we believe and become sheep or does God make us sheep so we can believe?” Consider John 10:16, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd” (NASB). I am convinced from my study of Scripture that God chooses those who are to be his sheep. They are scattered throughout the world. It is our job as sheep who believe to preach the Gospel in our search of those “lost” sheep. As the Gospel is proclaimed the sheep will hear the Shepherds voice and will become part of the one flock with our one shepherd. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep” (John 10:25 – 25 ESV). “You do not believe because you are not among my sheep” makes it very clear that you have to be a sheep in order to believe  and those who are chosen as sheep are the ones that are greatly loved by our Father. We will consider this further in the next lesson.

Prayer

Father, like a lonely, hopeless child tucked away in some orphanage you saw me and felt a great love for me and chose me to be your child. You gave me to your Son, who died in my place, and he gave me eternal life. I have been forgiven and cleansed of my sin and clothed in the garment of salvation, the righteousness of Christ. How can I thank you but to give my life completely to you.

Love - Choosing Israel

Lesson #49

This is our second lesson related to the word love. I am still thinking about the last lesson and want to try to focus more clearly. As I ponder on this I see God’s love for us and I see our love for God. There is the general love God has for everyone, both lost and saved, in the world. But I see a special group of people called the elect that I believe God loves more deeply. As believers we are to love all people, even our enemies, but I believe we have a greater love for the one we have chosen to be our spouse. Now consider our love for God. Consider two possibilities of coming to salvation; you choose through John 3:16 or God chooses you to be one of his. In which case do you think you would feel the greatest love for God and the most secure?

Life is made up of choices. We choose people for various reasons or assignments and others choose us. Does God choose people for certain assignments? The scriptures are clear that he does. As an example consider God’s choosing of Israel. Consider what John Piper said in the sermon titled “God So Loved the World, Part 2.” The text of what was said is included below.

Deuteronomy 10:14–15: “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.”

The point here is that God did not just offer to be Israel’s covenant God; he chose Israel. He took them from all the people. He didn't negotiate. He freely and sovereignly and unconditionally chose Israel.

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you. (Deuteronomy 7:6–8)

This does not mean that they all have eternal life. But it does mean that God put them in a special covenant relation to himself. They did not choose him. He chose them. And he calls this love. It is a love that goes beyond an offer.

With this choice of Israel in mind consider what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:1 – 3 about choice: “To those who reside as aliens . . . who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit . . . Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (NASB). Next time we will consider how this love is greater than the general love of John 3:16.

Prayer

Father, today in most sermons and Bible studies we just skim the surface of scripture. We don’t take time and seek out the treasures buried beneath the surface and we walk away lacking the nourishment we so desperately need. Father, I pray for the Spirit’s guidance as I dig into this material. Lord, teach me what I need to know.

Love

We have been looking at eight key words that make up John 3:16. So far we have covered seven of the eight. I decided to set aside the word love until last and devote more time to it. We will begin that study with this lesson.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). Many call this a free will offer of the gospel. This verse has been used over the centuries to bring a multitude of people to salvation in Jesus Christ, but through misuse I believe it has resulted in many being deceived into thinking they have eternal life. If the heart has been prepared and is ready this verse may be all that is needed to encourage a person to embrace Jesus Christ for salvation. But if the heart is not ready then the verse is used as leverage to persuade the mind to choose to ask Jesus into ones heart. A person may pray and be sent on their way thinking they are now a Christian when they are not and in the days ahead when they see no change in their lives they wonder about the value of the Christian faith.

We know that God loves the people of the world because he sent his Son to die, opening the door of eternal life to anyone who believes on him. But is there a more precious experience of God’s love than this? When a man chooses a woman for his wife, is his love for her more intimate than his love for others? Consider the cultural context and think about the bride being formed for God’s Son. Would not the Father choose those who make up the bride and present her to his Son? “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37 ESV). Is there a different love for those chosen compared to God’s love for the world?

Does God make choices and if he does are those choices fair? In our next lesson we will look at some of those choices.

Prayer

Father, I see John 3:16 as a most wonderful offer of love for which I am thankful, but when I consider you choosing me, who was spiritually dead and a rebellious sinner and being willing to transform my life and adopt me into your family, I experience a much greater love than the general love you have for the world. Your choice of me confirms your overwhelming love for me and brings me to my knees in humble thanks.

Life

Lesson #47

Today our lesson will cover the next word in our collection of eight words, the word life. We are looking at the section made up of John 3:16 – 18, which contain the famous verse “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). What does it mean to have eternal life? Before we consider that please listen to the audio bite 40:56 – 43:15.

The last part of John 3:16 is “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Some translations say, “will not perish” in place of “should not perish.” The “will not perish” assumes belief that produces evidence of your belief. Consider James 2:19: “You believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that—and tremble with fear” (NET). You may say you believe but still perish.

Those who truly believe will not perish but have eternal life. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all” (John 6:63a ESV). When God the Father causes spiritual birth (1 Peter 1:3 ESV) the Spirit gives life “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11 ESV). The Father causes, the Spirit gives and the life given by the Spirit at birth is in the Son. Eternal life then implies an eternal connection with the Son. Spiritual birth permanently unites us with Jesus the source of life.

Assurance of eternal life is found in John 11:25 – 26 where Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (ESV). What a living hope we have as believers.

Prayer

Father, you gave your Son to die so that I could live. Lord, Jesus, thank you for dying under the wrath of God in my place as the Lamb of God. Thank you for bearing my sin and my punishment. Thank you for providing forgiveness and removing the fear of death and replacing it with a living hope. Thank you for such love for me.