Once a Year… The verse that we remember the first and would forget the last.
The Great Lake: God so loved the world; The River: That He gave His only begotten Son; The Cup: That whosoever believes in Him will have everlasting life.
I just don’t think that there is not anyone believer that cannot find something new in John 3:16. To read about God’s Shocking Love.
What can we say new about this Bible in Miniature as Luther the Reformer Described it; the Gospel in a Nutshell. The poster or below an the eye of Tim Tebow Book and the chapter and verse John 3:16; As Max Lucado calls it “The Numbers of Hope!”
Rod Matoon
4 Great Truths:
The Source of Eternal Life is God: “For God so loved the World…”
Eternal Life is a gift from God.
One of the greatest sermons ever preached was preached inside the belly of a Whale. Jonah said, “Salvation is of the Lord.” Eternal life is from the Lord- not any human or what humanity does. Humanity must receive it.
Eternal Life is not based on the merit of a man or a woman, but it comes from the mercy of God. It does not come from our life.
It comes from the Grace and the Love of God.
There are several kinds of love: Personal love; Paternal Love; Patriotic Love; The Love of God is unconditional Love. He loves us when we are bad, and He loves us when we are good. Isa. 1:18.
God’s love is unaffected; unmotivated and is unconditional.
God loves His chosen people, Israel, but He also loves the world. The word for world is Cosmos. God loves the God-defying; ungodly; l unbelieving; dirty; ignorant world. God loves it,
God loves you today. God loves you yesterday and He will love you tomorrow.
God’s love is the Source of Eternal Life – Sacrifice is from God.
God’s1st Covenant was with a person: Abrham; 2nd was with a Family- Jacob’s Tribe; Then a People/Nation Israel @ Sinai; Then the World-all in Christ.
The Sacrifice of Eternal Life. “He gave His Only Begotten Son.”
The world’s greatest gift was made possible because the world’s greatest sacrifice.
God gave Jesus His only begotten Son. The gift was given with no strings attached. It was His own free will. He gave His Only One-of-a-Kind Son.
He laid the sin of the world on the Back of Jesus, His only begotten Son. Isa. 53:6; It pleased the Father to bruise Him (Isa. 53:10)
Paul was overwhelmed at the price that God paid for him. 2 Corinthians 5:21. It cost God everything. God gave it all. He gave His everything.
Peter was thinking about the cost of Salvation he wrote this: Peter 1:18-19. Jesus has bought you with His Blood.
The Simplicity of Eternal Life. “The whosever believes in Him.”
Jesus did not say, “…that whosever understands the theology of John 3:16.” millions of people in the world that cannot do that.
You run all the way to the Tower down by William Finch & Highway 6 then climb the Tower and you wil have Eternal Life.
God did not make it complicated or shallow but made it simple. “Believe into Me. Your faith unites in Me. It is not an intellectual exercise. The word believe means “surrender to the Lordship of Christ until we are united in Christ. The root word meaning “Union.”
This is simple enough that a child of 7, 8 or 9 can understand it but profound enough that the greatest theologians have wrestled with John 3:16.
Listen it is bowing before Jesus. Faith is the commitment of our will to Jesus. The greatest thing that happens this side of Heaven is when a man, woman, a youth, or a child bows before Jesus and says, I believe. Take me as I am. I trust you and commit my heart to you. The word, “whosoever” tells us that no one is excluded.
The Substance of Eternal Life “Should not Perish.”
That means that God does not want you to go to Hell and be eternally punished. We are in death until we receive eternal life. We will die physically but we wil receive life and live that life in Heaven.
Once you truly trust Jesus as your Savior you don’t have to worry about going to hell. It is a life of eternity that comes into us. The life of Heaven comes into us. Everlasting but also eternal life that is filled with love, hope, joy, and power in heaven and right here on earth. There is nothing like it on earth.
Listen, the only person who is eternal is God. What is eternal life? It’s the life of God given to us. People talk about the Deeper Life. Ther is nothing deeper than that> This is God Himself that comes into us. It is a gift. Can anyone listening are you so blind and prideful that you think you can earn eternal life. It is a gift of God who understand what it is.
It will never work. Salvation never through the church or an ordinance or through a man. “He or she that has the Son has eternal life. He or She that has not the Son will not have life. I John 5:12
Do you have Eternal Life? Do you have the Desire for Eternal Life? Do you have the Desire to Escape Hell and go to Heaven? It is not a matter of your understanding but a matter of your desire and faith.
Will Pounds tells the story of a Russian Soldier named Nicolai Alexandrenko, a Paratrooper during WWII.