The John 3:16. Gospel Nutshell. John 3:16. By Mark A Weller Page 1

Transcription

1 The John 3:16 Gospel Nutshell John 3:16 By Mark A Weller Page 1

2 The Gospel Nutshell The Gospel Nutshell By Mark A. Weller Wapakoneta, Ohio PUBLISHERS NOTE The Scripture quotations contained within are from the Authorized King James Version of the Bible. The following message was originally preached on Sunday, May 8th, 2005 in the early church service (8 AM) at the First United Church Of Christ in New Knoxville, Ohio. That spoken message was later transcribed and edited into booklet form. Because of it s origination as a spoken message, it may not read as fluidly as other printed materials. A special word of thanks goes to my good friend Carol Beane, who willingly took up the task of transcribing this message. Thanks Carol, as always, I appreciate your labors! Page 2 Common Law Copyright 2005, 2nd edition 2010 This booklet may be reprinted in its entirety for FREE distribution. Otherwise, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. e-book ISBN: PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

3 John 3:16 (Associate Pastor Mitch Reed) I want to bring up our speaker for today. Back in February when we were talking about filling the pulpit with different speakers Pastor David suggested Mark Weller as someone that would be great to have come down here. He has been leading a church in Wapakoneta in the downtown area for about 12 years and has also spoken at the prison for about 16 years. His description of himself is that of a 'street preacher. I'm looking forward to this and think this might be fun. So, Mark is going to share the scripture and give us some words of the Lord today. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate that introduction. Before I begin, I would like to wish you ladies a Happy Mother's Day. You have an awesome responsibility and an equally awesome opportunity to make a big impact on this world and I pray that the Lord will bless you in your efforts, especially today. If you would please, turn in your Bible to John 3:16. I decided to preach a different message this morning than I will be preaching at the 10:15 service. So, if you want to stay over for the 2nd service I promise not to give you a retread of this message. There is nothing wrong with preaching the same sermon at two services but that is not what I am going to do today. John 3:16. I suppose everybody is pretty familiar with this scripture. It says, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That is quite a verse, wouldn t you agree! Page 3

4 Page 4 The Gospel Nutshell John 3:16 has been called the Gospel in a nutshell. It was translated into over 1,000 languages before 1900 A.D. If you have a Gideon Bible, in the front of it you will find John 3:16 translated into 26 of those different languages. It has been printed on roadside signs and it has been made into bumper stickers. Often, you can see it at baseball and football games on a great big banner hung out in front of everybody. It is probably the best-known scripture in the world; although I would have to admit that before I trusted Christ as my Savior, when I would see John 3:16 written on a banner at a ball game, I did not know what it meant. I didn t understand what John 3:16 was all about. Once I read it in the Bible I understood immediately what it was about. That verse has been around quite a bit. It has been printed on millions of pamphlets, millions of gospel tracts, and it has been preached hundreds of thousands of times. Yes, it is quite a verse. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Many years ago there lived a man named John Moorhouse who started preaching at 15 years of age, and his preaching ministry lasted for over 40 years. For over 40 years EVERY MESSAGE he preached began with John 3:16. Imagine that, for forty years he preached the same text, John 3:16. On one occasion Mr. Moorhouse was invited to preach at a tent meeting for the great D. L. Moody when Moody had another engagement. As the week progressed, Mr. Moody asked his wife how the tent revival was going. Well, she said, Mr. Moorhouse has preached three times this week on John 3:16. And, she said, he preaches it in a way that makes you know that God loves you. Now, that kind of got to Moody, since he was a preacher too,

5 John 3:16 you know. That got to him, and he was so intrigued by it that later during the week when he was free he attended the tent revival. Moody reported that when he heard Moorhouse's message, it impacted his life with such force that he was never able to preach John 3:16 in the same way again. IT CHANGED HIM FOREVER! At that meeting Mr. Moorhouse said, Beloved friends, I have been hunting all day for a new text. But I cannot find anything so good as the old one. So, we will go back once again to John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He continued by saying, My friends for a whole week I have been trying to tell you how much God loves you. But I cannot do it with this poor stammering tongue. If I could borrow Jacob's ladder and climb up into Heaven and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence of Almighty God, to tell me how much love the Father has for the world, all he could say would be: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I believe Mr. Moorhouse was right. It would be the most Gabriel could say. You really could not say any more than that, can you? In my message today, I have three things That I have noticed in this passage that I would like to bring to your attention; three things that I would like to discuss. I see in this scripture (1) the Father's Grief; I see (2) the Father's Gift; and I see (3) the Father's Gain. I would like to talk to you about these three things today. Page 5

6 The Father s Grief Page 6 The Gospel Nutshell Our text starts out, For God so loved ; and I want to underline the word "so." For God SO loved the world But first, do you see the word loved? I don't know if you have ever considered this, but without love there would be no blood of Jesus. Without God's love for man there would have been no Jesus on the cross. Do you understand that? There would be no blood of Jesus. Without love there would be no redemption. You could not have been purchased back from sin. Without love there would be no salvation, and no hope of glory. Without love there would be no new birth. (John 3:3) Twenty-three years ago I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and I was born again. I want to tell you that the man you see here today is very different from the rascal who lived back there 23 years ago. God has made quite a change in me. I realize you may not think much of it, but you have never seen what I was before! Without love, there would be no new birth for us sinners. Without love you could not be sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Bible says that if you have believed on Jesus Christ you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise until the day of redemption. (Ephesians 1:13 & 4:30) When you trust Jesus and are born again, God puts a seal upon your soul and it says, I belong to God! And you wear that seal until the day you meet the Lord. Without love there would be no Bible. I do not know how much significance you attach to the Bible, but when I need comfort I go to the Book because the Bible was given so:

7 John 3:16...that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4) The scriptures are for your comfort. Where then would you draw your comfort from, because without love there would be no Bible? Without love there would be no church. This building... this church house... Would not be here. The people who built this place would not have done it except that those people loved God, because God first loved them. (1 John 4:19) Without love there would be no fellowship of Believers. A little while ago we all got up, walked around, shook hands and greeted one another. I trust that inside you is a new birth, a new creature, created by God in the image of God, and that new creature went around and greeted the other brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen! But without love there would not be any of that. Without love there would be no blessed hope. I am talking about:...that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13) But without love there would be no blessed hope. Without love there would be no restoration of the nation of Israel. One of the least pondered yet greatest miracles of modern times is the restoration of the nation of Israel. Israel was a nation of people who had no country for nineteen centuries! They wandered the face of the earth with no certain dwelling place. The Bible says that God was going to scatter them amongst the nations and bring them back again into their homeland. Do you realize that it is an historic impossibility Page 7

8 Page 8 The Gospel Nutshell for a nation to exist for nineteen hundred years with no geography to exist upon? Impossible, but they did it; and there they are today, over in their homeland once again. Without love, there would be no restoration of the nation of Israel. (Ezekiel 11:17) Without love there would be no millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ, reigning on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords for one thousand years. (Revelation 19) Without love that would never happen. Without love there would be no heavenly New Jerusalem, the city of God. You know, God does not need a city Himself. That city is made for His people to inhabit one day. Without love there would be no city of God. Without love there would be no promise of a new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13) Have you ever thought about that? A new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth RIGHTEOUSNESS. I mean a world a universe so changed, so marvelously changed that if you picked up a newspaper and read it, it would be full of good news EVERYDAY!!! It is so far removed from what we see in our newspapers that I can not even begin to imagine it. For God so loved the world That little word so is not a very big word. It has only two letters; but inside that little word there is provision enough to save the whole world if the people of the world would just believe it. That is how big it is.

9 John 3:16 For God so loved the world Do you see the word love in the passage? Many times love brings grief with it. Love often brings a burden and it often creates heartache. If you have ever loved anyone, you have probably suffered a broken heart somewhere along the way. And God is no different. God the Father has a burden. He has something weighing very heavy on His heart. You say: Well, what is it? Quite frankly it is you... and it is me. The Father looks down here and sees the children of this planet, the people of earth in a dangerous spiritual condition. The Bible describes us as: having no hope, and without God in the world: (Ephesians 2:12) That is not a very pleasant description is it? God the Father sees our lost condition and it disturbs Him. It bothers Him! It bothers Him that humanity is lost in trespass and sin. It bothered Him so much that He was compelled to action in order to do something about it. You see, God loves New Knoxville. God even loves Ohio. God loves. or rather, GOD BLESS THE USA. Isn t that what we say? We even have it on our bumper stickers. In fact, it is all over the place. But I have got to tell you that, yes, God loves New Knoxville; and yes God loves Ohio; and yes God loves God bless the USA; but: God so loved the WORLD Do you understand that God s love is big enough that it does not have to stop at the city limits?!!! Amen! And it is big enough that when it gets to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it does not even stop there. It is big enough that it can go North Page 9

10 The Gospel Nutshell across the Bearing Straight and go South and jump over the Panama Canal. By sending Jesus Christ to this earth God provided for the salvation of every man, woman and child on this planet. Luke chapter 16 in the Bible tells us there was a certain rich man who fared sumptuously every day until one day finally he died. And the Bible says in Hell he lift up his eyes being in torment. All of the sudden it was over for him. My friends, if all of the sudden one day it is over for you; and if on that day you lift up your eyes like the rich man in Luke 16, being in torment; it is not because God sent you there. It is because you have sent yourself there. How do I know this? I know this because: God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him SHOULD NOT PERISH Are you aware that the Bible says: the Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) It is God s will that every man, woman and child repent of their sins, trust Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, and receive the gift of eternal life. That is God s will for you and everyone else on this planet. Sometimes people make the philosophical statement that: If you are going to be saved, you ll be saved and if you are not, then you won t. But that is not a true statement. You have a decision to make in this! God has done His part now it is time for you to do your part. Jesus has paid for your ticket to Page 10

11 John 3:16 Heaven but you better make sure to have it in hand when you go to board the train! Do you understand? I wanted to talk with you about the Father s grief, because it grieves God to His very soul that there are people who are not going to make it to Heaven. And it is not because there is no a way to get there. No, they are going to miss out because they will not accept the only way that God has provided for them. Someone might say: Well, Preacher, what way is that? Let me tell it to you the way Jesus said it. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) Jesus is the truth; and Jesus is the only way. The Father s Gift All right, for God so loved the world and now there is a gift. For God so loved the world, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. I remember the birth of my first son. You know, some of these dads that do not show up at the hospital to see the birth of their children have missed something tremendous. I was there when all my kids were born. Well, all of them but one that is, and I was on my way there to see him, but he wouldn t wait. When my first son was born I was at the hospital in the delivery room, Mama wasn t having to good of a time but I was enjoying it. Then out pops my son and the doctor takes Page 11

12 The Gospel Nutshell him and lays that boy right in my arms. He still had the umbilical cord attached. He was a mess and he had a blanket wrapped around him; and I am holding him and looking at him; and immediately my heart was knit to that boy. He was only seconds old and I could not have given him up for any of you people. And as I stood there looking at him God whispered to my soul and He said: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son. At that moment I began to weep, because for the first time in my life I knew what that verse of scripture truly meant. I am telling you, the price for our salvation was high indeed! I have two boys now and I could not give them up for anybody. My boys are sinners and so occasionally they let me down. Even so, I could not give them up for anybody. You might say, Why are your boys sinners, preacher? Because the apple does not fall far from the tree, that s why. You see, an apple tree produces apples because it is an apple tree. Likewise, sinners produce sinners because that is all they can produce. Like I said, I could not give my boys up for anybody even though they disappoint me once in a while; but Jesus never disappointed the Father. In fact, He said: I do always those things that please him. (John 8:29) Some people looked at Jesus one time and do you know what they said about Him? They said, He hath done all things well. (Mark 7:37) That is quite a testimony, wouldn t you agree? Page 12

13 John 3:16 When he was on trial in front of Pontius Pilot, after examining Him, Pilot said: I find in him no fault at all. (John 18:38) Has anybody ever said that about you? I find no fault at all. You would not have to examine me very long to find a few faults. Even though there was no fault at all in Jesus the Lamb of God without fault or blemish the Bible says He was:...despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: (Isaiah 53:3) Let s see if I can do this. I have a cold and this may not come out right but I am going to try and give this song a whirl anyway. Was er a gift like the Savior given? No not one. No not one. Will he refuse us a home in Heaven? No not one. No not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is done. There s not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No not one. No not one. My friends, the price of our salvation was higher than we can know! The Bible calls it the unsearchable riches of Christ. (Ephesians 3:8) You see, we do not truly understand how high that price really was. The Father had a grief. For God so loved the world that His love for it broke His heart. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son. Page 13

14 The Father s Gain Page 14 The Gospel Nutshell And the last thing I want to talk about is the Father s gain. The Bible says that God:...gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Life is best when you have people to share it with and God desires for you to have everlasting life so you can share it with Him. Love likes to share. Love likes to spend time with people. God desires your presence in His life so much that He sent His only begotten son to pay the price for your sins and my sins. That is how much He desires us. It is no coincidence that the verse John 3:16 has twenty-five words in it. Twelve is the number in the Bible that represents the people of God. The first twelve words of John 3:16 tell of God s love for sinful man. The last twelve words tell of God s gift for sinful man. But the thirteenth word the word right smack dab in the middle is the word Son. You might ask, Why is that in the middle? Well, it is because Jesus accomplished something very profound on the cross. On the cross, as Jesus was suffering and bleeding and dying for the sins of man, in effect, what He was doing was reaching one hand toward Heaven to grab the hand of Holy God, and with the other hand He was reaching down to earth to hold on to sinful man so that He might bring the two together again. The Bible says that: 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 2:5-6)

15 John 3:16 And the Bible tells us further that: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (Galatians 3:13) This is what out Lord Jesus Christ has done for us! Listen to this. This is my last verse. Please listen carefully. For He (that is God) For He hath made Him (Jesus) For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. (Jesus knew no sin, but He became sin for us.) Why did God do this for us? That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus who knew no sin became sin. We sinners who, in reality, knew no righteousness the Bible says WE BECAME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. An unimaginable trade took place when I was saved. I received Jesus righteousness to be my own and He received my sins. Without a doubt, I came out on top in that trade! I got the better end of the deal. Some man might say, What are you saying today, preacher? I am saying nothing more and nothing less than what God has said in His word. He simply said: Page 15

16 The Gospel Nutshell For God SO loved the world, that he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but HAVE everlasting life. (John 3:16) My friends, if you are not certain that you have everlasting life, you need to find out today. You need to go to the Lord Jesus Christ right now and ask to be saved so you can receive the gift of eternal life. It is available to anyone who truly wants it! Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus; and Lord, I thank you so much for this opportunity to preach here this morning. Lord, I have tried to magnify your Son because Jesus said if I be lifted up I will call all men unto me. I pray Father that I have lifted Him up today. And I ask that you bless these people. I pray Father that your mercy and your grace would flood their hearts so that they might know that they might comprehend the extreme love that produced John 3:16. And, we will give you the praise for that Lord, in Jesus name, Amen. Free Gift Page 16

17 John 3:16 Eternal Life IS A Free Gift! Dear Friends, While reading this little booklet you may have realized that you have never yet trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour, but would like to do it now. Fortunately, God wants you to have eternal life, and because He wants you to have eternal life He has made it very easy to obtain. In fact, it is a free gift! That s right, the Bible says, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) So how do you get this gift? It s pretty simple really! 1) Admit that you are a sinner and that you deserve to find yourself condemned under the righteous judgment of a Holy God. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23) 2) Believe in your heart that the Lord Jesus Christ died for YOU! And, that His sacrifice has been accepted by God as a complete payment for YOUR sins. The Bible tells us...the blood of Jesus Christ his (God s) Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) 3) Confess the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. Tell someone that you have accepted God s gift of salvation by receiving His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (Romans 10:11) If you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour today, you can write and let me know. I would love to hear about it! You will find my address in the front of this book. May the blessings of our precious Saviour rain down abundantly upon you! Sincerely, Mark A Weller Other reading materials available upon request! Page 17