What Does John 3:16 Really Mean?

Do you remember years ago, we used to see people walking around baseball stadiums holding a sign, which said "John 3:16"? I used to think, why are those people doing that?

Now I know. John 3:16 is probably the single most important verse in the Bible. What does this verse mean? Does it apply to me?

Listen in as Mike goes in to detail about this key verse.

Transcript:

Well, today we're going to talk about John 316 that says, 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. John 316 is probably the most popular Bible verse where even some non believers even recognize that verse, maybe because that verse, John 316, was on signs that people walked around ballparks and arenas, which you don't see that anymore, probably because of it. It's too exclusive for today. And it's unfortunate that we are not walking around the ballparks because this verse is really one of the most important verses in the Bible. But let's break it down. As far as what does John 316 really mean? It says for God, so love the world. Love is the very nature of God. One John 416 says that God is love and love is an action. So yes, we have loving feelings, but loving feelings are a result of a loving action. And so feelings will follow our thoughts, feelings will follow our actions. But love is more than just a feeling. And in this case, God did take an action. It says in one John four, nine, and ten that this is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world, that we might live through him. This is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. So God took an action. He sent Jesus Christ into the world. He was fully God. He was fully human, but his purpose was to take away the sins of the world. And then on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and came back to life. And the Spirit of God is what brought Jesus back to life. And so that was the action that God had taken. Two Corinthians 514 says that Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. So this love of God, this action of God that God took on our behalf, is what really compels us when we grab a hold of what this really is. There are many different views of what God's love is. Sometimes people look at God as a vending machine and that they pray for certain things and that they expect God to come through with those prayers. But yes, God comes through with prayers in our life, but not always according to what we want. Our deepest need is to know God. It's something that is so important and to have a relationship with him not based on fear, not based on worry or anger, but based on pure love. That God is love and only love. Religion has kind of taken God's love out of context because there are so many conditions that are put onto God's love. For instance, that a Christian comes to Christ and is born again and now they're required to be obedient and follow the law. And those conditions are what make people run from God. Our obedience and our trustworthiness are just byproducts of knowing the love of God. It's nothing that we have to do to earn God's love. It's because of God's love. So it's way different than sometimes we hear in the pulpit in different religions. So God loves the world. And when you see the word world, put your name in there, that's you Mike, for instance, God so loved Mike. God so loved Frank or sue or whoever. It doesn't matter. Put your name right in that spot that God so loves you. And that was an action. Now, what did God do? It says that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. And so God gave something. He gave his only Son, Jesus, to us. And that's a gift, right? When you give something to somebody, it is a gift. And God certainly has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in him. Acts four says, on one occasion while he was eating with them, referring to Jesus, he gave them this command, do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. Well, this gift was in the heart of God from the beginning of time when he created mankind. He knew that man would fall and the Spirit of God would leave Adam at the time who was the first man, and that we are all born in Adam's image, spiritually dead. And so we need to be made alive and to be born again. And that is the gift of God is to give his life to us so that he can live his life through us and give us eternal life. And so in Acts two, one to four, this finally happened. It says, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. These were the disciples. Suddenly, a sound like a blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. It says that all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. So this was the first time that the Spirit of God had ever come to live inside of mankind. Before that God was upon them. He was around them, but he was never living in mankind until Acts two, one, four, known as the Day of Pentecost. But that is the gift of God. And it's the gift of God today is to receive eternal life and be born again, just like they were born again back in those days. Galatians 220 says, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me the life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So there again you see the Word gave that God sent Christ into this world to give us the Spirit of Christ living in us when we put our faith in him. And so that's this meaning here that God gave his one and only Son as a gift to all of mankind. The next part of this verse, that whoever believes so for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish. So this is a word that we need to really think through believes in Him because James 2019 says that even the demons believe there is one God. And so the word belief is different than the word faith. The word belief means that I believe that something exists. Say, for instance, a chair. I believe that this chair will hold me up and I might just stand there in front of the chair and say, I believe that chair will hold me. But faith is putting your belief into action. It's putting faith in what you believe. So when you sit down in the chair, you've just put your faith in what you say you believe. Sometimes belief and faith are used anonymously But I believe that these verses in the Book of John and other places about believing in him are referring to putting our faith in what we believe. And so we really need to know why we need to put our faith in Jesus. So God so loved this world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in Him will have eternal life. Well, that sounds a lot like John 360 NIV version, but this is the contemporary English version that says that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life. Most of the versions do say believe in him, but believe and trust are really what the writer of the Book of John is trying to get to us to put our faith in what we believe. So why do we need to believe in Jesus? Why do you need eternal life? This is what is really missing in many sermons and many online teachings is why do I need to be born again? Why do I need eternal life? And that takes us back all the way to the garden. And we have to go back there to see why we need eternal life. Because Adam was created in the image of God. He was created alive physically, but he also was created alive spiritually. Genesis 127 says that so God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God, he created them male and female. So God created Adam and the image of himself. Genesis 27 says that then God gave the breath of life to Adam. Now that was the breath of life physically in his lungs so he could breathe. But also that's where the spirit of God was given to Adam. And that only means that God was living inside of Adam. The spirit of God was in dwelt in Adam. That's the good news of how mankind was created. Now, Genesis 216 to 17 says that the Lord commanded the man, Adam, you're free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, for when you eat of it, you will surely die. So this story of Anna and Eve, it's been talked about and sometimes ridiculed about over the years. But really, this is the crux. This is the place where the spirit of God left mankind because Adam and Eve were confused, they were lied to by Satan. In Genesis three, four and five, it says that Satan says, you will certainly not die. Go ahead and eat from that tree. The serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So this is where Satan tricked Adam and Eve and they ate from the tree in the middle of the garden that God told them not to. God gave them only one command. And this command was, do not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden or you will surely die. Well, they did in Genesis 322 says, oh my gosh, this is an unbelievable verse. And says, And God said, the man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take from the tree of life and live forever. So that was it. And then Genesis 323 says that the Lord banished him. That's referring to Adam. But Eve was with him from the Garden of Eden, and there was a waving sword banishing and keeping them from now from the tree of life. So, oh, my gosh, this was it. The Spirit of God had left Adam and Eve and they were spiritually dead. They were condemned for hell. And this is how it all began. Genesis five, three, it says that when Adam lived 130 years, so that's how we know he didn't die physically that day when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here says that Adam would live 130 years altogether. He lived 930 years. But it says at 130, he had a son. Now, catch this in his own likeness, in his own image, and he named him Seth. Adam's son, Seth was not born in the image of God. He was born in the image and likeness of Adam. Now, that's so contrary to today, because we hear from the pulpit again, from sermons from everywhere, news, TV that were born in the image of God. And that is not true. We are born in the image and likeness of Adam, spiritually dead, condemned for hell. That is the way, unfortunately, as a result of Adam's disobedience, he didn't obey God in the garden. We are all born that way. That is so crucial to understand that, that we're more than just sinners in need of forgiveness because that's what we hear. Again, if you ask most people what's their understanding of Salvation, they'll say that Jesus took away my sins and it stops there. The gospel. The good news is more than just that Jesus took away our sins is that we're dead spiritually as a result of Adam's disobedience and in need of life. Romans 512, it says, therefore just as sin entered the world through one man, that's Adam and death through sin, like we've been talking about, that spiritual death came about as Adam sin and his disobedience. And it says in this way, death came to all people because all of sinned. So the spiritual death has come to all people. All means all. That means everybody. There's nobody excluded from that. Ephesians 21 says, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins and that's how we came into this world. Spiritually dead. Now, how many of you know that? How many of you have heard that before that this is our real problem. This is why John 316 is such a crucial verse. Romans 623 says, for the wages of sin is death, the cost of sin, of Adam's sin, of Adam's disobedience. The wages of his sin is death. But contrary to that, the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. John 17 three says, now this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ who you have sent. So we need to know our condition. We need to know how we are born into this world more again than just a sinner. We all know that we sin. We all know we do wrong things and think wrong things. We know that. And thank God Jesus took away our sins at the cross. He took away the sins for the whole world. But if you go to a doctor because you don't feel well, before he can give you a remedy or a prescription or to help you feel better, he's got to diagnose you. He has to tell you. He has to take some tests and blood pressure and take some lab tests to find out what's wrong. What's the matter with you before he can prescribe anything? If his diagnosis is off, then his prescription and his remedy will be off. You could die or you could have a long term illness as a result of the wrong diagnosis. Well, in the same way, if we don't understand our diagnosis that we're spiritually dead in need of life, we may miss that. That is why I'm doing this podcast. That is why we started Grace Coaches, that you would know that. You would know Jesus, you would know that you need eternal life and why you need eternal life. So again, we're just not sinners in need of forgiveness. We're dead spiritually and in need of life. So the next part of the verse says that whoever believes in Him shall not perish. Well, what does perish mean? It means to die. It means to die eternally in this case, to go to hell or to stay in our condemned state of spiritual death. John 318 says, Whoever believes in him is not condemned, that him is Jesus. But whoever does not believe in Jesus catch this stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. Jesus didn't come to condemn anybody. Like so much of religion teaches, that's why people run away from religion, because of the message that we come to Christ and all of a sudden we're condemned and God is watching over us and spanking us and hitting us with the great wooden spoon in the sky. Well, people run from that. And that's not true because he's taken away all of our sins. Matthew 25 46 that says that then they will go away to eternal punishment. But the righteous to eternal life. The righteous are those who believe, who put their faith in what they believe, who've come to Christ. And the Spirit of God has come to live inside of that person and that person is born again. Well, those are the righteous. They're righteous because they have the righteous one Jesus living in them. That's what makes them righteous. It's an imputed righteousness. John 1028 says, I give them eternal life and they shall not perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. So once you are born again, you will never lose that your Salvation, you are saved eternally. John 524 is one of my favorite verses for very truly, I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged, but has crossed over from death to life. You put your faith in Jesus, you have crossed over from spiritual death to spiritual life, and you'll never go back to spiritual death because all of your sins are forgiven, all of the promises of God that he says, I'll never leave you. You are saved completely and eternally. You will not perish. But those who don't believe in Jesus, they will perish, they will die eternally, they will be condemned, and they will enter a place called Hell, the day of their last breath on Earth. And so that's the reason for evangelism is to tell as many people as we can that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish spiritually, but have eternal life. And eternal life is mentioned 17 times in the book of John. It's a 180 from perishing, isn't it? Eternal life is forever, it lasts forever. There is no end to eternal life. It's perpetual and it's forever. We can't lose that once we have it. Why is that? Because now we have the eternal one Jesus living inside of us. Why are we right with God? Because Jesus is righteous. Why do we have eternal life? Because Jesus is eternal life. And where does he live? He lives in us. And we read Galatians 220 earlier that Jesus lives in us and we'll be with God forever. And so this is so crucial It's so crucial to know our condition. It's so crucial to come to Christ for God's provision of eternal life. And I'll just end the podcast today on this last verse one John 511 and twelve and this is the testimony God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son does not have life. I pray that you ponder on these verses and ponder on this podcast pass it on to a friend. That is our goal as a result of this podcast today that somebody would come to Christ and be saved and have eternal life. God bless. Thank you for listening to Grace Coach. If you want to connect with us, we would love to engage with you. Email us at the [email protected] visit our Facebook page or visit our website gracecoach.org.