“For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
John
3:16 is
probably the most famous verse in the world. Maybe you learned it when you were
in Sunday school, or you've seen it on poster boards at hockey games. One of
the reasons why John 3:16 is such an important Scripture is because it outlines
the simple message of the Gospel – the Cause, Cost, Condition and Consequence
of salvation…
THE CAUSE OF SALVATION - “For God so loved the world”
If God hadn’t loved us,
there would be no salvation for anyone. We could never be good enough to earn
our way into Heaven. The Bible says that all of us have sinned and fallen short
of God’s standard of perfection, and that the wages (or penalty) for our sin is
spiritual death – separation from God. But thank God He is gracious and
merciful.
THE COST OF SALVATION - “That He gave His only begotten Son”
We sing a song about
Jesus that says, “You came from Heaven to Earth, to show the way, from the
Earth to the Cross, my debt to pay.” My son Caleb and I were driving in the car
one day singing that song, and I asked him if he knew what that meant, that
Jesus paid our debt. When he said no, I explained to him that by dying on the
Cross, Jesus paid the price for our sins, and took the punishment for the bad
things that we have done upon Him. That’s why I love Jesus so much – because He
died for me.
THE CONDITION OF
SALVATION - “That whoever believes in Him”
God has provided the
cause of salvation (His love) and paid the cost of salvation – His son Jesus.
But the condition of salvation is that it is available only for those who will
believe in Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one
comes to the Father (gets to go to Heaven) but through me.” (John 14:6). That means the only way
to get to Heaven is through Jesus – by believing in Him. If you’ve never
believed in Jesus, then you’re not going to Heaven. I don’t say that to be mean, and I’m not trying
to keep people out of Heaven, but the only way you can get into Heaven is by
believing in Jesus. Some people think that just because they go to church that
that makes them a Christian, but that’s just as silly as thinking that if you
go stand in a parking lot that you’ll become a car, or if you sit in a dog
house you’ll be a dog. Jesus said you
MUST be born again – you must believe in Him if you want to be saved.
THE CONSEQUENCE OF
SALVATION - “Will not perish, but have everlasting life.”
If you believe in Jesus,
you won’t have to perish – to go to hell to be punished for your sins. Instead,
you will receive the consequence – the reward – of eternal life. That means you
will live forever in Heaven with God, in a place where there is no death, no pain,
no crying – no bad things. If you have never believed in Jesus – asked Him to
forgive you of your sins, and be the Lord of your life – then I want to
challenge you to do that right now. If you pray a prayer and trust Jesus to
forgive your sins, and commit your life to Him, then God will save you from
your sins, and adopt you into His family today.
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