Sundays: 9:00 AM Sunday School | 10:30 AM Worship Service

Watch Live

|

Contact

|

App

|

Sermon

For God So Loved the World

Speaker
David Capoccia
Scripture
John 3:16-21

Listen to Audio Save MP3
Reading Tools:

Aa

In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia finishes examining John 3:1-21, which is Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus as recorded by the apostle John. In this passage, John reveals four astonishing truths that should cause you to give up your own ideas about salvation and instead believe in Jesus. In verses 16-2, John reveals the final two of these astonishing truths.

1. Only the Spirit-Begotten Enter God’s Kingdom (vv. 1-8)
2. The Heavenly One Authoritatively Reveals God’s Salvation (vv. 9-15)
3. God Lovingly Gave His Son to Save Sinners (vv. 16-17)
4. Only Lovers of Evil Reject God’s Special Savior (vv. 18-21)

Auto Transcript

Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

John 3:16, the most famous verse in all the Bible, gains its full power only when understood in its original context—a stunning conversation between Jesus and the Pharisee Nicodemus. We are reminded that God’s salvation is not earned through religious performance but received through belief in God’s only begotten Son. Just as a masterpiece of art is best appreciated in its original setting, John 3:16 was originally spoken to shatter proud, self-made religious ideas and to reveal the astonishing, undeserved love of God for a rebellious world.

Key Lessons:

  1. God’s love for the world is astonishing precisely because the world is hostile to Him—He loved not a worthy people but a corrupted, rebellious human race.
  2. The Father gave His most precious possession—His only begotten Son—not to judge the world but to save sinners through faith alone, not works.
  3. Those who refuse to believe in Jesus are not merely making an intellectual mistake; they are exposing a deep love for evil and darkness over the light of Christ.
  4. True believers confess that everything in their salvation—including their faith itself—has been the work of God, not their own achievement.

Application: We are called to abandon every proud, self-reliant notion of earning salvation and instead go all in on trusting Jesus as Savior and Lord. If anything is holding us back—cherished religious ideas, worldly goals, or stubborn pride—we must repent and turn to Christ while there is still time.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does understanding the original context of John 3:16 (Jesus confronting Nicodemus’s religious assumptions) change the way you read and apply this verse?
  2. Jesus says the only reason people reject Him is because they love darkness rather than light. How should this truth shape the way we understand and pray for unbelievers, including those who seem moral and religious?
  3. In what areas of your life might you still be relying on your own religious performance rather than resting fully in what God has done through His Son?

Scripture Focus: John 3:1-21 — Jesus reveals to Nicodemus that salvation is by God’s sovereign grace through belief in His only begotten Son, not by human works or religious pedigree. Genesis 22 is referenced to illustrate the magnitude of God giving His beloved Son.

Outline

Introduction

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we ask you to open your word to us today. Speak to us. We want to see more of you. We need to see more of you.

We need to have our thinking corrected from what we naturally think to what is reality. You, as the Heavenly one, have clarified that authoritatively for us. We have the testimony of it in your word.

Thank you for this Divine word. Help me to be able to speak it. But Lord, help us to listen to it and to be transformed as we ought, because we believe it. Jesus’ name, amen.

Well, to start off this morning, I thought I would talk to you about babies. I’m just kidding. I’ll give you a break from baby analogies this week.

The Original Context of a Masterpiece

I’ll talk to you about something else. Let me talk to you about visual art. There are certain works of art that have become famous throughout the world due to their great beauty, creativity, or message.

You can think of Michelangelo’s David, Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. Today, such masterpieces usually have a special space prepared for them in a museum for display, or they’re featured prominently in books of art. Certainly, they are available to view on the internet.

But as much as we might enjoy a famous work of art by looking at it today, we appreciate a piece much more deeply if we consider its original purpose and setting. Most artists in history have not created their works with museums, books, and the internet in mind. Instead, they created their pieces with a specific local need in mind, or a specific local message to communicate.

“We appreciate a piece much more deeply if we consider its original purpose and setting.”

Take, for instance, one of the most famous paintings: Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Despite its somewhat unrealistic portrayal of everyone sitting on one side of a table for dinner, this Renaissance painting is universally praised for its masterful use of space and perspective, as well as its realistic portrayal of movement and human emotion.

This painting depicts the very moment after Jesus announces to his disciples at the Passover meal before his death: “One of you will betray me.” You can see the various disciples in the painting responding to this shocking revelation.

This painting truly is a work of great skill and imagination. But why did Leonardo paint it? Was he just following an artistic whim?

Leonardo created this work around 1495 to 1498 at the request of his patron, Ludovico, the Duke of Milan. Duke Sforza was looking to renovate a certain Milanese church and its attached convent buildings.

He ended up asking Leonardo to paint a large depiction of the Last Supper to adorn one wall of the church convent’s refectory, or dining hall. Apparently, this choice was somewhat trendy for the time. Many monasteries featured depictions of the Last Supper somewhere in the dining hall.

Leonardo complied with the request of his patron. After a few years, he completed his version of The Last Supper, which still sits today in the refectory of the Santa Maria de la Grazia Church in Milan.

Standing in the church today is another painting: the original painting that Duke Sforza commissioned for the refectory’s opposite wall. It was done by another artist and depicts Jesus’ crucifixion.

So you had one painting on one wall and one painting on the other wall. Imagine the original effect of taking your daily meals at the monastery between these two paintings.

On one wall, you had Leonardo’s The Last Supper. On the other, you had a painting of Jesus’ crucifixion. What were you supposed to think as you looked at the two of these?

What were you supposed to feel? Surely it wasn’t merely admiration for the painters or respect for the patron who paid for it.

As you ate, as if at the Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples, you also asked the same question that they do: “Is it I? Am I going to prove to be a faithful disciple of Jesus, or will I betray him like Judas did and figuratively crucify Jesus myself?”

Now you see what I mean. You don’t get the full effect of the painting or a piece of art until you consider its original context.

John 3:16: A Masterpiece in Context

Now, why am I telling you about art in the sermon? Because today we encounter the most famous verse in all the Bible: John 3:16.

John 3:16 is like a work of art. It presents, in just a few words, the glorious beauty of God’s gospel. If you just read John 3:16 all by itself, you have much on which to meditate and to praise God for.

But John 3:16, like all great works of art, had an original context. It had an original placement, original setting that was purposeful. It had an original reason for being said and written down.

If you don’t understand this original context, then not only might you misunderstand John 3:16, but you surely will not experience its originally intended effect. What was that effect?

“If you don’t understand this original context, you surely will not experience its originally intended effect.”

It’s what we’ve been talking about the last few weeks: that you would be moved, that you would be caused to give up your own proud, preconceived religious ideas about salvation, that you would instead humble yourself and believe in Jesus. That’s what I want to talk to you about and show you today.

Please open your Bibles to John 3, verses 1 to 21. The message today I’ve entitled: “For God So Loved the World: John 3:1-21.”

We’re back on Pew Bible page 1060. It’s our third time looking at this passage. We’re focusing on just verses 16 to 21 today.

But let’s see the context: John 3:1-21.

Reading the Passage: John 3:1-21

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’

Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’

Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? You cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?’

Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now which is born of the flesh is flesh, and now which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, “You must be born again.”

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born in the spirit.’

Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’

Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things, you do not believe. How will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the son of man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life.

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. For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16: “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.”

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.

This is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Here we are again: this momentous conversation of Jesus, the Eternal Word made flesh, with the rabbi Nicodemus, taking place one night during that first Passover visit of Jesus to Jerusalem during his public ministry.

The old Pharisee comes to have a nice religious chat with this teacher, clearly sent from God. What Nicodemus gets in speaking with Jesus is an astonishing set of revelations—revelations that show that everything Nicodemus, the Jews, and really every religious person throughout every age naturally believe about God and his salvation is wrong.

Our author John, the Apostle, reports this conversation to his original audience of Hellenistic Jews and to us today so that we, like Nicodemus, might have our thinking radically corrected by the son who was sent from heaven.

Review: Four Astonishing Truths

Here’s the main idea of this whole section again in John 3:1-21: John reveals four astonishing truths that should cause you to give up your own ideas about salvation and instead believe in Jesus. We’ve seen two of these astonishing truths already.

“John reveals four astonishing truths that should cause you to give up your own ideas about salvation and believe in Jesus.”

Truth #1: Only the Spirit-Begotten Enter God’s Kingdom

And the first one appears in verses 1 to 8. This is review. Number one: only the spirit-begotten enter God’s kingdom.

Only the spirit-begotten enter God’s kingdom. Remember, before Nicodemus could even ask Jesus a question, the omniscient Son of God looks into his heart. He addresses the key question that is residing there.

And that is: how can one be sure of his entrance into the kingdom of God, into the everlasting kingdom of blessing of God’s Messiah, Jesus? Jesus says: ancestry, ritual, law-keeping—none of those bring a person into God’s kingdom of blessing.

A person must instead be born again, or better, begotten from above—cleansed, given new life by God’s holy spirit. That’s the requirement to receive God’s salvation.

Man’s thorough corruption due to sin means that man cannot work some way to enter into God’s kingdom, nor can he bring about a rebirth or transformation from being a natural man to being a spiritual man. God must do it, and he does do it mysteriously, according to his own choice, according to his own sovereign grace.

“A person must be begotten from above—cleansed, given new life by God’s Holy Spirit. That’s the requirement.”

He doesn’t do it for everyone. He does it for some, like the wind. No one can see or fully understand God’s secret work of begetting unto salvation.

But one can sometimes see the effect of it: a person transformed to love and follow after God. And that was the first astonishing truth.

Truth #2: The Heavenly One Reveals God’s Salvation

The second appears in verses 9 to 15. We also saw this last time. Number two: the Heavenly one authoritatively reveals God’s salvation.

It’s the Heavenly one who authoritatively reveals God’s salvation. Nicodemus, after hearing the first revelation, cannot understand or accept that salvation is by God’s grace and not by man’s works.

Such would seem to contradict the Old Testament Judaism and everything that the rabbis have taught—Nicodemus included. But Jesus clarifies that this is not some revolution. God has always worked this way, as is evident in the Old Testament itself.

The real reason, Jesus says, that Nicodemus and the Jews do not understand is not a lack of evidence, but unbelief. No amount of extra heavenly revelation can counter willful unbelief of what is made clear in God’s truth.

Man naturally wants to believe in a works-oriented, self-exalting way of salvation: “I can do enough good deeds. I can keep enough rules to get into God’s kingdom.” This is what man naturally wants to believe.

And he will twist even God’s revelation, even God’s true religion, to accomplish this end—which is just what the Jews did, and what many Christians still do today.

But Jesus has come as the only man descended from heaven. He has come both to authoritatively clarify God’s salvation and also to unveil heavenly mysteries that have never been fully understood by God’s people before.

“Jesus has come as the only man descended from heaven to authoritatively clarify God’s salvation.”

This is what Jesus actually begins to do with Nicodemus. God, through Jesus, graciously begins to reveal to Nicodemus and his disciples—who are also present in this conversation—starting with the amazing announcement that the son of man must be lifted up like Moses’ ancient bronze serpent of death, so that the son of man may give life to those who believe in him.

This announcement, as we covered last time, is a cryptic revelation of Jesus’ coming death on the cross for sinners. This very humiliation, this death, would actually result in Jesus being lifted up in glory before the whole universe.

Jesus’ shocking foretelling of this destiny of the Messiah—something the Jews could never even conceive of—provokes a basic question: why? Why would God do this for sinners, for those doomed to die, totally upending every expectation, every religious expectation of God’s way?

Well, in the next two verses of our passage, we get the answer: a third astonishing revelation. It would be just as shocking to Nicodemus and the Jews as everything else that we’ve looked at so far.

A Note on Authorship of Verses 16-21

We’re going to look at that. But quick side note before we do: there is some debate among Bible interpreters as to whether verses 16 to 21 here are indeed still the words of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. Could they instead be added commentary from the author John, with Jesus finishing his words in verse 15?

This is actually the way the NIV takes this passage. You’ll notice that if you have that version, there are no quotation marks in the original Greek of the New Testament. The content and terms used in verses 16 to 21 are unusual for Jesus in this gospel—unusual that he would say those things.

John 3:16-21 actually sounds a bit like John 1:1-18, which was the prologue of this gospel written by the author John. Those were his thoughts. This sounds very similar to that, as does a little bit further on in this passage—John 3:31-36.

We read that earlier as part of our service. That sounds like not what’s typical of John the Baptist, but that sounds more like the narrator in John 1:1-18. So some interpreters believe that both John 3:16-21 and John 3:31-36 are in fact the author’s reflections. They’re not actually what Jesus says or what John the Baptist says.

I can understand that position. I can appreciate the arguments for it. However, I believe that position is weak for a few reasons.

One: it relies on the assumption that the Apostle John’s original audience could easily detect dialogue breaks—the end of a conversation—from only subtle shifts in language. That’s asking a lot from your audience.

Two: it contradicts the pattern of all other presented dialogue in this gospel, which have clear beginning and ending points before introducing any commentary from the author.

Three: this view ultimately rests on subjective speculation as to whether persons in the text could have or would have said certain things. Subjective speculation is generally bad for faithful Bible interpretation.

So I therefore take the view, which we actually see in The New American Standard ’95, that John 3:16-21 is still part of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. These are the words that Jesus himself spoke and that John witnessed as being a part of that conversation.

If you do take the other view—verses 16 to 21 being the Apostle John’s own thoughts—they are still the inspired, authoritative words of God written by the spirit of Christ. One way or another, these are Jesus’ words.

“One way or another, these are Jesus’ words—the inspired, authoritative words of God.”

Truth #3: God Lovingly Gave His Son to Save Sinners

With that clarified, what is the third astonishing revelation from Jesus that should cause you to give up your own preconceived ideas about salvation and instead humble you to believe in Jesus?

Number three: God lovingly gave his son to save sinners.

God lovingly gave his son to save sinners. Look at verse 16.

John 3:16: “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.”

Here it is: the verse we’ve all been waiting for—a glorious, unexpected unveiling of salvation truth. Let’s look more closely at this gem so that we make sure we understand it and appreciate it as we ought.

“For In This Way…”

Notice that Jesus begins in verse 16 by saying “for”—a transition word indicating that Jesus is about to supply a reason for what he just stated. Notice the next word: “so.”

This word is often understood in this verse as an intensive with a sense of “very” or “so much.” Jesus may want to hint at that meaning. But the more likely sense of “so” here is actually “in this way” or “in this manner.”

“The more likely sense of ‘so’ here is actually ‘in this way’ or ‘in this manner.’”

The literal opening of this verse in the Greek would be: “For in this way…” But “for in this way” what? There’s the next phrase: “God loved.”

“For in this way God loved.” The Greek verb translated “loved” is one you’ve probably heard of before. This is the Greek verb “agapao,” which is just the verb form of the noun “agape.”

Understanding Agape Love

Ever heard of agape love? Have you been in church very long? You probably have. Often, agape love is described as the noblest kind of love that there is in the language of New Testament Greek.

It’s way better than “philia” love—that’s another Greek word, usually seen as referring to the love of friends and family. We actually see that in our language and local geography: Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. That’s “philia” love. And “adelphos” means brother, so brotherly love.

So there’s “philia” love. But agape love is holy love, unconditional love, selfless love, a love of the will rather than of mere emotion, the holy love or the love of righteous action. This is the way agape love is usually explained or often explained.

And granted, when applied to God, agape love does have these qualities. But a more thorough study of this verb in the New Testament reveals that “agapao” and “fileto,” which is the verb form of that other kind of love, are basically used as synonyms in the New Testament.

Agape is way more common because it was more common in the Greek language at that time. But they’re more or less synonyms. And even in John’s gospel, we see those terms used interchangeably.

Moreover, “agapao” has enough flexibility to be used to describe both holy love and wicked love, as we’ll even see shortly in our passage. Why does it have such flexibility?

Because “agapao,” the verb itself, has a more basic definition than we often think or hear. Pulling this straight from my seminary lexicon: what does “agapao” mean? “To have a warm regard for and interest in another, to cherish, have affection for, love.”

“Agapao means ‘to have a warm regard for and interest in another, to cherish, have affection for, love.’”

So this is what Jesus is talking about in this next phrase. God loved. Jesus says God showed a warm regard for, he showed interest—kind interest—in something or someone. God cherished. God had affection for. God loved something or someone.

And as I think Mark mentioned in Sunday School, the men of Iron Man have been considering the attribute of the love of God. It is a powerful love. It is an infinite love. It is an eternal love. That’s a great love.

What is it like to experience the affection of God? How deep must his cherishing be? Whoever is the object of this love has gained an unfathomable, immobile blessing.

God Loved the World

Who is it? Well, look at the next word. “For in this way God loved the world.”

The world. This is where we start to see why this statement from Jesus is in fact an astonishing revelation. Did the Jews have any concept of the love of God previously from their Bible? They did.

The love of God is frequently spoken of in the Old Testament. But whom did the Jews come to think were the recipients of God’s love? Well, them—the Jews. They are the seed of Abraham and Israel. They are those who are in covenant to keep God’s law.

So God loves them. But the rest of the world? God tolerates them. But the nations? They’re slated for judgment. God’s real love is for Israel.

That’s not what Jesus says here. God loved the world—Jew and Gentile. And then there is something else. We’ve talked about this before, but the precise meaning of the word “world”—Greek “cosmos”—as John uses it tells us something significant.

Every time “cosmos” appears in this gospel, John is not referring to the universe or the planet or to the trees and rocks that dot the planet. Rather, John uses “cosmos” to refer to the dwelling place of mankind, even to mankind itself.

But what kind of place is man’s dwelling? Is it righteous and welcoming of God’s son? Is it neutral? No.

What we see throughout this gospel, when John and Jesus speak about the world, is that the world is dark. It is ignorant. It is full of evil. It does not recognize its creator. Instead, it is determined to persecute and even kill the messengers of God.

We see this even in John 1. In this gospel, the world is the corrupted abode of man. It’s presided over by Satan himself. By extension, the world refers to the whole corrupted human race, which is set in opposition to God.

Yet what does Jesus declare? “For in this way God loved the world.”

“For in this way God loved the world—there is no reason to love this world, yet God showed affection for it.”

Wait, what? There is no reason to love this world. This is a world of God-haters, rebels. Why would God show affection for this world, love the people of this world?

Jesus doesn’t explain here. Really, there is no explanation other than the character of God and his mysterious good pleasure. He just declares.

And yet the declaration is incomplete at this point. We still haven’t heard in what specific way God loved the world. But Jesus tells us, starting with the next phrase: “that he gave.”

“That he gave.” Perhaps it’s no surprise that a word like “gave” would follow the word “loved,” because those who truly love are moved to give. They are moved to give what is good to the objects of their love.

The greater the gift, the greater the love, right? Get something cheap for someone as a gift? You don’t love them that much. Give them something precious, something very costly to you? That’s a sign of your great love for that person.

He Gave His Only Begotten Son

So what was it that God chose to give out of his love to a lost, wicked world? Next phrase: “he gave his only begotten son.”

And here again is a phrase that we’ve seen already. We first saw it in John 1:14. It’s the Greek “monogenes,” traditionally translated as “only begotten,” but with the sense of “unique one and only.”

Jesus is God’s one and only son, the special son, beloved from all eternity and in fellowship with the father. God gave this son—his only begotten—to the world.

And perhaps upon hearing this, Nicodemus, Jesus’ disciples, John’s Jewish audience, maybe even you right now, you’re thinking of a certain story, a certain narrative in the Old Testament with similar language: Genesis 22.

God commends Abraham for almost sacrificing Isaac in obedience and faith to God by saying, “You have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

What did Abraham have that was more precious to offer God than Abraham’s special son and heir? The son for whom Abraham waited and prayed for so long? The son he loved? The son of promise?

In a similar way, did the heavenly father have anything more precious to give to mankind than his monogenous son? Such a gift—God was giving his very heart, his very self, to the sinful human race.

“Did the Father have anything more precious to give than His only Son? Such a gift was God giving His very heart.”

How great then must be the Father’s love? Probably that we sang that song, right? And do note: this gift is an act of love from the father, not merely the son.

Never be misled into thinking that the father has to be cajoled, that he has to have his arm twisted by the son to love sinners. “Okay, Jesus, I’ll do it for your sake.” No.

Jesus reveals here in verse 16 that it was the love of the father. It was the love of the heavenly father that gave the son to the world.

But for what purpose did the father give his son to the world? Perhaps to discourage the world with judgments until the world repents and returns to God? I’ll look at the rest of verse 16.

Whoever Believes Shall Not Perish

“That whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Here is more astonishment. God gave his son to a wicked world that deserves to die as the just penalty of their sin. He gave his son so that the people of the world would not die, the human race would not die.

The way God intended to accomplish this life-rescuing mission was not by sending the son to instruct the world in the way of law-keeping or the way of becoming Jews so that as Jews they can inherit eternal life.

Rather, “whoever”—and that is a broad term, that is a broad invitation that includes Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, men and women, young and old, notorious sinners and self-righteous Pharisees—”whoever simply believes in God’s only son, who looks in faith to Jesus as he’s lifted up, what shall that person experience?”

He will not perish. He will not die. But he will have eternal life.

“Whoever simply believes in God’s only Son will not perish but will have eternal life.”

Notice those two terms together. They show us that the dying there—that’s not just a merely physical dying, temporal, and that happens once. No, it’s eternal death that you are spared from. And you instead get eternal life.

We saw that term “eternal life” in John 3:15: “zoe” and “aionios”—literally “life of an age.” This is the everlasting life in the messiah’s kingdom age that will be experienced in full later. But what can still be experienced now for whoever believes in Jesus?

Putting It All Together

Let’s put this all together, connecting this back to John 3:14-15. Why is it that the son of man, Jesus, had to be lifted up on a cross of death for the people of the world to look at him?

Jesus says it’s because this was the way the father chose to show his love to a desperate and dying world: giving up his one and only son to live and die for sinners, that whoever believes in the son will escape the just penalty of death for sin but will instead inherit unending life in God’s kingdom.

Who could have ever thought of this? Who could ever even believe this if it were not for the fact that this truth is communicated directly by the one descending from heaven, the one who clearly is from God because of all the sign miracles that he’s doing?

No human, no religion could come up with something like this. Yet this is the reality.

“No human, no religion could come up with something like this. Yet this is the reality.”

I can just imagine how wide-eyed Nicodemus was listening to all of this. How could a holy God, how could a just God be so loving to undeserving sinners? How could his love extend to the level of delivering his own son, his beloved son, his cherished son, to die on a cross—the worst way that anyone at that time could think of dying, the most humiliating way?

How could God do all this and yet require nothing in return except belief and trust in that saving son? Believe in him, and you will not perish but have everlasting life.

God Sent the Son to Save, Not Judge

And just so there’s no misunderstanding, we get verse 17 to re-emphasize the shock of verse 16.

Verse 17: “For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

John 3:17: “For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

This verse represents a total overturning of Jewish expectations around the Messiah. The Jews anticipated, according to various Old Testament prophecies, that God’s Messiah was indeed coming to judge the world. They were looking forward to it, as I suppose any self-righteous persons are even doing today.

Yeah, I can’t wait until God comes and destroys all these sinners, all these compromisers and traders, burn them, God. There are many Jews who thought this way.

The problem is most Jews didn’t realize that, first of all, they themselves are part of the world that deserves to be judged. We’re going to be judged. Malachi talks about that.

Second of all, they didn’t realize that God’s love was going to send the Messiah as a savior to the world first, so the human race might be spared of judgment. This was a mystery. It was foretold in the Old Testament, but it was a mystery not fully understood by the Jews.

But now it is plainly revealed by the one descending from heaven.

Do you see again why I have been saying what the main idea of this passage is? You gotta let go of your preconceived notions about who God is and what God does. You got to let the one who descends from heaven tell you, correct you, believe his words, and therefore believe in him.

You gotta humble yourself to do that. But if you do that, he promises you eternal life.

Clarification: Not Universalism

By the way, quick clarification of the phrase “that the world might be saved through him.” This does not mean that God always sovereignly purposed to save every single person of the world through Jesus and thus that all people will eventually be saved, as in universalism, or that many are effectively thwarting God’s purpose by choosing not to receive Jesus, which is what Arminianism teaches.

Neither of these are true. As we can tell even from our passage, verses 1-8 have already shown us that kingdom entry comes down to sovereign grace begotten by the Holy Spirit. Whomever God chooses to beget will be begotten. That cannot be thwarted.

John 3:16 clarifies it’s only those who believe in Jesus who will escape perishing, who will escape their current path of death. It’s not universal salvation.

So what is meant by that phrase “that the world might be saved through him”? Namely, that God purposed to save the human race, the dwelling place of humanity in general, through Jesus Christ—not necessarily every member of the human race.

“God purposed to save the human race through Jesus Christ—not necessarily every member of the human race.”

God gave a gift to humanity in general out of his love. We know that there’s not a universal salvation involved, especially because of what comes afterwards.

This final astonishing revelation that we receive from Jesus—we just looked at the third. We’re about to look at the fourth. It has to do with what’s really going on behind the scenes for those who refuse to believe in Jesus, who stubbornly stick to their own religion and their own religious ideas.

Truth #4: Only Lovers of Evil Reject God’s Savior

Look at the fourth revelation: verses 18 to 21.

Number four: Only lovers of evil reject God’s special savior.

Start looking at this with just the beginning of verse 18.

“Only lovers of evil reject God’s special savior.”

Condemned Already

“He who believes in him—that’s Jesus, the son—is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already.”

And here we see some parallelism, typical of the Hebrew language, but also from examining this gospel and other scriptures, something that Jesus and John the Apostle love to use. You see parallelism of this type all throughout John’s gospel.

And the first part of verse 18, we see a repetition of the truth already stated in verses 16 to 17: that those who believe in Jesus will not see death, they are not judged. That is, they have not received a sentence of condemnation because they believe in Jesus.

But then notice the contrasting parallel: the one who does not believe not only will be condemned but stands condemned already. That’s an interesting distinction.

I heard a preacher comment on this helpfully, saying: many people who trust in their own self-made religions, trust in their own good works for salvation, they are hoping that the verdict from God at the end of their lives will be a good one. “Well, I don’t know if I’m there yet, but hopefully I’ll have enough good by the end of my life that God will say, ‘That’s enough. You can come in.’”

But what people who think such a way don’t realize is that the verdict has already been decided. And the verdict is guilty, condemned, deserving of hellfire forever.

“The verdict has already been decided. And the verdict is guilty, condemned, deserving of hellfire forever.”

Why is the verdict already in? Doesn’t that seem a little early? The rest of verse 18 tells us: “because he, such a one, he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.”

Rejecting God’s Priceless Gift

In John 3:16, Jesus reveals how incredible the love of God is for fallen humanity by a priceless gift that God gave. God offered humanity God’s only begotten son.

God could have done nothing more loving than to give his son. Therefore, for someone to refuse this priceless gift, this beloved, precious gift from God, and say, “I’m good. I don’t need Jesus,” or “No, I’ll take Jesus, and Jesus will help me work my way to salvation. I’ll work my way to heaven,” or “Yeah, I’ll take Jesus as my savior, but I’m still going to serve something else in my life. Jesus isn’t going to be my Lord”—any of these reactions—can there be any greater ingratitude or offense to a holy God than these?

“I don’t care about your gift, God. I don’t care how precious he is to you. It’s not that valuable to me.” This is throwing God’s infinite love back in his face.

“Refusing God’s priceless gift is throwing God’s infinite love back in His face.”

Here’s the precious, the one and only son of God, given to you, and you won’t believe in his name. You won’t trust in him and all that his name represents to become his true disciple.

Well, then God says, “You’ve revealed your true colors. I don’t have to wait to condemn you. And so, along with all the other just reasons I already have to judge you forever—your sin, your commitment to self rather than God, your worship of idols instead of me—to these you have added your arrogant and stubborn rejection of God’s especially sent savior. You are condemned already.”

And notice how this clarification of verse 18 is particularly relevant for Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. Here is a pious old rabbi, a Jew, Pharisee, a ruler in Israel, who no doubt believes he loves God and to a certain extent keeps God’s law.

Yet he’s slow to believe in Jesus and to believe in what Jesus reveals about salvation. It’s still possible for someone like Nicodemus to make his way into God’s kingdom without Jesus. But look, whatever all the other things he’s got, what about the Jews as a whole?

How about other sincere, earnest religious persons? What about Muslims, Mormons, Catholics, Orthodox, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhists? There are many religious people in the world who claim to love and follow God. They try to do what’s right. They try to avoid what’s wrong. They are looking forward to the world beyond this one.

Maybe you’ve met some of these people. They are polite, moral, and very sincere about their religion. Yet they don’t believe in the Jesus of the Bible and don’t believe what Jesus said about salvation.

Might God still accept these sincere religious persons despite their unbelief? Well, what does the heavenly one reveal in John 3:18?

The answer is an emphatic and unapologetic no. Why? Because these merely religious persons have not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.

And this is not God quibbling over some minor, petty detail. Because Jesus goes on to clarify the real reason why religious people, even pious-seeming Jews, choose not to believe in or follow Jesus.

Look at verses 19 and 20.

Men Loved the Darkness

“This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds through evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”

This is the judgment, Jesus says at the beginning of verse 19. It’s the behind-the-scenes reality that has resulted in a sentence of common condemnation for those who don’t believe in Jesus.

Jesus refers to himself as the light—a symbol of life, truth, revelation, righteousness, salvation. The light Jesus has come into the dark world of man.

But why do the people of the world not come to the light? It’s because Jesus says they—whether religious or not—they love the darkness due to their own evil deeds. They love the darkness.

And by the way, guess what Greek word is used for “love” there? It’s “agapao.” It’s agape love. Jesus says people cherish, they have affection for, they love the darkness of sin rather than the light.

All people. And what a contrast then, right, between John 3:16 and John 3:19?

God’s great agape love caused him to send his beloved son, the light, into the world to save sinners. Man’s great agape love for evil causes them to reject this precious savior and the only light.

“God’s great agape love sent His Son into the world. Man’s great agape love for evil causes them to reject this precious Savior.”

More than that, verse 20 says that these Christ-rejecters, these Messiah-rejecters, these light-rejecters, they are doers of evil who hate the light. Far from loving him, they do the direct opposite of agape. They hate Jesus. They hate the sun sent from God.

And why? Why do they hate the light so much? Why do they not want to go near him? He’s everything that they need. Why do they hate him? End of verse 20.

“For fear that their evil deeds will be exposed.”

The Exposure That Pride Cannot Stand

You see, in the end, the pride that drives people into false, man-centered religions that cannot save is the same pride that drives them away from Jesus when they encounter him.

People naturally want to think of themselves as good, or at least good enough to get to heaven. They want other people to think of them that way.

But when Jesus, the light, comes along and he exposes these good people, these religious people, as actually evil doers, even those who love the darkness, people can’t stand the stinging exposure. Religious people especially.

And so they flee the light. They refuse him. They refuse to go near him.

So what this means, brethren, if someone doesn’t believe in the biblical Jesus, no matter how pious, no matter how moral that person seems on the outside, you can know it’s all a sham. That person loves evil on the inside.

“If someone doesn’t believe in the biblical Jesus, no matter how pious, you can know it’s all a sham.”

Say, “Oh, that’s quite a harsh judgment, don’t you think, Pastor Dave?” I’m not the one who says that. And you probably couldn’t discern that just from your observation on the outside.

But the one sent from heaven, who can tell you what’s going on behind the scenes, he has told you. He says that’s the only reason—the only reason somebody will choose not to believe in Jesus is because they love darkness.

In contrast, if someone really loves God on the inside, there’s only one response they’ll have to being exposed to the light of Christ. And that’s what Jesus finished the conversation with in verse 21.

He Who Practices the Truth Comes to the Light

Verse 21: “But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

“He who practices the truth”—that’s a Hebrew idiom for someone who truly loves and walks in what is right. In the original context, this would be a Jewish person with a true love for God but who’s never encountered Jesus before.

What does such a person do when he meets Jesus, when he hears the gospel of Jesus? Only one thing: he comes to Jesus. He comes to the light. He believes in Jesus and he follows Jesus.

That’s always what true lovers of the truth do. And why does he come to Jesus? So he can boast about how he discovered the truth or earned his own way into God’s kingdom by good works?

No. What does the text say? “So that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” That is to say, so that this new believer may confess, “I haven’t done anything to save myself. God did it all through his Spirit and his Son. And even the good works I do now are not to my credit. It’s all God who has worked in me.”

“I haven’t done anything to save myself. God did it all through His Spirit and His Son. It’s all God who has worked in me.”

Doesn’t this concept sound a little bit familiar? The conversation is ending right where it started: verses 1-8. Only the spirit-begotten enter God’s kingdom. God has to do everything.

That truly spirit-begotten, though, they will believe in Jesus. They will follow Jesus. Even that faith, even that belief, is a gift from God.

Coming to the end of verse 21, these are the astonishing truths Jesus graciously lays out before Nicodemus, turning upside down everything that old rabbi thought about God and God’s salvation in God’s kingdom.

Application: What About You?

But these words weren’t just for Nicodemus. They weren’t just for the Jews of John’s day, the Apostle John’s day. They are for us as well.

We also must give up our proud, preconceived notions about what God and his salvation is. We must instead believe the one sent from heaven and believe in him for salvation.

We must see number one: that only the spirit-begotten inherit God’s kingdom. Number two: that Jesus is the heavenly one who authoritatively reveals God’s salvation. Number three: that God lovingly gave his son to save sinners. And number four: that only lovers of evil reject God’s special savior.

Now, we don’t hear how Nicodemus responded to these further revelations from Jesus. Maybe he was simply stunned into silence. That’s why he doesn’t say anything.

But this isn’t the last time we’ve heard of him in this gospel. We see him two more times. First, he will appear again, showing sympathy toward Jesus and his message, even trying to defend Jesus.

But the last time we see him, it’s after Jesus has been lifted up on a cross, just as Jesus foretold. And Nicodemus, he steps out of the shadow of fear. He braves the persecution of his own people.

And he assists with the preparation of Jesus’ body for burial. I believe that’s a sign of Nicodemus coming to believe, coming into salvation. He didn’t get it at first, but eventually he crossed over all the way to not just saying, “You’re a teacher from God,” but “You are the son of God. You are the savior. I’m no longer trusting in my own religion. I’m believing in the monogenous son that God sent to save me.”

So what about you today? Do you consider yourself a religious person, true lover of God, Christian? Then you must believe in Jesus—truly believe, go all in on the savior—not so that then you may finish working your way into salvation, but so that in your reborn life, your transformed life of obedience, faithfulness to the savior, you can confess, just as Jesus says here in John 3:21, “Everything has been the work of God. God did it all.”

“You must believe in Jesus—truly believe, go all in on the Savior—not so that you may finish working your way into salvation.”

That is the only reason I can come to him in salvation. Is that you? Have you done that? Are you resting in that? Are you reveling in that?

Consider the great love of God that has provided such a salvation for you, part of this doomed human race that we all are without Jesus.

A Warning and an Invitation

If you’re not willing to do this, not willing to believe in Jesus, not willing to go all in on the savior—at least not yet—you still got your own cherished religious ideas you want to hold on to. You’ve still got other treasures in this world. You got goals for this life that you want to pursue. That kind of Jesus is getting in the way of that. That’s where you’re at.

And I must warn you, based on what Jesus tells us in the passage here today, that you have exposed your heart for what’s really going on inside. The only reason you’re not coming to Jesus now is because you love evil and you are a doer of it.

In addition to that, you stand condemned already by God. As we’ll hear later in the passage, the wrath of God already abides on you. It’s hanging over you. God is restraining it, but it could break forth on you in any moment.

That is not a state in which you want to remain, with the eternal anger of God hanging over you.

So what should you do? You should turn. You should repent. You should give up those things that are holding you back from the savior and go all in on him.

Turn while there is still time, because your life is short. And if you do not come to him now, you may not get another chance.

Humble yourself before the Lord. And what does he promise? He will exalt you.

“Humble yourself before the Lord. And what does He promise? He will exalt you.”

But for those who stand proudly against God, who say, “I already know what God is really all about. I can work for my own salvation,” he’s going to humble you, and it may be by casting you into hell forever.

I don’t want that for any of you. And I believe it is the Lord’s heart, even expressed in this passage, that that’s not what he wants for you either.

Turn and be saved, all the ends of the earth. That’s the Lord’s desire. Would you do that? Give up whatever’s holding you back in Christ and come follow him.

You will gain eternal life, and you will begin to know the love of God, which has no bottom.

Closing Prayer

It’s closing prayer. Heavenly Father, what can we do as the song says, what can we do but praise you? Such love, such undeserved love for sinners like us, for the doomed, corrupted, rebellious human race that we are part of.

Why would you show such love? How could you show such love? We didn’t want it. We were raising our fist to you. But then you still gave your son, gave your son to become one of us, to live a perfect life of righteousness, to die for us, so that whoever believes in him—it doesn’t matter where they come from, what they’ve done—whoever believes in him will not die eternally but will gain eternal life, the life of the kingdom age, experienced now, experienced in full forever.

God, how can such things be? How can such wonderful things be? And yet they are. They have to be, because your son declared them. Your Old Testament foretold it. But now we see it clearly revealed in the sun.

Lord, all praise to you. Oh, Lord God, magnify yourself, lift up yourself in our lives, not just by the words we say, but in how we live. God, because such a great salvation deserves it.

Lord, we can never repay you for it. We can never do anything to earn it. But we can give you thanks and praise. We can direct all the glory to you, because what you’ve done in us indeed has all been your work. Everything has been wrought in God.

Lord, we thank you for your salvation. Lord, we pray that you would continue your transforming work in us so we may walk worthy of it.

And if there’s any here, Lord, who have heard this message and have been resisting you, Lord, in stubborn pride, because they want to live their own way or they want to think their own thoughts, God, I pray that you’d break that pride this morning and they would listen to the voice of him who has descended from heaven, who speaks even now through the scriptures, and say, “No, this is the truth. Humble yourself and believe it, and you will be saved.”

God, glorify yourself in all the things you choose to do. In Jesus’ name, amen. Amen.

Let’s stay.

Share this sermon:

More from Gospel of John