Thursday, November 8, 2012

For God so loved the World

I think that it isn't good to have shelved John 3:16 aside, whether by not thinking on it often and thus being unable to recall the wording of this great verse, or to omit the implications of its great promise.

I am looking to study the Gospel of John again, in feebly small steps, conscious that I need to also be mindful of the person, life and sayings of Christ as recorded by the credible "eyewitnesses of His majesty" (2 Peter 1:16).

Pretty words make it appear as it my spiritual life is in good order, but the truth is that I beset myself often, by petty sin in private thought, in attitudes and action. But thankfully there is a means to be cleansed, by the provision of the Lord, although when we sin against others, there is reparation and reconciliation to be made.

In looking at John 3, I find it strangely familiar that Nicodemus, while affirming the Lord Jesus as a "teacher come from God" and God was indeed with Him, did not ask crucial questions for his own salvation.


Like Nicodemus, we acknowledge Christ as a great teacher come from God, but often we do not believe the things He said and taught, and we do not care for doing them.


-What must I do to be saved?
-How do I enter into the Kingdom of God?
-What must I do to be pleasing and acceptable by God's Holy standards?

But the Lord answered these anyway, in first teaching that the spiritual life cannot be lived by the flesh, and that "ye must be born again" (John 3: 7).
At this point, the question to ask would be: How can we be born again?
We, in order to behold the Kingdom of God, must be born of the Spirit (John 3:5).

Luke 19:10 - For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
The ministry of Christ is a form of salvaging, to recover that which was precious, but had been prised from Him.

Salvation can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has come from the Father.
Can we not consider His message?

1. He descended from heaven - John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

2. He knows and hath witnessed heavenly things - John 3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

3. John the Baptist (another eyewitness who pointed Israel to Christ) testified in John 3:27 - A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

Jesus is the one who had come from heaven, knowing things pertaining to the Father and salvation, and made it available through preaching to all Israel.

The pivot/hinge is this: to believe on the Person, Word and Testimony of Jesus Christ, that He is indeed come from God, God's Son, who has taught us a way to be saved and to live an earthly life pleasing to Him, in view of the Blessed Hope of eternal fellowship with Him and His Father.
Because He is trustworthy, and we are convinced of the need now to live a life closely in line with the character of Christ, we obey His commandments on how to live our life in relation to God and to men. This obedience is a consequence of our genuine belief.

We are now labourers for the Lord, because we belong to Him, and we desire like Him, that others come to abundant life in Him also, and not miss His salvation.

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. 

Candidate: whosoever - anyone who would
"Believeth":take Him at His Word, are convinced that He is indeed who He claims to be, and then apply His teachings onto all our lives.

God's heart towards the world is seen in other Scriptures:

Ezekiel 18:32 - For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

Acts 2: 38 Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost:
"...Repent , and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the promise of the Holy Ghost"

God is not spiteful, but is broken-hearted and longsuffering usward.
God desires and provides for the salvation of all. 

Perish: complete decay and ruin, irreversible

Death is defeated, and we have victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, we do not stay dead, either physically or spiritually, but are raised up in power:

1 Corinthians 15: 42-58
raised in incorruption (v.42)
raised in power (v. 43)
raised a spiritual body (v.44)
bear the image of the heavenly (v. 49)

Death is liberation from the flesh; are we persuaded of better things?

God does not condemn people willingly, but that those persons who have rejected Him and His Son, and the clear way to be saved, He honours the decision that they do not want anything to do with His Son and what He offers. Eternal life is found only in Christ, and the two cannot be divorced from the other. We have life, because we have the love and the light of the Lord.

John 1:3 - All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing that was made.

Our life proceeded from Him.

John 1:4 - In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Why do we not want Christ and His great salvation? Christ Himself tells us:

John 3: 19 - And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
verse 20 - For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds be reproved.

Have we been doing good, or evil, and by whose standards? Our individual or societal perception, or the perfect justice and holiness of the God who made us. The Lord who made all things has the best and highest sense of what is truly good and what is evil.

But we have heard the words of life from the Lord Jesus, and He has told us how to be saved, and told us what is the abundant life, and the love of God for the souls of men. Why do we persist in unbelief?

And when we have believed, why do we not make good our profession of faith?  This, is a daily struggle, of conformity, and of overcoming the flesh and putting off the old man.