Josh Benner

Tag: John 3:16

  • Jesus and eternal life – studying John 3:16-21

    Jesus and eternal life – studying John 3:16-21

    The result of belief 

    In John 3:16, Jesus says: 

    God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

    One of the things that this verse teaches is that belief in the son is necessary. Our society really struggles with that idea. 

    I know that 75% of Americans identify as Christians but when you talk to people about their beliefs, far too many people seem to think that Jesus is this really good guy and that most of us are pretty good too and we’re going to get the benefit of heaven because we’re good and he’s good and wants to bless us. 

    That’s not the gospel. 

    The gospel is that Jesus is good. You’re not. He died in your place. Believe in him as your Lord. 

    Eternal life is reserved for the one who believes in Jesus.

    John refers to eternal life more than any other writer in the New Testament. We saw it referenced in our passage last week when Jesus was talking about his crucifixion. 

    John 3:14-15:

    And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 

    It is through his death and resurrection that we have eternal life. 

    Couple more noteworthy examples of Jesus talking of eternal life. John 5:24: 

    Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 

    We are spared eternal death when we turn to Jesus. 

    In John 10, Jesus talks of himself as the good shepherd and talks of eternal life when he says: 

    27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

    There he is, among other things, talking about the relationship he invites us into. 

    The eternal life which Jesus offers to all who believe in him is both a future promise but a present reality. 

    It’s not that those who believe in Jesus are eligible for eternal life or may get eternal life. 

    But the person who believes and trusts in Jesus as Lord and savior HAS eternal life. 

    And that assurance is there because it is in the work of Christ that the gift of eternal life is given. 

    It’s an eternal promise which also bears present-day results in the life of a believer. 

    That’s actually how the passage ends in verse 21. 

    whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” 

    Not sent to condemn

    Continuing to speak about the salvation which comes through Jesus. 

    Verse 17: 

    For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 

    Verse 17 is not saying that there is no condemnation ever. It’s saying that condemnation was not the purpose for Jesus coming into the world. 

    Jesus came into the world to bring salvation. And that salvation comes through his life, death, and resurrection. 

    Part of what I love about this passage is how simple it all is. 

    Some passages are difficult to understand and are enhanced by a lot of digging into historical context. Some passages are best explained when comparing them to numerous other Biblical passages. 

    These verses are simple enough to understand just through honestly reading them for what they say. 

    God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

    What do you believe in? 

    Is it that Jesus is the Son of God and through him and him alone we have eternal life? Or do you believe in something else? Is your faith in Jesus? Or is it in yourself? 

    We’ve seen the love of God. We’ve seen the result of believing in Jesus. 

    We close this passage with a warning of the consequences of unbelief in Jesus.

    The consequences of unbelief

    John 3:18:

    Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already

    We again are reminded of the catalyst for eternal life. Believing in Jesus. No matter what you do, what you say, how you live, none of that gives you standing before a Holy God. 

    It’s believing in Jesus. Whoever does not believe in Jesus is condemned because there is no other way to God. 

    Jesus did not come to bring condemnation, but you are already condemned and dead in your sins without him. 

    That’s your starting point. 

    So we can either turn to Christ and find life or we can reject Jesus and still be dead. 

    If we could earn our way to God, then God would not have needed to send his son. 

    This passage is not saying “believe what you want.” It’s not saying you’re pretty good.

    It’s saying the opposite. John 3:19-20:

    19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

    Those two verses sum up the human condition apart from Christ. It confronts us with reality. We are dead apart from Christ. 

    We either believe that or we don’t. We either believe Jesus is the way or we don’t. 

    What do you believe? Jesus is the light, the truth, the goodness, the salvation which has come into the world. And in a dark world, a world of sin and death, Jesus shines. 

    People loved darkness rather than the light. 

    This is why the world needs Jesus. Because we love our sin more than we love the righteousness of God. 

    A lot of sins make us feel good in the moment. 

    Being drunk can feel good at the moment. Looking at things you shouldn’t look at online feels good at the moment. Gossip feels good at the moment. Selfishness and doing whatever you want to do feels good at the moment. 

    A lot of sinful behaviors feel good. Don’t look at me like you don’t look at me like you have no idea what I’m talking about. 

    That’s why the world loves them. The Bible is the realest book that’s ever been written. 

    And in Hebrews 11:25, it talks about the “fleeting pleasures of sin.” 

    It’s not calling sin good. But it is saying that sin is often pleasurable. At least for a season. At least for a little while. If sin didn’t feel good, then the world wouldn’t love it so much. It wouldn’t be a problem. Nobody grudgingly sins. Nobody sins like it’s a chore that you have to do. “Ok, I guess I’ll say this really nasty thing about my coworker.” Nobody has to work at being prideful. 

    No kid had to be taught to sin. It comes naturally. 

    Eve wasn’t tempted with something she thought was bad. It was the promise of knowledge. David didn’t see Bathsheeba and think “oh what an ugly woman.” The world loves sin. 

    Some of those things might be different for different people. But make no mistake. We love sin. Again, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that that’s a good thing.It’s a horrible thing. It’s why we are condemned and separated from God. By the grace of God, there is redemption. 

    But the world hates the light of the gospel, because the light exposes sin. 

    The world is dead in sin. That’s the bad news.

    But there is good news. 

    Borrowing a quote from Kent Hughes in his commentary on John that I’ve slightly modified. 

    God. The greatest being.

    So loved. The greatest act. 

    The world. The greatest company.

    That he gave. The greatest act. 

    His only Son. The greatest gift. 

    That whoever believes. The greatest offer.

    In him. The greatest savior. 

    Shall not perish. The greatest promise.

    But have. The greatest certainty.

    Eternal life. The greatest hope.

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe! 

  • The love of God and john 3:16

    The love of God and john 3:16

     “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

    –John 3:16: 

    It’s one of the best known and most beloved verses in the Bible. Still a verse that remains a part of popular culture. 

    In the 1970s and 80s, it was a popular verse to be seen in the background of sporting events. Most notably, it was a man who traveled the country in a bright rainbow colored wig in the 1980s with a John 3:16 banner. At his height, he was traveling over 60,000 miles a year to different games. 

    More recently, football star Tim Tebow wrote John 3:16 in his eye paint for the 2009 national championship game. 

    The John 3:16 reference is found on the bottom of cups at the popular west coast restaurant chain Inn-N-Out burger, as well as at the bottom of shopping bags for the clothing retailer Forever 21. 

    With a Bible verse that’s so well-known, I think we can sometimes become tone deaf to it. 

    It’s a great verse because it tells the gospel as succinctly as any verse in the entire Bible. 

    God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

    It points us to the love of God. 

    But because of passages like this one, I think it’s easy for us as Christians to take the love of God for granted. 

    The idea of a loving God is not universal to world religions. In many religious systems, their gods are not loving, they’re not personal, they’re not perfect, and humanity basically has to do what it can to appease them. In most religions, the pressure is put on man to live up to a certain standard. 

    I’ve heard people argue that “all religions are basically the same.” 

    Have you ever heard that one? 

    I think that’s something that Americans say who have generally never studied other religions and who are basically making an arrogant assumption that all other religions have a similar worldview to Christianity. 

    Not the case.

    Because here in America, no matter if someone is a Christian or the most ardent atheist, we are influenced by Christian teachings and beliefs. It’s at the core of our nation’s founding. It influences our ethics, laws, literature. It influences our understanding of a seven day week, it influences how we see the world. 

    Because it’s so fundamental to America, it’s easy take certain Biblical teachings as self-evident assumptions. 

    It’s kind of like how when you grow up, there’s often a certain assumption in the normality of how you’re raised. It’s what you know. But you get older, and sometimes you realize that things that were always part of your life and which you always took for granted were actually not what everyone else experienced. 

    And in America, that happens with Christianity. And it happens with the idea of a loving God. 

    We hear a phrase like “God so loved the world” and are tempted to think “well…yeah.” 

    Because we think we’re pretty good. Pretty loveable. Why wouldn’t God love us?

    Why would God love you? 

    A perfect and holy God. He can have whatever he wants. He is totally self-sufficient, self-sustained. He doesn’t need any favors. He isn’t bored or lonely. 

    Why would he love you? Who’s your dream person to meet? 

    That’s a frequent ice breaker question to ask. If you could meet any person and I’ll say it can’t be a relative. And it can’t be someone from the Bible. 

    Who’s your dream person to meet? Maybe it’s a famous pastor, or an athlete, a movie star, a writer, a musician, a president. Whoever it is. Imagine you actually got to meet that person. 

    That would be a pretty big deal. Right? Just to meet them. 

    Because it’s someone famous, someone influential, someone people know, someone the world loves. You wouldn’t expect them to know you. You certainly wouldn’t expect them to love you. 

    And those are just people. 

    We have such a habit of putting our celebrities up on a pedestal. Finite, fallible, fallen people. 

    But then you compare that to the infinite and almighty God. A God who spoke the universe into being by the power of his word. The God who sustains all of creation. 

    And he knows you. 

    Little ole you. 

    He’s righteous. Meanwhile, you don’t even live up to your own standards. You don’t even live as good a life as you know you could. And you certainly don’t live up to God’s standards.

    We sin so much that become numb to it and often don’t realize it. The times where we act selfishly or manipulate someone. We have a justification for it. The times we lie. The bad things we think about others. The times we disregard God. The times where we know what we should do, and actively decide not to.  

    But that God knows you. And he loves you. 

    God created humanity and he knew would sin. He made us anyway. 

    God made a covenant with Abraham and made a promise that he knew we would not deserve. He gave it anyway. 

    God sent his son into the world. Jesus was perfect, without sin, came to spread light in a dark world, and God knew the world would kill him. He sent him anyway. 

    God knew that you would be a sinner. But God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. He forgave you anyway. 

    Through Jesus and what he did on the cross. Nothing about this passage lifts up the goodness of man. This is entirely the goodness and love of God. 

    I wanna know what love is 

    Our era has twisted the meaning of love. The culture acts as though real love is accepting whatever someone wants to do. No matter if it’s sinful. No matter if it’s harmful. We call that love. I call it apathy. 

    Love is a righteous God who would forgive people and give them heaven, and spare them hell, even though they are unrighteous and unholy. 

    Romans 5:6-8:

    6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

    God so loved the world. 

    Even though it was fallen and sinful. 

    Even though people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

    God loves the world so much that he sent his son. 

    Abraham and the son

    In the Book of Genesis, God makes a great promise to Abraham. He’s promised him land, he’s promises him descendants, God promises that he will make of him a great nation. 

    But time goes by, Abraham and Sarah grow old and in their old age, they’ve never had a child, but God makes a promise that Sarah will still have a son. 

    Genesis 17:17 tells us that Abraham fell over laughing. She was so old that it was such an absurd promise. 

    But miraculously God gives them a son. Isaac. Ironically, the word Isaac in Hebrew means “he will laugh.” 

    God gave Abraham this promised son. 

    In Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

    An unimaginable, unfathomable thing to be asked. Parents would do anything to protect their kids. You love them. You’d give up your life for their life without hesitation. 

    But God tells Abraham to sacrifice his own son. 

    Abraham trusted in the Lord. 

    He took Isaac to the top of the mountain and was prepared to sacrifice his promised son when the Lord intervened at the last moment. 

    Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide.” (Genesis 22:12-14)

    The Lord provided another sacrifice in that story. He provided a ram. 

    But that was ultimately meant to point to a greater sacrifice which the Lord provided. 

    God would not ask Abraham to go through with the sacrifice of his son.  

    But God gave up his. 

    He gave his only son. 

    No other sacrifice was worthy, no other sacrifice could bear the weight of our sins, and atone for our sins. 

    But Jesus could. God so loved the world and the only way for that world to be forgiven was through Jesus. We see more about the work of Christ as this passage continues. 

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe!

  • John 3:16 and why it’s the greatest verse in the Bible

    John 3:16 and why it’s the greatest verse in the Bible

    Our era has twisted the meaning of love. The culture acts as though real love is accepting whatever someone wants to do. No matter if it’s sinful. No matter if it’s harmful. We call that love. I call it apathy. Love is a righteous God who would forgive people and give them heaven, and spare them hell, even though they are unrighteous and unholy. 

    John 3:16 is perhaps the greatest verses in the Bible. It’s the most well-known to our culture. But with a Bible verse that’s so well-known, I think we can sometimes become tone deaf to it. 

    It’s a great verse because it tells the gospel as succinctly as any verse in the entire Bible. 

    God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

    It points us to the love of God. But because of passages like this one, I think it’s easy for us as Christians to take the love of God for granted. The idea of a loving God is not universal to world religions. 

    In many religious systems, their gods are not loving, they’re not personal, they’re not perfect, and humanity basically has to do what it can to appease them. In most religions, the pressure is put on man to live up to a certain standard. 

    I’ve heard people argue that “all religions are basically the same.”

    I think that’s something that Americans say who have generally never studied other religions and who are basically making an arrogant assumption that all other religions have a similar worldview to Christianity. Not the case.

    Because here in America, no matter if someone is a Christian or the most ardent atheist, we are influenced by Christian teachings and beliefs. It’s at the core of our nation’s founding. It influences our ethics, laws, literature. It influences our understanding of a seven day week, it influences how we see the world. Because it’s so fundamental to America, it’s easy take certain Biblical teachings as self-evident assumptions. 

    It’s kind of like how when you grow up, there’s often a certain assumption in the normality of how you’re raised. It’s what you know. But you get older, and sometimes you realize that things that were always part of your life and which you always took for granted were actually not what everyone else experienced. 

    And in America, that happens with Christianity. And it happens with the idea of a loving God. We hear a phrase like “God so loved the world” and are tempted to think “well…yeah.” 

    Because we think we’re pretty good. Pretty loveable. Why wouldn’t God love us?

    Why would God love you? 

    A perfect and holy God. He can have whatever he wants. He is totally self-sufficient, self-sustained. He doesn’t need any favors. He isn’t bored or lonely. Why would he love you? 

    Who’s your dream person to meet? That’s a frequent ice breaker question to ask. If you could meet any person and I’ll say it can’t be a relative. And it can’t be someone from the Bible. Who’s your dream person to meet? Maybe it’s a famous pastor, or an athlete, a movie star, a writer, a musician, a president. Whoever it is. Imagine you actually got to meet that person. That would be a pretty big deal. Right? Just to meet them. Because it’s someone famous, someone influential, someone people know, someone the world loves. 

    You wouldn’t expect them to know you. You certainly wouldn’t expect them to love you. And those are just people. We have such a habit of putting our celebrities up on a pedestal. Finite, fallible, fallen people. But then you compare that to the infinite and almighty God. A God who spoke the universe into being by the power of his word. The God who sustains all of creation. And he knows you. 

    Little ole you. 

    He’s righteous. Meanwhile, you don’t even live up to your own standards. You don’t even live as good a life as you know you could. And you certainly don’t live up to God’s standards.

    We sin so much that become numb to it and often don’t realize it. The times where we act selfishly or manipulate someone. We have a justification for it. The times we lie. The bad things we think about others. The times we disregard God. The times where we know what we should do, and actively decide not to.  

    But that God knows you. And he loves you. God created humanity and he knew would sin. He made us anyway. 

    God made a covenant with Abraham and made a promise that he knew we would not deserve. He gave it anyway. God sent his son into the world. Jesus was perfect, without sin, came to spread light in a dark world, and God knew the world would kill him. He sent him anyway. God knew that you would be a sinner. But God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. He forgave you anyway. 

    Through Jesus and what he did on the cross. Nothing about this passage lifts up the goodness of man. This is entirely the goodness and love of God. 

    Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to like and subscribe!

  • Political correctness shows why we need the gospel

    Kevin_Hart_2014_(cropped)_(cropped).jpg
    Comedian Kevin Hart. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

    Last week, it was announced that Kevin Hart would host the Academy Awards in February. But then some Tweets were unearthed that used the word “gay” in a negative light. The Tweets were several years old, but as a result of the backlash, Hart withdrew from hosting the awards show two days later.

    I notice several theological themes in our current social discourse.

    Law 

    With modern political correctness, there are a dizzying amount of rules. And there is no consideration given to historical context or accepted norms. The rules are treated as universally binding. In June, an award named after famed writer Laura Ingalls Wilder was changed due to the fact that Wilder used terms for Native Americans that were common in her time and vernacular.

    The modern PC movement reminds me of the Pharisees in the gospels. The Old Testament had laws, but then the Pharisees added laws on top of laws. So many rules and laws that it became impossible to follow. It was crushing. Jesus railed against the pharisees for placing crippling burdens upon people. Constantly changing language. (more…)

  • Easter: What’s it to you?

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    Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons @Claudi Ungarl

    “If Christ is risen – then nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen – then nothing else matters.”
    -Jaroslav Pelikan

    On this Easter Sunday, we celebrate the most important event in human history. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead. I’m struck by the profundity of Pelikan’s quote. Because the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is either the most important event in human history or it is utterly meaningless. There is no middle ground, no gray area with the resurrection. It happened. Or it didn’t. Jesus died and rose, or he didn’t. (more…)