Everlasting Life

A person with questions about life and death, heaven and hell, or their soul and the future is not going to find a better place in the New Testament to begin reading than John 3:16-21.

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Everlasting Life

John 3:16-21

  • The most well-known verse in all of scripture can be found in our text of the day
  • It provides a summary for much of this chapter
  • And contains some of the most important information in the world
  • Namely, that God loves us
  • That He sent His son to be our Savior
  • And that through Him, we can have everlasting life
  • There’s more to the story
  • But our theme is “Everlasting Life”
  • From John 3:16-21
  • A person with questions about life and death
  • Heaven and hell
  • Their soul and the future
  • Is not going to find a better place in the New Testament to begin reading
  • John 3 is a key passage
  • In it, Jesus tells men how to be saved
  • These are His own words to us about eternal life
  • You can probably quote our first verse
  • It could be asserted that this is the most well-known passage in the Bible…

John 3:16

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. 

  • People can be certain about the first thing mentioned here
  • God loves them
  • And He demonstrated His love by sending His son
  • This is not the kind of worldly love that is expressed, but never proven
  • He proved it by sending His only son to die in our place
  • To be our just sacrifice for sin
  • The wages of sin is death
  • But those who believe in Him will not perish
  • While our bodies die, our souls go on
  • Into everlasting life with Him
  • There is no other way
  • And there is no other Savior, but Jesus
  • He had a specific purpose when He entered the world…

John 3:17

17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

  • While he came to sinners, He did not come to condemn us
  • Our sins already condemn us
  • He was coming to provide salvation
  • People who are in a hopeless state
  • Headed for certain death
  • Unable to save themselves, need a Savior
  • One who is capable of lifting them from their hopeless state
  • He is the only One who can do it
  • He provided a perfect, sinless sacrifice for sins
  • Shedding His blood on our behalf
  • Dying
  • And then raising from the dead, defeating death
  • Our embrace of Him is an embrace of the only means of salvation
  • We must believe
  • He is the One who came to save
  • Doing all that was required to make it happen
  • There is an alternative that is clear…

John 3:18

18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

  • The joyous good news is that everyone who believes is not condemned
  • That is, condemned to an eternity far from God
  • The Bible says, in torments
  • That is the only future for people who do not believe
  • Rejection of Christ means condemnation
  • He is the way the truth and the life
  • No man comes to the Father, except through Him
  • With the options being presented so clearly
  • Why would anyone choose to reject Him?
  • The next few verses go a long way in explaining…

John 3:19

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. 

  • The light of Christ has come into the world
  • And it has exposed the evil of men’s hearts
  • It has revealed the sin within us
  • And brought very dark things out into the open
  • These are all things that can be cleansed by Christ and His sacrifice
  • But the heart is deceitful
  • And men have a tendency to love darkness rather than light
  • We cling to our evil rather than rejecting it and turning to the Savior
  • There is further explanation in the next verse…

John 3:20

20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 

  • The way of man is to avoid the light
  • To continue doing evil and to run from reproof
  • Because reproof is painful
  • It makes us the problem
  • And highlights our sinful hearts and sinful actions
  • Here’s what we should know
  • While the light of Christ reveals what we are
  • It also reveals the truth of salvation
  • How that His blood sacrifice on the cross can cleanse us from all sin
  • Understanding the truth about us hurts
  • Understanding the truth about Him heals – eternally
  • The story of embracing Christ is clearer in verse 21…

John 3:21

21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

  • The eternal solution for man is not to turn from the light
  • But to come to the light
  • To come to the loving Savior
  • To have faith in Him
  • To embrace Him fully
  • As our only means of salvation
  • And whatever deeds we accomplish after coming to Him
  • Will be a result of His empowerment
  • And far from the sin that characterized our lives before Him
  • We do good and right – His will
  • That which pleases Him
  • Everlasting life is in Christ alone
  • But we must come to Him
  • Surrender to Him
  • And believe

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