SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/25/2016
11:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Then Answer for Unbelief.”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 3:13-17
Message of
the verses: “13
"No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven:
the Son of Man. 14 "As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so
that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 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. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the
world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
In our last SD we quoted extensively for a sermon by
John MacArthur on what he had to say about John 3:16, and today we want to
continue to look at this most famous verse.
Now because this verse is so familiar and beloved we have the provability
to miss what it has to say because we know it so well. As we look at this verse we see that the
motive for God giving the gift of His Son is love “Thanks be to God for His
indescribable gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15), is how Paul looks at the gift of God’s
Son. God gave the gift of His Son
because of His love for this evil, sinful world of fallen humanity. The most precious thing that God the Father
has is His Son, and He gave the most precious thing He has to pay for the sins
of those who will accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. This was the only way that God could pay for
our sins, that is the death of His Son in payment for our sins. This is why Jesus Christ had to come into
this world to become a man, and yet continue to be God, to take our place on
the cross as God judged Him for all of our sins and for our sin nature, that is
not only sins, but for sin also. We sin
because we are sinners so our nature had to be paid for along with the sins we
commit each day. All humans are helpless
in providing salvation for themselves, thus God giving us the offer of the gift
of His Son who took our place. MacArthur
writes “The plan of salvation flowed from ‘the kindness of God our Savior and
His love for mankind (Titus 3:4). ‘God demonstrates
His own love toward us,’ wrote Paul to the Christians in Rome, ‘in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). John wrote in his first epistle, ‘In this is
love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins…We love, because He first loved us’ (1 John 4:10,
19). Such love is so vast, wonderful,
and incomprehensible that John, shunning all adjectives, could only write that
God so love the world that He gave His own Beloved Son (cf. 1 John 3:1). ‘World’ is a nonspecific term for humanity in
a general sense. The statement in verse
17, ‘that the world might be saved through Him,’ proves that it does not mean
everyone who has ever lived, since all will not be saved. Verse 16 clearly cannot be teaching universal
salvation, since the context promises that unbelievers will perish in eternal
judgment (vv. 16-18). Our Lord is saying
that for all in the world there is only one Savior (1 John 2:2), but only those
who are regenerated by the Spirit and who believe in His gospel will receive
salvation and eternal life through Him.”
I think we must look at one more verse that helps us
understand the term “world.” “Namely,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation
(2 Cor. 5:19).” MacArthur writes “God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not in the sense of universal salvation, but in the sense that the
world has no other reconciler. That not
all will believe and be reconciled is clear from the pleading in verse 20: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Paul writes the following as he expresses the
magnitude of God’s saving gift to the world “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” We see from this verse that Paul had a
difficult time in trying to describe the gift that God gave in the Person of
His Son. Now we look at the phrase “gave
His only begotten” and this speaks of the uniqueness, one of a kind Son of God
as God spoke in Matthew 3:17 “This is My beloved Son, in whim I am
well-pleased.” The following are verses that help us to better understand more
about the uniqueness of our Lord: 18 "Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen,
My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And
He will declare justice to the Gentiles (Matthew 12:18); While he was still
speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen
to Him!" (Matthew 17:5); For when He received honor and glory from God the
Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory,
"This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased"- (2 Peter 1:17).”
There are many verses that show us why the Lord sent
His Son into the world, but let me focus in on 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him
who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.” Isaiah
writes the following in 53:5-6 “5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our
iniquities; The
chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of
us all To fall on Him.” MacArthur
writes “By ‘sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an
offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh’ (Rom. 8:3). To the Galatians Paul wrote, ‘when the fullness
of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so
that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption
as sons.’ (Gal. 4:4-5). Just as the
supreme proof of Abraham’s love for God was his willingness to sacrifice his
son (cf. Gen. 22:12, 16-18), so also, but on a far grander scale, the Father’s
offering of ‘His only begotten Son’ was the supreme manifestation of His saving
love for sinners.”
Next we look at the phrase “whoever believes in Him”
speaking of course of Jesus Christ. In
the sermon we looked at in our last SD we learned that this salvation is broad enough
to encompass the vilest sinner that Paul attested was him “It is a trustworthy
statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all (1 Timothy 1:15).” However it is narrow enough to exclude all
who reject Christ as seen in John 3:18 “18 "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.” Those like
Nicodemus who believe that they can live a life outside of Christ and care for
their own salvation are not going to make it into heaven. I have mentioned that Nicodemus did
eventually believe in Christ for salvation, but the key there is that he
believed. Those, like Nicodemus
eventually did that come to Him on His terms Jesus gave this marvelous promises
“"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to
Me I will certainly not cast out (John 6:37).”
“Will not perish” is the next phrase in this section
and it speaks to us by saying once we are genuinely saved, that is we believe
that Jesus Chris took our place on the cross to pay for our sins and we ask Him
to come into our hearts since we believe this we will never lose this gift of
salvation that Christ gives to us. 1
John 5:13 says “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of
the Son of God, so that
you may know that you have eternal life.” Yes we can know we have eternal life.
A brief look at verse seventeen “For God did not
send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be
saved through Him.” We have talked in
earlier SD’s about the fact that Jesus Christ came the first time to pay for
our sins, and in this time on earth Jesus Christ did not bring judgment, but as
we spent most of the last year looking at when Christ returns through our study
in Revelation we learned that He will judge the world then. We spoke of that time as being what the Bible
calls “The Day of the Lord.” “18 Alas,
you who are longing for the day
of the LORD, For what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you? It will be darkness and not
light; 19 As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him, Or goes home,
leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him. 20 Will not the day of
the LORD be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?
(Amos 5:18-20),” Amos writing on the Day of the Lord.
MacArthur concludes “The point of Jesus’ coming was
not to redeem Israel and condemn the Gentiles, ‘but that the world might be
saved through Him.’ God’s gracious offer
of salvation extended beyond Israel to all mankind. Once again, Nicodemus (and by extension the
Jewish nation he represented) should have known that, for in the Abrahamic
covenant God declared, ‘I will bless those who bless you, and the one who
curses you I will curse. And in you all
the families of the earth will be blessed’ (Gen. 12:3; cf. 18:18; 22:18; Acts
3:25). Gentile salvation was always God’s
purpose (Isa. 42:6-8; 55:1).”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am thankful to the Lord for better
understand John 3:16.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Tell others that the Lord brings onto my path
about this truth.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Hebrews” (4:15).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Behold, Lord, the
half of my goods I give to the poor?’”
Answer in our next SD.
1/25/2016 12:52 PM
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