Wit or Wisdom

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.

1. God so loved: God’s love for you is far beyond human comprehension. Not only is it beyond human comprehension, but the Bible says that God is love. Many people do not turn to God because they do not understand who and what God truly is. I once heard a preacher tell a story of being on a plane and talking to a man. The preacher was reading his Bible, and the man next to him asked him if he really believed in God. The preacher said he did, and the man said he didn’t. So the preacher said to him “Tell me about your god, because chances are, I don’t believe in him either.” I repeat, the reason people do not turn to God is because they do not know who or what he is. The most important thing you need to understand about God is his vast and boundless love for you. A song says this: “Could we with ink, the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made. Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade. To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.” You cannot describe God’s love.

2. The world: The world (you and I) is a creation of the almighty God. We are who God’s love is directed towards. Think with me for a moment of the value you place on something lasting you create. If you spend hours , or even days working on something, making something with your own brain and hands, you place a high value on it. God places a great value on you and I, because he created us. Make no mistake, you are not the product of some slow, chemical, primordial ooze. You are no evolved animal. You are the creation of a loving, almighty God. I don’t need scientific evidence for that, even though I have it, because science always changes, but God and God’s Word always says the same thing. Because God created you, he loves you.

3. That he gave: True gifts are not something we receive because of something we do. They are received out of the love and care of the giver. When people give you a birthday or Christmas gift, they aren’t necessarily giving the gift to you because of something you did. They’re giving the gift to you because they care about you and want to show that care. Similarly, God gave because he loves you. You did nothing for this gift.

4. His only begotten Son: Here is the gift that God gave, motivated by his love for you. The concept of a father sacrificing His only Son for billions of people who rejected him is astonishing. Let me be very clear. Until a person accepts this gift that God has given, that person has rejected God. That person has told God that despite the fact that God created him and has provided for his life, he has no interest in a free gift of God’s own son. As harsh as it may sound, if you cannot say that you know God’s Son as your Savior, you have rejected him. You might reply that you never made any choice to reject God. What you may not realize is that by allowing sin to rule in your life, you reject God’s gift of his only Son. How many fathers do you know who, if they had just one son and that son had never been away from the father and didn’t want to, how many fathers do you know who would give up all that for people who reject him? This is the greatest evidence of God’s love for his creation.

5. That whosever: God has made this gift available to all. You don’t have to be anyone special. Don’t let yourself or anyone else fool you into thinking that you cannot be saved, because no one is bad enough for God not to save. Here’s a few of the people he saved in the Bible: he saved a thief who was being crucified with Jesus. He saved the apostle Peter, who betrayed and denied that he knew Jesus three times when Jesus was being falsely accused by the authorities. He saved a murderer who was killing Christians named Saul, and then changed his name to Paul and his life to a man who wrote much of the Bible and lived his life vigorously for Jesus. He saved a runaway slave. Since the Bible was written, he’s saved and used many other men. He saved the captain of a slave ship who then wrote Amazing Grace. He saved a drunkard and party boy named Billy Sunday who became one of America’s greatest preachers. And if you’re thinking that you aren’t that bad, so you don’t need to be saved, don’t be deceived. He saves all sorts of regular people, too. And all sin is equal in God’s eyes. All people need his salvation. That’s why he offers it to everyone.

6. Believeth in him: Not only is the gift not offered because of anything we do, but nothing we do earns it. We can only believe in the salvation offered. I can’t emphasize this enough. There are a lot of people in the world who say that if you’re just good enough, God will let you in. They say there are many ways to salvation, to heaven. It’s not true. The Bible says that God’s Son is the way. It didn’t say a way, it said THE way. Don’t be fooled into thinking you can work your way into heaven, or somehow get around it. It’s like a bridge crossing a great, fiery canyon. If you do anything except step out onto the bridge and believe in Christ, you will fall into that canyon.

7. Should not perish: Your physical body will die. But time does not end there. A time will come when your spirit will be sent to either heaven or hell. To perish means hell, except that you do not ever die. You live death. You live unimaginable pain and suffering. A worm eats the flesh and the fire does not kill it. You are alone. This is the real meaning of death. And this will come if the gift is not accepted. Even though God loves us so much, God is also holy, and his holiness cannot abide evil in his presence. This is why he made salvation free to all, because as I said, no human effort could attain to his holiness.

8. But have everlasting life: We don’t typically get awarded for accepting a gift. But it’s exactly what God will do if we accept that gift of Christ. In contrast to the life we don’t have if we do not accept the gift, we receive incredible reward if we accept God’s free gift. Everlasting means just what it sounds like. This is real life. The life you are living, even if you are enjoying it, doesn’t even come close to the life God will give you if you just believe in his Son’s sacrifice for you. The Bible doesn’t say a whole lot about what heaven looks like, but it’s plain that heaven is a beautiful, wonderful place. A lot of people think that gold is a pretty valuable thing to have. But in heaven, gold is just street pavement. It’s like asphalt. That’s how awesome heaven is. And that’s what God offers to those who accept the gift of His Son.

How do you accept that gift? You believe. To believe means to set aside your own pride and accept that God only can save you. It is simply a matter of turning away from your sin, asking God to forgive you of it, and trusting in Christ to take that sin away and come into your heart and turn you into a new person, bound for eternal life.