Advent: John 3:16

Passage: John 3:13-18, 36

Passage: John 3:13-18, 36

Passage: John 3:13-18

In 1970 in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize for Literature, Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “One word of truth outweighs the whole world.”

John 3:16 is one of those truths, a truth that outweighs the whole world, a truth that silences a million lies, a truth that answers the hardest questions and erases the deepest fears, a truth that turns the world upside down.

There have been many great revelations of truth in this world of ours but none so great as this. There have been many great visitations by God in the past but none so great as the incarnation.

Last week we considered from this great text:

The Revelation of Christmas                  For God so loved the world

This week we consider:

The Reality of Christmas                        that He gave His only begotten Son

Forbes magazine once a year publishes a list of the wealthiest people in the world.  You know the names, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet.  But the only reason those men head the list is because of a serious oversight on the part of the Forbes researchers.  There is someone who makes those men look like homeless guys.

God is the richest person in the entire universe.  He not only owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but He owns the hills, the earth and everything in it.  He not only owns more than everyone else, He owns everyone else and He owns everything they own (John Piper, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, p. 89ff).

Psalm 100:3 It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

When you create something it is yours, so everyone and everything is His.  We are just trustees or stewards.

Have you ever noticed what the NT says about the wealth of the richest person in the universe?  You don’t find much mention of all of God’s stuff.  He doesn’t talk about His cool toys and all the latest things He has made.  His wealth is not described in terms of what He has created or what He owns.

The wealth of God is described in terms of His glory which He has had from all eternity and long before He made anything.

Philippians 4:19 My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Christ is the supreme visible expression and display of the vastness and infinite extravagance of God’s wealth.  In Christ we see the unsurpassing display of the riches of the glory of all of God’s attributes.

In Christ we see the riches of God’s love and kindness, His mercy and grace, His justice and righteousness.  Jesus is the lavish display of God’s great love and mercy.  Jesus is the extravagance of God where we see His infinite wealth and power and mercy and love.

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us.

Ephesians 2:7 [God loved us] … so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Passage: John 3:13-18

How many of you know John 3:16?  John 3:16 may be the most well-known verse in the Bible.  We see it at football games and sports events, on bumper sticker and license plates.  We learn it as children.  It got me to wondering if its popularity is just a modern thing or an American thing.

Then I read a comment by the famous pastor J.C. Ryle of England from 1878 saying that few texts are better known than this.  Then I came across Martin Luther’s statement that John 3:16 is “the Bible in miniature!”  The whole Bible in 24 words.

Is Martin Luther’s statement just exaggeration?  Is this verse the Bible in miniature?  If this were the only verse in the Bible, think about how much we would know about God.

This verse is an inexhaustible fountain of rich truth; the importance cannot be emphasized enough.  There are things here we must know or we will perish.  A person can be ignorant about many things and still go to heaven, but we cannot be ignorant about the things contained in this verse and go to heaven.  It’s that important.

This is way more important than how the Cougars or Huskies or Seahawks are doing.  It’s more important than the stock market and our retirement funds.  It’s more important than how many friends you have on Facebook, or what you get or give for Christmas.  It’s even way more important than your kids and grandkids.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking this verse is too easy or too simple or just for children.  It is wisdom so simple a child can understand it and wisdom so profound an adult cannot fathom all of it.  I hope you and your family will memorize John 3:16-17 this next month.  Say it together at the dinner table before saying grace.  But also let’s not just memorize it but put it in our hearts and get the truths of it in our heads.

During these four weeks of Advent we will slow down long enough to consider what a vast amount of truth and wisdom is contained in this little verse.  This verse reveals to us the meaning of Christmas.

The Revelation of Christmas            For God so loved the world

The Reality of Christmas                            that He gave His only begotten Son

The Reason of Christmas                           that whoever believes in Him should not perish

The Reward of Christmas                          but shall have eternal life!