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. John 3:16 We are going to break this verse down and take a look at it a little bit at a time. It will give, I hope, a little deeper concept of the verse. God’s Word is a living thing. It breeds life to those who read it, study it, contemplate it. It becomes food to a starving soul, water to a thirsty mind, and air to the suffocating heart. You can take one verse and turn it all kinds of different directions and glean new truth from it every time. FOR GOD.... Who is this person we call God. The bible tells us in so many places. We did our first bible study on some of the names of God. Can you remember any? and what they mean? Yahweh/Jehovah - I am that I am, the self existent one. Elohim - the Creator, El-Elyon - the soveriegn God, El Shaddia - the God Almighty, El Roi - the God who sees me, Adonai - Lord, master of me, and many more. He is omniscient - all knowing, omnipresent - always present an everywhere, omnipotent - all powerful. This is the God we serve and this is the God who loves us. FOR GOD SO LOVED..... Some of the biggest and mightiest words in the english language are the smallest words. Only two or three letters: but their impact is incredible. The word “so” emphasizes the next word “love”. You have heard teenagers talk and say things like, “ I so wanted to go to that.” or “ I so need to have that.” “He is so good looking.” “ I just so hate that.” In essence, it couldn’t be any worse or better or wanted or needed. It is the ultimate. If the verse had simply said, For God loved, it wouldn’t have had the added dimension of how much God loved. So, what does this tell us about how God loved? Let’s look at this for instance, The depths of God’s love cannot be fathomed. It is beyond our comprehension, really. How deep does He so love us? How do you measure the breadth of it? You cannot. For God so loved us that even before He created the heavens and the earth: he saw a hill called Golgatha. Before He scooped out the valleys and thrust up the mountains: He made a cave that would one day be a tomb. Before He formed man from the dust of the ground: He knew man would reject Him. Before He breathed immortal life into the man, He knew man would choose his own way over God’s way. He knew the pain, humiliation, degradation, and rejection that He would Himself suffer because man would deny Him, but He still said, “Let there be light.” He loved us SO much, He created us anyway. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD......... What is the world? Who is the world? It is everyone and everything. No exceptions, no exclusions. You may think that there are people in this world that God could absolutely not love but there are not. It is clear from the words of this verse that God so loved everyone. No exceptions, No exclusions. All mankind. It does not mean any particular part of the world, but man as man. He loved Adolph Hitler as much as He loved Corrie Ten Boom. He loves the Dahli Lama as much as He loved Mother Theresa. He loves Charlie Manson as much as He loves Billy Graham. He loved Jeffery Dalmer as much as He loves you and me. We are all on the same footing. No one person has sinned, in God’s eyes, worse than another. James 2: says, “Anyone who keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one part, is guilty of breaking all of it.” So, the one who tells a little white lie to keep from hurting someone’s feelings is just as guilty of sinning as one who has committed a very dastardly crime. That may seem a little too hard to take but they are as much a part of the world as we are. From the most heinous criminal to the sweetest old lady, God so loved them all. "He hates the sin, but loves the sinner." A parent may love his child and desire his welfare, and yet be strongly opposed to the conduct of that child. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?' 1 Timothy 2:4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man 2 Corinthians 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. John 6:40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Is there anything in these verses that would lead anyone to believe that there are only certain people that God So Loves? God wants all of us to choose Him, to choose life. He loves every soul that has come to this earth and will come to this earth and each soul has the opportunity to respond to God’s love for them. When we think of some of the most heinous of criminals in this world, we cannot understand how God could possibly love them, but here again is the depth of His love that we cannot possibly fathom, His mighty love for mankind. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE........... His love for the world and everyone in it, is so great that He gave..... Sacrificially, willingly, completely. In His love He held nothing back from us. He gave all. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON....... How many of us would sacrifice the life of our child so that another would be saved. Suppose the life of your child hung in the balance with the life of someone who didn’t know you. And you had the choice to save your child or save the other person. This is something I would never want to face because I wouldn’t be able to do it. But God did. He loved us so much that........ Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Clarke's Commentary on the Bible For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son- Such a love as that which induced God to give his only begotten son to die for the world could not be described: Jesus Christ does not attempt it. He has put an eternity of meaning in the particle οὑτω, so, and left a subject for everlasting contemplation, wonder, and praise, to angels and to men. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER........... Who is whosoever? We can go right back to all of those we mentioned in the section about “who is the world”. Whosoever means everyone, without exception, without exclusion. Any man who turns from his wicked ways and repents of his sin and calls upon the name of Jesus, will be saved. No matter what those sins were. His sacrifice was for all. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM.......... That word “believed” has a wealth of meaning. And, who are we believing in here, God or Jesus? The word used for “believe” in this verse is pisteuo. It means: 1) to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in a) of the thing believed 1) to credit, have confidence b) in a moral or religious reference 1) used in the NT of the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul 2) to trust in Jesus or God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something: saving faith 3) mere acknowledgment of some fact or event: intellectual faith to entrust a thing to one, i.e. his fidelity to be intrused with a thing. Looking at this definition, can you see what it really means to believe in Jesus? It really means so much more than just believing He existed. The demons and Satan know that and it isn’t saving them. But to believe in Jesus is putting your trust and faith in Him, believing that He is everything that God and Jesus Himself, says that He is. It is believing that He is who He says He is, and living like it. Believing that you are who He says you are, and living like it. It is believing that He can do whatever He says He can do, and living like it. It is believing that you can do all things through Him, that gives you strength, and living like it. Believing in Jesus above and beyond anything else and all else, that is the belief of a believer. That is saving faith. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM, SHOULD NOT PERISH........ What is the consequence of unrepentent sin? Death Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death. God doesn’t want us to perish, He wants us to live. He wants us to live in the light of His love. His whole reason for creating us was to share with us His love for us. He has done everything He can do to show us the way. He has provided the sacrifice for our sin so that we do not have to live under condemnation. It is not His will that any should perish but that all would be saved. But we have to choose it. The rest of Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 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. What is meant by everlasting life? That we live forever? Whether we choose Christ or not, we are going to live forever. From the moment God breathed life into Adam’s nostrils, man’s soul became an eternal being. We do not have to choose Christ to live for ever. But in order to have everlasting life, we must choose Christ. There are two deaths, physical, the one we all will experience, and the spiritual, the one those who have chosen Christ will never experience. I have heard hell described by Billy Graham as eternal separation from God. Eternal darkness separated from eternal light. Can you imagine an existence with out the presence of our Holy God? To me, that would be hell. Separation from God is what I would suggest to you is everlasting death. That is what Jesus has saved us from. He has given to us the gift of everlasting life, which is life in the presence of our LORD and King forever. So I don’t see living forever as the promise of this verse as we will all assuredly live forever. It is up to man’s choice to decide where.