For God So Loved!

Sermon Summary:

What does it truly mean to be born again, and why does it matter for every single person we encounter in our daily lives? In this message rooted in John 3:16, we are taken deep into a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, one of the most respected religious leaders of his day, and what unfolds is nothing short of stunning. Jesus does not tell Nicodemus to try harder or live better. He tells him that a complete spiritual transformation, a total rebirth from above, is the only way into the kingdom of God. This was not a gentle nudge. It was a radical declaration. And it applies just as powerfully to us today as it did to Nicodemus then. The message confronts us with an honest look at the human condition. Scripture tells us in Romans 3:23 that every person has sinned and fallen short of reflecting God’s character and nature. Romans 6:23 reminds us that sin leads to spiritual death and separation from God. Ephesians 2 goes even further, describing all of humanity as spiritually dead in sin and by nature subject to God’s judgment. This is not comfortable theology, but it is honest theology, and it is the very foundation that makes the gospel genuinely good news. Understanding what we are saved from gives us a deeper appreciation for what we have been saved to.

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Sermon Points:

Key Takeaways:

• Jesus, in the early chapters of John’s gospel, confronted and fulfilled the empty institutions of Judaism, including ceremonial purification, the temple, and the law, demonstrating that he is the Messiah ushering in a new era
• Nicodemus, a respected Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, represents the religious establishment, and Jesus tells him plainly that he is outside the kingdom of God and must be born again
• All of humanity is lost under God’s judgment, falling short of God’s glory, dead in trespasses and sins, and by nature subject to God’s wrath, as taught in Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, and Ephesians 2:1-3
• The sole basis for human salvation is not personal goodness, generosity, or moral effort, but the love and grace of God
• God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but because he loves the world, and this love is what compels and motivates Christian evangelism
• There is only one way to salvation, through Jesus Christ, as affirmed in John 14:6
• The church’s fall evangelism emphasis, titled Gone Fishing, calls every believer to embrace a personal responsibility to share the gospel with those around them
• The congregation is encouraged to pray specifically for lost individuals God has placed on their hearts, asking God to make those people aware of his love for them

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Scripture References:

• John 3:16, the primary text, which conveys that God’s love for the world moved him to give his Son so that those who believe would not perish but have eternal life
• John 3:1-19, the broader passage covering the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus and the discussion of new birth
• Romans 3:23, which states that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory
• Romans 6:23, which teaches that the consequence of sin is death
• Ephesians 2:1-3, which describes humanity as dead in sin and by nature deserving of God’s wrath
• Isaiah 43:7, which declares that God created his people for his glory
• John 14:6, in which Jesus declares himself to be the way, the truth, and the life, and the only path to the Father

Stories:

• The wedding at Cana (John 2), in which Jesus turned water from ceremonial purification jars into an abundance of wine, symbolizing the arrival of the messianic era and the emptiness of Israel’s religious rituals
• The cleansing of the temple (John 2), in which Jesus drove out those who had corrupted the temple and declared himself the new temple, signaling the bankruptcy of first-century Israel’s spiritual life
• The encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4), referenced as an example of Jesus extending the gospel beyond traditional boundaries to include even a Samaritan woman
• The nighttime visit of Nicodemus to Jesus (John 3), in which a respected religious leader is told he is outside the kingdom of God and must be born again to enter it
• The pastor’s personal testimony of coming to faith at age seventeen after his Sunday school teacher challenged him to articulate when he had truly surrendered his life to Christ
• A recollection of meeting scholar and pastor Herschel Hobbs in 1990 in New Orleans, finding him at work with only a Greek New Testament and a legal pad, and the reading of Hobbs’ celebrated breakdown of John 3:16
• A reference to Warren Buffett’s comment that generosity is one way to get to heaven, used as an illustration of the cultural misconception that good works earn salvation

Sermon Transcript:

Well, good morning, church. How are y’ all this morning?

How are y’ all this morning? Good. I’m so glad. Good. It’s good to see you.

Glad you’re here today. And thank you, Bill Wheat, for sharing with us about the foundation. And Bill is the chair of the foundation board. And Carrie Hendrickson and Taylor Steele both serve on that board. And I’m grateful for the establishment of the foundation.

This is our one year anniversary of the foundation, of that found, of the establishment of that foundation. And Cindy and I have the church in our estate planning, but we’re working actually hopefully this week and with Rick McVeigh. Rick is our attorney to designate that to the foundation. So I would encourage you to give some thought to that as well. Well, it’s good to be here in worship today.

We’ve had a great day already in our first worship and glad to be back here and appreciate our contemporary worship team. Last night we had a concert here at the Levitt and Matthew west was the act, but the headliner was Michael Glenn, y’, all, our Michael Glenn. And he did an awesome job and so we’re so proud of him. So with that said, y’ all know that we are in this three year or so conversation about flourishing. Our theme is flourishing together for these three years for the fall.

Our theme is gone Fishing. And if y’ all remember, the image that I want you to have in your mind is that every day when you leave your home that you have that hung on the door of your house, gone fishing. Because we have a responsibility to share this gospel. We have a job to do in our culture. And so I want us to have that image that the Lord has called us all to be evangelistic in how we live now.

Our focus this fall is on evangelism. And so you know that we are studying our adult Bible study groups, the book of Jonah. We just read through the book of Jonah in our daily Bible readings. And Kurt Grice wrote our devotionals for us, did a wonderful job. And all these eight weeks for the fall, you are going to be studying the book of Jonah.

And Dennis Tucker, who is a professor of Old Testament at Truitt Seminary, he wrote the lessons for us for our church, and we’re grateful for that. But here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. Starting tomorrow, in our daily Bible readings, we are going to read through the book of Isaiah over these next seven weeks. So I’m going to encourage you to gird up your loins and get ready. Isaiah is a challenging book.

So to speak. But many scholars refer to it as the Fifth Gospel because it contains a panoramic view of the great redemptive plan of God while Isaiah was speaking to his own generation. And as you make your way through Isaiah, you will experience Judah as they watch Israel fall to the Assyrians. And Isaiah will talk about that, but then also Judah will experience the judgment of God and will be in exile in Babylon. There’s a section in Isaiah that addresses the exiles which, as best we can tell, and then when they return from exile to resettle Israel.

And so Isaiah’s message spans that that amount of time, but not only that. God gave Isaiah a glimpse into the future, and he has a message for us and also for what’s ahead of us. If you’ve ever read that passage that I saw a new heaven and a new earth, that’s actually in Isaiah. It’s also in the Book of Revelation, but it’s in Isaiah as well. And so I’m looking forward to us walking through Isaiah.

So with that said, we’re going to look at one very familiar verse this morning. I’ve entitled the Message for God so Loved. Can you guess what the passage is? John 3:16. So if you have your copy of the New Testament, let’s look at page three of John.

We’re just going to look at that one verse. You all know it’s our tradition to stand in honor of the Lord Jesus when we read the Gospel. We’ll just put the scripture on the screen. It’s a very familiar passage for y’. All.

John 3:16. Let’s just all read it out loud together. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Thank you. You may be seated.

So what is going on on page three of John? Well, let me set the context for us this morning so we can fully grasp what’s being taught here. In John’s Gospel, John is sharing the story of Jesus in what many scholars refer to as a unique yet profound manner. After this, really before this and on through the rest of John, he’s going to go on to present Jesus Christ as a fulfillment of messianic prophecy. But also, and very importantly, he is going to present Jesus as one who overwhelms the traditional institutions and expressions of Judaism.

So what do I mean by that? Well, when you’re reading John’s Gospel, when you get to this page, a lot’s already happened. In John, chapter two, Jesus attends a wedding in Cana. Y’ all remember this story. And when he gets to the wedding, guess what happened?

They ran out of what? Right. Obviously a Methodist wedding. Okay. It’s not a. I know most of y’ all are Baptists.

You hadn’t been to one of these. But anyway. But, you know, in the ancient world, it was the responsibility of the groom to make sure that all provisions were guaranteed for the village. And if you ran out of anything, it was an incredible embarrassment. And so if y’ all remember the story, Jesus mother came to Jesus and said, you need to do something.

This family’s out of wine. Presumably they were kin to each other. That’s what most people believe. And so Jesus says to her, my hour has not yet come. Do y’ all remember this?

In other words, I’m not going to fully reveal who I am yet. Not ready for that. However, Jesus did give instructions. And if y’ all remember, he told the people who were working there, he said, get these pots, fill them with water. Now, the thing that was interesting, y’, all, is when Jesus had these stone jars filled with water, these jars were not filled with drinking water.

These jars were reserved for ceremonial purification. So when you put water in those jars, the only thing you could use that water for was for the rights of purification and cleansing, you couldn’t drink it. Then Jesus took that water and turned it into wine. And it was way yonder more wine than they needed for this one wedding. And so here’s what’s interesting.

Once the. Once that water was turned into wine, those pots could no longer be used for purification. So they were now rendered useless for their original intent, filled now with wine. And what was Jesus doing? Jesus wasn’t just providing wine for a family, y’.

All. That’s not what was really going on. What Jesus was doing is he is reinterpreting something, and he is sending a powerful messianic message that the rituals of Israel in the first century were empty. And he was showing the abundance of the Messianic era, as prophesied in the Old Testament, where the land would be flowing with wine. So Jesus is letting anyone who’s paying attention know the Messiah has arrived.

A new era is being launched, and it is going to be abundantly filled with the blessings of God. Does that make sense? It’s not just giving them something to drink at a wedding. It was that. But it was way more than that.

And then Jesus encounters the temple in John 2, and he cleanses the temple. And when he does, he is addressing what he would view as the bankruptcy of Israel in the first century in their spiritual life. So just like those stone jars were empty, this stone building in Jerusalem, Cana is in Galilee. So Jesus was in northern Israel, and he sends a Messianic message. Then he comes to southern Israel, to Jerusalem.

And just like those stone jars are empty, this stone building is empty. And Jesus cleanses it, fills it with himself. And then he says this in John 2, we’ll destroy this temple, and I’ll rebuild in three days. In other words, Jesus is saying, this is the new temple, referring to himself. The Messianic era has begun.

Then you just keep reading. Come to John 3. We’ll talk about that in just a second. Get to John 4. He’s at Jacob’s well in Samaria, and he encounters a Samaritan woman who had an interesting reputation.

And Jesus invites her into the kingdom and actually says to her that he’s the Messiah. So the message is being sent that this gospel is even good for the Samaritans, even a Samaritan woman. And then you come to John 5, and Jesus will reinterpret the Sabbath. And then John 7, John 6, the Passover, John 7 and 8, the Feast of the Tabernacles, and in John 10, the celebration of Hanukkah. Every time Jesus is encountering a tradition, a ritual of Judaism, and he is demonstrating his fulfillment as the Messiah and a replacement, if you will, of these institutions as he’s going to overwhelm them with his presence.

Does that make sense?

Does that make sense? Okay, so now we come to page three. What happens in this encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus? Well, I would just refer to it as Christ the Messiah. In this encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus, John’s point is not that Jesus can outwit the esteemed Pharisee.

Regarding Biblical interpretation. John is providing more raw material to demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Messiah. John didn’t record this story just to show us that Jesus could match wits with the Pharisee. That’s not the point of this. Obviously he could, but that’s not really why John shares this story.

This story is a rich and complex story. Nicodemus is a real person. I want you, if you still have your Bibles open. Let’s just look at it. John 3.

Here’s what John says about him. Says this. There was a man. He’s a Pharisee. His name is Nicodemus, and he’s a member of the Sanhedrin.

As a matter of fact, this man was a teacher who was incredibly well respected in the life of Israel. He’s on the ruling council for the Jews. There were 70 members of that council. Pharisees, Sadducees. The Pharisees were the defenders of the tradition, if you will.

That’s who Nicodemus was. And so when Nicodemus comes to meet Jesus, Jesus has already encountered the institutions of Judaism, like I said, the empty rituals with the water pots, the bankrupt house, the temple. And now he’s addressing another institution of Israel. And that is the law, the teachers of the law, the traditions of the law. Nicodemus represents all of that.

And so I want you to notice what happens, Nicodemus, when he comes to visit Jesus. He comes at night. Many explanations of that. But he says to Jesus, we have watched you and these signs that you are performing. Now, that’s John’s favorite word for what Jesus did.

The other gospel writers use the word miracle. John doesn’t use the word miracle. He uses the word sign. In other words, what Jesus was doing was pointing to something greater. And Nicodemus says, we’ve seen the signs.

You obviously are from God. I want you to notice what Jesus does. Look at verse three. Right off the bat, Jesus offers instruction to Nicodemus and says to Nicodemus, if you want to be in the kingdom of God, then you’ve got to be born again. Now, Nicodemus thought he was in charge of the kingdom of God at this point in history.

And Jesus says to Nicodemus, not only are you not in charge of the kingdom of God, you’re not even in the kingdom of God yet. You’re on the outside looking in. And the only way for you to get in is for you to be born again. That’s the very first thing he says. Now, as we’re going to be doing some training in evangelism, this isn’t maybe the best pickup line in training for evangelism to just tell a man, you think you’re in, you are so out.

That’s what Jesus basically says to him. But this is Jesus, So we’re going to let Jesus do what Jesus does. But his point was he confronts Nicodemus right off the bat. And Nicodemus says, well, now, now, wait a minute. I mean, how, how, how’s this going to happen?

Look at verse four. I don’t think Nicodemus is envisioning some type of physical rebirth. It’s almost like he’s. He’s. He’s jarring with Jesus intellectually.

He says, so what do you want me to do? Just go back in my mother’s womb? Be born again. And Jesus says, well, if you want to see the kingdom of God, you must be born again. So Jesus shares a very profound message with Nicodemus, and he’s confronting the institution of the historical interpretation of the law.

And Jesus is challenging him, because this tradition. Because now, here’s what Jesus says. Something spiritual is going to have to happen to you. And I’m the only one that can provide it. Because if you keep reading, Jesus will say, look at verse 12.

I’ve spoken to you of these earthly things. Verse 13, I’m the Son of man who’s come down from heaven to teach this to you. So I’m the only one who can show you how to do this and actually enter into the kingdom God.

What a remarkable moment in history, y’. All. So now, with that said, here’s what I really want us to focus in on this morning for the next few minutes. Because if you and I are going to accept the challenge of evangelism, if we’re going to accept the idea that we’re somehow supposed to share the gospel with people, why are we doing that? What.

What is the compelling reason for Christians to share the good news of Jesus with anyone? What business is it of ours what anybody else believes? Why would we think that we’ve been compelled to tell the world about Jesus? Well, underneath that compelling challenge from Jesus is a compelling theology that I want to make sure you and I have solidly in place so that it can serve as the foundation for all of our evangelistic efforts. Okay?

And that has to do with the theology of conversion. And Jesus deepens our understanding of conversion by utilizing a metaphor, and it’s the metaphor of a new birth. So I want you to look at this again with me. Look at verse three. Jesus says, notice now the NIV translates it like this.

Very truly. Y’ all see that if you look at verse seven, I mean, verse five. Very truly. That’s how the NIV translators have chosen to translate what Greek scholars refer to as the double Amen. In other words, in Greek, this says amen.

Amen repeats it. What that means is sometimes the old King James would translate that like this. Verily, verily. But very truly, it means, wake up and listen to what I’m about to say. That phrase, amen, amen, is found 25 times in the Gospel of John.

So every time you see that phrase, it’s a challenge to you and me to pay attention to what Jesus is about to say. So Jesus says that twice here in this text, and he says, here’s What I want you to know, you’ve gotta be born again. Now, why is that, y’? All? Why does something spiritual have to happen to a human being in order for a human being to actually enter the kingdom of God and ultimately have eternal life?

Well, here’s what’s at stake here, and I wanna make sure we all understand this. The reason that something spiritual has to happen to us to change our condition is because all of humanity, all of humanity is lost under God’s judgment. All of humanity. So I want you all to pause and think about that for a second. Your parents, your children, your siblings, your friends, your colleagues at work, your fellow students, your employers, your employees, your neighbors, the people you meet at the ball field, the people you encounter in the grocery store.

It doesn’t matter who they are. All of humanity without Jesus is lost and under God’s judgment. That’s clearly what the Bible teaches. In fact, when we read this from Jesus, it is supplemented by theological reflection in the rest of the New Testament. And so we can turn to passages like Ephesians 2, Romans 3, Romans 6 to supplement this so that we can have a full understanding of what’s being taught here and why Jesus says something so radical has to happen to us.

Because when you look at what the Bible teaches us, the Bible says this. In Romans 3, verse 23, the apostle Paul has written, everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Well, the glory of God is God’s character. It’s God’s nature. It’s God’s essence.

It’s a reflection of who God really is. In Isaiah, we’re going to be reading Isaiah this fall. Isaiah 43:7 says, this, my people. God says, this, my people who are called by my name, whom I have created for my glory. So Isaiah 43 tells us that God has created all people for his glory.

He designed us to reflect his glory. And so the very reason you and I exist on this earth, the very purpose for our existence, is to display and reflect the glory of God in our lives. The character and the nature of God. We, through us, through our actions, through our attitudes, through how we treat others. And that is our assignment.

And none of us can live up to that assignment because we’ve all sinned and we always fall short of the glory of God. Now, that’s bad news.

It gets worse. Because here’s what Paul says in Romans 6, verse 23. The wages of sin is death. What does sin earn a human being? Death, Spiritual death.

Separation eternally from God. And every human being stands under God’s judgment, all of us, no matter who we are, no matter what our station in life is. That’s why Paul will say in Ephesians 2, let me just look at this for you. In Ephesians 2, verse 1, Paul says, you were dead in your transgressions and your sins. And then he says, every one of us is guilty.

All of us. So the Bible teaches us that if you’re without Christ, then you are under God’s judgment and you’re lost. And if you’re without Christ, you are falling short of the glory of God. And if you’re without Christ, you’re dead in your trespasses and sins. That is bad news, right?

It gets worse. Because in Ephesians 2, verse 3, Paul says this. We all deserve God’s wrath by our very nature, not even through what we do, just because of the sinful nature that has spread all across all human beings. We’re all dead in our sin. We’re all lost.

We’re all separated from God and by nature, children’s children of God’s wrath. That is at the heart of conversion theology. So I ask this question again. Why in the world do we go fishing and try to lead lost people to Jesus? Why don’t we just leave them alone?

Just live and let live? Well, the reason y’ all is is because they’re lost. And God’s glory cannot be on display in them or through them. And they will spend eternity separated from God. And so to not share this with them would be unethical for us, immoral and disobedient to the calling of God because they’re under God’s judgment.

And the only answer is Jesus. He’s the only answer. That’s what he says. Only the one who’s come down from heaven. What does Jesus say in John 14, verse 6?

I am the way. I am the life. I’m the only way to the Father. So there’s only one answer. So that’s why you and I have to share this message.

Are y’ all still with me? So now when we believe this, we’re swimming upstream in our culture, because many Americans do not believe this right here. In fact, there are many American Christians who don’t believe this right here. But back in Alabama, we would say, I’m here to tell you this is true. It’s a difficult.

It’s difficult news, but it’s true. Because here’s what my culture basically says. If you want to have life, just pull yourself up.

Just figure it out on your own.

Many contemporary Americans say, if you want to go to heaven, just live a good life. Be a good person. Do unto others the way that you would hope they would do unto you. Be generous. Be charitable.

Be philanthropic. A few years ago, y’ all may remember, when Warren Buffett chose to give a great deal of his wealth away and give to charity, and he challenged other billionaires to do the same. Someone asked him, why are you doing this? And here’s what he said. There’s more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.

Now, he may have said that in jest, but he’s wrong on two counts. Your generosity does not get you into heaven. And there’s actually only one way to heaven. There are not many ways.

Even if he was joking, there’s only one way. So here’s what Jesus says when I read this text. He looks at and I want you to notice who he’s talking to. He’s not talking to the rich young ruler in this text. He’s not talking to a moral reprobate.

He’s not talking to someone who was on the margin of society. He’s not talking to someone who is completely rebellious against God. He’s talking to Nicodemus. And he says to Nicodemus, you’re on the outside looking in, and he says to him, your only hope. And when he says this, he’s speaking to me and you, your only hope is just start all over.

That’s the only hope. In other words, you don’t need a little tweak, just a little, adjust the thermostat. That’s not what this is. In fact, Jesus says, you know what? If you want to really experience the kingdom of God, then you’ve got to have a complete transformation in your life.

You’ve got to have an absolute overhaul. Jesus says, a matter of fact, if you want to experience this, this life, you know what? You know what you need? You need. Let me tell you what you need.

You know what? You know what? I tell you what, you just need to be born all over again. That’s what you need. Just a complete rebirth.

And everything has to change. It is an absolute transformation. I remember years ago, I heard a politician say this. I’m a Christian. I’m just not one of those born again ones.

Well, once again, I’m here to tell you that’s the only kind there are. If you’re not born from above, born again, then you’re not a Christian. You can try to live like a Christian, but that’s not who you are. You’ve got to experience this. But the good news is, y’ all come on now.

It’s available. So the crux of all of this, the crux of this. I love that word. Crux comes from the word crucifixion. It means the heart of something, the core of an issue at the very heart of the possibility of conversion for human beings.

You know what it is? The love of God. The love of God for God so loved you. See, you and I don’t get into heaven because of our generosity. We get into heaven because of God generosity because God has chosen to be gracious to us.

So is God in heaven looking down at all the lost people in the world? Is he just mad at lost people? Is that how you read the Bible? You think God’s just mad at everyone? Of course not.

As a matter of fact, what does the Bible teach us? God so loves the world. That’s what this text says. And when you read John’s Gospel, the word world occurs many times. And when he uses the word world, he’s not talking about the trees and the mountains and the animals.

He’s talking about this entire institution of humanity that is set up in rebellion against him. And God so loves it that he’s chosen to do something about it. And so here’s the best news we’ve heard, the bad news. Here’s the best news. God loves you and he loves your lost friends, your children and your parents and your siblings and your neighbors, your and your colleagues and your fellow students and the people you see at the grocery store and at the ball field and everywhere else you go.

You look at all of them and you need to think to yourself, God so loves all these people, even your enemies. God loves everybody, y’. All. He loves everyone more than you and I could ever imagine. How do I know that?

Because he gave his son for all of us. He’s shown us how much he loves us. God’s not mad. Jesus didn’t come into the world to express God’s anger. That’s what this text says.

If you look back at it with me in John 3. Now, you know when you’re reading, sometimes you read the New Testament. We do depend upon scholars to help us. Okay? So in John.

John 3 is a great example. If you have a red letter edition of the New Testament. What scholars are trying to do is to help us understand when Jesus is talking and when the writer is writing for us. Okay? So there’s always been a little bit of a challenge in this particular text.

Scholars have disagreed through the Years, because the original Greek text does not have punctuation. It doesn’t even have spaces between the letters, between the words so that it can save space. So it makes it very challenging to read. So you have to. You have to try to interpret.

So, for example, if you have a red letter edition of the New Testament, mine, which is the new NIV, the red letters end at verse 15. And then we come to verse 16. And the translators of the NIV have decided this is now John talking, not Jesus. But here’s what I would tell y’. All.

Whether or not it is Jesus or John, it has been inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, and it is there, and it’s authoritative for all of us. So John is going to step in, I believe, at verse 16. And John is going to tell us, look at verse 19. Here’s the verdict. He says, people love darkness.

But notice that verse 17. Jesus did not come to condemn the world. So God did not send Jesus because he’s mad at lost people. He sent Jesus because he loves us all. And so where does evangelism begin?

It begins with a deep conviction about conversion theology, and it is rooted in the love of God. The reason I want to tell anybody about Jesus is because I love them and God loves them. See, that’s the answer. It is God’s love that propels us so that they can come to know Jesus. You know, I want to read to y’ all a quote from a commentary.

Herschel Hobbs is one of my all time favorite Baptist pastors. Some of you are way too young to even know who he was, but he was many, many years. He was pastor of First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. And for my young life growing up, he wrote the Sunday school commentary for Baptist churches all over America. So as a kid growing up, my daddy had every copy of Herschel Hobbes Commentary on the Bible.

And so I still have them. And so Dr. Hobbs was an incredible scholar. He was well into his 80s. I met him in 1990 in New Orleans. I was interviewing him for my dissertation, for my PhD.

I go in his hotel room there in New Orleans, and on the table there was a yellow legal pad, a Greek New Testament and a pencil. And I said, Dr. Hobbs, what are you doing? He said, well, I write this little Sunday school material for churches. I was like, I’m well aware I have all of them. And I said, so where are all the books?

And he said, oh, I’ve been doing this so long, it’s just me and the Greek text and Jesus. And I was Like, I want to be you when I grow up.

He’s written a paragraph about this one verse. Can I read it to y’? All? Can we look at. This is Herschel Hobbes take on John 3:16.

Let me show it to you. He says that John 3:16 tells of the greatest reason for divine love, for the original source of love, God. The greatest degree of love. So the greatest emotion of love, loved. The greatest object of love the world.

The greatest relation of love that the greatest expression of love. He gave the greatest gift of love, his only begotten son. The greatest demand of love, that the greatest recipients of love, whosoever the greatest response to love, believeth in him. The greatest deliverance of love should not perish. The greatest alternative of love, but the greatest possession of love have the greatest quality and extent of love everlasting and the greatest fruit of love, love life.

Amen to that, right? Amen. Awesome. I love that. What a take on John 3:16.

God so loved this world that he gave. So y’ all lost people need to know this, because, you see, I once was lost. And in my own sin, I was. I was following my own way. I was a senior in high school.

I was 17 years old, like some of y’, all, and I was. I’d been on my own path. And I came to the realization that. That. That’s not.

That’s not right. My Sunday school teacher looked at me one day and said, can you. Can you tell me when you really asked Jesus into your life? Can you write that down for me and tell me the story? I couldn’t do it.

I did it that day, and I. I saw him later and I gave him my note. Today I asked Jesus to come into my life. I was lost. I’ve been found. Praise God.

And because of that, I’m going to experience eternity in heaven with our Lord. I want that for everybody. Don’t you? So last week, y’ all know we’ve got this prayer that we’re. We have a weekly prayer we’re asking everybody to focus on.

Last week, we prayed for the Lord to lay somebody on your heart. He laid somebody on my heart. And so now we want to follow up this week. Here’s the prayer for this week. We want y’ all to be praying this together as a church family this week.

So let’s put this prayer on the screen. And what I’d like for us to do is we will pray it together as a church family this morning. So let’s pray this out loud. This is our prayer. For the week.

Lord, you have placed a lost person on my heart. Please make them aware of how much you love them. Amen. Amen. May that be so.

Let’s pray. Father, we love you. We thank you so much for your love for us. And we thank you, Lord, that your righteous and just indignation is just that it’s righteous. It’s just.

Just. We want to thank you, Lord, that what motivates evangelism and the gospel is not because you’re mad with us, but you love us. You so love us. I ask you, Lord, to let that love be reflected in us and through us as we share the good news of the gospel with our world. And we pray in Jesus name, Amen.