 This is the world's most famous Bible verse, and we've reduced it to a slogan. You pretty much go anywhere and you're gonna see John 3.16, football game, basketball game. You don't see it as much, but it's still there. And even non-Christians can quote it, not even really knowing where it's coming from, but as best if you're Christians. One of the first verses you taught, one of the first verses you are showing how to memorize. And oftentimes, many times we simply just misunderstanding or we neglect how rich it is. We miss what's actually being stated. I don't even have to put it on the screen and you can just quote it, for God so loved the world that He gave us only, but God and Son that who should have believed in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. I memorized that passage before I was even a Christian when I was a little knucklehead on the street running around and there was a Christian group that would come around and pick us up and take us play baseball and so forth and have Bible studies. I remember that passage and the problem was I memorized it, I didn't know what it meant and the only other problem is that too many Christians now are the same way. So let's go ahead and let's look at this particular passage. Let's look at it and let's see what's being missed. There is really a lot in there. And the thing is, John 3.16 doesn't take place in the middle, it's just out there by itself. We need to remember what's being stated in context. Remember, Jesus is making this statement while He's speaking to Nicodemus. We'll come back to that in just a little bit, but notice what He says, for God so loved the world. Notice how it starts off for God in our English and so there's a reason for the four. We'll get to that in a second. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son and the word that's used here is the monokinesis. He gave the only one, the only one He gave so as the Son of His to give. And here's the reason why. Sometimes we think that God gave His only Son or the only one of His kind because He loved the world. That's not what the passage is saying. That's not what the saying is all. We find out why He gave Jesus, why He gave His Son because we have what's called in Greek this word henna. In Greek, henna is like a purpose clause. It tells us what the reason for something being stated is, what the purpose of it is. And so it says, in order that the believing ones are all the believing ones. And so we're gonna have to look at, I'm sorry for some people, for those that value the word, it's okay, but for other people, they may not like it, but we're gonna have to look at the Greek. This in order that pas, ha, pis, tu, and we talk about this a lot because it's important. This is how the Bible describes us as believers. We'll go back to that in just a little bit, but in order that all the believing ones in Him would not perish, may apolite, which is to not perish, but have life into the ages. So that, and by the way, this is present active. And so that means that they may have it right now going into the ages. That's vitally important to understand. Now, before we go to there, let's go back to the forgot so love because folks think that that is the reason why it's in it because he loves the world so much so. No, no. This word Hutos is saying in this way, look down at the bottom, this word Hutos means in this way, this is how. This is how God shows his love for the world. He sent his son, so that's how we take it. This is how God loves the world, how he shows his love for the world so that the son of his, the only one, he sent him in order of that. So the reason why he sent his son is that the believing ones will not perish, but have life. Now, remember, let's back up a little bit and think about the condition of the world at this time and even the particular dispensation, the rules or the economy that the world was under at this point in time, they're under the law. Jesus having a conversation with who? With Nicodemus, a Jewish Pharisee who understands the law and Jesus is trying to make the point and he has and will and Paul brings up also in Romans 10 that Jesus didn't come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law. Well, what did the law require? The law required that those of us, all of us, that we stand guilty, that we have a debt against us. And so what the law required was that there be a sacrifice to atone for sins. Our sins will be placed on the head of the scapegoat, sent away, and then the sacrificial offering would pay the debt that is incurred by us. And then for the people at that time who have afflicted themselves, humble their souls, in other words, they fasted and so forth. They have faith in what was done and then God receives the sacrifice and in doing so, they would stand in right standing. They would be justified. Now in this case, it was temporary. That's the whole point. In that case, it was temporary. And so what was needed was that sin would be taken away completely and that their atonement and justification would also not just be temporary but would be permanent, which is why he says that the ones that are believing in him would not perish but they have life. It's present in so they would have life right now into the ages. Won't go too much into that. We've covered that before. We may, I don't think we'll cover it at this point in time but notice what he says though. He refers to us as the believing ones. Now I wanna get real, real nerdy here, a little technical and I wanna go to a book. It's called Greek Basics Beyond the, I'm gonna start Greek Beyond the Basics, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Dr. Daniel Wallace. He, now you've heard me bring him up before. He's one of the foremost Greek authorities that we have on the planet. And he brings up this participle that's being used for belief. Now, you can believe, you can have believe duh or in this case, if it's a participle, think ING, like I run or I'm running, it's telling us what we are, what we're doing. And so it's kind of the state that's ongoing. And so he describes John 360. Now this part gets a little bit nerdy but I want you to follow me because it's very important because I need you to know how God looks at us, how he looks at each one of us believers. He refers to us most often this way. So if we go to John 316 and look at the notes on this, he says, a spectral force of the present, high pistol one, the believing ones seems to be in contrast with high pistol size, in other words, believed. Believing ones, high pistol one is believing, pistol size is believed. And so he's gonna make a point that anybody, or he's not making a point here but he brings us out of other places that anyone can believe, get a mental ascent and it can be temporary. But believing obviously means this is what you're doing. You continue. And so this is how he most often describes us. So the heiress that's the past tense is used only eight times, plus two in the longer, and you get marks. So really we would say six times. And even in those times, once you look at him, he says, okay, that's the only, that's pretty much the only way but the best way to bring this out by using the heiress. But notice what he says. The heiress is sometimes used to describe believers as such and thus has a generic force. For the clearest examples, he gives us examples, Mark 16, 16, compared also with Second Thessalonians 2, 1, 10, also negatively of those who did not believe. And so in this case, so two of those, really two of the six, but two of those are negatively, so it's not even referring to an actual true believer. The present occurs six times as often 43 times, six times most often in so tier logical context, meaning in terms of salvation. And he gives some of the examples that they're used. Thus it seems that since the heiress participle was a live option to describe a believer, so you could have used the heiress to describe a believer, he doesn't, to describe a believer. It's unlikely that when the present was used, it was aspectually flat, meaning he's trying to make a point by using the participle. The present was the tense of choice, most likely because the New Testament writers, by and large, saw continual belief as a necessary condition of salvation. In other words, he's saying, you have to be believing. If you are believing, you're safe. If you believe it and stop, you're not now. The point is gonna be drawn out even more so, but let's continue. Along these lines it seems significant that the promise of salvation is almost always given to the hapistouan, almost never to the hapistousas, apart from Mark. So the point that he's making is we are described as believers as believing ones. So let's go back to John 3.16, and we go over to the Greek. He says that now in the English it says that whoever believes. In the Greek it says hapistouan. So the one who's believing. So there was a time where you would say whoever believes and it kind of gives the same, the same understanding, but again, English changes over time. And so the meaning might get lost a little bit for some people. So whoever it is believing, whoever is a person that's believing, that person, whoever that person might be, that's why the whoever is. But truth be told to give a better or a clearer understanding. It is, as the Greek says, hapistouan. The ones that's believing, the believing ones in him does not perish, but right now has life engaged, which is why John 6.47 says that, truly truly I said to you that whoever believes and by the way, the same word is, the hapistouan, the believing one has life right now. So if you're believing at this moment, if you are one of those ones that are believing, then you have life right now. Well, wait a second. How do you guarantee life right now if the possibility of you stop believing is there? Well, that's the point. The possibility of you stop believing if you are one of the believing ones, a true believer won't occur. It will not happen. Now, before we go any further, I want to remember what we're speaking of. In John 3, he's speaking to Nicodemus. He says that a person, in order to see the kingdom of heaven, in order to be saved, you must first be born again. Born again does not mean being saved. Being saved comes about of being born again, meaning your heart has changed. In order to be saved, in order to keep believing, you must have a regenerated heart. Does regeneration proceed faith? I'm not gonna talk about that now, but regeneration keeps faith. Regeneration keeps you believing. Think about what he says in Luke 6, the good heart, which is regenerated heart, keeps a person believing and causes them to remain and to bear fruit. That last, as Luke 8 tells us. And so he's speaking to Nicodemus about what must happen. First, the person must have a regenerated heart. He uses three ways to describe it. Born again, born of water and spirit, or born of the spirit. And he says the spirit, just like the wind goes where we don't know where it's going from, or where it's going to. So it is of everyone that's born of or born of the spirit. And John 1 lets us know that it applies not just the Jews, but to everyone, whoever it might be that is born of the will of God. That is a, so it's not born of will, born of flesh, but born of the will of God. So whoever it is, those are the sons of God. And so in this case, Jesus make a statement that he loves us so much so that he sends his son so that the ones that are believing in him would not perish. Whereas previously you could believe it could be temporary, you have the temporary atonement, but what happens the following year? And the following year. And so there was a necessary thing that had to be done over and over and over again. Now he brings this point, the same words as used is also used as he's describing in chapter. I mean, in the earlier parts, he says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. And that's what he says. And I want you to follow this. Look, we have to look over at the Greek as well. He says, even as Moses lifted up the serpent, and this is where they grumbled and complained against God and against Moses. So God had these serpents come and bite them. And so he had Moses to fashion this serpent, put them on a stick, on a, or lift it up high on a stick. And then those that will look on it as trusting and believing, they will be saved. And so he says in the same way, even as Moses did that, he says, this is even so must the son of man be lifted up. And notice what he says, so that whoever believes the same word in order that the believing ones in him have life and not, I mean, have life or eternal life. The same word is used in verse 14 and verse 15 is verse 16. But he makes this statement that even so the son of man must be lifted up. So that, now, why does the son of man must be lifted up in order that all the ones that are believing in him will not perish. So it is necessary that he be lifted up in order that they do not perish. Now, by the way, by the way, let's go back and look at something because he says that if he be lifted up early, I mean, another passage in John 12, Jesus says, and if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself. So what's gonna happen after that point as he's lifted up, how does he do the drawing? Well, that's where the regeneration of the heart takes place. The heart becomes regenerated and then people are drawn to him. I don't wanna go into that too much at this point. It's a, it's another four hour discussion, but this is what he's alluded to. All of this is kind of coming together and he's making his point that it is necessary for those things to happen. Why? Because someone can temporarily have a mental sense, have their faith, believe that God is who he says he is and so forth and all that's gonna happen. And then they don't leave, or they may turn around and leave the faith or we find out that they were actually believing. That's why Jesus makes a statement in John 7. I'm sorry, not John 7. Matthew 7, that many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, and he says, what's his final analysis? What he says, how do you know that you're not saved? He said, he makes a statement, I never knew you. Not that I used to know you, but I never knew you. We never had that point. And so even those people who were like in Matthew 7 or Luke 8 previously to having their heart or the good ground, those are the people that they thought they knew him, but he never knew them. If he did, they would continue with him. So now that part needs to be understood. Now, notice what he says though. Verse 16, so that the believing ones in him should not perish but have life. For God did not send his son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he is not believed in the name of the only regarding of the son. Now, by the way, this word that's still used here is a perfect active indicative. So this is something that who has been believing. By the way, I want you to notice what he says. For God did not send his son into the world to judge, but that the world through him might be saved. Well, let's think about something for a second. Let's think about why he actually came. Remember he says this statement in John 639. He says, this is the will of him who sent me. That all that he has given me, I shall lose nothing but raise him in the last day. So I will raise them as well, all the ones that he's given me. This is the will of him who sent me. Remember what we talked about in John 316 about the one that sent him, the one that sent him into the world. He didn't come to judge the world, but he came to save the world. Now, is the world going to be judged? Sure, because they have rejected him. They have not been believing in him. If you are believing in him, you don't have to suffer the judgment that the world is gonna go through. Well, we know that, but he's trying to point out the reason why he's here and how men will be saved. So he says this is why he came. Matter of fact, Hebrews 10, to piggyback off of the old covenant way of atonement, you've got a high priest offering atonement for the people how? By confessing their sins of the people on the head of the scapegoat sitting in a way. And then the sacrificial offering on the blood of the sacrificial offering on the altar and God accepts that as payment. Well, the same thing happens or been brought up in Hebrews 10 where he says sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you prepared for me, that is for Jesus. And so the sacrifice and offerings, they don't do the job, but this sacrifice, this offering a better high priest that mediates for us, a better sin offering that makes perpetuation for us, that's Jesus. And also a better scapegoat that takes away the sins of the world, that's Jesus also. So we have to think better. So what does he do? He fulfills the law by as Roman says, Romans 10, Paul says that he also ends the law. And so this is this Jesus who sends his son, I mean, who God has sent him. He says, what the law could not do, Romans a three, weak as it was through the flesh, God did sending his own son in the light of the simple flesh. And as an offering for sin, he condemned sin to the flesh. So him sending him was a better offering to what? To nullify and to end or condemn sin in the flesh. He got rid of the effects of sin by this particular offering. And in doing so, what does Paul tell us? It is God who justifies. Look at verse 32 of Taperik. He who did not spare his own son but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? Look what he says. It is God who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Well, Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather who was raised, who was at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us. And he says, who will separate us from the love of Christ? And he goes through a litany of things. And so he justified us by what Christ did. So Christ comes to save us. Christ comes to give us life at this very moment. And going back to John 3 16, keeping in mind what he spoke to Nicodemus by the fact that the spirit comes and does something to us, to our hearts. And then us believing by the spirit being in our heart, being regenerated, we will keep what? Believing the very part of simple that we're described as needing to be saved, as believing, continual faith. And so if someone says you have to keep believing, we have no problem with that. Because why? We are told that the spirit has come down and has changed our heart, has regenerated us. Our heart is now born from above, born of the spirit. And so now what? We will keep believing. And so in order that the believing ones will be saved, so that's why John 3 16 matters. God showed his love for us in this way that he gave his son to do what? To be an offering in order that all of us that are believing the spirit has regenerated our heart in order that all of us with this regenerated, believing heart will never perish. But instead we have life at this very moment into the ages. The power, the beauty of John 3 16 is there. That's why I wish we don't always sometimes limit it or reduce it to a slogan, a nice catchphrase, just put on a t-shirt. There's a whole lot more that would cause us or should cause us to rejoice. The beauty of John 3 16, again as I said before, it's not that salvation has come to Israel and it's not that salvation has come to the world. That is not the good news of John 3 16. It's not the good news period. The good news is not that it's come to the world but that it's come to the world permanently and we should never perish. Amen.