John 3:11-21

Good morning, everyone. Open up your copy of God's Word to John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

Last week we started John chapter 3 and worked our way through a little bit more of it today.

John 3 · chapter mention

And then next week we will finish it.

Thank you for the music and leading us in that beautiful, directing our hearts toward God.

Today we will be in John 3, 11 through 21.

Just by way of reminder, the Gospel of John is one of the clearest portraits of Jesus Christ,

one of the best clear visions we can have of Him as the Son of God incarnate who came to dwell among us.

And John focuses not just on the identity of who Jesus is,

but he also does it in such a way where he demands a response to it,

to either receive or reject the Son of God.

And last week we picked it up with this conversation that he has with Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees.

He's in Jerusalem.

He has just commenced with the cleaning out of the temple and his righteous anger.

And Nicodemus, it says a little earlier, came to Jesus by night,

hoping probably to avoid the dangerous implications of other people, particularly of his own order, the Pharisees,

seeing him interact with Jesus.

But Nicodemus seems to be actually intrigued.

He wants to hear Jesus out, take a closer look at who he is and his claims.

And we learn a lot of very serious things that you cannot miss if you want to be saved,

if you want to have a relationship with God through Christ.

A lot in this interaction.

But the one we looked at last week is how can a fallen, dead sinner enter into God's kingdom?

How can the rebels of the king actually be at peace with him and then enter into God's presence?

And we looked at this last week, but the answer simply is you must be born again from above to see the kingdom of God.

And Jesus goes at length to explain that to him.

But clearly Nicodemus picks up on some things he's saying, but he still is confused.

He doesn't quite know exactly what Jesus is saying.

He gives him analogies from this world, talking about birth and how that connects to a spiritual birth that we must have.

Then we go on in verse 11 today.

Let's pick it up in verse 11.

Let's read our text together.

This is Jesus going on, but verse 11.

And truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen.

But you do not receive our testimony.

If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe me, how can you believe me if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already,

because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world.

And people love darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

Join me in another quick word of prayer.

Father, we just put this text before you and ask that you would work in our hearts and our hearing,

that your Holy Spirit would apply the word in the right way to each individual this year.

In Christ's name, amen.

So, we see now in this text, sort of a turning away from just the conversation with Nicodemus

to our Lord's discourse on the true meaning of what salvation actually is.

And this is the news of the gospel, the glad tithings of salvation.

And a lot of you have grown up hearing a lot of this stuff for most of your life,

especially from John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

And so, lest you be tempted to be too familiar, you know, John 3.16, blah, blah, blah.

Don't do that. Refuse to do that.

And why do we need to hear the gospel daily?

Why do we need to be reminded of the gospel daily?

As it has been said, because we forget it almost daily.

And our lives reflect that very often.

Like, how many of us could actually sit down with someone who doesn't know and explain the true Christian gospel?

How many of you are convinced that you believe the gospel, but your life and what you love and what you chase after doesn't really reflect that belief?

It contradicts it.

And how many of you could be thinking that this is sort of just going back over something that you already know?

Don't be tempted.

The important thing is if you actually have believed the gospel and you attend church Bible studies and meetings and learn from God's word,

you might try to be a better person and have an adequate understanding of what the gospel message is.

But for some reason, you begin to think, is this all there is to it?

Is there more to being a follower of Jesus?

But your life simultaneously is characterized by a lack of joy and a lack of peace that's promised to those who do believe the gospel.

A lack of consistent spiritual growth.

It seems like the Christian life is reduced to a bunch of do's and don'ts.

Trying to be good and trying not to be bad.

And this is a failure to actually understand what the gospel is.

This one man said the gospel is not just the ABC of Christianity.

It is the A to Z of Christianity.

Paul refers to the gospel in a lot of rich language.

Romans 1.9, he calls it the good news of his son.

Romans 15.16, the good news of God.

1 Corinthians 9.12, the good news of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4.4, the glorious good news.

Ephesians 6.15, the good news of peace.

And then, of course, Revelation 14.6, the everlasting gospel or the everlasting good news.

But just a reminder before we start to unpack this, David Pryor wrote this.

He says, we never move on from the cross.

Only into a more profound understanding of the cross.

And if you're growing spiritually, your sin that is making you feel small, a greater understanding of your need for salvation,

you get smaller and God's salvation and God gets bigger.

And so, we're going to look at this through three points today, walking through our text.

Point number one, it's all just right out of the text.

The Son of Man has come from the Father.

The Son of Man has come from the Father.

This may be one of the most important ones for us to understand, all that's important, but we have to understand who Jesus is.

And we see this very clearly in verses 11 through 13.

We just read it.

In verse 11, you see that Jesus hones in on the idea of one's belief is tied to their spiritual ignorance.

Nicodemus is missing the heart of the matter.

He fails to understand Jesus' teaching.

He's failed to believe in Jesus' witness, what Jesus is saying.

And if you look at the verses, verses 11 through 13,

the word you, the pronoun you, used four times is actually in the plural.

So, he's not just saying you, Nicodemus, but he's speaking about a characteristic of the nation of Israel in general.

Y'all, you do not believe in what I am saying.

And he is supposed to be this great teacher of the nation of Israel.

He is the top of the line.

He is a Pharisee.

And Jesus is saying, look, if you don't understand this,

what your own scriptures teach,

and I'm using earthly analogies here,

if you can't understand this,

how will you understand a greater teaching

about heavenly things that are pertaining to God's glorious kingdom

and that no one can enter into it except through new birth, new spiritual birth?

So, he's laying this out very clearly.

But one verse he really looked closely at,

he tells Nicodemus something astonishing.

All right?

He says this in verse 13.

Look at verse 13.

No one has ascended into heaven

except he who has descended from heaven,

the Son of Man.

So, no one,

absolutely no one has ascended to heaven

or descended from heaven

in such a way as to come back

and talk about what heaven is like

other than Jesus.

He has come from the Father.

Heaven is his true home.

There he dwelt eternally

with the Father and the Spirit,

which is in John 17.

Totally content in the Godhead.

Jesus absolutely insisted

that no one,

no one has ascended to heaven

in such a matter

as to come back and talk about these things.

He's saying,

there isn't anybody,

like I'm it.

He alone was in heaven

prior to his incarnation.

And the wisdom writer,

something really,

a great connection to this,

the wisdom writer

in Proverbs 30,

Proverbs 30:3

verses 3 and 4,

he says,

I have not learned wisdom,

nor have I knowledge

of the Holy One.

He's saying,

I don't really understand God.

Like,

he is so lofty.

Then he makes this point,

who has ascended to heaven

and come down?

And in his mind,

like,

yeah,

no one has.

Like,

no one has actually dwelt with God.

But,

Jesus is saying,

yes,

actually,

I have,

the Son of God.

Therefore,

Jesus alone

possesses true knowledge

and wisdom of God.

He makes these exclusive claims

all throughout the Gospel of John.

Many exclusive claims.

Let's just look at a few of them together.

He says,

no one has ever even seen God.

No one has,

except the Son.

John 1,

18,

which we read about earlier.

No one has ever seen God.

The only God

who is at the Father's side,

He has made Him known.

There's one.

Also,

everyone,

it says in John 6,

45,

46,

everyone who has heard

and learned from the Father,

Jesus says,

comes to me.

Not that anyone

has ever seen the Father,

except He who is from God.

Talking about Himself.

He has seen the Father.

If you want to honor the Father,

Jesus says,

whoever does not honor the Son

does not honor the Father

who sent Him.

That's John 5, 23.

If we claim to love the Father,

you must love Christ

whom the Father sent.

John 8, 42,

if God were your Father.

He's talking to a group of Jews

and leaders

that don't believe in Him.

He's saying,

if you love the Father,

you would love me.

For I came from God

and I am here.

I cannot do this

on my own accord,

but He sent me.

And if we want to come

into the Father's presence

one day,

if we want to enter

into the realms

of eternal glory

to be with Him,

Jesus says,

I am the way,

the truth,

and the life.

And no one comes

to the Father

except through me.

John 14, 6.

He also says

in John 14, 9,

do you want to see God?

Do you want to see God?

He says,

whoever has seen me

has seen the Father.

So if Jesus is the only one

who has come from God,

then His authority

on all things and matters

pertaining to God,

He holds absolute authority.

And so we have to listen to Him.

We have to trust Him

if we are to be saved

and if we are to know God.

It's a very exclusive claim

He makes before going on

in this passage.

So what are we going to do

with that reality

that He is the true Son of God?

There's two options.

This is the next two points.

But number two

is receive the Son,

be saved,

and have eternal life.

Receive the Son,

be saved,

and have eternal life.

And this goes on

from verses 14 to 18.

And He gives,

Jesus gives this veiled prediction

in verse 14.

He refers back to Moses

and the children of Israel

when they were wandering

in the desert.

So He's going back

to the Scriptures.

He's saying,

I love this just like Jesus

to teach us something

from the Scriptures

to help make a point

in the Scriptures.

And when they are wandering

in the wilderness

in such a barren land,

God graciously feeds them

manna from heaven.

And instead of being grateful

for His provision from them,

instead,

they are ungrateful

and they begin grumbling

and complaining against God.

And as an act of judgment

and ingratitude,

God sends fiery serpents,

poisonous snakes,

among them,

in which many perish.

Realizing the error of their way,

they cry to Moses and say,

hey, like we repent,

we repent,

like, you know,

we beg you to intercede

for us to God,

for Him to lift His judgment

in which Moses does

and God does.

But a brief verse or two

out of Numbers 21,

this is Jesus referring back

to what happened.

Numbers 21, verse 8,

Numbers 21:8

the Lord said to Moses,

make a fiery serpent,

set it on a pole,

and everyone who is bitten,

when he sees it,

shall live.

So Moses made a bronze serpent

and set it up on a pole.

And if a serpent bit anyone,

he could look at the bronze serpent

and live.

So they had to,

by faith,

trust in what God had said,

gaze upon this fiery serpent,

this bronze serpent,

by faith,

believing that God would heal them

if they looked upon

the serpent on the pole

and then they would live physically.

So Jesus is saying,

those who look upon Christ,

the connection word here

is lifted up,

as Moses lifted this

bronze serpent up.

Those who look upon Christ,

who would be lifted up

on the cross,

for the sins of many

would have eternal life.

So Jesus builds out from this

to explain the true meaning

of salvation.

And that gives us to verse 16,

one of the most well-known

in the world,

probably.

So much so that WWE wrestlers

and baseball players

have it on their,

you know,

tattoos and stuff,

but very,

not implied what that meaning is.

But verse 16,

let's read it,

for God so loved the world

that he gave his only son

that whoever believes in him

should not perish

but have eternal life.

All right?

So God was moved by his love

for a sinful world of humanity.

And really quickly,

I didn't come up with this.

It was more,

I heard it from

Sinclair Ferguson.

But just three really good points

on what love actually is.

He implies,

the greater the lover,

the greater the love.

And so,

there is no being

in all existence

that has the capacity

for love

with such immensity

and vastness as God.

God, indeed,

is the definition of love.

As it says in 1 John,

God is love.

And he demonstrates

his great love for us.

So there's no greater lover

than God himself.

The second principle was,

the lesser the object,

the greater the love.

It's relatively easy

for us to love people

who love us.

That's what Jesus said.

Like, yeah,

of course you're going to love people

who love you back.

But,

not that so with God.

We have wrongly turned

God's love,

often,

as an echo

of our own excellence.

God loved me so much

because I was so important.

I was so valuable

and he couldn't spare me.

That's not the case.

The truth is

that his sin

had made us unlovable.

If everything in the Scripture

is true,

then we were rebels

against God.

We were depraved

in our minds

and our hearts.

And we sought

to overthrow

his rightful rule

in our lives.

So,

he chose

to set his love

on the most

less of objects

possible,

following humanity.

And then lastly,

the greater

the expression

of that love,

the more marvelous

the love.

And what was the expression

of God's love?

It wasn't just sentiment,

it was action.

He sent

his only son

to die

on a blood-stained cross

for us.

So,

those three things

what we see here,

God's love

has expressed

his desire

to welcome sinners,

embracing them,

cherishing them,

and giving eternally

of himself

to them.

And he did so,

again,

not because we were lovable.

We were not lovable.

1 John 4,

for this is from God

because God is love.

Not that we

have loved God,

but that God

loved us,

right?

And he sent his son

to die for us.

So,

it magnifies

God's great love

to lavish it

on lesser

deserving

rebels

and sinners

that have been

against his good rule.

It shows us

how great his love is

because he loved

his enemies.

That's the point.

Not because we were

valuable,

but because we were

enemies.

It magnifies

God's love.

God's love

for the world.

We see this

in the next part

of the verse.

In the context,

for Nicodemus,

a Pharisee,

and for other Jews

to hear,

the phrase

that God

loved the world

would have been

a shocking

and astonishing

statement

for any Jew

to hear

because many

of them,

most of them

maybe,

wrongly interpreted

the Old Testament

and other Jewish

writings.

They thought

that God's love

was exclusively

just for the

nation of Israel.

And one time

when you read

in the scriptures

the term

the world

or all men,

it was often

used by the New Testament

writers to correct

the false notion

that God's love

was only for

the people

of Israel.

So they use

such phrases

to show

that Christ

died for all men

without distinction,

Jews and Gentiles,

people from

every nation

and tongue,

not just for all men

without exception,

meaning each and every

single individual

walking the planet.

But,

again,

this can't be

overemphasized.

Nicodemus would have

been like,

whoa, stop,

wait a minute,

what are you talking about?

It would have been

a mind-boggling thing

for him to hear.

But as we know,

the scripture teaches

from the Abrahamic covenant

all the way

to the end of Revelation

that God desires

to collect a people

for himself

from every language,

every nation,

every tribe,

every ethnic group,

every tongue,

and he will do it.

That's his promise.

He's going to do it.

And so,

that is his love

for the world,

this terrible world

that we live in.

What was the expression

of that love?

We see in the next part

of this,

that he gave

his only son.

Not mere sentiment,

again,

but he actually did something.

He sent his only son.

This implies,

like,

his only unique son.

God gave us

his most treasured

possession,

his son.

It says in John 5,

20,

that the father

loves his son

and shows him

all that he is doing.

And before all creation

and eternity past,

when the son dwelt

perfectly alone

with the spirit

and the father,

John 17,

5,

Father,

glorify me

in your own presence

with the glory

that I had with you

before the world existed.

And then,

at Jesus' baptism,

we read,

that a voice came

from heaven.

This is my beloved son

with whom I'm well pleased.

Listen to him.

So,

the father loves

and cherishes

the son.

His most valued possession.

This is what he gave

for a fallen humanity.

When it says

that God so loved the world,

it's saying,

in what way

did God

love the world?

How so?

That he gave

his one

only unique son

for us.

And then,

the next part of this,

that whoever believes

in him.

It just simply says

whoever believes in him,

not how does

one believe,

how does this

take place,

but just saying

whoever does

will be saved.

So,

the word believed

here is a key word

that we can't miss.

It's used seven times

in this context

to emphasize

our reaction

or our response

to what God

has done.

All right?

It's our response

to God's great love

and sending Christ.

But,

the Greek word here

means a deep confidence

to be fully persuaded,

fully entrust.

It means to be

fully persuaded

in such a way

that it affects

how you live.

So,

it's not just

a mental ascent

to knowledge.

It changes

how you live.

Right?

So,

here's an analogy.

I hate to use

this analogy.

There's so many

analogies out there

that relate to

airplanes and parachutes

and jumping,

but,

I don't know.

Here we go.

I think it's probably

one of the best ones,

but,

let's say that you

were going to go

skydiving

and you had

the best instructor

on the planet

with you,

the skydiving instructor.

And he says to you,

do you believe

the parachute will work?

You say,

I guess it will.

Yeah,

I've done what

I'm supposed to do.

And,

do you entrust

yourself to me?

Do you believe in me

as your instructor?

Absolutely.

You're the best.

All right,

let's jump.

And then you go,

whoa,

not quite ready,

not so fast.

This is,

I'm not ready.

And then he goes,

well,

it's okay.

Look,

I'll be jumping

with you.

But,

but then you say,

what if I mess up

and I descend down

into a death spiral?

And he goes,

don't worry.

Like,

I promise I'll be with you

and I'll make it right.

Like,

you'll be fine.

I promise.

Don't worry.

I will make it right

and I'll save your life.

And then you say,

I'm sure you'll try your best,

but just to be safe,

I'm going to sit down.

Do you really trust me?

He says,

and well,

apparently not.

Right?

And the difference is

between this mentally agreeing

that the parachute

and the instructor

will save your life

no matter what,

and then actually doing it.

And so,

what we're saying

is that

true believing

in the skydiving

and structure

will save your life.

You have to actually believe that

and you have to actually do it.

Not just have

a mental agreement

like,

yeah,

I think so.

It's actually trusting

in him to do it.

Fully being persuaded.

Not blind faith.

And so,

the results of us

truly believing

in Christ,

the results of that

are that we will not perish

but have eternal life.

Not perishing

as opposed to having

eternal judgment.

Right?

That's what we're talking about.

This is first of ten references

in John's Gospel

where he used the phrase

eternal life.

That is not just

the quantity of life

but the quality

of our spiritual life

with God.

life that we can

experience now

and one day

fully embrace

when we go

into his presence.

A lot of people,

you know,

when you ask the question

what is eternal life?

What is it?

They'll say things like

it means

not going to hell.

It means not perishing.

It means to live forever.

And all those things

are true

but they're the overflow

of something else

which is knowing God.

Jesus himself

defines it

in John 17 verse 3.

John 17:3

Jesus says,

this is eternal life.

I'm about to define it for you.

That they know you

the only true God

and Jesus Christ

whom you have sent.

So this sweet,

glorious sharing

of everlasting life

and intimacy

with the Godhead.

If you have that,

yes,

you will be spared.

And then

we go on

to verse 17.

Alright?

Verse 17 here.

We're pulling it together

and we understand

that

if we reject the son

we will not

be saved.

But,

sorry,

I got my notes mixed up.

So,

whoever believes in him

will not perish.

But then we see him

move to courtroom language

in the rest of the text.

Verse 17.

God did not send

his son into the world

to condemn

or to judge the world

but in order

that the world

might be saved

through him.

So here's this

courtroom language

of being condemned

and not being condemned.

So the point here

is not that

God won't ever

judge the world.

He will.

But,

that the time

has not yet come

for final judgment.

So listen,

all of us

are under threat

of judgment already

before Jesus came.

Our sin

had put us

in a perilous position

before God.

So in one way

we already all

stand condemned.

Do you see that

in the text?

We already all

stand condemned

and the way

to not be

is to put

our full trust

in the Savior.

Then it says

if you believe in him

in such a way

where it changes

your life,

right,

then you will

be spared.

So the moment

that we are born again,

the result of that

is faith

in the person

and work

of Jesus Christ

that we truly

have believed.

Jesus says,

in John 5,

24,

like something

actually happened

when you were saved.

This is one of those things

like if you have been

truly born again,

God will finish

this work in you.

Jesus said,

truly, truly,

I say to you,

whoever hears

my word

and believes

in him

who sent me

has eternal life.

They have it

like right now.

Then he says,

he does not

come into judgment

but has passed

from death

to life.

An actual thing

that happens

as a result

of being born again.

So Jesus is talking

about yet

his first coming here,

like in this,

his first incarnation

where he came

to walk among us

and die on the cross

for us.

He didn't come

to judge

then,

but he will

one day.

In his second coming

that will consummate.

So when you see

in verse 18,

whoever believes

in him

is not condemned.

So if we've truly

been born again

and placed our

saving faith in Christ,

we won't be condemned.

So the conclusion

of the suffering

and death of Jesus

is Romans 8.1.

Therefore,

there is no condemnation

for those

who are in Christ Jesus

and to be in Christ

and to have a relationship

with him

by faith.

Faith in Christ

unites us

to Christ

so that his death

became our death

and his life

is now our life.

That's what our faith does.

It unites us

to Christ.

He took the punishment

that we could not bear

and he became the perfection

that we could not perform.

All those things

are what happened

when we received the Son.

We are saved

and not condemned.

But then he gives you

the contrast

in verses 18 to 21.

This is the last point.

Reject the Son.

Point number three.

Reject the Son.

Be condemned

and perish.

Do you see

the either or language here?

Like the Bible,

particularly Gospel of John,

doesn't leave that room for us.

We see this in

verses 18 through 21.

Verse 18

is just a restating

of what he already

has said in verse 16.

He sets up

for what Jesus

is going to say next.

So on the other hand,

if you refuse

the Son of God,

if you reject

his peace offer,

then you will not

have eternal life

and you will utterly

perish.

Chilling.

If we do not believe

or fully trust

in Christ to save us,

we are condemned

already.

Meaning people,

all of us,

already stood

guilty before God

because of our sin

and our rebellion.

But that final sentencing

will come later

when Christ returns

and he will consummate

that judgment.

Unbelievers,

those who reject Christ,

that I once was

and many of you

once were,

we were condemned

in that moment.

We are condemned

already before God

because of the sin

of not trusting.

You see that?

Because they have not

believed in the name

of the only Son of God.

So our unbelief

pretty much just

is the high point

of that rebellion.

We already were guilty

but then we rejected

God's only solution

for our absolution

of our sin

before God.

So unbelief

in the Savior

is that high point.

So John,

then under

the inspiration

of the Holy Spirit,

explains why

some people do

and some people don't.

He gives us

some insight here

why some people receive

and why both reject.

But refusal

to trust in Jesus

as we read about

is this cosmic battle

between light

and darkness.

John does this a lot.

He does it a lot

in his letters

as well.

The battle of truth

versus error.

Light versus darkness.

Eternal life

versus eternal judgment.

And Jesus said

later on in John

that he is the light

of the world

and he has come

into the world.

And his light

exposes

whether a person

is righteous

or not.

And it drives them

into darkness.

So they don't only

hate the light

but they hate

the one

who is bringing

the light.

It's a very simple thing.

Most of us

when we have committed sin

we don't want

we want to hide.

It goes back

to Genesis 3.

We want to hide.

We want to run

from the light.

We don't want

to be exposed.

We run

not just from the light

but from Jesus himself

who is the light.

And in verse 19

look at verse 19

whoever does

what is true

comes to the light.

On the other hand

those who trust in him

love him

and obey him

come to the light.

Describing the kind

of judgment

that really does happen

when light comes

into the world.

And it turns

some

of us

into lovers

of the king.

We run into his presence

and others

we run away

from that light.

Proving that

we are condemned.

So it comes

by way of what we love

and what we hate.

Do we love the light?

Or do we hate the light?

Flip over briefly

to

1 John.

This is John's letter.

The same one

who wrote this gospel.

Look at 1 John

1 John 1:5–10

chapter 1

verses 5 through 10.

You can see

the language here.

So some of us

are wondering

like most of us

probably here

in this church gathering

have come into the light

and we hate our sin

even though we sin

but we love the Savior

and we treasure his blood

and others of us

still walk in darkness.

So 1 John 1

5

he says

this is the message

we have heard

from him

and proclaim to you

that God is light

and in him

there is no darkness

at all.

If we say

or if we claim

we have fellowship

with him

while we walk

in darkness

we lie

and do not

practice the truth

but

if we walk

in the light

as he is in the light

we have fellowship

with one another

and the blood of Jesus

his son

cleanses us

from all sin.

If we say

we have no sin

we have deceived

ourselves

and the truth

is not in us.

but on the other hand

if we confess

our sins

he is faithful

and just

to forgive us

our sins

and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

If we say

we have not sin

we make him a liar

and his word

is not in us.

So go on

and continue reading

in 1 John

and he just keeps

flushing this out

but very clearly

Christ has come

he is the son of God

he has said

that I am the only way

to have your sin forgiven.

I am the only way

to the father

listen to me.

And then we have

one or two responses

we receive him

and have eternal life

or we reject him

and we are condemned

and we perish.

This is the gospel.

This is it.

This is the message

that we carry forth

from this building

and carry forth

to the nations

that Jesus has come

to give us life

everlasting life

and the motive of that

was the love of God.

The love of God

that was lavished

on sinful humanity

that rebelled against him.

I pray that

you have trusted

and looked at the son of God

and believed in him

that he saved your life.

So let's

join me in a word of prayer

for application

of this word.

Amen.