The Full GospelSample

For God So Loved // The Gospel According to John

In today’s reading, we are going to be looking at one of the most famous verses in the Bible to better understand the magnitude of God’s love for us. This verse is found in the fourth gospel, the Gospel of John. John’s gospel is by far the most unique in the way it is written, and that uniqueness extends to the way he describes the good news Jesus announced. Here’s what John writes:

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. John 3:16 NIV

The heart of God is right at the center of the gospel. Jesus’ arrival into the world was motivated by God’s love for the world. It was an act of love that moved God to the point of sacrificing His one and only Son so that, instead of death being the end, we have eternal life with Him.

Receiving eternal life comes from believing in Jesus.

For John, believing in Jesus is so much more than just believing that He’s real. It also means trusting that He is good. And in response, as followers of Jesus, we do what He says and follow where He leads.

Faith is more than just believing God exists. Faith is choosing to trust and follow Jesus with your whole life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:17-18 NIV

Jesus came to save us from our sins. Sin is a disease of self-centeredness that always ends in death. And because we are all sinners, we are all barreling down the road toward death.

As John writes, it’s why we “stand condemned.” But because of His love for us, God offers us a new future—eternal life that we receive when we believe in Jesus.

Near the end of this chapter, John summarizes his understanding of the gospel with these words:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. John 3:36 NIV

Suddenly, John starts talking about God’s wrath, in a chapter that’s otherwise focused on God’s love. It really matters that we truly understand God’s love. His love is perfect and complete.

It consists of grace and truth, and justice and mercy. If we reject the grace and mercy that God freely offers through His Son Jesus, then all we’re left with is truth and justice.

And the truth is, we are all sinners who have broken God’s law, turned our backs on the Author of Life, and harmed others made in God’s image. As a result, justice demands we experience the consequences of our choices.

And those consequences come in three main forms: legal, natural, and relational.

The legal consequence of breaking God’s law is judgment. The natural consequence of turning away from life is death. The relational consequence of harming people God loves is wrath.

But why wrath? Doesn’t that sound harsh and unloving? Possibly, if God was just like us. But He isn’t. He is God, and His anger is not like ours.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:19-20 NIV

Human anger does not produce the righteousness of God. When we get angry, we tend to do unwise and unrighteous things. But that’s not what happens when God gets angry. As challenging as this might be to believe, God’s wrath always and only produces righteous action.

It was His anger at the way sin and death violently oppressed His people that drove Him to do something about it. And because His wrath is never separated from His love, He decided to become one of us in the person of Jesus—to suffer and die for us on the cross, and rise again on the third day so that we could be freed from the bondage of sin and death, and receive eternal life through a relationship with Him.

This is why the good news is so good. God so loved the world that He chose to sacrifice Himself to save us. Not because He needed to, but because He wanted to.