“HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT IS THE GREATEST TEXT OR VERSE IN THE BIBLE? SURELY, ALL THE WORD OF GOD IS INSPIRED AND PROFITABLE, BUT SOME PORTIONS MAY BE SO UNIQUE AND SPECIAL, THAT THEY REQUIRE OUR PERSONAL WONDER & PRAISE.”

 I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about such a portion of Scripture…

…Of all the books in the Bible, I think the sweetest of all was written by one of the Lord Jesus Christ’s closest disciples, the apostle John. Now in the New Testament Gospel called John, the writer of it didn’t directly identify himself. Nevertheless, there is much evidence within John’s Gospel, as well as in the writings of the early church fathers, that the writer was the Apostle John. This disciple, one of the twelve that followed Jesus Christ, also was one who sat beside Jesus in the upper room just before his crucifixion and death; and, when He instituted the celebration and ordinance of the “Lord's Supper.”  John was also the disciple whom Jesus especially loved, and one of the inner circle of three disciples, namely Peter, James, and John (Mark 5:37-38; 9:2-3; 14:33; John 20:2-10).

Now although each book in the Bible was written down by men, the Holy Spirit of God personally guided them to write for a unique purpose. While the synoptic Gospels, the other four, focus on the historical facts of Jesus Christ’s life, John the apostle interpreted those facts to show that Jesus Christ the man, was, indeed, the promised Messiah, the eternal Son of God and only Savior of the world. As such he sought to instill such faith in all his readers (John 20:30–31). Today we’ll examine one verse of Scripture that conveys this purpose and encapsulates the message of the entire Bible in all of its profound 26 words written down for all to hear and see. But first, let’s pause and listen to another delightful moment of music…

…What verse in the Bible captures God’s Word and message to a lost and sinful world more than any other? It is John 3:16! We read there these eternal words,

John 3:16 (NIV)  “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.

I personally believer there is no other single verse in the Bible that so concisely and more beautifully states the main message of God’s Word, than this single verse in John’s gospel. Indeed, it is the world’s greatest text, the great metropolis of God’s truth in all the Bible, of which volumes have been written on this verse because of it. Actually, within the twenty-six words chosen by John and divinely inspired by God, are ten single words or word phrases of great power, purpose and place. These words are: “God, loved, world, gave, Son, whoever, believes, perish, life.” These ten words make up the “constellation of the Redeemer, in the firmament of divine revelation.” Let’s examine these words as we break down this timeless and most beautiful message God has given us for the entire world to heed. We begin with…

1. “GOD” – Yes, above all this one name and Person called “God,” is the source of all love, care and concern from our wretched race of fallen sinners. But the question is which God is he? John answers,

John 1:1-3 (NIV)  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John begins his gospel by introducing us to the one who created all things, the triune God of eternity. Moses tells us about Him also when he wrote,

Gen 1:1 (NIV)  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

Who is it that cares about us? It is the eternal, self-existing, omnipotent and sovereign GOD that the Christian Bible alone reveals to all mankind. His names are revealed to us throughout the progressive revelation of the Word. For instance, this one true God is called: Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai, and John tells us – “Jesus!” Yes, Jesus Christ is clearly identified not as “a” god as the pseudo-Christian cults would have us believe, but “the” GOD of all creation. The apostle Paul tells us,

Col 1:15-17 (NIV)  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Yes, God is the source of all things we have and own, of all things we use and unfortunately abuse, the great God who… well, this bring is to the second great word of the text, “LOVES”

2. “LOVES” - The Greek word employed here is unique to a description of the Creator God alone. It is a word that in and of itself, no human being can generate or sustain. It is the word “agape.” It is a word for love that means “to forever set one’s heart and affection upon an object or being, motivated and determined exclusively by the will and not emotions or any outward attraction.” Furthermore, love is both an attribute of God and a description of His being. He alone is the epitome of divine love and the source of all true love. His love is unconditional and consistently seeks the highest good of the one who is loved.

Now make note here, God does not love men’s sins or the wicked world system we’ve created and run, but He loves people and is not wanting any should perish.

The word, “agape” is a word that always is found in action too. John says, “ FOR GOD SO LOVED…” Here we are told that God’s love is not static or self-centered; it reaches out and draws others in. Here God’s actions defined the pattern of true love, the basis for all love relationships.  As such, when you love someone, you are willing to sacrifice dearly for that person. Sacrificial love expresses itself without assurance that the love will be returned in kind. The timing of that love is magnified by the Apostle Paul’s words, found in…

Rom 5:8 (NIV)  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Moreover, “sacrificial love,” is also personal and practical. In God’s case, His love was uniquely practiced, since it was exercised to exclusively rescue a lost world of sinners. Yes, God paid dearly for this love to save us from our sins. Now, the third word emphasized by John is…

3. “WORLD” – Here we discover God’s love is not exclusive; that is, to love only certain people or groups of sinners. There is no group or individuals born into this world that God loves less! How wonderful it is to know that every kindred, tongue and nation of people God loves enough to “die” for them! The word “world” here in the Greek language is the word  “kosmos,” it refers not to the ordered universe, as it usually does, but the context in which it is applied refers it to the entire order of mankind whom God created long ago. God indeed loves us all, “red or yellow, black or white, we are precious in God’s sight!”  So, God cares about the starving and suffering souls everywhere. Yet, God did choose long ago to elect out of all the fallen human race, a single people group that came forth from a man named Abraham. Why did God do this? The answer is He chose them to be the recipients and caretakers of the revelation of His Word, the Bible, and that through them, the nation of Israel, the world would have the message and truth of God. In fact, God promised Abraham that through him and his children the world would be blessed (Gen 12:3). Yes, “GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD…” You see that’s the main message of the Bible. The God of Creation is not some manufactured god of the jungle who is angry, mean, non-caring, and abusively rules the world. Many religions have made such gods to worship, but they are not the loving, caring, and committed God who created all things. The Christian God alone is the one who loves us all, and every single soul in the world. Have you experienced this love? Have you recognized it and responded to it? Well, moving on, we come to the fourth word…

4. “GAVE” – True love always gives, and God’s love is the originator of all such love. God so loved the fallen world of sinners who rejected Him and cast Him off that He, “GAVE.” This word in the original languages refers to “ producing, manufacturing, or delivering something to another” for the sake of their good and need. Now today in business we rarely give anything of value away. We manufacture it and sell it for a profit - but not so the Creator God. He produced His very best and most valuable creation, and gave it to a world of unworthy sinners. What did God give us beside all things we enjoy? The answer is the man Christ Jesus. God gave His Son, Jesus Christ to you and me. Now we might ask for what purpose? The answer comes forth readily in the following words…

5. “ONLY BEGOTTEN SON” - The extent of God’s love is shown by the fact that He gave His only begotten Son, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father. God has no other Son like the Lord Jesus. It was an expression of His infinite love that He would be willing to give His unique Son for a race of rebellious sinners. For this reason, God fashioned a human being like ourselves, a real flesh and blood living member of the human race, but unlike we who are generated from Adam the first but fallen and sinful human being, God Himself generated this perfect human being, and fused His own very nature and essence into Him, to create a shall we say an “INFINITE GOD/MAN!”  Although we cannot understand this or explain it, the omnipotent and sovereign God who created all things, sent forth the second Person of the triune Godhead, God the Eternal Son, who became a man and walked the earth as an example of what God originally intended all humanity to be – a human being fully yielded to its Creator, and walking sinlessly with Him. Yes, Christ proved His perfect human nature, and His divine nature in hypostatic union to produce what God wants all of us to be one day too. How much love this is and was, to give up God’s own being to condescend to become one of His own lowly creatures. Yet this is history! The question is what have you done in response to this fantastic love? What have you done with Jesus in your life? Well the next word answer much of this…

6. “WHOEVER” – Now first off, this does not mean that everyone is saved. A person must receive what Christ has done for him before God will give him eternal life. Therefore, the words are added, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish.” There is no need for anyone to perish. A way has been provided by which all might be saved, but a person must acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as personal God and Savior. When he does this, he has eternal life as a present possession.

This brings us back to what kind of love God loves with. It is a love of His determined will, for God set His love on all the human race, fallen as it is, and the Bible tells us there is no one, literally no one, who cannot receive this love gift, if they choose to do so! Sometimes, the Devil convinces a fallen sinner they have gone beyond all hope of God’s love, but this is not true! Let me illustrate this. Our sin is likened to the moment a body dies. Whether it is dead five minutes or fifty years, the depth of death is not the issue. The issue is the body “is” dead! It matters not the depth of our sins, as great as they can be, what matters is we must realize all of us are sinners in thoughts, words and deeds. Those deed maybe greater than others, but nonetheless, God’s love can rescue you from them, “if” we will recognize them and respond to God in the fashioned He has designed to save us from them. Now the word, “WHOEVER” gives all mankind the right to seek God and receive His forgiveness and grace. Have you sought God, the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ? Yes, Scripture in its completed revelation reveals that Jesus Christ is the One whom all creation is to bow and worship to give thanks for His love and redemption. We Christians are “christocentic” and worship God through Jesus Christ. God accepts no other worship or love, which refuses to acknowledge His Son. Peter the apostle and others cried out,

Acts 4:12 (NIV)  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Col 2:10 (NIV)  and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

Col 1:18 (NIV)  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Eph 1:22 (NIV)  And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

“Whosoever” or “whoever” then refers to you and to me. God loves you, Christ died for you. Have you acknowledged and received Him? Failure to do so is in fact, the greatest sin in the universe! Now we come to the next word of the Bible’s greatest text…

7. “BELIEVES” – Here lies the most fantastic truth mankind can ever discover. We live in an age where everything costs us something. Nothing is ever offered really and truly free, for there is always a “catch.” But not so my friend with God! God offers His full and final forgiveness, His unending love and care, His intimate fellowship and companionship, and everlasting life to every human being who desires it; and, He gives it to us without cost to any of us! Yes, FREE, FREE, FREE! The only condition to receive it is to believingly accept it! Have you? Or, are you working to “earn” your salvation, or worse trying to keep it by works of righteousness. The Bible has something to say in both cases,

Eph 2:8-9 (NIV)  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Now we come to the eighth magnificent word…

8. “PERISH” – Here John confronts us with the stark reality of who we are, what we’ve done and where we are all going, unless God does something to change it. Well, thanks be to God He has!  The Bible reveals that all mankind has sinned and broken God’s law of living freely and forever in His universe. Scripture repeatedly says,

Ezek 18:4 (NIV)  “… The soul who sins is the one who will die.”

Rom 3:23 (NIV)  “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Rom 6:23 (NIV)  “For the wages of sin is death…”

This word “perish” should make every sinner tremble. It makes the fallen angels do so (James 2:19), for it reveals the other side of God and who He is. God is a righteous and holy God who will by no means forgive and clear the guilty of sin, The word “perish” also denotes the final condition of the human soul, the awful state of our existence unless God steps in to change it. You see the Bible reveals we are all created in God’s image. This image is one of everlasting existence. Now God has no beginning and has no end. But, we “have” a beginning yet none of us has an end. “Oh,” our bodies will die and be destroyed, but our soul and spirit will live on forever. God warns because of sin our souls will perish, that is live on in destruction and punishment suffering this terrible form of immortality forever. Jesus warned of this fate of perishing when He said,

Mat 25:46 (NIV)  “”Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.””

Are you still on the path of perishing? If so, the moment your life is over on this earth you will be instantly ushered into Hell, a place of utter darkness, loneliness, and there suffer the fires of Hell. Jesus came to save you from it, if you will just call upon Him to do that by faith in His Personhood and work on the cross. Lastly there are two words I want to combine for the sake of time. They are,

9-10.  “HAVE LIFE” – You see none of us has this eternal life that represents the pleasure and presence of God. It is something God wants to give us, and for us to enjoy now and for eternity. Jesus said it well,

John 5:26 (NIV)  “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.”

John 5:40 (NIV)  “yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

John 10:10 (NIV)  “… I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

John 20:31 (NIV)  “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

1 John 5:12 (NIV)  “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Well there you have it. Twenty-six words that tell the entire Gospel story, that reveal the entire plan of the Bible, that presents for us the full and final way to be saved from the awful fate that awaits the entire human race. All that’s necessary for you and for me to avoid this is

Acts 16:31 (NIV)  “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.””

May God grant you repentance unto life, and may your eyes be opened and your heart burdened to be saved by this great God and Savior, our Redeemer and Lord Jesus Christ…

…Friends, you’ve been listening to this speaker Dennis Finnan and I’ve been sharing with you a message from the Word of God. John 3:16 is indeed as Martin Luther called it, the LITTLE BIBLE; and more, it is the greatest text in all written literature of all time! Those ten words contain the way to heaven, the forgiveness of all sin, the restoration of man and His God, and the promise of God’s love to be upon you forever and ever. May all listening truly be sure they’ve put their hope and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and eternal life.