GETTING STARTED
A few months ago, I was routinely driving to work when I noticed a brand-new building. I was completely shocked because it was as if the thing had been built overnight. Come to find out, the building had actually been there for years, and I had just never realized it. Isn’t it interesting how familiarity with something can cause us to become blind? Today’s passage is one that many of us have heard thousands of times, but the powerful truth behind it is something that shouldn’t be overlooked.
- In what ways do you keep yourself from becoming numb to the truth of the gospel?
READ THE WORD: JOHN 3:16-18 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 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. 18 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.
English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
DIGGING DEEPER
1. What is the motivation and purpose for God sending his only Son?
2. How many times does the word, or form of the word, “condemn” appear in these verses? What does it mean to be condemned, and what in this passage is the opposite of being condemned?
3. According to these verses, what happens to us when we believe? What does it mean to truly believe in Jesus?
4. What is the state of your belief in Jesus today?
RESPOND TO GOD
The purpose of John’s Gospel is that people may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, they may have life in his name. Many people would say that John 3:16 is the gospel in a nutshell. Odds are you have probably heard this verse a thousand times or seen it plastered on all kinds of shirts, coffee cups, bumper stickers, etc. If we are not careful, our familiarity with this verse has the potential to overshadow the truth behind it: that those who believe in Jesus have eternal life. This is by far the greatest news we could ever receive!
- Pray that God would help you to understand and believe in the simplicity of the gospel.
- Pray for God to renew the JOY of your salvation, found in Jesus Christ alone.