When God gave His Son for our redemption it was the greatest gift He could possibly give. This is true because of who God gave, how He gave Him, and why He gave Him.
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The Donation: God’s Son
John 3:16
Last week we expounded the first phrase of that eminently famous verse, John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world.” In that message we took at look at the Design. God’s design was that He would demonstrate His love to this guilty and corrupt world by giving His Son. This morning we are going to expound the next phrase in this verse. It consists of seven words – “that He gave His only begotten Son.” In this phrase we turn from the Design to the Donation. In the first message we saw God’s love. In this phrase we see God’s Son. In the first message we saw what moved God – His great love for a perishing world. In this message we will see what that love compelled Him to do – give over His only Son for their redemption.
Folks, we come this morning to the Mt. Everest of the love of God. God has shown His love throughout history in a myriad of different ways:
- He showed His love by creating man and woman and placing them over His creation to subdue it and rule over it.
- He showed His love by placing them in a beautiful garden where all their needs would be met.
- He showed His love by clothing them with animal skins when they sinned.
- He showed His love by providing an ark to shelter Noah and his family when that great deluge was about to come.
- He showed His love by calling Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to become the patriarch of Israel.
- He showed His love by using Joseph’s slavery in Egypt, in order to preserve his family alive during the great famine throughout all of Egypt.
- He showed His love by taking pity upon the children of Israel and choosing Moses to be His man who would deliver his people.
- He showed His love by instructing the children of Israel to sacrifice a lamb instead of having their first-born son slain by the destroying angel.
- He showed His love by parting the Red Sea so that the children of Israel would be delivered, and their enemies would all be drowned.
- He showed His love by providing water and manna for the children of Israel for 40 years.
And on and on I could go, describing the multitude of ways that God demonstrated His love to His people. However, this morning we are going to look at the greatest demonstration of God’s love that He has ever made. This is the Mt. Everest of God’s love. I am referring, of course, to the cross of Christ. In fact, wherever you look in the New Testament, the apostles always focus on this as the greatest demonstration of God’s love.
Jn. 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
Rom. 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Gal. 2:20 “Christ loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Eph. 5:2 “and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,”
1 John 3:16 “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us”
1 Jn. 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Revelation 1:5 “To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood”
No one in this entire world need ever doubt that God loves him! My goal this morning is to show you why God’s gift of His only begotten Son was the greatest gift it was possible for Him to make. In order to meditate upon this portion of John 3:16, let’s ask some questions of the text. Who did God give? How did God give? Why did God give?
1. Who Did God Give? “His only begotten Son”
There are four things we can say about this Son that God gave.
First, this Son is Unique. That is actually the meaning of that strange sounding phrase, “only begotten.” In newer translations the word “begotten” has been dropped. The Greek word carries the meaning of one of a kind. That’s why newer versions of the Bible translate it “one and only Son” or “only Son.” Jesus Christ is absolutely unique. He is one of a kind. He is the Incomparable One. Yes, God has other sons. But He has no other sons like Jesus Christ. Angels are God’s sons by creation. Angels come into existence by special creation, not by natural generation like humans. Thus, every angels is truly a son of God. Job speaks of the sons of God shouting for joy when God laid the foundation of the earth (Job 38:7). Believers are also God’s sons by adoption. Ephesians 1:5 says, “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself.” Angels are sons of God by creation. Believers are sons of God by adoption. But Jesus Christ is the one and only divine Son of God.
Secondly, this Son is Eternal, having no beginning and no end. The phrase “only begotten” can lead us to make mistakes about Jesus Christ. He is not like us. There was a time when we did not exist. Then we were conceived, and later born into this world. Christ is not like that. Jesus was never born, and He never came into existence. Jesus has existed eternally. He has had no beginning, and will have no end. Jesus said in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was born, I Am.” Isn’t it interesting that Jesus didn’t say, “Before Abraham was born, I was.” No, He used the language of self-existence. Jesus was deliberately ascribing the name of God in the Old Testament, and applying it to Himself. In Exodus 3 when Moses asked God what he should tell the Israelites when they asked him who sent him, God said, “Tell them I Am sent you.” By taking the name “I Am” unto Himself, Jesus is claiming eternal self-existence. He just is. He always is. He always was, and He always will be. In Micah 5:2 the prophet says that from Bethlehem One would go forth for God to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” Jesus is the great “I Am.” Jesus’ going forth have been from the days of eternity. Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son.
Thirdly, This Son Is God. Now, I’m sure you would already have guessed that by virtue of the fact that He is eternal. Listen to how John describes this Son in John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” Folks, no one has ever seen God the Father, but Jesus Christ, has explained Him. And who is this Jesus? He is the only begotten God! How much clearer could God make it? In Hebrews 1:3, the Bible says that Jesus is “the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His nature.” In vs. 8 it says, “But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” God the Father refers to Jesus Christ as God! In vs. 6 God even commands all the angels of God to worship Him! As the Son, He is a different person from the Father, but as God He is equal with the Father in power and glory. At this time of year we instinctively think of the birth of our Savior. But let us never forget that that Savior is none other than Immanuel – God with us!
Not only is this Son unique, eternal, and God, but He is the supreme object of the Father’s affection. There are many parallels between John 3:16 and Genesis 22 where God commanded Abraham to offer up his son as a burnt offering. In Genesis 22:2 God said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” Not only is Isaac called Abraham’s only son, but he is also called the son whom you love. Isn’t it true that Jesus is the Son whom God the Father loves? Didn’t He say at Jesus’ baptism, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased”? Doesn’t the Scripture say in Col. 1:13, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son”? Doesn’t Jesus say in John 17:24 “You loved Me before the foundation of the world”? Oh, my friends, there is no one and nothing in this world that God loves more than His Son. He is the object of the Father’s delight! Remember last Sunday I told you that God loves the world in spite of what it is. Well, He loves Jesus because of who He is! Just as the world is diametrically opposed to God, loving what He hates, and hating what He loves, so Jesus is in perfect harmony with the Father, loving what He loves, and hating what He hates.
The depth of God’s love is seen in Who He was willing to give. God didn’t give an angel, or a sinful man, or even a holy man for our redemption. God opened His heavenly treasure chest, and found the Pearl of Great Price. God emptied heaven of its greatest treasure when He gave His Unique, Eternal, Divine, Beloved Son for us!
Who is this Son? He is the Unique Son, the Eternal Son, the Divine Son, and the Beloved son.
Now, let’s ask the next question,
2. How Did God Give?
The first thing to notice, is that God gave sacrificially. “For God so loved the world that He gave…” This means that God gave Christ up. He gave Christ over. God devoted His Son to destruction to save a people for His name. God “giving” His Son in vs. 16 is replaced by God “sending” His Son in vs. 17. There we are told that God sent the Son into the world that the world might be saved through Him. So this giving of the Son is identical to the sending of the Son into the world on a mission of mercy to provide salvation for perishing sinners. This giving of the Father is a sacrificial giving. It cost something for God to give His Son. In fact, we can never understand that cost. It is infinite! The apostle Paul said, “He who did not spare His Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” God did not spare His Son. God didn’t send His Son to earth for a few weeks vacation, a little R&R! God was sending His Son to experience derision, contempt, humiliation, torture, and an agonizing death. If there was anyone God would have desired to shelter from the shame of the cross, it would have been His own beloved Son. If there ever was One who deserved honor and glory it was Jesus Christ. But God did not spare Him. God gave Him up for us all.
In the 2003 film, MOST (Czek for The Bridge), there is a story of a drawbridge operator who takes his son to work with him one day. The father tells his son to go play down by a pond while he works. Well, the bride operator lifts the lever to cause the bridge to draw up and allow a steam ship to pass through the middle. However, the boy notices a train coming towards the drawbridge. He shouts to his father, but he can’t hear his son or the train whistle because he is in the engine room. So the boy runs down the tracks to the gearbox where there is a lever he can pull to lower the bridge. However, as the boy tries to pull the lever, he falls into the gearbox and is stuck. The father is left with a horrific choice – that of running to rescue his son and allow all the passengers on the train to die, or pull the lever and save the passengers and allow his son to be crushed by the gears. The father at the last second pulls the lever saving all the passengers, who are completely oblivious to what this father has just done. The look of agony on the father’s face is pure torment to watch! My friends, that is what our God did. He did not spare His only Son. This giving was sacrificial.
Not only Did God give the Son sacrificially, but He gave the Son spontaneously. Now, what do I mean by that? I mean that God did not give His Son as a result of sinners desiring Him and asking for Him. Nobody on earth was crying out, “I’m such a vile and guilty sinner! I’m in danger of perishing. God’s wrath is upon me. How, oh how can I ever escape? Oh God, please send me a Savior to take away my sins!” The truth is that nobody ever did or ever would have conceived of God’s method of salvation. It’s true, the Jews were anticipating their Messiah. However, they thought the Messiah would someone who would deliver them from Roman oppression. They looked for a great military and political conqueror! No one was looking for a humble rabbi who would end up crucified between two thieves! Romans 10:20 says, “I was found by those who did not seek Me, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” God’s gift of Christ to this rebellious world was unsought, and unbought. God did not send His Son because this deserved Him. It was a spontaneous gift, a free gift. God took the initiative in giving this gift.
So, my friends, that is how God gave. He gave sacrificially, and spontaneously.
I began by telling you that the Father’s gift of His Son was the greatest gift He could possibly make. We have seen that because of Who God gave, and How He gave. Now, let’s turn our attention to Why God gave.
3. Why Did God Give?
What does our text say? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” God sent His Son into the world to save sinners from perishing. That is what every last one of them would have experienced, had God not sent His Son. Christ came into the world to save us from eternal destruction. So, how how did God save sinners?
God saves sinners by sending Christ as our Substitute in our room and stead. Jesus came as a public person. He came as the Representative of all those the Father had given Him. “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Is.53:6). “He made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). We were the guilty ones! We should have been hanging on that cross! We deserved the sentence of Hell! But God in great love sent His Son to endure what rightfully should have been our deserts. In the Civil War, if a person was drafted, it was permitted for someone to go in his place as his substitute. A farmer by the name of Blake had been drafted, but he was deeply troubled, because his wife had died and there was no one to take care of his three children. On the day before he was to enlist, his friend and neighbor Charlie Durham came over to see Blake. He said, “Blake, I’ve been thinking. You’re needed at home, so I’ve decided to go as your Substitute.” Blake was overwhelmed and speechless. Finally, he embraced Charlie and thanked him profusely. Well, Charlie enlisted in the Army, went into battle, and was sadly shot and killed. When Blake got word of Charlie’s death, he was overcome with sorrow. He traveled out to the battlefield, found Charlie’s dead body, transported it back to his home town, and buried him in the churchyard near the spot where they had often talked after Sunday services. Blake carved the headstone with his own hands on a piece of marvel. It was crudely done, and the tears flowed freely with each blow of the hammer. The inscription was very short and simple – “He Died For Me.” Can you say the same thing? Is Christ your substitute?
Not only did God give Christ to save sinners, and become their substitute, but to satisfy God’s justice. The Law of God is inflexible and exacting. It’s penalty for one sin is death. “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezek.18:4). “The wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23). “When sin is accomplished it brings forth death” (James 1:15). Because God is just, He must punish sin. He can’t just wink at it, or look the other way. Justice is wrapped up in His nature. Crimes against God must be punished. Exodus 34:7 says, “He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.” If there is one thing you can be absolutely sure of, and take it to the bank, it is that God will punish every sin to the full. My friend, you will not escape God’s justice. God punishes all sin, either at the Cross or in Hell. But, thanks be to God, Christ satisfied God’s justice to the last cent! Jesus paid to the full what God’s exact justice required. “It is finished!” It is paid in full!
God gave His Son to save sinners, be their Substitute, satisfy justice, and appease God’s wrath. The Biblical word to describe this is propitiation. It is a sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath. Let’s say I left my brand new ipad on the podium while I went to the bathroom after church. While I’m away, a couple of the kids pull it off the podium and begin throwing it around the room like a frisbee. They are having a great old time, until one of them throws it against the wall, and it smashes into a thousand pieces. The parent sees what his child has done, and while I am walking back in the room he runs up to me and says, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry for what my child has done!” All the time he’s talking, he’s putting $100 bills into my hands – one, two, three, four, five, six! Now the first thing I felt when I saw my ipad lying smashed against the wall was anger. But now that I’ve got six $100 bills in my hand, I’ve suddenly discovered that my anger is gone! In fact, I’ve become quite happy! That ipad only cost me $350, and I have $600! Instead of being angry, I’m satisfied. My anger has been appeased. I have been propitiated. That’s exactly what has happened between God and sinners, except God was the One we sinned against, and He was the One who paid the price to remove His wrath. We have grievously sinned against God day after day, and God is angry with the wicked every day. But God loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 Jn. 4:10). My friends, I don’t know who is going to be able to save you from God, but God! Your greatest problem is not so much the devil or your sin, but God! But thank God that He has sent His Son to appease God’s wrath by the sacrifice of the cross.
Application
1. The greatest evil in the world is sin. It required the sufferings and death of no less than God manifest in the flesh! The cross should banish any doubt in your mind about the evil of sin. You think, “Come on, is sin really all that bad?” You want to know how bad sin is? Look at that cross! See the eternal blessed Son of God, bleeding, suffering, dying to bear its awful punishment. If sin weren’t so bad, why did Jesus hang on that cross? Surely, if sin weren’t so evil God could have found an easier way of dealing with it! The cross of Christ should shock us into really seeing how evil sin is in the sight of God. Since, sin is so evil in the sight of God, we should hate it! We should be repulsed by it! We should repent of it! We should forsake it! We should kill it! Will you repent of that sin that is gnawing at your conscience this morning? Will you forsake that sin tempts you and draws you into its snare? Will you put to death those sins in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit?
2. The greatest sin in the world is to reject Christ! Sin is the greatest evil in the world, and the greatest sin in the world is to despise and reject Jesus Christ. Why? Because you are despising God’s greatest gift of love. It would be like, ladies, if your husband were locked up in prison halfway across the world for some despicable crimes. But, in spite of his vile actions which have left you without anyone to provide and take care of you, you decide to take pity on him, and at great sacrifice, you find a way to get half way across the world with your five kids to visit him on his birthday. There all six of you huddle in the visiting room, cold and hungry and flat broke. You are excited and anxious to see him. However, when he comes out, he takes one look at you and the kids and shouts, “Get out of here! What are you doing here? I never want to see you again!” Then he turns his back on you and walks back into the prison. How would you feel? You would be devastated, wouldn’t you? Could he have done anything more evil and hurtful to you than that? Well, for you and I to despise God’s Son is infinitely worse, because He has given an infinitely greater gift for us, and we have turned up our noses and rejected it. That is why John writes in John 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” If we reject the awesome gift of Jesus Christ, we are condemned in the sight of God.
3. The Only Way of salvation is the Cross. If there were any other way, God would never have given His Son. Jesus prayed, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, yet not as I will, but as You will” (Mt.26:39). Well, we know it was not possible, because the cup of wrath did not pass from Jesus lips, but He drained it to the last dregs. My friend, if there is no other way for you to be saved than by the death of Jesus Christ, why do you try those other ways? All of them will miserably fail in the day of judgment. If this is the only way you can be saved, why do you try the way of Mohammad, or Buddha or Confucius or Reverend Moon or Joseph Smith? Why do you try the way of ritualistic religion? Why do you try the way of bowing to statues, and praying to saints, and venerating popes? Why do you try the way of church attendance, and baptism and good works? None of these things can save your soul! Only dependence upon the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ will ever save you. O, my unconverted friend, come to Christ! Bow at His feet! Trust in Him and what He has done to save your soul!
4. The Only Response to the Cross is Absolute Surrender. Since God has given everything He had for you, will you give all you have for Him? He has loved you with all His heart, soul, mind and strength. Won’t you love Him back with all yours? Have you ever consecrated yourself, everything you are and everything you have to God and His service? That’s exactly what God requires of every true believer. Paul says in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” If you believe in Christ, God is calling you to full surrender, and complete consecration. How do we love God whom we can’t see? We love our brother whom we can see. What are you doing to love your brothers and sisters? Are you serving in the body? Do you come here week after week, like someone shopping at a grocery store? Are you concerned only about your own needs, and give no thought to the needs of those you worship with? Do you come in late, sit during the service so that you can “get fed”, and then head out the door as soon as the service is over? My friends, that is not God’s will. God wants every believer to be serving in some way. If you are coming only to get, you are in sin. I exhort you to get involved! Ask the faithful tired members here, who have been serving every week month after month at great personal sacrifice what you can do to lighten their load! Every Christian has a contribution to make to serve others, and thus to serve God. Present yourself a living and holy sacrifice to God! He has already presented His Son a living and holy sacrifice for you!
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