The God Who Loves

John 3:14-21

Main Idea: God is not a ruthless old man but a kind, loving Father.

1. The Reality of God’s Love (3:14-16)
2. The Reason Jesus Came (3:17)
3. The Result of Belief (3:18)
4. The Response of Man (3:19-21)

Time magazine asked a number of people how they pictured God. Here was one response: God is “a lot like he was explained to us as children. As an older man, who is just and who can get angry at us. I know this isn’t the true picture, but it’s the only one I’ve got” (Elson, “Toward a Hidden God”). This response is pretty common, particularly for those who’ve grown up in religion. God is the unhappy, white-bearded father figure who “gets angry at us.”

These verses provide a close look at the heart of God and reveal he’s not a ruthless old man. He’s a gracious and kind God—a God who loves. These verses also follow Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus. We’re not entirely sure where the conversation with Nicodemus ends and teaching of the disciples begins. Jesus has just said he came from heaven (v. 13), and that leads him to talk about who God is, what God is like, and what God has planned for humanity.

The Reality of God’s Love

John 3:14-16

John 3:16 may be the most famous, most well-known, and most loved verse in the Bible. If a person knows just one verse, it’s most likely this verse. It’s the first verse children learn. But this verse begins with a word that’s easy to overlook. It’s the little word for. It shows us verse 16 connects to verses 14-15. Jesus says he “must be lifted up” in death. Why would Jesus, the Son of God, need to be publicly executed? verse 16 is the answer. The death of Jesus was necessary because God loved us. The death of Jesus Christ—the horrible crucifixion of the Son of God—is a direct result of the love of God for you and me. God’s love is chiefly displayed through the death of Jesus Christ.

The third word in John 3:16, the way most of us memorized it, is the word so, which can be understood two different ways. It could mean God really, really loves us—he so loves us. Like when you ask a child how big something is and she stretches out her arms and says, “It was so big.” It could thus reveal the intensity of God’s love. Or it could refer to the demonstration of God’s love. That’s why the CSB translates it “in this way.” That’s how it’s used here. It doesn’t diminish the intensity of God’s love for us, but it shows us his love was demonstrated in a real and tangible way. “For God loved the world in this way: He gave . . .” (emphasis added). The proof of God’s love is that he acted on it.

How do we know someone loves us? They say three magic words: “I love you.” These words make your heart explode inside you the first time someone whispers them in your ear. But those words are not the only reason we know someone loves us. In fact, they’re probably not the main reason we know we’re loved. We’ve had conversations around our dinner table about love. I remember one time my wife asked our boys how they knew I loved them. Now, I tell them I love them every day, but when they were asked, none of them said, “Because he says so.” Without fail, they answered with something I’ve done, generally involving time or money: “He plays video games with me,” or, “He bought me a lightsaber.” It’s always the demonstration of my love that assures them I love them. We can be confident God loves us not simply because we hear the words “I love you” but because we see the demonstration of his love. We see the sacrifice of something far more precious than time or money. The gift of love that God gave was his only Son.

Notice the deliberate choice of words. God “gave” his only Son. In the next verse we find God sent his Son (v. 17). While both are true, this first one reminds us of God’s sacrifice. He offered something dear to him, something he cared about. He’s not like the boy who giftwraps the toys he no longer plays with as a birthday present for his little brother. God’s love is displayed in this amazing gift. God doesn’t require us to pay something to purchase it or do something to earn it. Salvation is free, but it’s not cheap. This gift costs us nothing, but it cost the Son of God his life. God willingly gave his Son for you.

God gave this gift as a demonstration of his love, and his love was displayed to the entire world. His love for the world is remarkable not because the world is so big but because the world is so bad. We did not deserve his love. We did not earn it. We were rebels against God, yet God still gave us the gift of his Son (Rom 5:8). John 3:16 is not about our loveliness but about God’s love. The text does not say God loves us (present tense) now that we have been made his children. It says God loved us (past tense) before we were saved. God is the one who acts first in salvation. God is the one who loves first. The apostle John would later write, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

God’s righteousness was on display at the cross. His holiness and hatred for sin were seen in the severity of the punishment. When Jesus took upon himself the punishment our sin demanded, he testified to the world that God is absolutely and unquestionably righteous. Let us never doubt the love of God. You were not on the cross; God’s own Son hung there. You did not pay that terrible price; Jesus did.

The Reason Jesus Came

John 3:17

God’s purpose in sending his Son was not to condemn the world (v. 17). The Jews were looking for a religious leader, a king to condemn the Romans and liberate the Jews from oppression. But that’s not why Jesus came. He did not need to come to earth to condemn mankind. We were condemned already (v. 18). That’s clear throughout human history. Man first sinned in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve foolishly stepped out from under God’s perfect and wise rule, deciding they knew what was best. The result was condemnation. They were not only expelled from God’s presence and from life in the garden, but they were placed under a sentence of death. From that point forward, human history is a series of funerals.

You are going to die. Take a moment to let that sink in. You are going to die. One morning the sun will rise and you won’t see it. Birds will greet the dawn and you won’t hear them. Friends and family will gather to celebrate your life, and after you’re buried they’ll return to the church for ham and scalloped potatoes. Soon your job and favorite chair and spot on the team will be filled by someone else. The rest of the world may pause to remember—it will give you a moment of silence if you were rich or well known—but then it will carry on as it did before you arrived. (Wittmer, The Last Enemy, 13)

We needed something we could not supply ourselves. No amount of human ingenuity or human cunning would ever bring salvation. We love to make a big deal about mankind’s accomplishments. “Look how far man has come. Look what we can do.” But are we any closer to solving our greatest dilemma, our need for salvation from sin and death? We could no more save ourselves than a baby could birth himself. That’s what Jesus told Nicodemus just a few verses earlier. We were drowning in a sea of sin, and we needed someone to come to our rescue. God sent his Son into the world. No mere man could ever save us from death. God had to send Someone unique into the world. One who was both God and man. Jesus came so that you “will not perish” but have “eternal life.” In this context to perish is used in contrast with eternal life and refers to eternal perishing. It’s the same word Jesus used in, “Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28; emphasis added).

Each man and woman who rejects Jesus Christ will spend eternity in hell. Hell is not a joke or a party. Hell is a real place. Hell is a lake of fire that burns forever. Hell is a place of eternal conscious torment (Matt 13:42; 25:41; Mark 9:48; Luke 16:19-31; Rev 14:11). Hell is a place where the punishment for sinning against an infinitely holy God is infinitely experienced by sinners. We can place our faith in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for our sin and enjoy eternal life in our Father’s house, or we can reject the truth and eternally suffer in hell as a result of our sin. The difference between eternal death and eternal life is believing on Jesus. We’ve already seen this word translated believe eleven times in the Gospel of John. To believe means we must acknowledge the claims of Jesus, yield our allegiance to him, and place our trust in him as the only hope of salvation from sin and death.

In John 3:14 Jesus uses an interesting Old Testament illustration to explain his purpose for coming. After God delivers his people from the land of Egypt, they begin to complain. In Numbers 21:5 they say in essence, “We have no food, no water—the food you gave us is awful. Did you bring us out here to die?” God responds to their complaining by sending poisonous snakes to bite the people. Their bite brings death. After the people repent, God commands Moses to craft the image of a snake and mount it on a pole. Those who look at the pole will live; the serpent’s bite won’t kill them. There’s only one hope for the Israelites who have venom coursing through their veins. They could try something else, but it wouldn’t work. Their only hope was the bronze serpent lifted up. Our only hope is the Son of God lifted up. For the Israelites life and death hung in the balance, but for us eternal life and eternal death hang in the balance.

John 3:17 ends with two important words: “through him.” Only through Jesus Christ can we be saved. No one else—not Mohammed, not Allah, not the government, not yourself—no one but Jesus can save you from your sin.

The Result of Belief

John 3:18

Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned. To condemn means “to judge a person to be guilty and liable to punishment” (Louw and Nida, Lexicon, 56.30). We are no longer guilty. Our sin has been removed, and nothing can be held against us. Jesus did for us what we could not possibly do for ourselves. We could stand before God and proclaim our innocence until blue in the face, but it wouldn’t matter. We’re not innocent. Each one of us has sinned. God says, “For all have sinned” (Rom 3:23; emphasis added). Each one of us stands already marked for death. But when we place our faith in Jesus alone to save us, our sin and guilt are washed away, and we’re declared innocent.

The righteous demands of the law are fulfilled, and we are free from the law of sin and death. The curse of sin no longer remains on us. We’re not condemned, and we cannot be condemned. If God has declared us innocent, who has the right to charge us with sin (Rom 8:34)? Jesus—the one who paid our penalty—is now standing at God’s right hand, and no one is going to be able to tell God we still need to pay for our sin. Not a chance. Jesus paid it all. Nothing is left to pay. There’s no double jeopardy. The punishment for our sin has been poured out on Jesus Christ, and we will never have to pay it.

In John 3:18 the phrase “is not condemned” is in the present tense, which means our condemnation has already been removed. It doesn’t just anticipate a final day when God removes the guilt from us and does not cast us into eternal punishment. It says, “Right now, right here, you are free from condemnation.” It’s easy for a Christian to feel the weight of sin and guilt and condemn himself. When he does so, he forgets the power of the cross. We’ve already been freed from sin’s guilt. Sin is no longer our master. We shouldn’t wallow in the guilt of our sin.

Unfortunately, verse 18 has a second half: “Anyone who does not believe is already condemned.” We know sin has consequences. Whenever we hear the gruesome account of a murder, our first thought is that whoever did it needs to pay. We demand justice. All sin, including our own sin, regardless of the size, bears a penalty of death. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Your sin makes you guilty before God, and someday you will stand before holy God and experience his awful and terrifying judgment. If you have not believed on Jesus Christ, if you have not turned to him as your only Lord and Savior, then your condemnation has not been removed.

Most of us think we’re OK because we’re decent people. We look around and compare ourselves to the worst people we can find, and we feel pretty good. But pride and self-sufficiency often get in the way of admitting the real problem and addressing the real need. Every man, woman, and child is a sinner in need of a Savior. God is our Creator, and he deserves our trust and honor, but we have disrespected him. Scorning the infinite God is an infinitely serious offense, deserving infinite punishment.

The Response of Man

John 3:19-21

Words like condemnation and judgment could make you doubt God is loving, but these verses make it clear: condemnation is a result of the refusal to accept God’s gift. People will face the consequences of their sin not because God’s gift of Jesus is insufficient but because they refuse to turn from their sin and trust in Jesus to save them from sin’s penalty. If you reject Jesus Christ, you have no one to blame but yourself. People are condemned to hell not because of something faulty in God’s gift of Jesus. He is perfect. He is sufficient. He alone can meet the needs of sinful man. When people reject his gift, it reveals the condition of their hearts. It reveals hearts blinded by sin. The fault lies in the sinner, not the Savior.

The message of the Bible is a simple message about God’s love and mercy, about man’s sin and need, and about the rescue that’s found in Jesus Christ. In simple words Sally Lloyd-Jones captures the love of God demonstrated in the death of his Son:

I think within a nanosecond of deciding to adopt we knew what our daughter’s name would be. In fact, I don’t really ever recall discussing it that much. Perhaps it’s because of why we chose to adopt. Our driving motivation was to rescue a little girl and give her a family with hope for the future.

They gave Jesus a crown made out of thorns. And put a purple robe on Him. And pretended to bow down to Him. “Your Majesty!” they said.

Then they whipped Him. And spat on Him. They didn’t understand that this was the Prince of Life, the King of heaven and earth, who had come to rescue them.

The soldiers made him a sign—“Our King” and nailed it to a wooden cross.

They walked up a hill outside the city. Jesus carried the cross on His back. Jesus had never done anything wrong. But they were going to kill Him the way criminals were killed.

They nailed Jesus to the cross.

“Father, forgive them,” Jesus gasped. “They don’t understand what they’re doing.”

“You say you’ve come to rescue us!” people shouted. “But you can’t even rescue yourself!”

But they were wrong. Jesus could have rescued Himself. A legion of angels would have flown to His side—if He’d called.

“If you were really the Son of God, you could just climb down off that cross!” they said.

And of course they were right. Jesus could have just climbed down. Actually, He could have just said a word and made it all stop. Like when He healed that little girl. And stilled the storm. And fed five thousand people.

But Jesus stayed.

You see, they didn’t understand. It wasn’t the nails that kept Jesus there. It was love. (The Jesus Storybook Bible, 302–6)

Reflect and Discuss

1. What are we to believe about Jesus from this passage?
2. How would you describe God to someone who has never heard of him?
3. Why is the word “for” at the beginning of John 3:16 so important?
4. How is the death of Jesus a direct result of God’s love for us?
5. What reasons do you have for confidence in God’s love?
6. In what ways might John 3:16 change how you view and respond to sin in your own life?
7. How has the gift of Jesus changed both your life and your eternity?
8. How do those who place their faith in Jesus mirror the Israelites afflicted by snakes in the wilderness?
9. What does condemned mean? What does it mean not to be condemned?
10. Do you feel no condemnation through Christ? How can you remind yourself and other believers that there is no condemnation for those in Christ?