The Most Famous Verse in the Bible

• In the NKJV, it is 25 words.
• The German Reformer Martin Luther called it, “the Gospel in miniature.”
• The 19^th Century American Evangelist DL Moody said this verse brought him to an understanding of God’s love.
• SB NT Scholar AT Robertson called it, “the little Gospel.”
• SB Statesman Herschel Hobbs called it, “the Gospel in superlatives.”

 

For years and years as a little boy, I saw its reference on televised professional football games at every extra point attempt and every field goal try.  This morning, I want to remind you of the most famous verse in the Bible: John 3:16.

 

Consequently, I believe it is the most famous verse in the Bible because it speaks of God’s heart. 

 

 

1. The Motivation of God’s Heart: His Love

16 For God so loved the world

 

Remember the context of this verse.  Jesus was conversing with Nicodemus.  Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of Jews who came to Jesus at night time.  He knew Jesus was different and even recognized Him as being from God because of the signs or miracles He had done.  Jesus informed Nicodemus that in order to know or see the kingdom of God, one must be born again.

 

Jesus went on to tell Nicodemus about being born of water and the Spirit.  I suggested to you that this could be a reference to the single act of faith and repentance that leads to salvation.

Nicodemus was an intelligent man, but he didn’t quite understand being born again.  So he asked how to be born again, how to be born of the Spirit, and Jesus gave him the answer in John 3:16.

 

Verse 16 begins with God.  It is the God of creation.  He is the eternal sovereign, and for His children, He is their heavenly Father. 

 

We then see what God did.  He so loved.  The word in the language NT is the word agape.  It means a perfect and complete love that considers others before it considers self.  It is an unconditional love.

 

It is not hard to believe God’s love because His word says that is who He is.  See 1 John 4:8.

 

8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 

Then notice the object of God’s love.  It is the world.  Here is the word kosmos.  It means everything and all things.  When Christ died on the cross, it provided the possible redemption for the entire world either soon or later.

 

Now please don’t let anyone ever tell that you God only loves His elect or that God only loves the church.  He loves the world. See 1 John 2:2.

 

2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

 

Jesus’ words probably would have caught Nicodemus off guard.  He knew that God loved Israel as seen clearly from the OT.  However, what Jesus is saying here is that not only does God love Israel, but He also loves Gentiles.  He loves the entire world’s population, which is over 7 billion people. 

 

You could line up every human being alive today, and I believe that God would say I love you to each one of them.  God loves both Jew and Gentile.  He loves both male and female.  He loves both black and white.  He loves both Republican and Democrat.  He loves both blue-collar and white-collar.  He loves both Aggies and Longhorns.

 

Furthermore, He loves every sinner.  He loves every racist and every adulterer and every liar and every thief and every homosexual and every murderer and every rapist and every child molester and every addict and every alcoholic.  God loves every person who has ever lived because every person who has ever lived was created in the image of God.  Love is the motivation of God’s heart.

 

 

1. The Demonstration of God’s Love: His Son

that He gave His only begotten Son

 

How did God demonstrate or illustrate or prove His love?  He gave.  He gave freely.  He gave with no strings attached.  He gave knowing what would happen. 

 

What did He give?  He gave His only begotten and unique Son.  He didn’t have another Son.  He had only one Son. 

 

This Son was unique in that He was fully divine.  Even though born in a feeding trough for cows, He was born fully God. 

 

Jesus described Himself in this verse using the word “monogene.”  Mono means one.  Gene is seed.  There is only one seed like this.  There are no others. 

 

He didn’t give His house or His car or His wallet or His investment portfolio or His most prized toy.  God gave His only Son to die by the cruelest means of execution that humanity has ever known, and this is the demonstration of God’s love.

 

You have heard the cliché that the proof is in the pudding.  That has actually been shortened from the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. 

 

In other words, you know if the pudding is good by tasting it.  You know that God loves you when you read or remember John 3:16. He gave His one and only Son to die on the cross and in your place and for your sins. 

 

 

• The Invitation to Receive God’s Gift: To Believe

that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 

God invites us to receive His love, but He will not force us.  God gives us an option.  We can receive this gift, or we can reject this gift. 

 

What would it mean to receive it?  Remember, it is a gift.  Therefore, it can’t be earned. 

 

To receive it means to believe in Jesus.  However, it is not merely mental ascent.  To believe means to trust in, to cling to, and to rely on Jesus. 

 

A person can believe with his mind by trusting that Jesus is the promised Messiah.  He can believe with his heart by clinging to Him as the only way to heaven.  He can believe with his life by relying on Him to enable you to repent of your old ways of life and living a life that is surrendered to Him.

 

On the other hand, to reject Him is to say no thanks.  However, you are also rejecting Him if you do nothing at all. 

 

On occasion, it may be appropriate to be a something, such as apolitical.  However, you cannot be asalvation or aeternallife because that is not an option. 

 

Your options are to receive or reject…no others, and to reject is to perish, to die, to have your soul destroyed, to be spiritually lost and separated from God for eternity, but to receive Him is to have eternal or everlasting life. 

 

 

Conclusion

The story is told of a little boy living in an orphanage who was a hand full to manage or may be even two hands full.  The workers in the home were even looking for an excuse to move him to another orphanage. 

 

One day, they saw the little boy running across the yard, and he climbed up in a tree, and they watched him leave a note posted on one of the branches.  After he climbed down, they immediately went and checked it out.  The note said, “If anybody finds this, I love you.” 

 

Today, if you are within the sound of my voice in this room, internet, or CD, John 3:16 is a note from God, and it says, “I love you.” 

 

Will you respond today by receiving God’s gift of eternal life?