IS JOHN 3:16 THE GOSPEL OF OUR SALVATION? OF COURSE IT IS!

Pastor Art Watkins of Coden Bible Church (Coden, Alabama)

January 18, 2016

Most of you reading this will agree that the gospel of our salvation is in John 3:16, but believe it or not there are some who actually teach that John 3:16 is not the gospel of our salvation today. They say 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 is the gospel, because it says Christ died for our sins. They assume that John 3:16 is not about the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross, but what they totally ignore is John 3:14 which says: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.

When and where was Jesus lifted up? He answers this in John 12:32-33: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. In John 3:14 Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross where he died for our sins, so John 3:16 is all about the sacrificial death on the cross. Those who believe he was lifted up on the cross for their sins in John 3:14 have everlasting life according to John 3:16.

John 3:14 is not the only reference to the cross in the book of John. In John 1:29 John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus: The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. How did Jesus the Lamb of God take away the sin of the world? By dying for their sins according to 1 Peter 1:18-19 which says: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

In John 6:51 Jesus said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. When and where did Jesus give his flesh for the life of the world? On the cross of Calvary.

In John 10:11 Jesus said: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

In John 10:15:  As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10:17: Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

John 10:18: No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. Five times in this chapter Christ said he would die for us.

John is not the only writer in the four gospels that recorded what Jesus said about his death on the cross. In Matthew 20:28 Jesus said: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Paul quotes this verse in 1 Timothy 2:6 which says: Who (Christ) gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

In Matthew 26:27-28 Jesus said concerning the cup of the Lord’s Supper: And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Throughout the four gospels Jesus said over and over again that he would be lifted up on a cross and die for our sins and shed his blood for our sins and give his life a ransom for sinners. So, John 3:16 is the gospel of our salvation. God gave his Son up as a sacrifice for our sins and anyone who believes he was lifted up for them on the cross according to John 3:14, has everlasting life according to John 3:16.