“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17).
Have you ever considered how much God loves you? Have you ever considered how much God gave to save you from the eternal lake of fire? When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, mankind was stricken with the deadly malady we call sin. But Jesus bore our sins on the Cross and if we, by faith, trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God will forgive all our sins.
God, the heavenly Father, the creator of this universe, the eternal God, the all-sufficient God, the self-existent God, the omnipotent God, omnipresent, omniscient, holy, righteous, and pure God so loved this world that He gave His Son to die for the sins of the world (John 1:29). Here we see the greatest being in the universe, God the eternal creator. We see the greatest love in the universe. If you are ever tempted to doubt God’s love for mankind, just look at how God gave His only begotten Son to die a cruel death on the Cross for the sins of the world. The death of Jesus Christ on the Cross is the supreme demonstration of God’s love for mankind.
Would you allow your son to die on a crucifixion cross for your neighbor’s sin? Would you allow your son to die for a criminal that has been convicted of a capital crime? Well, that’s what God has done for mankind. He gave His Son so that we can have eternal life with Him. The Bible tells us about mankind. “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:10-18). Now, be honest with yourself, isn’t this a pretty good picture of mankind today?
The Bible says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Even when we were going our own way, living in sin, Jesus died on the Cross for our sins; God allowed His perfect Son to come to this earth as a man, and to die on the Cross for all the sins of mankind.
Have you ever wondered what real love is like? I don’t think any human can explain it, but I can give a few examples. Love, real love, always seeks the highest interest of others. True love is never selfish; it’s always others-centered. Always seeking to do what’s best for other people, and not for yourself. There’s a saying: “Love is not love, when it alters, when alterations it finds.” In other words, real love doesn’t waiver or alter, even in the worst of situations.
Love must always be measured by the obstacles it overcomes, and when you consider all of the obstacles that God’s love has overcome, then we realize that God’s love for mankind is a marvelous thing. It has overcome man’s hatred and rebellion against God, and against God’s law. God’s love has overcome man’s hatred for each other; all the murder, stealing, adultery, and all the other sins that mankind perpetrates against each other. But God keeps on loving us. God loves a world that is fallen and filled with sin. God loves mankind, even in our pitiful and sinful state. Mankind, who is filled with greed, hatred, strife, envy, and yet, God still loves us. The greatest love in the universe, by the greatest Being in the universe.
Because of God’s love for mankind, we can have the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, but apart from Him you cannot have that gift. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). All of these marvelous and wonderful things that God has given to us are all in, and through, and by Jesus Christ. The greatest gift, God’s Son, comes to mankind from God, as God makes to mankind the greatest offer in the universe.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). Because of God’s great love for mankind, you can have eternal life with God; your sins were judged on the Cross. God wants us to spend eternity with Him. But, being a holy God, He must punish sin. So He sent His Son to die for our sins. Peter wrote, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).
When I read in the Bible that I can have eternal life in heaven if I will put my faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I realize that it’s the greatest gift anyone can receive. I do not know why anyone would turn this offer down, yet billions do. With all the uncertainty that we see in our world today, there are some things that are a certainty. One of them is that Jesus is coming back to this world someday (John 14:1-3). When that’s going to happen is God’s business (Acts 1:7). And when He comes back He will either be your Lord or your Judge. The choice is yours to make.
Carlin Lawrence
