Jesus, the Brazen Serpent, and Saving Faith (3)

We addressed last week John 3:16 and what the Holy Scriptures teach regarding God’s loving action toward the entire human race. However, it is important to distinguish between the general love that God shows to all people and the special love that He has only for His people. God’s general love for sinners is manifest in that He is gracious and merciful to sinners, that He is slow to anger toward them, and that He is abundant in lovingkindness. God’s general love for sinners is evident in that He relents from doing them harm. But again, the epitome of God’s general love toward sinners is that He gave His Son to die, so that sinners might be saved. However, the Bible speaks of the special love that He has for His elect, through which God brings them to salvation. We address this important matter in today’s notes.

In addressing this subject last Lord’s Day, “Jesus, the Brazen Serpent, and Saving Faith” (vs. 14f), we had hoped to consider the glorious, often quoted verse in the midst of this passage, which is John 3:16. We did not do so due to time constraints, and so today we will consider the meaning and the implications of this verse. We should state at the outset of our study that though this verse is the most well-known and commonly cited verses in the Holy Bible, it is most commonly misunderstood and misapplied. There are false doctrines that are assumed to be true doctrines due to wrong interpretations of John 3:16. We address three of these false teachings in addition to setting forth the glorious promise of this precious Word from God.