Loading...
Loading...
484 illustrations
John 3
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2The same came to him by night, and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him."
3Jesus answered him, "Most assuredly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can`t see the kingdom of God."
4Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother`s womb, and be born?"
5Jesus answered, "Most assuredly I tell you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he can`t enter into the kingdom of God!
6That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7Don`t marvel that I said to you, `You must be born anew.`
8The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don`t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
9Nicodemus answered him, "How can these things be?"
10Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and don`t understand these things?
11Most assuredly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don`t receive our witness.
12If I told you earthly things and you don`t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
14As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17For God didn`t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
18He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn`t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of God.
19This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
20For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn`t come to the light, for fear that his works would be reproved.
21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done with God."
22After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them, and baptized.
23John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized.
24For John was not yet thrown into prison.
25There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John`s disciples with some Jews about purification.
26They came to John, and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and all men come to him."
27John answered, "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.
28You yourselves testify about me, that I said, `I am not the Christ,` but, `I have been sent before him.`
29He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom`s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.
30He must increase, but I must decrease.
31He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the Earth belongs to the Earth, and speaks of the Earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
32What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.
33He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.
34For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.
35The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
36He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who disobeys the Son won`t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
By May of 1738, John Wesley had already been ordained for thirteen years. He had crossed the Atlantic to serve as a missionary in Georgia,...
SermonWise.ai generates complete sermon outlines for any passage across 17 theological traditions. Try it with John.
Generate a sermon →When Marcus and Dena Thompson of Nashville finalized the adoption of seven-year-old Jaylen in 2019, the judge asked Jaylen if he understood what was happening....
"Consider how great a gift it is that He gave—His only-begotten Son. Not a servant, not an angel, not an archangel, but His own Son. And for whom? For ungrateful enemies. This is the wonder of God's love." — St.
"God's love is not simply a feeling but rather an action that creates a people capable of witnessing to the world that God would have the world saved through the love shown in Christ." — Stanley Hauerwas.
"God so loved that He gave. And when you have really grasped that God so loved YOU, you will never be the same. His love is a consuming fire that fills you with power to live and witness." — Smith Wigglesworth.
"John 3:16 is not about God rescuing people from the world, but about God loving the world so much that he sends his Son to rescue and redeem it. The goal is not escape but transformation—God putting the world right." — N.T.
"God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God.
"Nothing in the Christian system is of greater consequence than the doctrine of the Atonement. God so loved the world—the whole world, every soul He has made—that He gave His only Son to the end that whosoever believeth might not perish." — John Wesley.
"John 3:16 is not just theology to be understood but love to be encountered. When the Holy Spirit makes this verse alive in your heart, you don't just know God loves the world—you KNOW God loves YOU. That encounter changes everything." — Jack Hayford.
"Whosoever—I love that word. It means me. It means you. It opens wide the gate of mercy. None are excluded except those who exclude themselves. Come, for God so loved that He gave, and whosoever believes shall have eternal life." — Charles Spurgeon.
"The religion of Jesus makes the love of God the ultimate ground of trust and security. God so loved the world—including those whom the world despises—that He gave His Son for ALL. There is no one outside the sweep of...
"When you receive Christ, you become a new creation. The old life is gone; a new life has begun. This isn't reformation but transformation—not turning over a new leaf but receiving a new life. You must be born again, and...
"The God of the Bible is not a God who is contained in heaven, but rather a God whose love moves toward the world in all its messiness." — Walter Brueggemann. God so loved THE WORLD—not just souls, not just...
"God has given us a lifeboat in John 3:16. While the ship is sinking, we must rescue all we can. Time is short. Whoever believes shall not perish—but those who reject will perish. The urgency of the gospel compels us...
"This is a remarkable commendation of faith, that it frees us from everlasting destruction... And he has employed the universal term whosoever, both to invite all indiscriminately to partake of life, and to cut off every excuse from unbelievers." — John Calvin, Commentary on John.
"God so loved the world—but we must ask: what does this love look like in a world of injustice? God's love is not neutral. It takes sides with the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten.
"Mission is not essentially an action by which the church puts forth its own power and wisdom to conquer the world around it; it is an action of God, putting forth the power of his Spirit to bring the universal...
"In Jesus Christ God has said Yes to humanity. The giving of the Son is the great divine Yes that precedes and grounds every other word from God.
"This text is rightly called the gospel in miniature because it contains the entire sum of the Christian doctrine in a brief compass: God so loved... that He gave... that whoever believes... shall not perish but have eternal life. Here...