Stop the average man on the street and ask how a person qualifies for eternity in heaven. most will say the same thing. Be good. Try harder. Do better.
It's the world's oldest assumption. Goodness secures our destiny. But heaven doesn't work that way. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl unwraps the shocking simplicity of God's gift. In this study, we'll discover why salvation isn't about our effort.
but about a single act of trust. Prepare to see John 3.16 like never before and perhaps receive the greatest Christmas gift of your life. Yeah. If you have your Bible with you, please open. to the third chapter of John.
I'll be reading just a few verses right out of the core of that chapter. In many ways, familiar, and in some ways, unfamiliar. to all of us. The words we know, but the meaning behind them may have slipped. As we often have discovered, Familiarity tends to Not just breed contempt, but also.
make us unaware of the hidden Truth. of those familiar words. I'll be reading John chapter 3. Beginning at verse 14, and a few other verses that follow. John 3:14, as Moses lifted up the serpent.
In the wilderness, even so. must the Son of Man be lifted up.
So that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. For God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish. but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world.
to judge the world. But that the world might be saved. Through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already.
Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten.
Son of God. And Paul writes years later after John wrote, In the end of chapter 9 of 2 Corinthians, Thanks be to God for his. Indescribable gift. One version has it, his gift. too wonderful for words.
Today we unwrap that gift and come to appreciate not only how it was wrapped, but the gift itself. You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the Bible on your own, be sure to check out the wide variety of helpful resources available at our online store. Take a few minutes to browse through the options at insight.org slash store. And now, let's begin the study that Chuck titled God's Greatest Gift.
Say the verse of Scripture with me. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish. but have everlasting life. Isn't that amazing that We can repeat those words.
There are 25 of them. In the familiar King James Bible, which is the place where we, most of us, first learn the verse. 25 words. I don't know of another verse of scripture that long. that all of us could quote together Without preparation.
or without getting ready for it, without any reluctance or hesitation. We know the words by heart. They form what I would call ground zero of the gospel message. Every evangelical preacher that has ever stepped into a pulpit. Repeats that verse of scripture several times every year.
Especially if he is the type to faithfully offer Eternal salvation to those who were listening. Because that's true, you would think that All of us have preached messages. On that single verse. I decided when I was preparing that I would turn to my. Long section in my library of all the books of Charles Spurgeon.
Uh born uh 1834, died 1892. This grand Victorian era a prince of preachers in the land of England. I thought surely there would be a number of sermons that he preached. And I would just steal.
Some of the things he said. Because he would be far more profound than I ever could be. Was I surprised? when I turn to uh the treasury of the Bible. Volume six Uh page 282.
And read this. Spurgeon's words. I was very greatly surprised the other day in looking over the list. from which I had preached to find that I have no record. of ever having spoken from this verse.
This is all the more singular because I can truly say that. It might be put in the forefront. of all my volumes of discourses. As the sole topic of my life's ministry. It has been my one and only business To set forth the love of God.
to men and women in Christ Jesus. My heart's desire has been to sound forth as with a trumpet. The good news that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Come, ye aged saints, Be children again. And you that have long known your Lord, Take up your first spelling book.
and go over your ABCs again. By learning that God so loved the world, That he gave his son to die, that we might live through him. He continues, I do not call you to an elementary lesson. Because you have forgotten your letters. but because it is a good thing to refresh the memory.
And a blessed thing to feel young again. He says at the end of this long quote, It is a good thing for all of us to return at times to our starting place. And make sure that we are in the way. everlasting. When I read those closing words in that paragraph, I thought that exhortation reminds me of the words of Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.
As she was teaching the von Trapp Children to sing. Remember, she begins: let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. And I think John 3, 16 represents that. It was the very beginning of my coming to faith in Christ. as it was for many of you.
I was just a little boy. laying on a few, Counting the squares in the ceiling. of First Baptist Church, El Campo, Texas. Banford Inman was the preacher. And my dad used to say, You need to sit up, son.
This man really knows his Bible. And I thought, I can listen just as well lying down. But I remember hearing when he quoted, and he really knew his Bible, he even had a letter. The navigators had taught him. He'd put on the edge of his Bible.
He could pine those verses and He could quote him and I remember his sounding forth. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. I remember sitting up in my seat. My dad leans over and said, you need to listen to this. I thought, I am, I am.
That he gave his only begotten son. That whoever believes in him should not perish. but have everlasting life. And that day, is a little boy. Before the Second World War had begun, back in about 1939, 1940.
I trusted in Jesus. I didn't know the full story. Tell you the truth. I still don't know the full. Story.
Theology is a bottomless subject. And you can trace these truths. for years and never exhaust them. One of my mentors used to say, We have an an infinite text.
So it is with John 3. 16. Matter of fact, For the last two weeks, I have been studying this one verse. And I have put together I've encountered them maybe 16, 18 pages of my work. You'll be glad to know I did not bring all of that with me to the pulpit today.
But I did bring one sheet. That was helpful as I got started. It is 12. Various renderings of John 3:16. King James Bible, Revised Standard Version, New English Bible.
New American Standard, New International Version, Amplified Bible. New Testament in Modern English by Phillips, the Net Bible. Expanded translation by Kenneth West. New Testament translation by William Barkley. The message by Eugene Peterson.
And the New Living Translation. This is just a few. There are dozens of versions that I could have read. And I could have written out. I was interested in reading The difference in the way the words appear.
in the different versions of the different Bibles. All of this led me to decide to point out Seven specific things about John 3:16. That would be wise to remember. Because the verse is simple, I give you my word, I will not make this complicated. Normally, you give a preacher long enough, he will complicate whatever may be the verse, but I'm not going to do that.
I'm going to hold back a lot of things and simply state basic information. Because I believe there are some who need to trust in Christ. who are hearing these words today. The first thing I want to emphasize is that When John wrote the verse, He did not write it in English. He wrote it in common.
Ordinary Every day Greek.
Sounds so different when you read it in Greek. Hutos gar he gapisan, hatheos tan kasman, hoste ton huyan tan margane eruken is the beginning of John 3:16. None of the words sound familiar to any of us. Over time, God has led through various situations and significant people. to put his word in the language and the vernacular of everyday folks like us.
Aren't we grateful that we're able to read it in our own language? and see what it says for ourselves. When I mentioned that I come also at this first point. to mention that Most of the versions and Paraphrases that I've read and studied. Do not begin like the Greek verse begins.
Ten of the twelve begin with four. As in For God so loved the world. Neither for nor God appears first. in the original sentence that John wrote. You'd be surprised to know what appears first.
I was when I blew the dust off my Greek text. and look deeper into it. The first word is a word in our Bible that gets swallowed up with bigger words around it. It's the word so. Think about it.
So much Did God love the world?
So great. was his love for us. Then he gave us his son. Makes sense, doesn't it? Who chose is so So much.
Did God love the world?
So that's first. And I don't want you to miss it. I want you to remember it because we'll come back to it. Because it is magnificent how much. He loves the world.
Now the second I want to mention Is this word for? That begins our sentence and most English renderings of the sixteenth verse. The word for is a connective that takes us back earlier into the context. Do you know that John 3:16 appears in the middle of a conversation. There are two men talking together about being born again.
or born anew. One, of course, is Jesus. Who makes this statement? The other is a man who is a member of the Supreme Court. of the first century Jews.
named Nicodemus. Interesting, he's one of 71 men. who ruled over the nation. Legally, He is politically connected. He is intellectually very bright.
He knows the Old Testament better than any of us. ever will. Especially the Torah. The first five books of the Bible. which explains why Jesus says what he does.
Earlier in the conversation. In fact, when you go back in the chapter and always learn to do this. Rather than taking a verse all by itself and making an island out of it, You need to realize It's surrounding. Like a diamond without a setting can easily be lost. And the beauty of it not really appreciated A verse without its setting can somehow get misplaced or worse Misquoted.
So we read in verse 1 of chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. He's a ruler of the Jews. He came by night. To see Jesus.
And he said to him, Teacher, the word rabbi means teacher. We know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
So he isn't antagonistic. He's not a believer. But not all unbelievers are antagonistic. or argumentative. He comes with his eyebrows raised.
He comes to dialogue with Jesus. I think it's interesting that he came at night. Guess why?
Well, remember, there are 70 other members of the Supreme Court. He didn't want any of them to know what he was doing.
So we planned a meeting at night.
So that he and Jesus could talk alone. About what Jesus meant when he refers to being. born from above. Remember, he's no ignoramus. But he's confused.
How can a person who's already been born Be born. Again. Jesus doesn't rebuke him for it. He doesn't. Call him stupid or Or out of touch, he simply says, in effect, that's a good question.
And the dialogue is about this new birth. As it goes along, Nicodemus speaks, then Jesus speaks, and then Nicodemus, and then Jesus. It's called interchange. In the literary form, there's an interchange between Nicodemus and Jesus. And then Nicodemus answers, then Jesus answers, and then Nicodemus responds, and Jesus.
And when we get to verse Fourteen. Interestingly, Jesus has the floor. And he says to him, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and you know what? At that moment, He locked in with him. Nicodemus knew that story.
completely. It's in the Torah. If you check it out, it's in Numbers 21, verses 4 to 9.
So let's check it out. Hold your place here. Go back. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers.
Okay? It's the fourth book of the Old Testament. It's the 21st chapter. And the Jews are in the middle of their journey from Egypt. to the promised land.
The land of Canaan. And on their way, they're sick and tired. of the journey. And we read about it right away. Verse 4, 21, 4.
Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient. Because of the journey. You probably have children like that. We had one especially.
Always wanted to know before we left how long is this going to take. And the favorite question before we would get out of our cul-de-sac was, are we almost there? Or I have to go to the bathroom. Invariably, the trip was long and arduous for this particular child, in this case as a whole nation. We're sick and tired.
You look at their complaint. They spoke against God and Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no food, there's no water, and we loathe this miserable manna. We don't like any.
It's kind of a Swindoff paraphrase there, okay? They don't like anything because the journey is long and it's hot and it's barren and they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's miserable. And finally, Finally. Moses intercedes for them.
And he said verse five. They say to him, Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there's no food and no water, and we loathe the miserable food that had been given regularly. A diet of manna. And they had tried every way in the world to prepare it, and it still tasted like.
Manor. And they were sick and tired of manna. And so the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. These are snakes that are red in color, and they bit the people so that many of the people died.
Now next time you complain, remember that verse of Scripture, okay? Attitude is everything. And their stinks. And Moses steps back and the Lord says, that's it. That's it.
My dad used to say that when he was driving the car, and the three of us are in the back seat, with one slap, he'd had all three faces. Bum, bum, bum. Stop it! Except in this case He doesn't slap them. He sends the snakes.
Now watch closely. It gets very interesting.
So the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned because we spoke against the Lord and you. Intercede with the Lord that he may remove the serpents from us. Moses interceded for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, Okay, make a fiery serpent.
Now read carefully. By the way, Nicodemus knew all of this by heart. Very familiar with the Torah. Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent. Set it on a standard.
It shall come about that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it. He shall live. When you look at that If you want to get over snake bite, and snake poisoning from the venom of the snakes. All you have to do is look At this image. of this serpent that is placed on a standard.
Just look at it. Look at the next verse. Moses made a bronze serpent, set it on the standard, came about that if a serpent bit any man, When he looked to the bronze serpent. He lived.
Sometimes this strange imagery in the Old Testament is unfamiliar to us. Fiery serpents made from bronze?
Well, Chuck Smindahl wants to show us the relevance of this story, so stay with us today and again on Monday's edition of Insight for Living to hear more teaching from Chuck. He titled his message God's Greatest Gift. You know, people often tell us how much they appreciate Chuck's ability to make Bible stories like this one come to life. that helps us apply the Biblical teaching to our daily lives. It's the reason that Insight for Living was launched back in 1979, and it's what propels us into the future.
Chuck? Yes, Insight for Living has been around since nineteen seventy nine, and we've heard countless stories from our long time listeners that absolutely thrill my heart. Young married couples who started their families back in the eighties are now reaping the spiritual rewards of children and their children infused with the hope and wisdom they embraced many years ago. It moves me deeply. To hear from grandparents who look back over the decades and see God's thread of mercy woven through the tapestry of their lives.
impacting generations for God's glory. What a legacy What a privilege to have invested in eternal things that are now bearing fruit in ways you could never have imagined. And now Just like me and Cynthia, maybe you have more resources than you did as newlyweds. Perhaps God has blessed you. Just as he's blessed the Swindall family with more financial margin than in those early days when you were wiping noses and changing diapers.
Money was tight back then, wasn't it?
Well, this is your opportunity to impact new generations. Young parents are facing pressures and challenges. we never dreamed of. They need God's word. They need biblical wisdom.
They need hope that only comes from. Knowing Jesus Christ. Psalm 78. Verse 4 comes to mind. and with the words of this psalm I will close.
We will not hide these truths from our children. We will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. That's what we're doing together. telling the next generation about the Lord. Thanks for giving your best gift.
And thanks for doing so today. Here's how to respond to Chuck Swindall. To send your donation in the mail, address your envelope to InsightForLiving. Post Office Box 5000. Frisco, Texas 75034.
Regardless of the size of your special year-end gift, your generosity will make an impact. I'm reminded of a comment from one of your fellow listeners who said, Chuck, my mother-in-law introduced me to your radio ministry in 1979. I was a police officer and listened daily in the car, and each sermon left me wanting more of the Word of God. I've listened ever since, requested your books and CDs, and still use them today. I occasionally get to minister in our church, and your books and commentaries are my go-to source for sermon material.
Well, we love hearing stories of impact like that. And when you give, you play a key role in making these moments happen. If you prefer to give a donation by speaking to one of our ministry representatives, you can call us at 800-772-8888. or give online at insight.org slash donate. No.
I'm Bill Meyer. Join us again when Chuck Swindahl describes what he calls God's greatest gift, Monday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, God's Greatest Gift, was copyrighted in 2015, 2016, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
