What is it about John 316 that Evangelical Christians love so much?

Why is it favorite, favorite Bible verse that they want to tell everybody about?

Well, I'd like to think it's the first six words that say,

for God, so loved the world.

Wouldn't that be awesome? If that was the message they wanted,

everybody to hear and everybody to know that God loves you so much.

But sadly, I believe it's the latter part of the verse that they want to emphasize and make

clear that Jesus is the only way that leads to salvation. The misunderstanding over John 316

has led many Christians in America today to believe that one must accept Jesus as their Lord

and Savior, or they will be condemned to hell. That is not what John 316 means. That is not

what Jesus is saying in today's gospel. So what does it mean? What is he saying?

Well, let's look at it together. He promises he's going to look at John 316

together, like you would expect a Bible study here, like actually read the verses and look

at them in context. That's never going to happen in his message. It's never going to happen.

But it's going to happen for us. So let's just look briefly at John 316 because this will protect

you against most false teaching is that you just read the verses yourself and see the connections

in context. So briefly, let me just remind us, John 3, this is a conversation between Jesus and

Nicodemus. He's a rabbi who considers himself a pious Jew, right? And he acknowledges Jesus

from God. He goes, we know you're a teacher from God to Jesus. He says this for no one can do the

science you do unless God is with him. Then Jesus says to him, this really radical statement,

you, unless you're born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, even though you're

a Pharisee, even though you're, even though you're acknowledging, right, that there's something

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