"Christ Confronts Nicodemus -- The New Birth", sermon for 03/16/2014, 2nd Sunday in Lent.

We're walking on familiar ground today. My text is, without a doubt, the most familiar and beloved verse in the whole Bible. I have more sermons on this one text than any single text in the Bible. Luther called John 3:16 "the Gospel in miniature." Many of us have heard it referred to as "the Gospel in a nutshell." No matter what denomination or church group you may have grown up in, if you went to Sunday School or church as a child, you probably memorized John 3:16. We can likely say it from memory: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but may have everlasting life." But what if John 3:16 were not true? What if God had not loved the world? Without God's love, there would be no hope at all in this world. It would be a world where prayers were but useless cries to the skies. Every death would be the end of personal hope and every grave a place of despair. But, God DOES love the world. What if God had not given His Son? -- The verse goes on to say: "...that he gave His only begotten Son..." What if instead of God giving us His Son, He gave us what we deserve; and instead of sending us His Son to die for our sins, and giving us the opportunity to have a life on earth worth living on this earth, and eternal life forever, He just sent us all to hell? God showed His love for us by giving His most treasured possession. Romans 5:8 says, "But God showed, demonstrated his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Praise God, God DID send His Son to die on the cross for your sin. God has given His Son, and apart from this there is no salvation. What if God's offer of salvation were not for the "whosoevers"? that wonderful word WHOSOEVER—What a comforting word! It's a word that is general, yet particular. It embraces all of humanity, and yet it touches each and every one of us. It means the Gospel is for EVERYONE, which means it's for YOU and for ME! Pastor Ken Puccio of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Glen Avon presents "Christ Confronts Nicodemus -- The New Birth", sermon for 03/16/2014, 2nd Sunday in Lent. The sermon is based on the Gospel reading, John 3:1-17.