From John 3:16

by Kenny Hodges

A college professor once asked, “Are there any Christians in the class?” A few hands hesitantly went up. The professor continued, “I have a question for you. Can God do anything?” Several heads nodded. “Well then, if God can do anything, can He make a rock so big He can’t pick it up?” This, of course, is a trick question. The truth is that God can do anything that He wants, but there are things He cannot do. He can never do anything that is contrary to His character or attributes. God cannot sin. He could never be unjust. He could never cease to be omnipotent. A rock too big for the omnipotent God to pick up is a logical impossibility.

I was blessed to hear Pastor Bob McDonald from Emmanuel Baptist Church share a method of evangelizing that uses the idea of God not being able to do certain things. I have found this to be an excellent approach. In the course of conversation with someone I ask if he or she knows that there are three things God cannot do. Using John 3:16 I point out:

1 God Could Not Love You Any More than He Does

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” God’s love, demonstrated in giving His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins is the supreme example of love. John, in his first epistle, says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). God loved the world so much that He provided the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The blood of Jesus satisfied or propitiated God’s wrath for all time.

2 God Could Not Have Made Your Response Any Easier

“…that whoever believes in Him…” Notice that God does not say, “whoever behaves.” The truth is, because Jesus paid it all, there is nothing that we can do to help God out. As a matter of fact, to think we have to do anything in addition to Jesus’ sacrifice is to elevate our works to the same level as Jesus’ death on the cross. In essence we are telling God that Jesus did not do enough and that we must help Him. Verses like Eph 2:8-9 and Titus 3:11 make it clear that we are saved by faith alone and not by works. Jesus said, “He that believes in Me has everlas

3 God Could Not Give You a Greater Gift

“…should not perish, but have everlasting life.” When we believe in Jesus, God gives us eternal life. In John 4, Jesus made an amazing statement to a Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Jesus goes on to say, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). A single drink results in eternal life. In other words, simple faith in Jesus Christ results in a person being born again. They pass from death to life. God is the One who chose the adjective eternal to describe the life that He gives. Everlasting or eternal life is contrasted with perishing. Later in John 10:28 Jesus says, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” What a wonderful gift, knowing that our eternal destiny is settled and secure forever because of Jesus!

So you see, there are three things in John 3:16 that God cannot do: He cannot love you anymore than He does, He cannot make it any easier for you to receive His love, and He cannot give you a greater gift—eternal life!

For god so loved the
world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have
everlasting life.