God’s Great Love
Am Service March 15th 2009
John 3:16
Introduction
There is a lot of hurt in the world each and every day. Life does not seem very fair at times does it? Good people are losing their jobs, homes, and retirement accounts. Even the planet Pluto is not considered a planet anymore. Where is the justice in that!
When you look at the world around you it can be easy to get so wrapped up in the bad stuff that we forget about our God. It is easy to think He is not there for you, that He does not care about you. There are times when hope seems to be far away. I believe the world is spinning out of control because people do not understand God.
The world needs hope, they need the hope that is found in Jesus! They need to have the hope that springs from the Easter holiday that we will celebrate in just five short weeks.
John 3:16 a verse that helps us to understand what we read in the bible, it helps us to understand what God is all about. It helps us to understand why God has done what He has done as well as why He is doing what He is doing.
It tells us that the mainspring of God’s being is love. It is easy to think of God as looking at people in their self-centeredness and their disobedience and their rebellion and saying: "I’ll break them: I’ll discipline them and punish them and scourge them until they come back." The text reveals that we have a God who loves us more than we can ever imagine.
I know that more the odds of every one of us in here have heard this verse is pretty good. In fact I’m pretty sure that most of us know definitely have this verse memorized.
I read something recently that said a Sunday school teacher kept a copy of this verse in a walnut shell on his desk because he was taught long ago that John 3:16 is the Gospel in a nutshell.
Makes sense to me. I suppose if there was ever a verse that could change the world this would be the one. Today I want to break it down a little and examine it a piece at a time so that we can see what it tells us of.
Read Scripture: John 3:16
I. The Greatest Love
Vs. 16 “God so loved the world”
I find it so amazing that God has enough time to love me when He has the whole rest of the world to love. He loves me. Little – well not so little – insignificant me. He loves you. He loves me. He loves us even though we are sinners. He even loves those who don’t believe He exists. He loves all of the atheists of the world. That is hard to believe, but He does.
Name any kind of sinner there is in the world, and He loves that person. He doesn’t love their sins, but He loves the person. Every person in the world can be assured of God’s love.
The human mind will never grasp the love of God. All we can say is the love of God is uncaused, uninfluenced, spontaneous, and sovereign. Jeremiah. 31:3 – “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”
His is an everlasting, unending love with no beginning. God had no beginning so his love had no beginning. All earthly love had a beginning but God’s love reaches back
to before the world was as well as forward to when all mountains are but dust. God’s love is infinite, illimitable, unbounded.
The little chorus sung by children says it best, "Wide, wide as the ocean, High as the heaven above, Deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Savior’s love"
A SINNER MAY GO TO HELL UNSAVED, BUT HE CANNOT GO TO HELL UNLOVED.
II. The Greatest Gift
Vs. 16 “that He gave His One and Only Son”
I don’t know why my life is so important the God allowed His son to go to the Cross for my sins. He loves all of us so much that His Son made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. When I was a “Baby Christian” I suppose this was the easiest thing to accept and the hardest to understand. In fact I still don’t understand. I’m just thankful for it.
I love many people in this world. I know what it is to love. But I also know what it is to lose someone you love. Knowing those two feelings, and knowing that God chose to allow His Son, His perfect blameless Son to die for me still dumbfounds me every time I think about it. I found this article that makes it easier for me to understand:
A gem dealer was strolling the aisles at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show when he noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato. He looked it over, then, as calmly as possible, asked the vendor, "You want $15 for this?" The seller, realizing the rock wasn’t as pretty as others in the bin, lowered the price to $10. The stone has since been certified as a 1,905-carat natural star sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. It was appraised at $2.28 million.
It took a lover of stones to recognize the sapphire’s worth. It took the Lover of Souls to recognize the true value of ordinary-looking people like us.
That’s why He gave us this gift. He knows our true value. Maybe you’ve failed Him in your life, but listen child of God, you are still valuable to Him.
III. The Greatest Faith
Vs. 16 “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish”
You see it’s not hard for me to understand that God loves the world. It’s not hard for me to understand that God loves people. It’s hard to understand that God loves ME! Why? Because I know me. I know how often I have failed Him, failed to live up to His expectations, failed to be who He created me to be, failed to please Him in my life. I’m here to tell you this morning that this is exactly why the Whosoever is in here. You see God tells me He loves me because I’m a whosoever and so are you!
“Whoever believes in Him shall not perish” The great message of the gospel is “YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO TO HELL!!!!
“YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE AS AN ENEMY OF GOD!!!” Simply place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
IV. The Greatest Life
Vs. 16 “but have everlasting life”
Life with Jesus is greater than any other life there is. I’ve had what many call the “good times” of life. I’ve smoked, drank, and partied. I’ve had all of that “fun”. All of that so called “fun”. I’ve been there and done that. But I’ll tell you something about all that fun I had – It was empty. It was nothing. And had Jesus not rescued me from the cesspool I was in my soul and perhaps my body would be dead now. But now that I have Him in my life I could never imagine life without Him again. He gives us everlasting life. He gives us the opportunity for life with Him. All we have to do is believe, ask, and receive.
Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. "A pardon is a slip of paper," wrote Marshall, "the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged."
2,000 years ago God the Son – Jesus the Christ issues a pardon….
BUT just like in the case of George Wilson – the value of the pardon is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned… If it is refused, it is no pardon….
We don’t have to accept the life Christ died to give us. We can refuse.
Conclusion
All of us at times look towards heaven and ask “Do you love me?” While we know in our hearts that it’s a foolish question – our hearts yearn to hear the answer. Do you love me? From heaven comes the resounding response – “Yes, my dearest child I love You. I love you more than you can imagine. More purely than you can comprehend. More deeply than your heart can conceive and for as long as eternity remains.
God has given us the Greatest Love, the Greatest Gift, the Greatest Faith, and the Greatest Life. All we have to do is accept it. The Love is free. The Gift is free. The Faith is free. The Life is free. This verse is only has 26 words in it. But these 26 words are the Gospel in a nut shell.
(Thanks sermoncentral contributor, Preacher’s outline and sermon bible)
