The Love at Christmas
Christmas Series 2024 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 viewsAngel’s Candle signifying love and acceptance of the Son
Notes
Transcript
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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Introduction
Introduction
What is something that you could say you truly love? What do you think of immediately if I were to ask what you love?
One of my favorite pastimes is woodworking. I could say that I love woodworking.
I remember several years ago trying to work on a sled for my table saw. A sled is a piece of wood designed to carry smaller pieces of wood back and forth in the path of the saw blade without cutting the woodworker’s hand. One of the hardest portions of making the sled is adding runners that correctly match up with the grooves on the table saw. One evening, I tried several different options for getting the runners to stay on the bottom of my sled but to no avail. Instead of trying it the way the instructions said, and waiting the correct amount of time, I kept doing it a different way. Finally, I got frustrated.
Melody, my good wife, was careful to remind me that the reason that I was in the wood shop to begin with was to help me relax. Whenever your hobby drives you to frustration, listen to your wife and take some time off from it! From that day on, one of the things I learned was that loving something means that you care about it instead of getting frustrated with it. Sometimes, that is definitely easier than at other times.
So it is with God. God loves us. Instead of being frustrated with us, though He has every right to be, He loves us and wanted to do something about our mutual problem. God knows that we have a problem. In fact, the problem that we have is one that God knew about long before we were born with it. Our problem is sin.
What has God done about our problem? As we will see in our passage today, God has taken the action necessary to solve our problem. One commentary titled verses 16-21,
John–Acts John 3:16–21
3:16–21 This Is How God Loved the World.
Where is the love at Christmas? We will see it in our passage this morning.
Declaration
Declaration
Friend, do you believe? The love of God and the love of Christ require repentance or relocation. For without a chance, we are doomed. Do you believe that He has died for you and that He gives life to you? The application of our passage is “Believe today!” Three eternal truths point us to the love at Christmas in our passage this morning.
1. Love Came
1. Love Came
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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
A. Love Came from God v. 16
A. Love Came from God v. 16
Verse 16 begins with the statement that “God so loved”. How did God love? He “so loved”. This little word “so” likely is pointing to the way that He loved rather than how much He loved. That is how the Greek word is used in the book of John. We will see this morning the love at Christmas visible in the plan and actions of God.
What is God’s love? When the Bible speaks of God’s love, it is showing us what God thinks of us. When we look at each other, we think of several things. Perhaps we think of another’s physical attributes. Perhaps we think of a person’s clothing or hairstyling. Maybe, if we know the person, we think of a person’s personality or memories we have with a person.
When God thinks of us, we would assume that He would have a negative reaction. Why? Because He created us perfect and we rebelled against Him. He gave us a perfect garden to live in, and we brought sin inside. He entrusted us with a simple command, but we wanted what was forbidden and chose to take it. We would assume that treating God like that would cause Him to have a negative reaction. That is how we would think in His place. Instead, God thinks positively and highly of us. He does so with a desire to better us and build us back to the way that we were when He created us perfect. God loved us and He loves us today!
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
What is the reason that love came? The reason is that God loved the world! God showed us mercy when our sin was an affront to Him. God sent grace when our destiny was death. The love of God became the ill-deserved favour of a plan of salvation for mankind.
What is this “world” that God? This word is used variously throughout these verses of the passage here. In verse 16, the “world:” is referring to the physical location of mankind. God loved all people.
His love for all people is connected the reality that He created them. God loves those He has designed intimately for the purpose of serving Him.
It is connected to His nature of love as part of His attributes. God expresses His holiness through His love toward others. He wants others to be holy as He is.
It is connected to His investment in a perfect place of love and praise for eternity. True love is a choice that we all must make. God gives us that love so that one day we can give back that love freely to Him forever.
B. Love Came through a Gift v. 16
B. Love Came through a Gift v. 16
The expression of the love of God is as a gift to sinful man. He gave His Son. God exists in Three Persons in one essence. God the Father gave us God the Son to be born a man and to die for us. When God gave, He offered to us something of inestimable value. God gave us something priceless.
What makes something priceless? Priceless essentially means that the object could not have an amount of money assigned to it for auction or sale.
In 1907, the Crown Jewels of Ireland were stolen. They consisted of a badge showing a nobleman’s rank, a star and several jeweled collars. In all, there were 394 jewels in these pieces. The value of the entire collection today would be several million dollars. However, they have never been recovered. Though there have been leads, no one has ever found the jewels.
Something truly priceless would be a gift that even all the money in the world would not be able to pay for. So is the gift of God to us. He gave His Son, a truly priceless gift.
How do we know that the gift of God was priceless? There is an important word in verse 16. That word is monogenes or “only begotten”. This word is used in chapter 1 of John referring to Jesus as well.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus is the only Son of God. He has no comparison or peer because He is the only One in that category. Why is that important here? Only the perfect sacrifice could have died for us. One that had to pay for His own sin would not have been a satisfactory payment. Only One has ever existed that could have died for us. God chose His only begotten Son to give as a sacrifice to the world.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
What result did God seek for giving His Son? “That” we would have life forever! The current condition of man points to an eternity without hope and separation from God. We are destined for a place called hell. We are destined to perish, our future of destruction. However, God gave His Son to change this outcome. Peter reminds us,
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Repentance is a change of mind. If we change our mind from trusting in ourselves, we change our destination of eternal death to one of eternal life. Everlasting life is life that has no end to it. For an unlimited future, we will live with Him! When John refers to life, he has a specific type of living in mind. He is using this word to point to what a person will have when they are existing in a redeemed state and going through their days in Christ. Life is spiritual living. It is the betterment of a daily communion with and empowering by Christ.
The Bible Exposition Commentary John 3:14–18
The difference between perishing and living, and between condemnation and salvation, is faith in Jesus Christ.
The only thing that we are called on to do in verse 16 is to believe. We are called to put our full confidence in Him alone. His sacrifice is the Rock on which our future hope is built. We are called to build the house of our confidence on Him alone. Our sins have been taken away. Our record is clean because He took it all on Him. “Friend, choose to trust completely today,” John says!
C. Love Came for Salvation v. 17
C. Love Came for Salvation v. 17
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
In verse 16, we learn that God loved and God gave. Verse 17 teaches us that God sent His Son to the world. There was atonement to accomplish. The plan of God required carrying out. Jesus came willingly as He had been commission by God to die for the sins of mankind. In His teaching later in John, Jesus tells us
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
God did not send Jesus to divide the world; He sent Jesus to a world that was already divided. The world was divided on where they were looking for their eternal destiny. Some looked to the coming Messiah and their relationship to God. Most looked to what they could do on their own to ensure a place of happiness in the afterlife.
The purpose of Jesus’s mission on earth was not to condemn the world. Our sin has already done that. Because we have chosen sin, we are already guilty in the court of God. He judges based on perfect righteousness. We cannot attain to such a standard on our own. Someone else must have that righteous for us. The purpose of Jesus coming was so that we might be saved!
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
The Saviour of the World Chapter IV: God’s Immeasurable Love (John 3:16)
And what a great message it is,—the message of the greatness of the love of God!
2. Sin Condemns
2. Sin Condemns
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The second truth that we see in this passage is that there is sin and that sin affects the world Love came to at Christmas. As we have seen, sin was something that we chose and continue to choose. Sin is the many actions and thoughts we choose that go against the clear teaching of the Bible. We get angry and hate other people. We lie and change the truth to suit our needs. We deceive others into thinking better of us. There is a constant stream of sins that we commit each day.
Sin condemns us. Already we are destined for a place of punishment because of our sin. But verse 17 points us to the reason that we would stay condemned. We don’t have to continue to head toward certain death. The reason that we can be justified is that there is a name, the name of Jesus.
We must believe on the name of Jesus. Why believe in a name? A name represents a person.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
As we have seen in this series, the name Jesus tells us who He is and why He came. Jesus means “Jehovah saves.” Believe that God has made a way to save you from your sins.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
His name is the hope of all peoples, although it may mean judgment as well as salvation (Jn. 3:18).
3. Light Shines
3. Light Shines
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
The third truth of these verses is that the Light Shines. This Light is the Love that died for us and rose again. Jesus promised,
I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
A. Shining in the Darkness
A. Shining in the Darkness
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
The light of verse 19 is the Logos of John 1. Jesus is the Light of the World. He has come to send back the darkness. In John 1, we see the truth that light and life are connected in the work of God the Son. The Word came to earth and offered life to those who were dead. He offered light to those who only saw darkness.
Throughout my life, I have been in places before where it was hard to see because it was dark. I remember when I was in high school, I was helping Dad at our church. He is the head of maintenance and one of his responsibilities is to keep the school gym clean. During the summer, I would help him in different ways.
I remember one of the tasks I was given was to clean out under the wooden bleachers in the gym. Many different things would be dropped down in between the boards on the bleachers. Sometimes we would find coins or bags of chips. Sometimes forks or berets. I would begin cleaning near the door but eventually move farther away from the door. I remember seeing the small chinks of light through the bleachers. As I went farther and farther back, the light from the front door got smaller and smaller. There was darkness there despite the chinks of light. The darkness made it hard to see what was under those bleachers and made it harder to thoroughly clean them out.
Condemnation is the result of judgment. What is the judgment of the light in the darkness? Men loved darkness more than or in place of light. That love holds them back from receiving the light.
This darkness is more that just a physical location that is hard to see in. The darkness of this world is deeper and more tangible than that visual darkness. The darkness of the world consists of people, places and things. People who hate God. Places that dishonor God or degrade God-created desires and actions. Things that draw away the heart from the worship of the creator. The darkness of the world is felt, touched, and seen everyday.
Why is darkness so important to the world? For man, darkness covers our evil deeds. The evil of verse 19 is one of utter corruptness. The world is filled with vileness and moral darkness. The ruins of countless evil deeds lie buried under the cover of darkness. The Light shines onto this world of darkness.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
B. Shining for Reproof
B. Shining for Reproof
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
The reason that God has sent this Light to shine is to show forth what is hidden in the darkness. Jesus came to show us who we truly are and what we truly need, salvation.
What is this evil that hides in the darkness? What distinguishes this resistor of light? What action is being done to cause it to be evil? Here, evil is pointing to the moral lack of a person or act. Evil acts are negative acts. When judged before a holy God, these evil acts will be without value. They are wasted on pleasure and power.
And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Those who do these evil acts will be punished in eternity. However, even today, they choose to hide and resist the visibility of their acts. When the light shines, they cower in the shadows. They work against the light and try to put up barriers to keep others from the light. Behind the barricades of darkness, evil deeds cower.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
C. Shining for Truth
C. Shining for Truth
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
As we think about the Christmas season, we are drawn to the presence of the Light of Christ. We light candles to feel their warm glow. We put up lights to bring comfort in the early nights of winter. We remember the Star over Bethlehem and place it on top of our trees.
The love of Christ is shining in the Christmas season as it pushes back the darkness of the world. John mentions in verse 21 another concept that is central to his gospel account, truth. The contrast between light and darkness mirrors the contrast between truth and evil deeds. Truth is light shining into the darkness of lies and deceit. Are we looking for the light of truth in this day of confusion and doubt? John recorded at the beginning of his gospel,
In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
The truth is what really exists in the universe. The reality of the world is that we are fallen in sin. We need a Saviour who has come. He loved us and died for us. The truth is Jesus Christ who is preparing us for the greater reality of eternity with Him by offering the way of salvation to us. Jesus said,
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The love at Christmas is the voluntary sacrifice of God in our place so that we can have real life forever. So the love that came, the sin that condemns, and the light that shines bring us to the ultimate truth that our debt has been paid by the love at Christmas. God loved and the Light shines in the darkness.
Conclusion
Conclusion
John—That You May Believe The Great Explanation of the Cross
Many churches sing F. M. Lehman’s great hymn about the love of God. Interestingly, the last verse was not penned by him. He found it inscribed on the wall of an insane asylum next to the bed of a man who had evidently found the love of God before he passed away.
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell,
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave his Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.
Friend, do you believe? The love of God and the love of Christ require repentance or relocation. Repentance is the turning to Christ from your sin. Relocation is an eternity in a place of punishment called hell because you did not repent of your sin. For without a chance, we are doomed. Do you believe that He has died for you and that He gives life to you? The application of this passage is “Believe today!”
The love at Christmas is the voluntary sacrifice of God in our place so that we can have real life forever. That life is a choice we all have to take as a free gift before the final judgment. The condemnation we are under now is temporary. One day, the condemnation will be permanent. Paul preached at Athens,
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
God loved mankind, so He gave His Son. God knew we were going to be eternally ruined, so He offered life without end through His Son. Jesus came to a world already judged and sentenced to save those who would respond. Light came and the darkness hid the worthless and the morally corrupt. Those who come to the light, however, God receives. This is the Gospel to the world - the love of God.
Will you find the love at Christmas this year? Seek it in the personal invitation of God to believe on the sufficient sacrifice of His Son. Jesus died for your sins. Believe on His name today!
