"The Love of God"

"The Love of God"  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  33:26
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John 3.16

“The Love of God”
K. Adrian Scott
December 22, 2024
Introduction.
Introduction.
There probably isn’t a more familiar verse of scripture than the one we are focusing on today.  According to our text, God is seen to delight in mercy looks with compassion on the fallen, mistake-ridden, miserable state of humankind, and thereby had conceived in the infinite mind of God from eternity an unparalleled design of both mercy and love towards the world, that whosoever receives His only son as their mediator and sacrifice, depends upon Him as their Savior, might not perish in their sins, no matter how great or many they may be, but will have eternal life.
The TextTelling the Story.
Preaching Point.
“In as much as God loved the world so much” is how one translation reads, which emphasizes as fact, God loved the world. Putting on the glasses of an interpreter, we see the wideness of God’s love; as the love of God is explained to not merely be narrowly fixated upon Israel alone upon whom God has set His affection, but it says, God loves the world at large!
Why a need for John 3.16?  It is not only important for us to be loved, but it is also vitally important for the person who loves us to also say it sometime, so we are not only loved but have the affirmation of love.  In John 3. 16, God is affirming His exquisite love for the world which includes you and me. I believe this is a reason we need this passage of Scripture, at least in part. Now, our passage has also taken into consideration the fact that God knew there was an obvious need for the world to be loved in the way that only God could love us, that is with God’s divine love.
“…that whosoever believeth (believes) in Him, that is the Son...,”
A. This is God’s non-discriminatory statement - “whosoever believes in Him...” A plumber or a Prince; the Ph.D. or the MD; a Carpenter or a Chiropractor; the minimum wage worker or a Financial Advisor, atheist and agnostic, believer and skeptic alike, and everyone in between, “Whoever.”
Preaching Point.
B. “…should not perish…”.
The world that is, (the people of the world since the first devastating transgression, was perishing then and is yet perishing. In regard to our passage today, there is the strong implication there is something incomplete about our first birth. There is the natural bond particularly between the mother and newborn child, but there is not that same bond between humanity and our Creator. Instead, there is separation. It is no wonder Jesus tells Nicodemus in this same chapter three (verse 15) of John’s Gospel, “You must be born again?”  God says there must be a re-birth. Not the same kind of birth as being born from a woman and mother, but a different kind of birth, a spiritual birth and not just a natural birth. Notice that these two births are not simultaneous!  As the natural birth joins us to the human family, the spiritual birth joins us to the heavenly family!  What happened that there was and is a need for human beings to be born again? Upon an autopsy was there a fatal flaw discovered in the world’s relation with God since the fall of Adam and Eve, our first parents?  Did God discover a mistake God made in either the design of humankind, or did God miscalculate something in the production or creation process itself?  No, there was no failure in our design nor in our creation since God is perfect in everything God does, but the fault of this tragic failure of relationship was the fault of humankind where we have clearly seen the consequences of the weakness of humanity’s self-will or free volition with the choices made by both Eve and Adam.  On one occasion Jesus says to His disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am goingJohn 14.1-4, but the disciple Thomas clearly states this position when he says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?  Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it will be enough for us, or ‘we will be content. Jesus responded and said, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? (John 14. 5-9)! Philip was one of the twelve apostles and did not know who Jesus really was! Like Philip, there are many things about God and Christ and the Holy Spirit we do not know even to this day. I give Philip credit because no one else said a word, but Philip swallowed his pride and was honest with Jesus. As human beings we tend to make wrong choices frequently and often it is based on wrong information or a lack of understanding of the information we do have, or just plain stubbornness or lack of obedience to God.  So, as deficient as we are as fallen human beings, why would God allow us to make a choice about something so important eternal life that will have eternal consequences, and using our supposed ‘free will’ without any assistance from God? 1 Corinthians 2.14 says this, “The natural person (or the person without the Spirit) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
When a parent or dear friend of someone you love informs you of an important decision they have made. Based on your own knowledge and information you know their decision would be tragic if they go through with their plans. As a parent or dear friend, wouldn’t love for that person compel you to say something to them that would save their life? Who truly loves someone and then not share that important information you know would change their mind and save their very life?  This is what God the Father did through His power to draw us away from fatal error and to Himself to save our spiritual lives. And this is what Jesus did with His disciples in His conversation with Philip; He told them what they needed to know - “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now one you do know Him and have seen Him” (John 14.7). Forget my prideful “free will” I do not want to take the wrong treacherous road where year after year scores of people miss the sharp curve, and their vehicle plunges down the side of the mountain to their demise.  They may have thought their choice was free, but as it turned out it was not so free after all, their choice had real and deadly consequences or a price to be paid with their lives. It was a price they could not afford. Or, one can say, forget about ‘my will’ and give me God’s will!
Adam and Eve suffered a ruptured fellowship with Yahweh and were subsequently evicted from God’s paradise and were to never enter it again as the entrance to the Garden was guarded by angelic beings prohibiting them from ever enjoying the perfect peace and the generous provision of its endless supply of food. The only thing that ‘saved’ Adam and Eve, or restored their fellowship with their Creator, was the Lord God from glory who “covered” them with a warm coat of forgiveness made possible by the slaying of an innocent (animal) sacrifice slain exclusively on their behalf. If we were to interview the earth’s first couple and ask them, ‘if you could do it all over again, which would you choose?’ There is no doubt they would say, ‘forget our will, give us God’s will.’  “God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but has eternal life.” The Son is a Gift!
The message of Christmas is not a simple ‘feel good story’ about a young girl who miraculously and mysteriously became pregnant and gave birth to a rosy-cheeked baby boy who was being called the Messiah and the Son of God.  It is about God the Father sending His Son to love, only to be hated, and to ultimately die that others might live. And why did God do that?  “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  It was God’s love for me and you that prompted the Father to send His Son.
God’s love would not let Him be content with the fellowship He had enjoyed within the Trinity, so God fathered a Son out of Love, and patiently but persistently pursued us through His mercy.
The Son came clothed in Righteousness, had on Him the coat of Holiness,
His head was covered with Peace, walked in the sandals of divine Obedience,
and wore the fragrance of Joy!
And though He is no longer a baby, Jesus is still Immanuel, God with us!  Although there are a multitude of depressing things all over the world, He is still called Wonderful!  Despite the religious, social and political confusion of our times, Jesus yet lays claim to being called a wonderful counselor.  And with war and rumors of war on continents around our world, and violence abounding in our cities and communities among the nations, and with social unrest at seemingly an all-time high, Jesus yet holds the unchallenged title of Prince of Peace! Why? Is He a wonderful counselor who probes the depths of our hurting hearts and writes a prescription called the ‘Word of God’ that soothes the pain of our emotions?  It is because of love!  Love is the reason. Jesus is called the Mighty God because He is Mighty to save! Mighty to save anyone, no matter how lost they may be and how hopeless they think they are.  Jesus is the Savior!  The everlasting nature of the One born a child means there is no expiration date on His attributes of Savior and friend!  His love is never taken off the shelf of time and labeled “best by this date” because Jesus’ love is everlasting! It means there is enough of His love, and Christ’s love never diminishes in its quality, and neither will his love ever expire! Jesus’ love reigns supreme!
Since Jesus put stars in the sky, He can put food on your table!  He can, He did, and He will!  Because Jesus calmed raging seas and boisterous winds, Jesus can, Jesus did, and Jesus will quiet the storms in your life and mine. If He healed the sick in biblical history, Jesus can, He did, and He will continue to heal the sick in this present and in the future, because His love never ends!
As a baby, Jesus nursed at His mother’s chest, while at the same time, as God the universe depended upon Him to hold everything together!  As a child, he was registered among the population census in Jerusalem, while at the same time He was the author of two books, one called the Book of Life and the other the Lamb’s Book of Life that had the names of everyone ever born naturally and the other recorded the names of every person who believed in Him! His love endures forever! The measure of His high holiness is immeasurable, the width of His mercy is incalculable, and the depth of Christ’s love is incomparable!
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him” (1 John 4.9).
God has come revealed through the healing and helping hand of His Son, Jesus the Christ!  God the Father has sent Him!  O, the shepherds did not focus on the darkness of the sky, but they focused on the brightness of the Star of David.  God has kept His Word; Jesus has come! Merry Christmas!
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