God So Loved

 After a very long sermon, church members filed out silently. Thoughtful Betty came at the end of the line. She always had a comment on the sermon. "Pastor, today your sermon reminded me of God's peace & love." Pastor was thrilled. "Nobody ever said that about my preaching before. What reminded you?" "Like God's peace & love, it lasted forever." Was that loving! What is God's love like? Jn 3:16-19 tells us. 16aGod so loved the world that he gave his one & only Son. Every word has meaning. <Jn 3:16> God is the greatest Lover. He so loved to the greatest degree. Loving the world is the widest scope & greatest company. He gave in the greatest act by anyone, ever. His one & only Son is the greatest gift ever given. Why did the greatest Lover give the greatest gift? 16bthat whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Again, each word matters. <Jn 3:16> Whoever is the greatest opportunity to receive. Believes is the only requirement to receive the gift. Unlike English believe, the Greek is faith, a verb. We faith, or trust. God's only requirement, to believe, is the greatest simplicity. Even a 4yo can do it. In Him points to the one with the greatest attraction in history. Shall not perish is the greatest promise. Ever. It's a get-out-of-hell-free card. But points to the greatest difference, then & now. Have points to the greatest certainty, starting now. And eternal life is the greatest possession anyone can ever have. This is the good news of salvation in Christ. The Good News is even better than we realize. How so? By sending His Son, we see God's heart. He isn't a cranky judge, waiting to zot us for the slightest misstep. God loves us. How do we know? By rights, God's Son should've come to judge us. But 17aGod didn't send His Son into the world to condemn the world. It's the best news in all history. Human atrocities & vile behaviors have been rampant in every age. This one, too. The Good News means that God doesn't want to condemn us. Far from it! God loves His Creatures. His Creation. Especially mankind, women & men made in His image. Why did God send His Son? 17bTo save the world through him. Jesus came on a rescue mission. Save the world. He came to rescue any & everyone who will allow Him to save them. That was His mission. So, just as God promised (in Jn 3:16), 18aWhoever believes in him isn't condemned. Whoever believes-whoever faiths in Him. Whoever trusts Him for salvation. Whoever stops trying to be saved by their own effort. But the wording, whoever believes ISN'T condemned-that's a little odd. Why say it negatively? We'll see in a minute. Look how Jesus continues. 18bBut whoever doesn't believe stands condemned already. Already! Why? Sin's penalty. Adam & Eve sinned once. Just once & they died, though it took nearly 1,000 years. Death wasn't God's plan. But ever since, the death rate hovers right at 100%. Only 2 people in recorded history have escaped (Enoch & Elijah). Why? Sin has a penalty: death. And who hasn't sinned? That's the ugly truth. Apart from Christ, all humanity is already under a death sentence. Everyone born into this world is under a death sentence. God doesn't save some & condemn others. Every person on the planet is already condemned. Why? At birth, we each inherit the sin nature from humanity's 1st parents. Apart from Christ, we're lost. God's standard is even stricter than most people think. There are 2 reasons. We see the 1st in Jas 2:10. 10Whoever keeps the whole law & yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. We think what matters is how often we keep God's laws & how many of them we keep. We think if we keep nearly all of them, most of the time, we did well. If we kept them flawlessly for years, we think we did well. Not true. We're guilty if we break even one of God's laws in the tiniest place. Just once. Ever. If we did, we're guilty of breaking all His law. It's like a mirror, all one piece. Break it anywhere, & it's all broken. That's the 1st reason God's standard is so strict. The 2nd is God's provision for forgiveness is equally strict. Under His 1st covenant, people think a sacrifice will cover a sin. Lv 4-7 is God's provision for forgiveness. Is it really true that some sacrifice will cover our every sin? <Lv 4-7>I've summarized each section of Lv 4-7. For intentional sin there is NO provision. Intentional sin can't be forgiven or covered over. That's the problem. Who hasn't sinned intentionally? No one. We need a Savior. That's why the good news is so very good! In love, God gave us a way to escape being condemned! It's Love's greatest gift. How can anyone fail to be saved? 18cBecause he hasn't believed in the name of God's none & only Son. God is just. For Him to remain just, someone has to pay sin's penalty. A death is required. The good news is that if we trust Christ... If we trust/ faith Him alone to save us... God accepts His death instead of ours. He steps in front of the bullet headed at our hearts. He takes our penalty & gives us salvation. Salvation is promised. Our faith becomes its deed of trust. What love! And God's love has no limits. It's available to anyone who will accept His free gift. To be saved, we have to trust Him for salvation. Accept God's gracious gift. To perish, just do nothing. Refuse the gift. Why would anyone do that? Why would anyone choose not to be saved? 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Let's wrap up. Look at Ro 5:8. 8God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God the Father spared no expense. He cared enough to give His very best. The most precious gift He could possibly give. He gave us the Gift that cost Him more than any other gift He could've given. He gave us the Gift more valuable to Him than anything. He gave us a one-of-a-kind gift. He gave us His one & only Son. God didn't just give His Son to us for us to look at as our example, or for Him to be our Teacher. True, He is our example & teacher. But that isn't why the Father gave us His Son. He gave us His Son to die in our place. To suffer & die so we wouldn't have to. How much pain did it cost the Father as He watched? His only begotten Son was beaten, scourged, nailed to a cross, & jeered at by the very crowds He was dying for? How much pain did the Father suffer as His Son hung there, tortured & bleeding? How much pain as the Father watched His Son push up on the nail through His ankles, just to breathe? How painful it was for the Father to watch the torture & death of His Son. The Father could've stopped it. But He didn't. Why? Because of His great love for us! God showed us His love in the deepest, greatest, most sacrificial way that He could. He gave His Son so we could be with Him forever. Spotless. And forgiven. That's love. Just like our Christmas gifts, God's Christmas gift was wrapped. So, no one knew what was inside. The Gift was opened & received after His death, resurrection & ascension. Before that, there was only one peek inside. His Transfiguration. But God's wrapping looked so ordinary, far from the expected Messiah's likeness. Born as a human baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger. Some were expecting a Messiah. But they weren't looking for His attendants to be a poor carpenter & a young peasant mother. And no one expected Him to spend 30 years of obscurity. No one expected Him to work as a carpenter's apprentice, later a carpenter. What did they expect? They expected to find Him in a palace. A royal residence. A grown-up King in royal robes. Only God knew He'd sent Himself in a human wrapper. He is God's surprising gift of Christmas. To receive His gift? Trust Him for salvation, & it's ours. One year, Mom & Dad let Jackie pick a dog for Christmas. The pet store showed him several puppies. Jackie chose the one whose tail was wildly wagging. Mom & Dad asked, "Why did you pick that one?" Jackie explained, "I wanted the one with the happy ending." Our Father has given us the happiest ending of all. Eternal life with Him. Merry Christmas! God So Loved - John 3:16-19 Page 1 of 1