John 3:16-21 "God's Great Love"

John 3:16-21

Pray

Intro -

Let me ask a difficult question. Who is your life if they moved away would you miss the most? There are people and things that if they were taken from you that you would miss the most.

Maybe there is a person that if they moved away you would miss the most.

Maybe there is a place, a house, a piece of land that if you moved away you would miss the most.

-When you consider what and who you would miss the most you start to uncover what you deeply love.

-You start to see what deep in your heart you are passionate about.

-What do you love? What are you passionate about?

God is a God of love.

One of the greatest things God loves are those who created.

I. God Loves.

Who or what does God love? Verse 16 tells us.

A. The World, God loves those He has created.

-God loves those who love Him and follow Him. But God also loves ...

-His enemies, Ezekiel 33:11

Ezekiel 33:11 “... “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live...”

God loves The World

B. He loves His glory - Above all else God loves His glory. They greatest way that God glorifies Himself is through the salvation of broken people.

Is 43:6-7 “I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.””

C. He loves His Son.

Loved Jesus before the foundation of the world.

What does Jesus say to the Father in His High Priestly prayer in John 17:24?

Jesus says, “...you [Father] loved me before the foundation of the world.”

God loves His glory so much that He was willing to sacrifice himself [His Son] to bring Himself glory through conquering sin for His people.

D. He loves me - (say, “God loves me”),

How do I know He loves me?

He sacrificed the most valuable person to himself - His Son.

His Son Jesus willingly laid down His life on the cross.

Isaiah 53:7 “7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

Jesus loves you so much that He chose, before the world was made, to lay down his life as a sacrifice.

-Jesus sacrificing himself was not God’s second plan after things went wrong.

-Dying for your sin was His plan before the beginning of creation.

-When it came time for Jesus to be cast naked on that cross, be pierced, and lifted up in shame. He did not hesitate. Jesus sacrificed. He sacrificed Himself.

In all of this we see that God Loves. God really does love. He really does love you.

-How does it feel to be loved by a kind and generous God? Pause

Illustration - My dad, who was a pastor most of his working life, has asked that at his funeral the song “Jesus loves me” be sung. Dad, Why would you want a children’s song to be sung at your funeral?

-His response, It shows the simple truth of the Gospel.

-That the Christ Follower belongs to Christ because of Jesus great love for them.

Jesus loves you.

Transition

II. vs. 17, God’s love sacrifices

Real love sacrifices.

We throw around the word “Love” so much. We love those people and things that give to us. That make us feel good. But real love. Committed love - sacrifices.

What did God sacrificed? God sacrificed His Son.

John 15:13 “13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

God’s love is a sacrificial and giving love.

He sacrificed so He could offer you the best and most generous gift anyone has given. He has offered to you salvation.

-That was the point of the snake that Moses placed up on the pole. The final sacrifice was offered.

-When Jesus went to the cross, He offered himself to the whole world. He offered Himself to “whosoever would believe in Him.” Pause

-You see, God was and is not a respecter of persons.

-God saves all kinds of people.

-He saves all classes of people.

-People from all different kinds of educational levels,

different kinds of abilities,

from different places in the world,

who speak different languages, who dress differently,

who listen to different music than you,

who eat different food than you.

Jesus SACRIFICED. HE willingly went on that cross to offer himself as the final sacrifice. Pause

Transition within the point - This love and SACRIFICE isn’t like a child’s Christmas present that at best lasts a few months.

The SACRIFICE and love that God gave you is an everlasting. It is eternal.

Isaiah 54:10 “10 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”

-His love & SACRIFICE does not go away. There is no power in the Universe that can weaken the love that God has for you.

Transition - You cannot even weaken His love.

-God’s love for you is not conditional on your actions.

-He loves you not because of you, but in spite of you.

-When you were running away from God, He came after you.

-When you rejected Him and were his enemy, He loved you.

-When your life waS full of ugliness and regret He stayed with you.

-We love God because He first loved us.

-Jesus loves you so much that he gave you eternal life in heaven.

-When the Christ follower dies he is not sent to a neutral place or another planet that is well furnished and supplied.

Jesus has chosen to spend eternity with His people in heaven.

He has invited you to come and worship before His throne FOREVER.

He isn’t trying to get rid of you. His is planning on being close to you and to love you for eternity.

Final statement -God loves you. Out of His great love He has become the final SACRIFICE for you sin.

Do you know Him? If not will you come to Him today?

If you do know Him, won’t you draw closer to Him?

Pause

Transition - I would like to take a moment to make a real shift in our message, to challenge you theologically. There is a theological challenge with “whoever will”

III. Theological Challenge “Whosever will”

John 3:16 and Ephesians 1:4

If you are a regular Bible reader (and you should be) you might ask this question.

Q - I see John 3:16 and how God saves “Whosever will believe” and in I also read Ephesians 1:4 where it says “… He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him...”

So the question is, Does God save whosoever wills? Or does God save who He chooses?

How do we reconcile these verses that appear to contradict?

It’s a very good question.

When we see 2 passages that seem to contradict most of the time what happens is that we have a strong attraction to one verse, and are not sure what to do with the other verse.

Most people:

1. Either grossly misinterpret one verse so it agrees with the verse they like.

2. They simply ignore one verse because they don’t like it and don’t know how to deal with it.

Both of these ways of dealing with the Bible are unhelpful.

Commentary -

As Bible believing Christians. We choose to believe the Bible, even when it is confusing to us.

Illustration - Sometimes you ask your children to trust and believe you even when they are confused and don’t understand.

-Your teenager wants to go and hang out with a certain group of friends. Your parent antenna are up. You’ve seen those students and you have questions. You say, “no”. You give your reasons. Your teenagers doesn’t understand. There are tears. You tell them, “I know you don’t understand, you don’t get it. I need you to trust me.”

-Sometimes God does the same thing in scripture

There are a small handful of doctrines that will not be explained by logic. That won’t fit neatly into your box.

2 quick examples

A. The virgin birth. - Logic doesn’t work.

A miracle. Without a sexual act God placed His Holy Seed in Mary. God in the flesh grew in her womb. As a virgin, Mary gave birth to the Son of God.

Biologically it makes no sense. We choose to believe the Bible even when it’s not logical.

B. The Trinity is like this. 1 God in 3 persons. Each of the 3 persons is fully God.

-Logic doesn’t work. 3 can’t be 1.

-Do you believe in the Trinity & the Virgin Birth? Yes?

Then, You are choosing to be Biblical and not logical.

C. The saving doctrine of Whosoever will and God Choosing for salvation is the same.

-You don’t choose one over the other. It is a both and doctrine.

-Does God save Whosoever wills? Yes!

-Does God “Choose you in Him from the foundation of the world? Yes

-We simply rejoice that God saves.

Quote, On this exact issue of whosoever wills and God’s election - C. H. Spurgeon was once asked if he could reconcile these two truths to each other. Spurgeon said, “I wouldn’t try [to reconcile them],” he replied; “I never reconcile friends.”

D.L. Moody was asked the same question

D.L. Moody - “[As you approach eternity] Written on the outside of the gate of heaven are the words, “Whosoever will may come.” And [when you enter into heaven and look] on the back side of that same gate, you will see written: “Chosen before the foundation of the world.”

It is not either or. It is both and.

I will challenge you with this.

It takes a mature Christ Follower to hold on to both and rejoice in the tension of them.

Transition, This we know, however God does it, He saves!!! And we rejoice.

What does God save from?

IV. The Punishment of sin - Perishing. Vs. 16

“…whosoever believes in him should not perish”

Out of God’s great love for you, He saves you from the eternal punishment for sin.

God saves you from the eternal perishing of hell.

God saves you from an eternity of His wrath being poured out on you.

Hell is a place where day and night there is a weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In hell there is no relief from the torment that you suffer.

Hell is commonly described as a place of fire.

Hell is a place where your earthly desire to live without God is granted for eternity.

Jesus, who is the greatest picture of love, spoke of hell and warned of hell more often than he spoke of heaven.

Hell is the just punishment for sin.

Hell is real and hell is eternal.

People want religious people to keep their religion to themselves.

There is too great a cost of not telling others of a God who loves them and will saved them from such eternal horror.

Jesus saves, And he saves from perishing in hell.

Transition - What else does Jesus save us from?

vs. 17-18, The Condemnation of sin.

What does it mean that one is condemned of sin?

-Not only have you been found guilty, but you are sentenced.

-You are sentenced to an eternity in hell.

The gavel in the courtroom has fallen. The final sentence has been pronounced.

-Look at verse 18, The unbeliever is NOT sentence and condemned with He dies. He is condemned way before that.

Read John 3:18

The great Jonathan Edwards described our condemnation this way...

“The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider...over the fire…is dreadfully provoked...

O sinner! consider the fearful danger you are in! It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit… You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of Divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe [the thread] and burn the spider asunder. . .

My friend, This is the state of anyone who does not follow Jesus.

They are in a state of condemnation. The have been sentenced.

This is why every week we make the Gospel clear in our worship service, so that you would hear it over and over and so that you would tell your neighbors of the saving work of Jesus. That you would tell you family that God Loves Them.

The Good News is that if you have fully trusted in Jesus, that a loving kind God has made a sacrifice. He has sacrificed His Son to saved you from the condemnation of Hell… If you do not know Him, will you fully trust Him today? Pause

Transition - So fare we’ve seen a loving sacrificial God that has saved us from the penalty of sin, the condemnation of sin, and we finally see that God saves us from the...

vs. 19-21, The Judgment of sin.

The judgement of sin is God finding you guilty of sin.

What are we guilty of? Loving our sin and selfishness more than the truth and light of Jesus.

-Why are we guilty? vs. 20 tells us, We loved the darkness and fled from the light.

Illustration - We’ve all seen movies that have a strong court room scene. The jury comes in from deliberation. There is a tension of whether or not the main character will be found guilty. It’s a moment of uncertainty.

But with this judgement there is no tension - everyone has been rightly judged. Everyone is guilty.

But, there is a great hope. The greatest of hope. You can be made clean. You can have your sins forgiven. The one who birthed the universe and the world by speaking into existence will gladly forgive you today if come to Him.

The one who was crucified for sin, raised himself from the dead, and conquered sin, death, and Satan will save you if you fully trust Him and give you life to Him.

He loves you. He sacrificed His life so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life with Him in heaven forever.

The stirring in your heart ...

Application

Unbeliever - You need a Loving Savior.

-He loves you. He invites you to have your sins forgiven and begin a relationship with Him.

-This relationship starts with you having faith and giving all of your life to Him right now.

-Will you say “yes” to Him? Will you fully trust Jesus?

Believer - You have neighbors, friends and family that if they died tonight who would be lost to a Christless eternity.

-You say, I am afraid to talk about Jesus.

-It will make our relationship weird.

-What if you don’t speak up for Jesus?

God loved you so much that He sent someone into your life to tell you about Jesus.

He desires for you to be the one to share how Jesus changed your life.

Believer, will you say “Yes” to Him.

Let’s pray.