TITLE: “FOR GOD SO LOVED”
TEXT: JN3:16,17
SUBJ: LOVE
THEME: GODS LOVE
INTRO: I sat around literally yesterday with a brain lock. I just couldn’t get my thoughts to work about what to Preach this morning. Most of the time I am overflowing with thoughts and ideas and seem to always have something in the “oven”. This week I had many thoughts but I couldn’t get them together.
When that usually takes place the best thing to do is go to the Central Theme of the Scriptures and the Simplicity of the Word of God. When I decided to do that 1 verse of Scripture rang out. And that is the verse on which I want to draw our attention to this morning. I have preached on this text many times in the years that I have been preaching. I believe last year I preached 3 weeks in a row on this same passage of Scripture.
I personally do not believe that all the wealth and riches that are contained within this verse can ever be completely mined. One thing is for sure if you were to ask your average person to quote a verse of Scripture, more than likely it would be this one I have read this morning.
Not only is there a popularity or a familiarity with this verse with most folks, but I also believe that this verse contains something very synonymous with what most people feel about God when describing Him and that is that God is a God of love, and John 3:16 describes the love of God in a very simplified yet complex way. It is simplified in that being saved can be very easy as seen in this verse.
And yet complex in that there is much more contained in these 25 words than what we read. Can we ever truly understand the whole concept of what God did for us on His behalf? One thing for sure that we can conclude from a simplified reading of this verse is that God is a God of Love and that He SO Loved the world.
I believe the Hymn writer tried his best to describe it in his song “The Love Of God” Listen to the words of the 3rd stanza
Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made, Were every 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.
O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure The saints’ and angels’ song.
So I want to today look into this verse a little more closely and see if we can draw something from it and possibly glean some more of the riches that it contains trying to focus our attention on the Love of God that is expressed in this verse and the Truths of it that are contained therein. With that being said I want to preach on this thought this morning…..
”FOR GOD SO LOVED”
As I was gathering my thoughts for this morning I looked up a definition for love and this is the best that I could come up with from man’s point of view.
Verb 1.
In a general sense to be pleased with; to regard with affection, on account of some qualities which excite pleasing sensations or desire of gratification. We love a friend, on account of some qualities which give us pleasure in his society. We love a man who has done us a favor; in which case, gratitude enters into the composition of our affection.
We love our parents and our children, on account of their connection with us, and on account of many qualities which please us. We love to retire to a cool shade in summer. We love a warm room in winter. we love to hear an eloquent advocate. In short, we love whatever gives us pleasure and delight, whether animal or intellectual;
Noun 1.
An affection of the mind excited by beauty and worth of any kind, or by the qualities of an object which communicate pleasure, sensual or intellectual. It is opposed to hatred. Love between the sexes, is a compound affection, consisting of esteem, benevolence, and animal desire.
Love is excited by pleasing qualities of any kind, as by kindness, benevolence, charity, and by the qualities which render social intercourse agreeable. In the latter case, love is ardent friendship, or a strong attachment springing from good will and esteem, and the pleasure derived from the company, civilities and kindness of others.
Note:
I noticed that in both those definitions that the one extending love to the one receiving love there is something rendered by the one receiving the love which motivates the one extending love to do so. Such is not the case with God…….He loved us when we were unloveable and unable to extend anything towards Him except belief.
THE SOURCE OF LOVE “God”
(The PERSON)
1Jn 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1Jn 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
THE SCOPE OF LOVE “so loved the world,”
(The PROSPECT)
THE FOCUS OF IT – People – young, old, rich, poor, Jew or Gentile…Male or Female, Evil person or someone like the Rich young ruler
THE FRAME OF IT –
THE FAILURE – It is alarming to see how bad that the world has become and how far removed it has gotten from understanding how much God loves us. It would almost appear that the Devil has successfully accomplished his task of “hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Note: How disappointed so many will be when it is all said and done that they Failed to comprehend The SCOPE of God’s Love.
Appl: Do you see the same thing as I do in this verse and that is The SCOPE of His Love?
THE SACRIFICE OF LOVE “that he gave his only begotten Son,”
(The PRICE)
THE DEMONSTARTION OF IT – Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
THE DESIRE OF IT – Jn 15:12-13 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Note: Gods Demonstration and Desire from the moment man disobeyed God and fell from his position he had was for God to bring him back to a loving relationship with Him. It was His Desire and it was Demonstrated, not only in Calvary but in everything that led up to it and until we see Him again.
I heard someone say one time that “God gave His all that I might have all that He gives”
Appl: Do you as well as I see the Sacrifice of Gods Love contained within this simple verse?
THE SAFETY OF LOVE “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
(The PROMISE)
THE PEOPLE – “whosoever believeth in him”
THE PROTECTION – “should not perish”
THE PERPETUITY – “but have everlasting life”
Note: What better demonstration of the Safety of Gods Love than The WHO, The WHAT, and The WHERE of Gods Love.
Appl: The Safest place you or I or anyone else in this world could be is in the Everlasting Protecting Arms of Gods Love.
Psa 91:1-11 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 91:2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 91:3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 91:4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 91:5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 91:6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 91:7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 91:8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. 91:9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 91:10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
THE SINCERITY OF LOVE “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
(The PURPOSE)
Note: I think many times we do Jn3:16 injustice because we forget the next verse. And the next verse tells us of The Sincerity of this Love that He has extended to all of us. God did not create HELL for you and I but rather for the devil and his angels that left their first estate; however we inevitably end up there because we chose not to believe that “GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD”
Christ The Answer Prison Ministry 