SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: September 10, 2010
Date Preached: March 03, 2002, Edited and Repreached September 12, 2010
Church: OPBC (AM)
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Series: Recognizing and Responding to the Living Word
Title: Take a Look at What Love Does
Text: John 3:16-22
16"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. 18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."
ETS: Jesus was sharing with Nicodemus that God loves the world and He wanted Nicodemus to know and understand what LOVE could do for the world.
ESS: Jesus is today sharing with us that God loves the world and He wants us to know and understand what LOVE can do for this world.
Introduction:
When we look at Scripture, we find that there is ONE mantra repeated all throughout the Bible and it is that God is a giving God! Creation teaches us that God gave LIFE... The OT teaches us that God gave order in His Laws... The prophets teach us that God gave His people chance after chance when they would fail Him...
But when we look closely, although giving is at the very heart of the Bible, we can know that God giving of Himself is the key gift mentioned! In our passage this morning we read about that gift! "...for God so loved the world He GAVE..."
So this morning I want us to take a look at what God has GIVEN... that is His uncompromising LOVE! I want us to see just what the love of God does for those who chose to accept it! This morning I want us to look at 4 very specific actions of giving that reveal the love of God and what it means for His creation!
God's Love Brings God's Compassion: v.16
I see that the love of God brings compassion to the world. When I read all about what God has done for our world, I am awestruck with His love and compassion for this broken and sinful world.
It staggers the mind that at a tremendously unbelievable cost, God's love came to us...not out of a compulsion, but it freely it was given! God poured His love out on us by sending the One we know as Jesus of Nazareth.
The faithfulness of God's devotion for His creation is reflected in the life and person of Jesus. And this is where Christianity is different from ANY 'religion' in our world. Every religion in our world emphasizes about what sacrifice that humans can make for their god, to appease or justify themselves.
But not so with the Christian faith! The Christian faith is clear in its message that there is NOTHING that we, as humans, can do in exchange for our soul. We are all sinners, and all of our efforts fall FAR short of reaching God or appeasing the justice of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 reveal that we can do nothing... salvation is all about what God has done!
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Christianity is grounded on the reality that GOD has done it all... we can do nothing to reach God but God has done EVERYTHING to reach us! God has done all the 'giving' necessary; God Himself has provided the sacrifice needed.
Jesus is not man's best gift offered up to God, but He was and still is God's best gift offered down to humanity!
Jesus of Nazareth! God wrapped in flesh was willing to has become the sacrifice needed for the atonement for all humanity's sin! He made the choice to DIE on the Cross... FOR US... Jesus sacrificed Himself so that we could live! He held NOTHING back! God totally emptied His heart on Calvary, and ALL the love He had was poured out upon the world!
Preacher, this love you are talking about... I don't see it! I haven't experienced it! Who is this love for preacher? You surely can't mean its for me preacher because I am a really bad person, and I don't deserve His love! There is just NO way that God can love me. I have done FAR too many things for God to love me! There is NO way God's love is for me!
Well, what you say may be true... You may be a very bad person... and I know that NONE of us in this room deserve the Love that God has given... all this is TRUE! However, the Bible is VERY specific about just WHO this love was for... just who this love reaches out to and covers...
Let's look back at our verse this morning... v.16...
16"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
It tells us that God's love is there and available to WHOEVER will believe in Him! The word here for whoever is the Greek word, pas which means...each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone... John reveals here that God's love was targeted at ALL of creation...that means YOU! Whoever means it is for YOU!
Regardless of what some people will say about God's love... it is for ALL the world, not just a part of it. God is not a respecter of persons but God loves His creation equally...
So when we read John 3:16 we can see and KNOW that God's love for all the world! The unselfish and uncompromising love God gives to the world is also a tremendous judgment against OUR petty prejudices that we carry!
This is because God's love does not carry any prejudice, but is willing and able to reach FAR beyond who we are and what we have done! God's love is there for us, and can transform our lives in a great way! We are called to share that love with the world around us...
In our hands we have the great and wonderful responsibility to share God's love, and to reveal His love by giving of ourselves so that people everywhere can know the love that God has and is still showing this world.
We can see that Love brings compassion to this world, but another action of love that we can is that Love gives another chance to this fallen creation.
God's Love brings another chance: v.16,17
The Bible shares with us that, "...in the beginning God created..." God created this world and all that is in it! But instead of loving and embracing our Creator and cherishing our communion with Him... Humanity rejected God and turned away from Him. In Gen 3 we read of Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden and how they were cast out for their rebellion!
Because of our rebellion we needed another chance and here we see that the Love of God was there to offer just such a chance in the person of Jesus Christ! After the fall of humanity in the Garden, we discovered that without God we could not love God with the same love He had for us! The world was soon filled with mistrust, disobedience, and pride, and life was out of joint!
But God did not give up on His creation! Even though He could have done so... He did NOT! Instead God came searching for the very creation that had turned their backs on HIm! God does not like our sin... in fact God hates sin, but God loves His creation and it is His desire that we all come to repentance...
And when we read about the story of Jesus here in John... we can see that even though we NEVER deserved another chance... God came to us and offered that 2nd chance in the person of Jesus! John tells us "...For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son..." In Jesus, we have another chance!
The question some may ask is, "Why did God come to find us?" What purpose did God have to find us after we had abandoned Him? Is it to once again cast us out when we fall and fail again?
What purpose was it? Our answer can be found in the next verse. In v.17 Scripture reveals to us that, 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
God did not give us this 2nd chance only to condemn us and cast us out again! God gives this 2nd chance to all His creation so that we can come to know His salvation! Love brought compassion from God and also a 2nd chance to this fallen creation, but we can also see where LOVE gives attention to us when we respond to that love!
God's Love gives attention to those who seek it: v.16, 18
We just looked at how we have access to God once again thru the sacrifice of Jesus, but we need to know that when God finds us...what happens then? I believe Scripture reveals to us that the greatest evidence of God's love is that He will pay attention to us when we respond to His love!
Let's look back at v.16 one more time...
16"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life...
18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
We translate this Greek word to 'believe' but it is only because we do NOT have an English translation for what this word says... This word is the Greek word pistay-u-own which is derived from the root word pistis which means a faith or trust in a thing or person.
As it pertains to God, this word takes on a greater significance. It means a faith and trust that Jesus is Messiah, the anointed and chosen One sent to redeem humanity... it is a full surrender to the idea that God is sovereign and that Christ is Savior! So when we look at the word that we use here in the English... the word believe... we can see that it falls woefully short of what this Greek word truly means!
This word actually means FAITH or having FAITH, which is a noun! But they could not say, "Whoever faiths in Him..." or "Whoever is faithing in Him..." So they used a word that came close...they chose the word believe!
The English word 'believe' as defined in the Encarta dictionary is this...to accept something as the truth or to settle for something as being right... it also means to be of the opinion that something exists or is a reality, especially when there is no absolute proof of its existence or reality
When the Bible says anyone who believes in Jesus will be saved... it does not mean that in your OPINION Jesus exists... or that Jesus is who He says He is...
The term 'believe' here actually means trusting with the whole heart, holding NOTHING back, casting out all doubt and placing all of who we are upon Jesus! When we believe He is who He says... He frees us from death, delivers us from hell, gives us new life and frees us from the bondage of the sin in our lives.
It's not a notion or an opinion, but it becomes WHO we are! It is a total selling out to who He is... we place all of who we are in HIM! In fact, when we 'believe' in Jesus, the believer is saying to the world...I have NO other hope in this world, but only in Jesus and if Jesus drops me, I am truly lost!
To have faith in Jesus... to 'believe' in the only begotten Son of God means that if He forgets me...I am hopelessly alone. If He fails me, I am helpless to help myself.
We also need to understand that when I use the phrase, "I believe in Jesus..." it is far more than an intellectual acknowledgement of His existence, but it is FULLY trusting that He will hold NOTHING back from me! It is trusting that Jesus will be faithful to His promise of eternal life...
For us to 'believe' as Scripture says... it is our greatest act of response to the Love of God that we can have! To 'believe' as Scripture calls us to believe is THE only effective way we can respond to God's love! There is NO work or worship that can reveal your faith... Faith is a full surrender of the will and heart... believing in Christ is NOT something to take for granted!
The world tells us that if we will just live a 'good life' and if we avoid all the major sins, like murder, theft or sexual sin... that we can please God! But the truth of the matter is that there si NOTHING we can do to please God outside of 'believing' in Jesus.
Our salvation comes out of God's love for us, we cannot reproduce it or substitute for it, or work hard to earn it. The fact of the matter is that LOVE for others and any ministry we perform in the world around us is healthy and a very necessary response for us as believers... but those actions are NOT what saves us or provides security...
Those actions are the outflow of the Love of God we have already experienced... we allow God's love to flow OUT from us! But there is NOTHING that we can substitute for this total belief I am speaking about!
We have to BELIEVE that Jesus is the ONLY way we can come to know salvation as Scripture tells us in Acts 4:12 [ESV]"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." God requires this foundational belief on our part, but His promise is that if we surrender to Him... He will equip and supply all our needs!
The Love of God brings us compassion, the Love of God brings us a 2nd chance, and love of God gives attention to OUR response to Him and His love... but FINALLY this morning I want us to see that the Love of God gives us cause for celebration! This is why we call the Gospel... GOOD NEWS!
God's Love gives cause for celebration! v.21
21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."
When we are touched by the love of God, we are delivered from an eternity of death and destruction!
When we are touched by the love of God, we are released from fear!
When God's love enters our lives... we are delivered out from the darkness... we are transformed FROM being part of the darkness... and we are made into LIGHT in Him... we are brought into the light of His love and His presence...
And because of this we have cause to celebrate!
The promise God makes is that when we surrender in faith to Him... we will have eternal life thru Jesus, His Son... we see this in v.16...
Verse 16 is God's antidote to the poisonous fear that people feel have when they come to the knowledge that they are a sinner and face an eternity of separation from God and in a place of darkness, torment and pain... When the depression of sin is revealed to us... when the hopeless condition of our sinful nature is illuminated in our mind... v.16 is the antidote to that poisonous feeling and realization.
When we come to the knowledge that we are sinners before a holy and righteous God, it is a very real and terrifying fear that comes upon us! And this may sound grim and daunting, but it reality for MANY every day as they are convicted by the Holy Spirit...They come to the knowledge that without Jesus there is NO hope, NO future, NO salvation, NO deliverance... They come to realize that they are dying an eternal death and there is NOTHING they can do to stop it...
But the Love of God brings the Good News of Jesus Christ! It brings the promise of God in the eternal life it provides! This hope in Christ... this celebration we experience is NOT the only antidote for our fear; it is also the elixir for our JOY! A joy that is unending and a peace that goes beyond any human understanding! This hope in Christ provides us with a celebration that we are saved for all eternity!
The lively and joyful hope is that eternal life has been given to us now and we may live and rejoice in it TODAY! Eternal life not merely life after death, but it is a NEW life here in this world... a life Jesus called ABUNDANT!
H.J. Zelley said it well in the hymn he wrote so many years ago:
Shadows around me, shadows above me,
Never conceal my Savior and guide;
He is the light, in Him is no darkness;
Ever I'm walking close to His side.
Heavenly Sunlight, heavenly sunlight
Flooding my soul with glory divine:
Hallelujah, I am rejoicing
Singing His praises, Jesus is mine!
Let's take a step back and realize just what God's Love does for us. We find God's Love giving and giving and giving... and then it gives some more! It brings compassion, it grants us a 2nd chance, it brings God's attention to those who seek after Him and finally God's Love is cause for great celebration to all who experience it!
Believer... this morning you may be at a point in your life where you have lost touch with the Love of God and you need to come down to this altar to reconnect with God and allow Him to infuse your life with His Love again! You may have made a decision in your heart regarding your walk with Christ... I encourage you to come and share it with the fellowship today!
You have heard about God's great love for you this morning and how He has given all of Himself for you...I plead with you today to NOT walk away from His Love! Won't you come and give yourself to Him today?
Today if you have realized that you are a sinful person in the light of a Holy God...and you want to be cleansed of that sin, today you can come and God will forgive you of your sin and He will CLEANSE you!
Come as Steven and Jason come to lead us in our Hymn of Invitation... #300, Without Him.
