FOR THUS LOVED GOD
#117 FOR THUS LOVED GOD
Scripture John 3:16-19 NIV Orig. 11/22/1989
Passage: 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Purpose: Continuing a series from John, here declaring the manner of God’s love as revealed through Christ
Keywords: Love of God Bible Study Sin Christ Redeemer Love
Timeline/Series: John
Introduction
It is hard to believe that the Houston astrodome has been in place for a quarter of a century. Twenty-four years ago this month, Billy Graham preached the first evangelistic crusade in that 8th wonder of the world. He stood before a full house to preach the first sermon ever preached in a completely enclosed sports complex. Somewhere around 50,000 people heard him. Governor Connally of Texas was there. Mayor Welch sat on the platform with other dignitaries. Many prominent citizens of Houston and Texas were in that crowd of interested, or curious, people.
Dr. Graham noted the importance of the occasion. He summed it up succinctly when he said in his opening remarks:
“I want to speak tonight as if this were the last sermon I will ever preach. I want you to listen as though this were the last sermon you will ever hear, and well it might be. None of us knows what a day may bring forth.”
Then Mr. Graham told that assembled congregation that he was not there to entertain them. He would not be bringing the latest words of the psychiatrist, or sociologist, or report of governmental officials. And again, I quote, “I am here to open this Bible and tell you what God has to say about our daily life, our daily problems, and all the tremendous decisions we have to make in our complex society.” With that, the evangelist opened his Bible, invited them to open theirs, and follow as he read John 3:16.
The last sermon that I will ever preach, or that you will ever hear? Probably not! But the test demands that we give it our fullest attention.
I. “For Thus God Loves” Teaches Us the Origin of Love. “For God so loved.” The background, you remember, is Jesus in communion with a man named Nicodemus. He was a religious man. He was a righteous man; recall the lesson about the righteous king Josiah in 2 Kings 22. He was an important man.
But he was a disturbed man. The teachings of Jesus had forewarned him of God’s expectations. This interview leaves him in jeopardy of soul. “You must be born again.” V12 “I have spoken of earthly things . . . you have not believed. When I speak of heavenly things you cannot believe.”
More, he was a man to whom Jesus revealed Himself: He who was talking to Nicodemus. He is from God, is in Oneness with God. He will return to this Union from which He has come: Man sends no delegation ferreting out God’s true feelings; God reveals the apex of His love.
The love that is described here is absolute and it is infinite. It is the aorist tense. It was perceived in eternity past. It was rendered in the only way that man in his finiteness could understand. But God stayed with the original plan until it could be fulfilled.
The One before Nicodemus was that plan. “Abraham rejoiced to see my day,” Joshua 8:56. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah spoke of Jesus. In John 12:41: “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory, and spoke about him.” In Daniel 3:25, Nebuchadnezzar said “I see four . . . and the fourth is like unto the Son of God.”
It should not surprise us to see Him suddenly come to light in Jerusalem. It should not startle anyone that His work continues. God’s love is past, it is present, it is future. Love is, because God is. There is no other source. Love in the context of sexual reproduction is not the same as brute passion.
II. “For Thus God Loves” Teaches Us the Opportunity of Love. “For God so loved the world.” The extent of that love is beyond reproach. This text is thought by many to be the most important in the Bible. It is called the “gospel in the gospel.” Graham uses it “as if this were the last sermon” he would preach.
The subject of this text is the love God has for the world. V14 is a reference to the serpent on the pole, a parable of their guilt and their potential to faith. Thus, Christ would be expressive of guilt and faith forever, for all. John 3:14, “As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” It can be seen from any point in the camp. With eyes of faith, the cross can be seen from anywhere. No place so filled with evil that God’s love cannot validate. No person so reeking with sin that he cannot gain forgiveness.
Someone explains this verse with terms of greatness. It tells of
- The greatest person—God.
- The greatest feeling—love.
- The greatest mass—world.
- The greatest sacrifice—gave.
- The greatest gift—God’s son.
- The greatest invitation—whosoever.
- The greatest condition—believe.
- The greatest forgiveness—not perish.
- The greatest promise—eternal life.
The extent of this opportunity can only be seen in its measure. “That He gave His only begotten Son.” He is the monogene. In one sense, we are all the children of God. Donald Grey Barnhouse (C25p53) said that Jesus is “the only one of His kind.”
- Unique in His origin
- Unique in His birth (without father)
- Unique in His being (Pilate: “I find no fault in Him”)
- Unique in His teaching (I am truth)
- Unique in His work
- Unique in His death
III. “For Thus God Loves” Teaches Us the Order of Love. “For God so loved the world that He gave.” The essence of religion is stirred up by the reminder that to love is to give.
This is not a stewardship sermon. The last, and least important factor in giving, is of our material goods. II Corinthians 8:1f Macedonians out of “deep poverty abounded not the riches of their liberality . . . but first gave their own selves to the Lord.” And the first example of sacrificial giving is occasioned at the cross.
Though Jesus is Himself the Gift, He perceives the mind of God. Not only does He agree to this, He offers Himself gladly. Ephesians 5:2 “Christ also hath . . . given himself as an offering.”
His agreement is in the order of love.
Phileo—tender affection, see John 5:20.
Agapao—sacrificial love—John 3:35. For the world: here. Aorist—indicates no new thing.
Murphey Terry tells about the Buddhist monks in Laos who requested help in study of scripture. God across Mekong. We know He’s there. We don’t swim. No boat. No bridge. You see Jesus’ willingness is in knowing that He is the bridge.
If we, as Christians, perceive any other thing as of equal importance we have missed the heart of the gospel. It speaks in relation to belief: Belief not limited to time, place; Belief that God is committed to; Belief that must yield personal response.
Conclusion
Dr. Clyde Dodson spoke to the Foreign Mission Board some time ago and told of his arrival in Rhodesia as a missionary. He found a people who had no Bible in their own language. Impressed of the Lord to do so, he spent 38 years translating the scripture. He told the story of those years of agonizing study. Every Hebrew and Greek word was checked again and again. He typed the whole Bible, every word, five times. Dr. Dodson gave a copy of that Bible to Dr. Cauthen, President of the Foreign Mission Board, and then he quoted John 3:16, greatest verse.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”