Amazing Love
080720 Amazing Love
John 3:14-18
Tim Franklin
John 3:16-18For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. NKJV
Introduction:
♥ Last week we looked at three expressions found in the local church and their significance. I am born again, I am saved, and I have become a Christian. Simple expressions with powerful implications.
♥ The beauty of the Gospel or the Good News is that it really is simple. It really is good news. And it really is lifegiving!
♥ It is my desire today to give you understanding and revelation of Gods in such a way that you will always stand in awe of it no matter how old you live to be, or how difficult or refreshing life may become.
1) For God So Loved or God Loved So Much
A) God loved so much
i) Agapeesen- agape, or unconditional love.
(a) To be full of good will, affection, tenderness towards.
(b) Love in the OT is a spontaneous feeling which impels to self-giving, to grasping that which causes it, or to pleasurable activity. (from Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, abridged edition, Copyright © 1985 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)
(c) The love of God reaches us through him--Jesus. The death of the Son crowns and releases it.
(d) It is a love that has no strings attached. In other words you do not have to do anything to get it. You already have no matter if you are born again, saved, a Christian or not. It is not conditional. You get it whether you like it or not.
(e) It is a love that is not earned. You do not have to work for this love. You do not have to clean your room, quit smoking, or fast 40 days. You cant earn what you already have. Ie. “take someone’s Bible and as then to earn it back—Why? You can’t earn what you already have.
(f) It is a love that is not deserving. We are all sinners. Ro. 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
B) It moved him to action. God loved so much that this love that defines who He is motivated Him to action!
i) He Gave.
(a) His Son
(b) His one and only-this phrase magnifies the love of God towards us.
(c) His most loved Son. Abraham was a OT picture of this message in Gen. He prepare to sacrifice Isaac.Through you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. That picture carries over in what Christ did for the whole world.
ii) Di/dwmito give-is the most common expression for the procedure whereby a subject deliberately transfers something to someone or something so that it becomes available to the recipient. (from Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament © 1990 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)
(a) God love us by transferring that love to us via His Son, Jesus.
(b) Giving is an aspect of the divine activity. It comes from God, through Christ, to mankind. (from Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament © 1990 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)
C) His action demonstrated his love.
i) Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. NKJV
ii) Rom 5:8 But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. (THE MESSAGE)
iii) Demonstate=Greek:suni/sthmi- prove to be ; Precisely this is "the astonishing and unique element in Christ's death. . . . God's love for us is love for sinners" (Schlier 154). (Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament © 1990 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)
(a) IE. A soldier will jump on a grenade for his friends but not for his enemies.
(b) Navy SEAL Michael A. Monsoor, who died on September 29, 2006 in Iraq after falling on a grenade. "He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it," said a 28-year-old lieutenant who sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. "He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs' lives, and we owe him."[1] On Dec. 4, 2006 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 19 year old U.S. Army Spc. Ross A. McGinnis was killed instantly when he used his body to smother a grenade, saving the lives of four fellow soldiers, traveling in a Humvee.
(c) These are most courageous and brave acts of heroism, but would these men have done the same for their enemy? While we were still sinners, enemies, of no use… Rom 5:7-8 We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. THE MESSAGE
D) The world is the object of his love!
i) The world is all of humanity. The most ungrateful, undeserving, hateful, self-centered people on the earth.
ii) This is what his love was directed at.
iii) The book of Hosea is an OT book expressing Jn 3:16. Hosea was instructed by God to marry a prostitute.
2) God Did Not Condemn 3:17
A) What was the mission of the Son of God? To demonstrate or show Gods love to the world. It was not to destroy those who do not believe.
B) Contrary to popular secular opinion and understanding, God is not an angry vile God waiting to destroy humanity. He is quite the opposite. From the beginning in the garden, in love he covered and clothed. This theme is through the whole Bible.
C) Condemn—krinee- to judge
i) to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong
ii) to determine, to render a verdict.
iii) The Catch 22
(a) God did not send His son to pronounce judgment on the world.
(b) But the very fact that He is here renders a verdict or judgment on us.
(c) How do we explain this? God sent His Son to save us. Remember that the world without God is describe with words such as darkness, death, bondage, destruction, chaotic. We were already doomed before Jesus got here. Now the Son of God shows up. Word that describe Jesus: light, life, freedom, goodness, joy, peace, salvation.
(1) Darkness flees the light
(2) What fellowship has light with darkness? None.
(3) Can a fountain have both fresh and salt water coming from it.
D) We are already perishing!
i) Note through Gods Word at each God encounter-have you come to kill us, are we going to die, do you come in peace, have you come to destroy us? Man already knows he is dying.
ii) We are born into sin, from the day we are born we start dying. The eyes grow dimmer, the hearing fades, the legs move more and more slowly and finally the silver cord is broken. Without God at that point, death continues all through eternity. Forever separated from God, forever perishing in a devils hell, forever torment for not choosing life—the free gift of God – His Son!
iii) Without this Gift of God, we die!
3) He Who Believe Has Life
A) Believe- Gr. Pistuo-to trust, believe, have confidence in. In this passage it is confidence or trust in Jesus.
i) Behind the word that is believed stands the person who is trusted. (from Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, abridged edition, Copyright © 1985 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)
ii) The one who is saved from perishing is the one who believes or puts his trust in what God has done through His Son Jesus. Proof that that trust exists is the way one now governs his life—according to Gods word. A commitment is made to live according to God’s ways.
B) If we are perishing, it is to be expected that we would reach for a lifeline if one is offered.
i) God did not send his Son to condemn us. We have already done that to ourselves, through the first man Adam and through our own wrong choices.
ii) What we must do now is believe.
iii) OT example: In the wilderness, the children of Israel complain because of the bread they constantly had to eat. God sent serpent among them to bite them. They became sick and were dying. God had Moses make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. When the people looked up, an act of faith, they would be healed.
(a) We too have complained against God and spoken against his leaders. We are just as guilty, and perishing as those in the wilderness. Do you hear that? Perishing!
(b) God sent His Son, His Son was lifted up on the cross so that all who would believe would be saved!
(1) Doesn’t it sound ridiculous that you could look at a bronze snake on a pole and be healed? Yet they were because it was by faith.
(2) Doesn’t it seem ridiculous that you could look to the resurrected Son of God and be saved? Yet it happens all the time people look to Jesus and are saved!
C) What does it mean to be saved?
i) SOZO is the greek word for salvation, saved, etc. It means:
(a) Saving
(b) Keeping
(c) Benefiting—Lk 8:48- healing results in peace.
(d) Healing—Mk 5:28; Mk 6:56; Lk 8:50; Jn 11:11 (Note: your faith has made you well)
(e) Delivering—Mt 8:25; 14:30; Jn 12:27 (Note: Jesus rebukes their lack of faith)
(f) Prospering --Lk 6:6-11 sozo implies help. If we are not perishing we are prospering!
ii) Sozo is the opposite of perishing!
D) Therefore, we must believe, put our complete trust in Jesus for salvation.
E) It is really quite simple: God loved us so much that even though we were not worth saving, He sent His Son not to finish us off by condemning us but to give us hope, and not only that, but the opportunity to be saved if we would only believe!
Conclusion:
♠ In The Grace of Giving, Stephen Olford tells of a Baptist pastor during the American Revolution, Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the friendship of George Washington. In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, an evil-minded sort who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor. One day Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Miller traveled seventy miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor. "No, Peter," General Washington said. "I cannot grant you the life of your friend." "My friend!" exclaimed the old preacher. "He's the bitterest enemy I have." "What?" cried Washington. "You've walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in different light. I'll grant your pardon." And he did. Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata--no longer an enemy but a friend.
♠ Some of you today are on trial in the spirit.
o What you are experiencing is conviction. You are guilty and you know it. You are destined to get what you deserve. But there my friends lies the big difference.
o Condemnation means you are guilty and now you must face the consequences of your sin.
o Conviction simply means you are guilty but God has provided a way out—if you are willing to trust him.
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