JOHN 3:16

(Word Count:  1284)

INTRODUCTION:  The most familiar, and most comprehensive, yet most simple text in all the Bible. HOP

Martin Luther called it, "the gospel in miniature."

 

I.  LOVE

            A.  Defined  --> Webster's

                        1.  Strong affect or liking for someone or something

                        2.  A passionate affection for someone of the opposite sex [often lust]

                        3.  The object of such affection; such as a sweetheart

            B.  Defined --> Bible

                        1.  John 3:16  verb --> agapao      noun --> agape

                                    In its true sense, agape is not and cannot be used of sexual love.  What we                                                                    generally think of as love does not coincide with agape.

 

                                    This love can't be seen in its material self because love is an abstract concept.  We                                                         can't touch it with our hands or physically sense it.  It is something though that can                                                          be manifest in action.  It is a self-giving divine love which comes out from God and                                                         is to be seen reflected in believers.  Love can be manifested in action.

 

                        2.  Paul declared love as the greatest of all Christian attributes, greater than faith

                                    or hope.  I Cor. 13

                        3.  Agape and agapao are used in the N. T. :    (Vine's)

                                    a. to describe the attitude of God toward His Son; toward the human race; and to                                                                      such as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ  John 3:16

                                    b.  to convey His will to His children concerning their attitude one toward another,                                                                     and toward all men John 13:34

                                    c.  to express the essential nature of God  I John 4:8  God is love

                        4.  Agape and agapao  (Spiros Zodhiates)

                                    a.  Agapao---> to love, indicates a direction of the will and finding one's

                                                joy in anything

                                    b.  Agape --> translated charity meaning benevolent love--is not shown by doing                                                                       what the person loved desires but what the one who loves deems as needed                                                                  by the one loved; "For God so loved the world that He gave . . . . "  What did                                                               He give?  Not what man wanted, but what man needed as God perceived his                                                                need, His Son to bring forgiveness to man.  God's love for man is God doing                                                                 what He thinks is best for man and not what he desires.

 

II.  LOVE IN ACTION

            A.  Love can only be known from the action it prompts.

                        1.  "God so loved the world that He gave --> what?  His only

                        2.  Love had its perfect expression among men in the Lord Jesus Christ.

                        3.  It was not in anything that we are or that we had done that prompted God to

                                    give His only

 

            B.  Rom. 5:8  "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinner,

                        Christ died for us."

            C.  We are unworthy of His love --> unworthy objects.

                        1.  Eph 2:4-10  --> good works (human-level)

                        2.  Martin Luther said, "If I were as our Lord God . . . and these vile people were as                                                                 disobedient as they now be, I would knock the world in pieces."

                        3.  How can God love us as He does, or indeed at all--He being what He is, we what we                                                          are, why He does not shrink back from us in shuddering loathing, or blast us into                                                            annihilation because He can't bear us in the same universe with Himself. 

                        4.  There was no human reason to love, but God loved and gave holding back nothing He

                                    gave His only.  Why?  "As is His majesty, so also is His mercy."

 

III.  GOD'S ALMIGHTINESS

            A.  God's almightiness is expressed in His long-suffering --> II Peter 3:9  "but is long-suffering to

                                    us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

                        1.  I John 3:1  "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us"

                        2.  Love prompted God to give His son --> Immanuel --> God with us.

            B.  The Son Loved

                        1.  Then the Son having the attributes of the Father loved and gave.

                        2.  Why?  That we might be saved.  Titus 2:13-14   Titus 3:3-7

                       

IV.  THE SON GIVES

            A.  Jesus

                        1.  Gives life --> John 4:14

                        2.  Gives sight -->John 9 and others scriptures

                        3.  Gives freedom --> from demon spirits, food for the hungry, natural and spiritual,                                                                   cleansed lepers, gave hearing to deaf, speech to dumb, victory to defeated, hope to                                                       the hopeless, quickened those dead in sins

                        4.  Isa 50:6  "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the                                                             hair:  I hid not my face from shame and spitting.  For the Lord God will help me;                                                            therefore shall I not be confounded:"

 

B.     Matt.  8:20  "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man                           

hath not where to lay His head."  While Christ had not a place to lay His head He gave!!!

                        John 1:3-4  "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that                                                was made.  In Him was life; and the life was the light of men."

 

            C.  He hath borne our griefs    Isa  53:1-10

            D.  John 10:7-15  "I lay down my life for the sheep.

            E.  I John 3:16  "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us"

 

V.  YOU MUST GIVE TO GOD

            A.  God loved and gave His only  Romans 8:32

            B.  Christ loved and gave His all

            C.  What you must give:

                        1.  To be saved, you must give.  What?  Your heart, soul, mind, and body. 

                                    Romans 10:9-10    Matt. 22:35 -40

                        2.  To be saved, you must love   Romans 13:10  "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor:

                                    therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

 

                                    On these two commandments hang all --> Loving and Giving

 

VI.  YOU MUST GIVE TO OTHERS

            A.  Zaccheus gave -->  Luke 19:1-10  Zaccheus gave his heart to God and then said,

                                    "Behold, I give  

                        1.  v. 6  received Him joyfully

                        2.  v. 9   "This day is salvation come to this house"

            B.  Acts 20:35  " I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the                                                      weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, "It is more blessed                                                 [more like God] to give than to receive."

 

            C.  Working to give --> Eph. 4:28 "that he may have to give"

                       

                        Matthew Henry says when you get to giving:  "This giving undoes us all."   "It makes us                                                   more like God who gives to all and receives from none."

 

D.  According to Ability --> Deut.  16:17  Every man shall give as he is able, according to the                            blessing of the Lord they God which he hath given thee.

           

II Cor.  8:12  "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man                                     hath, and not according to that he hath not."

 

E.  According to his heart --> II Cor. 9:6-8  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so                                  let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity:  for God loveth a cheerful giver.

 

            F.  Charge the Rich to Give --> I Tim. 6:17-19

            G. Commend the Poor --> Mark 12:41-44

                        She gave all --in the presence of Christ, but not knowing it. 

                        Give until it hurts.  Give until it stops hurting. 

                        We must not only give of our possessions, but also of our time, effort, talent, etc.

 

VII.  CONCLUSION

            God having given Him to us to be our Prophet, Priest, and King, and He giving His life, we must                                    give up ourselves to be ruled, taught, and saved by Him.  (M. H.)

           

            Saved from the miseries of Hell; entitled to the joys of heaven.

 

            I Chron 29:5-9  "And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?"

            Give yourself.