For God So Loved
Notes
Transcript
Handout
John 3:16-21
John 3:16-21
As we continue through the advent season, we are now looking at the love of God.
We can see the love of God being present as we move forward to the time of Christmas. The time when God demonstrated his love by sending His only son for our redemption.
As we look foreward to the second advent of Jesus, we see His love being manifested in a way which we are finally with Him for eternity. That time when the dwelling place of God is with man and we are in the presence of His divine majesty forever.
God Loved
God Loved
We learn the reason for the incarnation in the book of John.
The entire purpose of the incarnation, was becasue of the love of God.
John is breaking down 2 fallacies that people tend to fall into:
That God is cold and hard. Jesus is the one who loves us and came to save us from the wrath of the terrible Father.
We are desirable to God because of.....
First:
Notice the first part of this statement, “for God so loved…that He gave His son.”
Now we understand that God is three in person, and one in essence. So He is one God who loves us. But we see the separation of the persons within the Godhead being shown here.
The one who’s love is being shown, is the Father’s love. For the Father loved us, and sent his son.
1 Peter 1:3
1 Peter 1:3
According to the great mercy of God, He has caused us to be born again.
It was His great love for us that we see the Jesus come into the world, to pay for our sins and raise us to new life.
We are celebrating the Christmas. This is a time when Jesus came as a love gift to us sent by the Father.
For the Father has caused us to be born again to a living hope.
It was according to His great mercy. This brings us to our second point.
Second:
The fallacy of we are desirable to God becasue of....
Love was the reason that Jesus was sent into the world.
We must be careful not to place the reason for God’s love on some characteristic that we possess, as John Calvin states:
“We must consider the inborn and wicked ambition of our nature, which traps us into the devilish fancy that we deserve to be saved.” -John Calvin
We fall into the trap, believing that God is good to us, becasue He judges us worthy of His favor.
That there is something within us, that causes God to love us.
This idea is completely wrong. God attributes the glory of our deliverance solely to his gracious love, and to his great mercy.
Extent of Love
Extent of Love
Love compelled an action that the Father took.
For God demonstrated the extent of His love by sending us His Son.
This love surpasses countless barriers, one’s that in our finite minds would make it impossible to love.
But God breaks down these barriers in His pursuit of man.
Romans 5:10
Romans 5:10
We were enemies of God, He reconciled us through the death of Jesus.
We were at war, and he made a way for us to be made right, through the death of Jesus.
What kind of love the Father has for us that He would pay the ransom for an enemy.
Philippians 2:5-7
Philippians 2:5-7
When we speak of extent, think of what Jesus gave up for us.
He left His heavenly abode.
He emptied himself of his glory. Being found in the likeness of man.
The creator of all, became like His creation
The commander of the armies of heaven, became an infant.
the Lord of glory, set His glory aside
Again, this he did out of love.
Husbands,
This is also a charge for husbands.
Love your wives as Christ loved the church.
Your wife is more valuable than rubies, cherish her.
Wives, come under the authority of your husband.
Let you and your family be led by him.
Whosoever
No other statement has ever been so butchered by well meaning Christians than this statement of whoever.
The words of Jesus were meant to convey the grounds of our justification, and to rest on the love and mercy of God alone.
To convey that we were born in the state of death, condemned to hell. But by faith in God we are deliverance from it.
Christ is available and presented to all. A universal call has been issued to mankind inviting them without exception to come and to partake of the Lord.
Though the invitation is presented to all, the eyes of only the elect will be opened to where they will desire to come to Jesus for forgiveness..
v.19-21
Man kinds works are evil, therefore mankind loves the darkness rather than the light.
The only reason we love the light is if God has given us a new heart that desires Him and is drawing us to himself.
Jesus even says a few chapters later:
John 6:44
John 6:44
The Father must draw.
Without the all encompassing love of God, we are creatures who love the night, who have no desire to come to the light.
The Father must predestine and draw us to himself.
Continuing in His Love
Continuing in His Love
As we look to the second Advent, the return of our Lord Jesus. We want to make sure that we are continuing in the love of our Lord.
With this point, I don’t mean that we must try to earn God’s love. If you haven’t noticed yet, the Lord loved you first, it isn’t something that we must earn.
But we must learn to abide in His love.
John 15:9-10
John 15:9-10
We are told to abide in the love of God.
This is not just an enjoyment of His love, but an ongoing observable behavior of our love for Him. It is responding to, and enabled by His love.
This is done in the negative by us staying within the framework that God has laid.
When we step outside the framework, it means we fall into displeasure with God, not a disowning.
This does mean God disciplines when we are living outside His framework. For the Lord disciplines those whom He loves.
In the positive it means we actively live and do things that we know bring God glory and honor.
We worship God, and God alone.
We love our wives, wives you submit to your husbands.
Children, you obey your parents, parents, we raise our kids to follow God.
We show hospitality.
We host events.
We hold feasts.
We have hymn sings or psalm sings
We do bible studies.
We build schools.
We start businesses
Building a community that lifts high the name of Jesus.
We do everything we can, using the gifts that God has given us to bring Him honor.
Closing
Let us remember that we are celebrating the birth of our Lord. The one who came to this world to be the substitutionary atonement for our sins. That by His sacrifice and death, Jesus has expiated our sins; and now nothing keeps God from acknowledging us as His sons.
Let us remember that we look forward to the day when He will return. When we will spend eternity surrounded by His all consuming love.
Benediction:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May you remember the love that God has for you and may that knowledge keep you walking close to Him.