Love Is At Its Peek John 3:16

Love Is At Its Peek John 3:16 John 3:16 is the magnifying glass of God's love for mankind. If there is one verse that summarized the heart of God and the heart of the Bible, this would be the verse. John 3:16 is the heart of revealed truth. THE great truth of God's word is GOD LOVES YOU, PERSONALLY! John 3:16 is not talking about human love, which is often biased and often impure as to its motives. THIS IS GOD'S LOVE! -Human love is selfish and is usually given on the basis of what it can hope to receive in return! -God's love is not like that at all! His love is always pure, always holy, always seeking what is best for the one who is loved. His love is given freely without the hope of desire for anything in return. -God loves because He IS love! His love is Never ending! -Jer. 31:3 Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; with loving kindness have I drawn you. -I John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. God's love is Amazing Love! The great German theologian, Carl Barth, was speaking in one of our seminaries and after his speech the president of the seminary said, We have time for questions. If you would like to ask Dr. Barth a question, please raise your hand and do so. One student stood and asked, Dr. Barth, could you share with us the deepest spiritual truth that you have learned over the years of studying the Word of God? Dr. Barth thought for a moment and then said, The most profound truth that I know is that God loves me. He had no sooner spoken the words that the truth of those words really touched his heart and he said a second time, God loves me! Then he went to one knee and with tears in his eyes he said, O, God loves me! The greatest truth you can know is that GOD loves you. -I say that because our world is filled with folks who think, Nobody loves me. I have met young people who feel that way and divorcees who feel that way. May I assure you: God loves you! The song writer said: There's the wonder of sunset at evening, The wonder of sunrise I see But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul, Is the wonder that God loves me. Some years ago a 17 year old young man had just finished high school. He came from a well-todo family. He had already been accepted into a fine college. His parents told him to go to a car lot and pick out the car he wanted as their graduation gift to him. Not many weeks after that, he went to his house, got a water hose, and went down a pasture road. With a tank full of 43 gas, he put one end of the hose in the exhaust pipe of his new car and the other end inside the front window. They found his body with a note he had written which read: I have discovered that nobody loves me. My parents do not love me. I don't think that even God loves me. I don't love myself. It would be better for everyone if I did not exist, and he signed the

letter. If he had only known how much God loved him! Would you look with me at John 3:16 and see: I. The Size of God's Love The biggest word in the bible is that little word, So. It indicates the depth of God's love. -It describes the scope of God's love for fallen men. It is a deep love that motivated God to send His only begotten Son to die for the lost. -It is uncommon love, for this is God's love! This is no ordinary love. It is a special love that seeks to give itself away, even for sinful men. Even to those who think, I'm too sinful or I'm too ugly, or I'm not smart enough or I'm not worthy. God loves you! This should not surprise us, because to love is the very nature of God, I John 4:8,16 -The greatest thought to grip the human mind is this: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so! Jesus loves me when I'm good, and it makes Him very glad. Jesus loves me when I'm bad, though it makes Him very sad. -The second greatest thought is this: There is nothing you can do to make Him stop loving you Rom. 8:38-39 The true value of love lies in what love is willing to give to the one loved. -You see, God's love is not stagnant or self-centered. His love doesn't just sit quietly by while men drop off into hell! His love prompted Him to do something for the people He loves. -God's love is seen in the giving of His precious son to die for sinners on the cross. -Rom. 5:8; I John 4:9-10; I John 3:16; I Peter 3:18 If you want to see what God's love is like, go to the cross Eph. 3:18-19 II. The Eyes of God's Love For God so loved THE WORLD What are God's eyes focused on? Not nature, the world of the trees, woods, mountains, ect. In spite of man's sinful condition and the fact that the natural man hates God and opposes all God stands for, God still saw value in human life. Man doesn't see much value in human life, but God does. The value man sees in human life is seen in the number of abortion and euthanasia and the spiraling crime of murder and abuse. God's eyes miss no one. Sometimes we overlook folks or neglect folks or try to avoid folks or have nothing to do with some kinds of folks. Not so Jesus! -In Jesus' day children were overlooked. In fact even the disciples thought Jesus didn't have time for children and even tried to shoo them away. Yet, Jesus said, Forbid not the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of God. Jesus always had time for children and He loved them. -People that other folks hated, like Zacchaeus, Jesus saw and loved. Most folks didn't like 44 Zacchaeus because of who he was and what he was and would have as little to do with him as possible; yet, Jesus called him unto Himself and even went home with him for a fellowship meal. -Folks with physical ills, like blind folks, cripples, lepers, Jesus saw. He saw folks with mental ills. He saw the down and out as well as the up and out. -He saw the spiritually outcast. Like the prodigal son's father whose eyes were always looking for his son and when he saw him, ran to him and treated him with great love and care. His eyes are always looking for those to love.

-God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love. In fact, Jesus said that whosoever believes on Him could be saved. Whosoever means any race, any language, any nationality. -I John 2:2; Rom. 10:13 I am happy today and the Son shines bright, And Clouds have been rolled away; For the Savior said, whosoever will May come with Him to stay. O, what wonderful love, O, what grace divine, That Jesus should die for me; I've been lifted up, and from sin set free, His blood has made me whole. Whosoever, surely meaneth me, surely meaneth me, O surely meaneth me; Whosoever surely meaneth me, Whosoever meaneth me! III. The Ties To God's Love How do you get tied to God's love? Two words are key: Believe and Receive. -It is so simple: Believe and you will receive. -If you and I had to work for our salvation or earn our salvation, many of us would never have eternal life. We could not meet the requirements. - Whosoever can believe. Anyone can believe: Adults and children alike; smart folks and slow folks alike; rich folks and poor folks alike; likable folks and folks who are hard to get along with. -If you believe with your heart that Jesus died for your sin and that he was buried and that He rose again on the third day and confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord of your life, you shall be saved. -That is the only way you will ever be tied to His redeeming love. If you are unwilling to be tied to God's love, you will experience something eternally unpleasant. Jesus said that you would Perish. -The word perish doesn't mean annihilation, but to be given over to a final ruin and misery and destiny in hell. 45 -The most horrible thing that can happen to anyone is for them to live their entire life without a relationship with the Lord and then to die and go to Hell! John 8:24 Nothing in this world or eternity beyond can compare with dying in your sins without Jesus Christ! Why? -Because of what the Bible says to those who die without Him 2 Thess. 1:8-9 -There is no thought more horrible than the thought of going to Hell, forever, with no hope of release or redemption. -The truth of the matter is this: If you go to Hell, you will go because you did not trust Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. -It will not be God's fault. You will have no one to blame but yourself. There will be no one to point your finger at to blame. The blame will rest squarely on your shoulders

-If you leave this world without Jesus, one day you will stand before God and be judged for your sins Rev. 20:11-15 IV. The Prize of God's Love We are not meant to live here forever. Those who are saved will enjoy everlasting life. -They can never die! Because they know Jesus, they know the Prince of Life and they are alive forever more. V. The Cries of God's Love Nothing causes deeper hurt or pain than rejected love in marriage, a family or toward God. How it breaks God's heart when we reject His Son and His offer of love. When we reject God's love, we reject His only hope of salvation. In 1929, after the crash of the stock market, John Griffith took his wife and his baby boy and a few meager belongings in an old car and took a job caring for one of those great, huge bridges that crossed the mighty Mississippi. After being on the job for a while, he brought his 8 year old son, Greg, to work with him for the first time to see what Daddy did all day long. The little boy was wide-eyed with excitement, and he clapped his hands with glee when the huge bridge went up at the beck and call of his mighty father. He watched with wonderment as the huge boats steamed down the Mississippi. Twelve o'clock came, and his father put up the bridge. There were no trains due for a good while, and they went out a couple of hundred feet on a catwalk out over the river to an observation deck. They sat down, opened their brown bag, and began to eat their lunch. His father told him about some of the strange, faraway lands that some of these ships were going to visit. This entranced the boy. The time whirled by, and suddenly they were drawn instantly back to reality by the shrieking of a distant train whistle. John Griffith quickly looked at his watch. He saw that it was time for the 1:07, the Memphis Express, with 400 passengers, which would be rushing across that bridge in just a couple of minutes. He knew he had just enough time, so without panic but with alacrity he told his son to stay where he was. He leaped to his feet, jumped to the catwalk, ran back, climbed the ladder to the control room, went in, put his hand on the huge lever that controlled the bridge, looked up the river and down to see if any boats were coming, as was his custom, and then looked down to see if there were any beneath the bridge. And suddenly he saw a sight that froze his blood and 46 caused his heart to leap into his throat. His boy! His boy had tried to follow him to the control room and had fallen into the great huge gear box that had the monstrous gears that operated this massive bridge. His left leg was caught between the two main gears, and the father knew that as sure as the sun came up in the morning, if he pushed that lever his son would be ground in the midst of eight tons of whining, grinding steel. His eyes filled with tears of panic. His mind whirled. What could he do? He saw a rope there in the control room. He could rush down the ladder and out the catwalk, tie off the rope, lower himself down, extricate his son, climb back up the rope, run back into the control room, and lower the bridge. No sooner had his mind done that exercise than he knew he knew there wasn't time. He'd never make it, and there were 400 people on that train. Suddenly he heard the whistle again, this time startlingly closer. And he could hear the clicking of the locomotive wheels on the track, and he could hear the rapid puffing of the train. What could he do? What could he do? There were 400 people, but this was...this was his son, this was his only son. He was a father! He knew what he had to do, so he buried his head in his arm and he pushed the gear forward.

The great bridge slowly lowered into place just as the express train roared across. He lifted up his tear-smeared face and looked straight into the flashing windows of that train as they flashed by one after another. He saw men reading the afternoon paper, a conductor in uniform looking at a large vest-pocket watch, ladies sipping tea out of teacups, and little children pushing long spoons into plates of ice cream. Nobody, nobody looked down to the great gear box. In heart-wrenching agony, he beat against the window of the control room, and he said, What's wrong with you people? Don't you care? I sacrificed my son for you. Don't any of you care? Nobody looked. Nobody heard. Nobody heeded. The train disappeared across the river. Sometimes I wonder if the Lord is asking the same questions as these.