Two Loves – John 3:16-21
Preaching Notes October 7, 2012
John 3:16–21 (ESV)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
I. God is Love, but what kind?
World wants God’s love to be …
World treats God’s love as …
The world cheapens any love which …
Love can never be demanded it can only be received. Thus, all love is a gift
So, what is the nature of God’s love?
This passage contrasts two loves …
God’s love for the world
vs
Our love for the world
II. The 7 Attributes of God’s Love for the World
1. God’s love was preexistent to creation
Ephesians 1:3–6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
2. God’s love’s is unearned
John 5:42
I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
Romans 5:8 and 10
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. … For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
3. God’s love is purposeful
Ephesians 1:5
He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
The word “might” expresses design.
If God wanted to destroy/judge us for our sins, He would not have sent Jesus!!
4. The purpose of God’s Love is Salvation
1 John 4:14
We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
The Atonement was not the cause, but the effect, of God’s love
The benefit of God’s love is everlasting life.
Why God sent Jesus Christ to us:
1. To be our Savior, because our sin (love for the world) kills us
2. To bring life, because God does not wish that we not perish.
The Son of Man came into an already lost and condemned world. He did not come into a neutral world in order to save some and condemn others; he came into a lost world in order to save.
5. God’s love is a sacrificial and suffering love
It cost God so much for 3 reasons:
1. Jesus gave up so much to suffer so much
Philippians 2:6–8
Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
2. It required He who hates sin to suffer so much for sinners just to prove His love
Men are not easily convinced that God loves them. In order to remove all doubt, he has expressly stated that we are so very dear to God that, on our account, he did not even spare his only-begotten Son. (John Calvin)
3. His love could only be revealed in fulness on the cross
A suffering love can never be demanded
6. God’s love is not a condemning love
Romans 1:16–17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Only when we reject God’s love are we condemned
Romans 1:24, 26, and 28:
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.
Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind.
When we reject God’s love have not been condemned by lack of faith, but by their sin.
The reason many hate Jesus is their rejection of it leaves them in death
We were already in need of a Savior before God’s Son comes on his saving mission
7. God’s love must be received in faith because it cannot not be earned (see 2nd attribute)
Jesus’ 3-fold emphasis:
John 3:15
That whoever believes in Jesus may have eternal life.
John 3:16
That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:18
Whoever believes in him is not condemned
God has done His work, we need to receive it in faith, which is belief and trust
III. Our Love for the World is a love is of darkness
Our love for darkness
Our love for the world is pictured metaphorically in terms of light and darkness
Our love for darkness proves our depravity!
We love darkness because our deeds are evil and we do not want them exposed
We hate God’s sacrificial saving love because it exposes our sin
We hate the light and refuse to come to (near) it because exposes their darkness
To expose someone’s sin summons them to repentance.”
The verb exposed suggests not only exposure but shame and conviction
Jesus (light) exposes our sins
Revelation 3:19
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Ephesians 5:11
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
1 Timothy 5:20
As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.
This is why men refuse to read the Scriptures. God’s Word would condemn them.
Instead we desire a pandering and permissive love
Sweet and permissive love leads to false happiness as it leads to death
We are ashamed of our love for the world
Our denial of our love for the world begins at an early age
Why do babies smile when they poop in their diapers?
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s That Smell
IV. Those who love God’s love instead of the world’s
Those who love God do the truth
Semitic expression which means to act faithfully or ‘to act honorably
Suggests adherence to the truth as in adhering to Jesus
Those who acknowledge Jesus, recognize the good they do is by the grace of God
While the lover of darkness shuns the light out of fear of exposure, shame and conviction, the lover of light does not prance forward to parade his wares with cocky self-righteousness, rather he comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. (DA Carson)
We welcome and receive God’s love not because we are better, but because we desire what God’s love brings salvation and life, rather than what the world’s loves brings which is condemnation and death
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