The Love of God

​John 3:16 ~ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
 
Humanity is in a doleful state. We stand apart from God Almighty, our Creator and Sustainer, the One who gave us breath and who established the parameters for life. There are many that will navigate this earth, going through life without even the slightest notion that they have a real obligation to their Creator. The LORD is ignored, forgotten or insulted by the very creatures who bear His image. He is denied by atheists, ignored by agnostics, rebuffed by humanists, and mocked by spiritualists. In the opening of the Gospel of John we read, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11). At any one point on this list of rejections would a person in this world deem it unnecessary to continue trying to express compassion and tenderness to such a hateful people.
 
And yet we read the opening of this most famous passage of Scripture, “For God so loved the world.” The condition of the heart of God is one of love. How quickly our love would fail when faced with the unrelenting disrespect that God has received from the heart of His highest creation. But this is not a love that is so easily broken by such contempt. This Divine love is the full nature of the heart of God, for we read in 1 John 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” And this love of God stretches across the entire world, for all who live upon this earth are benefited by His love. His common grace, as it is known, offers to both the righteous and the wicked the needed rains and the necessary sunshine as it says in Matthew 5:45, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” But in this magnanimous love of the Almighty we must not forget that the LORD is angry at sin every day. Psalm 7:11 states, “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.” Put this in your heart, dear Christian, that the LORD who feels this indignation daily is also the God who loves the world. For most people, this is a paradoxical situation, for we often cannot love when anger wells up in us. But the LORD is not subject to such whims and changes—even upon the creatures who have violated every one of His righteous requirements, He will love them.
 
And how does God love this world? We continue reading, “that he gave his only Son.” The measure of the love of God is seen in the willing sacrifice of the LORD Jesus Christ. He who is God in the flesh came to bear upon Himself the very judgment we deserve. He was subjected to every temptation of mankind as it says in Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” No greater expression of love could ever be bestowed from one to another than the willingness to sacrifice His own life. We honor those sacrificial heroes of old who gave themselves for the defense and protection of their country. We exalt those who willingly gave their lives to rescue others from harm. Shall we not do the same—and even more—with the One who gave His life as the ransom to pay for our crimes against the Almighty? Let us, with the chorus of the book of Revelation 5:12, proclaim, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
 
His gracious love is offered to all the world and received by those who will believe. We read in the final portion of our text today, “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The love of God is an empty thing to those who will not believe on the LORD Jesus for salvation. We stand in a very dire predicament: we are already set to perish. Nothing will get in the way of the justice of the LORD upon the rebellious people of this earth. The road that all mankind walks is set for destruction, except that the LORD Jesus Christ has intersected that road and paid the penalty for all who will believe. Many complain that God is unfair to send anyone to hell. Beloved, ALL mankind was headed there—it is the love of God in Christ that provides the way of rescue. Our LORD clearly states it in John 3:18, “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.”
 
Let us rejoice in the love of God, proved in the sacrifice of Christ, and received by all who believe. May we step into this day with a renewed love for Him.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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