Scripture: John 3:16
Sermon Series: John 3:16 – God’s Love Language – Sermon 03

A few years ago, there was a survey of high school students with one question: “In an emergency, would you save your dog or a stranger first?” The vast majority answered that they wouldn’t save the stranger. When they were asked Why? “I love my dog. I don’t love the stranger.”

Though strangers to us, the people of this world aren’t strangers to God. He created this world and every person in it. God deeply loves those He created.  John 3:16 tells us about the unbelievable number that He loves – “the world.”

Remember though that Jesus was Jewish. The Jewish Scriptures affirmed that God loved Jews. Nicodemus, this Jewish leader Jesus is having a theological conversation with must have been shocked when Jesus stated that God’s love wasn’t restricted to Jews. The astonishing, wonderful! —truth is that God’s love is for “The World.”

D. A. Carson notes: God’s love is to be admired not because the world is so big and includes so many people, but because the world is so bad. John often notes in his Gospel that it’s “the world” that hates and is in opposition to God. The shocking spiritual fact is that God loves all the people in “the world” even those who hate Him.

One reasons that we question how God could really love us is because we know who we are. When we read, For God so loved the world… we feel something inside us twinge. We know how evil this world is. We know how bad we are. How could anyone love this world, especially God? How could God love us when He knows how bad we are?

We’re in the third study of John 3:16, what we’ve called God’s Love Language. This morning we’re focusing on, For God so loved THE WORLD! If you’re taking notes…

1. The infinite, Creator loves the world – us. 

Who is God? God is the greatest being in the universe. He’s the one who created and sustains everything. I could give you numbers to describe the size of the universe, but they wouldn’t mean much. Looking at numbers is like looking at the size of our national debt. It’s hard to comprehend. So, let’s try to put the size of the universe in perspective. In our own solar system, earth is the third largest planet. When you compare it to the sun, we’re very small. The diameter of the sun is 109 times larger than earth.

Our sun isn’t that big. It’s a medium-sized star. Astronomers estimate there are 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside of that are millions upon millions of other galaxies, and our sun is a small star. Other stars like Betelgeuse and Antares are much larger. Antares burns 10,000 times brighter than our sun. Its diameter is 1,400 times wider than our sun, making our Earth look like a freckle in the universe. So, the universe is huge and our earth is tiny. These are what’s known as the visible universe. The invisible universe, we can’t see, is much bigger. God created all of it.

When we think of the complexity and size of the universe, we’re humbled. God our Creator has no limits. Nothing is beyond His power and creativity.

Do you remember the ads for Blendtec blenders? You can find them on YouTube. Blendtec blenders were industrial-strength blenders. In their ads, actors took normal household items, put them in the blender and reduced them to powder. In one video they blend an iPhone and reduce it to carbon. It comes out as fine black dust. But in that carbon dust are all the components of an iPhone. What are the chances of putting that powder in a box, shaking it and making a new iPhone? It will never happen!

But what if you put a T-bone steak in a blender? You reduce the steak to a creamy puree. What are the chances of that puree becoming the cow the steak came from? Impossible. There is a better chance of getting an iPhone from carbon dust than getting self-replicating DNA from steak puree. It takes extreme intelligence to create self-replicating DNA.

Who created it all? God. Here’s something even more amazing. That same God loves you. The One who made the world is passionately in love with you more than anyone on earth could be. Now that’s amazing!

2. God loves the world, but which world? 

The meaning of a word often is determined by the context in which it’s used. For example, what does the word “blue” mean?  It can mean color or depression. Context determines meaning. There are words in the Bible that have a variety of meanings depending on the context. The word “world” has different meanings for the same word. The meaning is determined by the context.

In the New Testament there are four Greek words for “world.” The one in John 3:16 is cosmos. Cosmos occurs 185 times and the Apostle John uses it 105 of those.

It can refer to the physical world the world was made through Him (John 1:10) or to the people of the world, For God so loved the world (John 3:16). That’s the “world” of Lionel Richie’s popular song raising funds for Africa, We Are The World or Louie Armstrong’s song, What a wonderful world.

In some Bible passages, it refers to our planet. John wrote of Jesus that He was in the world (John 1:10), referring to this planet. Another usage refers to this world’s inhabitants. The world of humanity is the world that God loves. Jesus is speaking of them, For God so loved the world.

But we know that there’s a large portion of the world alienated from God and hostile to the Jesus and His followers. Jesus warned of that when He told His disciples, If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you (John 15:18).

One other usage refers to the combined activities, affairs, advantages, and accumulated assets of individuals in the world, the things that are in the world (1 John 2:15). It’s not just material things. It includes abstract things that have spiritual and moral (or immoral) values.

Christians are to be cautious of the wisdom of this world (1 Corinthians 1:20). Dr. Merrill Unger notes that In more than thirty important passages the Greek word ‘kosmos’…is employed in the New Testament to portray the whole mass of unregenerate men alienated from God, hostile to Christ, and organized governmentally as a system or federation under Satan. In spite of that opposition, God still loves us. God loves this world!

Jesus introduced a new concept that God’s love is wide enough to embrace all humanity. His love is not confined to any group, like the Jews or the spiritual elite. God’s love comes from the wonderful reality that God is love.

There’s a warning for American Christ-followers. We love America and there’s nothing wrong with loving America, as long as we first remember that God loves the world. We’re citizens of the Kingdom of heaven, before we’re citizens of America. Our country has been blessed because Christianity has influenced it. America was founded on transcendent biblical principles.

Our Declaration of Independence affirms all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Biblical principles like that are worthy of endorsement along with biblical views of marriage and sexuality. A people benefit by affirming biblical principles and absolutes.

That doesn’t mean we’re to dominate the political process or try to bring in a theocracy. A theocracy was for Old Testament Jews. Jesus commanded us to share the gospel so those in this world can be forgiven, have eternal life, and be transformed as Christ-followers. We’re to influence our world by being salt and light.

But just as Jews had a façade of being God’s people without knowing God, too often we have a façade of being a “Christian” nation without living for Christ. The failure of American Christianity is it’s a shell of morality without Christ. If we want to see true change, our passion and focus must be on advancing His Kingdom not attempting to reform a dying world.

3. God loves the world in spite of its diabolical ruler. 

Do you think fans despised the Patriots or Bill Belichick? Was it the Raiders or Coach Jon Gruden? Is it the Russians or Vladimir Putin?

It’s easy to forget that the root of all evil is Satan. He’s a real person. He’s the essence of evil and is temporarily in control of this world. 1 John 5:19, We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls him the god of this world.

It explains how human government can be so evil. Satan is the head of governments, businesses, and even religion. All evil has its source in Satan.

John Milton, in his classic works, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained writes of the great cosmic combat that takes place in the 12^th chapter of the book of Revelation. In describing that chilling chapter, Milton says that the forces of heaven and hell are the central focus and this earth is the battle ground for this cosmic combat. It’s a good description of the spiritual battle that takes place within our world today.

With all the talk about war around the world, Christians often forget that we are currently in a spiritual war. This battle is between heaven and hell, God and Satan. The place where the battle is often fought is here on earth.

The Church often loses sight of this truth, that we are in a spiritual war, especially the Church in America. Christians in America have become so comfortable that the thought of spiritual warfare rarely crosses our minds. It’s vital we understand that we’re part of a cosmic conflict. The Lord Jesus has called His people to fight the battle, to wage war against the forces of evil that oppose God’s righteousness and rule.

The supreme leader of all rebellion is the Devil. Satan wanted to be worshiped. He wanted to be God. When he wasn’t, he rebelled against God and sought to establish his own kingdom. He’s caused evil in this world from the beginning. Satan is the one who births, provokes, and foments evil.

But he’s not some impersonal evil force. His name means adversary. He’s relentless. He’s the forgiven Christians accuser, causing us to doubt God’s love and forgiveness. He wants to cause a believer to feel guilty about confessed sin and keep us from knowing the peace of forgiveness.

The Bible calls him the dragon. That alludes to his fierce nature and power to destroy. He’s the slanderer. He loves to defame and slander God’s people. He’s called a liar. Satan loves to deceive us by his lies. It’s what happened to Adam and Eve. He wants us to doubt God and not trust Him.

Do you want to know how Satan is working in our world today? Through fear and anger. 2 Timothy 1:7, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and love and a sound mind. What keeps you up at night? What are you worried about? Fear is Satan’s weapon. Anger is often from Satan and is a work of the flesh that he exploits.

4. God loves the world in spite of its evil heart. 

Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? The problem with this world, our problem, is that we all have a sinful, evil heart.

The world of John 3:16 is not one of position but of condition. It’s not sphere, it’s atmosphere. It’s Satan in control and composed of those who live for this world, for the material and temporal.

Jesus said that it’s made up of the children of the Devil. It’s the world of busy human concerns – thinking, planning, striving for its own selfish glory without any thought of God. It’s a world that doesn’t know God.

Amazingly, though this world and its citizens have a depraved heart, God loves the unlovable. He loves all people and all fall under the love of Christ. No one is too evil are too far away for God’s love.

God’s great love permeates the Bible. Ephesians 2:4-5, But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2 begins with God’s great mercy and love and then continues to unpack the difference between non-believers and believers. It differentiates people in terms of whether they trust Christ or not. As it continues, we find that God loves us even if we are dead in our sin. God loves and has mercy for all sinners; that’s you and me!

5. God loves the world in spite of its hatred of Him. 

The world hates God and is hostile towards Him. They hate God because they’re children of Satan. Satan hates humanity because we’re all made in God’s image. It’s why Satan wants all people dead – physically, spiritually and eternally.

It’s why our world is so divided. We are not talking about ignorant people making mistakes and not realizing what they’ve done. We are talking about a visceral, unreasoned emotional, hatred of God that exists.

This hatred is seen in the hatred of Christ-followers. Recently, podcast host, Jennifer Welch on her show said, Evangelical Christianity is a cancer. It’s popular to mock Christians. We’re typically depicted as ignorant, narrow-minded bigots. That’s because Satan hates God and so do Satan’s people. He loathes the Lord Jesus and all who belong to him.

Romans 5:6-8 says, And we can see that it was while we were powerless to help ourselves that Christ died for sinful men. In human experience it is a rare thing for one man to give his life for another, even if the latter be a good man, though there have been a few who have had the courage to do it. Yet the proof of God’s amazing love is this: that it was while we were sinners that Christ died for us (Phillips).

Though those in this world are enemies of God, He still loves them. Though they murdered His Son, God loves them. God has every reason to hate the world but instead God loves the world. The world means that we can tell every person in the world, “God loves you, and Jesus Christ died for you!” 

That means the whole world – and it means YOU! It’s why Jesus commanded us, But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:44-45). In other words, God loves those who hate Him, are evil and He blesses them. The blessings of the sun and rain aren’t the only expressions of His love. God loves vile individuals of this world that hated Him and He commands us to do the same.

In Victor Hugo’s epic novel, Les Misérables, he tells the story of Jean Valjean, who was a prisoner in France in the early 1800’s.  Valjean served his time in prison and was released but couldn’t find a job because he was a convicted felon. He finally found a place to stay with a priest, who took him into his home, gave him food and a bed for the night, but Valjean rose early the next morning and stole some of the priest’s silver and ran away. The authorities captured Valjean and brought him back to the priest.

They told him that Valjean said the priest had given him the silver. Valjean waited for the priest to send him to back prison but was shocked when the priest told the police that he had indeed given those things to Valjean – and in fact reprimanded him for not taking the candlesticks as well! 

After the police had left, this priest then took Valjean aside and told him, Forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man…Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!

Les Misérables tells how Valjean’s life was revolutionized from that day forward because that priest gave the most valuable possessions he had to Jean Valjean – NOT because he was a good man or good guest, or a faithful worker – but even while he had stolen the silver from his home…while he was a sinner, he loved him and gave the best he had to transform his life.

And that’s what God has done for you. God did not love you and send Jesus for you because you were so good. God loved you and sent Jesus for you while you were a sinner, a moral and spiritual disaster.

6. God’s love for the world is our world’s only hope. 

The dictionary defines hope as “a desire with the expectation of fulfillment.” Hope begins with a desire for something good but then adds the element of expectation or confidence. Without expectation, it’s just a wish, and wishes would tend not to come true. When we hope for something, we’re counting on it.

But hope is more than a word – without it, we die. When a team loses hope, the game is over. When a patient loses hope, death is crouching at the door. As Dostoevsky said, To live without hope is to cease to live.

Hope needs a reason…something, or someone. The cause of the high suicide rate is that this is a world without hope. The reason addiction percentages are off the chart is that we live in a world without hope.

But what else can satisfy? What else can give hope other than God’s love, His forgiveness and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? The elites and famous, those who seem to have it all, are some of the most miserable. To quote the old song by Jackie DeShannon, What the world needs now is love, sweet love. But it’s not just any love – it’s God’s love.

The question then is how God loves the world according to John 3:16. It’s vital that we let God’s Word define God’s love. John 3:16 tells us that we can say to every human being, “God loves you. And this is how He loves you: He gave His Son to die for you.”

God loves the world — that is, He loves the great totality of fallen, sinful human beings. This love is of such a kind and intensity and such a magnitude that it moved God to give His Son to die for the world (John 10:17-18). The clear purpose and effect of that sacrificial love is that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. In other words, this love opens a new door so that anyone who believes in the Son will have eternal life.

This love is indiscriminate. It may be spoken to and promised to and applied to everyone without exception. Because what God’s love for the world says: “If you will believe in My Son, I will give you eternal life. I can do this justly because My Son has canceled the debts of all who believe. If you believe, your sins are canceled. My love for you is this: I gave My Son so that trusting in Him is the only condition for living with Me forever.”

Because God’s loves the world, we can say to everyone, “God loves you, and this is how He loves you: He gave His Son to die, so that if you commit your life to Him, your sins will be forgiven and you’ll have eternal life.”

That’s what the love of God promises in John 3:16. It expresses what we call the free offer of God’s grace. It’s the gospel. There are no limits to this offer. It’s for all people of every ethnic group, age and socio-economic category. Best of all, it’s for every degree of sinner — from the bad to the worst. God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever — indiscriminate and universal — believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Only God’s love for the world can give this hope!

Conclusion

In Twelve-Step groups people introduce themselves by saying, “My name is Scott. I’m an alcoholic.” It’s a way of breaking through denial and embracing the truth of brokenness. Because we are part of a broken, sin-filled world, in the church maybe we ought to greet each other with: “My name is Scott. I’m a sinner.” And I’m just one person in a sinful world.

But there are other words that I need to hear and speak. They’re so much harder to believe than that I’m an alcoholic, “My name is Scott and I am loved by God.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t say those words without springing a leak. If you get nothing else today, please get this – God loves you! You’re the world that God loves. Say that with me – God loves me!

For God so loved THE WORLD.  That means He loves the whole world. It means that He loves YOU and died for YOU!

After the battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863, they found a Union soldier, lying dead, near an intersection in the town. But there was something unique about him. They found that this man had something clenched in his hand when he’d died. They pried the object from his hand and found that it was an “ambrotype” – an antique photograph — of the soldier’s three young children:  8-year-old Franklin, 6-year-old Alice, and 4-year-old Frederick. 

That soldier had spent his last living moment, while his lifeblood drained away, looking at the picture of those whom he so loved, and for whom he gave his life.

Almost 1900 years before that Battle of Gettysburg, Jesus Christ died on a cross outside Jerusalem, His own life blood slowly drained way for the sins of the world. When He died, Jesus had no “ambrotype”; He had no picture clenched in His hand. But if He had, it would have had YOUR face on it. This morning you can put YOUR name in the place of “the world” in this great verse. “For God so loved ________ (put your name there).

Because since God loved “the world”, that also means that God so loved YOU! He loves YOU no matter who you are! He loves YOU regardless of your race or background! He loves YOU regardless of your sin! It doesn’t matter what you have done, He loves YOU!  “For God so loved — YOU!” As the Apostle Paul said of the Lord Jesus in Galatians 2:20, (He) loved ME, and gave Himself for ME! 

And I hope you know today you can say the same thing. For God so loved the world … That means He loves YOU and gave Himself to save YOU!

Have you accepted His gift of forgiveness? Have you let Jesus save you? Have you committed your life to Him and trusted in His gift of salvation? If not, why not trust Him today?