How Deep Is God's Love

The Sunday morning message in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on January 28, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 3:11-21.

            Today’s Bible reading includes one of the most popular Bible verses.  John Three, Sixteen.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

            Every time there’s a survey of favorite Bible verses, this one is at or near the top.  When I ask my confirmation classes to choose a favorite Bible verse, some of them always choose this one.  It’s one that almost everyone knows, and almost everyone loves.

            And it’s easy to see why.  We like hearing that God loves us.  We like hearing that God loves us so much that He would sacrifice the earthly life of the divine Son, Jesus Christ, for us.  We like hearing that if we believe in Jesus, we will have eternal life.

            And if we read a little farther, we really like the next verse, too.  “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  We like hearing that Jesus did not come to condemn us.  We like hearing that Jesus came to save us.

            But too often, we stop there.  And that’s too bad.  I mean, all those things we’ve just said are awesome.  They’re great to hear, they’re great to know.  They’re all true.  But if we stop there, we cheat ourselves.  We don’t realize the true depth of the love God has for us.  And we don’t understand how awesome the salvation and eternal life we can get by that love really is.

            So let’s look at it.  Jesus said:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

“Whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”  Think about what that really says.  Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you and I and everyone would all be condemned.  None of us would be saved.  Not one.  Not the best, the most giving, the most caring person you can think of.  Not Mother Teresa.  Not Billy Graham.  Not Martin Luther King, Jr.  Not one of us would be saved if God did not love the world so much, that God gave his one and only Son.  If Jesus Christ had not died for our sins, each and every one of us would be condemned.

In fact, it’s not that each one of us would be condemned.  It’s that each of us is already condemned.  That’s what it says:  whoever does not believe stands condemned already.  But the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and our belief in Him as the Savior, takes away that condemnation.  We are people given a death sentence.  We’re just waiting for it to be carried out.  

And the thing is, it’s a death sentence we deserve.  Because none of us is good enough to get into heaven.  Maybe you say, well, but I know some really good people.  And you probably do.  Maybe you’re even one of them.  But to be good enough to get into heaven, we’d have to be as good as God.  And we cannot be as good as God, because God is perfect.  That’s what Jesus meant in Mark Ten, Eighteen when he said no one is good but God.  God is perfectly good.  You and I, no matter how hard we try and no matter how many good things we do, cannot be perfectly good.  And so none of us is good enough to go to heaven.  Again, we are condemned people, just waiting for that death sentence to be carried out.

And then, at the last minute, we’re given a pardon by God.  That pardon is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Think of the love God has for us to do that.  To allow the divine Son to die, in a cruel and painful way, just to save each of us.  Each of us sinners.  Each of us undeserving people.

I mean, really think about that.  God did that just to allow each of us to get into heaven and have eternal life.  Why?  Why does God even want us in heaven?  Why does God want us fallen, bumbling, sinful, ungrateful people messing up heaven?  Why does God want us around at all?  We don’t belong there.  We don’t deserve to be there.  And yet, God wants us there.  God invites us in.  God is eager for us to come.  God is so eager for us to come that God sent His divine Son to die, to take the punishment we should get for our sins, so that you and I can go to heaven and have eternal life.  Why?

It’s love.  That’s the only answer there can be.  When we say, “God so loved the world”, what we’re really saying is God so loved you.  God loved you, and me, so much that he gave his one and only Son, that if we believe in Him we will not be condemned, even though we deserve to be.  Instead, we will have eternal life.  That’s amazing.  That’s an amazing love.  That’s how much God loves you.  And it’s how much God loves me.

In explaining this, Jesus said that we should look to him for salvation in the same way that looked at a snake that Moses lifted up in the wilderness.  That’s a story the people listening to Jesus would’ve known.  Maybe some of you know it, too, but maybe some of you don’t.  It’s a story from the book of Numbers, Chapter Twenty-one.  This is while the people of Israel are still out in the wilderness, before they get to the Promised Land.  The people of Israel are plagued by poisonous snakes.  A lot of them are dying.  Moses prays to God, and God answers.  

And in answering, God gives the people of Israel a way out.  God says, you know, the way the people of Israel have complained about me, the way they’ve rebelled against me, they really do deserve to die.  But, because the people of Israel are my chosen people, I will give them a chance to be saved.  So here’s what you do.  Make a bronze snake.  Put it on a pole.  When someone’s bitten by a snake, they should look at this bronze snake.  If they trust me enough to do that, they’ll live.  If they don’t, if they won’t put their faith in Me, then they’ll die.

Each one of us is dying, too.  Not right away, I hope, not the result of having been bitten by a poisonous snake.  But still, we know we’re all going to die at some point.  It’s just the way it is.

But God gives us a way out.  God says, I know that by the way you live, by the sins you commit, you really do deserve to die.  But because I love you, I will give you a chance to be saved.  So here’s what you do.  Look to Jesus.  Repent of your sins.  Ask for forgiveness.  Truly try to change.  And look to Jesus.  Have faith in Jesus.  Believe he is the Savior, the divine Son of God.  If you trust Me enough to do that, you’ll live.  If you don’t, if you won’t put your faith in Jesus, then you’ll die.  And you’ll die for eternity.

This is how much God loves us.  God loves us so much that God does not give us the death we deserve.  Instead, God gives us a way out.  God gives us the chance for salvation and eternal life, a chance that we do not deserve.  But God gives it to us anyway, because God loves us that much.

But, God does not force us to accept the way out that God offers.  God still gives us a choice.  The way out is there, if we’ll only take it.  But we have to make the decision to take it.  It’s our choice.

Do you suppose, back in Moses’ time, that there were people who were bitten by a poisonous snake, but refused to look at the bronze snake?  I suspect there were.  There were some people who probably thought that was stupid.  What, just looking at a bronze snake is going to make me all well again?  Yeah, right.  And so they died, because they did not trust God.  They did not have enough faith to take the way out God offered them.  

And there are people today who do the same thing.  There are people who think faith in God is stupid.  What, I believe in Jesus as the Savior, and that’s going to give me eternal life?  Even though I die here, I’m going to go to heaven and live with God forever?  Yeah, right.  And so they die.  They do not receive eternal life, because they do not have enough faith to take the way out God offers.  God allows them to make that choice.

Some people wonder why a loving God would allow people to make that choice.  If God loves us, why does God allow people to choose death over life?  But to me that shows just how much God really does love us.  Because true love does not force people to do things.

God does all kinds of things to try to persuade us to choose life.  God gave us His Holy Word, the Bible.  God gave us the divine Son, Jesus Christ.  God has given us prophets.  God’s Holy Spirit works in all kinds of ways, large and small.  God does any number of things to try to get us to turn to Him, to accept Jesus as the Savior, and choose eternal life.  

But God does not force us.  Love does not force people.  Love allows choices.  But of course, choices come with consequences.  God gives us the chance to choose eternal life.  But God allows us to not choose eternal life, and God allows us to accept the consequences of that choice.

John Three, Sixteen is a great verse.  But it’s more than just a nice, sweet verse that makes us feel good.  It’s a verse about the awesome love of God.  A love so strong that it gives us sinful, ungrateful, undeserving people a way to go to heaven and have eternal life.  Let’s make the right choice.  Let’s accept that way.  Let’s believe in the divine Son of God.  Let’s accept Him as the Savior.  And let’s be in awe of the incredible love of God that allows us to make that choice.