Sermon Title .

For the Love of God

Sermon Text.. John 3:16-17
Invocation Scripture. . 1 John 4:7-16-17
Main Idea :

God loves us and so we should love

others. Love is the essence of true
faith in God.

Objective : To challenge members to share the love of

God with everyone they meet

For the Love of God

John 3:16

Point I :

God Loves You .. . . . . . . . . . . . John 3:16a

Point II :

God's Love Gives. . . . . . . . . . . John 3:16b

Point III:

God's Love Call's. . . . . . . . . . . John 3:16c

Point IV: God's Love Secures . . . . . . . . . John 3:16c

For the Love of God

John 3:16
Slide 1 : Blank Slide
We began last week with a series of messages that is
designed to help us learn how to share our faith with
others. We will use the word G.R.A.C.E. as an acronym
to help us remember the path of simple phrases and Bible
verses needed to share a clear, Biblically centered
presentation of the Gospel.
Now... unlike what you expect when you come to
church, for the next 5 weeks you will have homework.
Your homework is going to be to learn the
introductory phrases and Bible verses of the
G.R.A.C.E. gospel presentation.
These 5 key phrases and 5 key verses form the
framework around which you can share the gospel in
your own words with your own life examples.
The GRACE presentation was designed to be simple,
clear and easy to learn. It allows you to use the phrases
and verses as an outline to present your Christ personally
from your life experiences, in a consistent and complete
manner, leading to a point of inviting the person to
believe in Jesus.
So again, your homework this week is to memorize
the first phrase of the GRACE Gospel presentation and
the accompanying verse. Here is what you need to learn.
"God loves you and wants you to have a full and
meaningful life!" We know this is true because the Bible
tell's us in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

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That's what you need to memorize and have ready

to recite for next week.
Next Sunday morning as we begin the sermon, I am
going to ask what is the phrase associated with the letter
G of the GRACE gospel presentation. You will respond.
"God loves you and wants you to live a full and
meaningful life!"
Then I will as you, 'What is the verse that confirms this
truth?" And you will respond
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.
OK, that is assignment #1.
Assignment number #2.
Each week over the next 5 weeks, I want each of us to
pray and ask God to reveal to us, someone with whom
we need to share the Gospel. It is very likely there are
already people in your heart and mind. Take a moment
each day, and pray a simple prayer. God, I love you and
I know you love me and I know that you love all the
people in the world for whom you sent your Son Jesus
Christ to die. Please show me who you want me to share
the message of the gospel with over this next year.
At the end of these 5 weeks, we could each have 5
names.
NOW... I see some of you looking at the door
thinking... wooo... let me get out of here now!!
Wo Wo Wo... Hold on now my friends... This is not
something that has to happen all in one day... This is

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something that we are all going to work on together, and

these are our goals... I believe that most of us will
accomplish theme... some may not, but I dont want
anyone to be afraid or discouraged!! I know that life has
a way of interrupting our plans, and Satan has a way of
striving to hinder any plan that would move us to
obedience to Christ.
Sooooo some of us may not complete all of the steps...
But think about this... If you don't do anything but
learn the presentation, you will be further along the
Christian walk than you were before you started! If you
only share with one person, you will be MILES ahead of
the vast majority of church attenders, because we know
that most have never shared their faith!
So it is my heartfelt prayer that over these next several
weeks, we will each be INSPIRED, ENCOURAGED
and Challenged you to walk more closely with Jesus!
So, lets just take one week at a time.... No more,
but please... no less... And Hey... this is an easy week!!
I mean think about it?... You hear me say that phrase all
the time... God loves you and wants you to have a full
and meaningful life! And hey.. Many of us already
know John 3:16.
NOW.... a couple more house keeping things...
At the end of this series.. which will be the Sunday
after Father's Day, and we WILL interrupt our study to
focus on father's. We will have a Church wide
Covered Dish Luncheon after the Sunday Morning
Service. This will be the Sunday before we celebrate the
4th of July.

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At this luncheon, each one of us, will pair up with

another person and we will actually share the full,
G.R.A.C.E. Gospel Presentation. It will be a great day!
And we will take some time that day to talk informally
and cast some vision for our future!!
COACHES
Now... one final thing. I am going to be looking for 5
people who will be willing to work with me and to come
to probably 2 Saturday morning sessions, where we will
go over the presentation in more depth and learn how to
handle objections and other issues. You will become
coaches and work together with me to go out with
members on their first visit to one of the persons that
they have been praying for to help them as they share the
Gospel with those whom they know.
ARE YOU EXCITED??? I AM!!! I believe that as
we commit ourselves to honestly, faithfully and sincerely
strive to obey our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that He is
going to bless in ways this church could never believe!!
So then the question is... Why are we doing all of this?
Why are we going to work so diligently to obey Christ...
Well... that is what I want to share with you today in a
message I have entitled. "For the Love of God"
So turn with me to John 3:16 and then to 1 John 4:75:5 and lets consider 4 key thoughts beloved.
< < < Read: 1 John 4:7-5:5 > > >
Slide 2
Wow... I dont know about you but I just wanted to
keep reading!!! The same was true on Thursday when I

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sat to write this message. Now perhaps you understand

why the Scriptures indicated that John was the Apostle
whom Jesus loved. Johns letters are saturated with the
Love of God! Thats the first thing that I want us to
think about this morning....
Slide 3
Point I : God Loves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John 3:16a
If you read John 3:16 and these additional verses in 1
John... in fact, there are many other places that talk
specifically and directly about Gods love for us and if
that isnt enough, all of creation speaks to us of the love
of God!!
For God so loved the world - Gods love extends to
everything that He has created!!! The Genesis account
continues to remind us at each creative point that God
saw what He had made and He declared that it was
Good... God loved the world that He created and the
people whom He created to inhabit it!
But you know what... most people dont know that
love nor sense that love from God! We have eradicated
the understanding of God as Creator and thus, we have
no appreciation for the incredible bounty and benefit of
His creative purpose, that would cause us to See Him, to
Realize His incredible gifts and come to know that they
could only have been given because of His love!
But we also live in a world that has families that are
more disconnected than in any other time in the history
of the world... in this age of hyper bus-I-ness, of
technology tearing us from relationships and cultural
norms and standards disappearing, THERE IS A LOSS

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of TRUE, ENDURING relationships!!! And yet.. This

is exactly what most human beings need most!!!
We need to know we are loved personally and
individually and that is exactly what John 3:16 and
then 1 John clarifies! It clarifies that though Gods
love extends to His whole creation, His love is also
VERY, intensely personal!!! And I dont know about
you, but I need to be loved and I need to KNOW that
I am loved!!
So while John 3:16 reminds me of Gods overarching
love for everything, dont forget 1 John 4:7-10
Look back at those 3 verses again...
Slide 5
< < < Read: 1 John 4:7-10 > > >
Listen my friends... God does love us, individually
and personally! God knows us by our name and He
knows all of our weaknesses and failures and He has
been there sustaining us through them. Loving us, often
times, in Spite of our willful, self-indulgent and selfcentered SELF!!
Listen my friends... If you have experienced faith in
Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you
KNOW personally and uniquely that God does in fact
love each and every one of us... But God doesnt just talk
about His love for us... God shows His love for us...
Look back at John 3:16b
for God so loved the world that He Gave...
He what beloved?... He Gave!!
Slide 7
Point II : God's Love Gives. . . . . . . . . . . John 3:16b

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God doesnt just talk about His love for us but God
DEMONSTRATES and SHARES His love for us. He
did that through His Son Jesus Christ!!
Can you imagine sending your child to a world that
was hostile and even antagonistic to you in order to
benefit them??? ONLY to have them kill Him???
Thats what God did and that is what Jesus did!!! Not
only to free us but to communicate His truth, His will
and His calling for our life.
But did you know that God has been giving to us from
the Beginning? Consider the wonder of a flower.. Its
color, its aroma, the miraculous component pieces!!
Intricate, delicate, amazing!! How Miraculous and how
wonderful that God would not only share such an
amazing thing with us, but that He would give us color
vision so that we could experience and delight in that
flower.
Have you ever thought about taste buds??? Actually
when you stick out your tongue and look closely at it...
its not really a very pretty thing and yet it allows you to
taste, a Hershey Chocolate Bar or a dairy Queen
Blizzard... Apple Pie with whip cream! So not Only did
God give the things on this earth needed to make those,
he gave us taste buds to enjoy them... and get this... An
Incredible Creative Mind to think up how to make
them!!!
Does that not convince you, then consider the love of
a Man and a Woman and how that can be expressed and
the wonder of the precious and beautiful little baby that
can yield and then try to tell me that God doesnt love

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us!!! YOU CANT because everything in creation is

screaming at us that God has loved us with an
immeasurable love and as a result of that love has given
us all things!!
So the question for us is... if God is Love and if
Gods love gives.. What are we as Gods Children
willing to give to express our love for God and to
show the world that He is our God?
Are we willing to give our time to stop and reach out
to others. Are we willing to give of ourselves and
resources to meet the needs of others with the hope of
opening a door for evangelism!
Slide 8 O beloved... Jesus was very clear where he says in
Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you.
They will pour into your lap a good measure-pressed down, shaken together, and running
over. For by your standard of measure it will be
measured to you in return."
As we study the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit
to apply it in our lives, He will transform us, by the
renewing of our mind into those who are willing to give
because Jesus gave it all!! He is our PERFECT
Example!
So we see that God Loves us, and Gods Love Gives...
but would you note thirdly this morning that Gods love
Calls! Look back at your text...
His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish
Did you catch it?... Dont miss it.... Whoever Believes in

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Him.. .There is a clear and inherent CALL to faith here

in this phrase.
Slide 9
Point III: God's Love Call's. . . . . . . . . . . John 3:16c
that whoever believes .... There is an implicit call to
believe here... a call to Faith in Jesus Christ!!
Whoever believes... Beloved... that is an open door to
any and all people!! Gods gift of restoration to
relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ is a
gift that has been given to all!! This is another clear
evidence of the infinite mercy, grace and love of God
that will accept anyone who believes!
And yes... thats all it takes!!! Thats REALLY all it
takes!! There is no work, no payment, no gift, no effort,
no contribution that we can make to secure our salvation.
It is a matter of one thing... believing that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God, God Himself and the only Way to
Heaven! Jesus Himself clarifies this for us in John...
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is
the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He
has sent."
Wow... did you hear that... believing in the one whom
God has sent is the WORK.. It is the only WORK
Now some people have a struggle with this concept
because they think that there has to be more... where is
the changed life, where is the repentance... where are the
works of righteousness...
You cant just give someone a Free Pass to heaven
with them having to do nothing!!! They will just go out
and live like the Devil and do anything they want!!

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Well.. There is no question that many people go out

and live like the Devil!! But not those who have
TRULY Believed!
You see my friends... IF... IF... you really believe in
Jesus, you will believe in what Jesus came to do, you
will believe in what Jesus believes is good and right and
true and if you believe these things, then there is NO
WAY that you will want to do things that are wicked or
evil...
In fact, I say to you this morning my friends, that the
true, sincere and genuine love for God is the most
powerful and moving and constraining force that will
ever control our lives!! The more we release the love
FOR God in our lives, the more the very love OF God
works in our lives!!
THE CALL OF GOD IS LIFE CHANGING!
Listen to me.. And mark this down, not only for your
own life, but for the purposes of guarding your heart, the
heart of your family and of the Church God has granted
you to be participants in...
When you look at someones life who claims to be a
Christian and you dont see any REAL CHANGE in
their life, then it is very likely that they are REALLY
NOT A CHRISTIAN!! If we see consistently that they
are breaking Gods law, serving their own desires, and
that with little or no remorse, guilt or shame... then you
can be pretty sure that no matter what this person says
with their lips, the evidence of their lack of true faith is
manifested by the fruit of their actions!
Dont forget the Lord Jesus Christs exhortation... In

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fact, turn to Matthew 7 for just a moment. Matt 7:13-29

< < < Read: Matt 7:13-29 > > >
Wow... did you hear all of that? We are called by Christ
to assess the true or false spirituality of others whom we
allow to influence our lives or the lives of our family to
be sure that they are legitimate and that they are not
preaching and teaching or sharing things that are
ungodly!!
Remember Jesus said in vs 22... look at it... look...
MANY will say to me on that day... not a few, not some,
but TRAGICALLY He said, MANY!!! And what did
they do? We Preached in your name,
We cast out demons in your name,
We did Miracles in your name!
And His response in vs 23?... 'I never knew you;
DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE
LAWLESSNESS.
The TRUE child of God will not PRACTICE
lawlessness... O.. To be sure, we may fall into sin at
many points in our lives, but the moment we find
ourselves there, the true child of God looks up, cries out
for deliverance and forgiveness and God in His great
mercy and love with which he has loved us, will reach
down and deliver us and set us back on the path to which
He has called...
Yet, the TRUE child of God is CALLED by God to
believe, and if we TRULY believe, then the love of God
fills us and begins to change us and it is the ONLY
FORCE POWERFUL enough to hold us on course!! It

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is the love of God through Christ Jesus that has broken

the chains of death and hell and opened the door for life
eternal with God in heaven!!
For this reason, we see Paul writing to the Corinthian
christians who lived in a world much like ours today, a
world given over to materialism, a world given over to
xtreme sports (gladiators that literally killed each other)
and x-treme intertainment where they watched LIVE as
men women and little children were placed into arenas
with hungry lions, tigers and bears ... They lived in a
culture that was laced with every religion and idea of
man, a culture that was steeped in spiritualism, but
empty, even more, totally void of TRUE spirituality!!
Some had taught that the body was nothing and
everything had to do with the spirit and the mind so that
we could give our bodies over to any pleasure... Thats
sounds like the hedonism that dominates American
culture today... And yet Paul knew, that every action,
every thought, every intension of the heart is shaped and
controlled by the totalility of who we are and what we
ALLOW ourselves to experience... So Paul writes in
strongest terms in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
2Co 5:14-15 For the love of Christ controls us,
having concluded this, that one died for all,
therefore all died; (15) and He died for all, so that
they who live might no longer live for themselves, but
for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
Actually I love the way the KJV translates it... it says..
2Co_5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us;

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The Greek word that we translate as controls or

constrains, is an interesting word, it is a compound word
made up of the word that means union and the word
that means to hold Its like a double emphasis, of
uniting together and holding on to that union with
unrelenting passion!
Thats why I love the KJV translation, constraineth
That is the calling... we are called to faith! Faith in Jesus
Christ... We are called to believe that Jesus is the Son of
God, God Himself and the only way to heaven!!
Gods call is a CALL to faith to BELIEVE and the
call to faith is a call to BELIEVE live for Jesus!!
The Bible calls us to live a circumspect life! It calls us
to live a separated life!
As Christians, the things that lure the world should
have a decreasing hold on us and the things of God, His
kingdom purposes should begin to claim first place and
highest allegiance in our lives! The more we study the
Word of God and the more we see his calling in our
lives, the more we will realize that we too are called to
call the world out to faith in Him by believing in Jesus
Christ, who He is, what He did and Where He is now!!
God Loves... And so should we...
Gods Love gives.. And so should ours
Gods Love calls.. and so should ours
But Finally this morning... Gods love secures...
Point IV: God's Love Secures . . . . . . . . . John 3:16c
Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him

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shall not perish, but have eternal life.

... but have eternal life.
O beloved... what a glorious and PERMANENT
thought!! God secures for all those who believe in Jesus
Christ, eternal life! YOU WILL HAVE IT, when you
BELIEVE!
This is another area of disagreement in the various
denominations that exist in our world. There are many
that dont want to believe that once we accept Jesus
Christ as our Lord and Savior that this is a permanent
and unbreakable union.
Now.. If this relationship was due to man in ANY
WAY... I would certainly have to agree!! But in fact, IT
DOES NOT!!! We talked about the Stewardship of
Faith... Faith comes from God... It is granted to us by
God... Jesus is very clear in John 6:44
Joh 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father
who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the
last day.
Wow... thats compelling... So we dont even seek after
God... God has to send someone seeking after us!! He is
the one that draws us!
Paul also confirms this truth in his letter to the
Christians in Rome... We read in Romans 12:3
Rom 12:3 For through the grace given to me I say to
everyone among you not to think more highly of
himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to
have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a

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measure of faith.
WHO DID THAT? DID YOU HAVE ANTYHING TO
DO WITH THAT? // NO!!!
If that isnt enough, He is also the one that holds us!
Our God is a covenant making God and the amazing
thing about a covenant, that differs from a contract is that
in a covenant, if one party breaks their agreement, the
other party still fulfills theirs!! LISTEN and hear me
well.. When we enter into covenant with God by
believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God
Himself and the Only way to Heaven, God secures that
transaction and though we may stumble and fall a million
times... though like Jeremiah, we might even shake our
fist at God... He will never let us go! For it is HE who
holds on to us, not we who hold on to Him!! Again...
that is what Jesus says... Look at John 10:27-30
Joh 10:27-30 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know
them, and they follow Me; (28) and I give eternal life
to them, and they will never perish; and no one will
snatch them out of My hand. (29) "My Father, who
has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one
is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. (30)
"I and the Father are one."
WOW!!!! INCREDIBLE!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!
You see my friends... we can reach out to the world with
the most incredible, powerful message ever!! It is the

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Message of John 3:16

Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.
It is a message of the Love of God, for indeed
GOD loves you and wants you to live a full and
meaningful Christian life!
Gods love GIVEs... It gives the one and only thing
that we need to Live that full and meaningful Life, it
Gives the LOVE of GOD HIMSELF, through JESUS
Christ the Son!!
Gods love Calls!! It calls you to Love, to Holiness
to Live that full and meaningful Christian life, and as
you LIVE that Love and see the incredible benefit and
blessing of that LIFE... YOU WILL want to CALL
others to that Life Also!!!! You WILL want to be HIS
witnesses, both in Jerusalem, in your home town, in
Judeah, the county and state surrounding you, in Samaria
the place with people you dont understand, appreciate or
perhaps even like, and to the utter most parts of the
world!
And You can bring that Message of the Gospel with a
confidence, with a conviction that what God offers in
Christ is Eternal, it is Safe, it is Secure and HE... HE will
hold you and bring you to Himself, no matter what you
face along the way...
O Dear Friends. G in our GRACE presentation reminds
us that God Loves us and WANTS us to live a FULL and

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Meaningful CHRISTIAN life!! And the offer is to ALL

who WILL Believe!!!
DO YOU?... DO YOU BELIEVE?
Then bend the knee, bow your heart, and believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God Himself and the
Only way to heaven!