Message for THE LORD'S DAY EVENING, November 30, 2014

Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina

by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister

TOPIC: God's Love

Four Dimensions of God's Love

JOHN 3:16 (NKJV)

The verse of scripture I am preaching on tonight is so familiar to

us we could quote it without even having to open our Bibles.
But because we are going to spend some time this evening taking
an in-depth look at this familiar verse I would like for you to open
your Bibles to JOHN 3:16.

JOHN 3:16 (NKJV) “ For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

PRAYER
*****************************************************

INTRODUCTION

ILLUSTRATION

I doubt that any of you are familiar with the name Rollen Frederick
Stewart,
Stewart but I am pretty sure many of you are familiar with his work.

In the 1970's Rollen Stewart accepted Jesus Christ as his

Lord and Savior. Driven by his passionate love for Christ,
Rollen Stewart set out on a mission to let the whole world
know about the love of God. Stewart felt the best way to
accomplish his mission was through television.

Stewart's first “major appearance” was at the 1977 NBA FINALS. He also
made appearances behind the goal post at several Super Bowls, and behind
home plate during the World Series each October.
Stewart even made appearances near the Olympic Medal stands and at
Augusta National Golf Club during the Master's Golf tournament. At the 1982
Indianapolis 500 Stewart was seen behind the pits of race winner Gordon
Johncock.

If you watched any major sporting event on TV in the late 70's and early 80's
you and I saw Rollen Frederick Stewart, we just didn't know his name or
recognize his face. You see, Rollen Stewart was that man who stood out in a
crowd of thousands because he was holding a sign which simply read:

JOHN 3:16
Without saying a word, Rollen Stewart was letting the whole world know
about the incredible love of GOD!

************************************************************

JOHN 3:16 has been called, “The Golden Verse of The Bible,” “The
Bible In Miniature,” and “The Gospel in A Nutshell.”

You and I have known this verse of scripture since we were

little kids. In fact, it was probably the first verse you
memorized. And it may be one of the few verses you
can still quote from memory.

Over the years I have preached a number of sermons on John 3:16,

but I have never preached on it the same way twice; because
every time I study this verse I get fresh new insights I never
noticed before.

And so tonight for a few minutes, I would like for us to spend

some time studying this great verse of scripture.

In this one single verse of scripture we see FOUR DIMENSIONS OF

GOD'S LOVE.
First, let's consider.............

I. The BREADTH of God's Love (v.16a)

v.16a “For God so loved the world”

1. Jesus begins this great verse by pointing to GOD HIMSELF,

He says, “For God.......”

Were it not “For God” our salvation would not be

possible. Our salvation WAS and STILL IS
God's idea........God's plan.......God's will .......God's
desire.

If God did NOT want to save us we could not be saved.

If God had NOT provided a means for us to be saved,
we would have NO MEANS to save ourselves.

“For God........”

2. Then Jesus says, “For God so loved the world.......” Here

we see “the breadth” of God's love.

We must remember that in all likelihood some of

first people to read or hear John's gospel were
Jewish people.

They were probably “shocked” when they read or

heard these words of Jesus, “For God so loved the world.”

3. Had Jesus said, “For God so loved the JEWS” that wouldn't
have shocked them at all, because the Jews knew they
were God's chosen people and that He had a special
love for them.
4. If Jesus had said, “For God so loved SINFUL Jews,” that
might have been a bit more shocking, especially to the
self-righteous Pharisees who thought they were superior
to the common sinful Jew. But even they might have
agreed that God could love “sinful Jews.”

5. But the Jews found it absolutely shocking that Jesus

said, “For God so loved the world.” By “the world” Jesus
didn't just mean God loved every Jew, but that He also
loved every Gentile.

Jews viewed all Gentiles as “the scum of the

the earth,” or as “filthy dogs.”

God's love is so BROAD that it included the very people

the Jews hated and despised.

6. And guess what! God's love is so BROAD that it includes

people you and I can't conceive of Him possibly loving!

God's love is so broad it includes everyone from

terrorists to transvestites. God's love is so broad it
includes everyone from harlots to homosexuals.....
homosexuals
from murderers to molestors.......from
molestors....... ultra-liberal
Democrats to ultra-conservative Republicans.

God's love is so broad it includes everyone who hates Him

.....everyone who doesn't believe in Him.......everyone who
mocks Him........and everyone who rejects Him.

7. Now don't misunderstand! This doesn't mean God

approves of the conduct and actions of everyone on
earth. God hates sin! But in His heart, God's love is so
broad that He desires the “eternal good” of every human
being on earth regardless of how vile or despicable they may
be
Secondly, let's consider......

II. The LENGTH of God's Love (v.16b)

v.16b “that He gave His only begotten Son”

1. When we talk about how much we love someone, we

often talk about “the lengths” to which we would go to
express our love for that individual.

“I love you so much I would climb the highest

mountain!” “I would travel to the ends of the
earth.” “I would stand on a rooftop and tell the
whole world how much I love you!”

2. Look at the LENGTH God was willing to go to express His

love for you and me. “For God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son.”
Son.”

3. We didn't DESERVE Jesus! We weren't WORTHY to even

have Jesus come here and live amongst us lowly human
beings! But GOD loves us SO MUCH that “HE GAVE” us
the very best He could give.......He gave us “the gift” of His
only begotten Son.”

4. Many accuse GOD of being “cold and un-caring.”

Let me ask you something; when you read those words:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son,” does that sound like something a cold, uncaring
GOD would do?
 5. Why did GOD have to send His only begotten Son?
Why not an ANGEL or A PROPHET or one of the
great PATRIARCHS of the Old Testament?

Here's why! Because NO ANGEL.......NO PROPHET.....

and NO PATRIARCH could uphold God's standard of
sinless perfection and be sacrificed for the sins of the
world as a “spotless Lamb.” Only JESUS, “the begotten
SON of GOD could do that! His pure and sinless blood
was the only thing GOD could accept as the payment
for our sins!

I ask you again to LOOK AT THE BREADTH OF GOD'S LOVE......”For God

so loved the world.”

I ask you again to LOOK AT THE LENGTH OF GOD'S LOVE.......”that He

gave His only begotten Son.”

Thirdly, let's consider......

III. The DEPTH of God's Love (v.16c)

v.16c “that whoever believes in Him should not perish.”

1. Let's be completely honest here! Our love doesn't run

nearly as “DEEP” as the love of GOD.

If it were left up to you and me to decide “who gets

saved” and “who should perish” heaven might be a
very lonely place, populated with people who are alot
like you and me.
 2. Whether we admit it or not, there are certain people or
certain “types” of people, you and I might not deem as
worthy to be saved.

There are certain people that we might advise GOD to

just “scratch off His list.”

3. But look closely at what Jesus says, He says, “WHOEVER”

...........”WHOEVER believes in Him should not perish.”

II PETER 3:9 (NKJV) tells us that “God is not willing that anyone should
perish but that all should come to repentance.”

4. This doesn't mean that ALL PEOPLE will be saved in the

end, in fact most won't! But it does mean that it is
the greatest desire of OUR ALL-LOVING GOD that
everyone be saved; including the most dispicable, most
ungodly, most deplorable people on earth!

5. But because of His deep love for the sinner and His deep
hatred of sin, GOD has made the pathway to eternal
life very, very narrow; and that is WHOEVER WANTS
ETERNAL LIFE IS GOING TO HAVE TO COME THROUGH
JESUS CHRIST.

ILLUSTRATION

One day back in 1994, Wisconsin minister, ROY RATCLIFF received a

telephone call that an inmate at the nearby prison wanted to be baptized.
Having conducted a prison ministry in that prison for a number of years, it
wasn't unusual for Ratcliff to get these requests; but he had no idea that
the prisoner who had requested to be baptized was serial killer JEFFREY
DAHMER.

DAHMER was known all over the world for his crimes of murder,
dismemberment, and cannibalism of most of his seventeen victims.
After baptizing DAHMER that day, Ratcliff went to visit him in prison every
week for one hour, until DAHMER was beaten to death by a fellow inmate
on November 28th of that same year.

At Dahmer's funeral, Ratcliff shared with the few people present

a conversation he had with Dahmer shortly before his death. Ratcliff
said.............

“Jeff confessed to me his great remorse for his crimes. He

wished he could do something for the families of his victims to
to make it right, but there was nothing he could do. He turned
to GOD because there was no one else to turn to, but he
showed great courage in his daring to ask the question, “Is
heaven for me too?” I think many people are resentful of him
for asking that question. But he dared to ask, and he dared to
believe the answer.”

Was Dahmer's conversion genuine or was this just an attempt to

soothe his own guilty conscience for the horrific crimes he had
committed? Only GOD knows what was in Jeffrey Dahmer's heart.

6. It is hard for us to imagine that when Jesus said,

“Whoever believes in Him should not perish,” that
“whoever” could possibly include a despicable serial
killer like Jeffrey Dahmer.

Look at THE BREADTH of God's Love: “For God so loved the world.”
Look at THE LENGTH of God's Love: “That He gave His only
begotten Son.”
Look at THE DEPTH of God's Love: “That whoever believes on Him
should not perish.”
And finally, look at..........

IV. The HEIGHT of God's Love (v.16d)

v.16d “but have everlasting life.”

1. There's a lot of people we would never want to even

come to VISIT us, let alone come to LIVE with us.

2. It is hard to believe that GOD would ever want you and

me to come to live with Him for all eternity, but He
does. That just demonstrates THE HEIGHT of His love for us!

3. When we think of “everlasting life” or “eternal life,”

we think of the future.......the life that will begin when
our earthly life has ended.

But eternal life doesn't begin when we die; it

began the day we accepted Jesus Christ as our
LORD and SAVIOR.

I JOHN 5:12 (NKJV) He who has the SON has life.

(meaning: “eternal life.” )

4. Through JESUS CHRIST our eternal life has already

begun here, and when we die our eternal life will
continue “there” with GOD, in the place the LORD
has gone to “prepare for us!” (John 14:3)

I ask you again to.........

Look at THE BREADTH OF GOD'S LOVE: “For God so loved the world.”
Look at THE LENGTH OF GOD'S LOVE: “That He gave His only begotten Son.”
Look at THE DEPTH OF GOD'S LOVE: “That whoever believes in Him should
not perish.”
And look at THE HEIGHT OF GOD'S LOVE: “but have everlasting life.”
 CONCLUSION

One of the most noted preachers of the 1800's was British Minister,
Henry Moorhouse. Several times, Bro. Moorhouse came to America to
hold evangelistic meetings.

During one particular evangelistic meeting, Bro. Moorhouse preached six

straight nights on JOHN 3:16. The seventh night of the meeting, Moorhouse
stepped to the pulpit; and with everyone present eagerly awaiting to hear
his message, Brother Moorhouse said, said,

“Beloved friends, I have been hunting all day for a new text, but I
cannot find anything so good as the old one, so we will go back to
John 3:16”.”. And so he preached the seventh sermon from that
same passage .

At the conclusion of his message that evening, Brother Moorhouse said.....

“My friends, for a whole week I have been trying to tell you how
much God loves you, but I cannot do it with this poor stammering
tongue. If I could borrow Jacob’s ladder, and climb up into Heaven,
and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Almighty, to tell
me how much love the Father has for the world, all Gabriel could
say would be: ‘ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.’ ”