God loved the world in this remarkable way

Sermon for Midweek of Pentecost

Acts 10:42-48  +  John 3:16-21

Most people who believe in a god at all believe that God “loves” people. But ask them, how does He love them? What does it mean that He loves them? What does it look like? Most will describe a god who cares so deeply about people that He just wants them to be happy. God “loves” people by approving of them, just as they are. He would never condemn anyone for being their “true self.” He would never command people to obey Him, and He would never make any laws in the first place that conflicted with their own ideas of right and wrong. No, they think, God loves all people just as they are, and His only standard, His only law, is that people are supposed to be free to do whatever they want, whatever makes them happy. And, of course, in the end, He welcomes everyone into heaven.

Of course, you know and I know that such people believe in a false god, in an idol of their own making, crafted in their own image. The true God is indeed a God of love, a God who loves more deeply and more fully than anyone can fathom. But He defines love much differently than the world does.

In John 3:16 ff., Jesus tells us plainly, simply, directly what God’s love looks like. “God so loved the world.” That phrase doesn’t mean “He loved the world so much.” It means, “He loved the world so, in such a way, in the following way.” In other words, Jesus is about to tell Nicodemus, with whom He’s speaking here in John 3, in what way God loved the world. Here it is. Ready? He gave His only-begotten Son. Now, that’s not the end of that sentence; it’s not the complete answer, but it’s the first part of it. God loved the world—the fallen world, the sinful, corrupt, selfish, me-centered, devil-serving, headed-to-hell, already-condemned world, including you and me—in such a way that He gave His only-begotten Son. You know how much is packed into that saying. The Father planned all of human history so that His Son, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, might be “given” to us sinful men as a man like us, “given” to our race forever, in order to seek and to save that which was lost. More than that, the Father gave His beloved Son specifically and intentionally to suffer and to die on a cross for us. God loved the world in that way.

But the sentence goes on with the purpose of that giving. God loved the world in this way, that He gave His only-begotten Son so that, for the following purpose, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God the Creator, the One against whom all mankind had rebelled, had placed a judgment of death upon our race after Adam and Eve’s sin, because their sinful, corrupt, self-centered, self-idolizing condition passes down to all their children. But that same God chose, of His own freewill, out of His own indescribable love, to sacrifice His beloved Son on the cross, by the hands of those who hated Him, so that all the sinners in the world could escape from that death sentence and live eternally with Him, by believing in His beloved, only-begotten Son. That’s the “condition” for spending eternity with Him. You have to believe in Jesus; you have to want Jesus for a Savior; you have to want to be saved through Him alone.

Of course, we’re so far gone by nature, we couldn’t even believe in Jesus on our own. And so the God who sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved, also sends His Holy Spirit into the world, to call sinners by the preaching of the Gospel, to persuade sinners, to enable sinners to believe in His Son. He wants us to believe. He enables us to believe. But He doesn’t force anyone or compel anyone to believe. He enables us to believe, while still allowing us not to.

For the one who believes in Christ Jesus, the sentence of condemnation and death is removed here and now. He who believes in Him is not condemned. For the believer, the guilty verdict is changed to innocent in the courtroom that matters most, the one that determines where a person spends eternity. The brand of “sinner” is changed to “saint.” The sentence of death is changed to life. And the status of enemy of God is changed to child of God.

For the unbeliever, nothing actually changes. Do you hear that? Nothing changes. He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. The unbeliever is already condemned. Condemned on the basis of the sins he has already committed and the sinful, godless condition in which he was born. Condemned, because he refused the path of justification that God provided for him, and laid out for him, and invited him to. The mind of the unbeliever is so arrogant that they despise justification by faith alone in Christ, and then still have the audacity to accuse God of being unjust for not saving them in some other way, in the way of their own choosing.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. This is the condemnation. In other words, this demonstrates God’s righteousness in condemning them. God sent His Son, who is the Light, who is Truth, who is Goodness, who is Love personified, into the world to save the world. And most men preferred darkness, preferred ignorance, preferred lies, preferred that which is twisted and ugly and evil to that which is righteous and beautiful and good. They preferred the false freedom that the devil offers to the true freedom of God. Their condemnation is clearly deserved.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. Think of the tax collectors and sinners. While they were determined to live in sin, they avoided and hid from God’s Word and the ministry of it. But God’s Word moved them to acknowledge the truth, to reconsider their sinful choices, and then Jesus invited them to come to Him for forgiveness, and they came, and repented, and believed, and then, as believers, they stopped living in sin and started living according to the truth. Believers are not afraid to have the light of Christ shining on us, because our past sins have been cleansed by Christ and our present life is not one of practicing sin, living in sin, clinging to sin, but of daily contrition and repentance, if we are genuinely believers in Christ.

On the other hand, consider the Pharisees. They were happy to have the people of Israel view their works. But when Jesus came and exposed their hypocrisy and the lack of mercy underlying their works, they hid from Him, and even hated Him. They refused to acknowledge the truth, that they were sinners and that Christ was the Savior sent to save them.

What has changed? People still love to pat themselves on the back and think of themselves as good people, as “loving” people. But when God’s Word exposes them as sinners, when God’s Word exposes their “love” as a lie, they hide from Christ and remain in the darkness. They’ll talk all about God’s love, until it’s proclaimed to them that God loves them in such a way that He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to suffer and die for their sins, so that they might turn away from their sins, and from all their idols and false saviors, and believe in Christ alone for salvation. When that message is proclaimed in the world, then it becomes clear who the ones are who truly know and appreciate the love of God. They are the ones who repent and believe in Jesus. In them—in you who believe! — the Holy Spirit’s work has had its intended effect, and God’s purpose in sending His Son into the world has been fulfilled. In them—in you who believe! — the Holy Spirit continues His work of guiding you away from sin and toward the works that are fitting for saints, because you have been born of God and have come to know that God loved the world in this remarkable way, that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Amen.