“The Numbers of Hope”
Turn your Bible to John 3.
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 'What does love mean?' The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined See what you think:[note: I shared some of these, but provide the whole list of responses for your reading pleasure.]
• 'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.' Rebecca- age 8
• 'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.' Billy - age 4
• 'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.' Karl - age 5
• 'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.' Chrissy - age 6
• 'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.' Terri - age 4
• 'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.' Danny - age 7
• 'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss' Emily - age 8
• 'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.' Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)
• 'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,' Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
• 'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.' Noelle - age 7
• 'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.' Tommy - age 6
• 'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.' Cindy - age 8
• 'My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.' Clare - age 6
• 'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.' Elaine-age 5
• 'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.' Chris - age 7
• 'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.' Mary Ann - age 4
• 'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.' Lauren - age 4
• 'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image) Karen - age 7
• 'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.' Jessica - age 8
And the final one
• The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry'
This morning our main, overriding theme is love; specifically the love of God for mankind.
And now our text this morning, in John 3. The most important conversation ever in the history of the world takes place right before our passage for today. Jesus and Nicodemus talk about what it means to be born again, which is followed by these incredible words in verse 16:
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ESV
This morning’s message is titled, “The Numbers of Hope.” I’ve taken this title from Max Lucado’s book, “3:16: The Numbers of Hope,” which is a compilation of messages on this key passage of Scripture. In fact, the hope that we see in John 3:16 truly reminds us that it is the number of hope. Lucado describes this verse this way:
“The words are to Scripture what the Mississippi River is to America – an entry into the heartland. Believe or dismiss them, embrace or reject them, any serious consideration of Christ must include them.”
Max Lucado, “3:16: The Numbers of Hope,” p.8
The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ runs from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible is the cohesive story of God’s redemption story. However it is all encapsulated in one 26 word passage here in John 3:16.
So this morning I would like for us to look at this passage together in a bit of a different light. I’d like for us to look together at:
• The great depth of God’s love for everyone – and the mystery of it.Our first look this morning is,
• The unbelievable access we have to God.
• The awesome privilege of eternity with God.
I. God’s Love for the World is Beyond Comprehension.
We are currently at war. The enemies of the United States have vowed to kill every American that they can. They don’t like our culture or our faith in Christ. Regardless of where we live, to hear a terrorist make threats against the whole our country is a bit disconcerting and galvanizes our resolve – and perhaps our pity or even hate for our enemies.
Now think for a moment if the threat was a little closer to home. We hear everyday in the news of someone, sometimes even here in Central Oregon, who kills a family member or close friend. How would you feel about that family member or friend that is a bodily threat to you. You know that they are going to kill you.
Or how about knowing someone who is systematically murdering your friends, one by one. How do you feel about that? What do you do with that? We know how our heroes in the media would handle it.
• Rambo would “dispatch” the enemy.
• John Wayne and Clint Eastwood would end their movie with the demise of the bad guy.
• Superman would drop the enemy off at prison.
• Spiderman would wrap the enemy up in a web for law enforcement to pick up – and then fly away.
• The heroes on Call to Duty and every other video game of that ilk, take no prisoners.
• If we are honest, many of us walk away and have nothing to do with those who have spoken against us or done anything to us or our family.
But you see, the previous two scenarios that I shared about happened to Jesus.
A. The enemies of Jesus and His response to them help us understand on a small level the immensity of the love of God. Consider Judas. Judas was a friend of our Lord, one of His disciples whom He had poured His life into. Judas betrayed Jesus to the high priest. Let me help you see this situation in a little different light. Jesus said,
John 15:14-15 - 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ESVWhen Jesus was being betrayed by Judas, we see the betrayer coming on the scene in Matthew 26:
Matthew 26:49-50 - 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" And he kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you came to do." Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. ESVThe term that Jesus uses of Judas in Matthew 26 describes a companion. It was not sarcasm. The term used in John is that of someone who is loved or dearly loved. Yes, they are different words for friend, but the fact that Jesus used them says something about the character of Jesus toward the person who would betray Him.
Jesus knew that something terrible was coming. He had foreseen it. How must that have felt to know that it was coming from someone whom He had poured His life into the three previous years?
How would you have felt, knowing that a friend was purposefully leading you to your demise? What would you have done with that? Called them “friend” in a non-sarcastic tone?
The love of God, the love of Jesus is deeper than what we can fathom. Yes, we can come up with all kinds of stories, illustrations and analogies of what this mystery is concerning the love of God, but it pales in comparison to think that Jesus not only loved us so much to die for us, but that Jesus also died for every one of our enemies.
• Osama Bin Laden.
• Hitler, and all of his henchmen.
• Jeffrey Dahmer.
• BTK Killer.
• Green River Killer.
• For all of our politicians.
• For everyone that voted for measure 66 and 67. For everyone who voted against measure 66 and 67.
I think you get it now.
Consider Saul as an enemy of God. As we arrive at Acts 9, Saul, a Pharisee was actively involved in the extermination of Christians. Here is where we pick up this amazing story:
Acts 9:1-5 - But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" 5 And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ESVYou know the story. Saul’s name is changed to Paul and he becomes the writer of half of the New Testament.
During the Civil War, a woman who was a staunch supporter of the Union once chided Abraham Lincoln for speaking too kindly about the southern states. The woman said that he should focus on destroying his enemies instead of being nice. Lincoln responded, “Why madam, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” (Today in the Word, May 2007)
Judas was His friend. When Judas betrayed Him, he was still loved by Jesus. Jesus died for people like Judas to have hope.
Saul was not a Christian, and actually an anti-Christian. He wanted people like you and I, dead. Jesus comes to him, confronts him and turns him.
We’ve looked outward for a bit, so let’s take a few moments to look inward. Have you ever felt like your behavior, whether you were a Christian or not, completely separated you from God? It is true – sin does separate us from God. But the power, depth and mystery of the love of God – the love of Christ can perform miracles and reconcile us to Himself.
It does not matter what we’ve done but what Christ has done on our behalf, and the choice we make about appropriating what He’s done for us.
B. The ultimate demonstration of love, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross help us understand on a small level the immensity of the love of God. Yes, we sin. We feel bad about it. We may even feel guilty – because we are. We can even think to ourselves that we will never measure up. Or there is even the other side of the coin where we are so new to what it means to know God that perhaps in this moment we are coming to grip with what it means to enter into a relationship with a holy God. It means in order to move ahead in your desire to know God, you’ve got to do something about the things in your life that create separation.
Jesus prepared the way for you and I. Because of God’s great love, Jesus paid the ultimate price. This price was alliterated throughout the Old Testament and fulfilled permanently in the New. It is the sacrifice of innocent blood, a perfect sacrifice to cover our sin.
Regardless of what you think you’ve done and wondering whether or not you can ever be forgiven, I have great news for you in regard to the greatness and depth of the love we’re speaking of this morning:
Here’s a quote from my library that is a well-known saying:
“God grades on the cross, not the curve.”
Our second “look” this morning is that,
II. Our Access to God is Amazing.
My wife used to work for U.S. Bank for a number of years. She held a variety of positions within the bank, including vault teller. A bank vault is an amazing thing. I’ve been inside one several times as years ago we had a safe deposit box. Bank vaults are where money and important papers are kept. That vault is opened by knowing the combination. Only a small group of people have access to the combination, that opens the door to large sums of money.
If access to God and the riches of heaven is within this vault, believing on Jesus, placing your confidence and trust in Him is the combination.
At some time or another we’ve all tried turning the dial on that combination ourselves, over and over again. We’ve tried to live this way, say the right things and be in the right clubs, but it still won’t open the door. There have been many great men and women who’ve walked this planet. You can see some of your real-life heroes in your mind’s eye right now. But without placing their confidence and trust in Jesus Christ, all of the great things they did in the eyes of mankind will not open that combination.
To believe on Jesus is to intellectually and emotionally place your trust and confidence in Him that by His work on the cross, bridging the chasm between God and man, has not only the combination to heaven, but the keys to death and the grave. He is the One with all the power. That is the truth of the gospel – that we are powerless on our own to gain heaven. But only through the person of Jesus Christ can that be made possible.
Friends, that’s the power of the gospel – the power of John 3:16 because it acknowledges the power of Jesus Christ to change a life.
In his book Defining Moments, Rick Ezell writes, "A church ordered new stained glass windows for its sanctuary. All the windows arrived except for the largest panel at the front of the church. The congregation anxiously waited for this panel's delivery. When the large piece arrived, they found the glass had been broken in transit. The people were dismayed. But then a skilled artist in the church asked if he could take the pieces and try to make a suitable replacement window. In a short while the artist unveiled the window he had fashioned. The entire congregation felt that the artist's masterpiece was more beautiful than the original. What was broken was remade into something spectacular.
"God's grace sometimes comes in ways we would never expect. Grace is the glue that takes the pieces of our broken lives and binds them into something new and beautiful."
Friend, that is what Jesus wants to do in your life, make something new and beautiful. If you have not believed on Jesus Christ, today is your day to do so. If you have already, but are struggling in your walk with Jesus, the great news is that His love is still extended to you and He is still in the business of remaking you. Pursue Him.
The last “look” this morning is,
III. “Forever” with God is a Remarkable Outcome.
There are two promises of John 3:16. The first is that,
A. We will not perish.
“Perish” is a term that is the opposite of salvation. “Perish” refers to sheep that are lost or a son who has wandered away from home, never to return. It is to be cut off from God and excluded from His presence. It is something that we do, and not something that God does. Remember, even as we walk away from God, He still loves us and still would have sent His Son to die for us.
To “perish” in this instance does not mean that a person dies – just that in everything that matters in regard to future human existence that you are on the outside looking in.
Those who put their faith and confidence in Christ are “imperishable.” What an amazing word. It makes some of us think of all those things in our lives that will never deteriorate. You know, like Tupperware, plastic toothbrushes and Corelle plates and dishes.
I love the history channel. Lately they’ve been showing a series of programming of what would happen to the earth over a long period of time if humans were suddenly removed. Food supplies going bad, vegetation taking over our great cities, buildings collapsing and on and on. It’s pretty interesting stuff to see what scientist think would happen. Imperishable means, “forever.”
This leads us to the concept of,
B. Everlasting life.
Scholars like this concept. It speaks to us of the fullest position of blessing that can be bestowed on us. The vault is of heaven and all of its riches are wide open to us in our future because we’ve placed our confidence and faith in Jesus Christ.
The Scripture says that we’ll have “heavenly bodies,” which is significantly better than the current “beach bodies,” or “beached bodies” that we currently have. Yes, that was a bit of sarcasm.
As we conclude:
As I think about John 3:16, I’m reminded of this season of fasting and prayer that we’ve been in. The Word of God is leaping off the pages at me. Everything else that I’m reading as well has become more beneficial to my soul.
I read a book the other day about a fellow who has had face-to-face encounters with Jesus. Yes, I believe that he is having these encounters with Jesus. Yes, I was a little jealous and a bit terrified at the same time! But what came out through this reading and this fasting season for me is the personal nature of Jesus that knowing Him makes us available to. Yes, I would like for all of us to have many encounters with Jesus. But I think the big issue for all of us is to know that this same Jesus who loved us so much that He spread His arms and died for us, did so that we could pursue relationship with Him. I mean “relationship.”
Whether or not you see Him in this life with your own eyes isn’t as important as knowing Him without having seen Him. Yes, the Bible opens up to us who He is. But let us understand that Jesus is a person. Along with all the attributes of being God, He has emotions and feelings. It is up to us to please Him in our relationship with Him.
Pursue Jesus. Talk with Him. Listen to Him, through the Scripture and through your time talking and listening. Do it consistently.
What Now?
• Believe on Jesus Christ and you will be saved from perishing.John Bevere in his book, “Extraordinary” writes about the time a few years ago when he gathered all four of his sons together and he and his wife told them that they loved them unconditionally and that nothing they could ever do would change that.
• Embrace the love of God and Christ for your whole life.
• Pursue spiritual intimacy with the person of Christ.
But then they told them something that caught them off guard, “However boys, you are in charge of how pleased your mom and I are with you.”
How pleased is Jesus with you and I?
