A Sharper Focus

John 3:16

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Dinzey

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Series Code: ASHF

Program Code: ASHF000056


00:19 Hello, and welcome to A Sharper Focus
00:21 here on Wednesday night
00:23 at the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church,
00:25 located on Route 149.
00:27 Just before you get to Route 34,
00:29 you will see us on the left hand side.
00:31 So I invite you, if you are in the local area,
00:33 to join us on Wednesday nights at 7:00pm.
00:36 Also we're here on Saturday morning,
00:38 beginning at 9:00am.
00:40 You are welcomed to worship with us
00:41 and study the Bible.
00:43 And Pastor John Lomacang will be here most of the time,
00:48 and we will be glad to have you
00:49 as part of the family here at Thompsonville.
00:51 Amen? Amen.
00:52 Amen.
00:53 We are going to study the Bible together today.
00:56 It's gonna be a little different
00:58 than normally on Wednesday night,
01:00 when Pastor Lomacang is taking you
01:02 through a series of study,
01:04 how to live a victorious life.
01:06 And so today,
01:08 we're gonna do something different.
01:09 You will not see graphics on the screen today.
01:12 So we invite you to write your text down
01:15 and also to follow along in the Bible.
01:19 And so we're gonna do the old-fashioned way,
01:20 as they say.
01:21 We're gonna look up the scriptures.
01:24 I have a little advantage because I printed some of them.
01:26 So I will be able to find them
01:28 a little quicker than you today.
01:30 So we're gonna study God's Word for the next hour.
01:33 And we welcome your comments to the Sharper Focus program,
01:38 and any suggestions you may have
01:40 for further studies
01:42 during this time that we have together.
01:45 Before we continue,
01:46 we would like to go to the Lord in prayer
01:47 and ask for His blessing because without His blessing,
01:51 we might as well just turn off the lights
01:53 and go home.
01:54 So we need the Lord,
01:56 and we will ask for His presence,
01:57 and we invite you to join us in your homes.
02:00 Let us pray together.
02:02 Our loving Heavenly Father, we come to You in Jesus name.
02:07 And we want to thank You and praise You Lord
02:10 because of Your goodness and mercy to us.
02:14 And, Father, we are going to approach this topic
02:18 knowing that You are infinite in wisdom,
02:22 and You are infinite in love for us.
02:26 We pray that as we study this topic,
02:28 we will understand a little better
02:30 of Your great love for us and Your plan of salvation.
02:34 We pray for a blessing upon all that are present
02:36 here at Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church
02:38 and all those that join us on radio,
02:41 on the internet, television,
02:43 and in any form they may be viewing
02:46 or listening to this program.
02:47 We ask, Father, for Your name to be glorified in all things.
02:51 We pray Father in Jesus name, amen.
02:54 Amen.
02:55 Well, we like to invite you to open your Bibles
02:58 or turn on your device that you may have
03:02 because nowadays we have a time
03:04 when people have the Bible in many different forms,
03:08 printed form, electronic form,
03:10 and they listen to it, and they read it.
03:13 And it's really a tremendous opportunity
03:17 that we have these days to be able to read God's Word,
03:20 study God's Word,
03:22 and we want you to join us in this study.
03:24 Today, we're gonna study a topic
03:26 that normally takes several days to complete.
03:32 We'll try to get as far as we can.
03:34 One of the first sermons that the Lord blessed me
03:37 with was a sermon in John 3:16.
03:41 And it's amazing,
03:43 the blessings I have discovered there,
03:45 as I study this topic
03:47 and amazed to find out that there was more than one sermon.
03:51 You can preach from John 3:16.
03:54 Actually, the Lord has blessed me
03:55 to preach entire week of prayer
03:58 or evangelistic week with this scripture, John 3:16.
04:04 And surely most of you can quote it from memory.
04:08 One of the most popular versions, of course,
04:11 is the King James Version,
04:13 that is people have memorized it in.
04:16 So I would like to invite you now
04:18 to join me in quoting John 3:16.
04:22 How about we start together, on three?
04:24 One, two, three.
04:26 "For God so loved the world,
04:28 that He gave His only begotten Son,
04:31 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
04:36 but have everlasting life."
04:39 And so this passage has been the source of inspiration
04:43 for millions of people throughout history.
04:47 And so I invite you to open your Bibles,
04:49 and we're going to take a look at John 3:16,
04:53 section by section, divided into little sections,
04:56 little bite-sized sections
04:57 so that we can study God's Word together.
04:59 So you may wanna keep your finger there.
05:01 Of course, if you know it by memory,
05:03 you will have to keep your finger there.
05:04 But we will be looking at section by section.
05:07 The first part of the scripture is "For God..."
05:11 That's the first section we're gonna take,
05:13 "For God."
05:15 And so this scripture right away is telling us
05:18 that it is a great importance
05:21 because God has mentioned at the very beginning,
05:23 "For God."
05:25 And so as you look at the scenario of this world,
05:29 as you look at history of this world,
05:31 you know that people have tried to create their own gods,
05:36 and there are other people that claim to be God
05:39 or that they can reach the goal to be God.
05:43 And so we're gonna look at the Bible
05:45 to see what it says.
05:46 In fact, today,
05:48 as we are worshiping God today here,
05:51 there are people that are worshiping another God
05:55 to what they understand
05:56 and some are unfortunately worshipping a statue
06:00 of some kind made out of wood, made out of plaster,
06:03 made out of metal, or some kind,
06:06 and on and on.
06:08 But are these real God?
06:10 You see the Bible declares in the very beginning,
06:14 Genesis 1:1, what does it say?
06:17 "In the beginning,
06:18 God created the heavens and the Earth."
06:23 "In the beginning,
06:24 God created the heavens and the Earth."
06:26 So at the very beginning of the Bible,
06:30 God separates Himself from any would be God
06:33 or whoever wants to consider himself God
06:36 because it says, "In the beginning,
06:38 God created."
06:39 No one can claim this power to create.
06:44 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth."
06:47 And so, to be able to say, "In the beginning,
06:50 God created the heavens and the Earth"
06:52 is to be able to say, He can do it.
06:56 He has done it.
06:57 Anyone that says,
06:59 "Well, I can create the heaven and Earth."
07:00 And so then you will say, "Well, sure, show me."
07:04 And they would be incapable of doing so.
07:06 So in the beginning,
07:08 God created the heavens and the Earth.
07:10 This separates Him from any other would be
07:14 or whoever would make someone a God.
07:18 And so therefore, God is the Creator.
07:23 So this is the God
07:24 that it is talking about in John 3:16.
07:27 Now I invite you to turning your Bibles to Isaiah 43,
07:31 Isaiah 43.
07:33 And we're gonna take a look at a couple of verses there
07:36 in Isaiah.
07:37 So I will be looking at them myself here.
07:41 So in Isaiah 43:10 and 11,
07:45 God makes a powerful declaration.
07:49 Notice the words of verse 10.
07:54 Isaiah 43:10.
07:57 "Ye are my witnesses,
08:01 saith the Lord,
08:02 and my servant whom I have chosen,
08:06 and that ye may know and believe me,
08:09 and understand that I am he,
08:11 before me there was no God formed,
08:16 neither shall there be after me."
08:18 So here is a powerful declaration.
08:21 What does God say?
08:23 Before Me, what,
08:25 there was no God formed.
08:29 And He continues to say
08:31 that neither shall there be after Me.
08:34 And God is covering both grounds
08:38 or both scenarios if you want to call it,
08:42 there's no God before me, there's no God after me.
08:46 And so the next verse says,
08:48 "I, even I, am the Lord,
08:50 and beside me there is no savior."
08:55 So God declares very clearly,
08:59 before Me there was no God formed,
09:02 and after Me, there is no god formed.
09:04 If you continue reading in Isaiah 43,
09:06 you will find another verse
09:08 that says practically the same thing
09:10 that He is the one,
09:13 He is God, and there is no other God.
09:15 Of course, if you have one of those Bibles
09:18 that has the word Lord,
09:21 in L- O-R-D,
09:26 that is trying to tell you that in the original manuscripts,
09:30 this was the word
09:33 that is known as the Tetragrammaton,
09:35 which is the word Jehovah or Yahweh as some people say.
09:39 So the King James translator put in the word,
09:43 the word Lord as a substitute
09:46 because some of them carry the same fear
09:48 of pronouncing God's name as the Jews did.
09:52 So here we have a declaration,
09:53 before Me there was no God formed,
09:55 after me, no God will be formed.
09:58 So anyone that claims that they can eventually advance
10:01 to be a God is saying something
10:05 that is not according to the Bible.
10:08 So this is the God that we're talking about,
10:10 the Creator of the universe, and He is God.
10:14 Now in Psalms 33:6-9,
10:19 we are going to look at some other scriptures
10:21 that help us understand a little more about the God
10:24 that we are talking about, the only true God.
10:28 And besides Him, there is no other God.
10:31 In Psalms 33:6, if I was in a church,
10:34 where we would not be live,
10:36 I will normally ask somebody
10:37 to help me read some of the scriptures.
10:39 But for the sake of those
10:41 that are listening at this time,
10:42 we don't have a roving microphone
10:44 so I will be reading then.
10:45 So Psalms 33:6,
10:48 "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made,
10:54 and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth."
10:59 Verse 7,
11:00 "He gathereth the waters of the sea together
11:02 as an heap, he layeth up the depth
11:05 in storehouses."
11:06 Verse 8,
11:08 "Let all the earth fear the Lord,
11:09 let all the inhabitants of the world
11:11 stand in awe of Him.
11:16 For he spake, and it was done,
11:19 he commanded, and it stood fast."
11:22 And so this is the God that we're talking about.
11:26 He created a world out of nothing.
11:31 He created a world where there was no world.
11:34 He is the Creator.
11:36 And so if you continue reading in the Book of Genesis,
11:39 if you have not done so,
11:40 those who have may be joining us,
11:42 God created us as well.
11:44 We do not come from monkeys.
11:46 We come from the Creator's hands.
11:49 And so I praise the Lord for that.
11:50 And that means, we have a glorious beginning,
11:53 and we're gonna have a glorious future.
11:56 Amen. Praise the Lord.
11:57 And so from the minutest little creature,
12:00 the smallest little atom
12:02 to the mightiest of the creatures,
12:05 God created them.
12:07 And from the most beautiful flower
12:10 to the grandeur of the mountains,
12:13 God created all things.
12:15 And there are things even that, some people say,
12:19 are unaided, I cannot see
12:22 that you need microscopes,
12:24 and you need telescopes to be able to see these things.
12:27 And when you are able to look into a microscope
12:30 and see those minute, tiny creatures
12:34 that your eyes cannot see,
12:36 it is a marvel of creation
12:39 because God is infinite and wisdom.
12:42 And so it is amazing the things that I see...
12:44 I remember that we went with the school here,
12:47 the Thompsonville Christian School
12:49 to one of these creation museums.
12:52 And there they had a microscope and they put on the screen,
12:56 what they were able to see
12:58 and they put just a drop of water
13:01 on a little plastic thing.
13:05 And there, I forget the name of the thing.
13:09 Okay, we'll call it a slide.
13:11 And they put it under microscope
13:12 and now enlarged.
13:14 I forgot how many times, hundreds of times,
13:16 you can see all kinds of little creatures
13:19 swimming in that little drop of water.
13:21 And they said, "We just went to the pond and dipped,
13:25 and this is what we got."
13:26 And there were many little creatures there,
13:28 moving in different directions,
13:30 and it was amazing what we saw.
13:34 And so God created all these things.
13:36 And for those of us that are looking around
13:40 and see some beautiful things, God created them all.
13:44 Unfortunately,
13:45 because of saying there are things
13:46 that we look at that
13:50 caused us to wonder, what happened?
13:52 It is because sin entered into the world.
13:54 Roses now have thorns
13:56 because sin entered into the world.
13:58 Now in the past when Adam and Eve,
14:00 before sin came,
14:02 they were able to walk through the forest,
14:04 the creatures would come to them,
14:05 they were able to go to any of the creatures
14:08 that God made, and they would come to them.
14:10 Now there's the fear of man in the creatures
14:14 because of sin.
14:15 And not only that,
14:17 there are creatures that look at you and say,
14:20 "That looks like something very good to eat."
14:25 And so sin has come into the world
14:27 and changed things.
14:30 And we are looking for new heavens
14:31 and a new earth,
14:33 and the former things will not be remembered.
14:35 And then it will be returned to the original state.
14:39 Animals will not be afraid of us,
14:40 we will be able to pet the lions
14:43 and put your hand
14:45 or your head inside a crocodile and have no fear.
14:49 At this time, don't do it.
14:53 Now this is the guy that we're talking about.
14:54 If we go back to John 3:16,
14:58 we've taken a look at "For God" and we established
15:01 that we're talking about the Creator God
15:03 that is being discussed in this verse.
15:05 So now let's look at the next two words,
15:07 "For God so loved."
15:10 And this is the God that we are talking about.
15:12 We're not talking about a God
15:13 that created all things and say,
15:15 "Well, I'm done with that.
15:16 I'm going to another direction"
15:18 and completely forgets about His creation.
15:21 God is constantly aware what is going on.
15:26 And He is greatly concerned for us.
15:30 And He hears the faintest cry.
15:34 He even hears those tears inside your mind.
15:41 Your suffering inside your mind that no one else sees,
15:44 God sees them, God understands
15:46 and God is nearby.
15:48 Because of sin,
15:50 it has placed certain limitations,
15:53 if I would say, God can do all things,
15:55 but He has to keep Himself from intervening
15:59 so that people can realize how terrible sin is,
16:03 that it is not something that you would want to keep.
16:07 And so He has to stand back
16:10 and step back and allow things to take their course.
16:14 There are times when He does intervene,
16:16 there are times when He does heal people,
16:18 there are times He does stop cars,
16:20 there are times He stops things from happening,
16:23 people from getting hurt.
16:25 And there are reason for all these things
16:26 that only God knows.
16:28 But know this
16:29 that God loves you
16:31 and wants the very best for you.
16:33 And so as we look at this next part,
16:35 we say God is love,
16:37 but we have to ask ourselves the question
16:40 "What is love?"
16:43 What do you understand is love?
16:45 I am reminded of a story that my father told me many times,
16:48 I don't know if it is that,
16:50 he forgot, he told me the story.
16:53 But to him,
16:55 it was an experience that he remembered.
16:58 And so it was that he grew to a certain age
17:00 where he began to look at girls and say,
17:03 "Hmm, I think I would be interested
17:05 in knowing that person."
17:06 And it came to my grandfather's ear
17:09 that my father was talking to a young lady.
17:14 And he heard about it.
17:16 First time it happened,
17:17 first time it came to his awareness.
17:20 So he said, "Son, come here!"
17:22 My grandfather was very stern and serious individually,
17:25 I'm told.
17:26 I met him once, and I saw that.
17:29 And so he said, "Son,
17:31 I hear that you've been talking to a young lady."
17:34 "Yes, sir."
17:36 And he asked this question, "Do you know what love is?"
17:41 My father was not ready for the question,
17:44 but he gave a wise answer.
17:46 He said, "I don't know."
17:50 My grandfather looked at him and said,
17:53 "You have answered wisely.
17:55 Because you don't know,
17:57 and you may never know your whole life.
17:59 But do this, make sure that you can support yourself
18:04 and someone else before
18:05 you continue in any type of relationship.
18:08 Because if you're going to get involved
18:10 in a relationship with a young lady,
18:11 you should be getting ready for marriage,
18:14 not for anything else."
18:17 And so the question is what is love?
18:19 I have an interesting quote that I found on the internet
18:21 that I would like to read to you.
18:23 And this is the quote,
18:25 "How on earth are you ever going to explain
18:28 in terms of chemistry and physics
18:31 so important of a biological phenomenon
18:34 as first love?"
18:38 You may be surprised to find out
18:39 that it was Albert Einstein that said that.
18:43 How are you gonna explain first love?
18:47 And so philosophers, romanticist,
18:49 songwriters, composers
18:51 of all kinds have tried to explain what love is.
18:54 I remember in my teenage years in a newspaper,
18:58 at least in Chicago area,
18:59 there was a little cartoon that would come out.
19:02 Showing these two cartoon creatures,
19:06 and they would say love is...
19:08 And I don't know if it was every day
19:10 or every week,
19:11 but they had a different thing as to what love is.
19:14 And so, man has not come to the perfect understanding
19:21 as to what love is.
19:23 But I tell you this,
19:24 the Bible helps us understand some things.
19:28 Here's one of the definitions you may find in the dictionary.
19:31 Most dictionaries have some definition very close to this.
19:35 Strong affection for another arising out of kinship
19:39 or personal ties,
19:41 maternal love for a child,
19:44 attraction based on sexual desire,
19:47 which is not really love,
19:49 affection and tenderness felt by lovers,
19:52 on other, it says, affection based on admiration,
19:56 benevolence or common interest.
20:00 And so do we really understand what love is?
20:04 The Bible makes it simple, and simply says,
20:06 "God is love."
20:09 We're gonna look at that text.
20:10 But I would like to invite you to consider this story.
20:15 You may have heard about it.
20:18 There was a man that took the part of the phrase
20:21 that was found in an insane asylum written on the wall.
20:25 And they say, they don't know
20:27 what crime the person committed
20:30 or how that person wound up
20:31 in the insane asylum or the prison.
20:35 But the words of a very famous Christian song
20:39 were written there, or part of the words.
20:42 Later these words were adopted by a person
20:45 by the name of Frederick M.
20:49 Lehman or Lehman,
20:51 L-E-H-M-A-N.
20:52 And he wrote in 1917,
20:55 the words of the song "The Love of God."
20:59 And so I'm gonna read some of the words to you.
21:02 It says, "The love of God is greater far,
21:04 than tongue or pen can ever tell.
21:06 It goes beyond the highest star,
21:09 and reaches to the lowest hell.
21:11 The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
21:14 God gave His Son to win.
21:16 His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin."
21:21 And then the chorus goes like this.
21:23 "O love of God, how rich and pure!
21:25 How measureless and strong!
21:28 It shall forevermore endure, the saints' and angels' song.
21:34 When years of time shall pass away
21:36 and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
21:38 when men who here refuse to pray,
21:41 or on rocks and hills and mountains call,
21:43 God's love so sure shall still endure.
21:48 God's love so sure shall still endure.
21:51 All measureless and strong, redeeming grace to Adam's race,
21:54 the saints' and angels' song."
21:56 And this what was found on the wall.
22:00 "Could we with ink the ocean fill,
22:04 and were the skies of parchment made,
22:08 were every stalk on earth a quill,
22:10 and every man a scribe by trade,
22:12 to write the love of God above,
22:15 would drain the ocean dry.
22:18 Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
22:22 though stretched from sky to sky."
22:25 And this was on the wall
22:28 inspired the song written in 1917.
22:32 And it is a very, very good song,
22:36 and it's a beautiful song.
22:38 And so what does the Bible say that love is?
22:41 For that I invite you to turn to 1 Corinthians 13.
22:45 Now I said to you that we're gonna try to get
22:46 as far as we can in John 3:16.
22:49 This is part of several studies.
22:51 And so we're gonna kind of compact
22:52 and maybe leave some things out.
22:55 So 1 Corinthians 13, describing what love is
22:58 because we read in John 3:16, that God so loved.
23:02 So we have to try to get some type of understanding
23:05 of what love is so we can try to understand God's love.
23:09 In 1 Corinthians 13, you have these words,
23:12 "Though I speak with the tongues of men
23:14 and of angels, and have not charity,"
23:17 the King James Version uses the word charity,
23:19 but it is the word love there,
23:21 "I am become as sounding brass,
23:23 or a tinkling cymbal.
23:24 And though I have the gift of prophecy,
23:27 and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge,
23:29 and though I have all faith,
23:30 so that I could remove mountains,
23:32 and have not love,
23:34 I am nothing.
23:36 And though I bestow all my goods
23:38 to feed the poor,
23:40 and though I give my body to be burned,
23:42 and have not loved, it profits me nothing.
23:46 Love suffers long, and is kind.
23:50 Love envieth not,
23:54 love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
23:57 Does not behave itself unseemly,
23:59 seeketh not her own,
24:00 is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.
24:05 Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in truth.
24:09 Bears all things, believes all things,
24:11 hopes all things, endures all things.
24:13 Love never fails.
24:15 But whether there be prophecies they shall fail,
24:18 whether there be tongues, they shall cease,
24:21 whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
24:25 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
24:28 But when that which is perfect is come,
24:29 then that which is in part shall be done away.
24:33 When I was a child, I spake as a child,
24:35 I understood as a child, I thought as a child,
24:38 but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
24:41 And here is a powerful verse.
24:45 "For now we see through a glass, darkly,
24:47 but then face to face.
24:49 Now I know in part, but then I shall know
24:51 even as also I am known.
24:53 And now abideth faith,
24:56 hope, and love, these three,
25:01 but the greatest of these is love."
25:07 You see, hope.
25:11 People carry hope in their heart,
25:13 and it's an unexplainable things.
25:16 Do unexplainable things.
25:18 Wait, they wait,
25:20 they endure, they travel long distances
25:23 because they hope in something.
25:27 And so it says there's faith, there's hope,
25:30 but the greatest of these is love.
25:33 And so do you understand what love is?
25:37 Do we really?
25:40 The greatest revelation of love is God's love.
25:45 It's pure
25:47 and without any strings attached.
25:52 And that's what really love is.
25:55 And so, you may turn in your bibles
26:00 to 1 John 4:8.
26:02 In 1 John 4:8, we have the words
26:07 that summarize what love is,
26:09 and I already quoted, it says,
26:12 "He that loveth not knoweth not God,
26:15 for God is love."
26:19 So God's love is beyond our understanding.
26:22 That's why the Apostle John invites us
26:25 to behold that love.
26:28 So in 1 John 3, 1 John 3,
26:33 I invite you to turn there.
26:34 Also a passage very well known
26:36 by some and may have memorized it.
26:39 The Apostle John that walked with Jesus
26:41 for three and a half years
26:43 and continued to walk with Him after Jesus passed away
26:46 because he continued to pray and study
26:48 and have communion with Jesus such as we can today.
26:52 He said, "Behold,
26:54 what manner of love
26:55 the Father has bestowed upon us,
26:58 that we should be called the Sons of God.
27:02 Therefore the world knows us not because it knew him not."
27:07 And so behold God's love
27:08 and consider His great love for you.
27:12 So we're reading,
27:14 "For God so loved,"
27:16 let's go to the next part.
27:18 For God so loved, what or whom?
27:21 The scripture continues to say "The world."
27:24 "For God so loved the world."
27:28 And so what does that mean "God so loved the world"?
27:30 He created the world.
27:32 So He created the world, He loves the world.
27:35 And yes, there are some things
27:37 that you may make and have no interest in.
27:39 I made it but you can have it.
27:43 But God, it says here,
27:46 loves the world,
27:48 and those who live in it.
27:50 And so, in John 31:3,
27:53 I'm sorry, Jeremiah.
27:55 It's Jeremiah that we're looking at.
27:56 We have to turn to the Old Testament.
27:59 We have a powerful message there for us as well.
28:02 In Jeremiah 31:3,
28:05 we have this declaration,
28:07 "The Lord has appeared of old unto me,
28:10 saying, Yea,
28:12 I have loved thee with an everlasting love.
28:16 Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee."
28:20 And this is the way that God works.
28:24 I have loved thee you.
28:28 So who is it that He loves?
28:29 Yes, God is talking about the world.
28:31 God so loved the world,
28:33 but He's talking about you and I.
28:35 So really, I like to invite you
28:37 to consider putting your name there.
28:40 Yes, it does say the world in the scripture.
28:42 But you can supply your name there
28:44 and say, for God, so loved Mary,
28:47 Rose, Steve, Margaret,
28:51 whatever your name is, for God so loved you.
28:55 And so the rest of the verse, we'll look at in a moment.
28:58 But consider this to help us understand this.
29:02 In Isaiah 49...
29:04 We're very close to Isaiah.
29:05 So I like to invite you to turn there.
29:07 Just turn over a few pages to the left,
29:11 or click in your electronic device
29:14 to find the scripture.
29:15 We're looking at Isaiah 49,
29:18 we're gonna start reading in verse 15.
29:20 Notice these words.
29:22 We're talking about God so loved the world,
29:23 God so loved you.
29:27 Verse 15, "Can a woman forget her sucking child,
29:32 that she should not have compassion
29:35 on the son of her womb?"
29:38 And so it says here,
29:40 "Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget."
29:43 Here, God takes a comparison
29:47 so that we may have...
29:49 The closest thing as you may say,
29:51 that may approach for us to understand a little bit.
29:54 God's love is a mother's love towards her baby.
30:00 Can a woman forget her sucking child,
30:04 that she will not have compassion
30:06 on the son of her womb?
30:07 And then He continues to say,
30:09 they may forget, but I will not forget.
30:13 Notice the next verse, verse 16.
30:16 "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands,
30:20 thy walls are continually before me."
30:22 So you can consider your name
30:25 is written in God's palm.
30:30 I have loved thee with an everlasting love,
30:32 God says, therefore with loving kindness
30:34 have I drawn thee.
30:35 You know, sometimes people may try to use something else
30:39 to draw people to the Gospel,
30:40 but what really God uses is His love,
30:44 His mercy, His kindness,
30:47 with loving kindness have I drawn thee.
30:49 And so that's why you see the parable of the lost sheep
30:54 that the shepherd goes out to seek for that lost sheep.
30:57 And so Jesus is that good shepherd.
31:00 In another scripture that we can look at,
31:03 to help us understand God's interest in us,
31:06 God's love for us,
31:07 is found in the Book of Psalms 147.
31:11 Psalms 147.
31:14 Psalms 147.
31:16 There in Psalms 147,
31:18 we're just gonna look at two verses,
31:20 Psalms 147:4 and 5.
31:24 And so here in verse 4,
31:26 we have the following words, talking about God.
31:29 "He telleth the number of the stars.
31:33 He calleth them all by their names."
31:37 Isn't that marvelous, to think that God knows...
31:40 How many stars are there, by the way?
31:42 Millions.
31:43 Millions upon millions of stars.
31:45 And the scripture says,
31:47 He telleth the number of the stars
31:49 and He calls them all by name.
31:52 Question,
31:53 if God would take time to count stars
31:57 and give them names,
31:59 would He not know your name?
32:01 Surely, He does.
32:03 Surely, He does because He's very breath
32:05 is in you.
32:07 And so the next verse says,
32:08 "Great is our God and of great power,
32:11 His understanding is infinite."
32:15 So God so loved the world,
32:17 but yes,
32:18 you can put your name there, God loves you.
32:20 Now we turn to the New Testament
32:22 for in the Book of Luke 12.
32:26 The Book of Luke 12,
32:27 and we're going to look at verse 6,
32:30 Luke 12:6.
32:33 Let us begin in verse 6.
32:35 And the question that Jesus asked those
32:39 that were listening, He said,
32:40 "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings,
32:44 and not one of them is forgotten before God?
32:49 But even the very hairs of your head
32:52 are all numbered.
32:55 Fear not therefore,
32:56 you are of more value than many sparrows."
33:02 And so He says,
33:03 not one of them is forgotten before God.
33:05 And then He says,
33:06 you are more value than many sparrows.
33:09 He says, even the very hairs of your head are numbered.
33:12 So if God can know the names of the stars
33:15 and how many hairs are on your head,
33:18 would He not know your name in particular?
33:20 Sure, He will.
33:22 That's why when you read for God so loved the world,
33:25 you can say God so loved me.
33:28 God so loved me.
33:30 So I invite you now to go to John 3:16.
33:33 Let's go to the next couple of words.
33:35 God so loved the world...
33:43 That He gave.
33:44 But wait, there's a story I must tell you
33:47 before we continue that part.
33:51 It is something that is very interesting.
33:54 You see, in a cave in Bracken, Texas,
33:59 there's a cave where there are
34:01 about 20 million bats.
34:06 Not baseball bats, those that fly.
34:10 Twenty million bats zoom in and out of the cave,
34:14 and they look for insects.
34:17 And it is said that every March or April
34:19 the Mexican free-tailed bats
34:21 migrate about 1,000 miles
34:25 from their winter home in Mexico to this cave,
34:28 where they raise their young.
34:31 And soon after they arrived,
34:32 each mother gives birth to one pup.
34:36 They call them pup.
34:38 So each mother has a son or a daughter.
34:41 And as many they say,
34:44 as 500 baby bats live crammed
34:47 into one square foot.
34:51 As many as 500 bats, baby bats.
34:54 So now considering all those things,
34:57 the scientists were wondering,
35:00 "There are about 20 million bats in here.
35:03 All these mothers with their babies?"
35:07 I wonder they start
35:09 if they're feeding their own babies
35:13 because they're going out to get food
35:14 and they're coming back with food for their babies.
35:18 So they put on boots and they put on gear,
35:20 and they went in there.
35:22 And they started catching baby bats
35:24 and the mother bats and tagging them.
35:26 So they can identify, this is the mother,
35:28 this is the baby.
35:30 This is the mother, this is the baby.
35:31 And they tagged them,
35:32 and were they're waiting for the results.
35:35 And they were amazed to find out
35:39 that the mothers looked for her own baby.
35:43 They didn't just randomly say, "Well, here's the baby.
35:45 I'll feed this one.
35:47 Oh, here's the baby, I'll feed this one."
35:48 No, the mothers came avoided other baby bats
35:53 and say, "No, this is mine, this is mine"
35:55 and fed that baby bat.
35:57 It was a rare occurrence and they didn't know why,
36:00 but that was a rare occurrence
36:02 that a mother fed a baby that was not hers.
36:05 But they came with the conclusion,
36:07 the mothers are feeding their own baby pups.
36:11 Now isn't that interesting to you?
36:13 To me it is.
36:15 That if a baby bat,
36:18 the mother has so much interest in her own baby back
36:21 that would bypass millions of other babies
36:25 to find her own,
36:26 wouldn't God be as concerned about you and me?
36:30 Surely He would.
36:31 Because these baby bats have limited mental capacity.
36:35 God, His intelligence is beyond our understanding.
36:39 So all these baby bats,
36:41 their own mother was feeding them.
36:43 Isn't that wonderful?
36:45 So God counts the hairs on your head,
36:48 knows you by name,
36:49 and is concerned about every aspect of your life.
36:53 So God so loved the world, but yes, God so loved you.
36:57 And so I invite you to consider His great love for You.
37:00 And so I began to understand this a little better,
37:06 when...
37:07 By the way, they came to the conclusion
37:11 that the mothers were able to identify their babies,
37:15 not only by sight,
37:16 because apparently they may look all alike
37:19 from their babies,
37:20 but most of it was by smell.
37:24 So God knows us in so many ways,
37:27 the color of your eyes, your facial features,
37:30 and your hair,
37:32 every aspect of you He knows.
37:34 He knows your very thoughts.
37:36 And so God is a marvelous loving God
37:40 that loves us all.
37:42 And so I remember as I was saying,
37:46 when our children were still small,
37:51 that we're talking to somebody
37:52 and our children are playing over there
37:54 and suddenly you will hear a sound,
37:55 boom!
37:57 And they're crying.
37:58 And you will know if that's your child or not
38:01 because you recognize your child's cry.
38:03 And in the same manner,
38:05 there's a particular cry that you gave
38:07 that God hears and knows.
38:10 He knows everything there is to know about you,
38:13 and He loves you greatly.
38:14 So God so loved the world
38:16 that He gave His only begotten Son.
38:19 And so let's look at the next part,
38:21 "For God so loved the world that He gave."
38:27 That He gave.
38:28 So when you consider this next part of the passage,
38:31 you have to ask yourself, what is it that He gave?
38:33 We know what the verse says,
38:34 but let's consider it for a moment.
38:36 What has God given you?
38:40 God has given you much to be thankful for.
38:45 Right here, there are many of you
38:46 as I look around,
38:48 you can be grateful that you have eyes to see,
38:51 ears to hear.
38:53 You can smell things. You can hear things.
38:56 You can walk.
38:57 You can use your arms.
38:59 Many things that God has given you
39:01 that you can be grateful for.
39:02 As a matter of fact,
39:04 God just gave you something that we take for granted
39:05 and that is the capacity to breathe, fresh air.
39:10 Even your heartbeat is a gift from God.
39:13 Because as intelligent as you may be,
39:17 and as organized as you may be,
39:19 if God didn't make your heartbeat automatically,
39:23 you may forget.
39:26 But God does some things for us that we're not even aware of.
39:30 And so, God has given us many things.
39:33 Well, there is the sunshine, there's fresh air.
39:37 We mentioned water, it rains and the plants grow.
39:40 And we have food in our homes
39:42 because God is constantly taking care of His children.
39:46 Constantly.
39:47 The Bible says that it rains upon the just
39:49 and the unjust.
39:51 So God loves the world, God loves you.
39:54 And so you have to consider
39:56 that God has given you so many things.
40:00 And in Matthew 6, Matthew 6.
40:04 I invite you to go there, Matthew 6.
40:07 We are quickly running out of time,
40:09 and we're not halfway through that verse here,
40:12 but we'll try to get as far as we can.
40:14 Matthew 6, beginning in verse 26,
40:16 notice the words found there,
40:19 up to verse 30.
40:21 "Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not,
40:25 neither do they reap,
40:26 nor gather into barns, yet,"
40:30 who feeds them?
40:31 "your heavenly Father feedeth them.
40:34 Are ye not much better than they?"
40:37 Why? Of course, you are.
40:38 Verse 27, "Which of you by taking thought
40:41 can add one cubit unto his stature?"
40:44 Now I know that some ladies and some men,
40:47 put on these elevated shoes or high heels
40:49 and they grow a little bit,
40:51 but it's not a permanent growth,
40:53 it's a temporary growth.
40:55 Now verse 28,
40:56 "And why take ye thought for raiment?
40:58 Consider the lilies of the field,
41:00 how they grow, they toil not,
41:02 neither do they spin.
41:03 And yet I say unto you,
41:05 that even Solomon in all his glory
41:09 was not arrayed like one of these.
41:12 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,
41:15 which to day is,
41:17 and tomorrow is cast into the oven,
41:18 shall he not much more clothe you,
41:21 O ye of little faith?"
41:24 We lose much by not having faith in God.
41:29 So Jesus, he's trying to tell us something.
41:32 Don't worry about tomorrow.
41:37 He knows what's happening tomorrow,
41:39 He will take care of you.
41:41 In Psalms 34, and another beautiful Psalm,
41:44 one of my favorite Psalms.
41:46 Psalms 34.
41:49 In Psalms 34, you will have...
41:53 I believe there have been some songs written
41:55 about some of these words.
41:56 Psalms 34, we will begin reading in verse 7.
41:59 Psalms 34:7, notice these words,
42:02 "The angel of the Lord encampeth
42:06 round about them that fear him,
42:08 and delivereth them.
42:10 O taste and see that the Lord is good,
42:15 blessed is the man
42:17 that trusteth in him.
42:18 O fear the Lord, ye his saints,
42:21 for there is no want to them that fear him.
42:25 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger,
42:28 but they that seek the Lord
42:30 shall not want any good thing."
42:35 Praise the Lord.
42:36 God takes care of His children.
42:39 He tells us that He is the one that feeds the birds.
42:43 And even though some people may think,
42:45 "Well I went to work this morning.
42:47 I worked hard,
42:48 and I earned my daily bread."
42:52 But it is God that gave you strength.
42:54 It is God that kept your heart beating,
42:56 so that you would be alive to be able to work.
42:59 It is God that sustained you
43:01 and strengthened you to have energy.
43:04 It is God involved in each and every aspect of your life,
43:09 so that you can be who you are.
43:13 And so we should be ever grateful for Him.
43:15 For God so loved the world that He gave,
43:17 He is constantly giving, giving, giving to us.
43:23 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger,
43:25 but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.
43:29 God will make sure that you have
43:31 the basic necessities of life.
43:35 And if you make bad choices
43:38 and you walk out of God's will
43:39 and you want to do things your own way,
43:42 you will lack and suffer hunger.
43:45 But if you follow the Lord, He will take care of you.
43:48 You know, it's a very interesting thing to me
43:50 that, even the people,
43:53 and I am saying this not to be
43:57 little what goes on in Cuba.
43:59 But the people of Cuba, the believers in Christ...
44:03 I was there,
44:04 and I heard this in the year 2001.
44:08 They have gone through some difficult situations.
44:10 And there are difficult situations in many countries,
44:13 so it's not just Cuba.
44:15 But God takes care of His children.
44:17 One of the pastor said,
44:20 "If you believe in the Lord, the Lord will take care of you.
44:23 He will not allow you to suffer hunger."
44:26 And some of the people were a little upset with him,
44:28 but the people that I was listening to,
44:30 "You know, it's true.
44:33 We have seen it happen in our lives.
44:35 There were times when we ran out of beans,
44:38 but somebody had beans.
44:39 And we say, 'Hey, we have rice,
44:41 more than we need,
44:42 you want to trade rice for beans?'"
44:45 And they were able to have the things
44:47 they needed in their home.
44:48 God in some way will take care of you.
44:50 And you can read in the Bible
44:51 that even though
44:53 there was a drought in the land
44:56 and the prophet was out there
44:58 in the middle of nowhere,
45:00 God sent birds to feed them.
45:04 Why?
45:05 I wish I had time to tell one more story
45:06 about the way God takes care of His children,
45:09 but time is escaping us.
45:10 Boy, it's almost too good to pass up.
45:13 I heard this story.
45:14 I think it was Jim Zachary that told it.
45:17 I would dare to tell it. I try to tell it to you.
45:22 This is the way I remember it.
45:24 There was a Christian living in Romania,
45:26 and this Christian was put in jail
45:28 because he believes in God.
45:31 And as he believes in God,
45:33 the authorities captured him and put him in prison.
45:36 And so there was a captain there,
45:38 very upset, he was an atheist
45:40 and he said "Oh, you believe in God?
45:43 We're not gonna feed you.
45:44 Let your God feed you."
45:46 And so this man was put in prison.
45:47 And according to the story, way I remember it,
45:50 this man, He said, "We're not gonna feed you.
45:54 I'll be back in five days."
45:56 And so he thought the man in five days was gonna be,
46:00 "Please, feed me."
46:01 He says, "In five days you are gonna give up
46:03 this God you believe in.
46:04 We're not gonna give you any food."
46:06 And so it is said
46:08 that the man knelt down and prayed,
46:11 and said "Lord, I'm in this prison.
46:15 I'm surrounded by unbelievers,
46:19 and I don't know how, but, Lord,
46:21 give me this day my daily bread."
46:24 According to the story,
46:26 when he was done praying shortly thereafter
46:28 through a hole in the wall,
46:30 a cat started to make its way through
46:33 and squeezed in.
46:35 They have this capacity,
46:36 and he had a piece of bread in his mouth.
46:39 And he came into the cave,
46:41 came by the man,
46:43 and the man saw the bread and took the bread
46:46 and cut off the piece
46:47 that was in the cat's mouth and ate the other part.
46:51 And he said, "Thank you, Lord, for my daily bread."
46:53 The next day, the man prayed again,
46:55 "Lord, I'm hungry again.
46:57 Please, give me this day my daily bread."
47:00 And according to the story, again shortly thereafter
47:03 that cat made his way through, the same cat
47:06 and had another piece of bread in his mouth.
47:08 And again, he took the bread from the cat's mouth
47:11 and cut off the piece of bread that was in his mouth,
47:13 put it aside and ate the bread
47:16 and then played with the cat for a little while,
47:18 and eventually the cat went out again.
47:21 It went like this four days in a row.
47:23 The fifth day comes the captain,
47:25 ready to say, "Okay,
47:27 I've got this man under my control.
47:30 He's gonna be begging me for food.
47:32 He's gonna give up this belief in God."
47:35 And so he walks in.
47:36 "So are you ready to give up your belief in this God
47:39 that does not exist?"
47:42 He said "No, I still believe in God."
47:45 "How can that be? You haven't eaten in four days!
47:48 This is the fifth day."
47:50 He says, "Oh no, God has fed me."
47:52 "Impossible!
47:54 You're locked up in here.
47:55 Have any of the guards given you food?"
47:57 "No."
47:58 "Then how is it that you have eaten?"
48:01 He said, "Well, I prayed to God,
48:03 and He provided food."
48:05 "Impossible!"
48:06 He said, "Yes, look, here's the piece of bread
48:08 from the first day that is left over."
48:10 'Cause he cut off the piece that was in the cats mouth
48:13 and he didn't eat that part.
48:14 "And here's the piece of bread from the second day,
48:16 the third day, the fourth day."
48:18 "Where did you get that bread from?"
48:20 And just then the story is told,
48:22 the cat was making his way through the hole again.
48:25 And he says, "What is this?
48:27 Hey, that's my cat!
48:31 And that's my bread."
48:34 Amen.
48:35 And that captain was amazed that God did this for this man.
48:41 And it is said that this captain
48:43 had a change of heart.
48:44 Praise the Lord.
48:46 You see,
48:47 O taste and see that the Lord is good.
48:49 No good thing will He keep from them
48:52 that serve Him.
48:54 So praise the Lord.
48:55 So the verse says,
48:56 "For God so loved the world that He gave,"
48:59 what is it that He gave in this scripture of John 3:16?
49:03 The Bible says, "His only begotten Son."
49:08 Now we may not have time to finish the whole John 3:16,
49:10 but we'll try to get this part done.
49:13 God gave His only begotten Son,
49:17 Jesus Christ.
49:19 So I invite you to first turn to Hebrews 1,
49:22 Hebrews 1.
49:26 In Hebrews 1,
49:29 we're gonna begin reading the verse 1,
49:30 and these are the words that you will find there.
49:35 "God, who at sundry times
49:38 and in divers manners spake in time
49:40 past unto the fathers by the prophets,
49:43 hath in these last days spoken unto us
49:46 by his Son,
49:48 whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
49:51 by whom also he made the worlds.
49:54 Who being the brightness of his glory,
49:57 and the express image of his person,
49:59 and upholding all things by the word of his power,
50:02 when he had by himself purged our sins,
50:05 sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
50:09 So I read this scripture to tell you
50:11 that the Bible says that God is love
50:15 and that Jesus is the express image of the Father.
50:19 And so in Jesus,
50:21 you could see the manifestation of the Father's love for us.
50:27 And it says here that not only that,
50:31 He says He spoke through His Son,
50:33 by whom also He made the worlds.
50:36 So when we read Genesis 1:1
50:38 and it says that in the beginning
50:40 God created the Heaven and the Earth,
50:41 Jesus Christ the Son was involved
50:43 in the creation process.
50:44 If you read John 1:1, it says that...
50:48 I'm gonna have to look it up,
50:51 let's see if memory will remember it.
50:55 "In the beginning was the Word,"
50:58 what else does it say?
50:59 "And the Word was with God,
51:02 and the Word was God.
51:05 All things were made by Him
51:07 and without Him was not anything made
51:09 that was made."
51:11 Amen? Amen.
51:13 Amen.
51:14 So this is the Jesus, the only begotten Son
51:16 that we are talking about.
51:18 So in Matthew 1, Matthew 1.
51:22 We'll try to hurry it a little bit.
51:24 In Matthew 1,
51:26 yeah, let us look at verse 21.
51:30 Matthew 1:21.
51:34 "And she" talking about Mary "shall bring forth a son,
51:39 and thou shalt call his name Jesus,
51:43 for he shall save his people
51:46 from their sins."
51:49 Verse 22, "Now all this was done,
51:51 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken,
51:53 by the prophet, saying, behold,
51:56 a virgin shall be with child,
51:59 and shall bring forth a son,
52:00 and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
52:03 which being interpreted is, God with us."
52:06 For God...
52:08 I'm sorry, I was going to my next verse in the list.
52:10 So it says here that a virgin shall be with child.
52:14 Now I'm compacting several messages here
52:19 because we will spend more time on giving the time
52:23 when the promise was given
52:25 and all these other important scriptures.
52:27 But God promised that He would bring the answer
52:31 to the sin problem in Genesis 3:15.
52:35 "And when the fulness of time came,
52:38 God sent forth His Son."
52:40 That's Galatians 4:4.
52:42 In the likeness of sinful flesh,
52:44 to condemn sin in the flesh.
52:46 So Jesus Christ came at the time
52:49 specified by the prophecy.
52:52 And He came, as it says here,
52:55 to be God with us,
52:57 and also it says, to do, what?
53:01 To deliver us from sin.
53:04 Praise the Lord.
53:07 Now I invite you to go to the next verse,
53:09 there's John 3:16,
53:11 there's a verse 17 that follows.
53:13 John 3:17 says,
53:18 "For God sent not his Son into the world
53:22 to condemn the world,"
53:25 why did He send Him?
53:27 "But that the world through him might be saved."
53:31 Praise the lord.
53:33 Jesus didn't come to this world
53:35 to be looking for the people
53:38 that would be condemned,
53:41 to be looking for people to put on His list.
53:44 "Okay, you, you're gonna be suffering for your sins.
53:49 You are gonna be suffering."
53:50 No, He came, the Bible says, we're gonna look at that,
53:53 to seek and to save that which was lost.
53:56 He came to bring salvation to the world.
54:00 He came to work out our salvation.
54:02 So verse 17 says,
54:04 "For God sent not his Son into the world
54:06 to condemn the world,
54:08 but that the world through him might be saved."
54:10 Is that good news? Yes.
54:12 So even today Jesus is looking for people,
54:16 not to condemn them, but to save them.
54:20 And we as His children should participate
54:23 and help others learn the message of salvation.
54:29 So if Jesus did not come into the world
54:33 to condemn the world,
54:34 neither should we be condemning the world,
54:37 but should be doing something to bring them
54:40 salvation through Jesus Christ.
54:41 Amen? Amen.
54:43 Amen.
54:44 So as we consider this,
54:46 we also invite you to turn to Romans 3,
54:50 Romans 3.
54:53 Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost,
54:56 He came to save His people from His sins.
54:59 And in Romans 3:23,
55:03 the bible declares, "For all have sinned,
55:07 and come short of the glory of God."
55:11 All have sinned,
55:13 and come short of the glory of the God.
55:15 And being in this condition of sin,
55:19 we need a Savior,
55:20 and the only Savior is Jesus Christ.
55:24 I'm having to leave some scripture out
55:26 because of lack of time,
55:28 but let's look at 1 John 4:10,
55:34 1 John 4:10.
55:37 There's a big word there in 1 John 4:10.
55:43 It says the following, "Herein is love,
55:48 not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
55:52 and sent his Son to be the propitiation
55:56 for our sins."
55:58 In other words, to describe this,
56:01 He came to offer Himself as a sacrifice for us,
56:04 to atone for our sins,
56:07 to make reconciliation for our sins,
56:10 by offering Himself for us
56:13 because without Him,
56:18 we would experience the other part of John 3:16,
56:23 that we won't have time to go into in this message.
56:26 "For God so loved the world,
56:27 that he gave his only begotten Son,
56:29 that whosoever believeth in him
56:32 should not," what?
56:33 "Perish,
56:35 but have everlasting life."
56:36 So considering this, perhaps the last scripture,
56:40 let's look at it in Romans 5:8, Romans 5:8.
56:46 In Romans 5:8,
56:48 we have the following words,
56:51 "But God commendeth his love toward us,
56:55 in that, while we were yet sinners,
56:58 Christ died for us."
57:02 While we were yet sinners,
57:04 Christ died for us.
57:06 The scripture says that God so loved the world,
57:09 that He gave His only begotten Son,
57:11 that who so ever believeth in Him
57:14 should not perish, but have everlasting life.
57:16 We won't have time to look at the other part,
57:18 but understanding this, no one is excluded.
57:21 It says whosoever.
57:23 So no one is excluded in the world,
57:25 all can come to Jesus
57:26 and find salvation through Him.
57:30 And I praise the Lord for that.
57:32 So if anyone here
57:33 or if anyone that's listening or watching
57:35 wherever you may be,
57:37 Jesus says, if you come to Him,
57:39 He will not cast you out.
57:41 Come to Jesus, He will accept you.
57:43 His love for you is greater than you can imagine.
57:46 And you will find in Him acceptance, forgiveness,
57:51 cleansing
57:52 and what it says in John 3:16.
57:55 If you believe in Him, you will not perish,
57:57 but have everlasting life.
58:00 May God bless you.


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Revised 2019-12-10