Well, amen, that is great. My heart's been stirred already through the singing and this beautiful song that we heard. And praise the Lord. Again, we're so happy that you're here with us today. We're excited about what God is doing at Calvary Baptist Church, and just so pleased at your presence with us today with your friend that invited you. If you would, if you have a Bible, turn it to the book of John, please, chapter three, verse number 16. And if you don't, you can listen on as I read this one, powerful verse of scripture. I would say the most powerful verse in all the Bible. John chapter three, verse 16, the Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I believe that's worth reading again. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This morning, by God's grace, I would like to preach on this subject, God's Amazing Love. May we pray together? Oh God, my heart's been moved already by the songs, the time of fellowship, And I pray right now that our hearts, our minds, our spirits would become quiet now before Thee. We're not here necessarily to listen to another human being, though I will be the vessel that will be speaking the very Word of God. I pray, Father, that we would be attentive to Your voice. May the Spirit of God touch every heart today. Lord, I'm concerned for those that are here today that say they're born again, that they're saved, that they would have desire to share that love of God with all around them. But this morning, my heart goes out to those that are here today that are without Jesus Christ. They're not saved, they're not born again. In fact, if they were to die today, they don't know for sure where they'd spend forever. May today be the day that they would come to place their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. In all this we pray in the matchless name of Jesus Christ, amen. Seems that when I set out to preach on this passage a number of weeks ago, I did not realize what an undertaking it would be to preach on what I considered a simple verse. It is the most simplest verse in all the world that even a child can understand it. but yet it is so profound that even a well-educated person cannot fully comprehend it. Martin Luther, lived a few hundred years ago, said this verse was the Bible or the gospel in a nutshell. Within the 25 words that you read in John 3, 16 is the greatest story ever told. And not just any story, but a love story, an incredible love story. Now describe love to me if you would. If I was to ask you what love is, we would have a lot of references about love. We might reference someone who we know is in love or rehearse a love story that we saw. Maybe some of you might talk about a movie with a grand love story. Or maybe you might make reference to a couple that you knew that had a wonderful love relationship. And though we use the term love often, I'm not sure that we really fully understand the concept of love. Let me just say what I mean here today. Some people say, I love God. While somebody next to them in the pew says, I love pizza. Somebody might say, I love this outfit. And we have some macho men that might be in here and say, man, I love my truck. Or I love my wife, my husband. You see, I think there's a wide range in our connotation of how we use the word love, probably best illustrated in this woman who wrote her fiance that she had just recently broke up with. Dearest Jimmy, no words could ever express the great unhappiness I have felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you. I love you. I love you. Yours forever, Marie, P.S. Congratulations on winning the lottery. And I believe that when we come to John 3, 16, we can know that there is a different kind of love, an amazing love. The story is told about a man by the name of Gaylord Kamburami. He was the general secretary of the Bible Society in Zimbabwe, and he tried to give a New Testament to a very belligerent man. The man insisted that he was just gonna take the scriptures and roll the pages up and make cigarettes out of them. Well, I understand that, said the general secretary, but would you at least promise me to do this, that you would read every page of the New Testament before you roll it up and smoke it? The man agreed and they went their separate ways. It was 15 years later, the two men met together at a convention in Zimbabwe And that scripture-smoking pagan had been saved and now was a full-time evangelist. And there, as he's preaching, he told the audience, I smoked Matthew, I smoked Mark, and I smoked Luke. But when I got to John 3, 16, I couldn't smoke it anymore. My life was changed from that moment. This morning, by God's grace, I would like to share with you a couple of things from John 3, 16 about God's amazing love. First of all, would you grab this on the outline, the measure of God's love, the measure of God's love. I want you to notice John 3, 16 does not say, for God loved the world. Please notice the third word that is used in that verse. The Bible says, for God, and say it with me, so loved the world. My wife who's sitting down here on my right, I could go to my wife and say, honey, I love you. And she'd believe me and think, boy, he loves me a lot. But now it'd be a whole different story if I said, honey, I love you so much. There's a difference, a world of difference in the two phrases. And I'm ever mindful of the fact that if we were to take out a measuring tool and measure the depths of God's love, I don't think we'd come to the bottom of that so. I don't think we'd reach the extent of that word so because the Bible says that God so loved the world. That love of God that is so big and so awesome surpasses illustration. I don't believe the love for an animal is not ample enough. Now some of you love your animals, your dogs and your cats, way more than, I'm not an animal lover. I'll tolerate animals, you know, if I come to your house. But I'm amazed at how people love their animals. They'll get an ice cream cone and take one lick and let their dog lick and take another lick and let their dog lick and I think, you're a sick man. Something's wrong with you. But there are people that love their dogs and their cats and all of that and they'll sleep with them. But I don't believe the love of an animal is not ample enough. Neither is the love of a mother adequate. Boy, we can take a mother and that love and how she just adores that baby and does everything for that child, but I don't believe the love of a mother is ample enough. I don't believe the love of a mate is even appropriate enough in the divorce age that we're living in today, where people one day say they love each other, and then another day, they have split ways. And so to me, the love of God surpasses illustration, but it surmounts our intelligence. Do you realize the love of God is unending? Define God. Try to give a definition of God, and I believe right in that definition has to be some statement about the fact that God is love. In fact, the Bible says in 1 John 4, verse 8, these three words, God is love. If you want to know about love, show me God. If you want to know about God, you'll see someone who loves you. Will there ever be an end to the love of God? The answer is no, because God lives forever. And you and I could say that God's love always has been and always will be. The love of God is not only unending, but it is unequal. In other words, there is no comparison to the love of God. Notice here in John 3, 16, for God so loved, what? The world. He so loved the world. The word for world in our original language here from which the Bible was written is the word we get cosmos from. And that word is used numbers of times throughout the scripture and it has a few different ways in which it is used. And in order to understand the way that it is used, you must look at the context because there are three primary ways that that word world is used. First of all, we might speak of the world of nature or the planet that we live on, the earth, that's the one word for world. There is another word for world, and that is the world in its attitudes and actions, or the philosophy of this world. 1 John 2, verse 15, the Bible says, love not the world. Now, he's not talking about the plants and the animals and all those things. We can have a proper love for those things, but he's talking about don't love this world's philosophy, its actions, its attitudes. But I believe when John 3.16 is talking about God so loving the world, it is not talking about the earth that we live on. It is not talking necessarily about the attitudes of this world. He is talking about the world of mankind. Because look at the next verse in verse number 17, where the Bible says, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Do you realize God is not out to save the trees or the fish, though they're important to him? God is not out to save the dirt, the water, though all of that is important to him. God is out to save mankind. You and I who are a part of this world. And so the love of God is unequal. It is unending, but it is unconditional. Let's get a little bit further in defining the people whom God loves. You and I today, when we speak about love, we place conditions on who we love and why we love them. We love oftentimes because we'll get a return of investment on the love that we show. We might love those who can pay us back and reward us. We love those who are easy to love or those whom we deem worthy of our affection and appreciation. But I want to say to you, that's not the way God loves. That is not the way God loves because God loves the whole world. I can understand God loving the good people of society, you say. I can understand, all right, God loves the world, but let's just say maybe God loves just the people that are good. But my friend, that's the way we love. You see, God loves all the people of the world. Maybe you're here today and you say, well, I can understand God loving my grandma because she never lied that I know of. I can understand God loving that sweet person because boy, they've just been so kind to us. But I want you to know this morning that God truly does love what we would consider the unlovely, those that we would not choose to set our love on. Does he love the Ted Bundys of the world, the Saddam Husseins, the Hitlers, the mass murderers of this world? Sometimes we'd wanna say, well, I don't think God loves, but my friend John 3 16, God so loved the world. Let's get a little more personal with God's love. Does God love this spouse of yours who's been so cruel to you? Does God love that person who's abused you or molested you? Do you mean God loves that person? Does God love that unkind employer that I work for or that one that I work with? Does God really love that one? The answer to all of those questions is a resounding yes, because the love of God is unconditional. But as I speak about the measure of God's love, may I say the love of God is unalterable. It is unending, it is unequal, it is unconditional, and it is unalterable. Oh, my friend, you may end this life. It may be over for you at some particular age, and you may go to the grave. You were born, you live this life, and you may pass from this life. But may I say that God, the love of God is unalterable. Whether it is that you'll go to heaven or whether it is you'll be without Jesus Christ and will go to a place called hell, the lake of fire, God's love for you will never die. He always loves the unloved. My friend, God so loved the world. How do you measure God's love? I can't because my love is so secluded. My love has boundaries. My love has conditions. Not God's love. Oh, if you could grab God's love today and realize that God loves me. Loves me. So number one, the measure of God's love, but may I see next the manifestation of God's love. Notice this next phrase, God so loved the world that he gave. He gave his only begotten son. I suppose that this answers for us what God has done to show that He truly loves us. Please notice that word gave. God loved us so much that He gave. You know, we often say that talk is cheap, don't we? Don't tell me that you love me so much, show me how much you love me. And more often than not, people talk big but fall very short on actions. And yet I can truly say that the amazing love of God is known and can be known because he gave something valuable to us. There was a young lady that received the following note from her sweetheart. I love you. I would climb the highest mountain for you. I would swim the deepest river for you. I would go through snow and hail for you. P.S., if it doesn't rain on Wednesday night, I'll be over to see you. You know, our love sometimes has those conditions where we might do something for someone, we may not do something for someone, but I want you to know God gave something for you. The word give, this word gave, it means to offer or to bestow as a gift. May I hasten to say that when we speak about God giving, that there's no ulterior motive in God's giving his gift. There's no condition upon which God gave his gift. It is simple and straightforward. God so loved you that he gave. His son, Jesus Christ. Romans chapter five, verse eight, but God commendeth. He demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, while we were messing our lives up, while we were living for ourselves, Christ died for us. Ephesians chapter two, verse four to five. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us, made us alive together with Christ, by grace are ye saved. You say to yourself, can I really know that God loves me? Sure you can. Now, I know that there's problems in this world that we face, and there's issues that you have in your own sphere, your own little world. Oh, out in this world, out around about us, there's sickness, disease, earthquakes, human trafficking, starvation, murder. rapes, and injustices of all kinds. And in your world, there are struggles financially, there are struggles in the heart, there's struggles in relationships, there's all sorts of things that we face. But no matter what mantra we may pull out of all the problems in this world, or all the problems in my world, I'm here to tell you that God loves you so much, he gave you something. He showed his love. demonstrated it, manifested it. When I was growing up, in fact, my brother's here today, I never ever questioned my dad loved me. My dad rarely said I love you, but I knew deep down in my heart that my dad loved me. But I'll tell you, I got to experience the love of my dad When in 1988, after I had just gotten my license, or 1987, I got my license and my dad bought me a car. Now before you get excited, it wasn't a sports car. It wasn't a brand new car. It was a beat up 1976 Ford Granada. I lived up in Massachusetts and we were near the White Mountains. We used to see all through New England. If you're from New England, you probably remember these bumper stickers. There would be cars that would have these bumper stickers. This car climbed Mount Washington. Well, I always got a kick out of the few little bumper stickers that I saw. It was a beat up, dented, rusted car that said, this car fell off Mount Washington. That was my car. It was my car. My car had rust on both sides, front and back. The steering on my car, I had to turn probably about three or four revolutions before I could make a turn onto a road. We had such rust on the back, there was a rust, there was a hole in the trunk and my dad's told me, he says, never keep your windows fully up, they had exhausts coming into the cab of the car, keep it down. So here I am in the dead of winter driving up there and going. But one day, as I'm making a turn, four or five revolutions, I'm thinking to myself, my dad loves me. He gave me this. Now, I know you laugh at my car, but that was my car. That was a gift from my dad to me. I didn't care what it looked like. I didn't care what other people thought about it. It was mine. My dad, who loved me, gave me that. Can I say to you this morning, God the Father in heaven loves you so much that he gave something to you. And I want you to know that he gave us his son. You see, he didn't give you a thing that would rot, that could be lost, he gave you a person. And it wasn't just a person, it was his son. And it wasn't just his son, it was his only begotten son. If I could give you one of my sons, I would be able to say, well, I still have one. But God had one unique, only begotten son, and he gave it unto you. His son, Jesus Christ, his only begotten son. So today when we look at John 3, 16, we see the measure of God's love. We see the manifestation of God's love. He gave us his son, but I want you to notice here the mission of God's love. Please consider the whole purpose in the last half of this verse of God demonstrating his love. All of it had a reason, and that reason involved me and something called everlasting life. And I believe for us to understand the last half of this extraordinary verse, we must kind of jump back briefly to the first part of John chapter three. I will not have you look at all. I will just reference it. And I will share with you that if you were to read John chapter three, verses one through 15, there are two significant things you can pull out. Number one, there is a conversation of Jesus with a man by the name of Nicodemus. And secondly, in verse number 14, there is an illustration that Jesus Christ gave to us. Now, the conversation that Jesus had, I want you to understand, Nicodemus was not just your ordinary run-of-the-mill type of person. Nicodemus was, the Bible says in verse number one, a Pharisee. He was a man who knew the Old Testament very well. He knew it so well that people would come to him to know God's word. They wanted to know what does the Bible say in this case? What does the Bible say here? What is this all about? And the Pharisees became very religious, very puffed up because of their knowledge of scripture. But do you notice here, verse number two, this man came to Jesus by night and notice he said unto him, Now here's what he said, he's just striking up a conversation. Rabbi, this is what they commonly called their teachers. Jesus had been recognized as a teacher. He said, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Now I want you to notice something. Nicodemus may have come to Jesus just to strike up a little conversation and have a dialogue with him. But Jesus Christ, who knew the heart of every individual, knew that Nicodemus was asking a question. Because look at verse number three. Jesus answered. Now wait a minute, I look at verse two, I don't see a question mark. I don't hear a question coming from Nicodemus' lips, no. He may have made a statement with his mouth, but in his heart, he's asking a question, and Jesus, who knew the heart, says, Nicodemus, I know why you've come. The whole reason Nicodemus came is for him to understand two things, who he was, Nicodemus, and who Jesus was. And may I say today that there has been nothing changed since the 2000 years that Jesus Christ and Nicodemus had that conversation. If you can grab a hold of and answer two questions in this life, you'll be far greater on than any person in this world. And that is, who are you in this life? And who is Jesus Christ? May I answer the first one, who you are? You and I are sinners before God. Romans chapter three, verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now you say, pastor, I didn't get invited today to kind of get slapped in the face. I'm not trying to be ugly. I'm not trying to hurt you at all. But I'm here to tell you the truth. The Bible makes it clear. And you and I know in our hearts that we've done stuff wrong. Oh, we may be better than our neighbor. We may be better than that person in the city jail. We may be better than that relative of ours. but before God, and that's the only standard that we ought to put ourselves before. You and I are sinners before God, and that sin carries with it the greatest penalty, and that is the lake of fire, a place called hell. Notice with me, if you would, at John chapter three, verse 16, the ending here, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Can I say today that they're in this world, and let's just bring it to this sanctuary right now. In this auditorium, there are only two types of people. You say, well, pastor, I'm born in this state. I know. or I'm of this color, no problem, or I'm of this persuasion, or I have this denominational take, or I have this, look, that's all man-made stuff. But do you realize before God, there's only two types of people. There are those that are saved and there are those that are lost. And there are those who are saved, who the Bible says that they have everlasting life, but there are those who are lost, who the Bible says will perish. It is a strong word, which means they're not going to be annihilated and snuffed out of this life and forgotten forever. They will be alive. Their soul will be in agony in the lake of fire forever and ever. Those are the two groups of people. And what makes the difference? It's the gift that God's given Jesus Christ. God so loved you. In fact, put your name in that. For God so loved John, that he gave his only begotten son, that if John should believe on him, John will not perish, but John will have everlasting life. Now I'm here to tell you today that I can safely and soundly say that, that I know Jesus as my savior because there was a time in my life when I personally received by faith the gift that God gave me, his son, Jesus Christ. And I pray to receive Christ as my savior. And today I can safely say that I'm one of those who is saved that I'm going to heaven forever. But can I ask you, can you answer that? Don't look at your spouse. Don't look at the one that's invited you. You answer it. Only you and God know whether you're saved here today or not. May I say that if you can answer today who you are before God, that is a sinner, then you are well on the way to answer this second question, and that is who is Jesus? What Nicodemus found out is that Jesus Christ is the very Son of God. He is the one that's been revealed in the scripture. He is the one that came to be born of the Virgin Mary. He's the one who lived in this world a sinless life, and he was the only perfect sacrifice to die on the cross of Calvary to pay for your sins. Jesus took your sins and my sins on Him on the cross of Calvary. And if you would by faith receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can go free to heaven. Is that not amazing about God? That amazing love Oh, if we try to measure it, it's hard to measure. Oh, if we look at its manifestation, we see that God has given something to us, and it's not just any little ordinary gift. It is His Son, Jesus Christ. But do you realize the whole mission of why God gave us His Son was for you? His love is coming right to you, right to you. May I simply remind you today that God truly does love you. He knows your need. He longs to have you with Him forever in heaven, and thereby He gave His best gift in order for you to be saved and in heaven. If you somehow today doubt God's love, may I encourage you to go back to Mount Calvary. As I close this morning, A number of years ago, I had come across an illustration which I believe fit best in the closing of this message. This story that I'm about to tell you is set back in the roaring 20s. The place is Oklahoma. A man by the name of John was in his early 20s, newly married with a little blue-eyed baby boy, and this man was full of optimism. He wanted to travel the world, visit far away places that he had researched and studied. But in 1929, the stock market crash had come. With the shattering of the economy came the devastation of John's dreams. Oklahoma was systematically being ravaged by depression and despair, and so John took his wife and his baby and drove their Model A Ford toward Missouri at the Mississippi River and found a job tending one of the great railroad bridges. Day after day, John sat at the controls and directed the enormous gears of this immense bridge over such a beautiful and mighty river. Every day he got to look out at the bulky barges and the splendid ships which gracefully passed under the bridge. Each day as he watched those ships go by, He saw how they would carry his dreams away into faraway places. But 1937 came along and a new dream for John was in his mind and his heart. His baby boy, now eight years old, was able to go to work with him. And boy, that one morning they eagerly got up, packed their lunches, and walked arm in arm towards that immense bridge. Greg looked in wide amazement as he sat in that control box and watched his dad move those huge levers and lower and raise that massive bridge. As little Greg watched, he thought to himself, my dad is the most amazing dad in all the world. Well, before they knew it, the lunch time was here. John had elevated the bridge and allowed the scheduled ships to pass through for the next hour. taking his son in hand, they inched their way down a narrow catwalk onto an observation deck, probably about 50 feet above the Mississippi River, and it was there while eating their lunch, John shared story after story of faraway places that he had studied. Boy, as he began to talk about one place where the river banks began to overflow in this one area, all of a sudden, there was a whistle that was shrieking, and John looked at his watch, and sure enough, it was the Memphis Express only minutes away. Not wanting to alarm his son, he suppressed his panic. In the calmest tone that he could muster, he instructed his son to stay put. Quickly leaping to his feet, he dashed to the steel stairway and climbed up to the control room. Once inside the control room, he searched the river both ways to make sure that there were no ships below. And as he had been instructed by his employer, he looked straight down the bridge to make sure there was nothing below. And as his eyes moved downward, he saw something so horrifying that his heart froze in his chest. There below in the massive gearbox that housed those gears that moved the gigantic bridge was his beloved son. Apparently, without John knowing it, Greg had tried to follow his dad but had fallen off the catwalk. He was wedged between the teeth of two main cogs in that gearbox John knew that by lowering the bridge meant killing his pride and joy. Being in a panic, his mind probed every direction. He thought, is there a rope that I could grab and maybe use this to quickly save him? But there was no time. His mind frantically went from plan to plan, but nothing would avail him. What would this man do? What could he do? His thoughts rushed to that oncoming train carrying about 400 passengers. It was moving ever so closely and quickly to where John was. These people in this Memphis Express were counting on him. But what about his son? What would his mother think? He began to see right now in his imagination the tear-stained face of his beloved wife thinking about their son. But he knew there was only one thing he could do. John buried his face under his left arm, plunged down that mighty lever. The cries of his son were soon drowned out by the relentless sound of the bridge as it ground slowly into position. And with only seconds to spare, the Memphis Express with its 400 passengers roared out of the trees and across the mighty bridge. As John began to lift his face from his arms, and he looked into the windows of the passing train, he all of a sudden saw a businessman casually reading his newspaper. The uniformed conductor glancing nonchalantly at his large pocket vest watch. Ladies sipping afternoon tea. There was a boy that he all of a sudden caught that looked like Greg, who was taking his big spoon and dipping it down in the ice cream. Everyone seemed to be in their own idle conversation and just careless laughter, but no one looked his way. There was not a glance at all at the giant gearbox that had the mangled remains of his only son, his hopes and dreams. And as the thoughts came across him, he pounded the glass in the control room and he cried out, what's the matter with you people? Don't you care? Don't you know that I've sacrificed my son for you? What's wrong with you? No one answered. No one heard. No one looked, not even any person seemed to care. And as soon as it had happened, it was over. The train had disappeared, moving rapidly across the bridge and out over the horizon. May I say to you today that this story is but a faint glimpse of the love of God that he has for you and me. But the interesting fact that I wanna point out is this story showed how John Griffith was caught by surprise. But if we talk about God, in his sovereign will, and by his great love, he chose to sacrifice his son so we might live. I don't know about you, But that is amazing love, God's love. May we bow our heads please?