The Greatest Love Of All

what a thrill it is to be a temple of the living god to have his spirit dwelling within us and i like the way that course is phrased we embrace his glory in this temple would you lift your hands heavenward and just welcome his presence into your heart your life and that'll certainly affect the atmosphere we're in lord thank you so much for the outpouring of your spirit upon all flesh but that includes us tonight thank you that we can indeed be temples of the living god and we give you glory and praise and worship from this temple tonight thanking you in advance for what you'll accomplish within us for i know you love each of us tonight thank you for that and everyone said amen we're thankful to be in god's house together once more and has been noted the youth convention is ongoing they started at 7 30 as well so they're in service right now and uh that's where a number of our chaperones and other adults are too of course our pastor also so we'll keep that in prayer through the week this is easter week if you stop and consider it really is the outcome of the christmas story that we celebrate each year when the angel appeared to joseph when he was considering separating from mary the angel assured him that it would be okay to marry her for that which was conceived in her was of the holy ghost but then the angel said this she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name jesus for he shall save his people from their sins and so the purpose of christ's coming to save us really culminated on calvary this friday is good friday that we know when he went to the cross when he gave himself for us and then of course his resurrection on the third day so it's an outcome or outgrowth of the christmas story the complete plan of god's salvation and this evening this message focuses on the motivation if you will for god's salvation or god's plan of salvation and that is his love love is what motivated or drove god to provide this glorious plan of salvation that we experience and that's what i want to focus on while you're yet standing from 1st john chapter 4 verse 9. this is of course the apostle john writing in a letter to believers and he said in this the love of god was manifested toward us or in this the love of god was shown that god has sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him so that's how god's love is manifested or shown to us this verse tells us god sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him if you were here this past sunday you may recall i received a revelation that the new living translation of the bible is something that is to be held in high regard and so from the pastor to the youth pastor to the birthday presenter and i don't know how many others so just to cover my bases i'm going to read this verse from the new living translation case word gets back first john 4 9 says god showed how much he loved us by sending this his one and only son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him and everyone said amen would you lift your voice and ask god to help us to have a great understanding and appreciation of his love for us lord thank you so much that you do love us you care for us and it is what motivated you to provide our salvation and we want to appreciate that tonight understand it as best we can in our human minds and pray that your will and purpose would be accomplished through the word of god touching each heart tonight and i ask that you do these things in the precious name of jesus amen you may be seated

love has numerous definitions and degrees in fact the greek language in which the new testament is written does a little better job of distinguishing the different types of love there are in greek from five to seven or eight greek words depending on which source you read that actually define or describe love and out of these five to seven or eight they distinguish things such as romantic love friendship a playful aspect to love long-standing or enduring love familia love or family love even self-love and then there's selfless love all of those are described from different words in the greek language and in the new testament three of those are used in the writing of scripture but in english we essentially use the one word love for all those different kinds of relationships and distinctions we use the one word love to describe feelings of affection for who and even what that we hold in high regard or cherish or treasure as an example i can say that i love my wife melody but i can also say i really love this wristwatch that i own and in english if you know that language you get the difference you can infer it from the context if nothing else but we understand that the love i have for my wife is not the love i have for a wristwatch even if you don't believe that it's true but it's the case and we just say that we love all kinds of things objects and ideas and places uh even pets there's a reason that people are called dog lovers any dog lovers in the house tonight look at that how about cat lovers got a few how about reptiles no i had to get that in because my grandson has a bearded dragon so i had to at least do that uh bird lovers you get the idea so we you know we say we love fido the dog or whatever we know what that means we can say that we love possessions i really love my house i really love my car i really love my boat or anything along that line if you are blessed or unless you're retired or when you were working if you were blessed to be in a field for which you studied and had a passion for you could probably heard saying i love my job it just fills me up and i'm so satisfied i love it because it's in an area that i enjoy those of you like to get outdoors you can say i love trees i love mountains i love the sand and the seashore some people even love weather you might hear somebody say i love snow and the older i get the more suspicious i get of those people not really but people love storms you've heard of storm chasers right they just get all thrilled and excited about chasing a storm or a tornado i don't think i've ever heard anybody say i love a hurricane but maybe there are some people out there like that but hobbies anybody love fishing hunting anybody love music itself maybe just the appreciation of it if not your involvement in creating it crafting rehabbing cooking who would i just talk to before church that doesn't like to cook oh it was your wife jeremy she doesn't like to cook so don't talk to her about that did she leave knowing i was up here oh my word i'll speak to her later but uh and then sports of course if you're a college basketball fan march madness you've been going crazy you love it uh cardinals baseball if you like that it's coming soon you love it so you get the idea love for things we use that one word and then love for people is above that i think it's fair to say but even there we've got distinctions in our love for people there is a friendship a love of friendship and that's typically something that we choose it's a common bond with people that have values and interests that are the same as us so we have a friend and we love our friend uh siblings we there's family love and i'm not saying that siblings can't be your friend but just the family bond whether it's by blood or just association if you grew up in the same environment maybe not even blood related but you're considered family that's a type of love that is a little different than the friendship love then obviously the love for a spouse or a fiance a boyfriend a girlfriend that's yet another distinction and then those of you that are parents know that there is a love for a child and maybe it doesn't happen until the child is older but the child has a love for a parent now they they love us when they're little and then like what 13 to 21 you're the uh dumbest person that walked on the face of the earth right but if you have a teenager stay in there stay in the battle when they hit 21 you'll be smart again so it all comes around isn't that right angela see she thought i was the dumbest guy in the world for several years there then she realized he's pretty smart no i'm kidding i think she did but uh but even i would even offer this that as parents and i'm not saying one's better than the other but i think there's even a little distinction between the love of a dad and the love of a mom uh if nothing else just because of the gender difference the way we approach things and uh arguably the bond of a mother's love to her child is probably that's why i say arguably we could debate it but it might be the strongest human bond of love there is i do know this that in isaiah god compared his love to the maternal love he said a mother is not going to forget her child and if you doubt the maternal instinct just try messing with mama bear's cubs and you'll find out that uh there's a strong feeling there but god says even if a mom in the unlikely event would forget or maybe not being in her right mind for any reason would forget or turn against her own child he said even if that happened i will never forget you so god took the the love of a mother and then compared it to his love and then said my love is even above that

and for those of you that need to have a title or like to have a title of a message i'm just calling this the greatest love of all and if we're going to see love in all of its essence all of its meaning all of its glory the place to look is to god for john the apostle wrote god is love and that's probably the simplest easiest way to define love and i know we could delve into that and call get all kinds of things drawn out of that but plain and simple god is love love is god and that's the easiest simplest way to define love in the eyes of scripture particularly and divine love and this is where one of those greek words comes in and i'm guessing most of you that have attended church a few years or bible studies you've probably come across the word agape if i'm pronouncing that right and in first corinthians 13 if you'd like to look there the apostle paul really defines what agape is or divine love if you want to put it in english terms because you see there we use our english word love but you kind of have to put the word divine in front of it to really make a distinction there human love divine love and here's what the apostle paul shares with us under the inspiration of the holy ghost uh in defining love and and the king james version uses the word charity it's from the greek word agape i'm reading from the international version which uses the word love and here's the definition of it from first corinthians 13 and then verses four through eight love is patient and you can just maybe in your mind you could make a column a checklist and and uh if you want to know somebody loves you see if you can put check marks by all these love is patient love is kind it does not envy it does not boast it is not proud it is not rude it is not self-seeking it is not easily angered it keeps no record of wrongs love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth it always protects always trusts always hopes always perseveres love never fails if that doesn't describe god i don't know what does and that is love that is god and uh to put that in other words it's describing a love that is selfless or self-sacrificing it's the idea that's included in the interest and welfare of others in your mind in other words not worrying about yourself and not necessarily based on feeling but even action that is on behalf of others

in john 3 16 that familiar verse it states for us the greatest expression of love and you know this verse so well for god so loved the world now of course that means the people in the world god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life that plan of god was based on his love and the gift of jesus christ which is what john 3 16 is describing for us the gift of jesus christ was born of love and it offers salvation for everybody in john's letter going back to that first john chapter 4 verse 10 and this two is from the new international version john writes this is love or real love not that we love god but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins so out of love jesus christ was sent came to us if you will and he came as an atoning sacrifice or a sacrifice to take away the sin of the world and thank god for that his love made it all possible and jesus then explained in john 15 13 i don't have this verse for you but it's a familiar one he explained the greatest love of all he said greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend and if you think about it there's no higher expression of love is there than to give your life for another because that's what we have that's the most possession most precious possession we have that of our life jesus said greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends but beyond defining the greatest love with words jesus then demonstrated the greatest love for romans 5 8 says but god demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us so in our case before we were ever born or brought into existence god way back when loved us in advance and provided a plan of salvation out of his love he demonstrated his love in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us and it was either paul or peter i forget which that said he who knew no sin became sin for us that doesn't mean jesus was guilty of sin it just means he became the sacrifice for our sin and jesus willingly offered himself as that sacrifice he died that we might live and that is the ultimate expression of love the greatest love of all is the fact that jesus christ gave himself for each of us

in isaiah there's even a prophecy of the messiah's suffering and death and what this prophecy does in talking about his death it points out the purpose of the result of his death isaiah 53 5 says but he was wounded for our transgressions that was the the point of him going to the cross to be wounded or bruised for our transgressions and iniquities and i have done this uh from time to time over the years and maybe you have too but he didn't die for his own sins did he he died for my sins and so i i've tried to literally and not tried i've done it i've literally thought of sins that i've committed and realize that's why he was on the cross not because of anything he did but what i did if i told a lie he was paying for my lie on the cross if i stole something he was paying for my being a thief whatever immoral act or or ungodly thing i may have done that's why he was on the cross that he was dying in my place dying so he was wounded for you can personalize it tonight my transgressions bruised for my iniquities the chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed and that prophetic scripture about the messiah was telling us the purpose the outcome of what he did for us on the cross he gave himself on our behalf and jesus subjected himself and again we're coming up to good friday where we recognize the time when he went to the cross he subjected himself to the enormous pain of the crucifixion for our sins not for his own and what i want to especially emphasize tonight is he did that because he loves us there was no other motivation no other reason for him doing except that he loved us he suffered the whipping of the soldiers which left his back torn open and raw allowed them to gouge his head with that crown of thorns he allowed them to nail his hands and feet to the cross and then out of love he endured and from my reading there were muscle cramps momentary paralysis when he took a breath i've read that it was he was powerless to exhale that and if he raised himself on the cross to be able to breathe then his weight shifted to his legs and feet and that created enormous pain and cramps in his legs and thighs and the whole scheme of crucifixion was a progressive weakness under increasing pain and generally the death was a slow one almost always caused by asphyxiation but a typical was a slow death in fact it wasn't uncommon for someone to be on a cross for two or three days that's why pilate when they came in and told him in a matter of hours that jesus had passed he was shocked marveled at the because it was usually a slow painful death as lungs filled up and they basically were strangled to death but through the pain and the suffering of the cross jesus made it possible for us to be saved and love is what moved him love is what drove him to go there on our behalf propelled him he as hebrews puts it endured the cross knowing what it would do for us knowing what it would provide as a means of salvation i'm glad to know jesus is the lamb of god which takes away the sin of the world and his own blood by his own blood he obtained eternal redemption for us willingly laying down his life and doing so to show us the greatest love of all i'm thankful that he loves each of us with the greatest of all love that of laying down his life for us how blessed we are how humbled we are to recognize he went there for our sins to die for us but then doing so out of love even though we might not have deserved that love we certainly didn't earn it by good deeds or anything of that nature but he out of his love went to the cross in our behalf and provides salvation for us

toby wilson shares a story about a family that was involved in a very serious automobile accident and [name redacted] the younger of two brothers was injured pretty badly in the wreck so much so that he needed a blood transfusion it turned out that his eight-year-old older brother [name redacted] had the same blood type and so the dad sat down and did his best to explain to his eight-year-old son that if he would give his blood for [name redacted] that it would uh help him a whole lot it would really be a good thing to do and and certainly help him to feel better and so [name redacted] gave a little bit of thought and responded yeah daddy i'll give my blood to help [name redacted] feel better and so they hooked him up to the iv and all of that and after the necessary amount of blood was drawn uh they took the needle out and then left him there to to rest and kind of observe him for a little while and after that as they were there [name redacted] looked at his dad and he had tears running down his face and he asked his father this question daddy when do i die and in that moment the dad realized with a shock that he had not clearly communicated to his son [name redacted] [name redacted] thought he was given all of his blood for [name redacted] and afterward that that he [name redacted] would die and in his eight-year-old mind whatever concept he had of death he recognized that much and realized [name redacted]'s going to live as a result of this but i'm not going to live and the amazing thing is with that childlike concept he was still willing to say yes to it still willing to go through with it and not balk or even ask a lot of questions but just to give himself in that manner and that's the illustration of what jesus christ did for each of us gave himself on the cross out of his love for us and he loves each of us each of us that much

and for a final scripture i hadn't intended to keep you along regardless i know they've got music practice for easter and everything but for a final scripture john opens that first letter that he wrote the third chapter with an exclamation and it's probably one that you've heard or read certainly over the years but john chapter three verse one he he says it's kind of like it's gushing out of him behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of god it's as though he was amazed and just astounded behold what manner of love we don't deserve this we've not earned it but what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of god and when he said behold what manner he in effect was saying consider the type of love it took for him to do that for us or consider the sort of love and let's ask that question of what possible sort is this love that's been bestowed on us well god's love and i'll just try to summarize this for us from a lot of different places in scripture but god's love is the sort of love that is constant never fails think of that human love fails human love wears out human love gives up but god's love never fails the love that god has bestowed on us is the sort of love that's unconditional don't deserve it but it's there all the time you don't have to qualify you don't have to earn it but it's for everyone the love that god gives or shows to us is the sort of love that as we read it's patient it's kind it's not easily angered it doesn't keep record of wrongs always protects always trusts always hopes and always perseveres and the greatest expression of his love is seen in the gift of his son jesus christ i again remind you of john 3 16 god so loved the world that he gave the greatest expression of love it's the superlative degree of it god's love is not only great it's not only the greater love but it is the greatest love we'll ever know the highest degree of it are the extreme ends of it god's love is the deepest the most far-reaching and certainly unconditional as it reaches to all and it's that love i hope i can really impress this upon us tonight in a fresh way it's that love that you've got to take personally and maybe one way of doing it is to think of it like this if you were the only person in the world that needed to be saved now i know uh when jesus went to the cross there weren't seven billion people on the planet but there are now and just try to put it in modern day terms out of seven billion people if you were the only one that had sinned everybody else was perfect they weren't guilty of any wrongdoing you're the only one jesus christ still would have gone to the cross for you that's how personally we need to take god's love and it's easy if we're not careful to get lost in the numbers and you know he loves all of us and it's true but can you take it personally tonight and recognize that if you were the only one that needed that salvation his love for you is such he still would have done it don't get lost in the numbers tonight yeah we've all sinned and come short of the glory of god and that love brings to each of us a salvation and thank god it is for everyone amen your degree of sin background level of education your social standing your your race your color your gender none of that matters to god now we as humans kind of make a big deal of some of those things if not all of them but not god he loves each of us and his love for us is reaching us tonight he loves every body with the greatest love and because of that everyone can be saved if each person will put faith in jesus christ and his atoning sacrifice in other words the giving of his life on calvary if you'll put your faith in that as being the sacrifice for your sins and then on the basis of it at faith repent from sin turn from it follow the directive of water baptism in jesus name the bible says you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost there's no question about it as long as you yield and cooperate with god you're going to get the spirit it's a promise that's unto you and to everyone that will put faith in christ repent and be baptized in his name you will be filled with the spirit and how many know that if anyone is in christ he is a new creation it's a life-changing experience isn't it when jesus christ forgives us of our sins they're remitted and we're filled with his spirit thank god for a new life that we have in him there's a reason we call it a second birth or a new birth because of the life that jesus christ gives to us and

as we stand together i want us to recognize that that's a cause for celebration i know that's a no-brainer of a statement but when you think about what christ has done for you all out of his love that's cause for celebration tonight is it not that's cause for rejoicing in fact the bible even says let the redeemed of the lord say so i know that can be saying so with your lifestyle and on and on but i think there's a literal aspect to it saying out loud god i thank you for your salvation god i thank you for your redemption of my life thank you for changing me thank you for transforming me thank you for making me brand new would you let out a celebration praise just for a few moments as we wrap up this service god we thank you we give thanks we rejoice that's it be glad in the lord tonight maybe take a little trip down memory lane when he found you how he rescued you how he turned your life around oh we celebrate what you have done christ jesus we remember tonight and we reflect what you have done for us thanks be to god thanks be to god thanks be to god

i know we shouldn't dwell in the past and we certainly don't want to think about past sins but every now and again it's it's healthy i think just to remember that pit from whence we were digged that place where jesus christ bought it brought us from and we all have our own story and the book of romans says this i think it's the fifth chapter god's love is poured out now in the king james version it says shed abroad but the idea is god's love is poured out into our hearts through the holy ghost who is given to us and so if i'm understanding that verse correctly when we receive the gift of the holy ghost that's the channel through which god's love fills us and we certainly know that the fruit of the spirit first and foremost is love right and that comes to us when we're filled with the spirit of god he pours out his love into our hearts through the holy ghost which has been given to us so i pray that there can be a fresh appreciation for all of us tonight about the greatest love ever shown that of jesus christ giving himself for us and recognizing that that love is personal yeah he loves everybody here but take it personally tonight he loves you or if you want to say it this way he loves me and i think if you would be willing we ought to lift our hands and just thank him for that love knowing what it is and knowing that it's for us tonight

lord thank you so much for showing us in your word what the greatest love is in terms of words but then you demonstrate it by giving your life for us thank you for the love that we're experiencing thank you that we understand it to the degree we can thank you lord that it is for each of us personally tonight and we thank you for calvary and its result and we thank you for that resurrection mourn that we're going to celebrate this weekend in particular thank you lord for that validates our faith because you live we shall live and we thank you for that tonight and everybody with faith said amen and i'm glad that this love that we experience is something that we can also freely show to others in our lifestyle our conversation in that and also freely share sometimes just a smile big old smile is an introduction to someone's knowing god's love and i'm glad we have the opportunity to do that amen