For God So Loved the World

Scripture: John 3:16; Luke 1:26-38

 

Introduction

• Jesus said in John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
• Jesus laid down His life for His friends and I am so grateful to be His friend.
• Can you imagine how much love God the Father had to send His Son to die for us?
• I can’t begin to understand why God would do such a thing.
• I certainly don’t deserve it. There’s no way I will ever earn it.
• I don’t even love myself that much. I mean I have my moments, but not really.
• I think a lot of people feel like they are unlovable and not good enough for Jesus.
• Probably, a lot of people avoid Christianity and going to church because they don’t fit in.
• They feel like “why bother? I’m not religious.  What’s the point?”
• And this is why we must work hard to convince people that they are
• The way we show love to others can encourage them to love themselves and turn to Jesus
• For our ministry to work here at Biltmore, it must start with love.
• It starts by me genuinely loving people, in general, and all of you especially.
• I have found this has come easy for me from the moment I got here.
• I also see that it comes very easy for each of you.
• I also see that the new people we have attracted here meet these same criteria.
• Any time you want to sample that love, just show up at the clothes closet on Saturday.
• Come to one of our community dinners or talk to the many people we have helped.
• I think we can see the depth of God’s love in three steps in His elaborate plan to make it happen:

1. How He chose the right girl
2. How He brought Jesus into the world
3. How He used her cousin to prepare

1. How He chose the right girl

• It took a very special girl to willingly agree to serve God’s plan.
• Mary was a young girl who had been betrothed to an older man to be married.
• As the angel told Mary, she was highly favored by God Himself.
• God chose her because of the character that He saw in her.
• As such, she was still a virgin which had been prophesied in Isaiah 7:14:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

• Also, both Mary and the man she was to marry was from the house and lineage of David.
• As prophesied in Isaiah 11:1-5,

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord – and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.  He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.  Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

• Mary had to be willing to take a huge risk to her own life to do God’s will.
• The idea of her becoming pregnant while still a virgin betrothed to a man could ruin her reputation and even get her into serious trouble.
• It could ruin her marriage and her future would be very sketchy.
• When the angel of the Lord told Mary what was to happen her response was:

I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.

• What faith and devotion this girl had to be willing to risk so much for the Lord.
• She must have been confused about the process that would make her pregnant, but she was willing to do what He asked.

2. How He brought Jesus into the world

• God’s love meant that Jesus had to come into the world in a very specific way.
• And so it came to pass that Mary did become pregnant with God’s child.
• And just as she feared, her marriage was at risk when Joseph heard the news.
• Joseph wanted to keep from embarrassing Mary, so he was thinking about divorcing her quietly.
• From Matthew 1:20-21 we read how the Lord convinced Joseph to hang in there:

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

• So, Joseph stayed the course and stood by Mary throughout the pregnancy.
• This was a couple that loved each other and loved their God and found His favor.
• When it came time for Jesus to be born, they returned to Bethlehem to register for the census.
• This was to fulfill the scripture from Micah 5:2:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah,

out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

• God’s plan for the world hinges on Christ’s fulfillment of ancient prophecy.
• God’s love for mankind runs so deep that He has spent hundreds of years laying the foundation for the coming of Christ.
• This is important because God wants to make sure that people can see what He has done.
• Establishing prophecy about events hundreds of years before they happen helps build credibility.
• Jesus was born in a manger with the animals because there was no room at the inn,
• All the rooms were taken by people there for the census just like Mary and Joseph.
• From the very beginning, Jesus led the humblest possible life on earth.

3. How He used her cousin to prepare

• God made sure that His hand was evident in the preparation for Jesus,

• He used a very unlikely demonstration of His power through Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth.
• In verse 36-37 the angel tells Mary:

Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.  For no word from God will ever fail.”

• This child’s birth was totally a miracle.

• In Luke 1:12-17 the angel Gabriel appears to Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah

When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.  But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.  He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,  for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.  He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.  And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

• Zechariah was so startled by this that he expressed doubt, so he was made unable to speak until the child was born.
• Zechariah’s voice returned as soon as he said the child’s name was to be John.
• This child grew up to become John the Baptist.
• As was predicted by the prophet Isaiah in 40:3-6:

A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.  Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.  The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.

And all people will see God’s salvation.

• John prepared people for the coming of Christ by baptizing them in water for their sins.
• Even though Jesus led a sinless life, He still came to John to be baptized.
• John tried to refuse, but Jesus insisted that it be done.
• In Matthew 3:16-17 we see the love of God appear as John baptized Jesus:

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

• By using a most unlikely couple too old to bear a child as the parents of John, God demonstrated His power and love.
• By using ancient prophecy to form a completely unique scenario for the baby Jesus to be born, God demonstrated His power and love.
• There should be no question about how much effort and level of detail God the Father put into the preparation and arrival of His Son, Jesus Christ.
• For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.