Sermon Tone Analysis

*SERIES:       THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE*

*LESSON:     THE MATCHLESS LOVE OF THE FATHER *

*INTRODUCTION*

*                    *When someone mentions *4-1-1* we think of a person needing help.

*9-1-1* tells of a need that is now urgent.

Then there is *3:16.*

It says, /“Someone cares for me very much.

He gave His best for me.

There is now hope in any circumstance and best of all, it is free to me.” /The best known verse in the Bible is John 3:16.

It begins/, “God so loved the world, He gave….”/

That’s free!

And that’s a lot to get for nothing.

It continues, /“that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life./

/ /

As surely as God is alive and well today, He desires that all of his created humans be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

The good news we have today is the same gospel that Nicodemus, the cautious inquirer, heard from Jesus in the conversation we have been viewing with interest.

*JOHN 3:16 BEGINS WITH /GOD/ AND ENDS WITH/ LIFE/ .

*The life God offers is received by faith and provides us with the comfort of knowing we will never perish.

In another place God’s word says that He is /“not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance/”-II Pet.

3:9.

A man noted, /“When I was a boy I used to hug a rubber hot water bottle in bed at night to beat off the chill air from the frigid Irish Sea.

Comfort!

One morning I woke up wet, cold, and miserable.

The rubber hot water bottle had perished.

It had slowly deteriorated, imperceptibly disintegrated and was ultimately useless.

Perished!

That can happen to humans too—and God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus so that we would not perish but have everlasting life.”//

\\ -Stuart Briscoe, Author of What Works When Life Doesn’t/

 

God’s good /provision is a new birth “into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,”- I// Pet.

1:4/

 

*JOHN 3:16 TELLS US THE FATHER GAVE HIS SON FOR ALL PEOPLE*!

Jesus would later point out that his followers were in the world but not of the world- John 15:19.

Yet, this is the very /“world”/ that is the recipient of His great love.

This is truly unmerited, and in many cases, unsolicited.

To give anything to someone unworthy and uncaring would be termed /“amazing/”, but to give one’s greatest possession, is in a different class.

God gave *“*/His one and only Son.” /Jesus often used stories to make points.

He told of a landowner who planted a vineyard, rented it out and went away for a long time.

Some of the produce was his.

However, when he sent his servants to collect the tenants beat them up and threw them out.

The owner had only one hope left.

He would send his own son, saying /“Perhaps they will respect him.”/

They did not.

They did worse and killed him.

-Lk.

20.

The /“heir”/ commands respect.

God freely send his only son in order to save us- all people.

There was not a greater price one could pay.

When we try to visualize the debauchery of the days of Noah and read of the injustice, immorality and idolatry during the times of the prophets and then simply read the text of John 3:16 we are faced with the fact that a hard decision would have to be made.

God did not choose to destroy the world but save it through His own Son.

Another father must have experienced the overwhelming flow of unsolicited negative emotion when faced with a terrible dilemma.

\\ \\ After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church's preacher once again slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit, and gave a very brief introduction of his childhood friend.

With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit to speak, /"A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast," he began, "when a fast-approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to shore.

The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright, and the three were swept into the ocean."

\\ / \\ The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story.

He continued, "/Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life.... to which boy he would throw the other end of the line.

He only had seconds to make the decision.

The father knew that his son was a Christian, and he also knew that his son's friend was not.

The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves.

\\ \\ As the father yelled out, 'I love you, son!' he threw the line to his son's friend.

By the time he pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beyond the raging swells into the black of night.

His body was never recovered."/

\\ \\ By this time, the two teenagers were sitting straighter in the pew, waiting for the next words to come out of the old man's mouth.

\\ \\ /"The father,"/ he continued, /"knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus, and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus.

Therefore, he sacrificed his son.

How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us."/

With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room.

\\ \\ Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side.

/"That was a nice story,"/ politely started one of the boys, /"but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian."

\\ \\ "Well, you've got a point there,"/ the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible.

A big smile broadened his narrow face, and he once again looked up at the boys and said, /"It sure isn't very realistic, is it?

But I'm standing here today to tell you that THAT story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me.

You see ... I was the son's friend."

\\ / \\ \\ *JOHN 3:16* - *WHEN WE PRACTICE IT, WE LOOK GOOD.

*In the city of Chicago, one cold, dark night, a blizzard was setting in.

A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner.

The people were in and out of the cold.

The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying to sell many papers.

He walked up to the policeman and said/, "Mister, you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight would you?

You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and it's awful cold in there, of a night.

Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay." / \\ \\ The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, /"You go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door.

When they come out the door you just say John 3:16 and they will let you in." /So he walked down the street, up the steps, and knocked on the door.

A lady answered.

He looked up and said, /"John 3:16."

/The lady said, /"Come on in, Son."/

She took him in and she sat him down in a split bottom rocker in front of a great big old fireplace and she went off.

He sat there for a while, and thought to himself, /"John 3:16....

I don't understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm."/

Later she came back and asked him /"Are you hungry?" /He said, /"Well, just a little.

I haven't eaten in a couple of days and I guess I could stand a little bit of food."

/The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful food.

He ate and ate until he couldn't eat any more.

Then he thought to himself /"John 3:16.... Boy, I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a hungry boy full."/

She took him upstairs to a bathroom and a huge bathtub filled with warm water and he sat there and soaked for a while.

As he soaked, he thought to himself, /"John 3:16...I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean.

You know, I've not had a bath, a real bath, in my whole life.

The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out."/

The lady came in and got him, and took him to a room and tucked him into a big old feather bed and pulled the covers up around his neck and kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights.

As he laid in the darkness and looked out the window at the snow coming down on that cold night he thought to himself, /"John 3:16....

I don't understand it, but it sure makes a tired boy rested."/

The next morning she came back up and took him down again to that same big table full of food.

After he ate, she took him back to that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the fireplace and she took a big old Bible and sat down in front of him.

She looked up at him and asked, /"Do you understand John 3:16?" /He said, /"No, Ma'am, I don't.

The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it."/