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"God’s Everlasting Love at Calvary"
Introduction: Again on this Palm Sunday 2011 we come to remember those events of Calvary 2000 years ago when Jesus completed our so great Salvation.
I have for some 40 years believed Palm Sunday began the Passion Week of our Lord followed by the Last Supper being celebrated on Tuesday evening which would be the beginning of the Jewish Wednesday.
The events leading to the cross, the crucifixion and Jesus’ death being carried out on Wednesday with the burial on Wednesday evening which would be the beginning of the Jewish Thursday.
The resurrection would then be on Saturday evening, which for the Jews would be the beginning of the First day of the week.
This Sunday morning we are again going to look at Calvary.
In Jeremiah 31:3 we read, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
In Romans 5:8 we read, “But God commendeth his LOVE toward us, in that, while we were yet SINNERS, Christ died for us.”
In John 3:16-17 we read, “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. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
The love of God found in verse 16 is the greatest story ever told to a listening ear. The Hymn writers wrote,
Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade
To write the LOVE OF GOD above would drain the ocean dry,
Nor would the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
Most of you have known this verse by heart from a child.
One said that John 3:16 is "The greatest sentence ever written."
Another said that John 3:16 is the "Gospel in miniature."
Another said, “There is enough Gospel in this verse to save the world if the world would hear and believe it.”
Someone expressed it this way:
FOR GOD, who is the perfect, unchangeable, source of life,
SO LOVED, the one who has longed to see forgiveness,
THE WORLD, which lives in sin and pleasure mad,
THAT HE GAVE, the greatest gift He had,
HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, the one who had taken our place,
THAT WHOSOEVER, Oh, the matchless grace,
BELIEVETH, which is the placing of our simple trust,
IN HIM, this one shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
Would you note with me SEVEN truths told to us about GOD’S EVERLASTING LOVE found at Calvary in John 3:16.
First: The ORIGIN of His love, "FOR God" John 3:16 begins where Genesis 1:1 began "In the beginning GOD…" In the beginning of creation there is GOD. In the beginning of redemption there is GOD.
Without GOD there would be no CREATION.
Without GOD there would be no REDEMPTION.
Without GOD there would be no LOVE.
Second: The TENSE of His love, "For God so LOVED." It is not God loves, but He "loved." That He loves us now that we are His children, we can, in measure, understand; but that He loved us before we became His children, passes knowledge. The Greek word for love in this passage is the word AGAPE. Here in is the word for CALVARY.
This is the love of the will, rather than the love of the emotions.
This is an eternal love, an everlasting love.
This is a love that is spontaneous, sovereign, uninfluenced.
Please listen! A sinner will go to hell unsaved, but he cannot go to hell unloved. In this verse we have an exposition of divine love.
Its origin is in the HEART of GOD.
Its extent has reached to all the world.
Its power is so strong that it gave the only begotten Son.
Its forever to whosoever believeth, and
Its effectiveness should not perish but have everlasting life.
Third:The MAGNITUDE of His love, "God SO loved." The little word "SO" signifies there are not enough words in all the languages of the world to explain the love of God. Over in Ephesians 3:14-19 we read these words of the love of God. “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, (16) That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, (18) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; (19) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Notice that words cannot explain:
the DEPTH of God's love as He, in Psalms 40:2-3, "brought me up out of an horrible pit out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock.. and He hath put a new song in my mouth even praises unto our God." nor can words explain:
the HEIGHT of God's love earned for the saints to come, nor can words explain:
the LENGTH of the love of God which at Calvary stretched from eternity to eternity, and neither can words express:
the BREATH of the great love of God. Which according to Psalm 103:12 removed our sins "as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."
Do you really want to know the HEIGHT, the DEPTH, the LENGTH, and the BREATH of God’s love for sinners?
Then go to the cross of Calvary and write on the TOP of that cross, "The height of God's love."
Stoop down BENEATH the nail pierced feet that never walked in sin and write at the bottom of the cross, "the depth of God's love."
Then walk around to the LEFT of the cross to the side where the heart of God beats in the bosom of His Son, to the place where the heart weeps over sinners, and at the finger tips of the bruised and bleeding hand of the Saviour write, "The breath of God's love."
Now walk around to the RIGHT hand side of Christ, that everlasting hand that not only cradles the universe but which also holds in His hands the blessed little children and which lifts up the fallen ones, and write there, "The length of God's love."
And when you have completed that,walk around the cross of Calvary, with that picture in mind, you have just begun to understand John 3:16.
Fourth: The SCOPE of God's Love, "For God so loved the WORLD." God is the subject, love is the verb and you and I are the object. Isn't this marvelous? This hunk of clay molded by his hand, marred by sin, now enemies, alienated and separated from God, yet by His Grace and Mercy God LOVES me, from the creation of man in the past to the end of time.
In I John 4:14, we read "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the WORLD."
In II Corinthians 5:19, we read, "that God was in Christ, reconciling the WORLD unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them…"
In John 1:29, John seeing Jesus said, "Behold the LAMB OF GOD, which taketh away the sin of the WORLD."
By the “World” God means every one of us. Hebrew 2:9 says, “that he (speaking of Christ) by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Every man includes all of us from creation past to creation present as well as into the future.
Fifth: The NATURE of God's love, "God so loved the world that He GAVE." God proved His love by giving His very best. Christ on the cross is the RESULT of God's love for the world, not the CAUSE of His love.
God does not love us BECAUSE Jesus died on the cross, rather Jesus died on the cross BECAUSE GOD LOVED US while we were yet sinners. Or let's say it this way, "The suffering of Jesus on the cross did not cause God to fall in love with man; the love of God for man ALLOWED Jesus to suffer on the cross."
There is no way to estimate the cost of our "so great salvation." God did not send angels, nor cherubim's, or any heavenly creatures to pay the price of redemption: "He gave His only begotten Son."
"I do not know the depth of Jesus,
that brought Him down to earth from Heaven above, or
Why He bore the cross up Calvary,
And shed His precious blood so willingly.
BUT this one thing I know,
That when the crimson flow dropped to earth below, it fell on me.
My eyes were opened wide,
I saw Him crucified and know for me He died on Calvary."
There is no way to estimate the cost of our "so great salvation." In I John 4:10 we read, "Herein is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us." Listen carefully to this unbelievable story of love.
One Saturday the long awaited trip of a little boy with his father was finally a reality. The father was an engineer responsible for the operation of a revolving bridge across a river where passenger trains would cross. On this day the father was working while the boy was off playing. The span was open as it should have been. All of a sudden the father heard the horn of a train in the distance. This was an unexpected train. The engineer raced to the control room, knowing he had to close the span.
As he grabbed the lever to bring the span back into place, He looked down into the huge gear box, and there he saw his little boy playing. Grief and fear came over Him, realizing that he had an unbelievable decision to make. Either he had to bring that span around to close it so the train with 100's of passengers would safely cross the tracks and in the process crush his son; or he could save his own son and the train would plunge into the river and all the people would die.
That father stood there for what almost seemed an eternity to Him. His mind racing, and shaking from head to foot, he knew what he had to do. He grabbed the lever, and as he did the gears began to move the span into place. The train went thundering across the tracks. All the people were saved, TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS TO THE PRICE THAT HAD JUST BEEN PAID. This father, in the process of saving the train load of people, CRUSHED his own son in the gear box.
God had only one option. It was either His Son or us. He chose to close the gear box on His Son. Herein is AGAPE LOVE, the Love of God on Calvary, where "He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all…" Oh! What love was shown!
Notice again Jeremiah 31:3, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Notice 3 things about God’s "everlasting Love."
Number 1: God's love never had a beginning.
Before man was created, and Adam had fallen, He loved us.
Before the mountains were erected or a lake was poured, or the sky was stretched, or the earth's foundation was laid, He loved us.
Before a star twinkled at dusk, the Sun was plugged in, or the moon turned on, He loved us.
He never began to love us. He has always loved and will always love us. His love is eternal.
Number 2: God's love never pauses: His love for us never has an INTERMISSION, nor is INTERRUPTED nor takes a RECESS.
Ask Peter when he cursed, if the love of God ever ceased.
Ask David when he sinned in adultery and murder, if sin could separate him from God's love.
Ask Jonah if depth can separate us from the love of God.
Ask Paul if tribulation can separate us from the love of God.
Please listen. You will never enter into SIN that is deep enough to go beyond the love of God. You'll never go so far from God that God's love isn’t waiting for you when you get there – to love you back.
Oh, LOVE of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong.
It SHALL forevermore endure, the saints and angels song.
Think about it:
God the omnipotent all powerful one loves the weak one.
God the omniscient all knowing one loves the ignorant one.
God the omnipresent all present one loves the finite one.
God the perfect one loved the imperfect one.
Think about it, dwell on it, mediate on it, and sing about it:
I stand amazed in the presence, Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could LOVE me, A sinner, condemned, unclean.
How marvelous! How wonderful, and my song shall ever be,
How marvelous! How wonderful, is my Saviour's LOVE for me!
Here me! Here me! God loves you with an everlasting love, a love that had no beginning, a love that has no pause, and a love that has no ending. Oh, thank God you can go to the depth of sin or to the height of respectability, yet God still loves you with an everlasting LOVE.
Number 3: God's love never ends. God's love never had a beginning, nor does it ever pause. It also never ends.
When the worlds have passed away, the LOVE of God shall endure.
When time shall be no more, the LOVE of God shall be sure.
When the sun has been unplugged and the stars refuse to twinkle, He shall still LOVE me.
When kings have perished and thrones have melted, Gods LOVE will stand secure.
When the great white throne is history and the millennium is only a fond memory, and
When we walk the golden streets through gates of pearl and live with the angels of God forever, God's LOVE will still be fresh.
Notice again from Jeremiah 31:3 two pronouns: "I" and "THEE." "I have loved Thee."
Who is this who loves me? He who has Heaven for His throne and earth for His hassock; He loves me.
Who is this who loves me? The timekeeper of the sun, the energy of the moon and stars, the giver of life; He loves me.
Who is this who loves me? The maker of the universe loves me, the Great Omniscient Creator, the Omnipotent King of Kings, the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE, the BREAD OF LIFE, the GOOD SHEPHERD, the great I AM loves me with an everlasting love.
Please notice the phase, "I have loved THEE." Who is that? Why, that's me. The greatest need of the human heart is to be loved. Yes,
God still loves you this morning, even if you have turned away from Him.
God still loves you this morning, even if you're practicing sin.
God still loves you, fellow sinner. He loved you enough to give His Son, and Jesus loved you enough to die for you. And yes,
God still loves you, even if you are a backslider and have turned away from Him this morning.
Now returning to John 3:16 we come to the sixth truth of God’s love:
Sixth: The DESIGN of God's love, "That whosoever believeth on Him should not PERISH." Notice those words again "whosoever believeth…should not perish." "Whosoever believeth shall not be condemned." Notice In John 3:17-18 we read, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Here, my friends, is the difference between HEAVEN and HELL.
A person who dies and goes to hell goes there for one reason, unbelief.
A person who dies and goes to Heaven goes there for one reason, his faith in the crucified, risen and living Lord Jesus.
Seventh: The BENEFIT of God's love, "But have EVERLASTING LIFE." This is what God imparts to each and every one of us who by faith takes Jesus as our Saviour, "EVERLASTING LIFE." Please notice with me the last verse of this great chapter, verse 36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
One of the most glorious phrases that was ever uttered is that which was so often upon the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ, "Eternal life." One of the most awful and appalling phrases ever uttered is that other phrase here in verse 36, "the wrath of God."
It is between these two, the unutterably glorious, "Eternal life" and the measurably and unspeakably awful "wrath of God," that each of us this morning is called to make his choice: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
The question then that confronts each of us is this: "eternal life or the wrath of God?" Which shall it be? Which shall I choose? I have made my choice over 50 years ago. Which shall be your choice? This is not a difficult matter. There is one simple step between you and Jesus. In dozens of scriptures all though the Bible, salvation is promised to those that believe.
Acts 16:31, "BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
John 1:12, "But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that BELIEVE on His name."
John 6:47, "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, He that BELIEVETH on me hath everlasting life."
Oh, my friends, there are two possibilities available to you this hour, one infinitely glorious, the other inconceivably appalling. “Eternal life” or the “wrath of God,” which will you choose? You need to come to Him and trust Him right now without delay. Come to Jesus:
Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou biddest me to come to thee, O' Lamb of God , I come.
Again, I challenge you to take a fresh look at Calvary and see the everlasting love of God. Then pray, “Lord help me to see the value of a lost soul, and through me, help that lost soul to see God’s Everlasting Love at Calvary.”
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If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon, "God’s Everlasting Love at Calvary" then right now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.
Do you have the assurance that one day you will go to heaven? If you have no assurance that you know Jesus Christ, then I trust you will decide to accept Him as your personal Savior. The Bible tells us in
Acts 16:31, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”
Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This prayer is here for those who need to ask Jesus to be their personal Savior: “I do want to go to Heaven. I know I am a sinner, and I do believe Jesus Christ died for me. I realize I cannot buy this great salvation, nor can I earn it. Knowing Jesus died on the cross and arose from the grave to pay my sin debt and to purchase my salvation, I do now trust Him as my Savior, and from this moment on I am completely depending on Him for my salvation.”
If you made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior let me know. Please send an e-mail to, pdmikBBM@aol.com and I will send you some literature that will help you in your Christian life.
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In His Amazing Grace,
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