The Father S Love

“THE FATHER’S LOVE”

1 JOHN 3:1

INTRO: The love of God is one of the great realities of our existence. There is

no greater lover than God. There is no greater love than the love of

God. Someone has taken the 23rd Psalm and written it this way to

express God’s great love for us: The Lord is my Savior, He is all I want.

As I walk up the King's Highway He walks beside me. He maketh me

to lie down in a soft bed at night. He gives me sweet rest till morning

light. He bountifully spreads a table before me three times a day. Yea,

though I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will

fear no evil, for He walketh with me and will never leave me. He

refreshes me many times a day along the way from the wells of

Heaven and when we get to the end of the highway we will enter His

kingdom, and I shall rest and sing for joy throughout eternity. -E.M.

Arcuri (Paul Lee Tan. Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations.

Reserved).

In our text in 1 John 3:1we read—“Behold, what manner of love the

Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of

God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

There are two important words for us to consider in this verse:

1)The word behold which means “to look at something.” It means that

something gets our attention. There is something very important about to be said or for us to see.

2) The word manner which means “kind or characteristic” of that

which we are to see.

So what John is trying to say to us is this: “Stop and look at the kind

of love that our Father has lavished or bestowed upon us.” God loves

believers with a love that is impossible to articulate in any human

language and that is utterly foreign to normal human understanding

and experience. This is agape love, God's volitional love that He, of His

own free and uninfluenced choice, has bestowed on all whom He has

called to savingly believe in Jesus Christ. The Lord summarized it this

way: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for

his friends" (John 15:13). (John F. MacArthur. TheMacArthur New

I want us to consider this morning, THE FATHER’S LOVE. Note with

me today that THE FATHER’S LOVE IS…

(1) AN UNUSUAL LOVE

1 JOHN 3:1a—“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed

upon us…”

*It is unusual because of:

A. WHERE IT IS DIRECTED. Romans 5:8tells us—“But God commendeth

his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” If

His love were directed toward the angels we might understand it. If it were

directed toward some other of the beautiful creatures that God had created

perhaps we could understand it a little better. But God’s love is directed

toward man, the very one who hated Him, and would one day crucify Him.

How could man possibly be the object of God’s love? Man is:

WICKED. All of us are sinners by birth and by choice (Romans 3:23).
WILLFUL. We are law-breakers. We choose to be disobedient. 1 John 3:4tells us—“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
WANTON. The word wanton means “lustful, malicious, licentious.” (Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary. Volume 2, N-Z. p. 769). We are not good. Isaiah 53:6tells us—“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” All our attempts at goodness fall horribly short when compared with the holiness and righteousness of God (Isaiah 64:6).

B. WHAT IT DEMANDED. Love gives and sacrifices. The more a person loves

the more that person gives. How much did God love us? So much the

Bible says that He gave the very best He had! (John 3:16).

ILLUS: Christ's death is the highest manifestation of God's love for us. While

we were rebellious and despicable, Christ died for us so that we could

come to God, find peace with him, and become heirs of his promises.

Christ did not die so that we could be made lovable; Christ died

because God already loved us and wanted to bring us close to himself.

What kind of sacrifice did God’s love bestow? :

A PERFECT SACRIFICE (1 Peter 2:21-24).
A PRECIOUS SACRIFICE (1 Peter 1:18-19).
A PLEASING SACRIFICE (Isaiah 53:10-11).

THE FATHER’S LOVE is AN UNUSUAL LOVE but also…

(2) AN UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

1 JOHN 3:1b—“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed

upon us, that we should be called the sons of God….”

*The word unconditional means “limited by no conditions, absolute.”(Funk &

Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary. Volume 2, N-Z. p. 738). Salvation is

conditional but God’s love is unconditional because God loves us whether we

place our trust in HIM or not. Because God’s love is unconditional it means:

A. IT IS UNDESERVED. Friends, neither you nor I deserve to be loved by God

but we are! God’s love is not just for a certain group of individuals but it is

offered to all mankind! God loves every man…He does not love only the

people who love Him. He loves everyone, even the unlovely and the unloving,

the unbelieving and the obstinate, the selfish and the greedy, the spiteful

and the vengeful. (Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible – Commentary.

B. IT IS UNEARNED. Friend, there is nothing you can do to make God love

you any more or less. His love was “bestowed upon us.” We cannot earn it.

It is not a reward for our work or service done in His name. But God loves

each person freely, fully, and completely. God loves us not because we are

lovable but because He is love! There is nothing you can do to make God

love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less! His

love is unconditional, impartial, everlasting, infinite, perfect! God is love!

C. IT IS UNRECIPROCATED. God did not love us in return for our love for

HIM. In fact, 1 John 4:8-10—“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God

is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God

sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son

tobe the propitiation for our sins.” God’s love took the initiative. 1 John

4:19 tells us—“We love him, because he first loved us.” Believers now can

love God and others because God loved us first.

THE FATHER’S LOVE is AN UNUSUAL LOVE, AN UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, and finally…

(3) A UNIVERSAL LOVE

EPHESIANS 3:17-19—“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;

that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”

A. GOD’S LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES. The love of God reaches to the

utmost bounds of humanity. The late Dr. J. Harold Smith often said, “God

not only saves to the uttermost, but He saves to the guttermost.” He can

save a man in upper society as well as a man in the slums. Dr. Oliver B.

Greene use to pray this prayer before he began his message, “God save that

soul who is nearest hell.” Friends, it matters not where is person is, God’s

love can reach Him! Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15-16—“This is a faithful

saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy,

that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern

to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”

B. GOD’S LOVE KNOWS NO BARRIERS. God’s love crosses all barriers:

social, racial, economic, political, cultural, and yes, even religious, and

says, “I love you.”

ILLUS: No matter how bad you are, how evil you are, or how sinful youare God

loves you. God is crying out to your soul and heart. "Ilove you. I love

you. I love you." What is your response tothe love of God. Will you

say no and laugh in the face of God? Will you refuse God's love and spit

into his face? Or will yousay yes to God, yes to Jesus, and yes to the

Holy Spirit? AcceptJesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Trust Jesus

to save youand let him be the boss of you life. What will it be? The

decision is yours! Are you on the side of God or are you hisenemy?

- Billy GrahamSBC 1982 (Bible Illustrator For Windows. Version 3.0f.

Friends, the only person who cannot be saved is the person who fails to

repent of their sin and receive Jesus as their Saviour.

CLOSING: Friend, the question this morning is not, “Does God love me?” but

“do I love God?” If you say you are a believer consider this: Do you

really love God? Do you like to spend time with himalone in

prayer? Do you love to take that great love letter theBible and read

what God has written to you? If not, then Isuggest that you really

don't love God. - O. S. HawkinsS.B.C. 1982 (Bible Illustrator For

THE FATHER’S LOVE is AN UNUSUAL LOVE, AN UNCONDITIONAL

LOVE, and A UNIVERSAL LOVE. Friend, the question today is,

“Have you accepted God’s love bestowed to you through the person

of Jesus Christ?”

Prepared by Brother Bryan L. Browning, Pastor of BeechmontBaptistChurch, Beechmont, KY for Sunday Morning, October 28, 2007.