How Great is the Love of the Father!

I John 3:1 - 3 --- How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
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. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

When the apostle John wrote this, he was excited. And now, almost 2000 years later we can read these words and still feel the excitement that John had. In fact, when we think about what these words mean, we should be very excited ourselves.

John starts out this chapter by saying: “LOOK!” “BEHOLD!” “Check it out!” He doesn’t want anybody to miss this. This is very important and very special. So what is it that is so special?

God’s love!

John is blown away by God’s love. He is almost running out of words to describe whole great and grand and big this love is. He says: “what sort of love is this?” This is like nothing here on earth. He says that this love is poured out on us, lavished on us, given to us in an abundant measure!

So, what makes John so excited about God’s love?

It is because he understands what he was, who God is and where he is now going. That is, he sees the past; he sees the present and he sees the future and he knows that he is not getting what he deserves.

Let me explain.

Just like the Apostle John we should look at our past—at who we are. The Bible says that we are all sinners. “There is none righteous—no, not one. There is no one who understands; no one who seeks God. All have turned away and have together become worthless.” Not a pretty picture! But, wait—it’s worse. The Bibles says that all of our righteousness is like a stinky, filthy rag. God looks at the best that we have and says—Yuck! It is filthy!

And just like John we should also look at who this God is. He is holy! That is, He cannot stand to have sin in His presence. All sin is disobedience and rebellion against Him—He must and will punish it.

Whoa! That sounds like bad news. But John is happy and excited at God’s love. How can a holy God, who hates sin, ever love us who are sinful and wicked?

That’s what is so special about God’s love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God gave Jesus Christ in our place. We deserved the punishment, but Jesus took our punishment. And what do we get in return? His righteousness! Now, with that righteousness, we can come to God and God loves us.

Paul wrote about it in this way: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

You see? We did nothing to deserve this. We weren’t good, righteous, cute or important. We were ungodly—yet Christ came and loved us so much that He took our place.

That’s why John is so excited! He escaped God’s punishment. He passed from death to life. There is no greater love in all the world than this. Jesus Christ laid down His life for His people.

But now, let’s bring this around to us. We see that the Apostle John was excited. But what about you? This can only be true if you are born again. But what does it mean to be born again?

It means trusting in Jesus. It means saying to God—“I am a sinner. Please have mercy and save me.” It means loving God with all your heart, mind soul and strength because of the great love that He has shown you. It means loving what He loves and wanting to do things that please Him.

But if you have not made Jesus your Lord and Savior, then you cannot be excited by God’s great love. All that lies ahead is God’s certain wrath and punishment. But that’s why I implore you to repent and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus. Trust in Him and you will be saved. Believe on Him and you will see and know His great love for you.

And let me just say something more about God’s love. It is not temporary. It lasts! His love is eternal. If He loves you know, then He will love you tomorrow and He will still be loving you throughout all eternity. And His love is strong! It can save the worse sinner—so that means it can save each of us!

And look too. He didn’t just save—No! God brings us into a very close relation. We are made to be His children. Children of the most High God! Wow! What a calling! All of His infinite riches are made available to us. And best of all, we can come into His presence.

He is our Father. He cares for His children—He protects His children—He provides for His children—He guides and teaches and corrects His children.

And He is also our Friend—All because of His great love for us. Oh! How great is the love that the Father has lavished on us!

How Great is the Father's Love!

I John 3:1----

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Another version says:

Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the children—the sons and daughters—of God!

In this passage we see the great and astounding revelation of God’s love. His love is great! His love is for us! We are His children! God’s love is lavished on us—poured out richly without stopping. The apostle John here expresses his great marveling at this love! God’s love for us. He says: “what manner of love”! Indeed, what manner of love is this love that God has given to us?

But in order to see how great this love is, we must first see who God is. Then we will look at who we are. Only then can we see how great this love is. Finally we will see that this great love should cause us to live and think differently.

I. Who is this God that loves me?

This is the Lord of the whole universe. He spoke and the heavens and the earth were created. He is so powerful that He can just speak and stars appear! How great is His love for us!

He is the Holy One. He is holy—completely different from us. He is holy—completely without sin. He is holy—there is no shadow of error in Him at all. And His love for us is great!

This God is our Father! –How great is the Love of the Father. Our Father. This is the Sovereign, Almighty King of the universe and we may call Him our Father. Jesus taught His disciples to pray: Our Father who art in Heaven. He wants us to come to Him.

Now I have three children. I know what joy it is when one of them comes up to me, sits next to me, sits on my lap, or when they were much younger snuggle and go to sleep in my arms. Our Father who is in heaven loves us even more than an earthly father could love his children. His heart is looking for our good—if we are really His. Oh, how great is His love for us!

II. Who am I that God should love me?

This is an important question. Who am I that God should love me? The Bible says that all have sinned. Remember that God is holy; He is without sin. He is not pleased with sin. In fact His anger burns against sin and all who practice sin. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, that “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of all who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”

Some would say, “Oh, I’m not that bad…”

That’s not God’s opinion of any of us. He says that there is none righteous—no, not one. He is the One who said that we should be perfect even as God is perfect.

That’s the standard. Perfection.

And we are not perfect. We are sinners. –Yet God loves us!

How can this be? We should ask how could this holy God come and love us. How could He love me?

In that, we will see what this love is and just…

III. How great is this love?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That’s how great this love of the Father is for us!

The Father saw that we could not pay this debt. We could not save ourselves. And then, in His great love for us, He sent Jesus.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ dies for us!

O how great is the Father’s love for us!

Christ took our place. He who had no debt paid our debt. He who knew no sin suffered our punishment for our sin so that we might experience the Father’s love; so that we might go to live with Him

O, and He is our Father! Think of that! He is our Father! And He calls us His children. We are children of the Heavenly King!

Now I know that earthly fathers care for their children. I take care of my three children. So I know that He cares for His children. And He cares for them better than I could ever care for mine. That’s how great His love is for us!

A father protects—and so our Heavenly Father protects us. None may take us out of His hands. How great is the Father’s love for us!

A father provides—and so our Heavenly Father gives us each daily our daily bread. How great is the Father’s love for us!

A father guides—and so our Heavenly Father has given us His Word, the Bible and He has given us His Holy Spirit who speaks to us saying, “This is the way; walk in it!” How great is the Father’s love for us!

A father also disciplines—and so our Heavenly Father will discipline us to set us back on the straight and narrow way. He does all of this in love. He does all of this for our good. We see that in all things our Heavenly Father works for the good of those who love Him. O how great is the Father’s love for us!

IV. What does this love cause me to do?

What should my response be? This King of Glory has poured out His love so what should I do?

First. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. No one can come to this Heavenly Father except through Jesus. Trust in this Jesus. Call out to Him and say, “Save me, a sinner.” And this Jesus is faithful. He will save those who call upon Him. That’s how great His love is for us!

Then, live in thankfulness and in great joy. This Jesus loves me, this I know! And the Bible tells me that the Father loves me so! Thank you Lord Jesus for giving me salvation! Thank you Heavenly Father for Your great Love!

And then, live according to what He wants. He has given us this Bible that tells us how to live. If He loves me that much, I should love Him and His words enough to live by them each and every day. He loves us so much!

And then, speak of His love to others. We tend to talk about things that are on our mind; about things that we love; about things that we enjoy. If He loves us, we should love Him so much that he is on our minds throughout the day. We should aim to have the first words in the morning be praise and thanks to Him. Thank you, Heavenly Father for loving me so much! We should also aim to have words to speak to others about His great love for us.

Finally we know that we have His love as a shelter. He is the Rock of Ages. He is a cleft that we may hide in. When the storms of life blow about us, it is His great love that will give us peace and hope. He will not fail us. He brought us this far, he will not let us down or drop us.

So remember! Look! Consider just how great the Father’s love for us is. He has made us His own dear children. And that gives us great joy and peace.