For God So loved the World Mimosa AM 11/7/10

John 3: 16
16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

I know when we hear these words we sometimes seem almost callous to the unbelievable statement made in this passage.
Sometimes we need to call a timeout and get back to some basics. Last week we looked at the basics of the atonement of Christ on the cross. We looked at how He was our substitute and because of that we can take on righteousness and that is our only hope.
Today I want to talk about For God So Loved the World.
HOW MUCH is what we will discuss.
How Much did God love the world? We need to be reminded just how much and we must go back to a very ancient character named Abraham to understand.
Abraham was a simple man that God called. Abraham was a man of the desert and a man that was simple by the world’s standards.
Abraham was a man that lived in harsh conditions and understood exactly what it meant to live each moment to depend on God for help. Abraham would be the father of the Jewish people.
God would call Abraham and make a covenant with him. In our passage this morning we will focus on a very important chapter in Genesis 15. The chapter shaped the very argument that Paul developed in the book of Romans when he set out to display his argument of Justification by faith. We start this passage with Abraham having God visit him in his home. Abraham is living in a tent in the wilderness when God visits him.

Genesis 15: 1-17
1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." 2 Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus ?" 3 And Abram said, "Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir." 4 Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir ; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir." 5 And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." 6 Then he believed in the LORD ; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it." 8 He said, "O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?" 9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other ; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram ; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 "But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 "As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace ; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 "Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." 17 It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.


Things that come out at you from the passage:
1) The courage or Hutzpah of Abraham-
Imagine if God came to visit you and told you that He would be your Shield. God tells Abraham that He will be Abraham’s shield.
Imagine if God came to your home and started off to tell you that He is your shield. I could imagine that I would be in total terror first of all and then probably speechless but Abraham doesn’t have a problem asking God a question.
The Jewish people called this hutzpah and today hutzpah is seen in a negative connotation but in ancient Israel this word comes from the root for the Jewish word for faith.
This is the type of faith that holds on for dear life and will not quit. It is the type of faith that Jesus talks about in His parables when he talks about how persistent we should be in our prayer life. A type of faith that never gives up.
This is the type of faith that Abraham has. He reminds God that God had made him a prior promise. God had promised Abraham decendents and through those decendents they would one day bless the entire world. Abraham at this moment reminds God about this promise.
That takes guts but it seems that God always honors this type of persistence. We see Abraham display this when he prays to God for Sodom and Gomorrah.
Abraham wants to know, where are the children that you promised me and then God paints for him a beautiful picture- He takes him outside the tent and shows Abraham the stars of the skies and says this is how many decendents you are going to have.
This is true in the literal fleshly sense of the Jews but also his children through faith the Church.
In verse 6 it tell us that Abraham believed in God and was reckoned to him as righteousness.
What type of belief that Abraham have? He had a type of faith that would drive him to almost sacrifice his only son that God finally gave him.
He was a man that had a persistent faith and if we want to be true to Scripture that is the type of saving faith that Bible speaks of. Faith is of the type that you believe so much that it changes your life. Saving faith causes one to reorder their life and priorities. Saving faith would drive someone like Abraham to leave his own homeland and wander in a strange place because God told him to do it.
That is the example of faith that Paul gives us in Romans and the Hebrew writer gives us.
This very passage of Genesis 15 forms much of the backbone of the Apostle Paul’s argument in Romans. We read in Romans 4 one the great doctrines that sets Christianity apart from all other religions.
Islam and other world religions all have some form of works righteousness. They all have a sense that as a human being we can somehow merit our salvation.
1st of all this makes no sense when you consider that the Creator is all holy, and all powerful. We have rebelled against his just and wise rule and fallen into sin. We are hopeless on our own.
Romans 4:1-8
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found ? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say ? "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." 4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works : 7 "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. 8 "BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT."
Paul is addressing a heresy in the Early Church that was espoused by the Ebionites and the Judaizing teachers.
They were telling the new Gentile converts that they had to practice the works of the Law to be just before God.
In other words you had to be baptized into Christ but also circumcised, observe Kosher diet food laws, as well as observe the Jewish Holy Days to be saved.
They had hijacked the great teaching of the OT and the prophets. The prophets had foretold of a time God would keep His promise and the Gentiles would be grafted into the family of God.
God would save all men by His grace. As a matter of fact the doctrine of God’s grace is found all through the OT.
These false teachers were now perverting that doctrine of grace.
Paul takes them back in time to Abraham to the passage of Genesis 15 and lets them know that it was by FAITH and TRUSTING GOD that Abraham was saved.
Abraham was saved by GRACE and not by WORKS.
It would be the work of God that would save man, NOT our works. We cannot pull ourselves up by the moral bootstraps.
How would God save Abraham by GRACE?
How would Abraham be saved by faith and not works?
To clear this up we need to go back to Genesis 15 and talk about a subject that makes sense of most of the Bible and also the doctrine of Paul.
That SUBJECT IS THE COVENANT, IN PARTICULAR THE COVENANT THAT WAS MADE WITH ABRAHAM AND GOD’S COVENANT FAITHFULNESS.

2) The Covenant Sealed in this passage
In this passage we see something a bit odd in the sealing of the covenant with Abraham.
There is something else at work in this passage that ties most of the entire Bible together and that is the idea of the Covenant. A covenant is not a contract.
A contract is something in exchange for goods and services but a covenant brings a change in relationship.
The best way to understand covenants in our time is Marriage or Adoption. This is more of an exchanging of lives.
There were two types of covenants in the ancient world. One covenant was made between those that were equal and in that type of covenant the terms were set by both parties.
The other type of covenant was one between a greater party and lesser party. The covenants in the Bible are of this type. God is the one that sets the conditions of the covenant. There is only one side that sets the blessings and curses and that is God.
God is the sovereign over the entire process of the covenant.
We witness something in Genesis 15 that would have been common in the making of covenants and it would be a blood affair.
Animals would be split in half from head to tail and their two portions would be split apart and blood path would be made between the animals. The ones that were making the covenant would walk through the blood trail and when they did this it was a very serious and solemn event.
When you walked through the blood path you were saying, if I don’t keep my end of the covenant this is what should be done to me. If I don’t keep my end up I should be slaughtered in blood.
Notice the 5 animals sacrificed in Genesis 15. They are the same five animals that will make up the sacrificial system of the Temple.
This is a foreshadowing to the Temple worship and Abraham did not even know it. This is long before the Temple stood.
God has promised Abraham in this covenant a decendent that will become a nation, Land, and a World Wide Blessing.
We will learn from other portions of Scripture that Abraham and his desencedents would be required to be totally faithful to God. They are to be perfectly obedient.
Do you think that Abraham can hold up his end of the bargain??
Do we doubt that God would be totally faithful to the covenant? But Abraham would not be able to be faithful totally. He is human and flawed.
As a matter of fact as soon as Abraham set foot on that blood path between those animal carcasses he would be a dead man.
God knew in his foreknowledge that Abraham could not be totally faithful. God knew that those that would come after Abraham would not be faithful either. So God does something extraordinary in this passage.
Notice in Genesis 15:12 that darkness and Terror fell upon Abraham.
Abraham knew full well how covenants worked and I could imagine that he knew this is serious business. He was about to go into covenant with the living God.
Then we witness something strange in verse 17 we see two things: we see a SMOKING OVEN or some translations call it a SMOKING POT and also a flaming torch.
The Smoking pot was used in the ancient world to gather up hot coals at night so that you start a fire the next morning.
What is important to note that anytime we see smoke or fire in the OT it always symbolizes God’s presence. In the Temple his Shekinah glory is like smoke. The pillar of fire and smoke and the fire and smoke at Sinai all represent God’s presence.
The Smoking pot and torch represent God.
What we need to pause and notice is that Abraham never crosses between the blood path.
Notice that God passes twice through this blood path. God passes through as the smoking pot and then as the flaming torch.
What is God saying, I will keep my end of the bargain and your end of the bargain.
In essence God is saying I will be faithful to my Promise and I will pay the price for your disobedience to this covenant. Remember that if you violated the covenant you could be punished by the shedding of your blood.
At that moment Jesus Christ was sentenced to death because there would be no way that man would be able to keep up his end of the bargain. At that moment God would keep the covenant and pay the price for man’s disobedience.
Now fast forward to the days of the Temple in Israel. God told Israel that every day no matter what they would offer two sacrifices.
The two sacrifices were one at 9 am and the other at 3pm. They were one sacrifice at midmorning and the other midafternoon.
They would offer this sacrifice whether rain or shine, holiday, Sabbath, no matter what this perpetual sacrifice would be made.
The same types of animals that God sealed the covenant with Abraham would be offered in the Temple every day. The priests of the Temple knew these sacrifices could not cleanse them of their sin.
They were a stop gap. Every time an animal was slain at 9am and 3pm the blood would be thrown against the altar they would be reminded of the covenant made with God.
In essence they would be saying to God, Please remember our covenant and that we can’t do this own our own.
Somehow all of this was starting to be tied up with the expectations of the Messiah by the time of Jesus. Somehow the Messiah would fulfill the promises made to Abraham and bring shalom or peace back to Israel.
The Messiah would bring peace between God and Israel.
Now take your mind some 1800 years after Abraham and look just outside the city walls of Israel.
You will see a road going out of the city on the Feast of Passover. The feast of Passover was a feast that celebrated deliverance and reminded Israel of God’s promises.
On this particular day you see three men on Roman crosses. They are nailed to these crosses in agony and gasping to breath and writhing in pain.
We read the sign of the man in the middle and it says He is the King of the Jews.
The text of the Gospels tells us that Jesus was crucified at 9 am. 9 am would be the time of the first sacrifice of the Temple. At 9 am the priests would be throwing blood against the base of the altar.
They would throw the blood on the base of the altar crying out to God to remember the covenant. Just a few yards away the perfect Lamb of God Jesus would be spilling His blood.
God who sent the torch and flaming torch through the blood path was now spilling His own blood because we were hopeless. We could not be perfect we could are totally dependent on God.
Something interesting would happen in the Temple every day at 3pm. At 3pm the priest of God would stand near an hour glass or possibly a sundial and would signal to another priest. Right at 3pm he would blow a trumpet and all of Jerusalem would fall silent. They claim that everyone would stop and grow silent realizing the 3pm sacrifice was occurring.
At 3 pm the throat of a lamb would be cut and its blood would be spilled.
AT 3pm on this Friday of this particular Passover we read that Jesus cries out at this very hour IT IS FINISHED!!
Jesus has finished the task. God has been faithful to the Covenant. God has been faithful to the covenant, upheld our end of the covenant, and then paid the penalty for our disobedience to the covenant.
Now we come back to that original question.
How much does God love the world?
For God so loved the World – He loved the world so much that he was the sacrificial victim. He was the one the bore the brunt of the blood covenant.
If that doesn’t grab your attention and make you take a hard look at Jesus something is wrong with you.
God is calling you. God is calling you to have a faith like Abraham.
Grace is too much to ignore. It is all about Grace, you cannot ignore it.
There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We can’t work our way for salvation. It is God’s gift, he has borne the brunt and paid the price, we just have to accept this sacrifice in faith.
We just have to have that type of faith that Abraham had that would say Yes to God so much that you would follow Him anywhere he leads you.
I will have a faith that is persistent because He loves me this much.
Our response:
-Before Grace was made evident in Christ there was a sense of foreboding fear and trembling.
Remember in Genesis 15 when night came and the covenant was about to be sealed a sense of fear fell over Abraham.
Moses when he came to Mount Sinai he was full of fear and trembling.
Hebrews 12:21 it tell us that Moses was fearful of God’s presence.
Paul talks about this concept of fear before God.
Philippians 2: 12-13
12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling ; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Why does Paul tell us that we are to work out our salvation in fear. Paul is not saying to go out and do a bunch of good works and live in fear because God may zap us. He is laying out a doctrine that is so unbelievable.
It is exactly what we have been talking about this morning. God is at work. He is the one working in us.
It is God’s work in our lives – the Holy and Living God that created the entire universe is working in our lives to save us.
What Jesus did on the cross has opened the way for this and now the doors to God’s courts have been opened.
Of Course we are to walk right into God’s presence but never loose light of how revolutionary and how awesome it is all about when God is working in us through Christ’s work on the Cross.
This morning let us consider exactly what John 3:16 tells us.
Think about what has been accomplished on the cross.
Consider how wonderful God’s grace really is.
Hebrews 10 reminds us that under the Law of Moses one could fall under the judgment on the witness of two or more witnesses but how much more will be the punishment be for those that reject what Jesus did.
From God’s perspective, think How much more could He display his love for humanity?
When someone rejects Christ imagine what will happen to those people. God has thrown out the ultimate life line and told them all that he asks in response is a compelling Faith.
Trust in him and hold on to him for Dear life. Hebrews 10 verse 31 is one of the most scary verses in the Bible.
It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
God wants to save us from our sin, he loves us and has shown us through Jesus.