In this short message shared as part of communion service, Pastor Clark dwells upon the Love of God described in the familiar passage of John 3:16.

<p>In this short message shared as part of communion service, Pastor Clark dwells upon the Love of God described in the familiar passage of John 3:16.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

No Greater Love- Communion Message


The year was 1867. A young preacher from Chicago had heard stories of the great work that was being done in Britain by Spurgeon and Mueller. And so young Dwight L. Moody made his way across the Atlantic to visit England and Ireland and to see the work that was being done. And it was in this first visit to Britain that Dwight Moody heard the words that set him hungering and thirsting for a deeper Christian experience and it marked a new era in his life.

The words were spoken to him by a man by the name of Henry Varley, the well-known evangelist. They were sitting together on a public park bench in the city of Dublin, Ireland. The words that Henry Varley spoke were these, the world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully consecrated to Him. The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully consecrated to Him. The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully consecrated to Him." And as Moody left this interaction, these words were ringing in his ears, and he thought, he said, a man, a man, thought Moody.

He did not say a great man or a learned man or a smart man, but simply a man. And Moody thought in his heart, I am a man, and it lies with me myself, it lies with a man himself, whether he will be fully consecrated to God. I will try my utmost to be that man." This marked a change in his life. With the word still ringing in his ears, Moody made his way back to the United States, but not before meeting another evangelist in Ireland, Mr. Bewley, who he was introduced to by a friend.

And when Mr. Bewley met Dwight Moody, the young preacher from Chicago, the question Mr. Bewley asked Dwight's friend was this, is this young man all O and O? What do you mean by O and O? The friend asked.

Is he out and out for Christ? From that time Moody's desire was to be O and O for Jesus. What does it mean to be O and O? You think it might mean sometimes getting out of our comfort zones? You think it might be sometimes clear in our calendars?

To do what God asks us to do. And Moody came back to Chicago with a desire to be O and O, to make his life a life that was fully consecrated to God. If the world has yet to see what God can do, then Moody was determined that it would see through him. And Moody's hunger for a spiritual experience was deepened by the preaching of Henry Morehouse, the young child preacher from England who came and visited Chicago soon after Moody returned to America. Moody invited him to take a revival series, 7 nights in his church, and Henry Morehouse preached on the text, John 3.16.

Now Moody thought he knew the Bible, Moody thought he knew John 3, 16. In fact, Moody had a powerful ministry. Moody ran orphanages, he had schools, he had a large ministry in the Chicago area, but that week Moody saw the love of God like he had never seen it before. Every night his text was John 3, 16. He began in Genesis and went all the way to Revelation, showing how the story of the Bible is the story of God loving the world.

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God loved the world through the prophets and the patriarchs. He sent holy men to plead with them, to give them messages, and then He sent His only Son to die. And when they had been killed by the people He was sent to save, God still loved the world and He sent the Holy Ghost. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." You see, I believe that John 3, 16 describes the dimensions of God's love.

Now we don't have a week of nightly meetings here to dwell upon this. We only have a few meager moments. But if we take this verse apart, we notice what did God love. God so loved the world. That tells us the breadth of God's love.

God so loved the world. Is there anyone excluded from that love? Is there anyone that might not be included in the love that God has given? In fact, I don't believe there is. And the amazing thing is, even though God loves the world, and it's all-inclusive, and it's comprehensive, it's exhaustive, even though God loves the world, that does not diminish His ability to love us individually.

I read in the book, Steps to Christ, page 100, the relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth to share His watch care, not another soul for whom He gave His beloved Son. You might say, well, how can that be? How can God love me so much? How can He care so much about me that it's the same as if I were the only 1 living? How can that be?

Well, if we think about the sun, the sun shines, does it not? We've all felt the sun shining, Some of us more than others. Some of us want to feel the sun shining more than others. My wife happens not want the sun shining directly on her as a dermatologist. But the fact is that we've all felt the sun shining.

How much sunshine have you felt? And when you felt that sunshine, you thought, you know what, I'm glad I'm enjoying this sunshine. I feel sorry for those people that aren't getting it because I'm taking it all. Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel guilty for taking too much sunshine?

Do you know that you can enjoy the sunshine? The sun shines on all of us and none of us have less or more And that's the way God's love is. God loves us individually. We receive His love as as full and distinct as if there were not another on earth to share His watch care. And yet that does not diminish for anyone else the love of God.

God so loved the world, the breadth of God's love, that He gave. And this, my friends, describes the length of God's love. How far was God willing to go? He was willing to empty all of heaven in 1 gift. He was willing to give the precious life of His Son.

By His life and death, Christ achieved even more than recovery from ruin wrought by sin. It was Satan's purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man, but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. Christ became an eternal part of the human race. He is called the Son of Man. He is the 1 who is forever a part of the human family, forever to retain His human nature.

He is the days man between God and humanity. He is the 1 who has reconnected us, represented by that symbol of Jacob's ladder, reconnected us with heaven. In Christ, the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ is glorified as our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity and humanity is embossed in the heart of infinite love.

This is how Christ has brought us eternally close to the throne Because God was willing to give that sacrifice for all of eternity. Oh, I'm thankful for Jesus today, aren't you? I'm thankful that God was willing to go to that length to save you and to save me. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever, what dimension of God's love does whosoever describe? I believe it describes the depth, the depth, Because none are so fallen into sin that they cannot be reached by God's love.

Signs of the Times, an article, I read these thoughts. Do not entertain the thought that because you have made mistakes, because your life has been darkened by errors, your heavenly Father does not love you and will not hear you when you pray. He says, Him that cometh to me I will know wise for no reason cast out. His heart of love is touched by our sorrows and even by our utterance of them. Take to Him everything that perplexes the soul.

Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds. He rules over the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for him to read. There is no perplexity too difficult for him to unravel.

None, listen to this, none have fallen so low. None are so vile, but that they can find deliverance in Christ. The demoniacs at Gedera, in the place of prayer, could only utter the words of Satan, but yet the heart's unspoken appeal was heard. No cry from a soul is unheeded. Friends, I don't care where you've been, what you've done, what sin you may have committed, there is no 1 who is excluded from the whosoever.

There is no 1 who has fallen so low, but that Jesus can save and rescue their soul from sin. And that means you and that means me. Because Christ not only loved the world, and He not only gave His Son, but He says, whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The breadth, the length, the depth of God's love. Finally we see, whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have what?

Everlasting life. What dimension do you think we still have remaining of God's love? Oh, friends, that's the height. The plans that God has for you, they are beyond our wildest dreams. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 9 says, But as it is written, Eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

Oh, it's because of God's love that He has a plan for us to experience the life which was His before He became a man. 7 days, 7 days Mr. Morehouse preached on John 3, 16 in Pastor Moody's church. In closing the seventh sermon that he preached from John 16, he said the following, My friends, for a whole week I've been trying to tell you how much God loves you, but I cannot do it with this poor stammering tongue. If I could borrow Jacob's ladder and climb up into heaven and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Almighty, to Tell me how much love the Father has for the world.

All He could say would be, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh friends, it's that love that we remember when we think about the cross. It's that love that only can melt us and change our hard hearts to have that kind of love for our brothers and sisters. Today is communion, and communion is a time in which we remember the love of God for us, the condescension of God, the lengths to which He was willing to go, the depths to which He traveled to save us. The communion is an opportunity for us to renew our commitment, our acceptance with and of Jesus.

It's an opportunity for us, sort of like a mini re-baptism, to be washed again, symbolically, but by faith to have our hearts cleansed from the stains of sin. Oh, friends, it's all because of the blood of Jesus that we can have this opportunity, we can have this experience. And I pray that as you participate today, as we experience the ordinance of humility, as we take of the body and blood of Jesus, symbolizing His body and blood of Jesus that was spilled for us, that you and I, that our hearts might be touched again with the love that Jesus had for us. 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. In the Seventh-day Adventist Church we practice open communion.

That means you don't need to be a member of this church to share with us in this experience. All Christians who believe in Jesus as their Savior are welcome to join us in this ceremony as we remember, as we remember what He has asked us to do, as He said, this do in remembrance of Me. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse, or if you

Back to Menu

No Greater Love- Communion Message

Description

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine