Today Pastor A preached about compassion, in particular God’s great compassion for us; sinner’s saved by his amazing grace. He then spoke about God the Father’s compassion as something we should dwell on. A day shouldn’t go by when we do not reflect upon God’s great love for us in Jesus Christ, who though he did not sin bore God’s just wrath against our sin, on our behalf, so that by his death, we might experience the love of God for eternity. To experience God’s love for eternity it must be appropriated or applied by faith or belief in the person and work of Jesus Christ. With this in mind, let’s turn our attention to some of the most well known words in Scripture.

1. God Loves Sinners (John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

So when John wrote, “For God so loved the world” (3:16), it was not because the world was so good it deserved to be loved. Rather, it expressed just how great the love of God was. Furthermore, it was not because the world was so big that God’s love was shown to be so great, but because the world was so bad.

1. How does John 3:16 help us know that God loves sinners? John predominantly used the term “world” to refer to sinful humanity (1:10; 7:7; 14:17, 22, 27, 30; 15:18–19; 16:8, 20, 33; 17:6, 9, 14).
2. What other passages come to mind that state that God loves sinners? Romans 5:8 is one.
3. Do we deserve God’s love? Why not?
4. If we don’t deserve God’s love and he loves us anyway, how then should we respond to him? How should we respond to others?

2. God Gives His Best (John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1. What is the result of God’s love for sinners?
2. When you consider that God gave you his best, does this cause you to reconsider what you give him?
3. Do you always give him your best? If not, why?

3. God Grants Eternal Life (John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1. For what purpose did God the Father give his Son?
2. How is eternal life appropriated?
3. Does this make God’s grace cheap? Who does it cost?
4. What do we avoid by placing faith in Jesus’ person and work?

Application
1. Read the following sentence to the small group: “Jesus lived the life we couldn’t live and died the death we should have died.” Spend some time as a group discussing this sentence.
2. Take some time as a group, individually, and as a family to reflect on how you can extends God’s love to others. If God saved you at great cost to himself, how can you mimic this to others who may be in need?
3. Luke chapters 18 and 19 contrasts to similar people who both respond to Jesus differently. Read Luke 18:18–30 and 19:1–10. What is important to each man? How tightly do you hold your money? Do you hold more tightly to Christ? Is he the ultimate treasure of your life? If you’re not sure spend some time asking God to inspect your heart by his Holy Spirit to see if Jesus is your greatest love. If you find he isn’t, let someone know and pray together for God to recapture (or capture for the first time) your heart with the gospel.