What Should the Passover Teach Us About Our Motives?

In preparation for the sermon today, I've used the Life Application Commentary and the Preachers Outline in the Sermon Bible Commentary. I know that there are those of you who probably never watch TV. There are those of us, though, who enjoy watching TV. We enjoy watching all genres of TV. I enjoy the good old whodunit crime series type thing. And if you look at that genre back in the day, kind of dating myself here, I used to enjoy watching Columbo.

I am dating myself. Or Murder, she wrote. More recently, we've got the CSI saga. Back in the day, a year or two ago, we had three of those on network TV. And of course, we've got Law and Order, one of the longest running shows in television history. It spawned a couple of spinoffs. And I think other than Gunsmoke, or maybe it's probably beaten out, Gunsmoke is the longest running show. It may not be as long-running as The Simpsons. But Law and Order has been out. I think Moses used to watch that back in the day. But whenever you're watching one of these TV crime dramas, one of the things that the detectives are always interested in is motive. What is the motive for what was done? Why did the person do what was done? And they always are seeking a motive. Here we are. We're entering the Passover Days of Unleavened Bread season. It's a period of self-examination that especially accompanies this season of the year. I think it's really good that we take a moment and we examine our motivations in life. What makes us tick? Why do we do the things that we do? Let me give you a basic definition of motive, and it's very basic. A motive is the reason for doing something or behaving in a specific way. Why do we do what we do? God knows our motives. He knows everyone's hearts. He knows our motives. And He knows that our motives aren't pleasing to Him. Naturally, carnally, the way human beings are. Let's take a look at Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17, verse 9.

Jeremiah 17, 9. Which is, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Well, as it goes on to say, God says, I the Lord, I search the heart. I test the mind. I know what the motivation of mankind is, and it's not a good one. If we go back to Genesis, chapter 6. We find that God, at one point here in human history, even got to the place where He was sorry that He created mankind. Genesis, chapter 6, verse 5. Genesis 6, verse 5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent, every intent, every thought of his heart was only evil continually. Now, what does that say about mankind's motivation? It doesn't say very much in the way of good things, does it? Verse 6. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. Not a very good thing for God to be thinking about us, right? Shows that we were really falling flat on our face spiritually as a race, the human race. Now, if we take a look here, this is during the time of Noah. We know, I'm not going to turn here, but in Matthew 24, it says, in the days of, at the end of the age, it'll be just like the days of Noah. So, we're entering into an age, if we're not already there, that every intent of the thoughts of hearts of people are only evil continually. And, brethren, you and I, we live in today's society. We can't divorce ourselves. We're not living on some island just as a commune someplace. We are, we live in society. We work in society. Our family, our friends are in society. And, like it or not, many times society rubs off on us. The motives, the motivations of society rub off on us. But notice something now on the other hand. We've looked at the world and where they're coming from. Let's take a look at where God wants you and I to be coming from over here in 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5. Where it says, casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And notice now, bringing every thought, bringing every motive, bringing every motivation into the captivity to the obedience of Christ. So, as Christians, we've got our work cut off for us. We are to examine our motives, examine our motivations. Where are we coming from? Why do we do what we do? Now, I do want to turn to a scripture. And it was interesting that what we had is a song just before I came up here. If I were to ask you as a group, what scripture do you think? What one verse is probably the most quoted verse in all of the Bible? Old Testament or New Testament? What verse would you think it is? John 3 16. John 3 16. You're all right. Let's take a look at that. John 3 16. Probably the most quoted verse. You know, if you ever did travel, most of us have done traveling. As we've done traveling, we've probably opened a drawer to the little table by the side of the bed. There's probably a Gideon Bible there. You take a look in the Gideon Bible. And they'll show you all the different languages that John 3 16 is written into.

And in the Gideon Bible, we'll show you many, many languages that that verse has been written into. Let's take a look at this because, as they say in some churches, this is my text for today. John 3 16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Everlasting life. Now, two weeks ago, when I was here last, I think I may have mentioned that I was thinking seriously of giving a sermon revolving around this one verse. And as I was thinking about what I needed to do to prepare all of us for the Passover, myself included, I took another good look at this. You know, there's a great deal of meat in this one verse. Sometimes people say, well, what do I study? Well, we're going to take a look at this one verse today and see just how much meat is right here. John 3 16. If you like to take notes, this is what you should put across the top of your paper. It's a question, and as we go through the sermon today, I want to answer this question. The question is this. What should the Passover teach us about our motives? What should the Passover teach us about our motives? I've got three answers to that based upon this one scripture. What should the Passover teach us about our motives? Number one, God's motivation is always love. God's motivation is always love. Now, you and I can examine ourselves and ask ourselves, is that our motivation? And I want to break this down as we take a look at this verse. But is our motivation always love? What is our motivation? Is it payback? Is it, you know, we ignore people? What is our motivation? God's motivation is always love. Two weeks ago, I gave a sermon here where I talked about the love of the great God. And that's all God does. Whatever God does is an aspect of His love. If He's blessing you, He's blessing you in love. If He's correcting you, you're going through a trial. He's correcting you and giving you a trial in love. There's not a single aspect of what God does that isn't always love. I made mention of the fact that just as our Son is always radiating light and warmth and heat 24-7, 365, that's what our God is like. He's always giving out love. Always giving out love. Now, that doesn't mean that He's not disappointed with us. That doesn't mean that He hates our sin. Of course, He hates our sin. And there are times He's greatly disappointed in us. But that doesn't mean He stopped loving us. He continually loves us. He doesn't love our sin, but He continually loves us. So let's take a look at John 3.16 and analyze this. God's motivation, I says, is always love. And I want to take a look at John 3.16, word number 2 and word number 4. Word number 2 and word number 4. It says, God loved. God loved.

The word love here is a very familiar term to most of you. If you go into the Greek, the word here is agape. Agape love. It is the highest quality love that there is. We're talking about a godly love. We're not talking about a filial love, which is a brotherly love. We're not talking about an eros or an erotic love, which is for between husband and wife. No, we're looking at the highest level of love there is, which is agape love. It's godly love.

I want to quote, I think it's interesting here, I was looking at Vines' Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. Vines goes through and gives three portions of defining this word agape. And as we go through the definition, I want you to think about your life. I'll be thinking about mine. Let's all think about ourselves. Let's not be looking at the other guy, the other woman, the person next to us, let's be thinking introspectively about ourselves. And notice what it says here. And remember, we're God's kids. We are to take after our father. We are to take after our elder brother. And so, when the Bible says that God loved and he gave the highest quality of love, then we have to ask ourselves, are we giving the highest quality of love, or are we just kind of throwing things out there? Well, that will do. Are we giving the highest quality of love? So let's go to the Vines' Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. And it's broken down, I just put down A, B, and C. A says, It's the deep, constant love and interest of a perfect being towards entirely unworthy objects. Now, again, let's see what I think about. Now, this very much portrays where God is coming from. But let's us look at, is this where we are coming from? It says, a deep love. A deep love. Not something that's surface, not something that if you scratch it, it's no longer there, because it's just a thin layer. No, it is a deep love. And it says, it's a constant love. It's not the kind of love where it's here today, gone tomorrow, or, what have you done for me, lightly kind of a love. No, God's love is there all the time. We went through two weeks ago how that, even when we were sinners, before we knew about God or the waves of God, God said, when He saw us, He loved us. We didn't have to earn that love. He loves us unconditionally. And so it says here, the divine expository, that God's love, agape love, is deep and constant. And it says, God is interested in us. Interested in us. On a number of occasions, I've quoted over there in the book of Peter, using the Phillips translation, where it says, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. I've read the Phillips translation where it says, that you are God's personal concern. I really like that translation. You are God's personal concern. He's got a deep, constant, personal concern for you. Now, all of us right now could probably think in our minds about the next-door neighbor who makes life miserable for us. Or the guy we take our car to, who doesn't really fix our car like he should. Or the relative who just always irks us. We've all got people in our life like that. And because we're human, that tends to hit all of our hot buttons. But God says that His love is deep, it's constant, and He's got a personal concern for each and every one of us. That's His motivation. Is that our motivation? Is this what makes us tick? Now, going on with this definition from Vines, letter A was what God does, but letters B and C talk about how we respond to that. It says here, the Vines Exposed Story says, that that love produces and fosters a reverential love from us.

As we experience and we bask in the love of God, that deep, constant love, that interest He has for us as individuals, then as a part of the fruit, we respond. It's like a little flower. I remember years ago, I've not done a whole lot of garden work. I remember years ago when I had a garden, a rather good-sized garden for the city lot I had.

I remember we planted a lot of beans. In the morning, the little bean plants were all hunkered down. They had been cold, been dark, they were kind of hunkering down. Then as the sun came up, the little guys, they just stretch out there. They're stretching out there. The leaves are stretching out there. They're going to be wanting to sit there and just standing there. They're basking in all that warmth and that heat.

That's what God wants for us. He wants us to be people like those little bean plants. He wants us to bask in His love, but He wants us to turn around, as literacy says, and show practical love toward other people. Show a practical love toward other people. That love is showing and helping others to seek the giver, which is seeking God. I don't know if you've ever taken a look. I don't think I've ever examined that God did quite this way. But God's motivation is to love you deeply, to love you constantly, to show a tremendous personal interest in you. And then for you and I to take and turn that around and give it to others, to pass it down the road. Are we doing it? Well, we can ask ourselves that. But notice the idea here, the lesson learned here, is that this kind of love is of the highest quality. This kind of love is of the highest quality. Let's go back to John 3.16. You want to put a marker here, because we're going to continually come back to this verse over and over again. Then go out and launch out to other areas. I may mention that God's motivation is always love. We've seen where God's love is of the highest quality. But we also want to see something else. John 3.16. I want to draw your attention to the third word in that verse. The third word. For God so loved the world. Now, what is this? So. So, the word so here is showing intensity. He so loved. It doesn't say that God just loved the world. It says, God so loved the world. You might be thinking about the love you have for your mate. You might be thinking of the love you have for your children or your grandchildren. You so loved them. You've got an intense love for your mate or your children or your grandchildren, or all of the above. So, this is talking about an intense love. A motivation that comes from God is this intensity of the love. He's not passive with this. He doesn't look at you like, oh, there goes old Randy. Oh, there goes Randy. No. He has an intense love. Jesus Christ came to die for Randy. Jesus Christ came to die for you. There's an intensity there. He's really interested in you. Really? Ephesians 3.

Ephesians 3, verses 17-19. Paul has something to say here that's really fantastic. Ephesians 3 and verse 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, the length, the depth, and the height. To know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. So here we have Paul saying, I want Jesus Christ to dwell in your hearts, and the love that is with Christ, that Christ is showing, it says here that it's wide, it's long, it's deep, it's high.

And the concept that Paul is, I think, trying to get across here, he's talking about the immensity of God's love. The immensity of God's love. And again, you and I have to ask ourselves, is our love immense? Or is our love little? Are we more hateful people than loving people? Are we the kind of people that always seem to be up on the wrong side of the bed?

Are we the kind of people that people have got to walk around us, it's like walking on eggshells? Do people have to really guard their words carefully in your presence? The width here in verse 18 talks about the breadth of a person's life. In all the different areas of a person's life, you know, you and I can look at that. And again, we're in this introspective, contemplative, self-examination type mode.

Throughout the width of our life, do we have the love of God being demonstrated? The length, talking about time. Do we allow ourselves, well, I'm tired as I get older and tireder and I get crankier? No, that's not what God does. Throughout the whole length of our time span, we're supposed to be more and more like God. Then it talks about the depth and the height.

I think those are words that can be looked at a couple of different ways. One is simply talking about the immensity of God's love. But another way of looking at this is when we are in the depths, when we are really hurting, when we're depressed or discouraged or we're down and we're beat up, that even in the depths of life, God's love is there for us. And conversely, when we're high.

The reason we're high is because we know God's love is there for us. In verse 19, it says, we want to know that love of Christ, which passes now. It says, we as human beings, we can begin to see that love through a glass darkly. It's not just prophecy we see through a glass darkly, but seeing how much God and Jesus Christ love us, we can only get a little bit of a grasp of that, but at least we should be able to get the grasp.

And to whatever ability we can, as it says there at the end of verse 19, we're filled with that fullness of God. So part of the motivation God has is that we have not only a high-quality love, but a high-intensity love. Is your love high intensity, or is your love low intensity? Now, let's go back to John 3.16 again, take another look at this. We're breaking this verse down bit by bit. Talk about motives.

John 3.16, for God so loved... Now I want to clue in here on these next two words. For God so loved the world. God didn't love just the strong people. God doesn't love just the converted people. God doesn't love just Sabbath-keeping people. God loves all people. He doesn't care what color you are. He doesn't care about anything other than the fact that He loves you.

Is God calling everybody right now? Of course not. Are there people who are pleasing God more than others? Of course there is, but that doesn't mean God doesn't love everybody. Because God does. Our God is an all-inclusive God. Every man, every woman, every child, God loves. And God gives what we call common grace to every human being. Now most of you in this room have experienced the grace of God. In a sense, God has called you, He's put you into His church. Your sins have been forgiven you, you've received God's Holy Spirit. But there's something I call common grace.

And that's the grace God gives to every human being. Let's take a look at Matthew 5, verse 44 and 45. Matthew 5, verses 44 and 45. Verse 44, But I say unto you, Love your enemies! Oh, wait a minute! Does that mean I love my enemy when he's doing good things to me? It doesn't qualify it there, it just says, Love your enemies. But lest those who curse you do good things to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

Mr. Armstrong spoke to this many years ago. Somebody came to Mr. Armstrong and said, Well, how do you love your enemies? And his take on it, and I've never forgotten this, his take on it was, I pray for my enemies and God will convert them.

Because if God converts, and I don't pray that they die, or that they go through the same kind of hell they're giving to me, no, I pray that God converts them. Because if God converts them, then their response to me is going to be a whole lot different. If God converts them, it's going to be good for them, and it's going to be good for me. Because they'll respond to me as a brother or a sister in the faith.

And that's where our love should be. That's a high-quality love. That's a high-intensity love. That's a love for all mankind, not just those who are your friends, but those who are your enemies. But notice verse 45. And here's where this idea of common grace comes. That you may be the sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His Son to rise on the evil and on the good. He sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

All men are able to partake of many of the blessings that God gives to His children. God wants everybody to enjoy a sunset. God wants everybody to enjoy fresh air. Now, we human beings, we pollute the air and all the things we do to ourselves, but that's not of God. That's what human beings have done to one another. So I ask the question, what should the Passover teach us about our motives? Number one, God's motivation is always love. And we can ask ourselves if that's always our motivation, love. We broke that down. We'll see that God's motivation is always the highest quality, the highest intensity, and it touches all mankind.

And again, each of those sub-points, we can ask ourselves, is that where we're coming from? Let's take a look at point number two. We're asking the question, why should the Passover teach us about our motives? Number two, godly motivation leads us to godly action. Godly motivation leads us to godly action. As we enter these days of Passover and Unleavened Bread, this period of self-examination that accompanies this particular season, we not only take a look at our motives, our motivations, we should look at our actions. Our motives, our motivations are nothing but blueprints.

What are we doing with those blueprints? What is constructed out of those blueprints? Well, let's go back to John 3 and verse 16.

John 3, 16.

For God so loved the world that He gave. God so loved the world that He gave. I want to zero in on that one word. God's loving motivation is first and foremost practical. God's motivation is practical. He gave. It doesn't say He just sent His Son. He gave His Son. That's one of the great proofs of God toward us. He gave us His Son. He didn't have ten sons. He had one. He gave everything for us. He was practical. He gave. You and I can give. Let's go over to Romans 8. Eric was over here earlier. I'm going to go to a little bit different section than he was in. Romans 8.

A few more verses down from where Eric left off. Romans 8, 32. He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Our God is a giver. Our God is a practical God. Love, brethren, is an action word. It's not a passive thing. It's an action word. It involves sacrifice.

As I was putting my thoughts together for the sermon here today, I have never noticed a correlation. We're reading over and over again John 3.16. Let's take a look at 1 John 3.16. There's an interesting correlation. I've never made this before in my studies. I saw it for the first time the other day and I was putting all this together. 1 John 3.16. I'm going to read this in the Amplified Bible. As I mentioned in the past, the Amplified Bible does just what it says. It amplifies the meaning. It might take one word in the verse and then give you several different renderings of that one word. It does so here. Let me read 1 John 3.16 in the Amplified. By this we come to know, and the Amplified is in parentheses here. It's going to amplify the word know. By this we come to know, progressively to recognize, to perceive, to understand, the essential love that he laid down his own life for us. And we ought to lay our lives down for those who are our brothers in him.

Talking about giving, talking about how love is an action word, how love involves sacrifice.

You know, I look at the room here, and some of you I go back a long way with. Even Julia here, her parents. I remember back when there was no Julia. It was just her parents. I remember going camping with her mom and dad before they were even married. Al and George back there, and Kathy, and some of the rest of us who were together back in the old World Wide Church of God days. Back in the 70s, and all the things that we did. A lot of really interesting memories. I was, again, thinking about some of those memories as I was putting my thoughts here together today. I remember back in those days, back in the 70s, when all of us were a part of the Detroit Eastern Church. We used to think that the Detroit Church was a small church. You'd heard about these churches that were 5 and 600. The Detroit area church met there at 12 Mile and Shainer. We were only 350 people. Only. Now, that's a fee site now. 350 people. And I remember back in the 1970s, it seemed like every other week, and I know this is an exaggeration, but it seemed like every other week, somebody was moving. And back in the day, there were those of us who were younger. I was in my 20s. Back in those days, I actually had more hair, I had more teeth. My build was more like a yield sign. Now it's more like a pair. Gravity has done its work on me. But back in those days, I was not even in the ministry, I was a warehouse manager for a furniture company. And moving furniture 10-12 hours a day. And I was fairly buff back in the day. And I remember, it seemed like every other weekend, well, widow so-and-so is moving, or this couple's moving, we've got to move their furniture. And it never failed. There was always somebody on some second story someplace, and they always had a hide-a-bed. And you're always going down these little tiny staircases, and you've got a hide-a-bed, you've got to tie the thing down. Because if you don't tie it down, first of all, they weigh a ton. And if you don't tie it down, it's going to spring open and chop off your fingers. And so you're holding this thing over your head so that you can kind of make those turns and everything. And we're moving this one couple, this one family, out from a second story apartment into the truck. And we're moving everything into the truck. And lo and behold, there were three fellows that were next-door neighbors, and they were members of the church. And so here there's four of us. We're moving this one couple. You know, crashing our knuckles. You know, our muscles are shaking because of all the weight we're carrying over the course of many hours. And here it is a nice hot August evening. And the three guys are in the porch, and they're sipping beer. And they're reading the Bible. And they're talking about all the good they got out of services that day, because this was a Saturday night. Man, we're just studying the Word, and it's coming alive! And I'm thinking to myself, yeah, well, there's other things the Bible talks about, like helping your neighbor, and maybe getting off your you-know-what and coming and giving us a hand.

Love, brethren, is practical. That is pointed out by Jesus Christ, own half-brother. Let's go to James 2.

I just will never forget that situation. Never forget that. You know, I love the fellows are on the porch, but I just thought, well, you know, you're just sitting there! There's nothing wrong with you three. They were all three guys that were in good shape. They didn't have heart issues or bad backs or anything like that. But here in James 2, starting in verse 14, What does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works? And we can so easily substitute love here instead of faith. What does it profit my brethren if someone says he has love but doesn't have works? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, Depart in peace be warmed and filled, which is basically what was happening when we were moving that furniture that day, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it doesn't have works, is dead. The same thing is true with love. If love doesn't have works, love is an action word. Love involves sacrifice. Love is practical. And if we're not doing that, then something's wrong. Something's wrong. So God's loving motivation is practical. Let's go back to John 3.16 and see what else God's loving motivation shows us. John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave, and I want to now look at these next four words, his only begotten son. His only begotten son. Here we see God's loving motivation is unique. There was a unique situation here. God the Father and his one son, Jesus, the person we came to know as Jesus, the Christ. It was a unique situation. But you know, brethren, God now has other sons. Now, we're not fully a son like Jesus Christ. We've not gone through the resurrection. We're not totally spirit. You understand that? I understand that. But the simple fact of the matter is now there are more sons in the family. Let's look at 1 John 3. 1 John 3.

Verses 1 through 3. 1 John 3, 1 through 3. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. Yes, we are sons and daughters of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it didn't know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God. Now, right now, as you are there sitting in your seat, you are now the children of God. And, you know, brethren, that makes you unique. We're not unique in the same way Christ was. He was sinless. He was God in the flesh. We understand that. But we are unique in that we have a unique calling.

We have unique personalities. As we talked about here a number of months ago, we've got unique spiritual gifts. And God wants us to use those gifts in His service. Love is practical, but love, God's loving motivation, is also unique. What is it you have to give? As I look around the room, I see various ones of you who have really good at different things that you do. We've got some in the room who are very technically minded. We've got some in the room that are very, you know, you give them a set of tools, they'll build you a whole empire.

You give me a set of tools, I'll probably drop them on my toe and break a toe. Or maybe I sell them tools. I don't know. That could do me too much good. I'm as handy as a fish. But, you know, some of you are encouragers. Some of you are people that are good listeners. Any number of things in which you're unique at doing. But that is a way you can motivate yourself to give and to love and to serve.

Verse 2, Beloved, now we are the children of God. It's not been revealed what we shall be. What he's basically saying, we've not been resurrected yet. But we know that when Christ is revealed at a second coming, we shall be like Him. We'll be spirit. For we shall be able to see Him as He is. Because we're like creatures. We now are all spirit. We have been gone through the resurrection. We're not flesh. We can look upon God and not die.

Verse 3, And everyone who has this hope in Him, the hope of the resurrection, the hope of eternal life, the hope of being fully a child of God, in a sense that now we're resurrected, we're totally spirit, totally loved, and so forth, then that individual purifies himself. They unleaven themselves just as God is unleavened, just as God is pure. So we see that God's loving motivation is unique. And you should look to God. You should go to God in your prayer. Say, Father, I am a unique individual. I have unique abilities, unique talents, unique spiritual gifts. And I want to be used by You.

Open the doors for me. Open the doors for me. And many times, God will... You know, people want to have some large door open for us, but God starts everything small. And so many times, the things that God wants to give us, we might think are baby steps, but that's fine. Babies need to take those first baby steps. I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago watching my son learn to walk. You know, after we're done here today, I'm going to meet with my son later on this evening.

Mary and I have a nice discussion with him about some things. But I remember when Brandon learned how to walk. I think...maybe I may have mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. But there we were in Wisconsin Dells, 1982, Super 8 Hotel, over by the Polynesian...it used to be called the Polynesian. I forget what it's called now. I think it's changed names. But at Super 8, we had two double beds in the room. Here's my 9-month-old son. He's crawling around, and one day he just goes over to the bed.

He starts pulling himself up. You know how little guys are, little guys and little girls. You know, when they start...they're so wobbly. They look like they've been drinking or something. He's wobbling around, his arms are going all over the place. Then he kind of looks over his shoulder, sees the other bed. I can just read his mind. He says, I'm going to go for it.

I'm going to go for it. So he turns around. He's walking like a little...like a staggering round. He does his first couple of steps. 9 months old. 9 months old. Does his first steps there in Wisconsin Dells in 1982.

So yeah, God gives us baby steps because we're babysat times. Sometimes we ask God, give us something to do. Maybe all that is is when we go into the mall, we see a woman. She's got a lot of kids. She's got a lot of things in her arms. We open the door for her. And as we do those minor things, those little things, but to the woman who's got all the stuff in her hands, that's a big thing. Somebody opening a door for me?

That's a big thing. Bless you. Thank you. Come back here in another hour, you can open a door again for me. And then as God sees us that we want to do those sorts of things, he'll give us more and more opportunity. We go back now to John 3, 16. We've seen how God's love expresses itself being practical, being unique. But there's also something else we want to take a look at.

We've talked about how we're unique, but certainly we want to talk about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, very much referencing Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son. Those are the words I want to clue in here now from the aspect of Jesus' life. His only begotten Son. Again, as I said earlier, God didn't have ten sons.

He had one. He gave everything. He gave Jesus. But I want you to think about something, and that is that God's loving motivation is sacrificial. Sacrificial. Are you and I sacrificing in our motives and our actions toward others? God does. That's what God does all the time. His loving motivation is sacrificial. Think about the aspect. We always think at Passover time about Christ's sacrifice, but think about God's sacrifice.

He sent His only Son. Now, to those of you who are married, let's envision some sort of a trial where you've got to send your mate, you've got to send your husband, you've got to send your wife, or you've got to send one of your children, one of your grandchildren, into a situation where you know they're going to be treated horribly. People will spit on them. People will say all manner of evil against them. People will torture them to death.

What does that make you feel like, if that's happening to your wife, or to your husband, or to your children, or to your grandchildren? What do you go through knowing, where in the case of God the Father, He knows the Scriptures. He knows exactly what's going to happen to Jesus. What would that do to you if you had to watch your mother, or your father, or your brother, or your sister, or again, some family member, you treasure, and you watch them go through that. You're going to be hurting.

You are going to be sacrificing. So make no mistake, this Passover season, yes, we've got the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but let us never forget the sacrifice of God the Father. Let us never forget His sacrifice for us. 2 Corinthians 5 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 For He, God, made him Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. This is a tremendous sacrifice. And this kind of bridges now the sacrifice that God gave to the sacrifice that Christ gave.

Let's turn to this over here in Matthew chapter 26. At the very end of Jesus Christ's life on this earth as God in the flesh, Matthew chapter 26. Let's begin with going through verses 37 through 39. Matthew 26 verses 37 through 39. Christ took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and to be deeply distressed. You know, I've known people who in their lives go through their life with a smile on their face all the time. Maybe you've known people like that, ever-present smile. I find that irritating. I don't know.

I just find that irritating. I feel like going up to somebody that got that, they're trying to be pleasant, they're trying to be nice. But I want to say, you know, I want to grab them by the collar and say, life's just not like that. It bothers me.

It shouldn't bother me, but it does. The Christ that says here, began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Yeah, He knew that some awful things were coming His way. Then He said that, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me. Did Christ know, you know, what do we want to call this here? We want to call this depression? I don't know exactly what word we'd use here. But Christ is feeling very low. He knows what's about to happen. He does, in one sense, want it to happen, and in another sense doesn't want it to happen.

Verse 39, He says, went a little farther and fell on His face and prayed thus, Oh, my Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. Now, I don't believe Christ here is saying He doesn't want to be our sacrifice. I really believe here that what Christ is saying is, Father, I have never in all eternity, I have never had You turn Your back on me.

But I know because I will be coming sin, because of the other people's sins I'm taking on me, You're going to have to turn Your back on the sin, which is going to be placed on me. Is there some other way you and I can work this out where you're not going to turn Your back on the sin that I'm carrying? And I think that really distressed Jesus Christ, the break, that particular situation.

Verse 42, again, a second time He went away and prayed, saying, Oh, my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, Your will be done. So Christ is still talking about the same issue. Verse 44, so He left them one away again and prayed a third time, saying the same words.

Jesus Christ realized He was a sacrifice. He realized that His motivation was sacrificial, and He went through with exactly what needed to be done. It hurt. It hurt in a way you and I can never really appreciate, because you and I have never been sinless. You and I have not lived for all eternity. You and I have not walked hand in hand with God, so to speak, through all eternity, and then had that interrupted by sin being placed upon you. So I've asked the question today, what should the Passover teach us about our motivations?

Number one, I said that our motive should be done in godly love, with the highest quality, the highest intensity toward all men. I said, number two, that our godly motivation leads to godly action. That godly action should be practical, unique, and sacrificial. Let's take a look one last time at John 3.16, because there's a little more to the story here.

John 3.16. Let's read it again. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Now here's where point three comes in, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So when we ask the question, what should the Passover teach us about our motivations? Point number three is, God's loving motivation has special purpose.

When you think about what makes you tick, do you have special purpose behind what makes you tick what you want to do? What you're thinking about doing? How you're going to talk with somebody? How you're going to relate to somebody? Does it have a special godly purpose behind it? That's what I need to ask myself, and you need to ask yourself.

Now notice very carefully what is said here in John 3.16.

The word here that I want to look at at this point is, whosoever. Whosoever. Doesn't mean everyone. This does not mean everyone. Because everyone doesn't want the gift of God. Everyone doesn't want salvation. Everyone doesn't want to accept the sacrifice of Christ. We're talking about people who will understand the truth of God.

God's Holy Spirit will work with them, but they don't want to be worked with. They don't want Christ's sacrifice being applied to their life. They would spit on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So this doesn't mean everyone. But what this does, what whosoever means, means anyone. I know it's a matter of semantics. Anyone. Anyone who wants that sacrifice.

Anyone who wants it, that God is calling, God says, I'm going to give it to you freely. But you've got to want it. You've got to want it. 2 Peter 3 and verse 9. 2 Peter 3 and verse 9.

2 Peter 3 and verse 9.

Where it says, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise of some kind of slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish. Now this is where God is coming from. He doesn't want any to perish. But that all should come to repentance.

But God, in His great love for us, is not going to push something on us that we don't want. If we don't want eternal life, if we don't want salvation, then He's not going to push that on us. God the Father already has one individual by the name of Satan. He doesn't want a whole bunch of Satan's running around the universe. And so if we don't want the way of God, the best thing for God to do, in His love toward us, remember everything God does is in love. In God's love, He will march us into that lake of fire. You know, we talk about God being a God who loves us unconditionally, and that's true. But just because God loves us unconditionally doesn't mean everything goes. No, if we decide we don't want the sacrifice of Christ, and we're just bent on not accepting it, then God the Father, He will march us into that lake, and we will cease to exist. And that's an aspect of love. Because it puts the individual who feels that way out of their misery, and it makes sure that other people won't have to suffer the misery that that person would ultimately bring. And that is an aspect of love.

We go on here in John 3, 16, where it says, here we see the beauty. You know, we look at the breadth of the purpose, talking about whosoever believes in Him. But now notice the last part of John 3, 16. Should not perish but have everlasting life. Should not perish. Beautiful promise. Showing the motivation of God. A beautiful motivation. I've only got two more scriptures to turn to today. Let's take a look at the next to last one over here in Revelation 21.

Revelation 21, verses 1-4. This is something I quote every time I do a funeral. Because it is such an encouraging set of words for those who are grieving.

Revelation 21, verse 1. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. Now, why is this so beautiful? Because at this point in the history of the universe, there is no longer at this point any individual whose flesh and blood. The resurrections of all taken, all three of them, all three of the resurrections have come and gone by this point. You've got the resurrection, the first resurrection, for the saints. There are now spirit beings. You've got the resurrection for those who never understood. They will have had their opportunity. Hopefully, the great majority of those will want eternal life and go that direction. Then you've also got the third resurrection for those who just simply didn't want it, and they find themselves in a lake of fire. That's all come and gone by this point. So it says God will be with them. God will be among them. We have a relationship with God right now. It's called prayer. It's called study. But it's not the relationship that God ultimately wants with us. He wants a relationship. Right now, we go to God. We get our knees. We go to God. We talk. But there's coming the day when we want to talk to God, we simply walk up to Him and go, Hey, what's happening? What's going on? What do you say, Father? Of course, we'll do all that with proper respect and so on. And I'm sure He'll probably rub our heads like a father to His Son and just enjoy us immensely. The other day, my daughter Danielle put a couple of, at least one, a photo of herself on the Internet. And I really enjoyed looking at that. I don't know if she won, maybe three or four years old. She got this little angelic face. Back in those days, she was blonde and these gorgeous blue eyes. And you know, you just look at that and say, Oh, that's my little pumpkin.

So I'm sure that's why God looks at us. You know, we're the little pumpkins. Some of us aren't as little as we'd like to be, but we're still pumpkins in God's eyes. But here, notice, we were there with God, verse 4, And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. And notice here, very carefully, brethren, no more death. It says here, death itself will pass away. We talk about somebody dying, they've passed away. Death itself will come a time where there won't be any more death. And so here we see the beauty of the promise of God. One last scripture for today is over here in John, chapter 10.

John, chapter 10, verses 28 and 29.

John, chapter 10, verses 28 and 29. My Bible all read lettering. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. You know, again, going back to the idea of doing a funeral, one of the things I like to bring out in the course of a funeral is the fact that no matter who the deceased is, no matter who's there in the coffin or in the urn, if there had been a cremation, I make mention about the spirit of man. That every human being who's ever lived has a spiritual component in them that makes us different from the animals. And that spirit of man is not an immortal soul, doesn't have life by itself, but that spirit of man is like a recording device. It records all that we've said, all that we've done, records what we look like, records our character, and when we die, that goes to God. And God takes that and He shelves it someplace in His heart, in His mind, someplace in the greatness of God. He takes it and He puts that aside and He safeguards that. Satan can't get to that. Satan can't get to that. For those who have never known the truth of God, God will resurrect them, as we see there in Ezekiel 37. He'll take that blueprint that's the spirit of man. He'll take some flesh, put them together, and you'll have human beings walking the earth again. They'll look like they used to look, they'll have their same remembrances, but then they can be taught the truth of God. You take those of us in this room, if we are in the first resurrection, when Christ returns, then He will take the spirit of man, He'll take spirit, put those together, and then, you know, you put your name on the blank, there, there's you, but now you're totally spirit, you're totally love, you're totally God in every way, shape, and form. And Satan can't touch us. Death can't touch us. Nothing. We can't be snatched out of God's hand. Verse 29. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, He is certainly greater than Satan, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. And there you have the plan of God and His beauty. So, brethren, today I've asked the question, what should the Passover teach us about our motives? I've given you three responses to that, looking at just one scripture. God's motivation is always love, ours should be. Number two, godly motivation leads us to godly action. And number three, God's loving motivation has special purpose. Brethren, let's ask ourselves as Passover season, as we examine ourselves, if this speaks to our motives, or if it doesn't speak to what we need to be doing with our motivations in life.