TOPIC:  "OVER MY DEAD BODY"!
John 3:16 
(This is a message on experiencing God's love and hence, living a life of love.)
(John 15:13-"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends").....There is probably no greater summary of God’s love than that which is found in John 3:16 .
The topic of God’s love is truly an overwhelming subject to try and tackle in only one message. There is so much that the Bible has to say about the love of God that I doubt anyone has ever come close to fully comprehending it. So I will simply begin by saying something that A.W. Tozer once said, “I can no more do justice to this awesome and wonder-filled topic than a child can grasp a star. Still, by reaching toward the star the child may call attention to it and even indicate the direction one must look to see it. And so, I stretch my heart toward the high, shining love of God so that we may be encouraged to look up and have hope.”
It is only one sentence. And that sentence contains only twenty-five words. Yet that one sentence is packed with so much truth that we literally will not have time to fully unpack it’s contents, but I will try!

*From this one verse we can find at least seven truths (probably more) about the love of God:
1. THE LOVE OF GOD IS UNCONDITIONAL........"For God so loved the world",
The Greek word for world (kosmos) is defined as “the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God.  It is THIS world that God loved. It doesn’t say that God loved all the good guys. Or that God loved all the Jews. Or that God love all the saints. It says, “For God so loved the world.”
That God should love the world only heightens the mystery of this love. Were we to imagine a pristine world, fresh from the hand of the Creator and uninfected by evil, we could more easily comprehend God’s desire to save it. But a wayward world which not only failed to recognize its maker (John 1:10) but openly hated His approach to it (15:18) would seem a poor choice for love. 
So God’s love clearly isn’t based on our spiritual condition or our moral predisposition. It isn’t based on our behavior or our attitude toward him. Rather we see here that God’s love for mankind is universal and unconditional. He loves everyone. And this is one of the things that sets him apart from every other god held up by every other world religion.  Christianity uniquely claims God’s love comes free of charge, no strings attached. No other religion makes that claim. 

Buddhists, for example, follow an eight-fold path to enlightenment. It’s not a free ride. Hindus believe in karma, that your actions continually affect the way the world will treat you; that there is nothing that comes to you not set in motion by your actions. Someone else observed the Jewish code of the law implies God has requirements for people to be acceptable to him and in Islam God is a God of judgment not a God of love. You live to appease him!  Only Christianity dares to proclaim God’s love is unconditional. An unconditional love that we call grace. Christians boldly proclaim that grace really has precious little to do with us, but has EVERYTHING to do with Him!  There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less
2. THE LOVE OF GOD IS SACRIFICIAL....."that he gave"
Some people think they love others because of what those people do for them or how them make them feel. But God shows us that true love has nothing to do with what you can do for me, but everything to do with what I can do for you.

3. THE LOVE OF GOD IS VALUABLE......"his only begotten"
Not only was he willing to give, but we see here that he was willing to give the only one he had. When you give to someone out of your abundance that is one thing, but when you give out of your poverty that is quite another!  How many times have you heard it said: “I can’t give you that because it’s the only one I’ve got.” We’ve probably all said that. But we learn here that God didn’t have a back up. God didn’t have a spare. But he loved us so much that he was willing to give us the only one he had.
4. GOD’S LOVE IS PERSONABLE........"Son,"
A child was once trying to quote from John 3:16;  but he misquoted it and said, “his only forgotten Son.” It was one of those slips of the tongue that carried more truth than we would care to admit. For by most people in the world today Jesus Christ is truly forgotten. His life is forgotten. His love is forgotten. His sacrifice is forgotten. It is our job as Christians – as God’s ambassadors – to help them remember.
Max Lucado writes:
There are many reasons God saves you: to bring glory to himself, to appease his justice, to demonstrate his sovereignty. But one of the sweetest reasons God saved you is because he is fond of you. He likes having you around. He thinks you are the best thing to come down the pike in quite a while… If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart. And the Christmas gift he sent you in Bethlehem? Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you!
5. GOD’S LOVE IS ACCESSIBLE......"that whosoever believeth in him"
The really good news about God’s love is that it is not limited to a select few. It is not available only to those who were born with right color of skin or on the correct continent. Nor is it difficult to obtain. It is not reserved for only the intellectual elite or the power brokers or financial wizards. 
God has come down to our level. Not in the sense that he has lessened his holiness or lowered his standards. But only in the sense that he has made his love accessible to the average, ordinary person like me and like you. He has entered into our world and he longs to enter into our lives......YOUR LIFE!
6. GOD’S LOVE IS NONJUDGMENTAL......."should not perish"
God’s goal in sending his Son from heaven to earth was not condemn you are to show you how bad you are, how unworthy you are or how hopeless you are. God’s only desire in sending his Son was show you his love!   God on the other hand will judge us for our sins and even sentence us to hell, but only as a last resort – only over his Son’s dead body – only if we refuse to accept his offer of forgiveness. Another way of looking at it is that it isn’t so much that God sends us to hell as that we choose hell over heaven – we choose Satan over God – we choose sin over righteousness. 

7. GOD’S LOVE IS BENEFICIAL.............."but have everlasting life."
We have all heard the story of the young man who had got into an arguement with his father and ran away.  Years later he wants to come home, but isn't sure if his father still loved him.  He wrote his mother and said, "If daddy still loves me, tie a white cloth in the tree which grew beside the railroad tracks....and if I come by and do not see a white cloth...I'll just travel on"!  Of course, EVERY LIMB HAD A WHITE CLOTH TIED TO IT when he came home!    Jesus Christ is the white cloth our heavenly Father tied to the tree – to the cross of Calvary – signaling that it was safe for us to come home to his love.