From The Series: John- So That You May Believe

Part 15: The Word Became Flesh

The Gospel of John 1:1-4; 14

Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church

Since this is our last service before Christmas morning, I thought I would back up and spend some time this morning examining the mystery of the Incarnation. Much of the unbelieving world is confused by the Christian celebration around Christmas. Unfortunately, immigrants and recent arrivals to Canada are not the only ones confused. Many of the young people from our communities and families fail to recognize the significance of the celebration of Christmas. For many, Christmas is a time to gather together and exchange gifts, share a huge meal, and visit with family to catch up on things. These are all marvellous things, but many fail to recognize the reason for the feast.

Older civilizations had very distinct patterns for their festivals and it was clear why the gatherings and celebrations were happening. The same is true of other cultures around the world, but here in the West, many of our traditions have become commercialized and we have lost sight of the purpose behind the holiday. For me, the two biggest examples of this are Easter and Christmas.

Easter has become more about chocolate rather than the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, and Christmas has become about giving and receiving gifts to and from others. Instead, we should recognize that God stepped into His Creation and dwelt among His people for about 33 years and then offered Himself up as the only suitable and perfect sacrifice to give His rebellious people a path back into a reconciled relationship with Himself.

One commentary author wrote this about the verse we will be studying this morning, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. This statement is one of the most significant and memorable ever penned. Its implications are limitless. It has provided the church over the centuries with a key to understanding the mystery of Jesus Christ. It represents the heart and climax of the gospel. The remaining twenty and a half chapters of the John’s Gospel will be spent unfolding its significance.”^[1]

This morning, we are going to examine, in some depth, the significance of the human birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the role that this birth plays in your salvation if you do not know Jesus, and the role that this birth plays in your sanctification if you are a Christian and are currently walking with Jesus.

Before we begin, please open your bibles, or turn on your devices,  to the first chapter of the Gospel of John where we are going to read the first four verses and then jump down to verse 14 to help us understand what the Bible and the Holy Spirit are speaking to us this morning. 

READ John 1:1-4 then John 1:14

“¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” Now, jump down to verse 14, “¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

What came to your mind when I was reading these verses back-to-back? When we read these verses we should see the divine nature and the human nature juxtaposed, inviting us to meditate on this unique aspect of Jesus Christ. I keep using the descriptor “unique” when referencing Jesus Christ. I do this because I want us to recognize that Jesus Christ as the fully divine/fully human individual, is the only personage that could fulfill the task appointed unto Him. Only Jesus could fulfill the requirements of the Law thus permitting the establishment of the New Covenant between God and His People. A New Covenant extended out past the originally chosen people, the Israelites, to include all peoples from around the world including Jews and Gentiles.

Christianity invites us to hold some complex doctrines and simple doctrines at the same time. A simple doctrine such as Jesus paid it all, we can earn nothing to add to His offering to ensure our salvation. Then there are complex doctrines such as Jesus being both fully divine and fully human at the same time. We have terms for complex doctrines. Sometimes putting a name to a concept that is difficult to grasp helps us to think the thing through. The complex doctrine of Jesus being fully human and fully divine simultaneously is called “The Hypostatic Union”.

The hypostatic union explains how Jesus could sometimes operate within human limitations while at other times demonstrating divine power, all stemming from his single personhood. While this doctrine attempts to explain the dual nature of Christ, it is acknowledged as a concept that surpasses full human comprehension. In other words, we are limited by our human intellect to understand the mechanics of how this union exactly works. But, if I have done my preparation correctly, by the end of this message I should have shown the significance of this doctrine to your life as a Christian.

In the first verse of John chapter 1, we see John firmly establishing the deity of Jesus. “¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We have two personages identified here, “The Word” and “God”. In the original Greek, the words that John the Apostle used to describe this situation are very specific. I won’t go into the details of the Greek language here except to say that the words and the tenses of those words used were very intentional so that we can render the exact meaning that we have derived from it into English.

We covered some of this before, but I think it bears repeating. John uses “In the beginning” to harken the minds of his Jewish readers back to Genesis 1:1, but he also uses the word “Logos” in the original Greek to refer to Jesus. In Greek philosophy, Logos was the unidentifiable force behind all the universe. So, in this short sentence, John is drawing the Jewish thought of the Creator and the Greek understanding of the Universe together into the personage of Jesus. For the Jews, John tells them that Jesus was with God, and then John throws them into chaos because of their monotheism, their belief that there can only be one God, by claiming that the Word, the Logos, was also God.

As Christians, we hold to monotheism as well. We believe in one God who is present in three persons, the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons, each with their own personalities and roles, but all sharing the same substance in the Godhead. Again, another complex doctrine which we have given a name in order to help us to understand is the doctrine of the Trinity.

How do we know for sure that John is referring to Jesus when he uses the phrase “the Word”? We can tell in two ways. We can jump down to verse 14 where John tells us, “¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Only Jesus matches this description.

We can also tell by referencing another verse in the Bible where it speaks about Jesus being the Creator.

Paul echoes John’s thoughts in The Book of Colossians when Paul wrote in verses 15 and sixteen of the first chapter, “¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” We see both John and Paul making it clear that Jesus was there with the Father before Creation. Therefore, Jesus is not a created being, He is not an angel as some teach, He is God! If Jesus is God, and He was with God at the beginning, and we believe in only one God, then we must have a mechanism to explain this: the Doctrine of The Trinity is that mechanism.  

The Nicene Creed was written to help us to understand the doctrine of the Trinity. Unfortunately, not many Western Protestant churches teach the creeds and confessions anymore. Again, we have touched on this a couple of weeks back, but it bears repeating. Here is what the Nicene Creed states:

Nicene Creed:

 “I believe in one God”, right there we have a statement affirming the belief of monotheism. It continues,  “the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.” We see the Father is listed as the Creator of all things. “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds,” Begotten here means unique, or one of a kind. Jesus is exactly that, “unique and one of a kind!” “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made;” We are told here that Jesus is also the one through whom all things were made. “…who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate” made flesh, just as we are covering this morning. “… by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end. And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.”

You will find this creed in the centre of today’s bulletin for you to take home and study.

Before we move on to the second point this morning, I want to point out one more thing about the Greek words that John uses in verse 14. Another commentator wrote this about verse 14. It’s a little technical but I will explain, “The verb ‘was made’ [translated in the NIV as “became”] in Greek is (egenetō, from ginomai) ‘expresses that a person or thing changes its property and enters into a new condition, it becomes something that it was not before’. The tense is aorist, implying a definite and completed action; there is no going back upon the incarnation. The act of self-humbling on the part of God is irreversible; he is eternally ‘Emmanuel’, God with us. God the Son, without ceasing for a moment to be divine, has united to himself a full human nature and become an authentic human person, ‘God with us’. In Jesus Christ, God ‘was made man’.^[2]”

Let me explain. The Greek word used indicates that what Jesus became when He was born in the manger some 2,000 years ago was a new condition with new properties. Not a new being. Jesus did not lose any of his divinity, but He added new properties (His humanity), His human form, so that, He, Jesus, was now something that He wasn’t before.

We can’t say that Jesus is 50% human and 50% God because that would indicate that He was something less than He was before the incarnation. We say that Jesus is fully divine and fully human to describe that He was not less before His human birth, but that He was different than He is now.

The tense of the word in Greek indicates that the change is complete. There is no undoing His humanity. As the commentary writer says, “Jesus is eternally ‘Emannuael’ or God is with us. This is another component of the sacrifice that Jesus was willing to make for His creation. Jesus was willing to forever change His nature to take on humanity for our sake. Jesus humbled Himself to such an extent as to leave the side of the Father where He had been for all of eternity past and enter into His creation in the form of a small human infant. The more I study Jesus, the more I am amazed at the depth of His love for us. Those are some of the points regarding the significance of the Incarnation.

The next point I want to cover this morning is the role of the Incarnation in the salvation of the lost. What significance does Jesus adding human nature to His existing divine nature have for His role in our Salvation? Let’s look at a few Bible verses to determine that.

1 John 3:5, “⁵ But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.” In one of his shorter letters, John writes again about the reason for Jesus stepping into our reality and walking among our ancestors. He appeared so that he would be able to take away our sins.

1 Peter 2:24 puts it this way, “²⁴ “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds, you have been healed.” Jesus bore our sins in His body.

1 Corinthians 5:21, “²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin (or a sin offering) for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Think about that for a moment. Here is another example of the depth of Jesus’ love for us. A perfect God, who added human form to His divine form, lives a perfect sinless life (which we will explore in greater detail in a minute) then after being humiliated, beaten, flogged, and nailed to a Roman Cross, becomes a sin offering for us, so that we did not have to pay the punishment for our rebellion against God.

How many people in your life right now, would you be willing to endure such treatment for? Your spouse, your children, your parents maybe? What about the neighbour down the road who ignores you every time you come across them? Would you do it for the police officer who gave you your last speeding ticket? Would you bear the punishment for a prisoner on death row? Would you bear the anger that people have for the Prime Minister right now so that he could be reconciled to a Holy and Merciful God? Jesus did that for us, while we were still yet sinners! He did that for you and me.

Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed these words, “⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed.” This prophecy was fulfilled on a Roman Cross, outside the walls of Jerusalem, on a hill called Calvary.

I came across an interesting quote in regards to these types of prophecies in the Old Testament. Listen to what one author wrote, “We do the Bible a disservice if we try to read these prophecies as predictions. Few Old Testament prophecies are actually predictive. Most are better understood as patterns of God’s work in history that anticipate the events of Jesus’ life.”^[3] I found that idea so interesting. I’m sure that you are aware that there have been some prophecies that have been fulfilled multiple times. If we stop thinking of Old Testament prophecies as simply predictions of future events, but rather we think of them as indications of patterns that are evidence of God’s work and the anticipation of the events in Jesus’ life, we can have a whole new appreciation and understanding of the prophecies.

The final point I wish to address this morning is what is the role of the Incarnation of Jesus in your sanctification? Does this fact of Jesus adding humanity to His already perfect divine form have any bearing on how you live your life? Does it influence your Christian walk?

Through the prophet Zechariah, Yahweh and Jesus spoke these words, “¹⁰ “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. ¹¹ “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. ¹² The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. ¹³ Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” Pay close attention to verse 11, “¹¹ “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.” “Many nations will join with the Lord”, that would be Jesus, “I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.” The term “Lord Almighty” is referring to the Father here.

Reading these verses and recognizing that they are referring to Jesus of Nazareth, allows us to have confidence in the truthfulness of the Old Testament. As I mentioned earlier, we are seeing more than a prediction here, we are seeing a pattern emerge of God’s interaction with His people. A pattern that allows us to recognize the faithfulness and unchanging character of Jesus Christ and God the Father.

To understand another role that the Incarnation of Jesus Christ plays in our sanctification we need to keep in mind a couple of verses from the Book of Hebrews. I touched on the sinlessness of Jesus earlier, but Hebrews 4:15 stresses this point. “¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” It is true that Jesus did not face every exact sin that we face, especially the sins that are facilitated by technology and social media, but technology has not brought any new category of sin. Technology has simply allowed new packaging of the same old sins.

Take pornography as a sin example. What lies at the heart of pornography is lust. We read in 2 Samuel chapter 11 in the Old Testament that David succumbed to the sin of lust when he stood on his palace rooftop and watched Bathsheba bathe on her rooftop. Same sin, different packaging and delivery system. Notice what Hebrews 4:15 is saying here: Jesus empathizes with us. He is not a cruel and heartless taskmaster of a Shepherd. Jesus can empathize with us because He too faced similar temptations, yet His resistance was so complete that He lived a Holy and Righteous life.

Take phone scams as another example. The sins that lie behind the actions of these people on the other end of the phone are greed, covetousness, theft, lying, and pride. These scammers are greedy and they want what you have. They think they deserve to have the money that you worked hard for and saved. They are willing to lie to steal it from you and they think that they are so much smarter than you and they try to take advantage of our trusting society here in the West.

There were cheats, liars and thieves in the days of Jesus. They just lacked the ability to pick up a phone and reach out to someone across the country, or halfway around the world from where they were. Same sins, just different delivery methods.

Despite all these trials and temptations, Jesus was able to stay true. Hebrews 7:26 tells us this very thing: “²⁶ Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” Notice what the author of Hebrews is not saying. He is not making excuses for our sins. Jesus is not an enabler, giving us an understanding wink and head nod saying, “I know, it’s hard, I’ve been there” and then permitting us to remain in our sin.

Twice in the Gospel of John, Jesus is recorded as telling people whom He rescued to “go and sin no more.” Once was in the fifth chapter after Jesus heals the man at the pool of Bethesda, and the second time is when He comes across the woman accused of adultery who was about to be stoned. So these preachers who claim that Jesus loves you right where you are in your sin and that you do not need to change are flat-out false teachers. Jesus calls Christians to a higher standard of living. We are called to live a life worthy of an adopted child of God. Not to earn our salvation, but because we already have it and we want to show our appreciation of the value of the gift called Grace.

It is our rebellious nature and our pride that stand in the way of a personal saving relationship with Jesus. I saw a meme this week on X that really struck me. It was a painting of the column of fire that Yahweh used to reassure the Israelites that He was still present with them and guiding them. Under the picture was a statement something to the effect of, “When unbelievers ask for a sign that our God is real. They will often say something like, ‘If God is real and He were to manifest Himself in front of me right now, then I will believe in Him and obey Him’.” The statement went on to point out that even when the Israelites had physical proof in front of them, like the columns of fire and smoke, they still failed to believe and obey.”

The issue is not physical proof. The issue is a heart issue. It is an issue of submission. That is why Jesus spent so much time talking about people’s hearts in the Gospels.

The Incarnation of Jesus Christ signifies that God has come to dwell with us, bringing hope and redemption, and He invites us to live in a relationship with Him. Throughout Scripture, the theme of Christ as the Word emphasizes His preexistence, His creative power, and His sustaining role in the universe. The Incarnation is a key moment that bridges God's holiness with humanity's need for salvation, making Jesus the ultimate fulfillment of God's promises.

In this sermon, I attempted to teach the importance of the Incarnation and how it is central to understanding who Jesus is: fully God and fully man. The Incarnation emphasizes the importance of both aspects of His nature and the implications they have for our faith and daily living.

This passage reassures believers that Jesus understands their struggles because He entered into our human experience. He faced the same categories of temptations that we do and He calls us to live in the light of His revelation, knowing that we have a Savior who identifies with our humanity and offers us eternal life through His grace.

We have the privilege of becoming children of God through faith in Christ, the Word made flesh. We gain the acceptance and intimacy that come from a personal relationship with the Creator, and He empowers believers to embrace their identity in Christ and live boldly for Him as a testament to His grace. Think about this: there is the Old Testament and the New Testament, but there is also the testament of your life to others as you faithfully walk with Christ in His teachings. What is your life testifying to?

CONCLUSION

The story is told of Shah Abbis, a Persian monarch who loved his people very much. To know and understand them better, he would mingle with his subjects in various disguises. One day he went as a poor man to the public baths and in a tiny cellar sat beside the fireman who tended the furnace. When it was mealtime, the monarch shared his coarse food and talked to his lonely subject as a friend. Again and again he visited and the man grew to love him. One day the Shah told him he was the monarch, expecting the man to ask some gift from him. But the fireman sat gazing at his ruler with love and wonder and at last spoke, “You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat of my coarse food, to care whether my heart is glad or sorry. On others you may bestow rich presents, but to me you have given yourself, and it only remains for me to pray that you never withdraw the gift of your friendship.”

This beautiful story reminds us that Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, left the glories of heaven in order to share himself with us. That gift of his love and friendship will never be withdrawn from us. He chose to be your friend and mine forever.^[4]

                To conclude this morning, let’s stand and together sing the Doxology:

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heav'nly hosts; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost". 

Go in peace, you are dismissed.

 

---

^[1] Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here Is Your King!: With Study Guide, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 46.

^[2] Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here Is Your King!: With Study Guide, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 46.

^[3] Wendy Widder, “The Anticipators: ‘To Fulfill What the Lord Had Spoken’ (Matthew 1:18–2:23),” Bible Study Magazine (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press; Faithlife, 2018), 22.

^[4] Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 48–49.

John - So That You May Believe, The Gospel of John Part 14, John 3:22-36, "I Must Become Less"

 December 15^th, 2024

From The Series: John- So That You May Believe

Part 14 - I Must Become Less

The Gospel of John John 3:22-36

Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church

This morning, we are resuming our study of the Gospel of John. Chronologically, this account occurs between Jesus' temptation in the wilderness and John the Baptist's imprisonment. The other three gospel writers are silent about this period in their accounts.

In the Bible studies that I lead, I always encourage the attendees to read the parallel accounts of whatever passage they are studying in the other gospels. There is a great deal of overlap in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). By doing this, you will discover additional details that that particular author felt important enough to emphasize.

If you have a good study Bible, you will often see the parallel accounts listed in parenthesis after the subtitle of the passage you are about to read. Some Bibles will list a harmony of the Gospels in them. Another option is to Google the phrase “Harmony of the Gospels” and you should come across a free PDF document on the Blue Letter Bible website. There are also a few copies on the back table under the map.

I encourage you to refer to this document when you read through the Gospels as it can reveal some interesting details. Critics of the Bible refer to these as contradictions within the Bible, but this accusation just reveals their ignorance of the true nature of the Bible. The Bible is not one book, but rather a collection of 66 books or letters written by men as they were carried along by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In other words, there are the names of the human authors given to some books, but God was the primary author of the Bible. If God is the coauthor, we do not have to worry about contradictions in the Bible, we must rather find the explanations for the differences, which is most often our failure to understand the context of what the authors were writing about, or to whom they were writing.

You will often see listed in a Harmony of the Gospels that numerous passages of John’s  Gospel stand alone. This is most likely because John’s Gospel was written last and he may have been filling in areas that the others had missed. This morning’s passage is one of those stand-alone passages.

This particular passage marks a unique transition in the Gospel of John, we will see a shift from the Old Covenant to the emphasis on the New Covenant and John does this through the comparison of the baptisms of John the Baptiser and the followers of Jesus. This transition points us towards the big idea in this passage as best described by John the Baptiser, “He must become greater, I must become less”.

The big idea here is “The greatness of Christ must eclipse our ambitions. By doing this, Jesus is inviting us to live lives that elevate His name and purpose over our own.”

Let’s read this morning’s passage and we will examine what this concept means for us in our lives today. Please open your Bibles or turn on your devices to John chapter 3.

READ JOHN 3:22-36

“²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. ²³ Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put in prison.) ²⁵ An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. ²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷ To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.”

³¹ The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. ³³ Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴ For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

PRAY

This passage begins with the phrase, “After this” which is John’s way of indicating that we are moving on from the encounter that Nicodemus had with Jesus of Nazareth. This morning’s passage highlights one of the biggest stumbling blocks for Nicodemus in his acceptance of the teachings of Jesus. The attitude of John the Baptiser was a direct contrast to the attitude of Nicodemus. When a few came running to John the Baptiser, he said to his followers, “He must become greater; I must become less”. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and despite wishing to learn more about Jesus in a sincere way, despite coming at night to learn from Jesus, Nicodemus was curious enough to at least come to Jesus. But it appeared that Nicodemus hit a bump in the road to his learning when Jesus told him that he knew lots but understood little.

I’m sure that came as quite a hit to the ego of Nicodemus. The New Testament presents Pharisees as pride-filled and combative. They were the “Karens” of the Near Middle East in the days of Jesus concerning themselves with the “proper” interpretation and understanding the the Law as presented to Moses by  Yahweh. The problem was, that they got it wrong.

One commentary writer put it this way, “For centuries the children of Israel lived under the burdensome covenant God made with their fathers at Mount Sinai. As well as being God’s absolute law of righteousness, reflecting His holy nature, it also contained the unique marks of their national identity as God’s chosen people”[1]

God even told them this very thing in Deuteronomy 7:6, “⁶ For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” Here’s the problem, their pride got in the way and instead of remaining humble and dependent on the mercy of God, they determined that salvation could be earned from God through the strict observance of the Law.

An observance that was so strict, that the Pharisees added to the burden of the people of Israel by misapplying the Law and misunderstanding the intent behind the original use of the Law. God presented three main categories of laws each it its intended purposes.

First, there was the Moral law. These were laws that reflected God's character and design for the world. Examples include the Ten Commandments, which prohibit murder, adultery, theft, and other sins. These were foundational laws needed for a just society. A society that reflected the character of a just God. These guidelines have become corrupted today in our society as evidenced by some of the soft-on-crime sentencing that is happening in the court system. We see in the crime statistics that relatively few repeat offenders are often responsible for the majority of crimes such as theft in a given area.

Second, they were given the Ceremonial law. These were a set of laws for the nation of Israel as a theocracy, a country that looked to God as their leader rather than a human King. These laws covered topics such as how to perform sacrifices, cleanliness, dietary laws, and festivals. These were the set of laws that were intended the most to separate the nation of Israel and her people from the surrounding pagan cultures the most. These were the laws intended to sanctify God’s chosen people. Do you remember what the definition of sanctified was that we used while studying the Old Testament texts? Sanctified means an item, person, or group of people set apart by God, for use by God. Jesus is the one who sanctifies through His mercy. The ceremonial laws were intended to reinforce the idea of God’s people being set apart from the surrounding cultures.

The same principle applies to Christians today. We are called to emulate Jesus, not follow the ways of the World and its culture. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross freed us from the dietary laws. We are free to eat whatever we desire, but we are not free to act like the rest of the world. The same principle applies to the concept of multi-culturalism. It is fine to understand and appreciate other cultures. We can experience their foods but we are not to accept their understanding of God or their cultural practices of worship. For some time now, in the name of multiculturalism, we have accepted various concepts such as karma into our mindsets. Another thing that has become widely accepted in the West without fully understanding it is yoga.

Yoga is one of the six schools of philosophy in Hinduism and is also a major part of Buddhism. Indian deities are an intrinsic part of yoga and can be encountered in many ways, such as in the name or symbol of a yoga studio, an image on the wall, or a mantra chanted in class. Some yoga poses are based on the worship poses of Hindu gods:

Hanumanasana: Also known as "the splits", this pose represents the monkey god Hanuman, who represents devotion, selfless service, dedication, and power.

Natarajasana: This pose represents the cosmic dancing form of Shiva, which represents the dance of the universe and the rhythm and cycles of nature. These concepts are antithetical to Christianity and they fly directly in the face of what the Bible reveals about who God is and the nature of all of Creation.

The final component of Yahweh’s revealed laws was the Civil law. The civil laws were intended to help deal with disputes between citizens and enforce morals. Many civil laws for Israel dealt with how to punish or make restitution for breaking God's moral laws.

The mistake that the people of Isreal made in the observance of these laws was the assumption that they were a means of salvation. This was never the intent of God. God’s purpose for these laws was to confront sinners with a reflection of God’s absolute holiness, demand that they keep the law perfectly, and leave them facing their inability to keep it. This realization of their inability was intended to drive them to God to seek His mercy.

Paul put it succinctly in Galatians 3:24-25 when he wrote, “²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” Some translations use the word tutor instead of guardian. The Law was our tutor until Christ came. Some people make the mistake of thinking that now that we have accepted Jesus, we are no longer under the tutoring or guardianship of the Law.

This is not wholly accurate. While it is true that we now enjoy some freedoms under Christ, freedoms that release us from the ceremonial food restrictions against pork or shellfish, and laws such as the mixing of fibres in the making of fabric for clothing. These laws are no longer binding on us, this is true. But that does not mean that we should completely forget the leading of a good guardian or the teachings of a good tutor. In our freedom, we should have the wisdom to know which laws apply to us and which have been fulfilled in the work of Jesus Christ. For Christians, the law is our guardrail to keep us out of the ditches that are on either side of this narrow road that we are called to travel.

The old covenant was unable to justify anyone. However, it pointed to the coming Saviour, through whom sinners could be reconciled to God. This was not just a concept that was taught at the time of Jesus or just after His death, burial, and resurrection. Approximately 600 years before the Saviour came, Gold told His people about the new covenant through the prophet Jeremiah.

Keep your finger here in John, and turn with me to the book of Jeremiah. Look at Jeremiah 31 starting at verse 31. You will find Jeremiah 31:31 on page 644 of the Pew Bible.

“³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

That was written more than 600 years before the time of Jesus so the concept of God no longer remembering their sins would have been unthinkable to the Jewish people. Yet, as a species, we have this unique talent to inflate our sense of value and our ability to rescue ourselves.

Turn back with me to this morning’s passage. Look at verse 27, John the Baptiser explains to one of his followers, “²⁷ To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.” This is one of the fundamental truths that we continue to forget or willfully misunderstand, that faith and salvation are the work of God alone. It is our human pride that insists that we have a significant role to play in this salvific story.

It was God who created the earth and all that it contains. It is God who permits the reproduction of all living things on the earth. Scripture tells us that one man plants the seed and another water,  but it is God who delivers the growth. This is not just a metaphor for spiritual growth, it is also a recognition of what God is doing in our lives.

It is God in the form of the entire Trinity who formed the perfect plan to bring rebellious mankind back into a reconciled relationship with their Creator. A plan that was so perfect that man plays no significant role in our own salvation.

It was the unique divine person of Jesus Christ who agreed to step into His own creation and to add humanity to His already complete and perfect divine form and become the fully unique, fully human, fully God being known as Jesus the Christ.

Once fully human and fully divine, Jesus agreed to restrict, for a period of time, some of His divine attributes and to live a perfect and sinless life, despite being faced with all the same temptations that we fall to in our lives. Only Jesus could be the suitable sacrifice to pay our sin debt to the Father in such a way as to allow the Father to no longer see our sins, but only see the righteousness of the Son.

When we attempt to stand before a Holy and Just God clothed in our righteousness, the Father sees our works as filthy rags, yet when we follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit and accept the gift of Grace that Jesus extends to us, we become clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We can then stand in the presence of God today through our prayer life, and one day in the future, when we go on to Glory and spend eternity with the follower.

It is important that we follow the example of John the Baptiser which he sets here for us in this passage. As a son of the priest Zacharias, John would have been familiar with the role of the coming Messiah, and John would have recognized his own role as simply the herald, the one going before the king announcing His arrival.

This is our greatest task as well, to remain humble in the receiving of this gift of Grace and to be willing to be used by God to spread this message to others. We are to remain obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit after we receive the indwelling of the Spirit when we come to Jesus. We should be magnifying Jesus and emphasizing the supremacy of Jesus as the Messiah and source of eternal life.

It is the work of Jesus that we should be amplifying so as to further the Kingdom of God from a sense of appreciation for what we have already been given, rather than seeking some sort of reward from the Heavenly Father for our poor attempts to bring about our salvation.

This is the mystery of the Bible revealed: the overarching message of the entire collection of the 66 books of the Bible is the redemptive work of Jesus Christ bringing us back into the right relationship with the Father. The New Covenant is Jesus Christ. It’s not a contract it is the creator. It is not a method it is a man. It is not a process it is a person. The New Covenant is the one-of-a-kind fully divine, fully human Jesus Christ. He is not just a man, He is the means to get back to the Father. It does not depend on what we can do, it depends on what He has done. As Jesus proclaimed from the cross, “It is finished”.

Look with me at verses 31-36. “³¹ The one who comes from above is above all;” who is John referring to here? Jesus the Messiah. “The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.” This refers to those who do not have the Holy Spirit and are still in rebellion against the Father and the Son. “The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.” No one accepts His testimony without the assistance of the Son and the Holy Spirit. We cannot grasp and understand all that Jesus has accomplished without the assistance of God. “³³ Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴ For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.” By accepting this gift of Grace we prove that the plan is heavenly sent. I have said many times in the past, that this plan of Salvation determined by the members of the Trinity, goes against our natural inclinations that we must have some contribution to this rescue.

Immediately before I was saved, I was studying Buddhism which was the latest in a string of attempts to look for God. I was experiencing what Pascal wrote about.  Blaise Pascal was a mathematician and physicist in the 1700s. He is credited with the quote "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ". The created things that I was trying to fill this hole with were man-made religions. The fact that Christianity taught that there was nothing that I could do to earn favour with God was the very thing that proved the truthfulness of Christianity for me. All other false religions, have a basis of works to them to earn favour and salvation from God, or an improvement in your lot in your next life.

“³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.” Whose hands? Identify the pronoun here, in whose hands has the Father placed everything? In Jesus’ hands. Everything, not just some and some in man’s hands. All has been placed in the hands of Jesus. What greater way could the Father show the love and appreciation for what the Son has accomplished?  “³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” Woe to those who still face the wrath of the Father. We saw this last week that salvation is not universal. Universal Salvation flies in the face of the Holiness and Justness attributes of the character of God. It is only through the Mercy of the Father that not all are condemned for eternity.

Notice the contrast that John the Baptiser is emphasizing here. There is a distinction between Earthly things and Heavenly things. A difference between false earthly teachings and truthful heavenly teachings. A difference between earthly wisdom and the gift of heavenly wisdom. A difference between earthly pride and heavenly humility.

Throughout history, mankind has attempted to elevate themselves to an equal status with God. We have done this by inflating our own abilities and knowledge or denigrating the uniqueness and specific commands of God. We either elevate mankind or attempt to tear down Jesus to our level.

What a disgrace and what a dishonouring of what Jesus has accomplished for us.

Look at verse 30, “³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.” John knew what the mission was. He could have allowed himself an inflated sense of self-worth. Here He was a messenger, one sent by God to proclaim the coming arrival of the Messiah, a heaven-sent King. John was amassing followers and he was baptizing them, preparing a group for the King who was to come.

John would have heard the prophecy proclaimed by his father, speaking of the one from the Tribe of Judah, the House of David, the fulfillment of many prophecies, and Yahweh chose John the Baptiser to be the one to tell the Israelites of the Christ’s pending arrival. Did he allow it to go to his head? Did John allow this honour to puff himself up? No, we read a few weeks back what he asked by the Jewish leaders, John denied being the Messiah or even a prophet, instead, he humbly proclaimed, “²⁷ He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

What a wonderful example for all Christians to emulate. If we wish to be used by God, if we wish to be sanctified, “Set apart by God, for God” then we must first increase Jesus Christ and make Him evident in our lives for others to see and then decrease ourselves so that we may used as servants in the expansion of the Kingdom of God and His work.

                The Navigators are well known for their emphasis on having a servant attitude. A businessman once asked Lome Sanny, president of the Navigators, how he could know when he had a servant attitude. The reply: “By how you act when you are treated like one.”^[2]

CONCLUSION

Corrie ten Boom was once asked if it was difficult for her to remain humble. Her reply was simple. “When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the back of a donkey, and everyone was waving palm branches and throwing garments on the road, and singing praises, do you think that for one moment it ever entered the head of that donkey that any of that was for him?”

She continued, “If I can be the donkey on which Jesus Christ rides in His glory, I give him all the praise and all the honour.”^[3]

I often say that if the Lord can use Balaam’s donkey, then perhaps he can use me as well.

Doxology:

Let me close with this doxology:

²⁴ “The Lord bless you and keep you;

²⁵ may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

²⁶ may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."

Go in peace, you are dismissed.

Pastor Paul’s Points:

1) The Old Covenant pointed forward.

2) The New Covenant is Jesus.

3) We must become less in our own eyes.

 

Questions to meditate on this week:

A.     Do you have a servant’s heart?

B.      Are you a Christian to “get” or to “give”?

 

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[1] MacArthur, John The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: John 1-11, pg 122.

^[2] Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 200.

^[3] Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 199.

John-So That You May Believe, The Gospel of John Part 13, John 3:16-21, "Fof God So Loved The World"

 December 8^th, 2024

From The Series: John- So That You May Believe

Part 13 For God So Loved The World

The Gospel of John John 3:16-21

Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church

This morning, we will begin with the most famous Bible verse John 3:16. You see it written on cardboard signs at sporting events. Christians love to quote it because it is brief and easy to remember. Atheists even quote it because it is non-threatening. That’s probably why a lot of Christians quote it as well, the non-threatening nature of it. A lot of people only quote or know the first half of 3:16. The second half contains that conditional clause “that whoever believes in Him”. A lot of people don’t like that clause in the Salvation Agreement.

What? I have to believe in the Son, in order to receive the Father’s love! The amazing thing that so many miss, both in and outside the church, is that God’s love is wide enough to include the most terrible of sinners but narrow enough to exclude all who reject Jesus. Too many false teachers are peddling the narrative that Jesus loves everybody and will accept you in your sin (which is true by the way) but then they falsely proclaim that you do not have to change, and you can continue to wallow in your sin because Jesus loves you and paid your debt so you have a get-out-of-hell-free card.

We change when we are adopted into God’s Family because we love and appreciate what Jesus has done, so we change to honour His work. We are now adopted children of a King, we should act like it!

So this passage this morning is one of the most quoted passages in all the Bible but it is probably one of the most misapplied passages of all the Bible. Let’s dig in and see what God wishes to teach us this morning.

If you did not bring your Bible this morning, you should find one underneath one of the chairs in the row in front of you. John Chapter 3, starting at verse 16 will be found on page 862 of the pew bible. If you do not have a bible at home, please take that bible with you as a gift from Mountain View Church. We feel that it is vitally important that you have easy access to God’s Word. And God’s Word says…

READ JOHN 3:16-21

“¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

PRAY

There is some discussion in the world of biblical interpretation as to whether these are the words of Jesus, or are they a commentary inserted by the author. I tend to think that Jesus is not speaking here. I see that John has added some commentary to what has just taken place between Nicodemus and Jesus. John is adding some clarifying thoughts to the conversation that he has shared with his readers.

That does not make these words any less inspired than the red letters. Some Christians make this mistake, thinking that only the words spoken by Jesus are inspired.

2 Peter 1:21 says, "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." This thought does not apply only to prophecy, but we can apply this thought to all of the Bible. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, co-authored by the Holy Spirit, therefore every word is trustworthy. The challenge for us modern-day readers lies in determining what the authors were saying to the original audience in their historical and cultural context. Discovering their truth and bringing it forward to today, for truth is universal and timeless. Truth is truth. We do not get to pick and choose what we will follow or believe, or what books we will obey and which books or passages we can ignore.

So, John is making a comment here and offering an explanation of what Jesus was trying to teach and what Nicodemus was having difficulty grasping. “For God so loved the world…” God loves the world. It is His creation. He created it perfectly! Man messed it up! We were the ones who brought the curse upon creation. God created it perfectly and in a harmonious state with all its creatures. And Jesus was there.

Do you remember the first five verses of this book? “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5. We are going to come back to this concept of light and darkness near the end of the message.

Jesus loves the World. Jesus created the world. Jesus holds the entire creation together. Jesus loves the world so much that He provides for the world. All of creation works together. From the lowest bacteria to the Apex predators of the wild, the entire created order is interconnected and held together by Jesus. Jesus provides for all.

But the love of God cannot override the Holiness of God and His sense of Justice. Unlike earthly judges who are constantly bending or breaking the law and things like sentencing guidelines in the name of mercy and justice. True justice is served perfectly by the Father. Justice cannot ignore the disobedience of mankind. That is not love.

When a child errs, a loving parent corrects the child. Failing to correct a child who is making mistakes is not the loving thing to do. It is the opposite actually. You are failing to love the child by not correcting their behaviour. This “gentle parenting” fad that is happening right now is not loving or helpful. I have seen adults who have been coddled and protected in their childhood grow up and be confused and anxious when they are faced with the realities of life. Especially, when they get out in the workforce and their employers refuse to coddle them any longer. Some of them can’t cope and they collapse on the floor or ground screaming like a two-year-old.

I mention that only to show the contrast between a perfect father, God, and the imperfect parents that we humans are. “For God so loved the world…” that He not only created it, He not only sustains all of it, He not only holds it all together, He corrects the bad behaviour of those who exist in His creation.

The Father also loves the world enough, “that He gave His one and only Son…” The King James reads, “he gave his only begotten Son,…”. Begotten here means unique, or one of a kind. Jesus is exactly that, “unique and one of a kind!” The Father loves the world so much that “He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” What does that mean?

I was just speaking about the love of the Father and the Justness of the Father and how despite how strong the Love of the Father is, it cannot override the justness of the Father. So what is a loving Father to do? That is where another attribute of the Father comes to the forefront to rescue us. The Mercy of the Father becomes evident in the work of the Son.

Look at verse 17, “¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” “¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world…”, Jesus does not condemn the world. It is already condemned and mankind did the condemning when our forefathers disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. Many bad theologians have tried to disconnect modern man from the original sin of Adam. These are the false teachers who claim that we are all basically good and just a few of us make bad choices, so a loving God would not just give a blanket condemnation to all mankind!

The Bible tells us otherwise!  In his great theological textbook, the Apostle Paul wrote this in Romans 3:23-24, “²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We need a rescuer, we need a saviour. We cannot earn God’s mercy and we do not deserve God’s mercy because of our rebellion against God. I want to point out something here, look very carefully at verse 24, “²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Pay attention to every word in this verse. It is not saying that “All are forgiven by Jesus”. That is a doctrine known as Universalism and it is not taught in the Bible. It says, “All are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”. We need to define grace here to understand who the “all” is referring to. Grace is the mercy of God as applied by God to those whom He has chosen.

Romans 9:14-16 makes this clear, “¹⁴ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”

We must catch ourselves when we start to question God on this matter. The Father is not obligated to save any! He extends mercy to those whom He has chosen.

Scripture makes it clear that it is God who does the choosing, and He does not choose everyone. If everyone received the same sentence then there would be no mercy! It would not be mercy it would be universal salvation which is not found in the Bible. The only universal principle found in the Bible is the universal condemnation that man brought upon himself through the disobedience of our forefathers. Is this starting to make sense to you?

Paul repeats this doctrine in Romans 5:19, “¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” Notice Paul is saying the many will be made righteous” not the “all”. But even those whom God extends His mercy on, those who will experience Grace, is a powerful example of the love that He has for us and the world. In order to be able to accept the mercy of God through the actions of Jesus, we must also be willing to accept the condemnation due us through the actions of Adam. You don’t get Jesus without first accepting Adam.

Those who think or claim that this is not fair, fail to appreciate the Holiness of the character of God. God’s not one of us. Jesus isn’t our pal. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are perfect and holy beings who have chosen to extend mercy to those whom they have chosen.

It is in keeping with this doctrine that there is the conditional clause in John 3:16, “¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” So many gloss over that condition, because it means submission for them. Submission to the authority of Jesus Christ is placed on their lives. All of this still reveals God’s immense love for humanity.

We have the Biblical examples of the flood and of the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of when God withdrew His love and mercy from mankind. We also have examples of the invasion and conquering of the Babylonians and the Assyrians when He passed judgment on God’s chosen people. Too many Christians fail to appreciate and fear the Holiness of God.

There should exist in the walk of every Christian an appreciation of the tension between God’s unconditional love which He extends to people, and the Holiness and Justness of His character. I was sharing the other night at the Men’s group how amazed I am at the depth of the Love that God has for us. The countless examples we read about in the Bible and add to that, the countless examples of His love and mercy that each one of us can think of or speak to that we or family and friends have experienced is boundless.

The depth of God’s love cannot be exhausted, that is why it is critical to share this love with everyone you meet. We are not to try and determine who God has selected for salvation. That is not the task that we have been given. We have been told to share “the Good News” with everyone we meet. If you have a friend or family member who still stands condemned because of their rebellion against God, don’t you think the loving thing to do is to share the gospel with them?

God said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” We do not know who those people are. That is why we should be sharing the gospel with everyone we know, or at the very least, be praying for those who do not yet know Jesus in a personal way. Our understanding of this love that God has for us, should be all the motivation we need to share it with others.

Back to this morning’s passage. Look with me at verse 18, “¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Do you see the pivotal role of belief in Jesus? The distinction between condemnation and salvation is based on faith. Encourage listeners to examine their faith and consider how trusting in Jesus alters their lives. This point should inspire us believers to reflect on our journey and the assurance that comes from a saving relationship with Christ.

Paul gives us this same reassurance in Romans 8:1, “¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” By being in Christ Jesus we have avoided the condemnation that was due us. Let’s be clear about one thing here as well, and let’s be honest if not with each other, let’s at least be honest with ourselves. We didn’t need Adam’s sin to be condemned. Am I right? If you are familiar with the teachings of Jesus you will know that our condemnation does not lie in our actions, but our condemnations begin in our thoughts.

Jesus told the Pharisees that they believed committing adultery was a sin, but Jesus told them that even by looking at a woman with lust, they were committing adultery in their hearts. He challenged them that murder was a sin, but also hating your neighbour was committing murder in their hearts. So, if we are honest with ourselves, we do not need Adam to condemn us, our actions and thoughts are enough to condemn us.

Let’s wrap up by looking at the final verses from this morning. “¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

I mentioned earlier the concept of light and darkness presented at the beginning of this Gospel. Here we see the concept being developed further.

Genesis 1:3 is not only the first recorded words of God, but it is also the first time we see light mentioned In the Bible. “³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” Did you ever ask yourself what was there for light before God created the sun and stars? Was it only darkness or could there have been light from another source?

Isaiah 60:19 gives us an idea, “¹⁹ The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.” Revelation 21:23 confirms this concept,  “²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” I think we can draw from scripture the idea that the glory of God was providing light before the sun and stars were created.

But we read in this passage from John that God is the light. Specifically. Jesus Christ is the light which has come into the world. In a couple of weeks, we will celebrate this event known as Christmas. The human birth of Jesus Christ, when He took on human form and added it to His divine Nature.

Look with me back at John 3:19, “but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” Not only is the condemnation there in the verse but the reason for the condemnation. We love the darkness because our deeds are evil. The light exposes our evil. The enemy lives in the shadows. That is where his deceptive work can be most effective.

But, God’s love, His very existence is light. God’s perfect character and Glory emits light. A light that is so powerful that no man can stand in His presence. We will only be able to handle it in eternity because of the glorified bodies that each of us will inhabit in heaven. The stronger and more intense the light of God is shows the purity of His character.

In our fallen state, we are attracted to the darkness. We don't want our evilness to be exposed. But God’s Word pierces us to our very hearts and exposes the corruption that is found there in our hearts. Amazingly, God chooses to extend His mercy to us anyway. Do you recognize this amazing act of God’s love in your life?

I mentioned eternity and heaven a few moments ago, and it reminded me of a short clip I watched of Paul Washer this week. Washer pointed out that a lot of Christians concentrate on heaven and the rewards that are waiting for us there, Lord willing, and that isn’t a bad thing. But, Washer went on to ask, “Shouldn’t what Jesus did for us on the cross be reward enough for us?”

What an interesting thought. If you were not to receive anything further from Jesus Christ, would what you have received so far be enough? Would you still maintain your love and respect for Jesus? Would the sacrifice He made for you and the reconciled relationship that you currently enjoy with the Father be enough to satisfy you and still allow you to maintain your love for Jesus?

Just to wrap up this portion of the message before we sing our final song, I want to circle back to John 3:16 and the explanation that Nicodemus required. Frankly, it is tied back to the statements found in 3:11 and 12. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?”

Isn’t this the same trouble that most of the world has? Those who continue to reject Jesus because they simply refuse to accept the testimony of Jesus Christ. Both His testimony about Himself and the testimony of those who surrounded Jesus and wrote about His life and deeds. Their lack of faith becomes their downfall. Their need to fully comprehend all that Jesus said and taught before they submit to His Lordship.

They are willing to accept Jesus as Saviour, but they reject Him as Lord. Opting instead to keep Jesus at arms-length to limit His influence in their lives. What a foolish notion. You might as well try and hold back a hurricane.

Our faith is not a blind faith. We are not required to believe without the existence of any evidence, nor are we required to go against the evidence that is presented to us. We are required to submit obediently to what God has chosen to reveal to us. Obediently and completely.

CONCLUSION

During the Korean War, the U.S.S. Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans and the eighty-two surviving crew members were thrown into brutal captivity. In one particular instance, thirteen of the men were required to sit in a rigid manner around a table for hours. After several hours the door was violently flung open and a North Korean guard brutally beat the man in the first chair with the butt of his rifle.

The next day, as each man sat at his assigned place, again the door was thrown open and the man in the first chair was brutally beaten. On the third day, it happened again to the same man. On the fourth day knowing the man could not survive, another young sailor took his place.

When the door was flung open the guard automatically beat the new victim senseless. For weeks, each day a new man stepped forward to sit in that horrible chair, knowing full well what would happen. At last, the guards gave up in exasperation. They were unable to beat that kind of sacrificial love.^[1]

That is an illustration of the love that Jesus had for each one of us and the substitutionary work that Jesus did with the Father on our behalf. Jesus took our punishment so that we could be reconciled with the Father. Our sin has been covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. What are you willing to do to show your appreciation for this sacrifice?

Let me close with this doxology:

²⁴ “The Lord bless you and keep you;

²⁵ may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

²⁶ may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."

Go in peace, you are dismissed.

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^[1] Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 226–227.