For God So Loved (John 3)

Good morning. Peter, one of the pastors here. Welcome. 

John 3 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night (Pharisee/Sanhedrin – One of the top religious leaders. Kept every detail of the law. “Separated One.” Night – Possible reasons: Nicodemus didn’t want to be seen with Jesus. Cautious. Or to have uninterrupted time/convo. Or in John’s gospel, light and dark. Spiritual darkness – later in this chp.) and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” (Nicodemus recognizes there’s something different about Jesus – from God. But he doesn’t quite know what to make of him.) 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (Nicodemus – Literally/Physically. Nonetheless, right – You can’t be born again by your own will or power. Impossible.) 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Being reborn by the Spirit is not only possible but the effects are clearly evident.)  9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 

(From this point on, Nicodemus is not going to speak anymore and Jesus is going to focus on how this rebirth is even possible.) 10 Jesus answered him… 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. (Jesus – I came from above.) 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

(Probably the most famous verse in all of the bible…The why/how being born again is possible…) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

(So much to unpack…)

We all were people of the darkness. And we loved it. 

A lot of people think – People are naturally and generally good. They just do bad things sometimes – stressed/overwhelmed. Or when the circumstances force them to. So it’s never really the person’s fault, something or someone else causes it. And overall, a person can do more good to balance out the bad. 

But the bible says the exact opposite. Not how God created us…We were created in God’s image and there was nothing wrong or broken until we decided that we didn’t want God to be God over us. We wanted to be god and determine what was good for ourselves. And the result of that was the fall and our hearts became rotten to the core. Bible – All dead in our sin. And people born of the flesh act like people of the flesh. (v.6) Not just literal flesh but flesh as it relates to spiritual darkness/lostness apart from God. 

Characteristics/Passions of the flesh: Pride, selfishness, unforgiveness, idolatry, greed, envy, covetousness, jealousy, gossip, hatred, bursts of anger, sexual immorality, adultery, stealing, lying, cheating, divisiveness, over working, laziness, drunkenness, impulsiveness, passing judgment, stinginess. You get the idea. 

And again, most people hear these things but don’t think it really accurately describes them. Let’s say in the best case scenario that’s the case in terms of your public life, but what about in the hidden parts of your heart? In secret/In the dark. No one knows about. Your real self. Exposed? Livestream. No one in their right mind would want that. They don’t want the light shed on their deepest darkest thoughts and secrets. – Heart: Ugly/Wicked. Condemned. Guilty.

If we are honest. (v19) Our flesh still enjoys sin doesn’t it? We like sin. It’s fun. It promises us so much. Can’t believe the pastor said that. If you said no, you’re a liar. Even for believers, there’s a constant wrestling between our spirit and our flesh. Our spirit knows what is right and pleasing to God and desires to do those things. Yet our flesh tempts us to do the things we don’t want to do and don’t do the things we want to do. Frustrating. (Paul)

And here is the real problem. You cannot change who you are. There’s no way out on your own. You cannot save yourself. Jesus is telling Nicodemus – Best of the best. If anyone was worthy/good enough, it’d be him. Jesus – Not by religiosity, morality, comparison, intellect, money, status, man or woman, young or old, or any other thing. “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.” (BG?) No one has an advantage or head start.

The gospel is offensive.  (Truth) – You’re not good enough. You can never be good enough. So Nicodemus was right, it’s not possible to be reborn anymore than it is to crawl back into your mother’s belly and be born again.

Dilemma: (Theologian) God has the ability but not the responsibility. Man has the responsibility but not the ability. 

Need/Necessity: Born again – A fresh start. But stuck helpless. Some – Not fair that I don’t have my own choice… This could’ve been the end of the story for us but… (Gospel is also good news…)

The love of God for us is out of this world.

How does the world usually love? If you deserve it. If you’ve done nothing to lose it. You have to be lovable. – Usually the world loves and values those who have money, look attractive, are healthy, have an important family name, you have some kind of status/importance, you’re smart, you’ve achieved something. 

But what if you’re not any of these things? Well the world often thinks you’re dispensable. You don’t deserve to be loved. You’re unlovable.

But the love of God couldn’t be any more different to how the world loves. “World” in the gospel of John is mostly used in the negative sense. V16 – God so loved the world… That’s the nature of God’s love. It’s out of this world. It’s crazy. It doesn’t make sense. – God loves the unlovable. Those who don’t deserve it. Those who bring nothing to the table. Even goes so far to love his enemies. Everyone. No exceptions. No qualifications required. God loves you. – SLJ/Author: “Never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always, and forever love.”

Most people think they deserve this love. But God had every right to condemn the world. He could have been just in his judgment. Left us to suffer and die. “You decided to walk away. You chose sin and death. You deal with it. You’re on your own.” With no hope. He was in no way obligated to do anything! But he does!

So the real question is why do we get anything good at all? There’s only one answer and it has nothing to do with us. It’s about the nature, the character, the faithful love of God. Completely and utterly undeserved. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with who God is.

On one hand, that can make you feel really terrible about yourself. Undeserving/Unworthy. But then the focus would not be in the right place, would it? The focus should not primarily be on you but on the God who has lavished his love on you. And when your focus is in the right place, not on yourself but on God, and you reflect on the love that he’s shown you, it doesn’t lead to you depression or despair, but to the fullest of joys. Because the God of the universe, the Creator of all things, he loves you! And because he loves you…

He sent his Son, Jesus, to call you out of darkness into his marvelous light. His love makes the way for you to be born again. Born again – 1) Again (Nicodemus) 2) Completely, radically 3) From above. (NDSB)

How? This rebirth has as much to do with you as when you were born the first time. You didn’t really contribute. There were outside forces at play. Jesus – Through the washing of water and the Spirit. Fulfillment of Ezek. 36:25-27 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Water – Symbol of cleansing. Holy Spirit – Living Water. God’s presence. 

And when we’ve been cleansed of our old selves and our old ways, and we’re made new and one with God again. Rebirth/New birth gives us a new identity. New creation. (2Cor.5:17) – Sons/Daughters.

(V17.) Condemnation/Judgment is what we deserve. But we were given love instead. OT story…

Abraham and Isaac – Abraham and his wife were childless, well beyond the years of having children. But God promised Abraham a family line. Long story short, God keeps his promise and gives Abraham and Sarah a son, Isaac. But when Isaac had grown, God asks Abraham to do the unexpected to test Abraham’s faith…

Sacrifice your son. How many of you would pass that test? (Nope. Not that.) Abraham would go so far as to put his son on the altar and lift up his arm with knife in hand. In the book of Hebrews – Abraham’s faith led him to believe that God was able to raise him from the dead. That’s some serious faith. 

People – How could God ask such an unbelievably terrible thing? And that’s exactly the point. Abraham would not ultimately sacrifice his son, Isaac because God would provide a sacrifice. And that sacrifice was a picture of God the Father, sending his own Son, Jesus, as the sacrifice for us. God does the unthinkable in sacrificing his son for unworthy people like us.

Dilemma resolved: Jesus, the God/Man, fully God fully man, came to rescue us. As man, as one of us, he could stand in our place of judgement for our sin. And as God, he could satisfy the wrath of the Father against our sin, for all of us, once and for all. The price of our sins paid in full with the life/blood of Jesus. How incredible is God’s love?!?!?!

(Rick Warren:) John 3:16

• For God – origin of salvation
• So loved – motivation of salvation
• The world – extent of salvation
• That he gave – action of salvation
• His only son – cost of salvation
• That whoever – offer of salvation
• Believes in him – requirement of salvation
• Shall not perish – hope of salvation
• But have eternal life – promise of salvation

(That could have been the sermon.)

The love of God for us is out of this world. It’s from above. He sent his Son, Jesus, into our darkness to bring us into his marvelous light, from the domain of darkness into his kingdom.

Belief unlocks the power of God for salvation and righteousness.

“Not fair” – In Jesus, you’re given grace to another chance. To ratify/confirm the decision Adam and Eve made to walk away from God and live your own way, believing what you want. Or to believe in God and submit to him as God. There’s no middle ground. There’s no I believe some things, the things I understand/agree with, but not everything. It’s all or nothing. Jesus is Lord of all or not at all.

And belief in God, that faith, it doesn’t matter how small. The tiniest spark unlocks the full power of God in your life – To save you from your sin, to cleanse you and make you pure and perfectly righteous before God. The power is in the person of your faith, not in the size or strength of your faith. (My kids can believe…But it doesn’t matter how much they believe if I don’t have the power, the ability.) 

Not just for salvation when you believe. And it’s not just in the future for the final and full restoration. It’s for your righteousness right now. Jesus loves you as you are – he died for you as you are – but he also loves you too much to leave you how you are. (1Cor.6:11) Such were some of you. (Flesh/Unrighteous) But you were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. Result of being born again is radical change in your life. You start living in the light. Because your heart now desires the things that are pure and good and holy. – To know Jesus, love him, and live for him. Good works – Not to be saved but because you have been. 

The love of God changes us. It makes us forgive and love like he does for us. Christians – Our job is not to condemn the world. Are we known more by our condemnation or by our love? We are to be known by our love for one another, our love for the world like God. – That’s what will lead people to believe. Because we love with a love that is not of this world. It’s from God above.

Does your life look any different from the nonbelievers around you? Can nonbelievers be like, yeah, this person is different – In the way they’re gracious, patient, kind, and loving. Self-control. Peace. Joy – Fruit of the Spirit. Something different about them. I used to know them before, and it’s like they’re a completely different person. The only explanation for this complete turnaround must be that God did something in their life. They should be able to say…

End of the chp… 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”  (John’s disciples – crisis – they along with John are about to become irrelevant because Jesus is gaining popularity and traction. Look at John’s response…) 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

(Who is Jesus that one would choose to make nothing of themselves to make much of him?) 31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. (And…) 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

You know how you know you’ve truly experienced the love of God? When you can say, he must increase and I must decrease. He must become greater in every aspect and arena of my life, more than me. It’s not about me. Like the psalmist – God’s love is better than life itself. – Ps. 63:3. His will over my will. – I know my role. I’m not the one who is a big deal. But I know the big deal. My role is to make a big deal about him. I’m not living for me anymore. I’m living to be a testimony of God’s love, to reflect God’s love. And I’m just so joyful that I just get to know him, his love for me, and be a part of his mission that all people know/experience it too. 

But what if you don’t feel God’s love? What if your life is hard and it’s falling apart and you don’t see the evidence of God’s love? 

(v14) Bronze Serpent (Num. 21) – God has saved Israel from slavery in Egypt in the most powerful and convincing way – He parted the Red Sea and they walked out having plundered the Egyptians. And they’re on their way to the good land God promised. But along the way, they get impatient. So much so that they even wish they were slaves again back in Egypt than to continue on with God. And they complained and spoke against God. So God sent fiery serpents that bit the people. – Symbolic of death and the consequences of sin.

And when they realize their terrible error, they plead with Moses to go to God on their behalf to take away the serpents. Moses does. And God, being gracious and merciful and abounding in steadfast love and forgiving, he instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And those who were bitten, they would simply look at the bronze serpent and live. At first, it seems somewhat of a strange story and resolution.

Why a serpent? Why not just say sorry – “We were wrong and we won’t do it again” and be done with it? Serpent – Picture of the curse/death. Foreshadow of what Jesus came to do for us. (v.15) The Son of Man must be lifted up. To save us, Jesus would be lifted up on a cross to die for us in our place. And looking to the cross/Jesus – the only way to be saved from death.

Jesus wouldn’t just die on the cross. He would rise from the dead, defeating sin and death. Jesus – Lifted up to glory. Isa. 52:13 Behold, my servant shall prosper; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 

Heb. 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

If this is the God who loves me, the God who created everything and is in control over everything, and he’s got me, I’m good. He’s saved me to the uttermost. Nothing can touch me. Nothing can ever be taken away from me. To destroy me or to separate me from his incredible love.

Behold and Believe – Fix your eyes on Jesus. Just needed the smallest bit of faith to look. Believe God’s word – That’s all it takes. Such a simple thing will solve so many of our problems. Just fix your eyes on Jesus. Stop looking just at your circumstances, at yourself, at the world. No wonder all you see is trouble. No wonder you’re overwhelmed. Cause you’re only looking at brokenness. But when you fix your eyes on Jesus…It is well with my soul. 

Jesus, is coming again to judge. Light – exposes everything in the darkness. You will be utterly exposed. Unable to hide behind anyone and anything. Standard: Perfect righteousness. You can be judged by it – You can make much of yourself and present your good deeds before God. But it won’t be good enough and you’ll stand condemned. OR You can receive it. You can be presented with the perfect righteousness of Jesus on your behalf. You bear no condemnation because you believe. Jesus has taken it for you. Gift righteousness.

He’s not a teacher who came to teach you how to be a good person or how you can save yourself. But to be your savior himself. To give you new life through his life, death, and resurrection.

For God so loved you that he gave his only Son, Jesus, that if you will believe in him, you will not perish but have eternal life.