In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia finishes examining John 3:1-21, which is Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus as recorded by the apostle John. In this passage, John reveals four astonishing truths that should cause you to give up your own ideas about salvation and instead believe in Jesus. In verses 16-2, John reveals the final two of these astonishing truths.
1. Only the Spirit-Begotten Enter God’s Kingdom (vv. 1-8)
2. The Heavenly One Authoritatively Reveals God’s Salvation (vv. 9-15)
3. God Lovingly Gave His Son to Save Sinners (vv. 16-17)
4. Only Lovers of Evil Reject God’s Special Savior (vv. 18-21)
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let’s pray Lord Jesus we ask you to open your word to us today speak to us we want to see more of you we need to see more of you we need to have our thinking even corrected from what we naturally think to what is reality and you as the Heavenly one you have clarified that authoritatively for us and we have the testimony of it in your word thank you for this Divine word help me to be able to speak it but Lord help us to listen to it and to be transformed as we ought because we believe it Jesus name amen well to start off this morning I thought I would talk to you about babies I’m just kidding I’ll give you a break from baby analogies this week I’ll talk to you about something else let me talk to you about visual art there are certain works of art that have become famous throughout the world due to their great Beauty creativity or message you can think of Michelangelo’s David Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night Pablo Picasso’s garnica today such masterpieces usually have a special space prepared for them in a museum for display or they’re featured prominently in books of Art certainly they are available to view on the internet but as much as we might enjoy a famous work of art by looking at it today we appreciate a piece much more deeply if we consider its original purpose and setting because after all most artists in history have not created their works with museums books and the internet in mind no they instead created their pieces with a specific local need in mind or a specific local message to communicate take for instance one of the most famous paintings Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper see a picture of it there despite its somewhat unrealistic portrayal of everyone sitting on one side of a table for dinner this Renaissance painting is universally praised for its masterful use of space and perspective as well as its realistic portrayal of movement and human emotion if you’re not familiar this painting Leonardo’s Last Supper it depicts the very moment after Jesus announces to his disciples and the Passover meal before his death one of you will betray me and so you can see the various disciples in the painting responding to this shocking revelation well this painting truly is a work of great skill and Imagination but why did Leonardo paint it was he just following an artistic whim and where was this painting originally placed well I did a little digging into this myself and it turns out that Leonardo that great Italian polymath just skilled at so many things including painting well he created this work around 1495 to 1498 at the request of his Patron ludovico who was the Duke of Milan Duke Sports was looking to renovate a certain Milanese church and its attached Convent buildings and he ended up asking Leonardo to paint a large depiction of the Last Supper to Adorn one wall of the church convents refectory or dining hall apparently this is a choice that was somewhat trendy for the time a lot of monasteries featured depictions of the Last Supper somewhere in the dining hall in the monastery dining hall so Leonardo complied with the request of his Patron and after a few years he completed his version of The Last Supper which still sits today in the refectory of the Santa Maria de la grazia Church in Milan I think we have another picture of that so yeah there it is where it was originally placed also standing in the church today is another painting the original painting that Duke Switzer commissioned for the refectories opposite wall and that was done by another artist and it’s a painting that depicts Jesus crucifixion I think we have a picture of that as well yeah so you got one painting on one wall one painting on the other wall and imagine the original effect the originally intended effect of taking your daily meals at the monastery between these two paintings on the one wall you got Leonardo’s The Last Supper and on the other you have a painting of Jesus crucifixion what were you supposed to think as you looked at the two of these what were you supposed to feel surely it wasn’t merely admiration for the painters or respect for the patron who paid for it what were you supposed to feel well would it not be that as you eat as if at the Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples you also asked the same question that they do is it I am I going to prove to be a faithful disciple of Jesus or will I betray him like Judas did and figuratively crucify Jesus myself now you see what I mean you don’t get the extra effect you don’t get the original original full effect of the painting or a piece of art until you consider its original context now why am I telling you about art in the sermon well because today we encounter the most famous verse in all the Bible and that’s John 3 16.
John 3 16 is like a work of art it massively presents in just a few words the Glorious beauty of God’s gospel and if you just read John 3 16 all by itself you have much on which to meditate and to praise God for but John 3 16 like all great works of art it had a original context it was it had an original placement original setting that was purposeful it had an original reason for being said and written down and if you don’t understand this original context then not only might you misunderstand John 3 16. but you surely will not experience its originally attended effect and what was that effect well it’s what we’ve been talking about the last few weeks that you would be moved that you would be cause to give up your own proud preconceived religious ideas about salvation that you would instead humble yourself and believe in Jesus and that’s what I want to talk to you about and show you today so please open your Bibles to John 3 John 3 verses 1 to 21 the message today I’ve entitled for God so loved the world John 3 1-21 we’re back on Pew Bible page 1060. it’s our third time looking at this passage we’re focusing on just verses 16 to 21 today but let’s see the context John 3 1-21 . now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews this man came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi we know that you have come from God as a teacher for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him Jesus answered and said to him truly truly I say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Nicodemus said to him how can a man be born when he is old you cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born can he Jesus answered truly truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God now which is born of the flesh is flesh and now which is born of the spirit is Spirit do not be amazed that I said to you you must be born again the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but do not know where it comes from and where it is going so is everyone who is born in the spirit Nicodemus said to him how can these things be Jesus answered and said to him are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things truly truly I say to you we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen and you do not accept our testimony if I told you Earthly things you do not believe how will you believe if I tell you Heavenly things no one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from Heaven the son of man as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life for God did not send the son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through him he who believes in Him is not judged he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God this is the Judgment that the light has come into the world and Men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed but he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God so here we are again this momentous conversation of Jesus the Eternal Word made flesh with the rabbi Nicodemus taking place one night during that first Passover visit of Jesus to Jerusalem during his public Ministry the first one of his public Ministry the old Pharisee comes to have a nice religious chat with this teacher clearly sent from God what Nicodemus gets in speaking with Jesus is an astonishing set of Revelations Revelations that show that everything Nicodemus the Jews and really every religious person throughout every age what they naturally believe about God and his salvation is wrong our author John the Apostle he reports this conversation to his original audience of Hellenistic Jews and to us today so that we like Nicodemus might have our thinking radically corrected by the son who was sent from heaven here’s the main idea of this whole section again and John 3 1-21 John reveals four astonishing truths that should cause you to give up your own ideas about salvation and instead believe in Jesus and we’ve seen two of these astonishing truths already and the first one appears in verses one to eight this is review number one only the spirit begotten enter God’s kingdom only the spirit begotten to enter God’s Kingdom remember before Nicodemus could even ask Jesus a question the omniscient Son of God looks into his heart he addresses the key question that is residing there and that is how can one be sure of his entrance into the kingdom of God into the LA into the Everlasting Kingdom of blessing of God’s Messiah Jesus says ancestry ritual law keeping none of those bring a person into God’s kingdom of blessing a person must instead be born again or better begotten from above cleansed given New Life by God’s holy spirit that’s the requirement to receive God’s salvation man’s thorough corruption due to sin means that man can not work some way to enter into God’s Kingdom nor can he bring about a rebirth or transformation from being a natural man to being a spiritual man God must do it and he does do it mysteriously according to his own choice according to his own Sovereign Grace doesn’t do it for everyone he does it for some like the wind no one can see or fully understand God’s secret work of begetting Unto salvation but one can sometimes see the effect of it of a person transformed to love and follow after God and that was the first astonishing truth the second appears in verses 9 to 15. we also saw this last time number two the Heavenly one authoritatively reveals God’s salvation it’s the Heavenly one who authoritatively reveals God’s salvation Nicodemus after hearing the first revelation he cannot understand or accept that salvation is by God’s grace and not by man’s works such would seem to contradict the Old Testament Judaism and everything that the rabbis have taught Nicodemus included but Jesus clarifies that this is not some Revolution God has always worked this way as is evident in the Old Testament itself the real reason Jesus says that Nicodemus and the Jews do not understand is not a lack of evidence but unbelief no amount of extra Heavenly Revelation can counter willful unbelief of what is made clear in God’s truth man naturally wants to believe in a works-oriented self-exalting way of Salvation I can do enough Good Deeds I can keep enough rules to get into God’s Kingdom this is what man naturally wants to believe and he will twist even God’s revelation even God’s True Religion to accomplish this end which is just what the Jews did and what many Christians still do today but Jesus he has come as the only man descended from heaven and he has come both to authoritatively clarify God’s salvation but also to unveil Heavenly Mysteries that have never been fully understood by God’s people before and this is what Jesus actually begins to start doing with Nicodemus God Jesus graciously begins to reveal to Nicodemus and his disciples who are Jesus disciples who are also present in this conversation starting with the amazing announcement that the son of man and that’s the title Jesus loves to use for himself a son of man must be lifted up like Moses ancient Ron serpent Ron’s Serpent of death so that the son of man may give life to those who believe in him and this announcement as we covered last time it is a cryptic revelation of Jesus coming death on the cross for sinners and this very humiliation this death it would actually result in Jesus being lifted up in glory before the whole universe now Jesus shocking foretelling of this Destiny of the Messiah something the Jews could never even conceive of it provokes a basic question why why would God do this for Sinners for those doomed to die totally upending every expectation every religious expectation of God’s way well in the next two verses of our passage we get the answer a third astonishing Revelation it would be just as shocking to Nicodemus and the Jews as everything else that we’ve looked at just far her this far so we’re going to look at that but quick side note before we do there is some debate among Bible interpreters as to whether verses 16 to 21 here are indeed still the words of Jesus conversation with Nicodemus could they instead be added commentary from the author John with Jesus finishing his words in verse 15.
this is actually the way the NIV takes this passage you’ll notice that if you have that version there are of course no quotation marks in the original Greek of the New Testament and the content and terms used in verses 16 to 21 they are unusual for Jesus in this gospel unusual that he would say those things John 3 16-21 actually sounds a bit like John 1 1 18 which was the prologue of this gospel which was written by the author John those were his thoughts this sounds very similar to that as does a little bit further on In this passage John 3 Verses 31 to 36 we read that earlier as part of our service that sounds like not what’s typical of John the Baptist but that sounds more like the narrator in John 1 1 to 18. so some interpreters believe that both John 3 16-21 and John 3 31-36 they are in fact the author’s Reflections they’re not actually what Jesus says or what John the Baptist says I can understand that position I can appreciate the arguments for it however I believe that position is weak for a few reasons one it relies on the assumption that the Apostle John’s original audience could easily detect dialogue breaks the end of a conversation from only subtle shifts in language that’s asking a lot from your audience two it contradicts the pattern of all other presented dialogue in this gospel which have clear beginning and ending points before introducing any commentary from the author and three this view ultimately rests on subjective speculation as to whether persons in the text could have or would have said certain things and subjective speculation is generally bad for faithful Bible interpretation so I therefore take the view which we actually see in The New American Standard 95 that John 3 16-21 is still part of Jesus conversation with Nicodemus these are the words that Jesus himself spoke and that John witnessed as being a part of that conversation of course if you do take the other View verses 16 to 21 being the Apostle John’s own thoughts well they are still the inspired and error and authoritative words of God written by the spirit of Christ so one way or another these are Jesus words well anyways with that aside clarified what is the third astonishing Revelation from Jesus that should cause you to give up your own preconceived ideas about salvation and instead humble you to believe in Jesus number three God lovingly gave his son to save sinners God lovingly gave his son to Safe sinners look at verse 16.
four God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life well here it is the verse we’ve all been waiting for glorious unexpected unveiling of Salvation truth let’s look more closely at this gem so that we make sure we understand it and appreciate it as we ought notice that Jesus begins in verse 16 by saying for at the transition word indicating that Jesus is about to supply a reason for what he just stated and notice the next word or notice next the word so this word is often understood in this verse as an intensive with a sense of very or so much and Jesus may want to hint at that meaning but the more likely sense of so here is actually in this way or in this manner the text the literal opening of this verse in the Greek would be for in this way but for in this way what there’s the next phrase God loved for in this way God loved and the Greek verb translated loved is one you’ve probably heard of before this is the Greek verb agapao which is just the verb form of the noun agape ever heard of agape love have you been in church very long you probably have often agape love is described as the noblest kind of love that there is in the language of New Testament Greek it’s way better than philia love that’s another Greek word usually seen as referring to the love of friends and family that’s philia love and we actually see that in our language and local geography Philadelphia the City of Brotherly Love well that’s philia love and adolfas brother so brotherly love so there’s feliola but agape love legape love is Holy Love unconditional love Selfless Love a love of the will rather than of mere emotion the holy or the love of righteous action this is the way agape love is usually explained or often explained and granted when applied to God agape love does have these qualities but a more thorough study of this verb in the New Testament reveals that agapao and filetto which is the verb form of that other kind of love they are basically used as synonyms in the New Testament Agape is way more common because it was more common in the Greek language at that time but they’re more or less synonyms and even in John’s gospel we see those terms used interchangeably moreover agapao has enough flexibility to be used to describe both Holy Love and wicked love as we’ll even see shortly in our Passage and why is that why does it have such flexibility because agapao the verb itself it has a more basic definition than we often think or hear pulling this straight from my Seminary lexicon what does agapon mean to have a warm regard for and interest in another to cherish have affection for love so this is what Jesus is talking about in this next phrase God loved Jesus says God showed a warm regard for he showed interest kind interest in something or someone God cherished God had affection for God loved something or someone coming from my face God cherish God loved something or someone and as I think Mark mentioned in Sunday School the men of Iron Man have been considering the attribute of the love of God it is a powerful love it is an infinite love it is an eternal love that’s a great love what is it like to experience the affection of God how deep must his cherishing be whoever is the object of this love they’ve gained an unfathomable mobile blessing so who is it well look at the next word for in this way God loved the world the world and this is where we start to see why this statement from Jesus is in fact an astonishing revelation because did the Jews have any concept of the love of God previously from their Bible of course they did the love of God is frequently spoken of in the Old Testament but whom do the Jews come to think were the recipients of God’s love well them the Jews they are the Seed of Abraham and Israel they are those who are in Covenant to keep God’s law so of course God loves them but the rest of the world and God tolerates them but the Nations they’re slated for judgment God’s real love is for Israel that’s not what Jesus says here God loved the world Jew and Gentile and then there is something else we’ve talked about this before but the precise meaning of the word world Greek Cosmos as John uses it tells us something significant every time Cosmos appears in this gospel John is not referring to the universe or the planet or to the trees and rocks that dot the planet rather John uses Cosmos to refer to the dwelling place of mankind even to mankind itself but what kind of place is man’s dwelling is it righteous and welcoming of God’s son is it neutral Maybe no what we see throughout this gospel when John and Jesus speak about the world is that the world is dark it is ignorant it is full of evil it does not recognize its creator but it instead is determined to persecute and even kill the messengers of God we see this even in John 1.
in this gospel the world is the corrupted Abode of man it’s presided over by Satan himself by extension the world refers to the whole corrupted human race which is set in opposition to God yet what does Jesus declare for in this way God loved the world wait what there is no reason to love this world this is a world of God haters Rebels why would God show affection for this world love the people of this world Jesus doesn’t explain here and really there is no explanation other than the character of God and his mysterious good pleasure Jesus doesn’t explain here he just declares and yet the Declaration is incomplete at this point for we still haven’t heard in what specific way God loved the world but Jesus tells us starting with the next phrase that he and that’s God gave that he gave and perhaps it’s no surprise that a word like gave would follow the word loved because those who truly love are moved to give they are moved to give what is good to the objects of their love and the greater the gift the greater the love right get something cheap for someone as a gift you don’t love them that much give them something precious something very costly to you that’s a sign of your great love for that person so what was it that God chose to give out of his love to a lost Wicked World next phrase he gave his only begotten son and here again is a phrase that we’ve seen already we first saw it in John 1 14 it’s the Greek monogenes traditionally translated as only begotten but with the sense of unique one and only Jesus is God’s one and only son the special son beloved from all eternity and trying fellowship with the father God gave this son his only begotten to the world and perhaps upon hearing this Nicodemus Jesus disciples John’s Jewish audience maybe even you right now you’re thinking of a certain story certain narrative in the Old Testament with similar language Genesis 22 God commends Abraham and Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac in obedience and Faith to God by saying you have not withheld your son your only son from me what did Abraham have that was more precious to offer God than Abraham’s special son and heir the son for whom Abraham waited and prayed for so long the son he loved the son of promise in a similar way did the heavenly father have anything more precious to give to mankind than his monogeneous son such a gift God was giving his very heart his very self to the sinful human race how great then must be the Father’s Love probably that we sang that song right and do note this gift is an act of love from the father not merely the son never be misled into thinking that the father has to be cajoled he has to have his arm Twisted by the sun to love Sinners okay Jesus I’ll do it for your sake no Jesus reveals here in verse 16.
it was the love of the father it was the love of the heavenly father that gave the son to the world but for what purpose did the father give his son to the world perhaps discourage the world with judgments until the world repents and returns to God I’ll look the rest of verse 16.
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life here is more astonishment God gave his son to a wicked world that deserves to die as the just penalty of their sin he gave his son so that the people of the world would not the world would not die the human race would not die and the way God intended to accomplish this life-rescuing mission was not by sending the son to instruct the world in the way of law keeping on the way of becoming Jews so that as Jews they can inherit eternal life rather whoever it says and that is a broad term that is a broad invitation that includes Jew and Gentile rich and poor men and women young and old notorious Sinners and self-righteous Pharisees whoever simply believes in God’s only son who looks in faith to Jesus as he’s lifted up what shall that person experience he will not perish he will not die but he will have eternal life and notice those two terms together they show us that the dying there that’s not just a merely physical dying temporal and that happens once no it’s Eternal death that you are spared from and you instead get eternal life and we saw that term eternal life in verse 15.
Zoe and ionian literally life of an age this is the everlasting life a messiah’s kingdom age there will be experienced in full later but what can still be experienced now for whoever believes in Jesus so let’s put this all together connecting this back to verses 14 and 15.
why is it that the son of man Jesus had to be lifted up on a cross of death for the people of the world to look at him Jesus says it’s because this was the way the father chose to show his love to a desperate and dying world giving up his one and only son to live and die for sinners that whoever believes in the son will escape the just penalty of death for sin but will instead inherit unending life in God’s Kingdom who could have ever thought of this who could ever even believe this if it were not for the fact that this truth is communicated directly by the one descending from heaven the one who clearly is from God because of all the sign Miracles that he’s doing no human no religion could come up with something like this yet this is the reality and I can just imagine how wide-eyed Nicodemus was listening to all of this How could a holy God how could a just God be so loving to undeserving sinners how could his love extend to the level of delivering his own son his beloved Son his cherished son to die on a cross the worst way that anyone at that time could think of dying the most humiliating way how could God do all this and yet require nothing in return except belief and Trust in that saving son believe in him and you will not perish but have everlasting life and just so there’s no misunderstanding we get verse 17 to re-emphasize the shock of verse 16. verse 17.
for God did not send the son into the will to judge the world but that the world might be saved through him this verse represents a total overturning of Jewish expectations around the Messiah the Jews anticipated according to various Old Testament prophecies that God’s Messiah was indeed coming to judge the world and they were looking forward to it as I suppose any self-righteous persons are even doing today yeah I can’t wait until God comes and destroys all these sinners all these compromisers and Traders burn them God there are many Jews who thought this way the problem is most Jews didn’t realize that first of all they themselves are part of the world that deserve to be judged and we’re going to be judged Malachi talks about that and second of all they didn’t realize that God and love was going to send the Messiah as a savior to the world first so the human race might be spared of judgment this was a mystery it was foretold in the Old Testament but it was a mystery not fully understood by the Jews but now it is plainly revealed by the one descending from heaven and so do you see again why have been saying what the main idea of this passage is you gotta let go of your preconceived notions about who God is and what God does you got to let the one who descends from Heaven tell you correct you believe his words and therefore believe in him you gotta humble yourself to do that but if you do that son promises you eternal life by the way quick clarification of the phrase that the world might be saved through him this does not mean that God always sovereignly purpose to save every single person of the world through Jesus and thus that all people will eventually be saved as in universalism or that many are effectively thwarting God’s purpose by choosing not to receive Jesus which is what arminianism teaches neither of these are true and as we can tell even from our Passage verses one to eight has already shown us that Kingdom entry comes down to Sovereign Grace begetting by the Holy Spirit and whomever God chooses to beget will be begotten that cannot be afforded I’m over verse 16 clarifies it’s only those who believe in Jesus who will escape perishing who will escape their current path of death it’s not Universal salvation so what is meant by that phrase that the world might be saved through him well namely that God purpose to save the human race The Dwelling Place of humanity in general through Jesus Christ not necessarily every member of the human race God gave a gift to humanity in general out of his love and we know that there’s not a universal salvation involved especially because of what comes afterwards this final astonishing Revelation that we receive from Jesus we just looked at the third we’re about to look at the fourth it has to do with what’s really going on behind the scenes for those who refuse to believe in Jesus who stubbornly stick to their own religion and their own religious ideas look at the fourth Revelation verses 18 to 21 number four Only Lovers of evil reject God’s special savior Only Lovers of evil reject God’s special savior start looking at this with just the beginning of verse 18.
he who believes in him that’s Jesus the son is not judged he who does not believe has been judged already and here we see some parallelism typical of the Hebrew language but also from examining this gospel and other scriptures something that Jesus and John the Apostle love to use see parallelism of this type all throughout John’s gospel and the first part of Verse 18 we see a repetition of the truth already stated in verses 16 to 17 that those who believe in Jesus will not see death they are not judged that is they have not received a sentence of condemnation because they believe in Jesus but then notice the contrasting parallel the one who does not believe not only will be condemned but stands condemned already that’s an interesting distinction I heard a preacher comment on this helpfully saying many people who trust in their own self-made religions trust in their own good works for salvation they are hoping that the verdict from God at the end of their lives will be a good one well I don’t know if I’m there yet but hopefully I’ll have enough good by the end of my life that God will say that’s enough you can come in but what people who think such way don’t realize is that the verdict has already been decided and the verdict is guilty condemned deserving of Hell Fire forever why is the verdict already in doesn’t that seem a little early rest of Verse 18 tells us because he such a one he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God in John 3 16 Jesus reveals how incredible the love of God is for fallen Humanity for the Fallen Human Race by a Priceless gift that God gave God offered humanity and God’s only begotten son God could have done nothing more loving than to give his son therefore for someone to review to refuse this Priceless gift this beloved precious gift from God and say I’m good I don’t need Jesus or no sure I’ll take Jesus and Jesus will help me work my way to Salvation I’ll work my way to heaven or yeah I’ll take Jesus as my savior but I’m still going to serve something else in my life Jesus isn’t going to be my Lord any of these reactions can there be any greater ingratitude or offense to a holy God than these I don’t care about your gift God I don’t care how precious he is to you it’s not that valuable to me this is throwing God’s infinite love back in his face here’s the precious the one and only son of God given to you and you won’t believe in his name you won’t trust in him and all that his name represents to become his true disciple well then God says you’ve revealed your true colors I don’t have to wait to condemn you and so along with all the other just reasons I already have to judge you forever your sin your commitment to self rather than God your worship of Idols instead of me to these you have added your arrogant and stubborn rejection of God’s especially sent savior you are condemned already and notice how this clarification of Verse 18 is particularly relevant for Jesus conversation with Nicodemus here is a Pious old Rabbi a Jew Pharisee a ruler in Israel who no doubt believes he loves God and to a certain extent keeps God’s law yet he’s slow to believe in Jesus and to believe in what Jesus reveals about salvation it’s still possible for someone like Nicodemus to make his way into God’s kingdom it doesn’t have Jesus but look whatever all the other things he’s got or how about the Jews as a whole how about other sincere Earnest religious persons what about Muslims Mormons Catholics Orthodox Jehovah Witnesses Buddhists there are many religious people in the world who claim to love and follow God they try to do what’s right they try to avoid what’s wrong they are looking forward to the world Beyond this one and maybe you’ve met some of these people polite they are moral they’re very sincere about their religion yet they don’t believe in the Jesus of the Bible and you don’t believe what Jesus said about salvation might God still accept these sincere religious persons despite their unbelief well what is the having Heavenly one reveal in John 3 18.
the answer is an emphatic and Unapologetic no why because these merely religious persons have not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God and this is not God quibbling over some minor Petty detail because Jesus goes on to clarify the real reason why religious people even Pious seeming Jews choose not to believe in or follow Jesus look at verse of 19 and 20.
this is the Judgment the light has come into the world and Men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deed through evil for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed this is the Judgment Jesus says at the beginning of verse 19 or this is the behind the scenes reality that has resulted in a sentence of common condemnation for those who don’t believe in Jesus Jesus refers to himself as the light a symbol of life truth Revelation righteousness salvation the light Jesus has come into the Dark World of man but why do the people of the world not come to the light is because Jesus says they whether religious or not they love the darkness due to their own evil Deeds they love the darkness and by the way guess what Greek word is used for love there it’s agapao it’s agape love Jesus says people cherish they have affection for they love the darkness of sin rather than the light all people and what a contrast then right between John 3 16 and John 3 19.
God’s Great agape love caused him to send his beloved Son the light into the world to save sinners man’s great agape love for evil causes them to reject this precious Savior and the only light more than that verse 20 says that these Christ rejecters these Messiah rejecters these light rejecters they are doers of evil who hate the light far from loving him they do the direct opposite of agapa oh they hate Jesus they hate the sun sent from God and why why do they hate the light so much why do they not want to go near him he’s everything that they need why do they hate him end of verse 20.
for fear that their evil deeds will be exposed you see in the end The Pride that drives people into false man-centered religions that cannot save is the same Pride that drives them away from Jesus when they encounter him people naturally want to think of themselves as good or at least good enough to get to heaven they want to think of themselves that way they want other people to think of them that way but when Jesus the light comes along and he exposes these good people these religious people as actually evil doers even those who love the darkness well people can’t stand the simulating exposure religious people especially and so they flee the light they refuse him they refuse to go near him so you know what this means brethren this means if someone doesn’t believe in the biblical Jesus no matter how Pious no matter how moral that person seems on the outside you can know it’s all a sham that person loves evil on the inside say oh that’s quite a it’s quite a harsh judgment don’t you think Pastor Dave I’m not the one who says that and you probably couldn’t discern that just from your observation on the outside but you know what the one Sent From Heaven who can tell you what’s going on behind the scenes he has told you and he says that’s the only reason the only reason somebody will choose not to believe in Jesus is because they love Darkness in contrast if someone really loves God on the inside well then there’s only one response they’ll have to being exposed to the Light of Christ and that’s what Jesus finished the conversation with in verse 21.
verse 21.
but he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God he who practices the truth that’s a Hebrew idiom for someone who truly loves and walks in what is right so in the original context this would be a Jewish person with a true love for God but who’s never encountered Jesus before what does such a person do when he meets Jesus when he hears the Gospel of Jesus only one thing he comes to Jesus he comes to the light he believes in Jesus and he follows Jesus that’s always what true lovers of the truth do and why does he come to Jesus so he can boast about how he discovered the truth or earned his own way into God’s kingdom by good works no what does the text say so that his deeds may be manifested as having been rotten God that is to say so that this new believer May confess I haven’t done anything to save myself God did it all through his spirit and his son and even the good works I do now are not to my credit it’s all God who has worked in me doesn’t this concept sound a little bit familiar the conversation is ending really where it started verses one to eight only the spirit began lunch or God’s Kingdom God has to do everything that truly Spirit begotten though they will believe in Jesus they will follow Jesus even that Faith even that belief is a gift from God so coming to the end of verse 21 these are the astonishing truths Jesus graciously lays out before Nicodemus turning upside down everything that old Rabbi thought about God and God’s salvation in God’s Kingdom but these words weren’t just for Nicodemus they weren’t just for the Jews of John’s day John the apostles day they are for us as well we also must give up our proud preconceived notions about what God and his salvation is we must instead believe the one sent from heaven and believe in him for salvation we must see number one that only the spirit begun and inherit God’s Kingdom number two that Jesus is the Heavenly one who authoritatively reveals God’s salvation number three that God lovingly gave his son to save sinners and number four that Only Lovers of evil reject God’s special savior now we don’t hear how Nicodemus responded to these further Revelations from Jesus maybe he was simply stunned into silence that’s why he doesn’t say anything but this isn’t the last time we’ve heard of him in this gospel see him two more times first he will appear again showing sympathy toward Jesus and his message even trying to defend Jesus but the last time we see him it’s after Jesus has been lifted up on a cross just as Jesus foretold and Nicodemus he steps Out of The Shadow of fear he Braves the persecution of his own people and he assists with the preparation of Jesus body for burial I believe that’s a sign of Nicodemus coming to believe coming into salvation he didn’t get it at first but eventually he crossed over all the way to not just saying you’re a teacher from God but you are the Son of God you are the savior I’m no longer trusting in my own religion I’m believing in the monogeneous son that God sent to save me so what about you today do you consider yourself a religious person true lover of God Christian then you must believe in Jesus truly believe go all in on the savior not so that then you may finish working your way into salvation but so that in your reborn life your transformed life of obedience faithfulness to the Savior you can confess just as Jesus says here in verse 21 everything has been the work of God God did it all that is the only reason I can come to him in Salvation is that you have you done that are you resting in that are you reveling in that consider the great love of God that has provided such a Salvation for you part of this doomed human race that we all are without Jesus if you’re not willing to do this not willing to believe in Jesus not willing to go all in on the Savior at least not yet you still got your own cherished religious ideas you want to hold on to you’ve still got other Treasures in this world you got goals for this life that you want to pursue that kind of Jesus is getting in the way of that’s where you’re at and I must warn you based on what Jesus tells us in the passage here today that you have exposed your heart for what’s really going on inside the only reason you’re not coming to Jesus now is because you love evil and you are a doer of it in addition to that you stand condemned already by God as we’ll hear later in the passage the wrath of God already abides on you it’s hanging over you God is restraining it but it could break forth on you in any moment that is not a state in which you want to remain with the Eternal anger of God hanging over you so what should you do you should turn you should repent you should give up those things that are holding you back from the Savior and go all in on him turn while there is still time because your life is short and if you do not come to him now you may not get another chance humble yourself before the Lord and what does he promise he will exalt you but for those who stand proudly against God who say I already know what God is really all about I can work for my own salvation while he’s going to Humble you and it may be by casting you into hell forever I don’t want that for any of you and I believe it is the Lord’s heart even expressed in this passage that that’s not what he wants for you either turn and be saved all the ends of the Earth that’s the Lord’s desire would you do that give up whatever’s holding you back in Christ and come follow him you will gain eternal life and you will begin to know the love of God which has no bottom it’s closing prayer Heavenly Father what can we do as the song says what can we do but praise you such love such undeserved love for Sinners Like Us for the doomed corrupted rebellious human race that we are part of why would you so show such love how could you show such love we didn’t want it we were raising our fist to you but then you still cave your son gave your son to become one of us to live a perfect life of righteousness to die for us so that whoever believes in him doesn’t matter where they come from what they’ve done whoever believes in him will not die eternally but will gain eternal life the life of the Kingdom age experience now experienced in full forever God how can such things be how can such wonderful things be and yet they are they have to be because your son declared them your Old Testament foretold it but now we see it clearly revealed in the sun Lord all praise to you oh Lord God magnify yourself lift up yourself in our lives not just by the words we say but in how we live God because such a great salvation deserves it Lord we can never repay you for it we can never do anything to earn it but we can give you thanks and praise we can direct all the glory to you because what you’ve done in US indeed has all been your work everything has been wrought in God Lord we thank you for your salvation Lord we pray that you would continue your transforming work in us so we may walk worthy of it and if there’s any here Lord who have heard this message and have been resisting you Lord in stubborn Pride because they want to live their own way or they want to think their own thoughts God I pray that you’d break that Pride this morning and they would listen to the voice of him who has descended from Heaven who speaks even now through the scriptures and say no this is the truth humble yourself and believe it and you will be saved God glorify yourself and all the things you choose to do in Jesus name amen amen let’s stay