For God So Loved The World

For God so Loved the World

John 3:14-21

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

“How can someone be born when they are old?”

Nicodemus, John 3:4

Though humanity has had over 2,000 years to reflect on the significance of Nicodemus’ question on how to be born again there are still many people in this world who do not know or are unwilling to embrace the answer to this question! Nicodemus was a distinguished Jew, a pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, and yet the pathway to God remained for him elusive. He had always been taught the criteria for salvation was to be a descendent of Abraham and faithfully keep the Law of Moses but now One whose sandals that even John the Baptist was unworthy to tie (John 1:27) was stating that the only prerequisite to entering the kingdom of God was to be born again! Even to an astute theologian like Nicodemus this seemed ridiculous for how could a person enter their mother’s womb a second time (1:4)? It is at Easter that we remember, profess, and celebrate the answer to this life altering question. None are righteous and salvation cannot be earned by any amount of human effort (Romans 3:10-18; Ephesians 2:8-9)! Christ told Nicodemus to pass from death to life one simply must be born again by the water and the Spirit which only happens when a person has faith in the atoning sacrifice of God’s one and only Son, Jesus! While this does not seem like much of a price to feast at the Lord’s table for all of eternity it came at price of Christ’s very life! Easter is upon us, and the goal of this sermon is twofold. First, for those who have not stepped in the Lord’s glorious light I implore you on Christ’s behalf become born again by the Spirit so that you might be reconciled unto God (2 Corinthians 5:20) for all of eternity! And second, for those who are born again, know and cherish the Gospel message in your hearts so that you will always be ready to give the reasons why you have hope in the Lord (1 Peter 3:15)!

The Reality of God’s Love

At the heart of the Easter message is one of the most famous and loved verses of all the Bible, John 3:16. The key to understanding this verse can be found in the last thing Jesus told Nicodemus. Referring to Numbers 21, Jesus told him that “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life” (3:14-15). “The command to look to that uplifted serpent was a gracious foreshadowing of looking to Christ for our salvation.” Jesus became sin (or serpent, Romans 8:3) for us so that in graciously bearing the venom of God’s wrath and by belief in Him the old would be gone and a new nature, born of the Spirit, would be given to us (2 Corinthians 5:17)! This miraculous gift of salvation was not earned but received through faith and thankfully even the “most degraded and miserable of sinner who looks upon Christ will be saved!” Though the people of this world are filled with “disbelief and hostility (15:18–19; 16:8) and were His enemies (Romans 5:10), Christ chose to die once and for all (John 10:18, Romans 6:10). God not only said the words “I love you” but demonstrated them by giving us the most precious thing to Him, the life of His one and only Son, Jesus. Salvation to us is a free gift from God but by no means was it cheap! While Christ alone is “unquestionably righteous” and we are stilled flawed by our sinful nature, having been sealed by God’s Spirit means that we can approach His throne of grace as His children because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). The heart of the Gospel message is that God’s love is like a “vast, inbounded, bottomless sea” in which all are invited to be born again and feast in His kingdom!

The Reason Jesus Came

Even though there is no one righteous and all deserve the wages of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23), John states that “God did not send His Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (3:17). Ever since “Adam and Eve foolishly stepped out from under God’s perfect and wise rule, deciding what they knew was best” no amount of “human ingenuity” or effort could ever result in humanity being righteous in God’s sight. “We could no more save ourselves than a baby could birth himself.” Though there is no darkness in Him at all (1 John 1:5) God’s desire was not to condemn but provide the means of our salvation by sending His Son into the world to atone for our sins upon the cross. This statement for the Jews would have been alarming for while they believed that God’s desire was to “save rather than to judge (Ezekiel 18:23)” during the Second Temple period most of them believed that salvation was for the Jews and judgment was for all others, especially Rome who were persecuting them! While this was likely offensive to many Jewish people the truth remained that God sent “Someone unique into the world who was both God and man” to provide the means of salvation for all of humanity, not just a segment of it! But how can this truth be reconciled with other statements about Jesus judging the world? Did not Jesus say, “be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28) and did he not say, “the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22)? By saying that Jesus came to save, not condemn the word this is not a contradiction of His prior statements. “The Son of Man came into an already lost and condemned world in order to save those” who chose to believe in Him and in contrast those who chose to reject Him remain condemned. While “His judgment is just (5:30) and true (8:16)” His preference is that none might perish, and everyone come to repentance and be reconciled unto God (2 Peter 3:9). While His “winnowing fork” of judgment is in His hand (Matthew 3:12) so too is a gracious, merciful invitation to be eternally adopted as His Father’s very own child! Now that our bondage to sin was broken on the cross joyfully everyone gets the choice, death, or life! Reflection. When you think about the Lord do you only see Him as a judge of both the living and the dead, which He is, or do you also reflect and rejoice over the truth that He is kind, gracious and merciful to us who deserve condemnation but instead are offered eternal life? While trying to live a good life for the Lord is key to pleasing Him do you know that salvation is a gift that cannot be earned but only received through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord? The more you reflect on the depravity of your sins the more you get a glimpse of His grace and mercy!