John 3:1-21

Well, as I noted last Sunday, the first half of this chapter is a summary. I don't think it's

all the detail. It's a summary of a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, who was a prominent

ruler and teacher among the Jews. After witnessing a few of Jesus's miracles in Jerusalem, we see that

at the end of chapter two, after seeing them or witnessing them or at least hearing of them,

Nicodemus arranged for this low-key, perhaps secret meeting to take place where he could learn

about the source of Jesus's power. Because after all, it's not every day that someone comes to town

who has the ability to heal the sick and teaches with the kind of authority with which Jesus taught,

and Nicodemus, being one who was in pursuit of God in this moment, needed to have this conversation.

I believe that he was searching. He's trying to figure out who exactly is Jesus, how is it that

he can do these things, and why does that matter, or what implication or application does that have

to me personally? I think that's why Nicodemus is coming to Jesus in these moments. And as we saw

just a moment ago, as we read through it, Jesus wasted no time with Nicodemus, at least in the

summary that's given to us. There's no pleasantries listed here for us. He doesn't even really address

what Nicodemus says in the very beginning. Nicodemus says, we know that you must be from God, because who

else could do the things that you're doing? And then immediately, what we find in the summary, at least,

is Jesus cuts right to the point, and he says, unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God.

He doesn't even address at all Nicodemus' statement, or at least not plainly in the beginning.

Nicodemus, being one of the Pharisees, as you know, did not consider himself to be a desperate sinner

as other men. The Pharisees believed that God would grant eternal life on the basis of their lineage

and their commitment to the law, and they were very much dedicated to those things.

Nicodemus probably, as far as comparing men to men, Nicodemus probably was as good of a Jew as you

could be. Probably very similar to the way Paul described himself before coming to Christ, a Jew of

the Jews and an Israelite of all Israelites. Nicodemus perhaps would have certainly fit that

description. Even Jesus later says, are you the teacher in Israel? He's not just any rabbi. He's well-respected.

He belongs to the Sanhedrin. If anybody was going to earn eternal life, if that was possible, Nicodemus was one.

It's not that they were uncommitted people. They were actually very dedicated people.

Their problem was they didn't see themselves as sinners, as wicked in and of themselves.

And so they believed that God would grant them eternal life on the basis of their Jewish lineage

and their commitment to the law. But in the midst of that conversation, Jesus drops this bomb on Nicodemus.

And he says, unless you experience a rebirth, a spiritual new birth, you will never see the kingdom of God.

And he says it directly in verse 7. He repeats himself in verse 7. He says, do not marvel that I've said to you,

you must be born again. And the you there in verse 7 is plural in Greek. He's not just talking about Nicodemus.

He's talking about everybody. All of the Sanhedrin, all of the Pharisees, everybody must be born again

in order to see the kingdom. And as we study through John chapter 3, you begin to piece it together

John 3 · chapter mention

because it is a bit enigmatic, isn't it? It's a little strange to figure out what exactly was Jesus saying

and what does this new birth mean and all of these kinds of things. And we begin to see in the chapter

that being born again, this new birth is synonymous in John 3 with repentance of sin and faith in Christ

Jesus. The repentance of sin is somewhat shadowy. We find it really in verse 5. Jesus says,

truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom

of God. And I don't think that when Jesus says born of water, I don't think he's talking about our

natural birth. And I don't think that he's talking about baptism either. I think he's using this as an

allusion to the washing away, the cleansing of sin that comes through repentance, perhaps even an

allusion to what John was preaching. Nicodemus would have been familiar with that at this particular time

in biblical history. He would have understood that in this cleansing away. And I think there's an

allusion there to repentance. But then as we get to verses 15 and 16 and 17 and 18, we see overwhelmingly

this new birth being synonymous with faith, faith specifically in Jesus Christ. But then we see

that these things, repentance and faith, are actually an individual's response

to the gracious work of God's spirit in their life. So then as we dig into this chapter,

it's not that faith and repentance produce the new birth. They don't cause the new birth.

They're actually responses to the new birth. And we see that in verse 8. Jesus gives this really

helpful illustration. The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it

comes from or where it goes. And then he says, so it is with every person who is born of the spirit,

the spirit of God. So like the wind, you can see the effects of God's spirit at work in a person's life.

Though you cannot see the spirit himself. He's like the wind. You can step outside and you can

feel it on you. You can see it as it rustles the leaves that have fallen from the trees over the last

several months. You can see what the wind does. You can see the effects of its work, though you cannot

see it, though you cannot understand its movements fully. You don't know where it's coming from and where

it's going. And Jesus says, that's how my spirit is at work in our lives. You can't really fully

understand its movements. You don't know where it's coming from and where it's going. You can't

see the spirit itself. But what you see is the effects of the spirit's work in a person's life

when he comes in and he produces this regenerative work, this new birth, and a person is born again.

And what immediately is seen as the result of that is repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ.

That's the lesson that Jesus is teaching Nicodemus. That salvation is not something you do.

Salvation is something God does in us. It's his grace. And this is really where Nicodemus had

a struggle. Look at verse 9. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be?

How, Jesus, is that possible?

Now, Nicodemus was a smart man. He doesn't get where he is politically and religiously and all of

those things. He's the teacher of Israel, Jesus says. He doesn't get there without

being very intelligent. I don't think that he's misunderstanding Jesus's analogy about being

born again. In fact, I even think when Nicodemus responds to Jesus and says, can a man enter into,

can an old man enter into his mother's womb again? I think he's just responding to Jesus in the same

words that Jesus is using. I think he's using his words to match Jesus's analogy. And he's essentially

saying what you're saying isn't possible. Like, it can't just be that. That can't be all there is

to this eternal life and kingdom of God. And I think that his response here in verse 9 actually

indicates that he does indeed understand the lesson, but he was unwilling to accept it,

at least at this moment. And he says, not explain that to me further. He says, I don't think that's

possible. I don't think you're right about that. How can that be? So believing that his obedience to

the law would gain him eternal life, Nicodemus couldn't see how it was possible for salvation

to be entirely by God's grace apart from his own human effort. I think that's what's at play here

in this passage. And then in verses 10 through 12, Jesus rebukes the hardness of Nicodemus's heart.

We'll look at that a little more in a moment. But then he goes on to wonderfully explain

how salvation by grace through faith is possible. And that's what verses 9 through 21 are.

Jesus gives this lesson to Nicodemus about being born again. Nicodemus says, how's that even possible?

And Jesus says, let me tell you how it's possible. And that's what unfolds. And here's the summary of it.

The answer to Nicodemus's question, how is this possible? How can these things be?

Is found only in the person and work of Jesus. It's only found in Jesus. He can't understand it apart from him.

And Jesus essentially is standing before him saying, Nicodemus, I came, I am here so that this can be possible.

Just look to me, listen to me. And then he begins to explain it. And so what I want to do is I want

to take the same basic structure that we used last week in verse 16. And I want to explore

a little bit more in this broader perspective of how Jesus answered Nicodemus. And I'm going to try

to tie that back into Christmas and the Christmas story once again as well. Okay, so we're going to

look a little further at the identity of Jesus as the gift of God. We are going to see an illustration

that Jesus gives about the call of God to faith. And then we'll, we'll finish it with asking the

question of God's love. If his love is so great, why do so many people reject it? Because we find that

answer in this passage as well. Okay. So, so let's look through it just quickly together. The first thing

is identifying the gift of God, identifying the gift of God. And we're going to find this in verse 13

in just, just a moment. So last week, looking at verse 16, we found that the greatest gift ever given

was a person, God's only begotten son, John writes. And in fact, the gift of Jesus we discovered is

actually the theme of the entire Bible. So after sin brings in suffering and death, God promises that he

will send a deliverer to rescue his people. And then we find that the old Testament is full of all of

these pictures, like the sacrificial system of reminding of God's promise that he will send a

perfect lamb that will atone for the sins of man. And then when we get into the new Testament, we learn

that this deliverer who is the gift of John 3 16 is none other than Jesus of Nazareth. So let's look at

verse 13 now. And I want to see in this text, how Jesus is actually making that claim that he is that

gift. Okay. Verse 13, Jesus says this weird thing. No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended

from heaven. And then he adds in the title, the son of man. So no one has ascended into heaven except he

who descended from heaven. So Jesus had simplified this gospel mission for Nicodemus by explaining it

in the earthly terms of the new birth. But Nicodemus didn't want to accept what Jesus was saying. So in

verses 10 to 12, Jesus mildly rebukes him. Look, look with me at verse 10. Jesus answered, are you the

teacher of Israel? And yet you do not understand these things? You don't see how this can be?

Nicodemus verse 11. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what

we've seen, but you do not receive our testimony. Well, who's the we there? I don't think that he's

referring to his disciples yet. We don't really know much about them at this point in John's gospel,

at least. I think Jesus is referring perhaps to the Old Testament prophets, the ones that Nicodemus

was very familiar with, the ones that Nicodemus would have known, all of these prophecies as he

would have studied them himself. But all of those prophecies, Nicodemus had not interpreted right.

And Jesus is saying, we speak of the things that we know. We speak of the things that we've seen and

that God has made us aware of. And yet you do not, you do not accept those things in verse 12.

He says, if I've told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you of

heavenly things? So Nicodemus wouldn't accept the most fundamental truths explained in the simplest of

terms. He would never come to grips with the deeper heavenly realities for which he was seeking.

And Jesus's point in verse 13 was that a man's understanding is only as good as his source of

information. A man's understanding is only as good as his source of information. Nicodemus was trying to

find all these answers, but he was trying to find them in all the wrong places. And Jesus says,

Nicodemus, no man has ascended into heaven so as to learn all of these things and bring them back

to communicate to you. But Jesus stood before Nicodemus as the one from heaven who knew these

realities, who knew all of these things, had the full knowledge of salvation and had the authority

to share it. And Nicodemus is saying, just listen to me, listen to me. None of these men know. I know.

I know. And there's three things about Jesus's identity. I think that's revealed in this one

verse. And the first one we see is son of God, son of God. The clear implication of Jesus's statement

is that he is the one who came from heaven. He's not talking in an abstraction here. He's not talking

about some person that is out there that you might be able to gain this knowledge from. He's saying

clearly to Nicodemus, no, I have come from heaven. I have come. But Jesus wasn't just any being from

heaven. In verse 16, as we studied last week, he referred to himself as God's only son. He wasn't

an angel that was delivering a message as others had done in the scriptures. Jesus was claiming to be

God, claiming to be one with the father. Last week, we looked at this from Philippians 2.

I want you to actually look at this again, except from Matthew chapter one. In fact,

turn with me there. It's just a few pages over from where you are. In Matthew chapter one,

and I want you to see in the Christmas narrative, the reality of Jesus as the son of God, the son of

God. Matthew chapter one, let's start reading at verse 12 and just be patient with me for a second.

There's a reason why I want to read all of these names. Okay. Verse 12.

After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel.

Shealtiel, the father of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel, the father of Abiad. Abiad, the father of Eliakim.

And Eliakim, the father of Azor. Azor, the father of Zadok. Zadok, the father of Achim. Achim, the father of Eliad.

And Eliad, the father of Eleazar. And Eleazar, the father of Mathen. And Mathen, the father of Jacob.

And this is the one I want you to see. And Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Christ.

Now, do you notice the difference between the way that Matthew describes the direct lineage of Jesus versus everybody else in this paragraph?

Really, everybody else in the chapter. Over and over, Matthew says, this man begat this man.

And this man begat this man. And so on and so forth. Until he gets all the way down to Joseph.

And he says, Jacob begat Joseph, who did not begat Jesus, Matthew says.

Joseph was just the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.

Do you see what Matthew is doing? He's going out of his way here to emphasize the fact that Jesus is not the son of Joseph.

And then he goes on. We see it again in verse 18. Skip down to that now.

Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, it's an important emphasis,

she was found to be with child from the Holy Ghost.

And her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

But as he considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,

Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son. You shall call his name Jesus.

He will save his people from their sins.

And all of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.

And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God is with us.

And when Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name Jesus.

Now, I want you to see all of this here.

Six different times, beginning of verse 16, in the lineage verse, and then when we get to verse 18 through 25.

Six different times, Matthew emphasizes the fact that Jesus was not the son of Joseph,

and that Mary was a virgin when he was born.

He's the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.

Before they came together, verse 18.

With child from the Holy Ghost, verse 18.

That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, verse 20.

Verse 23, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.

And then you could add in an extra one.

They call his name Emmanuel, which is God is with us.

Verse 25, knew her not until she had given birth to a son.

That is an intimacy, sexually speaking.

Matthew goes out of his way in this birth narrative to say,

Jesus is from God.

Jesus is the son of God.

He wasn't a regular man who was endowed with divine qualities.

It wasn't that Jesus was born like everyone else is born,

and then all of a sudden God said, okay, I'm going to make this man my divine figure.

That's not how this happened.

Jesus has always been.

And the testimony of the scripture is that the Messiah that would come

would not just be ordinary like us, even though he is an ordinary man,

but that he is God in the flesh.

Jesus' explicit claim in the scriptures is that he himself is God.

He's one with the Father, a part of the Trinity.

But then if Jesus had been born of Joseph, and this is so important,

if he had been born of Joseph, he couldn't be our Savior.

Because if he was born of Joseph, that means Jesus was in Adam.

And every person that's in Adam has a nature of sin and rebellion that must be redeemed.

And the Bible is abundantly clear that Jesus was not in Adam.

He had no sin.

He's the son of God.

And we have the hint of that in verse 13 in John chapter 3 when he looks at Nicodemus and he says,

John 3 · chapter mention

listen, no one has ascended into heaven to gain this knowledge except he who has come from heaven.

And Nicodemus, that's me.

That's me.

I'm the son of God.

But it's not just son of God.

We see another identifying marker in verse 13.

We see son of man.

Of course, we've talked about this a lot in Mark's gospel,

so I'm not going to spend a lot of time here.

But we know this was Jesus' favorite designation for himself.

In the four gospels, he uses it 81 times at least for himself.

Son of man, it's important.

And we think this is Jesus connecting himself to the Daniel 7 figure,

the Messiah who would rule over all things that God Almighty would give over to him.

Not only did Jesus plainly tell Nicodemus that he was the son of God from heaven,

but he plainly tells him, I am the Messiah, Nicodemus.

I'm the one, the one you've been hoping for, that you've been looking for.

That's me.

It's a bold claim.

It's a bold claim that he's made.

But he's not just the son of God.

He's not just the son of man.

In verse 13, he's the source of truth.

He's the source of truth.

His whole purpose in revealing his identity to Nicodemus

was so that Nicodemus would trust his word.

Because Jesus is the son of God,

and because he is the son of man,

he is the ultimate and final source of truth.

And his point was not only that his word can be believed,

but that it must be believed.

And so he tells Nicodemus,

no man can give you this

except the one who has come from heaven,

the son of God and the son of man,

the source of all truth.

If you really want to know about eternal life, Nicodemus,

look at me.

Listen to me.

I have that knowledge,

and I want to share it with you

if you will just listen

and if you will open your heart.

And of course, Hebrews tells us this.

Long ago at many times and in many ways,

God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

but in these last days,

he has spoken to us by his son,

whom he appointed the heir of all things,

through whom also he created the world.

And of course, we know Jesus' own claim.

In John 14, Jesus said,

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father except through me.

I'm the way, the truth.

If you want truth, you have to look at Jesus.

There's no other way to know it.

And I just want to remind you,

and I know it's a few of us,

and I know all of your testimonies,

and I know you love the Lord,

and I hope I'm not boring you.

Maybe I'm arming you with something you can take

to the family dinners this week

if you have some more of those to go to.

It's not possible to be indifferent to Jesus.

It's not possible.

He can't have been merely a good teacher

or a prophet or a moral example.

If he was only a teacher,

then what he taught was lies.

And if he was only a prophet,

then you must insist that he was a false prophet.

And if you think of him only as a moral example

for us to follow,

then your idea of morality is hugely perverted.

He's either God or he isn't.

He's either the Savior or he isn't.

He's either the truth or he isn't.

And when it comes to our response to him,

we either believe and follow him wholly

or we deny and reject him completely.

And there's too many people that we know

in the context in which we live

in a Christianity-saturated culture like ours.

There are too many people

that are indifferent to Jesus.

They're trying to be indifferent to him.

And you can't be.

You can't be.

You either follow him wholly

or you deny him completely.

There's no middle ground there.

And I think John 3

is just another example of that.

So we see identifying the gift of God.

Secondly, let's look at illustrating the call of God.

Illustrating the call of God.

So in verse 16,

the call of God was that

sinners are to believe in Jesus Christ

for eternal life.

And there's urgency to that call in verse 16.

Because as we continue to follow through,

it says,

whoever does not believe is condemned already.

We stand condemned.

So there's urgency to this call.

This salvation is made available.

Jesus is on this rescue mission.

And we learned last week

that every person is dead

in their trespasses and sin.

We desperately need rescue.

And Jesus is the promised Savior

sent to save us.

But his gift must be received by faith.

But then Jesus illustrates this call

so helpfully in verses 14 and 15.

And this is what we cut out last week

that we want to spend our time on today.

Verse 14,

as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

so must the Son of Man be lifted up

that whoever believes in him

may have eternal life.

Remember,

these verses are Jesus' response

to Nicodemus' question in verse 9.

How are these things possible?

And Jesus begins by essentially saying,

one must believe in who I am.

The Son of God,

Son of Man,

source of truth.

You have to believe in who I am.

And then he follows that up with,

and you need to understand and believe

what I've come to do.

Except he uses this illustration.

It comes from Numbers 21.

In fact,

why don't you turn there with me

in the Old Testament.

Numbers chapter 21.

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

Perhaps you remember the story

maybe from Sunday school,

growing up,

or just from your own reading.

Numbers chapter 21.

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

And look with me at verse 4.

Of course,

this is just another example

of the many times

that the nation of Israel

had complained and whined

and turned in rebellion

from the Lord.

And we find this story in verse 4.

Numbers 21, verse 4.

Numbers 21:4

From Mount Hor,

they set out by the way

to the Red Sea

to go around the land of Edom.

And the people

became impatient

on the way.

And the people spoke against God

and against Moses.

Why have you brought us up

out of Egypt

to die in the wilderness?

For there is no food

and no water,

and we loathe

this worthless food.

The worthless food,

I'm assuming here,

is a reference

to the manna

that God had sent.

The heavenly food

that was at one time

to the Israelites

so wonderful,

and now they think

it's wonderfully terrible,

and they don't want it anymore,

and they're complaining.

It reminds me that,

you know,

all the kids sang

that song last week,

Sing We the Song of Emmanuel,

and it's got that phrase in it,

lift your voices

and now proclaim.

And Andy and Amy

told me last week

that when he gets confused,

what she sings there,

every time she sings that song

is lift your voices

and now complain.

And that's really

what it was like

for the Israelites.

Every time they lifted

their voices

underneath Moses' leadership,

it was to complain

about something.

And here they're complaining

again about the provision

of God.

They would rather

go back to Egypt

than follow God

in the wilderness.

Verse 6,

Then the Lord sent

fiery serpents

among the people,

and they bit the people

so that many people

of Israel died.

And the people came

to Moses and said,

We have sinned.

We've spoken against

the Lord and against you.

Pray to the Lord

that he may take away

the serpents from us.

So Moses prayed

for the people.

And the Lord said to Moses,

Make a fiery serpent

and set it on a pole,

and everyone who is bitten,

when he sees it,

shall live.

So Moses made a bronze serpent,

set it on a pole,

and if a serpent bit anyone,

he would look at the bronze serpent

and live.

Do you remember this story?

The story is symbolic

of man's rebellion

against God.

Just as Israel spoke

against God

in this passage,

so have each of us

turned against him

in our sin and pride.

But sin always

carries unavoidable consequences

because God in his justice

must judge it.

He must judge sin.

And with the nation of Israel,

he sent these fiery serpents

really to devour them.

Many scholars believe

they're called fiery serpents

because perhaps their venom

produced a fever,

a burning fever

that ultimately led to death.

death.

And these serpents

are emblems

of death

and sin.

Whoever was bitten

by one

was without

any hope at all.

There's nothing

they could do

to escape

the grim reality

of death

once one of these snakes

had gotten a hold of them.

But though the people

faced the divine wrath

of God,

he provided a way

of escape.

He provided a way

for them to be healed.

And he tells Moses,

make a snake,

put it on a pole,

and set it in the middle

of the camp.

And anyone who's bitten,

if they will just look

at what I have provided,

if they will just cast themselves

on my provision,

they will be fully healed.

But it took the gaze

of faith

for each of those people.

Jesus left no doubt

in John 3

what the application

of this event is.

It was a type

of what he had come

to do for us.

And the details

are remarkably precise.

Just as the bronze serpent

was suspended

between heaven and earth,

so would Jesus

eventually,

when he made it

to Jerusalem

for his crucifixion,

be suspended

on a pole,

on a cross

between heaven and earth.

Even the fact

that Moses

made this

out of bronze

is significant

instead of using

an actual snake.

It's significant

because Jesus

wasn't a real sinner

that was put

on a cross,

but he was made

to be sin for us.

And as he is

hanging on the cross,

he bears our sin.

He bears our wrath.

And we can't miss

the role of faith

in the healing.

The bitten people

were as good as dead

unless they looked

to God's grace

in this,

his provision.

There was no other way

for them to receive healing.

They had to look

at God's provision

for life.

But to look

to God's provision

meant they had

to abandon

all their other hopes

of remedies.

Perhaps they had

gathered whatever

hope they could

and medicinal things

or whatever process

they could go through

to get rid of this fever,

but none of those things

were going to work.

The only way

they were going

to get healing

was to look

at what God

had provided

in the serpent

that was hanging

on the pole.

But in order

to do that,

they had to abandon

all their other hopes.

And is that not exactly

what salvation

is for us?

There's no other way

by which we can be saved

than through faith

in God's gracious provision.

And to receive

eternal life,

you need only

look to Jesus.

But to look

to Jesus

means that we must

abandon

all other

potential remedies.

Because none

of the other ones work.

We come to him

and him alone.

And we gaze

at the gracious

provision of our God,

our Savior,

hanging,

bearing our sins

on the cross.

And Kent Hughes

is so encouraging here.

He says,

no matter how horribly

they were bitten,

no matter how many times

they had been bitten,

or how sick they were,

the opportunity

for salvation

was there.

Even the most degraded

and miserable sinner

who looks to Christ

will be saved.

And that's why

our Lord used

this wonderful

illustration.

So we've seen

the gift of God,

that's Christ.

We see the call

of God,

look to Christ

in faith,

Jesus illustrates

that for us.

And remember,

he's answering

Nicodemus' question.

Finally,

we see ignoring

the love of God.

Ignoring the love

of God.

So as we emphasized

last week,

it wasn't a sense

of obligation

that motivated God

to give his son

for our sins,

but he gave his son

according to the riches

of his everlasting love.

God loves the world.

Jesus died

for the sins

of the world.

And all who come

to Christ in faith

will receive

this precious gift

of eternal life.

God loves the love.

But that begs

the question,

if that's true,

why then

do so many people

reject it?

Why do so many people

deny

this incredible love?

And the answer

is in verse 19.

this is the judgment.

The light

has come

into the world

and people

love the darkness

rather than

the light

because their

works

were evil.

For everyone

who does

wicked things

hates the light

and does not

come to the light

lest his works

should be exposed.

Why do people

deny the love

of God?

Because they

love their sin

more.

Because they

love the darkness.

Notice the

contrast between

loves.

Verse 16

has the love

of God.

He loves

the world

so much.

This world

that he has

created

that he gives

his only son

in order

that we might

have eternal life.

But on the

other hand

the object

of our love

is the very

sin that

makes our

salvation

necessary.

In our

hearts

we want

our sin

more than

we want

life.

Which is

exactly why

a new

birth

is necessary.

John

often refers

to Jesus

as the light

in his

gospel.

In this

context

Jesus

is the

light

that

exposes

how

sinful

we

truly

are.

And we

don't like

that.

When we

come to

Christ

we cannot

come without

acknowledging

our

wretchedness

our

inability

to do

this on

our own.

And instead

of coming

to him

to be

exposed

we'd

prefer to

remain in

the darkness.

we see

this all

around

us.

We sing

about

this.

At

Christmas

hark the

herald angels

sing.

Hail the

heaven born

prince of

peace.

Hail the

son of

righteousness

light and

life to

all he

brings.

Mild he

lays his

glory by.

Born that

man no

more may

die.

Born to

raise the

sons of

earth.

Born to

give them

second

birth.

It's

this

wretchedness

and love

of the

darkness

that has

so

infiltrated

our

hearts

that we

would never

cry out

to God

on our

own.

That's

why

Jesus

tells

Nicodemus

you need

the wind

to blow.

You need

a new

birth.

You need

the grace

of God

to change

your heart.

We see

this in the

Christmas story

evidently

in the

person of

King

Herod

right.

He knows

based on

the testimony

of the

Magi

and on

the testimony

of the

chief

priest

and the

scribes

that revealed

to him

the prophecies

of the

Old Testament

that if

this really

was the

King of

the Jews

this is

the one

this is

the Messiah

he's the

one yet

what did

Herod do

with that

information

he sought

to kill

him

he sought

to kill

him

why

because he

loved the

darkness

more than

the light

and we

see this

in people

around us

a couple

of nights

ago

a Christmas

Eve night

we were

at my

parents

house

and

somebody

had turned

on a

new show

that has

Will Smith

going around

the world

and looking

at all these

natural things

like volcanoes

and stuff

like that

and of course

that

I don't know

if you do

this but

anytime

somebody

pops up

on TV

that's

famous

we usually

try to

figure out

what do

they really

believe

you know

and somebody

says

I wonder

if he's

a Christian

and so

my brother

in law

RJ

started

looking online

to see if he

could find

what kind

of information

about Will

Smith

and what

Will

Smith

believes

and apparently

based on what

he had found

he grew up

as a Christian

and even

in a Baptist

church

of sorts

and

but as he

got older

he decided

that he

believes

that there's

a God

but that

he hates

organized

religion

which is

really just

another way

of saying

I don't

want anyone

to tell me

what to do

I want

to do it

myself

and make

up my own

mind about

how I'm

going to

live my

life

and he

said

what I

want to

do

is I

want to

find all

of these

religions

and I

want to

find the

things that

I like

the most

about these

different

religions

and I

want to

bring them

together

and that's

really what

my faith

is

so God

is there

God

is there

I don't

want to

deny

that

but I'm

going to

get the

best things

out of all

of these

other things

that's just

another way

of saying

I don't

really know

if God

is there

but if he

is and if

he's good

I'm sure

that he

will reward

nice people

who really

do their

best and

try their

hardest

but it's

not really

about

subscribing

to a

person

or a

thing

so I'm

just

going to

grab

all of

these

little

things

what is

that all

about

that's

about

loving

the

darkness

in

Jesus

has come

the light

but men

love the

darkness

rather than

the light

because their

hearts are

evil

because in

them there

is depravity

and sinfulness

and a nature

that must be

redeemed

and they

grasp at

everything

possible

except for

the one

thing

that can

actually

help them

they refuse

the provision

that God

has given

in order

to pursue

their own

things

and God

says listen

Jesus

says listen

you've got

to be born

again

and look

verse 21

we'll finish

with this

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 lest we

arrogantly

think too much

of ourselves

as if

we did what

was necessary

and the others

didn't

we were

smarter than

them

or we were

more capable

than them

we're reminded

here in

verse 21

that coming

to the

light

actually

reveals

God's

work in

us

the wind

has blown

and its

effects are

visible in

us

and this

is a result

of God's

grace

isn't it

isn't that

why we

worship him

and we

thank him

because of

his grace

so maybe

this week

if you

gather with

family once

again

perhaps for

extended

Christmas

gatherings

or maybe

maybe for

your New

Year's

gathering

if you do

something

like that

maybe

maybe a

good question

to ask

is in

is the

wind blowing

in your

life today

do you

hear his

voice

is he

calling

believe

him

follow

him