Lent: The Darkness is Disbelief

So our three girls are nine, seven, and five.

There's not a changing table in our house.

There's no diapers in our house.

It's amazing, I'll be honest.

I celebrated every time one of those things left my house.

There was a celebration.

And so we'd really hit a pretty good groove of some margin again in our life in terms of Christy and I.

And then we went two weeks ago and we got a puppy.

So we you call that putting your hand back in the blender, is what that's called.

And he's a labradoodle and he's named Brother because we know of a brother.

And it gives me the opportunity every time he does something to our girls and they cry, lots of tears are being shed.

They cry and they whine.

I can say, well, this is what it's like to have a brother, right?

Those of you who have boys know.

Some of you are offended.

But he's really cute.

I'll give him that.

And he needs to be cute.

Puppies need to be cute to help you help them survive.

And at night we play with him, and like any child, uh, you know, we play with him, and the family's playing, and we play with him, and for like 30 minutes, he's so good.

He's holding it in, he's behaving, he knows how to operate, he's just he's doing it so well, and you can just see it, you can just see it coming where he's not gonna be able to hold it in anymore, and then he just sort of goes nuts, and there's no getting him back into that good behavior, and the girls are falling apart and they're crying, and so eventually I pick them up, calm him down a little bit, pet him, let them know he's loved, walk him over to his crate so he can have himself a nice calming experience in his crate.

And I put him in his crate and give him a little treat, and he goes in there for a little calm down, little nap, and and we continue to play in the living room.

Now, from where his crate is, he can he can see us, right?

And I he loves his crate.

Praise Jesus, he loves his crate.

So he's not crying, he's just sitting there, and we say, Hey, don't look, don't look at him, don't look in there, but he's looking at us, and I sneak, you know, we all sneak a little look, and he's not crying, he's not barking, but he has that look.

That look like of horrible condemnation is basically what it is.

Like shame over him, just the horrible puppy look.

He's really putting it on as much as possible.

And it's this look, it's this, it's this, this feeling, like there's a party going on.

I can see it, right?

And I'm stuck in here.

I'm bound and imprisoned while there's a party going on.

And we know that feeling.

We know that same feeling because our hearts want that kind of party, that kind of freedom that's going on out there to live and breathe and dance and move.

And often we feel bound, imprisoned, condemned.

It's the feeling of shame, feeling like I'm not enough, and I need to pay for something in some way.

And I think I should be doing more, or I should do something else, or I should pay for some shortcoming or for some thing in the past, or some guilt that I have.

I I need to be the one to pay.

I need to be, I need to be the sacrifice.

And I refuse to believe that God's grace to me in Jesus could actually be what it is, and that is full absolution, full righteousness, full freedom and value.

So that brings me to this guy, Nicodemus, in this John chapter 3, whose religious life isn't working anymore.

John 3 · chapter mention

And this is a man of law, this is a religious guy, a guy of merit.

Do enough and then be accepted, right?

Obey, then be accepted.

Right?

Grace is the other way around.

You're accepted, therefore obey.

This guy's a man of the law, a religious life that's not working, obey, then you'll be accepted.

So it's not working, so in the darkness, because he's he's probably scared his his friends, his family, all of which would be tied into the religious life that he's had.

He's scared he might be found out.

So in darkness he comes, he seeks out this guy, Jesus, to learn about this message of grace.

And Jesus tells this guy an incredibly strange story from this ancient book, Numbers.

The Israelites are attacked by poisonous serpents, people are dying, it's horrible.

And so all the people come to Moses, the leader of their group, and he says, Hey, would you go pray to God and ask God to take away the serpents?

People are dying, they're falling off.

And rather than God taking away the serpents, this rather curious, strange command is given to Moses and make a bronze serpent, so make a bronze statue of the very thing that's killing you.

Okay, so the thing that's killing you, make a bronze statue of it, put it on a pole, and then anyone who looks at it will live.

Strange, really, to make an image of the very thing that is killing you, that it might bring you life.

So hold on to that story.

The conversation continues.

John 3 16, right?

Famous verse For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in an order that the world might be saved through him.

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.

And 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 every one who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed.

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 we have verses 14 and 15, which were the reference to that strange story in Numbers.

We have verses 16 and 17, which is a discussion about love and condemnation, and then we have verses 18 through 21, which is a metaphorical talk about light and darkness.

So let's make some sense of this.

Point number one darkness exists in the absence of light, but light always wins.

Not a surprise.

You know that.

You know that when you woke up this morning, it was darker out than normal, and your bedroom was a little bit darker than normally is, or your bathroom, and you went and you turned on the light, and the light won.

The light always wins.

These people, they're not high on science at this point in history, so they don't know the scientific realities of light, but what they do know is when they light a candle, the light of the candle will overtake the darkness in the room.

The darkness in the room will not overtake the light of the candle.

Now, this has everything to do with love and condemnation.

Whether you need to become more as to be loved, or if you are actually, actually, as you are, lovable.

Alright, now so that strange serpent story.

See, all this ties together, this is why Jesus is talking about all of it together.

The thing that's ailing those Israelites getting bit by these serpents is hung up for them to look to.

Seems so very strange.

But see, for this religious guy, Jesus is the serpent.

Because Jesus to him has been the threat to the system, to his religious system and to his people.

And yet Jesus is saying, oh, oh yeah, you know that story?

You know that story?

You will have to look to that which you have viewed as your enemy if you want to be saved.

That's what Jesus is saying by referencing numbers.

And the religious people killed Jesus high on a pole, and only by understanding him, only by understanding him might we be rescued.

Same as the story in Numbers.

So the one who is a threat to our pride, the one who's an enemy to our pride, an enemy to our self-justification, an enemy to our merit, that one, that one is the path to our salvation.

Soren Kierkegaard said this, his Christian philosopher said this, what now shall we call such a teacher, who one who restores the lost condition and gives the learner the truth?

Let us call him Savior, for he saves the learner from his bondage and from himself.

Let us call him Redeemer, for he redeems the learner from the captivity into which he had plunged himself.

And no captivity is so terrible and so impossible to break as that in which the individual keeps himself.

I think we've all felt that.

Kierkegaard keeps going.

And still we have not said all that is necessary, for by his self-imposed bondage, the learner has brought upon himself a burden of guilt.

And when the teacher gives him the condition and the truth, he constitutes himself an atonement, taking away the wrath, impending upon that of which the learner has made himself guilty.

So point number two is this the darkness is our disbelief.

And we naturally love darkness.

And it's not not that there's no light in any given person, it's just that there's darkness in every given person.

So this leaves me quite with lots of questions.

Like, why am I still an approval suck?

I mean, this week I began a text.

I'm texting.

I finished the text only to delete it to start again, to delete it, to start again.

I did it four times before I sent it.

Right?

Because I thought it had mistakes.

Of course it has mistakes.

It's a text, right?

Like it's not a dissertation, it's sentence fragments.

It's full of mistakes.

Everything about a text is mistakes.

That's what it is.

But there's something in me that the person I'm texting, I need them to think, I need them to think I'm insightful or have my act together or you know, whatever.

And they have no idea that it's taking me four tries to send this two-sentence fragment text.

Why do you do that with some people then with other people you're free to send that text and you don't even think about it at all?

Well, one would be a relationship of merit, and one would be a relationship of grace.

And why do you feel ashamed or discontent when you do that?

Why do you when you have those feelings?

Why do you feel like you check your email?

Or why do you become busy?

Or why do you buy something?

Why do I disbelieve so quickly and move to some coping mechanism or some some of my own self-saving techniques to feel content today?

Why do I do that?

Because there's darkness in me.

Because I'm a sinner.

I love to self-save apart from the grace of God.

That's why.

That's why you do it too.

And in that way, we are already condemned.

God does not have to condemn you.

God doesn't have to condemn me, nor does He.

We're already condemned.

We're condemned because we're not perfect.

We don't live up to that perfect law of being holy and pure and righteous.

We don't live up to that.

Plus, we pile on all the ways that we don't even live up to the perfection of this world, be it status or beauty or image.

And in that we're all sinners, and we turn to self-save in our darkness.

We disbelieve that the way of rescue could actually be this, this Jesus.

And that's the condemnation.

The darkness only exists in our disbelief that the light is there.

I'll say that again.

The darkness only exists in our disbelief that the light's always been there.

The party of grace for your soul is always going on when we open our eyes in belief to it.

Now there's grace.

And now we're saved and we're moving in love rather than moving in condemnation.

Point number three: opening your eyes to the light is a belief in God's endless love to you, known in Jesus.

Opening your eyes to the light is a belief in God's endless love to you in Jesus.

That word condemn in this passage, it means to separate or to judge.

It means to sentence or to damn.

In this text, Jesus is revealing to humanity as clearly as possible that God's not in that business.

He's just saying, I'm not in that business.

He already accepts you.

That's the greatness of verses 16 and 17.

He already accepts you.

All right, so let's think about it this way.

Let's say uh Sandy is married to Randy, and they've been married for 20 years.

Randy is fantastic.

He is an unbelievable husband.

Randy does the dishes.

Not only do you do the dishes, he used to load them a certain way, and Sandy pulled him aside and showed him the correct way to load the dishwasher.

And Randy has done it that way ever since.

Randy does the laundry because Sandy has a job, she's working, she's stressed out.

So Randy said, you know what, I'll do all the laundry at night after you go to bed.

I'll stay up late, I'll do the laundry, I'll wash it, I'll fold it.

I'm gonna create a clear, great system when our children, when I wake the children up in the morning, I'll have them put it away while you're getting ready for work.

Randy's unbelievable.

After a long day of running his own business, Randy can't wait to sit down and talk with Sandy and hear about her tiring day and her horrible colleagues and her impatient boss and how her friend posted that thing on Instagram and that other friend replied, and now there's a conflict, and Randy loves it.

He just sits there, he loves to hear all of this, he never offers any solutions.

He just loves to listen.

He loves listening to Sandy.

And he writes her love notes every month on their anniversary.

456 months.

I love you.

He plans getaway trips for the two of them, but also for her and her girlfriends.

Randy's unbelievable.

But you know, over time, Sandy forgets how incredible Randy is.

Just because he's always there.

And then one day, after years of forgetting how incredible Randy is, Sandy's talking with a friend of hers, and this friend starts to complain about her marriage.

And then the friend looks at Sandy and says, Sandy, you wouldn't understand.

Randy's incredible.

And Sandy, at first, she's taken back a little bit, like, you know, like protective, like you're kind of moving in on my goods.

But then she then she realizes something.

And her eyes are opened to something that's always been there.

That Randy's incredible.

And that he has always been there.

See, that's what verses 16 and 17 are.

They are the amazing spouse that is always there.

Verse 16 is so there, like we're at the Falcons game and it's there, right?

Like we just see it everywhere.

It is the amazing spouse that's always there.

It's so much there we can forget how incredible it is.

And it's it's this message: God's position toward you is one of acceptance and love because of Jesus.

And he saves you from your own condemnation and judgment.

He saves you from judgment.

Last point.

Maybe the one thing you need to hear.

Point number four, you may feel condemned, but you're not condemned.

You are forever loved.

In fact, I'll say this: you will feel condemned.

Because of the world and because of yourself, you will tell yourself you're not enough, and you will put yourself to work.

And at times that will be you choosing disbelief and living in darkness.

But God is saying, always, it's saying, I see it all, I see everything you do, and I take it all.

I take all that self-saving, I take all that escapism, I take all that sin upon that pole, upon that cross, and I forever accept and love you.

Your sin is taken upon the cross, his righteousness is put upon you.

This is what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus.

And here's what I've just loved about this passage this week is that Jesus says this to a man that is not impressive.

That's isn't that good news?

That is that is such good news that it's to a guy, a weak, insecure, lacking faith guy who just shows up because his life isn't working anymore.

And Jesus didn't ask him to come back in the light, like as to prove something.

Like, you know, like, hey, if you take your stand from me, then I'll then I'm with you.

No, Jesus accepted him.

Told him the truth.

Never an ounce of judgment.

Author Paul Tripp says this about this passage.

You can tell from Nicodemus' responses that Jesus has taken his mind to places that it has never gone before.

Jesus is revealing to the heart of this man what only God can make known to us.

This is an important concept to grasp.

It takes divine grace for us to understand the mysteries of and our need for divine grace.

You and I don't run to or rest in divine grace because we have faith.

No, we have faith because we've been met by divine grace.

My brothers and sisters, may your eyes be opened and your hearts be relieved and transformed by the grace of God in Jesus.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you that you did not come to condemn, but to take all the judgment and all the condemnation upon yourself, that you might give to us your righteousness, that we might know your grace and love, that your atonement is enough.

We do not have to absolve ourselves or atone for ourselves that the sacrifice of Jesus is enough.

Forgive us for our disbelief, forgive us for the ways that we move in darkness away from you, the ways we escape, the ways we like to earn, rather than the path of humility that bows before you and before the cross to confess our need and to receive and to be joyfully freed.

God, would you increase our trust?

Would you grant over to us the divine grace we need in all the many ways, all the many places of our hearts where we have segmented off from you and the ways that we still hold on to the paths of darkness?

Would you continue to transform us?

Would you call those of us to yourself that need to be called to yourself?

Would you shine light into the darkness?

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.