Jesus, the Son of God

Morning. Wow, I didn't expect an actual answer. Thank you.

My name is Ed, as Sean explained. I'm a pastoral intern here. If you haven't

gotten a chance to meet me, if I haven't gotten a chance to meet you,

it's my joy and privilege to share with you a message that I actually prepared this time.

On John 3, verses 16 to 21, as we continue on in our Advent series in the book of John.

John 3:16–21

So please turn with me in your Bibles to John 3, 16 to 21. If you don't have a Bible and would like

one, please don't be shy. Just raise your hand up really high and one of our greeters can go and get

you one. Again, that's John 3, 16 to 21. Let's pray before we get into the text.

Heavenly Father, God, I am your humble servant.

I plead and I ask that you would use me as your steward. I would only say the things that you

want me to say, that I wouldn't add anything to your word or take anything away from it.

God, you would give me the heart today that is more concerned with what these people think of you

than think of me. Would our eyes be on you, Christ, today? Be magnified, be glorified, be

treasured, be Jurітьwild? As you so rightly deserves. Give us eyes to see, hearts to understand that

area olduğ Nós temos to understand the breadth, the length, the depth, the width of your

love that surpasses knowledge.

God, help us today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Let's stand, if you are able, for the reading of God's word.

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

I'm going to read that again.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

John 3.16 has to be one of, if not the most widely known verses in the entire Bible.

For many of you, it very well might be your favorite verse.

It's not without good reason as Martin Luther, the famous performer, has called it the heart of the Bible, the gospel in miniature.

John 3.16 is the number one popular verse on Bible Gateway every year.

It's on bumper stickers, posters, mugs, children's arts and crafts, even athletes' tattoos.

But the danger of its popularity is that it can be so commonplace that we lose the wonder of this beautiful truth.

Back a few years, I have a memory of walking past some Christians in New York City who are evangelizing in the street,

who held up these big posters that just said John 3.16 on it.

And they were saying to the people passing by,

God loves you.

God really loves you.

And I don't know, maybe I was in a sour mood that day.

Maybe I was just still in a cage stage of being a Calvinist, meaning that I really should have been locked up in a cage.

But I remember not being encouraged or challenged, but instead of my immaturity, I'm ashamed to say I scoffed at them,

thinking that I graduated to some greater, wiser theology than just saying God loves you.

And I said to myself, how elementary.

Do they really know what they're saying?

And really, if I'm honest in my heart of hearts, I'm ashamed to say that I was really thinking God doesn't love these sinners.

But as I was praying and prepping for the sermon, I'm reminded of that time and realized how much more biblically and theologically correct that they were with those simple words.

That we never graduate from this verse in John 3.16.

So my prayer today is that our Heavenly Father would show us again the profound, unbelievable truth that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

So today we'll break down our passage of John 3.16 to 21 into three simple points.

Talk about the love of God.

Then we'll talk about the Son of God.

And then finally, our belief in God.

To begin to understand the context of our passage today, we read earlier in the chapter that Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus,

who was a ruler of the Jews.

This Nicodemus had come to Jesus to speak and learn from him.

And he did this by night in fear of getting caught by the rest of the Jewish leaders,

who, let's say, would be not the happiest to find out that Nicodemus was doing this.

It's to this man with all the stature and accolades in this Jewish society to whom Jesus teaches that their Heavenly Father loves the world,

the entire world.

And to understand the full weight of this claim to Nicodemus, let me give you some words that Jesus did not choose to say here.

Jesus did not say to Nicodemus, the Jewish leader, that God loved Israel.

It was common Jewish belief at the time that God loved Israel and then opposed the rest of the Gentile world.

Back then, they must have held closely to their hearts like in Isaiah 43, in which God says this to Israel.

But Jesus teaches Nicodemus, the law-abiding Jew, that God loves the world with no strings attached,

no prerequisites, any race, any history, regardless of whether they upheld the holy standards of God's laws.

And in this moment, Jesus is teaching Nicodemus that God loves the Samaritans,

the half-blooded Jews from the diaspora that Jews despised and strongly disagreed on matters regarding the proper worship of God.

Samaritans, because of their history, were originally part of Israel.

But they ended up developing a synchronistic religion, taking parts of Judaism and idolatrous Canaanite practices.

And so tensions often ran high between these two groups.

Jesus also teaches here that God loves the Romans, Israel's governing authority at the time,

who to the Jewish eye practice such abominable, grotesque acts of polytheistic idol worship.

For us today, Jesus did not say that God loved the church or the righteous, which of course is included,

but again, the entire world.

This broken and evil world is the object of God's love and affection.

Friends, do you really understand?

Do you comprehend the awesome width of God's love?

Just compare your love and your heart with God's for a second.

Do you see how big God's heart is?

And just how small our own hearts are?

It's not hard to see in our own hearts if we're honest with ourselves that there are people,

there are groups of people in our lives and in this world that we don't love, that we look down on.

To those who are rude to service workers.

To the selfish and arrogant who need to control every conversation.

To the racists who commit hate crimes.

To those who've deeply hurt us and scarred us in our past.

To those who openly mock and scorn the idea of a God.

Scripture teaches us that God the Father loves even these.

And this love is completely unmerited, completely free.

This love is given on God's initiative, His own prerogative.

And just sitting in this verse the past couple weeks,

I have to say that this measure of love that God has just astounds me.

How, God?

How?

How can you love this idol-worshiping, foul-mouthed, untrusting, dishonorous, murderous, adulterous,

stealing, lying, coveting, sin-stained people?

How can you love this messiness?

And how can you love me?

Just look at the news on an average week.

It can be depressing.

Thinking about the status of our unlovable world.

And it's to these people that have made such a mess of this world that we live in.

And yet God says that He loves us.

But, but wait, hold up.

Does this mean that God actually condones the sin of this world?

That He approves of our folly?

How should we understand John 3, 16 with passages like 1 John 2, 15-16?

Where the same author, John, he writes of the world.

And he uses the same Greek word for world in our passage today like this.

He says,

Do not love the world.

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride of life

is not from the Father, but is from the world.

This passage says, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

But then John 3, 16 says, God loves the world.

Does Scripture contradict itself here?

Just looking at the rest of our passage today, we can clearly see no.

This love that God has for this wayward world is not one that approves of sin.

And it's not just disapproval.

But the sobering truth is that God will punish unrepentant sin by condemning,

by condemning these people to hell.

In fact, we read in verse 18 that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ stand condemned already.

Later on in chapter 3, in a parallel statement to 3, 16 to 17,

verse 36 further shows that the wrath of God remains on him.

You don't have to wait until judgment day to know what your final verdict is

if you are not putting your faith in Jesus today.

Neither God nor the biblical authors are blind to the folly of this world.

That's precisely why John says in 1 John,

to turn away from all worldly systems and sin that go against God's kingdom.

But if God doesn't approve of the world's sin,

how can John say that God loves the world in our passage here today then?

I think it's helpful to really understand how we ourselves tend to use the word love

in different ways, very freely, very naturally.

We say that we love this and we love that.

If I say to you that I love cheeseburgers and I love my wife,

I hope you would assume that I don't have the same exact kind of love

for both cheeseburgers and my wife Christine.

One is clearly a deeper, more heartfelt love.

In the same ways...

For cheeseburgers...

No, I'm just kidding.

I thought about making that joke, but I've refrained from it.

But...

In the same way, Scripture speaks of God's general love for the world,

but also a deeper, more heartfelt, intimate love that God has for his own children.

Staying in the book of John, we read Jesus saying in chapter 17,

For I have given them, them being all who have believed and all who will come to believe in Christ,

the words that you gave me and they have received them,

and they have come to know in truth that I came for you.

And they have believed that you have sent me.

I am praying for them.

I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me.

They are yours.

Jesus says that he's praying specifically for God's children who have faith in him.

So they enjoy a specific love and unique privileges of being in Christ.

And it's not uncommon for Scripture to present God's love like this.

For example, through the prophet Jeremiah, God indicts and rebukes the nation of Moab.

He says this,

Let Moab wallow in her vomit.

Let her be an object of ridicule.

Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she's defied the Lord.

But at the same time, through the same prophet,

In the same chapter, God's heart recoils within him.

And he says,

Therefore, I will wail.

I wail over Moab.

For all Moab I cry out.

So my heart laments for Moab like a flute.

So while it's true that the Bible teaches that God has a special love for his chosen, his faithful,

and that he doesn't condone the world's sin,

we mustn't let go of any of Scripture's teaching that God does love the world.

We have to hold on to that biblical tension faithfully.

And my earlier analogy that I used fails here because God's love for the world is greater than my own trivial love for cheeseburgers.

Peter writes in 2 Peter 3-9,

God does not wish for any to perish.

That's not mere sentimentality.

That is God's genuine love for the world.

That's exactly why he commissions us to go and make disciples of all and every nation, every people group.

That's God's heart for us to be saved.

And we ourselves should be thankful.

We should praise God for this amazing truth.

Because every one of us Christians, we are part of this evil world.

We were dead in our sins.

Dead in our trespasses.

That all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

But at some point in all our testimonies, the simple truth captured in three simple words.

God loves you.

Was the catalyst to your radically transformed lives.

Sure, you're not perfect now.

But before, you wanted nothing to do with God.

You didn't care for living for him, to be pleasing to him, to die to yourselves.

But now, by grace, you want more of Jesus.

Even if you don't feel that right this moment, you still want to want him.

You're a new creation.

The old is gone.

The new has come.

So, brothers and sisters, be absolutely biblically and theologically confident that you can say,

for the broken and lost in your life, God loves you.

God really loves you.

That is a biblical truth that we can absolutely be assured of.

For a lot of the people that we may evangelize to,

because of their past sins, or the distance from the church, or whatever reason,

many have a tendency to believe the lie that God must hate them,

that God doesn't want anything to do with them.

That is not what scripture teaches.

This Christmas season, wherever you are, whoever you're celebrating with,

may this be the greatest gift you bring them.

For the invitation to come to believe in Christ is universal.

It's open to everyone.

No matter who you are, what you've done.

Of course, don't just stop at God loves you,

leaving them with the impression that they don't have anything to change.

But instead, we must lead them to repentance from sin and idolatry.

But still, it's God's love.

It's God's love and kindness that lead us to repentance.

The modern definition of love has been reduced down to full acceptance or approval of someone's actions.

The common sentiment is that the most loving thing to say is just,

you do you.

But just like a father of a son who's losing his path,

who's squandering away his life,

a genuine fatherly love doesn't just say, you do you.

And condones of the child's behavior,

but instead longs for him to change, to grow,

to come to an experience, an abundant life.

And church, I know that there are those in your life that you so earnestly desire

to come and see the grace of Christ

and the love of God

for your parents, children,

siblings, grandparents, your best friends.

I know you've poured out your tearful prayers,

pleading the Lord to save these.

John 3.16 shows us that you are not alone

in your love for them.

God the Father loves them too.

Let us continue to wait in this Advent season

for Jesus to come to change their hearts.

Let us persevere in praying earnestly

that as D.L. Moody,

the American evangelist in the 1800s,

has once described the gates of heaven,

that they would read from the outside

the words,

whosoever will may come.

And after being compelled by the love of the Father,

that they walk in

and they read on the other side,

chosen,

chosen before the foundation of the world.

If you have yet to put your faith in Jesus

and you've joined us today,

well, on behalf of our entire church,

we just want to say we're so happy

and excited that you joined us today.

Honestly, I think there is really a short list

of things that are more exciting

than on a Sunday morning to see you join us.

And if it's your first time in a while

to come to church,

you might have a lot of questions.

Please, please come talk to us.

Learn more about this historical faith

and person of Jesus.

And if there's anything that I pray

you leave this sermon with,

is that you know God loves you.

He created you in love.

He longs for you in love.

That is his posture towards you.

We pray that you would come

and see that his faithful love

is better than life itself.

And you might ask,

well, that all sounds well and good,

but how do I know that God loves me?

Well, I thought you'd never ask.

Come to our second observation

in that God so loved the world

that in this way,

he gave his only son.

Wait, wait what?

Does God have a son?

Muslims would hear that and scoff.

Protest.

How lowly of God

to have a physical relationship

with Mary,

have a son in Jesus.

Greeks might be reminded

of their Olympian gods

like Zeus and his demigod offspring.

Even throughout church history,

people have often struggled

with making sense of what this means,

as shown by the need

for the councils of Nicaea

in 325 A.D.

and Chalcedon in 451 A.D.

that dispelled heresies

about this very doctrine.

So what is it,

what does the Bible teach us

about this given title

of son of God?

Well, Jesus' birth narratives

in both Matthew and Luke

make it clear that Jesus

is not literally God's son

in the sense that he had

a physical relationship

with a woman,

as is common in pagan literature.

Instead, the title of son

in our passage today

is being used the same way

that the ancient world

used this idiom

of being the son of X.

Being called the son of something

or someone

was a way of signifying likeness.

Since back then,

it was thought that a son

would so closely resemble his father,

like his attributes,

back then his occupation.

Renowned New Testament scholar

D.A. Carson is helpful here.

As he explained,

being called a son of worthlessness

was an extremely harsh criticism

because it didn't signify

that your parents were worthless,

but that you yourself

were so worthless,

you must have come

from such a worthless family.

This definition of a biblical idiom

helps because Jesus, in fact,

is not the only person

in all of Scripture

to be called son of God

in Scripture.

For example,

we find that Adam,

Israel, David,

peacemakers in the Beatitudes,

even angels,

are all referred to as

a son or sons of God.

So in each use,

in some way,

these people

are all reflecting

at least some attribute,

one specific attribute of God.

Adam is called

the son of God

in the genealogy

in the beginning of Luke

because,

like the rest of humanity,

we are all made

in the image of God.

We mirror God

by just being made

in his image.

In the Beatitudes,

when Jesus says,

blessed are the peacemakers,

for they shall be called

the sons of God.

When we make peace

among our relationships here,

when we pass the peace

as we do every Sunday,

we reflect that same

peacemaking attribute

of the Father.

So we are bestowed

that same title

of a son or daughter

of God.

But in our passage today,

it says that God

so loved the world

that he gave his

only son.

Meaning that Jesus

is uniquely God's son.

in the sense that

only Jesus embodies

the exact fullness

of the Father.

Hebrews 1, 3 says,

the son is the radiance

of God's glory,

the exact representation

of his being.

In other words,

Jesus is equal

to the Father.

Jewish leaders

understood this phrase too

in John 5

for John writes,

this was why the Jews

were seeking all the more

to kill him

because not only

was he breaking

the Sabbath,

but he was calling God

his own Father,

making himself

equal with God.

The Gospel of John

in many places

makes it clear

that the Father

dearly loves the Son.

For example,

verse 35

in chapter 3

later says,

the Father loves the Son

and has given

all things into his hand.

Moreover,

this title

of Son of God

is so biblically rich

and multilayered

and just as a side note,

it's a great case study

of why Christians

gain so much

by understanding

all of Scripture

because you just see

the astounding beauty

of how

all 66 books

of the Bible

across 40 different

plus authors

just mesh.

Nicodemus might have

heard this title

of Son of God

and likely connected

this to the foretold

king who would

fulfill God's promise

in David,

to David

in 2 Samuel 7.

Here,

God promised David

that he would

raise up an offspring

after him

who would establish

the throne

of his line,

his kingdom,

forever.

God promised to David

that I will be

to him a father

and he shall be

to me a son.

I will establish

the throne

of his kingdom

forever.

And when you're

reading through

2 Samuel 7,

if your nose

is trained for it,

you can just smell

the aroma of Christ

all over that passage.

How would

a biological

descendant of

David

eternally reign?

Unless, of course,

he is the divine.

Now, this idea

that David's

biological descendant

would be the

coming Messiah

is not just spoken

to David,

but this idea

is propagated

to other Old Testament

prophets,

as Isaiah 9

so beautifully puts it,

and I think I have

this up here.

For to us

a child is born,

to us a son

is given,

and the government

shall be upon

his shoulder,

and his name

shall be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

Of the increase

of his government

and of peace,

there will be no end.

on the throne

of David

and over his kingdom

to establish it

and to uphold it.

Jesus is God's

only son,

the sent

and prophesied

Messiah,

the one to take over

David's

eternal throne.

He is

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

and the Prince

of Peace.

And for the

biological son

of David

who would have

the title

of Everlasting Father,

the faithful

Israelites waited.

And it's this waiting

that characterizes

this Advent season

that we celebrate

together with the rest

of the global church.

To be honest,

I really never understood

the significance

or the importance

of celebrating Advent

really prior to

prepping the sermon.

And I know

maybe some of us

feel similarly.

So,

so for those

of us

who are unfamiliar

with Advent

or the four weeks

leading up to Christmas,

Advent,

which the word

itself is derived

from the Latin word

which means

coming,

and Christmas

specifically became

associated with

the winter solstice,

the day in which

we have the

shortest day

and the longest

night of the year

in the northern

hemisphere.

And that just feels

poetically fitting,

right?

That the light

of the world

is born on the

darkest day.

Just like the saints

before Jesus'

first coming

who are waiting

for the light

to come,

we also find

ourselves waiting.

Because for us

today,

who now live

between Christ's

first and second

coming,

this Advent season

really has a dual

meaning.

We celebrate

that Christ

has come

to take away

the sins

of this world.

And we,

along with the

rest of creation,

we still wait.

We wait together

for Christ

to come again

and to make

this wrong world

right.

To make our own

sinful hearts

right.

As the 20th century

Christian martyr

Diedrich Bonhoeffer

said,

the celebration

of Advent

is possible

only to those

who are troubled

in soul,

who know

themselves

to be poor

and imperfect

and who look

forward to

something greater

to come.

To the broken

and contrite,

to those longing

for something

greater to come,

only then

will Christmas

take its full

meaning.

So during this

Christmas season,

with these reminders

to wait for Christ,

the question begs,

what are you waiting

for in your life?

Who are you waiting

for?

If you can believe

it, it's already

almost the new year.

2023 is soon coming

and I know that

many of us have

very exciting plans

and expectations

for this new year.

Like going on

vacations,

getting married,

finishing school,

maybe having children.

All amazing blessings

from God.

God, and while

2023 might still

be the best year

of our lives,

and I pray it is,

I can still make

one promise to you.

It won't fulfill

your greatest longing.

Whatever event

or milestone

that you're waiting

for,

it won't be

everything

that you've been

waiting for.

We celebrate Advent

each year

as a simple reminder

of what

and of who

we're waiting

for,

who all

of creation

is waiting

for.

We are waiting

for the Christ.

Understanding

the weight

and the gravitas

of the title

of Son of God

and how the saints

have longed

for him to come,

we see now

how much God

so loved

the world.

We can often

read that word

so,

thinking that this

signifies the quantity,

the amount of God's

love for the world,

and that he loved

the world so much.

But this word

is actually used

as verse 14,

uses it just

a little earlier.

Verse 14 says,

as Moses lifted up

the serpent

in the wilderness,

so must

the Son of Man

be lifted up.

This word so

is more about

in which way

or how

God loves

the world.

This love

wasn't reserved

to just a feeling,

as our modern society

so often defines

love,

but he loved

the world

by taking

the physical,

tangible,

historical action

of the giving

of his only Son.

And we know

that God

did not send

his Son

into the world

to condemn

the world,

but in order

that the world

might be saved

through him,

as verse 17 says.

This loving act

of the giving

of the Son of God

is again parallel

to verse 14,

in which Jesus

refers to

Numbers 21,

4-9,

where the Israelites

once again,

they complain,

as they always do.

They complain

of their preferred

food and drink,

called the miraculous

manna,

worthless food.

So,

God sends

fiery serpents

that would bite

the Israelites

so that they

would die.

But after

they cry out

for help,

God commands

Moses to make

a bronze figurine

of the serpent

and teaches

those who are

bitten to look

upon the serpent

as he lifts it

and live.

And so now

you remember

the details

of the story,

but let's just

imagine that

you were there.

Just imagine

that you were

one of the voices

crying out

in the rebellion

against Moses

and God,

just letting

your anger

get the best

of you.

You're angry,

you have to

eat this manna

one more time.

So you're

complaining

and grumbling

before Moses

and now others

are now joining

in on that

grumbling.

The crowd

just gets

larger

and angrier

and angrier

and then

from a distance

you hear

petrifying

screams of terror

among the people.

You dart

your eyes

around,

see what's

the cause

and then

you see

there are

snakes.

There are

snakes slithering

around and

they're biting

the people

around you.

Many of your

own neighbors,

family members,

friends are

getting bitten

and you see

them eventually

drop dead.

While terrified,

you're trying

to now avoid

the crawling

snakes.

and right

when you

think you're

in the clear,

one fastens

its fangs

into your thigh

and you know

what's going

to happen next.

Terrified,

you look around

to see if there's

anything to be

done.

Then you hear

Moses praying

and you look

and he's lifting

up a bronze

figurine of a

serpent.

What a strange

sight.

But he yells

that all who

are bitten

look and live.

So knowing

you have no

other options.

You trust in

the power of

that simple

statue to save.

You look.

You desperately

look.

And you don't

move your eyes

off of the

serpent.

By the grace

of God,

you survive.

You survive

the bite.

In the same

way,

God gave

his only

son,

his beloved

son,

to be lifted

up on the

cross to bear

the agonizing

suffering of

drinking whole,

the cup of

wrath from

the father,

so that all

who are

bitten by

our own

fiery serpents,

bitten by

the pangs

of sin,

that we

can look

upon the

lifted son

of God,

the preeminent

Christ,

and we can

live.

You see,

this is a

life or

death situation.

This is a

life or

death situation.

Your eternity

is on the

line.

So look,

look and

live.

find your

life in

the lifted

lamb of

God.

That's what

it means to

believe in

him so that

you won't

perish but

have eternal

life as we

come to the

final point of

our sermon.

For the

son of God,

God incarnate,

laid down his

precious life,

crushed and

cursed so all

who would live,

all who would

look and

believe,

would not perish

under the

terrible weight

wrath of the

father.

But we

could spend

eternity in

loving,

perfect

communion with

God in

heaven.

Brothers and

sisters,

this is one

thing we

cannot lose.

We must

fight for

is the

wonder of

Christ's

condescension.

This is a

long quote,

but I think

it's helpful.

Charles Spurgeon,

a pastor in

the 1800s,

often called

the prince of

preachers,

preachers,

spoke of

the

strong

servant and

of Christ

in this

way.

Some wise

one said,

why was it a

serpent that

did the

mischief?

How can a

serpent undo

it?

Yes, and

men will say

it was by

man that

sin and

death came

into the

world.

Can a

man be the

means of

our salvation?

Ah, says

another, having

the prejudice

of a Jew

about him,

and what a

man he was,

no king,

no prince,

no mighty

conqueror.

He was but

a poor

peasant, and

he died upon

the cross.

Ah, so

said some

in the

camp, they

said it

was only a

bronze serpent,

not even a

golden one.

And how

could a

bronze serpent

be of use

to them?

We're not

selling for

much if it

were broken

up.

What was

the use

of it?

And so

men say

of Christ,

he is

despised and

rejected of

man.

A man of

sorrows and

acquainted with

grief.

And they

hide their

faces from

him because

they cannot

see how he

has adapted

for their

cure.

Just

understanding the

title and the

son of God

earlier now

helps us see

that God

withheld

absolutely

nothing in

the sending

of his only

son.

How many

gods,

how many

gods have

you heard

do this?

How many

kings give

up their

own sons

for rebellious

people?

How many

lords step

down from

their thrones

to wash

his servants

feet?

I come

back to

this verse

again and

again,

but Romans

8.32

brings us

to such

an amazing,

unbelievable

truth.

He who

did not

spare his

own son,

but gave

him up for

us all,

how will he

not also

with him

graciously

give us

all things?

Do you

guys get

the logic

of that

verse?

Our

heavenly

father gave

the absolute

highest price

that he could

pay,

his precious

own son,

with whom

he enjoyed

love and

communion from

eternity

past.

So if he

gave him up

for you,

what other

good thing

that is so

much smaller

than Jesus?

What would

he withhold

from us?

This

father,

he gave

his son,

his only

son for

you.

So brothers

and sisters,

we mustn't

look to our

circumstances

then to

evaluate God's

love for us,

or else we'll

just get

spiritual

whiplash

looking back

and forth.

I know

how easy

it is to

do this.

We think

I got

promoted at

work.

God must

love me.

I got

diagnosed

with a

debilitating

illness.

God

doesn't love

me.

I got

engaged.

God must

love me.

love me.

God

loves me.

God

loves me.

God

loves me.

God

loves me.

God doesn't

love me.

I got a

clean bill of

health.

God loves me.

My marriage

is struggling.

God

doesn't love me.

And so the cycle

can go on and

on and on.

Instead, we must

look to the

cross.

cross.

St.

Augustine, the

great theologian

once said,

the cross is the

pulpit in which

Christ preached

God's love for

the entire world.

You see, this act

of looking and

this belief is the

key determining

factor of

someone's eternal

destiny.

For reading on in

verses 18 to 21,

why?

Why are the

ungodly, the

lovers of

darkness,

condemned?

While certainly

their other sins

are deserving of

condemnation,

verse 18 gives

an interesting

answer.

With the word

believe repeated

three times in

this short verse,

the emphasis is on

the act of

believing in

Jesus.

Jesus highlights

that they are

condemned already.

Why?

Because they have

not believed in

him.

To refuse then

the son of God

and his blood

poured out for

you is really

to call down

judgment on

yourself.

In a sense,

this is the

greatest folly

that someone can

commit.

This is the

greatest reason

that someone be

condemned, that

they reject the

son whom the

father sent in

love.

But why?

Why do they

reject the son?

Read with me in

verse 19 to 21.

And this is the

judgment.

The light has

come into the

world and the

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 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.

These next verses

now show then the

process of how

one's wicked deeds

and disobedience to

God lead then to an

outright rejection of

the light.

Verse 19 to 20

show that the

people choose,

they choose to

shut themselves in

darkness because

they have no desire

to be disturbed or

exposed.

They refuse to

make changes in

their lives because

they're too

comfortable in their

sin.

So they live in

darkness in their

eyes and they grow

accustomed to the

darkness.

darkness so that

when the light of

Christ comes it

hurts their eyes.

They don't want to

see it.

In fact it's

actually too weak of

language to use

because it's not that

they don't want to

see the light but

they love the

darkness.

They love the

darkness over the

light.

They love the

darkness because they

love their evil

deeds being hidden.

They value their own

pride, their own

image rather than

integrity and

contrite faith.

But then verse 21

says that those who

have put their faith

in Jesus are

radically different.

They do what is

true completely by

the grace of God.

Those that see Jesus

for who he really is

seeing him as

infinitely valuable

as the son of God

and as their source

of light and as

their source of

life.

They are the ones

that act in

righteousness,

obedience by the

power of God.

So instead of

running away,

they step into the

light, not out of

arrogance or

haughtiness, but in

humble redirection

to the glory of God.

God, so friends, as

I close, I exhort

again, we must keep

our eyes on the

light of the son of

God.

Put negatively, we

mustn't let our eyes

become fixated on the

darkness.

What are some things

in your life that keep

your eyes off of

Jesus?

What do you fixate

your eyes on?

Is it money?

Is it social media?

Is it video games?

Is it others?

Is it yourself?

Jesus himself warns

of this in Matthew 6.

The eye is the lamp

of the body.

So if your eye is

healthy, your whole

body will be full of

light.

But if your eye is

bad, your whole body

will be full of

darkness.

You'll have a healthy

eye.

When you view Jesus,

when you view him as

lovely, as your

supreme treasure, and

everything else just

loses its value in the

light of Christ.

In this Advent season,

let's keep the main

thing the main thing.

Let's joyfully celebrate

how God sent the light

of the world, the son

of God, to the

darkness.

Let's faithfully wait

for the light of the

world to come again.

As Hebrews 12, 1-2

says,

Let us also lay

aside every weight

and sin which

clings so closely,

and let us run

with endurance the

race that is set

before us.

Looking to Jesus,

the founder and

perfecter of our

faith,

who for the joy that

was set before him

endured the cross,

despising the shame,

and is seated at the

right hand of the

throne of God.

Let's pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

God, I pray, astound us

by your love again.

May we never lose the

wonder of how much you

condescended Christ.

You came, took on flesh to

save a broken and rebellious

people.

How, how did you, how?

How could you love in this

way?

How could you love us in

this way?

Amen.

God, amaze us.

This Advent season, it's all

about you.

We look to you, Jesus.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.