Nick at Night Part 4: The Gift

Amen.

Today we're in the book of John, as we've been, and we're in chapter three, as we've been.

And the title of today's sermon is Nick at Night Part 4.

I got the wrong one up there.

Don't look at that page.

Nick at Night Part 4, the gift.

The gift.

That's the one that we got today.

So we're going to be talking about a very famous verse.

You guys, John 3.16.

Right?

Last week we ended studying at verse 15.

So you knew we'd pick up today in John 3.16, right?

So it's it's like the most familiar verse in the world.

It's the most famous, right?

I know that.

You know that.

Tim Tebow's IBLAC knows that.

In and Out Cups know that.

But Nicodemus didn't know that when Jesus told him that on this night.

So he he's just having the conversation with Jesus, and Jesus is about to blow his mind.

He's never heard this.

He's hearing it for the first time.

And and this is someone, Jesus, who Nicodemus is not sure that he can trust.

He kind of thinks he can trust him, but he's really out there.

And so he let I want us to try to hear this verse, not from an American perspective, but from 2,000 years ago, a Jewish Pharisee hearing this message for the very first time.

So the the verse is right here.

It says, For God so loved the world, John 3.16, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And then the next verse, 17, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that through the through him the world might be saved.

So let's just break that down.

God so loved the world.

Jesus is being really radical right here.

And if you can just do enough, and Jesus is just pulling that final Jenga piece out.

You know, Nicodemus, he was law-keeping.

He had his seat on the judging council, you know, and he was certain that God's love had a fence around it, and he was inside that fence.

He was certain of it.

And Jesus has spent these three conversations so far that we've studied pulling these pieces out of Nicodemus's worldview.

And today he pulls out the last one.

Um this is not a warm greeting to Nicodemus, because God didn't love a club, a group.

And see, that was Nicodemus' whole thing.

God loves us as Jews.

Because why?

Because we were born a certain way and we do certain things.

And that's why God loves us.

You see, the Jews at this time, they did not believe that God loved the whole world.

We studied this before, right?

They really believed that the Gentiles were only created to keep the fires of hell just hot enough so that they could burn.

They were convinced of this.

And many of them, you know, they really truly believe God only loved Israel.

And the cross isn't God launching condemnation at the world, as Jesus is changing this point of view, it's God giving himself.

Jesus obviously is God's love in action.

So that that is changing for these two different groups of people that Nicodemus has in his mind.

Does God love the world?

Jesus says yes.

Nicodemus would have said no.

But what does that mean that God loves the world?

Does God just say everyone is cool?

Everyone is right, and everyone can just go to heaven because God loves them.

Is that what this is saying?

Can or should God ignore our sin?

Is that what we're saying?

God just ignores everything we do in our whole lives, and he just says, everyone can go to heaven.

Everyone, I love everyone, and that's what it is.

We have a real problem if that's what we believe.

Because if that's what we believe, we think Hitler is gonna be in heaven.

And I think that's the one guy that we can all agree on was probably not a good guy, and probably should doesn't deserve to be in heaven.

But if if what is the standard then?

Okay, if we know Hitler doesn't reach the standard of what is good, then what is the standard?

And so we start opening up God's word, and what do we find?

The standard is perfection.

The standard is the Ten Commandments, the standard is absolute, total, moral, physical perfection in all ways, and so who measure who falls short of that measurement?

Every single person falls short of that measurement, and so this puts us all in the same boat, and that boat is sinking.

Can God ignore a sinking boat?

No, because he loves the people on that boat, but he has to do something.

So if he ignored our sin, if he ignored the sinking boat, would that be love?

No, that wouldn't be love.

But sin is bad, it has to be opposed, it has to be judged, it can't just be ignored, and the world is full of sinners because we're all descended from the very first sinner whose name was Adam or Eve, if you want to.

No, just kidding.

Uh, we're all descended from these two, right?

And God is is perfectly holy, and and but men have become sinners through Adam, and and so we've become enemies of what is good and holy just by our nature.

So, what can be done?

What can be done?

Well, Jesus says, I'm gonna do something about it.

And it's God's love that motivates.

But look what it says in Romans 5.8.

I'm not gonna put it on the screen, I'm just gonna read it to you.

I want you to focus on this.

Romans 5, 8 through 10.

But God demonstrates his own love towards us.

That in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more than having been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

For when we were enemies, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

So God truly has nothing but love for sinners, which is great news because we're all sinners.

And Jesus declares, I love the world.

God loved the world, and that's why I'm here is to do something about this.

He loved them enough to rescue them from death, he says.

So he gives his blood, which rescues us from death, because sin equals death.

Each one of us has sinned, so each one of us was in under the penalty of death, which also equals wrath.

So if we die in our sin, we also have to face the wrath of God.

But Jesus can deliver from all three.

Why?

Because of his love.

I was I was listening to a debate this week.

Uh I love watching debates between theologians and atheists and all kinds of stuff like that.

And there was um this this one guy was was debating and he he uh um he said I drunk he was a Christian, and he said, I I was drunk one day and I I got busted for drunk driving.

And and the unbeliever was like, that's bad.

How do we what do we do about that?

And he said, he said, you're a hypocrite because you did that.

And the Christian was like, Yes, I know, I'm I I was wrong.

That was not okay for me to do, and I'm trust me, I I I should not have done that.

And so the unbeliever was like, So what?

All you have to do is say sorry, and God just erases it, and the Christian was like, Well, I am sorry, but no, that's not the deal.

The deal is the blood of Jesus is worth so much value to God that he must forgive sin when a sinner pleads the blood of Jesus for themselves.

See, the blood of Jesus, it has nothing to do with you.

It has nothing to do with how bad the thing is that you did.

It has nothing to do with how sorry you are, it has nothing to do with any decisions you make at all, except one decision of faith.

Am I going to plead the blood of Jesus?

Am I gonna believe that the blood of Jesus is for me and worth enough for all the sin that I've done?

The moment that we do that, God says, It is my pleasure to completely forgive you, to completely wash you clean, to completely set you free.

In fact, God tells us he would be unrighteous if he didn't forgive someone who asked for forgiveness based on the blood of Jesus, no matter what they've done.

Why?

Not because we're sorry, but because the blood of Jesus is of so much value to God, it's his very son, the life of his son.

So we need to be able to communicate this salvation to the world, this love that God has.

God is offering salvation because he loves.

God loves who you are, but he's not gonna leave you where you are, obviously, because where you are is in a burning building, and in Jesus is the only safe place.

So he's saying, Come to me, come to me, in him.

That's what we see where salvation is.

Salvation is in him.

You know, he kicks down the door of the burning building and he says, Come to me and be saved.

And that's the only way.

He says, there's the only way to be saved.

So our text again says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

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

It says that he gave his only begotten son.

I wish we used the word begotten more.

That would be cool in our culture.

Oh, she has begotten a child.

But when Jesus says this word, begotten, he's actually giving us a clue.

He's a good rabbi, a good teacher, so he's teaching he's he's he wants his students to remember something.

So he says, his only begotten son.

And what is he referencing right there?

Another story from the Old Testament.

What what story?

It's the story of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac.

Let me read it to you.

Galatians, or sorry, Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

He said, Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall tell you.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son.

And he split the word wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day, hmm, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.

And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, and the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, wood on the back of his son.

Does that remind you of anybody?

Maybe Jesus carrying the wood of the cross.

God is calling someone.

So Abraham took the wood, put it on his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together.

But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father, he said, Here am I, my son.

And he said, Look, the fire and the wood.

But where's the lamb for the offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering.

This is so thick with symbolism and foreshadow, right?

So the two of them went together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him.

And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns.

And so Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as for a burnt offering instead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of the place, the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, in the mountain of the Lord it shall be provided.

I bet you Jesus read that portion of Genesis this morning before he talked to Nicodemus.

That's just my guess.

Because it's it's a it's exactly what Jesus is talking about here.

We can learn so much from this one story about the life of surrender that Abraham had, right?

God demands surrender from us, his his people, but God is the one who surrendered up everything he had before we did.

God's the one that had to say, I will give my son to you.

And then what does God ask of us?

Full, complete, total, non-negotiable surrender.

That's what God asks of us.

He doesn't ask it because he's mean, he asks it because he loves you so much.

He knows that in his will is the best plan for your life, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore, and in his presence is fullness of joy.

So he wants you to be happy and he wants you to have meaning and value.

And he says, It is only found in me, and I want you to have all of it, so you have to be all in with me.

But God says, I'll prove my love to you, I will go all in first for you.

Well, what did God give?

His entire world, his son, whom he loved.

That's what this is talking about.

So I'm gonna highlight a few things from the story about Abraham that show this to us, right?

On one of the mountains, I shall tell you.

God, God says, I'm gonna go with you.

I'm gonna tell you where to go.

So when Abraham is learning about living a completely surrendered life with God, God's like, we're gonna go somewhere.

And Abraham's like, where are we going?

And God's like, Don't worry, I'll be with you.

I'll tell you where we're gonna go.

That's what it's like to follow God, right?

He doesn't give you the full plan, he doesn't give you weeks ahead in advance.

He just says, Come with me.

It's gonna cost you, and I'll be with you the whole way.

That's the offer that God makes us.

And he says, I'm gonna show you this mountain.

I'm never gonna leave you or forsake you.

And I know this is gonna be rough.

And then God says, I want you to take your son, your only son.

So the uh back then, a son was your entire reason for living.

It was your very heart poured into another person.

It was the one who came from you, he proceeded from your body, it was the hope and the future of your family was all wrapped up in your son.

That it was very important, the son, the firstborn son, it was extremely important.

And then he says, God says to Abraham, your only son.

But that's that's tricky, right?

Because Abraham had another son.

Do you remember Ishmael?

So God had promised Abraham, you're gonna have a son.

And Abraham's like, Yeah, but have you seen my wife?

She's really old.

She can't have kids anymore.

We gotta come up with another plan, God.

And so Abraham and Sarah went up came up with the plan in the flesh to produce a son.

So they had this uh younger handmaiden, Hagar, and in their flesh they produced another son and named him Ishmael, but God didn't recognize him.

Why?

Because that son was produced, that was an offspring of the flesh, that wasn't an offspring of promise, of the spirit, the power of God.

God was telling Abraham, You're gonna have a son, but it can only be by my power.

And Abraham's like, didn't happen right?

Well, finally Abraham did believe, and and Isaac did show up.

So that this lesson is really important.

Only what God produces by his spirit is legitimate fruit in our lives.

This is all about promises.

So God, so for us to live a surrendered life to God, we have to believe his promises, because he fulfills promises.

When he tells you to trust me, that's a promise that he will provide and he will do what's best for you.

But he asks, he demands that we trust him.

And if he gives a command that seems to contradict with a promise, then what's needed is for us to trust the character of the promiser and and understand that he it may not look like the way it's supposed to look in our mind, but he will be faithful and he will fulfill those promises.

Then he told Abraham, I want you to take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love.

Did you notice that?

God absolutely knows how much this is gonna cost Abraham.

And the love of Abraham for Isaac wasn't wrong, it was perfect.

A father should love his son that much.

In fact, it was a deep love.

It was it was really, really important that he loved him that much because this is where God is gonna share with Abraham how much his love for the world is gonna hurt him.

He's gonna say, Abraham, I'm gonna share something with you.

I'm gonna show you how much a father hurts.

When he has to sacrifice his son.

And Abraham, not very many people in the entire history of the world will know what you and me know.

Which is what it looks like to sacrifice your son.

What it feels like to sacrifice your son.

But God will only share that so far he stops Abraham, doesn't he?

He stops him and say, You know what?

You've gone far enough.

I'm not gonna actually make you kill your son.

Because I but but I want you to know that I will not stop myself in the future.

I'm not gonna take the easy way out.

I'm not gonna take deliverance.

I'm not gonna do that.

Why?

Because my love is so infinite and so real that when I commit to do the best for you, when I commit to give my son to wash away your your blood, even though he pleads to me and says, My father, why have you forsaken me?

I will turn my back on him so that I won't turn my back on any human who ever calls to me ever again.

This is the love of God.

If anyone loved their son in the whole world, it was Abraham.

So this fact that God asks him to sacrifice his son is really powerful.

Now this is amazing.

Our story begins to unfold the depths of of the gospel of Jesus Christ as we as we plug these two things together.

Because all of this is obviously a foreshadow of Jesus.

It's it's a different father and a different son than Abraham and Isaac, but it's the same love.

It's the same love.

God is teaching us that what he was gonna do with his only son, Jesus, was pictured for us already.

His son, the one who came from him, the one who was the perfect representation of his father, the son who always did everything his father told him to do and asked him to do.

Complete surrender, not because he was less than God, but because in love he took a lower position in the Godhead to show what's that love can be both the Father giving commands and the Son receiving commands all at the same time, can be love.

And this was his only son, Jesus.

It says that a couple times.

In John chapter 1, we've already read the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1 · chapter mention

And in verse 18 of chapter 1, he said, The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared the Father to us.

So Jesus is the only begotten Son.

It's told us that a couple times already.

And in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17, it says, By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, whom, and uh, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.

Hebrews 11:17

See, it keeps using that same phrase over and over and over again.

Why?

Because God is teaching us this is the source of all love when you offer up your only begotten son.

That's what we put our faith in.

The only begotten son, whom you love.

Does God love Jesus?

Well, John 6, 3.35 says, the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

Jesus says, Jesus, like, I know that God loves me.

He's given all things into my hand.

I could do whatever I want.

Well, then why don't you do whatever you want, Jesus?

Because I love my father back.

And I will only do what he wants.

So in our Abraham story, it says he wants to offer God says, I want you to offer Isaac as a burnt offering.

This means he was supposed to kill the sacrifice and burn the body.

What does that mean?

It it's a picture of total, complete sacrifice, not part of it, it's holding nothing back.

It's the realest gift that love can give when you give everything.

You know, when you get married, you promise I give you every part of my life, full, complete openness and love, and that's the promise.

And that's what is being pictured here.

And then he says, I want you to do it at this mountain called Moriah.

And this is right outside the city of Jerusalem.

See, but Jerusalem wasn't even a city yet.

Jerusalem wouldn't be a city for 1500 years after Abraham.

So this is really crazy that the mountain that Isaac was offered on, or was gonna be offered on, is the same hill that Jesus would die on.

The exact same hill.

The hill just north of the city of Jerusalem, just right outside the gates, is called Mariah.

It's the same place.

It's like these are these are just such amazing, impossible coincidences that are not coincidences at at all.

Right?

So jo so God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

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

We're gonna focus on this part now.

Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

To believe means not just I believe Jesus was real, but it means to trust in, to rely on, or to cling to.

It means you have no other hope.

You have no other hope, you have no other trust, you have no other salvation.

When you arrive at the pearly gates, and Peter, right?

Some people say Peter is gonna say, Why should we let you into heaven?

You are not gonna say, Because I went to church, because I took communion, because I got baptized.

Do not say those things.

IFC you won't.

You're gonna say, only Jesus, only Jesus.

By the blood of Jesus, by the risen life of Jesus, I have been forgiven and I am born again.

And he'll say, Yeah, come on in.

Welcome home.

That's what it's gonna be like.

That's what faith is, that's what it means to believe in Him.

Okay, so he says this word perish.

That is a scary word, isn't it?

We don't like thinking about people perishing.

And yes, without Jesus we will all perish.

That is the stakes here, right?

It's heaven and hell.

There is no third option.

No matter what a church may tell you, there's only two options.

And Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father apart from me.

He is the way, right?

And he says here, it's not God's will that any should perish.

God doesn't want any single person, he has provided a lifeboat, a rescue, and his name is Jesus.

And it's so beautiful, and Jesus is in Jesus, we have everlasting life because he is everlasting life.

And when I when you hear the word everlasting life, I do not want you to think quantity of life.

But I want it is quantity, like it's everlasting, it's forever, it's eternal, right?

But I want you to think quality instead of quantity.

It's eternal life, it's heavenly life, is what it means.

It's peace and joy and acceptance and relationship with God.

That's what all these things are.

That's the eternal life that we have.

And we've been reading this verse, verse 17, but we haven't talked about it yet.

It says God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

So if Jesus isn't condemning the world, who is condemning the world?

And the answer is their own sin.

Our own sin is what's condemning us.

And Satan uses our guilt and our sin to enslave us to our condemnation, uh, and he does it through this emotion that we feel a lot of times called shame.

And only in Christ, and when we have confidence in Jesus, can shame be erased in our life.

Jesus didn't come to increase our guilt, but to eliminate it.

That's what he does.

And he's really, really good at it.

So here's the gospel that Jesus has given us today.

God doesn't forgive you because you're sorry.

You might be really sorry.

Hitler might be really sorry.

But that doesn't work.

He forgives us because he loves us.

And he's provided a lamb to take away the sin of the world.

In his love, he paid your debt, and now all men everywhere can be saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone, exclusive faith in Jesus.

This means all our sin, all our sin has been completely paid for.

Your past sin, your present sin you're doing right now, your future sin you're gonna do, it has been paid for.

That doesn't mean your sin gets smaller, or we just accept it.

Or we actually love our sin.

Those those are not the right way to think about this, and nothing like that.

It means there's been this gift and this price paid, and it was enough to pay for all your sin.

And you might be thinking, but I you don't know what I've done, you don't know the evil that I've participated in.

And my response to that would very simply be maybe you don't know the value of the blood of Jesus Christ.

See, the Father knows the value of the blood of Jesus Christ, and he tells us anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus will be saved.

That's the promise God makes.

That's the promise the Father makes.

That's what he says, that's what Jesus means to him.

Your sin, yeah, it's terrible.

I'm sure it's awful.

But Jesus' blood is better, and it's worth so much that it truly does forgive us.

So, what are we supposed to do then?

If we're completely forgiven of all our sin, and we all stand before God as perfectly righteous and accepted people, even though we know we still stumble all the time, but it it's we're forgiven, then how are we supposed to live?

Praise his beautiful name.

With words, with actions, and with the way you treat people and the way you live your life, praise God.

That's it.

Praise God.

When you hear the gospel, praise God.

When you go to church, praise God.

When you open up your word and read and spend time with Him, it's for one response praise God.

That is our life, that is our purpose, that's why we were created.

When you praise God, you are doing exactly what you were created to be to do.

And so why do we not praise God?

Nate, you can go and come on up.

Thanks, man.

And Sarah.

What is the reason why we don't praise God?

A lot of times it's because we feel unworthy or we feel like, well, it doesn't really matter what I do.

Or the you know the enemy has gotten into our head and we think we're not worthy.

Both those things are just simply not believing what Jesus has done for us.

Jesus has called you to praise him, and he's made you worthy to praise God.

The angels in heaven spend all of their lives praising God.

They don't even take a breath, they don't need to breathe.

They're angels.

And they just over holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, and they repeat it and they praise it, and they find great meaning and value, all the meaning and value they find in that reality and in that life.

And that's what we have been opened up to.

We can praise God.

What are you spending your life on?

Praise God.

What are you using your time on?

Praise God.

This is the point of life, this is the meaning of life.

Father, we worship you and we praise you.

We praise you, Jesus.

Your beautiful name is above all names.

Your blood is more valuable than anything in this world.

Jesus, you are worthy of all our praise.

You're worthy of all our sacrifice, you're worthy of all our time, all our attention, all our money, all our love.

You are worthy, you are all that matters.

And Jesus, we worship you from hearts that are broken but renewed and made alive.

And from hearts that are totally surrendered, as Jesus our Lord, you were surrendered to your Father in all things.

So we pray that you would use our lives for your glory and help us to be exactly what you were on this earth: a vision and a picture and an image of the love of God to this world.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Would you all stand?

Praise God in this song.

Make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.

The Lord turn his face toward you and give me the Lord.

Make his face shine upon you, and be great to you.

The Lord turns face to you and give me face.

And your family, and your children, and children, and the children, and your and call me, and you call me, and you're going, he is for you, he is with you, it's with you, it's with you, it's with you.

May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.