3/19/23 John 3:14-21 “John 3:16 and More!”

17 Mar 3/19/23 John 3:14-21 “John 3:16 and More!”

3/19/23    John 3:14-21        “John 3:16 and More!”

I think that if I said that we are creatures of habit, I would be making a huge understatement.  For the most part there is nothing wrong with this.  For instance, look where you are sitting now.  Is it your usual spot?  It’s ok.  Many of us have a morning routine that includes coffee.  Many of us have a nighttime routine that we always follow.  These things are all ok.  But sometimes we have routines that aren’t so good.  Sometimes we don’t come to church on Sunday because we don’t feel like it.  This isn’t so good.  I have a hard time thinking about not having time for God.  Sometimes we know a Bible passage or story so well that we read over it quickly and we miss something important.  Today’s reading is one of the most famous in the Bible.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  This is the core of our belief.  But there is more to this as John packs in a lot of theology in just a few verses.  Let’s see if we can unpack this just a little.

I ran across this great illustration of what we are going to talk about from Paul Decker.  There were two gentlemen traveling of a commercial airline and were seated next to each other.  If you are like me, you always say ‘hi’ and try a little small talk.  So the one man turned to the other and asked, “What do you do?”  The other fellow replied, “I’m a minister.”  I would like to add here that I get mixed reactions when I say this.  Anyway, the first man said, “Oh, I don’t believe in that religious stuff.  It’s for kids, you know, ‘Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so…’  The minister politely laughed and asked the other man what he did for a living.  “I’m an astronomer,” said the first man.  “Oh, that stuff,” said the minister.  “I thought that stuff was just for kids, you know, “Twinkle, twinkle little star…”  I will grant you that we are asked to believe a lot but we have all the proof that we need and it is found right here in our Bibles if you would just read your Bible.

As we begin to look at this, we need to know that this is the last part of a conversation with Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee.  He was a Pharisee who was a seeker.  He had questions.  He came to the right place.  We start today with Moses lifting up the snake in the desert.  This is important so please turn to Numbers 21:4-9. (read)

There are some things here that tie into today’s reading.  The people of Numbers sinned against God.  They did what was wrong and God punishes them for their disobedience by sending poisonous snakes or serpents among them.  Many Israelites died.  We are and have always been a sinful people and this shows it.  Not only that but we have always had a God of love and judgment.  He shows us once again that He will not put up with disobedience forever.  It will come to an end.  Universalists, beware!

But also know that we have a God of second chances.  He gave the people of Numbers a way out if they so chose.  It is always your choice.  He had Moses put a snake or serpent on a pole and raise it up in front of the people.  Personally, I don’t think snakes were any more popular back then than they are now.  I hate snakes.  Also remember that these people know the story of the serpent in Genesis who led Adam and Eve down the path of sin.  Snakes or serpents aren’t liked and yet God has one put on a pole.  Whoever has been bitten by one of the poisonous creatures has to only look to the snake on the pole and they will be cured.  They would be saved.

Now fast forward a bit.  This is important because Jesus will also be raised up on a cross or pole.  All people have to do to be saved from the wrath of God and an eternity in hell is come to Him on the cross.  In Numbers, God chose the most unlikely thing, a snake, for the people to gaze upon for their salvation.  At the cross, Jesus, who is the Son of God, is the most unlikely person who God can chose to die for our sins.  This is His Son.

Now fast forward again to today’s world!  How many people do we have around us who feel everyone will go to heaven?  How many people feel that there are many ways to heaven?  How many of these people who believe in all these different far out ideas have even bothered to read the Bible?  People of our world are lost.  There are so many people around us today who are wallowing around in their unbelief or misbelief.  All they have to do is look to the pole with the snake or rather to the cross where Jesus died.  Even though we are all sinners and have a variety of goofy ideas, God still loves us so much that He has given us a way out of our sin.  Our first two verses today are about our sin.  It is a problem.

Now let’s look at verses 16-17 where Jesus tells of the solution for Nicodemus and us.  Due to such a short time I have to talk about this, I can only touch on some things and I apologize if I miss something.  Jesus begins by telling us that God loves the world.  This is the part that the fringe groups hang onto and they forget about the rest.  He sent His Son to die for us, for our sins.  This is well before the crucifixion so Nicodemus would probably have a tough time following this.  Anyway, all you have to do is believe in Jesus and you can have eternal life.

Many people fail at this point.  They believe that Jesus existed but they don’t believe in the things He did and said.  For instance, in Mark 13, we are given some very definite things that will happen in the end times.  How many people do you know who don’t believe this but say they believe in Jesus?  Or in Luke 16 where we have the story of the rich man going to hell and a poor man, Lazarus, going to heaven.  How many people don’t believe this but say they believe in Jesus.  Sisters and brothers in Christ, this is a form of picking and choosing what you believe.  This is not your choice to make.  You are to either believe in Jesus and all that He did and said or you don’t believe in Him at all.  You are either for Him or against Him.  You cannot pick and choose how you want Jesus to be in your life.  So when you hear about people thinking like this, then you know they are lost.  Unfortunately, there are many lost right here in our own area.

But do not despair.  God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but that through Jesus we may all be saved.  You see, God made this easy.  This is so easy that anyone at any age can do it.  It isn’t like some so-called religions where you have to go out and kill as many of your enemies as you can so that you are even eligible for heaven.  You don’t have to work your way up the magical steps of salvation until you earn your golden underwear.  With God, the one and only true God, there is no work.  Jesus has done all the real work for us when He went to the cross.  This is the glory of Easter.

This is God’s plan for you.  He wants every person in the world to come to Him through Jesus on the cross.  Also, He didn’t just come up with this plan on Holy Week so many years ago.  This was the plan from the beginning.  There are many prophecies in the Old Testament that tell us Jesus was coming, He would be killed and He would be raised up again.  This is God’s perfect plan for us, for you.

John 3:16 is one of the most beautiful passages in the whole Bible.  It is so reassuring.  It is so full of love.  Many people stop reading right there because it is so good.  Many people, many Christians don’t even want to read verse 17.  Jesus did not come here to condemn the world.  I have been to church services where you would think that the only job Jesus had was to condemn the world.  In truth, Jesus wants nothing to do with condemning the world.  But Jesus loves us and He wants to save us.

It is us who want to condemn the world.  Many people feel that they are so much better than the rest of the world that they couldn’t lead anyone to Jesus or help Jesus in any way.  This is not right.  Anyone can do this.  I just read an article about how the younger generation is falling away from Jesus.  I don’t think this is really true.  If they are falling away from Jesus, it is because we aren’t telling them the truth.  Half the churches in this country are talking in the voice of being politically correct.  They tell us that the sins named in the Bible aren’t really sins.  Now don’t get me wrong.  There are many things that we have to be sensitive about.  There are areas where we should be politically correct.

But our Bible is not one of them.  It is not up to us to clean up the gender language so it suits us to the point of 52 genders or whatever.  It is not up to us to take out the condemning of sorcery and other vile sins.  These things are in there for a purpose.  They are in there to tell us what is right and what is wrong.  It is not up to me to say what is right.  It is up to the Bible.  Under no circumstances are we to ever change the meaning of the sacred words of the Bible.

It is bad enough that people don’t read verse 17, but they really don’t want to read the rest.  The people who think that everyone will get to heaven really will avoid this part.  Verse 18 tells us that if you don’t believe in Jesus, then you are condemned.  There are no punches pulled here.  It is straight forward.  This is the truth that so many pastors refuse to talk about.  I think that the younger generation of this country is very smart.  I think they want to hear the truth.  They don’t want to hear how I can spin this into a feel good type message.  Even though the truth might hurt a bit, people want to hear it.  Here it is.  Everyone will not get to heaven.

But everyone has the chance to go to heaven.  God loves you so much that He will only take people to heaven with Him who believe in Him.  If heaven is going to be a perfect place, then it needs people who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus which was shed at the cross on the first Easter.

It also tells us right in verse 18 that if you don’t go to heaven, then it is your fault.  You are the one who made the decision that you didn’t believe in Jesus.  God doesn’t put you in the bad place, hell.  That is your decision.  We have all run across many people who don’t believe in Jesus because they think He would never put us in hell.  Well, they are absolutely right.  Jesus never would do this.  We do this to ourselves by our unbelief.  This is powerful stuff.

Moving on, one of the reasons we think these false thoughts is that we like the darkness.  We like our sin.  We like to do our evil deeds.  Jesus is telling us this in the rest of the passage.  This isn’t someone else talking.  This is Jesus talking.  This is God talking!  He tells us that we hate the light because the light will expose our evil deeds.

He is so right.  The light will expose our deeds.  But I’m here today to tell you that if you expose your deeds, you will be forgiven.  This is what this passage is all about.  It is about you making the choice to live in this beautiful place called heaven for eternity or living in agony forever.  It is your choice.  If you haven’t made this choice, then confess your deeds to Jesus.  Expose them all to Jesus and then ask Him to live in your heart as your Lord and Savior.  Don’t wait.  There may not be much time left.  God is never wrong.  It is us who are wrong.  Come to Jesus today.

You see, when you do this and come to the truth and light, then everyone will see the work that Jesus has done in you.  We will not condemn you for what you have done.  We will not do that.  Instead we will marvel at how great God is and how great a work He has done in your life.  You will have a new life and we will be proud to know you.

Many of us have already been through this.  We know.  I was a mess before I came to Jesus and He did His miracle in my life.  I’m still a mess but at least now I have Jesus.  I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the wondrous work of Jesus.  I might not even be alive.  Jesus loves all of you so much that He will do miracles in your life.  And the biggest and first one is that He will change you for the better and give you a better life, a life with new meaning.  This is how Jesus loves you.

Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior.  Jesus carries your picture in his wallet and He shows it to the angels and people of heaven all the time.  He is proud of you every time you do something good.  He has your drawings and pictures on His refrigerator door probably held there by magnets.  He has a place where He keeps all the special mementos from you.  This is the God who picks you up and carries you when times get tough.  This is the God who sits beside you and talks when times are calm.  This is the God who is always with you.  He never leaves your side.

This passage is a great comfort to all of you who know and love Jesus.  This passage tells it all.  Next time you run across someone who doubts like our astronomer in the opening story, just tell them that you are loved beyond all comprehension.  You are comforted all the time and you are in love with the very maker of the universe, Jesus Christ.  And the best part is He loves you back.  And thank you, Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.