They turn in your Bibles to John 3. I know I announced this morning we'd be looking at Revelation 12, but we're going to look at John 3. If you think you've been subject to false advertising, then please take it up with Pastor Kim. And they can let me have it.
John 3 just seemed to go better with what we studied this morning. Long story short, with reference to Revelation 12, The dragon behind the scene tries to stop the incarnation of our Lord Jesus. He does that most visibly, of course, in the first century with Herod, as I mentioned this morning. But as well, way back in redemptive history, in 2 Kings chapter 11, there was a woman by the name of Jehoshaphat.
And there was another woman by the name of Adaliah that was trying to kill the rightful heir to the Davidic throne. And what Jehoshaphat did was hide Joash. While it was Adaliah trying to destroy this rightful heir to the throne, ultimately it was the dragon behind the scenes trying to stop the line of David lest this Messiah come. So Revelation 12 indicates that there are unseen powers working behind, working invisibly to move and guide men in their wicked assault upon the kingdom of Christ.
Maybe another time we will look in more detail at Revelation 12, but tonight, John 3, 16. I'll just pick up reading in John 3 at verse 1 and read to verse 21, as that is the larger context in which we find this most popular verse in all of Scripture. John 3, beginning in verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Jesus answered, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.
So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen.
And you do not receive our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven, but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light. because their deeds were evil.
For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Father, we come to a very familiar portion of Holy Writ. We pray for that glorious spirit to guide and instruct us in our study tonight. We pray that we would know fresh cleansing in the blood, that we would not have anything darkening our minds or our hearts, that we would appreciate afresh the impact of John 3.16, how we bless you and how we praise you for the truth stated, the truth declared in this passage, how we praise you that you so loved the world that you gave. You didn't just say it, but you actually expressed that love at Calvary.
In this, God, we rejoice, we praise you, we thank you, we bless you, for we know that this passage truly does depict us as we are. We love darkness. We hate righteousness. We hate the light.
We don't want to come to the light, lest our evil deeds be exposed. But you reach down in sovereign grace and in sovereign mercy. In your power, you brought us forth by the word of truth so that we might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We truly do rejoice in sovereign grace, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Introduction
Well this morning as we looked at Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7, we saw that Jesus Christ is the Son given unto us. I mentioned in comparison with Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7, John 3.16. When we get to this statement that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, hopefully we make that link between what was anticipated, what was announced, what was prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah 9, 6, and 7, and what has been realized in what Paul calls the fullness of the time. We ought to appreciate in John 3.16 the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.
And basically I want to take up the exposition of John 3.16. After looking a little bit at the context surrounding it, I want to take up the exposition under one main thought with six points to validate, or six points to confirm that. And that main thought is simply this, the cross manifests the love of God. The cross manifests, sets forth, declares, demonstrates the love of God.
And I want to argue that proposition, or I want to provide six lines of support for that particular proposition. But if you notice the context, it's very important that we appreciate what's going on. Of course, in John 3, verses 1 to 10, we see this man Nicodemus come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Jesus, not one for small talk, gets right to the point. He goes right to the issue. He deals with Nicodemus' desire. He says, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
We need to appreciate the new birth. We need to understand something about regeneration. That's what Jesus is speaking about in this section, verses 1 to 10. He says, this is the Spirit's work.
Man does not cause himself to be born again. The verb that Jesus uses is what's called a passive verb. I don't want to confuse anybody with grammar, but it's very important that we understand something about the verbal form that's used here. There is an active verb or an active voice in a verb.
If I punch someone, I am the subject and I'm acting upon that someone. In Greek, there's a middle voice. That means when the subject is being acted upon, and so that would be I punch myself. Hopefully we don't do that.
And then there is the passive voice. That's when the subject is being acted upon. In other words, I got punched. So when Jesus says you must be born again, he is not speaking in the active voice.
He would absolutely disagree with any approach to soteriology that teaches that man has the ability, in and of himself, to cause himself to be regenerated. This is not an active voice. Jesus is not saying there are certain steps that you do and then you will be born again. Notice the flow of the text.
Regeneration precedes faith. What happens when a man is born again by the Spirit of God is that he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a middle voice. Jesus isn't saying you must act upon yourself to create yourself born again.
It is the passive voice. Jesus is telling Nicodemus, something outside of you must happen to you. It isn't a command. It isn't an imperative.
It isn't a lesson. It isn't Billy Graham's book, How to be Born Again. Jesus is saying there is a supernatural power. Literally, you must be born from above.
Something must transpire Godward toward you in order for good things to happen and for you to enter into the Kingdom of God. Notice how Jesus then illustrates this point of the Spirit's work. He uses the wind. He says there's analogy in the wind.
You don't know where the wind comes from, you certainly don't know where the wind is going, but you know the effect when the wind blows through. He says so is the Spirit. What does that mean? That means that man, unaided, man in his sin, cannot snap his fingers and cause the Spirit to blow upon him.
It is something outside of him. It is something that must take place by the power of God Most High to the elect. Regeneration is what Jesus is speaking about in John chapter 3 verses 1 to 10. And then what follows is man's response.
Now we need to understand, man's response here is by the grace of God. Because God regenerates, because God causes us to be born again, it is by virtue of that reality that man can then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody with me? Everybody following me?
We're doing a bit of soteriology because this is absolutely crucial. Regeneration precedes saving faith. Not just in the flow of the narrative, but soteriologically. regeneration, God quickening, God making us alive. This stands to reason.
Dead men don't believe Gospels. Dead men don't repent from their sin. You must be made alive and then you believe and then you repent. This is the great discriminating fact between what's called Calvinism or Reformed theology and Arminianism or Pelagianism.
Those two systems teach that faith precedes regeneration. In other words, when I believe the gospel, then I'm born again. But that's not what Jesus teaches. Jesus says you must be born again by a power from outside of you.
He says it is the Spirit's work, and the fruit of that, or the result of that, or the indication of that, is that you will now, by the grace of God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't know where the wind comes from, you don't know where the wind is going, but you certainly see your sheet on the ground when the wind has blown it off of the laundry line. The Spirit's work as He blows through a man, as He regenerates a man, I'm speaking inclusively, as He does that powerful work, the first response from that person who's been born again is with the grace of faith. Don't miss that.
It is a gift given by God. He looks to the Lord Jesus Christ and he is saved. Justification is attached to or justification is by grace through faith. It is faith that is the living response and expression that God the Lord has regenerated a sinner.
So that's the context. Note the situation or note what Jesus says concerning the object of faith. Obviously it's Him, but note the parallel or the analogy that He gives in verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
So just like that situation, Remember that time, out in the wilderness, the people murmured, the people grumbled, the people complained. I know it's hard to believe. Just amazing to entertain the thought that the people of God would actually complain. I know that's stretching all manner of credulity here, but that's what they did.
And what does God do? He says, well, you know, that's okay. You just go ahead and vent. Why don't you get some pillows and punch them?
Why don't you express yourself in some humanistic therapy? No, God sends serpents to bite them. Well, that seems a bit harsh. You don't sin against the living and true God.
There are repercussions to that. I know man doesn't like that reality, but there are repercussions. He sends these serpents. Moses is given the instruction to craft this brazen serpent.
He lifts it up in the wilderness. All those who look, live. So when a man is regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, the work of God's supernatural grace, what he then does, by grace, I don't want you to miss that, In fact, if you learn anything tonight, please learn regeneration precedes saving faith, and saving faith itself is a gift given by God. Dead men do not have it.
They must be regenerated, they must be equipped and given those particular gifts. So when we look by the grace of God unto our Lord Jesus, the truth of justification by faith alone becomes ours. The pardon of iniquity, the imputation of righteousness, and then of course we start the path of sanctification and live our lives hopefully, hopefully for the glory of God Most High. So that's the context.
Let's focus in on John 3.16. The first point that I want to bring our attention to is that the cross is God's appointed remedy.
The Cross as God's Appointed Remedy
The cross is God's appointed remedy. Notice how verse 16 begins, It follows from verses 14 and 15. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Now we have read the rest of John.
We know what that means. We understand the import of that particular passage. He is going to be hoisted up on a cross. He is going to be nailed to a cross.
He is going to be raised up on Calvary in a very horrific manner, in a very horrific way. He says, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Note the language that he uses. There is a divine necessity behind the atonement.
You see, God saves in conjunction with His own holy character. He doesn't just snap His fingers and in we go. There must be substitution. There must be curse bearing.
There must be the expenditure of God's holy wrath and revulsion against sin. This is why Jesus says, even so, must the Son of Man be lifted up? There is a divine necessity behind the atonement. Remember when Jesus says, if it is possible, let this cup pass.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. It is at the cross, it is in this way alone, that God can be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. It is at the cross alone that God can be said to justify the ungodly. There is divine necessity behind the atonement.
So Jesus says, as the serpent was lifted up, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. And then verse 16 amplifies or elucidates or shines a light on that particular reality. And this for here, And what follows behind this is an indicator that the cross is God's appointed remedy. This is God's plan.
You know, there's this idea in theology. It's very unfortunate that there was, you know, this bad, mean, not bad, but an angry, wrathful, vengeful God in the Old Testament. And Jesus is the God of love in the New Testament, who's come to appease the wrath of His Father. He's come to appease the wrath of His Father, but it was born out, or it flowed from, the love of the Father.
Robert Raymond quotes a couple of brothers. One, P.T. Forsythe. He says, the atonement did not procure grace.
It flowed from grace. The atonement at Calvary doesn't earn or garner or gain God's grace. The atonement at Calvary flows from God's grace. M.
A. C. Warren says, in the cross, we are not to see an attempt to change God's mind, but the very expression of that mind. The cross is God's remedy.
In Romans 3, 25 and 26, it says that God set forth His Son. The Father set forth the Son in order to bruise Him, in order to put Him to grief, in order to save us from our sins. In Ephesians 1, The Father chooses us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And then it says, in love, having predestined us unto adoption as sons.
It wasn't that Jesus at the cross secured God's love for us. It's that Jesus at the cross expresses God's love for us. It's a beautiful thing. The cross is God's appointed remedy.
The Cross Manifests God's Immeasurable Love
Secondly, the cross manifests God's immeasurable love. I'm taking at least three of those words from B.B. Warfield in his classic sermon on John 3.16. That's what he entitles it.
God's immeasurable love. Notice, God so loved the world. His love. It's amazing, isn't it?
It really is amazing. But when we see the Father's love for His Son, His approbation of His Son, His delight in His Son, it really doesn't perplex the mind. What's the target of God's love in this passage? God so loved the world.
Now that is amazing. That is perplexing. Romans 5.8, Paul says, God commends his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The cross manifests God's immeasurable love.
May I suggest that when you see
'World': All Men Without Distinction
world in John 3.16, it doesn't mean all men without exception? See, there's only two ways to approach the text. Either the Reformed are right, and particular redemption is the truth, or the Universalist is right, and every man is going to be saved. The people that have a real struggle are the hypothetical Universalists.
World here does not mean all men without exception. I submit it means all men without distinction. When John writes the book of Revelation, He says that before the throne, the saints of Christ praise God Almighty. They praise the Lamb.
They praise Him and they say, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. World in John 3.16 does not mean all men without exception. Look back at John 1.10 for just a moment to see the self-same word world used three different ways in one short verse. John 1.10.
He was in the world. What's that mean? He was on planet Earth. He didn't go to Saturn.
He didn't go to Pluto. Of course, that's been declassified. It's no longer a planet. He didn't go to Mercury.
He didn't go to Venus. He didn't go to Mars. He was in the world. When you hear that language, cosmos there means planet Earth.
He was in the world. Notice, though. And the world was made through him. Out there, it's probably more comprehensive.
Not just planet Earth, but Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Say no science. That's one thing I remember from grade school. It's amazing.
And Pluto's not even in there anymore. John's already told us, verse 2, I'm sorry, verse 3, all things were made through him. And without Him, nothing was made that was made. So you see, we've already seen the selfsame word kosmos used two different ways in John 1.10.
But then notice this third way. And the world did not know Him. World there has the ethical sense of the unbeliever, the ones who reject God, the ones who despise the man of sorrows, who is acquainted with grief. John doesn't mean John's part of the world.
John doesn't mean Paul's part of the world in that third sense. There is an ethical sense wherein the world is looked at as those who are outside of God's saving grace. John later, in his first epistle, says that the whole world lies under the sway of the evil one. Does that mean every Christian calls the evil one Lord and Master?
Certainly not. See, the word world is a little more elastic than the opponents want to make it sound. When someone says in John 3.16, world means world, and that's all it could possibly mean, it doesn't mean that. It doesn't mean all men without exception.
It means all men without distinction from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation. Another interesting expression of this comes in Samaria. Remember in John chapter 4, Jesus has dealings with that woman by the well. He talks about this living water.
If you drink this water, you'll never have need for it again. She says, sir, I want this water. Go call your husband, bring him along, and I'll talk to you. I don't have a husband.
You're right, you don't have a husband. You had five, and the one you're currently with isn't your husband. She's blown away, isn't she? What does she say when she goes back to her village?
Come see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Surely this is a prophet. Then when they come into saving contact with him, look at chapter 4 verse 39. This is important.
You need to understand. People get freaked out when they see certain words like all and world and they think the particular redemption is somehow unbiblical. It is biblical. God saves from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation.
Remember that Samaritans were not looked upon favorably. They were not included in the Commonwealth of Israel. They were a mongrel hybrid. They were people that were looked down upon And in verse 39, many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified.
He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his own word.
Then they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, here it is, the Savior of the world. Were they universalists? Did they think all men without exception? No!
They're rejoicing that the Christ of God has come, not only to the tribes of Jacob, but for the Samaritans as well. This is how you're supposed to understand 1 John 2, 1 and 2. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only, but also for the world. If Christ propitiates for the sin of all men without exception, then all men without exception are saved.
If He appeases the wrath of God for a sinner, that sinner doesn't have to enter in to the wrath of God. Universalism isn't true, so what John is indicating there in 1 John 2, again, same author, using the same word in various contexts, he is saying that the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, avails not only for the Jew, but for the Gentile as well. It's beautiful. And when it says, God so loved the world, I love what D.A.
Carson says on this. He says, God's love is to be admired, not because the world is so big and included so many people, but because the world is so That is the customary connotation of cosmos. When we see God's immeasurable love manifested at the cross, when we understand the target of that love, it is a bad world. It is sinful people.
It is vile offenders of God's holy law. Christ died to save them from their sins. God's love is beautiful, not because the world is big, but because the world is bad. There is, in God's plan, the design to save a great multitude, which no man can number, from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
The Scope of Redemption
Warfield says, through all the years, one increasing purpose runs. one increasing purpose. The kingdoms of the earth become ever more and more the kingdom of our God and His Christ. The process may be slow, the progress may appear to our impatient eyes to lag, but it is God who is building, and under His hands the structure rises as steadily as it does slowly. And in due time the capstone shall be set into its place, and to our astonished eyes shall be revealed nothing less than a saved world.
You see, we need to guard against the tendency as well not to think big. It doesn't mean all men without exception, but it certainly means a great multitude that no man can number. So the cross, first, is God's appointed remedy. Secondly, the cross manifests God's immeasurable love.
The Cross Displays God's Gracious Gift
Thirdly, the cross displays God's gracious gift. We already saw this this morning in Isaiah 9, 16. He is the Son given unto us. God so loved the world, verse 16, that He gave His only begotten Son.
Beautiful. You ever struggled with somebody who said, I love you, and they didn't live like that? They didn't act like that? Oh, not me, Pastor.
We just have happy, holy, wonderful marriages all the time. The proof is in the pudding, isn't it? When you grab that bushel of weeds that have pretty flowers on it and you hand it over to your honey, that's something tangible. Now, I don't think that's the only way to express this.
Flowers is what I mean. Don't get weeds. That's not a good idea. Well, Pastor Brother said to you.
You got to shine it because your wife punched you. Pastor said. Don't listen to me when it comes to that sort of thing. There is a tangibility about the love of God.
There is a concreteness about the love of God. There is a display. There is a manifestation. There is the setting forth of God's gracious gift at Calvary.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He gave his best. He gave the choices. You see, in the Levitical system, men were guilty of looking out at their flock and finding the maim, or finding the lame, or finding the blind, and then schlepping that over to the temple and offering it as if it was something worthy of our holy God.
When God comes to provide sacrifice, when the Father comes to do the deed, He sends His only begotten Son. He sends His unique One. He sends His eternally begotten One. He sends the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.
I alluded to Genesis 3.15 this morning. God to the serpent says, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, you shall bruise his heel. And this cross sets forth that reality in terms of God's gracious gift given to mankind.
It's a beautiful thing. If you ever doubt the love of God, study Calvary. If you ever doubt God's heart for this bad world, study Calvary. If you're ever in a perplexity about where God is at in terms of His love for you, go to the cross.
We ought to be often at the cross. I'm a firm believer that Christians need the gospel pretty constantly. Christians need to continue to hear the glorious truth that Christ came, Christ lived, Christ died, Christ rose again. Christians need a steady diet of that reality because we lag, we falter, we disbelieve, and it's the cross that sets before us God's immeasurable love and it displays God's gracious gift.
The Cross Holds the Object of Faith
Fourthly, the cross held the object of man's belief. You see, faith is crucial. Faith is the instrument by which we are brought into saving contact with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. But you know, there's this idea today that faith is good in and of itself.
Doesn't matter what your faith finds as its target, as long as you have faith. Right? Whatever works for you. In other words, if you really pour your belief into that rock, there may be some redemptive benefit in that rock.
It's not the object. It's the act of faith. You ever see that? Anybody?
Ever hear that? They've got great faith in what? In humanity. That's not a good thing.
Faith and Its Object
Faith is only as good as its object, and the cross held the object of man's belief. This is what the text says. That whoever believes in him, you see it is faith. Romans 3 from 21 through the end of chapter 4.
Galatians 2. Jesus' teaching Throughout the Gospels, it's faith in Christ. Faith is only as good as its object. You mustn't ever forget that.
Religious pluralism teaches different. Pluralists like to think that it's faith as it is that's okay. That's what's ennobling. That's what's dignifying.
That's what renders man happy. healthy, whole, and redeemed. No, it is Jesus who does that. Faith is the instrument that God has given us to believe in Him and in His plan. That is what we're justified by.
Faith belongs to the ministry and miracle of the Spirit. Remember, he's already taught you must be born again by the power of the Spirit. And now he directs Nicodemus to where man must believe. We have to conclude that it's that work of the Spirit putting that gift of faith within the heart.
This is what Ritterbaugh says. Faith belongs to the ministry and miracle of the Spirit. Faith is always the way in which and the means by which the new life comes into being. And it's just here, with the language that is employed by John, at least by our translators, that seems to give some rise to the universalist interpretation, where it says that whoever believes in him...
You see, the Greek text doesn't read that way. It's actually what's called a participle. It says, the believing one. The believing one in him should not perish.
You know, this text teaches a blessed redemption. This text teaches a blessed salvation. But it equally teaches condemnation, because we can invert that statement and say, whoever's not believing in Him, shall not have everlasting life. It is not a universalistic proof text, it is a specific participle that is geared to indicate that it's the believing one who does not perish.
J.C. Ryle says, he that has faith has life, and he that has it not has not life. Nothing whatever beside this faith is necessary to our justification, but nothing whatever except this faith will give us an interest in Christ. We may fast and mourn for sin, and do many things that are right, and use religious ordinances, and give all our goods to feed the poor, and yet remain unpardoned and lose our souls.
But if we only come to Christ as guilty sinners and believe on Him. And it's just here that people want to make belief more than what belief is. Seven times the verb is employed in this very section. Belief means believe the truth of the gospel.
John Calvin explains it this way in his commentary, to believe the gospel is nothing else than to assent to the truths which God has revealed. Now when one does that, by the grace of God, he believes the true propositions concerning Christ, then certainly the life of sanctification begins. There's obedience in his life, there is perseverance in his life, there is growth and grace and all of that, but justifying faith. is when that thief on the cross says, remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. He believed that this Jesus could save him, and he was saved.
It's belief. It's faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus. That strikes carnal man in a bad way.
He thinks he has to do something. He thinks he has to perform. He thinks he has to add to. But Paul says very clearly in Galatians 2.21, I do not set aside the grace of God if righteousness comes through the law, even my obedient faith when Christ died in vain.
You see, faith, belief in the truth is what is absolutely crucial. A lot of times people fall here. What does it mean to believe? It means to believe what the Bible says.
Right? Well, there has to be more. What is that more? Obedience.
That's the life of sanctification. That's working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is at work in us, both to will and to do, according to His good pleasure. But that look and live.
When Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness, he didn't say, now look at that, and then suck the poison out of your arm. Look at that, and then low crawl over to kiss it. Look at it, and then seek out, look and live! That's what we tell sinners.
Look to Christ. Live! Everyone believing in Him. That's what the point of the passage is.
The Cross: Source of God's Promised Blessing
Fifthly, the cross is the source of God's promised blessing. Everyone believing in Him, what? Receives eternal life. You want to go to heaven?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It just sounds like, well, there's got to be more. Doesn't that bother non-Christians? I don't know what non-Christians you guys deal with or talk to, but I've had discussions about, what do you mean you're saved by believing on Jesus?
That's offensive. You need to go out and do good. Do good? What?
Do good? The best things I do are filthy. My righteousnesses are like filthy rides in the sight of a holy God. There's not enough good I can do to mitigate my sin problem.
I need a good Savior to shed His blood, to wash me, to purify me, to pardon me from my sins, and to impute that righteousness received by faith alone. The cross is the source of God's promised blessing. When that thief looked to Christ, Christ says, you will be with me today in paradise. Jehovah's Witnesses are amazing with that passage.
They don't teach that the soul departing at death enters into the presence of the Lord. So they put the comma in a different place. Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise, way in the future. Really?
He needed him to tell him that he was talking to him today? I think the thief on the cross probably surmised that because it was today after all. Why would Jesus say, I tell you today? No, I tell you that today you will be with me in paradise.
The Thief on the Cross
That thief who woke up that morning to be executed for his crimes ended the day in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's offensive to people who want to work their way to heaven. I've tried so hard. I've done so well.
Most people sound like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son. It's not fair. I've been with you all these years. You've never slayed the fatted calf for me.
You've never put a ring on my finger. You've never put a cloak on my back. This son of yours who wasted all your money, he comes back and he gets all this. That's how carnal man responds.
Isn't it? When Jesus says to Zacchaeus, hurry down from that tree, I'm going to eat at your house tonight, what's the response of all the people on the ground? Praise God for sovereign grace. Praise God for belief in the truth.
Praise God for a glorious Savior. Now they murmured, they grumbled, they complained, why is he going to eat with this sinner? That's the response of carnal man. The gospel blows people's minds.
If we ain't blowing minds, we're not preaching it properly. The cross is the source of God's promised blessing. You need to understand that all too well. Your believing in Jesus Christ means that you're going to spend eternity with God Most High forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever.
We could keep saying that and I think you get the point, right? That's what we have to look forward to. I know I need to remember that. I think it would put a spring in my step.
I love when Mr. Bolt has prayed that. Spring in the step. I need more of a spring in my melancholy step from time to time.
I think John 3.16 is a good place to go for that.
The Cross Alone: God's Exclusive Means
And then finally, the cross alone is the means that God has provided. There's an exclusivity implicit in the text. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. What is the implicant?
What is the necessary implication? This is the only way. God doesn't send his only begotten son as a competitor. God doesn't send his only begotten son as one way among many.
God doesn't send His only begotten Son, so you happen to like that particular approach, choose Him. If you happen to like Allah, choose that. If you like Hinduism, choose that. If you like Buddhism, choose that.
If you like atheism, choose that. I mean, after all, you're a pretty good guy or girl. It's all gonna pan out in the end. There is an exclusivity taught here.
Apart from the cross, we are dead. This is the implication of verse 17. When he says God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved, you need to understand something. Later on in John 5, Jesus says that He will judge.
The obvious implication of verse 17 is that God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn the world because the world is already condemned. Jesus didn't come here to say, you filthy, rotten sinners. We're already filthy, rotten sinners. He doesn't come to render that judgment.
The judgment has been made and the way of salvation is by Him and Him alone. That's what is developed in verses 19 to 21.
Human Condemnation and the Light
There is a fundamental problem with mankind. Do not read verses 19 to 21 as if it pertains to everybody else. If you haven't seen yourself in verses 19 to 21, it is questionable whether you understand anything of the Christian message, whether you understand anything of what we say with reference to depravity and sin. This is the condemnation.
Light has come into the world. Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." The cross alone is the means that God has provided for the salvation of sinners.
Application
Well, those hopeful six observations will help us to appreciate The thrust of John 3.16. Luther called this passage the Bible in miniature. I quite like that. The Bible in miniature.
It has all the elements of the Christian gospel. God's provision, God's remedy, the way of salvation, belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything a sinner needs is on that sign that that guy with the rainbow hair holds up every time he sits behind home plate. If you've never watched a baseball game, not that I'm some big baseball fan, but there's a guy that always goes to games.
I don't know if he still does. Cam, does he still go to the games? Guy would paint his hair with rainbow paint, and he'd always get a seat. Always got the best seats.
He's right behind home plate. So that whenever Major League Baseball, whenever they're pitching, that guy's standing there holding this sign that says John 3, 16. It's probably the most familiar passage in the entire Bible. We need to suck the sweetness out of it and find great encouragement and great comfort for our souls.
God is good in his provision of his only begotten son to save us from our sins. If you find yourself here tonight not believing in Christ, look at what verse 17 says. You didn't come to condemn, you're already condemned. You need to flee to Him.
You need to believe on Him. You need to look to Him. You say, well, how do I know if the Spirit's regenerated? How do I know if I've been born again?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is your instruction. That is what you are called to do. That is what gospel preaching directs sinners to.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for this Bible in miniature. Thank you for this great text that displays a great God and a wonderful Savior in Jesus Christ. We thank you as well for the power of the Holy Spirit who regenerates, who causes the new birth, who gives the graces of faith and repentance, everything that sinners need to close with Christ. Again, our hearts desire that this gospel would be proclaimed and that sinners all over the earth would believe on him and would know the joy of everlasting life.
Go with us now, we pray, Lord God, in Jesus' name, amen.