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Bring your Bibles to John's Gospel. 
We're in John chapter three, and our focus will be on verses 
17 to 21, but I wanna begin reading in verse one, and we'll read 
to verse 21. So John's Gospel chapter three, 
beginning in verse one. 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. But 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. Our 
Father, thank you again for the written word. We thank you for 
the Holy Spirit who gave us this word. We pray for his ministry 
now among us. We ask that you would engage 
our minds and hearts with the truth as it is in Jesus, and 
help us to appreciate again what he has saved us from, and help 
us to appreciate again that he's able to save to the uttermost 
all who draw nigh unto God through him. We know that his blood cleanses 
the worst of sinners, And we know that that blood is the blessed 
means by which we have redemption, as Paul says. Forgive us again 
for all transgression and unrighteousness and everything that darkens our 
minds. And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 
Well, we come to a conclusion of this particular encounter 
with Nicodemus. Essentially, Nicodemus comes, 
not as a humble inquirer after truth, but as a spokesman for 
the Sanhedrin. Now, he has a change because 
by the end of the gospel, he's on the right side of things, 
and he, with Joseph of Arimathea, gives Jesus a good burial after 
his death. But at this particular juncture, 
as I said, he's a spokesman for the Sanhedrin, and Jesus gets 
right to the point with him. Unless a man is born again, he 
shall not see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus is perplexed by 
this, and he asks the question, how can a man be born again? 
Does he have to climb back into his mother's womb and pass through 
that canal once again? Jesus upbraids him and indicts 
him in verse 10. He says, are you the teacher 
in Israel and you don't know these things? He should have 
known it. in light of Deuteronomy 10, 16, Deuteronomy 30, verse 
6, and the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 36, verses 25 to 27. It was always 
the case that sinful man needed to be born again. It was always 
the case that sinful man needed to be regenerated. He needed 
the Spirit of God to awaken him, to grant him the graces of faith 
and repentance, and that's Jesus' emphasis. So after that chiding, 
after that rebuke in verse 10, Jesus engages in a discourse 
on God's salvation. That's what he does in verses 
11 to 21. Last week we focused on verse 
16, and in verse 16 we saw there the declaration concerning God's 
love, the demonstration of God's love, and then the description 
of those who experience God's love. Notice verse 16, for God 
so loved the world. That's the declaration. Notice 
the demonstration that He gave His only begotten Son. And then 
the verse concludes with a description of those who receive that love, 
that redemptive love of God, that whoever believes in Him 
should not perish but have everlasting life. Now in verses 17 to 21, 
we have another description. The end of verse 16 describes 
those who receive the benefits of Christ's gospel. Here in verses 
17 to 21, we have a description of man in sin. And it's intriguing 
because John starts his gospel presentation, not with the economy 
of salvation, not what Christ does in redemption, but he starts 
in John 1 verses 1 to 18 with who Jesus is. In other words, 
he goes behind the scenes, as it were, to give us theology 
proper, the relation between the Father and the Son. And then 
he embarks on, or then John gets into the embarkation of Jesus' 
public ministry. Well, it's here now at verses 
17 to 21 where he introduces or tells us about the sinners 
that need to be saved. In other words, what necessitated 
the fact that Christ would be raised up like that brazen serpent? What necessitated the crucifixion 
of the Son of Man in order to save his people from their sins? 
It must be something pretty bad. It must be something pretty gruesome. 
It must be something pretty grotesque. Yeah, absolutely. And that's 
why he now describes to us man's condition. Look first with me 
at the declaration of man's condemnation in verses 17 to 18. And then 
secondly, we'll look at the demonstration of man's condemnation. So you've 
got the declaration again, you've got a demonstration. But notice 
the declaration of man's condemnation, verse 17. 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. So he declares the fact that 
man is condemned. But before he does that in verse 
18, he reiterates or underscores or highlights again the nature 
of the Son of Man's mission. Look how verse 17 starts. 4, just like verse 16 started. 
Four, these are explanatory verses. This is a rationale. This is 
the reason. This is the explanation. This 
affords to us that basis by which we appreciate why the son of 
God comes. So in verse 16, God so loved 
the world that he gave his only begotten son. Verse 17 reiterates 
that. For God did not send his son 
into the world to condemn the world. The mission of the Son 
of Man was redemptive. The mission of the Son of Man 
was salvation. The mission of the Son of Man 
was a rescue mission. The Father didn't send the Son 
in order to condemn the world. Now, don't misunderstand that, 
because according to verse 18, the world was already condemned. 
It's not the case that Christ comes in the first coming in 
order to condemn what's already condemned. No, the world is condemned. The world in Adam has died. We 
have plunged by Adam's sin into transgression, and then from 
that vantage point, all our actual sins actually proceed. And so 
this is a sin-cursed world that God sends the Son of His love 
into on this mission in order to redeem them from their sins. 
The mission of the Son in the Incarnation was redemptive. That 
goes back to what we find in chapter 1. Notice in verse 10, 
He was in the world, the world was made through Him, and the 
world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own 
did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, 
to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those 
who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor 
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 
The first coming of the Savior was redemption. The first coming 
of the Savior was salvation. Now, at the second coming, it 
will be judgment. At the second coming, it will 
be condemnation or a confirmation of that. At the second coming, 
it will be exclusion from all that is good in terms of God 
and His blessedness. But that mission of Christ in 
the incarnation is primarily redemptive in nature. That's 
why all attempts to reduce Jesus Christ to the level of example 
fall. Jesus is an example. We can certainly 
see that throughout the Bible, but that's not the primary emphasis. The primary emphasis is what 
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1. Jews seek signs, Greeks seek 
wisdom, but we preach Christ and Him crucified, not as an 
example, not a religious teacher that you should follow. You're 
a dead sinner. You're not gonna follow Him. 
You need to be born again by the power of the Spirit. You 
need to believe on Him. Now, once that obtains, once 
you're in Christ, certainly follow Him. Do what He calls you to 
do. He says in John's Gospel later on, if you love me, you'll 
keep my commandments. But the nature of the mission 
of the Son of Man is redemption. It is salvation. It is to deliver 
His people from their sins, and we mustn't ever lose sight of 
that. The gospel is the emphasis. The gospel is our primary focus 
as the Church of Christ and as the people of God Almighty. So 
when we ask this question, why did the Son of Man come? I think 
the Nicene Creed answers well. Who for us men and for our salvation 
came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit 
of the Virgin Mary and was made man. Why John 1.1, in the beginning 
was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. Why 
John 1.14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Why does 
he do that? In order to save his people from 
their sins. See, John has moved from theology 
now to the economy of salvation. And the people of God who are 
saved by his grace rejoice. They adore, they praise, they 
stand in awe, they wonder at his goodness to them. And for 
those who are not yet His people, hopefully they pay attention 
and hopefully they listen to the voice of the Son of God. 
And hopefully the Holy Spirit comes and does that work of regeneration 
such that they will believe and close with the Savior and go 
to heaven and be with Him forever. One man says, although in His 
first coming, He did not come to judge, but to forgive, yet 
in His second coming, as Chrysostom says, He will come to judge, 
but not to forgive. So the first coming, he comes 
not to judge, but to forgive. In the second coming, he comes 
not to forgive, but to judge. You see why this message is absolutely 
crucial. We think of the day of judgment. 
We think of the future. We think of that great day when 
Jesus, with the voice of power, raises all men from the graves. 
He talks about that in John's gospel at chapter 5. But there 
could be a previous occasion when this will be absolutely 
crucial for us. We're not promised a long, fulfilling, 
and rich, and satisfied life until that day of judgment. As 
Edward rightly points out in his sermon, Sinners in the Hands 
of an Angry God, there are countless ways of godless men going out 
of this world. You can die. You will stand before 
this judge. And if you are not clothed in 
the righteousness of Christ, if you've not been forgiven of 
your sin, if you can't say with the prophet in Isaiah 61, I rejoice 
in the God of my salvation, who has cleansed me, who has clothed 
me, who has blessed me, who has bedecked me with all of the good 
things of redemptive privilege, then you will suffer forever 
in hell. Jesus already makes this clear in John 3, 16, for 
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that 
whoever believes in him should what? Should not perish. That's 
the negative, but have everlasting life. We think about the everlasting 
life. We think about the joys associated 
with the world to come, but we also ought to think about the 
horrors associated with the world to come apart from Jesus Christ. There is a hell that the Bible 
speaks of. In this particular context, it's 
referred to as perishing and condemnation. So the mission 
of the Son of Man was redemptive in nature, verse 17. But notice 
the condemnation of man is a reality according to verse 18. 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. The one who believes is not condemned. 
Blessedness, isn't it? You're not condemned today. You 
may have a lot of problems. You may have a lot of pain. You 
may have a lot of trial. You may have a lot of tribulation, 
but be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven. Right? 
That ought to cause the people of God to rejoice. No matter 
what this world throws at us, no matter how the devil may plague 
us, no matter how our remaining corruption may get us down, one 
thing those three cannot do. They can never pluck a sinner 
from the hand of Jesus Christ. John 10 underscores that blessed 
reality. But notice verse 18, he who believes 
in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned 
already. Now, you got to make sure you 
understand what's going on here. We look at a passage like this 
and there are two things we need to consider. It's not just that 
you're not believing in Jesus. The larger context is that you're 
a sinner. You're a sinner. You're going 
to go to hell because you have transgressed God's law. God says, 
you shall have no other gods before me. What do we do? We 
go find whatever God there is and bow down to it. God says, 
you're not supposed to worship me in a bad way. What do we do? We engage in strange fire. We 
offer it up to the Lord at our will. God says you're not supposed 
to blaspheme me. What do we do? If we don't actually 
do it verbally, we do it by our actions. Remember when Nathan 
the prophet indicted or upbraided David. He says, by this you've 
given cause to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme or to reproach 
him. We are told by God to rest. The 
Sabbath day is a day of rest. We saw that reiterated in Exodus 
16 on Wednesday night. It's a gift given by God to his 
people. And what do we do? Oh no, I don't 
want it. I don't want this gift, God. I'd rather go do my thing. 
I just want to be all about myself. God tells us in the fifth commandment 
to relate properly as superiors and inferiors. That doesn't mean 
you're a bad person. It just means in the scale of 
things, there's parents and there's children, there's employers and 
there's employees, there's government and there's subjects. What we 
need to appreciate is that God calls us to comply with His law. 
The sixth commandment, OK, you've never gone out and cut somebody's 
throat. But Jesus says, if you hate your brother in your heart 
without a cause, that is to violate or transgress the commandment. 
The seventh commandment is like it. It doesn't matter that you 
haven't gone into your neighbor's wife. If you've done so mentally, 
if you've done so in terms of the imagination, you're guilty 
of violating the law. The eighth commandment, you don't 
go to Walmart and steal candy bars. But are you upright in 
your work dealings? Are you upright in terms of paying 
taxes? What about the ninth commandment? We're supposed to tell the truth. 
How often do we say, oh, it's just a little white lie. We expect 
our political class to lie to us. It has become so ingrained 
nowadays that it's just like drinking water. And then of course 
the 10th commandment. Let's just say you like that 
rich young ruler, made it from one to nine. And you're able 
to say with that rich young ruler to our Lord in Matthew 19, all 
these I've kept from my youth. What one thing do I lack? What 
does Jesus do? He preaches the 10th commandment 
to him. Go take everything you have, sell it, and then give 
that money to the poor. He wasn't teaching an alternate 
way of salvation. He wasn't saying as long as you 
sell and divest yourself of your goods. He was preaching the law 
to the man so that the man would see his need for the Savior. 
The point is we're condemned already. We've transgressed God's 
law. We justly deserve His wrath and 
His curse, both in this life and that which is to come. But 
in His mercy, in His grace, in His lovingkindness, He sends 
the Son of His love. God so loved the world that He 
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should 
not perish but have everlasting life. So ultimately you're going 
to go to hell for your transgression of God's law. You're going to 
go to hell because you didn't lay hold of God's remedy and 
provision for your transgression of God's law. And that's the 
point of our Savior in verse 18. 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. Now let's look at the demonstration 
of man's condemnation. This is where it gets Nasty, 
this is where it gets disgusting. Verse 16, there's a declaration. God so loved the world, then 
it gets amazing. And he shows or demonstrates 
that love by the sending of his son. Well here, Jesus declares 
man's condemnation in verse 18, but now he's gonna bring it home 
to prove it to us. He's gonna lift the lid as it 
were of the sewage pit, and he's gonna show us what we look like. 
In other words, this underscores afresh for us why the cross. Paul in Galatians 2.21 says, 
I do not nullify the grace of God. I don't set apart the grace 
of God. Why? Because if righteousness 
comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. Christ did not 
die in vain. Christ died for real sinners. 
And these real sinners are described for us here in this section in 
verses 19 to 21. Notice three things to be said 
about the real sinners. They reject light, they love 
darkness, and they're contrasted with believers. Notice this rejection 
of light, verse 19, and this is the condemnation, that the 
light has come into the world. And men love darkness rather 
than light. We'll pick up the love darkness 
thing, because that's horrific all on its own. I mean, it's 
bad enough that we hate the light, but added to that, we love darkness. I can't ever not think, well, 
I guess there's probably been a time in my history where I 
have not thought, but I think a lot about cockroaches when 
I read this section of scripture. You say, oh, Pastor Butler, that's 
vicious to compare us to cockroaches. Yeah, it's really an insult to 
the cockroaches. It really is an insult to the 
cockroaches. Cockroaches aren't sinners against 
God. Cockroaches don't transgress 
God's law. They don't lack conformity unto 
it. They don't raise their cockroach fist in rebellion against the 
king and against his Messiah. That's what we do. But when you 
turn on the light, you don't see many cockroaches, at least 
I haven't here. They happen to obtain in Southern 
California, not that we had them. I'm not suggesting that, you 
know, we were the kinds of people that would engage the cockroaches 
in our home, but you turn the light on and what happens? They 
run off. They don't want to be in the light, right? It's the 
same sort of a thing here. The light has come, and men reject 
it. Now, the light in this particular 
context in verse 19, it's not just general revelation. It's 
not actual physical light. I mean, man isn't quite that 
nasty yet. I mean, in some instances he 
is. As soon as the light comes on, he runs and he burrows under 
the refrigerator. Yuck. That's a bad place for 
a cockroach to burrow. but man has rejected the light 
of Christ. I think the emphasis here on 
the coming of the light reflects again what we've seen in the 
prologue. Turn back to John 1. Notice in John 1 at verse 4. 
In him, this is the word, in him was life, and the life was 
the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, 
and the darkness did not comprehend it. And then drop down in the 
prologue to verse 6, there was a man sent from God whose name 
was John. This man came for a witness, 
to bear witness of that light. that all through him might believe. 
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that 
light. That was the true light, which gives light to every man 
coming into the world. So going back to chapter 3, as 
Jesus is describing man in sin, he makes the declaration in verses 
17 and 18, and now he gives the demonstration of the proof of 
it in verses 19 to 21. And the first proof is this reality, 
that man rejects the light. Later on in John 8, 12, Jesus 
will identify himself as the light of the world. We see that 
this is predicated of Christ in Zacharias' song in Luke's 
gospel at Luke 1, 79. You see it's true of God Most 
High in 1 Timothy chapter 6. You see it's true of God Most 
High in 1 John 1, 5 and 6. Jesus is the light that's being 
spoken of in verse 19. This is the condemnation, that 
the light has come into the world. The comment of the world there 
refers to the incarnation of the Word. The Word became flesh 
and dwelt among us. So what happens when the Word 
becomes flesh and dwells among us? Well, back in the prologue, 
it says He came to His own, and His own what? They did not receive 
Him. They rejected Him. He was a man 
of sorrow as he was acquainted with grief. He had no form, he 
had no visage, he had no comeliness that we should adore him. He'd 
walk around with a halo, with big guns, and with that glowing 
sort of aura about him. He looked like a regular man, 
because as we learn in John's Gospel, he was a regular man. Now that regularity was without 
sin, so in that respect he was irregular. and that humanity 
was joined to divinity in that one person. But nevertheless, 
there was nothing about him in terms of his physical appearance 
where the nation of Israel bowed down and worshiped him. So the 
rejection of the light is symptomatic of those who are in their sin. God of God, light of light, very 
God of very God, comes down from heaven for us men and for our 
salvation. Us men, want rather to reject 
Him. Now, for those of us, by God's 
grace, who are saved here today, it wasn't the case that it was 
always the case. It wasn't that we were always 
in Christ. We didn't come out of the womb 
confessing our faith in Jesus, no. We rejected, we resisted, 
we were rebellious. We were those who God sought. 
We were those who God humbled. We were those who God, the Spirit, 
regenerated. were the ones that were found 
by Him, having been placed in Christ by Him. It is a most blessed 
thing. But in our nature, we resisted 
the light. Now notice what he goes on to 
say in terms of the love of darkness. Verses 19, B and 20. 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. Do you want 
an explanation for why the world looks the way it does? Do you 
want an explanation for why sinners look the way they do? You don't 
have to spend 20 years on top of Mount Shem scratching your 
head. Just read John 3, 19 and 20. We resist or reject the light 
and we love darkness. And in the context, the darkness 
is sin, it's evil, it's wickedness. It's those things which are contrary 
to a God who is light, to the God who is glory, to the God 
who is holiness. Now let's look at this in a bit 
more detail. Verse 19. And men loved darkness rather 
than the light because their deeds were evil. If you remember 
all the way back to last week, I said that commentators were 
divided on verses 16 to 21. Or verses 16 to 21, the way the 
New King James interprets it, the words of Jesus. The New King 
James interprets it that way because they put it in red letters. There were no red letters in 
the Greek manuscripts. There was no punctuation marks 
with quotations and that sort of thing. So it's a judgment 
call. It's an interpretative call. And so the translators 
here interpret it as the words of Jesus. Others say, no, it's 
extended comment by the Apostle John. John is picking up on this 
discourse on God's salvation. Jesus finishes his interaction 
at verse 15, and then from 16 to 21, John the Apostle, the 
theologian, is going to amplify on certain details. Well, let's 
just say, and I want to take it this way, as Jesus' words. 
Now, Jesus knew what was in man according to John 2, verse 25, 
according to his divinity, right? Jesus, as God, knows what's in 
our heart. But Jesus, as man, knows what's 
in man's heart as well, because Jesus knew the Old Testament. This is not a brand new sort 
of introduction in the Bible. Okay, here's how bad sinners 
are. No, Jesus knows what's in man 
according to his divinity because he's God. Jesus knows what's 
in man according to his humanity because he reads his Bible. He 
knows what the scripture says at the point of man's total depravity. Turn back to the book of Genesis, 
just a quick sketch, and then we'll end up back in John 3. 
Turn back to Genesis chapter 6, just so we can appreciate 
afresh what is in man. And the fact that we love darkness, 
we resist the light. And again, this by nature. We 
need grace. We need redemption. We need regeneration. We need new birth. We need faith 
and repentance in order to displace this resistance of the light 
and this love for darkness. When that grace comes, when the 
Spirit has His work, when we believe the gospel, we no longer 
resist the light, we run to it, we embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. 
And then we don't love the darkness. I mean, there's still darkness. 
We're with Paul, the good I don't wanna do, or the good I wanna 
do, I don't do, the evil I don't wanna do, I find myself doing. 
There is a remaining darkness to be sure, but typically it 
provokes from us what it does in the Apostle Paul. Oh, wretched 
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? We 
don't live at peace with it. We're not settled with it. We 
don't love it like we once loved it. But we have to face facts. Prior to our redemption by Christ, 
we loved darkness. We resisted him. Now, when we 
think of darkness, I mentioned the sort of analogy last hour, 
you know, the drug dealer, the prostitute visitor, and all that 
sort of thing. Do you know that your garden 
variety rebellion against God, even without prostitutes and 
crack, will still land you in an eternal hell? Any lack of 
conformity unto or transgression of the law of God reaps for you 
God's curse and wrath, both in this life and that which is to 
come. And if you are not a believer, listen, this is your plight. 
This is your problem. Notice in Genesis chapter 6 at 
verse 6, well, verse 5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness 
of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the 
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. only evil continually. We're not talking about a billion 
years after creation. Didn't take long after the fall 
of Adam for sin to go hog wild. Look at Genesis chapter 6 verses 
11 and 12. The earth also was corrupt before 
God and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked 
upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt for all flesh had 
corrupted their way on the earth. And then over in chapter 8. Chapter 
8, specifically at verse 20. Then Noah built an altar to the 
Lord and took of every clean animal and every clean bird and 
offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a 
soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in his heart, 
I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although 
the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. So essentially, 
what we're getting in John 3, verses 19 and 20, is what we 
get from the very beginning. It is the Christian doctrine 
of total depravity. Now, total depravity doesn't 
mean that man is as bad as he can be. It doesn't mean that 
all men are Pol Pot. It doesn't mean all men are Mao 
Zedong. It doesn't mean that all men are Joseph Stalin. But 
it means that every part of man is affected by the fall into 
sin, such that they resist the light and such that they love 
darkness. See, this is man's problem today. It's not sociology, it's not 
economics, it's not race, it's not gender. Man's problem is 
his sin against a holy God. Man's problem is that he has 
transgressed the law. Man's problem is that in Adam 
he died. We are now constituted with original 
sin. And from that vantage point, 
all our actual sins do proceed. Notice in the Psalter, Psalm 
51, and we're just, this is thumbnail sketch. Those of you who read 
your Bibles know this is just a sampling of passages on this 
theme of total depravity. Psalm 51, verse five, behold, 
I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived 
me. Doesn't mean that the act by 
his mother and father was sin. The conjugal relationship was 
ordained by God. It's good. It's blessed. It's 
part of his created order. The thought is, is that as soon 
as David was David, he's a sinner. And that in the womb. Now notice 
in Psalm 58. Psalm 58, David again rehearsing 
man's native depravity. Verse 3, the wicked are estranged 
from the womb. They go astray as soon as they 
are born, speaking lies. Again, brethren, we don't like 
this, it kind of bothers us, but it is to illustrate what 
Jesus means by this resistance of the light and this love of 
darkness. You see it in the book of Proverbs 
over and over again, but one place in particular that we should 
call attention to, Proverbs chapter 10. Proverbs chapter 10, specifically 
at verse 23. To do evil is like sport to a 
fool. To do evil is like sport to a 
fool. In other words, it's not something 
that he kind of does once in a while. You know people that 
are into sports. They're defined by it. They love 
it. They have cards with their heroes 
on them. They watch it. They get tired 
in a church service that's an hour and a half, but they can 
be fixed, glued to three hours of people batting hockey pucks 
around. It's an amazing phenomena. To do evil is like sport to a 
fool, Solomon says. And then turn over to Solomon 
and Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 7 verses 20 and 
29. Ecclesiastes 7 at verse 20, for 
there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. 
And then in verse 29, truly this only I have found, that God made 
man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. They resist 
the light. They love darkness. They were 
made to do the opposite, but in Adam all died. And as a result 
of that all-dyness in Adam, they actually engage in sin and lawlessness. And this is the rationale behind, 
your sins aren't necessarily my sins. My sins aren't necessarily 
your sins. Your sins aren't necessarily 
Chairman Mao's sins. But they're all sins against 
God. They're all transgressions of 
His holy law. I have found this. God made man 
upright, but they've sought out many schemes, many devices, many 
acts of lawlessness in their rebellion against a holy God. The prophet Isaiah 53, that fourth 
servant song of Yahweh. He says, and all we like sheep 
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his 
own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 64, the prophet lamenting 
on behalf of the nation of Israel tells, verse six, but we are 
all like an unclean thing, and all our, notice the language, 
all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. Do you see what 
he says? With reference to the nation 
of Judah, their righteousnesses, their Sabbath observance. their 
trips to the temple, their sacrifices at the altar. The good things 
that they actually engage in are like filthy rags in the sight 
of a thrice holy God. So when we look at that discourse 
on God's salvation, when we look at that blessed demonstration 
of the love of God and the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ at verse 
16, verses 17 to 21 substantiate Why it was the case that he had 
to come and die? Because his people were a mess. His people were putrid. His people 
were disgusting. Perhaps earlier you might have 
been a little put off by my comparison to us and the cockroach. That 
actually comes from John Gershner. No, R.C. Sproul. Gershner was 
Sproul's mentor. And one time in Southern California 
on KK, one of the largest Christian radio stations at the noontime 
hour, Sproul is giving his lesson and he talks about babies and 
he likens them to rats. And somebody calls in and says, 
well, that's not kind to liken those babies to rats. And he 
says, yeah. He says the rats are a whole 
lot better than the babies. Why? Because the wicked go estranged 
from the womb, speaking lies as soon as they are born. There's 
that scene, remember when Uzzah reaches out to steady the ox 
cart so that the Ark of the Covenant doesn't fall into the mud? And 
God kills Uzzah? Why is that? Because it's not 
the mud that will defile the Ark of the Covenant. Mud does 
what mud was supposed to do. It's the Uzzah that's unauthorized, 
who touches it, that defiles it. And that's why God kills 
him. See, brethren, when it comes to the redemptive work of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, if you miss total depravity, if you miss 
what the Bible says concerning sin, the rest of it might make 
sense, but not to the degree that it does. If you mess up 
on the T of the tulip, then everything else is going to be suspect and 
odd and weird at best. But when you know that men resisted 
the light and men loved darkness rather than the light, then you 
understand clearly why Jesus had to live in obedience to the 
law, why Jesus had to die as a substitute and a sacrifice, 
and why Jesus was raised again the third day. This provides, 
in one sense, the rationale for the cross work of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 17. Again, none of these 
men would have been commended in our age for helping to build 
up the self-esteem of those to whom they minister. You're a 
real negative Nelly, Isaiah. You're a real negative Nelly, 
Jeremiah. You're a real negative Nelly, 
Jesus Christ. But notice, without an understanding 
of the malady, without an understanding of the problem, without an understanding 
of the issue, we'll never appreciate the remedy. Right? If you don't 
understand how bad you are, you're never going to see how great 
Jesus is. Jeremiah 17, 9. The heart is 
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know 
it? And of course, back a bit in Jeremiah 13 at verse 23. This 
underscores something connected to total depravity, which we'll 
speak of if we have time a bit later, total inability. And by 
later, I don't mean in an hour. Don't fear, don't fret, we're 
not gonna be too long. But notice in Jeremiah 13 at 
23, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? 
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil. See, 
there's that concept of loving darkness, this accustomedness 
to doing evil. And then the New Testament is 
not silent here either. And I'm sure you know the various 
passages, the various texts, but suffice to say in John 3 
at verse 20, when Jesus says, or verse 19, when Jesus says, 
and they loved darkness rather than light because their deeds 
were evil, it wasn't necessary as divine that he understood 
this about man. According to his humanity, having 
a conscious knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Remember, Jesus 
was a boy and Jesus was found at the age of 12 disputing with 
the doctors of the law in the temple. He was hanging with them. He was confounding them. He was 
a student of the scriptures. That's why it says he increased 
in wisdom and in knowledge. not according to his divinity. 
Divinity doesn't increase in wisdom or knowledge, but according 
to his humanity through his study of the scriptures. And through 
his study of the scriptures, he's able to declare in terms 
of extended comment on this discourse on God's salvation, that God 
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. This was 
necessary because of the condition of man. Man is a mess. As Rolf Barnard would say, you're 
just plum bad. That's the indictment from Holy 
Scripture. That's the context in which the 
Son of Man comes to redeem his people from their sin. So back 
to John 3, notice at the end of verse 19, because their deeds 
were evil. And then in verse 20, for everyone 
practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, 
lest his deeds should be exposed. A couple of Old Testament passages 
that sound like this as well. Proverbs 15, 12, a scoffer does 
not love one who corrects him, nor will he go to the wise. Kids, 
take good note of what Solomon teaches there in the Proverbs. 
I mean, that's a great piece of advice. A scoffer does not 
love one who corrects him, nor will he go to the wise. Don't 
treat your parents that way. Go to them, go to them, listen 
to them. Amos the prophet, chapter five 
at verse 10, they hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and 
they abhor the one who speaks uprightly. So again, Jesus is 
not operating in a vacuum. Jesus has Bible in his head. 
Jesus has Bible in his heart. Jesus, when he's teaching on 
God's salvation, is teaching consistently with the entirety 
of the written word. And here, specifically, he makes 
this indictment for everyone practicing evil hates the light. Now again, brethren, if you go 
ask unbelievers, do you hate Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Typically, 
they're gonna say no. I think it's more typical today 
that more would say yes. I think that's how it's kind 
of progressing nowadays, but at least one time, and you'd 
like to think for the mass of humanity, do you hate this person? 
Well, no, I don't hate him, but that's precisely how Jesus defines 
it. They resist the light. They love 
darkness. They don't come to the light 
because they hate the light. This is like what Jesus in Proverbs 
8, Jesus speaking his wisdom, says, all those who hate me love 
death. The same idea is here. For everyone 
practicing evil hates the light and he doesn't come to the light. 
Why? Because he hates it. Do you see what we're up against 
in the preaching of God's word? We're preaching the gospel to 
people that at some level hate the very things that you're preaching. 
Do you understand why I oftentimes encourage us as a church to pray 
on Sunday mornings and to pray on Sunday afternoons that the 
Holy Spirit comes? Because we're dealing with people 
that hate the light. We're dealing with unbelievers. 
Though they might not voice it that way, though they might not 
be that honest, though they might not be that outspoken, nevertheless, 
the indictment that Jesus speaks is true. And without the regenerating 
work of the Holy Spirit, they're going to continue in that state. 
See how the connection fits? See how the chapter holds? See 
how he's circled around? Why the emphasis in John 3, 5, 
and 7 on you must be born again? Because this is what you look 
like. You're not going to believe. 
You're not going to come. You're not going to lay hold 
of him unless the Holy Spirit makes you alive. unless the Holy 
Spirit awakens you, unless the Holy Spirit makes you born from 
above or born again. That's the point in John 3, verse 
8. 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. We need the Spirit to awaken 
sinners to their state before God, such that they no longer 
continue to love darkness and resist the light, but that they'll 
run to the light and thus put off the darkness by God's grace. They hate the light, They avoid 
the light, and then notice they're proud, arrogant, wretches. And 
that's not me condemning you. That's all of us in this boat 
of rebellion against a holy God. Apart from God's grace, this 
is us. Everyone practicing evil hates 
the light and does not come to the light. Why? Lest his deeds 
should be exposed. He's proud, and at some level, 
he knows he's wrong. At some level, he knows he's 
wrong. John Owen famously wrote that 
when men hear thunders, and they see lightnings, and they see 
tempests, and they see the created order, as it were, rage on behalf 
of God, they fear and tremble. Not so much at that phenomena, 
but that there is a God and that He is a consuming fire. We cannot 
shed the image of God. We cannot get rid of the image 
of God. So at some level, we don't want 
to be exposed in our rebellion and transgression against God. 
That's why so often, whenever those lights come on, we run 
under the furniture. We don't want to be exposed. 
We want to continue in our sin in a way that is rebellious against 
God. And then the final aspect, notice, 
is the contrast with believers. So the unbeliever rejects the 
light, the unbeliever loves the darkness, and the unbeliever 
is the opposite of the believer. Notice in verse 21, but he who 
does the truth. That's kind of an interesting 
way for John to frame that, he who does the truth. I think that's 
a further explanation of verse 18. Notice in verse 18, he who 
believes in him. Well, those who believe in him 
are those who do the truth, right? It's a synonymous extension or 
amplification of what it means to be a believer. You're a doer 
of the truth. When you get to John's epistle, 
he deals with righteousness, he deals with love, he deals 
with commandment keeping, all those sorts of things come out 
in 1 John. Why? Because he wrote John's 
gospel, he had intimacy with the Lord, he understood theology, 
and therefore, when he comes to write his first epistle, he 
deals with those themes as John the theologian. But notice, he 
who does the truth, and those who believe the gospel, he comes 
to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they 
have been done in God. Isn't that true of the believer 
now? I mean, we're still shamed at certain points. We still do 
things that we're ashamed of and we'd really like for not 
everybody to know everything about us. But for the most part, 
we come to the light. The works that we do, we want 
to do so that men will see those works and give glory to God, 
according to Jesus in Matthew chapter five. So there is this 
contrast between the believer and the unbeliever. The unbeliever 
resists the light, the unbeliever loves the darkness. The believer, 
however, comes to the light. A believer, rather, comes and 
wants to be in the presence of that light. It's no longer shameful, 
but rather it is that light which has dealt with our shame, and 
as a result now, we're happy to abide in it. God's grace is 
wondrous. We no longer love darkness. We 
no longer resist the light, but now we've come to the light. 
We hate the darkness and we are opposite to what we once were 
because of the regenerating work of the spirit who has caused 
us to believe the gospel of his beloved son. That's how the chapter 
works together. This phrase, that they have been 
done in God, at the end of verse 21, is well explained by Matthew 
Poole. Those words are said to be wrought 
in, with, by, or through God. which tend to the honor and glory 
of God as their end and flow from him as their cause, which 
are done with his strength and assistance and for his honor 
and glory. Just the opposite of what the 
unbeliever does. He doesn't care about the light. 
He loves his darkness. He wants not to be exposed. He 
wants to continue in that pattern and in that path. But God comes, 
God the Spirit comes, opens our hearts, opens our eyes to behold 
the light that has come into the world by grace, grants us 
the faith and repentance to believe on him and to be saved. That is Jesus' discourse on salvation. So let's just conclude with a 
couple of thoughts and then we'll go. First, the doctrine of total 
depravity. The doctrine of total depravity, 
you cannot miss that. You should not miss that. Again, 
if you miss that, you're going to have a messed up view of God's 
salvation all along the way. That's what Gershner said. You 
miss the T, you're going to wreck the ULIP. You miss the T, you're 
going to wreck the ULIP. If you don't understand how bad 
the problem is, unconditional election doesn't make sense. 
If you don't understand how bad the problem is, particular redemption 
doesn't make sense. If you don't understand how bad 
the problem is, irresistible grace doesn't make sense. If 
you don't understand how bad the problem is, perseverance 
of the saints doesn't make sense. You see, if you get sin wrong, 
you're going to get the Savior wrong. And if you get the Savior 
wrong, you end up in hell. And so it's very important that 
you understand the sin that you need to be saved from. That it's 
not just a little blemish. It's not just a little problem. 
It's not just a little bit of a handicap. But as Paul says 
in Ephesians 2, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. That 
doesn't mean physically, but it means spiritually. And it 
does mean eternally if we don't believe the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. So there must be, secondly, in 
response to this understanding of total depravity, the necessity 
of regeneration. You must be born again. Chapter 
3, 5, 3, 5, and 7. Jesus emphasizes that, 
not just because he wants to set forth for all future theological 
study who's actually going to be right, the Calvinists or the 
Reformed. No, He teaches so that sinners may know the calamity 
that they have, the problems they face, the issues that are 
true of them, and the necessity of the Spirit of God. In other 
words, who saves us? Is it us? We come to our senses, 
we come to the cross, and we get things right? No, you're 
born of the Spirit, and the Spirit's first work in terms of regeneration 
is to grant the grace of faith so that you can look and live. 
so that you can trust in that blessed Savior, who, like that 
serpent, was raised up in the wilderness, so that everyone 
who looks to Him in faith will have everlasting life. That is 
part of this as well. Never forget the analogy of the 
serpent. Notice there is a tendency for 
some to say, well, it's not that bad. Or for some to say, well, 
am I elect? Or am I predestined? Or have 
I been chosen? The serpent analogy teaches you 
that when you know that you've been bit, you look to the remedy. You look to Christ. You look 
in faith. You believe on Him and you will 
be saved. That's the emphasis in the passage. Whoever believes in Him should 
not perish but have eternal life. Listen to the Geneva Bible. This 
is its comment on verse 16, and it summarizes everything I've 
tried to say in the last three sermons. Nothing else but the 
free love of the Father is the beginning of our salvation. And 
Christ is He in whom our righteousness and salvation is resident. And 
faith is the instrument or mean whereby we apprehend it, and 
life everlasting is that which is set before us to apprehend. I mentioned in the first coming, 
The mission of the Son of Man was not condemnation. But in 
the second coming of the Son of Man, it is condemnation. It 
is exclusion. It is every one of us standing 
before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of deeds done 
in the body, whether good or ill. Now, if we've had any thought 
of what he said to us in verses 19 and 20, that's gonna be a 
hard day for those who do not have Jesus Christ. That's when 
that light will expose us. There'll be no refrigerator, 
no couch, no bookshelf for us to run and hide under. We will 
face the son of man who comes in the glory of his father with 
all of his holy angels, taking vengeance on them who know not 
God and on them who do not obey the gospel. So listen to the 
analogy of the serpent today and look unto Jesus Christ and 
you shall be saved. Believe on Him and you'll be 
fit and ready to face Him on that day and hear the blessed 
words, well done, good and faithful servant. Well, let us pray. Our 
Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the teaching 
of our blessed Savior concerning salvation. And it's clear. It 
is very crystal clear. We always are dependent upon 
God Most High. We need the Spirit to regenerate 
us. We need the Lord Jesus and His 
work on the cross, His work in life, His resurrection from the 
dead. We need the Father and the grace 
that you display, such that when we come to the book of Ephesians, 
we see why Paul blesses our triune God, the Father for choosing 
and predestinating, the Son for redeeming through His blood. 
the Spirit for taking that finished and accomplished redemption and 
applying it to your people. Lord, help us always with the 
prophet Jonah to confess that salvation is of the Lord. Help 
us with those saints in heaven or at the throne of God Almighty 
who cry out, salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who 
sits upon the throne. May this encourage you, your 
people, May it strengthen each and every one of us. And God, 
may it be a great, great incentive for sinners here to look unto 
the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, to believe on Him, and to have 
everlasting life. And we ask this in His most blessed 
name. Amen. Let us close by singing 
hymn number 568. 568, a praise to our triune God, and 
we'll stand as we sing together. Praise Him, all creatures here 
below. Praise Him, our God, we heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. O Israel, hope in the Lord, for 
with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption, 
and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. God in heaven, 
we thank you for your graciousness, we thank you for your mercy and 
your lovingkindness. We confess that at one time We 
hated the light, we loved the darkness, and You found us out. 
You opened our hearts, You gave us the grace of faith to believe 
on Jesus. You've justified us freely by 
that grace, and we rejoice in You. And we know, God, if that 
grace avails for sinners like us, it avails for sinners like 
others. And so we pray for the blessing of God upon the preaching 
of the gospel throughout the world today. May it go forth 
conquering and to conquer, and may you be glorified in the salvation 
of sinners. And we ask through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord, amen. I'll close with a brief time 
of meditation.