A New Creation – Pt 6

Would God’s people take their
Bibles, turn to the Gospel of John once again, chapter three.
John chapter three. We find ourselves once again
in this rich study of Christ’s interaction with Nicodemus. The
dialogue begins in chapter 3 verse 1 but the theme or the setting
actually begins in chapter 2 verse 23 as we have already seen. We come to the final section
and wrap up the final section this morning in John chapter
3 verses 1 through 21. We have We’ve been enriched, we’ve been
challenged, we have been initially intrigued and then instructed
and even chastened by the dialogue with Nicodemus. And this final
portion of Christ’s dialogue with Nicodemus, Jesus has made
already several statements, heavenly truths, we find those in verses
13 through 15. And then in verse 16, we began
last week with what I suggested was the greatest explanation
ever given. Beginning with chapter 16, or
verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life. Jesus knew Nicodemus’s heart.
Jesus knew what Nicodemus needed most. Jesus knew the reason for
his dissimulation. The reason that he would come
at night. The reason that he was bewildered
even at some of the things that Jesus began to tell him. Jesus knew Nicodemus’s heart
and Jesus knows ours. If you would, chapter two, verse
23. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast,
many believed in his name, observing his signs, which he was doing,
but Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them, for
he knew all men. And because he did not need anyone
to testify concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man,
now 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 have come from God as
a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless
God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him,
truly, truly, 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? He cannot enter a second time
into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Jesus answered,
truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
spirit, he cannot enter into 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 be amazed that I said
to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes
and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes
from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of
the spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him,
are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we
speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you
do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things
and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly
things? No one has ascended into heaven
but he who descended from heaven, the son of man. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the
Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might
be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not
judged. He who does not believe has been
judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the
light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather
than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does
evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear
that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth
comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having
been wrought in God. if you have shared your faith
at all, if you have entered into dialogue with unbelievers, if
you have engaged with family members about spiritual things,
if you have initiated discussions or entered into discussions about
quote-unquote religion, then you know that there is not only
much diversity about religion in general, there is great diversity
about salvation and the way that one is saved. But at the core
of all of that, there is great diversity, confusion, misinformation,
error, even heresy regarding the nature and the cause of judgment. What brings about judgment? On what are we judged? And I
think the most pernicious error is that we have this idea of
judgment that if we do just enough wrong, we will be judged. That God has this relative scale
that he uses upon entry into heaven. And if the scale is tipped
too many moral infirmities, then we are judged and damned. There’s that element, where if
we just do enough wrong, that the scale is tipped, but there’s
an equal thought that goes with this, and this is the pernicious
error, that we can actually lighten the scale by our deeds. That if we do enough good, then
the scale is lightened and when we get to heaven, we may hold
our breath and approach the scale delicately and just get by. It’s not true. It’s not true. It’s not true
that if we do enough bad, the scale tips And we are judged. It’s not true that we can lighten
the scale by our deeds throughout a course of life of good deeds. It’s not true. And what Jesus’
purpose is to do here is to tell us once and for all God’s view. God’s truth on judgment. And He wants to tell us so that
we know what brings about judgment. He wants us to know how one escapes
judgment. He wants us to know what is the
cause of judgment. What is the nature of judgment? I think what Jesus does here
so mercifully to Nicodemus, who had to have been so confused
himself about judgment, about what nations were going to be
judged, and why. that Jesus in His abundant mercy
drives home the point of verse 16 with this further elucidation
on that one point that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have
eternal life that resonated with Nicodemus. Nicodemus had just been told
heavenly things. The fact that if there was anybody
on the face of the earth that was qualified to tell Nicodemus
heavenly things, it was the Lord Jesus Christ himself. No one
else has ascended to heaven. No one has sought counsel with
God face to face. But Jesus Christ has been with
him for eternities. Jesus Christ knows full well
the mysteries of heaven. Who else? And then in verse 14,
he tells us that profound truth, illuminating the darkness of
Numbers 21. That Jesus Christ, just like
the serpent in the wilderness, must be lifted up. There must
be a crucifixion. There must be an atonement for
sin. And then Jesus initiates this
greatest explanation ever been given, beginning in verse 16. But in the course of that explanation,
Jesus alludes to the idea of perishing. That hadn’t come up. That hadn’t been a focal point
of what Jesus was talking about with Nicodemus. And now to insert
it seems rather abrupt. But Jesus wants to drive home
the point. He doesn’t want to just tell Nicodemus merely about
salvation, but he wants to tell him the full story about judgment
as well, perishing. And he begins to do that in verses
17 and following. Jesus is giving him the truth
about judgment. First of all, the plan of judgment. the plan of judgment. And he
gives him Christ’s purpose. The very purpose that he came
was not for judgment, but for salvation. Look at verse 17. For God did not send the Son
into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved
through him. Nicodemus may have been standing
there looking at Jesus Christ thinking that if he were the
Messiah, then he has come as the liberator. He has come as
the judge. He has come to judge the heathen
nations. The Jews counted on it. They planned on it. They expected
that when Jesus Christ, the Messiah, showed up, he was going to judge
the Gentile nations. What they didn’t plan on was
that Jesus Christ was coming with the gift of salvation to
the Gentile world. They expected him to come and
destroy the Gentiles, the heathen, the Jewish scholars, looked at
the Messiah, they looked at His coming, and they expected Him
fully to come and to condemn the heathen world, to punish
them, punish the nations that had oppressed Israel, but not
Israel. Israel would be saved, they would
be spared, they would be blessed. Their King would come. But whatever the result, of Christ coming to the world. It wasn’t for judgment. That’s
what Jesus tells Nicodemus. The last thing that Jesus had
in mind was judgment. Jesus is coming to save the world. That’s what he tries to get Nicodemus
to understand. And he says that God sent him
for that specific purpose. This wasn’t a change of plans
on Christ’s part. This is part of God’s great plan
of redemption. God’s great plan of redemption
was that Jesus Christ would come to save, not to judge. Not to
judge. That word sent here is the word
that you’ll be familiar with even as you hear it in the Greek
apostello, what we translate as apostles, the sent ones. Jesus Christ says here right
now that there was a definite mission in place, that it was
God’s mission, that it was God’s plan of redemption, and that
he was an envoy on God’s behalf doing God’s work. But let’s look at another word,
the other word that stands out for us in that particular passage
is the word judge. It’s the first time in this conversation
that it’s really been used. And the word judge literally
meant originally to separate out, to delve in and to separate
out a portion. And so this is where a lot of
people have gotten this idea that you’ve got to somehow measure
up. The scale has to tip in your
favor because sooner or later God is going to separate out
those unfaithful, those who have sinned just enough. The interesting thing here, John
does tell us elsewhere that Jesus did not come for the purpose
of judgment, but there are several passages that indicate that Jesus
Christ did come for judgment. It’s not a conundrum. It’s not
a big problem. Essentially, what is intended
by those verses is that Jesus Christ, his mere coming would
be in itself the seal of judgment on some. It was the inevitable
result, as one said it, As one put it, though judgment was not
the object of Christ’s mission, judgment in fact is the necessary
result of it. See, the world was a sinful place. And Christ coming into the world
does involve a separation. It does involve a division. God did not send his son into
the world for the purpose of judgment and condemnation, but
it is an inevitable result. Look again at the passage. The
purpose for which Christ came was not judgment, the purpose
was salvation. Salvation is the deliverance,
the deliverance not only from punishment, but from the effects
of sin, sin itself. And it’s not only a salvation
from, but it’s a salvation to. It’s a blessing. It’s the blessing
of heaven. It’s a blessing of eternal life.
It’s salvation. And that is Christ’s great mission. Luke 19 10, the son of man has
come to seek and to save that which was lost. And so the first
thing that you have to back up and acknowledge with Nicodemus
is the great plan of judgment. That Christ’s purpose was not
judgment, it was salvation. And we have to acknowledge that
at the start. Christ doesn’t come as the judge. Christ doesn’t
come to divide. Secondly, God tells us in his truth about
judgment, not only about the plan of judgment, but the escape
from judgment. Faith in Jesus Christ spares
from judgment. Look at verse 18, he who believes
in him is not judged. And what he begins to do here
is just elaborate on all of those truths that he introduced in
verse 17, which itself is an explanation of verse 16, for
God so loved the world. What he says here, driving home
this point, is that for those who looked to Christ in faith,
for those who received Him as the Messiah He was, as the one
sent from God, who would come and be lifted up, would bear
their guilt on the cross, for those who place their faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, they are spared from judgment. They are
saved from that judgment, the very purpose for which Christ
came. As one pastor put it, the expression, is not judged, is
equivalent to saying, he is pardoned, he is acquitted, he is justified,
he is cleared of all guilt, delivered from the curse of a broken law,
and no longer counted a sinner, but reckoned perfectly righteous
in the sight of God. Placing one’s faith in Jesus
Christ does something, it removes one from the guilt of sin. See what John begins to point
to here is that eternal life, we tend to look forward to eternal
life when we die. But in a very real sense, eternal
life for the believer has already begun. Eternal life is the here
and now. It’s not merely the hope of future
and likewise with judgment. Judgment begins even in the present
life, doesn’t it? The believer has eternal life.
He’s already enjoying eternal life. And there is no, there’s
no concern of judgment for him. There’s no concern of judgment
for the child of God. He’s not condemned. He’s not
judged. He doesn’t stand before God.
Faith here, specifically faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
ultimately faith in His finished work of redemption is a faith
that saves. Thirdly, I almost always get in trouble.
Because point one is the longest point of all. And then I zip
through points three and four. Not so today. They will grow
exponentially as we get into the final two points. We’re talking
about God’s truth about judgment. There’s lots of error out there.
There’s lots of different ideas that what’s going to happen when
we are judged, that we’re going to be graded on some kind of
a scale, that God’s going to grade on a curve and He’s going
to bless us accordingly. God tells us about His plan of
judgment, that Jesus Christ didn’t come to judge, He came to save.
He tells us about the escape from judgment, that faith in
Jesus Christ saves from judgment. But the third is this cause of
judgment. The cause of judgment. And the
bottom line is judgment has already been rendered. Not just to you. Judgment has
already been rendered to all. Look at verse 18 again. He who
believes in Him is not judged. He who does not believe has been
judged already. because he has not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Here you begin to
see Jesus’ point. That everybody on the face of
the earth already stands, wallows in a pool of sin and death, and
they are already judged because of the sin of Adam, and because
of their own sin. And for Jesus Christ to come
and to save any, renders them free of judgment.
What he points to is the fact that all, all have been judged
already, but that those who place their faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ are absolved of that judgment. See, Jesus didn’t come. He didn’t
come to sentence anybody. He didn’t come to render judgment.
He didn’t come to bang down a gavel, cry out guilty. because of their unbelief, because
of their unbelief of Christ, because of their disbelief of
God, because of their disbelief of God and His righteous system,
His justice, because of their disbelief of God, a holy being,
even in being in existence, they’re already self-condemned.
All men are self-condemned. One said it this way, although
judgment was not the object, it is the necessary result of
Christ’s presence in the world. Not only is he left under the
curse of his own evil actions, but as the next clause shows,
he lies under the condemnation of not believing. It’s not just
a moment of unbelief. We tend to put Jesus in tract
form before people and ask him for a decision of faith in the
moment. And that if that decision of
faith is not rendered, then the person is lost. That’s not the
case. He’s already lost. He’s already
in great peril. So the sinner is condemned, not
by Christ himself, but by his own act. In that sense, that’s
why we said he’s self-condemned. He’s condemned already. He’s judged. It’s not just that
he has to look forward to a future examination where he stands before
some throne and God listens to all the things that he has done
and hasn’t done in his life. How many times he went to church.
What kind of Bible he carried. And then to stand there with
his knees trembling, wondering, you know, how God’s going to
weigh on his behavior. He’s already judged. As one pastor said, the man who
refuses to believe on Christ is in a state of condemnation
before God even while he lives. He doesn’t need to wait for judgment. He’s already in judgment. He
is reckoned guilty and dead before God. His sins are upon his head. No new condemnation is needed.
Every man or every woman who does not believe is under the
curse and condemned already. That’s all people. All people
are already in a state of unbelief and judgment. They’re already
dead and judged. We don’t need to wait for a day
where God will bang down the gavel. As one said it, not to perceive
the glory of this majestic being. Not to receive the revelation
made by the only begotten is proof not merely of human infirmity
and passion, but of wickedness chosen and preferred in the presence
of revealed goodness. Human sin is no longer the result
of ignorance, but of deliberate choice and preference. And that’s
all of life. All of life, every moment, is
a choice between Almighty God, holiness, repentance, restoration, life
itself, and sin, which leads to death. It’s really that simple. We’re told in the older confessions
that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him
forever. That is man’s purpose. That every
day that we wake up, the design is for us to look up and see
how we can know and please God better. But sin has tainted that. And
once sin is in the mix, we hide ourselves from God. We hide our
eyes from Him. We cower in the darkness. We
hide from Him because the last thing we want to be is corrected. One said it so eloquently when
he said, the human spirit fulfills the end of his being and finds
his highest good in communion with God. That’s the design. It cannot then fail to recognize
and believe in a revelation of God. This revelation has been
made in the only way it can be made, fully, in the person of
the only begotten Son. So in other words, if you have
lived a life of faith, if you have seen God’s truth for what
it is, seeing Christ for who He is would have been easy to
recognize. We think of all those Saints
in the Old Testament even Even what we read about this morning
those as Christ came on to the earth who so readily placed their
faith in him There’s was a life of faith. There’s was a life
of yearning There’s was a life of recognition of sin in their
life and a crying out to God for help See the last judgment the final
judgment it doesn’t decide anything It merely is a public proclamation
of what has been true all along. A life with a lack of faith. A life that did not recognize
God for who He was. It did not yield to Him. It did
not seek Him. It did not love Him. God’s telling us His truth. about
judgment, the truth about judgment. And he gives us not only the
plan of judgment, that it wasn’t part of Christ’s plan to come.
In judgment it was Christ’s plan to come and save. Judgment was
already in place. The escape from judgment is through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The cause of judgment is that
it’s already rendered by a lack of faith. But look at the nature
of judgment. This is where we’ll spend some
time this morning. The nature of judgment. Judgment is revealed
by this response to light. Look at verse 19. This is the
judgment that the light has come into the world and men loved
the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates
the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds
will be exposed. but he who practices the truth
comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having
been wrought in God. People look at this passage and
they think that this is the sentence being pronounced. This isn’t
the sentence being pronounced. He’s merely telling us how judgment
unfolds, how judgment comes about. This isn’t the rendering of God’s
justice here in this particular passage. He’s just telling us
how the law works, how it all falls out. And what he points
to here is that at the core, unbelief is the refusal to come
to the light, the refusal to acknowledge one’s sin, the refusal
to deal with one’s sin, In other words, at the core of
unbelief is sin. It’s a refusal to deal with one’s
sin. If you would, go back to John
chapter 1. We looked at this passage, we
dealt with this passage, and I showed you a particular feature
in this passage that we’ll consider again. Depending on what Bible
version you’re considering, I want to look again at verse 4 through
verse 13. We are told us that in Christ,
in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And we
saw that that in many versions is that word light is capitalized. But I challenged that and I suggested
to you that I don’t believe that it should be capitalized there.
I don’t think that it has to be talking about Christ because
Christ is the life. In Him was life. And the life
was the light of men. And we looked at that. What did
life represent? Well, life represented all of
life. Physical life, spiritual life, the life of creation, everything. And everything that God has done
is a testimony to us of His existence. It’s a testimony to us of His
nature, of His goodness. That’s exactly what Paul says
in Romans chapter 1. All of life is a testimony. So what he says, verse 4, in
him was life. Christ has given us everything.
He gave us creation. He gave us our own physical life.
He gave us, you know, the sustenance of the entire creation is a testimony
to us. We can walk outside and see God
at work. Psalm 19. And that life He says
was the light of men, that was the testimony to our consciences. And we looked at a number of
different passages that all pointed to that same truth. So later on, when it says there
came a man sent from God whose name was John, verse 6, he came
as a witness to testify about the light. Now I do think we
begin to capitalize the light. So not only has Jesus Christ
given us, he’s given us creation, he’s given us our physical life,
he’s given us the sustenance of creation, he’s also given
us himself as a great testimony. The problem is that there are
those that have been unfaithful, disbelieving the entire time.
They don’t believe in creation, they don’t take it as a miracle
of their own birth, they don’t take it as a miracle of God’s
sustaining grace that the earth continues. Nothing is of faith. They disbelieve at every turn
because the moment they believe in a holy God, something has
to change. And so for Christ to come onto
the scene, for John to testify about this light, it’s just more
information that they cannot bear. They will not deal with
it. Don’t take my word for it. Look at verse 19. Chapter 3 verse
19, this is the judgment. How did this judgment come about?
When do you say we’re already judged? And I’m fretting. When did this judgment take place? Well, the light has come into
the world and men love the darkness rather than the light. They’re
already standing in the spot of judgment to the degree that
they have dealt with truth in faith. They stand before God
judged. John essentially says the same
thing in the opening of his gospel as we just read. But throughout,
Jesus would refer to himself as the light, and Jesus is just
another further testimony. Jesus is their last best hope
of salvation. If they would only pause and
place their faith in Almighty God, if they would only repent
of their sin, I think I shared with somebody
this past week, I think I read something like 32 or 34 different
commentaries in preparation, and sometimes I come across the
absolute absurd. And you say, I’ve had people
say, why do you keep reading that commentary? And I read that
commentary for this, it gives me good stuff to talk about.
Things not just to criticize, but the interesting thing is
people believe this. People believe some of the same
things. It’s not just that they read the commentary, but the
commentary feeds their false thoughts. I’ve got to know it.
Here’s the absurd thought of the week. Men would not be condemned had
Christ not come. That is an out and out lie. It’s not true. And yet that is
the way most people live. That, you know, I can take or
leave Christ. In fact, I’m going to hedge my
bets, and I’m going to suggest that I can live a life good enough,
without Christ, to get to heaven. God’s going to grade on a curve.
I’ve been a good person. Right? At our core, at the core of our
being, we are at enmity with God. We hate God. We have sinned
against Him. And the whole purpose of this
salvation is not this judgment that we talked
about, but the separation of good that involves the judgment
of the evil. As one said it, the light makes
the darkness visible, and they chose darkness. It was an act
of their own will. That’s why we stand not only
condemned in the sin of Adam and Eve, but we stand condemned
in our own sins. We too have committed sin, great
sin. Paul was writing about this in
Romans. He tells us very clearly the
nature of our sin and sinfulness. Romans chapter 1 verse 18, the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all and godliness
and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They keep it down. They hold
it down. They don’t want to deal with it. They don’t want to come
to the light to deal with their sin. It’s a life lacking faith. They don’t believe in God. That
didn’t come first, it’s the suppression that comes first. They sinned
first, then comes the suppression. They know there’s a God. They
know there’s a God because God revealed it to them. They know
there’s a God. Deep down in their heart, they
know there’s a God. And they know there’s a God because
they’re at war with Him. Jonathan Edwards, one of my heroes
of the faith, tells us why they’re at war with God. He said the
strictness of God’s law is a principal cause of man’s enmity against
God. If God were one that did not
so much hate sin. Come on, God, great on a curve. Lighten up a little bit. If He
would allow them in gratification of their lusts in some degree,
and His threatenings were not so awful against all criminal
indulgence, you make it sound so bad, God. If His threatenings
were not so absolute, if His displeasure could be appeased
by a few tears, a little reformation or the like, they would not be
so great enemies. Nor hate Him so much as they
do. But God shows himself to be an implacable enemy to their
idols and has threatened everlasting wrath, infinite calamity for
all that they do in the service of their loss. And this makes
them irreconcilable enemies to him. They don’t want to be at peace
because peace would mean leaving off their sin. Look at verse
20. This is the judgment that light
has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than
the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil
hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that
his deeds will be exposed. When he says in verse 20, everyone
who does the light, the word literally there could be translated,
practices. He practices his evil. He keeps doing the same thing. One described it as the reiterative
putting forth of activities to bring something to pass. He really
wants to make something of this evil life that he’s living. He
really thinks that it’s going to measure up. And so he keeps doing, and keeps
doing, and he keeps busying himself. What one called the busy fruitlessness
of vice. He keeps at it. He won’t quit. But it’s absolutely fruitless. Everyone who does evil, everyone
who practices evil hates the light. and does not come to the
light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. These things
that he’s doing literally are worthless, they’re frivolous,
good for nothing. Described as poor, light, paltry,
naughty, good for nothing, trivial. At the end of it all, what’s
it worth? Nothing. His sin is worth absolutely
nothing. And the bottom line is they hate
the light. Hating the light is just a byproduct. They don’t
hate the light because of necessarily anything in the light. They hate
the light because it shines the truth on their life. One said
it this way, men reject the light because their character is evil.
Those who engage in the practice of evil actually hate the pure
light of God’s revelation in Christ. The reason is they do
not want their sins exposed. I don’t remember what critter
it is she had so many, but from time to time, I had to go out
and hunt for bugs, right? Lizard or duck or whatever it
was, and you’d flip over the rock and they’d scatter, right?
They love the light. That’s where they hide. And that’s
their place. And that’s what they love. And
that’s the same thing with evil deeds. Evil deeds love darkness. That’s their realm. That’s where
they live. They cannot bear the light. They
don’t want the light of God’s truth shining on them. Because
they do not want to change. One said, not only does the man
that does evil hate the light and love the darkness, the very
presence makes manifest and reproves his work. It illumines the dark
and dark secret chambers of his heart and reveals the thoughts
and deeds which conscience, seeing this light, trembles at and turns
away. turns away to the darkness that
it may hide itself from its own gaze.” Jesus was a nice man by men’s
judgment. It wasn’t that he wasn’t a pleasant
man to be around. It’s that he represented God
himself. He represented a holy God. He
was perfectly holy. He was God in the flesh. When
a sinner sees that light, like all light, it cowers and hides
because it hates that light, because it loves its sin. One pastor said here is the cause
of man’s unbelief. He loves the darkness and therefore
hates the light. What proof of his depravity?
It is not only that men are in the dark, but they love the darkness. And they prefer ignorance, error,
superstition to the light of truth and reason. The reason
why they love this darkness and hate this light is because their
deeds are evil. They love it. They relish in
it. They cannot bear to have the
light of conscience illuminated. See, it wasn’t that God hadn’t
given enough evidence. Remember Paul and Romans? Romans
said, enough, you have enough. They have enough just from what
God has given to them. That which is known about God
is evident within them, for God has made it evident to them.
And you would have the average man say, when did you ever tell
me about yourself? When did you ever give me enough
information about yourself to hold me absolutely guilty for
not believing in God? Well. Paul answered that, for
since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his
eternal power, divine nature have been clearly seen, being
understood through what has been made. It’s all been one steady
stream of truth. It’s not that there was a lack
of evidence. And then day by day, the miracle of birth, the
miracle of food, the miracle of our eyes and our brains, the
ability to communicate, and all the miracles that take place
day by day, moment by moment throughout our lives. God hasn’t
given enough information? And then on top of that, he sends
his own son, his own son comes to earth in the flesh, God in
the flesh, and he begins to proclaim salvation. It’s not that they didn’t have
enough evidence. They had plenty enough evidence. The only reason
that they didn’t come to Christ, because he is light, and light
would require them leaving off their sin. It’s not that they
don’t even maybe desire salvation a little bit. This sounds like
a good deal. But if it means leaving off my sin, if it means
leaving off my lifestyle, if it means changing course, then
I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in a God-made
creation. I don’t believe that God sent
His Son. I don’t believe all of this.
It’s a life of disbelief. There’s another side of that
equation. Not all. This is the judgment,
verse 19, that the light has come into the world and men love
the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil.
For everyone who practices evil hates the light and does not
come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But
he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds
may be manifest as having been wrought in God. I think what
Jesus does here is the most gentle, Evangelism, the world’s ever
seen when he reaches out to Nicodemus and says, Nicodemus, practice
the truth. Do the truth. Come to the light. Recognize and acknowledge your
sin. Repent of it. Turn your back
on it. We don’t know exactly what Nicodemus
did with it. We don’t know for sure if Nicodemus
turned his back on his sin, recognized the light for what it was, and
placed his faith in Jesus Christ. We have reason to believe that
he did. We’ll see him come across his path twice more in John’s
Gospel. The final of which clearly indicates
that something had happened in Nicodemus’ life. There will be
all kinds of surprises in heaven. I wouldn’t be surprised to see
Nicodemus there. But the truth is the same for
us. Do we come to the light? Do we come to embrace the light?
Do we come to have our sins exposed? Exposed for what they are? The
very thing that sent Christ to the cross. Do we come with that
purpose? Do we come with that humility?
Do we come in that faith? To come to have the light of
God shine on our lives? One pastor put it this way, with
fixed purpose. He doeth not that which is evil
or worthless, but that which, when every veil by which it is
hidden from himself or others is removed, remains morally true. Regarding the truth as the work
of life, he comes to the light. And though form it too, it will
be a revelation of sins and errors and deeds of shame. He hates
them the moment he knows them. Did you hear what he said? When
you come to the light, it’s not going to be a pleasant experience.
Not initially. You’re going to see things in
light of what God sees. You’re going to see them as God
sees them. That’s what confession is. Acknowledging
the nature of our sin before a holy God. He hates them the moment He knows
them. He cuts them from His life at whatever cost, and carries
His whole being to the light, that it may become really true,
and that its true works may be manifested. He will hate the
darkness, for you can have nothing to conceal it. The bottom line for us, do we
love the light? Do we love having our sins exposed? Not the fact that displeasure
of all that. But do we love the fact that
when that sin is exposed, it may be confessed. And once it
is confessed, grace may be applied. We can put to death that sin.
And we can move towards God and holiness of life. What a merciful
call our Lord Jesus gave to Nicodemus. A call to repentance. a call
to faith, a call to eternal life. Let’s pray. O merciful God, our minds have been corrected
as to the nature of your judgment. You didn’t send Jesus Christ
to judge the world. We were already judged. You sent
Him to save, to seek and to save that which was lost. And all
of us were lost. Father, we thank You for those
of us who have already stepped purely by Your mercy into the
light to have our own sin exposed and confessed and forgiven. Lord God, we pray for any We
pray for any who still cower in the darkness, thinking that
they can hide. They can’t hide forever. God, draw them to the light. For the sake of Christ. For the
sake of their own souls. We pray these things in Jesus
name. Amen. Take your bulletins and let’s
stand together and sing Jesus and Messiah as we close.