The Son Came to Save

Intro:

John 3:16-21 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.””

God SO loved the world

John 3:16-17.

God loved it so much that He gave us His Son to save us.

He sacrificed His Son that we might have new, eternal life.

What we are given when we are saved is freedom from condemnation, or our guilty punishment, and a new life in the way that God created life to be.

We were created to live a life that is in relationship to God. We were made to love God, to be in relationship with each other, and to glorify God forever. That’s the reason for existence.

However, we choose to love ourselves more than God, to harm others instead of be in community, and to glorify ourselves instead of God.

And so, we’re broken. There’s something in us that so desperately wants to be God that we shove Him to the side and make ourselves more important. Some people call it sin nature.

And the only way that we can come back to a right relationship with God and to live in the way that we were called is through a Savior.

We need something that can drag us out of this pit of self service and toxic glorification

The way to receive the gift of the Son is to believe in Him.

What does that mean?

Believe what He says

Believe Him when he says you’re lost and broken

Believe Him when He says that He’s God.

believe Him when He says He’s the only way to God.

God loved the world, including you, so much that He didn’t want to leave you in the brokenness of your life. He wants to make you new.

And this isn’t through judgement or making you feel terrible about yourself to get even. Jesus didn’t come down from heaven to judge you, but to save you.

But, let’s talk a bit about God’s judgement.

God’s Judgement.

While the purpose of Jesus at that point wasn’t to judge, that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t judge.

The reason we need the Son to save us is because we are in a position of judgement. If we don’t believe in Jesus as our Savior, then we are in a bad place with God.

“The man who depreciates Christ, or thinks Him unworthy of his allegiance, passes judgement on himself, not on Christ. He does not need to wait until the day of judgement; the verdict on him has been pronounced already. (91 - The Gospel of John - Bruce.

We all know that we’ve sinned, but it’s how we view Christ that changes us.

We all know that we have sinned and aren’t perfect, so now there are two options for us.

Continue living in sin.

Jesus compares sin to the dark and Himself to the light.

If you live in the dark and want to stay there, then the light of Christ isn’t going to look good.

If a creature lives it’s entire life in the dark, then light is terrifying, it reveals everything, you have nowhere to hide, and it’s going to hurt to be in it!

We say things like:

It will hurt too much

I’ll have to give up everything

What will be left of me?

Wanting to change

You might be a creature of the dark now, but if you want to practice good, to live you life on God’s terms instead of your own, then Jesus can save you!

Will it hurt? Oh yes, terribly!

Will you have to give up everything? More than everything, you have to give up your entire life!

What will be left of you? Not much of the former self.

But, you will be a child of God, loved for and cared for by the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.

Eustace the Dragon.

In the book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, there is a character named Eustace, who was a jerk. He was selfish, greedy, and mean. And, because his heart was rotten, he was turned into a dragon. At first, it was pretty cool, but very quickly he grew tired of being unable to talk to people, and of being fully alone, and of being a monster.

Then, Aslan, the character like God, finds him and brings him to a massive pool with steps leading into it.

Aslan tells Eustace that he has to remove his outer layer to get in. Eustace tries to remove some of the dragon scales, but he can’t do much.

“Then the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke – ‘You will have to let me undress you.’ I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. “The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.” “Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off ... And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again.

C.S Lewis, the author, included this note afterwards.

It would be nice, and fairly nearly true, to say that “from that time forth Eustace was a different boy.” To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun.

God loves you so much that He doesn’t want to leave you in your place of judgement. He doesn’t want you to remain a monster. But, in order to go through this transformation, what you need is to let Him rip you to pieces. You need to let Him remove the hardware that is killing you, to peel away the layers of insecurity and anxiety and pride and lies and sin that we all make into an armor. You need to be truly vulnerable in front of Him, and let Him change you.

Questions:

Would you rather always have access to a private jet or always have access to a private helicopter?

What are the things that Jesus says that are hard for you to believe? (He’s God, we’re broken, we need a savior, He loves you?)

Read vs. 19. How is that judgement, when it’s our decision to love the light or hate it?

How can you practice being vulnerable before God?