Come to the Light of God

Read

John 3:16–21 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 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. 18 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. 19 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. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 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.”

Opening Prayer

Recap

The world sits under just condemnation...

Deserved condemnation.

The Fall of Adam and personal sin place every person under the wages of sin, which is condemnation.

The world is not worthy of the love of God...

But, God, who would be righteous in leaving the world in condemnation...

Expresses Himself in love towards the world in the salvation that can only be laid hold of by faith in the only Son of God.

Now, I want to make a statement regarding a theme from this passage that we looked at last Sunday...

I want us to have clarity on a specific point.

The world is...

Unworthy of God’s Love, Yet Worthy of Ours. Why?

I want to make sure that we don’t incorrectly apply this truth to us...

I think that often we do...

Maybe not verbally, but in how we live.

Often, Christians get cleaned up by the power of the Spirit...

And, forget that we were dead in our trespasses and sins...

And, that we were by nature, children of God’s wrath.

And, we suppose that since the world is not worthy of God’s love...

They’re not worthy of our love, either.

This incorrect application of this truth lends itself to our desire for comfort.

And, comfort is the idol of the age...

That we as Christians succumb to as well.

But, the truth that the world is unworthy of the love of God...

Does not equate that the world is unworthy of our love, as well.

The world is worthy of our love.

World meaning the people of it...

Why? Why are the people of the world worthy of our love?

First,

We are commanded to love others.

That’s enough.

We’re commanded to not love the things of the world...

It’s systems, sinful pleasures, etc.

But, we are commanded to love our neighbor, even when that neighbor is an enemy.

We’re commanded to purposefully live in the world...

To love those in it.

To evangelize those in it.

To minister to those in it.

To pray for those in it.

We are all made in the image of God, which:

gives us dignity.

separates us from everything else in creation.

makes mankind equal in God’s eyes.

God shows no partiality.

The Bible repeatedly tells us to:

love the people of the world.

go into all the world and preach the gospel.

pray for the people of the world.

invest in the Kingdom of God for the sake of the world.

minister to the people that God has providentially placed into your life.

love and pray for, even those who hate you.

The example we see of God is that the world is unworthy of His love...

And, yet He expresses love towards it in sending His only Son to redeem people out of the world.

What that equates, biblically, is that we are a people who are unworthy of God’s love...

Who are to show expressions of love towards the people of the world...

Who are inherently equal to us in value and worth…in and of our self…

Who are, just as we are, made in the image of God...

With the hopes that God will open their eyes to the glory of God in the face of JC...

And, renew the image of God in them...

By giving them a heart to love Him.

Why? Because God so loved the world.

God Loves the Nations

Nicodemus was familiar with the truth that God loved the children of Israel...

But, here a reminder of the covenant made with Abraham is proclaimed...

The Seed of Abraham would bring blessings to the Nations...

Not just the children of Israel.

God’s love is not restricted to Ethnicity or Nationality.

God loves the whole world of people.

Salvation is for people of every tongue, tribe, and nation...

Not just ethnic Israel.

All mankind are made in the image of God.

Salvation was promised to the children of Adam and Eve...

And every human is within that ethnicity.

God loves the Nations.

God has elect people from every Nation, Tribe, & Tongue.

You know that this means...

At least one way this truth should impact the church of the Lord JC...

Missions should thrive.

Missions are the work of re-telling the Nations of the love of God revealed and displayed in the work of the Son...

And, they can lay hold of the love of God by putting their faith upon the Son of God, JC.

And, missions start with the people you know.

Whether you leave the country or never leave Texas...

You are a missionary for the King of Kings.

John tells us that it is a simple truth, there are...

Only Two Options

John 3:18 (ESV)

18 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.

Not as an exhaustive teaching as Paul’s letters...

But, nonetheless what we are being taught is the doctrine of Justification by faith alone.

What removes condemnation/guilt of sin?

What justifies (declares blameless) a person before God?

Faith in Jesus alone.

What allows condemnation to remain upon a person?

Not having faith in Jesus.

You either place your faith in Jesus and are declared blameless by God...

Or you don’t place your faith in Jesus and your condemnation remains.

Only two options available to mankind.

And, outside of grace mankind always chooses darkness.

John 3:19–20 (ESV)

19 And this is the judgment:

So, this is the divine verdict regarding mankind...

This is not man’s verdict.

This is the verdict from God regarding mankind.

19 ...the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

I don’t want us to pass over being specific in our understanding of the light.

In Chapter 1, John tells us that the eternal Son of God is the light of men.

And, He is the the true light...

And, He gives light to everyone...

And He came into the world…became flesh and dwelt among us.

So, there are instances in the bible where light stands for good...

And, even then, there is only one who is good.

But, here in John’s gospel light stands specifically for Jesus.

So, who is the light that is being rejected by the world?

Jesus.

19 ...Jesus has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than Jesus because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates Jesus and does not come to Jesus, lest his works should be exposed.

It is an ongoing process in which people love their sin...

They shut themselves up in darkness.

They choose to live in darkness.

They reject the light.

They seal themselves in their own condemnation by rejecting the light.

Notice the text tells us that people...

loved the darkness (their sin)

hate the light (Jesus/God)

God’s verdict on mankind is that...

Darkness is preferred, why?

John tells us...

19 ...the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

In our sinfulness, we would rather be wrong and keep busy trying to suppress that truth...

Than have the fact that we are wrong exposed for all to see.

Genesis 3:7–8 (ESV)

7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

This is still the preference of mankind today.

We do the same today.

We suppress our sin with the clothing of false ideologies...

And, by surrounding ourselves with those who will adopt our false ideologies...

We hide ourselves from the gaze of the light of God and his Word.

We do everything we can from being exposed as wrong...

Because the desire to be right in and of our self...

The desire claim Lordship over deciding what is good or evil...

Is more important to us than being right with God.

Claiming to be wise, we prove ourselves fools.

Any time we trust someone or some word over God’s Word we are behaving foolishly.

We show our preference for darkness over the light.

20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

The stumbling block to a person’s salvation is their own inherent sinfulness.

No one will ever be able to say, I wanted to come out of the darkness but I wasn’t the elect of God...

Every single person loves darkness over God.

Every single person pens themself up in darkness.

Every single person keeps themself sealed in their own condemnation.

There is nothing outside of yourself that hinders you from coming to Christ.

The only blame lies in your own love for your own sin.

If it were not for the electing grace of God in salvation...

No one would be saved.

No one would ever want to be saved.

Every one would die in their sin while preferring it that way.

But, for those in Christ...

2 Corinthians 4:6 (ESV)

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

There’s one miraculous gift of God that causes this to change...

The New Birth.

You must be born again, Nicodemus.

To see, understand, perceive, enter the Kingdom of God...

You must be born again.

Within the transaction of being born again by the power of the Spirit of God...

We are given:

New eyes that see the beauty of God...

New ears that hear the beauty of the gospel...

New heart that loves God and His Law

Within all that beauty of God and His gospel there is one...

Foundational Truth that Moves us to the Light.

John 3:21 (ESV)

21 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.”

The foundational truth that is the beautiful attractant of the gospel of God is...

Acceptance by God.

The Reconciled Presence of God.

Acceptance by God involves:

Forgiveness by Christ’s atonement

Righteous standing before God by Christ’s perfect obedience.

Fully known by God.

Fully loved by God.

Because of Christ’s works being imputed to your account.

All of this beautiful good news makes us accepted by God.

We are brought into covenant with God through the Federal Head of the covenant…JC

God becomes our Father.

We become His children.

We are citizens of His Kingdom.

And, we are allowed to do good works that are accepted by God.

For it is God who works in us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.

The HS now resides in us and works in us to do works that are God’s good pleasure.

—Important to Understand—

We work imperfectly by faith in the perfect work of Christ.

Our works are accepted...Not because of the perfection of our works...

But in spite of their imperfections...

Because we are His children.

Because we do them because we love them.

We offer them up as toddlers offer their drawings to their parents.

And, though there are many imperfections in our works...

Like a toddler’s drawings...

Parents delight in them because they are done out of love.

We do works in order to obey…not in order to disobey.

Our faith is not in our works.

Our faith is in the finished work of Christ.

And, because of the finished work of Christ...

We delight in God and expressing our love for Him...

By seeking to obey.

John 3:16 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The greatest miracle that we experience is that God:

takes an unholy person out of an unholy world

makes them holy

puts them back into an unholy world

and keeps them holy, forevermore

God is who keeps you holy, not you.

Let’s think about this...

If you’re sitting here under the sound of my voice...

And, you’re feeling the weight of your sin.

You’re acknowledging in your heart your love for sin...

And, feel the condemnation that comes from that love of sin...

And, the practice of sin that follows...

Cry out to God.

Ask Him for mercy.

Ask Him to unite you to His Son.

Ask Him to forgive you of your sin by the blood of the Lamb.

Ask Him to give you the righteousness of God.

Ask God to reconcile you to Himself.

Run to Jesus and rest in His finished work.

Jesus said in John 6:37...

Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

Trust the convicting work of God...

And go to Him in prayer, right now, right where you sit.

For those of us who are here and are already united to Christ...

How will they hear if we don’t teach the gospel to the people on our by-ways and highways?

In our neighborhoods.

In our workplaces.

In our frequent places.

How will they hear if we remain quiet?

Since the ascension, Jesus is no longer here in the flesh.

How do people reject God?

They suppress the truth of God as revealed in creation and conscience.

How do people reject Jesus, specifically?

How can Jesus be presented to people?

How can you introduce people to Jesus?

How can we introduce Jesus to those people that God has providentially placed in our lives?

The gospel.

Closing Prayer