God’s Love Provides

Introduction

Recently in the past week, I was doing my 45 days through the gospel challenge I told you about in this month’s newsletter. In it, I came across a story of Love and God’s provision for the lost people of Israel, for all of mankind. It hit me this time in a way that it never has before. In this, Jesus and the disciples had just spent a long time ministering to a people. Also, John the Baptist had just been executed. So, as you would imagine, from grief and work, both Jesus and the disciples would have been weary. So, Jesus told his disciples to go away to get on a boat and go to a desolate place with no one so that they could rest for a while. He was going to do the same, but wanted to give them a chance to go on ahead while He finished with the crowds. Well, these crowds were persistent, they didn’t let up, they couldn’t get enough of Jesus and His teaching, despite His and His students' weariness. They followed them along on land, and made their way around to where their boat stopped, not giving them any rest. Jesus, looked at them with compassion and love, even though (by all accounts they were being rude and inconsiderate) Jesus still provided for them. He taught them further, and performed a miracle to turn 5 loves and 2 fish into enough food to sustain and fill 5000 people with plenty of leftovers! Wow! But, the compassion and love goes even past that, Jesus and His disciples were still tired. They still needed rest, so He sent them in a boat again with Him intending to meet them later. Fast forwards, the disciples are fighting for their lives and scared from a storm while in their boat. They didn’t understand, but they were completely safe, Jesus had a purpose and reason for them to survive. Jesus, not needing the boat, walked on the water, intending to go past and meet with later. Seeing Jesus, a strange figure on the water, they were even more frightened! Jesus knew that here was teachable moment, and if He had chosen to keep going, they would have little to no rest that night before they hit the shore. Jesus provided that to them still, when by all rights He could have kept going on and met up with them later. Instead, He came towards them, showed them who He was, ended their fear, and stopped the storm. Jesus’ love provided for them here, when it seemed the rest of the world and nature itself wouldn’t let them. What God provides exceeds our own understanding of the world.

Prayer

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. I ask these things for your glory and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

Context

Today, we enter into the 3rd chapter of the Gospel according to John, and in this section comes what many of us would call, the most familiar and known verses of the Bible, speaking of course about John 3:16. These are fantastic, true, and beautiful verses that we can all hang our hat upon, trust, take it the bank, however you want to say it. However, don’t let there familiarness and bigness distract you from the fact that there is more verses to the chapter, more ideas, more themes, and lessons to take away from it.

In Fact, we see Jesus teaching a huge and very important doctrine of the Christian Church, Regeneration, that is in and of itself, one of the most important and a requirement for any church body to believe and affirm it (in some form) if it falls within orthodoxy. So then, let me give you a quick definition of regeneration, and we can expand on it a little more later. Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit that gives a new spiritual life to a person, making them a “new creation” or "experiencing a new birth.”

We See this, as well as the love text, and even more here in this chapter, so as I urged you to a few weeks ago, it’s important to read larger sections of this gospel in order to fully understand and “get at” what the author was trying to tell us. So, please keep that in mind as you read this Gospel along with us during your own individual reading time.

A large theme in today’s text is one that we must often remind ourselves as both believers in The Lord Jesus Christ and people who live in this world is that What God provides exceeds our own understanding of the world. This means that often we will be baffled at the way God thinks, acts, and does, and suppose (whether we admit it out-loud or not) that we know better then Him (and when this happens, we are always proved that this is untrue.)

So, let’s see that all play out in today’s text, let’s jump in and From the text, I want you to see and understand these truths that God’s Love Provides.

Message

The first truth to see and understand is that: The Holy Spirit provides Regeneration 1-13

3 There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again,[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.10 “Are you a teacher[b] of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. 11 “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven —the Son of Man.[c]

Our text begins in the night time, the time which the bible often makes sure to tell us in order to highlight secrecy and fallenness into sin. Here we see the important ruler and teacher of Israel by the name of Nicodemus, who stands in not just form himself but all of Israel here, meeting with Jesus, knowing that something is special about Him, but not being able to fully grasp what is going on. Nicodemus starts, I know you are a teacher from God, what you have taught and the miracles you have performed could only be from Him. Jesus replies to Him, only a person who is born again can see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, as his people did, did not understand this, and only thought about things physically. He essentially said, i’m an old man, how could I enter my mother’s womb and be born again? Jesus replies, unless you born both water (nature) and the Spirit (regeneration), you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus is again confused, how can this be? He asks. Jesus' reply is simple but cuts right at the truth, you are the teacher of Israel, yet you do not know these things? You need to trust what i’m saying, for no one except me has ever descended from Heaven down to the Earth except me. What was Jesus teaching here? That the Holy Spirit gives regeneration (spiritual birth) to a person, and you must have this spiritual birth to be a part of God’s kingdom. That is, the Holy Spirit must have given you the ability to understand and accept the spiritual truths of Jesus in order for you to respond with a true yes to the offer of forgiveness from Jesus.

You know, there are a great many things we can do on this earth to make old things like new, but alas they will all fail eventually. You can put a new engine in an old car, and it will last longer. You can do the old cool then heat up the bakery items and make them almost fresh again. You can do major repairs to an old home, and it might look pretty for a while, but sooner or later it will fall into disrepair. You can put make-up on to cover up the wrinkles and blemishes, but eventually that wears off too. However, what the Holy Spirit calls to life doesn’t end or fade. No, what He works on and changes is changed forever, once a mind is open to the truths of the Gospel of Jesus, that we are all doomed in our sin but Jesus died on the cross to provide the sacrifice to pay our penalty for our sin and accepting that offer means forgiveness, if you really understand it, it will lead you to both a logical and spiritual acceptance of that truth and take Jesus on as your savior forever.

What God provides exceeds our own understanding of the world. We know, or at least we should, that nothing and noone we come across in this world is permanent or lasting. However, our souls are everlasting. Our God is everlasting. The Father is Everlasting. The Son is Everlasting. The Holy Spirit is everlasting. So then, we have to be sure that what we think of God, what we think of what He is capable of, what He can do, and what can provide, we should be careful not always put in any kind of man-made/us-made box or perception. Rather, we should estimate as best our minds can based on the characteristics about Himself that He has revealed to us through the Bible and even be prepared to have our own estimation or thoughts knocked completely out of the ball-park. So then, challenge your mind, thoughts, actions, attitude, perception, and emotions to think bigger and take a step back and really observe what He is up to. The eternal Holy Spirit gives to us regeneration, do we rejoice at the fact that our minds have been opened? Or do we squander it? More often than we would all like to admit, we are all going to forget the amazing gift that it is, and get off of task, so then we all must readjust.

The next truth to see and understand is that: Jesus provides salvation 14-21

14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may[d] have eternal life. 16 For God loved the world in this way:[e] He gave[f] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it,[g] so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by[h] the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

Jesus begins to give more explanation to Niccodemus here. He begins by calling the teachers, and us, thoughts back to the story of salvation that God brought to the people from burning and fiery biting serpents in the book of Numbers, how God provided them a way of healing by simply looking at bronze snake put on a poll and raised up while they were in the wilderness. Jesus tells him, just like that, I too will be lifted up high for everyone to see, and everyone who believes and accepts my offer will have eternal life. Because God loves the world, loves you, so much that He sent me (Jesus, the son) to the world to bring salvation into the world, even though the world deserved destruction. His love runs deep, the world is already condemned to darkness, but a light has come to all that will have, anyone who comes into this light will be forgiven and everyone who observes will know that only God can give this kind of gift, this kind of forgiveness. Jesus tells Niccodemus, I am providing salvation.

What God provides exceeds our own understanding of the world. This is a simple yet profound truth, what Jesus provides salvation. It is so much easier than you suppose to believe that either this isn’t true, something else provides salvation in any way shape or form, or that Jesus plus something else provides salvation. It is much easier than you think, so don’t suppose too quickly that you have this point completely correct in your mind. In fact, you will find that you learn and experience deeper and deeper the further you mature as a Christian. So then, let me challenge you believer, to look deep at yourself, do you find yourself clinging onto anything (whether it be good or bad) closer than you to Jesus for salvation, than to anything more than Jesus to make you feel whole and complete? So then, let us all discover what that thing is, call it what it is, an idol and either seek to remove it from our lives or put it back where it belongs in importance. Nothing and no one else can save you, that bad attachment to anything is a lie from the enemy meant to deceive you and get yourself and others off of task, so get to and prepare to wage war against the enemy.

Another truth to see and understand is to: Always point to Jesus 22-36

22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized.23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized, 24 since John had not yet been thrown into prison.25 Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a Jew[i] about purification. 26 So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, the one you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing—and everyone is going to him.”27 John responded, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly[j] at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”31 The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms.[k] The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, and yet no one accepts his testimony. 33 The one who has accepted his testimony has affirmed that God is true. 34 For the one whom God sent speaks God’s words, since he[l] gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hands. 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son[m] will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

Soon after this, Jesus and his disciples went from Jerusalem to the Judean countryside and began ministering there. At the same time, John the Baptist was doing the same in Aenon near Salim. John’s disciples had some kind of argument with a Jew about the purification right, and they came to Him and inquired about it and Jesus’ baptizing as well. John responds, and looks at what he does. He gets right at the height of the matter, what really matters, what they need to take away of most importance. What was this? He pointed to Jesus as the greater, as the correct one, as the right one, the one we should all be following. I must be less, and He must be more. We then go from John the Baptist to John the apostles affirming that He is above all others, God has affirmed Jesus’ truth, I have as well. God the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hands. The person that puts their life into Jesus' hand will be given life eternal, the one who does not, will receive death eternal as God’s wrath is poured out on them. Here we see both John’s clearly pointing towards Jesus’ importance.

Pointing to Jesus has another name that you have probably heard and said many times yourself. That is witnessing. When you are witnessing, you are sharing the importance of Jesus and pointing people towards Him for salvation. When you share your testimony, it’s not about you, it’s about your story with Jesus being the main Character, pointing at the great work He did in your life. When you evangelize, you are sharing the good news about Jesus’ offer of forgiveness to a fallen person. All of this, just as John the Baptist, Just as the Apostle John’s, Just as the Holy Spirit’s primary ministry is, is all about pointing fallen mankind to the person and work of Jesus.

So then, believer. Are you participating in that ministry? Into the ministry that Jesus has appointed you and all other Christians to, pointing people to Jesus. This goes well and above simply living a good life and “being a good person.” Let me be frank with you, your life is not the gospel, and no matter what kind of good example you are, your life without being clear about pointing to Jesus, will save absolutely no one. It will also not provide a good enough example to motivate people into good works for the right reason. So then, are you actually pointing to Jesus? Do you really even know Him yourself? Don’t let fear keep you from doing action, there is no such human being that is perfect at sharing their faith, true some may be more gifted than others and some may be called to a higher expectation, but we all have some expectation to be active in pointing to Jesus. What God provides exceeds our own understanding of the world. He will give you whatever you need to be active and play your part well when it comes to pointing others to Him. So then, are you ready to take the chance? Are you ready to put aside fear and put on faith?

Conclusion

Beloved, do you understand these fundamental truths that God’s love provides for us. Here they are again,The Holy Spirit provides Regeneration 1-13, make us like a new creature. Jesus provides Salvation 14-2, saving us from eternity in sin, eternity separated from God in Hell. Also, that we are to Always point to Jesus 22-36, this includes other as in non-believers, but it also includes ourselves day by day and other believers day by day, all to our own growth and benefit. You must understand these fundamental truths about Jesus and salvation. Without them in understanding and application, you will not progress and mature very far, so then let us all endeavor to learn and apply more every single day.

With all of that being said, I would be remiss if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God, though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do is accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can be more like You, and made more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all too often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possibly can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.