The Best Possible News
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Intro
It is good to come and gather together to pray, and to worship. Prayer and Worship help us to align our hearts and minds with Him. We recognize that He is God. We seek His kingdom and will, and realize that magnifying Him is exactly what we need to get us through this life. Magnifying Him is what gives us hope and peace in our lives here and now, and for eternity.
It lifts our spirits to know His presence, and His purpose for our lives. It encourages us.
And the Lord knows we need encouragement. This is a difficult world, full of trials, isn’t it?
Everyday we experience the trials personally. And what we don’t experience personally, we see on the news. We are surrounded by bad news.
What is some bad news you have experienced this week, or heard of this week?
What does bad news do to us?
Bad news is bad because it hurts us. It shows the pain and suffering of this world. It shows that we are not in control. We are helpless. We are powerless.
It plays into our fears and cripples us.
Why is there so much bad news? Why so much sickness? Why is there death?
Root of the gospel - Creation, Fall, Hope
There is bad news because we are in a world full of sinful people, doing evil things. No law can change that. No advance in science can change that. No intervention from other people can stop that.
Why? Because we are all sinful. Paul in Ephesians put it this way:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
That is the bad news. The worst news.
Until we understand that bad news, we will not understand the best possible news, which Paul wrote about in the following verses. We will get to that.
What is the bad news here? We are deserving wrath.
Wrath is a word that occurs in the passage we are looking at this morning. Because of our revolt against the Almighty, Holy, Righteous, Loving God, we are now under his wrath.
Wrath is what turns many people off. They say they would nothing to do with a wrathful God. They picture God as this big bully that is just overflowing with anger at the least little grievance. One with a short fuse.
They think they and most people are basically good. How could God be so wrathful? And besides, it is wrong to judge!
They fail to understand, as we went through a few weeks ago, that the God of the Bible is not short-fused. He is patient. He is slow to anger, abounding in love and kindness.
And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
God in love created this world for us, for mankind. He in love made it a great place, perfectly suited for life, for wondrous, beautiful life.
And man had the gall to turn their backs on their Creator!
Wrath is not just burning anger or vengeance. Wrath is not that God is angry, it is desire mixed with grief leading to anger.
The bad news is that we are rebellious, and deserving God’s righteous anger from our sin. He is grieved by our sin because His desire was for us to be in a loving relationship with Him. His desire was for our good, and we spurned His love and desire, and rebelled against Him.
We are deserving of his grief and anger, that righteous wrath. Wrath that will be poured out someday, but for now, he is being patient.
He has appointed a day of judgment which is coming. That was a big part of John’s message.
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
The bad news is that we are under a just punishment. The bad news is that judgment is coming.
John relayed that worst of news, but he also was the bearer of the best possible news.
When faced with bad news himself, John shared the best possible news with his disciples to help them in their perspective of their current trial.
Today, I believe John the Baptist, when faced with some bad news, pointed his disciples to the best possible news.
John’s disciples came to him with bad news. People aren’t coming to you anymore, they are going to Jesus.
You are no longer a successful prophet.
This did not phase John. Why? Because he knew that his meaning, purpose and joy did not come from what this world defines as meaningful, purposeful or bringing joy.
Where this world would say meaning comes from success and position, John knew that meaning came from Magnifying Jesus!
Where this world would say purpose comes from what you achieve, making a name for yourself, or moving up the ladder, John knew that his whole purpose was to Magnify Jesus.
Where this world says joy comes from what you get, John knew joy comes from Magnifying Jesus and fulfilling his role in Jesus’ Kingdom.
John found real life not what he had, what he achieved, or worldly pleasures. John knew real life was doing what God had him here to do, and Magnifying Jesus!
After explaining that to his disciples, John Magnified Jesus through what he taught next.
Let’s read it together.
John 3:31-36
The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Prayer
The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.
The one from above is above all.
Above. Over. Higher. Greater.
To John’s disciples, Jesus was just another man. Jesus was a good teacher, and attracted crowds. But that was it. Why should people go to Jesus instead of coming to John who baptized Jesus?
John wants his disciples to know Jesus. He wants them to know the truth. Jesus is no ordinary man. Jesus was fully man, being born of Mary. He had a body. He ate, drank, walked around, did physical labor, got tired, slept, and started it all over again each day! He was fully man. But that is not all Jesus is.
Jesus is not just from here on earth like you and me. Jesus is from above! Jesus is none other than the God was before all. In the beginning God created. God was already there. Jesus was already there. Through Him all things were made. Apart from him nothing was made that has been made.
He is the God who was before John the Baptist, though he came as a man after John the Baptist.
Being God, He is not just from earth. He is from above. He is from above, and he is above all. He is over all. He has all power, all authority, all wisdom, and deserves all glory.
John contrasts this with himself John was just from earth. So when John spoke, he really spoke from the earthly perspective. Yes, he has a message from God, but he was still from earth and limited in his understanding and perspective.
Jesus is from above. He has all knowledge. He has all wisdom. He has all authority.
If you listened to John or one of the prophets before him, how much more important would it be to listen to Jesus! He was the authority.
Think of it this way. Who do you go to?
Someone with limited knowledge, or someone who has more knowledge and expertise?
He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.
Too often we listen to what other people will tell us. We look to other people for answers, for encouragement, for help. But we won’t listen to what Jesus says.
Being from above, he shares what he knows. and does he know? Yes!
maze and corn maze
Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.
God does need our seal of approval. So what is this saying? It is simply stating that when you believe Jesus, you are believing that God does not lie! He is telling the truth.
The problem is we too often listen to people instead of Jesus.
For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
The Jews had the concept that though the prophets had the Spirit of God in them, they had only a measure, only a portion of the Spirit’s power.
In the new Testament, one of the blessings is that we have the Spirit of God living within us. But even for us, we have gifts only as the Spirit apportions them to us.
All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Jesus had the fullness of the Spirit in Him. He himself was God who came and limited himself by coming in the flesh. He was still fully God, but he limited himself in his glory, and his use of his power. He did only what the Father directed and the Spirit empowered. A true working of the trinity. We will see Jesus saying that as we go through John.
The point is, Jesus is greater than any prophet, even the greatest of them, John the Baptist! Matthew 11:11.
Jesus is fully God. Jesus is working in the full power of the Spirit. He has the Spirit without measure.
What is the point? We should listen to Him!
The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.
What has the father placed in his hands?
“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Literally, The one believing in the Son HAS present tense, now and ongoing, Eternal life.
Though we were by nature children of wrath, there is good news. The best possible news.
The God who is above all, who knows all, has come into this world to reveal the best possible news!
God is not a vengeful ogre!
He is justly wrathful, grieved and righteously indignant over our rebellion. He is just in setting a punishment.
However, God loved us while we were still sinners, and He sent the Son into the world.
The Son is in the world, but still above all. He came not to destroy it as He could. Rather He came to save the world!
He has come to reveal the Father, and the Hope of eternal life.
How can we live? How can we have eternal life? He did not make it difficult. He did not make is a multi-step process. He did not even make it something we had to achieve.
Instead, He came to take our punishment, and offer forgiveness and life to everyone who would simply believe Him.
Homework
Read John 3:31-36. Jesus is from above and above all. Do we really think of him that way? We like to think of him as the man, the one who laid down his life, and the one who sticks closer than a brother. But, he is more. He is above all. Read John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-18. He is creator of all. He is ruler of all. He is supreme over all. He is our Lord. Meditate on that. Let us worship Him today as He deserves—Our Lord and our God. Consider what that means when you call him Lord. How will that effect your life today?
Read John 3:31-36. Meditate on verse 32. What he has seen and heard, of that He testifies. We listen to people all the time, each and every day. We often ask people for their opinions. Do we take time to ask Jesus His opinion? Do we take our questions to the Lord, and His word? Or, are we not receiving his testimony? What questions are you facing? Take it to the Lord in prayer. Seek out answers in his word. Ask for help from others, but specify that you want to hear from God’s word—Jesus’ perspective.
Read John 3:31-36. Meditate on 3:34-35. What does it mean that the Father has given all things into the hands of the Son? What things? Find verses to answer this. How does knowing what is in the Son’s hands help with our reverence of Him today?
Read John 3:31-36. How does verse 36 encourage you? What does it mean when it says ‘has eternal life’? What is eternal life? It is future? What is eternal life? Is it time-oriented or quality of oriented? What can you do today to better experience ‘has eternal life’?
Read Psalm 3. What was David going through? What was the bad news of the day that was effecting him? How could he lay down and sleep in the face of the bad news? Would you say David was experiencing eternal life?