John 3:9-17

For God So Loved the World

The questions regarding the Kingdom of God being at hand – and is Jesus of Nazareth the Christ,who was foretold would come through the Law the Prophets are compelling questions that every person SHOULD ask themselves.

Because one day, someday, when each person dies, they will be called on by the Holy, Sovereign, Righteous God of all creation to give an account for their answer to that question.

Will the Kingdom of God come? Are Heaven and Hell real places? YES.

“Who is Jesus of Nazareth?”

Here are your options –      He is a LIAR

                                        He is a LUNATIC

                                        Or He is the LORD OF SALVATION

God’s word has been clear from the beginning – His Holy and Righteous Judgement against all who are Unrighteous – is death.

• Both the FIRST death – of this body of flesh

• And the SECOND death – which is eternal spiritual judgment in the Lake of Fire.

But make no mistake – we are all born of the fallen nature common to mankind because sin.

That of mankind’s common ancestor, Adam – and the weight of our lifetime of sinful thoughts, words and deeds that fall short of the glory God.

So that we are all guilty before Him – and God is blameless when He judges.

Last week, as we began John 3, we met a man named Nicodemus.

• A deeply religious man.
• A Pharisee
• A witness to the words and wonders performed by Jesus of Nazareth
  • Who many were proclaiming WAS the Christ.

We saw Nicodemus go to meet with Jesus by night – confessing that the signs Jesus performed verified that the God of Israel was surely with Him.

We wondered as Jesus responded not to what Nicodemus said, but to the question that appeared to be on his heart-

If the Kingdom of Heaven is coming – and if you are the Christ – what must I do to enter God’s Kingdom?

Jesus swept aside any arguments man might make about being “worthy” or “earning” his way into God’s grace - 

Jesus declared to Nicodemus what must happen—a dead sinner mustbe born again by the sovereign power of the Holy Spirit.

Such a statement raises the obvious question: “If we MUST be born again – HOW is this possible?”

Today, Jesus gives us the answer, which is as simple as it is staggering:

The new birth is made possible because a Savior was lifted up, so that a dying world might look to Him and live.

Let’s reset the stage from last week –

John 3:1-8

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; ² 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.” ³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ 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?” ⁵ 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. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ 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.”

Jesus declares to see the Kingdom of Heaven – we must be Born Again – that is, Born from above.

• Not a resurrection of the flesh- but a revival of the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

1 Corinthians 6:9_aOr do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

As Nicodemus struggled to understand, Jesus relayed a truth taken from God’s promise to Israel past-

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

The Pharisee Nicodemus, well versed in the Word of God, should have picked up on the subtilities from the Prophet Ezekiel regarding sinful Israel needing “cleansing”!

Jesus took it a step further to declare the connection between the ceremonial washing by water in the past and the promise of the “New heart” and “New spirit” that God had promised to His people in the days to come.

Jesus concluded by declaring to Nicodemus, “Do not be amazed”

Friends, when we consider all that God has done–

• Yes, we should marvel.

• Yes, we should find our God amazing.

• But we should also humbly accept that our awesome and amazing God does AS He wills, WHEN He wills!

And so we should continue to study, grow and mature in the Word of God – so that we may have greater insight into what, how and whyour amazing God does.  

  It is a hard thing though, when man’s wisdom becomes a blinder, that prevents him from seeing the truth.  

1) The Blindness of Human Intellectualism (v. 9–12)

⁹ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” 

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 

¹¹ 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. ¹² If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 

Nicodemus addressed his doubt. // Jesus addressed Nicodemus’ failure, and that of the other religious leaders.

In verse 2 Nicodemus told Jesus, “WE”(the Pharisees) know that you have come from God as a teacher.

Jesus now responds in verse 11, that “WE” (Jesus and God the Father) speak of what WE know – but “YOU” (Nicodemus) have not believed our testimony.

• For all your intelligence – How can you have so little understanding?

We have super computers today that store the sum of the knowledge man.

• But they cannot tell you how the sun feels on your face
• They cannot tell you how a new rain on a spring day smells
• They cannot tell you what it feels like to be in love.

It is the difference between knowledge and experience

You can devote your life to the study of the word of God – but if you never experience His presence – you will never truly understand Him.  

Yes, God wants us to know Him intellectually– That is why He gave us His Word.

• So that we could know “about” Him

But of even greater value is to know God relationally – Because it is in our experience of God that we learn to “Know Him”

• And it is in the knowing of Him that we are transformed.

You can read the Word of God – Know the Word of God – even teach the Word of God –

• But unless you know the Author of the Word – all you have is knowledge.

• And like a computer- you may have no concept of the life transforming experience of knowing God and His love for you.

Because you have never truly felt it.

Jesus makes this point to Nicodemus - ¹² If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 

See that did not admonish Nicodemus for his lack of knowledge – but for his lack of FAITH.

Remember- the question before us is “How can one enter the Kingdom of God”– Jesus declared “you must be born again.”

Nicodemus tried to reason these things through the lens of human understanding – and came up with nothing

• Learning is good. Reasoning is good. But it can only carry us so far.

• There are things that God is doing that go beyond human wisdom. – Things that must be accepted by faith.

• That is because spiritual truth cannot be intellectually deduced; it must be divinely revealed.

1 Corinthians 2:14The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

And then there are those who refuse the spiritually discerned – deny faith in the Word of God – choosing instead to put their trust in the wisdom of man.

1 Corinthians 1:20– Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

• Did you know the world is flat? – That if you sail to the horizon, you will fall right off!
• Or that the cosmos spins around the earth?
• Tomatoes are poisonous, Potatoes cause leprosy and Coffee stunts your growth.  

  Biology, Geology, Cosmology, Zoology, Ecology, Anthropology

None of these have remained constant with the addition of new information and none of them have disproven the Theologydeclared in the Word of God.

Application:

• Salvation is not a riddle for the intellectually elite; it is a revelation for the spiritually broken.

• We must approach God's Word with humility, asking the Holy Spirit to illuminate our blind hearts – so that we can experience God – and find our relationship with him reborn by faith!

2) The Historical Pattern of the Cross (v. 13–15)

 ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. ¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; ¹⁵ so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

Nicodemus’ discussion with Jesus had come down to a matter applying the things God had revealed in the past with the revelation that God was revealing then.

• In this learning and faith should come together in harmony!

Contradicting other religions of the age that made claim of revelations from the gods and special envoys-

Jesus declares there is ONE heaven and ONE revealer of the Word of God – the ONE who came from heaven: The Son of Man.

• A term Jesus often used to refer to Himself as the Son of God come in the flesh- Immanuel.

The Shift to Salvation (Soteriology = the study of salvation)

Jesus then shifts the conversation to an obscure historical event from Numbers 21:4–9.

Israel had rebelled against God’s sovereign plan to bring them to a promised land. Discouraged by the long journey and hard conditions the people grumbled and complained, speaking out against God and their leaders.

God sent deadly, venomous serpents as a righteous judgment. The serpents bit the people and the people were dying.

The people confessed to Moses, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.”

Moses prayed, and God commanded Moses to forge a bronze serpent, lift it up on a pole, and promised that whoever looked at it would live.

Jesus uses this as a "type" (prophetic foreshadowing) of His own crucifixion as He speaks to Nicodemus.

• The Condition: The people had sinned. The judgement came in the form of serpents who bit the people. The Israelites couldn't cure themselves, make an ointment, or save themselves from the serpent’s poison. They were entirely helpless, and they were dying.

• The Method: The very thing that was cursing them (the serpent) was lifted up on a pole in an image made from bronze.  

• The Outcome: The people who looked up at the serpent on the pole were healed.  

• The Source- Not because of some magic power in the symbol – but by God’s grace which He manifest to those with the faith to look upon the symbol for their healing.

The symbolism:

• Sin results in judgment. Like a poison for which we have no cure, it is 100% lethal / 100%fatal – “for the wages of sin is death”

• But God – holding righteous judgment and grace in perfect balance, responds to those who confess their sin and turn to Him for salvation.  

2 Chronicles 7:14"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Israel’s sin was to stand in defiance of God’s plan and speak out against Him. Mankind is doing the same today.

And it is still sin – and the consequence is still death.

But God – still holding righteousness and grace in perfect balance – continues to respond to those who confess their sins and turn to Him for salvation.

Where the serpent on the staff was a SYMBOLof the judgement against sinful man –

Christ Jesus, the Son of God, hung on a cross was the LITERALjudgment against mankind executed on Him - in our place.   

Galatians 3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

We were dead in our sins. The bite of sin and its poison already coursed through our veins  

Christ became sin for us on the cross – taking in sin’s poison – taking on sin’s curse –

There on the cross, He who was both divine and mortal, died so that you and I might live.

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 – He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

• Isaiah 45:22 – "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other."

Look and Live

• Just like the dying Israelites, the venom of sin is running through our veins, and the death rate of humanity is a flat 100%.

• The Cross says the cure is not to look inward at your symptoms, nor to look outward at your moral progress.

• The cure is to look upwardat the lifted-up Savior.
  • Salvation happens the moment you stop trying to fix the poison and trust the Provision.

Curious note:

• The symbol for healing in the medical field is a single serpent wrapped around a stick – The Rod of the Greek God Asclepius, with obvious connections to the much older account from Judaism.          (The world)

• The symbol for healing in the church is the Cross.            (The church)

3) The Best Known Bible Verse in the World (v. 16)

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. 

• Often referred to as, “The Gospel in a nutshell”

The Source: "For God..." Salvation originates in the heart of God, NOTbut the will, desire or works of man.

The Motivation: "...so loved the world..."A shocking revelation to a Pharisee who taught that God, Christ and salvation was foremost to the Jew

• "The world" (kosmos) here does not mean "every individual without exception," but rather "humanity without distinction"

• Jew, Gentiles, outcasts, and even legalistic Pharisees like Nicodemus.

• “All who call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved”    Joel 2:32/Romans 10:13

Let’s talk about LOVE:

The 1993 dance hit song by Haddaway challenged us with the question: “What is love?”

The Beatles told us, “all we need is love” - And Whitney Houston sang “I will always love you.”

But then Bon Jovi told us, “You give love a bad name” and Pat Benatar declared “Love is a battlefield.”

Generally speaking, we do not love like God loves. We tend to love with a selfish love. – A “What’s in it for me?”love.

What is interesting is that in almost every passage that speaks of God’s love for us, the word used is based on the Greek word for love: Agape

Core Characteristics of Agapē (love)

• Action-Oriented: It focuses on what it does for others rather than what it feels.

• Unconditional: It does not depend on the recipient earning or deserving it.
• Sacrificial: It willingly gives up its own comfort or rights for someone else.

• Choice-Driven: It is a deliberate act of the will, not an emotional reaction.

Romans 5:8– But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The Action: "...that He gave His only begotten Son..." This is the doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement.

God didn't just feel love; He demonstrated it by executing a devastating, costly sacrifice – A PROPITIATION, which satisfied God’s righteous wrath against sin.

Romans 3:25"Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins."

1 John 2:2"He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

1 John 4:10"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

An offering, a sacrifice, a propitiation –

Sufficient to cover every person’s sins –

Available to cover every person’s sins –

Yet only Applicable to those who look to Jesus for salvation by faith.

It must be to Jesus we look to!

The word "only begotten" (monogenēs) means unique, one-of-a-kind

Jesus was not just sent BY God – He was of the same substance ASGod.

• “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word WAS God.” John 1:1

The Terms: "...that whoever believes in Him..."Friends, this is the substance of the firm foundation of our faith:

The offer of salvation is universal, sufficient, and available, but it is only applicable-

• By Grace alone (Sola Gratia)
• Through Faith alone (Sola Fide)
• In Christ alone (Solus Christus)

And to those who receive it...

The Rescue: "...shall not perish..."This implies the terrifying reality of eternal damnation and hell.

If there were no judgement for sin, no perishing- verse 16 would have no meaning.

What need is there for a sacrifice, a propitiation, if there is no guilt of man and no wrong done toward a Holy and Righteous God?

This was the lie told by the serpent in the Garden – “You will not surely die”

Yes. You will.

You already have. Our sin righteously brought God’s judgment and wrath down on us. – and the judgement was physical and spiritual death.

The Reward: "...but have eternal life."Judgement and death were already assured – and as we know, there is no cure for death.

• Therefore, we must be Born Again, Born from Above. And in that rebirth, we are born to Eternal Life.

The Value of the Gift:True love is measured by what it is willing to give up.

God did not give us a surplus angel or a secondary creation; He gave His only begotten Son to take our place in His judgment.  

1 John 4:9– By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

If you ever doubt your value to God, or if you are struggling with the guilt of past sins, lift your eyes to the cross.

He gave His best to rescue you from your worst.

4) The Purpose of Christ's First Advent (v. 17)

¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 

This time.

Do not mistake God’s long-suffering with mankind’s wickedness to suggest that His righteous judgment of the unredeemed will not come.

2 Peter 3:9"The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness, but is longsuffering toward you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

Therefore, He sent His Son into the world to die on the cross –

• The judgment for the sins of men lifted up –

• And those who are perishing in their sins, by faith lift their eyes to Him for salvation – Shall live.

In the words of our Lord -

Luke 11:9-10

I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Luke 19:10 – "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Let us pray