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1:43We've already looked at, you remember the Christmas cat, because they did not believe a storm that harsh could possibly come. It violated their sense of rationality. Whatever the reason for rejecting the words of the shepherd and the cloak he offered, they all had two things in common. They disbelieved the words of the shepherd and believed that their old coat was sufficient for whatever winter may come. Well, you can imagine what happened. The harsh winter came. Those who were willing to exchange their coverings for the Christmas cloak survived the severe winter and lived the rest of their lives in thankfulness and admiration for the shepherd and his precious snow sheep. On the other hand, those who were unwilling to take off their old coat and put on the Christmas cloak perished in the frigis.

2:47So if you think about it for just a moment, the frigis represents God's coming judgment, which no one can survive without. A proper covering. We must stand before a holy God, and we must stand before Him in complete holiness to be welcomed by Him. The mountain shepherd represents Father God. The snow sheep represents the saving work of the Son. The Christmas cloak represents His righteousness. The old coats represent natural man's fallen unrighteousness. And in order for one to be able to withstand the coming judgment, one must take off their old self, their unrighteousness, and put on Christ's righteousness. That's the thought. That's what Jesus is communicating. And so, what I want to do this evening is walk through these verses and make a few observations.

4:17I want you to see what's behind the new birth, and I want you to see why there will be those who will not be born again. And the exhortation in all of this is for you to come to him with saving faith. Don't be a pretender. Come into the light. Accept the gift that God has given to you. And get rid of your own unrighteousness. You can't possibly stand in the presence of a holy God any more than you could withstand a blizzard phrygis without proper covering. So you need God's righteousness. I want to show you. I want to walk through these verses this evening. First of all, I want you to see the motivation behind the new birth. Very familiar verse. 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. I love how it's written in the Greek. For God in this manner loved the world, that he gave his only unique, special son.

5:40In this manner is how God loved the world. So the reality of the Father's love is expressly stated there. God is love, it flows from him. It has not based upon the loveliness, loveliness, loveliness of the object, but upon the very nature. Of God Himself. God is love. And because of that, all of His dealings with us, He never violates His essence of love and His disposition to love. So the reality of love is expressly stated: it is the Father's love. But look at the extent of the Father's love for the world.

6:24And I'm just going to leave it at this. It's in the cosmos, the world, and He's involving the most inclusive sense here: Jew, Gentile, everyone without distinction, everyone in every category, and everyone without exception, everyone within each category. What is amazing about God's love here is not how many people He loves, but how bad the world is. That's what's amazing here. The extent of God's love is not simply the number of people, but how sinful the world is. And He loves the world not as one who participates in the world, but one who wants to redeem the world. That's the extent.

7:13And then the depth of the Father's love is seen in the costly gift that He gives to the world. You know, think for a moment of the best earthly fathers that you can, that you know. Maybe in God's grace. It's your own. But think of some of the best earthly fathers. Do you think they love their kids even when they do wrong things? Yes, they do. Now think for a moment of the best sons or daughters that you know. Do you know sons and daughters bring joy to their father's hearts, to a father's heart? Now put the two concepts together: the best of fathers, the best of sons, and now you get a sense of just how great the Father's love is for you and me.

8:14This love is seen in the gift of the Father's Son to us. You know, suppose one of my daughters says, you know, Dad, let's go out for dinner. I said, okay, let's go out for dinner. Oh, and by the way, Dad, can we run over mom with a pickup on the way out? What do you think I'd say? I'd say, no, I'm not going to run over your mom. You're probably thinking, Pastor, is there something we need to know about your family? No, no, this is hypothetical. No one would ever say that. But what do you think I'd say? I'd say, no, we're not going to. Dinner isn't worth that to me. If I have to run over your mom, she is the principal part of my joy. She is my own. Beloved. I'm not going to just run her over so I could go have dinner with you.

9:05But you think about what God did. This is what it cost him. His son, the principal part of his joy, this is what he gave for a relationship with us, to go out to dinner with us. So that's the gift of the Father's Son to us. But look at the purpose. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. What does he want to get out of it? Why does he give the gift? He wants life. He wants you to have life, the eternal kind. The eternal kind, not just duration of days, but the eternal kind of life. And what that is, it's a quality, not just about long time. It's about a quality of life with him. And yes, it just so happens that it goes on into eternity because he is forever. But there is a kind of life that is an eternal kind of living, that's in union with him, and that's what he gives.

10:18And so this is the purpose of his love. So there we see the motivation behind the new birth. It's the Father's love. Next, I want you to see the saving work of the Son in verses 17 and 18. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. There are several observations here in this couple of verses. Number one, it's evident that the world needs saving. The world needs a Savior because look at the word, it's already condemned. Verse 18 has been judged already. Now, I know some, if you're reading from an ESV or a King James, you might have the word condemned. And I think that's the right word there.

11:27It's not just judgment, as in a neutral judgment. It's a condemning judgment. So if you have the New American Standard or a version that translates that is using the word judged, think of the word a condemning judgment. That's the idea. Notice that word is used three times. Verse 17, for God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world. That is, he didn't send the Son into the world to go and find fault with the world.

12:02He didn't come to declare it guilty and condemn it. In fact, he expressly says he did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, to judge the world. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world. Look at verse 18a: he who believes in him is not judged. The idea is not condemned, he is not being condemned. It's a present, it's a present reality. The one who is believing in him is not being condemned, is not being judged, a present reality. Look at the second part of 18: he who does not believe has been judged already, is already in a state of condemnation.

12:59That's the problem. The world is in a state of condemnation. He doesn't have to come to the world to find fault with the world because the fault is already there. They are already condemned. Now, think about this. A building. You understand the idea of a building that is condemned? What does that mean? Usually, there's a building that's. hasn't been lived in in a while, hasn't been taken care of, and it's dilapidated, and it's deemed by the city or county or someone, it's uninhabitable. It's no longer a habitable place, it's a threat to humanity. And so it has a condemned status upon it, meaning it will soon be removed. That's what condemnation means in that building sense, a condemned building.

14:05You see them around town. I just saw one next to my house. It just got torn down. Now, what would it take for somebody to reverse a condemned status of a building? Well, number one, it would have to involve somebody who possessed the ability to repair it or the know-how, somebody who was able to repair a dilapidated house. Second, it would have to involve somebody who had the resources to rehabilitate it. And third, it would have to involve somebody who would be willing to restore it, who saw a goal worthy of rehabilitating this condemned.

15:00House or building. Well, that's the situation humanity is. It's a place without God. And without faith in God, a person is like a condemned building, unfit for any good heavenly use. What about you tonight? Do you have faith in God? Are you believing in Him? Let me tell you something. If you do not have faith, and I mean true faith, really in the Christ revealed in Scripture, if you do not have faith in Him, you are like a condemned building, condemned, just waiting to be removed.

15:54You see, verse 18: the one who is condemned is the one who does not believe. He has been judged already. And as long as the condition of unbelief remains, the condition of condemnation remains. And the good news is the gospel invitation is to come out of your unbelief. Take off your unrighteous robes. Agree with God that you are not fit for heaven. Come before Him ready. To remove and agree with him about what sin is and confess your sin.

16:40And you'll receive a new life. That's where he wants. That's why he brings these truths to us. This is why Jesus brought these truths to bear upon Nicodemus. Notice that the Father sent the Son to save. Look back in verse 17 and look at the Son's mission. It's expressly stated: for God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, and get these words, but that the world might be saved through him. You see, God sent his Son, he dispatched him to accomplish an objective. He sent him into the world, to that world he loved, to that world, that lost world that he loved. And he sent him into the world to save the world. That was his objective. He came to rescue, to bring the world out of its condemned status, and to put the world into a blessed condition.

17:53That's what he comes to do. And Jesus was sent as the Father's responsibility. To the condemned status of the world. If you were here this morning, Jesus, God's public statement to the world. And here it is again. Humanity is condemned. The world is condemned. God, what are you going to do about it? Here's his public statement: Jesus. And he sends him, he dispatches him. That's the Father's response to the condemned status of the world. He had compassion. And he came to save in the fullest sense of the word. That was his mission.

18:43And you think about this on a personal level. You see what he did? He came to save us from everything that harms both soul and body. He comes to bestow complete and everlasting satisfaction and joy in God. That's his mission. He came to provide a whole new destiny. And so without his incarnation, there would be only one destination for humanity: condemnation. But then this baby shows up in this manger. God's statement to the world. God has become flesh. You see, he didn't have to become flesh to condemn the world. He did have to become flesh to save the world. And that's what he does.

19:43I love what D.A. Carson says on this verse. He says, The Son of Man came into an already lost and condemned world. He did not come into a neutral world in order to save some and condemn others. He came into a lost world in order to save some. But then we come to verse 18, and notice there are those who will not be saved. I want you to see two categories of people. Let me just read it. He who believes in him is not judged. That's the first one. The one believing in him.

20:26The one who is presently believing him is not under a state of condemnation. Then there's another category of people. He who does not believe has been judged already. They are not believing. They are not believing. And what are they not believing in? Look back. They have not believed in the name. In the name of the only begotten Son of God. They haven't. Believed in his name. Listen, and for those of you who were here this morning, you got the message.

21:09Jesus is God's answer to the world. It's his public statement. He has witnessed the scriptures, the prophets, the miracles, the preaching ever since. All of this testifies that Jesus is the unique One of God. Listen, no one else was resurrected from the dead. No one else even makes the claim. No one else said, Yeah, crucify me, and in three days I'll come again. Yeah, no one goes down that road. Now he has provided sufficient witness and testimony. Then there's the testimony of changed lives over and over of those who come to Christ and they receive as if it were a whole new life.

22:07Changed. That is the Christian message. You must be born again. And you see it. Throughout, so many things testify. And yet, there are those who continually refuse to believe in the name. You need to know the name Jesus. They're not. Believing that Jesus is the one-of-a-kind beloved of God. Oh, they may, yeah, Jesus, some historical figure, Jesus, whatever. But do you believe in the Christ, the Jesus revealed in the scriptures? He is the one-of-a-kind beloved of God. In fact, this is what 1 John 5:10 says. John will say this later in life. He'll say this.

22:56The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. What testimony? God's testimony. The one who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his son. God over and over has testified, this is the one, this is the one, this is the one. And God has testified to him by unmistakable proofs. What is God's testimony? What is the record? Who is Jesus? I'll tell you who he is. I'll tell you who God testifies that he is. He is eternal God. He is the life giver. He is the life sustainer. He is the perfect righteousness. He is the perfect substitute for sin. That's Jesus. He was crucified. He was resurrected. He's exalted. That's Jesus. He is the Redeemer. He is the perfect. Intercessor. He is king. He is priest. He is teacher. He is shepherd. He is judge. He is the creator of a new heavens and a new earth where he will dwell forever with those he redeemed. That's God's testimony of who Jesus is.

24:18He holds such power and such beauty that even the slightest look of faith brings life, hope, cleansing, and utter transformation. That's his son. But, you know, not all people see Jesus this way. They see him as nothing special. They are like a visitor. I once read about at a high-end art gallery. I went to a high-end art gallery. A visitor was being shown around at an art gallery by one of the attendants. In that gallery, there were certain masterpieces beyond all price, possessions of eternal beauty and unquestioned genius. At the end of the tour, the visitor said, Well, I don't think much of your old pictures. The attendant answered quietly, Sir, I would remind you that these pictures are no longer on trial, but those who look at them are.

25:30You see, the reason the visitor saw no beauty in the masterpiece was because of his artistic blindness. The reason people see no beauty in Christ is explained in verse 19. They are blind, but it's more than just blindness, it's a hatred toward the light. Look at verse 19. This is where we'll talk about the condemnation of the world. This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light. For their deeds were evil. Notice the three elements of God's judgment here. There's a verdict, there's a conclusion, and then there's a condemning judgment.

26:20And notice that it starts out, this is the judgment, kind of like a judge hammering his gavel. This is the judgment. The light has come into the world. What is the light? The light is that which lets the view be seen, or lets the viewer see the view. We can see each other because light's here. We'd all be here. If you turned off all the lights, we wouldn't be able to see each other. We would all be here. The realities would be here, but light allows us to see the realities. Jesus is the true light, he is the imperfect embodied. Of God. He is the true information about God. And he allows us to see God, just like light enables us to see each other. Notice the light has come.

27:15And the verb tense is important here. It has come. And it has stayed. It's the idea. It has come and it has not left. You see, the Father sent his Son into the world to communicate the truth about the true God. And then the Son sent his disciples into the world. Even though Jesus ascended into heaven, his light continues to go forth. It went through his apostles and it continues through those of us today who have believed the testimony of these apostles. Ephesians 5:8 calls us the children of the light. Matthew 5, 14, we are ministers of light to this world.

28:08So the light has come. It's here. But here's the second element here. Look at this. But men loved the darkness rather than the light. Verse 19, darkness. They loved ignorance instead of. Knowledge. They loved sin instead of righteousness. They preferred the lies to the truth. They preferred pride to humility. They preferred themselves to God. You see, people cannot come to Christ and receive his gospel without parting with their spiritual darkness. They must take off their cloak.

29:02They loved darkness. That same word, they agoped love. They loved, they cherishes, they showed greatest affection for darkness rather than the light. God loved them, but they loved darkness. I love what one commentator said about this. Men have loved, do love, and always will love darkness in consequence of the corruption of the human nature as long as the world stands. The sentence then becomes a solemn description of a state of things which was not only to be seen among the Jews while our Lord was on earth, but would be seen everywhere to the end of time.

30:00But why? Why would somebody prefer darkness to light? Look back at the end of verse 19. For their deeds were evil. Or because their deeds were evil. Either ones. They were workers of evil. And this is an important verse because it tells us the true reason why people spend eternity in hell. What this parable is seeking to explain is why people go to hell. That's a theological rich one and a theological hot potato. The whole theory of doctrine of hell is hated. It's considered a theory. No, it's truth.

30:52And this is explaining, Jesus is explaining why people go there and why they will spend an eternity there. I like what Ryle's comment here, I think, is appropriate. He said, notice there's not a word about any decree of God predestinating men to destruction. There is not a syllable about anything deficient or wanting either in God's love or in Christ's atonement. On the contrary, God has revealed enough of the way of salvation to make men inexcusable if they are not saved. But the real account of the matter is that men have. Have naturally no will or inclination to use the light. They love their own dark and corrupt ways more than the ways which God proposes to them. They therefore reap the fruit of their own ways and will have at last what they loved. They loved darkness and they will be cast into outer darkness. They did not like the light, so they will be shut out from the light eternally. In short, lost souls will be what they willed to be and will have what they loved.

32:08And this is Jesus' words in John 7:7, the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its deeds are evil. And so that was Jesus' message, declaring, your deeds are evil. You're not going to stand the judgment. Your condemnation is already sealed. But there's a way out. And the language gets even stronger in John 3:20. And I'm not going to go through it all, but just listen to these words. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that it is not. Deeds will be exposed. So, think about this for a moment. If one must be born again to go to heaven, which we've already looked at that, and if the new birth occurs in conjunction when one is looking upon the cross of Christ, then guess what? One cannot run away from the light. They must be drawn to the light in order to come to the cross, to take in the beauty of God's sacrifice, and so be born from above. But if people are running from the light, they're not coming into it.

33:42And for that reason, they will not be born from above. Their deeds are evil. They will not come into the light. They know enough about God. They don't want God. And so they run from Him. So this is the judgment. Verse 19: The light has come into the world. Men love the darkness rather than the light, and they love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil. That's it. One commentator, an old One says this, the greatest misfortune of men does not consist in their being subject to sin, corruption, and blindness, but in their rejection of the deliverer, the physician, and the light itself.

34:46So, taking you back to the Christmas cloak. By the way, we printed some out and handed them out, and we still have a few left, and I'll set them up here if anybody wants some of them. Just have a few left. But back to the analogy I'm trying to draw, the phrygis. It represents God's judgment. No one can survive without being properly covered. You can't stand before God in imperfect righteousness. You need another kind of righteousness. The mountain shepherd represents the love of God the Father. The snow sheep represents the saving sacrifice of God's Son. And the Christmas cloak represents that perfect righteousness of God's Son. And for all you theologians out there, that includes both his active and passive obedience. It's his complete, perfect righteousness given to his people who come into union with him.

36:00The old coats, they represent that unrighteousness that you and I must take off in order to receive God's perfect righteousness. This is why repentance is necessary in salvation. Don't think that you can keep your old sin ways and have a righteousness that kind of covers it and just keeps all that stuff boiling down here. It doesn't work that way. His covering, Christ's covering, permeates the whole. And so it doesn't cover up a cesspool. And so you have to give him, agree with him, and say, yes, the cross is necessary.

36:50It's necessary for me. That's what my sin deserves. And yet, you took my sin, took my shame, so that you wouldn't have to condemn me. You see, Nicodemus came to Jesus looking for the kingdom. And Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in such terms that he would understand the danger he was in. And this is why you must be born again. This is why you must come into the light. This was why you must come to the cross and contemplate. What God has done there.

37:34Think about it this way. To have eternal life, there must be the new birth. For the new birth, there must be a looking of faith upon Jesus. To come there, to come into the light, there must be a willingness to let go of one's sins. And these things all happen at the moment. I don't try to separate it all. It's all God at work. Where the new birth has occurred, faith has occurred. Where there is faith, the new birth has already occurred. It's all part of one transaction.

38:19But the reason people go to hell is because they don't want to take off their sinful deeds. People cannot part. People cannot go to heaven without parting with their spiritual darkness. You cannot go to heaven unless you're willing to part with your spiritual darkness. And guess what? You're not going to part with your spiritual darkness if you love it. So don't love it. Agree with God. Hate it. And be quick to receive the gift of Christ's righteousness.

39:14Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for these truths. And we appreciate your work. on the cross. We appreciate your loving care. We appreciate the love of the Father, sacrifice of the Son. Thank you for all these things. Father, help us to respond in a way that is pleasing to you. In Jesus' name, amen.