The Motivation Behind the New Birth Part 1 - The Love of the Father - John 3:16

2:15John 3:16. Now, I want to give you a context for which it happens because it begins with the word for, connecting it to everything that's been going on right before it. We have been working our way through John chapter 3. It's that first major discourse in John. The central issue in John 3 so far has been the new birth. The new birth. And just by way of review, I want to bring you back up to speed to what has been said about the new birth, what Jesus has taught concerning the new birth. First of all, he gave us several descriptions of the new birth. As we walk through this, the one who is born again is also the one who is born of the water and the Spirit, who is also the one who is currently believing, who is also the one who is presently possessing eternal life and will enter that final expression of the kingdom of God in the future.

3:22We can also add to this the descriptions from chapter 1 and verse 12 through 13, which has already been talked about. John has said in verse 12 of chapter 1, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. So the one who is believing is the one who has received, who is the one who has been born of God, not of the will of man. All these are descriptions that are pointing to the same reality. So those are the descriptions of the new birth. We've looked at the need for the new birth. Jesus made it very clear that the new birth is necessary not only to see, not only to enter, but also to possess the kingdom of God.

4:20Looked at the cause of the new birth, that is the Spirit of God. We've looked at the effect of the new birth, that is faith. The effect of the new birth is Faith, a kind of faith that Jesus has faith in. It's going to endure. We've also looked at the essence of the new birth. And what is the essence of the new birth? It is a disposition to believe. That's what happens. Where once there was not a disposition to believe, but a disposition to disbelieve, what has happened in the course of the new birth, something new comes forth, a disposition to believe.

5:08In fact, Pink says it like this: What then is the new birth? It is not the removal of anything from the sinner, nor the changing of anything within the sinner. Instead, the new birth is the communication of something to the sinner. The new birth is the impartation of a new nature, its giving of a new nature. It is not, and I continue to read, quote Pink, it is not the reformation of the outward man. It is not the education of the natural man. It is not the purification of the old man, but the creation of a new man. That's what's taking place. Now, there is still. Mystery, still mystery, and I continue to quote Pink.

6:06There is mystery behind the fact the one born again knows that he has a new life and enjoys the evidences of it, but how the Holy Spirit operates upon the soul, subdues the will, creates the new life within us, all that belongs to the deep things of God. I want to make a caution about forcing, as you're thinking about the new birth, about forcing a sequence into the new birth. Like to think that, okay, first the new birth happens, and then sometimes later a disposition to believe shows up. No, it all happens at the same time.

6:54I think it is, you think, even just the very image of birth. Birth involves two parties: the one birthing and the one being born. Without it, you can't have birth. And so is the new birth. There is the one giving birth and the one being born. Birth is a simultaneous effect, someone birthing, someone being born. Same is true about the new birth in a spiritual sense. New birth and Faith go together. They're a package that you don't separate. Where there is true belief, there has been the new birth.

7:41And where there is the new birth, belief. Where true belief is, the new birth is. Where the new birth is, belief is. Think about it like this. I came to light this place up, okay? Think about this. I'm going to take a match, okay? And I'm going to strike it. Okay, there's going to be a cause. And the cause of this, there's an ignition point, right? As I strike this. But there are a couple of elements. Let me just. There you go. Ooh. The sermon with fire, right?

8:19Now, what's going on here? There is combustion and there is a flame. Both are happening, and you can't have one without the other. In fact, it's hard to think about one without the other, right? So, so that, yeah, there is a point of ignition, right? The cause, cause Jesus made it very clear: it's the Spirit of God. He does as He will, and that's the cause of the new birth. But it's hard, even as I strike this along the side. Where there is the flame, there is combustion. Where there is combustion, there is a flame, and you can't really think of one without. The other. So it is with the new birth. You have one and the other. And you get in trouble when you start separating them out.

9:14What happens? Somebody's up there. You getting ahead of me? I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. What was that? You seen something funny up there? I'm going to do it. You mean society plug here in a minute? Yeah, just for that, I'm going to wait till next week. I'm going to wait. And you're going to have to come back next week to see what I'm going to do with those pictures of the dogs, okay? But it's going to be good.

9:46So, so far, we've looked at the descriptions, we've looked at the need of the new birth, the effect of the new birth, the essence of the new birth, but there's still one thing we need to know. We need to know. What is the motivation behind the new birth? What is driving this whole process? Well, John 3:16 gives us that answer. John 3:16. So, this morning I want you to see the motivation behind the new birth. I want you to see why God wants you to be born again. Look at verse 16. You're very familiar with this. In fact, I'm afraid sometimes you're so familiar that it could become cliché. But there is a.

10:30Mountain of truth, a depth, an ocean here. I hope that this morning God will use our time to let you see something and awaken something in you through these words. 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 think even a first-time reader can see the clear motivation, right? What is it? What is the clear motivation behind the new birth? Love. Yes, the love of God. It's the love of God. However, sometimes we quickly gloss over these words and fail to ponder just how deep and how amazing God's love is.

11:24And I believe in this verse and in the verses that follow, which we'll see in the weeks to come, that the triune God vividly expresses his love towards humanity in some of the most striking terms. And in the text this morning, it makes it very clear that this whole plan of salvation, this whole plan, this whole purpose flows out of the Father's love. John 3:16 has a spirit. Spotlight on the Father's love here. And I want you to see the Father's love. In fact, as we go through this, I want you to see two objects of the Father's love this morning that'll hopefully give you a fuller understanding of why God wants you to be born again. But not only this, I want you to absolutely marvel.

12:29I want you to see and absolutely marvel at the love that the Father has for you. Because it is deep, it is rich, and it is profound. And it is a cause for not only celebration, but fearful worship. It is staggering the degree, it is staggering the degree to which God, the Father, loves you. And I hope you come away with that this morning and understand and understand why or God's motivation behind the new birth. So, two elements. I want you to see two objects of the Father's love. First, I want you to see the love of the Father for the world. Look back at John 3:16. For God's soul loved the world. First, I want you, there are actually four aspects that I want to just bring to your attention. Quickly, here. First, there is the reality of the Father's love, the reality of the Father's love. For God so loved the world that this word is agape. It's the idea for cherishing something greatly, for having a great affection for God's soul. It comes from within God. It's not dealing with the beauty of the object, but with the disposition of the one loving.

14:00This love is generated within God Himself. It's something that flows out of Him. In fact, it's something that is according to His nature. John later in 1 John 4:16 is going to say, God is love. God is love. That sums up His essence. God is loving, and He never violates this essence of love. This is who He is, and this is how He acts. He is love, and out of that, He has a disposition to love, and out of that comes acts of love. So there is the reality of God's love, it's there. Second, I want you to see the extent of the Father's love, extent of the Father's love, which look back. For God so loved the world, the world.

15:01The word for world here is cosmos. And I believe that it is in the most inclusive sense. Not just Jew and Gentile, yes, without distinction, without every category, yes. But everyone included in those categories. I believe this is the most inclusive sense, every category, and everyone without distinction and without exception in those categories. For God so loved the world. I think that is the natural sense of the word world here. Now, I wouldn't want to spend as much time with this, but I'm going to have to because there are really a couple of views here, and one that is particularly worth mentioning. One of the views is that people will interpret the word world here to refer to only the believing portion of the world or the elect. The world here would mean the elect out of every nation, whether Jew or Gentile. And the love that's in view here is that love which God has towards them with this special kind of love that elect love that is there before the foundation or before the creation of the world.

16:27If you hang around me very long, you'll know I. I love the doctrine of God's electing love. You know that. If you've been around very long, for me, it is the mainstay of my soul. In fact, it's a truth in the scripture that's almost too good to be true. That God Himself would know us, that God would set His love upon us. The fact that in time we would come to know Him and we start bearing fruits of real salvation, and that speaks back to something that has happened, a love that was set back in eternity past and that has implications for a future. I find that as the bedrock for my soul, and one of the most glorious truths, most soul-stabilizing truths I find in Scripture. I love the doctrine for sure. But I don't believe that's what this text is teaching right here.

17:21I think that for one thing, and I'll just tell you why, the word cosmos, I think it's a real strain to now say the cosmos is really the electos. It is a real strain on the text. In fact, I would call it a very violent straining of the text to confine the word world here to just the elect. And John has already used this. And most of the time you see this word, it is often used to refer to the evil system.

18:01Of fallen humanity, the world, the evil in the world. Undoubtedly, it's used numerous times to given to refer to the wicked. But I don't see a place in Scripture where this word cosmos is referring to saints. I see it a lot of times used to refer to the wicked system of the world, but I do not come across, so I think it strains the text, number one. And number two, I think it ignores the clear distinction that's being made in the text itself.

18:41You remember those Venn diagrams, right, in college, right? Many of you, think about it like this. Even if you didn't have Venn diagrams, you can get your mind around this pretty easily. There is a large category, the world. God so loved the world, right? There's another category in this text, those who are believing, that are a subcategory, that are being taken out of this world and will have eternal life. Not all of this sphere, the world that God loves, is going to have eternal life. Only those who are believing. So it doesn't make any, there is a distinction going on here. There is the world, and then there are the believing ones, and it makes a distinction here. So it wouldn't really make sense for him to say. Say, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him, he doesn't need to make that qualifier. If this is really, for God so loved the electos, that he gave his only begotten son, that who that there's no need to say, whoever believes. We just say, for God so loved the world that the world may have eternal life. So, and I'm very familiar. This is a much deeper, broader, more implications, but I just, I just, and I don't want to spend my time. I told you I said I'll have about 40 minutes. I feel like I've got to be a good steward and get to the wonderfulness of this text to get out of the polemic and get into something that is frightfully marveling in what God is saying here. But I believe this applies to the whole race of humanity, the whole race without distinction, without exception. 1 John, I mean, we're just, you can look back at John 1, chapter 10, verse 10. He says, He was in the world, and the world was made through him. The world did not know him. Again, in verse 29, the next day Jesus saw, or John saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. A very inclusive, I believe, way.

20:57But the world means the whole race. And I believe the love that is spoken here is spoken of that which we would call a general love, a common grace, a kindness, a love, a pity, a compassion, in which God has for everyone. And yes, I can see there is a distinction between that special love and that mysterious special love that is for God's saints. But nevertheless, what is being spoken about here is real love. God does love. Look, how many of us earthly parents love wayward children?

21:46How many of you love your wayward children? Okay, maybe none of you have wayward children, but thinking about it, if you did have a wayward child, would you love them? And I certainly know some individuals who have wayward children that I have watched the Father agonize and love and keep making offers of pardon, even though the His offers of pardon are despised, his offers of reconciliation are despised and rejected, yet there is real love for the wayward child, right?

22:23God certainly has that, and far more than we do. So, I want to leave this interpretive, and I'm happy to speak more about it with you individually, but to get caught up in this interpretive issue is really to miss and marvel at what's being said here. What is amazing about God's love is not how many people he loves, in other words, how many people there are in the world. That's not what makes it great. What makes God's love so great is how bad the world is. That's what makes it so great. That's why that extent is incredible.

23:10I just want to read to you a little bit of John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2. So, this is John picking up this theme. He gives an express command: do not love the world, nor the same word, cosmos, do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

23:45So, here's God expressly stating, Do not love the world. And yet, we have a scripture right here that says, God so loved the world. What's the difference? I think Carson says it well. Christians are not to love the world with the selfish love of participation. God loves the world with the selfless, costly love of redemption. In other words, God loves the world, but it's not a love of participation, it's a love of redemption. This is what is motivating the new birth, a love of the Father.

24:26And its extent is broad. Not only is it everyone, regardless of whether they're Jew or Gentile, or whether you're one of, it's not just without distinction, it's everyone, regardless of how far they've progressed in sin. This is a vast expanse of love. Not only is it for everyone, but it's for everyone, no matter how far they have progressed in sin. Now, think about that. For God so loved the world. Now, I want to take you a step further. I want to talk to you about the depth of the Father's love. The depth of the Father's love. It's the love of a perfect father for a perfect son.

25:20That's the degree. Think about this. I mean, think for a moment. The best earthly fathers you know of. Do you think they love their Kids. Now, some of you may not have had all that great of fathers, but you can get your mind around, right? An earthly father, a good earthly father, does what? Loves his kids, right? Almost germane to the title, right? Now, I want you to think about the best sons or daughters, you know. The best sons or daughters are ones who naturally increase their father's joy.

26:01They love the father, their father. They love the relationship with the father, and they naturally increase their father's joy. So, think about the best fathers. Think about the best children. Now, put those two concepts together and think of a perfect father and a perfect son. Now, we can't really get our minds around that, but let's try. This is the depth that the Father has for all of us here today: it's the love of a perfect father for a perfect son, and this love is seen in the gift of the father's son to us. The gift, for God so loved the world that he gave, that he gave. It's an incredible statement that he gave, he's giving, just the very fact that this world would be hostile to. To him and treat him wrongly and not receive him, not understanding, not take him in, and yet he would give, be of a disposition to give. Now, let me ask you this. Now, be honest with me. Suppose you're driving up here to church today, and somebody just cuts you off on the way.

27:21Is your first impulse going to be, I'm going to go buy them a gift. I'm going to go get them a gift card. Yeah, this person ran me off the road, therefore, I'm going to get you a gift. Yeah, sure, we have one, right? You know, she's approaching that perfect love, right? That gives good gifts. But now, think about this: that if somebody does something wrong to you, I mean, really wrong to you, and your response is to give them an extraordinary gift.

27:53None of us go there, right? Right? That's the Father's love. That's the depth of it. For a world, a cosmos that is hostile against him, that you and I are not to even participate in, he has a redeeming kind of love for. And he gives. It's remarkable. He gives the gift. The father gives the gift, a savior, a redeemer, a friend of sinners. Sinners need friends. He needs someone to make atonement for him. So he gives them a gift to provide redemption large enough for everyone.

28:38And he gave his son. And his son would be despised, rejected, mocked, crucified, and counted guilty. Yeah, he is the gift. And he's going to talk about that in the next, in chapter four, with the Samaritan woman. If you knew the gift of God, what is this gift? He gives man a new pattern, a new nature. This is what humanity needs, right? We know the pattern of the old Adam. As God looks upon us, he says, they need a new humanity. Here is the gift. This is incredible. And it is a good, good gift. We need to keep moving. So we looked at the reality of the Father's love, the extent of the Father's love, the depth of the Father's love. Now I want you to see the goal of the Father's love.

29:29The goal of the Father's love. You know what? If I can just, it's eternal life. Look at that. So that the one believing in him should not perish, not be like that lost sheep in the desert, alone, perishing, but will have life eternal, beholding life eternal. You know, one of the things my mother, who gave me this beautiful time, Loves to do is to get the family together. If you knew my mother, you know what you would know what's very important. You're nanny, you know, you know how important it is to have everybody together. And I see this maternal instinct not just in my mother, I see it in my wife, I see it in others. There's this idea, we just want people together, right? Anyone can identify with that? Of course.

30:28Well, think about the goal of the gift. God is wanting you there. Life eternal is eternal union with the Father, eternal union, eternal family get-together. He wants you there. That's the goal. God demonstrated His love for us so that we would be drawn for Him. The gift of life is life with the Father forever. The gift of His Son is life with the Father forever. And He demonstrated this love for us. And what moves us or what draws us is this sense of God's favor upon us. If we have a sense of God's displeasure, we run from Him. But He demonstrated His love for us so that we would be drawn to Him.

31:27He settled it before you could do it. Anything to mess up or anything. He settled his love and he loved the world. This is why he says, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever is believing in him will have eternal life. How do you respond to this? How do you respond to the love of the Father for the world? What is the response? It's belief. It's to reciprocate, to love him in return with this kind of love towards you. It is wrong not to reciprocate, right? Somebody does something very expensive and very lavish for you as an expression of love. It's wrong not to reciprocate. You will break the relationship, and that's the idea. But you cannot love. You cannot love what you do not believe. And so you must believe. You'll never have a right relationship if you do not begin with belief. You can never love that which you don't believe. But so two things, the motivation behind the new birth. First of all, there is the love of the Father for the world. The second thing, I want you to see, is the love of the Father for the Son. The love of the Father for the Son. Sometimes when we read through this verse, our minds tend to latch on to this incredible expression of love that God has for us, and we are right to do so because. It is there. However, we often miss the incredible love that's expressed for the Son here. The Father loves the Son.

33:14And I want you to see this. The Father's love for the Son is seen in two ways. Seen in two ways. First of all, it's seen in the Son's unique title, the only begotten Son, the only beloved one. It goes like this. In this manner, if I just do a Greek translation, in this manner, God so loved the world, such that the Son, the Beloved One, he gave. See that? In this manner, God loves you. God loved this world, which includes you. In this manner, God loved the cosmos, such that the Son, the Beloved One, He gave.

34:05So the love of the Father is seen in the unique title. The title is not an expression about origin, but about prominence, about relational prominence. The word is used to speak about the widow's son, Jairus's daughter, the demoniac boy. A couple of times, or you can see it in the Old Testament in a couple of illustrations. You can search Certainly, see it in Isaac in Hebrews 11:17. We read these words. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.

34:50Now, if you're Ishmael, what do you go? How is your response to that? Only begotten. It's not Isaac was not his only son, but yet he's referred to as his only begotten, his only special one, unique one, one of a kind. Isaac was Abraham's one-of-a-kind. Relational prominence is what's being spoken of here. I spent a little time reading Josephus. And Josephus, he's that historian in the first century that chronicled the Jewish wars and some other things. He was a Jew, but he some saw him as a traitor, and he wrote down a history. What's interesting is he comments on Abraham and Isaac. And he actually gives us a really good understanding of what the word only begotten means. And let me just read you a portion of what he said. Now, Abraham greatly loved Isaac, his only begotten.

36:01And he is given to him at his old age. He was given to him by the favor of God. The child also endeared himself to his parents still more by the exercise of every virtue and adhering to his duty to his parents. He was zealous in the worship of God. And he says, This, and I'm paraphrasing, but these are the words he uses: that Isaac was the principal part of his happiness. Isaac was the principal part of Abraham's happiness. That's the idea. Relational, relational prominence.

36:44Josephus goes on to give some of the just how Abraham spoke before putting Isaac on the altar. He said, O son, I pour out a vast number of prayers that I might have you for a son. And when you came into the world, there was nothing that I wouldn't do to give myself or to make you happier in anything I could do. I'm paraphrasing. I thought myself, I wanted to see you grow up. I wanted to see you the successor of my dominion.

37:24But now you're going to die. You will die not in any common way. Of going out of the world, but sent to God, the Father of all men, by your own Father in the nature of a sacrifice. Of course, Josephus goes on to talk about Isaac and his generous disposition and said that he was not worthy. Isaac said that he was not worthy to be born if he should reject the determination of God and his father and should not resign himself up to both of their pleasures. So he went immediately to the altar to be sacrificed.

38:02And then God stopped them. Isaac and Abraham received each other back. Great joy, and Josephus writes about. But the main point here is that the idea of begotten is that Isaac was the general part of his happiness. Special one, unique one, favored one. You can see Joseph, another example of a favored son. He had a coat of many colors. All the other tribes were tribal representatives or children of Jacob were to bow down and worship him. They didn't want him. So they cast him out, but he was the favored one. And in time, yes, they did. The coat of many colors made it clear he's the favored son, the only begotten in that sense. I mean, let me suppose. Let me say it to you like this. Suppose one of my daughters came up to me and said, Daddy, will you take me out to dinner, just you and me? Sure, sweetheart, as an expression of my love for you and my value of our relationship. Yes, let's go to dinner together. Daddy, on the way, can we throw mom under the bus and run her over as we go to dinner? See, no, I'm not going to run over your mom. That's my only beloved. That's my special, unique. Well, Daddy, can we maybe throw some tomatoes at mommy on the way over? Not that any of my kids would ever do this. I'm illustrating a point, right?

39:47No, you're not going to throw it. She's my only beloved. I have a special relation. Don't ask me to do anything that would violate my love with my only beloved, with my unique one. Well, Daddy, can we say bad things about her? No. In fact, get out. Get out of the car. Listen, I think many of us have our prayers hindered because we ask for things that throw Jesus under the bus, that exalt ourselves. You cannot ask God to do something that would violate his love for his monoganes, his only beloved.

40:26So there's an exclusive relationship. Between the Father and his love. And you can see this throughout, and it's seen in his unique title. I'm going to keep moving, but it's also seen in the Son's unique role, his unique role. He is the Savior of the world, He is the Savior of the world. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish. He was given so that anyone believing in Him, the one who believes in Him, axiomatic statement, true statement, the one believing in Him has eternal life. Period. The one who has eternal life is the one who is believing in Him. And only Him, the one who believes in Him, is the one who has eternal life. The one who doesn't is like the one, is like the sheep in the wilderness, alone separated from God and is perishing, will perish. So the only doorway into the kingdom of God is Jesus, Christ alone.

41:38He is the one who is currently possessing eternal life, the one who is currently looking, the one who is currently believing in Jesus. The one who believes, whoever believes. And what is he believing? He has to believe who Jesus is. He is the only unique Son of God. What he says, be receptive to his word. Even the words about the new birth and what he did to save sinners on the cross. And this is exactly what is followed up from Jesus's last statement. The very last idea was in verses 14 and 15. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, speaking of crucifixion, so that everyone who believes in the crucified Son of God, the Son of Man, will have eternal life.

42:32Go back for a moment in your mind to the serpent in the wilderness that we covered last week. Do you remember what God told them what to do when they had been bitten? What were they to do? To look, to look to the serpent. God is setting something up here so that we will understand the nature of salvation, the nature of dealing with this condition, this ongoing condition of unbelief. I'll just read to you in case you weren't here. These were the words in Numbers 21, 8, and 9. Once the snakes came out, there was a condition. The people perpetually disbelieved God and they were grumbling and complaining, and this had gone on for a long time, many years. And so God deals with this in Numbers 21. He sends a bunch of serpents and they inject poison. That poison is a death sentence. But God also gave a remedy for that, that they would put a snake upon. This upon a pole, a bronze serpent, and those who looked at it would be saved. Salvation would be something outside of them. And by looking, simply looking, not only the poison would go away, but the condition of unbelief would go away. But I think it's helpful for us to understand what they were not told to do. Let me tell you what they were not told to do. Once they had gotten bitten, and listen, by the way, we've all been bitten. The curse is upon us. Death is coming. For some, it's going to be quicker than others. But you do not know how much time you have left, but we all know where we're heading. We're going to the grave. There is a remedy. There is a remedy. And in the process of dealing with death, God deals with that condition of unbelief, that perpetual unbelief that he is dealing with. But look at it. They were not told to look at their wounds, right? God did not say, oh, oh man, look, what you do is once you get bit, just look at it. And, oh, woe is me. Woe is me. I've got it so bad. And it doesn't say that. In fact, I just, just earlier this week, had somebody come in and ask me for some money and ask me for, hit me up for some things and go on about how miserable and how poor their life is. Yeah, yeah, okay, you got some money out of me. Yes, you're. Your story is incredible. Yes, yes, yes. But you know what? You know what? They're looking at their wounds. You're not going to get faith that way. That's not going to change your condition. I know there are some hard situations out there, but they were not told to look at their wound. They were also not told to look for some self-healing remedy. They weren't supposed to go about that. They were not to look at Moses. They were not to look to each other. They were not to go get mad at the serpents and start stomping them out.

45:34Right? Actually, God sent them to deal with their real condition. That's what many of us do. We get mad at God and get mad at the issues in our life when God is really dealing with things. And we don't look. Listen, faith isn't going to happen unless you look to the crucified Savior and understand yourself and your world through that paradigm. That's where the healing comes from. It's not looking at yourself, looking at others, looking at, it's not getting mad at God.

46:02And they're not even told to make an offering. It's not in sacrifice, an offering. They're told to look, only look. Listen, this is incredible. Everyone who enters heaven is going to know Jesus' name. Not too many people are going to know my name, right? But everyone, whosoever believeth, look at that unique role. There is only one Savior. Everyone. Is going to know the name of Jesus. His name is above every name. You see, the Father would violate his love for the Son if there were multiple ways into heaven. This text is exclusive. There is only one Savior, and the humanity in the eight, when the new heavens and the new earth come, there is going to be one beloved Son that has a unique role that we will all know as Savior, as Lord, and Master. And it is good that He is the one.

47:10We're not going to be that unique one, but we are loved like, we are loved by the Father like He loves that unique one, Jesus. I could say some more, but for this reason, Philippians 2:9 says, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. The Father loves the Son. Salvation, the whole plan of salvation, the whole idea of the new birth comes out of the Father's love for the world and the Father's love for the Son. He is giving the world a kingdom. He is giving the Son a kingdom. It is all an expression of his love.

48:00The Father's love for Jesus is seen in his unique title, His unique role. We have looked at the descriptions of the new birth, the need for the new birth, the cause of the new birth, the effect of the new birth, the essence of the new birth. Starting to look at the motivation behind the new birth, we'll pick that up some more as we go on. But what is the right response? What is the right response in all this? What should our response be?

48:28It should be belief. Be believing in what you've heard, what you've seen, what is expressed here. Listen and get this. If you do not have eternal life, it is not because God didn't love you or doesn't love you. It is not because Christ wasn't given for you. It's because you do not believe on Christ. That's the reason that you will not have eternity, you do not have, and you will not have. It's not because it's not on God's side of the camp. He loves intently, extremely, so that all of us are without excuse. And he has displayed that son, that one, that like one wearing a coat of many colors throughout history, it is clear who God's favored son is. Nicodemus himself was able to say, We know God is with you because of the things you do. You know who he is.

49:32Let us all be believing. Let us all be believing so that we will all be exalting our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, the Father's love for us is vast, vast beyond all measure. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this deep, deep love that you have for us and for the Son, for your Son. Father, and it's in that beautiful love relationship, Father, that we see paradise opened up, that we see stability of government, that we see a hope and a future for mankind. We thank you for your beloved Son. We thank you for your covenant faithfulness to him and to us. And, Father, may you help our unbelief. May you awaken. Father, may you cause us to turn to you.

50:34Father, may we love you and go with us now, we pray in Jesus' name.