John 3:16-21 Come Into the Light

0:58In reality, I settled on a biography of Mr. Rogers. But as I was searching for books to read on the beach, I came across a children's book on Amazon called Afraid of the Light. It's about a little rabbit named Ditter von Dapp, who lives deep inside of a cave because, unlike everyone else who is afraid of the dark, Ditter von Dapp is afraid of the light. In the book, he says, What could be scary when there's nothing to see? The dark is a scary. Scary. It's the light that scares me.

1:33It could blind me, unwind me, drive me insane, or illuminate things I don't like. Much better to stay in the cozy, dim dark than risk being caught in the light. You know, maybe Ditter von Dapp is on to something, because I think it's true for most of us that we are afraid of the light. That is, we are afraid of being exposed by the light. In today's passage, John 3:16 through 21, this is the rest of the dialogue that John records between Jesus and Nicodemus that we looked at last week.

2:07I want you to remember that Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was a ruler of the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrin, and he came to Jesus by night to talk to him and ask him some questions. He told Jesus that he and his associates knew that Jesus had come from God because of the signs that he was doing. And Jesus responded by telling Nicodemus that he had to be born again. He had to be born of water and the Spirit in fulfillment of the prophecy that Ezekiel made in chapter 36.

2:36God promised to wash us with clean water, to give us a new heart, to put his spirit within us so that we could obey him. And Nicodemus was dumbfounded. He did not understand what Jesus was saying, and Jesus was surprised that the teacher of Israel did not understand that he was teaching things that came straight out of one of the biggest prophets that Israel ever had. So he told them that just as many Moses had to lift up that serpent in the wilderness, so he would be lifted up on a cross, so that whoever believes in him would have eternal life.

3:11Now, the question that we're left with at the end of verse 15, where we stopped last week, is why? Why would God grant eternal life to whoever believes in him? So let's pick up in verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16 is the best-known verse in the Bible, and for good reason. It is a masterful, moving summary of the gospel cast in light of God's love for the world.

3:51Why would God grant eternal life to whoever believes in him? For or because God so loved the world? The world? The world that has been in constant rebellion against him ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden? The world that's described in Psalm chapter 2? Take a look at this. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast them. Away their cords from us.

4:34That world? That's the world that God loves so much? Yes. When God had finished creating all things, he looked over all that he had made and he said it was very good. Not that it was okay or that it was kind of good, it was very good. And even though the world has fallen into sin and has been cursed, when God redeems the world, it's going to be very good again. When he makes all things new, it's going to be even better. He is not going to allow sin, death, and the curse to ruin his very good world forever.

5:08God's love for the world is amazing. And not primarily because it's so vast, encompassing all of the people in the world. God's love is so amazing because it simply does not make sense in light of our rebellion against him. You know, many people have been deeply hurt by someone at some point in their life. And maybe that's you. Maybe someone has deeply hurt and wounded you at some point in your life. And if you're a Christian, you know that we have been called to love all people, including our enemies, including those people who have deeply wounded and hurt us at some point.

5:49We are called to love all people, but that's a very, very hard thing to do. In fact, I would say that loving our enemies, loving those who have wounded us and hurt us over the years, that is an important Possible thing to do apart from God's grace and his power in our life. It's impossible. So think about people who have been abused, mistreated, maybe trafficked their entire life. Think about people who have been taken advantage of in every way their whole life. Would it surprise us in the least if they had a hard time loving other people? Of course not.

6:28That would make sense. Now imagine if you had not been wounded and hurt by one person or ten people or a hundred people, but billions and billions of people. Imagine, in fact, if you had been wounded and hurt by every single person that has ever existed on the face of the earth. That is the case with God. Every person that he has ever created has wounded and hurt him deeply in their sin. And friends, that's not a message that we have to wait until Jesus' ministry in the New Testament to find out.

7:09That's a message that we receive from God Himself just a few chapters into Scripture. Take a look at Genesis 6. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth. And it grieved him to his heart. It grieved him to his heart. God is not indifferent toward our sin. He does not view us like a human judge views someone in the courtroom. A human judge has to make a verdict and pass a sentence on somebody that he's never met before, that she has no relationship with, that there is no connection to. More than that, that person has not personally offended him or her as the judge.

8:06They have offended someone else or they've offended the state. So it's not personal. But with God, it is personal. Every sin, every offense that we commit, even if it is against other people, is primarily against God, our creator, our king, our lawgiver, our Father. We have rebelled against Him and spit in His face. So you think about that. You ponder that truth for a while about our rebellion against God, and then you read this statement: for God so loved the world. We are just so accustomed to that statement, that verse, because it's so famous, it's so well known, that we don't even stop and think about it anymore. How remarkable it is that God would say that he so loved the world. It makes no sense given what we know about ourselves, given what we know about our sin and our rejection of God.

9:00And yet, Jesus is not even done at that point. Look what he says, verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. He gave his only son. For the world that rejects his kind rule and authority, for the world that in many cases denies his very existence, he gave his only son. It's scandalous. I think Paul captures it well in Romans chapter 5. Take a look here. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9:59Most people will not give their lives for a righteous person, for a good person. I mean, for a really good person, for someone that's very special to you. Maybe, Paul says, maybe you would give your life. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, while we were still his enemies, while we were still opposed to him, while we had wounded and grieved him deeply to his heart, he gave his only son for us.

10:29Parents, you Lay down your life for your kids, your spouse, perhaps your country. But for what cause, for what person would you sacrifice your child? There isn't one. There is no cause, there is no person that you would sacrifice your child for. And yet, God did. He gave up his one and only son, not for good people, not for righteous people, not for people who tried really hard every day, did their very best to honor and serve him, but fell a little bit short. No, he gave up his only son for his enemies, for people who hate him.

11:14In 1 Timothy 2, 4, Paul shares that God desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. In 2 Peter 3, 9, Peter shares that God doesn't want anyone to perish. He wants everyone to come to repentance. Because God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And I want you to think about that word belief. This is so much more than an intellectual assent. It's so much more than an agreement with some basic facts. To believe means to trust wholeheartedly and completely.

11:58So the Christian life is often presented. As what people call blind faith. Like we're just leaping into the abyss. But that's not true at all. The Christian faith is a leap, but it is a leap to a person, a person that can be trusted because he has proven himself trustworthy in his life, death, and resurrection. So I want you to picture a young child who can't swim, but she jumps into the pool with her arms outstretched because she trusts her dad, and her dad is there in the pool.

12:38She has complete trust, complete faith that her dad is going to catch her and keep her alive if she jumps to him. Her faith is not in herself, it's in her father. That's what it means to believe, to have faith. It is to rely that wholeheartedly, that completely, on someone or something. And I want you to think about this. The size of the child's faith does not matter at all. It doesn't matter if the child has big faith or small faith in her dad. If you've had multiple kids and you've taught them how to swim, you know exactly how this works. Teaching my kids to swim was so different. Some of my kids barely trusted me to keep them alive. Even though I'm holding their hands, I'm right there. I'm encouraging them to come into the water. I promise I'm going to keep, they've seen me do this with their siblings, barely trusted me to keep them alive. I had other kids that would run. Full speed, dive headfirst as long as I was somewhere in college station.

13:36It's a very different experience. At one point, my kids couldn't swim, and they knew that, but they would jump in because they trusted me. Some of them had big faith in me, some of them had small faith in me, but all of them had faith in me that I could keep them alive if they jumped. The size of our faith does not matter. You can have huge faith in yourself, huge faith in your religion, in your good works, in your attempts to make yourself right before God, and your huge faith cannot save you. It's going to let you down. Or you can have tiny faith, faith as small as a mustard seed, in Jesus Christ, and he will save you. Because it's not the size of your faith that saves you, it's the object of your faith.

14:30And I think for some of you, you've maybe grown up in the church and you've had faith in yourself, you've had faith in your religion, you've had faith in your works your entire life. You need to come to the point today where you are leaping to Jesus, where you are putting all of your confidence, all of your trust, all of your faith in him, and no confidence, no trust, no faith in yourself, your religion, your performance at all. That is what it means to have faith in Jesus. Whoever believes in him will Perish, but will have eternal life. Do you believe? Or do you just agree?

15:09Verse 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Jesus was not sent to condemn the world. He came on a rescue mission to save it. Take a look at how he talked about this in Mark chapter 8 on the screen. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.

15:49That is why Jesus came the first time. He came to suffer. He came to suffer rejection and to be killed and to rise again. He came as the suffering servant. But Jesus is coming again. And when he returns, he's not coming as the suffering servant. He's coming as the conquering king. Revelation 19 and 20 paints a picture of this. Revelation 19, Jesus is riding on a white horse. His eyes are like a flame of fire. His robe is dipped in blood. He's got a tattoo of his name on his thigh. He draws a sharp sword from his mouth with which to strike down all those who have rejected him.

16:32And in chapter 20, he's pictured sitting on this great white throne. All of the nations are gathered before him. And he passes judgment on them according to what they've done. Anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life, because they've placed their faith in him, anyone whose name is not written in that book is thrown into the lake of fire. They're eternally condemned. And that's what Jesus is getting at in verse 18. Take a look.

17:00Whoever believes in him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. If you believe in Jesus, you are not condemned because Jesus came to save the world through his life, death, and resurrection. But friends, if you don't believe, you stand condemned already. You've been found guilty and you are going to be sentenced to death. Jesus' statement in verse 18 reinforces his teaching in the rest of the Gospel of John that there is no other way to be saved except through faith in him. If you don't believe in him, you will be condemned. So, church, this truth should add urgency to our evangelism.

17:50It's difficult for many people to accept that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through him. But that is the truth. And the danger for us is that. We know family members, we know friends, we work with people, we go to school with people who are genuinely good people, maybe even better people than we are. And the trap for us that we fall into is thinking that they're going to be okay.

18:18That good people, family members and friends, coworkers, classmates, good people will end up in heaven. But Jesus is so clear: if you don't believe in him, you stand condemned already. So we have to be urgent because those people in our lives, they're not going to heaven. They're not getting a pass for being a good person. They stand condemned just as we did because they have not believed in Jesus. And that should add urgency to our prayers, urgency to our evangelism, urgency to our sending and going to the nations.

18:55Now, at this point, the midpoint of this section, Jesus anticipates and answers a really good question. And that question is, why is it that many people who have heard about Jesus don't believe in him? How is it that millions and millions of people in America, in Europe, in Africa and Asia, places where the gospel has been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years in some cases, how is it that so many people who have heard of Jesus don't believe in him?

19:31Well, verses 19 and 20 answer that question. Let's take a look there. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. So John returns to this theme from chapter 1 of light and darkness, where he said that Jesus, the light, was coming into the world, but that the world did not see him or know him. They didn't receive him. Even his own people didn't receive him. And here he explains why. He says it's because people love the darkness and want to remain in it because their works are evil, and they don't want to be exposed.

20:29They hate the light because the light exposes them. So people prefer to hide in the darkness. I want you to think about where we see this right away in Scripture, Genesis chapter 3. What happens when Adam and Eve sin against God? Take a look at verse 8. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

20:58Adam and Eve are naked. Literally and figuratively. They are guilty of sinning against God, and their guilt makes them feel ashamed. And so they do what all of us do when we experience guilt and shame. They try to cover themselves and they run and hide. That's what we all do. We think that the darkness will cover us. That as long as we don't step out into the light, we'll be okay. We won't be exposed. Our sin will remain hidden. But friends, we cannot hide from God.

21:33Look how Hebrews 4 captures this on the screen. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. All are naked and exposed. There is no hiding from God. His eyes see everything. And just as he sought out Adam and Eve and called them to account for their sin, God will seek us out and will call us to account for our sin as well because he sees everything.

22:10Friends, Jesus is telling us in this section that people don't just reject him because they don't believe that the gospel is true. That's accurate. Some people reject the gospel because they don't believe it's true. They don't believe that Jesus really existed. They don't believe that he lived, died, and rose again. Reject that. They don't think that's true. That is true. But what Jesus is saying here is that there's more going on than just that. It's not merely that they don't think that the gospel is true. He's saying that people also reject him because they don't want to be exposed.

22:50They love the darkness. They want to remain in it because they don't want to be exposed by the light. They love their sin and they don't want to give it up. And if you talk to many Christians, they will tell you that one of the reasons that they took so long to come to faith in Christ is because they love their sin. They knew that if they came to faith in Christ, they would have to give that up. They'd have to repent.

23:15And there are many honest non-Christians out there who will say they don't want to seriously investigate the claims of Jesus Christ because they know that if it's true, that he really did live, die, and rise again, then it's obvious what they need to do. They have to repent. They have to live a different way. People love darkness rather than light because our works are evil. And we don't want to come into the light for fear of being exposed.

23:50So the last question is: why would anyone do that then? Why would anybody leave the darkness for the light? Verse 21 tells us, but whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Why would anybody walk out of the darkness into the light and have their thoughts, attitudes, motives, and behaviors exposed? Why would anybody do that? There's no human reason to do that, to have our guilt and shame put on display. We would rather stay under the loincloths that we've made for ourselves. We would rather hide in the darkness of the woods, wherever that hiding place is for us. We would rather stay there than come into the light. There is no human reason to do this. There's no human reason to come into the light. That's why Jesus says: if anybody does it, if anybody comes out of the darkness into the light, it's because God is at work.

25:01And doesn't that square perfectly with what Jesus was telling Nicodemus at the beginning of this conversation? Where he told Nicodemus that we can't see or enter the kingdom of God unless we've been born again, unless we've been born from above. It requires a new heart and a new spirit. It requires us God to do something for us that we cannot do for ourselves. It requires him acting upon us in a way that we cannot do for ourselves.

25:37It requires God to work. And so, friends, I want you to remember that what we're reading this morning, this is not a letter. This is not a letter from one person to another. This is a record of the conversation that Jesus had with this man, Nicodemus. And so, I want you to picture the end of this conversation. Jesus is looking into Nicodemus' eyes, and he says what we find in verse 21. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

26:20Whoever does what is true comes to the light. Nicodemus, you came to me under the cover of darkness because you were afraid of being exposed. You think you know who I am, but I'm not just a good teacher sent from God. I am the Son of Man, the Messiah, the light that was coming into the world, and I'm going to be lifted up so that whoever believes in me will have eternal life. Come to the light, Nicodemus.

26:58Come to the light. If you come to the light, you will be exposed, but you will not be condemned. You'll be saved. Because whoever believes in me won't perish, but have eternal life. Friends, God was at work in Nicodemus, and that becomes clear throughout the rest of the gospel. We don't hear of Nicodemus again until the very end of the gospel when he and Joseph of Arimathea go and request Jesus' dead body to bury it properly. But God was at work in Nicodemus, and God is at work in some of you as well.

27:40The reason that you've been asking questions about faith, about Christianity, the reason that you've maybe been attending life group or have come today or you've been coming to worship for a little while is because you've got questions, and that is because God is at work in you. Maybe, like Adam and Eve, you feel afraid. You feel ashamed. You don't want to be exposed. You don't want to come into the light because you're afraid of being exposed, yes, before God.

28:11But my guess is that you already know that He knows everything about you, and so He's not going to learn anything new. I wonder if you're afraid to come into the light because you're afraid to be exposed before people, people like us. And if that's the case, what you need to do is. To understand is that you have not come to a gathering of good people. You've come to a gathering of redeemed sinners, of people who also, like you, once stood condemned before the Lord, but because God was at work in our lives, we came into the light, all of our wickedness was exposed. And guys, it wasn't pretty.

28:53It's not pretty. All of the ways that we have treated God and used Him for our own ends, haven't given Him the worship that He deserves, haven't lived in obedience to His commands, all of the ways that we've sinned against the people in our lives, even the people that matter to us most, the things that we've said and done to our parents, the things that we've said and done to our spouses, the things that we've said and done to our kids, our co-workers, what we've said about other people, how we've selfishly used and abused other people in our life.

29:25All of that stuff was put on display before God, and in many cases, before others when we came to Christ. But God was at work in us, and so we came from the dark to the light, knowing that we'd be exposed, but we wouldn't be condemned. And that's what you have to understand today, too. If you come to the light, you will be exposed, but you will not be condemned. Not by God, and certainly not by us, because we once stood condemned too.

30:00And it's only because of the mercy and grace of God that we stand redeemed, forgiven, adopted into God's family today. So, I don't want you to put off walking into the light because you're afraid of what's going to be exposed before other people. There is nothing that we could discover that God does not already know, and there's nothing that we could discover that would make you any worse than us. And so, come to the light. Come to the light today. You will be received, but you've got to believe in Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation.

30:41If you're already a Christian, I hope that you will remember today that you were once lost, stumbling around in the dark without God and without hope. But God worked in you, He caused you to be born again, He caused you to be born from above, to see yourself in the light of truth, that He granted you new life, that Jesus saved you. So, I want to wrap up with Peter's words in his first letter. I want you to look at what he says: such a great reminder to all of us: but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. Listen to this, that you may proclaim. The excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

31:49Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Father, we are so grateful that you have shown mercy to us, sinners who did not deserve to be saved, to be redeemed, to be counted righteous and adopted into your family. No, we deserve to be condemned. We deserve to die and to be eternally punished for our rebellion and sin. But because you so love the world, you gave up your only son for us. God, I pray that we would not forget that.

32:51That we would never forget where we came from. That we would never forget it was you who called us out of darkness into your Marvelous light. God, we pray for those who have not yet come out of the darkness. We pray that today you would call them, that they would clearly hear your call, and they would leave the darkness, not fearing what's going to be exposed by the light. Because you already know everything. We all stand naked and exposed before you.

33:44God, I'm sorry that churches and Christians have sometimes made it hard for non-Christians to come to faith in Christ because we have lived in a judgmental way, as though we ourselves were not rescued from all kinds of sin, all kinds of darkness and evil. I pray nothing would keep some from coming to faith in Christ this morning because they hear your call and you are at work in their lives. God, we want to see you move in powerful ways. We want to see Christians recover a gratitude and a joy from their salvation that we haven't had in some time. And we want to see new life being granted. To people who are walking in spiritual death.

34:34And so, God, we pray that you would amaze us with your powerful work. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.