WEBVTT 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:16.320 We've uh got a couple of weeks here uh where we're gonna where I am preaching this week, and John uh Pearson is gonna be preaching next week on uh some different passages that we have just uh decided to to preach on. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:23.199 Uh as we have on the 20th, we have uh John Raksheath Prabhupar, who's a missionary to uh to Bangalore, India. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:25.359 Uh he's gonna be preaching on the 20th. 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:32.560 And uh and then Claude uh McRoberts, our new senior pastor, will be uh preaching on uh August the 27th for his first Sunday. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:35.759 So here we had we have two weeks of like can't really do a series. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:37.600 So uh John and I just sat down. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:44.640 So let's pick one of our favorite passages and uh let's uh let's preach on uh let's preach on those for these new next two weeks. 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:54.799 Uh my one of my favorite passages is the one you have uh before yourself here today, John uh 3.16 uh through verse 21. 00:00:54.960 --> 00:01:01.840 Uh and there's a story about how the Lord uh used that passage in my own life when I was uh when I was a young boy. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:08.319 Uh when I was about a month before my my seventh birthday, uh it was right in between my first and second grade years. 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:10.799 Uh I was it was in the late, it was in late June. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:12.079 It was late June. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:18.640 I was out riding bicycles with uh a group of boys from my neighborhood, and it was a hot uh day, it was right around midday. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:19.359 We got thirsty. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:23.040 We went over to one of our friends' houses to go get something to drink. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:28.719 We all got back on our bicycles, and I was one of the last ones to get on, and everybody got out in front of me. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:34.879 And I was so bent on trying to get caught up with my group that I wasn't paying attention to anything else around me. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:38.319 They went out of a driveway, I went right by right behind them. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:43.840 And right when I was coming out, a car was coming and hit me uh broadside on my bicycle. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:45.760 A little six-year-old boy. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:49.599 Uh, I really should not be standing here uh before you uh today. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.120 Uh I should have, uh I really should not be here. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.280 Uh but I did sustain a concussion. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:58.879 I had a broken wrist on my left side, I had a broken leg on my left side. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:01.439 I was in the hospital uh for the next four days. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:03.519 My summer was all but done. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:09.599 And uh, but while I was there in that hospital over that four-day period, our pastor from our church came by. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:14.319 And this was back in the day when you had the old plaster casts that were smooth on the outside. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:17.759 They're not like the real rough one, tug texture ones you have now that was smooth. 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:20.240 I had this cast from my toe all the way up to my hip. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:22.479 And uh, people were coming in and signing my cast. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.360 I asked a pastor, I said, Would you please sign my cast for me? 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:28.960 So he signs his name on it and he writes John 3.16. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:31.599 And he says, Let me tell you what that says. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:33.680 And he quoted the verse for me. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:45.120 And I don't know if I became a Christian at that particular time, but I distinctly remember sitting there in the hospital on that hot June day and the seeds of the gospel taking grip of my heart. 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:55.280 I remember asking questions over the next year, and it was uh within that next neck that next summer, about a year later, that I did indeed make a public profession of faith. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:00.560 So this passage uh has a lot uh of an impact uh upon me. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:02.719 Uh it's something that I go to quite often. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:18.479 And as John James Montgomery Boyce said in his commentary on the Gospel of John, he says, the Gospel of John is so beautiful that it's shallow enough for a toddler to go wade in and enjoy, but it's deep enough to for an elephant to go take a nosedive in and swim in. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:23.360 Uh and all these years later, uh I still find that to be very, very true. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:30.560 So before we go to this passage and look at its deep riches of what uh Jesus has to tell us in it, uh let's go to him in prayer. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:38.400 Father, we thank you uh so much for this time, for this time of worship, and we thank you for your word. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:47.919 Uh we thank you for the love of Jesus that's communicated to us through it, uh, really uh on all levels, from Genesis all the way through Revelation. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:49.360 God, we thank you for him. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:04:06.800 We thank you for his sacrifice, and we thank you for the deep, deep love that you've shown us through him, and may we see a bigger picture of that deep love that uh that uh he has uh shown for us, not only through his death, not only through his resurrection, but the love that we have through his presence, both now and forevermore. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.759 And we pray all these things in his name, amen. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:14.080 John chapter three, verses sixteen through twenty-one. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:16.160 Hear the word of the Lord. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:23.680 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:29.920 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. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:40.000 Whoever 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. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:41.839 And this is the judgment. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:47.920 The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:55.519 For every one who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:05:05.279 But he, but whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that he might be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God. 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:08.639 Here ends a reading of God's word. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:15.040 At a church where I once served several years ago, there was a middle-aged lady who was there. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:20.160 Uh, she was uh very active in the church, uh, had many deep relationships. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:30.000 She used her gifts and her times and her and her time and her resources uh to be a great blessing to many people, brought God a lot of glory through the many things that she was doing. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:36.160 But one of the things that was a great struggle for her is that she had a husband uh that was not a believer. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:44.079 Uh as a matter of fact, I can in the uh almost six years that I was at this particular church, I can only remember a handful of times when he even came. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:48.800 And it was usually on Christmas, Easter, those type, those types of occasions. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:54.560 Well, during this particular time when I was there, her husband uh had some significant health issues. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:57.120 Some of them were actually quite life-threatening. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:08.639 And word got around to the church, word got around to the pastoral staff and the leaders and the rest of the church, and people were coming and encouraging her, telling them that they were praying for him and praying for her. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:19.279 The passage we're looking at here today is one of these life and death moments, and I actually wrestled with what I was going to entitle this passage. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:30.879 Uh, I obviously, as you can see, as I entitled it the the uh For God so loved the world, but I really came really close to entitling a matter of life and death, because this is what is really going on here. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:51.839 And if we look at the context, now I didn't read the the first 20, the first uh 15 verses leading up to this passage, but if we look at the broader context of those first 15 verses leading up to this passage, we see Jesus having a conversation with Nicodemus, and this is actually the cut the context of this, and this is to whom he's saying these words, is Nicodemus. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:59.279 At the beginning of this passage, Jesus comes straight out and tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:10.879 In spite of all of his religious achievements, his wealth, his education, his political and social status, he is spiritually dead. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:16.079 And this is what Jesus is getting at with him and why he tells him that he needs to be born again. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:19.040 And Nicodemus is thinking purely obstetrics here. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:22.399 He says, How in the world can I enter to my mother's womb and be born again? 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:26.319 And what Jesus is telling him is this is that you are dead. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:28.560 You are not alive. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:39.360 You must experience new life, you must experience a new birth that comes through the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gets in in verses and seven, in verses seven and eight of this chapter. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:46.240 And if this is not enough, he takes him back to the Old Testament and the verses that follow. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:55.040 When the Israelites began to complain against God, and God responded by sending the serpents, these snakes, that bit the people and injected them with the lethal venom. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:08:06.319 And as the people began to cry out to God, God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole and to tell the people if they were to look at the bronze serpent that they would be saved, that they would be healed. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:11.600 In other words, what Jesus is telling him in two different ways is, as Nicodemus, you are dead. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:16.399 You can't save yourself, but by God, by his grace and his power, he can. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:25.839 And what this passage does speak in a much broader sense is that was true for Nicodemus and for the Israelites, is also true for us to this day. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:41.679 You may be able to identify a little more closely with Nicodemus and what you think about yourself and how you may think you have it all together, that you can live your life on your own, that you've done pretty well for yourself, and you just need a little help from Jesus. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:59.759 Or you may be a little more closely associated with the Israelites that are being described in this passage, and that you have shaken your fist at God, you've complained against him, you've rebelled against him and subtle or in some subtle or not so subtle ways, but regardless, we all like sheep have gone astray. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:07.600 We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and apart from God's saving grace through Jesus Christ, we are doomed. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:09.759 We are as good as dead. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:12.879 We're all basically dead men walking. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:21.759 But out of his love, he sent his son, his one and only Son, to save us from our sin, from death, and to give us eternal life. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:26.399 And it is through looking to him, believing in him, that we can have eternal life. 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:28.480 So I want us to look at three things. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:34.960 First, I want us to look at the scope of Jesus' love or God's love for us through Jesus. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:39.279 The second thing is, I want us to look at the depth of his love. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:45.279 And then the third thing, I want us to look at the purpose of his love. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:10:04.639 As I was thinking about a way in which we could uh discuss this word world, a lot of times when people look at this, they think that God is a universalist, that God so loved the world that is sent in his only one son, that he sent his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:10.960 And basically what they're saying is that uh Jesus came to die for everyone, and everybody's going to get saved. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:17.039 That's not what this is saying, and we need to understand what is being said here by the word world. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:33.360 When I was thinking about this, I took, I was thinking back to a time that was just a few years after that bicycle accident, and it was when they had the uh the song come out that was being led by Michael Jackson and a lot of other uh famous singers, We Are the World. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:39.679 And I was talking to somebody the other day about music videos, how music videos aren't that big of a deal anymore. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:49.600 But for those of you who are a little bit older than me, a little bit younger than me, you all remember music videos are really big, and you had all the star the star-studded cast of people singing We Are the World. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:11:04.080 And you had Cindy Lopper and Bruce Springsteen, and I can't remember who else was up there, but it was really a representation of just kind of what the world is like and all of its diversity and all different shapes and sizes and colors and backgrounds of different people. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:07.360 And this is what Jesus is saying when he's saying the world. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:17.840 And this is really important for us to understand within the context of him speaking to Nicodemus, because Nicodemus thought he was one of the elite. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:26.559 He thought he was the type of person for whom Jesus, or for God who would who would love and would want and be a part of his kingdom. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:32.000 But what Jesus is saying is it's not about being born of the physical Abraham. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:48.320 It's not about being a Pharisee, it's not about being rich, it's not about being educated, it's not about being a part of the Sanhedrin, it's not about being a part of a governing body that is basically the executive, the judicial, and the legislative branches. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:52.480 But what he's saying is it's for people who are not like you. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:54.960 And this is why this is so important. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:12:00.000 Well, within this particular context, is when you look at John chapter 4, who does Jesus go and talk to? 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:11.440 He talks to the woman at the well, who's a Samaritan, who was an outcast by a lot of the people who are Jews, many of the people who were just like who were just like Nicodemus. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:36.799 And Jesus' saying is that it doesn't matter where you're from, it doesn't matter what your age is, it doesn't matter about your socioeconomic status, it doesn't matter about the color of your skin, it doesn't matter about your education or what part of the world you're from, is that by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, a relationship with God and having a right standing with Him is available to you through Jesus Christ. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:49.120 And like I said, this is not to say that all people are saved and or all people will be saved, but it does say, but what it does say and demonstrate is that God's love is available for all people. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:55.120 Well, when we think about the scope of the world and what it means, what is the state of the world? 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:00.240 And what Jesus says here is that we're all under his condemnation. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:09.519 There's a common belief that those who have not been exposed to the truths of Jesus Christ and the gospel are in some sort of neutral position with God. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:17.759 And the logical conclusion that we could come to if that thing, if that if that was true, is that we need to stop missions. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.200 We need to keep people from hearing about Jesus. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:28.399 Because what a lot of people think is, well, someone is saved or not saved based upon how they respond to Jesus Christ. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:32.399 What Jesus is saying right here is that we're already condemned. 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:35.200 We are all dead men walking. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:41.279 Romans chapter 3, verse 23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:52.000 Romans 1, a couple chapters before that, says that the character of God has been made manifest in all creation, but all men have rejected that and have turned to their own ways. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:56.639 And what Jesus is also saying here, too, is that we love darkness. 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:00.399 We follow the pattern of our of our first parents, Adam and Eve. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:02.879 What happened when they sinned in the garden? 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:03.919 They ran. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:07.360 God pursues them. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:10.000 Why did you run from me? 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:11.759 Because I was naked. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:14.159 Who told you that you were naked? 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:18.960 We all have that propensity within us to run away from God. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:24.080 This is why he sent Jesus Christ into this world to come after us. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:26.399 We were not running to him. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:33.039 That is why it is necessary for Jesus to come from heaven to us to run toward us. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:38.720 And what Jesus is also saying here, too, is that he shines light on all things. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:43.279 We see him be referred to as a light in chapter one of the Gospel of John. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:50.159 We see the light of Jesus shining on the sin and the desperate need that Nicodemus has here in verse in chapter three. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.799 We see Jesus shining light on the sin of the woman at the well in John chapter four. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:59.919 We see Jesus shining light on the sin of the Pharisees all throughout the Gospels. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.600 And this is part of what Jesus does in his grace. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:08.559 He doesn't come here to earth to give us a bunch of attaboys and tell us that we're good people. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:16.480 He comes to shine light on us to show that we are undone, and not just undone, but we are dead and we are in desperate need of him. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:27.279 But what we also see, too, is not the scope of God's love, but also the depth of his love. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:42.879 There are no perfect examples of human love because we're all imperfect beings, and that's one of the things that's always so risky about using illustrations because with this many people, even this many people here say you can say, Yeah, but what about this? 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:43.919 What about that? 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:48.559 So take what I'm about to say with a with a grain of salt to teach a general principle. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:59.200 Humanly speaking, generally speaking, uh, there's not a greater love that we see humanly than a love that a mother has for her children. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:01.600 We think about that. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:06.799 Uh I realize that some people here in this room have not had good relationships with their mothers. 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:18.080 And I know that that's uh certain, certainly true, but for the most part, we think about the love that our mothers have had for us, but but the love that our mothers have for us is finite and it's still tainted by sin. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:26.240 There was a time when our mothers, mothers, and we did not exist, therefore that love did not exist. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:32.320 Even after our mothers were born into this world, we did not exist. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:35.360 They did not have a love for us, not a personal love. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:41.440 And then once we were born, there was this love that they had at that particular time and space. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:48.639 And we grow and we make bad decisions, and our mother's love gets tested. 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:54.559 And some of that imperfection of that mother's love gets tested, and it gets pushed to the it gets pushed to the limits. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.720 And then think about generally the timeline, the way things go. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:04.400 Usually the way this happens is the mother passes away before the child. 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:13.599 There can be some remnants of that mother's love, but that mother's love as an active presence in life is gone. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:17.039 It's no more, it ceases to be. 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:22.160 That's not the case with the love of God the Father. 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:34.799 It knows no boundaries, and that even before the foundation of the world, before the foundation of the world, we were chosen in love through Jesus Christ. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.960 Death cannot separate us from the love of God. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:56.000 For I'm sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:17:59.759 It's also a giving love. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:10.880 Again, going back to the illustration of thinking about our mothers or other parents who have loved us, um, no one has ever given more than God has. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:15.359 God does not just God communicates his love with action. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:24.400 He demonstrates his love in an infinite number of ways, but the ultimate display of his love was sending his one and only son. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:26.319 It's a giving love. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:27.920 What else could be given? 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:38.640 We think about going all the way back to Genesis chapter 22 when Jesus when uh Abraham goes to sacrifice his son Isaac, his only son, up on the mountain. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:43.200 God, by his grace, provides a ram and a thicket so that his son can be spared. 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:52.160 But that's a foretaste of what is to happen to his son Jesus Christ, the Lamb who came in the world to take away the sin of the world. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:56.880 It's also an unchanging love. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:02.559 Not only is the love of God infinite and a giving love, but it's unchanging. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:09.119 If God has put his mark on you, there is nothing that you can do to keep God from pursuing you. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:16.799 Another great illustration of God's unchanging love is pursuing love is through the uh prophecy of Hosea. 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:29.359 Some of us may be uh familiar with the with this with this uh minor prophet that's toward the back of the of the Old Testament, but there's this prophet by the name of Hosea who is told to do something very extraordinary. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:34.480 Uh he is to go and marry a prostitute, and this prostitute's name is Gomer. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:42.160 Um, what a call by God to go and do such a thing to a woman by the name of Gomer. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:56.000 They go and they have a couple of children, and what God is doing is he's going to demonstrate his love for his people through uh through Hosea and his pursuit of Gomer as she goes out, she tries to find other lovers. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:08.079 And it starts off where she goes and she uh finds somebody who will take her in, uh, someone that's in an upscale uh neighborhood, provides all sorts of uh all sorts of money and resources. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:16.880 And if we put it into 2021 or 2023 uh vernacular, uh he provides her with a super nice automobile and everything that she wants. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:20.480 Eventually, this lover grows tired of her, he kicks her to the curb. 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:24.799 She gets picked up by someone who's more middle class. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:28.880 He provides a lot for her, but not as much as her first lover. 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:32.960 And eventually he gets tired of her and he kicks her to the curb. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:35.759 Then there's another one comes uh comes along. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:55.119 Someone who's more lower class, someone from a from not as uh not as great of a socioeconomic background, and he provides for, and eventually he gets tired of her, and then he kicks her to the curb as well, until finally one day when Hosea goes after her, he goes to her in the slave market. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:58.319 She's standing up on an auction block, start naked. 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:00.640 What does he do? 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:02.960 He goes and he purchases her. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:06.640 The same with God's love towards us. 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:16.640 There is nothing, if you are in him, if you are chosen in him, or if you are saved by grace through faith, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that you can do that can separate you from the love of God the Father. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:21.839 There's nothing that you can do that's so bad where he will stop pursuing you. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:27.359 But we also see the intent of God's love. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:30.960 Why would he why would he do such a thing? 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:39.200 We know from God's word that God is love, and we see that we see the God's love on full display throughout scripture. 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:44.160 We see it in the life of Jesus Christ and what he has done. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:48.240 But we also see the intent of God's love through through the present. 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:52.799 And the first thing is so that we will not experience any condemnation. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:57.200 One of the greatest things that we all struggle with is guilt. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.759 And to know God's love is to have the action. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.359 Of condemnation in your life. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:06.480 We condemn ourselves all the time. 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:12.720 This is what Paul's talking about in 2 Corinthians, about how he doesn't judge himself. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:21.359 Think about when you leave the office every day and you start to go out, you start onto the road going home, you're taking yourself through the courtroom of your mind. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:24.000 What does that person think about me? 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:26.720 How did I perform for my supervisor? 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:31.359 We lay our heads down at night and we run back again through the courtrooms of our mind. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:34.720 We think about how we treated our spouse, how have we treated our children? 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:39.519 How have I loved my mother and my father if they had that if they still happen to be alive? 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:41.680 And we run that through our minds all the time. 00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:42.559 Am I worthy? 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:43.440 Am I worthy? 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:46.480 Am I being condemned by people on the outside? 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:53.920 What the gospel says is before your creator, the one who really matters is that you are not condemned. 00:22:54.799 --> 00:23:00.559 And what we have through the gift of Jesus Christ is we have what I would like to refer to as a receipt. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:04.880 That we wave in the face of those people who try who seek to condemn us. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:11.519 That we can wave in front of our own seat, in front of our own faces when we try to condemn ourselves. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:27.839 You see, when when I was growing up, one of the things, my dad had a whole lot of things that were very, very important, but one of the things that was very important is that whenever you went into a store to go and return something, always make sure that you have the receipt. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:35.759 For one reason is that that's one of the best ways you can make sure that you get your money back and they know that you bought it from there. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:43.920 Another reason is there's a chance that when you walk into that store and you have that particular item with you, you need to show that it belongs to you. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:51.839 So what he's saying is, is whenever you go up and you have that item in your hand, you can show that receipt to that manager and you are free to go. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:53.599 It belongs to you. 00:23:54.319 --> 00:24:02.559 The gospel is a receipt that we can look at ourselves and say, Yes, I belong to God because I belong to Jesus Christ. 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:15.839 And we go through the courtrooms of remind and we think about the different levels of condemnation that we pass upon ourselves or experience from other people, we're reminded that the only thing that matters is that we belong to God and that can never ever be taken away. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:19.759 You see, you no longer have to live in darkness. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:23.279 You can have true healing relationships. 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:32.319 We can have true openness and intimacy with God and others without fear of rejection, because we no longer have to be fearful of failure. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:44.240 And that's for the present, but there's also an eternal aspect of this as well, and that we escape the judgment that is to come and we get to experience eternal life with all of its blessings. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:53.440 One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Acts chapter 17, where Paul preaches at Mars Hill, or depending on your translation, it's referred to as the Aeropagus. 00:24:53.519 --> 00:25:06.079 And he gets up and he gives this great defense of the Christian faith, and he connects with others and talking about a lot of the same things we're talking about right here, how we all come from one Creator and we're all on equal footing before the cross. 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:25.279 And one of the things he says at the very end of this sermon is this the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world and righteousness by a man whom he has repo appointed. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:31.119 And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:33.920 Jesus is our advocate. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:57.839 And I can't remember if I've shared this illustration here from the pulpit or if it was a Sunday school class or some other context, but there is a story that goes about this man who was an awful criminal. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:04.480 He was guilty of all sorts of different things extortion, uh, bank robberies, rape, murder, you name it. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:06.319 He was guilty of it all. 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:18.640 And there was an attorney in town who realized that this was the person who was doing all these things, and he came to him and he was the best attorney in this in this town, had a hundred percent success rate, never been defeated in the court of law. 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:23.119 And he goes to this fellow and he says, Hey, I know that you're the one who are doing these things. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:30.240 If you will come with me, I can take you before the judge and I can get everything wiped off of your slate and you can go scot-free. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:33.680 And he says, No, don't want to deal with it. 00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:35.440 Lawyer keeps on coming back. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:40.400 I can help you, I can get you off, I can get you off without penalty, you can go scot-free. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.680 Well, eventually one day the authorities figure out who has been who has been doing this. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:48.160 They come to this man's house. 00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:49.839 They're gonna arrest him. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:52.079 He says, Hold on, I need to talk to my attorney. 00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:53.759 I've got someone who can help me with this. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:55.440 No, it's too late now. 00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:59.759 And they go and they take him down to the courthouse for an arraignment. 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.920 He goes in and he sees that person there who is that who is that attorney. 00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:09.119 But the person who is that attorney is no longer the attorney, but he's the judge seated up on the bench. 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:14.160 So it will be with Jesus Christ one day when he returns. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:16.640 He will be the judge of the world. 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:25.680 But for those of us who are in him, for those of us who have experienced his love by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and him alone, there is no condemnation. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:27.839 We can know God's love now. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.240 We can know in a very deep healing ways. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:31.920 We can experience true healing now. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:37.839 We can experience a certain measure of heaven now by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:42.079 And we look forward to that day when the bad things will all be made untrue. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:48.960 When the old will have gone, the new will have come, and the new heavens and new earth will be established for forevermore. 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:50.400 Let us pray. 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:53.200 Father in heaven, we thank you. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:59.440 What a gift you've given us in your son Jesus Christ. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:08.799 There are so many of us here in this room that from time to time we feel like that we don't have a need, like Nicodemus. 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:15.039 We feel like that we bring enough good to the table that Jesus can just be a little bit of an add-on. 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:21.200 And then there are other days when things seem really, really bad. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:28.400 And we feel like the Israelites who are in the wilderness crying out to God to save them from the venom that has entered into their veins. 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:32.640 But Lord, what you tell us in this passage is that Jesus is the answer to all these. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:35.119 He's the answer to all of life's issues. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:39.279 And we thank you for what you have given to us in him. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:51.359 And we thank you for the love that you have shown to shown to us through him, to all the world, that through him and him alone, there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:53.519 We pray all these things in his name. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:54.319 Amen.