SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: If you could open your Bibles at John chapter three, page eight hundred and eighty-eight in the Pew Bible, that will be good.
SPEAKER_01: One thing that I enjoy about Christmas is the Christmas light.
SPEAKER_01: We like as a family to drive through town and look at the Christmas lights, and I think most people see Christmas lights as a blessing unless you're the Grinch, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then you're like, nah, this is not cool.
SPEAKER_01: And those summer evenings when people love to go for a stroll at at night, they do see street lights as a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: People tend to walk where there are street lights.
SPEAKER_01: Unless you're a thief.
SPEAKER_01: Nocturnal creatures love darkness.
SPEAKER_01: They retreat to their dens at first sight of daylight.
SPEAKER_01: Are we did I die here?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Nocturnal creatures love darkness.
SPEAKER_01: They retreat into their dens at first sight of daylight.
SPEAKER_01: The question is, are we nocturnal or diurnal creatures?
SPEAKER_01: Physical light seems like a blessing for some, but a curse for others.
SPEAKER_01: But what about spiritual light?
SPEAKER_01: Today's message I've titled The Blessings and Curse of the Light.
SPEAKER_01: The blessing and curse of the light.
SPEAKER_01: Spiritual light is unseen by the naked eye, yet its evidences are indisputable.
SPEAKER_01: It's used as a metaphor in the Bible for everything pertaining to salvation through the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: For example, John 1:4.
SPEAKER_01: In him was life, and the life was the light of man.
SPEAKER_01: Salvation than the person of Jesus Christ, than the new life promised in the light of the gospel, and the first evidences of those who come to this spiritual light is called people who have come to light.
SPEAKER_01: John 8 12.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.
SPEAKER_01: Nicodemus will learn that night that without a spiritual rebirth, no one will ever even notice the light, let alone come to the light, because they are enamored with darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Let's read John 3, 19 to 21.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the judgment.
SPEAKER_01: The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.
SPEAKER_01: For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be exposed.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: And we are told that in John 3 19.
SPEAKER_01: This is the judgment that the light has come to the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light.
SPEAKER_01: God's gift of light is indeed polarizing.
SPEAKER_01: It has a polarizing effect.
SPEAKER_01: It brings blessings to those who come to it, but curses those who do not come to it.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 20 and 21.
SPEAKER_01: There's a word play there on coming to the light and not coming to the light.
SPEAKER_01: The light of life is naturally hated because it's too revealing.
SPEAKER_01: It exposes people for whom they truly are.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20, for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
SPEAKER_01: Fallen creatures are naturally unreceptive and unwelcoming of the light of God.
SPEAKER_01: But suddenly they defy their natures and they actually come to the light.
SPEAKER_01: For what reason I will explain in the end.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: But whoever does what is true comes to the light.
SPEAKER_01: Today's passage gives us three reasons to rethink our response to the light of God in the person of Jesus Christ and his gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The light will at first seem like a curse, but then it turns into a blessing, but only if you turn to it and come to that light.
SPEAKER_01: Your response to this light of salvation will either prove to be a blessing to you or a curse.
SPEAKER_01: And the passage will tell us as follows.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give you three characteristics of this light of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, this light is polarizing, and that we can see in verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: This light is revealing.
SPEAKER_01: We can see that in verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: And this light is energizing.
SPEAKER_01: We can see that in verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at firstly how this light is polarizing.
SPEAKER_01: This light is polarizing.
SPEAKER_01: Light and darkness are pretty polarizing concepts.
SPEAKER_01: And so is the response to this light pretty pretty polarizing.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: It opens up with this is the judgment.
SPEAKER_01: This is the judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19 highlights judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Men loved darkness rather than the light.
SPEAKER_01: Green plants and black mold are polarizing concepts.
SPEAKER_01: Green plants gravitate to light and black mold flourishes in darkness.
SPEAKER_01: People are judged by God because they love darkness rather than light.
SPEAKER_01: This passage tells us that there's something wrong with humanity.
SPEAKER_01: There is something naturally out of shape with humanity.
SPEAKER_01: Yet I hear people often say, there is good in everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Have you heard people say that?
SPEAKER_01: There's good in everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Well, people would say, God doesn't care about what you do.
SPEAKER_01: He cares about your heart.
SPEAKER_01: And you have a good heart.
SPEAKER_01: Well, people would say, people are naturally good.
SPEAKER_01: They are born good.
SPEAKER_01: They become bad when they're influenced wrongly.
SPEAKER_01: But I would like to point you to Genesis 8, 21, which says, For the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth.
SPEAKER_01: What is the point that verse 19 drives home?
SPEAKER_01: Universal judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Universal condemnation.
SPEAKER_01: All humanity is under this blanket of God's judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because of what we love.
SPEAKER_01: We love darkness rather than light.
SPEAKER_01: Why do men love darkness rather than light?
SPEAKER_01: Surely no one is born with a sinful or evil heart.
SPEAKER_01: How is it?
SPEAKER_01: Well, if we read the psalmist, Psalm 51, 5 says, Surely I was sinful at birth.
SPEAKER_01: At birth, you come out of the womb sinful with a sinful disposition.
SPEAKER_01: He says that sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, all creatures that are moral, human beings, without exception, are condemned and judged by God.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: The evil.
SPEAKER_01: Notice it doesn't say that people are judged because God did not elect them.
SPEAKER_01: God, they are judged because God did not predestine them.
SPEAKER_01: What it says there are people are condemned because they prefer darkness over light.
SPEAKER_01: There are two reasons provided for us in the passage as to why humanity is by default judged by God.
SPEAKER_01: First, the lack of affection for the light of God.
SPEAKER_01: And notice in your Bible, the light refers to Christ or the light of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: People lack affection for the light of God, but have an affection for darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Second, there's universal judgment on humanity for having an unwelcoming disposition towards this light that came to seek and save the lost.
SPEAKER_01: It is not a matter of ignorance, I'll let you know, but rather a matter of one's disposition.
SPEAKER_01: People are condemned not because they never hear the gospel, they are condemned because they are evil.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the end of verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: For their deeds were evil, or because their deeds were evil.
SPEAKER_01: God's judgment is upon all humanity because certain things are more precious to them.
SPEAKER_01: More precious than the light of life.
SPEAKER_01: Who are Lord of the Rings fans here?
SPEAKER_01: Hobbit fans.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I see you've nerds here.
SPEAKER_01: Good.
SPEAKER_01: One of the characters that I'm very enamored with is uh is Gollum.
SPEAKER_01: Also the hobbit known as Schmeagel.
SPEAKER_01: Smeagol found this ring, which he referred to as my precious.
SPEAKER_01: My precious ring he th so thoroughly enjoyed.
SPEAKER_01: It gave him things and that he liked.
SPEAKER_01: It gave him power, but this ring corrupted and enslaved him more and more as the years went by.
SPEAKER_01: Yet the ring already corrupted what was already corrupted.
SPEAKER_01: Smeagol's love for his precious would ultimately destroy him.
SPEAKER_01: He would meet his doom at the fires of Mordor, which is so reminiscent of Revelation 12, verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds.
SPEAKER_01: And John says their deeds were evil.
SPEAKER_01: Then death and Hades were thrown in the lake of fire.
SPEAKER_01: This is the second death, the lake of fire.
SPEAKER_01: There is universal condemnation upon all humanity.
SPEAKER_01: Let no one tell you any different.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is saying to Nicodemus here, you love darkness, you do not want to come to the light to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: And in essence, you are evil.
SPEAKER_01: Your heart is evil, your deeds are evil.
SPEAKER_01: You are evil creatures by nature.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew Henry speaks of this looming judgment on humanity.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Wretched man is in love with his sickness, in love with his slavery, and will not be made free, will not be made whole.
SPEAKER_01: The true reason why men love darkness rather than light is because their deeds are evil.
SPEAKER_01: The light of salvation does not unite the world.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it polarizes the world.
SPEAKER_01: It splits the world up in two groups of people.
SPEAKER_01: Those who come to the light and those who do not come to the light.
SPEAKER_01: Those who are blessed by the light and those who are cursed by the light.
SPEAKER_01: Those who are judged by the light and those who are forgiven by the light.
SPEAKER_01: Those who do not come to the light remain under this universal blanket of judgment.
SPEAKER_01: They hate the light because they feel the light is way too judgmental and way too convicting for them.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at the second point here of our passage, and that is in verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: The light is revealing.
SPEAKER_01: Let me read verse 20 for you.
SPEAKER_01: For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
SPEAKER_01: Let's break it up in two parts.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, there, verse 20, for everyone who does evil hates the light.
SPEAKER_01: Here's an active hatred of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's not like I just don't care.
SPEAKER_01: I want to sit on the fence.
SPEAKER_01: I'm undecided.
SPEAKER_01: If you do not come to Jesus Christ, you have made up your mind that you hate him.
SPEAKER_01: Charles Spurgeon says the following The dislike of Christ is caused by a love of sin.
SPEAKER_01: If men did not hug their sins, they would embrace their Savior.
SPEAKER_01: The only reason why you have not embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior is because your precious is your sin.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever sin you are hiding, my friend, whatever sin you are treasuring, your precious will kill you.
SPEAKER_01: It will lead you to the fires of mordor, or rather, the lake of fire spoken of in Revelation 12.
SPEAKER_01: Why do people avoid coming to church?
SPEAKER_01: Why do they avoid the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Why do people avoid spiritual conversations?
SPEAKER_01: The answer is simple.
SPEAKER_01: People dread to what it would lead.
SPEAKER_01: People know whenever you start talking Christian knees, they know this is leading somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: This is leading somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: And I know in the back of my mind I might be in trouble with God.
SPEAKER_01: For everyone who does evil, everyone who sins fears the light.
SPEAKER_01: The NIV and the ESV simply reads, lest his works be exposed.
SPEAKER_01: The word fear is not there in the Greek, but it's implicit.
SPEAKER_01: There's avoidance and an aversion to the light.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the light of salvation, the light of Jesus Christ, the light of the gospel, the light of the word of God is like an X-ray.
SPEAKER_01: It penetrates and it exposes what is in the inside.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you got these machines at the airport, right?
SPEAKER_01: These uh these x-ray machines.
SPEAKER_01: You see, for the drug trafficker who is hiding drugs in his luggage, those those x-rays will prove to be a curse.
SPEAKER_01: But if a child has swallowed something or has broken a wrist, x-rays will prove to be a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't want to pay your deductible, just take your kid to the airport and just put them through that machine.
SPEAKER_01: You know.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the light of the gospel, the gospel of truth, penetrates and it exposes our very natures.
SPEAKER_01: It makes a judgment call on our works and our deeds, and it concludes, this is evil.
SPEAKER_01: Why was Jesus hated?
SPEAKER_01: John 7, 7 explains why.
SPEAKER_01: He says the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify it of it that its deeds are evil.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Jesus is a very judgmental character in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: He's so judgy.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you telling me that I'm wrong and that I'm bad, I'm a bad person, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to talk to you no more.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's how they talked in the Bible, but just do.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Jesus was hated and despised because he made a moral judgment upon humanity.
SPEAKER_01: He says, There's nothing good in you.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing good.
SPEAKER_01: You are you're like a compass needle.
SPEAKER_01: You always point in the same direction.
SPEAKER_01: Your heart is bent towards what?
SPEAKER_01: Evil.
SPEAKER_01: But you see, the worst of humanity often thinks the best of themselves.
SPEAKER_01: They don't think their deeds and actions are particularly evil in God's sight.
SPEAKER_01: They are certainly not thinking that they are people worthy of God's judgment and condemnation.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Matthew Henry says.
SPEAKER_01: They love darkness because they think it is an excuse for their evil deeds.
SPEAKER_01: And they hate the light because it robs them of the good opinion they had of themselves by showing them their sinfulness and misery.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the gospel is like a penetrating light, like an x-ray light.
SPEAKER_01: It will penetrate deep within your heart and it will show you one thing.
SPEAKER_01: You are evil.
SPEAKER_01: Not Kyle.
SPEAKER_01: That is what the gospel says is that we are by nature evil.
SPEAKER_01: And that is why people will not gravitate towards the light because they fear that it will expose them for who they truly are.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, doers of evil are worthy of God's judgment.
SPEAKER_01: But secondly, what makes people worthy of judgment is that there is light, but they would rather be in darkness.
SPEAKER_01: They hate the light.
SPEAKER_01: Because it robs them of their good opinion they had of themselves by showing them their sinfulness and misery.
SPEAKER_01: I had a guy once who had nothing to do, and he came to do it where I would had things to do.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, you know, I'm at at seminary and uh and we learning about the doctrine of hell, and I thought I'm gonna sit him down and give him everything I know about the doctrine of hell.
SPEAKER_01: And this guy was absolutely terrified, absolutely terrified.
SPEAKER_01: And I let him go.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, yeah, I gotta go.
SPEAKER_01: Comes back a few days later.
SPEAKER_01: He looked like he didn't sleep for all of those days.
SPEAKER_01: And he comes in, I'm like, John, what's happening here?
SPEAKER_01: You're not looking good.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, man, all that stuff you told me about hell, you know, that's terrible.
SPEAKER_01: I haven't been sleeping.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing well.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, John, I got good news for you.
SPEAKER_01: I've got absolutely excellent news for you today.
SPEAKER_01: I sit him down, I start giving the gospel to him.
SPEAKER_01: And we get to the part, will you admit that you are a sinner?
SPEAKER_01: She says, I'm not perfect, but I'm not a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, John, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: It took me a good part of an hour to try and convince him that he was a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: And eventually he got up and he left.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not perfect, but I'm not a bad person.
SPEAKER_01: No, that's not what Jesus is saying here to Nicodemus.
SPEAKER_01: Theologian Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Nicodemus, you have an evil bent.
SPEAKER_01: Your deeds will be exposed if you come to the light.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah 64, 6 says, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
SPEAKER_01: We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
SPEAKER_01: Our righteous acts are like filthy rags in the sight of God.
SPEAKER_01: Notice there, my friends, at the end of verse 20, for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
SPEAKER_01: It's a rare word in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 5.11 uses this have nothing to do with the sinful, the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
SPEAKER_01: That word expose is an interesting word.
SPEAKER_01: It can also mean to convict or to reprove.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew Henry says the light shakes the wicked.
SPEAKER_01: Thus the gospel is a terror to the wicked.
SPEAKER_01: They come not to this light, but keep as far off it as they can, lest their deeds, their deeds should be reproved.
SPEAKER_01: Lest their deeds should be reproved.
SPEAKER_01: By nature, people know they are in trouble with God.
SPEAKER_01: People know.
SPEAKER_01: People, the Bible says in Romans 1 that everybody knows that they are wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows when they are sinful.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows that they are in trouble with God, and yet they suppress that.
SPEAKER_01: And people do not like that other people see their sin.
SPEAKER_01: They don't like it that God sees their sin.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel reveals way too much.
SPEAKER_01: And because it reveals, it also reproves.
SPEAKER_01: By nature, people know they are wrong and they resent any correction.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 15, 12 says, a mocker resents correction.
SPEAKER_01: By nature, people despise anyone or anything that will reprove or rebuke them.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 5, 12 says, and you say, how I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof.
SPEAKER_01: You see, preaching that tickles ears usually attracts crowds and it attracts the praises of people, but convictional preaching is despised and sparsely attended.
SPEAKER_01: And Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Leon Morris says the following: he says, people naturally have an aversion to the light because it exposes them for who they are.
SPEAKER_01: To come to the light means to have one's darkness shown for what it is.
SPEAKER_01: He says no one likes this uncomfortable process.
SPEAKER_01: The fear of reproof keeps them away from the light.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's almost like a like a tooth.
SPEAKER_01: And this thing is robbing and throbbing.
SPEAKER_01: You wake up at night and it's like hurting.
SPEAKER_01: But you know if you go to the dentist, what's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna hurt more.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna hurt twice.
SPEAKER_01: First time he puts that thing in to do a root canal, and then when you get the bill, it's gonna hurt twice.
SPEAKER_01: The light of the gospel will first condemn you before it saves you, my friend.
SPEAKER_01: And if you feel you are not condemned and you're not under the universal judgment of God because you think you're a good person, move on.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is not for you, it cannot save you.
SPEAKER_01: Such a gospel will not save you.
SPEAKER_01: There is this condition called photophobia.
SPEAKER_01: And people who suffer from this condition have an extreme aversion to light.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, every person is naturally born with a condition called convictionophobia.
SPEAKER_01: You got that?
SPEAKER_01: Please chuckle.
SPEAKER_01: I worked.
SPEAKER_01: Convictionophobia.
SPEAKER_01: You say nobody likes being convicted.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like to be told what I'm wrong.
SPEAKER_01: I certainly don't want to feel judged by anybody.
SPEAKER_01: But you know there is a difference between feeling judged and being judged.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says universally, you come out of the womb a sinner and you are condemned because of that.
SPEAKER_01: And people will just fear coming to the light because it's going to expose them for who they are.
SPEAKER_01: They will not come to the light because their consciences are uneasy.
SPEAKER_01: They cannot bear the weight of any conviction or reproof.
SPEAKER_01: When my kids were little, I started reading Pilgrim's Progress to them.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I did not hit chapter two.
SPEAKER_01: The kids go, Stop! This is way too convicting this is us.
SPEAKER_01: They're like, Yeah, Dad, we're getting nightmares from Pilgrim's Progress.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, good, good.
SPEAKER_01: You are sinners, just like mom.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Eugene Peterson has this Bible called the message, and you know, sometimes there's little gold nuggets to be found in them.
SPEAKER_01: John 3.20, he renders as follows.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, they are addicted to denial and illusion, and hates God's light and won't come near it for fearing a painful exposure.
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
SPEAKER_01: Addicted to denial and illusion.
SPEAKER_01: You see, people are uh denied that they are condemned or judged, and they don't like anybody or anything that tells them they are judged by God.
SPEAKER_01: They often become addicted to the lidocaine that numbs guilt-ridden consciences.
SPEAKER_01: They turn to alcohol, they turn to psychotropics, they turn to psychedelics, they turn to the gurus who tell them they are good people, deserving of God's favor, and their evil conduct is merely an untreatable condition.
SPEAKER_01: Or they are acting in a certain way because their emotions got damaged during childhood.
SPEAKER_01: But those who do come to the light will experience something that surpasses all understanding.
SPEAKER_01: They will experience the peace of God.
SPEAKER_01: No guru, no medication can give you what Romans 8:1 can give you, my friend, if you only would turn to the light.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, there now is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I remember when I came to understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what the gospel is, and I received the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Is there any substitute for knowing that we are no longer under God's judgment as verse 19 pointed us to?
SPEAKER_01: Knowing judgment and condemnation is only a heartbeat away for most of humanity, it must make the souls of the unbeliever really anxious.
SPEAKER_01: And it must really put a lot of strain on the uneasy consciences.
SPEAKER_01: But the light of God is amazing, like any form of light.
SPEAKER_01: Just study light.
SPEAKER_01: Go to Wikipedia and just look up light.
SPEAKER_01: Light is an amazing thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's like water, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: But light will either curse you or it will bless you.
SPEAKER_01: If you understand that you cursed by the light and then turn to that light as a solution, it will give you the peace that surpasses all understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: But he who practices the truth comes to the light.
SPEAKER_01: John here in verse 21 takes Jesus' words and he connects it with this idea of receiving gospel truth.
SPEAKER_01: And he connects it with this concept of actually coming to the light when our natural propensity would be to not come to the light.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the truth of the gospel and coming to the light of Jesus Christ and his work on the cross energizes people.
SPEAKER_01: But who energizes them?
SPEAKER_01: We will learn soon.
SPEAKER_01: You think of solar panels.
SPEAKER_01: Solar panels need what to make electricity?
SPEAKER_01: Light.
SPEAKER_01: Sunlight.
SPEAKER_01: In order to make energy, they need what?
SPEAKER_01: Sunlight.
SPEAKER_01: When solar panels take light and they make electricity of it, what is that called?
SPEAKER_01: Come on, you engineers.
SPEAKER_01: Climate engineers.
SPEAKER_01: It's called photoemission.
SPEAKER_01: That's a simple word.
SPEAKER_01: When green leaves take the light of the sun and turns it into energy, it is called photosynthesis.
SPEAKER_01: You are smart.
SPEAKER_01: You're more biological than engineering, but that's that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: You're smart people.
SPEAKER_01: But fallen people, they need God's light, they need spiritual light, and if they do not turn to this light, they remain condemned.
SPEAKER_01: But they receive a regenerating energy from God.
SPEAKER_01: At verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus talking here to Nicodemus still the point of his whole conversation with Nicodemus is what?
SPEAKER_01: The rebirth, regeneration.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse uh 5 there in John 3.
SPEAKER_01: Just go a little back there.
SPEAKER_01: This is the broader context of what we are studying today.
SPEAKER_01: John 3, 5.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: And what he is saying there, the born of water is a metaphor for the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: The word of God washes you, and the spirit is capital, the spirit, the Holy Spirit, unless you have those two things happening, you do not have any energy that will actually propel you forward to the light of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You will not even give the gospel a second thought.
SPEAKER_01: You see, if the Holy Spirit does not first regenerate darkness-loving, light-hating hearts, no one will ever see the need for coming to the light of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: It says there, but he who practices the truth comes to the light.
SPEAKER_01: And now that's a, I said to Jason this morning, man, this is a difficult passage.
SPEAKER_01: This is this is really hard.
SPEAKER_01: This this was hard for me to figure out.
SPEAKER_01: But but if we are careful, we will not put the cart before the horse, and we won't take credit for God's work in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: If at first glance, Nierk, we look at that and it says, he who practices the truth comes to the light, we go, okay, if you do a lot of good things, and the things that the Bible tells you eventually you will come to the light.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01: That's work salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Do you have to do good things before Jesus will save you, before you come to Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The NIV, I don't think, does a good job translating this well, though it does a good job of translating other things.
SPEAKER_01: Well, well, it says you're living out the truth.
SPEAKER_01: So you have to live out God's truth before you will turn to the light of the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01: And also notice there, it doesn't say truths, plural.
SPEAKER_01: It says what?
SPEAKER_01: Truth, singular.
SPEAKER_01: It speaks of gospel truth.
SPEAKER_01: That single truth that leads us to come to Jesus and receive him in faith.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Jesus' teaching year, I think, is best described by this Scottish preacher of a century or so ago, Horatio Bonner, in his book, The Way of Holiness.
SPEAKER_01: He's he describes it so beautifully, and I put it up there.
SPEAKER_01: He says, faith is not a foreign gem imported into the soul, distinct from all our original power.
SPEAKER_01: It is simply the man believing, in consequence of his soul being set right by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The intellect itself is not overborne or forced, but set free to do the work, to work its true work truly.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just get that right.
SPEAKER_01: Set right by the Holy Spirit, the intellect itself is not overborne and forced, but set free to work.
SPEAKER_01: It's true work truly.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the Holy Spirit does an amazing work in us that we cannot explain.
SPEAKER_01: He does something that makes our heart beat for God.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit is like those defibrillators that gives you electric shock and then you jump and then your heart starts beating.
SPEAKER_01: And you see, the the heart, when the Holy Spirit energizes the human heart, it makes it eager and desirous to come to the light.
SPEAKER_01: It sets free the soul to work its true work.
SPEAKER_01: And what is the soul's true work that God desires for everyone is that everyone come to the light of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That word that he who practices the truth, that can also be translated as apply.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta apply the gospel to your life.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta receive it.
SPEAKER_01: As Leon Morris says here, the person John has in mind here is the one who responds to the gospel's invitation.
SPEAKER_01: The regenerating work of God and the reception of the gospel must happen in an instant before anyone will consider even coming to the light of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But we must not forget that faith is birthed through the Holy Spirit when the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 10, 17.
SPEAKER_01: So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The Greek intensifies things here to make us, and this is where it kind of did some gymnastics here in my mind, that that that last part as having been wrought in God.
SPEAKER_01: As having been wrought in God.
SPEAKER_01: And I had to look like two three or four translations to get the idea.
SPEAKER_01: Is it us doing the work here?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it gets kind of confusing.
SPEAKER_01: I prefer the CSB.
SPEAKER_01: It says so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.
SPEAKER_01: Not in God, by God.
SPEAKER_01: God does the work.
SPEAKER_01: The LSB does a marvelous rendering of this.
SPEAKER_01: It says, manifesting as having been done by God.
SPEAKER_01: If anybody applies the gospel and receives the gospel and turns to Jesus Christ and says, Save me, you know who's at work?
SPEAKER_01: God.
SPEAKER_01: God is at work.
SPEAKER_01: When babies cry when they are born again, it's God's work.
SPEAKER_01: No child comes out of the womb and says, Whoo, that was hard work.
SPEAKER_01: They might want to take credit for their birth.
SPEAKER_01: But you're not gonna skirt around this word ergotsumai.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to brag here with Greek, but this is something you can learn and take home and share around the lunch table, and people think you're smart.
SPEAKER_01: Ergatsumai.
SPEAKER_01: We get the English word ergonomics, the study of work.
SPEAKER_01: The ergonomics of the gospel and the reception of the gospel and this movement towards the light for salvation is shown to be accomplished by God.
SPEAKER_01: That word accomplished, ergatsuma, it is God's work.
SPEAKER_01: It's by God, through God.
SPEAKER_01: And so what Jesus is not trying to emphasize here is our good works, but rather God's Good works.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is trying to reiterate that believing the gospel and responding to that invitation and coming to the light of salvation and faith and repentance is a manifestation that God is laboring.
SPEAKER_01: Even on a Sunday, even on the Sabbath, Jesus says, God is working.
SPEAKER_01: I can't remember whose quote this is, so forgive me for not giving you credit.
SPEAKER_01: But he says they are no longer offended or afraid of the light.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, they are humbled and pained by the gospel's conviction and turned to Jesus as their only hope.
SPEAKER_01: Who remembers that you were there at some point in life where you just felt the condemnation?
SPEAKER_01: You felt the judgment.
SPEAKER_01: You were afraid of God.
SPEAKER_01: But it humbled you and it pained you and it convicted you.
SPEAKER_01: And you looked to Jesus and you said, That is my only hope.
SPEAKER_01: That which curses me will also bless me.
SPEAKER_01: When someone comes to the gospel and they turn to Jesus Christ, the light for salvation, it is really a manifestation of God's work.
SPEAKER_01: John 1 3 13.
SPEAKER_01: John 1 13.
SPEAKER_01: He says, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
SPEAKER_01: Again, emphasis on God.
SPEAKER_01: Why did God design it this way?
SPEAKER_01: So that we don't slap a little badge on ourselves and says, I did it.
SPEAKER_01: I did it.
SPEAKER_01: There's a guy who once said that if God did 99% of the work and you did 1% of the work, you will spend eternity in heaven bragging about your 1%.
SPEAKER_01: We are boastful creatures, my friends.
SPEAKER_01: This excludes old boasting.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to remember there is some point that you scorned at gospel truth.
SPEAKER_01: You had a proclivity towards darkness, not light.
SPEAKER_01: And then one day somebody gives you the gospel and you run to Jesus and you say, Save me.
SPEAKER_01: And who needs to get the credit for that?
SPEAKER_01: It is a work accomplished by God.
SPEAKER_01: Excludes all boasting, my friend.
SPEAKER_01: What is Ephesians 2.5 and 2.8 says?
SPEAKER_01: Very similarly in Greek, it intensifies there the fact that it is by God's grace, not our works.
SPEAKER_01: Lest no man boast.
SPEAKER_01: If there's no electricity, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: That's just a round thing made of glass and wires.
SPEAKER_01: You plug it in, the electricity flows, and while you turn the switch on, the electricity flows, bling, the light bulb glows.
SPEAKER_01: How many light bulbs could say, it's me, it's me, look, I'm glowing.
SPEAKER_01: They can do nothing without the switch flicked and the electricity coming through.
SPEAKER_01: My friend, if you have received the gospel of Jesus Christ and turned to the light of salvation, there is no more condemnation on you.
SPEAKER_01: But be humbled by that fact.
SPEAKER_01: Don't take credit for it.
SPEAKER_01: You would not.
SPEAKER_01: You were conceived in sin.
SPEAKER_01: Your heart from youth have been inclined to evil.
SPEAKER_01: Take no credit for it.
SPEAKER_01: Be humbled by us.
SPEAKER_01: Be humbled by Titus 3.5 that says, He has saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: There's going back to the conversation with Nicodemus.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the regenerating and renewing work of God in the whole person does not exclude, or does, does exclude all boasting.
SPEAKER_01: It does not absolve us from the responsibility to believe the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: This is where it gets tricky.
SPEAKER_01: This is where I can only explain it this far.
SPEAKER_01: Your true two responsibilities here, my friends.
SPEAKER_01: First, there's this responsibility of preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: If you don't preach the gospel, nobody gets saved.
SPEAKER_01: If people stop preaching the gospel today, guess how many people will get saved?
SPEAKER_01: We need the gospel to be preached.
SPEAKER_01: It's your responsibility, just as it is mine and every pastor.
SPEAKER_01: But the second responsibility coming out of this passage here is the responsibility to come to the light, to believe the gospel and turn to Jesus Christ, the light who is the word, the light of life.
SPEAKER_01: He is the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: We need to turn to him in faith.
SPEAKER_01: That is our responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: God will do his work, my friends.
SPEAKER_01: And so, how does this conversation end with Nicodemus is a mystery to me, but most appropriately with an implied invitation to leave the realm of darkness and unbelief and to embrace Jesus Christ, the true light.
SPEAKER_01: This is where his dialogue ends with Nicodemus.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say it, but it's implied.
SPEAKER_01: Nicodemus, walk away from darkness, turn to the light, receive me.
SPEAKER_01: And you know so many people end up like Nicodemus.
SPEAKER_01: They remain arm's length from Jesus, but they also remain arm's length from the world.
SPEAKER_01: Hicodemus was a guy, you look at him all through the gospel of John.
SPEAKER_01: He walks this fine line between pleasing his buddies and having an association with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he came to bury Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I would, he came.
SPEAKER_01: But let me tell you, if you have been estranged from a father or a mother or a friend, and you show up at their funeral, that's no indication that you had a relationship with them.
SPEAKER_01: Showing up with for his funeral was I'm sorry, his burial, he that just doesn't check the box for me.
SPEAKER_01: And so many people, like Nicodemus, they remain in this realm of darkness and unbelief rather than give it up and come to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's how Jesus' message ends.
SPEAKER_01: And I think my message, most appropriately, will end with an implied invitation to leave the realm of darkness and unbelief and embrace Jesus Christ, the true light.
SPEAKER_01: Would you give that consideration before you walk out of this church, my friends?
SPEAKER_01: And if you have done that, you have the peace that surpasses all understanding.
SPEAKER_01: You're no longer in darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray for us and thank Jesus Christ for his wonderful gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Oh Heavenly Father, thank you so much that the light of the world has come and that you have given us the opportunity to be reconciled with God.
SPEAKER_01: There is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And we delight in this fact that we have been saved, but we have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
SPEAKER_01: And we pray, Jesus, that we will be responsible people who do not take credit for ourselves, but we also be responsible people to believe the gospel and live out the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Help us also to be responsible people who preach the gospel and to share the good news of the light that came to the world.
SPEAKER_01: I pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.