Reasons God Sent Jesus
By
David A. DePra
A transcription
of the audio message by the same name found here:
Let’s turn once again to John, chapter three.
The title of this message is going to be, “Reasons God Sent Jesus.”
We are going to talk about this, and in doing so it will bring us into
the Truth of the redemption of Jesus Christ.
Just off the top, I am going to give two reasons why God sent Jesus.
I could list probably a hundred -- but I would just like to mention two
that are going to form the discussion today.
They are out of a passage in John three.
The first reason God sent Jesus is that man was dead in sin and had no way to
help himself. Man was, in other
words -- as we are going to read here -- perishing.
The second reason that God sent Jesus -- which is built upon that first
reason -- is that, “God so loved the world.”
So what we will find is this: Man
is in a horrible condition through the sin of Adam -- with no way to help
himself. But God, who is love, “so
loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son” -- He sent Jesus into this
world to make provision for salvation for all who have ever lived.
These are the two points that are going to be the banner under which the
whole discussion is going occur in this message.
Jesus is the Solution for Sin and Death
I want to read John 3:14-16, but in doing so, we must also read the OT account
to which Jesus is referring -- namely Numbers 21:4-9.
It is important to read all of those verses together because Numbers 21
and John 3:14-15 are the background for the well-known verse of John 3:16.
They tell us why Jesus spoke John 3:16, and what He meant by His words.
First read Numbers 21:
And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land
of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have
ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loathes
this light bread. And the
Lord
sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people
of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We
have sinned, for we have spoken against the
Lord,
and against thee; pray unto the
Lord,
that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And
the
Lord
said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall
come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole,
and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the
serpent of brass, he lived. (Num.
21:4-9)
And then read John 3:14-16:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of
man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
(John 3:14-16)
There are your two reasons WHY God sent Jesus, found John 3:16 -- which I stated
earlier. Man is perishing, and if
left to himself he has no way of helping himself -- nor does man have any way of
initiating his own salvation. But
because God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son -- so that whoever
would believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
If we look at the account in Numbers 21, we see the type of shadow of these
Truths. In that account, we find that
Israel had been brought out of Egypt through the Red Sea -- and now were in the
wilderness. It says there that,
“the soul of the people was discouraged because of the way.”
The people spoke against God and against Moses and accusingly said, “Why
have you brought us up out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?”
There is a whole teaching here about those times when some of us have the same
complaint against the Lord. There
are times when we trust God and things don’t work out the way WE think they
should. So we say to him, “God, I
believed You; I followed You, I came out of where I was.
So why have You brought me out to simply leave me to die; simply to leave
me alone; simply to abandon me?”
And so they (and perhaps WE) accuse the Lord.
It says in Num. 21:6 that the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people -- and
they bit the people -- and much people of Israel died.
But then the people began to confess their sin because they wanted the
plague to end. In verse 8, the Lord
said to Moses, “Make you a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole.
And it shall come to pass that everyone, when he is bitten, who looks
upon this serpent shall live.”
Verse 9 says that it happened just that way.
Moses made a serpent of brass and put it on a pole.
And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten anyone -- that when that
person beheld that serpent of brass that had been lifted up on that pole then
that person lived.
Now, this is the story out of Numbers 21 that Jesus is talking about with
Nicodemus. He is saying, “That just
as Moses lifted up that serpent upon that pole in the wilderness, even so the
Son of Man must be lifted up.”
But notice what is embedded in what Jesus is saying in John 3:14 -- He is saying
that JUST AS the serpent upon that pole was the solution for the sin of Israel
-- was the solution for death – JUST AS that serpent in the wilderness was
lifted up as the solution – EVEN SO the Son of Man must be lifted up as the
solution for OUR sin. How many see
a tremendous type and shadow of Jesus -- yes, in Numbers 21 as merely a type and
shadow -- but nevertheless it states that He is the Savior; that He is the One
who is the solution for sin? John
3:15-16 verifies that this is His meaning.
He says, “JUST AS the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness – SO MUST
the Son of Man be lifted up -- that whosoever believes on Him should not perish
but have eternal life.”
Humanity ALREADY Perishing
There are a number of foundational Truths that emerge from these verses in John
3 and Numbers 21. But sometimes I
think that they are forgotten in our Christian faith.
I sometimes also think that they are blurred and corrupted by false
teaching. Front and center in this
teaching, and certainly front and center in the entire John 3:16 passage, is the
fact that man without Jesus Christ is ALREADY in the process of perishing.
Can we see that? In a minute
we are going to read this whole passage all the way through to John 3:21 -- and
we are going to see that everything that is recorded here by John is predicated
on the absolute fact that man in Adam is ALREADY dead; ALREADY in the process of
perishing.
Now this is an important Truth to establish – THAT humanity is ALREADY perishing
-- because even though I don’t think that a lot of Christians who hear it would
necessarily argue with it, or try to deny it, but many Christians pass over it
and don’t REALLY believe it -- in the sense of having seen it in themselves.
I don’t think that a lot of us realize that we are ALREADY spiritually
dead, and ALREADY in the process of perishing.
I think the evidence that we don’t realize this is in Christian teaching
everywhere – because many still think there is a spark of life, a spark of
righteousness in ourselves, whereby we can help ourselves.
Many professing Christians believe we can muster up out of ourselves what
is necessary to please God -- or necessary to work our way back to God.
We still believe this is possible – but because we do -- we might not say
the words, or even realize what we are doing, but we are, in that case, denying
that we are spiritually dead.
I think a lot of us believe that somehow we stand on neutral ground when we are
born in Adam. A lot of Christians
who say that they believe that we are saved by grace -- still believe that we
are born on neutral ground in Adam -- and that it depends on how we live as to
whether we are going to be saved.
Again, this is heresy -- although I think many Christians would say, “I don’t
believe that” -- that in practical experience I think that many people do live
like they believe it.
Solely on the Basis of Christ
I think we are all going to have problems in this area until the day that we
die. For example, when you sin do
you feel like God has forsaken you?
Do you feel like you are on God’s bad side?
If you do -- then why?
Well, it is because you think that your works, in this case -- the sin -- has
come between you and God. Or on the
other side of the coin, suppose you obey God and you have a lot of success on a
particular day. Do you then think
that this makes you closer to Him?
Why is this the case? It is the
case because you feel good about yourself, isn’t it?
As opposed to feeling bad about yourself?
his kind of operation of feeling good about yourself when you obey, or of
feeling bad about yourself when you sin, happens so automatically for most of us
that we don’t even give it any thought.
We certainly don’t give it any doctrinal thought.
But can we see that whether we are under condemnation, or under the
delusion of our own righteousness, that we, in both cases, may be blind to our
true condition in Adam? We are
blind to our spiritual death -- and we are blind to the fact that the only
righteousness we have is that of the righteousness of One Who is other than
ourselves: Jesus Christ.
We have to get this settled and allow God to reveal to us the depth of it:
Our entire relationship with God – and you can include in that the
reality of righteousness, life, Truth, and walking in the spirit – every part of
our new life is fully dependent upon, and solely on the basis of Jesus Christ.
NONE of it is based upon, or operates out from, the old man in Adam.
Paul says, “Christ, our life.”
(Col. 3:4) Jesus called
Himself, “the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end.”
He also said, “You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
He stated, “Yet not I, but Christ.”
The fact that Jesus Christ – Christ in us -- is the ONLY basis for
relationship with God, and the only life from out of which we can live before
God – is the foundation of the Christian life.
And it is exactly why the Christian life is a life of FAITH – faith in
One who is OTHER THAN ourselves – indeed, faith that puts aside ourselves and
fully lives from out of Christ as our ALL.
God’s attitude of love was never based on anything about you and me – and yet
all I described a few moment ago -- about trying to find life or righteousness
is ourselves – that delusion side steps this Truth -- and is essentially a walk
in error. It is a walk in a denial
of our true condition – and a denial of the righteousness that is found only in
Jesus Christ.
The fact of the matter is that absolutely nothing that Jesus did for you and me
is based on how we feel -- good OR bad.
If you feel good about yourself -- because you have obeyed -- and you
begin to walk in that feeling, you are walking in ERROR.
If you feel bad about yourself -- because you have sinned, and feel as if
God is now mad at you -- you are also walking in error.
Your sin or your obedience – as well as your feeling about either -- have
absolutely NO INPUT into the finished and final work of Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”
(John 1:29) And the Bible
also says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1)
The Bible likewise says, “If
righteousness came by law, Christ is dead in vain.”
(Gal. 2:20) The bottom line
is that the redemptive work of Jesus Christ is finished for you -- right NOW.
In fact, I can say it this way just to make a point, the finished
redemption is just as finished for you WHETHER you believe it or not.
Now of course, if you DON’T believe it, it’s not going to do you any
good. In fact, such unbelief is why
people walk into darkness -- and it is why people are lost forever:
They WILL NOT believe it.
They won’t believe or embrace Jesus Christ and what He has done.
But what He has done is nevertheless finished.
How many understand that the reason God is just in sending people into
eternal darkness forever is precisely because Jesus died for them -- precisely
because it is finished for them -- precisely because it is fully offered by
grace -- but they nevertheless walk away?
How many see that this is the basis for condemnation right there?
We are going to read that here in this passage in a moment.
This Truth of the finished work in Christ continually applies even to those who
are born again -- as far as our daily walk with God.
You are saved only because -- by the grace of God -- Christ is in you:
“By grace through faith”…His grace…our faith -- and He is the only
reason. Our daily walk with God is
on the basis of, and solely on the basis of, Jesus Christ -- who now -- if you
are born from above -- dwells IN YOU.
All the sinning in the world cannot undo the finished work of Jesus Christ for
you. (Although if we are born from
above we won’t WANT to sin.) And
all of the obedience in the world cannot add to the finished work of Christ for
you. (Although we will WANT to obey
God.) You can’t add or subtract
from Christ or His finished work.
You can’t. All you can do is
believe and receive -- or you can choose to NOT believe and receive -- you can
reject Him. The finished work in
Jesus Christ is an eternal truth -- eternally established -- and nothing will
ever move it. He simply says, “Here
He is -- believe.”
Confessing the Truth
I am going to sin. That is a given.
But what does the Bible say to do when I sin?
It tells us to do one thing and one thing alone:
Confess it and believe.
Confess and believe that it is finished.
Frankly, if you do believe that in Christ it is finished -- that
forgiveness is finished; that redemption is finished – then you WILL confess
your sin and you will recognize that confession is the only thing you can do
with sin.
Real faith will result in a desire to be delivered from sin – and so it will
result in a confession of sin. But
even our confession we be the outcome of seeing that it is eternally finished in
Christ -- and that our works have no input into this at all.
This is what Jesus is getting at here when He said, “The Son of Man must
be lifted up.”
Lifting Up Christ
Once you and I see that without Christ that we are ALREADY in the process of
perishing then we will understand that God must offer all by grace – because
those who are perishing cannot save themselves.
There is nothing in us by which we can help ourselves.
Grace is not, and never can be, dependent on anything about us.
We are born dead, lost and blind.
Have we recognized that yet?
If we are in the process of perishing then God must reveal to us that Jesus
Christ is the only solution -- and if we believe and embrace Christ – He is the
sole means of our salvation.
Back to the passage. Jesus says,
“So must the Son of Man be lifted up.”
What does it mean to, “lift up the Son of Man?”
Of course, back there in Numbers 21, Moses cast a bronze or brass serpent and
LIFTED IT UP physically upon a pole.
That is a type and shadow -- and is a very good picture and a good way to
answer the question, “How is Jesus lifted up?”
He is lifted up by being revealed as the ONLY solution to sin -- and in
that lifting up -- it shows Him to be ABOVE all sin -- in the sense of being a
conqueror; and in the sense of being Lord; in the sense of having conquered all
sin and death in His finished work.
He did this both on the cross and then through His resurrection.
So we lift Him up by revealing Him as
the only solution for sin – in the way that the serpent in the story in Numbers
21 was the only solution, and was also lifted up.
Lifting Up Christ by Our Faith
We can lift up Jesus Christ in a number of other different ways.
Certainly we can lift Him up by preaching, by conversation -- we can lift
Him up even by singing, can’t we?
There are a lot of wonderful hymns to sing that lift up Jesus Christ.
But how many understand that maybe the best way -- the most effective way
to lift Jesus Christ up as the solution for sin -- is to do so by our personal
FAITH?
I know that there is a great deal of teaching in the Christian church today --
and there always has been -- about how to, “let your light shine;” how to show
people by your good works that God is good.
(I sometimes question whether or not a lot of people are actually trying
to show that GOD is good. I
sometimes think we try to show how good WE are by our good works -- but that is
another subject.) Let’s just say
that in an ideal situation, it is good and right, by our good works to let our
light shine -- and in doing so, give a witness to the goodness of God.
Absolutely! But how many
understand that just as powerful a witness, and in fact, often an even more
powerful witness, is to lift up Jesus Christ as savior as the object of our
FAITH? In other words, even when we
fail and sin and we can say, “I’ve sinned; I’ve stumbled; I’ve fallen.
But it doesn’t change the fact of what Jesus Christ has done for me.”
And likewise when we obey, by our faith we confess that our obedience
doesn’t change the fact that Jesus Christ is our only righteousness.
We have none of our own to try to protect or to maintain.
Our works do not change the fact that Jesus Christ IS our life – our works do
not change the fact that Jesus Christ is our righteousness.
Our works do not create Truth, create life, or improve upon, or subtract
from, the Person of Christ who is in us.
Rather, good works ought to be the outcome of Christ in us, and of our
faith in Him. It is always, “By
grace, through faith….UNTO good works.”
Thus, our good works are really a witness of our faith in Christ – rather
than a religious display that ought to point to ourselves.
If Christ is our life and our faith in Him has grown to govern us – this takes
time – then perhaps the greatest witness to Christ – the way that lifts Him up
the most – is our faith in Him.
Faith in Christ is dependence and devotion to Him as our ALL.
That is a great witness.
Planted into the Person
Christ in us – the new life -- is the product of resurrection from OUT of death.
How many of us understand this?
Do we grasp that Jesus Christ, through his resurrection, did not simply
reverse death? No.
He did not reverse the death of the old life.
Rather, He fully died that death -- passed through it -- and through His
resurrection from OUT OF THAT DEATH -- conquered it and made a NEW life.
That’s total victory. That
is why Paul was able to write in 1 Corinthians 15, that the last enemy, death,
has been swallowed up in victory.
An essential Truth to see about what Christ has done is that, yes, He did finish
His Redemptive work in history.
There was an actual crucifixion and an actual resurrection.
But our faith is to be in more than those historical events.
Rather, our faith is to be in the PERSON who accomplished them – our
faith is to be in the Person of Christ today.
So, when we sin, we lift up Jesus Christ by absolutely putting our faith
in Him – but not just in what He did -- but in Him as the Living Person with
Whom we are one in spirit TODAY.
This is another point to which I think Christians are blinded today.
When we sin, when we stumble, we tend to put our faith in those
historical events that Jesus accomplished two thousand years ago on the cross.
We may say, “My faith is in the Cross.
My faith is in what Jesus Christ has done.”
And certainly -- as I said -- if we don’t have that – those historical
events -- we don’t have anything.
But how many understand that Jesus Christ today -- if you are a born again
believer one with Him in spirit – that Jesus Christ today as He dwells IN YOU is
Jesus Christ crucified? Sure.
What I am saying is this:
That everything that Jesus Christ did on the cross – and through His
resurrection -- is part of His very Person today.
He carries this finished work in Himself.
That is why if you come to Jesus – and become one with Him in spirit –
that you are planted into His death.
If you are made one with Jesus Christ in spirit, you are, by definition,
being planted into his death and made one with Him in His death.
That is not all. Yes, today Jesus
is Christ crucified -- but likewise, He is also Christ raised.
And that is why Paul said that if we are planted into His death we are
also planted into His resurrection.
So we need to understand that Christ is a Living Person -- a Person who lives
and moves in us today. We are one
with him in spirit and therefore one with Him in all that He IS --
in His redemptive work.
Therefore, when Jesus said that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, these are the Truths
behind His words. We lift Him up –
above our sin, above ourselves – we lift Him up as the answer for all – by our
faith in Him as our life. We are
planted in the Person – and we lift HIM up above all our failures and above all
of our obedience. “Yet not I, but
Christ…..”
The Brass Serpent
There is great significance in Moses molding a brass serpent.
In scripture, brass is always a type and shadow of JUDGMENT.
We are being shown that in Christ on the cross God was judging all sin –
down into a final death. Jesus was,
through the molding of a brass serpert, being shown to be the sin-bearer, and
thus, the judgment bearer – and yet, because He was LIFTED UP – He was shown to
be the absolute VICTOR over all.
But also notice: The serpent was
the actual cause of death in that Old Testament story of Numbers 21 – and yet we
are to lift up Jesus Christ as Moses lifted up that serpent.
Why? Well, Jesus Christ is
certainly not the cause of death.
Rather, He is the solution to death.
Thus, what Moses is picturing is that in Jesus Christ everything that
speaks of death, sin and the devil was JUDGED – Jesus BORE sin on the cross and
in Him sin was judged. He died
bearing sin – we might even say He bore US; He bore, “the body of sin;” the Adam
race. This judgment of God is what
is symbolized in type and shadow by that brass or bronze serpent.
I want to repeat that because we need to come to terms with, and understand,
that when Jesus Christ hung on that cross, He was bearing all sin and all death
and all the works of the devil. He
was, in fact, bearing the entire Adam race.
He was bearing the body of sin, the old man in Adam.
So rather than limit the Redemption to
Jesus bearing the penalty for sin, we need to realize that Jesus was bearing SIN
ITSELF down into the penalty for sin, which is death.
I covered this in an earlier message in this series from John when we talked
about the Lamb of God. Jesus became
by identification -- not in the sense of becoming another person or that He
wasn’t Himself -- but Jesus became; He took upon Himself and bore in His body --
as it says in 1 Peter 2 -- the entirety of the Adam race.
Or to put it another way, which gets right to the root of it, Jesus
Christ on the cross became the Adam that had to die because of sin.
“In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.”
This was being fulfilled on the cross in the Son of God -- and judged as
being fulfilled IN HIM.
Therefore, when Jesus Christ died on the cross, the Adam race, as it were, died
in Him. How many see -- and again I
covered this when we talked about the Lamb of God -- that this was therefore the
END of the Adam race? Absolutely!
That is why Jesus is called, “The Last Adam.”
He was, “The Last Adam,” because He filled up to the full what God
intended in humanity – what God intended in Adam – and so in Him that was
finished. But then He offered
Himself on the cross – He offered Himself as the perfected Adam -- and on that
Cross when He died the Adam race died in Him.
It was finished as the creation – as the race – in which God was working.
But through the resurrection – which is NOT the resurrection of the Adam
race – Jesus ushered in a new race of humanity – the new creation in Christ
Jesus.
As an aside, this Truth is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born
from above all over again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
You must be born from above all over again – you cannot be born from
below a second time and possess eternal life.
No. That blindness to the
nature of the new birth is why Nicodemus did not understand -- he thought that
Jesus was talking about a new birth that would be the resurrection of the Adam
race. He said, “How am I going to
crawl into my mother’s womb and be born a second time?”
Jesus had to tell him, “Except a man be
born of water” -- which means a death of the old -- ”and of the spirit” -- which
points to the resurrection and newness of life -- “he cannot enter the Kingdom
of God.” “For that which is born of
the flesh” -- which is birth in Adam -- ”is flesh” -- and it always will be.
But “that which is born of the spirit is spirit.”
This is the birth from above.
So all that is of the first birth – the birth from below -- must die in order
that there might be the birth of a brand new race from above -- a brand new kind
of human being; a brand new creation in Christ Jesus.
Our joining to the Lord and becoming one spirit with Him is the new man;
is the new creation in Christ Jesus.
That is it in a nutshell. So
when Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up,” He was referring to the fact that in Himself God would
judge the Adam race – the Adam race would DIE -- and thus, for those who come to
Christ, we would be delivered from sin and death because we would be delivered
from the Adam race – delivered from the Adam life – in which all sin is rooted.
How many understand that while God does FORGIVE us for all sin in Christ, He
actually DELIVERS us from all sin?
He delivers us through death and resurrection in Christ from the body of sin;
from the Adam race itself. Now the
fullness of that will not be fully realized and experienced until the
resurrection of the body at the end of the age.
But it is a fact -- and it is finished in spirit right now -- because we
are joined to the Lord and made one spirit with Him.
So this is what Jesus Christ is pointing to out of Numbers 21.
It is a wonderful picture of how God judged, in His own Son, down into
death, everything symbolized by the serpent.
Jesus Christ Himself said, “The Son of Man came to destroy the works of
the devil.” Well, he did that on
the cross, didn’t He?
Jesus Died for ALL
Let’s get back here to John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world.” Love
for the world is a primary reason why He sent Jesus.
It is because, ”God so loved the world.” that He took the responsibility
for Adam’s sin upon Himself, in His Son, “so that whoever would believe in Him
should not perish,” -- for without Christ they already were perishing -- “but
have everlasting life.”
Notice something in John 3:16. What
we see here -- despite the heresy and abominable doctrines of Calvinism -- is
the word, “whosoever”. What does
that indicate? Well, just as in
Numbers 21, when the serpent was lifted up out in the open for ALL to see -- so
it is with Jesus Christ. He is
lifted up -- out in the open and made available to ALL -- not just to a few,
“elect” -- but to ALL -- so that WHOSOEVER will believe will be saved.
The bottom line is that Jesus Christ worked redemption for every single human
being who has ever lived, is living, or will ever live.
Period! Not one human being
is excluded. Not one human being is
denied that offer of redemption.
But as it says here, only those -- once God brings them light – only those who
BELIEVE will be saved. And, I might
add, only those who deliberately refuse will be lost.
And for this age, there are a lot of people in between.
God Almighty sent His Son Jesus to die for ALL.
Everyone! But only those who
believe and take their place in His death can be resurrected as new creations in
Christ Jesus. So, there is the, “whosoever” -- and this Truth is found all
through the Bible.
I am thinking now of the scripture that says,
“God desires for all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the
truth.” (I Tim. 2:4)
This verse from I Timothy, and God’s use here in John 3:16 of the word,
“world,” ought to tell us plenty about God’s of Redemption.
It is offered to ALL.
Note that John 3:16 does NOT say, “For God so loved the elect.”
But Calvinists DO say exactly that.
Calvinists teach that Christ died ONLY for an elect few -- and never
intended to die for anyone except those elect few.
This is the Calvinist doctrine of, “Limited Atonement.”
Along with that error, Calvinists also teach the doctrine of,
“Unconditional Election.” They
teach that before the foundation of this world -- and before any of us were born
-- God specifically ordained who among us would -- by God’s own will -- be
either saved or damned. God willed
this for each of us specifically – indeed, He causes the elect – through,
“irresistible grace,” to come to Christ and be saved.
According to them, your choice to be
saved and to belong to Christ is His election being worked out through you.
You think you are making the choice but it is really God’s divine
election being worked out in your system.
Or to put it another way in laymen’s terms, if you are one of the elect,
you are WIRED to eventually put your faith in Jesus Christ.
Add all of the doctrines of Calvinism up and you will discover that they amount
to, “regeneration before faith.”
That’s right -- they teach that you have to be born from above BEFORE you can
put faith in Christ – you have to FIRST be born from above through God’s
sovereign election SO THAT you can believe.
They deny that you must FIRST believe to be saved.
Obviously, none of these errors agree with John 3:16 or the rest of
scripture.
Now, the biggest problem with Calvinism isn’t simply heretical theology --
although there is plenty of that.
The problem with Calvinism is a distorted, corrupt, horrible picture of God and
His Son, Jesus Christ. Well, let’s
move on. I don’t want to spend time
on that garbage.
The Unpardonable Sin
I want to continue on with what I was talking about.
God has sent His Son to die for every sin ever committed by the human
race -- except for one sin. Jesus
Christ did not die for the refusal of His death as the payment of sin.
How could He? Or to put it
another way, God cannot forgive the sin of refusing His forgiveness.
If God would forgive the refusal of His forgiveness – if He would forgive
the refusal of Christ – then what is there He could offer as the alternative as
the means of His forgiveness? No.
If God forgave the refusal of His forgiveness in Christ He would be
denying His own Son.
How many see that if God forgave the refusal of His forgiveness, it would make
that forgiveness meaningless? If
God sent Jesus to also die for the sin of refusing that death, then it makes
that death meaningless. No, every
sin ever committed by anyone is paid for in the cross of Jesus Christ, except
the refusal of that cross.
The sin of refusing God’s forgiveness in Christ is the one sin for which Jesus
did NOT die, and it is therefore the reason people go to hell.
If a person wants to refuse Jesus Christ and His death as payment for
their sins, they have committed the unpardonable sin.
Jesus said so. It is, “the
sin which does not have forgiveness.”
Now, don’t misunderstand, we are talking about something that is a final and
sealed choice by a person. The door
back to God through Christ is eternally OPEN.
No sin can shut it. The
unpardonable sin doesn’t even shut that open door – rather, the unpardonable sin
is the refusal to walk through that eternally OPEN door.
Even if you have renounced Jesus Christ, you can always turn back through
repentance and walk through that open door.
But those who are guilty of the unpardonable sin WILL NOT.
That is the point.
God’s Eternal Attitude of Love
So, “For God so loved the world…” I want to take a look at Adam’s original sin,
for in that sin, and in God’s response to it, we find the love of God expressed.
We know that Adam sinned AFTER God had directly commanded him to NOT eat
of the forbidden tree. We also know
that Adam sinned AFTER being
told that if he ate of that forbidden true he would DIE.
But Adam sinned despite these commands and warnings.
And through his sin Adam fell into the clutches of the realm of darkness.
Do we realize that God would have been perfectly just in just walking
away? There was no obligation that
God was under to save man. Adam
absolutely rejected God with his eyes wide open.
Remember, Adam did not have a sin nature.
He was tempted on another basis and he knew that he was rejecting God.
He chose himself over God.
So, God would have been perfectly just to simply walk away.
But He didn’t walk away – that is because, despite the sin, “God so
loved,” indeed, God IS love.
I don’t want to turn and read the entire Genesis account, as it would take too
long. I trust that most of us know
it. How many realize that after
Adam sinned, there is a wonderful picture of the attitude of God toward Adam?
Even IN his sin? There is
also evidence of Adam’s attitude toward God.
After Adam sinned, if you’ll remember, he had his eyes opened and he saw
that he was naked. What did Adam do?
He went and HID from God among the trees of the garden.
He said he did so because he was afraid.
But what did GOD do? God
came looking for Adam. He said,
“Adam, where art thou?”
Now, just in that lesson there, do we see the eternal attitude of God toward
humanity? God is a seeking God who
seeks out people – even in their sin -- and says, “Where art thou?”
He seeks out those who have rebelled
against Him for the purpose of giving them a way back through Christ.
Through our own blindness, passed down through religious tradition, we have
painted a false picture of God. We
have believed and taught that God is the one who has withdrawn from us, and that
we are the ones who are pounding down His door to try to get His attention.
No. We ought to read
Revelation, where Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and that
if any man will open to Me, etc.”
God Almighty is the initiator of reconciliation between Himself and man through
Jesus Christ. Again -- who came
looking for whom? God came looking
for Adam. There it is.
Can we see this Truth as a thread all through scripture?
In fact, it says in 1 Corinthians 5:18-19, as it is so clearly pictured
there in Genesis, that God has reconciled us to Himself.
It also says, “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them.” Have we grasped the Truth here?
ALL humanity -- even those who hate Jesus Christ -- have, in Christ, been
reconciled back to God. That is
finished. But as we have seen,
those who refuse what Christ has done will ultimately seal their doom.
It is precisely because God has done this in Christ and freely offered it
to all that those who refuse will be lost.
Again, the basis for judgment is the finished work of Jesus Christ -- and
the light given about it. That’s why God sends people to hell -- because it is
finished, and offered freely, and they refuse it.
God Almighty has done everything there is to do to reconcile man back to
Himself. Note that God never needed
to be reconciled back to man. No.
The problem between God and man was never God -- it was always man.
The Bible is perfectly clear about that.
Yet we ought to ask: How many of us
live governed by this Truth? How
many of us go through our day -- and though we would never say this or admit it
to ourselves – we live as if the problem is God’s attitude towards US.
We live as if God is hiding from us.
We function as if God has withdrawn.
We are blinded to the Truth.
Here is what we need to do: Seek
God anyway and tell Him to do whatever it takes to bring you into His light and
into the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
That is what we need: An inward
revelation of Jesus Christ. God
knows this and wants it for us more than we know to want it for ourselves.
Why? “For God so loved the
world….” I think if you really look
at that verse, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son” –
you actually see the ultimate expression of God’s love.
It is the ultimate sacrifice; the ultimate act of love.
Therefore, on all of these lesser matters, how could God’s love be
lacking?
If God is love, He is not capable of doing anything but love everyone.
He is not capable of loving anyone less than another because He is the
very personification of ultimate eternal love.
There is no fluctuation there.
There is no change in His love toward us.
God cannot love you more than He loves me, or visa versa.
It is because God so loved the world, and because He desires for all men
to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth, that He gave His only
begotten Son.
God’s eternal love is true for you and me in the sense that Jesus came to die
for us. But there is more.
You can expand this verse and apply it to the fact that right NOW -- if
you are a born-again believer and you are joined to the Lord -- that God has
given you His Son to dwell in you.
He has given you all that Jesus is, and you are one with Him in spirit.
As it says in Romans 8:32, “God has freely given us all things in His Son.”
This is more than just the redemptive act of hanging on the cross.
It includes all that the Cross, and resurrection, made possible – that
God has freely given us His Son that we might dwell in Him, and He in us, and
that we might share all that is in Him.
Why? Because, “God so loved
the world.”
The Basis for Judgment
Now, let’s read on here lest we chew up our time.
John writes in verse 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His
Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” Now, notice
verse 17 because it is important. John
continues, “For God sent NOT His Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him might be saved.”
These are simple words and everybody knows them, but can we see that we
are being told WHY God sent His Son?
Love. God did not want
ANYONE to perish. He desired that
ALL be saved. Thus, the God of love
and grace has offered, by His grace, salvation to everyone through the Son He
sent, Jesus Christ.
In verse 18 it continues, “He that believes on Him is not condemned, but he that
believes not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the
Only Begotten Son of God.” How many
see that John is saying outright that if you have not yet believed that you are
already in the process of perishing?
He uses the word, “condemned” here regarding those who do not believe --
and earlier he says that they are perishing.
Everyone in Adam is perishing.
In Adam ALL die -- but God offers salvation through Christ to all -- so
that those who will believe will NOT perish but have eternal life.
Now, verse 19 begins a passage that is full of Truth.
I have talked a little bit about some of what is said in verse 19, but
notice how clear a statement it is.
He says in verse 19, “And THIS is condemnation…”
Note that -- he is saying that THIS is the basis of condemnation – it is
the basis of God’s, “judgment against;” God’s basis for eternal judgment.
What IS? What is the basis
for judgment? He answers, “That
light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light.”
Why? “Because their deeds
were evil.”
Notice the clear words here. If we
want to know the basis upon which people will be condemned, here it is:
Light has come to them. But
they chose to love darkness rather than light.
Light is always centered in a Person:
Jesus Christ. Those who
refuse to be saved reject Christ. They
have not LOST their salvation – but have REFUSED salvation to begin with.
They have sealed their fate.
They will continue to perish. But
it is also possible that once we are saved that we might choose to love darkness
rather than light. Christians do
that all the time. If a believer
chooses to love darkness rather than light, in some particular matter that God
is working with them -- refusing for example, to pick up the cross -- then there
is judgment. But in the case of a
believer – and I speak of one who is REALLY born from above – God’s judgment is
a chastisement because salvation cannot be lost.
God will bring what is necessary to turn His people back to the Truth.
But ultimately, if a born again believer continually choses darkness
rather than light, then God’s judgment will be to give them that darkness.
They can forfeit a measure of eternal fellowship with Christ – and any
corresponding eternal inheritance.
It is unfortunate that believers make choices like that but we are capable of
this.
God is continually revealing to us His Son.
For those who would love darkness rather than light, Christ is the basis
of CONDEMNATION or of judgment. But
God’s revelation of Christ is also the basis of ILLUMINATION – for those who
will love light rather than darkness.
Light is Come
Notice a couple of other things that are built into this passage.
First of all, LIGHT IS COME INTO the world.
How many understand that all that is of the world begins in darkness?
Included in the world is the mind of man and his earthly nature.
There is NO light in the earthly; no light in natural man.
Wasn’t that the case after Adam sinned?
In fact, I think it is Colossians 1:13, where it says that God Almighty
has delivered us from the realm of darkness and into the Kingdom of His Beloved
Son. So, this verse states clearly
that we start out in darkness -- but not just darkness AROUND us -- but darkness
IN US. Man is born into this world with
no light whatsoever. In fact, you
can be very religious -- have a lot of religious tradition and religious
righteousness -- and yet have no light at all.
So, every one of us is born in Adam -- in total darkness and blackness.
But, through Jesus Christ light has come.
Note that John does not say that light WILL come.
No. He says, “Light IS come”
-- not yet fully into every little nook and cranny of the world, or the mind of
all men yet, but light IS presently come – light is invading.
The Truth of Jesus Christ is invading -- and if you are a Christian and
you are joined to Him -- then Jesus Christ, The Light, is invading you.
It is through the inward revelation of
Jesus Christ that God wants to topple all the strongholds in you with the Truth
of God.
So, light IS come into an otherwise blackened world.
But men have a choice. And
John says that there are people who will choose to love darkness RATHER than
light. Yet how many see that in
order for a human being to love darkness RATHER than light that such a person
must receive SOME LIGHT? You
can’t love darkness RATHER than light unless you receive some light.
There would be no, “rather,” otherwise.
Thus, we see once again that the basis of God’s judgment is that light is
come to a person, and that person chose to love darkness RATHER than the light
they were given.
So, what is the basis of God’s judgment?
Light! But not just LIGHT as
a thing unto itself – but the Light who is a Person.
How many understand that the moment you and I receive light, we are
accountable? We can no longer say
that we do not see. Once you
receive light, you can’t go back – because NOW you know.
Now you see.
Now, light is the basis of judgment eternally.
But as I’ve noted, it is also the basis for judgment for a Christian --
as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
A Christian is always being given more light.
But we can push it aside.
And while we won’t lose our salvation, we will lose – what?
Well, if we refuse light we will lose that light – and have the darkness
we have chosen. We will not
fellowship with Christ in that light we refused, and could end up forfeiting
some of the fullness of what we could have had in Christ.
Thus, light is the basis upon which God will judge all men -- the light of His
Son, Jesus Christ. Indeed, the same light which God intends to set us free unto
salvation -- if we would just embrace Christ by faith – that same light will be
the basis of condemnation if we refuse it.
God will judge us all by Jesus Christ who is The Light.
This is essentially what is being stated here.
“This is judgment; this is condemnation -- that Light has come into the
world -- into my darkened world if we want to personalize it.
The light is going to judge the
darkness. May we not choose
darkness rather than light!
The Truth of Eternal Security
Now, let’s read on here because there is a lot more.
“And this is the judgment or condemnation, that light is come into the
world but men loved darkness rather than light.”
How many see that right there we are being told that those who are
condemned eternally are in that condition because they DID receive light and
refused it? Of course, read it:
Men loved darkness RATHER than light.
You can’t love darkness RATHER than light unless you have received light.
So, John is not talking here about people who never heard the gospel.
He is talking about people who have received light -- but loved darkness
RATHER than light. In short, John
is not talking about people who LOSE their salvation, but rather, about people
who REFUSE their salvation to begin with.
Now as an aside, this particular scripture brings understanding to some other
scriptures in the Bible that have often been misunderstood.
One of these is in Hebrews 6, where it says that it is impossible to
restore unto repentance those who are once enlightened, and have tasted of the
heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and so on.
People have taken that scripture, and a few others, and have tried to
build a case wherein you could lose your salvation.
But this is not the Truth found in Hebrews 6 – nor is it the Truth found
in many other scriptures that supposedly prove that you can lose salvation.
They are not talking about LOSING salvation.
No. Those scriptures are
talking about REFUSING salvation to begin with.
If we read this passage in John 3 we will see the Truth of Hebrews 6.
We will see that the writer of Hebrews is saying that those who were once
enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift -- we
will see that these people have not LOST salvation -- but they have, in fact,
REFUSED it. Sure.
For John 3 states that people who will be condemned forever have RECEIVED
light: “This IS condemnation – that
light IS come….” So they have been,
“enlightened” -- but they have shut their eyes.
They have, “tasted,” of that which is of God in Christ -- but they have
spit it out instead of internalizing it.
The point is, you cannot, “love darkness rather than light,” unless you
have received some light. You
cannot be condemned for refusing Christ unless you have been given light to
refuse. So, we are reading here in
John 3, and Hebrews 6 -- not about the possibility of losing salvation -- but
about the possibility of refusing it.
Light is given -- but then refused – and this refusal is
the basis for God’s judgment.
I am also reminded of Jesus’ words in John 6:44, where He said, “No man can COME
to Me except the Father who sent me DRAW him.”
How many see revealed in that verse two dimensions to any person’s coming
to Christ? There is God’s DRAWING,
and then there is our COMING -- based on God’s drawing.
In other words, God must first take the initiative to draw a person to
Christ – the word, “draw,” certainly indicates a process or a time in which that
person is under conviction and under light.
That word, “draw,” would indicate a process:
“No man can COME to Me except the Father first DRAW him.”
So, first there must be the drawing of God to Christ.
Or, in another words, God must first bring light.
But then there is the COMING of that man to Christ -- on the basis of
that light given. No one can come
to Christ except the Father first draw them; bring light – i.e., the drawing of
God, and then the coming by faith of a person to Jesus.
So God draws and the person comes.
But how many understand that the person may nevertheless refuse to come?
Despite the false teachings of Calvinism on irresistible grace, people
HAVE refused to come. They have
refused God’s drawing of them to Christ – God gave them light, convicted them,
put them through experiences, gave them continual opportunities to turn to
Christ and to see the Truth. But
some still won’t COME. Their
refusal is not a one time refusal.
It’s a lifetime refusal. Of course,
only God knows when a person has really and truly and deliberately refused
Christ. You and I don’t know that.
But the possibility is described here in John 3:
“This IS condemnation, that light is come, and men love darkness RATHER
than light….”
Just as an aside, let’s ask a question:
What is the penalty for choosing darkness RATHER than light?
Well, the penalty is that God will judge
us worthy of that choice. What do I
mean? I mean that the penalty for
choosing darkness rather than light IS that I get darkness.
In other words, if you choose darkness, you get darkness.
If you refuse light, you get darkness.
Isn’t that perfectly just?
In the end, God will let us have exactly what we have chosen in the face of the
light He has given us of Jesus Christ.
We can see this being worked out right now in this age.
If people shut God out NOW, what they get is darkness NOW.
God lets people have what they choose – if they continual to persist in
that choice over and against the light He has given them.
But don’t think of God’s judgment in this matter as a vindictive
punishment. God is not going to storm down from heaven and punish someone in a
fit of anger because they love darkness rather than light.
No. Rather, His ultimate
judgment is that He will give them what they want.
When God allows people to have what they have chosen it is His judgment.
If we really understood that, we would realize that it is the only way in
which God could justly judge: “This
is condemnation that light has come into the world but men loved darkness rather
than light.”
Light and Truth
Now, the question is liable to be asked: “Why in the world would anyone love
darkness rather than light?” John tells us point blank why they would choose
darkness rather than light:
“Because their deeds were evil.” He
goes on to say, “For everyone who does evil hates the light, neither comes to
the light lest his deeds should be reproved.”
In other words, the pivot point, and number one reason, why people love
darkness rather than light is because they will NOT be exposed.
They will not be shown the Truth about themselves.
They will not be brought to the place where they stand face to face with
their barrenness and emptiness.
They won’t have it.
There are many professing Christians who are committing that sin exactly.
Professing Christians -- many of whom are leaders -- have built
themselves up, and perhaps gained a following – many who say they are believers
have dug trenches around their self-centered kingdom, and will protect it at all
costs. They not will not tolerate
being exposed; they will not come into the light.
They love darkness rather than light, because they do not want to be
shown the Truth about themselves in the light of Jesus.
As I have said
so many times: If God shows you the
Truth about yourself, the Truth is going to be horrible.
But regardless, we DO need to see Truth about ourselves.
We do need to see ourselves for what we are before the Lord.
Of course, the Truth about OURSELVES is not all that we will see in the
light. We will also see the Light
Himself – and the fact that we can lose ourselves to Him so that He might become
our life. The Light of God will
expose some ugly things about us – but this is all unto freedom.
God gives light to set us free from ourselves so that we might know Jesus
Christ. This is what happens if we
embrace the light God gives. But,
in contrast, if you love darkness rather than light, your bondage will be all
the greater; your darkness will be greater.
Gather all of this up: “Men loved
darkness rather than light BECAUSE their deeds were evil.” -- how many see that
in the final analysis this is a denial of and a refusal of the cross of Jesus
Christ? It’s a refusal to be
crucified with Christ. It is a
refusal because I am refusing the light that will expose me as one who NEEDS to
be crucified with Christ. Indeed,
it is entirely possible for a person to preach the cross of Jesus Christ as an
historical event, or even as a necessity in the life of the believer, but to
nevertheless, in one’s own life, to continually push it away – to continually
refuse to come into the light and be shown as a sinner.
The human heart is deceitful above all things.
May God deliver us from such deception.
So, “This is condemnation; this is judgment.”
We might even turn this verse around and give it a positive spin and say,
“This is SALVATION -- that light has come into the world, and men loved LIGHT
rather than darkness.” Ironically,
men love light rather than darkness for the same reason men love darkness rather
than light: “Because their deeds were evil.”
The different is the choice to embrace light and Truth – by faith in
coming to Jesus Christ. Those who
love darkness rather than light do so because their deeds are evil and they
don’t want to be exposed. Those who
love light rather than darkness do so because their deeds are evil and they do
want to be exposed and set free through Jesus Christ.
In both cases, the Truth is the same.
The choice is up to us. Light IS judgment -- and the light of Christ is
the basis upon which God will judge all of us
Read verse 20, “For everyone who does evil hates the light, neither comes to the
light lest their deeds should be reproved, but he that does Truth…(which could
also be translated, he that is true, i.e., open and honest to God)…comes to the
light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.”
Notice that the, “deeds,” of a believer are not wrought in ourselves –
that is -- they are not from out of ourselves as the source.
But rather, once you are open and true towards God, God Himself will
begin HIS work in you.
So, all that God is telling us to do here is to open to Him -- to be honest and
true and accept the Truth. Like I
always say: Ask God to bring you
into the light NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES. Why in the world would we want to settle
for less? Why would we want to
spend one more minute than is necessary in a delusional Christianity; in the
dark; deceived, and distorted? Why
in the world would we want to have a faulty knowledge of God; a foolish
knowledge of God built out of myths and fables; built out of the imagination of
our own heart? Why would we want to
live in the delusion of having a righteousness of our own?
This is what happens when people will not come into the light.
God is saying, “Come into the light and I will expose it all.”
It won’t be fun and you will have to come under the work of the cross for
that to be made real. He would also
say to us, “Get on the altar of Romans 12:1, and present your bodies a living
sacrifice.” “Be willing,” God would
say to us, “For me to do whatever it takes to bring you into the Truth.”
You do not need to settle for less and it is never God’s will for us to
settle for less. He wants us to
have all that He has for us in Jesus Christ.
God’s Love
Well, I have to wrap this up for today -- but I hope that we have, in fact, seen
the reasons why God sent Jesus Christ.
I think those reasons – first, that man was lost, and second, that God
loves man -- are wrapped up in another passage that I want to read to close this
message. It is found in Romans 5.
It says in Romans 5:6:
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man would one die, yet peradventure for a
good man, some would even dare to die.
But God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Much
more then, now being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him. For, if when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more now being
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
And so there you have it. Man was
lost with no hope of saving himself or of even beginning the process.
But, “God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son so that
none might perish, but that all who believe might through faith, receive eternal
life and live with God forever.”