← Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis
Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis
What Does John 3:16 Actually Mean? | The Gospel Explained In Context
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A
But when the kindness of God our Savior and watch this. And his love for mankind appeared, he saved us. Meaning it's not just that God loves the redeemed. He obviously does love them in a special way, but it says his love for mankind. He loves those who are made in his image. First of all. And I would say you should preach the gospel in a way where people are concerned that it is going to produce easy believism. Right? Like sometimes there's this like, oh, I really want to fight against cheap grace. And then you start preaching the gospel in a way that's like, well, that's not the way Jesus preached the gospel or the apostles did. What makes God's love so unique is that it's expressed and demonstrated not to those who are worthy of it, but God demonstrates his own love towards us in this. That while we were yet what sinners, he died for us. John 3:16 says, Whoever believes in him shall not perish. And that's available to anybody you know right now. Hank, how you doing?
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B
Doing excellent, Johnny. How are you doing?
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A
Good. Why are you wearing two watches?
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B
Johnny? This is conversations that change.
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A
Let me see real quick. Show everybody he's got an apple watch and a whoop. Which effectively do the same thing.
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B
One tells Tom, just stop.
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A
Okay, listen. This episode is brought to you by the Masters University. If you or someone you know is interested in pursuing higher education would highly encourage you to check out the Master's University and I so appreciate them for their commitment to Christ and scripture. You can use our code dial in to waive the application fee. If you or someone in your life is interested in pursuing an education that is committed to God and his Word. Okay, now, Hank, we are in week four, I think. Are you still laughing about.
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B
Do you want me to participate in this episode or am I just a useful placeholder in this chair for your
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A
look good for your wit judgments. Two watches.
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B
What are we talking about today, Johnny?
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A
Well, we're on week four of this conversation with Jesus and Nicodemus. It's probably the most well known conversation in human history. Jesus comes to this man, Nicodemus, or Nicodemus comes to Jesus and he's anxious because he knows every answer, but he doesn't have assurance of his standing before God and he's the most respected man in Israel. Jesus is largely rejected. Nicodemus is a wealthy Pharisee and Jesus is a poor Galilean carpenter. But Nicodemus is hungry for truth. He's clamoring for truth. And Jesus is the truth. And this Conversation unfolds because Nicodemus comes to him and says, hey, teacher, we know that you must be from God, for no one can do the signs that you're doing unless God is with him. And Jesus kind of disregards that salutation and says, all right, Nicodemus, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That's in John 3, and we've been talking about that for a few weeks. That according to Jesus, there's only one type of person in heaven, someone who is born again. I just want to pause there for a moment and just say that phrase being born again was not made up by like the Billy Graham crusade in the 1960s, nor Baptist in the 1980s. It's something that Jesus says is absolutely necessary for salvation. And what he's getting at to Nicodemus is that we need a miracle of God in order for us to see the kingdom of God.
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B
Absolutely. And we've looked at this over the last several weeks, and that miracle is 100% a work of the Lord. You unpacked clearly and yet also contains a call for humans responsibility to respond in faith.
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A
Yeah, and there's this double reality here where Jesus emphasizes that, hey, you need something to be done to you. It's not one more deed. It's not one more virtuous act or generous donation or one more series of letters behind your name, academically speaking.
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B
Another watch.
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A
No, he's just say, hey, you need a miracle of God. And I want pause here and say that sometimes when we talk about emphasizing that it's a work of God, it's a miracle of God, we're done at our sin, people. Maybe type in the comments. And I say this with no acts to grind and I hope you hear my heart on this. Like, oh, that's Calvinism. Listen, no guy made this up 500 years ago. Paul says we are dead in our sin. That's not like an analogy, it's a reality. He says we're dead in our sin. Romans says that we're slaves to sin. Jesus says you need a miracle to Nicodemus. So when you talk about the power necessary for salvation, that's not something a guy made up 500 years ago. That's just a biblical reality that's, you know, just over and over again throughout the Bible. And this isn't like a clobber passage in favor of Calvinists. This is something that you see like, oh no, just like God in Corinthians, Paul says needed to say, let there be light to a dark universe. He has to say, let there be light to a darkened heart. And that's a work of God. Now you mentioned it. Not only is the sovereignty of God and salvation seen in this passage, so is this necessity of human responsibility. So right after elevating God's power, the necessary miracle that needs to take place in a heart, Jesus then provides this illustration to Nicodemus of just as Israel was in the wilderness, and he takes him Back to numbers 21. And you can go back and listen to these last couple episodes, but there's a story Jesus tells where the Israelites complained, and then as a punishment, God sent fiery serpents into the wilderness and they bit many of the people and they died. And the only way that they were saved is if they look to a bronze serpent lifted up on a pole. And Jesus is saying, hey, yes, on the one hand there's a miracle, and then on the other hand, you are responsible. It's not either. Or if you try to elevate one at the expense of another, you're going to come up with a warped theology. So you can't have like, no, we. We do nothing theology. It's all God's sovereignty. And you can't say, well, it's all go. It's all human responsibility and God's just there kind of writhing his hands together, saying, I hope, I hope, I hope it's a. Both and reality. And Jesus is punctuating those twin truths home to Nicodemus. As we come up to this, I would say the most famous verse in scripture.
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B
Well, and that you actually hit the nail on the head. I want to dive in here and I want to be conscious of getting into the meat of this passage. I also, I'm realizing you might have a challenge or. Anytime we come to these types of verses, it's good to actually see them with fresh eyes.
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A
Yeah, fresh eyes. And. And I was telling you beforehand, I remember I went to Norway with some of my best friends. We were there saying the fjords and. Which is a fun word to say pronunciation. Yeah. And you go, and there's this place that we went to called Trolltunga. It's like one of this. It's amazing. Like, cliff rock, overhanging these fjords. And there's this guy that like lived there. And I remember asking him, hey, what's it like to live here? And it's by far the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life, for sure. It's like, you see it and you go, man, this place is amazing. And I said, what's it like living here? And he said, what do you mean? And it was just. I was like, what do you mean? What do I mean? This is amazing. And you just come to realize that familiarity breeds apathy, and familiarity mutes our ability to see things and be shocked and in awe of what's in front of us. That's how it is. As we come to this verse in Scripture, it's like, it's so familiar to us. John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And that's in the context of this conversation with Nicodemus. And I just pray that we're not so familiar with this truth that it kind of like goes in one ear and out the other. I remember Sinclair Ferguson saying something, and we're going to look at this passage. The greater the love, the greater the lover, the greater the love. The lesser the object of love, the greater the love. And then he says, the greater the expression of love, the greater the love. And I know that's kind of like a lot, but I just want to walk through this passage and look first at the lover. It says, for God so loved the world. And most commentators agree that this is actually the narrator speaking at this point. So Sinclair Ferguson says, the greater the lover, the greater the love. And so we just got to ask the question, who is the one that loves the world?
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God.
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God himself. Why is that significant? Well, in John's gospel so far, we've seen that Jesus God is the creator of the universe. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, that word for word. In John 1:1 is the Greek word logos, that is the being or the mind that the Greeks attributed to being the power behind the universe, that everything was finely tuned. Heraclitus is the one that said, you can't step into a river twice, because once you step into it, it kept on moving. And he noticed that the world was constantly evolving, and yet there was a symmetry and beauty and harmony. And he said, there's got to be something out there. And they refer to that as the Logos. And they thought the Logos was an impersonal, abstract force. And John says, no, no, the Logos is God himself. And God isn't distant from the world. He loves the world. And this is, at least initially, you got to ask the question, is it shocking to you that God loves you? If not, you have a small view of God, right? Because the Greeks would have said, hey, who's the one that made all this? Who? This is Psalm 8. When I look at the stars, the moon and the heavens that you've made, what is the man that you are mindful of them. And yet we become so familiar with this that I think we just kind of move fast past it so quickly.
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B
Well, and even when you ask the question, like, has it occurred to you that God loves you? It's not some impersonal you as in like, oh yeah, totally. No, it's like, no, you.
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A
Yeah, and it can be sometimes. Look at it from the macro perspective because world is so big.
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B
Totally.
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A
So like, let's look at the object. Sinclair Ferguson says, the greater the lover, the greater the love. The lesser the object of love, the greater that love. Now who's the object of the love of God? Well, the world over and over again, though throughout John's Gospel, John will use the term world not to refer to those who are children of God, but to those who are entrapped and entrenched in fallen humanity. Now how does God love the world? How does he love those who are lost? Well, Jesus says in Matthew that the rain falls on the just and the unjust, meaning people that reject God are still experiencing his love. In Psalm 145, verse 9, it says, the Lord is good to all and his mercy is over all that he has made. So an unbeliever can experience the blessings of God. They can marry a woman they love. They can wake up in the morning, have a cup of coffee with a little bit of half and half iced
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coffee, obviously get saved half and half.
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No.
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What purist.
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They can watch a sunset, they can watch a game, whatever it may be. That is God's general love for the world. And he demonstrates his love through the apologetic of creation. The heavens declare the glory of God and He demonstrates this love by the reality also that he has written his law upon their hearts. So this is for everybody. This is the macro level, meaning God does love the world and everybody in it. And I used to even feel this tension. I don't even know if it makes sense. But you grew up in the church and maybe you've kind of had the same thought process. Like could I go into a room full of people that were saved and unsaved and say, God loves you? I don't know if God loves you. Know, some of them may be under the judgment of God, but you could biblically say, no, God loves you. You could go up to any sinner in your life, any stranger on the sidewalk, and say, God loves you. Now there's another truth that we'll examine in a moment. But I think sometimes even that, like, does God love them? Well, yeah, he does love them. And Da Carson says what's amazing about God's love for the world is not that it is so big, but rather it is so bad. It is full of sinners. And this is the truth we've been examining. Titus 3. 4 says, but when the kindness of God our Savior, and watch this. And his love for mankind appeared, he saved us. Meaning it's not just that God loves the redeemed. He obviously does love them in a special way, but it says his love for mankind. He loves those who are made in his image. And you know, there's a coffee shop in town where you're like, if you go to that coffee shop, you're going to see probably like someone with pink hair, lots of piercings, lots of piercings, tattoos. And you would look at them and think, they want nothing to do with the Jesus I love and serve. And the testimony of Scripture is God loves that individual. He cares for that individual. They're made in the image of God. God does pronounce condemnation on sinners, but he loves them so much that he sends His Son as a savior so that they might escape his judgment. And God does hate sin and not just punish sin. He punishes sinners. But the reality of Scripture is, do I take any pleasure in the punishment of the wicked? Declares the Lord. And the answer is no. He doesn't get his jollies from that. He is a just God, but He loves to save sinners and he loves mankind. Okay, Sinclair Ferguson continues and says, the greater the lover, the greater the love. Okay? That's God. Meaning if God is big and glorious and awesome and massive, then the love that he has is going to be big and glorious, right? The lesser the object, the greater the lover. Meaning, like, okay, what's the object of God's love? It's people that are unworthy, right? It's the world. It's not awesome people. It's sinful people. And then he says, the greater the expression of that love, a great God with a great love to an unworthy group of people, undeserving. What's the expression that demonstrates God's love for unworthy sin? He gives his one and only Son. That's why it says in 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. If you were to ask the question, how much does God love the world? Well, so much that he gave his one and only Son. We see this idea throughout the New Testament. Matthew 3:17. This is my beloved Son. Romans 8:3. Paul says, for what the law could not do, weak as it was, through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, his own Son as an offering for sin. And when the Father did send the Son, he wasn't sending a reluctant son, but he was sending a son that was eager to save. I don't know, Hank, about you, but. Or like, if you've kind of experienced this, but sometimes God is kind of presented in this way where God the Father is the judge.
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B
Yeah, totally.
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And Jesus is the one who really loves sinners. Is that fair?
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Yeah, well, I feel like I would have identified with that, especially at younger stages of my faith. And there's part of it that we read passages like the Holy Spirit is interceding on behalf of us before he
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really cares for us.
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And so there's this practical point of like, maybe God's like holding back his smite from the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. But like, man, if I came into the hands of God the Father without Jesus and the Holy Spirit, I'd be toast burnt.
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Yeah. And I think that this idea is that it is God the Father who sends the Son. It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And when Jesus came, it says in Philippians 2, and you know the passage that have this mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the Morphe Deo or Theo, he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself and he took on the form of a servant or a slave, meaning that when Jesus came, when God sent his only son, he didn't empty himself of divinity, but he emptied himself into humanity. He didn't cease to be all that he was for all of eternity, but he took on. He took on flesh. Love's question is, how low will you stoop for me? And the answer from Scripture is that Jesus came down from heaven to a world that he had created to a people that would reject him to die. Why? Well, only God can reconcile us to himself. And it's not just that he gave his Son, it's that he sent his Son to die and that there was a mission here. Jesus says in John 10, I have authority to lay it down. He's saying, I'm going to lay down my own life. And he goes I have authority to take it up again. And this is the charge I have received from my father. So he came to die. And this is kind of the great truth where we talk about God's love, but you can't understand God's love until you understand the world that he came, he sent his son to. Rejected him, killed him. And this is fundamentally undeserved.
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B
Well, in the last verse you said, it just. We glossed over it. But the point that Jesus didn't come down reluctantly. As a parent, I'm just getting mental images of like telling my son, no, you need to go pick that up and bring it back and put it down. And it's like, no. Then you're like, okay, you work through the no, until finally your kid disobeys. Yeah. And they'll like trudge over and pick it up. It's not that kind of obedience here. It's. It's Jesus on his own accord, laying down his life.
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No.
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In submission to the will of the Father.
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Yeah. And what made him come? Well, it says in Titus 3:5 again that when his love for mankind appeared. It says when the kindness and his love for mankind appeared. I love that idea. Because God's love is not a subject, it's an incarnated reality. God's love is not a thing. He's a person. And he came in the form of Jesus Christ. Now let's look at the extent it says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever. Who is this love for? Whosoever. And this is shocking to Nicodemus, why? Well, because Nicodemus is a racist. They would have believed that salvation was only for the Jews. And when the Messiah came, he was going to punish all of the other nations. You may not be Jewish, but you may have adopted Nicodemus, thinking that salvation is for people like me, not for people like them. But the free gift of God is available for whosoever. Whosoever. I want you just to listen to the testimony of Scripture. John 3:16. Whoever believes in him. Romans 10:11. For the Scripture says, whosoever believes on him will not be disappointed. Romans 10:13. Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. John 11:26. Whoever lives and believes in me shall Never die. Acts 2:21. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Acts 10:43. Same thing. John 7:37. If anyone thirsts. John 6, I am the bread of life. Whoever hungers. Isaiah 50:5. Everyone who thirsts. I'm so thankful there is no limit to the offer of salvation. I actually like the story Richard Baxter, the great Puritan, said, I am so glad the text says whosoever. Because if the passage said, for God so loved the world that if Richard Baxter believes in him, he shall not perish but have everlasting life, he says, I'd be worried that the Scripture was speaking about another Richard Baxter. But I know he says, I know I am included in the broad scope of whosoever.
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B
And before we brush forward, just again, in the spirit of hearing these words anew, that's an encouragement to if you haven't placed your faith in Jesus, hold on to this reality that whosoever does can and will be saved. And for those who've placed their faith in Jesus, who are struggling either with unconfessed sin, that they need to confess this truth needs to be at the forefront of your mind of like, what an amazing work Christ did on behalf of us and that whosoever believes in him. And so there's the challenge of like, live in accordance with that reality. But that it's so basic that we can blow by it, unpacking all the theology behind it that just the plain
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A
fact is, well, it should bring us to our knees. It should make us really thankful. And I want to continue to go to like, the means. Like, okay, whosoever. What. What's the means? How can a man be made right with God? And this is going along with what you're saying? How can someone escape the just judgment of God? How can I be saved from eternal hell? Well, this is the message of Christianity. Whosoever what believes faith. Not by things you do not by religion, not by morality, philanthropy, pedigree, ministerial ability, faith.
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B
So if I'm going to press on it. Believe in what? If we're going to keep pulling this down into the practical applicable.
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Well, I would say just. I'll get there in a second. Ephesians 2:8 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, not as a result of work. So that how many people can boast?
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No one.
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No one can boast. This has always been the one way that God has reconciled sinners to himself. I previously said, and we talked about, that the scope of the Gospel is available to all. This is a broad invitation. But the blessings of the Gospel are limited to those who receive it by faith. And this is worth harping on. Faith is the only channel by which God dispenses his saving grace. Hebrews 11:6. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. So what do we need to believe? Well, let's start with the bare minimum, right? Romans 10, 9. If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Saved. So you need to believe that Jesus is God. This is the theme of John's argument. In John's Gospel, Jesus is not just another teacher. He's not just a healer. He's not just a miracle worker. He's not just a prophet. He is the creator of the universe. He's God. If you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, that he died for your sins, why did he do this? Well, because of his great love, but that he died on the cross. And this shows the magnitude of his holiness, the severity of our sin, his mercy, his grace. Right.
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We've been talking about the expression of his love.
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A
Yeah. And that he rose again. Paul says if there's no resurrection, there's no gospel. So you'd have to believe at least that. Right. That he's God, that he died and that he rose. And what is saving faith? And this is kind of like you're never adding to the gospel when you. It's hard because on the one hand, if you believe that someone could very well be saved. Right. But sometimes John highlights what belief is. And I just want to, at least without reading into it or without, like, presenting some argument, like, I'm afraid, first of all, and I would say you should preach the gospel in a way where people are concerned that it is going to produce easy believism. Right. Like Paul says in Romans 6, what, shall we continue to sin so that grace may abound, may it never be? But he only gets there after making it seem like, hey, all you have to do is place your faith in Christ. Right?
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B
So it's like chapters in.
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A
Yeah. So like, sometimes there's this like, oh, I really want to fight against cheap grace. And then you start preaching the gospel in a way that's like, well, that's not the way Jesus preached the gospel or the apostles did. Then there's this other side of things where it's like, all you gotta do is raise a hand and you're saved and believe some facts.
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B
And this is maybe the shortcoming of doing this in podcast form because you don't know how the listener is hearing it and what context they're coming from. But to your point, you're trying to marry this reality of it has to be simple enough that a childlike faith can truly Take root.
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A
Yeah. Four year olds can believe that Jesus is God, that he died on the cross and that he rose from the dead. And whoever calls on the name of The Lord, Romans 10, 13 will be saved.
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B
And yet those intellectual people, well, the
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demons believe in shutting.
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That's what I was just about to go. I was saying. And then. And yet those intellectual facts don't necessarily reveal that you are repenting and placing your faith in that person of Jesus.
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A
Yeah. And then thing is like, well, what is repentance? And then you get caught up in everything. And I would just say, well, truthfully, the demons do believe and shudder, they affirm these facts. So what is saving belief? And I just want to be as simple as possible. Once again. John 1:11 says, he came into his own and his own did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. So in John 1:11 and 12, to believe in Jesus is to receive Jesus. To receive Jesus is to believe him. It says, for all who received him, comma, who believed in his name. So to receive him as what I would just say, for all that he is right. He's your king, he's your Savior, he's your friend. And I think that the reception of I need his work in my life. There's a humility, you don't have to know all the answers. And then here's this promise. It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Fifteen times in John's Gospel we read of this reality of being, of inheriting eternal life. It's not so much quantity of life, it's quality of life. And we'll get to this even as I'm preaching through John 17 in a couple weeks. This is eternal life. That they may know you. Eternal life is not just living forever. It's the space time. It's not just the space time continuum. It's a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And this goes back to like, what is saving faith? Well, eternal life is not just okay, you get out of hell.
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B
Yeah. You get out of jail free card upon your death.
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A
Yeah. And I would say that if you come to Christ and you're just afraid of hell, first of all, that's a good reason to come to Christ. I remember someone telling John MacArthur, like, I'm afraid that the only reason I ever came to Jesus in the first place was because I was afraid of going to hell. And I wanted to be saved. And John was like, that's a good place to start. Right? Like, because sometimes if people. If all that you wanted from Christ is to not go to hell. And I understand what people are saying.
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B
Yeah. Because they're driving at, there's no Jesus.
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A
Yeah, you don't love Jesus. I understand. But it's like, well, listen, this is what Jesus came to save us from. And it says, whoever believes in him will not perish. Like, there's that right behind you. So he gives us eternal life, which is more than just getting out of hell. It is a rich personal relationship with Jesus. And then there's this reality in the next verse. Now, verse 17 is probably one of the most misinterpreted and misapplied verses in the Bible. It reads this. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. People read this and say, you saw what see Jesus did.
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B
God isn't judgmental. Jesus never condemned. Jesus just loved.
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A
Yeah. And it would be true that Jesus did come, Luke 19:10, to seek and to save the lost. But can I tell you the reason why it says that Jesus did not come to judge the world or to condemn. It tells us in John 3:18, he who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son. The reason Jesus did not come to judge is because the world is not waiting to be judged. And again, this is not like some doctrine. This is just. I'm reading it, okay? This is not. So if anybody going, this is Calvinism. This is not Calvinism. I'm just going to read the verse, okay? And I say this, and I'm not trying to push back on anyone. It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Love it. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is something that I think we lose sight of, is the verdict is already in. And the only way to reverse the verdict is to place our faith in Jesus Christ. And I think sometimes there is that
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B
future judgment that was actually going to be. My question is maybe for someone listening there's this element of, like, yeah, but I haven't stood before the throne of God yet. And I'm not literally banished to hell or admitted into heaven for the. For just the extreme example. And so practically, what does it mean that I've been judged already if I haven't been judged?
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A
Yeah. I mean, we could talk about it in a different way, you know, its own episode. There is one day going to be a great White throne judgment. Everything's going to be in Revelation, all of our deeds, everything. But as far as this sentence from the Holy Judge of the Universe, it's not waiting to be delivered. And this is where people are like, well, then wait a second. Does that mean that, like, I have no responsibility because of. No, because the passage says right here, believe, believe, believe, believe. So you can't elevate that human responsibility and then ignore this reality. The Bible says that we are conceived in iniquity. Psalm 51:5. You know, Pope Francis said a couple years ago that people are fundamentally good. There are some rogues and sinners, but people are fundamentally good. No, the Bible says we're conceived in iniquity. It says we're born children of wrath. We're not waiting for the sentence to be passed. It has already been passed. There's nothing that still needs to be determined. The Judge has already declared. Now, with that, it says we can be saved. We can be saved. We can have this. We can have someone come in and absorb the sentence for us. Right? We can have someone that takes our debt of sin. And if we don't believe in it, it says, we will what? Perish. Which means that what? Everyone who does not believe in the Son will what?
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Perish.
- [28:16]
A
Perish. So there's a couple things. It says in Ephesians 2 that we're already under the wrath of God. It says here in John 3:36, he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him. So you could say the same thing about God's wrath. So is God's wrath one day something that one day people are going to experience, or is it something that they're under right now? Well, in one sense, yes. And in another sense, yes, there will be the finality of that judgment in the future. And again, this isn't anybody's, like, theology. I'm just reading the verses.
- [28:45]
B
And so maybe if we just keep pressing on this, what comes to mind is almost a response like, well, why doesn't everyone receive Jesus.
- [28:53]
A
Well, the passage tells us this is the judgment, John 3:19, that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. The Bible never says that people don't come to Jesus because they weren't elect. And I think this is kind of like one of those things where, well, what's the point if God. That's never the. You know, the same Bible that has Romans 9, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy has A. Romans 10. Right. How will they call on him who they've never heard? You can't separate. You can't have Romans 10 without Romans 9. We've talked about this, but it says here that people don't come to Jesus because they love the darkness rather than the light. It's never because of a lack of evidence. It's that they love sin. And this is why the gospel so repeatedly touches on the reality of sin. Like even Jesus. You know, I one time heard Kevin Dion say that Jesus, as the great physician, presents different remedies for different diseases. Like, the gospel is presented different ways to different people. Like to the woman at the well, he says, I'll give you living water. But he also confronts her in her sin and says, hey, you're right. You don't have a husband. You've had five. And the man that you're living with now isn't your husband at all. He confronts her with her sin, and that is necessary. And I think sometimes in preaching, people in either sharing the gospel or preaching the gospel, confuse the benefits of the gospel with the necessities of the gospel. What I mean by that is they'll talk about how Jesus is going to fill the hole in your heart, that he'll satisfy your soul, that he'll give you meaning and purpose and value. Those things are all true. But the fundamental reason Jesus came at the core is to save us from our sin. And John 3:16 says, Whoever believes in him shall not perish. That means if you do not believe in him, you will perish. And then not only does he save you from perishing, he does give you satisfaction at the soul level. He will give you a future home in heaven and all these other things. But I think we confuse that and we present the benefits before the necessity of the gospel.
- [30:57]
B
Yeah, and we that, to me, it's speaking to the urgency. Like, why do we need to go share the gospel? Because if we go back to numbers 21 because we have the poison of the snakes already in our bloodstream. Like, we're going to die. We're under judgment from 3, 18 and yeah, Hebrews 9.
- [31:13]
A
It is appointed for men to die once, then comes judgment. Kind of going back to your question, but why is the Messiah called Jesus? Well, Gabriel tells Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. This is what people need. And I think it's just worth asking if you've been, if you're listening or watching, have you trusted Jesus? It would be true to say and biblical to say, he loves you and God loves you, and that is why he sent his son to die for your sin. And if you believe in him, going back to the bare minimum, if you place your faith in Jesus Christ, you can put your name in this category. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Just a final story as we close. D.L. moody in 1871, he was preaching on Jesus trial before Pilate. And he came to the end of his message on Matthew 27:22, which the question is asked, what shall I do then with Jesus, who is called to Christ? That's Pilate's question. And he concluded and said, I wish you to take this text home with you and turn it over in your minds during the next week and then next Sabbath, we will come to Calvary in the cross and we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth. So Pilate says, what shall I do with Jesus? And he says, go think about it.
- [32:24]
B
And this is where DL Moody ends the sermon.
- [32:26]
A
He ended the sermon there. And he would later call the conclusion of that sermon the greatest mistake of his life. For while they were singing the final hymn after a sermon, the fire engines begin to sound on the street and move. Church was burnt down and a thousand people were killed. And many of those who may have thought they had time to think it over were lost in the fire. And he vowed to never again tell people to think it over. And he began to press people home until the rest of his life. Don't go. Think it over. If you don't know the Lord Jesus, you need to know that he loves you and that he came to save you from your sin. And today is the day of salvation. Do not harden your hearts. Do not neglect his voice. Come to him. And there's an urgency. Today is the day of salvation, and maybe you're listening to this. And I hope that the reminders of scripture are encouraging, but everybody has someone in their Life that doesn't know the Lord Jesus and it may be the last. And I want to be thinking of the person that's, like, kind of close. They seem like pretty clean cut, ready for a savior. I want you to think of someone in your life that maybe is. Maybe gives the impression that they are so far from God. And then to recognize that the Bible says God loves that sinner and he sent his son to die for that individual so that if they believe in them, they would not perish but have everlasting life. And then there are all of those benefits of the gospel. He will satisfy their soul. He'll give them a home in glory and so forth.
- [33:51]
B
And the point, I think it's worth driving home. The point is, isn't some artificial, like, game show. Yeah. So you got to go do it right now, like, before the buzzer. No. There's a practical, weighty gravity to this of, no. If you're presented with literally the highest priority decision anyone will ever make in their life.
- [34:10]
A
Yeah.
- [34:10]
B
That's the stakes of the conversation. It's not like, oh, check the box before it's too late. You know the discount's going to end. It's like, no, no, no, no.
- [34:17]
A
But wait.
- [34:17]
B
Yeah, yeah. When you're faced with something that is quite literally the most important decision you or anyone you know will ever make, that is the only appropriate response.
- [34:26]
A
Yeah. And I think you just have to go, how did Jesus present the gospel? Right. He's the most patient man that ever lived. How did he present the gospel? Well, he doesn't go, hey, go think it over and maybe I'll get to it in five years. No, he said, unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sin.
- [34:41]
B
Well, and we've been talking about this over four episodes. These take place over a matter of a few verses in one conversation with
- [34:47]
A
one conversation, and gets to the heart of the matter. And so it is true that God loves the world and he loves sinners. And even in my own heart, like, I think sometimes we live in a culture that abuses the love of God at the expense of his other attributes. Like, they never talk. You know, there's churches that never talk about his holiness or his justice. And, hey, God loves you just the way you are. I don't want to flip to the other side of the spectrum and say, no, he's just holy. No, what makes God holy is that even his love is unlike any other type of love. It's a holy love. And what makes God's love so unique is that it's expressed and demonstrated in. Not to those who are worthy of it, but God demonstrates his own love towards us in this. That while we were yet what sinners. He died for us. And that's available to anybody you know right now.
- [35:30]
B
Thanks for unpacking this, Johnny.
- [35:32]
A
Yeah, thanks, Hank.