this morning comes to us right in the middle of a conversation between Jesus and one of
the most educated guys, one of the most educated theologians in all of Israel, a guy named
Nicodemus. We find that conversation here in John chapter 3. Now somehow Nicodemus heard
the teaching of Jesus that in order to enter the kingdom of God you have to be born again.
And Nicodemus, he doesn't understand. He thinks to himself, how can a person be born
again if you've been born once? How can that process possibly happen all over again? All
this to say, it really confused the man. And so by the cover of night he sought out Jesus
to ask him about this very interesting teaching of his. Now in the conversation Jesus pretty
much says to him, Nicodemus, you are one of the great theological minds of Israel. Yet
you don't understand something as simple and as important like new birth. And at one point
Jesus in fact says it plainly, if you are not born again you will never see the kingdom
of God. To which Nicodemus responds, I don't understand. How can these things be? An important
question and an eternally important answer to understand. To which Jesus then goes on
to speak about Moses lifting up a serpent in the desert and relating it to his own life
and mission. And then he says those incredibly important words that we just heard read for
us. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. And whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life. We're going to break this text down into just
three sections this morning. First we're going to have a look at the love of God. Second
we're going to have a look at the gift of the sun. And then third we're going to look
at the promise and the eternal difference that it really makes. So if you have your
Bibles with you this morning we're going to be in John chapter 3 verse 16. And look with
me at just those first few words there. For God so loved the world. I don't know about
you but one of the very first memories that I have in children's church is learning the
words that we're actually looking at here this morning. And it's a beautiful thing really
and why Grace Kids and Sunday School is such an important ministry among us as the very
first thing that I learn about God isn't that he has a big white beard and a rod with
lightning bolts ready to throw at people but that he loves. Some of you might be surprised
by that statement this morning. That God loves. Maybe you haven't grown up with that being
told to you or you have a completely different idea of God. Maybe your idea of God is more
like what I just described before. A big white bearded man sitting in the clouds waiting
for you to make a mistake so that he can crush you like an ant under his big God like thumb.
Everything could be further from the truth. But before we really dive into that I might
ask why do we struggle with the love of God. Well I want to put it forward to you this
morning that we struggle with God and his love because of our own inner struggle with
guilt. That's why I think a lot of people gravitate towards that image of a man in
the sky ready to pounce and tear them apart rather than a kind caring loving God because
we all know that we do evil things and we know that we deserve to be punished for our
wickedness. But Paul's words of the apostle couldn't be any more clearer in his writing
to the Romans in chapter five. He says, you see at just the right time when we were still
powerless Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person
though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrated his own
love for us in this in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Hear that
church why we were still helpless powerless why we were weak he demonstrated his what
he's wrath his anger his frustration his disappointment. He demonstrated his love for us in that he
gave us the most beautiful gift his son. There's no denying it we are weak and every single
human being on the face of the planet knows deep down that they could be doing a better
job at this thing that we call life and that we can't break free from our brokenness and
our own moral failings. Now the Bible has a whole load of different ways to define that
brokenness. For one example God has given us his perfect moral will in something called
the Ten Commandments and thus when we break those laws we are defined as lawbreakers.
Sin that's another term that's used in the Bible which is an old archery term in which
when someone shot an arrow and it missed the target or fell short of it altogether it was
called sinning. Lawbreaking sin both of these things aren't good and the Bible teaches us
that when we have fallen short when we have broken God's law when we have missed it altogether
and sinned we actually twist and stain the image in which we created to emulate which
is God himself and the Bible tells us that the wages of that sin and lawbreaking is death
which every single person on the planet has committed. Now this is the beautiful thing.
Notice exactly the words of our Lord in this text. God so loved the world. Now world in
the way that the apostle John uses it throughout his gospel is a way to describe that which
has set itself up in rebellion against God himself. This is why a little later on in
the same gospel Jesus will say to his disciples do not love the world which is to say do not
live in the way that sets itself up against God and his kingdom and treasure the things
of this life but as we've already seen that's what we have all done and do all the time
because we are helpless weak and powerless. All this to say the world and its mindset
is in rebellion against God but then we read these tremendous words here that God so loved
the world. Amazing and surprising but amazing nonetheless in that our Creator would love
helpless weak powerless sinners like you and me that are at odds with him and have earned
and deserve nothing but wrath and judgment which brings us to the next thing that Jesus
has to say to us here. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. This really
lies at the Christmas story at the core doesn't it. It's the scene that we all have in our
heads when we think of Christmas. Little baby Jesus surrounded by Mary and Joseph,
wise men, three kings with a whole bunch of animals giving glory to this little man. Now
there's a whole load of historical problems with that picture that I just gave you there
and we won't get into it but the point is this. God gave this world a gift and that
gift is God's one and only son. I absolutely love my children. When I met Jacob for the
first time I really knew what it was to feel like you would die for someone. When I met
Bethany my daughter for the first time I really knew what it was like to feel like you would
do absolutely anything in the world to protect another person. But I shudder at the thought
that I would ever have to give my precious child over so that my enemy who totally and
murderously hates me could be set free from what they have truly earned and bought on
themselves. It's a scenario that makes any parent sick to the stomach. But this is the
most awesome thing that we see here on this Christmas morning. God willingly and freely
gave his own precious son to a world that as we have seen this morning is in total
rebellion to him. Now to fully understand what's being said here we need to understand
that unlike the example that I just gave to you my son Jacob is really totally different.
He's a different being to myself. And so if I was ever to give him over to my enemies
to pay their debt I would be really giving someone away an individual we might say against
their will. That's not the case that we see here because not only did the son come willingly
from the father but both the son and the father are eternally God which is to say from eternity
past before the ages from before the world was made and sin entered into it our triune
God planned that the eternal son would take on flesh and pay the penalty for the lawbreaking
and sin of his people. That is the kind of God that gave his son. One who loved us so
much that he planned and came willingly so that he might grow up to die on a cross. You
know though I grew up in church as many as you as many of you know I didn't stay but
in my late teens left to pursue a career in the music industry. God had other plans and
years later while speaking to a Christian friend of mine I asked him why did Jesus have to
die on the cross because I never actually understood that growing up. What did a guy
in Palestine who lived 2000 years ago dying on a cross have to do with me? I'm so glad
my friend knew how to answer that question because drawing on John the Baptist's preaching
of Jesus as the spotless Lamb of God. Well he explained to me that I had smashed God's
law and that there was absolutely nothing that I could do to clean up the utter mess
of my life that I had made. No amount of good works being nice saying sorry going to church
or giving money to charity would wipe away the stain that I had so happily made. And
he explained to me why Jesus had to die on the cross. It was because his perfect life,
his sinless life was placed on a cross and offered as a sacrifice and he was punished
for all of my wrongdoing and his blood wiped away the filthy stain of sin that I had made.
But more than that, that as my sin was placed onto him and he was punished his perfect life
and right standing was placed onto me. So that as I stand before God Almighty now and
on that day of judgment he will look at my account, he will look at your account which
has been credited with the perfect life of Jesus and all God's people will hear not guilty,
free, beloved child of mine. It's essentially what Jesus is speaking about here in our text
this morning. He's saying that God so loved his enemies and those that sinned against
him like you and me that he gifted us the solution to our very real sin problem. God's
very own beloved son so that he might die in our place and pay our debt with his very
life. What an amazing truth, an amazing gift of God to reflect on in this Christmas morning
which leads us to the last part of this beautiful sentence. Whoever believes in him will not
perish but have eternal life. Haley, my wife and I had a wonderful experience this morning
and that was waking up to our excited children and watching them receive the gifts that we
had given to them and that is the thing about gifts. They are utterly useless to us if they
just stay under the tree unwrapped and looked at all year round and that is the point of
our Lord here. God has given him as a gift to the world and those in the world now have
a responsibility and that is to receive him so as to receive all that he came to give.
We are set free as we receive him. How do we do that? Well Jesus tells us plainly here
by believing. Now this believing isn't like believing a friend about a thing that they
saw the other day or an author who wrote a biography and the things that they wrote.
The believing that Jesus is talking about here means trust. That is the great crescendo
of this sentence. God loves those of the world so much that he gave us the most wonderfully
awesome gift and that gift will set us free from all that we deserve if we simply trust
the Son of God. In other words God clears the debt and gives life to all those who trust
in Jesus as their only way of salvation. Friends Jesus is as clear with us here this morning
as he was with Nicodemus all those years ago. He has come to take your place and mine. He
came into this world to bear our sin and our shame. He came to stand in our place and receive
the wrath that we all deserve and as we trust him and his work on our behalf he actually
gives us more. He is the gift that keeps on giving. He gives us a new heart. He gives
us the Holy Spirit. He makes us a part of an eternal family where we can cry out to
God as our Father. Brothers and sisters Jesus is the most wonderful gift ever given. He
came to die in our place and he was raised again so that we might be made in right standing
with God for all eternity. And why did any of this happen? Well it wasn't because you
and I deserved it. It wasn't because you and I earned it. It wasn't even because you
and I asked for it. No why we were still powerless weak while we were dead in our sins as the
enemies of God. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son for us. This
is the promise that God's gift brings. If you believe, if you trust, you are forgiven.
You have eternal life. That's God's promise and what we are reflecting on this Christmas
morning it's the greatest news that we could ever hear because we know that we deserve
nothing but punishment. But instead he has given us his son so that we might receive
a full pardon and spend eternity with him. If you hear this morning and you would like
to know more about how to receive this most precious gift of God then please I implore
you do not walk out of this place without coming to speak to me and hear this friend.
Jesus is key. Like any gift it doesn't need to be earned or strived for or labored after
because it would no longer be a gift. No Jesus is someone who is given freely by the
Father to anyone from anywhere who has done anything who would simply receive him. So
if that's you I would love to meet you and speak to you more about these things that
we have heard on this wonderful Christmas morning. Would you please pray with me church?
Father God we are so thankful that you wrapped the eternal Son of God up in flesh and sent
him to us. Father where we were helpless, where we were powerless you reached into our
worlds and have rescued us. Father we ask that the proclamation of the gospel would
be held high would be herald loudly today that your people wouldn't be ashamed of your
name but so grateful that our joy would bubble over that we would share good news with our
friends and family today. Father we ask that this gathering, this church would be a people
that would love you and love people and that we would be a people that go and make disciples
teaching all that you have given to us. We thank you that we are here this morning gathered
in your name. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.