1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,480 So it was October 11th, 2012, when our oldest, Joey, was born. 2 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,040 Made it very easy for us, 10, 11, 12. 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:14,500 We'll never forget his birthday, so that's good. 4 00:00:14,780 --> 00:00:17,460 But that is when I became a father to a son. 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:22,820 And I just remember holding him, there's a picture somewhere, I'm sure, of me holding him. 6 00:00:22,820 --> 00:00:28,840 And I think I've said this before, again, you think you're ready maybe when you start having kids 7 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,200 to be a father or a parent or a mother, and you're really not. 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:37,280 You don't really know, you can read all the books, you can watch movies or whatever examples 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:39,120 of your family about what it means to be a parent. 10 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,300 But I remember holding him, just knowing that something was different. 11 00:00:43,300 --> 00:00:45,720 Life has now forever changed. 12 00:00:46,100 --> 00:00:51,040 Not because it wasn't just Carrie and I now, but that there was a responsibility bestowed 13 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:53,800 on me to be a father to a son. 14 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,020 And though I don't really know what it's like to be a father to a daughter, 15 00:00:58,020 --> 00:01:02,360 I know a lot of, because Annie's a dog and doesn't really count. 16 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:07,420 But understand that I know a lot of you have daughters. 17 00:01:07,740 --> 00:01:12,300 And I sit and I talk with a lot of you, especially as I watch your daughters grow 18 00:01:12,300 --> 00:01:18,280 up into teenagers or even older and just the sure terror that goes on as having a daughter 19 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:19,640 that gets older and older. 20 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:25,340 But it's a different kind of relationship from what I'm assuming, having a son and a daughter. 21 00:01:25,340 --> 00:01:32,200 But son in biblical terms was very distinct. 22 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,840 Now, again, there's a lot of cultural things that we're not really going to get into today 23 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:38,840 as we look at 2025. 24 00:01:39,100 --> 00:01:41,120 Culture is different in that sense. 25 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:48,200 But being the son, especially the oldest son of a family, was a kind of a statement 26 00:01:48,740 --> 00:01:53,380 that when you were the oldest son, whether you cared or not, whether you knew it or not, 27 00:01:53,380 --> 00:01:56,120 even though in biblical times you would have definitely known, 28 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:04,840 that you had a certain job as the eldest son or the only son in a family. 29 00:02:05,460 --> 00:02:07,500 Part of that was the family business. 30 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:13,260 Part of that was that even right when you're born, that there was a contractual obligation 31 00:02:13,460 --> 00:02:15,800 that you would care for your parents when you were older. 32 00:02:16,060 --> 00:02:17,000 Joey, write this down. 33 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:19,620 That you will care for your parents when you're older. 34 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,080 That you will provide for them when they can no longer provide for you. 35 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,960 That you didn't really have retirement back. 36 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,760 There wasn't 401Ks back in biblical times. 37 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:33,360 But that there was even to the point of write this down. 38 00:02:33,820 --> 00:02:41,980 That when the parents got to older age, that a place would be built on for them to live 39 00:02:41,980 --> 00:02:43,760 if they could no longer live in their house. 40 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:49,600 There were not only cultural, but there was even political or law-based things 41 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,020 that the son stepped into. 42 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,740 Whether the son knew it or not, and again, the son doesn't have control over that. 43 00:02:58,340 --> 00:03:05,540 Immediately when the son is born, that there are obligations placed on the son 44 00:03:05,900 --> 00:03:08,900 that has to do with the family line. 45 00:03:08,900 --> 00:03:14,140 Part of it is continuing the line, having children and all of those things. 46 00:03:14,140 --> 00:03:21,260 And when I was reading that this week about this only begotten son title and distinctive 47 00:03:21,260 --> 00:03:25,060 of Jesus, it blew up in a massive way for me. 48 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:27,060 And hopefully it will for you this morning. 49 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:33,820 That only begotten son, son of God, son of man, is a title and a distinctive that Jesus has. 50 00:03:34,020 --> 00:03:38,020 That means absolutely everything to us. 51 00:03:38,020 --> 00:03:44,020 That we should be thankful that Jesus is the son of God. 52 00:03:44,540 --> 00:03:50,820 Now, next week when we prepare in service for communion, we will say a creed. 53 00:03:50,820 --> 00:03:53,140 Who remembers what creed we recite? 54 00:03:53,780 --> 00:03:55,620 The apostles creed, okay? 55 00:03:55,620 --> 00:04:01,260 And there were two other kind of Protestant creeds that the church fathers adopted. 56 00:04:01,260 --> 00:04:03,140 Does people remember what those are? 57 00:04:03,140 --> 00:04:04,980 You have the apostles, you have the... 58 00:04:05,260 --> 00:04:06,380 Nice. Oh, wow. 59 00:04:06,380 --> 00:04:08,380 And then the third one... 60 00:04:09,060 --> 00:04:10,140 Ah, blah, blah, blah. 61 00:04:10,140 --> 00:04:11,140 No, what was that? 62 00:04:12,140 --> 00:04:13,780 Athanasian creed. 63 00:04:13,900 --> 00:04:14,700 I always joke. 64 00:04:14,700 --> 00:04:18,700 We'll probably never do that one on a Sunday because we won't finish it until Tuesday morning. 65 00:04:18,980 --> 00:04:21,780 Okay, because it's just extremely long of a creed. 66 00:04:21,900 --> 00:04:30,180 But the Nician creed hits this term more than the apostles or the Athanasian creed is in the 67 00:04:30,180 --> 00:04:39,780 Nician creed in 35 AD, the church fathers emphasize this term to affirm Jesus' unique divine nature. 68 00:04:40,620 --> 00:04:45,860 The creed states, we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, 69 00:04:45,980 --> 00:04:52,580 begotten of the Father before all worlds, light of light, very God or true God, a very God or true God. 70 00:04:52,580 --> 00:05:06,380 This underscores the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son affirming the Son, Jesus' full divinity. 71 00:05:06,380 --> 00:05:07,780 Again, we're formed theology. 72 00:05:07,780 --> 00:05:10,100 We believe Jesus fully God, fully man. 73 00:05:10,100 --> 00:05:21,380 There was a heresy that was kind of put in Spain and in more Western Europe of the Aryan heresy that Jesus was created, human to die. 74 00:05:21,380 --> 00:05:23,820 And some of you are like, well, isn't that true? 75 00:05:23,820 --> 00:05:24,980 They were camped in that. 76 00:05:24,980 --> 00:05:25,980 There's a lot more to that. 77 00:05:25,980 --> 00:05:31,980 We believe that he is fully God and fully man in order for him to be the perfect sacrifice. 78 00:05:31,980 --> 00:05:37,980 Because if he was just a man and not God, his sacrifice on the cross wouldn't mean anything for us. 79 00:05:38,380 --> 00:05:45,180 That the sacrifice on the cross would be more a symbolic thing, not an actual conquering of sin and death. 80 00:05:45,980 --> 00:05:48,980 We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ. 81 00:05:48,980 --> 00:05:59,980 That this divine sonship that Jesus is now going to talk about with Nicodemus, continuing and ending the conversation with Nicodemus that Ken brought with you last week. 82 00:06:00,980 --> 00:06:03,980 We see that Nicodemus is struggling. 83 00:06:03,980 --> 00:06:08,980 He's struggling with this understanding of Jesus as the Son. 84 00:06:08,980 --> 00:06:24,980 Because in, now this is for lunch in a conversation with Pastor Jim, that there would be a very specific place that a Pharisee like Nicodemus would go to in the Old Testament when the term Son of God or Son of Man would be used. 85 00:06:24,980 --> 00:06:29,980 We talked about it for three weeks in the fall when we were doing Revelation. 86 00:06:29,980 --> 00:06:32,980 Does anyone remember where that would be? 87 00:06:32,980 --> 00:06:34,980 What would he be going back to? 88 00:06:34,980 --> 00:06:35,980 He can't go to Revelation. 89 00:06:35,980 --> 00:06:37,980 That wasn't written yet. 90 00:06:37,980 --> 00:06:39,980 And he would be the, isn't that cool? 91 00:06:39,980 --> 00:06:40,980 He would actually be the one to write it. 92 00:06:40,980 --> 00:06:42,980 I just thought about that now. 93 00:06:44,980 --> 00:06:49,980 And came down like a Son of Man. 94 00:06:50,980 --> 00:06:55,980 It would be the prophecy of Daniel in the back. 95 00:06:55,980 --> 00:06:57,980 Daniel, okay? 96 00:06:57,980 --> 00:07:00,980 The prophecy of Daniel, like a Son of Man coming down. 97 00:07:00,980 --> 00:07:03,980 We see this in Luke being used by Jesus. 98 00:07:03,980 --> 00:07:06,980 And you know, the Pharisees get really mad. 99 00:07:06,980 --> 00:07:17,980 But what Nicodemus is trying to grasp, what he's having friction major in, in his thoughts are, wait a minute, Son of Man Messiah, Messiah language. 100 00:07:17,980 --> 00:07:19,980 Is this the Messiah? 101 00:07:19,980 --> 00:07:21,980 I was just told I had to be born again. 102 00:07:21,980 --> 00:07:23,980 And Ken went through all of that last week. 103 00:07:23,980 --> 00:07:30,980 Like he is having just crazy thoughts trying to put all this together. 104 00:07:30,980 --> 00:07:43,980 But in John 3, this latter part of the conversation, Jesus explains his authority comes from the unique relationship that he has with the Father. 105 00:07:43,980 --> 00:07:46,980 Now understand, they knew God as Yahweh. 106 00:07:46,980 --> 00:07:48,980 They knew God as Creator. 107 00:07:48,980 --> 00:07:49,980 They knew God as sustainer. 108 00:07:49,980 --> 00:07:54,980 They knew God as all of the Old Testament qualities. 109 00:07:54,980 --> 00:07:56,980 Because we are in the New Testament now. 110 00:07:56,980 --> 00:08:03,980 This understanding of Father and Son was only used in apocalyptic language. 111 00:08:03,980 --> 00:08:06,980 Only used in Messiah language. 112 00:08:06,980 --> 00:08:11,980 So there's another, I don't even think we're going to do Messiah, so to speak, for this sermon series. 113 00:08:11,980 --> 00:08:13,980 Because we hit it pretty much all in the fall. 114 00:08:13,980 --> 00:08:17,980 But Son of God and Messiah are now the same person. 115 00:08:17,980 --> 00:08:20,980 That there's this unique relationship. 116 00:08:20,980 --> 00:08:22,980 So let's jump in. 117 00:08:22,980 --> 00:08:24,980 Starting with verse 9 of John chapter 3. 118 00:08:24,980 --> 00:08:27,980 John chapter 3, starting with verse 9 says, 119 00:08:27,980 --> 00:08:28,980 Nicodemus said to him, 120 00:08:28,980 --> 00:08:30,980 How can these things be? 121 00:08:30,980 --> 00:08:31,980 Jesus answered him, 122 00:08:31,980 --> 00:08:35,980 You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things. 123 00:08:35,980 --> 00:08:42,980 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen. 124 00:08:42,980 --> 00:08:45,980 But you do not receive our testimony. 125 00:08:45,980 --> 00:08:52,980 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 126 00:08:52,980 --> 00:09:01,980 No one has ascended into heaven except who descended from heaven, the Son of man. 127 00:09:01,980 --> 00:09:08,980 So Nicodemus is getting a reeducation, if you will, that is completely blowing up what he knew. 128 00:09:08,980 --> 00:09:10,980 Now Nicodemus was a Pharisee. 129 00:09:10,980 --> 00:09:15,980 Nicodemus made it all the way through the Talmud, the Talmud, all of the education. 130 00:09:15,980 --> 00:09:20,980 Didn't ever have to go into Dad's business because he proved himself in school, 131 00:09:20,980 --> 00:09:25,980 memorizing the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, understanding the prophets, 132 00:09:25,980 --> 00:09:27,980 reading them in the temple. 133 00:09:27,980 --> 00:09:31,980 Those are all parts of the training of a Pharisee to become a Pharisee, 134 00:09:31,980 --> 00:09:35,980 which was the top of the top of the religious system. 135 00:09:35,980 --> 00:09:37,980 And Jesus is punking them out, going, 136 00:09:37,980 --> 00:09:44,980 You don't understand any of this because this is heavenly things. 137 00:09:44,980 --> 00:09:48,980 That Pharisees were historians. 138 00:09:48,980 --> 00:09:51,980 I don't know if you guys think much about Pharisees, I don't, 139 00:09:51,980 --> 00:09:57,980 but it got me thinking about the life of a Pharisee that a Pharisee basically was regurgitive. 140 00:09:57,980 --> 00:10:02,980 Now if you were a Levite, a little different story because that was the line, 141 00:10:02,980 --> 00:10:05,980 that was the line, the Levitical line, the line of the priests, 142 00:10:05,980 --> 00:10:08,980 priests were different than Pharisees. 143 00:10:08,980 --> 00:10:13,980 That Pharisees were historians, Pharisees were rule followers, rule keepers, 144 00:10:13,980 --> 00:10:16,980 and if we're being honest, they made them all up. 145 00:10:16,980 --> 00:10:21,980 They were the ones that tainted the religious system because all they did 146 00:10:21,980 --> 00:10:27,980 was go back to the Old Testament and understand the earthly things that happened. 147 00:10:27,980 --> 00:10:33,980 There wasn't a lot of deep theological thought because Jesus wasn't in the equation yet. 148 00:10:33,980 --> 00:10:40,980 The Messiah, the understanding of Messiah, there were Messiah's little M before Jesus, 149 00:10:40,980 --> 00:10:44,980 Jesus is the only capital M Messiah that actually changed things. 150 00:10:44,980 --> 00:10:51,980 So Nicodemus in this conversation is having his mind blown every step of the way. 151 00:10:51,980 --> 00:10:53,980 We see Nicodemus at the end. 152 00:10:53,980 --> 00:10:56,980 I mean, we see him in the crucifixion in the burial. 153 00:10:56,980 --> 00:11:01,980 We understand that Nicodemus was a part of Jesus' ministry, 154 00:11:01,980 --> 00:11:06,980 that we believe Nicodemus was changed. 155 00:11:06,980 --> 00:11:12,980 But this understanding of the only begotten son of the Father is unique. 156 00:11:12,980 --> 00:11:15,980 The term actually means one of a kind. 157 00:11:15,980 --> 00:11:20,980 It emphasizes Jesus' eternal relationship with the Father. 158 00:11:20,980 --> 00:11:22,980 It's not a created status. 159 00:11:22,980 --> 00:11:28,980 Messiah was an understood term, the sheeah in Aramaic, 160 00:11:28,980 --> 00:11:32,980 is the understanding of the one that was going to come to, 161 00:11:32,980 --> 00:11:36,980 and then depending on what group you were, you kind of insert your own ending there. 162 00:11:36,980 --> 00:11:41,980 What were some of the understandings of the people in that time of what the Messiah was going to do? 163 00:11:41,980 --> 00:11:43,980 Does anyone remember? 164 00:11:43,980 --> 00:11:47,980 They thought the Messiah was going to overthrow Rome, 165 00:11:47,980 --> 00:11:52,980 was going to save them, purify the temple, 166 00:11:52,980 --> 00:11:56,980 that they were going to go back to the life of David when being the Israelites was, 167 00:11:56,980 --> 00:11:57,980 they were it. 168 00:11:57,980 --> 00:12:01,980 They were the top of the top, only to get conquered multiple times. 169 00:12:01,980 --> 00:12:07,980 But understand that they put these kind of earthly understandings of Messiah. 170 00:12:07,980 --> 00:12:09,980 There was no heavenly understanding. 171 00:12:09,980 --> 00:12:12,980 There wasn't a relationship with God. 172 00:12:12,980 --> 00:12:17,980 We understand in 2025 our relationship with God is intimate. 173 00:12:17,980 --> 00:12:23,980 They knew a relationship with God as legal, that it was the commandments. 174 00:12:23,980 --> 00:12:25,980 It was the law. 175 00:12:25,980 --> 00:12:30,980 That's why they held on to the law, and they put the law as a yoke or a burden on the people, 176 00:12:30,980 --> 00:12:34,980 because that's how you grew your relationship with God, 177 00:12:34,980 --> 00:12:38,980 or the dictated relationship with God is by following all the laws. 178 00:12:38,980 --> 00:12:40,980 Over 600. 179 00:12:40,980 --> 00:12:46,980 You don't eat this, you don't wear this, you don't do this, you don't say this. 180 00:12:46,980 --> 00:12:48,980 That's how they upheld. 181 00:12:48,980 --> 00:12:51,980 Kind of, I mean, it's hard to even say relationship, 182 00:12:51,980 --> 00:12:54,980 because take, if you're married, take your spouse. 183 00:12:54,980 --> 00:12:58,980 What if your relationship was only dictated by written down rules? 184 00:12:58,980 --> 00:13:03,980 Just let that hang there for a minute. 185 00:13:03,980 --> 00:13:08,980 That your wife put on you that every other Friday, 186 00:13:08,980 --> 00:13:14,980 you will take me out, we will do these things, and all that stuff. 187 00:13:14,980 --> 00:13:20,980 What if there was a relationship, would there be a lot of intimacy? 188 00:13:20,980 --> 00:13:23,980 I know it's blowing your mind, you don't understand. 189 00:13:23,980 --> 00:13:25,980 Or some of you are like, wow, that's a lot like my marriage, 190 00:13:25,980 --> 00:13:27,980 you probably need to talk about this. 191 00:13:27,980 --> 00:13:30,980 I have office hours starting in February, 192 00:13:30,980 --> 00:13:32,980 but there's no intimacy there. 193 00:13:32,980 --> 00:13:39,980 It really should open our eyes a little bit to what it was like to be a Yahweh follower in the first century. 194 00:13:39,980 --> 00:13:41,980 It was do or do not. 195 00:13:41,980 --> 00:13:44,980 It would, oh, that sounded a lot like Yoda, I apologize. 196 00:13:44,980 --> 00:13:46,980 That is not where I wanted to go. 197 00:13:46,980 --> 00:13:48,980 But understand, it was like that. 198 00:13:48,980 --> 00:13:52,980 Fall in line here, don't step here. 199 00:13:52,980 --> 00:13:54,980 That that was the relationship. 200 00:13:54,980 --> 00:14:00,980 Jesus came to bring intimacy in your relationship with God. 201 00:14:00,980 --> 00:14:03,980 Intimacy, because of your relationship with Christ, 202 00:14:03,980 --> 00:14:05,980 Christ is the center of that, 203 00:14:05,980 --> 00:14:10,980 He is the crux of the vertical and the horizontal, hence the cross, 204 00:14:10,980 --> 00:14:15,980 that Jesus being the only begotten Son is giving us a first-hand glimpse 205 00:14:15,980 --> 00:14:19,980 of a Father and Son's intimate relationship, 206 00:14:19,980 --> 00:14:25,980 that God has an intimate relationship with God, with Jesus, and Jesus with God. 207 00:14:25,980 --> 00:14:28,980 Unlike believers who are adopted as children of God, 208 00:14:28,980 --> 00:14:36,980 Jesus is uniquely the eternal Son who shares the divine essence of who God is. 209 00:14:36,980 --> 00:14:39,980 We're going to get to that in a couple weeks in John 10. 210 00:14:39,980 --> 00:14:47,980 So the meaning of only begotten Son means something unique, something special. 211 00:14:47,980 --> 00:14:49,980 Now go back to what I started with, 212 00:14:49,980 --> 00:14:53,980 that immediately when a son was born, he was about what his father was about. 213 00:14:53,980 --> 00:14:55,980 Business, whatever. 214 00:14:55,980 --> 00:14:59,980 Lineage, the same goes with Jesus. 215 00:14:59,980 --> 00:15:04,980 The minute Jesus was born, he was a part of what his father was about 216 00:15:04,980 --> 00:15:07,980 because they were one. 217 00:15:07,980 --> 00:15:11,980 And it was the Son's authority we see in verse 13 to reveal 218 00:15:11,980 --> 00:15:19,980 that Jesus declares he has ascended to heaven and descended to reveal divine truth. 219 00:15:19,980 --> 00:15:24,980 That Jesus' origin story starts where? 220 00:15:24,980 --> 00:15:30,980 Where does Jesus' origin story start? 221 00:15:30,980 --> 00:15:33,980 Creation, go a little higher than that. 222 00:15:33,980 --> 00:15:35,980 Heaven. 223 00:15:35,980 --> 00:15:36,980 Heaven. 224 00:15:36,980 --> 00:15:40,980 He always was the first born among all the nations. 225 00:15:40,980 --> 00:15:47,980 Colossians tells us that Jesus' story is part of that trinity that God had. 226 00:15:47,980 --> 00:15:51,980 Yes, he's born in Bethlehem as a human person, 227 00:15:51,980 --> 00:15:54,980 but again, he is truly divine. 228 00:15:54,980 --> 00:15:57,980 He is one with the Father. 229 00:15:57,980 --> 00:16:00,980 He has the authority to speak of the kingdom of God 230 00:16:00,980 --> 00:16:04,980 because the kingdom of God comes through him. 231 00:16:04,980 --> 00:16:08,980 The Heidelberg Catechism question answer 33 explains 232 00:16:08,980 --> 00:16:11,980 that why he has called God's only begotten Son, 233 00:16:11,980 --> 00:16:13,980 when we are also God's children, 234 00:16:13,980 --> 00:16:20,980 is because Christ alone is eternal, natural Son of God. 235 00:16:20,980 --> 00:16:23,980 I understand there's friction and there's confusion here, 236 00:16:23,980 --> 00:16:26,980 but the first and foremost thing we have to understand 237 00:16:26,980 --> 00:16:30,980 is that he has the authority to reveal who God is. 238 00:16:30,980 --> 00:16:35,980 He understands God on that intimate level because they are one. 239 00:16:35,980 --> 00:16:38,980 And whatever God is about, Jesus is about, 240 00:16:38,980 --> 00:16:42,980 just like a son is to the Father. 241 00:16:42,980 --> 00:16:45,980 So what did sonship look like in the ancient world? 242 00:16:45,980 --> 00:16:48,980 Well, in Jewish culture, a son was seen as the heir 243 00:16:48,980 --> 00:16:52,980 and equal of his Father in authority and representation. 244 00:16:52,980 --> 00:16:55,980 You go to Jesus' the prodigal son, 245 00:16:55,980 --> 00:16:58,980 you see that relationship with the two sons, 246 00:16:58,980 --> 00:17:02,980 older son, younger son, different relationships. 247 00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:05,980 Can enable different relationships. 248 00:17:05,980 --> 00:17:09,980 We see how sons and fathers play in the scriptures 249 00:17:09,980 --> 00:17:13,980 as far as what those relationships look like. 250 00:17:13,980 --> 00:17:17,980 And Jesus claiming divine sonship asserts 251 00:17:17,980 --> 00:17:24,980 not only his unique authority, but his identity as God. 252 00:17:24,980 --> 00:17:26,980 Have you ever thought about that? 253 00:17:26,980 --> 00:17:28,980 We don't really think about that. 254 00:17:28,980 --> 00:17:33,980 Joey, though he has my DNA and so does Teddy and Jack, 255 00:17:33,980 --> 00:17:37,980 they are their own individual persons. 256 00:17:37,980 --> 00:17:40,980 Now, as we just watched one of my favorite Disney movies, 257 00:17:40,980 --> 00:17:43,980 No Judgment, is Hercules, right? 258 00:17:43,980 --> 00:17:45,980 It's in my top three. 259 00:17:45,980 --> 00:17:48,980 Whatever your top three is, that's you, probably wrong. 260 00:17:48,980 --> 00:17:50,980 But understand that in the movie Hercules, 261 00:17:50,980 --> 00:17:52,980 one of the things that Phil Octides, 262 00:17:52,980 --> 00:17:54,980 that is Danny DeVito's character, 263 00:17:54,980 --> 00:17:57,980 one of the things you always want to do is create a hero 264 00:17:57,980 --> 00:17:59,980 that the gods would put in the cosmos, 265 00:17:59,980 --> 00:18:00,980 and we see this at the end, 266 00:18:00,980 --> 00:18:04,980 and I've seen it a hundred times, I still cry, don't judge. 267 00:18:04,980 --> 00:18:05,980 You know, and then you have one guy go, 268 00:18:05,980 --> 00:18:07,980 that's Phil's boy, right? 269 00:18:07,980 --> 00:18:13,980 That is exactly what I hope people say about my sons. 270 00:18:13,980 --> 00:18:17,980 And we know with kids, it can be positive and negative. 271 00:18:17,980 --> 00:18:20,980 I said this before, because some people go, 272 00:18:20,980 --> 00:18:23,980 oh, that's Jim's son, and they could say that in a positive, 273 00:18:23,980 --> 00:18:28,980 or they can go, oh, that's Jim's son. 274 00:18:28,980 --> 00:18:30,980 See, very different. 275 00:18:30,980 --> 00:18:33,980 Hopefully we're more on the former, not the latter. 276 00:18:33,980 --> 00:18:36,980 But understand that Jesus has that responsibility 277 00:18:36,980 --> 00:18:40,980 as the reflection of God himself. 278 00:18:40,980 --> 00:18:43,980 Spoiler alert, if you are in Christ, 279 00:18:43,980 --> 00:18:45,980 that same expectation is put on you, 280 00:18:45,980 --> 00:18:48,980 that you are sons and daughters of the king. 281 00:18:48,980 --> 00:18:51,980 Why? Because it is a gift to us. 282 00:18:51,980 --> 00:18:57,980 We see this in verse 14 through 17. 283 00:18:57,980 --> 00:19:00,980 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 284 00:19:00,980 --> 00:19:03,980 so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 285 00:19:03,980 --> 00:19:09,980 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 286 00:19:09,980 --> 00:19:12,980 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, 287 00:19:12,980 --> 00:19:14,980 that whoever believes in him should not perish, 288 00:19:14,980 --> 00:19:17,980 but have eternal life. 289 00:19:17,980 --> 00:19:20,980 For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, 290 00:19:20,980 --> 00:19:26,980 but in order that the world might be saved through him. 291 00:19:26,980 --> 00:19:29,980 Most famous verse in the world of Scripture. 292 00:19:29,980 --> 00:19:31,980 For God so loved the world. 293 00:19:31,980 --> 00:19:34,980 We see it used inappropriately throughout. 294 00:19:34,980 --> 00:19:37,980 We see people's names in 316 and all of that. 295 00:19:37,980 --> 00:19:43,980 It's all junk for what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus. 296 00:19:43,980 --> 00:19:50,980 Out of love for the world, God sent his son. 297 00:19:50,980 --> 00:19:53,980 Now, let's just change the story a little bit, 298 00:19:53,980 --> 00:19:55,980 just for the sake of an example. 299 00:19:55,980 --> 00:19:58,980 What if this was a Pharisee talking to a Pharisee? 300 00:19:58,980 --> 00:20:01,980 What if it wasn't Jesus saying this to Nicodemus? 301 00:20:01,980 --> 00:20:03,980 That God's going to send his son. 302 00:20:03,980 --> 00:20:07,980 It's going to be a, you know, he's going to. 303 00:20:07,980 --> 00:20:10,980 But Jesus is saying, no, it's here and now. 304 00:20:10,980 --> 00:20:11,980 Think about that. 305 00:20:11,980 --> 00:20:16,980 That God, that Jesus himself is saying that about himself. 306 00:20:16,980 --> 00:20:20,980 The revelation here for Nicodemus is an unbelievable revelation. 307 00:20:20,980 --> 00:20:25,980 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, Nicodemus. 308 00:20:25,980 --> 00:20:29,980 That's me, Jesus is saying. 309 00:20:29,980 --> 00:20:36,980 I am the son of God and see how it works out in Jesus' life. 310 00:20:36,980 --> 00:20:39,980 He says it to Nicodemus in the dark of night, 311 00:20:39,980 --> 00:20:41,980 and Nicodemus is forever changed. 312 00:20:41,980 --> 00:20:43,980 You go to Luke chapter 4. 313 00:20:43,980 --> 00:20:50,980 He says it after the, after the, the friends, the paralytics lower down. 314 00:20:50,980 --> 00:20:53,980 And now guys want to kill him. 315 00:20:53,980 --> 00:20:59,980 Notice that the intimacy of relationship is received in very different ways. 316 00:20:59,980 --> 00:21:03,980 My hope is today we see it as a gift. 317 00:21:03,980 --> 00:21:07,980 That Jesus being God's son is a gift. 318 00:21:07,980 --> 00:21:11,980 That now there is a, there is an example we can follow. 319 00:21:11,980 --> 00:21:15,980 Because we can't follow God's example one to one. 320 00:21:15,980 --> 00:21:17,980 We are given Jesus. 321 00:21:17,980 --> 00:21:26,980 There is an earthly example of what it means to live for God the Father as sons and daughters of the king. 322 00:21:26,980 --> 00:21:28,980 Live like Jesus. 323 00:21:28,980 --> 00:21:30,980 What would Jesus do? 324 00:21:30,980 --> 00:21:31,980 Remember that fad? 325 00:21:31,980 --> 00:21:33,980 What would Jesus do? 326 00:21:33,980 --> 00:21:34,980 How did Jesus live? 327 00:21:34,980 --> 00:21:37,980 That's how we as believers should live. 328 00:21:37,980 --> 00:21:43,980 So Jesus lifts or shifts this focus now from intellectual understanding. 329 00:21:43,980 --> 00:21:47,980 Where it was just funny to kind of watch Nicodemus go blah, blah, blah, blah. 330 00:21:47,980 --> 00:21:53,980 He uses now the imagery of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness from Numbers 21. 331 00:21:53,980 --> 00:22:03,980 To explain, not only do you need to be born again, but that the Son of God has a mission for himself and for you. 332 00:22:03,980 --> 00:22:07,980 Jesus is foretelling of his death on the cross. 333 00:22:07,980 --> 00:22:15,980 That the lifting up of the serpent was both a physical act and a spiritual symbol requiring faith to receive that healing. 334 00:22:15,980 --> 00:22:18,980 Jesus uses the imagery as the ultimate source of salvation. 335 00:22:18,980 --> 00:22:34,980 The term lifted up, hipposo, carries a dual meaning exalting of the physical, but emphasizing the humiliation of the cross and the glory of the redemptive act of dying for the sins of the world. 336 00:22:34,980 --> 00:22:42,980 So he's lifted up for salvation, but God's love is also revealed. 337 00:22:42,980 --> 00:22:53,980 That God has revealed his love for you and me, not because you have all the zeros in your bank account, not because of your stature or your wealth or whatever, your influence. 338 00:22:53,980 --> 00:23:04,980 God loves you by sending Jesus to you and for you and by you to be like his Son. 339 00:23:04,980 --> 00:23:10,980 He is my God and Father because of Christ the Son. 340 00:23:10,980 --> 00:23:25,980 Understand that relationship that if we are going to be heirs of the King as well, those of us in Jesus, then as sons and daughters we need to be about what the Father is about. 341 00:23:25,980 --> 00:23:27,980 The Son was sent to save. 342 00:23:27,980 --> 00:23:31,980 The Father sent the Son not to condemn the world, but to save it. 343 00:23:31,980 --> 00:23:36,980 This emphasizes grace over judgment. 344 00:23:36,980 --> 00:23:40,980 Jesus was rejected for this. 345 00:23:40,980 --> 00:23:50,980 In the Pharisees' mind Jesus wasn't following the rules because Jesus offers grace and forgiveness and love. 346 00:23:50,980 --> 00:23:51,980 Guess what? 347 00:23:51,980 --> 00:23:57,980 We should be doing the same thing because God's love is for the world. 348 00:23:57,980 --> 00:24:07,980 The cosmos, the world in John 3.16 in the Greek would be surprising to Jewish readers. 349 00:24:07,980 --> 00:24:13,980 And again, even as we're foreign believers in the understanding of elect, this is where it could get a little dicey. 350 00:24:13,980 --> 00:24:15,980 Some of us may be uncomfortable. 351 00:24:15,980 --> 00:24:19,980 That world is the goal. 352 00:24:19,980 --> 00:24:27,980 The operation, if you will, God was sending his Son for, is that all might be saved through Jesus. 353 00:24:27,980 --> 00:24:29,980 Then they are elect. 354 00:24:29,980 --> 00:24:32,980 Understand how that works out. 355 00:24:32,980 --> 00:24:36,980 Jesus, though the Jews and the Israelites, they would have said, this is only for Israel. 356 00:24:36,980 --> 00:24:37,980 This is our guy. 357 00:24:37,980 --> 00:24:41,980 And Jesus does talk about that, but then we see throughout his life. 358 00:24:41,980 --> 00:24:52,980 He says that I will grab others by another way, that Jesus comes to save the world, that God's redemptive acts include all nations and people. 359 00:24:52,980 --> 00:25:00,980 This ties to God's promise to Abraham that through his offspring, all nations of the earth will be blessed. 360 00:25:00,980 --> 00:25:01,980 And here's the rub. 361 00:25:01,980 --> 00:25:09,980 It is not our job to determine who's the Israelite or, in 20, 25 turns, who is the elect or not. 362 00:25:09,980 --> 00:25:18,980 Our job is to point to the one who elects, the one who loves, the one who died, the one who saves. 363 00:25:18,980 --> 00:25:23,980 Yet for some of us, we like to take on that role. 364 00:25:23,980 --> 00:25:25,980 We like to take that on. 365 00:25:25,980 --> 00:25:27,980 We like to call out who the nonbeliever is. 366 00:25:27,980 --> 00:25:34,980 We really don't engage them much or we like to kind of make this an a la carte thing about salvation. 367 00:25:34,980 --> 00:25:37,980 Friend, that is a fool's errand. 368 00:25:37,980 --> 00:25:41,980 Please stop doing that if that's what you're doing, because that is not the love of Jesus. 369 00:25:41,980 --> 00:25:43,980 You and I don't save people. 370 00:25:43,980 --> 00:25:46,980 Therefore, you and I don't condemn anyone either. 371 00:25:46,980 --> 00:25:55,980 Though we may try, though we may think about it, though we may even type about it or post about it or send about it, we don't do the condemnation. 372 00:25:55,980 --> 00:25:59,980 If you can't save anybody, you can't condemn anybody either. 373 00:25:59,980 --> 00:26:02,980 Again, we can try, but that's not our job. 374 00:26:02,980 --> 00:26:05,980 Our job is to point to the cross. 375 00:26:05,980 --> 00:26:11,980 Christian, little Christ, if we're sons and daughters of the king, we need to be about what God is about. 376 00:26:11,980 --> 00:26:15,980 And that is what the Son teaches us. 377 00:26:15,980 --> 00:26:23,980 Ephesians 2, we see historically this kind of universal offer of salvation was a major theme in the early church. 378 00:26:23,980 --> 00:26:26,980 The early church wasn't filled with just Israelites. 379 00:26:26,980 --> 00:26:30,980 There were Gentiles all over the place. 380 00:26:30,980 --> 00:26:38,980 As seen in the book of Acts and Paul's writings, challenging cultural and ethnic boundaries is part of the radical love of the Son. 381 00:26:38,980 --> 00:26:45,980 Welcoming the stranger, loving on those that might be different than us. 382 00:26:45,980 --> 00:26:51,980 And so that is ultimately where we're going to end, is the call of the Son, verses 18 to 21. 383 00:26:51,980 --> 00:26:56,980 The call of the Son is this, whoever believes in him is not condemned, 384 00:26:56,980 --> 00:27:03,980 but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he is not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 385 00:27:03,980 --> 00:27:05,980 And this is the judgment. 386 00:27:05,980 --> 00:27:08,980 The light has come into the world. 387 00:27:08,980 --> 00:27:13,980 And people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. 388 00:27:13,980 --> 00:27:18,980 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, 389 00:27:18,980 --> 00:27:21,980 lest the work should be exposed. 390 00:27:21,980 --> 00:27:25,980 But whoever does what is true comes to the light. 391 00:27:25,980 --> 00:27:32,980 So that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. 392 00:27:32,980 --> 00:27:36,980 So what does this mean for the church? 393 00:27:36,980 --> 00:27:44,980 This means if you are doing things in the dark, and I'm calling everybody out first and foremost myself, 394 00:27:44,980 --> 00:27:50,980 if there are things you are doing in the dark where you honestly believe God doesn't see you, 395 00:27:50,980 --> 00:27:53,980 you, my friend, are a fool. 396 00:27:53,980 --> 00:27:57,980 I am a fool, if I believe that. 397 00:27:57,980 --> 00:28:01,980 That everything in the dark will be brought to the light. 398 00:28:01,980 --> 00:28:09,980 That's not some poetic lyric of a song that Jesus says, that is a judgment of the world. 399 00:28:09,980 --> 00:28:13,980 We see it from John 1, we see it throughout Jesus' life. 400 00:28:13,980 --> 00:28:15,980 Jesus comes to what? 401 00:28:15,980 --> 00:28:17,980 Expose sin. 402 00:28:17,980 --> 00:28:18,980 Hear me. 403 00:28:18,980 --> 00:28:22,980 Jesus comes to expose sin. 404 00:28:22,980 --> 00:28:26,980 I didn't say your name, I didn't say my name. 405 00:28:26,980 --> 00:28:31,980 Though we are called to correct sin, to call out sin. 406 00:28:31,980 --> 00:28:35,980 But how dare we call out sin and then not walk alongside. 407 00:28:35,980 --> 00:28:40,980 That's like someone who sees someone in need and goes to another person, 408 00:28:40,980 --> 00:28:43,980 hey, that person needs help. 409 00:28:43,980 --> 00:28:49,980 You see, you go by and you see that maybe something is starting on fire, 410 00:28:49,980 --> 00:28:52,980 and you go, huh, that's not right. 411 00:28:52,980 --> 00:28:54,980 I should probably do something about that. 412 00:28:54,980 --> 00:28:56,980 And then you just walk on by. 413 00:28:56,980 --> 00:28:58,980 It's the story of the good Samaritan. 414 00:28:58,980 --> 00:29:04,980 Who are the ones that pass by the guy half dead, the religious church people. 415 00:29:04,980 --> 00:29:07,980 Yet the one who culturally should hate that guy and go, 416 00:29:07,980 --> 00:29:11,980 I'm kind of glad he's half dead, hopefully it's full dead. 417 00:29:11,980 --> 00:29:13,980 He's the one that shows compassion. 418 00:29:13,980 --> 00:29:18,980 Yet we're really good, really good, and by that I mean bad. 419 00:29:18,980 --> 00:29:21,980 And going, you do things differently than me. 420 00:29:21,980 --> 00:29:23,980 So you're probably condemned. 421 00:29:23,980 --> 00:29:26,980 I know the right way. 422 00:29:26,980 --> 00:29:28,980 Well friend, if you're going to say that, 423 00:29:28,980 --> 00:29:31,980 yet you're going to double down on living in the dark, 424 00:29:31,980 --> 00:29:32,980 you're not doing it the right way. 425 00:29:32,980 --> 00:29:35,980 And actually you're a hypocrite, and I'm a hypocrite, 426 00:29:35,980 --> 00:29:37,980 if that's how I want to live my life. 427 00:29:37,980 --> 00:29:42,980 So the call of the Son is first and foremost to have faith in the Son. 428 00:29:42,980 --> 00:29:44,980 Belief in Jesus brings salvation, 429 00:29:44,980 --> 00:29:48,980 while rejection results in death and condemnation. 430 00:29:48,980 --> 00:29:53,980 This reinforces the exclusivity of Christ. 431 00:29:53,980 --> 00:29:58,980 That when you have a relationship with Jesus, it should change things. 432 00:29:58,980 --> 00:30:02,980 If people see your life and go, that person's the same, 433 00:30:02,980 --> 00:30:05,980 they weren't a Christian there, but they now are a Christian here. 434 00:30:05,980 --> 00:30:09,980 Everything, everything they say, anything they post, 435 00:30:09,980 --> 00:30:12,980 nothing's changed. 436 00:30:12,980 --> 00:30:15,980 Then maybe that relationship is not there, 437 00:30:15,980 --> 00:30:18,980 or maybe it's not bearing fruit. 438 00:30:18,980 --> 00:30:20,980 That when I say the exclusivity of Christ, 439 00:30:20,980 --> 00:30:23,980 it's not because it's some club, 440 00:30:23,980 --> 00:30:28,980 but it's the way of the Son, who is about the things of the Father. 441 00:30:28,980 --> 00:30:33,980 So having faith in the Son, but also living in the light. 442 00:30:33,980 --> 00:30:37,980 Again, I say these things, you don't have to believe them. 443 00:30:37,980 --> 00:30:40,980 I'm doing my best to come out of Scripture, 444 00:30:40,980 --> 00:30:43,980 to give it to all of us so we could walk differently, 445 00:30:43,980 --> 00:30:48,980 that Jesus contrasts those who love darkness with those who come to the light. 446 00:30:48,980 --> 00:30:57,980 Following the only begotten Son means living in truth and righteousness. 447 00:30:57,980 --> 00:31:00,980 So be very quick, or don't be very quick, 448 00:31:00,980 --> 00:31:07,980 to pick up that stone and throw without looking inward first. 449 00:31:07,980 --> 00:31:11,980 Next week we're going to go to this idea of living water, 450 00:31:11,980 --> 00:31:14,980 but before we do that, what does it mean for us today? 451 00:31:14,980 --> 00:31:18,980 For our head, for understanding is know the Son. 452 00:31:18,980 --> 00:31:22,980 Reflect on Jesus' unique identity as the only begotten Son. 453 00:31:22,980 --> 00:31:26,980 Deep in your understanding of His divine nature and mission, 454 00:31:26,980 --> 00:31:30,980 because if you claim Christ, His nature is your nature, and guess what? 455 00:31:30,980 --> 00:31:34,980 His mission is your mission, should be the mission of the church. 456 00:31:34,980 --> 00:31:39,980 John 1, Colossians, go back really quick. John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. 457 00:31:39,980 --> 00:31:43,980 Make it easy, John Colossians, Hebrews, start, and you'll get it. 458 00:31:43,980 --> 00:31:45,980 So that was for the head. 459 00:31:45,980 --> 00:31:47,980 For the heart, trust the Son. 460 00:31:47,980 --> 00:31:52,980 Rest in assurance of God's love demonstrated through the gifts of His Son. 461 00:31:52,980 --> 00:31:56,980 Let this truth strengthen your worship and your devotion. 462 00:31:56,980 --> 00:32:00,980 Trust the sufficiency of Christ's work on the cross. 463 00:32:00,980 --> 00:32:02,980 And finally, practical for our hands. 464 00:32:02,980 --> 00:32:04,980 Proclaim the Son. 465 00:32:04,980 --> 00:32:07,980 Share the good news of the only begotten Son. 466 00:32:07,980 --> 00:32:12,980 Share the intimate relationship you have with Jesus that Jesus has with God. 467 00:32:12,980 --> 00:32:16,980 That conversation goes a lot better than sitting down with someone 468 00:32:16,980 --> 00:32:20,980 and reading them the book of Deuteronomy. 469 00:32:20,980 --> 00:32:25,980 But share the good news with those who do not yet believe. 470 00:32:25,980 --> 00:32:29,980 Sharing is one thing, talking is one thing, walking is another. 471 00:32:29,980 --> 00:32:34,980 Demonstrate Christ's love through acts of kindness and service. 472 00:32:34,980 --> 00:32:39,980 Think of someone you can reach out to with the love of Jesus this week. 473 00:32:39,980 --> 00:32:42,980 And here's my added challenge for you today. 474 00:32:42,980 --> 00:32:47,980 Maybe, just maybe, it's someone who makes you really, really mad. 475 00:32:47,980 --> 00:32:50,980 Maybe it's someone who makes you really, really uncomfortable. 476 00:32:50,980 --> 00:32:55,980 Maybe, just maybe, it's someone who doesn't look at the world the same way you do. 477 00:32:55,980 --> 00:33:03,980 What would that look like to share with them the love of Jesus, the only Son of God? 478 00:33:03,980 --> 00:33:26,980 Let's pray.