Every generation throughout church history has seen doctrinal struggles and debates. But perhaps no doctrinal dispute has ever been contested more fiercely or with such far-reaching, long term consequences as the ultimate issue, the issue of justification.

The controversy over the doctrine of justification in the sixteen century focused on the nature of the gospel, and therefore, the essence of Christianity itself. Both sides in this fight understood that something essential to Christianity was at stake. The church must always struggle with errors, but this controversy involved an article of the faith that is fundamental to faith itself.

The Bible identifies justification as a hill to die on. The Apostle Paul frequently admonishes and instructs Christians not to be quarrelsome, divisive, or combative. He extols the virtues of patience, love, and tolerance. Yet when it came to a battle over the gospel itself, this same apostle was utterly inflexible. He considered some things intolerable, and one is the distortion of the gospel. He wrote to the church in Galatia:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:6-10)

Here the apostle uses the strongest speech to condemn perversion of the gospel. He insists there is only one gospel, and the gospel he preaches in his letter to the Galatians is the gospel of justification by faith alone. The Judaizers corrupted the gospel by requiring works in addition to belief as a necessary for justification. Twice Paul pronounces an apostolic curse on this distortion, using the Greek word from which we get the English word anathema.

But at the Roman Catholic Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, Rome condemned the Reformed doctrine of justification by faith alone and declared it anathema. They did this because they were convinced that the Reformed doctrine was "another gospel," a distortion of the biblical gospel.

This was undoubtedly the most explosive issue of the 16th century, and the best place to start is probably with the 16th century's most dynamic character.

Luther was born November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany, to a copper miner. His father wanted something better for him; he wanted Martin to become a lawyer. In 1505, on July 2 on his way home from law school, he was caught in a thunderstorm and was hurled to the ground by lightening. He cried out, "Help me, St. Anne; I will become a monk."

Fifteen days later, to his father's great displeasure, Martin kept his vow. On July 17, 1505 he knocked at the gate of the local Augustian Hermits and asked to be accepted. On easter, April 3, 1507 he was ordained as a priest.

If you've heard anything about Luther, you've probably heard that he was a bit pathological, that is, mentally disturbed. Most of his mental uneasiness grew out of his legally oriented mind which could not escape the relentless necessity for justice. Of all the things he knew, he knew that the holiness of God demanded punishment for sin. He also knew he was a sinner. That was bad news.

This led to one of the most famous incidents in church history when Luther attempted to officiate his first mass. Schooled in proper Roman Catholic orthodoxy, Brother Luther sincerely believed that he was about to perform a miracle by turning the bread and wine into the actual, physical body of Christ (transubstantiation). When he came to a particular point in the service he froze. He later recounted the experience:

I was utterly stupified and terror stricken. With what tongue shall I address such Majesty, seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince? Who am I, that I should lift up mine eyes or raise my hands to the divine Majesty. The angels surround Him. At His nod the earth trembles. And shall I, a miserable little pygmy, say "I want this, I ask for that"? For I am dust and ashes and full of sin and I am speaking to the living, eternal and true God.

It was this deep consciousness of the holiness of God that compelled Luther into his, at least initially reluctant, role as Reformer. In our complex era it may almost seem simplistic, but to his mind the problem was clear: God is holy. Man is sinful. God must, and will, punish sin. Luther was sinful. Luther must be punished. This caused him fits.

Luther, and all Reformers that followed, focused on the question, How is a person justified? On what basis or grounds does God ever declare anyone just? As the Psalmist put it, "If you, LORD, should mark iniquities...who could stand?" (Psalm 130:3). The answer is obvious, because not one of us could possibly stand before God because none of us is righteous.

How does God come to accept a person? Must we first become inherently just before God will make such a declaration? Or does he declare us just/righteous before we are in ourselves actually just? God's justice demands that we be righteous, so how can we be?

Luther himself could not get past this point of God's justice.

If I could believe that God was not angry with me, I would stand on my head for joy.

One simple biblical truth changed that monks' life and ignited the whole Protest. It was the realization that God's righteousness could become the sinner's righteousness and that transaction could happen through the instrument of faith alone.

Martin Luther learned this truth from a verse which had previously stumbled over, Romans 1:17.

For in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

Luther had always seen "the righteousness of God" (or "the justice of God") as an attribute of the sovereign Lord by which He judged sinners, not as an attribute sinners could possess. He described the breakthrough, his "tower experience," and how his unrelenting study of the historical-grammatical context of that passage brought light to the dark ages:

I greatly longed to understand Paul's epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, "the justice of God," because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant. Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that of righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the "justice of God" had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.

Justification describes what God declares about the believer, not what He does to change the believer. In biblical terms, justification is a divine verdict of "not guilty, fully righteous" on someone who was actually guilty.

Luther's famous phrase was: "At the same time, just and sinner." Luther was not affirming a contradiction. The two assertions, just and sinner, refer to the same person at the same time, but not in the same relationship. The person considered in himself remains a sinner, yet at the same time by virtue of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, the person is considered just in the sight of God.

Obviously, if God were to declare a person just or righteous when that person possesses no righteousness whatsoever, then God would be implicated in the fraud. Rome is correct on insisting that the justified person must possess righteousness. The question is, How does the sinner acquire the necessary righteousness? This is the heart of the Reformation controversy.

Rome declared (and still declares) that faith is necessary for justification. Orthodox Catholicism calls faith the foundation and the root of justification. However, a person's works must be added to faith for justification to occur. Likewise, the righteousness of Christ is necessary for justification. This righteousness must be infused into the soul by going through certain ceremonies. The sinner must cooperate with and assent to this infused righteousness, so that real righteousness becomes inherent in the person before he can be justified.

Rome completely missed passages like Romans 3:21-26 that clearly explain that righteousness is not in us or worked out by us, it is earned for us. It is the legal application of Christ's righteousness to us by which we are declared just. This is no legal fiction because real righteousness is really imputed. There is nothing fictional about the righteousness of Christ. The justified are righteous, but it is someone else's righteousness.

What is missing from the Roman Catholic formula for justification by faith is the crucial word "alone." It is not an exaggeration to say that the eye of the Reformation tornado was this one little word (sola). The Reformers, and Luther in particular, insisted that justification is by grace alone, by faith alone, through Christ alone.

This is a subtle point to most of us. I imagine most of us would just let this slide.

It makes all the difference in the world whether the ground of my justification rests within me or is accomplished for me. Either Christ fulfilled the law for me and gained the merit necessary for my salvation completely, or I must add some. This is the ground not only of my justification, but also of my assurance of salvation. If I must wait until I cooperate with the righteousness of Christ infused within me, to the degree that I become inherently righteous, I can never really have assurance of salvation.

All of this is why the sola in sola fide is so necessary. Luther said,

I also know that in Romans 3, the word "solum" is not present in either Greek or Latin text — the papists did not have to teach me that — it is fact! The letters s-o-l-a are not there. And these knot-heads stare at them like cows at a new gate, while at the same time they do not recognize that it conveys the sense of the text — if the translation is to be clear and accurate, it belongs there. (Luther, An Open Letter on Translating)

For Luther, justification was the ultimate issue both for individual persons as well as for the corporate church:

This doctrine is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God;' and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour.

You can imagine that teaching justification by faith alone would have major consequences, especially since the Church had been teaching that people needed to give money, do penance, pay to see relics, etc., if they desired to cooperate with Christ to get the righteousness necessary for justification. Sin was good for business.

The Church's teaching was that after a person had received the grace of Christ at their baptism (making baptism itself an important thing), if they sinned after that, they could be restored to a state of grace (a state of justification) by following the steps of confessing sin to a priest, making an act of contrition, receiving priestly forgiveness, and then performing what were called "works of satisfaction."

It was these "works of satisfaction" that initiated much of the controversy in the sixteenth century. The works of satisfaction earned 'merit' - even though the church affirmed it was technically merit rooted in grace. One work of satisfaction a penitent person could perform was to give money to the church and purchase an "indulgence."

For example, in the 16th century Rome embarked on a huge building project involving St. Peter's Basilica. The pope made special indulgences available for purchase to those supported this work with their money. These particular indulgences were for people already in purgatory (working off their impurities) because they lacked sufficient merit to enter heaven. The pope was granted the authority (through apostolic succession) to draw on the "treasury of merit" and apply it to the needs of those in purgatory. This "treasury of merit" was in heaven and was filled by those who had already died whose merit was above and beyond the merit required to enter. So an indulgence could be purchased and the merit applied to the account of a departed loved one.

It was the selling of indulgences that provoked Luther's Ninety-Five Thesis, nailed to the Wittenberg church door, October 31, 1517.

One man in particular, Johann Tetzel, scandalized Luther by his crass method (unauthorized by Rome) of peddling indulgences. Tetzel marketed indulgences with the ditty, "Every time a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs." He gave peasants the impression that they could purchase salvation for departed friends and relatives simply by giving alms, with our without the spirit of penitence.

Luther, tongue in cheek, expressed remorse that his parents were still alive, preventing him from insuring their entrance into heaven by purchasing indulgences for them.

Luther caused quite an uproar. He began to attract attention. He found himself with some powerful enemies. Though he was gaining popularity among many lay people who were reading his German pamphlets, the Church's officials rightly saw his protest as a threat.

Newly elected Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V summoned Luther to Worms in 1521 where he was demanded to renounce or reaffirm his views. When he appeared before the assembly on 16 April, Johann Eck acted as spokesman for the Emperor. He presented Luther with a table filled with his own books. Eck asked Luther if the books were his and if he still believed what these works taught. Luther requested time to think about his answer.

On the next day, Eck countered that Luther had no right to teach contrary to the Church's tradition and interpretation, and asked again - would Luther reject his books or no? Luther replied:

Since your Majesty and your Lordships ask for a plain answer, I will give you one without horns or teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture or by right reason (for I trust neither in popes nor in councils, since they have often erred and contradicted themselves) - unless I am thus convinced, I am bound by the texts of the Bible, my conscience is captive to the Word of God, I neither can nor will recant anything, since it is neither right nor safe to act against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.

Before a decision was reached as to Luther's fate he disappeared on his return to Wittenberg. But this was orchestrated by Fredrick the Wise - who took him to the Wartburg Castle where he stayed for about a year while the immediate danger to his life died down.

Men love darkness. Not only does this lead to their eternal condemnation, it is part of it and makes it more condemnable. Men love their sin, they love doing wicked things so much that they will protect their loves at any cost, even their own lives.

But God so loved the world that He paid the highest cost to overcome wickedness, He loved so much that He sent His Son to give His life. He sent the light of life into the world in order to expose the darkness and rescue men from its domain. Men love the world for themselves, they love selfishly, to take and hoard and run away by themselves. God loves the world for Himself, to give and share and invite into His eternal fellowship.

This is the good news of John 3:16 and the paragraph it pilots. In it (3:16-21), the apostle John summarizes the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus (3:1-15). Last week we considered that God's mission was a saving one, not a judging one (3:17-18). The Son wasn't sent to condemn because men were already condemned before He arrived. Men are born in spiritual death, in spiritual darkness, and so they must be born again just as Jesus told Nicodemus.

This morning, in verses 19-21, we will finish this ambitious paragraph and we'll observe the revelation of light and the reactions to light.

Judgment, like eternal life, is not something that we wait for. Both are already at work.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19)

God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn, or judge the world (v.17) because the world was condemned already (v.18). How are they condemned? Is this judgment written somewhere and now we wait for the sentence to be carried out? In some ways, yes. But elements of judgment are already manifest.

This is the judgment, and then he declares the nature of that judgment. It isn't only eternal perishing later, judgment is love of darkness now.

John explains the revelation: the light came into the world. In his gospel, "light" is mostly personal, meaning that Jesus is the light. John the Baptist said he wasn't the light but came to bear witness about the light.

John the apostle learned that from Jesus Himself.

Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (John 12:46)

The light and the Logos are the same. At the same time, light refers not only to who but what Jesus provides: understanding of how things really are. Jesus came into the world and with Him He brought truth.

This judgment is that men loved darkness rather than the light. Darkness is a metaphor for the effect that sin and evil have: darkness keeps men from seeing reality. Reality is there, just as the furniture is still there though the lights are off, it just isn't seen. Sin keeps men in the dark, and God lets men stumble and fumble around as part of His judgment.

It isn't that men don't see it or know it was there. It isn't "light came into the world and men weren't aware of it." Men don't have an intellectual problem with the light, they have an affections problem. We're up against something far worse than a lack of information. We're up against hearts that love where they are.

This is why we do not believe that education saves. Education about the Savior, to those who love the Savior, makes a world of difference. But truth transfers bounce off hard heads because the head has been told to shield against truth, against light.

This is also why we believe that men deserve judgment even while we believe that God must cause them to be born again. Men always do what they most want to do. No man does evil against his will, against his wants. He sins because he loves it even when those loves lead him away from true life. The heart is desperately wicked.

John explains the love for darkness: because their works were evil. Men work full time at the office of God's Rebel's, Inc. They do what they want and what they want is their own will. That's evil. Because they do wrong, they love darkness, and God lets them have what they think they want.

There are two types of reactions when men are exposed to the light.

John makes it more personal in verse 20.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:20)

As he did in verses 8, 15, 16, and 18, he uses a substantival participle to characterize a man by his behavior: everyone who does wicked things. It's an interesting follow up to "works were evil" (πονηρὰ); here (φαῦλα), "accomplishing base, bad, worthless things." Both the offensiveness and the futility of his behavior outside the light stand out.

He is driven by his affections. He loves darkness and he hates the light and does not come to the light. The light makes him sick. It irritates him. He wants nothing to do with the light so he runs from it. He tries to stay under the cover of darkness. The thing he wants least is to be disturbed.

John reveals the reason for the reaction to the light: lest his works should be exposed. The word "exposed" could be translated: scrutinized, examined, brought to light. Deep down, he fears exposure. He doesn't want anyone all up in his bid'ness. He fears being seen for what he really is and the guilt and shame that inevitably follow.

A couple key things to remember about this. First, most light haters don't say that that is what they're doing. Of course, they may not realize it themselves. That's part of the problem with darkness; you can't see what you're doing. If they do realize it, isn't that the point of darkness, to cover all their sin, including their campaign against the light?

Second, not wanting one's works exposed doesn't always mean that the works are done in secret. Sure, this verse includes a possible public/private consideration. But there is a difference between not wanting other people to know what you've done and not wanting other people to judge what you've done. One defense against judgment is to hide. Do your wicked and worthless things only at home, only on the Internet, only in your mind. But another way to keep others from judging is to change the laws. This covering isn't about what place you do your sins, but about how you define sins. It's not a geographical defense, but an idealogical one. Just get people to believe that the darkness is light. Darkness is crafty; she doesn't limit herself to one approach.

When celebrities or politicians talk about Christians being narrow-minded or bigoted, they're trying to cover their sin while talking about their sin openly. Often, the more boldly and openly one speaks, the more fearful (or deceived or both) they are. Not coming to the light isn't not coming out of the closet. To the degree that a society is marked by the light, yes, some will hide at home. But war against the light happens just as much on sitcoms with laugh tracks about homosexuality. Violence against the light happens just as much in legislating a woman's right to murder her inside baby. Militant aggression against the light happens in primetime, in courtrooms, on the World-Wide-Web for all to see. Light haters don't realize the madness of sewing extra layers on their blankets; their blankets are see-through no matter how thick.

Before we move on, we really need to wrestle with the 500 pound gorilla in the paragraph. When we read verses 19-20, we think about celebrities and politicians. When John wrote it, he was thinking about religious people. He was thinking about Nicodemus. Nicodemus represents the whole group of those who saw Jesus doing signs in Jerusalem (2:23-25), those who expressed some sort of belief. Nicodemus was a real man, a man at the top of the religious ladder, with the "right" family, recognized for his Bible knowledge, in a position of spiritual authority in the community.

John is saying that those sorts of people hate the light. Jesus came to His own and His own didn't receive Him. People who know and talk about the Word can use the Word to cover their disobedience to the Word. The group who most fears exposure is the group who best knows the standards and who most covers their deeds to make themselves look better.

Thinking you deserve a better spot in the kingdom, as Nicodemus did, is more of an argument that you're in darkness than that you've been born again.

Here is the opposite reaction.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:21)

I remember being struck by this unexpected contrast. The "one doing wicked things" anticipates the "one doing good things," right? The one doing wrong contrasted with the one doing right. Instead, John writes about "the one doing what is true," "he who practices the truth" (NAS).

The truth-doer comes to the light unlike the evil-doer. I think it's also fair to fill out the contrast, saying that the truth-doer loves the light. There is nothing to fear about the light. In fact, the light is life. Jesus as the Light is life. Believers come to the light because in the light we have fellowship with God. Believers come to the light to understand how things really are, including their own works.

The purpose in verse 21 for coming to the light is so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. What isn't said is also true; they come to the light to have sin exposed. They do that because they understand that sin disrupts fellowship. They don't fear the surgeon's scalpel that cuts off the malignant lump. Even when it's painful, they understand that they are getting something far better than they could get in the darkness.

But the express statement regards good works and who gets the credit for those. This is another argument for why religious folks are the center of the target. Not only does light challenge unrighteousness, but also with selfrighteousness. Both separate us from fellowship with God.

No one can claim that his own goodness enables him to fellowship with God. Claiming that nullifies the cross and, as the paragraph argues, diminishes the power of God's love. His love is so loving that He doesn't depend on loveliness. His love creates loveliness in the most unlovely objects. His love is like no other, it runs the world.

He worked in us, not to overpower us and make us eternal bootlickers, but He worked in us according to love for sake of sharing His eternal joy in light. When we believe, we have fellowship with Him and we do truth. We make righteous choices and we acknowledge how those happened: God worked in us.

It's tricky, but humility doesn't require silence about the good things we do. In fact, silence can't be humble if it lets the praises stay on us. When another person sees your good works, don't bow your head and draw circles on the carpet with your big toe. Look them straight in the eye, receive the appreciation, and reroute the praise. Boasting isn't wrong, boasting in yourself is wrong. Not boasting in God is also wrong.

Those who do truth don't cover their sin or their sanctification. They acknowledge their wrong and they acknowledge God's work when He keeps them from wrong. That constant consciousness is fellowship.

Doesn't that get us back to where we started? If men love darkness and hate the light, how is it that any ever come to the light?

Man, no matter how religious he is, has a problem that he can't fix. God must cause him to be born again. When God does that, He grants repentance and faith. He transfers us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love and gives us an inheritance with all the saints in light. This is eternal life--Trinitarian fellowship--that shapes how we see everything. We see our sin for what it is, we see our good works for what they are, we see God's love at work in the world.

Both the evil-doer and the truth-doer know something is wrong and trust a savior. The truth-doer trusts Christ, the Light of the world. The evil-doer trusts darkness. Darkness is an impotent savior.

This whole "men love darkness" thing could be quite depressing. But the point of this story, the reason we read it, is because God causes men to be born again! That's the power of the Gospel! He causes the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ to shine in the hearts of men!

There is no black too dark for Him, no death too cold, no blindness too despairing. Men are depraved, they love darkness. That's okay; depravity is a powerful master, but not an omnipotent one. The light shines in darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it!

Go tell the gospel! Tell of God's love and Christ's cross and Spirit re-births. We aren't ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God to salvation for all who believe. Men can run from God, but their steps are too small to outrun the flood of His eternal love, a current that catches up to every one God planned to share His fellowship with.

How can we be so confident about this? Because God loves the world. How can we be so confident about that? Because God sent His only Son. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Are you tired of hiding? Tired of running? Tired of fear? Come to the light.

We live in an extraordinary place. Actually, it is quite ordinary, at least to the Creator, but our half-opened, unfocused eyes pay little attention to how ordinarily amazing this world really is.

The apostle John started casting his vision in the opening verses of John 1. In the beginning was the Logos, the Word, and the Word was with God, in fellowship with God, and the Word was God, of the same essence. Before time, before the cosmos, the Logos and the Theos shared life. Life was in Him, and He made all things, including those who would be able to share His own life, the overflow of eternal life.

Existence could have been a million other ways because, hypothetically, God could have been a different God than He is in a million other ways. The world is the way it is because God is the way He is. Start with Him or His creation and you'll learn more about the other; a spring inexorably produces a stream, a stream necessarily implies a source. Likewise, and most importantly, we are who we are because of who God is. God created men and women in His image, to reflect His own nature and essence. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:4). We can't look at another person and call them ordinary unless our understanding of ordinary includes an eternal comprehension of God.

Again, the world, and the men in the world, are what and who they are because of who God is. And we desperately need a junior higher here to make us ask, Why?

One purpose is revelation. God speaks and makes to show off Himself. Showing off on His part is okay because He isn't exaggerating even one less excellent attribute in order to get attention that He doesn't deserve. All of Him, each and every attribute of His carries glorious meaning; His attributes define reality: wisdom, power, righteousness, etc.

We examine the world to learn about God. The Mandelbrot set reveals a God of mathematical precision, faithfulness, and fun. The galaxies reveal a God beyond dimensions and who defines handiwork. The inspired Word reveals a God of holiness, a law of expectations for His creatures. We gather up as many knowledge nuggets as we can because God reveals Himself. We feel a duty not to lose any detail, to let no rock remain unturned, lest we fail to glorify Him by our ignorance.

Sin ruins our study. Sin keeps men ignorant. Sinful minds are darkened minds; they can't see or interpret accurately. Through Jesus, God grants repentance that leads to a knowledge of the truth.

But revelation of Himself is not the primary purpose of creation or the inspired Word or the incarnate Word. God's utmost concern was not the transfer of information. He is not at work writing an eternal story where He proves that He can fill His heavenly mantle with the Teacher of the Year awards. He isn't primarily proving that He can get all the dummies in the class to pass.

His goal is not less than overcoming sinful ignorance, but it also is not limited to that. He created for sake of revelation, but He also created for sake of relationship. He tells us about who He is, but He also shares Himself with us. He writes a story with certain facts so that we could have a certain fellowship. His goal is overcoming sinful separation in order to show His heart.

The incarnation and crucifixion of the Logos, the Son of God, reveal God's heart, and His heart, what drives Him, is His love. It is a love incomprehensible, our minds could not conceive. For those who would believe there is mercy that forgives our sin and makes us like His Son, all because we are loved forevermore. This is the glory of the cross--that we might have eternal life, knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ who He sent.

God glorifies Himself through revelation: showing off His excellent attributes AND through relationship: sharing His eternal joy.

As we considered last Lord's day, God is making an eternal society, a people who fellowship with Him and with each other with His own Trinitarian joy. He is not making a celestial class of theological grad students writing thesis papers. Forgiveness is about restoration of fellowship. That's why He promised that one day,

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:33–34)

Whatever will we do without teachers to fill our truth tubes? We'll be just fine, because God's heart is to save men for relationship.

John 3:16-21 exposes both the heart of God and the heart of men, in particular, we see God's love at work and men's love at work. God's love pulls men into fellowship in light and the love of men pushes them into the separation of darkness. The good news is that God sent His Son to do something about the perishing people. That was His plan from the beginning.

After the lighthouse of verse 16, the apostle repeats the point.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:17)

Who does John have in mind while writing this summary? Who does this verse answer? Men who question the heart of God.

The heart of God is a loving heart, a gracious heart, a saving heart. That's who He is. The world and who we are in it are made for Him to show His heart and share it with those who believe. This is the eternal commission from the Father to the Son.

God did...send His Son into the world...in order that the world may be saved through Him. This was the Son's mission, His purpose. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). He came to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). He came to die that others may live. He came to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18). He came that all those believing will have eternal life (John 3:15, 16).

John states the negative first, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world. Here is a place where the NAS may be better: "into the world to judge the world." The KJV and ESV view the end of the judgment, since "judge" may s the process of deciding rather than the verdict.

The point is that God sent His Son to save, not condemn. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us in order to take judgment rather than make judgment.

A couple things. Why would anyone think that Jesus came to judge/condemn the world? First, because those who are out of fellowship usually think everyone else is out to get them. Those who are in the dark, who love darkness, think the light is always attacking. John explains that the mission of the Light was to liberate those in darkness, damn them to darkness.

Why would anyone think that Jesus came to judge the world? Second, because Jesus Himself said so.

Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains." (John 9:39–41)

John does not contradict Jesus. He didn't forget what he wrote in chapter 3 by the time he got to chapter 9. The "judgment" in 9:39 is a saving purpose, isn't it? If those who think that they have life don't, isn't it loving to show them that they don't? That's exactly how John can follow up Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in 3:1-15, a conversation in which Jesus may appear to condemn Nicodemus, by saying that Jesus didn't come to condemn. Don't be satisfied with superficial answers. It is judgment to let people have what they think they want. It is saving to rescue them from their perishing.

God's eternal plan is to show and share Himself and that love is of one kind, not another. It's a love so amazing that it required conflict to overcome.

Consider Revelation 13:8 (see also 17:8).

and all who dwell on earth will worship [the beast], everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 13:8)

There is a "book of life," a book full of names of those who will share His eternal life by not worshipping wrongly. This book was published before the fact; the names were written "before the foundation of the world" when the Word was with God. Genesis 1:1 had not yet happened. Nothing was made yet, no sin committed yet. God's plan was to share His life with an eternal society, and He knows all the names on the roster.

But The Book of Life is the short title. The longer title is: The Book of Life of the Lamb Who Was Slain. According to John, He is the Son, the Logos, the Lamb; those are eternal realities. He is God, the revelation of God, and the redemption of God. John the Baptist cried out, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) He came to save. He came to forgive. He came to give eternal life, to share Triune fellowship with a new society.

God sent His Son to save because His heart is a loving, saving heart. The Lamb was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times (1 Peter 1:20), in the fulness of time (Galatians 4:4), because men were perishing. Jesus didn't come to condemn the world because the world was already condemned.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18)

No man is morally or spiritually neutral. After Adam, all men come out as sinners, they are born in deadness, born separated from God. "Many died through one man's trespass" (Romans 5:15), "one trespass led to condemnation for all men" (Romans 5:18). Therefore, if life is in Christ, then all those not in Him cannot have life.

Though the vocabulary keeps changing in chapter 3, the point is the same. No man can see the kingdom of God (3:3), no man can enter the kingdom (3:5), every man will perish eternally (3:16), and every man is condemned (3:18); these are all the same thing. It is all being separated from God, having no life.

Men come out condemned; they are condemned already or "judged already" (NAS). John clarifies this in verse 36.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)

The wrath "remains," it "abides" (NAS) meaning it is already there. The existing condition is condemnation.

It may seem confusing in verse 18, but men are not neutral and then when they hear about Jesus they receive or reject, and based on that are condemned. Men are under condemnation whether or not they hear about Jesus or not.

Only believers are not condemned. Believers live and share God's life. That's why John says, "condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." Without the remedy applied there can be no healing. That doesn't mean that rejecting the remedy caused the disease. Because I don't receive the heart transplant doesn't change that I needed a new heart in the first place. Believing is the only way to life.

We'll see more from the heart of man in verses 19-21 next week. Men love darkness and hat the light. God's heart is to save.

I've really been wrestling with why this is so valuable, why not just make this point--that most of us know--and keep moving?

As a great commission resource, John writes that we might believe; "these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). Because we can tell others that God's heart is to save, and we can either be faithful or misrepresent it.

We misrepresent His heart of love if we leave others comfortable in their unbelief. Salvation isn't a better life than you have, salvation is life. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Without Him you will not see life and the wrath of God remains on you.

As real as His love is, that's how real His wrath is. As real as the fellowship of joy is, that's how real the misery of separation is. Because He's in charge of both. He is telling the story. His story involves conflict and war and blood. The threats are real. The condemnation is real.

He is life, light, and love. His story includes death, darkness, and hate in order to show off who He is. He reconciles rebels. He forgives lawbreakers. He saves perishing. He heals sick. There is no victory without conflict, no love without crucifixion. Peace comes at a cost.

We should not get comfortable AND we should not get impatient. God's eternal plan is to create an eternal society. That means that our failure to reconcile with each other is unacceptable AND God is no less control over the darkness and division among us. You cannot make someone else "get it" anymore than you caused yourself to be born again. Some claim to see and those Jesus judges so that they become blind. If they don't acknowledge their guilt, they remain blind in guilt.

We will continue in this battle until the serpent's destruction is finished. We cannot fix the broken fellowship faster than God. But we can believe. We can come to the light. We can proclaim the eternal mission of God to save believers to share His life. We can rejoice because we are not condemned.

We've been studying John 3:16 for a few weeks now. We've considered that the apostle John wrote it rather than that Jesus spoke it to Nicodemus. John uses vocabulary (such as "only-begotten") that we don't ever read that Jesus used. Verse 16 also speaks about the cross in the past tense, whereas verse 14 spoke about it as a future event. We've considered that the word "world" could refer to any number of more specific parts of the world. Here it seems to refer generically to all types of sinful men.

We've considered, most of all, that the world runs on God's love. The world doesn't run primarily on God's power or His righteousness. Our God is love and what He does and how He relates to His creation cannot be separated from His love. If it were possible for us to stop the sunrise then we could wonder about the steadfastness of His love.

As exciting as this is, as good as the news in John 3:16 sounds, not everyone receives it. There are too many specifics to let love be sentimental and mushy, let alone atheistic of pluralistic. Though I don't believe Jesus spoke it, it is a red letter verse, a verse covered in His blood because our sin required a sacrifice. The Father sent His Son to make our payment. No greater cost could be paid.

Likewise, no greater blessing could be secured. Those who believe are part of an eternal society. We usually define society as a group of people living together in a somewhat ordered community, or society is a formal association of people with similar interests, and that's part of it. All believers will be together with each other, they all will not perish but have eternal life. We are the society of the non-perishing, we hold that in common.

But society means more than the group, it can also refer to the fellowship shared. We might say, "He avoided the society of others" or "He enjoyed the society of his friends." Society is voluntary interrelations between individuals. Society is the state of being with people, having company with them. This is the key to the verse and the point for this morning: all believers share fellowship with God. That fellowship, that society with God is life. Without that fellowship we are perishing.

God loved the world with the result that He gave His Son; He gave His Son for the purpose of sharing eternal life. God establishes this society, this relationship.

Why is the goal of the good news inextricably related to fellowship? Because our God is one way, not another. He is an eternal society, in other words, the three Persons of the Trinity have enjoyed eternal fellowship.

Here is why life without fellowship isn't a lower quality life, it isn't life: because "in Him was life" (John 1:4), and life in Him involves relationship. God created men in His image and, of course, that's why God said it wasn't good for man to be alone. Two are better than one because of Who we worship.

This fellowship stands on love. Our relationship with God isn't based on power only or righteousness only. He doesn't flex His muscles and push us to the dirt in a slavish surrender. He doesn't trumpet His rules in such a way that He creates standard bearers (little lawyers running around). He loves. He invites us into fellowship with Him. We are image bearers.

God did not created the world because He lacked something. He wasn't missing something that would complete Him, not even worship. As C.S. Lewis said somewhere, God is not like an old woman desperate for attention and praise. He created out of an overflow. His fellowship spilled over eternal edges into men.

What did Adam and Eve lose when they disobeyed? Life. They died. Stated another way, they lost fellowship with God and with each other. They kept breathing. They lost no mental consciousness. In fact, they didn't forget any theology; they still knew who created them. When they sinned, the relationship was broken, disrupted, separated.

They needed reconciliation. They needed fellowship restored. In order to restore the relationship, a sacrifice was required. That's why God gave His Son.

Sermon side note #1: our corporate worship is corporate (horizontal closeness) fellowship with God (vertical intimacy). That's why we can be confident that God is pleased when we worship because He loves the fellowship. That's why external ritualism, even when performed in obedience to His instructions, is worthless to Him. The instructions explain how to have life, how to be with Him in light of who He is.

Sermon side note #2: this is what makes distant husbands and fathers, distant authorities, distant disciple-makers, and distant pastors so deplorable. It's ungodly. Our society, our fellowship, is distinguished by relationship, and the relationship runs on love.

The founder of this eternal society is God, the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

According to verse 16, not everyone has eternal life. Some are perishing. So who can have fellowship with God?

"Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." "Whoever believes" is an acceptable translation, but certainly not the most accurate. There is a perfectly good Greek word for "whoever" (τὶς) that makes an indefinite, indiscriminate point, "anyone," "whosoever" (KJV). That word is not used in verse 16.

Instead we see: "every believing one." It is a substantival participle. Here's how it works. In Greek, if you want to characterize a person by a certain behavior, you take a verb, turn it into a participle, and add an article to make the whole thing into a noun. For example, in verse 16, "believe" is the action. The present tense participle emphasizes that it keeps on happening (not necessarily the when of the action but the type of action, so nonstop believing). John adds the article to make it "the one who keeps on believing" then attaches the adjective "all" or "every" to give it an axiom feel: "every believing one."

Those who have fellowship with God are believers. Those who have eternal life are characterized by ongoing believing in Christ.

As far as I can tell, the "whosoever/whoever" goes back to the KJV (perhaps even to the Geneva Study Bible) translation team. But the emphasis in John 3:16 is not on whosoever, but on believing.

Madness is understandable here, but our madness chips often get played on the wrong number. Most people seem to be maddened if we place any sort of limitation on the whosoever. The democratic spirit in us wants each man to have his own blame (not God) for his failure to believe. So we say "whoever believes" must mean that everyone is able to believe.

But who believes? Who is able to believe? Those who have been born again.

Remember the context. John 3:16 commences John's comments on the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus in 3:1-15. Jesus repeatedly tells Nicodemus that he needed something to happen to him that he couldn't control. He needed to be born again, born of the Spirit, the Spirit who blows wherever He wills.

The challenge of "whosoever" in 3:16 is the "everyone" in 3:8. In fact, it is the same substantival participle construction.

every having been born of the Spirit one (v.8)

So "whoever believes in him" is the whoever is born by Him. The Spirit births men to life, that life breathes with belief in the Son. Men are to blame for their perishing, but culpability doesn't equal capability.

That said, we should have no problem whatsoever in telling people that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life, will be part of the eternal society. There are no external limitations. God loves the world, not just one nation (such as Israel) or one type of extra religious person (such as the Pharisees) or one gender or one age or any other restriction. Not only do those externals not merit God's love, they are no guarantee of life, as Nicodemus illustrates.

The believing ones, whatever their background, have eternal life. And shouldn't that make us more mad that all it takes to have fellowship with God is belief?

Speaking of which, that's why seeing the miracles (2:23-25) and believing isn't enough. Seeing, appreciating miracles, as well as knowledge of Scripture or religious heritage doesn't deliver anyone from perishing, because there is no fellowship.

Those believing won't perish but have eternal life. We can go back to ask, what did Adam and Eve lose when they sinned? What was their greatest need?

The benefit of the society is society, the privileges of the association is association, fellowship with God. That's life.

We have too small an understanding of why others need the gospel.

Consider Jesus' prayer in John 17.

"Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:1–3, ESV)

Eternal life is not endless accumulation and affirmation of certain propositions, it is sharing God's life. Eternal life has something to do with time; it is never-ending, yes, ever-enduring. The part that makes life eternal is that it is God's own life. We know Him and share who He is.

Perishing is the opposite, the alternative, of having eternal life. The perishing isn't temporary. Both perishing and living are everlasting. But eternal life is sharing life in God. These are the only two options, just as receiving the Son or rejecting Him.

Christ keeps some men from perishing by perishing for them. Death couldn't be avoided, but there could be a substitute.

God loved the world that shared His own life, by sending His Son to die. The Son was lifted up by the power of love.

Our fellowship is in life in love. The cause of our hope, the driving force behind our salvation is God's love.

The Gospel of John is an evangelism resource. Why put forward the promise of eternal life for all those who believe when they can't believe? Because the Spirit loves to use the good news of God's love to cause men to be born again! Making disciples is God's goal to share Himself, eternal life, the relational joy of the Trinity with men and women from every nation. How we disciple must be personal if we're to reflect the Trinity that commissioned discipleship. God is building a community of disciples that reflect the Trinity that will one day enjoy the full glory of the Trinity.

Our deepening fellowship, our growing unity along the way, makes a point to the world.

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:20–23)

As we finish, I thought I would suggest how we can view John 3:16 in light of the worldview wheel we considered last week. John 3:16 affects our:

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

I am going to attempt to do something today that really sticks in my craw. Coming from the background that we come from, fundamental Bible-believing churches that know their doctrine. For those of you that have known me over the past, we've been up here, I guess, eight years now for six years. Some of you have set in a Sunday school class where I was teaching you line by line through the theology notes from the master's seminary where every verse we would look up and discuss and go through. And that's been my normal style. I've come across a whole series done by Doug Wilson on what your world view should be. And it's like changed my life.

As Sean has told you and Jim and myself, and we've talked about in the min to min meetings, the big thing is that we all need to be learning, and we all need to be expanding what we know. And the idea of just learning a bunch of stuff and having our little truth tubes, as Sean has said, get filled. And then when everybody asks us a question, we just pluck out the answer and gives them the answer and think that that fixes everything. is just not Christian. It is not what being the salt and the light in the world is all about. And that's why I had Sean read Mark 1228 through 31 to start this off. And I want to read that again and then kind of introduce something.

And then I'm going to put the one slide up that I have for today. And then we're going to talk about it. Mark 1228 through 31. And this is in the NASB. And I make you all crazy. Sean reads from the ESV. Sometimes you guys go out to NIVs and everything. Remember, they're all just translations. And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing and recognizing that he had answered them well, asked him, what commandment is the foremost of all? Jesus answered, the foremost is, here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind, and with all your strength.

The second is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. The first thing that's pointed out, when I listen to this, is that notice we have to live in community. We cannot live in a cave somewhere and love the Lord our God or be like the monks that built the towers and they set on the little pinnacle, you know, their whole lives and they lower down ropes and get food sent up to them and they set up on their little pillar and worship God. It says, the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That presupposes you have a neighbor, which always brings up the question in our fundamentalist minds, well, who's my neighbor?

Is that pagan next door my neighbor? Everybody's your neighbor. Whoever you are coming in contact with is your neighbor and we're commanded to bring them the gospel. We should live that out in front of them and for them. That's just, that is a big task. And to do that, we have to be Christ-like, because a lot of times they're not going to behave that way. And a lot of times you don't feel like that either, because your pride, as Jonathan was saying, gets in your way. What do I need to mess with him for? He's being a jerk. But with we can be what we should be, who knows? We may be that agent that keeps that person from help.

All right, Jesse pushed the button. This is our big diagram today. That's it. Now, the whole idea here is, what is your worldview? Now, when I was asked this question, I've had this debate over and over ever since I got, say back in 84, all right? I got turned on to Francis Schaeffer, had the video tapes, all that kind of stuff. And what you see and what you learn in our normal, fundamental, tradition, Bible-oriented things is I have a bunch of Bible facts. You asked me what my worldview is on abortion. I can tell you, well, that's murder, and I'm against that. And whatever question you want to bring up. But the problem is that if I just have these facts, and I don't live out my life the right way, and we don't have the right symbols, and we don't have the right story, and the lordship of Christ is not all encompassing, and the whole thing rotating on the inside thing, the axle of grace, it all falls apart.

Any one of these ingredients when you present factoids to people that's lacking causes your whole argument to crumble because people can pick at you. Well, you do this, you do that, nah, nah, nah. The whole thing is that the whole package needs to be had before you can present to people. And you need to show them your life, which is why our life to life is the big issue in our church and our community. That's the thing. How do we rub off on each other? And by that, we strengthen each other and carry on in community. Now, worldview is kind of a buzz term that came around. Immanuel Kant was the first philosopher in the 1700s to use it.

It then kind of died, you know, well, lots of philosophers talk about worldview.

But then later on in the late 1800s, Kuiper, Abraham Kuiper, who we've talked about, the guy that wrote all the books on worship and then bringing his Calvinistic view to a whole world and how he lived every section of his life that way and how we want to see every part of our worship service as pieces of the puzzle to be demonstrated and then also a guy named James Orr who was part of the fundamentalists that wrote some of the five points of fundamentalism that you guys have heard me go through that would mark you as a a Christian. They have all talked about worldview and really the one that I see that really has it closest to right would be Kuyper because he saw it everywhere. Your worldview has to be lived out on your job, it has to be lived out when you're disciplining your children, when you're loving your husband, when you're out in the forest just enjoying God's creation. You have to see the whole package or you're just seeing one of the spokes on the wheel. And the spokes aren't bad. All these parts need to be had, but you need to see

them as complementing each other. If you don't do that, your wheel is broken. All right? Most Christians are disjointed. Most of us are operating, oh, I need to show grace to Sally. And so I go over and sit down and have coffee with her and help her through her problems. But over here, I have to go over with Bob, and I got to tell Bob this this important doctrine that Bob doesn't get it right, I'm gonna slam him upside the head. Well, the thing is, if I don't give grace to Bob as I explain that doctrine and understand that he doesn't understand what I'm even talking about if the spirit of God's not in him, I am, might be the only Christ that he sees, all right?

So I have to live that out for him. So the whole grace thing that God is the one empowering you to do this, and you are walking in the spirit, right? That that is the way that you can communicate those things to people when you're talking about this kind of thing. Men are inveterate idolaters. Basically, we're always finding something to idolize. The latest thing you learned, the latest thing you saw, something you're really good at, all those kind of things. and it causes you to get in a certain rut, and you shouldn't be in that rut. You should always be thinking outside your box. What is God trying to teach me by this that I don't like?

Why do I have to do this? Why am I being exposed to this thing? And all of those things come to you and are brought to you by the grace of God so that you can spin your worldview wheel in a biblical fashion. Now, when I said biblical fashion, oh, that rings our bell, we like that as fundamentalists that have all our little ticks off. But notice that a lot of this, yes, it's informed by the Bible, but a lot of it is lived out. Your lifestyle, see the second little bottom spoke there, your lifestyle speaks to your doctrine. What do you believe is the way you live? Your symbols or your liturgy or your rituals that you do, praying before a meal, things like that.

That's another little spoke in the wheel. Your story. The interesting one as you think about the narrative part of this is fascinating. Do you realize that Jesus, when he came all through the Gospels, what is he telling people all the time? Stories, parables, you know, there was this guy that did this and then he comes back and then the workers wanna kill him and they're doing all this stuff. And he gives these examples to the people And all of a sudden the Pharisees see, oh my goodness, he's talking about us. And they get mad at him. The narrative is the thing that he's telling. And what is the Bible? It is a story of how we got here.

And as you read that story, it's, again, how many of us have read through our Bibles and go, why does that guy not get it? He just keeps doing the same stupid thing. And what did this guy do that for? Doesn't he understand that that person was a prophet of God and all of that? And then we merrily go off to work and do the same thing. It's the same old story all the time. Without God's wisdom, we can't even begin to get it right, which again goes back to the axle of grace. All right? And the other thing to remember in the whole idea is that worldview is doing. It's not just thinking. It's not having your thoughts arranged right or you'll be able to look and sit in your nun's habit in your monastery and go, oh, that's so horrible out there.

It's out doing things in the world, making it happen. All the way down to a small example would be the ladies that went over to the swap meet and put out the things about adoption. That whole thing touched those people in a crazy way. You're going to hear about that. It's next Sunday night, right, Jim? And it's interesting how just a small little thing like that to go and have the little booth with the coffee and all that stuff. What it meant to those people and what a statement it was just by their lifestyle in that environment.

The wheel is also moved by little effort. This is something we always get confused. It's kind of like you listen to the Keswick kind of stuff where let go and let God. It's kind of in there. That's not true biblical living it out. But it is, God is the one that supplies the power that rotates the wheel. His axle of grace is the thing that the whole thing is spinning on. And he does it in his time and in his way. And what we need to do is conform our wants to his wants, get in his will. And when that happens, and those of us that are believers have experienced that, You know when you're clicking on all cylinders and God has arranged the thing and it rolls perfectly and you go, wow, that was amazing.

How did that happen? The classic one, you're reading something in your daily Bible study time, and then two weeks later a guy comes and asks you a question, and it's the perfect fit to put it together to answer his question. And that's why it's continually that we live it out and it's always happening like that. So the whole thing is run by God's grace. That's the actual part of the wheel. And in that, it says in Galatians that I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desires against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things you please.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, and factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I'm not gonna read the good part of the verse yet, or that section of scripture, think about it. Do we do any of those things? Yes, even as Christians, you fall back and do those things. Now, if you're doing those things as a habit of life, you may not be a Christian, but if you're doing those things and you feel guilty and you need to adjust your axle of grace, you should do that.

So it's a process.

And don't get with the crazy thing that the spirit and the flesh and the flesh is just my body and these things this fleshy stuff wants. It's your mind that's the battle is going on for. And then it follows up, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit let us also walk by the Spirit. One thing in there that I want to jump on and we've heard Shawn talk about it waving our joy flag is joy. We should have a good time doing this. This should be a great pleasure. We should be, if we're doing the creators of the universe's will in whatever we're doing, you should be just on top of the world. It should be so satisfying, so innately just completing you that you are doing what God wants you to do at that time. That should be an incredible feeling. And when you have that, that's very hard to put down by anybody. People will be mad at

How can you be happy in this situation? We had friends of ours that their son died by falling off a cliff in Hawaii, a young man. And they had a funeral, and this guy was a big deal down in LA, and lots of people came. We had other acquaintances that worked with him. They came to the funeral. They were not believers. They were so upset that this family was glad that their son was with God, that they couldn't get by it. It opened up incredible times for Morgan and Gail to talk to this lady and her family and the daughter of this lady about our faith that these people could be glad in such a, you know, supernatural way that their son had died, you know, at a young age like that falling off a cliff.

That's only God's power. But the joy of that can cause you to overcome anything. All right? There's an interesting quote that Sean showed me in Chesterton's book. And the bottom line is that pride is the downward drag of all things into an easy solemnity. Now, that's a tricky sentence. But the idea is, if I don't really have the joy of the Lord, I can sit around and tell you how serious everything is and lecture you about this point of doctrine and that point of doctrine and pound you over the head making you feel guilty and all I'm doing really is pridefully giving you a bunch of facts and beating you over the head with it.

The joy is if I live those out in front of you and you see that and then you want to get on the ride with us, okay? That's the thing of the community. We all want to be in it together, all serving the Lord all together as our wheel rolls down the road. So the bottom line here in this section is that the axle of grace, the center part, is absolutely necessary. Now remember I told you every other part is also necessary.

But the axle of grace is maybe even more important because without your knowing God and having God's Spirit running the show, you're not going to be able to recreate the rest of these things either. The next one is catechesis, an interesting word put in there by our Presbyterian friend, but really what it is is propositions or doctrine, hence the title of our message, propositional hypocrisy. I would say I fell into that category probably the first five years I was saved. I fell into the category that Wilson says that if people are exposed to Calvinist and maybe they ought to be locked up in a room alone for a couple years so they calm down and then let them out and speak to the rest of the world.

They might want to be people over the head with certain things. I probably fell victim to that. Not probably I did. And the thing is, that taught me. And as I got saved, I wanted to know more about God. I was all upset that I had these different translations. So I immediately started going to seminary and taking language classes and all this kind of stuff. And I immediately got into the mode, any question just needs the answer. I get the answer in the Bible. If I got the answer, that's what the people need. Well, yeah, they need the answer, but they also need to see you live it out and see our community live it out.

If we sit around as a church and say, we believe this, this, this, and this, and we don't do it, that's big time hypocrisy. And sometimes it's really convicting to think about all the propositions that you will absolutely swear to and how do you then react in the world when it's coming full face on you. All of us suffer from this. That's why I use the title to the message. The real subject of the message though is how do we all get on the happy train here and ride our worldview wheel together and in a biblical fashion. which is maybe different than a lot of us were raised. So the next thing is the propositions and the doctrine are incredibly important, all right?

That, and that's why I had Sean read Romans 10, eight, and nine, the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart the man believes resulting in righteousness. Look at that, resulting in righteousness. And with the mouth, he confesses, resulting in salvation. So if we confess, our lifestyle should be that. Just propositional affirmation, in other words, I believe that Jesus Christ is born of a virgin, those kind of things, giving all the lists, making sure that my testimony's right, I got all the little boxes checked off, therefore I am a Christian, is actually the devil's religion.

because James 2.19 says, you believe that God is one, you do well, the demons also believe in shudder. Remember that those supernatural beings probably no more than theology than all of us. They understand who God is, but what happens with them? They don't serve them, but they got all that information in their head. By knowing who God is, it should convict us and continually grow us, which is another one of the things that we've, you know, we continually beat here. If we're not growing, you're not growing. There's no arrival point until we get to go to heaven. That's when the final bell rings, and that's when we go, wow, it was even bigger than we thought at that point.

So all of us are in this process together where we've maybe known the Lord for 30 years, or maybe our old lives, all that kind of stuff. Doesn't matter, we're all in it and we should all be growing, all right? The interesting thing too in the propositional thing, remember Sean's whole thing is the logos came, words are what God communicates to us. He doesn't give us dreams and visions, unless you're a prophet in this day, and we in our camp don't believe they're around. But he gave us a book, he gave us words, he gave us these propositions. That's how he communicates who he is to us.

Yes, there's natural revelation that we see all of that, but we can't put natural revelation in its proper place until we know his written revelation to us. So it's all word-centric. Words are what God gives us. So we need to confess. Just thinking about confession. If we don't say the same thing to God when we confess our sin, if we don't recognize it as such, oh, I lied to my wife about, I didn't go to the store. Well, I'll do it at 4 o'clock instead of at 2 o'clock, but she called me at 3 did I go to the store. So, well, yeah, I went to the store. But then she says, oh, you know, well, when you were there, didn't you see Mary? Or, you know, she was there.

And then you realize, oh my goodness, now I'm getting deeper and deeper and deeper. So the idea is if you don't confess your lie totally and say, I wasn't at the store, I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that, okay? Well, I know why you said it. You said it because Jonathan already hit the nail on the head, it was a very good choice, Jonathan, and your pride choice there. I don't know where you're sitting, but anyway, that was really good. It drives most of the sins that we do. And so, you need to say the same thing to God. And it's not, you know, oh well, I kinda did it. You and we all know how this works. And I think one of the great things in your life of people that have families and kids is at those points when you have to look at your three or four year old and ask that person's forgiveness for what you did to them and confess to them how you sinned against them.

That's a huge step in parenting, I think. Let's see. The other interesting thing in the propositional part of it is there's one way to get it right, okay? Jesus is God. Jesus is Lord. Well, he's the son of God and all these fudge factors. No, there's only one way to get it right. He is God. He is one of the triune pieces of God. All right? And there's countless ways to get it wrong. And that's where the wordsmiths and all the heretics go. They find little wrinkles and try to confuse you in that way. The interesting thing is that the propositional things in our liturgy and what we're trying to do, our repeating is to reinforce those propositional things.

And that's where we have creeds or statements of faith that we bring. It's interesting that in this series I listen to, it's by a Presbyterian guy, and he wants us to repeat creeds. And he takes a little stab at us fundamentalist types. He says, well, they have their kind of crude creeds where they make a propositional statement and then line up the Bible verses that prove it. Well, that's interesting. I like that. I like to say this is where we got the truth. But I am coming more and more around that I could say certain creeds, provided they were worded right. One of his favorites is the Nicene Creed. I like it all right, but I want to say the old one.

I don't want to say the one where Jesus is in hell, all right? The original version doesn't talk about that part. But the thing is, the point is, he's saying, in community, we are saying the same thing. And by saying that, we become tighter wound into our community, and we believe it as the community. It's not what I believe and what I think. It's what we think as Christians. That's a good thing. The abuse of this particular wheel would be rationalism, which is the things I was telling you about. Ask me a question, I give you the answer, we've settled it. That would be an abuse of that particular wheel. The next wheel, or the next spoke there is lifestyle.

And this one I subtitled, How Should We Then Live? For those of you that are around in the 70s and 80s, that's Francis Schaeffer's book. And it's really an interesting book because he gets into the whole, There was a whole video series, he gets into the critique of when art went bad in the Roman Empire, and he shows different statues as it degrades down through that, and it talks about the whole idea of everything in the world. Why a screwdriver is designed that way. Why I need to turn the screw left or right. All those things get back to our world view, and should be Christo-centric, okay? Most, all the things like Heinz Licklama when he talked last week over at Chuck's house about creation, that's a subset of this.

What is our world view of that particular subject? But the whole world view of it is God made everything. Next, you know? And the problem is that we've come across things where people in the narrative category, the evolutionists have just sold their narrative over and over and over. Every book you turn over is the little diagram of the monkey and then the bent over guy. And then it gets to erect Homo sapien in the 20th century. We've all seen those little things. And Heinz pointed that out. The idea is the narrative is beat on us over and over and over. There's no fact there. They're just selling a story. We have a story that tells the whole thing.

Who created the monkey? Who made this? Who made that? And for those of you that watched Expelled the movie where at the end Ben, I forget his name now, Ben Stein is sitting with Richard Dawkins. And he gets him right to the point where he asked Dawkins, he says, well then, where is that first speck of life? How did it come into being? Reducing him back, right? Somebody has to create the first speck of life. Dawkins in the movie goes, well, it could have been aliens. So he wins the argument for our Earth, but then the next question is, who made the alien, Richard? We have the complete story of how it came out. So anyway, that whole situation of the narrative and all of it, notice how it all keeps fitting together as it rolls around.

Lifestyle, though, is we need to prove ourselves doers of the word, James 1.22. right, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. If we're not doing it and we're just hearers, we're deluding ourselves. We are convincing ourselves that something is going on that's not. If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he's immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man should be blessed in what he does.

For those of us that are believers, we have been on that path. We know that that happens. When you're full swing, walking in the spirit, all the spokes are rolling, the axle of grace is working, it just, it flows. It's crazy, but it is, and it's a supernatural life that we live.

Another interesting quote that I learned out of this is, Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. So by us saying we want to build a tradition, we want the living faith of those people that came before us giving us the tradition. But if we were traditionalists, we have a dead faith that is living. Those of you that have been to churches that have incredible high liturgy, they're doing all kinds of things that there's biblical reasons for, but most of the people in the thing have no idea what's going on. We want you to know why we're doing things.

That's why we keep describing these things. That's why we have communion every week. That's why it's here in the center, the pulpit's in the center. We talked about baptism last time, got up here with some of those traditions. Those things are all done for a reason. And people, we've gone on so long that we don't even know why they're being done. We've lost the story. We've lost the story of the symbols and the liturgy and the tradition that we have. Doctrines were given an order that we might live. Doctrines without doing it is nothing. It's a collection of facts in your head. One of the great doctrines is Christ is Lord over all.

Notice the outside of the wheel or the tire is the lordship of Christ. He's Lord of everything, everything. Sin gets into everything. Another truth, sin is out there and we have to keep rooting and thinking biblically to keep filtering our viewpoint of things. And we fall victim to it all the time and we don't even know it, all right? I have decided what's right. It is not Christian. When I say I have decided this is right, That isn't Christian. That's Unitarian Muslim thinking. That's not triune thinking. I did it. No, you didn't. You did it in community with the triune God who revealed it to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all those things.

Sean's talked about the Spirit blowing, Christ as a witness, the Father sent him, all those things. We lose sight of it. As soon as you start subdividing down in little categories and start pounding the pulpit at that point you're probably off base. Envy is another interesting problem. This person has told me this, this, and this, and I envy them for that. That's not a good thing. But then I have it all wired and look at me as I look at you with a sideways glance. That's the same sin turned back on that other person. So you really have to be careful in all these things. Quirrellsome people can find handles to grab.

And these kind of discussions, lifestyle, we can always find something. Oh, you did that, and you should be doing that, and you should be homeschooling, or you should send your kid over here, or you should be doing that. Oh yeah, that's interesting, isn't it? So our lives should have a cruciform shape. We need to remember how we got this life that's the true life through the crucifixion of Christ. He died for our sins. And we need to stay in that humble attitude for him. The abuse of this particular spoke would be just plain moralism. The liberal churches, let's go feed the hungry, and all that kind of stuff. And of course, their moralism then gets into, well, I don't really care about your lifestyle.

We'll help you about that so they lose sight of the other catechesis and all the rest of it. The next one here is that was lifestyle. and then you notice how they all overlap and touch on each other, that the ritual symbol liturgy is actually our faith enacted. We are enacting our faith by what we're doing here together today, all right?

Hebrews 8, 1 and 2 says, now the main point in what has been said is this, we have such a high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man. We are worshipping God communally when we come into here. The whole architecture discussion about the pulpits here because we believe that the word of God is central, not the altar is in some churches communion every week. It's interesting, some of us have come out of churches where communion is had every month, and the whole idea of what we should be doing together and remembering what Christ did for us.

There's a table put aside and sometimes they have to go find it for the time they're going to do communion. We see it that we should be doing it every week we get together. An interesting kind of funny quote was, a shrewd Baptist minister said, we don't believe in tradition or liturgy. It is contrary to our historic position. Notice how quickly it can creep up on you. We do it this way because we always have. Let's think about why we're doing that. And we continually should examine why we do certain things. Another great quote is, St. Francis told his people to go out and present the gospel to everyone you meet and use words if necessary.

A lot of us could take that. And then another interesting point in this ritual symbol liturgy kind of thing, is that in high liturgy churches, the show can go on for years, and the people don't even know it's gone apostate. Because the rigmarole and stuff keep going, and it looks like it always has. And it was founded in the right way, so it looks like it's fine. Even though the pastor may be a homosexual or whatever, The whole structure looks great. In low-liturgy churches, as soon as the spirit departs and you're not speaking from a true spirit-led thing and you're not living your life, it crumbles immediately.

You don't have all that structure. Now, am I now saying that we should throw out all the liturgy and get rid of that? No, because the liturgy also informs even the young people in our audience. Because we do certain things a certain way every week, it causes the young people to watch and examine, why is mommy and daddy doing that? Calvin said one time, he said, someday that man's gonna let me have communion, because I believe in Jesus. Now that's pretty convicting. When the kid looks at you and says, someday they're gonna let me have that, well who are we to withhold that? Which goes down another old rabbit trail that we're not gonna do right now.

But think about that. I mean, that's pretty incredible. We should be encouraging their faith. And we're not even in the camp of those pedo-baptists, but we need to raise up our children in the fear of the Lord. We want them to be in that camp. They are in our family. They are in the household of God. All right? Let's see. Pagans customs. We can get all the way to that. I need to kind of close it up here. I'm doing all right. Another interesting quote that Bunyan said, said better for your heart, the same bunny in the book, Pilgrim's Progress, said better for your heart to be without words than your words to be without heart. That's really a good one. You need to really feel, relate, communicate, don't just bark orders or, you know, whatever. The abuse of this spoke would be ritualism where you're just doing stuff that you don't even know why you're doing it.

The last one that we haven't really talked about, that we can talk about fairly quickly, is narrative. How we got here, the story of how we got here. It's in the Bible, the Bible is nothing but narrative. It tells us the stories of all these people. And the interesting thing that I never really had thought about is Christ continually taught in the narrative. You know, parables, walking in the street, all that kind of thing. Deuteronomy 6 for those of us that use that as our life first to home school in the path, on the, you know, in the way, on the road, all of that stuff. Always. But that's for all of us to do.

And we all need to do it in community. The Mark 1212 is the quote that I have here for the narrative. And they were seeking to seize him and yet they feared the multitude for they understood that he spoke the parable against them. And so they left him and went away. This is when Jesus just cooked the Pharisees for being the people that punished the landowner and they knew that he was talking about him The other interesting thing is that the seed in all of these things is the word Again back to the logos cries Christ used stories. All right, the greatest dangers come from Guardians of the truth truth. The seminaries that go south, the people that write the books, the great thinkers, a lot of times the greatest danger can come from that person. You always need to filter what you're reading. Always think of it through the biblical glasses, so to speak. Chuck's dad has a funny thing that he says, he doesn't even want to read people till they're dead.

And the reason is that way he knows if they were faithful to the end. And there's been a lot of guys that go south, you know, in their life before they die. So that's an interesting quote. I don't think that's totally necessary, but it's an interesting observation. We have detached ourselves from the narrative in our camp most of the times. Theological wonks have taken the place of the narrative. Instead of me telling you a story, let me give you the Bible verse and the doctrine and tell you why I believe that doctrine. Now I should, and I've been convicted, that I need to return to my theological points, not give them up.

Remember, they're very important spoke, but I need to return to them and be able to explain that in such a way that Calvin could understand it instead of just giving them a bunch of words. We need to use the narrative in a much better way than we do. The abuse of this one is what the postmoderns have done, and that's where they see everything as the story. So the whole idea is I tell you a bunch of stories get you in, we have community, we're all together, but they've left out the pillars of the catechesis and the truth and the symbols all balanced properly. The last outside view of the wheel is the lordship of Christ.

That is it. I mean, he is Lord or he's not. He's God or he's not. And that's the tire kind of that we roll on. And all these pieces together are what should make up our world view wheel. That was really pretty amazing for me. I got through six hours of instruction and reading other things and I did it right at 40 minutes. That was good. For me, I could go on forever on the first point, as you guys always are. So anyway, the main point is it's a big, big picture. And I think a lot of us that are here are just now realizing we need to come out of our fundamental camp of our little truth tubes and let those truth tubes spill out and let us be those people to the people that we know, be it to our children, be it to our families, and have that happen.

And just my plea for all of you is to get out of your little camp and be happy for it. One last little story. Gail's sister was with us the whole week. She came from Arizona to visit. And her big thing was as she watched our family, that was what she saw. wheel was rolling and committing to her what was driving that, which caused her to ask very pointed questions of me, what about Israel, why are they in the land, what about this, what about that. But the wheel of the family and our relationship and the way that we relate to each other and ours little small thing and the way she saw this church reacting with itself was a huge witness and that's That is it.

That's what God wants us to do. So I pray that this helps you kind of think about that in that way. So let's pray. Let me make sure I do the right thing here. Yeah. Okay. Let me pray to close this first. Father, I thank you that you allowed me to get these things out, get them out in a timely fashion. Just again, with your spirit, filter it for each individual that they can work it out and use it in their own way. us to understand that the whole package has to be had and without your grace none of it happens. We thank you for that and we ask that you pour it out on us liberally over the next week. Thank you for those things. Amen.

We've been talking about God's love from John 3:16 the last couple Lord's day mornings. It is a love like no other that we need to wrap around our minds.

Knowledge of Christ's love was indispensable to John Bunyan. His heart was stricken with guilt and he often despaired of being accepted by Christ. This seemed to be, according to his autobiography, Grace Abounding, one of the devil's most used attacks, to rub his face in his unworthiness to receive any good thing from Christ. Bunyan had great need of knowing and living on the unseen love of Christ. He is not alone.

Bunyan wrote a book to feed Christians with this knowledge titled, The Saint's Knowledge of Christ's Love, or, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ. It has also been published recently under the title, All Loves Excelling. The entire book is a forrest fire of goodness sparked by Ephesians 3:18-19.

These two verses are the final part of a paragraph of prayer which Paul began in verse 14. Having received God's Spirit, having been rooted and grounded in love, the apostle prays that the Ephesian believers

may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

These verses aren't crutches or a wheelchair for weary and wounded hearts, they are two new legs. The passage is part of the "inner man's" makeover (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:16), "strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being" (Ephesians 3:16).

The final part of Paul's request is entirely about Christ's love, but something about Christ's love is not easy or obvious to know. We need an increase in bandwidth to download the full file of Christ's love rather than the truncated version often transmitted today. Paul began by asking God to provide strength, that God would enable them to understand the unfathomable. Only God can give insight into this love. Paul describes it like two arms of a vice grip clamping onto one object.

The first phrase seeks strength that Christian pilgrims may apprehend the extent of Christ's love.

to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

The four terms refer to dimensions, to measurable, discoverable ideas that, in this case, have no boundaries. Each term suggests the outer limits.

BREADTH, and LENGTH, and DEPTH, and HEIGHT, are words that in themselves are both ambiguous, and to wonderment; ambiguous, because unexplained, and to wonderment, because they carry in them an unexpressible [sic] something; and that something which far out-goes all those things that can be found in this world. (Saint's Knowledge, 3)

Before we go any farther, an important question to answer is, comprehend "the breadth and length and height and depth" of what? The object (or objects) that is so broad and long and high and deep is not mentioned in verse 18.

Various interpretations have been suggested. Maybe "the breadth and length and height and depth" refer to God's power. Maybe they refer to God's wisdom. Maybe they are in reference to the mystery of salvation. A long line of interpreters have suggested these along with other more fanciful options (e.g., the for arms of Christ's cross, the heavenly Jerusalem, the cosmos). Bunyan himself seems, to me, to border on being carried away in his comments on these four words.

So what does "breadth and length and height and depth" refer to? The first clue is that, in Greek, one article (precedes and) governs all four. The article welds the four elements together in Paul's mind. He wasn't thinking about four things, but the immensity, the vastness, the incalculability of one thing. But what is that something?

I believe the one thing is Christ's love. The ESV and NAS make it seem that verse 18 and verse 19 are two coordinating thoughts. They are connected, but in a way that the second phrase in verse 19 expands and explains the first phrase in verse 18. Context clarifies Paul's concern. While the NIV may not be the most accurate translation, it does emphasize the appropriate sense.

may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

There are clear parallels between verses 18 and 19. In verse 18 Paul prays that they would comprehend, in verse 19 that they would know. It was rational, but also personal knowledge. In verse 18 it is "the breadth and length and height and depth," and in verse 19 it "surpasses knowledge." So the two verses are scratching at the same itch.

As for the terms themselves, breadth refers to area. Christ's love covers the widest span. Length refers to distance, how far things are apart. Christ's love reaches the farthest intervals.

Do not though go about to measure arms with God,...do not thou conclude, that because thou canst not reach God by thy short stump, therefore he cannot reach thee with his long arm. (The Saints' Knowledge of Christ's Love, 6)

Depth refers to the bottom. Christ's love descends to the lowest levels. It is unfathomable. Height refers to the top. Christ's love soars above the tallest.

The vastness of Christ's love is emphasized first, and Paul wants them to comprehend it. This is impossible. Comprehend means grasp, get a hold of the whole matter. But the cosmic dimensions make it impossible to get our head around it. We can't get to the bottom of it. We can't see the whole picture of His love. His love is too large to frame, and even if it were, there isn't a wall large enough to hold the frame. The magnitude of Christ's love cannot be measured. Imagine the most oversized, mega-gargantuan container you can; now double-it; now multiply by the next number higher than you can conceive. You've just taken a mathematical baby step toward comprehending Christ's incalculable love.

This is an encouragement, because there are times and circumstances that seem too large to get around or too deep to understand or too high to overcome. These difficulties are opportunities for us to see the unseen love of Christ.

God is high above all things and can do whatever it pleaseth him. But since he can do so, why doth he suffer this, and that thing to appear, to act, and do so horribly repugnant to his word? I answer, he admits of many things, to the end he may shew his wrath, and make his power known; and that all the world may see how he checks and overrules the most vile and unruly things, and can make them subservient to his holy will. And how would the breadth and the length, and the depth, and the height of the love and mercy of God in Christ to us-ward, be made to appear, so as in all things it doth, were there not admitted that there should be breadths, and lengths, and depths, and heights to oppose. Wherefore these oppositions are therefore suffered, that the greatness of the wisdom, the power, the mercy, and grace of God to us in Christ might appear and be made manifest. (Knowledge, 9)

We don't always see it, but Christ's love is "busily engaged for this and the other child of God, yet they themselves see nothing of them" (Knowledge, 10-11). Would that we were better expositors of providence. "Some shall suck honey out of that, at the which others tremble for fear it should poison them" (Knowledge, 11)

Come behold the works of the Lord towards me, may every Christian say. He hath set a Savior against sin; a heaven against hell; light against darkness; good against evil, and the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the grace that is in himself, for my good, against all the power, and strength, and force, and subtlety of every enemy. (Knowledge, 9)

Would it not be amazing, should you see a man encompassed with chariots and horses, and weapons for his defense, and yet afraid of being sparrow blasted, or over-run by a grasshopper! (Knowledge, 13)

Christ's love covers it all, and then some.

As I said, this is the second leg, not a second person. It's the second arm of the pliers holding onto love. And the prayer is not that we would love Christ more, but rather that we would know His unknowable love for us.

and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,

The paradox is profound. To try to get a handle on what is simply beyond us, let's ask four scrutinizing questions.

We're supposed to fill up the pages of our mental book with His love. So what is His love? Bunyan lets us copy from his work.

Christ's love is steady and endless. Unlike our love waves that ebb and flow, unlike our love machines that rust and quit, Christ's love stays strong and lasts forevers. "God is love; Christ is God; therefore Christ is love, love naturally. Love...is essential to his being. He may as well cease to be, as cease to love" (Knowledge, 16). The chain of His love never falls off the gears no matter how hard we pedal.

Christ's love is impartial and righteous. Unlike our love glasses that look for loveliness, Christ's love for others depends on Himself, not the others. That's headline news, because our loveliness is buried on the last page in the smallest typeface--if printed at all, and certainly not worthy of His love. We wait to love until the person pleases us, and we withhold love when they hurt us. His love is unconditional, independent of the person. Also unlike our love that is often spent in the wrong direction, on things our flesh wants, on things that are contrary to God's will, Christ's love is always righteous. He'll never be caught sneaking unlawful loves.

Christ's love is personal and sacrificial. We put on our love coats to make us look good. His love serves and saves.

That a person so great, so high, so glorious, as this Jesus Christ was, should have love for us, that passes knowledge. It is common for equals to love, and for superiors to be beloved; but for the King of princes, for the Son of God, for Jesus Christ to love man thus: this is amazing. (Knowledge, 16)

It is amazing to consider that in God's love and in His plan to save, He did not throw His love at us from a distance. He Himself took on flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). He Himself suffered and bled as our substitute, His enemies (Romans 5:6-11; 1 John 3:16). He Himself got involved and gave His own life.

Had this Christ of God, our friend, given all he had to save us, had not his love been wonderful? But when he shall give for us himself, this is more wonderful. (Knowledge, 19)

These are just a few ways to think of Christ's love.

Paul states that the love of Christ surpasses knowledge. It is beyond our ability to comprehend. No saint can know it fully. All the saints together cannot know it fully. The saints in heaven don't know it fully. The angels don't know it fully. We could grow wings and plant a flag on the moon as soon as we could bolt down every corner of His love.

Were all the saints on earth, and all the saints in heaven to contribute all that they know of this love of Christ, and to put it into one sum of knowledge, they would greatly come short of knowing the utmost of this love, for that there is an indefinite deal of this love, yet unknown by them. (Knowledge, 23)

What is it about Christ's love that goes beyond our knowing capacity? Among other reasons, here are a few.

Christ's love is eternal. It is eternal, because as God, He is eternal. Therefore, His love had no beginning. It always was, and that means we've missed approximately 6000 years of earth time, let alone the eternity before the beginning of time, of knowing His love. We also, of course, cannot track His love all the way out in the future. We can say the words, we can try to imagine the "no end" concept, but our time-bound, finite brains cannot see or hold that much.

It is as possible for a spirit to drink up the sea, as for the most enlarged saint that is or ever shall be in glory, so to see God as to know him altogether, to the utmost, or throughout. (Knowledge, 24)

Christ's love covers our sin. The cross is the ultimate display of love, the atonement the greatest work of love. But we do not completely grasp the significance of His sacrifice because we do not know the extent of our odious offense to His holiness.

Besides, there are many sins committed by us, dropping from us, and that pollute us, that we are not at all aware of; how then should we know that love of Christ by which we are delivered from them? (Knowledge, 25)

We can't fully know His love because we don't fully see our sin for what it is. The lyrics are no modest exaggeration: "I'll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross."

Christ's love protects us from the evil one. Satan, through his demons and through the world system that he controls, seeks our harm. He is a roaring, prowling lion seeking prey. But we don't see him. Neither do we see the spiritual principalities and rulers that we wrestle. Therefore, we have no idea how many times and ways that Christ has guarded us and preserved us out of His love for us.

No "not-God" being, no finite Christian can fully comprehend the love.

Paul is praying that we know Christ's love, after all. That means God Himself, through the Spirit, can illuminate the truth to our minds.

Here is also a good place to poke the postmoderns in the eye, and remember that it is possible to know something correctly, even if we don't know completely. 2 + 2 = 4 is always correct, though that doesn't mean I know everything about math. In other words, we can know truly if not fully. A baby is truly human, though not fully developed. We depend on it every day. I know enough to know that my car doesn't run unless there's gas in the tank. I have an idea how some things work more than others.

We can appreciate the nature of God's love even if not entirely. Loving through 40 years is different than 4 days. Seeing more of our sinfulness helps us appreciate more of His love. "People naturally think that the knowledge of their sins is the way to destroy them; when in very deed, it is the first step to salvation" (Knowledge, 28). Being sinned against helps us appreciate more how He was offended.

We grow in our understanding by degrees. That's part of the pilgrim life, and our knowledge will increase eternally. We don't know everything about the Bible yet. But we can work on it. We don't see God's holiness and abhor evil as He does, but we are being sanctified (and it's a process). Our condition at conversion is not (hopefully) our continual condition. He is conforming us into the image of Christ and, the more we're like Christ, the more we'll be able to appreciate His love.

Even in heaven we'll never exhaust His love. His love excels all loves. The fact that we can't fully understand is no problem with His love. What we don't discern is no discouragement, just the opposite! I'm not less impressed with the ocean because I can't see past the horizon. So while we can appreciate and grow in appreciation, we can always marvel and take courage in all the unseen love.

We don't know Christ's love exhaustively, and we'll never exhaust Christ's love. It may be inscrutable into infinity, but it is knowable in its certainty.

Knowing that there is a breadth and length and height and depth that we don't even know about enables peace when we feel unlovely. He has more love than your unloveliness can imagine. "We think Christ loves us no more than we think he can...but this love of Christ that we think is such, is indeed none of the love of Christ" (Knowledge, 32).

Knowing love beyond comprehension also enables risk beyond comprehension. "By this knowledge, room is made for a Christian, and liberty is ministered unto him, to turn himself every way in all spiritual things" (Knowledge, 34). No opportunity to give, to serve, to sacrifice, to slosh grace, to die, is beyond the edges of the safety net of His love. By faith in this great love we have every reason for boldness because His love goes before us and beyond us. "By knowing of this a child of God has reserve for himself, at a day, when all that he otherwise knows, may be taken from him through the power of temptation" (Knowledge, 33).

Those are good effects, but verse 19 finishes the prayer with the intended purpose of knowledge.

that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Being filled means, at the least, that we are strengthened and that we are satisfied. There is no higher step that being filled with all the fulness of God. There is no more profound blessing. There is no way that He is more glorified.

It is not greater self-esteem or self-awareness or self-determination that makes a person more human or more mature. It is not being secure in our environment or our relationships that provides inner peace. The way to maturity, the way to peace, the path to being complete in Christ, is knowing Christ's love for us. Through a growing grasp of Him and His love we are filled with His fulness.

Knowing more of Christ's love now also effects greater anticipation for Christ's love then.

The more a man knows, or understands of the greatness of [God's love] towards him...the better he will be able in his heart to conceive of the excellent glory and greatness of the [unseen] things that are laid up in the heavens....They that know nothing of this greatness, know nothing of them; they that think amiss of this greatness, thing amiss of them; they that know little of this greatness, know but little of them. (Knowledge, 14)

I love Bunyan's question:

Couldst thou (sinner) if thou hadst been allowed, thyself express what thou wouldst have expressed, the greatness of the love thou wantest, with words that could have suited thee better? (Knowledge, 37)

In other words, if someone asked you to describe the kind of love you hoped for, could you have imagined it this good?

Such men are, at this day, wanting in the churches. These are the men that sweeten churches, and that bring glory to God and to religion. (Knowledge, 35)

Are you a stranger to Christ's love?

How are you working to know His love more? I was convicted reading Bunyan's book. I'm often studying and thinking and praying, paying more attention to the pliers than what the pliers are holding.

What is distracting you, causing you to doubt Christ's love? We must live on the promise that "neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

Last week we began to examine the single most well-known verse in the Bible, John 3:16. It's well-known for a reason: it's a succinct statement of the single most glorious news in the world: God loves!

We live in a world created by a loving God. Our existence revolves around the overflow of infinite, eternal, Trinitarian love. The earth rotates in one direction, not another, because God spins it that way. He spins it with love.

Imagine for a moment if everything else was the same except that part about God's love. Imagine a Triune God who created humans in His image. What if God was power (only or primarily)? Our existence would be a constant struggle for more power. Shared power is divided power, so the more we gave the less we'd have. Life would revolve around protecting our power and taking power from others.

What if God was righteous (primarily)? Our existence would be a constant regard for standards, a constant policing of policies. Our own unrighteousness would require hiding (if we could) and unrighteousness in others would warrant list-making and quick exposure and hard-nose discipline. Life would revolve around rules and consequences.

What if God was anger (primarily)? What if He created us to reflect His own bitter existence among the persons of the Trinity? He and His Son simply could not get along, so how about creating a people with whom to share the frustration? Misery loves (creating) company. Life would revolve around bickering and fights and division.

These are only a few examples of how the world isn't because our God isn't like that. Our God loves. Unlike power, given love isn't divided love. His power serves His love and multiplies it. He is righteous but, because He loves, He's made a way for forgiveness; He invites the unrighteous to Himself rather than humiliate them. He is angry toward sin but, for those who believe, His Son took the wrath against unrighteousness.

Our God loves, first within the Triune Godhead and then His creation. The world runs on God's love and it is a love like no other.

That's part of the reason John 3:16 is so well-known and so often repeated. It's great news. God loves! God gives! Life (eternal) is possible!

But this is a very important question: Why do so many more people recite John 3:16 than receive it? They know it, they have it memorized, and yet they don't believe it. Why?

For as great as John 3:16 is, for as fantastic a reality that God loves, John 3:16 reveals that this love of God is like no other, and maybe we don't like it so much after all. The more one really thinks about the revelation of God's love, the less appealing it may be. Remember, "God so loved the world". It's a particular sort of love. οὕτως is the first word in the Greek text, an adverb translated "so" or "thus" or "in this way." Love is one way, not another, meaning that this love is like no other, and not everyone wants love if it's like that.

Again, Why? What is it about God's love that makes it easier to recite than to receive? John 3:16 reveals at least four disagreeable elements of God's love to the natural man.

Who loves in John 3:16? "God" loves. God is love, but love is not god. Love radiates from a personal, particular God. His love is like no other because He is a God like no other.

This God can be distinguished. He has a Son (and also Spirit according to verses 5-8). He is eternal. Of course, to John's readers, they already read about these truths. But all by itself on a billboard, John 3:16 reveals a God in relationship, a Father with His "only begotten" or "one-of-a-kind" Son. We know from context that this Son's name is Jesus. Jesus is the eternal Word who was God and was with God (John 1:1). Jesus is the Son of Man (3:14). There are arms and legs attached to God's love; His love can't be disembodied from Christ. There is no eternal life in any other god because there is no saving love apart from this God.

Not only is He a particular God, He is the God with power to give His Son, the prerogative to grant life, and the authority to punish for eternity all those who do not believe.

Who is in charge in verse 16? In particular, who decides if one lives or perishes eternally? These aren't spiritual test drives that end in a month, or even a decade or two, but realities for the rest of time. Who has that sort of say? He loves, yes, and He has authority to condemn the world as the rest of the paragraph expands.

To receive the love of God in John 3:16 one must receive the God who loves, the God and Father of the Lord, Jesus Christ, the God of authority over all.

Who is being loved in John 3:16? God loved "the world." While this may sound like a politically correct sentiment, it is much more disagreeable to the natural man.

No matter our conclusion on the limits or lack of limits on the word "world," everyone [smile] agrees that "world" at the least refers to all kinds of people in all kinds of places. So wait. That means He loves...them? They don't look like us. They're not part of our group, and, I mean, look at us, our group is obviously better. God doesn't love with prejudice and bias. He is no discriminationalist. His love is liberal (without the liberalism). You really want a God like that, who loves people like them?

Even if we have no hang-ups over skin tone or dialect or hometown, certainly not everyone should be loved; not everyone is even likable.

Forget for a moment the surface arrogance of this concern. The point is true, isn't it? There are a lot of people in the world who are not lovely or whom only their mother's love. Spend time people watching or actually walk through a crowd at the fair. It only takes a whiff and a glance to find a group to prove this point.

And wouldn't God have better taste? Aren't His expectations higher? If there is a God of love, how could He possibly love that person or those people? We can provide Him with the names a bunch of persons who aren't likable or lovable let alone the rest of the world.

It is a distinctively Christian idea that God's love is wide enough to embrace all people. His love is not confined to any national group or spiritual elite. It is a love that proceeds from the fact that he is love (1 John 4:8, 16). It is his nature to love. He loves people because he is the kind of God he is. (Morris, 203)

To receive the love in John 3:16, one must receive the truth that God loves the world, and the objects of His affection may not meet our standards.

What is the result of love in John 3:16? Or, what does love do? God loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son. We know those words, but a couple things make them hard to believe.

The love in John 3:16 is a love that offers up what it values most; it pays the highest possible cost. What god would do that, really? Certainly, a god would take; god gets others to give. God wouldn't put himself forward, or especially His one-and-only child. That doesn't make any sense. That's "cosmic child abuse." Who would believe that?

The love in John 3:16 is covered in blood; the verse could be colored red, but not with ink because Jesus said it. The "gave" includes the Son taking on flesh but it also includes the Son lifted up, the Son murdered, the Son crucified as an offering. There is no way to receive the love in this verse disconnected from the cross.

Who wants that? That's part of the reason John 3:16 is easier to recite than to receive. This is the blood-dark side of the verse. And to receive this truth, to acknowledge this God who loves like this, is also to obligate ourselves to agree with why the giving was necessary in the first place.

Why is love so climactic in John 3:16? The reason is that love moved God to give His Son so that all those believing would share eternal life. That'll work; nothing too objectionable as long as we don't think about it. But what does the promise of life assume? It assumes death. The premise, the reality under God's love for the world that caused Him to give His Son, is a world that is perishing.

This rubs the flesh the wrong way. To receive John 3:16 means to receive God's assessment on ourselves: we are perishing without Him and without Him we will perish eternally. The rest of the paragraph presses home the point: unbelievers love the dark and do evil under condemnation. Those in darkness do't want the light because it exposes the darkness. They don't receive John 3:16 because shines the light too brightly.

Love might sound good until you read the big print. Love comes from a particular God (Father, Son, and Spirit) who must be received, the God who loves the kind of people we don't, the God who sacrifices, the God who pronounces guilt and determines punishment on the eternal scale. This is love like no other.

The world is not interested in this love. They do not want to die. They do not want to be told that their condition required death. They don't want to deal with perishing, perishing isn't very Disney princess like.

Why don't more people receive it? Because it's hard to receive. Actually, it's impossible to receive without the new birth.

That's the context, right? The apostle John is commenting on Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. The "For" in verse 16 begins an explanation of verses 1-15. Nicodemus did not receive the kingdom of God. Why? He did not receive because he had not been born again (v.3); he had not been born of the Spirit (v.8). His heritage, his religious position, his knowledge of Scripture wasn't enough. No one receives Him without being born of Him, and no one is born of Him by blood, by the will of the flesh or the will of man (see John 1:12-13). God must sovereignly transfer someone out of darkness into light.

--

Okay, big stuff here. John 3:1-15 is about the need for regeneration. Unless one is born again (regenerated) he cannot believe and being born again is outside one's own ability. God's Spirit must do the work.

So how can John 3:16ff be an explanation of 3:1-15? Why put forward the promise of eternal life for all those who believe when they can't believe? Because the Spirit loves to use the good news of God's love to cause men to be born again!

God's love is amazing. His love is like no other. But it's too amazing and, as we've considered, it's disagreeable to those in darkness. How can you get someone to want it? How can you make it agreeable? On one hand, you can't. Only God's Spirit can. But the Spirit may use you as a new birth midwife.

Isn't this Paul's point in 1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-24?

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (v.18) ...we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Isn't this Paul's point in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6

even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Isn't this Peter's point in 1 Peter 1:3, 23 and 25?

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to believe by new birth, and all of John’s readers were in the same position. So John lifts up God's love in John 3:16 that the Spirit might regenerate men into believing for eternal life.

You might not believe. You might have good reasons.

Some can't believe that God loves them. Others can't believe that God wouldn't love them. Only those who believe truly know His love.

To those who believe that God cannot love them: did God send His Son? If you reject the Son's incarnation or His historical crucifixion, you may make the argument. But the coming of only-begotten in flesh and His being lifted up on the cross prove the love of God for sinners such as you. In proportion to the degree that the Father loves the Son, the giving of the Son demonstrates the Father's love for the world.

To those who believe that God loves them because they are lovely: why did God send His Son? What required His Son to be lifted up? It was your sin. You are perishing without Him.

If you do believe, you can't get tired of hearing about His love and you also can't see enough what kind of love you need to reflect and recite to the world. It's a love like no other.

We sometimes talk abut wrapping our minds around certain subjects. Those subjects are usually broad or complex subjects, so the wrapping requires significant effort. Rarely do we hear someone say they had to wrap their mind around how to peel a banana. The subject of God's love is no simple subject, but it is easy to think that we have done the difficult work of wrapping our minds around it, especially when it comes to John 3:16.

Our cultural familiarity with this verse is only blessing. Familiarity can breed contempt, but it's much better to know about gravity and hate it than to actually be without it. Would that more people memorized John 3:16, painted it on signs, and hated it rather than not know it enough to hate.

John 3:16 makes a great gospel sound bite. After all, who is going to read the entire gospel of John? A soul full of eternal nutrition can be had in this one verse. And again, there is no reason for us to be ruffled because so many people don't (yet) appreciate the treasure hidden in their chests.

Even, maybe especially, those in the church, mistake their memorization of the verse for mastery of it. When we look beyond the milk of John 3:16 to its meat, the bite becomes hard to chew. We do not have our minds wrapped around John 3:16 or the subject of God's love. Indeed, in some sense, we never will, so the best we can do is to wrap God's love around our minds. We can't swallow the entire ocean before we understand it all, but we can at least swim in it.

So let's roll up our theological pant legs and wade into this well-known water. Because it's so well known, we're going to take extra time in verse 16 before moving into the rest of the paragraph in the weeks to come.

It is part of a paragraph (as is every verse in the Bible) and it follows after three rounds between Nicodemus and Jesus in John 3:1-15. Nicodemus brought his assumptions to Jesus by night. He thought he had his mind wrapped around the kingdom of God and he wanted to find out how Jesus fit in. Jesus told Nicodemus that he, Nicodemus, didn't fit in, not without belief. That belief isn't possible without being born again, and being born again doesn't happen without the sovereign work of God's Spirit.

Nicodemus knew the Scripture, he knew and taught others about the kingdom, he knew (or should have known) the promise of the new covenant. But the promise wasn't wrapped around him.

In this paragraph, verses 16-21, we read an explanation of the final promise in verse 15 that all who believe will have eternal life. This brings us to the first challenge of our John 3:16 familiarity.

I've been showing my cards since we started our study of chapter 3. I know at least two persons have paid attention, one who agreed and one who was well-irritated.

All red letter translations offer the same interpretation of verse 16, and it is an interpretation not a translation, printing the text in red and therefore indicating their committee conclusion that Jesus spoke these words as part of His extended answer to Nicodemus.

There are no quotation marks in the original Greek autographs and there aren't other obvious indications either. No statement such as "Thus and so endeth the words of Jesus." So, who said/wrote it?

I've come to believe that John begins his commentary on the conversation in verse 16. Here are the observational elbows that keep pushing me that direction.

None of these are absolutely conclusive, but they all point the same direction and together make a strong case.

So who said John 3:16? God did, through John. Even if it wasn't originally from Jesus' lips, even if John the apostle wrote it, God inspired it. The best evidence points to God revealing it through John. If you're having a hard time wrapping your mind around that, we're barely getting started.

There are a couple reasons to ask that question. First, the word "world" in the New Testament refers to different things depending on context. Second, in this context, how does verse 16 fit with verse 8? Or, does God regenerate everyone He loves? Does He love those whom He does not give new birth by the Spirit?

The word "world" appears to have at least seven different uses in the NT. A.W. Pink identified them in his book, The Sovereignty of God, and they are worth a few minutes of consideration.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. (Acts 17:24)

Heaven and earth are included in this use of kosmos.

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1)

"'Depart out of this world" signifies, leave this earth' (Pink, 254), since He doesn't leave heaven.

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Ephesians 1:4)

"This expression signifies, before the earth was founded--compare Job 38:4" (254).

Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. (John 12:31) Compare Matthew 4:8 and 1 John 5:19.

It's this world system that we're prohibited from loving (1 John 2:15-17).

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. (Romans 3:19)

The Law doesn't make the earth accountable, but humans living on the earth.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. (John 15:18)

It's unlikely that the inanimate parts of the world "hate" Christ or His followers, so "world" must be limited to the world of humans. And "Believers do not 'hate' Christ, so that 'the world' here must signify the world of un-believers in contrast from believers who love Christ" (254).

Now if their (Israel's) trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! (Romans 11:12)

"Now how the first clause in italics is defined by the latter clause place in italics. Here, again, 'the world' cannot signify all humanity for it excludes Israel!" (254)

in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)

See also John 1:29; 6:33; 12:47 (and possibly John 3:16-17).

This is persons, not the earth because of "their transgressions." And unless we say that all persons are eventually saved, we must make a distinction.

There appear, then, to be seven uses of kosmos depending on context. So what is the context here? The context is Nicodemus who should have gotten it not getting it. Jesus told him that the reason he didn't get it is because the Spirit hadn't sovereignly give him new life. In addition, this love for the world moved the Father to give His one and only son, the greatest cost that could ever be paid, to bring eternal life to whoever believes.

Because of the cost, John Owen, in his book, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ takes over 10 pages to argue that world in John 3:16 simply means "elect."

Isn't that one of everyone's least favorite theologian moves? ("Who is my neighbor?" "Who is 'everyone'?")

Part of the answer to "who is the 'world'?" may be to consider God's love. In particular, God does not love everyone the same. He does not love anyone as much as He loves His Son. He does not love any nation as much as He loves Israel. He does not love those who aren't His children as much as He loves His adopted. We are going to need to get over our democratic demands for God.

However, we also don't need to limit "world" in John 3:16 to only the elect. God can love, to some degree, all His creatures and creation, and yet love into predestination only some of them (see Ephesians 1:4-5). The giving of His Son has universal appeal, unrestricted by distinctions of nation and language and color and gender. He has a special place for Israel, but He has a place for people from every tribe and language and nation. In some sense, He loves the world, and in a special sense, He loves those whom the Spirit regenerates to belief and eternal life.

There are restrictions of God's sovereign love. We must say that or we will be universalists, claiming that all will be saved, which plainly contradicts John 3:16 that describes the perishing ones. He condemns all who do not believe. They can only believe if they are born of God. This is not milk, nor are we in the shallow water anymore.

But please consider what water we're in: the vast ocean of God's love! The world runs on love! We cannot take this for granted that God is love. Verse 16 is John's explanation ("For") of why eternal life is available. The Son was lifted up because of God's love!

What if John 3:16 wasn't about love? What if the most famous verse of the Bible, that everyone memorized, was about something else? What if the world ran on God's power?

God so controlled the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever could defeat Him in battle would win eternal life.

What if the world ran on God's law?

God so governed the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever obeyed all His rules all the time would have eternal life.

What if the world ran on loveliness?

God so considered the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever was a lovely or worthy as His Son would have eternal life.

Beloved, these do not compare with the reality of our God! Our God does control the world in power, but by His power He defeats the serpent and death for us because of love. Our God does govern the world in perfect righteousness, but He fulfills the law in His Son for us for love's sake. Our God does consider the condition of the world, but He makes us lovely by His love.

He didn't create us to prove our weakness compared to His power. He didn't create us to prove our disobedience by His Son's perfect submission. He didn't create us to prove our ugliness compared to His Son's beauty. He created us to share the overflow of His love with us.

Even the sacrifice of His Son on the cross could be less than the good news as we (think we) know it. What if God wanted to make us the most obligated to Him as possible? What if God wanted to make sure that He always had something to hold over us? The sacrifice of His Son would be our ransom from death into eternal obligation. Instead, the world runs on love.

The world is not an overflow of a Trinitarian power struggle (think Islam), but of Trinitarian love. The world is not a universal beauty contest, with a pushy Father trying to prove how much better His Son is.

10 years ago this morning, we all awoke to the news that our country had been attacked by Islamic terrorists. They targeted symbols of our nation's economic and military strength and killed thousands of people within minutes. We watched in shock and wondered how this could happen to us. We could hardly believe the reality of all the United States lost in moments.

Our way of life has been forever changed. Things that we previously depended on, or at least took for granted, have not been stable. We are different now than we were before 9/11, unable to think the same way as we did on 9/10 and before.

Our assumptions of national security were challenged. Our trust in others was challenged. Our hope in the economy was challenged. And we wondered how could this happen to us? Aren't we the good guys? Aren't we the superpower? Don't we possess military intel and strength? Why couldn't we stop it from happening? The walls we leaned on could not be trusted to hold us.

I want to come back to our response to 9/11 later but, for the moment, I'd like us to consider that our disbelief parallels Nicodemus' disbelief in John 3. When Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again, that reality attacked everything Nicodemus trusted. How could that possibly be? He assumed as a devoted Jew, as an esteemed member of Israel's supreme court, that he was safe from God's wrath. He took God's deliverance for granted and that his participation in kingdom life was guaranteed. Jesus toppled his assumptions, his beliefs, his identity, and Jesus does the same to us today.

We consider the third round of interchange this morning. In John 3:1-3, Nicodemus approached Jesus at night and addressed Him politely as a good teacher from God. Jesus answered that Nicodemus needed spiritual rebirth. In verses 4-8, Nicodemus questioned Jesus and Jesus replied that being born again is the same as being born of water and Spirit, being regenerated, made clean and given a new heart by the Spirit's sovereign work.

Nicodemus can't believe what he's hearing.

Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" (John 3:9)

This is the shortest of Nicodemus' recorded comments and the last words from him in the story. The rest of the conversation comes from Jesus (verses 10-15) before the apostle John summarizes the point of the story (verses 16-21).

Though Nicodemus came to Jesus with at least a degree of affirmation, now he seems to demonstrate growing exasperation. Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Though every English translation frames the question this way, it really would be better phrased, "How can these things happen?" or "become" or "come into being"? He's trying to place the burden of proof on Jesus, as if he said, "This isn't true and how could you possibly expect them to ever be true?"

Nicodemus knew about the kingdom, so he thought and taught others. He knew God's law and God's requirements for obedience, devotion, and sacrifices. He knew that Jews were protected, they were God's people, they were secure. If what Jesus said is true, all the things he trusted in collapsed. How can these things happen?

His question proves Jesus' point that, apart from rebirth, a man cannot even see the kingdom of God. No matter how certain or secure we believe we are, we're incapable of making a true assessment about Jesus or His teaching without the Spirit blowing in our hearts.

The remainder of the recorded dialogue is from Jesus.

Even though Nicodemus needed new birth, he should have understood.

Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? (John 3:10)

The rhetorical question puts the burden of responsibility on Nicodemus. Jesus even calls him the teacher of Israel, rather than "a" teacher, meaning that Nicodemus was well known, highly regarded as the teacher of the nation. If anyone should have understood, it should have been Nicodemus. He was part of the right people, he lived in the right city, he studied and taught the right book, he worked in the right system. All of those right things were the wrong things to depend on.

It's ironic since Nicodemus recognized Jesus as a teacher, but the teacher doesn't get it. This is why I said that being born again, being born of water and Spirit must have its roots in the Old Testament. Nicodemus should have known as one schooling others in the Jewish Scripture. Intellectually he probably did, but he didn't believe, or he didn't believe those things applied to him. He thought he was good and he was wrong.

For the third time Jesus emphasizes the seriousness of what's at stake.

Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. (John 3:11)

Truly, truly means you really need to pay attention to this. He began His responses the same way in verses 3 and 5.

Jesus says, we speak of what we know. Who are the "we"? No one other than Nicodemus and Jesus have been talking. While the earliest disciples of Jesus may have been listening, they are not mentioned. So who is Jesus talking about? It seems that He is imitating, if not mocking Nicodemus. In verse 2, Nicodemus said, "We know that you are a teacher." Yet he was by himself. Nicodemus said "we know" so Jesus says, "we know" and we know better. We know better because we bear witness to what we have seen. Nicodemus and others saw the signs Jesus did in Jerusalem. Jesus has seen more than that.

But Nicodemus did not receive our testimony. If he really believed the Old Testament, if he really knew who Jesus was, if he really understood his need for a new heart, Nicodemus would have received Jesus' testimony. But, like those in John 1:11, Jesus came to his own and his own did not receive him.

Nicodemus assumed he was in the kingdom, he wanted to be higher up in it. Jesus says he's not ready.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (John 3:12)

It's an argument from the lesser to the greater. If you don't know how to count there's not much point in discussing algebra. How can we talk about framing a barn when you don't know what a hammer is? The answer is obvious: you won't get it. This is no excuse for Nicodemus' unbelief, but rather a greater rebuke.

The earthly things are not human birth or blowing wind. Nicodemus understood and received those things. He didn't receive what those illustrated: spiritual rebirth. Though regeneration is from above, it is one of the earthly things, one of the basics, an elementary truth right in front of his nose that Nicodemus didn't get. Jesus is saying, You want to know more about the kingdom? You want to be part of greater things? You're not even in the door.

Jesus knows better because of where He came from.

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. (John 3:13)

The things of God's kingdom, the heavenly things, are best known in heaven where God is. But men can't go there, come back, and report. When Nicodemus said they knew Jesus was a teacher from God, he didn't know how true that was.

Jesus isn't saying that no one has ever gone to heaven. He's saying that no one has been an embedded reporter, able to get the inside scoop in order to report back. He's also not saying that He was first on earth, then went to heaven, then is back. He's making the point that He knows because that's His home, that's where He came from.

He wasn't flesh who took on divinity. He was God who took on flesh (John 1:1, 14). The Father "gave" Him (v.16), the Father "sent" Him (v.17), so He descended and humbly took on humanity, servanthood, and even death as the Son of Man.

The title "Son of Man" is not only Jesus' favorite self-referencing title, it should have made another connection with the teacher of Israel. The Son of Man was the end times figure that would come "with the clouds of heaven" to inaugurate and rule the kingdom of God.

"I saw in the night visions,

The Son of Man would do more than rule the kingdom, He enables men to get into it.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14–15)

The story in Numbers 21:4-9 was familiar in Jewish history. The people were complaining against God and against Moses, again, about their food. They thought they deserved better than what they had. They believed that because of who they were, things weren't as they should be. How can these things happen?

So God sent snakes to kill them. "Fiery serpents" bit the Israelites and causes them to die. The people realized their sin and cried for deliverance. God told Moses to make a fiery serpent of bronze and set it on a pole. As Moses lifted up the serpent, men could look to it and be saved.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. But why? Because men need to be born again. This is the answer to Nicodemus' question: how can these things happen? How can a man be born again? How can He be born of water and Spirit? How can he see and enter kingdom life? The answer to all of these is the same: Jesus had to die on the cross.

Lifted up refers to Jesus being put up on the cross.

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:32–33)

Unlike the bronze serpent on the pole, God gave Himself as the means of salvation on the cross.

Men must look to Jesus because the snakes are killing them. They complain because they think they deserve better. They don't believe or submit to God. Indeed, they cannot because their hearts are like stone. They are born of flesh and cannot see their own need.

The Israelites were required to look up to the very symbol of the judgement they deserved. So we look to Christ, seeing what we deserved.

We have only one hope: the Son of Man being lifted up. And, as throughout the whole interchange, this offer is for everyone, starting with Nicodemus. Whoever believes in him, not only Jews, but especially the Jews. Not only the Gentiles, but especially the Gentiles.

For the first time in John we read about eternal life. John will write of ζωὴν αἰώνιον 17 times in his gospel. This is "life of the age to come," this is life in God's kingdom, this is sharing in God's own Trinitarian, eternal life. The new birth brings the life of the eternal Word to the believer.

This life doesn't depend on following a religious system, maintaining a stable economy, or securing military protection. Those are false saviors; they cannot protect us or deliver us from our greatest enemy.

Only the Son of Man, and the Son of Man alone, can save. He was lifted up on the cross and He sends His Spirit to apply that work and regenerate men to belief and eternal life.

The horror and tragedy of 9/11 should have caused our country to turn to the Son of Man. Instead, after getting over our disbelief that it could happen to us, we lifted up the power of human spirit, we lifted up national identity, we lifted up military response, we lifted up economic stimulus packages, we lifted up a homeland security department, we lifted up the debt ceiling. None of these can save us. None of those can give us life.

The Son of Man has been lifted up and we need to lift Him up in our worship and witness. We do not look to the President, we look to the Lord of lords. We will be judged again and again as idolators, and we should pray that God will deliver men from His wrath by causing them to look to the Son of Man.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

I'd invite you to turn this evening in your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter, chapter 2, verses 4 through 10. We're going to be looking this evening at a passage of scripture that is actually very indicative of the rest of Peter's first epistle. I'm privileged to be able to be here tonight and to be able to share God's word with you. For those of you who have heard this message before, I'll appreciate your patience and indulgence. This is actually a message that I had the opportunity to share with many of the students of 128 Ministry and had the privilege of teaching through the book of First Peter two school years ago.

And this is one that is memorable largely because of the pictures. I'll be honest with you. But I think that they send a profound message and they do help to sort of galvanize our understanding of the things that Peter would like to impress upon our hearts. And in the ancient city of Machu Picchu, I can call it ancient. I think it's 500 years. If some of you students can call your parents ancient, then I can call Machu Picchu ancient. Incan engineers constructed temples of cut stones that so precisely fit together that a knife blade cannot be wedged into the cracks. Some of these stones were massive, many, many tons in weight.

Many of you have seen pictures of Machu Picchu before, undoubtedly. And yet they were cut with such precision that no mortar was needed. Many of them still stand today. And scholars surmise that they fit these stones together with such custom accuracy by actually lowering them into place. And then where one spot was high, they would grind it down until a tight seam was created. Where it bumped against a ridge, they would go ahead and chip it away, or carve it away, or file it away, whatever crude tools they had, until a tight fit was secured. And each stone was carefully worked by the craftsmen. The result is that a large portion of the stones are still exactly where they were 500 years ago.

A large portion of the city that was constructed with crude tools and primitive means stands largely intact after more than 500 years. What I think is pretty powerful is looking at the shape of these stones and how they are custom. Now, I understand that this is probably not the picture of a wall that Peter had in mind while writing during the first century Roman Empire. They had pretty sophisticated squarely cut stones and whatnot. But this one actually well pictures what I want to drive home tonight. That is that each of these is custom, each one is unique. There are more. When a hole like that existed, they would just grind away a stone until they had one that fit perfectly.

It's funny because I bet if you were to ask one of the artisans 500 years ago, hey, could you believe that 500 years from now, people will still be admiring your work? He would say, well, yeah, because we're not building this thing to fall over tomorrow. They knew exactly what they were doing and how to do it. Well, I would say similarly, believers are part of something that is great. Imagine each of these stones were to represent a Christian, Or if you're really creative, imagine seeing names emblazoned or etched on each of them, or even little faces, if that helps you. He may be strong, every Christian may be strong on his own, but each believer is carefully crafted as a work of stone fit for the building up of the church.

The sculptor is God himself, and sometimes believers grind together in the uncomfortable process of making the wall more strong, more stable. Chips flake off, rough spots are made smooth, sometimes even sparks fly. But without that grinding and the removal of the superfluous stone, the seam is compromised along with the integrity of the wall. While it is impossible that a wall may stand if one of its stones is removed, it may potentially crumble. At a minimum, the wall is dramatically weaker. And as we can all testify, the process of being fit together for the construction of the wall is, in fact, an uncomfortable one for the stone.

That was definitely the case in the lives of the recipients of Peter's first letter, those living stones that he addressed in 1 Peter chapter 2. The passage for our evening, as I mentioned, is chapter 2 verses 4 through 10. Many scholars believe that Peter wrote this after the summer of AD 64, and that's when Rome was burned under Nero, under the potentially observing eye of Nero, as some legends would have us believe. Believers were the objects of extreme persecution under Nero for generations to follow. And they were outcasts. They were viewed as sacrilegious on the part of Rome, because they would not bow to their polytheistic deities.

Again, some of this is believed by scholars to be the case, in fact, that Nero launched the persecution against the believers to defect the attention from himself. So that meant that the persecution that Romans were inflicting upon Christians throughout the Roman Empire was at least under with the permission if not under the full sanction of the Roman government. They were blamed for the burning of Rome. Persecution was endorsed by the political juggernaut that was the Roman Empire and scattered scattered throughout Asia Minor. If you were to look at the back of your Bibles, you could see it. Asia Minor, modern day Turkey and in there you have five Roman provinces.

Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, and the believers scattered throughout those places, those elect exiles, were the recipients of this letter. And the whole of the letter offers strategies, encouragement, and hope to the godly sufferer that will enable him to bear up under trials in order to live a vibrant, joyful, dynamic Christian life in the face of intense persecution so that those who are around them will be caused to scratch their heads and ask for a reason for the hope that is in them. Starting with chapter 1 verse 1, he calls them elect exiles, reminding them that they belong to the Father and that their home is not in this world.

From the very get-go, he launches into that, calling them elect exiles. They've been chosen by God. they can enjoy all the accompanying benefits with such treatment. He tells them in chapter one, verses four and five of their heavenly inheritance. They have a salvation and an inheritance that cannot be taken away because they're not physical, but spiritual. And the one who has given the inheritance is greater than all. In fact, it's a fantastic passage of Scripture worth your examination. Chapter one, verses four and five, when Peter falls all over himself trying to explain what it is to the point where he gives up on it and basically shares what it is not.

That's really cool. He looks at it, I'll read it to you. An inheritance that is imperishable, that is undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Well, I can't tell you exactly what it is, but I can tell you what it's not. It's not what you've seen before. He reminds them that their grief under trials is but temporary and necessary in chapter chapter 1, verses 6 through 9. It's important for us to remember that trials are only temporary by design because what happens if they last your whole lifetime? The longest that they could possibly last, they will end. And for Peter's readers, just that simple reminder, among other things, had to be very encouraging.

Our lives are, in fact, but a teeny speck in light of eternity for eternal creatures.

He tells his readers of their salvation and how it surpasses the angels understanding and experience and chapter 1 verses 10 through 12 And I'm not gonna go through all the like this I promise you but there's there's just so much and what he says is man the angels Long to look into your salvation because they don't get it Remember that the reason the angels exist is to worship God in order for them to do so rightly They have to have a an informed understanding of God and his redemptive work and so they look with tremendous curiosity on what's going on in the church because that communicates God's genius that is on display for those angels so they can in turn worship him rightly and your position is far superior to any angel because no angel has ever been forgiven no angel has ever been redeemed either angels have fallen or they have not Christ did one sacrifice that was appropriate for men, not angels. He did not come as an angel and die. So the angels don't understand all that. They look at it and they say,

man, this is amazing. Look at what God is doing. And Peter would have his readers remember their salvation is glorious. So to see how he's building case upon case upon case about your situation here and now, though it may be lousy in human terms, it's actually not that big of a deal. He's helping to align their perspective so that they can do more than just limp along, but instead they can thrive.

He instructs them in verse 13 of chapter 1 to set their hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Their hope is in Christ and in Him alone, and I would argue that that is a safe object for our hope. Many times we place our hope in men and men disappoint. But when we place our hope in what God has promised, it is he is guaranteed to make good on that. It is as certain as his word is true. He tells them in verses 18 to 19 that they have been ransomed by the blood of the Redeemer. The currency with which Christ purchased our salvation was his own blood. That is the currency. It's a glorious thought that we are free then to live holy lives because we have been ransomed by Christ. And he keeps doing this after our paragraphs for this morning, this evening.

He keeps doing it in the rest of chapter 2 and so on all the way through the end of the letter. Because when their life is hard and the same is true for us, when they are deprived of earthly pleasures and joys, it's helpful to remember whose they are and what awaits them in heaven. They needed a clear mind. They needed an accurate understanding of their purpose in the wall. And what awaited them in glory if they were to endure the grueling, shaping process? So that's a major purpose of Peter's letter. So with all that as sort of the context for our passage this morning, this evening, I keep saying that. I think that this fits perfectly, because this just keeps on going with these transcendent, glorious thoughts that would help to align the perspectives of suffering believers.

In 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 4 through 10 we have a sort of rambling, glorious meditation on who we are in Christ and you can almost sense the excitement coming from Peter. As we read it in just a moment, be listening for that. It's almost as if he's saying Do you understand what you are to these believers? Do you understand whose you are, who you belong to? Do you understand what he is? This is amazing, says Peter. Who cares about death? That's small stuff. You're children of the king.

The tone throughout the course of the letter is one of tremendous excitement and hope because it seems as if Peter is actually looking at their particular position as a tremendous opportunity to glorify God in unprecedented ways. And I would say that that is the case for us as well. When we experience trials, we have a new opportunity to glorify God that we don't when things are going great. I mean, doesn't your own prayer life reflect that, that you're more inclined to turn to God when things are going roughly versus when we're going through seasons of tremendous prosperity and material blessing. So remembering our position in Christ, I think is the antidote for sadness in this life.

Because more often than not, our sadness is related to trials that are unique to this world. That was the case for Peter's readers and it's the case for us. Also of note in this passage is Peter is returning at this point. You know, a lot of the Pauline epistles, he has like a doctrinal section and then an application section. He does in the first part of Ephesians and the back part of Ephesians. He does in the first eight chapters of Romans and then goes on to, sorry, the first like 11 chapters in chapter 12. He launches into the instructional portion. Peter's all over the map. So he's not like that. This is a return to some doctrine after a hiatus on some instruction that he had given at the back end of chapter one.

And I make that case because, grammatically, it's actually hard to identify. I guess based on some of the original manuscripts, this is pretty highly debated among scholars as to whether or not his grammar here is imperative or it's indicative. If he's actually giving instruction to saying, do this, do this, do this, or if he's just stating it like it is. And I think that based on the context and grammatically, you can make the case that it is indicative, that he is stating it like it is. When you think about it, that's actually tremendously helpful. Because don't we need a little bit of objectivity when we're in the middle of difficult circumstances?

Because I've tried to offer instruction to the hurting, and it doesn't work as well as just offering clear reminders of the facts. The New Testament seems to argue that direction. So I think that this is indicative, that he's telling them throughout the course of this paragraph, these lessons, he has lessons that he wants for them to learn. So as you do that tonight, as we look at it, I would encourage you to examine your own place in the wall. To be thinking of your own particular role, your own obligation to the other stones, and then of course, to remember that as a part of the body of Christ, together we are part of something so much greater than we are on our own.

Remember your own custom-cut position, how the other stones depend on you. Together we are part of something greater than ourselves, and the structure of which is held together by none other than Christ Himself. Follow along with me. 1 Peter 2, verses 4-10, as I read this passage. As you come to Him, A living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God, chosen and precious? You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. The next position of this passage is a bit tricky, as I mentioned before, because Peter is sort of all over the place. And it almost seems as if his excitement is carrying him away and even his thoughts are a bit disjointed. But I think throughout the course of this section where we do find our three lessons that he is desperate for his readers to learn.

Three things that he really wants them to understand. And they are very simply what Christians are, what Christians do, and what Christ is. Yeah, I said that right, what Christ is, not just who he is, but what he is. So the first lesson then is what Christians are. And I think a discussion of what we are in Christ deals, as I mentioned before, more more directly and more objectively with our position. Say for instance, somebody is a plumber or a teacher or a banker doesn't necessarily tell you much about his personality, it may, but it does give you objective data about the person. So it is concrete, it is solid information about his position, his profession, his standing.

And even if a plumber is having a bad day, even if he's in maybe a foul mood, he's He's still a plumber. That's what He is. So similarly, though we may at times feel distant from Christ, though we may be wayward even or disobedient, or perhaps for these readers, maybe sometimes they're succumbing to the persecution and then repenting. The fact remains that in Christ, we are custom cut, chiseled, tailored stones for the edification That is the building up of a spiritual building, the church. The master artisan, Christ himself, God himself, has shaped and fashioned us with a purpose. And when one of the tailor-made custom-cut stones is removed, it leaves a tailor-made custom-cut hole.

And thinking back to those images we looked at a few moments ago, some of them fit like puzzle pieces. And if you were to take one out, it's possible the wall could collapse. But if nothing else, at least the integrity of the wall would be compromised. Verse 5, he says, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. So what does he say? You are living stones in the first part of verse 5, as you've already seen. In some of the walls that were constructed some 1,500 years after Peter wrote this, a building is only as strong as its materials. You can put together a straw house in a strategic fashion, but in the end, your house is still weak.

Perhaps for some reason why the story of the three little pigs has lasted the test of time, right? Peter is drawing on Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16. I'm sure the fine print of some of your Bible's references, That is a cross reference. And also Psalm 118 verse 22, those are ringing in his ears. And also I would add when he is speaking to the Jews in chapter 4 of Acts verse 11, he says something similar. Believers are the stones that construct a particular people and a particular priesthood. This body of priests is a priesthood, as he describes it. Christ is the cornerstone. And the structure is significant and strong.

And what we are a part of is significant and strong. But perhaps what I like most about this illustration that Peter is using is that believers are likened to building materials, rocks, stones. Stones are completely inanimate objects. Stones heaped in a pile are of little use to anyone. But when they are worked and shaped and put in the right places, they can serve a more significant role. They are, however, at the mercy of the builder. Stones cannot shape or place themselves. Peter's language here is clearly passive. You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up. The agent is God. You are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.

The builder is God, whose people we are. The Bible is full of illustrations like that. We even saw some this morning that point to our dependence on God, just as Jesus did, for instance, in John chapter 3. We saw that, right, when he speaks of being born again. Baby has little say in the decision-making process as to when he may be born. And a stone doesn't get to say, hey, place me there, or in a place of prominence, or at the bottom, because I'm strong. He doesn't get to say that. A person can no more be born again of himself than a pile of stones can spontaneously fit together like an intricate three-dimensional puzzle.

What else does Peter say that we are as Christians? A spiritual house in the second part of verse 5, He says, right there, second half verse five, being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. It's not a physical earthly house of bricks and mortar or clay that will inevitably crumble. So that spiritual is contrasted with the physical. All that is in this world will eventually come to destruction and be rebuilt, but not the spiritual house of which we are a part. They are a part of a spiritual house. they cannot be compared with the physical. And it is for a purpose, to be a holy priesthood. That's the third thing.

He says that in the third part of verse five. The priesthood of Christians surpasses, by contrast, Levitical priesthood in every way. They are spiritual and the Levites were physical. The work of the Levitical priests covered sins. They did not remove them. But because of Christ's real atonement for sins, we can have real contact with the Father through Christ. He says that here, through Christ. Every believer is a priest then as he speaks to the Father directly because of the work of Christ. And this is likely no new knowledge for these believers. I mean, they were Christians for a reason. But if you imagine for a moment that newness and novelty that's carried with it, because it was after all a pretty new concept.

For us, it's been around for a couple thousand years. For them, it was about 30 years old. It only been 30 years since Christ had paid that sacrifice. So that exhilarating reminder must have been encouraging to them. Verse 9 he says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. Notice the striking parallels with the Old Testament, Israel. And it's much of the same language that we hear in the Old Testament, to describe God's people. But in every case, a believer's position surpasses that of Israel. He also says we are a chosen race in verse 9. This surpasses Israel's election and is it was unto an eternal inheritance because they in fact rejected the Messiah, a royal priesthood.

He said a holy priesthood now says a royal priesthood in the first part of verse 9 as well. So he takes the priesthood reference, the holy priesthood in verse 5 and steps it up a notch.

being a holy priest who we are also in fact royalty. And this is where it starts to get really mind blowing because not only are we a priest who we are also royalty. As co-heirs with Christ as children of the King of Kings, we have access to the Father directly. We who are a royal priesthood. Also, a holy nation, he says in verse 9, a holy nation. The holy ones are like God. It is His requirement that we be holy as He is. We are a nation of believers with our own identity in Him, being holy only because of Christ as well. We are a people for His own possession. God has selected us to belong to Him. God has chosen us as his own. And the thought of the sovereign creator of the universe, selecting a spiritual race of people for himself that would include us, ought to at least help us to cope with life. I mean, it ought to be mind-blowing. But when we think about these things, the idea that Peter has in view is for our problems to seem small. We are God's possession. Do Do you get that?

He has chosen us to do what He will with us and He has chosen to give the church to the Son as a gift and we are a part of that gift. We are in verse 10, God's people, stated differently. Verse 10, once you were not a people but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy. And again, we have a contrast between their station before Christ and when they're reading the letter. This is you before, this is you now. They were without mercy, but in fact, no longer. They had no identity together, but now they do in Christ. You think about that? By itself, a stone is nothing.

But when shaped and placed in a wall, it can be part of something great. It has purpose. It has significance. It has identity as a part of something far greater than itself. And this is an appropriate time to take a step back and look at ourselves. We can miss that sometimes when we go to church. But when you think about it for a moment, what do we actually have in common? Sure, I suppose you can make the case that common seasons of life, some grandparents, some with small children, some students going to school, Some people going through similar life struggles, but couldn't that be something you share in common with Joe Schmo at the grocery store or your buddy from work?

No, our identity and what we have in common is Christ, and we should not lose sight of that. It is important to remember that we are His people. He gives us our identity as a church body, and He's the one who gives us ultimate obligation and responsibility to one another. If God had not placed us in the wall, then we would not have that responsibility to bear one another's weight and burdens. We would not have that responsibility.

For the readers of Peter's letter, they had a corporate identity that the world could not understand. And as is the case today, the world would see a Christian and wonder why. And in this case, how on earth do they maintain joy in the midst of unfair suffering? That's God's design for believers to behave a certain way, even in spite of, and in the face of torment or at least trials, and then in turn for the world to ask why. He references that in chapter 3 as well. He anticipates that question. If Peter's readers then are stones in the spiritual house, if they are a holy priesthood, if they are a royal priesthood, if they are being built up as God's people for a gift to the Son, if they're God's own possession, then what do they do?

That leads us to the next question. What Christians do? And that is, of course, a lesson that Peter would have his readers to learn as well, what they do. Well, to start with in verse 4, we see they come to Him. The first part of verse 4, as you come to Him. Now that can be a quickly dismissed phrase, but of course they come to Christ and in a sense what else could they possibly do? I'm not just talking about the compelling nature of Jesus Christ or even the irresistible grace that is impressed on our hearts, but the Levitical priests would have given anything. If you think about it, the Levitical priests would have given anything to have the unrestricted access to God that we enjoy every day, and that the Christians did as well in first century Asia Minor.

The access that we have to the Father, of course, through Christ. And if we are a holy priesthood, of course we will come to Him. When we talk of somebody being saved, we often hear that He comes to Christ. We may even use that language, but this isn't necessarily a salvific reference. But instead, based on the grammar, it actually refers to somebody who repeatedly and habitually turns to Christ, who comes to Him on an ongoing and regular basis. Commentator Edmund Hebert says, the present participle coming does not refer to an individual's initial commitment to Christ for salvation, but the voluntary, repeated, or habitual coming of believers to Christ for sustenance and for fellowship. When was the last time you went to Christ for fellowship? According to Peter, that is a natural thing for believers to do. So, it's a participle and it is indicative. It just kind of states it as it is, meaning he's not commanding the people to come to Christ, but rather describes what happens.

This is automatic. This is a given. He's not saying, come to Christ, he's saying, you come to him, blah, blah, blah. What else do they do? They offer spiritual sacrifices, the second part of verse 5 there. And Peter doesn't go off on this any more than he does as you come to him, but it is also significant. He just slips it in, but it's mind-blowing to think of what it says. It's significant and it speaks really of the completed work of Christ, that we would no longer need to offer what amount to futile physical sacrifices any longer, but that rather we could offer spiritual sacrifices, which are, verse 5, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

And that is precisely what we do when we assemble in corporate worship. It is the offering of spiritual sacrifices, like much of the Christian life. In fact, he also reminds his readers that they may proclaim Christ's excellencies as another thing that they do. They may proclaim Christ's excellencies. Is that not what we do when we sing to him in psalm? When we speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual psalms? When we encourage one another? Verse 9, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into to his marvelous light. So speaking of God's character, and then also speaking, of course, of what he has done to rescue fallen sinners, a race of people who had rejected him and turned their backs on him and turning them to his marvelous light.

He reminds us here of the importance of worshiping God for all he is and proclaiming loudly what he has done on our behalf. And I think the immediate context here makes it clear that we are made with a view to this kind of behavior. I mean, this is part and parcel to the Christian life. This is what we do. It is natural for a believer. It's what we were made to do, intended to do as God's own possession. Nobody ever looks at a well-built rock wall and praises the rocks. He may offer praise to the craftsman, the builder, for his ingenuity, his creativity, his skill. But the rocks are just rocks. As beautiful as they may be, they are just stones.

The same thing happens with the church. We are a building. As God's people, we are constantly pointing to Him as the builder, as the one deserving the glory every bit as much as the rocks assembled perfectly point to their assembler. It is our corporate duty to proclaim His excellencies, to sing with loud voices and full hearts what He has done and who He is. The last thing that Peter would have for his readers to learn, the last lesson he would You'd have them cling to us what Christ is. Who Christ is is another lesson, and that's fantastic. But again, for them to be reminded of this concrete evidence, no masonry pun intended.

I understand that sort of slipped in there a few times. But Christ is himself, a living stone. The second part of verse four. a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. As you've already discussed, the stone in the wall is in fact a person, but rather than Christ being like us, we are like him. This is an interesting picture because a person can be described as stone dead, but living stones compose this spiritual house of which Christ is second, a cornerstone. We see that in the second half of verse 6, And again in the second half of verse seven, let me just read verses six and seven.

Peter says, for it stands in scripture, and then he quotes Isaiah, chapter 28. Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. A cornerstone was the start of the construction. I don't know how familiar you are with this type of construction, but it was at the bottom of two walls. I would hold them together. It would really bear the full weight of those two walls. And without it, it's not hard to figure out what would happen.

That stone was not in place. Those two walls would fall. But it also served another purpose, and that was to actually serve it to align the construction of the rest of the house. It was to be straight, and everything directionally was drawn from that one point, that one point of reference. Could not be a more appropriate picture for Christ's role in the church. If you look at the body reference, he's the head you take away. Any other part is dispensable. Remove the head. The whole thing perishes. In a wall illustration, take away the cornerstone. The whole thing collapses. Other illustrations involve the capstone of an arch.

pull that one capstone out and the weight of the wall crumbles on itself. We are then, as the body of Christ stones in a structure, and the cornerstone of that structure is Jesus. But what else is Christ? He is also a stumbling block. Verse 8, he says, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do, talking of course of the world. Where Peter's audience needs constant reminders of their position and their inheritance in Christ because of their suffering, we need these things in order to suffer. Do you get that? If we have the right perspective, it will make the world around us very uncomfortable.

If we begin to live the same way that they were, the outcome will be similar. But because they were being faithful, they needed a clear reminder as to what awaited them in heaven and whose they were and what Christians do and what Christ is to give them encouragement to us understanding those things will also have a sanctifying effect. They're already suffering for their identification with Christ. Practically identification with Christ will cost us almost nothing in the world. While living for Him as we should live will make the world around us, as I said, very uncomfortable because Christ is in fact a stumbling block then as He is now. We should not be surprised if the world hates our message because it hates Christ. And if the world loves us, it's very possible that we do not have the love of Christ. If the world loves us, it's not because we're acting like Jesus.

It's because we're not. Last Peter would have his readers remember that that Christ is a Savior. Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame. This is said quickly, and yet it is also very significant and a glorious truth of Christ, the cornerstone. He is our Savior. He can rescue the weak and the weary and the afflicted. And this had to be a comforting and sweet reminder for Peter's readers. And I think as believers, we share in common with Peter's readers the need for regular reminders of our identity and our position in Christ if we too are to bear up under trials that are part and parcel to life in this world, especially for believers.

Our persecution may be different. Our suffering may be different. And yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. or as others have said, life is hard and then you die. So you can expect it. It is absolutely inevitable that we will be made uncomfortable and that we will suffer and we will be tried and tested and shown to be either lacking or trusting in him. As inevitably as the believers were in first century Asia Minor under the oppressive thumb of Nero. Often our sadness is born out of a focus on circumstances here and now. But as I mentioned before, I think the antidote for our sadness, at least the sadness that is generated by the trials of this life, is to think about our position before God and in Christ and thinking of what awaits us in heaven. On a personal or a side note, I am thrilled to be a part of a body that includes fellow stones who love and realize the importance of their particular places in the wall.

They embrace their obligation to the other stones, and by God's grace may we continue to grind against one another and be reshaped and refined to create a stronger structure, knowing all the while that the builder is God. Let's pray. Father, it is humbling when we think of ourselves as being helpless stones of no, use by ourselves, but when used by you, of pretty significant utility and importance. Also, it is already the case that we are a part of something that is so much greater than we are individually ourselves. We pray that as trials come, as they inevitably will, that you would help us to align our perspectives with yours and to like Peter's readers, remember these things regularly, and then to meditate regularly and often on your person and what awaits us in heaven.

We thank you for the opportunity to be a part of your ministry here. You're not under any obligation to include us in that and yet you do, and that itself is humbling and it's also very fun. Thank you and we pray that we would go with your grace tonight. We pray in your son's name. Amen.