"The 3:16's" - John 3:16

Read Numbers 21:4-9.  They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; ⁵ they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” ⁶ Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

The children of Israel had a problem.  In fact, they had several problems, not the least of which was a plague of venomous snakes.  The King James says, “fiery serpents” probably referring to the fire-red whelp they would leave when the poison was injected into the person’s body.  I can imagine the Israelites were feeling pretty sorry for themselves about now.  Moses had led them into the desert out of Egypt and the food and water had been scarce, the danger high, and the drama over the top.

But their greatest problem was that they were lost…and they were dying.  They knew what the answer was, though.  They had seen with their own eyes the power of God to save and to provide.  They had seen the blessings of obedience and they had seen the consequences of disobedience.  They knew they should rely on God to save them but it was uncomfortable to give up control of their lives, even the little they had.

They knew they could rely on God to save them but they couldn’t prove it necessarily.  And to be honest, I’m sure they just wished there was an easier way.  Why couldn’t they just be good people and make it to the Promised Land?  After all, they were better than the Egyptians.  Why didn’t their sincerity count for something?  They sincerely wanted to be good and they sincerely wanted to make it to the Promised Land.  Wasn’t that enough?

And this whole “God thing” didn’t make any sense.  They were smart people and they could surely just figure out the best and easiest way to get there.  But Moses kept leading them around in circles.  But every time they relied on something besides God, there was trouble.  And now they are being bitten by deadly poisonous snakes and Moses said that if they were bitten that they could just look to the snake that had been lifted up on the pole.  All they had to do was look up and believe.  Stung by a snake and by a snake they are healed.

Now, fast forward a couple of thousand years to one night in Jerusalem.  Nicodemus has a problem.  In fact, he has several problems.  Not the least of which was that he was a member of the Pharisees who were religious leaders of the Jewish people and, as such, were highly opposed to Jesus and His teachings.  The problem with that, for Nicodemus, was Nic knew that Jesus was speaking the truth.

He couldn’t prove it and it didn’t all make sense yet but worst of all, Nicodemus knew he was lost and dying and so he went to visit Jesus by cover of night.  Let’s pick up that fascinating story in John chapter 3.  I would love to have seen this particular episode of Nic at night.  I can just imagine him slinking through the streets of Jerusalem.  He sees a friend.  “Hey, where you going Nic?”  “Oh, just out for a late-night stroll.  Nowhere really.  Certainly not going to see Jesus or anything like that.  Just walking around.”

A man of his position, he couldn’t afford to be seen with Jesus, so he went at night.  Let’s read it in John 3:1-21.

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” ³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” ⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  ⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.  ¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Today we start a new series simply entitled “The 3:16’s”.  This will be a look at several different books of the New Testament focusing on the third chapter and the 16^th verse.  Throughout this series I hope we will be reminded to focus on Jesus, because, and you will hear me say this throughout, a focus on Jesus will change the church and a Jesus-focused church will change the world.

We are starting with John and going in order to the book of Revelation.  Not every book will be included because, while all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16 by the way) not all of the 3:16’s are focused on Jesus in this way as you can imagine.

In John chapter 3 we see that Nicodemus had his focus on Jesus and it changed his life.  We don’t know what his response was to Jesus that night.  It’s not recorded by John.  But we do see Nic again after Jesus was crucified.  He helped Joseph of Arimathea prepare the body of Jesus for burial, something no unbeliever would dare to have done.

And just think if Nic had not gone to Jesus that night we might not have that most beautiful, powerful and popular verse, perhaps in the entire Bible.  It’s a verse that everybody knows by heart.  Just the reference of “3:16” is enough to put on the sign in the end zone and everybody on TV knows what you are talking about.  Most of us learned it in the King James Version and I still pretty much quote it that way.  Although, as I was telling some the other day, I remember several years ago when we had VBS over in Runaway Bay and the kids were learning that verse as kids have done for years and years.

I just happened to be walking by where they were being taught and the teacher asked me to come lead it.  Well, sure, no problem.  I’d love to.  Except at that moment I couldn’t remember a single word of it.  I froze up until one of the teachers mercifully started with, “For God so loved the world…”

What is it that makes this verse so popular?  Is it because it’s easy to learn?  Well, that doesn’t hurt but there are easier verses that are not quoted nearly as often.  It is because it is the power of the Gospel in a nutshell.  And for Nicodemus and for us this verse and the supporting verses do 3 things.  They tell us that we have a problem.  They tell us how to solve the problem.  And they tell us what our lives will be like afterward.

You may have noticed in Brian’s testimony this morning that he laid out his testimony the same way.  He told how he knew he had a problem.  He told how he came to know Christ and he told what his life had been like since.  Nicodemus came to Jesus with a problem and he didn’t even know how to talk about it but Jesus did.  Jesus knew his heart and so Jesus told him straight up what Nic wanted to know.

Look at verses 2-3.  Nic acknowledges that Jesus is from God and immediately Jesus tells him his problem.  He had to be born again.  John Wesley said that every man born into the world was by nature in a state of sin, condemnation, and misery.  Yea, I’d say that was a problem.  Paul understood it and explained it this way from Galatians 5:24, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

We have to die to the old self, the old man or “the flesh” and be born again.  We were lost and dying in our sins and so we need to become a new creation.  Again, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ…”

So, our problem, as humans, is that we cannot see the kingdom of God.  The solution to that problem is the same as it was for Nicodemus and the same as it was for the Israelites.  Our solution comes when we focus on the One Who was lifted up.  For the Israelites back in Numbers, they had to look up at the snake to be healed from the snakes.  For us, our solution comes when we (who are men and as men are condemned by being born into sin) look up to the Man Who Romans 8:3 says was, “in the likeness of sinful flesh”.  God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

In both cases the remedy is conspicuously displayed; in the one case on a pole, in the other on the cross, to "draw all men unto Him" as John 12:32 says. (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary)  All we have to do is look up to the One Who was lifted up (meaning on the cross and in Glory) and then all we have to do is what?  Jesus said in John 3:16 that all we have to do is believe.

Jonathan Whitfield was preaching to coal miners in England. He asked one man, "What do you believe?" "Well, I believe the same as the church." "And what does the church believe?" "Well, they believe the same as me." Seeing he was getting nowhere, Whitfield said, "And what is it that you both believe?" "Well, I suppose the same thing."  http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/b/belief.htm

This “belief” thing must be pretty important, huh?  Jesus mentions it 7 times just in these few verses.  And I would love to tell you that the word in the original language means something incredible that you never knew but according to my concordance it means just what you think it means:  to trust or to have faith in.  And that is the solution to our problem.  All we have to do is believe in Jesus.

Now we have all heard 1000 sermons about faith or belief and how even the demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God like James 2:19 says.  And you have heard the illustration about having faith in a chair is not true faith until you sit in it and prove your faith.  And all of that is very true.  But I want to tell you that true faith, trust and belief in Jesus Christ is more than just fire insurance.  It’s more than just your get out of hell free card.  Belief in Him is belief that Jesus is everything He said He was and is and everything that He said He was going to do that he will do.

And when you really believe in Jesus then your whole life will change and it will be changed forever!  If Jesus really is Who He says He is then Satan and all the warriors of Hell can drag me down and chew me up and spit me out but I will continue to believe.  I will continue to have faith.  I will continue to trust and I will continue to look up to the Man Who was lifted up because He was and is my only salvation.

So, when Jesus says don’t worry, I will not worry.  When He says to be courageous, I will be courageous.  When He says to go into all the world and make disciples then I will…I will…oh, dear, I will try to do somethi…I don’t know that I can really do that.  I mean that doesn’t really mean me, does it?

Well, do we believe or is that just something pretty that comes out of our mouths?  I say it’s time we believed or else shut up about it because belief involves obedience.  In fact, obedience is the very essence of belief.  Belief means being obedient to what that still, small voice says to you as an individual, not just the 10 Commandments.  Belief means standing up for what the Bible says even when the world says that is intolerance.

This world is going to hell on a sled because it feels right and because they are sincere and because it makes sense to them.  They don’t want to believe in Jesus because they know if they were to commit to that then they would have to change their lifestyle.  And so homosexuals just ignore or try to explain away all of those passages literally from Genesis to Revelation that condemn their lifestyle.  And if you really, really need to get an abortion you can just overlook all those passages from Old Testament to New that forbid that.

But they got one part of it right.  Belief in Jesus will mean a change in lifestyle.  It did for Nicodemus.  It did for the disciples.  It did for Paul and for Brian Amerman and it will for all of us as well.  We know we have a problem.  We know we can’t see the kingdom of God.  And we know what the solution is, don’t we?  It is faith, trust and obedient belief in Jesus Christ as the only Savior.

Isaiah 45, the passage that was read this morning says in verse 22, ““Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”  He is the solution to our problem.  And now we see what our lives will be like afterward.  Look again at John 3:16.  That simple, short favorite of children is so pregnant with meaning it almost explodes off the page!  Jesus says that whoever believes will have eternal life.

And we read that and immediately our thoughts turn to Heaven, and they should.  We have been guaranteed to be joint heirs with Jesus Himself to every good thing that Heaven has to offer.  And I will say again that if we knew how incredible Heaven was going to be we would have a hard time staying here.  I love to think about what Heaven is going to be like! 

But do you know what else eternal life means?  If we believe In Jesus and believe everything He said about Heaven and our eternal life there then one of the huge bonuses we have is peace.  William Barclay says in his commentary that if we have eternal life than that envelopes every relationship we have with peace.  It gives us peace with God.  We no longer have to worry about Him judging us by our works and sending us to a well-deserved Hell.

It gives us peace with others.  As we have been forgiven, so should we forgive.

It gives us peace with life.  No matter what happens to us in this life we can consider it all pure joy as James says, knowing that God is working in our lives to make us more like Him.

And it gives us peace with ourselves.  We all know where we each struggle and we all know that we just can’t do it.  We can’t be good enough.  We can’t love enough.  We can’t forgive enough or tell others enough.  But the peace comes from knowing that the Holy Spirit can do it through us if we are obedient to Him.

Our problem is solved.  We are no longer lost and dying.  All we have to do is look up to the One Who was raised up on the cross for us and just believe.  And when we do then we will have peace in this life and in the eternal life to come.

Today if you have never made the decision to follow Jesus and to believe in Him to change your life and give you peace and eternal joy, then today is the day of salvation.  God so loved you that He gave Jesus to die on the cross to pay the price for your sin that you could never pay.  And all you have to do is believe.  We are not guaranteed another breath.  Please do it today.  I’m going to invite you to do that right now and then we are going to have the Lord’s Supper.