WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.660 Great, well, if you've not been around the last few weeks, it's good to see you here today. 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:16.839 We're carrying on in a series looking at belief, the idea of belief, what that is, what it isn't, in John's Gospel. 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:25.719 And I want to direct you to one particular verse in this passage today, which I think sums up what we see in this section in the Gospel. 00:00:25.980 --> 00:00:29.060 And just drop your eye down to verse 13 there. 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:31.919 Jesus still speaking to Nicodemus. 00:00:32.679 --> 00:00:34.519 Verse 13, he says, 00:00:35.179 --> 00:00:44.320 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.939 It's not an easy verse to understand even in the English, is it? 00:00:50.019 --> 00:00:53.840 But in the original language, it's hard to understand the grammar. 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:59.019 But I want to try and cut to the chase to try and simplify it for you this afternoon. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:13.680 Jesus is saying here, I think, that true belief in him, becoming a genuine follower of Jesus, is about having upside down belief. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:17.540 It is having upside down thinking. 00:01:17.540 --> 00:01:24.840 It is recognising that to go up, there must be a coming down. 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:30.719 That Jesus himself goes up by coming down. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:37.359 He ascends to the glory of heaven by descending. 00:01:38.579 --> 00:01:40.780 And that's the pattern for everyone here. 00:01:40.780 --> 00:01:53.579 He says, doesn't he, no one has ascended to the glory of God's kingdom unless there is first a descent, a coming down. 00:01:53.579 --> 00:02:02.759 And true belief in the context of what we saw last week is grasping that and understanding that and embracing that. 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:09.159 You remember the way that the conversation with Nicodemus starts back in chapter 2. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:11.379 You can flick back there later if you want to. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:21.300 Nicodemus comes to Jesus and he says, we know, doesn't he, we know that you, Jesus, are a teacher come from God. 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:28.900 And we thought last week, didn't we, about how that shows Nicodemus' pride really. 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:32.340 As if to say, we've got you pinned down, Jesus. 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:34.080 We know who you are. 00:02:34.740 --> 00:02:36.200 And we've got the intellect. 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.880 We've got the wherewithal to work you out. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:52.259 It came from a place of arrogance, of human pride in reaching the highest heights of heaven in religion and in reasoning and in human deduction. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:59.759 In thinking that we can ascend by ourselves, we know who you are, Jesus. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:02.759 But Jesus demolishes that view, doesn't he? 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:11.939 He says, to have any interest in heaven, in the kingdom of God, you've got to be born from above, Nicodemus. 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:25.699 You on earth, in your fleshy creatureliness, in your natural resistance to God, are stuck, I'm afraid, Jesus says, with your feet firmly in the dust. 00:03:25.699 --> 00:03:36.619 What you have naturally is totally inadequate to know who I am and to even see the kingdom of God, let alone ascend to it. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.939 Human beings cannot ascend in their own natural strength. 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.359 And so already we start to see this idea, don't we? 00:03:46.659 --> 00:03:51.280 To go up, something needs to come down. 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:54.759 Something needs to descend. 00:03:55.699 --> 00:03:57.500 From heaven to us. 00:03:58.299 --> 00:04:00.859 And affect our identity and our very existence. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:05.379 What you need, Jesus says, is a birth from above. 00:04:06.839 --> 00:04:11.979 A mysterious spiritual transformation by the Holy Spirit. 00:04:14.139 --> 00:04:19.180 But if all of that sounds strange, we ask, don't we, how does that actually work? 00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:21.819 It sounds quite abstract. 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:25.279 And that is what Nicodemus asks in verse 9, isn't it? 00:04:25.699 --> 00:04:28.259 How can these things be, Jesus? 00:04:30.300 --> 00:04:35.779 And Jesus gives some answers, and I want to run through them quickly and give some conclusions at the end. 00:04:35.779 --> 00:04:38.379 The new birth that comes from above. 00:04:38.379 --> 00:04:43.079 The new birth that comes from above and affects a person as they truly believe. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:48.619 Comes down for a person when the message of God descends. 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:51.519 When the message of God descends. 00:04:52.379 --> 00:04:53.719 And just look at verse 11. 00:04:53.720 --> 00:05:00.060 Truly, truly, truly, we speak of what we know. 00:05:01.060 --> 00:05:02.020 And Jesus says. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:07.420 Truly, truly, it's literally, amen, amen. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:12.260 And whenever Jesus says that, it kind of brings emphasis, doesn't it? 00:05:12.259 --> 00:05:14.219 We kind of listen to what he's saying. 00:05:14.219 --> 00:05:15.019 Truly, truly. 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:19.740 But as well as that, it's a mark in speech. 00:05:20.779 --> 00:05:24.219 It marks a change in the tone of the conversation. 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:28.579 It marks a different level of discourse. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:34.500 Jesus says, I am going to speak to you, Nicodemus, now. 00:05:34.500 --> 00:05:38.420 On a completely different level from what you're used to. 00:05:39.540 --> 00:05:41.939 I'm going to speak of heavenly things. 00:05:43.019 --> 00:05:45.399 Speak of things on a different order. 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:47.860 In a language that you're not used to hearing. 00:05:48.060 --> 00:05:51.879 In categories that you're not used to listening to. 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:56.300 If you watch The Lord of the Rings, it's like the scene when the Fellowship of the Ring, 00:05:56.420 --> 00:05:58.680 just kind of before the first movie gets going. 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:04.480 They're all gathered around the ring, trying to work out who is going to take it to Mount Doom, aren't they? 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:06.779 And they're all arguing amongst themselves. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:07.500 They're all babbling. 00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:09.439 And Gandalf, he's really fed up with it. 00:06:09.540 --> 00:06:13.839 And he takes this deep breath and opens his arms up. 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:17.819 And he bellows in the language of Mordor. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:20.519 And they all cower, don't they? 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:22.079 They've never heard it before. 00:06:23.180 --> 00:06:28.439 And Jesus roars here, truly, truly, amen, amen. 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:34.439 Not in the language of Mordor, but as the final witness from heaven. 00:06:35.459 --> 00:06:39.259 To teach us things of heaven. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:44.579 To teach us the categories of things that we've never understood before. 00:06:44.779 --> 00:06:50.920 And it's a clever retort, isn't it, to what Nicodemus says way back in chapter 2. 00:06:51.019 --> 00:06:52.500 Do you remember how he starts? 00:06:53.019 --> 00:06:54.019 We know Jesus. 00:06:54.019 --> 00:07:01.359 Truly, truly, truly, we speak of what we know, Jesus says. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:13.080 Jesus, by comparison of your earthly knowledge, Nicodemus, is going to give you an insight into heavenly things. 00:07:13.079 --> 00:07:22.019 Way above and beyond your philosophical, religious, and rational thoughts. 00:07:22.019 --> 00:07:27.379 I'm going to take you outside of your echo chamber, Nicodemus. 00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:33.060 And give you a message from heaven itself, descending to you. 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:39.620 He speaks of a superior message that he has, that he's shared with his disciples. 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:41.639 That's the we there. 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:45.160 A revelation that comes in him. 00:07:45.959 --> 00:07:48.899 The descended one from heaven. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:53.240 The person that came into the world from being with the Father. 00:07:53.379 --> 00:07:54.420 He descended. 00:07:54.420 --> 00:07:58.840 And so, notice the conversation from verse 11. 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.100 It changes, actually, from being a conversation at all. 00:08:04.080 --> 00:08:06.000 And it changes to a monologue. 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:07.259 See that? 00:08:07.520 --> 00:08:10.960 Nicodemus doesn't say anything, obviously, at this point. 00:08:12.340 --> 00:08:18.700 Because what we need to realise is that in order to go up, to ascend to the kingdom of heaven, 00:08:18.699 --> 00:08:24.579 he must come down, and he must speak from heaven to us. 00:08:25.699 --> 00:08:31.219 Not just as a messenger, but as the message itself, himself. 00:08:32.939 --> 00:08:41.799 And for the new birth to happen in your life, you need this voice coming down from heaven in the person of Jesus. 00:08:42.379 --> 00:08:44.259 No other voices matter. 00:08:45.539 --> 00:08:47.379 The message descends. 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:52.080 Secondly, in this new birth, what else happens? 00:08:53.220 --> 00:08:54.220 The message descends. 00:08:54.400 --> 00:08:57.840 Secondly, the life of God descends to us. 00:08:57.920 --> 00:08:59.000 Look at verse 14. 00:08:59.940 --> 00:09:04.520 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:10.560 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 00:09:11.900 --> 00:09:14.220 That's a funny illustration, isn't it? 00:09:14.259 --> 00:09:15.360 What's he talking about? 00:09:15.580 --> 00:09:16.780 Serpents in the wilderness. 00:09:16.779 --> 00:09:24.399 He draws on something that happened in the life of God's people back in Numbers. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:25.740 Numbers chapter 21. 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:30.419 And in that story, God's people were dying. 00:09:30.419 --> 00:09:33.479 They turned from God. 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:37.500 And as a punishment, they were being bitten by snakes. 00:09:37.500 --> 00:09:48.580 And God, as a way of rescuing them, tells Moses, lift up a bronze serpent on a pole and get the people to look at the serpent. 00:09:48.580 --> 00:09:52.120 And they will be healed if they will be healed if they will be healed if they will be healed if they do that. 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:54.680 God was saying, wasn't he? 00:09:54.740 --> 00:10:00.540 I am able and willing to give them life and to heal them. 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:04.240 And it was about faith in God's promise to do that. 00:10:04.300 --> 00:10:08.620 To simply look at this bronze serpent and be rescued and to be given life. 00:10:08.620 --> 00:10:12.620 The bronze serpent lifted up. 00:10:14.139 --> 00:10:19.100 And Jesus uses that illustration to speak of the life that is in him. 00:10:19.639 --> 00:10:21.480 The descended one. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.899 The son of man lifted up. 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:26.840 For all to look to. 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:31.259 But it is strange, isn't it? 00:10:31.740 --> 00:10:35.300 How Jesus speaks of this lifting up. 00:10:36.280 --> 00:10:37.200 To look at him. 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:38.080 To trust in him. 00:10:38.180 --> 00:10:39.060 To live. 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:46.600 What he means by him being lifted up here is strange. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:52.040 To be lifted up implies being kind of put on display, doesn't it? 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:56.700 To being put on public view like the bronze serpent was. 00:10:57.800 --> 00:10:59.160 It means being put on display. 00:10:59.280 --> 00:11:03.920 Part of a means of receiving recognition and honour and even glory. 00:11:05.019 --> 00:11:06.639 But as you go through the Gospels. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:10.519 And as you see the way that Jesus describes this lifting up. 00:11:10.620 --> 00:11:11.800 It has a double meaning. 00:11:12.800 --> 00:11:18.340 The lifting up also refers to Jesus' being lifted up on the cross. 00:11:19.060 --> 00:11:20.180 In his death. 00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:23.940 And so it's really intriguing, isn't it? 00:11:23.940 --> 00:11:27.500 That Jesus and the way that John presents his own death. 00:11:28.980 --> 00:11:35.800 The moment of his worst failure in ministry is the moment of his greatest glory. 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:38.879 It sounds contradictory, doesn't it? 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:39.879 His cross. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:41.359 His death. 00:11:41.539 --> 00:11:44.459 Is not presented here as his humiliation. 00:11:45.319 --> 00:11:47.120 But as his lifting up. 00:11:47.259 --> 00:11:48.399 As his glorification. 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:50.779 As a presentation. 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:55.459 As a display of God's gift of life. 00:11:55.460 --> 00:12:00.500 Looking at a mutilated body. 00:12:00.920 --> 00:12:02.460 Dying on a cross. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:06.120 That is the last thing that goes through our mind, isn't it? 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:07.740 As we look at him there. 00:12:07.740 --> 00:12:11.620 It's the same for God's people in the wilderness. 00:12:11.620 --> 00:12:13.899 As they were suffering from snake bites. 00:12:14.060 --> 00:12:17.560 The last thing they wanted to see was a snake on a pole. 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:24.019 But that is why belief in Jesus is kind of upside down, isn't it? 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:29.460 That the ascent is in the descent. 00:12:29.460 --> 00:12:34.900 Where at his lowest he is gaining the highest victory. 00:12:35.580 --> 00:12:42.500 It explains the words, so must the son of man be lifted up in verse 14. 00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:46.700 In other words, it has to be like this. 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:53.080 That life and ascent into God's kingdom for anybody. 00:12:53.940 --> 00:12:57.019 Comes through the means of his descent. 00:12:57.019 --> 00:13:02.519 A descent even to the point of utter shame and weakness and death. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:07.799 If you go back to last week, if you remember those people. 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:12.600 The many who believed in the signs that Jesus showed. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:18.639 It kind of helps us understand why that belief wasn't genuine in the end. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:25.740 Because that belief was based exclusively on these outward signs of great power. 00:13:25.740 --> 00:13:27.539 That Jesus showed. 00:13:28.980 --> 00:13:34.039 But true belief, real Christian belief, is belief in the one who descends. 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:39.460 The one who descends to the dust on which we are ensnared. 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:44.620 It is a belief, isn't it, that recognises with John here. 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:50.139 That power in Jesus is most seen in his powerlessness. 00:13:51.980 --> 00:13:56.799 Whose lifting up, whose glory is in his going down. 00:13:58.460 --> 00:14:01.799 Life is found in his descent to death. 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:05.060 The life of God that descends. 00:14:05.059 --> 00:14:08.519 So the message of God, the life of God. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:12.219 Thirdly, the love of God that descends. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:15.139 John 3, 16. 00:14:16.059 --> 00:14:19.259 Probably the most famous Bible verse, isn't it? 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:21.119 And everyone knows it. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:27.799 I want to show you, if I can, that the overwhelming emphasis from John in that verse. 00:14:27.799 --> 00:14:31.740 And in this section is the love of God. 00:14:33.219 --> 00:14:36.299 The important word in John 3, 16. 00:14:36.379 --> 00:14:37.719 I don't know if you've ever noticed it. 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:40.019 It's the little two-letter word. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:41.240 So. 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:49.039 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:53.840 Now, if you delete that word, it kind of still makes sense, doesn't it? 00:14:54.820 --> 00:14:58.539 For God loved the world that he gave his one and only son. 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:04.180 So by adding that little word so in there, what is John trying to show us here? 00:15:05.379 --> 00:15:09.840 He's trying to give us a measurement of God's love, isn't he? 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:16.800 God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son. 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:23.480 He wants to show us the quantity, the quality, the measurement of God's love, doesn't he, here? 00:15:24.980 --> 00:15:29.600 And he does that by showing a switch in the name given to Jesus. 00:15:29.920 --> 00:15:31.399 Just look at verse 15. 00:15:31.780 --> 00:15:33.080 How is Jesus described? 00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:35.900 He is the son of man, isn't he? 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:40.439 It's a title from the Old Testament, from the book of Daniel. 00:15:41.079 --> 00:15:45.019 It speaks of the great God, man, the king, the Messiah. 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:53.360 But that name, it changes in John 3, 16 to the only son, isn't it? 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:56.539 To God's only son. 00:15:56.539 --> 00:16:11.620 It draws out a measurement of the love of God the Father as he sends, as he gives, not just a great king or a Messiah to rescue us, 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:18.259 but his only son to descend into the world to give life in his death. 00:16:18.259 --> 00:16:26.379 In the eternal counsels of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:31.240 This sending, this giving was a mutual decision. 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:37.039 It's not that God the Father kind of throws the son to the wolves against his will. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:41.919 But this giving, it is a handing over. 00:16:42.439 --> 00:16:43.639 It is a surrendering. 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:53.519 It is a gifting of God's most precious possession, his only son, in whom he's well pleased. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:57.740 You know, I'd really have to think about it. 00:16:57.740 --> 00:17:06.240 I'd really struggle to think of any single person in this world that I'd be willing to exchange the life of my son for. 00:17:07.140 --> 00:17:08.720 Let alone the whole world. 00:17:11.099 --> 00:17:16.480 He says, doesn't he, in verse 17, God sent his son not to condemn the world. 00:17:17.900 --> 00:17:23.980 It's true that Jesus did bring judgment, but he wants to emphasize this intention in God, his love. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:26.120 This side of the mission. 00:17:27.740 --> 00:17:31.059 The only judgment is that people refuse to acknowledge this love. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:37.559 So God's love descends in the person of Christ. 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:40.599 Now I want to try and draw these three things together if we can. 00:17:41.660 --> 00:17:48.339 This idea of ascending and descending is all throughout the Bible actually. 00:17:48.339 --> 00:17:57.819 This language of kind of going up and coming down helps us to understand that the gulf that is between us and God. 00:17:59.399 --> 00:18:01.639 Ascending the mountain of the Lord. 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:03.139 We get that a lot, don't we? 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.439 To be in his presence. 00:18:05.659 --> 00:18:08.500 It illustrates the transcendence of God. 00:18:08.500 --> 00:18:12.660 And who can climb that distance? 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:16.559 Who can ascend into the kingdom of God? 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:20.200 There's a guy called John Cracker. 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:22.539 He's an experienced mountaineer. 00:18:22.539 --> 00:18:31.559 And he was part of an ill-fated expedition up Everest in 1996 where 12 people died. 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:33.819 I'm trying to get to the summit of Everest. 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:36.420 He's managed it many times. 00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:44.359 And he's written about what he's noticed of the kind of people who think they can ascend the mighty mountain of Everest by themselves. 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:55.299 He says Everest has always been a magnet for kooks, publicity seekers, hopeless romantics and others with a shaky hold on reality. 00:18:56.879 --> 00:19:08.599 And if that is true of Mount Everest, how much more true is it of the mountain of God to ascend into heaven? 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:16.839 If we think that we can do that, we've got an even more shaky hold on reality, haven't we? 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:20.199 We cannot go up. 00:19:21.179 --> 00:19:23.240 We cannot ascend there. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:28.879 But there is one, isn't there, who comes down. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:34.299 Who is the descended message from God. 00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:39.399 His life, his love, all coming down to us. 00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:43.980 And this is how the new birth happens. 00:19:45.099 --> 00:19:52.299 As people receive him, his message, his life, his love in the person of Jesus. 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:57.359 True belief involves this new birth. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.460 And we could think it's kind of abstract, couldn't we? 00:20:00.460 --> 00:20:04.920 It's this transcendent spiritual phenomenon or experience. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:09.420 But the new birth is not anonymous. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:12.420 It's not a faceless thing. 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:20.759 It's not that we need something to come down from heaven, from above, to transform us and bring us up. 00:20:20.840 --> 00:20:22.120 It's that we need someone. 00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:27.720 This new birth, it's kind of got a face. 00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:30.039 It's about a person. 00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:35.860 It happens in Jesus Christ. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.880 The new birth has got flesh on it, in a way. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:45.740 So, if you're left thinking that this new birth stuff is just beyond me, I don't get it. 00:20:46.860 --> 00:20:50.759 As we saw last week, we can't do genuine belief, can we? 00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:52.400 It's far above us. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:57.580 But Jesus Christ, he puts flesh on the whole experience. 00:20:57.800 --> 00:21:05.060 And when we can't go up, we must go to this person who has come down. 00:21:05.059 --> 00:21:17.179 To trust him as the embodiment of the message and of the life and the love of God, descending down from the top of the mountain to bring us up. 00:21:17.180 --> 00:21:20.200 Let's pray together. 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:20.200