WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.060 From a barstool to that Evanrood, from Sunday morning in a church pew to a deer stand, 00:00:08.060 --> 00:00:14.179 ! or in a hayfield, or an interstate back to Nashville, in a Chevrolet with the windows 00:00:14.179 --> 00:00:22.179 ! Me and him just riding around. Sometimes, whether I'm looking for him or not, that's 00:00:22.179 --> 00:00:29.960 where I find God. If you're not into Larry Fleet, you should be. He's a country singer, 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:34.060 but that is the chorus of one of his songs, Where I Find God, where he talks about all 00:00:34.060 --> 00:00:43.760 the different places where he meets God. But what actually happens when you come face to 00:00:43.760 --> 00:00:49.579 face with the living God? Yes, he's everywhere in the world that he made by his Holy Spirit. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:56.480 He's present everywhere. But what happens when you come face to face with him? We said last 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:01.259 week there's a renewed interest in our culture in God. But what would it look like? What 00:01:01.259 --> 00:01:07.620 actually happens when you meet him? We can talk about him. We can talk about it as a concept. 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:15.379 We can lament the things about what a relationship with him brings that are missing from our culture 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:21.420 today. We can think about the cultural influence and say, you know, it might be better if we 00:01:21.420 --> 00:01:30.820 recovered some of that. But at root, what actually happens when an individual meets God? Well, the God 00:01:30.820 --> 00:01:38.140 of heaven came to earth. The eternal Word became flesh in the person of Jesus, and he showed us. 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:44.640 That's where we started last week in the evenings in this short series we're doing where people come 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:50.739 face to face and meet God. And in John chapter 3 this evening, he meets a man called Nicodemus. 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:56.040 Nicodemus, what kind of person was this man? Well, we're told straight off in verse 1. Can you see 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:02.060 chapter 3 verse 1? Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 00:02:02.859 --> 00:02:07.620 There's quite a lot actually packed into that seven or eight word biography. On the one hand, 00:02:07.659 --> 00:02:13.300 we're told Nicodemus is a Pharisee. That means he's a member of a religious party that were fastidious 00:02:13.300 --> 00:02:20.360 about keeping laws that they had added to biblical law. In that respect, he is highly moral and 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:26.600 religious. On the other hand, we're told that he's a ruler of the Jews. This meant that he was part of 00:02:26.600 --> 00:02:34.800 the governing, ruling elite of the day. He is, as one commentator says, wealthy, powerful, and born into 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:42.460 an honorable and influential aristocratic family. Nicodemus, therefore, is at the center of the Judaism 00:02:42.460 --> 00:02:49.420 of the day, and he represents that world most clearly. Now alongside this, we're also told then 00:02:49.420 --> 00:02:58.159 in verse 2 that he came to Jesus by night. Can you see that? Jesus, this man came to Jesus by night 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:04.460 and said to him, Rabbi, we know, etc., etc. He came by night. That detail is not random. One of the themes 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:10.580 that John has emphasized at the start of his gospel is the contrast between darkness and light. If you read 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:16.460 chapter 1, that's very clear, darkness and light. That contrast is important in John's gospel. Jesus is 00:03:16.460 --> 00:03:23.360 the light that comes and shines into the darkness, a darkness that has not received him. So the fact 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:30.400 that this meeting happens in the dark shows where Nicodemus stands. He is a representative of collective 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:37.379 religious and cultural opposition to Jesus. And this is borne out in the way he speaks. Verse 2 again, 00:03:38.040 --> 00:03:48.080 Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs unless God is with him. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:54.920 That's a kind of tone that I think we should read that. Now some paint Nicodemus as a genuine 00:03:54.919 --> 00:04:01.619 inquirer, a humble man who comes to Jesus quietly. It would have been shameful for him to come publicly 00:04:01.619 --> 00:04:08.239 to see him. So he finds a time at night and he comes to him genuinely looking into the truth about 00:04:08.239 --> 00:04:16.899 Jesus. But that's not the case. His question comes with that kind of faux flattery that you get someone 00:04:16.899 --> 00:04:21.879 who thinks that they're superior to the person that they're speaking to. A certain kind of English person 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:27.939 does this. It's a cultural thing. Now, of course you'd know this better than me, they might say, when they know 00:04:27.939 --> 00:04:34.759 full well that they don't think you know more than them about this. Effusive praise of somebody. Flattery that 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:41.959 they don't really mean. It's that kind of thing. He's not being genuine in the way he says it. But the second part 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:51.300 of the statement is combative and mocking. No one can do these signs unless God is with him. The implication being, 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:58.800 remember, I'm one of the Pharisees, I'm one of this religious elite. God is with my group, not your group. 00:04:59.020 --> 00:05:08.580 You must be a fraud. That's the implication. Now, here's the thing. As a religious figure, Nicodemus has all 00:05:08.580 --> 00:05:16.680 the credentials. As a man, he has all the wealth and all the status. All the religious credentials, 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:25.680 all the wealth, and all the status. But he comes to Jesus on his own terms, and he demands that Jesus 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:33.720 explains himself. He stands in judgment on Jesus in the way he asks his question. And he approaches him 00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:38.980 as he would have approached every other situation in life, assuming that he has the control. 00:05:38.980 --> 00:05:44.740 He has the power, and he is the one who is in charge in this exchange. 00:05:47.060 --> 00:05:53.100 Because of this, the narrative shows us that he doesn't just come at night, but he is actually in 00:05:53.100 --> 00:06:00.700 the dark, spiritually speaking. And the narrative does this, depicting Nicodemus in this way, 00:06:00.699 --> 00:06:09.060 showing him coming in this particular posture, with this particular posture, in order to show us that that 00:06:09.060 --> 00:06:18.620 same posture resides in every human heart. Now, the way that it is expressed will be different, but the idea 00:06:18.620 --> 00:06:26.219 that we are in charge in God's world, and that we come to God insisting that he meets our demands, 00:06:26.220 --> 00:06:40.220 is expressed in every human heart. If you're real, then do this. That kind of demand. Or, let me read the 00:06:40.220 --> 00:06:47.020 Bible, this is your word, well, I will be the judge as to whether or not I will accept this. What is that 00:06:47.019 --> 00:06:57.620 if it is not standing in authority over God? Making yourself God in God's world is the essence of sin. 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:05.539 That is the posture of all of our hearts. It's the default setting of the human heart. So, the question 00:07:05.539 --> 00:07:13.019 is, well, when you come to God like this, what does he do with that posture? Point number one, he confronts. 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:19.459 He confronts. Look at verse 3. Nicodemus comes with this posture, and Jesus says, truly, truly, 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:26.479 that is, he's saying, this comes with all of my authority. Thus says the Lord, I say to you, 00:07:26.819 --> 00:07:35.279 unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless you are born again, unless you are born 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:41.740 anew, or from above, the word could be translated that way, you cannot see God, and you cannot be part 00:07:41.740 --> 00:07:50.079 of his realm. Nicodemus laughs it off. Verse 4, don't be daft. Don't be daft. You can't be reborn. 00:07:51.060 --> 00:07:58.220 It's impossible. He thinks it's absurd. So, Jesus repeats himself. Verse 5, truly, truly, same authority, 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:04.699 I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 00:08:04.699 --> 00:08:11.500 Being born again and being born of the water and the Spirit is two ways of saying the same thing. And 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:17.139 Jesus here is alluding to Ezekiel 36. These are scriptures that Nicodemus should have known, 00:08:17.620 --> 00:08:23.519 and the passage in particular, Ezekiel 36, 24 and following, where God promises cleansing with clean 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:30.159 water and a new heart and a new spirit when his Messiah comes, and he's saying that this miracle of 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:38.680 God is what is needed to enter his kingdom. You can only know God, you can only see his kingdom, 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:45.320 you can only be in a relationship with him if you have received this radical new birth that brings 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:56.240 cleansing from sin and complete renewal. And it is from above. What that means is only God can give it. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:06.460 The Spirit, verse 8, the Spirit who we can't control, he blows where he will, he is the only one who does 00:09:06.460 --> 00:09:13.240 this work. You can't achieve it yourself. Now, that would have been utterly scandalous to Nicodemus. 00:09:15.180 --> 00:09:21.419 Nicodemus couldn't be better credentialed. Every room Nicodemus went into, he was at the top table. 00:09:21.419 --> 00:09:27.860 If he needed something in church circles, he would make the necessary call and people would jump to his 00:09:27.860 --> 00:09:35.240 demands. Like an American megachurch pastor, if he put his hand out, somebody put what he needed into 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:39.719 his hand. Wherever he walked, there was somebody behind him providing what he needed. In religious 00:09:39.719 --> 00:09:45.519 circles, he had a bag man, he had all that kind of stuff. If he wanted something in every other context 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:53.199 that he went into, he had the wealth and he had the status to get it. I've met some rich people and they 00:09:53.199 --> 00:10:00.120 don't live like the rest of us. They don't. The normal rules don't apply. They get whatever they want. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:10.279 For Nicodemus, there wasn't a door that he couldn't open until now. Because here is a door that no one can 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:15.879 open. No religious credentials can open it. No wealth can open it. And no level of status can open it. 00:10:17.159 --> 00:10:24.039 There isn't a contact on earth. There isn't an amount of money that you can pay. There are no 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:30.159 credentials that you can leverage to get past this particular rope, to get right with the living God. 00:10:31.299 --> 00:10:34.360 Because of our sin, when we meet God, he confronts us. 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:45.100 You can't do it yourself, he says. And what happens? When we're being told that we are excluded 00:10:45.100 --> 00:10:51.060 because of our sin, it is very uncomfortable. And Jesus goes on. He then turns the tables. Do you see 00:10:51.060 --> 00:10:58.399 on Nicodemus, verse 10, are you the teacher of Israel and you don't understand these things? 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:04.639 Oh, great religious credentialed man, you don't understand all this stuff that's in your Old 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:13.699 Testament Scriptures? It's a put down. And he goes on. We speak of what we know. Only the divine 00:11:13.699 --> 00:11:18.539 Son can speak in the plural of Himself in this way because only He has experienced, verse 12, 00:11:19.059 --> 00:11:25.340 the heavenly things. And only He has come from that place, verse 13, descending to the earth. 00:11:25.340 --> 00:11:33.000 Only He can make God known. There is only one person you know who has the authority to tell us 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:39.360 about God and to tell us about what God requires, and it is His eternal Son who has come to us from 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:46.639 His very presence and is, in fact, God Himself. I was in a situation a while back where I was being 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:52.240 accused of saying some things, and because I had said those things, I clearly meant these things. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:57.620 I said this, so I must have meant this, and therefore that made me this kind of person. 00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:02.440 That's the way it goes, isn't it? When somebody accuses you of something, what they're saying is, 00:12:02.560 --> 00:12:08.560 you are this kind of person. I said in reply, I am not an expert in lots of things, let me tell you. 00:12:09.259 --> 00:12:15.419 But if I am an expert in anything, it is me and what I think about things. 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:24.399 There is only one true expert in what God is like and what He thinks. There is only one expert in what 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:33.699 God requires, and that is Him. And He has made that known. He has made it known to us by coming to us 00:12:33.699 --> 00:12:40.000 in the person of His Son. Apart from Him, we are ignorant. We are ignorant of the things of God, 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:46.639 and we are stuck, and we are cut off from God without hope in the world. But He has come. 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:52.940 And He has come for a reason. Can you see it? It's there in verse 14. What does He say? 00:12:53.879 --> 00:12:58.820 As Moses was lifted up, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:05.340 so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. 00:13:05.340 --> 00:13:11.580 He's doing it again. He's referred to Old Testament Scriptures that Nicodemus should have known, 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:17.000 and He's referring again to the Old Testament. The Son of Man, He's saying, has come from the courts 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:25.460 of heaven to be lifted up. Lifted up in the same way that in Numbers chapter 21 in the Old Testament, 00:13:25.620 --> 00:13:31.420 when rebellious Israel were given the hope of healing by looking in faith to Moses' staff when it was 00:13:31.419 --> 00:13:39.819 raised up and the staff was like a bronze serpent, so Jesus has also come to be lifted up. Jesus, 00:13:39.959 --> 00:13:46.639 the Son of Man, He's come to be lifted up. Not something that He would hold in His hand in the 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:53.019 shape of a bronze serpent, but lifted up on the cross. And in being lifted up on the cross, 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:59.099 He would bring eternal life to those who look to Him in faith. Back in Numbers 21, 00:13:59.100 --> 00:14:02.620 if people looked in faith to the bronze serpent, they would be healed physically. 00:14:03.940 --> 00:14:08.480 Well, Jesus is lifted up so that those who would look to Him in faith, believe in Him, 00:14:09.420 --> 00:14:14.920 would receive eternal life. Yes, there's a confrontation. When you meet God in your sin, 00:14:14.980 --> 00:14:19.340 He confronts you. But here we see a shaft of light has broken through. 00:14:19.340 --> 00:14:28.240 Jesus doesn't leave Nicodemus. He doesn't leave us in the depths. And we read on. Secondly, 00:14:29.019 --> 00:14:34.740 what does He do? He confronts, but secondly, He comforts. He comforts. Verse 16, 00:14:34.740 --> 00:14:42.580 for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, 00:14:42.680 --> 00:14:49.580 but have eternal life. Now, whether these verses are the words of Jesus Himself or of John expanding 00:14:49.580 --> 00:14:56.019 on what Jesus has said in verse 15, we don't know. But this verse is the beating heart of all Christian 00:14:56.019 --> 00:15:01.039 truth. It is the most famous verse in the Bible. You might be in here this evening for the first time. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:05.480 I think it's unlikely. Even if that's you, the first time you've ever been in a church that you 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:13.839 haven't come across that verse. And it's famous because it switches the light on. Metaphorically, 00:15:13.899 --> 00:15:19.039 it switches the light on. Nicodemus is still in the dark, but it reveals the unseen motivation behind 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:26.719 all that is going on in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. What is the motivation? The motivation 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:34.600 of it all is the love of God. In the darkness of the world embodied here by Nicodemus, God's intentions 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:41.779 are revealed. This verse gives us the expression of His love. He sent His unique Son into the world, 00:15:42.180 --> 00:15:49.240 into this place of rebellion that has so willfully rejected Him. The expression of His love is also then 00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:58.279 qualified by the purpose of His love that all He's done this, that all who believe in Him would not perish, 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:00.080 but have eternal life. 00:16:03.379 --> 00:16:10.039 The darkness and sin of the world are going to be judged, but God has provided a way out, 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:20.980 and that provision is life. Here is the answer to the empty or performative religion that Nicodemus 00:16:20.980 --> 00:16:29.459 represented. All of that scrupulosity about morality and about religious observance, here is the answer. 00:16:30.139 --> 00:16:35.659 And here is the answer to the darkness of our proud and self-reliant human hearts, 00:16:35.659 --> 00:16:44.339 the love of God. That's the answer. When we are confronted as we are by Jesus' verdict here, 00:16:44.419 --> 00:16:51.219 for honest, our hearts recoil. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on. When we are exposed, 00:16:51.319 --> 00:16:56.899 when our pride is exposed in this way, as Jesus does it, we feel aggrieved. There's something in all 00:16:56.899 --> 00:17:05.019 of us that says, hang on a minute. When our true condition is laid bare as it is here, and we think 00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:12.960 either, how dare you, Jesus Christ, because we're still proud, or we think, you know what, you're 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:18.960 right. What on earth can I do about the fact that my heart is like this? Well, God has provided a 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:25.480 solution. He has provided a way out. God has provided in His Son the comfort of His love. 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:39.440 And there is only one way out. Verse 16, believe in Him. That is the only way to not perish, but have 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:50.120 eternal life. And you know, when you think about it for a moment, at its most basic, when you boil it all 00:17:50.119 --> 00:17:59.659 the way down, that is the answer to absolutely every problem we face in life. That's not an exaggeration 00:17:59.659 --> 00:18:06.079 to say that. If you think about it, most of our emotional struggles, many of the things that we 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:14.459 would put in the category are mental health. They come back to issues about identity. We don't feel 00:18:14.460 --> 00:18:19.140 good enough. We don't feel worthy enough. We don't feel strong enough or successful enough. 00:18:19.819 --> 00:18:27.460 We don't feel like we measure up in some way. And our identity is then kind of picked at and unraveled, 00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:35.279 and we come unstuck. Well, here's the thing. God loves you. The God of heaven and earth, who made it all 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:44.100 with a word, and who holds eternity in His hands, tells you that He loves you. So, what does it matter 00:18:44.099 --> 00:18:49.500 what other people think? And do you know what? It doesn't even matter what you think about yourself, 00:18:50.219 --> 00:18:56.639 or what your CV says about you, or what your life achievements do or do not reflect about what you've 00:18:56.639 --> 00:19:02.699 managed to do, because the objective, true, only opinion that matters, because it is the only opinion 00:19:02.699 --> 00:19:11.799 that determines your life or your future, and eternity is a very long time, is that you are loved. 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:22.779 If that reality gets in there and in there and then from there to there, if you can get that into your 00:19:22.779 --> 00:19:32.359 heart, it transforms everything. Lots of us struggle in other ways. We worry about the future. We're uncertain 00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:41.259 about the future. Well, however hard things might get, in the Lord Jesus, eternity is open up before you, 00:19:42.199 --> 00:19:47.439 and eternity in the presence of His love and His acceptance and His blessedness that the children 00:19:47.439 --> 00:19:56.639 were hearing about. What about the fear of death? Lots of us struggle with the fear of death. Death is now 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:04.560 just a bump in the road to eternity. Can you see we could go on and on? At its most basic, the love of God 00:20:04.560 --> 00:20:12.580 for you is the answer to almost every problem we face in life. I don't know if you remember, 00:20:14.020 --> 00:20:17.660 one of the greatest pieces of television in the history of the world, it was about five and a half 00:20:17.660 --> 00:20:22.540 years ago, Tyson Fury, the boxer, was nominated for Sports Personality of the Year, 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:27.539 and apparently he'd said something on Twitter that annoyed people. They wanted him cancelled from the 00:20:27.539 --> 00:20:33.599 show, and the BBC went to his house, and the reporter caught him as he was driving out of his 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:41.299 house in a little van. You remember this? And the guy goes up and he says, Tyson, it's the BBC, and he 00:20:41.299 --> 00:20:46.779 sticks a microphone in the window of the van. Tyson, it's the BBC. Do you have anything to say to the 00:20:46.779 --> 00:20:52.500 people who want you off the Sports Personality of the Year shortlist? Believe in the Lord Jesus, 00:20:52.539 --> 00:20:59.119 Christ, and you will be saved. What about you being stripped of your belts? You must be very unhappy 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:06.299 with that. What's your reaction to that? Jesus loves me. He loves you too. He loves you too. He loves 00:21:06.299 --> 00:21:11.180 these guys in here with me. All you've got to do is repent of your sins, and you will be forgiven. 00:21:13.079 --> 00:21:16.099 Do you believe you can win spotty? Do you want to win spotty? 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:18.159 John 3, 16. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:23.240 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him, and he got it mixed up, 00:21:23.259 --> 00:21:26.319 he said, He shall have eternal life and shall not perish. 00:21:27.719 --> 00:21:31.579 Well, there's been a lot of criticism, Tyson, from people signing petitions, the Scottish National, 00:21:31.619 --> 00:21:34.939 all sorts of people. Just give us your take. Do you stand by your comments? 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:38.719 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:44.480 It's a great bit of television, but here's the thing. It is also wonderful pastoral theology. 00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:49.960 Think what you like about Tyson, but in that moment, he spoke truth. 00:21:51.620 --> 00:21:56.640 He's saying, I don't care about anyone's opinion. I don't care about losing my belts. I don't care 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:02.920 because Jesus loves me. And the same is true for every struggle that we might have. When you strip it 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:10.860 all back, the answer to that struggle is the love of God in Jesus Christ. God sent them into the world. 00:22:10.980 --> 00:22:18.820 Verse 17, can you see? Not to bring condemnation, but salvation. And whoever, whoever, 00:22:19.820 --> 00:22:26.460 Nicodemus is the embodiment of every kind of rebellion against God, whoever, and you fit into that whoever, 00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:35.700 whoever, whoever believes is not condemned. If you don't take the offer, if you don't listen to Tyson 00:22:35.700 --> 00:22:42.740 Fury, if you choose darkness rather than light, verse 19, well, the alternative is clear. Look at verse 18. 00:22:43.319 --> 00:22:48.400 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:54.720 because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. God is God, 00:22:54.720 --> 00:23:04.480 and we're not. He owns the world. We do not. And as long as we treat him like he's our servant who 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:10.279 exists to do our bidding, it is totally understandable that he would cut us off into the darkness. 00:23:10.860 --> 00:23:17.059 That's what happens personally, but it's also what happens at a cultural level. All of the chaos we see 00:23:17.059 --> 00:23:22.519 in our culture under secular government after secular government, the killing of the unborn, 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:26.839 the destruction of marriage and family, the economic madness, all of those things, 00:23:26.900 --> 00:23:34.539 they're downstream from our rejection of the Lord Jesus. And don't kid yourself. When God tells us the 00:23:34.539 --> 00:23:39.400 truth about ourselves and then tells us that he has done everything needed to put that right, 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:45.859 if we choose at that point to walk away, we are choosing the darkness, which is what we've done. 00:23:45.859 --> 00:23:55.059 But we don't have to go that way. It doesn't have to be that way. And I want to plead with us this evening 00:23:55.059 --> 00:24:02.839 to turn back, to turn back and to receive the comfort of his forgiveness and his grace. What does turning 00:24:02.839 --> 00:24:10.399 back mean? Well, look at verse 21. You see, when we meet God, he confronts, he comforts, and then thirdly, 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:18.980 he calls. Verse 21, but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen 00:24:18.980 --> 00:24:26.019 that his works have been carried out in God. What he's saying is, he confronts us and says, 00:24:26.140 --> 00:24:30.259 we need to be born again because of our sin. He says, I've sent my son to deal with your sin in order 00:24:30.259 --> 00:24:35.180 that you can have eternal life and not perish. And then he says, well, then put this truth into action. 00:24:35.180 --> 00:24:44.060 Do what is true. It's another way of saying, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Christ with all that 00:24:44.060 --> 00:24:52.299 you are. Here's the thing. The person who is wedded to their wickedness stays in the dark because the 00:24:52.299 --> 00:24:58.860 light is shameful. I can't come into the light. Keep it in the shadows. Hope my search history doesn't 00:24:58.860 --> 00:25:04.880 get hacked. I can't admit to doing these things. I can't admit to being this kind of person. 00:25:05.180 --> 00:25:11.500 But the person who does the truth, the person who is trusting the Lord Jesus comes into the light 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:20.700 knowing that it is the only place to escape shame. Do you know that? Do you know that? Although it 00:25:20.700 --> 00:25:25.320 feels hard to bring your sin out into the open because it is shameful, the light is the only place 00:25:25.320 --> 00:25:30.759 that shame can be dealt with because light is the only place that drives darkness away. 00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:35.920 Shame. Shame hides in the dark, but it doesn't go anywhere. 00:25:38.819 --> 00:25:46.240 It ties you up. Guilt paralyzes you. You try to cover it. Try all kinds of things to deal with that 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:51.740 shame, to deal with the guilt, but it won't go away and it is still there. As long as it stays in the 00:25:51.740 --> 00:25:58.839 darkness, it will remain and it will hold you in chains. I'll never forget, speaking to a member of my 00:25:58.839 --> 00:26:04.439 family days before they died, they had steadfastly refused to come into the light and they still felt 00:26:04.439 --> 00:26:10.480 guilt over things that they had done 60 plus years ago. It doesn't go away. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:17.919 If that's you, can I say, bring your sin and your shame into the light of Christ's love, to have it 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:23.840 removed, to have the light chase the darkness, to have the chains taken off. 00:26:26.560 --> 00:26:32.740 Have His forgiveness come and drive it out once and for all. You can't do that in your own strength. 00:26:34.460 --> 00:26:42.460 And that's why verse 21, when you do that, it is clear that you have met God and God is at work 00:26:42.460 --> 00:26:50.420 in your life. Do you see that verse 21? But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may 00:26:50.420 --> 00:26:59.720 be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. The one who does the truth 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:06.059 does it because God is at work. Will you heed Christ's call? 00:27:06.059 --> 00:27:12.440 See the difference? There's a difference between the person in verse 20 and the person in verse 21. 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:19.179 The difference is this. The actions of the wicked reveal who he really is. The actions of the one 00:27:19.179 --> 00:27:27.659 who turns to Christ reveal who God really is. See the difference? The one who does the truth 00:27:27.659 --> 00:27:35.500 reflects the grace and mercy of God. Do you know this refuge? If you don't embrace the love of God today, 00:27:36.059 --> 00:27:42.159 you can do it this evening. You can do it in your seat. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will 00:27:42.159 --> 00:27:49.599 not perish but you will have eternal life. And for those of us who have done that, remember that this 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:58.279 love completely shapes everything about your existence. And because of that, that love is something 00:27:58.279 --> 00:28:05.179 that you should let into every corner of your life. It should influence how you think about absolutely 00:28:05.180 --> 00:28:13.100 everything. Make the choice every day to live in the truth and to walk in the freedom that this life 00:28:13.100 --> 00:28:21.620 gives. And this love is not something to hide. It is something to proclaim. Be like Tyson. Tell people, 00:28:21.779 --> 00:28:29.000 God loves you, He loves you, and He loves you. So believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be embarrassed. 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:41.039 Don't be ashamed. You have the hope of the world. So share it around. And as you do that, a life lived in 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:47.440 this freedom, a life lived in the joy that comes of that, and a life lived just passing it around, 00:28:47.819 --> 00:28:53.440 sharing it with others, doing what is true, is not only the best for us, but it all rebounds in the end 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:57.320 to the glory of our God. Let's pray together. 00:28:57.320 --> 00:28:57.380 Amen. 00:28:57.380 --> 00:28:57.380 00:28:57.380 --> 00:28:57.380 00:28:57.380 --> 00:28:57.380 00:28:57.380 --> 00:28:57.380 00:28:57.380 --> 00:28:57.380 00:28:57.380 --> 00:28:57.380