The Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 15, 2015

Rev. Ross Mahan Pastor

John 3:14-21

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Savior.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

 

1. I received a letter from my doctor’s office this week telling me I have to choose another doctor from the team because my personal physician has decided to pursue a specialty. My previous doctor told me once that my problem was I was just too healthy. I suppose that meant I didn’t make them enough money, which I understand. A doctor’s job is to diagnose, to identify the nature of an illness by examining the symptoms. Once he has discovered the problem he will give a prognosis, a forecast of the likely course of treatment best suited to treat the disease and then he will prescribe the medicines or other therapy necessary. But until the true nature of the disease is known, the proper treatment cannot be prescribed. The same is true of man’s condition in sin, which the Bible describes as a deadly disease. Until we understand the depth of man’s sinful affliction we will never comprehend the medicine necessary to deal with it. In fact, every error about salvation from the beginning of time has come from a misunderstanding of the depth, seriousness and effects of sin on the nature of man. How could anyone believe that man cooperates with God in his own salvation through free will or merit, or can earn his salvation by good works? Where did the doctrine of sinless perfection come from? All of these errors flow from a common source, a refusal to believe what God’s word teaches concerning the condition of man’s heart from birth.

I.

1. The condition of man in sin: Our Gospel lesson reveals what God has done to save us and set us free from the guilt and power of sin, but Jesus also reveals a picture of man’s sinful condition. What is the diagnosis of Christ our Great Physician concerning the heart of man? Luther wrote: Man has a natural propensity to evil that is so pervasive and profound that reason cannot understand it. It must be learned and believed from the revelation of Holy Scripture. Jesus gives us a description of man’s sinful condition in the word Perish which is mentioned twice in our text. The meaning of perish is simply to destroy. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The word perish applies to both body and the soul. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish (Lu. 13:3). The opposite of perishing is having eternal life. The body of man can be destroyed in many ways, but the soul is eternal and will live on forever somewhere.

 

1. Your soul is the real you, and when your soul is separated from your body at death it will continue to exist. God’s love for man brought Jesus into the world to save us. He taught us that the wicked, all who do not obtain eternal life through Jesus Christ will perish. One of the great controversies in the church today is whether or not hell is eternal punishment. Some believe in Annihilationism, that the wicked will simply be destroyed at the end of time their souls burned up and they will cease to exist but this is contrary to the Christian doctrine of hell as eternal suffering and separation from God. When Jesus described the fate of the wicked on the Day of Judgment He said: And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal (Mt. 25:46). In describing what God will do with the unbelievers at the last day Jesus said: The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 13:41-42). Paul described the punishment awaiting those that reject Christ and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ: When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (II Thess 1:7-9).

 

1. Jesus gives a promise to His sheep those who hear His voice and follow Him: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Another word Jesus used to describe man’s true condition is the word: Condemned or Condemnation. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. The word condemn means to judge or to pronounce judgment. It describes the divine judgment of God against the sinner who has broken His Law. For the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezek 18:20). Condemnation is a picture of a criminal on death row who has been arrested, accused, indicted, tried, found guilty, and condemned to death. And unlike the inmates on death row today who spend years filing appeal after appeal to escape the death penalty, and sometimes succeed, there is no appeal or escape from the prison of sin and death. Man is the slave of Satan, sin, and death and has no power to free himself from his chains. Christ came to deliver man from condemnation, to free him from divine judgment, by taking our place and paying the penalty we deserved. The Christian can rejoice that: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

 

1. In other words, for the Christian, the judgment against sin has already taken place. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (judgment); but is passed from death unto life (Jn. 5:24). All the issues of life and death have been settled and the believer does not fear death or the Day of Judgment. Jesus, my great High Priest, Offered His blood and died; My guilty conscience seeks No sacrifice beside. His powerful blood did once atone, And now it pleads before the throne (Isaac Watts). Finally, Jesus gives us the symptom of man’s sinful condition: And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. The word darkness describes sin, spiritual ignorance, blindness, wickedness and damnation; the kingdom of Satan (Eph. 6:12). God is totally separate from spiritual darkness. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (I Jn. 1:5). Jesus brought the light of the Gospel; and new life into the world: I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (Jn. 8:12). Man by nature, left to himself will call light darkness and darkness light, truth becomes error and error, truth and this will continue until the light of the Gospel is shined into his heart.

II.

1. The medicine of immortality: We have seen the diagnosis of man’s condition now let us examine the cure. What did it take to set man set free from the disease of sin and to reconcile him to God again? What did the Great Physician prescribe? Nothing less than God Himself coming into the world in the person of Jesus the Son of God to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Luther called this verse the Bible in miniature. It was God’s great love and compassion for sinners that sent Christ into the world. God loves the world. He doesn’t love their sins, but He has mercy and compassion toward all that He has created. The love of God is not the love of the world. God’s love would never approve or enable a person to continue in sin as many believe today. The Bible tells us that God hates wickedness and the end of all who continue a life of rebellion and disobedience to His Law is destruction; they will perish in their sins. Over the past few years the word love has morphed into a justification for sin. In the name of love all judgments have been done away with all lifestyles, morality, and opinions are equal and the only sin anyone can commit in our day it to make a judgment about another person. The world is universally tolerant. The love of God does not mean that everyone will be saved Jesus is the Savior of all who believe. Saving faith connects the sinner to God and without it, no one can please God.

 

1. The promises of the Gospel are given to whosoever believeth in Him, those who refuse to place their faith in Christ are still under the condemnation of the Law. God offers the medicine of the Gospel to all people freely, honestly, and without reserve, but salvation is found only in the redemption of Christ and nowhere else. Therefore we must tell everyone that God loves Him and sent His Son into the world to die on the cross for their sins. The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked and will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth (I Tim. 2:4). The Lord gave Nicodemus a picture of what Christ came to do when He said: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. If you remember the story from the Old Testament: the people of Israel began to murmur against God and against Moses saying:  And wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink (Num. 20:5). As punishment, God allowed fiery snakes to come among the people which bit them and many died. The people came to Moses asking Him to pray unto the Lord that He would take the serpents away and Moses did. God told Moses to make a serpent of brass and to put it on a pole and tell the people that all who look to the serpent will live.

 

1. The serpent of brass could not heal them, but God’s promise of healing was attached to that serpent and all who believed the promise and obeyed the command were healed. It was look and live. This is a picture of how we are saved by simple faith, looking only to Jesus to be healed from the bite of the serpent of sin. The words lifted up pointed to Christ’s own death on the cross which would give life to the world. Jesus said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (Jn. 6:54). The cure for the guilt and bondage of sin is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He is the propitiation and satisfaction for the sins of the world, our Substitute and Representative before God and the payment of our debt. Our sins were laid upon Him who was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (II Cor. 5:21). Just as the brass serpent brought the cure for snakebite to the camp of Israel so Christ crucified brought eternal life to lost mankind. All who look to Him by faith will be saved. We are sinners but Christ died for us; we are debtors to God, but Christ paid our debt with His own blood and opened the presence of God to sinners. Our text also tells us how to receive this promise, by simple faith and trust in Christ. Without faith there is no salvation. Where do we find the Lord Jesus Christ?

 

1. We find Jesus and the promise of salvation where He has promised to be found; in the means of grace, in His Word and Sacraments, the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Saving faith is simple trust in the Savior. It is the drowning man who reaches out to take hold of the hand that reaches down to save him. God in His wisdom has chosen to come to man through physical means to offer His promise of forgiveness through those means to give us assurance and a clear conscience. Because Jesus redeemed the world from sin the means of grace have the power to save. If Christ redeemed everyone in the world then I know that His death included me. The objective justification of the world makes my baptism effective so that I can say with Jesus: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved (Mk 16:16a); and confess with the Apostle Peter: Baptism doth also now save us the answer of a good conscience toward God (I Pet. 3:21). I can also believe the words of Jesus when He gave bread and wine to His disciples in the upper room and said: Take, eat; this is my body. Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Mt. 26:26-28). Holy Communion offers, applies and seals the forgiveness of our sins to our lives because of the perfect life and death of our Savior. In Christ God no longer imputes your sins to you and by faith gives you the forgiveness of sins, the medicine of immortality. May God grant these things to us this day; Amen.