Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Dial In - John 3:14-21 (Ep. 07)

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

Dial In is a devotional series with the intention of helping followers of Christ understand God’s word and love Him more. Jonny seeks to communicate the profound depth of scripture in a digestible and condensed format each weekday. The goal of the podcast is that our “minds would be renewed” as we behold who God is in His word. In this series, Jonny is walking sequentially through the Gospel of John.In this episode, Jonny covers John 3:14-21 and highlights 4 essential truths:The poison of sinThe cross of Jesus ChristThe means of faithThe reality of judgemenWatch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hi, my name is Johnny Artavanis, and this is Dial In. In our previous episode, we saw that Jesus clearly communicates the need to be born again, that you and I are powerless to save ourself, and that we need a miracle of God to happen in our life in order to enter the kingdom of God. Yet today, we look at a parallel truth that goes hand-in-hand with that reality, and that is the individual's responsibility to respond to the grace, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ in faith. Today our passage is John chapter 3 verses 14 through 21. Let's dial in. John chapter 3 verses 14-21 but in order that the world might be saved through him. 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. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it might be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in god

okay so jesus is talking to nicodemus and nicodemus is full of anxiety and worry and fear because he has no assurance about his relationship with god matthew 23 tells us that the pharisees were hypocrites jesus looks at them and says, you look really good on the outside, but on the inside, you're full of dead men's bones. Nicodemus has no assurance that he would go to heaven. He knows every single answer, but has zero certainty about his relationship with God. Jesus knows this and continues the conversation with Nicodemus by highlighting a familiar story in the Old Testament. And it brings us to our first point in today's passage, and that is the poison of sin.

Jesus says in verse 14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up. So Jesus is referencing a story about Moses and the Israelites in the Old Testament. And it takes us back to Numbers chapter 21, where the children of Israel are wandering around in the desert and they begin to grumble and complain.

And they go up to Moses and say, why have you brought us out here to die? You should have left us in Egypt. This food stinks. So God, because of their grumbling and their disobedience, it reads in Numbers 21, 6, sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many of the people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people, and the

Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live. Nicodemus would have known this story well. The Israelites were bitten by poisonous serpents, and it says that the venom was like fire. So they came to Moses and said, We have sinned against you and against God. Please deliver us from the venom that is within us. So God, in his mercy, provided a solution and told Moses to take a bronze serpent, set it up on a pole, and whoever looks upon the serpent upon the pole will be delivered.

Everyone else will die. That's the story, and that's exactly what happened. And Jesus says here to Nicodemus, a more deadly poison runs through your veins. Not of a serpent, not of a viper, but a poison that stems from our earliest parents, the toxic venom of sin. Psalm 51 verse 5 says, in sin did my mother conceive me, which means that we are by nature poison infested with the sting of sin. And because everyone bears that poison, everyone shares a common denominator, and that is death. There are no exceptions. And Jesus is telling Nicodemus what

he tells us today. You have a poison that goes into the depths of your souls. And the only remedy is to look upon the one who will be lifted up. But this time, the remedy will not be a serpent on a pole. It'll be the creator of the universe nailed to a cross. And whoever looks to him will be healed. So number one, we see the poison of sin. And secondly, here in this passage, we will see the cross of Jesus Christ. What we desperately need is someone who would bear the

poison of sin on our behalf and bear the full measure of God's wrath towards sin. Someone who would take the sting of death. And that's exactly what we see play out in the gospel. God takes the sins of the people and transfers them over to his one and only son, Jesus Christ. And if we look to him and if we set our gaze upon the one who will be lifted up, there will be no more death, no more darkness, and no more hell. This doesn't make any sense. Why would the creator of the universe, the one who ordains the stars and commands the waves and summons the morning. Why would that God die for sinners? What could possibly motivate this type of a sacrifice? We read the motive in the next verse. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten

son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. I'm afraid this verse might be so familiar to many of you that you no longer bask in the wonder of it. But this unfathomable love is nonetheless real and evidenced by the one who hangs upon the tree. God's love for us is measured by the gift that he extends to us, and that is his one and only son. And the question is, how is this precious gift received? How can we have our sins transferred over to the one who will be lifted up on our behalf?

And that brings us to our third point. And that is the means of faith. The text says that whoever believes in him should not perish. Faith is the method by which God takes upon himself our sin and transfers over to us his righteousness. This is the way that everyone in human history has ever been made right with God. Genesis 15, 6, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Paul crystallizes this idea in Romans 4 and Romans 5 that vile, ungodly, self-righteous, hypocritical sinners are saved by one method, faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus calls us even doubting sinners to believe in him.

I love what Isaiah 55 says. It says, everyone that thirsts, everyone that is hungry, come eat, come drink, come buy wine and bread without money and without cost. But this text brings up an interesting thought. How can we purchase wine and purchase bread without money and without cost? The answer is it's already been paid for it's already been paid for so the means is faith because jesus has already paid it all matthew 11 says come unto me look at me act 16 believe in the lord jesus christ and you will be saved and i love that the text includes the word whoever because no one is too far. Whoever applies to everyone,

and there is no footnote associated with the word whoever. It is for all of those who thirst for salvation, and they can buy wine and they can buy bread without money and without cost because it's already been paid for. We need to believe. But we would be missing part of the passage if we did not include this last point. And that is the reality of God's judgment. Verse 16 says that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. The implication of the text is that whoever does

not believe will perish. They are destined for the alternative. And I pray that we never apologize for the explicit reality of scripture. The alternative to belief in Jesus Christ is punishment by God forever in hell. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Pay attention to verse 18. It says, he who does not believe is condemned already, which means that those who do not believe are currently under the wrath of God. God is not waiting to judge sinners. You are not in the process of accumulating your heavenly report card. If you do not believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God, you are currently under the wrath of God. And it brings up something interesting for us to understand.

Sinners do not go to hell for something that they have done. They go to hell for something they have not done, and that is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every sinner is already condemned. And the only way to reverse that verdict is by believing in the unique Son of God who is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. And by believing in his name, he transfers our sin over to the cross and transfers to us his righteousness. We cannot escape the reality of God's judgment. But God does not delight in the punishment of the wicked. And we see that in Ezekiel 33 verse 11, but desires all men to come to repentance. And he makes this possible for us through the tremendous gift of his only begotten son. And all of this is a byproduct of

his love, choosing to love those who have been snake bit with the venom of sin. And as Romans 5, 8 says, he demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners writhing around on the wilderness floor with venom in our veins, he died for us. Since therefore we have been justified, which means to be made righteous by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from the wrath of God? Jesus is telling Nicodemus, if anyone wants healing from the poison of sin within you, you need to look to the one who will be lifted up. His name is Jesus and be washed in his blood. So what did we cover today? Number one, we all bear the poison of sin in our veins, and we desperately need to be delivered from it. And that brings us to number two, the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ would bear the poison of sin on our behalf

and take on the full measure of God's wrath towards sin. And if we look to him, we will be healed. And how is that healing accomplished? What is the method by which that is appropriated? Number three, the means of faith. John 3, 16, that God so loved the world, so he gave his only begotten son, so that if we believe in him, we would not perish but have everlasting life. We need to place our faith in the one who will be lifted up.

But number four, that is the reality of God's judgment. God's love for us can never be separated from his holiness or his justice or his punishment towards sin But God does not delight in the punishment of the wicked but wants us to be made right with him through the blood of Jesus Christ Amazing love. How can it be that thou my God just die for me? It's amazing. Stay dialed in.