Well, it's good to see y'all
out tonight. Remember those who requested prayer. I don't have
any new names to add to the list, so we'll give them one of those.
We'll begin our worship service tonight with hymn number 52,
Majestic Sweetness. It's an old one of my favorite. Majestic sweetness, His lips with praise so full,
His lips with praise so full. No water can with Him compare
upon the sons of men. Praise ye then all the fair,
who fill the heavenly tray, who fill the heavenly tray. Ye shall be plunged to meet distress,
and free to my relief. He bore the shameful cross and
carried all my grief and carried all my grief To Him I owe my
life and breath and all the joys I have He makes me triumph over
death ? And saves me from the grave ? ? And saves me from the
grave ? Number 255, Blessing Assured. ? Blessing assured, I am blessed ? Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of
God! Born of His Spirit, washed in
His blood! This is my story, this is my
song! Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story, this is my
song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Against the mission, perfectly
aligned. These truths are brand new, now
purged from my This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Saviour all the day
long, earth is full of mission, always at rest, I in my Saviour
am happy and blest. Watching and waiting, looking
above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, my savior He that believeth on him is not
condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, Our Father, we are thankful for your grace
and mercy, new every day, and as a constant reminder of our
great need. For apart from your grace, we've
been most miserable, without joy and peace in this world.
But because of your grace and your mercy, we stand accepted confident of him and his work
and what he accomplished on Calvary Street. Knowing full well that
our hope is built on him alone. And knowing that those who trusted
him will never be confused. We thank you, Father, for his
shed blood and perfect righteousness. We thank you, Father, for counting
us among your beloved before this world even was made. Help us, Father, to remember
those who are sick and going through trials and troubles.
We know that it is the lot of every child of God, that though
he has all things and all things belong to him, with those great
gifts of grace and kindness, there's also tribulation sorrow,
anguish of heart, all designed for the singular purpose to bring
us to the feet of our Savior. To ever be mindful of our sinfulness
and our weakness and our frailty, that we might fall upon Him.
For we know in Him we stand perfect in your presence, righteous and
holy, children of God, part of the family. And we thank you
for that. Help us, Lord, tonight to worship
you as we consider these things spoken by our Lord to Nicodemus.
Help us to understand and appreciate what you have done for us. We
pray in Christ's name, amen. Now in the beginning of the dialogue
that our Lord had with Nicodemus, he told the man that he could
perceive nothing concerning the kingdom without a new birth.
that life would proceed at all. This stated that life, and he's
talking about spiritual life, necessarily preceded any understanding
of eternal things, and specifically any understanding of whom Nicodemus
was speaking with at the moment. For in the end, as we looked
at in the last few lessons, he draws everything to himself.
He that believeth on him hath everlasting life. What is being addressed in this
passage of scripture is the believer's faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, in most cases, I hear people
talk about faith a lot. In most cases, when people speak
of faith, they usually speak in terms of their faith, or they
say things like my faith. And by this, they do not mean
a singular belief and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their
salvation alone. Rather they speak of the religious
allegiance that they have or the religious practices or endeavors
that they call their faith. Now listen to their references
when they talk this kind of way and see if they even mention
the object of true faith, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is a central thing that our Lord has brought to the conversation
here with Nicodemus. faith in Christ, that is the
determinate factor, in a person's condemnation or salvation. That's
the way our Lord places, speaks of in verse 18. This addresses
those who have received spiritual and eternal life because life
and faith are inextricably united. Over in John, the first chapter, He says this about receiving
Christ, he says in verse 12, but as many as received him,
to them gave he power, or authority, or right to become the sons of
God. And then he puts these words,
even to them that believe on his name. Now, the word even
is in parentheses, therefore it can be lifted from the context.
They become sons of God to them that believe on his name. Our
Lord does not separate receiving Christ from believing on Christ,
though we know life comes first. These two things are simultaneous
almost, I guess you could say. Life comes first and immediately
what follows, or what comes from the possession of life, is faith. They are both results of the
gospel being heard. Faith has to do with the gospel
being heard. Now, the gospel has been set
forth to Nicodemus, and he's heard with the hearing of the
ear, or the hearing of his own ears, but I don't know whether
he's heard spiritually up to this point. Over in 1 Peter chapter
1, it says this about this new birth. It says, being born again,
verse 23, not of corruptible seed, in the word there is semen,
but of incorruptible by the Word of God." That's the incorruptible
seed, the Word of God. And this Word liveth and abideth
forever. As compared to this which lives
and abides forever, humanity is just a bunch of flesh and
it's as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass witherth and the flower thereof fadeth away. So the comparison
of human life to the eternal Word of God One lasts forever,
and the other doesn't last very long at all. Then it says, but
the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. The way to preach the
word of God is by preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's preaching the word of God. Then over in Romans chapter
10, it addresses this matter of faith through the preached
word of God. In Romans chapter 10 and verse
13, it says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Now, calling upon the name of
the Lord, coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, drinking the water
of life, eating the bread of life, believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ are all the same thing. They're said in different ways.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. How then shall they call on him whom they have not believed?
So unless they have faith, God-given faith, they won't even call on
Him. And how shall they believe on Him in whom they've not heard?
They can't believe on someone who they haven't heard. And how
shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except
they be sin, as it's written in Isaiah 52, 7. How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring
glad tidings of good things. but he speaks of the Jews. They've
not all obeyed the gospel. Isaiah says, Lord who hath believed
our report or our doctrine, so then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. That's how it happens. Now it's
a wonder. We can't see it happening. We
can't guarantee that it will happen. It will happen for the
elect of God. We know that. For the sheep hear
his voice and they follow him. However, It's not something we
can really enter into except through faith to believe that
this is the way it happens, because that's what God says is how it
takes place. The Lord's words in verse 18
of our text assert that unbelief in Christ is the deciding factor
of man's condemnation. Now, if you know anything about
Scripture and you know anything about condemnation, we know that
all humanity was condemned in Adam. In Adam, all died, saith
the Spirit. By one man's offense, the many
were made sinners." That speaks of Adam. That's in Romans chapter
5 and 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Well, is that a theological inconsistency
here? Well, we know he says, if you
don't believe, you're condemned. But we know that we're already
condemned being born in Adam into this world. It's not a theological
inconsistency. The Lord is speaking here of
the experience of knowing something. Remember, this is how he's dealt
with Nicodemus. You can't know these things.
You don't receive these things. You don't believe these things,
even though you're a master of Israel. So he's speaking in the
experience of know. What do you know when you're
made alive? You know that you died in Adam. You know that you
are sinners against the Holy God. You only know that by the
preaching of the Word, the preaching of the Gospel, where the Holy
Ghost comes down from Heaven. Only God-given faith that follows
God-given life, that the two are so tied together that they
happen through the same vehicle, which is the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Only by those things can you
know anything about who you are and what you are before a righteous
and a holy God. Faith in Christ is more perfectly
revealed in the Gospel, in the Gospel age, but its existence
in man is clearly seen from the beginning. Faith is as old as
the Bible is. It's as old as the Bible is.
When Adam was driven from the Garden of Eden, he left with
the Gospel. He left the garden with the gospel
to preach to a dying world. He had heard the Lord speak of
the seed of woman, which was called the Proto-Evangelium,
the first mention of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had heard the
Lord speak to the serpent about the seed of woman, bruising the
serpent's head, and was witness himself to the slaying of beasts,
which speaks of the sacrificial death of Christ, and using their
skins to cover their nakedness, which speaks of the imputed righteousness
of Jesus Christ. And he was witness to the altar
at the east of Eden. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 24.
which had cherubim facing each other. Sounds a whole lot like
the Ark of the Covenant. They were facing each other,
and in between the two cherubim was a flaming sword, which is,
the word is shaken, which we get our word Shekinah, Shekinah,
glory of God, between those two cherubim. And this was an altar
at the east of Eden. And that altar was there, it
was to keep the way of the tree of life. That's what it said,
keep the way. Who's the way? Jesus Christ said,
I'm the way, I'm the truth, and I'm the light. In due time, Abel
came to that altar and offered the exceptional sacrifice and
did so because his father had taught him the gospel. His father,
remember his daddy came out of the garden of Eden with the gospel. What he'd seen and what he'd
heard God talk about. when it heard God promise. How
did he, how did, how do we know that Abel heard this? Look over
to Hebrews chapter 11. We've just seen that faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of God and that's through the
gospel that we're born in. In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 4
it says, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain. By faith he did that. Faith comes
by hearing. And hearing by the word of God.
That's how it comes. So Adam taught his son. By which
he obtained witness that he was righteous. That he was righteous.
God testifying of his gifts and being And by it being dead, he
yet speaketh." Abel still preaches the word of God just by him being
accepted offering the proper sacrifice to God. Now Cain heard
it too. Cain heard his father talk about
the gospel too. Cain heard his dad talk about
the sacrifice of those beasts and the covering made for their
nakedness. He heard about the promise of
the seed of woman bruising the serpent's head. He heard all
of that. He knew about that altar, because
he brought some stuff to that altar. He knew that altar was
a blood sacrifice. That's what it was for, because
remember, the beasts were slain and their skins were used for
covering. He knew it was a blood sacrifice. But Cain didn't bring
blood. Cain didn't bring a lamb. Cain
brought the works of his own hands. Now, they weren't shabby
stuff he brought. I'm sure Cain brought the very
best of what he tilled out in the garden. The very best, the
most beautiful turnips, the most beautiful onions, whatever he
had, he brought them to the Lord. From his best, Jesus. But it
wasn't good enough. Because God requires death for
sin. The way of the tree of life is
death on that altar. consumed by the Shekinah glory
of God. That's the way that happens.
Cain knew that too, but he was not accepted. God accepted Cain,
Abel, and his sacrifice in that work. It goes on in this chapter
to say this by faith over and over again. By faith, Enoch was
translated. How was he translated? He believed
the word of God. By faith, Noah built the ark.
Why? Because he believed the word of God. It's going to rain.
Ain't there been no rain? It's going to rain. It's going
to flood the whole universe. He believed God. He heard the
word of God. By faith, comes back to earth. In fact, by faith,
Abraham left the earth of Chaldea and went looking for a city whose
builder and maker is God. And he never saw that city, but
he kept looking. Kept looking. And his seed would see that city
by faith. He took his son Isaac and offered
him up on the mount. By faith, that's how it's referred
to. By faith, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. By faith. All that has to do with one thing.
These people, from Adam to Moses to you and me, we have faith
because God has given us ears to hear the word of God. And that's what we believe. Faith
is utterly subjective. Now it has an object, the Lord
Jesus Christ, but it's subjective. It believes what is written. Without any proof other than
that, then God said it. And that's it. That's it. Faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Believing
on Christ is the only way to know and understand the Word
of God. Not believing on Christ is the revelation that you are
condemned already. What Nicodemus could not know,
did not receive, and did not believe was the Christ who stood
before him. Now, in due time, the words of
Christ, I believe, will find purchase in the heart of this
world of the Jews. He will be a silent believer
because he feared the Jews, but faith in Christ, whether vocal
or silent, is the gift of God and delivers man from condemnation.
People talk about great faith, little faith. No, faith is what
God gives you. Whatever faith God gives you
to believe in Jesus Christ, that faith will do the job. For now,
however, Nicodemus remains in darkness. He doesn't believe. He doesn't understand. He doesn't
know. He doesn't see. Because he don't have life. He
don't have life. He don't have faith. He remains
in darkness. And the fact that he came to Jesus by night under
the cover of darkness will be a phrase that will ever be attached
to his name through the rest of the Word of God. When you
find Nicodemus' name in the Gospels, throughout the Gospels, it's
Nicodemus, the man who came to Jesus by night. Now our Lord had him brought
all this to the crux of the matter. It states, in no uncertain terms,
the truth to the man who came to Jesus by night. What then
is the condemnation? This is a wondrous statement.
Verse 19, and this is the condemnation. That light has come into the
world. And men love darkness rather
than light because it leaves a way. This is the condemnation.
That light has come into the world. Don't waste your breath
and rehearse your numerous sins that have resulted in your, that
you believe have resulted in your condemnation. This is the
condemnation. The Son of God. The light that
lighteth or discloses or exposes all men has come into the world. He's come into the world. This
is a fact, a historical truth. His footprints are upon the sands
of time. His presence has altered the
universe. Every man, every woman, every
child, because they exist RELATE TO HIM. THIS IS THE CONDEMNATION
THAT LIGHT HAS COME INTO THE WORLD. THIS IS CHRIST. HE IS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM,
ALL THINGS WERE MADE FOR HIM, AND BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST
OR ARE HELD TOGETHER. either negatively or positively,
but everybody relates. This is the condemnation, that
light has come. That light has come into this
world. You and I, because he has entered the world, relate
to him in light or in darkness, but we relate to him. There's
no such thing as indifference here. There cannot be. One's supposed indifference is
but darkness, and it is revealed in one's affection. Men love
darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Because
their deeds are evil. Salvation and condemnation is
a result of light coming into the world. And this is no small
indictment to him who came to Jesus by night. Coming to Jesus
in any other way than in the light of the gospel. For every one that doeth evil,
hateth the light, neither cometh the light, lest these deeds should
be repeated." And scripture makes it clear in 1 Corinthians, any
man that loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema,
maranatha. Let him be executed when the
Lord comes.