{"id":3124,"date":"2009-03-22T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-22T18:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=3124"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:21:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:21:18","slug":"people-love-darkness-sermon-talkback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/people-love-darkness-sermon-talkback\/","title":{"rendered":"People Love Darkness Sermon Talkback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermon Talkback<\/strong>\u2014March 22, 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People Love Darkness<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 3:14-21<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicodemus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The setting of this passage is the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus\u2014\u201ca Pharisee\u201d and \u201cteacher of Israel\u201d\u2014who struggles to understand Jesus\u2019 teaching about the new birth (John 3:1-10). Nicodemus and others find it impossible to believe that one can be \u201cborn from above,\u201d and to be \u201cborn of water and Spirit.\u201d And even though Jesus\u2019 life and teachings are demonstrative of the Son of Man who \u201cascended into heaven,\u201d and \u201cdescended from heaven,\u201d some people cannot move beyond \u201cearthly things\u201d and understand \u201cheavenly things\u201d (John 3:11-13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to John 3:14-21, their disbelief has two principal causes: misunderstanding Jesus\u2019 mission and refusing to submit one\u2019s life in the light of God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 Mission<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nicodemus\u2019 unbelief is holding on to a wrong idea about the mission of the Son of Man which can be seen in John 3:14\u2014\u201cAnd just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.\u201d Moses lifting up the serpent (Numbers 21:4-9) is when the people of Israel complained about their food and lack of water in the wilderness. When they spoke against God and against Moses, the Lord sent poisonous snakes that bit people and they died. After the people begged for relief, Moses made a bronze serpent on a pole and when people saw it, they lived. In a similar way, the Son of Man saves those who look on him as their Savior would live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus will be lifted up in two ways\u2014lifted up on a cross by human authorities when they despise and reject him (John 8:28) and he will be lifted up by God that is, glorified by God through his death, resurrection and ascension (John 12:32-34).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite people\u2019s misunderstanding about Jesus\u2019 ministry, John, the Gospel writer, asserts that \u201cGod so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish\u201d (John 3:16). Jesus\u2019 mission is to save, not to condemn, and whoever looks on him will be saved\u2014whether that one is Nicodemus or anyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individual Pride<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second obstacle is the individual self that rejects the Son of Man and his mission. Once a person hears the good news about Jesus\u2014that is, listen to the proclamation of the Son of Man who was lifted up\u2014that individual must choose either to look at him and be saved or turn away and suffer condemnation whose origin grows out of stubbornness\u201d (John 3:18). The explanation is \u201cAnd this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil\u201d (John 3:19). Why? \u201cFor all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed\u201d (John 3:20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, people who disbelieve do not want their lives exposed, to learn about their real predicament or face scrutiny. Because they love darkness and their evil deeds, they would rather be left alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God\u201d (John 3:21). For this latter group, facing the light is an opportunity to acknowledge that they were saved by God when they looked on the Son of Man, who was lifted up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the dark evil forces in your life and in the world that need to be exposed to the light of God?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermon Talkback\u2014March 22, 2009 People Love Darkness John 3:14-21 Nicodemus The setting of this passage is the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus\u2014\u201ca Pharisee\u201d and \u201cteacher of Israel\u201d\u2014who struggles to understandContinue readingPeople Love Darkness Sermon Talkback<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-3124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermon-talkbacks","tag-john"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3125,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124\/revisions\/3125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}