Midweek Lent 4 – March 18, 2021 – John 3:14-21
“JESUS: A WILLING SAVIOR”
Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Gospel Lesson just read, from John 3. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Our text begins with the rather strange and bizarre incident with the children of Israel in the wilderness, which Jesus mentions and compares to what will happen to Him. Perhaps you remember this incident recorded in the book of Numbers [Num. 21:4-9]. The children of Israel were complaining against God and Moses, and God sent fiery serpents which bit the people. They were poisonous and we read that many people died. So they begged Moses to implore God to remove the serpents. God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent, on a pole, so that whoever looked at it would be spared from death.
- This was quite a bizarre instruction that God gave to Moses. Graven images were forbidden – especially if they became idols. Serpent worship was big in Egypt and other parts of the Near East. Later on, when Hezekiah became king, we read that he destroyed this bronze serpent that Moses had made because the people were “making offerings to it.” [2 Kings 18:4] It had indeed become an idol under the former wicked kings of Judah!
- Yet it was something that pointed forward to Jesus, the Son of Man, the Savior of the world. God has a remarkable sense of humor! Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, and a religious scholar. How these words must have astonished Nicodemus! I’m fairly sure he had never given any of this thought! Yet here was Jesus, the Promised Seed of the woman, the Savior of the world, instructing him – and also instructing His disciples and us. And with these Words Jesus makes clear that He is a “WILLING SAVIOR.” He makes clear that:
I. It Is Not God’s Will To Condemn Or Punish Us, But To Save Us
Text: “God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved.”
Statement: This statement, in itself, should bring us so much relief and comfort! There is much to condemn in the world. There is much to condemn in each of us! We truly have much to fear because of our trespasses and iniquities. After all, the wages of sin is death – physical death and eternal death in hell.
Application: But this is not what God the Father willed! He sent Jesus to save us. And insofar as Jesus’ will and the Father’s will are one, Jesus does not want our condemnation either! He wants to save us! Jesus Is A Willing Savior! He fulfilled every plan, desire, purpose, and will of God – suffering in death on the cross for every single human sin, so that we might be free of sin and guilt, be reconciled to Him, have peace with Him, have eternal life with Him! This is His good and gracious will for each of us! And as Jesus stated:
II. Jesus Was Lifted Up On The Brutal Cross To Draw Us To Himself, To Faith In Him, Giving Us Eternal Life
Text: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. . . .Whoever believes in Him is not condemned.”
John 12:32 “Jesus said, ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”
Statement: There was brutal suffering, more than imaginable, when Jesus, the Son of Man, took on the sins of the world, becoming sin for us, in our place. To this day the message of His saving work continues to draw people to put their faith and trust in Him, to embrace Him as our Savior and Lord! This is the will of God, and for this “JESUS WAS A WILLING SAVIOR.”
Application: Again, this should give us such comfort and peace and joy! Though our sin stings our conscience like fiery serpents, and we feel worthy of death, Jesus provides us with the salvation we so desperately need! No matter what our sins might be Jesus invites us to come into the light of His truth and His love, and His salvation! For as we see clearly in our text:
III. Jesus Wills For Our Salvation, Not Our Self-Condemnation In Unbelief
Text: “Whoever believes in God’s Son 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 loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”
Statement: With these words Jesus explains to us the dilemma of our fallen sinful flesh. Not only are our deeds evil but we love darkness, secrecy, and deceit rather than truth, good, and the light of Christ that God sent into the world to save us. So, Jesus draws us to Himself, urging us to simply confess our sin and receive His gracious forgiveness and salvation! His Name means Savior, God is our Savior.
Application: The only way in which one is condemned is the self-condemnation of unbelief, the refusal to turn back to God and receive His gracious salvation. But this is certainly NOT God’s will. He sent Jesus not to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. He sent this light into the world so that people would no longer have to live in the darkness of sin and shame. But “doing what is true” is confessing our sins, and we can stand the light of day when we know that God has graciously forgiven us in Jesus! These are the first deeds “carried out in God.”
Conclusion: So let us turn to look at Jesus, lifted high up on the cross to save the world. Let us believe and trust in Him, for there is healing for our sin and brokenness in Him. Thank God that He has also drawn us to Jesus, and by the power of His Word and the Holy Spirit, given us faith in Jesus so that we also say: “Jesus is Lord.”
God forbid we should ever turn back to the darkness. God forbid we should ever become grumblers, as the children of Israel were in the wilderness. And God forbid we ever succumb to the many idolatries urged upon us by our sinful nature.
And when we are convicted of sin, let us always turn back to Jesus, our great Savior, remembering that “He Is A Willing Savior.” Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.