Sunday, December 25, 2022 AM

We keep trying to figure out what kind of catchphrase we need for Christmas because at Easter we know He is risen, He is risen indeed. I guess for Christmas we have to go with He is given. He is given indeed.

The Gift of Christ at Christmas

That's the title for this morning's sermon. Speaking of our Lord, speaking of God, He gave. Let's pray. Father, I thank You for gathering us here today. I thank You for the truth of Your Word wherein You reveal Yourself to us through Your Son, the one whom You have given to us.

Lord, I pray that You would help our appreciation for Your gift to only grow and intensify and mature every season, especially today, as we share together in the communion that we have in Christ by His Spirit.

Heavenly Father, we ask You to bless our time here together in Jesus' name. Amen. At the Christmas season, we are accustomed to gathering together for a meal. And as we gather together for a meal, we then give gifts.

God has given us a gift in His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we may have a meal. So we may gather together for a meal. We may have communion, one with another, and with God through Christ. Will you please stand with me?

John 3:16 and the Son Given for the World

I'm going to read our text for this morning. John chapter 3 and verse 16. 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.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. It's important for us to consider the good news, consider the good news of Jesus Christ, to consider the gospel which makes sense of our Christmas celebration, that makes sense of our Christian communion.

We are to put our attention where God would have it, on His Son. God gave us His Son and bids us to pay attention. In this verse, this very famous verse, this is no longer the most popular Bible verse, do not judge, that's the new favorite.

More people know that one than John 3 .16 now. But John 3 .16, very popular, very important. So much is encapsulated into this one verse. And it certainly gives us proper perspective when it comes to Christmas.

What are we celebrating? Why are we rejoicing? What is it that brings such cause for thanksgiving and celebration? Well, our attention is placed upon the Son of God. Now, in John 3 .1 -12, we have this engagement of Nicodemus and Christ.

Nicodemus, one of the most credentialed men of his day. He was an expert among experts. He was looked up to by his peers and everyone else for his understanding of the Bible, his understanding of theology.

But he comes to Jesus Christ by night and is trying to figure out how to understand this person in front of him who seems to have a better handle on God's Word and a better understanding of God's world than Nicodemus does.

And he says, we know you're from God, but we just can't figure out how to put you into our system. And Jesus says, unless you're born again, you can't even see the kingdom of God. And he begins to share with Nicodemus some things about the New Covenant promises from the Old Testament.

And he says, aren't you the teacher of Israel? Why am I having to tell you these things? And then, after verse 12, where we are reading and hearing Jesus talking to Nicodemus in the first person, all of a sudden, John, who's writing this gospel, can't help himself, and he just fires back and starts preaching.

He does this from time to time throughout the gospel, and as we recall the purpose of his gospel, he came to the end of the Gospel of John. He says, there are a lot of other things that Jesus said and did, but what's here is here because I want you to believe in the name of Jesus Christ.

I want you to be saved and have, in his name, eternal life. Well, here in verse 13, John just starts preaching. So we leave off the voice of Jesus speaking to Nicodemus, and here's John beginning to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ based upon this interaction that just happened between Nicodemus and Christ.

In verse 13, we hear John, who knows when this was precisely written, but it's much later on from the time in which Jesus met Nicodemus. Decades later, John is writing this, and he says this, No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven.

That's not Jesus talking anymore, that's John. Decades later, he's saying, the Son of Man, that royal figure, the Messiah, he's the one who's ascended to the right hand of the Father. That's where he is right now.

And why is that important? Why is it important that John's audience, why is it important that we know where Jesus Christ is? Where the Son of Man is? Well, he explains, verse 14,. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the Israelites were grumbling and complaining in the wilderness, complaining against God.

And God sent fiery serpents among them to bite them and to plague them, and they began to perish because of the poison. But then God instructed Moses to put a bronze serpent up on a pole and to lift it above the heads of everybody, and whoever looked to the bronze serpent would be healed from the poisonous bites from the snakes.

But someone greater than Moses has come. So he says,. So the picture in the Old Testament, the picture was the Jews in the wilderness being saved from poisonous asps by looking to the bronze serpent. The fulfillment of that picture is Christ ascended, lifted high as the only Savior for mankind, and this is a salvation not from the poisonous bites of snakes, but this is salvation, nothing less than eternal life for anyone who will believe in Christ.

And now he says, further explanation, verse 16,. All the focus really is upon the Son. God sets him forth that we would set our eyes on him. We are compelled to consider his glory. We are compelled to consider his glory.

He is called the only begotten Son of God. The only begotten Son. What does that mean? First of all, the word simply means one and only. One and only. It means that Jesus Christ is as preeminent as he is unique.

It also means that as the only begotten Son of God, it means that he is God of very God. He is the second person of the Trinity incarnate in human flesh. We hear in John chapter 1, the word in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. And we read in verse 14,. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So when we read that he is the only begotten Son of God, not only do we recognize his uniqueness, but also that he is God of very God, the second person of the Godhead. This also means that he stands in for his Father.

As is fitting, whatever the Father would have to say, the Son says. Whatever the Father would have done, the Son will do. Jesus says to Philip, Have you known me this long? If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

If we want to know the Father, we come to the Father through the Son. And fourthly, this means that Christ is immeasurably precious. Immeasurably precious. Recall the moment when God tells Abraham, Take your son, your only son, your heir, the son of promise, born by a miracle, Isaac, and take him up Mount Moriah, your only son, and sacrifice him there upon the mountaintop.

How immeasurably precious to Abraham was Isaac, his only son, his only heir. And yet, as he lays Isaac upon the altar and raises his hand with a knife, he is stayed by the angel of the Lord, and a substitute is offered.

But when it comes to Christ being the only begotten of the Father, he is far more precious than Isaac. Far more precious than any. Jesus Christ is declared in our context as the Son of Man ascended. That's a language from Daniel chapter 7.

The Son of Man who receives a dominion in a kingdom that nobody will ever be able to bring down. It will never come to an end. It's not like those earthly kingdoms that are always rising and falling and strengthening and then decaying.

No, this kingdom is one which will have no end. This Son of Man, he's ascended at the right hand of God. We read that he is the Son of God lifted up. Lifted up that all who would see him might be saved.

All who believe in him might be saved. Jesus Christ is God, the Word, and human flesh. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. We hear this in John chapter 1, that this Word, who is with God eternally, is also the light of the world.

What does that mean? Do we want to know who is God? Do we have questions about who is man? Do we have questions about what is creation? Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He tells us who God is. He tells us who we are.

He tells us what this world is all about. Consider his glory, the light of Jesus Christ, and the weightiness of Jesus Christ. How often in the Old Testament did God say of Israel,. And here he says of Christ, my Son, my only begotten Son.

Consider that he is for whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

The weightiness of Christ as the Son of God, the Son of Man. Adam, the first man, representing all of humankind, fails and falls. Betrays his uniform being made in the image of God. And all with him fall into sin and corruption.

And yet, Jesus Christ is the Son of Man who comes and he does only exactly what his Father desires him to do. And only says what his Father desires him to say. And so stands in as the second Adam. Consider not only the light of Christ and the weightiness of Christ, but the motion of Christ concerning his glory.

He is the one who has descended. He is the one who has ascended. He is the one who has been given. He is the one who has been sent. And why all this? To reconcile us to God. To reconcile us to God. Does he have our attention?

Does he have our attention? When Jesus Christ was born, ancient prophecy was fulfilled. Heaven's choir was unleashed. Stars were rearranged. Planets were realigned. And kings came to worship and kings went to war.

All because Jesus Christ was born. The entire world had his attention. The entire world was focused upon him. He was their attention. Is he our attention today? Do we understand? Do we consider him this glorious?

The Meaning of “For God So Loved the World”

Also consider the fact that this glorious Son is given as a gift. For God so loved the world that he gave. He gave his only begotten Son. That whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

What about this world? God gave his Son to the world. What is this world? The world is filled. It's filled, as other parts of the Scripture remind us, there is none righteous, no not one. The world is filled with sinners who are slated to perish.

We read that in verse 16, don't we? That those who believe in him should not perish. So the default is perishing. What does perishing mean in this regard? It's the same kind of perishing that God spoke to Adam and Eve about in the day when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In other words, when they began to define for themselves what good and evil was. They said, we don't need God anymore. We're going to define good and evil for ourselves. He says, in the day you eat of it, you will surely die.

And what happens when you are spiritually dead and then you physically die? Well, that's perishing. That's perishing. When you die as the dead. Jesus was very concerned about that. Someone mentioned to him one time when he was teaching that there were some Gentiles who had been offering sacrifices to idols.

And they thought it was a good joke that they were all killed and their blood mixed with their idolatrous sacrifices when Pilate sent a cohort of soldiers to attack them. And Jesus says, you're missing the point.

What about those 18 men from Jerusalem upon whom the tower of Siloam fell? I tell you, unless you repent, you will likewise perish. He didn't mean you're going to have a tower fall on you. He meant you're going to die as the dead.

You will die unprepared. You will perish. Romans 3 .23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now, when you hear that, it doesn't sound like a big deal. Who can measure up to God anyway?

Fall short of the glory of God? Well, yes, of course. But the point is that we've all been made for the glory of God. We're made in his image to image him forth. And when we fall short of that, we are betraying our creator.

We are betraying our maker. And the wages of sin is death. And this is the situation the world finds itself in. But God gives his son to the world. He says he loves the world in this way. Look at the word so.

For God so loved the world. If you back up to verse 14, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. It's the same sense of the word. That God loves the world is declared in the text, but it's the manner in which he loves the world that we are to pay attention to.

How did God love the world? For many folks today, love is simply unconditional approval. They think that love means that no matter who you say you are or what you do, I'm simply going to affirm you. And they think that's what love means.

But that is not the definition of love that God gives us in his word. And in particular, verse 16, he loved the world in a particular way. He's not approving of the world, encouraging the world in their sin, hoping that they will continue on doing whatever they want to do.

He loved the world in this particular way. He gave his only begotten son that they would not perish. If they would believe in his son, if they would be united to him by faith, they would not perish, but have eternal life.

God personally, effectively, historically, compassionately, gave his glorious son as a gift, as Savior. Christ was sent, and he was appointed to death upon a cross. And Christ then rose from the dead and ascended.

He was lifted up to the right hand of God. And we have to have Christ coming for us and Christ ascending for us so that we have our Savior who died in our place and for our sake and even now advocates for us at the right hand of God.

And this is God's gift. When we read John 3 .16 in its context, we consider the death of Christ but also the resurrection and the ascension of Christ, the whole saving work of our King. In Christ's humbling, he bears us and our sins entirely.

In his exaltation, he brings us all the way to God. We have an anchor that passes in beyond the veil. We are caught up with him. So God gave us Christ of Mary in the manger. He gave us Christ who lived a perfect life and died a perfect death.

God gave us Christ ascended as our mediator. This is the gift that he gave. This is the manner in which he showed his love. God's Son is our salvation. There is no other salvation. 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.

Grace, Faith, and the New Birth

What does it look like that God saves sinners through his Son Jesus Christ? Well, it has to do with grace. Notice whom he's loving. Notice to whom he's demonstrating his love. To the world. To the world.

And God has a picture-perfect understanding of the world. He knows there is none righteous, no, not one. He knows that mankind is thoroughly wicked, their hearts are deceitful. Who can even know the depths of the wickedness of mankind?

We can look around and find out pretty fast that things aren't well and good in the world around us. But God sees it in its fullest picture. So, God showing his love to such undeserving wretches is simply a matter of grace.

This is love toward the unlovely. This is love to the undeserving. Now, love, we know, by this we know love. 1 John 3 .16. 1 John 3 .16 says we know love by this that he laid down his life for the brethren, so also we got to lay down our lives.

So, love is a righteous and sacrificial devotion. A righteous and sacrificial devotion. I will do the right thing for you in the right way. I'm going to do the right thing for you even if it costs me.

I'm devoted to you in the right way even if it costs me. That's the biblical definition of love. And God is loving toward the unlovely by giving his son. Here is a free bestowment of a priceless gift to a bankrupt operators of a broken system.

He just talked to one of them. He just talked to Nicodemus. He's supposed to understand all these things and he doesn't get it. But God gives us his son. Notice the language of grace. Beyond the word gave we have the word whoever.

Whoever we see in the context. This is repeated. It's not just the Jews. It's not just certain types of Jews. Not certain types of people who live in certain types of times in certain places. But we see the word whoever.

And when we read in the context we find the word the world, the world, the world, the world. Mentioned over and over and over again. So we find that God sets forth his son. He gives his son as a gift of love to all without distinction.

He says in Isaiah 549, a prophecy of Jesus Christ, a prophecy of the Messiah, that it's too small a thing. It would be too small a thing for him to send his Messiah to save only Jacob. But that he would come to be a savior for the nations.

Even those who were living in remote places such as the coastlands and the islands. That's grace. That's grace. And it's grace because it says whoever believes in him. Whoever believes in him. Simply that we would trust in the glorious gift of Jesus Christ rather than our own personal virtue.

Jesus said, come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. We live in a time that is exceptionally legalistic. We live in a time that is very law centric. We live in a time where personal virtue seems to be everything.

There are many, many standards that people would have you live by. To measure up to some standard somewhere. And very often these standards keep on shifting and changing. There are so many new holiness codes in our culture today.

It's hard to keep up. Salvation in Christ is a matter of believing, trusting in him that he's our everything. To trust in Christ simply means to hang everything upon that one nail. The entirety of my existence.

The entirety of my eternal future. I make a pile of all of my good deeds. I make a pile of all of my bad deeds. I forsake them all for Christ and Christ alone. It's all of grace. Jesus was explaining that Nicodemus, he says, you have to be born again.

You have to be born again. You don't get to get into the kingdom by being born a Jew. You know, having some sort of ethnic status. You have to be born again and Nicodemus didn't really understand that.

But Jesus said, well, it's the work of the Holy Spirit. It's not something you can pull off. It's the grace of God. Of course, this was already stated in John chapter 1 verses 12 through 13, that those who would believe in him would be given eternal life.

And this faith is a gift from God. In chapter 2 of John, just a little bit earlier, Jesus informs those who were busily building the temple and trying to improve and beautify the temple, that there was a new temple himself.

A little bit earlier in the chapter, in John chapter 2, Jesus was at a wedding and they ran out of wine. And so Jesus turned all the water sitting outside the door into wine. Well, the water was sitting at the door for a good reason.

It was the ceremonial water to wash your hands before you entered in. You just be ceremonially clean, right? He turned all that into wine. Welcome to the new covenant. At the end of chapter 1, Jesus was speaking to Nathanael and he said, you're going to see the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, he says.

He says, I'm Jacob's ladder. He's the one who mediates between heaven and earth. John the Baptist in John chapter 1 verse 29 says, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. All those lambs, all those lambs, the lambs offered up by Moses and Aaron, the lambs offered up by the Levites, the lambs offered up throughout all the history of Israel, none of them can compare to the lamb that God has selected.

The lamb that God has chosen. The lamb that God has given. John chapter 1 verse 16 says, Enough is fullness we have all received in grace for grace. It's of grace. So we must believe. We must believe that he really is that glorious.

We must believe that he really is that important. We must really believe that he is God in human flesh, the Son of Man, God's only begotten Son, who has been given for us and for our salvation. Christ's glory is the key to God's grace.

He really is that glorious. This gift that God has given to us in Jesus Christ, he really is this important. We must believe. We must live by faith and walk by faith in Christ. Consider the good of this salvation.

The peril is that we would perish, that we would die as the dead, that we would be cut off from our creator in eternal damnation. This is the warning. But God loved the world in that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish.

Should not perish. So faced with the real future of perishing, described as condemnation, what is the good? The good given to us in this verse, the good is salvation described as eternal life. Eternal life.

And eternal life is not something that is restricted to the hereafter. Eternal life is being alive in the Son, the eternal one. The salvation, the good, is that we are forever righteous in the Son. His standing before God is our standing before God.

That as we believe in Christ, as much as God welcomes his only begotten Son in whom he is well pleased, as bright as his smile is upon his own Son, so is his smile upon us who believe in him. And as this is also the case, therefore we are no longer under the sentence of sin and death.

Eternal life also means that we will forever be holy in the Son, set apart unto God, being renewed in the image of Christ, the image of God being restored and renewed in us, and that ultimately we are no longer slaves of sin and death.

Eternal life also means that we will be forever perfected in the Son, that we look forward to a future in which there will not even be the stench of sin and death upon us. Not even a little bit. Essentially, the good of salvation is Christ bringing us to God, and God to us.

God mediated to us. That's the good of salvation, that we would have eternal life in relationship with God. And consider the horizons ahead of us, in that God has given us his Son. What promises do we have?

That there is an innumerable multitude of the redeemed. We read about the whoever. We read about the world. We also recall the promises that the number of the redeemed is so high that no man can count.

We have that to look forward to. That every tribe, tongue, people, and nation are included in those for whom Christ died. That Christ shall reign forever and ever. We think about this verse, John 3 .16.

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. It puts into perspective what we're celebrating at Christmas, that God gave his Son, loving the world in this particular way.

The basis for our joy, the basis for our celebration. We also should recall that we live in a massive cultural fight to define the good. We live in a massive cultural fight to define the good. But that every time we, as those made in God's image, try to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and define all of that for ourselves, we only incur death.

But God so loves the world that he gave his only begotten Son, and that Christ was hung from the tree bearing our curse, demonstrating to us exactly what is good, bringing us to God. God has given us a gift.

God has given us a gift in his Son that we may gather together in a meal. The fact that we get to rejoice together as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, unified in his person, loving one another because of Jesus, and in fellowship with God, in fellowship with our Maker, by his Holy Spirit and the work of his Son.

The gift in the meal. These are reasons for us to give praise to him today. Let's pray. Father, I thank you. I thank you for this day. Thank you for Christmas, a day where we can pause and recall the truth in your word that you have given us your Son.

I pray that you would help us to reflect upon the meaning of this gift, the mysteries and joys and celebration of the incarnation. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.