Jesus Is No Less Than God (John 5:18-29 Jeff Kliewer)

Do you have me on? All right, now we do. Well, good morning. Welcome to Cornerstone. My name is Michael. And we're going to start off with just letting you know that if you're new here, you can contact us through contact .cornerstonesj .org.

It's just a little form, just your name, just to let you know that we are glad that you're with us this morning. If you need to reach out to us in any way, you can use that form online, connect .cornerstonesj .org.

We do have an app. The Church Center app is what we use to give you a ton of information about small groups and anything that's going on in the events of the church. So if you need that, you can go to either the Apple or the Google stores and download the Church Center app, find Cornerstone Church, and log in.

So this morning, we're going to be so blessed to have John Laskin give us some further announcements.

What an introduction. Whoa, this is brand new. I mean, this was not here first service. My wife and I were down the shore earlier this week. And on our way back Tuesday, just looking at the colors of the trees and just the beauty of the day, it is incredibly inspiring.

The question is, when you're doing an opportunity like that, what is it you actually see? Now, the world will tell us many things. But the truth will tell us that we have a creator God. I have had the blessing a number of times to be whitewater rafting with my brother and his friends down the Grand Canyon.

And from the down below, I can't do heights, so I could never do the canyon from up top. But from down below, the beauty every time you turn a corner is really impressive. And for my brother and his 14 atheist friends, they saw the evidence of whatever it is they think it's evidence of.

But I mean to tell you, when I turn those corners and I look, I can see God's glory in so many, so many ways. Psalm 104, verse 33, I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to the Lord while I have being.

What God has provided for us, what God gives to us, how God blesses us, should be enough of an inspiration for us to just honor and praise and to glorify him. But I wanna give you three challenges about this.

Again, I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. And the first one is that my heart needs to be focused on God. There are so many lures and temptations of this world that will draw your attention in many, many ways.

But we need to intentionally keep our hearts focused on God and then intentionally see God. So when we were driving down the road and we saw these colors of the trees, it could have been aesthetically pleasing or I can choose to see God.

In so many of the ways that we experience things, we're being blessed to this weekend with one of our daughters and her family and four grandchildren coming up. I can see God. I can see God. And I can sing to the Lord as long as I live.

Because you see, anything that you get to experience, if you look at it from a viewpoint of the world, you might enjoy it and you might even find joy in it, but it does not last. But if you find joy in God, it lasts forever.

It is everlasting when we find joy for God. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I have some announcements for you. This is, again, a beautifully busy time of awesome things going on. Operation Christmas Child, we are in the midst of it and it's ongoing.

You can see this little pile is starting to grow. The boxes out front that are empty, take boxes, get them filled, give them to neighbors. And as you fill them, bring them in so that that pile, we want that pile to be so big you can no longer see the drummer.

Seriously, we want these for the children, for God's kingdom, because we can gift them with gifts, but we can also gift them with the word of God. Gentlemen, our retreat is coming up in less than two weeks.

If you have not signed up for it yet, this is an incredible opportunity to get with the men and to hear from the word of God what men are in the eyes of God, according to the Bible. It's called the Builder's Summit.

If you desire to go, but it's just not fitting in your economy, I understand with all of the inflation and everything that goes on, but if you really would like to go, see us. See Pastor Jeff, see myself, see John Detoli.

We have scholarships available, so that if you would like to go, we want you to be able to go, so see us. We've been talking about our ministry to the Evesham Police, that we are going to honor them. We do have a sufficient number of people willing to participate to get this started, so we will.

If you are interested, there are lots of openings for you to participate. For six months, we will go every Wednesday on a rotational basis to the police station in Evesham with food at midnight. A little bit of a hardship to have to stay up till midnight and to hand it out, and that's a good thing, because we want to honor the police, the ones that are working that night shift.

We give them some food and some encouragement, so if you are at all interested in it, please contact me, Pastor Jeff will get you on the list. I will be going with Stan Wilk this week over to the police station and set up our relationship with the police so that we can start doing this.

Join us for our regular weekly schedules of opportunities to pray, to fellowship, to disciple tonight with our prayer meeting, Mondays and Tuesdays, the Men's and Women's Studies, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, the small group, and this coming Wednesday, our typical noontime Bible study, we're going to have a small break from our study in Ephesians, which has been really exciting, but Jeff's gonna take the opportunity for a few weeks to teach us what the Bible has to say about the Trinity.

It's gonna be an amazing time, I encourage you. If you can be here at noon, great, that would be awesome. If you can't be here at noon, Jeff, Pastor Graham links you to the studies and so you can watch it on your own.

Gentlemen, we're going to also resume an activity that we used to do and we took a break from it for some while. We're gonna have a turkey bowl on Thursday, Thanksgiving at 10 o 'clock, 12 years and up.

According to the guys, there's no limit on how old you have to, my wife said I'm not allowed to play, Mike. Anyway, gentlemen, come on out. It's a great time of fellowship for a turkey bowl, Thanksgiving day at 10 o 'clock.

Jeff, in his Pastor Graham this week, highlighted Reformation Day. Tomorrow, the rest of the country is going to be celebrating All Hallows' Eve. Trick-or-treating, Halloween, all that other stuff, costumes, it's gonna be all that other stuff, but did you know tomorrow is also Reformation Day?

It's when the theses were put on the wall at the castle in Wittenberg. This is an important time in our church history because it returns us back to the truth of scripture and gets us away from apostasy that can be taught.

There are two kingdoms in this world according to the passages Jeff wrote in his Pastor Graham. We have God's kingdom, but we have Satan's kingdom and they're in conflict with each other and our choice is to set your mind on the correct one.

In fact, in Colossians 3, it says, set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. We have choices to make and in Galatians 5, 16, it says, walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

We're encouraging you to continue to reread what Jeff had to wrote. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. Be protected from the attacks of Satan. We are going to have a very special presentation from some of the ladies of our church.

Hi, Janice. So I just came into the church and the table on the left has the information and I found this box. I seem to be drawn to boxes and this one says Connect Care.

What do we know about that? Connect Care is a ministry of Cornerstone Church to encourage people by the glory of God that might be experiencing one of life's transitional changes such as death of a spouse or a child or a parent or going into long-term care or hospitalization or childbirth or loss of a job or things like that.

You know, one of life's changes.

Wow, this box is gonna do all that?

Well, we'll have something that goes in the box that'll help that. It's gonna happen by volunteering people from this body of Christ. I'll offer to volunteer on a form called a volunteer form and you will volunteer to minister in a way such as write a note or a card or email or a text or a phone call or pray for them.

Simple ways like that that volunteers can connect with people who need care.

Oh my goodness, this is so exciting. This sounds like First Corinthians 12 where scripture speaks of a body of believers encouraging each other where it says where one suffers, all suffer together and where one is honored, all rejoice together.

Absolutely, that's great that you knew that scripture, Kristen.

Okay, so who's involved with it? Is this like a women's ministry? Oh, absolutely not.

We want men involved because men can call or text men or email men and we want young people, old people, anyone can participate in this. Anyone who has. Youth group. Youth group. Anyone who has a hand that could write a note, who has an ear that wants to listen to someone talk or has a heart that wants to pray or a heart that wants to serve in ministry to someone else.

Wow, it sounds like the body being the body. Right. To each other. So how does this work?

Well, we have a volunteer form that is in the back and there will be some at the front today too and there's ways to volunteer. You can choose what you'd like to do. You put your information on and then you put it in a box.

Like that. What else? Well, what else goes in the box is maybe you need care yourself or you know someone in the body of the congregation here that needs some care. And so there's, you can put information about yourself or about them, what their need is and how they could contact you.

And only put this in the box if it's, it doesn't have to be confidential. We'll have a way that you can connect online, the church app, but right now, only put this in the box if it's not confidential but you can put your request for care in the box.

Very nice, very nice. Then what happens? Well, then what happens is a coordinator will take the things out of the box and she will connect the person who needs care wants care with the person, some volunteers who are going to give the care and then they'll connect with that person.

So they connect care.

Connect care. Do you get it? This is amazing. Who is on our connect care team?

Well, one of the people is Barbara Curto and Barbara's gonna come up because she's gonna connect people. Our coordinator. So good to see all of you and to introduce Connect Care. And he said I'm supposed to speak louder, closer to the mic, so I'll try to do that.

Anyway, you've heard all about our purpose and the details of the ministry that God asked us to help pass on to all of you so we can all be involved as a church family because we care about you and I know there are many of you who'll wanna reach out to those going through storms who need some sort of encouragement.

So I will be here in front of the church and I have forms and in the back, Carol Griffith is by the entrance where the information table is. She also has forms and will be glad to answer questions. So I wore red so that you could see me.

I'm right here. And please pray for this ministry so that we can all learn to love each other and help each other more.

Let's pray for these ladies and for this ministry. So Father God, we thank you so much for the body of Christ and how you've given us all gifts in the body. We pray, Lord, for these ladies who are heading up this ministry that you would bless them and keep your hand upon them.

In the ministry, we pray for us as a church that we would do well caring for one another and carrying one another's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ. So thank you for this ministry we pray.

We pray for blessing upon it that those with needs would be cared for deeply and loved. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Thank you.

An amazing opportunity for us to show that love that God has poured within us so that we can share it with others. A reminder, this is not a women's ministry. This is a church ministry. The women are controlling it, or not controlling it, they're coordinating it for us.

And so we're very grateful for you doing that. But if a man is in need of something, it would be better for a man to contact him. And if a woman is in need, it would be better for a woman to contact him.

And what a powerful thing for youth to actually step up with youth. So this is a church-wide ministry. Time for us to go to prayer. Lord, we come to you. Proclaiming as the psalmist, I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.

Lord, that our heart would turn to you, would see you, that we would always rejoice because of the blessings you give to us. Lord, we rejoice in the new life, in the new identity that you've given us, the relationship that we have with you, O Lord, because of the shed blood.

Lord God, we acknowledge our sin. We confess our rebellion against you. And we admit that our sinful heart could not even turn to you, except for your grace in the Holy Spirit. We say thank you, Lord.

We accept the truth that without your Son's sacrifice on the cross, we would be without hope. We could not earn our position. It's the obedience of the Son who died on the cross for us. Father, we thank you for your love.

Jesus, we thank you for the blood that you shed. And Holy Spirit, we thank you for your indwelling in our heart, teaching us, convicting us, drawing us to you. Lord, as your children, we sing praise to you.

You've cleansed us, you've redeemed us. We say thank you for the many blessings, for the hope that we have. Through you, we say thank you. Lord, for those in need, we pray. And even as this Connect Care ministry could be an opportunity for us as brothers and sisters within this body to care for each other in real ways.

Lord, we pray for those in need. Lord, for those serving as missionaries, spreading your word to a dark world, hold them up, we pray. Today, as Pastor Jeff comes to us and expounds upon your word, that we would understand the deity of Christ, we pray that you would speak through him, prepare the words in his heart, and prepare our hearts to hear.

We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Let's sing together. Delight to bring him praise. Hold unto your hearts to sing To the morning star of grace. From the shifting shadows of the earth We will lift our eyes to him. Steady arms of mercy reach together.

Rejoice. Rejoice And those weeping through the night. The passage that John shared with us, we didn't plan. Psalm really is a whole book of joyful songs to the Lord. No matter what bad things are happening in our lives, we just have to remember that God is for us.

He has us in the center of his hand. We are his children, he loves us so deeply. It says in James 1, consider it pure joy whenever you face trials because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Let's sing together. God is for us. Don't fear the night We will walk the valley with you by our side. You have gone before us You will lead the way. We have found a refuge only you can save.

We're moving with joy now Our God is for us. The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress. Raise your voice now No love is greater Who can stand against us if our God is for us. Even when I stumble Even when I fall Even when I turn back Still your love is sure You will not abandon You will not forsake You will cheer me on With never-ending praising Sing with joy now Our God is for us.

The Father's love is a strong Raise your voice now No love is greater Who can stand against us if our God is for us. Neither height nor depth Can separate us from the love of God. Neither height nor depth Can separate us Hell and death Will not defeat us He who gave his son to free us Holds me in his love.

Neither height nor depth Can separate us Hell and death Holds me in his love. Sing with joy now Our God is for us. The Father's love is a strong And mighty fortress Raise your voice now No love is greater Who can stand against us if our God is for us.

Sing with joy now Our God is for us. The Father's love is a strong And mighty fortress Raise your voice now No love is greater Who can stand against us if our God is for us. Oh, it says in Zechariah 14, 9, the Lord will be king over the entire earth, that one day there will be one Lord and his name, the only name.

We can put our whole basis of our faith that Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior and that he is God. No other religion can say that and we can hold true and know that he has redeemed us and one day we will stand before his throne singing praises like we do on Sunday.

So this is our practice time. So come rehearse with us as we stand before the throne of God and sing praises to his name. Let's sing together. Risen from the dead He now reigns victorious His kingdom knows no end Through his resurrection Death has lost its hold I know on that final day I'll rise as Jesus rose On that day we will see you Shining brighter than the sun On that day we will know you As we lift our voices one Till that day we will praise you For your never-ending grace And we will keep on singing On that glorious day Blessed hope Though now tired and worn We will spend eternity Around our savior's throne Though we grieve our losses We grieve not in vain For we know our crown of glory Waits beyond the grave On that day we will see you Shining brighter than the sun On that day we will know you As we lift our voices one Till that day we will praise you For your never-ending grace And we will keep on singing Glorious day The day it will be For at home with you my joy is complete Into your arms open wide I will see My father who is waiting for me My joy is My father who is waiting Shining brighter than the sun On that day we will know you As we lift our voices one Till that day we will praise you For your never-ending grace And we will keep on singing On that glorious day On that day we will see you Shining brighter than the sun To lift our voices one Till that day we will praise you For your never-ending grace On that glorious day And we'll keep on singing That glorious day.

Amen to that song, brother. Father, we do look for that day when standing in the presence of the Son of God, surrounded by the brightness, the refulgence of the glory of the true God. We will praise you, we will fall down before you.

We will shout with joy and cry tears of joy. Worshiping from our hearts, Lord, we thank you that you have saved us. Lord, we would go nowhere else. You have the words of life. We pray now as we open the word that you would draw near to us and that we would draw near to you.

Speak to us by the word, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. When my mom was about 61 years old, we began to notice some changes in her. She began to shuffle, she began to hold her hand slightly clenched, and her handwriting began to get small.

And we noticed signs that there was something wrong, and within a short period of time, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. And as Parkinson's took over her body, her body slowed. So at first it was things that could be dealt with, but before long, she began to lose a lot of the function of being able to, from fold laundry to the simple tasks of life.

And about four years ago, it got to the point where she needed to go into a memory care unit, because not only was her body slowing down, but her mind, her brain was also slowing. So it was a very difficult time as she transitioned into that.

But I wanna tell you, my father is my hero, because this man, for years now, has gone in to see my mother every morning and stays with her all day, ministering to her needs and caring for her as a true husband to his wife in this distress.

But for the last couple years, because my mom's mind has been slowing, she hasn't said much. In fact, I think it's probably been about a year and a half since she said something to me that I could understand.

And she hasn't recognized me when I came to visit. A couple days ago, well, last week, last Sunday, I got on an airplane and flew down to Florida to see my parents, and was back on Wednesday, but just spent Monday and Tuesday with them.

And when I went in to visit my mom the first day, there was, again, no sign of recognition, and it was kind of sad. But the second day, I was sitting and talking with my father, sharing some of the problems, but also some of the blessings, the growth of the church, the people being baptized and saved, the new land that we have, and how we were able to dedicate it to the Lord, but how some Sanballat and Tobiah tried to resist the building of God's work.

Sharing my problems, how we're in a theological battle for a true biblical understanding of justice, and how I fight these battles, but celebrating all the victories that God is giving us in these things.

I was talking to my dad, and then my mom began to light up. Her eyes got wide, she began to smile, and I could see in her eyes that she recognized me, which had been a couple years. And so I hugged her, and she was smiling ear to ear, filled with joy, and I was filled with joy.

And then she looked right at me, and said a complete sentence. Don't you wanna know what she said? She said, before I tell you that, remind you, my dad said she hadn't said more than a word or two for many months.

So to string together a full sentence is powerful, but when you hear how profound it is, you, like me, hopefully will know that the Lord was speaking through her, leading her to say this. She said, we have no problems if we trust in God.

What did she mean? We have no problems if we trust in God. You could take that one of two ways. One, some of our problems that we have are because we don't trust in God. We have problems because we're beating our head against the wall, we keep sinning in the same way, and so we get the discipline of a loving father, and the problems that we experience could be alleviated if we would just trust God and obey his revealed will.

But I think she meant it a second way, and that is like this. Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble, problems, but take heart, I have overcome the world. You see, we have no problems when we trust in God because when we hold on to the promises of God, when we take God at his word and we rest in him, it's not us that has to carry our problems alone.

His yoke is easy, his burden is light. We have no problems when we allow God to carry our burdens, and we trust him to carry us through the hard time. If you look around in the world, you will discover that people are worried about many things.

Like Martha, everything seems like an insurmountable problem. Whether the chores will get done in the house, as Jesus sits right there in the very room, and Mary sits at his feet, she has chosen the better part.

Problems, we all have them, but the key issue of life is taking Jesus at his word. It's to know him in his word. Turn with me to John chapter five. The words that we are about to read from John five, verses 18 to 29, are very doctrinal, they're very theological.

In some ways, they're more difficult to preach and for us to hear than an exciting story. If we're telling the story of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, that's exciting, but when you have a long passage of teaching, sometimes we fall into a rut of thinking, you know what, I've got this, I already know this, I have a category in my brain that already believes that Jesus is God.

So you don't need to prove to me that Jesus is God, equal with the father. But there are some reasons why we need to take these words to heart. First of all, the more we look into the perfect law of the Lord, it gives us liberty.

It teaches us trust. Our trust in Jesus goes deeper than where we are right now. Today, we're gonna dig deeper and deeper and deeper to find Christ and his glory at rock bottom. Secondly, there are many who name the name of Christ and they say they believe in the son of God, but they do not believe that Jesus is equal with the father.

Jehovah's Witnesses think that Jesus is the Archangel Michael created by the father, and they say he is a God, but not equal to the God. Mormons think that Jesus is a spirit offspring of Elohim who with a spirit mother procreated Jesus, and he had that origin point.

It's a different Jesus. Here in the text today, let's read it, we see the picture of Jesus fully equal with the father, having existed for all time before the creation of time with his father and with the Holy Spirit.

John 5, 18 to 29. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing.

For whatever the father does, that the son does likewise. For the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing, and greater works than these will he show him so that you may marvel.

For as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will. The father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son. That all may honor the son, just as they honor the father.

Whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God. And those who hear will live. For as the father has life in himself, so he has granted that the son also to have life in himself.

And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Here we have one of the clearest places in all the Bible for establishing that Jesus is God, that he is equal with the father. He is no lesser than the father. There is complete equality between father and son.

We're gonna see that in the passage, but it comes out when opposition arises to his teaching. In a similar way, the doctrine of the Trinity was not fully established and understood until the 300s, Council of Nicaea, and then Constantinople in 381.

These define the Trinity, but understand, this teaching of the full deity of Christ was already present in the church. It came about that a man named Arius began to deny the full deity of Christ. He was essentially like a Jehovah's Witness.

Arius was teaching that Jesus is a created being, and so the church had to rally together and add a council to find what had always been taught and establish these things from the word, that Jesus is fully God.

Let's look into the passage now, and what we find is there is opposition to his teaching. The first four chapters of John are the presentation of the son. He's presented as being the Christ, the son of the living God.

John says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. John the Baptist says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Nicodemus learns of him. The Samaritan woman learns that this is the Messiah, and the Samaritans, of all people, proclaim this is the savior of the world.

So he's presented in John 1 -4. Chapters 5 -12 are the opposition to his claim. So now we have opposition, and it begins when he heals on the Sabbath day. He heals the man at the Pool of Bethesda, and he goes on from there to claim his authority as the Sabbath giver.

His father is always working, and he is always working, and he makes a further claim that he is the son of God. My father is always working, and I am working. So look now at verse 18. The first point that proves that the Bible presents Jesus as equal with the father is spelled out plainly in verse 18.

This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. You see it right there in the text.

Now, the reason this is so poignant is that he doesn't refute that. He lets it stand. This is a huge claim, claiming to be equal with God. Remember in Revelation chapter 22, when John had received this revelation from an angel?

And John's response, being overwhelmed in the presence of an angel, was to fall down and worship the angel. And the angel said to John, get up, don't do that. Literally, don't do that. I am a servant of God, just like you.

Worship God. An angel refused worship. But what's so amazing about this verse, the claim and the understanding of the people at the time, both the Jews and John who recounts it, they understand him to be claiming to be God, and he doesn't refute that.

You get that? He lets it stand. That speaks volumes right there. But not only does he let it stand, that's the first point, verse 18. Not only does he let it stand, he doubles down. Let's read it. Beginning in verse 19.

So, Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you. Now whenever you see truly, truly, take that as Jesus doubling down. Anybody here grow up reading the King James? I did. So how do we have that memorized?

Verily, verily. Truly, truly. He's doubling down. Don't miss this, it is true, it is true. I say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing. For whatever the father does, that the son does likewise.

To do something of one's own accord means you are operating in your own independent purpose. You have your purpose for doing what you do. Jesus says he does nothing from his own accord, of his own purpose.

What he does is in accord, it is in agreement, in harmony with the purpose of the father. What is he referring to in this verse? Well, what caused the Jews to question him? His healing on the Sabbath.

This refers to the healing that he performs on the Sabbath day. The raising of a lame man. He says, I don't do this because I just want to apart from my father, I am in lockstep, in harmony with the purpose of God.

Then he goes on to say in verse 19, for whatever the father does, don't miss this, that the son does likewise. Not only does he claim to have the same purpose as the father, he claims to have equal power.

Whatever the father does, he does. The father raised, paralyzed people before the coming of Christ. Through the miracles of people like Elijah and other prophets, God performed miracles. Jesus says, I do the same thing as my father.

So the first thing to notice, he's claiming the purpose and the power of God. But notice that little word in verse 19 that you might have missed. Before whatever, it says for whatever. What is that word for doing in the text?

This is very important. Because if you look at the next verse, it begins with for. And the verse after that begins with for. The word in Greek is gar, for. What does that word exist to do? It's very important because it gives the ground, the reason for something that's being said.

It digs down deeper underneath the statement to give the basis for that statement. Let me give an example of why this is so important. John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.

Is that how that verse goes? Correct, Barb, you got that. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. The word for is often glossed over, but it's very important because for grounds the basis for something that was just now said.

So John 3, 14, and 15 says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up so that all who look to him, who believe in him, will be saved. Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness.

And we understand why he did that in the context of Numbers 21. God had said, if you just look at this serpent, then you'll be healed of your snake bites. But there's a comparison made there between the serpent lifted up in the wilderness and the son of man lifted up.

Lifted up on a cross. And so the question becomes, on what basis, what is the ground? What is the reason for the lifting up of the son? Why must the son be lifted up on a cross? Why does Jesus need to die?

And the answer comes in verse 16, 3, 16. For God so loved the world. The basis, the reason why Jesus needed to be lifted up and crucified is love. God loves a sinner like me, who deserves to go to death, to the cross, to die a bloody death that I deserve.

But the son would be lifted up because God so loved me and you, that rather than giving us the just desert of our sin, he loved you so much that he let Jesus stand in for you and be lifted up in love to save you from your sins, to save me from my sins.