It Is a Rescue Mission
John 3:16-21,
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him 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. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
Okay, I’ve got really good news and really bad news — which do you want first?
I’ll explain the bad news first, but let me at least start with the good news just by reading verse 18. Here it is, verse 18:
“Whoever believes in him [in Jesus] 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.”
This is super straightforward. Everybody get that?
Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned (that’s really good news!)
Whoever does not believe in Jesus is condemned already (that’s really bad news, for those who don’t believe).
And a keyword in both statements is the word “whoever” — that’s whoever as in anybody …
Whoever as in — it doesn’t matter who you are or who your momma is; it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you’ve done; it doesn’t matter how you look or the place you live or what anybody else thinks about you — it doesn’t even matter what you think about yourself — “whoever” is the broadest, most inclusive way to refer to humanity.
Whoever means whoever — this is every human on this earth, it’s any person you could ever think of, whoever is all of us all the same — and the apostle John says there’s one thing that makes the main difference with the whoevers — it’s: Do you believe in Jesus or not?
John has written this book so that we would believe in Jesus, and he wastes no time putting the fork in the road here.
Will you believe in Jesus and not be condemned?
Or will you not believe in Jesus and be condemned?
Those are the only options for us, and I hope that you hear this as both really good and really bad. It’s really good if you believe (it’s amazing — I want this to be all of us!) but it’s really bad if you don’t believe … or if you love those who don’t believe (which I hope is also all of us).
Cities Church, God is speaking to us today in his word, in the good news and the bad news, and that’s my focus in this sermon. I just have two points, and you’ve already heard them. I’ll say a few more things about each one, but before we move on, let’s pray again:
Father, right now, your Spirit is at work like the wind! He does what he wishes according to your will! And we ask: would you will that he give life this morning! Give life! Revive life! Make us to see reality at it is. In Jesus’s name, amen.
For the first point, there’s more on the bad news, here it is:
1. We’re going down.
Y’all ever been in a situation before when you realized: “Oh no, this is not good. I’m doomed.”?
You could call it the “moment of reckoning” or a “mayday moment.”
I’ve had more than one of these but the moment that stands out was one time when I was a kid when I accidentally hit my brother in the face with a shinguard and knocked his front tooth out. I wasn’t worried about him — he’s tough; I knew he’d be fine — I was worried about telling my dad. I felt doomed. If you know the feeling, it’s like your ears get really hot and something gets stuck right here. It’s not pleasant.
There’s a historical figure who knew all about these moments — it was a woman named Violet Jessop. Maybe you’ve heard her name before. Violet was a ship stewardess and nurse in the early 1900s who is famous for being a passenger on three different ships — the Olympic, the Titanic, and the Britannic. (You recognize that second ship — the Titanic struck an iceberg and Rose let Jack freeze to death.)
But get this: the Olympic, in 1911, collided with another ship and in 1916 the Britannic hit a naval mine.
All three ships turned into disasters and Violet Jessop survived each one, which means she lived through at least three real moments in her life when she would have heard the words, and realized, literally, “We’re going down! … I’m in a situation that is doomed.” …
She felt that three different times — isn’t that crazy?
I want you to know verses 18–20 are meant to give us a similar realization.
Original Sin
The truth is, the coming of Jesus has a dooming effect — now, that’s not the purpose for why Jesus came (we’ll get to more on that later, but verse 17 is clear: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world.”)
Jesus didn’t come with the purpose to condemn the world, but a result of his coming, and people not believing in him, is that it makes clear that people are condemned already.
In other words, the reality of Jesus reveals the doom that already exists for everyone who does not trust him. Verse 36, the last verse of this chapter, says that for the one who does not believe in Jesus, “the wrath of God remains on him.”
Deserving the wrath of God is something else that we all have in common — and it goes back to what’s called original sin. We all face condemnation — we all face doom — because we all sin … because we choose to sin … because we inherited sinfulness.
The first rebellion of our granddaddy Adam infects us as humans. It defiles us in all faculties and parts of the body and soul. None of us are just humans, we’re broken humans. We are bent away from God. Our default thinking is that if we need to be saved, we can save ourselves. We are “by nature,” as Paul says in Ephesians 2:3, “children of wrath like the rest of mankind.” If we reject Jesus, the wrath of God remains on us because we start with that verdict.
Verdict Exposed
We all start with the verdict of condemnation because of our sin, but we don’t know that until we’re confronted with the gospel. That’s what John is saying in verse 19,
19 And this is the judgment [another word for judgment is “verdict” — this is it:] the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
See, people love the darkness but the darkness is all they know until the light comes — so, they don’t actually know they love the darkness until the light comes and they hate the light; they want to avoid the light.
Why? Because the light exposes them.
The problem with this exposure is not that it makes these people look bad in front of others — we don’t avoid the exposure because of what others might think — but we avoid the exposure because in the light we must face the verdict.
The light shows things as they really are; which means the lovers of darkness can’t be oblivious anymore to what the darkness means. The light is what makes everyone finally realize: “This whole thing is going down. … I’m in a situation that is doomed.”
Why I’m Telling You
And let’s be honest, if you like your situation, if you love the darkness, you don’t want to hear this. So most times you stay away from places like this, or if you come, you plug your ears and stiffen your heart and you try to protect yourself from the fear of condemnation by pretending there’s no such thing.
If that’s you, I’m so glad you’re here, and the best thing that could happen right now is for the Holy Spirit to rush through here like a mighty wind and open your eyes. Because the bad news is that if you don’t believe in Jesus, you are condemned.
And I’m not telling you you’re condemned because I’m trying to be a jerk — I’m telling you because there’s a way out.
This is the second point …
2. Jesus was sent here on a rescue mission.
This is verse 17. And you gotta see this. Everybody find verse 17. Verse 17, get ready to finish the sentence for me:
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be [saved] through him.”
Now “saved” is an important word in this verse, but another important word is the word “send.”
Track with me here:
“God” here is referring to God the Father, and “Son” is referring to Jesus — and along with the Holy Spirit, we should think Trinity. This is God in himself from all eternity happy and satisfied — the Father loving the Son, the Son loving the Father, and the Holy Spirit as the bond of that love.
And John tells us that God the Father sent Jesus his Son here, into this world. And God the Father did that because of his love, verse 16,
“God so loved the world that he sent [he gave] his only Son!”
I want to make sure we get this right: Jesus did not come here so that God the Father would love us; but Jesus came here because God the Father loves us.
John will say later, 1 John 3:1:
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”
I can’t improve what Pastor Marshall said last week, so I’ll just say it again: We are loved by God. … By the triune God — the Father who chose us in love, the Son who came to save us in love, the Spirit who pours that love into our hearts. This is love, love, love.
That is why the Father sent the Son. Amen. Now keeping hanging with me here:
The word for “sending” in Latin is the the word “missio” — which is where we get our word mission. And there’s range of meaning for how we use this word, but most of the time when we use the word “mission” we mean an important assignment or ambition. It’s something that we aim to do, that we’re sent to do. So I think it’s appropriate to speak of Jesus as having a mission — his mission is what he was sent to do. What was that?
Verse 17 says he was sent to [do what again?] … to save.
And that’s save as in rescue. That’s save as in the ship is going down and we’re all on it and we’re all doomed … unless someone is sent to save us.
What we find in these verses, very clearly, is that God the Father sent Jesus here on a rescue mission. Jesus came here to rescue us. Will you be rescued?
Two Big Opportunities
Jesus was sent here on a rescue mission, and that leads to two big opportunities for us this morning … one opportunity is for those who are here and don’t yet believe in Jesus and then the other opportunity is for those of us who are longstanding committed members of Cities Church.
1) To Those Who Don’t Yet Believe
First, if you’re here and you don’t yet believe. The light shines this morning and the message is plain: If you don’t believe in Jesus you are condemned, but if you believe in Jesus you are not condemned. If you trust in Jesus, he will save you, and he will do that right now.
And look, I don’t mean to ignore the complexities of our various circumstances. I know that we all come from different places, and that faith for some feels really hard. I understand that. I don’t dismiss that. But I do want to emphasize the wonderful simplicity of the gospel as John puts it here.
There’s a lot more stuff you can think through and we can talk about, and I’d be happy to do that, but it is also biblical to cut to the chase, put Jesus in your face, and ask what you’re gonna do with him.
Your greatest need in all your life is to be saved, and Jesus came to save you. Will you be saved by him? Will you put your faith in him?
This is what that looks like … you saying to him from the heart:
Jesus, I’m a sinner who needs to be saved,
And I know you came here to save me!
You died on the cross and were raised from the dead,
You are Lord and I trust you.
Believe in Jesus and you will be saved. That’s the first opportunity this morning.
2) To the members of cities
Here’s the second, and this one is for those of us who are part of Cities Church, the members of this church, if you’re all-in here, this is for you ….
We, as disciples of Jesus, we’re on a rescue mission, too. Or really, the better way to say it is that Jesus continues his rescue mission and now he involves us — by his Spirit he works through us. Which means: the ministry of Jesus through us, our church’s ministry, what we’re about, most fundamentally, is a rescue mission.
And man, it’s so important that we get this. I’ve come to realize, for myself and for all our members, that we will give little effort to make more room in this church until we understand we’re on a rescue mission. When I say “more room” I don’t just mean physical space, but I mean first at the heart level, in our imagination.
I’ve got this image. I’ll tell you about it … it’s a choice between two different ways of being for our next decade …
The first way is that we’re a nice cruise ship and we’re just coasting along, and every now and then, when we’re not on our phones, we might glance out over the deck and we see some stuff going on down in the water, but we don’t really bother — just keep cruising. That’s one way.
The other way is that we’re a life boat sent out because there’s been a storm, and that stuff going on down in the water is people drowning, and so we’re going out trying to get as many people in our boat as we possibly can.
Church, see, we have a choice — Will we be a cruise ship with high walls, maybe throwing a rope down every now and then? Or will we be a life boat, going out in the storm, leaning over the edge, saying “Get in the boat! Be saved! Jesus is real! Trust him!”
Cruise ship or life boat? Who do you want to be? And if it’s not a life boat, then what are we telling ourselves to make us think that’s okay?
God, make us a life boat.
Church, let’s give our lives together to be a life boat.
Father, we know that by your Spirit you are at work in our lives and in our church and we ask for more. Don’t let us get in the way, but give us humble hearts and yielded spirits. Give us a deepening gratitude for what you’ve done in our past, and a growing passion for what you are yet to do, what you are able to do, what we believe you are pleased to do for your glory and our good. In Jesus’s name, amen.
