Well, good morning, church. It's a joy to bring God's Word to you this morning, and I'm going to go out on a limb here. I guess I don't need to present a bunch of neurological or sociological studies to convince most of you of this one basic truth, that there are things in our lives that we believe absolutely and wholeheartedly, and yet we don't live in light of those things that we know and believe every single day of our lives. Here's an example from my life, I'm sure some of you can connect with this, but I think I know the basics of how to be physically healthy. I know there's some advanced things, but I know I'm supposed to eat well, I'm supposed to exercise, and I'm supposed to get some good sleep, right? Those are kind of the basic building blocks. And yet, at least in my life, there are days, and then there are weeks and months, and even let's just say seasons of life, where I don't live in light of what I know and what I believe about how to be healthy. I'm in one of those seasons right now. Many of you know Pastor Ryan has been out on sabbatical for the last couple months. Praise God he's coming back soon, but it's been a heightened level of stress for me and that has come combined with earlier this summer someone introducing me to the McDonald's app. Some of you are laughing harder than others because you know, you know the points and the deals and the freebies. And you know it's been bad season for me. It's been rough. I know I shouldn't be going there and I believe that it's not going to be good for me and I actually have a checkup tomorrow, no joke, and so I think that's all going to be confirmed early tomorrow morning.

But I just am not living in light of what I know and believe. So maybe you're a total health nut and so you're not at all tempted by one dollar Big Macs, which that's good for you But there's this is there's this way in every area of life I think think about like our financial health our financial state. We know we got to get a job make some money We know we should reduce our debt. We know we should save and invest. But then there's times where we want something and we don't have money for it, but what are we supposed to do? Just not have it? That'd be crazy, right? So we know we shouldn't, we believe that it would be a bad idea, and yet we get ourselves into a financial state that we know we shouldn't be in. Well, I could go on and on with examples. I think we could all mostly agree on that.

There are things we know, there's things we believe, and yet we don't live in light of it. And we are in the middle of a sermon series called It Had to be Said, where we're looking at the quotes from Jesus Christ that changed the world. And I think we would be remiss if we made it through the whole summer and we didn't include the most quoted, most well-known most memorized most held up on Signs at sports events and at concerts you probably know where we're going this morning We're going to look at Jesus's words from John chapter 3 starting in verse 16 and I just want to be up front with you about what we're about to do this morning because I Think nearly 90 some percent of us in this room have probably heard everything I'm going to say before. I'm going to guess most of us here, not all, but most of us believe wholeheartedly the words of Jesus that we're going to look at. don't live each day with a profound awareness, a focus on these foundational basic truths that we hear right from the mouth of Jesus. So what are we going to do? We're going to do what we do as believers. We're going to go back to the scriptures and we're going to be reminded again and again and again of of the truths of God's Word. And so as you're turning to John chapter three, verse 16, we're gonna read through verse 21. And if you are looking in our Bibles that we provide you with, it's page 1,130.

But I just want you to know where we're jumping in because we're not just jumping into the life and ministry of Jesus, but actually in the middle of an interaction, of a conversation that Jesus had with a religious leader named Nicodemus. Nicodemus, he's a Pharisee, that means he's just this

devout religious ruler of the Jews, and those rulers, those leaders in the Jewish world, they have started to hear the buzz about Jesus. And actually Nicodemus had seen some of his miraculous signs, and so not wanting to make a stir with his friends and his close co-workers, he sneaks away under the cover of the night to investigate Jesus himself And that's where we're jumping in near the end of this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus and this conversation Particularly the section we're focusing on today has gone down in history as the most famous concise Clear summary of the good news of Jesus that ever came from his mouth. So follow along with me as we're reminded again this morning and I hope This starts a pattern of you reminding yourself every morning of the good news of Jesus. So let's read John 3 starting in verse 16 through 21.

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.”

You pray with me father as we return to what for most of us is a familiar text It's our prayer this morning that you would by the power of your Holy Spirit. Make this fresh make this new and make this stick in our minds and in our hearts and may it permeate every aspect of our lives. God I pray that we would be reminded of the profound yet basic truth that we find here in John 3 16. We love you Jesus and we pray this in your name. Amen. Amen.

So this morning I'm going to challenge you with just a couple short daily reminders that are things I believe that most of us probably know and believe But that many of us don't dwell on day in and day out We don't start our mornings.

We don't launch into each day based on this foundation reminding ourselves of these truths That can change today. So let's look at starting at verse 16, and the daily reminder that we can draw from it. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish

but have eternal life. I dropped into the shall there, I missed the whosoever believeth, but a lot of you have this memorized, you might have it in the older versions, but our first reminder today is that God loves you. God loves you.

1. God loves you.

I know when we read John 3, 16, it's often easy to skip towards the end, to skip towards eternal life, and that's so big and that's so massive and it's so important, but we need to be careful that we don't make the mistake of skipping over how we get there in the first place because it all starts with for God so loved the world God loves you and you probably know that it's a basic foundational truth today but back in Jesus's time this would have been seen as an audacious claim by just about everyone roaming the world.

Think about outside the Jewish faith, and Jesus is talking to Nicodemus here, we'll get back to him, but think about everyone else outside the world, rampant paganism, beliefs in all different kinds of gods, and one of the uniting factors with all these different beliefs is that most people out there who made us and who are in charge of all this stuff they just must be so annoyed and we must have to appease them with our worship and with our obedience and there's no way they like us let alone

love us that was the thoughts of most the world and Jesus shows up God in the flesh God with us on the scene and says for God so loved the world says the one true God the real God the maker of everything the sustainer of the universe actually loves you individually but think about Nicodemus he knew that God loved he particularly was aware of God's love for the Jewish people for God's people that he was leading and guiding that we read about in the Old Testament, but what he probably and so many of those Jewish religious leaders of the day, kind of either forgot about or maybe even neglected a little bit, is what Jesus reminded them of, for God so loved the world. The world. Now let me ask you, I'm guessing there's not many, but here in 2024 in West Michigan, raise

your hand if you would be so bold, if you're ethnically Jewish in your background. There might be some, not a groundswell of it here in West Michigan. Now raise your hand if you're a part of the world. And by that, Jesus would have meant if you're a human being, raise your hand. I'd love to see that. And even if you're shy, hold on, keep them up.

Keep them up. If you're a kind of shy person, give me at least one of these. Hold them up. If you're raising your hand right now, for God so loved the world, that means that God loves you. We so often forget to dwell on that every single day of our lives. You can lower your hands now. I remember when my firstborn came into the world, when my son Cohen was born. It was a whirlwind adventure, the whole thing. My wife had preeclampsia, so we were in and out of the hospital, and one day we were in the hospital about the whole day.

They were debating, do we send him home or not? They sent us home, we got home, and all of a sudden, my wife's water breaks. Boom. We got to head right back to the hospital. So we go to go back down on the road that we just came from the hospital on, and they have shut down that road for construction for the night. Highway 68, we weren't getting to the hospital, and so I roll down my window and I yell out to the nearest construction worker, I say, hey, my wife's in labor, you need to let us through. And he looked at me and walked towards us so slow, like he's heard this a hundred times before, and ninety-nine times, it's not true, but he looked in and he looked at my wife and he said, whoa, your wife is actually in labor. And she was. And so he said, all right, I can escort you through, but, he said, are you having a boy or a girl? You know, we said, we're having a boy. He goes, okay. He said, I'll let you through, but you have to name your child after me.

No joke. He said that. And I said, sure, whatever it takes. So, do you know my son, Cohen? You can guess what this construction worker's name is. You know what his name was? Mike. I did. We had already picked out a name. I still feel a little guilty about it, but sorry, Mike. But Cohen entered the world. When we got to the hospital, everything was chaotic and our doctor wasn't there and we loved our doctor.

He was actually the head elder at the church I was pastoring there. Just this amazing godly guy, so experienced at helping women bring their kids into the world and he wasn't there. Everything was chaos and finally at the last minute, right before Cohen arrived, Dr. Alexander came in like a hero. He came into the scene delivered our boy he handed him to us and everything was buzzing and people were moving and doing all of their things and I don't know if it was because he was just this godly or because he was a couple months away from retirement But dr. Alexander just said everybody stop

quiet and the whole room everybody stopped exactly what they were doing And he said Nate and Bryn look down at your child. He says, you are probably experiencing a love right now that you never knew you were even capable of. And he said, that love you have for this child, he said, that's not I'll never forget that moment. But every day I seem to forget to live in light of that truth. To live knowing I am safe and secure whatever happens because I have the love of God. The love of God is behind me and under me and around me and that whatever I Face in this broken and dark world. I am loved by God Guessing many of you Need to be reminded of that just like I do again and again and again for God so loved the world.

But he doesn't stop there and if you have trouble believing that listen to what Jesus says next because he looks at Nicodemus and he says for God so loved the world that he gave his only son We can know God loves us not just because he said he did but because he showed he did he proved it He gave his son his only son to take on the wrath of God in our place God loves you so much that he sent his only son for you has that sunk in I know it's easy For us to go. Hey, well We're a reformed church and we kind of get into the more the the meaty the nitty-gritty, the hard stuff, this is basic, we don't do as much of this lovey-dovey, fluffy stuff.

No, this is foundational to the good news of Jesus. And if you've lost sight of the truth that God actually, really, truly loves you, I want you to hold on to that once more. every day, even if it takes waking up and saying to yourself, preaching to yourself, God loves me. I am a loved child of God. If that's what it takes for you to start each day that way, then do it. Make a habit of it. So that's my first challenge for you. A daily reminder that God loves you.

But we can't stop there. That could lead to some confusion because Jesus didn't stop there he clarified a couple things and just because God loves the world and he does that doesn't mean that everyone everywhere is automatically safe look at what the rest of verse 16 says for God so loved the world that he gave his only in him should not perish but have eternal life if you believe in him you can experience the love of God both now and forever if if if you put your faith and your trust in Jesus you can receive his loving sacrifice and you get to have eternal life. Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

I don't know about you but when I hear eternal life I just think I always just my mind goes to the quantity of life just living forever life forever with God in heaven and that's certainly an aspect of it but when Jesus would talk about eternal life he wouldn't just talk about the quantity of life we get, but actually the quality of life that comes from following Jesus. Look at what Jesus is quoted saying later in the Gospel of John in chapter 17. He says, and this is eternal life that they know you God the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. If you put your faith in Jesus you can walk into his love with an early earthly entry into the covenantal love of God, a relationship with God that starts now and lasts forever and can permeate every fabric of your being and every aspect of your life and every moment of your days. That God loves you.

2. God saved you.

And that leads to the second basic reminder that many of us know, most of us believe, is that if you do put your faith in Jesus, then God has saved you. We often just hear verse 16 when we look at John 3, but verses 17 and 18 bring so much color and so much commentary on what Jesus said in John 3 16 So follow along as I read those two verses Jesus says 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 Whoever believes in him is not condemned But whoever does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only son of God.

Now there's some back and forth there that Jesus is saying so for clarity I want to just give us all a quick quiz here. It's open books Look at your Bibles look at the words of Jesus and if you'd be so bold answer these questions with a loud yes or no But did God send his son Jesus into the world to condemn the world? No. Did God send Jesus in order that the world might be saved through him? If someone believes in Jesus, are they condemned? But if someone does not believe in Jesus according to his words,

Yes. Yes. Because of our deep and our, frankly, our obvious sin against God and against each other in this world, Jesus didn't have to come and condemn because that was our default position in which we all live. Instead, He came to save.

He doesn't cause us to sin, but we are responsible for our sin, and because he loves us so much, he sent his son to die and to save us from the dangerous and deadly position we all get ourselves into. I remember when I was younger, a moment with my dad.

And when I was younger, I really struggled with a low view of myself. I didn't see the worth that God Put in me by creating me by loving me and I was down on myself all the time and I beat myself up about things I remember one time that I was I messed something up and I was there talking to my dad and I was so ashamed I was so embarrassed about whatever I had done and I remember I started to not just in my head but physically I started to just hit my head and harder and harder because I was so mad at myself And I was hurting so much and Then with my eyes closed. I just felt two big arms wrap all the way around me First to stop me from the harm. I was doing to myself and Next to just hug me my dad Said no stop.

He kept saying I love you. That was one of the only times I have in my life that I saw my dad just cry because he saw what I was doing to myself. He saw the position I was in rough shape already what Jesus is telling us here in John 3 17 and 18 is that he loves us so much that even though we were already condemned and don't get confused we are God sent his son to save us if we believe if we in him. It's basic. Most of you know this. Most of us believe this. But do we wake up each day remembering and living in light of it? And in case we today or Nicodemus back then are at all confused about where this condemnation comes from, how it comes about, that's where Jesus ends his conversation here. So read verses 19 through 21 with me as we end out these words of Jesus Jesus says and this is the judgment the light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed 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

3. Come to Jesus.

Our last daily reminder is as simple and as straightforward as my first two. It's the offer that many of you Stepped into at one point in your life, but you might be forgetting to do every single day is to come to Jesus. If you are here today and you've never come to Jesus, if you've never stepped out of the darkness into the light, if you've never said, I believe that Jesus came and lived and died, that he loved us so much, that he took our place and the punishment we deserve, if you've never done that today is the day this is the moment and just like that You can have eternal life not just life forever, but relationship with God here and now And for all your days But Many of us have had that moment

We are totally Justified we are absolutely saved. We cannot lose our salvation. The Bible says nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. But that's our positional, that's the positional truth, the position that we live in, that we rest in, but practically every day we still make choices to walk in the light of Jesus, to come to Him every single day, or to slip back, to crawl back into the darkness. And it seems crazy that we would do that, right?

We know better. We believe that's not the best way, but sometimes that false promise of darkness, that it could cover our sin and our shame, and that the light of Jesus will expose our weakness and our need. Sometimes we fall for that day after day after day. If that's you right now in your life, there's no better time than right now to say,

God, I need to start every morning saying, God loves me, God saved me, and now I want to come to you today. I know I'm safe and secure for all eternity, but I want to walk today in your love, in your light, and in your salvation. You can make that change by the power of the Holy Spirit. And what does it actually look like to live in these truths? Because I've been saying that a lot, but practically, what does that actually mean moment to moment, day to day.

And I can't probably pinpoint exactly for you, but I know for me there's just this picture of, I thought, I think about my my personal finances a lot and I think, you know, if I had a billion dollars in a bank account somewhere, I wouldn't get flustered by these bills coming in, you know, nothing could kind of really ruin my day. And I think that's true. I don't have a billion dollars in a bank account, unfortunately, but I Have the love of God.

Do I live Like the love of God is a present reality in my life day after day or imagine if you Talk to a doctor and they said hey We found out this special pill, a cure, just for you, for your DNA, that anything that could go wrong with you health-wise, it could fix it just like that.

You probably wouldn't be concerned day-to-day about little things that happen if you stub your toe or get a paper cut, or even the bigger things you could live with knowing that you're safe and secure. Do we live like that? Do you live like that every day, knowing I have the love of God, I am saved by the grace of Jesus, and that each moment, each day, I can just come to Jesus? That doesn't mean life's going to be easy. It doesn't mean really, really tough things aren't going to happen. In fact, I can promise you that they will. If we have the love of God, and we have our salvation in Christ, and we have a daily reminder that we can come to Jesus, then we can live in confidence, we can live in peace, we can live with hope, we can live with real joy, even in this dark and broken world.