It is a delight to have you all here this morning. I know some of you are rejoicing. You were up too late watching FSU over the hurricanes. I know that some of you are mourning. And I just want you to know that whether you are rejoicing or mourning, your Savior Jesus is with you this morning in that. And I've got to tell you, being new to Florida, I've learned not to call it the south because it's not really the south. Apparently, you have to go north to get to the south where we are here. It's been explained to me. College football is like a new thing. And I've got to tell you yesterday I turned to Molly and I said this is awesome. We get double the football that we ever enjoyed up north. And now actually knowing the teams and everything and knowing people who love those teams. I just as a pastor spend the whole Saturday and prayer for all of you that you will dwell together in unity when Sunday rolls around. Went on Thursday to see the Miami Dolphins play the Buffalo Bills down in Miami. And your team won, which stunk for me, but we had a great, great time. It seems that that stadium, though, is cursed for those of the Miami University and for those of the Buffalo Bills. Let's go to the Lord and prayer. And then I just want to recognize our veterans because this past week was we observed veterans day. So let's pray first. Father God, we thank you for your love and your mercy that though this world is darkened by sin and though we are holy without hope, apart from your mercy, you have chosen to show grace. The way that you've revealed your love and kindness in the world through your son Jesus Christ is awe-inspiring when we reflect upon it in your spirit. But Father, we do know that we can read your word our entire lives. We can reflect upon your great deeds and not truly see them or appreciate them apart from the work of your spirit and your spirit's ministry. So we pray for that ministry this morning that you would cause blind eyes to see and deaf ears to hear and cause us who are even in Christ to not see the embers go out but rather see them fanned into flame. Would you quicken our hearts and renew them to receive the good news of the gospel and to live in view of it? Father, we pray it and ask it all in Jesus' name, amen. And now if you're a veteran, I would like to impose upon you. I know that your service was not done for your glory. It was for the good of your nation to the glory of God. Would you please stand up so we could all recognize you with thanksgiving? Any veterans here with us this morning, please give them a warm, warm. Thank you so much. And we could clap for you all day as we remember what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman church in Romans chapter 13 verses 1 through 7. Paul said very clearly this world is a dark place and that evil advances but that God has given his ministers, ministers of his wrath to punish the evil doer and to strike terror into those that do evil in the world. And we are greatly privileged in this nation for all of its many and significant faults. We are greatly privileged in this nation to enjoy liberty. And even the act of assembling, as Pastor Kurt said before, is amazing that God would call us together at a time like this. And so we thank you veterans for your service and we thank you for those who are serving still. Thank you so, so very much. Well, we turn our attention this morning to the second half of the third chapter of the Gospel of John. And if you're new to the church, you're our guest this morning. We've been slowly, steadily working our way through the Gospel of John being careful to show how Jesus entered the world and gradually revealed his nature as well as his mission to accomplish our redemption. And this morning in chapter 3, we come to some of the most popular verses in all of the Bible. God so loved the world. He was born and only son. That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Many of us don't realize that those verses don't exist in isolation. They don't only make an appearance on a placard at a football game. They were actually part of a larger dialogue that Jesus was having with a Pharisee, a religious leader of his time who believed that by his works he would make himself acceptable to God. Jesus was having a conversation with his Pharisee to explain the true nature of salvation. That it is by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that any of us are redeemed. When I was a teenager, we moved south of Buffalo into the country. My parents had divorced, my mother remarried, and we moved on to some land. About 120 acres, and there was a barn on that land. When we moved there, I was eager to explore the acreage, as well as the barn. One of the earliest visits there, I went back to the barn, and I saw an old vehicle in the back corner. It was covered with all sorts of junk, bird droppings, boxes, tarps, all sorts of things. Quite frankly, the vehicle looked completely beyond repair. It didn't look like it would even be good for parts. It sat there for another couple of years. My stepfather, what's the end game here? What do you design with this car? Why don't we just get rid of it? He said, well, one day, we're going to restore it. It was a 62 Corvette, but it didn't look like that at all. It looked like a pile of junk in the back of a barn. A couple of years passed in a flatbed tow truck, came onto the property, picked up the Corvette, and carried it away. I didn't see it again for quite a long time until one day, when we were traveling home, my stepdad stopped off at his friend's house, who happened to be a mechanic, and a guy that could do the bodywork and so on. We went into his barn and saw the car slowly, steadily, being pieced back together. Quite frankly, I'm not a car guy. I don't know everything there is to know about a car. But as I looked at it, I thought, well, this is impressive to a point, but it's not really a finished product. That would come a little while later, when one day that car came roaring into the driveway. It had been fully restored. The engine actually was protruding through the hood. It had a blower on the top, big thick wheels in the back. It was a hot rod. And all my goodness. When I hopped in and took a ride for the first time, my stepdad hit the gas, my head went back, and I really thought I was going to die. It was an amazing transformation that happened largely secretly and privately. Now, I mention that because when it comes to the world in which we live, we've been introduced by the gospel of John to the fact that God is redeeming the world, restoring the world. He's rescuing it from the power of sin and death, but his plan and purpose ultimately is to make all things new. And that would be a great metaphor for that creative and redemptive work, but it does fall short at a couple of key points. No metaphor, I think, can fully match the grandeur of God's plan and redemption. First and foremost, we need to recognize that a Corvette sitting in the back of a barn is still a Corvette. Even though it's in bad shape, it's still worth something. But the Bible says that divorce from God, we become, in a sense, worthless. Because it's through God alone that any of us has any value or worth, he's the creator. And apart from our creator, we lack the things that he's given to his creation, his glory, his majesty, those things that are truly worthy and worthwhile. And Romans 3, 12, Paul actually testifies to that. You might remember these words. All have turned aside. Paul says together, they've become worthless. No one does good, not even one. So in that way, the analogy falls short to be short, but there's another second way in which the analogy falls short. A Corvette in the back of a barn is not a moral actor. It can't be a rebel against its owner's will. But even though God showed us nothing but kindness in the creation of the world, even though our great and loving God showed us nothing but loving care and provision. We looked him square in the eye and declared, no, we don't want to be with you. We don't want you to be our leader and king. We don't want you to be our father. We want to make a name for ourselves. We rebel against our father's will and consequently through the world into disarray. The disarray that comes by sin, the disarray that eventually brings destruction and eventually brings the fullest expression of death. Paul, when he met with the philosophers, Vainchin Athens, he said to them, in him, in God, we live, move, and have our being. It stands to reason that divorced from God, the penalty of sin, is exactly what Paul describes. The wages of sin is death. Death and darkness have come to the world and we see it in our own lives. Undoubtedly you have situations in your own life that require redemption and reconciliation. And some of these things involve your family, maybe your children, maybe your spouse. Some of the broken situations requiring redemption and renewal are maybe situations that you face vocationally in the workplace. Maybe there are things you see in your community. Wherever you see them, they're undoubtedly there. I don't need to know your specific situation but I imagine all of us this morning, if given less than 30 seconds, could list at least three situations in our lives that require healing. Relationships that are broken, dreams that have been dashed, confusion that rains in our hearts, and we long for healing. And some of those situations, the desire for healing, is very understandable. You agree to it. You're willing to sacrifice almost at any cost to bridge the divide, to bring healing, restoration to a relationship, a relationship that's broken involving your spouse or your children. Perhaps comes most easily to mind. You long for healing. You would sacrifice anything for it. Maybe the situation in your business or in some other area, you find sacrifice comes readily, but let's face it, there are some other situations where there's little innate desire. Little longing for reconciliation, you might even feel justified to keep the relationship broken. You've been wronged, perhaps. Maybe there's a rift involving some injustice, and so you feel quite entitled to preside over the brokenness. Redemption, renewal is neither owed nor particularly desirable. And other times, there's brokenness over which you feel largely indifferent. The fact that things are broken doesn't really cause you much pain in your heart. You look to the situation, you could either give it or take it. Why do I mention all that? Well, because in those situations you face a dilemma. Part of you might perhaps think that reconciliation, redemption, renewal are worthy pursuits, but you don't have the strength to pursue them yourself. Maybe you have every reason to not pursue them, so how do you come to pursue redemption, renewal when you'd rather reject, than restore? For some of you this morning, that's not an abstract question. For some of us this morning I know it's a very painful, deeply personal one. You've been hurt, you know God calls to forgive, and you just can't bring yourself to do it. How do you respond then? Let me give you some good news. Wherever there's a problem or a perplexity facing your life, there's a provision of God. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, the Apostle Paul wrote that no temptation ever ceases us, except what's common to man, but God's faithful. He always provides a way out so that we can stand up under it. What is the provision of God for the person called to forgiveness, who just can't seem to forgive? Well, I think we see one of the most ultimate expressions of it here in John chapter 3. And I want to give you two propositions. The first is that God loves the unlovable. God loves the unlovable and makes them lovers. And secondly, what God redeems, he makes redeemers. God makes redeemers of the redeemed. So to the first point, that God makes lovers of the unlovable, we turn to verse 16. For God to love the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life. 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's not believed in the name of the only son of God. To understand those first few verses, we need to remember that they're said within the context of a larger dialogue between Nicodemus, the Pharisee, and Jesus, the Messiah. Jesus, up to this point, has showed Nicodemus that he can't earn his position before God. Nicodemus actually was lowering the standard of God's holiness, believing that God would be easily impressed by his acts of obedience, and was actually elevating his own understanding of self, thinking he was capable of more than he was capable of, and consequently the gap between God and Nicodemus was viewed smaller than it actually was, and something that Nicodemus himself could bridge through his own acts of obedience and righteousness. And Nicodemus and the Pharisees, that was their error. They thought they could make themselves acceptable to God, they could be their own Messiah. Well, Jesus has taught Nicodemus that that's not the way of salvation. Jesus actually tells Nicodemus what seems to be a completely absurd statement, you must be born again. Nicodemus understandably responds, how can I be born again? I can't go back to my mother's womb and be born again, and Jesus says precisely, salvation is not something that you can do Nicodemus. It's something only your father in heaven can accomplish. The question is, how does he accomplish it? And begin with, verse 16, Jesus starts to unpack it by first showing that God loves the unlovable. The Bible makes it very clear that the human situation is dire. Many of us have grown up in the church, and have been taught even within the walls of the church, that the human situation is not as dire as it actually is. We are taught that we need good counsel to become better people, and that by becoming better people, we will walk into God's favor and the fuller enjoyment of it. But we're not bad people trying to be better, we're dead people who need to be made alive, and dead people can't spark themselves to new life. We're dead in our trespasses and sins, and wholly apart from God's mercy, we are hopeless. The psalmist was actually very, very stark in his description of God's relationship with us apart from his mercy. In Psalm 55, the psalmist declares this, the boastful shall not stand before your eyes, meaning those who would boast in their own efforts, their own accomplishments, their own attitudes or words or actions. If we would stand before God boasting in ourselves, we should know we won't stand for long. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. Then the psalmist goes on to say, you hate all evil doers. Sometimes we say, love the sinner, hate the sin, and that's accurate as far as it goes for us. God looks from heaven down at those who sin, he sees that sin as an emanation of a character aligned against him. Sin comes out of a hateful heart toward God and produces enmity and reinforces condemnation and reinforces the fact there's coming wrath. Jesus never shies away from the fact of God's judgment that stands over all the world even now and maybe even over you. The world is condemned. Jesus came not to condemn the world, but to save the world. But those who don't believe in Christ and trust in him who stand in boast before the Lord and themselves, Jesus is very clear they're condemned already. I don't mean this to be harsh or inflammatory, but I do mean it to be a correct diagnostic of the state of your soul. If you've not fled to Christ, you are condemned. You need to seek God's mercy, but the good news is he offers it because he loves the unlovable. When God chooses to love us, it's not because we're lovable. It's not because there's anything in us that God looks down from heaven and sees as worthy of his investment. In fact, if God elected to save no one, none of us would have the just right to raise a fist to heaven and say God, how could you? You've acted with injustice. If God elected simply to condemn us all and rid his creation of our presence, it would have been an awesome display of his justice. But amazingly, awe-inspiringly, God is not only just. He's delighted to manifest his character in even a fallen world to show that he is merciful. And more than merciful and willing, he desires to show mercy. That's why Jesus says in verse 17 that he didn't come to condemn the world. The world was already condemned. He didn't come to reinforce what was already its nature and standing before God. He actually says he came to save the world. I had some buddies in high school who were headbangers. Those of you who are too young to remember hair metal, you might not get this. Those of you who are too old to never have enjoyed it, you might not get this. But those of you in the sweet spot, you know what I'm talking about. You know I had a mullet in late high school. Some of you here have very long hair and don't want those pictures to arise on Facebook. Any more than I want those pictures to arise. When I was in high school, I went to a tiny little high school and we all were headbangers. We wore motley cruise shirts, scorpions, any number of other bands. And back in those days, the music we celebrated was not the music of God to see the very least. It's amazing to me how many of my friends back in high school who celebrated so many things opposed to God actually now love the Lord. And in fact out of my tiny little high school, it's funny to count how many pastors, ministers of the gospel of grace have come out. I know of five, maybe six. The time that I was in high school are now ministers. One of the guys that came out of my high school was a punk even back then. In a hair metal school, he was a punk. He's covered in tattoos. He's got gauges in his ears. He's a scary looking dude. And to make it even more awesome, he's like a fourth-degree black belt and some martial art called Arnis or something like this. And he's into a mixed martial arts and fighting. He's a tough dude. But you know what? A couple of years ago he started a company. The company is called Drawn by Faith. And it's him and his artistry drawing gospel stories for children. He lives in Seattle, where else? And makes that known in the internet. He's wonderful. Gentle hearted, tender. God got him because Jesus came to love, the unlovable, to captivate their hearts. And maybe you remember the time when you came. Maybe this morning you've not yet come but you're wondering. Maybe today. God will draw you home. Well God sent his son to love the unlovable. He didn't send his son to collect up those who obeyed and made themselves lovable enough to be redeemed. He came for sinners. He came for the worst of sinners. Jesus made it his practice to hang around the scandalist to make a point as well as to redeem them that there's no one so far from God. If you're here this morning atled with guilt, you really deep down in your heart might not articulate it with your mouth but you believe you're beyond salvation. No. Your sin is not more powerful than your Savior. He can reach into the darkest pit, the deepest valley and reclaim what was lost even you. And he offers if you would only turn. And when you turn what happens? Well this gets to what Jesus was saying in the broader context in Nicodemus. You're born again. The old is gone. The new is come. You have a new standing, a new identity, a new position but deep on that you have a new nature. Yes, your flesh is still striving in your body. The sinful nature is still at work but there's something coercive going on in your heart. The Holy Spirit is pushing back against the darkness. Something subversive undermining your former values. The kingdom of God is now growing within your new heart. A heart that used to be cold as stone before God is now warm and pulsing with new affections. With new eyes you see the world, with new ears you hear the message of the gospel. You're drawn to Christ. You're drawn to love the things of Christ. And what does God love? He loved the world. Now when we read John chapter 3 verse 16 you might think that by the world he only means terra firma the world in which we dwell and all the people who dwell here but the Greek were theirs cosmos. It's a God loved the cosmos. His creation. When he created the world it was an act of love. It was God reflecting his love in an act of creation. In our fall did not compromise God's love because God who is love will not be deterred any more than a father will be deterred in his love for his children. So as we come to love God in the things of God we come to love the world not as it is now but as what it's going to be. And that brings me to the second aspect of this morning's message that God makes redeemers of the redeemed. He loves the unlovable. He makes redeemers of the redeemed. Verse 19 and this is the judgment the light is coming to 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 list his works 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. Again we need to read this in its proper context. Jesus has already chided Nicodemus and the Pharisees for not embracing his message. Not loving him why because their hearts are far from God and even though they're the most religious people and the most relentless in the religious devotion Jesus outs them as hypocrites and liars. He teaches us one with authority and they despise him because his light exposes their darkness. Without Jesus on the landscape these Pharisees look awesome but once Jesus appears suddenly the contrast is so stark. The people of God look to Jesus and they know that that's God. That's the grace of God. What these guys are preaching no that's far from God. What seemed to be true is now exposed for a lie and the Pharisees can't deal. Nicodemus has to seek Jesus in the darkness because he fears reprisal for even reaching out to understand who Jesus is. But Jesus says those who have seen the light, those who have been born again of the Spirit, they love the light. They're drawn to it. Their nature is transformed. They come into the light and notice what he says because this is the most profound aspect as it pertains to the question we're trying to answer. How can we come to forgive when we don't feel like offering forgiveness? Verse 21, but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have what? Then carried out in God. You don't feel like forgiving? Don't be surprised. There's nothing in your nature that desires to forgive. There's nothing good in your nature that desires the things of God. But be of good cheer in Christ. Nothing is impossible. And now you are in Christ and Christ is in you and you have a new nature. And out of that new nature comes a quickening of affections for God. Not all at once, but slowly, surely, steadily grows within you a heart to not only love God but to love the things of God. And what does God love the world? Lost, alienated, worthless, offensive, contemptible, but he loves it still. And as you grow in love for God, you will grow to love even those who the world would say you should view as worthless. Contemptible. So the key to forgiveness is not a horizontal orientation toward the one that's wronged you. The key to forgiveness is a vertical where you reflect upon the great grace of God. And as God frees you from the power of sin and death, as you stand in greater awe of His faithfulness and grace toward your sin than in awe of the sin of those around you, the desire to forgive will be fanned into flame because you're no longer who you once were. And if you enter here this morning outside of Christ, you can leave here in Him. If you came in here only with the darkness of your old nature, you can leave here today with the lights of a new one. Everything can change for you today if you would just turn to Christ and accept the gracious offer that He didn't come to condemn you more. He came to save you, all that would turn to Him and believe will be saved. The early church father Augustine was a notorious flanderer before he came to faith in Christ. He took up so many different relationships with so many different women, philosophically and theologically he was a flanderer as well. Even though his mother Monaco was a believer, he tried every other philosophy, every other theology under the sun. He tried it all in a restless desire to escape God. He loved the darkness, he didn't love the light, he wouldn't come to the light. But all of them came up empty. And so one day he sat in a backyard garden filled with a sense of shame and guilt and hopelessness and he heard a child singing in the distance. Just singing the words, take up and read, take up and read. He took up the word of God and he read of the gospel offer of salvation. And in that moment that was the means, the instrument, the Holy Spirit used to spark his heart to new life. Several years later it was reported that he was walking in an open air market. And one of his former lovers came running up to him and said, Augustine, Augustine, it's me, it's me. Augustine lovingly turned to her and said, yes, but it's no longer me. You are no more. What you are now is in Christ. And as you abide in him, a new power to do what before you could never do. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the gift of your mercy and grace that you offer to the vileest sinner, forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration. For the soul here this morning who is broken and hurting and wondering if for them there is any redemption, if father, would you kick into their heart the light of your truth and remind them that your son Jesus came to die for sinners, not for the righteous. And father, for those of us who have already been gathered in, don't let the embers grow cold, fan them into flame that we might do greater things, even forgive our enemies. We prayed in Jesus' name, amen.