Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:14-21 NIV)
A Super Bowl commercial has been getting a lot of attention among Christians. Do you know which one? “He Gets Us.” A group of Christians paid millions of dollars to get the name of Jesus in front of the everyone who watched the Super Bowl. The commercial flashes through a bunch of different scenes. In each scene, someone washes someone else’s feet. The combinations of people are surprising. A priest washes a gay man’s feet. A woman washes another woman’s feet in front of an abortion clinic. People from different religions wash each other’s feet. It’s ends with these words: “Jesus didn’t teach hate. Jesus washed feet. He gets us. All of us.”
Did you see it? What do you think? I’ve heard Christians express concern. It seems like the creators of the add purposefully selected people living lifestyles in conflict with God’s Word. If you go to the “He Gets Us” website, they explain how they choose people with “ideological differences.” The concern is that the commercial overlooks sin. It gives the impression that if Jesus were on earth, he would “get” people who live in sin. Would he? If someone’s had an abortion or questions their gender or has lived their life without God, would Jesus “get” them?
Do you know the answer? Of course he would! You know whom Jesus associated with in the Bible, right? Sinners. The Pharisees—the religious people—mocked Jesus like this: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2). Today we get to hear the most well-known verse in the Bible: John 3:16. Think of what it says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” Hold on… Whom does God love? The world. “God so loved the world.” Whom does that include? Everyone! It’s true: “He gets us.” Do you struggle with your gender? Do you struggle with homosexuality? Or lust? Or drugs? Jesus came for you. Jesus gets you!
In fact, if ever a church makes you feel better than other people, if ever you think you deserve Jesus’ love more than someone else does, then you don’t get Jesus. Hypocrisy is an awful sin that religious people too often fall into. If ever you think to yourself, “Jesus didn’t come for them. Jesus came for good people like me,” you don’t get Jesus. You don’t get Jesus’ grace. Paul wrote, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” When it comes to sin, there is only one type of person in the world: Sinners. All of us. He gets us.
But there’s still a problem with that commercial. It’s missing something. Jesus didn’t come to “get” us. We need something more. This past week, my wife was in a car accident. Thankfully, everybody is okay! But the car isn’t. What if our insurance agent calls us up and says, “Don’t worry. I’ve seen a lot of accidents. I get you.” What would we say? “That’s nice, but that’s not what we need. We don’t need your understanding.” What do we need? We need their money! “We don’t need you to get us. We need you to save us. We need you to pay for what we can’t pay. Don’t tell us you get us. Tell us you’re going to save us!” Do you see the difference?
We don’t need God to “get” us. We need God to save us! Our Old Testament lesson gives us a perfect example. The people of Israel had committed a downright terrible sin in God’s eyes. Know what they did? They complained. That was awful. That sin was so serious that God sent poisonous snakes to bite and kill them. That’s how serious sin is! So, they finally repented and called out to God for help. What if God had responded, “Guys, I get it. Snakes are bad!” That would have helped no one! They didn’t need understanding. What did they need? Salvation! So God had Moses put a bronze snake on a pole. Whoever looked at it with faith in God was saved.
Like the cross. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” The story of the ancient Israelites is the story of all human history. We people have sinned against God. It’s serious! We deserve God’s punishment. We didn’t need Jesus to come and “get” us. We needed him to save us. So he did! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” What did Jesus come to do? Save us!
From what? You don’t look like you need saving. I don’t look like I need saving, do I? As well-known as John 3:16 is, we forget John 3:18: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” What do we need to be saved from? Condemnation. Hell. If Jesus came to save us, what happens if you reject Jesus? “Whoever does not believe stands condemned already.” If you say “No” to the rescuer, you don’t get rescued. There is no other option!
There is a lot of debate today about whether hell is real. Many Christians say hell isn’t real. Do you know someone who believes hell is real? Jesus does! You don’t have to believe my word for it. Read the Bible. Read the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. On our way to school each morning, my boys and I have been listening to one chapter of Matthew each day. Do you know what has struck me the most? How often Jesus speaks about hell. How often Jesus warns people. How often Jesus calls on people to repent. Why? Because he wants to save you!
We’ve convinced ourselves today that the problem with the world is the people who point out sins. Those people are hateful. Those people are mean. The world would be so much better if no one would point out sins. Listen to what the Bible says: “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for the fear that their deeds will be exposed.” Hate in the world really is a problem. Know what the biggest type of hate is? People hating the truth. People hating the light. People hating Jesus. “Everyone who does evil hates the light…”
Why? What’s so bad about Jesus? Nothing. It’s because of what’s so bad about us. “People loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light.” Why are so many people turned off from Christ? Why do we sometimes not like to hear the Bible? Is it because we’re living in darkness? Is it because we’ve decided to live against God, and we don’t like to have the light shine on us? We’re constantly trying to excuse our sins, validate our sins, make our sins into good things, doing everything except confessing our sins and repenting of them. “People loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”
Here’s what the Bible says: You and I are so sinful that it would take God himself dying for us for us to be saved. Let me say that again: You and I are so sinful that it would take God himself dying for us for us to be saved. We don’t need someone to get us or to help us. We need someone to save us! Do you believe that? If not, you’re proud. You think you’re better than you really are. You and I are so sinful that it would take God himself dying for us for us to be saved.
And so he did. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” At the end of our service, we’re going to sing the song, “Amazing Grace.” You know that one, right? This is God’s amazing grace: He knows just who we are. He knows all our hidden sins. He knows the evil our hearts love. He knows us just as we are. And he still came. Jesus came. Our perfect God died to save his sinful people. Jesus saves us from our sins. He saves us from our identity crisis. He saves us from hell.
He saves us! The way the Bible talks about this, it’s like a new life. Jesus’ salvation is like being raised from the dead. That’s what we heard in our second lesson today from Ephesians 2: “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). Feel dead? Broken? Finished? Jesus gives life to the dead. Jesus took our sin and gave us his righteousness. Without Jesus, you’re just a dead person walking around. What do we call that? A zombie walking in the darkness. With Jesus, you are a child of God walking in the light.
That changes you. The grace of God changes you. Jesus loves you the way you are, but he doesn’t leave you the way you are. He loves you too much for that. Jesus called on tax collectors to leave their greed and find contentment in his forgiveness. Jesus called on prostitutes to leave their adultery and find true satisfaction in God’s grace. Jesus called on self-righteous Pharisees to ditch their sinful pride and find their identity in being the children of God. Are you angry? Lustful? Greedy? Bitter? Jesus loves you the way you are, but he doesn’t leave you the way you are. Jesus changes you! He says, “Come and walk in the light!” “Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” What does light have to do with darkness? Nothing! Come and walk in the light!
After the Super Bowl, a Christian man redid that Christian Super Bowl ad on his own. He called his commercial, “The Christian Super Bowl Ad They Should Have Made.” It has 500,000 views on YouTube. Just like the original commercial, he shows a series of pictures of people. But his pictures are real people with real stories. Each picture has a short description like this: Former witch. Former jihadist. Former KKK. Former drug addict. Former gang leader. Former prostitute. Former abortionist. Former transgender. Former porn star. Former new age guru. Former lesbian activist. Hear what word is repeated? Former. And then it ends with this: “Jesus doesn’t just get us. Jesus saves us. He transforms us. He cleanses us. He restores us. He forgives us. He heals us. He delivers us. He redeems us. He loves us. He saves us!” That is the true message of Jesus!
If your life has been a train wreck… If you struggle with any sin from self-righteousness to lust… If you’ve lived your life in the darkness… If you’ve stayed away from God because your deeds were evil… If your life has been one accident after another… If you realize there’s nothing you can do to save yourself… Jesus doesn’t just get you. Jesus saved you. Jesus transformed you. Jesus cleansed you. Jesus restored you. Jesus forgave you. Jesus healed you. Jesus delivered you. Jesus redeemed you. Jesus loves you! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” He saves us.
(To listen to this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior podcast, please click HERE. To watch this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior YouTube channel, please click on the link below.)
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