John's Gospel IIII: Saved From What?
Sermon Review
05 August 2001
John 3:16-21

Introduction

In order for a person to see value in being saved, they first need to appreciate that they are in peril. Where there is no understanding of danger or threat, there will be no desire to flee or escape, and little thought or care about the consequences of what one is doing or caught up in. In this respect, John had a problem. He was writing an evangelistic document aimed at persuading people to see Jesus as the Messiah (Christ is the Greek translation of the Jewish word ‘Messiah’) 20:31. Now the Messiah was the promised Saviour of the Jews, but John wanted the world to know that he was in fact the Saviour of the world eg. 3:16. But Saviours are only helpful if people need saving. Thinking of his introduction eg. 1:1-9, what did John write that would have triggered an awareness in his audience that personal peril was at hand? The answer is to be found in his contrasting of light and darkness 1:5

Apparently, the imagery of light and darkness was very widespread in the ancient world, and entirely in keeping with common thought. It seems that the great Persian religion of Zoroastrianism had a very great influence on people’s thinking at this time. This religion talked of two great opposing forces using this universe as a great battleground - the god of light and the god of darkness. John’s introduction highlights the coming of the Word as a moment when this mammoth eternal struggle becomes centred in this world.

John continues these themes of darkness and light throughout his gospel: He uses the term light 23 times, as compared to the next most used in Acts (10 times). Jesus is called the ‘light of men’ 1:4. John the Baptist was to point to the light which was in Christ 1:6-9. Twice Jesus calls himself the ‘light of the world’ 8:12, 9:5, and had come ‘as light into the world’ 12:46. People are to become ‘children of light’ 12:36 etc.

The word John uses for darkness is only used 17 times in the N.T, and he uses it 8 times in this gospel, and a further 6 times in 1John. Apart from the passage in John 3, Jesus tells us that if a person does not know him, they are said to walk in darkness 8:12. He says that he has come so that people would not walk in darkness 12:46. In a related vein, Nicodemus comes while it is dark 3:1, and Judas goes out in the dark to betray Jesus 13:30 etc.

The Nature of Darkness

Now darkness is by nature something that hides, disguises, covers up and makes invisible things which would be plainly seen and understood in the daylight. Whereas the purpose of light is to dispel darkness, to reveal what is hidden from sight. What is clear in the introduction is that Jesus as light is in conflict with darkness. What is implied in the introduction is that Jesus is someone who is able to strip away disguises and concealments; to show things in their nakedness; to reveal true character and true values – that is, he is able to reveal not only what God is like, and the true nature of life and ourselves as he reveals what is hidden by darkness in both the world and ourselves.

John gives us his clearest play on light and darkness as a revelation of peril in 3:16 –21 where he highlights some obvious things:

This is an ongoing problem. One that he addresses more fully in 1John eg. 1:5-10.

This unwillingness to come into the light of God leads to a number of most dreadful things, the worst being dying in our sins 8:21-24 and consequent judgment 5:28. John uses the word sin more often than Luke and Mark combined. Matthew uses the noun 7 times and the verb 3 times. Mark 6 & o. Matt. Uses it 17 & 3 times!

But John also makes clear that people will suffer from other things like…

So there are lots of ongoing consequences, which highlights why John makes clear that fundamentally people need to be saved from a universal desire to avoid the illuminating light of God so as to avoid guilt and the necessity for changing to please God 3:19. This desire is so imperilling and imprisoning that John makes much of the work of God drawing people to Himself 6:44,65, 10:29, 12:32, 16:8, etc. John makes clear that being saved is not a human work; it is a divine work, making sense of his emphasis on grace in the introduction 1:14-17. But although he makes clear that salvation is a divine work, he also puts in the foreground the reality of choice eg. 1:12, the intent of his miracles 10:38, 20:31, spiritual hunger & thirst within 6:35, 7:37, acceptance of what Moses said 5:46,47, choosing to accept that what Jesus said came from God 7:17, refusal to come to Christ 5:39-40, willingness to listen to God 6:45, and in the fact that he came to help the blind see within the boundaries of personal responsibility 9:39-41 etc. Both sides of the coin are implied in 6:39,40.

Conclusion

By what is implied in his introduction, clear in the John 3:16-21 passage, and then throughout the gospel, John makes clear that people understand that they are in deep peril. His play on light and darkness and the way these are developed throughout the gospel ensure that the reader or the hearer have the opportunity to be quite alarmed on the one hand, and quite enticed to seek Christ as their Saviour on the other. Despite this, many who listened to Jesus, and no doubt many who have read John still seek to hide from the light of God. Even for the Christian, this wanting to hide from God is a perennial problem, one that continues to plague us even after ensuring that we will not die in our sins. But it is important to realise that there are sad consequences in our lives when we give in to this temptation, and that Jesus has in fact deliberately come into this world to save us from being at the mercy of our sin nature and its desires. John should alarm us enough to want to see that the times and areas around which we want to hide in darkness will result in pain and suffering and loss. And the only one we are fooling is ourself. A potent passage I once read says:

Still, as of old, Man by himself is priced,
For 30 pieces Judas sold himself, not Christ.

If we wont come into the God light, then we are like Judas, selling out ourselves for 3o pieces of silver – so we can have the opportunity to do as we please. The only trouble is that when we do this, the pinnacle of our success becomes part of the very penalty we suffer. John reminds us through Jesus, that we need to avoid the lure of the silver and darkness, and keep coming into His revealing and empowering light if we want to experience abundant life 10:10.

Blessings

 

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