John 3:9-21

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 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. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ 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.

Driver’s road test

The grading system here in Winnipeg is very different from what it was in the Philippines when I was still a student there. The passing grade here is 50% while in the Philippines, the passing grade is the dreaded “palakol”. So, if you get higher than 80, let’s say 90, you must be a very good student.

Now with that in mind, back when my father took the Driver’s Road test, he got a grade of 90. The examiner told him “he failed.”

My father thought to himself “What? I’ve got a grade of 90 and failed?”

He later learned later that the grade he got was not merit grade but a demerit grade. The 90 score he got was the number of mistakes he did while taking the road test.

This Driver’s road test, even before and after my dad took his first road test gave him some sleepless nights.

He was not able to appreciate every food he ate.

His mind was distorted and he cannot concentrate with anything he said, anything he did, or anything he thought about.

He even had a telephone conversation with a church member and he realized he was not asking the right question or giving the right answer.

This may be a very simple problem to some of you but for him it was a moment of meditation. He asked God. He prayed that God will help him understand what is happening to him. And then God made him realized that there is a purpose in everything God wanted him to go through like getting 90 score in his first road test.

During driving road test, we can get a couple or more chances to pass the Driver’s road test. Congratulations for those who have taken the test once and it. But there are also many who has taken the road test twice, thrice, or maybe four times.

You might have taken the Driver’s road test once or multiple tries. I believe you can identify with my dad when he said, “I cannot sleep well, I cannot eat well, I was disturbed and confused.”

For those who are about to take the road test or those who haven’t as well as those who already took it, listen carefully.

This present life is our road test for our Eternal License.

Our life right now is the road test for our Eternal License. The Bible teaches about the Final Judgment Day. On that Final Judgment Day, we will not be condemned if we have the Eternal License to Live Eternally with God.

If you do not have the Eternal License, you will be condemned eternally together with the demons.

This road test of Life is what you are experiencing in your present life right now. You are supposed to obtain that Eternal Driver’s License to travel your life journey along the Narrow Street of Life that leads to Eternal Life. If you want to live in heaven for all eternity, you need to acquire that Eternal Driver’s License.

John 3:16 teaches us how to acquire or have this Eternal Driver’s License. Jesus Christ is our Eternal Driver’s License.

JOHN 3:16 is the most loved verse. It is the most memorized verse.  It is the most quoted verse. It is what we call the Bible’s message in a nutshell. JOHN 3:16 gives us a picture of eternal destiny. Either to have everlasting life or everlasting condemnation.

Have you secured or obtained the Eternal Driver’s License as you drive your everyday Life Journey?

1. For the UNSURE, DOUBTING or NEVERMIND. The result is sure—eternal condemnation

 ^18b …but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

Many people are dying without an assurance of eternal life. Many people are dying without being sure of going to heaven or not. Many people are dying—doubting they will see God’s glory. Many are those who do not mind going to hell. The result is the same. Failing the road test of Eternal Life means Eternal Condemnation

You may also believe that God is a loving God but you might also fail the road test of Life.

You may believe that Jesus is the Son of God but still not see heaven—even demons believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God as it is said in James 2:19, ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

The worst thing is this: You are very sure that you will enter heaven one day but only to find out that you will fail the Final Judgment Day.

You may be leading the praise and worship. You may be singing so wonderfully with your awesome and great voice. You may be teaching in Sunday School or VBS, leading others to pray to receive Jesus Christ. You were trained in any leadership training. You might have visited the sick.n You may also be reading your Bible very diligently.

You may be serving the church like a pastor or you are a pastor. For us Baptists, you may have recited the sinners prayer or prayed to receive Jesus Christ.

But come the Final Judgment day, you are identified with those people described by Jesus in…Matthew 7:21-23 ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Many are the children of pastors and pastors themselves who were disillusioned and their later lives revealed that they are not really bound to heaven.

Family of ministers

There was a Pastor and his family from one of the older Southern Baptist Church that had this experience. They have a very wonderful family. They are loveable, beautiful people, good singers. This is a family of ministers that a church is hoping to have.

The sad part was that the church was dissolved. They left a very bad image of Baptist in their community. They stopped going to church worship service and have their individual bad vices.

What happened? I don’t exactly know.

Look at verse 10, Jesus said of Nicodemus, ¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 

The Pharisees of all people and teachers of the law of God are the most knowledgeable in teaching what is right and wrong in worshipping and abiding according to the Hebrew Bible.

If we talk about how to live a life as a godly person, the Pharisees are the best resource teachers. They will be able to tell you every detail of living according to the law of God. Are we better than a Pharisee? If you are not a Pharisee, you are far from God’s standard of living.

Jesus requires us in Matthew 5:20, ²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

 This concludes that all of us are condemned to go to hell if we are relying on our own righteousness.

You might reason out, “but Pastor I have prayed to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I did my tithing. I served TMEC. If you check every detail of my daily activities, you can surely describe I am a Christian.”

Those are items on the checklist of a Christian Life but it does not guarantee that you have passed the road test of Life. Our road test of Life is continuous and not finished yet.

Before my father’s first road test, he passed the written exam and he only had two mistakes. He read the Driver’s Handbook. He did his research on driving by browsing the Internet. He drove very safely and yet why did he fail?

His standards of a good driver are far from the standards set by the the road test administered by the Manitoba Public Insurance.

APPLICATION:

If we based our eternal life according to our human standard, we might be led to believe we will enter God’s Kingdom but relying on our human standard will lead us to being disillusioned that we have eternal life.

If we cannot surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees then we are doomed together with those who doubt if there’s heaven or not, we are doomed together with those who do not mind if they go to hell or heaven.

Are you now doubting if you are sure to enter heaven?

If you are not sure of going to heaven or even if you are very sure of going to heaven listen attentively.

 2. To the assured of eternal life. The result is sure—eternal life

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 

In verse 14 Jesus mentioned, ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.

Jesus continued in verse 15 and these statements were stated more profoundly in verse 16, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” ¹⁶ 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. 

This is a very promising promise that is not easily understood and interpreted because of our failure to go farther to its explanation. We depended so much on preachers to expound John 3:16 for us.

The result: we miss the message of verse 17.

We miss the message of verse 18, verse 19, verse 20, and verse 21.

Jesus words in verse 16 can be easily understood if we meditate on verses 17-21.

¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 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. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ 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.

Living in darkness and living in the light, are these concepts easy to grasp? Not really.

To understand verses 17-21 we need to consider everything that Jesus said in the passage. We are reminded that Jesus is talking to a Pharisee but the Pharisee did not understand what Jesus was talking about.

Are we better than Nicodemus so that we can claim that we are more knowledgeable than him?

When Nicodemus asked the question, ”How can this be?” Jesus elaborated earthly things to be understood in relation to heavenly things rhetorically.

“How can you understand heavenly things if you don’t understand earthly things?”

“How can you accept heavenly things if you cannot accept earthly things?”

These questions are rhetorical questions.

Rhetorical questions are statements that are not supposed to be answered but meant to be meditated upon.

After those rhetorical questions, the Lord Jesus reminded Nicodemus of when Moses lifted up the snake in the desert. Many times we accept John 3:16 without considering verse 14—Moses lifted up the snake.

For Nicodemus and the Jews including Jesus’ disciples—they know exactly the meaning of when the snake was lifted up in the desert.

This verse 14 is the prolegomenon(a critical or discursive introduction) to verse 16 that may also help us understand verses 17-21.

The Desert Snake

What happened in the desert?

Why did Moses need to lift the snake up?

In Numbers 21:4-9—the chosen people of Israel are supposed to be lovers of God. They should know their part of obeying God and His servant Moses.

Their freedom went beyond bounds. They spoke against God. They complained that they were taken out of slavery. They talk against their leader, Moses. They showed contempt of God.

God sent snakes to bite them and many died. But Moses prayed and God instructed him to make a bronze snake and tell the people to look at the bronze snake and they lived.

How does Israel’s experience relate to living in the light and living in darkness?

Living in the light is following the light but living in darkness is avoiding the light.

Let’s look back at why my dad failed his first road test. He interpreted the Driver’s Book according to his understanding. He passed the Written Test.

He tried to imitate other drivers who are driving safely according to his understanding. He spent countless hours every night watching from our window how drivers stay safe at an intersection.

He tried those things he observed and drove for a month without any accident.  He thought that was good enough to be a safe driver. He thought he was far from what they call bad drivers.

Then came the actual road test day and he failed.

If this is the first time you’re hearing of my dad’s road test stories, you might be wondering if he took another road test. You’re eager to find out if he passed the second road test. To no surprise for those who’ve seen him drive, he passed his second road test, and he said “it was by God’s grace” that he passed.

What’s the difference of his first road test and the second road test?

Before he took his second road test, he called an expert driver instructor. He told this instructor his failures. The instructor helped him checked his violations and practiced the proper way of driving.

The expert driver instructor played a vital part for my father to familiarize how to properly drive.

APPLICATION:

If you have received and believed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you have the Eternal License.

Is it that simple? Not really. We are still having our ongoing road test of life.

We need to listen to our expert driver’s instructor—the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches us to drive on the narrow road of life for us to be assured that we are headed to eternal life.

Believing in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is not the finality of our Eternal Life. We need to be assured that we truly believe in Him. How?

Our everyday life reveals that we are sealed for eternity.

The fruit of the Spirit should be the outward manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Why?

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Upon believing in Jesus Christ, we are marked with the seal of eternity, the Holy Spirit.

How do we know we are sealed by the Holy Spirit?

The Fruit of the Spirit reveals if were sealed with the Holy Spirit for Eternal Life.

Are you sure that you are driving properly on the road test of life?

Are you sealed by the Holy Spirit—the eternal expert driver instructor?

Paul teaches about the checklist for those who are living in the darkness in Galatians 5:19-21 ¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

For those who are living in the light, the checklist is found in Galatians 5:22-26 ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Let’s continue to pray and ask God to give us the guidance we need in taking this road test of life.

><((‘> .. ><((‘> … ><(((“> tmec\lmms <“)))>< … <‘))>< .. <‘))><