Scripture: John 3:19-21
Date: October 30, 2011
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Men love darkness. Not only does this lead to their eternal condemnation, it is part of it and makes it more condemnable. Men love their sin, they love doing wicked things so much that they will protect their loves at any cost, even their own lives.
But God so loved the world that He paid the highest cost to overcome wickedness, He loved so much that He sent His Son to give His life. He sent the light of life into the world in order to expose the darkness and rescue men from its domain. Men love the world for themselves, they love selfishly, to take and hoard and run away by themselves. God loves the world for Himself, to give and share and invite into His eternal fellowship.
This is the good news of John 3:16 and the paragraph it pilots. In it (3:16-21), the apostle John summarizes the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus (3:1-15). Last week we considered that God’s mission was a saving one, not a judging one (3:17-18). The Son wasn’t sent to condemn because men were already condemned before He arrived. Men are born in spiritual death, in spiritual darkness, and so they must be born again just as Jesus told Nicodemus.
This morning, in verses 19-21, we will finish this ambitious paragraph and we’ll observe the revelation of light and the reactions to light.
Judgment, like eternal life, is not something that we wait for. Both are already at work.
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. (John 3:19)
God didn’t send His Son into the world to condemn, or judge the world (v.17) because the world was condemned already (v.18). How are they condemned? Is this judgment written somewhere and now we wait for the sentence to be carried out? In some ways, yes. But elements of judgment are already manifest.
This is the judgment, and then he declares the nature of that judgment. It isn’t only eternal perishing later, judgment is love of darkness now.
John explains the revelation: the light came into the world. In his gospel, “light” is mostly personal, meaning that Jesus is the light. John the Baptist said he wasn’t the light but came to bear witness about the light.
John the apostle learned that from Jesus Himself.
Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (John 12:46)
The light and the Logos are the same. At the same time, light refers not only to who but what Jesus provides: understanding of how things really are. Jesus came into the world and with Him He brought truth.
This judgment is that men loved darkness rather than the light. Darkness is a metaphor for the effect that sin and evil have: darkness keeps men from seeing reality. Reality is there, just as the furniture is still there though the lights are off, it just isn’t seen. Sin keeps men in the dark, and God lets men stumble and fumble around as part of His judgment.
It isn’t that men don’t see it or know it was there. It isn’t “light came into the world and men weren’t aware of it.” Men don’t have an intellectual problem with the light, they have an affections problem. We’re up against something far worse than a lack of information. We’re up against hearts that love where they are.
This is why we do not believe that education saves. Education about the Savior, to those who love the Savior, makes a world of difference. But truth transfers bounce off hard heads because the head has been told to shield against truth, against light.
This is also why we believe that men deserve judgment even while we believe that God must cause them to be born again. Men always do what they most want to do. No man does evil against his will, against his wants. He sins because he loves it even when those loves lead him away from true life. The heart is desperately wicked.
John explains the love for darkness: because their works were evil. Men work full time at the office of God’s Rebel’s, Inc. They do what they want and what they want is their own will. That’s evil. Because they do wrong, they love darkness, and God lets them have what they think they want.
There are two types of reactions when men are exposed to the light.
John makes it more personal in verse 20.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:20)
As he did in verses 8, 15, 16, and 18, he uses a substantival participle to characterize a man by his behavior: everyone who does wicked things. It’s an interesting follow up to “works were evil” (πονηρὰ); here (φαῦλα), “accomplishing base, bad, worthless things.” Both the offensiveness and the futility of his behavior outside the light stand out.
He is driven by his affections. He loves darkness and he hates the light and does not come to the light. The light makes him sick. It irritates him. He wants nothing to do with the light so he runs from it. He tries to stay under the cover of darkness. The thing he wants least is to be disturbed.
John reveals the reason for the reaction to the light: lest his works should be exposed. The word “exposed” could be translated: scrutinized, examined, brought to light. Deep down, he fears exposure. He doesn’t want anyone all up in his bid’ness. He fears being seen for what he really is and the guilt and shame that inevitably follow.
A couple key things to remember about this. First, most light haters don’t say that that is what they’re doing. Of course, they may not realize it themselves. That’s part of the problem with darkness; you can’t see what you’re doing. If they do realize it, isn’t that the point of darkness, to cover all their sin, including their campaign against the light?
Second, not wanting one’s works exposed doesn’t always mean that the works are done in secret. Sure, this verse includes a possible public/private consideration. But there is a difference between not wanting other people to know what you’ve done and not wanting other people to judge what you’ve done. One defense against judgment is to hide. Do your wicked and worthless things only at home, only on the Internet, only in your mind. But another way to keep others from judging is to change the laws. This covering isn’t about what place you do your sins, but about how you define sins. It’s not a geographical defense, but an idealogical one. Just get people to believe that the darkness is light. Darkness is crafty; she doesn’t limit herself to one approach.
When celebrities or politicians talk about Christians being narrow-minded or bigoted, they’re trying to cover their sin while talking about their sin openly. Often, the more boldly and openly one speaks, the more fearful (or deceived or both) they are. Not coming to the light isn’t not coming out of the closet. To the degree that a society is marked by the light, yes, some will hide at home. But war against the light happens just as much on sitcoms with laugh tracks about homosexuality. Violence against the light happens just as much in legislating a woman’s right to murder her inside baby. Militant aggression against the light happens in primetime, in courtrooms, on the World-Wide-Web for all to see. Light haters don’t realize the madness of sewing extra layers on their blankets; their blankets are see-through no matter how thick.
Before we move on, we really need to wrestle with the 500 pound gorilla in the paragraph. When we read verses 19-20, we think about celebrities and politicians. When John wrote it, he was thinking about religious people. He was thinking about Nicodemus. Nicodemus represents the whole group of those who saw Jesus doing signs in Jerusalem (2:23-25), those who expressed some sort of belief. Nicodemus was a real man, a man at the top of the religious ladder, with the “right” family, recognized for his Bible knowledge, in a position of spiritual authority in the community.
John is saying that those sorts of people hate the light. Jesus came to His own and His own didn’t receive Him. People who know and talk about the Word can use the Word to cover their disobedience to the Word. The group who most fears exposure is the group who best knows the standards and who most covers their deeds to make themselves look better.
Thinking you deserve a better spot in the kingdom, as Nicodemus did, is more of an argument that you’re in darkness than that you’ve been born again.
Here is the opposite reaction.
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. (John 3:21)
I remember being struck by this unexpected contrast. The “one doing wicked things” anticipates the “one doing good things,” right? The one doing wrong contrasted with the one doing right. Instead, John writes about “the one doing what is true,” “he who practices the truth” (NAS).
The truth-doer comes to the light unlike the evil-doer. I think it’s also fair to fill out the contrast, saying that the truth-doer loves the light. There is nothing to fear about the light. In fact, the light is life. Jesus as the Light is life. Believers come to the light because in the light we have fellowship with God. Believers come to the light to understand how things really are, including their own works.
The purpose in verse 21 for coming to the light is so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. What isn’t said is also true; they come to the light to have sin exposed. They do that because they understand that sin disrupts fellowship. They don’t fear the surgeon’s scalpel that cuts off the malignant lump. Even when it’s painful, they understand that they are getting something far better than they could get in the darkness.
But the express statement regards good works and who gets the credit for those. This is another argument for why religious folks are the center of the target. Not only does light challenge unrighteousness, but also with selfrighteousness. Both separate us from fellowship with God.
No one can claim that his own goodness enables him to fellowship with God. Claiming that nullifies the cross and, as the paragraph argues, diminishes the power of God’s love. His love is so loving that He doesn’t depend on loveliness. His love creates loveliness in the most unlovely objects. His love is like no other, it runs the world.
He worked in us, not to overpower us and make us eternal bootlickers, but He worked in us according to love for sake of sharing His eternal joy in light. When we believe, we have fellowship with Him and we do truth. We make righteous choices and we acknowledge how those happened: God worked in us.
It’s tricky, but humility doesn’t require silence about the good things we do. In fact, silence can’t be humble if it lets the praises stay on us. When another person sees your good works, don’t bow your head and draw circles on the carpet with your big toe. Look them straight in the eye, receive the appreciation, and reroute the praise. Boasting isn’t wrong, boasting in yourself is wrong. Not boasting in God is also wrong.
Those who do truth don’t cover their sin or their sanctification. They acknowledge their wrong and they acknowledge God’s work when He keeps them from wrong. That constant consciousness is fellowship.
Doesn’t that get us back to where we started? If men love darkness and hate the light, how is it that any ever come to the light?
Man, no matter how religious he is, has a problem that he can’t fix. God must cause him to be born again. When God does that, He grants repentance and faith. He transfers us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love and gives us an inheritance with all the saints in light. This is eternal life—Trinitarian fellowship—that shapes how we see everything. We see our sin for what it is, we see our good works for what they are, we see God’s love at work in the world.
Both the evil-doer and the truth-doer know something is wrong and trust a savior. The truth-doer trusts Christ, the Light of the world. The evil-doer trusts darkness. Darkness is an impotent savior.
This whole “men love darkness” thing could be quite depressing. But the point of this story, the reason we read it, is because God causes men to be born again! That’s the power of the Gospel! He causes the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ to shine in the hearts of men!
There is no black too dark for Him, no death too cold, no blindness too despairing. Men are depraved, they love darkness. That’s okay; depravity is a powerful master, but not an omnipotent one. The light shines in darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it!
Go tell the gospel! Tell of God’s love and Christ’s cross and Spirit re-births. We aren’t ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God to salvation for all who believe. Men can run from God, but their steps are too small to outrun the flood of His eternal love, a current that catches up to every one God planned to share His fellowship with.
How can we be so confident about this? Because God loves the world. How can we be so confident about that? Because God sent His only Son. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Are you tired of hiding? Tired of running? Tired of fear? Come to the light.