[Sermon from Joshua House at Vineyard Columbus, Ohio] [Click HERE for audio of the sermon]

I want to tell you a story tonight. It is a sad story. It is a heartbreaking story. And it is a true story. The man’s name was John Griffith and the year was 1937. John had lost everything that he had in the stock market crash. So like most people in those days, he found work wherever he could, which for him, meant moving to Mississippi where he took a job as a railroad bridge operator. At scheduled times each and every day, the huge bridge was raised so that ships could make their way down the river, and the bridge was lowered so that trains could cross over.

That summer, John took his 8-year-old son, Greg, with him to work for the first time. The boy, like every boy would be, was thrilled to be so close to the railroad bridge and to see the trains and the boats. But he was thrilled most of all to see that his dad was in charge of it all.

John took Greg to an observation deck so that he could watch the boats and trains go by. At noon, as usual, John put up the bridge to let a few boats through. And, also as usual, he didn’t bother to put the bridge down because he knew it would be over an hour before the next train was scheduled to cross. But in the midst of all the fun that John and Greg were having, he lost track of time. Until suddenly he heard, off in the distance, the sound of the speeding train rushing towards the raised bridge. The train was the Memphis Express, a passenger train with some 400 people on board. Immediately John ran from the observation deck to the control tower. He placed his hand upon the massive iron controls. But just before pulling the lever, as was his habit, he quickly glanced under the bridge to make sure that there were no ships crossing.

And in that instant, while he did not see any ships, what he did see was the most terrifying sight of them all.

He saw his son Greg, who had slipped from the observation deck and had fallen into the huge gears that operate the bridge. Though the boy was still alive and conscious, his left leg was caught in the cogs of the main gears. John could see that his son was in great pain.

In just a matter of a few minutes, a heart-warming afternoon with his beloved son turned into a heart-wrenching dilemma, faced with a choice that no parent should be confronted with. Ever!

There were two choices and only two. He could run to his son as fast as he possibly could, frantically pulling on the gears to somehow free his son, and thus save his life. Or he could pull the lever to bring the bridge down and save the lives of the 400 passengers on the train. And the cruelest part of it all was that it was one or the other. Either the 400 passengers were going to die, or his son, Greg, was going to be crushed to death.

After what must have seemed like an eternity of agony and toil, John buried his head in his left arm and pulled the lever, fully aware of what this meant for his beloved son, Greg. With his closed eyes streaming with tears, John could hear the train passing over the bridge. And with the only strength he had left in him, he opened his eyes and looked into the train windows. He could see that there were businessmen casually reading their newspapers, uniformed conductors looking at their large vest-pocket watches, well-dressed ladies in the dining car sipping coffee, and happy children playing with their toys. No one looked back at him. Why would they? This was just another bridge and he was just another bridge operator.

With wrenching pain in his heart, John screamed at the train, “I sacrificed my son for you! Don't you care?” But nobody heard. Nobody realized what had just happened. And life went on as usual for everyone on the train. While for John, his life was never to be the same again.

The Greatest Verse in the Entire Bible
There is a verse in the Bible that I think all of us here have heard at least once, and most of us probably have memorized. We see it written on the bypass. We see it in baseball games and football games. And we even see it written in bathroom stalls. It has been called the “The Gospel in a Nutshell.” It has been called “A Love Letter from God Written in Blood and Addressed to All.” And it has been called “The Greatest Verse in the Entire Bible.” Of course, I am talking about John 3:16:

John 3:16
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.

In just 26 little words, we have the central theme of the entire Christian message. It is brilliant in its preciseness. Yet the depth and the scope of these words have baffled man and woman of God for 2000 years. It is simple enough for a toddler to memorize at Sunday school, but profound enough for a lifetime of wonder and awe. If you know nothing of the Bible, you start here. If you know everything in the Bible, you return here. So, as we continue on the sermon series entitled, “The God You’re Looking For,” tonight, I would like to spend our time together digging into this one verse, John 3:16, in a sermon I’ve entitled “Are You Looking for a God Who Loves You?”

And if we could do something just a little bit different today, would you please all stand with me, and let’s read this verse together in one voice. And after we read the verse, I’m going to give us just a minute of silence for us to reflect upon these words. And then I’ll pray before we continue on. So, please stand and let’s read together, these words of Jesus:

John 3:16
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.

Let’s pray.

As we dig into John 3:16, we will see, revealed in these words, five life-changing truths. So, let us examine these one by one.

For God
The verse starts off with “For God…”

John 3:16
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.

The first life-changing truth revealed in John 3:16 is this: There is a God!

Life-Changing Truth #1: There is a God

Let me say that again. There is a God. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but if there really is a God, then everything, absolutely everything, everything in my life and everything in your life, must be viewed in light of this mind-boggling truth. There is a God. And we start here because it is not merely the beginning of this verse, but it is the beginning of our story. And this story is not merely a story but it is the story. It is the story that we see in Genesis 1:1, where we read:

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

There is a God and he created the heavens and the earth.

Our galaxy is comprised of over a hundred billion stars. And our galaxy is just one of billions of other galaxies. Who can fathom such galaxies upon galaxies; much less create such vastness but God?

You know, let’s say that you were bored one day and you decide to drive to the sun, and you were somehow able to do this in your dilapidated 92 Ford Escort that your parents got for you when you graduated from High School. And let’s say that you were speeding like crazy going 150 mph, which is no small feat for the 92 Ford Escort. In this car, traveling at 150 mph, if you drive nonstop, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, get this, it will take you 70 years to reach the sun. And you thought driving to Ikea was bad! And let’s say that once you reach the sun after 70 years, and you get ambitious and want to travel some more, and you decide as your destination Alpha Centauri, the next closest star system. You’ll need 15 million years to make that trip!

And for those of us who just don’t have that kind of time, but maybe have some money, and you were able to fly in a jet that flies at 600 mph, it will still take you 16.5 days to reach the moon, it will take you 17 years to pass the sun, and it will take you 690 years to reach Pluto. And this is all still just in our solar system!

And not only is the universe that God created beyond our comprehension in its vastness, but also its minute details are magnificent!

The cosmological constant, which represents the energy density of space, is as precise as throwing a dart from space and hitting a bulls-eye just a trillionth of an inch in diameter on earth. The sun makes life possible on earth only because it is exactly the right mass, exactly the right light, exactly the right age, exactly the right distance, exactly the right orbit, exactly the right galaxy, exactly the right location. If any of these constants are thrown off by even just a minutia, life on planet earth would not be possible. The gravity that we feel on our planet is fine tuned to one part in a hundred million billion billion billion billion billion. That is 1 with 53 zeros! It is no wonder that the astronomer George Greenstein said this:

As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency – or, rather, Agency – must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our benefit?

Psalm 19:1 exclaims:

Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

A painting implies that there is painter. A house implies that there is a builder. The universe implies that there is a God! A God who is all-powerful, all-wise, all-knowing, all-sufficient, all-in-all. An artistic God who has an eye for details. This mighty God, the Creator of the Universe, has no beginning and he has no end! There is a God! And the heavens are declaring his glory!

So loved
And John 3:16 tells us that this God is not just any God but he is a loving God.

John 3:16
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.

The second life-changing truth revealed in John 3:16 is this: God is a God of love.

Life-Changing Truth #2: God is a God of Love.

This magnificent and majestic God, the Creator of the Universe, who has no beginning and who has no end, who has no need of any kind, this God is a God of love! Let that truth sink in for a minute. Why would a God who is all-powerful, all-wise, all-sufficient, all-in-all, why would this God love? Why? Contrast that to the powerful people in our world today. You see, power and love seldom go hand in hand. In fact, it seems that they are inversely proportional, that as a person becomes more powerful, his capacity to love seems to diminish proportionally. But the most-powerful God is different. This God is wonderfully different. He is a God who holds in his hands all the power of the universe, and yet his heart is full of love. He loves.

And I think it would be prudent for us to take a pause at this point and ask ourselves, “What is love?” It is a wonderful little word that is completely worn out, meaning completely different things for different people. For instance, this morning I used “love” to describe my feeling toward my wife, my children, and granola bars. I obviously did not mean that my feelings toward my wife and children are the same feelings that I have for food! Overuse of this word has diffused it of any real meaning.

Some of us say that love is a relationship, while others would say that sex is love. And since when did we start calling “sex” “making love”? Some of us would say that love is the act of asking for forgiveness, while others would say, to quote a line from a famous movie, that “love means never having to say you’re sorry!” For some of you guys, you would say that you experience something like love as you walk into a Best Buy and you see hundreds and thousands of electronic gadgets, each one calling your name, and above each item, the two most beautiful words in the English dictionary: “On Sale.” For some of you, the word “love” immediately brings to your mind a particular person, maybe a particular song, or maybe a particular day. And I bet that many of you used the word “love” a few times yesterday as you spent Valentine’s Day with that special person in your life.

But is that the kind of love that Jesus is talking about in John 3:16? Is God basically a cosmic Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake serenading us with a beautiful ballad?

The Bible uses a variety of words for love, each one intended for a specific target. In the Old Testament, we have words like “Hasaq” and “Hesed.” These words, Hasaq and Hesed, denote a binding of oneself to the object of his love. In this sense, Bible is saying that God chains himself to the object of his love. He handcuffs himself to you and he says that he will never let you go.

There is an incredible love story in the Old Testament between a man named Hosea and his wife, Gomer. And to put it nicely, Gomer was not someone who cared particularly much about the notion of fidelity in marriage, as she jumped around from one lover to the next, day after day. And in so doing she destroys her life, and she shatters Hosea’s heart. She runs away from Hosea and ends up destitute, and eventually is placed for sale in a slave market. And do you know who stepped up to buy her? Hosea. He binds himself to the object of his love, and there is no escaping that kind of love no matter how hard you try. And God uses this story to say that this is exactly how he loves us. He says this in Hosea 3:1:

Hosea 3:1 (The Message)
Then God ordered [Hosea], “Start all over: Love your wife again, your wife who's in bed with her latest boyfriend, your cheating wife. Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people, even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.”

This is the love that we see in John 3:16. “Hasaq” has been replaced with the Greek term “Agape,” but the meaning is equally powerful! But God isn’t so much interested in defining love as he is in demonstrating it.

Let me share with you one other illustration of this kind of love. The man’s name was Dan Mazzeo and he shares this story about his dad whom he lovingly calls “Pop.” Pop is a first-generation Italian American who was fighting liver and lung cancer. When doctors gave him less than a year to live, Pop declared that he was not afraid to die, after all, his wife was already gone, and all of his children were adults now. But Pop learned that his son, Dan, was expecting their first child, Pop’s first grandchild. On hearing this wonderful news, Pop simply said, “I’m gonna make that.”

The chemo therapy that Pop was on was destroying not only the cancer, but also his body. He was no longer able to move about on his own. He was now confined to a wheelchair, he couldn’t eat on his own; he was basically at the mercy of those who took care of him. And he was in terrible pain all the time. But when he heard that his granddaughter was born, he insisted on going to the hospital. The 90-minute car ride to the hospital was a torture to his ailing body. Once they arrived, Dan put him in a wheelchair and took him to see the baby. Pop’s arms were too weak to hold the baby, so Dan held the baby for him on his lap. But Pop did what he came to do. He leaned over, kissed her, and said, “Sheila Mary, Grandpa loves you very much!” Within seconds after that, Pop was asleep, within an hour he was back in his car, and within days he was dead.

What is it about love, this incredible thing called love, that compels us to reach for the impossible? What is it about love, this incredible thing called love, that compels God to reach for us? To bind himself to us? God is a God of love. Above all else, our God is a God of love!

So loved the world
But more shocking than the fact that God loves is that he loves the world!

John 3:16
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.

Life-changing truth #3 revealed in John 3:16 is this: God loves Christians, Muslims, Jews, Atheists, and You!

Life-Changing Truth #3: God loves Christians, Muslims, Jews, Atheists, and You

Just a few verses before John 3:16, Jesus compares his life’s mission with what happened in the day of Moses when the people rebelled against God. The people of Israel were complaining that they were sick of eating manna, this miraculous bread from heaven that God had graciously been supplying for them every day to sustain them. And the result of this complaining, this sin against God, was a plague of snakes that moved throughout the whole camp. People were being bitten by these snakes and they were dying. And in his characteristic fashion, Moses pleads with God asking for his mercy. And this is what God says in Numbers 21:8:

Numbers 21:8
The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”

So God’s design of love to rescue the rebellious people from perishing was to lift up a bronze snake on a pole so all that the people had to do was to simply look at it in faith and be saved. (By the way, the snake entwined around the pole is a symbol that remains even today as a sign of healing used by various medical organizations.) There was no magical power in this bronze snake on a pole. There was nothing they could do to save themselves. They were saved by faith as they looked to the bronze snake on a pole that God had provided for them.

And with this incredible story as the backdrop, Jesus says this in John 3:14-15:

John 3:14-15
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man [Jesus] must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

So when Jesus says that “God so loved the world,” it means that God loves this world that is full of rebellious, sinful, complaining, unbelieving, snake-bitten people. He means that he loves you and me. He means that he loves Christians. He means that he loves Muslims and Jews. He means that he loves Atheists and Agnostics. He loves you. He loves me. There is absolutely no one who is left out in this phrase, “the world.” It is the universally open door saying, everyone can come, everyone can enjoy a relationship with God. It is the ultimate all-inclusive statement found in the Bible. There is absolutely no one in this world who is not loved by God. So, what did he do? What did this God of love do?

Did he just merely issue a set of moral laws? No! Did he just leave this whole thing up to us? No! Did he say, “Just try harder!” No! The love of God compels him to send his one and only Son, Jesus, to be raised upon a cross, and he says, “look to him and be saved! Look to Jesus and be saved!”

He gave his one and only Son
It has been said that love is less an affection, and more a decision; less a feeling, and more an action. And that is exactly what we see in John 3:16. Not only do we see God’s love in action, but it also reveals the divine nature of Jesus.

John 3:16
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.

Life-changing truth #4 revealed in John 3:16 is this: Jesus is God!

Life-Changing Truth #4: Jesus is God!

The Greek word for “one and only” is “monogenes,” which is made up of “monos” meaning “only” and “genes” meaning “species, race, or family.” In the Bible, this phrase is almost exclusively used to describe a relationship between a parent and child. So, for example, we see in Hebrews 11:17:

Hebrews 11:17
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son

“Monogenes” is used in John 3:16 to highlight a specific kind of relationship between Jesus and God. Though God may be the father of all humanity, Jesus alone is the “monogenes” Son of God, because only Jesus has God’s genetic makeup, meaning that every single quality that we attribute to God, we can attribute to Jesus. That’s why he is able to boldly claim in John 14:9:

John 14:9
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

Some versions of the Bible translate “monogenes” as “only begotten” which also beautiful illuminates this point. As C.S. Lewis, the great Christian author writes:

Rabbits beget rabbits; horses beget horses; humans beget humans, not statues or portraits; and God begets God – not humans and not angels.

God’s only begotten son, the one and only Son, Jesus, is God! Jesus is God!

Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life
I mentioned just a little bit ago that the phrase “God so loved the world” is the ultimate all-inclusive claim found in the Bible. But in John 3:16, we also have the most exclusive claim in the Bible:

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him [Jesus] shall not perish but have eternal life.

So, the fifth life-changing truth revealed in John 3:16 is this: Salvation is found in Jesus alone.

Life-Changing Truth #5: Salvation is found in Jesus alone

Echoing the all-inclusive statement “the world”, this next part begins with “whoever.” There is absolutely nobody who is left out in “whoever.” It is all encompassing. It is every single person in this world that God loves. But the entryway into this all-inclusive love is an exclusive door, “a narrow door,” if you will.

John 3:16 says “whoever believes in him,” meaning Jesus! Not “whoever believes in the prophet Mohammed.” Not “whoever believes in Moses or Abraham.” Not “whoever believes in him or herself.” Not “whoever tries really hard.” Not even “whoever is sincere.” But John 3:16 says, “whoever believes in Jesus.” There is absolutely no grey area here! And just in case you were wondering, Jesus says this in John 14:6:

John 14:6
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

No one, absolutely no one, comes to the Father except through Jesus. It is absolutely exclusive. And this exclusive thrust is also echoed by Peter in Acts 4:12:

Acts 4:12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved.

“But, wait a minute,” you may be wondering, “didn’t you just say that God is love? How can a loving God make such an exclusive claim? Why can’t all roads lead to God? Aren’t all approaches to God correct, especially if you are sincere?”

First let me say this: All religion, every single religion, is exclusive because any claims of truth is exclusive by nature. If truth does not exclude, then no assertion of a truth claim is being made; so in that case, what’s being stated is just an opinion. Any time you make a truth claim, you mean something contrary to it is false. Truth excludes its opposite. All religions are exclusive. You could actually say that all worldviews are exclusive.

“Well,” you may say, “then why couldn’t it be that somehow actually all religions are right?”

Well, Islam says that Jesus was not crucified. Christians say he was. Both can’t be right. Judaism denies that Jesus is the Messiah. Christians say he is. Both can’t be right. Buddhists look toward Nirvana, which for some is achieved after 547 reincarnations. Christians believe in one life, one death, and one eternity with God. Both can’t be right. Hindus believe in an impersonal god. Christians believe that God is deeply personal. Both can’t be right. Humanists and atheists do not acknowledge a creator of life. Jesus says that he is the source of life. Both can’t be right. Judaism sees salvation as a Judgment Day decision based on morality. Hindus anticipate multiple reincarnations in the soul’s journey through the cosmos. Buddhism grades your life according to the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. Muslims earn their way to Allah by performing the duties of the Five Pillars of Faith. People may try to group Jesus with Moses, Muhammad, Confucius, and other spiritual leaders, but Jesus simply refuses to share the stage. He says absolutely “no one comes to the Father except through me because I am the way and the truth and the life.”

The great theologian R.C. Sproul said this:

Moses could meditate on the law; Muhammad could brandish a sword; Buddha could give personal counsel; Confucius could offer wise sayings; but none of these men was qualified to offer an atonement for the sins of the world… Christ alone is worthy of unlimited devotion and service.

Not all roads lead to God because not all roads are equal. Any religion that says that our effort is what truly matters can not provide a solution for sin. Any religion that says it is what we do that wipes away the result of sin in this world can not provide a solution for hell. Sin penetrates too deeply! And its affects are felt universally, which is why the Apostle Paul says this in Romans 3:23:

Romans 3:23
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

All have sinned, every single one of us have sinned, and we fall short again and again and again. Sin taints how we think, how we act, how we feel. There is nothing in us that is not impacted by sin. And there is nothing that you can do about it. Our mental, physical, emotional capacity simply is not powerful enough to battle sin.

No matter how many times you are reincarnated, you simply can not win the battle against sin. No matter how moral you may be, you can not undo the impact of sin in your life. No matter how strictly you adhere to the laws of your religion, you can not defeat sin. What is needed is for God himself to provide the answer. What is needed is for God himself to pay the price for sin. So, there is absolutely no solution to the problem of sin apart from the God-Man, whose name is Jesus. And that’s why Jesus says:

John 14:6
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is not making an exclusive claim for the sake of being right or arrogant. With these words, Jesus is earnestly and passionately pleading with every man and woman, saying, “Really, there is no other way! You can search high and low but there is simply no other way. You can seek out all the other religions but there is no other way. You can even try super hard by yourself, but there is no other way. Really, I am the truth. I am the life. And I am the only way. And no one comes to the Father except through me. So, let me be that door for you! Please!”

It is more than an exclusive claim! It is the ultimate declaration of love! Having demonstrated his love by being lifted up on the cross to be sacrificed for the sins of the world, Jesus is uniquely qualified to say:

John 14:6
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Paul echoes this point beautifully in these wonderful words found in Philippians 2:6-11:

Philippians 2:6-11
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The absolutely mindboggling truth of the Gospel is this: The death of God is what makes our life possible. That’s why Paul writes in Romans 5:8, these words:

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The death of God is what makes our life possible. Jesus Christ has been lifted up on the cross, and God says, “Look to him and be saved! Look to him and be saved!” This is what love is! This is our God of love!

We started off in the beginning of our time with the story of John Griffith and his son Greg. And I would like to close our time tonight with that same story. In 2003, a Czech film director made a short movie based on this true story. Its English title is “The Bridge.” So, let’s watch the clip.



The death of God is what makes our life possible. Let me read for you again, this greatest verse in the entire Bible, the words of Jesus found in John 3:16:

John 3:16
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.

Let’s pray.

[Sermon from Vineyard Columbus, Ohio] [Click HERE for the audio of the sermon]

On October 17, 1969, at 8am, the entire police force of Montreal, Canada went on a strike to demand better pay. As a result of the strike, which lasted just about 16 hours, six banks were robbed, more than 100 shops were looted, and there were twelve fires. Property damage came close to some $3,000,000 and two men were shot dead. All this in just 16 hours!

This incident brings up a lot of interesting questions:

• Is fear of punishment or getting caught the only reason people are good?
• How much does the environment play a role in shaping someone’s behavior?
• Are people incapable of being good?
• Are people naturally evil?
• If I were there, would I have behaved any differently?
• Are most of us just really good at suppressing the darkness in our hearts, so that when an opportunity like this arises, that this true self just spews out of us?
• And if this is the case, then who is the true you? The one who works hard to suppress those evil desires, or the one who gives expression to those internal desires?

Well, the truth of the matter is that it is one in the same person, isn’t it? You are the collection of both your internal desires and your external behaviors. And it is here that I think we would all concede that there is a tremendous amount of disparity between who we ought to be and who we truly are. So we live in this tension, between these two worlds, and we are pulled back and forth trying to do what is right, while wrestling with our inner demons. But even as we are doing the right things and saying the right things, if we are truly honest with ourselves, I think oftentimes, we still feel like a fraud, that we are living a lie, that we are always looking over our shoulders wondering when we will be exposed for the fraud we truly are.

One little girl’s honest confession hits this point home beautifully:

A lie is an abomination to God and a very present help in time of trouble.

Three weeks ago Rich began a series called “Finding God.” The premise of this series is that having faith in Christ, and being faithful to Christ is really hard to maintain these days. That in the context of the world that we live in, faith is becoming more and more difficult to maintain. So, in this series, we are looking at some common objections or challenges to faith that we regularly come across. Today, I want to talk about the challenge of morality and spiritual experiences. Before we continue, please bow your heads with me and let’s pray.

FAITH AND MORALITY
When we talk about morality, a central question that needs to be raised is this: “Who are you when no one is looking?”

You can be a banker. You can be a lawyer. You can be a doctor. You can be a student. You can be a husband. You can be a wife. You can be all of that and more. But who are you really, when you are by yourself, when no one is looking? If the veil of your private life is lifted, would we see two very different people? I’ll talk more about that a little bit later. But before we address that, let’s talk first about what moral law is and where it comes from.

WHAT IS MORAL LAW?
Moral law is that inner compass that lies deep inside each and every one of us that tell us what is right and what is wrong. While we may not always be thinking about it, or even fully aware of it, we all feel its pull. It plays out in our lives in both big and little ways, in the millions of decisions that we make on a daily basis whether or not to do this or that, whether or not to act on this thought or that thought, whether or not to say this or that. It plays out in fights and disagreements. And while some disagreements are minor like, “Why did you leave the toilet seat up again?” (That may NOT be a minor issue for some of you) Other disagreements are a lot more serious, like the debate over whether or not the United States has a moral obligation to spread democracy throughout the world, even if it requires military force. Or the debate about stem cell research. Some argue that it is a violation of the sanctity of life, while on the other side, others argue that because of its potential to alleviate human suffering, it would be a moral failure on our part if we do not move forward with the research. And in each case, no matter on what side of the issue one may stand, each party attempts to appeal to an unstated higher standard, what we would call a moral law. So what is truly being addressed in these debates is weather one side is in closer proximity to the demands of the moral law.

One of the most interesting facts in talking about the issue of moral law is that it appears to be something that is universal among all human beings. So much so, that it acts very much like a physical law, like the law of gravity. But, it is also interesting to note that unlike gravity these moral laws are broken with astounding consistency. So where does moral law come from?

WHERE DOES MORAL LAW COME FROM?
Some argue that moral law is purely a cultural phenomenon; that moral laws are basically the result of what the majority of the people in a particular group and setting deem to be right and wrong. So, in this sense, moral law is completely a subjective matter. In other words, there is no absolute truth or standard. And this is a very common belief held in our society today. But there is a major flaw with this line of thinking. Because if it is true that morality is purely a cultural phenomenon, than it would only make sense that we should see widely differing moral convictions from culture to culture. It should be as varied as the different foods that people eat in different cultures. But this is simply not the case. We see that even in the most remote tribes of the world, people who have been cut off from the rest of civilization, they observe a moral code very similar to ours. Every culture denounces oppression and murder. Every culture denounces treachery and lying. Every culture praises displays of kindness to the elderly, the young, and the weak. Every culture praises acts of altruism. Yes, while there may be some variations in how these actually play out, there is definitely at least a baseline understanding of moral law that is common in every culture. So obviously, moral law is not purely a cultural phenomenon.

Others argue that moral law is purely a natural phenomenon, a result of the evolutionary process. Ray Kurzweil is the recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Technology award, who was dubbed by Forbes magazine as, “The Ultimate Thinking Machine.” And he makes this truly incredible statement:

The intelligence of machines will exceed human intelligence early in this century. By intelligence, I include all of the diverse and subtle ways in which humans are intelligent – including musical and artistic aptitude, creativity, physically moving, and even responding to emotion. By 2019, a thousand-dollar computer will match the processing power of the human brain... By 2050, a thousand dollars of computing will equal the processing power of all human beings on earth… Will these future machines be capable of having spiritual experiences? They certainly will claim to. They will claim to be people, and to have the full range of emotional and spiritual experiences that people can have.

So, if Kurzweil’s predictions prove to be correct, this means than not only will machines be smarter than people in the not too distant future, but they will also have consciousness and morality, and will be virtually indistinguishable from humans.

If you look at the presupposition of his thought process, you can see that he is basically playing out what would happen if morality is purely a natural phenomenon, a result of evolution. And this is because for Darwinians, who hold to the claim that the physical world is all there is, human consciousness and morality simply evolved as the human brain became more and more complex over millions of years. In other words, as the human brain became more and more complex, there came a point where this complexity gave birth to a consciousness and morality. And so, if that really is true, why couldn’t it also be true that as computers become more and more complex, that after a certain point, their complexity will reach a critical mass and give birth to spontaneous consciousness and morality?

There is simply no way to explain the true altruism of people like Oskar Schindler or Mother Theresa from the theory of evolution. In fact, if the theory of evolution is to be strictly observed, people like Schindler and Mother Theresa should have been eliminated long ago. The theory of evolution says that the weak should die. But moral law says that we should save a drowning man even if he is my enemy. So obviously, moral law is not purely a natural phenomenon.

So if moral law is not purely a cultural phenomenon or a natural phenomenon, then where did it come from? How can we account for its presence in our lives? There is something truly unusual going on here. C.S. Lewis, the great Christian author says this:

If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe – no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect to show itself would be inside ourselves as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave in a certain way. And that is just what we do find in ourselves. Surely this ought to arouse our suspicions?

Moral law is not a cultural or natural phenomenon. Moral law is a divine phenomenon. Moral law reveals that there is a God.

I believe Lewis is echoing the words we find in Jeremiah 31:33, where God says this:

Jeremiah 31:33
I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

And this is what Paul says in Romans 1:20

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

This God of creation is speaking to us. This God of creation is revealing himself in us through the moral law. The Bible says that we, humans, are created in the image of God. And the moral law written in our hearts gives testimony to this truth. Not only is there a God, but we are experiencing his nature on a daily basis as we distinguish between what is right and what is wrong.

THE MORAL DILEMMA
Okay, so there is obviously a moral law and this moral law reveals that there is a God. But we are still left with this dilemma that I mentioned earlier, that all of us humans are plagued by an inability to fully live according to the moral law. So, going back to the story of the Montreal Canada police protest, let me ask this question: For those of us who do believe in God, like many of us in this auditorium today, would we have behaved any differently if we were there in Montreal? I’ve asked myself that question this week as I was preparing, and my immediate response was, “Heck, no! I would certainly not be one of the looters!” But as I thought about it a little bit more, my certainty began to waver. Because if my past is any indication, I am not so sure.

I have a confession to make. I was a thief. I was caught. I was punished. And I learned my lesson. It all happened when I was six years old. My best friend and I were hanging out at our local playground. It was where all the really cool kids hung out, so naturally I fit right in. It was late in the afternoon, and after playing really hard on the monkey bars we decided that we needed a snack. And lucky for us, we were just two blocks from a little grocery store where they sold our favorite chips. But there was a problem. Like most six years olds, neither one of us had jobs, and neither one of us got an allowance. Which meant that we had no money. So we talked for a few minutes and brainstormed our options. Option One: We could just not have any snacks. After all, it was getting close to dinner time so we were going to be eating soon. But we really wanted those chips, so this was not a good option. Option Two: We could borrow some money from our friends. But as I said earlier, we were just a group of jobless six-year olds hanging out at the playground. Who would we borrow the money from? Also not a good option. Option Three. We could just “borrow” the chips from the store and pay the owners back in ten years or so when we had some money. And as we pondered this third option, we had some vague recollection of stories that we heard at Sunday school at church. Something about how we shouldn’t steal. And I remember even as a six year old, that I was rationalizing what I was about to do. “We were not stealing. We were just borrowing.” So, after we convinced ourselves that we were doing the right thing, we nervously walked into the grocery store and we walked out with our chips. We walked back to the playground, and proudly showed off our prize to our friends. Oh, they were so jealous!

Well, it could have been the perfect crime. No one would have found out. It’s not like people back then were watching CSI or Law and Order. But being dumb six-year olds, we decided that we would not finish eating the chips there at the playground, but that we would take it home and save it for after dinner. So my friend went to his house, and I went to my house. And when I walked in the door and saw the looked on my mom’s face, I realized that there was a major flaw in my plan. She began to interrogate me, like they would in CSI or Law and Order. So being a good boy, I flat out lied to cover my butt. I look her in the eye and told her that my friend bought me the chips. Pretty smart, huh? Well, for some reason, she decided that she would not take my word for it, and she called over to my friend’s house. And I could tell by mom’s tone that my airtight alibi was falling to pieces. It turns out that my friend was trying to use the same excuse with his mother. So, our lies were exposed. And boy was my mom mad! I remember getting a really, really good spanking, a very long lecture, and if that wasn’t enough, I was dragged by my ear back to the store where she made me apologize to the owner and she paid for the chips. It was one of the most humiliating and painful experiences of my life.

As I look back, I am absolutely shocked by what I did, because it’s obvious from our internal anguish that we both knew what was right and what was wrong. And still, we chose the course of action that we knew was wrong. When nobody was looking, I saw clearly that the person I ought to be was a very different person than who I actually was. When the veil of my private life was lifted, it revealed two very different people.

And this is not just an issue for atheists. It is an issue for Muslims. It is an issue for Jews. It is an issue for New Agers. It is an issue for Socialists. It is an issue for Communists. It is an issue for Christians. It is an issue for me. It is an issue for you. There appears to be a flaw in all of humanity.

Paul, the great Apostle Paul, gives voice to this universal malaise in Romans 7:15-24.

Romans 7:15-24
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Verse 15:

Romans 7:15
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

Can anybody here relate to that? Has anyone tried to lose weight on a diet lately?

Paul gives voice to the universal experience of humans. And he gives a reason why we experience this moral dilemma. And he gives it a name. He calls it sin. So moral law not only reveals that there is a God, but moral law also reveals that there is sin in our lives.

Romans 7:18
I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

A few chapters earlier in Romans, Paul writes this:

Romans 3:10-12
There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.

I think Paul is trying to say something here. Everyone is affected by sin. There is no one who does good, not even one! And this is one of the central tenets of the Christian faith. All of mankind is tainted by sin. Paul says in Romans 3:23 that:

Romans 3:23
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

All have sinned, every single one of us have sinned, and we fall short again and again and again. Sin taints how we think, how we act, how we feel. There is nothing in us that is that impacted by sin. And there is nothing that you can do about it. Our mental, physical, emotional capacity simply is not powerful enough to battle sin. And if that isn’t reason enough to be depressed, let me give you just one more reason.

MORAL LAW AND JESUS
Jesus, in his great Sermon on the Mount, gives this outlandish command to his followers:

Matthew 5:48
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Remember, this Jesus is the same Jesus who said that having lust in one’s heart is exactly the same as committing adultery, and to hate someone in one’s heart is the same thing as murder. He is not merely addressing my behavior and my thoughts, he is saying this to all of me, even the parts of me that are hidden under the veil of my private life, the me, the true me when nobody is looking.

“Be perfect!” There is absolutely no grey area in his command here. “Be perfect!” We read that, and most of the time we just glance over it without much thought simply because it sounds so ridiculous and out of reach. But once in a while, we read that and we pause for a moment, and we ask ourselves, “Did he really say what I think he just said? Did he really mean that?” He takes the requirements of the moral law up to a whole new level. And if you thought that moral law was difficult before, you can now see that it is utterly impossible! The bar is just too high. So, what’s to be done about it? Is there any hope at all?

The answer to our moral dilemma is found in Romans 7:25. I’ll start reading from verse 21:

Romans 7:21-25
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

The only hope for the moral dilemma of mankind is Jesus Christ! Moral law reveals that there is a God. Moral law reveals sin in our lives. And moral law reveals that we need for a Savior. The only hope for humanity is Jesus Christ! The only hope for you and me is Jesus Christ! Jesus raises the standard of the moral law to a whole new level, making it impossible for us to reach on our own, but our hope lies in the fact that it is this same Jesus who has made a way for us to meet that standard. C.S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity writes this:

The command “Be perfect” is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command.

In other words, when Jesus says, “Be perfect!” he absolutely means it. But he is not expecting us to do this on our own. He is the one who will do this in us!

The revolution that Jesus is ushering in is not merely about changing how we act and talk. He is not merely interested in fixing our outer appearance. But this revolution is about the transformation of the entire person from the inside out. There is absolutely nothing in us that is not affected by this revolution. Jesus realizes that our actions and our words do not emerge from nothing, but they reveal something about who we are in our deepest part. And it is exactly that part that Jesus wants to transform. And that’s why he says in Luke 6:

Luke 6:43-45
No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in their heart, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

A truly moral person is not someone who merely says all the right things and does all the right things. Nor is the truly moral person someone who believes in all the right things. But the truly moral person is someone who truly desires good things, whose fruits are good because his heart is good. He is someone who has deep integrity, a word that means complete, unbroken, and whole, someone who’s inside and outside look identical. And if you have ever tried to become a person of integrity on your own, you know that it is an impossible task. Our hearts are despicably wicked. And it is here, where we are completely at a loss as to how to become a truly good person and live a truly good life that Jesus steps in and says “Be perfect! And let me transform you into the person who can actually obey that command!” What’s required is a total transformation of the self from the inside out.

And so how does this transformation actually begin? It begins by faith. This is what redemption is all about. This is what salvation is all about. This is what the cross is all about. This is what Jesus' second coming is all about. Faith is the means by which one enters this journey of transformation. Jesus says, “Be perfect! And let me transform you into the person who can actually obey that command!” And the proper response to this invitation, echoing the words of the Psalmist, is this:

Psalm 51:10
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

And in this simple prayer, we humbly acknowledge our inability to change on our own and that we desperately need God. Transformation will not be immediate. Nor will it be easy. In fact, it will be a lifelong journey, lived out just one day at a time, one step at a time. But it all begins with faith. Faith.

And the nature of faith is such that there will be seasons where we will have more faith to believe than others. And there will be seasons where our faith will be stronger than others. And because of this nature of faith, I believe that spiritual experiences are a vital part of the Christian life.

FAITH AND SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Some may call it a “religious experience” or “divine experience,” but simply put, spiritual experience is a God-encounter. It can be something as huge as a miraculous healing from cancer and something as small as just a deep sense of peace. It can be something as extravagant as hearing the audible voice of God, or something as simple and ordinary as a sense of hope you feel when someone lays their hands on you and begins to pray for you. Spiritual experience is what you feel at times as you come to a service like this, and people begin to sing songs to God, and you become keenly aware of the fact that there is something inexplicably divine in the room. And as believers in a God who is deeply personal and relational, it should not come as a surprise that spiritual experiences are a normal part of the Christian life.

But not all spiritual experiences are healthy. Some spiritual experiences will bring you into bondage rather than setting you free. And as Rich has taught on this topic many times, the way to distinguish a true spiritual experience is the lordship of Christ. In other words, is Jesus being acknowledged as Lord in this spiritual experience? As a result of this spiritual experience, am I being transformed more and more into the image of God?

And if we use this as the measuring stick of true spiritual experiences, we will not get caught up in the whole ordeal of always looking for the next big spiritual high, jumping from one experience to another, because these ultimately are more about honoring our needs above Jesus. True spirituality is a matter of day-to-day living under the lordship of Christ! And that’s why it is a vital part of Christian living.

Spiritual experiences are gifts from God in this regard. Oftentimes, spiritual experiences are a testimony to the unbeliever that there is a God because we can know that God exists wholly apart from arguments, but simply by experiencing him. Spiritual experiences have and will continue to help seekers find God.

But spiritual experiences are also faith builders for the Christian. If you feel lukewarm in your faith today, there is one sure fire-tested way to grow in your faith: Pray passionately for someone other than yourself. Pray passionately for someone who is in desperate need of physical healing. Pray passionately for someone who is experiencing financial hardship. Pray passionately for the restoration of a failing marriage. Pray passionately for the salvation of a friend, a relative, a co-worker. Pray passionately, and when God answers, share your story with lots and lots of people. There are few things more powerful in building faith as sharing God stories with one another. My faith just explodes when I hear a story about an answered prayer, big or small. I believe that sharing our God stories with one another is in and of itself a spiritual experience! So, please share your stories in your small groups, in your family over dinner, send out emails, tell a perfect stranger about a God moment in your life because it has the power to help seekers encounter God! It’s that powerful!

FAITH AND DOUBT
No matter what kind of convincing arguments you may hear about the reality of God, the truth of the matter is that there is absolutely no way that you will have a hundred percent certainty that there is a God. Because doubt is a normal part of the Christian experience. In fact, faith and doubt go hand in hand.

This reality is beautifully expressed in the confession made by the father of a boy who came to Jesus begging him to heal his son. Jesus looks at this father and says “everything is possible for one who believes!” In response, the father says this to Jesus:

Mark 9:24
I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!

Philip Yancey, the great Christian writer says this:

Doubt always coexists with faith, for in the presence of certainty who would need faith at all?

The moment that your doubt is completely gone, what you end up with is something less than authentic biblical faith. Doubt is not the same thing as unbelief. Unbelief is the outright and deliberate decision on our part to reject God. But doubt is a common experience for Christians. And it is not a bad thing. The basic reason for the existence of doubt in the Christian experience is that it is in our human nature to want to be 100%, absolutely certain about everything, including God. But hear this: No one, absolutely no one, can have that kind of certainty about God. No one. Because for both the Christian and the atheist alike, the positions that we take regarding God, we do so in faith. In faith. There is no such thing as Christian faith without doubt. So we are people who believe by faith and not by sight. Hebrews 11:6 says this:

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

But why is this? Why is faith required? We may complain, “God, why do you make things so hard for us? If I were you, if I were God, I would make faith absolutely unnecessary. I would make it as easy as possible for people to believe in me! That’s what I would do if I were in your shoes.”

Bertrand Russell was the most famous atheist of the early and mid 1900s. A woman once asked him a rather challenging question. She asked him what he would say if it turned out that he was wrong about his atheism, and that it actually turned out that there was a God. He thought about it for a minute and gave this answer:

Why, I should say, “God, you gave us insufficient evidence!”

“God, you gave us insufficient evidence! How are we to believe in something that we can not see? If only you would provide just a few undeniable proofs, then why would we not believe in you? Why do you make believing in you so difficult? It’s your fault that I don’t believe in you!”

Let me tell you about what happened to me on December 20, 2003. I got up very early that morning full of fear and excitement because this was going to be a big day, in fact, one of the most significant days of my life. I had a lot of things to organize, and plan, and make sure that everything was going to be perfect. You see, this was the day that I was going to propose to Angela. We had known each other as friends for many years, and we had been dating for three years. And now, I was going to ask her to be my wife. A few friends knew about my plan, and they were absolutely thrilled. But the question that they kept asking me was this: “How do you know that she is the one?” And my answer was always, “I just know!” And I know many of you here have been asked that same question: “How do you know that he or she is the one for you?” And like me, your answer was probably something along the lines of “I just know!” And what do we actually mean when we say, “I just know!” We certainly do not mean that we know absolutely everything there is to know about this person. We certainly do not mean that we have everything figured out. We certainly do not mean that there aren’t some doubts. But what we are saying is this: “I choose to put my trust in you, in us, in our relationship. I know there are going to be difficult times ahead of us, and we’ll probably even fight quite a bit, but I choose you! I choose you! Through thick and thin, through the storm and the waves, until death parts us I choose you.”

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jesus often used the analogy of bride and groom to teach about how we ought to relate to him. By faith. By faith. By faith.

So, if you are skeptical about God, I want to encourage you to investigate. Use your mind, use your intellect, and seek after truth. But here is the rub: An intellectual pursuit of God will only lead you to the door. You will still need to walk through that door, and that you do by faith.

On week one of this series, Rich defined faith like this:

Trust in Christ sufficient to provoke obedience to Christ and to receive his benefits.

Faith is trust, it is obedience, and it is a relationship. Thomas Graham, the dean of a theological school says this:

Faith is reason gone courageous – not the opposite of reason, to be sure, but something more than reason and never satisfied by reason alone. A step always remains beyond the range of light.

It’s not easy, but a relationship that is based on faith is infinitely more satisfying because there is an inherent element of risk involved. It is choosing to say, “No matter how life may turn out, I will stand by you.” That is what God is saying to us by faith. And our response to him must also be by faith!

TWO PERSPECTIVES ON THE FAITH JOURNEY
For many of you on this spiritual journey, this quest to find God, your perspective may have looked something like this: You see yourself in a completely dark room. Your hands stretched out in front of you. You are slowly walking around waving your hands them back and forth, calling out, “God, where are you?” It feels very much like he’s hiding from you, because he really doesn’t want to be bothered, or worse still, you discover that the room is dark because it is empty, and there is no God anywhere to be found. For many of you, you would say that this has been your perspective thus far.

But let me give you a Biblical view of what this faith journey actually looks like: In Genesis 16, we read the story about a woman named Hagar. She was Abraham and Sarah’s servant. Sarah, who was barren, was so desperate for a child that she convinces Abraham that he should have a child through Hagar. She thought this was a brilliant plan, until the reality sank in. When Hagar becomes pregnant with Abraham’s child, Sarah becomes very jealous and angry, and eventually kicks her out of the house. So, Hagar, here she is. Pregnant. She has no where to go. No one will take her in. No one will look after her. And so she runs away and ends up in the desert, in the middle of nowhere. And in this place of loneliness, hopelessness, and despair, when she is least expecting it, she has a God encounter. She finds God. And in that moment, everything changes. She finds meaning. She finds purpose. She finds healing. She finds life. Nothing is the same again. And this is what she says:

Genesis 16:13
“You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

All this time we thought that we were blindly chasing after a God who was hiding from us, running away from us, only to discover that it was he who has been chasing us all along. And when that realization sinks in, you, too, will be able to say as Hagar did, “I have now seen the One who sees me!”

The Psalmist had this same thought in mind when he writes this in Psalm 139:7-10:

Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

God is seeking after you! God is chasing after you! God is running after you! God sees you! He is near! Can you see the eyes of the One who sees you?

Let’s pray.