Introduction:
Three Things You Need to Know About How Salvation Works (John 3:1-21):
- Salvation is Solely a work of the Holy Spirit . (John 3:1-8)
- Salvation is only understood Correctly as Jesus describes it. (John 3:9-15)
- Your part of salvation is Believing . (John 3:16-21)
Three Things You Must Believe About Believing:
- God's heart is to Save . (John 3:17)
- Believing is what makes the difference. (John 3:18)
- Where You stand with the Light reveals where you stand with God. (John 3:19-21)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:11-01:15
Open up your Bibles with me please to John chapter 3.
01:17-01:20
Now show of hands, how many of you have ever been on an airplane?
01:20-01:21
How many of you have been on an airplane?
01:22-01:24
Oh great, then you know what I'm going to talk about.
01:24-01:30
There's a phenomenon that happens on the front end of a flight that just absolutely baffles me.
01:31-01:35
And that is the safety speech.
01:36-01:37
You guys know what I'm talking about?
01:38-01:39
Does it baffle you like it baffles me?
01:41-01:43
I can tell looking in your eyes you're not baffled.
01:43-01:46
I'm going to tell you something now, and it's going to baffle you now every time you get on an airplane.
01:46-01:48
Here's what baffles me.
01:50-01:53
They are giving a life and death message in that moment.
01:53-01:54
True or false?
01:55-01:58
True. And what are the people doing during that life and death message?
01:59-02:05
Sleeping, getting ready for their nap, looking through SkyMall, playing on their phone, getting their computer out.
02:06-02:09
And I'm just like, "People, do you hear what they're saying?
02:10-02:40
In the case our airplane has to crash land in the ocean, here is how we're going to be saved." And everybody's like, "Meh, don't care." And then the other thing that's interesting to me is you have the people up front like half-heartedly going through the motions of walking people through how to be saved in this life and death situation.
02:41-03:00
You know, they're like, "Oxygen mask drops down," and, you know, "Get the pamphlet with the pictures on it," and "Your seats have rotation device," and "Here's the exit." And they're just like, you know what I'm talking about, they're just like so bored and disinterested.
03:02-03:04
I was thinking about that this week. You know what that's like?
03:06-03:07
That's like church.
03:09-03:10
That's like a lot of churches.
03:10-03:21
You have somebody up front who really doesn't care, sort of going through the motions, and then you have a bunch of people hearing this life and death message, and they don't really care either.
03:23-03:29
We're fidgeting, we're thinking about what's for lunch, we're playing on our phones, whatever.
03:31-03:32
But here's the crazy thing.
03:32-03:42
You know, there's a very, very tiny percentage of airplanes that actually require the whole usage of the speech, right?
03:42-03:46
That's a very, very, very tiny percentage that actually has one of those types of emergencies.
03:47-03:54
But you know, do you know what the percentage is for people that are going to die and face God someday?
03:54-03:55
Do you know what that percentage is?
03:56-03:58
That's a hundred percent, right?
03:59-04:03
You might want to fact check me on that. But that is a 100% death rate.
04:04-04:06
So this is your reminder, church.
04:08-04:13
Your plane's gone down individually. You're going to die someday.
04:13-04:20
And Jesus tells us in this passage directly how to have eternal life.
04:20-04:25
Jesus tells us directly in this passage how you can be condemned for eternity.
04:27-04:33
And I just want to encourage you, with everything that's in you, pay attention.
04:36-04:43
This is one of the most famous conversations in history that we're looking at today.
04:44-04:50
And this passage we're looking at today contains the most famous verse in the Bible.
04:52-05:05
And it covers the most important subject to man, which is, "How does salvation happen?" But, this is one of the most misunderstood passages in the Bible.
05:06-05:08
So we're going to go through it together. We're going to look at a big chunk today.
05:09-05:10
We're going to get through it together.
05:11-05:18
The truth is, I could preach dozens and dozens and dozens of sermons to mine out all of the truth that we see here.
05:18-05:23
And the reason I'm not doing that is because I don't want us to miss the flow of the conversation.
05:24-05:26
See, sometimes I think we miss the big picture.
05:27-05:33
We miss the forest because we're so busy looking at the little pieces of bark on each individual tree.
05:33-05:38
I want us to see the big picture here because I believe it's important.
05:39-05:48
And on your outline today, if you're taking notes, which I always encourage you to do, three things you need to know about how salvation works, right?
05:54-05:57
Three things you need to know about how salvation works.
05:59-06:00
The first, we'll jot this down.
06:03-06:08
Number one, salvation is solely a work of the Holy Spirit.
06:11-06:14
Salvation is solely a work of the Holy Spirit.
06:15-06:22
chapter 3, it says, "Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
06:23-06:47
This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.' Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" Look right there. Do you notice something weird there?
06:49-06:51
This is a very familiar passage, so we've got to slow down a little bit.
06:51-06:53
But did you notice something weird?
06:54-06:59
Did you notice that Jesus was answering a question that Nicodemus didn't ask?
06:59-07:00
Did you notice that?
07:01-07:04
I think in our minds, we think the story is like this.
07:04-07:07
Nicodemus goes up to Jesus like, "Hey, tell me how to get saved.
07:07-07:09
Would you please tell me about how to be born again?" or whatever.
07:10-07:12
And that's not what the passage says at all.
07:14-07:18
Nicodemus goes up, he goes, "Hey, we know you've got to be from God, right?
07:18-07:27
We've been kind of watching you, and nobody can do the things that you do unless you're from God." And then Jesus launches into this whole other subject.
07:27-07:37
You're like, "Why in the world did he do that? Why in the world did he do that?" Well, look at the very last verse of chapter 2. This is where we stopped last week.
07:37-07:44
Remember, it says, "Jesus, he himself knew what was in man." I think Jesus knew exactly what Nicodemus wanted.
07:45-07:52
Even though Nicodemus didn't ask the question, I think Jesus knew why he came to him.
07:53-07:54
Like, look, we're not gonna beat around the bush here, okay?
07:54-08:03
We're not gonna spend two hours with the, "How do you do? What's your favorite food, favorite color?" Until you get to the point of the real question you're gonna ask me, Jesus says, "I know what you're after here.
08:04-08:06
You wanna know about eternal life.
08:06-08:21
I'm gonna tell you something right now, right off the bat." He says, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Verse 4, "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old?
08:22-08:42
Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?' Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Stop there for a second.
08:44-08:47
I don't think Nicodemus was being sarcastic here.
08:47-08:51
I don't think he was mocking Jesus with his "Oh, what do you expect me to do?
08:51-08:57
Climb back up in my mother's womb?" I don't think he was making fun or mocking at all.
08:57-09:06
I think based on how he approached Jesus, "Rabbi, we know you're from God." I think Nicodemus was being very respectful.
09:08-09:11
And I think he was simply following Jesus' line of discussion.
09:11-09:15
Jesus said, "Okay, unless a person is born again, okay, let's talk about that, Jesus.
09:15-09:17
How does that happen?
09:17-09:19
What do you mean by that?
09:20-09:25
Because here's what I'm hearing." I think he was just following Jesus' line of discussion.
09:26-09:40
Well, Jesus said, again, to clarify, He said, verse 5, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit." Like, what does that mean?
09:42-09:43
Well, it depends who you ask.
09:44-09:47
Because there are so many different interpretations for what that means.
09:47-09:51
Some people think it means physical birth and spiritual birth.
09:51-09:54
The water refers to a woman's water breaking when a child is born.
09:54-09:57
And there's all kinds of...
09:57-10:03
I'm going to tell you what I believe this is a reference to and where that comes from.
10:04-10:06
Jot down Ezekiel 36.
10:06-10:09
Ezekiel 36, verses 25-26.
10:10-10:12
Just jot that reference down. You can look that up later.
10:13-10:18
But in that passage, the Lord is talking about the new covenant.
10:18-10:23
And the new covenant is all about a new creation.
10:25-10:27
In that passage, it talks about the water and the Spirit.
10:29-10:41
And he's saying that the day's coming with the new covenant that there will be true cleansing from sin, and it will be God putting His Spirit within you.
10:41-10:43
I believe that's what he is referring to here.
10:44-10:47
Because Nicodemus knew the Scriptures. He knew them.
10:48-10:54
And I think Jesus, in saying this, Nicodemus would have known exactly, Oh, you're talking about that water and spirit passage.
10:55-10:58
I know that passage. Ezekiel talked about that.
11:00-11:16
Verse 6, Jesus says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In other words, all that flesh can produce is more flesh.
11:18-11:21
Flesh cannot produce the Spirit.
11:21-11:34
And here, Jesus is teaching that just as you were born physically, you must be born again spiritually.
11:35-11:35
Alright?
11:37-11:39
So here's the mystery in all of this.
11:42-11:48
You had no part of being born physically.
11:49-11:56
They're like, "Well, yeah, I did, man. I was there. I was totally there." You didn't have any say in that.
11:57-11:58
Did you pick where you were born?
12:00-12:02
How many people here, show of hands, picked where you were born?
12:04-12:06
You had no say over that. How about when you were born?
12:07-12:11
You're like, "I wanted to be part of the greatest generation." Who here picked when they were born?
12:14-12:19
You had no say over that. You have no say over where or when or...
12:20-12:23
You had no part of being born physically.
12:24-12:46
That's why I kind of laugh when you hear little kids say, "I wish I was never born!" Did you ever hear little kids say that? "I wish I was never born!" I think that's such a dumb statement. My response is, "Well, you were. So here we are." It's a dumb statement. "I wish I was never born!" Okay. Verse 7.
12:47-13:00
Look at this. Jesus says, "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'" Notice Jesus said, "Do not marvel." Jesus knew everything.
13:01-13:04
And He knew that what He just said totally rocked Nicodemus.
13:04-13:06
He was like, I mean, He got it. He got it.
13:06-13:15
He's like, "What are you saying?" Stop for a second. "What are you saying?" And Jesus said, "Hey, hey, don't be surprised.
13:17-13:18
Don't be surprised at what I'm telling you.
13:18-13:23
Listen, you must be born again." Now listen, church, because you're about to get rocked.
13:25-13:30
When Jesus says you must be born again, He is not giving a command.
13:34-13:39
Jesus, in this passage, I want you to stay with me here, you're going to see this.
13:39-13:45
Jesus was not teaching a "how to" in this passage.
13:47-13:55
I think a lot of people assume that when you go to John 3, "Oh, that's where Jesus teaches you how to be born again." That is not. Jesus never taught how to be born again.
13:56-14:04
He just simply said, "You must be born again." The analogy here is birth.
14:04-14:07
Remember, we already established, you didn't participate in your physical birth.
14:08-14:10
You know there's no books on how to be born, right?
14:12-14:14
You can Google that, you can go to your local bookstore.
14:14-14:16
There's no books on how to be born.
14:16-14:19
You're like, oh yeah, there is, like what to expect when you're expecting.
14:19-14:22
No, no, those are books for moms about to give birth.
14:23-14:26
There's no books on how to be born.
14:28-14:41
You know, there's no books in the maternity section or whatever that says, you know, if you want to, you know, easiest exit from the womb by, There's no books on telling you how to be born.
14:44-14:47
It's a condition. It's a condition.
14:48-14:51
Not a command. It's a condition.
14:53-15:04
It's sort of like if you said to me, "How do I become an American citizen?" And I said, "Well, you must be born to an American." I know there's other ways, but this is an illustration, all right?
15:05-15:06
Run with me on this.
15:06-15:07
How do I become an American citizen?
15:07-15:16
I say, "You must be born to an American." I'm not commanding you to go be born to an American, because you've already been born.
15:19-15:24
In the same way, you ask, "How do I become a citizen of God's kingdom?" It's a condition.
15:24-15:29
Jesus said, "Here's how. You have to be born again." That's how it happens.
15:30-15:31
It happens to born-again people.
15:32-15:37
It happens to people who find themselves in the condition in which they are born again.
15:40-15:47
Now to drive the point home that salvation is solely a work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus gives another analogy.
15:48-15:56
Because right now I know there's some people here that are like, "I don't know if I'm buying all this, Pastor Jeff, but look at verse 8." Jesus doubles down on this.
15:56-16:03
Jesus said, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
16:04-16:11
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Jesus said the Holy Spirit is like the wind.
16:13-16:14
How do you control the wind?
16:16-16:17
You can't do it, can you?
16:18-16:20
You can't increase the wind.
16:22-16:23
You can't decrease the wind.
16:25-16:32
You can't call it like a dog when you want it, "Come on, wind, come on, come on, come on, we need a little wind here." You can't do it. It will not come.
16:34-16:37
You can't send it away when you don't want it.
16:38-16:44
You see, there's something about wind is it's everywhere, but you can't see it.
16:44-16:46
"But I see wind all the time." No, you don't.
16:47-16:50
You don't see wind, you see the effects of wind, right?
16:51-16:54
Like at our house, I don't see the wind, I see the effects of wind.
16:54-16:57
And do you know what the effects of wind are at our house?
16:58-17:06
It's all the stuff in our yard being blown into the neighbor's yard, including, which absolutely baffles my mind, our trampoline.
17:06-17:08
Does that happen to anybody else?
17:09-17:09
Anybody else?
17:10-17:12
Just us. Awesome.
17:15-17:16
I don't know if Stroops are here.
17:17-17:17
Is Ryan here?
17:18-17:19
Oh, Ryan's not here.
17:19-17:27
Last time, you remember, Sarah, last time I had to call Ryan, It blew like a quarter of a mile away into the neighbor's yard.
17:27-17:28
I'm like, I have to call somebody to help me carry this.
17:28-17:30
This thing weighs like 300 pounds.
17:31-17:34
I had to call Ryan Strip to help me carry this thing out of the neighbor's yard.
17:36-17:37
So the point is it's powerful.
17:40-17:42
And it's everywhere, but you can't see it.
17:42-17:43
You only see the effects of it.
17:43-17:45
And Jesus said, that's the mystery of the Holy Spirit.
17:46-17:47
We can't see him.
17:49-17:54
But we see the powerful life-changing effects of Him moving.
17:55-18:03
So Jesus makes it clear to Nicodemus - hang in here because we're not done yet - Jesus makes it clear to Nicodemus that salvation is solely a work of the Holy Spirit.
18:03-18:04
Did you see that?
18:05-18:08
Entering the kingdom of heaven happens to people who are born again.
18:09-18:11
Oh, you're marveled by that?
18:11-18:13
Well, let me tell you something, the Holy Spirit's like the wind.
18:16-18:17
Number two, jot this down.
18:18-18:20
Salvation is only understood correctly as Jesus describes it.
18:21-18:25
Salvation is only understood correctly as Jesus describes it.
18:25-18:26
Look at verse 9.
18:27-18:37
Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Now Nicodemus was no slouch, okay?
18:38-18:42
This guy was probably way smarter than anybody in this room.
18:43-18:44
Like, well, how do you know that?
18:44-18:48
Well, verse 1 tells us that he was a ruler of the Jews.
18:50-18:58
And we're going to see here in a second in verse 10, Jesus calls him "the teacher of Israel." This guy was no slouch.
19:00-19:03
But oftentimes, we are so quick to condemn him.
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Like, "Oh Nicodemus, you're so dumb.
19:06-19:10
I can't believe you didn't understand this." Listen, he knew way more than us.
19:11-19:13
He knew way more than us.
19:14-19:28
And that's why Nicodemus, more than any of us, understood the impact and profound nature of Jesus' words, and Nicodemus just could not wrap his brain around what Jesus was saying.
19:32-19:34
Which is why he said what he said.
19:35-19:37
How can these things be?
19:39-19:40
Why was it so hard for Nicodemus?
19:43-19:46
As we said already, as we saw in the text, Nicodemus was a Pharisee.
19:48-19:55
And as a Pharisee, Nicodemus would have spent his whole life trying to earn his way into the kingdom, right?
19:55-19:56
Like a lot of people do.
19:57-20:04
You think, "Well, good people go to heaven, bad people go to hell, so I do good and I earn my way into heaven." That was Nicodemus' mindset, right?
20:04-20:08
It's rituals, it's religion, it's works, it's morality.
20:08-21:12
Jesus shows up and he's like, "Hey, hey, it is about none of that." What? I've lived my whole life this way, man. You're telling me I've wasted the last 30, 40 years of my life? You mean the way to God is not tied into my works or my religion? I mean, don't I have to do something or be something in order to get saved. How can salvation only be the work of God? I mean, I have to have some part of this. So Nicodemus says, "How can these things be?" Look at Jesus' reply in verse 10. "Jesus answered him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel? And yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do "If I have told you of earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
21:13-21:22
No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man and..." Stop right there.
21:23-21:31
Jesus says to Nicodemus, "You should know this stuff." Nicodemus, you've taught the Scriptures.
21:33-21:38
How did you miss this fundamental truth about what God said about the new covenant?
21:41-21:44
And Jesus, we already established, He knows, right? He knows. He just knows.
21:44-21:51
And I think right here Jesus knows Nicodemus' next question, which is going to be, "Jesus, where did you get all this information?
21:51-21:56
Jesus, how do you know all this stuff?" That's why Jesus in verse 13, did you see that?
21:56-22:04
He said, "No one's ascended into heaven except you, descended from heaven, the Son of Man." Like, where'd you get this information of heavenly things, Jesus?
22:04-22:08
Jesus was like, "I got it from my house." Heaven!
22:09-22:15
Here Jesus was revealing His deity, His authority and knowledge of God.
22:17-22:20
And Jesus was telling Nicodemus, and He's telling us, "Church, listen.
22:22-22:25
It doesn't matter what you think about salvation.
22:27-22:31
It doesn't matter what you think." And I say that with all the love and respect I can muster.
22:31-22:36
It doesn't matter what you've been taught about salvation.
22:37-22:44
"Well, Pastor Jeff, I went to this church growing up and they taught something completely different." And it doesn't matter.
22:45-22:46
It doesn't matter what you were taught.
22:49-22:53
Because you're hearing this from the mouth of God.
22:55-23:01
And I think we read this passage and we really try to understand exactly what it is that Jesus said.
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Not what we think he said, not what we were taught he said, but we're seeing what Jesus actually said.
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And I think a lot of us stand like Nicodemus.
23:08-23:09
We're like, well, how can this be?
23:11-23:18
How can salvation be apart from my works, my efforts, my church attendance, my whatever?
23:21-23:23
I mean, I have to have some part of it, right?
23:25-23:27
Look at verse 14.
23:28-23:45
Jesus said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life." What's this thing about Moses lifting up the serpent?
23:45-23:46
Do you remember that story?
23:47-23:48
It's in Numbers 21.
23:49-23:56
Israel was complaining, again, as they always were, about everything as God was leading them out of Egypt.
23:56-23:59
And Israel's complaining and God's sick of their complaining.
23:59-24:04
He sent these fiery serpents and they were biting the Israelites and many of them died.
24:05-24:10
So God told Moses as a solution, he was to make a bronze serpent and he was to put it on a pole.
24:10-24:17
And when somebody was bit by one of these snakes, if they looked to this serpent on the pole, they would be saved.
24:20-24:26
And Jesus is showing with this account, listen to this, this is so important.
24:27-24:31
This account illustrates a key truth about how God brings about salvation.
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You ready for this?
24:32-24:33
Here it is.
24:35-24:38
God does the work.
24:39-24:45
And he commands us, look to what I am lifting up before you.
24:49-25:07
In other words, the Lord is saying, "I bring about salvation, you must believe and look to what I provided as the means." And this is obviously the perfect illustration of the cross, because Jesus Christ is God's provision for salvation.
25:08-25:16
And he was lifted up on the cross and you have to look to him as God's means to have eternal life.
25:16-25:32
And this illustration that Jesus uses here bridge. If, or since, salvation is a work of God, the question is, "Okay, well what is man's part?" If salvation is God's work, then what's man's part?
25:34-25:45
Here it is, man's part is what it always has been, clear back even in the days of Moses, Jesus was illustrating, man's part is look to God's provision and believe.
25:47-25:48
That's your part.
25:49-25:52
Look to God's provision and believe.
25:52-25:58
And that's why number three on your outline, here it is, your part of salvation, is believe.
26:00-26:01
Look at verse 16.
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I bet you one or two of you know this verse.
26:05-26:30
John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, "Whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." This is the most famous verse of the Bible, because it sums up the entirety of the Bible in four statements, really.
26:31-26:34
God loves, God gave, man believes, man lives.
26:37-26:41
God loves the world so much, and love is always expressed through giving.
26:42-26:43
He loves the world so much that He gave.
26:43-26:44
What did He give?
26:45-26:47
God and Son. That's how much God loves the world.
26:49-26:56
That whosoever believes will have eternal life.
26:58-27:21
And this is man's responsibility. Your part of salvation is found in a word used seven times in today's passage. Seven times he says the word, or some form Anyone who believes can be saved.
27:23-27:26
Anyone who believes can be saved.
27:27-27:32
And anyone who does not believe is condemned.
27:35-27:37
Like, "Alright Pastor Jeff, hang on, stop for a second.
27:39-27:53
You just spent all this time saying that salvation is solely the work of the Holy Spirit, and it's all God and it's all Him and like the wind and then you sit some bunch of trampoline or whatever, but you spend all this time talking about it's only the work of God.
27:53-27:57
Now all of a sudden, your point number three says you're part of salvation is believing.
27:57-28:00
So you're like, all right, Pastor Jeff, how do you reconcile these two things?
28:00-28:04
That it's like all God, but we have a part and how do we have a part of it's all God?
28:04-28:05
Is it a work of God?
28:06-28:06
Is it a work of man?
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Are you more Calvinist?
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Are you more Arminian?
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So which is it, Pastor Jeff?
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And the answer is yes.
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You are loved.
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Listen, the Bible never tries to reconcile these two truths.
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There is no passage in your Bible that tries to explain how all of this fits together.
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But the Bible very plainly teaches both of these truths.
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That salvation is according to God's sovereignty, and at the same time, we are commanded to believe in God's provision that He provided.
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Do you know what our problem is?
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It's pride.
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Because in our pride, we want to understand that, right?
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We want to be able to explain it.
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And like, can we put this in a neat little flow chart?
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Or can we make a neat little Sunday school outline that explains exactly how salvation works?
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And the answer is, you can't do it.
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And you have to be okay with that.
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You have to be okay with the fact that God is bigger than your brain can understand.
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And His ways are more awesome than we can possibly unravel.
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And you have to be okay with that because the truth is, there's a lot of stuff that I can't explain.
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I believe it, but I can't explain it.
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There's a lot of stuff like that in my life.
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Anybody else like that, that you're like, you know what Pastor Jeff, yeah, I'm with you.
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There's a lot of stuff in my life I can't explain.
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Anybody else like that?
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Let me give you an example.
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You know something I can't explain?
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Tylenol.
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Apparently I'm alone on this one.
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But that horse is out of the barn, so here we go.
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I can't explain Tylenol, because here it is, you have a headache, what do you do?
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You take a Tylenols, right?
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Or your knee hurts, what do you do?
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You take a Tylenol, right?
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Or your back hurts, what do you do?
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You take a Tylenol.
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How does that medicine know where to go when you take it?
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Because you just, it all goes in your mouth and down your throat, right?
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How does it know when it gets in there, okay, this is the part that's hurting, So this is the part that I need to medicinally affect.
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How does it know?
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I don't know how it...
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But I'm gonna tell you something else.
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I have never laid awake at night.
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I've never laid awake at night, tossing and turning, thinking to myself, you know what, I'm not taking another Tylenol until I figure out exactly how that stuff works.
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I've never done that.
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You don't have to understand how it works.
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You know your part and you do your part, right?
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I don't need to understand how Tylenol works.
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I know my part, my part is what?
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Take the recommended dosage at the recommended times and it works.
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I believe that, so I act upon that, but I don't understand it, but I believe it, And I act upon it, but I can't quite explain how it works.
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But I believe it, and I act upon it.
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And that's how it is with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Can we, as a church, can we just rest there to say, I don't fully understand it, but I believe it, and I act on it.
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I can't fully explain how God does everything he does.
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But I, but I what?
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But I believe it, and I what?
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And I act on it.
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In church, this is how it works with salvation.
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I can't explain how God's sovereignty and man's responsibility fit together.
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Do you know what the glorious news is about that?
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Here's the glorious news.
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My salvation isn't based on me being able to explain God.
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Isn't that good news?
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That someday I'm not gonna die and stand before God God's like, "All right, here's the thing.
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You explain how salvation works, you have a home in heaven." Like, who's getting in?
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Nobody, because your salvation isn't based on you being able to explain it.
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Your salvation, according to Jesus, is based on what?
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Believing it, it's based on believing it.
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So here's three things you must believe about believing.
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We're gonna finish up here, it's all from the text.
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Three things you must believe about believing.
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Letter A, God's heart is to save.
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Okay, God's heart is to save.
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Lest anybody get any goofy ideas at this point that salvation is some arbitrary, eeny, meeny, miny, moe thing that God does.
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Scripture clearly teaches that is not the case.
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Look at verse 17.
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Jesus goes on, he says, "For God did not send his son into the world "to condemn the world, "but in order that the world might be saved through him." God sent His Son to save, and He rightly could have sent Jesus into the world to condemn us.
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He rightly could have done that.
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He rightly could have sent His Son to inform us of our sin and the inevitable consequences of our sin.
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He could have sent His Son to do that. Right?
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Jesus could have showed up and said, "Well, you're heading to hell.
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"See you at the great white throne," and then went back to heaven.
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And he would have been in his right to do that, to show up to condemn us.
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But he sent his son, Jesus points out here in verse 17, he sent his son for the purpose of saving anyone who would believe in him.
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And you've got to stop for a second and think about how awesome that is that God sent his son to save us, not condemn us.
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He sent his son to save us, not condemn us.
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Think about how awesome that is.
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Imagine as a teenager, just imagine that as a teenager, your dad has a classic car, okay?
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He has some really old classic car that he sort of poured all of his money and life into.
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As a teenager, you sneak that car out 'cause you don't impress your friends, right?
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You sneak that car out and you're speeding on icy roads and you crash the car.
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Okay, you have that scene in your head?
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Maybe for some of you, a lot of this hits too close to home.
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But you crashed a car.
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You have this now.
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Imagine in the scene, you're standing beside the crashed car that you snuck out without permission.
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You wrecked it.
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Dad's baby that he put all his time and money and effort into.
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And he spent years restoring this thing.
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And now you're standing beside this smashed car.
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You have yourself in the scene?
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OK.
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Okay, next thing in the scene is your dad shows up.
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You see your dad walking towards you.
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What are you thinking?
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What do you think?
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He's going to kill me.
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What are you thinking?
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You're thinking, it was a good run, but my life is over, right?
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That's what you're thinking.
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Dad shows up.
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You get there, car crash.
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Dad shows up.
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You're like, he showed up to condemn me.
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He showed up to say, "What is the matter with you?
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I can't believe you did this to my baby.
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I can't believe, you are so dead.
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And then you are so grounded." But instead, imagine, imagine dad shows up on the, back in the seat, rewind here.
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You're standing there, crash car.
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You're still there.
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You end up, dad shows up.
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And he says, "We're gonna have to get this thing towed, then we're gonna get you to the hospital, make sure you're okay.
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And then we're gonna make sure you have a car for your date on Friday.
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All right, let's go." Wouldn't you be like, "What in the world just happened?
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I thought dad was gonna condemn me and what did he do?
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He showed up to what?
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He showed up to give me grace.
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He showed up to forgive me.
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He showed up to restore me." In the same way when God came to earth, it wasn't as it should have been to give you the mother of all rebukes, it was a rescue mission of grace.
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So God's heart is to save, okay?
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Secondly, believing is what makes a difference.
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Verse 18.
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Verse 18 says, Jesus goes on, "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." Again, church, it's not about your works, it's not about your morality, it's not about your church attendance. I can't possibly state it any simpler than this. Do you see this? Jesus said, "Believe, not condemned. Not believe, condemned." The issue is belief.
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That's the issue.
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It's belief.
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So what do you have to do to go to hell?
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Commit some horrible sin?
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Intentionally hurt someone?
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No.
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The answer is nothing.
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You don't have to do a thing to go to hell.
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You can just go through life.
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You can live and do whatever you want to do, but you have to know that because you are by birth and by choice.
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Jesus says here in verse 18, "You already stand condemned." That's your natural state.
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You don't have to do something to get condemned.
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You're already in a position of condemnation.
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But when you believe or receive Jesus, it's the same thing we saw in chapter 1 verse 12.
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You receive Jesus Christ believing in His name.
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Jesus promised you will never be condemned.
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No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, you will never be condemned to hell for your sin.
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So here you have to see very clearly, church, the crux of the matter.
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What determines your eternal destiny all boils down to whether or not you have chosen to believe in God's provision for salvation, which is the person of Jesus Christ.
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And finally, where you stand with the light reveals where you stand with God.
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Jesus said, "And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world.
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And people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.
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For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come into the light, lest his work should be exposed.
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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." Where you stand with the light reveals where you stand with God.
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Jesus said this is a matter of proof here, right?
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You're looking for some evidence from your life?
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Here's some evidence.
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"Unbelief, living in sin, if that's you, you prefer to stay in the dark." I believe that that's metaphorical, but I also believe that's literal at the same time.
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I mean, think about it. How many sins are literally done in the dark?
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Think about that.
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Whether it's having an affair, drug use, pornography, stealing, how many sins are literally done in the dark?
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Sin just loves to stay hidden.
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Sin says, "You know what? I wouldn't want my wife to know what I'm doing.
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I wouldn't want my pastor to know what I'm doing.
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I wouldn't want my boss to find out what I'm doing.
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I would be so ashamed if people found out what it is that I'm doing.
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I would be like completely mortified.
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But the person who believes, who does what is true, he or she comes to the light, because they say, "I have nothing to hide.
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God is at work in me, and I pray that God is at work through me, and I don't care if anyone sees, I have nothing at all that I'm ashamed of.
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I'm walking in the light.
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The question after looking at this passage just simply lands on one thing.
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It's, "Do you believe?" Do you believe?
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Do you believe that God loves you?
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Do you believe that?
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Do you believe that through Jesus Christ your sin is gone forever?
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But what does your lifestyle prove?
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Do you walk in the shadows or have you come into the light?
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Do you believe?
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Do you believe in God's provision?
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I'm going to ask our worship team and ushers to make their way forward.
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We're going to close our time by receiving the Lord's Supper.
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Just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent and said to Israel, Look at God's provision lifted up before you and be saved.
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Church, we too are going to be looking at God's provision who once was lifted up before the world and even now He saves us.
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And we're going to look again through the participation in the Lord's Supper.
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So as the worship team plays, the elements are going to be passed out, and after everyone receives, I'm going to ask you to hold on to it, I'm going to stand up, and I'm going to lead us in receiving the Lord's Supper.
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Just as Moses lifted up that serpent.
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Now, when Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross, that was a once-and-for-all event.
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We don't believe when we receive the Lord's Supper that we are crucifying Him again, because He died once for all.
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But in the metaphorical sense, we are lifting Him up in the sense of exalting Him.
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We're lifting high the name of Jesus to say He is God's means of salvation.
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He died to take away your sin.
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He rose from the dead to give you eternal life.
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And His command to us was that we would believe.
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And in receiving the Lord's Supper, this is exactly what you're doing.
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You're saying, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who takes away my sin." The Bible tells us on the night that Jesus was betrayed, He took bread and He broke it and He gave thanks, and He said, "This is My body, which is broken for you.
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Eat this in remembrance of Me." After the meal, Jesus took the cup and He said, "This is the blood of the new covenant which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.
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Drink this in remembrance of Me."
Small Group Discussion
Read John 3:1-21
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Someone once said to me, angrily, “It doesn’t matter, God just picks who He wants saved anyways.” How would you respond to that?
When it comes to salvation, are you more Calvinist (God chooses who comes to Him) or Armenian (man makes the choice to come to God)? Why? What about the side where you don’t lean makes it harder to believe? (That is, if you believe God chooses, why do you struggle thinking man has a choice? Or if you believe it’s man’s choice, why do you struggle believing it’s God that chooses?)
Jesus used the word “believe” seven times in this passage. How would you define what it means to believe?
BREAKOUT
Pray for one another to truly understand what it means to be “born again”. Ask the Holy Spirit to move in your heart and the hearts of those who come to HBC.