Sundays Can Change Your Eternity

Sundays Can Change Your Eternity

“Sundays Can Change Your Eternity”
(John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available))
Series: I Love Sundays (4/5)

Words in Black: Todd
Words in Red: Rich
Words in Blue: Matt

• We invite you to take your Bibles and join us today in John’s Gospel, chapter 3 (page 715; YouVersion).

Last week we talked about how Sundays can change your family. On Wednesday afternoon I was speaking with a young man in my office, a 37 year-old-man, who shared with me how last Sunday certainly changed his family. He said it was the first time in his entire life that his father and he were together in worship, sitting on the pew side-by side; first time father and son had been in worship together in 37 years. Praise the Lord, amen?

So last week we talked about how Sundays can change your family, this week we’re going to be talking about how God invites us to be members of His family.

And that’s why we’re in John, chapter 3. Many of you are familiar with this reference, John 3, and more specifically, John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available). I wonder how many of you know this verse. How many of you have it memorized? If you know it, let’s say it together. John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available):

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) is often referred to as, “The Gospel in a Nutshell.” It is the very essence of what the Bible teaches about God and what He does to make it possible for us to become members of His family.

John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) teaches about life, real life, everlasting life. And this life is found in Jesus Christ.

The Apostle John begins this Gospel with an emphasis upon life. He says back in chapter 1, in John 1:4Open in Logos Bible Software (if available): “In Him was life.” In fact, John writes the entire Gospel to tell all about the life of Christ and how anyone can have life in Him.

John uses the term “life” thirty-six (36) times in the Gospel. So at the end of his Gospel he writes in John 20:31Open in Logos Bible Software (if available), “[I have written this] so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

So we want to talk about that life this morning as we talk about how Sundays can change your eternity. There are four main truths we can learn from John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available). These are really easy to remember. These four truths are embedded in the very verse itself. In other words, we are merely exposing the truths that are inherent in the very verse itself. John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) teaches us these four truths. In a few moments we’ll be reading about a Great Concern, a Great Cost, a Great Commitment, and a Great Comfort.

• Before we look more closely at this one verse and talk about these four truths, let’s go to God in prayer.

So “What we Can Learn from John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)?” First of all, we find that this verse:

I. It Shows a Great Concern

The first phrase in the verse is, “For God so loved the world…” That’s a wonderful phrase. For God so loved the world.

It refers to God’s love in general, his universal love for all creation, for all people without exception. It is God’s indiscriminate love, a love for every single person on the planet.

It’s the same kind of love Paul has in mind in Romans 5:8Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) where he writes, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

This is God’s love for sinners, for all persons; God’s love for every single person in the world.

Remember the greater context of John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available). This religious guy named Nicodemus is talking with Jesus. And Nicodemus knows there’s something special about Jesus. And Nicodemus seems to think it’s enough that he acknowledge Jesus to be a great moral teacher and a great miracle worker.

But Jesus says to Nicodemus: “You must be born again.” And then Jesus begins talking about the need for spiritual regeneration, spiritual birth, new birth. Jesus says, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again (John 3:3Open in Logos Bible Software (if available), John 3:5Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)).”

The only way to go to heaven is to be born again. We can’t get there by trying to be good or trying to earn our way in. We are sinners with dead hearts that need to be made alive. We need to be born again. We need a new heart that believes in Jesus Christ and receives Him as Lord.

And that’s why this verse is so wonderful. God shows His great concern, His universal love for sinners by making a way for them to be born again and to be saved. God so loved the world that He gave His Son. God demonstrates His love for all sinners, all lost people—bad sinners and good sinners, even good sinners like Nicodemus—God demonstrates His love for lost people by giving His Son so that lost people may be found, the blind may see, the unsaved are saved.

1 John 4:10Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son (to take away) our sins.”

So this first phrase, “For God so loved the world,” is a phrase that shows a great concern, God’s great concern for the world. God so loved the world, He loved those who are lost, loving them so much to send His Son to them. And He sent His Son to die so that lost people could be saved. This takes us to the second truth from John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available).

John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) shows a great concern and, secondly, John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available):

II. It Reveals a Great Cost

The great cost is found in the second phrase of John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available). “God so loved the world
…that He gave His only begotten Son…”

The Son comes in expression of the Father’s love. In God’s love for us, the Father gave His Son Jesus. He gave Him to die. God gave His Son at the cost of His death, Christ’s dying on the cross for our sins.

The word “begotten” there is a word that refers to the unique, one-of-a-kind of Son that Jesus Christ is. There is no one like Him. He is unique in His Person and unique in His work. He’s unique in who He is and unique in what He has done.

The eternal God, righteous, pure, and without sin, comes to us in the Person of Christ. In the incarnation, Christ takes on the nature of man. He takes on flesh so as to be 100% God and yet 100% man. As God, Jesus lives a life we could not live ourselves, perfectly fulfilling the righteous demands of the law. And as man, He takes the penalty of our sins that we deserved. The Bible says in Romans 3:23Open in Logos Bible Software (if available), “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and Romans 6:23Open in Logos Bible Software (if available), “The wages of sin is death.” So, because of His human nature, Jesus Christ can die as a man, dying for our sins, taking upon Himself the punishment we deserved.

That’s what we mean when we speak of the substitutionary atonement. We’re talking about Jesus Christ’s dying as our substitute to atone for our sins. He dies for us. He dies for our sins. That’s the great cost of this gift, the gift of His Son. What a gift!

And, incidentally, God is under no obligation to give us this gift. You know, sometimes we give a person a gift because we feel obligated to do so. Somebody you haven’t talked to in like 25 years, sends you a wedding invitation or something, and you feel obligated to get them a gift. God is not obligated to do a single thing for us. We are the ones who rebelled against Him. We deserve nothing.

Remember: we are sinners. We are under condemnation for our sin. This is a truth often overlooked when people reference John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available). It’s helpful to remember the verses that follow, especially verses 17 and 18:

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Apart from Christ every single person in all the world is condemned, condemned already. We are all sinners. We are born this way. We are born as unbelievers. We may be good people or bad people but we’re all lost people. God sent His Son into the world to rescue the world from condemnation.

The very last verse of John chapter 3 is verse 36. Here’s what it says, John 3:36Open in Logos Bible Software (if available):

“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

The wrath of God abides, or remains upon, those who do not believe in Christ and receive Him. If God’s wrath remains upon unbelievers then that means God’s wrath is already upon unbelievers. No one is born neutral in relation to sin. Apart from Christ we are all equally condemned, equally lost, and equally deserving of God’s wrath.

So we deserve nothing and yet God, in His grace, comes to us and gives His Son. He gives His Son to die. What great cost, the cost of this Son to die for us.

Again, this is what we mean when we speak of the substitution. Jesus Christ dies as our substitute to atone for our sins. He dies for us, dying for our sins. In fact, the theology of substitution is summed-up in five words: Jesus Christ in my place.

You know, the word substitute is generally used to designate the replacing of one thing for something of lesser or equal value. We go the restaurant and ask if we can substitute one item for another, can we substitute a salad for the vegetables. Or can we substitute French fries for broccoli. We exchange one thing with another of lesser or equal value.

But you can never “trade up,” you know. You can’t go into a restaurant and ask to substitute your grilled vegetables for another slab of ribs or expect to substitute your garden salad for a gourmet dessert–at least I don’t know of any. If you know a restaurant that will do that, help a brother out, let me know!

But there is a substitution that takes place in the Gospel that allows one to “trade up.” In the place of a condemned criminal stands a Substitute; not another criminal, nor even a person of equal worth and merit, but One of far greater worth and One of inestimable honor, a Substitute like none other. Jesus Christ dies in our place.

And that is the theology that anchors the truth of John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available), “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son–gave to die–that whoever believes in Him should not die, but have everlasting life.”

How is everlasting life possible? Jesus in my place. Jesus took my sin upon Himself, bore my punishment, bore God’s wrath, died for me that I might be saved. Jesus takes what belongs to me–sin–and gives what belongs to Him–righteousness. This is the theology that makes God’s love meaningful.

Yeah, that’s a love I can feel. If you just say to me over and over again, “God loves you,” that really doesn’t mean much to me…but when you explain to me that I receive His love even though I am a guilty transgressor and sinner and lawbreaker and murderer and rebel against Him, well now I begin to feel His love. And when you tell me that I deserve death because of my transgressions and sins and lawbreaking and murdering and rebellion, but that God takes my place on the cross for my transgressing and sinning and lawbreaking and murdering and rebellion, now I really understand and now I really feel the love of God.

John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) is a verse that shows us a great concern and reveals to us a great cost. And this is why, thirdly, John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available):

III. It Calls for a Great Commitment

John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) says, “whoever believes in Him,” has everlasting life. We must believe in Christ which means we believe who He is and what He has done.

And it means we must both believe and receive. John 1:12Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

To “receive” Him means that we let go of whatever else it is we’ve been clutching. We let go of our sins, our selves, our stuff. We empty our hands of whatever we’ve been clinging, and we cling to Christ. We take Him. We receive Him as Lord and Savior.

It’s like the hymn: “Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to thy cross I cling.” This is repentance; letting go of sin and taking hold of Christ. We believe and receive.

In fact, the word in John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) is in the plural form. Note the “s” there at the end of “believe.” You might wish to underline it. “Believes.” There’s an “s” there. Believes is a present-tense participle. It conveys ongoing activity.

Saving faith is not just a one-time act. It is ongoing. Salvation is not just, “I made this decision years ago.” It is, “I have believed and I continue to believe.” I go on believing. I am committed to Christ.

Each of us is called to commit to Jesus Christ. Each of us is called by God to believe and receive Jesus. In today’s lesson in the Sunday school book, the last discussion question asks: “What steps can you take to help someone else believe and receive Jesus?”

I want to share this with you, this email from one of our members. It was sent to me earlier this month when we had just begun this special series. It’s sent by a man who has great love and concern for his grandson away at college and I want you to hear this. He writes:

Brother Todd, Do you remember my telling you that I had given [my grandson] a copy of the I Love Sunday’s Study Guide and suggested he might find time to start a Bible Study group on campus? Well, he called me at 11:30 last night to tell me a story of how God had answered his prayer of how to discuss Jesus with his girlfriend. He told me that on his way back to campus Sunday afternoon he prayed, asking God to help him find a way to talk about the love of Jesus with [his girlfriend]…

(and then he shard how God answered his prayer)…

He told me they had been in the library studying and when he was putting his computer and books away the I Love Sundays Study Guide fell out of his backpack. He went on to say, “I knew that God had answered my prayer. He showed me how to start the conversation with [my girlfriend].” He told me they went through 4 chapters reading and discussing the questions at the end of each of the 4 chapters. He said it was an amazing feeling and how he was in awe at how God had answered his prayer and provided him with the tools he needed to lead their discussion.

Isn’t that wonderful?! So if you want to know more about this story, ask Bob Farmer, or talk to his grandson Alex or Alex’s girlfriend, Jaclyn.

John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) is a verse that shows us a great concern, reveals to us a great cost, and calls for a great commitment. Fourthly and finally, John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available):

IV. It Provides a Great Comfort

The verse ends with such comforting truth: “Whoever believes in Him…

…should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Life in Christ means great comfort. What’s so comforting about it? That we will “not perish,” that we will not die. In Christ, we will live forever. With Christ we have everlasting life.

And Remember: this phrase also teaches the opposite truth: without Christ we will perish.

The fact that life with Christ means we will not perish, teaches us that life without Christ means we will perish. Again, recall John 3:36Open in Logos Bible Software (if available): “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

So who is going to heaven? Who will have everlasting life? Who is saved from the wrath to come? Only those who believe—and go on believing—in Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Whoever believes in Him. I like that word “whoever!” Every one of us qualifies as a “whoever.” In fact, if you are not a “whoever,” would you raise your hand? If you are a “whoever,” raise your hand. Yes, we’re all “whoevers.”

I like that old children’s hymn, “Whoseover surely meaneth me!”

Whoever is for you. Whoever is the old man, the widow, the divorced. Whoever is you, single-mom, little boy, little girl, young mother and father, businessman, ex-convict. Whoever is you.

If we will believe in Christ, and continue believing in Christ, living for him, staying committed to Him, persevering in our faith to the end, then we will enjoy eternal life. What comforting words!

Let’s all say this verse one more time, John 3:16Open in Logos Bible Software (if available):

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

• Stand for prayer.

Let me to invite you to bow your heads and close your eyes and just consider the claims of this verse again: God so loved the world—loved every single person on the planet, including you—

God so loved the world, this world of sinners and rebels, that He gave His unique, one-of-a-kind Son, He gave Him for you.

He gave Him to live for you, to obey the law for you; to obey the 10 Commandments perfectly for you so that you may receive credit for what He has done.

And God gave Him to die for you, to die on a cross for you, to be crucified for what you have done in your sins against God.

And all you need do is to believe—to believe and go on believing, to live for Him—and if you do, you will not die, but have everlasting life…

• Pray.

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Before we leave, check out this brief video clip about next week’s ministry fair.

Video Clip

Church members love to serve and we love to get each person connected doing whatever it is you love to do. Ministry fair next week in the fellowship hall.

Wear your I Love Sundays T-shirt next week (some still available at CC).

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