John 3:14-17

God Wants You to Have Eternal Life by Believing in Jesus.

Advance Homiletics Sermon John 3:14-17

Thank you, Dr. Phil, it’s good to be back with you again. If you have your bible…

In his book, An Anthropologist on Mars, neurologist Oliver Sacks tells about Virgil, a man who had been blind from early childhood. When he was 50, He underwent surgery and was given the gift of sight. But as he and Dr. Sacks found out, having the physical capacity for sight is not the same as seeing.

Virgil's first experiences with sight were confusing. He was able to make out colors and movements, but arranging them into a coherent picture was more difficult. Over time he learned to identify various objects, but his habits--his behaviors--were still those of a blind man. Dr. Sacks asserts, "One must die as a blind person to be born again as a seeing person. It is the interim, the limbo . . . that is so terrible."

So, brethren, to truly see Jesus and his truth means more than observing what he did or said, it means a change of identity.

This change of identity comes with accepting Jesus into your life so you can spend eternity with Him.

Maybe you are here and like the blind man need a change of identity and to be reminded of the salvation that God has made provision for in your life, well I want you to know that God has something for you this morning.

I want you to turn to your Bible and let’s look at the book of John together where the apostle John wrote Jesus’ teaching on how we can have eternal life by believing in Jesus. If you are there, we will be reading from chapter 3:14-17

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

God wrote to us to teach us that we can have eternal life by believing in Jesus.

God wants you to know that you can have eternal life by believing in Jesus.

It is very obvious in John 3:14–17 why God sent his only Son to earth. God sent Jesus into this world for a much higher purpose than just giving us a story to tell about. God sent His Son so that, by faith in Him, we can have eternal life. God has given us such a beautiful gift, but what exactly does it mean? How can we have eternal life by believing in Jesus?

Looking at this passage, we can identify 3 elements on how we can have eternal life by believing in Jesus.

The first is the Purpose for God’s Gift

Secondly, the Outcome of God’s gift and

Thirdly, The acceptance of God’s Gift

The Purpose for God’s Gift

Let us examine the purpose for God’s gift. Why is this gift needed. The passage is saying we need too be saved but why do we really need to be saved?

Jesus gave us a very good illustration. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus was talking to one of the prominent Jewish religious leaders named Nicodemus where He referenced something that happened some time ago in the nation of Israel. This event which happened in the book of Number chapter 21 takes place immediately after the Israelites had been freed from slavery in Egypt. The Israelites had been journeying through the desert when they began to grumble once more against God and Moses. God now sends a number of deadly snakes into the camp, which began biting the people. As a result of these snake bites, a large number of the people began to die, but God instructed Moses to raise a bronze serpent on a pole so that everyone who looked at it would be saved from the deadly bite of the snakes.

Jesus now said to Nicodemus that just as whoever looked to the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up would be saved, so will everyone who looks to him will be saved.

Whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life. There is a contrast here. This statement lays out two options that are given to anybody. If you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life, if you don’t believe in Him, you will perish. Let’s take a look at the word perish and see what it means. According to a commentary, perish is contrasted with eternal life which implies that perishing is eternal as well. It is important to note that perishing does not mean extinction or destruction, but rather it means spending eternity apart from God and from Jesus Christ who alone is the source of life. Everyone will have eternal life depending on your choice.

The question now is why do those who do not believe in Jesus perish? It is as a result of our sinfulness. Recalling the narrative in Numbers about the deadly snakes that were destroying many Israelites, we have also been bitten by the deadly snake of sin. We will die physically from this fatal bite, but far worse, we will die spiritually. The sting of sin will ultimately lead us to a state of spiritual death, where we shall be cut off from God forever.

The Second book of Thessalonians tells us in Chapter 1 and verse 9 that “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” This place of eternal punishment is a terrible place. God will one day judge all the earth. And on that day, whoever has not been saved will be forever be cast in the lake of fire.

It seems so hopeless at this point. If no one can save themselves, how can anyone escape eternal punishment? And that's exactly it—we are powerless to save ourselves. That is the bad news. The good news is that God is aware of this. The reason for God’s gift is that none of us can save ourself, yet the story doesn't end here! We can have eternal life by believing in Jesus. This is the outcome of God's gift, which we will examine next.

God wants you to have eternal life by believing in Jesus.

The Outcome of God’s Gift

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” The result of believing in the Son of man is that you can have eternal life!

If you are one that reads the Bible, I hope you do, you must have noticed that Jesus referred to Himself in several places as the ‘Son of man” what is the importance of the Son of man? Why did Jesus refer to Himself with the title and what does it mean? Well, the book of Daniel chapter 7:13-14 helps us understand this better. In that chapter, Daniel describes a vision that he has seen. This vision depicts kingdoms that rise up and are ultimately destroyed. But after that, Daniel describes the one given dominion as the Son of man.

In other words, the son of man is the one who will establish the kingdom of God, and Jesus is identifying himself as this guy. He asserts that the son of man needs to be "lifted up" in the same way that Moses raised the snake in the desert. This also refers to Jesus being raised from the dead on the cross to physically die for our sins,. One writer asserts, “There was a Divine necessity for the death of Christ. ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up.’ The justice of God demanded the sacrifice (Heb 7:29, 8:3, 9:7, 12, 22)” (Reynolds, 138).

What then is the outcome of the son of man being lifted up to die on the cross? This is so that you and I could be forgiven our sins and given eternal life. In the book of Numbers, the nation of Israel would either perish physically from the poisonous snake bite or, if they looked to the bronze serpent that was raised up on a pole, they would live physically. For us, our choice is to either succumb to the fatal bite of sin and experience spiritual death, or, if we look to Jesus, who overcame the cross, we can live a spiritual life. Thereby guaranteeing us Eternal life which is relationship with God now and in the future

This is the outcome of God's gift to us, But we have a choice either to receive this gift that God has graciously given us or we don’t.

The Acceptance of God’s Gift

We have seen the purpose of God’s gift – we are all sinners and we cannot save ourselves, as well as the outcome of that same gift – we can be saved by believing in Jesus. Now let’s look at the aspect of the acceptance of God’s gift. God by His grace has given us a choice. to accept this gift and have eternal life , or we can choose to reject the gift and be condemned and perish. But know that if we don't believe, we condemn ourselves since God didn't send Jesus to this world to condemn us. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

So, what does it really mean to believe in Jesus and how does that relate to our being saved? What is needed is for us to believe in Jesus Christ in the sense that a man believes in a rope bridge when he steps on it to begin to walk across a deep ravine. It is one thing to have head knowledge that the rope bridge exists and even what it is made of. It is quite another thing to put your trust in it and step onto it and begin walking.

That is the kind of faith Jesus requires us to have in Him. He wants us to stake everything we have on Him and to rely on nobody else and nothing else except Him. In one sense, therefore, believing, or having faith, means to trust. Faith is not merely mental scent - who ever believes in Him shall not perish. What does it mean to believe? To believe in Jesus is to stake your life on Him. Not just searching, but committed. This faith demonstrates contentment, certainty and commitment so also should our faith in Jesus

Also, in the book of Numbers that we referenced; we see that believing does not have to be logical to you. There is only one way to be saved from eternal punishment, and whether it makes sense to you or not, Jesus is the only way to be saved. You see, for the Israelites, it wasn’t the physical act of looking at the bronze serpent that saved those bitten by the snake, but rather, the act of looking was a testimony to their faith that God would heal them as he promised. So how do we look to Jesus today to save us? Well, we repent of our sins asking for his forgiveness, and follow his commands. There must be a complete turn from sin and follow the path that Jesus lays before us.

This is the choice that we have today! We can sit here and try to apply logic of how believing in Jesus saves us from our sin, or we can believe that when God says he will save us from our sin and give us eternal life, he will. That means that we recognize that there is only one way that we can go to heaven and that is through Jesus. We have to accept that there is no other way to be saved except through Him. We must abandon all ideas of earning salvation or deserving it on the basis of our own merit. Instead, we must stake everything we have on Jesus Christ and trust in Him alone for our salvation, based on what He did for us on the cross.

Conclusion

As I conclude, we have looked at the purpose, outcome and acceptance of God’s gift which all point to the fact that we can have eternal life by believing in Jesus. By now I believe we can now see we have been bitten by the deadly bite of sin and are heading towards a life of eternal separation from God. But because God loves us, He does not want that for us. He gave His only son as a sacrifice so that we can be saved and be able to spend a life in eternity with Him. So, I will advise that you stop seeking for satisfaction, peace, hope, joy or purpose elsewhere but look unto Jesus. Serving Him will give you the best life ever. Though trials may arise, but He will always see you through and give your life a purpose.

Jesus was offering Nicodemus peace with God.. If you have faith, you have everything.

The question you need to ask yourself is are you at peace with God. Do you have peace with your neighbor? God wants to give you His peace.

I now ask you; will you receive this gift? The choice is yours but let me assure you that if you put your faith in Jesus your life will have a far greater purpose and this will culminate in your spending eternity with God. You can choose to have this gift. You can have eternal life by believing in Jesus.

And if you are here and have already received the gift, I celebrate with you but I want to also encourage you to share this gift with others at work, your neighborhood, your school or wherever the opportunity presents itself. And if you are at a lost on what to say when someone ask you “how can I be saved” just pray the sinner’s prayer with them – I will at this point also invite anyone here this morning that you know you are not saved to pray along with me – say

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. Amen

If you are here and have prayed this prayer with me, I will love to meet with you briefly after the service for a little more talk on how to sustain and keep this gift.

And for us that already have received the gift of salvation, are we sharing it with others? Those Israelites who had been healed from the snake bite no doubt were not lounging around in their tents. They must have been frantically going around informing people how to be saved and assisting those who were unable to save themselves. Are we looking for people who need help and telling them how to be saved? I encourage you as we go throughout this year, pray that God would bring people across your path who you could share this wonderful gift of salvation with.

Let us pray