Step into Heaven
Gospel of Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewWhat is the gospel? Many will say that it is Christ crucified, dead and buried, risen on the third day, so that we may have eternal life... Because that is what the Apostles preached... BUT... What does that mean? Is that really all it is? Accordign to Jesus, we are all sinners -- born into the sin of Adam, and as such, we must be reborn into the eternal kingdom of God. BUT... How does that happen? What is required? The Answer -- FAITH. (nothing more, nothing less)
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“Many people are seeking a way to heaven!” — Croft M. Pentz
“Many people are seeking a way to heaven!” — Croft M. Pentz
Some think it is joining a church… Some think it is working a ministry… giving money… serving (good works)…
Others think it means “self-change”… (ever tried that?!?)
What is the REAL way to heaven?
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Isaiah 55:1-3 tells us that man & God don’t see eye to eye.
— Sin has distorted our vision… (think about it…)
So…
How do we fix this? How do we “get right” with God?
How do we get into heaven?
Jesus says that we must “BE REBORN.”
Look at John 3.
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?
Who is Nicodemus? What do we know about him?
A. John says that he is a Pharisee. (John 3:1)
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
B. Now… What is a Pharisee?
We know they were a part of the religious ruling class… But what were they like?
Luke 18:11-12 give us an idea:
11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
they (at least) went through the motions of prayer…
was honest, just, and moral…
he was piously religious…
C. He was curious. John 3:2
2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
He may have been fearful … so, he came at night…
but he had enough faith to, at least, believe that Jesus was from God
D. He was a man who NEEDED to be saved! John 3:3-4
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Notice that Jesus did not wait for Nicodemus to ask a question…
He knew Nicodemus’s need… so He tells him “You must be born again!”
In that one statement… Before Nicodemus can ask Him anything… Jesus reveals his NEED!
A. John 3:3
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
B. He says it more than once:
Vs 3 - “must be born again”
vs 5 - “must be born of spirit and water”
C. HOW????
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Jesus spoke about the nature of faith… but Nic. didn’t understand.
look at John 3:8-9
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
Faith is not logical to worldly eyes.
This is why scripture says that God uses the weak to confound the educated…
Look at John 3:10-12
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?
11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
A. Jesus is a little bit astounded at the fact that Nicodemus — and “educated teacher” — didn’t understand…
B. So He tells him the gospel: John 3:13-15
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
Let me ask: Why this example?
Nicodemus would have known it.
this is a story from his education…
5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.
7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
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.”
9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
Why did the Israelites suffer?
sin
What was the remedy?
God told Moses to lift up a serpent on a pole.
Those who looked at it — in Faith — were healed.
What is Faith?
“complete and total TRUST in”
Look @ John 3:14-15
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
Who is lifted up?
Jesus
What is required?
FAITH
What is the result?
Eternal Life
THAT’S THE GOSPEL!
A. But Jesus isn’t done yet…
B. We tend to stop in one or two more verses… actually, we tend to separate the next two verses as if they are completely separate from the context…
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.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
A. Jesus gives Nicodemus an explanation of Grace vs Self-Condemnation.
Grace comes through FAITH!!! (John 3:18)
John 3:18 (NIV)
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, …
BUT… (John 3:18)
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Where does condemnation come from?
our selves!
The choice is ours!!!
UNDERSTAND>>>>
B. Salvation is a gift from God.
Received through Faith.
Death is inevitable.
27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
None of us can avoid it!
Revelation 20:14–15 “14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
that death is permanent!
“Will we die once, or twice?”
Salvation means “No Death”!
Look at Mt 16:24-26
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
That word “deny” is “aparneomai” it means “to deny strongly, implying rejection”
“aparneomai” — “to deny strongly, implying rejection”
In other words, Jesus is saying, “If anyone would be… [die to]… “
John 3:16 says that God loved us so much that “He gave us His one and only son” that we would receive life!
Ph 2:8 tells us that Jesus loved us so much that He “became obedient even to death on the cross”!!
Will we do the same for Him?
When we do… Scripture tells us that we become a NEW PERSON.
He gives us a new heart. Eze 36:26
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
We gain a new mind, a new life, new actions, words, and responses…
BUT… some of us are like the pharisees.
going through the motions
relying on our prayers, our church practices, our giving… to get us to heaven…
we’ve been holding on to the things we are doing, and we don’t even know that we are doing them in the dark!
Church… We have been offered the Keys to the Kingdom!!!
Look at Mt 16:15-19
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
It wasn’t Peter…
It wasn’t Peter’s name…
It was Peter’s Faith that moved Jesus!
Our Faith is revealed through our life!!!
It’s all about how we live!
21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Why does Faith confound the world???
Because it makes no sense!!!!
John 3:16 (NIV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever [puts their complete and total trust] in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Will you put your complete and total trust in Him?
Will you confess with me… and with John… “I must become less and He must become more!”
(prayer)