Do I know Jesus 3-2-1 Gospel
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
today we re going to think bout one simple question. Am I a Christian….
But before we jump into that I want to share a few things about me…..
I am a man of many hobbies
I like to Fish and Hunt and Scuba dive and climb mountains and I even like to go surfing when I get a chance.
How many of you believe that I do all of those things?
Let me show you a few pictures that might Help you come to a better conclusion.
Ask -How do we know for sure that what someone says they are is really true?
is it by what they say or is it by what we have seen as evidence thsat it is true?
today we are going to answer 3 questions in your booklet .
today we are going to answer 3 questions in your booklet .
In fact, How you answer these questions will determine life or death,
they determine your eternal future.
and So I want to begin by giving you 30 seconds to answer the first Question>
Here it is, its in your notes.
Question #1
Question #1
If you were to die today and stand at the gates of Heaven, and If God were to ask you right now, “Why should I let you into my perfect heaven,” what would your answer be?
GIVE 30 Seconds for students to write down their answer
Did you know that the Bible in John 14: tells that there is only one answer that God Will accept.
Did you grasp the magnatude that there is only one right answer and if you get it wrong - you dont just fail a test- He will be condemned for all eternity in the lake of fire.
This morning my goal is to present to you the One answer that God will accept from your life.
Turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 3:16
I love this verse , There is no wonder why this verse is the most memorized verse in all of the Bible.
Why Because it is the entire message of the Bible wrapped up in one sentence.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
This verse is the gospel story that God loves you so much that was willing to go as far as it would take to redeem you from an eternity in Hell.
Do you know what the gospel means?
it means Good news. Friends this is good news God wants a you to live with him forever in his eternal kingdom.
For the next few minutes I want us to look at this gospel story Because in it is the answer to our first Question
TRASN: the first thing I want you to notice is that there are 3 Characters in this gospel Story
READ SCREEN “for GOD so loved the WORLD that he gave HIS ONLY SON
There we have it three characters in the gospel story
GOD MAN and Jesus.
So what do we know about our first character GOD
GOD
GOD
30 This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Psalm 46:1–2 (ESV)
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 48:14 (ESV)
14 that this is God, our God forever and ever.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
fWhen it comes to Who God is he is the creator of all things, The Great I am of Exodus 3:14 , the all sufficient all knowing all Powerful God of the Universe, The One Who is not bound By time and space , He is the one who is perfectly loving ,perfectly
Just
perfectly righteous
perfectly Holy,,
because He is perfect in all his ways.
Thats’ Who the God of the gospel is……
And its this God, in all of His perfection, who “so loved the World.”
THE WORLD
THE WORLD
Our second character in our Story
Who is the world? thats you and me. we are the object of Gods Great love!
God loves you so much young people that He wants to spend an eternity with you in his perfect kingdom
How awesome is that the god of the universe wants you to live with him in all of his perfection forever.
But there is a serious problem.
Only perfect people can live in a perfect kingdom.
So good news if you are perfect in all your ways you are good to go.
If your like me and I know you are we have a really serious problem.
The Bible also does a very good job of describing you and me’
Listen to How God describes your life
Here we
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
and then in verses 23 Paul the author wants to make it very clear so we get it
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Young People do you understand how rotten you really are inside!!!!
You are completely saturated with sin. You are so un qualified to live in Gods perfection for even just a second let alone all eternity.
I think our verse in Romans 3 12 describes us completely well
“There is none who does good not even one.” In fact the Bible descries those things that we think are good enough for God to love in our lives as filthy dirty rags when they are compared to the perfect Holiness God demands.
We need to understand that not one of us is worthy of God giving us eternal life!
If this was the entire story - We would be hopelessly lost for ever.
And Yet you are exactly who God has chosen to love!
In fact God loves you so much even while you are still dead in your sin, that he sent His only Son Jesus to this world to rescue you from that eternal debt.
For God, in all of His perfection, So loved the World, in all of its imperfection that He sent His only Son!!!
God’s love in this verse is the gospel message- He loves you so much that He said there isn't anything I wouldn't do to save your life from an eternity about from me!
and So he sent His only Son Jesus
JESUS
JESUS
is the 3rd person in our Gospel Story.
So Who is Jesus and why does he matter.
Listen to what the Bible has to say about Jesus
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
meaning God himself came to this earth, and why did he come?
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
He came to find and save us!!
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In John 8:12 Jesus was speaking and He said
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In John 11:25
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Why was Jesus able to make such claims
1 John 3:5 (ESV)
5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
Jesus God himself came and did what we could not do He lived a perfect sinless life.
Jesus was God Himself- Perfect in all His ways and He come to this earth with one Mission “to seek and save the Lost”
So here we have our 3 Characters
say them with me
God - Man - Jesus
TRANS ITION
Why did Jesus need to save us? Because we are all created with eternal souls. and we will all live forever
You see the Problem is this that because of our sin, We have been condemned to Die.
this brings us to our second point
there are only
TWO DESTINIES
TWO DESTINIES
that all mankind will spend there eternity in
Look at our text again to see these 2 destinies
John 3:16 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
the two destinies are Death and Life
DEATH
DEATH
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
So what is Death?
Death literally means seperation
When You die physically your Body is seperated from your soul
this verse is speaking of Spiritual death- eternal seperation of your soul from God forever.
its not that you just cease to exist its that Our sin condemns us to eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire.
We like to call this place Hell.
and young people I think we get a bad view of what hell is going to be like.
its not a party its not a place where you get to do everything you ever wanted to do.
In fact the bible describes tis eternal place in very vidid ways
Listen to how God describes hell
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
punishment is meant to hurt- its a place for you to constantly think about what you have done wrong.
42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Hell is a place of eternal fire. its fire that will consume your entire existence.
In fact it will be so bad that people will bight them selves and grind their teeth just to get their mind off of the agony they are going through in this eternal place.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
Hell is a place of eternal darkness. it will be so dark that you would not even be able to see your hand right in front of your face, Friends hell is the most lonely place you could possiibly imagine.
and finally in
50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Hell is a place of eternal sadness- People will be crying out for just a drop of relief from the agonizing pain they are in, but non will come.
Young people Hell is a real place where real human being will spend their eternity.
Romans 6:23 tells us who is condemned to this eternal place
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Everyone who has ever sinned.
Friends thats me!!!!! and thats you!!1 everyone of us has already been condemned why Because
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Friedns . This is whY God said their is nothing I wouldn't do to seek and save the lost. - this is why Jesus Came to earth.
Because God in all of his perfection, Demands perfection from all of his followers ——-anything short will not due.
Young People your sin requires death in order for it to be paid in full
and so Jesus Came so tha he might take your place and pay that eternal debt in full, all so that he could redeem you from this eternal death and in its place give you eternal life.
Our 2nd destiny we see in our text.
READ SLIDE…. For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him WILL NOT Go to Hell but will have ETERNAL LIFE.”
Eternal life is Heaven- its living with God in all his perfection forever
Listen to how the Bible describes heaven in Rev.21?
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Friends in Heaven we will be with God in all of His perfection and this means that there will be no more sadness, or Pain, or sin or death.
And young people this ought to be the place we long to be- With Jesus in Heaven for all eternity.
You see there are 2 destinies that all mankind will go to they will, either be condemned to die and spend an eternity in punishment for their sins in the lake of fire or they will spend an eternity in heaven with jesus in all of His perfection,
So we really have one Big question we all should be asking?
How do I make sure im going to Heaven and not to hell!!!!
This verse is very clear there is only one way to change your destiny form an eternity in Hell to everlasting life in Heaven
ONE WAY - BELIEVE
ONE WAY - BELIEVE
Young People look at our verse in John 3 one more time- right in the middle We see how we can change our destiny
John 3:16 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever BELIEVES in JESUS should not perish but have eternal life.
There is One one to change your destiny Beleif in Jesus!
Thats the gospel message.
Did you notice that their is nothing about how good you have to be, or how smart or talented or religious. The only requirement for any one of us to go to heaven is to believe in Jesus,
So what does it mean to believe in Jesus?
(1) it means that you understand How holy and righteousGod is.
(2) it means that you understand The sinfulness of your own heart and the eternal judgement you deserve for rebelling against God
3.It means that you need Gods forgivenss in your life for your sins.
(4) it means that you understand that there is nothing you could ever do on your own to change your destiny
(5) it means that you beleive that God sent Jesus as your savior, It means that you beleive that Jesus lived the perfect life that you could never live,
(6)it means that you believe that when Jesus died on that cross in your place for your sins He paid your debt of sin in full satisfying God the Fathers demand for the eternal payment of your sin
(7) it means that you believe that only Jesus Christ is sufficient enough to provide the righteousness you need to stand perfect before God ,
(8) it means that You hav humbled your self and cried out to God to save your wretched life because you that without Jesus there is no other way!
Romans 10:9-10 states it so clearly
Romans 10:9–10 (ESV)
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Young People Has their been a moment in your life where you cried out to God for him to save your lost soul? Have you confessed with your mouth your belief your need for Jesus?
Have you believed and accepted Jesus as your savior?
Salvation is a radical moment where you instantly go from death to life. Where you go from condemned to hell to a full citizen of heaven, where you go from the enemy of God to His friend.
it looks something like this
God, I know I’m a sinner and because of my sin I know I deserve to spend an eternity in Hell. But God I also Believe that you loved me enough ot Jesus your only Son to pay that Debt I owe in full with His one life. I believe that when jesus died on that Cross He carried the full weight of my sin on his shoulders and when he died He carried my debt of sin in full, and when He rose from that grave my debt had been fully satisfied.
God I confess my sinfulness against you and Put my faith and trust in Jesus as the one who has paid my debt!
Amen.
If you have not asked God to save you if you have not expressed your belief in Jesus alone for your salvation you are still condemned to die.
Lets look at our verse again but this I want you to read it with me as if it were your own prayer.
SLIDE:God loved ME so much, that He sent JESUS, His perfect Son, to die for me, and if I believe that Jesus paid the price for all my sins, I will not go to HELL, but will live in Heaven with Jesus Forever.”
Question # 2 in Your booklet is simple
Question # 2 in Your booklet is simple
What is my response to the Gospel?
What is my response to the Gospel?
Some of you may be sitting here today- remembering a prayer you said when you were younger. A prayer where you asked Jesus into your heart. this third question is for you
Question # 3 : What proof of the gospel is evident in my life?
Question # 3 : What proof of the gospel is evident in my life?
In Matthew chapter 7 Jesus said You will know a Christian by the fruit that they produce.
Young people if your life is not producing the fruit of Jesus that there is a really good chance you are not part of the family of Jesus. meaning your not really saved!!
Just because you prayed a prayer when you were little doesnt mean you are truly saved. You very well could still be on your wayt to hell.
Young peopel ask your self right now Have I truly asked Jesus to take my place and pay my debt of sin in full. Have I truly put my fsaith and trust in Jesus for my salvation or am I still on the hook?
If that is you dont let pride keep you from accepting Gods free gift of salvation today. believe in Jesus and have eternal life.
Review
Review
3 Characters - God Man Jesus
2 destinies heaven and Hell
1 decision - Believe in jesus
Pray!