Message developed as part of series inspired by Max Lucado’s book 3:16, Numbers of Hope, study guide materials, and his sermon series by the same title.
Scripture: John 3:16; 36; various texts
Title: We Live
Series: 3:16 (part 5)
YOU GOTTA LIVE TO GO TO HEAVEN
The teacher was testing the children in his Sunday school class to see if they understood the concept of getting to heaven. He asked them, "If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?" "NO!" the children answered. "If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?" Again, the children answered, "NO!" By now the teacher was starting to smile. "Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my wife, would that get me into Heaven?" Again, they all answered, "NO!" The teacher was just bursting with pride for them.
"Well," he continued, "then how can I get into Heaven?" A five-year-old boy shouted out, "YOU GOTTA BE DEAD."
[http://www.pinnaclepres.org/sermons/2006/sermon_060820.html]
It’s true that death and life go together, especially when we are talking about eternal life. But let me explain to you this morning that to enter heaven, death is not a special thing for one to possess. Every one of us is born into a world of death. It’s not death that gets you into heaven…
Actually it’s just the opposite. For one to enter heaven, he or she must have life…the life that only Christ gives. Our key text for this series says, John 3:16, for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life. Everlasting life which comes to all who believe on the one and only son is what gets you to heaven. Otherwise you are defaulted to perish like all unbelievers.
WE ALREADY HAVE DEATH
Let me show you in this same third chapter of John. We see John the Baptist speaking here and he says verse 36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him.”
Similarly John wrote in 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”
In John 3:16, it’s important to understand that God is NOT putting two alternatives out there for us to pick one, either life or death. The reality is that we are all perishing if we don’t have life.
Man’s natural state is one of spiritual death. He exists, but he is without "life." [from John Ritchie, “Foundations Truths of the Gospel: Eternal Life, see reference below]
-Eph. 2.1 says we are "Dead in trespasses and sins". Chapter four of the same book calls us "Alienated from the life of God".
-1 Timothy speaks of those whose trust is not on God and whose pleasure is of the world as "Dead even while alive".
-In the words of Jesus, John 6:53: Truly, truly, I say to you , unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
-And 1 John 5:12 puts it this way, “He who as the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
What does all this Scripture mean? It means that if “we believe, we live.” Otherwise we continue to not have life. In fact, we can’t even see life without having it. That is what Jesus was trying to explain to Nicodemus in the background story of John 3:16. Nicodemus said, “We have seen your signs and think you’re from God.” And Jesus replied, “Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
But surely, you may say…”I have life, everyone living has life.” But what you must understand is that “Life—as used in these Scriptures—is more than mere existence.” What you feel around you, what you sit on, what you wear, what you hold in your hand…all of those exist, but they don’t have life.
[The life that God gave for is not mere existence, it’s so much more. I want to share with you the kind of life God wants you to have in three ways. 1.) Life Forevermore, 2.) Life starting right now, 3.) Life Abundantly. The first is that we…]
1.) LIVE FOREVERMORE
A.) When we think of eternal life, we think of heaven.
John 14:2, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
B.) This just isn’t a copy of this life…It’s so much more:
Mk 10:28-30 “And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. “
C.) It’s a place we yearn for:
Rev. 21:1-7 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
[These Scriptures speak of a future blessing of life…but Scripture also tells us that we…]
2.) LIVE STARTING RIGHT NOW
A.) John the Gospel writer takes a special interest in describing eternal life not only as a future thing, but as something we already possess.
John 5.24-25 24"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 25"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
We see that at the moment of belief, we pass from death to life. We also note that, John also includes a future reference too, that there is a time coming when “those who hear will live.”
But that makes sense doesn’t it? If the life Christ gives is eternal that means that there will never be a time when we are without it. It is truly eternal when we are given life at the moment we believe, and it goes on forever. (John Ritchie, ibid.)
B.) John tells us that eternal life begins now. In John 10, he records Jesus’ words, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.
This present possession of eternal life is designed to give us confidence in the here and now. In fact, we’re assured that it’s ours both now and forevermore…and it can never be taken away, “no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
C.) Later, in John’s first letter he wrote: ”These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”
[But finally there is another aspect to the life that Christ gives. It is to…]
3.) LIVE MORE ABUNDANTLY
A.) John 10.10 is a favorite verse of most, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
B.) Abundant living is more than just having enough. It is an overflow of joy and peace in Christ.
I think it may be best pictured by Christ when he approached the Samaritan at the well….John 4.7-14 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water…
C.) I saw that kind of wellspring of abundant life this week on the internet when I saw Nick Vujicic. He’s a 25 year old man, born without arms or legs, but has a marvelous wellspring of Abundent life like no other I’ve seen…
[Play clip from http://lifewithoutlimbs.org/ or read the following excerpt from Nick…]
My name is Nick Vujicic and I’m 25 years old. I was born without arms or legs and given no medical reason for this condition. Faced with countless challenges and obstacles, God has given me the strength to surmount what others might call impossible. Along with that, the Lord has placed within me an unquenchable passion to share this same hope and genuine love that I’ve personally experienced with more than two million people all over the globe.
Traveling extensively to over 19 nations, I’ve been extremely humbled by the continuous opportunities that the Lord has given me to share my testimony along with the hope that I have in Jesus with people in so many nations and situations. My greatest joy in this life is to introduce Jesus to those I meet and tell them of His great desire to get to know them personally by allowing Him to become their Lord and Savior.
God has used me to let people know in countless schools, churches, prisons, orphanages, hospitals, stadiums and in face-to-face encounters with individuals how very precious they are to God. Secondly, it’s my pleasure to assure them that God does have a plan for their lives that is purposeful. For God took my life, one that others might disregard as having any significance and filled me with His purpose and showed me His plans to move hearts and lives toward Him. Understanding this, though faced with struggles, you can overcome too.
He is going to be featured on 20/20 this coming Friday on ABC’s 20/20.
Conclusion:
Life is more than existence. When we read, “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life…when we read that we must understand that everyone one of us who does not believe in Christ doesn’t have life.
There is a natural life and there is a spiritual life. Likewise there is a natural death and there is a spiritual death. All the time that the prodigal was away from his father’s house, he was regarded by his father as “dead,” yet terribly alive in sin. When he came back to his father, what was it that the father said? “We must be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost, and has been found.” (Ritchie, ibid)
Do you know this kind of life? Jesus said “I am come that they might have life.” Are you alive in Christ or dead in sin? If you want life forevermore, if you want life starting right now, if you want life abundant, believe on Jesus. He died for you to receive this gift.
Invitational Hymn, “Lord, I’m Coming Home.”
Materials used from John Ritchie are found at
http://www.wholesomewords.org/etexts/ritchie/eterlife.html
