“Experiencing Eternal Life”
John 3:14-18
Today is Palm Sunday – the first day of what is known as the beginning of Holy Week for the Christian world. On this Sunday Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
Luke 19:37-38: Jesus rode into the city on a young donkey. “When he came to the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”
Later that week on Friday Jesus was arrested and another crowd of non-disciples of Jesus cried out, “Away with Him, Crucify Him.” Jesus was crucified on Friday and on “Good Friday” we remember the Death of Jesus. Next Sunday, Easter Sunday is the climax of Holy week when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Why did Jesus suffer and die on the cross of Calvary? We find the answer in our Scripture text, John 3:16, (The Golden Text of the Bible) “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.”
Jesus died on the cross so you and I can experience eternal life. Today you can have the assurance of eternal life before you leave this worship service. That’s right, not tomorrow, not next week, or next month or next year, but TODAY.
Without the fact of Jesus dying on the Cross there would be no Christian Faith. The March 27, 2000, Newsweek magazine featured an article on how different religions view Jesus. The article concluded with these words:
Clearly the Cross is what separates the Christ of
Christianity from every other religion. In Judaism
there is no precedent for a Messiah who dies, much less as a criminal. In Islam, the story of Jesus’ death is rejected as an affront to Allah himself. Hindus can only accept a Jesus who escapes the degradation of death.
Buddhists say the crucifixion does no justice to Jesus. The image of benign Jesus has universal appeal. Most of the world can’t accept Jesus of the cross.
Jesus was nailed to the cross and suffered and died in our place. The nails did not hold Jesus to the cross. He could have easily removed the nails. He could have called ten thousand angels to come to his aid. It was invisible nails that held Jesus to the cross.
I. The Invisible Nail of Love Held Jesus on the Cross.
“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son….” John 3:16
“God gave his love to us that even while we were sinners Jesus died for us.” Romans 5:8
The world leaders and dictators have no regard for human life. The selfish world does not know what to do with the selfless love demonstrated on Calvary. The world has not seen that depth of love before or sense. The world has no ability to comprehend it.
It was that nail of unconditional and uncompromising love that held Jesus to the cross.
# Billy Graham tells of hearing about a man who had a twin brother who committed a vicious crime against society and was sentenced to prison where he was to pay with his life for his crime.
The man, intent on saving his brother, who was the father of several children, went to the prison with a plan to save his condemned brother from death. The man was granted permission to visit his brother alone in his cell.
“We must work fast,” the man said. In a few minutes the men had exchanged clothes and places with each other. The condemned brother, under the guise of the guiltless brother, walked out of that prison a free man, and the innocent brother died in place of the guilty brother.
That’s exactly what Jesus did for you and for me. We were guilty and Jesus took on Himself our guilt and died in our place.
We sometime sing:
And Can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood;
Died he for me; who caused His pain;
For me, who him to death pursued;
Amazing love! How can it be
That you, my God, should die for me?
Jesus did not come to condemn but to save. John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus came to give you abundant life and a purpose in life.
The cross demonstrated how much Jesus loves you and me. Max Lucado writes that God created you and loves you. “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, you photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart. Face it friend, He’s crazy about you!”
The invisible nail of love kept Jesus on the Cross.
II. The Invisible nail of Loyalty kept Jesus on the Cross.
The first part of John chapter 3 Jesus is approached by Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews. Nicodemus had heard Jesus teaching about the Kingdom of God so he came to Jesus seeking additional information. Jesus knew the real reason Nicodemus was coming to see him.
Nicodemus said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous sign you are doing if God were not with him.” (John 3:2) Jesus looked at Nicodemus and declared: “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3)
Jesus illustrated the truth of John 3:3 by referring back to the time of Moses in Number chapter 21, John 3:14-15, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
Number 21:4-9 The children of Israel numbering over a million people were delivered from captivity in Egypt under the leadership of Moses. As they wondered in the wilderness they grumbled and complained during their 40 years of wandering. “We miss our garlic toast, our leg of lamb and vegetables and pure water. As they traveled from Mt. Hor along the Red Sea, the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food.”
In response to their grumbling and murmuring God sent poisonous snakes among them and all who got bitten died. The people said to Moses, “We have sinned against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.”
The Lord told Moses to put a bronze snake upon a pole. Anyone who would look at the bronze snake would live. All who looked lived. One way to be healed – look and live.
Refuse to look and die? Who would refuse to look?
The arrogant,
The Proud,
The rebellious
The Stubborn.
Jesus declared an eternal truth to Nicodemus. Just as the children of Israel looked by faith and lived, so you must look to Jesus the Messiah and live. Then Jesus stated the central truth of the Bible in John 3:16.
Jesus was loyal and faithful to His mission. In effect Jesus was saying, “I will be faithful – just as Moses lifted up the bronze snake – so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
In supreme loyalty to God’s will Jesus died on the cross.
The nail of loyalty held Jesus on the cross.
III. The Nail of Sin held Jesus on the Cross.
On the cross, Jesus who was sinless became sin for us. Jesus took upon himself your sin and min. On the cross Jesus took care of the sin problem of the world.
Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”
Sin separated human kind from God. Jesus died on the Cross to be our bridge back to God.
Jesus suffered for us physically. Jesus was the incarnate son of God – fully human and fully divine. While on earth he limited himself to being fully human. He experienced pain. Jesus was beaten, scourged, with a cat of 9 tails with nails and pieces of stone at the end of the whip – 39 lashed across his back, beaten beyond recognition. Jesus experienced pain beyond human comprehension.
On the cross Jesus cried out, “I thirst.”
On the cross Jesus took on the sins of the world – he cried out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me.”
On the Cross Jesus completed his mission. His last words from the cross: “It is finished; into your hands I commend my spirit.” Jesus completed the work God sent him to do.
God’s plan of salvation was completed in the death and resurrection of Jesus. God gives us a choice – choice life or chose death.
Think of it. God has given you a precious gift – free will – God gives you the privilege of choosing your own destiny.
John 3:18-20 Light has shined in darkness, but men loved darkness – chose t live in sin and evil rather than turn to the Light.
Here’s the problem. People don’t want to know the truth. They don’t want to change their attitudes, their thinking or change their life style.
Men and women hear all that Jesus has done for them and they still refuse to surrender their lives to him. Isaiah 53:4-5 “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Because of the fact of sin there was a Cross. The Cross of Calvary is a place of decision – Embrace and believe by following Jesus and receive eternal life. Reject the Truth and be lost.
God’s ultimate question when you stand before Him on the Judgment Day will be: “What did you do with my Son, Jesus?” God won’t ask you about your religion, your background, your education, or your doctrinal beliefs. The ultimate question you must answer is “Have you received Jesus, His forgiveness, His Love and His promise of eternal life?” John 14:6
# Several years ago a church performed a drama around Easter time about a carpenter’s family who lived in Jerusalem during the time of Christ. Needing the money, the Jewish carpenter agreed to make crosses for the Romans. Even his son, who was about ten years old, helped in the carpenter’s shop.
Near the end of the play, the little boy came running into his dad’s shop crying as though his heart was breaking. When his family asked what was wrong he sobbed that he had just seen a mob take Jesus to be crucified.
They had heard Jesus preach and teach and had some relatives that had been healed by him. They loved Jesus and now heard this sad news. Their son looked up and said, “Dad, there’s more. They crucified Jesus on one of the crosses that we made.” The father tried to soothe his son saying, “Son, there are dozens of carpenters who the Romans have employed. All of those crosses basically look the same.”
His son said, “Dad, you don’t understand. Last week when we made our crosses I was so proud of the one that we did that I did what a great artist would do. I signed my name on the cross. As Jesus was carrying the cross up the hill, he fell in front of me. I glanced and saw my name on the cross.
If somehow we could see it and look closely we would see that our names are there as well; your name and mine. For if you were the only person on the fact of the earth, God would have come to earth and died on a cross with your name on it.
The cross proves that sin is not trivial, that we’re valuable and forgiveness is possible.
The Bible gives each of you the possibility of having the assurance eternal life. Here is what you need to do: Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
As we sing a closing Hymn, “Only Trust Him” I’m inviting you to come forward and confess “Jesus is Lord” of your life. Come and kneel at the front and we will pray with you and give you a Bible study book for your personal study and growth as a Christian.
