What is the Gospel?.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to John chapter 3. [0:03] John chapter 3, that’s where we’ll be for the majority of our time together. [0:08] But if you weren’t with us last week or if you forgot what we did last week, [0:12] we started a new series that’s going to run us all the way through July, [0:15] and that’s a series called Tell. [0:17] You got to talk about the gospel.

[0:19] And last week we opened it with taking a look at how God worked throughout all of Scripture [0:25] and that the Bible is not this disconnected collection of stories, [0:31] but instead it is one large story really with four parts. [0:36] And those four parts make up the large story of the gospel of Jesus [0:42] that we see through the fall of man, that we’re in desperate need as people for redemption from our sin. [0:50] But that God from that moment forward began the plan of redemption,

[0:54] that he had always had in mind to save us, which ultimately led to his son Jesus coming. [1:02] Jesus came, lived a perfect life, died a death that we deserve to die for our sins on our behalf as a substitute. [1:12] And that through Jesus we find hope in restoration. [1:17] That this sin will not be that which marks our end if we trust in Jesus, [1:22] but instead God through those who believe will begin a process of restoration in our lives [1:29] and then through the whole world to instill his future kingdom that he promises in Jesus will be made certain,

[1:37] will be made physical in our lives in the future when Jesus returns. [1:42] But today I wanted to begin to kind of unpack the message that we tell to ensure that we’re telling the right one, [1:51] because in the whole story of scripture, what can get muddled is the question, what is the gospel? [2:00] What is the message that we have to tell? [2:03] Because we are surrounded by many things that claim to be gospel, many things that claim to be good news for us, [2:12] many things that claim can give us hope, that claim can restore our lives.

[2:16] And often it’s hard to differentiate what is real and what is false, [2:20] especially when so many people who tell a different gospel use the same book to tell that gospel. [2:28] And so today I want to unpack what really is the story of the gospel. [2:34] And I want to start by talking about just for a moment what the gospel is not. [2:40] The gospel is not. [2:44] You.

[2:45] The gospel is not your life. [2:48] The gospel is not your good deeds or even your bad deeds. [2:53] The gospel is not a story of your redemption. [2:59] The gospel is not also the effects of the gospel, because many people, we use this term gospel centered for a great deal of things. [3:07] And so quite often we will begin to equate our morality as the gospel. [3:13] Our morality is not the gospel.

[3:17] Those good deeds that we do can either be the effects of the gospel or something that has absolutely nothing to do with the gospel at all, [3:26] and actually has a motivation of showing people how good we are. [3:30] And so in our society, we often can come to this conclusion that the gospel is God’s response to our good deeds or our good morals, [3:41] when, in fact, the gospel is the opposite of that. [3:46] The gospel is not God’s reaction to how good you are. [3:50] The gospel is God’s revelation of how good he is.

[3:56] You cannot tell someone the gospel simply by the way that you live. [4:02] The way that you live will point people to the gospel so that you can tell them the gospel. [4:08] The gospel, by its very nature, is something that has to be told that has to be spoken of, [4:14] because the gospel is something that someone other than you did, and you are called to be a witness of that gospel. [4:24] The lives that we live must draw people to that story. [4:28] But the lives that we live are not that story because we are not the center of what God has done to save this world.

[4:35] Only Jesus is the center of that. [4:39] So our purpose today is to examine what the good news of Jesus actually is. [4:45] And at its foundation, we will find the very news that we are saved by and hopefully be made thankful messengers of a God who saves through the news of what he has done. [4:58] And so I want to make this as simple as possible so that you can be certain in your everyday life and you can be equipped in your everyday life to speak of the good news of Jesus. [5:09] And so I want to kind of focus in this morning on a text that for, frankly, at least a few hundred years has been the most popular text in all of scripture. [5:20] I want to begin today with John 3, 16, and I want to unpack phrase by phrase what it means in every part of it.

[5:29] So join me in John, chapter three, we’ll read from 16 to 18 to begin.

[5:50] The world might be saved through him, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only son of God. [6:07] Pray with me, our father.

[6:12] We come before you. As a people who need you.

[6:20] As a people who need you to give us the gift of faith in every moment of life and a people who need you to build within us a passion for your salvation. [6:32] A passion to take this good news to all who need it and a passion to live lives in which we can give people a reason for the hope that’s in us. [6:45] So we can tell of you. [6:47] Be marked by you. [6:52] Give us this faith. [6:54] In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

[7:00] The gospel is the good news of what God has done, and for that I think we can be certain we can only agree on that. [7:08] In the New Testament, the term for gospel is a Greek word that kind of in its original language is Eugenio or the Evangelion or or what just simply means evangelism. [7:21] It’s one of those words that maybe if you’ve been in church for a long time, you’re uncomfortable with it because it calls you to actually do something with the gospel. [7:29] Or maybe if you’re in here and you don’t believe in Jesus and you don’t believe the gospel, that’s a tough term because that’s what everybody uses to get to you. [7:37] But the fact of the matter is, is that this word evangelism, its root is the term that means gospel. [7:45] It simply means proclaiming good news.

[7:49] Even in the Old Testament, whenever you see to proclaim news, the original word from the Latin Vulgate is evangelism, the gospel, the story to be told, the good news to be proclaimed. [8:03] So throughout all of history, God has intentioned and determined for his story to be told. [8:13] And I want to be, excuse me, I want there to be no doubt this morning in at least this room what that gospel is. [8:24] And in John 3, 16, God begins to unfold what the gospel is to a man named Nicodemus. [8:32] Now, Jesus in the book of John has been going throughout the countryside in Judea and even in the city there, and he’s been doing amazing works. [8:40] He’s been teaching with an authority and with an understanding that the people in Israel were not accustomed to for a very long time, as there had been quite a bit of time where the prophets had been silent.

[8:52] And Jesus comes into the scene and he begins to teach in a way that that generation has never heard before. [8:57] So much so that the religious rulers and leaders of that day began to take note and began to notice this man named Jesus. [9:07] And so under the cover of night secretly, one of those religious rulers, his name’s Nicodemus, he comes to Jesus. [9:16] To find out for himself is everything that everyone has been saying about this man. [9:21] True, could it be that he is the savior that’s promised? [9:27] And Nicodemus was no religious, ignorant person.

[9:31] He was very accustomed to what we call the Old Testament. [9:35] He knew it backwards and forwards. [9:37] It was his task to actually be an expert, to actually enforce the code that was given in the Old Testament and even some codes that they had made up along the way.

[9:48] And Nicodemus begins to see in the person of Jesus, some of the things that he’s been studying his entire life. [9:56] So he comes to Jesus with really a simple question. [10:00] Is it true? [10:02] And Jesus unpacks for him that for him to possibly understand the things of God, for him to possibly understand the identity behind who he has been for all of eternity, he needed a new life. [10:18] He needed a new understanding. [10:19] Jesus even uses a term born again to explain to him.

[10:24] And so Nicodemus, who’s not familiar with this type of terminology, looks to him and says, how in the world can I re-enter my mother’s womb? [10:31] Kind of a facetious answer.

[10:36] And so Jesus begins to unpack for him this amazing news that we must marvel at. [10:42] And Nicodemus in that moment is kind of found baffled by this news that he’s never heard before, that he never expected to have from a man face to face. [10:52] And that is that God is on a mission to save the world. [10:59] And he’s doing it through his very son.

[11:05] Jesus unpacks for Nicodemus what it means to be given a new life, what it means to be born again. [11:13] And he starts with himself. [11:17] He starts with God. [11:19] Number one, this morning, for us to grasp what the good news is, we must see that God rules over the entire world with love. [11:29] In John 3, 16, Jesus is speaking to a man who should be familiar with God’s rule over the world. [11:36] But frankly, his understanding had less to do with love and more to do with a nation’s sovereignty, more to do with a militaristic type of

[11:48] Messiah that would march into Rome that Israel was under the occupation of at that time and lead a great military insurrection. [11:55] They never expected for the Messiah to come and be God himself made flesh. [12:02] And that’s the message that Jesus gives to Nicodemus from the very beginning. [12:07] And to understand it, Jesus begins with God. [12:10] He lays out for all of us to see this amazing news that some of us are familiar with and some of us think that we’re familiar with and some of us totally deny. [12:21] But the fact that there is a God and he is not silent.

[12:27] Jesus begins his explanation the way that the scriptures begin in Genesis one with no explanation of that there is a God, no evidences for God, [12:37] just this great presumption that there is a God and he is not silent. [12:43] He’s made himself known in many ways.

[12:47] And Nicodemus was kind of a safe bet for this argument as he was already steeped in religion. [12:56] But in our culture, we may not be so certain that just claiming the evidence or, excuse me, [13:08] more and more every day begin to deny his very existence, the exclusion of themselves from even having a hope that there could be a gospel.

[13:19] But the understanding that Jesus comes into it with is that there must be a faith upon which your belief that there is a God is built upon. [13:31] Jesus is the fullest evidence of that. [13:33] God is the foundation upon which all of life is built. [13:38] And there is frankly no culture in history that has ever flourished about that type of understanding.

[13:48] The evidence is that there is a God are as certain as the evidence that we’re standing on ground.

[13:55] And you may respond by saying, I’m not standing on the ground, Steve, you’re actually standing on a stage. [14:01] And you’re standing on carpet and there’s concrete under that carpet. [14:04] But understand that the destination of everything that’s below us is on top of ground.

[14:12] And so we make no arguments that the ground exists, do we? [14:16] That’s just sensical. There’s ground. [14:20] And no matter how many layers we put on top of that ground, everything is connected to the ground at some point. [14:27] And every force of nature is pushing us down towards that ground. [14:33] No matter how high you go up. [14:36] You eventually hit the ground.

[14:39] Some a little harder than others.

[14:42] But the fact remains that without the ground, everything upon it. [14:49] Would fall.

[14:52] You see, God’s hand is seen in everything. [14:56] And the scripture recounts this over and over and over again that when we depart from the fact in our faith, that there is a God who’s ruling and reigning, who’s spoken to us, who’s revealed himself to us. [15:08] We begin to see all of society crumble. [15:10] We begin to see everything that is good begin to be changed into something that’s negative.

[15:19] And God is there. [15:23] And Jesus looks to Nicodemus with this way of just saying it for God.

[15:32] It’s the way in which scripture says it all along from the very beginning. [15:36] With an understanding that if you don’t start there. [15:40] You cannot possibly get to the Savior.

[15:44] And that every denial that we have of the existence of God has nothing to do with his silence and everything to do with our sin. [15:54] Everything to do with our denial that there could be someone higher than us. [15:58] There could be a purpose greater than us. [16:00] There could be someone ruling and reigning for eternity. [16:04] And if he is there. [16:09] Then our life must be marked by him or our life is meaningless.

[16:17] Many of the philosophies that people build their lives around that have nothing to do with God, [16:22] but have to do with reaching some sense of nirvana or some ascension into a greater existence without there being a God, [16:29] they all have no meaning because without God, friends, life is meaningless.

[16:37] Without God, you are meaningless and nothing matters.

[16:45] But Jesus comes with a greater message. [16:48] He comes with God.

[16:51] And he comes with more than that. [16:54] Because many cultures throughout history have had an understanding of God, [16:58] but Jesus comes with an understanding of God with love. [17:03] Jesus says something that’s fascinating when he says God loves the world. [17:12] This is something that most other religions can’t grasp because their understanding of God is that [17:16] he’s some far out deity just ruling and reigning in ways that we cannot understand.

[17:21] But Jesus comes with an understanding of God that can come into our lives because we do desire love, [17:27] because we do want love. [17:28] We chase it our entire lives in hopes that we will find it in every reaction we have to love’s faults, [17:35] love’s failures, love’s inconsistencies, emotional love, sentimental love, romantic love. [17:40] All of our responses to that are us either staying with something because we think we found it [17:45] or leaving something because we think we’ll find it somewhere else.

[17:49] And so Jesus comes and he says God loves the world. [17:55] In 1 John 4, 8, the same author of this writes that without love, we can’t believe in God because God is love.

[18:08] And so John’s explanation there based off of the words of Jesus right here is that we don’t grasp love [18:16] until we grasp God because God is the definer of love.

[18:23] The only legitimate love is God’s love. [18:27] You see our definitions are found very lacking.

[18:33] Remember years ago the song that love hurts, love stings.

[18:41] You see the reason for that and the reason that we would all maybe have moments where we would say [18:46] yeah, in that moment I absolutely agree. [18:49] Love didn’t feel very good, but it wasn’t love that didn’t feel very good. [18:55] It was the curse of sin on love that didn’t feel very good. [19:01] See any definition that we would give love would be so limited by sin in our lives [19:06] that we can’t possibly have a full understanding of love.

[19:09] And that’s what Jesus came to explain to us. [19:13] Jesus came to explain to us that there is an objective definition for love and his name is God. [19:20] He is the one who invented it. [19:22] He is the one who authored it. [19:24] He is the one who feels it perfectly, who’s never for a moment felt a negative connotation to love in his being. [19:34] Because within himself he has always had perfect love and it is what we are missing out on without him.

[19:47] He defines love and then reveals what it’s going to look like through the work that he’s going to do in Jesus. [19:56] Secondly, this morning God shows his love to the world through Jesus. [20:02] Do you know that Jesus is the way that God shows us what love is?

[20:08] And that the person and work of Jesus is to change the way that we define love, [20:15] the way that we define our relationships, the way that we look at love, understand love, feel love, and even act loving. [20:25] Jesus is to be the epicenter of that. [20:28] In 1 John 4, 9, he writes, [20:33] In this the love of God was made manifested among us that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. [20:44] Why did we, excuse me, why did God need to send his son for us to understand love?

[20:53] He says a very important thing, he said, for God so loves the world that he gave his son.

[21:05] Why was that necessary? [21:06] See Nicodemus’ presence there is this understanding that not everything is right, that something is wrong. [21:15] There needs to be some change, there needs to be some reparations done, [21:20] in this world, and Nicodemus is going to Jesus in hopes that he has that understanding, [21:27] that he knows what it is to be made right in this world, and that is exactly what Jesus does. [21:35] He gave his son so that no one would perish.

[21:39] And when we look at that, we come face to face with who we really are. [21:44] Because the opposite of that was that if God didn’t love the world, then his son wouldn’t have come, and we would have all perished.

[21:58] And under our definition of love, it is right there that some may hit the breaks on the gospel and say, who does God think he is?

[22:09] Why couldn’t he just sweep it under the rug?

[22:14] Why couldn’t he just look to us and say, you are forgiven, I will make you right? [22:20] Why is Nicodemus in so much despair that he comes to Jesus and says, I need it, but I don’t know where it is?

[22:30] And so in our rebellion against God, we may look to him and say, there has to be a better way than perishing. [22:41] Just make it right. [22:43] That is not unconditional love. [22:46] If he doesn’t just take me as I am. [22:49] That is what real love is, right? [22:51] No.

[22:53] That is sin.

[22:57] How loving would it be for you to watch someone or something destroy themselves?

[23:07] Knowing that you have got the solution, but you say love is unconditional, you have to accept them as they are. [23:15] And continue down a pathway of destroying themselves, and you are silent. [23:19] You do nothing.

[23:24] If that is love, I don’t want it.

[23:30] Because I don’t need it. [23:33] Love does not watch you in your moment of self-destruction and say, well, that is just who you are.

[23:41] No, love comes into life and love redeems.

[23:47] See, our definitions of love are so lacking.

[23:54] And it affects every part of our lives. [23:57] Even our pathway of following Jesus are affected by our definitions of love.

[24:05] God would not call me to sacrifice.

[24:09] What if your lack of sacrifice will destroy you? [24:12] God would not call me to change. [24:16] What if your lack of change will destroy you?

[24:20] Well, I don’t do anything that is that bad. [24:23] Really, by whose definition?

[24:26] Yours?

[24:29] You are not God. [24:30] You can’t really trust the person destroying themselves to define what is destroying them. [24:35] You certainly can’t trust them to find the solution. [24:38] Because they won’t. [24:40] What Jesus is saying is that God’s love is so supreme, God’s love is so amazing, [24:48] that He comes in to save all of us.

[24:54] You see, maybe the way in which we have been reading the text has been wrong. [24:59] Because we look at it, and in some translations, it has been this way since 1611, [25:05] it says, for God so loved the world. [25:09] And that’s not a bad translation, it’s a good translation in almost every other culture, except ours. [25:17] Because when we read that, what we do is we take it as God is pining after us. [25:24] God has this romantic feeling about the world, He’s emotional about us,

[25:30] and He just thinks so highly of us that He wants to save us. [25:35] And so that type of love we’re comfortable with, because it sounds so unconditional, [25:40] we’ll never lose the love of God.

[25:45] That’s not the most helpful way to read it, I believe in our culture. [25:49] One translation, the HCSB has changed it, because in the Greek, [25:54] the idea is actually for God loved the world in this way. [26:00] Or this is the way in which God loves the world. [26:03] It’s less about this feeling, and more about how God loves. [26:10] And He loves us through Jesus.

[26:13] He shows us what love is through Jesus. [26:16] And so the fact that He doesn’t just sweep our sin under the rug, [26:21] can begin to form meaning in that type of understanding, [26:26] because the love of God is conditional.

[26:31] It’s conditional.

[26:33] It’s conditional on justice.

[26:38] See, there’s something inside of each and every one of us, [26:43] that when we see wrong,

[26:46] we know what’s right and we see wrong, [26:49] we’re like, no.

[26:53] No. [26:54] And some, just atrocities that we see in this world, [26:58] we even get to the point where something needs to be done about that. [27:04] We need to make that right.

[27:08] Or there are also times,

[27:12] someone needs to pay for that.

[27:18] Did you know that deep down inside, that’s part of the image of God in us? [27:23] Maybe the way we seek justice is marred by sin, [27:25] but that yearning for justice is not wrong. [27:30] That yearning for justice is actually very godly.

[27:36] That yearning for justice is actually love.

[27:41] You wouldn’t yearn for justice if you didn’t love someone. [27:45] You actually may take great joy out of their pain.

[27:50] But God’s love for the world is made manifest in the reality

[27:57] that wrongs need to be made right. [28:01] And so instead of simply sweeping it under the rug, [28:05] God looks to us and He says, [28:07] there must be justice in order for wrong to be made right. [28:12] I don’t just want to sweep it away, I want to make you whole. [28:18] I want to make you right.

[28:20] And for there to be right in you, [28:22] there must be justice for that which is wrong in you. [28:26] For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son [28:32] so that no one

[28:37] no, [28:39] so that all who believe [28:41] won’t perish and have eternal life.

[28:46] You see, the condition on God’s love [28:48] is Jesus coming into the world to take the penalty for your sin

[28:56] and you trusting in that penalty.

[29:00] You trusting in that justice. [29:04] You trusting in that righteousness. [29:08] You see, real love seeks [29:12] to put wrong things right [29:16] in real ways.

[29:22] You see, God did not just hope that wrong would be made right. [29:26] God did not just hope in heaven [29:29] that someone would show up someday with a special ability [29:34] because He knew that we wouldn’t. [29:38] Do you really know yourself?

[29:42] You won’t make it right.

[29:46] So in this amazing love that’s been unparalleled [29:50] throughout the history of the world, God Himself comes. [29:55] Do you understand the veracity of that? [29:57] Do you understand how amazing that is? [29:59] That God Himself came. [30:02] The One against who all sin,

[30:06] the book of Psalms tells us, is against everything [30:09] that sinful is offensive to God because He created us for a purpose. [30:14] He created us to be connected to Him. [30:16] He created us to worship Him, and we left Him the source of life.

[30:24] And so the only thing possible when you don’t have the source of life is death, [30:28] and that’s what perishing is.

[30:31] It’s you apart from God.

[30:37] Jesus looks to Nicodemus [30:40] and says, I have come to make that right.

[30:49] Jesus is God’s evidence of love. [30:52] Romans 5, 8 tells us [30:54] that God shows His love for us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[31:02] The very One against who we’re rebelling. [31:07] Think about this. [31:08] The very One who the penalty is owed to. [31:13] The very Judge, the One who lays out the penalty, [31:17] the One who says, someone must pay, [31:19] the One who says, when everything’s wrong, I’m right,

[31:22] and I’ve got to make things right, and I’ve got to have justice for it to be real, [31:26] and for it to be loving. [31:27] He comes down Himself, and He takes it onto Himself. [31:30] He says, I’ll take the penalty, that’s my love. [31:33] That’s what love looks like.

[31:36] That’s how loving God is.

[31:39] He gives those that He loves the greatest gift, even when we don’t want it.

[31:49] So what do we do with that?

[31:54] Because I don’t want to perish.

[31:58] If I believe in Jesus, I won’t perish. [32:02] I’ll have eternal life. [32:06] What do I do? [32:08] [32:09] Look in verse 18. [32:12] He says, whoever believes in Him is not condemned,

[32:15] but whoever does not believe is condemned already, [32:19] because he’s not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

[32:28] Either your sins will be wiped away by Jesus, [32:32] or your sins will wipe you away.

[32:37] That’s the truth that the Gospel gives us. [32:41] Jesus came as a judgment on sin. [32:44] He lived a perfect life to show what real life looks like. [32:48] He then died as a substitute for us to take the penalty for our sin. [32:53] God’s love brings forgiveness of sin.

[32:58] Jesus gives us the pathway upon which our redemption is founded. [33:04] Throughout all of the Scripture, it’s always been about Jesus. [33:07] We saw that last week. [33:09] Acts 10, verse 43 has the first followers of Jesus proclaiming what needs to happen. [33:17] He speaks here, He says, to Him, to Jesus, [33:20] all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives what?

[33:26] The forgiveness of sins.

[33:29] Through what? His name.

[33:33] Nowhere else.

[33:36] It’s through Jesus, and Jesus alone. [33:39] It is exclusive to Jesus.

[33:45] The application of salvation on your life is contingent upon belief,

[33:52] because that is what it looks like to me, right?

[34:02] To me, it’s really about four things.

[34:07] In that moment, Nicodemus had a choice.

[34:14] He had to look at Jesus.

[34:20] Say yes.

[34:23] Say yes. [34:23] Yes, Jesus, I believe that’s who you are.

[34:28] And then shortly thereafter,

[34:32] Jesus died on the cross.

[34:35] You have to look and say, yes, [34:38] I believe you did that.

[34:41] I believe you did it for me.

[34:44] I believe Jesus did it because of me.

[34:52] You have to know why he did it. [34:55] See, you can’t be forgiven of sins if you don’t think you’ve sinned.

[35:03] Jesus wants us all to see the cost [35:07] on him of sin and then look at it and say, God, I have sinned, [35:12] and I hate it.

[35:17] God, this is the cost. [35:20] What have I done?

[35:25] We must realize that we need God’s love [35:30] to make us right.

[35:34] If that’s your love, God, [35:36] if that’s what my sin has cost, [35:38] and if you love me so much that you did that, [35:40] I need that in my life.

[35:46] And finally, I trust Jesus to do it for me.

[35:54] You cannot save yourself.

[36:02] It’s been said that Christianity is a crutch for the weak. [36:09] I say you’re overstating my ability.

[36:15] Christianity

[36:19] is life for the dead.

[36:26] It is the paddles that shock our hearts to new life.

[36:37] I need him to save me.

[36:40] I’ve always needed Jesus to save me, [36:43] and I will always need Jesus to save me. [36:48] And you say, how long is always? [36:50] It’ll never stop.

[36:53] And for eternity, because of what he has done for me, [36:58] I will sing, salvation belongs to our God, [37:03] great is the Lamb, he’s worthy of all praise, [37:07] for he is the one who was crucified for me. [37:12] In my moment of greatest need, [37:14] when I had no life,

[37:17] when I was headed straight towards eternal condemnation, [37:21] in the wrath of God, where I would perish, [37:24] Jesus stood in my place and took it. [37:29] There is no love comparable to that love. [37:35] It doesn’t exist. [37:38] It is what love is based on, because it’s the greatest love.

[37:46] Finally this morning, understand that God will make all who believe whole in Jesus. [37:54] He’ll make all who believe whole in Him.

[37:58] You know, faith, that term, believe.

[38:04] I think we struggle with it. [38:07] Because whoever believes will not perish, but will have eternal life. [38:13] And we look at it and we say, well, I’ll agree to that, sure. [38:20] But I think it’s more than that. [38:23] I think it hits us in those ways that I just talked about, those four ways. [38:30] But it’s a faith upon which you build your life upon,

[38:34] because you understand in Jesus that you never had life before. [38:37] And so now that you have life, you’re rebuilding. [38:41] It’s new. Everything is brand new.

[38:46] See, the promise of the Gospel is the life that it builds.

[38:51] Think about this.

[38:56] What if Jesus had come and He says in John 9, I’ve come to judge.

[39:02] What if Jesus had said, I’ve come to judge sin, and you sinned.

[39:12] And that was it.

[39:15] No good news, because that’s not good news, by the way.

[39:21] Just you’re about to pay, bro. [39:24] He could have done that justifiably.

[39:30] But in love, he doesn’t see verse 17 bears that promise. [39:39] This is for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, [39:42] but in order that the world might be saved through him.

[39:51] In moments when you read texts like that, my imagination takes over. [39:57] My wife says I have a very vivid imagination. [40:00] Sometimes it’s not a positive thing that she says that.

[40:05] She’s like, how do you think of these things? [40:07] She doesn’t sound like that either. Don’t tell her.

[40:13] I’m a sinner.

[40:16] But in moments like that, I try to picture what it is like to be in Nicodemus’s shoes.

[40:26] Think about this.

[40:28] The God who spoke the world into existence. [40:33] The ruler of all things. [40:35] The one who loves like this. [40:38] The one who’s judging. [40:41] The one who Nicodemus has sinned against from birth. [40:46] The one that you’ve sinned against from birth.

[40:48] In that moment, Nicodemus is talking to him, [40:50] and he hears these words come out of Jesus’s mouth audibly.

[40:57] Could you imagine that? [41:00] Jesus looks to him and he says, Nicodemus, good news. [41:05] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, [41:11] but that the world through him might be saved. [41:15] And Nicodemus, I tell you, if you hear Jesus say that, it’s probably tough to keep your composure.

[41:21] I mean, it’s pretty much shaking him to his knees.

[41:28] And it just makes me think, what a good God.

[41:34] What a…I’m not that good.

[41:39] I just seek vengeance.

[41:43] God seeks reconciliation.

[41:47] God seeks to restore us.

[41:51] God seeks to make us whole.

[42:01] God looks to a world.

[42:05] Now, friend, it’s filled with pain.

[42:12] Suffering. [42:13] Real suffering. [42:15] Real hurt.

[42:21] Sickness. [42:22] Terror. [42:24] Atrocities that we do to each other.

[42:31] And he doesn’t say, I’m done with you. [42:36] He doesn’t look at me and say, Steve, I’m done with you.

[42:41] He says, I’m here to help.

[42:47] I will make this right.

[42:53] Believe me. [42:55] Trust me. [42:58] God will never condemn what he has made right. [43:05] How can I be sure?

[43:12] Because Jesus did not stay dead.

[43:20] He died for sin. [43:22] He took the pain. [43:24] He took the suffering. [43:25] He took the terror. [43:27] He took the atrocities. [43:29] He took it all.

[43:30] And he died.

[43:37] A few chapters later, John records that Jesus meets up with some of his friends after the death of Lazarus.

[43:49] And, I mean, they’re torn up, man. [43:51] Why didn’t you get here sooner, Jesus? You could have healed them.

[43:56] Jesus looks to his friends. [43:58] He looks to his sister. [44:02] He says in John 11 25, he says, understand that I am the resurrection and the life. [44:08] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

[44:21] Nothing can take Jesus away from you when you trust in him. [44:32] Nothing can destroy your faith when it is in Jesus. [44:37] Because he is the God who went into the face of the worst adversity that the world has ever seen. [44:45] And then he got up to a better life than he had before it.

[44:54] Even if you die, you will live.

[44:59] Do you believe that this morning? [45:01] Even if you die, if you believe in Jesus, you will live.

[45:11] But it’s only in Jesus. [45:13] You must trust in Jesus. [45:16] You must believe in Jesus. [45:19] And friends, won’t you believe in Jesus?

[45:24] He’s God. [45:26] And he’s good.

[45:29] The promise that Jesus gives us of new life can withstand death itself and still be true.

[45:41] Jesus will make us whole. [45:45] That is the gospel.

[45:52] Do you believe it?

[45:56] As the band comes up, my hope this morning is that we will trust in Jesus. [46:08] That salvation.

[46:13] That we will believe in that Jesus. [46:18] But understand something this morning. [46:19] I can’t believe for you.

[46:24] I can’t.

[46:28] Jesus looks to you and he says, believe.

[46:34] Believe. [46:36] Believe. [46:38] In the same way he looks to Nicodemus, he looks to you this morning. [46:41] And he says, I’ve come to give you life. [46:44] I’ve come to take your condemnation away. [46:47] I’ve come to take the pathway that you’re on that’s leading to you perishing.

[46:51] I’ve come to take it away. [46:53] And I’ve come to give you eternal life. [46:55] It will never end. [46:56] It will never fade. [46:57] Because it’s in Jesus. [46:58] And Jesus has the power over death.

[47:03] That’s the good news that we’re called to tell the world.

[47:08] But the key is that it starts with you.

[47:12] That if you believe, you will tell that gospel.

[47:21] How do you believe?

[47:24] You look to the cross. [47:26] You look to the son of God and you say, yes, I believe that you did that. [47:29] And I believe you did it for me. [47:33] You look at yourself and you look at the life you’ve lived. [47:35] You look at this world and you say, I’ve sinned against a holy God.

[47:40] And I hate it.

[47:45] And you look to the cross and you say, there’s my sin. [47:50] Yes, Jesus. [47:52] I believe. [47:53] I believe that you will forgive me. [47:56] And I believe that you’ve risen to new life. [47:58] Yes, will you give it to me, Jesus?

[48:03] And when we’re truthful about that, Jesus looks to us and he says, oh, yeah, I’ll keep giving it to you. [48:13] And you’ll never lose it. [48:16] Today, this morning, that’s the call.

[48:20] That’s the story. [48:22] That’s news.

[48:25] God can save you. [48:28] If you’ll believe.

[48:30] And if you’re in here this morning and you need that. [48:34] Oh, friend.

[48:39] Believe, please.

[48:43] I’ll be standing over here. [48:46] I’d love to pray with you if that’s you this morning. [48:48] I’d love to answer any questions you might have. [48:51] But if you’re in here and you’re a follower of Jesus already, when you come to this table. [48:57] The body and blood of Jesus. [48:59] And you eat and you drink.

[49:01] I want you to understand that you’re proclaiming that you believe the gospel.

[49:08] Celebrate that. [49:09] And then you go out into the world. [49:12] You tell them. [49:13] When you’re ready.