3:16 THE NUMBERS OF HOPE

Sermon Notes, August 11, 2013

Pastor Jan Sinozich

 

Pastor Jan’s sermon was titled “3:16 The Numbers of Hope,” based on John 3:16.   This one verse summarizes the gospel.  If you don’t know anything about the Bible, start here.  In chapter 3, Nicodemus, a Pharisee, comes to Jesus in the middle of the night, and Jesus explains salvation, “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.”  We see the whole gospel of Jesus Christ and how it relates to us.

HE LOVES.  He reveals his love for us in many ways—in every sunrise, every blade of grass, every fountain of water, every birth, every child’s face.  We see it in God’s Word.  The Bible is full of verses that tell us God loves us.  Romans 8:38-39 is an example.

HE GIVES.  Because he loves us, he gave us his Son.  Romans 5:8 tells us God proved his love by sending Christ to die for us. Some people can’t see any significance in Jesus’ death. “I don’t need God to give anyone for me.  I’ve lived a good life.  People respect me.  My wife loves me.  I don’t need God to give me his son.”  But if we’re honest, we know we’re not really that good; we all have regrets, we’ve all made mistakes.  Romans 3:23 says we’ve all sinned.  Sin separates us from God.  We can’t fix this, but Jesus did—he bridged the distance between us and God with the cross.  Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.  But like the Children of Israel who had to look to the brass serpent Moses raised on a pole at God’s command in order to be healed of the serpent bites, we have to look to Jesus, who was raised on a cross to be healed of our sins.

WE BELIEVE.  God loves us, and Jesus’ sacrifice is enough for the whole world, but it is only effective if we believe.  Like looking up to the brass serpent on a pole, it seems easy to believe, but the idea runs contrary to our instincts.  We think we have to do something more complicated.  But Jesus calls us to do one thing: believe.  Salvation is a gift from God alone.  We can accept in only by faith, believing that Jesus is the Son of God.

WE LIVE.  When we believe, we live. Not only here and now, but forever.  We have eternal life.  Even though the glory of heaven is beyond description, we can certainly imagine a better world, a world of good things.  Without the presence of evil, the New Heaven and New Earth will be like nothing we know.  The crowning glory of heaven will be seeing our Creator and Savior, our Maker and Redeemer. (Revelation 21:3)

In a nutshell, He loves, He gives, We believe, We live.