Countryside Sermon
John 3:16-21
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. 17 For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that
the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment:
the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than
the light because their works were evil. 20 For
everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light,
lest his works should be exposed. 21 But
whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen
that his works have been carried out in God.” [1]
These words are perhaps the most
recognized Bible passage of all time and certainly our time. I have them posted
by the door to my apartment so I can see them and be reminded of their truth
every time I go in or out of my apartment. But from the state the world is in
one would hardly know they existed. I always ask myself why these great words
are so often quoted, but so little practiced in real life. Let us tonight listen
closely to God’s word for us from this scripture.
“For God so loved the world” why is it
that there is so much evil in a world that God claims to love? We have mass
murders of people at worship services, fires burning out of control in
California. Weather events that seem to be getting more and more intense (4
inches of snow on Halloween I mean really). Where is God’s love? God’s love is
right where it always is and has always been, we just need to access it and
show others how to do the same. The answer is in the remainder of the verse.
“that he gave his only Son that whoever believes is him should not perish but
have eternal life.” God knows that man fell into sin way back in the garden of
Eden, but it was not a surprise to God that we fell into sin. Just look at John
chapter 1 verse 1 In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the
beginning with God. 3All
things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was
made.[2] And then
we read “ 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.[3]”
You see in these verses that long before the creation of the world God had his
Son in mind. God created the world through his Son and then at the right time
sent the Son in human flesh to come and make a way out of sin for us.
God could
have sent Jesus to wipe the human race off the map. The folks back in the first
century were pretty sinful in their own ways. We have more ways to sin than
they even dreamed possible. Yet God provided a way out of sin for you and me
because he loved us and indeed the whole world so much.
You may ask
me, preacher, how do you know so much about God’s love what proof do you have
that God loves you and the world. Well let me just relate to you a portion of
my testimony to God’s love. I was brought up at First Presbyterian Church here
in Rochelle. Went to Sunday School and Youth Group got confirmed everything a
respectable church going family’s kid was supposed to do-I did. But then
something happened. I went to college. No more rules or restraints no youth
group or church attendance mandatory. I got involved with drinking, smoking
pot, and premarital sex. Then one Wednesday night at a prayer meeting that my
friend Rob Whipple had invited me to the message from Jonah pulled at my heart
strings and I came forward and received Jesus Christ as my savior. I wish I
could say that I was miraculously delivered from all my sins that day, but it
didn’t happen that way for me. Jesus kept after me though. Eventually pulling
me into Campus Students for Christ and leading me to a clean and sober life.
But all that mattered was my honest confession of Christ as Savior. It was
God’s grace plus nothing that saved me. My heart was open to God’s love so He
could work to make changes in my life. And eventually called me into His
ministry
My friends I
do not know who among you needs to hear this tonight, but God loves you very
deeply and wants you to trust him right now. You may say “I have messed up my
life something terrible I can’t believe that God would ever love me.” Trust the
words of scripture Jesus came that you might be loved and forgiven. You may
object saying “God doesn’t want me I can’t do anything good with my life.” You
don’t have to do anything to prove your love for Him tonight or ever just make
an honest confession of your need for a savior and Jesus takes care of the
rest. Or I should say Jesus took care of the rest when he hung and died on that
cruel cross. Our salvation is in the finished work of Jesus.
All we need to do is to trust in Jesus and nothing else.
Your faith in Christ will save you. Whether he takes away your sin all at once
if so, praise the Lord, but if it seems like nothing changes and that’s ok too.
Just keep trusting Jesus and salvation is yours.
If you decide to follow Jesus what should you do to help you
trust in him daily. I would suggest the following: 1. Obtain a copy of God’s
word there are a ton of good, easy to read translations out there. If you need
help finding one see me and I will get you set up with one. 2. Use that Bible read
it everyday as much as you can. 3. Find other Christians you can meet with. Go
to a Bible Believing church if it is possible for you to get out. 5. Pray as
much as you can. It is one of the things I like most about Countryside is that
my apartment is a quiet place where I can devote as much time as I can in
prayer and study of the word.
And remember the Christian faith is simply a matter of
trusting in Jesus no matter what life throws at you. God loves you and wants
you to love him too.
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