2016.06.12 John 3:
10-21
Sola Fide Faith Alone
Good
morning everyone… I´m glad you are here…. I have Good News for you… His Name is Jesus… Let´s dig in this morning… We will pick up
where we left off last week… John 3…
v10…
John
3: 10-21 NKJV slt 2000
10
Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know
these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and
testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have
told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell
you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from
heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might
be saved.18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not
come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the
truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have
been done in God.”
John 3: 10-21 NKJV slt 2000
10 Jesus erwiderte und sprach zu ihm: Du bist der Lehrer
Israels und verstehst das nicht?
11 Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage dir: Wir reden, was wir
wissen, und wir bezeugen, was wir gesehen haben; und doch nehmt ihr unser
Zeugnis nicht an.
12 Glaubt ihr nicht, wenn ich euch von irdischen Dingen
sage, wie werdet ihr glauben, wenn ich euch von den himmlischen Dingen sagen
werde?
13 Und niemand ist hinaufgestiegen in den Himmel, außer
dem, der aus dem Himmel herabgestiegen ist, dem Sohn des Menschen, der im
Himmel ist.
Der Sohn Gottes ist als Retter in die Welt gekommen
14 Und wie Mose in der Wüste die Schlange erhöhte, so muß
der Sohn des Menschen erhöht werden,
15 damit jeder, der an ihn glaubt, nicht verlorengeht,
sondern ewiges Leben hat.
16 Denn so [sehr] hat Gott die Welt geliebt, daß er
seinen eingeborenen Sohn gab, damit jeder, der an ihn glaubt, nicht
verlorengeht, sondern ewiges Leben hat.
17 Denn Gott hat seinen Sohn nicht in die Welt gesandt,
damit er die Welt richte, sondern damit die Welt durch ihn gerettet werde.
18 Wer an ihn glaubt, wird nicht gerichtet; wer aber
nicht glaubt, der ist schon gerichtet, weil er nicht an den Namen des eingeborenen
Sohnes Gottes geglaubt hat.
19 Darin aber besteht das Gericht, daß das Licht in die
Welt gekommen ist, und die Menschen liebten die Finsternis mehr als das Licht;
denn ihre Werke waren böse.
20 Denn jeder, der Böses tut, haßt das Licht und kommt
nicht zum Licht, damit seine Werke nicht aufgedeckt werden.
21 Wer aber die Wahrheit tut, der kommt zum Licht, damit
seine Werke offenbar werden, daß sie in Gott getan sind.
This is one of the great texts in all of scripture… We
will not get through these verses in this sermon… I have been working on this
text since the day I got saved… It has been almost 44 years… But we will make a
start…
The theme in this section is To Believe… Faith… Sola
Fide… The word Believe appears 7 times
in these verses… It is the 500th anniversary of the reformation…
The reformers brought the Church back to the fundamental truths of the gospel…
Martin Luther focused these great Biblical truths in five Latin Phrases… They
are world famous… They bring clarity to the Gospel…
500th
Anniversary of the Great Reformation…
Sola
Scriptura… The Word of God alone
Sola
Christus… Christ Jesus alone
Sola
Gratia… Grace alone
Sola
Fide… Faith alone
Sola
Deo Gloria… The Glory of God Alone
In our text today Sola
Fide is the focus… Faith alone is the ground of our Salvation… Salvation is
by grace alone… sola gratia… And we receive grace not by works… or any of our
own efforts… but sola fide…“by faith
alone… And it is all centered in one great purpose…
Sola Deo Gloria… All for the “the glory of God alone… These
5 Solas define the Reformation…
As I said… This morning we are looking at sola fide… the
aspect of salvation that declares that one is saved by faith alone… We are not
saved by faith and works… for by grace are you saved through faith, it is not
of works… Eph 2: 8,9…
The Word of God
is crystal clear… We are Justified by
Faith alone… We are Declared Righteous by faith alone… OT and New…
Abraham
believed God… And
It was accounted to him as Righteousness…Genesis
15: 4… Hebrews ch10… Quotes Hab 2:4…
“The just shall live by faith… We see this theme all through the
scriptures… It means that our justification comes by faith and faith alone…
That is what Jesus
is saying in verses 11 to 21… you will be saved only by faith… Verse 15,
“Whoever believes will have eternal life.” Verse 16, “Whoever believes will not
perish but have eternal life.” Verse 18, “He who believes is not judged.” It is
about believing... Salvation is about faith and we are saved by faith alone…
John wants us to find life in Jesus… This is John’s purpose… Remember… John gave his purpose at the end of his letter, John 20:31… These have
been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you may have life in His name.”
John says eternal
life… the forgiveness of sins…
reconciliation to God... The hope of heaven comes to those who believe… It is by faith alone…
That
is Good News indeed! Now remember that this declaration about
salvation by faith… Follows right after Jesus telling Nicodemus that he must be born again… Jesus is telling
Nicodemus… and all of the proud and self-righteous… You have no basis for pride
at all… You are hypocrites and you will never be good enough… You will never
earn your Salvation… Nothing you can or will ever do… will be enough… Then in verse 11… Jesus says… “Truly, truly… Listen carefully… “I will tell you the truth...
Jesus
is giving Nicodemus the Big Picture here…
Truth
#1
Salvation begins as a Divine work of
Regeneration… God does that from heaven… You must be born again… that
doesn’t depend on you at all… As we learned from Ezekiel 36… God takes out your heart of stone... God Himself begins the
work in us… That is crystal clear in verses 1 to 10...
And then the Lord
takes the next part of the conversation and says…. Here is the Good News…. You can stop trying to be perfect… It just
makes you proud and judgmental anyway… Here is another big picture truth… #2 Anyone
can be saved who believes…
So
on the one hand you have #1 The Doctrine
of Divine sovereignty... On the other hand you have #2 The Doctrine of Human Responsibility…
There
are solemn warnings in this text as well… If you don’t believe… you’ll be
condemned... which means that if you don’t believe… If you refuse to believe… You are the one who is responsible for your unbelief… you will be
held guilty… and you will be punished... This is human responsibility...
Then Jesus says… Nicodemus… You need to believe… and in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ the Son
of God… you will not perish… you
will have eternal life… So here are both sides of human responsibility… Believe and you will be saved… By grace just by repenting and Believing
the Good News… But if you refuse to repent and believe the gospel… You will
bear the full weight of judgment yourself…
Here is another way to look at this conversation…. Jesus
begins by telling Nicodemus that he will never earn his Salvation… It is a work
of God… God Himself begins the process…. He Takes out your heart of stone… He
gives you a new heart… He puts His
Spirit on you so that you can believe… We see that in Ezekiel 36 and many other
places in the scriptures… On the other hand… You will be held responsible if
you do not believe… We are all called upon to believe the Gospel… If you hear the Good News of the Gospel…. And
then you repent and believe… Salvation
and eternal life is yours…
And now as we look at Jesus´ words to Nicodemus in v11-21… We see the call to faith… God commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel… That
is Human Responsibility… These are great truths that run parallel all
through the Scriptures… Both are 100%
Biblical and true… slide
John 3 Parallel Train Tracks
1 The Doctrine of Divine sovereignty… v1-10…
2 The Doctrine of Human Responsibility…
v11-21…
They belong
together like parallel train tracks… both true… They are both part of God´s
awesome plan…
Divine
sovereignty... And Human Responsibility belong together like parallel train tracks… It is not either or…. It is both and… They travel side
by side into infinity… But they will never intersect… When we it is very
difficult to make these things mesh together… We cannot quite wrap our minds
around the fact that God begins this process and at the same time commands us
to repent and believe the Gospel… Our finite minds cannot quite make them fit
together…. But they are both true… They
are both part of God´s awesome plan…
All through the Word of God… these truths run parallel…
And the answer of Faith…. is for us to believe them both with all of our hearts…
They both serve wonderful purposes… #1 The
Doctrine of Divine Sovereignty… will inform our worship of an Awesome and
Mighty Sovereign God… God who so loved the World that He gave His only
begotten son… God Almighty…. Who has
saved us for His Glory…
and on the other hand… #2 The Doctrinal truth of Human Responsibility… This is the message
of every prophet who has ever lived… Judgment
is certain… Repent… The Kingdom of heaven is at hand… It will move us to reach
out to a lost and dying world with the Good news of the Gospel… It informs and motivates our evangelism…
As Bible Believing
Christians…. We affirm them both… We believe them both… and with the Lord´s
help… We are content with the balance that we see in the scriptures…
I have many many
examples for us to look at…. But since we are not Amish Mennonites…. Since we have not come here to spend the entire
day… There are many places in the world where our brothers and sisters gather
for many many hours of prayer and
worship and Bible study… We will content ourselves with just one example
this morning…
Turn to Matthew ch11… v27…
Matthew
11: 27-30 NKJV slt 2000
27
“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except
the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom
the Son chooses to reveal him.” 28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who
are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke
upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you
will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I
give you is light.”
27 Mein Vater hat mir Vollmacht über alles gegeben.
Niemand außer dem Vater kennt den Sohn wirklich, und niemand kennt den Vater
außer dem Sohn und jenen, denen der Sohn den Vater offenbaren will.« 28 Dann
sagte Jesus: »Kommt alle her zu mir, die ihr müde seid und schwere Lasten tragt,
ich will euch Ruhe schenken. 29 Nehmt mein Joch auf euch. Ich will euch lehren,
denn ich bin demütig und freundlich, und eure Seele wird bei mir zur Ruhe kommen.
30 Denn mein Joch passt euch genau, und die Last, die ich euch auflege, ist
leicht.«
This is a passage on
Divine Sovereignty…
v27b…
no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses
to reveal him… Do you see this… look at the second part… You can’t know Christ if He doesn’t reveal
Himself to you… This verse is very strong on God´s Divine and Sovereign purpose… Jesus says… You cannot come to me unless I choose to
reveal myself to you… Then in the next
verse…
v 28…
Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give
you rest…
Here
Jesus issues an open invitation… He tells everyone to come to Him…
Here again are those two parallel train tracks… those
twin truths again… This is everywhere in the Bible… On the one hand… the
sovereign purpose of God in Election and regeneration… on the other hand, an
open invitation… Come to Me… look at v29,30…
v29,30…
Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear,
and the burden I give you is light.”
This is the Wonderful
offer of Salvation by grace through faith… This is Jesus´ Invitation to Nicodemus… and to us today… Stop … Stop working so hard to earn my blessings and your salvation… How
wonderful…
We have this declaration that no one is able to come to
know Christ unless it is revealed to him from above… And then you have the
immediate Invitation from the Lord Jesus… For anyone and everyone to come to
Him…
This is really Good News for all of us… And this is truly
truly Good News for a legalistic
perfectionist… Good news for Good boys and girls everywhere…
Paul gives us a wonderful clear summary of the Gospel in
Romans… I would like to read a portion of it in Romans 3… Look with me at Romans ch10…v3…
Romans
10: 3-5 NLT Neues Leben
3
For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself.
Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with
God by trying to keep the law. 4 For Christ has already accomplished the
purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are
made right with God.
3 Denn sie haben nicht erkannt, auf welche Weise Gott die
Menschen gerecht erklärt. Stattdessen gehen sie ihren eigenen Weg, indem sie
versuchen das Gesetz zu halten, um dadurch die Anerkennung Gottes zu gewinnen.
Damit lehnen sie den Weg Gottes ab. 4 Denn mit Christus ist die Absicht des
Gesetzes vollkommen erfüllt. Wer an ihn glaubt, wird vor Gott gerecht
gesprochen. 5 Denn Mose schrieb, dass man alle Gebote des Gesetzes erfüllen
muss, um durch das Gesetz vor Gott gerecht zu werden.
It is clear that some of us would rather do things our
own way… We often cling to our own ideas… We decide that when we fail… We just
have to try harder… We try to obey the law of God and we fail… It becomes clear
to us that we will never get it right… Day after day we fail… We are depressed
and defeated… Our Christian walk becomes very difficult… We decide that we are
the worst Christians on the planet… Where is the Joyful Christian walk that we all want…?
Well it is in what God has done for us… Eph 2…v4…. But God is so rich in Mercy…. And He
loves us so very much… He has Placed us in Christ… Our joyful Christian
life comes step by step as we stay in Christ… He transforms us…. Day by day as
we seek Him…
The joyful Christian life is in what Jesus has already done…
We are talking about the miracle of transformation… of
regeneration…. Salvation… The testimony
of Scripture is that this is all a work of God… It
comes from above; only God can do it... look
with me at Titus ch3..v4,5…
Titus
3: 4,5 NLT Neues Leben
4
But When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not
because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He
washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy
Spirit.
4 Doch dann zeigte Gott, unser Retter, uns seine
Freundlichkeit und Liebe.
5 Er rettete uns, nicht wegen unserer guten Taten,
sondern aufgrund seiner Barmherzigkeit. Er wusch unsere Schuld ab und schenkte
uns durch den Heiligen Geist ein neues Leben.
v4… But
when God revealed His kindness and love…
v5…
not because of our righteousness … but Because of His mercy… He causes
us to be born again…. The greek word here (paliggenesia) translated
as a new birth and a new life… can be translated Regeneration… This is a very interesting word…. It is associated
with the restoration of all things
by the Messiah… Now… in the hearts of all genuine
believers… and at His coming… in the complete restoration of all things in
Heaven and earth… What grace… Even though we do not deserve it…
God
sets His Love on Us…. He causes us to be born again… We
receive a new birth… a new life… So…. How does this happen…? How do we become born again…?
What happens… is that we hear and respond to the
preaching of the Gospel… James calls the
Gospel… the Word of truth…
You
can’t be regenerated apart from hearing the Word of truth… It is the Word of God that the Holy Spirit uses
to transform us… That is what happened to me… I became a desperate young man… I
was feeling hopeless and helpless… I was sure that I was not going to survive
this world… I bought a Bible because a stranger said that I needed Jesus… He said
that Jesus was real… He said that I
could know it to be true… All I had to do was read the Bible and Ask God to
reveal Himself to me… So I bought a Bible… I didn´t know what to read… I prayed…
God if you are real I want to know you… Help me to understand the truth…
Now at the very moment that the stranger said the Jesus
was really sent by God to save me from my sins… I knew at that moment… That I
was a sinner and that I needed a Savoir…
God reached into my body and took out my heart of stone…
He gave me a heart of Flesh… He put His Spirit in me… I was ready to believe
the Gospel… I opened my New Bible to the first page of the NT… Matthew ch1…v1…
And I began to read… I wish someone had told me to start at John ch v1… But It
didn´t matter because the Lord had already grabbed hold of my heart…
Ron´s
Testimony…
We hear the Good News of the Gospel…. God uses it to wake
us from the dead…. We are regenerated…. Born
again…. We repent of our sins… and believe The Good News… look with me at Romans 10…v8-13…
Romans
10: 8- 13 NLT Neues Leben
8 In
fact, it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in
your heart.”And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 9
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your
heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your
faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him
will never be disgraced.” 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They
have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
8 Denn in der Schrift heißt es: »Die Botschaft ist dir
ganz nahe; sie ist auf deinen Lippen und in deinem Herzen.« Es ist die
Botschaft von der Erlösung durch den Glauben an Christus, die wir verkünden. 9
Wenn du mit deinem Mund bekennst, dass Jesus der Herr ist, und wenn du in
deinem Herzen glaubst, dass Gott ihn von den Toten auferweckt hat, wirst du
gerettet werden. 10 Denn durch den Glauben in deinem Herzen wirst du vor Gott
gerecht, und durch das Bekenntnis deines Mundes wirst du gerettet. 11 So heißt
es in der Schrift: »Wer an ihn glaubt, wird nicht umkommen.« 12 Das gilt ohne
Unterschied für Juden wie für alle anderen Menschen. Alle haben denselben
Herrn, der seine Reichtümer großzügig allen schenkt, die ihn darum bitten.13
Denn »jeder, der den Namen des Herrn anruft, wird gerettet werden«.
I got saved because someone told me the truth… I was not a
good person…. I was lost in sin and pride and rebellion…. I needed Savior… I
needed to repent and have my sins washed away… Thank God that he sent a Hippie
to tell me about Jesus… Now we know what
our mission is… It is to go to the world and preach the gospel… to tell the
truth so people can hear The Good News of the Gospel… The Spirit of God will
use it to bring then to repentance…. They will believe and be saved…
Let´s pray…
No comments:
Post a Comment