Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Duty*

August 17, 2008

John 3:16

 

This morning we’re on the third “D” found in John 3:16.

Can anyone remember the first D? Danger.

Yes, danger!

The danger was that we are perishing without Christ.

Now, who can remember last weeks “D”?

Design.

Yes, God in His wisdom designed a way out of eternal death and a way into eternal life.

Now to keep with the repetitive “D’s”, I’ve called today’s message from John 3:16 “The Duty” – our part, our duty.

But before I start, I don’t want to break with tradition, so let’s begin this morning with the May 19th reading from “Experiencing God Day-by-Day”.

It’s entitled, “*Obedience Step by Step”.*

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

“Take your son,” He said, “your only [son] Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”—Genesis

22:1–2

Our difficulty is not that we /don't /know God's will.

Our discomfort comes from the fact that we do know His will, but we do not want to do it!

When God first spoke to Abraham, His commands were straightforward.

“Go to a land I will show you” (Gen.

12:1).

Then God led Abraham through a number of tests over the years.

Abraham learned patience as he waited on God's promise of a son, which took twenty-five years to be fulfilled.

Abraham learned to trust God through battles with kings and through the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The pinnacle of Abraham's walk of faith was when God asked him to sacrifice the one thing that meant more to him than anything else.

Abraham's previous obedience indicated that he would have quickly and decisively sacrificed anything else God asked of him, but was he prepared for this?

God did not ask Abraham to make such a significant sacrifice at the beginning of their relationship.

This came more than thirty years after Abraham began walking with God.

As the Father progressively reveals His ways to you in your Christian pilgrimage, you, like Abraham, will develop a deeper level of trust in Him.

When you first became a Christian, your Master's instructions were probably fundamental, such as being baptized (as some of you were last week) or changing your lifestyle.

But as you learn to trust Him more deeply, He will develop your character to match bigger tests, and with the greater test will come a greater love for God and knowledge of His ways.

Are you ready for God's next revelation?

As I ponder Henry Blackaby’s words, I am always led to examine my own walk of faith.

I ask myself, “What would you have me learn today Lord?”

And as we look at John 3:16 again, ask yourself, “What would you have me learn today, Lord?” Let’s pray  - Lord, open the eyes of my understanding today as we examine our duty as Your people, as found in the wonderful nugget in Your Word.

Now, on with today’s message.

Please turn in your Bible to John, chapter three, and we’ll read verse 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./

I've tried to structure these messages in a way that will give you a way of remembering what's in this verse and a way of sharing it with others.

Suppose someone says to you, "You're one of those born again Christians, aren't you?"

You can say, "I don't know if I fit your category of them or not, why don't we talk more later today?"

And later, when the timing is right, you can say, "One way to summarize my faith is with the words of Jesus from the gospel of John, the third chapter and the sixteenth verse: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish but have eternal life.'

"In that verse from the Bible, we have already seen Jesus tell us the danger we are in—the danger of perishing.

He tells us the design of God to send his Son to rescue us from perishing.

He tells us the duty we have to believe in his Son.

And he tells us the destiny we have if we believe, namely, eternal life instead of perishing."

I hope all the believers who come regularly to Good Shepherd Community Church will be able to share the good news, the gospel message found in John 3:16  by the time this series is over next week.

Today we focus on the third "D"—the duty that we have to believe.

/"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him might not perish."/

Let me focus our attention on this duty of believing.

My first point about believing is that believing is the vital link between your soul and God's rescuing love.

Let me repeat that, believing is the vital link between your soul and God's rescuing love

If we don't believe, we forfeit the love of God and remain under the wrath of God.

Remember, John 3:36 says/, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

/

Believing is our link with the love of God.

Notice how Jesus speaks of God's love-rescue: God so loved the world so that believers will not perish.

One of the ways to express this is that the love of God is sufficient to save the world, and efficient to save those who believe.

Efficient means his love actually saves believers.

It is effective in saving them from perishing.

The love of God does not have this effect in the lives of those who do not believe.

They perish.

So believing is absolutely essential.

The world divides into two groups as the gospel moves through it.

Those who believe and those who don't.

Those who believe are vitally linked to the love of God and are rescued from perishing.

Those who don't believe remain under the wrath of God.

Notice: there are no fence sitters, no spectators in this game of life.

You are either on God’s team as His chosen child or you are on the team of the enemy.

“Choose this day whom you will serve”, says Joshua 25:15.

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Believing is the vital link with the rescuing love of God.

It isn't your race; it isn't your IQ; it isn't your church attendance or religious background or how many mortal sins you've avoided.

It isn’t how good you’ve been, or whether you were raised by Christian parents; it isn’t how many people you’re helped or how much praying you do.

It is whether you believe on the Son of God.

Believing links you savingly to the love of God.

And my second point about believing is that believing is  ongoing.

It is not a one-time act.

The tense of the verbs all through John's gospel makes this plain.

" . . .

that whoever believes [not believed] on him might not perish."

The present tense in Greek is an ongoing, continuous action.

John 20:31 tells us why this whole gospel was written and makes the continuousness of believing plain.

Turn to it with me now – John 20:31.

There are many verse throughout the Scripture that tell you why the Bible was written.

This one, John 20:31 is particularly powerful.

Let’s read it now.

It says*, */"These have been written that you may believe [aorist tense: come to believe, or some manuscripts have present tense] that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing [present tense: ongoing believing] you may have life in His name."

/

Believing is a vital link with the rescuing love of God when that believing is the ongoing condition of the heart for it is that very believing that gives you life in His name.

It is very dangerous and unwise to waffle or ponder if you are a Christian or not.

The issue is: are you believing in Jesus Christ the Son of God?

Is this the ongoing condition of your heart?

The object or focus of your ongoing continuous faith must be in Jesus Christ the Son of God the one and only Son of Father God, the God of Abraham, the God of the Bible.

Jehovah, the Lord God Almighty.

/"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him . . .

"/—the Son of God sent by the Father.

My third point about believing is sometimes Jesus says that believing on Himself gives life (as we’ve just read in John 20:31) And sometime He directs our believing to the Father who sent him who gives life.

Turn now to John 5:24, /"He who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life."/

So sometimes Jesus directs our believing to the father and other times to Himself, the Son who gives life: John 3:36, /"He who believes in the Son has eternal life."/

And John 12:44 gives the reason why both are true/: "Jesus cried out and said, 'He who believes in me, does not believe in me but in him who sent me.'" /

For Jesus all genuine believing in him is also believing in Father God—that God is his Father and that he was sent by the Father as a revelation of the Father and that to know Jesus is to know God.

So the ongoing believing that links us to the love of God is believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God sent by God.

My fourth point about believing is that believing includes agreeing with objective truth about Christ.