2020.08.02 What is a Believer?
Notes
Transcript
11 “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.
12 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13 “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.
3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.
6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down),
7 or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
Christ-Centered - What is a Believer?
Christ-Centered - What is a Believer?
Intro the series : 3 weeks on each ‘segment’ of our vision.
Reaching Out, Fellowship, Prayer, and this week we begin with the first statement: Christ-centered. What does it mean to be Christ-centered?
Well, we’ll begin at the very beginning … ‘cause it’s a very good place to start.
A Christ-centered anything, a Christ-centered life, a Christ-centered Church, a Christ-centered community begins with belief in Jesus Christ. Belief is by no means the end living Christ-centered, but it is certainly the beginning point. So let’s jump in with Jesus’ purpose in coming as stated in today’s gospel reading:
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
His purpose wasn’t to judge the world, and then John tells us the reason:
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Jesus’ task wasn’t to judge the world, because our actions/sins are enough to judge us. His task was to FIX our helpless estate!
18. is not condemned—Having, immediately on his believing, “passed from death unto life” (Jn 5:24).
condemned already—Rejecting the one way of deliverance from that “condemnation” which God gave His Son to remove, and so wilfully remaining condemned.
Those who have rejected belief in Christ, and so WILLFULLY REMAIN(ING) CONDEMNED
Christ-Centered - What is a Believer?
Christ-Centered - What is a Believer?