Sermon Tone Analysis

That you May Believe and Have Life #12

John 3:3;21a

 

The Truth … "I'm telling you the truth"

 

That's an interesting statement.

Often times it comes from one NOT telling you the truth, trying hard to convince you that they are telling you the truth.

But some times it is from someone that is trying to differentiate themselves from those who have NOT been truthful to you.

The Pharisees were devote keepers of the law

They were deep students of the word

They believed that they would be part of the Kingdom of God because of faithful acts, fasting, praying, tithing, scripture study, and personal piety.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night and Jesus shatters his truth … and says /"I tell you the truth …"/

 

Others have lied to you but

"I tell you the truth …"

Others want you to ease up a little but

"I tell you the truth …"

Others would like truth to be relative but …

"I tell you the truth …"

 

Read from John 3 beginning in verse 1

I have a question …

 

1.

Can't I Just be Good?

Well … do you want me to tell you the truth or just what you want to hear?

 

Oh the thief, the snake, the deceiver told Eve, in the Garden, you can be good, you can be just like God

 

But I'm a good person

My mom was good

My dad was good

 

Or I'm better than my mom, dad, sister, neighbor

 

Isn't my good, good enough?

READ v6

Jesus said in verse six, "flesh, gives birth to flesh"

So where is my fleshly good going to get me?

Nicodemus was a good man and Jesus knew this.

According to traditions, he would have fasted twice a week, given a 10th of all he had to the Lord, he would have given to the poor, he would have studied the scriptures as his source of connection with God

They were missional - Mt. 23:15 says that they /"traveled land and sea to win a convert"/

But the problem was that they were bound to what they could do …

He would DO all he could and expect to find it to be enough to make him acceptable to God

 

Nicodemus sees Jesus and all he sees is what he can DO … and figures that must be enough …

He said in verse 2  /"we know that you are a teacher from God … for no one COULD PERFORM the miraculous signs …" /

/Dunatai (able, could perform)/ … but Jesus flips the word and says /"I tell you the truth, ou dunatai/  (/no one is able, can) see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again"/

 

Wow … Jesus said /"Nicodemus, you are looking at what I can do and paying me a compliment, because you are wrapped up in doing, but it is about BEING."

/

 

Jesus was saying, /"I'm not who I am because of what I can do, I can do what I do, because of who I am"/

 

/And you think you are part of the Kingdom because of what you can DO, but I tell you the TRUTH … the REAL Truth, you CAN'T even SEE it … unless you change what you ARE … /

 

Can I be Good Enough?

Job 15:14 (NIV)

/(esp) ?Que es el hombre para creerse puro?

/

/15:31 /

/(esp) Que no se engane ni confie en cosas vanas  /

 

/14 //"What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?/

Psalm 14:3 (NIV)

(esp) No hay nadie que haga lo bueno; !no hay uno solo! 

 

/3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one./

Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)

/6 //All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away./

So, I tell you the truth, you can't just be good …

 

Because the Truth is there is a MUST … to the equation … Jesus said …

 

2.

You Must …

(te aseguro)

 

Why does it surprise us when GOD … tells us you MUST do anything.

Have you ever had someone under your oversight, whether it is an employee or co-worker, or child, student as a teacher, and you told them they MUST do something, and they looked at you like … /"what did you say?

What do you mean I HAVE to …?" /

 

READv7

Jesus told Nicodemus, in verse 7, "/you should not be surprised at my saying, 'you MUST be born again."/

Why?

Because Jesus is the Son of God, that's why.

Even if Nicodemus didn't know that yet, he DID say that he believed that Jesus was SENT FROM GOD.

Nicodemus may have been serving God, but he believed Jesus was SENT from God, so don't be surprised when he gives an instruction.

I tell you the truth … You MUST …

 

  A.

There are Civil Laws

    1.

You know, I was driving down the freeway on 270 and I saw a sign that said, "we'd rather you didn't drive over 60 mph"

    2.

Is that what it says?

NO it says "Speed LIMIT 60 mph"

    3.

And if you disobey that earthly law, and the officer says "uh sir, miss, can I ask why you were driving so fast?" … and you say "cause I wanted to, I don't like that speed limit" or "oops, I'm sorry …"

    4.

You are going to deal with the consequences … that's the way laws work.

But earthly laws are written by men and can be repealed but while they are active you must abide by them

But there are

 

  B.

Physical Laws

    1.

you can't break physical laws without consequences

      a.

you stare at the sun too long, or you stare at an eclipse and you are going to have damage to your eyes

      b.

if you jump off a building, the law of gravity takes over

      c.

you jump from a moving train, though it seemed like you were standing still, when you jump off the laws of physics and gravity will take over

      d.

you go around a curve too fast and the laws of centrifugal force take over and an object in motion tends to stay in motion … that car wants to keep going forward even though you turn right and if you don't slow down, just turning the wheel, the car will flip over sideways.

e.

If you go underwater without O2 … eventually you will have to come up or die … you can't breathe water

      f.

if you are deep diving, you can't come up too fast or you get your O2 molecules scrambled by the pressure change in your blood stream and you get sick and can die

    2.

they are LAWS, physical laws.

We are physical beings subject to physical laws, but we are also spiritual beings as well and thus there are …

 

  C.

Spiritual laws

    1.

I tell you the truth … YOU MUST … there are consequences to breaking spiritual laws

    2.

Paul writes in Romans 8 of the law of the Spirit of Life and the Laws of sin and Death.

3.

God gave spiritual laws to us so we would understand the law already in place that we didn't even know existed

      a.

Paul said, "the law revealed to me that I was a sinner", that is that he was breaking the rules, missing the mark, and he didn't even know.

The fact that he didn't know doesn't negate the fact that he was WRONG.

If you are trespassing and you don't know you are trespassing, it is still trespassing.

4.

Listen, Isaac Newton didn't WRITE the laws of gravity, he DISCOVERED it.