Mr. Religion Meets Jesus

It was 1988, had the world by its tail a quarter century ago and I got a phone call. Maybe you've received one of these phone calls. Something similar to the effect, Mike, your dad's doctor has said that it's terminal cancer and he has about six months to a year to live.

Well, that will make you real. That will make you say to yourself, what's going on? I wasn't a Christian at the time. What's the meaning of life? What happens after you die? What happens to my dad after he dies?

Is there hope for anyone? Can anyone go to heaven? Shortly after that, the next year, Kim and I were married. My father died, by the way, then Kim and I were married and I mean, it was the dreamy life.

The dream wife and the dreamy life, except I was very sinful and selfish. Kim said, why don't you listen to Christian radio? So I began to listen to Christian radio because I wanted to know about the God who saves and the God who forgives and the God who loves sinners.

And I remember when they would preach about Jesus Christ and they would do an altar call on the radio, I would feel myself wanting to get to the front of the car, like to go to the dashboard. I had no altar in front of me.

I had no aisle to walk. I'm driving down the 405 in Los Angeles and I felt myself, I want to be right with God. I want to be forgiven. If this is how it's done, this is what I want. And in late 1989, God saved me.

He forgave me. He gave me a new me. And I guess in one sense, probably just like you, since you've been saved, and for me the last 25 years, it's been a journey, it's been a life dedicated to understanding how God did save me, why He would save me, what would prompt Him to come alongside of a sinner and save me.

And so I want to study that in the scripture and I want to understand, why would God die for my sins? How could God rescue me and stay just and holy? And not just it's justification and God declares us righteous, but Jesus, the justifier, He is the one who was the just and justifier.

Can I know Him better? Can I understand Him? I mean, it's like the word problem. Do you do word problems with your kids? My kids will say, Daddy, I have a word problem. And let's say I've done fifth grade math now, I think, five times, one for every kid plus me.

It was way better when I was in fifth grade because I think I was just smarter back then. Daddy, we have a word problem, a math problem, and it's all complex and you've got to try to orchestrate this whole thing and come up with an answer.

I mean, here's the word problem of the century. How does God stay holy and just and righteous and forgive sinners? What's the answer to that word problem? And the answer is Jesus. That's the answer. And when you figure that out, then you respond like Paul does, don't you?

For the rest of your life praising God and then trying to figure out while simultaneously saying, oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable are His ways.

For who's known the mind of the Lord? Who's been His counselor? Who's given Him a gift that He might be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Today, we're going to be reminded, I thought it would be good for Memorial Day to be reminded of our salvation and how God saves, why He saves, so we might be praising God and say to ourselves again, God, you're incredibly awesome and wonderful.

Please turn your Bibles to John chapter 3. What is Christianity? Who is Jesus? What has He done? How do you know your sins are forgiven? What's the answer to the word problem of life and sin? You'll never get tired of it.

I've preached John 3 over and over and over and I never stop loving this passage because it's Jesus dealing with a sinner, having compassion on a sinner. And I just feel like I'm just like Nicodemus. And so if you're a sinner today who's not forgiven, you'll love this passage because I will present to you through the Scriptures forgiveness found in Christ Jesus.

And if you are a Christian, you'll say to yourself, this is amazing. I want to rehearse. I want to remember on even a Memorial Day weekend what God did for me so that I might praise Him. Now, as you know, John is a book about that you might have eternal life.

John 20 verse 31. If you'd like to have eternal life, John's a good book to read. We tell our friends who are unbelievers, oh, you should read the gospel of John, the good news of John. Why? Because it's written so that people might believe and have life in His name.

And so what we're going to do is work through John chapter 3 from a high level and let me, sometimes I give outlines, sometimes I don't. Let me give you one today so it tracks easier for you. Let me give you six reminders of how God saved you so that you can praise Him, so that you can remember, yes, that's right.

I got saved eight years ago, 25 years ago, 50 years ago, and my life is just dedicated to rehearsing again and understanding in a deeper way, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Reminder number one, God saved you from religion.

By the way, if you're a Christian, I'm talking to you, and if you're not a believer, God can't save you from religion. Let's take a look at John chapter 3. Now what do I mean by religion before I read verse 1?

Some type of adherence to beliefs, hoping that your performance will give you right standing with God. That's what religion is for my definition this morning. I'm not talking about the Christian religion, I'm talking about the religion where you inch toward God with religious good deeds, sacramental maybe good deeds, church good deeds to somehow make you think God would be pleased, but it's interesting, it actually has the opposite effect.

Religion can't remove sins, it actually does the opposite. Chapter 3 verse 1, what would Jesus say to the most religious person in Israel? If Jesus met the Pope, what would he say? Let's find out. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you've come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. And Jesus is going to be talking to this Pharisee, the separated one, this uber religious man, a Pharisee.

These Pharisees took pride in their religious behavior, the outside externals of religion, they did everything rightly in their minds. I mean he even has the trophy name too, victory over people, that's what his name is.

I mean if anybody gets load seats to heaven, it's got to be Nicodemus. And he's not just a Pharisee, what's the text say? He's a leader, a ruler of the Jews. I mean he's part of the Sanhedrin, you've got a Supreme Court back in the days of Jesus and John 3, and he's part of the Supreme Court, today he'd be one of the nine.

All kinds of religious things that he would do. And when you survey the New Testament, especially Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, what do you find with religious people? You'll find that they're the ones, humanly speaking, are the hardest to save.

Why? Because humanly speaking, they're good. I'm good to go, I don't need Jesus, I don't need saving. I have pride, I have self-righteousness, I have moral superiority, there's always someone who's worse than I am, I'm not like them.

And if I am like them, I'm greater than they are. Self-righteousness, Jesus said of these kind of people in Luke 5, it is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, that is self-righteous, but sinners to what?

Repentance. And so the religious person, and I was a religious person, just think of the religious things you did. And you went to church, and you got baptized maybe, or catechized, or confirmed, or you did some religious things, and once in a while you prayed, or at night you prayed, and you were a very spiritual person, and you think, okay, I will be a religious person.

And you say, I'll use some of these little laws that I have, kind of as a rope to get to heaven. And so, have you ever been in gym class, and there was that long rope up to the ceiling, there was a few little knots there, and you had to try to shimmy all the way up?

And you think, that's kind of what I do. Here's the knot of baptism, and here's the knot of being good person, here's the knot of going to church at Easter, and I'm just going to do these kind of religious things, and we're good to go.

I mean, that was me, that was you, except the rope that you think gets you up to heaven is actually around your neck as a noose, because laws can never save. Religion can't take away sins. Religion, on the flip side, gives false assurance.

It's like an inoculation. Turn with me, if you would, to Luke 18, please. I think this is maybe the best illustration of self-righteousness. And for me, here's what I'm doing today. I'm rejoicing that I thought I was good enough to get to heaven through my religiosity, and God opened my eyes to see who his son was.

That's a good thing to remember. We could have been caught up with whatever kind of religious system, not even in Christianity, but Buddhism, and Hinduism, and all kinds of other isms. And we would be sincerely worshiping.

I mean, after all, I went to Mexico as a missionary to do my religious pilgrimage. That should get me to heaven, shouldn't it? Luke 18, verse 9, he told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.

Those two things go hand in hand. This is a good illustration of religious people. They trust in themselves and they think they're righteous in and of themselves. Verse 10, two people go to church, basically.

Two men went up to the temple to pray. One, a Pharisee, just like Nicodemus, by the way, just like you, if you're religious, just like me when I was thinking religion could save me. And the other, a tax collector, the Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed, thus, God, I thank you that I'm not like the other men.

I think he's saying it loud enough so this other man, the tax collector, could hear. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers are even like this tax collector. Hey, I'm religious. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.

But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, said Jesus, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. What does religious religiosity do? It inoculates and it makes you do things like this. I'm not like that other person.

I have moral superiority because I do these things. I mean, we can even fall into the trap as well. You drive by the reservoir today, those pagans, they were taking walks by the reservoir and they weren't in church.

We're the good people. They're the wicked people. Those people at the golf course today, they're the wicked ones enjoying nature. And we automatically start going, you, me, greater, lesser. I mean, the wicked ones happen to show up in churches where they happen to show up.

Oh, they need the Lord too, yes. But you can just see, begin to compare. And here's the thing, this tax collector right here, I think he knew that what the Pharisee said was true. I am an extortioner.

He's right. Your analysis, Pharisee, of me is correct. I'm an extortioner, I'm unjust, and I'm adulterer, and I'm a tax collector. What you think of me is actually true on the inside. But the problem with self-righteousness and the self-religious is the other way doesn't work.

Instead of the Pharisee thinking that he was the lowest of the low in Israel, a tax collector, he never thought of that. He was comparing himself to someone else instead of the inflexible justice of God.

This tax collector knew, that's true, I'm an extortioner, I'm unjust, I'm a tax collector, I'm an adulterer. That's true. And therefore, when you know that, and you know religiosity doesn't change you, then you say to God what?

God, have mercy on me, I'm the sinner. That's exactly what this tax collector did. And so when I think to myself, I thought religion would save me. I just do a few things and then I would be good. And friends, we live in a society, where we live here in New England, this is the religion of the day.

If you're just a little religious, you're in. And God's got to open your eyes to that. And friends, Christians, God did open your eyes so that you could see who God is, what he said about you was true, and then you could look to him for salvation.

Now, let's go back to John chapter 3, please. John chapter 3, I mean, if we were honest in our heart of hearts as religious people before we were saved, we would know deep down who we were. And the thing about Jesus in John chapter 2, verse 24 and 25, he knows about people, he knows the hearts.

To use the Hebrews 4 language, he knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, verse 24 of John 2. But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

No chapter breaks in the original, verse 3, now there was a man. God knows what's in the heart of man, Jesus, the omnipotent God, the omniscient God, rather, and he sees what's in the heart. And so, a few external religious symbols like, I'm a Pharisee, I'm a Sanhedrin, that's not going to gain you acceptance to God.

And so, if you had a religious background and God saved you, this morning, you should be saying to yourself, thank you, God, that you took away the blinders. I thought I was accepted in your eyes because of what I did via religion, and actually, it was the opposite.

And you showed me yourself, Jesus, the justifier. Thank you. Number two. Reminder number two on this Memorial Day, God saved you not only from religiosity, but he also saved you from a sheer intellectual knowledge alone.

In other words, many people, including myself, I thought if I just knew enough about Jesus, the facts, I'd get to heaven. And I was shocked the day that someone told me there's a faith that doesn't save.

You can have a faith that doesn't merit you heaven. Of course, no faith merits heaven. But let's take a look at this passage. Verse 2, for many of us, and by the way, as I'm speaking and preaching right now, I'm talking especially to you young children, especially you young ones who you grew up in this church and you could tell us what's the gospel, what's justification, is Jesus God?

You know all these facts, but my question to you little ones and, of course, older ones is, do you really know him? Does he know you? A willful, trusting, saving faith. If you look back at verse 2 again, this man came to Jesus by night.

Rabbi, we know that you have come from God. I mean, he knows a lot about Jesus. And you're a teacher from God, for no one can do these signs. He's either seen the signs at Cana with the turning water into wine, or he's heard about them and he certainly believes them.

And then he says, unless God is with him, God's with you, you're a teacher, you're from God. He didn't say, you're from Satan, right? He wasn't like the other teachers, what you do is by the power of Beelzebub.

You're from God, you're a teacher, God's with you, Emmanuel. Many things you've done. The same today, like Nicodemus, some people think Jesus was good and he was a teacher. He could perform miracles. You could think that he was born of a virgin.

He's fully God and fully man, that God wrote the Bible. And yet, as John Calvin said, knowledge of God can no more connect a man with God than the sight of the sun can carry him to heaven. Now, think about your life.

Wasn't there a time? Maybe there's some exceptions here. But for my life, it was I knew all about Jesus, but I didn't really believe in him. And that too was an inoculation against real saving faith. I remember the lady that introduced me to Kim.

Her name was Sharon. I've told you the story before. She got her new name, Aria, because she was in a cult and so you give people new names. And I said, who gave you the new name? And she said, Jesus.

And I knew it wasn't the Jesus of the Bible and I'm still not regenerate. And she could see the incredulity in my face and she said, do you want to see a picture of me and Jesus? I'll pay to see that.

Yes, ma 'am. So she took me over into her living room and there's a picture of some, I thought at the time, some old decrepit looking guy at about 55 years old, had his arm around her and it's Jesus. That's Jesus.

No way. His name was John Rogers, not Johnny Rogers from Nebraska football, I wish. But it was John Rogers, some cult leader. I know it's not true. See how insidious this is? Okay, Jesus really died on the cross.

He was really raised from the dead. All these facts about Jesus are true, but even the demons believe and shudder. I mean, the grace of God has to open our eyes and make us alive so that we realize there's knowledge of Jesus.

Yes, there's a scent to Jesus. Yes, and there's trust of Jesus. That's what saving faith is. For me, I was locked in, now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, repeat.

Come Lord Jesus, be our guest. Let this food to us be blessed. Amen. And for us, it wasn't paganism, it was Christianity. Our Father who art in heaven, hail Mary full of grace. There's a religious tenor to all this, but it's not saving faith.

And so, if you know Jesus personally with saving faith today, realize that was a gift from God and you say, thank you. I praise you that you opened my eyes. I know better than these others, but you grace me.

And I want to remember that today because I want to praise you. Number three, number three, praise God because he saved you from religion. Praise God he saved you from an intellectual faith only. Praise God because he saved you when you couldn't save yourself.

He saved you when you couldn't save yourself. Now, remember, Nicodemus sees himself as a teacher, he is. He's in the Pharisees, he's in the Sanhedrin. In John 3, verse 3, it says, Jesus answered and said to him.

Well, that's interesting, Nicodemus didn't ask a question out loud, but he was thinking this kind of question. And so, Jesus, reading his mind, answers the question that Nicodemus had mentally, but never said verbally.

And it's not going to be, you need more religious instruction. You need to take a few more CCD classes. You need to take a few more Protestant classes. You need more classes. No, you don't need any more classes after you know the basics of the gospel.

You need to believe and see Jesus as Savior. Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, that's with effect, that's with emphasis, that's importance. Amen, amen. I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Cannot see the kingdom of God. That's the way a Jew would talk with eternal life, a resurrection life. You can't see it. And he doesn't even say, do these things. He just says, you have to be born from above.

And you can't even do it. Now, think about your own life. Was there a time that you thought, yes, in fact, I am a sinner and I do need grace and I want to be forgiven, but how do I actually get saved, you know?

It's not something I do because everything I do is affected by sin and I need a new me. I mean, it's the time after Kim and I were married and I just thought, you know, this is the dream wife and the dream life.

And then I realized again through sin and the mirror of sin and in marriage, I don't mean Kim's sin, I mean my own. I remember slamming down a dresser. You know, here's the bad news. IKEA stuff is cheap, but it's expensive.

I mean, it's expensive in the sense you have to just keep buying them over and over and over again. I mean, give me some sturdy dresser made of wood and mahogany because then in my self-anger, I slammed down the dresser, it wouldn't break into 50 pieces like that IKEA one did.

And Kim looked at me like, I cannot believe I said, I do, I'm scared, and here we go. And, you know, here's the thing. If you have an anger problem, I did, you just go to anger management. Manage your anger.

It's like it's Mike and he has this anger. Hey, anger. But if I'm the problem, I need a new me. You can manage anger, but if I'm the problem, if anger comes from the heart and I'm the one who's mean and angry, I need a new me.

And that's exactly what Jesus was telling Nicodemus, you need a new you. Okay, now what? How do I do that? He's not talking about reincarnation. Corruption has so spread through humanity because of Adam's fall, consequently, our own sin, we need a new us and there's nothing we could do about it.

I mean, really, when you talk to unbelievers and when you think back to your own life, the time that was almost pivotable was when you realized, I'm sinful, the Bible's true, I'm going to go to hell and there's nothing I could do about it.

I cannot do anything to make God pleased with me. And that's a biblical concept, by the way, Romans 8, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And when you realize that, then it makes you say, like that Pharisee in Luke 18, help!

God have mercy on me. If you don't do it, no one can because I can't help. And so just imagine, look back at your life. Maybe you were religious like me, maybe you were intellectually believing like me, and maybe you realized the problem was you.

And if it wasn't for God, if it wasn't for the triune God who easily could have left us in our sins, it's no big problem to say, someone sinned, they get justice. But it's a bigger philosophical problem, how do I forgive the sin, stay just?

That's the issue. Number four, number four, remember that God saved you when you thought the gospel was foolish. God saved you when you thought the gospel was foolish. He saved you from religiosity, from intellectual belief only, from yourself when you were helpless, and he saved you when you thought this was all weird.

Verse four, John three, Nicodemus said to Jesus, how can a man be born when he's old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? Truly, truly, I say to you, Jesus answered, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

What was Nicodemus saying? I better start all over, can't wait till January 1st. I think he's scratching his head. I think along with D .A. Carson, he's thinking, this is incredible, and this is scornworthy, this cannot be true.

R .C. Sproul said of this, that it was really an insult, from Nicodemus, quote, what are you talking about? Are you suggesting that a man has to enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born? What a ridiculous idea that is.

It's so weird, so foreign, so odd. And you can even think of maybe what you thought of before you got saved, and it falls right along the lines of 1 Corinthians 1 .18, doesn't it? The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

I mean, on Calvary, Jesus can't even save himself. You mean, how is he going to save me? This cross is repugnant, it's awful, it's shameful. Children, turn your eyes, that's the vehicle of salvation? How foolish.

On the other hand, that's Nietzsche, that's metaphysics of a hangman. I mean, it is so ridiculous. Do you know what you're saying to people when you preach the gospel? It sounds absurd. It's not absurd, I know, but it sounds absurd.

What you believe, fellow sinner, about Jesus, the God-man who 2 ,000 years ago died on the cross, a bunch of other Jews died on crosses back in those days too, but what you think about this one particular Jew and how you view him, and yes, in fact, do you worship him, this view will affect your eternal destiny forever.

You haven't met him, you haven't seen him, there's no evidence, but what you believe about him determines your eternal destiny. And you can feel the pushback of the person, the unbeliever, saying, he really wasn't even a good martyr.

Some people die on the cross with a little more resolve than Jesus. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And when Jesus says in verse 5, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of spirit, this is not baptism, believers, infant, this isn't John the Baptist baptism, this isn't born of water, the fluid inside the womb.

He is talking, that is, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, and he's got to be thinking inward purification. I need to be changed to get to heaven. How can I be changed on the inside?

And of course, Jesus is referring to Ezekiel 36, that Nicodemus would have known. There has to be a cleansing on the heart, on the inside. Ezekiel 36 says, that I will sprinkle clean water on you and you'll be clean.

I'll give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. Cleansing the people, that's what we need, that's what Nicodemus did. Verse 6, I mean, we can't do it on our own, that theme just keeps going through.

That which is born of flesh is flesh. Ever been to Pittsburgh? I know some of you have, some of you moved from Pittsburgh. I can guarantee you this, if you go to the steel factories in Pittsburgh, they don't produce cotton balls.

This is not what they do. And what's flesh produce? More flesh. Sinful humanity produces more sinful humanity. And so you're going to try to self-reform, you're going to try to change yourself, it'll never work because everything you do has been tainted by sin.

So you need a work of God, you need a work of grace, that's what he's talking about here. That which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. And now he moves from Nicodemus singularly to everybody who would ever listen.

The Israelites, you if you're not a Christian, ye must be born again. I love the story of Bishop John Taylor Smith, he's preaching in a cathedral on this text, you must be born again. Dear people, do not substitute anything for the new birth.

You may be a member of the church, but church membership isn't the new birth. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom. The rector was sitting on his left and pointing to him, you may be a clergyman like my friend the rector here, and not be born again.

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom. On the right, we have the archdeacon, pointed at him, he said, you might even be like an archdeacon like my friend and not be born again. Or you might be a bishop like myself and not be born again.

And wouldn't you know, the story goes that a few days later, the archdeacon writes him a letter. You have found me out. I've been a clergyman for 30 years and I've never known anything of the joy that Christians speak of, I could never understand it.

But when you pointed at me and said that a person could be an archdeacon and not be born again, I understood what trouble I was in. Would you please come and talk to me? And he did and the story goes that God saved that man.

Number five, John 3, 8 and following, God saved you by his own sovereign will. God saved you by his own free will. When you look back at your salvation, you go, what would make me praise God? I was a religious person and God opened my eyes that it wasn't about religion, it was about Jesus.

I just thought I could believe the facts and God showed me, no, I need to really trust with faith. I couldn't save myself and he did it. I thought it was foolish and he showed me how wise it was. And now number five, he sovereignly by his own free will saved you.

Verse 8, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. I could put it in Paul's terms, I will have mercy upon whom I have mercy.

And I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion. God didn't have to have compassion on me or you and he did. And that's praiseworthy, that's Pauline, God is to be praised. George Whitefield quote, Man is nothing, he has a free will to go to hell but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do his good pleasure.

And if you're a Christian, that's exactly what happened. You know that old false paradigm, God voted for you to be saved, Satan voted against you, and you what? Cast the deciding vote. Well, if that's true, your vote was no.

Your vote was, I don't worship you as a creator or give you thanks. Romans 1. But I voted no, Satan voted no, the world system voted no, and God voted yes. And God always gets his man or his woman. I mean, try preaching the gospel or evangelizing, not knowing the sovereignty of God and salvation.

You'll eventually just stop preaching, because you just can't preach with that kind of intensity that the people's salvation is in your hands. I forgot the resurrection, how they're ever going to be saved, how am I going to sleep?

Verse 9, Nicodemus answered and said to him, how can these things be true? Let me give you the Greek translation for Hebrews in John chapter 3 verse 9. When Nicodemus answered and said, how can these things be true?

Here's the Greek. Help! I don't get it. I need help. This is a plea. I don't understand. How can it be? Jesus answered and said to him, are you the definite article teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things?

You should understand the sovereignty of God. You should understand salvation. It's all in the Old Testament. There's no new way of being saved in the old to the new. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know and bear witness of what we have seen.

And you, plural, talking about Israel as well, do not receive our witness. It's not that you don't get it intellectually. It's a moral issue. The fool has said, there's no God. That's what he says in his heart.

That's a smart man. That's a smart woman. But it's a moral issue. If I told you earthly things, verse 12, and you do not believe, like basic things like regeneration, how should you believe if I tell you heavenly things, even more complex things?

And listen to Jesus, verse 13. No one's ascended into heaven, but he was descended from heaven, even the Son of Man. Any other religion that says there's special revelation from God, from heaven, and they're the messenger, it's not true.

Jesus says, I'm the only one who's ascended into heaven. By the way, this would be a good verse for people who write phony books on heaven, and going there, but I digress. Number six, everything's leading up to this.

We're almost finished, but we can't leave this out. Saved from religion? Thank you, Lord. Saved from intellectual faith? Thank you, Lord. Saved when I couldn't save myself? Thank you, Lord. Saved when I thought it was all incredibly stupid?

Thank you, Lord. You saved me, and you didn't even have to, but you're sovereign. Thank you, Lord. And finally, God saved you because he loved you. Now, before I read John 14, 15, and 16, you ever get any arguments theologically?

Okay, debates. What's maybe the number one topic that people debate in our circles? Well, a lot of times, it's predestination, free will, sovereignty of God. And you can just hear the volume increase as we talk about the sovereign freedom of God.

Does man have a will? No, that makes him a robot. No, a potter, clay, back and forth. Debates that will cause problems, that's one of those, if done wrongly. For Jesus, the debate that caused the problem in John 3 was the love of God.

That was the deal breaker. Because love, you see, back in those days, was for the Jews. Love was for the special people. Love was for these kind of set-apart ones, the Jews. And love for Gentiles, of course, Paul would talk about it in Romans, the law isn't a discriminator.

If you don't live up to the law and keep it perfectly, you go to hell. And, you know, here's the interesting thing in John 3, the love of God isn't like we think. Let's find out. John 3 .14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever... And friends, don't automatically buy into this, this is the free will verse. No, this is the verse for non-Jews get saved too. That's the whole point.

John 3 .16, That He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him, that those believing in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Okay, that God would love sinners. You ever think about that? That is amazing.

Now, here's what we do in our lives. If I do certain things and become acceptable, God will accept me. We do this in our marriages, we do this in our families, we do this at work. I do these things and therefore you treat me in a certain way.

It just kind of works that way. I'm not saying it's right, but that's what we do. I just do these things and then God will love me. It's so far wrong. It's so wrong. When you think about what we believe, that the Bible says that for the sinner there's wrath to be poured out.