F4F | John Gray Turns John 3:16 into a Tithing Text

Welcome to another installment of fighting for the faith. My name is Chris Roseboro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ. This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God.

John 3:16 as the Gospel of Salvation

All right. Let me put you on the spot. Let's see how good your Bible Memorization is. Do you know by heart? John 3 16. Chances are most of you do. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish.

But have eternal life. John 3 16 is one of the quintessential passages that teaches us the good news of the forgiveness of sins in Christ. That Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn the world. But in order that sinners like me and like you that we would be saved and all we have to do is believe.

In fact, even the belief they'll be able the ability to believe is given by God as a gift. That's kind of more advanced theology. We could talk about that later. But you get the idea John 3 16 is a good news text.

But what if I told you that many of the megachurch pastors nowadays when they use John 3 16? It's not in order to proclaim what Jesus has done for you. It's instead to give you a guilt trip kind of like, you know the way your mom would when she was.

You know writing you down because you were being lazy and stuff like that. She'd say I carried you in my womb. First for nine whole months and this is what you'd. How you treat me you you don't even clean your room.

You don't take out the trash. I carried you inside of my body.

Yeah, I'm not joking when I tell you that John 3 16 is being used this way. We'll give you a quintessential example of that today. In fact, what we're gonna do is we're gonna head down to relentless Church.

John Gray is the vision casting leader there. He's the guy who came up through the ranks of Joel Osteen's ministry took over Ron Carpenter's Church changed the name to relentless Church got into legal problems apparently.

He had.

Some kind of a tryst with a with another woman and to smooth things over. He got his wife at $200 ,000 Lamborghini, but that was all back in 2018. So it doesn't matter today, right? Well, let's Let's let's do this.

All right. So well, here we go. Let's go ahead. Just run right to it. Let's whirl up the The web browser here. We're at relentless Church. And this is from week four of their intentional series intentional series and here John Gray is going to begin the job of preparing the people of relentless Church for the.

Well next week's it'll be the week after this sermon is preached next week's well first fruits offering which is part of the Mosaic Covenant and here he's going to read out the Gospel of John chapter 3 and multiple verses in it and We'll give him credit.

We'll give him props for at least doing that. But wait, do you see what he does with this text? He's not gonna proclaim Christ. No, he's gonna start preparing you to get your checkbook out and start writing a big old fat check.

I'm not making that up. Let's let's take a listen. Here we go. And today's.

Sermon title is intentional generosity intentional.

Generosity, I.

Want you to go to John chapter 3 starting at the 13th verse. John chapter 3 starting at the 13th verse. This is a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. It happened at night because Nicodemus did not want to be seen in public with Jesus.

And many of us have a private DM level relationship with Jesus because we don't want people to know that we really need him. And I'm grateful that we don't have those people here. But there are people who will attempt to access Jesus in private places But don't want to publicly acknowledge him because he's not good for your brand.

He's He's not good for for your for the circle of people that you want to be accepted by. And it is now real quick.

I want to point this out and that is is that that watch right there? Mysteriously looks like a Rolex to me now. I I I'm not an expert on watches, but that looks like a Rolex to me. You know, it just has kind of that that look to it.

I used to work in the corporate world and I knew a lot of sales guys who would wear those kinds of watches for the purpose of Demonstrating their power of generating wealth and things like that. So, you know, I'm just saying I'm just saying, you know.

So he's preparing everybody for their first fruits offering. He wants to open up to John chapter 3 16 and you'll note that He doesn't stay focused in his preaching as a result of it. He's a little hard to track at times.

But we'll see if we can't keep continue to sort this out range.

Did you want to be accepted by less than the one who accepted you? I'm trying to preach it already. John 3 13. These are the words of the Lord Jesus and They are worthy of honor. If you have the ability to stand I ask that you please do.

These are the red letters blood blood-soaked the New Covenant.

Now real quick he makes reference to the New Covenant here. Not a bad thing to make reference to because we're not under the Mosaic Covenant. So we're under the New Covenant as Christian believers. And he recognizes that the red text has something to do with the New Covenant.

We'll talk about that distinction a little later. Ratified by his death and his resurrection the red letters carry weight. The whole Bible is holy, but those red letters have a demonstrative authority.

All scripture is God breathed.

That means every single passage of Scripture is red letters. Yeah, according the Apostle Paul in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 all scriptures say a new stuff. It's God breathed. That means you don't put a heavier weight on red letters over and above the the other ones.

That's just a Convention for the purpose of identifying actual words that Jesus has spoken.

When they are repeated they still make devils flee. He's really good at theatrics, you know. Red letters. There's power in the red letters. There's there's truth in the red letters.

There's deliverance in the red letters and there isn't in the black ones. Really?

These are the words that are recorded. No one has ascended to heaven. But he who came down from heaven that is the Son of Man who was in heaven. And As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man Be lifted up.

That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 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.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that through. But that the world through him might be saved.

Save save from what the wrath of God will talk about this. In fact, let's do the biblical work now. I this I always love it when these guys give me the opportunity to open up the biblical text. So let's do that.

Shall we so what we're gonna do. Let's go back to the text in question because this is one of those passages where we learn you know really from even Jesus himself that well all of the Bible is about him and especially the Old Testament and That being the case we can see types and shadows that point us to Jesus in the Old Testament.

So, let's see here the Nicodemus passages. This is the Nick at night passage because Nicodemus comes to visit Jesus. Yeah, I write my own. I write my own jokes. Anyway, so Jesus here is talking to Nicodemus.

We'll start at verse 12 and we'll kind of focus in on this if I have told you of earthly things and you do not Believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven that is the Son of Man and As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.

So must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Now if you want to hear a full sermon on These two texts combined with Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 to 10. That was my sermon from this past Sunday.

That these were the assigned readings for this past Sunday. And we'll put a link down below to the audio of it at the Kong's of Inger Lutheran Church in Oslo, Minnesota. Website, don't you know? Yeah, we'll put a link down to it below.

I think I named it the antivenom to darkness or something to that effect and if you want to hear how these texts should be preached with exegetically focusing on what the passages are about and Here Christ proclaimed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

Then go ahead and click on that link and you can listen to that sermon after watching the video. But all of that being said let's do our little bit of work here. So you're gonna note here that Christ says that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.

So must the Son of Man be lifted up? So he's likening himself to that bronze serpent that Moses was commanded by God to make. So let's take a look at the passage in question. Then the passage in question is numbers 21 numbers 21 and while I'm here while I'm here.

Let's do a little bonus work. Shall we? Hang on a second here. I'm gonna duplicate this tab and I'm going to go to the book of Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20 now, let me ask you a question. Do you have a nativity scene?

Some people do some people don't some people believe that if you have a nativity scene that you are While committing idolatry because you're not supposed to create a graven image, right? Or do you have artwork depicting Jesus on the cross or Jesus walking on the water or Jesus?

You know victoriously coming to conquer while riding on the clouds of judgment, you know. There are some people who and I would argue mistakenly believe that all images of Jesus are artistic depictions of him.

Somehow constitute idolatry, but that's not true so this is a little subtext of all of this and you're gonna note that Exodus chapter 20 verse 3 we get this commandment. You shall have no other gods before me you shall have no other guys first commandment and As a confessional Lutheran we Lutherans recognize that what follows then is not a separate third command.

But is instead a subset of the first commandment. You shall have no other gods so subset one a if you would you shall not make for yourself a carved image of Any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water?

Underneath the earth you'll note that this includes depictions of any kind of animal whatsoever. Okay, so pay attention to the details. You shall not make yourself carve image of any likeness of any Thing now think about your house for a second.

Do you have artwork depicting animals whales? Dolphins bears. Do your children own teddy bears or things like this if you do not properly Understand what is being forbidden in this passage? Then I could Mistakenly teach you that you are committing.

Idolatry.

Idolatry by having a teddy bear. But that's not what this text is saying. We'll talk about this here in a second. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the Earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them to serve them. So this is the creation of an image for the purpose of saying this is my God. And then bowing down to worship it and you know all that kind of nonsense for I the Lord am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing steadfast love to Thousands of those who love and keep my commandments.

Now one of the reasons why we know that this isn't a blanket prohibition by God regarding the creation of any and all images of anything in heaven on or in heaven or under the earth or on you know in the seas or on the earth or.

Anything like that is due to the fact that God would never command Moses to break this commandment. Okay, so you'll note in numbers 21. This is a little subset of this at the end of this God commands Moses make a fiery serpent a neck hashim Seraphim and set it on a pole and everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live.

Now if it was against the commandment. You know regarding images then God well He ordered Moses to sin. But that's not how this works. So we understand then that the prohibition regarding images is For the purpose of creating an image to which you will bow down and say this is your God.

So you as a Christian are free to have artwork depicting Jesus. As an infant you have. You have freedom to have a stained glass windows that depict Christ. You know in his earthly ministry giving sight to the blind walking on the water calming the storm.

Raising the dead you have you can depict Jesus before his crucifixion or after you have that freedom. But what you do not have the freedom to do is to then somehow Venerate that image and bow down to it.

I bow down to you. No, no.

Yeah.

So so much of what we see then in Roman Catholicism is an abuse of the freedom that we have In you know as Christians to depict artwork of Jesus. So and I know that some of you're sitting there pulling your house in here.

I'll go. You can't depict Jesus. Yes, you can there is no prohibition of regarding artwork depicting Jesus the prohibition is the prohibition regarding Idolatry in the creating of an image for the purpose of bowing down and worshipping it.

So yeah, I that's that's a little bonus material thought I would throw that in there. And the way we know this is because God commanded Moses to make a fiery serpent and that technically well Let's take a look here that falls under the likeness of anything that is on the earth.

Mm-hmm. Now you'll note that in the history of Israel later the Northern Kingdom They set this bronze serpent up for the purpose of worshipping it and God ordered that it be destroyed. So what God gave as a gift they turned into an idol later in later generations then God had it destroyed.

So, you know keep that in mind. So we recognize then that as Christians we have freedom to. You know have a nativity scene and artwork depicting the life and of Christ and it there's no sin and going to a movie Where somebody is depicting Jesus, you know.

So you can you can watch the movie the passion of the Christ without any Fear that somehow you are committing the sin of idolatry. You're not and those who take, you know, the exodus chapter 20 verses 4 Through 6 and somehow turn this into the banning of all artwork depicting Jesus.

They've they've misappropriated this text and and again Numbers 21 is the way we part of the reason why we know that and you'll think about God ordered then the the embellishment the artwork for the tabernacle itself, which depicted angels and all kinds of other things that are in heaven and on earth and.

And all that was done without breaking that commandment regarding idolatry. Keep that in mind.

All right.

Now all that being said coming back then to the text in question in numbers 21 We get an account that was kind of weird and here's how the account goes from Mount Hor. This is Mount Sinai. Children of Israel set out by the way to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom and the people became Impatient on the way.

And the people spoke against God and they spoke against Moses.

Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness now?

This is a slanderous question. By the way, this is what we call a loaded question. In logic a loaded question will assume Some part of the answer and so you have to act it's never safe to answer a loaded question.

You have to address the loadedness in it. And you're gonna note then that what the children of Israel are doing here is accusing God's Purposely bringing them into the wilderness for the purpose of killing them.

That's slander and and describes to God motives that are far from God at all. In fact, it makes no sense Why would God bring the ten plagues of Egypt on Egypt and then mightily set the children of Israel free from slavery in?

Egypt have them miraculously walk on the bottom of the Red Sea with a wall of water on the right and a wall of water on the left and they they made it through safely and then when the Armies of Pharaoh came in after them, you know, the sea closed in and drowned them all.

I mean God was leading him by a pillar of smoke by day fire by night. God was Miraculously caring for them giving them manna from heaven even miraculous. He gave them water from a rock. I mean all of these things and and here they are.

They've they've set out on a journey to head towards the promised land and they're accusing God. The whole reason why he brought them out there was to kill him Man rather than praise and worship or humbly ask God for their needs they grumble.

But then they said there's no there's no food. There's no water and we load this worthless food and the worthless food is the manna that God is giving them from heaven every day. So as a punishment for their sin and grumbling and speaking against God and Moses Yahweh sent fiery serpents in among the people and they bit the people so that many of the people of Israel died now a little bit of a note the Nehashim Seraphim.

These.

These are the bronze desert adders of that particular region and they are not called fiery serpents because they had a cool fiery paint. Job, no, they're just kind of a bronze colored snake. The issue the reason why they called fiery serpents is because they if they envenomate you.

You feel like you're on fire from the inside and that's the experience that you have while dying. So it's a horrifying terrible way to die.

So.

As a result of this many people died and then the people of Israel came to their senses and they came to Moses and said We have sinned for we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh that he take away the serpents from us.

So Moses prayed for the people and Yahweh said to Moses make a fiery Serpent and set it on a pole and everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent set it on a pole and if a serpent bit anyone he would he would look at the bronze serpent and he would live and here's the interesting thing that bronze serpent is a type and shadow of Jesus and let me explain that God rather than removing the fiery serpents rather than Removing the curse.

He gave them a special miracle linked to that. That bronze serpent, you know his word was attached to the bronze serpent which then is a foreshadowing of Christ and Christ then takes this picture to himself.

So back in Moses's day anyone who was bitten by a bronze desert adder looks at that thing and what happens they live. They live and in the same way then hear the words of Jesus. Jesus says that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up referring to Christ's crucifixion and So that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

And the idea then is this Scripture is clear that God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin so that we would be the righteousness of God each and every one of us because of the deception and sin the deception by the serpent in the Garden of Eden and our and the rebellion and Disobedience of our first parents Adam and Eve.

You could argue that sin is the consequence of quote-unquote being snake-bitten snake-bitten by the false words and deceptions of this of the original serpent and so Christ then is the Antivenom, he is the solution the miraculous Solution to us who have been envenomated by the lies of the devil.

And so how does this happen. Christ takes our sin upon himself? He was pierced for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Chastisement that brought us peace was upon him. Or as the gospel says in first Corinthians 15 Christ died for our sins for your sins for mine and so it's right then that the symbol of the snake then is the symbol used for Christ because he takes all of the Evil upon of the whole world into himself and he becomes the sinner whom God punishes.

So that we can be forgiven pardoned and reconciled to God. That's the idea here it's a beautiful picture of of what's going on and the types and shadows are just Rich and this is this applies to every single one of us because all have fallen short of the glory of God.

Each and every one of us deserves hell as a consequence and as a right Punishment for our sin and rebellion against God, but God doesn't give us that he gives us Jesus. And so then the call is for us to repent and to believe so as Christ says just 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 and then we get the passage that we're all familiar with for God So loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Perish in what way is probably a good follow-up question here. And this is where the passage then goes for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. But in order that the world might be saved through him whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is Condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only Son of God and this is the judgment.

Light has come into The world but the people love darkness rather than the light because their works are evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God so you'll note that. This is a great text and kind of the kicker at the end of this is in verse 36 of chapter 3 Whoever believes in the Sun has eternal life.

Whoever does not obey the Sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. So what is it that we're saved from the wrath of God that we've all earned because of our rebellion and Christ. This is great news.

And this is because of God's love for us. God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were yet sinners. Christ died for our sins. Jesus dies not for his friends for his enemies You and me and by his death it is his kindness that leads us to repentance.

So we who were under the dominion of darkness children of the devil now because of sin we are reconciled to God. We are adopted back into the family of God and all of this because of what Christ has done.

That is what this text is about. It's such a beautiful Gospel text and the cross-reference is just. But alas John Gray. This is not what he's gonna preach about and by the way, I've listened to this whole sermon He at no point other than just reading the text out actually talks about what this text really is about.

Watch where he goes with this. So let's let him spin this out. I love the messages intentional.

Generosity, you may be seated on the surface this scripture may not immediately bring to mind the idea of generosity when thinking of scripture and the contemporary Context of church giving. Next week one week from today we will.

Bring. This text has nothing to do with church giving at all our first fruits offering to the Lord.

First fruits offering to the Lord it is a It is a once a year Gift above and beyond our tithe and offering that you and your family pray about. Ask the Lord and then you all make a decision. Everybody say it's my decision.

You make a decision on What you want to give above your tithe and offering now?

By the way, the first fruits offering is part of the Mosaic Covenant and It's not part of the New Covenant. In Leviticus chapter 23 I would point you to this. Leviticus 23 verse 1 says Yahweh spoke to Moses saying speak to the people of Israel say to them These are the appointed feasts of Yahweh that you shall proclaim as holy convocations.

They are my appointed feasts.

So the.

First fruits was an actual feast. That is associated with the Mosaic Covenant. Christians are not required to keep these feasts. They are all a type and shadow of Something to do with Christ. And I'll give you a text that shows you shows you that in Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians chapter 2 we hit we hear this wonderful text about how Christ has canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. He set it aside nailing it to the cross. And and so the great news regarding what Christ has done for us.

And then he says these words in verse 16. Colossians 2 16 therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food drink or with regard to a festival a new moon or a Shabbat Sabbath. Watch, these are a shadow of the things to come.

The substance belongs to Christ. So they are the types and shadows that find their fulfillment in the life of Jesus. And this is the reason why Christians are not required to keep the Sabbath the way the Mosaic Covenant guys did.

You know stops working at Friday night at sundown don't work again until Saturday night at sundown. Yeah, we're not we can actually light our furnace on on a Saturday. Yeah, and God's not gonna send us to hell for doing that.

You get the idea. We're not under the Mosaic Covenant. So we learn then that one of the feasts of the Mosaic Covenant. Which is a type and shadow. So you always spoke to Moses saying speak to the people of Israel say to them when you come Into the land that I give you and reap its harvest.

You shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest and he shall wave the sheep before Yahweh. So that you may be accepted on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it you know, so.

Yeah.

That's that's uh, you know that finds its fulfillment in Pentecost Sunday, by the way the Feast of Weeks in the first fruit offering. But that's that's for another lesson. So already we've got a weird thing going on here at Relentless Church because he's taking the firstfruits offering the firstfruits of the Mosaic Covenant and turning it into a Sunday that they're supposed to give above and beyond their tithes and offerings.

Mm-hmm told you that I'm believing God for a particular amount so that we can have our women's.

Transitional house. All right, so he's gonna believe God for a specific amount and you're gonna know in their theology They give in order to get. That's an interesting thing. Now I'm gonna fast forward just a little bit in the message and Continue on and see how he's handling John 3 16 and and and laying out his theology regarding this.

At no point. Does he actually preach the gospel? Yeah at no point. Does he preach the gospel in this sermon and in person?

John chapter 3 talks to me about the power of generosity.

Really John 3 is all about generosity.

It's all about God's love and mercy I said. Normally we talk about generosity because when you're doing something like firstfruits oftentimes even with offering because There's something in us that just gets afraid when we think about somebody taking something from us.

We see offering as a moment of loss.

This text has nothing to do with offerings or tithes or any financial giving as opposed to what it actually is.

Which is an opportunity for expansion.

So giving is an opportunity for expansion. Mm-hmm. This text is not about that at all. And this is a weird non-biblical teaching regarding giving.

Perspective is everything. Offering is not a moment of loss. It is an opportunity for expansion. This message will not be long, but it will be powerful and it will be life-changing. Stay with your boy.

Yeah, I listen to the whole thing. My life's worse because of this sermon just a moment so I guess it was life-changing.

First fruits is a one-time gift. Elder and I'm coming to the house this week because I just want you to encourage me in the Lord. I just feel like God wants to speak.

Now by the way, I mentioned this. Let's do a little Google search here. John Gray Wife car, okay. Hang on a second here. Yes, here we go. Houston pastor on his $200 ,000 Lamborghini gift. John Gray gave his wife a $200 ,000 Lamborghini for their anniversary.

$200 ,000 Lamborghini and I think he's wearing a Rolex there.

Okay.

About this next week. Because I'm believing God for some things in my own life.

From another Lamborghini another Rolex.

Children for my family. For my health. This fast we're on day 14. Now. We got seven days Jesus and I'm telling you right now seven days.

So he's been fasting for seven days or he's gonna fast for seven days.

And when you're being healed from diabetes your blood sugar fluctuates last night.

Just be now. If you're healed from diabetes, you're healed. You don't have to worry about your blood sugars. I.

Stay.

Transparent it went into the 40s, which is not good. So I've got to be careful because I my mama said he didn't call you to die too fast. So I've got to be wise. But I'm going to continue to make other sacrifices Along with the rest of the congregation because I'm believing God for breakthrough if that's all right with you.

Believing God for breakthrough. That's the carrot that's dangling out at the end of the stick. Always in these churches. You know. You got to give your breakthroughs just around the corner. Give until it hurts just a little bit more and God will give you your breakthrough.

That turns it into a quid pro quo a.

Lot of times people get quiet about giving because they see church as a clog. Where your money goes, but you don't see a return on the investment.

Mm-hmm because guys like you who miss Well, basically don't even teach the truth biblically as to how tithing and offerings work in the church. By the way, we're gonna be doing an upcoming episode in the very near future Talking about what does the Bible teach regarding Christians and giving and we're gonna use as our foil Robert Morris is blessed life Teaching as to demonstrate what not to believe as far as he's concerned.

And we'll unpack what the scriptures do teach regarding How Christians give and what are their obligations in the New Covenant and we sometimes?

Incorrectly assume that your money is going to a man or a woman or an individual when in fact the currency.

I don't know going to a man an individual, you know. $200 ,000 Lamborghini for your wife. I mean. Yeah, I don't know why anyone would think that it's not connected to the paper.

It's connected to your heart and the posture of your heart is what God is checking for not the amount that you give. I'm going somewhere.

Yeah, yeah, it doesn't sound like you're going anywhere. Good. I'm gonna fast forward just a little bit more so you can hear how he uses The the John text a little more specifically and this is when I tell you that what you're gonna hear next will encompass the Totality of how he makes reference to what he read in the Gospel of John chapter 3.

That is not an overstatement. That's correct. That's an actual fact and let's listen in a little bit more as he teaches us about what John 3 is apparently about.

Before we come next week with our gifts I just needed to remind you of the ultimate gift that was given to you and Why we give first fruits is because God gave his first fruit first.

That is not at all what John 3 16 is about. He's taking a gospel text and turning it into a law text. So now when these people hear John 3 16, they're gonna think it's about tithing. Rather than about what God has done to rescue them.