Eternal Security
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called Visible God, which is all about seeing God through the life of Jesus. We’re studying a book of the bible called the Gospel of John, which records the life and words of Jesus as it was written by an original source, an original follower of Jesus, and what you’ll see in today’s text is Jesus wants us to have eternal security...Jesus wants us to have eternal security, the eternal security of God’s love, and when it comes to eternal security a lot of people share the common belief that if you’re a good person and do good things you’ll get to go to heaven. But that belief can’t give you eternal security, and here’s why. It’s because there’s days when you’re not being a good person, days when you’re not doing good things. There’s days when you’re greedy, selfish, impatient towards others, not being a good person or doing good things. So if you believe God’s love and heaven are based on you being a good person and doing good things, you won’t have eternal security because your days will fluctuate. Your days will fluctuate, and so will your security.
Now sometimes Christians forget what Jesus taught us and we’ll live with this kind of insecurity too. We’ll sometimes play the He loves me, He loves me not game with God. We’re like “I got engaged, He loves me!...I’m single, He loves me not...I got a raise, He loves me!...I got fired, He loves me not...My life’s going well, He loves me!...My life’s falling apart, He loves me not...I resisted sin, He loves me!...I stumbled in sin, He loves me not...Sometimes we play the He loves me, He loves me not game with God. But Jesus is gonna teach us we don’t have to play that game with God, we don’t have to live with that kind of fluctuating insecurity, when it comes to God’s love. So let’s turn to John 3:1-21 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle, turn right to find Matthew, a few books to the right of that is John. We’ll be in John 3:1-21. The title of today’s message is Eternal Security, and here’s the big idea. Jesus offers us the eternal security of God’s love...Jesus offers us the eternal security of God’s love.
Context:
Here’s your context. John’s the author of this book of the bible, he’s very good friends with Jesus, he was a part of Jesus’ inner circle, and in ch. 2 he taught us that Jesus gets angry over religious corruption, but zealous for genuine worship, for genuine followers. In vs. 23-25 he says that many believed in Jesus, but Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them because he knew their hearts, he knew they didn’t have a genuine love for him. So John’s point at the end of ch. 2 is tsome people say they believe in Jesus, but they don’t really believe in him, they don’t have a genuine love for him. This leads us to ch. 3 where Jesus is about to meet a guy who’s impressed with the miraculous signs Jesus is doing, but he doesn’t truly believe in Jesus. Instead he believes his eternal security, is based on being good person and doing good things. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
John 3:1-21 states, “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.” Okay here’s what we know historically about Nicodemus, we know he’s a Pharisee, a Jewish religious leader kind of like a pastor. But he’s not just any Pharisee, he’s a ruler of the Jews, meaning he’s a part of an elite group called the Sanhedrin, and to be a Sanhedrin you had to be one of the most intelligent, respected, holiest people in Israel. He also would’ve put a lot of stock in living out God’s laws to protect his reputation, and keep his relationship with God in good standing. So he’s a guy who believes if you’re a good person, do good things, follow God’s laws, are religious and spiritual enough, you’ll get to go to heaven. But he didn’t just believe this, he was very disciplined in living it out, way more disciplined than us...and yet his eternal confidence in being a good person and doing good things is starting to waiver, after seeing Jesus.
Vs. 2, “This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’” So Nicodemus has been watching Jesus, he’s been observing Jesus, and he says the evidence points to Jesus having come from God. He says he knows Jesus must’ve come from God, because no one can do the miraculous things Jesus is doing. So what we have is a non-believer who’s an eyewitness to the miraculous things Jesus is doing, and based on the evidence he’s claiming Jesus must’ve come from God. It’s a dilemma, a faith crisis for him, because he doesn’t believe in Jesus, yet he can’t deny the evidence. So he decides to meet with Jesus not during the day, but at night. It’s because he’s worried about his reputation and what the other Sanhedrin leaders will think if he admits the evidence points to Jesus being from God. Listen to how Jesus responds.
Vs. 3, “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ 4 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ 5 Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” Okay so Jesus busts out with this weird comment about being “born again,” and Nicodemus is like “You want me to do what? You want me to enter my mother’s womb and be born again? 1st of all that’s weird, 2nd it’s impossible! How in the world can I be born again?” Nicodemus clearly isn’t a blind faith kind of guy, and we don’t want to be a blind faith kind of church. We want to be a church that welcomes the questions of both skeptics and believers in loving community, so our faith can grow and be further solidified. Here we see Nicodemus isn’t a blind faith kind of guy, he’s asking some legit questions about the physical impossibility of being born again, and Jesus welcomes his questions. But Jesus isn’t talking about a physical birth, he’s talking about a spiritual birth where God gives us a new heart, a transformed heart. In fact the Greek phrase born again can be translated as born from above, meaning it’s a new spiritual birth that comes from above, it comes from God. It’s where God forgives us of sin and gives us a new heart that starts beating for Him over our sin, and Jesus is saying we can’t get into heaven unless this happens to us. He repeats himself in vs. 3 and 5 saying unless this happens to us, unless we’re born again, we can’t enter the Kingdom of God. He then tells us how this specifically happens in the famous John 3:16 verse that we see at sporting events. So let’s skip down to vs. 16, you can read vs. 6-15 on your own or listen to our podcast where we covered those verses last Christmas. But for now let’s go to John 3:16, where Jesus teaches Nicodemus how to enter the Kingdom of God, and I’ll point out 5 truths about God’s love as we read it. It’s 5 truths about why God’s love is so great!
John 3:16 states this, “For God so loved...” That’s the 1st great thing about God’s love. It’s the quantity of God’s love. That little word “so” expresses quantity. Jesus doesn’t say God loved, he says God SO loved, meaning He doesn’t just love us a little, He loves us a lot, He loves us SO much. Another book of the bible puts it like this: Psalm 103:11-12 says, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” This is incredible! God having a love for us “as high as the heavens are above the earth” is incredible! I mean some people say “I’ll love you to the moon and back,” but why just the moon? Why not as far as the Sun or Neptune? The moon’s only 239,000 miles away, but the sun’s 94.5 million miles away, and Neptune’s 2.7 BILLION miles away. So it’d be better if we said “I’ll love you to Neptune and back,” but what’s even better than that is God’s love being as high as the heavens are above the earth. Anybody know how high that is?...Exactly!...It’s so high it’s beyond our comprehension, meaning God’s love for us is endless, and so is His forgiveness. The reason it says He removes our transgressions as far as the east is from the west instead of from north and south, is because north and south are limited. I mean if you start traveling north you’ll eventually end up traveling south, but that’s not the case with east and west. If you travel east you’ll always go east, and if you travel west you’ll always go west, meaning God’s forgiveness is endless. God’s love and forgiveness for us is endless, it’s eternal, it’s as high as the heavens are from the earth, and as far as the east is from the west. God has an infinite quantity of love for us.
The 2nd thing great thing about God’s love is the quality of God’s love. Jesus is talking about a much greater quality of love, than our cultures view of love which is primarily rooted in happiness. We’re like “You make me happy so I love you, I heart you...But if you don’t make me happy I’m out...I’m out...because I deserve to be happy.” A love rooted in happiness alone is a selfish love that only lasts as long as the person makes you happy, and if we view God’s love through that cultural view of love. It’ll lead to all kinds of insecurities because our days will fluctuate like I said before, causing us to wonder if God’s happy with us or not? Does He love me, or love me not? Is He in, or is He out?...Jesus is telling us we don’t have to live with that insecurity because the love he’s talking about is a much greater quality of love than our culture’s view of love. See back then the Jews used different words to describe different kinds of love, and the word Jesus uses here is the Greek word agape, which was considered a deeply committed love. It’s a deeply committed love that’ll still be there even in times of unhappiness, allowing us to feel eternally secure in our relationship with God. We don’t have to wonder does He love me or love me not? Is He in or is He out? Because God SO loves us, with a deeply committed love.
Again vs. 16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son...” This is the 3rd great thing about God’s love, it’s the generosity of God’s love. Jesus says God so loved the world, that he gave his only son. That’s generous! It’s extremely generous, especially if you consider who God’s giving His only son to, which is the world. When Jesus says this he isn’t talking about a holy world that deserves God’s love, he’s talking about a sinful world that doesn’t deserve God’s love. He’s saying God’s so generous He even extends His love to His enemies. You know who Bill Gates isn’t generous with?...Apple...You know who UCF isn’t generous with?...USF...Yet God’s so generous He’s allowing even His enemies to enjoy the beauty of His creation. But there’s no greater display of His generosity, than the giving of His only son Jesus.
Again vs. 16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is the 4th great thing about God’s love. It’s the extensive invitation of God’s love, meaning anybody can receive the gift of God’s love. Jesus says whoever believes, not whoever’s good enough, smart enough, a part of a certain political party or demographic group. He says whoever believes in him, will receive the gift of God’s love. I know a lot of people don’t agree with that, they think God provides multiple ways to get to heaven. But God didn’t send multiple saviors to confuse us, He sent one Savior to die for us. He sent His only son, to display His love for us by dying for an undeserving world that continues to reject Him. Jesus says whoever believes in him, will receive the gift of God’s love. They’ll have eternal life, eternal security, which is the 5th great thing about God’s love.
The 5th great thing is the eternal security of God’s love...Jesus says whoever believes in him will have eternal life, and this is so important because we need to remember who Jesus is talking to. He’s talking to Nicodemus who’s considered one of the holiest people in all of Israel, and he’s telling him that getting into heaven isn’t about being super religious, super spiritual, super holy. He says it’s about whoever BELIEVES, not whoever DOES. City Awakening this is such great news, because it means your eternal life and the eternal security of God’s love isn’t based on you and your works, it’s based on Jesus and the work he did for you on the cross when he died for your sins. Jesus guarantees eternal life and the eternal security of God’s love to whoever believes in that gospel message. Jesus says it’s about whoever BELIEVES, not whoever DOES...All of this gives us a glimpse into God’s loving heart, and it continues in vs. 17.
Vs. 17, “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.” Jesus is again revealing God’s heart. He’s telling us God’s heart is to save us, not condemn us. If you ever had a Christian point a condemning finger at you, they gave you the wrong message, because Jesus didn’t come to condemn you, he came to save you. Jesus didn’t go to the cross to change God’s heart, it was to reveal it...Jesus didn’t go to the cross to change God’s heart, it was to reveal it...It was to show us that God’s heart is to save us and give us a new heart, so we can enjoy an abundantly full life with Him now and in the eternal future. The cross reveals God’s heart to save us not condemn us, but that doesn’t mean people won’t be condemned. Listen to vs. 18-21.
Vs. 18-21 states, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But 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.” Okay so some people don’t want to believe in Jesus, they don’t want to accept the invitation of God’s love and eternal life, and he says people who don’t accept this invitation are condemned already by their own lack of belief. “Yeah but I thought you said Jesus came to save the world, not condemn it.” He did...but if we reject his invitation to save us then it’s us who’s condemning ourselves. C.S. Lewis put it like this, “To those who object to the doctrine of hell, what are you asking God to do? To wipe out their past sins and at all costs give them a fresh start? He did that, when Jesus died on the cross...You want God to forgive them? But they don’t ask for forgiveness...You want God to leave them alone? That’s what hell is!...Look there’s only two kinds of people in the end. Those who say to God ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says in the end ‘Thy will be done.’” So just because God’s heart is to save us, that doesn’t mean everybody will be saved. Jesus came to save us, but some people don’t want his saving hand.
Look I know we don’t like talking about this, we don’t like using words like condemned or judgement in our society. But as much as we hate those words, we actually agree with their necessity, and here’s how I know. We have prisons...We have prisons, jails, traffic tickets with fines, even timeout chairs for those who don’t follow our societal laws. In fact not a single one of us would live or raise children in a society where such boundaries don’t exist, where people could do whatever they wanted without consequences. Now if we wouldn’t want to live or raise children in a society like that, we shouldn’t expect God to create a heaven like that. We shouldn’t expect God to create a heaven full of people who reject Him, reject His ways, and keep harming His children. So as much as we don’t like talking about this stuff in our society, we agree with the necessity of prisons, jails, consequences, words like condemned and judgement. We agree it’s a good thing to have such things in place, we just don’t want God putting them in place for us...But God does put such things in place and the bad news is, not everybody will be saved. But the good news is anybody can be saved through faith in Jesus. The good news is Jesus came to save us, he came to live the perfect life we haven’t lived, die the death we deserved to die for our sins, and then rose again to prove it’s all true, to prove we really can have eternal security in him.
The Big Idea:
So here’s the big idea. It’s that Jesus offers us the eternal security of God’s love. You can be a super religious, spiritual, good person who’s doing good deeds like Nicodemus, but Jesus is saying those things won’t give you eternal security. We’ll certainly feel the weight of that truth when our days fluctuate with sin, stumbling, or face hardships that cause us to feel like God’s blessing others over us. That’s when the insecurities creep in and we start playing the He loves me, He loves me not...But we don’t have to live our lives playing that game, because Jesus offers us the eternal security of God’s love and eternal life through his death on the cross. It’s an invitation he offered to Nicodemus back then, and it’s an invitation he’s offering to those of you who aren’t Christians today. Jesus said whoever believes, meaning the invitation is extended to you as well. You can accept that invitation today by believing in what he says in John 3:16, and if you accept it, he’ll give you the eternal security of God’s love, forgiveness, and eternal life.
If you already believe in John 3:16, if you’re already a Christian, then find rest in the eternal security you already have in Jesus. Find rest in knowing his love for you isn’t based on the fluctuation of your days. Find rest in knowing he isn’t holding out on you or condemning you, instead he came to save you because he loves you. Jesus didn’t save you in the past, to desert you in the future...Jesus didn’t save you in the past, to desert you in the future...Instead he went through the pains of the cross to eternally secure his past, present, and future love for you. So it’s not he loves you, and he loves you not. It’s he loves you, and he loves you A LOT...He loves you, and he loves you A LOT...Let’s stand and worship him, in response to his great love.