God Offers Sinful People Eternal Life
John Chapter 3
June 9, 2024 30th Anniversary Sunday
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church of Ballincollig
www.biblebc.com
I. Welcome
A. Thank you for coming to church this morning!
B. We are the Bible Baptist Church of Ballincollig
C. We have been meeting together since 1994
D. My family and I started this church in an old Total Abstinence Hall in Blarney 30 years ago, and then in 2004 we moved to the Westgate Foundation buildings just 5 minutes away, and then in 2020, we moved here, after we purchased the building alongside us
E. We love the Bible, and we love the Lord Jesus, and we “kind of” love each other … a lot!
F. So thank you for coming and celebrating our 30th anniversary with us
G. All you visitors are special guests, and we are so honoured you are here
H. And the rest of you… well, you are family! Thanks for being here too!
I. Let’s keep doing what we are doing, until Jesus comes!
J. Amen? Amen!
II. Introduction
A. Do you know what the Bible is all about?
B. It can be summarised into six simple words…
C. GOD OFFERS SINFUL PEOPLE ETERNAL LIFE (G.O.S.P.E.L.)
1. It is Good News
2. It is the greatest news story ever printed – ever told – ever heard!
3. It is the reason behind every page of the Bible
D. We will start at the end of those six words, and work our way backwards
E. We will start with Eternal Life!
F. And we will end with God offering it to anyone who would want it!
G. But first, let’s start in prayer…
III. Message
A. What a Thought... Eternity (John 3:13-17)
1. Turn to the GOSPEL of John, chapter 3
2. Jesus is speaking…
a. John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he [SPEAKING OF HIMSELF] that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
b. Only Jesus could talk like that – as someone who was on the earth at that moment IN heaven at the same time!
c. John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man [THE MESSIAH] be lifted up: [ON THE CROSS]
d. John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
e. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
f. John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
3. Did you notice those words, Eternal Life? Everlasting Life? Forever and ever Life?
a. We're so finite, so limited, so small
b. When we think of life, we think of 80 years, 70 years, 90 years.
c. Evolutionary Scientists talk about time like a hundred million years, or a billion years. And they talk like it is a long time.
d. Not us Christians. We talk about eternity!
4. Eternity! That is a long time!
a. Can somebody comprehend that? Something that is infinite and forever?
b. Doesn't that just blow your mind?
c. Eternity is something that does not, and cannot end!
d. And here is a Book that you are holding in your hands, that tells you that God Offers Sinful People, what kind of life?
e. ETERNAL LIFE
f. What is that?
5. Not just Endless Time, but Endless LIFE!
a. You see, when we think of life…
1) We think of what we can get, what we can enjoy, the people we can hang around with, the kind of popularity we can have.
2) We think of the kind of fun that we can have.
3) We think about how dressed up, or how smart we can get.
4) We think about what we can enjoy, where we can go, what we can eat.
5) I know guys I grew up with that would sit on a beach with a dozen beers and say, “Now THIS is living”
6) I know other people who own a big house with an indoor swimming pool, and a sauna and a three car garage, and they think, “Now THIS is living”
7) That is not living – that’s dying.
8) Because, In a moment it could all be gone. It will be argued over by the kids, burnt to ashes in a fire, crumbled in an earthquake, fought over in a divorce
9) That’s not much of a life
10) Luke 12:15-20 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
11) There is so much more to life than the THINGS you can own, and hold, and play with
b. God talks about something called ETERNAL LIFE.
1) Jesus calls it the abundant life. The life that is MORE than you can hold.
2) Life that we all know we tried so hard to find in a bottle, or amongst some friends, or at work, or in our marriage and family and kids and grandkids
3) And yet never quite found
4) And yet, God offers sinful people this life called, “ETERNAL LIFE”!
c. What kind of life can we have in this world?
1) You can possibly have a full life, for a while. You can have a busy life
2) And, you can have a very discouraged life, an empty life
3) There are all kinds of lives that you can experience…
d. But God offers sinful people ETERNAL LIFE. What exactly is that?
1) Matthew 16:24-26 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
2) A Forgiven life – able to move on, no matter how many times we have fallen and messed up – only God’s forgiveness can make that happen!
3) A Free life – no longer under the condemnation and wrath of God – no longer under the dominion of sin in their life. Instead, free to live, free to fail, free to do right things now! That is eternal life
4) A Full life
a) Not boring, or empty anymore, but full of promise, with new abilities, and right thinking, and an infinite purpose, that only gets better and better!
b) Eternal life is an awesome life to live starting HERE and NOW
c) It is not just perfect (that might be boring), but is infinite, in every direction, forever and ever
d) You can’t even begin to grasp it!
e) Yet God offers it!
5) And it obviously is, a Forever Life
a) Not even death and the grave can stop you from enjoying it!
b) Jesus said in John 11:25, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me [NOT IN MY CHURCH], though he were dead, yet shall he live
c) Though he were dead, yet shall he live? Halellujah!
d) I mean, I may have to bury some of you… You may bury me. Who knows?
e) But listen to the next verse…
f) John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
g) Jesus in John 11 was speaking to two women (Martha and mary) about their brother who had died four days earlier. He was telling them their brother Lazarus was only physically dead, but not his soul! And to prove it, Jesus walked over to Lazarus’ grave and called his name, and told him to get up and come out! And he did!
h) Doesn't that blow your mind? Does that make you think for just a minute, maybe, maybe THIS LIFE isn't the one you need to be worried about?
(i) You may have plans, and we all have plans. It's a good thing to have plans
(ii) We all have appointments. We have things we need to do.
(iii) But are you out of balance? Do you ever think about your SOUL?
(iv) Do you ever think about if you were to die tonight, where would you (the real you) go?
i) Well, I have something to tell you… God offers sinful people eternal life!
6. Peter and all the Apostles wanted Eternal Life (John 6:66-69)
a. They didn’t want riches, or power, or the Vatican, or girls, or cars, or civil rights
b. They wanted Eternal Life!
c. And they knew ONLY JESUS could give it
d. John 6:66-69 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
7. I wish YOU wanted to have it as well!
B. Who is God Offering Eternal Life To?
1. God offers sinful people eternal life.
a. I'm working backwards and am starting with God offering sinful people eternal life.
b. I started with eternal life
c. But what kind of people can get such a life?
2. Sinful people
a. It's people who are imperfect people who could never live up to the expectations of entering into the presence of God
b. You can't bring God down to your level and argue with Him and win
c. If you could do that, He's not worth worshiping.
d. He's not worth serving. He's not worth knowing.
e. Because He'd be just like everybody else.
f. No. You got to realize that only God could reach down into your life and could raise you up, and could give you the gift of eternal life, life that never ends.
3. Dying people, perishing people
a. John chapter 3 verse 16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him, trusteth in him, should not perish. But have everlasting life.”
b. What's the opposite of eternal life? Eternal death. Not a death that's over and done with, but a death that goes on forever and ever and ever where you'll wish you could die.
1) That's hell. That's what Jesus came to save us from.
2) Oh, I know it's an old fashioned concept. I know it's something that people don't like to hear about, don't want to think about it, puts them off. They wouldn't think that a good God would send people to hell, but God is good. But we forget that God is holy.
3) God is righteous. God is pure.
4. Sinful people, young and old, can be marvellously changed / saved / born again by the Spirit of God, so that they can enjoy LIFE and explore LIFE forever and ever, and never grow tired of it!
a. John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
b. You have never known anything like it
c. You probably can’t even imagine it to be possible
d. Yet it is offered to you – it is offered to the whole world!
e. John chapter 3 verse 16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him, trusteth in him, should not perish. But have everlasting life.”
C. And now I'm going to finish with the first part, and that is God offers it. It's, it's an offer.
1. It's a gift.
a. John 10:27,28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
b. GOD personally made Eternal Life available.
c. It's free to you and me.
1) There is nothing that I could do To earn it.
2) I couldn't pay for it. I couldn't give enough money.
3) I couldn't give my own life even.
4) There's nothing that I have that could pay for my soul; that could wash it clean.
d. But it costs God everything
1) Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
2) It cost God His Son, Jesus Christ – abused, mocked, lied about, tortured and murdered
3) It cost God His time – He has been waiting patiently for people to realise He is there and to turn to him
4) It cost God His love – given to people who refuse Him and never want Him
e. Yet God offers it. God gives it to anybody who will have it.
f. Wouldn’t it be a shame if somebody offered you the greatest gift you could ever have and you neglected it? You walked away from it? You forgot about it?
1) You didn't just reject it.
2) The truth is, You didn't think it was important enough to act on right then and there.
g. Example of a winning Euromillions Lottery Ticket
1) So somebody comes along and has a winning ticket and there's no name on it.
2) It's available as a winning ticket for a hundred million euros.
3) Now I'm not a gambler and no one here should waste your money on gambling and the lottery.
4) But if somebody had a winning ticket of a hundred million euros and they held it up and said, who wants it? I'm offering it to you right now. You could be the winner, right now, today...
5) How many of you would sit there and say, Oh, I won't go up there. There'd be people climbing over each other trying to get that ticket out of my hand. You see, God offers not a winning ticket for just a few million euros. That's nothing. God offers. God offers sinful people eternal life. He's offering it to you.
6) He offers it on the back of Jesus Christ, a back that was whipped and beaten and punished by the devil, by mankind, and by God himself, so that a sinful person like you, like me
2. The gift of God is eternal life.
a. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
3. It is FREE
4. And it is FOREVER!
a. The best life ever, Eternal life, from this moment forward!
b. The moment I got saved 44 years ago on the 15th of June. Next Sunday is my 44th spiritual birthday. That moment I got down out of a chair and in a kitchen table and I got on my knees and I bowed my head and I cried out to God almighty and I said, have mercy on me, a sinner and save me. I trust that you will keep your promise. I hold to that. I believe with all my heart and I ask you to save me now. That moment I got eternal life and no matter how long I live or how short my life may be, I'm going to live forever. And I'm going to live forever where it just gets gooder and gooder and gooder.
c. Ephesians chapter 2 says in, in eternity future, God is going to show me his grace. He's going to show me the wonders of his wisdom and his creation. This universe is not big enough to limit what eternal life is.
1) Ephesians 2:1-3 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
2) THAT DESCRIBES EVERY ONE OF US BEFORE WE GOT SAVED…
3) Ephesians 2:4-6 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins [WORTH NOTHING TO GOD], hath quickened us [RESURRECTED US] together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
4) I THINK THAT IS MARVELLOUS – BUT IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
5) Ephesians 2:7-9 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
d. Eternal life is the life that we were meant to live.
1) God never meant for man to die.
2) You ever think about how hard it is to die? God meant for you to live forever, but sin got in the way. And sin's killing us. The wages of sin is death. It's killing us.
e. I have that life right now
f. The life I live is not the same as it was before I learned about the Gospel and believed it – it is a life that follows Jesus
g. And I'm asking YOU to receive that life today.
1) Don’t work hard to get it – it would be a waste of your time
2) Don’t try and purchase it – the entire world is not enough
3) Don’t expect your parents to pass it on to you
4) You have got to receive it YOURSELF
5) Just Simply believe that since God offered it, you can receive it, by faith!
6) John 1:10-12 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
7) Like accepting Jesus into your home, if He knocked
8) Well, receive Him into your heart, by faith alone!
D. We Don’t Deserve Such A Gift
1. Why? Because We all break God's laws.
a. Isn’t it awful that so many people are sinful people, and never realize all the gifts they have that they do not deserve?
b. A thief doesn’t deserve a cup of tea, much less your wallet
c. An angry man doesn’t deserve a wife and a family
d. A bitter woman doesn’t deserve a husband and children
2. That is what it means to be a sinful person – a law-breaker
a. A thief
b. A liar
c. An adulterer – doesn’t matter if it happened only in your heart, you are still an adulterer Jesus said
d. A constant complainer – never content – thou shalt not covet is one of the ten commandments
e. Disrespectful to your parents
f. Filthy, blaspheming words out of your mouth
g. Shall I go on?
3. I shouldn't have to convince you you're a sinner.
a. I mean, who here needs to be convinced that you break God's laws?
b. Who in this tent, needs to be convinced that they sin, that they do wrong, that they owe God for things they have done, especially in secret?
c. You know you sin, and that God has both seen you and will judge you one day
4. So, Don't just sit there and think that you'll go off into oblivion when you die…
a. You are going to face Almighty God the very moment your eyes shut in death and your soul leaves your body
b. And if you do not have eternal life before that moment, then it will not be good
c. Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment
5. You are unique in this world. You are a SOUL living in a body.
a. Your body will die one day, but your soul will go on to live forever.
b. Jesus proves that.
c. When Jesus died and three days later came back to life again, he was the same person, back from the dead!.
d. So when somebody says, prove to me there's life after death. Jesus proves it.
e. And He says to sinful people everywhere, Follow me and I'll take you all the way home to heaven – to MY place!
6. Why is this so Hard to Accept?
a. Why is it so complicated? Why is that something that you, Scoff at and mock at. Fools mock at sin. Fools mock God.
b. The fool says in his heart, there's no God.
c. Well, I got news for you. There is. Every bit of evidence points to a Creator God.
d. But you'll never find him, unless you read for yourself THIS Book, and listen to the words of this Book right here
IV.Conclusion
A. I have told you some good news… The G.O.S.P.E.L.
B. That GOD OFFERS SINFUL PEOPLE ETERNAL LIFE
C. Jesus died in your and my place under the wrath of Almighty God, so sinful people like you and me could be forgiven and made whole and given a better life – eternal life!
D. He did it all Himself and offers it as a free gift to anyone who will take it
E. But eternal life is no good if you won’t believe it, trust it to be true
1. Only a fool believes there is no God
2. That this life is all there is to live
3. Don’t be a fool!
F. Accept Jesus Christ as just what you need to be born again, and ask Him in simple words to give you the greatest gift ever… eternal life!