Sermon Text: John 3: 14-21
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Morning Message
My sermon title today, Believing or Believing In might seem very simple and uncomplicated. On the surface there does not seem to be much difference between the two terms, just one little word. That little word makes all of the difference in the world. Listen to part of my devotions for this week. Knowing facts about God isn’t the same as knowing God and it doesn’t answer the riddle of life. Nor does it empower us to overcome the selfishness and fear which destroy our happiness. What is it the scripture says? “Even the devils believe and tremble” (James 2:19). I don’t believe that there are many true atheists in the world. Most people believe there is a god or gods, many believe in the God who created all things. To be honest, when you look at creation, it is much harder to believe that there is not a god than it is to believe that there is.
A living faith must be more than just beliefs about something; it must lead us to trust somebody. There is an example given of the faith of a Canaanite woman in Matthew 15: 22-28. The woman came to Jesus crying out to him to save her demon-possessed daughter. Jesus tells her that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. The woman persisted; she came and knelt before him; Lord, help me she said. Now listen! He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. The heart of her belief was that God could be trusted. She believed IN the goodness of Jesus and was sure that there was a place in his heart for her. That was why she could be so persistent in asking for help. She trusted the promise that God is both faithful and compassionate—and would always be there for her in time of need.
As human beings we hate when our faith is tested, but that is truly the only way to know for sure that you have faith. It doesn’t take faith to go through life when everything is going smoothly and there are no problems. This is the true difference between simply believing and believing in. Our scripture today starts off with a piece of a very odd story. It would be easy to just skip over this and get right to the meat of the text, but without this story we cannot fully understand what God is trying to say to us. In the book of Numbers, in the Old Testament, we find this short story that only lasts for five verses, chapter 21: 4-8. The Israelites, as they are on their way to the promised land, grow impatient and start speaking against God and Moses. God sent venomous snakes among them, they bit the people and many of them died. When they cried out to God he had Moses make a bronze figure of a snake, put it on a pole and told the people, when you are bitten by a snake, look up at the bronze snake and you will live. There was nothing magical about the bronze snake. What saved the people was their belief in God and having the faith to do as he said. Jesus is simply saying here that it will take that same faith to believe in him when he is lifted up on the cross.
For God so loved the world! We should all know this verse by heart. This verse says so much and it is the statement that our faith is built on. It shows us the depth of God’s love for mankind, a sacrificial love, a love that cannot be explained in human terms, a love that only God can express and instill in us. But don’t miss this very important part, whoever believes IN him shall not perish but have eternal life. Verse 18 says whoever believes IN him is not condemned. Notice how the record of Jesus’ life and teachings reveals this, too. God is coming to us, entering into our history, making the ultimate sacrifice so that we might believe in him. God came to us not to prove to us that there is a God but in order for us to be saved from our sins. Believing in the sacrifice that was made for you. Believing in what Jesus did on the cross. Believing in the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Believing takes no faith, believing in and trusting God’s plan of salvation for your life takes a step of faith on our part. I truly believe that a lot of people come to church, praise God, acknowledge everything about God and fail to take the extra step of believing in God and accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It is never too late to take that extra step; never until this life is over.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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