LENT
2
March
4-6, 2023
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
John 3:1-18 (EHV)
“IT’S GOD’S WAY OR
NO WAY!”
It just does not stop. The foolishness and
arrogance of man to take what God provides and exchange it with lies provided
by Satan. God provides the gift of marriage and when lived God’s way it is a
wonderful blessing. What does man do but exchange it with free love, living
together instead of getting married, same sex and hook ups. God provides the
blessing of male and female deliberately designed to be different so as to
complement one another in service to God. Man replaces it with transgender, non
binary, genderless and furries. Every defiance of God is sin and comes from the
Evil One but the worst and most damning of all centers on what matters most,
God’s salvation plan. God provides His Son and man has found a thousand
different ways to say, “No thanks, God! I can do it myself.” The words of God
we dig into contain probably the most well-known passage of Scripture. There
are likely 10,000 different sermons in these 18 verses. Don’t worry I will not
try to preach them all to you today but rather focus on one main important
point. It’s God’s way or no way.
“There was a man of the Pharisees named
Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He
came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher
who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing
unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I
tell you: Unless someone is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of
God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born
when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be
born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell
you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God! 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is
flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do
not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above. 8 The
wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it
comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the
Spirit.”
Nicodemus is so typical of man. He was a
Pharisee, a religious group who had exchanged the truth of God for lies of the
Devil. It did not make sense to rely on God saving them. They believed and
taught that your status and blessing from God depended on what you did. But
like typical man, deep down he knew, his good wasn’t good enough. So he asks Jesus.
Jesus made it clear to him. You want to be a part of God’s kingdom then it’s
God’s way. Born from above. Born of water and the Spirit. If you want to be
saved it’s God’s way. His doing. And don’t be foolish, Nick. You acknowledge
the power of the unseen wind. Give glory to the greater power of the Holy
Spirit.
“I hear what you’re saying, but…Yes, but…”
Polite and impolite ways of telling someone you disagree. Nicodemus does that
to God! “How can these things be?” asked
Nicodemus. “How can this be?” asks the created peon to the one who created
the entire universe with a breath. “You are
the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these
things? 11 Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we
know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our
testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and
you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No
one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son
of Man, who is in heaven.” 14 “Just as
Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted
up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life.” Nicodemus, it’s God’s way or no
way. You are teaching God’s people in Israel. What else is the entire Old
Testament but one example after another that if people are going to be saved
God has to do it because people always fail their part. Remember the bronze
snake? When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years He
provided free food for them. Manna in the morning, quail at night. They were
just about to enter the Promised Land but got impatient with God and complained
against Him. To chastise them God sent poisonous snakes into their camp. People
were dying. You know what they did. They tried to fix it themselves. Try this
herb. No, this one. Stand on your head, hop on one foot, cut an X and suck the
poison out. By the way that only works in Westerns. People kept dying. Finally,
they called out to God. God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on the
pole. He was to tell the people to look at the bronze snake and they would
live. Those who believed did and lived. Those who rejected God’s way died. So
simple. It’s God’s way or no way.
The same for the kingdom of God and
eternal life. And what is God’s way? Jesus. Nothing has changed from Old
Testament times. Man’s good is not good enough.
If salvation depends on man in any way, it will fail. So God swoops in
with the way that depends only on His great mercy and love. A way that is 100%
the work of God from first to last. God sends Jesus. That brings us to that most
famous passage of Scripture. “For God so loved the world that he gave his
only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have
eternal life.” This is personal with God. How many of you are giving even
one out of every ten dollars God places in your care so that someone else can
hear the Gospel and be saved? And He gives you many dollars. But God has only
one only begotten Son and that is what He have given for you, for me and all
the other wicked people of this world. And what did God give Jesus to? The
cross. To be lifted up like the snake in the wilderness so that whoever looks
to Him is saved. Our Lenten journey leads there. God does not send His Son on a
tropical vacation but to suffer the torments of Hell, to be punished for our
ongoing selfishness, our foolish choosing of sinful pleasure over Savior
serving, our half hearted belief, our truth twisting to make ourselves look
better and others worse, the ease in which we tear each other apart behind
their backs and the umbrage we take if someone dare do that to us. Friends,
it’s not that Jesus gets us. It’s that He got us--out of the Hell we
have earned. That’s God’s way of saving. We can’t do it ourselves so He did it
for us. And let there be no, “I hear what you are saying God, but… or Yes,
but…or How can this be?” from created peons to their Creator. Instead let there
be awe and appreciation for how great the Father’s love for us is. It’s God’s
way or no way.
How many Israelites died physically and
then eternally because they refused God’s way of looking at the snake because
it seemed too easy or didn’t make sense? How many people we know will do the
same because looking to Jesus seems too easy or doesn’t make sense? But
remember, we don’t gather to listen to God’s word for other people but for
ourselves. The Muslims are not giving up their allegiance to the false god
Allah. Mormons are not changing their teachings to be more palatable to a God
rejecting society, nor are the Jehovah’s Witnesses getting tired of being
different. It’s the Christians in our country. God forbid that include us! You
Senior Saints. It really must feel like you are strangers living in a strange
land. Each day the news in our country brings something more to shake your head
about. What we have today is not what the greatest generation sacrificed for.
You carry your concerns for your children and grandchildren. You know. It’s
God’s way or no way. Got it? Just hang on. It’ll be over soon. For us who fit
into the midlife crisis manager slot. It’s on us now. What will we hand off to
our children? The reason we cannot give up on any moral issue is that it leads
to capitulation on the major issue, salvation through faith in Christ alone. It’s
God’s way or no way. Got it? Hold the line. For you young people, I’m sorry. In
our desire to make life better for you and easier for you I fear we have
inadvertently let too many of you become soft. By example and permission we
have taught that if it’s not easy, you don’t have to do it or go through it.
You can’t be that way with faith in Jesus. It’s God’s way or no way. I’m 55.
I’ve done well over half my time. God willing He will let me lay down my sword
before you. You are up next. The next line of Christians soldiers who get to
proclaim the true Christian faith. It’s God’s way or no way. Got it?
Sadly, those who follow their own ways and
think they are climbing the stairway to heaven are in fact on the highway to
hell. Here is the second half of the most famous passage in Scripture. “For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the
world through him. 18 The one who believes in him
is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” It’s God’s way or no way. Got it? Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment