When Jesus Shows Up

For the last couple of weeks we've been looking at the different parts of this conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus. Today, we will finish that conversation. But to understand this last part you need to see it in the context of the rest of the conversation. So, what I'm going to do first is read the whole conversation. Then, I'll point out a couple of things about how the parts of the text fit together. And then, we'll focus in on the last bit.

Listen as I read John 2.23-3.21.

For God So Loved the World

Today, we look at what has to be one of the best known verses around: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.' I'm guessing that the only competition that this verse has for popularity is the first verse of 23rd Psalm. 'The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.' There may be some others, but it's clear that we are in exclusive territory.

An Old Testament Look at the Gospel

This morning we're going to be looking at a text within a text. Let me read our text in John, and then I'll explain what I mean. It’s John 3.14-15. Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus. 'And 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.' Jesus, here, points to something that Moses did when Israel was in the desert. He does this to illustrate the Gospel to Nicodemus. What we're going to do this morning is take a look at what happened in that OT text to see what it has to say about the Gospel. Then, we'll come back to John 3 for one final thought. So, listen as I read Numbers 21.4-9.

Believing or Believing

It is sometimes helpful to remember that the writers of the Bible did not write in chapters. In fact, the English translation of the Bible was not separated into chapters until the 1200's. And, as it turns out, the person who decided where one chapter ends and the next begins sometimes made mistakes. The last couple of verses of John chapter two are more connected with what we call chapter three than with the rest of chapter two. In those verses John makes a comment about believing and men in general. In chapter three John writes about one particular man and what Jesus had to say to him about believing. And that's what today's sermon is going to be about, this thing called believing. Our text is John 2.23-3.16.