Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20050501.htm
JOHN: TRUSTING IN JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD Part III: Trusting ALONE in Jesus ONLY As The Way To Eternal Life (John 1:12-13)
Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

For decades, you have been taught from this pulpit that the eternal salvation of your souls is secured by faith alone in Christ alone.

Yet, that belief is not adequately upheld by influential parties:

(1) Pope Benedict XVI, the new leader of 1 billion Roman Catholics said he will affirm Vatican II that asserts these beliefs:

(a) " . . . In explicit terms he (Christ) Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism . . . for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever . . . would refuse to enter her or to remain in her could not be saved." (Walter M. Abbott, S. J., ed., The Documents of Vatican II (New Century Publishers, 1966), p. 32 as cited in the pamphlet, "A Change of Face," by Frank Hartwig, Assoc. of Baptists for World Evangelism, Inc., p. 32). Thus, a leader of over 1 billion people holds we must trust in Christ and be baptized into and remain in the Roman Catholic Church to be saved from hell.

(b) Another Vatican II assertion holds that Mary, the Mother of Jesus aids in man's salvation, stating: "By her (the Virgin's) preaching and by baptism she brings forth to a new and immortal life children who are conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of God . . . " (Ibid., Abbott, p. 90-91 as cited in Hartwig, Ibid., p. 33)

(2) An even more populous religion, Islam affirms one must heed the Koran and perform enough good deeds to be judged worthy to gain eternal life ("Islamic Lore," SIM NOW, Jul.-Aug., 1989, p. 4-5).

(3) What may confuse our understanding on how to be saved is the fact that Evangelicals like Bill Bright, Charles Colson and J. I. Packer have participated in Evangelicals and Catholics Together meetings "to jointly preach the Gospel" as though the Catholic view on gaining eternal life is correct! To further complicate the issue, the notable Evangelical evangelist, Billy Graham, said in 1978, "I've found that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of Orthodox Roman Catholics." (The Berean Call, Dec. '98, p. 3-4.)

As authorities representing the beliefs of BILLIONS of people, let alone leaders allegedly representing EVANGELICAL beliefs at least appear to upold beliefs CONTRADICTING the view you have been taught from this pulpit, the view that salvation is by FAITH ALONE in CHRIST ALONE, HOW do YOU know just HOW to be SAVED from HELL unto HEAVEN?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Influential sources either teach or leave room for me to believe that to escape hell and enter heaven, I must trust in Jesus PLUS RELY on some personal merit or work or that I must BOTH trust in Jesus AND RELY on someone ELSE! I REALLY want to escape hell and enter heaven, so HOW may I do so FOR SURE?!"

1. When John wrote his Gospel of John, he penned it from the context of his first century A. D. Orthodox Hebrew background.
2. In view of his background, John did his BEST to assert ETERNAL LIFE is gained APART from ALL HUMAN PRODUCTION, be it merit or effort, for salvation is EXCLUSIVELY a MIRACLE of GOD by FAITH ALONE in CHRIST ALONE (as follows):
1. John revealed that "as many as received" Jesus Christ, the "Word" sent from God the Father to earth, God gave the right to become sons of God, John 1:12a. These would thus gain eternal life, John 3:16.
2. Being careful to define what he meant by receiving Christ in John 1:12a, John explained in the latter part of that verse that God made those His sons who " believe on his [Christ's] name," John 1:12b.
3. His statement that one becomes a son of God by FAITH deeply contradicted John's own heritage, for Judaism taught God would favor his Hebrew people, giving them eternal life since they descended from the Biblical patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, cf. Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, (NICNT), 1979, p. 101. John thus worked hard to CORRECT his own heritage's ERROR on the subject in John 1:13 as follows:
1. John noted this "new birth" was not the result of male and female components in the womb that joined the heritage of a human father and a human mother to form a human infant (as follows):
1. Where the KJV states, "Which were born, not of blood" [the NIV states it as, "children born not of natural descent"], the Greek Testament states literally, "who were not out of bloods," U. B. S. Greek New Testament, 1966 ed., p. 321.
2. This expression reflects an ancient view that the human "birth took place as the result of the action of blood" between a man and a woman in the womb, Ibid., Leon Wood, p. 100-101.
3. In effect, John clarified that this new birth by which one became a spiritual son of God did not occur by natural, physical means.
2. John additionally claimed this "new birth" was not initiated by usual, normal sexual drives in a man and a woman that led to their physical union and a pregnancy that followed (as follows):
1. The expression "not of the will of the flesh" (KJV) or "nor of human decision" (NIV) refers to the sexual drives that lead a husband and wife to unite to produce a pregnancy, Ibid., p. 101.
2. Thus, John taught the "new birth" of God is not something that had anything to do with the will or acts of a father or a mother.
3. Anticipating all possible objections for his teaching on this "new birth" from his Hebrew countrymen, John clarified that even the choice of a man to procreate by his wife when it was his will and not necessarily her will had nothing to do with God's "new birth":
1. The words "nor of the will of man" (KJV) or "or a husband's will" (NIV) reflect the Greek New Testament's word, andros in John 1:13 that is used of an adult male in CONTRAST to a woman, and it usually [as here] means "husband," cf. Arndt & Ging., A Greek-English Lexicon of the N. T., p. 65-66.
2. Thus, John explained that even if a husband willed to have a child with his wife apart from her consent, even that HUMAN effort to produce such a "new birth" would NOT produce it!
4. So, DRAMATICALLY OPPOSITE the BELIEF of his Hebrew heritage, "John emphatically repudiates . . ." the belief that the "new birth" came from a Hebrew's ancestral link to the Biblical patriarchs, Ibid., Morris, p. 101. "Nothing human, however great or excellent, can bring about the birth about which he speaks," Ibid.
5. Rather, John wrote those who are born of this "new birth" are "begotten of God", and he used the verb egennaythaysan that is normally employed to describe how a human father begets a child, Ibid.; Loc. cit., U. B. S. Grk. N. T. The "new birth" is "always sheer miracle" by Almighty God, Ibid., Morris.

Application: (1) To be SURE of escaping hell and entering heaven with eternal life, know from John's words that it is NOT by means of any human merit, heritage or work on ANY human's part, but by FAITH ALONE in CHRIST ALONE as a "sheer miracle" of God. (2) Then, TRUST in Jesus for salvation and (3) REST in the words of John 1:12-13 that you ARE saved!

Lesson: As a first century A. D. Hebrew from Israel, John worked as HARD as he KNEW HOW to DENY the ERRANT VIEW of his OWN BACKGROUND that one gained eternal life by HUMAN means of ANY kind; instead, John claimed eternal life was ONLY by GOD'S MIRACLE as one TRUSTED ALONE in CHRIST ALONE for salvation, John 3:16.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

On a cold, winter day in the town of his birthplace in Germany on February 18, 1546, a weak Augustinian monk lay near death. If ever there was a question as to his salvation and his relationship with God, he needed to settle it then, and he knew that well.

You see, the issue of how to obtain God's salvation had been a very tumultuous one for him in his life. He had once been taught that he needed to believe in Jesus Christ plus keep the sacraments of the Church to go to heaven. Accordingly, he had reverently participated in the Mass, he had been baptized in the Church, he had even sought the true absolution of his sins by traveling on foot from Germany to Rome to confess his sins to the authorities there.

He had practiced self-flagellation and gone without food as a devout monk to the point where his bones stuck out of his body all to gain a sense of security that he had attained God's forgiveness.

Yet, in spite of all of these things, in agony of soul, he had found no peace of mind until he had read and understood Romans 1:17 that "the just shall live by faith." When he realized God was ready to pronounce him righteous by faith alone in Christ alone, this Augustinian monk, Martin Luther, led many people in the Protestant Reformation to renew hope in its original Christian Gospel.

Now, as he lay near death, his body worn out from his many labors to share this truth with others, his attention turned toward eternity and the welfare of his own soul.

What did he use for comfort and direction as he lay dying, knowing he was about to enter eternity and go to the eternal destiny of his soul? The historian, James Atkinson, in, The Great Light , p. 122 tells us that Martin Luther " . . . died quietly in the village where he was born, knowing he was passing on, with the words of Christ on his lips: 'God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, to the end that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life' (John 3:16)."

As Martin Luther, that Augustinian monk who struggled so deeply for so long to find PEACE with GOD over the DESTINY of his soul, AWARE THAT HE WAS DYING, recited John 3:16 that spoke of FAITH ALONE in CHRIST ALONE for SALVATION, WE ALSO can rely on that GOSPEL for our OWN salvation!

May we heed it and REST in it!