Sermon Notes

Having the Proper Response to the Gospel

John 3:9-21

“9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus. 10 “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. 11 “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven —the Son of Man. 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 may have eternal life. 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will 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 Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.” (John 3:9-21, CSB)

11 “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.

“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.” (1 Corinthians 1:18, CSB)

“…a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”(2:14)

“Unbelief is not a misfortune to be pitied; it is a sin to be deplored. It’s sinfulness lies in the fact that it contradicts the word of the one true God and thus attributes falsehood to Him” ~ John Stott

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will 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 Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.”

“4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6 He poured out His Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior 7 so that, having been justified by His grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7, CSB)

“God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

“Her landing was perfect: exactly in the middle of the canopy, where two aluminum pipes meet. The pipes bent and cradled her body, stopping her just feet from the ground. The canvas didn’t even rip. An inch or two off, and it would have been a different story.” (South Florida Sun Sentinel, May 12, 2005)