John 3:16 || Victory Church [Book of John #9]

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. John 3.16, hands down the most famous verse, the verse that everybody and the mama knows, at least of our generation. You will see it on poster board in football game end zones. You will see it in people's bios on social. You will hear it screamed from megaphones at the mouths of evangelists on the street corners. The Bowie family actually just last week, we took kind of like our post Easter get out of town and clear your mind trip and we went out to California. And literally the first thing, I'm talking about like the first thing that we did after we got off the plane was we drove straight to In-N-Out because no trip to the West Coast is complete until you get a double double animal style. Come on somebody. If you have tasted and seen that the In-N-Out is good, can I get a hallelujah? All right. But if you know how it goes at the end of that meal, lo and behold, Isaac flips his cup over and there it is written on the bottom of the cup, John 3.16. So the truth is this, that from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation is the good news of God. The whole thing is the gospel. The whole Bible is the good news of God.

The whole thing is the good news of God. But if you forced me to sit down and boil the entire gospel down to one verse, I would tell you for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but actually would inherit eternal life. Which is why we together as the entire Victory family this weekend are talking about it. So I just wanna take a second and welcome in Victory Hamilton Mill and Victory Midtown and Victory North Cobb and our online family. And very excited, coming August 9th, Victory Tequila. August 9th, waiting for that. And you know, we prayed this yesterday morning, Pastor Dennis actually prayed this, that we might be separated by geography today, have some miles and some interstate between us, but we are unifying around the word of God today. We are united around the word of God. We are united specifically around John 3. And John 3.16 takes place in the midst of this conversation that Jesus is having with this top religious leader in Israel and his name is Nicodemus. And we started this last week, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, which is our reminder when you're reading John, pay attention to the details. Because John is a writer,

knowing that you are reading what he's writing. And he is including specific details to tip you to things that are happening. And so whenever John says nighttime, what he's saying is it's dark, there's doubt, there's fear, there's uncertainty. The enemy is lurking right around the corner. And so Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. He's doubting yet he is the top religious leader in Israel. One of them, which forever shows us that it's possible to go to church and still not know God. Come on, somebody. As much as it pains me, I can go to a Braves game and that does not make me a professional baseball player. It just makes me watcher of professionals. The truth is some of us go to church, but we're not Christians. We watch Christians do the thing. Too soon in the sermon? Okay, just hang on. So Nicodemus comes to Jesus with some questions. And I love this, Jesus doesn't turn him away, which shows us, it teaches us again, that Jesus is cool with your questions. So I just wanna tell you that today. Like Jesus welcomes your questions. You're not gonna hurt Jesus's feelings with your questions. In fact, the beginning of real faith may actually be bringing the right questions to the right person.

So come on, Gen Z, don't ask chat. Come on, millennials, don't ask your atheist friends. Bring your real questions to Jesus, all right? And again, one of the themes that we're seeing all throughout John is that Jesus is supplanting, he's replacing the old system. So I love this. John three actually begins with Nicodemus being the teacher of Israel, and it ends with Jesus being the teacher of Israel. Because he's blowing Nicodemus's mind by what he's saying. And so let's clue back into this. We're gonna kind of catch up where we ended last week on verse 12. Now I know you're seeing red, and I apologize it doesn't go with the color palette. But I did this on purpose because I need to highlight red letters. Those are Jesus's words. I'm just highlighting that just for today. So all you color people, calm down, all right? Here's what Jesus said. Nicodemus, I have spoken to you of earthly things and you don't believe. How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the son of man. And what Jesus is saying is Nicodemus, I'm blowing your mind because you are from below and I'm from above.

And I'm bringing things from above down to you. In other words, what I'm teaching you today can't be read in a book, because I'm bringing it from heaven straight to your ears. That's why your mind is being blown. And then Jesus reaches into the book of Numbers, and here it is. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. Everybody say lifted up. Lifted up. That everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. So Jesus is reaching back into the book of Numbers, where God judged the people, the snakes came in, started biting the people, and they made this bronze serpent on a pole. And everyone who looked at the curse on the pole was healed. And Jesus says, in the same way, I will take on your curse. He's speaking prophetically, and I will be lifted up. And when you look at the curse on the tree, me, that you will be healed, you will be delivered. He's saying, I'm literally gonna be lifted up. And I just wanna pause on this right now and remind every single one of us at every single campus, it is also your job to lift Jesus up. That is the purpose of your life, is to lift Jesus up so that all would believe, so your friends, your family, your coworkers, neighbors, would be able to see the real Jesus.

We're called to lift Jesus up. In the book of Revelation, it says that the church is the lampstand. What's the purpose of a lampstand? It's to take the light that may be hidden and to put it up at eye level where everybody can see. It is our job to lift up the light and demonstrate it, profess it, scream it out to a watching world. That is the job of every pastor, every Christian, and every church, which is why if you've ever gotten frustrated, why don't you have a single ministry? Because our job is to lift Jesus up. We may get a lot of things wrong, but we're gonna get one thing right. We're gonna lift Jesus up. Why don't you have this other thing? We're gonna lift Jesus up. Why don't you start this mission? Because we're gonna lift Jesus up. And let me just say this. I don't know how you got here today, but if you're a part of a church, another church that doesn't lift Jesus up, it's not a church. It's a TED Talk with some self-help and a cafe. All right? Our job is to lift Jesus up. And the day that we stop lifting Jesus up,

we are no longer a church. And it's my desire for us at every single one of our campuses that when you leave, we may mess up a thousand things, but may we never mess up the fact that we're gonna lift Jesus up. May you leave every single time more in love with Jesus than the day that you came in, the hour that you came in, okay? And so here's what's happened. So that's how we end 15. And then we're rolling over to John 3.16. Now here's the deal. Why I put that in red letters up there is because if you have a physical Bible today, or maybe you have what's called a red letter Bible where the words of Jesus are in red, in some versions, John 3.16 is gonna be in red. In other versions, John 3.16 is not going to be in red. Okay, why is that? Well, if you actually go back, biblical Greek does not have quotation marks. So we don't really know when Jesus stopped talking and when John starts talking as the author, okay? So smarter people than me, theologians, the general consensus is Jesus stops talking at John 3.15, what we just ended, and John picks up talking in verse 3.16. Why is that important? Why does that even matter? Because John, I believe, is giving information

that Nicodemus didn't have that night. John is writing after Jesus has been crucified for the sins of the world. Dead, buried, third day, the stone rolls away. He's ascended into heaven. John is seeing the church explode, and he sits down and he writes. And in essence, if you can see it like this, John is screaming through the pages at Nicodemus. Nicodemus, would you open up your eyes? Would you open up your ears? God himself is 18 inches in front of your face. He's telling you the good news. Please, would you get the cotton out of your ears? Would you get the scales off of your eyes? Jesus himself, God in the flesh, is right there. And he's giving us information that Nicodemus didn't have that night. He didn't have it that night, but John wants to make sure we have the information. So what is the information that John wants to make sure that we know? John 3.16. 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. Verse 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

but to save the world through him. 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. And that, ladies and gentlemen here at Victory, is the good news of the gospel. That's the good news of the gospel. And as we begin to unpack John 3.16 over the next few minutes, I want to warn you about a temptation that some of you are already beginning to wrestle with here across the campuses. Here's what we have to fight today, okay? If you are anything like me and you grew up in church. So you've been in church for 300 years. You have heard John 3, 16 at least referenced 10,000 times. Okay, and here's what we, every single one of us has to fight if you're in that category. Do not allow the good news of the gospel to get old and cold in your soul. Here's what we have to fight, okay? Is that John 3, 16 isn't just for beginners. It's also for veterans. It's for every single one of us. Right, my seminary professor told us this. We talked about this in week one of the series is that the book of John is shallow enough for children to play,

but it's also deep enough for elephants to swim. So whether you are a child in the faith or an elephant in the faith, there's something rich that God has for you today. I'm just saying it again. Just because you've been a Christian for a long time doesn't mean you have John 3, 16 figured out. I wanna remind us, I wanna allow the Lord to remind us, Holy Spirit remind us right now that the power of these words can still save your soul. The power of these words can still rescue your marriage. The power of these words can still set the captive free and deliver you from addiction and infuse boldness in your bones to evangelize the hurt and dying and lost world. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world. So let's begin by unpacking a few of these big words. So let's just start right here in verse 16. Here it is, for God so loved. Everybody say so loved. He so loved the world, okay? Let's just start right there with so. It's funny because I'm not an English major. In fact, I did terrible in English in school. So hope to all of you who are terrible in English class. I pretty much write papers for a living now. That's kind of what I do. And so that word so is an adverb. I don't know that, I had to look that up. So here's what that means.

So there isn't defining the quantity of the love, but the type of love, the quality of the love. Here's what it means. That does not mean that God loved the world so much. Doesn't mean that, okay? What it actually means is God loved the world like this. God loved the world like this. So how did God love? So loved, he so loved. How did God love the world? Well, Paul writes it in a different way. We should read it in John 3, 16, but here's how Paul says it. But God demonstrates his love for us in this. God loved us like this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Come on, somebody. I rejoice in the fact that God did not wait for me to clean my life up. I rejoice in the fact that God didn't wait for me to start attending church and dressing just nice. I got to cover up my tattoos and I got to stop cussing. I just got to do it just right and fit in here in the south and be a good church person. And he's like, now I can finally love you. No, God did not wait for me to get my life together. God didn't even wait for me to love him first. Come on, somebody, I didn't start this thing. No, while I was still his enemy, while you were still mocking God and cursing God

and mocking other Christians, while you were shaking your fist at heaven, God loved you and gave his life for you. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's how God so loved. That's the type of love that God has. That's how he did it. And now here's the deal. God so loved, loved, loved. Here's our problem, all right, and we're going to spend a minute on this. We live in a world that doesn't know what love is. Okay, what is love? Baby, don't hurt me. Don't hurt me no more. No, we don't know what love is. We live in a culture that equates love with approval. Love is affirmation. If you really love me, you'll affirm what I'm doing. If you really love me, you'll approve of my lifestyle. Let's just be honest for a second. How many of us know people who don't go to church because they think that we're just a bunch of bigots who gatekeep who other people can love? Right, how dare you? How dare you say who I can love, right? And now here's the problem. To compound that, we use the word love for everything. So it means nothing, right? Love has been degraded.

Love means nothing. When you say love, here's what I mean. Let me just let you in on a secret. I love Mexican street corn. I do, I do, I really do. My brother-in-law and I went out this last week to a little Mexican place and we got some elote. And it was muy delicioso. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Me amo. I love it. And I love Mexican street corn. I also love my wife. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And some of you love Real Housewives of Atlanta. And that's a whole different sermon. We'll talk about that one day. And I love Jesus. And God so loved the world. Same, same. Same, same. Amen. God loves the world like I love Mexican street corn.

No, right? Like we don't know because we have one word. Now here's the deal. Maybe English is a second language for you and your language has 50 words for love. Okay, in English, it's a problem. We only got one word. We only got one word. But specifically in the Bible, in biblical Greek, there were four words for love. Maybe you've heard this before. Let me unpack it real quick. So one of those words for love is eros. Okay, eros is romantic or sexual love. Clearly, that is where we get the word erotic from, right? So just, I mean, that's, yeah, that's enough, okay? You get the point, okay. The second one is storge. So storge is familial love. A parent would storge their child, right? Phileo is what's called brotherly love. So that's why Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, even though it's not, I mean, like being honest about that, they are the worst sports fans, okay, okay. And finally, agape, agape. Agape, what I would say is the highest form of love. That is unconditional, sacrificial act of love. It is the most common word throughout the New Testament for the love of God. It is the love of God that he gives to us

that we are then called to turn and share with the world. God agapes us, and so we turn and give that agape to our friends and our neighbors. What it's saying is God's love is not passive. God's love is active. God's love does not sit back. God's love engages. God's love is sacrificial. It is active. It is humiliating to self. It is willing to suffer harm for the beloved. What that means is we should not mock real love by bringing in eros. Here's the problem. We live in a culture that conflates the two. It calls, in essence, lust love. It's not love, it's lust. You don't love each other, you sex each other. Come on, come on. So don't come in here saying, well, love is love. No, it's not. Love is lust. You can have those affections. Yeah, sure, that's sin, but don't defame love by calling sex love. No, that's eros. That is chemicals in the brain. That is physical attraction. No, that is not agape. Agape runs so much deeper than that.

Agape is willing to bleed out for the beloved. People should not say that they love each other. They just sex each other. Because real love, agape love, is a love that moves you to hurt for your beloved. Agape gets off the throne of heaven, leaves the place of perfection, self-denies, self-humiliates, self-humbles, wraps on fragile, frail skin, walks the dirt that you created to bleed out and die for your enemies. That is love. And John writes it in 1 John 4, 9. He says, this is how God showed his love. This is how God agape'd us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. And if you've ever wondered what is love, this is love. This is agape. Not that we agape'd God, but that he agape'd us. And he sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. This is our reminder, guys, you did God no favors. You didn't start this thing. You didn't start this thing. You're like, well, you know, Jesus needs my love. So no, no, no, Jesus needed nothing. You didn't start anything. He agape'd you so you could agape him. You didn't start the agape, he started the agape.

And he gave you the agape to agape him back. So what is love? Love is not butterflies in the stomach. Love is not demanding approval or affirmation. True love is climbing across and bleeding out for your enemies. Love is laying your life down for the ones who are mocking you. Here's the problem. Humans evaluate love by chemicals in the brain. God evaluates love by nails in his hands. They're two different things, two different things. And we can only know what love is because Jesus went to the cross for us. That's how you, if you've ever, what is love? Point at the cross. What is love? Point at Jesus, bleeding and suffocating, renewed and humiliated for his enemies. That, my friends, is love. And let me just put skin on it for a second. I am better in every single area of my life because I've received the agape of God. I'm a better husband because of God, I've received the love of God. Let me make that real for a second, okay? Why? Because covenant itself is based on agape. Agape is sacrificial, active, unconditional, bleeding love.

It's not eros. And let me just tell you guys for a second, if you base your relationship or your marriage on eros instead of agape, look out. Look out. Listen was why we always pause and give a public service announcement if single people you better make sure the person that you're gonna marry is born again Because if they're not born again, they have no agape to be able to give to you And we've got all these people trying to write blank like checks and there's no money in the account Like I love you. Well, then back it up I have nothing to back it up because I have no love of God to be able to give you Listen and if you marry somebody who doesn't have the agape of God, therefore, they can't give the agape of God It's either gonna be a short marriage or a very long miserable marriage So you better make sure that your relationship is bathed in the agape of God so praise God for his agape the great selfish unconditional Sacrificial love of God God so loved the world. Who did God love who did God agape? I just said it there It is as highlighted up here verse 16. God so loved the world Now here's the deal later on in first John John writes don't love the world. He's telling us that so this is not contradictory here In the book of John whenever he says God's God so loved the world What he's talking about is the the the ocean of lost defiant Humanity who again like like Psalm 1 would say why do the nation's rage like why are we shake our fists humans shake our fists? In heaven and curse God right and turn our back on God and that's who John is talking about That is the world the the the the ocean of humanity that without Intervention would actually because of their sins suffer God's divine judgment and go to hell forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever And ever God so loved the world not the ways of the world not the things of the world Not the sin of the world God loved the people of the world That's who God agapes and guess what that includes your neighbors who you don't like

That includes the other political party that you don't like that includes your family Who may be sitting next to you right now in fact God loves everybody that you don't like God love here listen you have never met one person that Jesus did not die for So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Jesus died for the people have pronouns in their bios Jesus died for people who live in a same-sex lifestyle who sin differently than you do Jesus died for the people who you love to trash on social media All right, everybody. Maybe you're in this group. You're trashing Magga. Yeah, Jesus died for those people, too Yeah, maybe you're Maggie and trashing. Yeah, Jesus died for those people, too. Right God loves the people who mock you for following Jesus Yeah, he loves them to God so loved the world Every ethnic group isn't is included. So sorry black Hebrew Israelites and white nationalists and everybody in between It's not about skin color. It's it's not about Geographic lines on on a map right if we need the reminder Galatians 328 There is no neither Jew nor Gentile slave or free neither is there male or female for you or one in Christ Jesus? I actually included the second part for all the Hebrew Israelites if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham seed In other words, you've been grafted into the family of God doesn't matter what your skin color is Doesn't matter what your genealogy is doesn't matter what's in your blood. It matters whose blood is on your life God is not a black thing. God is not a white thing. God is not American thing and listen I have to say that and I know where we say this all the time We're equal opportunity offenders. If if you're offended today, don't worry, you won't be next week. And if you're not today, no I'm just just you'll get there. Don't worry Here's what I'm saying. We're living in a nation right now that the culture is saying America first, whatever. Here's it Here's my problem America first very quickly becomes America only and that is anti gospel And that is what we have to wage war with because God's love is not an American thing God's love is not an inward thing a selfish thing Here's what I'm gonna tell you God loves our neighbors and our friends in Nigeria who are being martyred for their faith even right now God loves the Kenyans. God loves the North Koreans. God loves the Chinese. God loves the Russians. God loves the Iranians In fact, there's a better move of God happening in Iran than there is in America right now God loves the array Israelis. God loves those in Gaza God loves the South Africans and the Italians and everybody in between because God so loved

the world God so loved the world guys Good news. Here's what that also means. Listen, that means God loves you You It's not just for everybody else it's also for you Here's maybe a revelation for some of us. Something's worth is determined by what someone's willing to pay for it. That's economy 101, right? Like you ever heard like a news article where it's like this piece of art sold for like $50 million? And you're like, what is that? It's like a white canvas with like a black dot. Because somebody saw value in that thing that you didn't, so they emptied their account for it. So good news, you have immense worth because you were not purchased with the blood of bulls and goats. You were purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ himself. Not because of anything you have done, but because God made you worthy. And three generations, I just reached back into three generations of church fathers who spoke on this, Augustine in the 400s. He said, God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us.

In other words, it doesn't matter if you were the only person on earth, Jesus would have come for you. Martin Luther said this in the 1500s. God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us. Tozer said this about 70 years ago. A person's worth is revealed by what God was willing to pay to redeem him. Guys, you are loved as if you were the only person on earth. You have been made worthy by the king. The father deemed you worthy of the blood of his son. So let us do away with this garbage self-talk about being worthless. Guys, today that stops. The self-harm stops. You are not worthless, you are valuable. You have incalculable worth. The father smiles when he thinks about you. He rejoices over you with shouts of joy. His thoughts towards you are more numerous than the sand on the seashore. Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. Even if you're bald, God knows how it works. And before you even lived one day, all of your days were written out by the father who loves the beloved. You are loved, you are worth it, you are valuable. God so loved the world, which means God loves you too. Next question, how much does God love you?

Here it is. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only. Can we say that? One and only. One more time. One and only son. That's agape, love in action. The selfless, sacrificial love of God bleeding out for his enemies. The father sent the son in essence on a one-way mission to come and die for the people who hated the father. And I've been trying to wrestle with that. I've been trying to, God, give me insight on that. God, help me understand how that feels. Because listen, how could we possibly understand that kind of love? How could we possibly understand that type of sacrifice? I've been wrestling with it all week. And I wanna introduce to you, if you haven't heard it before, I'm gonna give you a theological word. One of my favorite hermeneutics. So a hermeneutic is a way of interpreting the Bible. And one of my favorite hermeneutics is called the principle of first mention. So the principle of first mention would say this, that to understand a particular word deeply, we have to go back and find the first place in Scripture that that word occurs and study that passage. And if we can actually understand the first time

that a word is ever mentioned in Scripture, that gives definition and color to every other time that that word is mentioned throughout the entire Bible. So here's the idea of the principle of first mention. If we can go back to the first time that the word love is ever mentioned in the Bible, that will actually go all the way through to color in John 3, 16. We on the same page? So here's the question. When is the first time that love is ever mentioned in the entire Bible? Great exercise, okay? Because whatever is the first time that love is mentioned makes all the difference in the world because it's gonna define John 3, 16 for us. When's the first time that love is ever mentioned in the Bible? It's gotta be in the first chapter. Come on, because God is love. John says that, it's gotta be in the first chapter, right? Is Genesis 1, right? No, it's not there. Is it in the seven days of creation? No, no, no. Is it Adam and Eve? Nope. Is it Noah in the flood? Nope. Come on, is it Babel?

No, no. Cain and Abel? No. Come on, is it in Genesis 1? Is it in Genesis 5? Is it in 10? Is it 15? Is it 20? No, come on, how long do we have to wait for you to say the word love, God? And then we arrive in Genesis 22, is the first time that the word love is ever mentioned when we find a man named Abraham who God made a promise to, that he would have a son. And 25 years from the moment of the promise passed until the son was finally born when Abraham was 100. Even more impressive. So if Sarah was 90, he just got to do the fun part. Sorry. But then the day came when Isaac was born and they held God's promise in their arms. And if you're a parent, you know how that feels. I actually, it was easier in the other services, but Jeremiah's in here right now. I remember that. I remember the waiting. I remember the excitement. I remember the promise delayed, but not denied. Come on.

I remember the pregnancy test. I remember the growing in the belly. And I remember Summer saying, hey, I'm hearing him move and I can't feel anything, I'm just the dad. But eventually he got big enough where I could feel the kicking. The delivery, the labor, yes. But finally holding him in my hands. And nobody ever taught me this. Nobody ever said, hey, Johnson, make sure you feel like this. But I am telling you guys, it'll be 21 in just a few, very soon. 21 years ago, I remember holding a little boy in my hands. For one second. In the first, I'm telling you, verbatim, what went through my mind, I said, I would jump in front of a bus for this kid. Nobody taught me that. I didn't have that emotion 10 seconds before. This new dimension, this thing got unlocked on the inside because that's just what it is. It's my son, my only son. I'm holding him in my hands 21 years ago. And seeing him grow up, seeing him learn to walk, seeing him learn to talk, becoming the pride of life. Verse one of Genesis 22. Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham, here I am, Abraham replied. And then God said, take your son, your only son,

whom you love. It's the first time the word love is ever mentioned in the entire Bible. Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah and sacrifice him. There is a burnt offering on a mountain, I will show you. The first time the word love is ever mentioned in the entire Bible, it is connected to a father taking his son, his only son, and sacrificing him. Do you even catch that language? God so loved the world that he gave his only son. And I've been trying all week, and I can only scratch the surface, but I've been trying to imagine how Abraham would have felt. God, it's my son, it's my son. I waited 25 years for this boy. This is the promise of God on my life. And I can only imagine the turmoil and the anguish in the, God, what are you doing? I'm so confused. I'm trying to process everything, but here's why he's called the father of the faith. He wakes up early the next morning, he just gets moving. Personally, this may be wrong, I don't think it's this great act in that moment. I think he's thinking, if I wait 10 more minutes, I will talk myself out of this. I just gotta start moving, I just gotta start moving. And here's the deal, it tells us off the top, this was a test, Abraham didn't know this was a test. We know it's a test, as the readers,

Abraham didn't know it was a test. And so he just obeys, and he starts moving, and we catch this detail at the foot of Mount Moriah. They put the wood on Isaac's back for the sacrifice, and they just walk up the hill. And however the next events of the details of the story happen, Isaac is tied down, Abraham removes the knife, and as he lifts it into the air, this angel intervenes into the middle of it and says, Abraham, don't do it, it was only a test, it was only a test, we knew it was a test, Abraham didn't know it was a test. By the way, God will never tell you to kill your children. Disclaimer. But the thinking is, Abraham probably knew, this is God, he can do whatever he wants to do. So even if Isaac dies, God will raise him from the dead. God will fulfill his promise, still through this boy, God will figure it out, God will make it happen. And what happens is, as the angel says, don't do it, Abraham's eyes turn over here, and he sees a ram caught with its horns in the thicket. And what happens is, Abraham unties Isaac, takes him off the altar, takes the ram, puts it on the altar, and kills the ram in Isaac's place. The first time we ever see love in the Bible, it's a father sacrificing his son, his only son, whom he loves. and this is Jesus just like the wood was placed on Isaac's back to carry up the hill for the sacrifice Jesus carried the cross on his back up the hill to go

Gotham and just like the ram's head was caught in the thicket Jesus's head was wrapped in a crown of thorns and just like the ram was sacrificed so Isaac could live Jesus the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world was slain so we could live we were taken off the altar Jesus was placed on the altar he received what was ours so we could receive what was his he took our shame he took our sin he took our condemnation he took our death he took our humiliation he took every wicked thought and imagination that you've ever had and he died for it he bled for it he breathed his last for it so we could receive his righteousness his holiness his perfection his sonship his relationship with the father C.S. Lewis calls it the intolerable compliment who am I who am I to receive that who am I to get that I am dust and then just like Abraham hoped and prayed for resurrection on the third day the stone rolls away and Jesus rises again and breathes the breath of life conquering sin hell death in the grave for God so loved the world that he gave he gave he gave he gave he gave he gave even his only son praise God that's agape that is agape and I believe what God wants us to do is to feel what Abraham felt just for a moment just for a moment feel the pain feel the shock feel the horror again I've been wrestling with it this week I've been I've been searching my soul saying God under what circumstance under what condition would I ever do that to my son under what condition could I ever tie him up and raise the knife and there is not one listen any parent out there you know you would plunge the dagger into your own heart first instead of it happening to your own child and I believe God's inviting us into the shock of that the horror of that so that we would begin to get an ounce of the understanding of how wretched our sin is what is the condition of humanity how bad off is the condition of humanity that God would actually send Jesus on that mission the mission that I would never do I would never send my son on that but how great is the love of the father that he would do that for us and then he's inviting us in that place for this well of gratitude to just rise God thank you thank you thank you thank you what kind of love is this that a father would sacrifice sacrifice his only son

so that I could live so forever let's tear down these wicked lies against the father against Christ against the gospel and against Christianity here's the new God is not your enemy Jesus did not come to earth to condemn you in fact sending Jesus was the most loving thing the father could ever do why we just read it in verse 17 for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him 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 here's what it's saying guys Jesus did not come to condemn you Jesus came because you were already condemned we got to get our facts in the right order not believing in Jesus didn't make you an enemy of God you were already an enemy of God and Jesus came to make you a friend of God we got to get this thing right Jesus didn't come to condemn you Jesus came because you were already condemned Jesus came to save you so that means rejecting Jesus is rejecting the only thing that can save you and what this shows us is that Christianity is not one of a hundred different paths to God okay listen listen everybody's like well if you just everybody's got their cheesecake menu of salvation all right well you want to do the meditation and do the Islam thing Jehovah's Witness is really popular right now okay got this no there's one item on this menu and his name is Jesus it's Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus there we are all condemned there's no way to save ourselves and Jesus is the only way to be saved from judgment and I know listen I know that sounds exclusive I know that sounds closed-minded I know we live in a culture said how dare you okay I am the opposite of closed-minded I am the opposite of that we want me to tell you how inclusive I am I'm so inclusive that I believe you an adulterous idolatrous murdering stealing blasphemer can Inherit the kingdom of God. That's how inclusive I am. I'm so inclusive that I believe it doesn't even matter what you did.

If you repent of your sin and come to faith in Christ, you can be saved. It doesn't matter on your bloodline, on where you were raised, on what country you're born in, what language you speak, what your skin color is, how much money you make. It doesn't matter any of that stuff. What it matters is, do you have faith in Christ, in Christ alone? And I believe that because of that, you can stand before the Father clean and holy and righteous but there is only one way to do it. Acts 4.12, here it is. Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name. Thank God for the name. There is only one name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. There is only one name that saves us. And what is that name? Jesus. Jesus. See guys, a lot of people misunderstand Christianity. They think it's exclusive. They think it's hateful. They think it's bigoted. How dare you say there's only one way to heaven? My response to that is this. Wait, wait, hold on, hold on a second. There's a way to heaven?

Wait, hold on, hold on. There's a way to heaven? Because newsflash guys, God didn't have to offer a way. God is righteous and perfect in his judgment to send every single one of us to hell. Every single one of us is deserving of hell. First time you sin, he could have just said, burn, go away from me. I don't wanna see you. Oh, you mock me? I will mock you forever in hell. You're gonna turn your back on me? I will turn my back. He didn't have to offer a way, but he did offer a way. All of us ascend and fall short of the glory of God. We all deserve judgment, but God made a way. I think about it like this. Imagine you're doing this trip in the cruise ship across the ocean, right? And then the ship sinks. And it's just you out there in the middle of the deep open ocean. And all of a sudden, your strength starts failing. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Right? And just as the strength is failing, you see this thing pop down and you lift your head up and it's a lifesaver. And you look up and it's a boat. And they saw you passing.

They say, I saw you passing. I saw you drowning. Take the life preserver. And you look at them and you say, only one way. Only one way to be saved. That's a little exclusive. Once you take your one way, you can just go back to port, right? You can just take your judgment. Dead. No, what would you say? Thank you, thank you. Grabbing hold tightly, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. You gave me a way, a way to be saved. You didn't have to, but at my last moment, you gave a way to be saved. And that's what the Father did to us in Jesus. So what's our job now? To believe. That whosoever believes shall not perish, but inherit eternal life. Our job is to believe. And that word, I'm gonna linger on this just for a sec. That word believe is really important. In the Greek, it's pisteo. Pisteo means to know to be true, to put faith in. Here it is, to trust completely. There's a problem in English, again, of our word believe. Our word believe is like facts, right?

Like I believe that one plus one equals two. That's not what this is with Jesus. There's an epidemic in church today of this thing called intellectual assent, which means I believe a lot of correct facts about Jesus, so therefore I think that I'm born again a Christian and say, that's a problem, guys, because historians believe a lot of facts about Jesus. Pontius Pilate believed a lot of facts about Jesus. You know who believes probably the most facts about Jesus? Demons. Demons believe that Jesus is the son of God. Demons believe that people can be born again and saved through faith in him. But you know what? Spoiler alert, there's no demons in heaven. Why? Because they don't trust, they don't put their faith, they don't put their life existence into his hands. They turn their back even though they know the right truth. And what God is calling us today is to move beyond intellectual assent to saving faith. Saving faith is pisteo. In a very real sense, when you came in today across all the campuses, you, when you sat down in your chair, you weren't like, I've been tricked before, right? No, you like, you just popped out. What'd you do? You pisteo'd that thing.

You said, if I put the weight of my life on this thing, it will lift me up, it will sustain me. Every time you get on an airplane, you pisteo the airplane. And what you're saying is, I believe that this thing will deliver on its promise and it can get me where it says that it's gonna get me safely all the way through. That's what we're called to do with Jesus. We're called to trust, not just believe some facts, but to put the weight of our life on Jesus, to get on his back as he crosses the tightrope across the Niagara Falls of sin, that I believe he can actually get me to the other side. I'm not trusting in the small little footlong pieces of driftwood that other people trust in this world because they're all sinking left and right, that there is only one way to be saved and I have to bestow in that one name. There is one name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved and it's the name of Jesus. And we are invited and welcome to put the full weight of our past, our present, and our future into his hands. And I implore you that he who trusts in Jesus will never be put to shame. And we have an invitation today, then the ocean of sin where people are drowning, to grab a hold of this great life preserver of the soul and to cling tightly to pisteo, to not just believe some facts,

but to put the weight of our life and then to trust and obey and follow for the rest of our life. There's only one name, name of Jesus. God so loved the world, he gave his only son. Whoever believes in him will not perish, will actually have everlasting life. And we're gonna take a step in that direction together as a family right now, and we're gonna receive the Lord's Supper together. So across all of our campuses, if you're at the right side of an aisle, once you reach down, grab that bucket of elements and pass that down. And today, if you're a follower of Christ in faith or you're stepping into faith in Christ, we're gonna invite you to take communion with us. And here's what happens on that last night before Jesus went to the cross, he brought his friends together, his disciples, for the Passover meal and he took the bread, he broke it, he took the cup, he poured it, and he redefined it, being about him. So one of my favorite things to do is to do this with you guys. So for all the other campuses to understand, we have a big room here in North Cross, so we're gonna wait for the family to be served before we take communion together. While you're waiting,

you can go ahead and take the bread, Al. We're gonna pray. Father, we've heard your word, and I thank you for loving us with agape, not just loving us with words, but loving us with the cross, with your son, your only son, whom you love. We were the ones condemned. We were the ones tied up on the altar of sin about to die, but you made a way. And Jesus stood in our place to take the punishment that should have been ours. And thank you, God, that there is now a way to be saved. There's a way that is the way, that is the truth and the life, and his name is Jesus. So right now, Holy Spirit, I invite you to wake up our souls if we're still slumbering. May this not be old and cold. May it be real, vivid, live, passionate, breathing warm in our soul. So let's take this bread. Right now, Father, I thank you for the broken body of Jesus Christ, that he allowed his back to be whipped. He allowed his beard to be pulled. He allowed his face to be punched. And by his stripes, we are healed. So right now, God, I speak shalom over this family. If we have mental anguish today, be it shalom. Peace of God, peace of God in your heart.

If you have broken heart today, be healed in Jesus' name. If you have brokenness in your body, your bones, your blood, be healed in the name of Jesus. Right now, God, we receive this bread and we do it in remembrance of Jesus. Let's take the bread. Jesus took the cup and then he poured it. He says, this is the cup of the new covenant, which is a God promise of how we are made right with God. We're made right because God so loved the world. He gave his son who bled out for us. Listen, if today's the day that you're putting your faith and your trust in Jesus, grabbing a hold of Christ, putting the full weight of your life in him, maybe for the first time, or you're coming home, I wanna pray with you. And then actually receiving this cup in just a second. and is gonna be your line that you're gonna cross over and say, yeah, I'm all in, okay? But first, we're gonna pray together across all of our campuses. And so won't you repeat after me and family of God's gonna pray with you. Let's pray, say, God, I believe. Not just in my head, but with my whole life. I put the full weight of who I am on Jesus. I repent and turn from my sin and I receive your great love. I receive your sacrifice for my sins. Thank you that I am not condemned. And right now I am forgiven and alive forevermore.

I will live for you the rest of my life and I will spend my life telling others the good news about who you are. Thank you that there is a name that saves me and his name is Jesus. Father, thank you for new life. Right now, we receive this cup, some of us for the very first time, you're receiving the blood of Jesus Christ into your life to wash you as white as snow. And we take this cup and we do it in remembrance of Jesus. Amen, amen. Hey, if you're down at the right side of an aisle, again, won't you turn, pass that down, pass that small bucket down. You can place your communion element in there. Hey, while we're doing that, if you're able, won't you stand up to your feet? We're gonna take one more step. We're gonna revisit a song that we sung earlier together. It's just all about the name of Jesus. I can think of no more fitting action to take in this moment than for us together to just say, thank you, Jesus. Because there is a way, there is the way, and there is only one name. Come on, there's one name, the name that is above every name, the name of which every knee must bow, and heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue must confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So let's give glory to God the Father and worship the name of Jesus together, amen. Thanks for being a part of Victory Church on the Pando app. We hope this content was a blessing to you. But we want you to know that you're not done yet because we want to hear from you. So send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life, how we can pray for you, or even content that you would like to see us create in the future. We just want you to know that we see you, you're important to us, and we'd love to continue to create some things in the future that will bless you. So send us a letter, and we hope to hear from you soon.