September 12, 2010

“How to Get to Heaven From Fredericksburg” John 3:1-17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEXX1DsdPnE


That raises some emotions on several levels, doesn’t it?


The voices recall the horror and pain of the 9-11 attacks.


The song echoes the cry of our lost generation desperately looking for answers to the big questions of life.

And, pertinent to the topic of this morning, we remember that those terrorists who flew the planes into the towers, and the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania were doing so in the hopes of obtaining a place in Heaven.

I don’t think that worked out too well for them. What do you think?

We can’t fault them for wanting to get to Heaven. Everyone is interested in Heaven, but obviously, not everyone knows how to get there.”

Let me ask you a question. “What are you doing to try to make it to Heaven?”

If someone where to ask you, “How do I get to Heaven from Fredericksburg, VA, would you be able to give them directions?” “Do you know how to get there?”

This morning I want to answer that question. I want to show you how to get to Heaven from Fredericksburg, VA.

How are you with directions? I’m pretty good with directions, but then – I’m a man. Men always know where they are and where they are going and how to get there. We never get lost!

But just so you don’t have to take my word for it, let me rely on an even more reliable source. Someone like – JESUS!

In the Gospel of John, there is a story about a man named Nicodemus (great name isn’t it?) who came to Jesus wanting to know how to get to Heaven.

How about if we eavesdrop on this conversation and see what we can learn from Nicodemus and Jesus?

You’ve Got To Know Who To Ask, Vv. 1-2

Asking the wrong person doesn’t help much.

Nicodemus didn’t make that mistake he came to the right person. He came to Jesus. If you need directions to Heaven Jesus would be your Guy!
So, how do you know who to ask? How did Nicodemus know where to go?

1) Jesus had authority – “we know you are a teacher come from God”

2) Jesus had authenticity – “For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

Nicodemus was drawn to Jesus because Jesus reflected the reality of God in His life.

You’ve Got To Know Where You Are, Vv. 3-7

What did Nicodemus discover?

Why would a guy a good as and as religious as Nicodemus have to worry about how to get to Heaven?


What was Jesus saying? – Basically – “YOU’RE LOST!”

Lost = “separated from God”.

You are born lost and unless you do something about it you will die lost.

What you need to do is be “born again”………..

You’ve Got To Know Where You Want To Go, Vv. 5

What is “the Kingdom of God?”

If you want to be in His Kingdom you must know Him as your King!

Jesus knew that Nicodemus wanted to be sure about Heaven. Jesus was right – as usual.

Directions:


Go to Stop Sign – John 3:19-21 – Stop Sinning
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

Make a U-Turn - Acts 17:30 – Repent
"God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.

Go to Yield Sign – John 3:36 – Surrender to Faith
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

Merge Right - I John 1:8-10 – Confess – Agree With God
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”

Stay In Your Lane - I John 1:7
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Follow those directions and you can arrive in Heaven. Why not program them into your GPS – your God Positioning System.


Professional golfer, Paul Azinger was 33 when he was diagnosed with cancer. At the time he had won ten PGA tournaments and was coming off his first major win at the PGA Championship.

He wrote, "A genuine feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me even harder. I’m going to die eventually anyway, whether from cancer or something else. It’s just a question of when.

Everything I had accomplished in golf became meaningless to me. All I wanted to do was live."

Then he remembered something that Larry Moody, who teaches a Bible study on the tour, had said to him. "Zinger, we’re not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We’re in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living."

Golfer Paul Azinger recovered from chemotherapy and returned to the PGA tour. He’s done pretty well. But that bout with cancer deepened his perspective. He wrote, "I’ve made a lot of money since I’ve been on the tour, and I’ve won a lot of tournaments, but that happiness is always temporary. The only way you will ever have true contentment is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that nothing ever bothers me and I don’t have problems, but I feel like I’ve found the answer to the six-foot hole."

Nicodemus came to Jesus looking for directions from the land of the dying to the land of the living. Jesus showed him the way. We don’t know for sure if he made the commitment. It is too late for him now.

But what about you? You now know how to get to Heaven from Fredericksburg, VA? But will you follow directions? Will you be prepared to leave the land of the dying and get to the land of the living?

You’ve Got To Know What’s At Stake, Vv. 8-17

Here is where this analogy breaks down a little. If you get lost while traveling – if you get back directions, or if mapquest is misleading or if your GPS gets a bad signal – you may lose miles, or waste time or burn up some gasoline – but you will eventually get where you need to be.

But, if you miss God’s Kingdom – if you are not born again and you get lost you are lost forever!

Imagine a Dove of Peace. The dove picks just one grain of sand from a beach and takes it to Mars. It takes the dove 4 years to get there and 4 years to get back. It is an 8 year journey and the bird does that until every grain of sand is gone from earth. That is eternity and it goes on forever.

Imagine a huge planet made of steel, floating in space. Every one trillion years a mosquito would slowly come fluttering by and just barely flick the planet with its wing, and fly away. When a trillion more years go by, the mosquito comes again and flicks the steel, until eventually the mosquito has rubbed the planet away.

At stake is your ETERNAL destination. Where will you spend eternity? You know, eternity as in FOREVER!

If you spent that eternity in Heaven – eternity won’t seem long at all. Every second will be filled with unimaginable joy!

But, if you miss Heaven and end up in Hell a second will seem like eternity!

September 11, 2010

This is part two of the directions of how to get to Heaven from where you are.

You’ve Got To Know Where You Are, Vv. 3-7

I remember the time I visited the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis. That's a lot of shopping!

Obviously overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place we sought out one of those directories that dot the hallways of shopping malls. In a place that massive you really need a directory to help you find the directory. But, undaunted and being a male, I hunted one down. Of course, when I looked at it I immediately saw the arrow and read, "You are here!" That was helpful - EXCEPT I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE HERE WAS!

You have to know where you are before you can know where you need to go!

That is what Nicodemus understood and that is why he went to Jesus for directions. What did Nicodemus discover?

Why would a guy a good as and as religious as Nicodemus have to worry about how to get to Heaven, anyway?

"In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' John 3:3-7

What was Jesus saying? – Basically – “YOU’RE LOST!” "Lost" means spiritually separated from God. The reason for the spiritual separation is because God is holy and as a holy God He cannot have fellowship with sin. It is like darkness and light - they are incompatible.

Every human being born since Adam and Eve's moral failure has inherited their sinful fallen nature. That means we are naturally disoriented and spiritually unaware of where we are and where we need to be. We are literally born lost - spiritually separated from God. Spiritually speaking, we don't know where "here" is!

You are born lost and unless you do something about it you will die lost. That is REAL bad!

What you need to do is be “born again”………..that is the metaphor Jesus used to communicate to Nicodemus the moral and spiritual dilemma he found himself in. "Flesh gives birth to flesh" refers to the physical birth. We all have one of those. But due to the presence of sin in the human nature, we are born physically alive but spiritually dead -aka - "lost. So, a second birth needs to happen. That second birth is a spiritual birth which can only happen when we connect with the Holy Spirit of God. And we can only connect with the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ.

Before you can know where to go you need to know where you are. Nicodemus found out he was lost. He had felt that something was missing within his spirit. Now he knew why.

What would he do about it?

Are you lost? Have you discovered where "here" is?

Have you admitted it? What will you do about it?

If you want to get to Heaven you first have to know where you are.

September 10, 2010

"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

Let me ask you a question. “What are you doing to try to make it to Heaven?”


If someone where to ask you, “How do I get to Heaven from Fredericksburg, VA, would you be able to give them directions?” “Do you know how to get there?”

This morning I want to answer that question. I want to show you how to get to Heaven from Fredericksburg, VA.

How are you with directions? I’m pretty good with directions, but then – I’m a man. Men always know where they are and where they are going and how to get there. We never get lost!

But just so you don’t have to take my word for it, let me rely on an even more reliable source. Someone like – JESUS!

In the Gospel of John, there is a story about a man named Nicodemus (great name isn’t it?) who came to Jesus wanting to know how to get to Heaven.

How about if we eavesdrop on this conversation and see what we can learn from Nicodemus and Jesus?

You’ve Got To Know Who To Ask, Vv. 1-2

Asking the wrong person doesn’t help much. Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RBYgEZqrJs

Nicodemus didn’t make that mistake he came to the right person. He came to Jesus. If you need directions to Heaven Jesus would be your Guy!

So, how do you know who to ask? How did Nicodemus know where to go?

1) Jesus had authority – “we know you are a teacher come from God”

2) Jesus had authenticity – “For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

Nicodemus was drawn to Jesus because Jesus reflected the reality of God in His life.

Is there a person in your life whom you can trust to ask the "big" questions about life and death and eternity? How have they won your trust? Are they worthy of your trust?

Does that person's life demonstrate spiritual authority? Are they grounded in the Bible? Do they live by the truths and principles of Scripture? Do good things happen when they pray? Is there life-change happening in them and around them wherever they have influence?

That is the sort of person you could trust for directions to get you to Heaven.

Are you a person like that?

September 9, 2010

"In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:3-8

A preacher was once preaching about Heaven and he was good! Passionately and eloquently he elaborated on the golden streets and the pearly gates and the angelic choir and the crystal sea and the river of life and the throne of God and the eternal bliss! He was on a roll and he had the congregation in a frenzy. (Of course, if you can't get people excited about Heaven you're not much of a preacher).

At the conclusion of this stem-winder he asked for a show of hands for everyone who wanted to go to Heaven. Well, every hand in the place shot high in the air - except for one. The preacher was momentarily thrown by this but figured the man must not have heard the question. So he repeated in louder and engendered the same response - all hands except this one fellow.

The preacher was curious now so he called this guy out, "Sir, I see you are the only one who doesn't want to go Heaven. Can you tell this congregation why that is?"

"Well, preacher," the man responded, "I definitely want to go to Heaven! But it sounded like you were trying to get a group together to go today and I can wait for later!"

That is what I have found about Heaven - everyone wants to go, they just don't want to go today! You can add me to that number!

It is like the Indian scout that came back to General Custer on that fateful day. He reported to the General, "I have 'em bad news and I have 'em some good news."

"Give me the bad news first," Instructed Custer.

"As far as I can see to east there are Indians. As far as I can see to the north there are Indians. I look to the west and all I can see is an Indian war party. When I looked to the south - nothing but Indian braves!"

"Wow, that IS bad news," moaned the General.

"What's the good news?"

"You won't have to go back through Nebraska!"

Heaven has some real good news and a little bit of bad news.

The good news is that it will be an amazingly beautiful place of peace and joy and fulfillment. There will be no more pain and suffering. There will be no sin or evil. We will get to see God and we will get to see Jesus and we can fellowship with all the great saints of the ages. We will get to be with loved ones and there will be no more good-byes. And that is just a short list!

The bad news is we have to go through death to get there.

But when Nicodemus came to Jesus to find out about Heaven Jesus didn't talk to him of death, He taught him about birth. A second birth. A spiritual rebirth that has to happen in order to be prepared for Heaven.

God's Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom. Flesh and blood cannot enter it. Especially sinful flesh and blood.

You and I are born into this world as sinful fallen creatures by virtue of our human nature which was corrupted by Adam. So, we come into this world spiritually separated from God, Who is holy. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that the reason he can't understand these spiritual truths Jesus is teaching is because his spirit is dead and unresponsive to God. God is a Spirit.

That is why sin is wrong. Sin doesn't threaten God or lessen God. Sin saddens God because it keeps us separated from Him and He desires fellowship.

Being "born again" requires a decision to turn away from our sinful desires and turn to Christ. When you turn to Christ and trust Him to be your Savior the Spirit of God enters your spirit and brings it to life. Your spirit lives because it is connected to the One Who is the source of Life.

"Born of water" refers to your physical birth. But "born of the spirit" means a spiritual rebirth is required to bring you into His Kingdom. Once you are "born again" you can live in relationship with God and He can begin the process of transforming your heart and your mind into the image of Christ.

Don't die unless you have been born - again!

September 8, 2010

"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." John 3:1-2

As a man, I hate to ask for directions. I am not exactly sure why that is. A little research threw a little light on the query. Here is one person's theory:

"It is important to understand that men are NEVER "lost." To him, that implies a helplessness that he will never willingly experience. He simply hasn't gotten there yet and he has complete faith in his ability to do so.

Also, a man's unwillingness to stop and ask for directions is consistent with his survival instincts and actually not stubborn at all. First, the act of stopping the car, and rolling down the window, makes him (and you) more vulnerable than he is willing to be just to get some place faster.

Second, from a man's point-of-view, the moment he asks a gas station attendant, or someone on the street, for directions, he has put his life and yours in the hands of a stranger! Men, wisely, only put their lives in the hands of people who have proven themselves trustworthy. The way he sees it, you are both better off searching for your location yourselves than being at the mercy of the judgment of someone he doesn't know and trust." Alison Armstrong

That sounds good to me!

Mind you it is one thing to be unsure of your location in your SUV on a country road somewhere and quite another to be totally clueless about your eternal destination. You can recover from being temporarily lost but when you are lost for eternity - IT IS OVER!

I give Nicodemus a great deal of credit. He was a proud man and a very religious man. His entire life had been devoted to studying the Law and the Prophets. This man was a knowledgeable in all 632 levitical regulations and all their applications. All the people he hung out with were just like him in terms of knowledge and expertise. But Nicodemus was different in a very important and admirable way. He knew he was lost and wasn't afraid to asking for directions.

He knew enough about religious to recognize that religion is not enough! He understood that it is not WHAT you know but it is WHO you know.

Let me ask you, "If you were to die tonight do you know for sure you would go directly to Heaven to be with God eternally?"

I am not asking you, "Are you religious?" Nicodemus was religious but he also recognized he was spiritually lost - eternally lost! He had an urgency to do something about that. You should have an urgency about that as well!

As you read this and as you, like Nicodemus, honestly recognize that you are unsure about your eternal destination will you face it with the same sense of urgency he did? And will you do what he did? Will you look to Jesus for the directions to get to Heaven? Will you humble yourself to accept His Way? That would be wise since He IS "the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him."

Stay with me this week and I will point you to Jesus and show you how to get to Heaven from where you are. You can replace your haunting fears about eternity with a hopeful faith about your future!

September 7, 2010

"Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive." I Corinthians 10:23

Barbara and I are home after a few days of sun, sand and surf. It was restful and relaxing but we are glad to be home!

Traveling home we heard the story of the pastor in Florida who is planning to burn Korans this Saturday to protest Islam on the Anniversary of 9-11-2001.

His announcement of this plan has raised a storm of protest around the world. It has been strongly criticized and condemned by generals, Presidents, clergymen the Attorney General, news networks, newsmen and commentators. Yet, the pastor remains undeterred in his plans.

Does he have a legal right to do this? Absolutely! No doubt!

Does he have the religious freedom to burn these books? Sure!

Is it a good idea? Does it glorify God or commend the Christian faith?

Not in my opinion. I don't think it makes him or his church or his faith look very good. I don't think it reflects the spirit of Christ. This is not something Jesus would do.

Am I sympathetic to Islam? Not at all! Do I believe the Koran is a holy book on par with the Bible? No way!

But it is a book held sacred by billions of people and why antognize these people for the sake of a publicity stunt? There is nothing positive that can come from that. Why give radical terrorists an excuse to terrorize? This action will cause people to die and place our soldiers in greater risk in the Middle East.

This brings to mind the mosque controversary near ground zero. The same principle applies to those who are promoting this project.

Do they have the religious freedom to do this? Yes.

Are they given the constitutional right to build this building? Certainly.

Does building this mosque at this sensitive site that offend a significant number of people? Indeed!

Does persisting in this unpopular and offensive plan cast their Muslim faith in a favorable light? Not really. Does it promote more positive relationships with Christianity and Judaism? No.

Paul reminded the believers at the Corinthian church that they should focus on their responsibilities rather than their rights when it comes to relating to others of faith. In the immediate context he is referring to other Christians, but the principle applies to those of other faiths, as well. As Christians, we are to be willingly to surrender our rights for the sake of developing relationships of faith. Operate under the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law for the sake of fellowship - for the cause of Christ.

Anyone who would oppose the mosque but would support this Florida pastor would be disingenuous and hypocritical.

Both the New York Imam and the Florida pastor are displaying a callous disregard for the virtues they claim to embrace. Obviously, the pastor is more culpable than the Imam because he should be guided by the Word of God while the Imam is devoted to the writings of Mohammed.

Let's pray that both of these men have second thoughts and choose a more responsible course that will not needlessly provoke violence and cause great offense.

The principle for you in all of this is this: do you cling selfishly to your rights or are you more determined to do what is right for your faith and your God?

September 6, 2010

"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." John 3:1-2

Okay, I kept my word for three days but this morning I couldn't sleep and neither could the dog. So I was up early and Barbara slept in and I had some extra time. I can only read so many articles about the VT-BSU game tonight and I feel my mind slipping into preparation mode so I'll go with it.

Jesus was given little credit by the religious elite of His day. He didn't honor their rules and He was drawing huge crowds to listen to His teachings that were not kosher. They had a good thing going and now this upstart Galilean was threatening to expose them and explode their religious stranglehold on the Jewish people.

But in every corrupt organization there are a few honest, albeit, misguided souls. John mentions one such fellow by the name of Nicodemus.

Nicodemas watched and listened to his guys while he was watching and listening to this Jesus person and he was noticing a big difference in what He said, how He said and what happened after He said it. He knew what his guys had going but he couldn't figure out what was in it for this young teacher. The more he watched this Teacher the harder it was to discredit him. The more lives that changed and the more miraculous healings and demonic deliveries he heard about the more difficult it was to discount this Radical Rabbi.

This Jesus seemed to teach with an unusual authority and lived with such an obvious integrity that Nicodemus knew he needed to get a closer look. So, under the cover of night he arranged a face to face with this Teacher. He had to know if this Guy was for real. I imagine there was a part of him that hoped He was and a part that wanted Him to be like every other preacher.

Well, as this passage reveals, Nicodemus went to Jesus, interviewed Him and found Him to be the real deal. He would never be the same!

If you are a member of the FredWes family or a regular visitor to the website and this blog, you know that we have designated this coming Sunday as "Back to Church" Sunday with the goal of getting someof our un-churched non-believing friends to come and check us out. We are doing this because we believe there are a whole bunch of Nicodemus-types around out Fredericksburg - Spotsylvania area. You are supposed to be inviting them for "Back to Church". They are honest people weighed down with life tired of the phoniness of religion and looking for some real answers. Like Nicodemus, if they could only find Jesus they would be transformed.

So, we know there are plenty of Nicodemus' out there. The question is, "How many 'Jesus-types' are there?" Do your non-believing friends see a positive difference in you? Does the love and grace of Jesus radiate from your life? Have they seen enough of Him in you that they will be curious to come and check us out?

Invite them and find out!