Ep 36 – Love Part 4

Hi there, welcome back with It’s all greek to me and we’re gonna go into a discussion with Vicki and I on the greatest commandment in the whole bible and that is to love God with all of our hearts on mine and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself. And as we go into this, pick up your bibles and follow along and we hope and pray that God will touch your heart through these studies and through this discussion in a very relaxed way, but a deep way getting into the word love in the original language. Hi there tom and Vicky my Harris again with getting into God’s word and this is one of the most important subjects that we can talk about is love. But and how does that relate to having a personal relationship with God? I think probably the number one chapter in the bible is john chapter three. And that was the chapter that God first introduced me to the whole concept of love that God had loved for the planet for the globe. But he also had love for me and I began to understand the love of God. Then by the same token, Vicky also was back in new york city. And uh and I was upstate 250 miles away from her and somebody had given her a gospel of john and guess what? She was reading the gospel of john in chapter three when I called her and she began to tell me that she had just heard john 3, 16 and 17, it was just reading it and that God so loved the world. And he gave his only begotten son. And I’m like I was I said you were, I I couldn’t believe it. So, today, what we’re gonna do is just read The Gospel of John Chapter three because it is the most powerful chapter that tells us on how to have a personal relationship with God and how Jesus christ actually spoke to this man Nicodemus in this chapter, it tells us the four pictures that Jesus gave Nicodemus of how to have that personal relationship with God. So let’s go jump in and begin to talk about it Vicky all right, How to have a personal relationship with God. I’ll begin and then you can go on. Now. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the jews. This man came to jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher. We know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless truly God is with him, Jesus answered and said to him truly truly, I say to you, unless one is born again or from above. He cannot see the kingdom of God. And I put down here, the baby born. And this is the first illustration Jesus gave to Nicodemus of what he was trying to teach him. We continue. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old. He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born can he jesus answered truly truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is Spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born from above or born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound event but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. And I named this one the wind blowing because this was the second metaphor or illustration picture that jesus gave to Nicodemus of what he was talking about and how to have a personal relationship with God. First he said you have to be born from above. Second he said, it’s like the wind blowing. You can’t see the wind but what you can see what the wind does, the the effects of the wind. Okay uh then we go to the next one, Nicodemus said to him. How can these things be, jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things truly truly. I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen and you do not accept our testimony if I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven the son of man. And as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. And I named this one the snake biting. That’s the third picture of how to have a personal relationship with God. And then it goes and by the way we’re gonna go to numbers 21 6 through nine to find out what jesus was talking about to Nicodemus. He didn’t go to genesis three, he didn’t go to which where the serpent was with adam. He didn’t go to genesis 12 and 17 or 15 genesis 15 or 17 where God is telling him about Isaac. And then in Genesis 22 where he actually goes to sacrifice Isaac and he doesn’t go where moses is taking the lamb, the blood of the lamb and putting it on the door posts many pictures in the old testament of redemption or sacrificing uh you know an animal for the sin of the people like the young kid, Poor lamb but here jesus christ uses a very obscure image picture but yet very very clear once you understand that he’s really dealing with sin and and so notice what he says in numbers 21 6 through nine, the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to moses and said, we have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you intercede with the Lord that he may remove the serpent’s from us and moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to moses make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard and it shall come about that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it, he will live and moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard. And it came about that if a serpent bit any man when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived and that was what God had told moses that when they looked they would live, it was really a obedience to the faith of the word that God had spoken to moses. That moses spoke to the people really based on faith and and look and live. Believe that this fiery serpent, this serpent that I’m hanging on this tree is going to take away your sin. And jesus christ now makes an application from that to himself and says so, so shall the son of man be lifted up and then quotes or shares this with Nicodemus for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world or judge the world, but that the world through him should be saved. And of course, this is one of my this was the passage of scripture that changed my life. The truth that changed my life when I first heard that this was what changed Vicky’s life when we heard it. For God, so loved the world. That’s the greatest love that he gave his only begotten son. That’s the greatest gift that whoever believes in him, that’s the greatest faith shall not perish. That’s the greatest deliverance, but have eternal life. That’s the greatest relationship for God did not send his son into the world to judge the world. That’s the greatest mission, but that the world might be saved through him. That’s the greatest salvation. And then the next passage, Verse 18, he who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. This is judgment that the light has come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. For everyone who does evil, hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested or revealed as having been wrought in God. Now that is john chapter three from beginning to end and here we named this metaphor picture the light burning. So we have here in this passage of scripture, we have these four pictures we have the baby born, We also have the wind blowing and then the snake biting and finally the light burning. So Vicky Nicodemus comes at night, he’s a pharisee and he’s, he’s making positive statements about jesus, we know you’ve come from God, you’re a teacher, nobody can do these miracles that you do, unless God is with them, jesus christ stops him actually, kind of almost interrupts and says and changes the whole subject and says unless you are born a nothing from above. That is the word uh that we have way back in gen uh in john three, unless you are born from above, he says to him, you cannot, you cannot enter uh into heaven, you cannot see the kingdom of God and you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. He made both of those statements, Verse three, he answered and said truly, truly, I say to you unless one is born, it says again in the translations in the English language, which is really trying to help people understand it, but the word is Arnold thing, which means born from above. So talk to me a little bit about what you understand that to meet. Well, it’s just, it’s a he’s talking about a birth of the spirit from God and that can only come to us from heaven. So he’s saying that we must be born in a new way, that we not only change our heart, but our thoughts and our whole being will become like jesus to be conformed into his image, through the reading of the scriptures and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because we get so convicted when we read the bible, because the power of the truth of God’s word causes us to actually take a real picture of who we are, our own sinfulness and our desperate need of a savior. So when it says, but as many as received tim and john 1 12 to those, he gives the right to become the Children of God. So we become the Children of God by realizing we are sinners and receiving, jesus christ who came from heaven died on a cross was buried and rose again. And so when we are born from above or born again means we not only have a physical birth, but we also have a spiritual birth. And and this is what jesus tells Nicodemus right? The baby born. The baby born. Nicodemus can’t understand it. So he proceeds and says, how can a man be born when he’s old, can’t enter a second time in his mother’s womb and be born can me and jesus answered truly, truly, when he says truly, truly, he’s he’s overemphasizing the importance of this and the seriousness of this and the truthful promise of this, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom have gotten out that which is born of the flesh is flesh. So he says born of water is the flesh and born of the Spirit is the Spirit. He explains verse five and verse six, he explains that the bible is always the best commentary on the bible, jesus christ explaining to Nicodemus. You had a physical birth which he refers to his water, but you must have a spiritual birth. And just because you’re a religious person or you’re committed to the scriptures or because you’re, you know your whole life like Nicodemus was the teacher of Israel doesn’t necessarily mean that you have been born in God’s family. You can have a religious post as a as a cardinal, as a bishop, as a pope, as a preacher, as a deacon, as an elder doesn’t mean anything. Rabbi is a rabbi, anybody in a religious realm. Yeah. Right, so, but you must be born jesus. And unless one is born again or born from above, he will never see or enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Don’t be amazed for seven that I said to you, you must be born again, then he gives them the illustration of the wind blowing where it wishes and you hear the sound of in it, you don’t know where it is coming from and where it’s going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. That’s the wind blowing. He’s giving him physical pictures, physical illustrations to really be able to comprehend. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be again? He still didn’t understand. And then Jesus goes to what Nicodemus does understand right? Jesus answered and said to him, are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things truly? I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify what we’ve seen and you do not accept our testimony. He was making himself clear if I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended. Come down. That is uh ascended into heaven. Go up into heaven. But he who has descended come down from heaven, the Son of Man, He was actually telling him, look I came down, I’m going back up And and then he’s saying as moses now, he should understand this in numbers 21 as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Even so must the son of man be lifted up. He just told him I came down, I’m going up and I am going to be like that serpent on the cross. This to me it’s not what is being said, but it’s what is not being said. That is really surprising to me that jesus didn’t say I’m the young kipp a lam, where I’m the you know I’m the picture of Abraham offering up his son. That would have been a great picture. But he uses this snake, the snake that God told Abraham to do. Do you think that that’s amazing. I think it’s a difficult illustration for me to understand. Okay, and and so and so here we are looking at this snake biting and reason. The reason for this is because it represents sin. It represents condemnation and jesus christ took the sin, the punishment, the wrath of God, The condemnation on the cross as a substitute as a propitiate a shin elia’s moses. The bible calls it a satisfactory sacrifice for our sins. That’s why he picked that illustration and we’ll continue in a little bit and I want to take a few minutes before we go to the to the light burning and here is what it says for God. So loved the world. I mean it’s not just loved, but so love. There’s emphasis here, it’s like with his arms wide open that God loves this world. Uh this is the focus, this is the apple of God’s eye. It’s the greatest love how you know when you stretch your arms out, how far can you stretch your arms out like a dad says, how much does daddy love you? And you say this much and you stretch out your arms? Well if God was the one speaking to you, how much does God, how much does the heavenly father love you? And he stretched out his arms and he bled and died on the cross for our sins from one side of the universe to the other side of the universe by becoming a man. This is the greatest love. God demonstrated his love to us that while we were sinners, it says in romans and chapter chapter five Verse eight that Christ died for us, he demonstrated his love to us. And this is why it’s so incredible for me to realize that this love we’re talking about is unconditional off. Not while we were good, not while we were righteous, but God demonstrated his love to us. That while we were sinners Christ died for us, it is an unconditional love. Yes, it is an immeasurable love Ephesians three says we cannot know the depth and the height and the length and the width of the love of God. It surpasses knowledge. It’s a it’s a wonderful love. Yes, it’s a wonderful of You cannot measure it. And it’s a love that is unending. It’s never ending. The bible says in romans chapter eight that nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in christ jesus. Our Lord. It’s a universal love right here. That God so loved. What the world that’s right that he the world he It’s a universal is the greatest love for everyone. Every man, Every woman, Every child from the beginning of Adam and Eve all the way to the very end of the last child of Adam and eve. The billions of people that have lived the billions that will live from here on that God so loved the world. It’s the greatest love he gave his only begotten son. The greatest gift. Can you give anything more than your own son than your own intimate relationship? I don’t know about you but my daughter, I have four daughters. My daughters, my son, I have one son. I would gladly exchange myself for any one of them if I knew it was life or death for them. God the father God the son, God, the holy spirit in eternity gave his own son becomes a man and goes to the cross and bleeds and dies on the cross for our sins. That’s what it says in Acts Chapter 20 and verse 28 that he ransomed us and that he purchased us with his own blood. Yes. And and then it says he that he gave his only begotten son. That’s the greatest gift and the greatest faith that whoever believes in him. This is anyone. Whoever believes you have to believe that God loves you would not perish but have everlasting life. Notice what it says. The greatest faith, the greatest deliverance would not perish God will deliver us. It’s not just getting out of an accident from a car or a burning building. This is deliverance from going to hell. This is deliverance from eternal separation from God. This is deliverance from having to answer for all of our sins, every one of them that jesus christ, the bible says saved us. So we would not perish but have eternal life. Now when it says have eternal life, that’s in the present tense, we’re gonna have eternal life now the moment we believe and it’s eternal life only a story, which means it’s a relationship, we enter into this eternal relationship with God that we have eternal life, the greatest relationship and that’s the most important part of salvation. It’s not about a religion, it’s not about a set of dues and don’t, it’s not about a law, it’s about a person, jesus christ. And having a relationship with God through him, jesus said in john 14 6, I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father, but through me and then the greatest mission for God did not send his son in the world to judge the world condemned the world, but that the world through him should be saved. And that’s the greatest salvation. Let me ask you now, are you saved? Have you trusted christ? Have you accepted him? And if you have accepted him, then the next thing to do is to take his word the bible and to begin to let the light of God’s word guide you through this world of darkness. And that’s what the next thing says here, the light burning so that this is the judgment that the light has come into the world. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light For fear that his deeds will be exposed. But Hugh practices the truth comes to light. When you begin to read the Bible it’s light and then you begin to practice the truth. What you find in God’s word is truth Jesus said in John 1717 my word is truth and then you begin to practice it. If you were living in adultery or fornication, you stop you repent. You change if you were involved in being a thief or you’re living an arrogant life or you you you’re disrespectful to your parents, you’ve broken the commandments and now you want to come and re engage with what God wants you to do. You begin to bring all of your life under God’s light and truth. Listen today if you hear his voice, don’t push him away. God loves you. He already knows you and he wants to come in your life and take over and change your life. All you have to do is cry out to a loving God who loves you and this is how you reconnect with the greatest word in the universe. L. O. V. E. Love and it is who God is God is love. So through christ his death is barely his resurrection. We connect with a loving god who forgives us and who saves us based on our repentance and based on our faith in jesus death, burial resurrection. God bless you until next time with tom and Vicky my Harris when it’s all greek to me,