Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): Who is worthy of the Lord's salvation? Pastor Bill Luebkemann contemplates the issue of assurance.

Bill Luebkemann: He should have just said, "Well, one, two, three strikes you're out," but he won't do that. And he is true to his word. You can know with confidence when you stand before him, he's not going to change his mind. I know when I pass from this life to the other one, I don't have to worry about standing in front of him and him saying, "Bill, I've been thinking about it and I changed my mind. I don't think you're good enough. Just get out of here." He's not going to do that.

And we can all know that with confidence. It's not, "I hope I measure up when I get to heaven and I hope my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds." He came to save. That's why he came.

Guest (Male): The Christmas message can be obscured by all the hustle and bustle of the season. How we need the continual reminder that Jesus came to save sinners. On Christmas Day a Savior was born, who is Christ the Lord.

Today on Hope From the Word we will be given a timely reminder of why Jesus came. Tragically, there is confusion over what Christmas is all about. Jesus came to bring salvation by God's grace through faith. That's what the Bible teaches. For more, let's join Pastor Bill Luebkemann as he begins today in John's Gospel, Chapter 3 and verse 17.

Bill Luebkemann: We were looking at the reasons why Jesus came. And this is pretty simple, taken from his own words out of the Gospel. You'll recall we looked at five reasons for his coming: he came to seek us out and save us; he came to separate us from the world and everything that is not of his; he came to preach the kingdom of heaven; he came to be a servant; and he came to fulfill the law and the prophets.

And we're going to continue today with John 3:17, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." So we see here that a key purpose of his coming is to save the world, not to condemn the world. That was not his purpose, and you see people are still confused about this today. But his purpose was not to condemn, but to save.

Unfortunately, some people will be condemned. This is not a contradiction. He came to save the world, but some people will choose to reject him. And in so doing, they will be condemned. But that's not what God's purpose is. That's not what God's desire is. That's not what God wants. That's not the reason or his purpose.

A key verse that we should keep in mind here, John 5:24, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life." And so we see that the only thing that we need to do is hear his word and believe in him who sent Jesus.

You don't need to pay a fee or bribe the gatekeeper or live a perfect life or pass the SAT with at least 1,000 or reach some level of clear. You don't have to sit there and go "om" and try to attain some level of understanding. You have to hear and you have to believe. And that's all that you ever had to do.

Not recently, but a few times over the years we've had people come here, and I can remember one thing very clearly. Before we changed our name to Calvary Chapel, we were called Hope Christian Church. And we applied to Calvary Chapel to be affiliated with them, but they don't like you to use the name Calvary Chapel till they approve you.

And those of you that are familiar with Calvary Chapel know everything always happens really slow everywhere. You send the form in, "Oh, did you send a form? What form? We didn't get the form. Maybe you better send the form again. We lost the form." And during that time that we were going through this process of becoming affiliated with Calvary Chapel, our church was called Hope Christian Church, which we thought was a good neutral name. It doesn't mean a whole lot, but you can't get in trouble with it.

And we didn't know that there's a denomination called the Christian Church, which is part of the Disciples of Christ. Some people saw that and they used to come here thinking we were affiliated with them. I don't really know what they believe, but I think one of them is that getting saved is harder because we'd have people come in here and give me a hard time.

And one lady was arguing with me, "You're making it sound too easy. There's more to it than that." But that's not what the word of God says. It says, "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me," not "might get eternal life," if you make it to purgatory and they whip you long enough and hard enough and your friends back on earth pray for you, you might be able to get out of there in a reasonable amount of time.

That's not what it says. It says, "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life," already. And will not be condemned. You have crossed over. The crossing over doesn't happen when your physical body dies. Yes, that's a kind of a crossing over, but the real crossing over happens when you hear the word and you believe the word, and then you cross over from death to life and you have eternal life.

I remember standing right back there, this one lady giving me a really hard time about it. I think she thought you needed to be baptized because it was either her or a different person from that organization that wanted to know why we didn't baptize people right away. We should have the pool filled up, and if they get saved, you need to baptize them right away. Because they believe that if you get saved but you don't get baptized, well, you're not really saved.

So if you get saved and then you go out and get hit by a car today before you get baptized, you won't go to heaven. Well, look, you should get baptized. And if you've never been baptized, the Lord said, "Repent and be baptized." You should do that. And if you haven't been, you should talk to me about that. But that's not something that's going to stand between you and heaven.

If it was, that thief on the cross next to Jesus would have been out of luck. When he said, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom," Jesus would have leaned over to him, nailed to that cross, and said, "Too late, guy. Too late, buddy. We can't baptize you, so you can't get to heaven. If we could just get down and baptize you, we'd be able to get to heaven."

If somebody says to you, "You have to be baptized to go to heaven," they're wrong. And if it was true, that thief on the cross would not have been able to gain entrance to heaven, but he did. Other people say, "Look, you need to make Jesus Lord of your life. If he's not the Lord of your life, then you're not saved."

He ain't the Lord of anybody's life because all of us, in some way, have some area in our life where we haven't made him Lord. And if that was true, that we had to make him Lord in every area of our life, none of us would go to heaven. It'd be an empty place up there. We should make him Lord of our life, and we should work on that, and we should pray for him to permeate our lives and to ferret out all the things in our heart that are not of him.

We should pray for him to do that, and we should be baptized, and we should follow his commands. But what you have to do to have eternal life is to hear his word and believe in him. And once you do that, then you start working on all those other things. It's not like final exams where you study and study and you go to class and you learn, and then you study some more, and then you come home and you read the book, and then you hope that when you get to the final exam, you hope you're going to pass.

We all know, we've all done that. It doesn't work that way with this. You get entrance into heaven at the beginning, not at the end of the semester. At the beginning of the semester, as soon as you believe and you step foot in the classroom, you have crossed over from death to life. Then the rest of the time, the rest of our semester is from now until when we die.

We have a time to learn things, for the Lord to grow us in our walk with him. We have time to become closer to him, more like him and what have you, and we should get baptized, make him—we should do all those things. But there's not some number of them that has to be done for us to be saved because this verse says very clearly, "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life." People don't like it to be that simple. They think it should be more complicated. But it's not, thankfully.

Jesus answered in John 6:29, "The work of God is this..." Now you'd wonder, what is the work of God? Is the work of God to go out and get people saved? Is the work of God to do good deeds? Certainly the work of God would be to go over to Southeast Asia and help the victims over there. That would be a good thing to do.

Or to start a pregnancy center, or to be a missionary, or to teach in Sunday school. There's lots of things that you could do that would be God's work, and they're all good things and yes, you should do the ones that God leads you to do. But here, this is what Jesus said the real work of God is: "To believe in the one he has sent." That's the work of God. That's what God's looking for from you first and foremost, to believe in the one he has sent.

And if you believe in him, then he will go one step further and provide everything you need. If you feed on him, you will live because of him. John 6:57, "Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me." And one of the ways we can feed on him is to listen to him speak to us through his word here.

Feeding on him does not mean that when we have communion, that the bread is actually his body and that we're cutting up his body and eating it. That's called cannibalism. We don't do that in New Jersey. I heard in Ohio they... just kidding. We don't do that. We feed on his word here by listening to what he says to us, by reading in his word.

John 11:42, "I knew that you always hear me. But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." This was Jesus praying to the Father. And it's an example of listening to him. In his prayers, he was even providing for us. He was providing for the folks then who were within earshot, and he's providing for us today for us to believe in him.

He gave us ample reason to do so. In that particular verse, John 11:42, he was praying just prior to raising Lazarus from the dead. So not only were his prayers of benefit to those that were within earshot, but also the miracle that he was about to perform. And in this way, he was feeding their faith. He wanted them to believe.

And that's why he worked so many miracles, so that those who saw, so that those who heard, so that those who were with him could believe. Both through his prayers and his actions, he was bolstering their faith and bolstering our faith because these words have been written down for our benefit. The ones who were standing there watching Lazarus get raised from the dead—I would have liked to have seen that, but I wasn't there. It's too late now. He's not going to do it again anytime soon, so we have to take the word of those who wrote it down for us.

John 17:8, "For I gave them the words you gave me," again, Jesus praying here, "and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you and they believed that you sent me." This scripture clearly shows us where Jesus came from. He was serving his heavenly Father by showing us conclusively that he came from God and by teaching us and showing us the things that God wanted us to know.

He was not doing it alone. He was not making it up as he went. Jesus was doing what his Father told him to do each and every moment of the day. He was giving us the words of his Father in heaven. Over in John 17, when Jesus was praying in verse 20, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message." Hey, that's us today!

"That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Here he goes on even to pray for us today, who are receiving the word because of him. He prays for those who will receive the message indirectly through the eyewitnesses.

The eyewitnesses that went and told their friends, and some of them told somebody who told somebody else who wrote it down and it got into the Bible and it got copied over and transcribed and translated, put on computer, and now you can go to blueletterbible.org and punch it right up on the internet. There it is, the word of God for the whole world to see. All you have to have is an internet connection.

Surely this includes us. The message got to us today. And we've gotten the message accurately because it's been recorded in God's word, testified to by many eyewitnesses. And he's praying for us all to be one so that even more will accept his word by our witness. That people can look at our lives and see through us the love of Christ.

John 20:21, again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And even more clearly when we see this, he wants us not only to be one so that we can be an example, but he has specifically called us and sent us out. Just as the Father has sent him, so too he has sent us to teach and preach his message.

This message of love and joy and peace. The message of hope and salvation. The message that even though 100,000 people perished, there is life everlasting for those who believe. This is not what it's all about. Yes, it's a tragedy and we should do everything we can to help those folks, but this is not the final destination. Earth is just a place along the way.

And it's more important that they accept the Gospel, and perhaps through this, Christians will be motivated to share the Gospel in those places even more so. I know the Christian organizations that are going to be over there handing out food and water also are going to be handing out Bibles and tracts and trying to tell people about the Lord. And so even though it was a horrible tragedy, you can see that God will use it.

The message is that God came into the world, he came into the world to save the world. That he cared so much that he didn't want to condemn it. He did that with Noah and the flood; he wiped everybody out. He said, "I'm not going to do that again." He should have; that's what we deserved. He should have just said, "Well, one, two, three strikes you're out. You're all done with." But he won't do that.

And he is true to his word. You can know with confidence when you stand before him, he's not going to change his mind. I know when I pass from this life to the other one, I don't have to worry about standing in front of him and him saying, "Bill, I've been thinking about it and I changed my mind. I don't think you're good enough. Just get out of here." He's not going to do that.

And we can all know that with confidence. It's not, "I hope I measure up when I get to heaven and I hope my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds. I hope I don't have to spend too much time in purgatory and I hope you all pray for me after I leave." The Bible says pray for the living because you die once and then comes the judgment.

Matthew 1:21, let's look at some other scriptures that also remind us here that he came to save. That's why he came. If he didn't come to save, if his death wasn't good enough to save us, then he died for nothing and he died in vain. And this world is confused because so many people in the world say, "Well, Jesus was a good person, he was an alright guy, greatest guy that ever lived even. He's an example, I want to be like him."

That's not good enough. He was the Son of God, eternally existent with God the Father. He always existed and he always will exist, outside of time. That's who he was. His death paid the price. They didn't have to sacrifice animals anymore. All that blood that ran out of that temple in Jerusalem, it stopped. It didn't need to happen anymore because his price paid it all.

And anybody today who says, "Well, Jesus was a nice person and I want to try to live like him but I don't believe he was God," well, they are sadly mistaken. There's a great book out about a guy who believed that and he came to the conclusion... I think it was Josh McDowell, right? *Evidence That Demands a Verdict*. He came to the conclusion, well, he either has to be God or he has to be a liar or he's a lunatic.

Because he said he was God. So he can't just be a nice guy, because a nice guy wouldn't go around saying he was God when he wasn't. So he can't just be a prophet because he said he was God. He said he was equal to God, the Son of God, he was with God, he spoke the words of—he said it 25 different ways. So he was either lying or he was telling the truth or maybe he was mad. Those are about the only three options that you have for believing who Jesus is.

Let's look at Matthew 1, verse 21: "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Luke 2:11, "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Here, two scriptures about the birth of Jesus, and both of them clearly referring to him as the one who will save us from our sins.

John 1:29, the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him—this would be John the Baptist—and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John the Baptist saying, "He is the Lamb of God, he is the offering that God has provided. He's the one that's going to take away the sin of the world."

John the Baptist understood exactly what was going to come down. I don't think it could be said anymore clearly. Jesus died to save us. We could not do it on our own. Without his sacrifice, there is no hope for us. And with his sacrifice, there is no hope for the enemy. Without him, we're going nowhere. With him, nothing can stop us, nothing can separate us from God.

And one more thing: he died to save everyone. He is, in 2 Peter 3:9, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. When it says "not willing," it means God does not want anybody to perish. He doesn't desire for anyone to miss out on everlasting life. He doesn't want to deny somebody. He doesn't want to send somebody to hell for all eternity.

Some folks are confused about this. They think that this is only referring to the chosen frozen or the frozen chosen. They think it's only referring to them. Some people are confused. They say, "Well, Jesus only died for me and certain other ones." They call it limited atonement. He only died for the ones that he chose.

And so they say what he did was, he picked these that I want to save and these that I'm not going to save, and so I died for these and not for these. You can't argue with these people because you tell them, "Well, the Bible says God is not willing that any should perish." And they say, "Well, he means any of the ones that he chose." They have an answer for everything. But it's really tortured logic.

Because when my Bible says God is not willing that any should perish, any means any. He doesn't want anyone to perish. Well, then they'll say to you, "Well, if God doesn't want it to happen, how come it happens? If God doesn't want any to perish, then none would perish. Since some do perish, he must be just referring to the ones he chose."

Man, I wouldn't want those people to be programming my microwave oven or the computer in my car because it'd be crashing all the time. It'd be driving down the street going this way. That is tortured logic. That is really confused. What this really means very simply is that God doesn't desire anyone to go to hell. He doesn't desire anyone to choose the wrong thing.

And God is not willing, he doesn't want anyone to make the wrong choice. But you have to choose for yourself. You have to choose who you're going to serve. You're going to serve God or you're going to serve the world? Are you going to believe in him who sent Jesus, or are you going to believe in yourself? Are you going to do it his way or your way? Are you going to live your life for him or are you going to live your life for yourself? You have to choose there. And he is not willing, he doesn't want you to make the wrong decision. But nevertheless, he is gracious when he'll allow you to decide.

Now the next reason I want to look at that Jesus came, it's found in John 9:39. Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." But now that's confusing. Elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus said he did not come to judge. Here he says he did come to judge. What's he talking about?

Some people say that Bible is all mixed up, it says one thing on one page, a different thing another page. That proves it's not really God's word. By the way, I read a survey, some amazing number of people believe the Bible is God's word in America. It's more than 80 percent. Almost half believe it's totally accurate without error, and that's amazing to me.

I was surprised that it was that many people. And a good percentage of the rest, they're a little confused, but they're mostly on target. It was really surprising the high esteem there is for the Bible in America. Some people though, of course the news media, none of them believes the Bible's from God. Well, maybe one guy, and they don't let him on the air very much. But some people would use this kind of thing as a discrepancy. They would say, "See, the Bible's all wrong, says one place Jesus said I didn't come to judge, on the other page it says he did come to judge. This Bible's confused."

But this is not a contradiction. Because Jesus said he came to bring light into the world, and judgment comes as part of that. His message here, it's a very simple: he has a message, some are going to accept it, some are not going to accept it. He came with the message, you can choose. Choose ye this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Those that won't accept the message will be judged. But that'll be by their own choosing. They have exercised their own free will to reject Christ. And in a way, they've just simply judged themselves. John 5:22 and 23, "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him."

We can clearly see here that it is Jesus's job to judge, that the Father has delegated that task to him. John 3:19, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." You turn the light on, where does the darkness go? At night, your kid's scared, it's dark, you turn the light on, instant problem solved.

The light casts out all the darkness. And Jesus brought the light into the world, and men by our very nature—women too, this means mankind, you know. You don't need to rewrite the whole Bible, you all know it means mankind, right? So men tried to slink around in the shadows, hiding in the darkness, do something in secret hoping that nobody could see.

Light has come into the world. And there is a dividing line between darkness and light, and there is a dividing line between good and evil. And that's how judgment happens. Light comes, the darkness is separated, and those that want to go over where the darkness are, well, they've made their own decision. They've judged it for themselves.

Guest (Male): We're going through a Christmas series here on Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann. For a CD copy of the message call 856-983-1662. That's 856-983-1662. You can also replay today's program and catch what you may have missed at ccmarlton.org. Another great way to listen to a program you enjoy or access other teachings from Pastor Bill is through the Hope FM app.

Go to ccmarlton.org to download the Hope FM app today. It's available on all platforms and it's free. We want to invite you to join us here at Calvary Chapel of Marlton. We have a Sunday morning service which begins at 10:00. We also have a midweek service as well on Wednesdays at 7:00. It would be great to have you here with us.

Look for our directions and more information about the church online at ccmarlton.org. And would you please send us an email sometime today? It would be nice to hear from you and learn how the Lord is using the program in your life this Christmas season. You can also email Pastor Bill from our website at ccmarlton.org, or just call us if that's preferred: 856-983-1662. We'll have more Hope From the Word from Pastor Bill's Christmas series next time. We'll see you then.