03/01/20 -How can I go to heaven? - John 3:1-16

Sources used for this series include commentary by John Piper, Tim Keller, Colin Smith sermons at unlockingthebible.org, Henri Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son and Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. We live in a time when this question will be answered a hundred different ways. But there is only one answer that matters and it comes from Jesus. His response carries by far the most weight because as he said himself, “I came from heaven.” So it makes sense for the man who has been there to speak about how to get there. This is the conversation Jesus has with a very religious man named Nicodemus. This guy thought he had everything figured out. He was safely traveling down the road that would lead to an eternity with God, after all, he was doing all the right things… but he was dead wrong. It’s as if he was asking Jesus for some advice on how to decorate his house and Jesus says, “Tear it down, scrape the foundation and start over.” No amount of personal effort will get you to heaven and you’ll have to give up all your “good” work. You must experience a total rebirth; "born again," you might say. Jesus concludes the conversation by giving Nicodemus the answer he needs with just one word: “Look.” Nicodemus has only to look upon Jesus and find the way to heaven. What a relief this is. You can’t get to heaven by being good or by being religious. You must look to Jesus for salvation. But it gets even sweeter because Jesus gives the motivation for his coming to earth from heaven. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. What do our “1’s” need from us this week? They need to know the love of God expressed through Jesus Christ. So let’s pray and act and speak and show them this great love!