“Being a Christian (The Gospel of John)", Will DuVal | 5/17/26
The Gospel of John | 5/17/26 | Will DuVal
When I checked the forecast for today, the FIRST thing I did was praise GOD for no rain! But the SECOND thing I did was TRIM all the fat out of this message - my INTRO, my jokes and illustrations… - it’s gonna get too HOT! We’re gonna go straight to the point this morning.
I believe this sermon may be the most IMPORTANT one that some of you will ever hear in your life. Not because I’m some great preacher - I hope ONE day you’ll look back and forget who even PREACHED it! - but you WON’T forget the ALL-important MESSAGE. And here it IS; here’s the QUESTION I want to answer - or rather - JESUS wants to answer for us this morning:
“What does it MEAN to be a “CHRISTIAN”?”
More than TWO-THIRDS of Americans CLAIM to be one. But obviously that doesn’t MAKE them a Christian, any more than my CLAIMING to be a “GENIUS” makes ME one; you gotta have an IQ of 140 to be a genius. Likewise, there is an objective STANDARD for being a CHRISTIAN, a standard established by CHRIST Himself. “Christian” literally means “belonging to Christ”. So what does it mean - what does it TAKE - to “belong” to Jesus, ACCORDING to Jesus?
4 things. And I’ve got 3 SUB-points for each. Kids, if you can pay attention and get ‘em all, bring me your bulletin after the service and I’ve got a little reward for ya. But LISTEN: the eternally GREATER reward isn’t just some candy, but SALVATION! My prayer is that someone here will BECOME a Christian this morning, and be SAVED.
“So Father, I ask you to POUR OUT your HOLY SPIRIT, right now, here in our midst, and do what only YOU can do. MY words have NO power to change ANYONE; but Father- YOUR words have ALL power to change ANYONE. Would you DO it this morning: change HEARTS, from death to LIFE, by the power of your word & your Spirit, and for your GLORY; in your name, we pray, Jesus… Amen.
If you have a BIBLE - and I hope you DO; if NOT, we’d love to GIVE you one at the Info Bar table over here - but if you wanna TRY and follow along this morning, good luck. We’re gonna look at the TWELVE most important passages in arguably the most important BOOK of the Bible: the Gospel of JOHN. And I titled this sermon “BE-ing a Christian” because all 4 BULLET points are gonna START with the letter “B”. Here’s what it means to “BE” a Christian:
#1- And most foundationally of all; we’re gonna spend MOST of the SERMON just on point ONE; THIS is what MAKES you a Christian; if you hear NOTHING else this morning, please hear this: Being a Christian means…
BELIEVING in Jesus.
Not “attending CHURCH”. Not “being BAPTIZED”. Not “trying your HARDEST to obey and please GOD”. Those are all GREAT things to DO! By all means: attend church, get baptized, and try hard to obey God. But NONE of them makes you a CHRISTIAN. The ONLY thing that makes someone a Christian is BELIEVING. IN. JESUS.
“Believe WHAT? That He EXISTED?”
No; even the DEMONS believe THAT!
But Christians believe THREE essential TRUTHS about Jesus, laid out for us in John ch1, ch3, and ch6. Here are your three SUBPOINTS, under #1…
First of all: We believe that JESUS is GOD WITH US. Let’s read the very BEGINNING of John’s Gospel now, ch1, starting in VERSE 1:
John 1:1 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was GOD. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was LIFE, and the life was the light of men… [let’s skip down to v9]
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to ALL who DID receive him, who [[WHAT??]] BELIEVED in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, NOT of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of GOD. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only SON from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Jesus is the “Word made flesh” - the Creator GOD who took ON human form - not ONLY to “en-LIGHT-en us”, to REVEAL God, His grace and truth and GLORY to us… and not only to “dwell AMONG us” - what a beautiful truth, that the infinite God of the universe draws NEAR to us, even in our brokenness and our SIN - …but He ALSO came to REDEEM us. To bring LIGHT and LIFE to spiritually darkened and DEAD people… and to “give us the RIGHT - the highest PRIVILEGE imaginable: to BECOME God’s own CHILDREN.”
IF we… WHAT?? “RECEIVE” Him. “BELIEVE in his name.
-
SECOND thing we must believe: that Jesus is SAVIOR. John chTHREE now; pick up in v13: (John 3:13-18)
“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, [that is,] the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
Jesus said a LOT there. But here’s the summary:
*No one can go up INTO heaven, without the One who came down FROM heaven to RESCUE us: JESUS.
*And how’d He DO it? The same way MOSES rescued ISRAEL in the wilderness, in Numbers ch21. Here’s the story, if you’re not familiar: Israel had SINNED, and so GOD, because He is perfectly HOLY and JUST, God PUNISHES sin - which we LOVE about God… as long as it’s someone ELSE’S sin, right?! Israel LOVED it when God sent the plagues on EGYPT, for THEIR sin; but not so MUCH when God punished ISRAEL’s sin!... by sending “fiery SERPENTS”, to BITE them. But how did God say He’d SAVE them?
God told Moses to make a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole, and lift it up, so that everyone who simply “LOOKED ON” it would be SAVED. It was an act of FAITH - an acknowledgement that “I can’t save MYSELF; I’m trusting in YOU, God, for salvation.”
And here in John 3, Jesus says, “I am the bronze serpent.” Remember: the serpents were God’s PUNISHMENT for Israel’s SIN; Jesus is saying, “I came to be “lifted up” on a pole - a CROSS - to BEAR the punishment for your sin… to BECOME sin”; the Bible says, “For our sake [God] made [JESUS] to [BECOME] sin [even though He] knew no sin [Jesus was SIN-LESS - it’s the only way He could pay for OUR sins], so that in HIM we might become the righteousness of God.” And not PERISH - the Bible says “the consequences of our SIN is DEATH”; perishing - and yet “God sent His SON that we might be SAVED through Him”, and have “ETERNAL life” instead.
IF, we… WHAT?? “BELIEVE”. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned [“shall NOT perish”], but whoever does not believe is condemned”.
Third: let’s turn now to John ch6, v28. Quick recap, so far:
Jesus is GOD WITH US.
Jesus is our SAVIOR; who died on the cross, to pay for our sins…
And THIRD; We believe that JESUS is ENOUGH. Jesus is ENOUGH; John 6:28…
“Then [Jesus’ LISTENERS] said to him, “What must we DO, to be doing the works of God?”
“Jesus, please just give us God’s TO-DO list. It can’t be as simple as just “looking on YOU”, trusting in YOUR sacrifice FOR us; that’s too EASY. WE wanna contribute too; Moses gave us TEN commandments; how many YOU got, Jesus? Go to church? Get baptized? Read our Bibles? “What must we DO, to be good CHRISTIANS? And in v29…
29 Jesus answered them, “THIS is the work of God, that you [WHAT??] BELIEVE in him whom God has sent.”
Verse 40:
…This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the SON and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.””
It really IS that simple, friends. Jesus really IS ENOUGH, for our salvation. The Bible says, “It is by GRACE that we are SAVED through FAITH; not by our WORKS, or else WE might try and BOAST,” about OUR “contribution”. You DO contribute to your salvation: YOU contribute all of the SIN! But friends: JESUS supplies all of the GRACE - the “undeserved GIFT” of HIMSELF; He laid down His LIFE, that you and I might FIND life in HIM.
…through …FAITH. Through “believing”.
I like the word “TRUSTING” better. There’s a true story that we pastors like to share (I will give you ONE illustration), about a man named Charles Blondin, who in 1859 stretched a tightrope 11-hundred feet across Niagara Falls, suspended 160 ft up in the air, and he walked across it. Then he did it again, but he stopped in the middle to lay DOWN on the rope. Then he crossed again BLIND-folded. Then he pushed an empty WHEELBARROW across a couple times. And THEN he turned to the crowd of spectators that had gathered and he asked, “Now WHO’s ready to get IN the wheelbarrow?”
EVERYONE there **BELIEVED that Blondin could push them across; they’d watched him cross now plenty of times. But friends, there is a WORLD of difference between **“believing”, and the Greek word here “PISTEUO” used in John 1, 3, & 6 here… for TRUSTING Jesus.
Friends: Jesus is calling us to get IN the wheelbarrow this morning. To TRUST him to carry you safely, to the other side. YEAH, it’s gonna get SCARY at times. But the truth is: life gets scary WITH OR WITHOUT Jesus! And as someone who’s tried crossing BOTH ways - on my OWN, without Jesus… and then INSIDE the wheelbarrow, letting HIM push me - I can PROMISE you: it’s a whole lot LESS scary… with JESUS. Won’t you GET IN?
Some of you here THINK you’re a Christian because you **“believe” that Jesus can cross, but you haven’t actually climbed IN the wheelbarrow yet; you’re still standing on the side, SPECTATING. And He’s calling you this morning, to “GET IN”. To TRUST Him.
So I want to give you an opportunity to do that right now. I usually END my sermons with an invitation, but I don’t wanna wait - JESUS doesn’t want YOU to wait - a moment LONGER, to come to Him. So if you know that you need to DO that - if you FEEL the Holy SPIRIT, tugging at your heart this morning - I want to invite you to PRAY with me, RIGHT now (And I invite everyone ELSE to join me in praying FOR them!). But if that’s YOU, I invite you to pray this with me now:
“Jesus, I BELIEVE!
*I believe you ARE “God with us”, my CREATOR who stepped off your throne in heaven to step INTO the brokenness of this world - into MY brokenness!
*I believe you’re my SAVIOR; that you bore MY sin on the cross, and you died the death that I deserve so that I might not perish but have ETERNAL LIFE instead.
*And Jesus, I believe that you are ENOUGH; that there are no GOOD deeds that I need to ADD in order to EARN my salvation, and there are no BAD deeds I could ever do to LOSE my salvation, because Jesus, YOUR grace is more POWERFUL than MY sin!
And I believe ALL of it, in JESUS’ mighty name, Amen.”
Friends, if you prayed that prayer with me just now for the FIRST time, and more importantly, if you MEANT it, in your HEART, I wanna ask you to do something BOLD now: I want to ask you to STAND UP, right now, wherever you are - listen: if you can’t stand up for Jesus HERE, in front of 400 people PRAYING for you say “YES” to Him, you’ll NEVER stand for Jesus out in the world, that HATES Him. Jesus said, “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny.” So if you TRUSTED IN JESUS for the FIRST time this morning, will you publicly acknowledge Him, right now, by STANDING UP…
Praise God. Okay, NOW I’m gonna ask you to do something even BOLDER. In the Bible, every time someone hears the good news and trusts in Jesus, the very NEXT thing they do… is get BAPTIZED, as the SIGN of their faith. That you’ve **DIED to your sin, and been **RAISED to NEW life in Christ; he has **WASHED all your sins away, and CHANGED you - “the old has gone; you’re now a NEW creation in Christ.”
If that’s TRUE of you - even if this morning ISN’T the first time; maybe you put your faith in Him YEARS ago, but you’ve been putting off baptism, making excuses, waiting for the perfect time - guess what? It’s NOW. There is NO better time than the PRESENT. There is NO SUCH THING in the Bible as a CHRISTIAN who isn’t BAPTIZED - they don’t EXIST. The Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 - the MINUTE he got saved, his very next question was: “What is to PREVENT me from being BAPTIZED?” Let’s go find some WATER!
Guess what: we got some WATER this morning. (And we got extra t-shirts and shorts and towels…)
So in just a moment, if you’re a CHRISTIAN who’s not yet BAPTIZED, I’m gonna invite you to stand and go talk to one of our elders - the eunuch shared his profession of faith with PHILIP; you can’t baptize YOURSELF; the CHURCH has to baptize you…
But before I do, let me say this, to the KIDS, specifically - KIDS: I would be THRILLED to baptize some of you this morning; Jesus said, “Let the little children COME to me; do not hinder them”! At the SAME time, Kids, God gave us PARENTS for a REASON. So I’m gonna ask YOU, to turn and talk to your PARENTS right now, BEFORE you go talk to an elder - tell them WHY you wanna be baptized.
-If it’s because you’re HOT, and you wanna COOL OFF in the pool… **EHHH!! Bad reason; that’s not baptism.
-If it’s because your FRIEND is standing up… **EHHH!! Bad reason.
-If it’s to please your PARENTS; **EHHH!!
But if it’s to please GOD… Because GOD wants you to turn from your sin and trust in Jesus and be baptized… that’s a GREAT reason. Even then, there may be other factors. Here’s the thing: you only get to be baptized ONCE! And even though we’re gonna VIDEO it, some of you have GRAND-parents who might write you out of the WILL, if they couldn’t be there for your baptism. That might be a reason to delay… but it might NOT; I trust your parents' discernment, kids; MOST importantly, their discerning your HEART. They probably know you better than YOU do. So TALK to them.
And we’re gonna have OTHER opportunities for baptism LATER in the summer or fall. So if you still have some QUESTIONS, and you wanna come talk to ME, I’d love to do that. No RUSH or PRESSURE to get in the water today.
…Unless GOD is telling you to. If He IS, then now is the time – stand up, go find one of our elders, raising their hands over here by the water fountain, and tell ‘em why you wanna be BAPTIZED today. [**Show support?**]
Believing in Jesus MAKES you a Christian.
But BEING a Christian means even MORE, because once we believe, Jesus invites us to BELONG. That’s #2 in your bulletin:
Being a Christian means BELONGING to Jesus. (8:31-32; 10:2-28; 12:25-26) And BELONGING to Jesus means THREE things:
First, it means ABIDING; John 8:31-32:
“Jesus said to [those] who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ”
Jesus doesn’t just want to free us from the PENALTY of our sin; he wants to free us from its POWER, its GRIP on us, as well. And he DOES that through the “TRUTH” of his “WORD”. Trusting Jesus isn’t just a one-time DECISION you make; it’s a life-long COMMITMENT we make to follow HIM, to ABIDE - to “continue, persist, REMAIN” in Christ. Remember: Jesus gives us the right to become God’s children. But for children to TRULY belong, they’ve got to ABIDE in the family.
Jesus wants MORE than a decision; he wants a RELATIONSHIP with us.
Second: Belonging to Jesus means FOLLOWING. (10:2-28) Just listen - and I’m not even gonna add any COMMENTARY - but just listen to JESUS, our good SHEPHERD, in John ch10:
“The sheep hear [their shepherd’s] voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep FOLLOW him, for they know his voice….
I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Friends: if you HEAR Him calling to YOU this morning, follow your Good Shepherd.
And THIRD, Belonging to Jesus means RENOUNCING, “giving up” THIS world, for HIM instead. (12:25-26)
Chapter 12 now, v25:
“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will KEEP it for eternal life.”
There’s a popular pastor who wrote a book titled “Your BEST Life NOW”. Jesus is saying here, “If your BEST life is the one you’re living right NOW, in THIS world, you’re in TROUBLE! The ONLY people living their “best lives NOW” are those headed for HELL!”
But those who belong to JESUS would trade EVERYTHING this world has to offer - money, fame, sex, power - you can keep ‘em ALL; I’m taking JESUS! “Better is just ONE day in HIS courts (in Heaven with HIM) than THOUSANDS anywhere else, down here”.
Christians RENOUNCE this world, to follow JESUS, and ABIDE.
#3- Being a Christian means BECOMING like Jesus. (13:12-17; 13:34-35; 14:15-17)
Once we BELIEVE, we BELONG. And AS we belong to Jesus, we start to become LIKE Jesus.
And we become like Him, first of all, by SERVING. (13:12-17) John ch13 now, v12:
“When [Jesus] had washed [his disciples’] feet… he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
Simply put: Christians SERVE. “Whoever would be great among you,” Jesus said, “must be your servant… For even the Son of Man came not to BE served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:44-45)
Second – We become like Jesus by LOVING. (13:34-35)
A little later in that same chapter, 13, v34 now, Jesus announced:
“A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””
And THIRD – We become like Jesus by OBEYING. (14:15-17). Chapter 14 now, v15; Jesus said:
““If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you a Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth… You know him, for he dwells with you and will be IN you.”
Jesus obeyed His Father PERFECTLY. And now His very SPIRIT - His POWER - lives in His people, in CHRISTIANS, to EMPOWER us for obedience. For LOVE. And for SERVICE. The Holy Spirit HELPS us become more and more like Jesus, every day.
Lastly: Being a Christian means 1) BELIEVING; 2) BELONGING; 3) BECOMING; and…
#4- BEING USED by Jesus. (15:5-8; 17:13-19; 20:21-23)
I’ve only got ONE subpoint this time; what is the ONE thing Jesus wants to USE us for, more than ANYTHING else, in our remaining time here on earth? Let’s actually read all THREE passages back-to-back, and see if you can fill in the blank FOR me:
Ch15, vv5 & 8:
Jesus said, “ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… (v8:) By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
What does it mean to “bear fruit”? Why do TREES make FRUIT? Okay, hold that thought…
Ch17 now; we’ll pick up in vv15:
Jesus prayed, ‘Father, “I do not ask that you take them [my disciples] out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
And lastly, let’s skip all the way ahead to ch20 now, after Jesus has been crucified, died, and RESURRECTED. And now he’s speaking to his disciples one last time, before He ascends back into Heaven, so you know it’s GOTTA be IMPORTANT; what does He tell them? v21:
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.”
Can you SYNTHESIZE all that: What does JESUS want to USE his followers to DO?
“Bear fruit… by being sent, taking God’s word INTO the world… in the POWER of the Holy Spirit, to forgive SINS… Sum it all UP for me:
Jesus wants to USE Christians to MAKE MORE CHRISTIANS! He wants us to “Go and make disciples of ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe ALL that I have commanded you. For behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Mt 28:19-20)
Church: this is our calling: BELIEVE in Jesus. BELONG to Jesus. BECOME like Jesus. So we can BE USED by Jesus.
Let’s pray…