On Sunday morning I preached a message about the Kingdom of God out of John 3. On Sunday night at New Life Youth, I got told that I made a statement that bothered many of our New Life Youth students. The students asked me to apologize for making such an outrageous statement. So here it is…

I am sorry that the statement I made hurt your feelings, and I 100% stand behind what I said. 

So, what is the outrageous statement I made? “YOU ARE NOT ENOUGH… without Jesus.” 

Here’s some context. In John chapter 3 Jesus has a conversation with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Jesus tells Nicodemus “no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again (John 3:3).” 

For obvious reasons, Nicodemus questions Jesus on this statement. How can you be born a second time? Jesus didn’t mean a second physical birth. He meant a Spiritual birth. 

The reason that this spiritual birth is needed is because we as humans are born with a sinful nature. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

From the moment that we are born, we have a sinful nature. Why is this such a problem? Because “the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).”  Sin separates us from God and that is a problem. 

In order for us to be with God something had to happen. That something was Jesus’s death and resurrection.

John 3:16 says, “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.” 

This takes me back to my “outrageous” statement. You are not enough. You can not do enough and you could never do enough… to experience the Kingdom of God and eternal life by yourself. The point I was making on Sunday is that no matter what you do, you will never do enough by yourself to enter the Kingdom of God. No amount of good works is enough to give you salvation. You, by yourself, are not enough. 

YOU NEED JESUS. I NEED JESUS. WE ALL NEED JESUS!

It is through our faith in Jesus Christ that we become enough. It is through our faith in Jesus’s death and resurrections that we are made new and cleansed from our sins so that we may be with God forever in eternity. 

God, being a loving and kind God has shown us His love by giving His one and only Son to die on the cross so that whoever believes in him will be given a new life. A new spirit. Forgiven of our sin and healed of our wickedness, because Jesus has taken our place on that cross. We will not have to be separated from God. We can have eternal life with him forever through Jesus and only through Jesus.

24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 

1 Peter 2:24

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Pastor Justin Spickler