Adding To Your Faith
Adding to Your Faith is all about helping you understand biblical principals and workshop biblical practices in a way that shapes and forms us into the image of Jesus Christ.
Adding To Your Faith
Method 3: Gospel Threads
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The entire Bible - From Genesis to Revelation - tells one grand, glorious story: the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Learning to think intentionally about the core truths of the Gospel can give us a greater appreciation for and relationship to God's word. In this episode, Rachael and Matt introduce Bible study method #3: Gospel Threads. Learn how viewing God's word through the lens of this evangelism method can draw you into deeper intimacy with the Lord through His Word.
Click Here for week four homework sheet
AFTER this episode: Complete day ONE homework (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Click Here to learn more about Gospel Threads as an evangelism method
Vision For Fruitful Faith
SPEAKER_02Do you ever feel like your life just isn't as productive or effective as it should be? As followers of Jesus, we want our short time on earth to have eternal impact. But often we feel like we're falling short. The good news is that Scripture gives us a promise, a life that's never ineffective or unproductive in knowing Jesus Christ. In 2 Peter 1, we're told to build on our faith, adding goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love. As these qualities grow, they keep us fruitful and effective for God's kingdom. I'm Matt Morrow, and my wife Rachel and I have spent nearly 20 years teaching God's word and walking with people in every stage of faith. Our passion is to see lives permanently and radically transformed by Scripture applied. Adding to your faith is here to help you understand biblical truth, practice it daily, and grow to look more like Jesus. We're glad you're here. Let's walk this journey together.
Introducing Gospel Threads
SPEAKER_00Welcome friends. I'm Rachel, and I am here with Matt, and we are on the third method that we are using to study the Bible, and it is called Gospel Threads. And this is actually a method of evangelism that Matt and I were introduced to when we lived in Birmingham and were under the teaching of Pastor David Platt at the Church of Brook Hills. And it was introduced as a way to share the gospel because oftentimes we don't have an opportunity to walk somebody all the way through the gospel from beginning to end. But what he did was he broke the gospel into what he called these threads or these kind of eternal truths that we often can point to in a conversation and use those threads to plant a seed. And then hopefully those, as you know, over time, especially as you have conversations with the same people, you can kind of lay more and more of those threads. And so it's an opportunity just as you're out and about. I know this is something that Matt and I have been really blessed by, that just while we're out and about, you can sew those gospel threads into different conversations to just share truth with people as you go. So we chose this as a as a method to study the Bible because it helps us as we're as we're reading scripture and kind of looking through it to really look for the gospel. And one of the things that Matt and I really like about that is that as you get an opportunity and as you get experience or or just I don't know what the word is that I'm looking for, just more ease with recognizing gospel threads, it becomes easier to see those and to share those. And so I think that was something that as we were talking kind of talking about different methods. This is one that I have found helpful to just go back and read passages and say, where is the gospel in this? Where do I see those threads that are pointing to the eternal story of the gospel? Because one of the things that we know about the Bible is that from beginning to end, it is about the gospel of Christ. And so the Old Testament is about the gospel of Christ and the New Testament is about the gospel of Christ. And so just learning to watch for those threads as you read scripture, I think just remind us of the overall story of the of the Bible, the the purpose of why God came, and give us ways that we can share those as we as we see those things reflected in life, that we can maybe have some of those stories come to mind and be like, this reminds me of that. Or, you know, in this situation, somebody really needed faith to move forward. And so um just the practice of recognizing that, I think, will be really helpful. And so this is something that's been helpful to me. And so Matt and I are hopeful that it will be helpful to you. So as we kind of dive into this method, Matt, would you like to just open us with a word of prayer before we start?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Just uh let's go to the Lord and ask for his for his guidance through this uh through this time together. Uh Lord, I do pray today that you'll just open the eyes of our hearts that we can see the truth of your word. And in particular, Lord, today,
Why Threads Help Bible Study
SPEAKER_02as we begin to focus our attention very squarely on the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I want to just ask you, Lord, to give us a renewed appreciation for the gospel, a renewed sense of wonder about it. And I pray, Father, that you'll show us your perfect gospel throughout every part of Scripture. And in it, Lord, as we learn to recognize it, I pray that you will make us effective ambassadors, effective evangelists to carry this message to those in our world who so desperately need you. Lord, we love you, and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So, one of the things that that I I like about using gospel threads as a Bible study instrument, even though that's not exactly what it was designed to be, is that is that it actually goes alongside nicely other Bible study methods. And we talked about this a little bit. If you want to learn more about this gospel threads concept, there are books about it. There's a whole whole lot of information. It's really, again, about learning to evangelize. There are five components to it. We'll talk about those today. But really, from a Bible study perspective, I think what I like about it is that each of these five elements of the gospel, these five threads, each of them is in itself a timeless truth. And there are sub-timeless truths that are a part of each one as well. So we talk a lot about how in Bible study, whether you're using two questions in a statement, or you're using from their home to our home, or as we'll talk about in a week or two, narratives. In every case, you're really searching for that timeless truth, the thing that was just as true then as it is today and always will be. And you want to you want to identify that so that you can apply it, so that you can be shaped by it and changed as a result. So what I like about the gospel threads from a Bible study perspective is that is that they are their own timeless truths. And and you may find others in every every text you're in, other timeless truths, but one or more of these is in almost any significant length of scripture at all. You're going to find one or more of these gospel threads, and it just reminds us of God's perfect story that He's telling over all of these centuries. So, what's the the, I think the probably the way to start, let me just give a quick overview of what the five threads are, and then we'll work our way through.
Five Threads Overview
SPEAKER_02So the core elements of the gospel are first the character of God. That's that God is the holy, just, and gracious creator of all things. The second thread is the sinfulness of man, and that is that we were created in the image of God, but we have been corrupted by our own sin. And then sufficiency in Christ is the third gospel thread, and that is that Jesus alone is able to remove our sin and restore us to God. And then the fourth gospel thread is the necessity of faith, that we must turn from our sin and ourself and trust God enough to follow in what He has called us to. And then finally, the fifth and final gospel thread is called the urgency of eternity. And that essentially means that the that our eternal destiny hinges on our response to Jesus, what we do or don't do as a result of the rest of the gospel. And that's where that that response or that application lies squarely in our laps. So that's that's a very brief overview. Our goal is not to teach you in depth about the the gospel threads. There are many good resources available online and in bookstores to help with that. We just want to give you enough of it so that you can use it as a Bible study tool today. So uh, Rachel, where would you like to start? You want to you want to dive right into the first uh gospel thread?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so the first gospel thread, and these are the things that as you read up the passage, you'll be looking for these threads to see how they run
Thread One: Character Of God
SPEAKER_00through the passage. And so the first thread is the character of God. And that I think is self-explanatory, but you're looking as you read the scripture for what this that passage says about God, about who he is and what he's like. So Isaiah, Isaiah 43, 15 says, I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king. So you can see, right? Where do you see in that verse lordship? Where do you see that God is the Lord? Where do you see that he is holy, that he is unlike anything else? And he says, I am your holy one. So where do you see personal, personal relationship coming from God, that he is relating to his people, that he is the creator of Israel? So that one is loaded as well. Not only is he creator in in the sense that he has created all things, that heaven and earth belong to him, but he is also the creator of Israel, that he has called out a people unto himself and created a plan of salvation through those people, and then king, right? So how is he king?
SPEAKER_02So as we think of, as you think of the characteristics, the traits that are uniquely the character of God, we we kind of there are many, many traits, but but we kind of boil it, you know, it boils down in this in this setting to him being holy, being just, being gracious, and being creator. So what does it mean that God is holy, Rachel? What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00It's I I mean the word itself means set apart, that he's set apart from everything else, that he is without sin, that he is absolutely pure, that there is no one or nothing that is like God. And if we don't like believe that God is holy, that he is completely other, then the sinfulness of man really doesn't have any consequence to it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, which we of course will get to next. But that's but that's critical. And then and then we know we know that he is just. I mean, Proverbs 17, 15 says that he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord, because he is perfectly just. So we know that he's holy, he's set apart, he is perfectly just, which means the wrongs will be will be punished and the right will will be rewarded, but ultimately he is a good judge, and we know that he is gracious. And what does it mean to be gracious? What is that?
SPEAKER_00You know, Titus 2.11 says, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. So God shows this unmerited grace according to his holy character, but he gives us what we don't deserve as hopeless sinners, that he gives us salvation and he brings that to all people. And and I love those three characters of God, that he is holy, that he's set apart, he's unlike anyone else, that he's just. I come back to Proverbs 17, 15 a lot, that that he does not justify the wicked or condemn the righteous, right? That he judges all of those things rightly. And we live in a world that often celebrates the things that are wrong and condemns the things that are right. That's not the character of God. He does he doesn't do that. And then just his grace, right? That that we have all of this unmerited favor that is available to us, and and that out of that grace, he has brought salvation to everyone. So all of those are just good reminders of who of who God is, that you know, Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. And if we get any one of those wrong, we miss something really important about the character of God.
SPEAKER_02So holy, just, gracious, creator of all things. We we know what creator means, but I don't want to miss that too. He is the creator of the world and everything that's in it. These are the traits that you're looking for in the gospel thread, the character of God. So as you as you're in the word, you can, you will, you will often you may find something in a passage you're in that just really demonstrate that God is gracious. Okay. Well, God is gracious. That's a timeless truth. It's a timeless truth about the character of God. And so you you know, you pull from that and you start working on application. So that's just an example of how you might identify in a given passage
Thread Two: Sinfulness Of Man
SPEAKER_02something that reflects the character of God. Now, the second thread of the God of the gospel is the sinfulness of man, which is the other side of this coin, and that is that we were all created in the image of God, but we have been corrupted by our sin, which creates a huge problem for us if it weren't for the rest of the gospel, right? These first two threads are enormously problematic for every man, woman, child ever born, if it weren't for the rest of the gospel. So, so what are we talking about when we say that we've been created in the image of God, but corrupted by sin?
SPEAKER_00I mean, Romans 3 12 says, All have turned aside and together have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. And that is a sad like a sad but honest commentary on mankind that we have all turned aside, right? We've all invested in our in our own way, in our own thoughts, in our own, you know, in our own desires and the things that we thought of. We talked about that out of Ephesians that the definition of sin is following your own heart and doing the things that seem right to you. And we've all done that. We've all turned aside, and then scripture says we become worthless.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, and the I mean the other way says it later in that same chapter is all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So if God is holy and just and we have sinned, that's not a great position all by itself, right? I mean, he's holy, we're not. We've sinned, he's just, which means he's gonna punish evil, he's gonna punish what is wrong. That's that's a that's a serious place to do.
SPEAKER_00And the Bible says that no one does good. You know, we don't really we don't think about that in in that way. I think that the older I get, the more that I understand that even in our best intentions, they can often bring bring negative consequences. Even when we were trying really hard to do the right thing, there are these kind of unintended things sometimes that happen out of that. And the Bible says, like, no one does good. Like we we cannot look at any other human and just say good, right? That they're good. And so coming to terms with that is the beginning of salvation. That if you don't understand that you are a sinner, you will never understand that you need a savior. And the Bible's clear, right? That that we are separated from God. Leviticus 20, 26 says, You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. Right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00If he we don't bel like if we don't belong to him, if we're not in Christ, then we are separated from God. And the wages of sin is death. And sin brings death, it brings eternal separation from God. But the gift of God is eternal life.
SPEAKER_02So as you're in the Bible and you're looking for gospel threads, the sinfulness of man is it litters the Bible, right? I mean, the sinfulness of man is everywhere you look, and it's a stark, stark contrast to the character of God, and you see it everywhere. So these first two threads of the gospel are on full display throughout every part of Scripture, right?
SPEAKER_00They are.
SPEAKER_02So the so the of course that would be terrible news for all of us if it weren't for the rest of
Thread Three: Sufficiency Of Christ
SPEAKER_02the gospel. And so, and so I I love turning to this third gospel thread, which is the sufficiency of Christ, that Jesus Christ alone is able to remove our sin and to restore us to God. And that is some good news. The gospel is, I mean, the the gospel is a word that means good news, and this is good news that Christ is sufficient. But Christ alone is sufficient. So there are several things about that that are really important. One starts because of who he is, his identity. Philippians 2, 5 through 8 says, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. So it's it's who he is, and it is what he has done, his humanity, this humble character, but also his deity. First John 3, 5 says, You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin, which means he is both fully man and fully God. It's the his nature that makes it possible for him to do this. And of course, also because of what he has done. He lived the life we couldn't live. He was fully tempted by sin, he fully triumphed over sin, as we just read. And and as a perfect man, he alone is able to substitute for human sin. So if you sacrificed me for my sin, that'd be fine, but it's not going to pay the penalty because my my blood is not perfect. Right? There's nothing, there's nothing perfect or holy about that sacrifice. But for him, he can stand in our place. And as perfect God, he alone is able to satisfy divine judgment. So God never stops being just, even though our sins are wiped away. His character is permanent, is perfect. And so he is always just, but because of the fact that he is also fully fully, that Jesus is fully God and fully man, he's able to satisfy that judgment with his own perfect holy blood. It's it's good news. And then he died the death that we deserve to die, which of course is is good news for us as well. The Bible says that he bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and by his wounds you have been healed. That's in 1 Peter 2. And and so that's just that you're just kind of starting to unpack and identify. And this is, of course, more noticeable when you're in the New Testament and you see the the sufficiency of Christ, but it is also foreshadowed and and teased out many times in the Old Testament as well. People don't always realize that, but the sufficiency of Christ isn't is a is a gospel thread that doesn't just show up for the first time in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00It it does not. And a lot of times in the Old Testament, you will see the sufficiency of it, you'll see the sufficiency of Christ in like in the requirement of a sacrifice or in the requirement of atonement or something to stand in the place of the sinner so that the judgment doesn't fall on them. And then you will see these kind of shadows that it's not perfect, that that that that substitute of the old testament has to be done over and over and over again. Like it's not permanent.
SPEAKER_01Which means it's insufficient.
SPEAKER_00That it's insufficient, right?
SPEAKER_01So so you'll see we long for a sufficient sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00And though you'll see echoes of that in the old testament, where where things will happen and they'll see that they need something more than what they have, or they'll see that that the blood is is external, but they need something internal that's gonna change their hearts. And so in the Old Testament, it does look the sufficiency of Christ looks a little different. Sometimes you'll see God call it out. There are different times when He'll when He'll say, like, the blood of sacrifice is not the requirement, right? It's it's a heart that is humble and obedient to me. And so you'll start seeing even God saying, a time is coming when I will fix this or when I will where I will redeem all of this. And so you do see those echoes in the old testament. They look a little different. Of course, in the New Testament, you're looking for those things for about the humanity of Christ. Why is God fully human? How is he fully God? How did he triumph over sin? You know, how is he that substitution for me that I need? That, like, you know, 1 Peter 2, 24 says, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds we are healed.
SPEAKER_02So we we know that the sufficiency of Christ means he lived the life we couldn't live. He was sinless, that he died the death we deserve because he bore in his body our our sins and transgressions by his wounds. Wounds, we are healed. And he did all of this to conquer the enemy that we could never conquer.
SPEAKER_00The other thing I would say that in the Old Testament, a lot of times you see the judgment of God on sin. So the Old Testament often are these physical pictures of spiritual
Thread Four: Necessity Of Faith
SPEAKER_00reality. So you will see God judge sin and you'll see that the consequences of sin is death. And for that to be corrected or redeemed, something had to happen. And so you'll see those themes all through the Old Testament. And those are the kinds of things that you're looking for. Like, why is Christ my atoning sacrifice? Why is it that by his stripes I am healed? What is it about him that satisfied the wrath of God?
SPEAKER_02So the first three uh gospel threads are the character of God, the sinfulness of man, and the sufficiency of Christ. But we have to respond to the sufficiency of Christ. There's not, it's not something that's thrust upon us. And so that leads us to the fourth of the five gospel threads, and that's the necessity of faith. And the this gospel thread simply means that we can be restored to God through and only through faith in Jesus. So the first part of that is we can be restored to God, which means we can be acquitted before God the judge, and we can be adopted by God the Father, and we can be assured by God the King. But we can, of course, only do that, only have those things through faith in Jesus. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, By for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. That faith means that Jesus is the basis of our salvation. So we are the the necessity of faith, and you would say faith in what? Well, faith in that in that last gospel thread that I trust that Christ is sufficient. So we start with Jesus as the basis of salvation, and then faith is the means of salvation. It's what we just read in Ephesians. And our works, then, the good works that follow, are the evidence of salvation. And that's that's picked up in James 2 and other parts of the Bible as well. But the point is, it is faith, it is gr we're saved by grace, because God is gracious, that's his character, through faith, and that's the necessity of faith, our response to his offer, to his sufficiency. Well, how do we do that? What's next, Rachel? How so if if someone is listening to this and they have not they're not sure that they've ever received this gift of salvation, how how do you do that? What what do we do? We we start by turning from our sin and ourselves, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. I mean, the first step is just repentance. That's what it is, turning the other way, turning around. Right, turning around and saying, you know, I mean, that's what it says in Mark, that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. So repent and believe the gospel is what Mark Mark 115 says. Repent and believe the gospel, right? And I mean, I don't like that, that is how we activate faith is that we admit our sin, we confess it, we confess that we need a savior, that we cannot be righteous in and of ourselves, and then we ask Jesus to save us. We we put ourselves under under his redemption. We say that he lived the life that we can't live, that he died the death that I that I truly deserve to die. And that's that great exchange, right? That that we're gonna lay down our lives for his life. And so that's how you activate faith is that you believe Jesus is Savior and Lord. You know, Romans 10, 9 to 10 says, if you confess your with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and Lord is a word with meaning, yeah, means you're surrendered to that. It means that you're surrendered to that, that you now live for him, that you now live subjected to him and his kingship, not your own. But if you confess then with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved, right? That resurrection that I believe that in God's power, he has
Thread Five: Urgency Of Eternity
SPEAKER_00that the wages of sin was death, that Jesus died, but that God has raised him in victory. So now he is Lord over life and death, that he is Lord over sin and Satan, that he is Lord over me. And so if I believe in the resurrection, that the dead became alive, then I can die to myself and I can die to my sin and I can live for him. And so if we believe that, that believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is in your heart that one believes and is justified, and with their mouth they confess and are saved. And that's what it looks like. And you see, you see pictures of that in the old testament, and you see pictures of that in the new testament, of that necessity of faith, that that people respond to God by saying, I live for you. And that looks sometimes looks different in the Old Testament versus the New Testament, but you will see that that they they confess Christ as Lord, they confess the Lordship of God in their lives.
SPEAKER_02So if you're you're listening to this, of course, we're gonna we're we're doing this in the context of Bible study, but you can tell this is an evangelistic approach. And and so if you're sharing good news, you might not be able to share the whole gospel in one setting with someone. But if you over time are able to reinforce the character of God, the sinfulness of man, the sufficiency of Christ, at some point there has to be a response. And that response is the sufficient or the uh the necessity of faith. And just as Rachel was describing, that's that's the moment that that people are able to turn from their sin and themselves and come into Christ. And and the thing to remember here is that an initial moment of faith in time leads to inevitable growth of faith over time. So your your faith, your faith is a s is not a one-time thing. It's it's a we we think of salvation as kind of this moment, and it and it is, but there is an ongoing growth of faith that continues on, and that, and that is a necessity. It's part of the of the gospel. So once those first four threads are are explored, it's important not to forget that there is urgency. So you might you might be sharing with someone or someone might have shared with you all of these gospel truths and threads and come to the point of saying there's a necessity of faith that requires a response. And you know, we're always we may always be tempted to say, even if we know what the Lord's calling us to, that maybe I'll maybe I'll get to that later. Maybe I'll come to that later. And that's where the fifth thread of the gospel is so important, and that is the urgency of eternity, which means that our eternal destiny hinges on how we respond to Jesus. Hell is real. It is it is an unpopular topic, but it is real. The Bible is clear about this. It's a place of continual rebellion, of final separation from God and eternal in its duration. It is, and the thing that's hard for us with our finite minds to wrap around it is that hell not only is real, but hell is also right. It's the right and chosen outcome for those who are
Practicing Threads In John 3
SPEAKER_02in rebellion against a holy God. And that's hard. I mean, I get it. I don't I don't want to be there. I don't want anybody I love to be there, I don't want any person to be there. But that's that's urgent, right? That's the urgency of eternity.
SPEAKER_00It is the urgency of eternity. And you know, I think that sometimes we're tempted maybe to to shy away from the urgency of eternity or to shy away from the reality that some people will spend their eternity in hell if they if they do not turn and repent, if they are not found in Christ, if if as Ephesians says, they're not healed sealed by the Holy Spirit. I do think sometimes we're we're tempted to shy away from that urgency, but it's a really important part of the gospel that that this matters and it matters for eternity. And the most important thing about anybody is what they believe about God, and so getting to that place to say, look, if you are in rebellion to the holy creator God of the universe, that's gonna have consequences, and it has eternal consequences, and so hell exists and it is a place of final separation from all of the light that God brings, and it's eternal and and it is a place of continual rebellion. And I think as we get that reality kind of settled in our in our hearts and minds, then the urgency of sharing the gospel becomes more real to us too.
SPEAKER_02And of course, eternity is not just hell, there's also a glorious eternity waiting for everyone who does receive what what Christ has done and who does bet everything on the gospel. And that's that's an eternity with him as well. So so it's urgent on both ends, is the point. And there are there are these five gospel threads that that taken together, tell people, tell us anything we need to know, everything we need to know in order to respond to the gospel and be saved for all of eternity. It exists in these five threads. Now, these threads show up all through scripture. We're gonna we're gonna actually demonstrate this by taking a look at at uh the gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 1 to 21. This is gonna be probably an pretty easy application of the gospel threads because it's because the gospel is presented pretty directly in this in this space. But it's good for us to practice identifying the character of God, the sinfulness of man, the sufficiency of Christ, the necessity of faith, and the urgency of eternity as we hear them and watch for them in the text. Again, we'll have homework over the course of this week as well, but let's go ahead and start by reading this text. Rachel, I'm gonna ask you to do that today. It's John 3, 1 through 21, if you have it there. And then I want you all to listen for if you can go with us. If you can open your Bibles with us while we do this, because it'll be easier if you're looking at it. Again, John three, one through twenty-one. So look at the text with us as Rachel reads, and then we'll come back and we'll identify just a few examples of where one or more of these gospel threads is on full display.
SPEAKER_00The word of the Lord, John three verses beginning in verse one. 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, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter 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 marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? And Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must also be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 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. 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. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so they may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so if you're looking at this text and you're just you're just you're just looking for where one or more of these gospel threads emerges. And and I I will say the ones that come to most readily to mind to me are the sufficiency of Christ, the necessity of faith, and the urgency of eternity. But the but the character of God and the sinfulness of man are recognized in here as well, right? What jumps what jumps out to you, Rachel, as you look at some of some of this text?
SPEAKER_00Um, do you want to start with just the character of God?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, let's do that.
SPEAKER_00You know, I think one of the things that stand out to me first is that Nicodemus has heard of the miracles that Jesus has done, and he says nobody can do that except through God. So He knows the character He knows so he's recognizing the power and authority that God has, and and that's why he's there. So that I think was one of the things that stand out. And then Jesus immediately starts talking about the kingdom of God. And so, you know, one of the things that is true about God is that he has a kingdom that he is the king of. And so that's one of the things that that stand out to me about that. And then later you see where he talks about God sending his son, he he alludes in some ways to like the offense that that you will be condemned
Applying Threads Across Scripture
SPEAKER_00if you do not believe in the son.
SPEAKER_02Says that you are already condemned, that you're already condemned, right?
SPEAKER_00Because you don't believe in the son of God. And so you see kind of God's wrath a little bit, I guess, in in there. It's a hint at the wrath of God that that there is this dividing line between those who who believe in God's son and those who do not believe in God's son, and those who do not believe in God's son are under judgment and wrath. So you see some of some of those eternal elements, I think.
SPEAKER_02Of course, in John 3, 16, which is part of this, you see God's love, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. Like, right, that's the obvious thing. God so loved the world. God so loved the world. Yeah. And so that's the, you know, that's an obvious one too, that he sent his son into the world in order that the world might be saved. So God's heart and God's desire is to save people. It is not to condemn them, but to save them. And so you see God's love and his heart and his mercy and his grace all on display in in those passages.
SPEAKER_02So the sinfulness of man is is kind of a subtext through this whole passage, right? Is there is there anything specifically that jumps out to you here? I mean, uh there's there are points in here where it refers to the judgment and it refers to that you're that you are you know guilty already and that kind of thing. That so I mean it's the subtext here is the sinfulness of man, but what do you notice?
SPEAKER_00I think, you know, in verses 19 and 20, you get a really good picture of sin.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00In 19 and 20, that this is the judgment, right?
SPEAKER_02It says people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
SPEAKER_00Because their works were evil. Yeah. And so one of the characteristics of sin is it loves the darkness rather than the light. And you you can see that in the world all around us. And then everyone who does wicked things hates the light. Right. So that's another characteristic of sin, is that it does not want to be in the light. It doesn't want to be exposed, and it it hates, right? Which indicates kind of this violent reaction to the things of the Lord. And you see that in the world around us as well when you think about sin, that there's sometimes this kind of visceral violent reaction to the people of God, to the things of God. And so the light, like the darkness hates the light, you know.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And you also see that like the truth seeks the light. And so, you know, that is is a good test.
SPEAKER_02So, what about the sufficiency of Christ? This is this is where I think we start really picking up steam in this in this text. There's a whole bunch about the sufficiency of Christ. The the uh there are a couple of a couple of areas. One that kind of jumped out to me when he gets to verse 13 and he says, No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man, he's distinguishing himself, obviously, from everyone else. And he says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And and then he I'm gonna pause there because the next one kind of gets into the next gospel thread, even the rest of that sentence. But when he s when when he says God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that there's a reason here that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Now that of course comes into the necessity of faith, but what the the essence of it is to say he is the way, that there is a way for eternal life in with the Lord, not separated from him, but with the Lord, and he is the way. He is sufficient, he he and only he is sufficient. He specifically identified earlier, as he said in 13, that no one has ascended in heaven except he who has ascended from heaven. That's me, he's saying, the Son of Man. So so he the he's being uh making bold claims about his own singular sufficiency in order to solve this huge problem that we all have. And and that's inextricably tied to the necessity of faith, which is the next gospel thread. And in fact, in many of these passages I just read, that's the rest of the sentence in some cases.
SPEAKER_00It is the rest of the sentence often. And you know, the that story of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness is is a picture of both of those together. So the Israelites were under judgment because of their sin, and God sent a plague, and so they were they were dying, and the solution that was given to them
Homework, Prayer, And Next Steps
SPEAKER_00was for a bronze serpent to be raised up. And bronze in the Old Testament is a picture of the judgment of God and the kind of the sinfulness of man and the judgment of God on that, that this bronze serpent would be raised up, and then those who looked to the serpent were saved. Right? So you had to look to the serpent for your salvation, and just and so Jesus is calling, kind of calling to that, right? That there's this to look to him, that he now is going to be lifted up. He's obviously foreshadowing the cross, right? You know, that he's gonna be lifted up, and that when men look to him, they will be saved. And so that picture shows kind of the sinfulness of man, the sufficiency of Christ, and the necessity of of faith.
SPEAKER_02I mean, identifying that, I mean, being able to just draw that parallel to the cross, which he's doing here, it it does, it does unpack that sufficiency of Christ, right? He lived, remember what it means. He lived the life we couldn't live, he paid the penalty we could never pay, he conquered the enemy that we could never conquer. That's right, that's what sufficiency of Christ means.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right. Like he con he conquered death. And so, so he is the the physical salvation in Moses' time, and he is the eternal spiritual salvation for for all time. And you know, and then of course in John 3 16 it says, Whoever believes in him, right? So you you see that necessity of Faith that you have to believe in him to have eternal life.
SPEAKER_02Whoever believes in him may have eternal life. In John 3 16, which is more familiar to us, God so loved the world, He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. And then he goes on to say God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Sufficiency of Christ and the necessity of faith.
SPEAKER_00And so then in 18 He says, Whoever believes in Him, right?
SPEAKER_02What about the urgency of eternity?
SPEAKER_00You definitely see judgment in these passages. Yeah. Right? That he says that you are already condemned. And he has not believed in the name of Holy Son, is already condemned. And this is the judgment.
SPEAKER_02That's right. That's right. So there's no there's no sugarcoating the consequences of this and the urgency of eternity. Now I will I will say we we we get to pick the passages here, right? So this is this is one that is a great demonstration of identifying gospel threads because Jesus is walking through the gospel right here.
SPEAKER_00With Nicodemus.
SPEAKER_02Here are a couple of things we would recommend. First, it's oh it's okay to use it alongside another tool. So if you like doing two questions and a statement, or you like doing the from their home to our home method that we've that we've used, you can use that and lay the gospel threads next to it and use that to help identify timeless truths because each gospel thread is loaded with timeless truths. So you can do that if you would like to. But the bigger issue, I think, and this is what Rachel alluded to earlier, is learning to identify and recognize the essence of the gospel all through Scripture will only deepen your one, your appreciation for what God has done, and two, your passion and your heart for evangelizing the lost. And that's that's just this incredible one of many ways that time in the Word, intimacy with the Lord, can and should change us and shape our hearts into the image of Him. And that's why one of the reasons I like using gospel threads as a as a tool, as a part of my Bible study, because it just it the whole goal is to be changed. The whole goal is to be changed to be made more like him and to think more like him and and have a heart like his, and the gospel is that on full display.
SPEAKER_00And I you know, I mean, one of the things that that we hear uh a lot is that the gospel changes everything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And as you see the gospel, as you live the gospel, as you apply the gospel to how you live and how you navigate circumstances, how you navigate relationships, you really start to see that the gospel really does change everything. That that this I uh that these truths of the glory of God and the sinfulness of man and the sufficiency of what Christ has done for us so we stay and remain under grace and the the necessity of faith and not just one time, but an ongoing ongoing ongoing, right? To walk in faith. You know, the opposite of faith is sight, it's not knowledge. You know, we often think of faith and knowledge as being opposite, but they're not, that's not how the Bible describes them at all. The opposite of faith is sight, yeah. And so this is how we learn how to walk by by faith. What we do we reckon on the things that are unseen instead of the things that are seen. And Jesus talks about that when he says to Nicodemus, the wind blows and you don't know where it comes from or where it's going. So it is with the kingdom of God, right? With the Spirit of God. You don't you don't know, but we walk by faith. And so he's alluding to that. And so I do think it's it's helpful to look at scripture just through each of those lenses to spend a little bit of time and say, you know, what does this tell me or show me about the character of God? And and really kind of think and note that. And then what does this show us about the need for a savior? You know, the sinfulness of man and why we can't save ourselves, and then and then look at the passage again and read it and just ask, so what does this then show me about about Christ and why he came and what he did? And and then read it again and say, what does this show me about the necessity of faith and how you walk by faith and not by sight, or how you respond in faith to what God is doing or what he has said is true. And then read it again and say, Does this does this cry to the to these urgencies of eternity that that living in the here and now is is not is not my call, you know? Yeah, that that there's so much more to this life than than just this moment. And so I think it is really helpful to just read, kind of read through it five times, read through the passage, but each time say, I'm looking for the character of God this time. Now this time I'm looking for what it teaches me about the sinfulness of man. Now I'm gonna read it again, and this time I'm looking for what it teaches me about the sufficiency of Christ. And so just kind of reading through it with each of those lenses on, I think sometimes brings out new things in the scripture.
SPEAKER_02It absolutely does. And the other thing that it does is it draws you deeper and deeper into oneness with the Lord. That's and that's the whole point, right? The whole the whole point of going deeper in Bible study and and having a more intimate relationship with God's Word is to have a more intimate relationship with Him. And so doing what you're describing is a great way to just align our hearts with His as you as you do that very technique you're describing. So we're gonna turn you loose on some homework for this week. This is the one day of the week we don't have homework, right? When we come in here. Sorry, did I think I missed something?
SPEAKER_00Well, just when you're done with that, don't forget, right? Like the meth the methods are only there to show us the glory of God, to give us things that we can apply to our lives. And so look for those applications. You know, as you're kind of reading through that, the gospel really does change everything. And so as you see God's heart, as you see the just the issues that we have, the different ways that we sin, ask God to show you how to apply those when you see the sufficiency of Christ. Like, am I living in the sufficiency of Christ, or am I living outside of the sufficiency of Christ?
SPEAKER_02Which is what we want what we want you to do every time you have any timeless truth that that you identify. All of these are timeless truths. So as you reckon on that, be changed by it. How do I apply it? What will I do differently?
SPEAKER_00So ask yourself, like, what am what do I need to do myself in my life to live in response to what God is showing me in this passage? Because without application, there is no change. We have to be asking God to show us how does this apply to to where we live and who we are and how we relate to God and how we relate to other people each and every day. And then move your reading to prayer. If there are things in there that stand out to you, things that God shows you that, wow, this verse really describes the world around me. Ask, you know, commit that to memory, meditate on that. The like the Lord may bring an opportunity for you to draw those parallels with somebody else and then use them, use that as a jumping off point to point them to the sufficiency of Christ or the urgency of eternity or the necessity of faith. And so I think it does kind of open our eyes to those things so we can just be watching for those gospel opportunities around us as well.
SPEAKER_02So you'll be in several different books of the Bible this week as you do the homework. You'll be in Ephesians, you'll be in the Gospel of Luke, you'll be in Exodus and Second Chronicles at different times. We're actually going to start you with a passage that you should have a lot of familiarity with because you just used that passage as a part of from their home to our home. So we're talking about Ephesians 2, 1 through 10. That's your first, your first day's homework. So you'll be familiar with that. You can even get out your notes that you used last week in Ephesians 2, 1 through 10. And as you look over that, now you're looking for gospel threads. You're you're I seeking out the right next to what you've already done, seeking out the character of God, the sinfulness of man, the necessity of faith, the sufficiency of Christ, and the urgency of eternity.
SPEAKER_00And like I said, I would really recommend reading it with that lens each time.
SPEAKER_02Do it five times.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, read it five times.
SPEAKER_02I'm going to read it once, just looking for the character of God.
SPEAKER_00And then read it again looking for what it tells you about the sinfulness of man. I I found that to be a really helpful way to start doing that. It's just do them one at a time.
SPEAKER_02Well, as is always the case, we we don't have it in ourselves to generate the kind of change that that the Lord wants to work in us through his word. And so we need to ask him to do this in us and for us, to keep us faithful, to to show us his heart as we go into his word this week. Uh so before we let you go and turn you loose on your homework, I want to ask you, Rachel, to to just pray. Pray for us and pray that the Lord will lead us properly through this time.
SPEAKER_00All right.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Most gracious, heavenly Father, we thank you. We just praise you. We praise you for the gospel. We praise you for the beauty of your gospel, and we praise you that your gospel does change everything. That because you stepped out of heaven, and because you came to earth, and because you lived the life that we could not live, and because you died the death that we deserve to die, and because you have been you have risen victoriously over sin and death and hell and Satan, that we know that we also can live victoriously, that we can die to sin, and we can be raised in eternal life. We can be sealed by your spirit to walk in step with it, that we, Father, can know you personally, that we can, that we can know your heart, that we can know your character, that we can know what you're like. And so, Father, as we just think about that, we just praise you for it. We praise you for saving us. And Father, I pray that as we work through the gospel threads, that you will just give us renewed awe for your gospel, that you will give us renewed sensitivity to your promptings. And Father, that you will just remind us anew of the incredible love that you have shown us. And Father, I know that that you also will, I just pray that you'll show us why no one is good and why all of us have turned aside and become worthless in your sight. And Father, not in a way that defeats us, but in a way that draws us near to you, that shows us your sufficiency that we can't, but you did. And Father, that we would just live in that, that we would live in what you have already accomplished for us, that we would live from that, that we would live in those glorious inheritance that you've given us with every spiritual blessing. And Father, we pray that you will just help us to live not by sight, but by faith. And Father, that we will always be mindful that we are living not for the here and now, but for eternity. And Father, we praise you that we will spend forever with you. And so give us a heart for those who don't know you and help us to be um instruments to build your kingdom and to be ambassadors for you. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Well, we are praying for you this week, and we're looking forward to meeting you back here tomorrow after you've spent time in his word. The holy, just, and gracious creator of all things has an appointment with you in his word, and you can meet him in Ephesians, and we'll come back here tomorrow and discuss it. So we'll uh until then, we pray that you'll have a great time in the Lord's Word.