3/23/25 John 3:16 “The Prerequisite for Discipleship”
This morning I preached on discipleship, a subject frequently discussed in recent years, and rightfully so. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 has one imperative, make disciples, and three participles, by going and baptizing and teaching. But before a person can make disciples, he needs to be a disciple. And before a person can be a disciple, he must become a Christian.
Becoming a Christian does not happen by growing up in a Christian family or going to church or doing good works. We need to turn from our sins and trust Jesus Christ as Savior. John 3:16 has some basic gospel truths that we need to realize and act on. The bad news is that we all deserve to perish, to spend eternity in hell, because of our sin (Rom. 3:23; 6:23a). The good news is that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins so we can go to heaven (Rom. 5:8). The action that all of us need to take is to believe, to have faith, to rely on, to depend on Jesus to save us from our sins and give us eternal life because of what He did on the cross.
Too many people in church have never understood and acted on the gospel, the good news about Jesus. The tendency of many is to depend on good works to get us to heaven, but none of us are good enough. By God’s grace we are saved by faith, resulting in good works but not because of good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). And we cannot be genuine disciples of Jesus unless we have been saved.
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