Where Are You Really Heading

By /

Where Are You Really Heading

John 3:16-21

Speaker:
Series:

Lost GPS, Wrong Direction: Where Are You Really Heading?

Have you ever had your GPS completely fail you? I go to a lot of business meetings and I have to travel to them and I am sometimes pressed for time. So I’ve had one app on my phone that has humbled me the most, and that is the Apple’s app. There are times that I would put the directions in, I’m going feeling pressed, feeling anxious about how long it’s going to take me to get there because I decided to leave a little bit later than I should have. And as I get there, all of a sudden my GPS says I have arrived, but I have not arrived. This is a dumpster. This is not the location. I’m supposed to be at a coffee shop doing a business meeting and my GPS failed me.

The GPS was supposed to do one job—get me to the location I was supposed to get to, but it didn’t. And I wonder how many times this happens in our spiritual life. We tell ourselves we’re fine, we’re okay. I think I’m heading in the right way. Life is good. But the real question is not, is life stable? The real question is, where are you going? Because direction determines your destination.

The Hard Truth About Our Destination Without Jesus

Let’s start with the hard part because I want to end on a good note. In John 3:16-21, John does not leave us guessing. Without Jesus, the destination is not neutral. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” And verse 18 tells us, “whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

Both these verses say if you do not believe, you are going to perish and you’re going to be condemned. Church today doesn’t talk a lot about these words, but we need to understand what they mean.

Perishing is more than just physical death. We’re all going to die. It is experiencing the wrath of God for all eternity. Just sit with that for a minute. You right now may be on the path to eternal damnation.

Condemnation is God’s holy and divine judgment being pronounced on those who do wrong. And that’s everyone. There is no neutrality in life. I have found over my time that there are three signs of condemnation we have to be aware of: persistent guilt, overwhelming shame, and constant accusation from the enemy.

Why Don’t People Just Believe?

John 3:19-21 explains this clearly: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” Did you catch that? Loved. This isn’t merely ignorance. This is an active choice.

Evil is not just extreme immorality. Evil is the deliberate disobedience of God’s law. Evil is saying, I will live my life my way. I will stay in control, I will handle this. I will find my own way to salvation. I don’t need God.

The Beautiful Path to New Life

But here’s the beauty—the path begins with God’s initiative. John 3:16 starts with “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” Your salvation does not start with you climbing your way up to God. It starts with God coming to you.

Recently, I was trying to explain trust to my kids during our family devotions. I had one of my kids get on the coffee table, turn around, and when I said on the count of three, I wanted them to just lean back and fall. As soon as I said lean back and fall, they’re like, “whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Am I gonna hit my head?”

But when they finally trusted and fell, I caught them. And I want you to catch this—when I caught them, they weren’t holding onto me. They weren’t grabbing onto something. They fully just let go and surrendered their whole life to me. And I held them. This is what Biblical belief looks like—that you’ve surrendered your whole life and just said, God, whatever you have, I trust you.

Three Gifts of New Life With Jesus

When you believe, God gives you three things that drastically change your direction:

First, eternal life. Eternal life is not merely endless time. It is being fully alive in Christ, never to suffer again, never to have tears flowing from your eyes because of pain. It’s pure joy, pure bliss, because you are with Him.

Second, salvation. God doesn’t want you to go to hell. Salvation is moving from hostility to harmony, from being condemned to free, from being an enemy of God to being beloved of God.

Third, living in the light. John 3:21 says, “But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out by God.” When you start living the life that God has called you to live, people are going to look at you and be like, “what happened to this person?”

Next Steps: Where Will You Go?

So I’m asking you again: Where are you going? Are you going towards a path of eternal damnation, or are you going to a path towards eternal life?

Today I’m pleading with you, don’t walk away from this and think, “okay, I just have to do a little bit more. I just maybe read my Bible and I’ll be okay.” No, the remedy is to believe in who Christ is and what he did on that cross for you. Will you believe and come to the light?

The choice is before you today. Either the light will be a warmth to your soul, or it will be blinding to your eyes. Choose the warmth. Choose life. Choose Jesus.

We hope you enjoyed the sermon and would love to see you in person. Plan your visit to Community Baptist Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee today!

Plan A Visit
Scroll to Top