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Life = “eternal life” of a certain kind. Refers not to just it’s eternal quantity but it’s divine quality. It is in essence nothing less than participation in the eternal life of the Living Word, Jesus Christ. It is the life of God in every believer yet not fully manifest until the resurrection (MacArthur) John includes four specific conversations Jesus had with a religious leader, a promiscuous woman (4:7-26), a government official (4:46-54) and a paralytic man (5:1-8) to further accomplish his purpose for writing his gospel, that people would know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name (Jn. 20:31)

Four Essentials to Experiencing Life:

1. One must be drawn to Christ (vs. 1-2)
- No one can come to Christ without the Father’s enabling (Jn. 6:44, 65)
- Good News - Christ entrusts himself to those the Father gives him (Jn. 6:37)

We need to be listening to others and make time to have conversations with those who God may be drawing.

2. One must be born again (vs. 3-13)
- Lineage and religious credentials are not sufficient to enter the kingdom of God
- ‘New birth’ from God leads to true worship of God and the ability to obey Him (Jn. 4:24)

We need to check our motives for why we do what we do. Is our motivation an outflow of having been wonderfully born again or do we believe it will somehow help us earn our way into the kingdom of God?

3. Christ had to be lifted up (vs. 14)

- The Son of Man was the only qualified person to be lifted up and provide eternal life (Jn. 1:29; Heb. 10:14)
- God loved the world, SO…He GAVE!

“His love for the world is remarkable not because the world is so big but because the world is so bad.” We need to make sure we are daily demonstrating our love for God in real and tangible ways (Rom. 12:1). “I love God, SO… (Lk. 9:23, 1 John 5:1-3…@CBC live out the 5 essentials, worship, word, prayer, growth and witness)

4. One must believe (vs. 15-18)
- There are only two realities, condemned or not condemned
- Believing is the key to experiencing life

We must never grow tired of celebrating the gift of faith we received to believe in his name and have life (Eph. 2:8-9; Ps. 71:15, Ps. 95:1)

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