What's Keeping You Out of Heaven? | John 3:14-15 | Justin Cooper

Main message: Jesus opens the locked door to heaven by being "lifted up" on the cross; anyone who is born again—an inward work of the Holy Spirit received by faith in Christ—can be saved and have eternal life.

Key points:

• Nicodemus represents people who assume religion or good works grant entrance to God's kingdom, but sin blocks us from God's presence.
• Being "born again" is a sovereign, spiritual regeneration by the Holy Spirit, not something earned by external deeds or titles.
• Jesus points to the Old Testament typology (the brazen serpent in Numbers 21): as the serpent was lifted up so the bitten could look and live, so Christ must be lifted up on the cross for sinners to look by faith and be healed/saved.
• Salvation is a free, complete provision accomplished by Christ's death—available to all who believe, not by works.
• Assurance of salvation comes from faith in Christ's finished work, not from church attendance, morality, or religious practice.

Scriptures mentioned: John 3:12, 14–16; Numbers 21; Romans 8; Luke 23