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We're gonna be in John chapter 3 this morning, and no, it is not singularity on verse 16, although that will be within our Scripture text. John chapter 3. I looked it up this morning on the internet, and this morning, 69 or 176 million Americans say that they are Christian.
69%. Yet, of that 69%, or rather I should say, of that 176 million, only 9%, Pastor Josiah, wherever you are, only 9 say that the Bible is accurate and reliable. 176 million people claim to be Christians.
Now, I want all of you in this room to identify just for a second if these statistics pertain to you at any level. You claim to be a Christian, but yet, you don't really know that the Bible is accurate and true.
May I take it a step further, just for a second? 176 million people say they're Christians. 9 of that say only the Bible is accurate and true. But now, here's I believe even a smaller percentage. And I don't know the percentage for this, but it is microscopically small.
Because of those 9 who say the Bible is accurate and true, let me ask you this. Do you live that out every day? Here is why. Here is why so many people in our text, it's the same thing that was happening 2 ,000 years ago, it's the same thing happening today.
Read with me in John 3, starting in verse 1. Now, there was a man of the Southern Baptist Church. Same thing. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus, don't miss these next two words, 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 was with him.
Little break here for a second, look up at me. We have a Roman historian who quotes a Roman citizen, I'm sorry, senator, who is saying that there is a man named Christus from Galilee that does many mysterious works.
We have another man named Thallus who says the same thing. Another historian, none of these people are Christians, named Josephus, that says that Jesus was a magnificent mage. So there is historical evidence and writings outside the gospel of Jesus Christ that say that this man Jesus did things that no one could explain.
Here Nicodemus is validating that again. He says, we know you must be from God, for no one can do what you do unless you are from God. Verse 3, Jesus answered him. Now notice Jesus' response. He comes to him and he hasn't really asked a question yet.
Jesus says, truly I say unto you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, and probably in a joking and mocked way, 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 unto you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
In our text this morning, verse 7, do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.
What is born again?
It's colloquial in churches today. I'm a born again Christian. I'm a born again Christian. I mean, you hear it in the FCA members on Sunday afternoon. I'd like to give thanks. Stephen Curry or Stephen Curry, the basketball player dude?
Yeah, whatever. I don't watch basketball.
I watch sports, football.
But, he is a fine young man. From what I have read about him and seen of him, he gives credence and validity to, quote, his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's great.
Tim Tebow kneels.
There's a whole bunch of people out there who claim Christianity. Okay? Including a guy once named Adolf Hitler. Now, I'm not equating Stephen Curry or Tim Tebow to Adolf Hitler, but what I am saying, claiming something and living something out are two different things.
What does it mean to be born again? Well, the word born again here, and for you Arminians in here who can't wrap your head around this, I'm sorry to tell you that born again is akin to, in the Greek and English, to the doctrine of regeneration.
Let me say that again.
Regeneration. You say, Pastor, what does that word mean? Titus chapter 3, verses 4 through 6, that a lesser pastor that we know just preached on, it says this in verse 4, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior, don't miss that, God our Savior, appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness which we had done, but according to his own mercy.
Now listen, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. People, if you're in this room today and you are truly a child of God, it was not by works of righteousness which you did, but according to the regenerative mercy of Jesus Christ that you have been made alive again.
The Word of God tells us that we are dead in our sins and our trespasses. Dead men can make no choices. So God in his mercy, he regenerates that dead soul. Some of you sitting in this room are a trichotomy, but one cylinder isn't firing.
You men should get that. One cylinder isn't firing. In other words, you have a mind, you have a body, but you're lagging around a dead soul. You're being led by your filthy carnal mind instead of a regenerated spirit of the living God.
Some of you in this room, you want to believe in Jesus. You have a desire in your head, but because you have never truly submitted, you cannot truly understand the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit of God.
Let me say this to you today. You want me to tell you how awesome God's grace is? He didn't just save you from your sins. He chose you before the foundation of the world by his predestinated power to be regenerated and instilled with faith so you could pray that prayer to Jesus.
You see, your salvation is so much more than walking down an aisle or getting baptized or joining some silly church. God loved you before the world even began. Before you even understood a concept of right and wrong, God had chosen you by His grace to be regenerated back to life and He gave you the faith to believe.
It's funny how we all sit there as Baptists and say, we have done nothing for our salvation. Yet, it's that same voice that talks about my faith, my work, my deeds, my goodness, my righteousness. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you that that jacked up concept is going to stress you out.
Oh man, how sweet it is for the believer who truly knows the doctrine of regeneration as they fall back into a beautiful soft bed relying on nothing but the love, grace, and sovereignty of Almighty God.
Understand this today. That being born again means to be regenerated. You must be born again. Now, in this relationship, Nicodemus comes and you will hear what I'm saying more when you contrast it with who Nicodemus was.
We know this. He was a Pharisee. We know he was a Pharisee. And for those of you who don't understand the Essenes and the esoteric groups and the Pharisees and Sadducees, you don't need to. Basically, this is what a Pharisee is.
He is an independent, right-wing, nationalistic, and I know that word today has a negative connotation, I love America. If that makes me a nationalist, then that's what I'll be. I consider myself a patriot, but you can call me whatever you want.
My blood bleeds red, white, and blue, okay? The Pharisees started as a political group. Think of the religious right of the 1980s. You see, in between Malachi of the Old Testament and Matthew of the New Testament, there were 400 years there.
And for 400 years, the children of Israel were getting just beat up all the time. And finally, this guy said, you know what?
You know what?
We need to get back right with God. If we put prayers back in our schools, if we put the Ten Commandments back in the courtroom, if we put Jesus Christ and let high schoolers pray at football, man, our country will be revived.
Here's the problem with that, guys. You don't put Jesus anywhere. You see, I love this saying that we've come up with in church. I'm going to make Jesus Christ my Lord. He is not a Labrador puppy, kids.
Guess what?
He already is Lord. He doesn't need your permission or your acquiescing to His position. You see, it's not about you making Him Lord. It's about you surrendering to His Lordship. 169 million, 9%. Some of you in this room just got it in a personal application.
You're so used to church sayings.
That you have forsaken the truth of the Word of God. And I know that this feels uncomfortable because your mama wept at your baptism. Your pastor gave you a pink or blue Bible. You are a great moral person.
But I say to you in all love,.
You must be born again.
Nicodemus was that Pharisee. He was also very successful. Nicodemus, we know, was the third richest person in Jerusalem at that time.
The third richest person.
This dude had money. So he was definitely respectable. He was definitely successful. But here's the third fold that I have for you today. Listen to this. He was also acceptable. Now pastor, how do you know he was acceptable?
Because he did this. He came to Jesus at night. Well, why is that a big deal? Because he didn't want people seeing him. You see, he was the senior pastor of the largest church there was at that time. And I use church euphemistically.
He was the largest pastor. He was the pastor of every Jew there was. He was their pastor. How would it look for the pastor going to ask the carpenter's son from Nutbush about things of God?
He was acceptable.
But here's who he was acceptable to. He was acceptable to the religious people or the culture of his time rather than to God Himself. Ladies and gentlemen, listen. Some of you are already bored. Some of your rear ends have grown legs because they're walking all over that chair.
Listen to me. You are flirting with the damnation of hell based upon your assumption of acceptability by this culture or a moral elite in this world. You may judge yourself based upon a moral sense of where you are in the religious rite of the Southern Baptist Convention.
I beg you, please leave all that behind.
Because you must be born again.
Look at this next verse. Jesus said, Truly I say unto you in lesson 1, born of water, verse 5, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
What I'm trying to say to you today is this. How many of you have ever been a drunk? Or addicted to a drug? Yeah, well some of y 'all are lying in here and holding your hand down real low because I know you, you drunk.
Listen, what some people try to do is this. They try to reform their lifestyle. Let me put it to you like this. Have you ever gotten a new bed or a new dresser or something and your room looked like a tornado had gone through it?
And you had to enjoy that peace. You had to clean up your whole room and get everything organized, right? I know a young man whose room looked like a war zone all the time. Underneath his bed, underneath his bed, we found Jimmy Hoffa's ring.
I mean, it was nasty. Well, he conned his girlfriend in to coming over and cleaning up his room. And when she did that, I told my wife, that's gonna be the woman he marries right there.
All right?
So she came over and cleaned it up. And I remember him walking down the stairs and this is what he said. You can call me New Leaf from now on because I turned over a new leaf. I will never have anything shoved under my bed.
My bed will be clean. My room will be clean. Everything will be perfect. And I said to him, as long as she comes over, I will wait to clean up your room. I agree. Guys, here's the reality. I won't tell you who that is.
I will always love you, Rachel. I will... That's the HP I see, by the way. I want you to understand something. Guys, if you keep trying to turn over a new leaf in your life, whether it be pornography or whatever it is you struggle with, if you try to reform yourself, you're going to fail.
Trust me from personal experience. You're going to fail.
You know how many pipes I've cracked.
And thrown in the garbage can? Bunches. I have thrown an eight ball away in a moment of absolutely believing and knowing that I was never gonna do it again. Yet, then I went and jacked somebody in the head to get more money to go buy some more.
Because that reformation only lasted until the cravings came back.
That's not a Christian.
Some of you in this room, and this is going to be hard for some of you to hear, but you want to reform your spiritual life by doing devotions every day. To you, that's the height of spiritual acquiescing.
Listen to me.
First of all, number one, nowhere in Scripture does it tell you to read the Bible every day. So quit using that as a mark of holiness.
Because what's going to happen.
Is you're going to fall into religion.
Second of all, quit beating yourself up over it.
You've listened to too many preachers and too many denominations rather than the Holy Spirit of the living God. God doesn't want you to read the Bible every day. He wants you to memorize it and live it out.
And it would be so much better for you to live out a small portion than ignore it all by simply reading it. Please, stop trying to do that stuff. Quit trying in your own power to reform your life. Let God first regenerate you and make you alive so that you can know what it is to have power over sin.
Second thing,.
Understanding this, you need to be born again. You must be born again. It is regeneration. But how does it happen? Let me read to you again verse 5 and tell you what it is not before I tell you what it is.
Verse 5, chapter 3, "'Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless one is born of the water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'". Anybody that's not a Christian today, here's what I'm going to tell you.
I want you to come over here and I, in the power bestowed upon me by the Holy Spirit of God, I will take this holy water.
Hold on.
Somebody stole my Honda. I will take this water right here and I will baste thy skull in this water. Paul, we're going to need to drain this. I'm going to baste this and you will be saved because it's going to be of your spirit and the water.
That's what it just said, verse 5. You must be born of the water.
And the Spirit.
What theologically, for those of you that have actually listened, what is a doctrine again? Y 'all tire me all over. Someone besides my wife or an MIT student or a pastor.
What is a doctrine?
A teaching, but it's more than just a teaching. It's a truth. That's very important.
That's very important.
It's a truth that is found from Genesis to Revelation.
Okay?
Grace is a doctrine. Genesis 6, verse 8 is the first time grace is used and it's still being used all the way through Revelation 22. That means God really wants you to understand what grace is. So, here we go again.
What is grace?
What is it?
Some of you heathen rednecks would go, would I sight before dinner?
No.
What is doctrinally, what is grace? Wait a minute, I heard a redneck.
What?
Grace is not being given. That's actually mercy, but that's close. That's close. Who said that? Moses. Moses. That water in there is going. The word caris means unmerited favor. Y 'all believe in unmerited favor, right?
So, now, help me out because I'm a high school dropout, okay? So, explain this to me. If grace is unmerited, in other words, I can't do anything to earn it, but I have to get baptized by action, how is it then grace that I'm saved?
Who said that?
Oh my God.
Yes, God gives grace freely.
Redundant as that is, maybe we need to hear it. God gives grace freely. If baptism is a prerequisite of salvation, then where does grace happen? Here's what a lot of people say on verse 5 right here. What Jesus is saying is, let me read it to you.
Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless one is baptized with water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That violates the doctrine of grace. That violates an understanding.
That it is unmerited.
But also, watch this. Intellectually, academically, and harmonetically, it doesn't make sense. Read verse 6 with me, if you will. We just read verse 5. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is Spirit.
So the water is flesh. Now, I'm going to tell y 'all something that happened to me. It was 1990-something. My wife was pregnant. You were pregnant in the 90's.
Be quiet.
She was spitting out kids.
Like a PEZ dispenser, man. Every time I turned around, she was pregnant. But in this one particular case in 1994, she was pregnant again. And she was like the great round one. I mean, you know, Gwen was like out to here.
I used to set my coffee cup on her stomach when we were in bed. I mean, it was just like an end table. She was huge, right? So I get up to go to work, and she said to me, I'm not feeling just right. Now, my wife's a pretty tough old broad, okay?
When she said to me, I'm not feeling right, I went, I think I'm going to stay home. She said, oh, it's no big deal.
I got this.
It's no big deal. I said, okay, well, I'm going to stay here anyways. Twenty minutes later, as she was sitting in my recliner,.
Her water broke. Now, for those of you that don't know,.
That is more than the clear crystalline water of a purified water bottle.
She then,.
Because she decided to have a home birth, I had to walk her into the bedroom, and I slept closest to the door. So get to which side of the bed I put her on. And guess where she gave birth? She ruined my recliner.
And my side of the bed. All I had was a couch.
That was it. Considerate old woman. Listen, it was hurtful. I had to deliver my son, ten pound baby boy. I was like, come out of there. And he splatted on the wall.
Now, listen, listen.
You see, her water broke. What Jesus is referring to is He's saying this, if you're a human being and you were born of the flesh, born of water, that's great. But that don't mean jack because you have to also be born of the Spirit.
It's not adding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus didn't make an oops there. He's simply saying, and harmonetically, keep reading whenever you get to a difficult passage. It'll explain it to you. He's simply saying the water is, you have to be born of the flesh and the Spirit.
Is anybody not getting that? Okay, good. Artie, you're a redneck civil employee. Do you understand? Alright, great. Then everybody gets it. So here's the deal. Jesus is saying, how does this happen? He's saying that it's both flesh and Spirit.
Then He gives this analogy. Keep reading with me, if you will. Chapter 3, verse 14. Jesus said this, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.
Now watch this. Watch this. That is referring to something that's recorded all...
Let's see, which way are y 'all?
That is something that was recorded all the way back here in the Old Testament. In Numbers. The children of Israel had just gotten delivered. They were out in the wilderness, right? They're out in the wilderness walking around and they are a bunch of whiny, crying, complaining millennials.
They're triggered by everything. They need safe spaces, okay? And they're walking out and they're going, Oh my God, it's hot out here. And they're complaining to God. They're sitting there telling Moses, Moses, you need to go talk to God and tell Him that this is not working.
We're glad that we're no longer slaves. Thank you for our freedom. Oh my gosh, we've been sacrificing stuff for you all day. But where we're at is not good enough. Maybe... See if human nature can identify with this.
Maybe it would just be better.
If we went back and just we were slaves. At least we could get three squares a day. So God sat there and said, okay. And He literally rained bread down from heaven.
Literally.
When they said that's not good enough,.
We need meats,.
Quails showed up. And they would just fly over the camp of Israel by the tens of thousands. And then they would just have heart attacks and they would fall and die.
Right there at their feet. They didn't even have to go shooting. They'd pick them up and eat them.
So now they had bread and meat.
They didn't have enough water.
Come flowing out of a rock.
God said, just keep on following me. I'll provide all your needs. Finally they got to a point where they said,.
We're done.
We've walked all this way. I don't know where we're going. The food here is terrible. And we want something else. And God said, I have had enough. And He sent, the Word of God says, fiery serpents. Now don't think about snakes with wings and fire coming.
They were probably copperhead type. They weren't copperheads. But they were bronze looking, metallic looking snakes. Slithering around. They'd bite them and people started dying to death. So Moses goes to God and goes, God, these are your people.
Your people. And God told Moses this. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to take the image of that snake and stick it on a pole. And I want you to lift it up. And then this is what He said. Any Israelite that's bitten by a snake, here's what they got to do.
They got to run around the pole seven times. Then they got to scale up the pole. They got to touch that snake, ring that bell, come on down and they're saved. Is that what He said? No, but it was a lot funnier seeing me do that, right?
No, He said, the snake's on top of the pole. If anyone's bitten, this is the only thing they have to do.
Is look at it.
And they'll be saved. Now, I've had people ask me,.
Why a snake? Why not a lamb or something?
You forget the whole propitiation thing again, didn't you? You see, when Jesus was lifted on the cross, He wasn't wearing a nice little white diaper. He didn't have a few little razor burn scratches on Him.
The crown of thorns wasn't tilted in kind of this rakish James Dean look.
It was so horrible.
That you couldn't even recognize it as a human being. And I say it. He was a bloody stump. But the agony He suffered was not at the beating of man.
The agony He suffered was the wrath of God.
You see, He died.
He was the object of scorn and ridicule. You see, that which happened 4 ,000 years ago, even in the midst of sin, God's still teaching a lesson. So that 4 ,000 years later, Jesus can sit with His scholarly preacher and go, dude, do you not get it?
How long have you been a pastor and you still don't understand? Listen to the words coming out of my mouth. Everything in the Old Testament is talking about me. In John 5, He literally says that. In two more chapters, He literally goes, everything Moses wrote about, guess who it was about?
Me.
It's all about me. And if you don't believe Moses' words, you're never going to believe mine. Jesus sat there and said, I am the one who's about to be lifted up. And if you will simply look, how when it says you must be born again,.
How can we do it?
No matter how good Nicodemus was, he still falls short. I tell you today, and it's the most blessed thing in the world, to receive the grace of God is by faith and faith alone.
All you've got to do is look. You say, well, pastor, I prayed that prayer.
It didn't say pray the prayer.
It said look.
Well, pastor, where do I look to? I can't see God. Yes, one of the reasons He doesn't manifest Himself because there would be an absence of the need for faith. You see, it's got to be faith. Faith is, according to Hebrews, the substance of things not seen, yet still believe.
Pastor, I don't understand because you're not regenerated. You're not truly a Christian. No matter what your morals tell you, you have never, ever been born again. Are you that person that every time you saw Billy Graham on TV and he said, bow your heads with me right now.
And pray this prayer?
Oh, sorry, this half of the room.
Has never even probably heard of Billy Graham, but you know what I'm talking about.
Ask Jesus to come into your heart right now.
Why do pastors always talk like that when they start doing the prayer?
They start whispering a little bit.
They elongate vowels.
Why do they do that?
Because it's an emotional plea to an emotional heart that's broken trying to be reformed rather than someone who wants to give up everything and no matter if they have to die five seconds later, it is well with their soul because they are going to submit to the lordship and sovereignty of Jesus Christ.
And that can only happen by faith. Last point. Read with me if you will. He sits there and he keeps talking and in verse 16 he says this,.
For God so loved the world.
That He gave His only begotten Son, that whomsoever except black folks... You can't have blacks.
You know what I'm saying?
Whomsoever.
Well, I mean, that's what our churches say today. Black churches don't allow white folk. White churches don't allow black folk. Heck, on the deed to this church, it says, ain't no black folk allowed up in here.
Take white trash rednecks all day long, but no black folk.
Does that mean people who don't smoke, cuss, or drink? Or does it mean whomsoever? You mean those women that have had abortions? Yeah, y 'all are welcome too. You mean those folks that has blasphemed God?
Yes, the call is to you too. Isaiah says in Isaiah 43, God said, Look unto Me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.
By the way,.
Numbers look,.
Isaiah look, Jesus look. See the consistency? And that's also called a... Someone say doctrine for the love of God.
Right?
Y 'all are so busy reading Bible stories, you never learned how to understand doctrine.
Listen.
How do you do it? Believe.
Now, what does it look like.
When you actually are saved?
Here's a litmus test for some of you. Even some of you have been going to church for 42 years.
And you've got your letter.
In a Baptist church. Hallelujah.
You're good to go. You're a great moral person.
You hate fags.
So right away, God loves you.
Now, you gossip. You gossip.
You hate other people or dislike other people because they're different from the culture you grew up in. You're as damned to hell as the biggest heretic, crack-smoking whore on Jackson Avenue or stripper down to Purple Diamond.
You say, here's your problem.
How do I know, Pastor?
Well, let's look and see what this looks like.
Some of you are like Nicodemus. When the Holy Spirit of God convicts you, maybe even this morning, you hold on tighter to the chair, look up the screen, and sing the song. You're still there at night.
You don't have a problem on the inside going, Jesus, I need you. But you're going to come at night. You're going to come to a place in Jesus where your sacrifice to follow Christ is meted out by the acceptance of not losing your friends.
And may I say this so boldly, this is only the sin that you love more than God. See, you're going to rationalize it. I can still do this. God will forgive me. Yeah, He will once you're regenerated and born again.
The problem is, with that mindset,.
You ain't regenerated.
So here's Nicodemus. He comes to Jesus at night. But now let's follow Nicodemus. Historically, just a little bit further. Read with me from John 7. Flip over but just a few pages. John 7, starting in verse 45.
Here we are in the Sanhedrin. That body, think of Congress. That body that Nicodemus was in charge over.
They all got together,.
Republicans and Democrats, and all agreed on one thing. Jesus has got to go.
He's got to go.
He's threatening our power.
He's threatening our money.
So they sent the temple police out. Isn't that weird? In a free democratic country, every government agency has their own police department.
Those silly Jews.
Oh, y 'all thought I was talking about America.
I was.
Verse 45. The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees and said to them, the cops have come on back. They went and tried to find Jesus, grabbed a couple of donuts, and they came back and they said this.
Why didn't y 'all bring him here? Verse 46. The cops answered and said,.
Man, no one has ever spoke like this man.
The Pharisees answered them and said, have you also been deceived?
Have you?
Any of the authorities or Pharisees believed in him? Here's what they're saying in an arrogant way. You minimum wage civil servants. You have been deceived too. You're scared to bring him in because what he's saying is affecting you.
You know something inside of you is bearing truth to what that man is saying. Conviction. But here's what the prideful people say.
You're so stupid.
Let me ask you this.
Have any of us who know everything, do us who know how to memorize Scripture and can speak to you in Greek and great doctrinal words, do we believe? Well, no, if we don't believe, then why should you believe?
Some of y 'all are smiling at me like, well, yeah, that does know bearing. Some of you actually believe that everyone in this room evolved from a monkey. And the reason you believe it is not because you've researched it or tried to figure it out yourself.
It's because a bunch of doctors and scientists have told you so. Let me bring that a little bit closer. Some of you in this room believe that men can have babies. They asked Columbia, Ivy League students on video, go look it up, can men have babies?
100 of the students in pre-med, pre-law said yes. Here's how, I didn't understand it.
Here's how.
If a man identifies as a woman, then he is a woman. Watch this. If a woman identifies as a man and gets pregnant, by default, a man is having a baby. Y 'all are laughing. This is real.
We've entered into a world,.
Jesus said this would happen, professing themselves to be wise, man became fools. We're living in a world where the predominant overwhelming percentage of this generation has so rebelled against the word of God that they have convinced science and culture to say that men can become women and women can become men.
It's hilarious. In this video, that same camera crew goes to the streets of Harlem and they ask the people of Harlem what they think. It's hilarious. It's a great contrast on how powerful culture and indoctrinate, I'm sorry, education is in America today because all the college, Cambridge or Columbia students are like, well, of course, yes.
What do you mean? Of course they can. Then they go ask a couple of brothers on the side of the street, hey man, can a man have a baby? Go look the video up. It's hilarious.
The guy went, what?
Man, that's stupid.
And then asks this black lady, hey, can a man be a woman? She goes, he ain't got no uterus.
Ain't got no uterus.
Hmm.
Guys, you must come to a place where you have to have faith in God, not the acceptance of this world. I know some of you are getting bored. I know some of you are. I see it in your eyes. And if you wouldn't mind if you were a believer, just pray with me for the heathens that are in here that are not saved that need to hear this Word.
Can you just walk along with me for about five more minutes before you go eat your steak?
Be still.
Please pray. Stop being a cultural Christian and actually care about the soul that's sitting on the same row as you. Arrogant heathen. Watch this. Verse 48. Have any of the authorities of the Pharisees believed in him?
Verse 49.
But the crowd that does not know the law.
Is accursed.
Y 'all aren't as smart as us.
Go resting.
Verse 50.
Nicodemus...
Now notice the parentheses there. Nicodemus, the one who had gone to him at night, the one who had gone before, who was one of them,.
Said to them...
Now watch this. Who was one of them who said to them... You know what a regenerated spirit is going to give you?
It's going to give you.
A little bit of confidence.
People have said to me over the years, Pastor, you're too cocky. No, you insecure little worm.
It's not that I'm too cocky.
It's something that you loathe because your insecurity wants to manifest the same confidence in Jesus Christ that I have. But here's what Christians do. Instead of sacrificing our own pride and being torn down so God will lift us up, what do Christians do?
We tear each other down. If we can all be on my same level of suck, then we're good to go. If we can all be cowards, then I'm going to be in a common place. And you men... By the way, Happy Father's Day.
You men that act like you're wives and children, instead of leading with authority and love and grace and sacrifice and service,.
Character and honor, discipline,.
Things that make us men, men, you argue like a five-year-old.
Well, I just...
Whatever.
If you're a man and a leader and the words whatever come out of your mouth, you just failed as a man because there's never the answer of whatever. I guarantee you, you didn't go up to Norman Schwarzkopf and go, hey, the Iraqis are attacking this way.
We want to attack this way. And Norman Schwarzkopf's playing Mario Brothers.
Like whatever. Whatever.
Don't bother me.
Be a leader. God, I'm preaching like 80 sermons in this one, aren't I? They're bonus. Last thing, listen.
Last thing.
Nicodemus, when he was regenerated, the things he believed in and the courage that he lacked to come to Jesus at night, it started to fade away a little bit. He wasn't just not interested in not telling dirty jokes at work.
He was interested in standing up.
A little bit for Jesus. Watch this last verse. This really is the last one. Look at your sheets.
Watch this.
John chapter 19. Go forward. 12 chapters. John chapter 19. Jesus has died. You know what real faith looked like?
That three days.
In between Jesus' death and His resurrection, the people whose lives were changed in those three days, those were the Navy SEAL Green Berets, Special Forces Christians. Watch what I mean. When Thomas saw Jesus resurrected and Jesus didn't show up in a dream or an apparition, but after He was dead, Thomas was sitting there and he goes,.
What's up, Thomas? Thomas was like,.
He probably wasn't that gay sounding, but he was saying something like that. And he looked at Thomas and he said, Hey, stick your hand in them nail prints, boy. Now do you believe? What did Thomas say?
My Lord and my... It wasn't little Jesus in the manger, the dude hanging on the cross. He was God. In other words, something to submit to.
Here's Nicodemus. He didn't get to see Jesus resurrected. When he made his stand in John 19, he did this. It says there in that passage that Joseph of Arimathea, who was a rich dude, who also was a disciple of Jesus, although privately, you can see that in Scripture, because he was scared, both of them decided, it's time to take a stand.
It's going to cost us. It's going to cost us.
And it did, by the way.
But that's a sermon for another time. And here's something else, Christian. You know why there's a church? Because it's going to cost you. And guys, I'm here to tell you,.
I'm a coward.
So are you.
But man, when you get a bunch of cowards together called Christians, all of a sudden man was like...
You get a little bold, right?
You start getting a little bit stronger. And if you are wounded, or you are a little bit scared, other brothers and sisters come up and go,.
It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Some of them come up to you and...
Oh!
I do need to quit drinking. I can't be on the lake and still worship Jesus. Because it says gather yourselves together. That's called obedience. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus became friends and became partners in serving God before Jesus was resurrected again.
That's real courage. That's real faith.
Think of the guy on the cross. Jesus, remember me when you get to heaven.
Jesus is over there dying next to him.
Dude, that's real faith, man. You know, the Jesus that stood up out of the grave and walked out and the stones rolled away, the Roman soldiers had run away, and he shows up and walks through walls and goes, sup now, man.
Yeah, I just need to believe there.
Man, he hadn't rose again.
Yet Nicodemus does this. He brings 75 pounds of spices. Now, I know that doesn't make sense to us today, but that is probably about $200 ,000. In other words, you know what he did? He emptied everything he had and brought it.
Now, he was believing in Jesus. Believing in His words, Jesus says, hey man, I'm going to be right back. Give me three days. Hang on. That wasn't enough for Nicodemus. Here's the last thing. Tell him to stop saying that.
You see, when you start to follow Jesus, the things that used to matter to you.
Don't matter no more.
You see, when you were regenerated, that which you put your hope and faith in, that which you relied on, your little insecurities and your little whoobies that you have, whether it be your drinking, your vaping, your codependent relationship, whatever it is, they just don't matter anymore, man.
They just don't. And you'll give up everything.
You're brainwashed.
Guys, I brainwashed all five of my kids.
Try it. It's great stuff.
You won't have to be going to juvenile hall.
It's really a cool thing for a Friday night.
You won't be smoking weed.
In a Kroger parking lot after work. No names mentioned. I'm not even going to look that way. Guys, if you're truly regenerated, your speech is going to change. What you believe and trust in is going to change.
Your security blankets are going to change.
And your actions are going to change.
Just as I am. How many souls have slipped into the abyss of hell by walking emotionally down an aisle to that song and praying a stupid prayer that's not found in the Gospel and relying on that moment to be saved?
Let me ask you this, Christian, especially you Christians that have been a Christian a long time, and you are a mature Christian. When's the last time you repented? Well, in 1983, I was come to the Lord.
Cool.
It's 2022, man.
For those of you that don't know, that's 40 years. Biblically, that's a generation. You mean you tell me you have not repented in a generation. Here's what an old man in this church told me one time. He's dead, by the way, and probably in hell.
But this is what he said to me. He used to sit right around here. No relation. Well, maybe to you. Sat right over there, and he just said to me, Pastor, I love your preaching, but you preach so long. And then we have to sit through that invitation, and it's like every time we're about to close up, someone gets up and comes forward to get saved.
And I just looked at him. I almost just said his name. I just looked at him and I go, are you serious?
He goes, yeah, man.
And I said this,.
Why don't you just leave then? This is what he said. I don't want people to think bad of me. It's okay that God knows. It's okay that I'm in my heart hating my time being wasted because people are hearing the Word and coming down here and getting saved.
But I just don't want anybody else to know about it. Does that sound like a regenerated believer?
Now, good news is he tithed.
He'd been baptized.
He'd been a member of a Baptist church. He was a Republican. And he was white, which means right away you're saved. White power, right? Guys, some of you believe in crap that is going to send you to hell for the rest of your life.
Here's this.
1 John says this, if you claim to know the truth yet you hate your brother,.
You're a liar. You're a liar. Liar.
But I would say liar. But I asked Jesus, liar. But I've been to Phoebe at liar.
Liar. You're a liar.
If you want to claim to know the truth, yet continues to walk in darkness. You've been struggling with sin for 40 years or 20 years. And your struggle, this is how you fight sin. You know what a struggle looks like?
Go look up one of his fights on YouTube. That's a struggle. Is that what it looks like, you fighting against your sin? Some of you guys in here are struggling with homosexuality and pornography. And your struggle is, I only look at it once a day.
That's not a struggle. You are not a Christian. You have not been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit of the living God who can part seas and raise people from the dead, but is somehow powerless.
In your submission to His authority.
