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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org
Free as Wind
that the only reason I have this tie on is
Michael Stockland double -dog dared me. He's going all formal, all formal today.
Isaiah 26 verse 3, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 26, there are so many amazing promises in scripture and one of the realities is that we, as we live life, have so many opportunities that the world offers for us to find satisfaction, for us to find fulfillment, for us to find our identity, and for us to even seek peace.
But the reality is anything that the world has to offer, while there might be temporary satisfaction like wearing this bow tie, there is nothing that has lasting true reality impact to you except through God.
I want to read this verse again, this time changing the pronouns to what the pronouns mean.
Follow the pronouns in scripture. Yahweh keeps me, believers who know him,
Yahweh keeps believers in perfect peace when their minds are perfectly stayed on Yahweh because the believer trusts in Yahweh.
I pray that that's who we are. I pray who that's who you are. We're here together today in front of the throne of God about to hear his word and it's
God who will take your heart and turn it into a heart of flesh. That's a little tease for where Pastor Jeff is going to go this morning.
I have some announcements. There's so much going on. I love this time of year, all the ministries, all of our getting togethers.
I want to start out by encouraging you to take part in some of the opportunities that we have for you to join together in fellowship, for you to grow together.
Starting tonight at six o 'clock we have our prayer meeting. It's an amazing time coming together, holding up the needs of each other, holding up the ministries, just coming to God in worship and in praise.
Six o 'clock tonight, please come back for our prayer meeting. On Wednesdays at one o 'clock we continue with our study session.
This was actually started a couple of years ago realizing that with the size of our congregation and the limited availability of classroom space, we just can't have all of our adult
Bible fellowships. They used to call them Sunday school. So we have this teaching online for you to take part in.
Well, we teach it live on Wednesdays at noon. We just finished Isaiah. We're doing
Ephesians. I really recommend that you come if you're available during the middle of the day.
Come out. It's going to be an exciting book, a great time on Wednesdays at noon.
We have the care groups that are also going full -strong. On Tuesdays there's a care group here and on Thursdays I believe there's three different care groups.
You have opportunities to join in with those. I want to encourage the men, set your clocks tomorrow morning.
It's our monthly prayer breakfast. We get together at six o 'clock for fellowship and to discuss our lives in front of God.
Join us with that. Women have got all kinds of opportunities. First of all, tomorrow night there will be an evening of fellowship.
The precepts class will start the week after, but come tomorrow night it will be a night of fellowship.
Rumor has it that yesterday's evening of ice cream and movie was phenomenal.
Every woman that I've talked to that was here was super, super encouraged, but rumor has it there's another 10 gallons of ice cream available.
And rumor has it you can have it tomorrow night. Anyway, come on back tomorrow night for a woman's fellowship and then the following week the precepts will start.
The women's ADF or adult Bible fellowship is going to start next Sunday and it's held during the second service in the classroom.
So next week the women's ADF will resume. Love life ministry.
We are once a month have a prayer walk out at the Women's Center out in Cherry Hill.
This is an important, all things of our faith are important, but right now this is the voice for those who can't speak for themselves.
This is the voice for those children who have not yet been born, but are children. And we pray, we pray that decisions will be made to not terminate these lives.
So please join with on Saturday the prayer walk. The details will be in Pastor Jeff's, Pastor Graham on Thursday, but please join us with that.
We have a new members or starting point class coming in a couple of weeks on the 25th and then the first two weeks of October.
If you're interested in our church, if you're new to our church, you'd like to learn more about our church, perhaps you would like to become a member.
We encourage you to join us in with that. Next Sunday is a great day.
We're going to pray that God just pushes the rain away for that day. We have our baptism service.
It's going to be down at Vettner down the shore. It's going to be in the bayside, so it's not going to have, we're not going to have any riptides pulling baptismals out to sea.
What an amazing opportunity for those who are going to proclaim their faith on a public way, in a public venue where there will be other people around.
If you are interested in baptism, there still is time. Talk to Pastor Jeff or myself and we can make arrangements for you to be prepared for the baptism.
It will be after second service, we'll be heading down the shore. And if you're not being baptized, go out there and be part of this time of fellowship.
And on the first Sunday in October, on the second, we're going to have our dedication, our prayer dedication out on 23
Phillips Road, this land that God in His sovereignty has given to us. I'm going to take this off at this moment because I don't want to be distracting at this moment in time.
Twenty -one years ago, evil befell our country. Nearly 3 ,000 individuals lost their lives.
Approximately 400 first responders lost their lives. Our God is sovereign.
He was not taken by surprise at this. In fact, He puts limits to what
Satan can do. We know that from the first chapter in the book of Job. But evil had its way on that day.
We are going to remember this morning in prayer. We are going to hold up the brothers and sisters who lost their lives, the families who grieve.
We're going to hold up the first responders, the medical people, the military who stand guard for us.
Let's go to prayer. Father, as we come together, first of all, we rejoice in the reality that we are children called into your family.
Your grace even can soften my hard heart.
The victory won on that crossover sin, we do rejoice. We thank you for it and we pray in anticipation for next
Sunday, this baptism service. But now,
Lord, our hearts are turned. Nearly 3 ,000 lives taken, we pray,
Father, for their souls that they would, even at the very end of the horrific experience, have turned to you.
For the families who have lost and continue to grieve, Lord, individuals will be going to the various memorial sites in New York, the
Pentagon, Pennsylvania, and remembering. And so, Lord, we do remember, but Lord, we do know and we profess and we confess your sovereign will.
Lord, for the men and women who bravely went in as first responders, we are in awe of their love.
We say thank you for them, for the medical workers who work diligently and continue to work diligently.
We hold them up to you, Lord. And for our military that stands guard around the world to protect us, we say thank you.
Lord, for those who minister to the very souls of those in grief and those in dire need, for those who shared the true gospel in a very, very desperate time, we say thank you,
Lord, that there was a message of hope to be given. We thank you. We lift them up to you.
Lord, we remember. This morning, as we hear your word, as we hear about the truth, the gospel message,
John, we pray that you would prepare Pastor Jeff and prepare our hearts to hear. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
He is our God. He is our
God. Holy.
You alone are holy. Matchless in your glory.
Holy God. When we turned away his love, conquered us with kindness, there is only one.
No one is like you. Worthy. You alone are worthy.
We adore you, Lord. You alone are holy.
Holy God. Now to the
King on the throne, who was and is to come, and to the
Lamb who was slain, be all glory. Now to the
Lamb who was slain, be all glory. Holy.
We adore you, only. Holy God.
I want to give the punishment that we deserve. And there is that separation from him being a holy
God and us being a sinner is brought out in that sermon in a mighty way. It also reminded me of God's justice and that he can't stand to be with sinners.
But then it also has a good news story that he died for us because he wanted and loved us so much.
So we're going to continue to lift our voices to the holy God who is worthy, only worthy to be praised.
You are holy. You are mighty.
You are worthy. Worthy of praise.
I will follow you.
I will listen. I will love you all of my days.
I will sing to you and worship the
King who is worthy. And I will love and adore him.
And I will bow down before him. And I will sing to you and worship the
And I will bow down before him. You're my
Prince of Peace and I will live my life for you.
Let's sing that together. Together again. You are holy.
You are mighty. Worthy of praise.
I will listen.
I will love and adore him. And I will love and adore him. And I will love and adore him. And I will live my life for you. Lord, we stand before you this morning knowing that you are a holy
God, knowing that there's nothing, nothing that we can do that deserves your love.
But we are so grateful, Lord, that even through your holiness, the justice that you have to bring, that we have been redeemed.
You are holy, Lord. Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty.
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, merciful and loved
God in three persons, blessed
Trinity. Holy, holy, holy,
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee.
Which word and art thou evermore shall be ascending?
Full of sinful men thy glory may not see.
What is done beside thee?
Perfect in power, in love and purity.
Let's lift our voices. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty.
All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty.
In three persons, blessed
Trinity. You may be seated.
Let's pray. Father, your word says, great peace have those who love your law.
Nothing can make them stumble. Lord, I pray peace over your children today, especially those who have a sensitive conscience, those who have a sensitive, soft heart before you, and would be concerned about whether or not they are born again.
Let those who are truly your children have peace. And Lord, your word also says that there are they who say, peace, peace, when there is no peace.
I pray for some who have not yet been born again, but they have only been religious and outwardly obedient, but have never been born again.
I pray, Lord, that you would trouble them, that you would disturb them, and that they would cry out to you for mercy and that they would believe the good news.
Lord, I pray that you would do what only you can do. Give them the new birth. Regenerate them.
Save them, Lord. Pray for myself as I preach, Lord, that I would be clear with your word and that your word would be the force of what comes from this pulpit.
In Jesus' name, amen. There are certain writings in the history of the world that absolutely change the world.
I think of Augustine writing The City of God. I think of Martin Luther writing 95
Theses and nailing that to the church door in Wittenberg and sparking the
Protestant Reformation. I even think of the Declaration of Independence, how that document has made such a difference in the world and how
John Witherspoon, a pastor from Princeton, was so instrumental in crafting not just the document, but the thinking of the people who wrote it.
But there's one that is probably equally influential compared to those that maybe you've never heard of.
It was written by William Carey, and the title of it is quite a mouthful.
Brace yourself, this is a long title. He wrote in 1792, Told you it's a mouthful, right?
Long title, actually kind of a short book. I read it yesterday. It's about 86 pages, and you can just get it for free online if you just Google it.
William Carey, it's more commonly called by its shorter title, An Inquiry.
An Inquiry. Into what? What was he inquiring? Well, should Christians use means to convert people to Christianity?
And by means, he would refer to that as prayer, evangelism, giving money, sending missionaries, using boats and printing presses and all manner of things to get people saved.
And everybody in the room should probably say, why do you need to write a book about that? Of course, we use means for the gospel.
But that was not, of course, in the particular Baptist church of which
William Carey was a part. He was part of a hyper -Calvinist church.
And the hyper -Calvinists taught that you do not use means. In fact, when William Carey began to get the zeal for the mission field, and he was reading
David Brainerd from America, and Jonathan Edwards, and John Elliott, who was also a missionary to the
Indians, he began to be stirred to preach the gospel and desired to go to India.
You know what his church told him? Sit down, young man. When God is ready to convert the heathens, he'll do it.
That was a hyper -Calvinist perspective. But he was himself,
William Carey, a Calvinist. He believed in the sovereignty of God, in salvation, and yet he was undeterred by the wrong -headed thinking of his elders, who told him to sit down.
And so he wrote this book, and I say it's one of the most influential books in the history of the world, because in 1792, in England, when this book was published, 14 men rallied to a meeting of the first -ever
Mission Society. This was the foundation of the Baptist Missions Society.
And from there, William Carey would go to India. When he got there, it took more than a decade to see one man come to saving faith.
But after 41 years, he never took a furlough. He never came back to England. He remained on the mission field until he finished his entire career.
But for 41 years, he stayed and preached, and he saw 700 converts. But he also saw the rising up of the modern missions movement.
And from that society and others that formed around it, from different organizations and denominations, the modern missions movement was begun, and India received the gospel.
Maybe 10 % of the nation at this point. China received the gospel, probably 100 million of the billion that live there.
And to North Korea and South Korea, and to the farthest, most remote, cannibalistic islands in the world,
Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, the missionaries went out. And it all started that modern missions movement in 1792 with an inquiry.
Carey wrote thus in the book, The missionaries must be of great piety, prudence, courage, and forbearance, of undoubted orthodoxy in their sentiments, and must enter with all their hearts into the spirit of their mission.
They must be willing to leave all the comforts of life behind them, and to encounter all the hardships of a torrid or a frigid climate, an uncomfortable manner of living, and every other inconvenience that can attend this undertaking.
Clothing, a few knives, powder and shot, fishing tackle, and the articles of husbandry, above mentioned, must be provided for them.
And when arrived at the place of their destination, their first business must be to gain acquaintance with the language of the natives.
He goes on to say, they must take every opportunity of doing them good, laboring, traveling, night and day, they must instruct, exhort, rebuke, with all long -suffering and anxious desire for them.
And above all, they must be instant in prayer. For the infusion of the
Holy Spirit upon the people of their charge. Let but missionaries of the above description engage in the work, and we shall see that it is not impracticable.
William Carey understood sovereignty of God, the freedom of God to save.
But he also understood the responsibility of man, and the means of preaching the gospel so that people would come to saving faith.
These twin truths, the freedom of God to save, and the responsibility of man to believe the message.
This morning we're going to turn to what is greater than William Carey's inquiry, greater than Augustine's city of God, greater than Calvin's Institutes, or the
Declaration of Independence, or any other writing in the history of the world. We are going to read a chapter of God's Holy Word, John chapter 3, which has probably more than any other writing ever, converted lost sinners to the
Lord Jesus Christ. How many of you in this room, I'm not going to make you do it, but I'm going to write
John 3 .16 right now. Most of you, I think of that song, maybe some of you listen to the radio, and some of the new songs, most of it's kind of garbage.
But there's one by Ann Wilson called Sunday Sermons, and I love the line where she says, seven years old, third row pew.
John 3 .16, something changed in me. She was born again through John chapter 3.
It's the testimony of millions upon millions, and maybe you've come here this morning, and you've not yet been born again.
You might not even know what it means to be born again. This sermon is for you. But moreover, it's for every
Christian to fully understand what John 3 is all about. What we're going to do is we're just going to go verse by verse through it, so turn with me there.
This is now the fifth testimony that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the Living God. The first testimony was John the Beloved. In John chapter 1, verses 1 to 18,
John the Apostle writes and testifies, in the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. And he goes on to proclaim the deity of Christ, and how he became a man and dwelt among us.
The second testimony in John was given by John the Baptist, another John. John the
Baptist introduces the Messiah and says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
The third testimony in John is the miracle of creation, where Jesus turns water to wine.
This work, bypassing the vine, bypassing dirt in the ground, or the sun, or rain to cause the grape to grow,
Jesus takes water and makes it wine, and by this testifies that he is
God in the flesh. He has creative power. The fourth testimony in John is the cleansing of the temple, by which he declares himself to be
Messiah, because Malachi chapter 3 said that when Messiah comes, he'll be introduced by the forerunner, and he will go into his temple, and like a refiner of silver and gold, he will refine the temple and the people in the temple.
It says he will be like a fuller with soap cleansing the temple, and so when Jesus drives the money changers out, he is cleansing the temple and testifying that he is the
Messiah. When we get to John chapter 3, we have the testimony of Jesus himself to his own deity, his own sovereignty.
The testimony of the gospel. We're going to read it. We'll begin in chapter 3, verse 1, and I'll comment as we go, taking it a few verses at a time.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night, said to him,
Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do because God is with him.
Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Let's unpack that. Notice, first of all, who comes to Jesus? We know his name is
Nicodemus. Nick at night, right? Nicodemus, he's a ruler of the
Jews, but he's a Pharisee. What do we know about Pharisees? Well, they're very religious.
In fact, they're the religious leaders of the people, and they're very religiously correct, theologically and in their practice and obedience, outwardly.
They keep the law. They do not steal, they do not lie, they do not murder, and they follow the rituals as given in the law of Moses to a
T. They're sticklers for the details. In fact, they add to the law and do things that were never written there in the first place.
But they're very religious and very outwardly good to anybody who would look at them. You wouldn't see a
Pharisee and say, oh, there's the bank robber, there's the drunkard, there's the immoral one.
You would say this is the pinnacle of religiosity. This is the guy we look up to.
So Nicodemus, the ruler of the people, a Pharisee, he comes to Jesus by, what does it say?
Now, when John introduces his gospel, in the fifth verse, he says that Jesus is the light of the world.
And that theme that Jesus is the light appears again and again. Conversely, night is darkness.
It's not just a physical darkness here, but when Judas betrayed Jesus, John makes the point, and it was night.
So when John says he comes by night, the idea here is he's in the dark. His soul is not awake.
It's not alive. He doesn't see. He's in the dark. And he probably doesn't want to be seen by his friends.
So he's kind of sneaking in when nobody would notice that he's talking to the controversial rabbi.
But in verse two, he comes at night and he says, now notice, does he insult Jesus or does he compliment the
Lord? Rabbi, well, that's a term of respect. Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God.
He acknowledges him as a teacher, and then notice, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
He compliments Jesus. He acknowledges that these miracles that Jesus does are from God.
So what reaction would you expect from the Lord Jesus Christ? You would expect something in kind, something affirming.
You're on the right track. Let me help you along. But that is why verse three should hit you like a ton of bricks.
Somebody just woke up. Like a dump truck that just came through and took you out. Because look at verse three.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
He can't see. He's in the dark. He's blind. He cannot see the kingdom.
He cannot go to heaven. What is Jesus saying to Nicodemus, the religious, the righteous one who's in the dark?
Two things. Number one, Nicodemus, you need to be born again.
You need life because you're dead. Number two, not only are you dead morally, spiritually, in relation to God, not only are you dead, but you are helpless to do anything about it.
You can't fix it, Nicodemus. I can't tell you anything that you can do to make yourself alive.
See, this term born again is with reference to the physical birth as an analogy to what must happen in order for Nicodemus to be alive.
He must be born. I have a question for you. How much did you contribute to your birth?
Did you help your mom? Were you really trying hard? Or were you completely dependent on the gift of life from God as you were conceived in the womb and from your mother to be born into the world?
See, this analogy to being born indicates that Nicodemus is helpless.
Not only is he dead, he cannot fix it. His spiritual condition is not something that he can resolve.
Now, notice verse 4. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Many people have heard that response and assumed that Nicodemus was kind of dense.
He was missing the analogy. But I don't think that's right. I got this from MacArthur.
I had never picked up on this. Notice how Nicodemus addresses
Jesus, rabbi. A rabbi was a teacher, and a teacher would very often use analogies.
And the Jewish mind, especially the ruler of the Jews, the Pharisee who studied the law his whole life, is able to follow an analogy.
So the idea here that Nicodemus is saying, you want me to go back inside my mom and be born?
That misses the point. You see, he is following the rhetoric, and he's encouraging the rabbi to continue with the thought because he's tracking.
He's saying, well, I can't do anything about being born. You're saying
I must be born again. Do you want me to go back inside my mother and be born again? Continue, Jesus.
I don't know how to do that. You see? So he says in verse 4, can he enter a second time into his mother's womb?
He's tracking with the rabbi, and Jesus then continues. Truly, truly,
I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
He doubles down. Jesus says, unless you have a water spirit birth, you cannot go into the kingdom of God.
Now, there's been different interpretations of what water means there. What does water mean? Some have said it means amniotic fluid.
As in a physical birth, the water breaks and the child is born into the world. I don't think that's it.
Others have said it refers to baptism. This is generally the Roman Catholic view that you get baptized as a baby and that's the new birth and now you're a
Christian. The washing of baptism, you need that. Who was
Nicodemus? A ruler of the Jews. A Pharisee.
A teacher. The teacher we'll learn of Israel. The preeminent teacher. He knows the word. Turn with me now to Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 25 to 27.
I think it's very clear that Jesus was referencing this passage. The problem with Israel is that although they had the law of God, the
Ten Commandments and 600 laws, 613 laws, they were unable to keep the law.
Their hearts were always going astray. An entire generation fell dead in the wilderness because of their grumbling and complaining.
They had the law but they didn't have the heart to obey the law.
And so God makes a promise. There are two promises of the new covenant that are very clear in the Old Testament and that is
Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36. The promise of the new covenant is that God will change the heart and God will change a person such that they can obey.
It is a new heart, a new life. The theological term for it is, get this, regeneration.
God alone can regenerate a person's heart. Now let's read it, Ezekiel 36 and see if there's a parallel to what
Jesus is saying. Ezekiel 36, 25 -27. When the new covenant appears,
I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.
I will cleanse you it is the spiritual washing of regeneration.
Paul refers to it in Titus 3 -5 this way, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to his own mercy, now get this, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the
Holy Spirit. In Ezekiel 36, verse 26, he says,
I will give you a new heart and a new spirit
I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
You see the problem is that you're dead. It's a big problem, right?
You are dead, spiritually dead. Your heart is stone. And so if someone comes preaching, you can't receive it because you're dead.
Your eyes are deaf. Your eyes are blind. They're double blind. You can't see because you're in rebellion against the light.
But worse than that, according to 2 Corinthians 4 -4, the devil himself has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
So you're double blind and your heart is dead. So what do you need?
You need to take your heart of stone out of your chest and put a brand new heart in its place.
One made of flesh. One that does respond to God. It is the gift of regeneration.
Amen? This is what Jesus refers to as we go back now to John 3.
We've made it as far as verse 5. Jesus says, unless one is born of water and the spirit, that's the spiritual birth.
Regeneration has to happen. Cleansing. Your heart needs to be washed internally.
Yes, there's an outward baptism that will symbolize that, but we're talking about the washing of regeneration.
The spiritual cleansing of a heart that washes that sin away.
This is what we need. Verse 6. Jesus says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
You have a physical birth from your mother, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
You need the spirit of God to unite with your spirit making you alive because the teaching of scripture is that the soul that sins will die.
If you eat of the fruit, you will surely die. The problem is we're dead in our trespasses and sins in which we formerly walked,
Ephesians 2 .1. So we need a new heart that beats, one that's alive, that's not a dead stone.
We need the spirit to make us alive together with Christ, Ephesians 2 .4.
This is what we need. Okay, so at this point, if you're tracking with the teaching, we have a big problem.
We have a big problem with our self. And if that's right, then the conversation should continue along those lines, right?
The flow of thought. Look at verse seven. Jesus goes on, do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.
Don't marvel at the analogy of new birth, spiritual birth. Verse eight, the wind blows where it wishes.
And you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the
Spirit. If you don't like the analogy of new birth because you're helpless and you can't do it, then you're tracking with the line of reasoning.
And you're not gonna like Jesus's second analogy, and that is the freedom of the wind. Our God is as free as the wind to regenerate whomever he will.
He is bound by nothing. As the wind blows and there's no one who could control it, so it is with the
Spirit of God. And listen, the Spirit is God. The third member of the
Trinity is divine. He has complete freedom and sovereignty, like wind, to go where he pleases and do what?
Well, what's the subject? Give the new birth. So it is with everyone born of the
Spirit of God. Now, this teaching does not esteem the freedom and autonomy of man.
It does not lift us up and say to us, you can do it. Try harder.
You can make it. It says, just like Jesus did in John 3 3, you are not enough.
You cannot do it. You are dead. You need to be born. You need the wind of God's Spirit to blow over you and make you alive.
It will put a new heart in you. It will cleanse you. You need the sovereign work of God's regeneration.
And so, your mind ought to object to this because you're fallen an atom.
The one who's not regenerate should say, that's not fair. That's not right.
So what does Nicodemus say? Look at the very next verse. He said to him, how can these things be?
That's an indication that Nicodemus gets it. He gets how extreme this teaching really is.
Would you believe me if I told you that in Romans chapter 9, Paul is teaching this same doctrine.
Sovereignty of God. The freedom of God to save whom he will. And he says, God will have mercy on whom he has mercy and he will harden whom he will harden.
And then Paul introduces a hypothetical objector. Someone who jumps in and says, wait a minute, wait a minute.
That's not fair. Why does he still find fault? The hypothetical objector of Romans 9 19.
You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?
In John chapter 3, that's Nicodemus. He is the objector. He's not hypothetical. He's a real person and he's expressing what we should be thinking.
And what the fallen mind, because of the noetic effects of sin, the ability to see things
God's way, has been perverted because of sin. The reaction of man will be, how can these things be?
Jesus goes on in verse 10. Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel?
And yet you do not understand these things. Truly, truly,
I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
What's Nicodemus's problem? He's in the dark. He's not regenerate.
He doesn't have the mind of Christ. So he can't get it. It doesn't make sense to him.
And so he objects. Something interesting happens at verse 11.
He's speaking to who? Nicodemus. Truly, truly, I say to you. And that you in the Greek is singular.
But as he goes on, he says, we speak of what we know. And here
Jesus is speaking for himself, but he's putting those words in the mouths of you and I and all of his disciples.
We speak of what we know. And notice in verse 11, we bear witness to what we have seen, but you, mark that word you if you make notes in your
Bible, and write there that this is plural. Jesus has gone from speaking to Nicodemus alone to speaking to everyone through his disciples.
We speak of what we know. He's speaking to all people. He enlarges it out, but you do not receive our testimony.
If I have told you earthly things, by the way, regeneration is earthly. It happens on earth.
A dead sinner is revived by the Holy Spirit, made alive, and you can see the difference.
Do you guys know someone who was once a drug addict, and someone preached the gospel to them, and they were completely set free?
I've seen it many times. Sinners who hated God and railed against him, atheists on chat rooms who go to this church now, who were miraculously born again and changed by regeneration, and now they walk with Christ.
They go from a rebel to a follower. Have you seen that? You can see this earthly change.
Everyone here who has a testimony of who you were when you were dead in your sin to who you are now, believing in Jesus Christ.
This is on account of regeneration. It happened on earth, but Jesus is saying there are deeper realities that you're not ready to hear.
Heavenly things. And he'll teach those things in John 6 and 10 and 11 and 17 about the
Father choosing and giving to the Son. And so if I stopped here in the sermon, you would catch the first 12 verses and understand that we're absolutely helpless and dependent on the new birth.
We need regeneration. And some Calvinists at this point would take that teaching and run off into error.
This error that I call hyper -Calvinism. But the reason I'm preaching 21 verses together is because something seamless happens between verse 12 and verse 13.
And that is Jesus now transitions to all, he's now speaking to you plural, to everyone who will hear this voice, the message of the gospel, and even as God is as free as the wind to regenerate whom he will.
We have from verse 13 to 21 a gospel message that is likewise as free as the wind.
This is huge. You have to understand this. The gospel that Jesus preaches is a free offer of grace.
It is a genuine, real offer. It comes by the breath of preachers as I'm about to preach these verses and as you'll go out into your neighborhood and share with your neighbors, your friends, and family.
It is a free offer of grace. Let's read it from verse 13 to 16 here.
Jesus seamlessly goes on to say no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the
Son of Man. He tells Nicodemus and all who will listen who he is, uniquely descended.
He came and was born of the Virgin Mary, but he came from heaven. In the same way he will ascend back to his
Father. He is the unique Son, the Son of Man. But then look at verse 14 because he proclaims, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. Lifted up there refers to the cross.
The message of the Son of God, who he is, descended from heaven and will ascend back to his
Father. The pinnacle of that story, the crux of that message, that's where we get the word crux, is the cross.
That Jesus would be lifted up, he would be pinned to a tree on a mountain, and he would bleed and die.
And so I say this message of the cross is salvation to any who will believe.
And it's offered to all without regard to ethnicity or age or even with regard to how sinful you are.
You might be the most sinful person in this room or you might be the the angel of the room who's done the least sin.
Each one of you and all of us need the same gospel. He was lifted up for us and it's freely offered to you.
You say, how can I believe it? Is there any means that God would use to make me believe?
Yes, he gives you his scripture. And the means that God uses to bring a sinner like me to believe that this is so, to believe in Christ, is the scripture.
And so even here in verse 14, notice Jesus is preaching the gospel from Numbers 21.
Remember the story? You guys should know this, right? The Israelites were grumbling and complaining like they always did because their hearts were dead.
And God said in judgment upon them that he would send serpents, he sent snakes into the camp and they began to bite people and all of the
Israelites that got bit were dropping dead. So God said to Moses, make a bronze serpent or copper, a fiery serpent, put it on a pole and lift it up.
And any Israelite who looks at that serpent on the pole, lift it up, will be healed.
And so it was that all that an Israelite had to do was to just look at that serpent on a pole and the snake bite was miraculously, supernaturally healed in an instant.
What does this mean? Why is Moses holding up a bronze serpent in the wilderness? God made him who had no sin to be sin in order that his righteousness would be imputed to those who believe.
Did you hear that? God made him who had no sin to be sin for you.
Who deserves to be lifted up in punishment? Is it not the serpent in the wilderness?
Is it not the serpent in the garden? Is it not Adam and Eve who sinned against God?
They deserved to be lifted up and crucified. But God made him who had no sin, namely
Jesus, catch this, to be treated as if he were the lawbreaker.
He would be lifted up and that punishment that we all deserve was placed upon him.
And so the serpent represents Jesus punished as sin. And now the way of salvation is very wide open.
What do you have to do? You have to look. You don't look at Moses's serpent, that's only a symbol.
You look at Jesus on the cross. You look at the one who was hung up and nailed to the cross and when you look up at him, believing that he died on Calvary for your sin,
God heals you. He gives you that new heart. He awakens you. He cleanses you.
He washes you in the blood of the Lamb. He saves you. And so we come now, let's read it verses 15 and 16, to the passage that has converted more hearts than any other.
Probably. That whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only
Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
This is God's love. What kind of love does
God have for humanity, for people, all people? The kind of love that would give up his precious
Son who was with him from eternity past, sent him into the world to die the death that we deserve.
What love is this? Laying down his life not for friends but for enemies who are constantly grumbling and complaining, constantly going astray.
All of us. That's the love of God that he gave his one and only
Son, Jesus. That whoever believes, you see the force of that free offer of salvation?
Whoever believes. Now notice in the Greek it's panta ta, no it's a pas ha pastuon.
Pas meaning every, pastuon believing one. The idea here is that everyone, anyone who believes will be forgiven.
You can't take from that word and empty back out everything that was said in the first 12 verses.
You follow me? Whosoever does not imply that God is no longer free.
But what this means is that the truth of God's sovereign choice and his free regeneration of whomever he wills, like the wind and like birth, that that truth and this free offer of salvation, that truth and this truth are parallel rails on a train track.
The two of them run side -by -side and Jesus teaches them both. You follow that?
It seems not to make sense to us. And there are probably some Christians who have spent their life trying to figure it out, like Jonathan Edwards has probably chased that train the farthest down the track.
There's others who have tried, but I think everybody gets to a point at some point where we say, this puny brain of mine cannot reconcile those two train tracks.
I only know that God says it and so I believe it. And somewhere in heaven those two train tracks merge.
That's how Spurgeon put it. We cannot understand.
In fact, when Paul wraps up his teaching on sovereignty in Romans 9 to 11, he says, how unsearchable are the ways of God?
Who can trace the mind of the Lord? So I encourage you to chase that thought as far as you can, but ultimately to say, like Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to the
Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. Lastly, verses 17 to 21,
I just want to show you that the responsibility for believing is laid upon people, laid upon us.
That's that's important. The responsibility for those who reject it, it's not that, well
God wasn't merciful. That's not how how the Bible presents it. It is that man having been given the light rejected it, right?
Look at 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world. Isn't that good news?
But in order that the world might be saved through him, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only
Son of God. It's the only way, folks, to be saved, is to believe in the name of God's Son.
And does he hold us responsible? Look, absolutely. Verse 19. This is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed.
But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out, where?
In God, as a regenerate person. That God has come into them, and they into God.
They're united with the vine, and so regeneration results in the good works, not the other way around, or else you'll lose the gospel.
All that to say, God holds the sinner responsible for believing.
In closing, there are really two ways that you can err as you approach John 3.
The one error is called Arminianism, and the Arminian will explain away the freedom of God that was so clearly taught.
The new birth, the freedom of the wind. They will say, no, God is not free. He is bound by the decision of man, and he waits in heaven, maybe foresees like down the pike what man will do, and they explain away the freedom of God.
Truth is, God is free as the wind. It's a teaching of Romans 9, and Ephesians chapter 1, and John 6, and John 10, and John 17.
1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 6. How do you know you're chosen? Because the gospel came to you not just in word, but also in power and in the
Holy Spirit. This is the freedom of God. Now, the second error, and this might be something that many of us would be prone to, the second error is
Hyper -Calvinism. To assume, well, God's gonna save whom he will, therefore these means of rescuing the heathen are unnecessary and unimportant.
And so you sit back and think, God will save whom he will, and do nothing. I have a friend who came down here back in 2016 when we used to do an apologetics conference.
His name is Tom Mammon, and now he's an evangelist in New York City, so he'll preach on street corners.
Very good theologian as well as preacher, but I noticed a comment he made about marks of a
Hyper -Calvinist. Here's how you know someone is a Hyper -Calvinist. You don't want to be a Hyper -Calvinist.
This is the second error, okay? Number one, they consider Arminians to be unbelievers.
Just because someone doesn't have perfect theology and have it all worked out doesn't mean that you should have some big head and think that they're not even saved.
You don't have it fully worked out either. I don't have it fully worked out.
That's the whole point of Romans 11 right at the end. How untraceable are God's ways? The secret things, Deuteronomy 29 29.
So there there is room for disagreement as we study and seek the face of the
Lord. A Hyper -Calvinist will consider everybody else an unbeliever. Number two, the denial of faith as a duty.
Is faith your responsibility or is it only the gift of God? It is the gift of God according to Philippians 1 29 and 30, but it is you that is to repent and what?
Believe. That's the command, the injunction, the imperative. Repent and believe. You must do that and if you don't, you will be lost.
There is no other way to be saved. Preach that and believe that.
Number three, Hyper -Calvinists deny the well -meant free offer of the gospel.
They act as if Jesus didn't genuinely offer salvation because in their minds they have this theological construct that doesn't make room for that.
They can't reconcile divine sovereignty and human responsibility so they throw this one out just like the
Arminian throws out sovereignty. You see what's happening there? But the truth is the offer of the gospel is free and it's genuine.
God is sending out ambassadors, you and I, to plead with men to be reconciled to God and it's a well -meant offer.
It is real. It is genuine and I don't understand it all, but Hyper -Calvinists dismiss that.
Fourth, they deny common grace as if there's not a common grace love for all kinds of people.
And number five, they deny God has any type of love for the reprobate, but I think John 3 16 says
God so loved the world. It is a love for the world.
And number six, it undermines evangelism. These are they that do not evangelize because they're waiting on God to save.
But do you know the greatest evangelists in history? George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, First Great Awakening in this country in which we live,
John Calvin and Luther who led the Reformation, and men like William Carey who led the modern missions movement.
These were all men who believed in the sovereignty of God and the freedom of God to save whom he will.
So it does not need to undermine evangelism. In fact, the reason that I'm passionate as an evangelist is because I know
God has his elect. He will save whom he will. When I go out preaching, I expect to see
God save. I was just walking the dog two days ago and I was noticing as I'm walking house to house, everybody's inside their house, nobody's outside.
How do you talk to these people because they're always inside? My heart was burning to tell them about Jesus and so I just prayed.
Prayer is a means that God uses. And as I turned on Decatur and start walking up, a man decided he needed to go check his mailbox.
And I just happened to be passing right at that moment and I got to share the gospel with them. And using the way of the
Master, which is an online tool that you guys should get familiar with, Ray Comfort, Living Waters, you can learn to share the gospel, see how he does it again and again.
I was able to share the truth with this man and he came to a better understanding, hopefully born again.
Means. We must evangelize. And so as we go, I know I've gone way over today, but I love this subject and I think there's so much room for error on either side that would completely mess us up.
That's why I'm passionate about it. I'm gonna close in prayer now or else I'll preach another sermon. Nicodemus, he got saved.
John 19 .39, he's helping take Jesus off the cross. Let's pray.
So Father, we thank you for John chapter 3. We treasure these words. Every word that you have spoken,
Lord. I pray for our church that you would keep us from the error of hyper -Calvinism.
Keep us also from the error of Arminianism. Help us,
Lord, to believe in your sovereignty, that you are as free as the wind, constrained by nothing, to regenerate whom you will.
Help us also to believe in our responsibility to go out and preach the good news.
And so, Lord, send us out as an army of Christian witnesses. You sent out
William Carey to India. Send out this church into our neighborhoods to share the gospel with anybody and everybody, indiscriminately.
Give us passion to do it. This semester, as we go to Princeton, I pray for those who go to share the gospel that we would see fruit.
You alone, Lord, are the one that makes the seed grow. Some sow and others water, but you give the growth.
I pray for every person in this room to have a heart of compassion for the lost.
Break our hearts that there are people who are going to hell. Unless they are born again, they will not see the kingdom of God.
Little boys running around the soccer field, pretending to be girls. Completely lost, like sheep without a shepherd.
Help our hearts, Lord, to break for those who are lost. People depressed and raging and angry all the time because they do not have the peace that comes from the
Prince of Peace. Send us out to issue peace to those who believe. King's terms of peace.
Lord, inspire this church to be evangelists that we would live and breathe to tell the good news of our
Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing. Turn your eyes to the hillside, where justice and mercy abate.
There the Son of God gave his life for us, and our pleasure as dead was he made.
Jesus, to you we lift our eyes.
Jesus, our glory and our pride.
We adore you, behold you, our
Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you.
Turn to the whole and see
Christ the Lion awaking.
The glorious dawn, fear of death is gone, for we carry his life in our way.
Turn your eyes to the hillside.
Our King will return for his own.
Jesus, our glory and our pride. We adore you, behold you, our
And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.