Free as Wind (John 3:1-21 Jeff Kliewer)

That the only reason I have this tie on is Michael Stockland double-dog dared me.

He's going all formal, all formal today.

The Peace of God, the New Birth, and Church Announcements

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 isn't 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.

God’s Sovereignty, Human Sin, and Prayer for 9/11 Remembrance

21 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, our 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 in 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. 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.

And to the lamb who was slain, be all glory. Holy. You alone are holy. Matchless in your glory. No one is like you. Worthy. You alone are worthy. Adore you, God.

This past week, I started looking around and remembered something that I listened to years ago. If you haven't heard the famous sermon by John Jonathan Edwards called Sinners in the Hands of the Angry God, I recommend looking on YouTube, looking at, listening to it, reading it.

It puts in perspective 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 had 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. I will listen. I will love all of my days. I will sing. I will love. 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. All of my days. Prince of peace 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.

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.

William Carey, Hyper-Calvinism, and the Modern Missions Movement

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 door, 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 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, an inquiry into the obligations of Christians to use means for the conversion of the heathens in which the religious state of the different nations of the world, the success of former undertakings, and the practicability of further undertakings are considered.

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. 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 Elliot, 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 wrongheaded 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, 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, Erie and 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, an 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, how many of you in this room, I'm not going to make you do it, could recite 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 Anne 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, 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.

In the testimony of the gospel. We're gonna 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 unless 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?

Night. 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 2, 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 3 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 3, Jesus answered him, 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? He's saying, I tell you, unless one is born again, 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 four. 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. If 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 is 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 10 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. 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 to 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, and 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 ears 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 the new covenant. You need God's supernatural miracle 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, 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 wages of sin is death. 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. The problem is you can't birth yourself.

And if that's right, then the conversation should continue along those lines, right? The flow of thought. Look at verse 7. 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 8, the wind blows where it wishes. And you hear its 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 going to 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 can 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 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 the 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's 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' 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.