Nicodemus (John 3 Tim Robinson)

Thank him for his wonderful love, his wonderful sacrifice. You are so good, you are so kind. Sometimes our pride gets in the way of how easy it is to love you and to trust you. We confess to you that sometimes you're not the first that we run to for our refuge.

You would trust you if we just go to you first.

God, thank you so much for this worship. It is for you, Lord, and somehow you bless us through it. It's amazing to come here and corporately worship with brothers and sisters in Christ. We thank you for Ryan and how you've led him and how you've told him to go when he went and you've told him to stay and stay and that you've led him to a beautiful wife and now he has a beautiful daughter and raising her in the Lord.

Lord, thank you for all the gifts you give us and all the people that you bring us and even call to different places. We support them because we know they're following you. They count the cost and go.

I pray that we would count the cost and see what it costs us to follow you and see that it doesn't cost much. It's just our life, our little life on earth here and we would leave it all behind and follow you, Lord, because you are the king of all kings and yet you call us friends.

You've come and laid your life down for us and you say there's no greater love than he who lays their life down for his friends and that's what you did for us, Lord, so that's why we love you back, Lord, because you've given us your spirit and he convicts us and he points to you and we praise and honor you.

Bless this time today. I hope the word goes out and it falls on good soil. In Jesus' name, amen. Mr. and Mrs. Yuan are two Chinese people who came to America from Taiwan and they had a son. They moved to Chicago.

Their son's name was Christopher. They were not Christians. They raised him with traditional Chinese values that are respect your father and mother, always listen to them, play the piano and go to school and not just go to school but get really good grades and do very well in school, so that's what they raised Christopher to do and that's what he did.

Eventually, he decided he wanted to become a dentist and went to dental school when he was in college but before he got to college, he was exposed to some things that he should not have been exposed to at a young age and he started to get temptations and weird thoughts of how he was attracted to other men even though he was a guy himself and he kind of hid that through high school and I guess stayed in the closet, if you will, and then because he didn't think it was normal but he had an attraction to other men.

So he went off to school and kept that a secret but once he was in school, he kind of did not keep that a secret anymore. He got involved in drugs. He got involved in selling drugs. He was selling drugs to even his fellow classmates and even to one of his professors and he was making a lot of money and he was living a homosexual lifestyle and he decided that he wanted to come out of the closet so he took a trip home and told his parents that he is a gay man.

He told him straight to their face and whether they like it or not, he's gay and then Christopher's parents were not happy with his decision and Christopher, well, they gave Christopher an ultimatum and said, you're either gonna be part of this family and not be gay or you're not gonna be part of our family anymore and you go do whatever you want back at school.

So Christopher said, okay, I'm gay. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm going back to school and I don't want anything to do with you guys anymore. So he was in school and got even heavier and heavier into drugs and selling drugs and into sin and just went on a downward spiral but eventually he was close to graduating with his doctorate, only four months away and he was caught and got kicked out of school for selling drugs and then he said, oh well, I guess I'm just gonna move to Atlanta, Georgia.

He went there in the bright city and quickly took over the drug scene and became a drug dealer and eventually a drug supplier. He was supplying drugs for a lot of people in the gay community and all over the place in 11 different states he was doing that.

So he was falling deeper and deeper into sin. His life was going bad. At the same time he was doing that, his mother was having issues with Christopher's father and they were filing for divorce and her life was going very bad.

So she decided that she wanted to end her life. Before she did that, she wanted to go say goodbye to Christopher and tell her that she loved him and just say one last goodbye but she somehow got this idea that she's gonna go see a minister.

So she went to the closest church, went and saw a minister and that minister gave her a gospel track and she read the gospel track and became born again and was saved. Believed what was on the track, believed what Jesus did for her, believed that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead and she thought that she had eternal life and knew that God loved her.

She became a Christian. So and then instead of going to visit Chris, she went back home to her husband before they got divorced and it was a classic thing to where she was living out her Christian faith so well that it's either gonna make her husband leave or make her husband become a Christian and thankfully her husband actually became a Christian shortly after she did.

So they both became on fire believers for the Lord while their son was still living a sinful lifestyle. So they went out and wanted to go visit their son in Atlanta and they got there and got kicked out shortly after they were there.

They didn't even get a chance to share the gospel like they wanted to because Chris said that their light was shining so bright and he knew that they were like different people when they got there and they were acting different and treating them a lot better and their light was shining so bright that Christopher kicked them out on the first day they were there and they were supposed to stay a week and Christopher kicked them out but before he left, before Christopher's dad left, he tried to give him a Bible and Christopher did not accept the Bible but Christopher's dad left it on the table for him and then later Christopher picked it up, looked at the Bible, did not become a believer but threw the Bible in the trash, didn't read one word of it.

So he's very stubborn, he's in sin and the parents went home and the mom went on this fasting spree of fasting every Monday and eventually actually did a fast for 39 days and crying out to the Lord for her son asking that whatever happens to him that God would bring her prodigal son home and after praying for a while, Christopher got caught selling drugs after he got a large drug shipment to his house, officer showed up with two big German shepherd dogs and confiscated all of his money and all of his drugs and took him to jail and he was in jail for what was supposed to be at least 12 years but it ended up being six years so he was in jail and while he was in jail, he was walking by a trash can and he saw a Bible in the trash and the last time he held a Bible was the one that he threw in the trash so this time, he picked the Bible out of the trash and started reading it and he read the Gospel of Mark and through the Gospel of Mark, he says that he knew that God was real and God loved him but he was not willing to let go of his sinful lifestyle and he certainly was not willing to let go of his homosexuality because that's who he identified himself with, that was his identity, that he was a gay man and he was proud of it but later on, he actually got diagnosed with HIV and then he felt that that was like a death sentence and so he went back to his cell, looked up on the ceiling and saw, if you're bored, read this and it was Jeremiah 29 11, for I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you, plans to give you a hope and a future and after hearing that devastating news and then saw that, he actually believed that God had a plan for him and that God still loved him and he started to actually read that Bible that he got, not just Mark but he read it cover to cover but he was looking for like something in that Bible that would tell him that it was okay for him to sin.

He wanted to still live that homosexual lifestyle and he wanted that to be affirmed by the Bible and he couldn't find it so he went to the prison chaplain and went to him and said, hey, I don't think it's okay for me to be gay anymore, what do you think?

And then the chaplain said, no, it's actually okay, you can be gay, I have a book on it. The chaplain gave him, I don't think he's a very good chaplain but he gave him a book and he read it and he only got through the first chapter and realized it was a twisting of God's word and people were putting things into scripture and twisting it and he knew it was trash so he read one chapter, threw it away and then he searched again in the Bible cover to cover and he couldn't find one thing that affirmed that it was okay to live the way he wanted to live so he was left with a choice.

He was either gonna live the way he wanted to live in sin or he was gonna repent, turn from that, change his mind and trust in Jesus and because he was born again, he did that. He trusted Jesus and he became a Christian and then he became a minister in that prison and then eventually his sentence got cut down to only three years and then he was a minister in the prison and eventually he was going out and then called his mom and his mom had been praying and his mom dropped the phone after he had told him that I'm a born again Christian now and that I plan to go to Bible school and then he went to Moody Bible Institute and eventually Wheaton College and then he became a Bible teacher and now he goes around telling his story of how God saved him and how he didn't really wanna be a Christian but he was convicted by the truth because God's word is sharper than any two-edged sword and it really cut to his heart and there was nothing he could do.

He was convicted by the truth of God's word so he started to follow Jesus and God did have a plan for him and now he goes around and preaches to different colleges and he has a real heart for people that are still struggling with homosexual relationships or people that are still gay and having struggles with temptations in that way and he still has a heart for them but he teaches other people how to minister to them because he says it's better to minister them and tell them the truth, right, than to let them still live the way they wanna live and walk all the way to hell, right?

But he says the main thing that he comes across, people tell him he has a lot of gay friends, right, and a lot of gay people he reaches out to and he says the number one thing that people say why they're gay, like the reason why they're gay, they say that I was born this way, it's who I am so they claim it as an identity, I was born this way but Christopher Yuan came up with this great idea that he got from the Gospel of John.

He says to them, I don't care that you're born that way, it's okay if you think you are, if you're born that way or not, Jesus said something very, very important. He says in John 3 that you must be born again so there's no reason for to still live in sin because you need to be born again.

So that always resonated with me that no matter how sinful you are and how much you love your sin and how much or who you think you are, you still need to be born again and God has a different idea of who you are and a different idea of where you're going.

And that's the chapter we're gonna be going to is John 3 because there's a man kind of like on the opposite end as Christopher was where he wasn't raised as religion but Nicodemus here in John 3, he was raised as a Pharisee, he was a religious guy and Jesus actually calls him to be born again.

So no matter where you come from, you need to be born again because you were born in sin, you need to be born of the Spirit. So I'm gonna read John 3 all the way to verse 21 to give some context. You can follow along with me, verse one.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus 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 is with him.

Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 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?

Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again. 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.

Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? 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? No one has ascended into heaven, except he who has descended from heaven, the son of man. 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.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, 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. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people love darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to 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 in God.

Right, back to verse one. It says, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. A Pharisee in the Bible were often presented as proud and hypocritical opponents of Jesus.

If you read through the gospels, you'll find that out pretty quickly that they were kind of against Jesus. The word Pharisee comes from the Hebrew word that means separated. They kind of thought they were separated from everyone else because they were better.

They more so separated themselves from other people because they thought they were more righteous than other people, that they were God's righteous people. You may be familiar with Matthew chapter 23 when Jesus pronounces seven woes to the Pharisees and the scribes.

Or you might be familiar with the story of about a tax collector and a Pharisee that went into the temple and prayed. One of them, a Pharisee, prayed to God, thank you, God, I'm not like that tax collector over there.

He's a sinner, thank you, I'm not like him. And then the tax collector prayed and beating his chest saying, have mercy on me, God, the sinner. And then out of those two, which two was a better prayer?

The tax collector or the Pharisee? Tax collector, you've judged correctly. It was the tax collector. It turns out that the Pharisees were self-righteous people and not righteous people at all. And they were kind of on the outside.

They might have looked good to other people. People maybe thought they were religious. People thought they were good, but it turns out that they were not. The Pharisees liked to lay heavy burdens on people that they could not bear because they followed the law or at least told people to follow the law and they followed their own traditions and even added to those traditions and had their own laws that you needed to keep.

A lot of them were aiming more to please people than to please God. You know how people like that are, right? People pleasers. It sounds good, but really it's selfish to do that, right? When you're pleasing other people because you want them to like you.

That's not real love. It's real love is actually doing what's best for the other person and not in regard for yourself. So the best description of a Pharisee though probably comes from Matthew 23. Jesus calls them whitewashed tombs with dead man's bones on the inside.

So meaning they look good, but they were dead on the inside, actually dead. And Nicodemus was one of these people. He was a Pharisee. Nicodemus was also a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was basically, the great Sanhedrin was basically the Supreme Court of ancient Israel.

And it was made up of about 70 men, including the high priest. And Nicodemus was part of that group too. So it's safe to say that Nicodemus basically reached the pinnacle of Judaism. He couldn't really go any higher as a religious man.

He was at the top of the pile. He was very religious to say the least. He was a ruler of the Jews. And then in verse 10 it says that he was the teacher of Israel. But I think Nicodemus might have known that he was a hypocrite.

Maybe he knew the law that he was trying to follow. He could not follow, right? Because no one can follow that law. Maybe he knew that he was dying on the inside. But here's the problem. Who can teach him?

He's the teacher of Israel. Well, it says in verse two, this man came to Jesus by night. Why did he come by night? I don't entirely know, but I have a good guess that I think he was probably afraid of his little Pharisee friends that were probably gonna make fun of him if he started following Jesus, right?

I think a lot of us are like that. That's one of the costs that we need to count, right? Is am I gonna follow Jesus or am I gonna care more about what people think about me? Because at the end of the day, I think it matters more what God thinks about you than other people, right?

But Nicodemus was still at that stage where he still feared his religious friends. So he came to Jesus by night, maybe because he was like a secret follower too, kind of like Joseph of Arimathea. But he came to Jesus and called him rabbi and said, 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.

So Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, comes and calls Jesus a rabbi. Jesus didn't really have any rabbi training, but Nicodemus knew he was a teacher come from God and Nicodemus respected him. So why did Nicodemus respect him that much and why did Nicodemus call him rabbi and why did Nicodemus come to him by night?

Well, it's because of the signs that Jesus was doing. Jesus performed miracles, he wasn't a mere man. He was actually God in the flesh. So he was able to do things that other people have never did before.

And Nicodemus was probably a teacher for a long time and have never seen signs, never seen miracles. He's the teacher of Israel, but I think he's recognizing someone that could be greater than himself.

He might be wondering what's missing that he has. Maybe he's thinking Jesus, whatever Nicodemus is thinking, Jesus knows what he's thinking because Jesus can read his thoughts, right? And Jesus answers him and kind of cuts right to the chase after Nicodemus asks him that, tells him that.

And Jesus just looks at him and says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So you might, born again. I hope that we've all heard that before, right? Otherwise, this verse should be very convicting to you.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Meaning you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you were born again. So you probably wanna know what born again means.

If you're not a Christian, you probably don't know what it means. I have a friend who calls himself a Catholic and he doesn't really know what born again means because I think he's under the impression that born again is a denomination.

And he's just like, yeah, I'm a Catholic. You're one of them born agains, one of them crazy guys that goes to the born again church. And I'm like, no, that's not it. I am born again, but it's not like a denomination.

It's something that actually happens in every true believer's life, that they're born again. That's the reason why they can actually believe the gospel. Not everyone who walks even through Cornerstone's church, it's not likely that every single person that comes in here is born again.

It would be cool that they left born again, but that's not always the case either, right? Not everyone who walks through the church is born again. Not everyone who was raised as a Christian is born again.

Not everyone who is religious and is spiritual is born again. But only the born again inherit the kingdom of God. So don't be deceived. Just because you come to church and look good on the outside doesn't mean you're a born again Christian.

You might be wondering, okay, well, how do I know if I'm born again? What must I do to be born again? What good work must I do to be born again? Well, the answer is that you can't do any good work to become born again, because it is a work of God.

You cannot save yourself. No good work can save you, right? So the answer is that you can't do anything. Something supernatural has to happen. And I think Nicodemus understands that Jesus is trying to tell him something that he cannot do.

Because Nicodemus answers in this way. Verse four, Nicodemus says, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? So Nicodemus, it sounds like he's a fool, right?

Asking that. But I don't think that he's a complete fool. He's probably a wise man. He somehow is the teacher of Israel. I think he's pretty respected. He's probably a pretty smart guy. All good teachers, I think, understand analogies and are able to communicate analogies.

At least Jesus did that, and he's the best teacher. So Jesus gives him an analogy, and I think Nicodemus kind of gets it. Jesus is trying to communicate to Nicodemus that something has to happen that's outside of his own power.

And Jesus brings up being born again. And Nicodemus understands that he did not participate in his own birth, right? No one here participated in their own birth. They didn't decide to be born one day, right, when your mom delivered you.

It wasn't your choice that you were gonna come here. I think some people believe that, but it's not true. It's a gift from God that you're born the first time, right? And I think Nicodemus obviously knows that he can't enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born.

But Jesus is talking about something different. He's talking about a spiritual birth that has to happen of spirit, one that is completely from God that is not dependent on man, one that cannot be earned.

This born-again thing is not something that you can do. It can't be earned. It can't be achieved. This must really be hard to hear if you're Nicodemus, though, because he's living in a world of legalism where it's do this, do this, do this, or don't do this, don't do this, don't do this.

And he's trying to please God, trying to do good things his whole life, and even a very religious man. And yet, it seems like this guy could be outside of the kingdom of God, even though it looks like maybe everyone thought he was on the inside.

And it's interesting that Jesus, even though he was a rabbi, he's sitting down with the teacher of Israel, Jesus didn't cater to him or tell him what he wanted to hear, right? And like, oh, I'm gonna be in with these Pharisee guys.

Jesus was kind of above that and was trying to please God, and he told him directly that you need to be born again. So I think Nicodemus needs like, doesn't fully understand, but he's looking for maybe a clue that can help him understand even better.

And Jesus kind of gives him a clue in verse five. Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So he adds this word water and spirit.

So this word water, some people think that that means water baptism, implying that you need to be water baptized to be saved. I don't think that's biblical. I don't think that any good work can save you and baptism would be a good work, right?

Just because I get dunked underwater does not mean I'm actually born again, believer. It doesn't mean that something supernatural comes over me because I decided to dunk myself into some water. That's not true.

So I don't think that in this context, baptism is the answer to what the water is talking about. Some people might think that there's three views. The second view is that the water is the breaking of, like when a mother's giving birth, the breaking of the water and flesh gives birth to flesh.

This isn't like a far-fetched view because it is talking about flesh in the next verse and all, but a better interpretation would probably be from Ezekiel chapter 36, verses 25 to 27. And remember, Nicodemus was a Pharisee.

So he probably had large sections of the Bible memorized, at least the Old Testament Bible memorized. So he would have known what Jesus was talking about in this verse. I'm gonna read it to you guys. 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 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. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

So according to this verse, it seems like we need a new heart to follow Jesus or we need a new heart. And it's kind of looking forward to the new birth. And I think that this verse from Ezekiel is talking about being born again because the same passage that Jesus is talking about in John chapter three, being born again, he speaks of water and he speaks of spirit and he also speaks of flesh.

And verse six says that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit. So every single person out there that's ever lived is born of flesh, right? If they're born, they're born of flesh.

And to be born of flesh is not good because the flesh is bad. The Bible's definition of flesh, I think, can be defined as not just an outward disposition but an inward disposition that is constantly and always against God.

That's the flesh. So flesh gives birth to flesh, but without the spirit, you will not be able to enter the kingdom of God. So the spirit also gives birth to spirit and there's nothing that we can do to achieve that, but it's something that God does in his own power and decides to do.

So that which is born of human is human. That which is born of a sinner is sinner. Everyone has original sin and everyone operates according to the flesh and everyone follows what they wanna do and follows what their flesh wants to do.

And when temptation comes, they're easily able to give in because they have nothing to fight with. But once you're born of the spirit and you're born again, now you have a spirit inside of you that can put to death the flesh and everyone wants to follow the flesh and everyone wants to do sin because they love it.

But once you are given the Holy Spirit and you understand the love that God has for you and that he loved you so much that he sent his son Jesus to die for you and how much Jesus loved you and how he gave you a new spirit, and he actually gives you an irresistible call to stop going that way and stop loving that and actually to love him and to respond to him by faith and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone.

So that's kind of what happens to every believer. But those who are born of the spirit are those that are born again. And Nicodemus should have known this from the Ezekiel chapter and from Ezekiel itself.

But evidently, Nicodemus is amazed at Jesus' teaching and he really is having trouble believing all of it. And Jesus understands that because he can read his thoughts. And he says, do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again.

That's the third time we heard Jesus say that. So I think it's important that you must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Verse seven is an awesome verse. That is my good friend, Dr. Hearst, my Bible professor's favorite verse.

This guy teaches the Bible. He's a gifted teacher, but he lives out the Christian life very well. And he sets people on fire just the way he's living out the life. And he always tells people that they must be born again.

And sometimes there's Christians, and I was one time in his class, and he asked a question, if you were invited to a gay wedding, would you go? And I'm there with my best friend Malachi on my left and my best friend Jay to my right.

And we're in the class and only four of us raised our hand and say, you know, we would not go. And I'm a class of 40 people. And the rest of the class said, oh, we would go because we want to support them, but not knowing really what love is.

And I'd look to my friend Malachi. I was like, oh, are you going to this? He's like, no way, I'm not going to that. I already had to turn one down. My aunt is getting married, and I already said I can't go because I'm a Christian.

And then I'm like, I looked at my friend Jay. I'm like, Jay, why is your hand up? Why are you saying that you're gonna go to this? He's like, Tim, I'm sorry. I actually already been to gay weddings before.

I'm like, oh no. So even people that are in Bible school, it doesn't mean that they're actually born again. And not just because you do that doesn't mean that you're a Christian. Maybe you didn't know any better.

But I think the true born-again Christian would probably decline that invitation to go to a gay wedding just because it's not really a wedding, because a real wedding is between a husband and a wife, a man and a woman, not two men or two women.

But really, the truth is that we need to tell these people that they need to be born again, but also share the truth of God's word with them, because that's how God regenerates people. It's through the preaching of the word.

And this is not, this call to be born again is not just for Nicodemus, it's for everybody. He's talking to Nicodemus, but he also is talking to all people when he says you must be born again. And you really cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

Indeed, this call goes out to many people. The gospel message that Jesus came and died on the cross for your sins and rose again according to the scriptures, that message goes out to everyone, but everyone responds in a different way, right?

Some people respond and love that message, and it's because they actually have been regenerated. God is doing a work. It's not just the word. Even though it is God's word, right? It's not really the preacher that does much.

He says God's word, and God's word convicts people and saves people. And that call that goes out, many hear it, but only few are chosen. Only few actually respond to the message, and the people that do respond are the born again, and that call is actually irresistible.

They can't say no because it's an offer that they can't turn down because their eyes are now open, and now they have ears to hear, and they have a new heart. So there's no way they can, they know the cost, and they see both sides, and they say, you know what?

This life is not worth living the way I want to. I wanna follow Jesus. And that call becomes irresistible. God calls them to repentance. They turn from sin, and they trust in him. Some people get that call, and some people find it irresistible, but there's other people out there that get that same call, that same preaching of the word, that same message, and they resist it.

They resist the Holy Spirit. Why is some people able to resist it, and some people it's irresistible? Well, it's because the ones that find it irresistible are God's chosen people, and those are the ones that he's working in as the message goes out, and those are the ones he regenerated, and those are the ones that he chose and loved before the foundations of the world, and those are the ones that he's bringing salvation to, and those are the ones that he's making alive.

Because if you're a dead person, you can't do anything, right? Let alone choose God, right? So if you're dead, there's nothing you can do. I can't yell at you and tell you to accept God or make you do anything because you're dead.

So without having ears to hear and eyes to see and a new heart and becoming a new person and being made alive, there's no way you would choose God because you're only in the flesh, and the flesh is against God, but the spirit is for God, and all those that live according to the flesh will die, but those that live according to the spirit will live, and maybe you're wondering if you have the Holy Spirit, because if you have the Holy Spirit, that means that you are going into the kingdom.

So maybe you're wondering, okay, how do I know I'm born again? Okay, if I'm born again, that means I have the Holy Spirit. Now you're wondering, like, how do I know if I have the Holy Spirit? Well, if you have the Holy Spirit, the spirit will lead you, and he will lead you to fight against sin.

So if you're actively in a war against sin, that's good indication that you're actually a born-again Christian. If you're not in a war against sin, and you find nothing wrong with how you're living, that's probably indication that you're still dead, and that you haven't experienced a new birth.

If you're not convicted of sin, and you're not every day trying to deny yourself, and crucify your own desires, and following after Christ. So if you're not doing those things, you're probably not born again, but if you're actually in the war, I think that's good news because you have the Holy Spirit, and you're in a fight, you're in spiritual warfare.

You wouldn't know what I'm talking about if you're not born again, right? Some of you guys know what I'm talking about, that spiritual warfare is real, right? But verse eight, Jesus talks about what being born again is like.