Nicodemus (John 3 Tim Robinson)

Before we stand together, let's sing a few songs. Grounded with mistletoe,

Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns

All music but its soul.

Awake, my soul, and sing

Of Him who died for me

And hail Him as thy matchless

King Through all eternity.

Majesty, Lord of Saints, sing

Eternal life to His identity

Majesty, Lord of Saints, sing

Glory thrown before His deeds

O come, let us adore

Him Praise the Lord this morning. He is our King. He is our Redeemer. You, you,

Jesus, you Are my

Jesus, you Amazing love

That you, my King, would die for me Amazing love

It's my joy to honor you In all

I do I honor you Forgiven because you were forsaken

I've accepted You were condemned

Forgiven because you were forsaken I'm forgiven

I've accepted You were condemned By the law

The spirit is within me Because you died and rose again

Amazing love Amazing love

How can my

King would die Amazing love

Oh, it's true It's my joy to honor you

In all I do In all

I do I honor In all

I do I honor you Lord, we welcome you here this morning.

Our gracious Redeemer. Take a few minutes. Thank Him for His wonderful love.

His wonderful sacrifice. Lord, you are so good.

You are so kind to us. 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.

And that it is easy to love you and trust you if we just go to you first. Jesus, thank you.

You make it easy to love. You are into my life.

You make it easy to trust you. You have never left my side.

You've been faithful every time. All I want is you.

Jesus, all I want is you.

You are the refuge I run to. You are the fire that leads me through the night.

I'll follow you anywhere. There's a million reasons to trust you.

Nothing to fear for. You are by my side.

I'll follow you anywhere. Jesus, you came to my rescue.

Took my place upon that cross. You redeemed what

I had lost. Now my whole world revolving around the center of my heart.

You're the treasure. You're what I want is you.

Jesus, all I want is you.

You are the refuge I run to. You are the fire that leads me through the night.

I'll follow you anywhere. There's a million reasons to trust you.

Nothing to fear for. You are by my side. I'll follow you.

Jesus, all I want is you.

All I want is you.

Jesus, all I want is you.

You are the refuge I run to. You are the fire that leads me through the night.

I'll follow you. There's a million reasons to trust you.

Nothing to fear for. You are by my side.

I'll follow you. That is your prayer this morning.

To follow him everywhere, whatever it costs. Amen. Let's pray.

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're 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, you know, 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, 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 them 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 they gave

Christopher an ultimatum and said, you're either going to be part of this family and not be gay or you're not going to 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 going to 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 going to 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 going to 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 officers 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 12 at least 12 years but it ended up being 6 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 2911 for I know the plans that I have for you plans to prosper plans for 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 going to live the way he wanted to live in sin or he was going to 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 want to 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 to them and tell them the truth than to let them still live the way they want to live and walk all the way to hell but he says the main thing that he comes across people tell him he has a lot of gay friends 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 going to be going to is

John chapter 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 chapter 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 going to read John chapter 3 all the way to verse 21 to give some context you can follow along with me verse 1 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 1 it says now there was a man named 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 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 like 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 chapter 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 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 2 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 going to make fun of him if he started following Jesus I think a lot of us are like that that's one of the costs that we need to count is am

I going to follow Jesus or am I going to 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 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

I've 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 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 want to 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 again one of them crazy guys that goes to the born again church and I'm like no that's not 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 is 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 4

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 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 going to 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 um but Jesus is talking about something different um he's talking about a spiritual birth that has to happen of spirit um one that is completely from God that is not dependent on man one that um 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 um 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 um and yet it seems like this guy um 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 um even though he was a rabbi he's sitting down with the teacher of Israel uh

Jesus didn't um cater to him or like 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 um was trying to please

God and he told him directly that you need to be born again um 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 5

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 um 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 um

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 under water 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 um that's not true so I don't think that in this context baptism is the answer to what the water is talking about um some people might think that um there's three views the second view is that um the water is the breaking of um like when a mother is 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 um but a better um interpretation would probably be from Ezekiel chapter 36 verses uh 25 to 27 um 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 um 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 um because the same passage that Jesus is talking about in John chapter 3 being born again um he speaks of water and he speaks of um spirit and he also speaks of flesh and verse 6 says that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit so every single person out there um 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 um the bible's definition of flesh

I think um can be defined as not just an outward um disposition but an inward disposition that is constantly and always against God that's the flesh so flesh gives birth to flesh but um 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 um in his own power and decides to do so that which is born of human is human that which is born of um a sinner is sinner everyone has original sin and everyone operates according to the flesh and everyone um follows what they want to do and follows what their flesh wants to do and um 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 they actually 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 um but those who are born of the spirit are those that are um born again and Nicodemus should have known this from the

Ezekiel chapter and um from Ezekiel itself but evidently Nicodemus is amazed that Jesus is 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 um verse 7 is an awesome verse that is um my good friend

Dr. Hurst my Bible professor's favorite verse this guy um 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 um and he always tells people that they must be born again and there's sometimes there's

Christians and I was one time in his class um and he asked a question if um 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 um 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 um not knowing really what love is and I looked at 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 um in Bible school it doesn't mean that they're actually born again it's and not 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 um a real wedding is between a husband and a wife um a man and a woman not not two men or two women um 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 um regenerates people it's through the preaching of the word and this is not um 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 um many people um the gospel message that Jesus came and died on the cross for your sins and rose again according to the scriptures um 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 um convicts people and saves people and that call that goes out um 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 um 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 want to follow Jesus and that call becomes irresistible God calls them to repentance they turn from sin and they trust in Him um 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 um 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 um if you're a dead person you can't do anything right let alone choose

God right so if you're dead um there's nothing you can do I can't yell at you and tell you to accept like God or make you do anything um because you're dead so um 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 um you're wondering if you have the

Holy Spirit because if you have the Holy Spirit um 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 um 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 um every day trying to deny yourself and crucify your own desires and following after Christ so if you're not doing those things um 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? um but verse 8

Jesus um talks about what being born again is like 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 this is kind of in a brilliant analogy right? the Holy Spirit have has a mind of its own um and is clearly moving and we can always see the

Holy Spirit moving right? and even Jesus compares it to the wind we know the wind is there we can't see it we can't see the

Holy Spirit we can't see the wind um but we see the effects of it we see the effects of wind we know wind is real and just like we know the

Holy Spirit is real because we see how he's moving in our lives in our friends lives in our fellow believers lives and um if you have the

Holy Spirit you know it because I think if the living God is inside of you you know it right?

you're a totally different person before you were seeing in black and white or not seeing at all but now you're actually seeing in color and seeing clearly and you're growing in discernment and you're being grown in your faith and God is calling you closer and closer to him not everyone experiences this but his children are experiencing this kind of life where they're in a war and they're only here for a short time um but eventually they will enter into the kingdom not everyone gets to enter into the kingdom 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 we bear witness to this we know what's happened to us we know we are born again and we tell other people but Jesus is telling

Nicodemus um Jesus Jesus has seen the kingdom there's no one better to be telling

Nicodemus these things right he comes from heaven himself um he has been there before no one else um has he's unlike anyone else he has come down from heaven um he's come and took on humanity he's added humanity to his deity and he has good news to preach and he's preaching to people and some people cannot accept the good news because they don't know the bad news and Nicodemus is kind of in that area where he

I don't think he fully understands the bad news and understands his need of God to do something in his life you need if you're a dead sinner you need

God to do something you need God to make the first move you need God to send his spirit to wake you up and you need the preaching of the word and there's people out there that do not know

Christ and have not heard the word so I think it's our job to go out there and take the word and let God um work with it

I can preach the word all day but if God doesn't regenerate someone and God isn't working in their life and the supernatural power is not there then it's gonna fall on deaf ears verse 12 if you if I have told you earthly things and you do not believe how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things so Jesus is basically saying like I can't tell you about my home because later he says no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven the son of man so he's basically saying

I cannot tell you about my home or reveal even deeper truth about God or about heaven or about eternal things to you because you don't even understand the simple things that happen here on earth so no one can tell these things in Nicodemus like Jesus can he's been there he's seen it and those that actually have been born again actually have the same testimony right that God did a work in my life

I know I know where I'm going I know that I know that I know that I have eternal life so we do bear witness of things that we know we can be certain as Christians we don't be like oh

I don't know if it's true so I don't want to tell them they can follow what they want no like their life depends on following Jesus and we need to tell them about Jesus so that they may become followers and verse 14 says 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 so Jesus is talking about Numbers 21 you guys are probably familiar with that passage where the

Israelites are basically complaining about God and complaining about Moses and they want to go back to Egypt wondering why they got set free from Israel just to die in the desert and God doesn't really like their complaining so God sends fiery serpents to attack

Israel and Israel starts coming back to God and coming back to Moses saying save us save us and Moses is told by God to make a serpent of bronze a fake serpent and put it on a pole and lift it up and anyone who would look at that bronze serpent and believe in that bronze serpent and believe that God said that whoever looks at that will be saved would not be bitten by the snakes and will live but those that did not believe that message and did not look at the bronze serpent are not going to be saved they died in the wilderness they died from the snakes and many died that day and so it is with the son of man

Jesus predicting his death here saying that the son of man must be lifted up lifted up on the cross and those who look on him and understand that Jesus came and died on the cross for their sins and look and believe in him and believe that he died on the cross and also not only died but rose again and ascended into heaven by looking at him you have eternal life but if you don't believe that message you're not going to look to him you're not going to want to trust in him you're not going to see a need to be saved if you see a need to be saved then you're going to find

Jesus as the perfect savior and you're going to look to him and believe because verse 16 says for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life that's the most famous verse in the bible, right?

everyone's heard that one, right? no one's not heard that verse for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life that's the good news that's like the gospel crunched down into one verse, right?

that anyone who looks to him will have eternal life anyone who believes in him it's real simple, right? believe in him and be saved it's not hard to do, right?

well, it is if you're dead but if you can do that that's evidence that you're actually made alive for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world so he didn't come to call people out on their sin and condemn them for their sin but he warns people that if they keep sinning that way they will not have eternal life because it says but in order that the world might be saved through him that's the reason that Jesus came to save people not to condemn people he came to save people but obviously they were being saved from something, right?

there's a coming judgment that's gonna come and people some people are unaware of it some people are aware of it and his sheep, his elect people who he died for are gonna be granted eternal life and some people are gonna be falling into eternal punishment those that do not believe that Jesus took their punishment are gonna have to pay their own punishment in hell that is the truth that is the gospel some people are afraid to talk about hell because they think it's a bad place and a scary thought but it's just the truth if you're kind of scared of hell and you become a believer

I think that's okay it's not a bad thing, right? it's better than not becoming a believer hell is a scary thing

Jesus says it's better to cut off your hand and enter into life without your hand than it is for your whole body to go into hell so I think he means take any measure necessary to follow

Jesus verse 18 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 son of God and this is the judgment the light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works are evil people who are not repenting the answer is the answer to why they're not repenting is because they love their sin they love their darkness and they do not like the light they do not

Jesus is the light they do not like him they want to live their own way they do not want to follow after Jesus they don't think that Jesus has a better plan for them they think that they are their own

God and they have other gods that they worship but they will not worship Jesus for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed obviously they know they do bad things but they still want to keep doing it so they don't want to follow

Jesus because they can't count the cost they don't want to give up what they have and what they've worked for their whole life and what they love 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 so whoever does what is true comes to the light and you're not able to do what is true unless the work has been carried out by God God is the one that does it for you

God regenerates a believer God gives them the Holy Spirit and God helps them follow sometimes we don't even know what to pray and the

Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groaning so sometimes we don't know how to do anything but God is the one lifting us up and helping us and doing everything for us and loving us but according to this text there's two kinds of people in the world there's those that believe in the

Son of God and live in the light and have eternal life and then there's others that reject the

Son of God and live in darkness and actually are condemned already there's the born again and then there's the unbeliever humans are totally totally helpless because they are actually dead in their sins and anyone who actually understands they need a

Savior can come to Jesus and be saved but and whoever so will may come, right?

anyone who hears the gospel can come the problem is that they won't come unless they're regenerated and they're born again and they're born from God so they will not come unless God does something because I really do believe that God has chosen

His people before the foundations of the earth that's biblical He already chose His people who

He was going to save and He applies salvation and it's through the preaching of the word some people hear the word and they find it irresistible and they follow

Jesus some people hear the word they don't like it it's offensive to them and they don't follow Jesus well, that's okay if you want to still live that way you're going to lose your soul though Jesus is the good shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep and His sheep only but the truth is there are some goats out there that aren't part of His flock but those who are part of His flock hear

His voice hear His word and they obey His word and they follow Him and Jesus gives them eternal life so there's those of us in this room that have eternal life and I hope there's no one in this room that doesn't have eternal life but after today that they would know that they have eternal life because they believe in the

Son of God and that they're in the war against sin and that they need to put it to death and God is calling them to turn from their sin and change their mind about sin and follow

Jesus so maybe you're wondering how do

I know if I'm a how do I know if I'm born again in John 1 -5 it says everyone who believes that Jesus is the

Christ has been born of God so if you really do believe that Jesus is the Christ you've been born of God I was trying to explain to my cousin one time that I'm born of God so I believe

Jesus is the Christ I'm born again so I believe Jesus is the Christ and He chose me before the foundations of the world and my cousin is an unbeliever so he was like wait a minute so God chose you and not me

I'm like well do you believe in Jesus Christ no I don't believe in Him well I'm like well that's evidence that He hasn't chosen you maybe

He did but you aren't a believer yet but I didn't jump to that we had a long conversation but it came down to it where He's like basically you believe the

Bible and I don't and I was like yeah that's it and then I told him that he was like well

I can't believe in a God like that that would save some people and not save others I'm like well if you want to come and be saved you can just believe in Jesus Christ well

I don't want to do that well I'm like well that's the reason why you're not coming because you love your sin so you need to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved and the reason why some people don't believe in Him is because they still love their sin for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world it's our faith and if you've been following along these past several

Sundays even faith itself is a gift right Ephesians 2 .8 says for by grace we have been saved through faith not of works not of our own doing it's a gift from God so that no man may even boast and so genuine

Christians are not defeated by the world they're going to have they're going to conquer the world through their faith and that's even given by God they're not going to be compelled by the world to shrink back all the time and actually do it they're not going to turn from Jesus they're going to turn from sin and follow

Jesus so we overcome by faith some of you might be wondering what happened to Nicodemus though right because he had a conversation with Jesus and Jesus called him well in John chapter 7 we find

Nicodemus with the Pharisees and the Pharisees sent out officers to arrest Jesus and Jesus told them you're not going to arrest me because my time hasn't come yet and by the way where I am going you cannot come and the officers came back to the

Pharisees and the Pharisees were wondering why didn't you arrest Jesus and the Pharisees said well no one has ever spoken like this man before and Nicodemus was in the room and Nicodemus knew that no one has ever spoken like that man before because he spoke to him himself by night and Nicodemus stuck up for him because they wanted to arrest

Jesus and Nicodemus said to them do we really arrest a man without a fair trial and right away he kind of got a little persecution because even though he was the teacher of Israel and people were supposed to respect him and loved him they said to him oh are you from Galilee too so they kind of made fun of him for believing in Jesus but he still stuck up for him so it's evidence that he's maybe still a secret follower a little bit but he's coming out a little bit he's coming out but in then

John 19 .39 Joseph of Arimathea after Jesus had just died on the cross asked

Pontius Pilate to go get his body and grabbed the body and buried it in his tomb and Nicodemus was with him when he did that and Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes that weighed about 75 pounds so Nicodemus was probably a rich man but he bought 75 pounds worth to anoint the body of Jesus with so I think that he probably came out of the closet by then maybe some of you guys are secret followers of Jesus maybe you're following online for a long time but you're not ready to actually come out and be part of the body of Christ and declare to people that hey

I'm coming out I believe the Bible now because as Christians we're supposed to be coming out right not just gay people right so I think when gay people come out they it seems like everyone wants to affirm them and love them right and maybe throw a party for them but when

Christians come out I don't think we get that same response right people don't really like that they're like oh no are you changing it's like yeah yeah but it's for the better but in application if God has if God really has graciously given us his spirit and made us a new creation then let us approach the throne of grace with boldness knowing that he loves us knowing that we know that we know that we know that we have eternal life um and also with thanksgiving also that we may be controlled by the spirit as we take his word to those that still are in darkness because people are out there in darkness and they need to see the light they need to see

Jesus and um I think we're gonna close in prayer God thank you so much for your word tonight or this morning um it's been a blessing to me studying these scriptures and getting to know you better I pray that um those here tonight that aren't truly yet born again are not sure they're born again

I hope that you would make it clear to them that they are born again so that they may have confidence in following you and confidence that they have eternal life and I also pray for those that know that they're born again um that they would follow you deeper and that they would call other people to be born again and not be afraid to share your truth because your truth is more precious than gold it's worth more than anything else out there so people do not realize what they're missing they're still living in darkness but Lord use us to be a light and let your word go forth and let it fall on ears that hear and let people be born again regenerate them

Lord call them to new life make dead people rise and believe in you give them your spirit

Lord fill us up with the Holy Spirit so that we may do your will Lord thank you for all you're doing thank you for loving us thank you for loving us so much to send

Jesus to die on the cross on our behalf you are the king of all kings Lord and worthy of all worship we pray in Jesus name

Amen our hope in life and death

Christ alone Christ alone what is our only confidence that our souls to him belong who holds our days within his hands what comes apart from his command and what will keep us to the end the love of Christ in which we stand oh sing

Hallelujah our hope springs eternal oh sing

Hallelujah now and ever we confess

Christ our hope in life and death what truth can calm the troubled soul

God is good God is good where is his grace and goodness known in our great redeemer's blood who holds our faith when fears arise who stands above the stormy trials who sends the waves that bring us nigh unto the shore the rock of Christ oh sing

Hallelujah our hope springs eternal oh sing

Hallelujah Christ our hope in life and death to the great what shall we sing

Christ he lives Christ he lives and what reward will heaven bring everlasting life with him where we will meet the

Lord and sin and death will be destroyed and we will feast in endless joy when

Christ is ours forevermore oh sing

Hallelujah our hope springs eternal oh sing

Hallelujah now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death

Hebrews 13 20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our

Lord Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever

Amen. Let's pray. Father we thank you for your word this morning we pray that you would water the seeds that were planted this morning

Lord that you would remind us as we leave this building that we are entering the mission field we pray for opportunities

Lord to speak the gospel that you would open the eyes and the ears of the blind and let our light shine

Lord as the world gets darker and darker let your light shine more and more and we pray in Jesus name