An Evening With Nicodemus - [John 3:1-21]

Well, you know, Time Magazine has their person of the year award.

And I thought it would be interesting, so I looked, to see who most people would want to have

dinner with, or the most significant people in history that people would want to meet, that

kind of thing.

Some of the names would be very familiar to you.

I'm sure everybody would know number 100, John Locke.

Okay, maybe, maybe not.

How about number 82 on this list, Richard Nixon?

Augustine at 72.

And then slightly more theologically significant at number 69 was Elvis Presley.

57, King David.

And again, slightly more theologically significant, Joseph Smith at 55.

Paul the Apostle, 34.

And we get into the top 10, Alexander the Great, number 9.

George Washington, number 6.

I mean, these, now we're getting serious, right?

Shakespeare, number 4.

Muhammad, number 3.

Number 2, Napoleon, I don't know, I don't know.

Fascinating, man.

I mean, you'd be surprised how many books are written about Napoleon.

And number 1, Jesus.

Now, if I asked you, you know, if you could have a conversation with anyone in history who would just say, you'd say, I hope,

Jesus.

But I thought, well, what about one particular event in the life and ministry of

Jesus?

And I was thinking, you know, what would be really fun would be to talk to Nicodemus

after he spent the evening with Jesus.

Wouldn't that be good?

If you could just say, Nicodemus, what was that like?

I can tell you, I don't think he'd be able to talk.

Go ahead and open your Bibles to John, chapter 3.

And you know, as we go through this, just keep this in mind.

If you have a red letter Bible, because I actually was looking at my Legacy Standard

Bible online, my version there where I've set the settings, don't ask me why.

But where I've highlighted all the red letters.

Most of what we're going to look at this morning is red letters.

Nicodemus doesn't say a whole lot.

What he does say, he really isn't that profound.

What Jesus says is very profound.

And it's interesting, you know, the most famous verse in all of the Bible, John 3, 16, is in

this passage.

How often do we say, well, you know, Jesus told Nicodemus, we don't.

Why not?

Because, like when I went through, as I was saying earlier, it was four separate messages.

And I was looking at those, and I just thought, I mean, there were a couple of things I thought.

One is, I noticed a theological error in one of the sermons, and I thought, man, I hate

that.

So, you know, we grow in time, and I just thought, I'm going to correct the record.

But I think one of the things is by looking, as Pastor Mike's been doing, by looking at the small picture, we pick

up all the minutia, which is interesting, but what's the big picture?

What's going on here?

This morning, I really want us to focus on this, the compassion, the insight

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're going to see that.

And we're going to look at three truths about unbelievers.

Three truths about unbelievers.

And I hope it'll give you confidence in evangelism, a compassion for the unsaved, and an

urgency to preach the gospel to your friends, family, and even strangers.

I mean, I look at it this way.

If the gospel is vital for someone like Nicodemus, this religious

person, it's pretty vital for every unbeliever.

Our first truth, we're going to have to move quickly, because like I said, this is really like four and a half hours compressed.

Or we can just keep going.

All right.

Unbelievers need transformation.

Unbelievers need transformation.

Or if I wanted to say it more textually, unbelievers need to be born again,

right?

Look at verse one.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night.

He's a man of the Pharisees, an expert in the law.

We'll see here in a moment in verse 10 that he's the teacher of Israel.

In other words, there was no one in Israel whose opinion, whose religious opinion was more

respected than Nicodemus.

There's no one who was seen to have more understanding of what God demanded than

Nicodemus.

If there was a dispute on the law and you went to Nicodemus, it was like getting a ruling from the Supreme Court.

He was the top authority.

And on the surface, there was no one less likely to

get saved than Nicodemus, right?

I mean, from his perspective, he doesn't need it.

He doesn't need anything.

The Pharisees were what?

They were arrogant.

They were prideful.

They were keepers of the law.

They thought they knew what God demanded, or at least they presumed they did.

But the Pharisees did more than teach the law, of course.

Bridges says this, he says, the primary cause of the Pharisees' antagonism towards

Jesus lay in his ignoring of their hundreds of elaborate but petty

rules that they had devised for interpreting the law of God.

Not only did they devise these hundreds of man -made rules, but they also had elevated them to the

level of Scripture so that to break one of these rules was to violate the law of God

itself.

As Christians, we know other Christians do this very thing.

A lot of pulpits.

If I give you these are the three laws out of this text that you must obey, what have I done?

I've just created new sins for you, and that's what they did all the time.

We're not going to turn there, but in Matthew 12, the Pharisees objected to the

disciples of Jesus plucking and eating heads of grain as they walked through the grain fields.

Why?

Because it was on the Sabbath.

And according to the Pharisees, to do such a thing on the Sabbath was to violate the Sabbath.

It was not to keep the Sabbath holy.

And almost immediately on that very same Sabbath day, Jesus entered their synagogue where there was a man with a withered hand.

And eager to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath, they asked him,

is it legal to heal on the Sabbath?

And before healing the man, if you'll recall, Jesus answers their question by asking them,

if one of their sheep fell into a pit on the Sabbath, would they rescue him or would they leave him there?

Would they not lift it out?

And if then it was lawful to relieve the misery of an animal on the Sabbath,

how much more lawful was it to relieve the misery of a human being?

After all, subtext, aren't people more important than

animals?

Keep that in mind while you're watching these, you know, advertisements telling you to give money to all the animals in shelter.

Nothing wrong with that, but animals, people.

When Jesus healed the man born blind on the Sabbath in John chapter 9, what was their concern?

He violated the Sabbath.

Not about the miracle that he'd done, but that he had violated the Sabbath.

Then we come to the curious approach of Nicodemus in verse 2.

This man, Nicodemus, came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, I mean, listen to this and see if

there's a question here.

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.

No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Is there a question?

The answer is no.

But first I want to address this.

Imagine, think for yourself a moment, this question should jump out at you.

Why was Nicodemus coming to Jesus at all?

This is not something you would expect.

But clearly there was some reason, there was some thought in Nicodemus' mind

that he could not simply reject Jesus as the other Pharisees had.

Maybe there was some conviction, something he'd seen and he just thought, you know what?

These guys are saying this is of Satan.

I look at it and think he's only doing good.

But it's also important that he comes to Jesus at night.

Why is that significant?

It's mostly significant because of this, he's ashamed.

He doesn't want to be seen.

His position, that of, you know, not only a Pharisee but this chief teacher position,

what would that mean if he was seen going to Jesus, you know, instead of wagging his finger at

Jesus, asking him questions, engaging with him?

He had a fear of men, a fear of his fellow

Pharisees, even those who weren't Pharisees.

What would a regular Jew think if he saw a Pharisee going to Jesus with theological questions?

Now is Nicodemus a believer?

I don't think so.

I think the best way to describe Nicodemus is fascinated.

He wants to know who Jesus is.

But he can't even bring himself to say, are you the Messiah?

Are you a prophet?

Who exactly are you?

So he comes with this sort of oblique, this kind of tangential approach to

Jesus.

Nicodemus is unlike these other religious leaders.

He wants to know what the nature of Jesus' authority is.

Who is he?

He acknowledges that Jesus has performed signs and ones that can only, and that's by the way the nature of the word,

that can only be done by the power of God.

And it's interesting also that he says, we, it's doubtful that he went with others that night for the same reason

that he went at night.

He didn't want other people to know that he was doing this, but it seems to indicate that maybe there were

other Pharisees, you know, who in the quiet corners of the Pharisee lounge

were kind of whispering, you know, in between sips of lattes.

What about this Jesus fellow?

What about him?

But if Jesus starts to go down the road that Nicodemus is laying

out for him, what is that?

It's kind of a rabbit trail.

It's not really the issue.

You know, by what authority are you kind of doing these things?

And he could say, well, I have authority above, you know, and kind of engage on that.

But what do unbelievers do when you start confronting them?

They take you down rabbit trails if they really don't want to talk about the issue.

And that's what he's doing.

Look how Jesus responds in verse three.

Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, right?

He wants to know about the authority, the authority.

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

Now, it's frequently done in the, especially I think Matthew, where he,

Jesus talks about the Pharisees and he just blasts them for their legalism, for laying extra

burdens on people.

But he doesn't do that.

Why not?

Because I think he knows Nicodemus isn't coming to trap him.

He's not coming to play some kind of game.

There's a genuine interest in Nicodemus.

I think he's wondering, Nicodemus is, if this could be the Messiah.

So Jesus goes right to, instead of going down the road that Nicodemus wants to go, he goes

right to Nicodemus' need.

You must be born again.

Apart from being born again, he tells Nicodemus, you cannot even see the kingdom of heaven.

What does that mean?

It means you're not even going to view it, let alone be in it.

You have to be born again to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Now, we import all sorts of meanings into the phrase, you know, being born again.

I remember somebody asked me when I first got saved, well, you're not a born again Christian, are you?

And by that, she meant rolling around on the floor and howling like a

dog and doing all kinds of crazy things because, you know, that's what was going on at that time, and it's

still going on in some churches.

That's not what he was talking about at all.

What did he mean by being born again?

And Jesus gives the answer in verses 7 and 8.

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

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.

To be born again means to be born of the Spirit, and it doesn't mean some kind of charismatic gifting.

What it means to be transformed, to be changed,

to be brought to spiritual life, to be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom

of light.

Even as Peter writes, he causes, God causes us to be born again,

causes us to come to spiritual life.

Jesus tells him here in summary, to get to heaven, one must be born again.

What does that mean?

It means you can't be good enough.

I mean, just think about who Nicodemus is.

Again, this Pharisee, this keeper of the law.

What he doesn't say to him is, tweak this belief, change that belief, or do more

of this.

He doesn't do any of that.

He says, you must be born again.

Something must be done to you.

Completely sovereign move of God.

The Holy Spirit alone determines who will be born again.

And that's the point of the wind.

He makes that analogy.

The wind blows.

You don't know where it's coming from, and it's the same way with the Holy Spirit.

You don't know who's going to be born again.

You can't determine that.

To be born again is entirely a work of God.

It's entirely monergistic.

You, every one of us that's been saved, contribute nothing to your salvation.

It must be from God.

It must be from the Holy Spirit.

Being born of the flesh is contrasted with being born of the Spirit.

Well, being born of the flesh is wonderful.

But it comes with a debt we cannot pay, right?

We're born in sin, and someone has to transform us.

Somebody has to change us.

We're born in Adam.

We're born in his likeness.

We're born of his genetic material.

And because of that, because he sinned, we inherit his sin nature.

One that precludes us from entering the kingdom.

So, number one, unbelievers need transformation.

Number two, unbelievers need the...

I'm sorry, unbelievers reject the truth.

Unbelievers reject the truth.

Nicodemus says to him...

Now, again, keep in mind, he's come to Jesus at night.

He wants to know who he is.

And when Jesus says, There's something wrong with you, Nicodemus.

And it's something you can't fix.

You need to be born again.

Look at his response.

Verse 9.

Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?

And back to the red letters we go.

Verse 10.

Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not

understand these things?

How is it possible, Nicodemus, with all your letters, with all your accomplishments, with all your

degrees, you don't understand how to get to heaven.

You think it's by your own works.

Why?

Because he's never had his mind illumined by the Holy Spirit.

So, he comes to the word, and he thinks, God needs

help in developing these rules and regulations.

I need to keep these things.

The truth is, you can't keep those things, Nicodemus.

Knowledge alone, wisdom alone, doesn't get you into heaven.

It's grace alone.

Here he is, Nicodemus, the teacher of teachers.

And he doesn't know this.

Now, if you want to know how far you can walk on the Sabbath, Nicodemus can tell you.

If you want to know how to become ceremonially clean, you know, how you can wash yourself and get back

into the camp, get back into righteousness, enter into the temple, Nicodemus can help you.

But there's one little thing Nicodemus can't tell you, and that's how to get to heaven.

That's how to be forgiven for your sins.

He'll have an answer, and his answer will sound like a Mormon, a

Muslim, a Jehovah Witness, a lot of evangelicals.

Which is what?

Do more.

Be better.

Get busy.

Obey these things.

Then God will love you.

Galatians 3 .11 says this,.

Now it is evident that no one is justified.

No one, in other words, is declared righteous before God by the law.

For the righteous shall live by faith.

Our righteousness isn't in us.

Our righteousness is credited to us by believing in Him who actually is

righteous.

We cannot do it ourselves.

This is so antithetical.

It's so opposed to pharisaical thinking.

And dare I say, it's so opposed to what many Christians even think.

But this is the only answer that Nicodemus could give someone.

Be better.

Have your best life now.

Verse 11.

Truly, truly, I say to you, again, red letters, 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?

Nicodemus was smart.

Nicodemus knew the word intellectually.

He didn't know it theologically.

He didn't know it intimately.

He didn't know it as it is.

He wanted to understand, but listen carefully, he could not.

1 Corinthians 2 .14, what?

The natural man does not understand the things of God because they are spiritually appraised.

Unless you have the Holy Spirit, you can know the facts of the Bible, but you

can't know the truths of the Bible.

You can't know what the actual meaning is, and therefore, you'll

impose your own meaning on it.

Nicodemus wasn't aware of this yet, but he was talking to the man who actually knew

the truth.

He was talking to the solution to his confusion.

Look at verse 13.

No one, this is Jesus again, no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended

from heaven, the Son of Man.

He's referring to himself, of course, the Son of Man.

The name he used more often about himself than any other.

And he says, He talks about his ascension, which will happen, but he talks about it in

past tense because it's a sure thing.

But this is the key part here, except he who descended from heaven.

It tells him here he came from heaven.

Now again, if we just think Nicodemus is like all the other Pharisees, what's going to happen?

You came from heaven.

He's going to challenge them, maybe even walks out.

That's not what happens.

But Jesus is presenting to him his credentials for making these statements.

In one statement, Jesus sweeps aside anyone else's claim to have gone to heaven.

And he also says that he's the only one who's qualified to speak of heavenly things.

The one who left the company of his father and come to earth to do the Father's will.

And then he gives an illustration to help Nicodemus understand in verse 14.

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.

In Numbers 21, one of our favorite books, if you're going through reading the

Bible consecutively, you love to get to Numbers.

Numbers 21, the Israelites complained about God and

Moses.

So what did God do?

He sent snakes among them, poisonous snakes.

And many of them died.

And if you'll recall, Moses then intercedes for the people.

And the Lord directs him in verse 8 of Numbers 21.

He says, And the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and everyone who is

bitten when he sees it shall live.

So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole.

And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Now, can you imagine you're in the wilderness in Israel and these

serpents are out there biting you or biting people and they're dying.

And Moses puts a snake up on a pole and says, if you get bit, look at

this snake and you will live.

What are you thinking?

I mean, that sounds foolish, right?

The wisdom of God is foolishness to men.

Jesus says, in that same way, in that same way,

I'm going to be lifted up and everyone who looks on me will live.

Everybody who, I mean, did they just look up there?

They had to believe what Moses was saying.

Otherwise, they wouldn't look up there.

You have to believe who Jesus is.

Now, imagine being Nicodemus again, hearing this,

that the only way to live was to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But that's what he means.

That word that in verse 15, that's a purpose statement.

The whole reason for Jesus being put on the cross is that those who trust in him alone for

salvation will be saved.

So truth number one, unbelievers need transformation.

Point number two, unbelievers reject truth.

That's what he was doing.

He was still rejecting truth.

And number three, unbelievers are in peril.

They're in danger.

They're in danger.

The good news is, of course, there is a rescue plan.

Look at verse 16.

For God so loved the world.

Now, it's interesting.

Again, in context, that for refers to what?

Verses 14 and 15, that whole idea, that thing that we've just seen where if Moses said, look at the serpent

and live, and now Jesus says, look at me when I'm lifted up and you will live.

And then, for God so loved the world.

Now we know this is it.

God so loved the world.

We know that every unbeliever, right, if every breath is a gift from God,

if life is a vapor, if life is short, every unbeliever is a God

-given breath away from eternity and hell.

If they don't believe, they're going to hell.

And every person would be in precisely that same situation as Nicodemus if not

for the love of God.

Now, the phrase there, so loved, means in an infinite degree and in

such a transcendently glorious manner.

That's what Simon Kistemacher said.

God acted, right?

That's what love does.

If God, and I've said this a few times, if God just demoted, if he just sat up there and he

was just kind of as many picture him, just this sort of,

this emotional angst and he's loving, but he's nervous and hoping that we're going to

believe in him.

That's not the picture at all.

In eternity past, God knew that mankind would need salvation.

He knew that everybody would be plunged into sin by Adam's transgression.

He knew that everybody was on track for eternity in hell.

So the triune God acted.

That's what love is.

And God is love.

I was even reading this week.

Why is there a Trinity?

Why are there three persons in the Godhead?

Because one person could not love.

And the nature of God is what?

Love.

What does it mean that God so loves the world?

Well, just think for a moment how that would strike Nicodemus.

A man of the law and a man who had, if he had disdain, which he did for most Jews

who failed to keep the law, unlike him, of course.

What do you suppose he thought about non -Jews?

About Gentiles?

He despised them.

Jesus says God so loved the world.

Not just the Jews.

Not the Pharisees who are the most righteous.

He loves people from every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue.

Not just the Jews.

Nicodemus is listening going,

how can that be?

He doesn't say anything.

I think he's just stunned.

If you think about Old Testament, God chose Israel, what?

Out of all the nations in the world because they were the best.

Because they were the strongest.

Because they were the most righteous.

Because He knew that they would never stumble into idolatry.

Boy, if He did that, He was sadly disappointed.

That's not what we read in the Old Testament.

When God chose from eternity past His elect, those whom He would save,

He chose the best.

He chose the strongest.

He chose the wisest.

He chose the most righteous.

No.

He chose us.

And then He transformed us.

He changed us.

He caused us to be born again.

He sent His Son on a rescue mission.

Now some insist this verse means that God loves all men equally.

Is that true?

No.

And as I just kind of indicated, up to this point, God had worked,

kind of mediated through the nation of Israel, right?

The truth had come to Israel first, to the Jews first,

but with Jesus Christ, with His life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and His

sending of the apostles, what's going to happen?

This is all going to change.

It's going to go to all the nations.

The love of God would be manifested to the whole world, not just to the Jews.

Now again, back to verse 16.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

Odeberg says, the Son is God's gift to the world, and moreover, it is the gift, the

gift of all gifts.

There are no divine gifts apart from or outside the once -born

Son.

Now confession.

I have a true confession here.

I hate the ESV here in this verse.

Why?

Because it says, only Son.

The Greek word is monogenes, and it means only begotten, mono being

only, genes being kind of class or type,

and the idea is that Jesus is completely unique.

He's unlike anyone there ever was or ever could be.

We know as we study Him that He is ever -existent, eternal.

He's creator, not created.

He's fully God, yet fully man.

Listen to what the Nicene Creed says.

And we believe, and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the

only begotten that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, light of light, very God

of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.

I mean, that would be a lot to put in this verse, but it would be a lot better than only Son.

It's just not enough.

Others say the only begotten, which I much prefer.

Why did Jesus come?

Again, verse 16, that, here's the purpose clause, hinnah clause, really, so

that whoever believes in Him should not perish.

Every single person who believes in Him will not perish.

That whole last section of 16 gives us that purpose.

The Father gave His Son to the world so that whoever believes would be saved.

There's a plan.

So does that really mean whoever believes?

Well, yes and no.

Keeping it in context, thinking about what He's just told Nicodemus, what does that mean?

Everyone who has been born again.

Can you believe and not be born again?

Can you believe without having a supernatural transformation

wrought by God upon you?

And the answer is no.

Absolutely not.

How could you?

But people say, well, this proves free will.

After all, whoever or whosoever is there, are you trying to say the Bible's wrong?

No.

I will say that translation.

If I did it in Greek class, it would be like F written across my

paper.

Why?

Because there's a word for whoever, whatsoever, and it's not there.

That word, whoever believes, and it is one word in the Greek, that word means

believing ones.

Those who are in a state of believing.

Well, how did they get to be in a state of believing?

The Holy Spirit caused them to be born again, so they believe.

All that the Father draws, all that the Spirit causes to be born again, those are the

ones that Jesus came to rescue from perishing, which means perishing doesn't mean they

simply die, because we're all going to die.

This is referring to eternal death.

This is referring to hell.

This is referring to what Leon Morris said is a dreadful reality that awaits the

impenitent.

In other words, if you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to a horrible place.

Some people say, well, hell is the absence of God.

Actually, that would be a blessing.

The truth is, hell is the full force, the full presence of God.

All of His holiness, all of His unsatisfied justice poured out on you.

If we think about how horrible the cross was, how horrible the crucifixion was,

and we think, well, hell must be kind of bad, but it can't be that bad.

The cross was a good preview of what hell is like forever

for those who do not believe.

Again, to verse 16, but have eternal life.

You'll not perish, but have eternal life.

This is in the Greek, and I won't go through all the details here.

It is a guarantee.

This is the work of the triune God that you will not perish, but have eternal life.

That's what He did.

He came on a rescue mission.

Look at verse 17.

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.

Listen, the world was already condemned.

Every single person was already condemned.

They were already judged.

That was already a done deal.

Look at Romans 5 .12.

I'm going to skip it for the sake of time.

But Jesus came and lived a perfect life, died a substitutory death, rose on

the third day, and then ascended into heaven.

Why?

To rescue those who would otherwise perish.

To rescue those the Spirit caused to be born again.

Jesus did not come to condemn all sinners

because they were already condemned.

Jesus entered the time and space continuum in order to save sinners.

Jesus did not fail.

He could not fail.

And all that He came to save will be saved.

Now verses 18 -21.

Whoever believes in Him, whoever believes in Jesus, is not condemned.

But whoever has not believed is condemned already.

Right?

That's just what we said.

Our default position is condemnation

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 the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come into the light lest his works

should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light.

Why?

Because they have no need to be ashamed so that it may be clearly seen that his works

have been carried out in God.

Just look at those words, condemned, condemned already, judgments.

All these words are associated with unbelief.

They love sin and hate Jesus.

John is equally plain that those who do not believe are already condemned before they die.

Right?

They are dead men walking essentially.

It's interesting that Nicodemus came to him when?

At night.

You won't find anything good said about night or darkness in that passage.

Again, I could go back to John 1 how Jesus is the light.

We don't have time for all that, but I want to give a few takeaways before we close.

Everyone deserves hell.

It doesn't matter what you do in this life in terms of good acts.

Everybody, and I said this earlier, let me just kind of expand on this.

Most people that you meet are Pharisees.

They might say that they're unbelievers, but if you ask them how they're going to get to heaven, what are they going to say?

Because of their good works.

Because they've done more good than bad.

They set the standard, and that's exactly what Pharisees do.

They decide what God should accept.

That's what Pharisees do.

But we preach Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross.

The only begotten Son, the second Adam, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

And what do unbelievers say?

Hey, that's folly.

That's foolishness.

I'm not going to believe that.

But here's the thing.

No one is beyond the power of God to save.

Why do we give the Gospel to people if it's foolishness, if they're not going to believe anyway?

Because sometimes God uses that to save people.

And may I say, the lack of immediate results is not an indication of failure.

Do we get discouraged?

Do you get discouraged?

You preach the Gospel to somebody and they go, yeah, I just can't go for that.

They reject it.

I do.

I want them to believe.

Of course, wouldn't I be shocked if I was just standing next to somebody in the grocery store or, let's say, I'll randomly pick a

place, the Olive Garden, and I gave the Gospel

to the waiter or somebody and they said, you know what?

I believe.

Would you pray for me right now?

Why is that?

Why would I be shocked?

Because we believe the Gospel can transform lives, but we don't really believe it.

We believe somebody else is going to preach the Gospel to them and they're going to get saved, but certainly that's not going to happen

when I do it.

There has to be somebody special to do that.

But there's an ending to this story.

There's an ending to this story.

In John 19, verses 38 to 40, this is after the

crucifixion.

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear

of the Jews, here we have that secret faith again, asked Pilate that he might take away the body

of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission.

So he came and took away his body.

Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a

mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds in weight, so they took

the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial

custom of the Jews.

He came by night.

He was ashamed.

He sat there silently listening to Jesus.

All these red letters, just a couple little interspersed comments from Nicodemus, occasional questions like, how can this

be?

I don't understand.

What we don't see that night is what?

I believe.

Jesus, would you pray for me?

I believe.

Even I want to believe.

We don't see any response at all.

The response comes later.

If Jesus didn't press Nicodemus for an answer that night, if he didn't say, Nicodemus, will you just

pray this prayer right now?

Nicodemus, will you just do this right now?

Nicodemus, will you?

If he didn't do that, should we?

I don't know, but that seems like a pretty good indicative answer right there.

Tell them the truth.

Trust God for the results, right?

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ.

We thank you that the truths contained in Scripture are powerful.

They're powerful enough to transform lives.

We pray that as we interact with

unbelievers, as we interact with those who even

profess to be Christians, Father, I've never met a Christian who was

insulted when I preached the gospel.

I pray that we would not be insulted.

I pray that you would help us to be encouragers of those who come to us and want to

evangelize us.

In the same way, Father, I pray that by your spirit, by your enablement, that you would cause us to be

rapid runners to unbelievers, to give them the

truth.

Let those be words that often escape our mouths, that Jesus Christ saves sinners.

Let us not be ashamed to say that the Holy Spirit must cause people

to be born again.

Let us not be ashamed to say that you are sovereign in salvation, even that you've elected before the

foundation of the world.

All these things are true.

Help us to not be ashamed of the gospel, but to be proclaimers of the gospel.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.