Well, good morning, brother. We were supposed to have a guest preacher this morning from the Puritan Reform Seminary, Brother Kenneth. Kimbathi, I think it's how it's pronounced, but he called me Friday night to say he had some exposure, he believes, to someone who might have COVID, and he was having some sniffles himself, so he thought it would be wise, and I concurred that he stay there. So Lord Willing will have him with us, Lord Willing, maybe next month. if that works out, but I'm going to take us to that John 3 passage this morning, a wonderful passage to remind us of the sovereign grace of our God, John chapter 3. Let me pick up the reading at verse 1 and just read two verses here. John 3, 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 things that you do unless God is with him. Well, let's again go to the Lord and seek his face. Father, we are thankful again that we can come and worship you this morning. We just sang that wonderful hymn reminding us of the risen Christ, that we come to a Christ who lives, a Christ who intercedes, a Christ who will one day come back in the fullness of his glory. And so we pray even now, Lord, that you would help us as we seek again to listen to your word. We pray that your word would have a wonderful transforming effect upon us. You have said your word will not return void. And so we plead, Lord, that you would show us even today that your Spirit can take that word and do some wonderful changes in our lives. And we plead again that your Spirit would come and be our teacher and our helper. And we pray this in your Son's name. Amen. It really didn't really matter who it was that came to Jesus, whether it was a man, a woman, or what kind of temperament, personality, nationality, religious or irreligious, rich or poor, young or old, Jesus received them all. And when they met him, that is, met him by way of faith, they were changed. And I believe we see that wonderfully dramatized in John's Gospel, both chapter 3 and chapter 4. Jesus meets two very different people. You couldn't really find two more different people than Nicodemus, who came at night, and the Samaritan woman who met Jesus in broad daylight. at the well. Differences in terms of gender. One is a man, one is a woman. Differences in intellect, education. Nicodemus was representative of the intellectual elite. But that woman in those days, anyways, most of them were not even educated. You also have a difference in terms of nationality. Nicodemus was a Jew and this woman was a Samaritan. A difference in social position. He's coming from the high end of the most respected social class, a Pharisee. He serves at the highest level in terms of Jewish court of that day, whereas she is skid row. She's a mess morally. Two very different people. And again, hard to imagine two more opposite looking individuals. But what both of them have in common is they meet Jesus and experience a life transformation. And neither one of them would forget Him. And what I want us to do this morning is to focus on one of these individuals, obviously, Nicodemus. He takes center stage here with Jesus in John chapter three. You could say the cameras are rolling, and we will use several spotlights to focus on this man, Nicodemus. Here's how we want to work our way through the narrative. The first spotlight is this. The man, Nicodemus, is confident. Second spotlight, the man Nicodemus is confronted third spotlight, the man Nicodemus is confused, and the fourth spotlight, the man Nicodemus is challenged. You notice there's four C's there. The man is confident, the man is confronted, the man is confused, and the man is challenged. So let's go with those four spotlights. Spotlight number one, the man is confident. Look again at verse one, you have a thumbnail sketch of the man and his resume, and one can't help but be impressed from several standpoints that start with his name, Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a Greek name, which suggests that he came from the upper class, in all likelihood a high-cultured individual. His life was shaped by the intellectual elite of that day, which would have been the Greeks as well as the Jews. He is a dye-in-the-wool Jew, but he obviously held on to his Greek name. One commentator suggests that he may actually have been a Hellenistic Jew, different from the Apostle Paul, who was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Saul of Tarsus was saturated in the Hebrew culture. He also had some exposure to the Greek culture, but it appears Nicodemus might have had more exposure to the Greek culture. But a simple blood test would have told you that he was a real Jew, and his bloodlines could be traced back to Abraham. He also belonged to that special high class of biblical scholars called Pharisees. very elite class. There never apparently were more than 6,000 Pharisees at any one time. And when you and I hear the word Pharisee, at least when I hear that word Pharisee, a lot of negative connotations or words get tossed around in my mind. Hypocrite, They were censorious. They were hyper-legalistic. They were self-righteous. They were formalists. They were blind. And that was all true. But we shouldn't forget this, that back in those days, at least in the early days of Jesus, people didn't look at the Pharisees the way we did. They weren't looked at with a negative lens. but a positive lens. They were the good guys. They were the religious conservatives. They were the folk who knew their Bible and were seeking to live a holy life. They respected the oral and the written tradition. They were meticulous when it came to the keeping of the law. If there was anyone who was going to get into heaven, it was a Pharisee. They were guaranteed the best seats in heaven. That's what everybody thought. The popular masses of people respected them and viewed them as the best people on planet Earth. But in reality, at least many of them were the worst of the worst. And the Pharisees loved to walk around and they had some fancy clerical garb which gave them attention. They loved the human accolades. They were more interested in self-glory than God's glory. Jonathan Edwards is called Pride, the worst viper that is in a man's heart. And remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees, you are a brood of vipers. And at the back end of his public ministry, he pronounced seven woes. upon the Pharisees. Jesus reserved his most scathing indictments against the Pharisees. Nicodemus, but was a Pharisee, and he was also part of that high Jewish court, the Sanhedrin. Notice what's said of him here in verse one. You have that little descriptive phrase, a ruler of the Jews. And again, the Sanhedrin was the highest religious court amongst the Jews. They made those major important decisions with regard to how to interpret the law and apply it, with regard to synagogue practice, Sabbath keeping, and even when it came to divorcing your wife. So here he is, Nicodemus, at the top of the top. He's at the top echelon religiously, educationally, culturally. To use a sports analogy, he was the Michael Jordan or the LeBron James of the religious world. He had credentials. He had clout. But he also had questions about this man, Jesus. And we see something of his pharisaical pride and self-confidence right here in the inception of this story. John sort of gives us an echocardiogram and exposes the man's heart. Verse 2, this man comes to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one else can do these signs or these miracles that you do unless God is with him. He comes telling Jesus, we know. He doesn't come asking questions, but telling Jesus that he and his religious colleagues know something about him. We know, not Jesus, I want to know. We know, and then he proceeds to tell Jesus the things that he and his professional think tank know. Number one, we know that you are a teacher from God. How did he know that? Well, two plus two equals four. When anyone could perform miracles or signs like Jesus, that was a given to say that this man was sent from God. He was a teacher from God. And the implication would have been here that we can learn from you. But he doesn't ask that question, does he? Or he doesn't even give that saying or statement. Now something else suggests here that Nicodemus is in the grip of pride. He doesn't realize how ignorant he is. Note how John tells us here, it's sort of a little insert, but I think it does say something, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. It's interesting that that little phrase, by night, is used of Nicodemus again in John 7. And back at the end of John's Gospel, John chapter 19, he's identified as the man who came to Jesus by night three times. J.C. Ryle, in his commentary on John, says that this repeated expression, that he came to Jesus by night, implies blame. In all likelihood, He comes to Jesus by night because he doesn't want anyone to see him. This was face-saving. He doesn't want any of his Pharisaical colleagues to know he's coming to talk to Jesus. So under the dark shadows of that night, he comes to Jesus. He ventures to see this man, Jesus, who has captured his attention and raised a lot of questions in his mind. But the word darkness in the Bible, at least in John's Gospel, carries a sense of a moral implication. It's a sign or a figure of sin. Jesus is the light. But those who are contrary to Christ are in darkness. They love darkness. They sit in darkness and they walk in darkness. Jesus is the light and he shines in darkness. And here's a man, Nicodemus, who desperately needs the light. He's walking in darkness. Not only literal darkness, but spiritual darkness. One commentator puts it this way, doubtless Nicodemus approached Jesus at night, but his own night, his own night was blacker than he knew. But here's Nicodemus with his VIP status, his academic credentials. He may even have thought he could debate this Galilean and set him straight on a few matters. The man is confident, not in a good way, but in a bad way. Second spotlight that we want to use to shine upon this man and help us to better understand him and what transpires here, the man is confronted. The man is confronted. Perhaps the greatest heavyweight fight of all time took place between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazer. I can even recall listening to it. It was on a radio. It was titled The Thriller in Manila. And you have something of a heavyweight battle here. You could say two heavyweights as far as the theological world. Nicodemus would have been at the top of the top, and here you have Jesus. And Nicodemus begins, you'll note here, with a courteous, respectful address. Rabbi, he believes Jesus is a bona fide teacher. But notice that Jesus doesn't reply or exchange courtesies. This is not a time for small talk. Jesus is not going to talk to Nicodemus about the weather or the fine points of theology. Jesus knows that this man's soul needs immediate attention. He's got a dead soul and a proud heart. And Jesus wastes no time, you could say, stepping into the ring and throwing a few punches. A straight jab and at least two uppercuts. He hits Nicodemus, you could say, in the solar plexus of his soul and sends him reeling. Three hard-hitting exhortations. You need to be born again. Verse 3. Jesus answered him, truly, truly, or verily, verily, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse five, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water, it's significant, of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And again, verse seven, do not marvel, I say to you, you must be born again. Born again, what does that mean? Well, I think we have to be very careful here because these words or this phrase, born again, hasn't always been properly understood and applied in the way that Jesus intended. But Jesus is going to open up the doctrine, you could say the doctrine of regeneration, or divine monergism, divine monergism. And there are five things that you think you could see here that our Lord teaches with regard to this very crucial doctrine with regard to the application of salvation. Five things. First of all, He begins this instruction by making good use of an analogy. Did you notice three times he picks up the graphic picture image of a baby being born. Translated here, born again or born from above. Which is it? Well, it could be either or. Both are true. Both capture an important aspect of the miracle of grace. Born again or born anew clearly points to a radical change. There's a little, this isn't a little change, this isn't a superficial change, but a pervasive, sweeping, entire change. When a baby is born, Everything about the baby is new, right? New fingers, new toes, eyes, ears, hearts, lungs. And Jesus is saying the change that takes place is not like a woman's makeover, a little lipstick and a little eye shadow. No, this is a profound, deep, radical change on the inside of a person. It's the miracle of conversion. If you've not read Redemption Accomplished and Applied, I would recommend it. It's by Professor John Murray, who taught at Westminster Theological Seminary, and he describes regeneration as a revolution, a reconstruction, that takes place at the center of a man's moral and spiritual being. The Puritan Stephen Charnook describes regeneration as a mighty, powerful change in the soul. And the most important thing in my estimation as to what you and I should understand about the new birth is simply this. It is an exclusive act of God. Just like justification. Who justify? Well, you don't justify yourself. God justified. It's an act of God. And regeneration is an act of God. Divine fingerprints smother regeneration from top to bottom. You will not find one trace of human DNA on regeneration. Just like you won't find that on justification. This is not something you achieve or take credit for. It's God and God alone. The doctrine of the new birth, this is why it's so hard for most sinners to accept, is because this is what it says. God and God alone can affect the chain. 100%. Regeneration is totally, completely a work of God. 100%. You go back to the first chapter of John, you can see that John, in the very outset, tells us this in so many words. Notice John 1, verse 13, you have a clear death knell to human pride of achievement and ability. John 1, verse 13, tells us that those who are children of God, they were born. How were they born? Verse 13, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Only God can put spiritual life into a dead soul. Only God can give a person a new heart. Only God can effect a new birth. Only God can perform this kind of miracle. Only God. Only God. Let me ask you about your physical birth. Did you determine where you were born? Did you decide the hospital? Did you decide the doctors? Did you cut the umbilical cord? What involvement did you have in your physical birth? You were passive. You were passive. You were not involved in the decision-making process, were you? And when it comes to being born again, the analogy is quite consistent. It eliminates the human will, effort, and human involvement. Born from above. The doctrine of regeneration is taught by way of an analogy. That's the first thing Jesus wants us to know in helping us to understand a very simple illustration. He's making it very simple so we'll all understand what he's talking about. He uses the birth of a baby. Second thing he teaches us here about the new birth from John chapter 3 is its necessity. The Jews believed that because they were Jews, they were born into the kingdom, just because they were Jews. They had guaranteed seats in heaven. And if you were a Pharisee, that just gave you a lot more perks, the best of seats in the kingdom of God. Remember Jesus' disciples, they were arguing at times who was the greatest and who would be sitting at the right hand or the left hand of Jesus. But Jesus says to this Pharisee Nicodemus, you got it wrong, dead wrong, about how people get into heaven or the kingdom of God. And Jesus hits Nicodemus with a little Greek particle, dia, which is translated in the English, must. You must be born again. It's the same word that Jesus used when he talked about a son of man must suffer and die. He must. God is telling us here, if you're ever going to get to heaven, the only way you can get to heaven is you must be born again or you'll never get to heaven. God must initiate because we never would. You see, our hearts are so bad So corrupt. No man seeks after God. Isn't that what Romans 3 tells us? No man wants God. No man has any desire for God. We love our sin. We hate God. Romans 8 says the heart of the carnal man is at enmity with God. We love this world. We love sin's pleasures. And so unless God miraculously intervenes or intrudes and changes the bad heart, none of us would believe on Jesus. Notice how he shifts focus here, Jesus. He's talking to Nicodemus one-on-one as an individual, but he switches to the plural. In verse seven, plural you. So we're all standing in front of Jesus, as it were, and he's saying to you and to me, you must be born again. The analogy, the new birth, the necessity. You must. Third thing that Jesus teaches us here or articulates with regard to the new birth or regeneration is the sovereignty of God in the new birth. The sovereignty of God in the new birth. Did you notice that he uses two pictures here, two graphics? He uses the picture of a baby being born. You must be born again. But he also uses another graphic, another picture, and in this one he's even developed more here in John chapter 3. It's the picture of wind. So Jesus takes us out of the maternity ward and takes us outside and starts talking about the weather. He's going to again illustrate, help us better understand how God regenerates a person. John chapter 3 verse 8, notice what he says. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it. but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So was everyone born of the Spirit. The wind is a picture of the Holy Spirit. There's several different graphics in our Bibles to help us understand the Holy Spirit. There's the graphic of fire. There's the graphic of water in John chapter four. And here you have the graphic of wind. Why wind? A wind symbolized power. Remember the first man, Adam. God formed him out of the dust of the ground, and the first thing that God did was he breathed. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living person. Without God's breath, there would be no life. That's true physically and true spiritually. If a dead sinner is ever to become alive under God, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, must breathe the breath of life into that dead soul. Jesus is still confronting Nicodemus here with the doctrine of regeneration. He's given him, you can see, Theology 101 with respect to the doctrine of regeneration or divine monergism. He's illustrated by way of a new birth. Now by the wind analogy, the wind captures the sovereignty of the Spirit's work in regeneration. But notice how it's put here in John 3, 8, the Spirit blows where it will. The wind is not at our beck and call. You can't control the wind. You can yell at the wind as loud as you want. It won't obey you. Jesus could, and it obeyed Him, but it doesn't obey us. Come when come. Don't think it'll come. It won't do you any good, no matter how hard you yell. God, you see, blows where He wills. God is not obligated to save anyone. He has mercy upon whom He will have mercy. Now, that doesn't sit very comfortable with most people. They like to believe they are in control of their own destiny. Most people think God owes them. God owes them. Well, he does, in a sense, owe them. The wages of sin is death. That's what they're owed. They're owed judgment and hell eternal. That's what they're owed. And Jesus uses the wind graphic here to teach the sovereignty of God but also the mystery, the mystery of the Spirit's work in changing a sinner. He said, you can hear the sound thereof, or hear the sound of the wind, but you cannot tell where it comes from. You don't know who God's gonna save, do you? You can't tell, you can't predict that. There's something surprisingly unpredictable when it comes to salvation. He doesn't save the people we often think he should save, and he often saves the people we never thought he would save. And sometimes we can see God's sovereignty and God's mystery in our own homes. You have five kids, seven kids, three are Christians and three are not. God's sovereignty and God's mystery. Did anybody think he'd save Saul of Tarsus? Mary Magdalene, who was possessed with demons? Tax collectors like Zacchaeus and Matthew? John Newton, a slave owner and trader? Did anyone think he'd save Nicodemus? You know, there's only one Pharisee who's saved in the Gospels. That's Nicodemus. Only one. Only one. Not many wise. Not many noble. He chooses the most unlikely. Christian, why did he choose you? Let me tell you, it wasn't because you're so wonderful. It wasn't because you had your act together. It wasn't because you prayed real hard. It's because God has mercy upon whom he will have mercy. God chooses the despised, the weak, the foolish. Jesus teaches us by this wind graphic, the sovereignty of the Spirit's work and regeneration, the mystery of the Spirit's work and regeneration. But thirdly, by way of this wind analogy, He teaches us the efficacy of the Spirit's work. Notice again, verse 8, the Spirit blows where it wills. And you hear it sound. You hear it sound. You see its effects. The trees bend. The leaves get tossed around. Sometimes the wind is so strong, the sighting of the home comes off. And when someone is changed by the Spirit, you see change. When someone is influenced When someone is brought to that place of humble submission to God, you begin to see what God has done in their life, just like a baby. When a baby is born, you know a baby's been born. You hear him cry. Jesus confronts this Pharisee with the doctrine of divine monergism, God and God alone. The man is confident. The man is confronted. Third spotlight. The man is confused. The man is confused. You almost feel sorry for him, don't you? It's obvious he's dumbfounded by what he just heard. Look what he says in verse four. How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? This man came to Jesus with a high degree of confidence. He really thought he had his act together, but now he's been shaken to the very foundation of his whole belief system. It's imploded before his very eyes. Everything he'd been taught. Everything that he had believed by way of pharisaical traditions and pharisaical interpretations and his understanding, he thought, of the Old Testament has been like a sandcastle that has now crumbled and fallen. It's exposed his foolish, proud reasoning. The man who was so accustomed to boasting in his ability, has been confronted with his human impotency, his inability, and his depravity, nothing is more devastating to the human heart. Nothing devastates the humble or the pride of the human heart. Nicodemus is confident, confronted, confused. But fourthly, He's challenged. He's challenged. He's in a state of confusion. He's bewildered. And Jesus, the fisher of fishermen, the evangelist of evangelists, goes for the juggler, just like he does with the Samaritan woman. Go call your husband. He is going to ask Nicodemus a question. Notice verse 10. You, a teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? This is kindergarten stuff. This is Theology 101. You don't know these things, Nicodemus? You're a teacher. The man you see is guilty of culpable blind ignorance. And to add to his culpability, he was a teacher. How can you teach others when you're so blind? Remember Jesus said that to the Pharisees. He lambasted them in Matthew chapter 23 and calls them blind guides. Nicodemus was a blind guide. You can have men teaching in theological seminaries who are blind guides. You can have men standing in pulpits who are blind guides. Nicodemus was a blind guy. And from one standpoint, he should have known, shouldn't he? He should have realized that only God can change the heart. If he had read and studied his Old Testament Bible, he should have known. You see, Jesus, when Jesus preached, he often made good use of his Old Testament Bible. And he knows Nicodemus is familiar with his Old Testament Bible. And when Nicodemus is hearing what Jesus is saying, when Jesus says, you must be born of water, he's referencing Ezekiel chapter 36. Water was a reference to purification. It sprinkled the altar and the sacrifices, but Old Testament water was used for purification. Ezekiel chapter 36, you have the promise of the new covenant, and I will sprinkle clean water on you. I will sprinkle clean water on you. You must be born of water and of the Spirit. And a few verses later in Ezekiel 36, references made to the Holy Spirit. I will put my spirit in you. And then sandwiched in between those two promises, you have this promise. I will give you a new heart. I will give you a new heart. I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. That's regeneration. That's regeneration. And so Jesus challenges Nicodemus, his blindness and his ignorance and his biblical illiteracy. And there's another challenge here. Jesus will again draw from his Old Testament Bible and make another discriminating application. Look at John 3 verse 14. He draws from the Old Testament incident when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness from Numbers chapter 21 where you have the full account of that Old Testament event. You know the story. The Israelites are wandering around in the desert. They've left Egypt and haven't got into the promised land and they've been giving themselves to a whole lot of complaining and whining. And God brings a severe judgment upon them, a plague of serpents, hundreds of poisonous snakes. They overrun the camp and these rebellious complainers are bitten by snakes. And they're going to die real fast. And they run to Moses and say, help us. They're in desperation. And God tells Moses, remember what he says? Construct a pole with a bronze serpent at the top. And here's what the Lord says to everyone who looks at the bronze serpent. Everyone who's been bitten is about to die. He will live. John 3 verse 14. Jesus locks into this Old Testament judgment and this strange bronze serpent remedy and deliverance. What's the point? What does that have to do with Nicodemus or the born-again doctrine? Well, he's looking now at conversion from the human side. You see, conversion has a divine side and a human side. The divine side, regeneration. God takes the initiative. But there's a human side. The human side is a response of faith and repentance. There's a divine side and a human side when we speak of conversion. Regeneration is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can regenerate and only you and I, the sinner, can repent and faith. God doesn't repent for us. And then Jesus brings himself into the picture. He's talked about the Spirit's work in terms of the application of redemption. The Spirit is the one who sovereignly regenerates, changes a man's heart. But he also wants Nicodemus to understand there's the accomplishment of salvation, and it depends upon me. Jesus anticipates his atoning death. behalf of sinners, the Son of Man must be lifted up, and you must believe on Him or you'll never get to heaven. He's saying to Nicodemus, my blind, dead friend, if you want to live, if you want to enter the kingdom of God, You must be born again. And you must believe. You must believe. There's no option here. And you must believe on one person, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. And if you have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, guess what? You will believe. You will believe. Regeneration, get this straight, precedes faith. It's not the opposite. There's too many preachers out there telling you must believe, and once you believe, God changes your heart. No, that's the wrong order. The order salutis, is how the Reformers described it, begins with the sovereign work of God, or the sovereign act of God, regeneration. If you switch that around, you have a man-centered gospel. It has to begin with God. God is the one who must initiate. God is the one who must first change the heart or no one would believe on Jesus. Your salvation depends upon God, not upon yourself, ultimately. God changes the heart. And until the Spirit of God blows life into that dead sinner, he or she has no ability, they are impotent, totally unable to come to Christ. It's humbling, isn't it? You mean I just can't believe on Jesus when I want to believe? That's right. That's right. No sinner left to themselves will believe. Jesus said, you will not come to me that you might have life. You won't come. Well, how does a person who won't come ever come? God must draw him. There's the effectual call. or the act of regeneration. You see, Nicodemus reminds us, doesn't it, of a frightening thing. You can be very religious. You could have religion coming out of your eyes or your nose and your ears. You could be the most religious person in the world. and still be devoid of faith. Still be dead in your sins and trespasses. You probably know the story of the Wesley brothers. Both of them were preachers before they were converted. Both of them were preachers before they were converted. They weren't born again, but they were preaching from their Bibles. What's the answer to those who live in darkness, walk in darkness, sit in darkness, love darkness? Is there any hope? Yes. It's found in God, the gracious, sovereign God who can change your heart. You must be born again. And the only way any sinner, any sinner, will ever come to the light, will ever come to Jesus and believe on Jesus, is if God the Holy Spirit has breathed life into their dead soul. You can't make yourself born again. Remember Billy Graham's book, How to Be Born Again. When I saw the cover, I said, Mr. Graham, you got it wrong. You got it wrong. You can't make yourself born again. It's not steps that you follow. God has to do it, and only God can do it. And if he does it, people will know. They won't be guessing. They will know, just like a baby. When a baby is born, you know a baby's alive, right? He cries. He wiggles. Soon he crawls. If you've been born again, if you've been born again, you'll show a hunger and thirst for righteousness. John writes in 1 John 5, everyone that does righteousness is born of God. You'll want fellowship with God and you want fellowship with God's people. He who was born of God loves the brethren. You have a desire to pray. If you're born of God, you'll have heartfelt Abba prayers. Romans 8, the spirit of adoption enables us to cry, Abba, Father, you'll confess your sin. Blessed are they that mourn. You'll confess your sin. You'll repent of your sin. You'll have a growing love for the Savior. You'll take God's commandments, which you hated, and now seek to obey them and delight in them. So when it comes to the seventh commandment, which has an application to sexual purity, you'll begin to live differently and think differently. When it comes to the fifth commandment, which has reference to authority, honor your parents and all those others who are under or who are over you in authority, you'll sensitize yourself to the fifth commandment. The fourth commandment, which is what? Keep the Sabbath. keep the Sabbath, not an Old Testament Sabbath. You could call it a Lord's Day Sabbath, a Resurrection Sabbath, but you give priority to the Sabbath or to a Lord's Day. And the Puritans were wise enough to fence in the day on the front end and the back end. the first day of the week to get your priorities straight. If you've been born of the Spirit, you will see changes in your life. You'll begin to develop friendships with Christians. You'll have a desire to worship God. privately, corporately, and you'll be willing to pick up a cross and follow Jesus. Nicodemus changed. How do you know? Read on in John's gospel. Go to John chapter, I believe it's John chapter 18 or 19. He shows up at Golgotha. What's he doing there? He obviously knew Jesus had died. You know what he does? He takes the dead body of Jesus off the cross. Broad daylight. He's not afraid anymore of what people think. He's not afraid to identify himself with Jesus Christ. Nicodemus changed. And that tells us, brethren, there's hope for every sinner. God changed the heart of Nicodemus. A man who was walking in darkness begins to walk in light. God can change any heart, any heart. There's no one who's beyond hopeless. No one. God can change any heart at any time. Only God can. You and I have no innate ability to believe or to repent or make anyone else believe. Even your children. You can train them in the ways of the Lord. You can pray fervently for them. You can be the most faithful, consistent, godly dad or mom, but you can't change their hearts. The most persuasive arguments. can't change their hearts. The most fervent prayers can't change their hearts. Only God, only God can change their hearts. And when you and I witness to sinners, good thing to remember, the most eloquent preacher can't change a heart. The best of methods, the best of strategies can't change a heart. Our confidence must be in God, a sovereign God. That doesn't mean we don't try methods. It doesn't mean we don't implement strategies to reach the laws. We have to be fishers of men. We throw our nets in the water. We have to do that. But it depends upon a sovereign God to fill the net. Maybe it came here dead, walking in darkness. Well, my friend, this should encourage you, by the way. God's a God of mercy and a God of grace. And you can cry to him and say, Lord, I don't deserve to be saved. I don't deserve one drop of common grace. and certainly don't deserve special grace, but you are a God of grace, and a God who is abundant in grace, and I'm asking you, in the name of your son Jesus, who died for sinners, to show me grace. Have mercy upon me. Remember the parable? You have a Pharisee and a publican, they go into the temple to pray, who went home justified, the publican, the bad guy, because he cried out in mercy to a sovereign God and said, be merciful to me. the sinner. So you came walking in darkness, but you can leave walking in light. May the wind of sovereign grace and mercy blow across the face of your soul, young, old, and make you a new creature in Jesus Christ. Come to the light. You must come to the light and begin to walk in the light. Nicodemus did, and so can you. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we again are thankful that we have a God that has made himself known to us, a God who is holy, a God who is righteous, a God who is merciful and gracious. a God who is so powerful that you can change the most wicked, depraved of hearts and minds. And we plead, Lord, even as you showed mercy to that demoniac and rescued him from his own bondage, that you would show mercy to sinners who sit amongst us, who perhaps are listening to this livestream. Show us even today, Lord, that you are the sovereign, gracious God who can take a dead sinner and bring him to new, resurrected life. And we pray this in your Son's name. Amen.