At the end of the reading of the scripture, I'll say, this is the word of God. And your response is, thanks be to God. 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 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 flesh is flesh. 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 its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of a 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 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. This is the word of the Lord. Praise the Lord. Grass withers and the flowers of the field fade away, but this is God's word, and God's word stands forever. Will you join me as we pray briefly and ask God's blessing on the ministry of his word to our hearts tonight? Gracious Heavenly Father, we bow before you and thank you for the opportunity we have tonight to sing to you, to hear the word of God read, and now to hear it proclaimed and applied to our lives. We thank you, Lord, for those who've gone before us to make it possible. We thank you for those who gave their lives to translate the Bible into English years ago. We thank you for those who are risking their lives and giving their lives now in far-flung places. translating the scriptures into the native languages of people all around the world. We thank you, Lord, for those who have fought to give us freedom here, that we can worship in a building with windows lighting up the room. People can see that we are worshiping the living God. We thank you for the freedom that we enjoy here in this country. Oh, Lord, we thank you for all the first responders who are on duty tonight protecting us. We thank you for the deputies on the road and in the jails and all the other first responders who are out tonight. We pray that you would watch over, guard, and keep them on this holiday night and all day tomorrow. We pray for your blessing now on the Word of God. We pray that you would find fertile soil in our hearts tonight as the seed of the Word of God is planted, that it might bear fruit. O Lord, that you would break down walls of unbelief tonight, that you would come and visit us by the power of the Spirit of God, that the risen Christ would be here applying the living Word of God to every soul. We thank you for the good news of the gospel, for Christ who died for our sins and rose again from the dead, and is coming again. We ask for your blessing, Lord, tonight, that the risen Christ would be here among us, shepherding his people. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. In our text this evening from the Scriptures, from John chapter 3, the Apostle John, who wrote these things, one of the eyewitnesses of the ministry of Jesus and one of the Twelve Disciples, records for us what is probably the most often quoted verse in the Bible, at least one of them. You see it on bumper stickers. You see it on bracelets and decorations in the home. You see it on banners at sports events and memorized in Sunday school classes. A verse which reminds us again and again every time we hear it of the love of God for sinners like you and me. This verse explains why the sky was filled with angels. announcing to the shepherds about the birth of the baby in Bethlehem. A verse which gives us the background, that is the reason, from God's perspective, of Paul's statement to young Timothy, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This verse gives us the reason for that. It's the first verse I ever memorized as a child and maybe it was for you as well. I can remember in vacation Bible school back in Iowa building a little wooden cross and writing this verse on the bottom of the base. God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life or everlasting life. So what was the context in which Jesus said this here, these things in John chapter three? Well, it was in the middle of very unusual days in Israel 2,000 years ago. I'm sure everybody around then was saying the same thing. These are unusual days. You hear that sometimes today. We live in strange times, right? Even the religious rulers realized something was happening. In fact, they surely held an emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin, the highest court in Israel, after Jesus cleansed the temple in the last chapter, in chapter two, turning over the tables of the money changers. And first of all, there was this man out in the desert, a man eating honey and locust beans, who was dressed very meekly, but preaching very powerfully, calling all of Israel to repentance. They called him John the Baptizer, a different John than the one that wrote this tonight. a man calling all of Israel to repentance, everybody. And that irked the religious leaders. That irked the religious elite. Of all the nerve to call us to repentance, we don't need to repent. Who are you telling us we need to repent? And then there was this man from Nazareth, a seemingly self-proclaimed rabbi, like anything good could ever come out of Nazareth. He was gathering this unlikely crew of so-called disciples around him. Everybody was skeptical, at least of the religious elite. He was gathering fishermen and unlearned troublemakers and even a tax collector named Matthew. And he hung out with the riffraff, the people outside of polite society. He was the one who caused the commotion in the temple the other day, turning over the courts of legitimate business people just doing their job. Can you imagine what that meeting of the Sanhedrin would have been like and what they talked about? It's implied in Nicodemus' conversation with Jesus here in chapter three. Surely there were people who said, I heard he changed pots of water into wine at Cana in Galilee. Nonsense, others would have said. That's just a rumor. Those peasants in Galilee will believe anything. And maybe someone else spoke up and said, but I heard he's doing miracles everywhere, even right here in Jerusalem. Could he be the Messiah? Absolutely not. This man can't be from God. He's a blasphemer. He's making himself out to be God. I'm warning you, this man could be trouble. Well, sitting in the crowd there was a very well-known teacher, Jesus calls him the teacher of Israel, a well-known doctor of the law named Nicodemus, who also surely stressed the careful observance of every detail of the law. He was a Pharisee. a loyal Pharisee who saw law observance, that is doing everything right, who saw law observance as the way of salvation. But this man was different. By God's special grace, the spirit of the Lord was beginning to work in the heart of Nicodemus because the light of the world had come and that light had begun to shine in the heart of Nicodemus. It drew him slowly to the source of that light, and he had questions. He had gnawing questions. Who is this man from Galilee? Where is he from? Is he sent from God? I'm pretty sure, I think Nicodemus was probably about my age, that he was lying awake at night, as I often do, pondering these things. There's a power within him I've never seen before. When he speaks, there's a ring of authority that's unlike anything I've ever heard. So Nicodemus sneaks off to find Jesus, to ask him these questions, to go find out for himself. Ironically, John says, he came at night. Did you notice that? He came at night to the one who would reveal himself as the light of the world. He came at night under a cloak of darkness, probably afraid of exposure to the rest of the Sanhedrin, his fellow rulers in the synagogue. He had to know for himself. So he comes to the one who knows the heart of every man or woman. Rabbi, we know you're a teacher from God, at least we who listen respectfully to you, for no one can do these signs unless God is with him, these miraculous signs. And in the conversation which follows, Jesus tells Nicodemus why he has come. He tells him about God's love, for the human race, God's love for the world, and the purpose of his life and his coming death. And he teaches Nicodemus the difference between true faith and religious activity. Jesus talks to him about walking in darkness and walking in the light. But he starts off by going straight to the heart of the matter. He doesn't start off saying to Nicodemus, well, Nicodemus, thank you for saying that you think I'm from God. No, he goes directly to the heart of the issue, which is that Nicodemus doesn't have a clue about the basics of spiritual life. You're the teacher of Israel and you don't understand these things. You see, the scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders, the rulers, claim to be the guides and masters of spiritual matters in Israel. They loved their special seats in the synagogue. They loved everybody to watch them go up and sit in the best seat in the house. They loved to be seen on street corners in their long flowing robes, praying for everybody to see. They loved to give in the temple courts with ostentatious flair. And yet, true faith differs from this. They loved people seeing how religious they were, but true faith differs from religious form and rules. True faith comes from knowing God personally. Jesus calls that being born again, a phrase that's often misused and misunderstood these days, but it comes from the lips of Jesus himself. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now Nicodemus probably frowned in confusion because he says to Jesus, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. How can a man be born when he is old? How can he enter a second time into his mother's womb? He says, Nicodemus, Nicodemus, don't marvel at this. you must be born from above. You see, the word that Jesus uses there has two meanings, being born again and born from above. And Jesus employs both of those meanings in the conversation with Nicodemus. That which is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. You were born of the flesh, now you need to be born of the spirit. You see, he means all men and women are born corrupt. We're all born sinful. None of these little kids in the room here had to be taught how to disobey. I raised four boys. I know that firsthand. None of their older brothers told the younger ones, here, let me show you how to disobey mom and dad. It's really fun. It comes from within us. We're all born rebels against authority. You see, all men and women are born with a corrupt nature. We're born sinful. We're born alienated from God. He says, you were born of the flesh physically, Nicodemus, and now you need to be born again spiritually. Now, Nicodemus was surprised that he had to be born one more time, as many religious people are today. Nicodemus was a very religious man and so are many people who were raised in the church who think they stand on good moral ground, who are faithful and meticulous about religious things like the Pharisees and they're good people and they do what is right. They might ask the same question. How can this be? Why is it that I need to be born a second time? What about all the good I've done over the years? What about all the good I've done in church? Well, Jesus would reply the same way he replied to Nicodemus. You cannot see the kingdom of heaven unless you're born again. So Jesus begins to teach this doctor of the law that everything boils down to one person, the son of man. That's a title for the Messiah from the Old Testament. And he's also declared here to be the son of God, the eternally begotten son of God, the divine son of God. And he makes reference to the one who has come from heaven, the one who has descended from heaven, and who will us send back again. There's a reference there to Jacob's ladder, making a bridge from earth to heaven. He says, it's the son of man who is Jacob's ladder. It's the son of man who gives access to heaven. Not the things that you've done, not all your religious activity, not your work on the Sanhedrin, not praying on the street corner, not teaching Sunday school. It's the Son of Man who has the key. And so he presses home the work of the Son of Man. He says, you know, Nicodemus, you remember that story, Nicodemus, about Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness? when the people of God were all grumbly and disobedient, and snakes were sent as judgment to bite them, and the people cried out to Moses, save us, Moses, you cry out to God for us, we're gonna die. And so God directed Moses to put a bronze image of a serpent on a staff or on a pole and lift it high, and to tell the people, if you look to that bronze serpent, lift it high, you'll be saved. So everyone who would look to the bronze snake would be saved, and they were. They heard the good news, and they believed it, and they were rescued. Jesus says, in the same way, the Son of Man must be lifted up on a cross and crucified. And here's the big reason why. Here's the why that it happens. Here's the why that Jesus came into the world and the why that he was lifted up on a cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, looks to him, should not perish but have eternal life. This verse is a call to faith for anyone, for everyone, whoever the doors open wide, anyone, come to Jesus, come to the divine son of God, come and be rescued. Admit you need him, call out to him to save you. He won't refuse you. No one who comes to Christ will find out that he's unhappy to receive you. Come. Now, I'm a dad, as I mentioned. I love my sons. I even have a grandson. And I'm a pastor. And I love you all very much. But I can't imagine giving one of my sons for you. I can't imagine giving up one of my sons and punishing them for someone else's sins. But that's like what God has done for us. You see how great is the love of God for sinners? That he would cast all of his judgment that we deserve, the wrath of God upon the cross on his beloved son, all the judgment that we deserve for our sins. It was all laid on Christ. As Isaiah prophesied, God laid on him the iniquity or the sins of us all. Why did he do that? because he loved us. What wondrous love is this, oh my soul, that God would send his only begotten son to die for those who hated him, who rebelled against him, even rebellious sinners like you and me, so that we would never perish when this physical body dies, but that we would pass on to eternal life? All you need to do is believe in him. Yes, it's true. You believe in him, then the judgment is passed. The judgment is upon him. It's like a man coming up from the hold of a ship who's been down sleeping all night in the hold of the ship and dreaming he was on a seesaw, but sleeping. And when he awakes, he comes up on the deck and he sees off in the distance A terrible storm, all black with lightning bolts and great billowy clouds, very threatening. And he begins to fear. It looks like the ship is headed straight for the storm. Meanwhile, there's a deckhand on the ship, sort of walking along and whistling and coiling up rope and polishing the brass. He says, man, aren't you afraid? Look where we're going. And the man just keeps on whistling and polishing the brass. Man, alert the captain. Shouldn't we be doing something? The deckhand says, oh, you don't need to worry about that storm. That storm's already passed. You see, that's the position of the Christian, the one who trusts in the promises of God, the one who's come to believe that Jesus Christ is his savior or her savior, the one who believes that Christ died in my place on the cross. The storm of judgment, you see, has passed. We don't need to fear the coming wrath because God so loved the world. the human race, that he gave his son as a substitute, as a ransom, an offering for sin, and he laid our guilt upon him. You see, your salvation is based on love, free, amazing, unmerited love of God set upon you, such wondrous love. even while you were still far off, an enemy of God. That is the good news of the gospel. Gospel means good news. That's why the sky was filled with angels in Bethlehem. The Bible talks about how angels long to see what's going on on earth. It's as if they're standing on tiptoes wondering, how is this all going to play out? The skies were open, and they announced to the shepherds that Jesus was born, that the Son of Man was born, the Son of God was born. The fulfillment of all of the Old Testament promises had come. You see, the Lord Jesus was a love gift from the Father to save you forever. And receiving this gift will change you from the inside out. It will change you. That's what Jesus means by being born again. Because this will cause you to be a whole new creature. You'll be changed completely from the inside out. And now you'll have that love of God that he set upon you. You'll have that love of God for those around you, full of love and mercy. It will change your attitude. It'll change your heart. It might even cause you to go across the street and bring something nice to that grumpy neighbor who always makes fun of you. In fact, it might even send you to some distant country to translate the Bible so that they can have the language of the gospel in their tongue too. It'll fill you with forgiveness for others because of God's great forgiveness for you. How could I not forgive those around me? God has forgiven me of all of my sins. And it will fill you with a desire to tell others of the love of God for you. As a minister of the gospel, if you've never received that gift of love, that is the offer of total forgiveness of all of your sins, you can tonight. The father gave his son for unworthy sinners like you and me. God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him, whoever, yes, even you, Whoever believes would not perish on the day your physical body dies, but you'll have eternal life immediately as you die, entering paradise. Remember what Jesus said to the thief on the cross? When he was crucified, there were two criminals, one on either side, hurling insults at him. At some point during the crucifixion, one of them realized, this is the Messiah. This is the king. And he says to him, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him today, surely I say to you today, this very day, you will be with me in paradise. Praise the Lord. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved now and forever.