Open your Bible this morning to the gospel of John in chapter number three. Gospel of John in chapter number three. As we begin this morning, I want you to transport your mind 100 years into the future. I want you to go there for a minute. I want you to think about that. And as you do think about that, as you do go 100 years into the future, what would you conclude is the unavoidable truth in regards to every single one of us that are here today? My friend, more than likely, even the youngest among us here today will have passed on from this earthly temporal realm into that of the eternal. In short today, we could say that 100 years from right now, this very moment today, all of us will have passed from this walk of life and we'll have entered into eternity. Look around at one another. Think about that for just a minute and realize that before long, every single person in this congregation will be in eternity and for many of us, that's gonna happen much sooner than 100 years from now. For some of you, maybe in 60 years it will be the case. For others, maybe 40 or 30 or 10 or five. Maybe even for someone here today, even less than one year from now, you will have entered off into eternity. My friend, it's just a reminder this morning that life is very short, death is certain, and eternity is next. Life is short, death is certain, and eternity is next. As I thought about that this week, the Lord really put that on my heart and in my thinking this week. As I considered the truth of that, I literally at home trembled. I lost sleep. I had a night one night where I went to bed late because I was thinking about that and I laid in bed and I trembled in the bed just sitting there thinking about this reality because my friends for some of you that are sitting in this very auditorium today to leave this walk of life means an experience of damnation and punishment and torment as you suffer the wrath of God for your sins against Him for an eternity in hell. That's the reality today of some of you that are sitting in this very room right now at this moment. My soul this morning grieves as your pastor To think about some of you who have heard the gospel message over and over again, yet you remain unconverted, you remain lost in your sins, you remain deceived. To see your face week after week and to know that you're lost and unconcerned about your situation is a burden for a pastor that is many times impossible to bear. It is such a weighty burden. To think of you sitting here today as the recipient of earthly blessings from God, the recipient of gospel opportunity, and realizing that you don't see the enormous privilege of that opportunity as your pastor makes me shudder, makes me lose sleep. To think that right now, as you sit in this comfortable auditorium, this very moment, that everything is fine for you. Everything's good. You have a car, you have a house, you have clothing, you have food in your refrigerator. Everything is good. You've been blessed. God has poured out His grace and His kindness to you. And then to imagine You leaving this walk of life and thinking about the shock and the horror that you will experience when you pass from this walk of life into eternity, my friend, is an unbearable thought for me. It's an unbearable thought. My soul grieves today to think that you are experiencing your best life now here in the earthly realm and that when death comes knocking and you slip on off into the eternal realm, you will spend all of eternity, as Jesus said, weeping and wailing and gnashing your teeth as you suffer in torment and pain in hell. to think today that you have been given so many good things. And in comparison to the rest of the world, you are in the top 2% in regards to earthly wealth, but you have missed out on the riches of salvation that are in Jesus Christ. My friend, again, it makes me tremble and it makes me lose sleep over your soul. To think that some of you who hear my preaching week after week, and you hear the gospel, and you hear the great passages of Scripture expounded from God's Holy Word, to think that you hear all of that, and to go in my mind and think that you'll not experience the presence, the eternal presence of God's grace and God's love, nor will you be numbered among the righteous, but rather will split hell wide open and you will be utterly shocked When you feel the heat of the very first flame, my friend, that thought is so horrific to me that the only way that I can respond to that is with tears. Again, all the blessings, all of the gospel opportunity, all of the Sundays, week after week after week that you've had opportunity to hear the Word, to think of all the times that the Holy Spirit of God convicted you. And He showed you sin and righteousness and judgment and all the opportunities and all the grace that you have been given. And then to finally think that in less than a hundred years from right now, this very moment, you will have only just begun your eternal experience in hell. My friend, it makes me shudder to the point of sickness. Furthermore, as we think about this situation that you're in, The only thing that has kept you from falling into this hellish torment that you deserve as a violator of God's law are the good graces of a loving and a very patient God. A God who is very long-suffering towards you. Do you realize today that if you're lost and unconverted that the only thing that is keeping you from slipping off into the pit of hell with all of its fiery flames and all of its torment is the common grace of Almighty God. It's God alone. Only He is keeping you from it. Only God Himself is holding you up. My friend, you are at the very mercy of God every single second. And unless He gives you your next breath, you will plummet into the raging inferno below with no prospect or hope of exit or escape. It's only by the grace of God. It's by His grace and His grace alone that you have not been cast into hell this very moment as you sat in the pew. My friend, as you think about that, is there any other explanation as to why, if you're lost, you haven't been sent to hell already? Is there any other explanation for this? Is there any other reason that you could give as to why you're still here and not there? Is there any explanation for it other than the patient, long-suffering grace of a holy God? My friend, if you are lost and unconverted, you deserve hell. You deserve hell. You deserve it this very moment. And the truth is, you already, if you're without Jesus Christ, you already have one foot hanging over the pit of hell and the other one on the ground above, slipping around on the loose rocks. In addition to that, God's holy requirements. God's holy mountain of righteousness is too steep and it's impossible for you on your own to climb to safety. You see, the boulders of God's holy commandments are racing down the steep cliffs. And unless you are rescued by Almighty God, you will be knocked off balance and you will fall into the flames below. Your situation is perilous. Because of your lostness, you need a rescue that only God can provide. And my friend, unless He provides it, you will slip off into hell. Oh my friend, my heart quakes. within me today as I imagine what it will be like for those who have never truly seen themselves as lost and therefore have never called out for the mercy and the grace that only God can give. I tremble when I think of those who live in a deceived state. And the fact that at the core of their life they're trusting in themselves or they're trusting in their religion or something else and not the Lord Jesus Christ. I tremble today for those of you who think that you are a Christian when the real evidences of the new birth and a transforming work of God are not present in your life. I tremble today for those of you who say that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, but He means so very little to you in the day-to-day operations of your life. I tremble for those of you who are cold and indifferent to the things of God and who at this very moment are angry at me for the things that I'm saying to you. I tremble for you. I worry for you. I lose sleep over your soul. I tremble for those of you who are hell bound and you don't know it because you're living in deception. The reality is, is that here today, some of you are lost, but you don't know that you're lost and you do not even realize that you're at the very mercy of God for salvation and life. Dear friend, your need is great. Your need is great, and according to our text for today, you need a new birth. You need a new birth if you're gonna be saved, and unless God intervenes in your life and gives this to you, you're doomed. Some of you might say today to me, Brother Kyle, why? Why do you say such hard things? Why do you speak this way? Let me give you three reasons. Number one, first, because I have been called as a man of God, sent to this church, to look over the souls of those that I preach to as one who must give an account to God. My friend, that is a tremendous responsibility with great weight that comes with it. And so I must, as one who preaches the full counsel of God, I must preach the hard truths of Scripture, whether we like to hear them or not, whether they're uncomfortable. They must be spoken of because I have to give an account for these things. Secondly, is because this is a burden that I must rid myself of. It's a burden that I must speak these things. It's like a fire, like Jeremiah said, that's shut up in my bones, that has to be let out. I must be rid of this burden to tell you these truths and to speak of these things because if in the end, if you're gonna go to hell, if you're gonna slip off and you're gonna go to hell, I wanna make sure that you have to climb over me and my pleas before you go there. Number three. Thirdly and above all, I say these things because I don't want you to go to hell. There's a compelling love in my heart for you that doesn't want you to go to hell. And my friend, the only way that you're gonna escape hell, according to the word of God, according to the scriptures, is if you are born again. And so today I preach. I preach. You must be born again. You must be born again. Now with that today, we pick up with a text that's very familiar to us, a text that we've even looked at before, that I've preached at from before, that we've had revival speakers that have come in and preached before. But today I want us to consider it again. And you say, Brother Kyle, why do we do this? We've heard this passage before. Why do we need to hear this truth once again, my friend? Because you must be born again. You must be born again. If you're gonna be saved and if you're gonna be delivered from hell to the kingdom of God, then according to the Lord Jesus Christ, you must be born again. And so today I stand with Jesus and I stand with all of the other preachers of old who have proclaimed this old text from this old book. And I stand with them today and I proclaim it yet again. This wonderful text of scripture that says, you must be born again. And so if you will, let's look at some of these new birth realities that are recorded for us here in a conversation between Jesus and a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus here in the Gospel of John in chapter number three. Notice there with me, if you will, in verse one. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, We know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannot tell where it cometh and whether it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and he said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Are thou a master of Israel, and knoweth not these things? As we look at this text today, I want us to consider four thoughts about the sinner who is in need of the new birth. We see from this text four things that are represented in the life of Nicodemus as he comes to Jesus for answers about his concerns in regards to eternal realities. Four things. Number one, we're going to see an anxious sinner. Secondly, we're going to see a helpless sinner. Thirdly, a needy sinner. And lastly, a lost sinner. Notice there, with me if you will, the first thing I want you to see is an anxious sinner. Look in verse 1 and 2 again, there was a man. of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, that came to Jesus by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with him." Here we find in this text there's a man by the name of Nicodemus, and Nicodemus is a Pharisee. Nicodemus is a very religious hypocrite. He is the most religious man that you would ever be able to find on the planet as far as external realities go. Nicodemus was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And as we look at this text today, we find that Nicodemus is a very troubled sinner and he is uncertain about how to be right with God and that's why he comes to Jesus Christ. Nicodemus knows that there's something very special about Jesus Christ. If you'll notice there in verse 2, Nicodemus says to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher that has come from God because nobody else could do the things that you do. You know, previously in the gospel, we know that Jesus had begun His miracles and proving His deity and proving the truth about who He was. And of course, this was getting the attention of the religious elite there in Jerusalem, there in Israel. And so Nicodemus is puzzled about this because he knows that anybody who was doing the things that Jesus was doing had to have some kind of a divine connection with heaven. And so Nicodemus figures in his own mind, Jesus is a man that I've got to go see because he's going to have some answers. You know, the text doesn't tell us this, but this is exactly what's on Nicodemus' mind. Nicodemus is very troubled. He's a very anxious sinner because he's unsure about the way as to how to be right with God. He's been doing all of this religion, he's been doing all of these ceremonies, he's been doing all of these religious practices, but yet, inside, There's an anxiousness. There's an unsettledness that's there. And we know that's the reason. We know that's really what's going on because of the way that Jesus responds to Nicodemus in the rest of the text. You notice that Nicodemus doesn't actually even ask Jesus any questions. He just comes to Jesus and says some statements, but Jesus is reading his mind. Jesus knows what's on his heart. Jesus knows that Nicodemus is troubled, that he is a very anxious sinner. And this is the question that's on Nicodemus' mind. I'm not sure that what I'm doing is getting me right with God. That's what's on his mind. That's what's going on here in the text. He wants to know, how can I be right with God? My friend, that is the question deep down at the core of every single unconverted sinner. Oh, they try to put up smoke screens and all these different things. But every single unconverted sinner wants to know the answer to this question. How can I be right with God? What is it that I'm supposed to do to be right with God? You see the Bible teaches us very clearly that every single sinner has knowledge of God and an understanding of their accountability to God that makes them inexcusable. The Bible tells us in Psalms 19 verses 1 through 3 that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. day unto day utter his speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." So you see, sinners everywhere the world over, they have a knowledge of God because He has revealed it to us in the very creation as we look around. We see that God certainly does exist. Romans chapter 1 verse 19 and 20, the Bible says, "...because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." And so you see, God has revealed enough about Himself, enough about His deity, enough about His Godhead to let the sinner know that He exists and to let the sinner know that they are accountable to this God. There's plenty of information there. My friend, you can't even walk out in the woods and look at the complexities of a tree and not come to the conclusion that there had to be a God who made that tree. Men know this information. And so we find that this knowledge of God makes men aware of their accountability to God. And that knowledge, my friend, is a very, very troubling thing for the unconverted sinner. It's a bother in their life. Why? Because every single sinner, they have guilt and they have shame that comes from their sin. and the knowledge of God bothers them. And so what is it that the sinner does? Well, the sinner responds to this knowledge of God and the sinner responds to the knowledge that they're accountable to God in an effort to deal with the guilt and the shame that comes from their sin. Everybody makes a response. Every sinner who's lost and undone makes some kind of a response in light of the knowledge that God has given them. And these responses typically show up in three ways. Three different ways that the sinner responds to God. All of them are demonstrated for us in Scripture, and we see it evidenced for us at the very beginning with the very first humans that sinned, Adam and Eve. Three different kinds of responses. Number one, a man takes this knowledge of God and the knowledge of his accountability to God, and the first thing that a man does is he becomes religious. That's one response. A man decides to become religious. He says, I know that I'm accountable to God, so here's what I'll do. I will go to this God and I will appease this God and his wrath and his Godhead against me by being a good person, engaging in religious activities, by trying to work up some kind of a righteousness so that God will be happy with me. We hear it most plainly in our culture, if my good outweighs my bad, I'm going to be alright with God. That's the mindset. I'll develop a system of religion so that my good will outweigh my bad and God will owe me entrance into heaven. You see, my friend, that's Nicodemus in our text. Nicodemus is a, he is a religious hypocrite. My friend, as I think about church services that are going on right now all across our great United States of America, do you realize today that many, many people who are participating in those services this very moment are doing exactly that? They're there trying to appease God. And you hear it in their language. You hear them outside of the church, people that are unconverted, but they're religious. They say things like, maybe they haven't been to church in a few weeks or so. Well, preacher, I know that I need to go to church. Oh, I know I've missed a few. I know I need to get down there. My friend, that is not the talk of a Christian. The talk of a Christian is I cannot wait to be with God's people. But the unconverted sinner gives himself away. He betrays himself and he shows that he's unconverted because he's bored with God. But he participates in religion to try to appease this God. You know, my friend, I believe some of you here today, that is the substance of your religion. That's why you're here. That's why you've come in here today. It's all about appeasing God. You don't love God and you don't love Christ, but you love your religion because it gives you a place to dump your guilt for your sin. It gives you a place to feel better. If I go down to the church and I hear a good message, sing a few songs, I'll be all right this week. I'm going to go back and do my own thing. And the next week I'll come back and I'll tip my hat to God. I'll put a few dollars in the offering plate. I'll go to the church fellowship, the fish fry. I'll hang out with the people and me and God will be good. My friend, I believe there's a few that are here today that are just like that. And religion becomes very comfortable because it's a self effort to deal with your own guilt. It's a superficial way to deal with your guilt, but nevertheless, that's the first response. We see this from our first parents, Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, 7. The Bible says, after they sinned, it says, the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked. In other words, they knew that they had sinned. They knew that they were guilty before God. And what did they do to respond to God? They sewed fig leaves together because they knew they were naked. We'll do this. We'll fix our problem. We'll fix our guilt. We'll do something about it. We'll make our own aprons and we'll cover up our own shame and our own guilt. We'll be religious and do, and do, and do, and do, and do stuff. So the first response is that man becomes religious. That's Nicodemus, man. It's all over him. A Pharisee. Second response, though, is that a man becomes, not religious, but he becomes a runner. He becomes a runner. And this is the group of people that try to suppress God. You look around on the television today, you read news articles on the internet and whatnot, and you find these very vocal people, these atheists, so-called atheists, like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens. And it was almost just like their life's purpose to propagate atheism and all of these different things. My friend, the Bible reads their mail and tells you exactly what they're doing. All that stuff is is a smokescreen. It's to try to run away from God. And they build up walls around their life with so-called science and so-called intellectualism. And they just seem to be so smart. And they say, well, we believe in evolution. We don't believe that hocus-pocus stuff that you Christians believe. That stuff's all fairy tales. And so they just adopt. These crazy ways of thinking that make absolutely no sense. And they get big degrees from the university and they go to school and they just kind of plant there and they build these massive towers and these massive walls around their life. Why? Because they don't want God to get in. And so what do they do? They run. They run and they run and they run. Psalm 14.1 says, The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They become running fools. Genesis 3.8, the very next verse. Listen, Adam and Eve again give us this demonstration that they not only were religious, but they at the core were runners. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife, what did they do? They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. They hid. They ran. They wanted to get away from God. They didn't want to be in the presence of God. So they got behind a bush. thinking God wouldn't see them, running away from God. Romans 1.18, the Bible says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who do what? Who hold the truth or who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The fallen pagan sinner, what does he do with the knowledge of God? He either becomes religious or he becomes a runner. He suppresses the truth. He suppresses the fact that he is accountable to Almighty God. Romans 121, because that when they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. So men turn to religion, men turn to running away from God, and thirdly, man just simply refuses responsibility for his actions. This is everybody. You've heard the sinner all the time think about his situation, all of his sins, all the terrible circumstances in his life, and he always blames it on somebody else, blames it on the surroundings, blames it on their lot in life, always shifting blame to someone or something else in their life. It's what Adam did, you remember, again in Genesis, same chapter. Chapter three, verse 12, all of these responses are just right there, right in a row. And the man said, hey, it was the woman that you gave me. She's the one, man. This woman, I was doing fine until you sent this woman. Me and you had our own thing going, we were doing good, and then you decided to put me in a deep sleep and take out one of my ribs, and man, I got this woman. It was her fault. She is the one who made me sin. You know, I think about this response of the sinner shifting blame and shifting responsibility. And I think this is exactly what's going to happen one day for sinners who stand at the great white throne judgment. They'll stand before Almighty God, knowing that it's time for God to judge them in their life. And what are they going to do? Oh, well, God, this and this thing happened in my life. And, you know, I had these circumstances. It wasn't really my fault. That's why, my friend, the Bible says that God has books that are in heaven. Why? So he can pull out the evidence of every single sin that you have committed, and he can say, here's the record. But this is what man does. He becomes religious, he becomes a runner, or he simply refuses responsibility. You take all of these things together, the anxiousness of the sinner. You wrap it all up together and every single one of these responses are bankrupt responses and they do absolutely nothing for the sinner. There's no justifying or redeeming power in any of these things. My friend, this is exactly what the scriptures declare about men. In Romans chapter three, verse 10 to 12, the Bible says, They've all gone out of the way. They have together become unprofitable. There's none that does good. No, not one. So even the Bible says all of the responses that we make are unrighteous and no good. They don't truly go after God. They don't truly do anything to help their situation at all. This is exactly what's going on in the text with Nicodemus. He is an anxious sinner who has fallen into the category of one who is super religious. He is a religious hypocrite and he knows that what he's doing will never ever work. That's why he goes to Jesus. Because Jesus knows something. Jesus is a great teacher. He's been doing all of these miracles. Nicodemus knows it. He knows that Jesus has answers, and so he's troubled. He's all perplexed about this, and so he comes to Jesus Christ. And so first we see from this text an anxious sinner. And as Jesus responds here in the following verses, it becomes very clear that he is revealing the second thing that I want you to see, which is the helplessness of the sinner. Notice there, if you will, in verse 3 and 4 of John's Gospel. Chapter 3, verse 3 and 4, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Here we see right off the bat that Jesus is responding to Nicodemus and he is teaching Nicodemus a great truth in regards to entrance into the kingdom of God and he does it by way of illustration. Jesus says to Nicodemus, What? You must be born again. This is the truth that Jesus is giving to Nicodemus. And it's an analogy. It's an illustration. Jesus is using this analogy to carry with it great spiritual truth in regards to entrance into the kingdom. In essence, listen to this now. Listen closely. Jesus is saying in this verse, Something has to happen to you that you are not in control of if you are going to enter into the kingdom of God. Now think about it for a minute. Think about the analogy of Jesus using this picture of birth. You think about your own life here today, your physical life. You had absolutely nothing to do with your physical birth, did you? You just showed up one day. Here you are in the world. You just showed up. You had nothing to do with your physical birth. Listen to me now. And in the very same way, when it comes to spiritual matters, you have nothing to do with the spiritual birth that you must undergo if you are going to enter into the kingdom of God. That is shocking. Shocking. Unbelievable. You know, you said here today, those of you who are true believers, true Christians, you ever wonder why you're a Christian? You ever wonder how you got there? Do you take any credit for your own salvation? No. It's because God did something. God birthed you. That's what the text is telling us. Now look at how Nicodemus responds there in verse 4. Notice what he says. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? First of all, I want to tell you, Nicodemus is no fool. Nicodemus is not an idiot. He knows that Jesus is speaking by way of analogy. He knows that Jesus is not talking in terms of him undergoing a second physical birth. Nicodemus gets what Jesus is saying by way of this analogy. Nicodemus' problem, listen to me now, Nicodemus' problem is not with the analogy. Nicodemus' problem is with the truth that the analogy teaches. That's the problem of Nicodemus. In a spiritual sense, listen to me now, Jesus is using this illustration to teach the impossibility of the sinner to bring about that which they need in order to get into the kingdom of God. That's what he's saying. It's absolutely impossible, Nicodemus. And so we see this response of Nicodemus in verse 4 that he clearly understands, based on what he says, that he gets what Jesus is saying. He understands the truth that Jesus is laying out. He understands that Jesus is saying it is impossible in your own ability to make this thing happen that must happen if you're going to enter into the kingdom of God. Look again, verse 4. How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter in the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Nicodemus responds back to Jesus' analogy with an analogy. He's a teacher of Israel. Jesus was a great teacher. They're talking in illustration. They're talking in terms of analogy. And so what does Nicodemus do to show us that he understands what Jesus is saying? Nicodemus tells us he presents a scenario that's absolutely impossible. An old man can't enter back into his mother's womb and be born. That's impossible. Nicodemus gets it. He gets the analogy from Jesus and he responds with an analogy that corresponds to Jesus' analogy. The analogy is not his problem. The illustration is not Nicodemus' problem. Listen to me. The truth that the analogy teaches is where his difficulty lies. Why is it that Nicodemus is having so much trouble and so much problem with the truth that the analogy is teaching? My friend, it's because for the first time in Nicodemus's life, he is beginning to understand that he has absolutely no resources to get into God's kingdom on his own. He has no resource. He is beginning to understand for the first time in his life that he is spiritually helpless. He can do absolutely nothing. Now this, can you imagine Nicodemus? He's a Pharisee, man. His whole life is all about external religion. So Jesus here, everything that he's saying to Nicodemus, this is a huge problem for him. Why? Because again, he's a Pharisee. And the theology of the Pharisees was such that they were offering up, they believed that they could offer up their own righteousness, their own efforts, in order to get themselves into the kingdom of God. And so this truth that Jesus is saying, you must be born again, you didn't have anything to do with your physical birth, you don't have anything to do with your spiritual birth, this new birth that you must undergo, this teaching of Jesus is absolutely destroying Nicodemus' way of thinking. He is stripping everything away from Nicodemus. Let me give you a few thoughts that Nicodemus might be thinking here in the text. Again, this is speculative, but I believe this is exactly what's going on in his mind. Number one, how can this be? How can it be this way? How can it be that I have nothing to do with this? How can it be that I am completely at the mercy of God for this new birth? How can it be that everything that I have done in my religious pursuits doesn't count for anything and I have to start all over and go back to the very beginning and do away with all of that stuff? How can it be this way? How can it be that I have no resources before God and God absolutely owes me nothing? How is this possible? How can it be that I must be born from above and I don't have any control over that? Are you beginning to see the problem that Nicodemus is having here in his dealings with Jesus? Hey, but more importantly, As you look at this story and thrust yourself into the story yourself, are you beginning to see that this is the very same spiritual problem that every unconverted sinner faces? That they have no resource? Just like Nicodemus, something has to happen that you're not in control over? You're not in control of? You're in need of a birth from above if you're going to enter into the kingdom of God and you're absolutely helpless to make that happen. My friend, this should be a very, very troubling thought for you if you've never been born again. It should bother you. It should produce in your life some difficulty and some trouble and some anxiousness and some helplessness. That's what Jesus is doing to Nicodemus. So first we've seen from Nicodemus, the anxiousness of the sinner. Secondly, the helplessness of the sinner. And thirdly, I want you to see the great need of the sinner. Here we find in verses 5 through 8 that right on the heels of Jesus talking about the helplessness of the sinner, we see from Jesus what the sinner stands in need of. Notice, if you will, what Jesus says in verse 5. Jesus answered. Nicodemus has responded. Jesus is answering. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." First Jesus said, you must be born again. Now He's going a little bit further. And here in verse 5, He's saying, hey, two things. You've got to be born of the water and of the Spirit. Those are clues. Those are clues that Jesus gives us to help us understand this just a little bit. And as Jesus is saying this to Nicodemus in verse five, that you must be born of the water and of the spirit, Nicodemus should have known right away what Jesus was talking about because according to verse 10, Jesus tells us that Nicodemus was the master of Israel. Nicodemus was the teacher. Nicodemus was the religious head, if you will, there in Israel, the chief religious teacher of Israel. And so as we look at verse 5 and we see, you must be born of the water and of the Spirit, what is it that Jesus is talking about? You know, I've heard many, many preachers speak on this text. And I've heard them say things like, well, the water refers to our physical birth. And that's represented by the breaking of the water of a woman right before she gives birth. And the Spirit, being born of the Spirit, represents a spiritual birth or the second birth that Jesus has been referring to by saying that you must be born again. If we make that a little simpler, in other words, many have said that if you're going to enter into the kingdom of God, you have to have a physical birth and you have to have a spiritual birth. That's typically the general definition that most people give from this passage of Scripture. Now, I'll agree with you today that that's true. There's truth in that. There is truth that a person does have to exist physically before they can undergo a spiritual birth from above. makes sense, right? I mean, you got to be alive. You got to be a person. You got to be a fallen human before you can experience the saving work of God in the new birth. And so it's true. Yes, you do have to have a physical birth and you do have to have a spiritual birth, but This explanation, these words of Jesus, if we stopped there, that would be just a surface understanding. And what Jesus is saying here, it goes much, much deeper. In verse 5, Jesus is referring to some great truths that were taught in the Old Testament concerning the new covenant that would come in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to me, there are some paramount passages in the Old Testament that are prophecy passages that talk about what God is going to do or was going to do at the time because it hadn't happened yet. What God was going to do concerning the new covenant in Jesus Christ. Now I'm not going to read all of these passages to you. In case you'd like to study when you go home, I'll just give you the references. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 33 to 34 is one. Jeremiah chapter 32, verse 38 to 42 is another. Ezekiel chapter 11, verse 19 to 20. So all of these are passages in the Old Testament that refer to the new covenant that God was going to bring about in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Nicodemus, he should have known about these passages. Remember, he's the teacher of Israel at that time, and all they had was the Old Testament. So he should have been very familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures. And he should have known about these passages, but Jesus... He's pushing Nicodemus somewhere. He's going to another passage, a climax passage, as it were, that he wants Nicodemus to deal with. And in this particular passage, in the Old Testament now, it explains what must happen to someone if they are to be one of the people of God. If they're to be numbered among the people of God, this passage says exactly what must happen to that person if they're gonna enter into the kingdom. We've talked about it many times. It's Ezekiel chapter 36. And I am going to read you this one, verse 24 to 27. Listen closely. This is God speaking. For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. OK, the immediate context, he's talking to the nation of Israel. But this goes so much further. Verse 25, listen to this, here it is, you ready? Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from your idols will I cleanse you. Now go in your mind to John chapter three, verse five. You must be born of what? Of the water. This is a picture, another analogy of the washing that happens of a person, the forgiveness, the work of God to cleanse a sinner. Verse 26, a new heart also will I give you, watch now, and a new spirit will I put within you. John chapter 3 verse 5, you must be born of the water and of the spirit. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them. Whoa. Amazing. Nicodemus should have known this passage of scripture. And by Jesus referring to this text, he is saying that the sinner needs a new birth. And the new birth involves all of the things that God says will happen in this text in Ezekiel. So you say, Kyle, what is the new birth? It's Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 24 to 27. This is something that has to happen to a person if they're gonna be numbered among the people of God. Now, by the way, I want you to see something in this text. Notice here in this passage of scripture that I will is used somewhere in the neighborhood of eight or nine times. God is saying in the text, who's gonna do this? How is this new birth gonna come about? God says, I will do this. God puts it upon himself for this to be a sovereign work that he does in the lives of sinners. And so think about what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus and all of us who are sitting here today in regards to this text. Here it is, you ready? Hopeless sinners are in need of a new birth brought about by the I will work of God. You need, if you're unconverted, God to do His I will work in your life. For God to sovereignly blow across your life and do a work. Maybe we could say it another way. Unless the I will work of God happens to you, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Unless God does this, man, you can't enter. Now you say, Brother Kyle, does the New Testament teach this same thing? I mean, you said this was an Old Testament passage, but it's a New Covenant text. And so if it's a New Covenant text, this truth should carry over into the New Testament, right, Brother Kyle? Absolutely. Titus chapter number three, verse five to seven. Listen, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us, you ready? By the washing. of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Water and the Spirit. Unless you are born of the water and of the Spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. By the way, just to show you that this New Covenant text was talking about this all coming to pass in Jesus Christ, Titus chapter number 3 verse 6 goes on to tell us that all of this was shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So everything that was happening in Ezekiel chapter 36, now we see in Titus that all of this fulfills in Jesus Christ, New Covenant fulfillment. And so now with that, we ask a question, the follow-up question that I'm sure that was on the mind of Nicodemus and maybe it's on your mind today as well. Why? Why is it this way? Why is it of God? Why is the sinner absolutely helpless to bring this about? Why does the I will work of God have to happen? Why can't a man do anything? Well, Jesus doesn't leave us hanging. Notice what Jesus says in verse six. You ready? Here's the why. If you're asking why, if you want to know why it's this way, Jesus is going to tell you. Because that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the spirit is spirit. So what is it that Jesus means when he said that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit? Again, we come to the New Testament in the epistles, the epistle of James. And he gives us great insight into this by showing us the contrast of the works of the flesh and the works of the Spirit. Listen to this, James 1 verse 14. Every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed, 15. Then when lust is conceived it brings forth sin, and sin when it's finished brings forth death, verse 16. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shifting shadow of his own will. Begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Listen, here's the teaching. Here it is. Flesh produces flesh. Spirit produces spirit. Here's what it means. James talks about the works of the flesh. It happens like this. A man is tempted. He gives in to his own lusts. Lust produces sin. Sin brings forth death. Guess what? That's the picture of man. That's what man does. This is all that we can do in our own power. The course of action that every single man is on leads to death. There's no way to overcome it. There's no way to change it. This is why God has to break in and do something. Temptation, lust, sin, death. That's our story. That's the story of man. And then you contrast that to what James says here in this very same passage about what the Spirit does. Watch. Every good gift comes from where? It comes from above. It comes from above. and comes down from the Father of lights. He tells us in verse 18, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should become a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. So here it is with the work of the Spirit, the intervening grace of God in the lives of sinners. Listen to me, there is from heaven perfection with God. And that perfection, we could call it righteousness, is something that has to come down from heaven, down to the sinner. That's why Romans says, but now the righteousness of God is revealed. It's from heaven. It's got to come down to the center. And James goes on to tell us about this work of the Spirit. How does God do that? How does God bring about this new birth? How does God beget us as His own children? of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." 1 Peter 1.23 tells us the same thing and he even uses the terms that Jesus is using in John. Being born again, there it is, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible. You see the corruptible seed, a man's seed produces more flesh, more flesh, more flesh. But we're born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever." Now, with all of that there, what's the point? What is it here that Jesus is saying? Listen to me now. It's just this. We absolutely have no hope on our own. Man can do absolutely nothing. We are helpless in our flesh. We have no resources. And according to the very next words of Jesus, a man is at the mercy of God if he's gonna have this new birth. In other words, Jesus is telling us that man is completely at the mercy of God and there is no hope unless God intervenes. Look at what Jesus says in verse seven. Marvel not that I say to you that you must be born again Watch now don't miss it the wind blows where it will you hear the sound thereof But cannot tell where it comes and whether it goes and so is everyone that is born of the Spirit you see here that Jesus is teaching That the sinner is very needy and is at the mercy of God for the new birth We could say it like this The sinner is at the mercy of the Spirit's free will to give them the spiritual birth from above. That's what Nicodemus is, that's what Jesus is telling Nicodemus. My friend, by way of application, let me say it to you today like this. Unless the Spirit blows on you and gives you the new birth, listen to me now, then you are completely lost, doomed, and damned. That's not very comfortable, is it? That's not really good thoughts today. And with that, we come to our last point from our text that Jesus is showing us by way of example through Nicodemus. And here we see a lost sinner. Look in verse 9 and 10. Nicodemus answered. Here it is. He said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus said unto him, Are you a master of Israel, and you do not know these things? Here we see from the response of Nicodemus that after all of the truth that Jesus gives to him, he is totally lost. What? How is it this way, Jesus? How can these things be? And my friend, with that, we come to the point of this text in John chapter 3. Listen to me. This passage of Scripture, there is nothing in this text by way of an imperative or by way of a command. There's nothing in here. There's no call to action. There's no instruction to respond here in this passage of scripture. It is simply a statement of fact. It simply tells us what must happen if one is going to enter into the kingdom of God. And so what must happen? My friend, you must be born again and you have no power to make that happen. So the point of the text today is to make you absolutely lost. My friend, this text, properly understood, is a pride crusher. It's a pride crusher because it tells a man that he is absolutely at the mercy of God for salvation. And it produces in a person's life a very helpless feeling to know that there is nothing that they can do to make the new birth happen. You see, Jesus is driving Nicodemus to an absolute bankrupt and impossible situation. He's pinning him down. He's putting him to the wall because he's showing that man has no resources before God. You know, my friend, I know today that as Americans, we live here in America and we're so wealthy and none of us here today are really used to not having zero resources. We all have resources. Even the poorest of the poor in America has resources. Why? Because we have shelters. We have these places, benevolent giving institutions. We have food stamps. And at the very least, somebody who has no resources, they can go out on the street corner and they can beg and they will find somebody who will be sympathetic. I'd venture to say there's a lot of people, you've seen them on the side of the streets and stuff begging for money. They probably make more money in a day than you do going to work just by begging. Americans have resources. And my friend, the problem with us having resources is that we get used to it. We get used to having this. Now watch this. And we carry that over into the spiritual realm. We say, well, I have certain resources. I can fix this problem. There's never a problem that's so bad that I can't get out of. And so we carry that over into the spiritual realm. And my friend, the problem with that is that it simply will not work with God. There are no resources. There is nothing to do. We can do nothing. Every single sinner is at the mercy of God and is at the mercy of His free will to blow upon them for salvation. And if He doesn't blow, the person is doomed and the person is damned. And so the point of the text is that. There are a couple of responses that a man can make to this information from this text, from these truths. Number one, number one, the first response. A man can hear this truth and he can say, I don't like that. I don't like it that I don't have anything to do with it. I don't like it that I don't have resources. I don't like it that I'm not in charge. My friend, that's a man's pride. And that kind of thinking will keep a man damned. It'll keep him doomed. There's no hope for that kind of man. If you're sitting here today and you're saying, I don't like that. I don't like it that I don't have any resources before God. I don't like it that I'm completely at his mercy. My friend, you are in a perilous position. Then there's the second response, which is the point of the text. The point of the text is to take you to a place in your life to where you are lost and to where you are undone and to where you are absolutely desperate and understanding of your need before God that He must blow, that He must do something. And so if you're in that second position today, let's suppose that you're in that camp and you say, man, I am undone. I'm lost. I see that I have no resource before God. You say, brother Kyle, what can I do today? Jesus already told us, you can't do anything unless a man is born again. He can't enter into the kingdom of God and that new birth is something that has to happen by God. But guess what? You can ask. You can ask. You can ask God to save you. You can cry out to God in despair. You can cry out and you can beg Him for the new birth. By the way, that's what the man in Luke chapter 18 did. Luke chapter 18 verse nine down to about verse 14. You remember two men went into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and one a publican. The publican was just a no good, dirty, rotten sinner. He's standing there in the temple of the Pharisee saying, oh Lord, thank you that I'm not like this guy. And the Pharisee, or the publican, he's standing over there to the side and he recognizes that he's a wretch and he recognizes that he's lost and that he's undone and he has no resources and he's bankrupt and he can't do anything before God. And what does he do? It drives him to despair and he says, oh Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. And what happened with that man? What will happen to you today if you get to that position and you do that? Jesus said in that very same text, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other one. Romans 10, 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Do you know what? Before you call out to the Lord to be saved, you gotta be lost. You gotta be down in the hole. You gotta be down in the pit with no resources, no prospect of escape, and you gotta call out. Hey, if you were out in the middle of the field and you fell down in a sinkhole and you were out there all by yourself and you knew there was a highway just over the way because you could hear all the cars running up and down the road, what would you do in the pit? Somebody help me! My friends, that is what it means to fall before God and repent and to believe the gospel. You can ask. You can ask. My friend, you can fall at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ and you can beg Him for mercy. You can ask Him to save you. My friend, the Bible is an amazing book. It's an amazing thing how it does two things to prepare the center for grace. The Bible comes along and it shows us what we are in the sight of God. It shows us that we're wretches. It shows us that we're undone. It tells us that there's none righteous. It tells us that our conversation, our conduct, our character, that everything is corrupt and undone. tells us how bad we are, but then it goes a step further, just like this text in John chapter three, and it tells us that we can do nothing about our situation. It's an absolute pride crusher, makes us bankrupt, makes us helpless, make us completely lost and at the mercy of God for salvation. My friend, and if a man really sees those things from scripture, he will be driven to despair over his condition, over his situation, and then, and only then, will he hit his knees and call out to God for mercy, and there's some of you here today that have not done it, because you've never, ever been lost. So what about Nicodemus, what happened to him? Did he get it? I mean, he responds here in John chapter 3, how is it that these things can be this way? But did it stay that way for Nicodemus? A few chapters later in the Gospel of John, in chapter number 7, we find that there are some really thick tensions concerning Jesus Christ and the Pharisees, and we find this response from Nicodemus, listen closely. Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to him, Why have you not brought him? The officers answered, Never spoke a man like this. Then answered the Pharisees, Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law, they are cursed. Nicodemus saith unto them, He that came to Jesus by night being one of them. Does our law judge any man before it hears him and knows what he does? They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look, for out of Galilee arises no prophet." My friend, it seems here in this text that the heart of Nicodemus is beginning to be drawn to the Lord Jesus because He takes up for him. when all the other Pharisees are wanting to kill him and do away with him. Nicodemus says, hey, does our law judge a man before it? Here's him later on in the gospel. After the death of Jesus Christ, we go to John 19, verse 38 to 40, and we find this. After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave. And he came therefore and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus. which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. Then they took the body of Jesus and wound it in linen claws and with spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury." Nicodemus was one of the caretakers of the body of Jesus after he died on the cross. So we say today, what happened to Nicodemus? My friend, the wind of the Spirit of God blew upon him and he was born again. So I ask you today, how about you? Have you ever been lost without God and without hope in the world? Have you ever been to the end of yourself with no resources to offer God, completely desperate and in need of His intervening, saving work to happen in your life? Have you ever come to the point and like this publican in Luke 18, in brokenness, simply ask God for mercy and grace, listen to me now, and waited on Him to give it to you? waiting on the Lord to do a work in your life. Has that ever happened to you, my friend? Or have you substituted the work of the new birth with religion or some superstitious prayer or something else? A hundred years from right now, what will it be for you? A hundred years from now, my friend, will you be damned? to an eternity in hell or where you have entered into eternal life, into the kingdom of God. My friend, one of those two realities are going to be your reality. And my friend, we are closer to that than you think. It's going to happen in very short order, and I hope the latter will be true of you today. We listen to the words of Jesus one last time, John 3, 3. Jesus answered and said to him, verily, verily, I say to thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. My friend, you must be born again. You must be born again.