From Greenville, South Carolina, we present, Let the Bible Speak. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, preaching Christ in all His fullness. Thank you for joining us today. This is Alan Kearns with you once again, welcoming you to Let the Bible Speak. It's good to have you listening in, and I trust you'll stay with us for the rest of this 30-minute segment, as today we continue our studies in the life of Christ. This week, our theme, the Lord Jesus Christ as He revealed Himself to Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews. in that famous interview in which the Lord Jesus said, ye must be born again. It's a fascinating revelation that the Lord Jesus gave of himself and we'll be pursuing that in today's broadcast. But first, it's time for our daily commentary, our hot topic for the day. A few years ago, a mathematics professor in Pakistan, a Christian who had made himself an expert on Islam, was given the opportunity, really an ultimatum, to convert to Islam or face being fired or even worse. Instead of capitulating, he took the opportunity to witness to the professors who gave him the ultimatum. They reported him. He was fired and was informed by a well-placed friend that his life was in danger. With the help of friends, he was hidden until he could make his escape to Australia. There, as an Assemblies of God pastor, he taught his church the differences between Islam and Christianity. The Muslim community protested, had him charged under Australia's hate crimes law. He was found guilty. He was fined and ordered to take out extremely expensive advertisements in newspapers to apologize for his crime. He refused and appealed the sentence. The appeals court found in his favor and noted how the trial judge had erred in point of fact and had confused legitimate religious comparisons with hate crime. That pastor recently received an award in New York for special courage in resisting the pressure of Muslims and of the state to succumb to their intimidation. He did show courage, first in facing death in Pakistan and then in facing ruinous legal costs and legal sanctions in a professedly free society like Australia. The case is over, at least for the moment, for the Muslims are still hot on his trail. Not only in Australia, but all over the Western world, Muslims are seeking to intimidate the majority into either silent acquiescence or vocal support of their religion. They're adamant that Islam can stand up to scrutiny, but they resist scrutiny. Salman Rushdie was put on an official hit list for exposing what he saw in Islam. Christian ministers are threatened and sued for using scripture to expose the falseness of Muslim claims. Now that wouldn't happen if someone was exposing claims of any other group, say Presbyterians or Episcopalians or Methodists. The preacher who has suffered in this particular persecution has long had a love for Muslims and a desire to see them saved. He instructs his people as to how to be friendly toward Muslims and kind toward them, and yes, how to bear witness to them of Christ. Yet a court in Australia counted this a hate crime. In fact, there can be no higher love for Muslims than to show them the love of God in Christ, the only Savior. But unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the direction of not only Australia, but our nation, it will soon be deemed a hate crime even to seek to win a Muslim for Christ. In other words, the very same situation that now obtains in Muslim countries. Indeed, even to herald the exclusive claims of Christ and his gospel will soon be deemed a hate crime. We will all need courage, and for it We will gain a much higher award than the one presented in New York. We'll get the well done of our blessed Lord and Savior. And that's worth striving for. I will praise Him. I will praise Him. Praise the Lamb, for sinners slain. Give Him glory, all ye people, For His blood can wash away each stain. I live, the Saviour's slave, Thy strength indeed is small. Child of grief, yet watch and pray, Find in me Thy God in all. Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe. Sin had left a friend's unsafe, He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I stand in hymn from thee, Jesus died, my soul to save, my will shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all. Oh, to hear thy love, sing and laugh, our friends, and stay. He watched it, he watched it, white as snow. You're listening to Let the Bible Speak, coming to you from Greenville, South Carolina, the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. I trust that you have already ordered your Let the Bible Speak quarterly magazine. We have a wonderful variety of subjects in this particular issue on the Psalms, including the Imprecatory Psalms, the 119th Psalm, the Shepherd's Psalm. You'll find much here that will be a blessing to you. Many articles, good writers, good devotional, much instruction. All these things are yours free of charge in the Let the Bible Speak quarterly magazine. The back page you'll also be able to read of our worldwide programming schedule and that will enable you to pray for us. So, write to us for your copy of the LTBS quarterly at LetTheBibleSpeak 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615 or you may email us at LTBS at Free Prez, F-R-E-E-P-R-E-S, Free Prez dot O-R-G, or you may call us toll free, 1-866-877-LTBS, 1-866-877-5827. We look forward to hearing from you. Oh. I love you. O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? I never thought I'd dare to ignore. See on the day that it is gone, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? ♪ He'll open a way to the light ♪ ♪ And to the world let our dreams come true ♪ The day he told me lies, He and I through life's night are one. John's Gospel, chapter 2, and we're going to read at verse 23. With God's Word open, let's bow together to pray. Father in heaven, this is Thy Word. How easy it is to say that, and yet what a miracle it comprehends. Lord, we praise Thee. that thou hast given the word that thou hast forever settled in heaven. By inspiration thou hast given it to the writers of Scripture, and in the providence of God thou hast brought it to us in our own language. We think of people of every tongue and tribe across the world today have the opportunity to read the Bible, the book of God, in their own tongue. Lord, we thank Thee for that privilege. Now we open this Word. We don't come as judges of God's Word, but Lord, we come to be judged by God's Word. We open our hearts to Thee and to Thy truth and pray that now Thou wilt speak to us and set forth Christ evidently before us today to meet the need of every heart bring us to a place where actively we will pursue the glory of God. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. John's Gospel, chapter 2, verse 23, reading through to verse 21 of the third chapter. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men. And needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. 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 saith 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, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be sealed. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought. in God. Amen. The Lord will add His own blessing to this familiar passage from His own precious Word for His name's sake. In our studies in the life of Christ, I have pointed out before that the references in the Gospel of John to the Passovers that Christ celebrated at Jerusalem are the key to giving us a chronology of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. We have been dealing with Christ's first Passover for a little time now, and seeing the things that were accomplished on that visit to Jerusalem. This was right at the beginning of His public ministry. We noticed that He cleansed the temple, spent a couple of weeks trying to understand the significance of the Lord Jesus cleansing the temple. We read that he did many wonderful works. He did many miracles. We don't have details of them, except that he did them, and that they attested to his divine person and his divine mission. And then he met with Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, and we have as the result a record of one of the most important, one of the most illuminating interviews that the Lord Jesus ever conducted with anyone during His earthly ministry. It's interesting, and I have to confess that I've never heard a preacher make anything of this. We are so busy with the nuts and bolts and the little parts of the Bible, divided up by chapters as they are, that we sometimes miss the bigger picture. But it's interesting that in direct connection with the first Passover that Christ visited, at it, immediately after it, and then in the wake of it as He went immediately back to Galilee, We read not just of one interview with Nicodemus, but of three interviews that the Lord Jesus conducted. And they're very significant interviews. We find here in chapter 3, of course, the story of Jesus at Nicodemus. Then in chapter 4, verse 4 through 42, we have the interview, the conversation of the Lord Jesus with the woman of Samaria. and the powerful consequences for the whole city as many were turned to Christ. And then from chapter 4, verse 46 through 54, we read of him now back in Galilee at Cana. And there he met with a royal courtier, probably from, and I would say not only probably, it had to be from the court of Herod Antipas. This courtier was very possibly a Gentile. If not, certainly the interview took place in what is known as Galilee of the Gentiles. I put those three things together, and I think that in those three interviews you have a microcosm of the entire ministry, the purpose and the effects of Christ coming into the world. First, he spoke to a Jew. Then he spoke to a Samaritan, and then, as I believe, to a Gentile. The gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jew first, and then also to the Greek, or the Gentile. In Acts chapter 1, he told his disciples, as they were his witnesses, they started in Jerusalem and Judea. then they were to go to Samaria, and then they were to go to the uttermost parts of the earth. This is the pattern. We'll have more to say about that as we continue to study in Romans tonight, in chapter 1, verses 5 and 6 of Paul's epistle there. But this is indeed the pattern that the Lord Jesus sent. Jew, Samaritan, and the Gentiles to the end of the world. Not only so, we find that in chapter 3, He deals with a religious sinner. This Pharisee, this ruler of the Jews. In chapter 4, we find him dealing with an immoral sinner. Jesus said, Thou hast had five husbands, and he whom Thou now hast is not Thine husband. She was living in adultery. Probably the reason why she was at the well when no one else would go. Normally they went at a time when there was quite a congregation, with a social occasion as well as a necessity. It's quite possible she was there because she was an outcast from society. But he dealt with the immoral sinner. And then he met with the courtier, the secular sinner, the worldly man, the worldly wise man. You see, the testimony of these interviews is that the Lord Jesus is the Saviour of the world. And He is the Saviour who is perfectly adapted to the needs of all, be they religious, irreligious, or secular. Be they moral or immoral, be they learned or illiterate, be they rich or poor, young or old, male or female, He is the Saviour of the world. and able to meet the needs of every kind and every class of sinner. Now today, our attention will be on the interview with Nicodemus. Now, as most of you would know without me having to turn you to it in Scripture, this interview is recorded in John chapter 3. But this is one of those occasions when the chapter divisions of the Bible, which of course had no part, no place whatsoever in the Scriptures as given in the original language. The chapter division in a way helps because it isolates this story of the interview with Nicodemus so that we will not forget John 3. It's all about the new birth. That's well worth having the division where it is. But it also has a sort of a malign effect as well, because we tend to start the story of Jesus and Nicodemus at chapter 3 verse 1, whereas in context it starts at chapter 2 and verse 23. And it's very important, as we'll see as we go on, to note that context. You've been listening to Let the Bible Speak, the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. I hope that you found today's broadcasting a blessing to your heart. If you'd like to email us, our email address is ltbs at freepres.org. Or if you'd prefer, you may write us at LetTheBibleSpeak 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, South Carolina 29615. We would love to hear from you. If you'd like to know how to be saved and how to be sure you're saved, we'd like to send you my booklet, A New Beginning, and I think that you'll find it very helpful. Each quarter we publish a free full-color magazine, Let the Bible Speak Quarterly, with a good variety of Bible teaching and testimony. It's available to all who request it. If you'd like to receive more information about the Free Presbyterian Church of North America and its ministry, we'd like to send you our booklet, Separated Unto the Gospel. Or if you'd like to have tape or CD copies of the messages here in Let the Bible Speak, you may have them by contacting us. Or you may visit us on the web at letthebiblespeakradio.com. Now that's a lot of information to digest all at once, but you can find it all on our website, LetTheBibleSpeakRadio.com. There you'll be able to listen to and download our programs, visit our online bookstore, and read a text version of each day's commentary. So visit us today at LetTheBibleSpeakRadio.com. This is Alan Kern saying, thank you for listening. I trust that you'll join us each day at this time, Monday through Friday, as we let the Bible speak.