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. Now here's another take on the Super Bowl that was played at the beginning of February. The National Football League banned a Baptist church in Indianapolis from having what the church had advertised on its website as a super bowl bash. The NFL objected to the Baptist church using its name and logo to promote the church's service, to which it hoped to attract members and others who would like to view the big game on a large 12-foot screen. The NFL also objected to the use of a tape highlighting the testimonies of the coaches of the competing teams. The NFL was not willing to associate itself with the message of the coaches. Its reasons were in part mercenary. It had to have the maximum number of home television sets tuned in to the game for the news and ratings, on the basis of which TV companies set advertising rates. To most Christians, the NFL was the bad guy here. And I can understand that feeling. It's really bad when such an organization fears that the Christian testimony of two of its leading coaches may affect other people. However, in my estimation, the real bad guys in this story are the churches. What on earth have churches come to when they desecrate the Lord's Day and the Lord's house by making both of them the servants of the modern idol called sports. Some people think that the gospel needs celebrity endorsement or a little spicing up with sports stars and sports events. The excuse churches make is that they use the Super Bowl as an evangelistic tool. No doubt they're sincere in this, but they are sincerely wrong. Evangelism should be biblical, and it can't be biblical if it's based on the desecration of the Lord's Day. The truth is that without their big screen productions, the church is concerned fear that they'd be empty on Super Bowl Sunday. That's a significant commentary on the state of professed evangelical Christianity in America. I mean, really, how seriously can you take a man's words that the gospel and salvation are the all-important matters, when just a few minutes before he has been yelling like a lunatic over some big play. You may be forgiven for thinking that more than the pigskin is full of hot air. Confirm the foundation, ye Saints, of the Lord. He is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can he say than to you he hath said, To you who for refuse to Jesus hath blest? Fear not, I am with thee, O be not distrayed, I will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand. Upheld by thy gracious omnipotent hand, When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, Thy grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flames shall not hurt thee, thy only desire. Thy cross to consume and thy gold to refine. A soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not be fed to His foes. That soul, though all hell should end, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. 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. At 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 Let the Bible Speak 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, South Carolina 29615 Or you may email us at ltbs at freepres, F-R-E-E-P-R-E-S, freepres.org. Or you may call us toll free 1-866-877-LTBS 1-866-877-5827. We look forward to hearing from you. O for a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame, a light to shine upon the road, that leads me to the Lamb. Where is that blessedness I knew when first I saw Where is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and his word? What peaceful hours I once enjoyed, how sweet their memories still, but they left an aching void this world can never fill. Return, O holy dove, return, sweet messenger, the sins that made thee born, and drove thee from my breast. So shall my walk be close with God, serene and calm my frame. So pure a light shall mark the road that leads me to the Lamb. We now return one more time to John chapter 3 to look once more at Christ revealing himself to Nicodemus. We've already seen that Christ made great claims for himself and we have been looking at the fact that he evidenced his claims by his omnipotence, the miracles and the signs that he did. We return to the study at the point I made yesterday toward the end that Nicodemus understood the significance of those signs. among the Jews. He knew the thinking of the chief priests and the chief of the scribes and Pharisees. And he says to the Lord Jesus, we know that you've come from God. Actually, I've often said this to you following the idea of a great German commentator, Rudolf Stier. I love to read Stier on the life and the words of Christ. I don't always agree with it, but nonetheless, some tremendous insights. And he points out here, the word rabbi, you know, it had a very ordinary term, but there were times when it would be used, and he quotes Isaiah the prophet here, that in its highest connotation, it actually was a title of Messiah. And given by a rabbi to one that he took to be an unlearned countryman, or otherwise would take to be an unlearned countryman, it assumed that official aura. Thou art come from God was a Hebraism for the Messiah. The one come from God was the Hebrew conception of the Messiah. Now put it together, Rabbi, thou art come from God, This is the order of the words in the Greek sentence. Thou art come from God. And the natural thing would be to finish the sentence, Rabbi thou art come from God, the promised Messiah. But Nicodemus, faltering, timid, tripping over his own words, couldn't finish the thought that was already in his mind. And he ends it off in a way that's completely foreign to all Jewish thinking. Rabbi, thou art come from God. And you can hear him stutter practically. A teacher. A teacher. And even then he had to say, for no man could do these miracles that thou doest accept. We see the force of these signs. We can't escape the force of these signs. It's impossible for any man to see what I have seen without knowing that you have come from God. Just stop and think there for a minute. The we speaks of the Jewish leaders. Did they reject Christ or did they receive Him? They rejected him. They said, give us a sign. And he gave them a whole host of signs. They still rejected him. See, it wasn't a sign they needed. It was a new heart they needed. They needed to get to the end of their sin. A bunch of liars they were. They were liars. They were saying, oh, I want a sign. Oh, I want a sign. Jesus said, I've given you everything. I've let you see it. You know who I am. You know what I have done. You know the authority with which I come. Repent and believe the gospel. But they didn't do that. Why? Because they loved the darkness. Their deeds were evil. The signs were there. for the works of Christ prove who he is and whence he came John 5 36 Jesus says I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father has given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me and Nicodemus agreed no man can do these miracles but thou doest except God be with him think of what Christ has done I was reading A statement from a great American Presbyterian preacher of a generation ago, Clarence McCartney. A couple of generations now actually. Clarence McCartney. McCartney travelled the world a lot. He was a great preacher. But he kind of felt like I'd like to be living in his body for a while. Because he had eyes that looked at things. I've often said to Steve Christopher that I'd like to get in his head for a while, be able to look at the world through the eyes of an artist. I'd love to see color as an artist sees it. I'd love to see God's creation as an artist sees it. I'd love to be able to describe it as a poet describes it. However, I'm just a Philistine, can't do those things. But Clarence McCartney went to many parts of the world. He said, I stood on the coast of Cornwall, southern England, and I saw those great granite cliffs. I saw the seas crashing in all the way from the coast of Labrador. I knew it was no hand of man that cut those crevices in the rocks. No man can do that work. He said, I went out to the sunset. I saw the great sun dip down into the horizon. No hand of man could paint that picture. Then I stopped to think of what Christ had done. What Christ had done. You think of that. You may not be an artist or a poet, but surely you can think of that. What he did in going to the cross, in rising from the dead, in pouring out His Spirit on the day of Pentecost, in calling a multitude to Himself, what Christ has done even in your own life, in giving life to the dead, victory over sin, what Christ has done in bringing you out of the narrow confines of slavery and bringing you into the large place of liberty of the sons of God. Listen, when you see all that Christ hath done, You stand back with Nicodemus and say, we know that thou art come from God, for no man can do these things. These are the works of God. I trust this morning that you will hear the claims of Christ. He is who He says He is. He did what He says He did. His works proclaim. His claims to be true. Do you know anybody else could make a sinner into a saint? Do you know anybody else can say in honesty, with a verdict that will stand the test of the judgment day, thy sins be forgiven thee. Do you know anybody else who can say, I give to my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Do you know anybody else who can say, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. He's the omnipotent Christ. He has power over sin, over sin, power over death and over hell. The living, loving, available Christ of God. I'm not going to follow Nicodemus today, but I'll tell you, when you look at Nicodemus here, you would imagine it's a poor prospect of that fellow ever being saved. He'd have looked at the other people in chapter 2 and said, it's a great prospect of them being saved and he'd have gone the whole wrong way round, for they're the ones who weren't saved, and he's the one who did get saved. Why? It's all of grace. And at the end of the day, it comes down to this. And I hope you'll take this to heart. The end of the day comes down to this. There is Christ. He is light. I am in darkness. Will I come to the light? There is Christ. He is life. I am in death. And yet he says, come to the life. There is Christ. He is salvation. and I am condemned will I come to the Savior and make no delay for this is the one who says you will not come to me that you might have life that's your trouble but him that cometh him that cometh I will in no wise cast out. Make sure you don't put the blame on Christ for you perishing. When the simple fact is, Jesus said, if you want to come to the light, here I am. Here I am. Make sure without delay. Let's bow in prayer. Father in heaven, we do thank Thee for the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. For Thine only begotten Son, the only mediator between God and men, we bless Thee, our Father, for that great gift of love that Thou hast given. How can we ever comprehend it? We cannot do it. Yea, Lord, for all eternity in heaven, We'll be able to explore the depth and yet never exhaust the fullness of that love. We bless Thee for Christ. Thank Thee for all who are in Christ. Thank God for those who have felt the omnipotence of grace, made new creatures in Christ, forgiven, and set on the way to heaven. Bless God for grace, and we pray today that Thou wilt strengthen us in our trust and in our commitment. Lord, we pray that Thou wilt remember those who are not saved, or those, O God, who have a mere, shallow, superficial, meaningless profession like these people of whom we have read, going along with a crowd, going along with an emotional wave, but with no heart commitment to Christ. God, speak to such, we pray, and bring them to the Saviour. We commit this to Thee. Bless Thy word to every heart and give fruit for its proclamation. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 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 freeprez.org. Or if you'd prefer, you may write us at Let The Bible Speak, 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.