Turn with me please in your Bibles to John chapter 3. And as you're turning there, let me just say that I wasn't here yesterday for the preaching, but I prepared this on Tuesday night. So it's the same passage of scripture that we're reading. Now normally that might make me think, oh dear, But you know it made me excited because obviously one of you either wasn't listening yesterday or you weren't here. And the Holy Spirit has a special message for you today. So be listening. It could be you. John chapter three, verse one. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these things that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, truly, 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 the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes. and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the 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 had 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. Amen. How to become a Christian. Now I'm sure I've got you all confused. What does he mean how to become a Christian? Well, that's what I mean exactly that. I want to tell you how someone becomes a Christian. I was talking with my open air class on Monday just about this subject and I thought there needs to be some clarification on this issue. We need to know, especially as we're all called to witness and to go out and make converts, make believers. How does someone become a Christian? So here we are with a biblical account of how someone becomes a Christian. First, let me say this, this isn't the only or exclusive way someone becomes a Christian, but there are principles laid down here, clearly written for our instruction and understanding. You may feel that your salvation came about in a completely different way, that is fine, but please go away and examine yourself. Secondly, I'm not talking about conversion here. Conversion can be false. Many, Jesus says at the last day, will say, Lord, Lord, did we not do this and that? No, we are talking about becoming a genuine believer, a true Christian, truly born again on the narrow but certain road to heaven. So how do we become genuine Christians? Well, number one, you must speak to Jesus. You must speak to Jesus. Yes, that includes God because Jesus is God, but you must talk to him. It says in our passage, 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. Now he's not calling Jesus Lord just yet, but he's talking to him. Do you talk to Jesus? Did you talk to Jesus? Yet personally, I remember sitting on a toilet beneath a bar saying, Lord, I'm praying to you and I don't even believe you were there. Well, what nonsense that was, what foolishness. Of course I knew he was there. Why are you praying then? That's what I heard. It all began, though, with talking to Jesus. Nicodemus knew he must talk to Jesus, so he went at night. Bob Dylan sang, Nicodemus came at night, so he wouldn't be seen by men saying, Master, tell me why a man must be born again. I tell you, it's a good song, but it's not quite right, is it? Nicodemus never asked why, he asked how. He spoke to Jesus and he asked him questions. Have you done that? Do you do that? We can also see that Nicodemus appears to lack understanding. We see this by his question about entering the mother's womb twice. And Jesus answering him, are you the teacher of Israel? And yet you do not understand these things. So I don't believe he was a Christian yet. His spiritual eyes were still not yet opened, but he had done the right thing. come to talk to Jesus. Now, we can't be sure, 100% sure, that the conversation went further, but I guess Nicodemus asked the Lord a few more things. But we are told enough, and we can learn enough from this. We all must tell men and women, boys and girls, to go and speak to Jesus. Ask him to save them. Ask Him to forgive them. Ask Him to change them. They don't have to go at night, unless they don't want to be seen by others, but they have to speak to Jesus for themselves. This is not Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh. This is a sinner before the Saviour. They must go to Jesus for themselves. You can sit, stand or kneel with them, but they must talk to him themselves. Ain't nobody here. After all, they are going to have to walk that lonesome valley all by themselves. And ain't nobody here can walk it for them. The old song says, they got to walk it by themselves. That also means you can't pray and ask them to repeat what you say. Because you see, that won't be them. That will just be your echo. Think about it. And we don't see that in the passage, do we? Jesus didn't bow his head and say, hey, Nico, just say this prayer. He didn't do that, did he? He does teach us how to pray later on. So Jesus isn't against that idea. But even there, it's not a salvation prayer. And we'll look at that another time. No, Jesus doesn't tell Nicodemus to repeat anything after him. So we shouldn't tell others to repeat after us. Now, of course, I'm aware that some of you might be sitting there thinking, hey, hang on a minute, that's what I did. Well, I'm not going to tell you that that is okay. I don't think it is, and it's not biblical. But don't panic. Are you talking to Jesus now? Are you reading your Bible regularly? And I don't mean just pick and mix the verses. Are you speaking and listening to Jesus on a regular basis? Or are you leaning on other people's prayers like you did at the beginning? Maybe like in chapel and church, only is the only time you pray. Not in personal, private prayer or conversation. If that's you, you need to start talking to Jesus by yourself, on your own, but you must speak to Jesus. Secondly, you must be born again. Jesus answered Nicodemus, truly, 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 him, 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 the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said 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 the Spirit. You must be born again. Now notice, I didn't say you must be a born again. You see, that's just a label or a denomination of a church. It has nothing to do with your spiritual state, calling yourself a born again. It is the type of church some people belong to. And believe you me, I have met many people who say they are a born again, yet they know nothing of Jesus Christ or his saving power. There, like Judas Iscariot, he thought he was a-born again, as he went around with them, didn't he? He was with the gang, and he did the kind of things they do. But he wasn't born again. He looked like one, he acted like one, he hung out with them, and he even performed miracles like them. But he wasn't one of them. Beware, he didn't live like them and he wouldn't die like them. He had not experienced the new birth. He was spiritually dead. He wasn't born of water and the spirit. What does that mean? Well, I think you found out yesterday, didn't you? Does it mean baptism and being filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, neither of those things that happened at this time when Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus. These were things that happened later. So Jesus wouldn't be saying them to Nicodemus as if he ought to know. Because that's what he implies, isn't it? He says, are you the teacher of Israel? And yet you do not understand these things. Nicodemus should know this. After all, he is the teacher of Israel. What should he know? What should we know? and a bit of help from John MacArthur. And in Ezekiel 36, verses 24 to 27, God says through Ezekiel, using both water and spirit in the same passage together, he says, for I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart. and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances." And as John MacArthur rightly observes, it was surely this passage that Jesus had in mind, showing regeneration or new birth to be an Old Testament truth. It wasn't just for the New Testament. It was an Old Testament truth with which Nicodemus would have been acquainted because he was the teacher. Against this Old Testament backdrop, Christ's point was unmistakable. Without the spiritual washing of the soul, a cleansing accomplished only by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, no one can enter God's kingdom. You must be born again. of water and the spirit cleansed and renewed, given a new heart and a new spirit. I'm not talking about adopting different habits now, or a new personality per se, but we're talking here about a whole new nature. James Folker quoted here 1 Peter 1 on Tuesday, I don't know if you remember. He quoted from verse 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again. to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. The new birth is not just a change of mind or beliefs. It's not something you do in your head, but we see it's something imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for the new believer. So it cannot be lost or destroyed because it is imperishable. It cannot be contaminated because it is undefiled. And its light cannot be dimmed or snuffed out because it is unfading. In fact, it is permanent, everlasting and eternal because it is kept in eternity in heaven by God. Thank God, praise God. Being born again is a life-changing miracle. You say you don't believe in miracles, Mr Kinsella. I do. I'm standing here. I'm a living miracle. I was changed by God. It's a life-changing miracle experienced by those who go to Christ and receive the new birth. You must be born again. You must speak to Jesus. And thirdly, you must wait on the Holy Spirit. Being born again of water and the Spirit means it is not of man. It is not our decision. It's not you accepting Jesus. I hear that so often. I accepted Jesus. No, you didn't. And it is a work of the Spirit. And by the Spirit, we mean the Holy Spirit. And again, God, the Holy Spirit. It's so important that we are Trinitarian. because it's the work of all three, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And John spells this out in chapter one of his gospel, where he writes, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, from verse nine, the true light, that is Jesus, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. You can't accept him if you do not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. You might think, well, that's me. No, who were born, listen to this, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It is God, the Holy Spirit, who gives new birth to unbelievers. And who does he give it to? Well, Jesus tells Nicodemus, 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 the Spirit. Was Nicodemus born again that night? We're not told. He is mentioned though twice again in John's gospel. The next time we do get the impression that something has happened to him because he defends Jesus before his Pharisee colleagues. So there's something going on. And then the last time it's mentioned, we know something has happened because he's boldly involving himself in the burial of Jesus. When all the disciples at that time had deserted the Saviour, Nicodemus was one of those involved in preparing the body. But was he saved that night with Jesus? I don't think, we don't know and we're not told. So let us not presume or pretend we do or can know. We can't. We can't know the working of the Spirit. But does that mean then that we shouldn't bother evangelising? Some might say, well, if we don't know, why bother? Don't be ridiculous. At Harland, he shoots, doesn't he, all the time. Does he know he will score? Of course not. But he hopes. Young Ezra pits. He puts a worm on a hook and dangles it off a stick over the edge of the boat, hoping to catch a fish. Does he know if he'll be successful? Of course not. But he hopes. And me, when I'm on the green 30-foot putt, will it go in? I don't know. I hope so. And so it is with evangelism. We don't know if they will be saved, but we hope. Amen. And besides, we're commanded to preach the gospel because you see it is through the foolishness of preaching the cross that Paul reminds us sinners are saved. It is not through your efforts. It is through the foolishness of preaching, not the fanciness of preaching, not your eloquence of preaching, but the foolishness of preaching, Paul says. Pray for a movement of the Spirit of God through your preaching, through your witnessing, the witness of the church in general, and the preaching of the word specifically, even here among us. Is the Lord calling you this morning? Because you didn't listen yesterday? Or because you weren't here? 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 the Spirit. Is the wind blowing through the pews here this morning? Through your room as you maybe listen on the radio? Pray, the Spirit will fall upon all those who hear the word of God, who hear this sermon, on all those who come and talk to Christ, that all might be born again. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many, many, But the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Am I talking to you? We must wait on the Spirit, but as we wait, let us all pray that he moves among us with saving power, Let us be sure to talk to Christ and be sure we have asked for our new heart and new life. That's all I did. And let us be sure we are born again of water and the Spirit. And let us not rest until we have wrestled the blessings from God through ceaseless petitioning and constant praying. And then, Maybe we'll all be able to sing with boney M. All those prayers of mine weren't in vain. I'm born again. Amen. You must be born again. Let's pray. Father in heaven, what a passage. What a story, what an example, what an instruction. Oh Lord God, help us to talk to you, not just to listen to others as they talk, but Lord God, to have our own prayer life, to have our own conversations with you, to open the Bible and hear you speaking to us and to talk back to you. Speak to us, we pray. Help us to talk to you. And Lord God, help us who do not know you to be born again. Wash us through your spirit, Lord God. Cleanse us and renew this old stony heart in us, we pray. And Lord God, those of us who drifted, those of us who blocked our ears, please, Lord God, again unblock them. Forgive us our sin. Cleanse us and renew us again. Renew a right spirit within us. And Lord God, wash us with your Holy Spirit. Draw near to us, Lord God. Save us, we pray, as we ask in the precious name of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of sinners. Amen.