As the Lord may be pleased to help us this morning, I would like to direct your prayerful attention to the words found in the chapter that we read together, in the Gospel according to John, in chapter 3, and we'll take as our text, verse 7, where the Lord Jesus says to Nicodemus, marvel not, that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The gospel according to John chapter three and verse seven. The Lord Jesus is he who stands ready to save. And what a wonderful blessing this is. He had, as we read together, performed his first miracle. In John chapter two, we read about it. And those disciples who were with him had a wonderful experience of a realization that not knowing why, or the outcome, they learned the wonderful blessing of obedience. Because what we read is, at that wedding, the head of the feast must have been very embarrassed because they invited more people than they had wine sufficient to drink. And the word went round that there was a shortage of wine. What the Lord Jesus said to the disciples was, fill the water pots with water, which they did. These water pots, if you convert the volume of them, would have held about eight or nine gallons of liquid. They would have been quite big. They were filled to the brim. The disciples didn't know what was going to happen. They would have been the water containers which were normally used for ceremonial washings. But the Lord Jesus knew exactly what he was doing, because he commanded them to fill the water pots. They were involved in it, but it was he who performed the miracle whereby the water was turned into wine. This grape juice that came out of there was most acceptable, better than what they started with. The Lord Jesus is he who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power, that is his power, that worketh in us. And we have before us a man named Nicodemus, who came to the Lord Jesus by night, a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. He was a man of great learning. He was a Pharisee. He would have been working to the upholding of the Old Testament law and rules, rules which sadly they had added to, and they were so keen to preserve all these things, and of course the Apostle Paul was one of them. Until the Lord Jesus met with him on that Damascus road, he referred to himself as a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And the Apostle Paul was going about destroying the only church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what happened? The Apostle Paul was suddenly struck down. A light shone round about him, we read, brighter than the noonday sun. And a voice spoke to him, the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And of course, the Pharisees were involved, them with the Sadducees, in turning people away from the Lord Jesus Christ and the New Testament teaching to the extent that they did not believe in the glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember how that following the resurrection, when the guards were set up to guard the tomb, and when we think of that, dear friends, it doesn't hardly sound true, does it? Who would set an army of soldiers on watch to guard a grave, to make sure a dead person doesn't come out of that grave. But they did. Pilot said, you have a watch, and they did, and they put a seal on the stone. What happened? That same angel that came, and by the power of God given, those guards were thrown backwards, Lord Jesus Christ rose again on that glorious Easter morning, first day of the week, the same day as we are gathering together for worship today. The first day of the week reminds us that we worship our Lord Jesus Christ who has risen again from the dead and has power over sin and death and hell and this same Lord Jesus is he who rose again from the dead. And the same angel who by God's power threw back those people who were guarding, it's the same one who spoke so tenderly to those dear women who came that same morning. And he said, he is not here for he is risen. come see the place where the lord lay and go and tell his disciples and so on now what a blessing it is that the lord jesus in all his risen and ascended power spoke to the apostle paul and brought him out of darkness into light and we have here a character nicodemus He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council, and we have an account of him coming to see Jesus by night. He might well have come at night because he had his fellow Pharisees, and I understand there would have been a great number of them at this time, a number of thousands, If any of them had seen him in daylight with Jesus, he would have had a lot of answers to give. But he chose to come at night. We can come to Jesus whenever and whatever our case or condition. And more than that, he has invited. The door of God's mercy we sometimes sing is open all day to the poor and the needy who knock by the way. And no sinner was ever yet empty sent back who came seeking mercy for Jesus' sake. This same Lord Jesus is he who spoke so kindly to Nicodemus who came to him by night. and he might well have come because there was discussion going on amongst the Pharisees regarding the Lord Jesus. Because if you look at the context, and we must always admire the translators of the version of scripture we've got, for the accuracy, look at verse two in chapter three, and it says the same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, that is, teacher, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. We. He's not speaking just for himself. It's as though he's coming with a question that's come up in their discussions and of course not realizing that the Lord Jesus could look into his heart and know all about him. He had a personal disturbance going on in his heart and life. And of course, we shall see, as we look further into this subject, that he truly was a follower of the Lord Jesus. And of course, his influence amongst the Pharisees, because he had the fear of the Lord in his heart, and the teaching of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus would have watched over him in his pathway. But he came to the Lord Jesus and made a statement, 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. Now the Lord Jesus didn't argue that point, no. Jesus said unto him, verily, verily, that means very truly, earnestly, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. What a statement the Lord Jesus made. to counter the statement that Nicodemus made. Nicodemus came by night, yes, so that he might not be seen, but he was very much in the nighttime of his experience, wasn't he? And I don't know what your condition is this morning, Maybe one listening in online, having a disturbance going on in his heart and soul, a realization that he has a soul, a realization that there is a Lord Jesus. And who put that there? Well, that would have been God in his wonderful mercy. He puts questions into our heart and questions require answers and It may be that you're still in the night time of your experience, but you can come to the Lord Jesus, he who hears and answers prayer. And Nicodemus needed the glorious gospel of the new birth of the saved soul to be explained to him. and we have a wonderful record of it. And reading this just recently, reading it through again, I thought, you know, we've got a wonderful privilege. It's as though we can, as we read these verses before us, it's as though we can listen in, listen to the dialogue between the Lord Jesus Christ and Nicodemus, who was a ruler of the Pharisees having a discussion. And the Lord Jesus is he who is able to make the glorious good news of the gospel clearly defined to this man. And it tells us much of the wonderful character of the Lord Jesus to whom there is a welcome to those who come. We see here the Lord Jesus is very firm in what he teaches, but he's friendly. He's welcoming. And this is all part of the wonderful nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we read when the epistle to the Hebrews was first written, There's a wonderful statement made in the opening verses. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. The creator, yes, and the creator of a work of grace in the heart, soul and mind of a person on this earth. And the word goes on to say, who be in the brightness of his glory and the expressed image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sin, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. This same Lord Jesus, in all his glory, all his power, is the same Lord Jesus who speaks so kindly to one who comes to him. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And he goes on to say, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. We're all living creatures, yes? But here Nicodemus was gaining a personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not trained by men, no, but by the divine power of and the right of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus leads his people on to a knowledge of their personal need. He who came by night came with his need. and he came to know the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the night and the need and the name. Nicodemus was shown his need, not just to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was a teacher come from God, And as he says in verse two, except God be with him, God was not only with the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus is God. As we read in those opening words to the Hebrews, he is the express image of God's person. He is co-equal, co-eternal, he is God in the form of a man. He who humbled himself, he came to this earth, And he uniquely lived a life of perfection. No one before, no one since, has ever lived a life of perfection. The Lord Jesus did. And this, although all the arrows of Satan were fired at him, he did not shrink from leading a perfect life. And this he had to do to secure the salvation of lost souls. He had to be the fulfillment of that wonderful Passover lamb without blemish. Remember, if you go back into the Old Testament at the Exodus, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, there was a Passover service. And the lamb sacrifice then had to be a lamb perfect. If it had a scar, an injury, or an illness, and it was imperfect, that lamb was not accepted. It had to be a lamb without blemish. And it's called the Passover because the angel of death was to pass over that night. And the word went forth. When the blood of the lamb was painted on the side posts and the lintels of the door, God made that wonderful statement. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. I will pass over you. If we, dear friends, are trusting in that supreme sacrifice for sin of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby people who are born again, born from above, are trusting for salvation in the finished work of the Lord Jesus, God will pass over their sin. And that blood foretells so much. That blood had to be painted on the doorposts and the lintel. Not to be spilt on the doorstep. No, it's precious. It must not be trodden underfoot. It is precious. And Jesus is precious, says the word. There is no other name given unto heaven among men, whereby we must be saved, in the name of Jesus. And therefore, the Lord Jesus teaches Nicodemus these wonderful truths, 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 Lord Jesus came into this world of darkness. He came from the Father of light. And he came to individuals just like you and I. And he shows us our need because he is the fountain of all truth. And his truth teaches us of eternal life. And therefore, we dear friends, can venture our souls on such a savior. Nicodemus came with what he did believe. He said, we know. We know that thou art a teacher come from God. The Lord Jesus said to him, no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. Verse 13. Even the son of man which is in heaven. The Lord Jesus knows about heaven, doesn't he? He is God. His dwelling place is in heaven. His condescending love to lost souls in this world of sin, His condescending love was so great that He laid aside His glory in heaven. He took upon Him the form of a servant. And it's in Mark's Gospel, we read that wonderful statement of the Lord Jesus, that He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. What a wonderful truth this is, that our Lord Jesus came to serve. He is a servant saviour. He humbled himself. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God, his Father, hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord. Now Lord Jesus is he who speaks, and speaks of his wonderful grace. It is only new life in God that is able to bring a soul into a living relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is able, and salvation by grace is able to bring a soul into a living relationship with our Lord Jesus. Birth, naturally, when we are all born as little babies, is the beginning of our life. To be born again is the beginning of a new life in Christ Jesus. To be born from above. It's not just a case of patching up the old and improving it. No, a new life is a new life. If you go back into the Old Testament and see the wonderful miracle in the days of Elijah when Naaman the leper was so miraculously healed. We read that Naaman was told to go and wash himself seven times in Jordan and he would be healed. He protested. He said he came from a A nation where, he said, there's wonderful rivers. Can I not wash in them and be clean? No. Naaman had to learn humility. The River Jordan, I believe, is the lowest river in the world. He had to be brought down to a realization of his helplessness and his own inability, whereby he could receive this miracle of healing. His servants were the ones who were more wise than me. His servants said to him, and they spoke very feelingly, they said, father, they spoke to him as a father, they said, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, wash and be clean? And at that, Naaman obeyed, He went down into Jordan, we read he dipped himself seven times, and he came out healed. And the scriptures tell us something else. His skin was as the skin of a little child. We've recently had a great-grandson born in our family, and I looked at his hands, and they weren't knocked about and weathered Scarred like mine, his skin was smooth, perfect, unblemished. Naaman's skin wasn't just healed. If you and I had that deadly disease of leprosy, and our skin was made like it was beforehand, we would most likely be satisfied and be very thankful. Because leprosy is a destroyer. But his skin, Naaman's skin, we read was like the skin of a little child. New life, new beginning. And therefore, our God is he who begins with a new foundation. It is God's design and God's plan. And therefore, all these things are that which meet the need of those who come to Jesus. Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The Lord Jesus was teaching Nicodemus very patiently and very plainly that there can be no other birth to be born again than to be born of the Holy Spirit, born from above. The Lord Jesus refers to him as a master in Israel. He said, Art thou not a master in 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? It's then that he tells him that he is the son of God, the son of man, who came to this earth as God in the form of a man. And then he goes on to tell him of the finished work of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus himself, who lived a life of perfection, as we already mentioned. But how was sin to be put away? God must deal with sin. We cannot escape the fact that a guilty soul is that which will lead us to be eternally lost. But we sung in that last hymn that we sung together, I'll just turn it up, 764. There's a hymn that dear Dr. Watts, the hymn writer, closes that hymn with. Verse five says, stretch out thy arm victorious king, my reigning sins subdue. Drive the old dragon from his seat with all his hellish crew. And then he comes to the true condition of a seeking soul, a guilty, weak and helpless worm, on thy kind arms I fall, be thou my strength and righteousness, my Jesus and my all. The heading over that hymn is faith in Christ for pardon and sanctification. Surely this is our salvation, to know that the Lord Jesus is our strength and righteousness and we have none of our own. It is He alone who can put away our sin. And this, the Lord Jesus is reminding Nicodemus, a master in Israel, he would have known the writings and the life of Moses, Children of Israel brought out of Egypt and set on their way to the Promised Land. But what happened? When those people rebelled and complained, the Lord sent fiery snakes among them, didn't he? And people began to die. And they had a realisation. Not only a realisation, but they felt their sin. Every bite of those snakes, yes, would have taught them the acuteness of the danger that they were in. The Lord spoke to Moses and told him to make a serpent of brass and hold it up on a pole. And we read a wonderful thing then, don't we? The people were told. And there were thousands, hundreds of thousands of them, that serpent had to be held up on a pole and it would have shone like the brass that we have either side of me here in that brilliant Middle Eastern sunshine. The people at the back might not have been able to see it very clearly, but in the sunlight they would have seen the reflection of that serpent of brass telling us of the Lord Jesus bearing the sin of all who will come to trust in him, bearing it on that cruel cross. Looking forward to that. A type of the Lord Jesus giving his life to pay the penalty for sin and satisfy God's righteous justice on the behalf of all who come to trust in him. What we read of that account in the scriptures is that everyone who looked lived. To those who looked to Jesus, he who suffered on that cruel cross, and remember when he was in the garden of Gethsemane, he took on him the full weight Of all the sin, of all, he had eternally designed to save. All that the Father has given me shall come to me, he said. And he took on himself the full weight of all that sin. And he knew the agony he would have to endure. He prayed to his Father in heaven. He said, Father, if it be possible, let this cut pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. At that point, the Lord Jesus gave his life. And remember, he had power to do it. He made that remarkable statement. And we find it in the scriptures. He said, no man taketh my life from me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This have I received from my father. The Lord Jesus himself spoke to Nicodemus of this wonderful sacrifice once and for all for sin. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Have eternal life, when? Now. A new life beginning on this earth. A saving and living relationship with our Lord Jesus. which will continue while life shall endure and continue for all eternity in the immediate presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, who spoke to Nicodemus and said, marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. When the Apostle Peter was tried and they tried to blame him for causing a riot because he preached the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus. What was his answer? He said, neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. What a blessing it is that we have that word must. Surely this should give to us a heart to seek for that assurance, which is not in our own strength, but in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. All who looked, lived, and so it is in Christ. All who look to our Lord Jesus Christ, some can see more clearly than others, But don't be put off, dear friend. You look, if the Lord Jesus is pleased to bless you, what a blessing that is. He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him. That's the big point, dear friend. Believe in him. there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved than the name of Jesus. And good Nicodemus showed such love to the Lord Jesus because he shone very brightly when we come to the other end of John's gospel. If we look at John chapter 19, John chapter 19, after the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you may be sure that Nicodemus was there witnessing, and he would have heard that centurion say, surely this was a righteous man, the Lord Jesus, he would have witnessed the wonderful salvation by grace of that thief who in life's latest hour looked to the Lord Jesus and said, Lord, remember me when I come into thy kingdom. And the Lord Jesus spoke to him and remember the agony The pain he was bearing to put away sin, even the sin of that one who was by his side on a cross. He said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. What a promise. But what we read is, when the Lord Jesus had given his life for sin, to save lost souls for all eternity. We read in John chapter 19 and verse 38, 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. 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 took they, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, they were there to put the Lord Jesus' body in the tomb. They took the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden, a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they, Jesus. Therefore, because of the Jews, preparation day, for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. Nicodemus was there for that vast crowd who was there to see. If the Lord Jesus is at work in a person's heart and soul, that person will be made manifest as one who is a believer in the Lord Jesus. Nicodemus, the subject of God's saving grace. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship. May the Lord add his blessing to these few remarks. Amen.