morning, John chapter three. Patty and I are glad to be here today. We have looked forward to being here all week actually. And it's good to know that there's churches around that believe the fundamentals that sing out in the hymn book. And you know, brother Jose, he kind of shamed you a little bit today. He said, y'all need to smile when you're singing. And I appreciate, where's brother Jose? Did he slip out of here? Where are you brother? Yeah, there you go, all right. I understand we're having lunch together today, is that correct? Yes, I'm glad you were smiling. I think, yes, there's another song leader that likes to smile. And when people are singing up here, you need to smile at them, because they don't like to see sour faces, amen? Choir, that was a great song this morning, too, I appreciate that. I know there's a lot of work that goes into, and preparation to be able to sing. Brother Green, that was a blessing today. John chapter three is where we are this morning. Somebody said that the, That ignorance is bliss. Well, it might be blissful until you find out the truth, and then it's not so blissful. The Bible tells us that the Gospel of John was written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life through His name. We're gonna look at John here, and we're gonna look at the account where Jesus met with a man named Nicodemus. Actually, Nicodemus went to see Jesus. And it's kind of interesting as we look at it this morning, but here in John chapter three, let's begin reading in verse number one. The Bible says 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 a 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, neither 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 which we do know, and testify that we have seen. And ye receive not our witness, if I have told you of earthly things, and ye believe not? How shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up into 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 everlasting life. In church, I want you to read verse 16 with me together. 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." Let's pray together. Father, we thank You this morning for the gift of salvation. Thank You for the testimony and the witness we have in Scripture here today that we have to be born again. We must be born again. I'm sure this morning There are folks here that have been born again. They've trusted you as their Savior. But we don't want to take for granted that everyone in this room is born again. My Lord, there may be some here this morning that have heard the gospel message, they have heard the truth that you are the only way of salvation, and yet they still have resisted. They still have not trusted you as their Savior. I pray today, Holy Spirit, that you do a work in their heart and they would submit themselves to you. They'd humble themselves before you and come to know you as their Savior. We love them because the church and the bride say, come. The spirit and the bride say, come. And so we want them to come to know you as their Savior today. Open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of your law. In Jesus' name, amen. You know, if there's one thing that you and I do not need to be ignorant about is that fact that we must be born again. We must be born again. You know, we like our doctors to be dogmatic with us. If I were to go to the doctor and he were to tell me, hey, everything's okay, you're doing great, and I have cancer, I'm not doing great. I want the doctor to tell me the truth. I want him to tell me you have cancer and we need to do something about it. And the fact of the matter is this morning that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and we must. Be born again. We must. There's three things I want us to look at this morning in this scripture, and it's the man, who is Nicodemus, the miracles that Nicodemus said, we see these miracles, and then I want you to see with me this morning the message that God has for him that Jesus did. First of all, let's look at the man. He was a Pharisee, the Bible tells us in verse number one. He was a man of the Pharisees. Who were the Pharisees? Well, they were the guardians of the religious and moral law of the day. And in belief we would say that they were probably religious conservatives. They were conservative, very much so, and they were correct on all the points of doctrine except one. And the fact is where they weren't correct was that religion is an external thing. It's just something that you do. But the Bible tells me that religion is not external, it's internal. It's an internal matter of the heart. And because the Bible says in Ephesians 2, 9, it says salvation is not of works. As any man should boast. It's not of works. Salvation isn't something that I do outside. And there's a multitude of people today that have been deceived into thinking that if I do this and I don't do this, then I'm going to get to heaven. But the fact of the matter is, salvation is not of works. There's one work that's already been finished at Calvary, and that's the finished work of Jesus Christ. And I trust His finished work on the cross of Calvary for me. And so it is not an external thing, it's an internal thing. Salvation is not of works, but it's by the mercy of God. By God's mercy that He saved us. Salvation is by grace through faith, not of works, as any man should boast. Titus 3, 5 says, it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. I don't know about you, but I want mercy. I don't want justice. I want mercy. Salvation is not an external matter. It's a matter of the heart. You see, what we all need is we need a heart operation. We need a new heart. Our old corrupt nature, our old heart, God could not do anything with it. He just left it and gave us a brand new heart. And it's a miraculous work of God. It's a miraculous work. Salvation is not an external matter, but an internal matter. However, when I get my heart changed, when I get a brand new heart, that salvation works its way out. It does work. Salvation works after I've been saved. Salvation is a free gift. I don't work for it. But once I am saved, I do work because I love the Lord and I want to serve him. So the Pharisees, of whom Nicodemus was a ranking member, were opposed to Christ, were opposed to his teachings. And they were, early on in Christ's ministry, plotting how they could get rid of him. And they wanted to, they plotted because he was everything that they were not. He was holy and they were not holy. And they thought righteousness was by doing. But salvation is not by doing, it's by. A gift, you receive salvation. So Nicodemus, however, seems to be an exception to his party in the fact that he sought out Jesus. He was a member, the Bible also says he was a ruler of the Jews. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a 70-member group of men that were chosen. They were experts in the law. They knew it very well, and they were chosen. They were the, if we could put it this way, they were the experts in religious matters in the time of Christ. And the high priest ruled over them. So there were 70 members plus one, which was the high priest. And they were members, they were in control of the religious government of the day, while the Romans were rulers over the civil government of the day. They did, however, could pass a judgment or sentence of death on someone, but they couldn't carry it out. And that's exactly what we saw, what we see in the scripture about Jesus. They said, by our law he should die, but we can't carry it out, so you all have to do it. And of course they did. Jesus was rejected of men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. So, but, so we see that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, he was a Pharisee, but he was also a master, a master of the law. In verse number 10, Jesus asked him, he said, art thou not a master of Israel? And no, it's not these things. He was a teacher. He was an expert teacher. He was an expert at the law. In our Bible here we see Jesus says, art thou not a master? And the word a there is an indefinite article. But in the Greek it uses a definite article. He says, aren't you the teacher of the law? You're a teacher. He was held in high esteem. He was right up there with Gamaliel. He was a teacher of the law. He should have understood all these things. But he didn't. And you know what? We know that the Bible says that the natural man receiveth not the things of God, for they're felicitous unto him. Jesus was talking about spiritual things, and Nicodemus didn't get it. He didn't understand the truth. And you know, we see that today among people. People you work with, you tell them the truth of the gospel, you tell them what the Bible says, and they're ignorant of it. They just don't get it. You know, that's the way spiritual truth is. The natural man can't receive it. He takes it another way. This morning in Sunday school we talked about when Jesus said, destroy this temple and I'll raise it up in three days. He was talking about himself and they thought he was destroying their building that was 46 years in building. You see, The natural man doesn't understand spiritual truth. In Nicodemus, he was an expert at the law. He should have known the law, but he didn't. He was ignorant of it. He was ignorant of the truth. And so, that's what the Bible says. He was also cowardly. The Bible says that he came to Jesus by night. He was fearful of the consequences that might happen to him. if he met Jesus in the daylight. Because he was a man of position, power, authority. And he didn't want his other colleagues to think that he was, you know, associating himself with that Galilean. So he came to Jesus by night. You know, He was fearful of the consequences if he was seen with Jesus openly. And John chapter 19 verse 38 substantiates that claim because the Bible says he was friends with another man named Joseph of Arimathea. And Joseph was, according to that verse, he was a disciple of the Jews but secretly for fear of the Jews. So Joseph was a secret disciple because he was afraid of what might happen if he associated with this Galilean. So was Nicodemus. He was afraid of what might happen. So Nicodemus risked losing his prestige, his power, his position if he were discovered. So that's why he came to Jesus under cover of darkness. Because he didn't want to get, you know, seen. But you know, the fact of the matter is, the Bible says that whosoever believeth on the Lord is not ashamed. He's not ashamed. Not ashamed of Jesus. True disciples are bold. True disciples identify themselves with Jesus Christ. You know at work, where you work, I hope you're not a secret disciple. I hope when you go to the restaurant, before you eat your meal, you're not a secret disciple. Excuse me, amen. You know, people know that we're religious, you know. But you ought to thank God for your food. And you ought to pray, you know, out loud. I'm not saying real loud so everybody in the whole place will hear you. But you ought to pray out loud. You ought to be not ashamed of Christ. Identify with Him. Whosoever believeth on him is not ashamed. Not ashamed in church to sing out loud, smile. I'm glad I know who Jesus is, because I'm his disciple and I'm a follower of him. In church we ought to identify with him, in the public we ought to identify with him, and we ought to go about bearing his shame. We ought to. I know this world in America has changed so much in several years. It's not the same America that I grew up with. And I'm not that old, by the way. Well, I guess I am old. I have grandchildren now. That's when you consider a man old, when he has grandchildren. So I have five and two more on the way. I'm really getting old, am I not? But we need to identify with Christ. I would expect the world not to want to identify with him because they don't know him. Nicodemus didn't know him. He was ashamed. So Nicodemus comes to him. We see the man, but we see the miracles. Nicodemus' inquiry is done in good taste. I mean, he calls Jesus a rabbi, which is okay. He could have called him better than that. But he did call him a rabbi. And that term was a respectful term. He said rabbi. Now you know what, if I could digress here just a little bit. You know, it bothers me when we see in our churches that digression from respect and honor for people that are in Christian service. Can I say this, and I'm not from here, but it bothers me I guess when I have people call me by my first name. It bothers me when I have people that come to our church and they call our preacher by his first name, it really bothers me. You know, they call him Brother Elmo. I think, ooh. You know, it's not that it's a sacred thing, but you ought to call somebody by their last name. Chalk it up for, you know, Brother Kirtland said he was from Michigan. He lived there 15 years. Well, I lived there 18 years. And up there, you call people by their last name. You didn't use their first name. Just didn't do it. It was respect. You know, if you call somebody by their first name, and to this day, Brother Pelicone, you know, I know what your first name is and everything. I know. I'm glad I know now how to say your last name, you know, because it's respect. It's respect. That's what it is. And we're losing that in our culture. It's just, oh, whatever, you know? There's no decorum, there's no respect. And God's people, we all have respect. Nicodemus has respect for Jesus' rabbi. He calls him by rabbi. He says, we know. It's a cover. We know. We've been discussing it. We know. That's what people do when they think they know something. They have to get other authorities. We, the Sanhedrin, know that you're from God. You know, when somebody knows the Lord, he said, I know. That's what the Apostle Paul said. I know in whom I have believed. And it persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And not me only, but everybody. I know. Nicodemus says, we know. And that's what people do. You know, they're afraid of being too dogmatic. We know. I know. You know, if you're born again, can I say this again? I know who Jesus is. I'm glad He's my Savior. And you can know Him too. So Nicodemus thought that Jesus' miracles proved that he was from God. We know, verse two says, that you're a teacher come from God, for no man could do these miracles that he does except God be with him. God's gotta be with you because you're doing miracles. You know, the fact of the matter is that if somebody works miracles, does that really prove he's from God? I have to say no. It doesn't prove he's from God. Because Satan's ministers work miracles. 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 13 through 15 tells us that. They do miracles. The devil does miracles. Remember in Egypt when Moses and his brother Aaron were there and they threw down their rod and the false prophets, you know, they threw down their rod. They became snakes just like Moses did. But the right snake ate all the others up. So just because somebody does miracles doesn't mean they're from God. But the fact of the matter is we know from Scripture in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that the Antichrist and the false prophet are going to do miracles. And the world is going to, wow, going to be deceived by the miracles. The Bible says that he's given power by Satan to do those things. So it doesn't mean that just because somebody does miracles they're from God. Even the lost people of the great white throne judgment will say that they did many wonderful works in thy name. But Jesus says, I don't know you. I don't know you. And so while it's true that Jesus' miracles were for the purpose of supporting his divinity and his claim to messiahship and being a redeemer, he didn't even consider his miracles a mark of that either. Because in John chapter eight, excuse me, John chapter 10, verse 38, he said, Though ye believe me, excuse me, though ye believe not me, my words, believe my works, my miracles, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him. In John chapter 6, when Jesus preached the message about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, people said, oh, that's a gross cannibalism. We don't like, that's a hard saying. We're out of here. And they went away and didn't follow him anymore. Jesus said to his disciples, will you also go away? Are you also going to leave me? And Peter, we know his great confession there. He said in verse 68, Lord, to whom shall we go? Now notice what he says, thou hast the words of eternal life. It wasn't, you're doing great miracles, you're feeding 5,000, wow, you're awesome. No, he said, you have the words of eternal life. And he says, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. It wasn't the miracles, it was his words. Jesus says, my words, believe my words. If you don't believe my words, then look at the miracles. But believe what I say, I'm telling you the truth, the truth. And so it ought to be the message above everything else that determines where you go to church and the preacher you set yourself under. Is he preaching the truth? That's the most important thing. It's not, wow, he's funny. Wow, you know, boy, they got great activities at the church. Wow, they got great things for our kids. I mean, this is awesome. It's not the works, it's the words. Is it the truth? That's what determines where you go to church and what you believe. It's the Word of God. And Peter said, we're sure. We're sure. We believe your words. You have the words of eternal life. Nick says, you're doing great miracles. You've got to be from God. You have to be. Not necessarily so. But you know, Jesus goes on there and he doesn't say anything about that. He didn't say to Nicodemus, yeah, you're right. I am from God because of these miracles. He doesn't say that. Look what he says in verse number three. He says, 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. The importance of the new birth is in the double verities, verily, verilies that he uses. Amen, amen, amen, amen. When Jesus says something once, you ought to listen, but if he says it twice, it's important. In the book of John, the gospel of John, 25 times, in that alone, we find verily, verily. Listen up, this is what I have to say, it's a great truth. And the second reason the new birth is important is because Jesus says, you can't see, a man cannot see the kingdom of God if he's not born again. You know, the one thing that ought to be most important to us is eternity. Because the fact of the matter is all of us in this room are eternal souls. We're going to live on somewhere forever. And there's only two things that are gonna last forever. This book right here, it's settled forever in heaven. It's a forever book. This and your soul is gonna last somewhere forever. And so it's something we need to be concerned about. Is eternal life. Where am I going to spend eternity? 100 years from now, most of us probably won't be here. Where will you be? Where? The Bible says unless you're born from above, unless we're born from above, everything that's good comes down from above. Every good gift comes from above, wisdom comes from above, the right kind of wisdom, and eternal life comes from above. Except a man be born from above, again he cannot see the kingdom of God. There is a kingdom coming. And you want to be a part of that kingdom. So first of all, he says to Nicodemus, the nature of the new birth is it's not physical. It's not physical. Notice Nicodemus' response to him. In verse number four, he says, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Well, what he's talking about there is the first birth from below. Earthy birth. That's what he was thinking. Earthy birth. You know, that's the whole thing. And the fact is that we all are born the sac birth, the amniotic fluid that we all were in. were born that way. And Nicodemus was thinking, can somebody that is old do that again? You see, that is the way carnal man is. He does not get spiritual truth. God always gives you something, but there is always something deeper there. And that is what he was getting to, the deeper part. the deeper part of it. And so it's a contrast. He was contrasting the spiritual birth with the physical birth. And the spiritual birth is something that God does. The physical birth is of God too, and there's a joy when a child is born. There is a joy. Parents, you know, there's the agony of the birth, but there's a joy that a man child's been born. Hallelujah, you know? Some of you are expecting here, my daughter-in-laws are expecting, and there's the pain of the birth, but then there's the joy when the child's born. Hallelujah, you know? But also there is a joy and a spiritual birth. And Jesus says here, it's a spiritual nature. It's a spiritual thing. It's being born of the Spirit. And here he's talking about the fact is that the Holy Spirit is the Father, if you want to put it that way, of this birth. And it's a thing that happens. It's a miracle. It's a miracle. Salvation is a miracle of God. And you know what? When there's a spiritual birth, when somebody comes to know Christ as their Savior, there's joy too. The Bible says there's joy in the presence of the angels when one sinner repents and gets saved. You know, most people say, well, that means that the angels are happy. No, they want to look into these things. They say, wow, the mercy of God upon creatures that are sinful and God saves them, that's incredible. So who's getting happy? It's saved folks and it's God himself. The angels are standing in awe. They got their wings up over their head like this. Got attention. And heaven's getting happy when somebody's born again. Hallelujah! And Jesus himself is happy because that's why he came. That's why he died. So that we can have eternal life. So we can be born again. It's a miracle. And there is joy. You know, when people get saved at church or when you hear about somebody getting saved, you ought to want to tell somebody about it. I told you in Sunday school, when Larry got saved and I didn't want to leave the house, then the next thing I did was get with my soul winning buddy, Russ Cooper. And I said, Russ, because Russ had gone with me to that. I said, Russ, Larry got saved. He said, no way. I said, yes way. He got saved, you know? And I was still, I wasn't. Like this. I mean, I was crying. And there were tears of joy. I didn't want to leave the house when Larry got saved. I mean, Larry's 60 years old. That's a miracle when older people get saved. that God had already been working. I didn't do anything. I was just another agent. His brother had been praying that God would send somebody. Hey, you got somebody that's lost. You got somebody way far away. You need to pray that God sent somebody. His brother said, his brother said, Larry won't listen to me. I'm his brother. And his brother Robert had gotten saved a year before. He said, send somebody. And you know when he sent us in the fall? He'd send our teenagers there, gave out some tracts. And then we showed up. And Russ said, why don't we just go down here? And he works at a Kemper's Hideaway down there. You don't know what that is. It's a resort, right? And we gave the gospel. Then we went back. He had a tree that had fallen over. He said, I need somebody to take care of that tree. Somebody cut that up. Russ said, you know what? We could do that. So he got some guys from church to do that. Larry sat there, smoked a cigarette, watched us. God was working in his heart. And then God took his dad. His dad was saved. He said, am I going to see you kids? Am I going to see you kids? He'd spent a whole week. His dad was in hospice. Am I going to see you again? Larry wasn't sure. Larry couldn't say yes. And that Wednesday, when the Holy Spirit led me to his house, he was in his bathrobe, his slippers on, at 4.30 in the afternoon. People don't do, well, some people do. They go to Walmart in their jammies, you know? But I said, Larry, what's wrong? What's wrong? Well, my dad passed away, and I told my mom about a preacher that I got down that comes to see me, and that was the whole thing. Lord." And I cried. I told Russ, Larry got saved. He said, boy that's great. You know what he told me later? He said, when I get off the phone with you, I went out in the yard and I yelled, glory! When somebody gets born again, it's exciting. It's exciting. And if you're not, if you haven't trusted Christ as your Savior, that's the best life. That's the best life, is knowing Christ as your Savior. So Nicodemus is saying to Jesus, how can this be? And Jesus comes back to him and says, aren't you a master? And you don't understand this. Do you understand what it meant to be a master? It meant that you knew the scriptures. You see, the gospel is in the Old Testament. It's there. The fact of the matter is, the Bible says in Romans chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, chiefly that to Israel, They had a spiritual advantage. To them were committed the oracles of God. The oracles of God were given to Israel. That was a privilege. God gave the word to his people. It was ministered to Moses on the Mount by angels. He gave it to them. So he should have realized Psalm 5110 that says, create in me a clean heart of God and renew a right spirit within me. He had all the truth, he had it all, and yet he was inexcusable. He had it. And you know what? In America, we are inexcusable. We have been given the truth. We've been given God's word. And if you've heard the gospel before this time today, you're inexcusable. You know the truth. So Nicodemus would learn from Christ that night the greatest story ever to be played out. Jesus talks about Moses. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. What was he talking about there? Well, you remember in the Old Testament when the people were griping and complaining, God sent fiery serpents among them to bite them. Moses said, what are we gonna do? And God said, take a brazen pole, put a serpent on it, and whoever looks at that serpent, looks at the serpent, will live. Jesus was talking about himself. And if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to me. He was lifted up on a cross. He died in my place, he died in your place. A shameful death. God laid on him the iniquities of us all. He bore our sin in his body on the tree. He became a curse for us because cursed is everyone that's nailed to a tree. He became a curse. So I don't have to be a curse. I can be accepted in the beloved. That's what he did for me. So he learned that the necessity of the new birth, there is no other way to get to heaven except through Jesus Christ. It's not through a Pope, it's not through doing this or doing that or being this or being that, it's through Jesus Christ alone. Jesus said in John 14, six, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He said, that's pretty narrow. I mean, the only way, only Jesus? Yeah, that's what Jesus says. That's what the Bible says. That's how we get born again. It's through Christ, Christ alone. You see, Starbucks can serve up coffee, I understand, in 19,000 different ways. That's a lot of different kinds of coffee. Now, I'm a kind of guy that I like different kinds of coffee. But the fact of the matter is, most people want salvation that way. I want my salvation this way. Or I'm going to do it this way. But there's only one way. Christ alone. Him alone. And that's imperative. Because Jesus says in Nicodemus, ye must be born again. You have to. And the provision is through Christ. So you say this morning, well, if I must be born again, then how do I get born again? Well, the Bible tells you how. There's three words, in three verses, the Bible tells you how to receive that. In verse number 15, it says that, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Verse 16, the Bible says in the middle of that verse that, "...whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And verse 18, in the middle of that verse, "...but he that believeth is not condemned already." So, believeth. You have to believe. You say, what do I have to believe, Brother Miller? Well, you have to believe that the Gospel. And what's the Gospel? that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The gospel is in 1 Corinthians 15, three being four. For I deliver unto you first of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. That's what you have to believe. That's the gospel. You believe that Christ died on the cross for your sins. Notice the Bible uses the word that whosoever. Whosoever. He didn't say Bob Sue, whoever. He didn't say that. He said, whosoever. That means I can be saved. That means you can be saved. Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And you don't have to come. Anybody can come. Nicodemus was a scholar. He was religious. He was something. But you say, I'm not. I'm a nobody. That's who Jesus is. Anybody can come. You don't have to have a degree. You don't have to have something. You can just come as you are. Come as I am. Just as I am without one plea. That's all, I just come as I am. And I believe that you died on the cross for my sins. You took my place, you took my punishment. And I believe that, I receive that. I believe you died, that you were buried, and that you rose again the third day, according to what the Bible says, according to the scriptures. Hey, you go to the tomb of Muhammad, he's still there. You go to the tomb of Mary Baker Eddy, whatever her name is, she's still there. Any religious founder, they're still there, but there's an empty tomb in Jerusalem and my Savior's not there. He's in heaven. And he's interceding for me today. He's interceding for you today. And he says, whosoever will come, come. I love you, I died on the cross for your sins. And I was buried, but I live, I'm alive forevermore. Forevermore? That's good news. That's good news. We can be born again. Believe, to refuse Christ's payment on the cross for your sin is an act of self-condemnation. Because the Bible says right here, And he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. In 1967, I trusted Christ as my Savior on Ohio Street in Lansing, Michigan. I was almost six years old. Preacher, Brother Doddway, sat down, went through the gospel with me. His wife was my Sunday school teacher. She went through John 3, 16 with me. And you know what? I was nervous about that. I was nervous about getting saved. I was nervous. When Sunday school got over, I was out of there because I was under conviction. I had to get out, but you know what, I'm glad that that faithful man of God came to my house and shared the gospel with me. Went through child evangelism, little book of colors, you know, about black, our hearts are black with sin, Christ shed his blood on the cross, red, and then we'd walk the streets of gold if we trusted him as our savior. The outside's green, you know, that we are to grow once we're saved. And I trusted Christ as my savior at six years old, at six years old. And I can tell you today that I know that I'm on my way to heaven because I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I went God's way. You know, this morning you may be here and you may be a little nervous. We're gonna give an invitation here. We're gonna sing a hymn. And it's not just a closing hymn. It's an opportunity for you to trust Christ as your Savior. I'd venture to say that most people in the room here this morning have trusted Christ. We have received Him as our Savior. And we're cheering for you. The Spirit and the bride say, come. Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Trust Him as your Savior. Because the fact of the matter is, you must be born again. And if you don't, oh my. That's what John 3.16 says. If you don't, then you will perish. What does that mean? That means to go to a place called hell, a place of hell, a place of torment, and that's not a good place. You don't want to go there. The message is not about that, but that's the fact of the matter. If you don't receive Christ your Savior, that's what you have to look forward to and you're already condemned already. Not that you're going to be, you are, because you don't believe. that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. You don't believe Him. So it's pretty heavy in a way, but you know what? If you do trust Him as your Savior, like Larry said, Larry didn't get too emotional, really, when he trusted Christ as his Savior, but he told his wife later, he said, it was like a burden just came off me. And that's what happens. He takes your burden. The burden of sin, it's gone. He takes it away. And you are a child of God. And you see things you never saw before, because you have spiritual eyes. How about Nicodemus? I think he did probably get born again, because after Jesus' crucifixion, he and Joseph said they wanted to take care of the body of Jesus. So the invitation today has come. Come to Jesus. Come to Him, because Jesus said, Brother Miller's not saying it, Jesus says, you must be born again. You must. And He knows what eternity's all about, and that's why He says that, because He made hell too. He knows, and He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's His heart. This is heart for you. Let's stand together. As we pray, the song leader come to lead us in the hymn. And as we stand, let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for the good news of salvation, which is in Jesus Christ. You are the God of the conscience and the heart, Holy Spirit. And I know that you have spoken to hearts today. And if there's someone here that They have recognized the truth that they are lost and need to be saved. And I pray that they would come today. They would come to receive you as their Savior. Now, as we stand here with our heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to ask you this morning this, because I don't know anybody here. I mean, I know a few of you, but I don't know you really well. You say, Brother Miller, this morning I know for sure, I know, I have the witness of the Holy Spirit, I know in my heart that I am born again. I know Christ is my Savior. So with nobody looking around, and even if you are and you're saved, you can say, yes, I can testify to that. Just raise your hands and say, yes, I know I'm born again. I know I'm saved. I am saved, I'm on my way to heaven. Great, praise the Lord, thank you, may put him down. Thank you. Maybe this morning you couldn't raise your hand. You don't know that you're saved, you're not sure. You hope so, but you don't know so. You say, Brother Miller, God spoke to my heart, and I need to be born again. Is there somebody like that? You just raised your hand. Say, Brother Miller, I'm lost. I don't know Jesus my Savior, and I need to be saved. Anybody like that? Nobody looking around. Nobody's going to see you. Anybody like that this morning? Father, we thank You for what You are doing. Thank You for how You work in the heart. And I pray that if somebody is not sure about that, that they would get that taken care of today. In Jesus' name, Amen.