Take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 3. I so appreciate our worship team every week, just your faithfulness to serve us so well and effectively. John chapter 3, we come today to one of the most familiar passages of Scripture. And there may be a temptation to sort of tune it out. It's as if you're coming on Christmas morning, you know, we're going to talk about the birth of Jesus or Easter. We're going to talk about the resurrection. But of course, that should never become boring to us that God came to the earth and rose from the dead. And John 3.16, one of the most well-known verses in the whole Bible, if not the most well-known verse, should never become, you know, sort of, for us, a redundancy, like I've heard that before. It should always bring great delight to our hearts, every time. But at the same time, I think there's something about this passage today that might shock some of you, so pay careful attention. If you'll stand in honor of God's word, I'm gonna read from John three. I'm gonna read verses one to 15, then we'll finish the rest through 21 later. John chapter three beginning in 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 signs 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 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. 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 have 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. We can't stop there. Why don't we read verse 16 together? Four, God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for that verse, which really sums up the whole gospel for us. And Lord, this morning I pray that you would speak to us in a fresh way from this familiar passage. In Jesus' name, amen. You can be seated. As we come to this passage today, one that I've already identified that is very familiar to us. In fact, it was interesting, but even as I asked you to read that last verse, I'm sure that some of you just said it from memory. I think I heard an only begotten in there, which means you memorized it in the King James Version. which I did too when I was a kid. So I get that. But you're so familiar with this passage. But as I mentioned to you, I think there's maybe a little bit of a surprise in the passage as we look at it in the bigger context. And here's the shocking thing about the passage. The shocking thing about the passage isn't that Jesus saves sinners. It's that Jesus saves saints. Well, now I realize that there's a little bit of a, I could create a misunderstanding by saying that, because really a saint is anybody who has believed in Jesus. But what I mean that word saint, I mean it more in a cultural context, and maybe I'll say it to you this way. Jesus saves great sinners, but he also saves religious people. And they need saving. And in fact, I think they're harder to save than great sinners. And the truth is, is they're great sinners as well, but they're so religious that everybody tells them, man, you are a man or you are a woman of God. And what I don't want is, is I don't want you, while we look at that shocking truth in this passage, to ever be surprised when you meet Jesus. I want you to make sure you know you know Him. Because in Matthew chapter seven, the Bible says there's gonna be people who will stand before Jesus Christ, before God when they die, which we're all going to do. And he's gonna look at them and he's gonna say, I never knew you. And yet they had done all these great works in his name. See, when we come to our passage today, you meet this guy Nicodemus, and Nicodemus is a spiritual superstar. He's like the most religious in the whole community. He is the man. And yet, Jesus says to this man, you must be born again. This last week was Valentine's Day, and I decided I'd give my wife a little bit of a surprise, so I put down on the counter some flowers and a card and a gift, but I set them up on the night of the 13th, and then we headed to bed, so she wouldn't see it. She'd wake up in the morning and just find that there. And so we headed up to bed. Now, you gotta know a little background to this. My wife, when she goes to bed at night, like she lays her head down, she instantaneously goes to sleep. I don't know how she does it. She just goes unconscious. Seriously, it's like, well, good night, and she's like, good, and that's it. I never get the night. In fact, this is just a little side note, but when my wife and I have had an argument, it happened once, and you go to bed and you're kind of mad at the other person. Does anybody else ever do that? You go to bed, you're mad at them, and yet you're laying next to each other, but you're like, oh, you know, whatever. Maybe you roll over and take the blankets with you. You're gonna do something. The thing about Kristen is we go to bed like that, and you're stewing, but in moments, she's snoring. And then that's additional aggravation, isn't it? Because you're like, wait a minute, I'm suffering right now in my anger, and you're peacefully resting. This is not right. And so you might even try to do something that would maybe wake her up, or nudge her, or do something, but it won't work. She'll just leap right through it, turn over like, oh, and she just sleeps like a princess, too. She just has her hands, and she's like, don't say ah, that's irritating. I know the Bible says, I'm like, well, the Bible says don't go to bed in your anger. And you know what she would say back if she could come out of her coma? She'd be like, I'm not angry. You are. That's what would happen. Because she doesn't get very angry. Oh, that's a side note. OK, so anyhow, we head up to bed. You get the picture, though. And we lay down. And I'd set that up down on the kitchen counter for her. And all of a sudden, my wife is getting out of bed. And I'm like, because it takes me a while to fall asleep, I'm like, what's going on here? She's getting out of bed, so I turn my head and I go, what are you doing? She goes, oh, I'm just going down to get some water. I know that's totally a lie. You say, well, how do you know that's a lie? Because my wife doesn't drink water. She only drinks Diet Coke. So I'm like, no, no, no. So I literally, I sat up, then I go, what are you doing? She goes, I'm going to get some water. I'm like, that's like the worst lie I've ever heard. But good try, whatever. So she comes back up, and what she was doing was setting up my Valentine to surprise me, and she set it right up on top of the oatmeal drawer. You're like, you have an oatmeal drawer at your house? Yeah, I have oatmeal every single day of my life, and I love it every day. Like it's the first time having it. Somebody said, oh, okay, okay. So I put blueberries in it, what? So she's setting that up, and she walks back in the room without any hesitation. She walks up, and I'm now awake, and she just goes, she goes, well, you have to get up awful early in the morning to do a surprise in this family. Because what she found out when she was setting up my surprises, I had already had surprised her. I'm about to tell you something that's gonna take away the surprise for you when you meet Jesus. When you meet him, don't be surprised that he will be completely unimpressed with your good works. He'll be completely unimpressed. He will not be in awe over them. He will not give you special treatment because you did them. And if you claim them, the only thing you're going to be doing is claiming that his good work wasn't enough. When you stand before Jesus Christ, the only thing that's gonna matter is were you born again. Did you experience the transformation that only God can bring in your life? And when we meet Nicodemus today, we're gonna see the meaning of being born again. We're gonna see the means, how are you born again? And then finally, God's motive for even allowing us to be born again. That's what we're gonna see in our passage today. And this is why this passage is so important today. This is why you're gonna sense some additional passion on my part today. It's because I want you all to be there. Desperately. There's gonna be a choir section in heaven, the Grace Chapel Choir section. And I'm gonna be leading that. Because I'll sing better in heaven than I do on earth. Sarah, I appreciate your amens, but that was bad timing. Let's work on that. Okay, so, I just want you all to be there. I really do. And so here's the context of our story. A really religious man comes to Jesus, and what Jesus says to him is, buddy, you need to be born again. Check it out. The first thing we see is we're gonna see the meaning of what it means to be born again. Look at verse three, verse one of chapter three. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Those few words are so important you could read over them. What was a Pharisee? A Pharisee was a person who was a part of a Jewish sect. And this Jewish sect were known for being separatists. They were developed hundreds of years before in the intertestamental period they formed. And because the Jewish people were becoming more and more sort of secular and ungodly, so they came along and what they were known for was being serious about their faith, like serious about their commitment to God. But what had happened over time, and I think they started well, what happened over time is they started to become proud of how separate they were. And they became legalists. And now they started to believe this idea that they were gonna earn their way to heaven. You might remember a famous parable Jesus told in Luke chapter 18. It was the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. And Jesus tells the story of the two of them coming to God's temple and the Pharisee stands before God and says, I thank you that I'm not a sinner and a reprobate and I'm not like all the other people, that I'm holy. And the tax collector comes and says, woe to me, I'm a sinner. I'm in desperate need of grace. I'm paraphrasing. But then Jesus says it's the tax collector who went home justified. And what he's trying to explain is that these religious people think that they're justified or they have right standing with God because they're so good. When in reality what the Bible says about us is we're so bad. And all of us are. And so this man comes, and not only is he a Pharisee, but notice he's a ruler of the Jews. He's a part of the Jewish Supreme Court. That's a good way to think of it. There were 70 Jewish leaders made up the Sanhedrin. Some were Sadducees, and some were Pharisees. This guy was a Pharisee. and he was a part of that very influential ruling group who not only had spiritual authority, but they actually had civil authority as well. And then it says this, it says that he was, in verse 10, I should pop over to verse 10, it says he was the teacher of Israel. So he wasn't just one of the Pharisees, it says he was the teacher of Israel, like he was the top of the, I don't know how else to explain it to you, but this guy would be for us as evangelical Christians, Billy Graham. He's that guy. Or for a Catholic, he's the Pope. He is the man. And notice what happens. He comes to Jesus, verse two. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. So he comes to Jesus. But did you notice, when does he come to Jesus? At night. I think there's significance to that. We'll see it later in our passage today. He came at night because he was doing it in secret. In scripture, the reference to night here, or doing your works in night, it kind of describes it, it's a negative connotation to it. But he comes at night, but at least he comes. You say, well, why did he come at night? Number one, because he's self-righteous. He can't be seen going to ask this, and he calls him rabbi, he can't be seen going to Jesus and having a conversation with him. Number two, because he's self-conscious. Like he's very aware. Mark this down. Legalists are very concerned about what other people think about them. They usually are living their lives to impress people. They're certainly not living it to impress God, because God's not impressed with their legalism. Look back up at chapter two, verses 23 to 25. It says this, now when he was in Jerusalem, Jesus, at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But notice this belief is a shallow belief. It's only for the miracles, verse 24. In other words, Jesus doesn't disclose himself to people that are not seeking him sincerely. So this man comes at night. But notice, I think he's coming with sincerity because this is a man Jesus engages in conversation. Now, I bet you if I asked you, do you love the story of the woman at the well, you'd be like, yes. And do we love testimonies when people will come up here, in fact, we've had some great testimonies in that core class we're doing on Wednesday nights, and they'll just talk about their sinful past and how God radically saved them and they've completely, a lifestyle change, and he's just thinking, oh man, we love that, and we do, and we should. What I'm wondering today is what we would do if a leader in this church stood up here next week and said, guys, I've been Nicodemus all along, and you guys have been complimenting me and patting me on the back as I was on my way to hell, not to heaven. That's Nicodemus' testimony. I'm the guy that had it all together, and yet I had nothing together. My question to you today is, are you born again? And notice, what does it say about Jesus? He knew what was in every man. Did Jesus know what was going on inside of Nicodemus? Yes, in fact, I think Nicodemus knew what was going on inside of Nicodemus, and that's why he came to seek out Jesus. Because he'd been spending his whole life trying to earn God's favor, but he never had that peace. He's like, whatever I'm doing isn't working. So he goes to Jesus and gives him a compliment. He goes, you know, you must be from God. You're doing these miracles. So he says, Rabbi, a great term of respect. He was a rabbi himself. He's going from one rabbi to another. Can I ask you some questions? But notice what Jesus does next. And it's amazing. He answers a question that Nicodemus did not ask. You say, well, how did he do that? Because he knew what was in Nicodemus' heart. He knew what Nicodemus needed to hear. And by the way, God knows what you need to hear today, too. So many times in this church, people come to me and say, man, you were speaking to me today. What you said, I just felt like you were staring at me the whole time. I'm like, I wasn't speaking to you. I mean, nothing personal. But that's not me that was saying that to you. That's the Holy Spirit speaking to you. He knows what's in you. He knows what you need today, even from this passage. So notice verse three, Jesus answered him. He hasn't even asked a question. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Do you understand what Jesus has just said to this leading rabbi, the teacher of Israel? He's just said to them, he just said to him, everything you've done, all of your accumulated self-righteousness, the resume, the spiritual resume you put together in God's sight adds up to zero. It's accomplished nothing for you. In Philippians chapter three, verses seven to nine, one of my favorite sections of the Bible, and some of you love that section too, Philippians three, where Paul just goes, forgetting what is behind, I press on to what is ahead. But what he's saying there is this. Paul's saying, I was a Pharisee. Did you know the apostle Paul was a Pharisee? super religious guy, even so passionate for God that he persecuted the church, because he thought, well, that's an opposition to Judaism, so I'm gonna go after, they're opposing God, but then Jesus meets him on the Damascus Road in Acts chapter nine, and you remember his radical conversion? And then what does Paul say about all of his good deeds that he had done before meeting Christ? You know what he says in Philippians chapter three? He says, all of my self-righteousness is like dung. Did you hear that? Dung. Like, okay, let me translate that for you into another English word. It comes from the word scubalon in the Greek. I'm gonna be very sensitive here, because I know we have young ears in the audience. If you weren't here, there's another word I could use. I probably still wouldn't use it, because I actually don't use that word, but nonetheless, it's not a good word. I'm not even gonna go any further than that. I don't want you to be thinking, what word is it, what is it? No, because then you might blurt it out. Okay, so, poop. That would be it. You're like, is that better than, yes, it was better than what I was thinking. Okay, so, he's saying this. It's like, it's like manure. It also, the word could also be like table scraps. It could mean that too. Like, okay, people don't even eat this anymore. Like, okay, when I was a kid, if you can believe this, we lived in a little tiny house in Simi Valley in a little tiny lot. Like a little track, like small house, small lot. And for some reason, I have no idea why, we got chickens. And we raised chickens in our backyard. We have five chickens. I still remember that next morning when our neighbor called, they called and said, did you guys get chickens? I'm like, we're living in a neighborhood. Like, yeah, the cow comes tomorrow, we're becoming farmers. You know what I mean? Like, what are we doing? It's crazy. And so my mom would say at the end of dinner, like any scraps that, even from preparing the food, she would just say, hey, take these out to the chickens and feed the chickens. And if you know, you know, they would eat anything. So we would just take the junk out to them, not even really the leftovers, just the junk. And we would take it out to them. Now here's the amazing miracle that would happen. We would take that junk out to those chickens. I would open the coop, throw the food in there, and chickens would come eat it. You know what they would give us in return? Eggs that we would then eat. I'm like, that's a pretty good turnaround. We give you junk, you give us eggs. Good trade. Here's what Paul's saying. Your good deeds, Paul says, my own good deeds. were like those chicken scraps that people wouldn't even eat. The word could also be interpreted, as I mentioned to you, dung. So you can look at it as either chicken scraps or chicken poo. Either way you wanna look at it, it's like manure. And it just is a pile of stink in the nostrils of God. And so Paul just goes, it's all meaningless. You should, for a moment right now, think about your life. Please, I plead with you, think about your life. What are you counting on when you meet Jesus Christ? You're going to meet him. And this religious man who, if he was in our setting, would say, I was an elder in the church, I was a senior pastor at the church. Maybe some of you, I did Awana, I taught Sunday school for 45 years. And God's gonna look at you, and if you've done that to get your righteousness before him, he's gonna go, chicken stuff. That's as close as I can get, okay. Without completely crossing the line, which I may have just crossed anyhow. Verse four, so what is Jesus saying to him? Jesus is saying to him, you need to go back and start over. All your accumulated righteousness is nothing. I think of this, it's an old spiritual, and it goes like this, I jot it in my Bible, everybody talking about heaven ain't going there. That's Nicodemus. Verse four, 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? Nicodemus is a very well-educated man, he's not like, Okay, literally, I gotta go climb up back into my mom's womb and be born? That's a kind of bizarre thought, too. So, he's not saying, what he's saying is that's impossible. You're born once, you can't be born a second time. How can you be born a second time? He's not registering that he's talking about a spiritual birth. Then verse five, Jesus answered him, truly, truly I say to you, unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. So unless you experience this rebirth or be born again. Now the sad part is the term born again has been stolen from the church and it's used in secular society right now and it means completely not what the world uses it to refer to. So like somebody will say, oh yeah, you know what, like I got a makeover. I got a facelift, which I just want you to know, I have not done that. This is all natural. And so I know you're like, no way! It is, it's true. So you know, like, and you're just like, oh, he's experienced a rebirth. That's all outward stuff, or a pro athlete, you know, maybe had good first years and then got it, just weren't good for years. And all of a sudden they're back, like their comeback player of the year. And they're good again. And they're gonna say, oh, they experienced a rebirth. That is not what the Bible means at all. What the Bible means by rebirth is the word regeneration. That means literally to become a brand new person from the inside out. to have a brand new life. So Jesus comes and he just goes, well, let me explain this to you further. I'm telling you that unless you're born of water and the Spirit, you can't enter the kingdom of God. Now, there's a lot of debate about what does this mean, born of water and born of the Spirit? What does that exactly mean? There are five pretty decent views on that, five. I'll just give you two. that I think help us best understand this. But either way, don't miss the point. The point is, is you gotta be born again, and I'm gonna tell you this in a minute, and it's actually nothing you can do for yourself. You're like, this is sounding hopeless. No, it's gonna get hopeful in just a minute. But here's what Jesus may mean when he says you must be born of water and the Spirit. It could be as simple as this. He's saying you have to be born of water, which would describe physical birth. You all know, right? Like, I still remember my wife, we had our first kid, we're laying in bed, and my wife says, my water broke. And I said, I'm like, did you say you're getting a drink of water? No, we didn't, no, I didn't go back there. So, my water broke. So what do you think I did when I was 22 years old? I mean, I shot up out of bed, like, let's go, we're going to the hospital, you know, I was like freaking out. Ridiculous, she should have driven herself there, it would have been safer. But, It could refer to that, maybe. There's not a lot to tell us historically that there was much reference in those days to that water being a description of physical birth. So that's why there's some skeptics like, ah, the context to that might be. And then it says, and then born of the Spirit. So you gotta have a physical birth and a spiritual birth. There's an old saying that goes like this. If you're born once, physically, you die twice, physically and spiritually. But if you're born twice, Physically and then born again spiritually you only die once You don't die spiritually because you've been given eternal life makes sense So that certainly can be backed up biblically wouldn't cause me any heartburn if if that's what it is I also think, though, because of who Jesus is talking to, Nicodemus, that he might actually be making a reference to the Old Testament. Nicodemus would have memorized huge portions of the Old Testament. Jesus, in just a minute, you're going to see he makes reference to another Old Testament passage. So I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 36, and I know some of you are like, Ezekiel, that's gonna be hard to find, and I don't usually turn there, and you don't usually ask us to turn there. Well, just take out a little nail file or a chisel in your wallet or your purse and crack that part of your Bible open, or just Google it. Ezekiel chapter 36, see if this doesn't make some sense to you. Remember, the children of Israel taken into captivity, God promised that they would return. As a part of that promise of their return to the land, He says, I'm going to form a new covenant with you. There's the old Mosaic covenant, Ten Commandments, right, and the sacrificial system, and then there's this new covenant that's promised when the Messiah comes. Well, the Messiah is there and notice this in Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 25 and understand Nicodemus would know this passage well. He would not be like hard to find Ezekiel in his Bible. Verse 25, I will sprinkle water on you. This is the promise of the new covenant. I will sprinkle water on you and you shall be clean from all of your uncleanliness and from all your idols. I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. Sounds like being born again and I will put that I'll put within you and I will remove the heart of stone. from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, a soft, tender heart, a new heart. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. In other words, Pentecost, the Holy Spirit coming and living in us. Remember the Messiah is there. So notice two things. born of water, born of the Spirit, it sure looks like I will sprinkle you with water, I will cleanse you, this is talking symbolically about water cleansing the outside, but really spiritual cleansing, and then I'm gonna give you a new heart, I'm gonna take that old hard heart toward God and the things of God and give you a soft heart, and my Spirit will come and live in you. It sounds a lot like what Jesus just said to Nicodemus. You've gotta be born of water and the Spirit. Regardless, regardless, what Jesus is saying is this. is this is nothing you can achieve on your own. You can't wash yourself spiritually. You can't give yourself a new heart spiritually. God has to do it. And you have to come to a place where you recognize you can't do it on your own. Just last week, I was tearing out an old shower of a 55-year-old house and putting in a new shower. And I mean, I had the tools, and the hammers, and the jackhammer, and the whole thing going, and we got the walls down, and that was just miserable, because it's concrete. I mean, it's just a concrete behind those, behind that tile, they just put this massive amount of concrete, and just hauling all that out, so heavy. And we get down to the shower pan, and I'm lifting the shower pan out, and I've got a, you know, I've got a crowbar underneath, and I'm prying it, and as I pry the shower pan out, that's been there for 55 years, the drain pipe comes out with the shower pan. Now, you might not think that's a big deal, but it's a big deal. Because you're gonna put a new shower pan in and there's no drain pipe there anymore. So you know, I'm like, oh no. And I lifted up and I looked down and I'm like, the pipe's down in the concrete now. Like nothing to attach to anymore for the drain. I'm like, oh. My son-in-law was helping me and he's there and he goes, we're in deep. And then he goes, we're in really deep. Yeah, so deep that I had to borrow my other friend's jackhammer and I borrowed his son to operate it. And so he came, jackhammered this hole out of the slab of the concrete. Now I'm down to the dirt and thinking about planting flowers in the house instead of putting a shower. I'm like, oh, man. So then as we're jackhammering, I'm like, oh, we've uncovered it, we've got it, we can do that, we can repair it from here, awesome. He goes, let me just do a little bit more. The next thing, he's like, boom, and he hits a copper pipe that's the hot water line to the sink, and then water's going everywhere. I'm like, no, we're in deep, deep, deep. You know what I did next? I called a plumber, exactly. Because the next thing that was gonna happen is the whole slab's gone. I'm like, the whole house is gonna disappear from here. We're about to all, this is gonna become like a sinkhole. Enough, can't do this anymore. Do you see what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus? Like when you get to the place where you're at the end of your own efforts, come to me. Now he's gonna give us the means of this, how to be born again. Go back to John chapter three. I love this, I love what's coming right here. Jesus then says to him, don't be amazed, don't be amazed at this, verse seven, verse six first. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. In other words, there's some things that you just can't do on your own power, your own flesh. The word sarts in the Greek, it's here, it can be very much a neutral term. In other words, by your own human effort, you can't achieve this, but the spirit can. Verse seven, do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again, and then I just love this. 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. First of all, when Jesus says the wind blows where it wishes, the AV crowd should give a big amen right there. Sarah, this would be the time. The wind blows whenever, however, we cannot control the wind. If we could control the wind, all of our home values would double instantaneously overnight. I was talking to a realtor last week and I asked him, I said, verify for me, do people have to sign a wind disclosure when they're buying a house with you? And he said, yeah, they do. We actually have a wind disclosure. We actually, they'll put it in front of us, somebody buying a house, like, you have to acknowledge that it's windy in the Antelope Valley. I marvel at that. Because I'm like, oh, how dumb do they have to be to not know that? Drive past the city park, all the trees are leaning one way. Like, I can tell you what way the wind blows 90% of the time. There's evidence of it. Here's what Jesus is saying. Jesus takes this really powerful picture, this analogy here, and he just says, as it is with the wind, you can't really, you don't know where it comes from, you can't see the wind, but you see the impact of the wind. But Jesus is saying, so it is with the Spirit of God, that he is operating, he is powerful, and you can't control him. And he makes sovereign decisions. The Holy Spirit has a free will. What a concept. As we like to glorify our own free will, so does the Spirit of God. And what He does is when He moves and He comes into a person's life, He's so powerful that He's the one that can bring this regeneration and this transformation and cause you to be born again. You can't do it for yourself. He is the means of that. Look at verse nine. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? And then Jesus says to him, are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? That's a little bit of a jab right there. Like this isn't that complicated. Verse 11, 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. Who's the we here? I think it's Jesus. I think it's his disciples. I think it's John the Baptist. Remember, the Pharisees would not be baptized by John and receive the baptism of repentance. Why? We're children of Abraham. We're already good with God. We're not sinners. Are you kidding me? They're self-righteous. So he's going, hey, we are speaking the truth to you. You're not receiving it. That's actually the truth. Verse 12. If I told you earthly things and you did not believe them, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? In other words, Nicodemus, I can't go any further with you because you can't even believe simple physical earth analogies. Verse 13. No one has ascended into heaven except one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. What is Jesus saying there? He's saying, I'm the one and the only one that can really tell people how to get to heaven, because I'm the only one who came from heaven. Like, I'm not, when the shower broke, I didn't call a mechanic, I called a plumber. Because plumbers know something about plumbing. If you wanna talk to someone about heaven, you better talk to Jesus, because he's the only one that came from heaven, and that's what he's saying. I am the one who is an authority on heaven, and for that matter is God on everything. Verse 14, and Moses, and as Moses was lifted up, lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, now he's making reference to Numbers chapter 21, we'll talk about it, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. What is Jesus talking about here? Nicodemus would know right away. In Numbers chapter 21, there's this occasion where Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egypt. They cross the Red Sea, and as they cross the Red Sea, they get out into the wilderness. They've been delivered from the terrible Pharaoh and from slavery, and it doesn't take them long to start complaining. Do you remember that? Like, you ever read the Old Testament? You're like, those people were such whiners. And then you're like, hon, is my coffee ready yet? You know what I mean, like we are whiners too. And God sends snakes. Are there any parents here who sometimes get upset with your kids for whining, complaining? Like, it's like, oh my goodness, do you not realize how blessed you are? And how, I see a mom's hand up. Can I get a witness? Okay, we got one over there. Sarah, do I get an amen yet? Okay, now Sarah's giving me amens. Other hands are going up. Now people are pointing at their siblings. Okay, so. Like, have you ever, dad's in the room, have you ever had this where your kids, like you're on a trip, maybe more than two hours, and they ask over and over again, are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? And then you're like, yeah, yeah, you're like I'm trying to teach them. And then, yeah, knock it off! It starts with not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet, stop! And then you finally want to stop the car, drop them off, and say we're not there yet, but you are. Pick you up on the way home. I've never done that. Well, there was that one time. But he was 18. Okay, so... That's what's going on with the children of Israel. They're just whining. In Numbers chapter 21, you should go back and read this story, and God sent serpents. You know, that would be interesting to include that thought in our parenting conference. Get a snake! No, I'm just kidding. That's terrible, I'm just kidding. No, we're not gonna start doing that. Like, ah, get a rattlesnake and see what your kid complains in. Okay, so... But gods and snakes, and then they start biting people. And it says they're fiery serpents, so they have venom. And now the children of Israel come to Moses and they go, you know what, we have been really wrong. Would you please talk to God about this and get us some relief? Like intercede for us. So Moses goes to God, and God goes, here's what I'm gonna do. You make a bronze serpent, put it up on a tall pole, and when people are struck by these snakes, if they look to the pole, they'll be healed. What is God doing? All he's doing is he's setting them up to be able to express faith. It's not the bronze serpent that would heal them. It's that they're now moving from an attitude of ungratefulness, of entitlement. And God's saying, look, look to the serpent. Now, the serpent was a replica of the snake. It wasn't the snake itself. It was a replica. It was a bronze serpent that Moses made. That's important because in the Old Testament, when you think of serpent, you think of Satan. It's equated with sin. And so what he's saying is, you look here and you'll be saved. What is Jesus saying now as we come to John chapter three? You know what Jesus is saying? Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so I must be lifted up, I must be crucified. And I'm gonna die for people's sins. The Bible says that Jesus became sin for us. He wasn't sin, he became sin for us. He's not the serpent, he's the bronze serpent, if you will. And this pictured the coming of Jesus. And so you say, well, what does it take for somebody, what is the means to be born again? How can I be born again? The only thing you have to do is look to Jesus. That's it. That's what he's saying. So what's God's motivation for this? Look at it in verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. I love what John Piper says. He says this, so we can say, based on this verse, we can say to every human being on the planet, God loves you. Christ died for you. It doesn't mean that every human being on the planet will be God's child by faith. It doesn't mean they'll experience that same kind of love we experience as the children of God. But to some degree, we can say God loves you because he sent his only son for you. Verse 17, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that through the world, that the world might be saved through him. Jesus can save sinners, and if you'll allow me, he'll save saints too. Not real, I don't mean that by saints that are believers, but I mean that by religious people who have the outward conformity, but not the inward transformation. Verse 18, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. One of the saddest things I ever experienced as a pastor, and there are some sad things you experience as a pastor, let me tell you. I'm not gonna list them all for you, but one that happens every week, weekend, week out, happened this week too, is the amount of Christians, who I believe are really genuinely Christians, who live under a spirit of condemnation. They're constantly just, all they think about is how they blew it, and their sin, and how could I have done that, and I feel awful, and I'm terrible, and they beat themselves up, and they punish themselves, and they punish themselves, and I'm like, can I remind you again that Jesus already took the punishment for you? You know how that's expressed oftentimes? It's expressed things like this. When people say things like, I just can't live with myself. They're Christians. I can't live with myself. Why? Because of what I've done. You recognize that Jesus has forgiven you of that sin. Say things like this. Ask a question. Is this happening in my life because I sinned? In other words, what are they saying? Is God punishing me? They're still living under that spirit of condemnation. And they'll say things like, yeah, I just can't pray right now because I've just sinned too much. And I'm like, well, no, actually, that's why you need to pray right now. If you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness. Brothers and sisters, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's what Jesus just said. Verse 19. Where is there condemnation for those who reject Christ Jesus? Look at verse 19. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed. You see what Jesus is saying there? The reason why I even believe that Nicodemus came at night, was he wasn't ready to have his sin exposed. You say, well, did Nicodemus get saved? I believe he did. Not in this passage. But by the end of John, in John chapter 21, Nicodemus is actually helping to bury the body of Jesus. So I think somewhere along the way, he became a believer. In John chapter 12, it says that Nicodemus actually stood up for Jesus when other people were attacking him, and the Pharisees were attacking him, and he actually said, hey, wait a minute, you can't treat him that way. So I believe at some point he got saved later. I'm glad he came. He came at night. I'm glad he came, but there's a reason why people want to be atheists. Because they don't want any accountability. Verse 21, but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. If you're really, if you're in Christ, if you've been born again, then you're not so, you know, concerned that your sin is revealed for you. In fact, you're concerned that it is revealed to you because you want to take that to the cross and deal with that. And so the question that I have for you today, it's a pretty simple one, is have you been born again? And I wanna ask that in a fresh way today because I am convinced that a Nicodemus is in this room right now. I'm convinced. I'm not trying to convince you that you're not a believer, that's not my goal today, I'm not trying to put a guilt trip on you. You see, I think Nicodemus came to Jesus because he knew, he knew, I'm not right. I'm trying to do right things, but I'm not right. And when he came to Jesus, Jesus already knew that. And by the way, do you realize that Jesus already knows where you're at? And so if you're tired, you're like, man, I've been playing this game, like I'm trying to impress people and prove to them that I am what I'm not, then come to Jesus. It's clear. All you have to do is look to him. You don't have to work for him to be saved. Spurgeon said this, and I'll close with this. The dislike of Christ is caused by a love of sin. If men did not hug their sins, they would embrace the Savior. Are you willing to acknowledge your sin and embrace the Savior? Let me pray. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. This man on this stage, behind this podium, desperately needs it. I thank you that we are forgiven sinners. That you came not just to save people from life of drug addiction and sexual immorality and certainly all of those things, but you even came to save people from religion and self-righteousness. And that because of the power of your spirit, you're able to save. Father, today we look to Christ alone. We pray in his name, amen.