John 3:1-21
“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 lusteth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence
it cometh, and 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 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? And no man hath ascended up to 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 eternal life. 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. For
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world through him might be saved. He
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And
this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. For
every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But
he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds
may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John
3:1-21). [Wow! Jesus
just preached the whole gospel of salvation to Nicodemus
in practically one breath! This
is what salvation is all about, folks. You
that are born-again believers, reread that again, and meditate
on the spiritual process Jesus just described to Nicodemus.]
“Let’s
turn in our Bibles to John chapter 3. This
particular text, there’s been some tremendous sermon
preached. Of
course, John chapter 3, verse 16 is a Scripture posted everywhere,
billboards in football games and baseball games. So
this is the text that we find ourselves in this morning….Let’s
say a word of prayer, and we’ll then consider this
man Nicodemus. ‘Lord, we thank you that we can
be here together this morning, and that we can study your
Word together, and that we can consider these truths. Some
of these things, in a man’s eyes, in our human reasoning
we can’t understand these things. But
by you Holy Spirit, by illuminating and giving light, we
can then understand. So I ask Holy Spirit that you’d
be upon all of us, and indeed even now you’d draw hearts
to you. And even some if they’re here without
Christ, would even make a decision for Christ, maybe even
some listening in through the radio [or reading this on this
website]. So
we ask you this, Lord, I ask that you’d be upon all
of us, and Holy Spirit that you’d even be upon me now
as I just read and share your Word, in Jesus name, Amen.’
Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night
Well, starting
with verse 1 of John chapter 3, “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 and said to him, ‘Most assuredly I say to
you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of
God” (verses 1-3). So,
John introduces us to Nicodemus. [Comment:
“Nicodemus, a
member of the high priest’s council, and belonging
to one of Jerusalem’s most aristocratic families, the
ben Gurions, probably became a member of the Jerusalem [Messianic
Jewish] community.” We
Have Found The MESSIAH!, p. 27. Interesting,
David ben Gurion was one of the “founding fathers” and
first leader of the modern State of Israel in 1948. Coincidence? Interesting family tree.] Nicodemus, this man is a Jew, so not only
is he a Jew, we’re also told he is a Pharisee, one
of these religious elite, one of these religious leaders. There
were 6,000 Pharisees, these men dedicated themselves to following
the Law of God. They
understand that the first five books of the Bible were the
Law, were inspired by God, and they devoted their lives to
follow the Word of God. In
fact, there were scribes that wrote interpretations of the
Law, the Mishnah and interpretations of that, the Talmud,
and there were pages upon pages teaching you how to follow,
how to obey the Law of God. So
the Ten Commandments, thou shalt rest on the Sabbath, and
obey the Sabbath. These
religious leaders tried to interpret what that meant, they
had chapter upon chapter, this is how you fulfill that one
command of God. So
he was a Pharisee, he was a man that was zealous, was determined
to fulfill, to obey the Word of God. We’re
also told that he was a ruler of the Jews. That
means he was even more significant in the sense that he was
one of the Sanhedrin, this ruling council, essentially the
Supreme Court for the nation of Israel. This
man was a radical man, this man was seen by others as a man
that was very devout, very religious. We also know later, as we get to John
chapter 19 that he was, at least he appears to be wealthy,
because he shows up at the burial of Jesus, to help prepare
the body of Jesus, with some very expensive mixture aloe
and myrrh, about 100 pounds worth, something that would be
very costly. So
this man is also a wealthy man. So
you consider the life of Nicodemus, if it were possible for
a man to stand before God on his own merit, if it were possible
for any individual to stand before God on his own doings,
his own righteousness, here is a man that you could say that
could be a good candidate for that, a man that could potentially,
at least if it were possible could receive favor from God
by his life, by what he sought to do. But as we go on, very clearly, it is impossible
for man to do that, even Nicodemus, as we see in those verses,
it wasn’t possible for him to stand before God. He
was one of God’s elect people under the Old Covenant,
he was zealously religious, he was a prominent religious
leader, certainly a good man. But even with that, we’ll see that’s
not good enough. And
for all of us, it’s not good enough to be religious. That
just doesn’t do it. It
isn’t good enough. It’s
not good enough to be a good man or a good woman, it’s
not even good enough to painstakingly seek to live a perfect
life, to work with all your efforts, to do, to be a law-abiding
citizen, and law-abiding in the eyes of God. That’s
not good enough. Those
things aren’t good enough. We’re
told that Nicodemus, it says that he came by night. Some
people, as they read that event, say ‘well, he came
by night, a religious leader.’ As
we go on Jesus grows less and less popular with the religious
leaders. He’s significant among them, so
maybe he’s come at night so others don’t know,
to conceal his meeting with Jesus. But it’s also possible, you know,
this is the time of the Passover, this man is very busy during
the daytime, he’s a teacher. So
during the Passover he would be teaching, he would be ministering
many, many hours during the week. So it’s possible that this is the
time he gets a break. And
of course, a lot of meetings would take place in the early
evening, it was cooler. So, there on the roofs in that culture
they would have places where they would meet. So
it’s also probably more likely that he’s come
at a time that’s really convenient, rather than trying
to conceal his meeting with Jesus. But Nicodemus comes to Jesus, and he says
to Jesus there in verse 2, ‘Rabbi, we know that you
are a man, that you are a teacher that is come from God. No
one could possibly do the things that you do, these miraculous
signs, these miracles, nobody could do them unless God was
with him, unless God was working through him. We
(meaning myself, a Pharisee, other religious leaders, he’s
saying), we know that you’ve come from God.’ So
he confesses that, ‘Yea, I believe that you’re
ministering under the power of God, God is with you.’ He’s heard about Jesus’ miracles,
maybe he’s seen some of Jesus’ miracles. So
there’s no doubt in his mind that this man is from
God, he’s a teacher from God, he’s maybe even
a Prophet in the eyes of Nicodemus, and he’s a miracle-worker.
“You must be born again to
see the kingdom of God”
But as you go
on, as you see, that’s not enough either. Being
a religious man isn’t the basis for me to stand before
God and find favor with God. But
also believing that Jesus is a great teacher isn’t
enough. Or believing
that Jesus is a great man and a good man isn’t enough,
or a great Prophet or religious leader. Even
believing that Jesus is God, God the Son isn’t enough. We’re
told in the Scriptures that even the demons know who Jesus
is, and they shudder [see James 2]. And
of course, demons aren’t going to be standing in heaven
with God. So this is not enough as you see as we
go on. It’s not enough for man to stand
before a Holy God on his own merit and find favor with God. All these things together won’t
give you access to heaven. So
then the question, what does it take to get to heaven [gain
access into the kingdom of God, as Jesus words it here, and
in reality, that’s what it means]? What does it take for you and I to have
a right standing with God? Look
at Jesus’
reply. “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly this is
the truth. I
say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom
of God.’”
(verse 3) Now it’s interesting, Nicodemus
doesn’t ask him any question that would bring that
response. It seems that Jesus just goes for the
heart of the matter. Just
like Al Serino with this lady, Pam, she came in and made
a comment. He
discerned, this lady has a heart right now, she’s
open, she’s ready for Christ. Jesus
in the same way, he discerns Nicodemus’ heart, and
it doesn’t even seem to relate to what Nicodemus
says, but he comes out and he says ‘Here’s
the deal.’ A religious leader, a man that has all
that standing, works so hard, so zealous, so painstakingly
to have a good standing before God, and Jesus comes out
and says “Unless
a man is born again he will not see the kingdom of God.” The only way a person can see the kingdom
of God [or even gain spiritual comprehension, cf. 1 Corinthians
2:11-13] is that he is born again. And
if you can’t see it, then you can say that you can’t
be in it, because how can you be in the kingdom of God
if you can’t see it. [There
are two levels of being ‘in the kingdom of God’. One is to have spiritual comprehension
by being
‘born again’, as Jesus is bringing out here. Then ultimately, in the resurrection to
immortality (1 Cor. 15:49-56) believers will actually physically
enter into the kingdom of God, as spirit-beings, like the
holy angels, but on a higher plane, as Hebrews brings out. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm.] You can’t see it unless you are
born again. In
fact, Jesus will say, another time, “For I say to you,
that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness
of the Scribes and Pharisees, you’ll by no means enter
the kingdom of heaven.” So
he says, these guys, these religious zealots, unless your
righteousness exceeds theirs, these guys that are so devoted,
you’ll by no means enter the kingdom of God. The words of Jesus are very clear, you
can never, ever, ever, ever enter the kingdom of God by your
own merits. You can never, ever, enter the kingdom
of God by being religious, no matter how dignified you think
you are, no matter how many good things you think you’ve
done. You can
never earn God’s favor by what you do. And even believing nice things about Jesus,
even recognizing his greatness and his goodness is still
not enough. I mean, there are a lot of people that
say
‘Yea, he’s a great teacher, man, what a guy. Man,
he’s effected history, he’s had an effect on
understanding in lots of societies.’ People
will even acknowledge that [See Bruce Barton’s book, “The
Man Nobody Knows”]. But that’s still not enough. In fact, attending church, doing Bible
study, praying, reading the Bible, even that isn’t
going to gain you access to the kingdom of God. As
Jesus said, there’s only one way. You
have to be born again, period. That’s
the teaching of Jesus himself, God the Son, the Son of God. This
is the only way to see the kingdom of God, this is the only
way, to be born again. Now
when he says the
‘kingdom of God’, as we’ll go on in the
Gospels, you see the kingdom of God obviously in the future,
heaven [he says heaven, but in reality, Jesus brings that ‘kingdom
of God’ with him at his second coming, when he returns
to establish the kingdom of God physically on earth, cf.
Zechariah 14. See again http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm.],
the kingdom of God also is present. Wherever
Jesus is ruling and reigning [i.e. within a person’s
heart], that technically is the kingdom of God. So
we’ll see in other parts of the Gospels that when the
Holy Spirit enters a person’s heart, the kingdom of
God is there. So the kingdom of God for Christians and
Messianic believers in Yeshua is also here and now, in our
midst, in our hearts, but also completely fulfilled in the
future….So when he says ‘seeing the kingdom
of God’ it means all of that, when he uses that term. [And in reality, once the plan of God
is wrapped up and completed for mankind, and the heavens
and earth have been recreated, Revelation 21:1-17 show us
that God the Father’s actual throne, now within the
New Jerusalem, comes down from heaven and resides over the
area that is modern-day Israel, so that God the Father along
with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, will reside on earth with resurrected
immortal mankind, on earth. That’s the actual literal truth
about heaven, it’s coming to earth! Earth
is special to God, very special.] So,
the question then to you this morning, are you born again? Are
you born again? That
is the most important question that you could ever ask. Am I born again? Jesus says if you’re not born again,
you cannot enter the kingdom of God. You
cannot see the kingdom of God. That
is the only way.
How is one born again?
So maybe then
you ask, ‘What does it mean to be born again?’ Verses 4-8, “Nicodemus says 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, ‘Most assuredly
I say to you, unless one is born of water and of 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 can hear the sound it,
but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So
ever everyone who is born of the Spirit.’” Nicodemus
had the same question, ‘What does it mean to be born
again? He’s got a mental picture going
on here, he is not understanding, he’s missing the
point. He’s
kind of stuck with this one. ‘You
know, wait a minute. How
can an adult male, how can I….’ You
know, my wife, she had three children, and I watched. And
she was thankful, I’ll tell you, that our babies weighted
all around seven pounds, and they weren’t anymore. You
know, she was glad she didn’t have any of those big
babies, some of you ladies have had big babies, and she was
thankful she didn’t. But a male, a grown male, Nicodemus saying
‘How could he go back into the mother’s womb? How
can he come out? That
just doesn’t work.’ He’s
kind of stuck on that one. He’s
missing a spiritual truth, so he has these strange images
in his mind. But
Jesus says to him, ‘Most assuredly, this is the deal,
I say to you unless one is born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ Born
again, born of the water and born of the Spirit. What
does that mean? What
is he saying when he says ‘born of the water and born
of the Spirit’? What
exactly does that mean? Now
let’s kind of take this in part. Born
of water. What
does he mean “born of water”? There are different theories. You may have a different theory than I
do. There are
those that believe, when he says ‘born of water’ he’s
referring to the water of baptism. There are those that when it says ‘born
of water’ there, they believe it’s the Word of
God. Certainly we have even in 1st Peter,
we studied it not long ago, Peter wrote “having been
born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible seed,
through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever.” So,
the Word represented in the water. That’s
a second theory. The
third theory is it refers to physical birth, just as in the
birthing process, there’s water, when the mom’s
water breaks, you know it’s time. And
the water is associated with the birthing process. Personally, I personally believe it’s
the third, the physical birth. And
the reason why I believe that is because of the following
verse, although there are others that have different opinions,
and that’s fine too. But I lean more towards that of physical
birth. Although
it is true that the Word of God, when I hear the Word of
God, and I receive it in faith, and I then turn to God, I
mean, that plays a big part of my salvation experience. When Peter says ‘You were born through
the Word of God’, that is a true statement. And
also when I am born-again, it is important that I need to
be baptized. We’re
having a baptism again in a week. [Comment: The early Church in Jerusalem and throughout
Judea during the time of the Book of Acts baptized as a way
of receiving the Holy Spirit, even though God actually gave
the Holy Spirit before the baptism of Cornelius. But
the norm back then was to attempt to repent of any known
outward sins, and then be baptized, and then the Holy Spirit
would come on that believer. I
personally believe the Holy Spirit actually comes on people
a bit ahead of baptism, for those who use this older method
of receiving Jesus into your heart and life. The
Holy Spirit draws people to Christ. This
particular denomination as well as many others believe all
that is necessary is to ask Jesus in your life, and he then
places the Holy Spirit within you. Then they recommend you get baptized. Both methods work, as I have witnessed
the changed lives in people that employ either method. The Sabbatarian Churches of God follow
the old Judeo-Christian method of baptism first, as their
way of asking Jesus into their lives. It
is the apostolic way, and not wrong at all. But
you see in Acts 10 and 11, Cornelius actually received the
Holy Spirit ahead of his baptism.] And a few people are going to be baptized. It’s
very important. Jesus said “Believe and be baptized”,
the two are very closely associated throughout the Gospel
[of John] and the Book of Acts, of being saved and then being
baptized [and as I pointed out, baptism usually occurred
first, as their way of asking Jesus into their lives and
the placing of the Holy Spirit within the one asking]. It is important. Although, for those who believe the water
refers to baptism, it certainly does not mean that it is
essential to salvation. [but
those groups that do this, do believe it is essential to
salvation, and we must respect their beliefs.] There
are some that will take that and say “You must be born
of water, you must be baptized, or you cannot be saved.” And
that’s inconsistent with other teachings in the New
Testament. So
that isn’t a possibility. It’s
through faith and faith alone, faith in Jesus Christ, that
a man is saved. [and that faith comes from God, the saving
faith. We don’t ‘work
it up’.] So I see it as physical birth. [the early church probably saw it the
other way, but the example of Cornelius shows us that baptism
is not essential to salvation.] That
seems clear to me, because verse 6, he says “that which
is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.” So
continuing the thought, equating the two, to be born of the
flesh, born of the water, you have the Spirit in verse 5
and the Spirit in verse 6, equating the two. So
it seems to me, in my reasoning, he’s referring to
physical birth. You
need to be physically born first time, as we all are, we
all qualify for that this morning, but then there’s born
again, the second, the spiritual birth. No
matter how you take those verses we all have to agree that
to be born again is a spiritual birth. That is very clear in all the teaching
of the Scripture. [cf.
Romans 8:9, 15-16,
“….] We
can all agree on that. It’s a spiritual rebirth. In fact, turn to Ephesians chapter 2,
and let’s read Paul’s words there. Ephesians,
if you’re not sure where that is, you’re in the
book of John, turn back toward the end of the Bible about
halfway between where we are and the end is the book of Ephesians. Ephesians
chapter 2, being born again is a spiritual birth, this rebirth,
this new birth. Ephesians 2 Paul says “And you he
made alive who were dead in trespass and sins, in which you
once walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now
works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all
had once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, just as others” (verses 1-3). Paul
describes our nature before Christ in these verses. And
what does he say at the very beginning there, he says that
before Christ, I was dead, dead in my trespasses and sins,
dead. No spiritual life. Then he says at the end of verse 3, by
nature we were children of wrath. By
nature because of our sin, the sins we have committed we
were under the judgment of God, the wrath of God. And
the Bible makes it clear that we are all sinners, and therefore
before Christ, without Christ, we are all in that state. But
then as Paul explains in verse 1, he says ‘But a man
or woman is made alive through Christ.’ When
Jesus comes, enters their life, they’re made alive. Before
Christ they are dead spiritually. They
can hear things about God and it doesn’t excite them,
doesn’t mean anything. They
can hear things about the Scripture, it just doesn’t
connect. They
are dead spiritually. Their
spirit is not made alive. But
when Jesus enters them there is a tremendous transformation
that takes place. Their spirit is now made alive [spiritually
speaking. See
Romans 8:1-16, 1 Corinthians 2:11-13]. There’s
a spiritual birth. They’re
now a spiritual person, there’s a connection with God,
there’s passion for God, there’s this ability
to hear the voice of God, but also to commune with God. That is to be made spiritually alive. And that’s what Jesus is referring
to in John chapter 3, and that’s what Paul’s
referring to in Ephesians. [Read a couple verses further in Ephesians,
verses 4-5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace
ye are saved;)….”] So
back in John chapter 3, “That
which is born of the Spirit is spirit”, a spiritual
rebirth, a spiritual birth is essential. You
know, our physical bodies were clearly designed for the environment
that we’re in here on earth. You know, the temperature range, we can
only exist in a certain temperature range [a very narrow
one, when you take in the wide range of temperatures in the
universe outside earth]. We can only exist with a certain percentage
of oxygen. You
start changing gravity and all that, we’d be in dire
straits. I can’t
exist on the moon without special equipment, I can’t
certainly exist on the sun. I
was designed, my body, your body, we’re designed for
this place. [And
what a design that is. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/dinosaurs/molecularmachines.htm.] And likewise, where God is, there has
to be a transformation within me, from me to go from where
I am to be where God is, a holy and perfect God. There’s
a spiritual transformation that has to take place. It’s a radical transformation, and
it is absolutely essential.
“You must be born
again”
So verse 7, in John chapter 3, Jesus says “Do not marvel that I
said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” He
uses the word must. What does it mean when you use the word “must”? It
means you must. You must be born again, no exceptions,
at all. In
order for somebody to inherit the kingdom of God, to see
the kingdom of God, they must be born again. You
know George Whitfield was asked, ‘Why do you always
preach about being born again?’ His response, “Why do I preach ‘You
must be born again’?” said Whitfield. “Because
you must be born again!” [laughter] It’s that easy. That’s what the Bible teaches. You must, you must. If you’re here today without Jesus
Christ in your heart [Yeshua haMeshiach for those of you
who are Jewish], if you’re here today and you cannot
say you’re born again, you must be born again to
inherit the kingdom of God. It’s
that simple. That’s
what Jesus said. Those aren’t my words. These words were written thousands of
years ago. This
is the teaching of Jesus Christ. What
does it mean to you? Are you born again? Are you born again? If you’re not born again, understand
what Paul says in Ephesians, you are children of wrath. You are children of wrath, you are under
the judgment of God because of your sin. That’s
the teaching of the Bible. [It
also means, since it mentions the prince of the power of
the air, Satan, the term “children of wrath” also
refers, and I think it more directly refers to ‘those
children of wrath’ being the spiritual children of
Satan, from whence the attitude of wrath comes.]
Just because you don’t see
it doesn’t mean it’s not real
Now Jesus says, ‘Don’t
marvel at that.’ Don’t
say, ‘That’s surprising.’ Because
he continues to say, maybe you don’t understand it. [Saying
this to Nicodemus] Maybe
you can’t see the Spirit, maybe you’re like a
Carl Sagan, Carl Sagan says “I’ll believe in
God when I see him.” Well
that’s foolish. Because
there’s plenty of evidence in the existence of God. And
you say you got to see him to believe? That’s
really foolishness, and Jesus addresses that, and he says “The wind blows where it wishes, and
you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes
from or where it goes. So
is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (verse 8). Maybe
you don’t see the wind, but you certainly believe in
the wind. I was out striper fishing a few weeks
ago, somebody in our church took my son and I. So
I was excited, my son could catch these big fish, he’s
kind of into those kind of things. So
I was excited. We
went out to the Merrimac River, got really sunburned, you
may have noticed, a couple weeks back. But anyway, we were fishing, and I’ve
got a big head, I can’t where baseball caps, they look
silly on me. But I had gotten one cap that looked cool,
and it just seemed to work with my head, at least I thought
so. My wife told me later it didn’t. [loud laughter] She confessed that to me later. But I thought it was cool. My only hat that I’d ever wear,
my favorite hat. Well
we were out striper fishing, you know, you’re out there
on a little boat on the Merrimac River. So it’s windy, and I know to keep
my head down so it won’t blow off, and my son and I,
we got hats on. But anyway towards the end, I did good
keeping it on, we’d drive around a bit in the boat,
and it’d get windy, and it would stay on. But
at one point, we’re getting ready to leave, I got to
pull up the anchor, I pull up the anchor, and it’s
at that point where a lot of boats are going by, so now the
boat is rocking all over, and I’m trying to get the
anchor, so don’t you know, just the right way that
I tilted my head at the right time, whew!, there goes my
hat, right off my head. Right? Out into the deep blue. We went looking for it, and we couldn’t
find it, it was gone, and I was bumming. But
the wind was real. I
mean, I can’t deny the wind. It
took my hat off my head. I
didn’t see the wind, but it was very real, because
it took my hat off my head. It’s
the same with God. The
Bible teaches that men deny God not because there’s
no evidence. They deny because they desire in their
heart to do something else. They
willfully deny God. That
is the only reason. [here is where I disagree somewhat. You saw how non-believers are described
as being spiritually dead, and also as being under the influence
of Satan. Well, Satan, as Revelation 12:9 says,
has the whole world deceived. Also,
when someone is not born again, they are spiritually blind
to spiritual truth, the truth of the Bible. They
cannot understand spiritual concepts and spiritual knowledge. Unless
God starts drawing a person, helping a person by starting
to work with that person through the Holy Spirit, that person
will remain spiritually blinded and ignorant. This
is also a Bible truth.] It
isn’t because of evidence, look around. There’s
plenty of evidence that there’s an intelligent and
awesome God, whose even ordained and designed your life. That’s
the clear teaching of the Scripture. In
the same way, we can’t see the Spirit, just as we can’t
see the wind. But we can see its evidence, it’s
validated. [The Bible indicates there is a human spirit within
each person, which gives each of us our normal physical intelligence,
far superior to any animal intelligence. Paul
takes of this in 1 Corinthians 2:11-13. This
same human spirit intertwines or combines with God’s
Holy Spirit upon this spiritual rebirth. Paul
shows this in Romans 8:15-16 when he says “Our spirit
bears witness with his Spirit, that we are the children of
God.” Our
human spirit’s are also invisible. Ecclesiastes
says that humans have human spirits, called the ‘spirit
of man’, and animals have a spirit coupled to their
brains as well, helping to give them animal intelligence. So
this spiritual birthing process is where God places some
of his Holy Spirit within our human spirit, which grants
us spiritual life, called by Jesus here being “born
again”.] God’s existence is validated because
of the evidence. And
thinking of the Spirit and being born again, you can say ‘Well,
I don’t see it, I don’t understand, I don’t
comprehend’, but the reality is there. Just
a few Wednesday nights ago there was a lady who came up from
Florida, and she was visiting here with a man, he’s
up in Bangor and she’s down in Florida, and they just
happened to meet here on their way going somewhere else,
old friends. And
I got talking to her, and she hadn’t been in church
in years, but she was now curious and was interested in God. Well
her friend, Tony, she was with on this Wednesday night, he
went to Calvary Chapel Springfield, MA. This
young man was a tremendous drug addict, alcoholic, this man
had lived a lousy life, and made life miserable for others
around him, his family, just deep into the pit of addiction,
been to the Springfield rescue mission, been to different
things, and continuing to go back into that lifestyle. Well,
he started to attend Calvary Chapel [affiliated with Calvary
Chapel Costa Mesa] and Calvary Chapel learned about the situation,
and they sent him up to U-Turn in Maine. Well
that guy began to go through a process, he received Christ,
he began to change so much so that his old friend down in
Florida said ‘Something’s going on in your life.’ In
fact, after a number of months he began to lead the program
in Maine….went up there, got right with the Lord,
now he’s a different man, gonna be getting married,
on and on, so many testimonies. You
can say ‘I don’t see the Spirit’, I can’t
see a light or a glow come over them, but there is all the
evidence. [The
angels and demons can see the light of God’s Holy Spirit
within a believer. And Jesus himself when he was a physical
man in Judea, the demons immediately knew who he was, must
have been glowing brightly. But
ordinary humans couldn’t tell who he was. John
the Baptist had to have it pointed out to him by a miracle.] Something
supernatural is going on, something. Doesn’t mean their perfect, that’s
for sure. But
there’s a work, and the evidence validates that. As
Jesus says, you can’t see the wind, but don’t
tell me the wind doesn’t exist. In the same way, spiritual rebirth, you
might not be able to see it with your eyes, but don’t
say it doesn’t exist, because the evidence is clear.
“You’re a teacher of
Israel, and you don’t understand this?”
Verses 9-21 “Nicodemus answered and said to him, ‘How can
these things be?’ Jesus
answered and said to him, ‘Are you the teacher of
Israel, and you don’t know these things?’” [Switching to King James Version due
to tape switchover which lost some of the transcript] “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? And no man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven. And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of man be lifted up,” [normal
transcript resumes] “that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through him might be saved. He
who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not
believe is condemned already because he’s not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the
light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than the light, because their deeds were evil. For
everyone practicing evil hates the light, and does not
come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But
he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds
may be clearly
seen that they’ve been done in God.” Well, Nicodemus says ‘How can
these things be? You’re
saying these things, I don’t comprehend, I don’t
understand.’ And
then Jesus responds and really sort of pokes at him, he
says, ‘Man, you’re the teacher, you’re
part of the Sanhedrin, you’re one of the elite, that’s
your position, to be a spiritual overseer, to be one of
these spiritual know-it-alls in the nation of Israel. And
you’re telling me you don’t understand this? There’s something not right here.’ He says, ‘but we, we’ referring
to John the Baptist, referring to Jesus, referring to all
the Prophets, “But we,” all the Law, everything
written, pointing to Jesus Christ, “but
we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have
seen. But you do not accept our testimony.” I mean, we know these things, we see
these things. Yet
you’re supposed to be a spiritual teacher, and yet
you’re not connecting here.’ Then he says in verse 13, “No one has
ever gone to heaven except the one who came from heaven,
the Son of man.” Meaning Jesus has a special position,
nobody’s ever been to heaven, nobody can accurately
tell you or describe to you heaven, other than Jesus himself,
and the Holy Spirit then illuminating the truth in a person’s
heart, because Jesus has been there [and is there again
right now]. He
can give accurate details, but not only that, he can give
you instructions on how to get there. That’s the whole point, how to get
to heaven. He
can talk about it, because he came from heaven, as God
the Son.
The serpent on the pole points
to Christ on the Cross
Verse 14, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness”---Numbers
chapter 21---“even
so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever”---wherever
they live, whatever their name is---“whoever
believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” eternal
life. What does
it all mean? Numbers chapter 21, maybe you remember
the passage. The
people of Israel, you know, they were in the wilderness,
and they struggled in doing the right thing as examples to
us on how to live. And
one thing they struggled with was complaining, and one particular
time they began to complain again to Moses, about, ‘You
know, this is a bad deal, this whole thing following God,
and look what you’ve done in our life, Moses, you’ve
ruined our life.’ One
of these whole deals, they went through it. Well
God was angry at them for complaining, and he judged them,
and how he judged them is he brought these fiery serpents,
these vipers, you know these desert vipers came into the
camp, and they began to bite people. You can only imagine, groups of people
suddenly scattering, somebody dropping to the ground, a child,
an older person, being bit by vipers. We’re
told in Numbers chapter 21 that many of them even died. And
what was the result of that, well, God allowed it to get
their attention because of their ugly hearts. The
people of Israel then came to Moses, repentant and broken,
and said ‘We are being judged by God because of our
own wicked hearts.’ They confessed that. ‘Do something, help us! Speak to God, intercede for us. We need to be delivered from this awful
situation that we are in.’ So,
what do you do when somebody’s been bitten by a poisonous
snake? Well, when Moses gets instruction from
God, he does something very different. I
actually looked in the Encyclopedia, and when somebody’s
been bitten by a poisonous snake, I’m glad I read this,
this week, I would have gotten the razor blade out and started
sucking the poison out, that’s what we see on TV anyway. But
I was reading in the Encyclopedia, first aid for a poisonous
bite is this: “Bites inflicted by venomous snakes require
immediate first aid measures. The victim should be taken as soon as
possible to the nearest emergency medical facility. In the interim the first aid provider
should not cut the area around the bite, attempt to suck
out the venom or apply ice to the wound.” That’s
exactly what I would have done. The
focus of first aid should be to prevent the venom from spreading
rapidly through the individual’s bloodstream. The
victim should be kept quiet to avoid stimulating the circulation
of the venom. In addition the bite area should be kept
at a lower lever than the rest of the body. The
wound should be washed thoroughly with soap and water and
blotted dry and loosely covered with a sterile dressing.” First aid, somebody’s been bitten
by a viper or poisonous snake, you got to do the right thing
in order to keep them alive. I’ve
known situations when I worked at Caterpillar in San Diego,
somebody died from a rattlesnake bite. Serious thing. That’s happened in Numbers 21 to
the people of Israel. But
what does God say to Moses? They
come to Moses for help. God says ‘Take some brass and make
a serpent out of brass, and then put it on a pole, and then
lift it up. And tell the people to look upon that
brass serpent.’ And
those that did, those that in faith---there could have been
people going ‘Come on, that’s absolutely ridiculous,
come on, suck my blood, cut me with a razor, take me to the
medics.’---but those that said ‘All right, God
said to do that, so I’ll do that’, and they then
looked at that bronze serpent on a pole, it says they were
healed. And this
judgment, this plague stopped among the people of Israel. Now
brass is interesting, because brass is a metal in the Scriptures
that symbolizes judgment. A
serpent, symbolizes, the Scripture says, typically sin. So
you have this sense that God has passed this judgment, but
also God has provided the means for the people to be delivered
and be healed from their condition. Well,
with that picture, that truth, all those truths in the Old
Testament, pointing to the reality, to the cross of Jesus
Christ. He says ‘even
as Moses did that, and that serpent was raised up, even so
the Son of man must be lifted up, put up on that cross, nailed
to that cross, his blood shed. Even so, he must do that, and then people
who look to him in faith, will also be healed from their
condition, that is the condition of the fruit of sin in their
life. Verse
15, “That whoever believes in him should not perish,
but have eternal life.” The cross, it’s all about the
cross, it all points to the cross. We
as people are in a desperate state because of our sin, just
as those vipers bit those people and they were in a desperate
condition, that picturing sin. We have been bitten by sin, all sin, and
the wages of sin is death [Romans 6:23]. That’s
the teaching of the Bible, the wages of sin, the fruit of
sin is death. [And I would add here, that the annihilation
interpretation of what “hell” is, is that those
who do not ultimately accept Christ and become born again,
do not go to some ever-burning hell-fire, to spend eternity
in torturous hell-fire, but that those individuals die in
the lake of fire, and from then on lose all consciousness. Some passages say it will be like they
never existed. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm.] There are quite a few interpretations
about what hell really is, making this a secondary Bible
doctrine.] A spiritual death. That’s the curse too on this planet,
one day physical death, but even greater the second death,
which is to be separated from God eternally, and to be judged
by God, to be under his wrath. But God has provided a remedy, and there’s
only one way. People
can try other ways, people can ignore if they want to, they
still got the sin in their blood, they’ve still got
this nature, and they’re going to pay the price, and
the price is death. It’s
killing them, and they’re spiritually dead even now,
unless they turn to faith. Jesus says you must be born again. What does it mean? It means to look to Jesus Christ, it’s
to look to the cross, and say “I am a sinner, Jesus
I see that you’ve paid the penalty for my sin. I
see it, and I believe, and I believe that you came to save
me from my sin, so I turn and I look in faith.” And
anybody that does that [and says that with a sincere heart],
anybody that does that will be saved. You
know, people around us without Christ are in a desperate
condition, and the only way is to turn to Christ. This
week, one of the homeless men came in, and it was neat because
this man we’ve ministered to for the last two years,
but he’s never been like this, and he came in and he
said, ‘Man, I want to change. I
don’t want to live this way anymore. I’m
sick, I need help, I need to change.’ And
ultimately he even confessed he needed the help of God. So
we began to work with him. And
that’s what Jesus is saying here, turning. We
all need Christ. We
must be born again. Joseph was told there, “And she
will bring forth a son, and you shall call
his name Jesus [in the Hebrew: Yeshua,
which means “God saves”], for he will save his
people from their sins.” There’s an old legend told of a
traveler who circled the globe on foot, and he went everywhere,
and somewhere along the travels as he traveled around this
earth, he found himself trapped in the quicksand pit, in
desperate need of help. Well
as he slowly sank in the quicksand Confucius came by and
said ‘Confucius say it is evident man should avoid
such situations’ and he went on his way. Mohammed
came by and said
‘Alas, it is the will of Allah’ as he went on
his way. Buddha came by and said ‘Let this
man’s dilemma be an illustration for many’, and
he went on his way. Krishna came by and said ‘Better
luck next time’, and he went on his way. Jesus
Christ came by, reached out to the man and pulled him out
of the pit. That’s the gospel. Other religions don’t do that. Jesus Christ says ‘You are in that
pit’, the Word of God says ‘You’re in that
pit.’ You
can stay there, but there is a remedy. You reach out and you take hold of Jesus
Christ, you look to him, and you will be saved. Verses
17-18, “God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through him might be
saved.”---But Jesus came to say, “Yea, I’ll
pull you out, man, you want be pulled out, I’ll pull
you out of your lifestyle, you want to be pulled out of that
addiction, you want eternal life, you want hope? I’ll do it. Turn
to me in faith and repent of your sin. Accept the work that I’ve done for
you.”
God didn’t send his Son to
condemn the world, but to save it
“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved. He
who believes in him is not condemned….” Man
the Bible makes that clear, Romans chapter 8, verse 1,
it says “There is now no condemnation for those that
are in Christ.” There is no condemnation. Later in the same chapter “Who is
he who condemns?”, meaning a Christian, who can condemn
somebody in Christ? “It is Christ who died, and furthermore
is also risen, whose even at the right hand of God, who
makes intercession for us.” With
Christ, there’s no condemnation. “He
who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not
believe is condemned already because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Just
like those Israelites, if they didn’t turn, in their
very state [of having been bitten], they were condemned. They
had the poison, they had the curse. So
for those who do not believe, they are condemned already,
for the wages of sin is death.
The world in general hates the
light
And verse 19 says, “And this is the condemnation”---this
is the reality of the situation---“that
light has come to the world,”---Jesus is the light,
he’s come into the world---“but men loved darkness rather than
the light, because their deeds were evil.” That
is the reason, it’s not because people can’t
see and understand, perceive, it’s because they don’t
want to. They
love their deeds, there’s the light, but I want to
do my own deal. [That still doesn’t mean Satan hasn’t
deceived the whole world, and a future redemption for the “unsaved
dead” will not occur. Jesus
will state later in this Gospel that no man can come to him,
Jesus, unless the Father draw him (John 6:44,65). So
there are differing interpretations on this subject. We’ll
most definitely learn more about the truth of this matter
after Jesus Christ’s 2nd coming. But
anywhere from 95 to 99 percent of mankind, and I’m
a serious history buff, has not responded to Jesus’ call
to salvation. And
two-thirds of mankind existed before Jesus arrived on the
scene. One tiny Sabbatarian denomination may
hold the key to this mystery, and it is a genuine Scriptural
mystery that has baffled theologians for nearly 2,000 years. To
read this explanation log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/destiny/2ndResurrection5.htm.] You know, when we were in New York City
Friday and driving out, we drove through Times Square. You know, you drive through Times Square,
you know, you turn on the TV, in our culture, you pick up
a magazine, the world’s going ‘Here it is, Come,
come, come, We got this for you, we got that for you, We’ll
offer this for you, Come check this out, Come try this out’. The world, all the time. You drive through Times Square, that’s
like the Mecca of that, you know what I mean? I
mean, buildings, entire buildings that are just going ‘Come,
come, come’, neon lights, TV screen, ‘Here it
is, all this for you, come and enjoy.’ Right? The world, and all that neon. Yet the light, the real light is from
Jesus Christ. But
men rather go that way, the other way, rather than turning
to Jesus Christ, because their deeds are evil. “For every one practicing evil hates the light….”---you
see that in our world, that’s for sure. People
don’t like to hear about the Gospel message, they don’t
like to hear that you need be born again, because they want
to do what they want to do [yes, they are willingly deceived. But
they are deceived nonetheless.]. That’s
the whole reason. If
you’re here today, and you’re saying ‘I
can’t accept Jesus Christ.’ Understand
God says ‘I know the reason why. In your heart you want to do what you
want, to continue doing what you’re doing. You
don’t want to change your ways.’ “For everyone practicing evil hates
the light, and does not come to the light lest his deeds
should be exposed” (verse 20). The
Bible says the man who covers his sin does not prosper (Proverbs). “But
he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds
may be clearly seen that they have been done in God” (verse
21). You know, maybe you’ve been as a Christian
trying to invite somebody to church, and you know, they receive
it, they seem to be interested, ‘I tell them about
Jesus’, and there’s something going on. But man, when it comes down to Sunday
[or Saturday] morning, I call them, they don’t answer
the phone, I come by, they’re like ‘Ah, I want
to stay home’, there’s this battle going on. And maybe in some of their cases it’s
like
‘Yeah, I here ya, but no, I don’t want to go
that way. I really like what I’m doing. I really want to continue to do that.’ And there’s this recognition that
if they go that way, they have to turn from this way. And
that’s really the battle in many instances, as it says
right there. So
that’s a battle to pray about. “But he who does the truth comes
to the light so that his deeds may be clearly seen, that
they have been done in God.” I mean, there’s nothing to hide,
I can come and stand in the light, because I know there’s
sincerity, I’m not perfect, I have my struggles, but
I ain’t trying to hide anything from God, and I ain’t
trying to hide anything from anybody else. I
come, and I stand, because I’ve sought to live after
the Lord….Let’s close in prayer….”[transcript
of a sermon given in New England.]
A remarkable phone call from a 12-year old boy to Houston radio station
KSBJ FM 89.3. So
profound, the station has it posted on their website. Click
below to listen to it. It’s
short.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zCdZwitrNoY
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