I want to talk to us again from the last in our series of sermons entitled Out Living Your Life.
Out Living Your Life. This passage of Scripture is one of the best known in the New Testament
because John records this conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus as a presentation of a
grand summary of the Gospel. The teaching deals with the kingdom, with regeneration,
with faith, with the Son of Man, with God's love and the plan of salvation. This conversation has
to do with judgment and unbelief. The account of the conversation is full of vital importance
because Jesus said to Nicodemus the thing that is essential for every one of us. Brothers and
sisters, it is the only occasion upon which it is recorded that he revealed this fact in
speech. And so it ought to arrest us today that Jesus said you must be born again, not to a hated
tax collector. Jesus said you must be born again, not to the woman caught in the act of adultery.
Jesus said you must be born again, not even to the woman at the well. Jesus did not say you must
be born again to the man in the tomb cutting himself with stones. Jesus didn't even tell the
thief on the cross that you must be born again. But he said these words to one of the most powerful
and influential men in Israel at the time. He told this learned Jew, this rich man Nicodemus,
not a thief, not a prostitute. He told Nicodemus, this smart man, you must be born again. Brothers
and sisters, it almost seems impolite. But I want to eavesdrop on this conversation between
Nicodemus and Jesus to hear for myself and for the rest of us the eternal truths that Jesus
shared with this man who came with questions about religion, but left with answers about redemption.
He came to Jesus with questions about Jesus, but he left with knowledge about himself. He came to
Jesus by night, physically and spiritually, and he left Jesus in the full light of day with the
brightness of salvation beginning to dawn in his own soul. In verses one, two and three, Nicodemus
met Jesus face to face. Look with me again. Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader
of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come
from God, for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God. Jesus answered
him, verily, verily, truly, truly, amen, amen. Very truly, I tell you, you must be born again.
Let's look at this face to face encounter and this face to face meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus
has to do with life. Nicodemus, brothers and sisters, is described at length. His party
affiliation, his actual name, and his official position are stated in the text. The fact that
he was a ruler of the Jews means that he was a member of the Sanhedrin Council. This body of 70
men consisting of high priests, scribes, and elders. Combined with his being in noted Pharisee,
means that he was learned in the Old Testament scriptures. He was from the school of Gamaliel.
That he was a Pharisee proves that Nicodemus was narrow minded, dogmatic, and bigoted. And his
outlook upon religious matters was supernatural rather than natural and his views were traditional
and ritualistic. Oral tradition tells us that Nicodemus was one of the three richest men in
Jerusalem. But what you have does not change what you are. He was a respectable man. But what you
achieve does not change what you are. Nicodemus was a rich man, a respectable man. He was a religious
man. But what you do does not change what you are. Nicodemus had seen some of the signs or he had
heard about Jesus. And he heard some of Jesus' teachings and the teachings of Jesus, the impression
made on him had been so strong that he risked visiting Jesus at night. Some people claim that he
came at night because he was embarrassed to be seen with Jesus in the day. And he did not want to
risk his reputation of being seen with this itinerant preacher in the day because Nicodemus was a
learned Jewish scholar. He was a scribe and a Pharisee. He was a member of the Sanhedrin
Council and Jesus was this lowly Nazarene carpenter. And Nicodemus some say came to him at night
because he did not want to be seen with him. But I do not believe his coming by night was cowardice,
but rather careful caution. Because Nicodemus worked all day. He was on the Sanhedrin Council.
He was a learned scholar teaching all day. And Jesus worked all day. Healed the sick,
gave sight to the blind, fed the hungry. So Nicodemus came when Jesus had time to listen.
Careful caution. The fact that Nicodemus came to him, whether he was a coward or cautious,
he came. Somebody ought to help me preach it. No matter if he was a coward or if he was cautious,
thank God he came. And this morning it does not matter why you came, I'm glad you came.
Because if you come to Jesus, he will in no wise cast you out. The fact that he came,
taking the risks involved, shows his seriousness. And he shows how deeply Jesus gripped his heart.
Let's not be too brutal and too harsh on Nicodemus because he came by night with some questions.
Let's not hold it against him that he was not sure. Because Nicodemus was not going to stake
everything on somebody who said he was Messiah. Because there were some false messiahs before
Jesus. I need somebody who can help me talk here this morning. And Nicodemus was not going to help
his star to a wagon that wasn't going anywhere. He wanted to make sure that this was the real
Christ. And the reason we not not be so hard on Nicodemus is because John the Baptist
sent some disciples to Jesus. I need two or three more Bible readers. John the Baptist was the cousin
of Jesus. The forerunner of Jesus. Born to prepare the way for Jesus. And John said, are you the one?
Or do we have to look for another? And Jesus said, go tell John the blind seeker.
The lame are walking. The deaf are hearing. The dumb are speaking.
The dead folk are coming out of the grave. And the poor have the gospel being preached to them.
If you're going to follow Jesus, you got to be sure it's the right Jesus.
Nicodemus came by night. Not because he was a coward. But because he was careful and conscious.
He did not want to be in possession of an unexamined face. He did not want to be guilty
of credulity. Of believing without examination. He did not want to follow Jesus because somebody
else was following. He didn't want to go to church because it was socially acceptable and expedient.
He didn't want to follow Jesus just to get a hookup. He wanted to be sure that Jesus was who
he says he was. And if you're here this morning for the reasons I've just mentioned, you're here
for all the wrong reasons. But you can get it straight before you go home this morning.
What can wash away my sins? Not a good education. Because education will just give you smarter
ways to go to hell. What can wash away my sins? Not money in the bank. Money will give you more
expensive ways to lose your soul. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And like Nicodemus, you need a face to face encounter. He met him face to face.
And he said to him, Rabbi, sir, teacher, we know, he's talking about, they've been talking about it
in the Sanhedrin Council. They've been meeting on it behind closed doors. We know that you are a
teacher, but not just any teacher. You're a teacher sent from God. Because nobody can open
blinded eyes. Nobody can unstop deaf ears. Nobody can turn ordinary water into extraordinary wine.
Nobody can take two fish and five loaves and feed 5,000 men not counting women and children.
Nobody can walk through a crowd and a woman just grab his clothes with an issue of blood.
And when he stops, the blood stops. Nobody can do that, except God be with.
We know who you are. You are teacher sent from God. And Jesus didn't answer his mentioning of
his pedigree. Jesus didn't acknowledge all of the hullabaloo about who he thought he was.
Jesus was not impressed with the titles that Nicodemus just gave him.
Jesus said, bump all that. Let's get to why you came here.
You must be born again. But before he got to that, Jesus said, Verily, Verily, truly, truly, amen, amen.
That word, Verily, Verily is the assurance of verity. And when Jesus says, I say to you,
that's the assurance of authority. Verily, Verily is the assurance that what I'm about to say is
powerful, but who's saying it is more powerful than what's just been said.
I wish I had time to stay right there. You must be born again, because the nature of your humanity
and the nature of heaven makes being born again a must.
Now, hear me, brothers and sisters, many, many well-meaning people are confused into thinking
that they can do enough and be enough to guarantee access in the heaven.
You hear it all the time when people are talking about, when I get to the pearly gates, I hope
St. Peter will let me in. Or you hear jokes about St. Peter letting somebody into the pearly gates.
St. Peter, lucky he's in the gate.
No, no, the Virgin Mary can't pray your end. St. Augustine can't get you in.
St. Andrew can't get you in. The patron saint of lost causes can't get you in,
because everybody who's in is in the same way you got to get in. You must be born again.
The reason the new birth is not an option. The reason the new birth is not a take it or leave
it proposition is because no matter what you have, what you do or who you are, the Bible says
you are a sinner in need of salvation. If you're rich, you need salvation. If you're poor,
you need salvation. If you're black, you need salvation. If you're white, you need salvation.
If you're homeless, you need salvation. If you just built a house, you need salvation.
If you don't have a job, you need salvation. If you are a supervisor, you need salvation. If you are
a bus driver, you need salvation. If you're a high school principal, you need salvation. If you're
you need salvation. If you preach the gospel, you need
salvation.
You must be
born again.
Like Nicodemus, we do not we we do not need new and superior
works.
Not new, superior, more difficult, meritorious works.
We do not need a new national or ecclesiastical or religious
party connection that's better than the Pharisees. But we need
an entirely new birth.
We need a new birth.
Jesus worried regarding the new birth. Brothers and sisters
shatters once and for all every supposed excellence of man's
attainment. All merit of human deeds. All prerogatives of
natural birth. All vicissitudes of our station in life.
Spiritual birth. Listen, it's something you undergo and not
something you achieve on your own.
You undergo the new birth. You don't manufacture it.
It's something that happens to you. Not something that you
happen into. You don't stumble in to the new birth. The new
birth comes upon you from above. That's a face to face
encounter that has to do with your life.
But as I heard, not only did Nicodemus meet Jesus face to
face, he made him mind to mind.
Look with me in verses four through verse number eight.
Nicodemus said to him, how can anyone be born after having grown
old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be
born? Jesus answered, very truly I tell you, no one can enter
the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit.
What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the
spirit in spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you,
you must be born from above. The wind blows where it chooses
and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it
comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born
of the spirit.
Hear me brothers and sisters. Like many people who are lost
and on their way to hell without a hope in Christ.
Nicodemus possessed intellectual comprehension, but not
spiritual apprehension. He had intellectual comprehension, but
no spiritual apprehension. He is trying to unravel a mystery
when Jesus expects him to just believe a miracle.
He's trying to unravel, unravel a mystery and Jesus is just
saying, believe a miracle. Let me see if I can make that
and make sense. There is no doubt that the new birth is a
mystery. No doubt about it. The new birth, how we are born
again is a mystery. How God could choose a wretch like me is a
mystery. How God could look over my six brothers who are older
than me and call me to preach. A rump of the litter, the
smallest of all of them, the most, the most uncoordinated,
the most gawky, the most, the most nerdy of all of them. God
chose me out of all of them. It's amazing that God looks
beyond your shortcomings. God looks beyond what makes you
low down and cranky and mean and gossipy and some timey and
good for nothing. A liar, a hormonger, a drug user, an
alcoholic, a street walker. God looks beyond all of that and
saves you. When you get home, look at yourself in the mirror.
If you want to see a miracle, look at yourself in the
mirror. Y'all like me because of what you don't know about me.
But God knows how low down I am. I wish I had some other
crooks in here this morning. God knows how sinful I am, how
weak I am, how fickle I am, but he looks beyond that and he
remembers that I'm just dust. And he decided to save me.
That is a mystery.
Growing up, I didn't talk to anybody outside my family.
I just never spoke. I was very articulate.
I was particularly intelligent, but I didn't talk to anybody
outside my family. I was just that awkward.
I was just that shy. Can you believe that?
I was just that shy. And so when I announced my call to preach,
people who loved me said, how is he going to preach?
And he never talked. You have to talk to preach.
But God can take anybody.
I said, God can take anybody.
He can take a nobody and make him a somebody.
He did that with Moses. Moses said, I can't speak for you.
I started when I talked. God said, just open your mouth.
I will speak for you.
Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody.
He spent another 40 years finding out he was nobody.
And spent the last 40 years finding out how God can take nobody
and make him somebody. Just open your mouth.
Just put yourself in the way. Just offer yourself as a living sacrifice.
Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And if you be not conformed to the pattern of this word,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
you'll be able to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The new birth is a miracle.
But now I want you to hear me as I hurry.
It's something that I don't understand.
I don't understand everything about it, but I believe it.
I don't believe because I understand.
I seek to understand because I believe.
A mystery is not that about which you cannot know anything.
A mystery is that about which you cannot know everything.
I'm going to give you a couple of mysteries that you just accept.
So if you accept this, then the new birth ought not be a problem for you.
I don't understand electricity.
But so that I don't sit in the dark, I'll pay my bill.
It's a mystery.
I don't understand it, but you put your finger in an electrical socket
and you start believing right away.
I do not understand, but I believe.
I don't understand how a brown cow can eat green grass
and give yellow butter and white milk.
But that's some blue bell homemade vanilla ice cream.
Sugar mahala.
I almost spoke in tongues right there.
In my freezer with my name on it.
I don't understand it, but I got a blessing with my name on it.
Now for you smart people, Jesus told Nicodemus for a man to get to heaven.
He got to have two birthdays.
The day you were born physically and the day you were born spiritually.
And the reason he likens it to birth is because physical birth correlates to spiritual birth.
When you are born physically, physical birth provides life.
Spiritual birth provides life.
Physical birth can only happen once.
You can only come out of your mother's womb once.
The new birth can only happen once.
Physical birth takes place because a woman suffers.
The new birth takes place because a man suffers.
On a hill, far away.
I wish I had somebody to help me.
I stood in old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.
But I love that old cross where the dear is the best for a world of lost sinners with sleep.
I'm through. Physical birth gives you a brand new start.
No baby is born with a past.
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
All things are passed away.
Behold all things are becoming new.
I'm through. He met him face to face.
He met him mind to mind.
But then finally he meets him heart to heart.
Nicodemus said, how can these things be?
Jesus said, you mean to tell me you're a teacher?
You mean to tell me you've been to school?
And you don't know what I'm talking about?
He said, if I tell you natural things and you don't believe it, how can I expect you to understand spiritual things?
He said, let me put it to you this way. The wind comes from somewhere and the wind goes somewhere.
But can you tell where it came from or where it's going?
Here's the application.
The only way you know the wind is blowing is if you feel it.
The only way you know you've been born again is if you feel it.
I wish I had somebody to help me close.
I don't always look saved.
I don't always act saved.
I don't always sound saved.
But every now and then I feel something.
I wish I had somebody to help me close it.
I feel something on the inside.
Whenever I hear the name Jesus, something happens to me on the inside.
Whenever I come to the house of God and get in the company of the people of God, I feel something.
I need one or two more believers here.
Some of you here who are over 40 can help me shout right here.
We were growing up as children in the hood.
There are some things that were just fighting words.
If you talked about my daddy, I'd let you get away with that so long.
But if you talk about my mama, that's fighting words.
And I didn't really want to fight because I wasn't a fighter.
I was more of a lover than a fighter.
So I'd put a stick on my shoulder and say,
if you bad, knock that stick off my shoulder.
And I was praying that they wouldn't knock that stick off my shoulder.
Because that meant I had to fight.
Some words were just fighting words.
But there are some words in the scripture that's not fighting words,
but shouting words.
I wish I had somebody to help me close it.
Whenever you read Romans chapter 8 and verse number 1,
there's shouting words.
There is therefore now no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit.
When you read verse 16 of John chapter 3,
that's shouting words.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
Whosoever, whosoever, believe within him,
shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
When you read Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 20,
that's shouting words.
Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all,
you can even ask or think according to the power that is at work in you.
When you read Psalm 23, that's shouting words.
That Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yay!
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil.
For God is with me.
His rod and his staff, they comfort me.
He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
He anoints my head with oil so that my cup is just running over.
Surely!
Goodness, I'm thirsty.
You shall just follow me all the days of my life,
and I will, I will, I will, I will.
I said I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
If God will save you, if you've been born again,
why don't you grab somebody?
Tell them you don't know like I know.
You can't tell it like I can tell it.
What the Lord?
I know He's alright.
He walks with me.
He talks with me.
He tells me I'm His own.
There are some things I may not know.
There are some places I cannot go,
but I am sure of this one place.
That God is real.
I can feel.
Have I got a witness?
I cannot tell just how you felt
when Jesus took your sins away.
But since that day, since that hour,
God has been real, for I can feel His holy power.
Do you feel it?
Tell Him thank you.
Thank you.
I know He's alright.
Won't He do it?
Won't He save you?
Won't He open doors?
Won't He make a way out of nowhere?
Won't He put food on your teeth?
Clothes on your back?
Money in your pocket?
Write your name in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Some glad morning when this life is over.
I will fly away.
Is there anybody here who knows who I'm talking about?
Why don't you help me?
Magnify His name.
He's a rock in a weary land.
Shelter in a time of storm.
A friend when you're friendless.
Brad when you're hungry.
He died.
Didn't he die?
But brighter hour.
Suddenly morning.
He got up.
I know He's alright.