Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. Well, it's good to have you.
How many know it is almost Thanksgiving? Almost
is close, right? We're just about there. It's
almost Thanksgiving. And it's time to get yourself
prepared for turkey. It's time to get yourself
prepared for dessert, right? And it's just, I'm
getting geared up. I don't know about you. But
I just told somebody this morning, I think eating
is one of my spiritual gifts. I'm not quite sure.
Come on, anybody with me in the house? I can't
find it in the Bible, but I think it's something
that's a spiritual gift for me. But I just wanted
to take a moment because this is a week of Thanksgiving,
and this is a time where we take and give thanks
to the Lord in particular for all the things
that he's given us. But I don't think I get to
do this often enough. I don't get to thank God
for you. We come in here week after week and
we get the opportunity to minister. And sometimes
I just want to stop and give God thanks for you.
You could go anywhere else and serve in the body
of Christ in any other church. And so many of
you come and we serve together. We serve arm
in arm and we lift up the name of Christ and
we worship together. And I'm just so grateful
this morning as I was thinking. I'm so grateful
for the people that God's brought together in
this particular group and slice of the ministry
and slice of heaven. Amen. And it's true. So
thank you. If you're listening online, you are
part of this gathering. You're part of this body.
We've got people who listen online all the time.
We've got people who listen to the podcast somewhere
up in Canada, man. All kind of places all across
the globe that listen. And you're part of our
family. And we love that you're here. And we
love that we come together and we get the opportunity
to do this. We're family. Amen? Amen. So I just
wanted to give thanks, take a moment to recognize
you. But most of all, I want to give thanks to
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Can
you stand and give them an applause? Come on,
just stand up. This is for Jesus, not for me,
not for anybody else. Just give it for Jesus.
Come on. You might not do that around a Thanksgiving
table, but you can do it here, right? Give them
glory. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. I
love Thanksgiving. I love Christmas. I love this
time of year and what God's doing in the hearts
and lives all across the globe, truly. Well,
this morning, I thought I'd let you in on just
a little secret. It's not really a big secret,
but it's a little secret. I kind of want to let
you in on one of the habits that the LifeHouse
staff, those of us who work in ministry and LifeHouse
on staff and ministry, one of our habits that
we've tried to instill over the last couple years.
is reading books. And all of our staff get together.
We read the same book at the same time. We get
together each week for staff meeting, and we
talk about what we pulled out of the book. It
keeps us accountable, helps us really grow together
and learn together. And there's two books that
we always want to be reading, right? First is
the Bible, always. A, number one, we want to
be in Scripture. We want to be in God's Word.
And then two, we read books about ministry. We
read books about leadership. We study what we
can to get ourselves a little wiser, right, to
grow the gray matter. Anybody need to grow gray
matter up there? Yeah, I do. You know, we learn
to get knowledge. We learn to get educated. We
learn to hear the stories. We read to broaden
and narrow our perspective both at different
times, sharpen our skills from time to time,
right? Change our focus, maybe learn about a
particularly interesting area. We read to grow.
We read to expand everything that's in our hearts
and our heads. But before we read those books,
we make sure we read the Word of God. Because
the Word of God isn't just a book. It isn't just
a little bit of knowledge. It's a revelation
of God's redemptive plan for mankind. It is the
book. It is the path from death to life. Everything
else in life is life to death, right, that we
see around us. But in the Bible, it goes from
death to life. It contains the road to God. It
is the mysteries of life. It exposes the darkness
and brings us into his glorious light. It is
a book unlike any other book that you will ever,
ever read. It explains what's happening in your
head and in your mind and even in the world that's
around us, right? It contains God's plan to get
us back together and fix this broken world that's
around us because it contains the words of God,
words of salvation. There is a reason that the
Bible is the best -selling book of all time because
it is the greatest book of all time because everything
changes. When the word of God begins to come
in. And the word of God is not just descriptive
in nature. I learned this just about a month
ago from someone else. It's not just descriptive
in nature, but it is prescriptive. It is the
prescription. Say it's the prescription. Come
on, it's the prescription that changes everything,
right? It isn't just a description of what God
is doing, but it is the prescription. How does
a prescription work? Anybody know? Anybody ever
get a prescription in -house? Come on, raise
your hand. Yeah, come on. All of you have. You're
all sitting there like, oh, you get a prescription.
Yes, you have. All right. Yeah, you've got a
prescription, right? And you know how it works.
You get ill. You get sick. You call the doctor.
And you make an appointment. And you show up.
Your appointment's for 3 p .m. You come in. You
check in at 5 to 3. You sit down in the waiting
room. Check in. Sit down in the waiting room.
At 10 to 4, they come and get you. Right. They
take you back to a little room and you sit on
a metal table that's cold and has crunchy paper
on top. And you sit there and a nurse comes in
and takes your vital signs and writes it all
down. And they lean in and say, well, what are
you here for today? Right. That's how they do
it. They lean in. I don't know if they think
I'm deaf or what, but they lean in a little.
You know, what are you here for today? And you
explain. They close the door and 30 minutes later,
the doctor shows up. You sit in the crunchy room,
read all the things that are on the wall, right?
Play with all the little gidgee gadgets that
look like organs in the body. And you wait for
the doctor to come in. And the doc comes in,
and he asks you the same questions, maybe asks
some more, listens to some things. And at the
end of all this, he says, I'm going to prescribe
you something. And he asks where your pharmacy
is that you normally go to, and they send the
prescription to that pharmacy. And you go and
get it. And you pick up that prescription, and
the idea is that you take that home, right, and
you internalize what the doctor's giving you.
Whatever medication, you take it, you eat it,
you drink it, whatever it is, you swallow it,
and you internalize it so it goes through your
being and changes you. Wouldn't it be a waste
of time, money, and effort if you went to the
doctor, went through all that rigmarole, right,
to get to the prescription? God picked up the
prescription, took it home, and sent it on the
shelf, and never took any of it, right? Never
opened it, never internalized it, never changed
anything in your physical body. God's word is
the prescription for the illness for my ailment.
Do you know that? It is. It fixes me. It brings
me from death to life. It is the prescription
that fixes the sin that if left untreated will
take me out. It is the prescription for the huge
void between God and myself. God's word is a
prescription that keeps me from imminent death
and eternity in hell. And just take a moment
right now and thank God for the prescription
that leads me to the medication named Jesus.
Amen? Come on. Give the Lord another applause
for the Word of God. This is week of Thanksgiving.
You need to thank Him for everything this week,
right? Because without it, I'm doomed. Without
it, I'm weak and I'm sick and I'm weary. Without
it, death is imminent in my life. It truly is.
God's word taken eternally brings me to life.
It saves me. It heals me. It sets me free in
every area of my life. And in John chapter 3,
and that's where we're going this morning, so
some of you should be geared up. You got your
Bible ready to go, right? In John chapter 3,
there's this man named Nicodemus. Say Nicodemus.
Yeah, and you know who we're talking about, right?
A Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, and he finds
the prescription. He finds Jesus himself. But
he debates on taking what is prescribed. He really
does. He seeks out the remedy for what ails him
and ails society and the world around him. He
even comes to the great physician Jesus. But
then he finds out that he's having a hard time
swallowing what Jesus is prescribing. And you
might ask, well, why does he struggle? Why is
the difficulty there? And I believe it's this.
See, you have to understand something about Nicodemus
before we read about him. He's a Pharisee. He's
a Pharisee. And as you're turning into John chapter
3, I'm going to pray, and then I'm going to tell
you a little bit about Pharisee, and then we're
going to jump into God's Word, all right? Father,
I thank you for this day. I thank you for the
Word of God. Lord, God, I don't need to pray
for blessing on your Word. Your Word is already
blessed. God, I pray for blessing upon our ears,
upon our hearts, upon our minds. God, that we
might receive, we might internalize, and God,
that it might change us. God, that it might shift
us. And Lord, that we might do all things for
your glory and purpose. And we thank you. And
everybody say it together. Amen, amen. Listen,
as you're turning, I want to tell you a little
bit about a Pharisee. I want to tell you a little
bit about this Pharisee named Nicodemus, where
he's coming from. Because sometimes if you know
somebody's background, sometimes if you know
where somebody's coming from, it helps you understand
why they can't get where they're going exactly,
right? Sometimes if you know where they're, you
know, the view that they're seeing, the lens
that they're looking through, it might help you
understand their struggle just a little bit.
And that will help you out with Nicodemus. Because
the Pharisees struggled. Now, you've got to understand
this about Pharisees. Their struggle was self
-inflicted pretty much, all right? They kind
of brought it upon themselves. But the Pharisees
in Jesus' day were middle -class businessmen.
or leaders in the synagogue. And they were the
minority in the Sanhedrin court. The Sanhedrin
court was the highest court. There was a great
Sanhedrin, which was the greatest court. And
all the Jews in that locally, they were Sanhedrin.
And these individuals were made up. They were
part of the Sanhedrin. And a lot of times they
held a minority, but they were very powerful
because they were very popular among the people.
And they were known for emphasizing personal
piety and acceptance of the oral tradition, as
well as the written law of Moses, the Mosaic
law. And they taught the 613 plus, it's actually
right around 13, 613 Jewish Mosaic laws. But
they added a whole bunch to it. I guess they
figured 613 wasn't enough. They added a whole
bunch of things into it, ordinances and laws
that they said they were law. They just made
them up, right? And in the Gospels, the Pharisees
were often presented as hypocritical. They were
proud opponents of Jesus. And the Lord stated
it bluntly in actually Matthew chapter 23. They
do not practice what they preach as a general
rule. Pharisees were self -righteous. They were
kind of smug in their delusion that they were
pleasing God by following all their laws and
particularly their man -made ordinances. It was
good they were following the law of God, but
the man made stuff, right? Their tradition. And
as Jesus pointed out to them, as meticulous as
they were in following the finer points of ritualism,
they failed to measure up to God's holy standard.
Because in the word of God, Jesus said this,
you've neglected the more important matters of
law. He said this to the Pharisees, justice,
mercy, and faithfulness. And while most of the
Pharisees were in direct opposition to Jesus,
Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees who was not
completely opposed to Jesus. As a matter of fact,
he said things like, I know that you're a teacher
who has come from God. He has respect for Jesus.
But Nicodemus wrestles with Jesus' teaching because
of the group that he identified himself with,
the Pharisees, because of his tribe, right? Because
of their focus on the ordinances that were really
not even in part of God's word. But in their
minds was a performance -based thing. If I'm
good enough, right? If I follow enough of the
traditions of what we've made up, if I'm good
enough, I can get to God. So this struggle comes
for Nicodemus, right? At this point in time,
this struggle comes because he's observing the
ordinances and Jesus tells him something very
direct. He says, you must be born again. Let's
go to God's word. John chapter 3, I know that
was a long introduction, right? John chapter
3 verse 1 says this. 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. So we see the struggle. First
two verses, right? First two things we read about
Nicodemus. We start to see the struggle that
Nicodemus is having. Because when does Nicodemus
come to Jesus? What time of day is it? Yeah,
nighttime, right? He did not call Jesus' office
and set up an appointment for during the day.
He didn't get a hold of the disciples and set
something up. He's sneaking around at nighttime.
He's coming to Jesus under the cover of darkness.
This expert in the law, right, is sneaking around
in the darkness because he doesn't want his people
to find out. He doesn't want his fellow Pharisees,
right, his group, his tribe, these people that
he identifies with. He doesn't want them to know.
So he knows there's something powerful about
Jesus. He knows that there's something different.
He knows that God's with him. He even speaks
it, right? He respectfully says, we know that
you're a teacher coming from God. No one can
do these signs except God's with them. But he
sneaks in, in the cover of darkness. He's just
like some covert Christians I've been around,
right? They're at church on Sunday, and then
when they get to the workplace on Monday, nobody
knows they're a Christian. Nobody could figure
it out, even if they had to. I remember hearing
something one time. If you were convicted on
the evidence that you're a Christian, would they
have enough to convict you? It's a very telling
thing. And, you know, Nicodemus, you know, some
people, they're at church Sunday, they're raising
their hands Sunday, they're worshiping God. And
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
nobody even knows who they are. And this is Nicodemus.
He's kind of hiding out. He's coming in the dark.
But Jesus doesn't waste any time. Nicodemus comes.
He wants to talk with Jesus. He wants to find
out what Jesus is all about. And Jesus jumps
right to the heart of the matter. Nicodemus comes
in, he says some nice things, and in verse 3,
Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly,
I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. Interesting. He doesn't
have any chit -chat with Nicodemus about ministry.
He doesn't get into any Old Testament debates.
He doesn't even challenge him on the ordinances
and the traditions that... that Nicodemus is
all about. He doesn't get into any church talk,
ministry talk, sharing about ministry experience.
He doesn't do any of that. He gets right to it.
He moves right to the gospel. He says, Nicodemus,
if you want to see the kingdom of God, you must
be born again. Nicodemus, if you want to see
the kingdom, you're going to have to find that
there's new birth in me. Nicodemus, I, Jesus,
am the way, the truth, and the love. I'm the
only way into the kingdom. And it's rose Nicodemus,
right? I can see him stand there. And I know
this because as you read in the scriptures, you
can tell he's a little stunned. There's a little
bit of spiritual shock, right? He came in with
some niceties. He's just ready to have a conversation.
And Jesus is like, boom, Nicodemus, if you want
to see the kingdom of God, you've got to be born
again. He didn't even know where to go with the
conversation. He didn't even know what to say.
He's probably thinking, Jesus, can't we move
back to some tradition? Can't we talk about the
Mosaic law? Because Nicodemus said to him, how
can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter
a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
And Jesus is probably thinking, Nicodemus, seriously,
we're talking about spiritual things, and you're
over here thinking about physical things, right?
Aren't you an expert in Scripture? Aren't you
an expert? Nicodemus, we're talking about the
physical realm. Right? Or the spiritual realm,
not the physical. Because Jesus answers him,
he says, Moses, surely I say to you, unless one
is born of water, which is flesh, okay, that's
the physical, and the spirit, we cannot enter
the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is
spirit. Do you not marvel that I said to you,
you must be born again? The wind blows where
it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot
tell where it comes from and where it goes. So
is everyone who is born in the spirit. Nicodemus
answered and said to him, how can these things
be? Mr. Pharisee has been thinking of him like
a Pharisee for so long, living in the present
identity that he's been a part of, the group
that he's been a part of, that he's struggling
to hear what Jesus is saying. He's an expert
in the law. He's an expert in the Old Testament.
He's always believed that practicing the law
is going to get him into the kingdom of heaven.
He's trained in this. He's dressed for the part.
He follows the rules along, right, or as many
as he can. He's kind of almost as he'll say,
if I'm just good enough, right, if I just get
it right, I'm in. And Jesus flips his whole theology.
He says, Nick, it's not just about following
God's law, right? You have to be born again.
Being good enough isn't good enough. You have
to be born again. It's not being good enough
that gets us into the kingdom of heaven. It's
the sacrifice that Jesus made and the cleansing
that he brings to us that he paid for on the
cross. I can't be good enough. I'm not good enough.
Only he was good enough. He's the only way. That's
just what he was bringing to Nicodemus. He's
like, Nicodemus, you're never going to be good
enough. I'm the one that's good enough. That's
why I came. That's why I left heaven. That's
why I'm here. This is why I sacrificed myself
for your sin. And I say all that to say our present
identity can keep us blind to eternity, right?
Our present identity can keep us blind to eternal
reality. If my present identity is anything other
than in Jesus, it can skew my view of spiritual
reality. I can start to think that there's some
other path to God. You know, that somehow it's
flexible and it's up to interpretation. Right?
You know, and I hear this all the time. I hear
it on the TV. I hear people talking about this.
Well, you know, everything leads to God, right?
You know, it's kind of up to your interpretation.
You can just kind of go anywhere and experience
God. Here's what I'm telling you this morning.
Hear what Jesus told Nicodemus. The only way
to the kingdom of God is to be born again. Salvation
through Jesus. All paths do not lead to God.
That's like saying that all driveways lead to
my house. Okay? I only have one driveway at my
house. I don't know if you have two or not, but
I only have one. All driveways that you go up
do not lead to my house. There's one and only
one driveway to get to my house. Unless you're
going to drive through my yard, which then we'll
have to have a talk. Okay? Because I'm serious
about my yard. But there's only one. Way to the
kingdom of God. He was letting Nicodemus know.
He was telling us, I am the door. I am the gate.
I am the way. So sometimes, sometimes, say sometimes.
We said that a lot last week, right? Sometimes
when we're talking to someone who is far from
God and they're kind of blind by their present
identity or maybe the group that they're associated
with, right? Sometimes you're going to have to
get right to it. You're going to have to ask
them the question, right? Do you want to see
the kingdom of God? Because if you do, you have
to be born again. There's one path. There's one
direction. There's one way to there, and it's
Jesus. And you've got to do just like Jesus did
with Nicodemus. You've got to let them wrestle
with it. You've got to let them wrestle in their
own spirit. You've got to let them ask the questions.
Jesus was right there with them. You've got to
let them, you know, let them. converse with you.
Let them struggle with it. Let them fight with
it. Every one of us who know Jesus as Lord and
Savior had to. Each one of us had to come to
God and we had to come before the cross and say,
you know what? I realize that I'm a sinner. I
realize that I'm far from God. Each one of us
had to do that. And we had to realize that the
only way to get there is Jesus. That the plan
of God started with the fall of man in Genesis
when we walked away from God, rebelled against
God, sin separated us from God. And it began
to change. and God made provision with Jesus
Christ that we could come back into relationship
with him. That's why he sent his only son. I
can't even imagine, I have one son, can't imagine
sacrificing my son for everybody else, but he
did. That's how much he loves us. In verse 10,
Jesus answered and said to him, are you the teacher
of Israel and you do not know these things? Most
assuredly I say to you, we speak what we know
and testify what we have seen and you do not
receive our witness. If I told you earthly things
and you did not believe, How will you believe
if I tell you heavenly things? No one is ascended
to heaven, but he who came down from heaven,
that is the son of man who is in heaven. And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the son of man be lifted up, and
whoever believes in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. Here it is. Come on, say it
with me so many of you know this. 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. Born again. Born again. Worship team,
if you'd make your way to the platform. I haven't
heard that term used a whole lot these days.
Maybe we need to bring it back, right? We talk
about being saved, but it really is about being
born again. It really is about becoming brand
new in Jesus Christ. It is really realizing that
without Jesus, this spirit man, not the physical,
right? This spirit man is dead. I said it at
the beginning. Everything in God's word goes
from death to life. Everything in this life physically
goes from life to death. And I start out without
Jesus dead. And I need birth. I need life. I
need to be born again spiritually. The thing
that Nicodemus had such, can we just call him
Nick for a while? All right, the thing that Nick
struggled with, right? So much in his head and
his heart. We've got to get our head around.
Jesus tells Nicodemus, if you want to see the
kingdom of God, you have to believe this. You
have to believe it. Can I tell you, you will
act. on what you believe and not on what you
know. Can I say that again? You will act on what
you believe. You will not act on what you know.
I know chocolate chip cookies are not good for
me, but I don't believe that in my heart. And
I eat them on a regular basis. Amen, thank you.
You don't act on what you know. You act on what
you believe. And this morning as you stand, I'm
going to ask everybody in the house to stand
that can stand. I'm going to ask you this question.
What do you believe? I want you to know. I could
probably go around this room. You tell me what
you know because there's so many that will be
able to explain the gospel. Do you ever meet
somebody that rambles on and on about a particular
subject? And they go on and on and on. They've
got knowledge, statistics. They've got all the
different things. And then you look at their
lives and they've never done any of what they're
talking about. Do you ever know what I'm talking
about? They know a whole bunch of things, but
they don't really believe in it because they
don't really do it, right? You've got to believe.
You've got to believe. That's what Jesus was
telling Nicodemus. You've got to believe. I am
the only way. You've got to be born again. If
you want to see the kingdom of God, if you want
to see the kingdom of God, when we meet people.
If you're a Christian in the house and you're
talking with somebody, sooner or later you've
got to get there in the conversation. Sooner
or later, right, you might come in soft. You
might not come in as hard as Jesus did with Nicodemus.
Right off the bat, I think Jesus did that because
he was a Pharisee and he was an expert in the
law. It might take a while for you to build a
relationship. But sooner or later you've got
to ask him, listen, if you want to be in the
kingdom of God, you know what it takes? You've
got to be born again. You've got to be born again.
And that can be quick and it can be harder. It
can be soft and, you know, it takes some time.
But that's the question. Do you believe this?
Do you believe this? Do you believe it? John
3 .15, right? That whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life. For the gospel
of the world that he gave was only begotten.
John 3 .16, whoever believes in him should not
perish but have. It's about the belief. Don't
you believe? to this message from Lifehouse Church.
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