All right, let's pray together. Lord, the work
you do in our lives, we know comes from your
spirit. The spirit works in us and changes us
and not a lot we can do to change ourselves.
We need you. So we ask you today to take this
very familiar text and help it come alive to
us maybe in ways that we didn't even realize.
We pray directly against the enemy, his servants,
their works and effects. In the name of Jesus,
because you are Christ victorious. And we can
cling to you. We can run to you. We know that
you love us deeply. And so we run to that today.
And Lord, help us make sense. Help us to understand.
And help us to see regeneration, transformation
in our lives. In your name, amen. Well, you guys
probably figured out what verse we're in. Today,
this week, I was having a conversation with one
of my track athletes, one of the throwers, and
we've been kind of talking about some spiritual
things, which has been really cool. And I said,
do you have a Bible? He goes, yeah. I said, do
you read it? He goes, a little bit. I said, what's
the most famous verse in all the Bible? He goes,
John 3 .16, of course. So today I get to unpack
the most famous verse in all the Bible. And if
I can't get this one right, I'm in trouble. So
a verse that everyone seems to know about in
the Bible, which is John 3 .16, right? So it's
all over billboards. It's plastered on pro athletes'
faces. It's everywhere. And although this verse
is really important and we're going to spend
time there, there are other verses around it
that are incredibly important and that I believe
will make this verse come alive even more for
you. And so that's what we get to talk about
today. You guys ready? Got your Bibles? And so
really what we're talking about today is this
concept or this language of what it means to
be born again. So as we get into chapter 3, in
our journey through John is that Jesus is going
to have several encounters with different people.
This first encounter that we're going to look
at today is with a guy named Nicodemus. There's
a lot going on in these 21 verses, and so we're
just going to jump right in and plow our way
through it, and it just tells it right out. Now,
John is a... Very unique. I love John because
it's a narrative. It tells a story. It's describing
what happened. It's not necessarily always prescribing
something. But yet in it are treasures all the
way through. Like every word just seems to be
loaded with deep meaning that we are really,
I believe, that we need to mine those meanings.
And so Jesus had an agenda. Our John had an agenda
and he wants to show who Jesus is and how wonderful
he is because he's calling us to believe in not
just that he existed, but to believe that your
roots go deep into who Jesus is. It's not a book
just for those who don't know Jesus. I believe
it's a book that if you really are serious about
it, I don't care how long you walk with Jesus.
The more you mine it, the more it'll just bring
depth to your understanding of who Jesus is.
So John chapter 3 starts off with verse 1. He
tells the story. This is the man. There was a
man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler
of the Jews. Now, first thing we come out, we
just kind of work our way through this. We're
going to see this man, Nicodemus. Nicodemus was
a man of high authority. In the religious leadership
of Israel. And that was pretty important. Somebody
kind of described it as he was like both a senator
and a part of the Supreme Court. Like he had
that kind of power. And so Nicodemus, his name
actually means, and by the way, Bible names,
their meanings matter. It's interesting. But
the meaning or the name Nicodemus means victor
over the people. Now either that's how he operated
or his mama really had a high view of him, right?
Like victor over the people. He was a member
of the Sanhedrin, this ruling body of Jewish
people. So Nick was kind of a big deal. And he
was supposed to know this Bible really well,
better than anyone else. That was his job because
it was through the Old Testament. that you that's
how they ruled they had to judge it they had
to look down they i mean this is the kind of
guy that definitely 100 he had to know the first
five books of the bible not just know it he had
to have it totally memorized and many people
speculate the majority of the old testament memorized
like this was a serious this was a big this was
a smart dude a very powerful dude And so he comes
and we hear this. He comes to Jesus. Now, then
he says, verse two, this man came to him at night
and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher
who has come from God. For no one can perform
these signs you do unless God was with him. So
Nicodemus shows up at night. So funny how many
people. I heard this statement from, including
my own dad comes up to me yesterday at the track
meet and goes, hey, I guess you, you know, I
heard that Nicodemus was really the original
Nick at night. Now for an 83 -year -old man to
get that, who doesn't even watch cartoons anymore,
that's pretty darn good right there. I was like,
okay, I'll say it in front of everybody. Nick
at night, the original Nick at night. Nick and
Nicodemus shows up at night. And he wants to
have a conversation with Jesus. And we don't
know why he shows up at night. There's a lot
of speculation of why he does that. Maybe he's
undercover. Maybe he doesn't want the rest of
the ruling class to know that he's talking to
Jesus. I don't know. The point is we don't know.
But John tells us it's in the evening. He's going
to have this in -depth conversation with Jesus.
He's got a bunch of questions. And he addresses
Jesus, though. in a very interesting way at this
point, he respectfully calls him rabbi, which
is a term of honor. It's almost like he says,
we're equals. Let's have a conversation. So there's
not like, it's not like a lot of those encounters
with the Pharisees or the Sadducees that come
in and they're drilling Jesus. They're trying
to trick Jesus. Nicodemus comes at it in a sense
of, I want to know. And then here's some words
you can underline. Underline the words, we know.
He is speaking to Jesus on behalf of himself,
but at least a few others in his world. We know
that there's something different about you. We
know you come from God. Close. But we also know
that he is God, don't we? He doesn't quite get
it, but he knows there's something up with Jesus.
He's noticing him because of the signs. Now,
we know in John chapter 20, later on, we've talked
about this already, but in John chapter 20, sorry
guys, John tells us that there were a lot of
signs in the miracles that were happening. And
those miracles were to bring attention to who
Jesus was and the glory of God, right? They've
been watching this, and he's doing things. He's
like, eh, that's not normal. And he doesn't say,
oh, they're coming from another power. He says,
these are definitely things that come from God.
And Nicodemus wants to be near Jesus, and he
wants to understand Jesus. I love that picture.
I don't care where you're at right now, but do
you want to be near Jesus and understand Jesus?
And so Nicodemus... Goes to Jesus. And Jesus
is going to respond to Nicodemus, not in a way
that you would think. In fact, this just shows
us that Jesus knows what's in our hearts. He
knows what's in our minds. Because look what
he says. He comes to Jesus. You're a good teacher.
Let's talk. And Jesus just goes, wham, right
to the point. Jesus replied, truly I tell you,
unless somebody is born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. Jesus basically says, Nicodemus,
what I'm about to tell you is extremely important,
and it's the straight -up truth. That's what
the truly, truly word is. It's really important,
and I'm just going to get right to the point.
And he says, unless one, anyone, any person is
born again, he cannot... Get into the kingdom
of God. He cannot get to heaven. He cannot get
where you think you want to go. You have to be
born again. And the words, this word used for
born again can also be translated born from above.
It's not just born like, and so Jesus is saying,
is everyone has a natural birth? A biological
birth? But in addition to our natural birth,
Something must happen before you can see the
kingdom of God. You need a spiritual, supernatural
birth. Nicodemus goes, I don't get it. I don't
get it. Look what he says. Look in verse 4. How
can anyone be born when he's old? Right over
his head. Remember, before we go any farther,
who Nicodemus is. what the Bible has been pointing
to. Like, because it's going to come back up
again, but he just goes right over and says,
how can anyone be born when he's old? Nicodemus
asked. Can he intern to his mother's womb a second
time and be born? Gross. Just, what? I mean,
there's some pregnant ladies around here. just
use that imagery for a minute like it doesn't
work that way and so he's asked this question
he's like oh come on what are you talking about
now so we have this term like born again is something
that you've probably all heard about but for
nicodemus that was like excuse me and jesus answers
again truly i tell you unless someone is born
of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom
of god Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh.
And whatever is born of the spirit is spirit.
Here's what Jesus is saying. If you are only
born once, you will die twice. You will have
a physical death and a spiritual death. But if
you were born twice, a physical birth and a spiritual
birth, then you will only experience the physical
death and you will live eternally with Christ.
If you don't know Christ, the second death is
eternal separation from God and you will experience
the wrath of God forever and ever. This is why
he says this is a really big deal. I'm going
to shoot right to the heart. You're a spiritual
leader. You better get this. Then he goes on,
verse 7. Do not be amazed that I told you that
you must be born again. The wind blows where
it pleases and you hear it sound, but you don't
know where it comes from or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. Okay,
what's he talking about now? So the word, the
Greek word for spirit can also mean wind. And
so what Jesus is, when Jesus uses wind to help
explain what's going on here, he's like, okay,
I'm going to give you a metaphor. I'm going to
give you an illustration that you understand
that has the same language to it, the same word.
He says, it's like the wind. You cannot see it,
but you cannot deny the effects of the wind.
We live in the Mat -Su Valley. Duh. The valley
blows. I mean, it just does. You know when it's
blowing because it affects everything. Spiritual
rebirth is a work of God. Being born again is
like our experience with the wind. You can see
the wind's effects, but you can't see the wind
itself. Meaning... The effects of the Spirit
is visible in a person's life. You want to know
how somebody's saved? You want to know that they're
a follower of Jesus? The effect, how has it affected
their life? It's visible in a person's life,
even though the Spirit you can't see. Transformation,
regeneration happens. He's talking about the
change that happens from the inside when you
meet Jesus. But Nicodemus remained puzzled. Still
didn't get it. Jesus unpacks a little bit more.
Look at verse 9. How can this be, asked Nicodemus.
And Jesus flips it. Are you a teacher of Israel?
And you don't know these things, Jesus replied.
Jesus now shifts and he goes after Nicodemus'
ignorance. It was Nicodemus' job to know this.
To know this Bible. And so he's telling Nicodemus
that basically with all this knowledge, you still
don't understand the purpose and what the Old
Testament is pointing to. You should know this,
he says. The Old Testament books... had been
pointing to Jesus and his atoning, the work,
the need for his atoning work. For a people.
And so, Jesus continues. Again, that word, verse
11, truly. He says, real important here. Get
this, Nicodemus. Truly I tell you, we speak what
we know and we testify what we have seen. But
you do not accept our testimony. If I have told
you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly
things? No one has ascended into heaven except
the one who has descended from heaven. And then
he uses the term that Jesus used more than often
when he describes himself. He says, the Son of
Man. Now, here's the main point. Jesus is, he's
saying, he has authority to speak about eternal
truths because he knew them and he's seen them
having come from the presence of God in heaven
to us. Like he is the authority. It's like he's
saying, Nicodemus, you're talking. To the one
who's come down from heaven. You're talking to
the Son of Man in person. You have been waiting
your whole life to see the Messiah. Open your
eyes, he says. I'm right in front of you. That's
what he's saying. Pray here. Nicodemus was an
expert in the Old Testament. So what does Jesus
do? He doesn't beat him up over it. He just takes
him back to the Old Testament. And one of the
things about Jesus is amazing. When you go through
all of the Gospels, Jesus is just constantly
pointing back. He's constantly pointing back
to the Old Testament because he needs to show
you that everything in the Old Testament is pointing
forward. And so he does. What he does is he says,
I want to take you back to an Old Testament.
And this is a text that Nicodemus would have
known incredibly well. Like probably memorized
the whole story. Look at verse 14. He says, Just
as Moses lifted up a snake in the wilderness,
so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that
everyone who believes in him may have eternal
life. You go, what are we talking about in the
Old Testament? Well, Jesus is talking here about
an event that took place in Numbers chapter 21.
And I encourage you, write that down. Go back
with your regular Bibles and read through this
story. I'm going to briefly touch on it though.
Because it's really important. What Jesus is
talking about here, he says, look, Numbers number
21. Do you remember that? Nicodemus says, do
you remember the event? And he goes, yeah, I
know what you're talking about. I totally know
this event. And so he begins to tell the story.
And so let me just share the story briefly with
you. You go back to Numbers 21, starting in verse
4, it says this. Then they set out from the mount.
So the children of Israel there, right? They'd
just gotten out of Egypt. God had rescued them
out of Egypt. Then they set out from the Mount
Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land
of Idiom. But the people became impatient because
of the journey. The people spoke against God
and Moses. Why have you led us out of Egypt to
die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water,
and we detest this wretched food. Which is, by
the way, what? Manna, what God had given them,
right? Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among
the people, and they bit them. And many Israelites
died. Okay, this is a crazy story. God had delivered
his people from slavery in Egypt. They had watched
and observed plague after plague after plague
come to the Egyptian people because they were
saying no against God. And God shows them their
power. And they saw all of this all the way up
to the very last sign. I mean, the very last
curse. plague, which was the doorpost was marked
with the blood. If you did that, they had to
kill a lamb to put the doorpost, and then the
death would come over, and every firstborn child,
every firstborn creature would die because of
God's wrath being on them. This is what he's
talking about. This is what just happened to
them. But at the same time, God supernaturally
provided Or rescue for them. Parting the Red
Sea. And they get there. And then they don't
have water. God gives them water. They don't
have bread. So God gives them food called manna.
Supernaturally. He does all of this. And it's
one of this, if you read the Old Testament, you're
like, man, will they ever get it? But the journey
that they're on is really hard. And in the process
of their challenges of their life, they took
their eyes off of God. And his rescue, and they
put it on to their challenging circumstances.
Gosh, this is just like the way I operate. Isn't
it? My life gets rough. I take my gaze off of
God, and I look at my own belly button, and how
does it go? It doesn't go well. And this is what's
happening. After all that they begin to do, what
do they begin to do? They begin to grumble and
complain. to God and to Moses. You know that
the selfishness is just welled up inside of them.
They've taken their eyes off of this Redeemer,
the God who's rescued them, and they've looked
back at their own junk, and they look back at
their broken world, and the desert they're in,
and the hardship they're in, and they begin to
complain. And this was straight up, church, straight
up. Rebellion, selfishness, and sin. And we've
got to understand how God sees this. Because
I think it's real for us today. He looks at Caleb's
selfishness, he looks at my own rebellion and
sin, and he hates it. So, what does God do in
this situation? He sends these infectious...
And this infestation of snakes, poisonous snakes.
You got to use your imagination here. Like, snakes
everywhere. How is that for you? Like, give me
the creepiest thing ever. And they slide in,
and then they're tense, and everywhere they go,
and people are getting bitten by it. And there's
speculation that the effects of the snake would
actually create a fire feeling, and fevers would
come over, and many were dying because these
snakes were biting them. Who caused that? God
did. And so you get this picture that God was
bringing this to them. Can you just picture what
that must have been like with all these poisonous,
venomous snakes everywhere? God's discipline
had its intended effect, though. See, God needed
to spank them. That's kind of what was happening.
To get their attention, to say, hey, get back
to where you belong. And so what did they do?
They repented. So God gave them a remedy. Look
at what verse 7 says of Numbers chapter 21. The
people then came to Moses and said, we have sinned
by speaking against the Lord and against you.
Now that's repentance right there. Like he just.
Oh, we've done it. So, intercede with the Lord
so that he goes to Moses and they said, intercede
with the Lord so that he will take the snakes
away from us. Then Moses interceded for the people.
Then God said to Moses, take a snake image and
mount it on a pole. And when everyone has been,
when anyone who has been bitten looks at it,
he will recover. So Moses made a bronze snake
and mounted it on a pole, and when everyone who
was bitten and had looked upon the bronze snake,
he recovered. That was God's remedy. Okay? Here's
this weird snake thing, and he puts it on his
toes. All right, you sick? Look at it. Look at
it. And they go, look at it. And they were healed.
So after reminding Nicodemus of this story, Jesus
says, just like that bronze snake, that's me.
That's me. Just like in Numbers, we have been
snake bitten. We have venomous poison in our
veins. Sin is in us. And we are... all sinners
in need of saving. We are all snake -bitten.
And in verse 14, chapter 3, it says, just as
Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,
so the Son of Man must be lifted up. What is
he pointing at? Pointing at his crucifixion.
Jesus saying, I am the one. Who will be lifted
up on the cross? God is going to make me, who
has no sin, to be sin, and anyone who believes
in me, I will take their sin, their poison, and
heal them. It's a beautiful story. This is the
gospel right there. Then he says in verse 15,
so that everyone who believes in him. We'll have
eternal life. The only way to get to Jesus is
to look at Jesus. The only way to get to heaven.
There is not ultimate roads. There is other religions
and they do not lead to heaven. Only Jesus is
the answer. Only Jesus. And our eyes must be
on him. Without Jesus, without the cross, there
is no life. We die. We, because of our sin, have
all been bitten and death and destruction are
waiting. And it's true for you if you're not
in Christ. And it's true for every one of our
friends that don't know Jesus. When I look at
the kids I'm getting to coach right now, I said
this week, broke my heart. They have to look
at Jesus. Because what waits for them if they
don't is death and destruction. Looking at Jesus,
putting your faith in Jesus is the cure. That's
good news. There is hope. Now we get to the most
famous verse in all the Bible. Verse 16. For
God... loved the world in this way he gave his
one and only son so that everyone who believes
in him will not perish but have eternal life
now john 3 16 shows us the greatness of god's
love we sang about it today the greatness of
love and how how extreme it is that's why it's
the favorite verse Most of us memorized it, though,
a little different, didn't we? You're looking
at that version and going, that's not the way
I memorized it. Most of us memorized it by using
the word, so. For God so loved the world. Actually,
this part of the verse can be understood two
different ways, two ways. It's kind of complete.
It can mean God really, really, really, really,
really loves us. That's kind of what it means.
He so loved us. He so loved us. It's mind -blowing
how much he loved us. But then it reveals also
the intensity of God's love. It's just how massive
and intense it is. But the CSB version that we're
using uses the other angle, which is right, and
says, in this way. Meaning, it's a demonstration
of his love. So God not only really, really,
really loves you, but he demonstrated that his
love for you in this way. The proof of God's
love for you is that he acted on it. Church,
look at me. I love you. I've thought about this
a lot this week. I really love you. God has called
me to help start this church. I dreamed about
this church because God placed it in my heart
to see people come to Jesus. And God changed
my heart. And as you walk through the door and
you're part of this community, I really love
you. I do. And I have two sons, Isaac and Andrew.
And I'll tell you this. I heard this the other
day and I was like, this is true for me too.
I would not sacrifice them for you. I love you,
but I would not sacrifice my boys for you. But
because God loved you so much, he sacrificed
his one and only son. This is crazy, undeserved
love that only he has. I would do a lot for you,
but I would not give you my sons. I'm just not
that lovable. I do have a gooey center, though,
just so you know. So what do you do with a love
like that? What do you do with a love like that?
For God so loved the world. That God in this
way loved the world. What do you do, church,
with a love like that? You believe. You believe.
You surrender to Jesus. You hope in Jesus. He
is life to you. Or he's not. That's your choice.
That's what John is all about. He's like saying,
look, you see how big he is? Is your life rotating
around him? Because either you are or you're
not. There's no in between. Don't play the game.
Surrender all to this kind of love. So when he's
talking about eternal life there, see, we'll
have eternal life. John is... is going to explain
later in John chapter 17 that eternal life is
first and foremost. You get him. That's what
it actually is. That's what he says in John chapter
17. Yeah, you get to be in paradise forever.
But at the center of that, even better than that,
is you get him. I think that's part that's missing
with a lot of our conversions. Is that we think
about, I ask Jesus in my heart, I'm going to
heaven. But we forget the fact that what we actually
get is Jesus. And so we run around, maybe in
our faith as we're running around thinking like
I get out of hell free card. But your personal
intimate relationship with Jesus just isn't there.
Because what we get is Jesus. Jesus comes to
us. Remember I said it's not transactional, but
it's relational. It's meant to be relational.
Is your experience with Jesus transactional or
is it relational? When he's talking about eternity
here, when you get eternal life, he's talking
about you get Jesus. He is what you are created
for. He is the fuel you are meant to live on.
Jesus is. So this isn't just for somebody who
doesn't know Jesus yet this morning. Although
I hope if you don't know Jesus this morning,
you're hearing how much Jesus loves you. But
for those in the room that do know Jesus, he
is the fuel upon which you live your life. That
you live on. You need him. Now in verse 17, we
see the reason Jesus came. For God did not send
his son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him. Jesus did
not show up to condemn you. You were already
condemned. Sin did that. Your sin condemned you.
My sin condemned me. And we're all guilty of
sin, aren't we? Jesus came to save you. Jesus
came to save you. Here's what we do. Look at
verse 18. And anyone who believes in him is not
condemned, but anyone who does not believe is
already condemned. Because he has not believed
in the name of the one and only Son of God. This
is the judgment. The light has come into the
world and people love darkness rather than light
because their deeds were evil. For everyone who
does evil hates the light and avoids it so that
his deeds may not be exposed. I'm going to pause
right there. Isn't it crazy when you sin, you
try to cover it? Push it away into the dark.
That's what he's talking about here. Because
when you're a follower of Jesus, you feel the
shame of that, like of sin. But when you just
live without Jesus at the center, it's like,
that's good, it's all right. But I'm just going
to keep it over here in the dark. And he keeps
going. He says, but anyone who lives by the truth
comes to the light. so that his works may be
shown to be accomplished by God. What does that
mean? That means basically he says, look, take
your junk and you bring it to Jesus. Light. And
it's dealt with by God. So as we close, my question
is this. Band, you guys can come up. But my question
is this. What do you do with a God who loves
you so much? What do you do with a God who loves
you so much? The way we live our life oftentimes
is to live our life with ourselves at the center.
And we can actually look at what God's done for
us and we can go, oh yeah, it's all about me
still. But what do you do when a God who's, it's
undeserved grace. I have a girl on my throwing
team whose name is Grace and I tell her every
day what her name means. Undeserved favor. Getting
something you don't deserve. What do you do with
that? John 1 verses 4 and 5 says this. In him,
as Jesus, was life. And that life was the light
of men. And that light shines in the darkness.
And yet the darkness did not overcome it. If
you are not yet a follower of Jesus and you're
here this morning. God loves you. Today he is
calling you out of darkness and into his light.
And so my encouragement today is right where
you sit today is just look to Jesus. Confess
that you're a sinner. Confess that you need him.
You don't have to understand everything about
him. But look to him because he's the cure. He's
the cure. If you're already a follower of Jesus,
remember that your eyes need to be on Jesus.
Guard yourself from complaining and from selfishness.
Remember that you get Jesus himself. That's what
it means. Like, you get him. You have received
grace upon grace upon grace upon grace. So my
encouragement today is reflect on that Jesus.
Make that the focal point of your life. That's
what I need to do. It's what you need to do.
You know, the Bible uses this term, calls the
church sheep. And that's not a cuddly term. Sheep
are dumb. Sheep forget. And I was telling, so
we were talking about this today before the service.
I was talking to somebody about, who was I talking
to? We talked about, The sheep have this tendency.
Oh, yeah. John and I were talking. He was like,
there's this video of this sheep. You pull them
out of the trench. He sets them up there. He's
stuck in this trench. You pull them out and you
go right back in. Over and over. They're just
not that bright. And then he says, oh, yeah,
I'm going to bring sheep in to shepherd my sheep.
Bad idea. You and I, we are so prone to fall
into the ditch. And we have to get that through
our little sheep skulls that our job is to get
our eyes on Jesus and to stay there because we
are prone to grumble. We are prone to complain.
We are prone to sin. Go back to the same old
patterns over and over just like the children
of Israel did. But it's different. We have a
Savior. And we can look to the Savior. I'll close
with this one thought. My wife is reading chronologically
through the Bible and we had a conversation yesterday.
And she was talking about reading through the
Kings and how depressing it is because they just
do the same cycle over and over. And I said,
well, and how they don't end well. They came
to live their life and pitter out and make stupid
decisions over and over. And I said to her, I
said, yeah, that's true. But look at how the
disciples ended their life. They all ended well.
The 11 that remained after Jesus rose from the
dead all ended well. Why? Because of the gospel.
Because they have a savior and they have the
empowering of the Holy Spirit and that's something
different. And you and I get to cling to that.
You go, okay, this Jesus must be at the center.
So my encouragement to us today is no matter
what we're going through, no matter where we're
at, but get our eyes back on our Savior because
he so loved you. Pray. I think first and foremost,
Lord, I need these exact words that we just talked
about. I need them in my own life. That I need
to continue to get my eyes off myself and off
my selfishness and onto my Savior. Thank you
that in being born again, I don't just get a
ticket to heaven. I get you. I get you, Jesus.
And so we run to you. We fix our eyes on you
today. And help us, Lord, in our time of response.
If we in this church need to repent, that we
will do that today. That we will turn from our
sin in our own ways and run to you in your ways.