Well, as Brother Randy read there,
y'all, almost everybody in the world is familiar with John 3,
and more especially John 3.16. I think that's probably one of
the most quoted verses in all of so-called Christianity, but
I want to talk to us today, the title of my message is about
the necessity of life, because that's what this discourse between
Christ and Nicodemus is all about here. Now, not physical life,
although that's good, and God gives it to us, and we pray,
as Randy did, that he blesses us in it. But we're talking here
about the necessity of spiritual life, a life we don't have when
we come into this world, a life that we must be given after we're
born. It's a life that's given to us
by the Spirit of God. So, as we go down through these
verses, let's see if we can glean something that will honor our
Lord here as we learn from his word. Look at John 3 in verse
1. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Now, a ruler of the Jews,
a Pharisee, Nicodemus was a man with credentials. He was somebody
in this world to a lot of people. A man of power, a man of influence,
a man looked up to in the nation Israel. He was a Pharisee, the
strictest sect of the Jewish religion. And he was a member
of the Sanhedrin, the governing body of that nation. He was a
ruler of the Jews, it says. Let's look on in verse 2. That
same man came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we
know that you are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these
miracles that you do except God be with him. Now, what is Nicodemus
doing here? Well, I mean, the commentaries
are all over the place here. Some say he was, you know, he
was coming to talk to Christ about his ministry. He was doing
different things, and he came by night. Some say because he,
that's the time that the doctors, those who studied the law like
Nicodemus would be, got together. They did it in the evening. They
did it after the work day was done. But what is Nicodemus doing
here? He's coming secretly here. Obviously,
he doesn't want a lot of people to know that he's coming. He's
coming in the night under the cover of darkness. What's he
doing? Well, I believe he's doing what every natural-minded sinner
does when confronted by the true Christ, the Christ of this word,
the Christ declared only in the gospel of God's free grace for
the first time. First time we're confronted with
the gospel. I believe he's looking for a word of comfort from Christ,
a word of peace. Now, Nicodemus wants to assure
Christ that his thinking is not like those of his peers. You
remember what the Pharisees said about Christ over in Matthew
chapter 12 and verse 24? They said Christ casts out demons,
implying that he does all his miracles by the power of Beelzebub. Nicodemus doesn't think that.
He said, no, we know you do the miracles you do, and we know
it's the power of God. No man could do them unless God
is with him. So we can say of Nicodemus that
he's not in agreement with his peers on how Christ is able to
perform his miracles. Unlike his peers, he believed
that Christ did it by the hand of God. But we also know something
about Nicodemus, something else. He's not yet, at this point,
ready to sell all that he had. In other words, to give up all
his worldly acclaim and influence and power to confess Christ openly
before his peers and come and follow him. which is what it
means to sell all that you have. That's what Christ told a rich
young ruler who came to him and said, Lord, what must I do to
have eternal life? He said, well, go sell everything
you got, give it to the poor, and come and follow me. And he
said, that scripture says he went away sorrowful. He couldn't
do that. Nicodemus is not ready to do
that at this point either. Now I say these things about
Nicodemus and I'm pretty much assured that they're correct
because of Christ's response to him in this text. Christ is
God in human flesh. He's the infinite I am. He knows
all things. He's omniscient. So being God,
he knew not only what Nicodemus was telling him, But he also
knew the motive behind Nicodemus. Now, I don't know the motive
behind Nicodemus. I'm taking my conclusions here
from Christ's answer to Nicodemus. Instead of Christ applauding
his credentials, which I don't know that he was coming for that,
or giving him a word of peace, and I don't know that he was
coming for that either, but Christ tells Nicodemus something here
that Nicodemus can't even understand, much less believe it. Christ
knew why Nicodemus came, and I believe that Christ's response
to him gives us some insight on why he came. Because Christ's
answer to him points him toward a necessity that must take place,
no matter what you believe about Christ. Whether you believe that
he performs miracles by the power of God, or whether you believe
he performs it by the power of Beelzebub. No matter what you
believe about Christ. There's a necessity that has
to take place before you can see some things. Look at verse
3. Jesus answered and said unto Nicodemus, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. Now, this word except here speaks
of a necessity. In other words, before this thing
can happen, this thing has to happen. In other words, before
you can legally drive on Georgia's roads, you have to have a valid
Georgia driver's license. You better not get out there
without one, because you'll probably be stopped and arrested. Before you can practice law in
Georgia, you have to pass the bar, Georgia bar exam. and obtain a license. You can't
do it. Except you do these things, this thing's illegal. The end
or goal here that Christ is setting before Nicodemus is for a man
to see the kingdom of God. And before that can happen, that
man must first be born again. Now the necessity Christ points
Nicodemus to here is life. A new life. A new birth. A new
beginning. And the exception is that without
this new birth, a man cannot see the Kingdom of God. He can't understand it. He can't
see what it is. He don't know who's in it. He
don't know whether he's in it. He can't see the Kingdom of God.
Nicodemus thought he knew all about the kingdom of God. He
had some ideas about the kingdom of God, as did his fellow Jews. He thought it was an earthly
kingdom. He thought it was a physical kingdom, a governmental kingdom.
He thought the Messiah that they were looking for would ride in
one day on a white horse put Rome in their place and free
Israel from their subjection and set up a kingdom kind of
like the one David had in his day. David was a prosperous king
and he conquered his enemies left and right and all was at
peace in David's day. And that's kind of what Nicodemus
and others thought about the kingdom of God. Even the disciples
were fooled about this. You remember On one occasion,
James and John, two of his disciples, came to him and said, Lord, give
us the right to sit one on your right hand and one on your left
hand when you come into your kingdom. So they're thinking
about a physical kingdom as well. Christ told Pilate that the kingdom
of God, that is his kingdom, was not of this world. In John
18 and verse 35, Pilate answered, he said, I'm a Jew. Thine own
nation and chief priests have delivered you unto me. What have
you done? He said, What hast thou done?
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
were of this world, then would my servants fight, and I should
not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
here. The kingdom of God is a spiritual
kingdom. It's the visible church in the
world. And the visible church is the
ecclesia, it's the called out ones in this world. Jude describes
this kingdom in verse 1 of his epistle. It says, Jude, the servant
of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to them that are sanctified,
set apart by God the Father, and preserved in Christ Jesus,
and called. Called by the gospel, called. called out of death to life,
called out of darkness to light, called out of bondage to liberty. It's made up of those who are
called out of no fear of God before your eyes to those that
are brought to a reverence and regard for the God who justifies
the ungodly based on Christ's righteousness alone. Every natural-minded
sinner is just as ignorant of God's true kingdom as Nicodemus
was. Now a natural-minded sinner,
that's all of us as we're born into this world. And we're just as ignorant as
Nicodemus was of this kingdom because none of us by nature
knows who is in this kingdom or upon what basis any sinner
can be in this kingdom. And we stay that way. Until when? Until God gives us eternal life. Until this requirement, this
necessity is met in us. Until then, we cannot see the
kingdom of God. There's a requirement, a necessity
that must be met before man can see the kingdom of God. And that
requirement is new life, spiritual life, a spiritual resurrection
from the dead. Without this new birth, a man
cannot see the kingdom of God. Now obviously this necessity,
this new life, is a totally unknown concept to Nicodemus. Look on
in verse 4. Nicodemus said unto Christ, how
can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Sounds pretty ridiculous. Nicodemus is, of course, speaking
in a physical realm, and Christ is talking to him about a spiritual
realm, of which he knows nothing, not being born again right now.
Nicodemus's mind is on physical things, and that's just one of
the indicators in this discourse that Nicodemus is yet, whatever
we think about him, he's yet a man void of spiritual understanding,
spiritual life. So Christ gives him a further
explanation. Look on in verse five. 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. This further explanation Christ
gives Nicodemus also includes another exception here. Without
this new birth, a man can not only not see the kingdom of God,
he can't enter into this kingdom. He can't see it, he's not entered
into it. He's no part of it at this time.
And Brother Jim, well, I'm gonna talk about that in a second.
It's not a coincidence that Nicodemus is the one man out of all the
earth that Christ chose to have this discourse with. In fact,
there are no coincidences. You can look at the article Bill
wrote in the Bulletin this week. He talks about no chance in this
world. If it happens, it's because God
determined it happened. There are no coincidences, and
especially in the Word of God. So it's not a coincidence that
Christ is having this particular discourse with Nicodemus. He
determined to present this vital, necessary doctrine to this man,
and he chose this man of worldly influence and power, a ruler
of the Jews, on purpose. No chances. I believe that purpose
was to show all men who are brought to the gospel that no matter
what power, what influence, what knowledge you have in this world,
no matter how zealous you are in whatever you believe, even
what you believe about Christ, you are at that point, the first
time you're confronted by the gospel, you are at that point
void of the truth needed for God to be glorified in your salvation.
And therefore you're void of any evidence of salvation. You
must be born again. No matter what we are before
God brings us to the gospel, before the Spirit of God regenerates
us and converts us and gives us new life, we don't bring any
credentials with us into this kingdom. The way into the kingdom
is a straight gate. It's a narrow way. It's as narrow
as Christ crucified and risen again. It's as narrow as God
being just to justify ungodly sinners on the basis of Christ's
imputed righteousness alone. It doesn't matter what a sinner
believes about Christ by nature. It doesn't matter how much scripture
a person's memorized. I memorized a lot of scriptures
in my former religion. I mean, we had an Operation Timothy
and we memorized hundreds of scriptures, but it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter how zealous a man is in his religion. Now
why is all this so? It's because all of the believing,
all the knowledge, all the understanding of the scriptures we may think
we have will be superseded by what we learn of Christ when
we're born of God, when we actually enter the kingdom of God. We
enter the kingdom as little children or we don't enter the kingdom
of all. That's what Christ said in Luke chapter 18 and verse
15. He said, They brought unto him
also infants that he would touch them. But when his disciples
saw it, they rebuked him. But Jesus called his disciples
unto him and said, Suffer, allow little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of
God. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child
shall in no wise enter therein." Now, let's think about a little
child for a minute. Some of us have little children
in our families right now. A little child is just starting
out. They don't even know they got five fingers on their hand,
much less what that hand can do, what it can pick up, a toy
or whatever. A little child is at a new beginning. He has no credentials. He brings
nothing. They very soon develop a personality,
as we all know, but they bring nothing. A little child is totally
dependent upon their parents for everything. He has no knowledge,
no understanding. He has to learn everything he
knows. And that's the way a regenerate sinner enters the kingdom of
God. He enters as one knowing nothing or right. We know a lot
of things. We've heard about Christ. We've
heard about salvation, about God, about hell, about sin. We've
heard a lot of things, but we don't know anything or right.
He enters as one who needs to learn everything. The regenerate
sinner does not see himself or herself as those who are learned.
Rather, we see ourselves as newborn babes. We're totally dependent
upon the grace of God and the gospel of God to teach us, to
guide us, and to keep us. Look at 2 Corinthians 5, 17 if
you want to turn to that. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. He says,
therefore, If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. He is a new creation. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Regenerate sinners have a new
benchmark. They have a new reference point. That reference point is the glory
of God and the salvation of ungodly sinners based on the imputed
righteousness of Christ alone. How does what I'm reading, how
does what I'm hearing, how does what I'm preaching glorify God
in every attribute of his character? How does it exalt Christ and
give him the preeminence he deserves, the preeminence he earned in
the salvation of sinners? How does it exclude all boasting
in me, the sinner? Every scripture or doctrine we
ever thought we knew has to be reinterpreted, does it not? It
has to be reinterpreted in the light of that new benchmark.
And this is true of every sinner who has seen and entered into
the kingdom of God. You must be born again in order
to see or enter into that kingdom. And we see another point in this
verse and the next verse that we need to consider. Look back
at verse 5 with me here in our text, John 3. Jesus answered,
verily, verily, I say unto you, 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. The second point of the message
is, this new birth, this new birth that a man must experience
in order to see or enter into the kingdom of God, this new
birth is a miraculous work of God. It's the work of God the
Holy Spirit in the regeneration and conversion of a sinner. Christ's
reference here to the necessity of being born of water and of
the Spirit, I think this is where I wanted to say that Brother
Jim read this verse this morning and he said it right, that water
is a reference to the grace of God. He must be born of the grace
of God and the spirit of God because grace is the moving cause
of this new birth as it is the moving cause of all of salvation. Ephesians 2 and 8 and 9 says,
for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. All of salvation is by grace. All of salvation is the work,
a miraculous work of God. As Christ's righteousness imputed
is the ground of that salvation, it's also the source of this
work of the Spirit in regeneration. In other words, all the blessings
of salvation, beginning to end, are the fruit and result of Christ's
righteousness imputed. And the Spirit of God is the
agent who performs this work of salvation. He's the one who
imparts this new life and brings a sinner from spiritual life
to spiritual death. It's not by the will, aid, or
contribution of man in any way, shape, or form. Look back with
me at John chapter 1 and verse 11. It says, Christ came unto
his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received
him, to them gave he power, privilege, to become the sons of God, to
become known as the sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name, which were born not of blood, not by the will of
the flesh or by the will of man, but of God. In other words, your
pedigree, your credentials have nothing to do with this new birth.
Your will is not by the will of man and anybody else's will. They can't will you into this
kingdom either. You have to be born of the Spirit of God. This
new life comes to a sinner by the mercy of God. In other words,
no sinner who gets it deserves it. And it's by the grace of
God. No sinner given this life did anything to obtain it. A
sinner given this new birth has just as much to do with this
new birth as he did with his first birth. And how much was
that? Absolutely nothing. If you're born again, if you're
a born-again sinner, you are a walking miracle of God's mercy
and grace. You did nothing to deserve it,
and nothing to earn it or obtain it. Now what is this new birth?
It's the imparting of spiritual life. It's the spiritual resurrection
of one who is born dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2 and verse
1 said, For you hath he quickened, that is, made alive in the Spirit,
who were spiritually dead in trespasses and sin. This new
life is also the gift of God. Christ prayed in his high priestly
prayer in John 17 in verse 1. He said, These words spoke Jesus,
and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. It's a gift. In Romans 6.23,
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. And this new life, this new birth
is eternal. Once given, it will never end. Same verses speak of it as eternal
life. This new life is the miraculous
work of the Spirit of God. And that brings us to the third
point in this message. The new birth can only be known
by the evidence that reveals it. The only way you'll know
it is to see evidence of it. Look back in our text at John
3 and verse 7. Christ said, marvel not that
I said unto thee, you must be born again. The wind blows where
it listeth, or where it will, and you hear the sound of that
wind, but you can't tell where it's coming from, and you can't
tell where it's going, so is everyone that is born of the
Spirit. The wind comes and goes as it
will. You can't see it. But is there
anybody sitting here that doesn't believe it exists? I don't think
so. You can feel it on your face.
You can see it moving the grass or the limbs on the trees. And
you can really know its presence in a thunderstorm like we have
around here in the afternoon or a tornado or hurricane and
ill wind. You don't doubt that the wind
exists, although you can't see it because of the evidences that
prove it's there. The spiritual birth is like the
wind. It comes secretly. It comes mysteriously, not with
observation, Christ said in Luke 17. And when he was demanded
of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered
them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say lo here
or lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
It's within you. It's in your midst is what he's
talking about here. It's wherever Christ has called
one of his sheep into the fold. It's wherever the spirit of God
has given eternal life to a previously dead sinner. You can't know when
this new birth comes. You can't know when it takes
place. You know that it has taken place by the evidences that reveal
it. Now, I'm planning, now you know
the best laid plans of mice and men, but I'm planning to preach
a couple more messages out of John 3 here, and the latter lesson
here will talk about these evidences in particular, but let me just
go over a few of them right here. The evidence is that you're born
into the kingdom of God. It's total dependence upon Christ
for all of salvation. It is the persuasion that Christ's
righteousness imputed to you is the only basis upon which
God can be just and justify a sinner like you or me. It's repentance
of any and everything you thought God could save you based on when
you were ignorant of that righteousness, when you weren't persuaded of
the Christ of the Scriptures. It's love for the gospel and
love for the brethren who insist on it. We don't allow anything
to come from this pill pit that's not the gospel. We know we've passed from death
into life, John wrote in 1 John 3, Because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abides in death. Now, to these things Nicodemus
asked a good question. Look at verse 9. Nicodemus answered
and said unto Christ, How can these things be? I don't understand
these things. I'm supposed to be a learned
man here and you're telling me things I don't know anything
about. I don't get it. Now Christ has told this well-respected
man some startling, phenomenal things. One of the things he told him
is he doesn't know the one who's standing before him. He's told
him that he's not yet entered into or even seen the kingdom
of God. He's told him he stands in need
of a miraculous work of the Spirit of God within him. Nicodemus
suggests that he understands what he's heard. He understood
what Christ said. He's heard the necessity of this
new birth. He's heard the need for a miraculous
work from God. And that's why he asks, how can
these things be? And after a mild reprimand, Christ
answers his question. Look on with me in verse 10.
Now, from here on to the end of these verses I'm going to
look at today, I'm just going to kind of skim them a little
bit because I plan to bring another message on how these things can
be. That won't be the title. The
title will be Christ Lifted Up. That's how these things can be
and we'll see that here in these verses. Look at verse 10 with
me. Jesus answered Nicodemus and said unto him, Are you a
master of Israel and don't know these things? What are you teaching
the people you're teaching? You don't know these things?
This is an elemental thing. This is a beginning point in
a true believer's life. Verse 11, verily, verily, I say
unto thee, we speak that we do know, and Randy was right, he's
talking about we do know, when we do speak, Christ, the prophets
before him, including John the Baptist, they all spoke these
things. We speak what we know, and testify
that we have seen, and you receive not our witness. If I've told
you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if
I tell you of heavenly things? And no man has ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man which is in heaven. Now he's talking about himself
there, of course. He's the one who came down from heaven, and
he's the only man that ever went back to heaven on his own merit. Now, we'll go to heaven one day.
Believers will go to heaven. Those born of God will go to
heaven, but it'll be based on his righteousness imputed to
us and for no other reason. Verse 14, he says, 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. The short answer to Nicodemus'
question, how can these things be? The short answer is Christ
must be lifted up. Here's another necessity before
a sinner can be born again. Here's another must if a sinner
is going to see or enter into the kingdom of God. This new
birth, this miraculous work from God and the evidence that will
reveal that new birth cannot come until Christ is lifted up. Now, let me give you four ways
Christ has to be lifted up, and I'll probably elaborate on these
a little more in the message, but I'm just going to skim over
these for now. Christ must be lifted up first
on the cross. He said in John 12 and verse
32, he said, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me. This he said, signifying what
death he should die. It was a death of substitution.
It was a death on the cross. So Christ must be lifted up on
the cross. He must be lifted up in the resurrection. John
4 and verse 25 is talking about Christ who was delivered for
our offenses and was raised again because of our justification.
Christ's death was a death of imputation. He was delivered
to the cross because the offenses, the sins of his people were imputed
or charged to him. And he was raised again in a
death of satisfaction because everything necessary for God
to be just and justify those for whose offenses he was delivered
had been done. It had been accomplished. That's
what Christ meant when he said on the cross, it's finished.
God was satisfied, so he raised him up. So he must be lifted
up in the resurrection. He must be lifted up in the preaching
of the gospel. What is the gospel? Jim made
a point of this in his message. The gospel is the message through
which sinners learn of that Christ lifted up on the cross and lifted
up in the resurrection. It's the message that always
reveals the righteousness of God. And because it always reveals
the righteousness of God, it's the message that is the power
of God unto salvation. It's the only message, in other
words, that God uses to cause sinners from death to life, from
darkness to light, from bondage to liberty. Romans 1, 16 and
17, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. to the
Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein, in that gospel,
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. The gospel is the power
of God in salvation because it always reveals how God is just
to justify an ungodly sinner like you or me on the basis of
Christ's imputed righteousness alone. No sinner has seen or
has he entered into the kingdom of God until he hears God's gospel. Why? Because the spirit doesn't
do his miraculous work of regeneration under any message but the gospel. The one where God is honored
and Christ is glorified. Christ gets the preeminence.
But he doesn't regenerate, he doesn't give life to all who
hear the gospel. So there's one more lifting up
that must be. Christ must be lifted up in the
regenerated and believing sinner's heart as the Lord, our righteousness. The believing sinner, the one
to whom life is given, sees in Christ, in his righteousness
imputed, all the righteousness he needs to stand before God
now and forever and be declared righteous in God's sight. Nicodemus
asked, how can these things be? How can a man be born again?
Upon what basis can God give spiritual and eternal life to
a sinner who brings nothing to the table, no deservingness,
no works of righteousness that he's done, and deserve nothing
but the eternal wrath of God? How can you do that and be just
in the process? Now, when you're sold out, when
you and I are sold out to God's answer to that question, you'll
be given evidence that you have experienced this necessity of
life. You must be born again.