Well, if you'd like to turn to
John chapter 3, a very familiar passage. John chapter 3. I'm so thankful that the Lord
has preserved this remarkable conversation between the Lord
Jesus and this man Nicodemus. And we have Triune God clearly
set out, don't we? We have the work of the Father
in the giving of his Son. We have the work of the Son who
gave himself a ransom for many. And we have the work of the Spirit
in the new birth. The Lord had many fiery encounters
with the Pharisees, and the Pharisees knew, didn't they? They knew
of the coming Messiah, but they imagined the Messiah to be a
lot more noble heritage, and they stumbled at practically
everything about him. They stumbled at his lowly birth. They stumbled at his lack of
education. They stumbled at his lowliness
and his outward poverty, and they expected the Messiah would
be of more noble heritage. Yet the Lord graciously condescends
to meet with this man, and he came in the darkness, didn't
he? He came in the darkness, and that was emblematic of the
spiritual darkness of the nation of Israel, the spiritual darkness
of the Pharisees. which the nation of which he
represented. But also his coming in darkness
is a picture of all sinners saved by grace. The Lord calls his
people out of darkness into his marvellous light. And here in this chapter we're
going to see how the Lord saves sinners, how the Lord draws people
to himself. And this is a secret meeting
now, but later this man would identify himself with Christ
publicly. He spoke up at that meeting in
John chapter 7, when the Pharisees were plotting against him. And
he was there with the Lord at his burial in John chapter 19. Now Nicodemus was a religious
man, of course, a man of high standing, a man of eminence,
a man of education, well-schooled in religion, a man of great learning. But here he is coming and inquiring
of the Lord, to be taught by the Lord, to hear the words of
the Saviour Himself, to see Him face to face, God in the flesh. God in the flesh, what a remarkable
privilege. that man had. That's our hope,
isn't it? To see the Lord one day soon,
to see Him face to face. Believers have been seated with
Christ in heavenly places, spiritually speaking. But these bodies are
yet to be translated. The mortal must put on immortality. And the scriptures say, it does
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he
appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. These are heavenly things we're
speaking of. And the Lord Jesus here in our
passage is communicating heavenly things. And Nicodemus, for all
his religious learning, he must be taught just like us. No doubt,
Nicodemus thought himself a privileged person. He was a representative
of the nation of Israel, chosen of God. He's a member of that
sect called the Pharisees. He's also a member of the great
Sanhedrin. He was a ruler of the Jews in
verse one. And in verse 10, the Lord Jesus calls him a master
of Israel. And he's a devout man, a keeper
of the law, descendant of Abraham. He knew the promises, didn't
he? He knew those old scripture promises to Abraham that he would
bless his descendants. And his confidence was in his
heritage. No doubt he believed himself
a beneficiary of those promises according to the flesh, but you
might recall that John the Baptist had warned them against this
thinking. Do you remember what he said? He said, don't think
to yourselves we have Abraham as our father. God can take these
stones and make children of Abraham from them. But we know those promises to
Abraham were spiritual promises. They were spiritual promises
to the spiritual seed of Abraham. And you can read about those
promises in Genesis chapter 17, where the Lord establishes a
covenant to Abraham and his seed. They're the faith children, the
faith children of Abraham. Abraham and his seed, the spiritual
Israel of God. Us who believe are the spiritual
Israel of God, wherever they may be found in this world. And that was a truth that Nicodemus
was ignorant of. The Lord Jesus reads the hearts
of all men like an open book, and Nicodemus was known by the
Lord better than Nicodemus knows himself. He knows exactly where
to begin. And so the Lord Jesus begins
with that great doctrine, which is called regeneration. We read
of that term in Titus 3, in the washing of regeneration. Born
again, being born again, verily, verily, I say unto thee, verse
3, When you see repetition like that, you know it's important,
don't you? The Lord Jesus is impressing the absolute necessity
of what he is about to say, the absolute necessity of this divine
operation, without which Nicodemus could not see the Kingdom of
God. The expectation of the Jews was
that the Messiah would come to establish the Kingdom on Earth.
The Pharisees would be his privileged citizens, and that's a view that
the Jews hold even to this day. They missed Christ altogether,
and so we will not think that that nation Israel has any special
standing with God. They rejected the Messiah so
thoroughly that they took him and crucified him. The Lord says,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Being born again, regeneration, is not the result of something
you do. The truth is you can't regenerate
yourself. I don't know how the spirit works
exactly in regeneration. Our natural minds have so much
trouble understanding spiritual realities, supernatural things. Nevertheless, the experience
of this is known in the life of every child of God. Faith
is the result of God's regenerating work, not the cause of it. Faith
is the result of God's regenerating work, not the cause of it. It's
not you coming to God to be regenerated. You'll only come to God truly
if you are already regenerated. Almost everywhere in religion, religion of this world, pedals
decision-making. I've heard people say they made
a decision for the Lord. What are they saying? They're
saying, well, salvation's my choice. I chose God. Though the scriptures say you
did not choose me, I chose you. I've collected a few gospel tracts
over the years, and I have a tract here that tells its readers that
there is a choice we all face. You can choose God's way, or
you can choose your own way. Of course, you will want to choose
God's way. And once you've made that choice,
there are some steps that you need to take. Religion loves
to formulate things. And the first step is to pray
a sinner's prayer. And the second step tells us
how we need to put that prayer into practice and submit to Jesus. And here's what submitting to
Jesus looks like. And I quote, you will need to get rid of old
rebellious habits, like greed, anger, selfishness, and so on,
and start some new ones that please God, like generosity,
kindness, love, and patience. There you go. Men really do believe that salvation
hinges on the decision of man. And men really do believe they
can please God by works of the flesh. What did the Lord say?
What did God say about His Son? This is my dear Son. This is
my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. God is well pleased
in Him. And if we're found in Him, if
we're found in Christ, then God is well pleased with us. Paul's
prayer to Philippians was for him to be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. That's what I need. My righteousness
doesn't stack up. We need righteousness which is
of God by faith. We need to remember that prior
to regeneration, prior to being born again, man is dead. Man is dead in trespasses and
sins. And that's why Ephesians 2 says
it this way, you have be quickened. You have be quickened who are
dead in trespasses and sins. And so when the Lord God formed
man out of the dust of this earth, That's all he was. He was just
dust. And God had to breathe life into his nostrils and the
man became a living soul. The Lord must do this for us. This is something we can't do
for ourselves. Now the natural man makes real
choices, but the problem for him, his choices are limited
to his nature. Men do reject the gospel willfully. that that will operates within
the confines of his nature. Someone once said that the natural
man is as free as a frog in a snake's belly. He can wriggle all he
likes, but he's not going anywhere. We have no idea how far we've
fallen. The natural man can't find his
own way back to life. The Lord must do something for
us. Let's read on in verse 4. Nicodemus saith unto him, How
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? And 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.
And the Lord can't be speaking of water baptism here. There's
nothing done in the flesh that can commend us to God, and there's
nothing in baptism that has any power to influence or to regenerate. A person might be baptised like
Simon Magus was in chapter 8 of Acts, and still not yet believe. except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit. Now, water signifies many things
in the Scriptures, but it predominantly signifies a cleansing agent.
A man must be born of water. He needs to be made clean. Please turn with me to Ezekiel
36. The nation Israel had defiled
themselves by their own doings and their ways were uncleanness
before the Lord. They followed after idols and
they went out amongst the heathen and the name of the Lord was
brought in to disrepute. The Lord is jealous for his name
and will not suffer his reputation to be sullied forever. God has
a people in this world, they are a holy nation, they are a
people belonging to God and they must receive his care and attention
and he calls them out of this world but he must sanctify them
and make them clean. And these words in Ezekiel are
a glorious picture of what God does in the life of every child
of God. Ezekiel 36 verse 22 Therefore saith unto the House
of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not do this for your
sakes, O House of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which
ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went." The name of
the Lord had been profaned. The Lord's name had become a
profanity, a swear word, disrespected and defiled and stained. Verse 23, And I will sanctify
my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have
profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that
I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified
in you before their very eyes. The Lord is about to reveal His
glory in His people, and the people will revere the name of
the Lord as holy and sanctified. For I will take you from among
the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and I will
bring you into your own land." That's the activity of our God
for His Church, wherever they may be. He gathers them out. He gathers them out from the
idolatry of this world, and He makes them clean, and He brings
them together in one spirit, in one place. Then I will sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness, and
from all your idols, I will cleanse you. A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will
take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you
a heart of flesh. Those Old Testament laws were
written on stony tablets, but the Lord God here writes them
on the tablets, the fleshly tablets of the heart. A new heart and
a new spirit. That's the essence of the new
man. That's the new man that God creates. Verse 27, and I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. and ye shall
keep my judgments and do them. In Ephesians 5.27 we read how
the Lord sanctifies the church by the washing of water by the
Word. Spirit gives life in the new
birth and he does it by the Word of God. So the Spirit of God
never acts independently of the Word of God. if there is to be
life in the soul by the hearing of the word of the gospel. The
gospel must be accompanied by the spirit of God. In 1 Peter
1 we read, we are born again, not of corruptible seed, that's
the old man, that's the flesh. But this man, this new man, is
not the result of improving the flesh. It's not a result of improving
the old man. We are born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. That old man is corrupted, totally
corrupted. But the new man is incorruptible. He's incorruptible, he's perfect.
So much so that this new man cannot sin. That's what the scripture
says. Whoever is born of God does not
commit sin. How is that possible? How is
that possible? We don't see it in ourselves,
do we? For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because
he is born of God. Sinners are not sinners because
of what they do. Sinners are not sinners because
they do sins. Sinners are sinners because they
are sin. They can do nothing but sin.
But this new man is a new creation. And that new man, that one born
of God, doth not commit sin. It is a remarkable statement. But that new man is the workmanship
of God, isn't he? and the workmanship of God is
always perfect. And so the Lord sanctifies the
church by the washing of water by the word. God washes his people
by the power of his spirit and by the preaching of the gospel. I often think how silly we must
look, how foolish we must seem to come here week after week
But that's the approved way of the Lord. It pleased God that
by the foolishness of preaching to save those who would believe,
we ought never be ashamed of coming to hear the gospel preached.
What did Paul say in Romans 1? For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
for it is the power of God under salvation to everyone that believes. And so it's clear that no matter
how simply and how clearly the Gospel is preached, and no matter
how intelligent or attentive people may be, the Word must
be accompanied by the Spirit of God in order to effect that
new birth, a new man, with a new nature. And that is why believers
are the only people on this planet to have two natures. It's not
a renovation of the old man. You can buy an old house, can't
you, that's crawling with termites, and you can clad the walls, and
you can clad the floor, and you can give it a good coat of paint,
but at the end of the day, it's still the same house full of
termites, and that house will eventually become dust. And the
Lord spoke about religion like that. And by religion I mean
religion without Christ, religion that's concerned with outward
appearances, like those whitewashed tombs that the Lord spoke of.
Beautiful on the outside, but on the inside full of dead man's
bones. So this new birth is not a remodelling
of the old man. The Adam nature we were born
with is totally ruined, totally corrupted, it's totally dead.
I remind you of that picture on our bulletins, that dead old
stump that you see is that old nature, the old man, the natural
man, and that green tree growing up through the middle of it,
of course, is that new nature, the new man, the spiritual man,
after which God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So believers have two natures, and these two natures are always
at odds with one another. Now Paul describes the warring
of these two natures so well for us in Romans chapter 7, so
turn with me there to Romans chapter 7 just for a moment. There is a struggle. between
the inward man and the old man, and I encourage you to read Romans
chapter 7 through at your own leisure. But at the end of the chapter,
Paul summarises in verse 22, he says, for I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. That's the new nature. But I
see another law in my members. That's the old nature, warring
against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin, which is in my members. This conflict never ceases. And
in verse 24, Paul cries out, a wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. That evil nature will not bow
to the law. Nevertheless, the divine nature
rules and reigns. It is the life of God and the
soul of man. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. These
two natures are distinctly opposite. The old man is born from Adam's
sinful seed, so he's sinful just like his father Adam. But the
new man is born from new seed, new seed. The old man has eyes
that only see earthly things, but the new man has eyes that
see and receive spiritual things. The old man can understand many
things, even gospel truth can be understood to a large extent.
I don't know whether you've ever had a conversation with somebody
and they say, well, I can see what you're saying, but I just
can't believe it. And that's the truth of the matter,
actually. A man cannot believe the Gospel apart from the regenerating
work of the Spirit. The old man is dead. He has a
corrupt heart, not capable of believing or loving Christ. But the new man has a new heart,
and he is capable only of believing and loving Christ. These natures
are like day and night, they're like chalk and cheese. And so the Lord says in verse
6 of our passage in John chapter 3, that which is born of the
flesh is flesh. That's what it is. And that which
is born of the Spirit, the Spirit. Don't get them mixed up. Marvel
not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind
bloweth where it listeth, that is, blows where it wills, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit." The Spirit blows where it wills, doesn't it? The
Spirit of God moves where He wills. He comes to the people
of His choosing at the time of His choosing, where He chooses.
We didn't decide on our natural birth, did we? We don't decide
on our spiritual birth. And the Spirit works how He pleases,
when He pleases, and with whom He pleases. He cannot be coerced. He cannot be manipulated, and
He cannot be obligated by anything in the creature. These are heavenly
things, aren't they? And the Lord goes on to say to
Nicodemus in verse 12, If I have told you earthly things and you
believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? No man hath ascended up to heaven
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is
in heaven. No man but the God-man has ever ascended or descended
in the character and offices of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
came down from the Father to complete the will of the Father,
and having completed that work, he sent it back to his Father.
And now the Lord Jesus refers us back to the Old Testament. And Nicodemus is going to know
this so well, isn't he? He wants to open his mind concerning
the cross of the Saviour, the crossroad of the Saviour, the
pinnacle of history. is the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. In verse 14 he says, And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
And whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. So the Lord is referring to that
passage in Numbers 21. If you could just turn there
for a moment, Numbers 21. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Chapter 21, the Israelites began
to complain because the way was difficult
for them to travel. And they said unto Moses, why
have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
There's no bread, there's no water, and we're tired of eating
this manna that you keep giving us. They had contempt for the
Lord. In Numbers 21 verse 6 we read,
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people, and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people
came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against
the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And Moses here is a type of Christ
in his intercessory work. In verse 8, the Lord said unto
Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it
shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh
upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass,
and put it on a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent
had bitten any man, when he had beheld the serpent of brass,
he lived. He lived. What an amazing emblem
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to represent his work, his cross
work. When God commands things to be
done in a certain way, they always have a relevance and a meaning. God instructed Moses to make
a fiery serpent. And that serpent was a symbol,
wasn't it, that the Israelites despised for causing them such
anguish. And so, too, the Lord was despised.
He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him He was despised and we stand him not. And the serpent
was made of brass. It was made of brass and that's
a shiny metal, emblematic of the glory of Christ. The Lord
Jesus being the brightness of his glory, that's the glory of
God and the express image of his person. Brass. Why brass? Why not silver or
why not gold? Brass seems to be a lesser metal.
than gold and silver, the Lord Jesus being made a little lower
than the angels. His glory was veiled to a degree,
wasn't it? He was God in the flesh, but
his glory was veiled on this earth, except at his transfiguration. And so brass is emblematic, I
believe, of the Lord Jesus. The Israelites were bitten by
many serpents, but the Lord commanded Moses to make just one serpent,
1. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and
men, that man Jesus Christ. 2. The Israelites were convicted
of their sin and their need of salvation, and they were commanded
to look to the serpent on the pole. 3. And so too the Spirit
convicts us of sin and our need of salvation, and causes us to
look to Christ on that cursed tree. The Lord says, the Son of Man
must be lifted up. If you want to know the depth
of your fall in Adam and our transgression against a holy
God, look to the cross and see. Please the Lord to bruise him. Please the Lord to crush him,
to smite him. He hath put him to grief, and
his soul was made an offering for sin, an offering to the Father
on behalf of all the Father gave him. Those who were chosen in
Him before time began, the Lord Jesus provided Himself a sacrifice. Precious blood of the Lamb of
God was that sacrifice. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. He must be lifted up. According to the covenant of
grace, there was no possibility of failure. He must be lifted up. The glory
of God depends on it. and he offered himself to the
Father, and that offering was accepted. He was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement
of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. We'll take a break, just come
back and have a look at verse 16 in particular.