Let's look in verse 9. John chapter 3 and verse 9. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Now that's a question that came
in response from what the Lord had told Nicodemus here in verse
8 concerning the new birth. Except a man be born of the water
and spirit, he can't enter the kingdom of heaven. That which
is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. The wind blows where it wills, where it wishes to,
and you can't tell from where it comes or where it goes. And
Nicodemus said, how can these things be? But you know, I don't
want to be too hard on Nicodemus, because how little you and I
understand of the new birth. It's a mystery, isn't it? It's
a mystery that the Scriptures call the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven. I hope that we see some evidence
of it in our own hearts. in our own minds, our own thinking,
what we think now about God, what we think about ourselves,
what we think about Jesus Christ and salvation is worship. There's some evidences there
that we've experienced the new birth, but still, it's like the
blowing of the wind. You see the trees bend, you see
some shaking in the leaves, the blades of grass are moving, but
where did the wind come from and where does it go? So is everyone
that's born of the Spirit of God. I think Daniel Whittle in
his song says it very well. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed me for his own. I know not how this saving faith
to me he did impart, nor how believing in His Word wrought
peace within my heart. I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through His Word, creating
faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed."
So it is a mystery to us. It is mysteries. We sometimes
have to examine ourselves closely. to see if this wondrous work
of grace has begun in our hearts. And we watch it as it continues
on. Faithful is he who has begun
a good work in you who will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
And I think probably there's nothing wrong if our motives
are right to go to the Lord as Mary did and say, Lord, how can
these things be? That's what Nicodemus said. And
maybe his had unbelief in it. Maybe he wasn't listening close
enough. But Mary said herself, how can these things be? But
the Lord asked Nicodemus, the Lord makes this statement here
in verse 10 to Nicodemus. Are you a master, are you a teacher
of Israel? And no, not these things. Man. Can you imagine if that
didn't go home to his heart here? I bet Wayne it did later. You're
teaching other people? And Nicodemus, you don't know
anything about the new birth? It wasn't that he'd read it and
forgot it. He'd read over it. He'd never
seen it in the Old Testament. He didn't know it. I sometimes
ask myself, I'll be honest with you, am I teaching things to
you folks that I don't know myself? That's a scary thing to get up
and teach and preach to other people. And it makes me examine
myself that I don't want to stand before the Lord someday and have
Him say to me, Bruce, you were a pastor and you didn't know
this? You didn't know to tell people
about this, to instruct people in this, to warn people about
this. That's a vital responsibility. I remember me and Todd Nyberg
and Paul Mahan was sat in that Brother Mahan's house two or
three years ago, a long time after Henry had his stroke, and
we were talking about some issues in the Scriptures and what certain
passages meant. And we asked Henry, Henry, what
does this passage mean? I think it was on Hebrews 6. And Henry said, I forgot. He
said, I forgot. Bless his heart, he's forgotten
more than I'll ever know. But he was gone from the table
just for a short bit and he came back and he had this little commentary
on Hebrews. And he said, you find where that's
written and that's what I believe. That's what I said. So it's not
like Nicodemus had read it and studied it and just forgot it. But he never knew it. He never
knew it. And he had no reason not to know
it because the new birth is written in the Old Testament. Many places
we can find where it's spoken about. Listen to Psalm 51. Create
in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me, O Lord. That's an inward work. Had Nicodemus
read that? He probably read over it. Listen
to Ezekiel chapter 36. I will give them a new heart
and a new spirit will I put within them. A heart that they never
had before. A spirit that was new. And listen to Ezekiel chapter
37 Ezekiel was standing there with all the dead bones, and
they came together, and there a skeleton and the skin and muscles
had come on them. But they were dead. Remember
that occasion? And the Lord said, Ezekiel, prophesy
unto the wind. Pray unto the wind. Come, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain that they may live. That's the
new birth, isn't it? The wind blowing where it will. And Nicodemus had no excuse not
to be familiar with what the Old Testament taught of the new
birth. He had read these passages, but
he had read over them. His mind, and here was what was
the matter with Nicodemus. Here was one of his old problems.
He was so concerned with outwards. He was so concerned in what people
thought of him. He was so concerned with impressing
people, the clothes that he wore, getting the right seat in the
tabernacle, what he ate, what he refrained from eating, what
he drank, what he didn't drink, washing his hands, washing pots. He was so filled up with all
of this ceremony and traditions, he didn't have time to think
about the inward. in his need of the work of grace
within his own heart. I tell you, there's a lot of
people taken up with that today. Did you know that? And that's
what the devil does to people. That's the way the devil deceives
people. He has them so concerned with this flesh and outward things,
they don't have time. They never consider. The Lord
Jesus, and I read that verse to you this morning. First, cleanse
that which is within. If we'll do that first and foremost,
you know something? If the inward is taken care of
to begin with, the outward will be much more easy to take its
place. Cleanse first that which is within,
that which is without may be clean also. If we walk in the
light as He is in the light, we have fellowship and the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses. A cleansing, an inward cleansing,
an inward birth. In a day when there's a church
on every corner, as we say, and everybody has some kind of religion
that's sort of like a spare tire, they get it out when they have
a flat. This is what we need in our day. Did you know it?
The old, old teaching of our Master. A new birth. A birth from heaven. Now, inward
cleansing from all sins. And brothers and sisters, nothing
else is going to do us any good. It won't do a man any good. Here's
a man that had all these titles. He had these positions. He had
his dress. He had his pants on the back.
He had men to adore him. But in spite of all of that,
he was empty inside. He was full of dead men's bones,
nothing but flesh, and all His worship was nothing but a vain
show, a whited sepulchre. And that's all it is if we're
not born again. That's all it is if we don't
have an inward work going on in our hearts. It's nothing. Here in verse 14 and verse 15, Our Lord does an amazing thing. He tells us of the experience
of a new birth. And the reason He does this is
because Nicodemus doesn't understand the thing He's saying about it.
But He's going to come right down and tell him about the experience
of the new birth. And He does something here amazing
in verse 14. He links the new birth with the
cross. This is amazing. You want to
know about being born again, he says, Nicodemus? Let me tell
you about the experience of it. And then he tells him something
Nicodemus had read, no doubt, many times. 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. You and I remember that occasion
so well, where the children of Israel had sinned, and the Lord
told Moses to beat out this brass serpent and put it on a pole.
And Moses did that, and then he went throughout the camp,
maybe had others going throughout that host, saying, Look and live! Look and live! And now here the
Lord Jesus tells Nicodemus, even so, Must the Son of Man be lifted
up? Just like that serpent. And if
we have any doubt as to His meanings to what He says here when He
says He must be lifted up, John tells us exactly what this means
in John chapter 12 and verse 32. Listen to this. 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." If I be lifted
up upon a pole, if I be lifted up upon a cross, if I be crucified,
I will draw all men unto me. And you and I are today. What
are we doing? We are doing exactly what the
Apostle Paul did. We're going about proclaiming
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's all we know, isn't it?
And we're telling people, look and live. Just as the children
of Israel did. Look and live. And what is it
to look? It's to believe, isn't it? Believing
is looking and looking is believing. They're the same thing. We got
in this sinful mess by look. They saw the fruit that it was
good for food. They saw it. Bunyan had an interesting comment
on that passage where it said, they saw. And he said, there's
when Adam fell. He saw. He looked at it. He set his heart on it. His heart
went out after it. And there's where he fell. He
saw it. And that's the way we got into
this mess, isn't it? We looked away from God, our
Creator, and we looked to our sin, we looked to our self and
our rebellion, and down we went. By look! And there's only one
way we're going to get out of this mess that we're in. It's
looking away from self. Looking away from sin and away
from guilt, as difficult as it is. And look to the Lord Jesus
Christ who was punished for our sins. Spurgeon said it's easy to look. Well, it is because the Lord
gives you eyes, isn't it? But I tell you, it's difficult to
look when you're burdened down with sin. When you're burdened
down with guilt. All the shame, Glenn, that you
was talking about this morning about your self-righteousness.
Oh, when you stand before the Lord and you're so conscious
of your self-righteousness and how you've been trying to work
to be accepted, and you're so ashamed of yourself. I tell you,
it's difficult to look out of that guilt and away from that
to the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But that's the
way we're saved. There in Isaiah chapter 45 where
the Lord said, I am God and besides me there is no other God, a just
God and a Savior. Look unto me and be ye saved. That's the way we're saved, isn't
it? That's the way we get out of this mess. That's the way
we rid ourselves of a guilty conscience, by looking. Look
unto me and be saved. Look unto me, burn your guilt
upon the cross. Look unto Me in the grave. Look
to Me raised. Look to Me exalted. Look unto
Me and be you saved. The Bible says they looked unto
Him and were enlightened and were not ashamed in their faces. That's the way we got out of
this. By look. Look and live. Whosoever believeth
in Him shall not perish. I thought last week as I was
thinking, I want you to turn over Galatians 3 with me. Hold
John right there just for a second. Turn to Galatians 3. I thought, what do the folks at our church need
to hear Sunday? And the thought come to me, what
do you need to hear? What do you need to hear? And
I was reading Hebrews chapter 1. in verse 3. And it said that He by Himself
purged our sins. He purged our sins. And I thought to myself, that's
what I need to hear. I feel I'm such a sinner myself. And my sins sometimes get so
heavy and I'm facing eternity. And here's what I need to hear
over and over again. purged our sins. That's what we need to see, isn't
it? This business of seeing and looking. Here in Galatians chapter 3. Look in Galatians chapter 3. Look what Paul says about this
business of looking and seeing. What he does here, he links the
cross, Christ and Him crucified, with our looking and with our
receiving the Holy Spirit. Now notice how he links these
things together. Look in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 1. O foolish
Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey
the truth? You're leaving the gospel. Look
at this. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ
has been clearly, plainly, evidently set forth, crucified among you. And what the Apostle Paul is
saying, when I came preaching to you, here's what I preached. I preached Jesus Christ and Him
crucified, and I preached Him so clearly before you that you
saw Him. You saw Him hanging there in
your place. You saw Him being punished for
your sins. It's as though He was just freshly
crucified before you. That's how plainly I preach Christ
and Him crucified to you. Have you ever had that to happen
to you? Have you ever had a preacher been up preaching and there He
was? It's just like you were there
at the cross looking up and seeing Him. That's what Paul said the
way he preached Christ. And then he asked him this question.
This is only what I learned of you. Received you the Spirit
by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? When I was preaching to you and
you heard me telling about Christ lifted up and you believed that
and you received the Spirit, is that not the way the Spirit
came to you and began His work in your heart? See how closely
the receiving of the Spirit and the Spirit's work is associated
with the cross. I preach the cross. I preach
Christ. And the Spirit came to you that
heard and began His work. As He said in verse 3, Are you
so foolish, having begun in the Spirit? Are you now made perfect
by the law? What the Lord is telling us and
what Paul is telling us here, there is no new birth apart from
the work of Christ on the cross. There cannot be another. There
is no spirit to come and begin His work but on the grounds of
the work finished on the cross. There is no salvation apart from
believing in Jesus and Him crucified. Have you been given eyes to see
Him? Then you're born of God. You're alive. Keep looking to
Him. Lay aside the weights and the
sins that beset you. Look unto Him and you won't be
alone until you'll see Him coming again. And when you see Him,
you'll be like Him. And then you'll look upon Him
for all eternity. And what a satisfying look that
will be. We got into this mess by looking. We'll get out of this mess by
looking. And the work will be finished someday by looking. Looking unto Jesus. Never take
your eyes off of Him. Looking. The new birth is vitally linked
to the cross, seeing Christ. When we talk about seeing Him,
we're not talking about the natural eyes. We're talking about the
eyes of our understanding. Paul said, I pray that God would
give you the spirit and wisdom, the spirit of wisdom and revelation,
revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding
enlightened. That's what we want, isn't it?
We want the eyes of our understanding enlightened. We don't care about feelings.
Oh, I love to feel good. But we want our eyes open to
know Him, to know His work, to know what He's doing and what
He's promised to do. The eyes of our understanding.
That's what we need to know. Lastly, let's look at this here
in John chapter 3 and verse 16. The motive, the compelling motive
of God in the new birth. Here's the compelling motive. And it's found in God for the
new birth. For God so loves the world. that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life, everlasting life. Of his own will begot he
us. But why? Why did he beget us? Well, somebody said it seemed
good in his sight. Well, that's true. It was his
purpose. That's true. That's wonderful.
But what's the motive in God that He would come to a poor
sinner who is dead and sinned and quicken him, give him life
eternal? What is the motive in God? It's love, isn't it? For God
so loved. Oh, that's wonderful, isn't it? That's wonderful to trace your
salvation. back to the love of God. Somebody
asked the question, what does the love of God have to do with
your salvation? Everything. It's the motivating
force in God. Even when we were dead in sins,
for His great love were with, He loved us. And I bet you there
was nobody ever so shocked as Nicodemus. when the Lord Jesus
stood there and told him, God so loved the world, Nicodemus. Nicodemus never had time to think
about the love of God. He was too busy with his traditions.
He's too busy with all this outward show. But if he ever did think
of the love of God, surely God don't love anybody but a Jew
and especially the Pharisees. We're his loved ones, you know.
But those Gentile dogs, those miserable Samaritans, we
can't stand to look upon them. God loves them? Those Gentiles
that was led away into dumb idols? Could it be possible? Oh, he's
going to learn a valuable lesson about the love of God, wouldn't
he? He didn't a bit more merit it
than those dead dog Gentiles. And if a man is born again, if
a man is saved, if a man is washed from his sins, you trace it back
to this, and this only, God's love in Jesus Christ. That's
it. That's it. I've been going out on the back
porch these cool, clear nights. I love to go out before I go
to bed and just stand there and look up into the sky and see
all these stars, all the planets, all the different colors. Knowing that He that created
that host, that innumerable company of stars, and upholds them by
the word of His power, Loves me. Oh, I'm overwhelmed. It overwhelms
my soul. But there it is. There it is. As wonderful as it seems, there's
some evidence of it. Because He's begun a work of
grace in my heart. He's made me His child by a new
birth. And the only thing I can trace
it to is His great love wherewith He loved me. Oh, bless His holy
name. Are you born of God? Then He
loves you. He loves you before He comes
to you. He loves you after He comes to you. And He'll never
cease to love you with His everlasting love in the Lord Jesus Christ. From death to life, oh, what
a thought! Within my soul what change is
wrought. By power divine no tongue can
tell. One thing I know, for me it is
well. From darkness unto light sublime,
through my Redeemer's matchless name. For this He left His home
on high. that I should not forever die. And listen to this. Thy Jesus
paid it all, I see, to bring this wondrous life to me. Life
from above, O joy sublime, that such a treasure should be mine. Now in God's Son I have a part,
eternal life within my heart. translated from the shades of
night into the realm of glorious light. Oh, praise the Lord for
victory. From death to life He lifted
me. By His great love and power divine,
eternal life is truly mine. Bless His name. Let's pray.