I want you to listen very carefully
while I read from a most familiar passage of Scripture. I'm going
to read about seven or eight verses from John chapter 3, John
the third chapter. If you'd like to follow in your
Bibles, get your Bible and open it to John chapter 3. Verse 1
says, There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a
ruler of the Jews. And the same came to Jesus by
night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see kingdom of God. And 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. Jesus answered, That which is
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and you can hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell whence it
cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. And Nicodemus answered and said
unto him, How can these things be? How can these things be? Now, Nicodemus was a very devout
and deeply religious man. And I believe Nicodemus was a
very sincere man. I believe he came to Christ in
all sincerity, wanting some information, some understanding. I'll tell
you why I believe that. A little later, in John 7, verse
50, Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was meeting with this group of Pharisees,
the Sanhedrin, a high Jewish court, and they were sitting
in condemnation and judgment of Jesus of Nazareth. And Nicodemus
stood up and defended the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, our law
does not condemn a man until it first hears him and finds
out what he's doing. He stood before his fellow Pharisees
and defended the Lord Jesus. I'll tell you another reason
why I believe Nicodemus was a sincere man. In John 19, when our Savior
died on the cross, Nicodemus came with Joseph of Arimathea. You remember who Joseph of Arimathea
is? He's the one who gave the tomb
in which no man had ever lain, the tomb in the garden where
they buried the Lord Jesus Christ. And Nicodemus came with Joseph
of Arimathea, who was a secret disciple of Christ for fear of
the Jews, and they buried the body of Jesus Christ. So he was
a devout man, a very religious man, a very moral man, and I
believe a sincere man. But Nicodemus did not understand
that eternal life and salvation is not by obedience to the law
of ceremonies and tradition and rituals and religious works. He did not understand that eternal
life and salvation is not by our doing and our duties, but
it's by the grace of God through the person and work of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, let me give you four things. which Nicodemus did not know,
which we ought to know. Here are four things. You listen
carefully. All spiritual blessings which Almighty God has for sons
of Adam is in Jesus Christ through the person and redemptive work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwelleth the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In Him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and the knowledge of God. It's in Christ. It's like
Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies in Christ. That's where all that God has
for sinners is vested, in the person of His Son. Now that's
so. Second thing that Nicodemus didn't know we need to know and
ought to know. that these spiritual blessings become ours by a union
with Christ. It's like the branch in the vine. And the vine draws all its nourishment,
the branch draws all its nourishment from the vine. Its fruit is the
fruit of the vine. We're in Christ as the branches
in the vine, as the head is a part of the body. Christ is the head,
we're the body. So these blessings are ours because
we're in Him. We're in a living union with
Christ Jesus. We have what He has. What God
has given through the Son is ours. Thirdly, and Christ is
saying this to Nicodemus, that this union is accomplished by
a new birth. We're heirs of God because we're
sons of God. We're heirs of God because we're
sons of God, and we're sons of God because we're born of God.
I'm my father's heir because I'm his son. And I was begotten
a living human father, and that makes me his heir. And the he
that is born of God is an heir of God. If we're sons of God,
we're heirs of God. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God. Now here's the fourth thing.
And this is what Christ is saying to Nicodemus. All spiritual blessings
are in Christ. And they're ours by a union with
Christ. And that union with Christ is
by a new birth. We're born sons of God. And here's
the fourth thing he's saying, is this new birth is by the will
of God. It's by the will of God. He said
to Nicodemus, the wind blows where it pleases. And you hear
the sound. But you can't tell from whence
it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone that's born of
the Spirit. They're born mysteriously, supernaturally,
by the will of God. And they're born by the Spirit
of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. But that
which is born of the Spirit of God is Spirit. And also, they're
born by the Word of God. Christ said you must be born
from above of the Spirit and the water. That's the Word. "...of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth." And Peter
wrote, "...we're born again, not with corruptible seed, but
with incorruptible seed by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth forever." And Nicodemus said, "...how can these things
be?" These mysteries, how can they be? How can these mysterious
blessings come to pass? I don't understand. Job asked
that question. He said, how can a man be just
with God? He said, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? He said, what is man that he
should be clean? He that's born of a woman, that
he should be righteous before God? Will God indeed dwell with
man? These are mysteries. And Nicodemus
didn't understand them. And he said, how can they be?
How can these things be? And then our Lord answered him,
and He said, Nicodemus, Are you a master? What is a master? It's
a teacher. Often the disciples called our
Lord master, master, and that's teacher. And Christ said, Nicodemus,
are you a teacher, a master in Israel, and you don't know these
things? And he said in the next verse, if I have told you earthly
things and you don't understand and don't believe, How could
you believe if I told you heavenly things, these mysterious, these
mysterious things of God? How could you understand if I
told you those if you don't understand the earthly things that I've
told you? What are the earthly things that he told him? Do you
remember the scriptures as I was reading it? What are the earthly
things that Christ told Nicodemus? Well, one of them is this. Natural
men do not have spiritual life. You say, where did he tell him
that? He said, you must be born again. Except a man is born again,
he cannot understand or enter the kingdom of God because he's
flesh. And natural men do not have spiritual
life. They cannot see, they cannot
hear, they cannot enter the kingdom of God. They've got to be born
again. That's an earthly truth. We're dead in sin. We have no
life. Here's the second truth he told.
Natural men cannot give themselves birth and life. They can't born
themselves. Except a man's born, he said,
of the Spirit of God, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And the
third earthly thing he told in this is natural men, natural
men do not have the power to command the birth to come to
them or to command God to do anything. He said, you hear the
wind. You see the effects. You cannot
command the wind. You cannot demand anything of
the wind. You cannot make it do what you
want it to do. So natural men have no spiritual
life. They must be born again. Natural
men cannot give themselves spiritual life. It has to be by the Spirit
of God. And natural men cannot command God to give them life.
They can ask Him. They can seek it. They can pray
for it, but they can't command it. You remember when Ezekiel
was taken by God to the Valley of Dry Bones, and he looked at... There'd been a great battle fought
there years before, and all these bones were everywhere, dry, parched,
bleached in the sun. And God spoke to His servant.
He said, can these bones live? And Ezekiel said, Lord, well,
you know, you know. He said, well, preach to them.
preached to them, command them to live, command them to hear,
command them to hear. So Ezekiel said, I preached to
them. And they came together, bone to its bone, flesh upon
the bone, but there was no life in them, no life. And God said,
command the wind and say to the wind, O breath of God, breathe
on these bones that they may live. So I prophesied to the
wind, and I cried, O breath of God, and they stood up a mighty
army and lived." And then our Lord said, listen, Nicodemus,
no man hath ascended to heaven. No man can ascend to heaven.
No man can penetrate the courts of God. No man can understand
the mysterious counsels of God. Can you by searching find out,
God? Can you find out the Almighty to perfection? You can't find
these things out. They have to be revealed. And
he says, there is someone who can reveal it. No man can ascend
to heaven. No man can penetrate the councils
and courts of heaven. But there's someone who can.
Listen to verse 13. He that came down from heaven
even the Son of God, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven."
Christ is talking about Himself. He's saying, you can't discover
these mysteries, and you can't find the answer to how these
things can be. But I can tell you, I can tell
you, He that came down from heaven, even the Son of God, the Son
of Man, now listen, which is in heaven. Christ is God, and
though He walked on this earth in human flesh, He never left
the presence of the Father, the Son of Man, which is in heaven. He's able to reveal. He's able
to manifest. He's able to tell you, teach
you, reveal to you how these things can be because of who
He is. That's right. Paul wrote in Hebrews,
God, who at sundry times and in different manners spake to
our fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
to us by his Son. And then he describes him. He's
the heir of all things, by whom God made the worlds, who is the
brightness of his glory, who's the exact image of his person,
who holds all things together. who by himself purged our sins,
who is seated at the right hand of God. Listen, and He'll tell
you how these things can be. Will you listen? How can God
be just and justify? How can He be clean, born of
a woman? How can a man be born again? How can God be just and
justify? Here's the remedy. Here's the
answer. Verse 14. You've read it many times. Read
it again. Verse 14. Christ said, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up." What is this? What happened in the
wilderness? Israel murmured against God, complained and rebelled
against God. And God sent fiery serpents into
their midst. And these fiery serpents had
bitten the people, and they were dying. And Moses cried to God
for mercy. for healing. And God said, Moses,
make a serpent of brass in the likeness of the serpent that
had bitten the people. Put it on a pole, lift it up
between heaven and earth, and it'll come to pass. Everyone
that looks will live. Now, we're bitten by serpents
of sin. We're bitten by sin, and we're
fallen creatures. We've rebelled against our God.
And our God sent His Son into this world. made in the likeness. Now, Moses made a serpent in
the likeness of that serpent that had bitten the people. Christ
was made in the likeness of our problem, sin, of the serpent
that had bitten us, sin. And our Lord came to this earth
and was lifted up on a cross as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness. Even so, the Son of Man was lifted
up, and He was made sin for us who knew no sin. that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. And all who look
live. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. Thy stripes were healed." It's
look to Christ and live. His perfect life is our righteousness
and His death is our justification. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them who in Christ Jesus our Lord." That's the remedy. That's how these things can be. Christ our justifier, Christ
our sanctifier, Christ our righteousness, Christ our substitute. As Moses
lifted up the serpent, even so must the Son of Man, the Son
of God, the substitute for sinners, be lifted up, that whosoever
believeth on him. All right, that's, here's the
results. Here's the results in verse 15, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. When Moses
lifted up that serpent in the wilderness, he said, God said
to him, it'll come to pass that whosoever looks lives. And that's what exactly what
our Lord Jesus Christ said, that whosoever believeth on him may
have eternal life. He does not fail. He cannot fail. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life, and they'll
never perish. He cannot fail. No man ever came
to Christ seeking mercy who failed to find it. Now you look through
the Word. Everyone who came to Christ with
a need, with a burden, with a sinful soul and sought mercy, found
it. Everyone. He delights to show
mercy. David said that in Psalm 130.
He said, Lord, out of the depths have I cried unto Thee. Lord,
hear my prayer. If Thou shouldest mark iniquity,
who would stand? But there is forgiveness with
Thee, that Thou mayest be feared and worshiped. All right. How
can these things be? Here's the remedy. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him, here's the result, should
not perish. but have everlasting life. Now,
here's the reason. There's a reason for this. Verse
16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son. The reason for the gift of life is found not in us, it's
found in God. The reason for salvation is not
found in us, it's found in God. It's the mercy of God. It's the
goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It's the gift
of God. That's what eternal life. Herein
is love. Not that we loved God. He loved
us and gave His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. This is the record. God has given us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. The death of Christ for our sins,
listen to me, the death of Christ for our sins is not the cause
of God's love. It's the effect. Christ Jesus
didn't die on the cross to get God to love us. He died on the
cross because God did love us. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Notice four things about
the love of God. Arthur Pink pointed this out
in one of his books. Four things about the love of
God. Number one, the tense of His love. It's always. God so
loved. God is love. God is love. Somebody says, well, God's a
God of love. No, that's not the way to say it. God is love. The love of God. How rich, how
pure, how measureless, how strong. It forevermore endures, even
the saints' or angels' song. That's the tense of His love
is always. He said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
I've drawn you." What's the magnitude of His love? God so loved, He
gave. He gave His only begotten Son. God gave. That's the magnitude
of His love. Thirdly, the design of His love,
that everyone who believes should never perish. Never perish. That's the design of his love.
That's the design of his death. That's the design of his atonement,
that those for whom he died will never perish. Never perish. And no man will pluck them out
of his hand, he said. My father gave them to me, and
no man can pluck them out of my father's hand. They'll never
perish. And what's the benefits of his love? Everlasting life. Here's the remedy. How can these
things be? How can a man be born again?
How can a man be clean, born of a woman? How can man be just
with God? How can God Almighty be just
and justify? Well, here's the remedy. Here's
the remedy. As Moses lifted up that serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Here's the results that whosoever believeth on Him might have everlasting
life. And here's the reason. God so
loved, and oh, the magnitude of His love. He gave His only
begotten Son. And oh, the reason and design
of it, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. Now the conclusion. In verse
17, he tells Nicodemus this. God didn't send His Son into
the world to condemn the world. The world was already condemned.
This is the condemnation. Light is coming to this world,
and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
are evil. Christ Jesus didn't come to condemn. He said, I'm come to seek and
to save that which is lost. The Son of Man is coming to the
world to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am chief. Call his
name Jesus, the angel said to Joseph. He shall save his people
from their sins. He didn't come to condemn. He
came to save. God sent His Son to save His
people. In Luke chapter 19, He said,
The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. And now here's verse, look at
verse 18. And he that believeth on Christ
is not condemned. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which in Christ Jesus are lost. If you read that 8th
chapter of Romans, there are five questions that the Apostle
Paul asked that are the very grounds of our assurance. Here
they are. He said, number one, if God be
for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
how shall he not with him freely give us all things? The third
question, who is he that condemneth? Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. It's Christ that is risen. It's
Christ that is ascended. It's Christ that's seated at
the right hand of God. The fourth question, who can
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who can condemn? Who can charge
us? Are we not chargeable? Well,
of course we are. We'll admit it immediately. We'll
admit it anytime. We're always chargeable. We're
not perfect. Paul said in Timothy, he said,
I haven't arrived. I'm not perfect. I haven't laid
hold upon that for which God laid hold of me in Christ Jesus.
I'm chargeable, but no one can charge me because it's God that
justified me. Now, here's the fifth question.
Who can separate us from the love of God? I'm persuaded neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature can separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. He that believeth is not condemned. Now listen. But he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name
of the Son of God. He's condemned because he hath
not believed on Christ. He has no mediator. He has... If a man does not believe on
Christ, he has no substitute. He has no sin offering. He has
no great high priest. He has no atonement. He has no
one to plead for him before God. He does not have a mediator.
I John chapter 2 verse 1 says, If any man sin, and that's a
foregone conclusion. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we say we have
not sin, we make God a liar. But when any man sins, if he's
a believer, we have an advocate. We have a mediator who is Jesus
Christ the righteous. And He is at the right hand of
God and He ever intercedes for us. He is our intercessor. He is our mediator. There's one
God and one mediator between God and men, and that's Christ.
Now, He that believeth on the Son, He has a mediator. He has
an intercessor. He has an advocate. But if a
man believes not on Christ, he's condemned. He has no mediator. He's got to stand before God
in his guilt, in his sins, in his wickedness, forever condemned
because he has no mediator. He that believeth is not condemned. He that believeth not is condemned
already because He has no mediator. Now, if you'd like to have this
message on tape, it's called, How Can These Things Be? I believe
that's as plain as I can make this gospel message. If you'd
like to have it now, the address will be on the screen. If you'll
send two dollars, that's what it cost us to make them and send
them, and we'll mail you this tape, How Can These Things Be? Now, until next week at this
same time, May God bless you, everyone.