That's really good singing tonight.
I want to brag on all of us. We did a good job. Two good hymns
too. Speaking about our Lord, the
light of the world. Amen. I've asked Austin Groover
to bring our message tonight. So Austin, if you will come and
preach to us. Open your Bibles with me to John
chapter 3. John chapter 3, beginning in
verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 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. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. 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? 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. 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
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whether it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and
testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If
I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall
you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath
ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even
the Son of Man, which is in heaven. 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. 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. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is a very well-known passage
of scripture, and I struggled to pick which verses I wanted
to preach on tonight. There's so much to cover here.
But I want to try to focus on just five things that I see in
this text. And the first one is very simple. I want us to consider that somebody
came to Christ. Somebody came to Christ. If you
look back in John 2, verse 23, it says, Now when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name,
when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit
himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not
that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. He knew what was in man. What does that mean? What is
in man? What is in all men by nature?
A sinful heart. a sinful heart, a lost soul,
and no spiritual life. They were impressed, here we're
told, many saw the miracles that our Lord did and they were impressed,
but they weren't converted. They weren't converted, and the
Lord knew this. The Lord wasn't impressed with
outward shows of religious actions or religious behavior. They were
like the group of people that followed him in chapter 6. They
followed him because they did eat the loaves and were filled,
not because they knew him as the son of God or because they
knew he was the Christ. They were filled and that's why
they followed him. And not everyone who professes to be a Christian
is a Christian. The Lord didn't commit himself
to this people. This is what the word says, it
says, the Lord did not commit himself unto them. Now, Nicodemus might have been
one of these people who saw these miracles. In fact, we know that's
why he came to the Lord. It says, we know that thou art
a teacher from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou
doest, except God be with him. So either Nicodemus saw these
miracles himself, or he heard of all the miracles that our
Lord had performed. And so he came. A real somebody came to Christ,
a Pharisee. And, you know, when I think about
Nicodemus and how he came to our Lord, there's three things
that stand out to me. First of all, he came by night. As pointed out, we'll see it
here and in other times in the scripture, it's always pointed
out that he came by night. And the likely reason is that
he didn't want to be seen with Christ. And I thought about that. He
didn't want to be seen with Christ. Can you imagine? How depraved is man that we wouldn't
want to be seen with Christ? Have you ever been with somebody
you don't want to be with? I have. It's because we're proud and
maybe we're embarrassed to be with somebody. But Nicodemus
was too proud to be seen with Christ. But he did come. And he was a Pharisee. And like
most Pharisees in the scripture we read about, they were self-righteous
people, people that look down on other people. And that's all
that man's religion will do is cause you to look down on other
people and feel a little bit better than the person next to
you. And he was a ruler. He really
was somebody. He had worked his way up. It's very easy to be critical
of Nicodemus. It really is. But if you look
in the mirror for a second, you might see that you're Nicodemus.
I'm Nicodemus. We're not so different. How many
services have you come to for the wrong reason? Maybe you came
tonight to be seen by somebody, maybe not to not be seen, but
to be seen by somebody, or you came for somebody else. Self-righteous, do I need to
comment on that? But aren't you thankful that
the Lord can overrule our motives? He can. He can overrule our motives. And I'm thankful that everyone
is here tonight. I'm thankful every time I'm here. The second thing that I see is
the absolute necessity of the new birth. Look at our Lord's
words again in verses 3 through 5. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot cannot see the kingdom of God. 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. Our Lord gets straight to the
point with Nicodemus. He goes straight to the point.
Salvation is not about how much you know. See, Nicodemus came
because he wanted to be taught something. We know that thou
art a teacher. Nicodemus, it's not about how
much you know. That's not what this is about. It's not about how good you are
or how religious you are. Being a Pharisee is not gonna
save you, Nicodemus. In fact, it's not about anything
you do. You must be born again. You must be born again. What is it to be born again?
And what is the new birth? Our Lord said it's necessary. You can't see the kingdom of
God unless you've been born again, and you can't enter into the
kingdom of God unless you've been born again. So you and I,
we must be born again. And seeing that this is all important,
we must see what the scriptures have to say about the new birth.
I want to see what the scriptures say about the new birth, don't
you? So, I have three things I want us to see about the new
birth. First of all, the new birth is according to God's sovereign
will. Turn back a page to John chapter
1. John chapter 1, verse 12. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born not of blood. That is, the new birth is not
hereditary. It's not passed down by human
bloodlines. Just because your parents are
believers doesn't mean that you're going to be a believer. It's
not passed down that way. And I got to say this because
I remember as a teenager being in Mexico and I remember being
taught this, that it's not passed down by bloodline. And I remember
thinking when I was sitting there and I looked at my grandfather,
my grandmother, and my dad, and my mother, and my sister, who
were all professing believers at that time. And I thought,
well, it's not my bloodline. And the Lord's already been so
merciful to so many in this bloodline that maybe this is it. Maybe this is it. And I remember
thinking that. I don't know if any of y'all
that have grown up with parents that are believers have ever
had that thought, but that's not saying that, what this isn't
saying is, it's not excluding you, but it's not including you. It's not my bloodline. And it's not the will of the
flesh. A person can't will themselves to be born again. I'm not trying
to trick you into willing yourself to be born again because you
can't give yourself life. You can't do that. No man can come to God and no
man will come to God. It's both. It's we can't and
we won't. And it's not the will of men.
We pray for our children. We pray for our family. But you
also can't will somebody else into being born again, which
were born of God. This is a sovereign act of God. If a person is going to be born
again, it's going to be the work of God. All I'm saying is salvation
is of the Lord. Alright, so the new birth is
according to God's sovereign will and God miraculously uses
His word in the new birth. We're going to look at two texts
here because they're close to each other. Turn to James chapter
1. God uses His word. James 1 verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth." You see that? With the word of truth. Now turn
over to 1 Peter 1. Verse 23, being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God. You see, your first birth was
brought about with corruptible seed. That's what this verse
said, being born again, not of corruptible seed. Your first
birth was that of corruptible seed. My children have inherited
my sinful nature, just like I inherited my sinful nature from my father
and from his father and all the way back to Adam. Your first
birth, the seed was corrupt, and therefore the product is
corrupt. But if you're born again, you're
born again of incorruptible seed. incorruptible. You know what
that means? It doesn't corrupt. It can't
corrupt. Why? Because this new nature
is from God and he uses his word. God is pleased to use his word
in giving life. He miraculously does this in
a service like this. God uses his word and gives people
life through the preaching of the gospel. And number three,
it's called the new birth because it's not God working with something
in you. This is important. This is so
important. It's not God working with something in you or doing
patchwork. That's not what the new birth
is. It's a new creation. It's a new creation. Because,
see, false religion is all about improving and making yourself
better and doing this. It's a turning over of a new
leaf. That's not what this is. It's a new creation. Let me read
a few texts for you. Ephesians 2, you all know this.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are his workmanship. His workmanship created. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. And in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, it
says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. He's a new creature. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Only God can create, and He creates
this new man in you, and this new birth is vital. So let's
go back to our text. Our third point tonight is there's
a very simple statement with profound implications, and I'm
only going to mention a couple of them, but if we could really
learn this verse, I think it would help dispel a lot of error
And it really helped understand our experience as well. Look
at this in verse number six. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. This
is a very simple statement, but it has profound implications. Here's one of them. This, by definition, negates
the possibility of progressive sanctification. Progressive sanctification is
an impossibility. Here's why. Think about it for
a minute. If a person is getting progressively better or progressively
holier, is that the flesh which is getting better or the spirit? If you say it's the flesh, if
you say it's the flesh that's getting better, you deny that
which is so clearly revealed in the scripture concerning the
nature of the flesh, which is corrupt. You know, Paul asked the Galatians,
he said, are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? Really? So if it's not the flesh getting
better and you say, well, it's the spirit, then you deny your
completeness in Christ. There's no other way to see it.
Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says, For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him. You're complete in him. This
statement just totally makes progressive sanctification an
impossibility. Number two, our Christian experience can
sometimes feel like a contradiction. Let me read a couple of verses
to you. Romans 7, verse 8, Romans 7, 18. This is Apostle Paul.
He says, For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Present tense. Oh, Paul, did
you mean It used to not dwell? No. Dwelleth. Present tense. I know that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform
that which is good I find not. Galatians 5.17, for the flesh,
listen to this, listen to the words here, for the flesh lusteth
against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these
are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things
that you would. First Peter 2.11, dearly beloved,
I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lust, which war against the soul. war against us all. I like examples, though, too.
Turn with me to Genesis chapter 25. Or pictures, I should say. Pictures. Genesis 25. I'm going to read through it
one time, and then we'll try to see if we can see the type
here. Genesis 25, beginning in verse
21. And Isaac entreated the Lord
for his wife, because she was barren, she had no kids. And
the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together
within her, and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the
Lord. And the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb,
and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels.
And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the
elder shall serve the younger." Okay, here's the picture. Rebecca doesn't have any life
in her. She's not pregnant, there's no
life in her. And Isaac asks the Lord to give
her children. And she gets pregnant. So now
there's life in her. And as soon as there's life in
her, now there's a struggle. You see? Before there was life
in her, there was no struggle. But now that there's life, There's
this war within her. And I just love the question
that she asked. She goes, if it be so, why am I thus? Have you ever asked that question?
If I'm born again, if I'm a believer, why am I like this? Because of
the flesh. That's why. Because of the flesh. But it does say the elder shall
serve the younger. You know how old your old man
is? Is as old as you are. You haven't always been born
again, if you've been born again, right? All right, the third thing, this
one, considering again this, so that which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. We have to really guard ourselves
from fleshly outward shows of religiosity and from fleshly
divisions which only can hinder ourselves and others from following
Christ. I'm going to say that again and
I want you all to give us some examples from the scriptures.
Because this is true, because you have the flesh and you have
the spirit, we have to guard ourselves from fleshly, outward
shows of religiosity and fleshly divisions which can hinder ourselves
and others from focusing on the only thing that matters, which
is Christ. So look over here, let's turn
with me to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, verse 12. as many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh." That's what, that's really what religion,
that's all they want to do is make a fair show in the flesh. They constrain you to be circumcised. Only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ, for neither they themselves
who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they might, what? glory in your flesh. But what
does the Apostle Paul say? But God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. So, see, the
thing is, it's so easy to bring stuff in. It's so easy to get lost. Apostle Paul is saying here is
these Judaizers that came in, they wanted to be able to say,
see, we converted all these people and see now they're circumcised
and they're glorying in something that they did or something that
somebody else, what they accomplished. Apostle Paul is saying, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we have to guard ourselves
from this and from fleshly divisions like they had in Corinth, right? Where they said, well, I'm of
Paul and I'm of Apollos. And Paul said, are you not carnal?
There's envying and strife and divisions among you. That's all
the flesh. That's all the flesh. And we
need to be guarded from that and beware of the fact that because
we have the flesh, we are so prone to this type of stuff because
we're proud people. We're proud people and we'll
find any little thing to just be in disagreement with our brethren.
And it shouldn't be that way. It really shouldn't. that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. So, be mindful. The only thing
that matters is, like what Paul says, we are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh. No confidence. All right, the fourth thing I
wanted us to see, we're gonna skip down a couple of verses. I like, when
we read it, I tried to read this word emphatically, whosoever.
I read it a couple of times. Whosoever, whosoever. Whosoever
believeth. Because somebody might be asking
themselves if they have been born again. We just talked about
the new birth. Maybe somebody is asking themselves
or examining within or looking for signs of life. And that's really the wrong question,
and it's not the right place to look. 1 John 5 says, Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And look here in our
text in verse 14 and 15, 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. Whosoever, that's anybody in
this audience, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have eternal life. Turn with me to Romans chapter
four for a minute. When I try to describe what faith
looks like, this is one of my favorite passages of scripture
to go to. What is it to believe on Him?
What is it to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? The verse I want us to look at
is verse number five, but I have to start reading in verse one.
What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to
the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness?
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt. Now here it is. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Did you catch that? Here's what
saving faith looks like. First of all, him that worketh
not. You see that in verse 5, but
to him that worketh not, true saving faith is a faith that's
not trying to work to save themselves. He's not working. True saving
faith is not trying to work out their own righteousness. It's
to him that worketh not. Well, if he's not working, what
is he doing? He's believing on him that justifieth
the ungodly. There's two things there. First
of all, he sees himself as ungodly. A person who is trusting in the
Lord Jesus Christ for all of their salvation sees themselves
as ungodly. That's why he's not working to
try to save himself, because they're ungodly. but he's believing
on him that's able to justify the ungodly. I'm trusting that
the Lord Jesus Christ alone by himself is able to justify me
who am ungodly. You see that in that verse? His faith, that faith that's
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ to make an ungodly person like
me righteous, his faith is counted for righteousness. The last thing I wanted us to
see is the love of God. The love of God. 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. I suppose that this is
one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. not understood,
but quoted and misused. The word world here does not
mean every single solitary person. It doesn't. Because Christ did
not die for every single solitary person. The word world in John
never means every single solitary person. If you look in the book
of John and you look at every time the word the world the word
world is used, it never means every single solitary person.
It's to say Jew and Gentile. This verse is also not teaching
that everyone has a chance. That's kind of like what people
use this verse for, is to say, well, everyone has a chance.
Salvation is not by chance. Salvation is on purpose. God
saves on purpose. The point here is to focus on
the love of God. The love of God. That God so
loved his people. If you're one of his today, that
he so loved you. Don't miss that in this verse.
God so loved you, if you're one of his people, that he sent his
only begotten son. Why? Because that's what was
required to put away your sins, to put away my sins. What was
required to redeem us was that God the Son come into this world
and give his life a ransom for his people. God so loved the
world. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now, what happened to Nicodemus? What happened to Nicodemus? Was
he born again? Was he one of the Lords? Was
he one that the Lord loved? Turn with me, if you will, to
John chapter 7. Let's read about Nicodemus here. John 7. beginning in verse 45. Then came
the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said
unto them, Why have you not brought him? The officers answered, Never
man spake like this man, our Lord. They said, Never man spake
like this man. Then answered the Pharisees,
Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the
who's who's or the Pharisees believed on him? But this people
who knoweth not the law are cursed. Nicodemus said unto them, he
came to Jesus by night, being one of them, doth our law judge
any man before it hear him and know what he doeth? They answered
and said unto him, art thou also of Galilee? Search and look,
for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. And every man went into
his own house. Now turn over to John chapter
19, we see Nicodemus again in verse 38. And after this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews,
besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus.
And Pilate gave him leave. He came, therefore, and took
the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus,
which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture
of mirth and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. Then took they
the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices
as the manner of the Jews is to bury." It doesn't definitively
say, does it? It doesn't. But personal opinion,
I think maybe the Lord did save Nicodemus. And I just wonder if he was there
at the crucifixion and he remembered the Lord's words when our Lord
said, the Son of Man must be lifted up. And if he, standing
there, remembered that night and what the Lord told him, And
he understood. I believe. I must be born again. I get it. I get it now. May the Lord add his blessings
to his word.