Good morning to you. Want to say, welcome to New Life
Community Church. My name is Kyle, a service lead,
Pastor here and grateful that you've chosen to worship with us
today. If you're a member here, we're
happy to see you. If you have your Bible, would
you turn to John chapter 3 should be no surprise?
Now, where will be at will be in John 3 today and for the next
several weeks. But today, we'll be examining
together verse 3. We started a series of few weeks
ago, called the law and the gospel and the point of the
series is to expose the law as unable to save us to highlight
the good news of Christ Jesus. As the only way to Salvation and
this idea that you must be born. Again, when we say the law is
unable to say. We don't mean that.
The law is not good, the law is good.
But you following the law perfectly will not result in
Salvation, or could you follow the law perfectly anyway?
And so you must be born again. And that's what we've been
looking at with Nicodemus. Here is that he like every other
person as we'll see. Today must be born again.
And so we'll get into that today, I'm going to ask that you
stand again. If you're able for the reading
of God's word, we're going to read verses 1 through 3 of John
3 today. John 3 verse 1.
Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.
A ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night
and said to him. Rabbi, we know that you are a
teacher. Come from, God, for no one.
Can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered him. Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
We pray for us, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for the kindness of Revelation that we have in your
word. Our Triune God revealing himself
to us. And so, father, we come to you
with, with that in mind, we want to know you.
We want to know your son, we want you to work in our hearts
and Minds by the power of your spirit today.
And so we ask Lord for that. We asked you to Enlighten us to
illuminate the passage for us today.
That we would know you Lord, we praise you for The for your
word, for your written word and we ask that you be with us now.
It's in Christ's name. We pray, amen.
You may be seated. But the thing that I want to lay
before you today, if you're taking notes you can write this
down. What what Jesus is just said is
shocking. It's a shocking statement and
the thing that I think this passage reveals this is at the
shocking news of the new birth reveals to us the saving news of
New Life In Christ reveals to us the saving news of New Life In
Christ. Have you ever received shocking
news? if we got that phone call with a
report on the other end that rocks you to your core, the kind
of news that causes your world to spin in a moment.
Maybe it's the kind of news that etches a day and a time into
your mind forever. You'll always remember that
moment when that phone call or when that news broke, or when
that thing happened to you? I can remember where I was when
I got the call that my dad had a heart attack a little over a
decade ago now. But Maybe one incident that we
can remember together would be that.
It's an impacted us like this would be the terror attacks of
9/11. Most of us can easily recall and
we do so yearly where we were in that moment, what we were doing.
Nicodemus would have felt rocked.
As Jesus exclaims to him. Unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. But statement pierced no doubt
it pierced Nicodemus, much of God's word is meant to pierce
us. God, describes his word in this
way, as an object that pierces us to the very depths of our
soul. Exposing who we are, what we are
for. What it really is for, what we
really are. And that would have happened to
Nicodemus In This Moment Nicodemus, no doubt thought he
had a secure status with God, due to his religious pedigree,
we've talked about it already Nicodemus, a Pharisee, he's a
member of the Sanhedrin, even which is the ruling body of the
nation of Israel. He was called, Jesus calls him
here in verse 10. In this passage, he asked him,
are you the teacher of Israel? And yet, you do not know these
things. It was the teacher of Israel,
which came with another set of certain pedigree.
Nicodemus, probably thought something was missing.
I think this is why he comes to him.
We establish this a couple of weeks ago, so I comes to him.
In the cover of Darkness, white comes asking Jesus questions in
a manner where he won't be seeing where his reputation
won't be exposed or ruined, rather.
And so he's knows something's missing but there's no way he
would have ever imagined a Chasm like the one Christ just
revealed to him unless you are born again, you cannot see the
kingdom of God. That's possible that Nicodemus
was curious about Jesus identity.
He is in Jerusalem. It's just after Passover.
There's many there would have been many thoughts in the mind
of Nicodemus about the Messiah about him coming to rule the
Earth. And so maybe he comes wanting to
know it. And what way is he from God?
Because he's already said, we know that you're from God.
But in what way are you a prophet or you a forerunner to
the Messiah? Maybe he's wanting to know.
Are you the Messiah? Are you going to establish your
rule and Reign on the earth now or soon?
Knowing what is in the heart of man, though.
Jesus cuts to the heart of the matter.
If you remember at the end of chapter 2, it says that Jesus
did not entrust himself to some of the ones who had believed in
his name. Because he knew man, he knew
what was in the heart of man. And so he cuts to the heart of
the matter he looks at Nicodemus Square in the eyes.
And with laser-like Focus he speaks directly to him.
And he says, unless you are born again, you will not see the
kingdom of God. Jesus exposes Nicodemus exposes
all his religious efforts. He exposes all of his religious
strivings all of his religious achievements.
This great teacher knew nothing about what it takes to enter the
kingdom of God. This great teacher would have
thought he was seeing in some way the kingdom of God.
And Jesus says, you do not see the kingdom of God.
His whole life to this point, has not gained him anything in
God's kingdom, and yet, Nicodemus can't see that.
He doesn't understand that yet. What Christ is saying is that
Nicodemus must start over. He must begin again.
He must be born again and the shocking news of the new birth
applies to you. Also you two must start over.
You also are not good enough by your religious pedigree to see
the kingdom of God. You also, if you're an
unbeliever, Will not see the kingdom of God unless you are
born again. And so you must be born again,
otherwise you will miss the kingdom all together.
And so the shocking news. Again of the new birth, this
idea of a new birth. You must be born again.
It shocks because it's meant to reveal.
Its meant to expose. And then on the, on the backside
of that, that exposing we see our need for Christ.
We see our need for a savior, we see our need to be born again,
and so we see the good news of a new life in Christ, Jesus.
Why though must somebody be born again?
The question begs to be asked Nicodemus, was surely good
enough, right? Why must somebody be born again?
Well for that, we've got to go back to the beginning of the
book and what we read in Genesis is that when God created Mankind
and he created them in His image and likeness.
And we know that in that moment there in Genesis 1 and 2 before
the fall in Genesis 3, we know them in that moment.
And those days this man and woman were perfect.
They were without sin. When Adam and Eve fall to
Satan's Temptation, in the garden sin, and death entered
the world. This is what God says to the man
about what happens if you eat that fruit of which I have
commanded you not to eat that when you do, you will surely
die, death, enters the world, The thing about death entering
the world in Genesis chapter 3 is we might initially think that
it's just a physical death that physically you die, but then you
get to the end of Genesis 3. And the man and woman are not
dead. God spares their life.
He kicks them out of the garden but he spares their life so
there must be. Another meaning surely they will
die. Death has entered the world to
be sure but they don't they're not killed in an instant God
starts over. and so, what we know is that another kind of
death enters the world in the fall, spiritual death Mankind is
spiritually dead and so Adam and Eve's nature was no longer
perfect. It's Fallen they're no longer
spiritually. Alive dwelling in the presence
of God. They are spiritually dead.
Their offspring received the same Fallen nature as they're
born in the image and likeness of Adam, to be sure.
They're still in the image and likeness of God.
But they're not perfect. And this is what Genesis 5, 1
through 3 describes as it describes.
The descendants of Adam. It says this is the book of the
generations of Adam when God created man.
He made him in the likeness of God, male and female.
He created them and he blessed them and name.
The man when they were created and when Adam had lived a
hundred and thirty years, he fathered a son in his own
likeness after his image and named him.
Seth And so we see the transition there that mankind is
created in the image of God and we still exist in the image of
God. But were broken, because we're
now born into the likeness and image of Adam.
He catch that there in Genesis 5.
And so, King David even God's anointed later on and song King?
David has just committed the travesties of adultery and
murder. And in Psalm 51, he's offering a
prayer of repentance, and this is what he's saying.
Saying about his sin. He saying behold I was brought
forth in iniquity and in sin, did my mother conceive me?
now, we we know that David's not saying my mother was sinning as
she conceived me, he's saying that at conception I have a
heart that is plagued with sin. I'm Fallin.
And I'm prone to selfish, sinful desires.
Oh, Lord. And this is David being honest
in Psalm 51. With God, as he's pleading for
the mercy of God. To not cast him away.
The Apostle Paul in Romans 5 gets much more explicit with
this idea of what I'm talking about.
In Romans 5 verse 12, he's talking about in Romans 5, he's
showing us the first Adam and the second Adam Christ and how
there's death that comes with the first atom and then there's
life that comes with the second Adam and this is what he says
about. The first atom in verse 12, he
says just as Sin came into the world through one man and death
through sin. And so death spread to all men
because all sinned. Well wait a minute and work
there. Weren't all born yet.
They weren't all walking the Earth yet.
So, Paul is affirming what David is saying that at conception
your born with a sin nature? In verse 18 of chapter 5, he
says it again. One trespass, led to
condemnation for all men. One Trust pass led to
condemnation for all men. Adam sin led to condemnation for
all. and Romans 3:10 just a couple of chapters before those
Paul's writing but he's quoting the prophet here.
He says as it is written. None is righteous.
No not one. No one understands.
No one seeks for God all have turned aside together.
They have become worthless. No one does good.
Not even one. And so you buy your first birth.
You are sinful. By your conception, you are
sinful. There's an idea out there that
exist that that an age of accountability happens for a
child. And and that age of
accountability is varies, it seems depending on who you talk
to. But the idea is that a child is
born sinless without a sin nature.
And if you're a parent of a toddler, you like of who, that
ain't true. The most mean as toddlers.
We are the most selfish individuals we might ever be
some of us, never grow out of it.
Right. But there's clearly sin there
when a child hauls off and hits their brother or sister at two
years old. It's not because they're perfect
it's because their sin presence. There's a rebellion in them
that's present. And so children need Christ.
Children. Need the salvation of the Lord.
Amen. If not, then maybe Christians
shouldn't stand aboard against abortion so ferociously because
really we would be saving a ton of children by not, allowing
them to experience sin. But we know that abortion is
wrong because murder is wrong. Amen!
And so we stand against abortion because it's good and writes a
stand against abortion. And so, we've got to follow our
theology to the end there and make sure we're consistent.
I think the picture is probably mostly clear for you but if
you'll consider what happens when you read Ephesians 2 1
through 3 in the present tense rather than the past tense as
Paul wrote it because Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus
so he's writing to a gathering of people who have been saved,
but if you read to one through three as though you've not yet
been saved, this is how you would read it.
Paul would be saying this and you are dead in the trespasses
and sins in which you walk current.
Sorry following the course, it's of this world, following the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is at work in
the sons of Disobedience. Among whom we all live in the
passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and
the mind and are by Nature children of Wrath, like the rest
of mankind. That's how Paul describes.
Christian's pre-conversion, pre salvation, pre regeneration, pre
being born again. He describes them as dead in
their trespasses and sins, another walking, so they're
alive. It doesn't mean they're
literally that he means they're what spiritually dead.
They're spiritually, dead. It's been said, I don't know who
coined the phrase but I think the phrase is good.
It's been said that the heart of the human problem is the problem
of the human heart. This is true.
You look into our world today. I mean, you only have to look
into your world but we'll use that you look into the news
today. The problem in our world, Is the
problem of the human heart, we need.
Salvation. We need a Revival.
You look into your own life and the problems that you have, the
problems that you're going through, are either because of
your own heart, you're trying to establish your own kingdom.
Do your own things, or it's inflicted upon you by someone
who is doing that trying to establish their own kingdom, do
their own thing. And so they're inflicting harm
in that way. The heart of the human problem
is the problem of the human heart.
We know that this is true from the scriptures.
It's one of the things that we go over as I do.
Premarital counseling with couples as we think about
conflict, resolution in our marriages.
Conflict comes from in a marriage, comes from one person
in the marriage saying I'm building my kingdom.
I'm establishing my own kingdom here and you're in the way of
that. And so, you end up in Conflict,
you did this to me and that imposed upon the walls that are
built around my kingdom. And so now, we're at conflict
with one another, when a husband and wife do not work together to
build the kingdom of Christ. They're in danger of
establishing their own kingdoms and therefore, having a lot of
marital conflict. Amen.
And so by your first birth, your physical birth, you stand
condemned before God by the by your sin nature.
You stand condemned by. The sins that you've committed,
the sins that you will commit and you are sentenced to death.
That's what Romans 6:23 says. As for the wages, the payment of
sin is death. And so you must be born again.
You must be born again. When Jesus says to Nicodemus,
unless you were born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
He's telling him. You must be born again
Nicodemus. Now the interesting about this
is Nicodemus doesn't raise that question, does he?
He just says, Hey Rabbi teacher, we know that you must be from
God because no one can do these things, unless he's unless God
is with him. And Jesus says, unless one is
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Because Jesus knows the heart of the man, the man thinks, hey,
I'm one. He called them signs so he knows
they point to something different.
He doesn't call them Miracles, we covered that last week, he
calls him signs and so he knows these are meant to show some
spiritual truth. And so he comes looking for the
answer to the signs. What are these signs showing?
And Jesus says, you will not see those things, unless you are
born again. the the word again here is Is a Greek word called
an othon. I know 'then I think it.
So I'm saying that correctly. What's interesting about this
Greek word is it carries two meanings and it's used for
either describing again or from above And so, when Jesus says,
You must be born again. He's describing.
Again, you must be reborn but he's also describing where that
birth comes from. He's saying, from above And you
don't have, I don't know, Greek. I just use bible study tools
that help me. But you don't have to know Greek
because Jesus in the rest of the passage makes us explicitly
clear where this birth comes from.
It comes from the spirit of God and so we'll get into that in
the coming weeks. But let's look at this idea of
being born again being born Anew that that initial meaning of
being born again, the truth that Jesus is expressing is that you
must live a new life. You must have brand new life.
You must begin afresh. You must begin a new you.
You cannot patch up the old building rather we need to work
on the foundation. We need a new Foundation.
We're not, we're not trying to add Christ and church and
spiritual things to our lives. So that we become a patched up
building a whitewashed tomb, as the Pharisees were described by
Christ. What we need is an altogether
New Foundation. You must have crisis saying, You
must have a new nature. Your old nature is sinful.
You need a new nature. Your old nature is dead.
You need a nature, that is alive.
You need an utterly new nature and altogether new nature.
You need new standards. You need new desires.
Need a new life. And so Christ the Same by your
first birth Nicodemus. I know.
It doesn't look this way, but by your first birth, you are
corrupt your corrupted. You're bound to sin and you're
destined for Eternal condemnation.
And so you need a second birth. You must be born again.
Your soul needs to be recreated. Which is, which gets us to the
second meaning of again, this idea that you must be born from
above. And so, John uses this an othon
word in this way to other times in his gospel in John 3 31.
He says, he who comes from above, he who comes an othon is
above all. In John 19, 11, Jesus answering.
Pilot he says you would have no authority over me at all unless
it had been given you from an othon from above.
Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.
John especially has this idea in mind here in John 3:3 to be born
from above, is to truly be born Anew.
It's to truly be born again, when you're born from above and
so you're in need of a new birth that comes from God.
And that coming from God is the only place to find New Birth.
It comes from outside of yourself.
It's not from within you, don't look to yourself.
You don't become the fullest expression of yourself.
You don't become the truest self that you can.
What side are? You can't achieve any way unless
you're born again. But it's not from pursuing.
You know, Nirvana. That you are born again.
It comes from outside of you, it comes from looking to someone
else. You don't look to your family,
you don't look to your heritage. You look to God Alone to be born
again. And we see that this is found in
Christ. John 1:12 through 13 again, we
started the series with this passage but I'll read it, but to
all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave
the right to become children of God.
This is the idea of being born again.
We know that because in verse 13, He says, who were born not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of, man,
but of God. So there was nothing about their
first birth. Nothing about their good works.
Nothing about Out their Heritage that could cause them to be born
again but they were born again from God.
And so the new birth comes from heaven and when the new birth
hits your life, it creates a new a new heart and it grants to you
new life. And that new life is motivated
by the motivations of Heaven. It's motivated by the
motivations of God. You have the desires of God
implanted into your life. The truth of the new birth isn't
A New Concept at all. And that Nicodemus is going to
be exposed for not understanding the new birth as this passage
unfolds. God had told his people about
their need for the new birth through the prophets of the Old
Testament. One such profit is a guy named
Ezekiel and this is in Ezekiel 36.
We read this in verse 26 and 27. He says and I will give you this
is God speaking to his people about a day that is coming and I
will give you a new heart and a new spirit.
I will put within you and I will remove the Heart of Stone from
your flesh and give you A heart of Flesh and I will put my
spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be
careful to obey my rules. New Birth comes from God.
It was always going to come from God.
Everything about the Old Testament points to the coming
of the Messiah. Jesus Christ.
Who would Usher in by his perfect sacrifice The new birth.
By his death and his resurrection.
We would now have the opportunity to have the spirit
of God dwell in us. That's what the amazing event of
Pentecost is, describing the spirit of God, coming to dwell
in, man. And so what, what happens when
God gives you a new heart? And God says, I'm going to take
your old Heart of Stone and give you a heart of Flesh.
What's happening in that moment? What hat?
What's the results of that? What happens when God says I'm
going to give you a new spirit? I'm going to put my spirit in
you. This is the new birth.
And so, what happens in the new birth I've laid out at the
beginning of the series and kind of mentioned him throughout but
dr. Stephen Lawson wrote a book on
this subject and here's what he talks about.
About the New Birth five things that the new birth does in your
life. And the new birth, you get a new
heart. And the first thing we see is
that you get a new heart to love God.
You get a new heart to love God. Once you were not a lover of God
and now in the New Birth you receive a new heart and you are
a lover of God, once you put all sorts of things above God, once
you had many gods including your self and now you have one God
and you put nothing above him. The new birth is the result of
receiving a new heart and instills in you a new love for
God, a real love for God, a genuine love for God.
This exchanged heart possesses new desires for the kingdom of
God. It throbs with new affections
for the truth of God and it beats in sync with God.
Now we love what God loves, and we reject what he rejects.
And in a similar way, we do not love what we once were sorry, we
love what we once rejected, and we reject what we wants loved,
we've been transformed by this new heart and our new heart
longs for God. We love him.
As the psalmist says, as a deer pants for the water.
Oh my soul thirst for you. Oh God. if you don't have a
thirsting for God, You need to ask yourself, have I truly been
born again. The second thing lost some
points out as you get a new mind to think, right?
Thoughts about God and His works.
Again once we thought wrong things about God, maybe you were
a scoffer, a mocker of God and his people When you have a new
birth from above you now, have the ability to think, rightly
about God and his work Ephesians 4:22 through 24 talks about this
idea of sanctification. It says, to put off your old
self, which belongs to your former manner of life and his
corrupt, through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the
spirit of your minds. And to put on the new self
created after the likeness of God in true, righteousness and
Holiness, the new birth gives us an entirely new mindset and we
see life as God sees it. We're happy to let go of the
former manner of life so that we can take on God's Manor for
life. We're able to see with a new
understanding. What God says in his word.
We see how his truth relates to our life, and we put it on
Happily joyfully. We recognize again as the
psalmist says in some 16. That he has made known to us the
path of life. And at his right hand are
Pleasures forevermore. The third thing we get with a
new heart as we get a new heart to believe God's word.
The new heart accepts, 2nd Timothy 3:16 which says that all
scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching and
for reproof, and for correction, and for training in
righteousness and verse 17 says that the man of God may be fully
mature or complete lacking nothing.
And so we have a new desire, a new heart toward his word, We
Believe God's word and it transforms us.
Again Psalm 119 David says they're not confirmed his day
but I believe it's David. He says that I've hidden your
word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
He says they're about God's word that it is sweeter than drops of
honey. It's to be more desirable than
silver and gold. You see the transformation of a
heart towards the word of God. When somebody is born again or
no longer a skeptic of the word, they're Believers of the word.
I don't doubt its validity its truthfulness they don't doubt
its inspiration they don't doubt it's infallibility.
They don't doubt any of those things instead.
They humbly submit themselves to the word of God.
Because the end of his life, and it is all things necessary for
godliness and salvation in, it is the answer to every problem.
And it is wisdom for every situation and so they humbly
come to it, a new birth gives you a new heart full of praise
for God. So once you were negative
towards the Lord, once you didn't love the Lord at all,
once you may have talked bad about the Lord, but now you
bring praise to God. Once we were self-absorbed and
we praise ourselves and we thought only of ourselves and
now we've stopped gazing at our own belly buttons.
And we're We're looking to the Lord.
We're staring at him. We're walking towards him.
We're moving his Direction. And praise for God, which used
to be a struggle for us. Somebody would praise the Lord
for something we'd kind of wince about that.
Like, come on, it's God really care about that.
That's got really busy really involved in that.
I mean, looks like that was just simply the doctors doing
something to me. You win sick?
God, you went that the idea of God, being involved in life and
now praise for God. Freely flows from your tongue.
Blessing instead of cursing. Are on your lips.
The fifth thing, we see the final thing, a new birth gives
us a new heart to obey. God what were describing here
about the new birth as a desire to obey the Lord to make him
Lord of everything? To see him as Lord and submit to
him as Lord of every area of our life.
Jesus says in John 14:15, if you love me you will keep my
Commandments. He doesn't say to earn my love.
You must keep my Commandments. And John later says in his
Epistles, that we love because Christ, first loved us.
We love because he first loved us, he initiated the
relationship. He started the contact and we're
responding in love. If you had a good father growing
up you loved to obey his commands.
Maybe not all of them but it brought you Joy.
If you had a good father growing up to obey his commands, if you
had a bad father growing up, then this idea of loving someone
by obeying their commands might be a real struggle for you.
But when you know that the father is perfect, and he's good
and he's holy and righteous and he never means anything.
For your harm. Even the bad things that he
allows in your life are not meant for your harm, therefore
you're good there for your growth, your development, your
maturity, or strengthening and so you happily then submit to
him. I love the Lord because he saved
me for my sins. I was once dead in my trespasses
and sins and now I'm alive in Christ Jesus.
Because of the work of God in my life, I'll give him everything.
There's not an area of my life that I will not submit to his
Rule and reign. It doesn't mean I haven't
struggled to submit to his Rule and reign in areas of my life.
I absolutely have and I'm sure I will still but it's not my
deepest desire. My deepest desires to submit to
God in every way. This is evidence of a new life
in Christ of a new birth. The new birth takes us off of
our old path. That puts us on an entirely New
Path of obedience to God. The world is behind you, and
Heaven is before you And that your central Focus.
As you can see being born again, then utterly transforms your
life, you are literally turned into a new creation in Christ
Jesus. Second Corinthians 5:17 says,
therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away. Behold that means to take hold
of with your eyes and don't let go.
The new has come Behold, the new has come.
If you were born again, you are now alive in Christ.
If you're born again, you should now be pursuing him, not running
from him. And you pursuing with every part
of your being with everything that you are, again the shocking
news of your need for New Birth, reveals the saving news of
Salvation in Christ Jesus. And so I asked how have you been
born again? Have you been born from above?
Have you been born anew? Have you received Christ and so
received New Life in him. John 3:3, Jesus answered him.
Truly truly, I say to you. Unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Truly truly is used to declare
the utter truthfulness of something but there are not
truer words that can be spoken. Jesus has quite literally saying
I the amen, the amen, say it to you.
He's saying I the faithful and true witness say this to you.
Nicodemus you can take this statement to the bank that there
is nothing more true. This is the truest of true and
it's been declared to you by the son of God.
That you must be born again. Or you will not see the kingdom
of God. The Greek words, hear the phrase
cannot see reveals a lack of power to perceive something by
sight. It means you lack the power.
Not that you're blind physically, but that there's a
other worldly power, a supernatural power, which must
be present in you to see the kingdom of God.
And so this, coincides with this idea of being born from above,
when you're born from above, you have an otherworldly power,
amen. You've been supernaturally.
Transform the spirit of God is now inside of you, and he's
granted to you new life. And so, in that power, you can
see the kingdom of God. What if you've not been born
from above? You cannot see the kingdom of
God. This means that the kingdom of
God, excludes, all of those who are unregenerate.
There's not a heaven for the unsaved.
There's not. There's not a limbo for them to
rest in. Once they pass.
Do you feel the gravity of that? Unless you were born again,
there is no life in you. And there will be no life for
you. An eternity.
You will stand forever condemned.
So we don't beat our chest as those who have been born again,
gloating that we have new life. We feel the gravity of the
statement and it ought to motivate us to share the good
news of Jesus Christ with everyone that we come into
contact with. Without the message of the
Gospel, there is no salvation for anyone.
God has commissioned to you. Minister of reconciliation.
Ambassador for Christ. God has commissioned you.
To be an evangelist to share the good news with your children,
your spouse with your neighbors, your students, your coworkers.
the guy who washes your car, Person, you're standing next to
in the aisle at the grocery store.
And wherever you have an opportunity.
God has given you a dinner table in your home, not just so your
family can gather, but so that you can practice Hospitality
with unbelievers to invite them in, He'll share the good news of
Christ with them. Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Christ is leaving. No other option here.
Leaving no other option and so we shouldn't explain away
sinfulness. We shouldn't explain away
depravity. We shouldn't explain away.
This idea that you were born with a sin nature As though,
like will surely a good? God won't send people to hell.
Would he really be good if he overlooked sin?
No. There's no justice in that.
And so we must be born again and we must be Ministers of this
being born again. The kingdom of God will contain
all of the people across time and space who have and will
receive Jesus Christ as their lord and savior through the new
birth. That's who will see the kingdom
of God. No, one else.
Nicodemus was looking for an Earthly reign in the Messiah but
Christ came to First establish a king that he says is not from
this world and one day when he splits the heavens open and he
descends and his return, the second coming of our savior when
he does that, he'll establish his kingdom in the new heavens
and the new Earth, but it'll be too late for unbelievers.
That's when judgment will come. And so we that's what Jesus says
again to Pilate. He's asking him, are you a king?
If you are, where's your kingdom ads?
And Jesus says to him, he says, my kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have
been fighting that. I might not be delivered over to
the Jews, but my kingdom is not from This world.
The kingdom is from above because it is made up of people
who have been born Anew from above.
And it's a leader is from above its savior, it's Lord is King
and he reigns from above. God is redeeming a people unto
himself through the finished work of Christ on the cross.
Make no doubt and he's doing it through regenerating people, by
the power of His spirit, and those people will dwell with him
eternally in heaven. Revelation 7 again the Apostle
John, he's all over the New Testament. in Revelation chapter
7, the same guy, who wrote the Gospel of John writes
Revelation, and this is what he says, as he's giving this vision
From the Lord he says in Revelation 7 verse 9 through 10.
And after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no
one could number from every nation from all tribes and
peoples and languages standing Before the Throne and before the
lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches, in their hands
and crying out with a loud voice salvation.
Belongs To Our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb.
Amen. Brothers and sisters.
This is the hope of the new Heaven and new earth, and you
may not see it yet. You may not see it yet.
But hold on. The day of Christ is
approaching. And for now, you live, as
sojourners in this land, your gaze, is to be fixed on the
hills of Zion, as you go through this life and the day, when all
is made, right? Because Jesus Christ comes into
view that day is coming. It's coming.
The only way you can see the kingdom of God partially for
now. And in full later on is if you
have been born again, This is the only way Jesus says in John
10. Sorry, John 14 that I am, the
way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father,
except through me. And so I ask again, have you
been born again? And maybe you're kind of in that
place and I don't know. Let me describe for you again
using some Lawson's points here. Let me describe for you what the
being born again looks like In case it's not clear yet.
If you have been born again you will surely, see a dramatic
change in your life. You're no longer the person you
once were, but you have become a new person in Christ.
Jesus, You've received so much more than the Forgiveness of
sins. It's not a ticket to Heaven.
It's not, you know, it's not fire insurance, it's so much
more. You've received a new life that
transforms you at the deepest level of who you are, it changes
your heart literally from being dead in sin to alive in Christ.
You've been altered. At the very base of your soul.
God has put his Spirit within you.
You've received a heart transplant to love, God, more
than anything or anyone else in this world.
And so you have a new heart that desires to obey God.
You have a heart that no longer wants to go its own way.
Not saying you don't, you don't fiddle with that at times,
right? Prone to wander Lord, I feel it
prone to leave the God, I love We know this is our heart.
And so we're begging God, take us, sill US by your spirit.
And that's what you get in Ephesians 1:13-14 that you've
been sealed by the spirit of God.
It's a sign of your salvation and it's a seal.
Of its effect. And the spirit of God will not
let you fall away. Moreover, you've received a new
desire to want to know God, you're no longer content to
merely know about him, you've received a new heart to believe,
God to trust his word to go to it for daily guidance.
You're in love with the word of God, your new heart Praises God,
you no longer direct attention to yourself, rather you are
directing attention to God. You live to magnify the name of
the Lord above all else. Else.
And if you've been born again, that's the supernatural
transformation from above. That is taken effect in your
life. Let me pray for you.
You stand your feet this morning.
Heavenly Father, we love you. We thank you, Lord for your
kindness and in saving us your kindness and granting to us
salvation. Father, I do pray for anyone in
here who has not experienced. This new birth from above.
Maybe they've adapted to the Christian Life.
Maybe they've taken on some of the The moral effects of it.
And so their God is moralism, their God is Not Christ.
Father, I pray that you would reveal that to them remove the
blinders from their eyes that they might see Christ today.
Want to pray for anyone in here who's Who's walking with you?
Yes. Who is a new creation?
Yes. Who is experienced the new
birth? But who is wrestling?
With their flesh. And maybe so much so that they
Wonder have I received a new life Lord.
I pray that you would That you would comfort them not in their
sin but Comfort their Spirits Lord, that they would be sure of
their salvation that they would know you and know you will, and
that they would continue to fight the good fight of faith.
To continue to wage war against their flesh, to put to death the
old man so that the new man may come alive.
Father, we thank you again for the Salvation.
We've received in Christ, it is on him that we depend.
And we thank you that Hebrews 7 tells us, he is able to save to
the uttermost all of those who draw near to you through him.
Lord help us to do that in Christ's name.
I pray. Amen.
Lord help us to do that in Christ's name.
I pray. Amen.