MCC Podcasts
Summer In The Scriptures Together - Ten Chapters We All Gotta Know: John 3 - You Must Be Born Again | Jeff Mazzariello
- Hello online community, glad that you're with us today. I'm Jeff, I'm one of the pastors, and I'm stoked about being in the Word with you today. You know, we're doing 10 chapters that you all gotta know. And I thought yesterday I go, you know what? Next year, next summer, and we always come up with something we do in the scriptures in the summer. I go, next year, we're just gonna do 10 more chapters. You all gotta know. Like, I'm just gonna do that for like a decade. Like, it's so good, it's so fun. We've had some great chapters, haven't we? And Shelley did another great job posting in the app after her sermon and on the Sermon on the Mount. Anybody inspired around the Sermon on the Mount? Is that good? I think that I'm gonna memorize the Sermon on the Mount. You laughed like it was a joke. I think I'm gonna do that. Does anybody wanna do that with me? I'm gonna start on August 1st, and it's gonna take at least three months, right? Who wants to do that with me? Anybody? You give me a dollar. I will give you all the money in my pocket if you do it with me. And they changed the app. Don't you hate change? And we were like, what is going on? I hate change, but anyway, and we figured it out. I'm glad you guys are a part of all of that. We are, so this is the chapter we're gonna do, John chapter three. I almost used this chapter, you know, 10 chapters we gotta know. Here's one, John three. I almost called the Sermon duh, because John three is a really famous passage. And some of you who like me didn't grow up in the church are like, well, I don't know what's in John three. Does anybody know what's in John three? John three, 16. That's right. And John three, 16 has become a famous verse mostly because this crazy dude started like showing up at all the sports events with a sign that said John three, 16, remember Rainbow Hair Guy? If you Google him as a whole documentary, like he went completely off the rails. Like he is fully locked up right now. He's doing three consecutive life terms. You're like, seriously? I know. I shouldn't, now you're gonna Google and not hear the sermon. (audience laughing) But Tim Tebow made John three, 16 famous. I'm a Tim Tebow fan. And he was a great college football player. Some of you younger folks are like, I don't know who that is. He was in the pros for a while. Just a man of character. He's got John three, 16. He was famous for when he won the national championship game. He put John three, 16 on his eye black. And 90 million people Googled John three, 16 that day. And this is what he says about it. And he goes as a Christian, that's the essence. This verse is the essence of our Christianity. It's the essence of our hope for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. That's what we believe as Christians. He goes, and he has a whole talk on YouTube. Have you seen it on John three, 16? And on the John three, 16, on the three, 16 game. Wikipedia, three, 16 NFL football game. Because as he was wrapping up his careers, the only playoff game he ever won. He threw for 316 yards. And his completions were 31.6 yards per. And there's all these three, one sixes in that game that's in Wikipedia. And I just think it's our sweet God going. I see you, bro. I love you. It's such a fun story. Anyway, we're gonna study John. It's not just John three, 16, but we're gonna study John three together. And we're gonna spend some time together with you down and come down. We're gonna so pull out a Bible, if you will. But love to have you. Have a Bible open. We're gonna study John three. The first half a little bit, we'll study the whole chapter in our app together this week. And then I'm gonna go back up on stage in a little bit and give you some things that I think you ought to know about this chapter. So John three, 16. And this is gonna be the, as we read through it, I'm just gonna have you respond to me with what jumps out to you. So we're gonna, what's the page number in the church Bible that you got? - 1065. - 1065? - 1064. - 1064. Thank you. John three, 16. Yep, John three. We'll start, sorry. We'll start in John three, one. Okay, we'll do that. You know what? It was so fun for me to study this passage 'cause it's a very familiar passage, but actually it was really fun to kind of dig into it and read a little bit more about it. And you know how you do that? You get like a study Bible that has like color on every page and it has like commentary and it has like, it's so, like, don't you wish you had one of those? These right here are so amazing, really. Did, oh, Kelly, Kelly? You keep giving yours away. Then there's an endless supply for you. Those are so good. In fact, all you need to do is if you, if they're big, they're heavy. But if you bring this to church when I'm preaching, you'll just read the notes down below and you'll be like, what do we pay this guy for? 'Cause it's right, it's right here. Does anybody else wish they had this one? Right, okay, I see you right there. Oh, do you not have one of these? That's so great, Mobina. All right, there you go. Okay, all right, I've got, we've got more of those. Let's read John three, chapter, so I mean, verse one and following. And this is what I want you to be looking for you guys. This is how we do Bible study. As we read through John verses three, verse one through 21, what jumps out to you? That's the beginning of Bible study. What jumps out to you? Questions, does it bring up for you? What makes an impression on you? What's confusing? So I want you to have questions for me. I want you to have observations and we'll answer that question in a minute. Everybody ready? John three, one. Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus. So this is gonna be the story about Nicodemus. He was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs that you do if God were not with him. Jesus replied, very truly, I tell you no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. You saw in my title which you must be born again. Billy Graham preached for 60 years. Some of you who are young, you still even know that name. And every sermon, he looked out over hundreds of thousands of people. He preached to millions of people in his lifetime and he said, this was his one message. You must be born again. Verse four, how can someone be born when they are old Nicodemus asked? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born. Of course he's being wry there, right? He's like, so what do you mean? Very truly, I tell you no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the spirit. Flesh give birth to flesh but the spirit gives birth to spirit. You must not be surprised at my saying, you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going so it is with everyone born of the spirit. How can this be Nicodemus asked? You are Israel's teacher said Jesus and you do not understand these things? Very truly I tell you we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe. Then how will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? If no one has gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the son of man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness so the son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they've not believed in the name of God's one and only son. This is the verdict. Light has come into the world but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done openly, plainly in the sight of God. This is the word of the Lord friends. Thanks be to God. Is that not great? Is that not a great passage? Just to read it at length right there. All right, so as you read through it, what jumps out to you is interesting, significant. What questions you have? What's impressive? It just, let's just start our Bible study. Yeah, Mia. - I think for me, I just love how even though he's not so kind of questions, he's still kind of like accepted. - The question has still way to feel like seen and heard. - Yes. - Think about the start here. - Yeah, Jesus made him feel seen and heard. He had, Nicodemus had a lot of questions and Jesus acknowledged those and walked him through it. Yeah, great. Yeah, I think Jesus might have seen his spiritual hunger, right? I mean, at the beginning, he's like, no one can do this if you weren't from God. That was not if what a Pharisee was saying at the time if you read through the story of Jesus and Pharisees. Yeah, good observation. Yeah, what else do you see or what's impressive or what confuses you? Janet. - I suppose interesting he came at night. That's why he names. - Why do you think? Nicodemus came at night. - I mean, he's a Pharisee, right? He's a Jewish ruling council and he meant they didn't like them too much, but he wanted to have some people of conversation, but seriously, what was going on in him that he would take that risk to go and have that company in him, but he was like quite nice. - For sure. He's gonna go at night. There's something in him drawing him. He's afraid of what the others will think about him. The Greek actually says there's a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was, it's like he was the member of the ruling council. There's some emphasis that he was like the guy even. Like he was super important, but there was something happening that God was drawing him. By the way, but you guys, when God begins to draw your heart toward him. Am I right, Benny? There's no resisting it. Like it's like, okay, I gotta go see what this is all about in our New Testament's full of those stories. Good. All right, what else do you see? Yup, Diane. - Was this concept of the spirit new information to Nicodemus or would he have understood all this already? - Well, it's interesting, was this, she said, was this concept about the spirit new to Nicodemus? Of course, the Holy Spirit wasn't new to Nicodemus. Spirit, if you do a Bible study and if you have a Bible that has color on every page and has cross references and stuff like that in it, one of the things that you'll see, you're like, what's a cross-reference? In the middle of this text, it actually has like little notes that will send you to other verses that have things to do with it and it'll send you to where the spirit is talked about in the Old Testament. So they did an awareness of God being spirit in the Old Testament, here's what you know about the spirit in the Old Testament church. The spirit came at certain times on certain people for certain reasons, but of course we know spoiler alert when one asks Christ to come into their life, the Holy Spirit indwells Christians. It's not the spirit visiting at certain times for certain reasons on certain people, but we who know Christ have the spirit within us. So does Nicodemus know about the spirit? This is why Nicodemus answered the question, or asked the question, how can this be? What are you talking about that we would be born from above or born again? Remember what Jewish people said about themselves? All they needed to know is that they were born sons and daughters of Abraham on this earth. That was their whole identity. And Jesus is like, that's only part way. He must be born from above to be, to see the kingdom of heaven. That's all new to Nicodemus to answer your question. That's why he said, how can this be? Yeah. There's also the Greek scholars who know Greek a lot better than me say that in that Greek, there's some sense that when he asked the question, how can this be? He wasn't being incredulous, but he was being longing. He was like, how can I experience that? Good, what else do you see? Yes, Valerie. - Is the mention of water representing baptism? - Is the good question, is the mention of water representing baptism? What verse are we talking about, Valerie? So we can look at it? - Five. - Okay, and five, unless you're born of what does it say? Water and the spirit, right? Yes. That either means human birth, i.e., it's messy business. Or it means baptism, and it's one of those two. And we're not really sure what. But he's basically the next verse. He says it real clearly, right? He's like flesh gives birth to flesh, spirit gives birth to spirit. That's what we're talking about. You gotta be not just a flesh birth, sons of Abraham, but a spiritual birth. Good, yeah. Arph. - What's up with, we all wanna know, what's up with Moses and the snake? - What's up with Moses and the snake? If you had a Bible with color on every page, (audience laughs) it would take you to a story in Numbers chapter 21, where Israel's at the very end, it's probably the last year of their wandering in the desert, and they're grumbling again. Why are we in the desert? 40 years, the whole generation has been lost, they've passed on this grumbling to all of their offspring now. They're still grumbling, and so God sent poisonous snakes to attack them and people died. Do you not love the Old Testament? (audience laughs) Again, Bible study take away today. If you grumble, God will let you get bit by a snake and you will die. (audience laughs) And so this is what happened in the Old Testament, and then people cried out to Moses and said, "Oh my gosh, what have we done?" And God told him, put a snake up on a pole and raise it up as a testimony and a reminder that these people's hearts are hard and that they need my rescue and my salvation. What does it remind you of? Put up on a pole. It's exalted, it's the same word as exalted, lifted up that Jesus talks about. The Son of Man will be lifted up. And so what happened in Numbers 21 was then when people got sick or got bit by a snake and were dying, they gazed up at the pole and they were healed. It's a foreshadowing of Jesus coming. Is it beautiful? Yeah, that's Numbers 21. Okay, we had one more, Adrian, you were gonna say something and then I'm gonna. - Yeah, for some reason this jumped out of me today, verse 20. - Verse 20. - Yeah, which I've never really listened to before, but everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light the fear that their deeds will be exposed. - Right. - That just jumped out of me today. - Yeah, that's a good jump out. We're always stuck at John 3 16 'cause we're familiar with it, but then you go down to the end there, what's so interesting about that verse, I love that you picked that out. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light or will not, because their fear of their deeds will be exposed, the beauty of Christ coming to save us is that we're fully known and fully exposed, but there's no shame and there's no condemnation now for those that are in Christ Jesus. And so we have no trouble, not because we're perfect, but because we've been forgiven and because God has covered our sin in Christ. And so we come unashamed, fully exposed into the light because being present with God is the whole point. That's what spiritual rebirth is. - Great, that is such a good Bible study. Okay, any last ones that you needed, David you needed, and then Paulina, I don't have time to do all these, but you guys are my favorites in the whole church. So go ahead. (audience laughing) - I think it's interesting that the only time Jesus said you must be born again was the Nicodemus. And we know that Nicodemus became born again because in John 1939, he's there helping Joseph of Arimathea prepare the body for burial. - Oh, nice reference. Did you hear that? That he's there after Jesus' death to help prepare the body for burial. So Nicodemus came to faith in Christ. Yeah, Paulina? - I don't know if I can follow that. - Well, who could follow that? Yeah. (audience laughing) Yeah. - I just thought the word, the term that you're using is the word born because I think it speaks of God's intention to re-parent us. - To re-parent us. She said, I love the word born because it speaks of God's intention to re-parent us, to be our heavenly Father. That's so good. So you guys, this is a chapter we gotta know. You can see, I mean, and I actually started thinking I was gonna preach on both halves of the chapter, no chance. We'll do that in the app together this week. But John three is such a significant chapter because of this idea of you must be born again. That's a reality. So I wanna tell you a couple of things that I feel like you need to know. And we've got some, are you ready? Are you ready to do just some breathing into this text? We just actually crafted a little extra time in the word today as you might've can tell like I got up here early just so that we can really sit in this text because of its significance. But here's a couple of things. If this is a chapter you gotta know, here is some things that I want that I think you gotta know from the chapter. And we'll start with this. Number one, we gotta know that being born again, being spiritually reborn is a thing. You gotta know that being born again is a thing. It's a significant important reality that the scriptures teach, that we're born physically, but this whole thing and Jesus's teaching is about being born again, being born from above. John three in response to Nicodemus, he replies, John three three, he replies, very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. No one can see the kingdom of God unless they're born again. Nobody can experience it says later, the kingdom of God. Nobody can experience the rule in the reign of God in their lives. Nobody can experience God being present all the time without shame and condemnation. Nobody's gonna experience the power of God in their lives. Nobody's gonna experience the transformation of our life and our communities and the world into what it was designed to be. Nobody's going to experience that unless they are born again. Am I making my point? It is a thing, people. And I say that because we drift into religiosity hoping that somehow this will make us a little bit better people, but we're not gonna judge anybody else, but we're all the same, but wait a minute, I truly, I tell you no one can see the kingdom of God unless they're born again, unless they're reborn, unless they're transformed. And so this is what the text is about. Now you're like, okay, wait a minute, born again. Like, all right, what are we talking about here? Here's born again in the scriptures, as David rightly noted, Jesus didn't use the word born again again, but Jesus talked about other things and the New Testament teaches. These are words, new birth, repentance, or coming to repentance. We talk about it getting saved or being saved, becoming a Christian, becoming a believer, following Jesus, converted to becoming a Christian, accepting Christ, following Christ. These are all words we use. This is what it means. Any other words, am I missing? Any other lingo that we've used or that it's biblical? Anybody? I think I got all of them. I've been around a long time, I know the lingo. (congregation laughing) But this is what born again means, unless these things happen, unless you become a Christian, unless you experience conversion, like it's a thing. Because you are or you are not a Christian. And we're gonna talk about that in a minute. You are or you are not born again. But simply, you guys, this is what it means. Why does Jesus say that? Can you just go back one slide for me like this so that you can see John 3-3 again? But Jesus, and no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. Why? Because here's what it means, you guys. We as human beings, as scriptures teach, that we as human beings have to start over with God. Every human being has been separate from God because of the sin and the brokenness in our lives. Every human being, that's what the scriptures teach. And we do not have to look very far or be that reflective to agree with that. We're all people who have been separated from God. And the rules of the universe, the spiritual universe, are that because of our unholyness and unrighteousness, we are separated from this holy, perfect God. So we're gonna need a savior to wipe away that unholyness and that unrighteousness. And not one of us is gonna figure that out by ourselves, this side of heaven. And so he has sent Jesus to die in the cross to forgive us. So we've been born physically, but as part of being born physically, we're spiritually dead. That's what the scriptures teach, separated from God. That's what spiritual death is. And being born again is being born back into the presence of God. And so when we say yes to the forgiveness that Jesus offered and surrender our lives to Jesus, we are forgiven. We're cleansed of unrighteousness, as the scriptures say. And we are restored into a relationship with God. And so now we're not in relationship with God, spiritually dead. Now we are in a relationship with God and we are spiritually alive. And you gotta be born into that. With me on that, does that make sense? So that's what being born again is about. So it is a thing in order to know the kingdom of God, to know what God has for us, to live the way we were created to live, to be forgiven and have eternal life, as we'll see in a minute, we have to be born again. Hold New Testament, teaches that. Ephesians, if you were taking notes right down, Ephesians chapter two, verses one through five, go there. When we were dead in our sins and transgressions, he made us alive with Christ. Right? That's what this all teaches. Okay, so that's a thing. And when you go on to read the rest of this section, verse four and following, jump ahead to that verse four, of course, this is where Nicodemus is like, well, how do you do that? Is someone born, how can someone be born when they're old? He's like basically trying to say, you gotta explain this test. We're not talking physically, right? They can't climb into their, second time into their mother's womb to be born, verse five through seven. Jesus answered, I tell you that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they're born of water in the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. If we're gonna be spiritual beings, we need to be reborn spiritually. If we're gonna be in a spiritual kingdom, we're gonna need to be birthed into that kingdom. Verse seven, you should not be surprised at my saying, you must be born again. Okay, this is what I wrote in my notes, listen to this. Birth is the mode of entrance into our world and with it, we have all the equipment to live and survive there. And being born again is the transformation of a person so that she or he is able to enter that world and adapt to it and live within it. So we're gonna be born into the kingdom where God rules and reigns. Okay, so, and of course that's gonna be a step. As you know, spoiler alert again, that everybody's gonna need to take at some point 'cause it's a thing being born again. Second point, we gotta know, if we gotta know this chapter, then we gotta know this point and that is that everyone who believes in Jesus and puts their trust in him receives this new birth to eternal life. Everyone who believes in Jesus and puts their trust in him receives this birth to eternal life. Look at verse 16 and 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Who has eternal life? What's the scripture say in verse 16? Very simple. Whoever believes in him, whoever puts their trust in him. It's very interesting. It's not anything they do, but it's believing in him. It's believing that he will cover our sin. Verse 17, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, that's not his point. His point is not to say, I'm a holy God and you guys have finally ticked me off. He sent Jesus into the world in order to save the world because the world, including you and me, need a savior. Required to get this new birth is just belief, putting our trust in and receiving the gift. And this is the good news of Jesus, you guys. There's no condemnation. He came to save the world and loving the world. For God so loved the world. It's why we love this verse 'cause we love to be loved 'cause our souls need to be loved and for us to recognize this is actually the impetus of God. This is what he did. He loved the world in order to save us from perishing. Oh my gosh, if you have time, go study, go do a Bible study on that word perishing and find some people who know what they're talking about and ask, where else does that Greek word perishing used? And it is so beautiful. It's such an incredible word. See what it says that God loves us so that we might have eternal life, but not perish. And there's this opposition to the most beautiful things in the world that perishing is. Perishing is the opposite of salvation. It's death as opposed to life. It's loss as opposed to gain. It's used of the sheep that have gone astray. It's used of the son who wandered off and gave up living in the father's house and in the relationship with the father. This word perishing is the opposite of salvation that we need to be living the way we were designed to live. And perishing does not mean to not exist anymore. It means to experience utter futility and failure in living exactly the way that we were designed to live. That's what perishing is. And Jesus said the scriptures came for God's soul of the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. Okay. God made a way through Christ to reconcile us to himself. God made a way through Christ to reconcile us to himself. God made a way through Christ to reconcile himself to us that we might walk with God. That's spiritual aliveness. So you must be born again. And that's the third point is we either are or we are not born again. We either are or we are not born again. So everybody right now is like am I born again? And that is the question because we are or we are not according to the text. There's no category of you're a church goer. You're more morally present than 31% of your community. Your wife thinks you're an okay man. There's none of that as part of the equation. You must be born again to experience a relationship with God to be in the kingdom of God. So funny, it's like if you're asked somebody like, "So where are you guys married?" And you're like, "Well, sort of." No, actually, no, that's not a thing. You either are or you are not. I mean, I know you got a story in that, but. Verse 18, look at the first phrase of verse 18. "Whoever believes in him is not condemned." I can just pick these phrases out from the whole Bible, you guys, so they're all over the place. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. You're like, wow, that's a strong word condemned, right? But what's condemned mean, right? Condemned means that actually it's a judgment, it's a legal term that says, "Oh, actually you're guilty." And so you're away from him, but whoever believes in him isn't condemned. Look at the second half of the verse. But whoever does not believe stands condemned already. It's the place that they're in, they're apart from God. 'Cause they haven't believed in the name of God's one and only son. Whoever believes in him, restored, reconciled to God. Whoever does not believe in him is standing apart from God. I want you to hear those verses not go condemned. I don't wanna, I don't wanna condemn, like it just sounds so harsh. It's not harsh, guys, it's a spiritual reality. We either are or are not born again. All right, now I am. You either, we either are in God's presence, 'cause we've been reconciled to him through the blood of Jesus, through the forgiveness on the cross. Or we're still standing apart from him, i.e. standing in our, it's like a pardon has been offered. But we're like, "Not okay, I'll take the sentence." We either are or we are not born again. The point here you guys is not punishment from God, but it's a consequence of just staying separate from the restoration that's offered and freely available. It's super summarized in the very end, the last verse in John chapter three says this, John 3, 36, we didn't read it, but whoever believes in the son has eternal life, can everybody read this verse with me? Whoever believes in the son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the son will not see life for God's wrath remains on them. Again, we're like, whoa, this is the only place and the John used the word wrath, but what does that mean? It means that God's holiness has created, has necessitated a separation from him. That's his wrath, he will always judge sin. And so those who have the son, have life in those who do not have the son, were still stuck without God. And that idea that wrath would come on us is what blew Nicodemus away, how can this be? In the chosen version of this scene, Jesus is Nicodemus, there's this moment where that's what Nicodemus gets. He hears about being born again, yeah, they have this long conversation, he can't believe this incredible news that Jesus is gonna reconcile him to God, that it's more than being the son of Abraham, and at the very end of that scene, and this isn't in John, the book of John, this is creative, a creative freedom that the producers of the chosen did. Nicodemus, do you remember this? He falls to his knees and he begins to quote Psalm two, and the first phrase of Psalm two is about this wrath, it's like his incredulity, and Jesus says, what are you doing? And he kisses Jesus' hands and he says, he quotes Psalm two, kiss the son lest he be angry and you're destroyed on the way. It's a prophetic Psalm about the Savior, it's about the king's son, but he's saying, I can't believe that wrath, like I'm just so fearful of God's wrath, and Jesus stands him up and finishes the Psalm with this language, he says, blessed are all who take refuge, who are saved in him, that word refuge is the opposite of the word parish. The wrath of God will not come upon those, the separation of God will not stay with those who have received Christ as their Savior. Come on church, it's such good news. And John goes on to write in one of his other letters, verse John 1, 5 and 11 and 12, look at this, and this is the testimony God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. Whoever has the son has life, and whoever it is not of the son of God does not have life. So it is a thing we either are or we are not born again. And Peter and his sermon and Acts said to the whole world, salvation's found in nobody else. There's no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved, it's Jesus. We either are or we are not born again. Hey, by the way, how does the poem become a believer? How does one become a believer? There's a ways in which this happens in our lives, some of you are like this one, I'm a believer or I need to be a believer, like what does this look like? There's three ways that we become a believer. One, in a moment of clarity and intention. When we're ready, we're actually like, I'm gonna step out in faith, I'm gonna surrender my life to Jesus, I'm gonna trust God with my life, I'm gonna receive his forgiveness, I'm gonna follow him for the rest of my life. That moment of clarity and intention is a moment of conversion. And many of you have had that moment. Do any of you know the day? I mean, yeah, I won't ask to call on you to talk, but do you know the day when that happened to you? Is that your story? You know the day when that happened? You're like, oh, I got the day. Yeah, me too. And that's a moment, that's a marker where we're like, okay, I was not and now I am. I was lost and now I'm found. I was walking without God and I received the love and the forgiveness of Jesus. And now I'm gonna walk with God for the rest of my life. It is a marker. Now, some of us are like, I wish I had that clarity, but actually it happened to me over a season of time. But you're like, I don't know, I was in my early 20s or I was 15 or I was, it was last year and I was 60 and I was like, man, I'm spiritually hungry. I'm looking into Jesus, I'm starting to believe. I'm starting to be attracted to his teaching. I'm kind of wondering if it's true. And then a couple months later, I was feeling like this probably is true. And then a couple months later, I'm like, I'm living like this is true. And then somewhere along the line, you just went, I'm a believer. How did that happen? And you can't put a date on it 'cause it was a season. For some of you that season might have taken six months or some of you might have taken six years. Is that anybody else's story? Is that your story? Yeah. And you're like, but I'm in now. And then for others of us, we were children who grew up in the faith and you've never not believed. I mean, it was a childlike faith and then you had to kind of think about it. And then when you were 13, you're like, my frontal lobe is developing. Well, that's 25. You were like, my abstract thinking is developing and then you're 25, your frontal lobe developed and then you were like, okay, I'm in. But there was this mostly, you just knew you were always gods. Does anybody else have that story? So how we become believers is really different. No matter how it happened though, at some point, we're born again. And by the way, this is why these markers are so important like baptism. Not like baptism. This is why the marker of baptism is so important because if you came along in your faith as a child or if you're just not sure if you've been a believer or if you became a believer over time because you don't have that moment where you said, oh, I know the day, July 17th, 1985 or whatever the thing is, the baptism becomes of the marker. Oh no, I am his and he is mine and I'm all in. And that's what baptism means. So for many of you, that's maybe a significant thing. Well, I know I'm significantly over time but I don't want to miss this, you guys. I want us to watch the video from the chosen of how this conversation with Nicodemus happens because it just brings the whole passage to light for us. So enjoy this text and then I'll wrap it up in a second. Enjoy the video. - Nicodemus gone damned already. - Have you ever heard anything like this before? - When I met Lilla, Mary, that day, I told my wife and my students, I see she was beyond human aid. Only God could have healed her. And then I saw her, healed her. And here you are. Back here. I, my whole life, I know. I wonder if I would see this day. (dramatic music) Follow me. And you'll see more. Follow you, join me and my students. In two days' time, we live Capernaum. Come see the kingdom I am bringing into this world. But I, I, I have a position in the Sanhedrin. You have family. You are getting advanced in years. I understand. But the invitation is still open. - The invitation to what exactly? To put it later in our magic life, to, to give up who I am. It's true. There is a lot you would give up. But what you would gain is far greater, and more lasting. - Is this another one of you born again mysteries? - Maybe. I know mysteries aren't easy for a scholar. Think about it. Take your time. On the morning of the fifth day, we leave, and we'll meet by the well in the southern border. On the door. Is, is this, is the kingdom of God really coming? What does your heart tell you? - My heart is swollen with fear, and I want it. You can tell me nothing except that I understand it. You can't hold me, can't hold me. Holy roof. I do hope you'll come with us, we could do this. I don't have to do that. - How are you doing? - Kiss the sun. No, Stephen, you're angry, and you perish in the way. - Blessed are all, who take refuge in him. (dramatic music) - Wow. Band, I'm gonna have you guys come out 'cause I wanna worship. We either are or we are not born again. And so what we gotta know from this chapter then is clearly that Jesus is called each of us to come and follow me as he did Nicodemus that night. He said, is it true? Is the kingdom of God really coming? And earlier he had said, are you who I think you are? And Jesus said, what's your heart telling you? He said, my heart is swollen. And then I'm standing on a holy ground and that's when he bowed and said, the wrath of God truly will come upon me and Jesus, blessed is he, who finds his refuge in him. Some of you are recalling your story and your conversion and you're rejoicing deeply that he has given you life at its fullest. Some of you have realized that you've trusted Christ in the past, but you haven't marked it and you're longing to do that. Baptism, get baptized in August with us and we will work with you on that. Some of you are realizing, I don't know. I don't even know if I've ever, ever said, I wanna be born again. And some of you know you haven't and you're standing at the crossroads. You've been coming but you've not yet given your life to Christ. The scriptures are calling. Jesus is saying, come follow me in the scripture, say you must be born again. Is that you, are you standing at the crossroads? Is today the day for you to give your life to Christ? Here's what I wanna do. Here's a prayer to become a Christian and I'd like our entire church to pray it. Together, that's a solidarity because if you believe it, it's happened to you. And if today this is what's happening for you, this may be the words that are giving rise to you in your heart. Let's pray this prayer together, church. I cry out to you, Jesus, to be the savior of my life. I need your forgiveness, healing, and transformation. I cry out to you, Jesus, to become the Lord of my life. I choose to follow you and surrender my plan for my life with your plan for my life. I receive from you today the filling of your presence and power by the Holy Spirit who is now within me. And I declare that as of this moment, I am a born again child of God. Amen. Listen, church, we're gonna worship together. And here's what I want you to do. If that, if you prayed that prayer for the first time, or you're like, I don't know if I've ever done that, but I did not walk in here certain that I am born again, a believer in Jesus, and I've given my life to him. But I said it today, and that's what I want. During this worship song, I want you to come up, bring your contact info, phone number or email, and bring it to me in the front. And I'll reach out and talk to you because today is a marker for you. For the good news is that Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God and you must be born again. And if today is the day you're making that decision, come meet me upfront so that I can hear about it and we can be in contact. Let's stand together and rejoice in the good news of Christ. (gentle music) (gentle music)