Once a man, twice a child-- here we are at the kickoff
and really just scratching the surface this week. So you want to
come back each week because we just
really examine kind of this subject from different
angles and perspectives. So you certainly won't
get the whole gist of it from just one or two
or even three messages. You want to kind of collect all
six to get the whole, you know, perspective so that we
can come to that place where we can be childlike
and remain childlike without being childish. And our heart's desire is that
we would grow up and not just get old. Anybody with me on that? And John chapter 3
is a perfect place to launch into all of
this because in it, we find Jesus speaking into
the subject clearly, perhaps more clearly than
he does anywhere else in any of the red letters
of the Bible, as he talks about this idea of being
twice a child and once a man. And he does so in a conversation
to someone who sought him out, a prominent person
who sought Jesus out. And this happened all the time,
especially as Jesus' popularity began to crescendo as more and
more people wanted to hear him, as more and more people wanted
to get some face time with him. And this would be all
sorts of different people-- I mean, literally, you know,
people who were famous, people who were nameless,
people who had leprosy, people who were tax collectors. Yes, even-- contrary
to popular belief, people who work for
the IRS do have souls. But in their day, you
know, they were definitely viewed as second class
citizens and really, even worse than that,
traitors because the Roman Empire hired Israelites
to work as tax collectors. And after they
collected the taxes, they could also
take more, as much as they wanted to, on the side. Can you imagine that? And so they were hated
by their own people. But Jesus would
meet with anybody. And Jesus was willing to
hang out with everybody, whether you were a
prostitute or you were blind or you were a VIP and
the Velvet ropes parted for you or you were nobody. He was willing to meet you where
you were at and to talk to you and move you towards
what God wanted for you. He wouldn't shame
you for your past, but he also wouldn't make you
think it was OK to stay there. He would give you
the encouragement. He didn't slam down
heavy condemnation, but he would move you towards
what God wanted for you. And so one of the people
who came to speak to him was a man named Nicodemus. Everyone say Nicodemus. I think we should
bring that name back. Any expectant mothers,
I don't think we meet enough Nicodemuses these days. But we find his story
in John chapter 3. And here's what it
says in verse 1. 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 and said
to him, most assuredly, I say to you unless
one is born again, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can
a man be born when he is old? Can we enter a second time into
his mother's womb and be born? Side note, gross. Verse 5, Jesus answered most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the spirit, he cannot enter
the Kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to
you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes,
and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it
comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is
born of the spirit. Nicodemus answered and said to
him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him,
are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Translation, do
you even lift, bro? That's what he said. That's in the Greek. Most assuredly, I say to you we
speak what we know and testify what we have seen. And you do not
receive our witness. If I have told you earthly
things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I
tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended
to heaven but he who came down from heaven-- that is, the son of
man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son
of man be lifted up, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send
his son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through him might be saved. Who believes it's a blessing
to even have just read what we just read? And Father, we're
grateful as we gather as one church for
these precious words. They're probably some
of the most famous words in the Bible, maybe even some
of the most known and memorable words anywhere ever spoken. And yet, we're grateful that we
believe you have something new. You want to speak to
our hearts through them. And whether this is our
first voyage into John 3 or our 42,000th, we pray you
would speak something new to our hearts. Help us to see you
in a brand new light. And I pray God that
the same power that reverberated through
Nicodemus' soul as he heard these words
spoken to him by your son that night, that that
power would be unleashed in our hearts and lives
as we listen to you speak to us through
them this day. And we ask this in Jesus' name. And everyone who
agrees, say together. Amen. I heard one time that there
are four stages to life, and they are as follows. There's childhood, where
you believe in Santa. Then you get a little bit older
and you don't believe in Santa. And then you become a
parent and you become Santa. And then the final phase is
where you look like Santa. That's the last phase. That's the phase
right before the end. It's like, whoa, wait a minute. Maybe he is real and
you are him, right? It's like-- there's probably
some truth to that in that we sort of come full circle
in a lot of different ways throughout the stages of life. I think about how this phrase
once a man, twice a child conjures up the idea
that just before the end, it's almost like we go
back to the beginning. They call it retrogenesis,
and it can tragically be a heartbreaking
thing to see someone through Alzheimer's
really become like a child just before they die. But in many ways, that journey
happens even when there isn't Alzheimer's. You think about how as a
baby, your big goal in life is to grow teeth,
grow hair, you know? Grow teeth, grow hair. Grow teeth, grow hair. But then right at the end of
your life, what do you do? You lose your teeth, you
lose your hair, right? So you're back to
where we started. This much is certain-- aging is inevitable. Aging is inevitable. It's happening right in front of
us in real time for all of us. I got a friend who's been
pasturing for over 30 years and he complains about how
good HD technology is getting. He says my church doesn't need
to know that much about me as I get older. He said, if only there had been
HD technology when I was young and it went the opposite way--
the video's quality got worse and worse as life went on. But the truth is aging, listen,
is the universal dilemma. The universal dilemma
is that we are moving toward the point of expiration. That's a reality
that is inescapable and it's unavoidable-- the
universal dilemma of aging. And Nicodemus is no
stranger to this. In fact, from his own mouth,
we know that he was old. He was advanced in years. He said, how can I do that? I'm an old man. So what was he wrestling with? He was wrestling with what
all of us are wrestling with, and that is that we get
old and that we die? And tragically, we
often figure stuff out when we're old that would
have been great knowledge to have when we were young. And that's why so
many old people quip youth is wasted on the-- Young --young. By the time I figured
it out, I looked down and I'm not looking so hot. That's kind of the irony of
life that while you're young, you don't know what you
won't know until you're old. But by then, it'll
be too late to do what you would have
done when you were young if you had what you have
when you are old in your head but you don't have
it in your body. And it's like, ah! Once a man, twice a child--
it can be frustrating. Nicodemus was
wrestling with this, realizing there's less
time on the scoreboard than there once was. Now where are you at with
the whole lifecycle thing? Where are you out with
how long you have? You know, they say life
expectancy currently is 78.7-- longer for women
than it is for men, but it's because men
eat more red meat. But 78.7 years-- and
some of the young people here, they're like,
that's how long? I've got forever. That seems like 1,000-- it'll go
quicker than you think, Billy, all right? But 78.7 years,
and to really get a handle on where you are
at today against that-- not that there's any guarantee
you'll get the full 78.7 years because some will live 106
and then some will tragically die very young. But where it averages
out is at 78.7. And to see where you are at
today, I came across a study where someone took that
figure and boiled it down to a 24 hour clock. So as you look at one day,
24 hours of your life, you can see where you were at. So according to this, if
you are today 10 years old, then the time for you is 3 am. So beginning at midnight,
when the clock struck minute, the day began. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick,
tick, you're at 24 hours. It's 3:00 AM if
you're 10 and you have until the next midnight. If you're 20 years
old, at the time is now 6:24 in the morning. Time to get up-- you're 20. The alarm clock's going off. You got one day. You have until midnight and it's
6:24 in the morning for you. By the time you're
30, look at it. At 30 years old, it's 9:00 AM. And this is where all
the 20-year-olds are just now getting up
and go oh my gosh, they should have gotten up
when they were 20 at 6:24. But isn't that true? But the 20-year-old
at 9:00 go, dang it, I should have woke
up a decade ago. And now it's 9:00. And I really need to
get this thing going. By the time you get to 40
and you're past middle aged, it's now noon. Huh, and what do the
40-year-olds think? Well, I better get
something to eat, right? That's what the 40-year-olds-- that's funny. It's half way through. You're half way through. It's now-- it's now noon. And at 50, at 50, it's 3:18 PM. Dang. You only have until midnight
and it's now 3 o'clock. The school bell
has already wrong and it's middle
of the afternoon. And how much time you have
is until midnight and one day if you're 50. By the time you get
to 60, it's 6:22 PM. It should be dinner time. But if you're 60, you
ate dinner at 4:30. So I don't know where you
are at in the spectrum. And of course, we
can go on from there. But the truth is, all of us
have less time in front of us than we would wish. That is the universal dilemma. Life is temporary. Life is fragile life is a vapor. We don't just see
Nicodemus, though, wrestling with the
universal dilemma. We also see him engaged in
an age old quest, an age old quest. And what is that quest? It's the quest to find
and figure out and do whatever it is you're
put on this earth to do. And that is truly something
that is common to man, that we all kind of lie
in bed just thinking, like, what's the point? What do I need to do? Like, what is the dragon
that I should slay? If I only have one day and at
midnight this all turns back into a pumpkin,
what am I supposed to do before that's done
so that I can finally at the end of my life go,
good, peace out, right, and be happy with what you
did here on this earth? It's an age old quest
to figure that out. And Nicodemus on
his quest has come to this evening, this
evening, speaking to Jesus. He's come to him
looking for answers. He's come to him looking
for some new teaching. He's come to him
looking for a message. He said, you know, we've
been following you. We've been tracking with you. We-- and I love that he says we. It's not just me. It's like, I need you. It's like, there's a
lot of people wondering. I may be one of them,
asking for a friend. Like, he uses the safety
of the plural, right? We've heard a lot
about your teachings, and there may be someone
I know interested in what you have to say to a
person who could be but is not necessarily me. But is there anything you could
say to me that could help me? Now why should it
just like, whoa, cause us to step
back when Nicodemus is coming to Jesus to
look for spiritual truth, to look for answers
to that gaping hole inside of his heart? That doesn't really phase
you unless you understand what clues we have in
this passage about exactly who Nicodemus was. Now if you're taking
notes, this text just told us he was
highly, highly religious. This dude, this fool,
had religion, all right? What do you mean? I mean, he was one
of the Pharisees, which meant he was in a rarefied
club of only 6,000 members. There were only 6,000 Pharisees
on the face of the earth. Now you had Jews. You had followers of
the God of the Bible who worship the God who made
the Heavens and the Earth and not the
surrounding, you know, pagan deities that the
people that were around them worshiped in Jesus' day. The Roman Empire had myriad
gods that were worshiped. And going back,
there were always people who worshipped
the moon and worshipped the sun and worshipped
sex and worshipped wine. We don't do that anymore. Yeah right. We worship our shoes nowadays. How ridiculous have we--
like, we're judging them for worshipping sex and we
literally worship, like, the newest drop, right? Oh my God, I got to get them. I got to get them. I got to get them. I got to get them. I got to get them. People get murdered for their
shoes in this day and age that we live in because
we're so advanced. Anyhow, so Nicodemus was a
Jew, but not just any Jew. He was like Jew 2.0
rated R edition, right? That's what the Pharisees were. The nickname of the
Pharisees was separated once. They took worshipping God so
seriously that they wanted to be separate from
the world because they didn't want any Gentile pagan
cooties on them of sinners. This is why the Pharisees would
say stuff to Jesus like, bro, did you know that that person
who touched you was a sinner? She's a full-on sinner. Like, she's a prostitute. How do you know that? Well, a friend of
mine was with her-- I mean, I mean-- right? So wait a minute. Huh, interesting, guys, right? They would wrap themselves
up in their special jackets. Oh, their jackets had
tassels hanging on them that they put on like
Boy Scout wear badges every time they kept
one of God's laws. They're like, I'm too
sexy for my shirt, putting a tassel on their robe. And Jesus was always making
fun of the Pharisees. Like, when you read
the New Testament, it's so funny to watch Jesus--
like, every time the Pharisees roll in, it's like, you
hear the Darth Vader theme song kicking in, like, dun dun
dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. Thump, thump-- he
goes, you guys walk and you swing your
tassels funny because they would swing their tassels to
show off how holy they were. And Jesus was like, why
you got to walk like that? Why are you swinging
your tassels like-- why are you always
swinging your tassels when you walk to the market? And they would pray
and do funny stuff like beat their breast
on how holy they were. They would pray and be
like, I'm so good, God. You're lucky to have me, right? Jesus was like,
fool, you probably think this song is about you. And he's always
mocking the Pharisees. And Nicodemus, he
was one of them. That means he was an
ultra elite of the elite. He was the Navy SEALs
of religious people, one of only 6,000. But he didn't just
have religion. He also-- listen to
me-- had relationships. Dude was hooked
up and connected. His LinkedIn profile
was jacked, all right? And quit emailing me about that. I don't want to be on
LinkedIn, all right? But he was. How do you know that. Because he was-- in the
first couple of sentences, we heard he's a
ruler of the Jews. Now you could just
blaze right past that and miss that this is
telling you he was one of 71. One of 71? Yeah, he was a part of
something called the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was
like their equivalent of the Supreme Court. Now how do you get a seat
in the Supreme Court? You've got to have
relationships, you know, to the gills, right? I mean, you have to get
to know the right people, be born into the right family. Doesn't hurt to have
the last name Kennedy-- you know, stuff like that. All of a sudden now, you've got
the blue blood thing going on. And all of a sudden, you're
members of the right clubs and you know the right people. You know the right
hands to shake. Every city's got
movers and shakers. In every community,
there are the kings of the city, et cetera. So Nicodemus obviously
knew the right people. That's how he was--
not just one of 6,000. He was also one of 71. Now it's getting more exclusive. Why was there always 71? That way, there
can never be a tie. There was always the
tie breaking vote. God told Moses who
started it off, pick 70 and you have that 71st
vote so that it can't ever be a stalemate or a cat's game. And so Nicodemus was one of
the rulers of the Jews, right? Relationships that homie had. But he also had riches-- riches. According to
rabbinical tradition-- it's the first time I've
ever said that, felt great-- I read that he was one of the
three most wealthy citizens of the city of Jerusalem. Guy had some money. He had cheddar. He had wealth, OK? So now we understand
that he doesn't just have relationships. He doesn't just have the
religious thing going on, but he also had
money in the bank. One of three, one of
71, one of 6,000-- oh, also, he was one of one
when it came to respect. Didn't see that in the Bible. Actually, you did. Notice again in verse 10,
Jesus, when he made fun of him, because Jesus had
a sense of humor, he said, are you the teacher? Notice he didn't say a teacher
or a really good teacher or a highly respected teacher. He said, are you like the
teacher, the idea being he was the preeminent leading voice
in his day on spiritual topics. His lectures-- packed. His Ted talk-- highly
clicked, right? He was the one everyone
wanted to listen to on subjects that he came
to Jesus seeking answers on, which tells you why he came
to Jesus by night, right? If you're the guy who
when you speak out on the topics of the meaning
of life and how we got here and where to go from
here, everyone's flocking to the lecture hall. Everyone's listening. Oh, did you hear
what Nicodemus said? Oh man, that was a good one. I love when-- oh, got
to get his podcast. Oh yeah, follow
him on Instagram. That guy's a legend, right? Oh, he's so wealthy. He's on the Sanhedrin. He's a Pharisee, a Pharisee! He's one of 6,000, one of 71. He's one of three. He's one of one! Ah! And to see this guy talking
to an itinerant preacher from a nowhere city with no
pedigree, no connections, no credentials, didn't
even go to college, was a carpenter,
and everyone spent most of the time making
fun of his parents and the "virgin
birth," right, which really means Mary was
shacked up with some dude and homie Joseph was cuckolded,
right, and this whole thing-- and everyone made fun of
Jesus by saying stuff like, do you even know how to read? And to see Nicodemus
coming to him, I'm sure with his trenchcoat
pulled tightly around his neck, I'm sure with sunglasses
and a hat on, I'm sure-- yeah, do you want to
meet at Starbucks? No, let's meet in the back
alley behind the Safeway, right? I can't be seen talking to you. He's coming to him asking
for answers of which he was the supposed expert on. Are you the teacher in
Israel and you don't even know what is the most
fundamental truth? And what fundamental
truth is that? That's that man doesn't just
need riches to be happy, doesn't just need
relationships to be happy, doesn't just need
respect to be happy-- that's the last one,
that he was one of one when it came to respect-- but we also need to be reborn. And that's the kicker and
that's the key thing and that's the big enchilada, that
we need to be reborn. And that's what Nicodemus found
when he tried religion, tried money, tried
connection, tried power, all the things that you think
are going to make you happy, all things that
your friends think are going to make them happy. And that's why they're hoping
to become insta-famous, and that's why they're
hoping to be come wealthy. That's what they're hoping
to become connected, to make a difference. If they could just be
known, then they'll finally feel like--
that's why they're hoping to be discovered. Yeah, well, I heard
so and so was just eating at this
restaurant and they got discovered by an agent. You should be a model. Oh, yes, you should be a model. And so that's why
I'm always, you know, dressed up way too much
for the environment I'm in. Like, no, this is
how I always eat. Like, you're eating
like way too sexily. Like, oh, this is how I always
eat my French fries, like, because you think
that's going to fill the void inside your heart. Nicodemus has had those
things but was still unhappy, so he came to Jesus. And what he discovered,
Jesus telling him was, bro, you need to be reborn. You need be reborn. But to Nicodemus, who was
on that age old quest, that struck him as an
impossible solution. Isn't it an impossible solution? Well, sure, Jesus. Everything would be
great if I could just go back in my mother's womb
and start all over again. Well, sure, right? Oh, you're not happy. Well, duh, you just need
to get born all over again. Thank you, that's
really helpful advice. Let's tuck that away
for a rainy day. No, I meant something
I can act on. I meant like a new teaching--
that's why he said, you're a teacher come from God. Give me a new idea. And Jesus said, bro, you
don't need a new idea. You need a new heart. You need a new start. You need a new soul. You need to be washed
clean from your sins. You need God to breathe his
spirit inside your heart. You need God to
touch-- you don't just need behavior modification. Yo, you need soul
transformation. You need God to reach
down inside of you and make you brand new, like a
baby coming out into the world. You need to be born from above-- not just the water that
filled your mother's stomach when you were being carried
to term, but the spirit of God to make you new, to activate
new life in your heart, for God to take out
the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh
to make you brand new all over again. But it's an impossible
solution because Nicodemus had read the same prophecy
that Jesus is referencing from the book of Ezekiel about
God giving you new birth, about the spirit like a wind
doing the mysterious work of making you new. He's like, what do you
think I'm a Pharisee for? Why do you think
I've given my life over to the study of the law? That's what I want too. I want that more than you
could ever possibly know. That's what I've given
my whole life to. But now I'm an old man and
I don't feel like I have it. I don't feel like I have it. I haven't found it in
religion or in respect or in relationships or in
any of these other things you think you would find it in. And Jesus says, well,
this is what you need. And Nicodemus is
like, yeah, I know. And that's why Jesus tells him
this is the most important part of the sermon. He said, yeah, that's-- you're
missing the most important part-- the costly sacrifice. It can't happen because of your
sins, and sin demands payment. And God in his
love is still just. And he told us the soul
that sins shall surely die. Nicodemus, the problem
is, you're a sinner. And you cannot become brand new
without someone or something paying for your sins. Either it's you or it's
an innocent third party. But Jesus said, that's
exactly what I've come for. And that's why he pointed
him to the snake on the pole. And you're like, oh,
this is getting weird. First, we're reading
about an old man trying to get born again. I toyed with calling
this message "Walkers and Placentas." That was my first topic. I scratched it out
because I didn't feel like it would be good for
the first time guests-- "Walkers and Placentas." But that really would
be accurate and faithful to the text, really. But first, you're talking
about that, and I can get. You know, the water,
amniotic fluid, that's weird. But now you're talking about the
solution is a snake on a pole. You're like, honey,
get your purse. I told you we should have gone
to the Baptist church, right? So here's what's going on. Nicodemus wouldn't have
been fazed by it at all. Nicodemus knew exactly what
Jesus was talking about. It's because he grew up
steeped in the Jewish story. And the Jewish story involved
this day where Moses was leading the people out of Egypt
towards the promised land-- translation, out of
bondage and sin-- and towards a right
relationship with God. And on the way,
the snake showed up because the people
had been complaining. And so as a vivid portrayal
of what sin brings, the people began to be filled
with the venom of the serpents and began to be
moving towards death. In their dilemma,
in their plight, they called out to Moses, who
prayed to God, who heard-- Moses heard God saying,
build a brass serpent and put it up above
the people on a pole. And tell everybody bit
by the snake who is dying because of what sin brings-- the wages of sin is death--
look to the snake on the pole. If you'll look to the snake
on the pole, you'll be saved. Now can you imagine? This is how I read the Bible. Can you imagine you're
writhing on the ground because you just
got bit by a snake. Pause-- top biggest fear ever. Like, heights, don't care about. Cramped quarters, fine. Give me a spider. I'll lick it. Don't care. But you put a snake
on this stage, I will run screaming and
kicking for the hills, right? So-- so terrified of snakes. So I'm dying of a snake bite
and someone's like, OK, Moses! Moses heard from God. Oh, praise God. OK, what is it? He said that if you look at this
awesome brass serpent he made-- don't have time. Fix the problem. Also, too soon. [INAUDIBLE] this guy. I can't help. Can't possibly help. And you could persist
in your argument that there's no way
this could help. And guess what? You would die. Or you could think, well,
this doesn't make any sense and I don't
understand it, but I'm willing to obey and do something
that seems stupid to me. And if I lift my eyes up
to the snake on a pole, those who did that were healed. Those who were
unwilling to, they died. Jesus said to Nicodemus,
who's involved in this age old
dilemma of figuring out what he needed before the
universal problem of sin kicked in and he died and the
whole quest was over, he hears, just like the snake was lifted
up, I'm going to be lifted up. And guess what? Jesus Christ was lifted up
from the earth on a pole. The Bible says that
as he was lifted up, if anybody would look to
him, they would be saved. And listen to me very carefully. You could stand
there on the ground with the venom of
sin in your veins saying that doesn't make sense. There's no reason
that should work. I've read 1,000 books. I know a PhD who said in this
dissertation, you know what? You can-- you're right. You're probably right. It doesn't make sense. It shouldn't make sense. But listen to me very carefully. It doesn't need to make sense. It just needs to work. It doesn't need to make sense. It just needs to work. And the reason God picked it is
because it doesn't make sense. It is foolishness. It defies the
wisdom of the world. And it doesn't allow you to
be the hero of the story. If he said you go to the
highest peak, 14,000 feet above, and pick a purple flower
and smoke its essence, you would do it. And you'd be like, I'm Batman. But here's the deal. God doesn't let you be the hero. You and I will always be the
damsel in distress tied up on the train tracks. It is Jesus lifted up
on the pole, Jesus who died in your place,
Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus who loves you
and will save you, Jesus who can fill the
void inside your soul, Jesus who can give
you life everlasting, Jesus who can save
your family, Jesus who can work in
your marriage, Jesus who wants to work in our world,
Jesus who will be honored and glorified forever
and ever, who's going to come back to the
world he created to judge it. It's Jesus, always only
Jesus, who gets the glory. And that's the
power of the gospel. And that's the brutal
razor's edge of the gospel because you can
persist in the fact that you're right that
it doesn't make sense. But you're still going to die. Or you can believe in the
foolishness of the gospel message that we've been
commanded to preach. It's the only message given. Well, I don't like that
there's only one way. It doesn't really
matter what you like. It doesn't matter what I like. Are we going to argue with
God that he only sent one son? How about this? Let's not bury the lead. Jesus said I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. Eh, there should be
more ways to God. There's a way. So let's take the
way that he gave. If he gave five ways, OK, great. Pick your different way. He gave one son who
died on one cross who rose from the grave one time. And there's never
been anybody else. No one else died for you. There wasn't a line of people
queuing up to die for me. There was like 90 people who
said, I'll save your soul? No, there's one. God said one son. And he loved you so much,
that son died for you. That's the precious
gospel message. god so loved the world, he gave
his only begotten son so that whoever believes in
him shouldn't perish but would have everlasting life. God doesn't want
to ruin your life. He came to save it. He didn't-- he didn't
come to ruin your life. Like, God's such a killer. He didn't come to
ruin your life. He came to save it. That's why he came
to this world. I like how the message
translation puts it. It says it this way. John 3:17-- God didn't
go to all the trouble of sending his son
merely to point an accusing finger
at you, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put
the world right again. And I offer you as
evidence of the fact that gospel works the life
of Nicodemus, who started out looking at all the
things that can't work-- religion and relationships and
connection and privilege, all that. And then it came
to Jesus one night, and that was the night
everything changed for him. And I don't know how
because it's like the wind. there's a mystery to it. I don't know how it's
going to work for you. there's a mystery to it. It's the wind. But I know this. In Nicodemus' life,
by the end, he was a different
version of himself-- ashamed at the beginning
coming to him by night. How about by the end of
story when Jesus died? And Joseph of Arimathea
loaned him his grave. And Nicodemus, the Bible
says, in John chapter 19 who at first came to Jesus
by night, he also came-- publicly,
courageously-- breathed a mixture of myrrh and
aloes, about 100 pounds. That would cost a lot of money. That would be a bank. But Nicodemus took
this exorbitant fund and anointed the body of Jesus,
bound it in strips of linen with the spices. And then they laid it in the
tomb as the custom of the Jews is to bury. So by the end of
his story, the power of the second birth unleashed
in his life, this man who was once afraid
now proudly stood not caring what any
of the people he used to associate with
thought of him as he proudly stood to honor Jesus, who
had just given everything on the cross. And then as Nicodemus
looked at him hanging on the cross
that day, did he not hear the words of
Jesus reverberating through his heart? The son of man
must be lifted up. And if he's lifted up,
he will draw all people to himself-- all people. You, me, none of us are so
bad that we can't be forgiven. There's nothing you've ever
done that God can't forgive. But there's not one of us
that are so good that we don't need to be forgiven. Born again-- that's a
polarizing phrase, isn't it? The world doesn't
really love that. Like, I'm a born-- say that at your next
staff meeting, right? I'm born again, so just wanted
to throw that out there. It's like, we're like, oh. I don't mind if you, like,
want to love God or whatever. But born again? That's the worst
kind of Christian. Listen to me very carefully. The whole sermon is really
encapsulated in this thought. Being born again isn't a
special type of Christian. It's how you become one. And it's not optional. It's the whole thing. It's being born on the
inside by the spirit of God. And God wants that for you. And that's why Jesus died. And if you today would turn to
him in faith, he'll save you. He'll give you the
promise and heaven, but he'll give you the power
of living a life every day, I don't care how many seconds
are left on the clock, knowing that God's
alive inside of you and he's working in your story. Nicodemus came to
Jesus at night, but that very evening,
he experienced the dawning of a brand new day. And that's what
can happen to you. And that will change how you
view the minutes counting down to midnight. "Where Night Becomes
Morning--" that's the title of this message. "Where Night Becomes Morning--"
here's the cool thing. When Jesus shows up in your
night, when it becomes morning, you don't have to
worry about that. You don't have to worry about
the final few minutes and hours of the clock because if
you've begun a new life, you don't need to
cling to this one. You see? When God gives you
second birth, you've begun an entirely new
life, an eternal life that goes on forever. So you don't have to worry about
how many hours do I have left. Oh crap, give me
some Botox, right? It's all ending. Ah! You don't need to try and
look younger or strive to live longer. All you need to
do is start over. And if you start over
that eternal life, you'll no longer need to
try and cling to this one as long as you can. You can have a
freedom and a peace that whatever happens here in
this life, fine, I'll enjoy it. I'll be blessed in it. There's work to
do while it lasts. But I'm living an eternal life. I'm living a bigger story. I'm living out
something brand new. All of heaven is mine. Eternity is ours. God is ours. He's in control. He is our life and the
length of our days. Will you pray with me? Jesus, we thank you for
what you spoke to Nicodemus and how it's true right now. You said you must be born
again or you will not see the kingdom of heaven. If you're here today
as we're praying and you need to
be born again, you need God to give
you new life, I want to give you an
invitation right now to make that decision, the
decision Nicodemus made, the decision that I made. It's the decision that only
you can make for yourself. With every head bowed,
every eye closed, if you would like to
give your life to Jesus, I want you to pray this
simple prayer with me. I'm going to pray it out loud. I'm going to have the church
family pray it with you. And I want you to say
these words to God and mean them in your heart. Are you ready? Dear God-- Dear God-- --please come into my heart. Please come into my heart. I want to be born again. I want to be born again. Please fill me with your spirit. Please fill me with your spirit. Make me brand new. Make me brand new. Give me a new heart. Give me a new heart. Thank you for new life. Thank you for new life. I give you mine. I give you mine. Now with your head still
bowed and eyes still closed, I want to give you a moment
to sort of nail that down, to sort of raise a
flag up over your soul. If you just made that
decision and you're serious about following Jesus,
I'm going to count to three. And when I get to three, I
want you to shoot your hand up in the air, every location. Just shoot your hand
up in the air on three. One, two, three. Shoot your hands up! Shoot your Hands up! Thank you so much for watching
this teaching from the "Once a Man, Twice a Child" series. For more content from
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