Rev. David Holwick ZA Encountering Jesus in John
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 23, 2015
John 3:1-8
|
I. Birth is amazing.
A. There have been a number of babies born in our church this year.
1) Every one of them is precious, of course.
a) (Except that the ones who are related to you are a
little more amazing than the others.)
2) They come into this world in a process filled with pain
and anxiety.
3) But when it is done, a new life enters this world.
B. Birth has long been a metaphor for spirituality.
1) This passage is probably the most famous one.
a) Jesus tells a man, you must be "born again."
b) Our brand of Christianity is often given this label
because we stress it so much.
2) Do we really know what we are talking about?
a) Is it something that can really happen?
b) If it can, do you believe it has happened to you?
II. Nicodemus was a remarkable man.
A. He was a person of authority.
1) The Jewish ruling council was also known as the Sanhedrin,
somewhat equivalent to our Congress.
2) Apart from being the king, or the high priest, being a
member of this council was as high as you could go.
3) He was wealthy, too, as is shown by the fact that on
Good Friday it was Nicodemus who provided the expensive
perfumes and spices used to prepare Jesus for burial.
B. He was a person of spirituality.
1) He recognized Jesus as being truly sent from God.
a) The miracles had convinced him.
b) Later on, he stood up for Jesus when he was being
attacked by the Jewish leadership.
2) But at this point, Nicodemus was something of a coward.
a) He came to Jesus at night, presumably when no one
could see him.
b) Ironically, he is using darkness to cover up something
that is good, rather than covering up evil.
c) Even so, it is something he wanted hidden right now.
1> He believed in Jesus a little bit.
2> He is exploring whether he should risk going deeper.
C. Jesus gets to the heart of the matter.
1) The real issue is genuine spiritual birth.
a) Believing the right things about Jesus is not enough.
b) A person has to be transformed by God.
2) Nicodemus plays dumb to evade the implications.
a) No young mother would want her baby reinserted.
1> Especially if that baby were now a grown adult.
b) Jesus expands his point in verse 6 - there is physical
birth, and spiritual birth.
1> All people experience the first.
2> Only some experience the second.
III. Spiritual birth intrigues us, and divides us.
A. All Christian groups believe in it.
1) They may call it being born again, or spiritual regeneration
or some other term that expresses the concept.
2) The disagreement is in how you get it.
3) There are several approaches that are used.
B. Some emphasize human effort.
1) Many believe in what is called "works righteousness."
a) We are all bad people - sinners - so we can't go to
heaven.
b) To get saved, you must change your morality and do
good things - positive morality is the key.
c) Follow the Ten Commandments, do good deeds, etc.
d) Then you will be allowed in heaven when you die.
2) Good deeds are wonderful, but won't get you into heaven.
a) Edith English, whom we buried yesterday, did many
good things while she was alive.
b) Some in her family may think that is why she will go
to heaven. I do not.
1> Good deeds cannot save you because you can never
be good enough.
C. Others rely on religious ceremonies.
1) In some groups, baptism makes a person a Christian.
a) You will notice that Jesus says we must be born
of water and the Spirit.
b) It is common to view that as baptism.
2) Before you believe anything (because you are a baby)
this sacred ceremony changes your spiritual status.
a) The problem is that a ceremony is not enough.
b) Turn to 1 Peter 3:21.
Peter is talking about the symbolism of water and
says:
"This water [of the Flood] symbolizes baptism
that now saves you also..."
Water = baptism = salvation; we can see how people
make that connection.
But Peter immediately clarifies himself:
"...not the removal of dirt from the body, but the
pledge of a good conscience toward God."
c) So the ceremony with water doesn't bring about
salvation, but a person's declaration of faith.
D. A popular option is to point to a decision.
1) Many of us have been to evangelistic events where the
leader asks you to raise your hand, or come forward to
declare your faith.
a) We do this in many of our services.
b) I will do it at the end of this sermon.
2) I made a decision in my junior year of high school.
a) Many have done it at summer camp.
b) This year, 48 kids made decisions for Christ at
Camp Lebanon.
3) Spiritual decisions are biblical.
a) The earliest Christians called on people to believe
in God and follow Jesus.
b) But, believe it or not, this doesn't make you a
Christian.
4) Spiritual decisions can be examples of human effort.
a) We all know people who have made a decision for Christ
and then never set foot in a church, never pray,
never give God a thought.
b) They made a "decision" but are they saved?
c) Many surveys suggest that half of all Americans have
"accepted Jesus as their Savior."
1> It is obvious that some of them are fooling
themselves.
2> Perhaps you are one of them.
IV. Jesus puts all the responsibility on God.
A. In John 3:8 he alludes to the Holy Spirit.
1) The Spirit is invisible to us, but it is what determines
who is born again.
2) Genuine spiritual rebirth has to come from God alone.
a) We cannot redeem ourselves - only God can redeem us.
b) It is not about turning over a new leaf - it is about
God making a radical change in you.
c) You cannot make this happen, all you can do it plead
with God to do it to you.
1> It is kind of curious that the Bible says before
you even come to this point, God can do it.
2> We cannot figure it out but we can experience it.
B. What being really born again looks like.
1) British Christian Rico Tice provides an interesting example.
He says that he grew up in a religious home.
But he didn't really worry about God.
He prayed when he had hard exams at school.
But he didn't care about God.
God did his thing, Rico did his.
But then God changed him and Rico started to love God.
He started to care deeply about God's reputation.
Before it happened, he would read the Bible but it was all
gobbledygook to him.
But after his change, when he read the Bible he found that
God was speaking to him.
Before he became a Christian, he only prayed when he was
in trouble.
After the change, he began to talk to God as a friend.
Before, he had many sins he didn't give a thought about.
Afterwards, they became very ugly to him.
He describes what happened to him as a heart transplant.
Sermon #20421
2) What is the condition of your heart?
a) Are you interested in the things of God?
b) Do you feel the Bible speaks to you?
c) Are you concerned that others come to believe in God?
V. You cannot make yourself born again, but you can believe.
A. The cross is the key.
1) In verse 14, Jesus alludes to an obscure event in the O.T.
a) The Jews were overrun by snakes, so God told Moses
to make a bronze snake on a pole.
b) When the people looked at the bronze figure, they were
saved from the snakes.
2) Jesus knew he would do the same thing.
a) Even at the beginning of his ministry, he knew he was
going to be crucified.
b) But he also knew the impact - those who look to the
cross will be saved.
c) He calls us to believe in him and accept his love for us.
d) We do that - and he does the rest.
B. Have you done it?
It can be an amazing experience.
"I used to be angry most of the time," writes Kathleen A. Barrett
in the March 1992 Upper Room magazine.
"Store clerks were often rude to me, but I attributed it to the
notion that they weren't getting paid enough."
After Kathleen accepted Jesus Christ into her life, it seemed that
the whole world changed.
"Store clerks became nicer," she wrote, "the sun shone brighter;
birds chirped more cheerily; flowers bloomed more beautifully."
"Of course, I thought the world had changed," she recalled.
"I didn't realize until a few years later that it was I who had
been changing.
I was different; I had softened.
It wasn't the store clerks who had become friendlier; I had."
"The sun didn't shine any brighter," Kathleen reflected.
"I was just more aware of it.
Birds had chirped when I had been in a grumpy mood, but more likely,
they had only annoyed me.
And, of course, the flowers had always bloomed, but I hadn't noticed
their sweet fragrance."
"I changed when Jesus came into my life.
And he continues to change me and to delight me today."
#2732
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 2732 “Her Transforming Moment,” Kathleen A. Barrett, Dynamic Preaching
(www.sermons.com) disk: Winter 1993 "A"; February 3, 1993.
Original source is Upper Room, March 1992.
Sermon #20421 “A Fresh Start,” Rev. Rico Tice. The Round Church at
St. Andrew the Great (Anglican); Cambridge, England,
<http://www.stag.org/sermons>. Abe Kudra Collection.
#64917 “Should We Stop Asking Jesus Into Our Hearts?” J.D. Greear,
Christianity Today, July 13, 2012; <link>
[Greear’s experience of multiple “decisions” alluded to in
second service only]
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Single source CHM, PDF, DOC and HTML Help creation