WEBVTT 00:00.807 --> 00:01.608 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, good morning. 00:01.628 --> 00:03.090 [SPEAKER_00]: How is everyone this morning? 00:03.110 --> 00:07.597 [SPEAKER_00]: On this long weekend, thanks for being here. 00:07.637 --> 00:11.702 [SPEAKER_00]: I know you guys could be at the beach and camping, but how goes it being church together. 00:11.762 --> 00:12.804 [SPEAKER_00]: That's really, really awesome. 00:14.206 --> 00:17.791 [SPEAKER_00]: Before I come to the world, let's just bow our heads and we'll pray and then we'll jump into it. 00:20.134 --> 00:21.977 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Father, we thank you so much for this morning. 00:22.658 --> 00:24.300 [SPEAKER_00]: We thank you for each person this room. 00:25.394 --> 00:28.162 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that you know where they're at, you know where that heart is. 00:29.406 --> 00:32.355 [SPEAKER_00]: So far, that's where open your Scriptures this morning, we pray that you speak to us. 00:33.599 --> 00:36.568 [SPEAKER_00]: That you reveal to us yourself in the new way this morning. 00:37.966 --> 00:40.069 [SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus, we thank you so much in Jesus' name. 00:41.090 --> 00:41.391 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 00:42.612 --> 00:42.953 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 00:43.133 --> 00:46.277 [SPEAKER_00]: So has anyone driven in fog before? 00:46.918 --> 00:49.361 [SPEAKER_00]: In like up the mountain, really deep fog. 00:49.922 --> 00:55.530 [SPEAKER_00]: What you find is like, you have your headlights on, and you are driving, and it's so blinding. 00:56.351 --> 00:59.134 [SPEAKER_00]: You turn your headlights on, but you put the full beams on, just to see about it. 01:00.036 --> 01:02.539 [SPEAKER_00]: And then it actually doesn't help. 01:02.519 --> 01:13.117 [SPEAKER_00]: When you're turning four beans on what you notice is that the fog reflects straight back at you twice the brightness and a blind to even more to the point of driving so slowly. 01:13.157 --> 01:19.347 [SPEAKER_00]: So for me I've driven up this mountain before and for me I'm like I need to know how the fog clears. 01:20.575 --> 01:25.204 [SPEAKER_00]: The folk can only clear itself, for us we can put our headlights on, but it doesn't make any better. 01:25.785 --> 01:29.732 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I'll be dropping in this fog analogy today as we're open up the word. 01:29.953 --> 01:34.461 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be open up from John 3 this morning, versus 1 to 15. 01:35.303 --> 01:39.411 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to open up this passage where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. 01:40.072 --> 01:43.258 [SPEAKER_00]: He's talking to him about the concept of being born again. 01:43.913 --> 01:50.943 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we open from verse one chapter three, it says, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 01:51.864 --> 01:56.931 [SPEAKER_00]: This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God. 01:57.612 --> 02:00.736 [SPEAKER_00]: For no one can do these things unless you almost God is with him. 02:01.958 --> 02:07.626 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus answered him truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 02:08.146 --> 02:10.709 [SPEAKER_00]: Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? 02:11.710 --> 02:14.453 [SPEAKER_00]: Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? 02:15.414 --> 02:21.462 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus answered truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. 02:22.262 --> 02:27.148 [SPEAKER_00]: That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which of born of the spirit is spirit. 02:27.709 --> 02:30.492 [SPEAKER_00]: Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. 02:31.467 --> 02:38.037 [SPEAKER_00]: The wind blows where it wishes, and here it's sound, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes. 02:38.858 --> 02:40.821 [SPEAKER_00]: So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. 02:41.742 --> 02:43.685 [SPEAKER_00]: Nicodema said to him, how can these things be? 02:43.725 --> 02:48.993 [SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus answered him, are you, teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 02:49.734 --> 02:57.846 [SPEAKER_00]: Truly, truly, I say to you, when we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 02:58.838 --> 03:04.846 [SPEAKER_00]: If I told you the earthly things, and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 03:05.687 --> 03:13.337 [SPEAKER_00]: No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from the heaven, the Son of Man, and Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. 03:13.357 --> 03:18.484 [SPEAKER_00]: So must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 03:19.882 --> 03:24.187 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, Nicodemus is a Pharisee, he's a teacher of the religious law. 03:25.089 --> 03:31.116 [SPEAKER_00]: He's a word of man of God, where he knows the word and is an influential teacher and most likely old. 03:31.737 --> 03:35.782 [SPEAKER_00]: He's wealthy, well-resourced and contented with life upholing the law. 03:36.683 --> 03:42.170 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he comes to Jesus after he sees the miracles in the over the past over and Z cleans the temple court. 03:42.510 --> 03:44.573 [SPEAKER_00]: And he comes to Jesus at night. 03:44.553 --> 03:46.842 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's asking, are you a teacher from God? 03:46.882 --> 03:51.981 [SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus says centrally in his passage, Richard doesn't even answer his question. 03:52.001 --> 03:55.474 [SPEAKER_00]: He just says, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again. 03:56.703 --> 04:00.769 [SPEAKER_00]: And so as we at this morning, we're just going to unpack this passage of being born again. 04:00.909 --> 04:06.698 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want to talk about this concept that is practical for us, but it's also depth through scripture. 04:07.059 --> 04:12.027 [SPEAKER_00]: And so as a lot of scripture this morning, but bear with me there is practicals and it's going to be a lot of fun. 04:12.607 --> 04:20.179 [SPEAKER_00]: So the things we're going to unpack today is what we think the new birth is, how what the new birth actually is. 04:20.159 --> 04:22.522 [SPEAKER_00]: and how to apply this teaching to our lives. 04:23.143 --> 04:30.913 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to exegetically go through this passage today and then take what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus. 04:30.933 --> 04:35.739 [SPEAKER_00]: And so in John 3, verses 3 to 4, he says, I said to you, you must be born again. 04:37.061 --> 04:43.990 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, what we think the new birth is, is culturally we see the new birth as a moral structure. 04:44.678 --> 04:49.588 [SPEAKER_00]: turning the new birth into spiritual effort, or self effort, or spiritual performance. 04:50.570 --> 04:54.137 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, this secular view of being a good Christian, like doing the good things. 04:54.718 --> 04:59.768 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the most structured that we live in, and that the society says that we are, and sometimes we uphold this. 05:00.610 --> 05:05.860 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's about doing a clean life for doing everything right, or honoring God through our choices. 05:06.667 --> 05:08.991 [SPEAKER_00]: holding to certain standards that shape how we live. 05:09.372 --> 05:17.024 [SPEAKER_00]: And for some faith is experienced and expressed primarily through discipline, obedience, and sincere desire to live well before God. 05:17.165 --> 05:18.667 [SPEAKER_00]: And these things are really good things. 05:19.188 --> 05:23.916 [SPEAKER_00]: But what I'm talking about here is more structure is putting the cart before the horse. 05:26.360 --> 05:37.196 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, we think about the new birth manly as this, someone that Christians live up to or through effort and performance, but Jesus was Nicodemus is deeply confronting if that's true. 05:38.017 --> 05:39.279 [SPEAKER_00]: He says you must be born again. 05:40.320 --> 05:40.861 [SPEAKER_00]: Why is that? 05:40.921 --> 05:44.547 [SPEAKER_00]: Because Nicodemus in every visible measure was doing well. 05:45.428 --> 05:49.173 [SPEAKER_00]: He was deeply religious, morally upright according to the law. 05:49.193 --> 05:52.418 [SPEAKER_00]: Highly respected among peers, 05:52.972 --> 05:59.845 [SPEAKER_00]: And if being born again was simply being a better person, or trying harder, Nicodemus would be at the front of the line. 06:02.750 --> 06:05.696 [SPEAKER_00]: So yet Jesus lovingly tells him you must be born again. 06:07.058 --> 06:08.601 [SPEAKER_00]: And so then what is the new birth? 06:08.661 --> 06:13.590 [SPEAKER_00]: Tim Kuller puts it this way, being born again isn't a call to morality. 06:13.630 --> 06:16.195 [SPEAKER_00]: It's to challenge it. 06:17.238 --> 06:26.893 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like driving and thick fog trying to live out your faith through sheer whip, willpower, striving to impress God in the achieve a righteous lifestyle. 06:28.325 --> 06:40.860 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like switching your high beams on, and it feels like the right move, and it might seem responsible, but at the instead and clearing the way with this fog, the light just reflects back at you and makes it harder to see. 06:41.301 --> 06:52.594 [SPEAKER_00]: And in the same way, we rely, if we rely on effort in our faith, if we've end up more focused on our performance, we actually rob us of what God actually wants for us. 06:53.992 --> 06:58.238 [SPEAKER_00]: we don't really need brighter headlights, we need the fog to lift. 06:59.639 --> 07:05.227 [SPEAKER_00]: And so as we unpack this story, as we unpack the conversation, we need to understand who Jesus is talking to. 07:06.028 --> 07:07.410 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. 07:07.430 --> 07:09.332 [SPEAKER_00]: He's a Pharisee, he's a religious teacher. 07:10.093 --> 07:21.889 [SPEAKER_00]: And so when we talk about this conversation, it might not make sense to us on the page because there's a lot of terminology, but we need to know that Jesus is talking to someone who knows the religious law. 07:21.869 --> 07:30.468 [SPEAKER_00]: So going through that land, we're going to actually go through this section two of what the new birth actually is in this conversation and what Jesus actually says about the new birth. 07:31.871 --> 07:33.274 [SPEAKER_00]: Here we go from verse 5 to 8. 07:33.375 --> 07:38.967 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, I say to you, unless you want born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 07:39.082 --> 07:43.207 [SPEAKER_00]: That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that is born of the Spirit of Spirit. 07:43.908 --> 07:48.373 [SPEAKER_00]: Do not marvel that I've said to you, do not be surprised that I said to you, you must be born again. 07:48.413 --> 07:53.860 [SPEAKER_00]: The wind blows very wishes, and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes. 07:54.541 --> 07:56.363 [SPEAKER_00]: So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. 07:56.944 --> 08:06.355 [SPEAKER_00]: And down to verse 14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the sound of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 08:07.246 --> 08:09.909 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, these passages, you can look at these words. 08:10.049 --> 08:14.654 [SPEAKER_00]: We have images of water, we have images of spirit, wind, even a serpent. 08:15.655 --> 08:18.338 [SPEAKER_00]: It can feel really layered and symbolic this passage. 08:19.199 --> 08:22.422 [SPEAKER_00]: But let's not rush past this conversation because we don't understand it. 08:23.263 --> 08:24.864 [SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise, we exactly like Nicodemus. 08:25.225 --> 08:26.046 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's slow down. 08:26.266 --> 08:27.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's sit in this moment. 08:28.668 --> 08:31.171 [SPEAKER_00]: Almost like being a quiet observer of this conversation. 08:32.993 --> 08:36.797 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus isn't speaking randomly. 08:37.722 --> 08:42.487 [SPEAKER_00]: He is lovingly drawing the Old Testament passages of what it means to be born again. 08:42.547 --> 08:52.778 [SPEAKER_00]: He meets Nicodemus with familiar language, patiently upholding, unfolding a deeper reality that Nicodemus is wrote about, but not truly seen. 08:54.360 --> 09:00.967 [SPEAKER_00]: You see the first thing that he's unpacking here is a lot of scholars talk about Jesus with this border of spirit. 09:01.027 --> 09:02.429 [SPEAKER_00]: I've been born of war and spirit. 09:02.549 --> 09:07.054 [SPEAKER_00]: He's referring to his Eheel 36, 09:08.063 --> 09:33.109 [SPEAKER_00]: So in context as Eheel was a profit back when Israel was in exile and back with Babylon and he has his vision, the Lord speaks to him in this vision and we're open up from 36 first 25 to 27 and the Lord says this, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your own cleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 09:34.523 --> 09:35.785 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll give you a new heart. 09:36.265 --> 09:38.508 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll give you a new spirit I'll put within you. 09:39.329 --> 09:43.495 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll remove the heart of stone and your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 09:44.376 --> 09:45.958 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll put my spirit within you. 09:48.081 --> 09:50.404 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus lovingly read a rax, Nicodemus here. 09:50.744 --> 09:54.129 [SPEAKER_00]: No one can answer the kingdom of God unless they're born of water and spirit. 09:54.910 --> 09:56.191 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not physical birth. 09:56.291 --> 09:58.354 [SPEAKER_00]: It's spiritual renewal. 09:58.705 --> 10:02.129 [SPEAKER_00]: This echoes God's promise in his ear where God sprinkles the clean water. 10:02.509 --> 10:04.571 [SPEAKER_00]: God will cleanse you from uncleanness and idols. 10:05.052 --> 10:06.813 [SPEAKER_00]: God will give a new heart. 10:07.254 --> 10:08.695 [SPEAKER_00]: And God will put a new spirit within. 10:08.755 --> 10:12.479 [SPEAKER_00]: And He will replace your heart of stone with one of heart of flesh. 10:13.480 --> 10:18.365 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, being born again is inmanly renewed by God himself. 10:18.926 --> 10:27.835 [SPEAKER_00]: Like one Peter says this in verse 23 in chapter one, it says, 10:27.815 --> 10:29.341 [SPEAKER_00]: and renewal of the Holy Spirit. 10:30.446 --> 10:37.656 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, Jesus confronts Nicodemus' moral framework, shifting the conversation from reformation to transformation. 10:39.492 --> 10:45.498 [SPEAKER_00]: What I mean by Reformation to Transformation, you think a Reformation as an example, I will use a garden. 10:46.379 --> 10:54.448 [SPEAKER_00]: I have some long grass at home, I live with a bunch of guys, and the grass grows really, really long in spring. 10:55.289 --> 11:03.998 [SPEAKER_00]: We have this wee tree that we call, like this wee tree that we have, and every year we mow the grass on every year, but once a while we mow the grass, 11:04.720 --> 11:05.962 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's what's the year we'll see. 11:06.743 --> 11:12.873 [SPEAKER_00]: And now and again, we keep with the weed tree that we grow, it keeps sproutsy up. 11:13.594 --> 11:16.819 [SPEAKER_00]: And we mow it down and it keeps growing back. 11:16.859 --> 11:20.204 [SPEAKER_00]: Reformation's the same thing when we improve our behaviors. 11:20.705 --> 11:26.053 [SPEAKER_00]: When we add things to our life to make our life better, to be a better person, to work harder, to be nice. 11:26.033 --> 11:28.956 [SPEAKER_00]: This is all firms that are forms of behavior of the Reformation. 11:29.457 --> 11:31.819 [SPEAKER_00]: But what Jesus is talking here is transformation. 11:32.180 --> 11:36.184 [SPEAKER_00]: If we're talking about the garden, it's actually uprooting that weed and pulling it out. 11:36.665 --> 11:41.010 [SPEAKER_00]: And what Peter says here, it's a renewal of implantation of his spirit. 11:41.030 --> 11:43.973 [SPEAKER_00]: He plans to see that's imperishable into us. 11:48.117 --> 11:55.045 [SPEAKER_00]: Peter says, we're not born again, it's not a perishable seed, but imperishable something eternal, something everlasting. 11:56.105 --> 11:58.569 [SPEAKER_00]: The new birth is God not trimming our behavior. 11:58.689 --> 11:59.991 [SPEAKER_00]: It's planting new life. 12:01.092 --> 12:02.434 [SPEAKER_00]: God doesn't cut back sin. 12:02.454 --> 12:05.118 [SPEAKER_00]: He up roots it and plants something eternal. 12:05.980 --> 12:08.543 [SPEAKER_00]: God plants his life and new, imperishable seed. 12:10.326 --> 12:14.893 [SPEAKER_00]: Reformation managers weeds, transformation changes the soil and plants life that never dies. 12:15.934 --> 12:19.159 [SPEAKER_00]: The new birth is Reformational, not transformational. 12:20.540 --> 12:21.921 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus continues in verse 8. 12:22.061 --> 12:27.627 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, the wind blows where it wishes, and he hears it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. 12:28.167 --> 12:30.189 [SPEAKER_00]: So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. 12:31.731 --> 12:34.593 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus literally goes and scholars say it's the next chapter. 12:34.753 --> 12:36.735 [SPEAKER_00]: Chapter 37 of his Eheel, do you remember? 12:37.997 --> 12:50.108 [SPEAKER_00]: Where God gives the vision to his Eheel, and he prophesies over a 12:50.527 --> 12:56.115 [SPEAKER_00]: You see the wind here, the Greek word is Numer, so it's translated to wind or breath. 12:58.157 --> 13:02.964 [SPEAKER_00]: See, for example, you can't see the wind, but you do see the trees blow in the wind. 13:03.905 --> 13:09.553 [SPEAKER_00]: In the same way, you can't see the spirit, in a sense, you can see the spirit in a prioriful person becoming humble. 13:10.534 --> 13:13.979 [SPEAKER_00]: You see the spirit in an anxious person to begin to trust. 13:15.080 --> 13:18.745 [SPEAKER_00]: You see this spirit in a resentful heart that learns to forgive. 13:20.311 --> 13:23.715 [SPEAKER_00]: you see at the Spirit in a self-centered life that becomes generous. 13:24.757 --> 13:26.058 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't control the wind. 13:26.879 --> 13:28.101 [SPEAKER_00]: You witness, it's a fact. 13:29.182 --> 13:38.013 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the connections clear here, like God's breath brought life to dry bones, the same way the Spirit brings new life to the spiritually dead hearts. 13:39.715 --> 13:50.048 [SPEAKER_00]: So Nican Demis thinks, you know, earthly categories, such as physical birth or human effort, but Jesus elevates the conversation to say the new birth is not achieved. 13:54.652 --> 13:59.140 [SPEAKER_00]: If we're going to accidentally go down this, we go down the verse 9 and Nicodemus goes how can this be? 13:59.180 --> 14:08.938 [SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus literally just quoted two of the heal passages and then says, are you the teacher or Israel yet you don't understand these things? 14:10.380 --> 14:12.524 [SPEAKER_00]: But you see, we have to go into Nicodemus's mind. 14:12.564 --> 14:15.850 [SPEAKER_00]: The Pharisees, what they believe was a bodily resurrection. 14:16.235 --> 14:18.120 [SPEAKER_00]: people, they believe in resurrection after death. 14:19.023 --> 14:23.675 [SPEAKER_00]: And so obviously the lens of being born again is from a physical birth. 14:23.695 --> 14:28.488 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's why Nicodemus invests through a four early in the passage is like, can I enter my mother's room when I'm old? 14:28.548 --> 14:31.797 [SPEAKER_00]: Like being sick for a second birth is coming from a lens from a Pharisee. 14:33.633 --> 14:37.945 [SPEAKER_00]: And so he's going, his lands is through the set of moral structures according to the law. 14:38.006 --> 14:39.570 [SPEAKER_00]: He's an upright man according to the law. 14:39.590 --> 14:42.097 [SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus is calling him out of that. 14:42.940 --> 14:47.473 [SPEAKER_00]: The redeemous is living in the fog, blind of what the new birth actually is. 14:48.753 --> 15:00.109 [SPEAKER_00]: and seeing the new birth, even these people in the room, seeing the birth, new birth through a rough mesh and lens, of improving your life, like a new birth, new cushion, like in my life, the Jesus, and I'm gonna be a better person because of it, that's not true. 15:00.710 --> 15:04.535 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, you receive the Lord, he plants a new heart in you. 15:06.518 --> 15:14.068 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says the new birth is now, it's not a farer concept, that's not a bodily resurrection after death, the new birth is now, you can receive him today. 15:15.736 --> 15:18.762 [SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus knew in this conversation with Nicodemus, he knew what was to come. 15:19.723 --> 15:21.186 [SPEAKER_00]: He knew what was about to fulfill. 15:22.569 --> 15:31.085 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus plainly talks through this next passage and it's a final one that he leaves with Nicodemus and Nicodemus doesn't say word after this. 15:33.509 --> 15:38.098 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna open up two numbers, 21 and it'll be behind me on the screens, versus four to nine. 15:39.682 --> 15:51.140 [SPEAKER_00]: From Mount Hall, they, the Israelites, set out the way to the Red Sea, to go around to the land of Eden, and the people became impatient on the way, and the people spoke against God and against Moses. 15:52.142 --> 15:55.126 [SPEAKER_00]: Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? 15:55.327 --> 15:58.512 [SPEAKER_00]: There is no food, there's no water, and we load this worthless food. 15:59.714 --> 16:06.364 [SPEAKER_00]: Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died. 16:08.251 --> 16:12.517 [SPEAKER_00]: And the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. 16:13.579 --> 16:15.802 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray to the Lord that they take away the serpents from us. 16:16.223 --> 16:22.713 [SPEAKER_00]: And so Moses prayed for the people and the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. 16:22.733 --> 16:26.559 [SPEAKER_00]: And everyone who has bitten when they see it shall live. 16:28.261 --> 16:30.685 [SPEAKER_00]: So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. 16:30.905 --> 16:35.372 [SPEAKER_00]: And if the serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. 16:36.567 --> 16:39.353 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, Jesus makes his last parallel to Nicodemus. 16:39.373 --> 16:42.440 [SPEAKER_00]: He goes, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. 16:42.981 --> 16:45.466 [SPEAKER_00]: So must the sin, son of man be lifted up. 16:46.088 --> 16:49.395 [SPEAKER_00]: That whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16:51.535 --> 16:59.703 [SPEAKER_00]: You see the spiritual fathers, or the other church fathers, Augustine and Aranius, back into the third or fourth century. 16:59.723 --> 17:06.569 [SPEAKER_00]: They call this a typology that Jesus says to Nicodemus, a way that correlates the Old Testament to what he's actually talking to him about. 17:07.090 --> 17:08.331 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is the parallel here. 17:09.392 --> 17:14.096 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as Moses lived up the bronze serpent on a pole, Jesus was lifted up on a cross. 17:15.277 --> 17:21.103 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as the Israelites were dying from the poison of the serpent, 17:22.687 --> 17:31.096 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as those who looked upon the bronze serpent in faith were healed and they lived, those who look upon Christ in faith receive eternal life. 17:32.258 --> 17:39.346 [SPEAKER_00]: The bronze serpent represented the curse that was killing him, killing them, but on the cross, Christ took upon himself the curse that was killing us. 17:40.787 --> 17:47.715 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, numbers 21 and the serpent associated with sin in Genesis 3 becomes the image of healing in numbers. 17:47.982 --> 17:53.510 [SPEAKER_00]: but similarly Christ, those sinless, become sin itself for us on a cross. 17:54.511 --> 17:56.714 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was talking to Nicodemus for what was to come. 17:57.355 --> 18:00.459 [SPEAKER_00]: What the new birth is actually is and how he's going to receive it. 18:01.521 --> 18:04.625 [SPEAKER_00]: The new birth is an implantation of the Spirit of God Himself. 18:05.907 --> 18:10.834 [SPEAKER_00]: The new birth is a breath of life that gives new life everlasting. 18:11.995 --> 18:18.524 [SPEAKER_00]: and the new birth is through Jesus' selfless sacrifice and the cross, all this becomes possible for those who believe in Him. 18:21.708 --> 18:33.904 [SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus is really saying that we must be born again, and it's really saying that we need to see Him more than a teacher, more than just following rules or tomorrow's structure. 18:35.626 --> 18:40.332 [SPEAKER_00]: It's knowing that He died for you and believing that you were born with a price. 18:42.337 --> 18:52.958 [SPEAKER_00]: I said this to young adults last Sunday, we had our worship in prayer night and I was talking on holiness, but the cross shows how far God was willing to go to bring us home. 18:54.621 --> 18:55.704 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what East is all about. 18:56.245 --> 19:03.940 [SPEAKER_00]: If you look at the cross, it should remind you that the cross shows how just how far God was willing to go to bring us home. 19:04.763 --> 19:10.052 [SPEAKER_00]: returning us to the creative order God intended in the beginning, that we are united with him once again. 19:10.814 --> 19:16.524 [SPEAKER_00]: The new birth is acknowledging that we now belong to God, and that we are believing that we are His. 19:17.786 --> 19:20.010 [SPEAKER_00]: We can't perform our way to transformation. 19:21.332 --> 19:26.181 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like driving in deep fog where we can struggle to see the realities of the new birth. 19:26.684 --> 19:32.570 [SPEAKER_00]: but instead receiving him as Lord of your life, he will transform you, he will lift the fog. 19:33.832 --> 19:37.176 [SPEAKER_00]: The new birth is a new creation. 19:37.976 --> 19:51.311 [SPEAKER_00]: His dwelling place, his dwelling place within you, to be born again is to see the kingdom of God and seeing the kingdom of God is understanding at your core, at your deep depths of your heart, that Jesus is Lord. 19:52.893 --> 19:56.657 [SPEAKER_00]: In all that you see, in all that you do, 19:59.287 --> 20:05.575 [SPEAKER_00]: So I want that's some practical teaching right there but I want to be able to be able to make this easy for you guys to apply to your lives. 20:06.116 --> 20:08.099 [SPEAKER_00]: There's three groups of people here that I want to speak to. 20:08.119 --> 20:10.182 [SPEAKER_00]: There's the people who are curious about faith. 20:10.802 --> 20:19.534 [SPEAKER_00]: There's the people who are a new believer and there's people here that I've been walking with Jesus for a long time and this passage is so applicable to each of you. 20:21.036 --> 20:27.825 [SPEAKER_00]: The first one, the people who are curious about faith in the room. 20:30.657 --> 20:35.964 [SPEAKER_00]: fog isn't dramatic, it's subtle, and it could look like this internal restlessness. 20:36.945 --> 20:44.055 [SPEAKER_00]: Everything looks fine externally, but you carry this low-graded dissatisfaction that you can't explain when you require by yourself. 20:45.256 --> 20:50.363 [SPEAKER_00]: Culture says one thing, but you conscious says something, another, and you're unsure of what actually is true. 20:52.005 --> 20:53.627 [SPEAKER_00]: Success with that clarity. 20:54.653 --> 21:00.220 [SPEAKER_00]: The term that you've arrived, but somewhere deep down and what you aim for, you still don't feel like it's a rival. 21:01.062 --> 21:02.944 [SPEAKER_00]: This is dissatisfaction in your life. 21:04.106 --> 21:08.912 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the falking out lives that brings us limited visibility and it's a low confidence about direction. 21:09.853 --> 21:11.155 [SPEAKER_00]: Creates a quiet anxiety. 21:11.375 --> 21:13.859 [SPEAKER_00]: It's moving forward without real, real clarity. 21:15.761 --> 21:18.825 [SPEAKER_00]: We often reach for achievement. 21:19.426 --> 21:21.589 [SPEAKER_00]: If I hit the next milestone, it'll all be good. 21:22.835 --> 21:24.979 [SPEAKER_00]: Productivity, if I stay busy, I won't feel it. 21:25.120 --> 21:27.865 [SPEAKER_00]: I won't feel my emotions or what I'm actually thinking. 21:28.847 --> 21:33.316 [SPEAKER_00]: Self-improvement, we always want to try seek the peace and optimise peace in our lives. 21:34.498 --> 21:45.079 [SPEAKER_00]: Distraction, entertainment, holiday chasing, holidays, scrolling, for deeper, to avoid the difficult questions about life. 21:46.392 --> 21:55.561 [SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe there's people in here who are just wanting intellectual certainty, needing air-tight answers before allowing yourself to even explore spirituality. 21:57.683 --> 21:58.584 [SPEAKER_00]: So, none of these are wrong. 21:58.724 --> 22:02.848 [SPEAKER_00]: These are actually okay, but sometimes it's like high beams in the fog. 22:03.709 --> 22:06.852 [SPEAKER_00]: They help you cope, but they're actually clear the air. 22:08.634 --> 22:10.816 [SPEAKER_00]: The issue isn't lack of your information. 22:10.876 --> 22:13.058 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a lack of illumination. 22:14.320 --> 22:16.462 [SPEAKER_00]: not a lack of information, a lack of illumination. 22:18.264 --> 22:23.328 [SPEAKER_00]: What if Clarie isn't achieved by turning on brighter headlights but something outside of you lifting the fog? 22:25.090 --> 22:32.677 [SPEAKER_00]: I am, when I was looking at this, I wanted to look up CS Lawyers' conversion story because I knew he was a devout atheist. 22:33.538 --> 22:36.300 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just wanted to hear his journey around how he found Jesus. 22:36.440 --> 22:39.463 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think for the people in the room who don't know Jesus yet, this might speak to you. 22:40.024 --> 22:43.787 [SPEAKER_00]: But as I was doing my research, when he was nine, he lost his mum. 22:43.936 --> 22:47.460 [SPEAKER_00]: and he, for most of his life, he formed a great war. 22:47.641 --> 22:52.286 [SPEAKER_00]: He saw a lot of really tough things, experienced a lot of tough things personally, and was angry at God. 22:52.867 --> 22:56.532 [SPEAKER_00]: His atheism grew because he was just hostile towards God. 22:56.612 --> 22:57.813 [SPEAKER_00]: How can God do these things? 22:58.314 --> 23:00.076 [SPEAKER_00]: Most common questions about Christianity. 23:01.898 --> 23:11.530 [SPEAKER_00]: But he had people around him who were Christians, and that spoke truth to him, their unpacked things later at night, talked about Jesus. 23:13.180 --> 23:17.086 [SPEAKER_00]: And there's one time where it's just like, all right, I can actually believe in the concepts of God. 23:17.707 --> 23:18.348 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe in God. 23:19.049 --> 23:21.873 [SPEAKER_00]: But Sears Lewis himself says, I wasn't a follower of Jesus now. 23:21.913 --> 23:22.654 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe in God. 23:23.716 --> 23:25.478 [SPEAKER_00]: But I didn't follow Jesus. 23:26.560 --> 23:30.666 [SPEAKER_00]: And there's people here who might believe in God here, but they're not actually following Jesus. 23:32.317 --> 23:38.629 [SPEAKER_00]: But he says a story and I want to read it out because it's really, really cool to hear. 23:38.709 --> 23:42.135 [SPEAKER_00]: He was going to the zoo with his brother and he was in this side car of a motorbike. 23:43.077 --> 23:49.489 [SPEAKER_00]: And he says this, when we set out, I did not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God. 23:51.032 --> 23:52.755 [SPEAKER_00]: But when we reached the zoo, I did. 23:59.384 --> 24:02.528 [SPEAKER_00]: I had not exactly spent the journey in thought, nor great emotion. 24:03.349 --> 24:07.314 [SPEAKER_00]: Emotionals, perhaps, the last word we can apply to some of the most important events. 24:09.477 --> 24:17.507 [SPEAKER_00]: But it was more like when a man, after a long sleep, still lay emotionless on the bed, becomes aware that he is now awake. 24:20.571 --> 24:25.678 [SPEAKER_00]: From death to life, from darkness to light, the fog had lifted and the sun was shining bright. 24:29.725 --> 24:32.589 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, being born again isn't always an emotional experience. 24:32.830 --> 24:35.674 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not always down the front, very charismatic. 24:36.154 --> 24:41.422 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it's in the back rows, and it's just sitting there and going, Jesus is Lord. 24:44.847 --> 24:50.856 [SPEAKER_00]: I encourage you those who are curious about faith to keep asking questions and not avoid the tough questions. 24:52.473 --> 25:01.288 [SPEAKER_00]: The question I leave with you is, do I do trust yourself to clear the fog or are you open to the possibility that clarity actually comes from Jesus and receiving Him as Lord? 25:03.993 --> 25:05.796 [SPEAKER_00]: Number two, I'm like right, and by the band, I'm actually. 25:08.120 --> 25:09.763 [SPEAKER_00]: Group number two, people who are new to faith. 25:11.666 --> 25:13.249 [SPEAKER_00]: Bear witness. 25:13.634 --> 25:14.776 [SPEAKER_00]: We talk about the wind to you. 25:14.796 --> 25:16.919 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't see the wind, but you can see the trees move. 25:17.059 --> 25:21.946 [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit shows up in the changes that you may not have seen to produce on your own. 25:23.067 --> 25:29.977 [SPEAKER_00]: A new believer might begin to things like a sensitive sensitivity to sin that before you might see no indifference. 25:31.198 --> 25:39.490 [SPEAKER_00]: A new desire to know Jesus through scripture or prayer, or convictions about attitudes or behaviors that once felt normal, that I actually aren't healthy. 25:40.280 --> 25:46.538 [SPEAKER_00]: a softening of heart, where there used to be hardness or pride, or a new willingness to forgive or reconcile. 25:46.939 --> 25:52.315 [SPEAKER_00]: See, these shifts are subtle at first, but over time, it becomes unmistakable to recognise. 25:53.898 --> 25:58.243 [SPEAKER_00]: As a new believer, it might look like just being honest with God all the time. 25:59.084 --> 26:01.107 [SPEAKER_00]: Bring your thoughts, bring your struggles to Him. 26:01.948 --> 26:07.014 [SPEAKER_00]: In dull, discreet jar, like it's your food, allowing God's word to shape your perspective. 26:08.236 --> 26:14.263 [SPEAKER_00]: Responding to conviction, which is one that even us as believers can talk about, is like obedience responding to our convictions. 26:15.204 --> 26:22.453 [SPEAKER_00]: When we are convicted, we have a duty to respond when the Holy Spirit prompts us. 26:23.851 --> 26:28.939 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, the Bible says a lot of things of how we should live, but it's all out of following Jesus. 26:30.121 --> 26:33.687 [SPEAKER_00]: So you don't command when, wind, but you can position yourself where the wind blows. 26:34.688 --> 26:38.394 [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, following Jesus in what is already doing in you and around you. 26:40.117 --> 26:41.539 [SPEAKER_00]: Question to you guys, new to faith. 26:41.719 --> 26:48.550 [SPEAKER_00]: If the wind of God's Spirit is already stirring in my life, what might it look like for me to stop striving to control everything? 26:49.612 --> 26:51.715 [SPEAKER_00]: And simply respond to what Jesus is leading me. 26:57.010 --> 27:02.215 [SPEAKER_00]: And the last thing here is for the people who are seasoned in faith, who have been walking with Jesus for a long time. 27:03.656 --> 27:09.782 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who have been running the race, they find themselves in different seasons of life. 27:09.822 --> 27:15.848 [SPEAKER_00]: We have people who are young adults, trying to lay the foundations and disobey the direction of where they need to go. 27:17.069 --> 27:23.895 [SPEAKER_00]: We have a lot of young families here who have days full of distraction and pulling their attention away. 27:23.977 --> 27:30.145 [SPEAKER_00]: We have seasons people here working in their prime, carrying the way to provision and responsibility of their families. 27:31.206 --> 27:37.634 [SPEAKER_00]: And we also have people here who are later in life, who have more space to rest, travel, and enjoy the fruit of many, many, many years. 27:39.296 --> 27:43.922 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet no matter the season we find ourselves in, the invitation remains the same. 27:44.603 --> 27:47.166 [SPEAKER_00]: To keep lifting our eyes to Jesus. 27:48.698 --> 27:54.247 [SPEAKER_00]: It can be easy for those who are followed him for years to slowly settle into moral structures that grow at your faith. 27:55.709 --> 28:00.737 [SPEAKER_00]: The habits, the disciplines, the ways of living that are good and important. 28:00.757 --> 28:05.584 [SPEAKER_00]: But we forget that this is the fruit of falling Christ, not the center of it. 28:09.630 --> 28:12.735 [SPEAKER_00]: Nikidimus shows up two more times after this conversation with Jesus. 28:12.896 --> 28:15.379 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus lives in this serpent passage and lets a big. 28:15.399 --> 28:16.461 [SPEAKER_00]: It lets walks away. 28:18.432 --> 28:22.377 [SPEAKER_00]: and in no Gospel of John and chapter seven and chapter 19, Nicodemus comes up. 28:22.617 --> 28:29.345 [SPEAKER_00]: The first instance with his peers, with his Pharisees, friends, he stands up for Jesus and goes, actually should we hear him out? 28:30.406 --> 28:32.128 [SPEAKER_00]: Should we actually listen to what Jesus has to say? 28:32.189 --> 28:33.911 [SPEAKER_00]: Or should we condemn him for what he's already doing? 28:35.873 --> 28:40.378 [SPEAKER_00]: Nicodemus, a Pharisee, an influential teacher who was bold enough to stand up for Jesus. 28:42.861 --> 28:48.388 [SPEAKER_00]: And secondly, and lastly, 28:50.731 --> 29:04.740 [SPEAKER_00]: Says in chapter 19, verse 28, verse 38, after these things, Joseph, Aramithia, after Jesus died, who was a child's apple of Jesus, secretly fear the Jews, asked Pilate to take away his body, Pilate gave him permission. 29:05.662 --> 29:10.933 [SPEAKER_00]: So he came back and took his body, and Nicodemus who also came by Jesus by night. 29:10.913 --> 29:22.185 [SPEAKER_00]: came with a mixture of marin allows and about 75 pounds in weight and they both talked the body of Jesus, bound it in linen cloths and spices as it was the burial custom of the Jews. 29:22.986 --> 29:37.562 [SPEAKER_00]: Now when the place where he was crucified there was a garden and in the garden of the due tomb that no one had let yet been laid instead because of the Jewish Day of Preparation since the tomb was closed at hand they laid Jesus there. 29:40.934 --> 29:47.500 [SPEAKER_00]: You see, Nicodarius might let later recognize the words, just as Moses lifted up a serpent, the son of man must be lifted up. 29:49.442 --> 29:53.987 [SPEAKER_00]: Then one day, Nicodarius saw it with his own eyes. 29:54.007 --> 29:55.808 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, the son of man, lifted up on a cross. 30:00.293 --> 30:03.656 [SPEAKER_00]: And in that moment, the words of Jesus became, make more sense. 30:04.216 --> 30:09.962 [SPEAKER_00]: In the fog that once clouded his understanding, started to lift, and it dropped. 30:12.288 --> 30:15.093 [SPEAKER_00]: that you saw Jesus, not merely as a teacher, but as a son of God. 30:15.133 --> 30:23.989 [SPEAKER_00]: What Jesus had spoken on the night, that became real to him, that Nickus, Nicodemus, became to see the kingdom of God. 30:25.592 --> 30:29.439 [SPEAKER_00]: And you could say that Nicodemus experience exactly what Jesus described the new birth. 30:32.564 --> 30:35.730 [SPEAKER_00]: See life has a way of disordering our loves. 30:36.672 --> 30:39.034 [SPEAKER_00]: as when we get, when we gaze down with, out of feet. 30:39.875 --> 30:46.923 [SPEAKER_00]: But I encourage you guys today to lift your eyes upon Jesus again and let everything fall back into place. 30:49.005 --> 30:54.631 [SPEAKER_00]: Just as the Israelites in the wilderness were called upon them, called, looked upon the bronze serpent and lived. 30:55.331 --> 30:58.354 [SPEAKER_00]: We are advised to look to the son of man who has lifted up for us. 30:59.536 --> 31:03.760 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus bore the curse of sin so that we might truly live 31:04.499 --> 31:09.845 [SPEAKER_00]: not just to survive our seasons, but to really live fully for him and in him. 31:11.587 --> 31:19.715 [SPEAKER_00]: So in every season of life, whether busy or quiet, whether clear or uncertain, we return again to this simple posture. 31:21.417 --> 31:28.084 [SPEAKER_00]: Lifting our eyes to Christ, trusting in him, depending on him alone, because we are born again. 31:28.104 --> 31:29.005 [SPEAKER_00]: How about we stand? 31:34.722 --> 31:35.503 [SPEAKER_00]: And let us pray. 31:40.851 --> 31:42.233 [SPEAKER_00]: Father, we thank you for your word. 31:42.253 --> 31:47.521 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, we thank you for what you've done for us. 31:48.802 --> 31:51.026 [SPEAKER_00]: And Lord, that the new birth is a reality for us now. 31:51.046 --> 31:54.230 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, all we need to do is to believe in you. 31:56.053 --> 31:59.498 [SPEAKER_00]: Believe in you is Savior, but know that you are our Lord. 32:02.262 --> 32:06.788 [SPEAKER_00]: So far, I just lift up your name this morning. 32:06.808 --> 32:10.392 [SPEAKER_00]: Father, you know each person in this room, you know the people who are curious about faith. 32:10.412 --> 32:12.475 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I pray that you encounter them this morning. 32:13.776 --> 32:18.542 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, that you just drop and their lens will be clear that the fog will be lifted, Lord, that you are Lord. 32:20.925 --> 32:26.953 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, that you encourage the new believers here to be faithful to your word. 32:28.553 --> 32:34.145 [SPEAKER_00]: to love you more and more each day as they learn about you in your world Lord in their prayer life but also the community around them. 32:35.428 --> 32:36.611 [SPEAKER_00]: Or that they'll be well supported. 32:36.631 --> 32:42.664 [SPEAKER_00]: A father we pray for those who are seasoned in faith, those who have been running the race for a long time. 32:43.741 --> 32:48.887 [SPEAKER_00]: whether they're weary, they're tired, well they don't have to do anything anymore, they just need to look at you. 32:49.868 --> 32:50.909 [SPEAKER_00]: Lift their eyes up on you. 32:50.969 --> 32:53.351 [SPEAKER_00]: They're needs to do good works. 32:53.752 --> 32:55.113 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't need to lift a good life. 32:55.213 --> 32:57.356 [SPEAKER_00]: It all flows out of their love for you. 32:58.136 --> 33:01.300 [SPEAKER_00]: And so far though, I pray for a refreshing spirit this morning in this room. 33:04.764 --> 33:07.246 [SPEAKER_00]: Far the refresh those who have been running the race for a long time. 33:07.306 --> 33:10.710 [SPEAKER_00]: Give them new dreams, new visions, Lord. 33:14.707 --> 33:26.792 [SPEAKER_00]: The race is not over Lord, we pray that you just rejuven at us, give us a new revelation of your love that's so contagious that we can't hope or share your love with people. 33:29.498 --> 33:39.499 [SPEAKER_00]: And Lord, we can live out of the fact that you are Lord of our lives, and so we give you all the prayers and all the glory in Jesus' name, and we all said, Amen.