Spirit gives birth to spirit
[0:00] Good morning, everybody. Oh, I'm loud, aren't I? Let's pray. Lord, we come to hear your word, one of these really famous and important passages in the Bible.
[0:14] Please fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we may give attention, so that this might be spoken rightly and heard rightly. And we particularly pray that the boys and girls would really find something that they can engage with and to impact them spiritually.
[0:34] So we look to you, Lord Jesus, for your help. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen. Right, boys and girls, I've done this really for you, because I know that you're going to be in.
[0:46] So let me just see, have we got any boys and girls? Because it would be such a disappointment if I'd done it for boys and girls. We didn't have any. Right, you've got some at the back. Good morning to you. Oh, hello, we've got two there. Welcome. Nice to see you.
[0:58] And here, and here. And we've got Gracie there, haven't we? Okay. And Freya. Have I missed anybody? Okay, so I've done this for you, so I hope you'll feel that you can join in.
[1:16] And I'm going to sort of ask you some questions as we go along. And I want to tell you about a horrible thing. I want you to imagine a horrible thing. I hope this won't happen. But anybody here doing exams at the moment?
[1:32] Yes, okay. Yeah. And Carmen's doing exams. Isn't she at the back there? Yeah, she's not going to put her hand up, though. Imagine doing exams. Hopefully this is just an imaginary thing.
[1:46] So my friend Greta's been doing exams. She's been working really, really hard. She's looking forward to getting A, A, A, A. Okay, she's looking forward to doing that. Or A star.
[1:59] When you do exams, it divides people into two groups. The ones who have passed. Shall we give a little cheer for the ones that have passed? Hooray! And the ones that haven't.
[2:10] Or we'll just go, oh dear. It divides into two groups. Pass and fail. And every day, Greta will be waiting for an envelope to come through her door, which says which she's got.
[2:24] And she'll open it and she'll think, oh, A, A, A. Ah, yes, yes, yes. Oh. What did it say? Fail.
[2:36] Oh dear. What a horrible thing that would be. You've failed. You're in the group of people where you just say, oh. Wouldn't that be horrible?
[2:49] Just imagine how horrible she'd feel to know that that had happened. And I want to talk to... There she is feeling sad. But suppose there was also somebody said, but Greta, if you turn up tomorrow and you can do the exam all over again and then you can pass, she would think, oh, that would be great, wouldn't she?
[3:12] She'd be quite pleased about that. Okay. So we do give us some hope. And what I want to talk about this morning is what God says about people. Whether he says, yay, good, well done, success.
[3:28] Whether he says to people, no, no, I'm not happy with you. You're not right. Which was a terrible thing.
[3:39] That's what I want to talk about today. And I've got three sections. If you have a Bible, it would be really helpful. If you can look across at somebody else's Bible, mum and dad will open their Bible for you or whoever it is that you're with this morning.
[3:57] So the three things. Number one, an impossible birth. Okay. An impossible birth. Hands up here. How many people have been born? Just to see whether you're awake.
[4:10] How many people have been born? How many people were born yesterday? No. Okay. So I want to do something about babies and wind and water.
[4:21] So I did a little picture of that baby Gilbert, actually. The second thing that I want to look at is an uplifted death. And we're going to look at a snake on a pole.
[4:34] Did the snake come up? Yes. And the third thing is divided judgment. So they're not particularly snappy titles, are they?
[4:44] And we're going to look at moths and wood lice. So there's a candle. There's a moth. And there's a wood louse. So those are the three things we're going to look at. Okay. So first of all, an impossible birth.
[4:56] Secondly, an uplifted death. A snake on a pole. And thirdly, a divided judgment with moths and wood lice. Okay. Are you still here so far?
[5:09] Yeah? Okay. Let's do the first one then. An impossible birth. So it starts with Jesus and a man. So I'm just going to read it. And if you can read it too, that would be really helpful.
[5:20] It says, Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast. Many people saw the signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them. For he knew all.
[5:31] He did not need man's testimony about man. For he knew what was in a man. Now when Mark read it, it sounded a bit different. But this is a bit more what it says. It talks about human beings.
[5:42] Man. Jesus and people. And it says Jesus knew what was in people. So he looked. And he could see the exam result as he looked inside them.
[5:53] Because he knew what was going on inside them. And there was a particular man called Nicodemus. And I wonder what was going on inside him. I wonder what God thought of him.
[6:04] What was in him. And so there we are. That was what I wanted to get at. The heart. What was in his heart. So Jesus knew what was in people.
[6:14] And here's a person. Here's a man. And he's called Nicodemus. And I think his name means victorious champion of God's people. I couldn't find many references to that. I think that's what it means. So he's actually quite.
[6:26] His name says I'm quite special. And it says he was a ruler of the Jews. So he's a big, big, big important man. So here's Nicodemus. And they have a conversation.
[6:38] And Nicodemus says as he comes to Jesus at night. Verse 2. It says, Rabbi, we know you're a teacher who's come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you were doing if God were not with him.
[6:52] So he says here's something impossible. Here's something impossible. It is impossible that you could do these things that you are doing unless God were with him.
[7:04] Anybody, boy and girl, tell us one of the miraculous things that Jesus did. Just anything. What sort of things did he do? He healed a man who had leprosy.
[7:16] Yeah. Lots of things like that. And Nicodemus says, you know, it is impossible that you could be doing all those things unless God is with you.
[7:28] So we're thinking about impossible. What's impossible? And Jesus, taking the conversation, says, okay, impossible? We're talking impossible?
[7:39] I'll tell you something impossible. Okay? I'll tell you something impossible, Nicodemus. Here it is. Ooh, here we go. It is impossible. No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is something.
[7:54] No one can see the kingdom unless he is what? What does it say? No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is, does it say it there?
[8:08] Yes, it does. Anybody? Yeah? Have to be louder. Born again. And what were you going to say?
[8:19] Born again. Cool. Let's give a little ripple for that. Yes. Okay. Unless he is born again. So there's a person, there's a baby, and how do you get to become born again?
[8:34] And that word again, it's a little bit of an interesting word. It means something like born from the top. So sometimes when people say, let's go to the top, they mean the beginning, don't they?
[8:46] Let's go to the top of the show or take it. No. Think of an example where people use top to mean beginning. Take it from the top means take it from the beginning.
[8:58] So it can mean born earlier, born again, or it can mean from above, from the top that way. That's why it gets translated different ways, born from above or born again.
[9:10] Okay. Okay. So Jesus says, it's impossible to see the kingdom unless you're born again. Can you see me?
[9:23] Yeah. I can see you as well. That's okay. It's a good answer. But so we can normally see people in front of us unless there's something wrong with our eyes. But usually we, and Jesus says, well, actually, there's things you can't see.
[9:35] You can't see the kingdom of God unless you're born again. And Nicodemus says, how can a man be born again?
[9:47] Right. Just have a look around. Now, boys and girls, some of you, not all of you, I guess, but some of you have got your mummies here with you. Can you just have a look and have a look at your mummy?
[10:00] How many people are taller than their mum? How many? Okay. Right. Okay. Yeah. And Nicodemus was thinking, you know, even if you're, how many people are about half the size of their mum?
[10:20] Okay. And he says, how can you be born again? You see, he says, how can you get back into your mummy's tummy when you're nearly the same size as your mummy?
[10:32] You know, what a squeeze that would be. And he says, that's impossible. How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born, he says.
[10:44] I mean, I don't expect you to answer that. I mean, how you do it, because just geometrically, I mean, not only uncomfortable, but I mean, it would just be impossible, wouldn't it? So here's something impossible.
[10:57] And Jesus says, now I want you to listen to the answer of this, because what's the first thing in your Bible that he says in verse 5? Jesus said, what's the first thing that he said in your Bible?
[11:09] What have you got, son? I said before that, he says something else. Verse 5. I assure you?
[11:27] Okay, you've got I assure you. Anybody got anything different to that? What have you got? Very truly, what have you got? Most assuredly. What Jesus actually says is, amen, amen, which is his way of saying, listen up, because this is really important.
[11:43] Okay? Listen up. This is really important. No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit.
[11:57] You know, you can't see the kingdom, and you can't enter the kingdom unless you're born of water and the spirit. So he's talking about God's spirit, and he's linking that with water.
[12:09] And spirit is, in the original, it's the same word for this. Spirit is the same word for this. What am I doing?
[12:20] What's this? Blowing my, cleaning my teeth. What am I doing? Blowing. Yeah. It's the same word as blowing and breath.
[12:33] So God is saying God breathes. It's also the same word for wind. So he says, in the next sentence, he says, you shouldn't be surprised at my saying you must be born again.
[12:49] The wind blows wherever it wants to. So let me just stop on this. Wind, breath, spirit, it's the same word. Can anybody remember from the Bible, how did Adam come alive when God made Adam?
[13:06] Can you remember what God did to make Adam alive? He took dust. Yes, he formed him out of dust, and he did something to this mud thing.
[13:20] He breathed. He breathed. He breathed. Yes, that's right. So a round of applause for that. He breathed into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
[13:37] And what Jesus is saying here is that spiritually, God's breath blows on people and makes them alive spiritually.
[13:56] Like Adam, only a spiritual life rather than just sort of biological life. And then Jesus goes on to say, flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit.
[14:09] So I've got little arrows there showing flesh. Flesh is this stuff. So this, in our country, it tends to be pink.
[14:22] In my mind, it's sort of pink and blotchy stuff. Some of you have probably got nice tan stuff or different colors of skin, but that's my skin. It's sort of pink and blotchy.
[14:33] And this is flesh. And I'm made of flesh, and so are you. This is what we're made of. You said dust, but here's another way of saying it. It's flesh. That's what we're made of.
[14:46] That's what we can do. So I can do things like walk and talk and jump up and down. I'm not going to do this too very often. But you can do that sort of thing, because that's what flesh does.
[14:58] It has certain powers. And you could do that whether you were a Christian or not. So flesh is human power, as he means here, without God. And here's some human powers.
[15:11] Now, boys and girls, help us with this. So a human power to be this. C something, E, V, something, R. Human power to be, what's this one?
[15:23] Yeah? Clever. Clever. That's very clever of you. Well done. Okay. Clever. Flesh. Human power to be this one. Strong.
[15:36] What were you going to say? Strong. Right. Well done. Yep. Strong. Human power to do this stuff. Longer word, this one.
[15:47] Yeah? Well done. Technology. Yes. And human power to do this stuff. It's an even more long word. What do you think?
[15:59] Philosophy. Yeah, well done. Yep. And human power to do this one. Human power to do this one.
[16:13] What do you think? Well done. Excellent. Yeah. Yeah. Well done. And human power to have this. Human power to have this.
[16:30] No. No. Shorter word than that. And you have come as one this morning. Family.
[16:42] Family. Yeah, well done. And human power to decide what you eat. So what's this word here?
[16:54] Diet. Yes, well done. And Jesus says flesh gives birth to flesh. So human power, you can do all these things with human power.
[17:06] You can be clever with human power. You could be strong with human power. You could use technology to do all sorts of things, amazing things with technology. You could be thinking about all sorts of things with philosophy.
[17:20] You could be living a really, the best life you could with morality. You could think, I'm from a good family. I'm related to this person.
[17:30] And so and so is my father and my grandfather. And my cousin is this. And my uncle is that. Your family. You could have a diet. You could say, I'm going to eat a lot better stuff than a lot of other people eat.
[17:43] But it's all flesh. And it just gives birth to flesh. And you can't see the kingdom, even though you do all of those things. And Nicodemus would have come along and he would have said, I'm a Jew.
[17:58] I'm descended from Abraham. We have the law. We're God's favored people. So I'm in the kingdom. And Jesus says, here's a shock. You're not.
[18:11] Because flesh just gives birth to flesh. And maybe some of you as boys and girls or grownups or people watching at home might be thinking, I'm in the kingdom.
[18:24] I'm a good person. I try my best. You know, I'm not perfect. But I'm basically a good person. I must be one of the people that God blesses.
[18:36] And Jesus says, I've got a shock for you. You're not. Because you must be born again. And if you're not born again, you're still just limited to the human power of doing your best, of trying to be clever, of all those things.
[18:55] And Jesus says, this is something. Amen, amen. Listen up, because you need to know this. You must be born again. Because just living as a human being, no matter how hard you try, doesn't get you spiritual life.
[19:14] Flesh gives birth to flesh. If you're looking for spiritual life, you need the work of the spirit. The flesh spiritually gets us where?
[19:27] Anybody like to guess my next word? Here it is. Flesh gets us spiritually where? Have I spelt it right? I hope I have.
[19:38] Flesh gets us spiritually where? At the back? Nowhere? What were you going to say down here? Nowhere. Okay, well done.
[19:49] Well done. Flesh gets us nowhere. But the spirit gives birth to spirit. This is in verse 6.
[20:01] Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. And he says, the spirit of God, sorry, the wind blows wherever it please you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
[20:16] So it is everyone born of the spirit. So I put my arrow coming down. The flesh just keeps us on the same level. But the spirit from above, from the top, works down to us.
[20:30] And the spirit gives birth to spirit. And there's the baby born, as it were. The spiritual life, born from the top, born again, born from above. And the spirit blows, or rather the breath breathes where it desires, where it pleases.
[20:47] So it is everyone born of the spirit. How many people have ever been out on a windy day? Anybody been on a windy day?
[20:58] And anybody like to tell us what noise the wind makes? Here's an embarrassing thing. Yes, what? What? Howls? Give us a howl then.
[21:11] Give us an example. Okay. Okay. We deserve a round of applause for doing that. Yep. It howls or it blows. You can hear it and you can see it do things.
[21:24] But you can't control the wind. And Jesus is saying this is what it's like in the spiritual realm of things. The breath breathes where it chooses.
[21:35] God blows on people as he chooses to do so. It's a great expression of God's sovereignty. He decides where he gives spiritual life.
[21:49] Without his desire, without his choice, nobody gets blown on. Nobody comes alive. But it is by the spirit that people come alive.
[22:00] The breath breathes where it pleases. So it is with everyone born of the spirit. And I think it makes you stop and think, if God's blown on me to make me spiritually alive, what a wonderful privilege that is.
[22:19] That God should choose to breathe on me. If I have spiritual life, God decided to breathe on me.
[22:30] That's an amazing thing, isn't it? I ought to be grateful for that. It's something beyond our control. It's something that he decided to do. It's what we call a sovereign work of God.
[22:43] And John's gospel is quite into the sovereignty of God. That God, it's God who decides, who is going to bless, and it's all down to him.
[22:56] We should say, thank you, Lord. If you've blown on me, thank you for doing that. Because I never deserved it. I never had the idea it was you who decided to do it.
[23:10] So let's just work out, before we sing this song, why must you be born again? Why must you be born again? Because sight, you can't see the kingdom.
[23:24] You can't. Entry, you can't enter the kingdom unless you're born again. And power, you can't do anything spiritually unless you're born again.
[23:38] You are stuck in the flesh. You must be born again. And Jesus said that to Nicodemus, and he says it to us today. You must be born again.
[23:52] God must blow on your life. Otherwise, you are spiritually dead and stuck. No matter how clever you are, no matter how strong you are, no matter how hard you try to be a good person, it doesn't get you anywhere.
[24:08] You must be born again. So that's one set of reasons why. And he says to Nicodemus, you should actually have known this from the Bible.
[24:19] You are Israel's teacher, he says in verse 10. You don't understand. I tell you the truth, he says. I'm telling you what the truth is. You should have known this from your Hebrew Bible. You should have known that having the law, having the Torah, doesn't actually change people's hearts.
[24:36] Knowing what they should do doesn't help them to do it. And you've got hundreds and thousands of years of history that demonstrates the powerlessness of the law. And you should have looked in your Bible to see the prophecies that when God acts to fulfill his promises, he will pour out the Spirit, like it says in Isaiah 44.3.
[24:56] Or like it says that he will give a new heart because it's what inside somebody that makes is the issue. And that's what it says in your Bible in Ezekiel 36.26.
[25:08] And you should believe what I say, says Jesus. I've come from heaven. I know what I'm talking about. Believe our testimony. Believe what the Bible says. It's the book full of truth. That's what it says.
[25:19] That's what you need. Realize it. And don't say, I'm a clever person. I'm smart. I don't need it because Jesus says, you must be born again.
[25:29] We're going to sing a song now. Okay, boys and girls. So you're still there. And we're going to think now about this second thing, which is uplifted death.
[25:42] So that's what we're looking at before, that flesh gives birth to flesh, spirit gives birth to spirit, you must be born again. And the question is, how can human beings get this spiritual, this change of spiritual life?
[26:00] Because as we said, it's something of God's sovereignty. But that doesn't mean that we just sit and wait for it to happen. And Jesus says, there's something you should be doing.
[26:12] And here is what it is. That's what we're going to look at. And he says, I want you to look at something. Okay, let's just try looking, shall we? Shall we try looking at that window?
[26:26] Did that work? Okay, good. We're just practicing looking. There's something we want to look at. And he wants us to look here. Right, let me tell you this story. It's a story from the Old Testament.
[26:38] It's in Numbers 21, verse 4 and onwards. And it's like this. Okay, are you with me, boys and girls? Looking here, I'll do it quickly. They were crossing the desert. The people were crossing the desert to get to the promised land.
[26:50] There's the desert. There's a cactus, except there aren't any cactuses, I don't think, but anyway. And the people, as they were crossing the desert, grumbled. Don't like this.
[27:03] Oh, look. They were grumbling. And there they are, grumbling. And grumbling is a sin. It's one of the sins that God singles out with idolatry and other things as well.
[27:17] We didn't realize that grumbling is a sin, but it is a sin. And they grumbled against God. They said, God's not a very good God. God's not a very caring God. God's not a very competent God.
[27:27] And God says, I'm not having that. That's sin. I'll show you how much I dislike that. And he sent snakes as a judgment.
[27:39] So there's a snake. What do snakes do to people if you're not careful? What do snakes do to people if you're not careful? What do you want to avoid from a snake?
[27:51] Kill them. Yeah, that's right. Well, come on, let's have a round of applause. Kill them. And how do snakes kill people? There's various ways, but I'm thinking of one in particular. Wow, that's a very technical answer.
[28:04] They inject venom into their body. Yes, they'll bite you. Yeah, well done. I think you deserve a PhD for that. Well done. And snakes are like the king of the desert.
[28:15] The lion is the king of the jungle and the snakes are like the king of the desert. They're the chief enemy. And a snake bite can make people ill. So that's give a snake bite on the leg there.
[28:27] Or it can actually kill people so it can make them ill or it can kill them. So there's a, somebody's pretty poorly with snake bite. This is what the story is.
[28:38] Now, does anybody know what Moses did back in those days to cure people from snake bite? So that's what we're going to do, but you might get there before me.
[28:49] Do you know what he did? He hung a snake on a cross. He, I'll say pole. He put a snake on a pole. Yeah, that's right.
[28:59] Well done. Oh, that's really good. Okay. I'll sit down now because that's my next point. This snake bite was God's judgment on these grumbling people and the cure was that Moses made a model snake out of, do you remember what he made the model out of?
[29:18] Bronze. Yeah. Some bronze. Let's take it as bronze. And he put it on a, which is what we just said. He put the snake on a pole and he lifted up the pole.
[29:32] And there, let me just click back one. So what's he doing? He's saying, the snakes think they're the king. They'll go and get, I can get you.
[29:48] Injecting venom. Ah, like that. But Moses is saying, oh no, you nasty snake. You won't get us. We'll get you. And we'll stick you on a pole and make you look stupid because you're stuck up on the pole.
[30:03] You can't get down off there. You can't get anybody. And we're going to look at you and go, meh, like that to the snake. Let's imagine the window as the snake on the pole. So we look at the snake on the pole and we all go, meh, meh, like that, the snake on the pole.
[30:20] So powerless, disgraced, stupid snake. We've beaten you. And you're dead and useless on that pole. And when people looked at the snake, as they looked at the snake on the pole, they were cured.
[30:35] Oh, there they are looking. And then they got better. So that's nice. Let's get them better. There they are. Yippee, we're better. And God had sent the judgment, but he also sent a way of escaping the judgment so that they could move from being the judged people to being the people that God approved of.
[30:57] Hooray! And they did it by looking at the snake on the pole. Now Jesus says, it's going to be the same way with me. Which is what you were thinking of before, wasn't it?
[31:10] Because you said half of it. And Jesus says, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
[31:21] So the Son of Man is Jesus and he gets lifted up. How does Jesus get lifted up? He does get lifted up in glory.
[31:32] That is a correct answer. But there's a particular sort of lifting up that he has in mind here. Anybody like, yes? He died.
[31:43] Yeah. And what did he die on? On the cross. And if you could imagine, instead of the snake on the pole, we would imagine the cross, not with a snake stuck to it, but with Jesus stuck to it.
[32:04] And you don't do this, but people would have gone, because Jesus looked dead and useless and disgraced and shameful and powerless on the cross.
[32:24] That's how he looked. But God says, when he was up there on the cross, looking powerless, he was doing the most powerful thing.
[32:40] And when he was on the cross looking stupid, he was doing the wisest thing. And when he was on the cross looking finished, he was actually starting a great new thing.
[32:55] And he says, you need to look at the cross and you need to see there the answer to all the things that are to do with me.
[33:09] The forgiveness of my sins. Hope for the future. And as we look at Jesus, we don't see somebody that we think, yeah, I hate you.
[33:22] We look and see somebody we think, he's wonderful. Fancy doing that for me. He's not my enemy. But the very best friend anybody could ever have.
[33:36] And Jesus says, the Son of Man must be lifted up. He was disgraced. But look to him. Those who look and see something they can trust in and believe in him, don't just get cured of snake bite.
[33:55] They get eternal life. And he doesn't say, I want you to be very clever. He doesn't say, I want you to invent lots of new technology.
[34:09] He doesn't say, I want you to try your best to be good. What he says is, look. And anybody can look.
[34:24] Look to Jesus Christ on the cross. That is, to look at him is eternal life.
[34:34] God so loved the whole world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
[34:53] And Jesus, in a sense, was crucified in public. Anybody can look. Whatever your nationality, whatever your age, whatever your situation in life, you can look at him and believe in him and have eternal life.
[35:10] Which is an amazing thing. There's a story about the preacher Spurgeon who didn't know how to get eternal life and knew that he needed it but didn't know how to get it.
[35:33] And one, I think, one snowy evening, Sunday evening, he went into a church he hadn't been in before and the preacher was preaching, look to me and be saved all the ends of the earth.
[35:46] And this young man, Spurgeon, as he then was, later became the famous preacher. The man looked at him as he sat under the balcony and said, young man under the balcony, you look miserable, look to the Lord and be saved.
[36:00] Anybody can look, look to the Lord and be saved. And Spurgeon looked and he was saved. And maybe you can do that this morning too. We're going to sing another song.
[36:13] Thank you very much. Come to Jesus and rest in him. Right, boys and girls, just one more thing to talk about which is a divided judgment.
[36:24] You remember with the exam result, you open it and you find you could be over here. Oh, or you could be over here.
[36:34] Hooray! Now then, moths and woodlice. Boys and girls, how many of you know what a moth is? Okay, hands down.
[36:48] How many of you know what a woodlouse is? Okay, good, right. Here's a light. Now then, do you know what moths do when there is, in a dark room, if there is a light?
[37:01] Do you know what moths do in a dark room when there is a light? Yeah? Attracted by the light?
[37:12] Well done. Anybody down here was going to say something? What were you going to say? They go around it, don't they? They go like that. And if you were in a place where there was a lot of moths, because I was in Sri Lanka once, we don't have so many insects these days, at least certainly not in Brighton, the city, but when I was in Sri Lanka, the power failed and a lady went and got a sort of a paraffin lamp and put it in the middle of the sort of meeting room and when she switched it on, there was a whole tidal wave of moths and they went and the room was filled with moths just going around the light.
[38:01] It was really a bit frightening actually, but moths go towards the light. So there's a single moth. It's their nature to go towards the light.
[38:13] And what do wood lice do? So if you're in a dark room and you've got a torch and you're looking for something and you see a wood louse, what does the wood louse do when the light shines on it?
[38:26] Scuttles away. What were you going to say? Curls up. Is that what you said? Yeah, they can do that. They sort of hide, don't they? The one I'm looking for is to scuttle away and hide.
[38:40] Sorry. I quite like the dark, because in our garden, we have logs and stuff in dark places. Oh, well done.
[38:52] She's saying in dark places and they've got logs and underneath the logs, if you lift up the logs, you've got lots of wood lice hiding in that dark, damp place under the logs.
[39:02] So that's what wood lice do. Yeah, well done, well done. It's the nature of moths to go to light and it's the nature of wood lice to hide from the light. That's just the way they are.
[39:14] And Jesus says people are either moths or wood lice. People are either moths or wood lice.
[39:25] They either, let's just do this. Here are the people who are wood lice, wood lice people. And Jesus says, this is the verdict, this is the judgment.
[39:36] Light has come into the world, but men love darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. They stand condemned, they don't come to Christ, they hide away from him.
[39:53] And this is what people are naturally, they're wood lice people. They don't believe, they don't come to Jesus, they love darkness rather than light because Jesus says their deeds are evil.
[40:12] That's quite a strong thing for Jesus to say because when he says that he's covering all sorts of people who, as we look at them, are probably living quite respectable lives, quite good lives, quite comfortable lives, but Jesus says as God looks at them, he doesn't put them in this box, I approve of those people, he says actually you're wood lice people and I fail you.
[40:42] If you open the envelope which says how am I with God, it says failed. Because these people need to be born again. no matter how much flesh they do, they're not born again.
[40:59] These are wood louse people. Their deeds are evil. It's embarrassing. It's worse than failing exams. It's worse than opening an envelope with a bad medical report in it.
[41:11] It's worse than opening an envelope which says you've been caught speeding. It says you are under God's settled disapproval. He does not think you're great.
[41:23] He does not think you're wonderful. He thinks that if you carry on the way you're carrying on you'll go to hell. That's a terrible thing isn't it?
[41:35] And I suppose the problem is that we don't quite register that as bad as it is. Sometimes our pain systems don't actually tell us how bad things are.
[41:48] But here Jesus says if you don't come to me if you don't believe in me if you're not born again this is how bad it is with you.
[42:02] If you carry on like that you'll go to hell. You must be born again. And here are the moth people.
[42:14] He says in verse 21 whoever lives by the truth comes into the light that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. These are the born again people.
[42:25] This is what Jesus says you've looked to the cross you've believed you've come to Jesus you now walk in the light rather than hiding away in the darkness and your life is lived in the sight of God and believe it or in the power of the Holy Spirit that is your life and in 1 Peter he says you keep coming to him it isn't just something you do once you keep looking to him Christian you're doing this you keep looking to the cross you keep coming to Jesus and John says in another place you walk in the light it doesn't mean you be perfect but it means that you're quick to confess sin you're quick to come away and you know the power of his blood in your life cleansing you from sin day by day moths and woodlice which one are you if you're a woodlouse person here is your opportunity to change if you've been running away and hiding in the dark come into the light come to
[43:42] Jesus ask him to shine his light on you ask him to show up all the dark places don't hide them from him say to him this needs forgiving this needs to change you come and do whatever you want in my life come to the light come to Jesus don't hold back don't say yes but say yes yes yes to Jesus come to him remember that when he died on the cross in shame!
[44:12] that's the key thing he did and he did it for you put your trust in what he did put your trust in him and I promise you that if you do that you will have eternal life you'll never perish but have eternal life there's no reason why you should not do that he calls you to do that and he wants you to do that he tells you to do it you do that by his grace by his help and turn from being a woodlouse person with a failure as you open the envelope to being a moth person who's come to Jesus with eternal life who is not condemned but blessed received adopted welcomed loved forgiven and all of those things so we looked at first of all an impossible birth to be born again we looked at an uplifted death
[45:15] Jesus lifted up on the cross and we looked at a dividing judgment what you make of Jesus when you look at him or run away from him is the thing that divides people it's a dividing judgment and we've said there's a very simple truth here you must be born again why because without it you can't you must be born again it was said I think it was to George Whitefield who often preached you must be born again Mr.
[45:47] Whitefield why do you keep on preaching that you must be born again and Mr. Whitefield said sir the answer to that is perfectly simple I preach you must be born again because you must be born again