Born of the Spirit

[0:00] My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My god My I'm sorry.

[1:00] I'm sorry.

[1:30] I'm sorry.

[2:00] I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[2:32] He's going to go away, but a comforter is going to be sent, namely the Spirit, which would be His very personal presence with them.

[2:44] And one of the things that we learned about that is the fact that you and I, if we are followers of Jesus, have the personal presence of Jesus with us every single day.

[2:57] Every single day. That is really comforting. And you may say again, like we talked about, well, I don't sense the Spirit.

[3:07] I don't sense Jesus' presence with me. That's your dullness. Not the, I say that with love. It's not because the Spirit's any less there.

[3:20] I talked about it, the fact that you don't wake up in the morning being like, oh, there's my breath, right? You just kind of, like, you just take your breath, your own ruach for granted. And the same way we do the Holy Spirit.

[3:33] Jesus' personal presence is with us every single day. That's the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Well, now we're going to look at another passage in John where Jesus also talks about the Spirit.

[3:47] By the way, the whole series won't be in the Gospel of John. But Jesus talks a lot about the Spirit in this Gospel. It's a very famous story. But as we will see, I think there are things in this passage that we have often overlooked.

[4:01] So let's turn our attention to John 3. And we'll begin reading at verse 1 and read down to verse 8. I'll ask you, if you're able to do so, to please stand as we honor the reading of God's Word.

[4:14] So there was a man of the Pharisees, and his name was Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews. And he came to Jesus by night, and he said to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do the things that you do unless God is with him.

[4:32] And Jesus answers him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus said, how can a man be born when he's old?

[4:46] I mean, can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

[5:01] That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do you marvel? Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again.

[5:13] The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

[5:25] Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for this opportunity tonight to study your Word. Lord, help us understand more of the Holy Spirit, of the personal presence of Jesus that is with us each and every day.

[5:39] And I pray that you would come and bring refreshment and healing and restoration on any broken, dry hearts that are in this place tonight.

[5:53] And we ask this for your glory, that you do what only you can do. And we pray it in Jesus' name. And God's people said, amen. Amen.

[6:03] You can be seated. Amen. When Rufino Berrigo was 13 years old, his doctors informed him of some pretty devastating news.

[6:15] He was diagnosed with MS. And as I'm sure most of you know, MS is a disease that progressively weakens the muscles, and it eventually confines someone to a wheelchair for the rest of their life.

[6:31] Now, when he received the news, of course, he was devastated by this, but he just, he believed them. After all, they were the doctors.

[6:42] They're the experts. And for the next 43 years, the next 43 years, Rufino spent his life in a wheelchair.

[6:53] His entire life was shaped by this reality. It impacted the way he thought about himself. It impacted his daily routine.

[7:05] It impacted the things that he thought he could do, the things he thought he could not do. And he was just convinced that this is how my life is always going to be.

[7:17] Until one day, he went to a different physician, a neurologist, who actually discovered something pretty shocking.

[7:32] What the doctor discovered was that Rufino didn't have MS. He actually had a different muscle condition, known as myasthenia.

[7:43] And what's different about that condition is, unlike MS, myasthenia can actually be treated with basic medication.

[7:57] Rufino began the treatment, and it actually wasn't very long. It was a short amount of time, and after over four decades of life in a wheelchair, he was able to walk again.

[8:09] Now, on one hand, that's wonderful news, right? It's wonderful news, but I think you're feeling what I'm feeling. I mean, like some of the, oh my.

[8:21] Like, what hits me about this is while it's wonderful news that that was discovered, imagine living four decades of your life, believing in something, orienting your entire life to a particular reality only to discover it's not true.

[8:45] That's what strikes me about this, is that for four decades, he lived in confinement when he could have had freedom.

[8:57] Are you with me? And I don't know if you can feel the mixed emotion of that. On one hand, the joy of finally being free and being able to walk, and yet the frustration of realizing you've spent almost all of your life living the wrong way.

[9:19] Now, my guess is tonight, most of us know that frustration, and of course, it's certainly not to the level of what Rufino experienced, but we know that feeling. This is the feeling I'm talking about, that when your entire approach to life ends up being the wrong approach to life.

[9:37] That's really frustrating, amen? And it's not always like in really, really big things like with what Rufino went through. Sometimes it happens in really small ways.

[9:49] How many of you, be honest, how many of you have ever been driving somewhere, and somewhere on the journey, somewhere along the way, you realized you're driving in the wrong direction?

[10:00] That you're going completely the opposite way, right? And of course, if you're a guy, you're just saying, I'm not lost, right? No way, I'm not lost, I'll figure it out. But you know that feeling.

[10:12] Or how many of you have ever been building something before, and somewhere in the process, you realized, I've got to start all over. I've been building this thing the wrong way.

[10:25] Some of you may be in a relationship. You begin to realize, wait a minute, wait a minute. I've been approaching this person entirely the wrong way, and I need to rethink my approach to this individual.

[10:40] Now, both personally and pastorally, I've experienced this, where a lot of people that have read their Bible all their life come to the realization that they've been approaching the Bible entirely the wrong way.

[10:58] Anybody know this frustration? Do you know this frustration, whether it's big or small, of orienting your life around something only to discover it was the wrong approach?

[11:10] Well, if you think that's frustrating, examples like I just gave, imagine this, Faith Family. Imagine spending your entire life approaching God one way, only to discover you've been approaching God the wrong way.

[11:27] That's serious. Amen? That's really, really serious, and it is exactly what's happening here in John chapter 3. Look again at verse 1.

[11:38] It says, There's a man of the Pharisees. His name is Nicodemus. He's a ruler of the Jews, and he comes to Jesus by night, and he says to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, because clearly no one could do the signs that you do unless God is with him.

[12:03] And then Jesus says, Truly, truly, I say to you, Nicodemus, unless you're what? Unless you're born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

[12:15] Now, as I said earlier, this is a really well-known story. Probably most of you have heard it in some way before. One of the reasons why this story is so familiar is because of the phrase born again.

[12:28] In fact, there was actually an entire category of Christian that got developed based on this phrase. You've heard it before, right?

[12:39] Oh, you're one of those born-again Christians. They usually don't mean that as a compliment. Because usually, in fact, maybe today the word is evangelical as much as the word born-again.

[12:52] And the stereotype... Now, I would argue there is no Christian that's not a born-again Christian, right? I mean, there's not a different category. Every Christian is a born-again Christian, as we'll see in a moment.

[13:05] But the stereotype that often gets associated with a born-again Christian is this person that has, like, a radical experience with Jesus.

[13:16] They tend to become very, very moral. They tend to become, like, really serious, like, almost obnoxious about their faith.

[13:27] That's why it's, like, not a compliment. Oh, you're a born-again Christian. And certainly in, like, the 70s and 80s, when this phrase was used really popular in American culture, these were individuals that became very politically involved.

[13:43] That was certainly true in the 70s and 80s, and even still today. And so the stereotype is almost like a born-again Christian is this person that goes from pagan to, like, Puritan.

[13:57] Are you with me? You know, it's like you're just really devout and really zealous and really, really serious about your faith. Is everybody with me? Here's why I take the time to expound on that.

[14:10] What's interesting to me about that stereotype is that the first time that this phrase, born-again, is really ever used, at least in this way, is John chapter 3.

[14:25] And who is told to be born again? A man extremely moral, political, and zealous about his faith.

[14:37] Are you with me? Right, right. Who is Nicodemus? Well, the text tells you he's a Pharisee, which immediately tells us some things about him. He's very devoted to the Old Testament.

[14:50] He prays daily. Nicodemus is essentially a religious studies professor. He's a teacher. He's a teacher of the law. He's very involved in the politics of the day.

[15:04] The text says he's a ruler of the Jews. That's a political office. He's a very highly respected individual in society.

[15:15] And he's been this way for decades. He's an older man. You say, Pastor, what point are you making? Here's the point I'm making. You couldn't invent a more moral, political, or religious person if you tried.

[15:31] And yet Jesus tells him, you have to be born again. That should tell you something. Now notice that Nicodemus comes to Jesus at what time?

[15:43] At night. At night. Now there's two main reasons for this. You've probably heard of some of this before. But one of the reasons why John emphasizes that Nicodemus comes at night is that John loves contrast.

[15:58] If you read the Gospel of John, what you're going to discover, and particularly this metaphor, John loves extremes like light and darkness. And he usually uses that metaphorically.

[16:12] That is to describe the spiritual condition of somebody. Are you with me? For example, look at John chapter 13 and verse 30. It says, Judas, after he betrayed Jesus, went out and it was not.

[16:27] Do you think John just like tacked on, oh, by the way, I want you to know that it was nighttime. Okay? He's not, I mean, he is telling you the time of day, but he's telling you more than just the time of day.

[16:40] He's telling you the spiritual condition of Judas. Do you remember, do you remember the passage in John that says, light has come into the world, referring to Jesus.

[16:50] And men don't love the light because they love darkness. Because they're, or do you see, John loves to emphasize the light and dark contrast, to tell the reader, hey reader, hey reader, this is the spiritual condition of Nicodemus.

[17:11] Do you see that? He comes at night. Now there's also probably a more practical reason why Nicodemus does this. And that's given the mess that Jesus is causing among the religious leaders.

[17:24] I mean, I mean, if you go into the temple and you turn over the tables, they're probably not going to love you. Right? And so he's not very popular among the religious leaders.

[17:36] And so Nicodemus probably doesn't want to be seen having this conversation during the day. And being the good politician that Nicodemus is, he comes to Jesus and he's like, hey man, let's make a deal.

[17:49] Let's make a deal. Verse two. He comes to Jesus at night and he says to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God. No one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him.

[18:01] You can, if you think about the context here, Nicodemus is essentially saying, listen, Jesus, let's have a talk. You know, the establishment doesn't really like you.

[18:12] And you're a teacher. That's obvious. I'm a teacher. Let's work together. Let's figure something out.

[18:23] Like, like surely we can come to some type of an agreement to, you know, like, let's just tone down all the conflict that's going on. And Jesus doesn't really like political games.

[18:39] Have you noticed? And so he just goes straight to the heart. He cut, he, like, Jesus doesn't say, well, thank you, Nicodemus. Wow. That was, it was really polite introduction.

[18:50] And you're right. I'm a teacher too. And where would you like to begin? No, no. What is, how does Jesus respond? Verse three, Jesus answered him. Truly, truly. I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot enter or cannot see the kingdom of God.

[19:08] Now you, you have to understand how insensitive Jesus is being. Jesus is being here. Nicodemus started the conversationally politely, right?

[19:20] Didn't he? Hey, you're clearly from God. You're doing some great things. And Jesus just interrupts it and says, you think you see the kingdom, but I'm telling you, Nicodemus, you don't see it and you can't see it unless you're born again.

[19:39] And Nicodemus is right away like, oh, this is how the conversation is going to go. And you remember what Jesus does next, right? He tells Nicodemus to pray the sinner's prayer.

[19:50] And he says, dear Lord, dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I'm a sinner. I asked for your forgiveness. I mean, isn't that what you do to be born again?

[20:01] I'm being sarcastic. That doesn't happen here, right? No, because that's not what born again is about. There's no sinner's prayer offered here. Jesus just simply says, you got to be born again.

[20:13] Now, now, what does that mean? Who wants to learn a little Greek? Bible nerds. Come on, Bible nerds. Let's learn some Greek. You knew you were going to learn it anyways.

[20:25] The Greek word here is anathen. Anathen. And it can mean again. It can mean again. And likely does in one sense.

[20:36] But have you ever noticed how language tends to have double meaning? Like you can use a word and it can mean different things depending upon the context, right?

[20:49] I mean, if I walked up to you and I said, man, you really nailed it. What do I mean? That's right. It might mean that you did a really great job. It might mean that you like hung a picture on the wall, right?

[21:02] No, you, you, you actually nailed something. It's the same phrase. It's the same word, but it can have a couple of different meanings. So, so that's just how language works. And in this case, anathen can mean again, but it actually has another meaning.

[21:19] That's more likely. In fact, if you have like a little footnote in your Bible, you'll, you'll see it there. And it means from above, from above.

[21:30] So in a very literal sense, Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, unless you're born from above, you can't see the kingdom of God. In fact, that word gets used later. I'll look at verse 31 of chapter three.

[21:43] He who comes, say it, Anathen, Anathen from above is above all. And he who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way and so on and so forth.

[21:54] Okay. So, so who is the one who's from above? Jesus. Jesus is the one that's from above. So, so what you have going on here in this phrase born again is probably a word play.

[22:07] It's a word. Yes, it's to be born again, but it, but it's also the idea of you got to be born from above. Essentially, what Jesus is saying is, Nicodemus, you have spent your entire life approaching God the wrong way.

[22:22] You've spent decades of your life approaching God. You think you see the kingdom of God, but you do not see the kingdom of God. And here's why you don't see it.

[22:32] Listen, faith family, because your approach to God is from below. You think it's about offering up sacrifices.

[22:44] You think it's about your morality. You think it's about your religious activity. But I'm telling you, as long as you think that entering God's kingdom is from below, you'll never see it.

[23:00] What you have to see is that the kingdom of God is from above. It's anathom. It's anathom. And if you don't come to see that, you will never see God's kingdom.

[23:15] Here's in short what Jesus is saying. Is everybody still with me? I haven't lost you. Nicodemus, you're going to have to start over. Decades of your life approaching God one way, and you're never going to see God's kingdom if you don't start over.

[23:33] You're approaching the wrong way. And notice Nicodemus' response in verse 4. Nicodemus said to him, well, how can a man be born when he's old?

[23:46] Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb? Now, notice this on the Screed Faith family. Nicodemus here is not stupid. We tend to think like, oh, Nicodemus is just clueless.

[23:58] He's not clueless. He's smarter than anybody in this room. He's not stupid. He's being sarcastic. Here's what I believe is going on here.

[24:09] Jesus tells an elderly educated man who has taught the Bible, the Old Testament, his entire life that he needs to start over. Anathom.

[24:22] And what does that mean? I don't, or I don't think Nicodemus is saying, I don't really understand what that means, Jesus. I think what he's saying is, what is this nonsense you're speaking of?

[24:35] Me? Me? Start over? Well, like what am I going to do? Crawl back into my mother's womb or something? Do you see? I think it's sarcasm.

[24:45] He's not clueless. He's saying, how would you tell someone like me who has a PhD in approaching God that I've got to start over?

[24:58] Are you crazy? Like crawling back into my mother's womb or something like that? Why would I need to start over?

[25:10] Now, I actually think what Jesus is doing here, are you with me? Are you with me? I think what Jesus is doing here with Nicodemus is what he does with the Pharisees in other places, but in particularly the Gospel of Matthew.

[25:23] Look at Matthew 21 and verse 31. Jesus says, truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

[25:36] No wonder Jesus had no friends. No wonder Jesus had no friends. Right? Like, you're just going to say that? Like, how do you think a Pharisee is going to respond to that kind of statement?

[25:48] Not well. But come in here, come in here. What does Jesus mean? Here's what Jesus means. Listen, listen. when you're someone that has hit rock bottom, you don't have to be convinced that you need to start over.

[26:09] Please let that sink in. When, when you're the kind of person that has come to the end of yourself, saying to them, you got to start over, they're like, I know I do.

[26:22] I know I do. But it's really, really hard to tell the religious experts you're doing it all wrong. Me?

[26:34] Why would you say that to me? Notice this on the screen, Faith Family. This will preach. Religious people are looking for a teacher. Sinners are looking for a savior.

[26:49] And that's why Nicodemus doesn't, he gets it. He gets it intellectually. He doesn't get it spiritually. Because how could someone like him be doing it wrong?

[27:03] Are you with me? Nicodemus' life is just fine. And so it may, to him, that is. And so it's difficult for him to understand why he would need to be born from above.

[27:18] But Jesus not only wants Nicodemus, and you're like, are we ever going to get to the spirit? Just calm down, right? We're working through the text. Impatient people. Right. Jesus not only wants Nicodemus to see the necessity of starting over, he also wants Nicodemus to understand the inability you have to start over.

[27:40] Look at verse 5. Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the... I told you we'd get there.

[27:51] Right? Right? He cannot... He cannot enter the kingdom of God. So, what does that mean? What does it mean to be born of water and born of the spirit?

[28:05] Have you ever wondered about that? You've probably been taught many different interpretations. This was the one I was taught growing up. Some of you probably were as well. As you were taught that to be born of water, for example, is that Jesus is referring to physical birth.

[28:21] You ever been taught that? Like when a woman's water breaks. And so Jesus is talking about physical birth, water, and he's talking about spiritual birth, spirit.

[28:35] That a woman's water breaking is nowhere on the horizon of the context of this passage. Amen? That's not what Jesus is talking about here at all.

[28:46] Others will be like, oh, it's baptism. Clearly, clearly, this idea of water, you've got to be born of water, must be referring to water baptism. Again, baptism is nowhere in the context of this passage.

[29:00] Pay attention to the language. Pay attention to the language. Nicodemus, at the beginning of the conversation, says, I know you're from God, for I can see your signs.

[29:12] And then Jesus says, no, no, no, no, you actually can't see unless you're born from above. And then Nicodemus responds, like, what, me?

[29:24] Start over? What am I going to do? Like, enter into my mother's womb? And Jesus says, no, actually, you can't enter without water and spirit. This is very important.

[29:36] Very important. Notice it on the screen. Jesus has not changed the topic. He's changed the language. Okay?

[29:46] Zone in here. He's not changed the... What He said when He said, you must be born anathen, He's saying the same thing when He says, you must be born of water and spirit.

[29:57] The topic hasn't changed. The language has changed. From above and water and spirit are the exact same thing.

[30:08] Now, why does Jesus change the language? Well, the text actually gives you a clue as to why Jesus uses this language of water and spirit.

[30:19] Look at verse 9. Nicodemus said to Jesus, well, how can these things be? And Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel?

[30:32] You're like a biblical studies professor at the university in Old Testament. And you don't know these things? You don't understand the language that I just used?

[30:48] What should Nicodemus know? The Old Testament. He's a teacher. And so Jesus isn't referring to physical water birth or water baptism.

[31:01] What He's referring to, are you still with me, is the Old Testament prophets. language. He shifts the language from Anathen to language of the Old Testament prophets that Nicodemus should have been like, oh, I know that.

[31:20] Language like this. Isaiah 44, verse 3. Pay attention, y'all. Come on. Come on. We're about to get it. Here we go. For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground.

[31:38] I will pour out My Spirit, so there's water and Spirit, upon your offspring and My blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.

[31:53] In other words, Isaiah here is speaking of a day, listen, when God will pour out His Spirit like water on a dry ground and life will come forth.

[32:08] Does everybody see that? That there's going to be a day when God's going to pour out His Spirit and it will be like water on a dry ground and it's going to bring life.

[32:19] So what does the Spirit do? Come on now. What does the Spirit do? He gives Anathen. He gives life from above.

[32:36] Light bulb, light bulb, right? It's the same thing. This life from above is the life of the Spirit like water on dead ground.

[32:51] That is language that Nicodemus should have known. And not only Isaiah, Ezekiel uses this language. Ezekiel 36, verse 25.

[33:02] I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I'll give you a new heart and a new spirit I'll put within you.

[33:16] I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

[33:31] Here's the point, Faith Family, right here. Both in Isaiah and in Ezekiel they speak of a day when God's presence comes from above.

[33:42] Anathen. And it gives life. It gives life. That is to be born again or born from above and to be born of water and spirit they're the same thing.

[33:56] Does everybody see that? We're not going to continue on until everybody says yes. Do you see that, right? It would be in your time interest to just say yes. In other words, here's the, let me summarize it together here.

[34:09] Nicodemus, you've been approaching God the wrong way all your life. you think your religion, you think your good works, you think your attempts from below to be right with God, you think all of those things come from within.

[34:40] But I'm telling you that new life only comes from above. And until that happens to you, you won't see the kingdom of God.

[35:02] And here's why. Verse 6. Here's why your attempts from below or from within won't work. Why it must be from above.

[35:15] It must be born of the spirit because flesh gives birth to what? Flesh. And it's the spirit that gives birth to spirit.

[35:28] Meaning, meaning the only thing that can bring you from spiritual death to spiritual life is the spirit of God. Flesh can't do that.

[35:42] You can't do that. You can't produce this. You can't manufacture this. This is from God.

[35:54] Do you see what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus? This would essentially be like, this is kind of a cheesy analogy, but I think it makes the point. Imagine that you have like an apple tree in your yard.

[36:05] Anybody like apples? Good. A few of you. You should eat an apple. They're actually quite delicious. Whatever. You have an apple tree, and you like apples, but you've eaten apples for so long you decide, as any normal person would, that you'd rather have peaches.

[36:25] I mean, you like apples, but you'd rather have peaches, and so what you're going to do to get peaches is that you're going to take your apple tree, and you're going to water it more faithfully, you're going to prune it way more intentionally with the hopes that next year, because of all those efforts, instead of apples, you'll get peaches.

[36:49] Okay? Now, what does everybody here know you're going to get next year? You're going to get apples. You're going to get apples. Why is that? Because this is the point.

[37:00] This is the point, and it preaches. The tree doesn't need a better routine. It needs a new root. You can give all the better routine you want.

[37:16] You cannot change the essence of what it is. Flesh gives birth to flesh.

[37:29] Please hear me, faith family. I love you. If you try to approach God from within, based on your own efforts, you will not see the kingdom of God.

[37:48] A fundamental change has to take place that you cannot engineer. It's the spirit of God that pours like water on a dry ground.

[38:05] New life into your soul. Are you with me? This is what the spirit does. Spiritual life cannot come from within.

[38:18] It can only come from above. That is through God's spirit. And here's what the spirit does. I've said this, but now I want you to visualize it. Is that like water?

[38:31] Imagine your heart like this dry and broken ground. And when the spirit is poured out on you, when you receive the spirit of God, this is what happens in your heart.

[38:51] All of a sudden, there's life and healing and restoration. And you can never do this on your own.

[39:05] But this is the work, this is the birth of the spirit in us. Amen? Now let's just stop for a moment and apply this.

[39:17] And then we'll finish it up. The first application I think is pretty obvious and that is the spirit and salvation. even after all this time of trying to preach the gospel, week in and week out here at Faith Family, I have to believe that either still intentionally or some of us unintentionally, we are still approaching the Christian life like a Nicodemus.

[39:52] We still think that our works somehow matter in our righteous standing before God. And I just want you to know that that is dead.

[40:09] That is dead. And what you need, what we need, is a gospel understanding of salvation.

[40:19] Are you with me? That my righteous standing before God does not come from within Nicodemus.

[40:29] It has come from above. And some of you are living decades in confinement when you could have freedom.

[40:43] You could have real, and you know who gives you that freedom? the Spirit of God. When you begin to realize, the Spirit has given me a life I could never achieve on my own, and I am now free.

[41:01] And that's the freedom I want so desperately for us. Religion thinks that you can achieve salvation. The gospel is you can only receive salvation through the Spirit of God.

[41:20] Amen? Amen. And if you already believe that, don't take that for granted. Because your heart wants to default back to Nicodemus, I guarantee it.

[41:32] And so learn the lesson here from Nicodemus to say, listen, my salvation is not by my self-effort. It's through the Spirit who has given me life.

[41:44] Secondly is the Spirit in sanctification. This is definitely true for all of us as followers of Jesus. Is that even as we are followers of Christ, there are areas or maybe times in our life when we're spiritually dead.

[42:04] Have you ever felt that way? Like in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Maybe there's areas that aren't growing in your life.

[42:16] There's areas that need water or refreshing or healing or restoration. Do you know who can do that? The Spirit of God.

[42:28] And I would encourage us as Christians tonight, like you already understand the gospel sense of this isn't me achieving, this is me receiving, but there's an area that it's just like this is passionless, dead, broken, calloused, Spirit, pour out on that.

[43:00] Bring life to this area that is dead. Bring in refreshment to this area where I feel nothing.

[43:12] Are you with me? That's the work of the Spirit, like water from above that brings refreshment to your soul.

[43:24] Amen? Amen? Now, how does one get this? How does one get this? This spirit, this life from above? I'm glad you asked. This will finish the passage.

[43:36] Verse 13. Pay very close attention to this language, Faith Family. When you study this verse after verse after verse, these things just come alive.

[43:48] Look at what Jesus says. No one has ascended into heaven except he who what? What does descended mean?

[44:00] Came down. He who descended from heaven, the Son of man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

[44:16] Lord, help me teach this because I know the light bulb that's happened in me and I want to be able to communicate it to you. So here's what I think is going on here.

[44:28] In verse 13, Jesus says no one can get to life except the one that came down from above.

[44:38] Do you see that? Jesus is the one that came down. And then he alludes to this really, let's just be honest, really bizarre story. Do you remember the story of Moses in the wilderness and the snakes?

[44:50] I try to forget it because I hate snakes, right? And every time I think about this story, I'm like, oh, awful. Can't imagine anything worse. The story was Israel ascend against God and these poisonous snakes crawl into their camp and start biting them.

[45:09] And they're literally dying because of this poison, these snakes. And what does God do? He tells Moses to take a bronze serpent to put it on a pole and to lift it up.

[45:20] You remember the story? And what happens is that everybody that looks to that pole and trust is healed. Does everybody see that?

[45:31] Okay, so what's actually happening here? They're given life by looking at the thing that is lifted up on the pole.

[45:43] That is, the very thing, listen, the very thing that's killing them is lifted up on a pole and becomes to them the very source of life.

[45:56] life. Please tell me everybody sees that. The thing that's killing you, these snakes, get put on a pole, this bronze serpent, lift it up and if you look to it, you actually get life.

[46:11] You're healed. And Jesus is saying, I think very obviously, that this foreshadows what? His death. That is, sin, the very thing that's killing us, was placed on Jesus and he was lifted up on the cross.

[46:30] That he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. Amen? And it's his death that actually brings us life.

[46:45] Now, stop. I know I'm running out of time. How does, because this is the way I think, the way I think.

[46:55] How does all this fit? Anathin from above, it's the same thing as water and spirit, the spirit from above and Jesus is the one who is sent from above.

[47:14] In fact, this will change the way you think about this popular verse. What's the very next verse? John 3, 16.

[47:26] For God so loved the world that he sent. He gave his only son, and whoever believes in him should not perish, but have this everlasting life.

[47:41] In other words, listen, here's the point. It is faith in the Savior by which we are then born of the Spirit.

[47:54] Faith in the Savior and what he did for us at the cross is the way in which we receive birth, refreshment, healing.

[48:09] By his wounds, we are healed. I'm going to tie one thing together and I'm done, I promise. You can trust me.

[48:23] I don't like that you're laughing. Okay, okay, so here it is. Lord, help me communicate this. Who is the Holy Spirit?

[48:40] Answer, the personal presence of Jesus Christ. Think, two weeks ago, I know you remember it, Genesis.

[48:54] God spoke word. Who's the word? Jesus. And from that was the ruach.

[49:09] Do you remember that? The Spirit that gave life in creation. That is joined together but distinct is word and breath.

[49:23] Are you with me? John 14. I'm leaving but I'm coming. How am I coming?

[49:36] The Spirit's coming. John 3. Who is the one that's come down from above? Jesus.

[49:48] What is life from above? The life of the Spirit. Please tell me you see what I see. Who is the Holy Spirit?

[50:03] He is the personal presence of Jesus Christ that brings new life to you. He's the comforter that allows me to know that the personal presence of Jesus is always with me and he is my source of life and when I look to Jesus by faith I experience the new life of his personal presence in mine.

[50:41] Amen? Amen? Amen. That's the really good news of the Holy Spirit. it. Well, like Rufino who spent decades of his life confined to something he didn't have to be confined to.

[51:00] For 43 years he woke up every day assuming that this is just how life will always be. But listen to me this evening.

[51:11] Listen. it wasn't until he saw a different physician that he finally became free. And today some of us are like that.

[51:25] Like Nicodemus we're stuck in a way of approaching God confined to patterns that you're convinced will never change and what you need is what Rufino needed.

[51:40] You need to see a different physician today. Not one that will offer you medication but one that will give you regeneration.

[51:55] The one whose very presence can give you new life. And all God's people said amen.

[52:07] Let's pray together. Lord thank you for at least for my sake in studying these passages a better understanding of the Holy Spirit.

[52:26] Of the very personal presence of Jesus. Life from above. Distinct and yet one.

[52:40] So I don't have to live each day with some type of mystical guessing of who the Spirit is. It's the very personal presence of Jesus that's with me.

[52:58] That can bring water to what is dry and dead. And it's interesting in the very next chapter the very thing Jesus offers the woman at the well is living water.

[53:20] So I pray tonight that this would be an evening of refreshing of renewal and restoration. For some in this room it's to realize that they've been approaching God entirely the wrong way just like Nicodemus.

[53:39] They think somehow they can be right from within. And I pray that your word to them tonight would be you can only be right with God from above by receiving by faith in Jesus the very spirit that gives you life.

[54:01] And others in this room that would recognize areas of deadness or brokenness and pray for your spirit to come and bring refreshment and restoration.

[54:15] And we come now to this time of remembrance where we think about our Savior crucified for us. and how it's through this very act of Jesus on the cross that we have been offered his life.

[54:34] He died our death to give us his life. May we remember that now in Jesus name. Amen. My