This is John chapter 3, verse 1 to 21.
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
! He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.
For no one who could perform the signs that you are doing, if God were not with them.
Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.
How can someone be born when they are old? Nicodemus asked.
Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born.
Jesus answered, Truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit.
You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again.
The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
So it is everyone born of the Spirit.
How can this be? Nicodemus asked.
You are Israel's teacher, said Jesus.
And do you not understand these things?
Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know and we testify of what we have seen.
But still, you people do not accept our testimony.
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe.
How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven.
The Son of Man, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
This is the verdict.
Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thank you, Anderson.
If we have not met, my name is Seth Campbell.
I get to be the pastoral trainee here at West Kilburn.
Very exciting job and very excited to be here with you this morning.
If you have a Bible, go ahead and turn it there to John 3.
We'll be looking at the passage multiple times.
If you don't have a Bible, you can grab one of those blue ones, maybe in a chair in front of you or in the pew beside you,
or you can look it up on your phone if you trust yourself.
So it is indeed the season of new, right?
Kids, you just started a new year.
How many of you are excited to start a new year at school?
That sounds about right.
Parents, how many of you were excited that your kids started back to school?
Fair enough.
So here at the church, we are going to be starting a new sermon series next week going through the book of Romans.
I very much encourage you to come back and to see Steve go through that.
But as we start this term off, we wanted to start with something simple because I know you guys,
your brains have been kind of churning a little bit as you go back to school.
So we're going to just make something really simple for us today.
And what I want it to be simple.
So it's going to be just a one-point sermon.
Now I know some of you, and you just heard that, said,
hey, that may mean that we get out of here a little bit early, huh?
And to that, I say, we'll see.
But the one point that I want to make today is really a question.
And I want you to answer this question.
The question is, am I a Christian?
When you walked in, you should have gotten an order of service.
It's that sheet of paper that's in front of you.
I want you to open it up.
And on the inside there, I want you to write that question.
Everybody in the room, I want you to write this question here.
Am I a Christian?
Now I know for some of us, that answer to that question just popped up right on top of our head, right?
You're like, Seth, I wouldn't be here at 11 a.m. on a Sunday if I wasn't a Christian.
But then maybe others of you that are in this room,
and your worst nightmare may have just come true.
You may say, ah, I knew I shouldn't have come.
I knew they were going to single me out.
Wherever you are on that spectrum,
I want you to wait about 20 minutes to answer that question.
See, church, if you've been in church for any amount of time,
you've probably heard one of those verses that we just talked about, right?
John 3.16.
When I was a kid, going to Sunday school,
I memorized it in the good old New King James Version.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
This verse is one of the most popular verses in the Bible, right?
You can find it on signs, wristbands, car decals.
You can even find it in the street.
See, this verse, John 3.16, is a microcosm of the gospel.
The German reformer, Martin Luther, even said that.
He said, John 3.16 is the gospel in miniature.
So this verse, right here, this one verse,
has the power to change your life.
And the question that we are asking today,
and that we need to answer, is, has it?
See, in Western Christianity, in 2025,
I believe that there is a lot of people
that have misunderstood what it means to be a Christian.
I think we think of Christianity
as our get-out-of-hell-free card.
We said a prayer, and we think we say a prayer
one point in time, and then we can live our lives
however we want, and then we get to the end of our lives,
big bad God, when he comes to punish us
for all of our wrongdoings, and say,
hey, not me.
I prayed that prayer that one time.
I'm good. No thanks.
No hell for me.
Church, I want you to listen to me here.
That is not Christianity.
You will never find that described in the Bible.
So, I want to ask the question,
and I want us to answer it honestly.
Am I a Christian?
We're going to look at one person
in two illustrations
to help us answer that question.
So, let's go ahead and dive in.
We're going to start where Scripture starts,
with Nicodemus.
So, Nicodemus, in verse 1,
it says that he's a part of the Jewish ruling council.
You can also know that,
call this the Sanhedrin.
These are the people that dedicated their lives
to the Scriptures.
So, if you had a question
about interpreting the Scriptures,
you went to the Sanhedrin.
You went to these guys.
When you hear these guys,
when you hear the word Sanhedrin,
I want you to think these guys had power.
See, these were the people
that the nation of Israel would have looked to
for rulings on religious matters.
And Nicodemus,
he was a part of these people.
And so, Nicodemus,
he comes to Jesus,
and he says,
Rabbi, we know
that you are a teacher of God.
Well, first of all,
where did this we come from, Nicodemus?
It's just you and Jesus.
See, Nicodemus,
when he says we,
he's referring to me
and the Sanhedrin,
this powerful group of people,
we've been thinking about it.
And we think
we figured you out, Jesus.
We think that you
are a wise teacher.
There's two things wrong
with this phrase.
Number one,
the title Rabbi.
Now, the word Rabbi
was a title of respect
in the first century.
It meant teacher
or wise one
or my great one.
So there's inherently
nothing wrong
with Nicodemus
calling Jesus Rabbi here.
But when he pairs it
with the second part
where he says,
we know you are
a teacher of God,
there's some subtext
that comes with that.
Nicodemus
is calling Jesus
a teacher.
He is defining,
Nicodemus is defining
who Jesus is
and what role
Jesus is going to play
in his life
to Jesus.
As I was thinking
about this,
it reminded me a bit,
imagine you have a toddler,
three, four years old,
and your toddler
comes up to you
as a parent
and says,
Mom, Dad,
listen,
I've been reviewing
the numbers
and I'm just not
liking what I'm seeing.
My bluey intake
has been down
by 34%.
And honestly,
you've started
introducing these things
into my diet
called vegetables.
And honestly,
I'm not a fan.
So here's what
I'm going to do.
You can still
cook me dinner
because honestly,
who wants to be bothered
with cooking dinner,
right?
But vegetables,
not so much.
Every dinner needs
to have chicken nuggets.
And then,
when it comes
to entertainment choices,
I'll take care of that.
Don't worry about that.
I got that under control.
If you genuinely
think about it,
it's preposterous, right?
You think,
what?
You can't do those things.
And yet,
is that not what Nicodemus
is doing to Jesus here?
And if I can push
just a little bit further,
is that not what we
will do the same thing
to Jesus?
We come to Jesus
with our predetermined
definitions of who he is.
And hey,
we're not rude about it.
We honor him, right?
We say,
hey,
he is a great teacher.
That's stuff that he said
about loving your neighbor.
Man,
that stuff is amazing.
I want to put that
into my life.
What about his way
of leadership?
Oh man,
I'd love to put that
and implicate,
put that into my work
and replicate it.
But not once
do we ask Jesus,
do we go to Jesus
and do we ask him
who he really is?
Instead,
we want to put him,
got a handy little prop here,
we want to put him
into a little box,
right?
And so we put him
in this box
and say,
hey,
where can you
benefit me
in this Jesus?
And see,
we want to put him
in this box
and then when it comes
to work,
we want to put him
over to the side.
But when something
goes wrong
in our life,
we want to take
this box out,
we want to pull Jesus
out of it and say,
Jesus,
something is wrong
with my life.
Can you fix it?
Will you fix it?
Why is this
going wrong?
So Nicodemus
pulls out his box
to Jesus
and he looks
at his box
and he says,
Jesus,
where do you
fit in here?
How does Jesus
respond?
Jesus tears
through the box.
He says,
I will not be
defined
by your box,
right?
He says,
no one,
look at the passage,
he says,
no one can see
the kingdom of God
unless they are
born again.
Jesus doesn't even
address Nicodemus'
question.
He says,
Nicodemus,
you are in the
wrong postcode.
I don't fit
into your box.
I don't fit
into anyone's box.
I am not just
a teacher.
I am your savior.
So let's look now
at two illustrations
that are going
to help us
understand what
Jesus means
by savior.
Help us to answer
that question
that we posed
earlier.
Am I a Christian?
Let's look at
the first example.
Look in your Bible
at verse 7.
It says,
you should not
be surprised
at my saying
you must be
born again.
The wind blows
wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound
but you cannot tell
where it comes from
or where it is
going.
So it is with
everyone born
of the spirit.
I have to admit
when I first read
this I had no idea
what Jesus meant
here.
It's like,
Jesus,
we were just
talking about
new birth.
Where does the
wind fit in
with all of this?
But if you take
a closer look,
Jesus is saying
the wind
is mysterious
but it is
felt.
We have a lot
of technology
today,
right?
We can forecast
with a decent
amount of accuracy
wind speed
and direction.
In fact,
if you're ever
having trouble
sleeping at night,
tune into something
called the shipping
forecast.
Anybody ever
heard of that?
This is literally
just a radio broadcast
of a man talking
into a microphone
and saying
wind speed,
direction,
and roughness
of the seas
around England.
So we have
a lot of
technology,
but can
technology
correctly
predict the
wind all
of the time?
No.
And if I was
to ask you
a question
a little bit
deeper,
do you even
know where
the wind
comes from?
Now,
before any
amateur
meteorologists
get on to me,
I know it
has something
to do with
currents and
fronts and
blah,
whatever,
but when
you're sitting
in your garden
or at the
park on a
warm September
evening,
and the
breeze blows
past your
face,
do you know
where that
breeze comes
from?
See,
you can't
handle the
wind with
your hands.
You can't
even see
the wind
with your
eyes,
right?
But you
do know
it's there.
I may not
be able to
identify the
spot where
it started
or the
exact spot
where it's
going to
end,
but I do
know it
is there.
I can see
the effects
of it,
all around
me.
Maybe it's
your hair
blowing in
the wind,
maybe it's
the leaves
rustling in
the trees,
or maybe
since we're
in London,
it's rubbish
skipping by.
Whatever it
is, you
can see the
effects of
the wind,
right?
Jesus is
saying the
same thing
is true of
the Christian
that is true
of the wind.
Salvation
is mysterious,
yes.
We're not
going to
know all
the ins
and outs
of salvation
until the
very end
of the
age.
But there
is one
thing that
you cannot
deny from
the scriptures,
and Jesus
says,
if you say
you're a
Christian,
you should
be able
to tell
that you're
a Christian.
J.C.
Ryle,
a pastor
in Liverpool,
he says it
like this,
the new
birth is
something that
cannot be
hidden.
there will
always be
visible fruits
of the
Spirit in
everyone that
is born
of the
Spirit.
So if
you're going
to answer
that question,
am I a
Christian,
with a
yes,
your life
has to
look different
than it was
before you
were a
Christian.
Let's take
a look now
at the
second
illustration,
which is
going to
be light
and darkness,
if you're
taking notes.
That starts
in verse
19.
So look
at the
verse 19
back in
your Bible.
It says,
this is
the
verdict.
Light
has come
into the
world,
but people
loved
darkness
instead of
light,
because their
deeds were
evil.
Everyone
who does
evil hates
the light
and will
not come
into the
light for
fear that
their deeds
will be
exposed.
But whoever
lives by
the truth
comes into
the light
so that it
may be
seen
plainly
that what
they have
done
has been
done
in the
sight of
God.
So the
end of
our passage
here,
we're going
to end
with the
motif of
light and
darkness to
help explain
what it
means to
be a
Christian.
But what
does light
and darkness
mean here?
Well,
light is
Jesus.
Jesus came
into the
world to be
the light
of the
world,
to save
people.
He came to
shine in the
darkness,
to give
hope.
Later on
in this
same gospel,
in John
H,
Jesus says
he is the
light of
the world.
world.
In 1
John 1,
the apostle
says that
God is
light and
there is
no darkness
in him
at all.
So if
we run
to the
light,
all we
have to
do is
run to
the light
and we
will be
saved.
But what
do we
as human
beings
prefer?
We
prefer the
dark.
See,
every use
of the
word
darkness
in the
gospel of
John,
the apostle
is talking
about
moral
and
spiritual
darkness.
It means
that every
person
that is
in
darkness,
that's
what this
means,
every person
that is
in
darkness
will
be
lost.
Paul
says in
Romans,
he says
it this
way,
for all
have
sinned
and fallen
short
of the
glory
of God.
Every
single
one of
us
is in
darkness,
to borrow
from
bane,
and the
dark night
rises,
right?
I was
born
into
darkness.
I was
molded
by it.
Decided
not to
do the
voice.
But just
like that
villain,
see,
we actually
like the
darkness,
don't we?
See,
to be
exposed to
the light
would be
painful.
See,
the light
refines,
it purifies,
it shows
our defects.
So in
order to
answer the
question,
am I a
Christian,
I'm going
to have
to expose
myself to
the powerful,
cleansing,
pure light
of Christ.
But see,
when you do
this,
don't think
that darkness
just automatically
goes away.
Darkness
wants to
hang on.
The enemy
will tell
you,
hey,
you don't
have to
give up
everything.
That bit
of you,
maybe that
addiction
that you
hold on
to,
you don't
have to
give that
up.
Maybe
that disdain
that you
have for
your
coworker,
you don't
have to
give that
up.
For kids
in the room,
they can say,
hey,
you don't
always have
to listen
to your
parents.
Parents,
you can
thank me
for that
one later.
The enemy
wants to
hold on.
But if we're
going to be
obedient to
Jesus,
we have to
fully surrender
ourselves to
the light.
put in
Tammy's
!
Tammy's
!
the point of this sermon is in order to answer yes to the question, am I a Christian, you need
to go home and clean up your life. You say, yes, yes, that's what I'll do. I'll go home. I'll work
harder. I'll be nicer to my parents. I'll smile more at the office. I'll say sorry to the people
that I was rude to. And by this time next week, I'll come back into this room and I'll be able
to answer that question, am I a Christian, with a yes. Can I ask you to listen carefully
one more time? That's not Christianity either. So then where does this leave us? If my works
do not save me, and just saying that I am a Christian does not save me, how do I become
a Christian? In this passage, Jesus tells Nicodemus, in order to be a Christian, you have to be born
again. Well, Jesus, what does it mean to be born again? It doesn't literally mean that you have to
be born out of your mother's womb again. Jesus answers that in the next verse. But what Jesus
is saying to Nicodemus, and what he means is in order to be a Christian, you must be completely new.
If you're going to be a Christian, you cannot just remodel parts of your life.
You have to give everything over to him. You have to be a completely new creation.
So how? How do you become that new creation? You have to believe in Jesus. That's what John 3.16
says, right? For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in him, believes in him, shall not perish but have eternal life. In order to be a new creation, you must
believe. Believe what, Seth? Look again at John 3.16. Believe that you were so precious and so valuable
in the eyes of God that he sent his Son for you. Believe that when he sent his Son, that Son lived a perfect
life and died on the cross for you. Believe that when Jesus died on the cross, the wrath and shame that we
deserve was laid on Jesus' shoulders. And believe that the shame and wrath that we deserve was buried in the grave
with Jesus in his death. And then believe. Believe three days later that Jesus did not stay dead,
but he rose to show who has ultimate victory over this world. Come on, church. Who has ultimate victory
over this world is Jesus. And you just have to believe.
If you believe this, you cannot be condemned. But if you reject this, you'll be left alone to defend
against a perfect, holy, righteous God at the end of your life.
So look at that question one more time. Am I a Christian? Has your life been radically changed
by Jesus Christ? Have you believed and realized that you bring nothing to the table in salvation?
Instead of what Jesus did on the cross that saves you? Have you believed that Christ is the one and only Savior?
And then because of that, you become a new creation and your life is different now than it was before?
Here in just a moment, we're going to have a moment of reflection as we take the Lord's Supper.
If you answered that question, am I a Christian, with a yes, then what we're about to do is a glorious,
glorious, glorious covenant that God has made with us.
So as we go to this time of reflection, I invite you to stop. If you answered yes to that question,
am I a Christian, I invite you to stop and to think about our Savior and the great sacrifice that he made for us.
I want you to reflect on his graciousness and love towards you and the sacrifice that he made.
But if you looked at that question and says, am I a Christian, and you would honestly answer it no,
no, then listen, we are extremely glad that you are here.
We believe that the good news that I just shared is for everyone, and we want you here to hear it.
But what we're about to do in the Lord's Supper is not for you.
It's not because we're some exclusive club,
but because the Lord's Supper is a sign of a covenant that God made with us.
It would be no more appropriate for you to take this cup and this bread
than it would be for you to wear this wedding ring that's on my finger.
So as the band is going to come up and sing, I invite you to reflect as well.
I've heard a lot of pastors say
that there'll be people that miss heaven by 18 inches,
the distance between your head and your heart.
You say that there is a God.
Great.
Later on in the Bible, the book of James,
James says even the demons know there's a God.
But have you believed that God came to save you,
and he is worth giving everything up for?
Reflect on that as we move to the supper.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, we thank you that this word that you have given us
is true yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
God, I thank you that the hope that is in these verses
is nothing that I have done, but everything that you have done.
God, it does not depend on me.
But when my life has been changed by you,
I can't help but to show it to those around me.
So Lord, I pray as this light shines today,
Lord, if there are people in this room
that would say that they are in darkness,
I pray that you'd bring them to life, God.
Bring them into the light.
Yes, it will be painful at times, but God, you can do it.
Lord, for those of us that are in the light,
that are followers of you,
Lord, I pray that we would never take this good news lightly.
Jesus lightly.
What you have done for us changes our life.
God, we thank you for that.
As we come to a moment here to reflect on what the cross means
and what it means that you took on our sins,
God, we pray this moment,
there would be people in the room
that would not have any shadow of a doubt
on what side of the light and dark they are on.
Lord, and we pray that you would bring people to you.
God, thank you for this day.
Thank you for this church.
Thank you for your word and your son.
Pray this in your name.
Amen.