You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.
Kids, we're going to start the sermon by inviting you up here.
Isn't that what you always wanted to do? Come up here during the sermon?
Come up here and we're going to talk on the steps for just a minute before some of you leave us.
We'll talk right over here.
Anybody who thinks you're a kid, you know.
All right. Do any of y'all like gifts?
Do you like presents?
Can I tell you something about this one?
It's empty. It's not a real present, okay?
I want to get that out of the way early before I disappoint you.
There's nothing inside, okay?
But I brought it because I really like presents too.
And we get presents at different times.
We've had multiple birthdays at my house this week.
Does anybody like having birthdays?
Yes.
Do you sometimes get presents on your birthdays?
Yes.
My birthday.
Yes.
Sometimes the gifts that we really, really want are ones that we don't have enough money to buy.
Have you ever had that?
There's something you really want, but you can't get it for yourself?
We had someone turn 16 in our house this week.
And I don't think she had enough money to buy a car.
Unfortunately, neither did her parents.
But when our kids were younger, they used to say things like,
Dad, will you buy me Disney?
Now, does any of you have enough money to buy Disney?
Yes.
I don't think so.
Buy me Disney?
I was like, oh, man.
But they really wanted to go to Disney World, right?
Sometimes there's something that you really want that you don't have enough money to get.
And your parents love you so much that they're able to give you a gift like that, right?
Something that you wanted that you couldn't give for yourself.
There's a verse that we're going to talk about in the sermon this morning that I think some of y'all have heard.
It talks about God giving us a gift that we can't get for ourselves.
Does anybody know John 3, 16?
Have you heard of that?
Can any of y'all help me figure out how it goes?
God so loved the world that he gave us his only son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Very good.
Each of us got parts of that, right?
God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God, can you give yourself life?
Did you give yourself life when you were born the first time?
No, you weren't in charge of that.
Can you give yourself life?
No.
But what does God do?
God gives us Jesus.
That's right.
God gives us Jesus, his son, so that we can have life.
Life with him.
Life forever.
Forever.
Did you know God loves you that much?
Kind of like sometimes your parents give you a picture of that in their love for you.
He loves you so much that he gives his son for you.
I want you, some of y'all are about to leave, I know.
But those of you who stay in here, I want you to listen to the sermon.
I especially want you to watch when we celebrate the Lord's Supper.
Maybe you'll come up with your family as we celebrate the Lord's Supper.
And remember, as you do, how much God loves you and the gift that God gave you through his son of life with him forever.
Okay?
Can we pray about that before you go back?
God, thank you for that great gift.
Thank you that you love us so much.
I pray that these kids would know that love.
That they'd experience that from others and their families and this church family.
That they would know today that they can live with you forever.
For the rest of their lives here and through eternity.
We thank you for that great gift.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
All right, those of you in kindergarten and first grade, if you go right out that back door,
Miss Beth will be back there to meet you for kids' worship.
And the rest of you can go back to where you were sitting.
Thank you all for coming up here.
Perhaps you've heard that verse before.
It's a great verse.
We're going to cover 21 verses this morning.
Maybe you've forgotten.
You've heard it so many times you forgot the context that we find it in.
The context of John 3.16 is a conversation between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus.
Nicodemus is a religious leader in Jerusalem.
Perhaps the foremost Jewish theologian of his day.
And he comes to this new on the scene teacher with some questions.
He's wrestling with who Jesus is.
And what the implications of that would be for his life.
And so he comes to Jesus.
Before we start reading this story, let me just say, that's such a great idea.
Maybe you have questions of your own.
Things that you're uncertain about in life.
Confusion surrounding who Jesus is and what that will mean.
Jesus welcomes those questions.
What better place to go with questions like that than to him.
Virtually everyone agrees that Jesus is one of, if not the single most influential person in world history.
So figuring out what you think about him is so important.
This morning we get to listen in on his conversation with Nicodemus and see what we learn.
Okay.
First, John sets the stage.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
This man came to Jesus by night and said to him,
Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Nicodemus has seen or heard some things about Jesus.
Maybe reports of turning water into wine at the wedding, right?
Surely he's heard about the authority with which Jesus just cleansed the temple.
Perhaps other powerful words or deeds that Jesus has been doing.
But Jesus has attracted the attention of this really impressive, very religious leader.
Nicodemus is intrigued by all that's going on.
He's excited because he sees signs of God's kingdom.
Display of God's power.
Nicodemus knows about this.
He's looked forward to this and he's not even asking something specific yet.
He just wants to hear Jesus' take on all this.
How's all this kingdom signs and power fit together?
I think many of us are like Nicodemus, growing up around the things of God,
learning about the Bible, being taught to live according to God's law.
What's on his heart as he comes to Jesus will likely represent us well.
And if you're not so religious by background, stick with the conversation because we're about to see that that's maybe not so important as we might think.
Or as Nicodemus might have imagined.
Because no matter our backgrounds, we're all wondering the same types of things like Nicodemus.
Where do I find life?
How can I fix what's wrong with me?
Where can I have real solid hope?
Something I can count on.
Those are the kinds of issues that would be on his heart as he explores the signs of God's kingdom that he's seeing.
What does Jesus say to him?
Jesus answered him,
Nicodemus, you won't even see the kingdom.
You won't recognize it clearly unless you are born again.
It is hard to describe how shocking this would have been to a leader like Nicodemus.
He would have assumed that being born a Jew, being born into Abraham's family, that he was in the kingdom of God.
Unless he did something really bad to mess that up.
What do you mean be born again?
Nicodemus said to him,
How can a man be born when he's old?
Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Now Jesus is going to explain again.
I love that he speaks Nicodemus' language here.
For the first of two times, he's going to cite the Old Testament that Nicodemus knows so well.
Jesus answered,
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its 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.
You must be born again, Jesus says.
Three times now he has made the necessity of new birth clear.
And that's for everyone, by the way, not just Nicodemus specifically.
The you is plural.
Y'all must be born again.
New birth is essential, even for the most religious.
We're all on the same level here, right?
No matter what our backgrounds are.
We need a complete restart.
We need everything to be new.
Not merely a small adjustment to your approach to things.
Not a little additional knowledge to perfect that which you've really known all your life,
and you're already pretty good at.
No, no.
A new birth.
A new birth from above.
That's another translation of the same word for again.
You may see a note in your Bible to that effect.
Born again from above.
Remember in John's prologue, the first chapter, he said those who received Jesus,
who believed in him, could become children of God.
How?
How would they be born into that family?
Not of blood.
Not of the will of the flesh.
Not of the will of man.
But born of God.
Here's the rub, right?
You must be born again.
Necessity.
But you can't.
Impossibility.
Just as you couldn't make your birth happen the first time,
just as Nicodemus realizes you can't do it again physically,
you can't give yourself new birth.
Jesus is quite clear.
The thing you most need is something you can't give yourself.
See, new birth is not something you do,
like obey a little bit more,
or be a little more theologically precise.
No, it's not like that.
It's something you receive.
That's what Jesus means when he equates being born again
with born of water and the Spirit.
That's one thing, by the way, one birth.
He's sending Nicodemus back to the prophets
to show him that this birth from God
has always been the hope of God's people.
Listen to the prophet Ezekiel
when he tells God's people about their future hope,
the new covenant to redeem them,
to return them from the nations they've been scattered to,
to restore them to relationship with God.
He writes this in chapter 36,
I will sprinkle clean water on you
and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses.
From all your idols, I will cleanse you
and I will give you a new heart,
a new spirit I will put within you.
And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes
and be careful to obey my rules.
You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers
and you shall be my people
and I will be your God.
What a glorious, glorious picture.
What a great promise from God, right?
This is what he is going to do.
Cleansed with water.
Filled with the spirit.
Who gives life by the water and the spirit?
God says, I will.
I will.
In fact, as Ezekiel keeps talking,
he gives God's people a picture of a valley of dry bones.
It's in chapter 37, the next chapter.
A huge pile of bones, just dead and dry like Israel.
But thus says the Lord to these dry bones,
I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.
And God sends the spirit, the breath,
the bones come to life like a great army.
And verse 14,
I will put my spirit within you and you shall live.
And I will place you in your own land.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
I have spoken and I will do it, declares the Lord.
Do you hear what God's saying?
God is saying to his people then,
and Jesus is reiterating to his people in Nicodemus' day,
I give life by water and the spirit.
That's how you first came to be
when I breathed life into you,
the breath of life.
And you became a living being
and that's how you become part of my kingdom.
You need cleansing and a new heart
and relationship where I dwell with you.
So even though you can't explain it,
even though you may not know it's happening,
the spirit will blow like the wind
and you'll see and you'll feel life,
completely new and different,
born of God, born from above.
That's, by the way, all Christians, right?
Born again.
Jesus says that's all Christians,
not some political interest group,
not just the especially zealous kind of weird,
fringe Christians who are really radical.
No, no, no.
All Christians must be born again.
But of course they can't themselves.
Now maybe you hear that
and you think that new birth is such good news.
It is.
New life from God, right?
But maybe if you're honest,
you're still kind of confused.
You're like Nicodemus.
You're like me.
You've been around church.
You've lived there.
You've been around people talking about God
and calling themselves Christians.
And so being a Christian
is just what you thought you were
because you were born that way
and you never decided to change.
So this impossible necessity
could be pretty confusing
or even discouraging.
Am I born again?
Can I be?
How?
I mean, I'm in church all the time,
but I don't know what to do.
Nicodemus understands.
He's hearing the concept too,
but he still wants to know how.
How, verse nine, Nicodemus says to Jesus,
how can these things be?
How's that happen?
What Jesus is about to do
in the next few verses
is he's going to open up
the wonder of heaven,
the glory of God's amazing love,
the beauty of the heart of God
to help Nicodemus understand
something very simple.
that because you can't give yourself
what you most need,
God gives you that gift.
It is necessarily simple.
Verse 10, Jesus answered him,
are you the teacher of Israel
and yet you do not understand these things?
Connect the dots, Nicodemus.
Truly, truly, I say to you,
we speak of what we know
and bear witness to what we have seen,
but you do not receive our testimony.
If I have told you earthly things
and you do not believe,
how can you believe
if I tell you heavenly things?
Here they come.
Heavenly things.
It's going to get even more glorious.
Verse 13,
no one has ascended into heaven
except him who descended from heaven,
the son of man.
That new birth, Nicodemus,
it comes from above
and because you must have it
and you couldn't find your way to heaven,
to God,
God himself has come to you.
Uniquely in Jesus,
the son of man,
that's what he calls himself,
heaven comes to you, Nicodemus.
That's what's going on.
This is what you need to grasp, Nicodemus,
if you're still confused.
I'm going to give you
one more Old Testament example,
Jesus says,
Numbers chapter 21.
God's people have gotten impatient
in the wilderness.
They're complaining, right?
They're complaining about the food.
They're complaining about Moses.
They're complaining about God.
Not good.
And God sends serpents
serpents to bite them
and they begin to die.
Moses prays to God
on behalf of the people
and the Lord responds,
verse 8,
he says to Moses,
make a fiery serpent
and set it on a pole
and everyone who is bitten
when he sees it
shall live.
So Moses made a bronze serpent
and set it on a pole
and if a serpent bit anyone,
he would look up
at the bronze serpent
and live.
People,
deservingly condemned to die,
look up
at something
outside of themselves,
in fact,
at the very thing
that was killing them
and they live.
Mercy, right?
Deliverance,
salvation.
Remember that, Nicodemus?
Verse 14,
and 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.
When Jesus says,
lift it up,
to be clear,
he's talking,
we find this out
later in John's story,
about his death
on the cross.
When Jesus takes our sin
upon himself,
when he becomes sin
for us,
so that just like
with the snake,
people deservingly condemned
to die,
like you and me,
look up at something
outside of themselves,
in fact,
the very thing,
sin,
that is killing them
and they live.
That is the good news,
Nicodemus.
You're trying to figure out
exactly how Jesus
fits into the kingdom
of God,
how you can have hope,
where your problems
get solved,
and Jesus is saying,
listen, listen,
look to me.
Trust me.
God is giving you
the gift
that you must have
and you receive
the gift of life
that you could not
afford for yourself
by looking to me,
by trusting me.
And now our beloved verse,
for God so loved the world
that he gave his only son,
that whoever believes in him
should not perish,
but have eternal life.
I know you love this verse already.
I want to help you love it
a little bit more, okay?
Even more of God's gracious heart
than you've ever seen here.
The world stands against God,
separated from him
by sin and rebellion,
deserving to die,
so this,
that this verse
is talking about
is God's love
for the unlovely,
the unlovable.
This is grace, right?
God so loved the world,
in other words,
God loved the world
in this way,
like God did
with the serpent
in the wilderness,
that even though
they, the world,
deserved to die,
he would give new life
as a gift
to anyone,
not just those
with less venom
in their veins,
not as,
not as bad off,
not, no, no,
not just those,
what does it say?
Whoever,
whoever would look
to his son,
God would in fact,
this is amazing love,
amazing grace,
for this to happen,
God would actually
give his own son
and watch him
go to the cross
and die.
Maybe it didn't cost
a lot to see
a serpent
put up on a pole,
but God sends
his own son
to be lifted up
on a cross
to die
so that those
who believe in him,
whoever believes in him,
would have life.
And don't read
eternal life
there
and think that
you have to wait
until you die
for that.
No, no,
that's not what it's like.
God gives this life
now.
The word means
the life of the age
to come.
True,
abundant life
in relationship
with God,
that's what makes it life,
right?
It's a present reality here.
It tastes of glory.
It's life that looks
to Jesus for comfort
in every sorrow
and disappointment.
It's life that trusts
Jesus for his guidance
in every step
of the journey
and every decision
that you make.
And it's life
that continues forever,
yes.
It never ends,
but it starts now
when you are born again.
That's the new life starting.
Born again
from above
by trusting Jesus.
Your new life
with God,
the life that you were
made for,
the life that you will
enjoy forever
begins now
and in that life
the best is always
yet to come.
Never now will it be
what it will be then,
but it starts now
because God has moved in.
Heaven has come to you.
Boundless love
from the heart of God
that the Son of God
is not sent
to condemn God's enemies.
That might have made sense.
but to rescue them
and make them sons.
Verse 17,
for God did not send
his Son into the world
to condemn the world,
but in order that the world
might be saved
through him.
Listen, y'all,
if the problem is
that the thing we most need
is the thing we can't do,
the solution is as hopeful
as that seems hopeless.
God does for us
what we can't do
for ourselves.
He takes the death sentence
that we were under
so that we can be born again
to new life.
A pastor friend of mine
tells a tragic yet beautiful story
that I've shared with you before.
It's of two brothers
playing together
in a small town in Missouri.
And one afternoon
they rode their bikes
down to the sandbanks
by the river
but soon got caught
in really dangerous quicksand.
When they didn't return home
for dinner,
their parents organized
a search for the two boys
and they went rushing
all around,
eventually saw the bikes
and then they saw
the younger brother
up to his neck in sand.
They rushed over to him
and as they freed him
from the sand
they said to him,
where is your brother?
He said,
I'm standing
on his shoulders.
The sacrificial death
of the older brother
was the only way
to give life
to the one he loved.
And the sacrificial death
of Jesus
was the only way
to give life
to the world
that God loved.
He entered into
our condemnation, right?
That we might stand on him
and have his salvation.
Our older brother
gives his life
to give us life
and welcome us
for the first time
into the family.
Now as wonderfully simple
as that is,
to get what you most need
as a gift
by just trusting Jesus,
just by standing on him,
it is equally necessary.
You must believe.
Verse 18,
whoever believes in him,
his son,
the son of God,
is not condemned.
But whoever does not believe
is condemned already
because he has not believed
in the name
of the only son of God.
Listen,
there's plenty of condemnation
to go around, right?
Remember how I said
you must be born again?
If you haven't entrusted yourself
to the son of God,
then you stand condemned.
In fact,
you are hiding from him
in the dark.
This is the judgment.
The light has come
into the world
and people loved the darkness
rather than the light
because their deeds
were evil.
For everyone who does
wicked things hates the light
and does not come to the light
lest his deeds
should be exposed.
But whoever does
what is true
comes to the light
so that it may be
clearly seen
that his deeds
have been carried out
in God.
You've been hiding
in the dark perhaps,
but there is an invitation
to the light,
to life in the light.
There may well be
plenty of condemnation
to go around
when we stand on our own,
but when we stand
in the sun,
there is none.
Do you sometimes
condemn yourself
in your own thoughts?
Does Satan accuse you?
Are the voices
of condemnation
around you
really loud?
If you trust Jesus,
know that he came
not to condemn you,
but to save you.
No matter what
those loud voices say,
there is therefore now
no condemnation
for those
who are in Christ Jesus.
Amen?
No condemnation.
Listen, Nicodemus,
Jesus says.
Listen,
uncertain,
confused,
questioning friend.
even if you don't
have it all figured out yet.
It's being born again
throwing you off.
It may have happened
to you
and you didn't even realize
that the spirit
blew through your heart.
Jesus is saying,
go home considering this.
Whoever believes in me
is not condemned.
Stick with me,
Jesus says.
Trust me
to have it figured out
when you don't.
It's why God sent me.
Know that you can find life today,
life forever
in relationship with me.
Friend,
if you are looking to Jesus
for life,
you've found it.
If you have tasted
his goodness
and grace,
then you will feast on it
forever.
It's his promise to you.
What a great offer
that is this morning
to all of us
to taste and know today
of his love.
But if you're honest,
maybe you're still
not quite there.
Maybe Jesus' answer
sounds like
all talk to you.
I can relate to that.
We come to Jesus
longing for hope,
wanting to be made new,
searching for life,
and we come to Jesus
and all he says is,
trust me.
If that's all it was,
I'd say you'd be right
to be skeptical.
Anyone can say those words,
right?
People have said them
to you before,
trust me,
and they've let you down
and you're not about
to be let down again.
Maybe you'll just keep
looking for another way
to avoid death
and find real life.
Jesus doesn't stop there.
He doesn't just give
these words as an answer.
Jesus' other answer
to our questions
backs up his words,
and don't miss this.
He is in essence here
inviting Nicodemus
to continue with him,
to keep following after him
as he walks
in order to find
that eternal,
everlasting life.
And as Nicodemus does that,
follows with him
in one of the most
widely attested events
in all of human history,
Jesus,
in just a couple short years,
dies on a Roman cross,
being lifted up
as he promised
in agonizing death
to offer everlasting life.
Nicodemus, by the way,
is there
and helps prepare
Jesus' body for burial
and place it
in the tomb.
I don't care
if you've been in church
one day,
this is your first time,
or if you've been in church
for 90 years.
Either way,
I want to invite you
to bring your questions
and your uncertainties
and your confusion
all the way
to the cross
this morning.
To listen
to the promises
of Jesus,
yes,
to hear
the good news
of the new birth
and the life
that he offers to you
that you could never
afford for yourself,
and then
to see at the cross
him
take your death
so that he can
give you
that new life
with him
today
and forever.
Let's pray.
God,
your love
must really be
beyond
our imagination.
That you would
sacrifice
your beloved son
for your sworn enemies.
Father,
you know how I long
for every person
in here,
for every soul
in this room
to know new birth
and true life
and unending joy
and relationship
with you,
and so I ask
that you would
send your spirit
that I can't control
to give sight
to our eyes,
faith to our hearts,
use these very
common elements
for that very
special purpose
that we would
see your love
in the broken body,
in the shed blood,
in the saving death
of your son.
And we ask it
in his name.
Amen.
For more information,
visit us online
at southwood.org.
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