Just to say, as I go through this talk, I'm primarily addressing people for whom the Christian faith is perhaps something they haven't yet found is real or they've really engaged with themselves.
!
If we could turn, if you've got a Bible, to page 888-889 to John chapter 3, that would be a help too because I'm going to speak from the Bible.
And again, there may be questions from there, that's great, but unashamedly I'm going to speak from this.
Christians believe that this book is written by a man, John, but inspired by God.
So as we look at that again, we're hoping it will address you very deeply.
Let's pray.
Father God, thank you so much for the Bible.
Please help me to speak clearly now.
And we pray that you'd address each one of us in the very depths of our being.
And we ask that all of us would leave here with something more to believe and something to do.
Amen.
I don't know if you've ever played that game, if I had my life all over again.
Of course, you won't actually play that game if you're under 30.
So sorry, it's a terrible introduction if you're under 30.
If you're under 30, you think you're going to get your act together again.
But if you're over 30, certainly once you're 40 and you realise you've had half your life and your body starts telling you that.
So I've now got a furniture problem.
My chest is in my drawers nowadays.
And you start to be wistful about the things you haven't had a chance to do.
So you think, what if I had my life over again?
Of course, some people don't get this at all.
I mean, I've spoken to some people and they say, I spoke to one person and they said, if I had my life over again, I'd do exactly what I've done.
Well, I thought that said a singular lack of imagination.
What do you want to do them again for?
You've already done them once.
Don't you want some new experiences?
So, for example, I'd love to have played a season's rugby with the Maoris in the South Island of New Zealand or with the deeply Christian Western Samoans who are known actually as the heaviest tacklers in world rugby.
Apparently their motto is Acts 20 verse 35.
It's better to give than receive.
I'd love to have learned to play the saxophone or the bagpipes or actually married that girl I married to someone else.
That would have been interesting.
I'd always dreamed of being two foot from her at the altar and I was.
Trouble is, I was at mid-off, not square legs.
That was the end of that.
But, or played golf at Augusta.
Or, well, of course, it's a game.
You can't start a game, can you?
It's just a game as you look back.
But, you know, ladies and gentlemen, as we come this evening, the funny thing is that when it comes to the Christian faith, unless you do start again, you never make it.
Did you know that?
I wonder if you noticed that in John 3 in the Bible reading we have.
It's so uncompromising, abrupt and clear from Jesus.
You have to start again.
Have a look.
Can we see verse 3 as we look down?
What do you make about this?
Just extraordinary.
Jesus answered him,
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one's born again, he can't see the kingdom of God.
Then it comes again in verse 5.
Do you see verse 5?
Jesus answered,
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
You've got to start again.
And again in verse 7, Jesus says it again three times.
Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.
I mean, it's categoric.
Unless you're born again, you can't start the Christian faith.
Just like unless there's rain, there are no crops.
He's quite categoric here.
A person cannot become a Christian unless he or she is born again.
Now, they can't enter the Christian life unless they've got that.
Now, can I say, this is fundamental to Christianity.
When the trouble is, an awful lot of people think that the phrase born again was invented by Donald Trump to get more votes off the Southern Baptists.
That's the problem, isn't it?
They think it's some sort of, you know, thing that's cooked up.
It's got such bad PR, this phrase.
So I just want to say that it's here in the Bible and it's not about some narrow, emotional, cultic, fringe type of Christianity, which people like my dear mother, who's now passed away, used to dismiss by saying, well, I'm a Christian but not one of those born again types.
I mean, in fact, this sermon is dedicated to my mother as a sort of refute to that comment.
Mum would always say, well, I'm not one of those born again types.
And I'd say, this is the only type you can be.
So this necessity of new birth is in the original articles of every single Protestant church.
It's embedded in all the original creeds.
It's not negotiable.
So as we hear this phrase born again, ladies and gentlemen, it's not weird.
It's not strange.
It's not new.
It's not loony fringe.
No.
It's dynamite about a creator God.
So the God who made that out the window as we look at the lawn and the tree.
Who breaks into our lives.
And so often it's our detonated dynamite.
So please remove any unreflexive prejudice about the phrase.
It's not crazy.
It's not an option.
It's a necessity.
And there could be nobody who was more shocked that he had to be born again than the man here in our passage.
Can we see chapter 3, verse 1?
Utterly shocked.
Do we see verse 1?
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
A man of the Pharisees.
You see, this man had supposedly all the right credentials to be accepted by God from the start.
He's so much to commend him.
And I mean, surely he doesn't have to start over.
First of all, he's a disciplined man.
He's a Pharisee.
So these were lay people who were so disgusted by the professional religious, they said, we'll do it right.
They were absolute fanatics in terms of getting things right, in terms of how they lived.
He was an able man, do you see, on the Jewish ruling council, verse 1.
He was a learned man.
Look how he's described by Jesus in verse 10.
Do we see what Jesus says about him?
Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel?
And yet you don't understand these things.
He's Israel's teacher.
And he's even, and I love this about him.
He's an open man.
He comes to Jesus with a question.
You know, I was at theological college.
I guess Paul would say the same.
There were some people, you know, we're 25, but they'd stopped asking questions.
They just answered them.
So they plateaued at 25.
They didn't have questions to ask.
We've all got questions.
COVID, Ukraine, we've got questions.
But some people said, no, I was at college with, I mean, I pity their congregations.
I just answer questions.
I don't ask them.
But this man comes with a question.
So he's disciplined.
He's able.
He's learned.
He's open.
He's law and order.
He'd have been a Bible reader, a faithful husband, a church leader.
You don't get, you don't get more moral than the Pharisees.
And so there's no one more moral, legalistic, upright and rotarian than this man.
He's the model of middle class respectability.
And so he would have been deeply shaken when Jesus comes along and says to him, you, Nicodemus,
you need to be born again.
In other words, Jesus comes along and he draws a separating line between Nicodemus and real relationship with God.
He says, you're not in that relationship, Nicodemus.
Now, actually, when someone said to me that I needed to be born again, I was so self-centered and self-obsessed.
I remember thinking, well, I bet I do.
I could thoroughly relate to Tennyson.
He said, oh, that a man would emerge in me that the man I am would cease to be.
I mean, I was in such a shambles.
It never occurred to me that I didn't need to be born again.
But this is such a thoroughly fine man, ladies and gentlemen, this man.
Now, he's a good man and he'd have been shaken when Jesus says to him, you, Nicodemus, you need to be born again.
So do you see what he does in verse 6?
He jumps straight back at him in verse 6.
And he says to Jesus, that which is born of the flesh is of the flesh.
And that which is born of the spirit.
Sorry, verse 4, I mean, verse 4.
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 to be born?
Or, verse 4, to which Jesus, sorry, now answers verse 6, don't muck about.
I'm not talking about physical things.
I'm not talking about you being born physically in your mother's womb.
I'm talking, Nicodemus, about spiritual things.
Yes, you need to be born physically.
But verse 6, here we are.
But flesh gives birth to flesh.
But you also need to be born spiritually.
The spirit gives birth to the spirit.
And Nicodemus, all your religious credentials, disciplined, religious, able, learned, moral, they're not good enough.
All your religious performing, it's not good enough, Nicodemus.
And, gosh, here's the brutal thing again.
Do come to Hope that's flawed and ask it.
And they won't save you.
Do we see as we look down from verse 36?
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
Whoever does not abate the Son shall not see life.
But God's wrath remains on them.
They won't save you from hell.
All your performing, they're not good enough.
It's not good enough.
And can I say, we can therefore conclude from the words of Jesus,
that if a thoroughly good man like this needs to be born again,
then, ladies and gentlemen, we can be absolutely sure that you need to be born again,
and I need to be born again.
And here we go.
And so does the kind Hindu and the gentle Buddhist,
and the moral atheist, and the fine Muslim.
Whatever your cultural or religious background,
Jesus insists you need to be born again.
And of course the question now comes,
why?
Why?
I mean, here's Jesus.
He's drawing this dividing line through humanity.
It's just the sort of thing we hate today, don't we?
Why is he doing it?
Well, the Bible says,
here's the answer, ladies and gentlemen,
that all of us have said no to God.
As God, we don't want him to be God over us.
And of course, that little word, sin,
that you've heard of,
it presses us to put ourselves first.
It presses us to go,
God, I know you gave me the world,
farm, family, friends,
falling in love, food, fitness,
but I'll be at the centre,
and you can be a footnote.
You can be out in the suburbs.
And life's about my goals,
my agenda, my desires.
I'll be the main character.
I'm going to push you out.
And when we do that,
although it seems to us to be a very small thing,
it doesn't seem to matter.
People on the telly on the news are much worse,
aren't they?
It seems to us to be a small thing.
The result of sin,
here's the issue, ladies and gentlemen,
is that we die spiritually.
We die.
And that's why we need to be born again.
Because spiritually,
sin causes us
to become walking corpses.
I work near Oxford Street.
You see people walk up and down Oxford Street.
They're young, healthy,
good-looking, slim,
attractive,
comical often.
And yet the Bible says,
because of sin,
they're dead.
That's the problem.
And that's why
we need to be born again.
We're walking corpses.
That's why there's this
absolute necessity for it.
And can you see,
Jesus says,
in verse 7,
he says,
you must be born again.
Not that you can be,
you should be.
People like to be.
But you must be.
So,
first heading is it comes in.
So what is new birth?
What is new birth?
Well,
you know,
what does it mean to be born again?
Well,
can I just say,
the first thing I want to say here
is what it doesn't mean.
It doesn't mean
trying harder,
spiritually.
It doesn't mean
turning over a new leaf.
Like going back on the diet.
I'm not talking about that.
As you can see,
mine isn't going very well
at the moment.
I'll tell you what I did.
On New Year's Day,
I made a resolution
that I could give up
all puddings
except on my day off.
And then on my first day off,
I had six.
It was an absolute disaster.
But I'm not talking about that.
I'm not talking about that.
I'm not talking about
turning over a new leaf.
No.
Ladies and gentlemen,
this is a radical change
this born again thing.
That God does.
It's something God does.
It's not something I do.
It's a radical change
that God does
by the power
of his Holy Spirit.
Can we see that
in verse 8
if we look down?
What do you make of this?
Hold on to your seats.
The wind blows
where it wishes
and you hear its sound
but you don't know
where it comes from
or where it goes.
So it is with everyone
who is born of the Spirit.
So it's not something I do.
This is something God does.
And here's the issue,
ladies and gentlemen.
This is the issue.
It's miraculous.
Being born again.
I'm going on here
about a miracle
that God does.
So God brings us back to life
as new people
in the Spirit world.
He radically changes us
and our thinking.
So what I'm talking about here,
gosh, it's so unangriquant,
is a supernatural act of God
in which he takes the Holy Spirit
and implants the Spirit
in the base of our hearts
and gives us a heart transplant
and thereby gives our mind,
will, emotion, personality
a whole new direction.
It's a miracle
that God does.
And so we start to think
like he thinks
and then consequently
in a rather hopeless way
that we start to long
to act in his way.
And I remember speaking
to a rugby mate
and I was urging him
to become a Christian.
And he said to me,
he said,
look, Rico,
it's no good
me becoming a Christian.
He said,
I'll never keep it up.
And I looked at him
and I said,
listen, Matt,
given your track record,
I agree.
I've been on rugby tours with him.
I said,
I don't think you will.
I said,
what do you think
you need to happen
for you to keep going?
And I'm not kidding.
He looked at me,
he shrugged his shoulders
and he said,
I think I need a miracle.
At which point,
I nearly fell off my stool.
I nearly fell off my stool
because that's exactly
what we're all about,
I said.
We're all about a miracle
in which the person
looks the same
but God has caused us
to leap into the spirit world.
He's given us
a heart transplant.
And can I say again,
you can't do it yourself.
This isn't something
that you do.
Let me tell you
what it was like with me.
Before it happened,
I really didn't worry
about God.
Although I do remember
praying,
oh God,
please help me
to pass these exams
and I'll become a vicar.
I remember praying that
and here I am.
Here I am.
But I didn't care about God
as long as he looked
after his bits
and he left me alone
to do mine.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I didn't care about him.
But when God changed me,
ladies and gentlemen,
I started to love him.
That's what happened.
I started to love him.
I was so glad
at what he'd done for me.
It was an amazing change.
Oh my goodness
what a lot of change it was.
I started to love him.
And before it happened to me,
I read the Bible
and honestly,
I thought it was God
with you.
So when I was
at primary school,
I used to leaf through
and look for references
to rugby
to try and make it
more relevant to my life.
I found a number
I was reading
with one to reference
in John 9 verse 1.
I don't know about
blinding birds.
That was good.
Another one to foul play
in Acts 9.
So Paul and Barnabas
were sent off.
But I mean,
you know,
basically,
I just thought
it was for the birds.
But afterwards,
after I'd been born again,
I'd go to the little
Christian meeting
run by the maths teacher,
Mr. Ash,
and I'd go along
and it was like
my name and address
was India.
I couldn't believe it.
That 15-minute talk
at the Christian Forum,
I'd be here
and it was like
Jesus was walking
off the page of Scripture
and I'm not kidding.
As the speaker spoke
and taught a little passage
of the Bible,
I'm a 16-year-old schoolboy
and my heart
used to burn inside me
like I knew
I'd found the meaning
of life.
So the Bible
meant nothing to me
and suddenly
it's like it's got
my name and address in it.
And before I became
a Christian,
I only ever prayed
when I was in trouble.
But after God
changed me,
I wanted to talk
to him like a friend.
I mean,
I'd like to wake up
in the morning
and sometimes
of sinful nature
I wouldn't,
but so often
I'd love to just
get my Bible open
and talk to Jesus.
And before I became
a Christian,
there were many sins
and I didn't give
a fig about them
as long as I wasn't
found out.
But afterwards,
they really became
very ugly to me
as I battled
and struggled
with them
because I knew
they were upsetting
to the Lord Jesus.
And I found
my conscience
gave me an absolute
drilling.
It was a radical change.
It was a heart transplant.
It was being born again.
And do you know,
it's not unlike surgery.
Do you know
what happens with surgery?
The anaesthetist comes in.
Just by the way,
if you've never had surgery,
can I honestly recommend it?
It's marvellous.
Just pick a bit of your body
you don't want
and go and get it sorted out.
But I mean,
but someone plunges
something into your arm
and the most wonderful
euphoria sweeps over you.
Don't you find
that was surgery?
And certainly I found,
I sort of looked up
and all the nurses
looked absolutely beautiful
and they put you
on a trolley
and the ceiling floats by
and the doors swing open
and you sort of see
the surgeon
and the next thing
they go,
wake up,
wake up.
And in half an hour
you know they've done something.
In an hour
you wish they hadn't.
In three hours
you think you're going to die
and in six hours
you're afraid you won't die.
So you see
all the good work
has gone on underneath.
It's gone on underneath.
But you begin to see
the evidence of it.
But what did I do?
Ladies and gentlemen,
what I did was this.
I kept going along
to the Christian meeting
and I kept hearing the Bible.
That's what you do.
The Bible says
faith comes by hearing.
So your job,
potter along to Hope Explored,
hear the Bible.
And as I heard the Bible,
God did the miracle underneath.
But your job is
just to hear the Bible.
And as God changed me,
I started to go,
Rike,
you've got to stop
using Jesus as a swear word,
which you do all the time.
You've got to stop.
And I started going,
do you know,
he's really the son of God.
And then I started to go
and he really died for me.
And he got through death
so I can get through death
so my Godfather's death
doesn't have to
overshadow my whole life
and my whole morale.
So as I listened to the Bible,
imperceptibly,
God made me into a new person.
And that's why I come along
to Hope Explored.
Because it's a miracle
that God can do.
So what is the new birth?
It's a radical change
that God does by his spirit.
Who needs the new birth?
We all do.
If Nicodemus needs it,
we all need it.
Thirdly,
what is it that God has done
so that I can be born again?
I wonder if we can look down again.
I think it's going to come up
on the slide,
the verse.
Let's have a look.
John 3, verse 16.
Can we see as we look down
this crucial verse
what has God done?
For God so loved the world
that he gave his only son
that whoever believes in him
should not perish
but have eternal life.
So what did God do?
Can you see as you look down?
God loved the world.
He loved the world.
And because he loved the world,
he loved you,
what did he do?
He gave his one and only son,
Jesus.
So God allowed Jesus
to die on the cross
to take the punishment
which our sins deserve.
I don't know,
perhaps you've seen pictures
of Jesus hanging on the cross
and he's there between two thieves.
You can think of it at Easter.
And his mother is nearby
and he cries out on the cross,
My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
Now he is forsaken,
so we need never be forsaken.
That's what happens at the cross.
He took the punishment for our sin
and we deserve that punishment
but Jesus took it
so that you and I
could be right with God.
So Jesus died
so that the new birth
is going to be possible
because God isn't going to
send his spirit
to transform us
into new people
without first cleansing us,
without first doing something
about our constant rebellion.
After I'd been in Chile,
Dad moved to Africa
and he went to grow tobacco there
and as a little five-year-old
in Africa,
there was no kids' TV
and I had two hobbies,
staff collecting
and butterflies
and both of them were amazing
and for those hobbies
as a little five-year-old,
I found you needed
one of these,
a magnifying glass.
But I soon found
as a five-year-old in Africa
that making little things bigger
was not the only thing
a magnifying glass could do.
I found that if you took
one of these into the midday sun,
the possibilities were endless.
I found that you could
set alight a leaf
or a piece of newspaper
or even the gardener's hut
and I found best of all
if you took one of these
into the midday sun,
you could scare the little
daylights out of your twin sister.
Yeah, that was the parakel
of ordination
in the Anglican Church.
You see, you can take
a magnifying glass
and you can focus
the rays of the sun
into such a sharp point
of intensity
that it burns things.
Well, imagine if you would
a massive moral magnifying glass
the size of this room,
but through our past,
not the sun's rays,
but God's righteous anger
at the hatred,
the gossip,
the self-centeredness,
the lust,
the jealousy,
the godlessness
in my heart.
I'm not even talking
about yours,
but these myriad
of things in the way
which I've shaken
my fist at God
and then God's anger
comes down,
down, down.
All my sin
comes down,
down, down.
And it's one man
on one good Friday
afternoon
with such terrible
intensity
that he cries out,
my God,
why have you forsaken me?
Now that
is how Jesus rescues me
from the coming wrath.
It's no small thing.
I don't know if you know
what your name means.
If there are any Helens here,
any Helens?
Helen means bright.
Any Paul?
Paul means little.
John?
John means the gift of God
which might be a surprise
to the person sitting next to you.
And I'm sure you know this,
but Jesus,
we know this at Christmas,
don't we?
Jesus means saviour.
So the first Christmas,
the angel Gabriel
said to the Virgin Mary,
you'll have a son,
you'll give him the name Jesus
because he'll save his people
from their sins.
So that means
the name Jesus means
he died for me.
Now sometimes on the golf course
I hear my playing partners
say it all the time.
But with whatever tone
they say it,
it means the same thing.
Jesus,
he died for me.
Jesus,
he died for me.
Let's just try that,
shall we?
Don't say it out loud
because the sort of British
will find it too embarrassing.
But when I say Jesus,
could you say under your breath,
he died for me?
Every time you hear it,
it means the same thing.
Jesus,
he died for me.
Jesus,
he died for me.
And can I say,
you must be incredibly precious
that God should send his son
to die for you.
I mean,
it's overwhelming,
isn't it?
I've got two little boys,
I wouldn't let them die for anyone.
But God says,
Rico,
I love you so much,
I'm sending my son
to die for you.
It's an overwhelming thing.
So let's conclude.
Who needs the new birth?
Everybody.
If Nicodemus does,
we all need it.
What is it?
It's something God does.
It's not something I do.
It's a miracle.
What has God done
to enable the new birth
to happen?
He sent his son to die,
taking the punishment
we deserve.
And then as we close now,
what has God
what has to do?
I mean,
what are we meant to do?
Well,
have a look.
Do we see as we close now,
verse 16,
have a look down.
For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only son
that whoever believes in him
should not perish
but have eternal life.
Now,
what does it mean
to be trustworthy?
It means
you keep your word.
So if I say,
look at the end,
first person up to meet me
gets a £10 note.
If I'm trustworthy,
I'll give it to you.
I'm not,
so don't bother coming.
But if I'm trustworthy,
you keep your word.
Now,
what does God's word
say to us?
He says,
you won't perish.
You won't go to a place
called hell.
And Jesus speaks of hell
again and again.
He's the theologian of hell.
He says,
you won't go there.
He says,
if you trust
what my son has done,
he said,
I'll forgive you
and I'll send my spirit.
Now,
we put our trust in Christ,
ladies and gentlemen,
by making a decision.
Becoming a Christian
is not like catching mumps.
You know what it's like?
You're a bit sore
and the next day
it's all up.
No,
becoming a Christian
is much more like
getting married.
You don't wake up
the day after you've got married
and look across the bed
and go,
oh,
hello,
what are you doing here?
And can I say,
if it was like that for you,
you're indeed a great
enough
and we continue here.
No,
no,
no.
When it,
when it,
you know,
when it comes to marriage,
I mean,
I did one recently
and I said to the groom,
David,
I said,
David,
will you have Alice?
Do you notice I said,
Will,
not how are you feeling?
He was sweating like a dog.
I said,
David,
what have you made up
your mind to do
about this young woman?
Will you have her
for your lawful wedded wife,
for richer,
for poorer,
in sickness and health,
for better,
for worse?
Do you know
what for better,
for worse means?
It means whatever
the in-laws are like.
That's for better,
for worse.
For better,
for worse,
will you forsake all others
and stay with her?
And he said,
I will.
He said,
that's what I intend to do.
And God,
this evening,
says to us,
what do you intend to do
about the death of my son?
I've sent my son to die
and I want to know
what you intend to do about it.
Now, ladies and gentlemen,
I want to tell you
that that is the most important question
you will be asked
in your life.
What do you intend to do
about the death of Jesus?
That's the question.
Will you put your trust in me today
and believe that I can make you
a new person,
I can forgive you
and that we can start again together
and reverse this mess we're in
and trust Jesus?
And I'm going to close now.
I'm going to say,
if you've got questions,
brilliant,
please come and ask them
at Hope Explored.
But I've got a prayer
and it's a prayer
that says,
look,
the new birth hasn't happened to me
and I want it to
and I want to start again
and I want to be made afresh.
So here's the prayer
and I think it's coming up
on the screen.
Here it is.
So,
Heavenly Father,
I haven't had you
at the centre of my life
but from today
that's what I'd like to happen.
I ask you to be my Lord.
Thank you for sending Jesus
to die for me.
Please forgive me
and please send your spirit
to make me into a new person.
Amen.
So,
I'm going to now pray this
phrase by phrase
and if it's right for you,
why not echo it
in your own heart?
So,
this is a chance
to become a Christian
and to respond,
to believe
in what God has done
in sending his son Jesus
and trust that he'll send his spirit
to make you a new person.
Let me say it phrase by phrase
and again,
if there are one or two
for whom it's right,
if everyone else could bear with me,
if you're not yet there,
please again,
come to Hope Explored
but for one or two,
I'm sure
this is the moment
to pray this day.
So,
let me pray
and again,
if it's right for you,
why not echo it
in your heart?
Here it is.
Heavenly Father,
do echo it
in your own heart
after me.
Heavenly Father,
I haven't had you
at the centre of my life
but from today,
that's what I'd like to happen.
I ask you to be my Lord.
Thank you for sending Jesus
to die for me.
Please forgive me
and please send your spirit
to make me into a new person.
Amen.
Well,
it's just a huge privilege
to speak tonight.
Thank you very much.
Post-COVID,
it's so lovely to have
real people in front of you,
I can tell you.
It's just lovely to come
to this evening.
Thank you.