Please stand for the reading of the gospel.
This morning's gospel reading comes from John chapter 3, verses 1 through 21.
This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Saint John.
Glory to you, Lord Christ.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
And this man came to Jesus by night and said to him,
Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from God,
for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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 don't know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel,
and yet you do not understand these things?
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?
No one has ascended into heaven except he who ascended from heaven, the Son of Man.
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.
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.
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.
Whoever believes in him 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.
And this is the judgment.
The light has come into the world,
and people loved darkness rather than the light
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come to the light,
lest his work should be exposed.
But whoever does what is true comes to the light,
so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Christ.
You can be seated.
C.S. Lewis was a professor of ancient medieval literature
at Oxford and Cambridge between the 1920s and 1960s,
and he grew up in a home that attended church.
But as he grew older and as he entered into his teenage years,
he gradually fell away from his faith.
And by the time he was finally an adult,
he was a decided atheist.
And in his biography, Surprised by Joy,
Lewis describes his journey of conversion
from being an atheist to becoming a Christian.
And for him, it was a highly intellectual experience.
It involved a very slow transition over a gradual many years.
It was a transition from a belief in atheism
to then a belief in moral absolutes,
to believing in God,
to finally being a follower of Christ.
But this was a transition that took many years.
It involved reading many thinkers and philosophers
like G.K. Chesterton and novelists like George MacDonald.
It also involved years of friendship and conversations
with people like Hugo Dyson and Owen Barfield
and J.R. Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings.
But it also involved lots of reluctance and opposition on Lewis' part.
Towards the end of the book,
he describes himself as the most reluctant convert
in all of England.
And for Lewis, the time when he actually realized
that he was a Christian wasn't all that extraordinary or dramatic.
It was actually on a drive one day
with some friends from the town of Oxford
to a zoo in a small village just north of London
called Whipsnade.
And here's how he describes this moment.
He says,
I know very well when,
but hardly how the final step was taken.
I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning,
and when we set out,
I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
But when we reached the zoo, I did.
Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought,
nor in great emotion.
Emotional is perhaps the last word we can apply
to some of the most important events.
It was more like when a man,
after a long sleep,
still lying motionless in bed,
becomes aware that he is now awake.
Our passage this morning in John chapter 3
is a conversation that Jesus has
with a man named Nicodemus about conversion,
about the new birth,
and how somebody becomes a follower of Jesus.
And right off the bat,
I think I have to acknowledge
that in a place like Washington, D.C.,
it's hard to even mention words like conversion
or the new birth
without making some people cringe,
without making some of us cringe.
These are cringe-worthy words in our modern culture.
In our modern culture,
talking about the new birth,
talking about conversion,
can make us cringe for a lot of reasons.
For some of us,
even the idea of trying to convert someone
to another faith or religion
seems intolerant and morally regressive.
For others of us,
the term born-again Christian
is conflated with politics
or particular political persuasion.
And for others of us,
it recalls bad experiences
that we've had in our past,
maybe in the church.
There's a lot of negative associations
that arise from
talking about conversion and the new birth
and about what Scripture teaches.
And so that's why
what I'd like to do this morning
as we look at John chapter 3
is to actually address
some of those misconceptions.
We're not going to address all of them,
but we'll address three.
We're going to look at three misconceptions
about conversion and the new birth
and look at how our passage
informs and speaks to those misconceptions.
So three misconceptions about the new birth
and what our passage has to say about it.
So here's the first one.
The first one,
one I think misconception
that a lot of people have
about conversion and the new birth
is that it basically involves
somebody getting more religion.
Oftentimes people use that
when referring to someone else
who has maybe said
that they have had a conversion experience,
that they've gotten religion.
And often what people mean
when they say that
is that that person has
maybe gotten more serious about morality.
They've added more rules to their life.
They've gotten more serious
about going to church.
Another way of thinking about it
is that they've added the app of religion
onto the home screen of their life.
That in all of the different things
and parts of their life,
it's another app that they've added
to their well-curated individualistic life.
But is that what the new birth
and conversion are?
Is it just adding,
is it just getting more serious about the rules?
Is it just adding another app to your life?
Well, let's look at our text.
In verse one,
we are told that Nicodemus was a Pharisee.
Pharisees were a group of religious Jewish teachers
who emphasized careful interpretation
and observance of the Torah, the law.
And they believed that
through their particular careful way
of observing the law and applying it,
that this would be part of the way
that the Messiah would come
and restore his kingdom.
So Nicodemus was a man with great biblical knowledge
and a desire to keep God's commands
and to apply it strictly in his life
and the lives of other people.
And verse two tells us
that he came to Jesus by night.
Now, we're not told specifically why in the text,
why it is that he comes at night,
but we can do some godly speculation.
It's likely that he came at night
because he wanted to come and talk to Jesus in secret
so that he wouldn't be seen in public
in fear that others or other Pharisees
or members of the Sanhedrin would find out
and that he would lose his reputation.
To be seen with Jesus publicly during the day
might ruin his standing
in the community among the Pharisees.
So he comes to Jesus at night and he says to him,
Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher
who has come from God,
for no one can do these signs that you do
unless God is with him.
Now, on first glance,
this actually sounds like a compliment.
It sounds like he's acknowledging something
that's true about Jesus.
And I probably would have expected Jesus
to affirm what Nicodemus says here.
You're right, Nicodemus.
Finally, one of you actually believes me.
But he doesn't do that.
He actually turns the conversation
and he does it by, I think,
looking into the heart of Nicodemus
and seeing what it is that he's really saying.
He looks into Nicodemus' heart
and he looks past all of his desire
to keep the law and the Torah.
He looks past all of his religious credentials
and motivations.
And he sees, on one hand,
a genuine desire to follow the law
and keep God's commands.
But I think he also sees a desire
to just add Jesus as another app
into his already preexisting religious system.
He says to a man with great knowledge of the Bible,
with a great desire to follow the law,
who even acknowledges that Jesus is from God,
all of that is not enough to see the kingdom
and enter the kingdom.
You need something else.
You need something else
that being a good, moral, religious person
can't give you.
You need new life.
You need to be born again.
And in verse 4, Nicodemus asks what I think
is a totally fair question.
He says, well, how can this be?
How can somebody enter a second time
into their mother's womb?
I mean, how in the world is that possible
for somebody to be born again?
And Jesus responds, I'm not talking about
another physical birth,
but I'm talking about another spiritual birth.
He says, unless one is born of water and the spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Water and the spirit.
Water here is a reference to baptism.
Baptism is a sign.
It's a sacrament.
It's a picture of what the Holy Spirit does
in the new birth.
In the new birth,
the Holy Spirit gives us a new nature
that imparts to us new spiritual life.
In the new birth,
the Holy Spirit gives us a new nature
that imparts to us new spiritual life.
The theological word for this
is called regeneration.
Regeneration.
Through regeneration,
the Holy Spirit indwells us,
takes up residence inside of us,
and transforms our hearts
in a way that transforms the rest of us,
that every aspect of our mind
and our emotions and our will and our bodies,
that it gives us new desires.
It gives us a new love for God,
a new love for his word,
a new love for other people,
and it gives us new power.
The ability, new power to follow God
and obey him,
it's the transformation of our desires,
it's the transformation of our hearts
and our nature.
And so this is where we see
that the new birth and conversion
aren't about getting more religion.
It's not about getting more religion,
but it's actually about receiving a new nature.
It's about receiving a new nature.
And twice in this passage,
Jesus tells Nicodemus
that he actually should not have been
surprised by this.
He says,
don't marvel that I am saying this to you.
Nicodemus, being the biblical scholar
and teacher that he was,
should have remembered,
should have called to mind
the words of the prophet Ezekiel
in Ezekiel chapter 36.
This was an Old Testament passage
about how God would literally put his spirit
in the hearts of his people.
Ezekiel chapter 36 says,
I will sprinkle clean water on you,
which is again this reference to baptism.
And you shall be clean
from all your uncleanness
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
And I will give you a new heart
and a new spirit I will put within you.
And I will remove the heart of stone
from the heart of flesh
and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you.
This is a promise in the Old Testament
about God's plan
to indwell people with his spirit.
And this is the new birth.
It involves cleansing
from the old sinful nature,
this removal of the heart of stone
and the creation of a new nature,
the creation of a new heart,
a heart of flesh.
And so that's what the new birth is.
That's what the Holy Spirit does
in the new birth.
But I think that begs a question for us,
which is,
why do we need this in the first place?
Like, why do we need the new birth?
Why do we need conversion to happen
in the first place?
Why do we need to receive a new nature?
And part of the answer comes
in what Jesus says later in verse 19.
Later in verse 19, Jesus says,
this is the judgment.
The light has come into the world
and people loved the darkness
rather than the light
because their works were evil.
He's saying that at our core,
our fundamental problem
isn't that we sometimes do bad things,
but that at our core,
our fundamental problem
is that we actually love the darkness.
Scripture teaches that
the fundamental problem of humanity
isn't that we're imperfect people
who just need to learn
how to be better people.
It's not that we're ignorant
or uneducated people
that just need to be taught
or enlightened.
It's that we are dead people
who need to be made alive.
We are slaves who need to be liberated
from the power of sin and death.
This is what Ephesians chapter 2 says.
Ephesians chapter 2 says,
and you were dead in the trespasses,
in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked,
following the course of this world.
We all once lived
in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires of the body
and the mind,
and we're by nature
children of wrath.
Apart from God's intervention,
apart from the regenerating work
of the Holy Spirit,
we are dead in our sins.
We're spiritually dead.
We're held captive to its power,
and we cannot create new life
in our hearts on our own.
And so that is why we need
the new birth.
That is why we need a new nature.
That's why we need
the regenerating power
of the Holy Spirit.
We don't just need another app
on the home screen of our life.
We need an entirely new operating system.
And that's why getting more religion
or getting more serious
about the rules
isn't going to deal fundamentally
with our main problem.
We need to be made alive.
We need new hearts.
We need a new spirit.
And this is also why
the new birth
isn't just for
people who aren't religious.
It's for people
who grew up in the church.
It's for people like Nicodemus
who knew the Bible
and taught the Bible,
who even believed
that Jesus came from God,
but didn't have the life
that Jesus came to bring.
And so everyone needs
the new birth,
even the church people.
Even the church people.
So that's the first thing
that we see
is that the new birth
isn't getting more religion,
but it's receiving a new nature.
Misconception number two,
another misconception
about conversion
and the new birth
is that it always involves
a dramatic emotional experience
of decision.
or that it involves
an experience
that can feel
forced
or manufactured
or maybe even
emotionally manipulative.
But is that the case?
Does conversion
and new birth
always involve
a dramatic emotional experience?
Well, let's look at our text.
Jesus continues
the conversation
in verse eight
and he says,
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
born of the Spirit.
Both the Hebrew word
ruach
and the Greek word
pneuma
can both be translated
as wind
or spirit
or breath.
And here,
Jesus brings those together
and says,
the work of the Holy Spirit
is like the wind.
Even though you can't see it,
you can feel its effects.
It is real and powerful.
You can feel the wind
blowing in your face.
You can feel it shaking
the trees,
which many of us did yesterday.
Yesterday was a pretty windy day,
right?
You can,
even though you might not
be able to see it,
you can feel its effects.
It's real.
It's powerful
and it's mysterious.
It's not something
that we can control
or even predict.
So it is
with the Holy Spirit.
Even though we cannot see
physically what God
is doing in the heart
of someone,
it is nonetheless
real and powerful
and it's also not something
that we can control.
It's not something
that we can manufacture.
It's not something
that we can predict.
And that is because
the new birth
isn't something
that we do.
It is something
that God does.
It's something
that God does.
1 Peter 1,
verse 3 says,
Blessed be the God
and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
According to His great mercy,
He has caused us
to be born again
into a living hope.
He has caused us
to be born again.
This is the work of God.
It's not us.
Just like the wind,
the Holy Spirit
brings about the new birth
in ways that are
often mysterious,
often unpredictable,
and often out of our control.
Sometimes it can happen
in a dramatic way,
like if you think about
St. Paul's conversion
on the road to Damascus,
right?
Blinding light,
a voice from heaven,
dramatic experience,
power, right?
But other times,
it can happen
in more ordinary,
subtle, mundane ways.
For others,
it's more like the story
of C.S. Lewis.
It's like somebody
waking up slowly
and eventually realizing
that they're awake.
This is the work
of the Spirit.
It's unpredictable.
It's mysterious.
We can't quite control it,
but this is because
it's the sovereign work
of the Spirit.
This is where we see
that the new birth
is not an experience
we can control.
It's not an experience
that we can manufacture,
but it is a sovereign work
of the Holy Spirit.
It's a sovereign work
of the Holy Spirit.
And rather than this being
something that makes us cringe,
this is actually something
that should greatly
and deeply encourage us.
This should be something
that should be
incredibly encouraging.
Over the years,
I've actually had heard
more than a few people
express a mild,
vague sense of shame
that they do not have
a more powerful testimony.
They don't have
a more powerful experience
of coming to faith.
It's as if having
a more powerful story
of the new birth
would make
their current experience
of the Holy Spirit
more real and powerful
in their life.
But for many people,
many of us,
God uses ordinary means
like friendships
and growing up
in a Christian family
to bring about
the new birth
into our lives.
And this isn't something
to be ashamed of.
This isn't something
to feel guilty about.
This is something
to be celebrated
and rejoiced in.
This is just as much
of a testimony
to the sovereign power
of the Spirit
to bring about
the new birth
just as a dramatic moment
like Paul's conversion
on the road to Damascus.
We should rejoice
in both dramatic
and ordinary
and mundane experiences
of the new birth
because the same
sovereign Spirit
is at work
in both.
It is His work,
not ours.
This should also bring
us great encouragement
as we think about
friends and family
and coworkers
that we want to know Christ.
Do we have the responsibility
of sharing Christ with them?
Yes, we have the responsibility
to share our faith,
to share the gospel with them,
to pray for them,
to ask them questions.
But we don't have
any of the pressure,
we don't have any
of the responsibility
to see any results,
to see them come to faith,
to see them actually
experience the new birth.
That's not on us.
That's the work
of the Spirit.
He is the one
who brings about
regeneration
and new birth
in the hearts
of people.
And so we can relax
because it is
His work
that He does.
Parents,
this is also true
for you
as you think
about your kids
and as you
hope and pray,
as you think
about wanting
your kids
to express
faith in Christ
someday.
There may be
an exact moment
when this happens
or there may not be.
It may be more subtle
and mundane
and ordinary.
It might be
just what we pray
every Sunday
and what we prayed earlier
that there would never
be a day
that they know
apart from knowing Christ.
But regardless,
this is
the new birth
in your children
is not something
that you have to
force to happen
or control
or create
the perfect conditions
for.
And it's ultimately
not something
that you are
responsible for
as a parent
because it is
the sovereign work
of the Holy Spirit
who brings about
the new birth,
who regenerates hearts.
So what we see
is that the new birth
and conversion
aren't about getting
more religion.
It's about receiving
a new nature.
We also see
that it's not
an experience
that we can control,
but it's a sovereign
work of the Holy Spirit.
And so here's
a third
and final
misconception
that we often have
about the new birth.
A third
and final misconception
is that
it's really just
describing
spiritual experience
in general.
It's describing
a spiritual experience
that happened
in lots of other
religions and faiths
and other forms
of spirituality.
There's nothing
unique about it.
But as Jesus
continues his
conversation
with Nicodemus,
he recalls
a story
from Numbers
chapter 21
that Laurel
read earlier.
And this is a bit
of a bizarre story
when you first read it.
The Israelites
were complaining
to God
as they do
multiple times.
They were complaining
to Moses about God
that he had brought
them out into the wilderness
only to die.
That they were
longing to go
back to Egypt.
And God
judges them.
He judges them
for their sin
of unbelief
by sending
venomous snakes.
And these
venomous snakes
bite the people
causing many
of them to die.
The people
realize their sin.
They cry out
to God.
They repent.
They acknowledge
they've sinned.
God in his mercy
provides a way out.
And he tells
Moses
to create
a bronze snake
and put the
bronze snake
on a pole.
And anyone
who looks
at the bronze snake,
anyone who's
been bitten
can look
at the bronze snake
and live
and be healed.
That's a bizarre
story, right?
But the point
of the story
is this,
that people
who were dying
because of their sin,
people who were dying
because of their sin
were able
to look
to
a symbol
of judgment
and death
that was lifted up,
the bronze serpent.
They were able
to look at a symbol
of judgment
and death
and live
and be healed
and experience
new life.
And Jesus
says to Nicodemus,
this bizarre
story
in the Old Testament
is about me.
It's about me.
Verse 14,
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.
Nicodemus,
just like the serpent,
I too
am going
to be lifted up.
Not on a pole,
but on a cross.
Not just as a symbol
of judgment
and death,
but I'm going
to be experiencing
real judgment
and real death
so that whoever
looks to me
will experience
new life.
Now,
why on earth
would Jesus
do this?
Why would he
be lifted up
as a symbol
of judgment
and death?
Well,
he tells us,
he tells Nicodemus
in the next verse,
and this is a familiar
verse to many.
In fact,
it's maybe
the most well-known
verse in the Bible.
John 3, 16.
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.
he did it
out of love.
Perhaps you're
here this morning
and you,
like Nicodemus,
have been
curious about
Jesus,
but maybe you
have never
actually received
the new life
that Jesus
has come
to bring.
Maybe you've
thought Jesus'
teachings were
interesting or true.
Maybe you even
believe that he's
from God,
but you have
never actually
received the
light that he
has come to
bring you.
Well,
this shows
you how you
can,
this shows us
how you can
receive the
new birth.
This shows us
how you can
receive the
new life.
On one hand,
the message
of Christianity
is so simple
that even
a small child
can understand
it.
On the other
hand,
the message
of Christianity
is so deep
that it will
take you
a lifetime,
even an
eternity,
to plumb
the depths
of its
wisdom.
And so,
my friends
in this room
who are
have lots
of degrees
and who
have lots
of education,
who are
highly educated,
do not
miss the
crystal clear
simplicity of
the gospel
that is here
in this
passage.
Don't miss
the crystal clear
simplicity of
what Jesus
came to do
and how we
receive what
he came to
do for us.
We are
spiritually dead
in our sins.
We are
headed towards
an eternity
of perishing
without God.
but out
of his
great love
for us,
because God
so loved
the world,
because he
so loved
you,
he came
and exchanged
places
for us,
with us,
by being
lifted up
on the
cross.
At the
cross,
Jesus
experienced
everything
that you
and I
deserved,
judgment
and death,
that we
could experience
everything
that he
deserves,
new life.
God's
judgment
so we
can receive
God's
acceptance.
He
received God's
wrath so we
can experience
God's
peace.
He received
God's absence
so that we
can receive
God's
presence,
and he
received
eternal
death so
that you
and I
can experience
eternal
life.
And all
you have
to do,
just like
the people
in Numbers
chapter 21,
all you have
to do is
look to
him,
to believe
in him
and to trust
him.
And what
that means
is that when
you look
to the
cross,
you believe
and trust
that what
he did
there,
he did
for you.
He did
for you
out of his
great love
for you.
God so
loved the
world,
he so loved
you,
that he gave
his only
son for
you.
And when
we see
that,
when we
look to
that,
when we
trust in
that,
we are
not only
given new
life by
the Holy
Spirit,
but we are
brought into
loving union
with Christ.
In fact,
it is our
union with
Christ,
it is our
union with
Jesus that
brings about
the new
life given
to us by
the Spirit.
Ephesians
chapter 2,
this passage
that we read
earlier that
talks about
us being
dead and
our trespasses
and sins,
after it talks
about us being
spiritually dead,
says this in
the next
verse,
because of
his great
love for
us,
God,
who is
rich in
mercy,
made us
alive even
when we were
dead in our
transgressions,
and God
raised us up
with Christ
and seated
us with
him in
the heavenly
realms.
Made alive
together with
Christ,
seated with
him,
raised with
him.
It is
through our
union with
Christ that
we experience
the new
birth,
that we
experience new
life,
love.
And it
is through
our union
with Christ,
given to us
by the Holy
Spirit,
that we
experience God's
love.
And so this is
where we see
that the new
birth isn't just
about spiritual
experience in
general,
but it is about
eternal life
that brings us
into loving
union with
Jesus.
It's about
eternal life
through loving
union with
Christ,
and it is
wonderfully
and beautifully
Trinitarian.
It's the love
of God the
Father revealed
to us in
Christ the
Son,
given to
us,
applied to
us by the
Holy Spirit
and received
in faith.
And this
makes the
new birth
immensely
practical.
It shows us
how to receive
the new birth
if we're not
a Christian,
and it also
shows us how
the new birth
affects us
even if we've
been following
Jesus for a
long time,
even if we
came to faith
a long time
ago.
Because the
new birth
isn't just
a one-time
moment that
you use to
check your
get-to-heaven
card.
It isn't
isolated from
the rest of
your life.
It actually
is the very
operating system
that makes
your entire
Christian life
possible.
It is the
seed that
allows us to
grow up into
Christ-likeness.
It is the
seed that
allows us
to grow
as Christians.
Just as we
experience in
conversion,
we grow as
Christians by
receiving the
love of God
the Father
through union
with Jesus
and the power
of the Spirit.
The power of
the Spirit.
So to tie all
this together,
to tie all this
together,
conversion and
the new birth,
it's not about
getting more
religion.
It's about
receiving a new
nature.
it's not
something,
it's not an
experience that
we control or
manufacture,
but it's a
sovereign work of
the Holy Spirit.
And it's not
about spiritual
life or
spirituality in
general,
but eternal
life through
a loving union
with Christ
received by
faith.
Now,
whatever
happened to
Nicodemus?
John,
here in
John chapter
three,
actually just
moves on.
Like,
the conversation
just ends.
And then he
moves on to
the next thing.
So we actually
don't see
Nicodemus'
response.
We don't see
Nicodemus until
John chapter
19.
And John
chapter 19
tells us that
after Jesus
died,
that Joseph
of Arimathea
got permission
from Pilate
to receive
the body
of Jesus
after he
was crucified
and after
he died.
Joseph of
Arimathea
received the
body of
Jesus and
placed the
body of
Jesus buried
in his
personal tomb.
And who
would come
to the
burial but
Nicodemus?
John chapter
19 says that
Nicodemus arrives
on the scene
at Jesus'
burial and
he brings
with him
75 pounds
of burial
spices,
myrrh and
other spices.
75 pounds.
This would
have been
incredibly
expensive.
This would
have been
incredibly
extravagant
for a
burial.
This would
have been
the only
thing that
would have
been done
for the
burial of
a king.
This would
be the sort
of thing
that would
have been
done not
just for
the burial
of any
one person,
it would
have been
an act
of worship.
Somewhere
between
John chapter
3 and
John chapter
19,
something changed
in how
Nicodemus
saw Jesus.
Somewhere
along the
way,
Nicodemus
realized that
Jesus wasn't
just a
teacher,
but that
he was a
king.
Not just
that he
was sent
from God,
but that
he was
God.
So when
did this
happen?
Well, we
can't know
for sure,
we can only
speculate,
but I
wonder if
it was
on that
Saturday
when Nicodemus
went out
to Golgotha
where Jesus
was being
crucified,
and I
wonder
if as
he saw
Jesus
being
crucified,
suffering
and dying,
I wonder
when he
saw Jesus
lifted up
and suspended
on the
cross,
I wonder
if Nicodemus
remembered
back to
his
conversation
at night
when he
told Nicodemus,
just like
Moses lifted
up the
bronze snake,
the Son of
Man must
be lifted
up.
And I
wonder if
he recalled
those words
and not
only looked
at Jesus,
but believed
in him for
eternal life.
Now,
that's just
me speculating,
we can't
know for
sure,
maybe this
change had
already
occurred
weeks or
months
earlier,
maybe like
C.S.
Lewis,
it happened
when Nicodemus
wasn't even
conscious that
it was
happening.
We can't
know for
sure,
in some
ways it
really doesn't
matter,
and in
many ways
that's not
the point.
The point
is that
at some
time,
Nicodemus
understood that
when Jesus
was lifted
up on the
cross,
that it
was for
him.
It was out
of his
great love
for him.
Jesus
was there
out of
his great
love for
Nicodemus.
And it
was that
love that
changed him.
It was that
love that
created a new
heart and a
new spirit.
And it was
that same
love that
changed C.S.
Lewis.
It was the
same love that
gave him a
new heart and
a new spirit
and a new
life.
And it is
the same
love for
us that
changes us,
that regenerates
our hearts and
gives us a
new spirit and
gives us new
life.
Let's pray
together.
Father in
heaven, thank
you that you
have revealed
your love in
Jesus Christ
on the cross
and you
allow us to
experience the
new birth by
giving us new
hearts.
Help us to
not miss the
simplicity of
the gospel
that you
so love the
world, that
you exchanged
places with us
on the cross,
that whoever
looks to you,
whoever believes
in you, shall
not perish but
have eternal
life.
Amen.