On Being Born Again

I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 3. John chapter 3 for our time of study in, in the word this morning. been thinking a lot on this subject and want to spend a little bit of time, probably a couple weeks or so in this section of the Gospel of, of John. our purpose as a church is to help people to journey from brokenness to wholeness, through the gospel of, of Jesus Christ, and we've identified, in recent months, critical points in that journey from brokenness to total wholeness, standing before Christ in, in glory, and the first of those critical points is what we call gospel conversion or to use the language of John chapter 3.

The first critical point in the journey from brokenness to wholeness is being born again. This is the topic of the message. Today, this is an important topic that Jesus puts in front of a religious man's face. Nicodemus, when you read the narrative in John 3, comes to Jesus and brings up a topic for conversation.

And many commentators observed that Jesus completely ignores Nicodemus's topic for conversation and establishes his own topic for conversation. And that is the topic of being born again. The impression you get is that if you have not been born again, if you've not experienced this yet, and you come to Jesus and say, Hey, I'd like to talk to you, and here's my topic of conversation, the likelihood is that Jesus would ignore your topic of conversation and tell you that what he wants to talk about is the subject.

of being born again and the fact that you need to be born again.

Notice how much the idea of being born is a part of this, narrative here at the beginning of John 3, verse 3, we have born again. Verse 4, how can a man be born when he is old? Verse 4, be born a second time. Verse 5, born of water and the Spirit.

Verse 6, born of flesh. Verse 6, born of the Spirit. Verse 7, born. Again, in verse 8, born of the Spirit.

Clearly, that is the theme that is in this passage that Jesus is driving home to Nicodemus, and to all of us. And to make it even more, To help us to realize the intensity of Jesus about this, as he speaks on the subject of being born again, there are 3 times in this dialogue, where he introduces what he's about to say, by saying truly, truly, Amen. Amen. We know everything Jesus says is true, right?

We don't say, well, we're not sure about what he says, but if he says truly, truly, then we trust him. People sometimes recently in a counseling session, I near the end said, now let me be honest with you, to preface what I was about to say, and they stopped me and said, so you haven't been honest up to this point? I think they were joking, but in a way Jesus doesn't need to say truly, truly everything he says is truly, truly, right? So why does he do that?

He does that to not only convey the truthfulness of what he is about to say, but what he's saying is, I say this to you, Nicodemus, with the utmost earnestness. and solemnity and truthfulness. Nicodemus, you need to sit up and really listen to what I am about to say to you on this subject. So Jesus would not just talk to you if you've not been born again on the subject of being born again.

Again, but you would notice how intense and earnest he is truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, you would hear from his lips as he talks to you on the subject of you being born. Again, Obviously there are a few questions. There probably is no question that is more important than the question. Have I been born Again, I want you to ask yourself that question.

This morning there's no question more important regarding those in your life that you love and care about than the question have they been born again? There's no more important question parents to ask about your children, whether they're young or older in the home or out of the home, than the question Have they been born? Again, this is a huge question that we're forced to ask in this passage. You may say, well, I'm not really thought much about that, but, I believe in Jesus.

I believe a lot of things about Jesus, and I'm living a pretty decent life, and I've been coming to church. In fact, I go to a Bible study, and, I've cleaned up my act, and yeah, there's a lot of things that the Bible teaches that I believe about Jesus. What our passage today tells us is that we got to go deeper than that. We just have to.

You have to go deeper than that. In fact, notice the lead up to the narrative in John 3. Look at how John 2 ends. It says in verse 23, Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in His name, and you say, Well, that's great.

People are believing in His name, observing the signs which he was doing, but Jesus on his part was not entrusting Himself to them. That's, that's amazing. Quite literally, the text is saying people were believing in Jesus, but Jesus wasn't believing in them. Imagine coming to Jesus and you're all excited and say Jesus, I believe in you, and he says, Well, I don't believe in you.

Jesus, I trust you. I put my trust in you, and to hear him say, I will not entrust myself to you. That's basically what's happening in this passage. People are believing in his name as they observe the signs that he was doing, but Jesus on his part was not entrusting Himself to them, for he knew all men.

He knew there was something deficient about their faith. He knew that they had not been born. again, and what's interesting is, among these quasi partial believers is a guy named Nicodemus. In fact, look at how it continues in verse 25.

Let me pick up in verse 24. Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them, those that were believing on him to some degree, seeing his signs, for he knew all men. And because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man, Anthropos, for he himself knew what was in man, Anthropos, chapter 3, verse 1. Now there was a man, Anthropos of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.

So there is this category of men, this category of people who were quasi believers in Jesus, and among those people is a guy named Nicodemus who comes out of that crowd and actually approaches Jesus to share with Jesus what he is concluding about him. Nicodemus is a man with incredible, impressive credentials. Look at how the text describes him in verse 1. 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 have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. This is really an impressive man. Most anyone would look at a guy like this and say, if anyone is in the kingdom of God, it's Nicodemus, right? Look at his credentials.

He was a Pharisee, and part of what that means is that he was a biblical scholar. In all likelihood, Nicodemus had the entirety of the 1st 5 books of our Old Testament memorized and possibly the entire Old Testament memorized. He knew the Bible of his day better than probably any one of us in this room know the Bible of our day. He also lived as a Pharisee, a very religious life of separation from from the world.

He was a holy man. He fasted twice a week as the Pharisees did as a habit from week to week, and he would have given a minimum of 23% of his income essentially to charity on an annual basis. He's described as a ruler of the Jews, and what that means is he was a member of the Sanhedrin. The Supreme Court of Judaism, the highest ranking religious and authoritative body in Israel.

He's described by Jesus as being the teacher of Israel. He was a consummate teacher, the ultimate teacher of things religious and godly. And not only that, he believed some really great things about Jesus. He believed that Jesus was a teacher come from God.

He believed that God was with Jesus, and he believed that the miracles that Jesus was performing validated. The truth of the fact that God was truly with Jesus, and he not only believed these things, but he was willing to go out during the night and find Jesus to say, Here's what I am coming to conclude about you. I want to confess to you what I have come to believe is true about you. So here he comes to Jesus with all of these credentials, sporting a t-shirt saying Jesus is my rabbi.

God is with Jesus. Jesus is a teacher come from God. Jesus is a miracle worker, and all the other spiritual attainments that he had collected throughout his life. And yet Jesus looks at Nicodemus and says, you must be born again.

To get into the kingdom. You're not in the kingdom, Nicodemus. You can't even see the kingdom. You must be born again.

What we observe here is obviously living a good life, giving money to charity, being religious, fasting, teaching other people, religious things is not enough to get a person into the kingdom of God. Something else needs to happen, and listen carefully. It's not something you do. Something needs to happen to you.

You need to be born again by the Spirit of God. What I want to do with the time that we have is observe 3 truths in verses 1 through 7 regarding this matter of, of being born, again, 3 truths that might prove to be a help to you if you're here today and, and you're saved and you're just, I want, I want to reach out to others and know how to frame some of my discussion with them. This passage is a help to you if you're here today and And you're not sure whether you've been born again or not, or even what you think about, being born again.

you're not even sure you want to be born again.

this passage will be immensely helpful to you. Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, but I pray that you will allow Jesus to engage you and your heart in this dialogue. Truth number one about being born again is this. And this is taken almost directly from the lips of Jesus.

And that is, without being born again, a person cannot see the kingdom of God. It says in verse 3, Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. I would encourage you to underline the word see. Jesus is saying there are things about the kingdom of God that need to be seen.

And being born again enables a person to see the kingdom of God. If someone is not born again, he is therefore unable to see the kingdom of God as it ought to be seen. The kingdom of God is a beautiful and desirable and lovely thing, but you cannot see the kingdom of God as it ought to be seen, for the lovely, beautiful, desirable thing that it is unless God has done a miracle in your life and caused you to be born again. Only then can you see the kingdom of God as it ought to be seen.

Now think about it, this expression, the kingdom of God. every kingdom has a King. and so who is the king in the kingdom of God? Well, Jehovah, in a sense, but if you read Psalm 2, Jehovah God puts forth his anointed Messiah.

as the King, essentially of the kingdom of, of God. Jesus is the Lord and the King of the kingdom of God. And so part of what Jesus is saying is that a person, in order to see Christ and His rule, His kingly rule, as a beautiful and lovely and desirable thing to want to be under, in order to see His kingly rule as it ought to be seen, a person has to be born again, otherwise he can't see it. See, man in his natural state, looks at the kingdom of God and, and looks at Christ's kingly rule, and they don't like it.

In fact, they view it as undesirable and repulsive, right? Read Psalm 2, the Messianic Psalm, where the psalmist says, why are the nations in an uproar and the people's devising a vain thing? The kings of Earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed or his Messiah, his Messiah King, and they say, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. See, here these people are looking at the rule of the Messiah.

And they don't see it as a lovely thing. They view it as slavery, as bondage. Like, why would we want to be under his rule? Man in his natural state does not want to be in the kingdom of God.

They want to be ruling in the kingdom of me. They want to be on their own throne, and to be under the rule of Christ is bondage and undesirable slavery. Christopher Hitchens, the late anti-theist, I've heard him several times in some of his lectures liken living under the reign of Jehovah God. To living in North Korea.

He literally likens Jehovah God to the dictator of North Korea, and he says, why would anyone want to do that? in North Korea you live there, but there is an escape. You can die. But Jehovah God, you can't escape that.

You have this North Korean-like dictator for all of eternity who tells you what to do and punishes you when you are wrong. He's like, I can't imagine why anyone would ever want to live underneath a go like that and believe in a God like that. Let's give Christopher Hitchens credit. At least he's honest about it.

Man in his natural state does not want to live in the kingdom of God under the rule of his Messiah King. He sees that as undesirable and repulsive. And so Jesus is saying in order to see the kingdom of God, God as it ought to be seen. There's, there's only one category of people that see the kingdom of God as it ought to be seen as the beautiful, lovely, desirable thing that it really is.

And that is those who have been born again. Something has been done to them, causing them to be born again. Those are the only ones who see the kingdom of God rightly. There's a second truth that we observe here about being born again that Jesus gives us, and that is without being born again, a person cannot enter the kingdom of God.

It says Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born. Can he? Jesus answered, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom.

Of God. Now let me address real quickly the issue of, when he says water and the spirit, what does he mean by water here? Commentators are divided on how to understand this, and I'll confess to you guys I've I've studied this passage over a period, not constantly, but off and on for decades. I still don't, have an understanding of this such that I feel really dogmatic about it.

I like John MacArthur's suggestion that Jesus' use of water denotes at the very least the idea. of cleansing. and there are many commentators that even though they may even understand other nuances to be there, would at least acknowledge that the idea of cleansing is here. And so I think we can settle here, at least for now, even though there's other dimensions probably of Jesus meaning here.

And what Jesus would be indicating is that the new birth, being born again is brought about by the Spirit of God, but it entails cleansing, cleansing. when a person is born again, the Spirit comes into him, and his sins go off of him. He is cleansed. This is almost certainly for Jesus to say water and the Spirit, an allusion to Ezekiel 36, which Nicodemus would have been very familiar with, where we see the idea of water and cleansing and the Spirit.

Let me read this to you in Ezekiel 36:24 and following. It says, For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit 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 you will be careful to observe my ordinances, and you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers. So you will be my people. And I will be your God.

As believers, when we believe in Jesus, when we experience regeneration or rebirth that is wrought by the Spirit of God, but it entails cleansing and forgiveness. Every child of God comes into his new life, guilt free. Amen. Cleansed of his sins.

And then throughout his life, there's ongoing cleansing. from the defilement of sin and the habits of sin, write down Ephesians 5:26, where Paul speaks of Christ, who is cleansing us, cleansing the church with the washing of water with the Word, the Word of the gospel, cleansing us, not only forgiving us, but cleansing our lives day by day of the filth that once belonged. To us and characterized our lifestyle. And so even though there's more here, let's just settle there.

Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, and notice what he says next, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Literally, how this would read? unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot go into, into the kingdom of God. What's being indicated here is that in our journey from brokenness to to wholeness to the gospel, God wants you and me to enter into kingdom blessings, the blessings of forgiveness, the blessings of righteousness.

The blessings of relationship and freedom and power with God, on and on, the list of those blessings can go. God wants to move us into those things in our journey into the kingdom of God. But Jesus says, only those who have been born again can get into those blessings, can move into those blessings of forgiveness. and righteousness and freedom and power and relationship with God.

In order to be able to enter into these blessings, something needs to be done to you, something needs to happen to you by the Spirit of God. And that is you need to be born again. That brings us to our third and final point. And that is that Jesus gets very personal now, up to this point, he's been speaking in the second person, to Nicodemus, I say to you, unless one is born again, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, but now he turns to Nicodemus and very directly says something that needs to happen to Nicodemus.

It's been implied in what he's already said, but he gets very personal. He says that which is born of the flesh. is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I have said to you, you must.

be born again. In verse 6, he says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Think about it, guys, when we're born into, in our first birth, when we're born into this physical world, we came with the equipment to interact with this world, to touch and to feel and to see and to hear and to taste. We came with the capacities to interact with and experience life in this world.

And Jesus is saying, in order to get into the kingdom and even be able to see the kingdom as it ought to be seen, you need to be born into it. To get into the kingdom, you got to be born that way. You got to be born into it with a whole new set. of spiritual organs that will enable you to see and experience the kingdom of God.

verse 7, he says, don't be amazed. And what he's saying by that is, Nicodemus, don't be so startled by this that you brush it off. Don't be so stunned by this that you say, oh, this, that's just so stunning and amazing, that can't be true. Don't be so startled by what I'm saying that you're just Dismiss it, he says, When I say to you, Nicodemus, you, you, Nicodemus, you must be born.

Again, You must That word must indicates this is essential. This is not an option. This is not one option or one alternative amongst many that, there's a variety of ways into the kingdom of God, and one of those ways is, you can be born again. So if you're interested in trying that.

You can go get born again, but there's other ways into the kingdom. No, this is not optional. This is the only way to see the kingdom, to be able to enter into the kingdom blessings, and that is you must, you must, it's essential. You must be born again.

All of us, we feel things that we have to do. maybe some of that is expectations that people put on us or that we impose on ourselves. Jesus is putting this on us, and he says, it is essential that you be born. Again, When he says this, Understand that this is a passive voice verb.

Let's translate it this way. You must be begotten again. That's literally what he's saying. So he's not saying you must beget yourself.

He's saying, no, you must be begotten. This is something that someone else does with regard to you. You don't beget yourself. When it came to your physical birth, none of us in this room just decided one day, what, I think I'll be conceived today.

And then after conception, none of us were in the womb of our mother and said, what, I'm going to be born today. None of us made that decision. We didn't even know what was going on, right? that was not our call to make.

We were conceived and brought into existence by the choices of our mother and father, and ultimately by the choice of God. And we didn't have a choice about the day that we were born. Our mother's body made that choice for us and began to push us out. There was no skill involved in climbing out of the womb.

We didn't climb out, no, we were pushed out. Choices were made for us. That's the way it is with physical birth. We were begotten.

We didn't birth ourselves. But we were begotten through the labor of another. The choices, the choice of God. And our mother and father, we came into existence and the same is true, spiritually.

What Jesus is saying to Nicodemus is you must be begotten. And that's really not your choice to make. You must be born again through the labor, through the choice of another. That's a stunning thing to say to Nicodemus, a man who was used to getting things done.

In fact, even when Jesus has talked this way already, Nicodemus says, Well, how is it possible for a man to re-enter into his mother's womb. See what he's doing? He's thinking about what he does. so I go back, I go back into my mother's womb and be born, but that's not possible.

And Jesus would say, no, you're missing the point. It's not about what you do, you must be begotten. Again, something needs to be done to you, Nicodemus. See, most people in our culture today, when they think about, getting into the kingdom of God, getting into heaven forever, they think about what they need to do.

And they don't stop and think in all humility about the fact that I can't do what needs to be done to get into the kingdom of God. Therefore, something, someone needs to do something to me. In order that I might get into the kingdom of God and even be able to see the kingdom as it ought to be seen. Now there are two things at the very least that are embodied inside of this stunning statement that Jesus is making to Nicodemus here, and the first of these things is just, let's just say call these two facts that are inside of Jesus' declaration to Nicodemus that he must be born again.

And the first of these facts that is embodied in this declaration is the fact that Nicodemus, something is wrong with you after your first birth. Your first birth is not sufficient. You can't get into heaven simply by virtue of the fact that you were born. Into this world.

There is something wrong with us and incomplete about us after our physical birth that renders us unable to see the kingdom and get into kingdom blessings. When someone is born physically, yes, they were born as a product of God's choice and His handiwork, and they are image bearers of God. But the Bible teaches that we were born in sin. We were born sinners and unable to see and to enter into the kingdom of God.

David says in Psalm 51:5, Behold, I was born in iniquity, and in sin, my mother conceived me. This is a man who's just committed adultery. And he's murdered the husband of the woman that he committed adultery with, and he's been living in self-denial and deception for months now. And in his prayer of confession, at the end of that awful season, what David is realizing is during this awful season, I have been behaving according to my first birth.

I was born this way. This is who I am from, from birth and these actions I have taken in this awful season of my life are a manifestation of the condition that I was born with and need to be delivered from. In our culture today, It's, it's really sad because there's almost an exaltation. Of birth In one important sense.

That what the world says is look at your physical birth, look at your birth, and however you were born. That makes it OK. Be true to your birth. And if they can make a case to our culture that hey, no, no, this person was born this way, see, in their logic, if we can just persuade people that someone was born this way, then that automatically makes it OK.

Right, Well, David says after committing adultery and murdering, I was born this way, and I need to be delivered from it, but that's not the message of the world. The great thinker, Lady Gaga in her song Born This Way talks about what her mom used to say to her when she was younger, the vision that her mom gave to her, and then Lady Gaga goes on in the song to express her philosophy of life when it comes to how she was born. Her mom would say to her, there's nothing wrong with loving who you are.

She said, because he made you perfect, babe.

So hold your head up, girl, and you'll go far. Listen to me when I say, this is Lady Gaga talking now. Listen to me when I say I'm beautiful in my way, because God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track, baby.

I was born. This way No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I'm on the right track, baby. I was born. To survive.

There ain't no other way, baby. I was born this way. I was born this way. There ain't no other way.

I was born this way. I'm on the right track, baby. I was born this way. What, what is she doing?

She's pointing to her birth and saying, my destiny is in my birth. The message of Christianity is you were born a murderer, an adulterer. You were born in sin, but that birth doesn't have to be your destiny. There is a second birth that is available, and for those who are truly born again, we find our destiny not in our first birth, but in our second birth.

Amen. Jesus is saying for him to say to Nicodemus, You must be born again. Implied in that is that there's something wrong with Nicodemus in his natural state, having only experienced this first birth. There's something else that That is implied in this declaration of Jesus, and this is probably the most devastating of all.

And that is nothing, Nicodemus, you've attained to since your first birth amounts to anything. Here, Nicodemus is a man of great attainment and wisdom and accomplishment. He's worked very hard over the years of his life. And Jesus says to get into the kingdom, you gotta start all over again.

You, you got to be born again. Imagine how hard that would fall on Nicodemus' ears. This is shattering. This is, this is stunning.

imagine for the sake of illustration that you at the age of 4 decide, I want to be a doctor. That's my dream. That's my passion in life. I want to be a doctor.

And you also have a dream to work at a particular hospital that's just, that's the dream place to work, and I want to be a doctor, and that's where I want to work. And so that's your vision for your whole life. And from kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade onward, you work so hard, you work harder than any of your peers in classes, you get straight A's, you go to high school, and you get straight A's, you work hard. And you graduate valedictorian of, of your class.

You go to university and get your, your training, and you get straight A's. You work harder than anybody else, and you graduate summa cum laude, and you then go to medical school and you work harder than anybody else. You, you stay up late at night, you do your residency, and, And you work yourself ragged and to the bone just trying to get as much as you can from all of that experience and that education. And by the time you reach the end of medical school, all of your professors and your fellow students are saying that you are the most amazing, the most intelligent, the most accomplished student who has ever walked the hallowed halls of this medical school.

And so you finish your training. And get your degree and you fill out your resume, you got all these references of people speaking so highly of you, and you're excited. Now you can work at this hospital and you submit your application, along with your resume. And, they call you up, they call you in, you go to the hospital, you think you're going to get the job, and you walk into this room and there's people seated at a table, you sit down at that table, and you wait for their verdict.

And imagine That they say to you, we've been poring over your application and your resume. And we're sorry to inform you that there is nothing on this resume. That counts for anything. You cannot get into this hospital.

You cannot work here, and you say, What about my education? And they say, Nothing in your education from kindergarten onward counts for anything to us. And you say, Well, what do I need to do to get a job at this hospital? Imagine they said to you, you must be totally, completely re-educated from kindergarten onward.

How would you respond to that? You wouldn't say, Oh, OK, I really appreciate you telling me this. I'm going to get to work on this right away. No, you'd be angry.

You'd be insulted. Jesus is saying even more than that to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, you want to get into the kingdom. This man of great attainment and wisdom and accomplishment, you want to get into the kingdom, you want to be able to even see the kingdom.

Nothing that you have done or attained to from birth onward amounts to anything. That commends you before God, you must be born again. Starting completely from scratch. You see, the message of the gospel, it's good news that we give to the world, but what guys, if we're really preaching the gospel to the lost the way we should, it's devastating news.

It's really devastating. Now, to those who've been living, in debauchery and sin to come to them and say, you need to be born again, a lot of them, they're ready for that message. They're like, yeah, I know, I, I've, I've got to be born again. But religious people who pride themselves on all of their attainments and their accomplishments, all the good things that they've done, there's nothing worse or more offensive you can say to them.

Then you must be born again. Nothing from birth onward. Amounts to anything by way of commending you to God. You must start all over and be born again.

And you want to know who the truly born again people are, whom the spirit is really working in. It's the people who hear that devastating declaration and say, what, I get that. I see that. I see that When you read the rest of John's Gospel, John 7, verse 51, I believe, and then, near the end of John's narrative, Nicodemus shows up two more times.

We'll probably get into this next week, but, there's every indication that Nicodemus received what Jesus said. And was born again. Becoming a child of God. Listen to what one commentator says.

Jesus' word regarding the new birth shatters once and for all every supposed excellence of man's attainment, all merit of human deeds, all prerogatives of natural birth or station. Spiritual birth is some. Something one undergoes, not something he produces, as our efforts had nothing to do with our natural conception and birth, so in an analogous way, but on a far higher plane, regeneration is not a work of ours. What a blow for Nicodemus.

His being a Jew gave him no part in the kingdom. His being a Pharisee, esteemed holier than other people, availed him nothing. His membership in the Sanhedrin and his fame as one of its scribes went for naught. This rabbi from Galilee calmly tells him that he is not yet in the kingdom.

All on which Nicodemus had built his hopes throughout a long and arduous life here sank into ruin and became a little worthless heap of ashes. Unless he attains this mysterious new birth, he shall not see. The kingdom. And if you're in this room, and you hear that, and say, what, I get, I get that.

I get that. That's a pretty decent indication that God's Spirit is working in you, and that you have been born again, or you're being born again, right now. Have you been born Again, Have you been born of the Spirit of God. Have you been begotten?

Has this thing happened? To you. Don't walk out of here and say, man, I got a nice list of things I got to do in order to please God and commend myself to him. No, no, no, it's something God does to you.

Jesus came, he died in your place, taking God's judgment upon himself that you deserve for your sins. God raised him from the dead. And ascended Jesus to his own right hand where Jesus from that position of absolute lordship is happily giving out freedom and righteousness, and forgiveness and love and power. And forgiveness to all those who see their bankruptcy and believe in Him.

But even your ability to see that. And want to believe in that Lord is something that has to happen to you. You must be born again. The Spirit needs to accomplish that, that in you.

You say, Well, how do I know if I'm being born again? We'll talk about this more next week, some identifying marks of those that are born again. I'll just give you this encouragement. If you can look at a crucified Savior, who was willing to die for you.

And you're willing to humbly embrace that, yeah, I needed that to happen in order for me to be saved. And yes, I embrace the fact that nothing that I've ever done throughout my life from birth onward amounts to anything by way of commending me before God. And yes, I need to put my trust totally in Jesus and in Him alone. And you're willing to do that and cry out to Him, that right there is a pretty solid indication that God's Spirit is working in you, and that you have been born again or you're being born again right now.

Let me ask you to bow your heads. I hope that in a way this message is an encouragement to some of you. Some of you have despaired, like, I've, like I just talked to a guy this week who says, I've tried, I've tried so hard to live a good life and, and when I'm doing well, I start getting egotistical and judgmental of those who aren't, and then I stumble and fall. How do I get on God's good side and stay there was his question.

And I have very relieving news for you, that it's not something you do. It's not a list of things that you have to do. It's, it's God working in you. It's something that God does to you.

It's something Jesus has done for you at the cross. Would you turn your eyes from yourself and, and even say to God, God, give me the eyes to see as I ought to see. I want to enter into these things, but I can't enter into these things. I have no power.

I have no life to even do this. God, enable me to do this, and I will give you all the glory. Help me to see the rule of Christ and and this crucified Lord who says that this death was necessary that I might be saved. God, I believe in him.

I make him my savior. I renounce myself as my own savior. And I believe in him. That's what God calls all of us to do.

I pray that you would do that today. Please, please, if there's any way we can minister to you, come up and talk to me afterwards. Or there's so many smiling people around you that you can approach. If you're here today and you got questions and you're like, man, I want to see as I ought to see, I want to get into the kingdom.

I want to enter into the kingdom. I, I want to experience this, that's being talked about this morning. If that is the desire of your heart, please come and talk to us. It would make my day, and many people's day to have the opportunity to speak with you.

But even right where you're seated, you can in your heart turn to Jesus, and pour out your heart to Him and cry out to him to be your Lord and Savior. I wouldn't be surprised if there are individuals who have experienced Being born again even during the service. God works in amazing ways. And I pray that you are a recipient of that.

Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for life and the spirit that you have given to those who are your people.

I pray that any that are here today that have never come to know your forgiveness, that they would not despair, but that they would know that you are a God who delights to save sinners, that you give grace to the humble. May they posture themselves humbly before you, Lord. And allow themselves to be recipients of your life giving regenerating. Work of begetting them.

Into the kingdom. Take us deeper in understanding these things, living them out and sharing them with others. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you, to support your work here in Riverside and around the world. Receive these funds that we give in this offering and do much with these funds, Lord, for the glory of Jesus and the spread of this good news.

In His name we pray, and all God's people said,