Jesus Saves | Reuben Ramsaran | John 3:1-16

Well, good morning, Calvary. Somebody excited to worship in the house of God this morning? Yeah. We're going to make much of him together. He's saying his name, fix our eyes on him, because he is worthy of our brains. He is worthy of our attention. And so Jesus, we love you. We are here for no one else but you. Fix our eyes on you. We love you. Come on, we sing. God, I look to you. I won't be all well. Give me vision to see things like you do. God, I look to you. You're where my health comes from. Give me wisdom, because you know just what to do. I will love you, Lord, my strength. Let's just sing this out to him. I will love you. I will love you, Lord, my rock, forever all my ways. I will love you. Oh, yes. God, I look to you. I will love you, Lord. God, I look to you. God, I look to you. Don't be all well. Give me vision to see things like you do.

God, I look to you. You're where my health comes from. Give me wisdom, because you know just what to do. I will love you, Lord, my strength. Let's love you, Lord, my shield. I will love you, Lord, my rock, forever all my ways. I will love you, God. I will love you, Lord, my strength. Oh, you are my strength. I will love you, Lord, my strength. I will love you, Lord, my rock, forever all my ways. I will love you, God. I will love you, Lord, my love, my love, my love, my love. Just lift your voices and sing to him. Hallelujah, oh, yes, you made Hallelujah. Oh, God, you made forever all my days. Hallelujah, oh, let's sing Hallelujah. Hallelujah, oh, God. Hallelujah, oh, let's sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Hallelujah, oh, let's sing Hallelujah. Hallelujah, oh, God, we love you. Just give a cry. You are my strength, oh, oh, oh, let's sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Jesus reigns, amen? I know it's early in the morning, but I think he's worthy of it. Thank you, God. It's you, right? We love. Hey, this weekend is special because we're starting a new sermon series called "Who Is Jesus?"

And what makes this sermon series so special isn't just because it's new, but because we are joining a hundred other churches, also following the same text, preaching the same sermon, not just discovering the name of Jesus, but discovering what it means to have a real relationship with Jesus as anybody been changed by having a real relationship with Jesus. And I love that churches in South Florida are united in this teaching, discipling our church to not just know a lot of stuff about God, but to know him for real. And in the book of Colossians, Paul's letter to that church, he has a beautiful description of the Son of God that he reminds them with. And he leaves them with this description so that they would know who Jesus is, what he has done, and what it means for our lives in light of it. And so I'm going to read this very, very slowly so that we would be able to fix our eyes on Jesus as we continue in our time of worship together. This is what he says in Colossians chapter 1 starting in verse 15. He says, "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation, for in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the first born from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. This is where we come in verse 21. He says, "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior,

but now." Somebody say, "But now." He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you wholly in his sight without blemish and free from accusation. If you continue in your faith, established and firm and do not hope, do not move from the hope held out in the gospel, this is the gospel that you heard. And that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. Aren't you thankful for the Lord Jesus this morning? (Applause) And so in light of that, a couple of our worship leaders, we got together from all these different churches and we wrote a song called, "Jesus, You Are," and you're not going to know the song. That's okay. But I would encourage you to take a moment to let the lyrics of the song sink in deep so that it would help you fix your mind on who Jesus is. I don't know what your week has looked like, but the beautiful thing about being in the house of God is there's forgiveness found at the foot of the cross and there's an opportunity to come close to Him and to see and be reminded that He is still good, that He is still faithful and He still brings the debt to life. Aren't you thankful for Jesus this morning? (Applause) And so as we sing this, at any point you feel comfortable, sing it out with us. (Music) You left heaven for a cross and gave everything for us. (Music) Mercy made a way back home. (Music) I am yours in yours alone and now hell has lost its steam. (Music) No more bondage, I am free, hallelujah. (Music) Chains are broken, it is time. (Music) Hallelujah, you have won and nothing can do

what you've done. (Music) You are holy instead of our home. Always worthy that's who you are. So I will bring all my praise. Lay it down at your feet, all of Jesus. You are, you are. ♪ Oh, Jesus, you are, you are ♪ ♪ Seen it high upon the throne ♪ ♪ Keep wherever Christ alone ♪ ♪ Every tongue shall bless your needs ♪ ♪ Now forever Lord, you raise ♪ ♪ No can do what you can do ♪ ♪ You are holy and set upon ♪ ♪ Oh, He's worthy that's who you are ♪ ♪ So I will pray all my praise ♪ ♪ When you're down at your feet ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, you are, you are ♪ ♪ Only, yeah, only ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, you are, you are ♪ ♪ Worthy, yeah, worthy ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, you are, you are ♪ ♪ Who is like you, none beside you ♪ ♪ All the earth sinks ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Rock the pages for foundation ♪ ♪ Ever changing, only, only, only you ♪ ♪ Who is like you, none beside you ♪ ♪ All the earth sinks ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪

♪ Rock the pages for foundation ♪ ♪ Never changing, only, only, only ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, you are holy and set up on ♪ ♪ Oh, it's worthy that's who you are ♪ ♪ So I will pray all my praise ♪ ♪ When you're down at your feet ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, you are, you are ♪ ♪ Holy, yeah, holy, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, you are, you are ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, you are, you are ♪ Would you just lift them up in this place? (gentle music) ♪ Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above the ground ♪ ♪ Lift your voice ♪ ♪ All funds and domain means all clouds ♪ ♪ And positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above ♪ ♪ Come on, declare your name ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above the ground ♪ ♪ All funds and domain means all clouds ♪ ♪ All clouds and domain means all clouds ♪ ♪ Yes, you are, you are, you are, Jesus ♪ ♪ Yes, come on, this your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, you are, you are, you are, you are ♪ ♪ Yes, the greatest, you are, you are, you are ♪

♪ Stand above the ground ♪ ♪ And the king is the name of our kings ♪ ♪ The name of our king stands above the ground ♪ ♪ And positions, you are, you are, you are ♪ ♪ Stand above and above ♪ ♪ And the angels cry ♪ ♪ Holy, all creation cries ♪ ♪ Holy, you are lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ All you people say, come on! (upbeat music) Yes he is, holy, you will always be Holy, holy forever Sing again, you'll always be, you'll always be You will always be holy, holy forever Come on, give a praise, we believe you are holy, Jesus It's your worthy, worthy, worthy It's your worthy, Jesus You are worthy, Jesus No one like you, you have saved our life So we fill this room with praise All my works fall short I've got nothing new How could I express all my credit I could sing these songs As I often do Every song must end And you never do So we sing So I throw my hands

Praise you again and again 'Cause all that I have is a Yes I am And I know it's not much Except for hearts to be I've got one response I've got just one move With my arm stretched wide I will worship you again So I throw my hands And praise you again and again 'Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah, Hallelujah Yes I know it's not much I've got nothing else before I can't hear Except for hearts to be I'll let you in Hallelujah Hallelujah Would you just lift a praise to Jesus in this moment Would you fill the room with worship If he has saved you If he has delivered you We sing Oh come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your soul 'Cause you've got a lie in it Hey get up and praise the Lord

Stay calm on my soul Come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your soul 'Cause you've got a lie in it Hey get up and praise the Lord Oh sit calm on my soul Come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your soul 'Cause you've got a lie in it Hey get up and praise the Lord Hey So I throw up my eggs And praise you again and again 'Cause all that I have is a lie 'Cause you've got a lie in it (singing in foreign language) ♪ For singing our name to you ♪ ♪ Our name, our new year ♪ ♪ Our name, our new year ♪ ♪ Our name, our new year ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ We blessed your name, King Jesus ♪ ♪ We were once dead, but now we are alive ♪ ♪ Because you have brought us back to life ♪ ♪ We are here today as people who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ The blood of Jesus that washes us clean ♪

♪ That covers us so that our worship this morning ♪ ♪ Would be a beautiful aroma before the Father ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord, for making that possible for us ♪ ♪ We only love because you loved us first ♪ ♪ And so, Jesus, we pray that you would do something so beautiful in our hearts this morning ♪ ♪ Maybe it's been a long time for some of us ♪ ♪ Maybe we've been away from church for a while ♪ ♪ Maybe it's been a long time since we've heard your name being lifted up like this ♪ ♪ But I pray that by your spirit you would draw us close to you ♪ ♪ That you would help us to see you rightly ♪ ♪ And that we would be changed because of it ♪ ♪ That you would change every desire that is out of you ♪ ♪ So that we would look more and more like Christ ♪ ♪ We love you, Jesus ♪ ♪ We are here for no one else ♪ ♪ Only you and you alone ♪ ♪ And into the precious name of our Lord and Savior ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, Calvary Chopper, we said ♪ ♪ Would you just bless the Lord one more time ♪ (congregation applauding) Isn't it good to worship the Lord? I briefly mentioned that we are partnering with Church United for some outreaches and for some worship, but we're also partnering with Church United for a preaching message. And so over a hundred churches for the next three weeks will be teaching the same message that you are hearing this morning. The message series is entitled "Who Is Jesus?" And our goal over the next three weeks is to literally give you a fresh perspective of your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I want to ask you this question.

Have you ever been in the midst of maybe let's say a party or a wedding or an evening event and somebody late into the evening asks you a question and you get into like a long debate or a long conversation? You ever have that? As a pastor it happens to me all the time. I've got six kids and so it's like 11 o'clock at night and all of a sudden I hear my bedroom door open, "Hey Dad, you got a minute?" I'll be out with my wife and say, "Hey Pastor, how are you doing?" "Got a minute?" I love questions. I love to sit. I love when people open their hearts and have like a real authentic dialogue. And there's something about night conversations. I don't know what it is. Like the sun goes down and everybody gets chill, you know. It's like, "Hey, how's it going?" You've got a question about life. And now because it's night time everybody's a little more contemplative. Maybe a little more humble, a little more open, a little bit more willing to say, "Hey, I want to truly hear your opinion or your perspective." The last time this happened to me was just a couple weeks ago. I was 10, 30 at night. I was already snuggling up in bed, setting my alarm for the next morning like thinking, "Wow, it's an early night. I'm going to be all rested for tomorrow." My phone rings. Look at the caller ID. It's my daughter, Olivia. And she's up at college. She's a gator. University of Florida. And of course, I'm going to pick the phone up. "Hey honey, how's it going?" We're small talking for a few minutes and all of a sudden she lays it on me. Dad, I got a question for you. And that conversation like turned into a beautiful moment for her in her young adult life. And I loved it because just a few weeks later, I was able to follow up with her and say, "Hey, how'd that go?" And she's like, "Dad, thank you. Thank you so much. Your words really impacted me and I was able to call my friend." And things radically changed for the better. We're going to read a story about Nicodemus where Jesus gets asked a night question.

Just like we get asked questions all the time. Jesus gets asked a question in the night, by a man named Nicodemus. And he was a popular guy. He was a guy that really shouldn't have been seen with Jesus. But yet, he found Jesus and asked him a beautiful question. And Jesus makes time for him. And that late night conversation gives us some of the most important words that Jesus ever spoke. So let's dive into John chapter three, and let's take a look at this beautiful conversation that happens between Jesus and Nicodemus. John chapter three, verse one through three, here's what the Bible says. Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, verse two. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him." Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." Look back with me up at verse one. We see that Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Now that's a big word, and if you're not used to the Bible, you're probably thinking, "Oh, what is that?" Now Pharisee was like an expert in the law. They would be one of those individuals that when you saw them around the town, you could say, "Hey Pharisee, hey Pharisee, I got a question about Sabbath,

or I got a question about this festival, I got a question about this verse." They were like your local neighborhood priest or pastor that people would recognize as an expert in the law. They were an expert in the ceremonial customs. They knew all about all the rituals, they knew all about what would should be known about any good Israelite or Jewish person. Now what they were noted for in a negative way is that they neglected the heart. They neglected what those rituals, those customs, those laws were supposed to do deep in the soul of a person. Now if you look back with me at verse one, you see that he was also a member of the Jewish ruling council. What that means is that he was also a political leader. So he was a religious leader and a political leader. He was somebody who would be known across town. He was somebody who would be revered or maybe looked up to somebody who was trusted, somebody who was popular in the town. Look with me at verse two. But he came to Jesus at night. And you might wonder, why did he come to Jesus at night? Maybe he was a person who didn't want to be seen with Jesus. Maybe he was in a position where he really wanted a little bit of Jesus' private one-on-one time. Uninterrupted, who knows? The Bible doesn't tell us exactly why he came to him at night. But we know you also called him Rabbi. You see that there in verse two.

Rabbi was like a title of respect. It was like, hey, Mr. Teacher. Or hey, Mr. And a title of respect is the word that Rabbi would have been. He also says to him, you see this here? A teacher from God. And you know that the Pharisees were known for trying to trick Jesus, trying to back him in a corner. So we don't know exactly what was up Nicodemus' sleeve. Was he trying to give him true respect? Or was he trying to back him in the corner? But we do know that he acknowledges that it's possible that this man was sent from God. Now you and I both know that it's one thing to call Jesus Rabbi. And it's another thing to call him Savior. So there was a distance that Nicodemus needed to travel in this conversation, and he wasn't there yet. Now if you look with me at verse three, we see the words verily, verily. And these are words that you can easily pass by. But they essentially mean, hey, listen, I'm about to tell you something very important. Jesus is about to speak emphatically. Now if you notice in verse one, did Nicodemus ask Jesus a question? He was just greeting him. He was just getting to say hello. But yet we see that Jesus is about to drop some truth on Nicodemus. He's about to give him something incredibly important. And what do we see here? He says, Jesus replies. And I love this because although Nicodemus didn't ask Jesus a question, Jesus is about to answer something in his heart. And don't you know that Jesus knows what's in our heart? He's aware of what's happening deep on the inside of who we are.

And we see this all across the pages of Scripture, is that Jesus knows the insides of you and I. He knows what we're thinking. He knows what we're feeling. He knows the good, he knows the bad, he knows the ugly of who we are. And he's able to meet us in our mess. Don't you know that? Has he met you in your mess? I'm sure some of you in this room have a testimony of how God met you in your mess. And Jesus is meeting Nicodemus here in the midst of a very messy time in his life. And you might say, it doesn't seem messy yet. Hold on. Follow me. We're going to find the mess here. But we see that Jesus is speaking. And he's able to speak the words that Nicodemus needs to hear. And he's able to speak the words that you need to hear this morning as well. We see here that Jesus is talking to you. Born again, big word, big word. Nicodemus again, the expert in the law, sees these words and he's shattering. Jesus is shattering his belief perspective. In order to enter the kingdom of God, you need to be born again. What did Nicodemus believe before? You need to keep all the rituals. You need to keep all the laws. You need to keep all the ceremonies. You need to do, you need to do,

you need to do, you need to do. Where's the space for Jesus when we're doing all of this work? Where's the space for grace when it's only law? Jesus is breaking apart the perspective of Nicodemus here in this moment. You see, Nicodemus believes in this conversation that he's the ultimate insider. He's a Jewish man, born of Jewish culture. He believed that he should have direct access into heaven because of his heritage. But Jesus is breaking that apart and saying no, no, no, no, no. If you want to see the kingdom of God, you must be born again. And again, this concept of being born again, the way that Nicodemus was reading it was, I've got to go back inside of my mother's womb and literally, physically be born again. And Jesus is saying, no, this is something that you can't do for yourself. You see the analogy here? Being born is something that is done for you. Imagine the silliness of considering that you can birth yourself. I did not birth myself. My mother birthed me. But you see, this dialogue begins here in this very moment. We see this dialogue, you might say, well, what a second. Nicodemus didn't have the New Testament. He had the Old Testament, right? That's right.

But all across the Old Testament, we see these concepts of being born again in the book of Deuteronomy and Jeremiah Ezekiel, specifically in the book of Ezekiel, we see in verse chapter 26 that God can take the heart of stone and turn it into a heart of flesh. Did you know that? God does this beautiful work in us that no work of man can do for himself. So point number one, if you're taking notes, is this, that your good deeds aren't good enough for eternal life. Your good deeds, they'll never get you into the kingdom of heaven. Your good deeds will never be the thing that gives you entrance into eternal life. It's only by Jesus. It's only through Jesus. It's only because of Jesus. If you've got your Bible, you can turn over to Isaiah, chapter 64 of verse six, the Bible says, all of us have become like one who is unclean. All of us, no matter your ethnicity, what country you're from, what region you're from, what zip code you're from, all of us have become like one who is unclean and our righteous acts are like filthy rags. We all shrivel up like a leaf and like the wind, our sins sweep us away. From the prophet Isaiah, Nicodemus should have known this, yet somehow he missed the reality that his acts,

his works, his religion separates him from Jesus. It's only his mercy, it's only his grace. Now you might ask yourself the question like I ask myself the question. Why are we driven by good works and good deeds? Why is it that we find ourselves trying to give ourselves merit instead of relying on the merit of Jesus? You see the reality is that we live in a world that is based upon merit. Everywhere else in life we've got to do, we've got to become, we've got to achieve, we've got to climb the ladder, but in the economy of heaven, Jesus has done the work for us. This reminds me of a story of a man named John Newton. I want to read you a story just for a few minutes. John Newton was an English sailor in the 1700s who worked on a slave ship. And later he began to captain them and by his own account, he was a rough foul-mouthed man who mocked the faith. In 1748, his ship, the Greyhound, was caught in a violent storm and it began to sink. Terrified, Newton cried out to God for mercy. The ship survived and that night began a change in him. Over time God completely remade his life. He left the slave trade, became a pastor, and spoke out publicly against slavery, encouraging William Wilberforce in the fight to end it. He also wrote a hymn about his own life.

It's entitled Amazing Grace. Anybody heard that song before? And come on, with its famous line, I once was lost, Near the end of his life when his memory was failing, he is reported to have said, I remember two things that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great savior. So I have a question for you. Yeah, it's awesome, right? Come on. (audience applauding) But I have a question for you. Are you relying upon the grace and the mercy of Jesus or your own works? It's easy, listen, Christian, it's easy to slip from a grace-based view of life, from a merciful view into a works view. It's easy for us to create a list of all the things that we've got to do to earn salvation, to earn right into Jesus' presence, instead of just trusting in his mercy. How many times do you make a mistake and sin? Do something that you shouldn't do and you feel like you've got to work your way back? You've got to crawl your way back. You've got to grovel your way back instead of realizing that you are falling into the hands of a savior who has already paid the price for you. We all find ourselves in that space and I believe that we're more like Nicodemus

than we'd want to realize. Let's go back to scripture. Read together verse four, John chapter three, verse four. The Bible says, how can someone be born when they are old Nicodemus asked? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb. And so we see here in verse four, we see the word how, how Nicodemus is like baffled. Nicodemus is wondering what is Jesus talking about? You see, Nicodemus is looking at this word very literally. The Greek word for born again is a word that is called enough of them. And it has two meanings. It means physical being born again and also literally born from above. So Nicodemus has got a problem of Jesus' premise. He's wrestling through the exact meaning of what Jesus is trying to say. I don't want to take a minute to try to lay out for you some of the problems that Nicodemus is wrestling with. The first one is that Nicodemus has been taught his entire life, that he's got to work, he's got to do, he's got to perform and able to understand his relationship to heaven. And so he's got to change everything. He's going to start from the beginning. He's got to let go of everything that he knew and begin to do something different. How hard is that?

We all have routines, right? The older I get is the more I realize I'm a man of routine. Like you mess with my toothbrush. We're going to fight. Where'd my toothpaste go? What am I arguing about toothpaste? What is going on with me? I'm a man of routine. I got my draw next to my sink. You know, all set up with my stuff in it. It's my draw, guys, come on. I got my cologne, my deodorant right here. You know, I know the levels of everything. I got three sons. They go over his sparks, sparks, sparks, sparks, sparks. I'm a man of routine. Now, bringing it back to spiritual things. I've got even my spiritual routines. I like to wake up at six o'clock. I just do. Six o'clock, no. Six o'clock. I got my chair. Got my coffee. Got my Bible. Every once in a while, I'll hear little footsteps. I love my kids. Trust me. I love my children. My daughter is the youngest one.

The sweetest, the sweetest of sweets. But when I hear those little footsteps, it's like, oh, man. Oh, man. And she'll cry on my lap, and I'm like, oh, this is the best, but I do love my time. When I don't have it, you feel a little different, right? Feel a little off. You feel like, ah, I just need a little space. I got my routines. And Nicodemus is going to have to let go of all that. He's going to have to let go of his rhythms and hold on to grace. You have to change what he does. Now, the third problem, it's not just what he does, but also the way that he thinks there is a massive change in his understanding of the Word of God. It's a hard thing to change what we think. The other day, a friend of mine was debating a particular aspect of theology. And it was completely different from the way that I was trained in seminary. And so automatically, I bristled against it. I was like, ah, let me tell you. Let me help you understand exactly what I learned as I was trained in my understanding of doctrine and scripture. I bristled because it was against the training. And Nicodemus was bristling against the understanding of what he was going through.

Now, the fourth thing-- and maybe even the most important thing of all the things that Nicodemus wrestled with-- but they were waiting for a king. They're waiting for somebody to come through in his royalty and to save his people because remember, the Israelites were under bondage and slavery. And so they were waiting for a powerful prince to come. Oh, when Jesus came, he came as a lowly humble servant. He came as somebody who was willing to sit with sinners. He came as somebody who was willing to be less than and not put himself in the front of the line. And so Nicodemus missed who was exactly in front of him. Have you ever been in front of somebody and you didn't realize who they were? Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation like, you Google that person's name later, you're like, "Oh man, oh shoot, that was so-and-so." Nicodemus was in front of Jesus and he missed it completely. I wanna read you a story that brought a smile to my face on this very topic. There was a man named Joshua Bell, a very famous violinist. Joshua Bell is one of the finest violinists in the world. In January of 2007, the Washington Post arranged a test. Bell put on a T-shirt in a baseball cap to try to be a street musician. And during a morning rush hour, he opened the case to his $3.5 million strata virus, violin, and he played in the subway station in Washington, DC.

He played for 43 minutes while the reporters observed. And just three days before, Bell had filled the Boston Symphony Hall. Were pretty much everybody who had a seat paid no less than $100. Over a thousand people walked past Bell that day and only one person knew who he was. He got $35 in tips and children showed a little bit of natural curiosity, but were heard along by their parents. The article came out and it was written by a person named Gene and won a Pulitzer Prize. And the point is simple, the people weren't bad, they just weren't expecting greatness there. If Bell had come in a tuxedo on a grand stage and have paid to hear him, but because he came in plain clothes, standing by a trash can in the subway, they walked right by. And Nicodemus had no clue who was standing in front of him. And I wonder if there's some of us in the room today that if we realize who we have access to, our life would be looking completely different. This is our Jesus. This is who Jesus is. (audience applauding) He didn't come on the grandest horse, the tallest horse. He rode a donkey back into the city to be crucified for you and for me. He was willing to be born and a stable for you and me.

This is who Jesus is. He came to save the sinners. He became sin for us so that we can wear the righteousness of himself. So my question for you is, will you miss Jesus? Will you allow him to just walk on by or will you allow him to grab your attention this morning? Let's look together at John chapter three. We're gonna read verses five through eight. So back to scripture, John chapter three verses five through eight. So Jesus answered, he said, "Verily, truly, I tell you, "no one can enter the kingdom of God "unless they are born again of water and the spirit. "Flesh gives birth to flesh, "but the spirit gives birth to spirit. "You should not be surprised at my saying, "you must be born again. "The wind blows wherever it pleases. "You hear it sound, but you cannot tell "where it comes from or where it's going." So it is with everyone born of the spirit. Look with me back up at verse five. We see that Jesus again is giving Nicodemus a word picture. He speaks to him specifically in his language because we see all across the Old Testament that the imagery of water is used to talk about purification. So he's using terms, he's using language that can grab Nicodemus' understanding in mind.

And I love this about Jesus. And if you spend enough time with him, you'll realize this about him yourself, that he speaks to you in your language as well. He'll use circumstances, he'll use moments, he'll use opportunities to wake up your soul, to grab attention of your spirit, to draw you to himself. He wants to be in relationship with you. He wants to be found by you. I love to tell the stories or even remember the stories. My daughter, when she was younger, my little ones, all of them loved this. They love to play hide and go seek. Now imagine if I was the kind of dad that would hide in the attic, Like, that wouldn't be fair, would it? Like, they're not gonna pull down the attic stairs and climb up into that scary place and expose themselves to all the stuff that makes them itch to find their dad, right? Now, I hide in places where I can be found. And when my kids can't find me, I leave little signs, I'll knock on the door where I'm sitting. And they're looking, "Hey, did you hear that?" "I think I heard dad." You know, they'll walk by, I'll scratch on the drywall. So they can, "Hey, I want my kids to find the same way Jesus wants you to find him." He'll make sounds, he'll make noise.

He will leave clues to help you to be able to discover him. He wants you to have a relationship with him and shut, sets a desperate place. And the same is true with Nicodemus. Born of water, there must be a purification that happens in the life of a person who wants to enter heaven. Born of water. Ezekiel chapter 36, I mentioned it just earlier. This beautiful picture of a promise that God left for his people, that there would come a day where we would be purified once and for all. But also we see that you must be born of the spirit, born of the spirit. And the idea here is that there is not just an external cleansing, but there's a change that happens on the inside of a person as well. And guess what, Jesus is able to do both of those things. Cleanse and make alive. Cleanse and make alive. This is the work of God in our life. John chapter six talks about the value of how the beginning of a person's salvation begins with the work of the spirit in a person's life. No one can come to the Father unless he draws them. The work of salvation begins with Jesus. Look at me, I have verse six. We see here that Jesus reminds him that flesh gives birth to flesh. So he goes back to the original question. He says, okay, listen, Nicodemus,

even if you can be reborn as an adult, it wouldn't change anything. Because I'm not talking about a physical thing. I'm talking about a spiritual thing. Flesh gives birth to flesh. Spirit gives birth to spirit. For seven, he tells Nicodemus, you shouldn't be surprised by this. This is something that you ought to know. This is something that you ought to have. And this verse really struck me. Because Nicodemus, like I told you, was a Pharisee. He was also a public official. He should have known the Old Testament. He should have exposed himself to this understanding of the truth, of the gospel, but he did not know. How many of us have been exposed to God's word, have come to a church, yet our lives are still far from him. I was chatting with one of my kids recently. I said, Dad, what's it gonna be like when Jesus returns? What's it gonna feel like? Dad, what will it be like? I'm like, well, the beautiful thing is that I'm not gonna be here. So I don't have to worry about it. When he comes back, he's gonna rapture us back home to be with him. But could you be, could you just imagine for him what it'll be like the moment that the rapture happens? The people who are left, I wonder what conviction

will set in like, oh my gosh, that's the thing that that pastor was talking about. The rapture has happened and I didn't give my life to Christ. And the destruction and the devastation of life all around them begins to crumble. We think things are bad now. We think we have it rough now. We could never imagine what life will be like after the trumpet sounds. And so to have your life secure in Jesus is a beautiful thing. And to consider that your life is not secure in Jesus is an incredibly scary thing. And Jesus reminds Nicodemus, hey, don't be surprised. Don't be caught off guard. And I wonder if he's saying that to somebody here today. Why are you surprised? I've shown you myself before. You've heard about the gospel before. Why haven't you given me space and time in your life? Look with me at verse eight says here, the wind blows wherever it pleases. I used to be a sailing instructor during the summer, at a summer camp. And the wind can be incredibly predictable until it's not. And they're like, oh no, what do we do? There's a storm coming and storms could brew. It feels like all in a second.

When you're out on the water, you're not always checking your phone for like the latest storm brewing around. You just kind of watch the skies and you try to predict what's going to happen. But every once in a while, the wind it gets out of control. And we're no strangers to odd weather systems in South Florida. The last couple of weeks, all of this rain And what's going on? I mean, the weather can be unpredictable. But Jesus wasn't talking to hear about rain and wind. He was talking about a work of a spirit. And do you know that he's working right now? The wind of his spirit is working right here in this place. I promise there is at least a handful of people in this room where we're saying, I need to do something with Jesus. I want you to allow your mind to go back from it to Genesis chapter two. The moment where Adam was created and the Bible says that God breathed into him the breath of life. That word for breath is the word ruach, the wind of God. The wind of God woke Adam's body up and he became a living being. That same breath of God can be breathed into your loved one today and their soul can wake up in a moment. The reality of what was dead,

what was lost can now be found and made alive. What was hopeless can become filled with hope. The thing that was lost can be found all in a moment when Jesus breathes the breath of life into a person. If there's an area of death in your life today, Christian, if there's an area of your life that's weak today, ask for the breath of God, the ruach of God, to come upon you and allow him to do his work. I don't know if you've ever been in a moment where you have been lost yourself. Maybe it wasn't the salvation of your soul that you were concerned about, but maybe a smaller S saved. Maybe there was a space in your life where the lowercase S saving needed to happen for you. You're like, "God, I need your help." And God shows up, the wind of God. He blows where he wishes. You know how those spaces where you don't sense him? Do you know he's still working? It's hard to tell it. It's hard to see it just like Jesus said. You don't always know what's happening, but guess what? It's happening and he's working. Don't ever doubt that God is working in your life. And so point number two, if you have note, eternal life is a gift that only God can give. It's a gift that only God can give. Just like you don't create the wind,

you can turn a fan on, but that's nothing compared to the work of God. Eternal life is a gift that only God can give. I want to give you a quick verse that completely changed my life. It's in the book of John chapter 10 and verse 28. If you have a Bible you can turn there really quickly. John chapter 10 verse 28, he says, "I give them eternal life, "and they shall never perish. "No one will snatch them out of my hand." There was a season in my life where it felt like I had this fear, this fear that maybe this belief in Jesus wasn't real. I remember when I was like seven or eight years old, I had prayed the prayer about 228 times, and my mom said, "Rubin, you need to get saved." 'Cause I had lied or kicked my brother or something. I don't know what I did, but she told me I need to get saved, so I prayed the prayer for 229 times. And there wasn't really like this relationship with God. I had a Bible and I would bring it to church, and I saw my dad writing in his Bible, so I'd be like, "Okay, I'll write in my Bible." I'm not sure what I wrote, but I wrote because I wanted to look like I was a Christian. I wanted to have the exterior qualities of a believer. I honestly thought because my dad was a Christian, my mom was a Christian, my brothers were Christians,

well then I'm a Christian, right? It was almost like I was writing on their coattails of faith and Christianity. I go to church every week, I go to Sunday school, I grin and bear it all the way through, so therefore I must be a Christian. I'd even go on Owanis, which is like a kids ministry that happened on midweek. When I grew up I went to youth group, I did all of these things, but I became like this rebellious black sheep of our family. If you set up, I sat down. If you said left, I went right. If you said don't touch the stove is hot, I touched it anyways. I found myself in a lot of trouble. And in that very moment I prayed the prayer for an authentic moment. I don't know if you ever had authentic moments of praying the prayer. I had this authentic moment like I knew I needed Jesus. I even got baptized, like it was awesome. I got baptized in November in Central Florida in a lake. Like yeah, it wasn't the beach man. I mean like I was like, let's go, I'm gonna do this thing. But there still was some work that God had to do. So I remember I was 21 years old and I was confronted with a person who had a different belief structure than I had.

And he asked me some questions that I didn't know how to answer. It was almost like he stumped me. You ever get stumped in your faith, stumped in your debates with somebody? And I read this verse and I realized something about Jesus that I'll never forget. My relationship with Him is secure. My relationship with Him is not founded upon what I feel like. It's not founded upon what I do. It's founded by the blood of Jesus. Scripture says that He will carry you from here to eternity. The Bible reminds us that it's His righteousness, not our works that saves us. And from that point on, I've had a strength, a courage about my faith that has never left me. And I'm so grateful that He raptured and captured my heart into a relationship with Him. If you look with me at verse nine, I want to summarize verses nine through 13 for the sake of time. If you look at verse nine, we see here that Nick still doesn't understand. He says, "How can this be? "How can this be? "Have you ever been a moment where you were so concerned "with what you were reading? "How can this be?"

Nick is finally getting it. He's finally beginning to see that there's something that needs to change about His faith structure. And then Jesus rebukes in verse 10. This is great. You're Israel's leader. You're the teacher. You're supposed to know this stuff. You're supposed to understand it. Look at in verse 11, he says, "Truly I tell you." Jesus is setting up this belief structure. If there's somebody that you're going to trust, Nicodemus, trust me, I'm Jesus. I'm your savior. I'm your friend. I want to help you. There's no one. He's the son of man. He's there for him. Look at me at verse 14 and 15. We're going to read it together. Verse 14 and 15 says this. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness. So the son of man must be lifted up. That everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. What was he telling him? He was telling him a story that he ought to have known. Back in the Old Testament, Numbers chapter 21, you can note it for later.

Numbers chapter 21 verse four through nine, tells the story of how the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness. And they were complaining. They had just come from Egypt. Slavery. And they were saying, yes, we're freed from Egypt, but we're hungry. We're tired. Anybody remember the story? And because of their complaining, the Lord sent snakes into their area and they were bitten by poisonous snakes. And so God told Moses, create a bronze snake in a pole. And everybody who looks to this pole will be saved. It was like the Lord was giving us this beautiful type of Jesus. This beautiful story in the Old Testament that points to something that was going to happen in the future. A beautiful foreshadowing of something wonderful and amazing. But we see here that Jesus tells Nicodemus the same way that the bronze serpent was lifted up so the Son of Man was going to be lifted up. These serpents were an image of sin. And the sin was crawling through the camp of the Israelites. A bronze serpent in a bronze pole was a symbol of forgiven sin. And so the forgiven sins of the people was raised up in the camp.

And those who looked would be saved. What a picture of what Jesus wanted Nicodemus to look at. He wanted him to see Jesus. And this is who Jesus is. My question for you is who do you look at? What do you look at for healing in your life? What are your methods of forgiveness in your life this morning? Verse 15, we see here everyone, Jesus said everyone, not just every Israelite, not just every Jewish person, but everyone who believes. Every Israelite, every boy, every girl, every man, every woman, Jesus was the opening salvation for the entire world. Any person who believes would be able to have access to the beautiful message of the gospel. So point number three, anyone who believes in Jesus, anyone who believes in Jesus will receive eternal life. It's a wonderful story. It's a wonderful gospel that we have access to. And it's available to you. It's available to me. It's available to the worst sinner or to the best person. And everybody in between, we all have access to salvation. Now the wild thing about this story is that we never find out exactly how Nicodemus responded to Jesus that night. There's no end of the story, don't you hate that? I would love to read like, and then Nicodemus got in his knees and said, you art the Savior.

This is amazing. I will bow my life to you, but we do see two. Beautiful, evident. that there was a debate around Jesus, and people were challenging him. They were telling him, "Hey, you're not Jesus, and Nicodemus sticks his neck out for Jesus." It's evidence, something changed in Nicodemus. And then there's a part of the crucifixion of Jesus that I want to read for you this morning, because in John chapter 19, if you have your Bible could turn over there, John chapter 19, at this moment Jesus has been crucified. He died on the cross, and Nicodemus shows up in the story. Let me read it for you here. John chapter 19 verse 39, the Bible says he was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought, excuse me, a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds, taking Jesus' body. The two of them wrapped it with spices and strips of linen, and this was in accordance with the Jewish burial customs. Let me grab your attention. What we see here is that Nicodemus was in the middle of a beautiful festival called Passover. This was like the highlight of the Jewish calendar year. It was the season where all of his friends, all of his family would have gotten together. And there was a law, and the law said that if you touch someone who is dead, that you'd have to leave the camp for seven days to become clean. So Nicodemus was risking this beautiful moment with his family, with his friends. He was saying, you know what? That's great, but there's something greater about Jesus. The Bible says he brought 75 pounds of Aloe and Mer. That's equivalent to $150,000 to $300,000 in today's economy. Nicodemus brought his best gift to Jesus that very moment. Imagine, imagine for a moment Nicodemus pulling the body of Jesus off of the cross. Imagine seeing his torn apart back from all of the lashings of the whips that Jesus endured for us. Imagine the crown of thorns and the blood all over his face. Imagine his beard ripped apart and the bruises on his face from all the punishment that he endured. Imagine as Nicodemus laid his body on the ground and began to rub his body with those owls and those murs and wrapping his body. Imagine what was going on in his mind. Do you think he drifted back to the moment that he had that conversation with Jesus? Even so, as the bronze snake was lifted high, so the Son of Man must be lifted high for me. Do you think that went through his mind? Do you think he had his moment to realize that this is truly Jesus? This is truly my

Savior, this man who made all those claims did that for me. I think it's evident that that he did and that he had a picture of a Savior who bled and died just for him. And I want to ask you tonight, sorry, this morning, if you're a Christian in the room, this same gospel story is a gospel story that can capture the heart of anyone. And so if you stood in the beginning of our service, I want to encourage you to consider. Consider your friend, your family member. Write their name in your Bible next to that section of Scripture. Write their name in your phone and commit to praying for them every single day. Remember the story I told you about my daughter where she had that night conversation with me? Well, the friend that she spoke to and the courage that I gave her to go and speak to her friend radically changed the future of her friend. She was in a dangerous relationship and somehow that conversation persuaded her to change some things. Her life is different because she applied what was shared with her. And today, you can be the catalyst of somebody's change. And so ask God for boldness. Take a moment even now. Say, God, give me the boldness to be a light bearer, to be a gospel bearer, to be an agent of salvation for a lost and dying and broken world. Take a moment now. I'm going to give you a few moments of silence and lift that person by name to the Lord and ask God for the courage to be a gospel soldier. God, we are grateful that we get to be called your sons and daughters. that need to know Jesus, we pray God, those individuals by name, would you go after their souls? Would you remind them even now of how much they need you? Help us God to take the bold steps like you did with Nicodemus, to have hard conversations that maybe would kind of put us out there, but yet, Lord, I pray that we would be willing to risk those moments for the sake of the eternity of our loved ones. There's so much there in the balance, and we pray God, have your way, do your work in us. We ask in Jesus' name. Before I say amen, I wanna speak one more challenge

over a different group of people. If you have your Bibles, I wanna read to you one more verse. It's from that same section, John chapter three. It's the next verse after the story of Nicodemus. And it's probably the most popular verse in the Bible. It's the first verse I ever memorized, John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. You know, the reality is, is that Jesus lived the life. He lived the life that we could never live. The Bible says that he was perfect. Do you know, the Bible says that Jesus died the death that we could never die? So that we could have the hope of heaven. The Bible says that after three days in the grave, he rose again, he conquered hell and death for me and for you. I believe that there may be some people in this room this morning that don't know Jesus. And I think it would be a shame if we passed by this moment and didn't offer the opportunity to make a difference. And so if you're a Christian in the room, would you join me in prayer for those that need to know Jesus? Maybe there's somebody in here that finds himself a bit like Nicodemus. Maybe you've trusted in your rituals, your routine, a religion that was void of Jesus. Maybe you trusted in your acts

or maybe something good that you could do, but it wasn't about Jesus, it was about you. Maybe this morning, you find yourself a bit like me. Maybe you were raised in a Christian home. Maybe because your parents were saved, you thought, well, hey, I'm gonna be a Christian as well. Maybe you had like a worn out Bible like mine, but really there wasn't a relationship. There was just some outward veneer of Christianity, but not an inward change or truth of what it means to have Jesus invade the darkness of your life. If that's you this morning, I wanna tell you that you're probably sensing conviction right now. When I was in that moment, it was like there was a movie screen being played of all the things that needed to change about my life, and I couldn't get the thought out of my mind that I wished that the preacher would stop talking so I could leave because there was so much conviction in my heart, but the Spirit of God would not let me go. He brought me to a place where I surrendered my life to him. And if that's you this morning, if you have never given your life to Christ, or maybe you have given your life to Christ and you've wandered far from him, this is a moment, don't let this moment pass you by. This is an opportunity for you to make your life right with Christ, we are not promised tomorrow. There's not a week that goes by that I don't get a phone call as a pastor here at this church about somebody

who's passed away that I didn't expect would pass away. Some of that I saw walking days before no longer walking. And I wanna encourage you like Paul said, plead with you, today is the day of salvation. If you've never made your life right with Christ, the worship team is gonna play one song. When you hear them sing, it's your cue to come forward. You walk this out, you come forward, and you're gonna pray a prayer. The prayer will sound something like this. Dear Lord Jesus, I admit that I'm a sinner. I believe that you sent your son to die on the cross from my sins. I confess him as my savior, that's the prayer. It'll be my words, but it's your heart before your Lord. I'll be praying for you, Christians in the room will be praying for you. Don't let this moment pass you by. Your Jesus loves you so much. What you're sensing right now happening in this room is the battle between the enemy and your savior, wanting to give you life. So don't pass it by, I'll be praying for you. This is your cue, please come forward now. (gentle piano music) ♪ Are you hurting and broken with this ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ - Thank you.

♪ How come to live and settle ♪ ♪ Do the forghing from prepare ♪ ♪ Jesus is corn ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ Oh come to the altar ♪ ♪ The found things are dropping wide ♪ ♪ Forgiveness ♪ - Welcome. ♪ Who's following the precious blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Oh come to the altar ♪ ♪ The found things are dropping wide ♪ ♪ Forgiveness ♪ ♪ What's following the precious blood ♪ ♪ Oh what's in your heart ♪ ♪ Is in the wonder ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Christ is risen ♪ - So proud of those who have come forward this morning. It's the best decision. (audience applauding) The Bible says Jesus said that the wind blows like we talked about earlier. We don't always understand exactly why we find ourselves in places that we find ourselves, but Jesus knows. The Bible says he has your days numbered. The Bible says he's sovereign, which means he knows exactly where you are today. And so I want to give you the comfort to know that God is a plan for your life. And today is the beginning to the best days

of your life forward. Sometimes the best days will always mean that everything sparkly and wonderful, 'cause we all go through problems and trouble, but when we walk through life with Jesus, things are always sweeter. And so I'm so excited for this moment in your life. (audience applauding) The Bible says that there is a party in heaven when one person gives their life to Christ. So guess what? The party's pretty big right now in heaven. (laughing) So if you would bow your heads with me, and I'm gonna say this prayer over you, you can repeat the words quietly as I pray them. Allow these words to be your words before the Lord. You can say, dear Lord Jesus, I admit that I'm a sinner. And I believe that you sent your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross from my sins. Help me to live for him from this day forever. In Jesus' name, amen. (audience applauding) - Hey listen, we're so excited for you guys. I'd love to meet you. Our volunteers are gonna take you into that back room there and give you a Bible and a Bible study guide. I'll meet you guys there in just a few minutes, okay?

Church, let's give them a hand. (audience applauding) Would you please stand with me? Church, I wanna commission you this week as you leave this place to be a lightbearer, to be a gospel carrier, to be one who's willing to risk maybe a social awkward moment and share the love of Jesus with somebody, amen. We'll see you next week. If you have any prayer needs or altar is open, God bless you. (audience applauding) (gentle music) (gentle music)