Jesus & New Birth

As Jesus encounters a man named Nicodemus, a man by all accounts has the religious life figured out. Jesus helps Nicodemus see his need for something more. Showing him the reality of New Birth and how one can be born again.  John 3:1-15.

Transcript

Copy

SPEAKER_00 0:00

If you have God's word with you, you can go ahead and turn to John chapter 3. You can turn to John chapter 3. It's where we're going to be spending our time this morning as we kick off our new sermon series. That's what we're going to be walking through different parts of the Gospels this fall. You know, there's certain moments in my life that I remember very, very well. And it's funny, those moments are actually surrounded by around some of the most important people in my life. I can remember vividly standing on a stage and watching the doors open on my wedding day and seeing Emily as my bride for the first time, walking down the aisle and just being overwhelmed by her beauty and by the fact that I got to be married to her. I remember the moment that I got to meet both of my kids. The awe, the emotion, you know, with your first, you have no idea, you don't know what you're doing with any of them, if you're completely honest. But the first, I mean, just the complete newness of laying your eyes on a person who you've waited to meet for nine months, um, and just being overwhelmed with tears and emotion, and even my son, like getting to see him for the first time. I mean, it really is just incredible. And there's something about kids that, I mean, like I said, maybe I'll cry today just because of the voice, but they just make you weepy for the rest of your life, however it may be. Um, but those moments are so significant because the people that we're centered around are significant to me. And this fall, as we walk through our series entitled Encounters with Jesus, we will see time and time again the most significant person to ever walk the face of this earth come into encounters with different people. A God not far off, not away from his people, but as a person seemingly as normal as you and me, and yet God as man in our midst. Meeting people in the midst of their affliction, in the midst of their abandonment, meeting them in the midst of their confusion, and not just seeing them as a problem, but seeing them as what they are, people. People with needs, yes, but people who he understood the deepest need for all of them was that they have an encounter with him. And as we begin today in this series, we'll start with maybe the most famed encounter with Jesus. In John chapter 3 is the precursor to maybe the most memorized verse in all of Scripture, we see Jesus meeting with a Pharisee named Nicodemus, and Jesus intentionally encountering him. Him telling him of the true need that Nicodemus has for his life and telling him ultimately how new life can be obtained. The title of our sermon this morning is Jesus and New Birth. And as Jesus encounters a man named Nicodemus, a man by all accounts has the religious life figured out, Jesus helps Nicodemus see his need for something more, showing him the reality of new birth and showing him how one can be born again. So as we spend our time in God's Word together, what I want to do is just walk through our text, John 3, verses 1 through 15. We're gonna set the scene a little bit, and then we're gonna zoom in to the idea of the new birth that Jesus is seeking to bring. So let's look at the scene and get a picture of what we're gonna be in this morning. In verses 1 and 2 of John chapter 3, John writes this. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. We get an immediate introduction of this man, Nicodemus, and we get a lot of details about who this person is. We see first that he is a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews. See, a Pharisee is one who literally translated means a separated one, a one who stood apart from the rest of the world. Anytime in the church, you know that they looked radically different than the world around them. And they prided themselves on their ability to be separated. They were clean, they were the people whom everyone looked to for authority on the scriptures. But not only was he just a Pharisee, it says that he was a ruler of the Jews. More than likely, this alludes to the fact that he is a part of the Sanhedrin, not just a part of the religious elite, but a part of the governing body of the religious elite, the one who led the nation of Israel in political matters, the one who ultimately led them in these things. He was a man of probably age to be a part of this group, of stature, of influence, all of these things. We see actually later on, and we'll zoom into it a little bit more, it calls him the teacher of Israel, not just a one. See, the teacher of Israel, we see that he is not just a Pharisee, a set-apart one, not just a ruler of the Jews, one with great power, but one with great influence and status, the teacher of Israel, a man held in high regard, and a man with great competency, a man who has skill and ability, a man who, by all observations, is a man who's seeking after the things of God. We see this is who he is, but we also get the setting of the situation as it takes place. It says he comes to Jesus at night under the cover of darkness. And I don't know about you, but whenever I hear or think of night, if you were raised like me, I was often told by my parents, nothing really good happens at night, you know, like nothing good happens after 10 o'clock, you ought to be home, or whatever it may be. Like, that's just reality. Kids in the room, students in the room, nothing good happens after night. So go on home. Like, it immediately raises a red flag for me because it makes almost this ominous scene of this person meeting Jesus in the cover of darkness. And as a matter of fact, the more you study John's gospel, he only mentions the night in regard to one person's actions twice. Here with Nicodemus at what he was doing at night, and later on in the book, whenever Judas goes and betrays the Lord at night. It's not great standing that Nicodemus finds himself in. So we found ourselves in this ominous scene to say the least. But I think as we look, I mean, we see that this man of great stature is coming to a time and encountering Jesus in a way in which he can be very hidden. In a way in which he can he can honestly have a very sensitive, unsafe conversation and not really being seen by him. And let me just let me just start with this side note. Friends, anytime we come to Jesus with a conversation and we expect him to speak to us, it will be unsafe. It will be unsafe. Because whenever the Lord of all creation speaks into our lives, whenever the divine creator speaks into his creation, safety is not something that we should expect. Rather, sovereignty and power. It's as C.S. Lewis writes, as he talks of Aslan, the ruler of the land, as Lucy's learning that this land is ruled by a lion, and she's asking, is this lion safe? And immediately response, no, of course he's not safe, but he's good. It's the same with our Lord. Jesus is ultimately good, but truly wanting and desiring to hear from him will never be wholly safe. So he comes to him in the midst of the night, in the midst of the darkness, seeking a light that only Jesus has. Nicodemus, in a way, is grasping and groping for something in the dark. And he's coming in a very different way than even his counterparts have come. If you read a little bit before our section of scripture in John 2.18, it says that the Jews, being the other religious people, said to him, What sign do you show us for doing these things? See, Jesus is just turned over tables in the temple, and they're now asking for his credentials. How do you have the authority to do this? How do you get to be the power that makes us do what you say is important? Who, what gives you the right? No, rather, Nicodemus is coming in a very respectable way. We know you're a teacher, calling him rabbi, what people addressed him as. We know you are a teacher come from God. See, Nicodemus in some way understands that Jesus is a person of influence and power. And he affirms him. He affirms that. He affirms who Jesus is. We also see that he doesn't fully understand by what he offers him. Again, in verse 2, it says, Rabbis, we know that you are a teacher, come from God. No one can do these signs unless God is with him. In some ways, almost the air or the tone that we get is he's trying to affirm or to confirm, almost to give him some sense of endorsement. See, Nicodemus's rank made him a person of influence. Whenever he said we, there actually was a we, a people that followed after his lead. So whenever he says, we believe this as you, it's almost like he's trying to offer up Jesus. Hey, I can give you the status, the influence that you're wanting. I can do something for you. I just have a couple questions that I want you to answer for me. He's saying, I want to help you with this endorsement, Jesus, but you have to help me with this power that you're coming from. But what we'll see is that Jesus is not looking for an endorsement here. Jesus really did not care about Nicodemus' status or his influence or his ability. And even in Nicodemus's sincerity, his kindness towards Jesus, Jesus saw the issue that he was truly dealing with. Because this is who Jesus is. A person whose veil who can't have a veil over his eyes. Right before our section of scripture, if you start in verse 23 of chapter 2, it says this. But Jesus, on his part, did not give himself, did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people. And he needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. Now in the original text, there's not chapter breaks. In the original text, it's not a whole new scene. No, it continues as we see in verse 1. Now there was a man of Pharisees named Nicodemus. He says, I don't need anyone to tell me who man really is. And now there's this man that steps on the scene, and Jesus sees him. Jesus sees him as he really is. So with one line, like a master surgeon, he's able to make a cut that ultimately lets him get at the heart of the issue into the depth of Nicodemus's problem. In verse 3, it says, Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. See, Jesus tears down this magnificent house that Nicodemus has built for himself, this magnificent life on the status and on the influence and on the ability, on the accolades, and all of the respect. In one instance, he tears that down to the ground. Is he ignoring Nicodemus here? I mean, it's such a weird response to, I see you're a man of great influence and power. We know that you have to be attuned with God to be able to be doing these things. And then he just jumps to, well, you must be born again to see the kingdom of heaven. This doesn't really seem to make sense, but rather he is getting to the heart of the issue. As a surgeon who has to cut through tissue and fat to get ultimately to the cancer that is in the depths of the body, moving things aside to ultimately see the problem. This is what Jesus is doing. See, Nicodemus is coming to a teacher to learn. It's why he's calling him rabbi. He's trying to gain more information, gain more influence, gain more power. But the thing is, it's not teaching that Nicodemus needs. It's something much deeper. He does not need to learn a new fact, he needs to be saved. See, none of what you have built in this life matters, Nicodemus, unless you are born again. Or in the original Greek, what's called born from above. And this really doesn't make sense. It's not terminology that we often understand. I mean, even Nicodemus does not understand, as we see in verse 4. It says, Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born whenever he is old? Can he enter into his a second time, into his mother's womb and be born? Like, friends, don't try this at home. Like he's saying, this doesn't make sense. This doesn't make sense what you're telling me. I'm supposed to crawl back up into my mother to be born again. Jesus, I'm not understanding what you're saying. And I think that's the point. See, Nicodemus needs new birth. And that's where I want to spend our time this morning. As Jesus begins to show Nicodemus what this new birth is and ultimately how he can receive it. We're gonna look at three things. The first thing that we see is new birth is necessary. New birth is necessary. Look back with me in verse 3. It says, And Jesus answered him, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jumping down to verse five, he says, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. See, without new birth, no one can see, nor can they enter into God's kingdom. John is not one of the Synoptic Gospels. So Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels. They're written around the same time. They're written in order of chronologically to tell the story of what Jesus did while he was on the earth. John is actually written a little bit later than the other one, so it's likely that he actually read the other gospels and he's writing for a different purpose. He's writing so that he can affirm who Jesus is as Lord and convince his readers to believe in him and turn to him as their Savior. So he doesn't use a lot of the same terminology that we see in the other gospels, one of which being this idea of the kingdom of God, is hardly mentioned in his gospel. But as John is intentionally putting it in this account, see, this conversation with Nicodemus isn't 15 verses, isn't a few minutes. This is probably a night-long conversation. And John has given us the Cliff Notes version for a very intentional purpose to help us see what ultimately Jesus was getting at. See, he's showing us this language of the kingdom because of who Jesus is talking to. Jesus is very intentional to meet this person where he is and speak to him of things that he understands at least at the beginning. See, Nicodemus, being learned as a Jew, would know all about the kingdom of God. All about the promise of God that one day he would establish his kingdom on the earth again. That a Messiah would come to set the Jews above the rest of mankind as they once were, as the chosen nation, to be God's chosen people. This was something that Nicodemus was looking forward to. That one day the Jews would not be under any oppression of any government like they are in this moment, but they will be set and the kingdom of God will be established and they will have reign and rule over the land once again. But what Jesus is telling him is Nicodemus, much less can you enter into that? You can't even see it. Nicodemus, you're missing it because it's something that is already here. See, in Matthew, a person who speaks often in Jewish language says plainly, whenever Jesus steps onto the scene, the scene in Matthew 4, 17, he says this, but from that time on, whenever Jesus began his ministry to preach, he was saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. See, the kingdom of heaven has come. The kingdom of heaven is here. See what Jesus is saying is the second that the king steps into the land, that means his kingdom is now. And friends, yes, we live in this dichotomy of an already but not yet. We live in this, yes, Jesus' rule and reign has begun on this earth, but it's not yet been completed. We live in a place where the kingdom of God is at hand, that the king is ruling over this land, but yet he has not fully subdued it. We have this kingdom of Murray, yeah, that we see and that we live for, but yet there is a kingdom that overarches that, the kingdom of heaven. And what he's trying to show Nicodemus is you are missing it. You're not even able to see the kingdom that is hand. Nicodemus, that is your problem. Because until you are born again, you will miss it. It does not matter your law keeping, it does not matter your biblical knowledge, it does not matter your prestige or your status or your authority, it adds up to a sum of zero, and it does not qualify you for this kingdom. You don't even get the choice to look upon it. See, you have to start over, Nicodemus. Man, you can't even see what I'm trying to show you, let alone enter into it. See, Nicodemus is coming wanting to affirm him and his miracle working power, but Jesus is wanting Nicodemus to experience it. And this happens a lot for us. Oftentimes, that is our problem. That we, friends, especially us who live in the Bible-believing South, we want to affirm Jesus without ever experiencing him. Yesterday I got to meet some 300 people. I got to have conversations, which is probably why my voice is the way that it is. And I believe if I were to poll all of them, who do you think Jesus is? Or are you religious? Probably 90 something percent would say that yeah, I have a relationship with Jesus. They would affirm that he lived, they affirm that he was a person, affirm maybe that he died or that he rose again, affirm that they should follow him, or all of these things. They can affirm a lot about him. But the reality is, is knowing the truth of God's word, very little have experienced him. Oftentimes, I meet with students, I meet with people who have never truly known Jesus, but they've known a lot about him. See, you can affirm Jesus' power without being born again. You can affirm his title as Lord. You can do whatever you want to Jesus. You can pray a prayer, you can worship, you can attend to church, you can do all of these things without ever really seeing who Jesus is, without ever really experiencing him. And Jesus knows this. Jesus is trying to get Nicodemus to see this because he realizes how hard and how easy it is to overlook. He realizes how easy it is to be focused on the kingdom that is at hand. That's why he writes and there he preaches in Matthew 6, 33, that he challenges the people to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these other things will be added to you. Because he knows that it's easy for us to get distracted. He knows that it's easy for us to look over the kingdom, to look at the people who are here, to look at the kingdom of Murray or the classes we're taking or the job that we do or the relationships that we're in, to look at those things and think that they're ultimate and to completely miss his kingdom. He knows it's easy to worry with the things of this world. That's why he says, Do you realize if you just choose to look to me, I'll take care of you. All of the things in that lesser kingdom will be cared for, and you'll be like the grass and the flowers and the birds, which are cared for abundantly and never have to worry. See, Jesus understands. He knows it's scary, he knows what it means to fully trust in him, to jump headfirst into what he's calling him to. See, for any of that to be possible, we must be born again. That's the only way we can see the kingdom, that's the only way we can enter into it. And Jesus sees how hard this is. Of the somewhat humiliation to say I've missed it for this long. Or what is it gonna be whenever whenever it means that I have to admit that I don't know what I'm doing? Or you're telling me that I have to just completely start over? Jesus is plain to say, this is what you need to be born again. To be born again is necessary so that you can enter into my kingdom. This has to happen. So if that's what we need, then ultimately how do we do it? How do we be born again? Let me encourage you this morning. Because the first thing we see about the new birth is that's necessary. The second thing that he shows us about the new birth is that it's impossible. Happy start of the school year. You're really up against it. But that's where Jesus takes us. That's where Jesus takes Nicodemus in verse 6. He says, That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again. For the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. See, Nicodemus, you just can't do it. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. There is no thing that you can do on this world, no accolade that you can achieve that will enter you into the kingdom. Jesus, or Nicodemus, I don't care about your knowledge, I don't care about your status, I don't care about your influence. There is nothing that you do. That which is born of flesh is flesh. As he says later on in John's gospel, in John 6.63, the first part of it, he says, it is the Spirit who gives life, and the flesh is no help at all. See, Nicodemus, your need is to be born again, but the problem is you can't do it. You need the Holy Spirit, but the problem is with the Holy Spirit, it's just like the wind. You can't control him. You can maybe see his movements, you can see his effects, but you can't twist his arm. You can't manipulate him to do what you what he would want for you. You can't offer him some type of endorsement to manipulate him to your will. See, Nicodemus, you are stuck. But the Spirit of God is free, doing whatever he wishes. See, Nicodemus is coming to Jesus looking for answers, and all that Jesus is telling him is you can't find them. Nicodemus, it does not matter, you're searching, you don't even know where to look. See, because remember in verse 5, he says you can't be born again unless you're born of water and of spirit. But the spirit is something that is completely unmanipulable. And I don't know about you, but I read this text and I'm almost frustrated for Nicodemus's sake. Jesus, what are you talking about? Why are you answering him this way? Why are you being this way? Why are you making it so hard for Nicodemus to understand? Nicodemus, a learned Jew. Like if he doesn't get it, what hope do the rest of us have? If the best of the best can't understand this, imagine all of us. Like, it's frustrating to read the way that Jesus is treating Nicodemus in some way. I mean, imagine how frustrated Nicodemus has to be here. But I think in a lot of ways, Jesus is trying to. He's trying to frustrate Nicodemus because Jesus is trying to show Nicodemus that he just is not smart enough to understand. He is not skilled enough to achieve. He is utterly helpless. See, because what he tells Nicodemus in verse 5 is something that ultimately Nicodemus cannot do. Look back. He says, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom. He's talking two things that need to happen. First, born of water. This isn't alluding to the need for baptism for you to have a relationship with Christ. No. Jesus rather is referencing something that probably Nicodemus knew. In Ezekiel 36, in verse 25 through 27, he says this. He says, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness. And from your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. So there will be this water that cleanses, and this new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove your heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, one that actually beats. And I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and to be careful to obey my rules. See, what he's telling Nicodemus is you need to be clean. I don't care how set apart or how pure you think you are, Nicodemus, you are dirty. As Ephesians 2.1 tells us, you are dead in your trespasses and sins. Nicodemus, you just can't do it on your own. You can't do it yourself. And guys, Nicodemus is the good guy. Yeah, we read about the Pharisees, and we think that they're, you know, the enemy of the New Testament, which in some ways they are. There's a lot of hypocrites in the midst. But Nicodemus was a guy who dedicated his whole life to learning the word of God and tried to put his life under it. Nicodemus, as a boy, wanted nothing more than to know God's word and apply it to his life. Nicodemus wanted to teach people how to follow after the statutes of God. Nicodemus, at the heart of it, really wanted to see his people holy again. He was a person who dedicated his life to the word of God. But Jesus is telling him, Nicodemus, you are stuck and you need to be cleaned. You need to have something taken away from you, your sin taken away from you, your dirt taken away from you, your heart of stone taken away from you. And you need to be filled. Filled by the Spirit, given something new. You need to be cleansed, yes, but you also need to be filled. This is why John begins his gospel saying, Behold the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sins of the world, but also the one who baptizes not with water, but with the Spirit. See, your need, Nicodemus, is something that only I can provide. Nicodemus is utterly helpless, and until he gets there, Jesus can't do anything with him. See, the problem here is that complete helplessness is often places that we don't like to be. I doubt any of you want whenever you head home today to go on the highway and then have a blowout and be stranded on the side of the road. Like that's not what I'm hoping for whenever I'm driving away. I don't like being in situations that I don't know what to do. I don't like being in situations that are new or that are uncomfortable. I don't like having having to rely on other people. See, none of us really like to be helpless. None of us really like to not know what's in front of us. None of us really like to be in a place where we can't do anything to get ourselves out of it. So what's the result? We satisfy ourselves rather for knowing about Jesus without actually knowing him because it lets us have this illusion of control. Because to know Jesus personally means we have to let go of that control and become helpless. To know Jesus means we have to know what he calls us to, which is a radical pursuit of him, a radical abandonment of everything else. See, this is why Jesus is unsafe. Because Jesus says, if you're not willing to leave everything else behind, then you have no place with me. And we don't like that. See, in my role, in my job, I get to talk to student after student, person after person, and tell them, hey, at some point you just have to jump. You just have to trust. You just have to give yourself over. Because surrendering to Jesus is impossible if we seek to have any sort of control in the matter. Because we cannot be in control and battle a God that we can never fully understand. Because he's just bigger than us. And at some point we just have to trust him. This is why students look at me often with an unfair look of saying, I'm just supposed to believe it. Yeah. You are. Why does it have to be this way? Why is that what's necessary to come into relationship with Jesus? Because, friends, it doesn't just start at the beginning. It's a trust that has to last for the rest of it. Because upon salvation, yeah, I had to realize that I don't have control upon salvation. I had to realize, yeah, I don't really have a lot of say in this matter. But for the rest of my life, there's been many times where I've said, Jesus, what are you doing? Why are you allowing me to still be in this situation? Why do you allow sickness to prevail? Why do you allow hardship to continue? Why is this going on? Why can't I seem to shake this? See, it's a struggle to come to him a lot of times because it's hard for us to understand, but it's a struggle to stay with them sometimes because it's a constant exercise of trust and faith that he knows what he's doing, even whenever I don't. That is why I need Jesus. Because at the end of it, I just have to trust that he is in control whenever I have no ounce of control in my life. See, there's only Christ in me that does anything in my life. I cannot defeat sin by myself. I cannot lead my family by myself. I cannot love my wife as she deserves by myself. I need Jesus because in the depth of my dependence, I can finally see the beauty that is his transcendence above all other things. His power over all things. That he is bigger and that he is able. See, I think that's why most of us find ourselves like Nicodemus at some point in our lives, as he says in verse 9. Nicodemus responds and he says to him, How can these things be? This is a man who is hopeless. This is a man who's confused. This is a man who does not know what's next. This is a man who is looking at the chasm of what feels like a wasted life. You're telling me that none of my accolades have allowed me to enter into the kingdom of God? I mean, he has to be baffled. How can this be? And friends, maybe you feel the same. Maybe you've tried and tried and white-knuckled and white-knuckled of if I just pray this prayer again, if I just continue to stay true to this, if I just force myself into this box, maybe I'll finally get a glimpse or a feeling of hope, but I feel hopeless. Maybe you stand here this morning looking in a chasm that you can't see the bottom of, that you can't see the other side of, and you just feel alone, with a total lack of control, with utter helplessness, and it's scary. But friends, let me encourage you, that is where Jesus is trying to get all of us, because that's where joy is finally found. Because it's whenever I finally realize that I can't do it, that I fully believe that he can. That in my total dependence on him, I see a freedom that really is with that because he's not limited by my weakness, he's not limited by my inability. I'm not disqualified because of my failure. I'm not disqualified because of my ignorance, but rather I can look out of the chasm that I have no idea, but yet know that there is a God and there is a Lord who sees it into its depths and knows what's on the other side. He does not need my help, and yet he is always in control of my life. See what he's trying to tell Nicodemus is this new birth is impossible for you to get on your own, Nicodemus. But ultimately it's a new birth that has been provided for you. It's been a new birth that has been provided for you. Because see how Jesus takes them. Verse 10, he says, Are you not the teacher of Israel, the one who leads the whole lot, and yet you don't understand these things? Truly, truly I say to you that we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you don't receive our testimony. Basically, you can't understand me, Nicodemus. I've told you of earthly things and you don't believe. How then can I tell you of heavenly things that you believe? No one has ascended into heaven except for he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. See, what he is doing is he's taken Jesus as far he's taken Nicodemus as far as Nicodemus can go. Nicodemus has reached the end of himself, and Jesus knows that Nicodemus doesn't understand, and that's the point. Because it's at this point of utter helplessness, whenever he is so far on the ground that he has nowhere else to look but up. And then it's what Jesus offers him. In verses 14 and 15, he says, And Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must also the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. He references Numbers 21 here, very interesting story. Where the nation of Israel, again, this is a story that Nicodemus knew. The nation of Israel, because of their sin, God had to punish. So he sent fiery serpents in their midst. Because of their own rebellion, they were attacked by this brood of snakes and they were killing them. People were dying from the poison that they allowed in their own lives. And we see the nation crying in the midst of their rebellion, and they have no idea what to do. So what God does is he tells Moses to craft a bronze snake and to put it on a pole and it's lift it up. And if the people were just to look upon the snake, they will live. Look and live. And what's weird to think is that Jesus is comparing himself to this. Do you realize what he's doing? Jesus is comparing himself to a snake. If you've ever read Genesis 2, in Genesis 3, the snake's not the good guy. Why is Jesus comparing himself to the serpent? Why is Jesus saying that he is the serpent? But don't be confused because Jesus knows that that's what's necessary. As we see in 2 Corinthians 5.21, it says, For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteous of God. The very thing that was killing us, Jesus became. Galatians 3.13, that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree, who is lifted on a tree. See, I don't fully understand how someone so righteous can be made something utterly evil. I can't understand that part of my God, but praise God for it because what kills me is what Jesus became so that I could have life. What curses me is what Jesus took on so that I could live. Jesus became the very thing that was killing us, and he was lifted up so that the whole world could see. He did this so that life would be provided for us. Not just any life, but a life that he describes in John 10, 10 as a life that is abundant. See, whenever we could not do anything, God made a way so that we could just look to him and be saved. He lifted up his own son in the midst of our helplessness. Our only hope was to look to the one lifted up. Jesus tells us as much in John 12. He says, Whenever I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. See, our only hope is in him. For the person feeling utterly helpless in this moment, will you please look to him and find life? You have to get down on your face first. You can't look anywhere else. But look to him and find life. And church, do you realize our role in this? Ours is the same role as the role of Moses. Moses didn't do any of the saving. What did he do? He lifted up the thing that could actually save. Nothing in our life should be done other than the ability to lift him up and let him draw people to himself. Let him do the work. Let him be the one who brings people into relationship. Let's make much of his name because new birth has been provided for us and it is available for any who should believe in the name of Christ. See, new birth is available for your family. We need only lift him up. New birth is available for your classmates, for your coworkers. We need only lift him up. See, new birth is available for your teammates, for the people that you see in and around. We need only lift him up so that he can be seen. But too often we put him down. Too often we hide the reason that we do things or we censor out the gospel and situations. Too often we don't say that Christ has done a work to save you because it's uncomfortable, or we'll be seen a different way, or it'll make us an outsider. But do we realize that all the world needs is to look at the one who is lifted up? And it is to our shame that they cannot see him. It is to our shame that the people of God are not putting him in a place and making him known so that he can be seen. Do we realize that's what your family needs above all else, it's new birth? What this city needs above all else is new birth. So, church, will we lift him? Because there is no way that we can enter into the kingdom of God unless we are born again. And friends, this new birth is nothing that any of us can attain. And believe me, I tried. See that because of the person and the work of Jesus Christ, because he put himself on the cross to become a curse for us, new birth has been provided. Will you look? Will you look to him who knows everything that you've ever done and loves you all the same? Will we look to him who sees you in the midst of your fear before the chasm and says you can trust me? Will you see the Son of Man lifted up? And we look to him and live. Anyhow. As we move into a time of response, friends are about to enter into a very unsafe place. A place where I want you to ask Jesus to speak. Something that is always good, ultimately, but something that is rarely safe in what he calls us to do. We be bold enough to ask him of where you've been trusting your resume and your knowledge of Jesus rather than surrendering him. Where even now you point to a story that you know or a fact that you can spit off, a title that you can affirm. But yet it's a savior who you can't see. To the one in here that feels helpless, I think that can God really love me? Can I really trust that he has done this? Will you please see the act of love that Christ has done to bring you into new life? That he count the calls not too great, even his own life, he laid it aside so that you could take up new life in him. And to the believer, to the church, where have you, where have we neglected lifting up Christ? Where have we censored him? Where have we cowered before his gospel? Where have we failed to lift up the Son of Man? Jesus, I thank you that you saw me in the midst of my ability, in the midst of my accolades, in the midst of my own efforts, and you helped me see my brokenness. Lord, the pain and the hopelessness that that brought me, but ultimately the life that it gave me because it finally made me stop toiling. Lord, I ask for the same burden that you put on me. You put on the one in this room who does not know you, no matter their efforts. You help them see that it is only by the work that you have done that new life is offered. They need only look and trust in you. Lord, and help me as a believer, help us as a church be about making much of that name. Not of our own, not of our own ability, our own accolades, but ultimately, Lord, of yours. And Jesus, the gospel that you have brought us to say that death and sin no longer reign, but you do. Lord, let us be about lifting you up.