Speaker 1: 1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week?
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, thank you so much for your word.
Speaker 1: Thank you for a chance to read a text this morning like John, chapter 3, even a verse John 3, 16, that I know many may know, maybe a popular verse.
Speaker 1: But let us not be tempted to just think we've seen it all before.
Speaker 1: Let us not be tempted to just move along with it because maybe we learned it as a child or anything like that.
Speaker 1: Lord, but instead let us take our time and just even this morning, even now, hear your word as if it's for the first time.
Speaker 1: Lord, transform us.
Speaker 1: Speak through your spirit, lord, in Christ's name, amen.
Speaker 1: I was sitting on Monday night in a church finance meeting Some of you were there as well and as I was sitting there, a text came to me and one of the nicer texts I've ever received.
Speaker 1: It just said very kindly there on what was it?
Speaker 1: The 10th?
Speaker 1: Very kindly, happy birthday.
Speaker 1: And let me know how thankful this individual was for myself and my family being here.
Speaker 1: And I was blown away and honored by the kindness of this message.
Speaker 1: And I'm sitting there in that meeting and three or four more texts come through while I'm sitting there and three or four more of the kindest texts I've received in some time.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday, we're glad you're here.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday, we're thankful for your family.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday, and I'm just blown away.
Speaker 1: I get home.
Speaker 1: More of these texts come through.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday 6 30 am.
Speaker 1: The next morning, happy birthday comes through.
Speaker 1: I'm'm so honored, I'm blown away.
Speaker 1: The only issue my birthday is July 23rd and I'm sitting there so thankful because I'm so encouraged by these texts.
Speaker 1: But I do kind of feel bad because each time I have to text back and just mention that thank you, but we got a little bit longer.
Speaker 1: It just so happened that one of our dear saints she may or may not be in this room, but I won't name names happened that one of our dear saints she may or may not be in this room, but I won't name names this morning One of our dear saints had it in her calendar that my birthday was this week, and not only did she text me, she texted multiple group texts to make sure they texted me as well.
Speaker 1: But I was so encouraged and I really was reminded of this lesson that news can travel quickly.
Speaker 1: News can travel quickly and also this news can make an impact.
Speaker 1: Can make an impact.
Speaker 1: I think of John 3.16 this morning.
Speaker 1: News that traveled quickly, the greatest news we've ever heard.
Speaker 1: Jesus promised us that that you will be my disciples in Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Speaker 1: And that news traveled quickly in the first century and even to where we sit here today, on the other side of the planet, from where that news was originally given.
Speaker 1: That news traveled quickly.
Speaker 1: But we also see that news made an impact.
Speaker 1: We think of a verse like John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son.
Speaker 1: Again, I've said it multiple times the world he gave his one and only son.
Speaker 1: Again, I've said it multiple times.
Speaker 1: Maybe you grew up in church and it's okay if you didn't, but if you grew up in church maybe you even memorized that verse as a child.
Speaker 1: You had no clue as a child what in the world only begotten meant, but you knew it.
Speaker 1: I looked this week at the most popular internet searches for verses of scripture Coming in at number two there were two that were tied at about 82,000 monthly searches Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and Jeremiah 29.11, for I know the plans I have for you, both of those coming in at about 82,000 monthly searches on the internet.
Speaker 1: You can probably guess what number one was John 3-16.
Speaker 1: What might surprise you or maybe not, it came in at 2.1 million monthly searches.
Speaker 1: People are interested in this verse.
Speaker 1: There's just something about this.
Speaker 1: It is news that travels quickly and clearly, news that has made an impact.
Speaker 1: And John 3.16 is probably the clearest single picture we get of the gospel in all of scripture.
Speaker 1: I want us to see three things this morning as we walk through this text, and number one is this that the gospel is good news for the doubter.
Speaker 1: The gospel is good news for the doubter.
Speaker 1: Look with me in John 3, verse 1.
Speaker 1: Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and this man came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher, come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Speaker 1: And Jesus answered him.
Speaker 1: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: So first John is setting the scene here.
Speaker 1: We first see Nicodemus.
Speaker 1: Nicodemus is an individual we're going to see on three different occasions in the book of John.
Speaker 1: We get kind of a lot of description or a longer event here in John 3.
Speaker 1: The other two occasions are very quick, kind of single verses that we see of Nicodemus.
Speaker 1: But we see Nicodemus first as a Pharisee.
Speaker 1: We've talked a little bit in here about who the Pharisees are.
Speaker 1: They are the religious elite of the day.
Speaker 1: They are the religious scholars.
Speaker 1: They knew their Old Testament.
Speaker 1: They knew the law.
Speaker 1: They delighted to carry out the law.
Speaker 1: They are the religious scholars.
Speaker 1: They knew their Old Testament.
Speaker 1: They knew the law.
Speaker 1: They delighted to carry out the law.
Speaker 1: Not only that, they were overjoyed when you saw just how good they were at carrying out the law.
Speaker 1: In fact they loved doing it so much.
Speaker 1: They loved you seeing them do it so much.
Speaker 1: They created more laws just so they could follow even more than Jesus even wanted us to.
Speaker 1: They made more commands than what God gave in Levit laws, just so they could follow even more than Jesus even wanted us to.
Speaker 1: They made more commands than what God gave in Leviticus just so that they could impress you with their own self-righteousness of how impressive they really are following the law.
Speaker 1: They loved themselves.
Speaker 1: They loved showing off how religious they were.
Speaker 1: But not only was Nicodemus a Pharisee, it says he was a ruler of the Jews.
Speaker 1: He's in an elevated position.
Speaker 1: It's likely he was part of the Sanhedrin a word you'll see throughout the Gospels.
Speaker 1: The Sanhedrin, that's a group of 70 men who were kind of set above to be rulers, judges over the Jewish people.
Speaker 1: This would be like the Supreme Court of the Jewish people.
Speaker 1: This was a high and lofty position and Nicodemus was on it.
Speaker 1: He was part of it.
Speaker 1: And so Nicodemus comes to Jesus.
Speaker 1: But it's interesting he comes to Jesus, verse 2 tells us, by night.
Speaker 1: There may be multiple ways we can think about it and the answer may be all of the above but one.
Speaker 1: We can think of Nicodemus coming at night because anytime throughout the gospel of John he uses night.
Speaker 1: It's can often be a reference for doubt or unbelief or even a sinful event.
Speaker 1: We think of a sinful event.
Speaker 1: We think of Peter at night denying Jesus three times.
Speaker 1: We think some of these night moments in the book of John, so just describing sin or doubt.
Speaker 1: But we also think about it like this, with this Pharisee, this ruler of the Jews, this member of the Sanhedrin Nicodemus coming to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Maybe it is the case that he's coming at night because he wants the cover of darkness, because he knows that Jesus is really a threat to the Pharisees, because he's a threat to the status quo.
Speaker 1: He's a threat to a Pharisee standing as the religious elite.
Speaker 1: In fact, jesus is preaching and teaching nothing new, just a new understanding of something very old.
Speaker 1: But the Pharisees like the old understanding because in their own understanding that they've created, they get to be on top, they get to be in charge.
Speaker 1: Jesus was a threat to that.
Speaker 1: But Nicodemus must see, for some reason there's just something about Jesus that he can't quite understand.
Speaker 1: And so he comes and he gives him respect.
Speaker 1: Rabbi, we know you're a teacher, we know you're doing these things.
Speaker 1: You must come from God.
Speaker 1: But Jesus, answers, gets down to business.
Speaker 1: Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: Nicodemus, you probably believe, like a Pharisee does, that if you just follow the rules enough, you'll make it.
Speaker 1: But the truth is, nicodemus, you've got to be born again.
Speaker 1: Verse four Nicodemus said to him how can a man be born when he is old?
Speaker 1: Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born?
Speaker 1: Jesus answered.
Speaker 1: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
Speaker 1: That which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Speaker 1: Do not marvel that I said to you you must be born again.
Speaker 1: Jesus and Nicodemus in this moment are really thinking and speaking at two very different levels.
Speaker 1: Jesus says you must be born again.
Speaker 1: And here's Jesus thinking in terms of theology and Nicodemus thinking in terms of biology.
Speaker 1: They're just on two different levels.
Speaker 1: And in Nicodemus's mind, how in the world can this happen?
Speaker 1: He thinks this is a physical phrase, quite literally.
Speaker 1: He says it's almost comical.
Speaker 1: If it weren't so strange, how can you go into your mother's womb again to be born?
Speaker 1: Jesus wants him to understand.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about something different than the physical, but the spiritual.
Speaker 1: You must be born again by water and spirit, the water, which is the cleansing, the spirit that awakens your soul to life.
Speaker 1: There's something deeper than the physical.
Speaker 1: We are all born physically.
Speaker 1: You're here right now.
Speaker 1: Praise God, you've been born physically, but there's a second birth that must take place, the spiritual birth.
Speaker 1: We quote it often.
Speaker 1: Katie Farron read it last week that you were dead in your trespasses and sins.
Speaker 1: Therefore, you need a spiritual birth Ephesians 2.4,.
Speaker 1: But God made us alive in Christ.
Speaker 1: He wants Nicodemus to realize that you've got to be born again.
Speaker 1: You've got to be born again Spiritually.
Speaker 1: You need a new birth that it won't come just by keeping the status quo of Pharisee life.
Speaker 1: It won't come, as we've read about in Romans, just by keeping the law.
Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong, in fact, praise God.
Speaker 1: You're keeping the commands of God and being obedient to him.
Speaker 1: But is the motivation right?
Speaker 1: Are you doing it because you're someone that's been born again?
Speaker 1: That's what he wants Nicodemus to see in verse 8.
Speaker 1: The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
Speaker 1: So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.
Speaker 1: This is a timely verse because on a day like yesterday, I remember getting here yesterday morning and even late yesterday evening, you probably heard a lot of wind.
Speaker 1: Yesterday you saw the effects of a lot of wind in our own community.
Speaker 1: I certainly am thinking of those across the state who, in a devastating fashion, saw the effects of wind, and so we're praying for many in the northeast part of the state.
Speaker 1: But we know this, the wind blows and we see trees move, we make and we played outside for a bit yesterday in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: We felt the breeze, we can feel the wind, we can see the effects of the wind, but you've never seen the actual wind.
Speaker 1: You've seen its effects, you've felt it, but the actual wind itself you don't see.
Speaker 1: And Jesus makes the illustration.
Speaker 1: This is just like the Spirit of God, that the Spirit is moving, weaving in and out, even among us now, as we gather together on a Sunday morning as the people of God, in and out of all areas of our life, praise God.
Speaker 1: The spirit is moving and the spirit is working.
Speaker 1: And Jesus wants Nicodemus to realize the spirit is moving all around us and you don't see it, but the spirit's working.
Speaker 1: I wonder if in your own life you've had those moments where you haven't seen the Spirit move but you've seen the Spirit move.
Speaker 1: You've seen the Spirit's effects in your own life as he's one praise God if you know Him, awoken you to salvation.
Speaker 1: But also you've been, maybe you've been reading the word of God and you read a verse like John 3, 16, or a passage like Psalm 23, or maybe some text that, if you've been a Christian for some time, you've read a hundred times.
Speaker 1: Yet today you see it in a new way the spirit working.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've seen the spirit work in a conversation with someone that that maybe for the longest time was far from the Lord, and yet in this one conversation you could tell the Lord is doing business.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've seen the spirit working in a relationship that's been restored, that you needed to seek forgiveness, or they asked forgiveness of you and you didn't think forgiveness was even possible.
Speaker 1: Yet the spirit was working, the wind was moving and you didn't see the spirit, but he was in your midst.
Speaker 1: Jesus reminds us that he's in our midst now.
Speaker 1: So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.
Speaker 1: Nicodemus, verse 9, said how can these things be?
Speaker 1: Jesus kind of gives them a hard time here.
Speaker 1: Verse 10, are you a teacher of Israel?
Speaker 1: And yet you do not understand these things.
Speaker 1: Jesus never took it easy on the Pharisees.
Speaker 1: We read that throughout the Gospels.
Speaker 1: Verse 11, truly, truly, I say to you we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
Speaker 1: I say to you we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen.
Speaker 1: But you do not receive our testimony.
Speaker 1: If I've told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Speaker 1: No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man.
Speaker 1: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Speaker 1: Now we say Jesus, you've lost me here because we were having a normal conversation.
Speaker 1: And now we've got Moses and serpents and the wilderness and the serpent being lifted up.
Speaker 1: What is going on?
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, we see Jesus describe himself as the son of man.
Speaker 1: This old Testament phrase we see a lot in the book of Daniel the son of man, this coming Messiah who is the very son of God, and we see that the son of man has descended from heaven.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus takes us all the way back to Numbers, chapter 21.
Speaker 1: This quick story in 21, four through nine, when the people of God are in the wilderness because of their own sin.
Speaker 1: They've been set free from slavery in Egypt and yet they have the audacity to be angry at God and they say God, we are hungry, god, we, we are thirsty.
Speaker 1: Would it not have been better if we had just stayed in Egypt?
Speaker 1: At least we had something to eat back there?
Speaker 1: And they're angry at the very God who saved them from slavery and in judgment.
Speaker 1: God quite literally you can read it sends these serpents that bite many individuals, and many individuals in the camp do die and many others are very sick because of these snake bites.
Speaker 1: This story is all there.
Speaker 1: Numbers chapter 21 Moses intercedes for the people, and God in his mercy says this Moses, if you will craft this bronze serpent, if you'll put it on a pole and you'll raise the pole up, whoever has been bit by this snake, if they will just look and gaze their eyes upon that snake, lift it up, they will be healed and they will be able to avoid death.
Speaker 1: Now here's what's fascinating with this illustration.
Speaker 1: Jesus says this so too must the Son of man be lifted up.
Speaker 1: Now think about that.
Speaker 1: People who were dying, quite literally, because of snake bites, take their eyes and look upon this lifted up serpent on this pole in the wilderness, and because of that they're healed.
Speaker 1: So too must the Son of man be lifted up.
Speaker 1: The Son of man of course he's referring to himself being lifted up upon the cross.
Speaker 1: And so, quite literally, that you and I, not because of snake bites but because of our own sin, we are dying, men and women, we are dead men and women.
Speaker 1: And yet if we too, like they did in the wilderness, but look to something better than a bronze serpent, look to Christ, jesus on the cross, then we too can avoid death and we too can find life, because on the cross, jesus took our sin, and so we too have this opportunity.
Speaker 1: Jesus says that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Speaker 1: The gospel is good news for doubters.
Speaker 1: Good news for doubters.
Speaker 1: Nicodemus, coming at night, probably doesn't want to be seen, probably has some doubts about who Jesus is, but surely some curiosity as well, knows there's something different about this man.
Speaker 1: Probably has enough history as a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin that he may even want to be wrong about Jesus, and hopefully Jesus will prove him wrong.
Speaker 1: But even in his doubt, asks some very hard questions, even in his unbelief.
Speaker 1: At this moment, jesus allows him to come and ask real-life, of the real life, jesus, about where real life, salvation comes from.
Speaker 1: Have you ever had doubts?
Speaker 1: I'm talking about in your unbelief, but even in your belief, even in our belief, and as believers, we're tempted to think that if I have questions, if I have maybe even that scary word doubts, if I'm wondering God, what are you up to?
Speaker 1: If I'm wondering God, are you even moving in this situation, we're tempted to think that those doubts mean is there something wrong with my faith?
Speaker 1: Am I missing it somehow?
Speaker 1: Doesn't it just seem like everybody else just lives this perfectly faithful life and they never doubt and they never have questions and they never wonder things?
Speaker 1: They've got it figured out.
Speaker 1: I sit here sometimes with questions.
Speaker 1: We're tempted to think there must be something wrong because we've got questions.
Speaker 1: I see a Jesus here who delights to bring Nicodemus in and let's have a conversation.
Speaker 1: Now we've got to trust Jesus with the answers he gives and sometimes he doesn't even answer the questions we were originally asking.
Speaker 1: We just read through the book of Job on Wednesday night and we saw very clearly he didn't answer hardly a single one of Job's questions, but he answered what God wanted answered.
Speaker 1: But we can bring our doubts, our curiosity, even our questions, to Jesus and he's ready and willing to meet with us.
Speaker 1: I see someone in Nicodemus who is doubting, in unbelief, doubting can Jesus be who he says he is?
Speaker 1: But, as we'll see throughout, he's going to see something in him that changes everything.
Speaker 1: The gospel is good news for the doubter.
Speaker 1: I want to see this as well.
Speaker 1: The gospel is good news for the sinner.
Speaker 1: Now let's turn to John 3, 16.
Speaker 1: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Speaker 1: I love where this verse begins.
Speaker 1: It begins with God, for God so loved the world.
Speaker 1: Everything that will be unpacked in John 3.16, the depth of the theology that exists, the good news of our salvation, that is unpacked in John 3.16, it all begins with God.
Speaker 1: God begins it all.
Speaker 1: God sees it all played out, sees it come to fruition.
Speaker 1: It's God's victory and this is the God.
Speaker 1: By the way, who is God all by himself?
Speaker 1: He doesn't need you or I to be God.
Speaker 1: He wasn't sitting in heaven one day and thinking wouldn't I be a greater God if Taylor Guerin just existed?
Speaker 1: That's never something he said.
Speaker 1: He's God all by himself.
Speaker 1: And yet, because of his love for the world, what did he do?
Speaker 1: He gave.
Speaker 1: I think about a love that leads to that giving.
Speaker 1: How good are we at giving, we're good at receiving, we're good at keeping once we get things.
Speaker 1: But God showed his love in this way that he gave.
Speaker 1: And again, god is God all by himself.
Speaker 1: God is God without having to really give anything.
Speaker 1: He's God on his own.
Speaker 1: He is just all by himself.
Speaker 1: And yet we who had nothing, we were given everything because God delighted to give.
Speaker 1: He doesn't owe you and I anything.
Speaker 1: He, he, he doesn't owe it to us, but he loves us to give us what we don't deserve to give us, the exact thing we are not owed.
Speaker 1: This is how much our God loves us that he gave.
Speaker 1: And what did he give?
Speaker 1: What did he give?
Speaker 1: Excuse me, he gave his only son Notice, for God so loved the world that he gave good advice to us.
Speaker 1: He gave us some good suggestions about how to live the good life.
Speaker 1: For God so loved the world that he came and gave us a little pat on the back and said you know, go get them out there.
Speaker 1: It's a scary world.
Speaker 1: You got that.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 1: God so loved the world that he gave his only son, jesus Christ, his only begotten son, his own unique son, begotten, not made.
Speaker 1: It is not as if Jesus Christ began to be at Bethlehem, that he was created and formed and came to us at Bethlehem and there's the first time ever, jesus comes on the scene.
Speaker 1: No, jesus is co-eternal with the Father seeing.
Speaker 1: No, jesus is co-eternal with the father.
Speaker 1: We serve God three in one father, son and spirit.
Speaker 1: And the second person of the trinity.
Speaker 1: God gave him to us to come to us for God's love, the world that he gave who?
Speaker 1: His only son?
Speaker 1: And he gave this son.
Speaker 1: Here's what blows me away Knowing what it would mean to give his son, gave his son so that his son could be the sacrifice for us.
Speaker 1: Gave his son, knowing Isaiah 53, that he was the suffering servant.
Speaker 1: He knew it because he wrote it the suffering servant to come and suffer for us.
Speaker 1: He gave us his son to suffer and die on a cross.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: That?
Speaker 1: Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Speaker 1: That word, whoever what does that word mean?
Speaker 1: I'll tell you it means this.
Speaker 1: It means whoever.
Speaker 1: If you've ever wondered what pastors do between Sunday and Sunday, I'll tell you we come up with amazing theology like that.
Speaker 1: Whoever what does it mean?
Speaker 1: Whoever.
Speaker 1: We just saw Paul talk about in Romans the last three weeks, that the gospel is for all people, for Jews and for Gentiles, that whoever might come, that whoever would come, that the spirit would awaken their hearts and they would come to the person of Jesus Christ for salvation.
Speaker 1: That reminds me of this reality that no one is outside of the grace of God.
Speaker 1: No one is too far gone.
Speaker 1: Some of us can, can give testimony to that this morning, because we were the very ones that if someone could have been too far gone, it would have been us and some of you sit here and maybe you know someone in your life, maybe students in the room, you know someone at school, you know someone at your high school, your middle school, on your college campus, that in your mind you're tempted to think if someone's too far gone for the grace of God, that's got to be him, that's got to be her.
Speaker 1: And yet what we see?
Speaker 1: That whoever believes that no one is too far gone.
Speaker 1: We serve a God who loved the world so much that he offered this grace to whoever.
Speaker 1: And so whoever that is in your life that you're tempted to wonder are they too far outside?
Speaker 1: Are they ever going to hear anything about Jesus?
Speaker 1: Are they ever going to be open to the things of the Lord.
Speaker 1: You keep at it, you keep praying, you keep loving them well, and you just see what that spirit, like that wind that blows around on your campus, in your workplace, even in your own home.
Speaker 1: You see what that spirit is capable of.
Speaker 1: For God so loved the world, he gave his only son that, whoever might believe what would happen?
Speaker 1: They would not perish, they would not spend eternity in a real place called hell, separated from God, but instead they might have what they might have eternal life.
Speaker 1: The gospel is good news for the sinner.
Speaker 1: Nicodemus needed this gospel.
Speaker 1: You need this gospel, I need this gospel.
Speaker 1: But lastly, is this the gospel is good news for the Christian.
Speaker 1: We sometimes think of the gospel, or even that verse John 3, 16, as a good verse for non-believers, for people that need to come to know the Lord, or the gospel that's for non-believers, so that they can become believers.
Speaker 1: And that's true.
Speaker 1: By the way, praise God, I want the gospel for non-believers John 3.16 for nonbelievers.
Speaker 1: But let me tell you, the gospel is good news for Christians.
Speaker 1: If you've known Jesus 10 minutes, 10 years or 10 decades, the gospel is for you.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: We don't graduate from it, and Nicodemus didn't either.
Speaker 1: I want to turn quickly to John, chapter 7, starting in verse 50.
Speaker 1: As we see encounters with Nicodemus in the book of John, we can see that wind of the Holy Spirit working.
Speaker 1: John, chapter 7, there's this moment where the Jews are all confused, these Jewish individuals.
Speaker 1: They're confused about who Jesus is.
Speaker 1: Some people, they're saying he's the Christ, some believe he's a prophet.
Speaker 1: Is he the son of David?
Speaker 1: That's coming and the Pharisees, they're not too excited about that and division is being caused.
Speaker 1: And the Pharisees are, they're not too excited about that and division is being caused and the Pharisees are trying to shut this down.
Speaker 1: Y'all are being silly.
Speaker 1: He's not a prophet, he's no son of David.
Speaker 1: We've seen this guy, we've read the scriptures.
Speaker 1: This can't be him.
Speaker 1: They're having this conversation.
Speaker 1: They're trying to shut down all these people who think there might be something to Jesus.
Speaker 1: To shut down all these people who think there might be something to Jesus.
Speaker 1: And in this very moment, in verse 50 of John, chapter 7, as the Jews are trying, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, are trying to shut down this conversation.
Speaker 1: Verse 50, nicodemus, who had gone to him before John, chapter 3, and was one of them, he was a Pharisee as well.
Speaker 1: He said to them does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?
Speaker 1: One statement.
Speaker 1: It's not that impressive of a statement.
Speaker 1: It's not as if Nicodemus stands up before the Pharisees and says don't y'all know?
Speaker 1: This is Jesus, son of God.
Speaker 1: Come to us, for God so loved the world, he gave his only son.
Speaker 1: It's not an evangelism sermon or anything like that.
Speaker 1: My translation is simply this by Nicodemus, shouldn't we just hear the man out?
Speaker 1: That's all it is.
Speaker 1: There's this dispute.
Speaker 1: Who is he?
Speaker 1: And Nicodemus, among the Pharisees of whom he is one, just says should we just hear the man out?
Speaker 1: And you read the next verse and you see quickly he is ridiculed because of this and it's dangerous sometimes to read between the lines of Scripture.
Speaker 1: I don't want to make too much of a habit of reading what's not there, but I just got to imagine an interaction in John chapter 3 with Jesus himself led him to this one place of minor boldness in John chapter 7.
Speaker 1: Shouldn't we just hear the guy out?
Speaker 1: But now turn with me to John chapter 19, verse 38.
Speaker 1: Jesus has just died on the cross.
Speaker 1: As he promised in John 3, the son of man was lifted up that you and I who look upon him could be saved.
Speaker 1: Jesus has been put on the cross.
Speaker 1: He has breathed his final breath, taking our sin upon himself.
Speaker 1: He will go down to the grave and in three days, praise God, he's going to come out of the grave.
Speaker 1: But first what we see is this verse 38, after these things, joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And Pilate gave him permission.
Speaker 1: So he came and took away his body.
Speaker 1: Joseph comes, this one disciple, he comes to Jesus, excuse me, he comes to Pilate and he just asks for the body of Jesus.
Speaker 1: I just want to give the guy a proper burial.
Speaker 1: I'll anoint him for his burial, I'll prepare him for burial and I've got a tomb picked out for him.
Speaker 1: And Pilate says you can do that.
Speaker 1: Verse 39.
Speaker 1: Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus John, chapter 3, by night came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds in weight.
Speaker 1: So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
Speaker 1: When Joseph of Arimathea comes to get the body of Jesus to put it in a tomb who comes with him Nicodemus, nicodemus.
Speaker 1: And this was a costly thing for Nicodemus to do One reading between the lines of scripture.
Speaker 1: I do imagine it was costly in terms of his reputation.
Speaker 1: This was a bold thing in the light of day to come with Joseph to get the body of Jesus.
Speaker 1: This was probably a public declaration of his love for Jesus, his respect and care for Jesus.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we'll give an invitation I've given them before and I'll give them again where we say something like this with now, with every head bowed and every eye closed, and we'll say that nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1: But this was a moment for Nicodemus where every eye was open and every head was up and we were watching.
Speaker 1: Nicodemus and I don't doubt this word got the Pharisee.
Speaker 1: Did you hear Nicodemus?
Speaker 1: Apparently he's a Jesus guy now.
Speaker 1: Apparently he wanted to help Joseph get Jesus buried and it was also costly, not just for his reputation, I would imagine, but I know it was costly even to his own bank account 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes to prepare Jesus' body for burial.
Speaker 1: Do you remember the passage when Mary comes to anoint Jesus' feet with this perfume and the disciples are blown away?
Speaker 1: In this moment, because this is like a year's worth of wages for Mary and it's just being poured out.
Speaker 1: And one disciple says couldn't this money have been used for the poor?
Speaker 1: They don't get it, but they were blown away.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because Mary brought one pound of perfume.
Speaker 1: Nicodemus brings 75.
Speaker 1: This was costly for him.
Speaker 1: This meant something to him, willing to associate with Jesus.
Speaker 1: And this is how Nicodemus' story ends.
Speaker 1: We don't get a lot more, but I just got to tell you, as I look at John chapter 3, in his doubt he doesn't know a thing about Jesus, but he's starting to figure it out, I see by John chapter 7, he's at least willing to entertain the idea of who Jesus might be.
Speaker 1: And finally, in John 19, he's saying this I'm in, I'm in.
Speaker 1: Our belief in Jesus should lead us to action.
Speaker 1: Why is the gospel good news for Christians?
Speaker 1: Because the gospel, just like Nicodemus, that belief that Jesus is who he says he is, it leads us somewhere.
Speaker 1: It leads us to take our faith seriously.
Speaker 1: It gets us off the sidelines of the Christian life.
Speaker 1: And even when all the other Pharisees stand around and all the other members of the Sanhedrin look at each one of us and say you are absolutely crazy for following after Jesus, we would say, hey, I've just seen too much, he's done too much for me, he's walked with me too long.
Speaker 1: You may not be interested, but I've seen too much to go back now.
Speaker 1: And that we would say this that Jesus, I'm in, and even as believers, because we believe in the gospel and we take the gospel seriously, much like Nicodemus, it leads us to action, it leads us to boldness, to where we have conversations with others, where we can say the name of Jesus, whereas Brian reminded us, we have those people in our lives that do not know the Lord that we're no longer going to.
Speaker 1: Let it be because they haven't heard about the Lord.
Speaker 1: If they die not knowing Jesus as Savior, it's not going to be because we didn't talk to them about Jesus as Savior.
Speaker 1: Because the gospel, if it has changed us and transformed us, we go out and let it make us bold to where, like Nicodemus, going to the body of Jesus, no matter the cost, no matter what it takes, no matter what it does to my reputation, no matter the cost of it in any area of life, I've just decided I'm just going to follow him.
Speaker 1: Is that true of you?
Speaker 1: Christian in the room.
Speaker 1: Is that true of you that this will not be a sidelined Christian experience, but instead this will be me as a believer, you as a believer, saying Jesus wherever you lead, I'll go, just like Nicodemus, in in boldness, in a willingness to follow.
Speaker 1: Wherever you lead, I'll go for 250 people in this room.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that looks like in your life specifically, but I would imagine in this moment, as you sit here, you can even apply this text to your own life.
Speaker 1: What is that area in my life that maybe I know the gospel but I'm not being bold like I should?
Speaker 1: What's the conversation I need to have?
Speaker 1: What do I need to talk about with that?
Speaker 1: When does that conversation need to move from just the small talk we're usually having to the deeper things?
Speaker 1: Maybe it's evangelism, or maybe it's a fellow believer and I just need to be bold to talk with him about Jesus and move our relationship to the next level as men or women, as other women that can walk together towards Jesus and discipling one another.
Speaker 1: Where does boldness need to happen in your own life?
Speaker 1: I can't answer that question for you.
Speaker 1: I can answer it for me.
Speaker 1: I can't answer it for you specifically, but you can answer it for you.
Speaker 1: What's it gonna take today, believer, to move from maybe, a John 3 to a John 7 to a John 19?
Speaker 1: To make that move, to say, jesus, I'm ready to be yours, I'm ready to go where you send me, I'm ready to be bold for you.
Speaker 1: How do you need to respond this morning?
Speaker 1: Maybe, believer, you just need to take time to pray.
Speaker 1: Lord, what is it in my life where I need to follow you?
Speaker 1: What are the conversations I need to have?
Speaker 1: What are the steps I need to take spiritually?
Speaker 1: That will require a boldness that only your spirit can give me.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to respond this morning by coming down and chatting with me or another pastor.
Speaker 1: Let me pray for you.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're in John chapter three right now and you want to come to know the Lord for the first time.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's you this morning.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to come be a part of this church.
Speaker 1: But, however, you need to respond.
Speaker 1: I pray that you would Let me let me pray and we'll worship again, and I'll be right down front.
Speaker 1: I pray that you would Let me pray and we'll worship again, and I'll be right down front.
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, thank you for your word, thank you for John 3 and thank you for the reminder that you love us so much that you gave your only son, that if we believe in you, we would not perish but have eternal life.
Speaker 1: Lord, let that not just be something we memorize or something, a verse we know that's there, but, god, let it be something that penetrates our heart, that every day, for the believers in this room, every day, we would remind ourselves of that reality again and again and again, that we are yours, lord, let it lead us out in boldness, just like Nicodemus, just like that gospel changed his heart.
Speaker 1: I believe, lord, let it do the same in our own lives, growing us in boldness and a willingness to follow you, whatever it takes.
Speaker 1: Lord.
Speaker 1: If there's one here that needs to respond, lord, would they do so?
Speaker 1: This morning we give our time to you in Christ's takes, lord.
Speaker 1: If there's one here that needs to respond, lord, would they do so?
Speaker 1: This morning, we give our time to you in Christ's name, amen.
Speaker 1: Would you stand now as we continue to worship?