Campbell Chapel Bob Bradley, Pastor
Ye Must Be Born Again Sunday, February 12, 2012 Bob Bradley John 3 1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. I m glad for Jesus. Aren t you? I m glad for Him tonight. There are so many things that we can say that we are glad for. We are glad to be saved, glad for His help and protection, for His leadership, His guidance, His encouragement and we could go on and on with that and never cover everything that we are thankful for. It is great tonight to know that when we, our family, or we; if we are saved tonight and we leave this life tonight, I m glad this is not all there is. Aren t you? I m glad there is something more than this. I m glad that there is something that real. I m glad that there is a land out there that the Bible says wherein dwelleth righteousness. I m looking forward to going there. Aren t you? I m looking forward to go to that place that Jesus Christ said He had gone to prepare for you and me. I m looking forward to going there today. It may be today. Mark talked about when He is coming. I don t know when He is coming, but I want to live today as if He is coming today, because He may come today. We don t know the day nor the hour. Not even Jesus Himself knows the day nor the hour. That is all in the mind of God the Father. I m glad that He still yet is coming. I m glad to know that He is coming one day and He is coming to get people like me and you. Aren t you glad for that this evening? That is great. Isn t it? Great! Great! Great!
Jesus here, if you read the story; He had been doing some great things. He had been healing people. He is the healer. You know that. He healed people then but He still yet heals people today. That scares a lot of Baptist people when you say that. They think the boy has turned Pentecostal. I ve not turned Pentecostal at all. That is the Bible. Jesus Christ still yet heals people; maybe not in a way that a lot of people want to teach that He heals people. However, Jesus Christ still yet heals people. Here He had been healing people and He had turned some water into wine. Many times we try to explain that away but that is what it says. Not only that but He goes into the temple here. If you go back here in chapter 2, we know that He does some things back here. He talked about destroying the temple and so forth. destroy the temple and in three days I ll build it again some thought He was talking about the actual temple there but He was talking about the temple of His body. We also know, if you look here, that He goes into the temple and finds all kinds of stuff going on in the temple. He finds those that were selling and buying doves, changing money, and doing all kinds of things. The Bible says that Jesus made some scourge of some cords and goes into the temple and drives them all out. He tells them Don t make my Father s house a house of merchandise. It is a house of prayer. In our world today, if we are going to have revival, I think we need to clean the church up. There are many things in the church today that has no business being in the church of Jesus Christ. I know that people wants to do a lot of different things. They say, We got modernized. We are old fashioned. However, God is a very Holy God. If we are going to worship Him then we are going to worship Him exactly the way that He has set down in His Bible and when we cross the line and try to do things and go into areas where God has not given us permission to go in then I want you to understand that the blessing of God is going to stop. If you want revival in your life; then clean it up. Listen. God is the God that will send revival. He will send revival to Garrison. He will send revival here to Lawrence County. He will send it to Oklahoma. He will send it to Miami. God is the God that will send revival to our land when we will straighten up and do what we need to do. I know that. Don t you? He has not changed any. People have changed. We have changed. Churches have changed. However the old way has not changed any. The old way has not changed any. It is still yet the same way today. I know we have all kinds of versions today. You can go into the bookstore today and pick something that might say Holy Bible on the front of it. You can open it up and look at the pages and try to read something. I would never know if it had anything to do with religion. Do you know why? It is because we have become so modernized, and we want to take God out of everything. We took Him out of our governments. We have taken Him out of our schools. Many places, He is no longer in the churches and now we are trying to take Him out of the Bible. Listen. You can take all the Bibles in the world and throw them in the ocean; you are not going to get rid of the God of heaven because He is eternal. His Word is forever settled in heaven. What He said is going to be just exactly that way. Listen. Here is a fellow that I want to talk about tonight. The Bible calls him Nicodemus. The Bible tells us a few things about him. The Bible says that he was a Pharisee. When I look about Nicodemus here, the Bible tells us that he was a ruler. The Bible tells us some things about him that we need to know
tonight. Jesus has been healing people. Again, He cleansed the temple. He had been doing miracles as you read in the previous chapters here. He had been doing some great things. There is no doubt that this got the attention of the religious leaders here in Jerusalem. The Bible says that Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews. He was a Pharisee. Do you know what that means? When we look at the word Pharisee it means he lived by the strictest set of religious rules that the Jewish people had. There is no doubt in my mind that this fellow was genuine. When I read the accounts about Nicodemus that has mentioned him; there is no doubt in my mind that he was genuine. He was not a hypocrite. I don t think that at all. He was an individual that was coming to Jesus wanting to find out something. The bible says that he was a ruler. It tells us that there is no doubt that he was one of those who sat on the Sanhedrin court and ruled in the land of Israel. No doubt, he was a very influential man. He was a very smart man. However, there was something missing in this man s life. He had seen what this man called Jesus is doing. Nicodemus knew that when Messiah would come the blinded would see. Do you know why Nicodemus knew that? He knew that because the Old Testament told him. When the Messiah would come, He would heal those that were blind. He would make those that were lame to walk. When Nicodemus was looking at what Jesus Christ was doing, he knew that there was something here that was getting his attention. He knew there was something here that he needed to inquire about it. Jesus was doing those things that the Old Testament said He would do. He was doing those things that the prophets had spoken about that when Messiah would come, He would do. Jesus was doing those things. He did do those things. Didn t He? The best thing is that He fulfilled every jot and every tittle. Everything that was spoken about Jesus in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ fulfilled. Do you remember when He went on the mountain? Do you remember when He went on the mountain that was there? Moses and Elijah appeared unto Him the Bible says He was transfigured before them. Do you know the bible says they talked about? They talked about His deceits which He was going to accomplish at Jerusalem. Do you know what that means? They were talking about His death. They were talking about Him dying and leaving here. Do you know why they were talking about that? Do you know what Jesus was doing here? He was looking at the Law and the prophets. He knew He was going to leave here but He was going to make sure everything was done. Do you know what I am glad of? I am glad that everything the book says that Jesus Christ was going to do; thank God, if He is not already done it, He is going to do it. We can look back behind us and read about the things the scripture said that the Messiah, Jesus, was going to do. He has fulfilled every one of them. He also told me that He was going to come and get me. Do you know what I am glad of tonight? I m still yet here, but I know He is going to come and get me one day. Do you know why? He told me He would. I know He is not a liar. That should make you happy. That should make us happy. That should stir us a little bit sometime, to get us where we have a little bit of life in us and to know that we are going to leave here. Isn t that going to be awesome? Would that be awesome to take that step from the physical dimension over into the spiritual dimension; from an earthly life over into a spiritual life, from a life where there is all kinds of pains and sorrows,
heartaches, troubles, trials and issues every day to a land where there will never be not one issue and not one bad day. Hallelujah!!! You ought to want to go there. If you don t want to go there then we had better examine you because there is something wrong up here somewhere. Amen! Nicodemus was not only a ruler but he was a Pharisee. He was very well educated fellow. He was man here that was coming to Jesus to get more information. He had a question that he was going to ask Jesus. 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. The miracles that Jesus had been doing had caught the attention of Nicodemus. Jesus Christ did things and healed people here. Now, here was a man called Nicodemus. He had been looking for the Messiah, no doubt. When he saw what Jesus was doing then he understood this just may be Him. The Bible says that he came to Him by night. I wondered about that over the years. I don t believe he was ashamed to come here. I don t believe he was afraid of anybody. He was coming here and he wanted to sit down here and talk to Jesus one on one. I am glad He will give us a personal, one on one, conversation with Him if that is what we want. The bible says he came here by night. 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Do you know what Nicodemus understood? The miracles that Jesus was doing He was doing by the great power of Almighty God. He could understand that the people who being healed were being healed by the power of Almighty God. He was seeing something here in this man s life. If you want to examine something tonight that should change your life; look at the life of Jesus Christ. He will change your life. He did wonderful things. Nicodemus used the word we. He is representing the religious crowd. Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God The Sanhedrin understood that what He was doing was by the great power of God. They understood that. They did not understand Him being the Messiah at this particular time. Nicodemus was going to a little bit later on, but the Sanhedrin did not. Jesus saw something. I was thinking today and meditating today. When Nicodemus came and says We know you are a teacher come from God We know that you are doing things by the power of Almighty God. Do you know what Jesus knew? Jesus knew really what was on the inside of this guy. He knew exactly what was going on. He knew exactly what this fellow was coming there for. I thought
about Jesus response. He is going to get right down to the heart of the problem that Nicodemus had. I thought about the conversation that they must have been having here. You can tell a lot about people sometimes by looking at their eyes and starring into their eyes. When I am talking to people about serious things; I want to look into their eyes and see what their response is. Many times you can look into people s eyes and it looks like you can see through the back of their head. Sometimes they act there is nothing in there. There is no doubt in my mind when Jesus looked into Nicodemus eyes He saw a very lonely man. He saw a man that was very wealthy, a man that may have been very influential, but He saw a man that was lonely. He saw a man that was seeking the truth. He saw a man here that needed some help. Do you know what I m glad of? I can remember the night a few years ago that I fell upon my face at an altar of prayer. Do you know why? I did that because Jesus looked into my eyes and saw that I needed a Savior. He looked and He saw. I was doomed and damned. I had no hope. I had given up. I m glad that he did not give up on me. He looked right down where I was put together at and saw I had a need. He came that night and saved me. He washed me as white as snow in His blood. He wrote my name in His book. Thank God I m still yet on my way tonight. He sees what is in your heart. He knows what is in your heart every one of us. He is looking at Nicodemus face to face. He sees a guy that is lonely. He sees a guy that is desperate. He sees a guy seeking truth. He speaks right to the problem. He did not beat around the bush about it. He did not give Nicodemus the ten step program. He did not do that. He said Do you know what He knew by looking at Nicodemus? He could see everything there was about Nicodemus. He knows everything about you and me and all of us. He looks right at Nicodemus and He says Nicodemus I have something to tell you. If you are going to go to heaven, you have to be born again. This was a religious guy. He was a very intelligent fellow. He knew enough about the Old Testament scriptures to know that Jesus was doing the things that Messiah was going to be doing when He came. He was no dummy. He was very wealthy. He was a much liked guy in the community. Nicodemus was honest. He was a respected guy, but yet he was lost. He was destitute. He needed a Savior. I hope we understand that every one of us tonight, every human being that has ever been born; when we were born God placed within us a desire within men and women that can only be satisfied by a right relationship with Him. Every individual has that. Every individual that has ever been born has got that on the inside of them. We might do all kinds of things. We might try drugs. We might try alcohol. We might try everything that money can buy. We can experiment with it all, but there is something inside of us that can only be satisfied by having a right relationship with the God of heaven. Nothing else will satisfy that. If you are thirsty you might take a drink of water and that might satisfy your thirst. If you are hungry you might eat at McDonalds. That might satisfy your hunger for a while. Stuff cannot satisfy the desire that God has placed within mankind to have a right relationship with Him.
That is what Nicodemus was missing. He was missing that right relationship with God. He was religious. He knew all these things but he was lost. Jesus made this statement. He spoke right to Nicodemus heart. He was answering the question that Nicodemus had. That was the question that Nicodemus had in here. That wasn t the statement that he made We know you are a teacher come from God. Jesus knew what was in here. Jesus answered that question. The words verily, verily we know means truly, truly. When you see a double verily in the scripture, Jesus is about to say something that is very important. We had better pay close attention to. Get this. The word again means another, from the first, from the beginning, completely, again or a second time, a repeated act, born from above, born from the top, born again from Almighty God. There is something here that I want us to get tonight. To be able to go to heaven it was going to require something that was so radical, something that was so different than any other thing that Jesus could say, it was so different from anything that Nicodemus had ever experienced. It was so radical and so different that the only thing that could compare to what had to happen in Nicodemus life for him to go to heaven is like being born all over again. That is a radical change. For old people to be born again, that is a radical change. That is something that when that happens you would know. Jesus was telling Nicodemus what has to take place is a radical change. It was something that was very definite, something that is very real, but it is something that is a great big change and has to take place in your life if you are going to go to heaven. If you are saved tonight you know that. If we are saved tonight we know that there was a drastic change that took place in our lives the moment we got saved. I don t do what I used to do. I don t talk like I used to talk. I don t go where I used to go. I don t think like I used to think. Amen! If you do then there has not been a radical change in your life. Amen! If that change has not taken place then you are not saved. That is not a hard statement, it is just truth. Jesus said here if you are going to go to heaven then there has to be a radical change takes place in your life. That change is just like being born again or being born from above, being born from the top. I m glad I know who is sitting at the top. Don t you? I may not know those in the white house but thank God I know the one who is controlling things. I know Him that is controlling things. I m glad I know Him tonight. The leaders of our world may think they have things all under control and that they have it all figured out but they don t know anything.
The change has to take place. He says, Nicodemus, if you are going to go to heaven then this change has to take place. Being born again, if you are going to see then there has to be this change. He says you cannot see the kingdom of God but if you are going to see it then you have to be born again. If you are not born again then you are not going to see it. You are not going to enter it. You are not going to experience it. You are not going to know anything about the kingdom of God unless this radical change takes place in your life. It is more than signing a card. This change that has to take place in people s lives today is more than being baptized. It is more than joining the church. It is about allowing the Spirit of God to born us into the family of God. When we were born into this world, we born of two parents a man and a woman. If you are ever born into the family of God and if you are born into the family of God; you have been born by two parents. The Spirit of God has used the Word of God and we have been birthed into the family of Almighty God. Hallelujah!!! Isn t that great! 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Nicodemus you have been born of the water. Back there whenever you were born, when your mother gave birth, you were born of water. That is a natural birth. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and but Nicodemus you need something more if you want to go to heaven. If you want to go to heaven you have to have a spiritual birth. You must be born from above. You must be born by the Spirit of Almighty God if you are going to go to heaven. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. Do you know what must means? It is an absolute imperative. It is something that has to be done. If you are going to do this over here, and if it is says you must do this here to obtain that over there, and then if you don t do this here then you cannot obtain that over there. Jesus says, You must be born again if you want to get over there. If I m not changed, if I ve never been changed, if I ve never been born and birthed into the family of God then I am not ready to go to heaven. I ll never see it. I ll never experience it. I ll never acknowledge it. I ll never enjoy it. Nothing about it unless the radical change this thing called being born again takes place in your life and in my life. The question you need to ask yourself tonight is Do I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that I am saved tonight? I can t answer that question for you. I cannot answer that for you. You are the only one who knows the answer to that question. I may look at your life and see a radical change or I may look at your life and see no change. I look at things on the outside. God looks at the inside. He knows what is in here.
The question you need to ask yourself tonight Are you absolutely, beyond any shadow of a doubt, born again, saved and have experienced a new birth? Do you know that? If you don t know that tonight; I m going to tell you the same thing that Jesus told Nicodemus here. He is looking at you, right at you tonight you that are unsaved wherever you are at. He is looking right at you. He knows you are lonely. He knows you are miserable. He knows everything there is to know about you. He is looking right at you just like he looked Nicodemus and said, Hey, if you want to go to heaven there has to be a change take place in your life. If you want to go to heaven, you must be born again. If you want to go to heaven, you must allow, you must surrender your life unto me. If you read the book do you know what you will find out? You will find out that when Jesus died Nicodemus was one of them that were there to bury Jesus. The same guy here that He is talking to here on this night was one of the fellows there taking care of the body of Jesus after He had died. Do you know what that tells me? There is no doubt in my mind that this guy here had the radical change take place in his life. When the radical change takes place we will do things differently. Our lives will be totally different. We may wear some of the same clothes. We comb our hair the way or we may not. Amen! When I got saved, I had enough hair that I could have mopped the floor with it. When you get saved things change. When you get saved you are a brand new creature in Christ. Old things pass away and behold all things become new. We are brand new if you are saved. If you are not saved tonight you need to allow Jesus Christ, you need to allow the Holy Spirit of God to radically change you tonight because if you don t you are not going to go to heaven. You are not going to see it. You are not going to enter it. You are not going experience it. You are not going to know anything about going to heaven and seeing all the joys that God has for us if you don t surrender your life to Him.