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Welcome to Faith of Our Fathers. Today we feature John Stott. A hallmark of Stott's ministry has been expository preaching that addresses not only the hearts but also the minds of contemporary men and women. Today, John Stott presents a sermon on Nicodemus. It is a very wonderful thing that Jesus made time for individuals. The Gospel writers tell us of course, that he spent time preaching to the multitudes, training the 12. But they also make it plain that he spent time with people on a one to one basis. He gave them the opportunity to meet with him personally. So Meeting with Jesus is the overall title of this mini series of sermons that begins today and will continue next Sunday morning, the Sunday after. And in this series we're going to consider the personal dealings of Jesus with Nicodemus, with the Samaritan woman, and then with the rich young ruler. This morning we're going to eavesdrop on a conversation that took place in 1st century Jerusalem between Jesus and Nicodemus. By the way, I hope you have your Bible open. If not, you might like to open it now and we'll turn together to page 1,065, the gospel of John 3. And at this point I'll read verses 1 and 2. Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, that is the Sanhedrin. And he came to Jesus at night and said to him, rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, because nobody could perform the miraculous signs that you are doing if God were not with him. Now, I think you'll agree with me that Nicodemus was a very likable character. He is in fact an outstanding example of a sincere seeker after the truth. To be sure, he came secretly to Jesus one night, but I don't see any reason why we should blame him for. For that he wanted to come privately. And the great thing is that he came. He didn't send somebody else to interview Jesus on his behalf. And moreover, he wasn't prepared to condemn this new movement which was associated with the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Unheard. The fact that other religious authorities disapproved of Jesus seemed to him no reason whatever why he should. So you notice he had an independent mind. Have you? So many of us only do what the crowd does. We are at root conformists. But Nicodemus wasn't. And in addition to that, he had integrity. He was determined to get his questions answered. Having evidently listened to Jesus teaching on some occasions in public, he now came for a private talk with his questions. So, my friends, I want to introduce Nicodemus to you this morning as an honest inquirer. And I hope and believe that there are others who are like him. In church this morning he was neither a bigot nor a humbug, nor a coward. He was an open minded, open hearted seeker after the truth. And his search was rewarded because later in the Gospels we find him numbered among the disciples of Jesus. I want to say to you, if only there were more Nicodemuses in the world today, if only there were more men and women who are prepared to lay aside their apathy, their prejudice and their fears and seek the truth with an honest and a humble spirit. I venture to tell you that their search would be fruitful because nobody can search without finding. So Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened unto you. Everyone who seeks finds God rewards. We're told in another passage of Scripture, all those who diligently seek Him, God is nobody's debtor. And if there is somebody here this morning who has never come to know, never found God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, I wonder if the reason is you've never really sought him with all your heart, but if you sought him at all, only half heartedly, well, Jesus startled Nicodemus in their conversation by talking to him about a new birth, about the need to be born all over again. He said it at least three times. If you've got your text open verse three, I tell you the truth, nobody can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. Two verses further on verse five, I tell you the truth, nobody can enter the kingdom of God unless he's born of water and of the Spirit. I'll come back to that phrase in a moment. And two verses further on verse seven, don't be surprised. I say to you, you must be born again. So what did he mean? Well, it was President Jimmy Carter in the 197677 presidential campaign who declared to the world that he was a born again Christian. Next, Chuck Carlson wrote his excellent autobiography under the title Born Again. Then along came Billy Graham with his best selling book, how to Be Born Again. Journalists began to speak of the evangelical renaissance in the United States as the Born again movement. And everybody seemed to jump onto the born again bandwagon. But we come back to our question. What does it mean? Lots of people use the phrase without understanding it. If I have time, I would like to share with you three or four things about the new birth, most of which are to be found quite plainly in the passage before us. First we consider the nature of the new birth, what it is. And in order to do that, it's probably good to clear the ground a little bit negatively and clarify what it is. Not a. The new birth is of course not a second physical birth. Nicodemus was puzzled on that point. He said, but it's impossible. Can a man enter re. Enter his mother's womb and. And be born all over again? And Jesus said, well, no, obviously he wasn't referring to that. Verse 6, Flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit gives birth to spirit. That is to say, physical birth is one thing, spiritual birth is another. So the new birth is not a second physical birth, it's a spiritual birth baby. It's not a self reformation, although to be sure, it leads to one. But the new birth is not a gargantuan effort to turn over a new leaf and reform ourselves. It's important, I think, to note that the Greek adverb that is used twice here in verse 3 and verse 7 can mean from the beginning all over again. But it can also mean, and probably does here, from above. So that when Jesus says you must be born again, he means you must be born from above. It's not so much a new beginning from below by our own human effort, it's a new birth from above by the activity of God, the Holy Spirit. So it's not our pulling ourselves together, it's our allowing the Holy Spirit to enter our personality and change us from within. It's not a self reformation. See, it's the new birth is not baptism. There is a mistake that many Anglicans make who imagine if they've been baptized, they must also have been born again. But that is not so. Baptism is very important because Jesus our Lord instituted it. But remember, he instituted it after the resurrection during his great commission to go, to make disciples and to baptize. So if this conversation with Nicodemus was historical, if it actually happened, he, he can't have been referring to baptism because it didn't exist. It hadn't been instituted, Nicodemus wouldn't have understood what Jesus is talking about. Baptism was instituted about three years later. So when he referred to being born of water and of the spirit, he meant something else. And I'll come to that in a moment. Now, baptism, Christian baptism is a visible sign and seal or sacrament of the new birth. The new birth itself is secret and invisible. But baptism is its public dramatization. Baptism brings out onto the public stage and dramatizes a new birth. That is essentially inward and hidden and secret. So are you with me so far? The new birth is not a second physical birth. It's not a moral self reformation. It is not the same as baptism. So what is it? D It is a spiritual birth, the emergence of a new person. Well, to be sure, the person is the same person with the same body and the same face and the same identity and the same passport and the same temperament. But this person, for all that sameness, is a new person with a new life, a new heart, new desires, new aspirations, new ambitions, new relationships to God and other people and a new awareness of spiritual reality. Let me quote from a friend of mine who is a Christian consultant psychiatrist known by name to many of you, I'm sure, recently retired from King's College Hospital. Dr. Gaius Davis. He wrote only a year or two ago a very interesting book called Genius and Grace in which he talks about the action and interaction between our natural aptitudes, if you like genius and the grace of God. And he takes a number of case histories. Listen to him and his wisdom. Grace does not change us as personalities. Our bodies, our intelligence and our natural aptitudes remain the same. Grace does not change our temperament. The new life, the new creation expresses itself through the same old personalities, behaviour, attitudes and motives all change, but basic personality does not. So allow me to say to you, rather more personally, if you were an extrovert before you were born again, you will be an extrovert afterwards, but you will be easier to live with. And if you were an introvert before you were born again, you will be an introvert afterwards, but you'll find it easier to live with yourself. So that's the kind of change that takes place when we're born again. That's all I think I have time for on the nature of the new birth. Now come with me secondly to the results of the new birth. What happens as a result? Well, the most important thing really about physical birth is that it is the beginning of a new life. And the most important thing about spiritual birth is that it's the beginning of a spiritual life. And the question is, what are the major characteristics of this new life that we receive at new birth? Well, Jesus tells us, he tells us firstly in verse three, that when we're born again we can see the kingdom of God because unless people are born again, they cannot see the kingdom of God because they are spiritually blind. But when people are born again, their spiritual eyes are opened. They see things to which they were previously totally blind. And in particular they see the reality of the reign of God, the kingdom of God, that God is ruling and reigning through Christ by the Holy Spirit over his people. And I would like to say, I hope humbly, that that was my own experience. I used to read the Bible when I was a kid because my mother taught my sisters and me to do so. But it was double Dutch to me. I used to come to church often, to this church, but I didn't know what was going on around me. I used to say my prayers, but I never got through to God. I once said, with the omniscience of a teenager, nobody believes in the Trinity nowadays. I was blind. That was my experience. Blind to the beauty of truth. Then one day Jesus Christ came into my life. And it's not an exaggeration to say that the scales fell from my eyes. The Bible began to be a new book to me. Please notice my words. I did not say that everything in the Bible was plain sailing. There are things still I don't understand. But the Bible began to be a new book to me. And again, everything in Christianity began to make sense and has been making more sense ever since. We see the Kingdom of God when we're born again and be your second day, we enter the kingdom of God because unless we are born of water and the Spirit, he said, we cannot enter the kingdom of God. So instead of resenting God's sovereign interference in our lives, we now welcome it and we rejoice in his rule and we find freedom in his service. Then I want to move on, thirdly, to the necessity of the new birth. Is it really necessary, somebody says, isn't being born again a rather exceptional experience restricted to a small minority? Isn't it, even between you and me, a wee bit fanatical? Or maybe, isn't it the preserve of Baptists? I mean, must Anglicans be born again? Well, thanks for asking those questions. The answer is yes, and we know that is so because Jesus said so. We all need it. You must be born again, he said. It's the indispensable. It is indispensable if we are to be authentic followers of Jesus. Now, I do not, of course, say that we all come to Christ in the same way. Conversion experiences vary enormously. I did not say either that we all have the same dramatic experience. I didn't even say that we all know when the new birth took place. As a matter of fact, we wouldn't know when we were born physically if our parents hadn't told us. We didn't take out a notebook and pencil and Make a note of the date in case we should forget it later. We know our birthday because our parents told us. And if you don't know when you were born again, don't worry. The day will come when your heavenly Father will tell you he knows even if you don't. So there is a wide variety of experiences. I think one may say this, that just as we know that we were born physically because we have a certain physical life which must have begun at a physical birth, so we know that we've been born again spiritually because we are possessors of a certain spiritual life that must have begun at the new birth. But I'm a great enemy of stereotypes. There is a wide variety of in human and Christian experiences. And all I dare say, because Jesus Christ said it is we must be born again. And the indispensable necessity of the new birth is clearly seen from the fact that it was to Nicodemus of all people, that Jesus said it. Because Nicodemus, as we've already seen, was really a very attractive character. He was a Jew, a member of the covenant people of God. He was a Pharisee, a committed to righteous living. He was a leader in the community, a member of the Sanhedrin. He was a teacher, man of learning and culture. He was polite and appreciative in his evaluation of the ministry of Jesus. Well, it would be hard to imagine a finer man. Nicodemus represented the best and the noblest in Judaism. He was religious, moral, upright and more things beside. He even believed in the divine origin of Jesus. What more could you ask? Answer the new birth. He still had to be born again. And he added, Jesus added, don't be surprised that I said to you, you must be born again. I myself am convinced that one of the devil's cleverest and busiest activities is manufacturing substitutes for the real thing. Let a person be upright and honest. Let him or her be a respected member of the community. Let them come to church and say their prayers and read the Bible. The devil has lulled them to sleep while under their pillow they dream that they have a first class ticket to heaven. Friend, don't be deceived. Nicodemus was all those things and more. And yet it was to him that Jesus said, you must be born again. So far then we've looked first at the nature of the new birth. A deep, inward, radical change, a new heart, a new life. We looked at the results, seeing and then entering the kingdom of God. And we looked at the necessity we must be born again. Fourth, and lastly, its conditions how does it take place? And we repeat the question of Nicodemus, how can these things be? Good question. Well, from God's sight, it is largely a mystery. We do not altogether understand how God works, because when you come to think of it, birth always implies the prior decision and initiative of parents. Nobody's ever been his own parent. Nobody has ever given birth to himself or herself. Just so the new birth is a birth from above by the initiative and the activity and the power of God himself. So we read in verse 8, Jesus said, the wind blows where it chooses. You don't know where it comes from, you don't know where it's going. There is a mystery. So is everyone born of the Spirit from God's side? We don't altogether understand, but that doesn't mean we have no responsibility to act from our side. We have both to repent and to put our trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus made that very plain to Nicodemus. To repent is to turn away from everything we know to be wrong in our lives and to be willing to let it go. And it seems almost certain that this is what Jesus meant when he referred to being born of water and of the Spirit. The water must have referred to the baptism of John the Baptist. John the Baptist, at that very time that Nicodemus came to Jesus, was himself distinguishing between water and spirit. He said, I baptize with water. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now Jesus said, you can't avoid the one in order to get the other. If you want to come to me, he said, you got to go via John the Baptist. And John the Baptist's baptism was a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. But you can't come to the Messiah, Jesus said, unless you've first gone to John the Baptist. Repent, and then you're ready to believe. That seems at least to be a logical interpretation in the context. So we have to repent, then we have to believe. We put our trust Jesus. And in order to illustrate the meaning of this, Jesus chose to refer to a story in the Old Testament that is recorded in the Book of numbers and chapter 21. The children of Israel between Egypt and Canaan, the promised land, were crossing wild Edomite territory at the foot of Mount Horror. Once again, for the nth time, they rebelled against God and against Moses, and God's judgment fell upon them on this occasion in terms of a plague of poisonous snakes that are found in that area. And many died well. They cried to God for mercy and their judge became their savior, as he still does. And God instructed Moses to make a replica in bronze of the poisonous snake, to stick it on a pole in full view of the camp. And God promised that any snake bitten Israelite, if he looked at the bronze snake, would live. How Jesus says verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that anybody who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. In other words, as the brazen snake on the pole was God's remedy for snake bites, so Christ on his cross is God's remedy for sin and guilt. Or again, as every bitten Israelite had to look in order to live, so we sinners have to look to Christ in order to receive eternal life. Did you ever hear of the Reverend William Haslam? He was an Anglican clergyman in the last century in Cornwall. One of the most remarkable things about him was that he was converted after he was ordained. He was converted by his own sermon in his own pulpit. I'll tell you the rest of that story one day. But Hassan had an amazing ministry after that, leading clergy to Christ. And he carried with him, wherever he went, a beautiful little colored picture, a representation of a 15th century manuscript that can still be seen in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. And it's an enactment of Moses, the pole in the wilderness, the snake bite, etc. And four victims are displayed in the picture. First, there is a man kneeling in front of the cross, but instead of looking at the cross or at the snake, he's looking to Moses and confessing to Moses as if Moses were a priest. Then the second man is lying on his back in the picture as if he was perfectly safe. The third man was a man with a sad face, doing a work of mercy, binding up the wounds of a fellow sufferer and little suspecting that he himself is involved in the same danger. And the fourth man is a valiant fellow, doing battle with the snakes, which may be seen rising against him in unabating persistency. And Haslin says, I observed that none of these four men was looking at the brazen serpent as he had been instructed to do. Haslam went on to apply to his own experience. He said, first, I strove against sin in my own strength. Second, I went on to do good works. Thirdly, I relied on the church for salvation. And fourthly, I sought forgiveness at the hand of a priest. But none worked. So he said, at last, I was brought by the Spirit of God as a wounded and dying sinner to look at the crucified One. And I found pardon and peace. So you see, it's no good looking to the clergy or any human being. We can't save you. And it's no good looking to the church or any religious organization. It cannot save you. And it's no good looking to yourself and your own good works because you cannot save yourself. The one thing you must do is to look to Christ who was lifted up on the cross to bear our sin and guilt in his own innocent person in order that we might be forgiven. As the old hymn used to put it, there is life for a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment for thee. Then look, sinner. Look unto Christ and be saved unto Christ who was nailed to the tree. And yet, if I'm not mistaken, it is this looking to Christ, this trusting personally to Christ, which so many people miss. They imagine because Christ died on the cross. Why, the whole world has been put right, you know. But it hasn't. I once used to think like that. But there is nothing automatic about God's dealings with us. He, for his part, has done everything necessary. God so loved the world that he's given his only son to die on the cross. He's done everything that is necessary. Now he waits for us to respond. Because whoever believes in him, adult young person, child, male, female, British from overseas. Whoever puts his or her trust in Christ, crucified as Savior, will live, will receive eternal life, will be born again and begin the new life that he offers. Don't miss it. It's for you. Let's pray. It's very hot. We all know that it's been difficult to concentrate. But let's turn our mind and heart now to Jesus Christ. Can you see him in your imagination, lifted up on the cross as he said he would be to bear our sin and judgment in our place that we might be forgiven. Have you put your trust in Him? Why not cry to him now and ask him to be your Savior? We desire to thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for the great love with which you have loved us. That you are prepared not only to take our human nature to yourself in your birth, but our sin and guilt to yourself in your death. And we want to pray that there may be some here this morning who will put their trust in you personally as the Savior who died for them. And that having been born again, they may live the new life of the Kingdom of God. Hear us. We humbly pray for the glory of your great name. Amen. You've been listening to John Stott. Listen to faith of our fathers each Saturday and Sunday to hear more great 20th century preachers.