John 3:1-21 - Am I a Christian?

This is John chapter 3, verse 1 to 21.

John 3:1–21

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

! He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.

For no one who could perform the signs that you are doing, if God were not with them.

Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

How can someone be born when they are old? Nicodemus asked.

Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born.

Jesus answered, Truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit.

You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again.

The wind blows wherever it pleases.

You hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.

So it is everyone born of the Spirit.

How can this be? Nicodemus asked.

You are Israel's teacher, said Jesus.

And do you not understand these things?

Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know and we testify of what we have seen.

But still, you people do not accept our testimony.

I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe.

How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven.

The Son of Man, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already

because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

This is the verdict.

Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thank you, Anderson.

If we have not met, my name is Seth Campbell.

I get to be the pastoral trainee here at West Kilburn.

Very exciting job and very excited to be here with you this morning.

If you have a Bible, go ahead and turn it there to John 3.

We'll be looking at the passage multiple times.

If you don't have a Bible, you can grab one of those blue ones, maybe in a chair in front of you or in the pew beside you,

or you can look it up on your phone if you trust yourself.

So it is indeed the season of new, right?

Kids, you just started a new year.

How many of you are excited to start a new year at school?

That sounds about right.

Parents, how many of you were excited that your kids started back to school?

Fair enough.

Fair enough.

So here at the church, we are going to be starting a new sermon series next week going through the book of Romans.

I very much encourage you to come back and to see Steve go through that.

But as we start this term off, we wanted to start with something simple because I know you guys,

your brains have been kind of churning a little bit as you go back to school.

So we're going to just make something really simple for us today.

And what I want it to be simple.

So it's going to be just a one-point sermon.

Now I know some of you, and you just heard that, said,

hey, that may mean that we get out of here a little bit early, huh?

And to that, I say, we'll see.

But the one point that I want to make today is really a question.

And I want you to answer this question.

The question is, am I a Christian?

When you walked in, you should have gotten an order of service.

It's that sheet of paper that's in front of you.

I want you to open it up.

And on the inside there, I want you to write that question.

Everybody in the room, I want you to write this question here.

Am I a Christian?

Now I know for some of us, that answer to that question just popped up right on top of our head, right?

You're like, Seth, I wouldn't be here at 11 a.m. on a Sunday if I wasn't a Christian.

But then maybe others of you that are in this room,

and your worst nightmare may have just come true.

You may say, ah, I knew I shouldn't have come.

I knew they were going to single me out.

Wherever you are on that spectrum,

I want you to wait about 20 minutes to answer that question.

See, church, if you've been in church for any amount of time,

you've probably heard one of those verses that we just talked about, right?

John 3.16.

When I was a kid, going to Sunday school,

I memorized it in the good old New King James Version.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,

that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

This verse is one of the most popular verses in the Bible, right?

You can find it on signs, wristbands, car decals.

You can even find it in the street.

See, this verse, John 3.16, is a microcosm of the gospel.

The German reformer, Martin Luther, even said that.

He said, John 3.16 is the gospel in miniature.

So this verse, right here, this one verse,

has the power to change your life.

And the question that we are asking today,

and that we need to answer, is, has it?

See, in Western Christianity, in 2025,

I believe that there is a lot of people

that have misunderstood what it means to be a Christian.

I think we think of Christianity

as our get-out-of-hell-free card.

We said a prayer, and we think we say a prayer

one point in time, and then we can live our lives

however we want, and then we get to the end of our lives,

big bad God, when he comes to punish us

for all of our wrongdoings, and say,

hey, not me.

I prayed that prayer that one time.

I'm good. No thanks.

No hell for me.

Church, I want you to listen to me here.

That is not Christianity.

You will never find that described in the Bible.

So, I want to ask the question,

and I want us to answer it honestly.

Am I a Christian?

We're going to look at one person

in two illustrations

to help us answer that question.

So, let's go ahead and dive in.

We're going to start where Scripture starts,

with Nicodemus.

So, Nicodemus, in verse 1,

it says that he's a part of the Jewish ruling council.

You can also know that,

call this the Sanhedrin.

These are the people that dedicated their lives

to the Scriptures.

So, if you had a question

about interpreting the Scriptures,

you went to the Sanhedrin.

You went to these guys.

When you hear these guys,

when you hear the word Sanhedrin,

I want you to think these guys had power.

See, these were the people

that the nation of Israel would have looked to

for rulings on religious matters.

And Nicodemus,

he was a part of these people.

And so, Nicodemus,

he comes to Jesus,

and he says,

Rabbi, we know

that you are a teacher of God.

Well, first of all,

where did this we come from, Nicodemus?

It's just you and Jesus.

See, Nicodemus,

when he says we,

he's referring to me

and the Sanhedrin,

this powerful group of people,

we've been thinking about it.

And we think

we figured you out, Jesus.

We think that you

are a wise teacher.

There's two things wrong

with this phrase.

Number one,

the title Rabbi.

Now, the word Rabbi

was a title of respect

in the first century.

It meant teacher

or wise one

or my great one.

So there's inherently

nothing wrong

with Nicodemus

calling Jesus Rabbi here.

But when he pairs it

with the second part

where he says,

we know you are

a teacher of God,

there's some subtext

that comes with that.

Nicodemus

is calling Jesus

a teacher.

He is defining,

Nicodemus is defining

who Jesus is

and what role

Jesus is going to play

in his life

to Jesus.

As I was thinking

about this,

it reminded me a bit,

imagine you have a toddler,

three, four years old,

and your toddler

comes up to you

as a parent

and says,

Mom, Dad,

listen,

I've been reviewing

the numbers

and I'm just not

liking what I'm seeing.

My bluey intake

has been down

by 34%.

And honestly,

you've started

introducing these things

into my diet

called vegetables.

And honestly,

I'm not a fan.

So here's what

I'm going to do.

You can still

cook me dinner

because honestly,

who wants to be bothered

with cooking dinner,

right?

But vegetables,

not so much.

Every dinner needs

to have chicken nuggets.

And then,

when it comes

to entertainment choices,

I'll take care of that.

Don't worry about that.

I got that under control.

If you genuinely

think about it,

it's preposterous, right?

You think,

what?

You can't do those things.

And yet,

is that not what Nicodemus

is doing to Jesus here?

And if I can push

just a little bit further,

is that not what we

will do the same thing

to Jesus?

We come to Jesus

with our predetermined

definitions of who he is.

And hey,

we're not rude about it.

We honor him, right?

We say,

hey,

he is a great teacher.

That's stuff that he said

about loving your neighbor.

Man,

that stuff is amazing.

I want to put that

into my life.

What about his way

of leadership?

Oh man,

I'd love to put that

and implicate,

put that into my work

and replicate it.

But not once

do we ask Jesus,

do we go to Jesus

and do we ask him

who he really is?

Instead,

we want to put him,

got a handy little prop here,

we want to put him

into a little box,

right?

And so we put him

in this box

and say,

hey,

where can you

benefit me

in this Jesus?

And see,

we want to put him

in this box

and then when it comes

to work,

we want to put him

over to the side.

But when something

goes wrong

in our life,

we want to take

this box out,

we want to pull Jesus

out of it and say,

Jesus,

something is wrong

with my life.

Can you fix it?

Will you fix it?

Why is this

going wrong?

So Nicodemus

pulls out his box

to Jesus

and he looks

at his box

and he says,

Jesus,

where do you

fit in here?

How does Jesus

respond?

Jesus tears

through the box.

He says,

I will not be

defined

by your box,

right?

He says,

no one,

look at the passage,

he says,

no one can see

the kingdom of God

unless they are

born again.

Jesus doesn't even

address Nicodemus'

question.

He says,

Nicodemus,

you are in the

wrong postcode.

I don't fit

into your box.

I don't fit

into anyone's box.

I am not just

a teacher.

I am your savior.

So let's look now

at two illustrations

that are going

to help us

understand what

Jesus means

by savior.

Help us to answer

that question

that we posed

earlier.

Am I a Christian?

Let's look at

the first example.

Look in your Bible

at verse 7.

It says,

you should not

be surprised

at my saying

you must be

born again.

The wind blows

wherever it pleases.

You hear its sound

but you cannot tell

where it comes from

or where it is

going.

So it is with

everyone born

of the spirit.

I have to admit

when I first read

this I had no idea

what Jesus meant

here.

It's like,

Jesus,

we were just

talking about

new birth.

Where does the

wind fit in

with all of this?

But if you take

a closer look,

Jesus is saying

the wind

is mysterious

but it is

felt.

We have a lot

of technology

today,

right?

We can forecast

with a decent

amount of accuracy

wind speed

and direction.

In fact,

if you're ever

having trouble

sleeping at night,

tune into something

called the shipping

forecast.

Anybody ever

heard of that?

This is literally

just a radio broadcast

of a man talking

into a microphone

and saying

wind speed,

direction,

and roughness

of the seas

around England.

So we have

a lot of

technology,

but can

technology

correctly

predict the

wind all

of the time?

No.

And if I was

to ask you

a question

a little bit

deeper,

do you even

know where

the wind

comes from?

Now,

before any

amateur

meteorologists

get on to me,

I know it

has something

to do with

currents and

fronts and

blah,

blah,

whatever,

but when

you're sitting

in your garden

or at the

park on a

warm September

evening,

and the

breeze blows

past your

face,

do you know

where that

breeze comes

from?

See,

you can't

handle the

wind with

your hands.

You can't

even see

the wind

with your

eyes,

right?

But you

do know

it's there.

I may not

be able to

identify the

spot where

it started

or the

exact spot

where it's

going to

end,

but I do

know it

is there.

I can see

the effects

of it,

all around

me.

Maybe it's

your hair

blowing in

the wind,

maybe it's

the leaves

rustling in

the trees,

or maybe

since we're

in London,

it's rubbish

skipping by.

Whatever it

is, you

can see the

effects of

the wind,

right?

Jesus is

saying the

same thing

is true of

the Christian

that is true

of the wind.

Salvation

is mysterious,

yes.

We're not

going to

know all

the ins

and outs

of salvation

until the

very end

of the

age.

But there

is one

thing that

you cannot

deny from

the scriptures,

and Jesus

says,

if you say

you're a

Christian,

you should

be able

to tell

that you're

a Christian.

J.C.

Ryle,

a pastor

in Liverpool,

he says it

like this,

the new

birth is

something that

cannot be

hidden.

there will

always be

visible fruits

of the

Spirit in

everyone that

is born

of the

Spirit.

So if

you're going

to answer

that question,

am I a

Christian,

with a

yes,

your life

has to

look different

than it was

before you

were a

Christian.

Let's take

a look now

at the

second

illustration,

which is

going to

be light

and darkness,

if you're

taking notes.

That starts

in verse

19.

So look

at the

verse 19

back in

your Bible.

It says,

this is

the

verdict.

Light

has come

into the

world,

but people

loved

darkness

instead of

light,

because their

deeds were

evil.

Everyone

who does

evil hates

the light

and will

not come

into the

light for

fear that

their deeds

will be

exposed.

But whoever

lives by

the truth

comes into

the light

so that it

may be

seen

plainly

that what

they have

done

has been

done

in the

sight of

God.

So the

end of

our passage

here,

we're going

to end

with the

motif of

light and

darkness to

help explain

what it

means to

be a

Christian.

But what

does light

and darkness

mean here?

Well,

light is

Jesus.

Jesus came

into the

world to be

the light

of the

world,

to save

people.

He came to

shine in the

darkness,

to give

hope.

Later on

in this

same gospel,

in John

H,

Jesus says

he is the

light of

the world.

world.

In 1

John 1,

the apostle

says that

God is

light and

there is

no darkness

in him

at all.

So if

we run

to the

light,

all we

have to

do is

run to

the light

and we

will be

saved.

But what

do we

as human

beings

prefer?

We

prefer the

dark.

See,

every use

of the

word

darkness

in the

gospel of

John,

the apostle

is talking

about

moral

and

spiritual

darkness.

It means

that every

person

that is

in

darkness,

that's

what this

means,

every person

that is

in

darkness

will

be

lost.

Paul

says in

Romans,

he says

it this

way,

for all

have

sinned

and fallen

short

of the

glory

of God.

Every

single

one of

us

is in

darkness,

to borrow

from

bane,

and the

dark night

rises,

right?

I was

born

into

darkness.

I was

molded

by it.

Decided

not to

do the

voice.

But just

like that

villain,

see,

we actually

like the

darkness,

don't we?

See,

to be

exposed to

the light

would be

painful.

See,

the light

refines,

it purifies,

it shows

our defects.

So in

order to

answer the

question,

am I a

Christian,

I'm going

to have

to expose

myself to

the powerful,

cleansing,

pure light

of Christ.

But see,

when you do

this,

don't think

that darkness

just automatically

goes away.

Darkness

wants to

hang on.

The enemy

will tell

you,

hey,

you don't

have to

give up

everything.

That bit

of you,

maybe that

addiction

that you

hold on

to,

you don't

have to

give that

up.

Maybe

that disdain

that you

have for

your

coworker,

you don't

have to

give that

up.

For kids

in the room,

they can say,

hey,

you don't

always have

to listen

to your

parents.

Parents,

you can

thank me

for that

one later.

The enemy

wants to

hold on.

But if we're

going to be

obedient to

Jesus,

we have to

fully surrender

ourselves to

the light.

put in

Tammy's

!

Tammy's

!

the point of this sermon is in order to answer yes to the question, am I a Christian, you need

to go home and clean up your life. You say, yes, yes, that's what I'll do. I'll go home. I'll work

harder. I'll be nicer to my parents. I'll smile more at the office. I'll say sorry to the people

that I was rude to. And by this time next week, I'll come back into this room and I'll be able

to answer that question, am I a Christian, with a yes. Can I ask you to listen carefully

one more time? That's not Christianity either. So then where does this leave us? If my works

do not save me, and just saying that I am a Christian does not save me, how do I become

a Christian? In this passage, Jesus tells Nicodemus, in order to be a Christian, you have to be born

again. Well, Jesus, what does it mean to be born again? It doesn't literally mean that you have to

be born out of your mother's womb again. Jesus answers that in the next verse. But what Jesus

is saying to Nicodemus, and what he means is in order to be a Christian, you must be completely new.

If you're going to be a Christian, you cannot just remodel parts of your life.

You have to give everything over to him. You have to be a completely new creation.

So how? How do you become that new creation? You have to believe in Jesus. That's what John 3.16

says, right? For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes

in him, believes in him, shall not perish but have eternal life. In order to be a new creation, you must

believe. Believe what, Seth? Look again at John 3.16. Believe that you were so precious and so valuable

in the eyes of God that he sent his Son for you. Believe that when he sent his Son, that Son lived a perfect

life and died on the cross for you. Believe that when Jesus died on the cross, the wrath and shame that we

deserve was laid on Jesus' shoulders. And believe that the shame and wrath that we deserve was buried in the grave

with Jesus in his death. And then believe. Believe three days later that Jesus did not stay dead,

but he rose to show who has ultimate victory over this world. Come on, church. Who has ultimate victory

over this world is Jesus. And you just have to believe.

If you believe this, you cannot be condemned. But if you reject this, you'll be left alone to defend

against a perfect, holy, righteous God at the end of your life.

So look at that question one more time. Am I a Christian? Has your life been radically changed

by Jesus Christ? Have you believed and realized that you bring nothing to the table in salvation?

Instead of what Jesus did on the cross that saves you? Have you believed that Christ is the one and only Savior?

And then because of that, you become a new creation and your life is different now than it was before?

Here in just a moment, we're going to have a moment of reflection as we take the Lord's Supper.

If you answered that question, am I a Christian, with a yes, then what we're about to do is a glorious,

glorious, glorious covenant that God has made with us.

So as we go to this time of reflection, I invite you to stop. If you answered yes to that question,

am I a Christian, I invite you to stop and to think about our Savior and the great sacrifice that he made for us.

I want you to reflect on his graciousness and love towards you and the sacrifice that he made.

But if you looked at that question and says, am I a Christian, and you would honestly answer it no,

no, then listen, we are extremely glad that you are here.

We believe that the good news that I just shared is for everyone, and we want you here to hear it.

But what we're about to do in the Lord's Supper is not for you.

It's not because we're some exclusive club,

but because the Lord's Supper is a sign of a covenant that God made with us.

It would be no more appropriate for you to take this cup and this bread

than it would be for you to wear this wedding ring that's on my finger.

So as the band is going to come up and sing, I invite you to reflect as well.

I've heard a lot of pastors say

that there'll be people that miss heaven by 18 inches,

the distance between your head and your heart.

You say that there is a God.

Great.

Later on in the Bible, the book of James,

James says even the demons know there's a God.

But have you believed that God came to save you,

and he is worth giving everything up for?

Reflect on that as we move to the supper.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we thank you that this word that you have given us

is true yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

God, I thank you that the hope that is in these verses

is nothing that I have done, but everything that you have done.

God, it does not depend on me.

But when my life has been changed by you,

I can't help but to show it to those around me.

So Lord, I pray as this light shines today,

Lord, if there are people in this room

that would say that they are in darkness,

I pray that you'd bring them to life, God.

Bring them into the light.

Yes, it will be painful at times, but God, you can do it.

Lord, for those of us that are in the light,

that are followers of you,

Lord, I pray that we would never take this good news lightly.

Jesus lightly.

What you have done for us changes our life.

God, we thank you for that.

As we come to a moment here to reflect on what the cross means

and what it means that you took on our sins,

God, we pray this moment,

there would be people in the room

that would not have any shadow of a doubt

on what side of the light and dark they are on.

Lord, and we pray that you would bring people to you.

God, thank you for this day.

Thank you for this church.

Thank you for your word and your son.

Pray this in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.