You Must Be Born Again

I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

! And as we get started, I remind you that actually this morning you're going to be praying for several people.

One is for Caleb as he is ministering somewhere in New York.

I'm not persuaded where it is. I just know he's out there somewhere.

And God knows, and you just pray, and we're trusting that the Holy Spirit helps Caleb to preach with clarity,

with simplicity, and with passion that lifts up the glory of Christ in a very troubling environment.

And I want you to know that you are going to be part of kind of setting a milepost in Caleb's ministry and his life.

He will without question remember this Sunday.

And I want him to also remember what it is to preach with the prayers of people that are absent from him

and lifting him up before the throne that he can know what it is to do it under the power of the Spirit of God.

Well, if I would ask you to do that for Caleb, guess who else I'm going to plead for?

That's me.

I trust you'll do that.

John chapter 3, verse 1.

John 3:1

Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him,

Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God,

for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Jesus answered him,

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said to him,

How can a man be born when he's old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Jesus answered,

Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless one is born of water and of the Spirit,

he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Our Father,

for us this morning,

our prayer is a confession, first of all, of our own frailty and inadequacy,

a recognition that by our own enabling and our flesh,

there is nothing we can do that is of eternal significance.

And our desire is that this morning,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

who enjoys the worship of angels in heaven,

and someday of all the redeemed,

would be the one that is lifted up this morning by your Spirit.

We understand from John, as we will see later in our studies,

Lord willing,

that the ministry of the Spirit includes bringing attention to the Lord Jesus,

and we pray that you would do that today.

I pray, Father, for Caleb,

that today his preaching would be anointed and strengthened by the Spirit of God,

and that in retrospect, as he looks back,

he would say,

Wow, that was something that God did.

That people would come to Christ there in New York.

That people would have hearts that are comforted and encouraged,

but also convicted and sobered.

I pray, Lord, also for our fellowship this morning,

as we sit under the teaching of the Word of God,

that those who are here that do not know Christ

would be drawn by grace to see the absolute despair of their soul

and the inability they have of saving themselves.

Give to them a holy terror of what eternity without Christ will be,

and draw them to find in Jesus Christ the only hope

in this life and the life to come.

Amen.

Well, as we take this passage,

we are in our process of moving through the book of John,

and remember that John chapter 20, verse 31,

John 20:31

gives us a thematic overview of what this book is all about,

and it helps to remember.

It always helps to kind of have the central goal in mind

because we do have a tendency of kind of getting lost in the weeds.

Would you agree with me?

Sometimes caught up in all the little details,

and we forget the overarching theme.

It's important to remember,

this book was written to make it clear

from the evidence that is provided

that Jesus is the Son of God,

so that knowing that fact,

you may come to faith believing on Him

and have everlasting life.

As we have worked so far through the book,

we've kind of come through that opening statement

in the prelude in which we are reminded

that Jesus indeed is the Son of God,

the Creator of the universe,

and the One who by all things were made,

and the One who is the light and the life of God.

We've also seen the reminder of the impact

that He had at the very start,

doing a very kind of small little miracle

in a wedding in which He turned the water into wine.

Later, we find that as you work your way through

cleansing the temple,

and subsequent to that,

there were a lot of people that they believed in Him,

they believed in the evidence that He was providing,

but their belief was not a belief

that drew them to genuine conversion and faith.

And so it makes sense that as we are working our way

through the book of John,

on the heels of the statement that we have in John chapter 2,

John 2 · chapter mention

that there were a lot of people that believed,

but it really didn't do anything,

we now come to a very interesting little picture

about what saving faith really comes down to be.

And as we open our passage this morning,

we find Nicodemus,

and I would say that probably John chapter 3

John 3 · chapter mention

is one of those famous chapters in the Bible.

Most everybody knows John 3, 16.

You've got that one.

And we know the story of Nicodemus,

kind of the background to what that little verse is all about.

As you look here,

you find Nicodemus coming to Jesus,

and in essence,

what you're coming to grips with

is a guy who had an empty heart.

He had an empty heart.

That's what we're looking at.

It tells us here that Nicodemus,

the ruler of the Jews,

he came to Jesus by night,

and he said,

hey, we know that you're a teacher come from God

because no one could do these signs that you do

unless God is with him.

As we kind of step back a little bit

to understand the context of this,

I want you to understand

that at the heart of all the religions of the world,

all the systems of faith in the world,

there are only two basic concepts.

You've heard me say this,

but I want to drive it home

because it has bearing on our lesson this morning.

One system of belief

is of the persuasion

that men by their effort

may work their way up the ladder into heaven.

And we bump into those people all the time, don't we?

We say, so what gives you confidence

that you're going to be in heaven?

Well, I'm a pretty good person.

Or on the other side,

we have those people who say,

well, I'm not really sure.

I'm hoping that my good outweighs my bad.

Or you have people say,

well, I hope God grades on the curve.

And whatever you're dealing with there,

you're listening to someone who has the idea

that salvation really must be something

that comes about because of human effort.

On the other hand,

the Bible teaches us clearly

that salvation is not something that happens

because of human effort.

It is clear in the Scripture

that salvation happens

because of God's grace in His ministry

in the lives of broken and ruined sinners.

How do people come to Christ?

By the way,

how many of you know that the name Jesus

actually tells you the fact

about how salvation happens?

Jesus means what?

Jehovah is salvation.

It doesn't say that Jehovah helps with salvation.

It says, hey, salvation is something God does.

And so as we deal with Nicodemus,

as we open up this passage,

we find here a man that,

driven by the emptiness of his heart,

he comes to Jesus.

And I want you to understand something

about Nicodemus that we know

from the very beginning.

This man was very serious about doing his best.

He wasn't one of those guys

that really wasn't all that interested

in how his performance was.

He was a guy who checked on his grades all the time.

How many of you remember people like that in school?

They bothered me marginally.

What I mean by that is that,

well, I figured they were just

in a different parallel universe

and I wasn't all that concerned about them,

but I did.

Well, I have a 98 in math.

What does that look like?

You know, it's like, forget that one.

Nicodemus was really all over how he was doing.

He was a very religious

and very conscientious person.

And we know that because he was a Pharisee.

That's what it tells us.

Now, we use the term Pharisee

kind of as a little dig at somebody.

Oh, you're a Pharisee.

I want you to understand

that the Pharisees were pretty serious people

about religion and behavior.

They were people who had

all different kinds of rules

about how to keep the Sabbath.

And one that I found most interesting was,

here's the deal.

If a chicken laid an egg on the Sabbath,

I'm serious,

you were allowed to eat that egg

so long as you planned

to execute the chicken the next day

for breaking the Sabbath.

Now, the logic is just irrefutable.

You follow that, don't you?

Let me say it again so you get it.

If a chicken laid an egg on the Sabbath,

you were allowed to execute that chicken

and eat that chicken.

Now, how did you eat chicken

if you didn't cook it?

I haven't figured that one out.

But they were, okay,

you could kill, you could eat the egg.

I don't know, forget it.

Anyway, here's the deal.

You were allowed to have that egg

so long as the chicken

was going to be slaughtered

the next day for breaking the Sabbath.

Do you understand?

If you were to go to the web today,

and I did this earlier in the last week,

I went to the web

and kind of checked on

what kind of rules would be affecting me

if I were a Jew today.

And here's the deal.

If you are an Orthodox,

a practicing Jew,

serious about keeping the Sabbath,

and you turn a light switch on,

on the Sabbath,

you're not allowed to turn it off.

Got that?

You may not cook.

You may not turn on electricity.

And so one of the things

that a lot of times

would happen in a Jewish home

is that come around

about Friday evening,

just at the right time,

they'd go through the house

and flick on the lights

that they wanted on

for their next 24 hours.

And they would leave them on.

So when you go to sleep at night,

guess what you do?

How many of you sleep

with those things over your eyes

so that you pretend that it's dark?

There are lots of little rules

that go with,

you cannot drive a car

to the synagogue.

And so how many of you

have been in Cleveland

and see the herd of them,

the large group of them

walking towards the synagogue?

The reason they're doing it

is that they're not allowed.

Driving burns gasoline

and anything that involves fire

is wrong.

The Pharisees were very,

very, very particular

about keeping all the rules.

And it tells us here

that Nicodemus,

a Pharisee,

was a ruler of the Jews.

What that means

is that he had kind of

worked to the top

of the food chain.

Furthermore,

we understand

that being a ruler

of the Jews

meant that he was

one of the Sanhedrin,

the 70,

that were involved

in making kind of legal

and cultural decisions

for the Jewish nation.

He was at the top of it.

His spiritual

or his religious discipline

was so well-regulated

that other people

paid attention to him

and said,

hey, Nicodemus is a model.

That's what you're supposed

to be like.

Now, when you look

in John chapter 7, verse 50,

John 7:50

where it tells us

that he was part

of the Sanhedrin,

we get the idea

that he was at least

willing to stand up

for what he understood

about the truth

and he appealed

that Jesus

should not be judged

prematurely,

but on the basis

of what he actually

had done.

So I want you

to understand

that Nicodemus,

as we think about this guy,

was a guy who had worked

very hard for a long time

and he was top in.

Despite being respected

by everybody

that he was around,

Nicodemus

was really not satisfied.

How do we know that?

We know that because

Nicodemus came to Jesus

and he came,

in essence,

asking a question

about spiritual issues.

And we know that

he asked that question

because Jesus,

as we saw in

the previous verses

in John chapter 2,

John 2 · chapter mention

understanding the heart of man,

he knew what was really

going on inside.

And so I want you

to recognize that

even though Nicodemus

had all these benefits

and accolades

and he was accepted

by the culture

that he was in,

he sensed his loss

and he came to Jesus

looking for spiritual help.

That's why he was there.

Some have made

quite a bit

out of the fact

that Nicodemus

came to Jesus

at night.

And I do want to take

just a minute

and explain something.

If the Bible

doesn't tell us

something,

we are doing

no more than

mere speculation

if we try to figure out

why he came

to Jesus at night.

How many of you

understand what I just said?

If we don't have

the clear evidence,

speculation

is just that.

In fact,

speculation sometimes

when it is declared

to be fact

can become frustrating

and confusing

and misleading.

Truth of the matter

is we don't know

why Nicodemus

came to Jesus

at night.

He could have had

a long work day.

Or whatever the reason,

we just find that

there he was

in front of Jesus

and he was coming

to Jesus

because he recognized

that Jesus

was a source

of spiritual insight.

And how do we know that?

We know

that you are a teacher

come from God.

And how do we know

that you're a teacher

come from God?

Because no one

can do these signs

that you do

unless God

is with him.

He recognized

the evidence

that Jesus'

signs provided.

I've got to tell you

something about Nicodemus.

I respect him

because he

was willing

to recognize

the emptiness

of his soul

and he was willing

to do something

about it

at least

in asking questions.

Do you understand that?

It's one thing

to be convicted

about things

that are going on

in your life

and not do

anything about it.

That's wrong.

Here was Nicodemus.

He was convicted.

He sensed

the emptiness

of his heart.

He recognized

that even though

he was at the top

of other people's opinions,

he really wasn't

inside

what he needed

to be spiritually

and there was a vacuum

and there was an emptiness.

emptiness.

So I've got to tell you

if you're sitting here

this morning

and you have

an emptiness

in your soul,

if you have

a secret sense

of the darkness

of your heart,

if you have

no confidence

about where

your eternity

will be spent

and you are

struggling this morning

with the reality

of the burden

of sin in your life,

I would appeal

to you,

at least do

what Nicodemus did,

go find Jesus.

To sit there

in the sourness

and the bitterness

and the hopelessness

and the despair

of your heart

that is at this moment

under the convicting power

of the Spirit of God

is wrong.

Do something.

I appreciate the fact

that Nicodemus

was willing to confess

that he had

a spiritual problem

and it was one

he couldn't fix.

And so I would plead

with you this morning

as you sit here,

if you are here today

and there is a spiritual issue

going in your life

and you recognize

it's not something

you can solve,

at least be humble

and humble yourself

and come to him

and ask for help.

Jesus, I need help.

Let's look at a second thing

this morning

as we look at the passage

and recognize

the divine remedy.

Jesus,

having Nicodemus

come to him

and says,

hey, listen,

you're a teacher

come from God

and I know it

because of these signs.

Instead of Jesus saying,

well, you know what?

I'm glad you picked up

on those things.

Jesus doesn't respond

according to the input

or the comments

that Nicodemus brought.

In fact,

what we have him do

is go on a completely

different tack

and Nicodemus

didn't pose

their actual question

but we find that

Jesus addressed it

quite clearly.

You see,

Jesus cut to the heart

of Nicodemus' concern

because what he said

was this

and allow a little bit

of liberty here

as I kind of reverse

the order here

for you to think about.

Here's what Jesus said

in essence

as you look at verse 4

or 5.

You're not going to heaven

unless you start over

by being born again

and that's a fact.

You're not going to heaven

unless you start over again

by being born again

and that's a fact.

Look at the verse.

Truly, truly,

that's the fact part, right?

Anytime the teacher

in your class

would say

this is important,

even the average scholar

does what

with that information?

What did you do?

You do a circle around it

and you said

this will be on the,

on what?

The test.

You paid attention.

So when Jesus said

truly, truly,

that was like saying

this is, get this.

This is important.

This is very important.

And so as you stop

and look at this statement,

Jesus makes it clear

what I'm going to say next

is significant

and you'd better tune up

and pay attention.

Secondly,

he makes that very

interesting statement,

you must be born again.

The Greek word

that is used there

in verse 3

and I'm not going to

belabor the point here

but it could be taken

two different ways

neither of which

changed the meaning of it

and both actually help

drive a point home.

For one,

that word again

can mean to do again,

second time,

over again.

It could also mean

from above.

And in both cases,

the issue is that

something pretty dramatic

needs to take place

in the life of the person

who is concerned about

what's happening

in their life spiritually.

There are some of you

sitting here this morning

that the truth of the matter

is you've not believed

in Jesus Christ

as your Savior.

You've never come to faith

and you have sat

and listened

to the preaching

and the announcement

of the word of God

and the undeniable declaration

that this is indeed

the Son of God

who's come into the world

to save sinners

and in practical terms

as you sit there

and refuse that truth.

In essence,

what you're saying

is Jesus is a liar

because what he says

about himself

is not true.

It is a weighty moment

to realize

that Jesus puts us

on the spot

of saying yes or no

to who he is

and what he's here to do.

And it's appropriate

to understand that.

Jesus cuts right to it.

He says,

listen,

let me tell you something.

Unless you're born again,

you cannot see

the kingdom of God.

Furthermore,

apart from the new birth,

in essence,

what he is saying

is no one's going to heaven.

Apart from the new birth,

no one is going to heaven.

I am stunned today

by the number of people

that I bump into

that are professing

evangelical Christians

and what I mean

by that mouthful

is there are people

who say,

well,

Jesus is the pretty

important guy

and I kind of believe

what the Bible says

but I don't believe

in hell.

I really think

that at the end of the day,

how many of you

heard the phrase

love wins?

I have someone

who I periodically

read their posts

and they keep on commenting

about love wins

and love wins

and love wins

and love wins

and the implication

is that at the end of the day

when it's all said and done

that God is not going

to send anybody to hell.

Let me help you

understand something.

The reason Christ Jesus

came into the world

was to satisfy

the debt

and the judgment

that sin has created

and the truth

of the matter

is that sin,

any sin,

every sin

that I commit

is against

a holy God

and His

infinite glory

makes even

the smallest

thing that I do

infinitely offensive.

And the satisfaction

for that infinite offense

is an infinite penalty.

And God sent His Son,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

to pay

that infinite price

by dying

in my place.

And so when

Jesus

said to Nicodemus,

you've got to be born again,

you have to understand

He was talking

to a person

who was at the top

of the food chain,

so to speak,

religiously

in Israel.

And in essence,

Jesus says to Nicodemus,

you,

who have your PhD

in religion,

have to start

all over again.

And Nicodemus says,

what?

Play out with

what He says here.

How can a man

be born when he's old?

Can he enter

a second time

into his mother's womb

and be born?

Some have

taken this

to mean

that Nicodemus

was kind of

being a little sarcastic

and taking

what Jesus said

and played it out

a little bit

with an edge.

I don't know

that at all.

I think Nicodemus

came with sincerity.

He took the information

that Jesus provided

and he was completely

blown away by it

because his mind

wasn't tracking

in that range.

It just wasn't there.

And so he asked

the obvious question,

how can that happen?

How can that happen?

Then in verse 5,

Jesus answered

and said to him,

truly, truly,

I say to you,

unless one is born again,

or I said,

sorry, verse 5,

unless one is born

of water and the spirit,

he cannot enter

the kingdom of God.

Now, so I want you

to understand

what's being said here.

Salvation cannot happen

apart from the

exclusive work of God.

It's very interesting

when you,

how many of you

understand what it is

to take a text

and preach what you

want to say?

Let me give you

an illustration.

Some have looked

at this passage

and thought

that it referred

to baptism.

I mean,

anytime you have water,

some people think

it means baptism.

I've heard the story

of a pastor

who was really

kind of big

on preaching

on baptism,

and one day,

he actually hit

a passage

where there was

no water

in any place

in the text,

and he says,

now some of you

may have noticed

this passage

does not refer

water.

He says,

that brings up

baptism.

Sometimes you want

to get wherever

you're going

to get where

you want to go.

And here is Jesus

making the statement,

you have to be born

of water and the spirit,

and I got to tell you,

it has nothing to do

with being born physically,

and it has nothing

to do with baptism.

How many of you

have study Bibles?

Raise your hand

and wave at me

so I can see

the study Bibles

out here.

Okay?

Study Bibles

are not bad tools.

One of the problems

with study Bibles

is that they don't

get everything right,

but it's a starting place.

The thing that is important

as we look at this passage

and we try to understand

what does Jesus mean

when he says water

and the spirit,

we have to remember

that the best thing

to help us understand

the Bible

is the Bible

and the enabling

of the spirit of God

and the context.

And by that I mean,

who was Jesus talking to?

He was talking to a guy

who had his PhD

in Old Testament theology

and knew the scriptures

backwards and forwards.

Later on,

he's going to say

to Nicodemus,

kind of a snort,

you know,

there's no snort

in the text

in case you're wondering,

but it's like,

don't you get it?

Are you a teacher

in Israel

and don't know

these things?

Jesus expected

Nicodemus

to understand

the Old Testament.

Clearly,

in Jewish thinking,

baptism at best

was not something

that saved.

Baptism was merely

an outward evidence

of something

happened,

that had happened

in the heart.

But,

if you will turn

in your Bible

over to Ezekiel

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

chapter 36,

by the way,

just notice,

some of you may have

cross-references

over in the margin

that says,

go to Ezekiel

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

chapter 36.

And in this case,

go there.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

chapter 36,

and we're going

to look at

verse 25-27.

What does the water

refer to?

I will sprinkle

clean water

on you,

and you shall be

clean from all

your uncleanliness

and from your

idols.

I will cleanse

you,

and I will give

you a new heart

and a new spirit

I will put within

you,

and a new spirit

I will put within

you,

and I will remove

the heart of stone

from your flesh

and give you

a heart of flesh.

I will put my

spirit within you

and cause you

to walk in my

statutes and be

careful to obey

my rules.

You see,

when Jesus made

this statement

to Nicodemus,

who'd come and

said,

hey, listen,

I've got a

spiritual problem

and we need to

do something about

this,

or I need to do

something about it,

Jesus said,

hey,

this is not

something you can

just decide.

It's got to be

something that

somebody else does

for you.

And when he says

the water and the

spirit,

he was referring

to the ministry

of the spirit of

God in the heart

of the man who

recognizes

his desperate

condition and

his absolute

inability to

save himself.

Water and

spirit refer

not to the

physical part,

but they're

referring to

that which is

of the spirit's

work in a man's

life.

And so when

Jesus went on

there in verse

six,

that which is

born of the

flesh is flesh,

that which is

born of the

spirit is spirit,

what he was

saying is this,

is that

the human body

produces human,

mental,

physical results.

Only the spirit

of God can

produce spiritual

results.

How many of you

ever tried to

persuade people

into the kingdom

with all the

logic that you

possessed?

You ever tried

that?

How many of you

ever tried to

argue somebody

into the kingdom?

I remember at

one point in

my ignorant

youthfulness

thinking that

much of

witnessing was

just kind of

being persuasive

with a couple

Bible facts.

And there was a

time when I

thought that maybe

I was going to

be a salesman,

and I thought,

well, I can

carry that

discipline over

into spiritual

realms.

And so do you

realize that there's

a way you can

manipulate people to

say yes about

enough times that

they'll buy a used

vacuum cleaner from

you?

Now, because of

that, there's a

three-day reversionary

rule.

How many of you

know that?

You sign it in

your home, you

have three days to

decide no.

Well, I talked

many people into

quote-unquote

conversion, and they

exercised the

three-day reversionary

clause as soon as

I left.

You can't persuade

people with

intellect to become

believers.

I understand that,

right?

It has to be the

work of the Spirit

of God.

And the point

that Jesus was

making here is the

physical part of

man cannot produce

genuine spiritual

life.

It's not going to

happen.

And so all the

self-help books in

the world, all the

name-it-claim-it

hucksters, all the

yoga and meditation

and vegan diets that

you decide to follow,

they're not going to

change who you are

inside.

Spiritual life and

salvation can only

come through the

work of the Spirit

of God.

Look at verse 7.

Do not marvel.

When I say to you,

when I said to you,

you must be born

again.

You see, here was

Nicodemus who came

with this emptiness in

his heart.

He sensed that

something was wrong,

and he saw that Jesus

was doing things that

were exceptional.

And he came and

said, man, I need

help.

And Jesus said, hey,

this is not a problem

you can solve by

yourself.

Spiritual life and

salvation can only

come through the work

of the Holy Spirit.

And so here you are in

verse 8.

It says, the wind blows

where it wishes, and

you hear its sound, but

you do not know where

it comes from or where

it goes.

Jesus is taking a very

simple little thing, and

he's making an application

to help make the point

to Nicodemus.

You at least understand

that the wind which you

cannot see, and probably

as smart as Nicodemus was,

he was not a

meteorologist and did

not understand all the

nuances of how the wind

works.

How many of you remember

the little poem, who

has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I.

Okay.

But when the wind is

rustling in the leaves, we

know the wind is going

by.

And Jesus says, hey,

listen, you don't get

the idea of what the

wind is necessarily, but

you see the evidence of

it.

And he was pointing

out that what Nicodemus

could see was the work

of the Holy Spirit in

people's lives that was

drawing attention to what

he needed inside.

So when you look at this

passage, what should you

do?

What should you do?

I want to remind you that

the purpose of preaching is

really to bring people to

the point of saying yes or

no to God.

And there are some of you

sitting here this morning

that the truth of the

matter is have never come

to the place of coming

to grips with the absolute

moral bankruptcy of your

heart and the emptiness

and the darkness of your

soul.

And as a result of that,

there is this void that you

cannot ultimately fill with

your own efforts.

So what do you do?

Number one, I want you to

understand that the work of

the Spirit of God is to

bring conviction.

And if you are sitting here

this morning and the Spirit

of God is convicting you of

the darkness of your soul and

the reality of your spiritual

bankruptcy, I want to tell you

that's good news.

That's not bad news.

That means the Spirit of God is

drawing and working and he's in

the process of persuading you

that you're absolutely hopeless

in your own condition.

You cannot save yourself.

What's the second thing that we

do?

One, we're convicted by the

Spirit of God.

Number two, we confess.

And confession means

essentially to say, God,

you're right about my heart.

You're right about my heart.

It is dark and it is hard.

It is an idol factory.

It is filled with bitterness

and dissatisfaction.

It is broken in its condition

and I can't do anything about it.

And third, we call out in faith.

And we believe in the promises

that Jesus has made.

And here's the promise that I

want you to hold on to.

Here's what the Bible says.

It says, whosoever calls upon

the name of the Lord, what?

Shall be saved.

Do you understand how simple

that is?

Do you understand that nobody

gets there without, first of all,

being convicted by the Spirit of God

and recognizing the bankruptcy

of their soul?

That's the work of Christ.

Tim Knoyer and no one else

in this church, no one else

that you will ever bump into

has the ability ultimately

of persuading you of the darkness

of your heart.

Only God can do that.

But when that persuasion comes

and that convicting power

of the Spirit of God

bears down on your heart,

the thing to do is to confess

and say, I am a bankrupt sinner

deserving the judgment of God.

And yet I understand that God

sent His Son to die for my sins

upon the cross.

And I will not in my arrogance

say, no thank you.

I will cry out.

And I will confess.

And I will believe that He

who sent His Son

to be my Savior

and to die in my place

will keep His promise.

You know what He promised?

He said this in the Scriptures,

whosoever calls upon the name

of the Lord shall be saved.

Do you know what?

At the end of the day,

you cannot receive the blessing

and the benefit of salvation

just by sitting there

and saying, well, it sounds good.

You have to reach out and say,

I need that desperately.

I receive it for myself.

I believe Jesus died for me

and I trust Him as my Savior.

Let's bow our heads

and come to the Lord in prayer.

I want to appeal to you this morning

as you sit here

to come to grips with where you are

in your spiritual journey.

There are some of you here today

that I think are not saved.

I don't know that for a fact,

but there are some of you here

that have never come to faith in Christ.

You're kind of going through

thinking you're a pretty good person,

but I want to tell you this.

Jesus didn't die

to waste His life on the cross.

He died because no one

can save themselves

by their own effort.

And this morning,

the Spirit of God

is working to bring conviction

and to help you

who sit here

under the teaching

of the Word of God

recognize the moral bankruptcy

of the empty heart of man.

Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners.

He died on the cross

to satisfy the judgment of God

for all of your sin.

How can you

turn away from that offer

that He graciously makes

to you this morning

and say,

not today,

I don't care.

I would plead with you

in Christ's stead.

Hear the convicting truth

of the gospel

and humble yourself

for the glory of Christ.

Father God,

You know our heart.

You know our need.

And I ask that Your Spirit

would work to draw us

to the cross

and to faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ

in whom alone

is salvation.

And I ask this

because of the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Let's stand together

as John leads us

in our singing.

And as we are singing,

we give a moment for you.

Some of you are here today

and the Spirit of God

is touching your heart

that there's something

you need to take care of publicly.

It may be that you need

to be obedient to the Lord

in a matter of baptism.

It may be that He's calling

to be part of this fellowship.

You know,

it's one thing to kind of

wave at the bus going by.

It's another thing to get on

and say,

I'm part of it.

Hmm?

And all God's people said what?

Okay.

And then there may be

some of you here today

that desperately need Jesus

as your Savior.

I would plead with you.

Don't walk out of here

without taking care of that.

Now we're going to sing.

We're going to sing our hearts out.

Aren't we going to do that?

And if God is working in your heart,

don't you mess with Him

this morning.

Be humble.

Be humble.

Be humble.

Be humble.

Be humble.