A Mission of "Must's"

This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

Listen to yourself, church.

Just listen to yourself.

You have made us new.

And now life begins with you.

If you're just visiting the day, or this is your first time in a church in a long time, your parents made you come, your neighbor brought you, and you're like, what have I gotten into?

Just relax.

It's a humbling thing to be made new.

Because we've all been at points and places in our lives and we just kind of thought it's never going to get any better.

It's just going to be this forever.

And then God comes along and says, No, no.

You have ashes.

I have beauty.

Let's switch.

And the Bible says it like this in the Old Testament.

He gives beauty for ashes.

So if you've just kind of burned your life to the ground and all you got is ashes left, you're in a good place today.

And so here's what's going to happen.

And we're not going to single you out or anything.

We're going to, I'm going to pray a prayer.

We're going to open up the Bible to, we're going to read the most referenced conversation in the history of humanity.

It's between Jesus and a guy named Nicodemus.

It was very religious and very smart.

But he didn't believe in God.

He believed in religion.

Religion will not save you, will not change you, will not curb your appetites and liberate you from your addictions.

Only God has the power to do that.

And so you don't have to, that's the good news is that you don't have to be smart or be religious to understand this.

Jesus said things in a way that little kids could understand them.

He didn't come to be profound, he came to be available.

And he's available to you today.

Let me voice a prayer and we'll dive in this morning.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you're available to people.

We don't have to deserve it because none of us do.

But all of us get to experience it.

And so, Holy Spirit, say something today that has our name on it and say it in a way that makes sense.

Thank you for the truth of the Bible.

We are unapologetic about what it says.

It's going to arrest our mind and it's going to expand our affections today.

You're going to manifest the king and the kingdom in our midst today, God.

You're going to say to us, this is the way.

Walk in it.

And so, Lord, I prayed for the jaded cynic, the burned-out addict, and for the person whose marriage is on the edge of just coming unhinged, Lord, at the seams.

Pray that today, God, that the truth would just be applied to their lives.

We don't need more marriage, more sermons about marriage and about, we don't need a life coach.

We need the truth because the truth is what sets us free.

Our lives are screwed up, God, because we've exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

And we come today to repent of that.

And just come back to the truth and say, Lord, my yes is down here on the table before you.

So whatever you say today, that's the truth.

I got a yes in me for that.

Before I finish praying, would you just kind of take a moment, just in your head and in your heart, and just say to God, here's my yes.

Whatever the question is, it's yes for me today, God.

Because God, you're a God of the yes.

We want to be a people of the yes.

So we just kind of put our yes down before you and say, Hey, there you go.

You're God.

And you're good.

And so I can trust you with my yes.

And so, Lord, Holy Spirit, speak.

Illuminate your word now, we ask in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

Uh and we're going through our guests.

We're preaching through the gospel of John.

What we do is we take a section of the Bible and we just kind of uh read it, and then we just kind of explain what it means, what it says.

And at the end, I'll give you some soul space to think about what the Bible has said to you this morning, okay?

I want to talk to you this morning about what I call a mission of musts.

A mission of musts.

It sounds kind of like, oh, that's kind of hard to say.

But this word appears twice in John chapter 3, the first 15 verses.

John 3 · chapter mention

Jesus says to Nicodemus, you must be born again.

And then at the end, he says, the Son of Man must be lifted up.

And one of those makes possible the other.

And so if you read through the entire New Testament, the one word you would take away to sum up everything would be mission.

It wouldn't be community or fellowship.

It wouldn't be church.

It wouldn't be socialization.

If you read through the entire New Testament this afternoon, the one thing, and you had to sum it up into one word, it would be the word mission.

And so you say, What do you mean by mission?

I mean a purposeful response to an absolute truth.

A purposeful response to an absolute truth.

And Jesus, beloved, in John chapter 3, he is on mission.

John 3 · chapter mention

He walks like it, he talks like it, he responds to people like it, and the world conforms to it.

And here's my concern: is that most of us today, we're not on a mission.

We're just kind of on an extended vacation.

We collect experiences while we're waiting on the next dopamine hit from that dopamine delivery platform you call a smartphone.

And we just kind of wonder why I'm not really, I don't have a sense of purpose or calling or whatever.

And here, this is free.

If you figure out what you must do in this life, make this a question and think about before you go to bed tonight.

What are the musts in my life right now?

Because once you figure out what the musts are, you'll get clarity around your mission.

What are the musts?

What are the things that I must be doing right now?

And if I don't, I'm never going to figure out, understand, participate, and express the mission that God has put in me.

What did God create and call, create me for and call me to?

And so I want to talk about a mission, a must, that everything that Jesus says happens between these two parentheses of those, that little four-letter word, okay?

I want to to get the context, I want to start reading actually at the end of chapter 24, end of chapter 2, verse 23.

Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them because he knew all men, and he needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

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 you're a teacher who's 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 is 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 the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again.

The wind blows wherever it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

Truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

That whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Now, there's four things that get said in this passage.

Two of them are easy and accessible, and then the last two, you've got to kind of engage your mind and think about.

But I want to point to all four of them, beginning with the first one, and simply this that the life of Jesus validates the claims of Jesus.

The life of Jesus validates the claims of Jesus.

You say, Well, I I I don't know what you mean.

Starting, first of all, at the end of chapter two, uh, let me just draw your attention to verse 25.

Because what happens is Jesus goes to the Passover, and many people believed in his name.

Now, that doesn't mean that they came to faith in Christ or they became Christians.

They believed in Jesus' name because of the signs that they had seen that he did.

Jesus did powerful things.

This guy named him, I mean, I mean, and people, oh my, that's incredible.

We believe that you just might be who you profess to be.

But here's the last verse.

It says, But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people, and he needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Okay?

Now read chapter 3, verse 1.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.

Did you see the oaky doke the Bible ran on you right there?

Because at the end of chapter 2, he kind of said, Hey, Jesus doesn't need man's testimony about man because he knows what's in a man.

Case in point, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.

It's like the Bible is kind of saying, this is a great example of the kind of person we're talking about.

This is a person that appreciates Jesus but doesn't submit to Jesus.

That may be some of you in this room, you may appreciate Jesus.

I mean, you come to church, it's Christmas, you come, Easter, you come, and the rest of the year, you don't submit to anything that the Bible says.

And so this is the kind of person he's talking about.

But I say the life of Jesus validates the claims of Jesus.

Now keep in mind, Nicodemus did not believe in Jesus.

I mean, he was kind of like, hey, I think you might be sent from God.

Uh, and he wasn't a Christian, but look at what he says.

He's a ruler of the Jews.

He came to Jesus by night and he said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Again, the life of Jesus validates the claims of Jesus.

We know you are a teacher who's come from God.

First of all, who's we, Nicodemus?

You got a rat in your pocket?

Who are you speaking on behalf of?

Here's what's happening back at the Pharisee moose lots.

They all got together and they said, Hey man, this guy's doing something that no one's ever done before.

Nicodemus draws a short straw and he's got to go talk to Jesus.

Why is that such a big deal?

It's like scarecrows coming to a bonfire.

It sounds like no big deal, but the closer you get to him, the greater the chances he's gonna burn you to the ground.

Not because he was harsh, but because he was on mission.

And he didn't mince words, as you'll see in just a minute.

And so again, let me just say the life of Jesus validates the claims of Jesus.

Nicodemus is not a believer.

He he appreciates Jesus.

He says, hey, you've done some signs that no one else can do unless God were with him.

So I realize that you're you're a teacher sent from God and you're doing stuff through the power of God.

And that is great.

You said, what do you mean?

He's not even a believer, and he affirms who Jesus is.

Why?

Because the life of Jesus validates the claims of Jesus.

A lot of people, and some of you may be in this room today, you hear some of the claims of Jesus in Christianity and you balk at them because you've never looked at the life behind them.

And so I would just say, start with the life, okay?

Don't because here's what we do we start a million miles away and oh, the Bible's written by men.

I mean, how can we trust that?

Blah, blah, blah.

Start from the inside and work yourself out.

Just look at the life of Jesus because that validates the claims of Christianity and of Christ.

Second thing I want to say to you is that Jesus is focused on what matters.

Jesus is focused on what matters.

After this great compliment, Rabbi, we know you're a teacher, come from God, for no one can do the things, these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Now, most of you grew up in a home where you were taught manners.

Someone compliments you and you're supposed to say, Thank you.

Jesus didn't have good manners.

Look what Jesus says.

He compliments Jesus, and Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Say, what?

Again, this is what I mean when people are on mission.

Jesus is dialed in and he is focused and he doesn't mince words.

And this should stand out to us because most of us will spend our entire lives kind of, we're not on mission.

We kind of play verbal bad mitten.

I go, boom, hey, how are you?

Good, good.

Boo, and you, good, good, good.

How the kids, boo! Oh, that's awesome.

Oh, I'm gonna pop it up real high.

Get your breath.

Boop, there you go.

Jesus shows up with Nicodemus and he wants to play dodgeball.

He's got Ben Stiller and a bunch of people around him.

And he's like, guess what I came to do?

And Nicodemus is like, oh, see, well, oh, see, what it was, well, uh, uh, uh, not because Jesus is harsh.

He's just on mission.

Here's how, here's how you know you're around somebody who's on mission.

They are intentional in a way that you've never been.

They have lunch with you and they say, Hey, we're gonna talk about a lot of things, but before we leave this table, I want to hear about where you are with Jesus and do you believe in Jesus, or are you just kind of going through life doing it all by yourself?

That person just sets it down on the table from the get-go, and you're like, Okay, that's kind of awkward, but hey, I respect that.

That's what Jesus was like.

He he's focused on what matters.

And you say, Why is that a big deal?

Because my concern, beloved, is that we're gonna spend the most of our lives pursuing things that don't really matter.

Uh, and I ain't getting after you, and I ain't making fun of you.

And you say, What do you mean pursuing things that don't really matter?

Go into your garage this afternoon and look around, see how many things you haven't used in two years.

Or if you want to take it to the next chapter, drive down the road to the climate control storage facility you pay a monthly fee for and ask yourself, when's the last time I use this?

And I'm not hating on you because I'm married to a pack rat, okay?

And I'm just like, hello, what's this?

Because here's my fantasy.

I want to get my garage gutted and get the floor enameled and whatever it's called, epoxied or whatever, where it's looking all shiny and crisp, and my wife won't give anything away.

I'm like, hey, I put a chair in the back of my trunk to take it and give it away to the thrift center.

And she's like, What that is the priceless?

I mean, I mean, that's not priceable, but that's an expensive antique.

It's an antique.

I'm an antique, and I ain't worth that much.

And I said, What are you gonna do with this?

She goes, Well, I want to keep it until after the holidays, and then, and then what?

Because see, when you say, and then I think there's a plan.

I don't think you have a plan.

I think you live in denial about all this junk.

And then it dawned on me.

I said, Did this come out of your parents' house?

And she said, Yes, and because of that, I want to hold on to it.

And in my mind, I thought, I don't want to hold on to anything that came out of my parents' house.

Why you gotta hold on to stuff?

And I was like, Well, see, we can't eat what?

And I thought, mmm, mm-hmm.

Later on that night, she said, Hey, by the way, can we circle back to the conversation about the stuff in the garage?

You mean the stuff that's just been out there and been out there for months, going on years, and you got no plan for it.

All you know about is you don't want to get rid of it.

She says, What's your big deal with that?

I don't think it matters.

Men, if you're thinking about saying that to your wife today, don't.

Well, you just said to me, is my parents don't matter.

Oh, for the love, are you getting me?

27 minutes later.

Not that I was looking at the clock behind her.

27 minutes later, we finished the conversation.

And I just said, I give up.

That's great, awesome.

Just keep it all.

Wonderful.

Wonderful.

I'm glad we have that stuff.

Here's what I'm saying.

If you're gonna be focused on what really matters, that's gonna be a lonely slog sometimes.

Ask yourself this question today.

If someone asks you what matters most to you, would your life match your answer?

If someone asks you, hey, what matters most to you, would your life, the way you live, would it match your answer?

Or would you say one thing and live another?

See, Jesus is complimented by this guy, but he's not flattered, okay?

That's why the Bible says man is attested by the praise he receives.

Jesus passes the test and gets right to the point.

Nicodemus is like, oh, you're awesome.

And he's like, hey, shut up.

Let's talk about where you are with God.

Okay.

And guess what?

Nicodemus doesn't miss a beat, which brings us where we've got to kind of dig the plow on the ground a little bit.

The third thing the text tells us is that this is a supernatural process.

Look at verse 4.

He says, 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 the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.

The wind blows wherever it wishes.

You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

Truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and we bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

If I have told you of earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?

Now there's a reason I read from verse 4 all the way to verse 12, because there's three things I want you to understand.

When I say this is a supernatural process, I'm not talking some crazy outer body experience.

I'm just kind of saying there's some things that you have to stand.

We don't get this on our own.

We cannot produce this.

The church cannot manufacture this.

And parents, you cannot call this forth.

What do you mean?

Let me just give you the three things that you need to understand in this section.

Number one, you need to understand what it means to be born again.

And that's what Jesus says in verse 3 and again in verse 7.

What does it mean to be born again?

It's the Greek word anathine.

Anathon, A-N-O-T-H-I-N.

And it has a double meaning.

It can mean two things.

It means uh from above, or it can be it can be anathon can mean again.

And so a lot of people translate it to be born again.

Uh and and and and that's great, that that's sufficient, but sometimes that can be a little confusing.

Like for Nicodemus, he was like, being born again, what am I gonna do?

Am I gonna like can I enter a second time into my mother's womb?

And you hear that and you're like, oh, make the pictures go away.

No, please.

Absolutely not.

No, see, the better way to get our head around it is to look at the other definition of Anathon from above.

Jesus says, unless you're born from above.

In other words, unless the realities of God in the kingdom of heaven come to come to land on you from above, you this is never going to happen for you.

It's why he said what he said back in John chapter 1, when he was talking about people that received him, he says, Hey, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God who were born.

John 1 · chapter mention

Hello?

Who were born?

How do you become the children of God?

He said, You're born not of blood.

That means you can't just get it from your family.

Well, my parents are Christian, so that makes me Christian.

He said they were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh.

In other words, you can't just kind of go, hey, I want to go to heaven when I die.

How do I sign up for that deal?

And then I'm gonna just live like hell between now and then.

And go, well, I'm 48, but when I was nine, I walked the aisle.

That's happening right now in my wife's family.

My wife's not here today.

She's in Alabama at her uncle's bedside in the hospital, who's been given three to six months to live with stage four lung cancer.

Smoked since he's a little kid.

Doesn't believe.

Doesn't believe.

And I said to my wife, I said, you know, you realize you can't go there and make something happen.

She says, I know.

That's what John says, not of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And when he said, being born, Anathan, being born from above, he's basically what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus is that you can go through a lot of horizontal processes and never be born from above.

Let me say that again and I'll demonstrate.

You can go through a lot of horizontal processes and have a whole lot of horizontal experiences and never genuinely be born from above.

Allow me to demonstrate.

I'm speaking at a camp once, and this girl comes up to me after the service and she said, Oh, I became a Christian tonight.

This is the fifth time.

I hope it works.

Oh, help us, Jesus.

You didn't just say that.

You see, here's what here's why that happens because churches don't teach the Bible anymore.

Churches think it's their responsibility to get you to make a decision.

So every service is wired up to get people to come forward and make a decision.

And what happens is we create this horizontal process where everybody comes and it's like, great, but not all these people, not many of these people actually are born from above.

They have a horizontal religious experience.

And as Jesus would say to the Pharisees later, and I'll show you in the Bible, he says to them, Hey, you guys are zealous for evangelism.

You travel across land and sea to make one convert.

And when you do, you make them twice the son of hell as you are.

And that sounds offensive unless you realize he's on mission.

Jesus said to the preachers of his day, you guys have great missiology.

You travel across land and sea, and when you make a convert, you make them twice as son of hell as you.

What is he saying?

Hey, you guys can't make this happen.

Mom and dad, you cannot make your kids come to Christ.

If you're not careful, you'll put pressure on your kids and they'll do some horizontal process to get you off their back.

But deep in their heart, they know my heart's never been changed.

And so it behooves us today to understand what it means to be born again.

I said to a young lady who said, Well, you know, tonight my fifth time, and I hope it works.

And I was like, Oh, whoa, whoa.

What'd you say?

She says, Yeah, yeah.

And I said, I don't think you've been born again.

She goes, Well, you can't judge me.

Why are you hating on me?

You just met me.

You you've known me two minutes.

How do you know that?

I don't know you, but I think I'm trying to say I know what the Bible teaches.

And this is not something you do four or five.

This is this is you can have a bunch of horizontal experiences, but one vertical reality called conversion, okay?

Well, and I go, How do you know if that's happened?

I said, Let me ask you a question.

Do you feel more like something on the outside trying to get inside of you?

Is that what Christianity is?

She goes, Yeah.

And I just, I just yeah, I just can't get it all the way in.

And I said, Biblically.

Speaking, Christianity, becoming a Christian, what happens then is that something inside of you is longing to get out.

You say, What do you mean?

In the next chapter in John's gospel, John chapter 4, we'll start after the holidays.

John 4 · chapter mention

Jesus says to a woman at the well, if anyone tastes this water I give, it will become in them a well springing up to eternal life.

It's in you, beloved, longing to get out.

It's not outside of you trying to get in, and you're such a screwed-up sinner who just loves smoking weed and drinking too much that God just can't overcome your addictions.

No.

No, you just never tasted this water.

See, what does it mean to be born again?

Second thing we've got to understand is what does it mean to be born of the water and the spirit?

What does it mean to be born of water and the spirit?

Look at verse 9.

Jesus kind of chides Nicodemus.

Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?

And Jesus answered, Are you the teacher of Israel?

Yet do you not understand these things?

He's not making fun of him, but look at me, beloved.

Religious people always think they're the smartest person in the room until Jesus shows up.

And then it's like, uh-oh.

The Bible says it like this.

He has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

So if you like, I mean, I'm all into wisdom and I want to be smart.

There's nothing wrong with that, okay?

Nothing wrong whatsoever.

Just don't trust that.

Don't let that be the thing that becomes your identity because for Nicodemus it was.

He was a Jew, he was a member of the uh of the ruling council of the Jews, and he's a Pharisee, he's a member of the Sanhedrin, he's got the first five books of the Old Testament memorized, and Jesus says, hey, but Jesus graciously tells us something.

He says, Hey, you're Israel's teacher and you don't know these things?

What's he telling us?

He's telling us that what he's referring to is found in the Old Testament because for these guys talking, they don't have a New Testament.

They're living the New Testament, and so their Bible is the Old Testament.

So you got to ask yourself, where in the Bible do you see this experience of water and spirit that come together?

Where does the Bible reference anything like that?

It's in Ezekiel chapter 36.

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

Now, before I read two verses to you, let me ask you a question.

Are you still with me?

Yes.

Have you checked out and started making your grocery list yet?

Don't do that because I'll come out there and get you.

Look at me.

Here's what I want you to understand, okay?

Here's the thing.

That back before I read, I want to give you the context.

That the people, God would say, Hey, this is what you gotta do.

And the people were like, hey man, we can't do that.

I drink too much, I eat too much, I look at stuff on the internet I shouldn't look at.

I'm a bad person.

God, I could never live like the Bible says.

And God says, You're exactly right.

And you know why?

Not because you're a bad person, it's because you're the same person you've always been.

Now, what would a merciful God, think for a minute, you're smart people, what would a merciful God do in response to a people that felt that way about themselves?

People that sort of like, you know, I could never do that.

I mean, God, I mean, that's just impossible because, you know, like I said, I like to get my party on and I'll sort you pot smokers in here kind of going, did he just do that?

Some of you got a fog hat album somewhere in the closet you don't play until the kids are gone.

Break out that deep purple, smoke on the water.

This is music, baby.

Cling it up.

Yeah.

People, by the way, people even back in the Bible realized how screwed up they were.

So if you're here today, you're like, man, I'm screwed up.

I could never live like the Bible talks about.

That's why I just refuse and reject Christianity.

I agree with you.

You can't.

And I couldn't either, unless God did something only God can do.

What is that?

It's what the Bible talks about.

This is where you get this water in spirit.

This is Ezekiel chapter 36, starting in verse 25.

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

God says this to people are like, God, we can never do it.

And God says, That's right.

I can.

This is what it means to be born from above.

This is what it means to experience what only God can do.

God says, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit, and I will put within you, I uh this 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, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

See, beloved, here's what I want you to see in the Bible, not out of my mouth, but out of the Bible.

Christianity is you enjoying what only God can do.

It's not trying to find the moral or spiritual courage or determination to do what you think you have to do.

God says, I will, I will, I will, I will, I I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness.

What does that feel like?

Can you imagine?

You'll be clean from all your uncleanness.

This is what Jesus is referencing.

When he talks to Nicodemus and he says, Hey, you're Israel's teacher, you're not telling people this.

No, you came to oppress people with more rules, and Jesus says, I came to set them free.

This is what it means when the Bible says, Hey, it's being born of the water and the spirit.

Third thing you have to understand is that it's revealed by its effects.

Look at verse 8.

It says the wind blows wherever it wishes.

That word wind in the Greek is the Greek word pneuma.

It means spirit.

It's not talking about, like last night I went to let my dog out at about 10:30 before I went to bed, and the wind was blowing a few were up.

The wind was blowing, and it was bringing in what you woke up to this morning.

How many of you got up this morning and thought, oh man, I'd like to be in a deer leash right now?

This man was like, mmm, as well as put your hand down.

No, it's like, yes, finally, some cool weather.

That's not the wind he's talking about.

He says the wind, the spirit, blows wherever it wishes, and you hear its sound, and you do not know where it comes from or where it goes, so it is with everyone who's born of the spirit.

When I say it's revealed by its effects, what I'm saying is you become like what you've experienced.

That's what Jesus is saying back in verse 6 when he says flesh gives birth to flesh, but spirit gives birth to spirit.

Here's how you know you've been born from above by the Spirit of God is because when you look at your life, you're not perfect, but but but but it's giving birth to spirit.

You live like that.

People ask you, what's Christianity like?

You're like, it's like the wind.

And they're like, ah, dang, I'm curious now.

Yeah.

So it's revealed by its effects.

People say, well, you can't really know who's a Christian and who's not.

That's not a true statement.

Well, you just judge it.

No, I'm not.

There's a famous preacher back in England, uh, whose name was Charles Spurgeon.

And he basically made a list of what he called evidences of new birth.

Uh and I just want to share them with you here with you.

There's eight of them.

Let me just read them all.

First of all, it's faith in Christ and in his gospel.

I believe in Christ and I can defend the gospel.

Faith in Christ and his gospel.

Secondly, repentance from sin.

There's a sorrow for sin.

That's one of the sure signs of a new nature.

Thirdly, prayer.

Fourthly, possession of new life.

Remember, it's inside of you longing to get out.

It's not outside of you trying to get in.

That's behavior modification.

This is Christianity.

It's possession of a new life.

Fifthly, it's new desires.

Put a start by this: new desires, like an interest in God.

Our job, by the way, as your pastors, is not to create desire in you.

It's not our job to create desire in your kids.

You're like, oh, my kid got to be 16 or 15 or 17, and they're just not interested in church anymore.

That's not a knock on the church.

That's a revelation about your kid's heart.

It's not our job to create.

And by the way, if you look at the church in America, that's why it's become goofy, like a three-ring circus with ponies and dancing bears and all this kind of stuff.

Because it requires so much stimulation when you've been born of the flesh, and all you produce is flesh.

You have to be stimulated.

But when you've been born of the Spirit, you want to be educated.

You want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

So help you, God.

You go to some church where they got just goofiness going on, and you're like, Really?

Can we just stand up and leave right now in the middle of this?

And your wife's like, rock and roll, let's go.

New desires.

Next one is a love for God's people, joy in worship, and a hunger for his word.

Now, as you look at those, you can pull out your cell phone, take a picture of that, whatever.

But here's what I don't want you to do.

I don't want you to look at that and on the drive home, look at your sister in the backseat and kind of go, I give you two out of eight.

I think you're going to hell.

You're in danger, sister.

You better step your game up.

No.

No, this is again, remember, Christianity is what's inside of you longing to get out.

It's longing to get out to find expression.

So Jesus says, and we'll get to it after Advent.

He says, if anyone tastes this water I give, it will become in them a well springing up to eternal life.

These are the kind of things, these are the kind of realities.

We do not program our church to create desire and sustain and maintain desire in you.

We just don't.

It's not our job.

We're not harsh, we're not cold, we're not indifferent.

I see people sometimes, every once in a while, I see people in a store.

They used to go to church here a year or so ago, and they're kind of like, oh, this is awkward.

And I'm like, not awkward at all.

Your life is a product of your desires.

I'm not here to dance faster and make you have desires.

You should ask yourself, here's the thing.

This is free.

This is in the Bible.

In Jeremiah 24, God says it's this promise-keeping God, promise-making God.

He says in Jeremiah 24, to these people, he says, I'll bring you back and I'll put a heart in you to know me.

I got a question for you.

How do you get a heart?

How do you get a relationship with God where you're born from above without getting a heart that wants to know God?

You don't.

It's biblically impossible.

It would be the highest expression of injustice for God to bring you back and give you a new heart, and your heart is indifferent towards God.

That's like an arranged marriage.

This is your wife.

Well, pardon me if I'm not excited.

Not at all.

Saw a couple interviewed this past week on TV, and they've been married 37 years and never spent one night apart.

And I thought, I kind of enjoy some solitude.

I didn't say that out loud, but I thought it in my heart of hearts.

Because she was sitting right there on the couch.

And they asked the guy, they said, How is this possible?

And he just said, Man, I'm I just can't stand to be without her.

I'm just crazy about her.

And I thought about this.

And I thought about, yeah, that's a heart that wants to know his wife.

And God says to people, hey, when I remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, guess how that heart is hardwired?

It just wants to know God.

It just on a consistent basis.

I just want to know God.

I don't want to just collect stuff and avoid pain and suffering.

I want to know God.

And the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings so as to somehow be like him.

So whatever I got to embrace to be like him, I'm willing to embrace that.

Why?

Because I want to know God.

That's the heart of a converted person.

That's what it beats white hot with that central passion.

Last thing the text tells us today is simply this is that Jesus is the only way.

Now, I want you to just recognize how clunky and unhip and cool that is.

To say that statement that Jesus is the only way.

Because my fear is that we've gotten so smooth we no longer say textured things.

And so we live in a culture of polytheism where all roads lead to God, right?

Oprah, oh, absolutely.

You choose your path, I'll choose mine.

That's a lie, beloved.

And it's what Jesus says right here.

Well, God, I've had people say, well, God never says, God never makes a claim to exclusivity.

Why do his followers?

That's another lie.

See, this is exclusive.

And people say, well, that's just kind of hating, isn't it?

No, no.

It's the truth.

And the truth by nature is exclusive.

Look at verse 13.

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

Very exclusive language.

No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended into heaven.

No one and except, what is Jesus saying?

Nobody has done what I've done.

No one stuck their head up in heaven and looked around and said, I got it.

Let me go back and tell them.

No, God left heaven and came to earth.

Why is that a big deal?

Why is that exclusive?

Can you use another politically correct word?

No, no, I can't.

And by the way, could we stop being such moral cowards?

Because, see, here's, you get a free history lesson, okay?

You want a free history lesson today?

Because here's where we are.

We're a nation of victims.

Everyone's a victim nowadays.

And if I say, yeah, I believe the exclusive truth claims of Christianity, well, how can you say that in a multicultural city like Sugarland?

Because that's their only hope.

These people are going to hell apart from a relationship with Christ.

I'm loving them.

I'm going to tell you in the name of political correctness, you're hating them.

Oh, well, Pastor, you can't come pray at our area-wide prayer breakfast where we pray for our civil servants.

Oh, I get to sleep in.

Okay, I'm sorry to hear that.

No, that's not.

See, here's the thing.

We live in a day and age, this is free.

Here's the history lesson.

We've just reinvented Marxism.

Marxism back in the day, what it said was this Karl Marx and his followers looked at rich people and said, Oh, the bourgeois proletariat, you guys got money, and that's bad.

We're victims because we're poor.

So you have to redistribute your wealth and give it to us.

And by the way, because we're victims, that's the first step, and you're to blame.

You're responsible.

I'm a victim.

You're responsible.

Here's the third step, which is where we are nowadays.

Any violence I perpetrate against you, it doesn't matter.

Just pick a cause you see on TV nowadays.

It's just Marxism reinvented.

I'm a victim.

You're responsible.

Now you would never, ever, ever think that people would say, hey, wealth redistribution, that should happen.

You should take money from the rich and give to the poor because they're poor.

No one would ever believe that, would they?

It's Marxism.

You're smarter people than that.

Someone said to me recently, Yeah, my problem.

I said, tell me why you're here for counsel.

Well, my problem, Pastor.

I think I'm just a victim.

Ah, this is gonna be a short session.

Because I'm not going to rob from you the dignity of responsibility.

You've got to take responsibility for your life.

The Bible says crazy things like if you don't work, you don't eat.

So if you're just here to get your hand out and look all sad, I'm the wrong person.

Don Minton's a nice guy.

He's at the other end of the hall.

He's dressed in auburn gear every day.

You can recognize him.

What I mean when I say Jesus is the only way.

Look at what he says, and we'll be done.

Look at verse 14.

After he says, No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven.

See, here's the thing.

If you think there's another way to get to heaven apart from Jesus, then why did Jesus come down from heaven?

Explain it to him.

I'm open.

And then he he says this, and then he kind of goes, hey, let me help you to drive the point home.

I'm going to tell you about this event from the time of Moses.

And so verse 14, he says, Hey, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

What is he talking about?

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, don't turn there, just write down Numbers chapter 21, way back in the Old Testament.

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

The people grumbled against Moses, their leader, and against God.

And God sent these serpents to bite these people.

And they were in agony and they cried out to Moses.

And Moses cried out to God and said, God, what do I do?

And God said, make a bronze serpent and put it on a stick and hold it up and tell them, hey, everyone that looks at this serpent, you'll be healed.

Now, here's the under, here's the understated reality that God's making.

Don't grumble about your pasture because them snakes will get you, amen.

It's just a joke.

Relax.

So here's the thing.

They're out in the wilderness, they're grumbling.

God says, Hey, hey, you victims.

Stop whining.

You people, you're just babies.

Come on, be responsible.

And so they cry out.

And so God says, I didn't take this anymore.

And so they go get, they send these serpents.

You can read in the Bible, Numbers chapter 21.

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

And they bite these people.

They cry out to Moses, oh my gosh, we're dying here.

And so Moses is like, God, what this isn't cool.

What do I do?

Make a bronze serpent, put it on a pole, hold it up so that everyone that looks at that can be delivered.

Now, hear this again.

The people sinned.

God brought consequences.

They were affected by the actions of a serpent.

They were dying because of their sin.

God provided a solution that was lifted up for all to see if they would only look to it for their salvation.

Remind you of anybody?

And that's mercy, beloved.

That's why Jesus says, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Eternal life is not what you're doing right now forever.

It's a life that rule is ruled by eternity right now.

That's what it means to be born from above.

And you have to ask yourself, has that ever happened for you?

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, we like to teach the Bible and give you some soul space, like I said, to think about it.

So take just a moment.

Clive's just gonna come, he's just gonna play.

And just ask yourself, hey God, what did you what had my name on it today?

What do I walk out and think about as I'm headed to lunch or headed home to get on my soft clothes and watch football all day and take a nap?

All glorious things.

Thank God for all that.

Thank you, Jesus, for queso.

But you have to ask yourself today, have how have I ever been born from above?

The water and the spirit.

Is God taking out my heart of flesh?

Do I have a heart that's just disposed towards wanting to know God?

Think about that for a second.

And while you're thinking, let me just remind you: God is still the God of I will.

He hasn't given up on you.

You may be sitting here thinking, man, I've done so much bad stuff.

He's still the God of I will.

I will sprinkle you with clean water and you'll be clean from all your uncleanness.

You'll be, God says, I'll deal with all the things that make you feel dirty on the inside.

That's what he's saying.

He's still the God of I will.

He says, I'll take out your hard heart and I'll give you a heart that's a heart of flesh, a heart that's soft to the realities of God and the gospel.

So don't see this through the lens of yourself.

See this through the lens of a God of I will.

Father, I pray for everyone in this room that we would think deeply and biblically about what it means to be born from above.

What it means to be a Christian doesn't mean I go to church when it's convenient.

Doesn't mean that I believe there's a God somewhere, but he leaves me alone, I leave him alone.

No.

It means that the faithful God of the entire Bible has sprinkled me with clean water and has removed all my uncleanness.

So I don't live like some politicians right now in the fear of being found out for yet another sexual harassment revelation.

No, I got a new heart.

And I got a spirit of God inside of me, and he moves me, he motivates me in ways I don't have to motivate myself.

So, Lord, we uh we just want to bow our intellect beneath the truth of the Bible.

And we just say of you, Jesus, that you're exclusive.

You're not mean, you're not harsh, you're not abusive, you're just right, and you're the truth.

You said yourself later in John's gospel, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except through me.

So, because of that, it puts a huge emphasis on your words.

So give us ears to hear what we need to hear today.

We ask for it in Christ's name, and everyone said.

Amen.

Amen.

If you're a guest, I want to say thanks for being part of our church.

Uh, you're sitting around some of the most authentic people in Fort Bend County.

Uh, you're sitting around people who struggle with addictions.

You're sitting around people who love God and do the right thing.

And you're also sitting around people who sometimes know the right thing and do the wrong thing anyway.

Amen?

And I don't say that to make fun of my people.

I say that so you won't think, hey man, because these people know what I was really like.

Look at me.

God is still the God of our will.

He'll do for you what he's done for any of us.

He didn't did it because we deserved it.

He did it because he wants us to have it.

Okay?

When you came in, you were given a worship folder, has some little information about our church from the far right side, has a little tear-off portion, ask for some information.

If you fill that out, would you just tear it off?

Drop these wooden boxes by the doors.

That's also where we receive our offering.

Today's one of those days where we say, hey, let's all bring something, okay?

Because we don't want to practice.

We're in the midst of practicing, uh, practicing 60 days of generosity.

We don't want to be generous and obedient to everybody out there and not be generous towards God's house.

And so you do as you're being led to do, okay?

We'll be available down front if you have any questions.

If this is your first, second, or third time to visit our church, just come up and introduce yourself.

We just want to say hi, put a name with a face, okay?

Stand to your feet.

Hold your hands up and we speak a blessing over you.

It's not just then.

It's now.

It's available and it's accessible.

And God will.