John 3:1-16

Just to say, as I go through this talk, I'm primarily addressing people for whom the Christian faith is perhaps something they haven't yet found is real or they've really engaged with themselves.

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If we could turn, if you've got a Bible, to page 888-889 to John chapter 3, that would be a help too because I'm going to speak from the Bible.

John 3 · chapter mention

And again, there may be questions from there, that's great, but unashamedly I'm going to speak from this.

Christians believe that this book is written by a man, John, but inspired by God.

So as we look at that again, we're hoping it will address you very deeply.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much for the Bible.

Please help me to speak clearly now.

And we pray that you'd address each one of us in the very depths of our being.

And we ask that all of us would leave here with something more to believe and something to do.

Amen.

I don't know if you've ever played that game, if I had my life all over again.

Of course, you won't actually play that game if you're under 30.

So sorry, it's a terrible introduction if you're under 30.

If you're under 30, you think you're going to get your act together again.

But if you're over 30, certainly once you're 40 and you realise you've had half your life and your body starts telling you that.

So I've now got a furniture problem.

My chest is in my drawers nowadays.

And you start to be wistful about the things you haven't had a chance to do.

So you think, what if I had my life over again?

Of course, some people don't get this at all.

I mean, I've spoken to some people and they say, I spoke to one person and they said, if I had my life over again, I'd do exactly what I've done.

Well, I thought that said a singular lack of imagination.

What do you want to do them again for?

You've already done them once.

Don't you want some new experiences?

So, for example, I'd love to have played a season's rugby with the Maoris in the South Island of New Zealand or with the deeply Christian Western Samoans who are known actually as the heaviest tacklers in world rugby.

Apparently their motto is Acts 20 verse 35.

Acts 20:35

It's better to give than receive.

I'd love to have learned to play the saxophone or the bagpipes or actually married that girl I married to someone else.

That would have been interesting.

I'd always dreamed of being two foot from her at the altar and I was.

Trouble is, I was at mid-off, not square legs.

That was the end of that.

But, or played golf at Augusta.

Or, well, of course, it's a game.

You can't start a game, can you?

It's just a game as you look back.

But, you know, ladies and gentlemen, as we come this evening, the funny thing is that when it comes to the Christian faith, unless you do start again, you never make it.

Did you know that?

I wonder if you noticed that in John 3 in the Bible reading we have.

It's so uncompromising, abrupt and clear from Jesus.

You have to start again.

Have a look.

Can we see verse 3 as we look down?

What do you make about this?

Just extraordinary.

Jesus answered him,

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one's born again, he can't see the kingdom of God.

Then it comes again in verse 5.

Do you see verse 5?

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.

You've got to start again.

And again in verse 7, Jesus says it again three times.

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

I mean, it's categoric.

Unless you're born again, you can't start the Christian faith.

Just like unless there's rain, there are no crops.

He's quite categoric here.

A person cannot become a Christian unless he or she is born again.

Now, they can't enter the Christian life unless they've got that.

Now, can I say, this is fundamental to Christianity.

When the trouble is, an awful lot of people think that the phrase born again was invented by Donald Trump to get more votes off the Southern Baptists.

That's the problem, isn't it?

They think it's some sort of, you know, thing that's cooked up.

It's got such bad PR, this phrase.

So I just want to say that it's here in the Bible and it's not about some narrow, emotional, cultic, fringe type of Christianity, which people like my dear mother, who's now passed away, used to dismiss by saying, well, I'm a Christian but not one of those born again types.

I mean, in fact, this sermon is dedicated to my mother as a sort of refute to that comment.

Mum would always say, well, I'm not one of those born again types.

And I'd say, this is the only type you can be.

So this necessity of new birth is in the original articles of every single Protestant church.

It's embedded in all the original creeds.

It's not negotiable.

So as we hear this phrase born again, ladies and gentlemen, it's not weird.

It's not strange.

It's not new.

It's not loony fringe.

No.

It's dynamite about a creator God.

So the God who made that out the window as we look at the lawn and the tree.

Who breaks into our lives.

And so often it's our detonated dynamite.

So please remove any unreflexive prejudice about the phrase.

It's not crazy.

It's not an option.

It's a necessity.

And there could be nobody who was more shocked that he had to be born again than the man here in our passage.

Can we see chapter 3, verse 1?

Utterly shocked.

Do we see verse 1?

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

A man of the Pharisees.

You see, this man had supposedly all the right credentials to be accepted by God from the start.

He's so much to commend him.

And I mean, surely he doesn't have to start over.

First of all, he's a disciplined man.

He's a Pharisee.

So these were lay people who were so disgusted by the professional religious, they said, we'll do it right.

They were absolute fanatics in terms of getting things right, in terms of how they lived.

He was an able man, do you see, on the Jewish ruling council, verse 1.

He was a learned man.

Look how he's described by Jesus in verse 10.

Do we see what Jesus says about him?

Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel?

And yet you don't understand these things.

He's Israel's teacher.

And he's even, and I love this about him.

He's an open man.

He comes to Jesus with a question.

You know, I was at theological college.

I guess Paul would say the same.

There were some people, you know, we're 25, but they'd stopped asking questions.

They just answered them.

So they plateaued at 25.

They didn't have questions to ask.

We've all got questions.

COVID, Ukraine, we've got questions.

But some people said, no, I was at college with, I mean, I pity their congregations.

I just answer questions.

I don't ask them.

But this man comes with a question.

So he's disciplined.

He's able.

He's learned.

He's open.

He's law and order.

He'd have been a Bible reader, a faithful husband, a church leader.

You don't get, you don't get more moral than the Pharisees.

And so there's no one more moral, legalistic, upright and rotarian than this man.

He's the model of middle class respectability.

And so he would have been deeply shaken when Jesus comes along and says to him, you, Nicodemus,

you need to be born again.

In other words, Jesus comes along and he draws a separating line between Nicodemus and real relationship with God.

He says, you're not in that relationship, Nicodemus.

Now, actually, when someone said to me that I needed to be born again, I was so self-centered and self-obsessed.

I remember thinking, well, I bet I do.

I could thoroughly relate to Tennyson.

He said, oh, that a man would emerge in me that the man I am would cease to be.

I mean, I was in such a shambles.

It never occurred to me that I didn't need to be born again.

But this is such a thoroughly fine man, ladies and gentlemen, this man.

Now, he's a good man and he'd have been shaken when Jesus says to him, you, Nicodemus, you need to be born again.

So do you see what he does in verse 6?

He jumps straight back at him in verse 6.

And he says to Jesus, that which is born of the flesh is of the flesh.

And that which is born of the spirit.

Sorry, verse 4, I mean, verse 4.

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 to be born?

Or, verse 4, to which Jesus, sorry, now answers verse 6, don't muck about.

I'm not talking about physical things.

I'm not talking about you being born physically in your mother's womb.

I'm talking, Nicodemus, about spiritual things.

Yes, you need to be born physically.

But verse 6, here we are.

But flesh gives birth to flesh.

But you also need to be born spiritually.

The spirit gives birth to the spirit.

And Nicodemus, all your religious credentials, disciplined, religious, able, learned, moral, they're not good enough.

All your religious performing, it's not good enough, Nicodemus.

And, gosh, here's the brutal thing again.

Do come to Hope that's flawed and ask it.

And they won't save you.

Do we see as we look down from verse 36?

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

Whoever does not abate the Son shall not see life.

But God's wrath remains on them.

They won't save you from hell.

All your performing, they're not good enough.

It's not good enough.

And can I say, we can therefore conclude from the words of Jesus,

that if a thoroughly good man like this needs to be born again,

then, ladies and gentlemen, we can be absolutely sure that you need to be born again,

and I need to be born again.

And here we go.

And so does the kind Hindu and the gentle Buddhist,

and the moral atheist, and the fine Muslim.

Whatever your cultural or religious background,

Jesus insists you need to be born again.

And of course the question now comes,

why?

Why?

I mean, here's Jesus.

He's drawing this dividing line through humanity.

It's just the sort of thing we hate today, don't we?

Why is he doing it?

Well, the Bible says,

here's the answer, ladies and gentlemen,

that all of us have said no to God.

As God, we don't want him to be God over us.

And of course, that little word, sin,

that you've heard of,

it presses us to put ourselves first.

It presses us to go,

God, I know you gave me the world,

farm, family, friends,

falling in love, food, fitness,

but I'll be at the centre,

and you can be a footnote.

You can be out in the suburbs.

And life's about my goals,

my agenda, my desires.

I'll be the main character.

I'm going to push you out.

And when we do that,

although it seems to us to be a very small thing,

it doesn't seem to matter.

People on the telly on the news are much worse,

aren't they?

It seems to us to be a small thing.

The result of sin,

here's the issue, ladies and gentlemen,

is that we die spiritually.

We die.

And that's why we need to be born again.

Because spiritually,

sin causes us

to become walking corpses.

I work near Oxford Street.

You see people walk up and down Oxford Street.

They're young, healthy,

good-looking, slim,

attractive,

comical often.

And yet the Bible says,

because of sin,

they're dead.

That's the problem.

And that's why

we need to be born again.

We're walking corpses.

That's why there's this

absolute necessity for it.

And can you see,

Jesus says,

in verse 7,

he says,

you must be born again.

Not that you can be,

you should be.

People like to be.

But you must be.

So,

first heading is it comes in.

So what is new birth?

What is new birth?

Well,

you know,

what does it mean to be born again?

Well,

can I just say,

the first thing I want to say here

is what it doesn't mean.

It doesn't mean

trying harder,

spiritually.

It doesn't mean

turning over a new leaf.

Like going back on the diet.

I'm not talking about that.

As you can see,

mine isn't going very well

at the moment.

I'll tell you what I did.

On New Year's Day,

I made a resolution

that I could give up

all puddings

except on my day off.

And then on my first day off,

I had six.

It was an absolute disaster.

But I'm not talking about that.

I'm not talking about that.

I'm not talking about

turning over a new leaf.

No.

Ladies and gentlemen,

this is a radical change

this born again thing.

That God does.

It's something God does.

It's not something I do.

It's a radical change

that God does

by the power

of his Holy Spirit.

Can we see that

in verse 8

if we look down?

What do you make of this?

Hold on to your seats.

The wind blows

where it wishes

and you hear its sound

but you don't know

where it comes from

or where it goes.

So it is with everyone

who is born of the Spirit.

So it's not something I do.

This is something God does.

And here's the issue,

ladies and gentlemen.

This is the issue.

It's miraculous.

Being born again.

I'm going on here

about a miracle

that God does.

So God brings us back to life

as new people

in the Spirit world.

He radically changes us

and our thinking.

So what I'm talking about here,

gosh, it's so unangriquant,

is a supernatural act of God

in which he takes the Holy Spirit

and implants the Spirit

in the base of our hearts

and gives us a heart transplant

and thereby gives our mind,

will, emotion, personality

a whole new direction.

It's a miracle

that God does.

And so we start to think

like he thinks

and then consequently

in a rather hopeless way

that we start to long

to act in his way.

And I remember speaking

to a rugby mate

and I was urging him

to become a Christian.

And he said to me,

he said,

look, Rico,

it's no good

me becoming a Christian.

He said,

I'll never keep it up.

And I looked at him

and I said,

listen, Matt,

given your track record,

I agree.

I've been on rugby tours with him.

I said,

I said,

I don't think you will.

I said,

what do you think

you need to happen

for you to keep going?

And I'm not kidding.

He looked at me,

he shrugged his shoulders

and he said,

I think I need a miracle.

At which point,

I nearly fell off my stool.

I nearly fell off my stool

because that's exactly

what we're all about,

I said.

We're all about a miracle

in which the person

looks the same

but God has caused us

to leap into the spirit world.

He's given us

a heart transplant.

And can I say again,

you can't do it yourself.

This isn't something

that you do.

Let me tell you

what it was like with me.

Before it happened,

I really didn't worry

about God.

Although I do remember

praying,

oh God,

please help me

to pass these exams

and I'll become a vicar.

I remember praying that

and here I am.

Here I am.

But I didn't care about God

as long as he looked

after his bits

and he left me alone

to do mine.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I didn't care about him.

But when God changed me,

ladies and gentlemen,

I started to love him.

That's what happened.

I started to love him.

I was so glad

at what he'd done for me.

It was an amazing change.

Oh my goodness

what a lot of change it was.

I started to love him.

And before it happened to me,

I read the Bible

and honestly,

I thought it was God

with you.

So when I was

at primary school,

I used to leaf through

and look for references

to rugby

to try and make it

more relevant to my life.

I found a number

I was reading

with one to reference

in John 9 verse 1.

John 9:1

I don't know about

blinding birds.

That was good.

Another one to foul play

in Acts 9.

So Paul and Barnabas

were sent off.

But I mean,

you know,

basically,

I just thought

it was for the birds.

But afterwards,

after I'd been born again,

I'd go to the little

Christian meeting

run by the maths teacher,

Mr. Ash,

and I'd go along

and it was like

my name and address

was India.

I couldn't believe it.

That 15-minute talk

at the Christian Forum,

I'd be here

and it was like

Jesus was walking

off the page of Scripture

and I'm not kidding.

As the speaker spoke

and taught a little passage

of the Bible,

I'm a 16-year-old schoolboy

and my heart

used to burn inside me

like I knew

I'd found the meaning

of life.

So the Bible

meant nothing to me

and suddenly

it's like it's got

my name and address in it.

And before I became

a Christian,

I only ever prayed

when I was in trouble.

But after God

changed me,

I wanted to talk

to him like a friend.

I mean,

I'd like to wake up

in the morning

and sometimes

of sinful nature

I wouldn't,

but so often

I'd love to just

get my Bible open

and talk to Jesus.

And before I became

a Christian,

there were many sins

and I didn't give

a fig about them

as long as I wasn't

found out.

But afterwards,

they really became

very ugly to me

as I battled

and struggled

with them

because I knew

they were upsetting

to the Lord Jesus.

And I found

my conscience

gave me an absolute

drilling.

It was a radical change.

It was a heart transplant.

It was being born again.

And do you know,

it's not unlike surgery.

Do you know

what happens with surgery?

The anaesthetist comes in.

Just by the way,

if you've never had surgery,

can I honestly recommend it?

It's marvellous.

Just pick a bit of your body

you don't want

and go and get it sorted out.

But I mean,

but someone plunges

something into your arm

and the most wonderful

euphoria sweeps over you.

Don't you find

that was surgery?

And certainly I found,

I sort of looked up

and all the nurses

looked absolutely beautiful

and they put you

on a trolley

and the ceiling floats by

and the doors swing open

and you sort of see

the surgeon

and the next thing

they go,

wake up,

wake up.

And in half an hour

you know they've done something.

In an hour

you wish they hadn't.

In three hours

you think you're going to die

and in six hours

you're afraid you won't die.

So you see

all the good work

has gone on underneath.

It's gone on underneath.

But you begin to see

the evidence of it.

But what did I do?

Ladies and gentlemen,

what I did was this.

I kept going along

to the Christian meeting

and I kept hearing the Bible.

That's what you do.

The Bible says

faith comes by hearing.

So your job,

potter along to Hope Explored,

hear the Bible.

And as I heard the Bible,

God did the miracle underneath.

But your job is

just to hear the Bible.

And as God changed me,

I started to go,

Rike,

you've got to stop

using Jesus as a swear word,

which you do all the time.

You've got to stop.

And I started going,

do you know,

he's really the son of God.

And then I started to go

and he really died for me.

And he got through death

so I can get through death

so my Godfather's death

doesn't have to

overshadow my whole life

and my whole morale.

So as I listened to the Bible,

imperceptibly,

God made me into a new person.

And that's why I come along

to Hope Explored.

Because it's a miracle

that God can do.

So what is the new birth?

It's a radical change

that God does by his spirit.

Who needs the new birth?

We all do.

If Nicodemus needs it,

we all need it.

Thirdly,

what is it that God has done

so that I can be born again?

I wonder if we can look down again.

I think it's going to come up

on the slide,

the verse.

Let's have a look.

John 3, verse 16.

John 3:16

Can we see as we look down

this crucial verse

what has God done?

For God so loved the world

that he gave his only son

that whoever believes in him

should not perish

but have eternal life.

So what did God do?

Can you see as you look down?

God loved the world.

He loved the world.

And because he loved the world,

he loved you,

what did he do?

He gave his one and only son,

Jesus.

So God allowed Jesus

to die on the cross

to take the punishment

which our sins deserve.

I don't know,

perhaps you've seen pictures

of Jesus hanging on the cross

and he's there between two thieves.

You can think of it at Easter.

And his mother is nearby

and he cries out on the cross,

My God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?

Now he is forsaken,

so we need never be forsaken.

That's what happens at the cross.

He took the punishment for our sin

and we deserve that punishment

but Jesus took it

so that you and I

could be right with God.

So Jesus died

so that the new birth

is going to be possible

because God isn't going to

send his spirit

to transform us

into new people

without first cleansing us,

without first doing something

about our constant rebellion.

After I'd been in Chile,

Dad moved to Africa

and he went to grow tobacco there

and as a little five-year-old

in Africa,

there was no kids' TV

and I had two hobbies,

staff collecting

and butterflies

and both of them were amazing

and for those hobbies

as a little five-year-old,

I found you needed

one of these,

a magnifying glass.

But I soon found

as a five-year-old in Africa

that making little things bigger

was not the only thing

a magnifying glass could do.

I found that if you took

one of these into the midday sun,

the possibilities were endless.

I found that you could

set alight a leaf

or a piece of newspaper

or even the gardener's hut

and I found best of all

if you took one of these

into the midday sun,

you could scare the little

daylights out of your twin sister.

Yeah, that was the parakel

of ordination

in the Anglican Church.

You see, you can take

a magnifying glass

and you can focus

the rays of the sun

into such a sharp point

of intensity

that it burns things.

Well, imagine if you would

a massive moral magnifying glass

the size of this room,

but through our past,

not the sun's rays,

but God's righteous anger

at the hatred,

the gossip,

the self-centeredness,

the lust,

the jealousy,

the godlessness

in my heart.

I'm not even talking

about yours,

but these myriad

of things in the way

which I've shaken

my fist at God

and then God's anger

comes down,

down, down.

All my sin

comes down,

down, down.

And it's one man

on one good Friday

afternoon

with such terrible

intensity

that he cries out,

my God,

my God,

why have you forsaken me?

Now that

is how Jesus rescues me

from the coming wrath.

It's no small thing.

I don't know if you know

what your name means.

If there are any Helens here,

any Helens?

Helen means bright.

Any Paul?

Paul means little.

John?

John means the gift of God

which might be a surprise

to the person sitting next to you.

And I'm sure you know this,

but Jesus,

we know this at Christmas,

don't we?

Jesus means saviour.

So the first Christmas,

the angel Gabriel

said to the Virgin Mary,

you'll have a son,

you'll give him the name Jesus

because he'll save his people

from their sins.

So that means

the name Jesus means

he died for me.

Now sometimes on the golf course

I hear my playing partners

say it all the time.

But with whatever tone

they say it,

it means the same thing.

Jesus,

he died for me.

Jesus,

he died for me.

Let's just try that,

shall we?

Don't say it out loud

because the sort of British

will find it too embarrassing.

But when I say Jesus,

could you say under your breath,

he died for me?

Every time you hear it,

it means the same thing.

Jesus,

he died for me.

Jesus,

he died for me.

And can I say,

you must be incredibly precious

that God should send his son

to die for you.

I mean,

it's overwhelming,

isn't it?

I've got two little boys,

I wouldn't let them die for anyone.

But God says,

Rico,

I love you so much,

I'm sending my son

to die for you.

It's an overwhelming thing.

So let's conclude.

Who needs the new birth?

Everybody.

If Nicodemus does,

we all need it.

What is it?

It's something God does.

It's not something I do.

It's a miracle.

What has God done

to enable the new birth

to happen?

He sent his son to die,

taking the punishment

we deserve.

And then as we close now,

what has God

what has to do?

I mean,

what are we meant to do?

Well,

have a look.

Do we see as we close now,

verse 16,

have a look down.

For God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only son

that whoever believes in him

should not perish

but have eternal life.

Now,

what does it mean

to be trustworthy?

It means

you keep your word.

So if I say,

look at the end,

first person up to meet me

gets a £10 note.

If I'm trustworthy,

I'll give it to you.

I'm not,

so don't bother coming.

But if I'm trustworthy,

you keep your word.

Now,

what does God's word

say to us?

He says,

you won't perish.

You won't go to a place

called hell.

And Jesus speaks of hell

again and again.

He's the theologian of hell.

He says,

you won't go there.

He says,

if you trust

what my son has done,

he said,

he said,

I'll forgive you

and I'll send my spirit.

Now,

we put our trust in Christ,

ladies and gentlemen,

by making a decision.

Becoming a Christian

is not like catching mumps.

You know what it's like?

You're a bit sore

and the next day

it's all up.

No,

becoming a Christian

is much more like

getting married.

You don't wake up

the day after you've got married

and look across the bed

and go,

oh,

hello,

what are you doing here?

And can I say,

if it was like that for you,

you're indeed a great

enough

and we continue here.

No,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no.

When it,

when it,

you know,

when it comes to marriage,

I mean,

I did one recently

and I said to the groom,

David,

I said,

David,

will you have Alice?

Do you notice I said,

Will,

not how are you feeling?

He was sweating like a dog.

I said,

David,

what have you made up

your mind to do

about this young woman?

Will you have her

for your lawful wedded wife,

for richer,

for poorer,

in sickness and health,

for better,

for worse?

Do you know

what for better,

for worse means?

It means whatever

the in-laws are like.

That's for better,

for worse.

For better,

for worse,

will you forsake all others

and stay with her?

And he said,

I will.

He said,

that's what I intend to do.

And God,

this evening,

says to us,

what do you intend to do

about the death of my son?

I've sent my son to die

and I want to know

what you intend to do about it.

Now, ladies and gentlemen,

I want to tell you

that that is the most important question

you will be asked

in your life.

What do you intend to do

about the death of Jesus?

That's the question.

Will you put your trust in me today

and believe that I can make you

a new person,

I can forgive you

and that we can start again together

and reverse this mess we're in

and trust Jesus?

And I'm going to close now.

I'm going to say,

if you've got questions,

brilliant,

please come and ask them

at Hope Explored.

But I've got a prayer

and it's a prayer

that says,

look,

the new birth hasn't happened to me

and I want it to

and I want to start again

and I want to be made afresh.

So here's the prayer

and I think it's coming up

on the screen.

Here it is.

So,

Heavenly Father,

I haven't had you

at the centre of my life

but from today

that's what I'd like to happen.

I ask you to be my Lord.

Thank you for sending Jesus

to die for me.

Please forgive me

and please send your spirit

to make me into a new person.

Amen.

So,

I'm going to now pray this

phrase by phrase

and if it's right for you,

why not echo it

in your own heart?

So,

this is a chance

to become a Christian

and to respond,

to believe

in what God has done

in sending his son Jesus

and trust that he'll send his spirit

to make you a new person.

Let me say it phrase by phrase

and again,

if there are one or two

for whom it's right,

if everyone else could bear with me,

if you're not yet there,

please again,

come to Hope Explored

but for one or two,

I'm sure

this is the moment

to pray this day.

So,

let me pray

and again,

if it's right for you,

why not echo it

in your heart?

Here it is.

Heavenly Father,

do echo it

in your own heart

after me.

Heavenly Father,

I haven't had you

at the centre of my life

but from today,

that's what I'd like to happen.

I ask you to be my Lord.

Thank you for sending Jesus

to die for me.

Please forgive me

and please send your spirit

to make me into a new person.

Amen.

Well,

it's just a huge privilege

to speak tonight.

Thank you very much.

Post-COVID,

it's so lovely to have

real people in front of you,

I can tell you.

It's just lovely to come

to this evening.

Thank you.