A New Birth

Please stand for the reading of the gospel.

This morning's gospel reading comes from John chapter 3, verses 1 through 21.

John 3:1–21

This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Saint John.

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

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

And this man came to Jesus by night and said to him,

Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher 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 said to you, You must be born again.

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.

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 bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

If I have 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 ascended 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.

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.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned,

but whoever does not believe is condemned already

because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment.

The light has come into the world,

and people loved darkness rather than the light

because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light

and does not come to the light,

lest his work should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light,

so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Christ.

You can be seated.

C.S. Lewis was a professor of ancient medieval literature

at Oxford and Cambridge between the 1920s and 1960s,

and he grew up in a home that attended church.

But as he grew older and as he entered into his teenage years,

he gradually fell away from his faith.

And by the time he was finally an adult,

he was a decided atheist.

And in his biography, Surprised by Joy,

Lewis describes his journey of conversion

from being an atheist to becoming a Christian.

And for him, it was a highly intellectual experience.

It involved a very slow transition over a gradual many years.

It was a transition from a belief in atheism

to then a belief in moral absolutes,

to believing in God,

to finally being a follower of Christ.

But this was a transition that took many years.

It involved reading many thinkers and philosophers

like G.K. Chesterton and novelists like George MacDonald.

It also involved years of friendship and conversations

with people like Hugo Dyson and Owen Barfield

and J.R. Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings.

But it also involved lots of reluctance and opposition on Lewis' part.

Towards the end of the book,

he describes himself as the most reluctant convert

in all of England.

And for Lewis, the time when he actually realized

that he was a Christian wasn't all that extraordinary or dramatic.

It was actually on a drive one day

with some friends from the town of Oxford

to a zoo in a small village just north of London

called Whipsnade.

And here's how he describes this moment.

He says,

I know very well when,

but hardly how the final step was taken.

I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning,

and when we set out,

I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

But when we reached the zoo, I did.

Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought,

nor in great emotion.

Emotional is perhaps the last word we can apply

to some of the most important events.

It was more like when a man,

after a long sleep,

still lying motionless in bed,

becomes aware that he is now awake.

Our passage this morning in John chapter 3

John 3 · chapter mention

is a conversation that Jesus has

with a man named Nicodemus about conversion,

about the new birth,

and how somebody becomes a follower of Jesus.

And right off the bat,

I think I have to acknowledge

that in a place like Washington, D.C.,

it's hard to even mention words like conversion

or the new birth

without making some people cringe,

without making some of us cringe.

These are cringe-worthy words in our modern culture.

In our modern culture,

talking about the new birth,

talking about conversion,

can make us cringe for a lot of reasons.

For some of us,

even the idea of trying to convert someone

to another faith or religion

seems intolerant and morally regressive.

For others of us,

the term born-again Christian

is conflated with politics

or particular political persuasion.

And for others of us,

it recalls bad experiences

that we've had in our past,

maybe in the church.

There's a lot of negative associations

that arise from

talking about conversion and the new birth

and about what Scripture teaches.

And so that's why

what I'd like to do this morning

as we look at John chapter 3

John 3 · chapter mention

is to actually address

some of those misconceptions.

We're not going to address all of them,

but we'll address three.

We're going to look at three misconceptions

about conversion and the new birth

and look at how our passage

informs and speaks to those misconceptions.

So three misconceptions about the new birth

and what our passage has to say about it.

So here's the first one.

The first one,

one I think misconception

that a lot of people have

about conversion and the new birth

is that it basically involves

somebody getting more religion.

Oftentimes people use that

when referring to someone else

who has maybe said

that they have had a conversion experience,

that they've gotten religion.

And often what people mean

when they say that

is that that person has

maybe gotten more serious about morality.

They've added more rules to their life.

They've gotten more serious

about going to church.

Another way of thinking about it

is that they've added the app of religion

onto the home screen of their life.

That in all of the different things

and parts of their life,

it's another app that they've added

to their well-curated individualistic life.

But is that what the new birth

and conversion are?

Is it just adding,

is it just getting more serious about the rules?

Is it just adding another app to your life?

Well, let's look at our text.

In verse one,

we are told that Nicodemus was a Pharisee.

Pharisees were a group of religious Jewish teachers

who emphasized careful interpretation

and observance of the Torah, the law.

And they believed that

through their particular careful way

of observing the law and applying it,

that this would be part of the way

that the Messiah would come

and restore his kingdom.

So Nicodemus was a man with great biblical knowledge

and a desire to keep God's commands

and to apply it strictly in his life

and the lives of other people.

And verse two tells us

that he came to Jesus by night.

Now, we're not told specifically why in the text,

why it is that he comes at night,

but we can do some godly speculation.

It's likely that he came at night

because he wanted to come and talk to Jesus in secret

so that he wouldn't be seen in public

in fear that others or other Pharisees

or members of the Sanhedrin would find out

and that he would lose his reputation.

To be seen with Jesus publicly during the day

might ruin his standing

in the community among the Pharisees.

So he comes to Jesus at night and he says to him,

Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher

who has come from God,

for no one can do these signs that you do

unless God is with him.

Now, on first glance,

this actually sounds like a compliment.

It sounds like he's acknowledging something

that's true about Jesus.

And I probably would have expected Jesus

to affirm what Nicodemus says here.

You're right, Nicodemus.

Finally, one of you actually believes me.

But he doesn't do that.

He actually turns the conversation

and he does it by, I think,

looking into the heart of Nicodemus

and seeing what it is that he's really saying.

He looks into Nicodemus' heart

and he looks past all of his desire

to keep the law and the Torah.

He looks past all of his religious credentials

and motivations.

And he sees, on one hand,

a genuine desire to follow the law

and keep God's commands.

But I think he also sees a desire

to just add Jesus as another app

into his already preexisting religious system.

He says to a man with great knowledge of the Bible,

with a great desire to follow the law,

who even acknowledges that Jesus is from God,

all of that is not enough to see the kingdom

and enter the kingdom.

You need something else.

You need something else

that being a good, moral, religious person

can't give you.

You need new life.

You need to be born again.

And in verse 4, Nicodemus asks what I think

is a totally fair question.

He says, well, how can this be?

How can somebody enter a second time

into their mother's womb?

I mean, how in the world is that possible

for somebody to be born again?

And Jesus responds, I'm not talking about

another physical birth,

but I'm talking about another spiritual birth.

He says, unless one is born of water and the spirit,

he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Water and the spirit.

Water here is a reference to baptism.

Baptism is a sign.

It's a sacrament.

It's a picture of what the Holy Spirit does

in the new birth.

In the new birth,

the Holy Spirit gives us a new nature

that imparts to us new spiritual life.

In the new birth,

the Holy Spirit gives us a new nature

that imparts to us new spiritual life.

The theological word for this

is called regeneration.

Regeneration.

Through regeneration,

the Holy Spirit indwells us,

takes up residence inside of us,

and transforms our hearts

in a way that transforms the rest of us,

that every aspect of our mind

and our emotions and our will and our bodies,

that it gives us new desires.

It gives us a new love for God,

a new love for his word,

a new love for other people,

and it gives us new power.

The ability, new power to follow God

and obey him,

it's the transformation of our desires,

it's the transformation of our hearts

and our nature.

And so this is where we see

that the new birth and conversion

aren't about getting more religion.

It's not about getting more religion,

but it's actually about receiving a new nature.

It's about receiving a new nature.

And twice in this passage,

Jesus tells Nicodemus

that he actually should not have been

surprised by this.

He says,

don't marvel that I am saying this to you.

Nicodemus, being the biblical scholar

and teacher that he was,

should have remembered,

should have called to mind

the words of the prophet Ezekiel

in Ezekiel chapter 36.

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

This was an Old Testament passage

about how God would literally put his spirit

in the hearts of his people.

Ezekiel chapter 36 says,

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

I will sprinkle clean water on you,

which is again this reference to baptism.

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 I will put within you.

And I will remove the heart of stone

from the heart of flesh

and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you.

This is a promise in the Old Testament

about God's plan

to indwell people with his spirit.

And this is the new birth.

It involves cleansing

from the old sinful nature,

this removal of the heart of stone

and the creation of a new nature,

the creation of a new heart,

a heart of flesh.

And so that's what the new birth is.

That's what the Holy Spirit does

in the new birth.

But I think that begs a question for us,

which is,

why do we need this in the first place?

Like, why do we need the new birth?

Why do we need conversion to happen

in the first place?

Why do we need to receive a new nature?

And part of the answer comes

in what Jesus says later in verse 19.

Later in verse 19, Jesus says,

this is the judgment.

The light has come into the world

and people loved the darkness

rather than the light

because their works were evil.

He's saying that at our core,

our fundamental problem

isn't that we sometimes do bad things,

but that at our core,

our fundamental problem

is that we actually love the darkness.

Scripture teaches that

the fundamental problem of humanity

isn't that we're imperfect people

who just need to learn

how to be better people.

It's not that we're ignorant

or uneducated people

that just need to be taught

or enlightened.

It's that we are dead people

who need to be made alive.

We are slaves who need to be liberated

from the power of sin and death.

This is what Ephesians chapter 2 says.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 2 says,

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

and you were dead in the trespasses,

in the trespasses and sins

in which you once walked,

following the course of this world.

We all once lived

in the passions of our flesh,

carrying out the desires of the body

and the mind,

and we're by nature

children of wrath.

Apart from God's intervention,

apart from the regenerating work

of the Holy Spirit,

we are dead in our sins.

We're spiritually dead.

We're held captive to its power,

and we cannot create new life

in our hearts on our own.

And so that is why we need

the new birth.

That is why we need a new nature.

That's why we need

the regenerating power

of the Holy Spirit.

We don't just need another app

on the home screen of our life.

We need an entirely new operating system.

We need an entirely new operating system.

And that's why getting more religion

or getting more serious

about the rules

isn't going to deal fundamentally

with our main problem.

We need to be made alive.

We need new hearts.

We need a new spirit.

And this is also why

the new birth

isn't just for

people who aren't religious.

It's for people

who grew up in the church.

It's for people like Nicodemus

who knew the Bible

and taught the Bible,

who even believed

that Jesus came from God,

but didn't have the life

that Jesus came to bring.

And so everyone needs

the new birth,

even the church people.

Even the church people.

So that's the first thing

that we see

is that the new birth

isn't getting more religion,

but it's receiving a new nature.

Misconception number two,

another misconception

about conversion

and the new birth

is that it always involves

a dramatic emotional experience

of decision.

or that it involves

or that it involves

an experience

that can feel

forced

or manufactured

or maybe even

emotionally manipulative.

But is that the case?

Does conversion

and new birth

always involve

a dramatic emotional experience?

Well, let's look at our text.

Jesus continues

the conversation

in verse eight

and he 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.

So it is

with everyone

born of the Spirit.

Both the Hebrew word

ruach

and the Greek word

pneuma

can both be translated

as wind

or spirit

or breath.

And here,

Jesus brings those together

and says,

the work of the Holy Spirit

is like the wind.

Even though you can't see it,

you can feel its effects.

It is real and powerful.

You can feel the wind

blowing in your face.

You can feel it shaking

the trees,

which many of us did yesterday.

Yesterday was a pretty windy day,

right?

You can,

even though you might not

be able to see it,

you can feel its effects.

It's real.

It's powerful

and it's mysterious.

It's not something

that we can control

or even predict.

So it is

with the Holy Spirit.

Even though we cannot see

physically what God

is doing in the heart

of someone,

it is nonetheless

real and powerful

and it's also not something

that we can control.

It's not something

that we can manufacture.

It's not something

that we can predict.

And that is because

the new birth

isn't something

that we do.

It is something

that God does.

It's something

that God does.

1 Peter 1,

1 Peter 1:3

verse 3 says,

Blessed be the God

and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to His great mercy,

He has caused us

to be born again

into a living hope.

He has caused us

to be born again.

This is the work of God.

It's not us.

Just like the wind,

the Holy Spirit

brings about the new birth

in ways that are

often mysterious,

often unpredictable,

and often out of our control.

Sometimes it can happen

in a dramatic way,

like if you think about

St. Paul's conversion

on the road to Damascus,

right?

Blinding light,

a voice from heaven,

dramatic experience,

power, right?

But other times,

it can happen

in more ordinary,

subtle, mundane ways.

For others,

it's more like the story

of C.S. Lewis.

It's like somebody

waking up slowly

and eventually realizing

that they're awake.

This is the work

of the Spirit.

It's unpredictable.

It's mysterious.

We can't quite control it,

but this is because

it's the sovereign work

of the Spirit.

This is where we see

that the new birth

is not an experience

we can control.

It's not an experience

that we can manufacture,

but it is a sovereign work

of the Holy Spirit.

It's a sovereign work

of the Holy Spirit.

And rather than this being

something that makes us cringe,

this is actually something

that should greatly

and deeply encourage us.

This should be something

that should be

incredibly encouraging.

Over the years,

I've actually had heard

more than a few people

express a mild,

vague sense of shame

that they do not have

a more powerful testimony.

They don't have

a more powerful experience

of coming to faith.

It's as if having

a more powerful story

of the new birth

would make

their current experience

of the Holy Spirit

more real and powerful

in their life.

But for many people,

many of us,

God uses ordinary means

like friendships

and growing up

in a Christian family

to bring about

the new birth

into our lives.

And this isn't something

to be ashamed of.

This isn't something

to feel guilty about.

This is something

to be celebrated

and rejoiced in.

This is just as much

of a testimony

to the sovereign power

of the Spirit

to bring about

the new birth

just as a dramatic moment

like Paul's conversion

on the road to Damascus.

We should rejoice

in both dramatic

and ordinary

and mundane experiences

of the new birth

because the same

sovereign Spirit

is at work

in both.

It is His work,

not ours.

This should also bring

us great encouragement

as we think about

friends and family

and coworkers

that we want to know Christ.

Do we have the responsibility

of sharing Christ with them?

Yes, we have the responsibility

to share our faith,

to share the gospel with them,

to pray for them,

to ask them questions.

But we don't have

any of the pressure,

we don't have any

of the responsibility

to see any results,

to see them come to faith,

to see them actually

experience the new birth.

That's not on us.

That's the work

of the Spirit.

He is the one

who brings about

regeneration

and new birth

in the hearts

of people.

And so we can relax

because it is

His work

that He does.

Parents,

this is also true

for you

as you think

about your kids

and as you

hope and pray,

as you think

about wanting

your kids

to express

faith in Christ

someday.

There may be

an exact moment

when this happens

or there may not be.

It may be more subtle

and mundane

and ordinary.

It might be

just what we pray

every Sunday

and what we prayed earlier

that there would never

be a day

that they know

apart from knowing Christ.

But regardless,

this is

the new birth

in your children

is not something

that you have to

force to happen

or control

or create

the perfect conditions

for.

And it's ultimately

not something

that you are

responsible for

as a parent

because it is

the sovereign work

of the Holy Spirit

who brings about

the new birth,

who regenerates hearts.

So what we see

is that the new birth

and conversion

aren't about getting

more religion.

It's about receiving

a new nature.

We also see

that it's not

an experience

that we can control,

but it's a sovereign

work of the Holy Spirit.

And so here's

a third

and final

misconception

that we often have

about the new birth.

A third

and final misconception

is that

it's really just

describing

spiritual experience

in general.

It's describing

a spiritual experience

that happened

in lots of other

religions and faiths

and other forms

of spirituality.

There's nothing

unique about it.

But as Jesus

continues his

conversation

with Nicodemus,

he recalls

a story

from Numbers

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21

that Laurel

read earlier.

And this is a bit

of a bizarre story

when you first read it.

The Israelites

were complaining

to God

as they do

multiple times.

They were complaining

to Moses about God

that he had brought

them out into the wilderness

only to die.

That they were

longing to go

back to Egypt.

And God

judges them.

He judges them

for their sin

of unbelief

by sending

venomous snakes.

And these

venomous snakes

bite the people

causing many

of them to die.

The people

realize their sin.

They cry out

to God.

They repent.

They acknowledge

they've sinned.

God in his mercy

provides a way out.

And he tells

Moses

to create

a bronze snake

and put the

bronze snake

on a pole.

And anyone

who looks

at the bronze snake,

anyone who's

been bitten

can look

at the bronze snake

and live

and be healed.

That's a bizarre

story, right?

But the point

of the story

is this,

that people

who were dying

because of their sin,

people who were dying

because of their sin

were able

to look

to

a symbol

of judgment

and death

that was lifted up,

the bronze serpent.

They were able

to look at a symbol

of judgment

and death

and live

and be healed

and experience

new life.

And Jesus

says to Nicodemus,

this bizarre

story

in the Old Testament

is about me.

It's about me.

Verse 14,

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.

Nicodemus,

just like the serpent,

I too

am going

to be lifted up.

Not on a pole,

but on a cross.

Not just as a symbol

of judgment

and death,

but I'm going

to be experiencing

real judgment

and real death

so that whoever

looks to me

will experience

new life.

Now,

why on earth

would Jesus

do this?

Why would he

be lifted up

as a symbol

of judgment

and death?

Well,

he tells us,

he tells Nicodemus

in the next verse,

and this is a familiar

verse to many.

In fact,

it's maybe

the most well-known

verse in the Bible.

John 3, 16.

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.

he did it

out of love.

Perhaps you're

here this morning

and you,

like Nicodemus,

have been

curious about

Jesus,

but maybe you

have never

actually received

the new life

that Jesus

has come

to bring.

Maybe you've

thought Jesus'

teachings were

interesting or true.

Maybe you even

believe that he's

from God,

but you have

never actually

received the

light that he

has come to

bring you.

Well,

this shows

you how you

can,

this shows us

how you can

receive the

new birth.

This shows us

how you can

receive the

new life.

On one hand,

the message

of Christianity

is so simple

that even

a small child

can understand

it.

On the other

hand,

the message

of Christianity

is so deep

that it will

take you

a lifetime,

even an

eternity,

to plumb

the depths

of its

wisdom.

And so,

my friends

in this room

who are

have lots

of degrees

and who

have lots

of education,

who are

highly educated,

do not

miss the

crystal clear

simplicity of

the gospel

that is here

in this

passage.

Don't miss

the crystal clear

simplicity of

what Jesus

came to do

and how we

receive what

he came to

do for us.

We are

spiritually dead

in our sins.

We are

headed towards

an eternity

of perishing

without God.

but out

of his

great love

for us,

because God

so loved

the world,

because he

so loved

you,

he came

and exchanged

places

for us,

with us,

by being

lifted up

on the

cross.

At the

cross,

Jesus

experienced

everything

that you

and I

deserved,

judgment

and death,

that we

could experience

everything

that he

deserves,

new life.

God's

judgment

so we

can receive

God's

acceptance.

He

received God's

wrath so we

can experience

God's

peace.

He received

God's absence

so that we

can receive

God's

presence,

and he

received

eternal

death so

that you

and I

can experience

eternal

life.

And all

you have

to do,

just like

the people

in Numbers

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21,

all you have

to do is

look to

him,

to believe

in him

and to trust

him.

And what

that means

is that when

you look

to the

cross,

you believe

and trust

that what

he did

there,

he did

for you.

He did

for you

out of his

great love

for you.

God so

loved the

world,

he so loved

you,

that he gave

his only

son for

you.

And when

we see

that,

when we

look to

that,

when we

trust in

that,

we are

not only

given new

life by

the Holy

Spirit,

but we are

brought into

loving union

with Christ.

In fact,

it is our

union with

Christ,

it is our

union with

Jesus that

brings about

the new

life given

to us by

the Spirit.

Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2,

this passage

that we read

earlier that

talks about

us being

dead and

our trespasses

and sins,

after it talks

about us being

spiritually dead,

says this in

the next

verse,

because of

his great

love for

us,

God,

who is

rich in

mercy,

made us

alive even

when we were

dead in our

transgressions,

and God

raised us up

with Christ

and seated

us with

him in

the heavenly

realms.

Made alive

together with

Christ,

seated with

him,

raised with

him.

It is

through our

union with

Christ that

we experience

the new

birth,

that we

experience new

life,

love.

And it

is through

our union

with Christ,

given to us

by the Holy

Spirit,

that we

experience God's

love.

And so this is

where we see

that the new

birth isn't just

about spiritual

experience in

general,

but it is about

eternal life

that brings us

into loving

union with

Jesus.

It's about

eternal life

through loving

union with

Christ,

and it is

wonderfully

and beautifully

Trinitarian.

It's the love

of God the

Father revealed

to us in

Christ the

Son,

given to

us,

applied to

us by the

Holy Spirit

and received

in faith.

And this

makes the

new birth

immensely

practical.

It shows us

how to receive

the new birth

if we're not

a Christian,

and it also

shows us how

the new birth

affects us

even if we've

been following

Jesus for a

long time,

even if we

came to faith

a long time

ago.

Because the

new birth

isn't just

a one-time

moment that

you use to

check your

get-to-heaven

card.

It isn't

isolated from

the rest of

your life.

It actually

is the very

operating system

that makes

your entire

Christian life

possible.

It is the

seed that

allows us to

grow up into

Christ-likeness.

It is the

seed that

allows us

to grow

as Christians.

Just as we

experience in

conversion,

we grow as

Christians by

receiving the

love of God

the Father

through union

with Jesus

and the power

of the Spirit.

The power of

the Spirit.

So to tie all

this together,

to tie all this

together,

conversion and

the new birth,

it's not about

getting more

religion.

It's about

receiving a new

nature.

it's not

something,

it's not an

experience that

we control or

manufacture,

but it's a

sovereign work of

the Holy Spirit.

And it's not

about spiritual

life or

spirituality in

general,

but eternal

life through

a loving union

with Christ

received by

faith.

Now,

whatever

happened to

Nicodemus?

John,

here in

John chapter

three,

actually just

moves on.

Like,

the conversation

just ends.

And then he

moves on to

the next thing.

So we actually

don't see

Nicodemus'

response.

We don't see

Nicodemus until

John chapter

John 19 · chapter mention

19.

And John

John 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19

tells us that

after Jesus

died,

that Joseph

of Arimathea

got permission

from Pilate

to receive

the body

of Jesus

after he

was crucified

and after

he died.

Joseph of

Arimathea

received the

body of

Jesus and

placed the

body of

Jesus buried

in his

personal tomb.

And who

would come

to the

burial but

Nicodemus?

John chapter

John 19 · chapter mention

19 says that

Nicodemus arrives

on the scene

at Jesus'

burial and

he brings

with him

75 pounds

of burial

spices,

myrrh and

other spices.

75 pounds.

This would

have been

incredibly

expensive.

This would

have been

incredibly

extravagant

for a

burial.

This would

have been

the only

thing that

would have

been done

for the

burial of

a king.

This would

be the sort

of thing

that would

have been

done not

just for

the burial

of any

one person,

it would

have been

an act

of worship.

Somewhere

between

John chapter

John 3 · chapter mention

3 and

John chapter

John 19 · chapter mention

19,

something changed

in how

Nicodemus

saw Jesus.

Somewhere

along the

way,

Nicodemus

realized that

Jesus wasn't

just a

teacher,

but that

he was a

king.

Not just

that he

was sent

from God,

but that

he was

God.

So when

did this

happen?

Well, we

can't know

for sure,

we can only

speculate,

but I

wonder if

it was

on that

Saturday

when Nicodemus

went out

to Golgotha

where Jesus

was being

crucified,

and I

wonder

if as

he saw

Jesus

being

crucified,

suffering

and dying,

I wonder

when he

saw Jesus

lifted up

and suspended

on the

cross,

I wonder

if Nicodemus

remembered

back to

his

conversation

at night

when he

told Nicodemus,

just like

Moses lifted

up the

bronze snake,

the Son of

Man must

be lifted

up.

And I

wonder if

he recalled

those words

and not

only looked

at Jesus,

but believed

in him for

eternal life.

Now,

that's just

me speculating,

we can't

know for

sure,

maybe this

change had

already

occurred

weeks or

months

earlier,

maybe like

C.S.

Lewis,

it happened

when Nicodemus

wasn't even

conscious that

it was

happening.

We can't

know for

sure,

in some

ways it

really doesn't

matter,

and in

many ways

that's not

the point.

The point

is that

at some

time,

Nicodemus

understood that

when Jesus

was lifted

up on the

cross,

that it

was for

him.

It was out

of his

great love

for him.

Jesus

was there

out of

his great

love for

Nicodemus.

And it

was that

love that

changed him.

It was that

love that

created a new

heart and a

new spirit.

And it was

that same

love that

changed C.S.

Lewis.

It was the

same love that

gave him a

new heart and

a new spirit

and a new

life.

And it is

the same

love for

us that

changes us,

that regenerates

our hearts and

gives us a

new spirit and

gives us new

life.

Let's pray

together.

Father in

heaven, thank

you that you

have revealed

your love in

Jesus Christ

on the cross

and you

allow us to

experience the

new birth by

giving us new

hearts.

Help us to

not miss the

simplicity of

the gospel

that you

so love the

world, that

you exchanged

places with us

on the cross,

that whoever

looks to you,

whoever believes

in you, shall

not perish but

have eternal

life.

Amen.