The Law & The Gospel | Week 2

Well, my name is Kyle, you're visiting with us.

I want to say thank you for being here.

I serve as lead. Pastor here.

If you have your Bible you can turn to John chapter 3, John

John 3 · chapter mention John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. I'm not normally a mobile

preacher, if you know what I mean.

I don't normally move around a whole lot today, I will

definitely not be moving around the whole lot.

I bit down earlier to help Winnie who dropped a piece of

candy and we were trying to survive the five-second rule and

I see my parents, so I'm gonna I'm gonna let the Strategic

placement of this fig Leaf. Do its job.

So, so, anyway, there you go. All right.

I wanted you guys to be as embarrassed as I am.

All right. So Joshua, my edit that out of

the audio or it'll be the clip this week.

I'm sure so. Alright John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

We are continuing in a series. We started last week we're going

to walk through John chapter 3 which is we're going to look at

John 3 · chapter mention

verses one through twenty one over the course of about 13 more

weeks so we'll counting today be about 13 weeks walking through

those 21 verses. There's a lot happening In this

interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus that we have to get

into. And so today, what I, the main

goal is to introduce you to Nicodemus and what he's who he

is, what he's struggling with, and why his Encounter With Jesus

is such a big deal for us. Okay, so we're going to look at

Nicodemus today. What happens is, Nicodemus is a

great Pharisee leader, and he encounters Jesus Christ.

And so the point of the series 2 is to explore their

conversation. It's to see the inability of

morality to save you and it's to help.

You see, also that faith in Christ is the only sufficient

way of Salvation. Now, cards on the table, the

idea for this series and I may have mentioned something about

this last week, but I will say it again, this week, the I For

the series comes from a book by the former Pastor.

Now author speaker, Stephen Lawson, he wrote a book called

New Life In Christ and so much of the content of what we'll

talk about is more original to him than myself.

And so I want to get that out of the way, let you know that.

That's where the inspiration for this came from his teaching on

this chapter really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

I think we need to hear today and so we're going to walk

through John 3 with With that in mind, let me read to you.

John chapter 31, through 21. I don't normally do this, but I

wanted to today, will you guys if you're able, would you stand

up? As we read through this

together? This way of recognizing that

this is God's word and not cause words.

All right, let's read together or not together.

I'll read you follow along. Sorry, I would be really

difficult. Now, there was a man of the

Pharisees named Nicodemus. A ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know

that you are a teacher. Come from, God, for no one.

Can do these signs that you do. Unless God is with him and Jesus

answered him. Truly truly, I say to you,

unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And 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 If 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 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 Rule.

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 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 verse 16 for God. So loved the world that he gave

his 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 that the light has come into the

world and people loved the 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

his true comes to the light, so that That it may be clearly

seen. That his Works have been carried

out in God. We pray for us.

Father, we love you. We thank you for your word

today. Father, we ask that you would

Enlighten our hearts and Minds by the power of your spirit

today or convict us where we need convicting, strengthen us

where we need strengthening a strengthening and courage, as

father, where we need to be encouraged.

May we see Christ today and find Salvation in him alone, in

Christ's name. I pray.

Amen. You may be seated.

If I ask you, who is the most difficult person to reach with

the gospel, I think the answers would probably vary from one

person to the next. You would have in mind, someone

who is difficult to reach. Is it the drug or alcohol

addict? Is that the sexually perverse is

the atheist. Maybe you have other people in

mind that boss, you work for or that co-worker or that

mother-in-law. Mine.

Of course, however, the most difficult person to reach for

Christ is the one who falsely thinks that they already have a

right relationship with God. That this person is often

considered a good guy by those who are around him.

He is highly moral. He does all the right things.

He gives back to the community. He may even serve in a local

church though. He may appear to have some

spiritual eyes. He's really blind and he's

blinded by his own good works. He's deceived he's unable to see

that he must be born again because of their good works.

It's easy for such people to always assume that the gospel is

for someone else. The fact that Jesus came to

save, Sinners must mean the addicts, the sexually immoral,

The Atheist. The one who doesn't do all those

good works. And so that person is blind to

their own spiritual needs. We would call them spiritually

blind and yet they would believe they have spiritual signs

because they lack any true ability to make them.

See Christ, make them see their need for a savior and that lack

of sight makes them the most difficult to reach for the

gospel. They fail to see that everyone.

All people say it with me. All people, all people are in

need of a new birth that comes from God Alone.

Lawson says, their problem is not that they think they are

too. Sinful to be saved.

The very opposite is the case they presume.

They are too good to need a new life with God.

So if you grow up in a Christian home you may find it easy to

trust in yourself, you're trusting in your own good works.

You've learned christianese you, speak it really?

Well, you do the acts of service, you attend church

regularly, you're counting on your morality to gain God's

acceptance and that life looks good to you.

It looks good to those around you but it is not enough to

satisfy the perfectly righteous judgment.

God, you must be born again. You are driven by Eternal

longings. We talked about this last week,

how God created man, with a sense of Eternity yet so that he

cannot find out what God is doing from beginning to end

Ecclesiastes 3:11. And so you have a sense of

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Eternity. There's a God sized, I know it's

cliche, but there's a god-sized hole in the heart of every

person that only God can fill in.

The problem, is, we go about, trying to fill it with so many

other things because we have Longing for something that last

something that's Eternal something that will fill us with

satisfaction and so whatever you do, reflects your Eternal

longing, addicts are searching for Eternal satisfaction, the

sexually immoral or searching for Eternal satisfaction.

The moral zealots is searching for Eternal satisfaction.

The Atheist is searching for Eternal satisfaction, though.

He does it by explaining, Everything away.

You may fool yourself for a season but at the end of the day

you wake up and you realize I'm missing something.

Something is not right about my life and so your Eternal

longings drive you to keep searching for satisfaction.

The point, I want to put before you today is this, you find.

Eternal satisfaction for your Eternal longings.

Only in the New Birth, if you're taking notes you can write that

down. You find Eternal satisfaction

for your Eternal longings. Only in the new birth.

So let's talk about Nicodemus for a moment.

John chapter 31 is our verse for today.

Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a

ruler of the Jews. What do we see here about

Nicodemus first? We see that he's a Pharisee,

right? There was a man of the Pharisees

named Nicodemus. What does it mean to be a

Pharisee? The word Pharisee literally

means separatist. These men were a morally and

socially isolated group. They had taken themselves out of

society and separated themselves so that they might maintain

religious purity. Being a Pharisee came with a lot

of respect because of the life that they had chosen to live by

respect. I mean respect from the other

Elites. It means that Nicodemus was

widely respected. He was one of the top religious

leaders in God's, chosen nation of Israel.

To be a Pharisee meant that he was well trained that he was

highly knowledgeable about God's word especially the law.

He lived a life separated from glaring, immoralities, he

wouldn't mix with the deplorable, 's of his day, his

peers respected him greatly and praised him again.

Lawson says Nicodemus was a part of the strictest, religious

sect, and the nation, and the most conservative party in the

land. so, he was a We'll get to it in a moment but he was a

bible-believing conservative. If you're on the outside,

looking in, on Nicodemus, and you're seeing these things about

him, you're seeing his rise to fame.

And the stature that he's gained, you would have never

guessed that. That guy needed a new life from

God. Nicodemus couldn't even see it.

He couldn't see that his eternal longings.

Were not being satisfied in his commitment to God's law and

teaching others to do the same. But something began to gnaw at

him. Nicodemus, like all Pharisees

could see that his nation was eroding morally.

And so he withdrew from others to perfect and protect that

Holiness that he worked so hard to maintain many today, do the

same thing and just like the Pharisees of old their desire to

maintain Holiness is driven by their pride.

We are better than them and so, therefore, we do not mix with

them. It's a prideful thing

withdrawing from those who are morally.

Corrupt is not the way to Purity before God.

It's not the way you are no less corrupt than those who you deem

corrupt. Although yours might look

different, your corruption may feel different, but you two must

be born again. Nicodemus, a self-righteous

ruler could not see that he suffered from the same

indwelling sin as the tax collectors, and the prostitutes,

and the thieves that he tried. So hard to avoid, he didn't

understand his own depravity. He thinks God that he was not

like those people over there. So, he withdraws from the crowds

he becomes a Pharisee seeks to maintain.

His moral Purity is moral standing before God, which he

thought would result in God's Eternal acceptance, but that

didn't satisfy Nicodemus has Eternal longing, either.

He felt something was missing. And so, he was Restless.

And that gnawing sense that something's not right?

What was he missing? So he was a Pharisee.

The second thing we see about him here in this verse is that

he's a ruler of the Jews. John describes him here as a

ruler of the Jews. This means that he was a member

of the Sanhedrin which was the Inner Circle that functioned as

the ruling body of the nation of Israel Nicodemus.

Reach the highest point of political power in Israel and

his countrymen and his peers would have said he has arrived.

he's the kind of guy we all should strive to be like, The

Sanhedrin, which he was a part of as a ruler of the Jews was

made up of a high priest and 70 qualified men, which meant they

were highly successful in the religious order.

They were highly successful at being a separatist at

maintaining their morality, at least in the eyes of one.

Another This body of leaders governed, Israel.

Lawson adds to what that means, they will to the ultimate

Authority and legal and judicial matters.

The Sanhedrin was the established power block.

He goes on to say it would be like combining the Supreme Court

and the Senate of the United States into one ruling body,

whatever verdict this influential group rendered

affected the entire nation. That's the Sanhedrin.

That's what Nicodemus is part of.

So, we might say that Nicodemus had all the power and all the

authority that he could ever want yet.

Something's not right, something's missing and the

power, and the prestige that that he knew.

It was a constant hit of dopamine.

No Doubt. But it wasn't enough to satisfy

that Eternal longing. It is sold that god-sized hole.

Lawson as it, his achievements were like biting into cotton

candy. That was sweet for a moment but

were without substance. Maybe you can relate to this.

Maybe you think about your life? Is there some point in your

life? Where it seemed like as you

gained more of the world you were only left filling emptier,

not more fulfilled. Maybe that's part of your

testimony. Maybe that's you today you

think? Yeah, that's me the more I gain

of the world. The more things seem to go right

the more I think to myself something's amiss if that's you

then you know, the same gnawing empty feeling that Nicodemus

felt So we know that Nicodemus was a Pharisees, a ruler of the

Jews, and what this means for us.

What it meant for them is that they were strict, conservative.

Bible Believers. He believed in divine

inspiration. What I mean?

Conservative Bible, believer? I'm not thinking politically

conservative necessarily, though, he would have been that.

I just mean he was conservative about God's word.

Here's what we mean by that. He believed in divine

inspiration, that every word. Of his Bible.

Was breathed out by God. It was considered profitable for

training and godliness. Lawson ads as a result.

He believed in the sovereignty and the Providence of God, he

believed in a final Resurrection, at the end of the

age, he believed in a future kingdom of God upon the Earth,

he believed in the Eternal Destinies of Heaven and Hell for

believers and unbelievers. He goes on to say, Nicodemus,

didn't try to explain the Bible away.

He took the scriptures at face value just as we should But this

was unlike the Sadducees, who were the religious liberals of

the day? He did not deny the reality of

the supernatural World nor did he doubt the realm of angels

Miracles and the resurrection, as the Sadducees did.

To the contrary. He believed that these biblical

matters. To be exactly as God had

recorded them in his word. Again, looking at Nicodemus you

would never think that this guy needs a new life from God.

But here's what we know about the new life from God agreeing

with right Doctrine. Does not produce reconciliation

with God automatically even the demons believe these shoes.

And they tremble, right? It's what James says.

What Nicodemus was holding onto is a dead Orthodoxy.

He is orthodox. But it's dead.

There's no life in him. He has a head full of knowledge,

but a heart that is as empty as can be Nicodemus needed to be

born again. The same can be said, for many

so-called religious persons today having the right beliefs

or doing good works. Or those things, do not

guarantee your salvation. A Heart of Stone can be easily

like the tablets of stone that contain God's law.

They're full of the knowledge of God, but they are dead to save.

And so I ask again, does this describe your own heart?

Your own life is your mind full of the knowledge of God, but

your heart dead to Christ. Empty to Christ.

Maybe it's the scribes someone, you know.

The fourth thing we learn about Nicodemus is that he's not just

a teacher, he is the teacher of Israel.

Jesus addresses him in John 3 10, we read it earlier and Jesus

answered him and said are you the teacher of Israel?

And yet you do not understand these things.

While some ads is comment, Jesus acknowledged that Nicodemus was

the premier Bible teacher in the entire nation.

This means he was an expert in God's written word.

He was respected by others as an expert because of his knowledge

and command of the law. And he would have held the final

word in any to say, what any Bible passage meant, he would

have been that revered. and yet his problem is, he cannot see

his need for a new life from God, he longed for something

still and even though he had spent his life pursuing God's

ways, he's empty, Nicodemus needed God himself.

Not just the ways of God. He needed a new birth.

He needed spiritual life from God.

Revered Nicodemus was simply a dead man walking spiritually

speaking. Lawson adds that Nicodemus is a

prime example of someone who can know many facts about the Bible,

but not personally know, God and can be so close to the kingdom

of God, yet. So far away from it at the same

time. And so it is with countless

people. Today, we can memorize

scripture, we can know sound Doctrine and even teach others,

but not be truly right, with God.

We have. My friends Eternal longings.

And so, you strive for eternity, you strive for something that is

sufficient for eternity and then that striving you search for

Eternal satisfaction in all the wrong areas, and you come up

short. You're strict moralistic efforts

are merely attempts to give yourself a new birth and it will

not work. You cannot earn God's acceptance

by your own efforts. Morally.

Good people are great models of virtue but that does not mean

that they are Christians. Amen.

And God's common Grace. We have a conscience, we know

right from wrong and so we follow right from wrong.

But God says, in his word in Romans that, that is not enough

to save, it's not enough to save.

And so morally, right? People morally, good people that

we look at as model of virtue. They gained the Applause of,

man, both inside the church and outside the church, they might

be thought of as godly people because they attend church

regularly, but teach Bible studies.

They pray for people. And at their funeral, the

preacher may even say to the crowd, he was a good man.

Or as we say it here in the South, he was a good old boy.

To which the crowd will heartily agree and in doing so, the

preacher wrongfully Blends self-righteous moralism into

saving faith in the righteousness of Christ Alone.

And the temporary approval of man does not equal the Eternal

approval of God. Such people must see their real

need, before it's too late. They're in need of New Life.

I need of New Life. While some ads stuff here, that

I wanted to read. This is a dangerous place to be

morally. Good.

Yet dead in your sin. People in this state of

self-deception or counterfeit? Believers?

Who live in a masquerade World, they can't see their own

distance from God. Simply put these people do not

know that they do not know God. He goes on.

He says there are many like this today.

Not only are there not only are they church attenders and

serving in Ministry but they lecture and seminaries, they

stand in pulpits, they serve in children's ministry and teach

Sunday school. They are well respected citizens

in their Community, they separate themselves from the

world of egregious. Sinners, you would never see

their name in the headlines. For something bad.

I try to live a Pure Life. However, they still have an

internal problem. They're spiritually corrupted by

their sin and dead. The religious practice gives

this Aroma of life, to others. We look at them, and we would

say yes and amen. But there's no genuine spiritual

spiritual life within them. While some again, there's a thin

veil of morality that lies on the surface of their sinful

lives. All the while their souls remain

spiritually dead. They are reformed but have never

been Reborn. I've learned to be good people

but have never learned their need for Christ.

They have a here to a strict code of morality, but have never

had their hearts Changed by God. Parents, can I talk to you for

just a moment? If you are raising children.

Currently raising children, you need to be very careful of

creating morally rights people. Who have no understanding of

their need for a savior. It's so easy to do.

Because you've been called by God in your home, to be a

disciplinarian to help your child, understand the difference

between right and wrong. And so, most of parenting, if we

don't connect, the dots becomes law and were strictly imparting

the law. If you do this, you break the

law, you receive just punishment for that.

If you obey the law, you receive just reward for that and we're

just reinforcing the law. And so we Is morally, good

citizens. Who have no understanding of

their need for Jesus Christ. We have to as parents connect

our law with the gospel that you're breaking the law, son and

daughter reveals your need for Jesus Christ as Lord.

Be careful, be careful not to miss that.

It's so easy to create good children.

It's easy, it really is and most cases a very simple thing to do.

Attention consistency with discipline and you'll end up

with good children. But if we don't connect the dots

will end up with children who think they're her right in the

eyes of God because they grew up going to church, they set in

Sunday school. They learn some Bible verses.

They got baptized because they could say all the right things.

And then when the rubber meets the road, it turns out they

never really knew Jesus Christ. And what a sad thing to

experience later in life. And so we must be careful how we

raise our children. The morally good person.

Trust their own morality for salvation.

They assume that in their morality, they've achieved right

standing with God. And friends, you do not want to

stand before God Almighty with your moral, tally sheet in your

hand, and hope put the hope of your Eternal Destiny on whether

or not you did and said and knew more good things than bad

things. But that's what we're saying.

If we say that we're relying on our morality for relying on our

good works, we're saying that at some point that must outweigh

all the bad things that we knew and said and did and it's

foolishness any unrighteousness. Any sin is Worthy.

Of death. That's the wage of sin is death.

But the free gift of God is salvation in Jesus Christ, Our

Lord. And so we must have our hope

somewhere else. God's standard for Holiness is

perfection and so it is unattainable for you.

And I on our own, we are all unrighteous in the sight of God,

your Eternal longings will never be eternally Satisfied by

pursuing morale. Because you will fail time and

time again. You will fail.

Your morality is fragile. It's broken.

And so you need something concrete to rest.

Your Eternal longings on Friend. We all need the same thing,

whether you are a felon in prison or a fellow church

member, we need divine grace from God to transform our

hearts. Titus 3, 3 through 7 says this

for we ourselves were once foolish.

So he's writing to encourage the church saying here's who you

once were and then he's going to remind them of what's taking

place for. We ourselves were once foolish

disobedient, LED astray slaves to various passions and pleasure

passing or days in Malice and envy hated by others and hating,

one another, but when the goodness and loving, kindness of

God, our savior appeared, he saved us.

Not because of Works done by us in righteousness, but according

to his own murder. See by the washing of

regeneration in the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Whom he poured out on us richly through.

Jesus Christ, Our Lord. So that being justified by his

grace, justified by his grace made right in the sight of God.

By the grace of God, we might become heirs with Christ

according to the hope of eternal life.

Amen. Everyone.

I must come to the same place of humility.

I think it was Jonathan Edwards. I could get it wrong, Puritan,

Pastor, 17th century, who said you bring nothing to Christ for

your salvation except your sin We don't come to him with our

good works in our hands and say I'm worthy of Salvation.

I've done this much. Not need a little bit more to

get me over the edge. Jesus We don't come to him and

say, well, if I must because on my own, I'm I am good enough.

Lord, surely, but I'll do this so that everyone else can see

what needs to be done. We don't come to him with any

pride and arrogance at all about who we are.

We come humble humiliated might be a better word.

By our sin broken over it. And we say Jesus here is my sin.

Would you grant to me your righteousness?

I'm trusting you for that. Everyone must see their

corrupted nature. So that they see their need for

God's Saving Grace. When you look at the holy God

you shouldn't see your need to be more moral.

Rather you should see your need for a brand new life.

We don't look at God and say, man, he's perfect those Ten

Commandments or difficult? I really gotta shape up here.

I really got to get get myself together.

Or maybe the Lord allowed my pants to split today, just so I

wouldn't stand here with any kind of arrogance before you.

Amen. I'm just humbled, as I can be

today. Lawson says no one is too sinful

to be beyond the saving power of God.

Nor is anyone so good that they don't need it.

Amen. Maybe some of you were once

depending on your own self-righteousness.

Maybe you were blind to your need for God's New Life.

Maybe that's you today. Could you be self-deceived about

your standing with a holy God? Are you missing true salvation

in Christ? Jesus?

I was reading in my Bible reading this week and In Matthew

their, Jesus presents. This idea of the sheep and the

goats, it's really quite terrifying.

Bearable Jesus is standing there and he's talking about what

judgment will look like as final judgment.

That he will separate the sheep from the goats and to the she

people say, you clothed me, when I was naked, you fed me when I

was hungry, you visited me. When I was in prison.

And they'll respond to him. Lord, when did we do that?

He said because I didn't see him specifically is what they're

getting at. When did we feed you?

When did we visit you? When did we clothe you?

He said in as much as you did it to others, you've done it unto

me. So your Works matter.

Your works are just as James gets out in James chapter 1 and

James 1 · chapter mention

2. Your your works are the fruit of

faith. But they're not the not the

producer of Faith are not the source of Faith are not the

source of salvation. and then he gets the goats on the other side

and he says, the same thing that I was naked.

You didn't close me. I was in jail.

You didn't visit me. When I was hungry.

You didn't feed me, Lord. When did we see you?

We didn't see you. Lord and said, as much as you

didn't do it unto these, you haven't done it unto me.

Then he cast them into Eternal damnation.

So Christ is saying he's letting us know, this truth.

There will be many who stand before the Lord and their own

righteousness on the last day, thinking they are sheep and they

were really goats. Many, who thought they were

saved because of their good works yet or not spiritually

born again. And so you must I friend, you

must evaluate your life with real sincere honesty.

Weighing your life against the scriptures.

Weighing your faith and the fruit of it against what God's

word says, is genuine. And what it says is false You

must do that while you still have time to repent of your sins

and believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation.

Awesome. Ed's this again.

I think it's helpful. Maybe, you know, a lot of

scripture, but you don't know. The God who wrote it, maybe your

head is full and your heart is empty.

Maybe you believe some facts about Jesus Christ, but have

never placed your faith in him. Maybe you're trusting the faith

of your parents or grandparents, maybe you're trusting in your

own church membership. Could it be that you come to

church? But have never come to Faith in

Jesus Christ. Could it be that you verbally

profess faith in Jesus? But do not in.

Wordly possess him. So you are striving to satisfy

your Eternal longings, but you haven't found Eternal

satisfaction yet. Listen to me, you do not need

another self-help book. You do not need something else

to tell you how to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get

your life together. You do not need more integrity.

You do not need to upgrade your morality, you do not need to

serve and more Ministries. Because even if you could

achieve those things, you would still fall short of God's

perfection. Which is what God demands, the

Bible is abundantly clear. Lawson says that a right

relationship with God is gained not by what we do, but by what

he does for us in Christ Ephesians 2 4 and 5, but God

being rich in Mercy because of the great love with which he

loved us. Even when we were dead in our

trespasses made us alive together.

With Christ by Grace, you have been saved.

Wilson adds to get into the kingdom of God, you must have

faith alone and what God has done for you.

From start to finish. The new birth is the exclusive

work of God in us. We cannot save ourselves and we

must realize that we contribute. Nothing to what Jesus Christ has

accomplished. God must convict our heart of

our own sin. He must create within each of us

a hunger and a thirst for his perfect righteousness.

God must freely. Give what we so desperately.

Need, he alone can give us a new heart and a new start with him.

So we turn to God through Jesus Christ.

What Hebrews again 725. He is able to save God is able

to save to the uttermost all of those who draw near to the

father through Jesus Christ. He comes through Christ.

And so God creates this new birth in US whilst in ads, we

will remain the hardest person to reach with the Gospel of

Jesus Christ. Not one of us will be saved

until we know that we are lost. Not one of us will seek Grace

until we see our need of it. Not one of us will believe the

good news until we know the bad news about ourselves without

God's intervention. We are all like Nicodemus were

stranded and without hope. You may be someone who thinks.

That you understand truth but you have not experienced its

saving power. When God gives you a new heart,

he transforms your affections so that you love him and you would

desire now to obey him. And so I ask you today, have you

experienced the saving power of God.

Have you received a new life by faith in the finished work of

the Cross of Christ? Jesus?

Friend, if you will, repent of your sins.

Whether they be sins of the self-righteous moralistic

nature. Or the unrighteous immoral

nature, if you will, repent of your sins and you will turn in

faith to Jesus Christ alone. For your salvation, then you

will be saved today. Today will be the day of your

salvation. Do not quench the Holy Spirit if

he's leading you to come to him. Don't turn away.

This is a moment given to you by the grace of God for your

salvation. Don't miss it.

I'm poor you today. Implore you today to turn to

Salvation in Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians 5:21, read

2 Corinthians 5:21

that to you, too. Close this out.

Second Corinthians, 5:21 the Apostle, Paul's writing here of

this new life in Christ, your new creation and then he's

saying how it happened. He says for our sake, God made

him the father made him to be sin who knew no sin.

The him, there is Jesus Christ, for our sake, the father made

the son to be sin, who knew no sin.

So that in Christ, we might become the righteousness of God.

The righteousness of Christ, is your only hope for salvation.

And so if you'll repent of your sins, if you'll turn in faith to

Jesus Christ, he will cover you with his own righteousness.

And there will never be a need for you to think again by my own

minds. Have I achieved my salvation or

I must today, pull myself up by my bootstraps and work for my

salvation, you can be at rest. Writer of Hebrews calls, it

resting in Christ. It's a rest for your souls.

That's why Jesus says in Matthew 11:28 come to me all of you who

Matthew 11:28

are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke

upon you for I am gentle and lowly at heart.

You can come to him today. Let me pray for you.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for the love that you have.

Shown Us in the face and the life of Christ Jesus.

Our lord. father today, we're looking at a man named Nicodemus

who by all appearances had everything needed for salvation

and yet Christ looks him Square in the eye and says You must be

born again. Father, would you help us today?

See our need for Christ Jesus alone for our salvation.

Lord I pray. This is a such a delicate thing

but I asked Meg father. For your Holy Spirit to convict

and draw anyone. Anyone to you, who is resting in

their own righteousness for their salvation.

Lord reveal. Of the futile nature of that

hope. That they may turn and hope and

Christ Alone. Heavenly Father, we thank you

for the Salvation we have in Jesus Christ.

We thank you that all of our Eternal strivings, this

god-sized hole that we have within us is filled only by the

spirit of God, which makes us alive.

Or would you save your people today?

I pray that nothing not the enemy, not their own doubts and

fears. At their own frustrations over

their failures, their own shame. I pray that nothing would keep

them from coming to you today. and father, for any of us who

you've walked this road before and We've truly been saved.

But we're Outta this place where we we believe the right things

but we do find ourselves a daily kind of leaning on ourselves.

Would you forgive us of that? Lord.

Would you help us to remember that?

The gospel is for everyone, that is, it is for all of life.

It's not from the moment of justification and that's it.

It's it's for our justification, and our growth in godliness.

And it's what will rest on. As we burst on to the scene of

the new heavens and the new Earth.

When we breathe our last, or you return still, we will proclaim

the goodness of Christ Jesus and our salvation Father, we love

you in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Father, we love you in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.