You Must Be Born Again

So this past week I was away along with Pastor Matt at our national conference. We call it General Conference of the Missionary Church. And so I needed to find someone to come and bring the Word to us this morning.

And I've had Todd Hobbigger here in the last month, I think it was. And you guys are all really important to me. And so especially when I'm here with you, I want someone that I know will be faithful to the Word.

And so I've got my friend here, Pat Ryan. Pat and his wife Jenny and they brought an entourage today of some children and grandchildren. Pat is recently retired from Northside Missionary Church in Fort Wayne where he served, get this, for 34 years.

34 years at one church. Guys like him are an inspiration to me if you don't kick me out. I'd like to stay longer. I'm only at 22. And before that about nine years at a different church.

And so he completed 44 years of ministry. But God's not done with him. Yeah, give him a hand.

He is here today to bring us the Word and I'm excited for that. So I just encourage you to open your hearts and direct and focus your minds as Pat comes.

Pat's a good friend. Come on up, Pat. He's a good friend. And I would say more than a friend, also a bit of a mentor. And I see, I've heard the story about you that you preach without shoes.

Yeah. And I double checked before you came. Although I like this, I'm not quite as short next to you when I've got my shoes on. And I'm so glad you wore subtle socks since you're preaching.

I do. I don't want to draw attention to anything. All right. Well, very good, sir. Thanks for coming, Pat. Thanks, buddy. Love you. I appreciate it.

Thanks for coming. And thanks for applauding ahead of time because you never know what's going to happen afterwards. You know, that's something.

I do appreciate the opportunity really to share from the Word of God with you. I do not take this lightly or routinely. And my hope and my prayer has been that you also don't take it lightly or routinely.

We can. Too often we can do that. We, it's just part of our routine, isn't it? You get up Sunday morning and you come. And after I retired, I'm used to getting to the church rather early.

And my wife and I got up and kind of looked at each other. I said, what do people do in the morning before? I mean, what do you do? Because you fall into this routine.

But I hope you don't take the Word of God routinely. I hope you take it seriously. And the time together to meet together. Again, too many take it routinely.

You know, and that opportunity. My plan when I retired was I was going to be in a different church every Sunday for 52 Sundays. And my wife said she might have to go somewhere else.

But it hasn't, we haven't done a different church every Sunday. We've been to a few of them more than once. And they always have that greeting time like you guys did.

And it's a little different when you're the new guy. You know, so any of you who are new here, welcome. I am too. But, you know, that whole thing.

But that's part of the purpose of being together. Is that you interact. You know, that whole routinely thing. Well, we need to move on there.

I love the way God has put His Word together. I don't think it's at all by accident. I don't think any of it just happened. You know, hey, we need to get this in somewhere.

Let's, you know, let's put it in. You know, God used men and their personalities and their gifts and even their quirks to have His Word recorded just like He wants it.

You know, just everything that He wants there. And as you read through passages, some are hard to understand. Try your hand at Daniel 8 sometime, you know.

And the ram and the sheep took off. And it went to the north and the south. And then the horn took. And it's like, you know. And some passages are boring.

Boring. These are the family records of Shem. Shem lived 100 years and fathered Aprashad. Two years after the flood. After he fathered Aprashad, Shem lived 500 years, fathered other sons and daughters who apparently weren't too important.

And Aprashad lived 35 years and fathered Sheila, a guy. And after he fathered Sheila, Aprashad lived 403 years. And it goes on and it goes on.

And who cares? Well, here's the thing for you. God cares. That's why He had it recorded. That's why it's there.

So when we get to those parts that are hard, when we get to those parts that are boring, we need to really stop and ask ourselves, why did God put this here?

What is it? What was it He wants us to know? Even those parts we find confusing. Even those parts we find boring. God, why did you put these here?

And I think even within a book, God has put it in the order He wants. Now when we get to the Gospels, and I'm going to be in the Gospels, put the title slide up.

That's the first one there. You know, it might be familiar to you. So it doesn't show up back there. Okay. It'll be interesting. Don't worry about it.

It's all going to work out. Good luck to you back there.

I wish you the best. Anyway, you know, how God has things recorded is very important. And, you know, you go through the Gospels, you can get a book called The Harmony of the Gospels.

And what did they do? They tried to, well, this happened before this, and this really goes over here and stuff. And those are fine, and those are good for study, and it's nice to know some of those things.

But as we read through the Gospel, I think God has put it down just how He wants us to come across it in, and I would say even in each particular Gospel.

You know, the context of how it's laid out is important. Context is massively important. When the Mormons or the Jehovah's Witnesses come knocking at your door and they share a verse with you, read the context.

It'll usually clear it up for you, you know, and untwist what they sometimes twist. But today we're going to be in John chapter 3. But I believe the closing verses of John chapter 2 really give us the context.

John 3 · chapter mention John 2 · chapter mention

It's what God wanted us to read before we got to chapter 3. And I'm sure you're aware, when God had John recording the Bible, the Gospel of John, He didn't say, okay, put chapter 2 now.

You know, those were added later so we could all kind of figure out where we are and where we're talking about. This was just written as one long, flowing book.

And so, you know, the whole chapter divisions are a little arbitrary. But at the beginning of chapter 2, some of you are aware of this. That's where Jesus turned water and wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.

And, you know, like his mom said, do what He tells you. You should circle that in your Bible. Do whatever He tells you. Because it's a real good thing when you come across what Jesus says to, do whatever He tells you.

Just a thought for you there. That's a bonus. You know, he goes on. And after the wedding, it comes to where He cleanses the temple. And I like it says that He made a whip.

I can just see Him sitting there putting this baby together. And, you know, people looking, wondering what He's doing. And it says He cleared the temple.

He cleared the merchants out of the temple. But at the end of that chapter, and this is what I think we need to pay attention to as we're going along.

In the end of that chapter, verse 23. Oh, good job. It says, Now, they saw the signs He was doing.

The signs, the miracles. That's how John refers to them. The miracles that He was doing. And those that drew the people. And He goes on and He says, You're good.

Jesus, however, would not entrust Himself to them since He knew them all. And because He did not need anyone to testify about a man, for He Himself knew what was in a man.

There's a phrase that should get your attention. For He Himself knew what was in a man. That's still true today. All those things that you don't want other people to know, all those other things,

Jesus knows them. All those things you're trying to hide, you know, that you're just trying to, you know, stuff down. He knows them. You know, Jesus knows them.

And here's the thing. He still loves you and extends grace to you. Even though He knows those things. Even though He knows, even though He knows those, what you consider your deepest, darkest secrets that you don't want anyone to know, He knows them.

And He still loves you. And He still cares about you. And He still died for you. But here in John, you know, chapter 2, it says He knew what was in the hearts of those He was talking to.

He knew what was in the hearts of those who watched Him. And it says, Many trusted in His name, but Jesus would not entrust Himself to them because He knew them.

He knew what was in them. He knew the insincerity of that crowd. And that's what God wanted us to read before we get to chapter 3, which is really where I'm concentrating on today.

John chapter 3, if you want to, whatever you do, you know, if you have a Bible, if you have your phone, if you have it memorized, you know, just whatever it is.

John 3 · chapter mention

But I'm going to ask, out of respect for God's Word, would you please stand with me as we read this? I'm reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Well, I know you have the ESV in the pew and you have pew? That's an old one. And you may have some other thing, and that's okay. That can be a good thing because it might get your attention a little bit.

Verse 1 says, There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to him at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.

Jesus replied, I assure you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. But how can anyone be born when he is old? Nicodemus asked him.

Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born? Jesus answered, I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Whatever is born of flesh, of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.

The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it's going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

How can these things be? Nicodemus asked. You are a teacher of Israel and don't know these things? Jesus replied. I assure you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.

If I have told you about these things that happened on earth and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven?

No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

Father, guide us as we look into your word. What a gift it is to us. It imparts not just knowledge, but it imparts real life. You know the hearts of everyone here.

You know what is in each man, each woman, each child that is here.

You know what we need to hear.

You know what needs to be turned over to you. What we're hiding.

Don't let us be flippant with your word. Don't let us be foolish with the moving of your spirit. But help us to be open.

Help us to be malleable by you. To form us into the people you want for your glory and for your honor we ask in Christ's name. Amen. You go ahead and be seated.

It's warm in here. Thank you.

Glad I wore a clean shirt. I'm just going to share with you some thoughts. If you'd like a real formal outline and things, sorry. You know, but I just hope, I hope that what I share with you helps you think more deeply.

More deeply about yourself. More deeply about God. More deeply about his word to us and that word in our life. Now we're told here Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a highly educated individual.

We might refer to him as Dr. Nicodemus. We tend to look down on the Pharisees because we often think they're jerks, but they're not. You know, I mean, the way they come across in the gospel sometimes, they are often opposed to Jesus and we see them as the bad guys,

but that would be incorrect. Part of their job, part of their responsibility was to oversee and safeguard the doctrines and religious practices of God's people, of the Jewish people.

That was part of their responsibility. This meant that they had to examine this new teacher who came along, not just Jesus, any new teacher who came along.

They had to examine them. They had, particularly if they didn't come from, the right school, the right other teacher, and not knowing where they came from or where he learned these things, you see, so he is simply fulfilling

his responsibility. Jesus did not come as a teacher through the expected channels, and so, you know, they're there. You expect this, you should expect the same thing from your pastors.

You know, Jason knows me, so, you know, he just didn't go through the phone, oh, here's a name, let's see if this guy can preach. You expect that, you know, that's what you expect.

We're told here, Nicodemus was also a ruler, so he was given authority, you know, to advise and direct the Jews. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, you know, the ruling council of the Jewish people, and he was a member of that Sanhedrin, educated man of position

among the Jews, but here's what you need to remember. Position and education do not equal wisdom and understanding. They do not equal wisdom and understanding because someone has a position, you know, an education that does not equal wisdom and understanding.

You know, you need to be able to do something with what you've learned. You need to be able to, you know, it's a life-transforming thing. I, a friend who studied at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and he had, he had professors that were very,

very smart, very knowledgeable in the word of God and stuff, and it never affected their life one bit. You see, that wisdom and education don't, you know, they don't, that doesn't equal a life change.

You know, education's a good thing. You know, I am not downgrading education. Most of us, all of us really, could probably use a little more.

I mean, realistically, we should, we could all use a little more. Don't ever stop learning, particularly about God. Don't ever stop learning about God.

His, his word, his truth, and, and all, you know, all that he has for us. Now, I think there's a warning that we need to heed here. We're gonna, I'm gonna focus more on that in a little bit, but notice Nicodemus, you know, he noticed that there was something about Jesus, something different, it says,

something connected to the divine, something that connected him to God. He refers to Jesus as rabbi. That's a term of respect. You know, it's a term of respect that it seems Nicodemus used this sincerely.

It doesn't seem that he was, you know, that he was just saying what he thought needed to be said. It seemed he was very sincere as he came, as he came and he comes and he begins to talk to Jesus.

He said, he was already on their radar. Did you notice how it said? They were already watching him. He says, rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher for no one could perform any signs you do unless God were with him.

They saw the signs, they saw the miracles, but notice what he says. You know, he says, you know, we know it seems Jesus had already been a point of discussion, a point of interest among the leaders, among the Sanhedrin.

He had already come up. We know that you've done. Now, you know, those same miracles and teachings which, it says here, drew some, those same miracles and teachings which attracted Nicodemus to Jesus caused some of the other leaders to want to kill Jesus.

they were looking at the same thing. They saw the same miracles. Nicodemus was drawn and wanted to learn more and others wanted to kill Jesus.

Jesus reeked of God. I mean, he just reeked of God. Now, some of us just reek. I, if you've ever worked at a restaurant, see, some people know already, or been, or live with people

who work at a restaurant, you know what reek means. When you reek of something, I meet with a group of men at Panera on Tuesday mornings, and we meet there and when I leave Panera, I smell kind of restaurant-y.

You know, it's,

you ever been next to someone in line or near someone who burned their breakfast?

And that toast, and it's like, can't they smell it? Well, no, you know, they say you get used to a smell after 15 minutes and I'm thinking sometimes, you know, I don't think I'd ever get used to that smell.

But, you know, the whole thing, Acts chapter 4, verse 13, don't look for it because I added it later so it's not there. Just memorize it. Acts chapter 4, verse 13, it says, when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, when they realized that they were just nothings,

Acts 4:13 Acts 4:13

when they realized that they just didn't know stuff, when they realized that for whatever reason that they were ordinary, unschooled men, it says, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Their ordinariness was plain and obvious, but also what they came through as very obvious is that they had been with Jesus. They reeked of Jesus.

Here it says, you know, Jesus reeked of God. Well, it doesn't say it. I said it. That's not in the Bible, so just remember that.

Nicodemus noticed that there was something different here about Jesus, something that made him different from the other teachers. He said, you have come from God as a teacher.

You've come from God.

Don't ever settle for seeing Jesus as a teacher, even a teacher from God. Jesus is so much more than a teacher.

He is God. He is more than just a teacher. He's more than just a good teacher. He is God himself, you know, and Nicodemus wanted to know what the difference was, where it came from, so he goes to Jesus at night to learn more.

Now, some criticized Dr. Nick for coming at night and saying it's because he didn't want to be seen. He didn't want to jeopardize his position.

Or was it because he knew that Jesus wouldn't have quite the same throng of crowd around him at night and he really wanted to be able to spend time and talk with him and get to know him more.

It could be that he came at night because he knew things would be a little more settled and Jesus would have time to talk with him.

One of the frustrations of being a pastor is, you know, I don't know what Jason does as you leave, you know, if he stands here and greets all of you and it was always, there was always a few people in line to greet me who really wanted to talk.

like this was their only time they would see me so they really wanted to talk and I get it but then there was a line of people, you know, just waiting to say, nice to see you, pastor, good sermon, pastor, what are you doing on Tuesday?

Whatever it is, you know, it's a, you want to, you know, you want to, you want to talk with your pastor, you know, when I say make an appointment that sounds kind of heady, I don't mean that, I mean, you know, respectful of time.

Nicodemus was being respectful of Jesus' time and he knew that when Jesus had this crowd around him, he wanted to be able to minister to as many as he could, he wanted to be able to touch as many as he could, literally and figuratively and so Nicodemus waits, I think,

until it was calmer and he could have more time to talk and to interact with Jesus, you know, and you see what's, you know, as it's going on and he comes at night.

Just a thought for you here, when do you spend time with Jesus?

When is it that you decide you're going to spend time with Jesus? You just try to jam in some time in the busyness of the day?

Let me read this in the morning so I can get it done.

Or do you read it in the morning because this is when I'm most apt to pay attention.

When is it? You know, how is it? You know, we generally do it at a time that's convenient for us. You know, looking to get it done so we can get on with our day.

When do you spend time with Jesus? Well, here, you know, Jesus comes and talks to him and say, or Nicodemus comes, talks to Jesus, Rabbi, we know you're a teacher from God and Jesus isn't flattered by the compliment.

I like the way he addresses Nicodemus rather straight and to the point because he knew Nicodemus and he knew what was in him and it says, Jesus replied, I assure you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Jesus is very clear and he tells Nicodemus what he wants to hear. I sometimes do that and I've been called rude and blunt and things. I call it clear.

You know, let's just be clear and here, you know, Jesus is trying to be clear with him. I assure you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

He tells Nicodemus what he needs to hear and if you run across any passage where Jesus says, I assure you, now some of the translations say truly, truly, some say very truly and I like the King James, verily, verily, you know, you've probably used that this week, verily, verily,

garthorn. It's a repeated word and they repeat it for emphasis. What he's saying is, this is real. This is real. This is for sure. Take this to the bank.

This is what he's telling you. Here is something that there is not a question about it. This is the way it is, is what he's saying here. That's the word we get amen from.

You know, that's the same one. So be it, you know, that this is it. This is the truth. And Nicodemus takes it literally and he says, how can someone be born when he's old?

It says, can he enter his mother's womb a second time? So Jesus rewords the same truth. You know what he said? He rewords the same truth and he answered, I assure you, there it is again.

Verily, verily, you know, verily, truly, for sure, he says, you know, he says, I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Now, don't be too hard on the guy. Don't be too hard on Nicodemus because he didn't get it. We don't get it very often either. Ask my wife how many times she has to repeat something to me.

Don't ask her. Just trust me. She has to. You know, I'm not the only one, Noah. You know, Jesus explains a bit more to try and help Dr. Nicodemus understand.

He says, whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you you must be born again.

The wind blows where it pleases and you hear it sound, but you don't know where it's coming from or where it's going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit.

Stop thinking on merely a fleshly level. Elevate your thinking. Stop thinking on strictly human terms. Elevate your thinking. Don't just, you know, get it above and beyond.

Get it where God is at. You know, Jesus compares the work of the spirit here to the work of the wind. You have never seen the wind. Yes, I did.

The trees are blown. No. You've never seen the wind. You've seen the effects of the wind. You have seen the effects of what the wind does. And what he is saying, you know, everyone, flesh is, born of the spirit.

You will see the effects of what the spirit does in someone's life. You will see, you know, that there will be a difference. You know, it will be going on.

And you'll see that there. He says, that's how it is with the spirit. Now, don't miss the emphasis in verse 7. He says, you must be born again.

You must be born again. That word must, it expresses a logical necessity arising from the determined will and counsel of God.

Go ahead, one more.

There it is. A logical necessity, a logical necessity arising from the determined will and counsel of God. You must be born again. Jesus said it.

you must be born again, he says. It's not optional. It is a necessity. You must be born again. A new life

is a necessity here. This is simply a rewording of what he said in verses 3 and verses 5 as well. You know, unless you're born again, unless, there is no other way, unless this happens.

He said, you know, this is the third time that he's referred to the fact that you must be born again, you need to be born again. There is no other choice, there is no other way to have a relationship with Jesus except to be born again.

You know, you don't get to set the standard. God does.

This isn't by your terms, this is by God's terms.

We don't set the standard, he does, and he says, you must be born again. It is just not a phrase, it is the reality of a new life. This is what he's talking about here, the reality of a new life.

It's not just revamped life, it's such a radical restructuring that the only term for it is new life, born again. Born, you know, the word means starting anew.

It speaks of the beginning of a new life. It says again, now some of the translations say, or born from above, because that word, that phrase can have either meaning.

It can mean, it can mean be born again, or it can mean be born from above here. You know, you enter this new life, you enter into a new life in touch with, you know, in tune with, and guided by, and driven by the spirit.

This is what he's talking about, that it's that new life. And I think that, you know, he purposely used an ambiguous word because he's trying to get Nicodemus' attention.

Born again, born from above, I think he's trying to get Nicodemus to stop and think about where his attachment is. How are you attached here, Nicodemus?

This isn't a new gospel. This is the gospel. New life. New life that's found in Christ. This is, it's not, it's not adding God to your existing life.

That's not what it is. It's not bringing him into your existing life, but it's rather you entering a new life with him. There's a massive difference.

There's a massive difference between you saying, you know, Jesus is just coming along with me, or I'm going with Jesus. There is a massive difference.

You're not just adding him into what you already do. It's not, you know, it's not life that's lived merely on a human level and human interactions.

You know, it's not lived and guided by human wisdom at all. It goes beyond that to a life connected to, guided by the Spirit of God as a normal way of living, not an occasional way of living.

A new life, a new normal. A new normal.

But what about all that stuff I do?

Let me remind you.

Jesus knows what's in you.

He has invited you to enter into new life with him.

Not, I'll come along with you. Yeah, he's with us, but here's the deal. You'll be with him.

You know, you're living this life with him. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, you know, he says, from now on then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way, even if we had known Christ in a purely human way, yet we now no longer know him this way.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

He's saying it's going beyond just human stuff. And again, it's not just for your pastors, this is for each and every person. He's saying it's not just human stuff.

We knew him in a human way. It's not just this human way, he says. He says, we can't stop there. It's not just as much as you could do as a human.

He goes on, he says, therefore, if anyone, anyone, if anyone, what he means there is anyone, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away.

and look, new things have come. I think part of the realization of this, I heard another pastor say this and I thought, that was kind of interesting.

We're not human beings having a spiritual experience. We're spiritual beings having a human experience.

And there's a difference.

We're not human beings just having a spiritual experience, asking God to come along. You know, what we're doing is we're spiritual beings now having a human experience.

You need to realize there is a significant battle going on for your soul. and it is waged on a spiritual level. Through Paul, God warns us in Ephesians 6, he says, for our battle is not against flesh and blood.

That's not where the battle's waged, he says, but against rulers, against authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. We have a new life. We have entered a new life with Christ.

Verse 6 in John 3, whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, whatever is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you you must be born again.

The wind blows where it pleases, you hear it sound, you don't know where it's coming from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit.

Nicodemus is still struggling with this and he says, how can these things be?

And Jesus' answer brings out the warning we need to hear that I told you would be coming up. Verse 10, he says, are you a teacher of Israel and don't know these things?

Jesus replied, I assure you, we speak of what we know, we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. Now, when Jesus asks a question, whenever you see Jesus asking a question in scripture, or God for that matter, trust me on this, he's not looking for information.

Okay? He is not looking for information.

He knows what's in a man. He's not looking to be informed. All the way back in the garden, when God comes to Adam and says, Adam, where are you?

Guess what? God knew the answer.

When he said to Adam, what have you done? God knew the answer.

Well, why did he ask? I think what you see there over and over again, not only in Genesis, but over and over again, when God comes like that, he is giving you the opportunity to repent.

He is giving you the opportunity to turn from your own way and turn to him. And I wonder, you know, and all we can do is wonder, how much different would it have been when God said, Adam, where are you?

And he came and said, I'm right here, and you can't believe what I did. You know, I did the dumbest thing. I can't

opportunity to repent and Adam doesn't do it. Here, you know, as Jesus is talking to him, you know, and as he's saying these things, you know, he says, you a teacher of Israel and you don't know these things.

He's not looking for information. He's trying to get Nicodemus to think. When he asked, you see those questions, he's giving an opportunity for repentance to adjust what's going on in your life.

And here's the warning I think we need to hear. Too often, what we think, we know keeps us from learning what we really need to know.

We think we have the answer.

And so, we don't pay attention to God. And what you see going on here, I think that's what's going on. It was true for Nicodemus. It's true for us.

What we think we know keeps us from learning what we need to know. He was Israel's teacher and he was looking at Jesus through that position of Israel's teacher.

And the footnote, there's a footnote in Holman Christian standards. Some of the other translations highlight it. The fuller meaning of this is, you are the teacher of Israel.

This is what Jesus is saying to him.

Jesus is more polite than me. you're the big boffo here, you're the big kahuna. One of the translations says, you are the great and well-known teacher.

You're the senior pastor and you don't know these things? This is what he's telling him here.

Could it be, could it be that he didn't come to Jesus to learn these things but he came to evaluate what Jesus was doing? That he came to evaluate Jesus according to his own knowledge and his own experience?

One of the things I prayed this morning before I came was that, you know, Lord, you would help me not to evaluate what's going on.

One of the reasons I need to go to other churches and I haven't just plugged into one is my tendency when I go to a church is to evaluate it.

I didn't do it here. Okay, maybe a couple things.

It's hard habits to break. What can I say? By the way, you did a fine job on music. I could have played the drums for you. You wouldn't have liked it, but I could have played.

I could have banged on the drums for you. I can't really play them. But, you know, we too often we begin to evaluate. instead of learn. We had a guy at our first church and he

was more than one toke over the line. Some of you won't get that, but he was a member of Mensa and he was extremely intelligent, but he was also nuts.

I met him. He's big. He's a hulking man. He's a big hulking man. He had long hair and long beard. But he came in and so I'm talking to him and this is, he had a

transistor radio. Okay, think of your cell phone, but it does other things. That's what transistor radio is. And he comes in and we lived in the church building at that first church.

And so he's sitting across the table from me and we're sitting there and I'll call him John because that's what his parents called him. And so we're sitting there and I'm just trying to make conversation with him and I said, John, I said, what do

you listen to on the radio? Oh, it's broken, he said. It's broken? He said, yeah, I just carry it around so the Starship Enterprise can contact me.

He was serious.

And he starts telling me about this stuff and that the Enterprise is circling the earth and stuff and I'm thinking, he's between me and the door and he's really big.

You know, and the, the, so we, you know, and I remember, here's the way John thought. I had a lot of interaction with him then. He started coming to our church and started being a part of the church and I had a lot of interaction with him.

And what John liked to do was argue with me. He wanted to argue about everything. And I can remember one time we were in my office and we're talking and when I say he was intelligent, he really was intelligent.

He wrote this article about this, I think it was called a purge carburetor, a special kind of carburetor for an engine and all that stuff and he was so excited about it and he brings me the, you know, this article and he has charts and graphs that shows airflow and gasoline, all this other stuff and I didn't know if,

I thought he was nuts.

Several months later he comes over to me with this fancy magazine, you know, this engineering magazine. There's his article with all his charts and graphs and it's like, oh, oh, I still don't know what we're talking about, you know.

So, you know, we were arguing in my office this one day and he said to me, you just don't understand me and I thought that was the understatement of the century.

He said to me, this is how I think. I learned something that day.

We can go into a situation with what we think we know and we miss what we need to know.

we still traded arguments, if you will, back and forth.

But I learned John was trying to learn.

He was looking, he was reaching, he was searching. well, you know, you know what it means? That means absolutely nothing.

We need to come to Jesus so he can refine us. We need to come to him so that he can refine our thoughts in line with his will, in line with his attributes.

attributes. That's what I think, that's what I believe the thrust of Psalm 37 verse 4 is. Psalm 37 verse 4, take delight in the Lord and he will give you your heart's desire.

Psalms 37:4 Psalms 37:4

Regardless of all these prosperity preachers you hear on TV, quit listening to them. You know, this verse does not say that Jesus is your genie in a bottle.

That's not what he's talking about at all. I believe what he's telling us all the way even back here in Psalms is that when you are born again, he will give you those new desires within your heart.

It's not that he will give you everything you want. Our desires now come from, derived from our new life. Old things are gone, new things have come.

You know, this is what he's talking about here. scripture. Don't go to scripture to prove your opinions. Go to scripture to form your opinions.

There's a difference there. Don't go there just to prove what you want to say. Go there to form your opinions. Modify whatever you think or feel that doesn't line up with scripture.

Modify that to come with scripture. Jesus continues. We get to go rolling here. He says, if I told you things that happened on earth and you don't believe, how will you believe about things of heaven, what's getting in your way?

What is stopping you from believing heavenly things? What is stopping you from believing spiritual things? What is it that's stopping those things from you?

What is it that's stopping you from believing God?

Deal with those. Get rid of those. Those last few verses and we're going to wrap this up. He says, no one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the son of man.

Just as Moses lifted up a snake in the wilderness, so the son of man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

We must remove everything that is blinding us from seeing Jesus in everything.

From seeing him, you know, surrender it all. Surrender it all to to live a Christ-centered life. He says, you must be born again. Not just bringing Jesus along like the knapsack

on your back, but leaving your life and entering into life with him. Stop trying to simply add Jesus to your life and surrender all of your life to him

to be born again. Surrender and enter that new life. Surrender your old ways, your old ideas, all those things you think you know. surrender those to him and enter

into new life with him. Not simply renewed, not simply remade, but new, born again. And he will put those new desires, those new drives, that new excitement in your heart.

You must be born again. The very next verse is when he gets into John 3, 16, you know, and we all know that. What's he doing? There's Jesus lifted up.

So what happens, you know, in that picture where Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and if they didn't look, if they didn't believe God, if they didn't follow God, if they didn't surrender their own ideas and go by what God said, what happened then?

They died.

And God so loved the world that he did what? Lifted his son up on that cross so that everyone who believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

Everyone who believes, believes,

not here, here.

You must be born again. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the clarity of your word.

Clarity does not mean easy. Clarity does not mean we always get it right.

That clarity helps us to see that goal of entering life with you. and I don't know the hearts of everyone here, but as we've seen, you do.

If some have been playing games, Lord, intentionally, maybe unintentionally, and just trying to add you to their already busy life, I pray that they might see the necessity of entering into new life with you, that new way of living,

that whole new relationship.

And, Father, for those of us who have known you for a long time, and have begun to take you for granted, may we remember what new life really is, and live with you transforming us into those

new creatures. The old is gone, and the new has come. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.