WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:22.260 Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:25.880 This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons. 00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:31.260 We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear the latest message. 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:32.460 Thanks for listening. 00:00:45.540 --> 00:00:46.480 Well, good morning. 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:53.080 My name is Chad Fry, and this is my wife, Robin, and our children, Trace and Kari and Marley Fry. 00:00:53.080 --> 00:00:59.920 And today's reading will be from Matthew chapter 1, verses 18 through 25, the birth of Jesus Christ. 00:01:00.800 --> 00:01:03.360 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. 00:01:03.820 --> 00:01:10.400 His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:18.980 Because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to the public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 00:01:20.900 --> 00:01:26.860 As he lay awake, considering this, he fell into a dream and saw an angel standing beside him. 00:01:27.420 --> 00:01:35.080 Joseph, son of David, the angel said, don't hesitate to take Mary as your wife, for the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:41.720 And she will have a son, and you shall name him Jesus, meaning Savior, for he will save his people from their sins. 00:01:43.180 --> 00:01:50.980 As this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. 00:01:52.940 --> 00:01:57.480 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took Mary home as his wife. 00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:04.280 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Jesus. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:13.640 Well, good morning. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:19.520 I want to thank the Fries for being willing to read a passage of Scripture for us this morning. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:27.920 I also want to thank all of our kids and all of our children's ministry workers who give of their time every single week to lead our kids. 00:02:27.920 --> 00:02:35.680 And I think what we got to experience is the fruit of all that this morning, amen, where they got to share with us so much of what they've been working on, 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:42.200 but more importantly, so much of what they've been teaching them and directing them and guiding their hearts toward the truth of Christ. 00:02:42.320 --> 00:02:47.400 So I say this often, but probably not often enough for all of us. 00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:53.160 We need to continue to remind ourselves to encourage our children's ministry workers, our student ministry workers. 00:02:53.320 --> 00:03:00.600 And this has kind of been a soapbox of mine since my youth pastor days, who they are not leading the next church. 00:03:00.660 --> 00:03:03.140 Like we kind of think of that sometimes as, well, that's the future. 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:04.040 No, it's not. 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:05.480 It's the right now, you know. 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:08.200 And they're part of the body of Christ with us. 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:11.400 We need to encourage them for what they do. 00:03:11.900 --> 00:03:15.760 If you've got your Bibles with you, I want to ask you to open up to John chapter 3. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:22.640 As you turn there, I've got some things, maybe reminders, emphasize a couple things that we shared in the video. 00:03:22.640 --> 00:03:28.500 And then also just one little quick little announcement for me to make, and then we'll dive into Scripture. 00:03:28.980 --> 00:03:32.300 First, I want to continue to remind you our Christmas Eve, Christmas Day service. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:34.280 Christmas Eve's going to be at 5 p.m. 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:37.920 Christmas Day, Christmas morning service is going to be at 10 a.m. 00:03:38.140 --> 00:03:41.660 For the most part, there's a little bit of changes with some of the music that we're doing. 00:03:41.720 --> 00:03:45.180 But for the most part, we're doing identical services, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:55.360 We'd love to have you, we'd love to have your family, we'd love to have your visitors come and join us on those days as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 00:03:55.720 --> 00:03:59.600 And then also, we're really excited about our New Year's Day service as well. 00:03:59.900 --> 00:04:03.200 What we've decided to do, it's a little different day, right? 00:04:03.260 --> 00:04:07.180 It's the beginning of the new year, and so we've decided to do something a little different. 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:13.760 And so we're going to be having breakfast here together that morning as a church at 9.30 a.m. 00:04:13.760 --> 00:04:18.660 is when we're going to start serving, and then sometime a little after 10, we're going to start our prayer service. 00:04:18.840 --> 00:04:22.880 And we're just going to spend time together a little bit in worship, a little bit in God's Word. 00:04:23.020 --> 00:04:29.180 But the bulk majority of that time, we're going to spend together in prayer and kind of start our year off on that. 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:29.420 Amen? 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:37.820 And I think sometimes we commit to a lot of wonderful things, right, that never really happen, you know, like gyms, you know, and diets. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:45.720 And so we've decided, hey, let's start off with what we know we need to commit our lives to in the Lord is prayer to Him. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:48.560 And so let's model that, and let's do that together as a church. 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:55.180 If prayer is something for you that's an intimidating thing, and I know it is for a lot of people, that's okay. 00:04:55.440 --> 00:04:56.660 We want you to join us. 00:04:56.780 --> 00:05:05.460 We've got a guide that we're going to use that just helps us all walk through prayer together in interactive time with us together and us with the Lord that morning. 00:05:05.740 --> 00:05:08.060 Now, we are asking a favor if you could help us. 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:16.020 So we've got a wonderful Brian Smith is taking care of us and getting this breakfast taken care of through Lizard's Thicket. 00:05:16.260 --> 00:05:27.780 But what's going to help us if we know how many to plan for so these cards are there and available and you can scan that QR code or there's a place on our website that you can go and that you can register to let us know that you'll be there. 00:05:27.780 --> 00:05:34.520 So I say this, though, all right, if you do not register and you want to be there, we want you to come anyways, all right? 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:42.140 If you have neighbors and friends that you're at your Christmas Eve party together and they say, you know, we're thinking about going to church, but we don't know anywhere to go. 00:05:42.340 --> 00:05:43.980 We want you to bring them with you, okay? 00:05:44.280 --> 00:05:48.300 Do not look at not RSVPing as a reason to not be here. 00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:52.920 This just kind of helps us give a ballpark number of what we can expect. 00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:54.500 And so if you can, please do. 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:58.580 But if not, that is okay and would love to see all of you here that morning, all right? 00:05:58.780 --> 00:06:02.640 I don't think we can, but let's set the goal to run out of food because there's so many people here, right? 00:06:02.960 --> 00:06:03.880 So we'll do that. 00:06:04.320 --> 00:06:05.980 Also, and so here's the announcement. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:07.720 I share this. 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:18.260 Mark and Jennifer Babb for the last seven years have led in a very wonderful and powerful, and I'll be honest with you, behind the scenes in a lot of aspects are Celebrate Recovery Ministry. 00:06:18.260 --> 00:06:24.320 And for seven years, they've come alongside men, women, and families as they've walked through their hurts, habits, and hangups. 00:06:24.400 --> 00:06:27.120 And we've seen God work in some miraculous ways. 00:06:27.420 --> 00:06:29.000 We've seen marriages restored. 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:31.300 We've seen people walk away from addiction. 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:46.000 We've seen people who have been hurt tremendously by others, not only overcome through the power of Christ what happened in their life, but have grown in their relationship with the Lord so that they forgive those who have hurt them. 00:06:46.100 --> 00:06:58.500 But earlier, almost a little bit over a year ago, Mark and Jennifer came, and we began a prayer of what was next for CR. 00:06:58.500 --> 00:07:10.260 And in that dialogue of prayer with the Lord and conversations with each other, Mark and Jennifer felt led for our CR for right now to take what we're calling an extended break during 2023. 00:07:10.900 --> 00:07:15.260 And during that extended break, we're going to pray and see what God has for us. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:21.580 We know, and if anything within this COVID season has brought out, is that there's more and more people with more and more hurts. 00:07:21.900 --> 00:07:23.880 There's more and more people with more and more isolation. 00:07:24.200 --> 00:07:27.280 And what they need is encouragement and the power of the gospel. 00:07:27.700 --> 00:07:37.340 And so we're having conversations about how we can go to them and minister to them and share the love of Christ and share the truth of the gospel with them as well. 00:07:37.340 --> 00:07:41.380 So we're taking the time to kind of process through and see that. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:43.580 I know Mark and Jennifer are in here somewhere. 00:07:43.760 --> 00:07:45.500 I saw them earlier today. 00:07:45.880 --> 00:07:50.200 And everybody's pointing at them because they would never stand up and wave from where they are. 00:07:50.440 --> 00:07:57.800 But I want to say from behalf of us as a church family, but also on behalf of your pastor, thank you so much for what you've been doing for the last seven years. 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:14.960 And so in a wonderful, fitting way, this Thursday night we'll gather together with CR to celebrate what God's done. 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:23.560 We'll talk about stories and we'll hear how men and women have impacted and held each other accountable and spoken truth and done all the wonderful things. 00:08:24.020 --> 00:08:28.920 But the story that we'll celebrate on Thursday night will not be the story of the Babs. 00:08:28.960 --> 00:08:30.360 It will not be the story of individuals. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:34.900 It will be the story of Jesus because that's our heart and that's the heart of CR and that's the heart of our ministry. 00:08:35.140 --> 00:08:42.780 And so pray for this wonderful leadership team that they've constructed and they've built around who are excited to see what's next as well. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:49.440 And it's really one of those pieces where just, we don't know what's next yet, but we're excited to see what God has in store. 00:08:50.040 --> 00:08:52.880 Let's go to the Lord in prayer before we look at our scripture this morning. 00:08:53.800 --> 00:08:57.320 God, I come to you this morning and I just thank you for those kids that gathered up on this stage. 00:08:57.700 --> 00:09:01.600 Lord, I thank you for the truth of what they sang about. 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:10.780 Lord, I thank you for the teachers that worked with them every single week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. 00:09:11.040 --> 00:09:14.500 And Lord, and what we are seeing is the fruit of that. 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:20.680 And so, Lord, I pray that as we, as they go to gather, Lord, that you'd be glorified in what they do. 00:09:20.780 --> 00:09:27.300 Lord, I thank you for our student ministry and the workers and the leaders who work with them Sunday morning and Sunday night, Lord. 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:34.880 And as they gather tonight to have their Christmas party, their time together in here, Lord, that it would be a wonderful time of fellowship. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.740 But, Lord, that you're glorified in that as well. 00:09:38.580 --> 00:09:40.160 Lord, I thank you for the ministry of CR. 00:09:40.340 --> 00:09:41.300 I thank you for the Babs. 00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:47.060 I thank you for the many individuals who have come, whether it's for seven years or for a season, Lord. 00:09:47.060 --> 00:10:03.420 And what they've experienced is the powerful work of Jesus Christ, Lord, who saves them and sets them free, who redeems them, Lord, and who creates the new in them so that they no longer walk in who they were, 00:10:03.500 --> 00:10:05.160 but they walk in who they are in Christ. 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:11.580 They are no longer the old, but they are the victor in Christ and in Christ alone. 00:10:12.300 --> 00:10:17.220 Lord, as we dive into your word this morning, Lord, I pray that you would give me your words to say. 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:19.640 Lord, I pray that you would be glorified in what we do. 00:10:20.280 --> 00:10:21.560 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:10:22.220 --> 00:10:22.540 Amen. 00:10:22.860 --> 00:10:23.140 Amen. 00:10:23.380 --> 00:10:23.600 Amen. 00:10:23.920 --> 00:10:25.240 I want to be honest with you. 00:10:26.040 --> 00:10:27.940 I got to move fast this morning, okay? 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:37.640 And I'm going to do my best to do that in kindness to our children's ministry workers who may be not so much for me in the past few weeks, all right? 00:10:37.760 --> 00:10:41.920 So we're going to be in John 3, but I want to read a verse that the Fry's read this morning. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.520 In fact, standing back here, Trace, I believe you read this verse. 00:10:44.640 --> 00:10:46.160 It's Matthew 1, 23. 00:10:46.160 --> 00:11:00.720 It's the song that our team led us in as we gathered in here to worship. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:17.940 That the reason why there's so much different in Christmas than in any other spiritual holiday that people want to celebrate is that what we're celebrating in this season of time is not how do we get to God, but we celebrate that God came to us. 00:11:19.300 --> 00:11:23.520 Every other religion says this, here's how you get to God. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:25.800 Here's how you work to God. 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:27.860 Here's how you earn your way to God. 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:31.720 But Christianity says, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's not it at all. 00:11:32.500 --> 00:11:37.840 Here's the story is that God comes to us. 00:11:39.180 --> 00:11:58.240 That God steps out of heaven and takes on flesh, and he's born of a virgin, and he walks on the earth, and he experiences pain and hurt and hunger and sickness. 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:12.760 And rejection, and through it all lives a perfect life, and doesn't call us to go pay for our sins, but he says, I will pay for all of your sins. 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:17.120 And he does so by the death of the cross. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:27.000 But it doesn't end there for the story that just as he came to us, he comes to us again through resurrection, the power of God. 00:12:28.500 --> 00:12:34.940 So that when our faith and hope and trust are put in Christ, the payment for our sins is imparted to us. 00:12:35.560 --> 00:12:39.500 And what we're assured of is the power of resurrection for all of eternity. 00:12:41.060 --> 00:12:44.520 Emmanuel, God with us. 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:55.820 In John chapter 3, in verse 16 and 17, Jesus talks about this, of what does it mean that God is with us. 00:12:56.160 --> 00:12:57.480 So look at these two verses. 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:07.100 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 00:13:07.560 --> 00:13:16.220 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. 00:13:16.900 --> 00:13:22.840 So Jesus gives this explanation of what it means that God is with us. 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:28.720 And he does so by starting out by saying, for God so loved the world. 00:13:29.760 --> 00:13:31.620 It's not that God so hated the world. 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:34.580 It's not that God so rejected the world. 00:13:35.280 --> 00:13:40.940 It's not so that God was so displeased with the world, but that God so loved the world. 00:13:41.680 --> 00:13:47.280 And so for us, as we look at all the different aspects of this, what we're going to look at this morning is answer this question. 00:13:47.640 --> 00:13:49.640 What is the love of God? 00:13:50.640 --> 00:13:52.000 What is the love of God? 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:56.400 God manifests what we see in Jesus. 00:13:56.800 --> 00:14:01.960 And so just from these two verses, right, the first thing that we can gather from this is that God gave. 00:14:02.160 --> 00:14:05.300 God gave his Son. 00:14:05.540 --> 00:14:06.520 What does that mean? 00:14:07.060 --> 00:14:11.340 When he gave his Son, he sacrificed his Son. 00:14:11.660 --> 00:14:14.620 Jesus laid his life down. 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:17.520 God gave his Son. 00:14:17.520 --> 00:14:25.060 The picture of his love for us is that he gave him, but also he sent his Son. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:28.080 God gave and God sent. 00:14:29.420 --> 00:14:33.600 Now this word, why gave, implies the sacrifice that is to be made. 00:14:34.200 --> 00:14:40.880 Sent, here in this passage, Jesus gives it, the definition is one sent with a mission. 00:14:41.380 --> 00:14:46.300 It's where we get the word apostle from when we read it in the New Testament. 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:47.520 And this is very important. 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:53.220 Oftentimes we think in the narrative of Christ, of who Jesus is, was that he came to die. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:54.300 And that is true. 00:14:55.500 --> 00:14:56.340 It's true. 00:14:57.940 --> 00:15:02.400 But he didn't show up the day before the crucifixion. 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:07.960 He came as a baby. 00:15:10.180 --> 00:15:14.380 And God the Father sent God the Son with a mission. 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:17.280 And here's why it's important. 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:20.940 He sent Jesus to live a life. 00:15:22.100 --> 00:15:23.540 A life with a message. 00:15:24.560 --> 00:15:25.820 A life with relationships. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:28.200 A life with struggles. 00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:35.520 But a life of complete obedience to the Father. 00:15:37.400 --> 00:15:49.580 So that when we say that God gave and that God sent, it's this, that Jesus was sent to pay the price we could not pay. 00:15:50.580 --> 00:15:56.500 But Jesus was also sent to live the life that we could not live. 00:15:57.740 --> 00:15:59.240 And that's the love of God. 00:16:00.860 --> 00:16:02.160 That's the love of God. 00:16:03.460 --> 00:16:13.460 What we're incapable fully and completely of doing, God the Father sent God the Son to do on our behalf. 00:16:16.160 --> 00:16:24.500 Now for me growing up, if you were to ask me what is the context of John 3.16, I would have answered you this. 00:16:24.800 --> 00:16:37.480 The context of John 3.16 is a Sunday afternoon Braves baseball game and someone in right field holding up a poster board that said John 3.16. 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:38.640 Y'all remember this? 00:16:39.280 --> 00:16:48.980 It feels like in my childhood, any time that you watched a sporting event, and if you grew up, for me, especially in the South, right, there was TBS. 00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:53.660 And everybody became a Braves fan because that's the only team you could watch, right? 00:16:53.780 --> 00:17:01.060 We didn't know that there were other teams until people from other places moved here and like, oh, no, no, no, no, you can watch them too, right? 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:02.560 We watched the Braves. 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:06.880 And it was bad watching Braves in the early 80s, but we watched the Braves anyway. 00:17:07.080 --> 00:17:12.180 And there was always somebody in right field holding up the sign John 3.16. 00:17:13.420 --> 00:17:17.040 And so a lot of people knew it, and that's the context. 00:17:17.820 --> 00:17:26.260 But what I want to do for you this morning and what's going to take our time, and I want to work through this quickly, is what led Jesus to say these two verses? 00:17:27.560 --> 00:17:30.540 What led Jesus to say John 3.16? 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:33.940 What led Jesus to say John 3.17? 00:17:34.820 --> 00:17:36.140 What is happening in his life? 00:17:36.140 --> 00:17:41.080 Is Jesus just walking alongside the road, and all of a sudden he goes, hey, by the way, let me tell you this. 00:17:41.380 --> 00:17:50.380 No, as for so many things that happen in the life of Christ, there's an interaction that takes place with Jesus and someone. 00:17:51.400 --> 00:18:00.100 And this is what we see if you look back in chapter 3, beginning in verse 1, Jesus has a conversation with a man named Nicodemus. 00:18:00.900 --> 00:18:03.200 And that's the story I want us to see this morning. 00:18:04.120 --> 00:18:05.180 Let's read verses 1 and 2. 00:18:06.340 --> 00:18:11.500 Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 00:18:12.500 --> 00:18:25.100 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. 00:18:25.100 --> 00:18:31.740 Now, this is a little bit different interaction if you're familiar with the Pharisees that Jesus typically has with Pharisees. 00:18:31.940 --> 00:18:34.200 So let's kind of talk about a little bit about what's happening here. 00:18:34.420 --> 00:18:38.500 So what does Scripture tell us, and what do we know from history as far as who is Nicodemus? 00:18:38.780 --> 00:18:40.580 So Nicodemus is a Pharisee. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:44.540 The Pharisees are the religious leaders of the day. 00:18:44.540 --> 00:18:48.360 They were varied in their power and their authority that they would have. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:54.620 And Pharisees, oftentimes, when we read through Scriptures, are the ones who are trying to get Jesus. 00:18:54.840 --> 00:18:56.100 They're trying to catch Jesus. 00:18:56.320 --> 00:19:00.940 They're the ones that are bringing the false allegations about Jesus, and this is typically what we see. 00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:05.360 And Nicodemus belongs to this group of Jewish leaders. 00:19:05.820 --> 00:19:12.520 Scripture also tells us that he's a ruler of the Jews, which calls us that he's a member of the Sanhedrin. 00:19:12.760 --> 00:19:15.480 Now, not all Pharisees were promoted to this. 00:19:15.700 --> 00:19:17.880 This is like the upper level. 00:19:18.020 --> 00:19:19.680 This is the highest of the high. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.040 And they were beyond religious leaders. 00:19:22.300 --> 00:19:27.360 They were religious leaders who carried with them a sense of political leadership. 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:29.060 So kind of imagine it this way. 00:19:29.300 --> 00:19:29.420 All right. 00:19:29.520 --> 00:19:34.900 So imagine, like, I'm the pastor of this church, but I also become a U.S. senator. 00:19:35.140 --> 00:19:36.540 Now, bad idea, right? 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:37.800 Bad idea. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:41.980 And that's not a passive-aggressive lean to where I'm going, all right? 00:19:43.060 --> 00:19:44.440 But let's just pretend. 00:19:45.060 --> 00:19:53.020 So this is what we found, that they were these religious leaders who kind of had this political influence in leadership as well. 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:59.940 Because Nicodemus was a religious leader, because a Pharisee, because he was a part of the Sanhedrin, 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:03.580 he would have been a skilled theologian, which means this. 00:20:03.760 --> 00:20:07.840 He would have known the Old Testament beyond the level of an expert. 00:20:09.700 --> 00:20:12.520 So much of it he would have had memorized. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:15.880 And he could have told you what it meant. 00:20:16.980 --> 00:20:19.700 You could have come to him and said, hey, let me ask you about this. 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:22.000 And he would have had an answer to give you. 00:20:23.260 --> 00:20:26.700 And so he's a skilled theologian, could argue Scripture. 00:20:28.320 --> 00:20:35.740 But he was also, in all of these things, he, as well as the rest of the Pharisees and Sanhedrin, 00:20:35.980 --> 00:20:40.220 was a strict follower of all of the law that we find in the Old Testament. 00:20:40.360 --> 00:20:40.480 Right? 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:42.200 Remember, the New Testament isn't there. 00:20:42.660 --> 00:20:44.140 So the Old Testament is their Scripture. 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:46.720 And was a strict follower of all of the law. 00:20:46.860 --> 00:20:50.600 Now, there's over 600 plus laws found in the Torah. 00:20:51.900 --> 00:20:53.920 And to be a Pharisee, to be a member of the Sanhedrin, 00:20:54.520 --> 00:21:00.040 you didn't have to think or believe that you were getting close to obeying all of these laws. 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:01.080 Right? 00:21:01.760 --> 00:21:03.600 You had to believe that you were crushing them. 00:21:03.600 --> 00:21:06.920 Day in and day out. 00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:09.820 And so this man comes to Jesus. 00:21:10.040 --> 00:21:14.020 Now, usually with Pharisees, they've got some sketchy motives. 00:21:14.560 --> 00:21:15.540 So what are his motives? 00:21:15.940 --> 00:21:17.860 And this kind of gets debated from time to time. 00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:21.060 But I believe that Nicodemus had sincere motives for two reasons. 00:21:21.420 --> 00:21:22.900 Number one, he comes to Jesus at night. 00:21:23.900 --> 00:21:25.040 He comes to Jesus at night. 00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:32.620 And what I believe that points to is Nicodemus is in a curiosity. 00:21:33.820 --> 00:21:38.480 And he doesn't want to be an outcast from the group that he's a part of. 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:42.680 He knows that he probably shouldn't go and do this. 00:21:43.760 --> 00:21:50.300 So instead of it being a middle of the day outside where people would come to Jesus or come to Nicodemus and say, 00:21:50.300 --> 00:21:52.140 Hey, what was that conversation all about? 00:21:52.420 --> 00:21:54.740 Nicodemus comes during the night to Jesus. 00:21:55.060 --> 00:21:58.120 And then from his own words, here's how he addresses Jesus. 00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:01.640 He calls Jesus a rabbi and a teacher. 00:22:02.280 --> 00:22:06.640 So the expert says, you're the teacher, you're the rabbi. 00:22:07.040 --> 00:22:11.120 He acknowledges that Jesus is from God. 00:22:11.880 --> 00:22:15.340 He acknowledges the signs of Jesus. 00:22:16.080 --> 00:22:25.040 And fourthly, in his greeting, he says that he acknowledges and that he sees that God is with Jesus. 00:22:25.420 --> 00:22:28.620 Now, he doesn't say that Jesus is God, which is what we know. 00:22:28.740 --> 00:22:31.700 But he says that I know that God is with you. 00:22:32.540 --> 00:22:41.020 Which is why I believe that he's genuinely curious about who Jesus is. 00:22:41.600 --> 00:22:42.740 Let's look at verses 3 through 8. 00:22:44.340 --> 00:22:46.120 So Jesus answered him, 00:22:47.320 --> 00:22:53.220 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 00:22:54.340 --> 00:22:55.480 Nicodemus said to him, 00:22:55.960 --> 00:22:57.980 How can a man be born when he is old? 00:22:58.520 --> 00:23:02.300 Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:03.880 And Jesus answered, 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:11.800 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 00:23:11.800 --> 00:23:18.480 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 00:23:18.980 --> 00:23:22.840 Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. 00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:30.660 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. 00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:35.400 So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. 00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:40.960 So Jesus and Nicodemus begin to have this interaction, and Jesus asks him this question. 00:23:41.360 --> 00:23:42.560 Are you born again? 00:23:43.320 --> 00:23:45.300 He responds by saying, are you born again? 00:23:45.540 --> 00:23:49.140 Now, Nicodemus is confused when Jesus says this. 00:23:49.280 --> 00:23:51.100 Two reasons why Nicodemus is confused. 00:23:51.560 --> 00:23:53.180 Go back later and read verse 2. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:55.720 Nicodemus didn't ask a question. 00:23:56.820 --> 00:23:57.580 He didn't. 00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:01.120 But it says that Jesus answered. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:10.400 And Jesus answered with something different than what Nicodemus was expecting, but Jesus is getting to the heart of Nicodemus. 00:24:11.840 --> 00:24:13.340 Second is this. 00:24:14.020 --> 00:24:22.580 He's an expert in Scripture, and what this rabbi Jesus is telling him is foreign. 00:24:22.580 --> 00:24:30.420 So he asked now a question, and I'm going to call it a sincerely sarcastic question. 00:24:30.500 --> 00:24:31.340 You ever ask one of those? 00:24:33.120 --> 00:24:36.860 He's sincere, but it has a tone of sarcasm. 00:24:37.980 --> 00:24:46.760 It's like, I'm confused, so let me phrase what you said in the crazy way that you said it, is what Nicodemus does. 00:24:47.160 --> 00:24:48.160 Look back at verse 4. 00:24:48.220 --> 00:24:55.880 He says, can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? 00:24:57.820 --> 00:24:59.360 Jesus, this doesn't make sense. 00:25:00.420 --> 00:25:01.660 I'm confused. 00:25:02.680 --> 00:25:03.860 Explain this to me. 00:25:05.100 --> 00:25:06.000 And so Jesus does. 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:10.580 And Jesus says, here's what it means to be born again. 00:25:11.760 --> 00:25:13.760 Here's what it means to be in Christ. 00:25:15.020 --> 00:25:16.480 Here's what it means to be set. 00:25:17.700 --> 00:25:18.960 Here's what it means to be set apart. 00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:21.640 Here's what it means to be holy. 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:24.040 Here's what it means to be saved. 00:25:25.140 --> 00:25:26.320 Here's what it means to be born again. 00:25:27.640 --> 00:25:31.360 The first thing Jesus says is that you must be born of water. 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:33.640 You must be born of water. 00:25:34.980 --> 00:25:38.780 And Jesus is going to be speaking in literal truth, but in a figurative manner. 00:25:39.740 --> 00:25:41.720 He says, you must be born of water. 00:25:42.340 --> 00:25:46.120 Now, earlier we had seen Jesus has been baptized. 00:25:46.120 --> 00:25:48.440 The call to repentance is what's there. 00:25:48.600 --> 00:25:50.380 And John has baptized Jesus. 00:25:50.600 --> 00:25:52.580 And so the call of baptism is there. 00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:59.560 And the call of baptism is marking those who are spiritually clean because they have received forgiveness. 00:26:01.020 --> 00:26:02.420 They've been washed. 00:26:02.420 --> 00:26:04.320 They've been made new. 00:26:04.760 --> 00:26:07.460 They have been forgiven in Christ. 00:26:08.780 --> 00:26:14.640 And so Jesus says to be born again where we begin with is you must be born of water. 00:26:14.860 --> 00:26:16.380 You must be washed. 00:26:16.740 --> 00:26:18.240 You must be made clean. 00:26:18.560 --> 00:26:21.640 Jesus doesn't say you must go and clean yourself. 00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:24.520 Because we can't. 00:26:26.320 --> 00:26:34.300 But Jesus says you must be born, right, in water, of water. 00:26:35.040 --> 00:26:36.440 You must be made clean. 00:26:36.560 --> 00:26:41.380 The second thing that Jesus says, not only are you born of the water, but you're born of the spirit. 00:26:42.660 --> 00:26:55.720 So you're born of the water, you're forgiven, but then you're born of the spirit, the indwelling spirit of God that rests into all who are born again. 00:26:56.600 --> 00:27:02.040 That you're spiritually indwelt and that what is in you now is a new person. 00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:03.500 The old has gone. 00:27:03.620 --> 00:27:05.080 The new has come. 00:27:05.340 --> 00:27:11.020 The dead has passed away and the newness of life which is found in Christ and Christ alone. 00:27:11.820 --> 00:27:13.880 So you must be born of water. 00:27:14.800 --> 00:27:15.960 You must be forgiven. 00:27:17.020 --> 00:27:21.180 You must be born of the spirit and dwell in a new person. 00:27:22.360 --> 00:27:25.920 And then Jesus says to him, he describes the wind. 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:28.840 And he's describing the spirit of God. 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:31.720 You ever try to control the wind? 00:27:33.120 --> 00:27:35.020 You ever try to tell the wind what to do? 00:27:36.300 --> 00:27:43.780 You ever been setting up an umbrella on the beach, right, and thought, no, no, no, no, not here today. 00:27:44.520 --> 00:27:45.260 There, right? 00:27:46.600 --> 00:27:47.480 You can't. 00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:51.560 And so Jesus describes this as this is the work of the spirit. 00:27:51.560 --> 00:27:55.660 And what he means is that, Nicodemus, this isn't your work. 00:27:56.140 --> 00:27:57.560 This is the work of God. 00:27:58.520 --> 00:28:02.320 It's the direct act of God which you can't control. 00:28:04.180 --> 00:28:13.840 But you feel and you respond to as the spirit of God begins to work and as the spirit of God begins to draw and as the spirit of God begins to move. 00:28:14.940 --> 00:28:15.800 Think about this. 00:28:17.060 --> 00:28:23.520 What Jesus is saying to Nicodemus is, Nicodemus, I know you have all of your works. 00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:26.560 You're the Pharisee. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:27.880 You're the Sanhedrin. 00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:33.780 You do all the things that you think you are supposed to do. 00:28:34.020 --> 00:28:38.460 You're spiritual in action, but you're spiritually dead. 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:43.420 Nicodemus, you've got to be born again. 00:28:45.280 --> 00:28:49.060 As we gather in here today, and I shared this with our staff, I love this Sunday. 00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:51.520 I love this Sunday. 00:28:52.700 --> 00:28:57.880 Because this Sunday was more people that we've had. 00:28:58.340 --> 00:28:59.340 This is probably Easter. 00:29:00.820 --> 00:29:01.340 More people. 00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:04.280 It's the beauty of, right, what cute kids will get people to come to, you know? 00:29:06.500 --> 00:29:11.040 And there might be some of you who are here for the first time today, but let's be honest. 00:29:11.040 --> 00:29:17.620 There might be some of you who are in here every Sunday, and you find yourself right where Nicodemus is. 00:29:19.140 --> 00:29:29.240 You've got a spiritual resume of things you've done, of things you've lined up, and if you stood before Jesus right now and said, am I good? 00:29:30.420 --> 00:29:34.800 And Jesus would say, no, you've got to be born again. 00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:40.680 So I'm going to ask you the same question that Jesus asked Nicodemus. 00:29:41.700 --> 00:29:42.920 Are you born again? 00:29:44.080 --> 00:29:45.040 Are you born again? 00:29:46.040 --> 00:29:49.440 Well, look how Nicodemus reacts to Jesus in verse 9. 00:29:51.600 --> 00:29:55.080 Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? 00:29:56.100 --> 00:30:03.520 And Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 00:30:04.380 --> 00:30:11.540 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen. 00:30:11.840 --> 00:30:14.900 But you do not receive our testimony. 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:24.020 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 00:30:24.020 --> 00:30:27.000 So Nicodemus is still confused. 00:30:28.220 --> 00:30:30.300 He's been told his works are not enough. 00:30:31.420 --> 00:30:37.140 He's been told his obedience is not sufficient and that what he needs is new birth. 00:30:37.380 --> 00:30:40.760 He needs to be born again, but he's still not getting it. 00:30:41.360 --> 00:30:48.720 Now what's wrestling within Nicodemus is not what he's hearing, it's what he's processing. 00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:52.620 It's his mental outlook. 00:30:52.980 --> 00:30:58.500 It's intellectually Nicodemus is trying to rack through this and process through this. 00:30:58.500 --> 00:31:01.520 And Nicodemus is like, whoa, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. 00:31:01.640 --> 00:31:02.740 I know the law. 00:31:04.060 --> 00:31:05.420 I know the poetry. 00:31:06.380 --> 00:31:07.780 I know the history. 00:31:08.580 --> 00:31:09.840 I know the prophets. 00:31:10.540 --> 00:31:11.900 I know it, Jesus. 00:31:12.220 --> 00:31:13.220 I know it. 00:31:13.500 --> 00:31:14.400 I know it. 00:31:14.560 --> 00:31:17.960 But this doesn't register with this. 00:31:18.460 --> 00:31:19.760 And I want to say this. 00:31:22.120 --> 00:31:24.720 You can know the Bible and not know Jesus. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:28.940 You can know the Bible. 00:31:29.280 --> 00:31:32.780 You can have it memorized and not know Jesus. 00:31:33.560 --> 00:31:45.680 And so what Jesus says to Nicodemus is listen to me, believe me, stop listening to you, stop believing you. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:50.920 You, Nicodemus, you have to trust me. 00:31:51.980 --> 00:31:55.100 There's a difference in that. 00:31:55.100 --> 00:32:02.740 And Jesus is pleading with him, believe me, believe me, believe me. 00:32:02.740 --> 00:32:04.000 Look at verse 13. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:20.240 And so in this culmination of Nicodemus, as he wrestles with his works, with Nicodemus, as he wrestles with his intelligence, with his understanding of Scripture. 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:30.260 Jesus says in verse 13, no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 00:32:30.260 --> 00:32:36.360 And Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. 00:32:37.320 --> 00:32:47.480 So must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:51.120 Here's what Jesus does in this moment. 00:32:53.740 --> 00:32:58.980 Jesus looks at Nicodemus and points to himself. 00:33:01.040 --> 00:33:04.400 You've got to look at me, Jesus says. 00:33:05.180 --> 00:33:06.880 Jesus points at himself. 00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:19.460 For Nicodemus and for us and for every other person, what Jesus is pointing to is there's no salvation that can be found outside of or at. 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:20.400 It's not connected to Jesus. 00:33:21.980 --> 00:33:25.380 It can't be your works. 00:33:26.300 --> 00:33:27.440 It's Jesus. 00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:32.280 It can't be your works plus Jesus. 00:33:32.460 --> 00:33:33.600 It's just Jesus. 00:33:34.940 --> 00:33:36.740 It can't be your intellect. 00:33:37.240 --> 00:33:38.140 It's Jesus. 00:33:38.840 --> 00:33:40.740 It can't be your intellect plus. 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:42.000 It's Jesus. 00:33:42.420 --> 00:33:44.100 Does this mean we stop obeying? 00:33:44.380 --> 00:33:44.820 No. 00:33:45.020 --> 00:33:46.620 Does this mean we stop learning? 00:33:46.620 --> 00:33:47.100 No. 00:33:47.100 --> 00:33:57.240 What it means, though, is we obey and we learn because we believe, we trust, we put our hope in Jesus. 00:33:59.940 --> 00:34:10.120 And so Jesus points to something, a story that Nicodemus would have got, that he would have understood. 00:34:11.300 --> 00:34:18.620 In verse 14, Jesus directs Nicodemus back to an event found in Scripture in Numbers chapter 21. 00:34:19.720 --> 00:34:27.280 Now, when he said those words about Moses and the serpent, Nicodemus would have been like, uh-huh, uh-huh, I know exactly what you're talking about, right? 00:34:28.260 --> 00:34:28.660 Exactly. 00:34:29.800 --> 00:34:30.760 But he didn't. 00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:33.760 So here's what happens in Numbers chapter 21. 00:34:33.980 --> 00:34:35.440 And I'm wrapping this up. 00:34:35.520 --> 00:34:36.740 There's so much more to this. 00:34:37.020 --> 00:34:42.420 But in Numbers 21, this is the point in time where God had delivered his people from Egypt and God was providing for them. 00:34:42.940 --> 00:34:45.600 But they still complained about God and Moses. 00:34:46.180 --> 00:34:49.400 And so this was the rebellion that the people had against the Lord. 00:34:49.660 --> 00:34:56.680 They were rebelling against his provision and they were rebelling against the servant that God had sent to lead them. 00:34:56.680 --> 00:35:01.200 So what God decided to do is God sent a plague to his people. 00:35:02.100 --> 00:35:06.680 And this plague that he sent was an infestation of poisonous snakes, right? 00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:14.140 Like, you look at some of the ones that happened in Egypt and if you're like me and you're not really a snake guy, this one kind of gets you. 00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:14.820 You know what I mean? 00:35:15.220 --> 00:35:16.140 And this is what we see. 00:35:16.620 --> 00:35:17.760 And this is what God sends. 00:35:18.240 --> 00:35:19.700 And they would bite the people. 00:35:20.720 --> 00:35:22.120 And in that, many of them would die. 00:35:23.500 --> 00:35:31.280 And God's chastisement of them in this was not to punish them, but was to get them to repent. 00:35:31.580 --> 00:35:32.700 And people did. 00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:36.880 And then they came to Moses and said, look, we know we've messed up. 00:35:37.080 --> 00:35:38.840 We know that we've sinned against the Lord. 00:35:39.160 --> 00:35:44.800 Will you, Moses, pray to the Lord that he will take these snakes away from us? 00:35:45.020 --> 00:35:47.600 And Moses is like, man, that's probably a pretty good idea. 00:35:47.820 --> 00:35:51.020 Like, I don't like seeing any more than you do, so I'm going to go and I'm going to do this. 00:35:51.200 --> 00:35:52.420 And so that's what Moses does. 00:35:52.660 --> 00:35:54.040 And then here's what God does. 00:35:54.340 --> 00:36:00.980 God doesn't remove the snakes, but instead tells Moses to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole. 00:36:01.580 --> 00:36:09.420 And if someone is bitten, when he looks up at the snake on the pole, that person will live. 00:36:10.060 --> 00:36:11.720 And this is what Moses does. 00:36:12.080 --> 00:36:12.820 Now, here's the thing. 00:36:13.680 --> 00:36:14.760 Some people do that. 00:36:15.900 --> 00:36:16.660 Some people don't. 00:36:17.900 --> 00:36:20.420 And the ones that do, they live. 00:36:20.900 --> 00:36:21.880 So look back at Jesus' words. 00:36:22.080 --> 00:36:48.560 But just as the snake was lifted up in the wilderness, so too Jesus is telling Nicodemus, the son of man will be lifted up as well, but onto a cross. 00:36:48.560 --> 00:37:01.740 And just as the snake on the pole would take away the sure-coming sting of death that they faced, 00:37:02.740 --> 00:37:07.460 so too Jesus would take away the poison of the sin. 00:37:08.600 --> 00:37:14.900 And whoever looks up, whoever believes in him, would have eternal life. 00:37:16.700 --> 00:37:27.360 And so in the wilderness to survive, you had to look up to the means that was sent by God. 00:37:28.820 --> 00:37:42.680 And Jesus says to Nicodemus, so too for eternal life you have to look up, not to a snake on a pole, but to the son of man. 00:37:45.060 --> 00:37:49.500 And then, and then Jesus says this. 00:37:52.060 --> 00:38:02.900 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 00:38:04.240 --> 00:38:13.880 For God did not send his son in the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 00:38:15.160 --> 00:38:22.240 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already. 00:38:23.240 --> 00:38:30.920 Because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. 00:38:33.680 --> 00:38:34.940 It's the context. 00:38:36.700 --> 00:38:45.180 As a man is coming to Jesus, and Jesus says to him, you must be born again. 00:38:47.180 --> 00:38:48.760 Well, how's that going to happen? 00:38:51.240 --> 00:39:10.340 Because God so loved the world that he gave and that he sent Jesus so that whoever would believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 00:39:12.600 --> 00:39:16.800 The truth of the truth of the hope of what we have. 00:39:17.980 --> 00:39:21.420 That God saved and that God sent. 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:25.540 So what happened in Nicodemus? 00:39:27.180 --> 00:39:28.200 I'm a history guy. 00:39:28.260 --> 00:39:29.480 I love watching history stuff. 00:39:29.800 --> 00:39:31.100 I love listening to podcasts. 00:39:32.220 --> 00:39:33.240 I don't like cliffhangers. 00:39:33.340 --> 00:39:34.220 I want to know the end of the story. 00:39:35.240 --> 00:39:36.580 What happened in Nicodemus? 00:39:37.500 --> 00:39:39.600 Well, Nicodemus reappears two other times in scripture. 00:39:40.940 --> 00:39:48.480 Next time we see that we see an encounter with Nicodemus, he's functioning in his official capacity as a member of the Sanhedrin. 00:39:49.040 --> 00:39:50.960 And they're considering what to do with Jesus. 00:39:51.100 --> 00:39:52.420 This is found in John chapter 7. 00:39:53.700 --> 00:40:01.660 And some of the Pharisees and priests sent some to the temple guard to arrest Jesus, but they returned and they were unable to do it. 00:40:02.580 --> 00:40:07.260 And the guards are questioned by the Pharisees in authority of what happened. 00:40:07.260 --> 00:40:15.960 But Nicodemus presents an opinion that Jesus should not be dismissed or condemned until they've heard from him personally. 00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:26.240 Now, I don't like to speculate, but I can't help but think the John 3 conversation is processing through in his brain. 00:40:26.440 --> 00:40:35.620 Like, man, y'all don't need to jump to any preconceived considerations about Jesus until we hear from him personally. 00:40:36.360 --> 00:40:43.320 And the rest of the council, they dismiss Nicodemus because they've already made up their minds about Jesus. 00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:51.220 The next time we see Nicodemus is in John chapter 19. 00:40:52.220 --> 00:40:56.020 And this is after Jesus' crucifixion. 00:40:57.640 --> 00:40:58.800 Nicodemus was a leader. 00:41:00.540 --> 00:41:02.200 Nicodemus was a part of the Sanhedrin. 00:41:03.500 --> 00:41:05.900 Nicodemus would have heard the false testimonies. 00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:09.040 Nicodemus would have been around when the sentences were handed out. 00:41:09.500 --> 00:41:11.200 Nicodemus would have heard the crucifying. 00:41:11.680 --> 00:41:14.360 Nicodemus would have been in every aspect of this. 00:41:14.360 --> 00:41:16.800 And then we see Nicodemus again. 00:41:17.180 --> 00:41:19.720 Scripture records him in John chapter 19. 00:41:20.040 --> 00:41:26.520 And what we find with Nicodemus, a person who by law is not to touch anything dead. 00:41:28.520 --> 00:41:32.580 What we see about Nicodemus is he's assisting. 00:41:33.600 --> 00:41:34.800 He is not leading. 00:41:35.100 --> 00:41:35.920 He's assisting. 00:41:36.540 --> 00:41:41.200 He's assisting Joseph of Arimathea in Jesus' burial. 00:41:42.400 --> 00:41:48.340 And Joseph is described in John 19.38 as a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one. 00:41:50.080 --> 00:41:52.300 Because he was afraid of those in power. 00:41:53.720 --> 00:41:54.700 And who's with him? 00:41:55.860 --> 00:41:56.960 Someone in power. 00:41:58.640 --> 00:42:03.060 Joseph goes to Pilate and he asks Pilate for the body of Jesus. 00:42:04.460 --> 00:42:05.640 And he's granted it. 00:42:07.060 --> 00:42:15.660 Scripture tells us that Nicodemus brought 75 pounds of spices to use in preparing the body for burial. 00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:21.100 And then assisted Joseph in wrapping the body and placing it in the tomb. 00:42:22.780 --> 00:42:26.100 Now was Nicodemus a disciple of Jesus like Joseph? 00:42:28.140 --> 00:42:28.660 Secretly? 00:42:30.180 --> 00:42:32.880 Was he simply a man who respected Jesus? 00:42:33.580 --> 00:42:35.600 And thought that he got the bad end of the deal? 00:42:37.780 --> 00:42:38.780 I don't know. 00:42:38.780 --> 00:42:38.820 I don't know. 00:42:40.460 --> 00:42:41.740 I don't know. 00:42:43.740 --> 00:42:54.400 But I can't help but think that what he had seen that night of what was done to Christ, 00:42:56.400 --> 00:43:00.960 as he had been lifted up onto a cross, 00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:11.440 that the words of John 3 didn't register in his very being. 00:43:12.560 --> 00:43:19.320 Now this side of eternity, you and I cannot know about the eternal destination of Nicodemus. 00:43:20.200 --> 00:43:21.140 We can debate it. 00:43:21.200 --> 00:43:21.680 We can argue. 00:43:21.820 --> 00:43:23.080 We can have good discussion about it. 00:43:23.780 --> 00:43:24.860 We can't know. 00:43:26.120 --> 00:43:27.160 But here's the thing. 00:43:29.520 --> 00:43:33.720 You and I, we can know ours. 00:43:34.920 --> 00:43:36.040 I can know mine. 00:43:36.940 --> 00:43:38.240 And you can know yours. 00:43:39.300 --> 00:43:42.360 Because God loves you so much. 00:43:44.660 --> 00:43:49.300 God the Father gave God the Son to die on a cross. 00:43:51.060 --> 00:43:54.820 To pay the penalty for your sin and for mine. 00:43:56.360 --> 00:44:00.540 And he sent Jesus, not just to die, but to live. 00:44:01.540 --> 00:44:03.340 To live the perfect life. 00:44:03.760 --> 00:44:05.440 To live in perfection. 00:44:06.700 --> 00:44:08.380 So that when we believe in him, 00:44:09.180 --> 00:44:12.600 when we put our faith and our hope and our trust in him, 00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:19.520 that that life, that holiness scripture teaches, is imparted to us. 00:44:21.060 --> 00:44:27.960 So now I'm not known before the Lord for all my faults and failures and sins. 00:44:29.180 --> 00:44:33.800 But now I'm known by God by the work of the Son. 00:44:36.500 --> 00:44:39.860 And that's the joy and the hope of this season. 00:44:41.160 --> 00:44:41.920 Would you pray with me? 00:44:41.920 --> 00:44:42.000 Amen. 00:44:51.060 --> 00:44:56.640 God, we come to you in this season. 00:44:58.980 --> 00:45:01.720 Lord, our houses are decorated. 00:45:03.900 --> 00:45:07.500 Our trees are up. 00:45:10.260 --> 00:45:14.300 We've got presents under a tree. 00:45:17.020 --> 00:45:19.340 We're planning parties. 00:45:20.720 --> 00:45:23.060 We're getting Christmas cards. 00:45:25.240 --> 00:45:28.360 We're spending days in the kitchen baking. 00:45:31.700 --> 00:45:33.860 And we know why. 00:45:35.520 --> 00:45:37.260 So many don't. 00:45:42.140 --> 00:45:46.580 God, it's that you sent your Son. 00:45:49.000 --> 00:45:50.980 As we read in Matthew 1. 00:45:53.760 --> 00:45:57.960 To be born of a virgin. 00:46:00.360 --> 00:46:03.980 To be laid in a manger. 00:46:06.700 --> 00:46:09.840 It's a journey to the cross. 00:46:14.720 --> 00:46:15.820 God, we thank you. 00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:22.740 Because it's through that we have hope. 00:46:24.980 --> 00:46:27.200 It's through that we find peace. 00:46:29.780 --> 00:46:32.320 It's through that the joy is made possible. 00:46:34.180 --> 00:46:35.460 That Christ came. 00:46:36.980 --> 00:46:38.100 He lived. 00:46:39.340 --> 00:46:40.280 He died. 00:46:41.720 --> 00:46:42.940 He was resurrected. 00:46:44.240 --> 00:46:45.320 He ascended. 00:46:51.640 --> 00:46:53.540 Lord, I pray for those who are here. 00:46:55.400 --> 00:47:01.360 Maybe, Lord, this message this morning is a message they've heard before. 00:47:02.700 --> 00:47:07.620 But they too, like Nicodemus, want to find their righteousness in their works. 00:47:07.920 --> 00:47:10.440 They want to find their righteousness in their intellect. 00:47:10.940 --> 00:47:12.020 But it's Jesus. 00:47:13.780 --> 00:47:17.440 Or, Lord, maybe they've never heard before. 00:47:18.780 --> 00:47:21.040 And today is the first time they've heard. 00:47:23.120 --> 00:47:26.120 And they're being told this morning a lot to process. 00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:28.620 That there is an eternity. 00:47:30.520 --> 00:47:33.200 That heaven is real and so is hell. 00:47:34.140 --> 00:47:37.340 And that, Jesus, that you teach about hell. 00:47:38.320 --> 00:47:41.260 That hell is an eternal place of punishment. 00:47:41.620 --> 00:47:43.520 Of unquenchable fire. 00:47:45.120 --> 00:47:47.240 Where there's gnashing of teeth. 00:47:47.680 --> 00:47:49.160 Where you cannot return. 00:47:50.520 --> 00:47:56.440 That it's a place of misery and suffering and continual pain that never ceases. 00:47:57.780 --> 00:48:00.800 And, Lord, that heaven is real and so is hell. 00:48:01.940 --> 00:48:05.420 And that our sin will send us to hell. 00:48:06.340 --> 00:48:09.520 And Jesus can deliver us to heaven. 00:48:10.180 --> 00:48:10.980 And that's it. 00:48:12.300 --> 00:48:13.300 And that's it. 00:48:13.300 --> 00:48:18.880 And that there's never being good enough in ourselves. 00:48:20.420 --> 00:48:23.460 There's never being smart enough in religion. 00:48:24.180 --> 00:48:26.000 It's just Jesus. 00:48:28.260 --> 00:48:32.480 And so if our means of salvation is not Christ and Christ alone. 00:48:33.420 --> 00:48:35.000 Then it is insufficient. 00:48:37.800 --> 00:48:38.800 It's Jesus. 00:48:38.800 --> 00:48:47.120 And today, whether they've heard this a thousand times. 00:48:48.480 --> 00:48:51.580 Or whether today you're hearing this for the first time. 00:48:52.840 --> 00:48:53.960 And you want to be born again. 00:48:53.960 --> 00:48:56.100 And you want to be born again. 00:48:58.600 --> 00:49:00.540 Feel the drawing of the Spirit. 00:49:03.880 --> 00:49:04.920 It's not hard. 00:49:06.620 --> 00:49:09.760 Jesus says you've got to be born to water. 00:49:11.620 --> 00:49:17.640 You've got to admit that you're a sinner who needs to be washed and made clean by the blood of the Lamb. 00:49:17.640 --> 00:49:23.420 But you've got to be born of the Spirit. 00:49:23.420 --> 00:49:32.540 That you believe that Jesus is the one and only Son of God sent to die for you. 00:49:33.600 --> 00:49:35.180 To take on what you deserve. 00:49:37.020 --> 00:49:41.720 And that you confess Him as the Lord and Savior of your life. 00:49:42.120 --> 00:49:46.280 Lord, as we stand and sing. 00:49:47.720 --> 00:49:52.100 Lord, I pray that your Spirit would work and move in this place. 00:49:52.940 --> 00:49:55.300 I pray if there's anyone here who does not know you. 00:49:55.580 --> 00:49:57.560 Anyone here who has not been born again. 00:49:57.800 --> 00:50:01.020 That today could be the day of their spiritual birth. 00:50:01.340 --> 00:50:04.360 Today would be the day where they'd be found in Christ. 00:50:04.580 --> 00:50:08.400 Today would be the day that they would be born of water and born of Spirit. 00:50:08.660 --> 00:50:09.920 And it's all because of Jesus. 00:50:10.200 --> 00:50:11.420 And we'll celebrate you. 00:50:11.620 --> 00:50:12.860 And we'll glorify you. 00:50:13.060 --> 00:50:15.380 And we'll praise you, Lord, for all you are. 00:50:15.560 --> 00:50:16.720 For all you've done. 00:50:16.860 --> 00:50:18.320 And all you're going to do. 00:50:20.280 --> 00:50:21.300 God, we thank you. 00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:23.620 We thank you. 00:50:24.760 --> 00:50:26.060 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:50:26.860 --> 00:50:27.240 Amen. 00:50:27.240 --> 00:50:27.340 Amen. 00:50:27.340 --> 00:50:27.380 Amen. 00:50:38.660 --> 00:50:45.100 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:50:45.760 --> 00:50:47.920 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:50:48.520 --> 00:50:51.920 If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources, 00:50:52.520 --> 00:50:56.960 visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com 00:50:56.960 --> 00:51:00.500 or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram. 00:51:00.500 --> 00:51:01.500 Thank you.