Jesus and Nicodemus Part 5 - How To Be Born Again - John 3:9-15

1:09Is it the kind of faith that Jesus has faith in? We're coming to this passage, working through John chapter 3, and there's this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. And what starts this really is this idea in chapter 2 where Jesus is doing a lot of Signs at Passover, and many people were believing in him, observing the signs. But then it says this in verse 24, but Jesus, on his part, was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men. And he didn't need anybody to testify about what was in men, because he knew what was in man. There's a kind of faith that springs out of human origins that's based upon the flesh. It's based upon that which doesn't endure, that is fickle, transient, caves in under temptation and doesn't stand trial or the test of time. So here comes a man named Nicodemus at this present condition has just such a kind of faith, faith that Jesus does not have faith in. And so he walks through in this discussion, uncovering his inferior faith, uncovering what he's lacking. And so in verse chapter 3, or chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, just looking at the major outline that we've been through in verses 1 through 15, divided it up by three truly, truly statements, or three most assuredly statements that you'll find in your scriptures. But verse 1 through 3, Jesus says, truly, truly.

2:53Verse 3, and he's dealing with the necessity of being born again. And then in verses 5 through 15, 8, the second truly, truly, Jesus elaborates on what being born again means. So he said, you must be born again in verses 1 through 3, and then he says, goes on to elaborate what being born again means in verses 5 through 8. And then in verses 9 through 15, Jesus tells us precisely how to be born again. How to be born again. And that's what we began working through. And we'll just pick it up right there. Notice that beginning in verse 9, Nicodemus' reaction makes this statement to everything that Jesus has just said in verse 1 through 8. You must be born again. He describes what being born again is. And then in verse 9, Nicodemus says this, How can these things be? And Jesus answered him in verse 10, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? You should understand this, Nicodemus, because of who you are. Verse 11, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. Look, Nicodemus, Jesus is saying, you're not going to understand me until you believe me. If you don't believe what I'm saying concerning earthly things, or if you do not accept my testimony, you're not going to understand who I am or be able to replace. Respond to the salvation to the kingdom that I bring.

4:36Verse 12: If I told you earthly things and you do not believe them, how are you going to believe if I tell you heavenly things? If I've told you simple things, if I've told you things of earth and you're not believing me, how in the world are you going to believe if I tell you heavenly things? If you don't believe that a man must be born again to enter the kingdom of God, you certainly aren't going to understand how one is born again. And Jesus in his mercy goes on, even though Nicodemus isn't receiving, he's struggling, he doesn't believe what Jesus is saying, so why go any further? And friends, that's where many of us are. If you don't believe Jesus, you're not going to be able to understand Jesus, number one, and you're not going to be able to respond to the kingdom he offers. And that's what Jesus is telling him: if you don't believe, I've told you earthly things and you don't believe, you're not going to believe heavenly things. But Jesus, in his mercy, he goes on and he tells Nicodemus three heavenly things. Three heavenly things. And these three heavenly things precisely answer the question: how one becomes born again? How do you and I become born again?

5:53Last time, well, we've already looked at in verse 8 the cause of the new birth. He's already described. Discuss that in verse 8. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, and do not know where it comes from or where it is going, so is everyone who's born of the Spirit. So God is the one who causes the birth. He's already spoken about that. And the cause of the new birth is God, his side of the fence.

6:22And next, he's going to go on to explain the mechanism of the new birth. So he's already described the cause. Now he's going to describe the mechanism. The cause is by, if we use Reformation terms, that has come and stuck, grace alone, the mechanism through faith alone. So that brings us to our text this morning. That was all by way of review. Now, I want to pick up in verse 13. No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that everyone who believes will in him have eternal life.

7:11So as we began working our way through this last time, when we went slow, we're going to go again slow today because of the rich truth and the importance of the truth that's here in this text this morning. The last time we began to look at the first heavenly thing, the first Heavenly thing, three heavenly things that tell us exactly how to be born again. The first heavenly thing is you must recognize the credibility of the Son of Man. Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. He's saying, No one has ascended into heaven, no one has, but he who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man. We covered that last time. The basic idea of the Son of Man is used to describe in the Old Testament the sinfulness, unreliability, lowliness, and weakness of fallen humanity. But it's also used to describe the individual that God has established to rule humanity, the Son of Man. And that is how Jesus sees himself. He is the Son of Man, the individual that God has established to rule humanity. And he has taken himself the likeness of our flesh. He has taken upon our flesh, made in our likeness, in our lowliness.

8:34And Jesus, or Nicodemus knew, Nicodemus knew that Jesus had come from God because of the works. And so the very first thing that what Jesus is saying is you must recognize the credibility. Recognize who the authority is to speak about the things of heaven. Jesus is heaven's credible witness. And that's what Jesus says. Has said to Nicodemus. We looked at that last time. Now we're moving into heavenly thing number two. Heavenly thing number two. And this deals with the work of the Son of Man.

9:16First dealt with the witness of the Son of Man. You must receive the witness of the Son of Man to enter into heaven, to enter into the kingdom of God. You must receive his witness, but you also must reflect upon the work of the Son of Man. Reflect upon the cross. Look at verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And this expression, lifted up, is an unmistakable reference to the cross. Jesus is very clear in this in John chapter 12. He's speaking to the crowd, and he says this in verse 32. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. But he was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which he was to die. He was going to go to the cross. And the crowd understood this. And the crowd then answered and said, We have heard out of the law that the Christ is to remain forever. How can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? In other words, we have heard the Christ. Is going to endure forever. So, how in the world is he going to be crucified? What are you talking about? And who is the Son of Man?

10:40As Moses lifted up the serpent, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Now, what is this serpent? Serpent in the wilderness, what in the world is that about? Talking about how to be born again, or how this whole thing that now Jesus is talking about this obscure little incident that took place in the wilderness about a serpent being lifted up. What's all that about? And how does that bear on being born again? Well, it has everything to do with it. And so, we're going to take time this morning to make sure we understand what's going on in Jesus' mind and how he is using this passage. It's actually Numbers chapter 21, verses 4 through 9. And you can just turn there because we're going to spend a little time there. Now, before I go there, I want to set the stage by calling to your attention a very disturbing pattern in the Old Testament, a very disturbing pattern that we begin to see in Genesis, the very early chapters, and we actually see this pattern continue throughout all of Scripture, and it's the issue. A chronic problem within man that Christ is going to deal with.

12:07But it reveals this deep-seated problem in man, and it's a problem that you and I have and must be dealt with. But we'll just start with the problem in the Garden of Eden. You know the story: God made everything, He made it all good, declared it all to be good. Except there was one thing that God said that wasn't good. You remember what it was? Man was alone. It's not good for man to be alone, and so He remedied the situation by creating Eve. He made a partner, a suitable helpmeet, a lifeline companion, so that he could share with. So man was made for relationship, and so he makes this relation. He remedied man's aloneness.

12:58Man needs each other. People need each other. And so God remedied the situation that was not good. In verse 131, God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and morning the sixth day. So then, once man had this, everything was good, God remedied the situation that was not good by establishing a relationship between man and woman. However, as you know, as you read, The narrative, something horribly bad takes place, right? Adam and Eve possessed paradise. They had it. And they had dominion over paradise. Now, think about that. That's everything that anybody ever pursues, right? We want paradise, and then we want control over paradise, right? That's kind of what every this is what they had. They had paradise and they had dominion over paradise, with the exception of one individual they did not have dominion over, and that was the one who made them. Adam was not content to be under the dominion of God, but sought to put God under his dominion.

14:13You see, the story of human history is the story of man attempting to put God under his dominion. And what a flop that turned out to be. In fact, this is really the story of your life and my life. A story of seeking to put God under our dominion. He had dominion over everything, except the one who made him. But that wasn't enough. And so we can boil man's rebellion down to really a core issue, a core issue of unbelief. A core issue. He didn't believe God. He didn't simply take God at his word. This unbelief manifested. Itself in skepticism, distrust, rebellion, all that. But that is not good.

15:13The second thing we come to in Genesis, right, that's not good. Even though Genesis doesn't explicitly say it was not good, the whole narrative makes it clear how horribly man's condition to sin was and what that caused the earth to become. And we can emphatically say, and don't miss this, man could not possess paradise because of his unbelief in God, his distrust, his skepticism. It's kind of like God saying, okay, if Adam, if you do not believe me, you cannot possess paradise. Believing in me, being connected, spiritually joined to me, is a condition for occupying the paradise. You see, not only was man created to have relationship with one another, but man was created to have relationship with God.

16:16And this is the chronic problem: unbelief. This is the story of your life and my life. A story, a pattern that I'm sure. You're honest with yourself, you will see in your own life. Well, this is the chronic problem. We come to the wilderness, fast forward 2,800 years. Adam could not possess paradise because of his unbelief. So now let's go 2,800 years ahead into the wilderness. And we have Israel out there having come out of Egypt. They have just watched God deliver them from the Egyptian superpower of the day, completely wipes out the Egyptian army under the sea. He has taken care of them. He has provided for them. And he brings them to this land that he had promised them. They send out spies into the land to look at the land that God had given them. And yet the spies, for the most part, the majority, came back and they were afraid. And this horrible condition of unbelief raises its ugly head again. I just want you to listen to what Israel said after Joshua and the spies returned from spying out the land. All the sons of Israel, in Numbers 14, verse 2, all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in the land of Lord? This wilderness. Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder. Would it not be better to return to Egypt? Now, think about what they're saying.

18:16I know what God's about. He wants to, he's so sick, so deranged, that he delivered us from Egypt, put the Egyptian superpower underwater, let us go free so he could bring us over here and watch us die by the sword. Wow. God wanted him gone. He could have caused both the Egyptians and the Israelites to be gone. But this is the nature of this ugly, persistent, chronic unbelief. Listen to what God's response was. In verse 14, chapter 14, verse 11, Then the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people spurn me? How long will they not believe in me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst, despite all of their goodness, all of God's goodness to them, all that he had done to them? Here they are, they are saying, Okay, God, you're just a bad guy.

19:14You see how ugly unbelief is? You know, God has been good to you. I don't care who you are in this room, God has been good to you, and he has demonstrated that time and time again. Again, I hope that you will come to despise an unbelieving heart, your own unbelieving heart. So here's God's judgment on them in Numbers 14:29. Your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all of your numbered men, according to your complete number, from 20 years old and upward, who have grumbled against me. So, you know what? A whole generation. God had brought them over out of Egypt to the land, and they didn't go in because of their unbelief.

20:07They could not go in because they did not believe. Now, let's fast forward another 38 years to Numbers chapter 20. We're getting to chapter 21. We're going to get there, but I want you to see some things before we get there. So, go another 38 years. And here we are again. We're at the waters of Meribah. I'll just pick it up in Numbers 20, verse 1. Then the sons of Israel and the whole congregation came to the wilderness of Zen in the first month, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now, Miriam died there and was buried there. There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. So now they're out of water. The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord, why then have we? You brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die here? Why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us into this wretched place?

21:13It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink. Okay, so this isn't at all a land flowing of milk and honey at all. This is a wasteland, and you brought us out here to kill us with water. That's what you're about. You want to kill us without having water? Listen to what God's solution is. In verse 7, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take the rod, and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes that it may yield its water. Go out there, just speak.

21:51And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock, and he said to them, Listen now, you rebels, shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock? Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod, and water came forth abundantly. And the congregation and their beasts drank. But something happened. Verse 12, but the Lord said to Moses, Because you have not believed me, he was to speak to the rock instead, he strikes the rock twice. He doesn't simply just take the Lord at his word. And this is the indictment. I want you to. Get this. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you have not believed me, you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.

22:44Wow. Because you have not believed me to treat me as holy in the sight of the people, you shall not bring me in. Reason that Moses and Aaron is not going to lead them in is because of their unbelief. This is the same reason why the entire generation 38 years ago didn't go in. Unbelief. And yet it's said here of Moses. You can read it. It's right there. It's the same indictment. Compare the two. Don't you find this alarming? I find it very alarming. If Moses didn't believe enough so as to enter the promised land, what hope is there for the rest of us?

23:36If Moses, after all that he had saw, all that he had seen, if he didn't believe so as to enter, how in the world is my faith going to be adequate to enter the kingdom of God, the real kingdom? I can't have faith in my faith either. You see where it takes us? If Moses' faith wasn't sufficient to get him into the land, I know that I will never have faith, an enduring kind of faith that can survive the test of temptation and trial and time. I'll never have that kind of faith in and of myself.

24:25I need something else. Something else is going to have to happen. You see why we can't have faith in human faith? But now I want you to, but before we're going to get to Numbers 21, but you've got to understand something. I want to read to you something from Joshua chapter 24 in verse 31. As you know, it was not Moses that led the children of Israel into the land, it was Joshua, right? Joshua led a whole new generation, and that generation had great success in the land. Joshua had success, and so did the generation. And I want you to just listen to these words as you close out Joshua's life. I want you to hear what was said about him. They bury him in Joshua chapter 24 in the territory of his inheritance. And then in verse 31, chapter 24, it says, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua and had known all the deeds of. The Lord, which he had done for Israel. So all of Israel served during the days of Joshua and all of the elders that survived Joshua.

25:41Wow, that's a pretty big transformation. Think about it. Okay? What happened in Israel? Something happened in that generation. How did they go from a disposition of unbelief so as not to even enter the land to a disposition of belief so as to take God at his word to go into his land and to conquer? What happened? The answer is the bronze serpent. The incident of the bronze serpent. Numbers 21 happened. Numbers 21. Let's pick it up.

26:21Russell read it earlier. By my accounting, and I think this is correct. You can go back and check it. 14 times through the narrative of coming out of Egypt, getting to this point, 14 times the people have grumbled. This is the last time. God does something here and he takes care of it. You don't hear him grumbling. In fact, they go into the land. And I want you to see what he does. They complained until they encountered the fiery serpents.

26:58So we'll just pick it up here. You've got this episode of the fiery serpents. They don't want to go into the land. Or again, they're complaining against God. This chronic unbelief shows its ugly head again. Let's just pick up the narrative in 21, verse 4. Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Eden. And the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food. They don't like the manna. This miserable food. It's miserable. I mean, wow.

27:51By the way, this isn't just about them, is it? It's about us. It's about our relationship with God. There's a picture of a chronic problem that they had, that we have, that has to be dealt with. After all the good that God had done, Israel is still distrusting God. Keep in mind, Adam couldn't possess paradise because of his unbelief. The generation that has just fallen in the wilderness, even Moses himself, could not go in and possess the land because of their unbelief. Something happened. To change because this generation has to go in and possess the land.

28:37So judgment happens. God's going to change the thinking of this people. And notice how he deals with Israel's problem. Verse 6: The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. Fiery serpents. You know, we have fire ants around here, right? little red, brown. So their color is red and brown. And when they bite you, what happens? You get this red, inflamed swelling. I think that's how these fiery serpents were red, brown in color, probably medium-sized snake. And when they bit, they left these big inflamed red bites that led to death, certain death. So here's the way God deals with it. He sends this plague of serpents to bite the people, inject poison into the people, and the people would certainly die. So these serpents come in basically as God's agent of judgment and inject a death sentence on everybody they bite. That's God's judgment. And this leads to desperation. And God, so what God does is he uses these serpents to inject a death sentence to bring the people to a point of desperation so they would instead of Complaining about God, turn to God and look for help. Look for Him for forgiveness and help. So look at verse 7 of 21. So the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you intercede with the Lord that He may remove the serpents from us. And Moses interceded for the people. So the death sentence brought about a change in attitude towards God, didn't it? All of a sudden, before the fiery serpents, they're mad at God because, well, we don't like this crummy food, you know. And then right afterwards, oh, forgive me. Help. You see the change? And it's these serpents that have come in, and the serpents have brought about a good change. Don't miss this. The problem's not the poison. The problem's the condition, the condition of their hearts. And the serpents helped Israel.

30:59I mean, look, I think right away it's kind of like, okay, if God wanted to kill you, boom. He could send a plague of serpents and you'd all be wiped out, right? And they get it. So God brings his judgment, what leads to desperation, which then sets the stage for salvation. Notice that God doesn't remove the snakes like they ask. What does he do? Look back at verse 8. Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard. You know what a standard is? It's like a flagpole. We can think of it as a. A big pole. Take this serpent, put it up there so that everybody can see it. Put it in a prominent place for everybody to see. And it shall come about that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.

31:44And so Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard. And it came about that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Get this picture. So the serpent goes up. If you get bit, you look at the serpent, you look at this bronze serpent, and what happens? The death sentence is removed. But also, keep in mind, the problem wasn't the poison, it was the condition. In remedying the poison that was certain death, the condition of unbelief was dealt with. As one looked, a willful decision to be able to assess the situation, I have a death sentence in me. I'm going to die. If God wanted to kill me, he certainly could and is in the process of doing so. But if I look, if I realize that God has made a way out, and I turn and I look, and I trust in God and in this context, Moses, the one he sent, as I turn and look, that condition of unbelief is dealt with. You see what's happening?

33:02Think about this. Like, if we're going to have, if we're going to have a thorough winnowing, I'm sure that in this crowd, there's believers and unbelievers. Though I pray that God, by his grace, will today awaken any of you who are not a true believer, or that he will use today to start a process in your life that inevitably leads to him awakening you. But if we wanted to purge and God opened the door, and all of a sudden, all these fiery serpents came in and bit everybody in here, and only those who believed would look to the standard that God has raised up, guess what would happen to everybody who didn't look?

33:43They're dead, right? So, what's left after this process? Believers, or at least people who will take God at his word, right? A people fit to go into the land. Let me just make sure we get this. I know I want to make sure I just made a little acronym up here that'll maybe help you get this. Keep your mind around. Let's just step through this slowly. See, a condition, a condition of belief. Okay? Then comes the agent of judgment. There's this condition, this hard-hearted condition of unbelief. God sends this agent of judgment.

34:30It's a snake, okay? P for poison. So I'm going to spell out a word here. You'll get it. But just to helpfully remember. So there's a condition of unbelief, an agent of judgment that comes and puts poison in. That brings about an imminent death, a certain death. So it's then there's the remedy. And the remedy, what's interesting, is the emblem of the agent of judgment is the remedy. The emblem of death is the remedy for the judgment. The agent of judgment is the agent of salvation. And then by an observation, a look, this was man's responsibility. So there's a condition of unbelief, an agent of judgment, poison that's injected, which there's a remedy in the story, the story. And then there is the observation. By looking, man is healed. A change occurs. A change. A change in the sentence occurs. The death is removed. But it's not about the sentence of death that's primary. It's the condition of unbelief.

35:49So the condition of unbelief through the agent of judgment that brings about a knowledge of imminent death caused them to look to. A remedy. And that remedy was, and by observing that remedy, a change, a change in the sentence, and a change in the condition that led to the judgment. And what did that bring about? A kingdom entrance. Kingdom entrance. And we can use that as, certainly in this context, the geopolitical territory of Canaan. A nation was fit to go in because they had learned to take God at his word. So we can use the word cap rock, maybe just to help you think through cap rock of salvation or picture.

36:44Let's keep going now. So three heavenly things. Now we can come back to John. Now we're ready. That's the introduction, right? So heavenly thing, number one, recognize the credibility of the Son of Man. Heavenly thing, number two, reflect upon the cross of the Son of Man. And look back at verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up. So he has told Nicodemus, the Son of Man, God's anointed ruler, is going to be crucified.

37:21This is hard for Nicodemus. He goes, I know you're from God. The signs, I get it. And Jesus is saying, now listen to what I'm having to say. The Son of Man is going to be lifted up and crucified. Why? Why? That's the big question. Why? Why is he going to be lifted up? And this is the third heavenly thing about being born again that I want you to see. Heavenly thing number three: be believing in the Son of Man. So, how to be born again? First of all, you must recognize the credibility of the Son of God, Son of Man. He is the one who can, He's the only one who can speak with authority. Number two, reflect upon the cross of the Son of Man. And the idea is one of observe, take in, understand, get your mind around. And three, be believing in the Son of Man. Be believing in what he's saying.

38:22Looking back, so that, verse 15, whoever believes will in him have eternal life. I prefer the ESV or the King James reading of this: that whoever believes in him may have eternal life, or whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. The idea is the one believing, it's speaking about a present, ongoing, current, continual belief. The one who is having this kind of faith in him will be, should be, will be having eternal life. So, whoever believes, In him. This is the one, the one who is believing.

39:06Present, ongoing action. So that whoever is believing will have eternal life. So here's, here he boils us down to Nicodemus. Look back at verse 3. You know, it says, whoever believes will not only see, remember, he says in verse 3, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So Nicodemus, you're not going to see the kingdom of God unless you're born again. In verse 5, what does he say? Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So you cannot only see, you can't understand, you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you're born again. But also now it's clear that you cannot possess the kingdom of God unless you have this ongoing, present, current belief. That's the kind of faith that Christ has faith in. It's a kind that goes, continues.

40:25What do you think heaven's going to be populated with? People. Who presently and all the time and throughout eternity are going to believe in him. What was not good? The first thing that was not good for man to be alone. We're created for relationships. Second thing that's not good is man's not intended to be apart from God. Spiritual death is disbelief, unbelief. Eternal life is being joined with God forever. And that state is one of continual abiding belief. That is what characterizes the citizens of heaven.

41:08You see, Adam and Garth, he could not possess paradise because of his unbelief. Israel in the wilderness could not enter the land because of their unbelief. Israel could not remain into the land because of their unbelief. And you go right, Saul couldn't keep his kingdom because he simply wouldn't take God at his word. On going through the whole book of the Bible, we see this pattern of fallen man. It comes down to Nicodemus. This is true of Nicodemus. This is true of you and me. Unless we have a continual, ongoing belief, we're not going to see, enter, or possess heaven.

41:50So it brings back to my original question. Do you have faith in your faith? Do you have faith in your faith? I hope you see that the kind of faith that you Need is a faith that doesn't spring from the soil of fallen humanity. The kind of belief that Christ has faith in is the kind of belief that is given, that comes from Him, that is a work of His Spirit. The wind blows where it wishes. Verse 8, the effect of it, we see. What is the effect of the rebirth of the Spirit of God? The effect is continuous, ongoing belief. That's where this passage is taking us. And it's not hard. You can't miss them.

42:45The work of God, the work of Christ is that you believe. In fact, some of you may struggle with this a little bit, but this is really the whole message of John. Let me turn to chapter 6 and verse 28 and remember this. The people ask him, What shall we do so that we may work the works of God? In verse 29, Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. So they're asking, What shall we do to work the works of God? He's saying, Let me tell you the work of God. The work of God is that you believe. This is the work of God. This is what being born again. This is what being born from above is about, and this is what is necessary for you to see, enter, and possess the kingdom of God. It's a work that isn't of us, and that's what blew Nicodemus' mind.

43:50So, where does this take us? Yes, there's still a mystery. When and how does rebirth happen? I can tell you it happens. The best answer I can tell you, based upon this text, it happens in conjunction when one is reflecting upon the cross of the Son of Man. And that is like in the wilderness. When did the poison go out? When did the death sentence change when they were reflecting, when they were observing? And so, I say to you, I mean, what is your faith? How is your faith? Do you have faith to enter the kingdom of God? I say if you know deep down, you know, I don't have that faith. I want to encourage you right now to reflect upon the cross of the Son of Man. And even as you leave here, continue to reflect upon the cross. Why in the world? I mean, he is raised on a standard. You know Jesus Christ. You know this center point of history.

44:58Things have been said about him. That haven't been said about anybody else. He walked on water. You know, this, you've heard. He healed the blind, he created matter out of nothing. He raised the dead. And then he himself, when he was crucified and certifiably dead, came from the grave. Why? If he had this much power over life, why in the world will we go to the cross anyway? He was doing something, he was drawing you to himself.

45:34So look, reflect. And it's in that reflection, in that, that God uses to awaken, to cause born again, someone to be born from above. I also want to make just an application to those of us who are evangelists. If you're sharing your faith, you know, the most important thing for you to do is to get to the cross. I've heard, seen a very number of different schemes of how to present the gospel, how to get there.

46:09And there's some ways that are better, some that are worse, I think, but I'll tell you the most important thing: it's get to the cross. Get to the reflection of the cross. That is where the transformation is going to occur. I just want to relate this also to us as believers. I'm going to go a couple more minutes, but. but I want to make sure you understand this. Center your life around the cross. It's one reason I think we have the Lord's table is to be kept at the center. Center your life around the cross of Christ, around ongoing reflection upon the cross of Christ. You can think about the wilderness. Think about what became prime real estate after this fiery serpent incident.

47:00If you were a mother and you had kids and you had all these things, what would you want to, you would want to make sure that your kids were close to where they could see that serpent, right? You go play, but don't you get out of eyesight of this serpent, right? You get bit, you stay close. I mean, what's prime real estate around here? I mean, you've got to love Texas Aggie Land. You've got to love Aggie Land, right? We don't have views of the ocean. We don't have views of the woods or the mountains. You know what it is, right? What's the big view of what? Kyle Field. That's it, right? View of the football stadium. Well, that was, just think about how life changed in the wilderness after this. You wanted to be close to where you could see that standard, right? To see that serpent. Because if you were bit, you wanted, friends, let us live. Let us start each day with the paradigm of the cross. Each morning. When you would, whatever you are going through in life, first start, stop, and settle it with and reflect upon the cross. That will strengthen and increase your faith and give you the means and the grace to deal with whatever is going on in your life. Because the cross settles God's love for us once and for all, and the promise that He knows what He's doing and He's taking care of this condition of unbelief in us. I look forward to going further with this because next we're going to get the explanation of why God wants us to be born again. But let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do give you thanks for your great goodness and your mercy.

48:54Thank you for this body. Thank you for your word. Remove from us this pattern of unbelief in big ways and in small ways, and help us simply to trust in you. In Jesus' name, amen.