Beyond the Ring: The Reality of Spiritual Rebirth

• Father's Day / Dad Culture [00:00:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor opens with a lighthearted celebration of Father's Day, discussing common 'dad-isms' and dad jokes to engage the congregation.
• Jesus' Empathy and Understanding [00:05:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor summarizes the sermon series, highlighting how Jesus interacted with various outcasts and sinners to show He understands human struggle.
• Nicodemus and Religious Hypocrisy [00:06:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces Nicodemus as a religious leader who appeared successful on the outside but had internal doubts, leading him to visit Jesus secretly.
• Being Born Again [00:11:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains Jesus' command to be 'born again,' stripping away cultural baggage to focus on the spiritual necessity of a second birth distinct from physical or religious belonging.
• Church Membership vs. Spiritual Life [00:13:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the analogy of a wedding ring, the pastor argues that church membership is a symbol of commitment, not the source of spiritual life itself.
• Belonging vs. Relationship [00:13:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that church membership and attendance are outward signs of an inward reality, not the reality itself, using the analogy of a wedding ring.
• Behavioral Morality [00:15:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor debunks the idea that moral uprightness or strict adherence to rules (like the Pharisees) constitutes a relationship with God, citing Nicodemus's strict lifestyle as insufficient.
• Intellectual Belief [00:18:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that intellectual assent to biblical facts is insufficient for spiritual life, distinguishing between knowing facts and experientially living them.
• Being Born Again [00:20:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor presents spiritual rebirth as the necessary starting point for authentic spirituality, from which belonging, believing, and behaving naturally flow.
• God's Love and Salvation [00:21:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor breaks down John 3:16 into four headlines: God loves the world, He gave His Son, we must truly believe (commit), and we receive eternal life.
• Discipleship and Courage [00:26:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the fear of the followers after the crucifixion and contrasts it with the boldness of Joseph and Nicodemus who publicly claimed Jesus despite the risk of death.
• Spiritual Transformation (Born Again) [00:27:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The speaker analyzes Nicodemus's journey from secret night meetings to public daylight action, defining this shift as moving from superficial categories (belonging, behaving, believing) to being 'born again'.
• Personal Application and Salvation [00:27:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor directly addresses the congregation, asking them to self-examine their spiritual state and defining salvation not as external rituals but as an inward, relational prayer of repentance and desire for God.

• Sermon Illustration [00:00:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor lists common 'dad phrases' by state (e.g., 'back in my day' in CA/AZ, 'money doesn't grow on trees' in IL/CO/NM) and shares several dad jokes, including the 'hi hungry, I'm dad' punchline.
• Sermon Illustration [00:07:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the Pharisees as the 'Navy SEALs of Judaism,' a small, devout group of 6,000 who separated themselves from anything violating religious law and governed the Jewish nation via the Sanhedrin.
• Sermon Illustration [00:12:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a biological analogy of conception, describing the sperm race where one out of five million wins to reach the egg, to illustrate physical birth before contrasting it with spiritual birth.
• Sermon Illustration [00:14:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses his own wedding ring as an analogy, explaining that wearing the ring symbolizes marriage but does not create the marriage, just as church membership symbolizes faith but does not create spiritual life.
• Sermon Illustration [00:14:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses his own wedding ring to illustrate that the object itself does not create the marriage; it only symbolizes the commitment. Similarly, church membership is a sign, not the substance, of the relationship with God.
• Sermon Illustration [00:16:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the Pharisees' extreme ritualistic purity laws, including lowering their heads to avoid looking at women to prevent lust, which resulted in them running into walls.
• Sermon Illustration [00:17:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a story about Mother Teresa, noting that despite her moral excellence, she constantly confessed her failures and need for forgiveness, proving that even the most moral life is not the heart of spirituality.
• Sermon Illustration [00:23:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of a single person who intellectually believes in the benefits of marriage but refuses to find a partner or commit, illustrating that true belief requires commitment and action, not just intellectual assent.
• Sermon Illustration [00:26:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the historical account of Nicodemus standing up for Jesus during his trial and helping Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus, suggesting Nicodemus moved from private belief to public allegiance.
• Sermon Illustration [00:26:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the historical/biblical scene immediately following the crucifixion where Jesus's followers hid in fear behind closed doors, while only Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were strong enough to stand before authorities and request Jesus's body, demonstrating public allegiance.

• Pastoral Charge [00:28:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor instructs the congregation to pray a specific prayer of repentance and relational commitment to Jesus, owning their sins and seeking a personal relationship rather than just religious knowledge.
• Pastoral Charge [00:27:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray a specific relational prayer that owns sins, seeks forgiveness, acknowledges Jesus' purpose, and desires a personal relationship with God rather than just religious observance.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] He gets the pressure, the heartbreak, the doubts we hide, and the battles we face.
[00:00:06] Through powerful moments from the life of Jesus, we'll discover someone who meets us where we are, with empathy, compassion, and understanding, because no matter your story, He gets us.

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:00:17] Well, welcome to MEX Online Campus, and happy Father's Day.
[00:00:27] Now, we dads are known for a lot of things, such as our dad-isms, those phrases and statements that are filled with wisdom and insight and truth and guidance and most of all wit that just
[00:00:41] enlightens everyone around us, particularly our families. And for that, our families are eternally grateful, so much so that our dad-isms have been compiled. I'm sure not to mock us, but simply to honor us because we would never, ever be treated with disrespect for things we say or attempts at
[00:01:02] humor that we make. So here are some of the most common dad phrases in the United States broken down by state. For California, Arizona, South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, and South Carolina, the most common dad phrase is back in my day, which is a great phrase because back in our day,
[00:01:23] everything was better and smarter and harder. And you did have to walk three miles to school barefoot in the snow. So you need that wisdom. For Illinois, Colorado, and New Mexico, it's money doesn't grow on trees. Again, so true. It doesn't. Go look. You have to earn it just like
[00:01:43] we did. For Oklahoma, Iowa, and Ohio, it's ask your mother. Now that's not deflecting. That is showing deference. That's just wanting to acknowledge the role your mother should play in your life is just a way of honoring her. For Oregon, Utah, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Connecticut,
[00:02:04] it's what's the plan, Stan? Now here, that just shows a dad's understanding from the basics of education. When words rhyme, they are more easily remembered. So when we ask for the plan and we add
[00:02:18] in the word Stan, it just helps you think about the plan and planning is good. We all need to plan.
[00:02:25] every dad knows this ranks up there with other serious educational questions designed for memory like what's the deal banana peel do you have a clue stew and you don't have to be coy Roy for North Carolina the most popular dad phrase is
[00:02:46] if all your friends jumped off a bridge would you which is just about the most important thing you could ever say to a child just because all your friends are doing something doesn't mean you have to or that it's smart like jumping off a
[00:03:03] bridge this is parenting 101 and I'm glad it's being honored and recognized but the most popular dad phrase of all coming in tops in Florida Texas Alabama Kentucky Virginia North Dakota and Louisiana is I'm not sleeping I'm just
[00:03:22] resting my eyes, which every time I have ever said it is absolutely true. I never napped once.
[00:03:31] It was all an eyelid thing. But we aren't just known for our dad-isms. We are also known for our incredible sense of humor. And of course, here I'm talking to what some people refer to
[00:03:42] as dad jokes, which I guess is a way of making sure that they know how special and wonderful they are. For example, what does a baby computer call his father? Data. Or I only get sick on
[00:03:57] weekends. I must have a weekend immune system. Or this one, what are the strongest days?
[00:04:06] Saturday and Sunday. Why? The rest are weekdays. I'm on a roll here. Or have you heard about the restaurant on the moon, great food, no atmosphere. But are you ready for the best dad joke of all?
[00:04:20] The one that is used the most, heard the most, at least according to surveys in the United States.
[00:04:27] See if you know it. The kid says, I'm hungry. And the dad says, hi hungry, I'm dad.
[00:04:35] okay enough on that again to all my fellow dads out there happy father's day we've been in a series on various scenes from the life of jesus that make something of extreme importance very clear
[00:04:51] and it's that he gets us and he gets us in every conceivable way they've been stories about jesus interacting with a complete moral failure a father and a dying daughter a woman who had been riddled
[00:05:04] with shame for 12 years, a man who had been paraplegic for 38. Time and again, story after story, the depth to which Jesus understood them, cared about them, empathized with them, and then intersected with their deepest needs was brought to light. Not just to them, but to us. Because
[00:05:23] each one was meant to remind us that he gets us too. Today, as we bring this series to an end, we've got one more story, but it's a different kind of story than the others. It's not about
[00:05:37] someone who was a moral train wreck or who was sick or in grief. It's not about someone whose self-esteem was in shatters or in need of healing, but someone who by any and every account had his
[00:05:50] life together. At least he certainly looked good on the outside. And he probably thought so too, so good that he didn't want to be. In fact, he did think so, because he didn't want to be seen
[00:06:02] as needing anything Jesus might have to offer. He didn't want to be seen as someone spiritually confused or in need of direction or counseling, in need of help, in need of forgiveness, in need of anything. He was the one people came to. He didn't go to people.
[00:06:17] But that was on the outside. On the inside, he was not so together. He had questions, Doubts, misgivings.
[00:06:26] So he decided to break down, go to Jesus.
[00:06:30] But after dark, late at night when no one would be around and no one would see and no one would know.
[00:06:38] And when he did, he had one of the most fascinating conversations with Jesus ever recorded in the Bible that obviously we're still talking about to this day.
[00:06:47] One that again shows just how much Jesus gets us.
[00:06:51] Well, here's how the story begins.
[00:06:53] There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.
[00:07:01] After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.
[00:07:05] Okay, let's stop there because it actually already tells us a lot.
[00:07:10] We're told his name was Nicodemus and that he was a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.
[00:07:15] Okay, the Pharisees were a very devout religious group.
[00:07:19] The word Pharisee means to separate, and that's exactly what they did.
[00:07:24] They separated themselves from anything and everything that would violate religious law.
[00:07:30] They were like the Navy SEALs of Judaism.
[00:07:33] They wanted nothing to do with anything that was, you know, not in the utmost spiritual fitness.
[00:07:39] They were only around 6,000 of them.
[00:07:42] They knew the Jewish law inside and out.
[00:07:44] They vowed to keep every letter of it.
[00:07:46] And not only was Nicodemus a Pharisee, he was a leader of Pharisees.
[00:07:51] He was a Jewish religious leader.
[00:07:52] It means he was a member of what was known as the Sanhedrin, 71 people who governed the entire Jewish nation.
[00:08:01] The Romans, who at that time in history occupied this part of the world, delegated all kinds of ruling authority to this group.
[00:08:09] So the Sanhedrin had authority to not only govern religious matters, but also civil and criminal matters as well. Nicodemus was one of those 71 rulers, leaders, who ruled over the entire Jewish nation, which is probably why he came to Jesus late at night. He didn't want anyone
[00:08:28] to know that he was talking to Jesus. He wasn't ready to go public with what he was thinking and what he was feeling, what he was wrestling with, the questions about Jesus that were swirling
[00:08:39] around in his head and in his heart. Jesus was already a lightning rod of controversy.
[00:08:46] And if Nicodemus himself was seen talking to him, I mean, he was a well-known guy, not just interrogating him, but having a heart-to-heart sit down as if Jesus was the rabbi and he was a student, he wasn't ready for that, even though that's exactly why he came.
[00:09:06] Okay, let's keep reading.
[00:09:08] Rabbi, he said, we all know that God has sent you to teach us.
[00:09:13] Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.
[00:09:18] Okay, take that in.
[00:09:20] Again, alone, after dark, no one looking, no one seeing.
[00:09:24] Nicodemus tells him exactly what is inside him.
[00:09:27] He said, listen, I may be a Pharisee.
[00:09:29] I may be a leader of the people.
[00:09:30] I may look like I have it all together and I know everything, but I don't.
[00:09:34] It's obvious God has sent you to teach us and to teach me, and that's not all.
[00:09:40] I mean, look at what you've been doing.
[00:09:43] How could I not be looking at what you've been doing, the signs, the wonders?
[00:09:47] Jesus had miraculously fed thousands of people with a handful of fish and a few loaves of bread.
[00:09:52] He had given sight to the blind and made the lame able to walk and caused leprosy to instantly disappear from diseased bodies.
[00:10:00] He had made the deaf to hear and those unable to speak to talk.
[00:10:04] He had turned water into wine.
[00:10:07] He'd walked on water.
[00:10:08] He caused a storm on the sea to stop.
[00:10:12] He had come face to face with people possessed by demons and cast them out with a single word.
[00:10:17] And if that wasn't enough, he had raised people from the dead.
[00:10:22] Nicodemus knew this was no ordinary man.
[00:10:24] And he just didn't know what to do with it or with him.
[00:10:27] So he comes to Jesus in the dead of night to try and open the door and see what exactly was behind it.
[00:10:35] And Jesus did not disappoint.
[00:10:37] He gives him a clear and direct answer, but maybe not the one he came looking for.
[00:10:42] But he gave him the answer, the response that was designed for him.
[00:10:47] Because he knew Nicodemus through and through, knew everything he was bringing to their conversation, and knew exactly what he needed to hear.
[00:10:55] And here's what he said.
[00:10:58] Jesus replied, I tell you the truth.
[00:11:01] Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
[00:11:05] What do you mean, exclaimed Nicodemus?
[00:11:07] How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?
[00:11:12] Jesus replied, I assure you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
[00:11:20] Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
[00:11:25] So don't be surprised when I say you must be born again.
[00:11:31] Okay, before we go any further, let's unpack that a little bit.
[00:11:34] Most people have heard that line, born again, as in born-again Christians or hearing somebody say you must be born again.
[00:11:42] And it wouldn't surprise me if there's a part of it you don't like hearing, if there's some negative baggage in your mind or spirit about it.
[00:11:49] Maybe you've seen it put up in tacky billboards without context or hurled at people in judgment and condemnation, or maybe just had the idea itself filled with something that feels weird or fake.
[00:12:00] I get it.
[00:12:02] So let's strip away all the cultural stuff and how you may have heard it used or even misused and just let what Jesus said, it's his line, just let what he said be taken how
[00:12:15] it was meant to be taken, because he really is saying something here of enormous significance, not just to Nicodemus, but to us. First, he said, you're born physically. He makes that very clear, and we get that part. Okay, we get that part. Every one of us was once a sperm.
[00:12:32] Actually, you were one of around five million sperm, to be exact, and you lined up at this starting line, and at the end of this long, long tunnel, there was this one egg. Somebody fired a
[00:12:42] gun, the race started, and you won. Compared to the Olympics, what you've pulled off is incredible sex talk over. But then Jesus tells Nicodemus that there is a second birth that needs to take place,
[00:12:55] a second birth that Nicodemus, even as a deeply religious and moral man, had never experienced, which is very interesting to think about because when you think about the born-again life that Jesus is talking about, this picture of this second birth and the life that Nicodemus had
[00:13:18] already been living, it tells you what the born again life is not about. First, it means that the life Jesus was talking about, the relationship with God that he came to offer had nothing to do
[00:13:31] with, for example, belonging, belonging to a church or attending a church. If it had been, Nicodemus wouldn't have been missing out on anything. As mentioned, he was a member of the Pharisees. Even more, he was a member of the Jewish ruling council. Nicodemus belonged. He was a member
[00:13:49] of the first church of Jerusalem. His name was on the roll. But belonging doesn't have anything to do with a new life. Just like walking into a Starbucks doesn't make you a double latte, walking into a church doesn't automatically make you alive in Jesus. Think about it like this ring
[00:14:06] on my finger, okay? This is my wedding ring. We all know that in our culture, wearing this ring means you're married, and I am. Susan and I have been married now 42 years. If I were to take it
[00:14:18] off, okay, and meet someone for the first time who knew nothing about me, they would probably assume I'm not married. I put it on, they think that I am. But the ring itself has nothing to do with
[00:14:32] whether or not I really am married, right?
[00:14:35] It's not like I take it off, I'm not married, I put it on, I'm married, you know, on, married, off, unmarried.
[00:14:41] This ring matters to me?
[00:14:43] Oh my goodness, you have no idea how much it matters to me.
[00:14:45] But only because it symbolizes my marriage, only because it reflects my commitment.
[00:14:52] That's what attending a church, belonging to a church, being a member of a church is all about.
[00:14:56] Very important things to do and to be, very important, but they are outward signs of an inward reality, of an inward truth.
[00:15:06] They reflect a relationship with God.
[00:15:08] They aren't themselves the relationship.
[00:15:12] So it's not about belonging, but that's not all.
[00:15:15] It also tells us this is not about behaving.
[00:15:20] The idea that leading a good, moral, upstanding life is the essence of a relationship with God.
[00:15:25] Again, if that's what it would have been about, I mean, Nicodemus would have been, in anybody's mind, nailing it.
[00:15:31] Because nobody was stricter in terms of lifestyle than the Pharisees.
[00:15:35] The Pharisaic system was developed around one major thing, ritualistic purity, separation from the world, holiness.
[00:15:45] In fact, they had taken the Old Testament and calculated that it contained 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions.
[00:15:53] And they had vowed to obey every single one of them.
[00:15:57] And to make sure they didn't break one of those rules or prohibitions, They made rules about the rules and then laws about the laws.
[00:16:06] So they came up with 1,500 additions.
[00:16:11] So to avoid committing adultery, for example, they would lower their head whenever they passed a woman so that they wouldn't even look at her because if they looked, they might lust, which is why the most holy of all were known as bleeding Pharisees because they were lowering their heads so much that they were kept running into walls.
[00:16:31] This is true. Nicodemus was so committed to that, so disciplined in the pursuit of it, that he was made one of the leaders of the Pharisees. So by any account, Nicodemus was trying as hard as anyone, maybe more than anyone, to be a good man, a very good man,
[00:16:49] moral, upstanding, honest, committed to his wife and family. So Jesus was talking to him about something more than that while living a moral life is something that god desires for us and wants to help us with it's not what a life in relationship with god is all about following a
[00:17:06] set of do's and don'ts or rules and regulations is not at the heart of authentic spirituality which is good news because as good as sometimes we can be none of us pull off that goodness all
[00:17:18] the time. None of us live good enough, consistently enough, morally enough to make that the basis of our spirituality. I once read a biography of a very famous woman who was keenly aware of this. She knew how far she fell from living the
[00:17:36] way that she should live. She was only too aware of the sin in her life. She talked about how she constantly had to go to God and make the topic of conversation, her sins, her sorrow, her need for forgiveness, her desire for help in overcoming
[00:17:50] temptations, her need to practice virtue. She wrote how her prayers to God were often filled with the words, I know I shouldn't have done this. And all she had to offer him was her failures.
[00:18:04] That woman was Mother Teresa, the person many of us would call the most moral life in recent history. She confessed to falling far short of the life God had called her to live.
[00:18:14] and even her morality was not, could not be the heart of what it meant to be spiritual, much less to be in a vibrant relationship with God.
[00:18:24] So Jesus wasn't talking about just belonging.
[00:18:27] He wasn't talking about just behaving.
[00:18:28] He also wasn't talking about just believing.
[00:18:31] The idea that if someone just believes in God, believes in the Bible, believes in Jesus, then they're living the life that he was calling Nicodemus to live.
[00:18:40] Because Nicodemus already had that too.
[00:18:42] As a Pharisee, Nicodemus was devoted to the Scriptures.
[00:18:46] He was a scholar. He was a teacher.
[00:18:49] He accepted every word of it as God's truth.
[00:18:51] He probably had large portions of the Scriptures memorized.
[00:18:54] He believed in creation and miracles and Moses and Abraham and prophets and judges.
[00:19:02] He believed every story in the Bible about Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, Noah and the ark.
[00:19:12] Moses and the parting of the sea, Daniel and the lion's den, Jonah and the whale, Taylor and Travis. Just seeing if you're listening. So Jesus was obviously saying that the acceptance of certain facts or belief, doctrines or worldviews wasn't enough because intellectually
[00:19:33] embracing something is very different than experientially living something. So with a single line, a brilliant, incisive, penetrating line, Jesus exposed everything about Nicodemus' attempt at a spiritual life and showed how empty it was. Jesus made it clear that everything he
[00:19:55] knew, everything he understood, everything he had practiced and pursued was not ultimately about what being in a relationship with God was about. It wasn't about belonging. It wasn't about behaving. It wasn't about believing. It was about being born again. If you want to experience a
[00:20:12] spiritual life, you have to go through a spiritual birth, which just like you can't experience physical life without a physical birth, spiritual life takes a spiritual birth. I mean, doesn't that just make sense that there needs to be a true relational starting point where this is birthed
[00:20:31] in you, where it's born in you? Because just belonging, believing, and behaving by themselves is empty. It's not enough. We need more than that. We crave more than that. We need relationship.
[00:20:44] We need encounter. We need contact with the living God. We need to have our entire life reshaped, remade, reoriented, reborn, and then have all the believing, belonging, and behaving flow out of that, and suddenly with a vibrancy and an authenticity that they never had before.
[00:21:10] Well, it all made sense to Nicodemus, at least the concept, the idea, but his mind instantly went to logistics, meaning, well, how does something like that happen? Jesus was ready to answer that too. Let's keep reading. How are these things possible? Nicodemus asked.
[00:21:28] Jesus replied, you're a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things.
[00:21:33] This is how God loved the world, Nicodemus.
[00:21:37] He gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
[00:21:44] God sent his son into the world not to judge the world but to save the world through him.
[00:21:52] There you have it, what Nicodemus needed to know and what every one of us need to know.
[00:21:59] Did you catch it?
[00:22:01] Because there were four headlines.
[00:22:05] Don't miss them.
[00:22:06] Here's the first headline.
[00:22:08] God loves the world.
[00:22:09] The word Jesus used for world in the original Greek was a way of referring to everyone in the world, everyone that has existed or ever would exist, which means he was not only saying Nicodemus, God loves you,
[00:22:21] but he was saying God loves us too, you and me.
[00:22:26] And that does mean you, really.
[00:22:31] Second, Jesus said that God loves us so much that he gave us his son.
[00:22:34] And God gave him to the world, gave him to die for the world because those in the world stained and marked by sin cannot save themselves because all we have is belonging, believing, and behaving.
[00:22:46] And that isn't enough.
[00:22:47] That just leads to physical and spiritual death unless someone takes our place and pays for those sins, giving us the gift of spiritual rebirth.
[00:22:57] Jesus was, is that son.
[00:23:01] Then third, Jesus explained why this God who loves the world and gave his son would do such a thing.
[00:23:09] He did it so that we would believe.
[00:23:11] Not the kind of belief that Nicodemus already had, but belief in the deepest sense of the word.
[00:23:18] Because true belief is more than knowing the facts.
[00:23:21] It's more than just saying that you accept the facts.
[00:23:25] Believing is giving your life over to that which you say you believe.
[00:23:29] It involves your entire inner world and then expresses itself outwardly in an increasingly transformed life.
[00:23:38] Real belief is giving yourself over to what you say you believe in.
[00:23:44] Let's just say you're single and I ask you if you believe in marriage.
[00:23:49] And you say, well, of course.
[00:23:51] And I say, well, why?
[00:23:53] And you say, well, because it creates a stable relationship that provides security for the partners.
[00:23:58] It's a good arrangement in which to raise children.
[00:24:02] It helps bolster the stability of society.
[00:24:04] And I say, agreed.
[00:24:06] Good.
[00:24:07] I'm a pastor, so allow me to pronounce you married.
[00:24:11] You say, whoa, a few missing parts here.
[00:24:16] I need someone to marry first, and I haven't found someone I want to marry yet, and I'm not even sure I want to be married.
[00:24:25] You'd be right.
[00:24:26] You're not ready for marriage.
[00:24:27] because it's not enough to simply believe in marriage.
[00:24:31] You have to want to be married and have someone to be married to.
[00:24:36] You have to make a commitment and you have to live out your promises to care for your partner and to do all the things that love requires.
[00:24:43] That's why you can't just believe in God or Jesus.
[00:24:47] You have to be in a relationship with him, belief in the fullest sense of the word.
[00:24:51] You have to commit to him.
[00:24:54] So are you tracking with all that Jesus said to Nicodemus?
[00:24:58] First, God loved the world.
[00:25:00] Second, he gave his son.
[00:25:03] Third, that we would believe, really believe.
[00:25:08] And there's one more thing, and it's that those who believe in this way will have eternal life, a life that begins now and that will carry forward into eternity.
[00:25:17] The second birth, being reborn in this way, coming to life spiritually in and through Jesus, being born again in the way that he talked about doesn't just change you in this life, but sets the course for your eternity.
[00:25:32] Because this is a relationship that will never end.
[00:25:35] It is a relationship that will never stop keeping you alive.
[00:25:40] You will never have to fear death, real death, ever again.
[00:25:47] And that's where the record of the conversation with Nicodemus ended.
[00:25:50] Nothing else is recorded after that.
[00:25:52] It was clear that Jesus got Nicodemus, but did Nicodemus get Jesus?
[00:25:59] What did he end up deciding, doing, in relation to what Jesus said to him?
[00:26:03] Did he ever go forward with a second birth?
[00:26:06] We don't know, at least for sure.
[00:26:10] But there's some interesting hints, though.
[00:26:13] We are told that later, when Jesus was brought up for trial by the Sanhedrin before his crucifixion, one and only one member of that group stood up for him, a man by the name of Nicodemus.
[00:26:28] And then after his crucifixion, two men went to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, and asked for the body of Jesus in order to bury it.
[00:26:37] They did it at great risk.
[00:26:39] Immediately following the crucifixion, before the resurrection, the followers of Jesus ran away.
[00:26:46] They were locked behind closed doors.
[00:26:48] They feared they might be executed next.
[00:26:51] only these two men were seemingly strong enough in their faith, resolved enough in their devotion to stand in front of the authorities who had killed Jesus and asked for his body.
[00:27:02] They were the only ones who went public with their ongoing allegiance, even when knowing that they might be arrested and killed for doing so. The first was a man by the name of Joseph of
[00:27:12] Arimathea. The second was a man by the name of, yeah, Nicodemus. So while we don't know for sure It seems like Nicodemus wasn't thinking about Jesus in the dark of night anymore, but living for him in the light of day.
[00:27:32] He had moved from belonging, behaving, and believing to being born again.
[00:27:41] Now it's your turn.
[00:27:44] Did Jesus just get you too?
[00:27:47] Did you fall into the camp of belonging, believing, or behaving?
[00:27:51] Have you ever been really deeply, authentically reborn?
[00:27:57] You can.
[00:27:59] You know, it's not something where bells and whistles necessarily go off.
[00:28:03] It's an inward resolution.
[00:28:05] It's a prayer.
[00:28:07] It's a relational prayer that you pray, the one that owns your sins and wants forgiveness, a prayer that simply says you don't want to just know about God, but you want to know God, a prayer that says that you believe that God sent his son Jesus for just this reason,
[00:28:23] a prayer that wants to be in a relationship with him, not just in some kind of religion, with him. A prayer that owns you have been dead and you want to come to life. You pray that kind
[00:28:37] of prayer and you will be. So instead of me closing us in prayer, let me just leave that prayer with you and let you do with it what you will.