Gospel of John, 2:17-25
John 2:17-25 · Mike Doyle · Feb 10, 2008
Gospel of John (2008), No. 06
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926052477764

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Everybody got a copy of Lesson 6? Nobody put their hand up, right? I should have said, does anybody not have a copy of Lesson 6? OK. We are Chapter 2. We're going to finish up Chapter 2 and start into Chapter 3 today. We'll start about verse 17. It's interesting, I was studying this week and noticed that, you know, some information you just never pick up on. One of the cool things about John's gospel is that it's not written to a specific group like Matthew's written to the Jews. John's written to everybody, you know, the church and Jews, everybody.

So in verse 17, And the disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thy house has eaten me up. And then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign showest thou to us, seeing that you have done these things? So the Jews asked him to show them a sign that would verify his authority. Why did the Jews ask him to do this? You've got a picture in your mind, it seems.

The Lord Jesus' ministry hasn't been but a few weeks old. He's gone up to Jerusalem for the first Passover of his ministry. And the first thing he does, how many people know him? We know about 15. He's done one miracle. People observe that. But he doesn't have a big crowd around him.

And the first thing he does is he goes into the temple, makes a whip, goes into the temple and kicks out all the merchants. Imagine somebody coming in here that we didn't know doing that here. You would think, well, who is this guy? Where does he get his authority?

So that's what's happening here. The men in authority are saying to him, they're not asking him like a good Greek would say, logically explain to us why you did what you did. These are nice Jewish people. And so what do they ask for? Show us a sign that would somehow vindicate what you've just done and the fact that you have announced that this is your father's house and your house that you're kicking these people out of. I mean, it's like they sent the cops down to ask him what he was doing. So why did he ask him for a sign? Why did they say to him, well, show us a sign? But why a sign?

That's right. You have to keep that straight in your mind, especially when you're dealing with the Gospels and like the first half of Acts. And even in the Old Testament, the Jews always demanded a sign, some sort of miraculous event that would somehow verify the ministry of the one who claimed to be a prophet or whatever he was. And that's how God did it.

And so that's what they look for. That's what they look for. They're always looking for a sign. They could care less about the logic. They could care less about that. They're always looking for a sign. So you'll see that if you're looking for it, you'll see it a lot. What was the sign that the Lord gave him? Well, first of all, did he give him a sign? How many think, nah, he didn't? How many think, yeah, he did? Yeah, it's interesting what he says. Here's what the Lord Jesus says in response to show us a sign.

He said, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up. And she said, that's a sign? Their answer was, the Jew said, 46 years was this temple in building and you'll raise it up in three days? But he spoke of the temple of his body. He gave them a sign. He just didn't show it to them physically. He said, here's how I'm going to verify my ministry.

I'm going to be crucified, buried and resurrected on the third day. That's the sign. Did they get it? No. No, they didn't get it. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the scripture and the words which Jesus had said. There's the sign. But it's three and a half years later.

So, destroy this temple. What's a temple? What is it? That's where God lives. Is it a building? It can be, sure. This temple was a place where God lives. Do we need buildings today? When you're all up there and Vern's giving it the what for this morning? Is he in the temple? Sure he is. He's the temple. You're the temple. Collectively we're the temple.

It's a place where the presence of God exists. and lives. And so it's a residence, maybe is a way to say it. I'm being a realtor, I'm really big on residences. It's a place in where God lives and it doesn't necessarily have to be a building, although there are those today that say the building is sacred. It's not. You are, and I am. The God of the universe lives in each one of us, so we're a temple. And you see a lot of discussion about that in Hebrews and other places.

So, the third question we've really sort of already answered, what was the miracle here? And the miracle is actually His resurrection. And it's not only Him, the miracle is not only Him raising His own body, but it's all the rest of those who He'll raise too. I'd like to ask this question. What's the greatest demonstration of God's power ever? Is it Genesis 1, 2, and 3? It's the resurrection. Because it's an entirely new creation. Entirely new. Everything's new. And it consists of human beings who are sons of God. So it took more power to raise Christ from the dead once he was made sin than it did to create the universe.

We don't grasp it because it's not visible right away or now. But does it take an actual event to take place for the disciples to believe and we're asked to believe without witnessing the event? In other words, what we you know, we talked a little bit last week about What were the disciples believing? Because it says in a couple of places they would notice the miracles or they'd notice what he said and then people would believe in him. What were they believing? If they believed he was the Messiah of Israel, then they really are kind of believing in what he's going to do in the future, not what he's doing right now. Because he's not kicking the Romans out of town. He's not taking the nation of Israel and making it the nation on the earth. He's not doing those kinds of millennial things.

He's showing miracles. He's beginning to show miracles. And so I think often here at this point about Judas Iscariot. He's going to hang around with Christ for three and a half years. And what do you think his motivation is? We think it's money, but I think maybe it's a little different than that. It's political. He sees the miracles.

He says, if this guy is the Messiah, I'm going to hang with him until the end. Because if he really is, in my understanding of what a Messiah is going to be, then when the Kingdom comes in, I'm going to be in a really good position. You know, it's kind of like what some of these political idiots are doing now to sort of rub up next to the guy who may get nominated. Because if he gets in, they get favors. Well, I have to tell you, some of these other disciples, you know, they're not much better at this point. They're kind of looking and watching and seeing miracles and they're believing in him that he can do miracles, maybe he's the Messiah. But these are not believers like you and I are. The second point is, Their faith, just like Jewish faith, is based on things in the future, isn't it?

It's based much more on a promise than it is on fact. When you and I believe today, do we believe in promises so much? We believe in facts. We believe things that are already true. When the gospel message comes to you, is it come to you that sometime in the sweet by and by you're going to go to heaven? Or are you asked to believe in something that took place 2,000 years ago? A fact. Something that's already true. When you read the epistles of Paul, and he says, believe this and believe this and believe this and believe this and believe this, are those promises or are they facts? If you've been crucified with Christ, buried and resurrected, is that a promise or a fact?

It's a fact. There's more to believe in for us as already accomplished facts than there is hope of things in the future. The whole Jewish economy was based on future. Their spiritual economy was based on a Messiah coming. We believe He's already been here. So I think it's important for us as Christians to understand that what we believe in predominantly are already accomplished facts.

Are you seated in Christ in the heavenlies right now? The Word of God says you are. Fact or promise? That's a fact. You may not live as though it's a fact, but it's a fact. So, I look at the... Faith has to have an object, and faith for us is always a fact. It's true, already true of you.

That's the point I was trying to get at in that question. So in verse 23, and now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover and the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. So why did they believe? Because they saw the miracles. That's why.

Is that like you and I? Well, some of us are like that. We're kind of from Missouri. Show me. I'll believe you if you show me. One of my closest, dearest friends, really that was his mentality. He was always going to God and saying, show me. And I always say to him, well, why don't you believe it? And then God, maybe he'll show you, maybe he won't.

So, his miracles convinced many in their natural understanding. No doubt it was sincere, but it was just a human conclusion. Understand what I'm saying there? This was something that the miracles affected them humanly. And so, well, look at our society, how we're drawn to people who say they can perform miracles, and whether they do or not is questionable, but they will believe that maybe they can, and they can draw huge crowds. Miracles are in.

Verse 24, but Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men. I ask you the question, what does the word commit here mean? Verse 24. He'd been performing miracles in Jerusalem. People believed in him, but he didn't commit himself to any person. What does that word commit mean? Now this is not when you go to a Campus Crusade thing and they want you to make a commitment to Christ. It's not the same thing. This is the Lord Jesus not committing himself to men. What does that mean?

He didn't trust them. He didn't confide in them. He didn't make them his buddies, his confidants. Why not? What's that? He knew their hearts. So, if he knows their hearts, but they're his disciples, why couldn't he communicate with them? You know, walk up to them and say, Hey Jack, I've got a problem here, let's talk it over. Why wouldn't he do that?

A natural man receives not the things in the Spirit of God. Amen. That's the issue. The issue is that they're natural men, as cool as they are, called disciples, They're natural men. And He cannot communicate spiritually with these people yet. Yet. So He can't confide with them. Can He confide in us? Can He commit to us? Absolutely. Absolutely He can. He does it all the time. Why? Because you're not a natural man anymore. You're a spiritual man.

So are you saying He never committed to His disciples I don't think so. He taught them, as we'll learn from chapter 13 on. He taught them wonderful things. He even said to them, you know, unless the Comforter comes, He'll come and He'll remind you and teach you all these things I've told you, these spiritual things. There would have been no understanding on their part. And now, it's an interesting contrast because the confidence in which Christ takes us in now, is unique to all creatures in all time, because we're sons, same nature. But even though these are called out disciples, who are believing in the miracles, he can't confide in them spiritually, he can't communicate spiritual things to them.

And we'll see that as we go through. that after the fact, the ascension, and presumably after Pentecost, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture, the word which Jesus is pointing out, and then the next he goes on to believe. So the difference is between the two.

That's what Gene was saying. That's right. And take note of this, because as we go through John's Gospel, you're going to see a lot of times when We're Christians, you know, we're Monday morning quarterbacking and we're reading John and we're thinking, what, he's hideous, why shouldn't he...

I understand that, why don't they? Well, that's why they don't understand. They're called ones, they're saved ones. He's even going to, say, receive the Holy Spirit, but until the resurrection and until Pentecost, they don't get it. See that? They don't get it.

I mean, even Peter, right before the cross, is telling them, you're not going to the cross, I'll prevent it if I can. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter pulls out his sword and lops off the ear of one of the servants. You think Peter understood? If he really knew what was happening, he'd have stepped back.

Now, what you're going to run into when you look at commentaries on verse 24, some will say you could better translate the word trust. And there are those that say, that feel that people in fact were unbelievers who only accepted those things that they had seen with their eyes. I don't think so. I think these disciples were the Lord's and he had called them And as best they understood at that time, they did believe in him. But it points up the fact that without recreation as a spiritual being, you don't understand spiritual things, because a natural man does not receive the things of God.

He can't do it. Not that he doesn't want to, he can't do it. This was really before he was called any of his disciples, correct? Well, no, he called them. In Chapter 2, he has called them. So along with that, I sort of asked, what does the word mean that Jesus didn't commit himself to them?

And we really kind of answered that, because he knows what man is. He knows what his nature is, his will is. So let's move on to question eight. Now, going into any questions about chapter two. It's interesting in verse 25, he says, you need not that any should testify of him, of man, for he knew what was in man. Nobody had to tell Jesus what the natural man was. You know, God had had 7,000 years of natural man by this point or more.

What does it mean when it says that they believed on his name? His name Jesus or Messiah? Does it say that in chapter 2? What verse? It's in verse 23. Many believe in His name. I don't know what Old Testament book is. Did we talk about baptism in this course? Oh yeah, we did. If you look in, I think it's Deuteronomy or Exodus maybe, maybe it was Exodus, where people were baptized in the name of Moses. Have you ever read that? Have you ever noticed that? It talks about it in Hebrews. What that baptism is, is identifying with the person and his message. It isn't the kind of baptism that we're talking about, which is representative of our death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

What it means is that they identified with him. When those that were baptized in the name of repentance with John the Baptist, that means that they identified with his message. These people were identified by believing in his name. They identified with the message so far that the Lord Jesus had presented. But how much of the message had he given? He'd done one miracle. He'd done that incident with a situation in the temple, and he'd had discussions with the disciples. And people believed in his name when they saw the miracles. That means that they were aligning themselves with him. It doesn't mean that they're born-again believers. Chapter 3. Now, Chapter 3 is very interesting, and Courtney will pick up on a lot of it next week.

The first thing I'll ask you was, well, let me read the verse. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. What's a Pharisee? You know what a Pharisee is? Yeah, what is it? Well, first of all, what were they? I mean, you four guys are Pharisees, so what?

It's like I'm a Republican, what does that mean? They were conservative religious. Yeah, they believed in the inspiration and authority of the Old Testament. Yeah, they were proud of their zealously. They were. They also believed they were also separatists. You know what I mean by that? That the Jewish nation was to be separate from all other nations. You know, no illegal aliens in this deal. Yes, they did. Yes, they did. Not necessarily. I don't think they were. They were very ritualistic and they were very legalistic. They believed in the purity of Judaism.

Now, you know what a post-millennialist is? Probably don't. Pre-millennialist is someone who believes that the rapture is going to take place before the millennial kingdom and before the tribulation. A post-millennialist is a person who says, well, we're probably in the tribulation now, and if we can get the earth and all the governments of the earth to line up under the Mosaic Law, then the Messiah, Christ, will come. The Pharisees were post-millennials. They believed that if they could get Jerusalem separated, purified, and everybody operating under the Mosaic Law, the Messiah would come. That's what they believed.

So they're the conservatives, right? Well, they're not the only boys in town. There's these other guys called the Sadducees. And they were pretty much centered around Jerusalem. And they concentrated on temple service and stuff like that. And they were liberal. Liberal is probably the best way to describe them. And then there was a third group called the Essenes. And they were kind of stoic, secluded, and they are the ones that are given credit for the Dead Sea Scrolls.

And then there were these guys around, they were called scribes. Notice we'll say the word scribes and Pharisees. What do you think a scribe is? They work for the Pharisees. As a matter of fact, that's what they did. They were writers and they worked for the Pharisees and they wrote all this stuff down. They were the historians. Then there were these guys called Zealots. That's this side of the room, the zealots. They were a group of people that were kind of like terrorists. They were a covert group resisting Roman rule.

They were fairly new at this time, but grew a lot over the next couple of decades. And that there was this other group called the Sakurai, S-A-C-A-R-I-I. They were the Osama bin Laden's of the time. And they they really they went around blowing up bridges and whatever. Then there was a group of people called the Herodians. You know who they are?

Yeah, well they were supporters of the Herod family. And if you study Herod and Herod Agrippa and stuff, he's not really kind of worth studying actually. So they, were they, was it more of a political party versus a, it wasn't a profession? No, the Herodians were political people. And they supported...

And the Pharisees, were they, was that their occupation? Well they were, they worked, yeah, it really was. They were like a political party, but they also were the leaders of Israel. The high priests, a lot of them were Pharisees. They were a gathering of people of like-mindedness. You could have been a Levite or a Judean and still be a Pharisee. The Levites were supported by the tax.

Yeah, they were the temple guys. No, no, they weren't. But but like Nicodemus was a teacher and the temple was made up not only of the Levites that, you know, served in the temple, but there were teachers and people like that that didn't necessarily have to be Levites in order to get.

Well, it's like, you know, we we have political people and how do they get paid? We pay. The special interest groups paid him. What's that? I said the special interest groups paid him. Yeah, that's exactly what was going on. So here's this guy Nicodemus. Now he's a Pharisee and he's a ruler of the Jews. So he's a... how would you describe him? Like a senator maybe? Or congressman? He's that kind of a guy.

And he's a teacher. Verse 2, And the same came to Jesus by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no man could do these miracles that you do, except God be with him. So my question was, does it appear that Nicodemus was a coward by coming at night? What do you think? Is he sneaking around? Is he being discreet? Or is he just busy and couldn't get there until night?

Well, we would think he had a lot at stake, but again, how long has Christ's ministry been going on? Not very long. There's no discussion yet that anybody has gathered together saying, boy, this guy's a problem, we're going to have to kill him. There's no pressure at this point, right?

So, I just think he came at night. You know, he came at night because he wanted some quiet time. He wanted quiet. And the Lord Jesus, by the way, he's busy too these days. He's healing people and doing that kind of stuff and teaching. So I think the knight here does not conclude that Nicodemus was a coward. I used to think he was. He's well known. He's a leader. He's a fearless guy.

You don't be a leader of Israel and be hiding under a rock someplace. You've got to be a fearless man. Because, I mean, you're out there dealing with the Roman occupation. You're one of the leaders. So, I just think it's an issue where this is the right time they got together so that they could talk.

So how does Nicodemus describe the Lord Jesus in verse 2? He calls him a rabbi. What's a rabbi? He's a teacher. Could be a doctor. There's a title of honor could be referred to as a master. You know how the temple was set up? The court was set up with those pillars and each if you were a teacher, you would rather have Sunday school. You'd have Saturday at the pillar. I'd stand at this pillar, and Bern would be at the next one, and Courtney would be at the next one, and Roger would be at the next one, and then when you came into the temple, you'd go stand by the guy you wanted to hear.

And so that's what Nicodemus was, although a teacher or a rabbi, he'd be one of those guys sitting at one, because that was kind of the identifying points, where they'd sit around and listen to whatever teacher, and they had a lot of them. There weren't just two or three, there were a lot of them. So Nicodemus recognizes the Lord Jesus as a teacher, because not only is he doing miracles, but he is teaching. He is an instructor in reference to the usage rather than the meaning.

A teacher is somebody who, in the Jewish system, a teacher is somebody who can explain things, explain the Old Testament. Like a teacher today, a Bible teacher today, it's one thing to read the Word, it's another thing to explain what's there. We're studying Acts on Tuesday. One of the cool things we've discovered is that you can read John, you can read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you can read the Acts, but if you want to know what they mean, you've got to go to Paul to find out what they mean. So Paul is really the teacher.

That's what the Lord Jesus is doing. He's explaining when asked in his teaching what the Old Testament means and how it refers to him. That's why he knows him as a teacher. He also calls him a teacher come from God. If he came from God, what would he be? A prophet. So, he came from God, so he calls him a prophet and he demonstrated his prophecy office by signs and wonders, didn't he?

Because that's what prophets do. So, Nicodemus recognizes him immediately as somebody special, somebody really special, just by observation. So, what I find interesting here is that Nicodemus just gives him a compliment, and look how the Lord responds to him.

He doesn't say, oh, thank you. What do you want to talk about? He says, verily, verily, which means pay really close attention to what I'm going to say to you. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And if I'm Nicodemus, I'm thinking, why are you telling me that? I didn't ask. So what does this word here, maybe the way to go at this is talk about the word born. unless a man be born again. The Greek word here is ginomai. What's ginomai mean for all you Greek geeks? And the Lord uses this word that means He's speaking, not speaking in Greek, but the translation is the Greek word ginomai. What does the word ginomai mean?

Born from above. Born from above. Come into a new state. Say that again. Come into a new state. It means to come into an entirely new state of being. That's the word he uses. He said, unless a man comes into an entirely new state of being, in kind and quality, it isn't that he says, well, you've just got to go through this process again. There has to be a total radical change of almost a new creature.

Unless a man is Ginnomai, he can't even see the Kingdom of God. Now, let's talk a little bit about the theology of Judaism at the time. He cannot see the Kingdom of God. So, from a Jewish standpoint, at this time in history, what do they think the Kingdom is? Earthly Kingdom. And what would it look like? Say that again? Well, they don't know who Jesus is. They don't know anything about him. What's that? Yeah, but they didn't know it. I mean, it could have been George, as far as they know. That's right.

It would be a theocratic kingdom set up by a king. Now, if it's a theocratic kingdom set up by a king, what does it look like? It's very orderly, it functions precisely under the mosaic law, no leaks, and everybody is in line, everybody is obeying. That's how they view the kingdom. that the mosaic law given to them was the principle of the day with the king in place and everybody got their marching orders and they're all living like they should. That's how they viewed and that this king would be a very powerful man, very powerful and that he would usher in a regime that would literally be the center of the earth and that they would Rome would be under them, everybody would be under them. But wouldn't they believe he was gone? Some did, some didn't. Some did. Some thought that there were going to be two messiahs, one that would die and another that would be the king. They didn't realize it could be the same guy. They also said, if you were a Pharisee, that if this happened in one day, If the whole nation of Israel lived under the Mosaic Law for one day, guess what?

Tomorrow the kingdom starts. So Nicodemus, being a Pharisee, his whole agenda is trying to reform Israel as a nation. See that? That's what the Pharisee's agenda is. They're trying to get the nation of Israel to live under the Mosaic Law. They're very conservative, they're very orthodox, and they're very legal. And so that's his approach as he comes to Christ. Because what's he looking for? He's thinking, boy, this guy is somebody special. If we can get him into our party, maybe we can get the kingdom to come. That's what he's thinking.

And trust me, Nicodemus seems to be a forthright, honest man. He's not fooling around, he's serious. Now, would this term, when the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, accept a man, be born again, would Nicodemus have understood what he meant? Obviously not. What do you think? I think he did. I think he understood perfectly.

Let me give you a little Jewish history. There are six ways in which a Pharisee said a man could be born again. Understand, put your mind before Christ. And this term, born again, is a term that's used a lot in the Jewish society. Number one, a Jewish boy being bar mitzvahed was considered the boy was born again. If a man marries a woman who's a Jew, they're born again. If I'm ordained a rabbi, I'm born again. That's how they viewed it. And maybe being promoted to the head of a rabbinical school, I'm born again. Those were some of the ways that Nicodemus should have understood that what he would have thought of being born again was. Now there were a couple... Nicodemus is qualified under these four criteria. You see that?

He's been bar mitzvahed, he's married to a Jew, he's ordained a rabbi, and he's the head of a rabbinical school. He's born again in his mind, so he should know, or maybe at least have some sort of inclination of what the Lord Jesus was talking about. But there were two ways in the Jewish system that he didn't qualify. One was a Gentile who converts to Judaism is considered born again. He wouldn't qualify under that. And the last one is, be crowned a Davidic king of Israel and be born again then. Those are the six ways that Jews use this term.

So he should have known. But he doesn't know exactly what the Lord Jesus is saying, kind of as we do, but put yourself historically right there. Nicodemus is talking to the Lord Jesus. We're two centuries later watching and we know the history, but he doesn't know anything. other than he approached Nicodemus.

So would it have helped if Nicodemus said, well gee, I got four out of six, is that good enough? He could say, would it help me if I became a baby again and got born again? Do you see how his thinking works? So based on the question Nicodemus asked in verse four, Do you think he had any idea what Jesus was really talking about? Back to what you said. Does he have real understanding of what the Lord Jesus was talking about?

Not really. Now I want you to notice something else. The Lord Jesus said to him, unless you're born again, you'll never see the kingdom of God. So far, we aren't talking about getting into it, we're just talking about seeing it. Right? Just seeing it. So my question is, what's the Kingdom of God? Courtney will spend a whole hour next week talking about the Kingdom of God. What is it?

Maybe to lead up to that. You think Nicodemus ever sat down and said, thought about this question? Probably did, but then he started counting up what he was and thought, gee, four out of six isn't too bad. I'm in. You only need one and I got four. You only need one star to be a general, but I got four.

So he thinks he's in, right? And he thinks he's in this kingdom that we've just described, that he's going to be part of that. But the Lord Jesus says to him... So when he's thinking about a theocratic earthly kingdom... That's what he's thinking. Yeah, that's what he's thinking. What do you think the Lord Jesus is saying to him?

It's not based on self, it's not based on your earthly accomplishments. You can't understand. Oh, I just said it's spiritual. Spiritual understanding. You can't have it without. So, I hope you see what's happening here. Here's the Lord Jesus, who's the Son of God, speaking spiritual things, and Nicodemus is down here, like the Lord's talking on channel 4 and Nicodemus is listening on 7. He's not getting it. And it isn't that he isn't sincere and that he isn't a godly man, because he is. He's as good as it comes on the earth.

But he cannot understand spiritual things because he doesn't have the capacity to understand. You've got to change channels. Well, actually, you've got to change planets. So he can't understand. that he doesn't want to or isn't open to whatever this rabbi can tell him, he just can't understand what he's saying. And he has a preconceived set of notions going into this about when the Lord uses the language he uses, he thinks, oh, I think I know what he means, but he doesn't.

Okay, so you're saying that the phrase kingdom of God cannot be, can have different meanings based on context. Say that again. The kingdom of God, that phrase can have different meanings based on context. It's not always millennial. What I'd like to do is that's what Courtney is going to talk about. He's going to spend a lot of time talking about kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God. He better be. So he'll talk about kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven. and they're not the same thing. The reason I ask the question is that the real answer to my question is that the kingdom of God is standing right in front of them. He doesn't know that the kingdom is a person.

Remember the movie called The Jewel of the Nile? What was the first one of those called? It was romancing the stone? Did you ever see that movie? Unfortunately. Well, the second one was called Romancing the Stone. And the whole movie was about this jewel that was really valuable. And the whole movie, everybody's chasing this jewel and trying to find it because they thought it would make them wealthy. Well, they discovered that the jewel in the mound was a person. It wasn't a carbon, high pressure carbon stone. It was a person. That's what's happening here.

The Lord Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, unless you're born again, you're never going to see me. Never. You don't have a clue who I am. See, that's what he's really saying to him. From chapter 1, what does the word say is not the source of being born again? When you had to do your homework, to get this one. Chapter 1 verse 13. This is not the source of being born again.

The first one is who were born not of blood. What's that mean? Natural birth. Natural birth, but from a Jewish standpoint, what does it mean? Jewish blood. Now Nicodemus is saying, now wait a minute. I'm a Jew. Born. I'm born a Jew. I'm on the road to qualifying.

And chapter one says, no you're not. No you're not. So being born of Jewish bloodlines doesn't get you into the kingdom, just makes you Jewish. The second one is, nor of the will of the flesh. What does that one mean? It has nothing to do with the human desire for an offspring. Nothing. Your desire to be in the kingdom of God isn't going to get you in there.

And procreating naturally isn't going to produce it. If that were true, then my son John would have been born without a sin nature. And trust me, he's proved that he's got one. Even though Donna didn't think so for a while. So, you cannot be born a child of God by human desire to have an offspring. You can't do it. The third one is, nor by the will of man, the will of specifically a male.

Now people have said to me, Don't you have to exercise your will to be born again? Do you? How many think, yeah, you do? Come on, hands up in the air. You know it's a trick question, don't you? Sure you do. Don't you have to exercise your will to exercise faith in the fact? Sure you do.

But that doesn't get you born. What gets you born? Is it your faith that makes you born? No, what is it then? It's the object of your faith. God is the one that reborns you. I don't know how to say this without being too controversial. We've got to get over the idea that our faith is causative. Do you understand what I mean by that?

When you believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, he does everything. You get no credit, non-zero, because you didn't have anything to do with it. He does it all. He says, I've constructed you in such a way that there's this thing I've given you called faith. And faith is the one thing you can do as a human being you can't take any credit for. And that's the thing you're going to have to exercise in order for me to bless you. So let's get with it.

So get out of your mind that faith is somehow causative and somehow credit to you. Because it isn't. It's kind of like turning on a water faucet. Yeah, where did the water come from? When the Iraqis invaded Kuwait, a lot of those soldiers never had running water so they took the faucets out of the wall and took them back to their homes and bagged them and stuck them in the wall and no water came out.

So, every one of us is born by God alone, alone. Let's close. Our dear Father, how we thank you for your grace. And that it comes at us unlimitedly, unmeritedly, full on all the time. And we ask that we would learn to live under it continually, so that we might praise your dear Son. And it is in His name we pray. Amen.