Trinity Baptist Church

 

I want you to take your bible and turn please to the text in John chapter 3. I want to talk to you about a birth that is very important. A birth that is very important. A man was talking to his friend and he said you look worried.   He said I am worried. My wife is expecting a child.   And he said, well what is to be worried about? He said, well, the first time she was expecting a child I was reading the book, "The Tale of Two Cities" and she had twins. He said the second time she was expecting a child I was reading "The Three Musketeers" and she had triplets. He said, now she is expecting again and I am reading the book, "The Birth of a Nation." He said I don't know what is going to happen! 

 

Well, I want to tell you about a birth that is very important, the new birth, the second birth. Jesus said that you must be born again. And I want you to look at what the bible says in this passage beginning in verse 1.

 

TEXT

 

Now I find Nicodemus one of the most interesting men in all the bible. The bible says he came to Jesus by night. I believe Nicodemus was a very sincerely seeking man. I don't think he came to Jesus by night to avoid the crowd or because he didn't want to be seen with Jesus, I believe he came to Jesus by night because there was something weighing on his heart, on his mind and on his conscience and he could not wait until morning to approach the Lord Jesus. 

 

I believe Nicodemus had no peace in his heart; he had no assurance of eternal life. In spite of the fact that he was a member of his church, that he was an upstanding man in his community, something was missing in his life and so he came to Jesus in sincerity.

 

Not only that, but Nicodemus is a socially superior man. The bible says he was a Pharisee. That means he went to church every time he was supposed to go to church, that means that he presided over the religious assemblies. He was a ruler of the Jews, which means he was recognized as a leader among his people and a leader in his community. He was morally upright, he tithed, he gave to the poor, he read his bible, and he did everything he was supposed to do. He dotted every "i", he crossed every "t" and yet Jesus said to this very superior man, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he will not see, he will not enter the kingdom of God.

 

And ladies and gentlemen, that means unless you are born again, you will never see heaven, you will never see the pearly gates, you will never see the face of Jesus. You will be in the lake of fire forever and forever and forever. You may say, Brother Terry why do you preach this message on Sunday morning when you know that most of us are choir members and deacons, and Sunday School teachers, and church members and we are here because we love God and we love the church? Why do you preach to us on you must be born again? Because ladies and gentlemen, you MUST be born again. Except a man be born again, he cannot see, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

 

George Whitfield preached on this text 6,000 times because he believed it was the most important text in the bible. And as he preached revival swept across America as he preached on that subject, you must be born again. I believe this is the message the church needs to hear today. 

 

Many today are like Nicodemus in that they are genuine, they are sincere, they want to know and yet there is no assurance in their heart. God's Spirit does not bear witness in their spirit that they are children of God. 

 

Now why did Jesus put such a high premium on being born again? Why did Jesus say to Nicodemus, “You must be born again”?

 

Because, first of all

 

 

Nicodemus had religion and yet he needed to be born again. Many of you have had religion since before you were born. You were privileged to be born into a Christian family that loved and served the Lord. Your family went to church. You were raised in Sunday School as a boy or a girl, your parents had you there every time the door was open. And by the way, if you want to get on my fighting side, then just dare to be critical of your mooma and day who loved you enough to make you go to church as a child and teenager. 

 

I get so sick of people hiding behind that to justify not going to church as an adult. You ought to get on your knees and thank God you had parents who cared about your spiritual well-being! 

Sorry, no-good thankless ingrates! How dare you be critical of folks who invested in your eternity. 

 

However, just being religious is not enough. You’ve got to come to realize, as Nicodemus did, that religion is not enough. Salvation is not in religion.

 

There is nothing that will give you a false assurance like religion. Man, I am a Pharisee; I am a ruler of the Jews. I tithe. I know the Scriptures. Nicodemus could have walked into any Southern Baptist church in the convention, and we would fall all over ourselves trying to make a good impression and hope he would join. And yet Jesus takes one look at him and says, “You must be born again!”

 

Religion is not enough.

 

And then

 

 

There are many people who think they have been born again because they were confirmed, they were sprinkled, and they were baptized. There are some of you who say, well I guess I have been born again, I walked the aisle and I was baptized. But friend, that does not mean that you have been born again. 

 

You joined the church, you wanted to be in the same church as your family, you were baptized, you went through the ritual, but today you are headed for the lake of fire. You are a good clean upstanding LOST person. 

 

 

Listen, Nicodemus, if he had died before he met Jesus, he would have been a clean, upstanding, self-righteous, morally upright, morally pure, well thought of, LOST sinner and he would have spent eternity in the lake of fire without Jesus Christ. 

 

Why am I preaching this today, because it is the only kind of message that will get some of you to see that you have never been born again? That ritual is not enough.

Hal Lindsey who wrote "The Late, Great Planet Earth" said that three times he was baptized. And three times, he went in as a dry sinner and three times he came out as a wet sinner.   All he did was get wet.  

 

As we saw last week, baptism is important, but baptism will not save a single soul. Baptism is a confession of your faith. But if you are baptized and you are not saved, baptism has done nothing except be something you depend upon for salvation that is false. 

 

Three times Hal Lindsey was baptized, then he got born again and God began to work in his life. And He used him in a tremendous way and he had the witness of the Holy Spirit in his life. You see ritual is not enough.

 

 

Nicodemus had a wonderful reputation. I mean everybody loved Nicodemus. When they wanted someone who could be depended on, it was Nicodemus. And yet, Nicodemus was lost. Jesus said, Nicodemus unless you be born again, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Listen to me; do you know why some of you can't get saved? Because you have so many people telling you how wonderful you are, how dedicated you are, how committed you are, how you are the best woman or you are one of the finest young men in the church, or you are one of the best young couples in the church, or you are one of the most outstanding singles in the church, or you are one of the best youth in the youth group. 

 

Well, maybe you were just taught right. Maybe you do the right things because you had good parenting. And people taught you to do right. It doesn't mean you are a child of God. Except a man be born again, he will never see the kingdom of God.

 

Nicodemus had an impeccable reputation. It was like the reputation of Judas. Man, if reputation could save, Judas Iscariot would have been saved. He was a disciple who was so committed, so dedicated, so zealous, that they chose him to be the treasurer of the group. And when Jesus said to the disciples one of you fellows will betray me, none of them suspected Judas Iscariot. 

 

Peter and John said is it I Lord? Am I the one Lord? Why didn't they suspect Judas? Because he was so upstanding and so righteous and so good on the outside that nobody even thought that Judas could be the one. And yet Jesus said, he is the son of perdition. He was a devil from the beginning. Why?

 

Because religion without the new birth, reputation without the new birth is worth nothing. The bible says our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God. 

 

If you are depending on your reputation to get you into heaven rather than faith in Jesus Christ, you are going to be in the lake of fire.

And I want to tell you; your reputation is not going to help you in the lake of fire. I know that to be true because that is my testimony. . .

 

And there are some of you that down through the years of your life, your religious life, just because of reputation, just because you didn't want people to know you have said, I am alright, I am alright, I am alright. The devil is just making me doubt. And in reality, you know that you have never done what the bible says to be saved. You have never repented of your sin, you have never given your life to Jesus Christ and you have never been born again. My friend, you are going to hell because the devil doesn't care if you go to hell from a church pew or from the gutter, he just wants you to go to hell.

 

The bible says, except you be born again, you will never see, you will never enter the kingdom of God. Reputation cannot save you. It won't make any difference in eternity what people said about you on earth.  It will be about what God knew about you and what you knew in your heart that really counts.

 

You say well preacher I think the devil just makes me doubt. There may be times when the devil makes you doubt, but if it is a persistent doubt, a reoccurring doubt, a doubt that comes over and over and over and there is not the witness of the Spirit in your spirit that you are a child of God, I would seriously consider that this morning as a definite no. 

 

 

Are you sure that you have done what the bible says to be saved? The bible tells us here how we can be born again. 

 

Jesus said except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he will not see the kingdom of God. 

 

Number one, Jesus said to be born again, you have to be born of the water. 

 

What does the water represent? It is not the water of baptism. The water is either the water of physical birth or it is the word of God. I believe he was talking about the word of God. Because in the bible the word of God is a symbol of water. It is the symbol of cleansing. How can a young man cleanse his way, by taking heed, hitherto, according to thy word? It is the word of God, hearing the word of God that brings that conviction. And it is the word of God that cleanses your life. 

 

Some of you have heard sermons but you have never heard the word of God. The word of God is when God speaks to you His word. Jesus said of people, they have ears but they hear not; they have eyes but they see not; they have hearts but they don't understand. And there are people who have sat in Methodist churches, Catholic churches, Baptist churches, Pentecostal churches, all their life and they have heard but they have never heard with ears of their heart. And they don't need to be saved until first of all they know they are lost. And the reason they have never been shown that they are lost is they have never heard the word of God with the ears of their heart. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. And no man can be saved without the word of God. 

Some of you need to hear the word of God. The word of God says you are lost. The word of God says you are bound for hell. The word of God says Jesus died in your place to save you. Hear the word of God this morning! It is the only way you can be saved.

 

If some of you don't open your spiritual ears you are going to spend an eternity in the devil's hell because your ears are closed to the word of God. There are people who come and say I am lost after they have been members of a church all their life because they have just now heard the word of God. The devil wants to keep you from hearing the word.

 

And not only must there be the word of God, if you are to be saved there must be the work of the Spirit. The bible says the Spirit comes to convict us of sin of righteousness and of judgment. The Spirit convicts you that what is being said applies to you. And you can sit in that pew, let that go over your head and say he is talking to somebody else. 

 

But when the Spirit of God speaks to you, He says, He is talking to you. You are the one who is a church member but you are lost. You are the one who has never been born again. You are the one who is like Nicodemus. That is the work of the Spirit. Man can't show you that, only God can show you that. 

 

And when God shows you that, you will be like Nicodemus, it won't matter if it is noon or night or 4:00 in the morning or when it is, you will just want to get it settled, you will just want to get it right. 

 

 

The bible says hereby do we know that we know Him because of His Spirit that He has given unto us. And it says the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. 

 

Does God's Spirit bear witness with your spirit today? I mean, when you say I am a child of God because I know I have done what the bible says to be saved, is there a confirmation in your spirit? In your heart, the Spirit of God speaks, there is a peace, there is an assurance, and there is not a spirit that is troubled. 

 

There is not a spirit of doubt; there is not a spirit of fear. You see that is the way God's Spirit bears witness in your spirit. Just as He bears witness in your spirit, also God's Spirit does not bear witness with your spirit to show you that you are lost. And if you don't have that peace and that assurance, don't expect the Holy Spirit to give it to you. He won't give it to you. 

 

Because you see, I believe that if you made a mistake and made a decision and you weren't born again, I believe the Spirit of God loves you so much, that He is not going to let you go to hell until you absolutely know that you made that mistake and you need to make it right.

 

Then there has to be the will of man. The will of man, you have to make a choice, you have to decide whether or not you will accept the truth that God is showing you right now. Whether you are willing to surrender your pride, whether you are willing to say, I don't want to go to hell, I don't want to be in the lake of fire, I don't want to be lost, I want to be born again. I want to know that I know. 

That is the will of man.

 

Many years ago in Pennsylvania, George Wilson was convicted of the crime of murder; sentenced to hang until he was dead, hang by the neck until dead. George Wilson knew the Governor.   The Governor pardoned him. He knew the circumstances were extenuating. He gave him a pardon. They brought the pardon to the condemned man and there in his cell he rejected the pardon. He said, no, I have committed murder, I am guilty and I don't want to live, I want to die. He rejected the pardon.   They had a dilemma. They had never had a pardon rejected before. What do you do with a man who is pardoned and he chooses death instead of choosing life. Well, it went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said you could not force a man to accept a pardon.   They said a pardon is only a piece of paper. The validity of which depends upon the acceptance by the one who is pardoned. George Wilson, who could have had life, went to the gallows and hanged by his neck until he was dead.

 

And ladies and gentlemen, the new birth, salvation is a pardon from God. And God says you can have life, not death in hell, but life. And you have to exercise your will. Jesus has never broken down the door of any heart. You have to open the door of your life and accept Jesus into your heart. And say, Lord I know that I made a decision, but God it is not right. Lord I know I joined the church, but it is not right. Lord Jesus come into my life and save me and forgive me. And I believe folks, with all my heart, that revival begins when God's people begin to recognize, when the people in the church begin to see that they have not been saved, they have not been born again. 

And they begin to see that reputation isn't enough, religion isn't enough, ritual isn't enough, that they have to be born again by a supernatural work of the Spirit of God.

 

Let's bow together for prayer.