In this sermon titled 'Ye Must Be Born Again', Clarence Simmons explores the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in John chapter 3. He emphasizes the necessity of being born again to enter the kingdom of God and highlights the invisible and independent nature of the Spirit's work. Simmons warns against relying on religious knowledge or external actions without experiencing the new birth. He calls for genuine transformation and personal faith in Jesus Christ.

But as I kept looking at the passage and going over it and asking the Lord to work on this man here, I have landed somewhere else. And so in that penetrating statement Jesus said, he must be born again. He must be born again. So that's what we'll take up this morning. If we get to verse 16, so be it.

I don't think we will. We can cover verse 16 in two more weeks. I'll be preaching again. John chapter 3. You stand for the reading of God's Word out of respect for it?

I read verses 1 through 21. The Word of God. Let us hear it together. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born again? Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearth the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whether it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Amen. Please be seated. Thank you for standing. Let us pray together. Our Father, we thank you again this morning.

And you have reminded us that all majesty belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you for giving to us your Holy Son. We thank you that he is so precious. We thank you for hanging him on the cross, so that we can have full pardon for our sins, so that we would be brought into your royal family, purchased by his royal blood, so that we would be children of royalty. How we thank you this morning for putting the Spirit on our trail to track us down, to rope us in, to bring us to your Son, to give us life, life, eternal life.

We thank you for your kindness to us. We thank you, O God, for being merciful to us sinners. And now we come to your truth. Help me this morning. Give strength I desperately needed.

Father, give your people the here. They need grace this morning. Help me not to confuse them is my prayer. Be with us Lord. We look to thee, the only true and living God.

Be with us and make yourself known. Hear our cry in Jesus name. Amen. In Jesus name, Amen. Jesus Christ is a master teacher.

His teachings are moving, stirring, penetrating, thought-provoking, stunning, shocking, and challenging. After speaking on how the strong man is bound and his house plundered, a woman responded by saying, blessed is the wound that bore thee and the paps or the breast upon which you nursed. How did Jesus respond? Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. To the Syrophoenician woman who cried to him, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." How did Jesus respond to that cry?

He answered not a word. She continued by worshiping him and saying, Lord, help me. How did he respond? He said, does not meat suitable or fit to take the children's bread and throw it to dogs. Shocking statement.

Sometimes his teachings make people happy, sometimes they stir up envy, and sometimes they make people angry. In Luke chapter 4 when Jesus taught on God's sovereignty by saying many widows were in Israel during the three and a half years of no reign Elijah was sent unto. None of them, but was sent unto a widow in the city of Sidon, a different country. He goes on to say that in the days of Elisha, there were many lepers in Israel, but none of them were cleansed except Naaman, who was from Syria. How did they respond to that teaching?

They were filled with wrath and wanted to kill him. Not a whole lot has changed. Start talking about God's sovereignty. In other words, when you start talking about God being God, folks get angry. Jesus' teachings are still shocking, And we have one set before us in this passage.

Let me give somewhat of a backdrop I hope I don't have to do this the whole time Backdrop to this chapter John's gospel is distinct from the other three gospels in that the other three either has something to do with Jesus' birth or starts off immediately with his ministry. Matthew and Luke addresses Jesus' birth and Mark starts off with his ministry. But John's gospel, in my judgment, goes further back in that John goes to eternity. In chapter one, verse one, he says, in the beginning, now those three words should be familiar to Bible readers. We find it in the beginning of our Bibles.

Genesis chapter one, in the beginning, God, before all of creation, just God. And John takes this perspective in saying in the beginning before the New creation is just God, the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The last portion can actually be translated this way, and God was the Word. These amazing words, as I said, should be familiar to us.

The word with speaks of personal intimacy. A union, the word in God. But at the same time, John says this word is God. So you have God with God. That kind of mixed up the mind, doesn't it?

The human mind can't even wrap around something like that. God with God, but we don't have two gods. This word tells us later on is Jesus Christ. So he gives us at least two things. He gives us the mystery of the word.

He gives us the history of the word. It always was. And the mystery of the word. This word is God. You see, at least two persons of the Trinity here.

In this particular text, John 1, 1, the word is Jesus Christ, God is the Father. Trinity, that difficult doctrine. You can spend all day long trying to figure out how God is one and three and three and one and you will lose your mind. It's in the Bible, but it's big. John goes on to tell us that this word is also the creator and sustainer of all things for by him were all things made.

He tells us in verses 3 through 9 and that he was the light and the life of the world. In verses 10 to 13 he tells us that the Creator came into the world and the world did not even recognize him. Nevertheless he gave power to many to become the children of God, not because of their bloodline. Did you hear that? You don't become children of God through the bloodline.

Because Mama and Daddy are Christians, it doesn't guarantee that that's going to flow to the next generation. We would like for it to be so. It doesn't flow through the bloodline. It's not because of their wit, not because of their wills, but because they are born of God. He then gives that amazing statement, verses 14 through 18, I'm still in chapter one, we'll get to the message, of God becoming flesh and dwelling among men being full of grace and truth What a statement and the Greco-Roman world gods did not come down.

You know why because they don't exist They don't come down and pitch or dwell or tabernacle, that's what the word means, among men. In verses 19 through 28, we have the voice of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, make straight or prepare the way of the Lord. The King is coming. Verses 29 to 51, he tells us that Jesus is the Lamb of God. Takes away the sin of the world.

I'm also calling him the ladder of Jacob. He said angels will be descending and ascending into the Son of Man. That's what he told Nathaniel. Not only is he the Lamb of God, the ladder of Jacob, the one to whom angels would ascend and descend upon, but he's also the all-seeing and all-knowing God he sees through all men. Through all men.

In chapter 2, Jesus turns the water into wine, verses 1 through 11, cleanses out the temple, and declares himself to be the new temple, verses 12 through 22. And he did not commit himself to any man because he knew what was in man, verses 23 to 25. That brings us to chapter 3. Chapter 3 begins this way. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

That is a chief commander. Nicodemus is an authoritative figure in Israel a religious figure in Israel the teacher of the Jews the teacher of Israel came to the teacher Jesus in Israel Nicodemus the teacher came to Jesus it says by night and he begins to tell Jesus, listen what he says. The same came to Jesus, verse 2, by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, Master, we, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." Now watch this. Please, I don't want you to miss it.

Nicodemus just stated that the Pharisees have come to realize that all the miracles that Jesus were performing are God-rocked. That Jesus were performing a God Rock. What a statement. But notice something about that statement. He said, we know that You came from God because of the miracles, not because of the teaching.

They could not deny His miracles because they could see them. If a man had a withered hand and Jesus said, stretch it forth, they could see that. If a woman was bound or bent over for 18 years and Jesus said, stand upright, and she did, they could see that. If one was dead for four days and Jesus stood by the graveside and said, Come forth! And he came forth!

They could see that. If a funeral was going on and Jesus stopped the funeral and touched the casket and touched the body and said, stand up or rise up, and that body came up, everyone could see that. They could not deny the miracles. They just did not like that straight to the heart teaching. He taught with authority.

The people responded or said. And then they said, what a word. The focus is on what Jesus is doing, the miracles, not what he's saying, the teaching. They didn't have a problem with the miracles. But they did have a problem with what he said.

Here we have to be careful. Let me tell you what I mean. We can't simply, we cannot, we cannot simply focus on what God has done or what God is doing or what God will do while at the same time neglecting what he has said. That was the Pharisees' problem. Oh, we like those teaching, I mean those miracles, we can see them.

But we hate what you have to say. Now here's the shocking part. How did Jesus respond to that compliment, if it is indeed a compliment? We know, master, master, we know that you are a teacher, come from God, no one can perform these miracles that you are doing except God be with them. Thank you Nicodemus, I'm glad to hear that y'all come to that realization.

But it's about time because I've been doing all these miracles all this time. Now I see that the Pharisees now realize that. Is that how he responded? Did he say, none other, this is none other than the hand of God upon you. Flesh and blood has not revealed us to you but my Father which is in heaven.

That's not how he responded. Matter of fact, Jesus doesn't even address Nicodemus' statement at all. What is his reply? Jesus knowing what was in man did not even, as I said, address Nicodemus' statement, but he shifted to what was most important, being in the kingdom of God. Jesus is the type of person who keeps the main thing the main thing.

Nicodemus spoke of miracles. Jesus is going to speak of the one miracle that's absolutely necessary, being born again. Keep in mind, I can say it this way, I'm going to say it this way anyways. Nicodemus is a trained theologian, and to Nicodemus this statement sounded ridiculous. Listen how he responded.

Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's wound and be born? That's Nicodemus' statement and question. Actually, he had one statement, several questions. That's the two heads, I didn't give it to you.

Nicodemus' statements, Jesus replies. It sounded ridiculous to him. Notice he asked about being born again, but he didn't ask anything about the kingdom. I'll tell you why. I think he didn't.

It could be because if he's not born again according to Jesus, he will not be in it and neither will you. So what is meant by being born again? Jesus gives two things. He gives the place and the process. The words born again mean to be born or birthed from above.

Simple enough, being born or birth from above. In other words, this birth is outside of you, okay? From above, that's the place. He will tell us later on the process it is to possess spiritual heavenly life in earthen vessels I'm talking about these ones It is divine life in the human heart. It is what Henry Scugo called the life of God and the soul of man.

Jesus is saying clearly, if we do not possess kingdom life, we will not be in God's kingdom at all. What is meant by kingdom? The word Kingdom can be defined this way as God's royal rule or reign not a geographical location. His royal rule or reign this is not as I said to confine the word or God's reign to one particular location because we all agree, or all hold to, at least we should, that God reigns geographically everywhere. Everywhere.

It also could refer to God's rule in the human heart. Generally, God's rule arraigned. Secondly, God's rule in the human heart. God's setting up his throne in the soul and ruling there. However, it carries another meaning.

It could refer to the Messianic Kingdom in which God would set up that shall never be removed or destroyed, Where Messiah is the object and the main attraction. This is that binding agreement between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We call it a covenant. This covenant, if I may say it this way this covenant has Jesus Christ as the covenantal head over a covenantal people who will enjoy God's coming into love God's coming into blessings God's coming into a favor God's coming into presence who will enjoy God's covenantal love, God's covenantal blessings, God's covenantal favor, God's covenantal presence, God's covenant throughout eternity. The Messianic Kingdom.

If Jesus is talking about this, and I think he is, he is saying without apology, if you do not possess kingdom life, you will not be in this kingdom. Okay? Jesus tells him that a man must be born of water and of the Spirit. Now, theologians are divided. That shouldn't sound surprising.

They're always divided. Because they're made like us, flesh and blood. They are divided as to what water is referring to. So I'm going to give you several views. Some say it's natural just to think of it as the breaking of the woman's water.

There seems to be a natural reading of the passage of Nicodemus saying, can a man enter a woman's womb the second time and be born again? And so somehow to water as the breaking of the woman's water which leads to natural birth. That could be one interpretation. Makes sense. In other words, I mean if you're not born physically, you can't be born again because you don't exist.

So it makes sense. However, you can have one physical birth without having the other. Others say, this may be referring to the Spirit as the river of living water found in John chapter 7. Jesus said, He that thirsts, let him come to me and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters. And the pastor said he was referring to the Spirit.

So it could be that. Water, Spirit, synonymous. That could be. Others say it may refer to water baptism. Baptism in the spirit, we do find that in the book of Acts.

Baptized spirit coming, could be that. That has led some to baptismal regeneration, which we reject. Could be that. Could be that. Others say this may refer to the word as found in Ephesians 5 because Jesus sanctifies and cleanses his church with the washing of the water of the word.

And that makes sense word spirit Peter said these words being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. First Peter chapter 1. Word, Spirit, born again. Make sense? However, I'm going out on a limb.

It's a small limb too. However, Jesus may, just may, be referring to Ezekiel 36. When at this point in Jesus' ministry, you don't have 1 Peter, you don't have Ephesians 5, you don't have John 7. It may be referring to Ezekiel chapter 36 and here's what it says, I will sanctify my great name, God's talking, which was profaned among the heathen, which he have profaned in the midst of them and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord saith the Lord God when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes for I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh And I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and Ye shall keep my judgments and do them water and spirit God says I am going to do something so breathtaking that people all around will have to take notice of what you have undergone, a radical change.

I'm gonna take you into the Supreme Surgery Room, split you open, take out that old heart, plant in the heart of flesh, put my spirit within you, sew you back up, and when it's all said and done, everyone around us said, What a dramatic change. Has that happened to you? Have you been in the surgery room? Has God worked on you in that surgery room? Pulling out that old stuff, planning a new stuff, new goals, new way, new creature.

Has that happened? This is what I think Jesus is referring to. And I have to say, I could be wrong. Spirit, the cleansing, water, cleansing, whatever view you hold to, the bottom line is this, to be born again is the Spirit's work. That's the bottom line.

The Spirit's work. No kingdom life without the Spirit. Jesus says in John chapter three, verse three, except the man be born again, he can't see the kingdom. Verse five, he says, except the man be born again, he can't see the kingdom. Verse 5, he says, except the man be born again, he will not enter the kingdom.

Verse 7, he said, Marvel, don't be surprised, don't be shocked, don't be astonished. I said unto you, you must be born again. Must be. Not might be, not maybe, must be. But notice something in verse 7.

First in verse 6 he said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit, Nicodemus, you're thinking on the line of the earth and I'm not talking about down here, I'm talking about what comes from up there. But verse 7 is interesting. He said, Marvel not, do not be shocked. Do not be astonished. Do not be amazed.

I said unto thee, this is one of the beauties I love of the King James. It tells you what's singular and it tells you what's plural. He said, I say it unto thee singular, ye, all of you must be born again. All of us, all of you Pharisees, Nicodemus, must be born again. And he's saying the same thing to us.

If we are going to be in the kingdom, all of you must be born again. The word must is crucial because it tells us that there is no other way to enter the kingdom than Jesus gives this illustration. And It's an interesting one in verse 8 He uses the wind the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearth the sound thereof But canst not tell when it cometh or whether it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. I just want to draw two things from this.

The Spirit is invisible, the wind invisible, Spirit invisible, and independent. Okay? Invisible and independent. First, the wind is invisible. Have you ever seen the wind, anyone?

Have you? You can see the effects, can't you? You see those trees moving? So, you see those trees moving? You see leaves moving?

We used to throw grass up in the air just to see which way the wind would blow. When I was younger and I'm doing that when I'm older as well, it's okay that hard to a certain extent. You can't see the wind. It's invisible to the human eye. But you can see the effects.

And so it is with the Spirit, you cannot see Him! He's invisible to you, but you are not invisible to him. We cannot see, if I can say it this way, we cannot see him as he works, but we can see the effects of his works. Okay? We can't see him as he works, but we can see the effects of his work.

We can see how he turned haters of God into lovers of God. We can see that. We can see how he takes followers of Satan and makes them followers of Christ. We can see that. We can see how he would take children of hell and make them children of heaven.

You can see that. We can see how he makes men and women and children new creatures in Christ so that all things are passed away and all things become new. We can see that. Have you been made new? New.

Has heaven come down and glory filled your soul? Can you say there at the cross the Savior made me whole? Can you say with the hymn writer, my sins were washed away, and my night was turned to day. Why? Because heaven came down, and glory filled my soul.

Can you say that? All this stuff about sinner drowning, Jesus takes some life jacket and throws it out. He has the rope on this side and sinner grabbing hold of the life jacket and Jesus pulling him in is nonsense! Fairy tale! Yes folks, if you are made alive, you were not drowning.

You were at the bottom of the sea of wickedness. The crabs and all the creatures were feeding on you. And Jesus dove into the bottom and brought you up and got mouth to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand, body to body, and breathed life into you, and you lived. It's all his work. We don't do anything.

The wind is invisible and so is the spirit. But we can see the effects of his work. Second, the wind is independent. I put a challenge to you all, when we are all said and done, I want you to go out to Sanders. You don't even have to go that far, you can go right out here in the front.

And I want you to command the wind to come or to go or whatever you choose to do. You say, I want you to go over here to Louisiana. I want you to go to South Carolina. I want you to go up in there. I want you to go out there and try to do that and see if it obeys you.

The wind is independent. That's what Jesus says in this text. That's what he says about the wind again. It blows wherever it wants to. The word listens, whatever it desires.

We can't control the wind. We can't. Oh, it would be good, wouldn't it be? Especially when the hurricane was coming. Go back out that way.

That just doesn't happen. It's independent. Not dependent on us at all. It blows where it wills, when it wills, how it wills, and upon whom it wills. And so it is with the Spirit.

He goes where he wills, when he wills, and he works upon whom he wills. We can plead with him to work on people, and we should, but he works wherever he wants to. We do not dictate how the Spirit works, when the Spirit works, and upon whom the Spirit works. This is his sole prerogative. God has said it in such a way that some things, some things are contagious.

Sicknesses, some of them. Diseases, some of them. We could pass those things on. Good habits, bad habits, we can pass those things on. And we're passing it on all the time.

Contagious. But there is one thing that's not contagious, and that's spiritual life. You can't catch that from anyone. That's the spirit's work. It's not contagious among human beings.

This kingdom life hanging around people who have the life will not give you the life. We cannot catch it from one another. We can't catch it from any person except one. And that's the Holy Spirit. He's the one who can get it.

Parents, this I sound discouraging and I'm not trying to. Teach your children the word of God while you can. Teach them the word of God, teach them the songs of Zion while you can, and leave the result to God. Pray, teach, and live. I can't think of any parent.

Well, I probably can. The parents who look at their children, look at their children, you can't help but cry. Lord, make them all ables and not kings. The word of God said Cain was of that wicked one. Pastors can't help but cry when you see the congregation, Lord, give me all ables and no chains.

We'll take a Jacob and don't give us Easter. We can cry that and we can pray that. The results is in God's name. He loves to see everybody converted right? If we could pass on that life, we would.

I think we would be selfish if we wanted to give it to certain people. And then we complain about God giving salvation to certain people, and if salvation was in our hands, we would be selfish! I won't give it to you! You made me mad last week! I'm gonna let you!

God doesn't function that way! He gives it to people who do not deserve it. Amen. So I'm glad salvation is not in our hands. I wouldn't be saved.

No wonder Nicodemus responded, how can these things be? Jesus can say some things sometimes, and he usually don't even explain some of the things he says. He just say it and move on. The Spirit's work, by the way, that's the process. I should have told you that.

I told you about the place is from above. The process is the Spirit's work. But there's something else here, and to me it's scary. And I'll tell you why I think it's scary. After Jesus says these things about where the Spirit works independently, giving this analogy of the wind, Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be?

Listen to another one of Jesus' replies and it's a shocking one. Jesus answered and said unto him, art thou a master of Israel? Is that what your Bible is saying? Art thou a master of Israel, and knoweth not these things? Now I'm going to say one thing.

I usually don't say this, but I'm going to say it this time. In the original language, it doesn't say, you are a master. It says, you are the master. You are the teacher of Israel. And you don't know these things.

Nicodemus is a national theologian. Nicodemus is the professor of Old Testament theology. Nicodemus knows the original language. He knows Hebrew from top to bottom. This man is a Pharisee.

You cannot be a Pharisee, listen up. You cannot be a Pharisee unless you have memorized the entire Old Testament. Let me run that by you one more time because I'm trying to process that in my mind. In order to be a Pharisee, you had to memorize the entire Old Testament by the age of 15. Did you hear me?

This Man No More Bible and all of us in this room put together just to put that in proper perspective for you. That's 929 chapters 23, 145 verses. This guy knows a lot of Bible. How are we doing with Bible memorization? He started when he was six.

He knows every passage Jesus could possibly go to. He knows the custom, he knows the background, he knows the rabbinic literature. This man knows it all. He's a Pharisee, a dead teacher of Israel, the dean of the seminary, if I may say it that way. So I said, this portion is scary.

Because Jesus says to that man, you are a teacher, the teacher of Israel, and you don't know these things. That's why I think Jesus was referring to Ezekiel, Chapter 36, because that's in the Old Testament. You should know these things. Nicodemus doesn't have a clue on what Jesus is talking about. Some believe that Nicodemus came by night for the purpose of kind of sneaking in so he won't be detected.

He's a secret believer and so forth. And that's why he came by night. And so some have concluded based on John chapter 7 and John chapter 19 because in John chapter 7 he said, no man our Lord doesn't condemn anyone until we hear him. And then John chapter 19 he brings the myrrh and the aloe for Jesus's involvement so some have concluded Nicodemus sure enough is a believer, not in this chapter, not right here. Jesus says to him, you must be born again.

Again. An Old Testament scholar, and the reason I say this is scary, at least to me, to me, because you can have all of the academic accolades, all of the theological training, memorize all of the theological terminologies, have read all of the creeds and confession in church history, be a Bible toter and a scripture quota and still not be on the highway to heaven. You can know all the stuff. This man knew the Old Testament top and bottom and not born again. A religious man, a well-known man, if they had degrees, he had more degrees than we are ever getting in our lifetime.

And yet, with All that knowledge, he doesn't have a clue on what Jesus is talking about. Jesus said you must be born again. Must be, must be, must be. Or no heaven. We don't have anything else, thank you.

You saved my life. Jesus gives this shocking, as I said before, shocking, shocking statement by a way of question to Nicodemus. Nicodemus is well trained. May I still say, we could be well trained. We could know a whole lot about a whole lot, or something about a whole lot, and still not understand spiritual things.

You Hear me? It's not enough just to sit in the church building. It's not enough just to sing every now and then. We must be, according to Jesus, we must be born again if we are going to be in that kingdom. And there's no other way.

You can't born yourself again. That's the spirit's work. We can't talk ourself into the kingdom. That's the spirit's work. We can't buy our way into the kingdom.

The Spirit's work. We will not even sneak our way into the kingdom. It's the Spirit's work. We have to be, must be born again. Adults, you have to be born again.

Children, you have to be born again. Is it not enough just to ride on mama and daddy's coattail and think that's going to get me in? Jesus said, you must be, all of you must be born again if you're going to be in this kingdom. Husbands, you just can't lean on the wife. Well, my wife was a believer.

I guess I'll be alright when it's all said and done. No, sir. Must be birth from above. Same thing for the wise. We can't rub that thing off on one another.

We ought to be rubbing good stuff off on one another, but one of the things we can't rub off is spiritual life. We can't do it. We can't do it. Unless we are born again, we cannot get into this Kingdom. I can't stress that enough.

Being born again is God's work alone. We cannot do anything about it. It's what we call monism. One way. Working.

God's working. We're not doing anything. Anyone here decided one day that you were going to be born to certain parents? Anyone? Did you ever decide where you would be born?

How about how you would be born? Let's go further. How about when you would be born? How about what gender you would be born? You had anything to do with that?

You just showed up, didn't you? Well, not exactly, but... Wife and I have eight children, so you know. But did you have anything to do with that birth? I worked.

Babies do work some kind of way in coming out. But did you have anything to do with that life? It just happened. Well, I'm giving you a general it just happened. Parents could tell you the rest later on.

We like to tell our children, how did this happen? Go lift that refrigerator. I can't, it's too heavy. I said, that's exactly right. What you're asking me right now, it's too heavy.

I'll tell you later on sometime. Just a little tidbit we use in the Simmons home. But we had nothing to do with it. And so it is with this birth, it's a birth that we absolutely need, but it's a birth that only God could do, and we need him to do it, but he has to be the one to do it. Well, let me say this.

Man, what's going on with these clocks? Let me say this. We can be conservative, No vast portion of scripture, embrace modesty, have a good view of manhood and womanhood, homeschool our children, and still not be on the highway to heaven. Did you know that? You can do all these things and still not be heaven-bound.

Something has to take place on the inside. And unless that something called the new birth spiritual life takes place on the inside, there is no, no being in God's kingdom. Jesus said to some of the Jews, many shall come and sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the kingdom and you yourselves will be thrust out. That's scary We must be born again now I ask the question are you simple question have you experienced this birth? Because Jesus said you must have it if you are going to be in his kingdom.

Has the spirit come to you? Has he taken that lasso of love and rope you in and pulled you to himself? Has he done that? Has he breathed into you spiritual life? And you know a great change has happened, radical change has happened, when you want Jesus more than anything has that happened to you?

She rope you in? Oh we're just playing games. We're just cruising alone. You know we read the Bible every now and then, you know? We live in America, we just don't have time.

Man, they got the Bible on mp3, CD, DVD, they even still have it on cassette tape! I don't know why, but they still have it on cassette tape! We can listen to the Bible any time, but we just don't have time. Has life been given to you if you've been birthed in the kingdom? Without this birth, no heaven.

Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good? Has God been gracious to you in this way coming to you. Oh I love to see God I love to think of grace this way God moving in our direction. Did he come to you digging up and showing you that mess there. And then did he show you the cross, the one hanging on that cross.

We read about it. I mean, we sung about it. We definitely read about it. We sung about it. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.

Has it happened to you? Or are we just putting on on Sunday? I gotta make myself look good in front of everybody. You know, I don't want anyone to know I'm not spiritual. I don't want them to know I'm not praying.

I don't want them to know I'm not praying. I don't want them to know I'm not reading the scripture. How are you doing? Well, I could be doing better. That's a cop out.

How are you doing? Well, work was hard. I'm not gonna ask you about work. I'll ask you how you're doing. How you doing spiritually?

Feasting on the worst? Having a delightful time with Jesus Christ? Crying unto him? We can pray all the time. It could be two minutes, three minutes, 30 seconds.

We have plenty time to pray. On the way to work, coming from work, we have all the time to pray. Are you praying? Are you praying? Well they're just nice and about Zion.

I just like to be around nice folk and nice folk in hell. Has life come to you? I said, come, you have to have it. If you're gonna be in this kingdom, you have to have it. If you are going to heaven, you have to have it.

If you are going to enjoy God forever, you have to have it. Have to have it. Come up with my question again. Do you have it? Young people, do you have it?

You think mom and dad's faith is going to get you? It's going to get you. Parents, do you have it? Are you thinking, you know, because I homeschool, that's a great thing, that should cover everything. Because I dress a certain way, that's a great thing.

I don't dress like those other folk. Sure, now I'm gonna be part of this public school system. Oh, I bless God for the public school system. They taught me how to read, but they didn't know I was gonna read the scriptures. Hallelujah.

I thank them for it. God used it. But I'm just asking you. I'm just asking you. You think all the things you're doing is going to get you into the kingdom?

Is that why you're doing it? Or are you doing it because you love Jesus? Just asking a simple question or a series of simple questions. I don't want us to play games. I don't want to play games.

I have to ask myself. Sit down and say, Clarence, Are you born again? You can know a whole lot, Clarence. You read a whole lot of books. You can memorize a whole bunch of scriptures and still not be on the highway to heaven.

Are you born again? Do you have the life? God and the soul, and you know it? Or are you just playing religious games? Are you still dead or are you alive?

Jesus said, must be born again. Well, I'm going to stop. I probably should keep going, but I'm going to stop. By just saying a few things. Well, I'll just say one thing.

No, I'll just stop. I'll tell you, I love you. Thank you for praying. But salvation is real? The gospel is real?

Jesus Christ is a lovely Savior. A sweet Redeemer. He saves the highly unlikely, doesn't he? He comes to people of every stripe. It doesn't matter to him.

He comes and he rescues them and says, you are mine. We ought to love him above all else. We ought to do our utmost to bring him glory. And we are a little slow, aren't we? And bringing him glory, because our own goals stand in the way.

He shed his precious blood, dear people, so that we would be cleansed from our sins. We ought to believe him now and throughout all eternity, clinging to Him for dear life because He is worthy. Yes. But in order to do that, change has to happen. If that change has not happened, you don't want to do it.

You don't want to do it. And we want you to do it and may God help us and may we glorify his name let us pray father we thank you again for your kindness to us. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, We thank you for your straightforward teaching. We must be born again.

Help us by the work of your Spirit. We call upon Him to work, to work among those who are not yours. Bring them in, we pray. Be gracious. Be gracious, we think, of our precious children.

For some make profession, others have not. Would you be gracious by that Spirit that gives life and work in their souls is our cry. Please, please, Lord, we don't want them to depart this life without Jesus Christ. Rescue them is our cry. And for the adults who know you, oh Father, cause them to rejoice in Jesus.

Cause them, Lord, to increase in their love for him. And to those who are just pretending. Lord, shake them from top to bottom. Please don't leave them that way. Please don't let them walk around with blinders on their eyes.

Lord, please help them to see, to pick as it waits them. Please come by your might and rescue. You delight in doing things like this. Hear our cry now for the sake of your glorious son we pray, amen. Please stand.

Usually sing another hymn but we will not do that today. Now unto him that is able to keep you from faultless, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and ever. Amen. God help us.

Let's go in his name.