In the sermon 'You Must be Born Again' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on John 3:1-21, where Jesus explains to Nicodemus the necessity of spiritual rebirth. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and teacher of the law, approaches Jesus with questions about His divine signs. Jesus responds that to see the kingdom of God, one must be 'born again,' a concept that confounds Nicodemus. The sermon highlights that being 'born again' is an act of God, involving the Holy Spirit and the cleansing power of God, as prophesied in Ezekiel 36. The preacher emphasizes that no amount of religious knowledge, moral behavior, or good works can achieve salvation; it is solely through God's grace and the transformative work of the Holy Spirit. The sermon calls for self-examination, urging listeners to ensure they are truly born again and not relying on their own righteousness for salvation.

Good morning church family. We are in John 3 for our sermon text this morning and I was very excited when Mr. Lundquist asked me to read because there's some very famous verses in this text but I was also just excited because God used this text in my life when he saved me heavily and it's wonderful and these are life-giving words. So I'm gonna read from John 3 verses 1 through 21. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one else can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Most assuredly I say to you, We speak what we know and testify what we have seen. And you do not receive our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of man who is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this day to worship you and to be here together. Thank you for a new year that you've continued to give us life and opportunity to worship. I pray for Mr.

Lundquist as he comes that you would fill him with the spirit, that you would speak to us today, that we would have Ears to hear and eyes to see, God, soften our hearts and open our eyes. Teach us today. Amen. Well, this was not what was planned a few days ago. For those that are visiting, we've been going through Romans.

And this week we were supposed to be starting Romans 3. As you can see, we are not in Romans. We're in John 3. And as Jason started off the service with, I am very thankful and praising God for a couple things. One, this is the first time in almost 12 years that Jason, or any preacher, I don't know if they'll be up here, but Jason does almost all the preaching, because of sickness.

Praise God. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. The other is, God's good. He's allowed me to have health.

And I can stand here. I might be sick tomorrow because you wanted me just healthy for today to stand in. I'm also thankful there is many sermons from the past that I could lean on to look at today. As we were considering today of what it would be, as I was looking at that and I was talking with Jason yesterday. I was looking at a couple passages and John 3 is the one that really came to the forefront because of where we are in Romans.

I'm always surprised when I see how long it's been since we were in a book. We started John over five years ago. And it was amazing to look to see that we were in John 3 in November of 2017. That was John 3. We started it, of course, way before then.

As I reviewed my Roman's notes and compared it here to John 3 on you must be born again and it's found it very fitting. It's not about your nationality, it's not about your advantages, it's not about anything who you think you are. There's one command. There's one hope. You must be born again.

Let's pray. Oh God, This is the third time now that we prayed for this time of the sermon, really specifically, because God, it's your word. We've been singing songs that are based on your word, but now we're reading, teaching, hearing your word. And we want to make sure this time is honorable to you. John 3 is not what we thought a week ago would be taught to us today, but we trust in your good sovereign will that it's what you want us to be in today.

So please teach us. Lead us. Guide us. Save people. Save people that thought they were saved.

Save people that know they're not saved through this. Thank you, God, for this teaching and this time. Amen. So in John 3, 1 through 8 is going to be the focus. Had Jake read all of that for full context.

We're going to be focusing on John 3, 1 through 8. This passage on unless one is born again, that you must be born again, George Whitfield preached just on that verse 300 times. 300 times, just on that verse. And when he was asked why so many times, he said, for the simple reason that you must be born again. It's the command.

It is the ultimate command that we have in Scripture. Without being born again, you'll see there's no heaven, there's no eternal life, there's no seeing the kingdom of God, there's only one way, no alternatives, No exceptions. You must be born again. Let's start by looking at verses 1 and 2 of John 3. This is where Nicodemus comes to Jesus.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, We know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. So Nicodemus is a Pharisee. We've been looking at Romans. Paul was a Pharisee.

Nicodemus is a Pharisee. A Pharisee is someone that's generally considered middle class, most likely businessmen. They are held in higher esteem than other religious leaders. They're the ones that if anybody that's respected in general they are. Now we know, I'll come to that, there's some great problems with the Pharisees and Jesus calls them out But they were generally held in higher esteem primarily because they're the ones that did most of the teaching And and they tended to honor right you want to honor those who rule over you and they rule over them in a religious capacity, not in the civil capacity of the Romans here, but he says when he rules over them it's more of a religious capacity.

But they are seen as very moral. They believed in heaven, hell, angels, the resurrection, unlike the Sadducees, believing in the resurrection, and most of all gaining favor with God through law keeping. They knew the Old Testament better than anyone. They were teachers, they prided themselves in their law keeping, they prided themselves on their knowledge, they were the authors and the teachers of a 6200 page Talmud that is a huge book made to explain the law. This is what you need to do.

And even at that, it doesn't contain everything. The rabbis and teachers and the Jewish law are still editing, revising, adding to that as things come along. Now, although Nicodemus here is seen in the glimpses that we get of him only in John and a couple other chapters in John, he's really questioning, seems like a caring man, seems like he really wants to know, doesn't seem like he's with the other guys, but he is really part of them. He is a Pharisee. Jesus has a lot to say about Pharisees.

In Matthew 23, Jesus gives eight woes to the Pharisees. These loud warnings, these judgments, these condemnations against these teachers. He calls them hypocrites, not just to the general public, this is to the Pharisees. He's calling them hypocrites, devouring widows, They have showy prayers, they are blind guys, they are fools, they are whitewashed tombs, they were outwardly in order but full of dead men's bones. That's going back to Ezekiel 37 that they would know very well and I'll talk about later.

In all of this, they are leading people to hell. He also says, you serpents, Brutal Vipers, how can you escape the condemnation of hell? This is the group Nicodemus belongs to. This is the group Paul belonged to. And Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night.

People can make a big deal about him coming to him at night. Why night? We can think about it very simply. It could be because of fear of man. He can come by himself.

Maybe the other Pharisees won't see him because he really wants to have this conversation with Jesus. He has no idea what's about to come, but he does have these things and he does want to say some things. It might just be the easiest time for his schedule, but one of the simplest things is he just came when he could. That's probably the simplest. And when we think of night, don't think of Nicodemus coming slinking along at midnight, maybe knocking on Jesus' door and saying, hey, I got this thing I want to talk to you about.

No, in Jewish law, night just means you can see three stars. That might be six o'clock this time of year, right? Five o'clock this time of year. So no need to think of Nicodemus slinking along at midnight. He's just coming to Jesus.

It's just of notes. And then later on in John, it's also referenced, hey, Nicodemus, the one that came to Jesus at night. Nicodemus was a famous name and a popular name, and just wanted to distinguish who it was that was talking to Jesus most likely. You don't need to make much of that. So that's Nicodemus.

So Nicodemus comes to Jesus and in verse 2 he says, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. And then he says, Rabbi, his intent, I'll give Nicodemus the benefit of the doubt, that his intent is to come with respect, with honor. And he may be actually kind of thinking of Jesus as his equal in many ways, but he does have this gnawing thing at him. We know that you come from God because of these signs you do. If you look over in chapter 2, before and earlier in chapter 2, verse 23, It says, Now when he, when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which Jesus did.

We don't know which ones, but these were signs that people then looked at and said, you must be the Messiah. And they believe in Jesus. These were people, unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and other religious leaders, that had read their Old Testament with clarity and read Isaiah and read other places that said, the Messiah is coming and these are the signs you will know him by. Heal the sick, heal the blind, the lame will walk. The prophets told these things And people saw this and said, we believe.

Not Nicodemus. But he does mention these signs. And he says, we know. We know you're from God. Do you really, Nicodemus?

Do you really know? You don't know. You think you know who God is, but you don't know your scripture like you think you know. And God, Jesus rebukes him for it later on in this chapter. Rebukes him for it in verse 10.

He says, are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things? You have God in the flesh right before you. He's been doing signs that you've either heard of or seen or both. He's right there in front of you. He's not just another prophet.

He's not just another miracle worker of some sort. He is God. He is God. Nicodemus, as we've been seeing in Romans, has had all these advantages. He is a teacher of the Old Testament.

A teacher. That's his job. He's to study and teach. He does not see that God is right in front of him. He does not recognize the signs.

The meat of this is in verses 3-8. Let's start with verses 3 and 4. Let me read those. Jesus answered and said to him, Nicodemus didn't ask a question. You just had this statement.

For whatever reason, he wanted to get this statement out there. Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Here we have it, you must be born again.

Jesus is God. He knows all people's hearts and responds to Nicodemus to address his heart and the truth all people need to know. And he starts out with this most assuredly. Once again Nicodemus' attention and if anybody else is around, most assuredly, very verily, truly, truly, this is an emphatic, authoritative warning that a great truth is coming. I'm warning you, pay attention to what I'm about to say.

You better know and believe this truth and understand the consequences if you don't. Jesus has warned him. Jesus responds to Nicodemus' we know with no. No you don't know. This is what you must know.

This is what all your knowledge, all your advantages, all your teaching is missing. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. In verse 5 he says it again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. No eternal life. Unless one is born again.

Jesus leaves no room because there is no room for exceptions. There is only one way, unless one is born again. To Nicodemus, as I say to you, unless one that's general, that's everyone, not just Nicodemus, but Nicodemus, with all of who you think you are, you're in the same boat as everybody. Everybody is in the same boat unless one is born again. No matter who you are, as we've been seeing in Romans, Jew or Gentile, no matter what knowledge you have, what you've done, your occupation, especially Mr.

Religious Leader, whether you're a murderer or a good doctor, whether you're a harlot or a faithful spouse, unless one is born again you cannot and will not see the Kingdom of God, No eternal life. Nicodemus, your religious status, your knowledge, your money, your moral behavior, your lineage, does not get your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It is not. Well, there are advantages as we see in Romans, and in Romans 3 when we come to that Lord willing next week, these are wonderful advantages. They are certainly of worth, but they don't save you.

The follow-up question in verse 4 shows that Nicodemus understands this analogy that this is impossible. The one that has prided themselves on favor of God through law keeping, that this is what I can do realizes what he's saying is impossible. It's not something I can do. And as people, generally people all around the world, not just Americans, but people all around the world, we want to know what can I do? What can I do?

What can I do? And Nicodemus realized, I can't do this. This is impossible, which is the purpose of the analogy, the purpose of the phrase, you must be born again. I mean, think about it. Did any of you control any aspects of your birth?

None, None, right? You didn't control whether you're a boy or a girl. You didn't control the time you were born, the place you were born, the year you were born, the parents you had. You couldn't control any of that and that's Jesus' point here. No.

Just like you couldn't control that, you have nothing to do with you can't be born again. You have nothing to bring to that. And he gets that this includes him. When in verse 7 Jesus says, Don't marvel at that, that I say this to you, you must be born again. He gets this, he gets this impossible, and he's smart enough, he gets it, that Jesus is saying this applies to him.

And he's marveling at this. This is a huge hit to his knowledge, potentially, at this point. I don't know whether he got it now or it seems like he saved at some point between here and John 19 I think it is. Anyway, later on in John, it seems like he saved somewhere. There's somewhere he realizes it seems like this is a hit to what he thought was right teaching, that he wasn't born again and would not see the kingdom of God.

So why must you be born again for eternal life? Why this requirement? Jesus tells us. Why not an exception for one so knowledgeable? One that doesn't seem to be like anything about his colleagues are.

Why not an exception for this guy? His colleagues that are equating Jesus' signs as being from the devil. We don't hear Nicodemus calling out his colleagues at the wrong either though. I want to think kindly about him, but on the other hand, he is a member of this group. Right?

Why not one that follows the law very well, attends the feasts, everything he does? Why not an exception for one of you that attends church regularly and is generally moral? Why not? Things that Nicodemus and you have been taught and Nicodemus should have known because from Leviticus 11, Leviticus 19, God demands perfection and holiness as He is perfect and holy. Not by my definition of what is perfect or what is good enough.

God says perfect. God says holy. And Jesus, since he is God, reiterates this in Matthew 5. You are to be perfect. You are to be perfect and we are not.

And so in verse 6, Jesus says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. So why must we be born again? Because that which is born of the flesh is flesh. So why must we be born again? Because that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

The Old Testament was enough to know why you must be born again. We start in Genesis 2, where God says, do not eat of this tree, you will die. So they eat. Did they die right away? Well, they died spiritually.

That should be a death we're way more concerned about than physical death. Now, we should be concerned about physical death because we're dead spiritually. We have not repented and believe in Christ's love for salvation. We will not see heaven because we're not born again. But that happened and ever since, Every child that was ever born, even all the children to Adam and Eve, and have any children before they sin, every child that's ever been born, that's all of us, born sinful.

Born sinful, born in the flesh, and sinful children. That's all we can have, parents. We're all born sinful enemies of God, deserving the eternal wrath of God in hell. Job. Job knows this.

He understands this. He says in Job 14, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Now let's pile on what Nicodemus should have known this. Now pile on from Romans 3. Well that's the New Testament.

We're going to get here Lord, in a couple weeks, but in John, I mean in Romans 3, Paul goes through several verses from 10 to 18 quoting Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah. Hear what he says. All things Nicodemus should have known, and all things we know as well. He says, there is none righteous, no not one. This is all Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah.

There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no not one.

Their throat is an empty tomb with their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. In the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. Nicodemus could have gotten and should have gotten and should have been teaching all of this. He had it. He had it to teach. You think you're an exception Nicodemus?

You think you're an exception oh church, tinder, choir member? You think you're an exception? There is none righteous. No, not one. None who understands, none who seeks after God, all have turned aside.

They have all together become unprofitable. There is none who does good. No, not one. God can't be more plain than that. And then continues on in chapter 3 for all of sin.

All of you. But at least right here Nicodemus had all this knowledge. Now we have more, so we're even responsible for even more in that. Romans 8, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Those born of flesh are of the flesh.

You are of the flesh. And in your own flesh, in your natural state, children of wrath, Ephesians 2, in your natural state, you cannot please God. You can do some good things to society, defining good that way, but it doesn't please God. Ephesians 2, we're dead in trespass and sin. Colossians 2, we're dead in trespasses.

Galatians 6. Galatians 6, Jason quoted this last week. So thankful, I was able to go through my notes through Romans where we've been so far. I didn't have those notes five years ago, Galatians 6 is one of those. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.

You must be born again. This is so against everything that we are told today. This is so against where we are told that the vast majority of people are essentially good, right? People are essentially good. Oh, there's a few bad ones.

You can name some bad rulers, right? The person that murdered the people in Idaho, the one accused of them, right? You can name all kinds of things. The doctors that do these abortions. Oh, there's some bad ones out there.

But we're all generally good with praiseworthy acts, and everybody gets applause, no matter what. You get applause for doing your best. And we want to generally be thankful for people, right? You want to generally be thankful, especially if people help you, want to show gratitude. And people do try and you do want to encourage people when they really are trying to do their work well or help others well and all that.

But, But what the world and you need to hear is that your best efforts for heaven deserve hell. That's all they deserve. Your best efforts, your best knowledge, your best teaching, Nicodemus. Nicodemus is held to a higher level, higher standard even. But all your best efforts for heaven on your own only deserve hell.

Only deserve hell. You need to, all people, need to reject your own righteousness or you will be rejected by God. Everyone needs to reject all other hopes, but Christ or you will be hopeless for all of eternity. Jesus is telling Nicodemus, this is you. This is you, and you are wicked for not teaching the truth.

You can go back sometime and read Jeremiah and Ezekiel where God is rebuking these evil shepherds that have led them, that have led them towards hell, but also just completely hurt them in physical ways as well, not caring for them. This is the ultimate way not to care for people, is not telling them, you must be born again. In all of your evangelism, you can start there. Remember that. You must be born again.

You start with that. Just keep coming back. They argue. They argue. But you must be born again.

But I do this and I do that. Thank you for all that. You must be born again. But what about so and so? They must be born again.

What about the Pope? The previous Pope that just died? All I can tell, he's not born again, he's in hell. And the current pope, best I can tell, he's headed to hell and teaching people, just like Nicodemus, how to go to hell. Nicodemus, you're heading to hell in your current state.

You're teaching people how to go to hell and not heaven. Nicodemus, along with all you that sit here week after week, taught in homes day after day, as Paul says in Romans 1, you are without excuse. You're without excuse. You've been told. You've been told you must be born again.

You've been told that all these piles of good works that you think you have, these piles of lineage you can trace forever and ever, of no ultimate advantage when it comes to salvation. You must be born again. Jesus tells them, do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. You must be born again. You must be remade.

You must be recreated. You must be regenerated. Let's look at 5 through 8 then. We have this command. We know why we must be born again.

We're fleshly, we're dead in trespasses and sins. We can't please God, there's none righteous, no not one. Okay, We can't leave it there. You must be born again. Jesus tells us why we must be born again, the consequences of not being born again.

But he doesn't leave us there. He also tells us how to be born again. Let me read verses five through eight. So Nicodemus has asked this question, how? And Jesus answers, most assuredly I say to you unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who was born of the Spirit. So for those wanting a checklist, People love checklists, some more than others.

Those want a checklist. Here's the checklist. It's only a two-part checklist of how to be born again. It says right here, by water and the Spirit. There it is.

By water and the Spirit. So what does that mean? By water and the Spirit. It shouldn't surprise us. The explanation comes from Scripture and from Scripture that Nicodemus should be well aware of.

You can turn to Ezekiel 36. I'm just going to do two verses here, but you can stay there because I'm going to go ahead and read Ezekiel 37 in a few moments. But Ezekiel 36, 25 through 27, Nicodemus should know this. Apparently he doesn't. He should know the application, the proper application of this.

God says, then, This is God speaking, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your unfilthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them." God is the one that makes anyone born again.

A new creation. We have here five times God says, I, I, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean and cleanse you from all your filthiness and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit, my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them.

That's how you're born again. That describes someone that's born again. You can't get that state through your own self. You can't do that kind of heart surgery that Jason talked about the last couple of weeks. You can't do that.

You can't, right? Physically, can I replace a heart? OK, but that's not what God's talking about. There's no doctor in the world ever was or ever will be that can give you a new spirit that can place the Spirit of God within you, that can't happen. How is one?

Through water and the Spirit, and it's described right here. By God washing you with water, cleansing you from all your filthiness, and putting His Spirit within you. Here we are in January 1. This can't be done by turning over a new leaf. This can't be done through resolutions.

You know I'm not a big fan of resolutions, but resolutions do have their place. I agree with all the resolutions Jonathan Edwards did. Why? They have their place because they're God-word resolutions. No matter what resolution you have, It has to do with diet, weight, this or that or whatever.

May it be because you want to have a better body, to conform to Christ, take care of what Christ is giving you. It's to God's glory on whatever it is you want to do, even I'm going to read through the Bible in a year or two years, whatever, not just so you can check it off the box, but you can say, God, may you conform me to you through a better knowledge and a better reading and a better application of your word. Whatever it is, let your resolutions be God word. But that won't save you. You can read through your Bible a hundred times and do it, do it, but you must be born Again can't be just rehabilitated in this you need remade born again And only God and God alone does it all Triune God Does it all the Godhead and all of his power.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work in conjunction. They are one God who work together. And people would be born again. Being born of water and spirit is being made clean from all filthiness by God. And there's other passages in the Old Testament that Nicodemus should know about that we are responsible for knowing.

Isaiah 55.1, ho, come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. How do you get to these waters? These waters are from God. Come, and it continues. You can't buy this.

This is all of grace, all of mercy is what this is. Jeremiah 2, they have forsaken me, the fountains of living waters. Now we have more of the Word of God than Nicodemus had. That's plenty to condemn him, right? All his advantages.

Just in John, if you're still in John 3, flip over to John 4. 413, this is Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well. He says, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. Talking about the water at that well, the famous well. But Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.

Jesus just said that he is God. Put that right back with Jeremiah. I am the fountain of living waters. Come to the waters of God. Continuing verse 14.

But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water. Heard that before, a fountain of living water. It's a fountain of water sprinkling up into everlasting life. You must be born again. And it's by the water of God, the living water of God.

Not something you can go drink. We're not talking baptism at all. These are the living waters, the refreshing waters of eternal life that only come from God and by his Spirit. By his Spirit. Does John 6 go over a couple more chapters?

To John 6 63. John 6 63, Jesus says, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. Shouldn't surprise us that Paul takes all of Romans to really expand on this one verse in many ways.

There's many others, right? But here's one that's a great summary of Romans. It is the spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. You're of the flesh, you can only produce flesh. It's all you can get.

But God, you must be born again, and it's by God through his spirit and the waters. Now back in Ezekiel, so maybe Nicodemus, maybe you agree with that, but maybe you don't agree how desperate you are. Maybe Romans, Paul quoting Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah haven't convinced you. Maybe Rean Ezekiel 36 hasn't convinced you. These are other things.

Well, let's turn over to Ezekiel 37. You think of Ephesians 2 when we see Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel 37 verses 1 through 6. The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. Then he caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and indeed they were very dry." They were completely dead, very dry. And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live?

So I answered, O Lord God, you know. Again he said to me, prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Surely I, I God, will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you, and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord." Now Nicodemus could have been, he would probably be very aware of this, and he could have been saying, yeah, but this application is to Israel that's in captivity and God is using this to describe how they are now and what they will be when he brings them out.

And there's some truth in that. But there's no way you can read this and say that's all there is. They're dead. And only God can give them life. They must have new life.

They must be a new creation. They must be born again. And only God can do that. Can a dead person make themselves alive? No.

No. Try. Try. Listen. Listen.

Try and bring those dead bones to life with your homeschooling. Try. All you might. And it won't happen. Try to bring those dead bones to life by coming to church, by being obedient, by singing in the choir, by going to the abortion bill, by going to the nursing home, through your hospitality, through your outreach.

Bring your best to make those bones alive through all of those works and you can't. May all of those be an outward demonstration of an inward reality of what we've been talking about the last couple weeks. But those don't make you from dead to life. Those don't make you born again. You can stand before God with your whole list and whatever list you have, I guarantee, I guarantee there will be people headed to hell with a much better list than yours.

Guarantee it. Whatever list you think you have. If that's what you rely on, unless one is born again by God, by God alone, by water and the Spirit, no heaven, no eternal life. This can only be done by God. The Spirit gives life according to his perfect will, as we see in verse 8.

So everyone who was born of the Spirit. Verse 8 is really talking about this is by the will of God, by the Spirit's power alone, by God's power alone. In James 1, 18, James says, of his own will, of God's own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. By his will, you would be born again. Just as God controls the wind, God's will will be done on his timetable to whom he will regenerate as determined from eternity past.

But you can see the effects of the wind. You can see the effects of the wind. It's like we should see an outward demonstration of an inward spiritual reality. Well, you can fool people. We've talked about that.

There are people here that have testimonies of, I fooled people, some unwittingly, some knowingly. You can fool people, you can fool me, but I'm not the one you stand before on the judgment day. I say you must be born again because God says you must be born again because God said I must be born again. I'm not the one that stands before God and gives any account of your life. I'm not.

I'm not going to be the one arguing. I'm not going to argue before God. But God, did you consider this, this, this, and this? They were a deacon. They were an elder.

They were a choir leader. They were in the choir. They set up chairs every week. They did sound. They helped with this and that.

Were they born again? You're a goat. I never knew you. Praise though to the Almighty God who not only commands us to be born again, that we cannot do, that is impossible with us, not only that He commands us to be it, but He's the one that does the work. How often do you dwell on that?

How often do you dwell on that? How often do you dwell on any of the commands of God? Any of them? Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Only through His power can you do that.

Right? Don't steal, don't commit adultery, don't blaspheme, honor the Sabbath, whatever it might be. God, through His Spirit, is the only one that gives us a heart, makes us new through being born again, gives us a heart and the desire to do any of that and through His Spirit being in us have the power to do any of that. Especially the biggest commandment of them all, You must be born again. Nicodemus has it right.

It's impossible with man, not with God, because only God can do this. God doesn't do this though, without accounting for your sin. Your sin must still be dealt with. Summary, right? You are flesh, continually evil, enemy of God, dead, headed to hell to be under the full wrath of God for all of eternity.

That's the best you can do. But your sin must be dealt with. Not that Jesus just makes you born again and overlooks all that. Price must be paid the wrath deserve for your sin your only hope is Jesus who is God the son live perfectly must be perfectly holy as I'm holy be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect he lived perfectly Died the death you deserve by becoming your sin. We sang the power of the cross.

Think it was the, right? We sang, I think it's the last chorus or last verse. The chorus is all full of that. Became sin for us. It's a wonderful gospel chorus.

Son of God who became sin for us as if He deserved the wrath. Because He became sin for us, so therefore He did deserve the wrath. He deserved the wrath, but as if he had always lived that way, he was treated. As if he was the one dead in sin and by nature a child of wrath. And then he conquered sin and death by rising from the dead.

And all those that abandon their own efforts, stop looking to your own good works, confess you need to be born again, repent, Faith in Jesus alone to pay the price you will be saved, born again. You must be born again. Repent and believe the gospel. Believe Jesus Christ. He is God.

Live perfectly. Die the death you deserve. Rose from the dead. Repent and believe in the gospel in Christ alone. You will be saved.

You will be born again. So an application. I have one application. I do have two questions, but I have one application. Here it is.

I'm going to give you two statements. All people belong to one of these two statements. Which one are you? Be honest. This is not the time to hide behind your list, like Nicodemus and the Pharisees did.

Number one, I am not born again and will not enter the kingdom of God. Does that describe you? Or two, I am born again and will enter the kingdom of God. That's it. It's only one of those two.

You can only be in one of those two places. If you answered, I am number one, I am that person in number one. I'm not born again and will not enter the kingdom of God. Couple things to say. One, I am thankful that you would be honest and recognize that and that God would open your eyes to see that.

But guess what? You're not born again. Just by knowing that, you're not born again. Where's my proof for that? The devils believe.

God tells us the devils believe. They're not born again. Demons believe they're not born again. Devil believes he's not born again. Never will be.

What have you been trusting Him for salvation? Whatever it is, cast it off. If it's hospitality, if it's whatever it is, it's helpful to others, fine. I'm not telling you not to do those things. Remove all your hope in those things for salvation, repent and believe the gospel alone.

Don't make it any more difficult than that. Repent from your ways, repent in trusting in these things, trusting in yourself, trusting whatever it is, baptism, whatever it might be. There's more people, I am confident there are more people here that think they're born again that aren't, than probably recognize they're not born again. So whatever you're trusting in, here it's very simple. Put it off and you're trusting it.

God, I repent. My ways aren't helping me be born again. They're not helping me in anything but heading to hell. I repent and I believe you. I believe the gospel.

That's it. You come to me or Jason, say, I believe I'm a Christian. I ask why, you say, because I repented of my sins, and I believe Jesus is the Christ. I believe the gospel. I'm going to lean right there towards this person's a Christian, and let's talk a little bit more and help you a little bit more.

But start there. Don't make it too complex. Start right there. And then may these other things become an outward demonstration of an inward spiritual reality of being born again. Now yes, if you said yes, I am born again, why?

Why? My purpose here in asking this for you to examine yourself, as Paul tells us, to examine yourself, is not to make someone that's born again doubt their salvation, but there's a lot of people in this world that think they're born again that aren't. So if you said yes, why do you say you're born again? The first thing that comes to your mind is anything other than, I repented and believed in the gospel by grace alone, by faith alone, and Christ alone. If anything else comes out of your mouth, then you either need to question, am I really born again?

Or you need Help on understanding what it means to be born again. And humble yourself. Humble yourself if you need help to understand what it really means to be born again. Come get help. Get help through a friend.

Get help through a parent. Get help through Jason or I. But get help. There's no shame in saying, hey, I need help in understanding just this more of the gospel. I need to understand it better.

I believe I'm born again. I need help in this. When I think saved, I don't think. By grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, repenting and believing the gospel. It's not what comes to mind first.

Being baptized, taking Lord's Supper, coming to church, reading your Bible, being in choir, being a deacon, being an elder. Obeying parents should only be an outward demonstration of an inward reality. Jesus has the last word here in verse 7. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again." God, thank you for being very clear. And yes, it's very clear to me because you've saved me and opened my eyes to these things.

I understand that. But thank you for being as plain as plain can be of what it means for salvation that we must be born again. And thank you for using your power to save people, for your humility to come and live as a man, make yourself a man, fully God, fully man, in saving people, Making a way for people to be saved. Thank you for using your living waters and thank you Spirit that you would cleanse people from all filthiness, all unrighteousness, redeem, make new creations, and give us a true eternal hope in you. Thank you for your word.

Thank you for your teaching. In Jesus name, Amen.