<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

CORE Evangelism School

A God Worth Knowing

Dee Casper

01 The God Who Hears and Knows

02 The Problem of Evil: Does God Care?

03 The Faith of Jesus

04 Are We In This Thing Alone?

05 A New Covenant Experience

06 Bad Religion

07 The Reminder of Your Value

09 A Matter of Life or Death

10 Unquenchable Love

12 A God Who is Always on Time

13 The Gospel in Types and Symbols

15 Last Church Standing

16 An Abundant Life

18 Why God Won’t Leave

19 Jesus Understands

17 A Voice of Reason

14 The Coming Crisis

08 Building a House for My Wife

11 A New Birth

God, thank you for this privilege to pray.

Thank you that you love us, you delight for hear from us.

And again, you want to bless us more than we've had the courage to ask.

So Lord, I'm going to ask that you would bless beyond what I'm asking tonight, that you would speak to us with power, with conviction, with clarity, and that we would be even more drawn to Jesus than ever.

Alright, so look for your story in these stories, but I want to start with this.

In 1st John chapter 4 and verse 19 we're told this, that we love Him.

We talked about this in a previous meeting, that no 1 is going to fall in love with Jesus until they first encounter the reality that Jesus is already in love with them.

And so it is only by love that love is awakened and encountering this love when we feel that we deserve it the least does something in our hearts, doesn't it?

And it says this in Romans chapter 2 and verse 4, it says, "...or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads to repentance." that the undeserved goodness of God and encountering that leads us to an experience of repentance, a recognition that we have a huge need of God, and we're also in need of a complete change of course and a change in priorities, that There's nothing salvageable in us as we are.

We need a changing of the heart, a changing of the mind, a new covenant experience that we talked about before, right?

Removing that heart of stone out of our flesh and giving us our heart of flesh.

And Jesus has this conversation with a man named Nicodemus.

I know this is kind of a side tangent, but it's actually related to this.

How many people in this room have seen this series, The Chosen?

I'm not a big media guy, but the way in which they paint the picture of Nicodemus is phenomenal.

And every time I see this now, I think of what I saw there and I'm really, really thankful for the way they portrayed him.

But in John chapter 3 and verse 1, it says, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews This man came to Jesus by night and he said to him rabbi We know that you were a teacher come from God for no 1 can do these signs that you do Unless God is with him.

So does he have a recognition that there's something different about Jesus?

Verse 3, Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I say to you that unless 1 is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Now is Jesus looking for reasons to keep people out of the kingdom of God?

He's wanting to let Nicodemus understand that, hey, this is not an intellectual venture.

Your academic prowess is not what fascinates or interests me.

What I want to know is that you understand your true need of a complete transformation of the person, of the character.

But Nicodemus doesn't get what he's saying.

And he says, well, how can a man be born when he's old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born.

Now Jesus is clearly using an illustration here.

He's not saying you need to literally crawl back in and do it a second time, right?

First of all, any mother in this room is gonna be thankful for that because 8 pounds or 9 pounds is 1 thing, 155 pounds is a whole other thing, right?

So that's just not going to be an enjoyable...

So verse 5, Most assuredly I say to you that unless 1 is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

So he reiterates and clarifies what he's saying, that you need to be born again of the Holy Spirit and of water.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Don't marvel that I say to you, you must be born again." And then he uses this very fascinating illustration.

He says, "...the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you can't tell where it comes from or where it goes.

So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." So we are in such desperate need of transformation that the only language Jesus can find to communicate it is a new birth.

It is as if you are born a different person than you were before.

The transformation is that radical, to be born again.

And this is the primary reason, by the way, that we believe the biblical teaching is baptism by full immersion, right?

Being buried in the water and raised again in newness of life.

We'll address that more in just a moment.

But the story here of Nicodemus is unfortunate because Nicodemus is convicted.

What Jesus is trying to tell him is, you can't fully trace the history of what the Spirit of God is doing in your life, but you can tell that it's doing something.

Right, When your windows are open on a nice spring day and the curtains are blowing, you don't know where that wind came from or where it's gonna go at the end of the day.

But you do know is it's doing something in your life.

It's doing something in the here and now.

And that's what Jesus is trying to help them understand.

To give in to what you can see the Spirit doing in your life.

You don't need to figure out all the details right now.

What you need to do is to respond to what the Spirit is doing that is visible to you and right now.

And this is the struggle for Nicodemus, because there's a high cost for him.

I'm a religious leader, and all of my, you know, co-workers, they don't like you.

They don't like where this is going, they feel threatened by you, and he's counting the cost, and Nicodemus just doesn't have the courage to say yes.

I know there's something different about you.

I see evidence, the curtains are blowing in my experience, but I just can't right now.

And what I love about this is that God doesn't give up on him, even though that's where he is right now.

Some of us may recognize, I see the Spirit of God doing something, and I sense God telling me to act right now and I'm struggling with the cost of that.

Nicodemus had that and unfortunately Nicodemus doesn't respond right here.

But the good news is after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, Nicodemus does respond and he goes all in.

Basically liquidates all of his assets and goes all in and supporting the gospel work.

He does eventually come around and he even advocates for Jesus and some of their councils while Jesus is still alive, but he's struggling, guys.

You know where this is going, but you just, I don't know if I can do that right now.

It says, Romans chapter 6 and verse 3, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried with him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." So, Paul's equating this experience of dying to the old things of life, and baptism is an illustration of that.

I'm entering into Jesus's death and I'm raising into a new life in Christ.

And this is why full immersion is so important because when God gives types and symbols and illustrations, He gives them for a specific reason.

An example of this, I wasn't planning on going into, but an example of this is found in the Old Testament.

Moses was told to strike the rock to provide water for the people in the wilderness when they were going through their exile.

And he did strike the rock and water came out and blessed them.

At a later instance in the book of Numbers, I believe, he's told to speak to the rock.

And Moses, in his frustration with the obstinance of the people, says, listen here, you obstinate people, you insolent people, must we bring water for you out of this rock?

Now did Moses have any power in himself to provide water for the people?

No, he was claiming a divine prerogative and God did not take that lightly.

Series

A God Worth Knowing

11 A New Birth

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

How Jesus Treats the Untouchables

55m

Certainty in Uncertain Times

10. Where Do I Find Power to Overcome?

59m

The Final Call

3- Wretched, Miserable, Victorious

1h

Secrets from the Ancient Sanctuary

05 Millions are Looking at the Wrong Temple

46m

A God Worth Knowing

14 The Coming Crisis

1h 3m

GYC SE 2013 Plenary Sessions

Sin is a Four Letter Word

55m

Personal Encounters with Jesus

5. Finding Living Water: The Woman at The Well

53m

Through the Sanctuary by Sean Brizendine

01 Through the Sanctuary

32m

The Man And His Mission

49m

Help our Unbelief

54m

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Sanctuary

01 The House That God Built

1h 3m

Through the Sanctuary by Sean Brizendine

03 At the Laver

50m

Sound Doctrine