Admonition Podcast

Happy birthday.

We just celebrated them in the other room.

And we celebrate them all the way from January all the way to March and we're going to
continue to do it throughout the rest of the year.

Birthdays have been celebrating for who knows how long.

Even back in Herod's Day, his birthday was celebrated.

now he was killed or get his death was caused on his birthday.

It was not a good birthday, but nonetheless, it was still the fact that they were
celebrating it.

Why is it that we do this?

Why do we keep celebrating birthdays?

We love new beginnings.

We love new opportunities.

Now there's times where change is scary.

There's times where we don't want something new, but that new birth, that new child that
has come into the world, that's something that we all look at and it makes us smile.

It is a blessing, this idea of birth.

Now.

with this idea, physical birth is something incredible, something that it's the beginning
of someone being able to live out their life, being able to exercise their free will on

this earth.

Now, yes, life begins before the birth, but those opportunities for decisions, those begin
to start then.

And how wonderful that is.

Physical birth is amazing, but there is another birth that is far more important, far more
pivotal in one's life, and that is

being born again.

That is the birth described in John chapter 3.

God allows us new beginnings.

Acts 2.38

Peter says, repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins and he shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

He offers a new beginning.

You will be remitted of your sins.

You have Romans five, eight, God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.

Why did he die?

He died so we could be remitted of those sins.

Again, it's a clean slate, a new beginning.

And then we have Romans six, three and four, where one is buried to walk in

newness of life, new beginnings.

Now let's turn to John 3 with that background.

John chapter 3, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

The same came to Jesus by night and saith 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.

Nicodemus understands something about what's going on here.

He comes to Jesus at night, the reason we don't know.

We can speculate, we just don't know.

But he comes to Christ and says, Lord, we know that thou art a teacher come from God.

He understands something.

He has seen the evidence of Christ in these miracles, things that man is not able to do.

And he said, OK, this means that this man is not just a man.

He is sent on a mission and he is from someone that has authority.

He has some reasoning.

He has some logic.

He is doing well here, but he does not make the great confession.

He says, we know that thou art of God.

He does not say, Lord,

you are God.

As John 1 shows, in the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God.

The Word was God.

And it will continue to show at about verse 14 that this Word was Christ.

Jesus was God.

Nicodemus didn't realize it yet, but he was on his way.

He had this reasoning and he is doing well.

But what does Christ say?

After Nicodemus shows that he's doing well with his reasoning, moving forward well, Christ
says, okay, we're going to test your limits.

Verse three, Jesus answered and said unto him,

verily I say unto thee, accept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Our
first point for this new opportunity, ye must be born again.

As we go through this chapter, we're going to study it and we're going to divide it based
on the times Christ says, verily, verily, I say unto thee, something that comes up time

and time again in John's account showing emphasis on these important points that if
they're missed, one is going to miss the kingdom of God.

John 3, 3, except ye be born again, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

We need to understand what it means to be born again.

So, we have the idea of birth, and then we have the other word we have again.

Now, in English it has this one meaning, but the Greek word that was right here means
something else as well.

Turn to John chapter 19.

If we look at John 19 verse 11.

Look at verse 23 rather.

I actually know verse 11 is perfectly correct.

Jesus answered, ìThou couldst have no power at all, speaking to Pilate, except it were
given thee from above.

Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.î Now, this is while Christ
is in court.

But in this verse it says, "'Except power had been given thee from above.'" Now, the word
again in John 3, 3, "'Ye must be born again.'" The word again is the same word translated

from above in John 19, verse 11.

If we look at verse 23, the same thing is going to happen.

"'Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus,

took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also his coat.

Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

Then we have this word from the top.

It's the same word translated again, same word translated from above.

All the way through John's account.

It is never translated as again until John chapter 3.

And it is fitting for it to be translated that way.

But there is this other meaning that we need to keep in mind.

Whenever John uses words in his account, whenever he gives ideas, he is extremely
consistent.

He makes sure to emphasize the light that has come into the world.

He makes sure to emphasize the relationship Christ has with the Father.

And he's going to do these things time and time.

And this is another one where he shows the idea of from above.

this idea of things that are heavenly.

when he does this, this needs to be kept in mind because what is Nicodemus going to think?

He's going to say, how can these things be?

How can a man be born again?

Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Christ didn't just say, you must be born again.

He literally said, you must be born from above.

This birth is one that is unique.

It is not the physical birth.

It is one that is heavenly.

It is from God.

Now, this birth is unique, but it's also integral.

Except a man be born again from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Now, this birth is something heavenly, as is going to be seen throughout this context.

And also, it is something that is pivotal to be saved.

Now, one must be born again.

That's our first, verily, verily, I say unto thee.

Our second one, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except thou be born of water and of the
Spirit.

He cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Now, we mentioned already the idea that this birth is integral.

We saw that uh

If you are not born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.

But then the point becomes more emphatic.

It's not just that you can't see the Kingdom of God, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of
God.

Now, this is going to be something that is very familiar to us.

But we need to build up the point that what is being described here is something
essential.

Without it you cannot see the Kingdom of God.

The Jews were waiting for the Kingdom of God in their time.

They were waiting and they thought it was going to be a military kingdom.

But it's going to end up being the Church of God.

That will be His spiritual kingdom.

This will be a kingdom from above.

One that you need to be born in a heavenly manner.

This born again to enter into it.

Verily, verily I say unto thee, accept a man be born of water

and of the Spirit.

He cannot enter.

Also, this birth is one that is very specific.

except a man be born of water and of the Spirit." Now, we have friends in the world who
will say, okay, there's two births here.

You are born of water, you have a physical birth, and then you are born of the Spirit.

You have a spiritual birth.

That's not the case.

In fact, the way that this is made in the Greek says otherwise.

If you look at the second of in this passage, it's italicized, or at least in the King
James Version, which means it is not there.

If this were translated more literally,

it would be, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, not born and of the Spirit.

Now the reason that that's important is because if there is not two ofs, if it is just
born of water and the Spirit, that is talking about one birth.

If it was born of the water and born of the Spirit, that would be two.

But the very language here says otherwise.

Whatever this birth is, it is somehow spiritual, but it's also of water.

This is an unusual birth, it's unique in that it is from above.

It is integral, it's pivotal for salvation.

It's also a singular birth.

It is not describing two different ideas here.

It is the same birth.

Now, this birth, as we mentioned before, is integral.

Later on, it's going to become the baptism of Christ.

after Acts 2, after the church is established.

But before that we have the baptism of John which we will look at a little more later on.

Those under the old law.

were saved under the Old Law.

It was not put to death until Christ was nailed to the cross, Colossians 2.13.

Whatever they are doing here, it's integral for them, but it's integral in prospect.

They will be baptized for their mission of sins, and it's going to admit them to the
Kingdom of God as well.

So, this is integral to them, not in the fact that they have to do it to immediately be
saved then, otherwise the old law was made of none effect before Christ died.

But this is something that would be needed for them to be saved, and Christ is teaching it
beforehand.

This birth is one in which you must be born again.

And then, verily, verily, I say unto thee, ye must be born of water and of the Spirit.

Now,

This birth we've looked at many of the things that have made it special.

But what is it?

How does it work?

How is one born again?

There are many who want to say that this born of water and born of the Spirit is two
different ideas, and that's because it's avoiding a very specific idea found in Scripture.

Now, that idea is baptism.

Let's see if it aligns with baptism.

One of the things that we have seen about this verse, about this birth, it is from heaven.

It is one that is from God that is under His authority.

What are the Pharisees going to ask Christ later?

They are going to come up to Him and say, by what authority

I will answer your question if you answer mine.

John's baptism, was it from heaven or was it of men?

This baptism is one that was from heaven.

It was one that was heavenly, it was not of the earth.

And if the Pharisees said that in front of the people, then Christ is going to say, then
why didn't you believe him?

But if they did not accept it, if they said no it was of men, they thought that John was a
prophet.

Christ shows and the people know that this birth is one that was from above, that this
baptism was one from above.

So in that case, this is already matching up with baptism.

This born of water is from above, baptism is from above.

But what else?

It is necessary for one to enter into the kingdom of God.

If turn to Matthew chapter three, John is going to be preaching and he's going to preach
repentance for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew 3 verse 2 is that reference.

This birth This birth is for one to enter into the Kingdom of God.

And this baptism is for one to be able to enter into the Kingdom of God as well.

Things are lining up here.

But also this baptism is for remission of sins.

As we move forward we are going to see that the things John is showing that Christ is
showing through the pen of John are things that are going to be necessary for one not to

be condemned.

And baptism is certainly so that one is not condemned, so that one can be saved.

Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.

And Christ is going to later show that the way to have this redemption is being baptized.

Acts 2, verse 38, repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, for the remission of
those things that are giving you that wage of death.

One must be born of water and of the Spirit, and this birth is lining up with baptism.

of water.

Baptism is literally an immersion.

This born again is born of water.

If we just move past looking at Jesus and Nicodemus, what is going to happen immediately
after?

Verse 23, and John was baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there
and they came and were baptized for John had not yet been cast into prison.

This birth is in the context of something that is going to come out throughout John, and
that is this baptism.

There are those who want to say that John 3 is not about baptism.

Christ's conversation with Nicodemus, has nothing to do with that because it doesn't show
up in this specific passage.

But if we look out throughout the context of the book, we look through the context of
Scripture, it becomes clear that there is something important.

for being in the right relationship with God, something that is of water.

Well, what lines up better than this baptism?

We cannot let the world around us say that this birth is something that is not essential
for salvation.

We had Nicodemus before who didn't understand that Christ was saying,

that one must be born from above.

We cannot let his misunderstanding misguide us today.

This birth is one that is special, one that is from God.

But also, we cannot let a world that wants to get confused about it today change it as
well.

Whatever this is, it is essential for salvation and it is lining up with the baptism of
God.

We've looked at the fact that it allows one to enter into the kingdom of God.

It allows one to be saved, not be condemned.

It is one that is of water, but also

of the Spirit.

Now, what does of the Spirit mean?

There are two different things with this.

First, we look at the authority of God already.

It is of the Spirit.

It is one where the Holy Spirit has written down the words where we know exactly what we
need to do.

But also, this is one that is by the operation of God.

This is one in which He is cleansing something that we do not have the capacity to cleanse
ourselves.

Acts 22, verse 16.

Paul, who was formerly called Saul, is going to come into the city of Damascus and it's
going to be time for him to hear what he has to do to be saved.

And he is told, why tarriest thou?

Arise and be baptized and wash away the dirt off your face.

Now, wash yourself because you just smell a little fresh right now.

That's not what it said.

be baptized, wash away your sins.

There is something being cleansed that is separating him from his Lord, something that he
needs to be cleansed of that is so severe that when man first did it in the garden, it was

made to where he would no longer be immortal.

He would be, he would see death one day.

It was something that was so serious that God had to set death into place so that we would
not live constant lives and sin until He came back.

That's the seriousness of what this is, something we cannot cleanse ourselves.

This is a birth that is of the Spirit because it cleanses something we cannot.

Baptism and being born again line up perfectly throughout Scripture and anyone who wants
to ignore this is ignoring the very words of God.

He's made it very clear.

He's put it right in front of us.

Now with all of this evidence put before us, we can come to this line of reasoning.

We know that being born again is essential to salvation.

It is essential to being able to enter into the kingdom of God.

We also know that this being born again lines up and it is baptism.

Therefore, what's the conclusion we reach?

Baptism is essential for salvation.

The world out there wants to say John 3 doesn't teach baptism, this very passage is
showing the fact that without it we will never enter into the kingdom of God.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee ye must be born again.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee ye must be born of water and of the Spirit.

And now, verse 11.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify what we have seen,
and ye receive not our witness.

If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how should ye believe if I tell you of
heavenly things?

The gears are going to shift here, and there's going to be a different focus.

They're no longer talking about being born again.

because before John is going to decide, or before Nicodemus is going to decide to be born
again, he has to believe in what Christ is saying.

Ye receive not our witness.

He is not comprehending what's going on.

As we described earlier, he was one that had good logic, he had good reasoning, and he was
moving forward well, but he did not accept the fact that Christ was the Son of God yet.

And also because of a physical standpoint on his thinking, he was not accepting the
baptism, the being born again that God was putting in front of him.

True belief is going to understand.

John 3, 16, all of this is going to build to belief.

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

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 holy, begotten Son of God.

Remember, at the very beginning of this John realized you are of God.

He needs to realize that he is not just of God, he is the Son of God.

There is growth that needs to happen.

And true belief is going to understand.

Now, why does true belief understand?

Christ is going throughout all of this, He is going to be rebuking Nicodemus.

He is going to be saying, aren't you a master of Israel?

Don't you know these things?

The fact that Nicodemus wasn't believing is something that he was being rebuked for.

Now, why is that important?

Our God is gracious, our God is loving, our God is just, and He is never going to rebuke
us for something we cannot do.

If we are ever rebuked, if He ever gives us a command, it's because we can do it.

Therefore, Nicodemus was able to believe, he was able to understand, and it was a
shortcoming that he wasn't.

Now, God is patient.

Our God is loving and merciful, and He is going to give time for these misunderstandings
to be resolved.

But at this moment, He needs to

learned something.

True belief is going to understand because Christ is going to tell him that he does not
believe right now.

Verse 12, if I told you earthly things and you believe not, how should you believe if I
tell you of heavenly things?

Now Christ is going to tell him about some heavenly things, about the things that were
behind the salvation God was going to bring down.

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 everlasting life.

Again, whosoever believeth should not perish.

We already had the idea of one must comprehend, one must understand, and true belief is
going to understand.

This belief is going to ask questions so it can receive the correct answers.

It's going to seek the truth.

John 8.32, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The thing that makes us free will only make us free if we seek it.

Now, true belief is going to understand, but what else?

It will also love.

John 3, 16 again, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

Now, this word love is agape, is the sacrificial love, the love that put the Son, the love
that allowed Christ to be put on the cross for our sins.

This love, rather than being an emotion, like a friendship,

It is more of a decision.

It is one in which you say, love you because you are worth it.

Any decision you make, it wasn't because something wasn't worth it.

You decided, OK, it was worth it for me to go to the fast food restaurant and eat a few
extra calories at Burger King.

It was worth it for me to go and spend some time fishing because I needed to go relax a
little bit.

Any decision you make, you make because it is worth it.

God looked down on this earth in John 3, 16 and said, you are worth it to me to be saved.

That's the kind of love he had for us.

He looked at the souls that he gave to us and said, that is valuable enough.

That is so valuable.

I want it to be made one with me again.

So I'm going to send my son so that they should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is the kind of love God has.

Now why are we bringing that out now?

Aren't we talking about our own belief, not what God is doing?

God has this kind of love for us.

But verse 16, 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 coming to the world and men loved darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil.

We had the word agape when it described God's love for us.

And now we come to this where it says men love darkness rather than light.

It's the same word.

It's agape.

This world is one in which it loves the darkness so much that it decided, God, your light
isn't worth it.

Your son that you sent, he's not worth believing in.

This sin, this fun, this pleasure in this world that is against everything you are, that's
worth more to me than being saved.

That's worth more to me than my soul.

That's the darkness of the world we live in, brethren.

When we are confused at why there is so much going on, why there is so much turmoil, we
need to remember that we live in a world where so many love darkness rather than light.

But just because the world is dark, just because this world has this darkness in it, that
doesn't mean that God's light can still shine.

That doesn't mean that He cannot use us to help make this a better place.

And it's not just about this place, it's about making sure that we help as many people as
we can get to the next, where there will no longer be a love for the darkness.

Now, this darkness is one that is also specific in John.

Throughout John in its context he is battling a false doctrine called Gnosticism.

It is one that basically says, know something you don't know.

And the thing that they knew was the fact that Christ was either fully God or He was fully
man.

They made the false assumption.

that God could either Christ could not be fully God or fully man because the flesh was so
evil.

They didn't get this out of Scripture, they made it up themselves.

The darkness was the fact that there were these that were making their own doctrines, and
specifically making their own doctrines that did not show Christ as real, did not give Him

the credit for being both God and man.

Which is why John is going to continually say one must believe in the Son of God.

Because not believing in the Deity of Christ or not believing in

the humanity of Christ.

Both of them are disbelief in who God said He was.

is all that what this belief is going to understand who Christ is.

And this belief is going to understand what Christ told us to do, but this belief is also
going to love God rather than the darkness.

Instead of loving these things that are confusing so that one can make excuses for sin,
it's going to love the God who sent his son to the world.

This love, this belief is going to understand, it is going to love, and finally this
belief is going to do.

Verse 21.

Verse 20 rather, for everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light, lest his deeds 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.

There were those that loved darkness rather than light.

Why was that?

Because their deeds were evil, because something that they did was evil.

Now again, we have a world that wants to say that we live that God is one that will save
us by faith only.

One where we don't have to do anything to be saved.

Does that line up with what we are going to see?

For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light.

Remember those that love darkness rather than light that said, Lord, your light isn't
worth it.

You aren't worth me serving.

This darkness is worth it.

Those are the ones that are going to do the evil.

They're going to do the things that God hates.

And they're not going to come to the light.

And why is that?

Lest their deeds should be reproved.

When we are out in the world and we do things that are proper in the workplace.

It's going to shine light on those who are not doing what is proper.

When there are those that are cheating on what they do.

When there are those that are dishonest in what they're doing.

And when we do what is right, it condemns others.

Not in that we're saying, you are now condemned.

You are not going to be saved because of what you did.

It's not that.

It's because good actions contrast with bad.

And that makes it to where the bad ones stick out more.

You notice contrast in colors in art.

You have the green that contrasts

with the red and you don't notice the red as much until there's the green.

That's the same thing with light and darkness.

You don't notice the darkness as much until you see the light.

And in that way the darkness is going to be exposed by the light every time.

And that is the reason man do not want to come to Christ because He is the light of the
world.

am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh to the Father but by me, John 14, 6.

If they can keep away from this, if they can hide from it, then they can feel like they're
more in secret.

But there's going to be a day where if we do not allow God's light to shine in our lives
now so that we can see

what we need to change, one day that light is going to shine and it's going to be when
there's no longer time to turn back, when there's no longer an opportunity to be saved.

But instead, those unfruitful works of darkness, the things that are wrong, they're going
to be brought to the light and we will be judged for them.

But before that, we can decide to let God's light shine on our lives.

Psalm 26, 1 and 2.

David is going to be praying, he's going to be writing these Psalms for the Lord.

And in those he is going to give ideas such as, try me.

Lord, look at my actions and make sure my deeds are right.

He was willing to let God's light shine on his life.

Because his deeds were not, now he made mistakes, but his deeds were not evil because in
the way that he did not stay in this darkness.

Whenever he went into it, he wanted to change.

He said, Lord, try me.

change me.

We can freely walk in this light now, like David did, or we can let our wicked deeds be
seen one day in front of the Lord when there's no longer time to turn back.

Luke 12 verses 2 and 3.

But that's not what we have to do.

We can change.

We can do what is right.

We can love God.

We can love His truth, love His light.

And because we love what He has done, because we believe on Him, we will understand what
He shows us in His Word, being willing to look at it objectively.

We will love Him enough to do what He says, to do the truth.

And that is going to involve being born again, which as we have seen is being baptized
according to Scripture.

so that one can enter into the kingdom of God.

One can be admitted into the kingdom of the Lord.

One that is essential because God made it his plan.

It doesn't matter if it makes sense to us.

It doesn't matter if we think why in the world is water a part of this.

It's because God said so.

The Bible says it, that settles it, I believe it, no.

The Bible says it, I believe it.

The Bible says it,

it.

If we don't believe it, we're not going to do what it says.

But it should be the case that it is so ingrained in us that we want to do what God says
that that middle part doesn't matter.

God says it, that settles it.

Brethren, if God says it, does it settle it for us?

Now, this is not just about us in this room.

We have a call to go and spread God's Word to those around us, to go out into the
Collierville community and go out

into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

And we're going to deal with the world that says, this isn't something that's essential,
but the very tool that is used to say that it is not essential is showing how beautiful it

really is.

All of God's Word is beautiful and all of God's Word is essential.

If there is a part of God's Word that you have left out of your life, if it is baptism,
now is an opportunity to come to Him to repent of your sins and to be baptized after

confessing Christ as your Lord, Romans 10, 9 and 10.

If you have done those things already and you have been born again, you have been allowed,
made to walk in newness of life.

If you have fallen from that newness of life, you can confess and be forgiven.

1 John 1, 9.

If you have any need for your sins to be forgiven and to come before the church, will you
please come now as we stand