January 5, 2025 • 25 mins
From His Heart Ministries
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreeve, learn
what a divine encounter will do for you.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
What happened to Nicodemus. He listened to Jesus and he
began to process. When we read about Nicodemus and John
chapter seven, he defends Jesus among the religious leaders by
all indications, Nicodemus came to know Christ. I want you
to be honest, so honest right now, and you ask
(00:26):
this question, have you ever truly.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Been born again? If not? That can happen today with
real truth.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
From what happens to people when they meet the Master.
Pastor Jeff's latest series, Divine Encounters, What Happens when People
meet the Master, explores eight different stories in the Gospel
and explains what happens when people from all walks of
life actually meet Jesus, hear him, touch him, and embrace
(01:11):
him or not, but why the different responses. Today on
from his Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreeve will find three
key insights from the story of Jesus and Nicodemus, And
that's the title of the message that will teach us
today what we should expect in our divine encounter with
the Lord the messages from Pastor Jeff's new eight lesson
(01:34):
series called Divine Encounters. Just go to Fromishart dot org
for more information. Now they'll open your Bible to the
Gospel of John Chapter three. Here again is Pastor Jeff
with part two of the Divine Encounter lesson between Jesus
and Nicodemus.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Now, Nicodemus was religious to the hilt, but he didn't
know about Heaven. Wanted to go there, but he didn't
know how to get there. He might have thought he did,
but he really didn't. And Jesus set him straight right
off the bat in his encounter with Nicodemus when he
(02:13):
says to him, unless you're born again, you're not going
to see the Kingdom of God. Now a big question
for us today. Do you understand what it means? Do
you understand why this is so critical? What is the
whole deal about being born again? So three insights. Insight
number one, every person must understand his or her lost
(02:36):
condition to understand what it means to be born again.
To understand what is going on here in this interaction
with Jesus and Nicodemus, you have to understand. You have
to back up and understand your lost condition. When Adam
and Eve sinned, and when the Lord said, when you
eat of that fruit, you will surely die the day
(02:58):
you will die, they did die immediately upon eating. But
they didn't die in their body, they didn't die in
their soul. They died in their spirit. And they passed
on to all their descendants a dead spirit. And so
to understand John three, you must be born again, you
have to understand Genesis three. Why do I must Why
(03:19):
must I be born again? Oh? It's because I'm dead inside,
dead toward God. And Nicodemus is going to learn about
this now.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
He is a.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Poster child for the very best of humanity, and he
shows that the very best of humanity is lost. The
very best of humanity is a sinner in desperate need
of the Savior. And so when the best of humanity
(03:53):
comes before the Lord, the Lord says to him, truly, truly,
you must be born again.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
You must be born from above.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
If you're not born again, if you're not born from above,
guess what you who want to go to heaven, You're
not going to go there. You're not going to see
the Kingdom of Heaven. You're not going to enter the
kingdom of Heaven. So the very best of humanity is
helplessly lost, helplessly, hopelessly perishing. Nicodemus, he may not realize it,
(04:25):
but he is in trouble.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
No amount of good works can change that. And for
you and for me, as those born in Adam, born
with a dead spirit, no amount of good works, no
amount of church activities can change the fact that you
are a sinner, and the wages of sin is death,
and the soul that sins shall die. We have sinned
(04:51):
against Heaven's king, and the wages of sin is death.
And until you understand that you'll never be born again,
why would you need to You have to understand that
you're sick, and desperately sick and seriously sick to look
to the great physician. So, first insight, every person must
(05:12):
understand his lost condition. Second insight, every person must be
born again. And Jesus made that very clear to Nicodemus.
And Nicodemus responds, born again? What How how can a
man be born when he is old? He can't enter
a second time into his mother's woman be born?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Can he? I mean, that doesn't make sense at all. Jesus.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Jesus answered, here it comes truth bom again. Truly, truly,
I say to you, unless one is born of water
and the spirit, 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. Do
not be amazed that I said to you, you must
be born again. And see, the new birth is not physical,
(06:01):
it is spiritual. And Jesus is giving him a physical
illustration to help him see a spiritual truth. Now, in
the physical, to be born physically, you have a father
and a mother, and the father produces the sperm, the
mother produces the egg. Those come together and conception takes place,
(06:22):
and a child is conceived, and then a child is born.
And in the spiritual you have a father and a
mother and being born again takes the Word of God
and the Spirit of God.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Those are the parents of.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Spiritual birth, the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
Now Romans ten seventeen. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. The Bible says in the
Book of James that we are born again through the Word,
the imperishable Word of God and the Word of God
(06:59):
and the Spirit of God speak to the heart of
the sinner to show that sinner he needs the Savior. Now,
Nicodemus would have been very familiar with the Old Testament.
He would immediately as Jesus was talking to him, his
mind would have gone to, Okay, he's talking about the spirit,
and he's talking about the Word of God. Well, okay,
(07:22):
where do I read that in the Bible. Ezekiel thirty
seven The Valley of dry bones. Remember when the Lord
says to Ezekiel, shows him the valley and is filled
with these dried out bones, bleached white. He said, son
of Man, can these bones live? He says, oh, Lord
you know. I don't want to answer.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I don't know. It doesn't look like they can live.
But Lord, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And then he says to Ezekiel, preach to the bones.
Preach to the bones. Tell them hear the word.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Of the Lord. Ezekiel thirty seven.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Prophesy over these bones and say to them, old dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord
God to those bones, behold, I will cause breath to
enter you, that you may.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Come to life.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Interesting connection Hebrew and in Greek, the word for wind
the word for breath, the word for the spirit, same
word ruoc in Hebrew, numa in Greek. So when you
read about the wind, when you read about the breath,
when you read about the spirit.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Those are used interchangeably. It's the same word.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And Jesus is going to say to Nicodemus, the wind
blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it.
You don't know where it comes from and where it
is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit.
The numah blows, so is everyone who is born of
the numa. So uses the same word, and breath and
spirit are put together.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
What does all that mean?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And in Ezekiel thirty seven, if you read it, you'll
find out the Lord talks about the Holy Spirit in
that chapter and bringing life. So it's the word and
the spirit that brings life. But now we have a
situation here John chapter three, verse five. People struggle because
(09:10):
they say, well, Jesus said, truly, truly, truth, bomb I
say to you, unless one is born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
And some people say, well, you know, you got to
be born of water.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
He got to be baptized.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
If you're not baptized, you're not born of water, so
then you can't be saved.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
That's why, Jeff, your parents did a good thing.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They baptized you at two weeks old, so you could
be born of water and the spirit. Well, you have
to ask yourself this question. What is he saying to Nicodemus?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
What did he mean? Now?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Some say, well, he's just talking to he's just picking
up on the question born again. How can a man
be born when he is old. He can't enter into
his mother's womb a second time and be born, can he?
And he's just using water as an illustration of physical birth.
Unless you're born of water, physically born and the spirit,
you cannot be born again. You cannot enter the Kingdom
(10:04):
of God. I mean, every woman knows about the water
of birth, right.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
We've had three babies.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
We miscarried two babies in our marriage. But the water
breaking was a big deal. Did your water break or
my water broke? We got to get to the hospital.
Why because the baby is coming. So he could have
meant that. He could have just said, I'm just talking
about between the there's a big difference between the flesh
and the spirit, between physical birth and spiritual birth. Some say, well,
(10:34):
you know, when he talks about water and the spirit,
water is used to talk about the Word because a
husband is to wash his wife by the washing of
water with the word, and so the water and the
Word they're together.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
And he's talking about the Word of God and the
Spirit of God.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Maybe some say, well, you know he's talking about the
spirit because in John chapter seven he says, if anyone
is thirsty, he let him come to me and drink,
for out of his innermost being showed the rivers of
living water, and John says he was referring to the
Holy Spirit who was to come.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
So the water, the living water, and the spirit they're
the same.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And people say, well, unless you're born of water and
the spirit, the water.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Is just another expression for the spirit.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
One thing I think that you can honestly say is
he's not talking to Nicodemus about Christian baptism. He's not
talking about Acts chapter two, when they receive the Lord
Jesus Christ and Peter told them to be baptized. He's
not talking about that because that would not make sense
to Nicodemus. He wouldn't know what that was. And furthermore,
(11:37):
we know that baptism does not save you. What saves
you is your faith and trust in Jesus and Jesus alone,
that's what saves you. Baptism is the way to express
it's a visible expression of an invisible reality. But now
here's what Nicodemus would have understood. There was a baptizer
(11:58):
going around that everybody was talking about. His name was John,
John the Baptist, John the Baptizer, and he was telling
people to be baptized for repentance, as a sign of repentance.
And this is what it says in Acts nineteen four.
Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling
(12:22):
the people to believe in him who was coming after him,
that is in Jesus. So the water could very well
be referring to repentance unless you're born of repentance and faith.
Faith in the Lord and repentance and faith are the
two essentials for salvation. Obviously, you can't get saved without
(12:44):
the Spirit working the word in your heart, convicting your heart,
showing that you're a sinner and you need the Savior.
That you won't get saved. Jesus said, unless my father
draws that person.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
He can't be saved.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
No one can come to me unless the Father who
sent me draws him and I will raise him up
on the last day. So the spirit of God takes
the Word of God, speaks it to your heart, and
then you have to respond. And so he's talking to
Nicodemus about spiritual things, not physical things. He's talking to
him about the fact that you need the.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Word of God and the Spirit of God.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And he's talking to him about the fact that you
need repentance and faith, repentance toward God and faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
That's what Paul said.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
His ministry was all only testifying to both Jews and
Greeks of two things, repentance toward God and faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ. We have people today that talk
about faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, but they leave
out repentance because they don't like repentance. Repentance is doing
a one point eighty. Some people say, well, you do
a three sixty. You don't do a three sixty because
(13:40):
then you'd be going to hell again. You do a
one eighty, and you turn from sin and you turn
to the Savior. Repentance toward God and faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ. And apart from that, you cannot see
the Kingdom of God. You cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
God.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
You will die in your sins, and you'll be separated
from God forever and ever and ever. Every person must
understand his lost condition. Nicodemus had to understand his lost condition.
And Nicodemus was like the rest of the Pharisees.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I mean, he was hard to come around.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But unlike the bulk of the Pharisees who never came around, Nicodemus,
as we're going to see, he does come around in
the end. But then insight number three, not only must
every person be born again, but every person can be
born again. That's the good news of the Gospel. That's
what we have to share with every single person. Hey,
(14:38):
Jesus died for you. You can be saved. Every person
can be born again. Now, we have a teaching in
theological circles called Calvinism. In one of the tenets of Calvinism,
the five Points of Calvinism, one of the points is
limited atonement.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Limited atonement says, well, Jesus didn't die for everyone, He
just died for the elect. How do you know if
you're elect? Well, I hope you're elect. I mean some are,
some are. I mean it's the Lord saying I choose you.
I choose you.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I choose you, not you, not you, not you, you
you you.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I reject that completely.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Now, not everybody responds to Jesus, obviously. Not everybody responds
to the spirit and the word. Not everybody responds to
the fact that they're lost, that they're in a on
the highway to Hell and they need the Savior.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Not everybody repents and believes.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
That's obvious. John chapter one. He was in the world,
and the world was made through him. The world did
not know him. He came to his own, and those
who are his own did not receive him. You have
to respond in repentance and faith. But every person can
be born again. See Jesus died and rose again for you.
For you now, John three sixteen. For God so love
(15:56):
the world. Well, that's pretty big, that's pretty broad. That's
the world. That's a faithless humanity. Yeah, But then Paul says,
he loved me and delivered himself up for me. He
died for me, for God so loved Jeff Shreve that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed that
if Jeff Shreve would believe on him, he would not perish,
but have everlasting life. And you can stick your name
(16:17):
in there too, Because he died for you and rose
again from the dead for you. You can be born again,
and you can look to Jesus in faith today. Now
he goes on to say this Nicodemus verse nine, how
can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him,
(16:40):
are you the teacher of Israel? And do not understand
these things?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Truly? Truly?
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I say to you, we speak of what we know.
That's another truth problem. That's another one of those truly trulyies.
We speak of what we know and testify of what
we have seen. And you do not accept our testimony.
If I told you earthly things and you do not believe,
how would you believe if I tell you heavenly things.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
No one.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Now he's going to present his deity here. No one
has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven,
the Son of Man. And then he gives him another
illustration that Nicodemus would be very familiar with, from the
Book of Numbers. As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness. Even so must the son of Man be
(17:22):
lifted up, so that whatever that whoever believes will in
him have eternal life. You remember that Nicodemus, You remember
in Numbers when the people were grumbling and gripling and complaining,
and God had had enough, and he sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they were biting the people, and
they were dying. Do you remember what happened? This is
(17:44):
what the Lord said. Then the Lord said to Moses.
The people come to Moses, say, we have said. What
are we going to do? The Lord said to Moses
numbers twenty one, make a fiery serpent and set it
on a standard on a pole, and it shall come
about that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it,
he will live. And Moses made a bronze serpent and
set it on the standard, and it came about. At
(18:05):
the serpent bit any man. When he looked to the
bronze serpent, he lived. Jesus was going to be lifted
up on the cross, just like that serpent that bit
the people lifted up. And what do you have to do?
You have to look to it. You get bitten by
a serpent.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
What do you have to do.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I have to go to the lab and try and
come up with a medicine to fix me. No, you
don't have to do that. I got to go kill
all the serpents. No you don't have to do that.
I gotta go climb to the top of Mount Everest
in back. No you don't have to do that. You
have to look to the serpent on the pole. You
just look, and if you look to the serpent on
a pole, you will be saved. That's what Jesus was
(18:46):
teaching him. I love this story about a man in
the eighteen hundreds chares his testimony.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
It's a snowy, snowy day.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
He's a teenager and the Lord is working on his heart.
He wanted to go to heaven, and he didn't know
how to get there, and he knew he wasn't saved,
but he didn't know what to do. So he goes
on a Sunday. He was going to go to his church,
but it was snowing so badly that he said, I
just can't make us too far, and so he stopped
by another church that was closer. It was a primitive
Methodist church back in the eighteen hundreds. He said, the
(19:18):
primitive Methodists would sing so loudly you would get a headache.
And he said, but I just went in there. He said,
there were about fifteen people in there. I go in there,
and he said, we we sing really loud. And then
the preacher couldn't make it because it was snowing and
it was such a bad snowstorm. So the preacher wasn't there.
We're just kind of waiting around. He said, finally, say
this guy got up. He was some kind of tailor
or tradesman or whatever he got. He got up there.
(19:40):
He wasn't polished, and he wasn't educated. He preached one
verse Isaiah forty five, verse twenty two, look under me
and be saved all the ends of the earth.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
And he said, this is what the Bible says.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Do It says to look to him, look to Jesus,
Look to the one who died and rose again. Look
to him who died in agony and blood for you.
Look to him who conquered death hell in the grave.
He said, anybody can look. It doesn't take a Rhodes
scholar to look. It doesn't take a college graduate to look.
You can be the biggest fool in the earth. And
(20:14):
yet you can still look. You can be a guy
that doesn't make a thousand dollars a year and you
can still look. Anyone can look, even the child can look.
And then he looks out into the congregation, just twelve
or fifteen people there, and he sees this kid. You've
never seen him before. He says, young man, you look awful, miserable.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Guys like me. I didn't know so obvious. I look miserable.
I am miserable. He said.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
The scripture says, if you will look to Jesus, you
can be saved.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Just look to him today. And that kid said, that's
what I needed. And now I understand, and I look
to Jesus.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
And he looked to Jesus that day, and that snowy day,
that teenage boy came to know Christ.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
And that teenage boy was Charles.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Hadn't Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, one of the greatest
preachers to ever live, And he got saved by one
verse as the Spirit of God took the Word of
God and he received it in repentance and faith. You
just look to him and you can experience the power
of the Holy Spirit. Listen as we close out. I
(21:21):
want you to be honest, so honest right now, and
you ask this question, have you ever truly been born again?
If not, that can happen today.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
If you don't know Jesus Christ in a personal way,
you've not been born again. You need to first come
to him, and you can do that now. You can
accept Jesus as your savior by sincerely praying a prayer
like this, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner.
You died for my sins and rose from the dead.
(22:02):
I turn from my sin and invite you to come
into my heart and life. I want to trust you
and follow you as my Lord and savior for the
rest of my life. Thank you for saving me. The
Bible says all who call upon the name of the Lord,
and that means sincere surrender will be saved. After accepting Jesus,
(22:24):
consider telling another Christian about your decision, finding a local
church community that believes the Bible, read the Bible daily,
and get baptized. Remember this is about starting a personal
relationship with Jesus, not just performing a ritual. And with
your decision today, we hope that you'll write to pastor
Jeff and let him know what happened to you and
(22:46):
he will be thrilled. Go online to Fromishart dot org
and click the contact us tab. He'll get your message.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Today.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You heard part two of the lesson Jesus and Nicodemus
from the eight message series Encounters what Happens when people
meet the Master. In it, he explores eight divine encounters
and how Jesus approached these different people and how they responded,
and share what you can do to impact the Kingdom
of God as well. The series. All eight lessons are
(23:17):
available in multiple formats for you as a gift from
us to say thank you for your support this month
of any amount. Your continual support allows us to be
here each and every day with this good news from
God's Heart. So get your copy of Divine Encounters today.
Call eight six six four zero Bible eight six six
(23:39):
four zero Bible or go online from his Heart dot org.
Thank you for joining us today. On from His Heart,
I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to join Pastor Jeff next
time as he presents the true story of another divine
encounter that resulted in a blessing then and can be
for you today. It's called Jesus and thee a woman
(24:00):
at the well from John chapter four, verse one through thirty.
Join us then, when Pastor Jeff will share real truth,
love and hope from God's Heart. Here on, from his
heart tows. From his heart is the listener supported broadcast
(24:39):
ministry of doctor Jeff Shreeve, speaking the truth and love
to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what,
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
Find out more at from his Heart dot org.
Today on from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreeve, learn
what a divine encounter will do for you.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
What happened to Nicodemus. He listened to Jesus and he
began to process. When we read about Nicodemus and John
chapter seven, he defends Jesus among the religious leaders by
all indications, Nicodemus came to know Christ. I want you
to be honest, so honest right now, and you ask
(00:26):
this question, have you ever truly.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Been born again? If not? That can happen today with
real truth.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
From what happens to people when they meet the Master.
Pastor Jeff's latest series, Divine Encounters, What Happens when People
meet the Master, explores eight different stories in the Gospel
and explains what happens when people from all walks of
life actually meet Jesus, hear him, touch him, and embrace
(01:11):
him or not, but why the different responses. Today on
from his Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreeve will find three
key insights from the story of Jesus and Nicodemus, And
that's the title of the message that will teach us
today what we should expect in our divine encounter with
the Lord the messages from Pastor Jeff's new eight lesson
(01:34):
series called Divine Encounters. Just go to Fromishart dot org
for more information. Now they'll open your Bible to the
Gospel of John Chapter three. Here again is Pastor Jeff
with part two of the Divine Encounter lesson between Jesus
and Nicodemus.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Now, Nicodemus was religious to the hilt, but he didn't
know about Heaven. Wanted to go there, but he didn't
know how to get there. He might have thought he did,
but he really didn't. And Jesus set him straight right
off the bat in his encounter with Nicodemus when he
(02:13):
says to him, unless you're born again, you're not going
to see the Kingdom of God. Now a big question
for us today. Do you understand what it means? Do
you understand why this is so critical? What is the
whole deal about being born again? So three insights. Insight
number one, every person must understand his or her lost
(02:36):
condition to understand what it means to be born again.
To understand what is going on here in this interaction
with Jesus and Nicodemus, you have to understand. You have
to back up and understand your lost condition. When Adam
and Eve sinned, and when the Lord said, when you
eat of that fruit, you will surely die the day
(02:58):
you will die, they did die immediately upon eating. But
they didn't die in their body, they didn't die in
their soul. They died in their spirit. And they passed
on to all their descendants a dead spirit. And so
to understand John three, you must be born again, you
have to understand Genesis three. Why do I must Why
(03:19):
must I be born again? Oh? It's because I'm dead inside,
dead toward God. And Nicodemus is going to learn about
this now.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
He is a.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Poster child for the very best of humanity, and he
shows that the very best of humanity is lost. The
very best of humanity is a sinner in desperate need
of the Savior. And so when the best of humanity
(03:53):
comes before the Lord, the Lord says to him, truly, truly,
you must be born again.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
You must be born from above.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
If you're not born again, if you're not born from above,
guess what you who want to go to heaven, You're
not going to go there. You're not going to see
the Kingdom of Heaven. You're not going to enter the
kingdom of Heaven. So the very best of humanity is
helplessly lost, helplessly, hopelessly perishing. Nicodemus, he may not realize it,
(04:25):
but he is in trouble.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
No amount of good works can change that. And for
you and for me, as those born in Adam, born
with a dead spirit, no amount of good works, no
amount of church activities can change the fact that you
are a sinner, and the wages of sin is death,
and the soul that sins shall die. We have sinned
(04:51):
against Heaven's king, and the wages of sin is death.
And until you understand that you'll never be born again,
why would you need to You have to understand that
you're sick, and desperately sick and seriously sick to look
to the great physician. So, first insight, every person must
(05:12):
understand his lost condition. Second insight, every person must be
born again. And Jesus made that very clear to Nicodemus.
And Nicodemus responds, born again? What How how can a
man be born when he is old? He can't enter
a second time into his mother's woman be born?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Can he? I mean, that doesn't make sense at all. Jesus.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Jesus answered, here it comes truth bom again. Truly, truly,
I say to you, unless one is born of water
and the spirit, 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. Do
not be amazed that I said to you, you must
be born again. And see, the new birth is not physical,
(06:01):
it is spiritual. And Jesus is giving him a physical
illustration to help him see a spiritual truth. Now, in
the physical, to be born physically, you have a father
and a mother, and the father produces the sperm, the
mother produces the egg. Those come together and conception takes place,
(06:22):
and a child is conceived, and then a child is born.
And in the spiritual you have a father and a
mother and being born again takes the Word of God
and the Spirit of God.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Those are the parents of.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Spiritual birth, the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
Now Romans ten seventeen. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. The Bible says in the
Book of James that we are born again through the Word,
the imperishable Word of God and the Word of God
(06:59):
and the Spirit of God speak to the heart of
the sinner to show that sinner he needs the Savior. Now,
Nicodemus would have been very familiar with the Old Testament.
He would immediately as Jesus was talking to him, his
mind would have gone to, Okay, he's talking about the spirit,
and he's talking about the Word of God. Well, okay,
(07:22):
where do I read that in the Bible. Ezekiel thirty
seven The Valley of dry bones. Remember when the Lord
says to Ezekiel, shows him the valley and is filled
with these dried out bones, bleached white. He said, son
of Man, can these bones live? He says, oh, Lord
you know. I don't want to answer.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I don't know. It doesn't look like they can live.
But Lord, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And then he says to Ezekiel, preach to the bones.
Preach to the bones. Tell them hear the word.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Of the Lord. Ezekiel thirty seven.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Prophesy over these bones and say to them, old dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord
God to those bones, behold, I will cause breath to
enter you, that you may.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Come to life.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Interesting connection Hebrew and in Greek, the word for wind
the word for breath, the word for the spirit, same
word ruoc in Hebrew, numa in Greek. So when you
read about the wind, when you read about the breath,
when you read about the spirit.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Those are used interchangeably. It's the same word.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And Jesus is going to say to Nicodemus, the wind
blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it.
You don't know where it comes from and where it
is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit.
The numah blows, so is everyone who is born of
the numa. So uses the same word, and breath and
spirit are put together.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
What does all that mean?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And in Ezekiel thirty seven, if you read it, you'll
find out the Lord talks about the Holy Spirit in
that chapter and bringing life. So it's the word and
the spirit that brings life. But now we have a
situation here John chapter three, verse five. People struggle because
(09:10):
they say, well, Jesus said, truly, truly, truth, bomb I
say to you, unless one is born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
And some people say, well, you know, you got to
be born of water.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
He got to be baptized.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
If you're not baptized, you're not born of water, so
then you can't be saved.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
That's why, Jeff, your parents did a good thing.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They baptized you at two weeks old, so you could
be born of water and the spirit. Well, you have
to ask yourself this question. What is he saying to Nicodemus?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
What did he mean? Now?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Some say, well, he's just talking to he's just picking
up on the question born again. How can a man
be born when he is old. He can't enter into
his mother's womb a second time and be born, can he?
And he's just using water as an illustration of physical birth.
Unless you're born of water, physically born and the spirit,
you cannot be born again. You cannot enter the Kingdom
(10:04):
of God. I mean, every woman knows about the water
of birth, right.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
We've had three babies.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
We miscarried two babies in our marriage. But the water
breaking was a big deal. Did your water break or
my water broke? We got to get to the hospital.
Why because the baby is coming. So he could have
meant that. He could have just said, I'm just talking
about between the there's a big difference between the flesh
and the spirit, between physical birth and spiritual birth. Some say, well,
(10:34):
you know, when he talks about water and the spirit,
water is used to talk about the Word because a
husband is to wash his wife by the washing of
water with the word, and so the water and the
Word they're together.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
And he's talking about the Word of God and the
Spirit of God.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Maybe some say, well, you know he's talking about the
spirit because in John chapter seven he says, if anyone
is thirsty, he let him come to me and drink,
for out of his innermost being showed the rivers of
living water, and John says he was referring to the
Holy Spirit who was to come.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
So the water, the living water, and the spirit they're
the same.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And people say, well, unless you're born of water and
the spirit, the water.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Is just another expression for the spirit.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
One thing I think that you can honestly say is
he's not talking to Nicodemus about Christian baptism. He's not
talking about Acts chapter two, when they receive the Lord
Jesus Christ and Peter told them to be baptized. He's
not talking about that because that would not make sense
to Nicodemus. He wouldn't know what that was. And furthermore,
(11:37):
we know that baptism does not save you. What saves
you is your faith and trust in Jesus and Jesus alone,
that's what saves you. Baptism is the way to express
it's a visible expression of an invisible reality. But now
here's what Nicodemus would have understood. There was a baptizer
(11:58):
going around that everybody was talking about. His name was John,
John the Baptist, John the Baptizer, and he was telling
people to be baptized for repentance, as a sign of repentance.
And this is what it says in Acts nineteen four.
Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling
(12:22):
the people to believe in him who was coming after him,
that is in Jesus. So the water could very well
be referring to repentance unless you're born of repentance and faith.
Faith in the Lord and repentance and faith are the
two essentials for salvation. Obviously, you can't get saved without
(12:44):
the Spirit working the word in your heart, convicting your heart,
showing that you're a sinner and you need the Savior.
That you won't get saved. Jesus said, unless my father
draws that person.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
He can't be saved.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
No one can come to me unless the Father who
sent me draws him and I will raise him up
on the last day. So the spirit of God takes
the Word of God, speaks it to your heart, and
then you have to respond. And so he's talking to
Nicodemus about spiritual things, not physical things. He's talking to
him about the fact that you need the.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Word of God and the Spirit of God.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And he's talking to him about the fact that you
need repentance and faith, repentance toward God and faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
That's what Paul said.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
His ministry was all only testifying to both Jews and
Greeks of two things, repentance toward God and faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ. We have people today that talk
about faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, but they leave
out repentance because they don't like repentance. Repentance is doing
a one point eighty. Some people say, well, you do
a three sixty. You don't do a three sixty because
(13:40):
then you'd be going to hell again. You do a
one eighty, and you turn from sin and you turn
to the Savior. Repentance toward God and faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ. And apart from that, you cannot see
the Kingdom of God. You cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
God.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
You will die in your sins, and you'll be separated
from God forever and ever and ever. Every person must
understand his lost condition. Nicodemus had to understand his lost condition.
And Nicodemus was like the rest of the Pharisees.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I mean, he was hard to come around.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But unlike the bulk of the Pharisees who never came around, Nicodemus,
as we're going to see, he does come around in
the end. But then insight number three, not only must
every person be born again, but every person can be
born again. That's the good news of the Gospel. That's
what we have to share with every single person. Hey,
(14:38):
Jesus died for you. You can be saved. Every person
can be born again. Now, we have a teaching in
theological circles called Calvinism. In one of the tenets of Calvinism,
the five Points of Calvinism, one of the points is
limited atonement.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Limited atonement says, well, Jesus didn't die for everyone, He
just died for the elect. How do you know if
you're elect? Well, I hope you're elect. I mean some are,
some are. I mean it's the Lord saying I choose you.
I choose you.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I choose you, not you, not you, not you, you
you you.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I reject that completely.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Now, not everybody responds to Jesus, obviously. Not everybody responds
to the spirit and the word. Not everybody responds to
the fact that they're lost, that they're in a on
the highway to Hell and they need the Savior.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Not everybody repents and believes.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
That's obvious. John chapter one. He was in the world,
and the world was made through him. The world did
not know him. He came to his own, and those
who are his own did not receive him. You have
to respond in repentance and faith. But every person can
be born again. See Jesus died and rose again for you.
For you now, John three sixteen. For God so love
(15:56):
the world. Well, that's pretty big, that's pretty broad. That's
the world. That's a faithless humanity. Yeah, But then Paul says,
he loved me and delivered himself up for me. He
died for me, for God so loved Jeff Shreve that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed that
if Jeff Shreve would believe on him, he would not perish,
but have everlasting life. And you can stick your name
(16:17):
in there too, Because he died for you and rose
again from the dead for you. You can be born again,
and you can look to Jesus in faith today. Now
he goes on to say this Nicodemus verse nine, how
can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him,
(16:40):
are you the teacher of Israel? And do not understand
these things?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Truly? Truly?
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I say to you, we speak of what we know.
That's another truth problem. That's another one of those truly trulyies.
We speak of what we know and testify of what
we have seen. And you do not accept our testimony.
If I told you earthly things and you do not believe,
how would you believe if I tell you heavenly things.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
No one.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Now he's going to present his deity here. No one
has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven,
the Son of Man. And then he gives him another
illustration that Nicodemus would be very familiar with, from the
Book of Numbers. As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness. Even so must the son of Man be
(17:22):
lifted up, so that whatever that whoever believes will in
him have eternal life. You remember that Nicodemus, You remember
in Numbers when the people were grumbling and gripling and complaining,
and God had had enough, and he sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they were biting the people, and
they were dying. Do you remember what happened? This is
(17:44):
what the Lord said. Then the Lord said to Moses.
The people come to Moses, say, we have said. What
are we going to do? The Lord said to Moses
numbers twenty one, make a fiery serpent and set it
on a standard on a pole, and it shall come
about that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it,
he will live. And Moses made a bronze serpent and
set it on the standard, and it came about. At
(18:05):
the serpent bit any man. When he looked to the
bronze serpent, he lived. Jesus was going to be lifted
up on the cross, just like that serpent that bit
the people lifted up. And what do you have to do?
You have to look to it. You get bitten by
a serpent.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
What do you have to do.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I have to go to the lab and try and
come up with a medicine to fix me. No, you
don't have to do that. I got to go kill
all the serpents. No you don't have to do that.
I gotta go climb to the top of Mount Everest
in back. No you don't have to do that. You
have to look to the serpent on the pole. You
just look, and if you look to the serpent on
a pole, you will be saved. That's what Jesus was
(18:46):
teaching him. I love this story about a man in
the eighteen hundreds chares his testimony.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
It's a snowy, snowy day.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
He's a teenager and the Lord is working on his heart.
He wanted to go to heaven, and he didn't know
how to get there, and he knew he wasn't saved,
but he didn't know what to do. So he goes
on a Sunday. He was going to go to his church,
but it was snowing so badly that he said, I
just can't make us too far, and so he stopped
by another church that was closer. It was a primitive
Methodist church back in the eighteen hundreds. He said, the
(19:18):
primitive Methodists would sing so loudly you would get a headache.
And he said, but I just went in there. He said,
there were about fifteen people in there. I go in there,
and he said, we we sing really loud. And then
the preacher couldn't make it because it was snowing and
it was such a bad snowstorm. So the preacher wasn't there.
We're just kind of waiting around. He said, finally, say
this guy got up. He was some kind of tailor
or tradesman or whatever he got. He got up there.
(19:40):
He wasn't polished, and he wasn't educated. He preached one
verse Isaiah forty five, verse twenty two, look under me
and be saved all the ends of the earth.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
And he said, this is what the Bible says.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Do It says to look to him, look to Jesus,
Look to the one who died and rose again. Look
to him who died in agony and blood for you.
Look to him who conquered death hell in the grave.
He said, anybody can look. It doesn't take a Rhodes
scholar to look. It doesn't take a college graduate to look.
You can be the biggest fool in the earth. And
(20:14):
yet you can still look. You can be a guy
that doesn't make a thousand dollars a year and you
can still look. Anyone can look, even the child can look.
And then he looks out into the congregation, just twelve
or fifteen people there, and he sees this kid. You've
never seen him before. He says, young man, you look awful, miserable.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Guys like me. I didn't know so obvious. I look miserable.
I am miserable. He said.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
The scripture says, if you will look to Jesus, you
can be saved.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Just look to him today. And that kid said, that's
what I needed. And now I understand, and I look
to Jesus.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
And he looked to Jesus that day, and that snowy day,
that teenage boy came to know Christ.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
And that teenage boy was Charles.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Hadn't Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, one of the greatest
preachers to ever live, And he got saved by one
verse as the Spirit of God took the Word of
God and he received it in repentance and faith. You
just look to him and you can experience the power
of the Holy Spirit. Listen as we close out. I
(21:21):
want you to be honest, so honest right now, and
you ask this question, have you ever truly been born again?
If not, that can happen today.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
If you don't know Jesus Christ in a personal way,
you've not been born again. You need to first come
to him, and you can do that now. You can
accept Jesus as your savior by sincerely praying a prayer
like this, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner.
You died for my sins and rose from the dead.
(22:02):
I turn from my sin and invite you to come
into my heart and life. I want to trust you
and follow you as my Lord and savior for the
rest of my life. Thank you for saving me. The
Bible says all who call upon the name of the Lord,
and that means sincere surrender will be saved. After accepting Jesus,
(22:24):
consider telling another Christian about your decision, finding a local
church community that believes the Bible, read the Bible daily,
and get baptized. Remember this is about starting a personal
relationship with Jesus, not just performing a ritual. And with
your decision today, we hope that you'll write to pastor
Jeff and let him know what happened to you and
(22:46):
he will be thrilled. Go online to Fromishart dot org
and click the contact us tab. He'll get your message.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Today.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You heard part two of the lesson Jesus and Nicodemus
from the eight message series Encounters what Happens when people
meet the Master. In it, he explores eight divine encounters
and how Jesus approached these different people and how they responded,
and share what you can do to impact the Kingdom
of God as well. The series. All eight lessons are
(23:17):
available in multiple formats for you as a gift from
us to say thank you for your support this month
of any amount. Your continual support allows us to be
here each and every day with this good news from
God's Heart. So get your copy of Divine Encounters today.
Call eight six six four zero Bible eight six six
(23:39):
four zero Bible or go online from his Heart dot org.
Thank you for joining us today. On from His Heart,
I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to join Pastor Jeff next
time as he presents the true story of another divine
encounter that resulted in a blessing then and can be
for you today. It's called Jesus and thee a woman
(24:00):
at the well from John chapter four, verse one through thirty.
Join us then, when Pastor Jeff will share real truth,
love and hope from God's Heart. Here on, from his
heart tows. From his heart is the listener supported broadcast
(24:39):
ministry of doctor Jeff Shreeve, speaking the truth and love
to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what,
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
Find out more at from his Heart dot org.
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