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I want to thank you for inviting me to open the word of God and proclaim to you what the Lord has in store for us.
It is always a delight for me to come back to this church and preach.
As you may know, the Lord has blessed me and Alison with a daughter.
Her name is Alethia Jade Wong.
The past week and a half have been a roller coaster.
If you have been on a roller coaster, then you may know that the beginning of the ride is a great anticipation for the fun that is yet to come.
Once the roller coaster gets up to the peak, down you go and enjoy the ride.
If you’re a first-time parent, then you know that the 1st week is critical because there is a drastic change to your lifestyle.
Yes, I had many sleepless nights and lost way too many braincells to remember things, but now that I became a father to Alethia, I am getting a taste of the love of our heavenly Father to His children.
I am profoundly joyful and delighted that Alethia is finally here, and Alison and I love her to bits.
Share about my experience as a father to Alethia.
Share about my experience as a father to Alethia.
Transition
As much as humans are joyful in producing a physical life through the sexual union of a man and a woman, there is a life that no human beings is able to produce; i.e. true spiritual life or eternal life.
Only God can both produce physical and spiritual life.
He created and breathed life into Adam and Eve.
He was forming us in our mother’s womb.
Surely, God is the only one who can create spiritual life in a dead sinner through regeneration.
Only God can both produce physical and spiritual life.
How can a person be born again?
Regeneration is a doctrine that teaches that a person experiences spiritual transformation only and solely by the work of the Holy Spirit.
This spiritual transformation brings the person from being spiritually dead to becoming spiritually alive.
Regeneration is another way of speaking about the new (spiritual) birth, the second birth or being born again.
Main Point: You Must Be Born Again
My main point for this message is pretty simple: “You Must Be Born Again.”
If you ever want to enter into the kingdom of God, you must be born again.
The passage that I want to draw your attention to is .
And is perhaps a popular passage when it comes to discussing the meaning of the new birth.
teaches that a person experiences spiritual transformation by the work of the Holy Spirit.
This spiritual transformation brings the person from being spiritually dead to becoming spiritually alive.
Regeneration is another way of speaking about the new (spiritual) birth, the second birth or being born again.
READ
This is a passage where Nicodemus dialogues with Jesus on the matter of His Messiahship.
Jesus, however, turns the conversation and focuses on the message of the new birth.
Out of all the gospels, John was the only one who recorded this conversation.
And you must know that the author had a purpose for including this event to his gospel.
Read 0:30-31
Read -31
READ
John 20:30-31
Read John 20:30-31
Read John 20:30-31
Read
The goal is
John wrote with the goal of telling the readers to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
By believing in Christ, the readers may have life…eternal life…in His name.
Jesus will challenge Nicodemus, the readers, and all of us who are hearing this message in the contemporary world to believe in Him and His testimony in order to have eternal life.
So, we begin our study with .
READ.
We must remember that this passage is prompted by John’s commentary in .
We must remember that this passage is prompted by John’s commentary in .
John’s comments in verses 24-25 is demonstrated through the story of Nicodemus.
So, let’s talk about Nicodemus for a bit because there is something deep about the character that John introduces to us.
We are told that Nicodemus was a Pharisee.
A Pharisee was a Jewish religious leader that strictly followed the law and the tradition of his ancestors.
As you read throughout the gospels and also Acts, Pharisees were hostile towards Jesus and His works, and also the early church.
We are told that Nicodemus is a ruler of the Jews.
Not only are we told that he’s a Pharisee, we are also told that Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews.
It refers to a member of the Jewish governing body called the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews.
They were prominent figures during Jesus’ trial.
They also appeared again in Acts as the judicial court which investigated and persecuted the Christian church.
Later on in , we are told that Nicodemus was the teacher of Israel.
Later on in , we are also told that Nicodemus was the teacher of Israel.
We will get back to it later once we hit that text.
In brief, Nicodemus was THE teacher, the par excellence of the religious leader in the Hebrew Scripture.
If anyone wanted to learn the way of Judaism, then Nicodemus would be the man.
is the main passage where Christians are most familiar with Nicodemus, but he is not only mention in this chapter.
For instance, we can read
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People were divided over who Jesus was.
And they wanted to arrest Jesus and try Him illegally.
Nicodemus, however, spoke and made a point that partially favoured Jesus.
While I do not think he was intentionally defending Jesus at this point, he was doing what was right and just in accordance to the rabbinical law as the teacher of Israel.
We may not know Nicodemus’ relationship status with Jesus.
Quite possibly, he has yet to become a follower at this point, but this passage may show that Nicodemus did not entirely close himself off to Jesus’ claim.
You can say that he may still be trying to seek, question, and understand Jesus even more before he can make a final judgment.
We may not know Nicodemus’ relationship status with Jesus.
Quite possibly, he has yet to become a follower at this point.
Nicodemus was not defending Jesus at this point,
Another instance where Nicodemus was mentioned is in after Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross and death.
Nicodemus had a part to play in the burial of Jesus.
And John had to painstakingly remind us that Nicodemus was the same person who came to Jesus by night.
John included Nicodemus to the participation of Jesus’ burial was to show that he has finally come out of darkness and stepped into the path of light.
He may have finally come to know and believe in Jesus.
He may have come to know Jesus as the Son of God.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and he came to believe.
Very rarely in Scripture do you see religious leaders coming to faith in the Messiah.
The other Pharisee who came to follow Christ was Saul of Tarsus, or the Apostle Paul who wrote the majority of the New Testament Epistles and went to preach the gospel to the Gentle nation.
We do not exactly know what happened to Nicodemus after Jesus’ burial, but hopefully he was among the earlier followers of Jesus.
Nicodemus was a character that we may all relate to.
We may not all be Pharisees, teachers, and rulers functionally, but we can all be like Nicodemus where we start out not believing in Christ.
We had our doubts and skepticism.
As we learn of Christ, we are slowly being drawn to Him by God the Father’s sovereign election.
And eventually, God’s effectual calling happens and we answer that call by coming to believe in the One who died for our sins.
So, that’s Nicodemus as a character in this story.
When Nicodemus came to Jesus, he was not a believer yet.
We come to hear his first conversation with Jesus in .
READ.
John makes a comment that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.
Why did Nicodemus come to Jesus?
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