Sermon Central
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"Unless A Man Be Born Again"
Contributed by Brian Menear on Feb 22, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: A sermon to demonstrate the basic principle for Salvation-No Jesus/No Heaven...Know Jesus/Know Eternal Life
“Unless A Man Be Born Again..”
3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3:3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. "
Nicodemus-Pharisee/Smart Man/Knew Law and Scripture
New concept, never heard before, puzzled Nicodemus
JN 3:4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!"
JN 3:5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.’
Need to be born of Spirit of God
2nd birth because we must die to self
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Bible-All men will proclaim themselves righteous
Review 10 Commandments W.O.T.M. Style
God shows us the mirror of his law, the ten commandments, so that we know what we truly are. We can think that we look like Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, but when we look at ourselves in the mirror, we know the truth. When we look in the mirror of God’s law we see ourselves as we really are. We see that we don’t live up to what God demands.
CH Spurgeon said, “The law is for the self righteous to humble their pride. The Gospel is for the lost to remove their despair”
We are all guilty. No chance to go to Heaven on our own accord or effort
Why?
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Death is separation from God
There are so many people walking around dead, they just don’t know it yet.
Don’t know Jesus?-Don’t know what fate awaits you
Across the street from the bombed out Federal Building in Oklahoma City, where 168 people died needlessly and senselessly, there stands a memorial. At the heart of that memorial is a nine foot statue of Jesus. But this statue is not one of a stony Jesus with arms out wide like you may have seen in the Ozarks or in Brazil. No, this is a nine foot statue of Jesus with his face in his hands, turned slightly away from where the acts of terror took place, and the plaque reads, "And Jesus Wept."
JN 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
When Martin Luther was printing his translation of the Bible in Germany, pieces of the printed Scripture fell to the floor. A young girl picked one of them up and read the phrase of the text, “For God so loved the world that he gave”. The rest of the sentence was missing. That moment for her was a defining experience as the truth griped her. You see, she had been told so often that God was a Judge and One to be dreaded. She ran home with excitement in her heart, passing the note to tell her mother and talking endlessly of this wonderful discovery. Her mother read it and perplexed asked, “But what did He give?” The young girl was lost for a moment with a puzzled expression, not knowing the answer. But suddenly a thought came to her and her face lit up again as she said, “I don’t know; but if He loved us well enough to give us anything, we need not be afraid of Him.”
John 3:16 Most famous verse in Bible, but not well understood
“Surely not for me” “I’m not worthy” “Never loved or wanted”
(Friends, Family, Spouse-Abandoned/Gone) (Damaged Goods)
GOD STILL LOVES YOU
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
-come just as you are-
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
