Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Meaning of Being "Born Again" | Ep. 243 | Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Episode Date: January 10, 2024

Do you know who Jesus was talking to when He said the famous words found in John 3:16? This nighttime conversation with Nicodemus gives the full picture of these snippets we hear all the time. Take a second to learn why God so loved the world. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive podcast. Hope your new year is off to a great start. I'm Mike Bro, and we hang out here Monday through Friday unpacking a little portion of God's Word.

And most of us just a few minutes. Today might go a tad longer, but we're walking through what is known as the Gospel of John. And yesterday we pushed Paul's on a very cool story found in John Chapter 3. It's a secretive meeting at night between Jesus and a highly respected member of the religious ruling council. His name was Nicodemus. Most of his colleagues were threatened by Jesus and they could not stand what Jesus was doing and others were intrigued. Others were curious

like Nicodemus. So Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cloak of night to have some probing dialogue. He just didn't know how probing it would be. Before Nicodemus even has a chance to ask a question, Jesus starts answering. I say answering because he already knows exactly what Nicodemus is thinking. He already knows his doubts and his intellectual hangups. He already knows that

Nicodemus wants to ask him. wants to ask, are you the promised Messiah? If not, who are you? Where did you come from? He knows that's what Nicodemus wants to ask, but that isn't necessarily what Nicodemus needs to hear. So Jesus skips all the small talk, and Lovenly goes way below the surface with one of his famous, What the heck does that mean statements? Verse 3 of chapter 3, Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. To which Nicademus responds? What the heck does that mean?

He says, what do you mean? How can I, come on, how can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again? Now, I think Nicodemus is totally smiling when he says this. Come on, you're talking to a seven-year-old professor of Old Testament literature here. Get serious. I came in here tonight because I have some serious intellectual questions. I'd like to ask you, such as, and Jesus cuts him off. Jesus replies, I assure you,

no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth the spiritual life. So don't be surprised when I say, You must be born again. I think Jesus is smiling back at him. He says you're a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things. This phrase that Jesus uses born again literally translates born from above,

a heavenly birth or a spiritual rebirth. This concept of rebirth, God's plan, to give men and women a new heart, a new life, eternal life was clearly revealed. all throughout the Old Testament. For instance, when he talks about the water and the spirit here, Jesus is alluding to a passage that would have been very familiar to Nicodemus. It was in Ezekiel chapter 36 where God promises to wash his people with water, purify them of their cancerous, life-threatening sin condition, and replace their heart of stone with his very own heart. And I think Jesus is lovingly saying the Nicodemus, come on. You know there's something more,

don't you? You know it in your head and your heart, and that's why you're out here tonight. Now I know that teachers can teach things for years and never really grasp what they mean, but think it through, Nicodemus. You're a respected Old Testament scholar, so you know the scriptures, and you know that God has always wanted to replace your heart with a new one, and you know that God has always desired an intimate relationship with you. You know that God will send the Messiah to make a way for all people to be saved. You know that mere religion is just a dead-end street when you've been running up and down your whole life, and you've been running hard trying to earn God's favor, haven't you? But you're sensing

it doesn't work that way, aren't you? I have a feeling that you know that there is this personal, transformational, born-from-above relationship with God that can change everything. And I think you can sense that in me, but you don't know how to get it. You see, all Nicodemus knew to this point was religion. Rituals, tradition, rules on top of rules,

trying to do enough good stuff to get noticed by God and other people, and not necessarily in that order. because that's what religion does to you. It gets you running, striving, motivated by guilt and approval seeking, and there's no finish line and sight. You have no idea if you've been good enough. You have no idea if you run far enough or fast enough. So either you run so hard that it just about kills you,

or you just give up and walk away. And I think Nicodemus is tired of running. I think he was growing weary of pretending to know God when he really didn't. And that's where I was when I came to Christ, and I'm guessing quite a few of us were there. I got so tired of faking it, tired of playing games with God, weary of religious rituals and man-made rules,

but just suck the life out of you. Accidentally made you want to know God less. But then we met Jesus. We found him there saying, come to me. It's a relationship with God you've been thirsty for. It's why you were made. I will give you living water. You must be born again.

Eternal life is real. And it's found in me. And I think that this smart, powerful, wealthy guy felt the emptiness of life. I think he was weary of the life. I think he was weary of the treadmill of religious performance that he was on. I think he sensed in Jesus, some hope of a real relationship with God. And deep down, he wondered if Jesus had the answer for that,

and that's why he's really there this night. And Jesus knows it. Well, Jesus stays with this your respected Old Testament professor approach by again going back to a story Nicodemus would be familiar with. And I love the way Jesus always try to find connecting points with whoever he was talking with. And in this moment, he's genuinely trying to reach this guy, in a way that he can understand. Jesus says this,

no one has ever gone to heaven and returned, but the Son of Man, a term that Jesus used about himself, has come down from heaven, and is Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him

will have eternal life. He says, Nicodemus, if you recall, this reference is from the Old Testament book of Numbers when the people of God had left Egypt and were in the desert, and they had turned their back on God, flaunted their rebellion in his face and taking his goodness for granted for like the millionth time. And as a real attention-getter, God sends all these snakes. Remember that story? You might even taught it in the synagogue. Do you remember how God instructed Moses to lift up a bronze snake on a pole

and told him anyone who is bitten can look at it and live? You remember that story, right? And even though Nicodemus couldn't see it yet, Jesus was saying, there's a day coming very soon when I will be lifted up on a pole. on a cross, and anyone and everyone who looks to me will not only be saved from the snake bite of sin, but they will live forever. And just to make sure Nicodemus really understands this, Jesus puts his hands on his shoulders, leans in and says probably the most famous words of the entire Bible, John 316 and 17, for God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. God sent his son into the world, not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

You know, we've all seen someone holding up a John 316 sign. In the end zone seats of a football game, people wear pendant necklaces with John 316 inscribed, people get John 316 tattooed on their shoulder, in-and-out burger, prints it on the bottom of all their cups, John 316. You've seen John 316 before, right? Now you know what John 316 says. For God love the world so much that He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. That is incredible good news for anyone who believes.

And here's what I think is so cool. Nicodemus was the only one who actually heard those words come out of Jesus' mouth. Jesus didn't say to him, remember Nicodemus what it says in John 316? This was John 316 Before there was ever a John 316 On this dark night Hanging secretly in the shadows Jesus gives to this intellectual secret

These famous words of light and life So I just want to encourage you to do what Nicodemus did Get one on one with Jesus If you got questions ask If you got doubts bring them up If you got confusion poured out He wants to connect with you Your heart and your mind

Hear him say to you today For God so loved the world He gave his one and only son that whoever believes them will not perish but have eternal life. It is for the world, but it's personal for you. See you back tomorrow. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today.

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