The True Mediator | John 3

Trace the powerful connection between Exodus and the Gospel of John, where the shadows of God's presence in the Old Testament find their substance in Jesus Christ. Move beyond recognizing the patterns, to embracing the person, Jesus, the one who accomplishes the greater Exodus, bringing us out, bringing us in, and bringing us near to God, forever. Well, John 3 is where we are.

It's week number 3 in this series through John. It's week number 3 of 8. We're looking at 8 specific substances in John that fulfill shadows in Exodus. So if you're new today, we are in the Gospel of John, but not like we normally do.

We kind of walk through a book and dissect it chapter by chapter, phrase by phrase, paragraph by paragraph. This is a little different for us. And so we're looking at 8 specific substances that fulfill shadows in Exodus.

We just finished Exodus a few weeks ago. But I'm really enjoying prepping for this, enjoying it myself. I hope you are as well as you feast on this book with your faith family.

We are in John 3 today. I want to prepare you for this set of 21 verses. You're probably thinking, oh, this is a common chapter.

It's got the most common verse in the Bible, everyone's favorite, John 3. Like, I'll just feel right at home today. I just want to warn you, you're going to, this chapter is incredibly powerful. It's like this.

I'm not sure anyone here has ever been that close to one. One of our 830 members, he said he's been on one. Ever been on a volcano when it was erupting? Probably not.

There may be a few. Bill at 830 lived in Hawaii for a while, planted a church there, in fact. So he was saying he's been there.

He said, Todd, it's exactly like you said. You feel pressure building. And then there's this moment of eruption.

He says with volcanoes, unlike earthquakes, they happen quickly. And then you're left to respond. I've never met a person passive during the eruption of a volcano.

You're brought to a decision point. Like, I've got to do something. And he verified that.

He says in those moments when you realize it's about to erupt, he said you can feel it. And then if you're nearby or if you're close, he said you realize you've got to make a decision. Now listen very carefully.

John 3 is a volcanic passage. It includes a volcanic conversation. You will feel the pressure building and mounting today.

You'll see the eruption. You will be brought to a point of decision. Response.

So what do you say we dive in to John 3, the first 21 verses. Here's what we're going to see by and large overall. Here's the presence principle you'll see kind of bubbling up in lava form and overflowing.

I'll read it for you while you get a snapshot of this or a picture of it. Begin writing it down. It's simply this, that our entrance into God's presence and family rests entirely and eternally on Jesus' work, not ours.

That's what you'll see today in this conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus. Will you read it with me? Together, church. Our entrance into God's presence and family rests entirely and eternally on Jesus' work, not ours.

Let's begin, shall we? John 3, you're going to notice the first 12 verses. This is where we begin to sense and feel the pressure building. Verses 1 to 12, the pressure is leading to this recognition that there's an undeniable reality regarding our inability.

This is what Nicodemus comes to grasp initially. He begins to realize through his statements and questions that he cannot bring himself into God's family. Though initially I believe he thinks he can.

Let me show what I mean. The first three verses, we're told in John 3 that this man, Nicodemus, was a Pharisee. So he was very religious, knew the law and the Old Testament.

He was a ruler of the Jews, so he was a prominent person. And he came to Christ at night, meaning he was curious, but somewhat secretly. And notice how he begins in verse 2. He begins with the word, no.

He says, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher. By the way, those are synonyms. Rabbi and teacher are the same thing.

He says, we know this is who you are. You've come from God and no one could perform these signs, you do, unless God were with him. Now listen very carefully to me.

There's actually nothing technically wrong with what he just said. He's technically correct. And yet Nicodemus does not know Jesus.

He does not know God. He's curious. Here's what's in Nicodemus' head.

He's looking at Jesus. He's heard Jesus, John the Baptist probably. And he's thinking, that's a higher level than we've got going on.

You seem to be a notch above. You're a step up from us. You're a step up from what I've seen, so you must be from God.

Now he's not saying, nor does he believe, that Jesus is God. But again, he's not technically wrong. Jesus is from God.

God sent Jesus. He is doing the works he's doing because God the Spirit was with him and empowering him. Yes.

And yet there is a recognition within Nicodemus that something about you and what you're doing isn't computing with me. Like, I want to figure this out. So I want to start by saying, I kind of know you.

And notice what Jesus does. I think, in one sense, he just changes the subject. Because he really doesn't respond in any way to what Nicodemus just said.

Look at your Bibles. Verse 3. Jesus replied, truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. So Nicodemus just stated what he knew.

And Jesus replied by saying, you can't see anything. Like, that seems like an odd way to have a conversation. But again, wouldn't you agree? Like, man.

What he's saying is, Nicodemus, you really don't know anything yet. You're telling me what you mentally and humanly, naturally are computing. But it's not how I roll, so to speak.

This is not how it works. Because I don't operate on a natural, physical level. This is a relationship with God.

It isn't what you can produce. It's not what you can compute. It's not what you manufacture.

You have to be born from above. You need something outside of yourself. Remember, Nicodemus started with, we know.

Like, inside of us, we can figure this out. Jesus said to him, no. What you need is something outside of yourself.

You need to be born again. Born from above. So this is obviously going to cause a question, which is now what Nicodemus does.

He asks his first question. He probably should have started there, wouldn't you think? But he comes in kind of like, you know, I'm a Pharisee. Some things I know.

And Jesus off the bat says, you really don't know much, Nicodemus. So he does ask his first couple of questions. In verse 4, how can anyone be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born? So do you see what he's thinking? He's already thinking naturally.

He's continuing to think naturally, actually. So he begins by making statements about what he naturally perceives, what he's physically computing. Jesus says, that's not how this works.

It's outside of you. It's a divine. It's a supernatural revelation through the Spirit.

So he says, well, how does that occur? Do they crawl back into the womb? He's still thinking naturally. So Jesus, in 5 to 8, just begins to explain to him, no, this is a work of the Spirit. Now, really, I think between 5 and 8, it is all about the Holy Spirit causing someone to be born from above, to be born again.

Notice he uses the metaphor of water and he has the Spirit. And so some think he's referring to baptism, maybe, and then salvation. But I think if you just look at the Old Testament, which, by the way, Nicodemus would have known the Old Testament.

This is Ezekiel 34, probably Ezekiel 37, maybe Ezekiel 44, 36, in that area. The Holy Spirit is illustrated through wind and water. Ezekiel 44 says the Holy Spirit will cleanse us like water.

In Ezekiel 36, around that area, the Holy Spirit blows like wind upon dead bones and they come to life. So I think he's simply referring to the work of the Spirit in these several verses. He's not trying to give a complex illustration.

He's saying, Nicodemus, what you need from above is the work of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 6. If you just keep thinking naturally, that's all you're going to get is natural. The flesh produces flesh, but the Spirit produces Spirit.

In other words, you're just in the wrong realm, brother. He says, don't be amazed that I say to you, you must be born from above. You must be born again.

And Nicodemus, I'll remind you, you can't manufacture, produce, or control this. And he talks about the wind in verse 8. There's a lot going on here conversationally because the word wind and the word Spirit are the same. So when he says this to Nicodemus, I wonder, did Nicodemus think he meant Spirit or did he think he meant like wind of the trees? I'm not sure, but the illustration is beautiful.

He says to Nicodemus, the wind blows where it pleases and you hear it sound, but you don't know where it comes from and it's just like that with the Spirit. He's saying this. Nicodemus, you can't control it.

You can't produce it. You can't manufacture it. The Holy Spirit, like the wind, blows, and when he blows, when he causes birth from above, that's when you understand who I am.

That's when you see the kingdom of God. It's a work of the Spirit. And Nicodemus, at least recorded for us, finally asks his third question.

Isn't it good how it starts with one statement, ends with three questions? How can these things be? That's the first moment of real deep honesty in Nicodemus. Like, okay, I'm lost. How in the world does this happen? And I love how Jesus responds in verse 10 by the way he responds with a question.

And notice a word in verse 10 that's similar to a word in verse 2. He says, are you a teacher of Israel and don't, say it with me church, know these things? I think it's just a poke. Because what did Nicodemus say when he first sat down with Jesus? We know some things about you. And what does Jesus finally end up asking him? Hey, you're a teacher of Israel and you don't know these things? I mean, wouldn't it have been fun to be in this room? Just to watch and see this conversation? You can feel the pressure building.

I think if you're Nicodemus, you're like, man, this tent's in this place right now. He's pinpointing my inability to really not only figure it out, but to do anything about it. There's an undeniable reality surfacing.

The pressure's building. Nicodemus, you are unable not only to perceive the real issue, but you can't do anything about the real issue. And so he says in verse 11, I tell you, this is very insightful.

Listen very carefully. This will intrigue you. We speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.

Now that's an interesting verse because so far it's been a singular conversation. It's a singular exchange between Nicodemus and Jesus. And now why the plural pronouns here? Who is the we? Well, we don't know.

So let's just, first of all, relax. There have been many thoughts. It could be Jesus and the apostolic witness, John the Baptist and those around him.

I personally think he's speaking here of the Godhead. It's my opinion. I don't know that I'm right.

And we can disagree. No issue. Commentators, theologians have different opinions.

I base that on the fact that he is already talking about the spirit. In a moment, he'll talk about coming from heaven. I think Jesus is using we to say to Nicodemus, God, the father, God, the son, which that's Jesus and God, the spirit.

We in unity testify about these things, the work we do and you do not accept it. So then he says to him, if I've told you about earthly things and you don't believe, how would you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? So it's kind of like rhetorically saying to him, Nicodemus, you seem to have a lot of knowledge about who I am and what I do. But the truth is, you haven't believed.

You haven't accepted. If I tell you more, how would you compute, figure that? How would you calculate that humanly? You haven't yet. I think what he's doing is saying this, Nicodemus, your need for the Holy Spirit, your need for God's work apart from who you are yourself is so evident.

It's an undeniable reality. Nicodemus cannot solve his problem. He cannot solve his problem at perceiving what's happening or then doing what needs to happen.

He knows this. He's beginning to realize he cannot bring himself into God's family. His religion, his morality, his profession, his pedigree, none of that will suffice to open his eyes or to clear the way.

This is the pressure of the first 12 verses. I hope you have sensed it. This conversation may have lasted longer.

It may have had more words. We don't know. This is what John gives us.

It's enough to let us know this was a very tense conversation in every good way. So as we get to verse 13, we see the truth now erupt. The pressure is built and Christ on the heels of simply saying, I'm going to tell you some heavenly things.

I want you to believe them. He kind of insinuates that through the question. Like, I'm about to tell you some things.

You're going to need the Holy Spirit to reveal this to you. Watch this. We get to verse 13.

Here's the truth that is erupting. It's really all about Jesus Christ, who he is and what he's done. So what's established first is the undeniable reality that Nicodemus can't do what he needs.

But here's the truth. What I would say is the exclusive beauty of our true mediator, that Jesus has done what we need and is the only one who can do what we need. This is verses 13 through 15.

Now, when you first read these verses, there's just three of them. They can seem a little odd. Let's go to the next slide.

Can we? Verses 13 through 15. I want to make sure that our church sees this. These can seem a little odd because you hear language like ascended, descended, and then about a snake.

And you're like, how does that fit with what he's been saying? But I remind you in verse 12, he just used the word heavenly, didn't he? Now he's going to explain to us who really has heavenly authority to reveal the things about heaven. We can say it like this. Who has revelatory authority? Who really can tell us what's going on with God and his relationship with his family, entering into his presence? Who can do that? So he says in verse 13, no one's ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

He's pointing to himself. Now, he's not saying that there was a previous time that he ascended to heaven. That's not what he's saying.

Jesus is not giving us some travel log here. He's simply saying that no one has gone to heaven and said, hey, I've searched out heaven. I've talked to all the parties involved, and I've got the lowdown on what's going on up there.

No one's done that. There have been mediators. There have been people in God's presence, but they've been shielded.

They've been partial. There's only one who knows heaven in and out, God's presence, and it is God himself, Jesus Christ, God the Son. And that's what he's saying here.

I've got the revelatory authority. I've got the heavenly credentials to tell you what it's like, what's going on. And so he establishes that, that he's the exclusive mediator.

And then he says this, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. So now he's going to explain the mediation, the actual act that he's authorized to do. He's going to be lifted up.

That happens, look at verse 15 now, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. So here's the core of this conversation. I know you think it's verse 16, you know, the most loved verse in the Bible.

I'm not denying that's a great verse, but textually and contextually, this is the authorial moment. When Jesus says, Nicodemus, you can't do what needs to be done, but I can, and here's how. Now notice the movement.

Christ descends, that's his incarnation. He's lifted up, that's his crucifixion. People believe salvation.

So this is what he is relaying to Nicodemus. Now, as a Jewish leader, as probably an Old Testament scholar, when he heard as the snake was lifted up in the wilderness, he would have immediately thought of what Moses wrote in Numbers 21. In that story of the snake being the means of healing for Israel, who were bitten by venomous snakes.

Now I hope this strikes you as odd. Because usually when we think about Christ's death, we think of not a snake, but what? A lamb. A sacrifice.

You don't think about a snake. So this is a little striking. I think it hit Nicodemus the same way, like, oh.

So when he hears Jesus refer to Numbers 21, which he would have known, he's thinking, so something in the future is going to be like what happened in the past? There's something going to be lifted up that we think is a judgment, and it will actually rescue us from judgment? Stay with me. Because in Numbers 21, the people were grumbling, were blaspheming, disobedient, complaining, asking God to, you know, blaming God for bringing them out of Egypt, asking Him to fix their problems and not the way He was doing it with the manna. You know, just blaspheming with such a grumbling spirit.

He angered righteously God. Remember, He's long-nostriled, right? We learned that in Exodus. And He had reached the end of those nostrils in that moment.

And so in righteous anger, God judges them by sending snakes among them. And they bite the people, and divine judgment is that some of them are dying. So they plead with Moses, Moses, intercede for us to God that we not die.

What does God do? He tells Moses, take a bronze serpent, put it on a pole and lift it up, and tell everyone, if you look at the bronze serpent, you'll be saved. You'll be healed. You won't die.

And notice what Moses did not put on the pole. He didn't put a real serpent. He just put the image of one.

So what was actually thought to be judgment, if you looked at it, it saved you from judgment. Keep that thought in mind, because when Jesus says, even as the Son of Man must be lifted up, the world thought, oh, here's the blasphemer dying for his blasphemy. He's being crucified.

This is the judgment that should happen. Actually, to all who look to Christ, we are saved from judgment. That's the parallel.

The parallel is not really between Jesus and a snake, per se. That's not the type, anti-type here. That portion is that Christ actually is doing what Moses couldn't do.

All Moses could do was take the snake, put it on a pole, and say, look there. What Jesus did was, you think I'm being judged, but actually I'm taking your judgment. Look at me.

Christ was the offering and the offerer, which is why we say often around here, he's our great high priest. He brought the sacrifice, and the sacrifice was himself. It says he'll be lifted up.

Now, some have wondered, who's lifting him up? It's a passive verb. This is, again, one of those things we can disagree on, have fun to play with a little bit. I think Christ lifted himself up.

I think this is a passive verb. He says later, he willingly lays down his life. But there are some folks who think the Pharisees are the ones in view here, actually are thinking it was Nicodemus.

This is why Jesus said it this way, because later, I think it's John 8, he does say to the Pharisees, pointedly, when you lift up the Son of Man. So some pastor friends of mine think that he's saying to Nicodemus, the Son of Man must be lifted up. And then later he says it's the Pharisees, so Nicodemus is wondering, is that us? Are we the ones going to do that? Are we going to actually think we're crucifying you as an act of judgment? When in reality, if we look to you, you'll spare us from judgment.

So those are good questions. Those are fun to play with about who is lifting him up. I just want you to see the progression here mainly, actually kind of have fun with this chapter.

Jesus is clearly saying he's the one who came from heaven. So he has authority and revelatory credibility to tell you what's needed to get to heaven. He established that pathway.

The only way it's his death that mediates between us and God. And he did more than offer it. It was himself.

So this is a beautiful, salvific moment in which Nicodemus hears and wonders, so are you the way to God? You're going to be lifted up? You're the remedy? You're the one we have to look to? This is all in his head. This is why Jesus now begins to talk about the only response Nicodemus should give. It's the response of believing.

So we've seen the pressure building, which is what we cannot do. We can't save ourselves. We've seen the truth erupting, which is only Jesus can.

And notice, thirdly, the response that's necessary. And that is the inescapable necessity of belief. And I want to be extremely, pastorally clear and plain here.

I'm personally convinced the best and most used biblical word for responding to who Jesus is and what he did is the word believe. I admit to you other words are used. Confess, accept, I wouldn't argue or even for a minute slight those words.

But the word believe is used in these 21 verses seven times. Three other words are used to provide a similar meaning, like the word accept, come to the light. Those are kind of phrases and those are words that are used to say to us again, you have to believe.

So Jesus brings Nicodemus to this precipice where he has to respond to this volcanic conversation. And the response is obvious. Nicodemus, you have one choice in front of you.

Believe in me. That's Jesus talking to Nicodemus. This is why as a church and as a pastor, as all of our pastors do, all of our ministry leaders, we call people regularly to believe in Jesus Christ.

It is the most pervasive and prominent call of response to the gospel in the scriptures. Christ himself is doing that in this passage. And he's simply saying this, that only those who believe in Jesus escape condemnation and they receive eternal life.

And this is really where your favorite verse picks it up. John 3.16. And let me just show you how I can, again, I don't want to say prove like I'm being hard to, I don't want to be that kind of guy, but let me just show you linguistically, grammatically, why verse 16 isn't the focal point. Because this first word is for, do you see that? So this is a transition word.

It's a word flowing out of something. So is verse 17, same thing. Four, you see that word? So these are words, these are verses of explanation, which means the real truth that only Christ has the heavenly authority, the divine supernatural revelatory credibility to know how to get to heaven.

He came, he's done that. So guess what we should do? Believe. And here's John 3.16. Isn't that beautiful? But you can't say John 3.16 if you don't have the truth of John 3.15. Now notice the movement in John 3.16. God loved, God gave, God sent.

So can we again as a church affirm and together just rejoice that salvation is wholly and solely a work of God? It is his activity, which is what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus in the first 12 verses. Nicodemus, you can't produce this. You can't manufacture this.

You can't believe on your terms. You can't muster up this like positive thinking, this self-talk to believe. It's a work of the spirit.

Here it is again repeated. God loved, God sent, God saves. Our job when we see Jesus in all of his beauty as our only mediator is to respond in belief.

And he's asking Nicodemus here to believe in him. Notice what he's not asking. Church, hear this.

He's not saying Nicodemus believe things about me. And this is a massive difference. And I tend to think Nicodemus did believe many things about Jesus.

Verses 1 and 2 tell us that, don't they? Nicodemus was trying to tell Jesus that. Hey, I believe a lot about you. I know some things.

And yet at the end of this conversation that's recorded, Christ is calling Nicodemus to believe in him. So maybe you're wondering what's the difference between believing in Jesus and believing things about Jesus. Here's the best way I can describe it.

Believing in Jesus is throwing the entirety of your life on the weight of his reality, who he is and what he did. It's not attaching to yourself random historical facts that you acknowledge. It's actually throwing the entire weight of your current life, of your eternal destination.

It's bringing every bit of who you are and saying all of this is dependent upon who Jesus is and what he did. And I'm throwing my whole life right there. That's belief.

As I pondered that this week and trying to think how can I help our sheep understand believing in, not just believing about, I read 2 Timothy 1.12. And the verse just ministered to my soul. It massaged my heart. I shared it with a few of our staff and I was so excited.

I had to be quiet because I wanted to preach the whole message to them. This is just a fabulous chapter. I probably was like you.

I thought this is a common chapter. We'll just walk through this. And I've just been so overwhelmed.

It's so rich. It's so beautiful. Listen to 2 Timothy 1.12. This is stunning.

Paul would really echo this when he says, I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he's able to guard what he's entrusted to me until that day. So what is God entrusted to us? He's entrusted to us his salvation. It's our inheritance.

He's given it to us by his grace. We simply respond and receive. When you throw the entirety of your life on Jesus and receive his salvation, God promises to guard that until that day.

Believing in Jesus is saying that's where every bit of who I am is resting. It's not in myself. I've got no ability to start it, to keep it.

I'll never boast for a second. I've got no ounce of ability. I can't figure it out.

I can't compute it. I just can respond by believing it. So I'm throwing all of my life onto the truth, the reality of who Jesus is and what he's done.

That's believing in. It's saying this. I know whom I have believed, not just what I believe.

Now, I don't want you to mishear me. You may think I'm saying, well, I guess content doesn't matter. That's not what I'm saying.

1 Corinthians 15 is clear. There is specific content you have to believe. The life, death, burial, and resurrection are of first importance, Paul would say.

They matter. Well, guess what? It's the life, death, burial, and resurrection of a specific person that you come in contact with. So it's content and contact regarding the person of Jesus Christ who historically, in time and space, lived on the earth as the God man, sinlessly, human flesh, but yet divine, who died in our place, willingly lifting himself up as our mediator, and the sacrifice rose again, ascended to heaven, and now, with heavenly authority and credibility, tells all people everywhere, repent and believe and be saved.

And who else can tell us? He's from there. He knows how to get there. That's Jesus Christ, the true mediator.

And this is what he tells Nicodemus, to believe in him. Now, this is necessary for one reason. You and I, we are already condemned.

So I want to dispel a myth that exists in churches in Christianity that exists in the world. Most people, in addition to really living by the good works philosophy, I won't get into that now, but I think most people kind of buy that in the world. It's so illogical and false.

I want to get into it really badly right now, but I'm not going to bite on that apple. I'm just going to hold that. In addition to that, what they also believe is this, that you're in like a neutral zone all the time.

And you're presented with options. How do you access God? You can either choose your way, works, some other religion, or you can choose God's way, biblical Christianity. And so until you decide you're in this neutral zone, that's completely false.

The Bible says you're already shipwrecked. That humanity's already going down. The words are we are already condemned.

So there is no neutral zone. You're not like in this place, you can say, Hey, I'm safe until I decide to decide. That's a lie from Satan to get you to procrastinate and end up separated from God forever.

God said, if you are not with him, then you are already against him. So understand this. No one's been born in a neutral zone.

This is why the Bible clearly and explicitly calls for us to believe in Jesus and escape condemnation. And as you think about this conversation, the pressure built, the truth erupted. You can see Christ really drawing Nicodemus to response, can't you? Can I show you how he wraps up his conversation? It's again, beautiful.

You may read verses 19 to 21, which comes after the condemnation, which is the reason we need to believe, all those things. You may read 19 through 21 and think, Man, it seems like he just went to this darkness light thing so fast. Like that seems out of place too.

But it doesn't when you realize Nicodemus is having a conversation with Jesus in the dark. Now, maybe there was a little oil lamp, but it tells us clearly he came to Jesus at night. So imagine you're Nicodemus.

And if this is the whole of the conversation, it's wrapping up and Jesus looks at you after all of the pressure and the eruption. And he says, so Nicodemus, you know why people don't come to the light? It's because their deeds are evil. This is why they love darkness.

I mean, imagine hearing that you came on purpose in the dark. And he says, hey, this is why people love darkness, bro. Because their deeds are evil.

And then he says, but I've come to show you light. Come to the light, Nicodemus. And when you do, look at the end of verse 21.

This is proof that God's work was accomplished. So we don't come to God to be, we don't do something and then convince God. That's not the point of that.

He's saying when you come to the light, it's proof God has been working. It's the sign the Spirit's drawing you. So he's saying, Nicodemus, in this moment, I'm inviting you come to the light and leave the darkness.

The Spirit is calling you. He's revealing who I am. Nicodemus, believe in me.

That's what's happening. It's a beautiful invitation. It's pretty tense, a lot of pressure, the eruption of truth, the necessity of a response, which is belief.

But in the end of the day, it's a beautiful, beautiful invitation wrapped in a conversation to a man named Nicodemus from the God-man we knew as Jesus. Now maybe you're wondering right now, well, what happened to Nicodemus? I mean, how would you ever tell Jesus, no thanks? How do you walk away from this? You know what? We don't know in the next few verses. For some reason, John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, does not proceed to tell us right away what happened to Nicodemus.

But we do have a couple of clues. Let me show you what I call the Nicodemus trajectory. We leave John 3, a few things happen.

We come to John 7, and we meet Nicodemus actually standing up for Jesus in somewhat of a cautiously courageous fashion. It's in John 7. He simply speaks up for him. It's not like this vibrant testimony yet, but you can tell something's clicked somewhere.

He's realizing, yes, I was technically right, but I wasn't all in. And he's throwing all of his life under the weight and the reality of who Jesus is. You can see it happening.

You get to John 19. Here's the last time he's mentioned in the book. They're taking Christ down from the cross, and who shows up in broad daylight? Nicodemus with his friend Joseph of Arimathea.

And they're saying, we'll take the body. There's not a bit of shame in that. There's no darkness.

He's not trying to be secretive. He's like, yeah, I'll take that body. I know that man.

We've got a relationship. That's the God-man Jesus, the only way to heaven. Amen.

And Nicodemus is part of the crew that buries Jesus. I love that trajectory, don't you? Because it shows me something. Listen, church, listen.

That moments create movement. I can't specifically point to a verse that says to us when Nicodemus believed, but I can show you movement that proves he believed. I think that's the question you should ask yourself.

I'm going to be very forward with you in a polite way, but listen very carefully to me. As one who experienced this, as I watched this in the last 40 years of preaching, I do believe that the new birth happens in a moment. I believe that.

I'm confident that's true. The Bible says that. Often we don't recognize the Spirit's work in that moment until we begin to see changes, like appetites, actions.

Things start, they're different. What's happening to me? I've had some of you ask me this. After being in services and small groups, you'll call me, text me.

You'll say, I don't really know you at this point, but you'll say, I've been coming to church for a few months and I'm just going through a lot of changes. I've got some things happening to me. I'm not sure what to make of them.

What's going on in my life? I'm like, I don't have some kind of crystal ball. I'm kind of thinking, so we sit down and we chat. This is some of you.

Whatever service, this is what you've said to me. Over 22 plus years, this has happened multiple times. Well, I came to a service.

I went to a small group. I was in youth group. They shared the gospel and I believed.

Things just started changing. I said, oh, okay. I'll say, the Bible calls that being saved.

Oh, did you confess Christ, believe he was who he said he was and did what he said he did? They said, yeah, I was all in. I said, Jesus, I love you. I want that.

God birthed you from above. And now you're experiencing the changes of that. Oh, so that's what's going on.

So I don't know how to say to you, it is a moment in time, but often in our humanity, it's hard to pin that down. Now, many of you do. I know pretty precisely when God drew me.

And I think in that moment, late 13, almost 14, God saved me. Was it right when I walked down the aisle? Was it prior to that? Was it the night before? Was it after? We can debate that. But in that timeframe, God saved me definitively and began to change me.

He's done that for anyone who's a Christian. Some of you know of a season in which God began to change you. You had a moment that led to movement.

So I don't want to deny either one of those. Here's what I want to say to you. Instead of trying to figure out a specific minute or date, look at your change.

And if you don't see change over long periods of time, you probably don't have a moment. I'm being as pastorally frank with you as I can. This is the book of 1 John in a sentence.

If you don't obey Christ and love others, you don't know Christ. That's what John says. So I'm just trying to share to you, I do believe that salvation is a moment.

It's an indescribable supernatural micro moment actually when God does what only He can do. But when that occurs, it does produce change. You don't throw the weight of your life onto Jesus and believe in Him and not experience change at some point.

All things are becoming new. The old has passed away, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. So I want to urge you, as you think about this Nicodemus moment and your life, the moment you say you had, has it produced movement? And if it hasn't, do you really have a moment of the new birth? I'm not doubting you.

I'm trying to be faithful as your pastor in explaining the Bible to you. Because you may come to this chapter and think I've heard that my whole life. I'm good with it.

But you're a verse in the world in that chapter. And miss the whole point that John in a very literary sense establishes Nicodemus' first curious moment and shows and tracks for us how he's changed over time. Saying to us he's proof that somewhere around John 3 he experienced a new birth.

He was born from above to the point that at the end of John he's saying I'll take that body. That's my Lord. My heart longs for everyone in this room to know that.

That you know Jesus. That you believe in Jesus. So let me ask you something.

Is today your John 3 moment? If it is, will you do this with me? Somewhere near you is a card that looks like this. It's called the Nicodemus Trajectory. And I want to know about your moment so that we can help you make sure it sees movement.

We want to walk with you and help you. Here's what I want to do. We're going to respond in a few moments.

There will be folks at all of our communion tables and all of us are going to respond in some way. We're going to go to the communion tables or if this morning is your John 3 moment I just want to ask you to be bold and courageous. Put your name and a phone number here.

And bring it to myself. I'll be here. Bring it to one of the trusted persons at our tables or just drop it on the table.

You can do that. That's fine. Here's my promise to you.

Travis will coordinate this with me. And we will make sure one of our trusted leaders calls you this week. Have a conversation with you to make sure you know who Jesus is and what He did and that you are throwing the weight of your life entirely and eternally on Jesus.

Who He is, His reality, and what He did. That's what I'm promising you. I'm not trying to establish a database with this.

I'm not trying to make sales calls. I'm not trying to get your information. We're not going to sell it to somebody else either.

Okay? My heart right now is on behalf of all our pastors. All of our leadership. We don't want anyone to remain under condemnation when the rescue boat is waiting.

And God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him would never perish but have eternal life. I would urge you believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved today.