You know, you know, maybe when you become 18, should I stay at home and go to county for a couple of years? Or should I go away to college in a different state? Should I go out for the team? Should I quit the team?
As we get older, the decision points in our lives become a little more dramatic. Should I quit this job or take that job? Should I stay in this relationship or walk away and hope there's somebody else out there? Major decisions, right?
Should I ask her to marry me? Should I say yes to him? Is it the right time to have our first child? Should we have another kid?
Should we think about adopting? Should we buy? Should we rent? Should I take the retirement package?
Should I keep working? Decision points. Sometimes we know these points. I remember.
I'm kind of a thinker, planner, guy. And I don't get caught up in my heart too often. And I remember, like, actually, in my mind, going through this list about, should I ask Joan Berg to marry me? You know, and here's the pros, and here's the cons.
There was no cons. All right? Because it was a decision point in my life. And I was taking it very seriously, right?
But there's other times where these decision points, you just kind of stumble into them, right? Like, when I decided to take a job at Sizzler Steakhouse in 1980, whatever, 85. If I hadn't taken that job, I never would have met my wife, right? And so sometimes there's things that you understand, the seriousness of the weight of another other decision points.
You don't. Over the next couple of weeks, as I move, as we move together towards this baptism day, which is always one of the last Sundays in June here, I want to look at a very couple real stories in the Bible about decision points, what people did with Jesus. Because they're still doing the same things with him today. For you and I, every human being that's ever lived, the Bible tells us that we have to make a decision regarding Jesus.
There is no neutrality when it comes to him. We have to decide, is he who he said he is? And if he is who he said he is, I believe that am I going to commit the rest of my days to the following him? By the way, there's two separate questions.
Or is he something else? Because this Sunday that's coming in June, every year, in Menom Hills, it represents a real clear decision point for each of us. Will I get in the water out that lake, in front of my family, in front of my friends? And will I publicly identify myself through baptism, through the death of Jesus as we go under the water, to new life in Jesus as I come out of the water?
It's his idea. He commands us to do it. Now, I remember about 10 years ago, 11 years ago, I was coming on staff here, and I was studying the scriptures, and I was getting convicted about baptism. See, I grew up in a family that went to church on Christmas in Easter, and that kind of thing.
And I was baptized as a little baby, sprinkled on the head in the church. And that had to be a meaning to my parents. I mean, no meaning to me. I was a couple months old.
But it meant something to my mom and dad. I remember as I thought about the scriptures that, well, I had been baptized. But then as I had read the scriptures over and over, it seems like every story in the Bible about somebody getting baptized has to do with them coming to their own decision about their faith, and then deciding to publicly identify with Jesus. And so I started thinking to myself, boy, this seems like a commandment of the scripture.
And we're not really doing a good job of this here at Menom Hills. We would have baptisms, maybe one every other summer, in somebody's pool. You'd one or two people would get in. And I said, you know what?
Here's what we need to do. We need to find somebody in the church that has a high profile. But it's such a complete phony and hypocrite that he hasn't followed Jesus in being baptized as a believer. And that was me.
So I was fairly convinced that I should stay up in front of everybody and go, yeah, I haven't done this. And I really feel like God wants us to do this if we haven't. And so I'm going to do it. And anybody wants to do it with me again in the lake.
And we've been doing it every Sunday, just last one of these last Sundays of June, for I think over 10 years now. It's been deeply profound. Now, what you're going to see is we look at these stories over the next couple of weeks. Because you don't realize it's a story of real human beings, people like you and me who encounter Jesus just like you and me and have a decision to make about what are we going to do with him?
Am I going to believe that he has who he said he is? And he doesn't even believe that. Am I going to follow him? Or do I just want to stay ambiguous?
And so today I want to start with one story of a decision point. It's a story that I know some of you are going to be familiar with initially. But I would bet most of you don't know how the story ends. It's contained in what's probably the most famous chapter in the Bible.
In the New Testament, the New Testament starts with four what are called gospels. They're the story of Jesus' life. The story of the good news of Jesus Christ. It's four books.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John is the fourth of them. And in chapter three of this book written by a man named John, a follower of Jesus, he tells the story, the historical account of a man whose name is Nicodemus. Now, if you're used to that name, I want to make this story come a little bit alive to you.
If you grew up in the church, you know, Nicodemus. When you see, when you hear that name, you probably think of like a flannel graph, Nicodemus, like the two-dimensional guy that your Sunday school teacher put up on the chart. And you lose the story because you're so familiar with the story. So here's what we're going to do.
We're going to call Nicodemus by his nickname, his Italian nickname, Niko. So Niko is going to be the Italian Nicodemus walking around the streets of Jerusalem. And here's why, because I need you to see Niko as a real man, because he was a real man. He had a real life.
He had real things and real decisions, real stuff to risk. I need a real decision to make. So I want you to meet him. The story starts in chapter three of John's gospel, in verse one.
There was a man named Nicodemus, Niko. A Jewish religious leader. Now, an interesting detail. You've got to always look at the details when the Bible tells you because they're there for a reason, who was a Pharisee.
Now, this is a very important element of the story. Niko is a Pharisee. Now, some of you already know what that means for the rest of you. Let me explain.
There was kind of two ruling classes in Israel at the time, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Now, the Sadducees, they were more of the devout religious type, but they were aristocrats. They were more politically inclined. They were kind of the political religious rulers of the day.
The Pharisees were much more of the common person, but they were much more devout and much more religious. They were the religious elite, in a sense, the devout of the devout. They were distinguished by a very strict observance of traditional and written law. They were super sanctity, was kind of the term that went with them.
They were religious rulers, the strictest of the strict. They formed a brotherhood of their own. They would only admit those who in the presence of three others would pledge themselves to strict observance of purity. Now, if you know the story of Jesus in the Bible, you know that these Pharisees are the guys.
He winds up arguing with them most, because they are so committed to the things of God, they're so committed to the laws of God, they elevated them in most of Jesus' time above things like love and grace and forgiveness. And this is where they would have problems with Jesus. It was an honor to be a Pharisee. It was a privilege to be a Pharisee.
And it was very, very difficult to be a Pharisee, because you had to keep lots and lots and lots of rules. So here's the thing. If you read your Bible a lot, the Pharisees oftentimes seem like the enemies of Jesus. They seem like the bad guys, because he's always fighting with them.
But if you read it that way, you can get yourself into the dangerous position. I'm not seeing scripture through the right filter, because today I need you to understand the Pharisees at a different level. Here's what I want you to understand about the Pharisees. You know, put the slide up that contains their story.
Here's what the Pharisees would say about themselves. The Pharisees read their Bibles. The Pharise defended their faith. The Pharisees respected tradition.
Call people in their culture and their time to be obedient to God. They sought to be pure. They denounced worldliness outside of the church. They maintained high standards and they attended church at every opportunity.
Now here's the question for this morning. Does that sound familiar to anybody? Because it should. Because the truth is, the Pharisees are just like you and I.
We take out real serious. We oftentimes wave our fingers at the moral decay around us. We're doing our very best to do the things that God wants us to do. We sat in an elder meeting one night.
We were going over Pharisees and we're watching a talk on how dangerous it is, because if you hang around the church a lot, and you should, but if you hang around the church a lot, it's really easy to become a Pharisee. And I remember one of the elders, I'll never forget it, is one of my favorite elders. Actually all my elders are my favorite. What one of the elders said, oh my gosh, I'm a Pharisee.
Because it's steeps into us over time. So here's Nico and he's just like you and I. He's a good religious man that wants to follow God and he's trying to follow God as best as he can. He's trying to keep the rules.
He's trying to be a good guy. He's trying to do what's right. He is exactly what everybody says they want to be when it comes to religion. I want to be a good person.
I just want to be a good person. And Nicodemus was a good person. Okay so verse two. After dark, one evening, Nico comes to speak with Jesus and he says, Rabbi that means teachers, his teacher.
We all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs or evidence that God is with you. Now interesting, John adds another little detail about this. What time of day does Nico come to visit this teacher?
At night, at night. Teaching's over for the day. I mean Jesus is the sandals are off. And Nico comes at night.
Why would he come at night? Because Nico is a Pharisee. What if somebody saw him? I mean he has way too much to lose.
I get this now because this issue of having a lot to lose, of losing your position, of losing what people think about you, of losing power. It all plays into a decision point for Nico. Coming to Jesus in a public way while the sun is up, before the crowds. I mean what if somebody saw him?
What if they thought he was becoming some kind of Jesus freak or something? What if his mother, I mean he's a good Jewish boy. I mean his mother was so proud of her boy. My boy Nico.
I can't do the Jewish action. Well but my boy Nico, right? I mean he keeps all the walls. Look how, look at my boy.
What if Nico's mom found out? What if his buddies find out? I mean he could be the butt of the jokes, right? He could lose his job.
He could lose his standing in his position. It's really hard to be a Pharisee. And so he comes, when he comes tonight. And I love this.
He doesn't come with his own question, right? And Nico Deena's play is the old, the old, I have a friend thing, right? Jesus, it's not really me. What?
Okay, it's we. We have a question. Who's we? There's no we there.
But Nico Deena says he doesn't really want to own this yet. So he says, I have a friend. If my friend and I were wondering, we rushed by. But Nico's telling, if Nico's telling the truth.
If he's telling the truth. It's not just him, but at least one other Pharisee of this ruling council has started to watch what Jesus has been doing around telling these miracles. And they're wondering about him now. And so he professes some level of faith.
And not enough to come during the day or to risk anything. I mean, he comes tonight, but he does acknowledge that Jesus seems to be from God. And he says, look, we get it. You have some God things going on here.
Now you gotta imagine what's been going on at the time. Nico Deena sits on his council of Pharisees. The strictest of the best, the most religious, the most religious. This is what every Jewish boy dreamed of being.
But then Jesus rolls in the time. He starts doing these crazy God things. So Nicodemus and maybe at least one other start to talk about these things, but it's gotta be on the down low. I mean, nobody can know.
You wouldn't bring it up at the table, and talk about it during coffee in between the sessions of the council or something. And so I guess a couple of these Pharisees get together at some point and they decide they're gonna send an emissary at night when no one would see him. And they're gonna ask Jesus a question. They're gonna imagine the debate entered the story, right?
Well, I'm not going. You go. Well, I'm not going. You go.
Oh, should I ask what I got there? Well, I don't know. You ask them. I'm not asking.
You ask them. And so the debate rages for a little while. And maybe Nico loses. I mean, they draw lots, right?
They're always drawing lots in the violin. They draw lots. And Nico winds up at the short stick. I'm gonna go see Jesus, right?
And so he decides he's gonna go at night. And so then they start asking each other what. I'm not gonna have a lot of time because I can't wanna be seen. I can't enter a long, cool debate.
What should I ask them? And probably go back and forth to it. And they come up with a decision to ask one specific question. And it's really a question that lingers on and onto Pharisees just like you and me today.
Good people. The people of God, the people trying to obey the rules and honor him. If you had one question, what would you ask Jesus? And so my guess is Nico draws a short stick.
They wrestle with the question. How are they gonna broach the topic? And after they get a plan in place, and after Nico kind of gets his guts up, he heads off under the cover of dark, it has Jesus. This question.
I just will pick it back up in verse two. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. Teacher, he says, we, we, my buddies and I, we know that God has sent you to teach us, your miraculous signs or evidence I got is with you. And here's what I love.
Jesus replied, wait a minute, what's he replied to? Nicodemus didn't even ask him a question yet. All the work behind the scenes probably, right? If I want to write, Jesus doesn't even let him ask the question.
Here's what I love about Jesus, the brilliance. I mean, he doesn't deal with our silliness. There's this element of look, Nico, I know what you're here. I mean, I know who you are.
I know you got a lot to lose by showing up here. Let me just get to the point for you, because Jesus knows this question. It's the same question. It's the eternal question.
It's the one you would ask. It's the one the world has been asking for thousands of years. Jesus, if you're really from God, then tell me one question. Here it is.
How do I get to heaven? I'm dying. Everybody, I know it dies. There seems to be a lot of talking debate about this.
How do I get to heaven? How can I be sure I'm going to see God? And so he's ready to ask the question. And Jesus just the scripture says, Jesus just replies, verse three, three, I tell you the truth.
Unless you're born again, you can't see the king of God. And here's this kind of wait-what moment for Nico. He's waiting to hear some kind of, you know, let's get the pen out and write down the rules or the instructions, because this is what he's been raised in. I mean, you go new, there was 600 plus rules that he was keeping.
And he's wanting to see, and the sense which is going to be the important ones, where he stands on the scale, and he's ready to write down the duressic directions. You know, is it give more, do better, go further, pray more, drink less. I mean, what is it, Jesus? I don't know how Jesus proceeds with, I'm telling you the truth.
Nico was it, I'm going to tell you the truth. But you're going to hear a lot of stuff from other people. Your mom might have taught you something. Your mom might have scared you by saying, you better keep in line, you better obey the rules.
God's going to get you. Your rabbi might have taught you something. Your preacher, your synagogue, your church. Modern culture might have told you a thing or two, but I'm going to tell you the truth.
You want to know the truth? I'll tell you the truth. Unless you're born again, you can't see the king of God. Now I know.
Okay, I know. I know. The whole born again thing, right? I got it.
I get it. I get it as a lot of stuff built up around that term. I mean, the truth of what Jesus is trying to get at, it can get so lost in the buzz of what's happened to that term born again. So please don't get lost in the term.
I tell people about my church and when I try to explain, what kind of religion are you? What question? Oh, are you about this? What are you?
Well, I said, in general, I would describe our church as an even jealous, what is that? What is that? You're not one of those born again, or are you? And so I got it.
I got what's built up around it. I remember when I first became a believer, I was starting to take Jesus seriously. Somebody was very close to me that I love and respected. You're not going to become one of the holy rollers, are you?
So I got it. I got it. But put all that stuff behind you for a minute. All your preconceived notions about that term and enter the story, OK?
Because this is the first time that term was brought up. It didn't mean anything yet. And so Nico asks what you might ask. Jesus said, I'm telling you the truth.
Unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God. I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you the truth. Unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God.
And so Nico says the same thing that you and I might ask, the heck are you talking about? The scripture says, this is what he says. What do you mean? He goes, how can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?
And so to answer this question, Jesus actually tries to take a very complex thing. And it sounds very difficult and weird. And he introduces Nico to a deep, deep truth in a simple way. Now, if you get this, you're going to understand Jesus in a way you never have before.
Because Jesus explains what's going on here, in a very simple way, a profound way. Now, let me show you. I'm going to help you understand this, maybe. Let me show you a picture of a cat.
Hey, look at this. Now that is a vile creature. Wouldn't we all agree? I mean, just look at the snarl.
I mean, he just reeks if he thinks he knows more than you do. And so I know there's cat people out there. So I want to show you a redeeming feature of cats, because I know there are cat people amongst us. Here's the only redeeming feature I can come up with.
You know what? Cats have kittens. Other adorable and sweet and cute, right? We love that.
This is one thing that cats do. They produce kittens. And so there's this profound, funny foundational truth that Jesus wants to teach Nico. And it's hidden deep in the DNA for each of us.
Ever since the beginning of time, for example, let's take a look at penguins. Take a look at penguin here. It's not all that cute. But you know what penguins produce?
A little baby penguins. And what does a baby penguin call? Does it just call the baby penguin? All right.
What else we have back there, Dina? Oh, pigs. Now, a pig is a foul creature, right? What, there's something funny about pigs?
Do you know what pigs? Pigs will never produce a penguin. Do you know what pigs always produce? Penguins.
It's adorable, right? It couldn't be cuter. And now, so there's this profound truth that's coming. That Jesus wants them.
If you get this, it's going to help you understand the scriptures. There's this other profound truth. Look at this lovely couple. Are they handsome or what?
Right out of central casting, right? Beautifully young couple. Do you know what beautiful young couples produce? That's right.
Babies. Somehow the human baby is the least attractive of all things produced in the Kingdom of God. If you remember the Seinfeld episode about the baby's breathtaking, isn't he? And so Jesus is trying to explain a very difficult concept in eco and to you and I by appealing to this same logic.
He says there's a profound truth here. Human beings can only give birth to human beings. Nobody knows human is given birth to a penguin or a kitten. And so ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden days, human beings have come pre-packaged with a built-in flaw in their DNA.
You have given birth. Everyone that has given birth has given birth to one who has a flaw, the scripture is funny. There's a beer now called this. I saw it the other day called Original Sin.
The truth is that every human being that's ever been born has been born with this brokenness in our humanity, where we are no longer getting our life source from God, who has eternal life to give us. Our spirit is no longer connected to his spirit. And so in a sense, when you're born, when you give birth to a human being, you are given birth to something that has already been cut off from God, that does not have a life source coming from God. And so as a result, we get old and we die.
I was watching that baptism video and I couldn't help but notice in a couple of shots. There seems to be something going on back here, off the check at this year. But there's something going on in us. When we're getting older and we're dying, you know why?
Because you are not connected to the life source of God any longer. Every human being that's ever been born has been born broken apart from this. And this is why death is the ultimate product of sin. You and I, every human being ever born has been born flawed, fatally, by sin.
Our desire to be our own God, to live out the way like the way we see fit. This is the law of our nature. Pigs make piglets, broken, flawed human beings, make broken, flawed people. And so Jesus explains it to Nico this way.
He goes, let me help you understand the situation here in, because I don't think you understand the situation in your in-nego. John chapter three, verse six. Jesus says, humans can only reproduce human life. But the Holy Spirit gives birth to a spiritual life.
So don't be surprised when I say to you, you've got to be born again. Because the way you were first born is flawed and broken and you will die. Jesus understands it's not easy to get, especially for people like you and me who love laws. We love principles, we love the three point plan.
Just tell me the law, just tell me the rule. But Nicodemus has got to be on, what are you talking about? And so Jesus reads it hard again and goes, let me explain it this way. Verse eight.
Jesus says Nicodemus, the wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind, but you can't tell where it comes from or where it's going. It's the same way, you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit. Now this is kind of cool to me, because I've done this on windy days.
You're not outside on a windy day and looked up at the trees. And you see the tree swaying. And I've had this little debate in my mind. I know this scientific answer to it, so you don't need to email me.
But it's still interesting, which is, when you see the trees blowing from the wind, what's blowing them? And then I wonder, is the wind being caused by the tree? Like is the tree making the wind? Or is there some force coming along that's moving that tree?
And so Jesus is saying, Nicodemus, just like when you sit outside tonight and you watch that going on and say, I can't really explain what's happening up there. There's this thing that's happening. He's looking and it says, look, it's the same thing. There are no rules to the kingdom.
Here there aren't lists. No one controls the wind. There's nothing you can do to harness it or even understand it. God moves the wind, it's the work of God.
And so it is with being reborn in the spirit of God. He does this work. Sorry, Nico, Nico, you Pharisees like me out there? There are no rules.
There's no list of things you can do. God does this. He comes along and he brings people to new life. Nicodemus, I can't give you what you're looking for.
It doesn't work that way. I'm not going to give you a list. And so he goes on in verses 13 to 14. Jesus goes, no one has ever gone to heaven in return, but the Son of Man has come down from heaven.
Jesus is saying, look, I know what you're gonna do. I know you're gonna go see your tarot card readers and your psychics and you're gonna try to talk to your grand antilly and find out how she's doing. And I get it, but here's the truth. No one has ever died and come back to tell you how to live, how to achieve eternal life.
Jesus goes, I'm the only one. I'm the only one who's ever going to be able to tell you this. I'm the only one. I was with God and I have come to tell you.
I'm the only one. And then he gives this kind of interesting parallel. He says, and as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, now you don't know the Bible, you're gonna want the heck is he talking about? The Son of Man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
So that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. So that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. And here's why I'm saying this slow to you because you and I don't like that. That doesn't make sense.
This is different than what your mama told you. This is different than what your teacher's told you. This is different than what the Kardashians have told us. It does not matter that you are doing really good and you've done more good things than bad things.
Nico, this has nothing to do with what you think. And he introduces Nico to a new understanding of how you come to God because you and I and Nico have always had in the back of our mind. Even though we understand theology, we've always had in the back of our mind. The way to heaven is to just be a good person.
Oh, I'm a good person. And Jesus says, no. Jesus says it's not about behaving. It's about believing.
It's not about behaving. It's about believing. And so to help Nico and you understand this, he takes Nico back to his story, that Nico would understand. Because Nico's a good Jew.
He was familiar with Moses and all the Mosaic laws. He's keeping all these laws. He knew the story of Moses and he was a little boy. And he takes him to the story of Moses, leading God's people through the desert towards the Red Sea.
And God's people are doing what they always do, which is complaining about God. Drag us out here in the middle of this desert, Moses, you and your God. And now look, we better be back in Egypt. Then they start specifically complaining of Moses and there's a book called Numbers and you'll test them.
And his manna that he provides, this stuff stinks. I can have it stinks back in Egypt. But instead you drag me out here. And so the Bible says that into this complaining lot, God sends a bunch of snakes to stir them up a bit.
And these snakes, now stick with me, church. These snakes, interesting is because it's a snake. And a snake in the Bible is loaded with symbolism. It's a snake that came into the garden and broke our humanity, broke our DNA in the first place, separated us from the only source of life.
These snakes again begin to bite the people of God and they die in the desert from their snake bites. Are you getting the symbolism? The people of God are being bitten by snakes and as a result they begin to die. That is the story of sin.
You and I have been bitten by the snake of sin. And so as a result, we are separated from the only source of life and we too are dying. And so Moses on behalf of his people comes before God and he says, Lord forgive, forgive us, forgive our grumbling. And his prayer of repentance is answered by God in a very interesting way.
Look at Numbers chapter 21. The Lord told him, Moses, make a replica of the poison is snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it. And so Moses made a snake out of bronze and attach it to a pole.
And then anyone who is bitten by a snake, anyone who had been touched by sin, could look at the bronze snake and be healed. And Jesus told Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness. So the Son of Man must be lifted up and he would be high on a cross. So that everyone who believes, everyone who's kept their eyes fixed and focused on him, everybody that doesn't look away, everybody believes in him will have eternal life.
Nico, it's now and it's always been about, not about behaving, but about believing Jesus. And then Jesus goes on to give, in understanding this now, Jesus goes on to give the most famous verse in the Bible, John chapter 3, 16. For this is how, this right here, this story of faith and belief and not behavior, this is how God loved, loved the world. He gave his one and only son.
So that everybody who believes in him would not perish, they would be connected to an eternal life source again, and they would have eternal life. God sent his son, this is so fascinating, this is Jesus that is saying this, okay, Pharisees, like me? God sent his son in the world not to judge the world. Understand this, it was not about behavior, it wasn't about being good enough, you can't be good enough, you can try, but humanity gives birth to humanity.
Good enough will not change your soul, you will still wither and die. And the truth is Jesus is saying, how could I judge you when you've already been judged? You're already dying, it's too late to judge you. One of the most profound concepts is understanding, you are not a sinner because you sin and do bad things.
You sin and do bad things because you're a sinner. You were born and flawed, cut off from God. Jesus goes on, he said, God sent his son into the world, not to judge the world, but to save it through him. He continues in verse 18, there's no judgment against anyone who believes in him, but anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged.
In other words, folks, you're dying, you're disconnected, you chose another path and another source for life. The judgment has already done deal, even good people die. And Jesus goes on, but anyone who doesn't believe in him has already been judged. It's not something that's coming, it's something that happened.
For not believing in God's one and only son. And the judgment is based on this fact, God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than they loved, the light went to Nico-Come in the dark. God, people loved the darkness more than the light because their actions were evil. And all who do evil hate the light refuse to go near it and for fear their sin will be exposed.
But those who do it is right come to the light so that others can see they are doing what God wants. And so that's it. That's the famous story of Nicodemus. That was the introduction of his decision point.
See, there is no culminating story of his repentance. He doesn't, you know, drop to his knees and start singing, born again, born again, oh, sweet Jesus to be born again. There's nothing like that. This is the end of the story.
Chapter wraps up, or is it? Because in a twist that you almost never hear told, Nico's story actually gets picked up later in the Bible. Did you know this? Now remember, Nico came, we want to be behavior rules, who's in, who's out, how do I get in.
And Jesus leaves him with his teaching about faith and about belief and not behavior and about the work of God and the man spirit. And so Nico leaves. But he has a decision to make. And so you.
And so he leaves and some time goes by. We don't know how much. But Jesus' earthly ministry is getting ready to come to a close. He's been persecuted as he often was by the behavioralists, by the people like you and me that like to make sure they keep staying in line.
And Jesus wants to stay in line. So the Pharisees, they decide we're going to arrest this guy and get him off the streets. He's teaching crazy stuff. In fact, they send the temple guard out.
We'll bring him in here. And now in chapter seven, we pick up four chapters later. We pick up the story. When the temple guard returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, why didn't you bring him in?
And I love this. Well, we've never heard anybody speak like this guy. Never heard anybody teach like this. This guy is different.
The people, the sinners, they see somehow attractive to him. He doesn't seem to be judging them. He doesn't seem to be saying they're out and we're in. He doesn't scare them off.
He seems to be teaching something new. I love the response of the religious people, the Pharisees, right? Check out what they said to him. Have you been led us right to?
You're gonna follow this guy too? It says the Pharisees mocked. Get him made fun of it. You can't believe this, right?
And so the Pharisees actually say amongst themselves, is there a single one of the rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? Is there anybody in here? Is there anyone in this room, in this place that could be stupid enough, that could be foolish enough to buy this stuff, that it's not about behavior, it's about belief, that it's not about the rules and who's in and who's out. The scripture goes on, the foolish crowd follows him, but they're ignorant of the law.
These Pharisees are serious business guys. They say God's curse is on them. Those that believe it's this belief thing. God's curse is on them, scary.
Lots to risk here. I mean, what would my mom say if she found out that the Pharisees were saying God's curse was on me? What would my mom say if I got baptized a believer, she might think I'm a Jesus freak or something. What would my friends say?
I would have done a video of this and put it on Facebook, but then what? I got a lot to lose here. And so the Pharisees are pounding the table. Is there one person in here that believes this foolishness?
Verse 50. Then Nicodemus. Then Nicodemus. Nico.
The leader who had met with Jesus earlier spoke up. Is it legal to convict a man before he's given a hearing he asked? Then Nicodemus spoke up. Now maybe a little bit timidly here at first, but out of the darkness and into the light comes Nicodemus.
Hey, maybe you guys should give him a hearing. Maybe you guys should give him a chance. And to all you Pharisees like me in the room who can get caught so caught up in the law, who can get so caught up in being judgmental, who can have so little grace on people that are far from God. Nico would still stand up in the room and he would do it with so much at risk.
His position, everything he earned, all the work he put in, he would still stand up and say, I think you guys should hear him out. And Nicodemus comes in his amazing decision point, do I sit here and protect everything I've worked for? Do I sit here and worry about my friends are gonna think and my mom is gonna think, do I keep my position in my authority and my reputation? Or do I say something?
And do I identify myself with this man? And do I get off this fence I've spent the last however long on? Now you might say I'm making a big presumption there from just from one statement, from Nico to the group. I need to show you something because we actually picked up the story of Nicodemus one last time, this is so fascinating.
Maybe you know Joseph Aramathea, we actually sang about Joseph in one of the songs this morning. Joseph was a wealthy man that gave his grave to Jesus. You hear his story in John chapter 19 now, the story of Jesus is closing, it says this, afterwards after the death of Jesus, Joseph Aramathea who had been a secret disciple of Jesus. Why?
Because he feared the Jewish leaders, asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus's body and when Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. You see Joseph Aramathea, it turns out, was on the council of Pharisees. And remember that whole Nicodemus coming at night, we thing, guess who we was? And Joseph America's mythic has this decision point moment and he comes, even in his fear to the leaders it goes, I'll take his body.
Is there anybody foolish enough to believe this? And Joseph America's mythic stands up and goes, I'll take his body. He has this decision point, a secret follower of Jesus no more and he out himself despite his fear, but then watch this, this is so fantastic. The next verse, the very next verse, are you ready?
The very next verse, with him came Nicodemus. With him came Nicodemus, out of the dark, into the light. The man who had come to Jesus at night, see the scripture, look at that, they're trying to tell you a story. The man that had come to Jesus at night, with him now comes out of the light, into the light.
He bought about 75 pounds of perfume, deployment made from Murs and at Murrenal, and following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus's body with the spices and the long sheets of linen cloth. Guys, understand the story. Peter, y'all love Peter, right? Where's Peter right now?
Hiding under a rock. James, John, we sing about them all the time, do you have any idea where they are right now? No, either this is Jesus. You know where Nicodemus is?
Wrapping the body of Jesus, publicly. He made a decision, he'd come to a decision point in his life where he was going to move from behavioral modification to belief, and it was going to be public, and it would change his life in this life, and it would change his eternity. And so you two have a decision to make, what do you do with this man? And maybe like Nicodemus, you thought this whole thing has been about behavior, trying to do more good things than bad things, maybe we're brought up to believe that God is some arbiter up in heaven, and he's got a scale, and you think, well I've murdered anybody, so I'm probably okay, and I am a good person.
But here's what I know, if you believe that, then like Nicodemus, you are going to one day get to a point where you're gonna have a question burning in your mind. Have I been good enough? Have I been good enough? Have I been too bad that I cheat too many times, that I say too many bad things?
Have I done too many? Have I not done enough right things? Because if that's what you've allowed yourself to be, here's what I'm telling you, the truth is, and it echoes across the millennia, the waters of that lake in a couple weeks are where you go to publicly sight, I am putting the system of behavioral modification in the rearview mirror, and I am moving towards Jesus in faith and belief, and I am going to identify with him in his death as I go into the water, and in his life I come out, I'm with him. Maybe like Nicodemus, you've been more of a follower in the dark, yes I believe, I think I believe, I know about the whole baptism thing, but you know, getting in the water in front of people, I look terrible in a swimsuit, and man people are gonna judge me, and I don't know what to say, I'm gonna look stupid, and now what's my mother's gonna be so upset about this?
If she finds out, my buddies might think I'm one of them born againers, they might, they might, or maybe you realize, like me, oh my gosh, I think I might be a Pharisee. Maybe you've kept all the rules, you've gotten all the bumper stickers, you've attended all of the rallies, you've gone to all the conferences, but the story of grace is convicting to you. Maybe you've been baptized before, but you never really got baptized into the life, death, and grace of Jesus Christ, you thought you were getting baptized into a rule following thing, maybe you walked away and you need to come home, but this lake, this church, that day, and in front of these people, in those waters of baptism, and two identification, with the only way, the only hope all of us have, of reconnecting to life, it's calling you. And I hope you'll consider being obedient to the call of Jesus Christ to be baptized.