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[0:00] John 3, verse 5.

[0:21] Jesus answered, We saw how the Lord visited Jerusalem for the first time since his anointing by John the Baptist at the Jordan.

[1:05] There he was baptized with water, and Christ there identified himself with his people. And there he was also baptized with the Holy Spirit of God, so that he became there the Messiah, the Anointed One of God.

[1:22] From there he called his disciples, he chose them, and went north to Cana and turned water into wine. Then he went south, as I said, for the first time to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover.

[1:36] And his first great act in Jerusalem as Messiah was to cleanse the temple, to put out of there the money changers, those who bought and sold animals within the temple prisons.

[1:49] And we saw how that was a fulfillment of Malachi chapter 3, where it speaks of my messenger, or the Lord coming suddenly to his temple, and who shall stand the day of his appearing.

[2:03] Now that very first encounter between Christ and the Pharisees and the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem led to a cleavage or a division between them, between Christ and between those Jewish authorities, which was never really to heal or to mend.

[2:22] There they immediately became antagonized towards the Lord Jesus Christ. And more or less from that first cleansing of the temple, that first incident in Jerusalem, they sought really, in one way or another, to destroy him or to get rid of him.

[2:39] Now after cleansing the temple, the Lord stayed there for the duration of the Passover. And it becomes clear at the end of chapter 2 here that he began to perform miracles or signs in Jerusalem at that time.

[2:56] Verse 23 of chapter 2, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did.

[3:07] But then you have the peculiar words of verses 24 and 25. But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man.

[3:25] Now what that tells us is this, and it's a very dominant theme in the gospel according to John. It tells us that many had a kind of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which was not a saving faith.

[3:39] In other words, they accepted him as a mighty man, perhaps even sent from God, but they just did not really embrace the true radical message which the Lord Jesus Christ brought into this world.

[3:55] So they believed, but the Lord did not commit himself to them. He knew what was in their heart. Deep down in their hearts, they did not accept the words which he brought, although they marveled at the signs.

[4:09] Now one example of such a kind of person was this man, Nicodemus. You'll notice how chapter 2 just flows naturally on into chapter 3.

[4:20] The end of chapter 2 speaks about a kind of believer. And here you have your example in chapter 3 and verse 1, this man called Nicodemus.

[4:31] Now he has an interview with the Lord here at nighttime. You've all heard about it. I'm sure you've heard many sermons on it. It's one of the most important passages in the whole word of God.

[4:43] It brings many central Christian truths right before us and brings them before us very, very plainly. And I want us over the next three Sabbath evenings, God willing, to look at this interview between Christ and Nicodemus.

[5:01] Now first of all, who is this man? And in the first place, you'll notice in verse 1 of chapter 3 that he is a Pharisee. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.

[5:14] Who were the Pharisees? Well, the Pharisees were a party, a powerful and influential party that grew up in Judea between the two Testaments.

[5:29] In other words, sometime after the prophet Malachi, say around 300 BC or so, between 400 and 300 BC, the powerful sect of the Pharisees appeared in Judea.

[5:43] Now, the whole reason for the rise of that movement was this, that some people felt that if they returned zealously and rigorously to the law of Moses, then God would liberate their nation again and he would make them a great and mighty nation.

[6:02] First of all, to throw off the Greek yoke and then later, as the years passed, to throw off the Roman yoke. Now, there were some aspects of the Pharisee movement that was good.

[6:15] A desire to return to the law was good. But, almost from the beginning, the Pharisees were tinged with this and it gradually overcame them.

[6:26] And it was the belief that they could do the thing themselves. In other words, if God didn't seem to appear, then what they did was they would add laws and they would add rules and they would add regulations.

[6:37] To the point where human, man-made traditions became as important as the commandments of God themselves. In fact, in some places, more important.

[6:49] And the Lord points that out to them on many occasions, that they have taken things man-made and elevated them above the commandments of God themselves. And so they thought that by their efforts and by their strenuous legalism and their meticulous observance of religious rules, that they could in that way bring the kingdom of God about in the world.

[7:13] Now, there were many men amongst them who were good men. And there were many men amongst them who were seekers. Men like Gamaliel and like Nicodemus.

[7:24] But by and large, the whole movement was covered with people who were just like that. They thought that by rules and regulations, they could save themselves and save their nation.

[7:36] So Nicodemus was one of those. Then again in verse 10, you'll notice that he has another title. Christ gives him another title. Jesus answered and said to him, Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?

[7:56] Now that word master tells us that as well as being a Pharisee, Nicodemus was actually a teaching elder. He was a scribe.

[8:07] He was an expounder of the law. In other words, he was as close perhaps as you could get to a minister in the old dispensation. That is really what he was.

[8:18] He would teach in the synagogues every Lord's Day or on every Sabbath. He would teach in the synagogues and he would expound the law. He was a master of Israel.

[8:30] And Christ is saying to him, Are you, he says, a master of Israel and you do not know what I am speaking about? So he really was himself a rabbi.

[8:43] And then again you'll notice in verse 1 again that he was a ruler of the Jews. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

[8:55] Now that expression tells us that he was a member of the Sanhedrin. Now the Sanhedrin was the highest governing body amongst the Jews.

[9:06] It consisted of 70 elders, priests and scribes who formed a kind of council in Jerusalem.

[9:16] And any appeal from synagogues were brought up to this central court called the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. They were considered the 70 wisest and best men in the land.

[9:29] So he was a naval man. Now, of course, in the days of the Roman authorities, the Sanhedrin perhaps didn't have as much power as it used to have. Still it was a highly influential body.

[9:41] And the Romans were wary of crossing it or cutting across it. So he was a powerful man. He was one of the 70. And he would have been present there in the meetings between Christ himself and the Sanhedrin.

[9:55] So he was an influential religious man. Now, how does he come to Christ? Well, we're told in verse 2, the same came to Jesus by night.

[10:11] Now, that was an unusual thing. To come to a man like this at nighttime was unusual. And it tells us something about Nicodemus and about his spirit.

[10:23] And it's simply this. He was afraid. He was fearful. He knew already the antagonism that had been caused by the whipping of the money changers and the virtual destruction of the bazaars of Annas inside the temple precincts.

[10:39] He knew how unhappy the authorities were, how angry the high priest and his family were that their covetous trade had been stopped and stopped by a man from Galilee who knows who he was or what he was doing.

[10:53] And Nicodemus knew that in a sense he was taking his life in his hands by going to have an interview with this man at all. And he came to speak to him by night. He was afraid.

[11:05] Now, it's a remarkable thing, you know, but every time Nicodemus is mentioned in the New Testament, and you look this up for yourself, every time he's mentioned, he's mentioned as the one who first came to Jesus by night.

[11:21] Nicodemus, who first came to Jesus by night, did this. Or Nicodemus, who first came to Jesus by night, said that. It's as though this is one of the most remarkable things about him.

[11:34] And in a sense, it's true. Simply because of what God made him to be. And what I mean by that is this, this fearful man, Nicodemus, so afraid of people, of the Samhidra, that he comes to Jesus Christ in nighttime, is a man who, at the end of the day, again takes his life in his hands, really and properly this time.

[11:59] And with Joseph of Arimathea, he takes the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, he embalms the body or he puts spices in the body, and he lays it in the grave. In other words, he comes out into the open.

[12:12] And every time you see Nicodemus mentioned, he's coming more into the open. Here he's completely afraid. The second time, he's standing up in the Sanhedrin, and he's questioning the other people, and he's defending the Lord Jesus Christ.

[12:26] The third time you see him, he is showing that he cares for the body, that he loves for the body, and that he loved his Lord. In other words, Nicodemus was born again. The one who said to him, you must be born again, brought him to life, gave him grace, renewed him, and he became a mighty man for God, fearless and open in his profession.

[12:49] And that is what the Lord Jesus Christ can do for yourself. You may have a thousand fears tonight, afraid of many people, in your home or at work, in school or wherever, so afraid that, for example, if you are wanting to talk about Christianity, you would never talk in the presence of those people.

[13:08] You would come to someone, perhaps by night, where no one would see you, and no one would suspect that you are interested in religion. Well, many as a person has been like yourself.

[13:19] Many as a person has hid going to ask someone else a question. But they've been turned into mighty, powerful, fearless, open witnesses for God, and may the Lord do the same thing for yourself.

[13:31] So he comes fearfully at night time. But then again, I would assert that he comes, as well as fearfully, he comes sincerely. And what I mean by that is this, he doesn't come with this kind of spirit, that he's going to search out the Lord, or he's going to trip him up, or in some kind of way, he's going to ensnare him, or he's going to catch him.

[13:55] No, you can tell in his spirit, that that is not what is moving Nicodemus here at all. He says what he means. He means what he says.

[14:06] Rabbi, he says, verse 2, we know that you are a teacher, come from God. For no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

[14:20] Now you'll notice, he is sincere and respectful. Rabbi, he calls him. Now, the Sanhedrin didn't like the fact that Christ was called Rabbi by the people.

[14:34] Because really, to be a Rabbi, you had to be acknowledged by themselves. You had to train in one of their schools, and you had to be certified and acknowledged a Rabbi. But the ordinary people called Christ Rabbi.

[14:48] And the people knew that he was a teacher sent from God, that he was instructed by God, and that he had more understanding even than the ancients. They knew it. And Nicodemus knows it.

[15:00] And he gives him the title, Rabbi, he says. We know that you are a teacher, come from God, because no man could do these signs, that you have begun to perform in Jerusalem.

[15:14] Even that dramatic cleansing of the temple, when the whole of the temple was in silence, as you put out the money changers, no man could do these things like that.

[15:25] No man could say these things, unless God was really with him. He is sincere, when he comes to speak to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[15:36] He may still be in darkness, but he's sincere. Now, I think that's important as well, and I've said this before, but I don't think I can say it often enough.

[15:47] The light you get from God, depends on the spirit in which you come to God. If you come to God proud, it's written in the scriptures, God resisteth the proud.

[16:00] If you come to God humble, it's written in the scriptures, that God gives grace to the humble. Now, you remember that, and me with you. Let's take it to heart.

[16:11] If you come with this questioning spirit, there's a good kind of questioning, but if you come with that doubting spirit, and that spirit that's almost half mocking, don't expect an answer.

[16:21] But if you come really and sincerely, saying, Lord, show me thyself, then God will give you light. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.

[16:34] So here he comes then, he's a religious man, he comes to Jesus by night, he comes sincerely, and he wants to speak to him, no doubt, about the kingdom of God.

[16:46] That will be the business. He wants to know about the kingdom, when it's going to come, how it's going to break out, how God is going to revive their fortunes, as the people of God, what is God going to do, how is he going to do it, and when is he going to do it?

[17:06] And what does the Lord say? Well, Christ, as it were, in fact, he almost seems to cut him off. Before Nicodemus, I would suggest, before he can even finish his question, well, he doesn't even get round to asking a question, all he does is say this, we know that you are a teacher from God.

[17:24] No man can do these miracles, unless God is with him. And then, before he can say anything else, the Lord Jesus Christ says, verily, verily, Nicodemus, I say to you, except a man, be born again, he cannot see, the kingdom of God.

[17:43] Now, you'll notice, what the Lord is doing here. He's going back, really, to the problem, that Nicodemus has. Christ isn't going to come to Nicodemus, as it were, to discuss, rabbi to rabbi, what the kingdom of God is going to be like, or when it's going to appear, or how it's going to break out.

[18:05] He's not going to discuss matters like that at all. What he says is, Nicodemus, you are all perplexed, with these nice theological questions.

[18:17] But at the end of the day, he says, you will never see the kingdom of God, yourself, unless you are actually born again.

[18:29] Now, that was a shock to Nicodemus. He was born an Israelite, no doubt. He was raised an Israelite. He had been circumcised an Israelite.

[18:40] He grew up in the covenant community. He knew the law. He studied the law. He taught the law. And Christ says, except you are born again, you can never see the kingdom of God.

[18:54] The Lord doesn't flatter him. And neither is he flattered by Nicodemus calling him rabbi. He just comes out with the problem, just like that. Now, when he says, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

[19:12] I think, see, here means, that he can never experience the kingdom of God. Sometimes we speak of experiencing, I think, in terms of seeing it.

[19:23] For example, the Bible does that. It says, who will not see death? And when it speaks of seeing death there, what it means is, who shall not experience death?

[19:35] And that's what the word see here means. He's saying, in other words, you can never personally experience the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

[19:48] You can never know God in your life without being born again. You will never enter into paradise unless you are born again. The rule and administration of God in a new heaven and new earth will never be for you unless you are born again.

[20:07] There must be a complete transformation. On the inside, it is a new birth. Now friends, whatever that means, you'll see here how important these words are.

[20:20] Many people consider them the absolutely pivotal point of the scripture. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

[20:30] It is as important as that. I assume you want to see the kingdom of God yourself. I assume you wish to be saved, that you want to stand in a good relationship with God or go to heaven.

[20:42] Well, it can never be unless you be born again. And the Lord leaves it just like that. Now, you can picture Nicodemus himself.

[20:54] He has just given the preamble when the Lord comes in with the stark reality. And Nicodemus comes back and he says to him, how can a man be born when he is old?

[21:07] Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Now, for some, this is an easy verse, but I must admit to finding this verse very difficult to myself.

[21:21] I'm not quite sure what Nicodemus means with these words. The only thing I feel certain about is this, that he doesn't actually mean to ask the Lord if this is what he means.

[21:35] He's not saying, are you telling me that I must enter into my mother's womb and be born a second time? Nicodemus was not a stupid man. He was a very learned man.

[21:47] He's saying something like this, I do not understand what you mean at all. How can a man be born again or radically transformed when he's old, when he's set in his ways, when he's lived a long time?

[22:05] How can a man be born again? What do you mean? Now, the rabbis were used to putting things cryptically. They would sometimes give mysterious sayings to one another and they would interpret them.

[22:16] So, Nicodemus was used to this kind of language and he knew that the Lord was not speaking literally. He knows that the Lord is speaking of some kind of change, but he says, how can a man be changed when he is old?

[22:27] What you're saying to me is so perplexing and so dark and confusing as a physical rebirth. It is as perplexing or as impossible as that. What do you mean?

[22:38] And the Lord turns to him and he says this, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, verse 5, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

[22:57] That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again.

[23:09] Now, there are two things in Christ's reply that I want us to look at and to look at more carefully. First of all, why is it necessary for you to be born again?

[23:22] And secondly, how is a person born again? And these two things are important. Why must you be born again? And secondly, how are you born again?

[23:35] Why must you be? Well, he gives the reason in verse 6, That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

[23:48] Now, you are flesh and I am flesh. That means that we are just human nature. We inherit fallen human nature from our parents.

[24:01] That is how we are born into this world. We are flesh. We are not spirit. We are not spiritual people. That part of our nature died when Adam sinned.

[24:15] When Adam disobeyed God, the fellowship between God and man was cut dead so that man became dead in trespasses and sins.

[24:25] Absolutely dead. So that it's true that it's impossible for the natural man to please God. We cannot do it. Now, the flesh can rise no higher than the flesh.

[24:42] I cannot think a good spiritual thought. I cannot perform a good spiritual action as long as I am still in the flesh.

[24:53] Without God in my life working powerfully, I can only be flesh. Even my religion will be flesh. My attempts to please God will be flesh.

[25:07] My keeping of the law will be flesh. Everything I do will be characterized in other words by sin. The deep motive of my heart will always be self-seeking.

[25:19] It will be looking after myself or to put it another way, it will be against God. It will be in rebellion against God and it will not be in subjection to Him.

[25:30] As Paul says in Romans 8, the carnal mind or the fleshly mind, the mind that you have from birth is enmity against God. Now, you don't have to be going around shouting your enmity from one house to another.

[25:47] The fact of the matter is that this is just a habitual characteristic of your mind. Whether it breaks out clearly in the open or not, you live a godless life in the sense that God does not reign and rule in your heart.

[26:06] You are spiritually dead. you have not been brought to life. The kingdom of God is a spiritual thing. There is a spiritual God over it.

[26:18] God is spirit. His kingdom is spiritual. His law is spiritual. And I am carnal, sold under sin.

[26:31] I am flesh and I cannot rise higher than that. And that is why I must be born again. And that is why you must be born again.

[26:42] And please remember that you are prone sometimes to think of a sinner. And it doesn't matter how often we hear it, we still lapse into it as somebody who extravagantly goes around openly and outwardly saying evil or doing evil.

[26:58] Whereas God is here speaking or Christ is speaking to Nicodemus who is a righteous man who doesn't put his foot wrong externally, a man who teaches the word of God and he's saying to him, you must be born again.

[27:14] Nicodemus, you've got to come off the throne of your own heart and God has to come on to it. You must really be born into a new relationship with God.

[27:27] You must be born again. You are at the moment just flesh. Now is that true of yourself tonight? Can you say that you are now spiritual or are you still fleshly?

[27:42] Can you say that you have been born again and changed or are you still dead in trespasses and sins? Well, make no mistake unless you're born again you will never enter the kingdom of God.

[27:56] Well, you say how can a person be born again? well, the Lord has much to say about that. Except a man be born of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

[28:14] That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Now, here I am say in flesh and for me to be here in flesh I must have a father and we all have a father someone who took us into this world.

[28:34] Now, if you're to be born again you must have a father again and who is the father of those who are born again? Well, it is God.

[28:46] God is the father and God the Holy Spirit is the father of all those who are born again.

[28:57] He must bring us into this world. Just as your father took you into this world so God must give you birth into the kingdom of God.

[29:13] There is no other way to it. God must bring you to birth spiritually that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

[29:26] God willed to give us a second birth.

[29:44] That's a wonderful thing. Every person who tastes and knows this got it because God willed it to be so. How humbling my friend. How humbling that God willed you to be born again.

[30:00] You have a father and that father is God. God is the father of all who are born again. That's what John means when he says behold what manner of love the father has given unto us that we should be called the children of God.

[30:17] No. I think it's sons. I always forget which one it was. I think in the English it is sons. That we should be called the sons of God. In Gaelic it's clown which is children.

[30:30] And children as I've said before would be the best word because it's speaking here not of your title but of what's actually true of you. That you have a nature.

[30:41] You see sonship refers to a relationship but the word child refers to the fact that you've got your nature from your father and that's a wonderful thing.

[30:54] You're not just adopted into God's family but you're given his nature. Now adoption at surface is a wonderful thing but we know that an adopted child will never possess the nature of his parents.

[31:10] Now adoption is an important thing and an adopted person's parents are his true parents and the scriptures recognize it to be so. It is a legal and rightful relation that can be filled with love and blessing.

[31:24] But of course the child can never actually have the nature of his parents. But that's not true of Christian adoption. In Christian adoption God brings you by a legal transfer into his family to be called a son but he also gives you his nature so that you're an actual child of God, a partaker of the divine nature.

[31:49] The spirit of God dwells in you. God gives you birth. Now let's take something else. When you're born into this world you know that there's seed involved.

[32:06] Your father has seed and from that seed you are born into this world. Now that's true of the spiritual birth too. There is a seed planted in you which causes you to come to life a second time.

[32:23] What is that seed? Well it's the word of God. Now I just want to confirm that to you because that's the way the scriptures speak of the word. in 1 Peter chapter 1 you have these words.

[32:39] 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 23 being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.

[32:59] In other words the word is the seed that your father puts into your heart and that grows and gives you a new life.

[33:12] Now I think it might be right for us just to follow that illustration through like this. I suppose when we're all planting that we first of all plough the ground. I think it's right to say that God does that too.

[33:26] When he's about to plant he ploughs the ground. Jeremiah says to the people plough up the fallow ground of your hearts. God runs a plough through the hearts of people when he's bringing them to himself.

[33:39] Very often that means that he just cuts you up in his providence or he makes you feel restless or he makes you feel uneasy. In other words he's preparing the soil. You begin to be conscious of sin.

[33:53] Various things like that start to come into your life. There's just sometimes an unease and you can't explain it at the time. Sometimes it's looking back. You're just discontent. You're dissatisfied. You're not the person you wear and you don't get what you used to get out of the things that used to give you pleasure.

[34:10] These things are just going and disappearing. The ground is ploughed and then the seed is dropped in. Remember the parable of the sower, sowing the seed.

[34:21] Some of the seed fell on good ground. That's ploughed ground. It's ready. In goes the world. Now, I don't know what part of God's word it is.

[34:33] But one thing sure, it contains the Lord Jesus Christ. The word of the gospel, the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ falls into the soil of your heart as a living thing.

[34:48] God and there it begins to work and it begins to grow and it begins to expand so that life springs out of the soil of your heart and you believe in the gospel.

[35:06] You embrace Christ and you follow him. You begin to love him. You are drawn towards him. You are attracted to the Savior.

[35:16] you are attracted to his people, to his word, to his house and that seed begins to bring forth fruit in your life. You're a new creation. A new principle has come in.

[35:29] The old hasn't gone. Nothing obliterated the old self. You're still there. You'll still find the old carnal principle there but there was something new in your life that was never there before and it has the ascendancy.

[35:44] It has the preeminence. The younger shall rule over the older and the older shall serve the younger. Grace is more powerful. Grace is more strong. New things in your life that were never there before.

[35:59] That is the seed. It is the word of God. It takes root and it finds a place in your heart. And you love this word and the one whom this word reveals.

[36:11] That is what happens when a person is born again. a new life, a new lifestyle. Born again by the power of God.

[36:22] The old man will still want to walk his way but there's a new man and he has the ascendancy. He cannot stop looking to God. He cannot stop looking to the cross.

[36:34] He cannot stop loving the savior and he cannot stop loving his word. That is the man who was born again. Now this is a mysterious thing. And isn't your first birth a mysterious thing?

[36:47] Who can understand in spite of the many advances science has made and in spite of the way in which it can even show you through cameras, the way in which a cell grows and reproduces and divides and so on?

[36:59] Who can understand the thing? Who can understand how a man can transmit life within his seed into another so that that life grows and expands and comes out as a newborn babe, a new life, a new soul in this world?

[37:16] Who can understand such a thing? Well so who can understand it spiritually? And Christ focuses on that when he says the wind blows, he says, where it wills. You cannot, you hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell from whence it comes and neither can you tell where it is going.

[37:34] So is everyone who is born of the spirit. It is a mysterious thing. And you perhaps in here have been born again for many years and because of its mystery you just don't know it or you don't understand it.

[37:50] You're perhaps wanting to understand it so thoroughly that you can't see the wood for the trees. It has happened and the change has come over you, but because you can't understand the thing you can't really see it.

[38:04] Now in that connection let me follow through this analogy with wind here for a moment. Christ says that in verse 8. This he says is what it's like to be born of the spirit.

[38:16] It's like this. The wind blows where it wills. You can hear it, but you can't tell where it came from and neither can you tell where it goes. Now what does that tell us?

[38:28] Well first of all it tells us that the Holy Spirit is free and sovereign in the way in which he works. the wind is free, it is unrestrained, it blows around you and sometimes of course when you sit at home you can hear the sound of a rushing mighty wind.

[38:48] You have no idea where it comes from or where it finishes up. All you know is that it leaves a mighty sound in its way. You can hear the sound thereof unrestrained, it blows free.

[39:01] So he says it is with the spirit. This is the work of God. It is not of him who wills or of him who runs, but of God that shows mercy. It is God's spirit that comes and blows and that works mightily in a person's heart.

[39:16] It is mysterious, but it is sovereign. It is of God. It is of God. But, there is this, you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going, but it just does its work.

[39:35] In your mind, in your heart, and in your will. You hear its sound, but you cannot see it. Now, I think myself that it is very helpful for us to think of conversion or regeneration, if you like, just like that.

[39:53] It is very helpful for us to think of it just like that. I suppose you are sometimes tempted to say, well, I am not sure exactly when a change came over me.

[40:04] And because I can't identify that particular moment, I can't take any comfort from a change of it having come over me. Well, I wonder if we are missing the board there or if we are looking at the wrong thing.

[40:19] You hear the sound, you can't tell where it comes from or where it goes. Look, never you mind how the spirit began, that is his sovereign work.

[40:32] never you mind when he first entered into your soul, that is up to him. What you are concerned about is does he leave his marks in his wake?

[40:43] In other words, can you hear the sound thereof? And let me take that down to brass tacks in this way. Can you see within yourself a hatred for sin?

[40:55] Do you feel sometimes a loathing for yourself because of what you are with your failures and your weakness? Do you see correspondingly that there is beauty and glory in this word that we have in front of us tonight?

[41:08] Do you feel that the gospel is giving you something that no other message in the world can give you? Do you feel and know that there is something in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that is unmatched or is unattained or unattainable on the part of any other person in the world, past, present or future?

[41:29] Do you feel that there is something attractive irresistible and desirable in the word of truth as God has brought before it? Do you feel that the Lord's people have something which draws and attracts yourself and that you feel your oneness with them more than you feel your oneness with the world?

[41:48] Do you find that going to the house of God on the Lord's day is something which puts joy in your heart, all things being equal, something that gives you gladness, that you delight to sing his praise and that you love to call upon his name?

[42:03] What are these things but the marks of the wind or the sound of the wind? If you take away these things from us as our marks, what have we got left? What have any of us got left?

[42:15] It's to these things we look as signs that God has come and that the wind has blown. What more have you need of? Look, how do I know I'm born today?

[42:26] Is it because of my birth certificate? No, it's because I live and I am. I don't need to go back to the files and find out exactly when I was born or in what hospital I was born. I just need to know that I live and that I breathe.

[42:40] And is that not true with Christian things? Is it necessary for you to scrutinize your past and say it was this or it was then that I was born again? No, just look and see are these things there?

[42:53] And if they're there, well, can you not say I am his and he is mine? And are there not maybe many of you in here tonight who could say that I am his and he is mine if you would just stop looking for where the wind is coming from and just listen to the rustling of the leaves in the wind because that is your guide.

[43:17] You hear the sound thereof but cannot tell where it is coming from or where it is going. Now my friends, the Lord has much more to tell Nicodemus and God willing, we'll look at that over the next couple of weeks but may the Lord himself give us grace to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that we might be saved.

[43:41] Let us pray. O Lord our God, if we are here tonight and we are conscious that these things are absent from our lives, may that cut us to the quick and may we begin to seek the Lord himself and to call upon him and to beseech him to come into our lives that we might live in a way in which we do not live just now, that we might have a new birth, that we might be changed and brought from death to life.

[44:17] And whatever our perplexity or confusion or whatever trial we may be passing through, never let us forget, O Lord, that we have tasted of thy goodness and that we are today what we once were not.

[44:31]  And may we bless thee forever, time without end, that this is so. For Christ's sake, Amen.