 Look at verse number one. The Bible says there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews. So this is interesting just from the start that a Pharisee is coming to Jesus. It says in verse two, the same came to Jesus by night, meaning Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. So we're going to go back and look at verse number two in just a few minutes, but just to say this, not all the Pharisees were these reprobates that could not believe. So Nicodemus is a perfect example of this, but it is important to note in verse number two right away that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, because this term right here, this characteristic of Nicodemus sort of defines his whole life as we see it in the Bible. He was embarrassed, he was ashamed to even be considering going to talk to Jesus. So he had some questions and it's interesting and we're going to go to John chapter 12 and study this, but it's interesting because many people have the question of how could Jesus have been doing all these miracles and some people didn't believe in him. We'll look at that in John chapter 12, but we see in verse number two that many people did believe in him because of those miracles and that is exactly what Nicodemus says. He says, no man can do these miracles. It's very clear that he's healing people, he's raising people from the dead. He's like it must be, it must be of God. God must be with this person. So Nicodemus comes to Jesus in secret, in private, to ask him questions. And look at verse number three, Jesus now answers Nicodemus. So Nicodemus basically says, how could you be doing these things unless God is with you? So Nicodemus is kind of opening himself up to Jesus saying, look, I want to believe you, I tend to believe you, but how, tell me what this is all about. And look what Jesus says in verse number three, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto thee, accept the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So now Jesus goes into this idea right away of being born again. So let's look at this because much confusion is often, and much false doctrine is brought out of these next few verses. So Jesus tells Nicodemus, you must be born again to go to heaven basically. And look at verse number four, Nicodemus is confused right away. He's confused. He says Nicodemus, say unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? So Nicodemus right away is confused. I mean, and look, you can understand that if you'd never heard the idea or the phrase, you must be born again. You know, we've probably heard that so many times in our lives that it just, we know it means salvation. We know it means trusting on Jesus, but Jesus is now going to explain it to Nicodemus. But right away he's like, how can he be born twice? It's like, can a man go back inside his mother and be born again, you know, as, you know, when he's old? Look at verse five, Jesus answered, verily, verily I say unto thee, accept a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Now let me just put some emphasis. Let me read that again for you that maybe help you understand it a little bit better right off the bat. Jesus answered, verily, verily I say unto thee, accept a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So right away Jesus here is explaining what he said. He's saying, you need to be born twice. He's like, the first time is of water and the second time is of the spirit. So make sure that you do accounting in your mind about how many times you're born here in John chapter three. There's two births that Jesus is talking about. You're born once, as we all have been born, and then you're born again. And Jesus describes it in John chapter three, verse number five, as the water and the spirit. Okay. But now look at verse number six. Now it could be confusing if that was the end of it. All right. And I could see where people could get this false doctrine, but many people take what Jesus said here saying as evidence that you need to be baptized to be saved. I'm going to explain that, right? Well, Jesus explains it in the very next verse. So he says, in verse number five, he says, you must be born of water and of the spirit. Now he says it again in verse number six. Look what he says. He says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. There's the first birth. And that which is born of the spirit is spirit. So we're talking about the water and spirit in verse number five. And then he defines that again. He uses synonym for the water birth as the flesh birth. So what he's talking about in verse number five is not baptism. What he's talking about in verse number five is being physically born. That's the water birth that he's talking about is being physically born. I mean, a child is in water. It's in the, you know, the mother's water breaks, you know, right before the child is born. This is what he's talking about. He's talking about the two births is the physical, actual birth and being born again spiritually, getting saved. Okay. Look at verse number seven. He says, marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again. Go back to John chapter one. Go back to John chapter one, just a couple of chapters back in your Bible. And now let's look at the idea of being born again spiritually here. Born again spiritually. Look at John chapter one in verse number 12. What happens to us, the Bible says in many places after we get saved. We become adopted into God's family. We become children of God. We become, God becomes our heavenly Father. Look at verse number 12 of John chapter one. The Bible says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the what? The lowercase s, sons of God. Even to them, now what does receive him mean? Now he defines it again, even to them, that what? Believe on his name. So people that have trusted on Jesus, people that have gotten saved, you know, they become sons of God. They become adopted into God's family. Second Corinthians chapter five verse 17 says, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. Just talking about this idea that we are born again spiritually when we are saved. Now what's really silly is that people could take what Jesus says here and take it to believe that you must be baptized to be saved. Because if you take that verse five and say that that water and the spirit, that the water is baptism, like so many things don't make sense at that point. You think about the water being baptism. Number one, remember we're doing an accounting on how many times we're born here. So Jesus is saying you're physically born, that's one time, and then you're born of the spirit, that's two times. You're born again. Okay, this is another reason, by the way, that you have to reject the idea that you could lose your salvation because there is nothing in the Bible that ever says that you're born again and then again and then again and then again. If you believed, I mean it would be a more biblical position if you believed that you could lose your salvation, which is not biblical, but it would be a more biblical position at least if you believe, okay, you lose your salvation then you could never get it back again. Because then at least you're born again and that's it, if you lose it. So many things in the Bible would be false if that is the case anyway. But the point is you're born again one time, that's it. If water meant baptism, in verse number five, that would be one, the spirit would be two, and then you have the physical birth, which would be three. You literally need to be born three times if you look at this as being baptism. It's just, it's a stretch and like so many just remember our Bible reading rule. A Bible reading rule that you must have is if you read something in the Bible that and you read into it and you interpret it in a way that contradicts other clear verses in the Bible you must be interpreting it wrong. Just keep that in mind because the Bible must be consistent with itself. Turn to Acts chapter 2 and verse 38. So the baptism to be saved people, Acts 2.38 is like their go to verse right here in the Bible. Look at Acts chapter 2 and verse number 38. Acts chapter 2 and verse number, you got to be baptized to be saved. Acts 2.38, heard it a million times out there, people will tell you. Acts 2.38, Acts 2.38, they don't even know what Acts 2.38 even says. But look at verse 38 of Acts chapter 2 and then put a finger in Acts chapter 16. So we're going to go to Acts chapter 2 and then we're going to go to Acts chapter 16. Remember our Bible reading rule. The Bible must be consistent with itself. If you're interpreting a verse in the Bible that contradicts another clear verse in the Bible, I mean I'm talking about a clear verse in the Bible and the most clear verses in the Bible are the verses on salvation. The most simple thing in the Bible is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that is all that is required for salvation. Look at Acts 2.38. Then Peter said out of them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Does that say that if you must be baptized to be saved? That is not what that says. Peter is just telling them, look Acts 2.38 is simply pointing out the importance of baptism and all these verses in the Bible of people getting saved and then getting baptized right away. Look this just shows us how important baptism is to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all it shows. Go to Acts 16 and verse number 30. So let's say that we read Acts 2.38 to mean that you must be baptized to receive the remission of sins. Look at verse Acts 16, look at verse number 30. A very simple question is asked in the Bible by this Philippian jailer. He asked the two disciples that are in prison. He said he brought them out and said, sirs, I mean this is a very direct simple question. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? He's saying how do I go to heaven? How can I be saved from condemnation? And look what they say to him and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. Where's baptism there? They literally just told him believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all that you must do. I mean did they lie to this guy? Is verse number 31 not true? If you have to be baptized to be saved, verse number 31 in the Bible of Acts chapter 16 is not true because believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is not enough. You must also be baptized. Now of course what did they do when they when he did believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? What did they do? They went and they baptized him in his house. But it just again it's just showing the importance of baptism to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not it's not a requirement for salvation or all these verses these simple clear verses in the Bible that say just believing is they're not true. So we must take into you know we must you must like read the Bible and it must be consistent with other clear verses or you you are interpreting you're interpreting something wrong. Go back to John chapter 3. So he's talking about being born of water which is equated in the very next verse by the way. That's another thing. Most false doctrine most people you know most people teaching false doctrines in the Bible if you just read a couple verses before and a couple verses after whatever verse they're using to you know quote unquote prove their false doctrine you will very clearly see you know why it is false and it's it's literally the next verse where Jesus equates the water with being born of the flesh. So we're looking at two births here folks the physical birth and then the spiritual birth okay now look at verse number eight. So the guy is not getting it okay the guy is not understanding he's not getting um he's not understanding what Jesus is saying to him and so Jesus continues the Bible says or Jesus says the wind bloweth where it listed and thou hearest the sound thereof but can'ts not tell where it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the spirit. He's he's kind of saying here he's he's saying like just you know you just got to you just know it's there when somebody's born of the spirit you know you just you just see that result that they're saved he's like you know he's like you don't necessarily have to understand where it's coming in where it's going he you know he uh compares it to wind you know we see the wind blowing in a tree we see that but we don't know where the wind came that that part of the wind came from or we don't know where that wind ends up I mean we don't know that we just see the result of that wind that's in front of us and you're like man Jesus you're not making it any any easier for this guy to understand but you know in Acts chapter two you know when it talks about them being you know filled with the Holy Ghost you know the the the spirit in that verse I think is verse number three is compared to as a wind you know the spirit came as a wind Jesus is kind of using that same analogy here Nicodemus look at verse number nine Nicodemus he's just he's just still confused Nicodemus answered and said unto him how can these things be he just I don't understand what you're talking about is what he says and Jesus answered and said aren't thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things so Jesus is saying he's kind of pointing out and I'm going to point out to you a little bit later in the sermon how these masters of Israel these Pharisees that I mean this just goes to show you be very weary in your life of self you know self-declared experts on things because he's saying you guys are going around you you religious leaders you're going around this nation and you're acting like you are these great sages these experts on the Bible these expert spiritual masters and he's saying you literally know nothing he's like you don't know anything about what's going on and look at verse number 11 he says verily verily this means truly truly I say unto thee we speak that we do that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness he's saying me the disciples John the Baptist we're going around and we're telling you experts we're showing you these things through the miracles through all these wonderful things he's like and he's like your people you're not receiving you're not receiving what does he say that we have seen and ye he's talking about the plurality here of the Pharisees he's like your people Nicodemus he's like you're seeing you know Nicodemus comes out in verse number two and he says look at all the miracles I see all these things you know it must be from God he's like but you know what all your group of people Jesus says you're not receiving these miracles you're not receiving the witness of what we're telling you look at verse 12 he said if I have told you earthly things and you believe not how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things verse 13 and no man hath ascended now he just starts now he starts just like breaking it down for I'm telling him who he really is all right he's going to get much more simple in the next few verses Jesus is like all right I tested him to see if he could just I really gave him some deep spiritual thoughts being born again born of the spirit you know and he didn't get that he's like now I'm just going to break it down simply on what it takes to go to heaven and this is why we use these coming verses out when we're out soul winning because what Jesus is about to say to Nicodemus is the most simple explanation of the gospel all right it's not using analogies it's not using you know these these great you know spiritual thoughts it's just here's how to do it here's how you get saved look at verse 13 he says and no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the son of man which is in heaven he's saying I am from heaven Nicodemus that's what he's saying he's basically saying Nicodemus I am God is what he is saying look at verse 14 and now he predicts now he tells Nicodemus about his death and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness this is a reference to Numbers chapter 21 where Moses made the bronze serpent to heal the people it's a picture of Christ is a picture of the coming Christ as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up speaking about his crucifixion about his death that was going to happen look at verse 15 that what that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life and then verse 16 the most famous verse probably in the entire Bible for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever that means anybody believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and hopefully you use that verse out soul winning because it's one of the most powerful one of the simplest verses in the entire Bible just again verse 15 believeth in him should not perish eternal life believeth in him verse 16 and then look at verse 17 for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved this is a direct reflection of roman 6 23 all right for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through jesus christ our lord so roman 6 23 is a direct reflection onto john 3 17 look at verse 18 he that i mean yeah i mean you look at these these verses one two verse 14 15 16 17 18 he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he had not why is he condemned i like how he says it in the positive and then in the very next part of the verse he always says the negative why is someone condemned because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god i don't know how many different ways jesus could have said how to be saved in these in these verses i mean he basically said you will not perish he's basically said you're not condemned he said you're saved he's like you'll have eternal life i mean all of these different things and then you know john the baptist in john in john 3 36 you know says another very clear verse we're only looking at jesus's words but jesus very simply breaks down the gospel for nicodemus he doesn't give any analogies on being born or spiritual analogies he just breaks it down he's like believe on the sun he's like if you trust on me he's like you will be saved you will have eternal life you will not be condemned look at verse 19 and this and he continues and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil for everyone that doeth evil hadith the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved so now he's just explaining he's explaining why men so look you're not saved or you're not saved by your works but he's saying if he's saying these people that i came into the world and i started telling them the truth but they were so wrapped up in evil works that they didn't believe me it's like you were you could be so wrapped up in sin in your life so you could knock on somebody's door you're not saved by works by any means but you could be so wrapped up in sin in your life and you have a heart that is just darkened towards the truth you could just have no desire because maybe you're doing drugs you're into this superworldly life whatever you're doing in your life you know is wrong and somebody knocks in your door and out you know wants to preach the gospel to you and you just have no interest why because your deeds are evil so you're not it's not your works that save you but look you're the sin that you're in could mean that you're not going to seek the truth could mean that you know you have no interest when the light actually comes to you so i mean evil deeds have a direct impact on you know whether or not somebody would want to hear the truth or not all right look at verse 21 but he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God so Jesus here Jesus here is just explaining like people that have you know that are trying to do the right thing they will want the truth okay it's doing the right thing is not going to get them saved but it will the way that their heart has been kept they will seek the truth they will want the truth when the truth or the light as he says here comes to them they will receive it and then they will get saved how by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ okay but people that are just he's saying he's explaining to the akademis why some people why ye he's saying here's why ye your group of people are are not receiving the light it's because they're they're into all this evil that's basically what he's saying he's explaining to them why certain people are seeing the miracles and they're not believing because they're into all this evil and they don't want the light okay now those are all the red words of John chapter 3 so let me ask you a question where does Jesus say baptism in John chapter 3 it's not there it's all about believing on or not believing that's all it is to be saved now let's look at let's go back to Nicodemus so baptism for salvation is easily disproved from the Bible that's not what Jesus was talking about in John chapter 3 otherwise when he broke down the simple you know from verse 14 all the way to verse 19 when he just broke down the simple gospel for I'm sorry 14 to 21 he would have you would think that he would have mentioned like one of the ways that one of the things you need to do to get saved if baptism was in there no it was just believing not believing that's it okay now let's go back to Nicodemus so is he mentioned anywhere else in the Bible that's the question turn to John chapter 19 turn to John chapter 19 he is mentioned a couple of more times in the Bible and let's look at those times in the Bible and see if we can get an idea did he believe Jesus first of all was he saved okay was Nicodemus saved look at John chapter 19 because in John chapter 3 he was confused then Jesus broke down you know the simple gospel for him we don't really have an idea if he believed Jesus at that point but look at verse number 38 of John chapter 19 this is after the death of Jesus look at John chapter 19 in verse number 38 the Bible says and after this Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus again look at this but secretly for fear of the Jews he sought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him leave he came therefore and took the body of Jesus and there came also Nicodemus which at first came first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pound weight then they this is Joseph of Arimathea this this wealthy man and Nicodemus they took the body of Jesus and wandered in linen clothes with the spices as the manner of the Jews is to bury now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden and in the garden a new separate culture wherein was never man laid yet they're laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews preparation day for the separate culture was nigh at hand because it was it was it was close okay so first of all I you know I believe Nicodemus believed Jesus I believe Nicodemus was saved but here we have this secret disciple of Jesus Joseph of Arimathea and again Nicodemus that kind of secretly going around you know kind of serving Jesus you know in secret but turn to John chapter 12 we see another example of Nicodemus and you know some evidence that he was probably saved that in John chapter 3 he probably did get saved and he probably did believe on Jesus believe what Jesus was saying turn to John chapter 12 John chapter 12 so he helped after Jesus's crucifixion with Joseph of Arimathea but look at John chapter 12 before Jesus was crucified he had blinded look at John chapter 12 look at verse number 40 so John chapter 12 verse number 40 is explaining you know the prophecy in Isaiah that says that you know God will actually blind the eyes of certain people he's going to make it so he's going to harden the hearts of certain people blind the eyes of certain people and this was many of the Pharisees where Jesus you know basically said I don't want them to believe you know it was a fulfilled prophecy I don't want them to believe because they're just too wicked they're too evil you know see Romans 1 they're too wicked they're too evil they've changed what God has said they've turned on the Lord they became haters of God they're more you know interested in lifting up themselves and just worshiping what they want to worship and God's just been like you know you're done you're done with these people but look at verse 40 he had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart this is God that has blinded the eyes and hardened the hearts of these people that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them God says there's certain people I don't want to heal these things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him now verse number 42 is talking about Nicodemus and others like Nicodemus nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him so there were certain parts of the Pharisees that did believe they weren't the majority they weren't the majority but there were some Pharisees that did believe and Nicodemus is an individual example of one of these Pharisees that believed on Jesus you say so what did he do about it well look at verse look at the rest of the verse here the bible says but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue this is why even in John chapter 19 when Joseph of Arimathea comes and Nicodemus comes they're doing it in secret again they're just they're sneaking around you know they're being secret secret disciples of Jesus whatever you know whatever that means being a secret disciple why would they do that though why we'll just look at verse 43 why would they not just come out and and say we believe this man we believe he's the messiah why it's very simple and the bible tells us for they love the praise of men more than the praise of god that's the answer right there so this is Nicodemus's testimony yes he got saved but because he loved the praise of men more than he loved the praise of god he stayed as far as we know from the bible he stayed in secret about the whole thing so the application i mean the application is a simple one for us as as believers you know should not be one of these believers that doesn't want to be known in our lives you know Nicodemus you think about him he he had a nice spot i mean he was a Pharisee he was a ruler you know he was you have to understand that they were under Roman rule the Roman government was over them but as far as the people the Israelites the Pharisees had control over the people it was the religious leaders that had their control i mean he had he had the praise of men i'm sure he had a very comfortable life i'm sure he had a comfortable living and look all that would have changed had he become known as a Christian as somebody that believed christ turn to john chapter seven and let's look at the last point that i wanted the last part that i'm sorry the last mention of Nicodemus that i want to point out it's it's the last mention of him in the bible that we haven't looked at yet but just remember here's here's everything would have changed for Nicodemus heady have come out as as a as a follower as a believer of Jesus christ remember the bible says wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate say it the lord and touch not the unclean thing and i will receive you the bible teaches separation the bible teaches that we should believe on the lord Jesus christ we should get baptized and then we should separate from the world we should come out from the Pharisees we should come out from what other worldly you know institutions or whatever that were part of we're not to be these secret disciples and the the thing that you will see in john chapter seven with Nicodemus is is the reason that separation is pushed so much in the bible is because separation is growth you cannot grow in the christian life if you do not separate if you do not follow second Corinthians chapter six and come out from among them and be separate you will not grow in the christian life say look let's look at Nicodemus look at john chapter seven so john chapter three is the conversation where we presume that Nicodemus got saved look at john chapter seven we see a conversation which with the greater Pharisees and Nicodemus is there look at verse number 43 of john chapter seven if separation the the lesson here is if separation never happens growth will not occur look at verse number 43 so there was division among the people because of him just remember this too jesus did not come to bring everyone together jesus came to divide jesus came to divide meaning there is separation that will happen and there was division here even when jesus you know came the first time there was division look at verse 44 and some of them would have taken him but no man laid hands on him they were trying to they were trying to get him arrested and get rid of him all the way back in john chapter seven then came the officers of the chief priests and Pharisees and they said unto them why have he not brought him so they they told the officers go get him and the officers answered so here's here's more of this division here's more of this division right here the officers never never man spake like this man the officers went to arrest jesus and they're just like they started listening to him and they're like this makes a lot of sense these miracles how could this be happening if this wasn't of god the officers themselves became divided against the very people that they worked for which was the Pharisees then answered them the Pharisees are you also deceived they're just like you too he's got more of them then they're like we really got to get rid of this guy imagine if we're in this state i mean you can't imagine this but if you're in this state where you literally can't believe jesus you're just like we have to get rid of them because all these people are being deceived because all these people are just believing him and nicotine is himself many of the Pharisees but look at verse 48 have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him but this people who know if not the law are cursed nicodemus saith unto them look at look at verse 50 now nicodemus chimes in he that came to and we know it's the same one he that came to jesus by night being one of them and he defends jesus look what he says in verse 51 i mean he defends him in like this kind of this this kind of roundabout way he doesn't come out and say i believe jesus i'm i'm one of the rulers that have been you know deceived by him look what he says he's like does our law judge any man before i hear him and know what he do know and know what he do it so he's saying maybe you should just hear him out this is this is nicodemus he just kind of throws out this idea like hey maybe just don't be so quick to judge maybe let's let's just you know hear him out and let him speak look what they say verse 52 they answered and said unto him art thou also a galley search and look for out of galley arises no profit you know what they said to him they just came out these masters of israel turned to isaia chapter nine these masters of israel he says something that could be conceived as defending jesus and they come out and they say what are you from galley too it's like what are you from where he's from he's like go look in the bible he's like there's nothing in the bible that says any prophet will ever come out of galley there i mean right away and they're just like very forceful about it this is why you just have to be very very careful with self-proclaimed masters of anything because they'll just because somebody comes out and says something very forceful and very confident doesn't have doesn't mean they have any idea what they're talking about look at isaia chapter nine look at verse number one isaia chapter nine and verse number one the bible says the bible literally says that the messiah will come out of galley the bible literally says it look at verse number one nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation when at first he lightly afflicted the land of zebulin and the land of neftali and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea beyond jordan in galley of the nation so he's saying he's afflicted these places but look at verse three the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light now it's saying these same places that have been afflicted out of those places will come this great light they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined now go to matthew chapter four this is one of the it's a literal prophecy of the messiah not just a prophet it's a literal prophecy saying that the messiah will go to these places and shine his light in these places that were in this shadow of judgment of god that's what i say in nine one and two is saying and then in verse number 13 of matthew four jesus literally makes the prophecy come true look at verse 13 and leaving nazareth he came and dwelt in capernaum which is upon the sea coast in the borders of where zebulon and neftali that he might be fulfilled that it might be fulfilled you'll always see that look that's why there's so many prophecies in the old testament about the messiah so these supposed masters would recognize the messiah people today claim to be jesus folks people that are walking on this earth claim to be the son of god but they've fulfilled nothing of the old testament jesus fulfilled everything and he literally did go through these places so he would fulfill this prophecy in isaian nine one and nine two that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by i say as the prophet saying the land of zebulon the land of neftali neftali by the way of the sea beyond jordan galley of the Gentiles the people which sat in darkness saw great light and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up so when they said this great insult to nicodemus were they correct no they just said something they just said something and it was not true at all had nicodemus i don't know been a mature christian and understood been a follower of jesus and been learning the things of jesus he could have said what are you talking about look at isaian nine one and two jesus was just there he literally fulfilled that prophecy he's like not the debating people that could you know that can't believe would help but the point is it shows the immaturity it shows the christian immaturity of nicodemus back to my point separation is growth and without separation there will not be growth but you know what the number one reasons that that reason that christians even today give for not wanting to separate is well i just feel like i can be an influence to to people this is you know a big reason people christians are you know christians that want to keep their kids in public school they're like well you know i think that the christian kids the one christian kid out of 400 that's there he can be an influence to the other kids at the school who did the influencing in this story did nicodemus influence anybody in this story no they just they just came over the top of him with this insult and this untrue statement look there will be no influence and the reason first of all the reason that there will be no influence is because there's no growth so if there's no growth there's no maturity and you can't influence anybody and without separation you know there will be no growth i was thinking about you know i was thinking about this this idea of nicodemus and how he just wanted he just stayed secret and he just you know he i mean that's all you hear about nicodemus in the bible but i just read you you know those three places in the bible is all you hear about nicodemus how much do we hear about the disciples in the book of acts i mean it's an entire book in the bible the entire new testament is just talking about the great works of the disciples but the point is the first point is if there's no separation there's no growth that's what we see with nicodemus i was thinking about this in context of of people that we see today and i was thinking about you know what i called like the the forever visitor to church you know somebody that that comes to church and you know is well i was just thinking about people that just that just don't get into the christian life save people that don't get into the christian life and i kind of broke it down to three levels that i've seen so let me just share those levels with you at first the first the first level is this the first level is somebody that gets saved they get saved they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and they're just not going to do anything they're just not going to get into the christian life they're not going to get into church they're just i mean they're just not going to do they're just gonna you know hear you know here's the youtube you know they're just going to youtube their christian life That's what they're going to do. Now, on YouTube, let me just say this. I've changed slightly, but I still feel the same way with this type of person that we're talking about here. I mean, YouTube has value in getting the gospel out and getting the word of God out to people. Well, let me tell you something, YouTube is not church. YouTube is not a replacement for church. This is one of the reasons I really have no, I have no desire, I have no motivation to rush into getting a live stream going. You say why? Because you should be in church, that's why. Because people should not be live streaming on Sunday morning at 10.30 AM. They should be in church. But this is the first level of people. People that are just going to YouTube this Christian life. They get saved, and they're just going to, I mean, maybe they watch 50 sermons a week. I don't know, but they're just YouTubeing this thing. And that's what they're going to do. And they're just, they may get a lot of knowledge. But here's the thing, knowing and doing are completely different things. You could just be all knowledgeable, and you've listened to every single sermon from every Bible preaching pastor out there. And you just have all this knowledge, but you just are never going to get involved in this Christian life. You're never going to get into church. So that's the first level. The next level is this. People that will be like what I just said, the forever visitor. Now, I considered this. I mean, back in 2016, we went to the Red Hot Preaching Conference, and we went to Verity Baptist Church. And we met the people at that church, and we saw that church. And right away, my wife and I are both like, we're in a lot of trouble here. Because we know that this is where we belong. We know that this is where we belong. We know that this is what we should be doing. We know that we should be in a church. The Bible's very clear about that. We should be out soul-winning. We should be out sharing the gospel. It's very clear that we should do that. Right away, I was just like, man, how can I get out of this? Look, it's a major life change. It's a major life change. You talk about leaving your job, leaving family, packing everything up, and moving. I had a business, I had a career, all these different things. A thought entered my mind. A thought entered my mind for, and this thought was in my mind for about 15 seconds. But the thought entered my mind because you know one thing I could do where I could keep all these things and I could stay here is I could just, I could put some money aside every year and we could just visit, we could just visit California two or three times a year. And I thought it was in my mind for like 15 seconds. Why? Because I realized right away that just visiting people that were sold out, visiting people that were just all in on the Christian life and you know visiting people that literally did move across the country to go to a church, I just didn't want to be that guy. And I knew that that wasn't a substitute for what we should be doing. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10. So that just wasn't gonna fit. But look, you'll see people like that. Look, God bless these people that come and visit two or three times a year and I'm not trying to beat up on anybody that visits a church or things like this. But I mean, you will see this person that's just, they're never gonna get into church but they're just gonna, they're gonna be the forever visitor into church. Okay, go to Hebrews chapter 10. But here's really the problem with that because in Hebrews chapter 10, the Bible says, first of all, YouTube is not church, you should be in church. Look at verse 25, very popular verse, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the matter of some is as the matter of a lot of people is. But look at the last part here. It says, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. It's super important to understand that being in a church and being part of a church, that's where growth will occur. Why? Because the Bible says we're exhorting one another. Well, why didn't Nicodemus leave the Pharisees? He didn't leave the Pharisees because he wanted the praise of men to continue. And he knew that if he left the Pharisees that that praise of men would turn into chastisement of men. Yeah, he'd have the praise of God and God would be pleased with him. But these men that he was around that were praising him and people, they would now be against him. He would be divided from them. And look, that's a difficult thing to go through. If you separate and you, if you separate and you don't, this is why God gave us church. Because when you separate from that, you need to separate to something. So you can't just separate off to yourself or you're gonna have a very difficult time because chastisement and people being against you, it's very difficult to go through by yourself. That's why the Bible here is saying you should be with the assembly, you should be in church because you'll exhort one another. Meaning we've all separated from the same thing. We exhort, what do we do? We encourage one another. This is why you, you know, as we go through this Christian life, we act different than everybody else. We should act different than everybody else. We look different than everybody else. Look, we look way different than everybody else. I mean, way different. I went to Walmart like two nights ago. I don't go to Walmart very much, but it is ridiculous what people wear today. I mean, it is crazy what people wear today. But look, we're not the only ones that dress appropriately. We're not the only ones that dress, girls dress like girls and boys dress like boys. Look, that, we're encouraging to one another. Another thing they hear from the forever visitors. We, we soul in it. And I thought about this for 10 seconds myself too. We, we go back home and we soul in by ourselves. Yeah, you know, I don't believe it. You might go every now and then. But soul winning is something that would be very difficult to do on your own. You know, turn to, turn to Romans. I believe it's Romans chapter, Romans chapter nine, turn to Romans chapter nine. I mean, basically where the Bible just says like, how can they preach except they be sent? This is what the Bible is talking about. That verse in Romans is talking directly about, you know, Hebrews 10, 25. Where, look, it's a difficult thing to go out soul winning by yourself without another group of believers would be very discouraging. Because look, it's mostly rejection when you think about it. It's mostly people who are not interested when you think about it. But that's why we must be sent. That's why, you know, there's so, I mean, look, we'll make you a missionary here. You know, people wanna be these missionaries that go all across the world. I recently had an email from somebody that went to like Afghanistan and they're like, oh man, we almost got somebody saved. It's like, are you kidding? We get people saved like every week here. We got five people saved yesterday. I mean, it's just, it's very receptive just right here. We'll make you a missionary. But look, it's very discouraging if you were to do that on your own. And that's why people generally just don't do it. Romans 10, 15. I'm sorry, I left you hanging there. Go to Romans 10, 15. The Bible literally tells us this. In Romans 10, verse number 15, it says, how shall they preach except they be sent? That's what it means. It's saying you should be sent out by a church, by a group, by a organized group here. Because that is what will keep people going because guess what? We exhort each other. You grow, you know. So that's the second person is the forever visitor. The people that are, they might pop in. That is why you see the forever visitor will never have any growth either. And this is why people, they'll be the forever visitor. They'll come here, they'll go out soul-inning with us. And it's very clear. And look, God bless these people for visiting. That's not what I'm getting down on them about. It's just that we should go all in on this thing. That's the design, that's the plan. You'll see people that are the forever visitor, they'll show up and they'll come soul-inning. And you can just see that they're just not experienced. They just don't know, they don't know what to do in certain scenarios. Because it takes experience to become a good soul-inning. I was a silent partner for I can't remember how long before I actually started talking as a soul-inner. But even then, over the years of soul-inning, you just gained so much experience. And you're talking with your brothers and sisters in Christ, or I ran into this, and I ran into this type of person. And what do we do here? And we have soul-inning tips every single week here where we're just teaching specific soul-inning lessons. If you see this, all different kinds of scenarios. And I think on soul-inning lessons, I have over 150 soul-inning lessons at this point. Just on how to be better ambassadors with the gospel. But you know what that is? That's growth. And that growth happens by being with a group of believers. And here's the third group of people that I was thinking about that just can't separate and get into a group. It's people that try it. It's people that try it. Maybe they do get into a church. And then that growth point happens. They run into that growth point where maybe it's usually sin. They're usually into some sin. So you have to not only just get in church, but you have to just decide that if it's in the Bible, I'm going to do it. If it's in the Bible and it's preached, I read it in the Bible, I'm just going to accept it as truth, and that's what I'm going to do. But guess what? Growth, that change in your life, that's uncomfortable. That's uncomfortable. So there's many people that will get into church and they will hit those growth points and they will just be like, ah, that's too uncomfortable for me. I'm not going to grow there. What did I tell you a couple of weeks ago about being uncomfortable in your life? If you want to do anything great in your life, it means you will be uncomfortable. Anything great is going to be difficult. Anything is going to do great things for the kingdom of God in your life, you're going to have to go through difficulty to get there, to be a great father, to be a great husband, to be a great wife, to be a great mother. You're going to have to go through uncomfortable points. And you know what that is? If you go through those uncomfortable points, if you go through those things, the Bible says it. I'm just going to do it. I'm not used to doing it this way. I'm not used to treating my husband this way. I'm not used to treating my wife this way. I'm not used to running my household in this way. But if you just do it because the Bible says you do it anyway, that's growth. That's what Christian growth is all about. But that's the third group of people. They'll get into church, they'll hit that growth, and they'll reject the growth. And then they're out of church at that point. But look, that was Nicodemus. Nicodemus is representative of somebody who got saved. And because he did not want to go through all those things, he just stayed where he was at. He just stayed in what? His comfort zone. And he never grew. If he did, it's not in the Bible. He never grew. All the wonderful things in the Book of Acts, all the people that are documented throughout secular history as giving their life for Christ, all the disciples who died, were killed for Christ, and just were just awesome witnesses. Hebrews chapter 11 in the Bible, just these people that were just these great testimonies for us to look up to, he was not part of them because he stayed in his comfort zone. Turn to Matthew chapter 4. Turn to Matthew chapter 4. So what's the difference between those people and Nicodemus? Matthew chapter 4, just look at verse number 20. Never hear anything else about Nicodemus. Yeah, look at all the acts that we are looking at in the Book of Acts on Wednesday nights. Matthew chapter 4 in verse number 20. Look at the first disciples that Jesus called. And look what the Bible says. And it says, and straight way, left their nets and followed him. This is the difference. Straight way means right away. He said, follow me. Right away they were just like, we're done. We're done with this and we're going with you. And that is why they became great. They forsook everything else. And look what they did for the kingdom of God. My wife was telling me about, just to end here, but my wife was telling me about yesterday right before soul winning. She stopped to fill the car with gas and a guy pulled up, she's getting ready to come to the church, we're going to go out soul winning. And a guy pulls up and he's got his truck and he's got his wife and I think kids in the car and he's got a boat and they're heading to the lake. And he's like, this guy was, he's happy, he's talking to his wife and all this. And she had this thought in her mind about I wonder what this guy would think if he knew where I was going right now. Now look, there's nothing inherently wrong with going to the lake or going to do what that guy was going to do. Well, there probably is. But the point is, is that here he's going in this one direction and my wife is going in this other direction. If you would have told him, hey, instead of doing what you're going to do today, you need to come with us and go walk around this neighborhood and knock on people's door with a bag. But look, he would have thought it was the most bizarre thing in the world, this guy. He would have thought it was the strangest, craziest thing in the world. Just because, first of all, I know that he's probably not saved, but the point is he's just, he's off in something completely separate from where we are. And this is what Nicodemus chose. He chose to just be separated, literally, from the Christian life and stay with this world of men where the disciples, they just threw away everything else. Look, the only way, the only way to do this Christian life is head first all in. The only way to do it to where it's just joyful for you and you just know what you're doing with your life, there's nothing wrong with going and doing things other than church, that's not what I'm saying. But the only way to do it is to separate from the things that you're supposed to separate from and go head first into this thing. And then you won't have the problems that Nicodemus had. And I mean, look what these guys did for the kingdom of God that just left their nets and followed Jesus. I mean, I can't believe who would choose otherwise. So a lot of good lessons learned from Nicodemus's life from the things that he did and the things that he didn't do. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.