This is a sermon I preached at Elm Park Baptist Church on Sunday 5^th March 2023.

The Bible passage (John 3:1 – 21) can be read here.

We all have choices in this world.

From the simple, “What shall I have for breakfast?” to the more complicated and far reaching decisions we have to make.

But the most important choice we ever have to make is “Do I believe and trust in Jesus and have eternal life? Or do I chose to be condemned and face the consequences of my choice?”

It’s a question everyone human being will face at some point in their lives. And they have to answer for themselves.

There are no family tickets or “two for the price of one” offers here. Just because your mum or dad or your grandmother was a believer doesn’t get you into the kingdom of heaven. I remember at a previous church a preacher had said a similar thing which really upset a lady in the congregation. She thought that as she was a believer she could “sneak” her father into heaven as well. The thought that this was not possible really upset her as she realised that once her father died she may never see him again. Her reaction was to get angry with the preacher rather than urge her father to do something about his eternal destiny.

So, Jesus has a night time visitor, an influential man called Nicodemus who is not only a Pharisee but also a member of the ruling council. He has a lot of clout and clearly is an intelligent man.

We don’t know why he came at night. Perhaps he didn’t want his fellow Pharisees to see him or maybe he thought he could have an uninterrupted talk with Jesus once the day time crowds had gone. Whatever his reason for coming at night, he is there.

He tells Jesus “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?“ Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!“

At the time it was taught widely among the Jews that since they descended from Abraham, they were automatically assured of heaven. In fact, some Rabbis taught that Abraham stood watch at the gate of hell, just to make sure that none of his descendants accidentally wandered in there.

Most Jews of that time looked for the Messiah to bring in a new world, in which Israel and the Jewish people would be pre‑eminent. But Jesus came to bring new life, in which He would be preeminent.

It must have been astonishing to Nicodemus that the Jewish people weren’t automatically in God=s kingdom. Admittance to the kingdom was through a spiritual rebirth so anyone, regardless of race or ethnicity or social standing who puts their faith in Jesus could be “born into the kingdom” or “Born Again”.

Some years ago when Barak Obama was running for president of the USA there was some controversy as to where he had actually been born. Because you can only be president if you were actually born in the country. It doesn’t matter if you speak with an American accent, play baseball or American football, love McDonald’s or do a thousand and one other “American” things. If you were not born in the USA you do not qualify.

So to get into the kingdom of heaven you have to be “born again”. No other religion or philosophy will do. No, “I’m a good person” or “I’m kind to animals” or any other excuse will get you into heaven.

It must have done poor Nicodemus’ head in. He asks Jesus “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!“

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon put it this way: “A man may cast away many vices, forsake many lusts in which he indulged, and conquer evil habits, but no man in the world can make himself to be born of God; though he should struggle never so much, he could never accomplish what is beyond his power. And, mark you, if he could make himself to be born again, still he would not enter heaven, because there is another point in the condition which he would have violated – unless a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Some people get very hung up on the process, the how does God do that? But Jesus gives a simple example “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Not many of us, I suspect, know about weather systems and how and why the wind blows. We don’t need knowledge of meteorology to feel the wind blowing and see the trees moving in the breeze. And if our fence panels rattle and bushes in the garden are near horizontal we can say it’s a windy day.

Similarly we don’t worry about not knowing how power stations work and how the national grid gets electricity to us before we switch on a light. We accept that provided we’ve paid the bill the light will come on when we flick the switch! I’m sure none of us have just decided to sit in the dark because we don’t know how electricity works. We have the faith that flicking the switch will turn the lights on. As simple as that.

In verse 14 and 15 Jesus says: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

Many years ago when Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt they were moaners and groaners. So they spent 40 years in the wilderness until they learnt their lesson. It took God just one night to get the Jews out of Egypt but 40 years to get Egypt out of the Jews!

They were free. No longer were their male babies being killed. No longer were they slaves enduring all sorts of hardships. They were free! But whilst God ensured they were fed every day with manna they still looked back to the days in Egypt as halcyon days when they ate cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. You can read about it in Numbers 11.

They complained and whinged so much that God sent a plague of snakes to bite them. Moses interceded to God on behalf of the people and God had Moses set up a brass snake on a stick and anyone who looked at the snake would be healed of the snake bites.

They didn’t have to understand how it worked. They just to believe that it would work and they were healed.

As Jesus prophesied, he (the Son of Man) was lifted up on the cross on the first Good Friday to take the punishment that was ours so that we could be forgiven and reconciled to God. We have to acknowledge that Jesus died for our sins and put our trust in him for our salvation.

Jesus goes on to say “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God=s one and only Son.“

God doesn’t want anyone to perish. His desire is that everyone will be with him in heaven. However everyone has the choice to accept that they need Jesus in their lives or just carry on as they are and face the consequences at the end of their days.

Jesus’ invitation is not limited to the nice people, the kind people, the never do anything wrong people. Its open to everyone, good or bad, rich or poor, young or old, everyone. So if you are an “Whoever” its for you. All you have to do is believe and trust in Jesus. Its that easy.

Equally, however, you can chose to refuse the invitation as many sadly do. For them maybe the cost is too high. Maybe its they don’t want to change their lifestyle, or family and friends would disown them. In some countries you can be imprisoned or even killed for being a Christian. A few years ago we had a young Iranian couple at our church. They had fled Iran and were seeking asylum. She had spent a month in jail and he had been banged up for a year; and Iranian jails are not nice places.

Or people just can’t get their head around how people change when the Holy Spirit gets to work in someone’s life. After all “a leopard doesn’t change its spots”.

Jesus goes on to say in v19 “This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

If you live in the light then you can be hated and reviled by those who prefer the dark.

As I write this talk, Kate Forbes who is running to be the next leader of the SNP and hence First Minister of Scotland, is getting a lot of flak for upholding Christian views on marriage, gender, abortion and family life. People hate her.

Similarly those who have no idea of the sanctity of life are having Christians arrested for thinking about praying near abortion centres.

A huge amount of crime goes on in the dark. Criminals don’t want to be seen or discovered. They hate being exposed to the light so that they can be seen for what they are.

But as Christians we live in the light so our actions should be ones of which we are not ashamed. At a previous church there was some electrical work to be done and one of the church council members had a son who was an electrical contractor. We were told that if we paid cash we wouldn’t have to pay the VAT. Surprisingly there were people who thought it was a good deal and we should go ahead with it.

So the most important choice you can ever make is “Do you chose the light or do you wish to stay in the darkness?”

There is a cost which ever way you decide. If you chose the light then your earthly life may be difficult, but that will be more than made up for by having eternity with with God.

However if you chose the dark, you chose judgement and an eternity in hell, where the only one to blame for your fate is yourself.