Week Commencing Sunday 21st February 2021

Devotional Materials. Week Commencing Sunday 21^st February 2021

Call to Worship

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus, you are our way to the Father. We have no goodness of our own to make us fit for God’s presence. We come humbly to the Father through the benefits of Your death for us and through the victory of your resurrection and ascension. We come to Him through You and give You praise and thanksgiving. Amen.

Opening Hymn

Beautiful Saviour…
Stuart Townend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSm6fdZHl5Q

Reading. John 3:1-21

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “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.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

⁴ “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!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ 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.”

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Hymn (Guitar)

Majesty
Kingdom authority
Flow from His throne
Unto His own
His anthem raise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky_38dvCqfE

Sermon. “The New Birth”

Nicodemus was a top religious expert of his day. A member of the Jewish Ruling Council. It appears he was dissatisfied with his own state and perceives God is with Jesus. He meets with Him at night. Jesus says that Nicodemus must be born again.

Jesus emphasises the Necessity of the new birth. (3)

Verse 3 Jesus says “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again”

What a shock for Nicodemus! According to Jesus this expert teacher of the Scriptures cannot even see the Kingdom of God let alone enter it as he stands.

What would Nicodemus have believed about seeing the kingdom? Nicodemus would have thought that seeing the kingdom would be to participate in the Kingdom at the end of the Age and experience eternal life after death. It was widely believed in Jesus day- according to the Mishnah- that all Jews would be admitted to that kingdom. Only those guilty of false teaching or terrible wickedness would not be admitted.

But here is Jesus telling Nicodemus- this respected  member of the Sanhedrin that even he cannot enter the kingdom unless he is “born again” This must have been a shock!

Being a conscientious Pharisee, Nicodemus would have expected to enter the Kingdom through ceremonial obedience. He would have observed all the traditional requirements of his day. He would probably have been ready to undertake any religious work Jesus might suggest- if that was the secret of Christ’s being and ministry. But we cannot earn favour with God. Not through resolutions and good works. Neither through thinking “If I do these things then they will make up for the bad things I have done, and God will accept me”. Perhaps that’s your view of what it means to be justified or right with God this morning. But these are insufficient. Jesus says to you as He said to Nicodemus “You must be born again”. And if the religious person cannot enter the Kingdom through their own good deeds, what about the person who doesn’t give God much thought during their lives and then happily expects to go to Heaven when they die? Perhaps you’re like that. Gambling with your destiny. Clearly this attitude is also insufficient. Jesus says to you too “you must be born again”.

Well, Nicodemus is flummoxed, “Can a man enter a second time into his mother’s womb? Jesus explains further the necessity of the new birth: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit” (5)

The term “born of water and the Spirit” indicates complete spiritual transformation. Here we have the key to entering the Kingdom. A series of Old Testament passages speak of water and spirit. In these passages water signifies cleansing from impurity. And Spirit, motivating, transforming people so they follow God wholly. Ezekiel 36: 25-27 bring water and spirit together in these ways: “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean, I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees.”

Even a Nicodemus with his natural gifts, understanding, position and integrity must be radically transformed where God cleanses the sinful heart and pours out His Spirit to enable obedience.

In verse 6 Jesus shows it is indeed only the Holy Spirit that can give birth to this transformation “Flesh gives birth to flesh but Spirit gives birth to spirit”. This is why we must be born again. In ourselves- the flesh- we’re not capable of making this transformation. Because of our sinful nature- our natural bias towards sin- we cannot by our own efforts see or enter the kingdom of God. It is futile to think of amending part of our nature or “patching up” our lives. Rather, there must be a renewal of the whole nature by the Spirit.

No other Cause can sufficiently deal with the human condition. Education can enlighten us. Legislation can improve our lot by punishing wrong doing. Better social conditions; homes, roads, schools, libraries will help us. So can Science and technology. These are all good causes to be identified with. But the necessary thing is the new birth. You must be born again.

Jesus next draws out the mystery of the new birth (8).

He uses an analogy from the created world to illustrate something of the mystery of the new birth. “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” (8)

There is a mystery in God’s creation:

Materialists who believe Nature is all there is think they have explained things when they describe them chemically or according to their molecular structure.

Charles Dickens caricaturises this attitude in the character Thomas Gradgrind from “Hard Times”:

“Bitzer,” said Thomas Gradgrind, “your definition of a horse”

“Quadruped. Gramnivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Ages known by marks in mouth.” Thus (and much more) Bitzer

“Now, girl number twenty,” said Mr Gradgrind, “you know what a horse is!”

We can keep labelling and describing parts of Nature, but they remain mysterious. Scientists tell us that snow is crystallised water and that water is composed of a proportionate amount of hydrogen and oxygen. But they are silent when asked “What is hydrogen?” or “What is oxygen?” We can see the effects of these elements when they combine. We can see the effects of the wind, but we cannot deep down understand these things.

Such is the mystery. The only appropriate response is wonder. Wonder because Creation is the work of God’s hands:

We see this sense of wonder in Gerald Manley Hopkins’ poem ‘God’s Grandeur’:

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things

And though the last lights off the black west went

Oh morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs-

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings

Christ sustains all things- in him all things hold together (Col.1:17). We can only wonder at the mystery and power of God in creation. Dr Paul Brandt, a world renowned Surgeon wrote “The DNA is so narrow and compacted that all the genes in all my body’s cells would fit into an ice cube, yet if the DNA were unwound and joined together end to end, the strand could stretch from the earth to the sun and back more than 400 times” (Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Dr Paul Brandt & Philip Yancey). I am staggered by that fact alone. We are left in wonder. How can such ingenuity be possible? We have more reason to say with King David who wrote in the Old Testament “You created my inmost being, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (For further information in favour of Creation as opposed to Evolutionary Naturalism see Note ¹)

There is a mystery in Creation that cannot be explained in purely material terms. In the same way there is mystery about the work of the Spirit in a person’s life. We cannot “explain” or “label” the work of the Holy Spirit as He brings about the new birth. Scientific tests cannot be applied to Him. But we know the Holy Spirit is at work because we can see His effects produced in people. Selfish people who are slaves of sinful habits are completely changed and given power to live for God:

Arthur Blessit describes a prostitute’s experience of the new birth:

On a night when business is lagging I find Linda in a bikini coiled in a lounge chair at Al’s place.

‘Things are going great,’ she volunteers. ‘No hang ups. No hang ups at all.’

‘You’re lying and you know it,’ I say. ‘You’re not happy. You’re miserable. If you were really happy, you wouldn’t have to take all the dope to rid yourself of guilt.’

‘Arthur Blessit, I can handle anybody except you. You’re right. I am miserable. Today I tried to jump out of Al’s car on the freeway. He grabbed my arms and held me back.’

I shared Christ with Lina for more than an hour. It is one of the most unexpected turnabouts I have ever encountered. Linda gets down on her knees with me and prays, her tears washing her mascara in streaks down her face. After we pray she looks up and her eyes sparkle.

‘I’m saved!’ she says joyously. ‘Jesus has found me and I’m going back to my baby.’

Still on our knees, we hear the buzzer sound. I get up and go to the door.

‘Are you open for business?’ the customer, a fiftyish man with a crew cut and horned rimmed glasses, asks.

‘Yes, sir, come right in.’

When he enters I give him one of my Big Questions tracts. He brings it close to his face and seems disturbed as he reads it. Then he looks at Linda, still on her knees. He starts backing off toward the door. ‘I must be in the wrong place.’

Such transformations are beyond the explanation of a Psychologist. The new birth can only be explained by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The inner change accompanying new birth or conversion is the manifestation of God’s power. Millions testify to His presence as the One who has cleansed and transformed them inside. We dare not label the new birth or try to explain it away according to materialistic criteria. Rather we are humbled to recognise our need of the work of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

Has the Spirit been speaking to you? New thoughts have come “out of the blue” into your mind. You have been content to live life accruing material benefits and living by human philosophy/fashions of society. But then comes a question about your mortality or the point of your existence, or guilt about something you think or do, or you have a sense of something more that this world cannot deliver- a restless yearning. That’s the Spirit prompting you towards your need of the new birth.

The life you now live isn’t it. The chrysalis should give rise to the butterfly. There’s something wrong if it remained a chrysalis. So too God intends you experience new birth into the life he has prepared for you.

The mystery of the new birth.

Next Jesus encourages Nicodemus to look to Him

Look to Jesus (10-15)

That’s what Jesus does with Nicodemus. How do we know the new birth is the truth? The reality we should enter into? Jesus is the guarantor of these things. Who He is gives us security about what he says. Jesus is authoritative. The trouble is we’re looking at others and relying on our own limited understandings to discover Truth. Instead we should be looking at Christ for the truth. He is from above we are from below. Jesus has divine credentials. God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in the person of his Son Jesus Christ.

He tells Nicodemus He is the only one who has descended from Heaven. He speaks of “heavenly things”. Indeed, He speaks of what he knows and testifies to what He has seen. And it is He who tells us of the new birth.

And we believe Him. We know what He tells us is utterly reliable and authoritative. Not only because of the way Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophesy, His matchless teaching, His sinless life and His miracles that powerfully attested to his claims.

We believe Him because he lays down his life for us and so shows us the love of God. Jesus says “Greater love has no one than this that he lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) Christ gave His life for us when we were His enemies. Many sins put Jesus on the cross: injustice, cowardice, hatred, love of money, the justifying of every ones sin put Him there, but the cross also shows us the love of God. His mercy and grace.

Jesus speaks of these things when he says “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (14)

The story about the serpent in the wilderness can be found in the Old Testament book of Numbers (21: 4-9). Nicodemus would have been familiar with it. The people of Israel had rebelled against God and had to be punished. God sent serpents that bit the people so many died. Judgment follows sin. God is holy. But God is also a God of grace and love. Moses prayed for the people, and God, in answer to Moses’ prayers provided a remedy. He told Moses to make a brass serpent and lift it up on a pole for all to see. Any bitten person who looked at the snake would immediately be healed. Much as the serpent was lifted up on the pole, so the Son of Man would be lifted up on the cross. Why? To save us from sin and death.

The whole world has been bitten by sin, and the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23). God sent His Son to die, not only for Israel, but for the whole world. How is a person born from above? How is he or she saved from eternal death? By believing on Jesus Christ. By looking to Him in faith.

On January 6, 1850, a snowstorm almost crippled Colchester and a teenage boy was unable to get to the church he usually attended. So he made his way to a nearby Primitive Methodist chapel, where an ill- prepared lay-man was substituting for the absent preacher. His text was Isaiah 45:22- “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” For many months this young teenager had been miserable and under deep conviction; but although he had been brought up with church (both his father and grandfather were preachers), he did not have the assurance of salvation.

The unprepared substitute minister did not have much to say, so he kept repeating the text. ‘A man need not go to college to learn to look,’ he shouted. ‘Anyone can look- a child can look!’ About that time, he saw the visitor sitting to one side, and he pointed to him and said, ‘Young man, you look very miserable. Young man, look to Jesus Christ!’

The young man did look, and that was how Charles Spurgeon, the famous preacher, was born again.

Will you look to Him and so experience cleansing; forgiveness of sins and new life by the Spirit? It appears Nicodemus did come to experience the new birth for himself. He identified with Christ at Calvary. He realised the uplifted Jesus was indeed God’s own salvation. You too can experience this new birth on the basis of Jesus’ death for you. .

So look to Jesus- anyone can look- and you will be born again and so enter God’s kingdom.

Or will you stay in the darkness? Will you hold to sins and go your own way and so be condemned because you rejected Christ. This is the verdict outlined by Jesus himself (18b-20) the verdict that will be given about your life on the Day of Judgment if you refuse Him.

You see you really must be born again. So come into the light as Nicodemus did (18a, 21). God’s gracious invitation is still offered to you. Receive it while you still can. Look to him. “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.”

Note¹ For further evidences of Creation as opposed to failings of Evolutionary Naturalism see Updates 14/6/20 & 10/1/21, 14/2/20. Access on Angmering Baptist Church website. For Christian worldview see excellent overview on our origins: Ken Ham’s “Science Confirms the Bible” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74UIt8uHQPs or ask me for a free copy of “Creation & Evolution. Why it matters what you believe” by Colin Garner. For detailed information on specific issues visit Answers in Genesis and Creation.Com websites.

………………………………………………………

Hymn

David J Evans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrVJIdvIIq4

Prayers.

Prayers in a time of coronavirus:

Love never fails

Even in the darkest moments, love gives hope. 

Love compels us to fight against coronavirus alongside those living in poverty.

Love compels us to stand together in prayer with our neighbours near and far.

Love compels us to give and act as one. 

Now, it is clear that our futures are bound together more tightly than ever before. 

So, let us pause and find a moment of peace, as we lift up our hearts together in prayer.

Prayers of thanksgiving and intercession

For the health workers tending the seriously ill

For the scientists working on a vaccination 

For the researchers analysing data and identifying trends

For the media outlets working to communicate reality

For the supermarket workers, hygiene and sanitation providers

For the good news stories of recoveries and effective planning

For the singing from balconies by locked-down communities

For the recognition that isolation doesn’t need to mean loneliness

For the notes through letterboxes offering help and support 

For the internet and telephones and technology that connects

For the awakened appreciation of what is truly important

Thanks be to God.

For those who are unwell and concerned for loved ones

For those who were already very anxious

For those immune suppressed or compromised

For those vulnerable because of underlying conditions

For those in the ‘most at risk to coronavirus’ categories

For those watching their entire income stream dry up

For those who have no choice but to go out to work

For those who are afraid to be at home 

For those who are more lonely than they've ever been

For those who are bereaved and grieving.

God be their healer, comfort and protection,

Be their strength, shield and provision

Be their security, safety and close companion

And raise up your Church

To be your well-washed hands and faithful feet 

To be present to the pain

To respond with love in action

If even from a safe distance.

God, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

(Christian Aid)

Praying for someone to experience the new birth and so become a Christian:

Father God, I know that “no one can come to [Jesus] unless the Father . . . draws them” (John 6:44). I ask that You draw _____________ to Your Son, that he/she may know You personally and spend eternity with You.

Lord God, I ask that You move upon _____________’s heart to accept the Truth of Christ. “Give them a heart to know [You], that [You are] the Lord, [so that] they will be [Your] people, and [You] will be their God,” and may they “return to [You] with all their heart” (Jeremiah 24:7).

Overwhelm _____________ with the reality of Your love for him/her, that he/she may “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19).

Lord, use me to “open _____________’s eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in [You]” (Acts 26:18).

Holy Spirit, show me specifically how to minister to each member of my family—to “be merciful to those who doubt” and to “save others by snatching them from the fire’' (Jude 1:23). Reveal opportunities to share about You, and give me the strength to obey when You open the door.

Father God, Your Word says that “godly sorrow brings repentance which leads to salvation and leaves no regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Only You can open our eyes to the reality that all have sinned and fallen short of Your glory. Come upon _____________ with a sense of godly sorrow for his/her sin, that he/she may repent, surrender to You, and be saved.

(Leading the Way)

Hymn

Refrain:
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me;
and the fairest of ten thousand
in my blessed Lord I see.

2 Love of Christ so freely given,
grace of God beyond degree,
mercy higher than the heaven,
deeper than the deepest sea! [Refrain]

3 What a wonderful redemption!
Never can a mortal know
how my sin, though red like crimson,
can be whiter than the snow. [Refrain]

4 Every need His hand supplying,
every good in Him I see;
on His strength divine relying,
He is all in all to me. [Refrain]

5 By the crystal flowing river
with the ransomed I will sing,
and forever and forever
praise and glorify the King. [Refrain]