Sermon Transcript
John 3:1-8 and 13-15. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
And 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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Well, thank you. And welcome to Bridges Community Church. I am Joshua. I’m one of the pastors here at Bridges Church, and we want to welcome you to join us in the worship of this great God who is speaking to us in our passage from John this morning.
Dan kicked off our new series that we’re in right now on the miracles of Jesus. We’re going through the Gospel of John looking at the miracles that Jesus performs. And what we have said each week is that miracles, although they give evidence, solid evidence that there’s some miracle worker, some supernatural being at work and behind the comings and goings of regular nature, they’re doing something more than that, something more profound, something deeper than that.
And although miracles give us credence, give the person performing them credence that we should maybe trust what he says. Here’s Jesus, he’s performing these miracles. He’s saying that he’s from God, and we should now trust what he says because it seems like God is working through him. They do that, but they do something more, something deeper, something more profound.
And that more profound thing, that deeper thing that they are doing is that right in our midst with Jesus of Nazareth, God is putting the world back together. He’s mending what is broken. He’s restoring to wholeness what is out of joint. That first miracle that Dan kicked off the series for us was the miracle of creation.
The miracle of creating it all out of nothing. And John in those first few verses of his his gospel deliberately is echoing the first chapters of Genesis where we have the creation narrative. And in that narrative, we read that in the beginning, God created everything and it was good. It was whole, it was innocent. And everything was right.
But creation took it upon itself, specifically his image bearers, we, our first parents, Adam and Eve, and they wanted to be their own God, and they received judgment for that. And now creation is broken, it’s out of joint. And the second uh miracle that we looked at after creation was the incarnation, the incarnation.
And the incarnation was the miracle of God becoming man. How was that restoring what was broken? How was that putting back creation to the way that it was in the garden? Now, in the incarnation, God is dwelling with man. See, in the garden, it says that God was walking around the garden in the cool of the day.
You could go up to God, but now things are not like that. We can’t discern God as easily. You can’t go up and talk to him. But now in this man, Jesus, God is dwelling with him. We have seen his glory. If that’s what the doctrine uh or excuse me, the miracle of the incarnation is, God dwelling with man, the miracle that we read today in John 3 is how God is going to make it so that man can dwell with him.
The incarnation is the miracle of God being able to dwell with his creation like it was in the garden, but the doctrine of re- uh regeneration, this miracle of being made new and being born again is the miracle of how we can dwell with God. And this idea of regeneration or new birth or giving of a new heart is really a kind of giving of a new self, a completely transformed self.
And our culture has a lot to say about what ourselves are and how to build it and how to pursue it in building a good life. Surely you’ve heard that great philosopher, the Genie from Aladdin, okay, the animated Disney series back in 1992. Aladdin is there, he’s trying to talk to the girl Jasmine. He’s like, Al, chill, it’s okay. Just be yourself.
And he whispers that into Aladdin’s ear. But really, we see this kind of ideas of what our culture thinks of the self and of our inner identity in more places than just Disney. We see this also in a great film, uh uh Oscar winning film called Free Solo. Um if you haven’t seen this film, it chronicles, it’s a documentary film that chronicles Alex Honnold’s uh scaling of El Capitan, the in Yosemite National Park.
For years, this wall was supposedly unclimbable. You can see him on the edge of that wall on the film cover. It was so steep, the footings, there weren’t very many footings, but finally, before Alex, someone scales it with a rope. They find a path up this incredibly difficult wall. Now, in 17 or 18, I can’t remember the exact date, we have Honnold scaling it without a rope.
That’s what free soloing is. And the director, who he’s uh good friends with, who won the uh Oscar for this film, he’s commenting on people doing difficult things and people finding that thing in your life that you’re made for and that you’re supposed to pursue in order to have a life worth living.
Listen to the director’s words here. I’ve put the quote up on the screen. He says, when the chances of failure are so high and the margins of success are so low, to chase something that is deeply meaningful to you, that is so core to who you are, and knowing that you might not succeed, that takes courage.
I could point to a thousand other kind of references and places in our culture that has this idea of what life is about in finding who you are, who yourself is. Let’s dissect this a little. Let’s boil this down. We could call this proposal in our culture, the the culture or the ethic of authenticity.
The culture of authenticity. This is what the proposal says. It says, look deep within and your innermost being and find your deepest desires, those things that make you uniquely you. Find that and follow that. That is your north star, that is the purpose of your life. And anything that you find in your life, whether it be romance or career or education or family or country, all of those are only valuable in this view in so far as they affirm and they align with that deep inner self.
If they don’t, then you dismiss them or abandon them. Things outside aren’t supposed to influence what this is. It’s only supposed to come within. We might give this a motto for this view. We might say, find yourself by looking within. That is the culture of authenticity. And there’s a lot of good things going for this view.
I don’t have time to unpack this view to its fullest extent, but one of the kind of virtues of this view is that it focuses on the individual. Finding yourself is important. That matters. Uh, some other this is so common to us because we are all products, uh most of us are products of the West that has a huge emphasis on the individual, but uh this is in contrast to say some Eastern religions which say the self is not all that important.
In fact, it’s an illusion. Or some modern philosophies that say the self is really a means to an end. But here in the culture of authenticity, the self matters. It actually matters most of all. But there’s also some difficulties with the culture of authenticity. Being yourself just really doesn’t work.
And I’ll give you three reasons. I we could go on with more, but I’ll give you three reasons why this view doesn’t work. The first is our out our inside is always influenced by our outside. What’s going on in here is always at least somewhat affected what’s going on out here by circumstances or history.
There’s no part of us that is not affected by our circumstances and our history. So this whole project of finding something that is totally unaffected and only uniquely you is uh uh bankrupt from the start. Perhaps you’ve uh seen uh this play out in families before. Um in one case you have perhaps a daughter or a son who is a carbon copy of their mom or their father. And they have the same mannerisms, they may even look similar.
And then on the other case, maybe you have a son or daughter who actually disdains and hates the parent. And they say, I’ll never be like that. Now what our culture says is that, well, obviously the carbon copy, the one who admires the parent, yeah, they’re really influenced. But this person over here who hates and disdains, they’re not controlled by their parents.
False. That’s not right. The one is controlled by admiration, the for uh the latter is controlled by disdain and hatred, but both are controlled by the image of the parent. It can’t be any other way. As a child, you are for better or for worse controlled by the image of your parents, even those who have been tragically, this is a tragedy, abandoned.
That is going to have an undeniable influence on what kind of person that’s going to be. It’s not going to just brush off their shoulders. We’re always influenced and affected by where we’ve come from and where we are. And the implication, as soon as we admit that we’re influenced by outside things, we’ll have to ask this question.
What is worthy of shaping our innermost self? Now that we’re open to options that are not just within, but also without, outside of us, what is worthy of shaping our innermost self and identity? There’s also another problem, second time, uh second problem, finding yourself is a heavy burden for you to carry.
We see this in the quote from the director of Free Solo. Look at it here and I’ll underline it here for you on the screen. He says, to chase something that is deeply meaningful to you and knowing that you might not succeed. Now, this uh film, Alex has in fact succeeded, okay? Um the the free solo person uh climbing that wall, he has succeeded, but what if you don’t?
What if you never succeed? You look inward, you find those deepest desires and then you fail to obtain it. You see, it’s an incredibly heavy burden to put on yourself that you are going to be the product and the captain of your own soul and finding your own identity because whatever you find, whether it’s scaling walls, whether it’s a career, whether it’s romance, whether it’s being a faithful friend, before you have that thing, you’re going to be anxious and eager to get it.
When you finally achieve it and possess it, you’re going to be fearful of losing it. And then inevitably through circumstance or death, when you finally do lose it, you’re going to despair. It’s a heavy burden to find yourself by only looking within, too heavy. And the implication of this is that we need a self that is secure, that is rock solid so that we don’t have the anxiety, fear and despair.
Third, finding yourself is a heavy burden for others, for others to carry. It’s a heavy burden for us, but it’s also a heavy burden for others. Being at the center of our identity is a weighty, weighty task. Let me show you an example. Perhaps you’ve heard of the estrangement epidemic. I was reading an article this week.
I had never heard of this. Uh so let me share it with you. The estrangement epidemic is this phenomenon where millennials and Gen Z children are estranging themselves from their parents. This is happening on the hundreds and hundreds. It’s not just isolated cases. And this article is inquiring, what’s up?
What’s going on? Here’s the scenario. You have parents with millennial or Gen Z children and they say, mom, dad, I’ve had enough. I don’t want to con I don’t want to have any kind of contact with you anymore. Don’t contact me, don’t visit me. I’m moving away, never talk to me again. And parents are understandably, they’re confused and distraught about this.
Why is this? What’s going on? The article gives uh some interviews of the parents and the children and they give many different causes. Here’s one of them. Here’s one of them. Parents are obsessed with their children. Parents are obsessed with their children and their children sense it that I am at the center of my parents’ identity and it’s too much and they say, no, I don’t want to.
I’m out. I can’t carry this for you. I can’t be the center of your happiness. I can’t meet all your expectations of achievement for social status or whatever. I am out. It’s a heavy burden and these kids feel it. It crushes them. And the implication of this is that when we are looking for ourselves, the thing that to define our identity, we need something that can take it.
Something that can stand up under it, something that is solid enough. So we’re on the hunt for something that is worthy of shaping ourself, something that is secure and something that is stable. And as we go into our text this morning, we’re going to see how the God who has created and made you wants to not simply help you find yourself, although that would be bounty enough, but he wants to give you a completely new self. not to find yourself, but to give you a completely new self.
And what we’ll find is surprisingly, this allows us to find ourselves most of all. So, let’s transition to uh, back to the words that Katie read for us in John chapter three. Jesus, as you recall, is speaking with this guy, this Pharisee, Nicodemus, or as I like to call him by his rapper name, okay?
Nikki D. Nikki D. But if you’ve been reading the Bible long enough, you’ll come across like these rapper names for different biblical characters. And maybe those who chuckled, maybe you’re familiar with uh, his famous rap that describes who Nikki D is. Any uh, Justin, have you heard of it? Mark? No? let me just share it with you just a little, okay?
So here’s how it goes. Nikki D, um, name’s Nicodemus, a Pharisee by trade, sat on the council where big calls were made. But he came to Jesus when the sun went down, didn’t want the whispers going ’round the town. Had the titles and the status, had the scrolls on the shelf, still came in the dark with questions for himself.
Nikki D, erra erra erra, worp, okay? Now, now, I know what you’re thinking. Please don’t give up your day job. Listen, I was channeling my inner self here of my rapper self and sometimes your inner self just doesn’t meet reality, okay? So I, I take that uh, in both. So here we have Nikki D. He respects Jesus.
One of the few Pharisees that do this. How do we know that? We know that because of the title that he gives Jesus, Rabbi, teacher. Now, most, there might be one other example of this, but most Pharisees completely dismiss Jesus. They’re furious with Jesus. Not Nicodemus. He comes and he says, you’re a teacher, and he says something else, I know that you are from God.
I know that you couldn’t do these things and speak with such authority unless you were one from God. Now, let’s look at what Jesus does not say. We’re going to look at what Jesus says in just a moment, but look at what Jesus does not say. He doesn’t say, Yes, thank you, thank you, Nicodemus. You know, you have read your scriptures so closely.
You have seen how all the prophets from all the way from Genesis 3 all the way to Malachi were pointing to me. I am glad that you’ve seen why I’ve come. I’m glad that you recognize how big and important I am. He doesn’t say that. He doesn’t even say anything close. He says, this is Joshua’s translation, you’ve missed it all.
You’ve completely missed the mark. Look what the text says here in uh, Genesis, not Genesis, we’ve already done that. John 3:3, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. You don’t even see it. It’s not that you haven’t entered it that he’s going to say in a few more verses.
You don’t even have a concept of it, Nicodemus. You’ve missed the entire ship. It’s not that you’re in the wrong neighborhood, you haven’t even arrived in the right country yet. An equally valid translation of 3:3, this is the key uh, uh verse of this passage is, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born from above.
Nicodemus, if you knew what I was about, if you knew what God was about, you would know you need a complete transformation. This is not some additional scroll or belief that you add to your education. This is changing everything. And you’ve missed it. Jesus is telling us something here about what it is to become a Christian.
You know, both Christians and non-Christians think, unfortunately, that becoming a Christian, becoming a Christian is a pretty small thing. That’s a pretty small feat. You’re just adding some belief to your overall view of the world, that you’re taking on a new perspective or a new philosophy of life.
But Jesus says, no, it’s a complete break, a categorical break. It’s not just getting a new paint job on your car, it’s getting a completely new car. It’s not just getting some accessories for your outfit, it’s getting a whole new wardrobe. It’s not adding to your beliefs, it’s a whole new worldview.
It’s not just a new philosophy, but a person, the spirit that grabs you. It’s not a perspective, but a total life orientation. And in that way, it’s kind of like milk. It’s kind of like milk. What do you do when milk, and I mean, okay, listen, I know there’s like 25 different versions of milk here in California, okay?
I mean milk that comes from a cow that humanity has been drinking for thousands and thousands of years. That kind of milk. When that kind of milk goes bad, you don’t dress it up. Well, oh, oh, the milk has spoiled. Let me just add some sugar, add some vanilla, let me give it a drink. No, you don’t do that.
You throw it out. Out with the old and in with the new. You need a replacement for your spoiled milk, not an upgrade to your spoiled milk. And that’s why he describes it and compares it to birth. He does this in verse three, but also in verses 5 through 7. Any mother will tell you that life in pregnancy is categorically different than life when the baby is finally born.
It’s a break, it’s a change. Something significant hasn’t happened. It’s not just a small modification. It’s a whole new life. Likewise, for those who become a Christian, it’s a transformation. So we might give this a motto. We might give the new life and the new self a motto. Find yourself by looking up.
Find yourself by looking up. So, we’ve looked at what our culture thinks the self is and how it has the culture of authenticity, okay, this proposal. I’ve given you some reasons why that doesn’t quite work. I’ve then uh, dived into uh, chapter three of John, showing you what Jesus proposes in this new birth, in this new self.
This naturally gives us a question of why? Why is it that we need this new self? Well, we saw uh, that we long for, that we need something that is worthy, something that is secure, something that can stand up under our identity and our self, and these can only come from God. God is the most most worthy.
God is the most secure. No shadow of turning is with him. God is big enough to handle ourselves. And in that way, it’s a better proposal. But there’s something even more fundamental. There’s even a bigger reason why you and I need a new self, a new birth. Paul puts this in the starkest terms that he could.
It’s because we are dead. It’s because we are dead. Read with me, Ephesians 2. Paul describing how we are before God gets a hold of us and then how we are afterwards. He says, and you, he’s speaking to Christians here. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead, I mean, can he say dead even more? Even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Lazarus cannot raise himself. He has to, he needs a miracle.
He has to have something outside of him jumpstart him and take him and raise him. What does darkness have to do with light? I mean, Paul has given us this this image of the biggest categories that we can think of, death and life. Other imagery that John is going to use is going to say, darkness and light.
Have you ever thought about that going from darkness to light is not a a sliding scale? Keep on adding darkness. You can have a universe full of darkness and not have one candle worth of light. It’s a completely different category. It’s a jump from one kind of existence to another. And you will not find the light if you look inside.
You must look to the one who is light, the light of the world, the one who gives the spirit, Jesus. Now, Dan made this concession last week. Nikki D here in our passage is not experiencing this miracle. Uh, last week we looked at rebuilding the temple in three days. That wasn’t occurring exactly in the passage.
It was going to happen. Likewise, Nikki D is not experiencing the rebirth in this passage. We do have pretty good evidence that he will eventually, but not here in John 3. But I think you can see that when it happens is a miracle, for you need a miracle to go from death to life. And it’s a miracle, as we’ve said each week, that is putting the world back together.
When you and I think of the world, we think of uh uh systems, uh the the the natural disasters, social injustices, and of course, even tragedies and death. But if we’re honest with ourselves, and we look at the world in total that we are a part of, we have to admit that if God is going to deal and put back the world the way that it was, then he’s going to have to deal with us.
Because we are part of this world that is broken, and we ourselves are broken. He doesn’t want to remake what is uh, excuse me, he doesn’t want to just modify what is broken. He wants to completely remake and give a new self from above. So, that’s the reason why. It’s because principally we’re dead, but what is it?
What is the new life? Born from the spirit above. That’s what verse 5 says. It is born of water and spirit, and it has to come from above. Now, this is the most debated verse in this passage because it’s not immediately clear what he’s talking about about water and spirit. So I read several different uh people who are way smarter than me, and it seems pretty clear that Jesus is referencing an Old Testament passage here. Uh, and if we’re not familiar with that pa- passage, the meaning of it might
be lost on us. Okay? So let’s go to that passage. This is from Ezekiel 36, and this is going to help us understand what the rebirth is, okay? We’ve seen the need for it. Now, what is happening exactly, Joshua? Ezekiel writes, I will sprinkle clean water on you. Already, we have we have the theme of water.
And you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and cleanness and and uncleannesses. Wow, how many s’s can we add in there? And from all your idols, I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart. And a new spirit I will put within you. Boom, theme of spirit. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
This gives us insight into what exactly is occurring when one is born again, when one experiences regeneration. And what we see here in this passage is that there is an opening of the heart to the realities of God. An opening that some translations say, you will not even see the kingdom of God. It’s not that you haven’t entered only, but you can’t even recognize it.
And now with the spirit being given a new self, a new life, you can see those things. Also, there’s a desire to please God. I want to obey his commandments. That’s what the last verse says here in Ezekiel. And so from this new birth comes repentance, faith, and trust. But when does it happen? When does this new birth happen?
It’s somewhat mysterious. In all honesty, we often know better that it has happened than when it has happened. Um, some experience like Paul on Damascus Road, like me, an instantaneous change. My October 14th, 2005, God changed my life forever. Others, especially those who grow up in the church, it’s a more gradual change.
It’s a more coming to see the realities and there’s nothing like punctiliar or instant, but it’s over a course of time. But in the instant change and the gradual change, what is clear is that there must be a change. No one is excused. Do you see who he’s talking to? He’s talking to a religious leader, someone who would have, quote unquote, grown up in the church. And he says, you, Bridges, you need a rebirth.
No one gets excused. It’s hardest for those who are religious to accept the doctrine of regeneration because it leaves no one out. So the question that this text presses against us is, have you been born again? Have you experienced this new life, this new self given by the spirit? There are three different responses that you can give to this question.
Have you been born again? First, you could say, yes. Yes, I have. And what this passage is going to press you is say, do you see the grace of it all? That you have nothing that wasn’t given? It immediately destroys your pride against those who do not believe. It gives you every confidence as well that he who began this work in you, you didn’t make yourself reborn. He did it.
Any any more than a baby can say, it’s time to go. He who began that work will complete that work. You didn’t begin it, begin it, and you will not end it. Your regeneration is the basis for your holiness and good works, not the other way around. So that’s the yes. Perhaps you could say, no. Um, I don’t, I mean, I’m interested in what you say or interesting what you say, but I’ve not experienced that.
What this text presses against you is, are you ready to find yourself? Listen to the one, listen to this man who knows you better than yourself, who offers you true freedom, safety, hope, and joy. Isn’t that why you’re looking for yourself to begin with? He has it in the droves. You won’t find by looking in.
Look to the one who made you, who gives you a new self, and then you’ll find yourself. The third response to have you been born again is, I don’t know. It’s a honest, it’s an honest assessment. I don’t really know. How how would I tell? Here’s some diagnostic questions for you. Has your life changed?
Do you have a new sensibility to the realities of God? Are you battling sin? We are not saved by our works, we’re saved by faith alone, but faith never remains alone. It leads to, our faith inevitably leads to an increasing hatred of sin and a repentance from sin. Those are some diagnostic questions and I’m happy to talk with anyone further.
So that is what it is. And finally, where does it come from? What is the source of this new self, this new life? Where does it come from? Jesus speaks directly to this kind of in a roundabout way. He’s again referring to an Old Testament passage. And if we’re not familiar with this passage, it might be lost on us.
Let me read the verses that Katie read for us again. This is verse 13. No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man. Jesus’s favorite title for himself. And 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.
This is referring to an admittedly strange passage in the Old Testament, uh Numbers 21. Uh we’re we’re not going to read it, but uh the context of that is Israel was in the clutches of slavery from uh in Egypt. God releases them and says, I’m going to give you a I’m going to give you a land, I’m going to uh give you the land of Canaan that’s flowing with milk and honey.
So they go on this journey and they’re not there yet. Okay? This is where we pick up in Numbers 21. And they’re in a barren land. As God’s gracious provision, he gives them food out of the sky. Literally, food falling from the sky. And they say, Is there anything new on on Tuesdays? Nope, same thing, same thing.
And they begin to grumble. They begin to complain. God says, that is not how you treat my gift. And he judges them. His judgment is that he sends poisonous serpents into the camp. And they, the Israelites begin uh get they they get bit and they start dying and they complain to Moses. Help us, help us.
This is what God says. So strange. God says, Moses, forge a bronze serpent, put it on a pole and hold it up. Whenever someone looks to that bronze serpent, whenever they see that bronze serpent, they will be saved. Now, it’s so strange in that time because we have a benefit that they didn’t. We know what this bronze serpent is pointing to.
Because Jesus says, I am the one that ultimately you look to me and you will be saved. Because Jesus, just like that bronze serpent, is going to be lifted up. This time not on a pole, but on a cross. And anyone who looks to that man will be saved, not just from venomous serpents, but given eternal life.
Now, lifted up has two senses here and I’ve already shared with you one sense, that Jesus is going to be lifted up. He was the man who never identified himself anything other than being one with the Father. He kept the law completely. He was never curious or searching for himself because he knew what God said about him.
He had perfect relationship with God. And yet, he loses himself. Why? So that you could find yourself. He did it for you. He did it for me. And so now, in a second sense, Jesus is lifted up not only on a cross, but through a tremendous and wondrous change that the greatest instrument of humiliation now becomes Jesus’s exaltation. Because now there is no higher name than Jesus because he gives this gift of eternal life to those who look to him. Lifted up on the cross and lifted up in glory to God
the Father. He lost this for you so that you could find yourself. Despite the brokenness that has been since sin entered the world as a whole, in our relationships, in your own heart, Jesus is putting back the world, putting the world back together by putting you back together. And what God begins in the new life in our hearts will be that newness that will fill a thousand hills when God puts every uh end to all evil when he comes.
This kingdom begins today in every life he creates anew. You can taste it today if you look to him. Now, as we are coming to a close here, I’ve been telling you that you won’t find yourself unless you find yourself in him. But do not come to him just for that. In fact, you won’t find yourself in him until you start stop thinking about yourself altogether.
C.S. Lewis writes in an illuminating way as he often does. He says this, describing this reality. But there must be in regeneration, in becoming a Christian, there must be a real, real giving up of the self. You must throw it out blindly, so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a new personality, excuse me, a real personality, but you must not go to him for the sake of that.
As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about, you are not going to him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real new self, which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is his, will not come as long as you are looking for it.
It will come when you are looking for him. Come to the one who takes your heart, your whole being into himself to find ourselves in what we were made for. Let us pray. Dear Lord Jesus, we see the truths in John 3 that we are bankrupt, that we are dead, that the life of the spirit cannot be born of the flesh, but must be born by you.
Oh, God, open our eyes. Convict us, point us to the one who is lifted up for our sake so that we might be found in him. I know this this idea, this doctrine creates a lot of questions and I pray, oh God, that um that we would be uh faithful, that we would be intentional about seeking out those questions, whether in your scriptures, whether in prayer, whether in community here at Bridges, because we want to be found in you.
Thank you for that gift of the new birth, of the new reality of being found in the spirit by grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
