Alive But Dead Inside

Here we go. The apostle Paul got political. The concept of alive but dead inside.

But with all Scripture, we have to go through it verse by verse. And Paul actually gets political, believe it or not. He gets political.

Because he says, wait a minute, you're not throwing me out of here. I have rights. I'm a Roman citizen.

And it really shows that they had certain rights at that point. And remember, when we talk about rights, we are talking about God-given rights. That's why we fight for them.

They're called God-given rights. The right to freely worship God. That should be guarded.

And you've heard of the right to life movement. Who's gonna be the voice for a little nine-month-old that now you can kill? And some say, we have lost our mind. You want me to be quiet? You want me to shut up? We can't.

We have to be vocal. And that's the problem is the pulpits have been silent. That's why we're in the predicament we're in.

I don't want to offend people, but if the Word and the truth offends, let it fall where it falls. Jesus says, we'll be to you when all men speak well of you. You're trying to please men, you don't please the Father.

That's how it works. Now, of course, our attitude should be gracious and loving and humble. Guys, I'm trying, but sometimes you get ticked off too.

And you have to just speak the truth in love. I don't know if we even, we do have it. Check this out.

This is the Constitution of California. Let's read it together. We the people of the state of California grateful to Almighty God for our freedom and order to secure.

I'm gonna lose my mind here. For those listening on radio, what we said was, the people of the state of California grateful to Almighty God for our freedom. Why do we have our freedom? In order to secure and perpetuate, that means to continue the blessings that God has given us.

That's why they established the Constitution. So when people say too political, no, we're going back to the original intent. That's why we want people in positions of leadership who will make a difference.

Especially in the area of governor have huge ramifications. And it's just amazing that, talk about drifting pretty far, we have made a complete reversal. And I don't know how many of you know St. Augustine, but from his book, City of God, to Calvin's work in Geneva, and from William Wilberforce, to today's current movements, laws have consequences and leaders shape destiny.

A Christian whose heart has been changed by the Gospel wants to make a difference. We want to be a voice for the unborn. We want to end trafficking.

We want, so people say, here's the thing I get from pastors, oh, I don't preach. I don't preach politics. I just preach the Gospel.

And I like what Pastor Jack Hibbs says to them, then you need to repent. Because there's a lie that says they're separate, be quiet, because when the Gospel changed my heart, I want to make a difference in society. How do you separate the two? What that really is, it's a coward who doesn't want to offend.

Any pastor who says, I don't get political, I don't go there, I just preach the Gospel, is not wanting to offend people. Now granted, they don't need to make it every Sunday, they don't need to make, but when you get to parts of the Word, if you're preaching, unless you're a motivational speaker, then don't be a pastor. Go be Tony Robbins.

But pastors are called to speak the truth in love. And so Acts, where we find ourselves, in Acts 16, you know what's funny, I just have to say this, but those people who don't want to get political get very political when the policies affect them. People are not political, hey, they're going to register sex offender on your street.

Oh, they'll be down at city council, they'll be wanting to vote propositions in, all kinds of things. But they don't realize that it is affecting them and their children at a very deep level and will eventually have enormous consequences. And so when it was day, well, I probably should tell you where we're at here, the Apostle Paul and Silas were locked up in prison and the jailer came to faith in Christ, God broke off their chains, an earthquake came, and they are being set free now after all of this.

And that's where it says, and when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, so the governing authority sent to the police officers basically, hey, go ahead and let those men go, we just beat the snot out of them. And they stayed in prison overnight, so go tell them, you can just go now. So the keeper of the prison reported these things to Paul, hey, our politician said that you can go now, sorry for the hassle, now therefore depart and go in peace.

And Paul said to them, and I guarantee this was not quiet and laid back, I mean, there's an explanation point on this, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and they've thrown us into prison? Hello? And now they just wanna put us out secretly? No, indeed, let them come themselves and get us out. I have rights. And so I wanna talk about these things, I actually shortened the sermon up so it wasn't about this, it's more about the last half.

In short, Paul's saying, I have rights, and I'm going to exercise those rights. How do we exercise rights today? It's called a political process. Oh man, there's so much.

Do you know what's going on in Canada? Or Australia? With freedom of speech? England, UK? It's ugly. It's ugly. And this is where our nation is going.

If there's not a mighty, massive awakening from God, and hopefully a political revolution that is God-centered, God-focused. Can you imagine God going to Trump and senators and dreams and visions and waking them up to really seeking Him? That's our hope, guys. Democrat, Republican, Independent, we just need the right people and positions of leadership.

So here's the thing, in case those don't know, politics, the word actually means governing, leading a group of people. So if you don't like that word, how about just, does God's word say anything about governing people? It does. So the role, actually, why God instituted, at first it was a monarchy in the Old Testament.

It was God. And then, you know, series of events, there's different nations and different things. So the role, God says, okay, I've got the institution of family to obviously have kids and be a blessing on the earth, rule the earth, and then I have the institution now of the church for 2,000 years.

These are God's institution to come together corporately, get my message out. Now, who's gonna protect those two institutions? The government. God's thing.

So if people get upset about that, you just need to point them to Scripture. God did this. So the purpose is to restrain evil and deter wrongdoing.

And I can hear it now, people say, but Shane, you can't legislate morality. No, but you can restrain evil. What if the punishment was, for trafficking, the death penalty? You take a four-year-old, you're gonna be killed.

I have no problem with that. Get it on tape, audio, I don't care. God's Word is behind that too.

Now, I can't do it vigilante, it'd be left to the court system, but the punishment fits the crime. You would see things drop considerably, oh, without a shadow of a doubt. And so see, when you begin to minimize the punishment, you increase crime.

And that's why God's Word, I mean, you read the Old Testament, I mean, you keep yourself in order. Adulteress and adulterer, men, women, you'd be stoned to death. You think that might deter it a little bit? I don't know.

You take a life, it costs you your life. And it wasn't 14 years of appeals and a million dollars in taxpayer's money, it was a witness, witnesses, trial, execution. Man, that's how you deter evil.

When you start to like slap hands and... Yeah, and just, well, see, what happens is a lot of politicians without the Spirit of God, they don't know what the problem is, so they think they can throw more money at it to fix the problem. How much did California spend in the homeless ministry? I mean, for the homeless people? I had to like check that three times. It's billions.

And boy, how do you spend billions of dollars and have a worse problem because it's also spiritual? Yes, many are legitimate, but many are drug addicted. And what's the solution? Give them more, put them in housing. No, you gotta get, it's a spiritual issue.

And so we see all these, they don't have the Spirit of God. So they think that if we could just rehabilitate, and I love rehabilitation, but the best way to rehabilitate someone is to change them from the inside out. You give them the Gospel, that's how they change.

You don't just throw more money at programs, okay, go to anger management, try to do better next time. Breathe first, wear a rubber band, just zap yourself when you feel like getting angry. Let's just rehabilitate them.

You need to get the Gospel back into prisons. And that's how you truly change prisoners. And praise God, if it goes well, Kevin's got me, I'm preaching to about 700 prisoners October 1st with Richard doing worship.

And so that's how you change the hearts. And I have a heart for those in prison because had I been caught, like don't look at me that way, you know, you know many of you, you should do some time. How many of you drove drunk? Okay, one honest person, two honest person.

A felony after many times. How many of you, you know, I won't get into details, but that's why you just didn't get caught. It was the grace of God, and so we have a passion for those people and individuals.

But anytime you minimize the penalty, the pain, you will increase evil. And that's what's happening, especially in California. When they got that DA out.

And see, politics matters. A DA that puts registered sex offenders back into society who have been convicted of incredible crimes. And they say, oh, my heart's better than your heart.

No, it's not. Because you don't care for the victims. Give everybody the Gospel.

The Gospel's never, you're never too far gone for anything, but you also have to protect. That's the role of government. And Paul's saying, you should have protected me.

You didn't protect me. God gives people freedom, and those freedoms are protected by legislation. Well, government is evil.

Yep, you get a lot of people into something, yep, it becomes evil. You spotted that one. But I think there's a difference between North Korea and America.

Anybody want to go live in Syria? Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan? Much of Africa? We have been blessed. That's why I want to reemphasize this. God brought people in and made legislation, and you couldn't even run for government unless you believed in God.

And they based the form of government, judiciary, Congress, and the President on, I believe it was one of the prophets, God will be your judge, your lawgiver, and your king. That's where it came from. They referenced the Bible four times more than any other source.

A church's tax-exempt status comes from the book of Ezra. They would quote all, and they would use, they wanted God's Word to be the foundation. If it had a law, a punishment, it had the Scripture next to it.

And so we have been given an incredible gift. You actually have a republic. And as Benjamin Franklin said, if you can keep it.

So I like this topic because it's important to God. And whatever is important to God is important to us. Whatever he thinks is a priority is a priority to us.

And laws protect those who need protecting. And when we get out of that process, we have what we have. We are called to be salt and light in all areas of society.

So there goes the argument of not voting and not getting involved. And I know, I know right now, there's a lot of people who will not vote in November. And I want to just remind you that you are voting.

When you say at home, you just voted. Probably for the wrong person by silence. Because in order to get the right person, it takes more votes.

Unfortunately, that's the world we live in. And we vote for who is going to fulfill the role of government the best. That's so lesser of two evils.

Well, who's gonna fulfill the role of government the best? The role, not as nice tweets, not as pastor in chief. Who's gonna protect you from Iran, China? Yeah, they want to come in. Who's gonna protect you and your kids? And if you're for open borders, why don't you leave your doors unlocked and your windows open? No, let's be honest.

Can we just be honest today? Every day, okay, yeah. So let me, here's the thing. I could care less about politics when I was younger.

I want a Corona and Lyme and make lots of money. But when you start to have kids and you start to get a little older, you realize just how important it is. Register and at least make your voice known.

I want to put up a few quotes just to, before I'm gonna transition to about the Gospel in just a minute, but I want to just put up some quotes from 1800s. In those days, politics were preached in the pulpits and men were led to action on the side of freedom by faithful pastors. See, I read Spurgeon's sermons where he came against slavery.

Same with Whitefield. Same with Wesley. Billy Graham got in trouble in the 50s.

And so you see it's throughout our history of a nation because people would come to church before Facebook and social media, and then somebody who's spending time in God's Word, discerning the times, knows what elected officials believe, know about legislation, they would tell the people how to vote and who to vote for based on what God's Word says. That's where people would come. They're hungry for it.

And then a guy by the name of Johnson, you ever heard of him? Got upset that the churches came against him and so he came up with the Johnson Amendment that says if you get political, you can lose your tax-exempt status. And I was part of a group of pastors. We definitely broke that rule and we sent our messages to the IRS.

Because we would love that court case. You can win it easily at the Supreme Court level, especially now. Why especially now? Leadership matters.

Do you realize where we would be if we had all nine Supreme Court Justices said, we don't know what a woman is. I'm not a biologist. Do you guys know? She knows what it is.

She just can't say it because of the woke agenda. Of course she knows. Hello? She's like, oh, I'm gonna alienate half the nation.

No, you're probably gonna alienate like a small percentage of the nation. How is the majority taking over the majority? There's not a lot of people that are behind these crazy thoughts where men can have women. It's demonic.

Men can have women. Men can have babies. It is.

It's demonic. And every time I speak on these things, we think the church will lose attendance. It usually maintains or gains.

Because people, 91% of all Americans want to hear the truth from the pulpits of America. They do. And so that's why I have no problem saying these things.

Because it's been throughout church history. Again, John Calvin in his book, City of God, read it. I'm sorry, Augustine, 350, 360, 360.

370, 380, the whole book is about that city of God. Politics built on God's Word. Same with John Calvin in Geneva.

Same with the Reformed, it was all throughout. Now there's errors inside of those things and nobody does things perfectly, but we should be passionate in this area. What about the House and Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1800s? Okay, can you imagine the House and Senate Judiciary Committee? Now, this is a committee from the House and Senate that is involved in judicial matters.

They said, in this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity. That was the religion of the founders of this republic and they expect it to remain the religion of their descendants. William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania.

Basically, where it originated, all human power originated was from God first. That's where the political power comes from, from God first. It's to terrify evildoers.

Secondly, it's to cherish those who do well. Government seems to me to be a part of religion itself. And I mean, I could stay here for two hours, so I'm not gonna bore you.

But how about a signer of the Declaration of Independence? I love this one. I conjure you. I hope I pronounced that right.

Conjure? Conjure? Oh, it's to say. How about, I very seriously want you to listen to this. By all, can you hear his heart here? By all that is dear, by all that is honorable, by all that is sacred, not only that you pray, but men of God, you've got to act.

You've got to act. What does that mean? Take it to the Lord. Most of you are not gonna be as vocal as me.

That's okay. God has called me to do this. I'm not embarrassed.

I'm not backing away. I spent countless hours seeking His face, fasting in His Word, humbling me, and so when He puts this on my heart, if I don't, I go home, and I regret it for a long time. Oh, by the way, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, half of them were ordained ministers of the Gospel, and when they signed that independence, they signed their death sentence, the warrant for their death.

That was treason by hanging. Can you imagine this? If you watch the young George Washington movie that's out, he was actually, it was before America was born, but once they defined that independence of Britain, and they signed off on it, if they lost, all of the men would be hung for treason. Their farms burned, their families imprisoned, and yet, they trusted Almighty God.

Okay, that's my vent on politics. Now we can get to the message alive but dead inside. So the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans.

So the police officers go back to the elected officials, wait, these guys are Romans, he's ticked off. Paul is demanding to see you because they actually broke the law. Did you know politicians can break the law? Do you guys know that? And that's another thing, you call them out, you make legislation, then they came and pleaded with them.

So, because what could have happened is Paul could have taken this higher and really had a good point to where these guys would possibly be imprisoned in themselves and beaten themselves. And so they came and they pleaded with Paul, and please, just leave the city. So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

I'm frustrated, but I get it, and I like Paul's heart, he just let it go. Isn't that cool? He didn't press it. However, though, he did challenge.

He didn't just leave quietly. He challenged, he was bold, he was assertive, and because of that, the guys were like, oh no, please leave. And he said, who knows what else they said, he could have said, I'm leaving.

But look at the lesson it left those guys. Instead of Paul being vengeful and hatred, he probably witnessed about Jesus, and he left and they're like, that was a close one. So what I like, though, is he was bold when he needed to be bold, and he was compassionate when he needed to be compassionate.

Here's where we have it wrong in our churches. We are always bold, and sometimes you need to be compassionate. But many of you are very compassionate, and you need to get a little boldness going.

You need a little holy fire. Never call out anybody on social media. They're happy posts and they're garbage.

Sometimes every now and then, let them have it. In love. In love.

Hey, I've been reading your post for six months, I just have to call you on a lot of things. God is real. Atheism is a lie, and you speak the truth in love.

It's not always about compassion. All you have to do is look at the words of Jesus. Sometimes we should balance those.

For every turn the other cheek, he didn't turn the other cheek. You guys know that? When he got slapped, he didn't turn the other cheek. What did he do? He got bold.

Why have you slapped me? What evil have I done? For every love your neighbor, he railed on the Pharisees. Oh, you look nice on the outside, but you're dead inside. You're bones.

You're dead bones inside. I mean, we will never do it perfectly, but there needs to be a time where we do speak the truth in love. And then now, we go into chapter 17, where we're gonna be for the next few weeks.

God willing, sometimes you might change directions. So when they came to Thessalonica, this is actually the town where Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. So this is gonna get interesting.

Paul's gonna go into the synagogue as a former Pharisee, and he's going to begin to teach them. And so when he went in for three Sabbaths in a row, he reasoned with them from the Scriptures. I wish we had more on that, like exactly how, what, where, when, why, contradictions, how he explains certain things.

But all we have is this part. He explained and demonstrated that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead. And what he said to them was, just Jesus, who I preach to you, is the Christ.

And some of them were persuaded. Some of them were persuaded. And a great multitude of devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, they joined Paul and Silas.

So explaining and demonstrating that Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, again, that could take another sermon because you pull in Isaiah, and you pull in some Old Testament things, and that's probably what he did. Can you imagine, like he wrote the scrolls, he said, see right here? This was fulfilled. Not a bone broken.

Right? Beaten beyond recognition. And the prophets said this. Remember on the cross he said, Father, do not forsake me.

And look at what David wrote in the psalm. And he probably spent time showing him all these different areas in the Old Testament and said, look, Jesus fulfilled that. That Jesus, whom I preach to, is the Christ.

In other words, we hear it, we're like, yeah, that makes sense. But to hear it, in other words, what they've been following for centuries, listening to the prophets, reading the prophets, waiting for their soon coming, waiting for the Messiah. Paul said that was Him.

How's that going to go over? Wait a minute, the guy they put on the cross? Yeah, remember as a lamb is led to the slaughter, He opened not His mouth. Do you remember back in Leviticus without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin? And the Passover, look at this Passover. That whoever put the blood on it was spared.

And whoever puts the blood of Jesus... I bet Paul just was exploding inside. Because he knew the Old Testament better than anybody in this room. Or listening, no doubt.

And so he's saying, you could probably hear the gasp in the room. People talking. Because this is the biggest thing in their world.

The Messiah coming. Wait a minute, I thought He was supposed to conquer Rome. And so Paul's deflecting all of these rebuttals and things like that.

But at some point though, it says, and some were persuaded. Some were persuaded. What does that word mean? Some were convinced.

By His persuasion, explanation. And we find this, I think as we get more along, Paul is in front of King Agrippa. And he says, I would to God that I would persuade you.

And Jesus, you can almost hear like, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I wanted to gather you. I wanted to gather you as hens, but you were not willing. And if you look at that Greek word, it means basically you were not persuaded.

You didn't embrace me. So just to be honest and transparent this morning, one of the reasons, although I like some of the points, one of the reasons I don't embrace Calvinism, five-point Calvinism, is it because it teaches that God elects certain people. You know, election.

So the persuasion, there's no persuasion. You're not persuading anybody. Because when God chooses, you're elect.

For example, if He says, Phil, you're chosen. So actually, they believe in the order of salvation. It's called ordo salivio or something in Latin.

The order of salvation that He, before He can have faith and repent and believe, He gets the Holy Spirit first. So now that you have the Holy Spirit, now you can have faith and repent and believe. But when I read the Bible, it's like have faith, believe, repent, and then you get the Holy Spirit.

So that's why, and you see Paul persuading people. You see Jesus persuading people. You see people just persuading would-be to God.

Because this would not be true based on how I understand God's election based on Calvinism, if that makes sense. So that's why, although I agree with perseverance of the saints and not losing your salvation, I don't agree that, I believe that God gives people the ability to accept or reject Him. That's not a good work.

Just like Adam, God gave Adam the ability to accept, to turn to sin or not to sin. Doesn't mean he had evil in him. He was created good.

But they have this ability to accept or reject. And when they reject, the penalty is hell. The punishment, separation from God.

And that's why in preaching, and you'll see somebody who believes in Calvinism versus what I believe, even the preaching's different. Because I'm trying to persuade. I'm trying to just let the Holy, but this person would know that there's nothing they can do.

It doesn't matter. I mean, it matters because it's a commandment, but you know, God's gonna draw who He's gonna draw. It's not, you know, I'm not really gonna persuade anybody.

So I get it. But that's just a side note why I can't embrace the fall on election that people have no choice in the matter because actually the way I understand God is you're punished because of the choice you did or didn't make. If you can't make that choice, how can you be punished? It's like me telling, anybody have a six-month-old? Or three-month-old? It'd be me like telling them, commanding them to walk and then punishing them because they can't walk.

So when God says, repent, I don't wish that any should perish, repent and believe the gospel, that tells me people designed by God, not a good work, designed by God, people have the ability to either accept Him or reject Him. Granted, there's the role of the Holy Spirit. There's a conviction of sin.

Nobody comes to the Son unless the Father draws Him, that we're decamoy, and there's a lot of things there, but that's a side note why I believe in powerful, Holy Spirit-inspired, bold preaching because you can persuade people. All I do is look at Jesus' sermons and words. I look at Paul's sermons, even Charles Spurgeon.

Even you see these people that even Calvinists, there's a persuasion there. They're trying to compel men. Would you turn to God? Would you turn to Him and live? Can you imagine if that was gone? Like I asked somebody that, a friend of mine.

He started a church. It didn't work out back when we started this church. And I go, but if it doesn't matter, because think about it.

It really doesn't matter if you show up or not. Correct? God's gonna elect who He's gonna elect. Doesn't matter what you say.

Doesn't matter your sermon. Why even show up? He goes, well, because I'm commanded to. And He is.

He's commanded to show up and preach. But you can tell there's no passion in his heart. There's no zeal.

Because it really doesn't matter if you think it through other than you're being obedient to the preaching of the Word. So it says here, and some of them were persuaded. And again, if we look this Word up, you can cross-reference it where it's used elsewhere.

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. You can look at commentaries. And it's somebody was going, they're not convinced, and yet you convince them by Scripture.

They are persuaded to change their view based on his preaching and what he said. And so what I wanted to share with you for this portion is something I've actually never went through verse by verse that I think of, even though we've talked about it a lot. And on this point of explaining Christ and being had to suffer and the born-again experience and persuading people, what really stood out this week was John 3.16. It wasn't written yet, but I'm sure it was no doubt preached in their hearts.

They would travel and they would preach John 3.16. And the reason is many were alive spiritually, but they were dead inside. That's the title of the message for that reason. Many people are alive, their bodies are alive, but they are dead inside.

An interesting thing with John 3.16, isn't it, it's revered, correct, for us, but it's also mocked. It's cherished, but it's also scorned. And it's this incredible verse that we love the verse, but when you see it abused, ready for 1990s, Austin 3.16? You guys don't know it.

How many don't know what I'm talking about? Okay, good, that's pretty good. But even as a prodigal, I cringed when I saw that. What it is, is that famous wrestler, Stone Cold Steve Austin, he started to put Austin 3.16 on everything.

Because one wrestler quoted Scripture and he said, yeah, I'm gonna Austin 3.16 you. I'm gonna destroy you. And then that went viral.

It was everywhere. And even as a prodigal, in my late 20s, probably thinking, I don't know when he started, but I was like, ooh, not a good idea. Not a good idea.

And so it's mocked, it's scorned. People, even on social media, where's your God now? This God who so loved the world, how is He allowing this in the anniversary of September 11th? Of course, they don't want to. If they were really seeking, they'd be open to hear the truth about it.

The truth about it is God is there, but we live in a very evil, fallen, sinful world, so there's still disease, there's still violence, there's still all these things. We are out of control, yet God is still there. If everything was good, we would be in heaven.

We're not in heaven. We're still on this God-forsaken earth that they call. It's not God-forsaken.

He's still there. I can't explain it. I can't explain why do good things happen to bad people.

I'm sorry. Yeah, that too, I guess, that too. Prophets had a problem with that too.

Why are they prospering? Why are the wicked prospering? But why do bad things happen to good people? And as a reminder, that has only happened one time in human history, and He volunteered when a bad thing happened to a good person. Because we are, Jesus of course, but we live in this fallen world, and in that there's sickness, there's disease, there's violence, there's things that don't make sense, and many times that draws us closer to the Lord, and people come to faith in Christ through it. And so let's talk about that for a minute.

John 3, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Now, Paul could have even been telling some of this story, because this book of John wasn't written, as they're going through, as we're in Acts, these gospels have not been written yet. However, the stories were still told from day one, because they were there.

That's how they got a lot of things out, oral interpretation. And so there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews.

Check this out, a ruler of the Jews who did not truly know God. Many of these people would go through the motions, go through the rituals, and maybe, again, commentators are divided. Before Jesus were some of these Pharisees, or religious leaders, were they saved because they were following the Torah, they were doing the sacrificial system, the blood, and I'll leave that between them and God.

But we do know now that Jesus is here. This Nicodemus, he was a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night.

And there's a couple reasons why he might have done that. Number one, embarrassed. I'm trying to relate this to people.

Many listening are too embarrassed to talk about Jesus. Do you know why that is? Because a person is not filled mightily with the Spirit of God. Because when you are, you're not embarrassed to talk about Jesus.

You could care less. And this was me all throughout my 20s. I was in the Secret Service.

Secret Service Christian. Because right when you're chasing the world, the things of God are embarrassing. Because you want to be Mr. Tough Guy.

Man, I'm talking about Jesus. My mom goes to church and raises her hand and acts weird. But that's not me.

I'm Mr. Tough Guy. And so we have this persona, we have this persona with our friends, and so we keep God in the closet. Like a vacuum, we'll get it when we need it.

And that could have been, he was embarrassed. Or he was worried about the opinions of others. Because if the other leaders knew he was going to talk to Jesus, watch out, watch out.

And of course, he himself was in darkness. He was in darkness to the things of God, and Jesus is going to call him out. And so when he went to Jesus, he said, Rabbi, we know, we know that you are a teacher from God.

Without a shadow of a doubt. This is what I always find interesting. There's no way around this.

Blind eyes, people raised from the dead. Just miracles. I mean, it's clearly, and they had the pride in their heart was so strong because they wanted a conquering king to conquer Rome.

Not this man born of fornication, they said. We don't know where you're from. Who is this guy telling us what to do? Pride is deadly, isn't it? It's damning.

And we know you're from God. Obviously, creation shouts Creator. Look at all these things you're doing because nobody could do all these things.

And Jesus said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So he had religion, but not a relationship. He had a reputation for being alive, but he was dead inside.

And you've heard it probably, I think Time Magazine in the 70s, and the born again experience, and oh, have you been born again? And they kind of mock it, and born again, and I mean, it's just, I don't know if it's talked about as much, but when I was growing up, it was mocked a lot, and they would make fun of you, you know, like a holy roller Christian, Jesus freak, and born again. Shane got religion. What it means is you're born physically, but unless you are born spiritually into God's kingdom, you will die in your sins.

So that's what he's saying. But of course, he's confused. How can I be born again? How do I go back in my mother's womb and be born? And I just wanted you to know this.

God appreciates legitimate questions. Don't be afraid of questioning, God. The right kind of questioning, just the way I said that kind of sounds a little funny, because we're not too, but it's okay to ask, like, Lord, why? What are You doing here? I need some help.

Help me understand this. Give me wisdom. Give me insight to this.

Help me get through this. Why I don't understand the situation. And because it's in the not understanding that we begin to search Him, and we begin to seek Him with all of our heart.

Or, if you're like some people too, they get really bitter or negative and go the other direction. Don't do that. Allow your questions to draw you to the cross.

And then I didn't put down, I think it's verses five through 13 or so, where they go into this whole thing about the Holy Spirit blowing where He wishes. But he gets to verse 14. He says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up.

He's giving him a glimpse into the future. This is pretty cool. And he knows exactly what he's talking about because when the people were struck by serpents, God was judging them.

Their sin had consequences. He said, make a brazen serpent. Actually, it probably looks like the medical symbol.

You know, something like that, by the way. And they put this serpent up. And whoever looked at the serpent, what was it? Had faith in God's healing power.

Looked at the serpent. Trusted what he said. Had faith in God.

They were healed and no longer sick. And so he says, just in the same exact way, the Son of Man will be lifted up. And here's how it works when I am lifted up.

I wonder if Nicodemus thought about this when he saw him lifted up. They call it the place of the skull. Golgotha.

And he was lifted up and they would look up and they would see him there. That whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. This is different than Moses' healing by the serpent.

That was for physical life. This is for spiritual life. That whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

In other words, God has given this gift of salvation. There's nothing we can do. No good work.

Nothing. Nothing bridges that gap from how we have sinned against God. Nothing except a sacrifice that pays the price, pays the penalty for sin and death.

And when you look at that, when you believe in Him, you will have eternal life. And then that's where now the famous verse comes from. For God so loved, verse 16, for God so loved the world.

Another reason that I embrace God loving the whole world is because of this verse. It's not just for certain people. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever, whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And that's that call, whoever. And that's why you don't give up on people. Have you ever seen, it's often the people, like there's no way that God grabs your heart, and then people think, oh, they're close.

And sometimes He does, but often it's to the people who are farthest away. Because here's what happens, when the darkness is so dark, you turn to the light. When God gets you at the rock bottom, at the rock bottom, you eventually look at the rock at the bottom.

Going through difficult times. Be careful when you're not going through anything challenging because it says it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven. Why is that? Because I have no need for God.

I have my bills paid. I make great money. Everything's going good.

I have a kid, a boat, a yacht, whatever it is. Toys in the garage, going on many vacations. Man, everything's good.

Why are they gonna turn to God? Well, you don't wanna go to hell. I don't believe in that stuff. Anyway.

See how hard that is? That's why sometimes people should praise God that He broke them and humbled them. That's how they knew to cry out to Him. And that's also where this big word comes from, propitiation.

Jesus took our place and absorbed the wrath of God. That's what people need to understand about the cross. If you could simplify it, is because of sin, we are born into the world and we have sin.

I don't think we're born perfect and make bad choices later. I think we're born in sin and that's why it says the wrath of God abides on us because of sin. And so Jesus took the place of that sin, propitiation, absorbed God's wrath on the cross.

So many Scriptures were fulfilled and that's why we have to repent and believe. We have to believe that God's sacrifice is enough, that it was sufficient. That's why belief and faith is so important.

And I know I've told this story before, but it might be good now for those of you who didn't hear it but it'll kind of help give you a picture of this. Josh Hoverton is really big right now on social media for especially the younger crowd, but he talks about this story of this king who issues a decree that whoever is caught stealing all of his gold or pulling out gold of the treasury is going to be killed. And months go by and they finally get the little thinker.

It's his daughter. She's pulling out the gold. And the king is just, the king is fair.

He's known for that. He cannot go back just because it's his daughter. And so they set a date for the execution and it's 40 lashings.

And people can't believe the king's going through with it. And they all come out on that day and they take her shirt and they rip the back of it. And as they're getting ready to execute the punishment that she deserves, the king says, hold on.

And he undoes his shirt and covers and says, now hit. And he's like, king, I can't do that. Now hit, strike.

And that's what a picture, right? That's what Jesus did. She deserves it, but he covers it. And that's why there's passion preaching.

There's urgency preaching. The message of the gospel is always urgent. And then a verse sometimes people forget about, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

See, this is the big confusion right now. Jesus didn't come to condemn the world. He came as the lamb that was to be slaughtered.

But in the future, the lamb is coming as the lion of the tribe of Judah. And that's why John can see in the future that when he saw heaven open, Jesus was coming with the armies of heaven, riding on a white horse. And his eyes are like flames of fire.

And he's got all his crowns on his head and on his thigh, right thigh is written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And out of his mouth goes a sword that he will strike the nations. He will rule those nations with the rod of iron at the right time, at the right place.

He will tread the wine press and the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God. But that hasn't come yet. That's why preachers plead the blood.

We encourage people to turn to God before it's too late. So there always should be a conviction, but not a condemnation. A sense of dread, but not a loss of hope.

This message is so important that we have to be truthful about it. We can't candy coat it and sugar coat it. We have to tell people the truth.

And that's why I love, I've read it before, but I just want to do it one more time. One of the favorite parts of a movie I like about George Whitefield, and when they let him preach, he said, I will not be a velvet mouth preacher. Do not be deceived.

You may have a religious head, but a devil in your heart. Our Lord speaks the same words to you as He did Nicodemus. You must be born again.

He was religious. He was respected. He was renowned.

He was known for being righteous. And still, the Master commanded him. He must be born again.

Would be to God that I would persuade some of you listening, maybe not here this morning, but listening online, listening on radio. Don't you wish you could talk to people that you know in heaven? Tell me how heaven is. Tell me, how is heaven? Guys, there's nothing more important than this topic.

So if you're watching online or you're here, are you alive but dead inside? Did you know the majority of Americans, just calling themselves Christian, they need to listen to this message. Paul said, examine yourselves. Examine yourselves.

Do you not know that Christ is in you? Is He in you? Is there fruit? Any fruit at all? You might not have a full fig tree, but there's a little buddy growing somewhere. Right, you got some figs hanging. You might not have the whole thing full, but there's some fruit.

If there's no fruit, if there's no passion, no desire, you know about Him, but you don't know Him. You have to repent and believe in the gospel. Repent and believe to be saved.