[00:00:00] Erin: Hi everyone. this is Erin Michelle. Welcome to steps to trusting and steps to trusting. It’s my goal to meet you where you are in your faith journey, and to encourage you to continue to take steps, to trusting the Lord more fully,

[00:00:12] if you weren’t here last time, I encourage you to go back and listen to that episode. But in today’s episode, we’re going to be looking at one of the concepts that she introduced to us. And that concept is what we behold affects how we believe and then how we believe affects our behavior. And even one more step, how we, how we behave, affects who we are becoming. We’re going to take that idea. And we’re going to look in at a scripture.

[00:00:42] I’m going to pray for us. And then we will go ahead and be turning to John three. Dear God, I thank you. And I praise you that you are working in us.

[00:00:53] God I thank you and I praise you that you are working in our heart. Lord that even when we don’t see you, when we’re not looking for you, you are working. And so Lord, I pray that you would give us eyes to see that you would open our eyes to behold who you are, what you are doing.

[00:01:12] Lord, help us to remember that it is not about our actions or our behavior that make us become important or become great Lord. But,

[00:01:22] but that’d be holding. You can change us. It can change us that we believe that we need you, that we behave in a way of thankfulness and love and that we become more like. Help us in this process and help us As we look at this passage, it’s in Jesus name that I pray.

[00:01:43] Amen. All right, friends, as I said, we are going to be in John three and this may or may not be familiar to you. It does have one of the most familiar verses in John three, John three 16 that says for God, so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,

[00:02:07] but we’ll get there. Let’s start in verse one. It says 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 them.

[00:02:30] Jesus answered him. Truly, truly. I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom

[00:02:37] 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 flesh is flesh.

[00:02:57] And that which is born of 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. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be?

[00:03:19] Jesus answered him. Are you a teacher of Israel? And yet you do not understand these things truly, truly. I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen. But you do not receive our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things, no one has ascended into heaven, except he who descended from heaven.

[00:03:47] 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. For God. So loved the world that he gave. His only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life for God, did not send his son into the world to condemn the world.

[00:04:08] But an order that he might be saved through him, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God,

[00:04:20] back to verse 11, truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. I’m going to pause there and I want to start thinking about Nicodemus. This.

[00:04:36] Nicodemus has came to Jesus because he saw something in him. Maybe we could say that he beheld something in him, right? Let’s look at it. He says in verse two, he says, 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.

[00:04:58] So Nicodemus sees something in Jesus. He sees something different

[00:05:04] and he believes something. He believes This man must have God with him.

[00:05:10] And it’s almost as if Jesus, as he often does turns and goes right to Nicodemus his heart. he starts digging at what Nicodemus believes. And he starts talking about being born again, Nicodemus can’t understand this, right? He then starts focusing on how could I be born again? And he shifts his gaze instead of looking at who Jesus is. He shifts what’s he’s beholding and he shifts and he looks at himself and he asks the question, how can a man be born when he is old, almost jokingly talking about like, do I go back in my mother’s in my mother’s belly?

[00:05:51] Like, this is not possible

[00:05:53] when Jesus shifts to him again, he says, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God and Jesus in his graciousness. He continues to explain that’s what was born of flesh is flesh. What was born of spirit is spirit.

[00:06:12] And he, he continues. He talks about the wind and he says that when the wind blows you can hear it sound, but you don’t know where it’s from or where it goes. He says, so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit, Jesus in his graciousness shifts Nicodemus to to behold the spirit, the power of the spirit. And he says, Nicodemus, this isn’t about you.

[00:06:40] This isn’t about what you must do, but about what God can do in you. He shifts

[00:06:48] his gaze to look at who God is

[00:06:52] When Nicodemus looks at what must I do. look at that idea of being born again and oh, the overwhelming task that that would be right. the way that Jesus explains this to Nicodemus is impossible.

[00:07:09] It’s not something that we can do, but if Nicodemus were to set his mind only on. This idea of how can I be born again? And the effort to be born again, Nicodemus could start believing that is about his actions, but Jesus is gracious enough to tell him it’s not about you, Nicodemus. And then instead, he actually takes him to look at a story.

[00:07:41] that happened to the Israelites. And it’s talked about in, in verse 14, it says, 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.

[00:07:58] The first time I heard the story of what this is relating to was so very confusing to me. and I still don’t have it all figured out, but it’s talking about a time in the wilderness where actually the people are complaining and disobeying God, and God sends a plague on them. there were serpents that were biting people and the people were getting sick and dying During that time, they realized that they’ve sinned and they go to Moses and they say, we’ve sinned. Tell us what to do. And Moses goes to God and God tells Moses to lift up this bronze serpent so that people can look to it.

[00:08:40] And that they’ll be saved that somehow through looking at this bronze image of a snake, God gives deliverance. And so we have to look at the fact that it’s not about this. It’s about trusting in God. It’s about turning towards him.

[00:08:58] I think it gives us this reminder and a picture of God’s power and saying, instead of beholding your problem and how you can fix it, it’s to turn to God and to realize that God gave you a way. looking to God for salvation, trusting in him. That’s what Jesus is telling Nicodemus. He’s saying God provided a way in the wilderness for these people. When they repented, they repented of their sin that brought the plague on them.

[00:09:30] And God provided a way. He told them to look to this. and in the action of looking to that snake that was lifted up, they were showing that they trusted in God. And so when we come to this passage of saying that just as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so the son of man must be lifted up so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

[00:09:58] We need to look to God’s way of provision. This is the way that God provides for us. He doesn’t provide for us in having enough willpower or strength or obedience or actions he provides for us through his son. Jesus.

[00:10:18] When Jesus has looking at Nicodemus and the eyes. And he tells him this story He’s telling him Nicodemus, don’t be, hold your problem. Don’t be hold that. This is too much for you to do behold, the son of man behold, Jesus lifted up on the cross.

[00:10:37] It goes back to beholding and believing, beholding the truth. That’s what’s next in the past. At God. So loved the world that he gave. His only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

[00:10:52] or God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. But in order that the world might be saved through him, that whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the son of God.

[00:11:09] See, Jesus gave us a gift of salvation. He didn’t come to condemn, but to save the need was already there. The condemnation, the brokenness it’s already there. And you go back to Nicodemus. You think of the need is already there. Whether Nicodemus acknowledges it or not, there’s a brokenness and Jesus is telling him, you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you’re born of the spirit.

[00:11:42] And so God, Jesus was sent. He came to fill that need

[00:11:47] the need that was already there, that it talks about here. It says, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is already condemned. That need is already there.

[00:11:58] in our case, the answer is already there too. Jesus came, he died. He was raised up as something that we can believe in that we can look to the promise of God that he said, whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And when it talks about eternal life there we know people die.

[00:12:19] It’s talking about being with God instead of eternal death, death, and separation from him. But life with God, just as Jesus rose from the dead that we will rise and be with him. As we walk friends, we are becoming who God has created us to be not because of works, but because of his sanctification and his work in our lives as his workmanship, I need to learn this lesson over and over that all the good in me is because of his workmanship and because of his gifts to me, If you’re like me, I encourage you to let that truth sink into your heart. Let it wash over. You be reminded that which is born of spirit is spirit. Only. God can do this work in your life. the question is, will we trust him to do it? Will we be holed? The son of man lifted.

[00:13:15] This passage, doesn’t give us this nice, tied up. Neat. Bow of where

[00:13:21] Nicodemus ended up. We do hear more about him in other places of the word. When I think of Nicodemus on this night, I think of

[00:13:31] his heart saying I want to be part of the kingdom. I see that you’re part of it. Tell me how I can be part of it. And she’s his answer is an answer. Does not make sense. It does not compute to Nicodemus because how can a man be born again?

[00:13:49] I think it’s a gift that this is what Jesus tells him to do, because we can’t do it. We can’t be born again, but the spirit,

[00:14:01] we can accept the spirits working in our life. We can look to God, we can behold who he is. And I love that Nicodemus came to Jesus. He didn’t just behold him from a distance. You didn’t just see him from a distance and say, oh, he’s, he’s a godly man. That’s. It came to him. He wanted to behold the truth.

[00:14:27] Often we look for what are the things that we can do for many questions that we would try and answer by what we do. Are we important? Do we have value? Are we great? Am I a friend? Am I part of the kingdom of God? How do I have a relationship with God? How do I earn my way by what I do into that place?

[00:14:56] And this is a reminder that it is not about what we do, but it’s about what God does in us.

[00:15:03] Because God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. If we see who God is, if we believe who he is that can affect our behavior, that can cause us to live for the one who died in our place,

[00:15:26] But we can’t start in that place of who we want to become. We can’t start in that place of what we believe or how we behave. We have to start with beholding God and his truth.

[00:15:40] Jesus shifts. Nicodemus is gaze. Yes. He’s looking at the truth. The evidence that he’s saying you are of God, but he says you need to look,

[00:15:52] look at the father, look that he sent his only son look that he gave that gift not to condemn us, but to give us a gift that if we believe in him that we might be saved through him,

[00:16:08] not of our works lest anyone should boast it’s not of our doing, Let’s go to a Ephesians two starting in verse eight, it says for by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing it is a gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast for.

[00:16:27] We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them,

[00:16:34] be holding who God is accepting this gift of God through belief we’ll show on our works and our behavior. Because we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. And as we walk friends, we are becoming who God has created us to be not because of the works, but because of his sanctification and his work in our lives, as his workmanship.

[00:17:07] Thank you so much for joining me today. I’m going to close us in prayer. Dear God, I pray that this message would speak to our hearts or that we wouldn’t find ourselves in this constant cycle of thinking highly of ourselves, thinking that we’ll be satisfied by our behavior or what we’re becoming because of our behavior.

[00:17:30] But Lord that we find satisfaction in you and that we can do good works to honor you. And because you’ve enabled us and gifted us to do that,

[00:17:43] or Jesus remind us

[00:17:45] of who you are. Lord, remind us to set our hearts and our minds on you. Not on the things that we are doing, but to be reminded every good and perfect gift is from you. Everything that we are equipped to do that is good is from you Lord

[00:18:01] and help us to set our eyes on you. It’s in Jesus name. I pray.

[00:18:05] Friends. Thank you for joining me today. if you were encouraged, would you go on to the app that you listen to podcasts with and leave me a rating or review? that would greatly encourage my heart.

[00:18:18] The best ways for you to connect with me is through my news.

[00:18:23] if you’re like me and you find yourself getting confused about becoming someone because of your works, I’ve created a resource, a journaling resource that put scripture alongside of journaling and help you look at the truth to behold, the truth of God. First

[00:18:45] apply that to our lives. And then look, how can we step out in faith? How can we live out of this place of grace that God has given us? If you’re interested in receiving that,

[00:18:59] I’ll put the links in the show notes where you could sign up to receive that. And You’ll also receive my newsletter, which has announcements come out there first. So if you want to keep up to date with what’s happening here,

[00:19:12] I hope you join us back here next time, where we will be talking with Stephanie Cochran about if we can trust God, even with our doubts. But until then, I want to leave you with this reminder from Ephesians two 10 for we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

[00:19:33] Friends. I’m praying for you as you keep on stepping.