Beloved friends, welcome to another meditation on our scripture study of them. Wonderful visit of Nicodemus when by night he visited the Lord Jesus. What a conversation that was between an elderly teacher of the Lord Moses and the Son of God and Son of Man, a much younger man in human years when the Lord was thus face to face with Nicodemus. and spoke not only mind to mind of such heights and depths of truth to this leading ruler of the Jews, though he was learned, but spiritually ignorant of his great need to be born again. He needed a new birth from above, from heaven, effective only by the work of the regenerating power of the Spirit of God. My beloved, forget not the work of the Holy Spirit is necessary to bring about this new birth in one's soul. And now we would commence our consideration of that precious portion. Were the words of Christ spoken from the heart of God through the heart of Christ to the heart of Nicodemus? Wonderful words, as they were thus heart to heart. Now for all this we must read John three. And first of all, verses fourteen and fifteen. The Lord Jesus saying as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Now Nicodemus had been asking, How? How? How could a man be born again? And now the Lord comes. revealing from his own great heart the heart of his Father God and seeking to speak to the heart of Nicodemus and tell him how. Let me once more emphasize that salvation is a matter of God dealing with the heart much deeper than dealing with the head. Now what the Lord Jesus gave to Nicodemus was an Old Testament story. An incident which Nicodemus had often read, without doubt, in the old scriptures of the Hebrew writings. From the book of Numbers, you can read it in chapter twenty-one, the story of the brazen serpent that was lifted up upon a pole in the wilderness long ago. But Nicodemus had never gone further than the earthly story to realize its applications. and its eternal importance. There was something more in that story of long ago than its earthly experience. And Nicodemus had never found that. Now what was that story? Let me remind you very briefly. The children of Israel had sinned in complaining against God and Moses because of their trials, suffering in the wilderness. Then God, to punish them, sent fiery serpents into the camp where many of them died from their poisonous fights. When they thus repented and confessed their sin, God commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass, lifted up upon a pole in the midst of the camp, and said, Every one that is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live. And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, When he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. You may read it. Numbers twenty-one, chapter twenty-one, verses seven through nine. What a picture this is of sin's effect on the human race. That old serpent, the devil, has brought the sting of death and the poison of sin to all mankind. But in the incident of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, The Savior uses it to speak to the heart of Nicodemus that though sin had come in, there was something necessary to be done before the new birth could take place. And the Savior speaks also to your heart and to mine through this Old Testament experience and reminds all of us, when he says to Nicodemus, Marvel not that I say unto thee, and let me emphasize one word, you must be born again. And now in the words of verse fourteen and fifteen he declares, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. For the necessity of the new birth is imperative. For Nicodemus, And for you and for me, the new birth necessitated the death and the crucifixion of Christ. In order to take my sins away, Christ must be made sin on the cross of Calvary to take my sins away. He must become a curse, the very antitype of the serpent of brass in the wilderness. And for this purpose he came down from heaven. Let me quote the words of Second Corinthians five-twenty-one. God hath made Christ sacrificially sin on the cross for us. He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Second Corinthians five-twenty-one. Virtually Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, and to you and me. I must die for your sins. For there is no entrance into the kingdom of God without your sins being taken away. There is no new birth for your soul without your sins being taken away. And note the precious words of the Savior concerning his death upon the cross when lifted up for our sins. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. John three-fifteen. Whosoever rejects in my friend, for such there can be no forgiveness, no remission of their sins, no removal of the curse of sin, no new birth, no eternal life, no entrance into the kingdom, the Son of God who is also the Son of man. He alone knows the character and the requirements of God against whom all of us are sinned. Now will you go back in thought to the story of the brazen serpent upon the pole? Remember what God said to the Israelites, poisoned by the bite of the serpents, facing inevitable death. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld or looked upon the brazen serpent, he shall live. All he had to do was look on the serpent of brass. He could not look to Moses. Moses couldn't save him. He should look to the serpent who was upon the pole, the brazen serpent, lifted high. And if he looked, he would live and not die. By means of a look, my beloved friend, that looked suggestive of the look of faith. Today, We do not look to the brazen serpent on that pole long ago, but the emblem which it typifies and represents to our hearts, why that tells me the Lord Jesus, the Savior of sinners, the Christ of God from heaven above. The Lord Jesus Christ had to die for me upon the cross and bear my sins in his own body there. And God invited every bit an Israelite who was wounded to look at that brazen serpent, a picture of Christ on the cross. So He invites every soul, man, woman, boy, and girl to look toward Christ who was crucified on that cross. Do not, Isaiah longer ago, right? Look unto me, saith God, and be ye saved. Isaiah forty-five twenty-two. Did not Paul write to Romans in chapter ten in verse thirteen? Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. My beloved, the result for the bitter and Israelite, who looked, he lived, instantaneously and universally and complete, was the deliverance. It wasn't a question of getting better gradually. Immediately he lived. then let us take into our hearts the blessed truth of the Lord's words to Nicodemus. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life, John three, fourteen. This was what the heart and the soul of Nicodemus needed. This is what every man, woman, boy, and girl needs. Do you ask, as did Nicodemus, how can I be born again? My beloved, what you must do is take the message into your own heart. Put your name in that word whosoever. It means you. It means me. It means anybody. Forget, if you will, the mystery about the new birth. It's the spirit who does the work. It is the spirit of God who imparts that new birth, who gives that new life. But let me be careful. He cannot. He will not do it until you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Ephesians chapter one, verse thirteen, Upon believing ye were sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise. Don't forget the words of Romans ten, nine and ten that I would like to quote. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe where? In thine heart, not in the head, in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Let me bluntly say you better use your mouth as well as your heart, but you better first of all use your heart. Believe there and confess it with your mouth. And that is salvation. And that is how you receive the new birth. Yes, Jesus had to speak. Not just face to face. Not just mind to mind. But heart to heart. To Nicodemus. And he does the same to you and to me. Whosoever believeth on him. His crucified work upon the cross of Calvary. Where he died. To save us from our sins and pay the penalty. My friend, that's how you get born again. That's the water of the Word of God. Born of water and the Spirit. The Spirit uses the Word of God, the Gospel, to rivet it home to your conscience, to your soul, to your heart, and bring your heart to say, Lord Jesus, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Oh, blessed and heavenly Father, take the spoken word and the truth. May the Holy Spirit in power and victory convert many. And bless the heart of all thy people in Jesus' name, we pray, for his honor and glory. Amen.