Latest / The Living Waters Podcast / Ep. 170 - Nicodemus’ Encounter with Jesus and What it Means to be Born Again

Transcript

Ep. 170 - Nicodemus’ Encounter with Jesus and What it Means to be Born Again · The Living Waters Podcast

• 1:07
  Ray Comfort: My crown and joy is the new birth.
• 1:10
  Ray Comfort: I'm a new person.
• 1:11
  Ray Comfort: I know that I was once like this and now I'm like that.
• 1:15
  Ray Comfort: In an instant, even the sky looked different, the trees looked different, the flowers, the birds, everything was different, because I was different.
• 1:22
  Ray Comfort: So what I like to say to non-Christians when I witness to them is this can be your personal miracle.
• 1:26
  Ray Comfort: You don't want to see visions and hear voices because you could be sent to a mental home if you start being visions and hear voices, but if God makes you a brand new person on the inside, instead of having eyes full of adultery, drinking iniquity like water and loving darkness rather than light, you hunger and thirst for righteousness.
• 1:45
  Ray Comfort: That'll be your personal miracle.
• 1:47
  Ray Comfort: And I shake my head at how new I am in Christ And the other thing that the new birth explodes, my respect for the Bible, because the Bible told me what had happened to me.
• 1:59
  Ray Comfort: I open its pages.
• 2:00
  Ray Comfort: This 2000 year old book New Testament tells me if any man being Christ, you're a new creature.
• 2:06
  Ray Comfort: Oh, that's why I feel like a new person.
• 2:08
  Ray Comfort: I've got this weird piece that passes my understanding.
• 2:11
  Ray Comfort: Oh, peace of God will pass all understanding.
• 2:12
  Ray Comfort: I've got this joy that's unspeakable.
• 2:15
  Ray Comfort: I can't express what it is Joy unspeakable.
• 2:18
  Ray Comfort: So the Scriptures just explained to me in plain language what the experience was that I'd been through.
• 2:24
  Ray Comfort: That's the new birth, and we know it passed from dance to life.
• 2:31
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I think it's a rare occurrence that we begin this podcast, and my heart is overflowing with bitterness as it is at this moment, in connection with the one who made the noise you just heard, oscar Navarro.
• 2:46
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: He tells the most beautiful jokes before we go live.
• 2:52
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: After we tell him save it.
• 2:54
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: That's really annoying.
• 2:55
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: That was a good one, oscar, you told before we came on.
• 2:59
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I forgot it already.
• 2:59
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah Well, we can't say it because it's already lost its power and impact.
• 3:05
  Ray Comfort: I was really moved by the cards you just gave me this morning from your kids thanking me for something They're removing.
• 3:11
  Ray Comfort: it reminded me of a video that Mark sent me about how long you're supposed to keep cards that people gave you.
• 3:17
  Ray Comfort: You see now.
• 3:18
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, you know what I do now.
• 3:19
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Oh, thank you, lord, for cell phones.
• 3:21
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I take a picture of the front of the card and the inside, and then you delete it.
• 3:24
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And then you throw the card away.
• 3:28
  Ray Comfort: Well, i'm saying look Well, you throw the card away.
• 3:30
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: No, no, listen, listen I keep the card, sometimes for a while, but there comes a point where it's something happened.
• 3:36
  Ray Comfort: So you haven't seen this video.
• 3:37
  Ray Comfort: What video.
• 3:38
  Ray Comfort: It's really really good.
• 3:41
  Mark Spence: Can you describe Mark or not?
• 3:43
  Mark Spence: Boy, you can't do it, Justin.
• 3:45
  Ray Comfort: He's just good.
• 3:45
  Ray Comfort: This guy says should I keep this card you just gave me or not?
• 3:48
  Ray Comfort: He says I don't care if you keep it or not.
• 3:49
  Ray Comfort: He says okay, because I was going to throw it away.
• 3:51
  Ray Comfort: You were going to what?
• 3:53
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I just put it in the trash bin there.
• 3:54
  Ray Comfort: You got to put it in the trash bin.
• 3:55
  Ray Comfort: I just gave you a card.
• 3:56
  Ray Comfort: It means nothing to you.
• 3:57
  Ray Comfort: It goes on and on, and it really is a dilemma.
• 4:00
  Ray Comfort: My wife, sue, has got every card given to her stacked up.
• 4:03
  Ray Comfort: We've got a whole room full of them.
• 4:04
  Ray Comfort: She keeps them.
• 4:05
  Ray Comfort: She keeps them on her way because she just feel bad.
• 4:07
  Ray Comfort: Someone gives me a nice card, I set it up on a bench and look at it, and look at it and look at it and think, well, that's about it.
• 4:14
  Ray Comfort: It can go in the trash.
• 4:15
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And I still feel guilty.
• 4:16
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: It's in my heart now.
• 4:18
  Ray Comfort: You still feel guilty putting a birthday card or Christmas?
• 4:20
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: No, but that's the beauty of taking a picture of it, Seriously, I mean, and sometimes you know how it brings old memories back up your photos and you get to see it.
• 4:28
  Mark Spence: So, listen, you have to look it up.
• 4:30
  Mark Spence: I don't know anything about this, what this guy does.
• 4:32
  Mark Spence: His name is Devon Palmer and on Instagram that's where I found the video.
• 4:35
  Mark Spence: It's called Card Keeping, so you have to look it up.
• 4:38
  Mark Spence: Obviously, i have no idea what else he produces, but that video is really coming.
• 4:42
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: That was clean, yeah, very clean.
• 4:42
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Oscar, my bitterness has melted a bit now that I look at you and see you in your prison jacket.
• 4:50
  Oscar Navarro: It gives me sympathy for you.
• 4:51
  Oscar Navarro: They let me out for this episode.
• 4:54
  Mark Spence: You're saying you thought he was from Bowling.
• 4:56
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, bowling and prison jacket.
• 4:57
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is a K King's.
• 5:00
  Oscar Navarro: Palliatscope rain jacket.
• 5:02
  Oscar Navarro: Thank you very much.
• 5:03
  Oscar Navarro: Great Ben, i thought of a jacket.
• 5:04
  Ray Comfort: That's really.
• 5:05
  Ray Comfort: You know how people get lost in the mountains and they die of starvation because they got nothing to eat, which is usually why you die of starvation.
• 5:11
  Oscar Navarro: They got their fingers.
• 5:12
  Oscar Navarro: They've got their fingers.
• 5:13
  Ray Comfort: No, no no, no, no, no.
• 5:14
  Ray Comfort: This is much better.
• 5:14
  Ray Comfort: I thought of inventing a beef jerky jacket.
• 5:18
  Ray Comfort: The whole jacket is made of beef jerky, except one little problem Bears, bears.
• 5:23
  Ray Comfort: Sniff it out and chase up a tree when you eat your jacket.
• 5:27
  Ray Comfort: Imagine seriously, you're getting hungry.
• 5:30
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You just eat a sleeve.
• 5:31
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, speaking of eating things, what is up with those videos that have cakes that look like household objects, oh yeah.
• 5:41
  Oscar Navarro: Right, And then they cut into them.
• 5:42
  Oscar Navarro: I saw somebody the other day.
• 5:44
  Oscar Navarro: They tricked their husband.
• 5:46
  Oscar Navarro: They were like, hey, I got you a new pair of shoes and he was all excited.
• 5:49
  Oscar Navarro: He got a new pair of shoes and he went to go put his foot in them and it was a cake.
• 5:53
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, was that real.
• 5:55
  Oscar Navarro: Yeah, it's a real cake that looks like a shoe.
• 5:56
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I can't believe how realistic these things look.
• 5:59
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You know, last night I was watching one that had a coffee maker, a ranch dressing bottle, mayonnaise jar and a vacuum cleaner.
• 6:05
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I mean the guy's chomping on them.
• 6:08
  Ray Comfort: No really, what about a shoe that looks like a cake, or a cake that looks like a shoe, a cake, shoe?
• 6:12
  Ray Comfort: Edible Gospel track.
• 6:13
  Ray Comfort: Oh gospel, read this and eat it within five months.
• 6:16
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Oh yeah, we've talked about all kinds of gospel tracks.
• 6:18
  Oscar Navarro: Feeds of your body and your soul.
• 6:20
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, gospel tracks.
• 6:21
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Well, Frisbee gospel tracks.
• 6:23
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: My name is Alan.
• 6:23
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: This TV show I really like.
• 6:26
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Oh, I'd love to find that guy again.
• 6:28
  Ray Comfort: We've got him.
• 6:29
  Ray Comfort: Oh, you mean physically find him.
• 6:30
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, david and my son filmed that.
• 6:32
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, in Paris.
• 6:34
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Did he just stand in there?
• 6:35
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Was he like a statue?
• 6:35
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: He was just standing there like a dummy.
• 6:37
  Ray Comfort: Well, he was dressed like a statue, like a dummy, but boy he was probably our most avid listener.
• 6:42
  Oscar Navarro: He was delightful.
• 6:44
  Ray Comfort: He was just a delightful guy.
• 6:47
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: We're going to show it during a live stream.
• 6:49
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Can't wait for that.
• 6:50
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: All right, friends, here's a comment from again podcastatlivingwaterscom.
• 6:55
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Send us your comments there.
• 6:57
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Don't forget it, there's no name to this one.
• 7:00
  Mark Spence: Well, would you rather have them send the comments there or post them in the midst of their review?
• 7:06
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, yeah, that too, yeah, yeah, that too.
• 7:07
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: No, they do that too, but also here.
• 7:09
  Oscar Navarro: The two best things that you can do for the Living Waters Podcast to support us is, first and foremost, subscribe to the podcast.
• 7:15
  Oscar Navarro: That is tremendously helpful.
• 7:18
  Oscar Navarro: I don't know.
• 7:21
  Oscar Navarro: No listen right now we are like top 100 most listened to podcasts in the United States.
• 7:27
  Oscar Navarro: I think we're like top 40 or 50 in Europe right now.
• 7:30
  Oscar Navarro: That doesn't boost our egos.
• 7:32
  Oscar Navarro: That doesn't bring us pride.
• 7:34
  Oscar Navarro: What it does is it gets the gospel out there.
• 7:38
  Oscar Navarro: If you're listening and you're an avid listener, you know that we care deeply about what God's word says.
• 7:43
  Oscar Navarro: We hold it to a high regard.
• 7:45
  Oscar Navarro: We care deeply about the lost.
• 7:46
  Oscar Navarro: We try to saturate these conversations with the gospel.
• 7:50
  Oscar Navarro: We often make calls of repentance in these episodes.
• 7:53
  Oscar Navarro: That's with intentionality, because we recognize that when you're a top trending podcast like ours, it's not just Christians that are listening to this.
• 8:01
  Oscar Navarro: It's nonbelievers who are looking up these questions and finding this podcast and starting to listen to it.
• 8:08
  Oscar Navarro: When you subscribe and you leave comments, it pushes the algorithm and allows us to be at the top when people search these things out.
• 8:17
  Oscar Navarro: Truly, it's a big help when you guys do something about it.
• 8:20
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, we had an atheist write in and say he's an atheist but loves listening to the podcast.
• 8:24
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, good point, Oscar.
• 8:25
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: All right, this is from I don't know name, because you sent it to me and put a name with it, Oscar.
• 8:30
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Hey guys, just wanted to say that I love the show.
• 8:33
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You guys really bring the knowledge of God to the table.
• 8:35
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I've been listening to Ray for quite a while now.
• 8:37
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I've got several of his books The Way the Master and The Way the Master for Kids, How to Bring Your Kids to Christ and Keep Them There and, most importantly, the Evidence Study Bible.
• 8:46
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I don't have to promote anything today.
• 8:47
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: He did it all for me.
• 8:48
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I'm currently taking biblical studies online at Liberty University and I was sitting here reading chapter three of Introducing Christian Doctrine from my theology class, I came across the word salvific and it made me think of hearing it for the first time from Oscar on the show, which prompted me to send this email.
• 9:05
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Anyways, I love you guys and I hope to meet you all in person sometime.
• 9:10
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Little did we know that salvific Is there a word Would prompt an email from someone.
• 9:15
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Oscar made it up.
• 9:17
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Well, thank you so much, friend Without a name, the Lord knows your name.
• 9:20
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: It's written in his Lamb's Book of Life.
• 9:23
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: But thanks for listening and keep sharing, guys.
• 9:26
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Keep telling a friend about the podcast.
• 9:29
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: This podcast is brought to you by.
• 9:31
  Oscar Navarro: Living Waters Podcast.
• 9:32
  Oscar Navarro: You can't help yourself.
• 9:34
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Living Waters Podcast mug Get it, use it, drink from it.
• 9:38
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And so many lions, so few Daniels.
• 9:42
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Best book you ever wrote, ray, since you're never writing another book again, right?
• 9:49
  Ray Comfort: You don't say it already W-R-I-T-E.
• 9:53
  Ray Comfort: After you say that, statement right.
• 9:55
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: W-R-I-T-E.
• 9:55
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Right, right, right Yeah.
• 9:58
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: So many lions, so few Daniels.
• 9:59
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: What's that book about?
• 10:02
  Ray Comfort: It was inspired by atheists.
• 10:04
  Ray Comfort: You know that, yeah, an atheist T-shirt.
• 10:06
  Ray Comfort: About a year ago I saw it on a line where it said too many Christians, not enough lions.
• 10:10
  Ray Comfort: And I remember thinking, hey, that's culturally sensitive.
• 10:12
  Ray Comfort: It's like saying too many Jews, not enough Nazi ovens, too many blacks, not enough lynching ropes.
• 10:17
  Ray Comfort: It's about that sensitive.
• 10:18
  Ray Comfort: So that book was written out of a righteous indignation, in the hope that God would use it to raise up laborers who fearlessly and faithfully preach truths calculated to bring about a revival.
• 10:30
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Amen, yeah, the subtitle is living without compromise in a world in need of truth.
• 10:36
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Come with Promise, promise, ooh with promise, that's a good one.
• 10:40
  Oscar Navarro: Wow, amazing.
• 10:41
  Oscar Navarro: I can't imagine what great honor was bestowed upon whoever you dedicated that book to.
• 10:46
  Oscar Navarro: Oh, I dedicated it to you, Oscar Me Yeah.
• 10:49
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Please remove his name in the next print.
• 10:51
  Ray Comfort: Thank you please.
• 10:54
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yes, friends, get it.
• 10:55
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: So many lines, so few Daniels living without compromise in a world in need of truth and the evidence.
• 11:01
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Study Bible Ray.
• 11:03
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Seriously, we mentioned this on every podcast.
• 11:05
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: We do it because we know how effective this tool is, but this was a massive labor of love for you.
• 11:12
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I honestly, knowing how massive the volume of it is and how much is in there, i just can't believe you actually put this thing together.
• 11:22
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, neither can I.
• 11:23
  Ray Comfort: Um credit goes to Lynn Copeland, my editor.
• 11:26
  Ray Comfort: I gave her a Sours ear and she came back with a silk purse.
• 11:30
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, the abomination version.
• 11:31
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Well, that's how it started.
• 11:32
  Ray Comfort: This was different Abomination version, was just something completely stupid and same Was only the New Testament.
• 11:40
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, but I also give credit to Bridgelogos and Guy Morrell, the editor, who said, when I suggested it, that we take all the notes from my original Bible.
• 11:48
  Ray Comfort: Uh, he said.
• 11:49
  Ray Comfort: I asked around all my editor friends and publishers and they said don't do it.
• 11:53
  Ray Comfort: And a Bible about evangelism will not sell.
• 11:57
  Ray Comfort: And he said, ray, that's why we must do it Amen And uh he did, so I'm so grateful.
• 12:02
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Oh, so many around the world have been impacted through it.
• 12:04
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: All right, friends, check it all out at livingwaterscom.
• 12:07
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: All right, today we're talking about a topic that should be familiar to anyone who is a believer today.
• 12:14
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Today we are talking about Nicodemus's encounter with Jesus and what it means to be born again.
• 12:23
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Good old Nick And you guys ruined my title.
• 12:27
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Nick at night.
• 12:28
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, that was.
• 12:29
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: yeah.
• 12:29
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Ah, that was a title.
• 12:31
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I came up with Nick at night and a bunch of other good stuff that I can't remember.
• 12:34
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: But yeah, nicodemus and Jesus, this is in.
• 12:39
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: uh, yeah, it's in the word And uh, it's like that In the word.
• 12:45
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You know, we see this encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus, John, chapter three.
• 12:50
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: We don't see this in the synoptic gospels, which would be Matthew, Mark and Luke, which means to speak the same, but it's a unique, you know, account in the gospel of John and it's, you know, it contains one of the most oft quoted verses in the Bible John 3 16, which we did a program on, as I talked about in one of the other podcasts.
• 13:11
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I've been delighted by how people have been delighted by it, But I want to focus in on on some of the, the highlights of that, and talk more about okay, what, what does it really mean to be born again And what?
• 13:24
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: what was going on with Nicodemus?
• 13:25
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: here He was, he was going to one of the rulers of the Jews And he was Irish Irish.
• 13:31
  Ray Comfort: Nick Odemus.
• 13:32
  Ray Comfort: What is it with the Irish and the O's?
• 13:37
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: anyway, the son of O'Reilly.
• 13:39
  Ray Comfort: Son of Son of.
• 13:41
  Oscar Navarro: Does it?
• 13:41
  Ray Comfort: really.
• 13:41
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Demos, just O, his dad's name was Demos.
• 13:44
  Ray Comfort: Oh yeah, o'reilly, Son of I guess an.
• 13:46
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Arabic Ben yeah, or in Hebrew Ben would be son of Yeah Oh Ben.
• 13:50
  Oscar Navarro: I love that we're doing this episode.
• 13:51
  Oscar Navarro: You know so many people want to know what it means to be born again And I think to so many people it might mean something it doesn't the scriptures don't intend for it to mean.
• 14:00
  Oscar Navarro: I mean, you just think about that phrase born again.
• 14:02
  Oscar Navarro: It's starting to kind of lose its trend or its luster.
• 14:06
  Oscar Navarro: I think most people when they think of Christians, they think of maybe a more political, infused word which is evangelical nowadays.
• 14:15
  Oscar Navarro: But in the 80s and 90s and early, even in the early 2000s, to be a Christian was to be a.
• 14:19
  Oscar Navarro: you know people would say are you born again?
• 14:22
  Oscar Navarro: Are you a born again Christian?
• 14:24
  Oscar Navarro: And to so many people in their minds, born again might.
• 14:29
  Oscar Navarro: To the non-believer it might mean somebody who had a down and out life addiction, you know, had a lot of moral compromises And to be born again is to be radically changed, radically shifted.
• 14:40
  Oscar Navarro: That's what it means to be born again.
• 14:41
  Oscar Navarro: Or to others, to be born again might mean they have politically conservative values on things like sexuality and and spending things of that nature.
• 14:50
  Oscar Navarro: To them, that's what being born again means.
• 14:54
  Oscar Navarro: But I think the fact that Jesus is having this conversation with Nicodemus that we're about to get into, first and foremost, before we even read the text.
• 15:03
  Oscar Navarro: What do we know about Pharisees?
• 15:03
  Oscar Navarro: What we know about Pharisees, it's the complete opposite of what, with those first few examples of what born again could possibly mean.
• 15:10
  Oscar Navarro: Because Nicodemus, being a Pharisee, was not a, was not a morally compromised person.
• 15:16
  Oscar Navarro: He wasn't down and out.
• 15:17
  Oscar Navarro: He wasn't, you know, a poor guy.
• 15:20
  Oscar Navarro: He was a conservative person.
• 15:22
  Oscar Navarro: He was a religious figure.
• 15:24
  Oscar Navarro: He had political authority.
• 15:26
  Oscar Navarro: He probably was well off financially because of the position that he held.
• 15:31
  Oscar Navarro: He knew the Bible really well.
• 15:33
  Oscar Navarro: Most likely he is a teacher, which means he had most, if not all, of the Old Testament memorized.
• 15:39
  Oscar Navarro: And so here's, seriously, Yeah, you know that.
• 15:45
  Oscar Navarro: No, i, i can't remember the books, paul, it was very common for the Pharisees, to be a part of their practice, to memorize the Old Testament, which Paul would, that's you know.
• 15:58
  Oscar Navarro: one of the reasons why Paul knew the Old Testament so well and quoted it so often is because he committed it to memory There was no chapters was there.
• 16:05
  Oscar Navarro: There was no chapters at that time.
• 16:07
  Oscar Navarro: No, there were just different books.
• 16:08
  Ray Comfort: Easy, told me young lady he knew, memorized Psalm 119, which blows me away when I read Psalm 119.
• 16:14
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: No, no, the whole book of Psalms.
• 16:16
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Book of Psalms, yeah, one of the Bible-Bigels.
• 16:18
  Ray Comfort: Yeah.
• 16:20
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Did it as a gift for her parents.
• 16:21
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Imagine getting surprised with that, hey, mom and dad.
• 16:24
  Oscar Navarro: Wow, what Psalm do you start crying, Right Hey?
• 16:29
  Ray Comfort: mom and dad, have you got got four hours Yeah?
• 16:33
  Oscar Navarro: Which brings up another realization too, which is that Nicodemus, this guy, is a smart cookie.
• 16:38
  Oscar Navarro: He's probably smarter than most people in this room, except for Yale.
• 16:42
  Ray Comfort: He's definitely smarter than all of us.
• 16:45
  Oscar Navarro: You know so.
• 16:46
  Oscar Navarro: So the point is to be born again in this situation has to mean something otherly.
• 16:50
  Oscar Navarro: It can't just be somebody who's reformed their life, somebody who was down and out and needed Jesus, It's.
• 16:56
  Oscar Navarro: It means something else, And as we get into the text, I think we'll realize what exactly it means.
• 16:59
  Oscar Navarro: Yeah, So let's, let's jump into it.
• 17:01
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I'll.
• 17:01
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I'll read the main portion, beginning in verse one of John three.
• 17:05
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Try not to miss it.
• 17:06
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: There was some man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
• 17:12
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: This man came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher.
• 17:17
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Come from God, for no one can do these things, these signs messed up.
• 17:21
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: He's a businessman That you do unless God is with him.
• 17:24
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Jesus answered and said to him most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
• 17:33
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Nicodemus said to him how can a man be born when he is old?
• 17:35
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Can he enter a second time in his mother's womb and be born?
• 17:38
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Jesus answered most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
• 17:45
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
• 17:48
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Do not marvel that.
• 17:49
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I said to you, you must be born again.
• 17:51
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.
• 17:57
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: So is everyone who is born of the spirit.
• 18:00
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: So first thing, we notice about Nic, as we alluded to earlier, nic at night, he comes to Jesus at night Ray.
• 18:09
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: What's the significance of this?
• 18:11
  Ray Comfort: Perhaps he was having trouble with the fear of man, perhaps he didn't want to be seen with this radical young preacher.
• 18:16
  Ray Comfort: I didn't want the reproach because memory memory a lot of people being put out of the synagogue by the Pharisees Because they they listen to Jesus and he's going to actually have a personal Chat with them and if he was caught doing that it would not be good for his reputation.
• 18:30
  Ray Comfort: So perhaps perhaps it was That was behind it.
• 18:33
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, john often uses it was just nighttime.
• 18:38
  Oscar Navarro: Well, john often uses double meaning, and so this word night, it certainly can and likely means that it came in in the cover of darkness, in nighttime.
• 18:47
  Oscar Navarro: And, to your point, you know, many, many commentators point out that there is a, a political Infusion of why Nicodemus is approaching Jesus.
• 18:56
  Oscar Navarro: He says, when he says to him you know, we know that you are a teacher, he's kind of going okay, okay, let's talk like you're.
• 19:03
  Oscar Navarro: You're threatening our political and religious authority here.
• 19:06
  Oscar Navarro: We need to have a conversation.
• 19:07
  Oscar Navarro: How can we, how can we mutually benefit each other?
• 19:10
  Oscar Navarro: And so, yeah, to your point, he's probably coming in darkness, in night.
• 19:14
  Oscar Navarro: But John also often uses double meanings in his words, and this night also, all throughout the rest of this letter that John wrote.
• 19:23
  Oscar Navarro: It also means being spiritually blind, which means this rabbi, this teacher of the Old Testament, is coming to Jesus in darkness.
• 19:34
  Oscar Navarro: He is blind to the glory of God and he's that having.
• 19:37
  Oscar Navarro: He's initiating a conversation in a state of spiritual blindness.
• 19:42
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Mark, isn't it interesting how Jesus would often answer people.
• 19:45
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I mean, like what did what Jesus just say have to do with what Nicodemus just said to him?
• 19:50
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: you know, and we'll often see these responses, you know someone will come to Jesus and just say, hey, you know this, and he'll hit him with a question or he'll he'll come out with something from left field And so he says here to him Jesus answered him, said most assured last day unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
• 20:10
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Do you think this might have been, in a way, jesus attempt to say to Nicodemus Hey, you're talking about me being a teacher and you're talking about God and coming from God and all that.
• 20:19
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You need to understand what the kingdom of God is really all about.
• 20:22
  Mark Spence: Sure, you know when Jesus says Are you not the, are you not the teacher of the lawn?
• 20:32
  Mark Spence: you do not know these things.
• 20:33
  Mark Spence: Right?
• 20:33
  Mark Spence: Jesus would often correct the Pharisees in a way To put them in their place.
• 20:38
  Mark Spence: Right, you should know these certain things.
• 20:41
  Mark Spence: Who was warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
• 20:43
  Mark Spence: John the Baptist said to the Pharisees There are certain things that we should know, that leaders should know.
• 20:49
  Mark Spence: With times like this, jc Ryle, he said, unless a man is born again, he's gonna wish one day He was never born at all.
• 20:54
  Mark Spence: We often hear people say We are all children of God.
• 20:59
  Mark Spence: Right, and we know that John 1, 12 Absolutely squashes that for as many as received him, he's given them the right or the power of the authority to become a child of God.
• 21:10
  Mark Spence: We're not all children of God.
• 21:11
  Mark Spence: In fact, i think it's in John chapter 8.
• 21:14
  Mark Spence: You think you're John chapter 8, ish, or says you are of your father.
• 21:18
  Mark Spence: The devil is that order on verse 40 forish, and that's a good clue that we're not all children of God.
• 21:24
  Mark Spence: You know, we must be born again, which literally means born from above.
• 21:29
  Mark Spence: We must be born from above.
• 21:31
  Mark Spence: And I do love the way Jesus interacted with people.
• 21:33
  Mark Spence: He rarely would answer a question in a very straightforward manner because often times when questions were asked there was hidden meaning attached to it.
• 21:43
  Mark Spence: And Having ears to hear, they could not hear.
• 21:46
  Mark Spence: Have an eyes to see, they could not see.
• 21:47
  Mark Spence: So he would often speak in a parabolic form so that people would not Understand and get on board.
• 21:54
  Mark Spence: And we would see the apostles When they were alone with Jesus and he would clearly explain things to him and the apostles would say Well, now you're speaking plainly.
• 22:03
  Mark Spence: Yeah, you know to us, and so well to you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom, to know what is happening from above.
• 22:10
  Mark Spence: But, yeah, jesus would rarely answer a question in a very straightforward manner because he knew the heart of man, he knew what was happening and so undoubtedly Nicodemus, coming to him by night, coming to him in a darkened estate, you know, bearing money's not seeking after God, for there's none Who seek after God, know not one, but him in a state where he is asking questions, you know God is going to answer in light of where it's going to be written for us to know and to know who he is.
• 22:39
  Oscar Navarro: Well, i love that you point out that he's not, because I've heard some people say, oh, you know He's coming to deep Jesus and submitting to his teaching and, and that's possible.
• 22:49
  Oscar Navarro: But it kind of the challenge with that is the way he approaches Jesus to your point.
• 22:55
  Oscar Navarro: He's not coming seeking after God.
• 22:58
  Oscar Navarro: It does appear, and I think it's important for us to recognize What just happened, right, because we should always read our Bible in context.
• 23:06
  Oscar Navarro: What just happened?
• 23:07
  Oscar Navarro: the cleansing of the temple?
• 23:08
  Oscar Navarro: No, and so what just happened was that Jesus put on display the backwardness.
• 23:15
  Oscar Navarro: He challenges the political and religious authority of the Pharisees.
• 23:20
  Oscar Navarro: He puts them on blast as we say no, and so Nicodemus is approaching him in this light, and so he's trying to have a conversation about power.
• 23:29
  Oscar Navarro: And Jesus is not having it like in Nicodemus's mind.
• 23:33
  Oscar Navarro: He isn't worried about salvation, he's really just about political power.
• 23:37
  Oscar Navarro: Jesus wants to have a conversation about his soul, right, and so this is why he shifts gears a little bit.
• 23:44
  Oscar Navarro: This is why he focuses more on some Old Testament language that we can get into here.
• 23:49
  Mark Spence: This is a really good point, right?
• 23:50
  Mark Spence: I, my son Nathan you know we've been having a lot of really good talks lately and he was meditating through Matthew chapter 26, and this is the part right where Jesus is about to be betrayed.
• 24:02
  Mark Spence: It's the night before he's betrayed and Jesus says that one of you will betray me.
• 24:07
  Mark Spence: And then, one by one, we see the Apostles saying Lord, is it I, lord, is it I Lord, is it I, lord, is it I?
• 24:15
  Mark Spence: but that's not what Judas asked.
• 24:17
  Mark Spence: Judas asked it in a different way.
• 24:20
  Mark Spence: We see in Matthew 26, verse 25.
• 24:22
  Mark Spence: He says then Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said Rabbi, is it I?
• 24:27
  Mark Spence: Hmm, the Apostles in a place of an affectionate position and a relationship with Jesus, lord, my master, is it I?
• 24:36
  Mark Spence: to Judas saying teacher, Is it I?
• 24:40
  Mark Spence: That's really good language is important and as we read the word of God, we must allow the word of a God to go through us and take in the very simplest of Writings that we are reading and not be so quick to go through the word to meditate through it.
• 24:55
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Okay, yeah, so Ray Nicodemus, it seems, immediately went to the physical, and we see that in different accounts in scripture.
• 25:04
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I mean, when Jesus was talking to the people about himself being the bread of life, and they just were like, hey, lord, and he talked about the manna from heaven and hey, give us this bread, always, right, because we won't hunger anymore, give us it.
• 25:17
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Their minds were constantly going back to the physical.
• 25:20
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And well, this is because Jesus had just fed them, right, and he said look, you didn't seek after him because of the signs, meaning understanding the significance of what was done, meaning understanding the significance of who I am.
• 25:32
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: But it's because you ate and your bellies were filled, right, and you're going after the physical.
• 25:37
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: So, nicodemus, here he drifts back toward the physical And that's a byproduct of the carnal mind, right, missing the significance of the spiritual.
• 25:46
  Ray Comfort: Absolutely, and in our carnal minds as we listen to this podcast.
• 25:49
  Ray Comfort: I sit here looking at you guys, but for the new birth I'm listening to a gang member, an atheist and a potential burglar.
• 25:55
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: That's a good point.
• 25:57
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Wait, a potential what?
• 25:58
  Ray Comfort: Burglar.
• 25:58
  Ray Comfort: That's true, mark was just before he got saved, he was planning a burglary, Probably at night.
• 26:05
  Ray Comfort: But the Bible says if any man being Christ, he's a new creation.
• 26:09
  Ray Comfort: We're made new And this is my huge I don't even know how to put it my crown and joy is the new birth.
• 26:17
  Ray Comfort: I'm a new person.
• 26:18
  Ray Comfort: I know that I was once like this and now I'm like that.
• 26:22
  Ray Comfort: In an instant, Even the sky looked different, the trees looked different, the flowers, the birds, Everything was different, because I was different.
• 26:29
  Ray Comfort: So what I like to say to non-Christians when I witness to them is this can be your personal miracle.
• 26:33
  Ray Comfort: You don't want to see visions and hear voices because you could be sent to a mental home if you start being visions and hear voices, But if God makes you a brand new person on the inside, instead of having eyes full of adultery, drinking a liquid like water and loving darkness rather than light, you hunger and thirst for righteousness.
• 26:52
  Ray Comfort: That'll be your personal miracle.
• 26:54
  Ray Comfort: And I shake my head at how new I am in Christ.
• 26:57
  Ray Comfort: And the other thing, that the new birth explodes.
• 27:01
  Ray Comfort: My respect for the Bible.
• 27:02
  Ray Comfort: Because the Bible told me what had happened to me.
• 27:05
  Ray Comfort: I open its pages.
• 27:06
  Ray Comfort: This 2000 year old book, New Testament, tells me if any man being Christ, you're a new creature.
• 27:13
  Ray Comfort: Ooh, that's why I feel like a new person.
• 27:15
  Ray Comfort: I've got this weird piece that passes my understanding.
• 27:18
  Ray Comfort: Oh, peace of God will pass all understanding.
• 27:19
  Ray Comfort: I've got this joy that's unspeakable.
• 27:22
  Ray Comfort: I can't express what it is, Joy unspeakable.
• 27:25
  Ray Comfort: So the scriptures just explained to me in plain language what the experience was that I'd been through.
• 27:31
  Ray Comfort: That's the new birth And that's how we know it passed from death to life.
• 27:34
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, you know, identifying.
• 27:36
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I mean, as you're talking, ray, my heart's just bubbling over.
• 27:38
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I identify with that.
• 27:40
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You know, it's interesting when there are certain things that are said that people are disconnected from.
• 27:44
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: So a friend of mine, he's got this cryotherapy machine I think I mentioned on another podcast and he talked about it.
• 27:50
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Talk about it, i just experienced it.
• 27:52
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And so when I hear it now I identify.
• 27:55
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You know, and you can relate that to so many different things bungee jumping or whatever, skydiving.
• 28:01
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: So born again.
• 28:03
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: We identify with that new birth.
• 28:06
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: It's become a derogatory term.
• 28:07
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: All he's one of those born agains, you know.
• 28:10
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: But when we hear it, to us that word, that word associates with transformation and life and revolution.
• 28:16
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Because that's exactly what happened to me August 15th 1991, i stood there, i heard the gospel, i cried out in repentance and faith and I was transformed.
• 28:26
  Mark Spence: JC Ryle, he said to be born again.
• 28:29
  Ray Comfort: That's my next quote.
• 28:30
  Mark Spence: Oh, is it?
• 28:31
  Mark Spence: No, no, no, you can do it.
• 28:32
  Ray Comfort: You do it better than I do it Seriously.
• 28:33
  Ray Comfort: He'd be born again as a word to enter.
• 28:35
  Ray Comfort: You read it, mark.
• 28:36
  Ray Comfort: No, it was exactly what I was saying.
• 28:38
  Ray Comfort: You want me to read it.
• 28:39
  Ray Comfort: Jc Ryle says to be born again, as it were, is to enter upon a new existence, is to have a new mind, a new heart, new views, new principles, new tastes, new effects and new likings, new dislikes, new fears, new joys, new sorrows, new love to things once hated, new hatred for things that once loved, new thoughts of God and ourselves and the world and the life that comes and salvation.
• 29:02
  Ray Comfort: Oh, that's good, it's just beautiful.
• 29:04
  Ray Comfort: That's exactly what I was saying.
• 29:05
  Ray Comfort: Everything new, behold, all things are become new.
• 29:09
  Ray Comfort: There's one thing I don't particularly like is the phrase born again Christian, because that gives us the impression that you can be a Christian or a special Christian.
• 29:18
  Ray Comfort: You are a born again Christian, but you can be a Christian and not be born again, and that's not so You become a Christian by being born again.
• 29:24
  Ray Comfort: It's superfluous.
• 29:25
  Ray Comfort: It's like saying I am a medical doctor, physician, No, no no.
• 29:30
  Ray Comfort: If you're a doctor, you're a medical doctor, you're a physician.
• 29:33
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, if you're born again, you're a Christian.
• 29:34
  Ray Comfort: If you're not born again, you're not a Christian.
• 29:36
  Ray Comfort: And so we don't want people to have the thought oh, you're a born again Christian.
• 29:42
  Ray Comfort: I'm the other sort, i'm the normal Christian?
• 29:45
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, and I want us to break it down and what exactly Jesus is talking about.
• 29:49
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: But, ray, you will often ask people that question, especially if they tell you they're Catholic.
• 29:53
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Have you been born again?
• 29:54
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Are you surprised by how many say I don't know what that is, or no?
• 29:59
  Ray Comfort: Well, we've got a video coming up that we're very excited about.
• 30:02
  Ray Comfort: I can't remember what the title is.
• 30:04
  Ray Comfort: Is it something like why are so many Catholics coming to Christ?
• 30:07
  Oscar Navarro: or something like that.
• 30:08
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, i'm excited about that, but Supercise is a dozen Christians, or sorry, a dozen Catholics, who say they're Catholics, committed Catholics, but they're not born again, haven't got a clue what born again means.
• 30:18
  Ray Comfort: They don't even know why Jesus died on the cross.
• 30:20
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Wow.
• 30:20
  Ray Comfort: They had one this morning.
• 30:21
  Ray Comfort: He says I'm a Catholic And I said you're born again.
• 30:24
  Ray Comfort: Oh yeah, i've been born again three or four times.
• 30:26
  Ray Comfort: In other words, i've had a new attitude to the things of God And I said I'm not talking about that.
• 30:31
  Ray Comfort: In chapter three it says if you're not born again, you're not going to enter heaven.
• 30:35
  Ray Comfort: And so it's vital that you're born again.
• 30:37
  Ray Comfort: I want to see you in heaven.
• 30:38
  Ray Comfort: and the guy nods.
• 30:39
  Ray Comfort: and then we go through and talk about the gospel and the essential nature of being born of the spirit.
• 30:44
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: That's great, Oscar.
• 30:46
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: you've been rudely interrupted many times.
• 30:49
  Oscar Navarro: Yeah, that's okay.
• 30:50
  Oscar Navarro: We've said it before on this podcast.
• 30:53
  Oscar Navarro: So often the New Testament really comes into 4K HD clarity Where we understand the Old Testament not just read the Old Testament, but understand the Old Testament.
• 31:06
  Oscar Navarro: Because, as we just talked about before, nicodemus knew the Old Testament, but he didn't know the Old Testament, and what's interesting about this moment is that Jesus is quoting the Old Testament.
• 31:18
  Oscar Navarro: He's specifically quoting Isaiah and Ezekiel.
• 31:21
  Oscar Navarro: So what does it mean to be born again?
• 31:23
  Oscar Navarro: Let's just look at the Old Testament and see what it means to be a born again Christian.
• 31:27
  Oscar Navarro: Isaiah 44, verses three and four For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground.
• 31:36
  Oscar Navarro: I will pour out my spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring.
• 31:43
  Oscar Navarro: The first thing that it means to be born again is to have the life-giving personal presence of God in our hearts, and so this is what Jesus is offering.
• 31:53
  Oscar Navarro: He's going.
• 31:54
  Oscar Navarro: In order for you to know to see the kingdom of God, you have to be born again.
• 32:00
  Oscar Navarro: You have to have my spirit poured out within you.
• 32:04
  Oscar Navarro: The first thing that being born again is having the spirit of God within us, which we know that every Christian has within them the Holy Spirit as their guide.
• 32:13
  Oscar Navarro: The second part that he's quoting is Ezekiel 36, verses 25 and 27.
• 32:18
  Oscar Navarro: Let me just find it here.
• 32:19
  Oscar Navarro: He says I will also sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean.
• 32:25
  Oscar Navarro: I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
• 32:28
  Oscar Navarro: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
• 32:32
  Oscar Navarro: I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of place.
• 32:34
  Oscar Navarro: He says I'm going to clean you with this water.
• 32:37
  Oscar Navarro: I'm going to give you a new spirit within you and it's going to be my spirit.
• 32:41
  Oscar Navarro: In other words, the other thing that being born again means is you are cleansed.
• 32:45
  Oscar Navarro: You are being cleansed from your sins.
• 32:48
  Oscar Navarro: This is a radical thing again for a Pharisee to hear who apparently obeys all of the laws.
• 32:55
  Oscar Navarro: It's interesting that Nicodemus' response to being born again is he's not being dumb, he's not like some senile fool.
• 33:03
  Oscar Navarro: It's like is he talking about being born in my mother's womb?
• 33:05
  Oscar Navarro: again?
• 33:06
  Oscar Navarro: He's likely using sarcasm, but the essence of what he's saying is what can I do?
• 33:12
  Oscar Navarro: What is there for me to do to be born again?
• 33:16
  Oscar Navarro: In Jesus' response it's like this is the work of the spirit.
• 33:21
  Oscar Navarro: I will do the born again in your life.
• 33:25
  Oscar Navarro: I will be the one that's going to be pouring the spirit into you.
• 33:28
  Oscar Navarro: I will be the one that's going to be cleansing you.
• 33:31
  Oscar Navarro: This isn't something that you've done enough, nicodemus.
• 33:34
  Oscar Navarro: You have done enough.
• 33:36
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, that's good.
• 33:37
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, look, sometimes people will use this as a proof text for baptism, baptismal regeneration, and they'll say hey look, this is talking about being baptized.
• 33:50
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You have to be baptized, you have to be born of the water.
• 33:53
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: But there's a misunderstanding on that, isn't there?
• 33:57
  Oscar Navarro: Absolutely Yeah.
• 33:58
  Oscar Navarro: Well, again, if you're reading the New Testament and you're not thinking about what Jesus is referencing here, again, looking at Ezekiel and Isaiah that is the way we have a better clarity of this, because when you look at Ezekiel and Isaiah, it is clearly him and his spirit that's being poured out.
• 34:13
  Oscar Navarro: This isn't about there's not some magical power within water.
• 34:17
  Oscar Navarro: Rather, it's a baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• 34:20
  Oscar Navarro: Yeah.
• 34:22
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And I love what John Bunyan said.
• 34:23
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: He said in one of the streets of Bedford I came to where there were three or four poor women sitting at a door in the sun and talking about the things of God.
• 34:33
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Willing to listen, I drew near to hear what they said, for I was a brisk talker myself in matters of religion.
• 34:40
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I didn't understand, for they were far above, out of my reach.
• 34:47
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: They spoke of a new birth, the work of God in their hearts.
• 34:52
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: They said how God had visited their souls with his love in the Lord Jesus and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted and supported against the temptations of the devil.
• 35:03
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And it seemed to me they spoke as if joy did make them speak.
• 35:07
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: They spoke with such pleasantness of biblical language and with such obvious grace in all.
• 35:13
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: They said that they were to me as if they had found a new world.
• 35:18
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Wow Right, You guys are late.
• 35:21
  Mark Spence: Yes, And listen, and once you are born again, born from above, once you are saved, God wants you to know it.
• 35:28
  Mark Spence: He wants you to know that you're saved, that there is no ambiguity, that there is no questioning, that there's no wondering or worrying.
• 35:34
  Mark Spence: First, john 5.13.
• 35:36
  Mark Spence: It says these things we write on to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have everlasting life.
• 35:42
  Mark Spence: And then we have Romans 10.9,.
• 35:45
  Mark Spence: I believe it is that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in the heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
• 35:52
  Mark Spence: Right, so there's no.
• 35:54
  Mark Spence: Am I now saved?
• 35:55
  Mark Spence: Have I messed up?
• 35:56
  Mark Spence: Am I going to mess up What is happening inside my life?
• 36:00
  Mark Spence: No, god wants you to know that once you're saved, you are saved And nothing, no one, can snatch you out of his hands.
• 36:07
  Ray Comfort: If you are truly saved And that's the question- You brought up something that reminded me of a comment I read on a YouTube channel.
• 36:14
  Ray Comfort: Someone saw a video and they heard me say if you've repented and you're trusting in Jesus today, you've got everlasting life, they said.
• 36:22
  Ray Comfort: You said if you sowed seeds of doubt in that person, And my whole point, as I said back to him, is it's not my job to tell someone you're saved.
• 36:30
  Ray Comfort: That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
• 36:32
  Ray Comfort: He that believes has the witness in himself.
• 36:34
  Ray Comfort: That's what you were saying.
• 36:35
  Ray Comfort: God tells you, And if God tells you you're saved, you have that conviction.
• 36:38
  Ray Comfort: Because of that, then nothing will take that from you.
• 36:40
  Mark Spence: That's right And that's what Romans 8 tells us.
• 36:42
  Mark Spence: My spirit bears witness, with his spirit, that I am a child of God.
• 36:46
  Ray Comfort: Now just what we're talking about being a new creature in Christ.
• 36:49
  Ray Comfort: something I forgot to mention is that before I was a Christian, for 22 years, i didn't have an ounce in me that said what does God want me to do?
• 36:57
  Ray Comfort: The moment I became a Christian, that consumed me.
• 37:00
  Ray Comfort: Whatever God wanted, i was His.
• 37:03
  Ray Comfort: What do you want, lord?
• 37:04
  Ray Comfort: Same as Saul on the road to Damascus, if anyone pulls back the skies and speaks to you from heaven, it's a good idea to call them Lord.
• 37:14
  Ray Comfort: Who is it, lord?
• 37:16
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Good indicator.
• 37:17
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Who is it?
• 37:17
  Ray Comfort: Lord, and then what would you have me to?
• 37:19
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: do.
• 37:20
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I love that And you think about the dynamic for what happens when you become born again?
• 37:25
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: God inhabits you.
• 37:28
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Our pastor often shares this quote.
• 37:30
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You know, back before the New Covenant God had a temple for His people.
• 37:34
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Now he has His people as His temples And He inhabits us.
• 37:39
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: We are the habitation of God, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit And God enters us, he awakens us, he gives us new life, regenerates our spirit and dwells us with His Holy Spirit and gives us new desires and gives us new conviction, gives us, i think, one of the most valuable things, ray a new conscience.
• 38:02
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, that's true.
• 38:03
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: A tender conscience, primed Right, the things that never bothered you before.
• 38:08
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Now your conscience screams at you.
• 38:10
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yes.
• 38:11
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, absolutely Just thinking.
• 38:12
  Ray Comfort: we have a huge problem if there's unsaved people listening.
• 38:16
  Ray Comfort: The Bible says your understanding is dark and you're alienated from the life of God through the ignorance in you, because of the blindness of your heart.
• 38:25
  Ray Comfort: So our problem is to try and relate to you spiritual truth when you're still in the natural world.
• 38:30
  Ray Comfort: I'm going to ask you guys a question.
• 38:32
  Ray Comfort: see how quickly you can answer Easy.
• 38:33
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, I'm blind, born blind.
• 38:35
  Ray Comfort: describe blue to me, Go.
• 38:39
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: It's impossible.
• 38:40
  Ray Comfort: It's impossible, you cannot do it.
• 38:42
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I need light.
• 38:43
  Ray Comfort: If I've been born blind.
• 38:44
  Ray Comfort: I've been asking on camera and people have been trying to do it.
• 38:48
  Ray Comfort: They say it's like ice, it's a cool color.
• 38:51
  Ray Comfort: I said that doesn't help me.
• 38:52
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I'm blind.
• 38:53
  Ray Comfort: I didn't know what ice looked like.
• 38:55
  Ray Comfort: And so that's the problem we've got relating spiritual truth to someone whose understanding is dark and alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that's in them because of the blindness of the heart.
• 39:05
  Ray Comfort: You need to repent.
• 39:06
  Ray Comfort: Put your faith in Jesus and you'll be like the blind man that Jesus healed, whether or not he's a sinner, i know not.
• 39:12
  Ray Comfort: One thing I do know is once blind, but now I see.
• 39:15
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Amen, and the fact that God does the work is what gives us peace, that it's not something that can be undone If it's something that's attained progressively by our own efforts.
• 39:30
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: We have a lot to fear and be terrified by because, oh, have I now gotten to the place where I'm completed and being born again?
• 39:37
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: No, it's a monogistic work.
• 39:39
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Where God does it Monogistic, yeah, it's singular, it's not synergistic.
• 39:45
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Where we're the ones that are contributing to our salvation, god does it.
• 39:49
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: They weren't born of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
• 39:53
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: He quickens us, he causes us to be born again by His grace, and so it's something that should give us peace and confidence.
• 40:02
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: No, lord, you did this.
• 40:03
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You don't do things on accident, you don't do things halfway, and you always complete the things that you begin to do You either began a good work and you will complete it.
• 40:13
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, amen, i mean, that thrills my soul beyond description.
• 40:16
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And now William Farley said this What do you mean?
• 40:20
  Ray Comfort: What do you mean by gone description?
• 40:21
  Ray Comfort: What do you mean by?
• 40:23
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: More than I describe again.
• 40:24
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: New birth, william Farley said, means one has enthroned Christ in the center of one's life.
• 40:31
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You become a Christian when your life, thinking and behavior begin to revolve around Jesus Christ.
• 40:37
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Until that happens, professions and decisions mean very little.
• 40:41
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Changed behavior.
• 40:43
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Processing from a spiritual heart transplant is the only certain evidence of new birth.
• 40:50
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, it's something that ends up manifesting itself in a changed life.
• 40:56
  Mark Spence: Can we pivot for just a moment and have some application?
• 40:59
  Mark Spence: Yeah, and what I mean by that is once somebody is born again, what's next?
• 41:03
  Mark Spence: What is the proper response from somebody who was in darkness, a child of darkness, loved darkness and now is a child of the light?
• 41:11
  Mark Spence: Where do they go from here?
• 41:12
  Mark Spence: I'd like to maybe just a minute or two to discuss a couple of those things.
• 41:16
  Mark Spence: First and foremost, you need to start reading God's word, right, because God's word is his love letter, his architectural blue book for our everyday living on how to respond.
• 41:27
  Mark Spence: And you're going to experience things, as Ray said, things that are going to now come alive, where you're going to now hate the things you once loved and loved the things you once hated.
• 41:36
  Mark Spence: So you need to find a good church.
• 41:38
  Mark Spence: Where would you go to find a good church If you're nowhere near?
• 41:41
  Mark Spence: you don't have any Christian friends.
• 41:42
  Mark Spence: How do you find a good church in your area?
• 41:46
  Mark Spence: Where do you go?
• 41:47
  Ray Comfort: Yes, God to lead you.
• 41:49
  Oscar Navarro: Yeah, the nine marks website is a good tool.
• 41:52
  Oscar Navarro: You can go on there and type in your zip code and it'll give you.
• 41:54
  Oscar Navarro: It'll give you churches.
• 41:55
  Oscar Navarro: Also, feel free to move to Rancho Center, margarita, california, and attend Kings Cross Church Everyone wears green prison jackets.
• 42:03
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, i believe the master's University as well has a on their website lists of churches that have sent out.
• 42:10
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Have pastors that have been sent out from from their grace churches?
• 42:14
  Mark Spence: Yeah, And what are you looking for in a church?
• 42:16
  Mark Spence: if you're gonna, you go here.
• 42:17
  Mark Spence: Here's a church on my corner.
• 42:18
  Mark Spence: Why don't I just attend that church?
• 42:20
  Mark Spence: What am I looking for in a church?
• 42:22
  Oscar Navarro: It's a good question.
• 42:23
  Oscar Navarro: I would say it preaches the word of God clearly and faithfully.
• 42:27
  Oscar Navarro: Every single Sunday has gospel community, meaning that The expectation is not that you just show up on Sunday for 45 minutes and then leave.
• 42:35
  Oscar Navarro: You don't see talk or expend any time with anybody ever after that, because the church is ultimately not an experience, it's not a program, it's not something that you go and attend.
• 42:46
  Oscar Navarro: The church is the body, the family, and it functions more than just 45 minutes to an hour and a half on Sunday.
• 42:51
  Oscar Navarro: It functions 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so gathering regularly is not once a week in angles.
• 42:59
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, there's plenty more I just want to pass along.
• 43:01
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I mean a church that is Christocentric, that is gospel focused, evangelistic Leadership that is humble and accountable, accountable, accountable leadership, you know.
• 43:13
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: I mean we've heard the nightmare stories of churches where you have the celebrity pastor that has zero accountability and It's it's almost inevitable There's gonna be either abuse or Or, you know, sexual sin you know you want to become accountable as quickly as possible and plugged in to Oscars point, because bad company corrupts good character.
• 43:36
  Mark Spence: It very well may be that you need to remove certain people out of your lives, that all they want to do is Fill in the blank and maybe draw you away or push you further away from Christ.
• 43:47
  Mark Spence: So, mentorship, you know, approach a pastor, a leader Are there classes that I can take or the things that I can learn?
• 43:54
  Mark Spence: perhaps you want to get baptized, right, who were commanded to be baptized?
• 43:58
  Mark Spence: and I want to commend to you a little booklet that Ray wrote called Save Yourself Some Pain, and you can read it in its entirety on our website at livingwaterscom, and you can also get those as printable booklets that we have printed and you can hand those out to different people.
• 44:12
  Mark Spence: You want to tell other people what they've done.
• 44:14
  Mark Spence: That's evangelistic evangelism.
• 44:16
  Mark Spence: So what do you do now?
• 44:17
  Mark Spence: These are the things that you do now that you claim the name of Christ, because you are not designed to live a life in the shadows Where nobody knows what is going on.
• 44:26
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Yeah, and, ultimately, the evidence of you having been born again, having been regenerated, having received the new birth, is that you're gonna bear fruit.
• 44:35
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You know the way I think of John the Baptist when he was speaking to the Religious hypocrites that came.
• 44:40
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: He says you know who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
• 44:43
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You know, bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance snakes generation of vipers.
• 44:48
  Ray Comfort: He wasn't exactly building up as congregation.
• 44:50
  Ray Comfort: Yeah, with compliments.
• 44:51
  Ray Comfort: It's funny that you mentioned snakes.
• 44:55
  Oscar Navarro: Snake?
• 44:55
  Oscar Navarro: yeah, absolutely.
• 44:56
  Oscar Navarro: It's funny that you mentioned snakes because here in this passage I know we talked about this slightly on our episode on John 3 16, which for free to listen to that one as sort of a Partner with this episode but Jesus gets into this really weird story about snakes And so you ask what can we do?
• 45:12
  Oscar Navarro: and I love all the practical counsel and wisdom that we're getting, but ultimately we can't lose focus on what has already been done.
• 45:18
  Oscar Navarro: Before we talk about what we need to do, we need to talk about what has been done, and this story of snakes gives a prime example.
• 45:24
  Oscar Navarro: Jesus references snakes here, and John too Let me pull it up real quick here.
• 45:29
  Oscar Navarro: He says It's John 3, sorry.
• 45:34
  Oscar Navarro: Well, you know what, i'm not gonna find it, i'm just gonna tell you about it.
• 45:37
  Oscar Navarro: I was trying to give you hissing noise.
• 45:38
  Oscar Navarro: Thank you, he points Nicodemus to this weird, obscure story I believe it's in numbers about snakes.
• 45:45
  Oscar Navarro: And so, basically, what's happening is the wrath of God comes upon the people they've disobeyed him, they've turned to false idols, and the curses that all of these snakes come into their camp and they start getting bitten by them.
• 45:56
  Oscar Navarro: And the people are getting sick, sick into death, and some of them are even dying.
• 46:00
  Oscar Navarro: And they go to Moses Who's the priest, the one that stands between God and man at the time?
• 46:05
  Oscar Navarro: and they say you know, moses, we, we need to repent.
• 46:08
  Oscar Navarro: Like what can we do?
• 46:08
  Oscar Navarro: Can you please plead to God to remove this curse from us?
• 46:11
  Oscar Navarro: and God tells Moses that he will do it, but what he needs to do is take a snake, a bronze serpent, put it on the pole and whenever somebody is bitten, whenever someone is cursed by the curse, all they have to do is look at the curse.
• 46:25
  Oscar Navarro: Look and they will be healed.
• 46:28
  Oscar Navarro: And so this is what Moses does and this is how people are healed, and to this day, that is how we Become born again is to look the Christ.
• 46:38
  Oscar Navarro: We don't need a teacher.
• 46:40
  Oscar Navarro: Nicodemus thought he needed a teacher.
• 46:42
  Oscar Navarro: We need a savior.
• 46:44
  Oscar Navarro: We are sick, we are cursed, we are dying and there is no amount of work that we can ever do to change the fruit of our lives.
• 46:54
  Oscar Navarro: We are trees producing nothing.
• 46:57
  Oscar Navarro: You can't staple fruit to a tree.
• 46:59
  Oscar Navarro: There's no amount of watering that you can do.
• 47:01
  Oscar Navarro: There's no change of soil.
• 47:02
  Oscar Navarro: If the tree is dead, it is dead and it's not going to produce fruit.
• 47:06
  Oscar Navarro: What does it need?
• 47:07
  Oscar Navarro: It needs to be ripped out, root and all, and it needs to be replaced with something that will produce fruit.
• 47:13
  Oscar Navarro: And that is exactly what needs to happen with our hearts It needs to be ripped out and it needs to be replaced for a heart that is softened towards the glory of God.
• 47:23
  Oscar Navarro: And so what we need is not reformation, but spiritual transformation, and the only way to do that is to look, is to look at Jesus, to see the one who had no sin Become sin, to see that the curse that we deserve is placed upon The God who did not deserve that curse.
• 47:47
  Oscar Navarro: Once we see that, once we truly know that, our eyes will be opened, our hearts will be softened and, by the grace of God, we will be born again.
• 47:58
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Amen, look unto him and be saved.
• 48:00
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And you know, we have to remember that There will be again that demonstration of the power of God in you.
• 48:09
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You cannot house the infinite God of the universe and not know it and others not know it.
• 48:15
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: And I want to close with this quote by AW Pink.
• 48:19
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: He said the new birth is very much more than simply shedding a few tears due to a temporary remorse over sin.
• 48:25
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: It is far more than changing our course of life, the leaving off of bad habits and the Substituting of good ones.
• 48:32
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: It is something different from the mere cherishing and practicing of noble ideals.
• 48:37
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: It goes infinitely deeper than coming forward to take some popular evangelists by the hand, signing a pledge card or joining a church.
• 48:44
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: The new birth is no mere turning over a new leaf, but is the inception and reception of a new life.
• 48:52
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: It is no mere reformation but a complete transformation.
• 48:56
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: In short, the new birth is a miracle, the result of the supernatural operation of God.
• 49:02
  Ray Comfort: It is a radical, revolutionary Lasting it's not turning over, and of a new leaf, it's a brand new tree.
• 49:10
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Amen.
• 49:10
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Well said, ray.
• 49:11
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Good way to close us out.
• 49:12
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Well, friends, we hope you take heed to what you've heard today.
• 49:15
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Don't forget again to check out so many lions, so few Daniels.
• 49:20
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: That's gonna stir you up to live out the born-again life.
• 49:22
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Don't forget the Living Waters mug and the evidence study Bible.
• 49:27
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: You can find them all at living waterscom.
• 49:28
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Remember to give us comments and Suggestions at podcast of living waterscom.
• 49:33
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Give us ratings and, as Oscar said at the beginning, make sure to subscribe.
• 49:36
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: All right, friends, thank you for joining us.
• 49:38
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters all together.
• 49:42
  Emeal ("E.Z.") Zwayne: Now That was lame, oh, oh, where we have no idea what we're doing.
• 49:50
  Ray Comfort: We have no idea what we're saying.