Tim Keller | You Must Be Born Again

and what it looks like, and what it brings, but I think it's fair to go to the end of the book, at least, the end of this talk, it goes to the end of the. book of John because Nicodemus appears

again

. And we have to ask ourselves, "What is the sign of the new birth? How can you know that someone has been

born

again

?" Every theologian who understands anything about the Bible has always said: "he changed lives." We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that stands alone. We are saved not by our works, we are saved by faith alone, by grace alone, by Christ alone.

But if you are truly saved, it always results in a changed life. Always. Now, when you come to the end of John 19, what do you see? You see Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea asking for the body of Jesus Christ and then personally dressing the body for burial. And you start to wonder, "Wait a minute, what's going on here?" Now this is no proof. I'm not trying to say this is proof that Nicodemus was

born

again, but something is happening. Maybe we call this evidence or maybe we say, "This is the kind of thing that has to happen in your life if you can really say yes, he/she/I, born again." When Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who were members of the ruling council, asked for the body of a man who had just been executed...

He was the leader of a movement, he had just been executed. Who wants to be seen as a fan of yours right now? How dangerous would that be? Very boldly. In fact, one of the gospels says the word boldly: "They went with great courage and asked for the body." But then when they dressed him for the burial, you know, only the women and the slaves did it. I once heard someone preach about this and say, "Something is happening to these men." In a way, because they are very daring, because they are very tender, and in a way, this was the most masculine and feminine thing they had ever done in their lives.

They seem to have lost their class pride, their masculine pride. At the same time, they are full of courage, courage that you would not have expected from them. And you see, if you are saved by your good works, then you are bold as long as you feel like you are meeting your standards, but of course, you are not humble, you are condescending to others. . Or, if you are saved, you think you are being saved by works and you don't live up to your standards, then you will be humble and you will be very depressed and very humble, but of course you have no confidence.

If you are saved by your works, you are either bold but not humble or you are humble but not bold. But if you are a sinner saved by grace, the Gospel takes you to the dust and then lifts you to the heavens. There is boldness and humility that work together. And it can change you, it will change you culturally, you will not be the same. Your masculinity will not be the same, your class consciousness will not be the same, your racial consciousness will not be the same, your femininity will not be the same. I have it?

Its going to change. And that's scary, right? Get prepared. It's also wonderful. At the end of C.S.'s radio talks Lewis, published as

Nothing in you that has not died will ever rise from the dead. yourself and you will find, in the long run, only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay. But seek Christ and you will find him, and with him everything else thrown in." Let's pray. Thank you Father for the new birth. Thank you that you didn't just call us to live a particular way and hope that maybe, in the end, we can take the step and go to heaven. Thank you for giving us new life, new sensitivity and new identity now. Thank you for the power of your future in our lives now, for the change.

Thank you for the supernatural nature of our salvation. Thank you for the new birth. And I pray that everyone listening here has experienced it or is asking the question, “What should I do?” Help us all to look to you and be saved. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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