Revealing the Sons of God Part 1 1 John 3:1-4

Calling names, uh, welcome to all the people in the memphis and shelby county area to those in forest city um west memphis Little rock arkansas jonesborough and those on the east coast and of course those from around the world may be tuning in Because we know that through facebook we have access to many All right. Well, it's always a delight to be with you It's a delight to study the word of god and we're going to look at first john chapter three verses one through three but we're going to talk about it from the perspective of The context we're going to find out exactly To the best of my ability what the text means and then hopefully you'll walk away from this with a better understanding now Whether or not I can get through all of the material I have planned for today is Going to be another question. I don't know that until we get into it However, I will finish the lesson. So if we don't get it all today, we'll certainly get it Uh at some time in the future, so let's uh in just a moment We'll have the scriptures read, uh, but one of the most glorious privileges and blessings that the believer Has is to be called sons of god and the reason is because being a son of god has privileges, I believe there is a Business slogan that says the american express card And uh, but often when we are citing the text in first john 3 it is used to speak of a kind of resurrection Uh of the body of individual believers that they will possess at some alleged but unproven future return of christ However, when the concept of the sons of god is first mentioned in the gospel of john We get a different picture of who they are and Of what they are constituted and because people start You know, sometimes I just say people start at the end of the thing instead of at the beginning And because they do they miss out on all of the rich teachings of the word of god on a particular passage And so if you're looking at your personal Physical anatomy to speak of yourself as a son of god Especially if you are seeking to understand or interpret it in an eschatological or in time scenario Then I believe you have missed the mark on what the bible talks about So let's read the text from first john and then we're going to delve into our study today. Go ahead Uh sake and uh read it Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of god Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him Beloved now, we are children of god and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be But we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And everyone who has this hope in him Purifies himself just as he is pure All right. So here we have a text that is focused on The consummative aspect of being a son of god But we must also understand that john wrote about sons of god in the gospel And when we read in the gospel about the sons of god, we learn something about them About how they were brought forth about how they are constituted And of what nature they are and it's important and vital that before we start trying to talk about Uh what's happening in the end? We need to look at what happened in the beginning. So let's go to john Chapter one we're going to look at verses 12 and 13 actually Uh, i'll quote verse 11 and then we'll have our reader start at verse 12 and we're going to take a look at it So, uh, I hear someone saying there's a little bit too much gain on the mic so maybe I need to back off just a little bit I have a My voice really thunder sometimes so maybe i'll just tone down a little bit and see Uh, if that's okay, please those of you who are listening out there if the audio is fine, uh, let me know give me a Okay. Thank you. Uh d. All right, and um in john 1 11 the bible says Jesus came to his own But his own did not receive him But as many as received him, I think that's verse 12, isn't it? Uh, yeah, that's all right. Go ahead. I'll let you read that. Okay, but as many as received him to them He gave the right to become children of god to those who believe in his name who were born not of blood Nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of god All right. Now notice what the text says in the gospel of john It says jesus came to his own But his own did not receive him But as many as received him To them he gave the authority to become the sons of god And notice he gave the right he gave the authority to become Children of god now. I want you to understand that as sons of god because children of god same thing as sons of god And some translations will actually say sons of god, but he says to those who do what? To those who believe On his name now, please underscore that it's very very important It's very critical in understanding what we are talking about and who we're talking about as the sons of god Then the bible says who were born now watch this ladies and gentlemen, please please please take note of this Who were born watch? not of blood nor Of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of god Now you have some sons of god here And the scripture says they're not born of blood Now, let me ask you can you produce? a human being without blood Can you produce a person in the flesh? without blood Apart from the will of the flesh And apart from the will of man. I assure you every human being That lives on this earth was born of blood Born of the will of the flesh and born of the will of man however When the bible talks about sons of god, it says they were not born of blood Nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man now look at the contrast but of god So we're not talking about human beings that are natural in the flesh When we talk about sons of god We're talking about those who have been born of god now When you speak of god, what kind of being are you talking about? You're talking about a god who no man has seen you're talking about a father who is spirit Not one who is made of flesh and blood that you can see with your visible eyes the scripture Speaks about those born of god. Now. Why is it that those of us sometimes some of us Who read the scripture cannot make the distinction Between those born of blood and of the will of the flesh and of the will of man as opposed to those born of god Now we always say like father like son, right? So did god birth us in the flesh? Or did he birth us in the spirit? Is he talking about fleshly sons of god or is he talking about spiritual sons of god? Now i'm not denying our humanity, but see we had a birth in the flesh But we also have if we are believers That's why he says to those who believe on his name. We have a birth in the spirit now Let's go to john chapter 3 In john chapter 3 the bible says there was a man of the pharisees Named nicodemus a ruler of the jews And this man came to jesus by night and said to him rabbi rabbi We know you are a teacher come from god for no one can do these signs That you do unless god is with him now in verse 3 i'm gonna have this read And let's see what the scripture says. What did jesus say to nicodemus? See here's nicodemus He's a ruler of the jews. He comes to jesus by night probably intimidated by the rest of the pharisees and maybe Others in the sanhedrin council, etc. So he comes to christ by night and he's been listening to him He's been hearing what he was saying and he his curiosity got the best of him And uh, and he wanted to come and find out more from this great teacher in israel who was doing all these miracles All right. What does the scripture say? Jesus said jesus answered and said to him Most assuredly I say to you unless one is born again. He cannot see the kingdom of god All right, notice that ladies and gentlemen Jesus answered and said to him most assuredly I say to you Unless one is born what again again is born anew is born above He cannot what see the kingdom. He cannot see the kingdom of god. In other words, you cannot see it In the natural realm, you cannot see it as a natural person The scripture says you must be born again in order to see the kingdom of god Now I want you to think about that for a moment Nicodemus then Asks jesus a question. You see he does what most people do when they read the scriptures We have been so indoctrinated We have been so traditionalized and opinionated with man's Doctrine that we cannot listen to god We cannot listen to the words of the scripture and let them teach us and guide us In the things that god wants us to know the bible says in verse 4 That wasn't where I was going. That's all right since you want to go there Uh, go ahead and read it 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? All right. Now listen to that ladies and gentlemen nicodemus went straight to the realm of the flesh He went straight to the manner in which he was born into this life He said how can a man be born when he is old excellent question Because it's some old people listening to me now i'm one of them How can a man be born when he is old have you ever asked that question? Did you think about that when you started to think about and talk about being a son of god? How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time? into his mother's womb Wow, that would be a feat wouldn't it? Old man re-entering into his mother's womb now, listen, that is how bizarre It is to talk about sons of god in the flesh when you go to the scripture and you're trying to Interpret what the bible says about a son of god You may as well be advocating that a man can enter back into his mother's womb and be born That's how much sense it makes So think about it If you're talking about sons of god Look at how far off you've got to be from the word of god. Remember john 1 says They were born not of blood Nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of god They were born of a spiritual being now, let me um Get this scripture for just a moment In hebrews chapter 12 When the bible talks about sons of god hebrews chapter 12 beginning at verse seven And actually we start earlier than that, but just here's a text that I wanted to uh to get before us He says in verse Yes, seven starting verse five starting verse five. Let's read that i'm going to move through this a little quickly, but go ahead And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to son, all right Here's an exhortation that speaks to you as sons My son do not despise the chastening of the lord nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him For whom the lord loves he chastens and scourges every son who he receives Whom the lord loves he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives read If you endure chastening god deals with you as with sons For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening or which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons Furthermore, we have had human father. All right, hold it right there. That's what I want Listen to that ladies and gentlemen furthermore We have had what human father human fathers Who corrected who corrected us? And we paid them and we paid them respect watch Breathe, shall we not much more shall we not much more readily readily be in subjection to the father of spirits father of spirits and live and live So we've got a contrast here between fathers of the flesh human fathers And father and the father of the spirit We're not talking about Near humanity here ladies and gentlemen, and look, you know, we could carry this lesson on sons of god even deeper I'm not going to do it today. It depends. I might Do so in the future But a lot of people really don't grasp What it means to be a son of god, let me just throw in one scripture just to tease a little bit Turn, uh to second peter chapter one second peter chapter one now watch if you are born of human blood And of the will of the flesh and of the will of man if you're born of a human father What are you going to come out looking like? a human The kind of stuff you can touch and you can feel You go to the mirror and you look at it. You can see it That's the way you're coming out But here's what second peter said about sons of god about those Who are in christ who are born of god second peter chapter one and verse three As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. All right, here's divine power Now remember we read in john chapter one where the bible says, uh who were born Or rather as many as believed on him to them. He gave the right which is the authority or the power To become sons of god see it took a certain kind of power to become a son of god It takes divine power to do that All right, read through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue the knowledge of him who called us by glory And virtue see that's the call of the gospel That's the call of the spiritual word of god Read on by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promise All right By which has been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises One of those is the promise that's over in first john chapter three, which we'll be talking about It was a promise at the time. It was written to those in the first century read on that these That through these through these thank you. You may become partakers of the divine. Oh, whoa. Whoa. Whoa watch that Did you hear that ladies and gentlemen? That through these you may become partakers of the Divine nature now tell me of what nature is your father? Of what nature is god? Does he have a human body? He's your father Does he have blood running through his veins? He's your father Is he a man? He's your father Watch this. No man has seen god at any time You cannot see him I want you to be thinking about that when you're thinking about a son of god. All right, let's go back to john 3 Because there's a lot more we need to unpack in that verse and I can see right now this is going to turn into a series because We are just almost at the half of the hour and I haven't even begun to get started on the lesson all right good to see you brother solomon and I listened to him from cape coast this morning and now he's listening to me did a great job On on the lesson there with that. He taught and he's a great young gospel preacher. We're very proud of him We work with him over in cape coast ghana and Doing a great job building a fine preterist congregation there and reaching out to the community. So we appreciate him very much All right, go ahead Um, we're now in verse four. So as nicodemus said, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born and so jesus has to reiterate Jesus answered most assuredly I say to you unless what is born of water and the spirit He cannot enter the kingdom of god. All right Now look at what he's born of He's born of water and of the spirit He's not born of blood He's not born of the will of the flesh He's not born of the will of man, but he's born of water and of the spirit now Let's just think about this What is he doing? He's going to enter the kingdom of god What does the bible say about the kingdom of god when there were those who were wondering whether or not the kingdom of god Would immediately appear in luke chapter 17 and verse 20 You see the pharisees they were pressing him about When the kingdom of god was going to immediately appear and what did jesus tell them about the kingdom of god? And after this we're going to go to john 18 and verse 36 But what did he say to them about the kingdom of god in luke chapter 17 and verse 20? Now when he was asked by the pharisees when the kingdom of god would come he answered them and said The kingdom of god does not come with observation. Oh watch this now the kingdom of god does not come with observation You cannot see it with your natural eyes It does not come with observation. It's not a physical kingdom. It's not a kingdom of this world Remember when the jews asked for a kingdom like all the nations round about first samuel 8 and verse 7 God said they had rejected him That he should not reign over them and in hosea 13 he told them I am your king. Oh israel, and there is no other You see we got to get out of all this human stuff when it comes down to the things of god But we can't do that when our entire mindset is focused on the outward natural physicality of man We're not denigrating that we're not demigrating denigrating being human But you've got to understand what god has called us to And called us from All right back to uh, oh john 18 and verse 36 read Now this is jesus before pilate And they have charged him with insurrection Saying that he has come to overthrow rome Which was and is a dispensational concept, but it was also a pro-zionist concept And hence all this doctrine about going back to the land of israel Well, the hebrew israelites got embarrassed over that last year, didn't they? Because they thought they were going to be back in the land of israel and here they are still sitting where they are Because they got a bad paradigm It's that physicality that always gets them in trouble All right. Uh, what did he say? Jesus answered my kingdom is not of this world If my kingdom were of this world my servants would fight. All right, jesus said my kingdom is not of this world If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight That I should not be delivered to the jews So he has a kingdom that does not come with observation He has a kingdom that is not of this world, which means that it is heavenly And it is not a natural kingdom. So what do you think about the citizens? Who are in that kingdom? Do you think they're of this world? Do you think? That it's their physicality that constitutes them as members or constitute them as members of the kingdom See, we're not prepared some of us Futurists to talk about sons of god If we don't understand who they are and of what they consist All right. Let's go back to john 3 still got more there. Okay verse um six Now watch ladies and gentlemen watch what he's going to tell you in verse 6. This is very very important That which is born of the flesh and that which is born of the spirit. All right, hold it. Hold it. Hold it You missed something Read it That which is born of the flesh Is flesh. All right that which is born of the flesh is flesh And that which is born of the spirit and that which is born of the spirit is spirit is spirit now Which birth do you suppose? Is born of the spirit Is it the son of god? Or is it? The one who came from his mother's womb the lord said That which is born of the flesh is flesh And that which is born of the spirit is spirit So what we're talking about when we talk about sons of god, just like we saw the father of spirits We're talking about the spiritual nature of man We're talking about something spiritual Not something that is fleshly That has a bearing on how we understand and interpret sons of god All right read on in verse 7 Now he's going to describe How you can detect a son of god how you can perceive a son of god Do not marvel that I said to you. You must be born again. All right, so he tells nicodemus do not marvel that I said to You nicodemus that ye or israel had to be born again All right, but now read uh verse 8 the wind blows where it wishes now. He's going to describe How to detect a son of god He and watch he's not going to say go get your mirror And just stare in it for about 15 minutes and get a good eyeball look at a son of god read The wind blows where it wishes the wind blows where it wishes I wonder why he chose the wind to illustrate a son of god The wind Blows where it wishes read on and you hear the sound of it and you hear the sound of it Now it makes a sound But how many of you have ever seen the wind? Read on but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes but cannot tell where it comes from or Or and where it what go where it goes Read so is everyone who is born of the soul is everyone who is born of the spirit. So ladies and gentlemen Those who were sons of god in the scripture Were born of the spirit And the bible says you can't tell where the wind goes You can't tell where it comes from Why because it's wind you can't see the direction of it. Now. We have all our meteorological Devices and everything today, but they didn't have them back then the point being Is it's invisible? He's not talking about something that was visible to the eye So the kingdom is invisible The father is invisible the sons of god as far as their status before god was an invisible reality as a matter of fact That was one of the big problems In the scriptures if you understand the backdrop of the scripture It was a contesting Of who are the true sons of god now, they all looked alike If you looked at them from the outward appearance, you couldn't detect them from the outward appearance Is what i'm getting at? All right So it's very very important to uh to understand that and to understand the invisible invisible aspect Of god and of the sons of god so that we know precisely who they are Let me give you an example from acts chapter 9. Uh, this is after paul had been converted He had been converted. Um and um Had obeyed the gospel under the teaching of ananias and from that perspective He went among some of his disciples Or some of the disciples I should say in acts chapter 9 and verse 26 Now notice what that verse says And when saul had come to jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples. All right Now remember saul had been the one persecuting them. He had been um, uh persecuting them. Uh, Putting them in prisons. He got letters from damascus, etc Uh to do all these things and so they were afraid of him They were terrified of him because some of them were you know being put to death steven. Uh was put to death. Uh, In his presence some say, you know, he he gave well He actually said he gave consent to the death of steven And so they were terrified of him and by the time he was converted. Nobody knew that And then he went among the disciples And again, the text says they did not believe that he was a disciple They did not believe that he was a disciple. Now. He was a son of god But they couldn't tell it just looking at him from the outside They couldn't distinguish they didn't uh know that he was a son of god, but he had been born again Not of the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of god and so this is what we're talking about now Uh, let's ask ourselves this question As we look at galatians chapter 3 verses 26 through 29 Let's ask the question who wants to become a son of god who wants to be a son of god This is what the apostles were doing. They were teaching people about becoming sons of god And in galatians chapter 3 now remember in john 1 when jesus said To those who received him to them He gave the right the authority the power to become the sons of god even to those who believe on his name You see you become a son of god through faith. All right now in galatians 3 26 through 29. What's the text say? For you are all sons of god through faith in christ. Jesus For as many of you as were baptized into christ have put on christ There is neither jew nor greek All right Now hold it right there for as many of you as have been baptized into christ have done What have put on christ now, did you put on christ physical body? Did you put on a physical being? I appreciate that steven. He says a man is born out of the spirit. All right The sons of god are born out of spirit that is from a spiritual source. That's excellent That's exactly what the text is saying They're born from a spiritual source he's he's giving you the source of their birth it's not from humanity This is from god. All right, and so he says in galatians for you all the sons of god By faith or through faith in christ. Jesus for as many of you as were baptized into christ have put on christ Now how many of you went in the closet pulled out your christ clothing and put it on? You see that's not the way it works and what did you put it on did you put it on your physical body? We know that's not the way to put on christ and yet we forget all these concepts when we're Diving into a text trying to prove a theory For which we have no biblical support And so they have put on christ. What do you think that is? Is it physical or is it spiritual spiritual? And then he says there's neither what jew nor greek there's neither jew nor greek now did that mean that the jew Once he put on christ Lost his circumcision lost his um Status as a jew No, not if you read the scriptures read acts 15 a gentile No from a physical point of view or greek See their physicality remained the same But there was a sphere in which they were neither jew nor greek that's a spiritual realm And then he says neither what? Neither jew nor greek neither slave nor neither slave nor free when look we have all you got to do read Ephesians chapter 6 you had masters being baptized You had servants being baptized and when paul wrote to them paul didn't say Okay, everybody goes free. There's no master. There's no slave He said servants obey your masters and he says masters treat them as Though you were treating christ He still recognized Outwardly those distinctions, but spiritually they were to be treated as equals now He says there's neither what? There's neither male nor female for you are all at one. All right, hold it right there There's neither male nor female now. Look all this Uh genderless stuff that's going on in the world today, you know having Uh boys going to girls bathrooms and girls going to boys bathrooms and all of that talking about there's no gender That's not what this is about I guarantee you no male listening to me if he is of same mind is going to be wearing a dress this morning I don't know what to say about the females because they will wear pants, but i'm talking about dressing up in men's clothes You understand your femininity from the outward realm you understand that Uh your masculinity from that realm. You're not going to walk around and wear dresses, right? So you know that from your humanity? From the realm where you were born of the flesh you Are still a male But when you enter the realm of christ, which is a spiritual realm You are neither male nor female. You're neither bond nor free You are neither Jew nor greek For you all what one one in christ. Now, how does that happen? You can't do that as individual humans, but you can do that in a spiritual realm. You see that's a that's a different kind Of relationship you're all one in christ. Jesus and he said and if you were christ Then see we said that sonship has privileges the privilege and blessing of being a son Is the right to an inheritance? Slaves didn't have an inheritance females Didn't inherit under the law and Greeks had no inheritance Now there were exceptions made but they didn't have an inheritance in the land of israel And so he's saying all those distinctions are gone. All right, let's go to another text colossians chapter 3 And verse 11 see what we're talking about is something in the spiritual realm. Not uh, those things that relate to Physicality and um, that's what jesus was saying in john chapter 1 but now We've got to be consistent all the way through when we talk about a son of god, right? You can't jump ship Late in the game toward the time of the end and then switch back to humanity To to being born of blood And that's what people want to do when they get to the eschatological teachings of the bible They want to talk about all this human stuff natural physical bodies And they don't understand What a son of god is. All right read Whether it's neither greek nor jew circumcised nor uncircumcised Barbarian synthean slave nor free but christ is all and in all All right So that's what we're talking about when we're talking about a son of god for as many of you as were baptized into christ And put on christ colossians 2 11 and 12 speaks about those who had been buried with him in baptism And he tells them that they were to put off certain things They were to put off anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy language out of their mouths And then having put those things off He says do not lie to one another verse 9 Since you have put off the old man with his deeds and they had to put on some things Therefore as the elect of god holy and beloved put on what? New man put on the new man who was renewed in the knowledge according to the According to the image of him who created him And they were to put on what tender mercies Kindness humility meekness long-suffering. You see these are all qualities of the spirit, right? Bearing with one another forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against one another even as christ forgave you So you must do and so they were to put on love which was the bond of perfectness these This is what is manifested in true sons of god. Now, let's go to colossians chapter 3 Let's look at colossus 3 now. We're getting into a little bit of the eschatological side of it We've laid a little bit of a foundation from the inaugural side And from their continuation through this journey as sons of god, but see That's that's one of the problems ladies and gentlemen. See people have the idea that You get the spiritual first And then you get the natural that's backwards. That's not biblical The bible says there was the natural first and by speaking of the natural he's talking about what nicodemus was talking about How israel came into the covenant as sons of god through natural means it was natural It was outward. It was a kingdom that was in the world Consisting of all those natural things they fought natural wars, etc But you know, we'll read and we'll tell people well the weapons of our warfare are not carnal So everything that we read about is spiritual And then we will revert back and say Okay. Now let's talk about some physical stuff that's going to happen at the time of the end No colossians 3 starting at verse 1 If then you were raised with christ seek those things which are above All right, if then you were raised with christ now this is talking about a resurrection they've already Uh begun to participate in now. No one no one that i've ever studied No one that i've ever read from Who wants to discuss resurrection has ever said? That the people in colossians were raised physically In other words that they were raised out of the ground bodies coming out of the dirt none of them He says if then What you were raised raised with christ? Seek those things seek those things which are what above which are above where christ is Sitting at the right hand of god where christ is sitting at the right hand of god So now he's talking about the eschatological things. He's talking about the end time things that he's telling them to seek And he says at the time that he's writing this they were above but now Um in colossians 2 And we'll go there in a moment Um, but I want you to have that ready colossians 2 11 through 12 Uh, let's just do it now. Let's just do it now so we can set this up. Okay Remember in galatians how they became sons of god He says for as many of you as were baptized into christ have done what you have put on christ That's how they became sons of god through faith And baptism is the manner in which they became sons of god now that is how they are born of god That is not being born of blood born of the will of the flesh or the will of man Well in colossians, you will find that they too have been baptized which means this is how they become sons of god So I want to make it clear that those of whom we speak in colossians chapter 2 are sons of god All right, colossians 2 11 and 12 In him you were also Circumcised with a circumcision. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait There's another term. There's another term. See we're talking about these sons of god, but the bible says they were circumcised Right. Well, what did they circumcise as a son of god? With a circumcision made without hand. This is a circumcision made without hands, right? a circumcision made without hands Read on by putting off the body of sins of the flesh by putting off the body now, they put off a body as well If you read the margin reference It will say by putting off the body of the flesh the rendering in the text will say by putting off the Body of the sins of the flesh. It doesn't you know, you can take either one that you want But I just want to point out that there are some references that say that they put off the flesh When they were baptized now get that ladies and gentlemen, they put off the flesh By now go ahead read on by putting off the body of the sins Of the flesh by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of christ by the circumcision of christ My point here is and I believe what the bible's point is is that this is not a circumcision in their physical flesh this is not a circumcision of the uh of the Male anatomy is what he's getting at. This is a circumcision of the heart. This is a circumcision of Cutting them off from the old covenant system bringing them into the realm of the spirit into the new covenant world That's the circumcision that they had by joining with christ through baptism and and through faith. All right read on Was that all of 11 and 12? No 12 says Buried with him in baptism in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of god who raised him from the dead All right, so there's the connection between galatians 3 buried with him in baptism Which is how they became sons of god. All right. Now, let's go back to colossians 3 In colossians 3 we've already read where he says if then you were raised with christ seek those things which are above Where christ is sitting at the right hand of god now, what else? Set your mind on things above not on things of the earth. All right, let's go back to john 3 state Uh, keep your reference there I want to go back to john 3 and let's note something that uh, jesus told nicodemus when he was talking about the new birth uh, he said something to Nicodemus Regarding uh those things and let's read. I think we got down to verse 8. So read verse 9 Nicodemus answered and said to him. How can these things be see nicodemus wasn't quite Up on it in terms of this new birth that jesus was talking about and so he says how can these things be? All right, read jesus answered and said to him. Are you the teacher of israel and do not know these things? Are you a teacher in israel and do not know these things? Most assuredly I say to you We speak what we know and testify what we have seen and you do not receive our witnesses verse 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe How will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? All right, so he's telling nicodemus If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? So We are talking here about the heavenly things That jesus is trying to reveal and nicodemus is not getting it. He's not even getting uh, The idea of being born again from the perspective of uh entering into the kingdom of god now Let's go back to colossians 3 and notice what he says in colossians 3 verse, uh 2. I believe did you read that? Said your minds on things above not on things of the earth before you died. All right Now look at that ladies and gentlemen pay very careful attention to this statement. All right, four minutes. I got you. All right Uh pay very careful attention. We're going to have to close at this point and this is this is a pretty good point to close It'll leave you kind of hanging. Um But hopefully you'll be hanging on something good He says for you died. Now. I want you to look at the church at colossi And tell me how many? graves literal graves you see in colossi How many people? are there Who have stopped breathing? That paul sat down and wrote a letter to where do we have any letter written to anyone in? the graveyard Yet paul wrote to these saints and said for you what? You died All right, so he tells them that they had died But watch what else he says about them and your life is hidden with christ in god, wait a minute your life is hidden with christ In god, so here these colossians they had died but not physically And then he tells them that their life is hidden with christ In god, so there was something about them That was invisible And it was the life That they had he says that life was hidden. It was a life that you couldn't see That was their spiritual life. Ladies and gentlemen, we're talking about sons of god born not of blood Not of the will of man nor of the will of the flesh but of god And thus he says this life is hidden now if it's hidden and they couldn't see it You couldn't see it That means it has to be in some way reveal How do you reveal spiritual things? You can't see them with your eye So whatever he's talking about here is something that was hidden. Well I'm, not even going to read the next verse you can read that We'll pick up on that on next week because we're just about out of time and uh, but I want to say to you that It's important for us to understand That we're talking about sons of god We're talking about those who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man But of god, we're talking about those who were born through the spirit And as a result of that we have to understand the nature of them And then we can properly talk about what happens to them in the time of the end. That's all the time we have Thank you sake for uh reading for us and thank you, uh delores for being a great producer Uh, good morning to all of our audience until next week. This is william bell saying have a very pleasant. Good morning Why