The Three Musts - Bruce Novelly - 2347

Jesus said in Matthew 28, verse 19, go therefore and teach all nations. Baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Bruce Novelly. I have a little story that I would like to thank you, Terry, to share with you this morning, thursday, late afternoon. We've got two grand grandsons living with us at the moment for school holidays. That's why my hair is getting rather short. And young Harrison was playing with the iPad and he said look, these things can answer any question that you like. Just ask a question and I'll type it in and it'll give you the answer. So we said, what's the name of the Prime Minister here in Australia? And he said, oh, Scott Morrison. And I said yeah, that's good. What's the name of the leader of the opposition? They said, oh, Anthony Albanese. Oh, very good. What's? The premier of Western Australia. Mark McGowan. I said, I think I'll ask a harder question. What's the name of a nation in the continent of South America? And the answer came back Chile. Oh. I said all right, I'll ask even a harder question. What's the biggest island in the world? And it came back, Australia. And I thought oh, I've got to ask a harder question than that. So I ask, who's the boss in our house? And milliseconds later, milliseconds later it came back Grandma. Now Terry's been around at our place quite a bit. So Terry, who is the real boss in our house? Look, I think we're going to have to get a new iPad. The answer is not all that good. Let's just bow ahead, shall we? Dear Heavenly Father, we want to hear your voice speaking to us this morning. Nobody wants to hear my voice. We want to hear the voice of the teacher from Galilee. So shut everything else out of our minds. May our minds be focused on Jesus this morning as we share time with Him. We pray in his name. Amen. In chapter 1000 of Holy Writ is a warning sent in love and mercy, which is yet dire and dreadful. A warning so well known to us that despite its importance, it hardly makes any impression on us anymore. It's as though I were to say to you there are marauding lions out there in the car park and after we finished the service, you all wandered out the doors without a care in the world. Where it's as though there is a lot in print these days about the dangers of cigarette smoking. And so thousands upon thousands of smokers have given up reading. Scripture says in John chapter three, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And down there in verse seven, Jesus says ye must be born again. When the great preacher John Wesley was asked why he preached so often on the text. Ye must be born again, he said, because ye must, we must, or no man will see the kingdom of God without being born again. The most fearful thing in the account is the person to whom Jesus said it was said to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a man whose life was immaculate, upright, perfect. A man whom all the people of his day looked up to and held in high regard. Most of the people whom Christ warned of hell, whom Christ intimated would be lost, were for the most part perfectly religious and entirely respectable. Most of them were Sabbath keepers, tithe, payers, health reformers. They had all the right doctrines, but they were lost. And that's what makes John Three so terrible that Jesus would say to a man like Nicodemus, you must be born again. Just consider some of the bad characters in Christ's stories. Look at the story of the Good Samaritan. The priest was hurrying down from Jerusalem to Jericho going about his priestly duties when he heard that cry for help. A chill of fear passed through him that he might be delayed. And if he were delayed in that dreadful spot on the Jericho road the life of a valuable clergyman could be in danger. So he took a quick glance and said a quick prayer and went on his way. A perfectly respectable religious gentleman who left a man to die. The second man, of course, was a Levite. He went over and looked, and he could see that the man needed help. But because his superior, the priest, had done nothing, it would be presumptuous of him to try. And so he went on his way. Another religious gentleman and entirely respectable. Then there's a story of the rich fool who said I have much goods laid up for many a year. What am I going to do with all this stuff? I know. I'll pull down my barns and build greater. Now, we're not told that this man was a bad man. We're told he was a fool. We're not told that he was an adulterer or a thief. No, he had many virtues. He must have been diligent to amass what he did. He must have been energetic. He must have had skill and capacity to plan. But he was lost, perfectly lost. Lost, more surely than if he had been an adulterer or a thief. Because those people who know that they are bad are close to help. But those people who think that they're not so bad are on the brink of hell. Remember the story of the Great Supper? Christ said of those men none of the men whom I invited will taste of my supper. What was so bad about them? One man said, I've brought a yoke of oxen. Pray have me excused. Another said, I brought some land. I must go and look at it. Let me go. And the third fellow said, I've married a wife. Well, none of these things are bad. People still buy cattle, people still buy land. And some people, even in the year 2021, still get married. Their one sin was preoccupation with second best and they were damned. It just takes your breath away when you think of the villains in Christ's stories. The prodigal's older brother was a worker, not a Sherker, not at home with his feet up watching TV, but out in the field, but lost the Pharisee that went to the temple to pray. He believed in God, he believed in the Bible. He was a worshipper. He paid his tithe and he fasted a lot more than you and I. What a religious gentleman he was, but lost. Respectable, but lost. The warning of John Three is a fearful warning. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Ye must be born again. Some of the stories that are told to us around this chapter give us the context for John Three. Jesus had transformed the temple from a den of thieves and a noisy cattle market. He had transformed water into wine. He had transformed sickness into health. All these stories, the transforming of the loaves and fishes, the transforming of the stormy lake, the transforming of the blind man, the transforming of the dead Lazarus to the live Lazarus, are all meant to tell us that Jesus came to transform. And unless he transforms me, I am none of his. And unless he transforms you, you can be none of his. Sociologists and psychologists emphasise the importance of environment. If you put a person into the right environment, they insist that most of their problems will disappear. If God were to pack up the entire human race and transport it to the perfect environment of heaven, would that solve the sin problem? All God would accomplish would be to contaminate heaven. Religion is not necessarily a virtue at all. One can find liars, thieves, adulterers, child abusers, drunkards, practising, homosexuals, gamblers. Even among professing Christians. We are all naturally selfish, impure, envious, hateful, or maybe just preoccupied. The theme of the Bible is transformation. Because unless a man is changed, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The people who crucified Christ were the most ardent religious the world has ever seen, and they crucified the Lord of Glory. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. There is a text that I would like you to turn to and we're going to put it up on the board for you so that you can see it as well. And if I can find it in my Bible, it is one Corinthians, the 15th chapter and verse 46. And this is what it says in my Bible that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. Wow, that's a very strange text, isn't it? Let's read it again. That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward, that which is spiritual. Have you ever considered how God has tried to teach us in some of the stories of the Old Testament, the necessity for transformation? In the Book of Genesis, let's take the firstborn sons compared to the second born sons. The first two sons, Cain and Abel. And that which was first was not spiritual, but carnal, and afterward that which was spiritual. Cain carnal a profane man, a murderer and lost. Afterwards, abel representing the twice born, the second born, the spiritual. The good shepherd who was murdered because his works were righteous. Abraham's family ishmael what sort of a man was ishmael a wild man, we are told. His hand was against every man and every man's hand was against him and lost. And then who, Isaac, who could steady his father's fingers as they held the knife? A willing sacrifice who laid himself on the altar first, that which is natural and afterward, that which is spiritual. Remember Isaac's, boys. First of all, esau. He sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. He represents our natural attitude toward spiritual things. Then Jacob, he started off the same way, but he was transformed and changed. He met God face to face and he wrestled with God until he knew his weakness. And then he was transformed and became Israel. First that which is natural and afterward that which is spiritual. Think of the generations of Israel. The first generation came out of Egypt stoof necked, stubborn, rebellious murmuring. We talked about that in our Sabbath school lesson this morning. Faithless and their bones bleached in the wilderness. The second generation, they stepped into the brimming floodwaters of the Jordan and the waters parted. They shouted, and the walls of Jericho fell down. They possessed the land first, that which is natural and afterward, that which is spiritual. Look at the first two kings of Israel. Saul, a goodly man in appearance, but carnal and lost. And afterward, david, the man after God's own heart. God has recorded these things to teach us the lesson. First, that which is natural and afterward, that which is spiritual. That I might see the necessity of being born again, becoming a second born child. On whom did the last plague in Egypt fall? On the firstborn. And when the plagues come throughout this old world at the end of time, they will fall again. On those who have only been born once, there'll be no plagues for the second born, those who have been born twice. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Ye must be born again. It's not enough to be told that I must be born again. It's much more important to know how a man can be born again. And fortunately, the same chapter that tells us the necessity also gives us the method. And I'm reading now from John three and verse 14 and again. The words are very familiar and there's the danger. They're so familiar that we get used to them and they don't register anymore. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up. None of us gave ourselves this first life and we certainly cannot give ourselves the second life. It's a miracle that happens as we see the Son of man lifted up. I do not become born again because I am looking for heaven. I don't become born again by observing the Commandments. And I don't become born again by exploring the doctrines of the state of the dead. Tithing. The Sabbath health reform can only be born again at the cross of Calvary. This is the second time in this chapter that the word must has occurred earlier in the chapter ye must be born again. And now in verse 14, the Son of man must be lifted up. A scribe asked Jesus on one occasion, which was the greatest commandment, and Jesus passed by the Ten Commandments, apparently, and he pulled a verse out of Deuteronomy six and another one out of Leviticus 19. The scribe and the rich young ruler who asked the same question wanted to know what to do. But Jesus didn't talk about particular deeds. He talked about an attitude. He said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Jesus was interested in doing, but he knew that at the centre of all real doing was laugh and love alone. The centre of eternal life, the centre of the new birth, the centre of missionary endeavour, the centre of victory over sin, the centre of all obedience is love to God. Our problem isn't that we don't know how. It's not more knowledge we need, it's more power to do what we know. We all know we ought to be kind, but how cruel we are, and often to our own first. We all know we ought to be patient, but how impatient we are. We all know that we ought not to be critical, but how critical we are. We all know we ought to be temperate, but how gluttonous we are by nature. We all know we ought to be pure, but how easy it is to linger with that impure thought. We all know we ought to be humble. We all know we ought to be unselfish, but knowing is not good enough. When we become convinced that Christ loves us, loved us enough to die for us, then we will love Him enough to die for Him. Nothing else will do. And the only way a man can be born again is through the conviction of the Spirit of God that Christ really died for Him. So the Son of man must be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The absolute must of calvary. Nothing else can convert the law never converted anyone. The Penitent thief on the cross had been through the courts and he was still swearing when he came to the cross. But when he looked at Jesus, he was born again when the law was first given. The record tells us in that account that 3000 Israelites died. They made that golden calf, and judgement came immediately when the law was given. We are told 3000 men died when the cross of Christ was preached at Pentecost. What then? 3000 lived. The law is not enough. The law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, that we might be counted as just before God, by faith, by looking to Jesus. Have you looked? Have you looked? Have you looked at the one that hung there for you? He took our place. If one died for all, Scripture says, then all died. God counted it that the whole world died. When he died, you died, I died, we all died. A perfect righteousness was wrought out by the second Adam. The first Adam failed and we were involved not by having anything to do with it, but by inheritance. The second Adam worked out a perfect righteousness, and we are involved in that. The inheritance of faith ruined in the first Adam, redeemed in the second, born into the first Adam and reborn into the second. God made him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He had no sin, but he was treated as though he did have. You and I have no righteousness, but we are treated as though we do have. Didn't make Christ a sinner when God treated him that way. And it doesn't make us immediately righteous when God treats us that way. It's the work of a lifetime. Christ takes all our debts and all his riches are ours for the taking. Sounds so good we doubt it. All the best things in life are free. And it's the same with eternal life. It's god's gift. Cannot be earned. Not by us. Was earned by Jesus. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, notice it was a serpent, not a lamb. It was a serpent god. Christ was treated as the devil, that we might be treated as Christ. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him. When the author of Pilgrim's Progress read that text, he said, if that had said John Bunyan by believing, I would have thought that it was some other Bunyan, not this one. But when it says whosoever, that must mean me. And it means you too. Even if you have been a backslider, even if you know in your heart of hearts that you have been less than human in your behaviour for many years, or if you just think of yourself as a respectable pharisee, it matters not whosoever. But you say, Look, I'm weak well, the Gospel isn't just for a strong willed Whosoever, you say, but I'm trapped and deceived in my sins. Look, we're all in this mess together. We're all wayward wanderers down here. But if you watch the Saviour, he'll be more to you than your sins. Whosoever but you say I've tried before? Well, you shouldn't give up trying. Because it is written whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then there comes the 16th verse. The verse we all know so well. The greatest verse in all of Scripture. It talks about the greatest person, God. It talks about the greatest thing anyone can do love. Talks about the greatest number to love. For God so loved the world. Speaks about the greatest evidence of love giving. Talks about the greatest thing that could have been given the Son. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. It speaks about the greatest invitation. Whosoever will talks about the greatest simplicity. Believing only should not perish. The greatest fate have everlasting life. The greatest reward is the greatest verse indeed. Hastening on down to the end of the chapter. You will notice the third time that must occurs in this chapter. John tells us there in verse 30 he must increase and I must decrease. I'm born again at the foot of the cross of Calvary. As I see that he loved me and gave Himself for me, the Holy Spirit comes into my life and then everything is different. The sky is a brighter blue, the grass is a better green. The birds sing more sweetly. And I see something in other people that I have never seen before. Because I have found that God loves me. Everything has changed. And when everything has changed, I find Christ increasing in my life. And I find my selfish desires decreasing. At the foot of the cross is the highest place of penitence. The place where we receive the gift of forgiveness. Where we see God and where we see our real selves. We see the hatefulness of ourselves because we put him there. We put him there just as much as the Roman soldiers and Pontius Pilate. We see Jesus at the cross, the heart of God at the cross. That's what gives us a hatred for sin and a love for goodness. And only the cross will do it. That's why Jesus, in return to the lawyer, said thou shalt love the cross creates a love that makes duty a pleasure. And there's no other way. And he that trusts in the merits of Christ shall never perish. And I want you to remember two little sentences as you go about your daily activities this week. The first sentence as I look at myself, I do not see how I could ever be saved. That's the first sentence. But please don't forget the next one. But as I look at Jesus on the cross dying for me, I do not see how I can ever be lost. Our gracious, loving and eternal God. All that thrills our soul this morning is Jesus. He's more than life to us. As we leave this place and go out into a restless and rebellious world, we pray that you will go with us, that Jesus will live in our hearts, that we may be able to share the good news of the Gospel. May we lift up Jesus higher and higher. May he increase in our lives. May we be able to hasten the day of Jesus'soon return by sharing the good news with those around us. Give us opportunity this week to be your representatives here on earth. We pray that you will put a hedge around us. May we live for you. May we live in the hollow of your hand. This week we pray in Jesus name. Amen. This message was made available by the Bunbury 7th day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page bunbury SDA. eye of what my God has done and truly in my life each day. For he rescued me to a life brand new. A life that's free from guilt and fear and shame. If he can change my life, he can change yours too in Christ I am a new creation the oldest son, the new has come he lives his life in me so I can have his victory in Christ I am a new creation now. Each day with God, it's a full of hope as I walk through life clothes in Christ He is my constant friend he gives strength to win I forgiven through his great sacrifice. If he can change my life, he can change us to make it brand new in Christ I am a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come he lives his life in me, so I can have his victory. In Christ, I am a new creation. Thank you, Jesus for recreating me. Thank you, Jesus, for setting me free. Thank you, Jesus for calling me your child I am a new creation in Christ. That was Carly Fletcher singing a New creation. Coming up next, the John Marshall family will sing. All that thrills my soul can cheer the heart like Jesus by his presence all divine, true and tender, pure and precious. Oh, how blessed to call him mine all that thrills my soul is Jesus more than light to me and the fairest of 10,000 in my blessed Lord I see love of Christ so freely give on grace of God beyond degree mercy higher than the heaven deeper than the deepest sea by the crystal flowing river with the ransomed I will sing and forever and forever praise and glorify the King. The King all that thrills my soul is Jesus Christ the Lord the Clark family will now sing I Choose to be a Christian. I was taught the Scriptures before I could read them. I found them to be true. That's why I believe them with all of my heart, my soul and my strength. With every song I sing, I choose to be a Christian. I will follow christ, carry the cross. That leads to life. I will be true. Stand for my convictions. Whatever others do, I choose to be a Christian. As this world grows darker, my lamp will be burning. Kindled with love for the one who is worthy. He. Gave his all, so I will give mine. I'll lay my life on the line. I choose to be a Christian. I will follow Christ carry the cross that leads to life. I will be true and for my convictions whatever others do? I choose to be a Christian? I will be bold? I'm ashamed of the gospel of his name of his name? I choose to be a Christian? I will follow Christ? Carry the cross that lead to life I will be true stand for my conviction whatever others do whatever others do I choose to be a Christian I choose to be a Christian to mission stories for kids with Uncle Gordon where you will hear firsthand accounts of answers to prayer and miracles from God. Oh, by the way, I think adults will like this too. Hi, boys and girls. Uncle Gordon here again. Lovely to be able to share some stories. And I want to share with you another story about some beautiful Aboriginal people who became very good friends of mine. These ones lived in a little community called Jigalong. Jigalong was right out on the western side of some of the big sandy deserts of Western Australia. And there were some lovely people who became very close friends of mine. In fact, two of the ladies I got to know very, very well were two of the ladies who were the featured girls in the story of the rabbit proof fence. And if you've seen that film at any time, or if you haven't, it's worth going to have a look at. And I got to know these two who are now old ladies as very close friends and had some pictures of home that I'd taken of these ladies or one of these other men. And I won't call him by his true name because he was an old man when I last sat down and had a chat with him. And so I'm going to call him by the name Paul. He told me the story of what happened to him when he was a boy. You see, his family were still nomads. They would live they would camp around a waterhole or a little spring out in the desert and they would eat, they said, fruits that were growing there on little trees. And there were nuts and there were berries and even the spin effects, they would take the little husks off the spin effects and then they would grind it up and make a flower and make a damper before they'd ever met a white person. And so they said we would live around that waterhole till all of the food that was there was almost all eaten. Then we'd parcel up some and then we'd move off to the next waterhole. And each year we'd do a circuit around each of those waterholes. And he said, one day I was playing with some of the boys in the sand dunes. He said, Some of the time we'd dig a bit of a cave so that we could get a bit of protection from the heat of the sun, but also sometimes it would protect us from the cold winds of the deserts at night. And we'll build a little fire between outside the little cave and we'll just shelter under the cave and have the warmth of the fire filling up the cave and keeping us warm at night. He said, but this one particularly hot day, I was running around and I got a headache and I kept running and then I fell, I fainted. And he wasn't too sure what actually had happened to him. The other children quickly ran off to the family and came and they came looking to see what had happened. And they saw him just lying there in the sand, not moving, and they could hardly see if he was breathing or not. They didn't think he was breathing and so they all thought he had died. I sensed that maybe he had just fainted that day. He didn't know he had just gone right out to it. Anyway, the family thought, oh, this is not a good sign, he's died here. There must be some bad spirits around here. And so they quickly packed up their camp and they moved away and left him there on his own. That evening, a couple of the young men, they came looking to see what was happening, to see if he had been taken by some of the crows in the area or some of the birds or some of the animals had come to start to eat him or what was going on. They didn't want that to happen. They thought, Maybe we can just bury him properly here somewhere. But when they came to him, they realised he was breathing and so they picked him up. And as they picked him up, he coughed as they picked him up and carried him back to the camp. And all the people in the camp said, ah, God has been with you. He's brought you back to life, he's given you back life. And he became somebody who they all thought was a wonder person, because God had brought him back to life out there in the deserts. Soon after that event, he had a dream. And in that dream he saw a man on a cross. And in that dream he saw this cross and he saw that man who'd been nailed to a cross. And in the dream he was told, that man is Jesus. Up on that cross and he saw the blood from that man's hands and his feet and then his side drip off to the ground. And then he saw that blood float everywhere. And that blood began to cover all the trees and all the bushes and all the deserts and all the people everywhere. And he told that dream to all the people who were part of his local family. Then when they met another group of people who are also nomads, he would tell that dream. He had never seen a book, he couldn't read or write, he'd never seen a white person. But he said the blood of Jesus is what is saving every human being on this world. That blood has now covered every human being. And if any of us are willing to accept Jesus and his death for us, we become part of his family. We are saved. And he shared that story from that point until he was an old man. And probably he has died by now because if he was still alive he would be in his late ninety s now because he's in his late 80s when I last talked to him. And I thought, what a beautiful story that that man had been given a dream as a little boy. And he kept sharing that dream with all his family so that they all knew until they began to leave the deserts and to come and establish communities where eventually missionaries came and told them about Jesus. And they all were able to say, yes, we know about Jesus. They said, yes, paul was the one who had a dream many years ago and he learnt about Jesus and he told us about Jesus. So we want to learn more about these Jesus whose blood covers every one of us. If we put our trust in Him, how do we do that? How do we accept him? How do we follow him? How do we live for Him? And so, one by one, many of them became Christians as they had the story of Paul now added to by those missionaries who came to share about Jesus. And I thought what a wonderful thing that this man as a little boy, though he had no exposure then to Christian things and to the Bible and to education. Yet God spoke through a boy by giving him a dream and giving him the sense of how much he loved all of them. And many of those people from the deserts already love God when missionaries came to tell more about his love. Thank you for listening, boys and girls. And I know that as you learn more about God and his love that your heart will be melted too, as it did to many of those people. And that you'll want to live for Jesus, you'll want to follow Him and want to serve Him each day. God bless. As you grow nearer to God. You've been listening to Mission stories for kids with Uncle Gordon. A production of Three ABN, Australia Radio. It's been our pleasure bringing you this programme today here on Three ABN, Australia Radio.