Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries recommend a book by a historical Jesus scholar, highlighting archaeological finds such as the Shroud of Turin, supporting the truth of Christianity. We want to send you this book by Dr. Jeremiah Johnston. It's simply called The Jesus Discoveries, and it's going to help you grow stronger in your faith and a great tool for you as you share your faith with others.
So order your copy of The Jesus Discoveries for your gift of any size. Get your copy at harvest.org. Here's Nicodemus. A man who was hungry for real truth. He had everything one would want in life, but something was missing.
Coming up today on a new beginning. Pastor Greg Lorry helps us chart the spiritual pathway of a man who is searching. but who found what his heart longed for. Everyone deep down inside is empty. And why are they empty?
Because effectively God created us with a void in our life that can only be filled. with him. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace has sweetest sound. But can you hear all the angels are singing?
This is the day, the day when I begin.
Some may think Jesus is only for the needy, the neglected, the down and out. But Pastor Greg Laurie has pointed out before, Jesus is for the up and outers as well. He's for those who've tried and failed. He's for those who've tried and succeeded. He's for everyone, for God so loved the world.
Today on a new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us follow the trajectory of one man's walk of faith. He knew there was something more out there. And he found it. We're in a brand new series called Jesus and You.
So, it's about the encounters that Christ had with different individuals.
So, just imagine for a moment, if you will. If you could have a personal appointment with Jesus, just you and the Lord hanging out, maybe over a cup of coffee. You could ask him any question. Oh, no topic was off limits. Just you and Jesus.
A younger person. might have some different questions than an older person might. A younger person might ask about their identity or their purpose in life or what course their life would take. An older person, Might ask questions about the afterlife or their mortality. Studies have shown that's what people think about as they get older.
In fact, it's what they ought to be thinking about as they get older. I don't know if you've seen that film, Saving Private Ryan. But it's a powerful film. And in this movie, Captain John Miller, played by Tom Hanks is sent on a mission. And it is to save Private Ryan because Private Ryan's three brothers had been killed in combat.
And it was felt that the mother could not stand the heartbreak of losing all four of her sons.
Some soldiers are sent on a mission to save Private Ryan. And they finally located him. Tragically, almost everyone in the squad that was sent to save this young man die in combat. And at the very end of the film, they finally find Private Rhyme, played by Matt Damon. And then Captain Miller is shot.
And he's dying. And he says to Private Ryan, James. Earn this. Earn it.
So now you go to the end of the film. And Private Ryan's an older man. And he goes to a cemetery to visit the grave of Captain Miller. who had died saving his life. And he's there with this family.
And he says to them, He tried to live the best life that he could live, and he hoped he earned what they all did for him. And then he turns to his wife and says, Tell me that I lived a good life. Tell me I'm a good man. And that's a valid statement to make. And we have a similar situation in the story before us.
We have an elderly gentleman. thinking about his mortality. Realizing he may not have that much longer to live, and he comes to Jesus. And the name of this man is known to most of us. His name was Nicodemus.
Nicodemus was effectively a household name. He was known to be a great spiritual leader. He was an intellectual. He was a deeply moral man, obviously a very religious man and a leader of the highest order. And now he encounters a humble, a completely uneducated or comparatively uneducated pork operative from Nazareth.
So here we have the intellectual elite with a man that was controversial. But it really wasn't a rabbi and a carpenter. This is effectively a conversation between God and man. And we could not nominate a better representative than Nicodemus. He was sort of the finest of humanity, sort of speaking on our behalf.
And so Jesus unfolds the mysteries of life to Nicodemus. And Christ also utters... probably the best known Bible verse of all time, John 3, 16. But before this conversation begins to unfold in John 3, we have what happened before it in John chapter 2, verse 23. Look at that with me.
Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust him.
Okay, that sounds good. Maybe your translation says many believed in him. But then this, but Jesus didn't trust them. Because he knew all people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each human heart.
Wow, powerful statement. Many trusted in him. But effectively he didn't trust in them. Many believed in him. But he didn't believe in them.
Why? Because their faith was superficial. It was based on the spectacular, on miracles that they had seen. It wasn't a genuine and real faith. When someone is really seeking God, the Lord will reveal himself to them.
But if you're not a true seeker, God won't reveal himself to you.
Now, in contrast to this, we come to chapter 3. But there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.
Now, when the Bible was originally written, there were not chapters and verses. Jesus did not begin a statement with chapter 1, verse 1. We added that later so we could find our way around in our Bible.
So, this is a flow of thought. These people believed in him, but he didn't believe in them. But there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus.
So, in contrast, here's a true seeker. Let's look at it: John 3. We read that there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night. You might underline that.
We'll come back to it. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, We know that you are a teacher come from God. For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with them. Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, but how can a man be born when he's old?
Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Don't marvel that I have said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes.
So is every wind born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said, Are you the teacher of Israel and you don't know these things? We'll stop there.
So here's Nicodemus. A man who was hungry for real truth. He had everything one would want in life, but something was missing. As long as we think our dream is going to be realized, we may press on in life. We set certain goals.
I'm going to go to school, I'm going to go to college, I'm going to get that degree, I'm going to get that good job, I'm hopefully going to get promoted in my job, and then I'm going to get married, and then we'll have kids. These are all goals that we set. And maybe we meet those goals. And after we've been married for, you know, 15 years, they say, I don't know, maybe I'll marry somebody else. And so we trade our spouses in.
And then with the kids, you say, you know, I enjoy having kids, but are they ever going to leave the house? They're all in their 50s now.
So, you know. We just keep thinking, when I get to this certain place, then I'm going to be happy. And then you get to that place and you're still not happy. You may have read the tragic story of this. uh member of the band one direction Liam Payne.
Very successful. His group sold over 70 million records. They had global fame. and he died recently falling off a balcony in a hotel in Argentina. And so this young man did an interview.
Uh before this event happened. And in the interview, he said, quote, he had hit rock bottom during this time in one direction. It was due to his use of drugs and alcohol. He said, I was worried. Where's rock bottom for me?
And you would have never seen it. I'm very good at hiding it. And now he's gone. I wish I could have said to young Liam Payne, Liam, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son. And whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Why is it that someone who is so successful turns to drugs and alcohol? Here's the simple answer. You think it's gonna get better if I hit this goal. Then one day you hit the goal, and a very rare group of people. Hit the goals they set in life and surpass them.
In other words, they get to the top and they find out there's nothing there. And that's why so many of our popular, iconic rock figures and movie stars and others end up addicted to drugs, end up sometimes taking their own lives. This is not new to our generation. King Solomon experienced it in his day. He had unlimited wealth and power.
And Everything you could want in life, and he said, One day I looked at everything that I had, and it was all emptiness. Tom Brady. who is the goat, the greatest of all time. Greatest quarterback has won seven Super Bowls. After he won three Super Bowl rings, he made this statement, and I quote, why do I have three Super Bowl rings?
And think there's something greater out there for me. I mean, a lot of people would say, hey man, this is what it is. I reached my goal, my dream, my life. But I think, God, it's got to be more than this. And then Brad Pitt.
who people mistake me for often. That was not a joke. That is the most insulting laughter I've ever heard. No, it was meant to be a joke of cards. Brad Pitt.
Who I'm never mistaken for. He's been very successful in his career, said, quote, I know all these things are supposed to seem important to us, the car, the condo, our versions of success. But if that's the case, why is the general feeling out there reflecting more impotence and isolation and desperation and loneliness, end quote? Lady Gaga said, quote, I won an Oscar. I sing at the Super Bowl, but in some ways I still feel empty inside.
I think it's because I'm still searching for who I am and where I fit in, end quote. Oh, you know, we look up to these people. Oh, I wish I was like this movie star. I wish I was like that singer. I wish I was like this athlete.
Then I would be happy. No, you probably wouldn't be at all. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everyone, I want you to know about our app called Harvest Plus. Think of it as a harvest version of Netflix.
We have all of our resources in one place. We have our movies like Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon, Johnny Cash of Redemption of an American Icon, A Rush of Hope, and much more. Then we have our television program, daily devotions, and much more.
So go and download the Harvest Plus app.
Well, we're talking about the search for happiness and fulfillment. Pastor Gregg's message is titled, Jesus and the Moral Man. Here's something that's true of every person. I don't care if they're young or old, famous, infamous, or completely unknown. Doesn't matter if they're a man or a woman.
Everyone deep down inside is empty. And why are they empty? Because effectively, God created us with a void in our life that can only be filled. with him. So you'll try to fill that void with so many things: relationships, sexual experiences, drugs, alcohol, accomplishments, possessions, the list goes on.
But you'll only find the satisfaction you seek in a relationship with God. Number one, everyone's empty. Number two, everyone's lonely. You may have a lot of friends. You may be at a party with people all around you, and a deep sense of loneliness just sweeps over you.
That's a loneliness for God. Thirdly, everyone is guilty. We feel guilt. We try to mask it. We try to pretend it's not there, but it is there.
And you know why you feel guilty? Because you're guilty. Because you're a sinner. I'm a sinner. We've all broken God's commandments.
And lastly, everyone is afraid to die. Oh, I know we'll show great bravado and laugh at it. No, deep down inside. When you're laying your head on the pillow, You think of your mortality. And people are afraid to die.
Well, the gospel answers all of those issues.
So coming back to Nicodemus, here he is. powerful, rich, famous. People went to him for answers, but he had questions.
So he comes to Jesus. And verse 1 says, He was a Pharisee. And we usually think of the Pharisees in a negative light. And understandably so. Because Christ saved his most scathing words for these religious leaders, but they weren't all bad.
In fact, Nicodemus was a good Pharisee. He was looking for truth. But they were a select group, never numbering more than 6,000, and each had taken a solemn vow before three witnesses that they would dedicate their entire life to the keeping of the commandments of God. But they weren't satisfied with the scripture alone.
So there was another group called the scribes that came up with a whole nother book, very thick, called the Mishnah. It had 24 chapters alone dedicated to how to keep the Sabbath. And in addition to the Mishnah, the scribes wrote a commentary on the Mishnah called the Talmud.
So they have all of these books and all of these rules and all of these regulations. And they felt if we do all of these things, we will be pleasing to God. They also would put on displays of piety. And religiousness. When they would pray, they would pray loudly on a street corner.
You remember the story that Jesus told of a Pharisee and a publican. that went into the temple to pray. And the Pharisee said, God, I thank you. I'm not like other men. I fast, I tithe, and I'm not like this.
Publican over here. And the publican, who is a tax collector, just said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. But that's typical Phariseitical behavior. I'm so awesome. I'm better than everybody else.
But you know, we can be like Pharisees, too. We can do things for theater. We can do things to make people think we're more spiritual than we really are. I mean, they had all of their extra volumes to the Bible. We can have all of our commentaries that we carry with us to church commentaries.
Really big Bible. Our Bible's bigger than anyone's Bible. And we take pictures of ourselves doing devotions with our Bible and all of our commentaries in front of us. And we're like, wow, look at me, you know. And we're learning a few Greek words now, and we use them all the time, even when we don't need to.
You don't need to use Greek when you're ordering it in an Aupurger, but you do it anyway. You just do things to cause people to think you're more spiritual than you really are. Here's the bottom line: if you're a really spiritual person, you won't be a show-off, you'll be more humble. You want to search yourself and say, look how great and awesome I am. You'll do the very opposite.
After years of walking with God, the Apostle Paul himself said, Hey, it's not that I've already attained. But I press on toward the mark for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ. Lou's paraphrase, hey, I've got a long ways to go. But that's the way the Pharisees rolled, and they thought that they were better than anyone else.
So along comes Nicodemus.
Now he's one of the primary leaders. He's identified as a ruler. There was a ruler among the Pharisees.
So now we have the Pharisees that are an elite group.
Now we have the Sanhedrin that rules over the Pharisees, and Nicodemus was on the top of the heap. He was the goat, right?
Someone called me the goat the other day. I was a lead compliment. Hey, goat. They said, old goat, get out of the way. That's it.
Wait, how did you mean that exactly? I was offended. I just moved, you know, very quickly. As quickly as an old goat can move, actually. Yeah.
I was talking to some Gen Z kids and they told me about the term Riz. He had Riz, right? It means he had charisma.
Well, he did. He was the man that others went to. Uh for advice. And so he comes to Jesus. And we look at this now.
In three ways, this conversation goes. Number one, they had a conversation face to face, face to face, verses two to three. Mind to mind versus four to eight, and finally, heart to heart. Verses 9 to 21.
So here's point number one. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. But at least he can. He came to Jesus by night, but at least he came.
So it was nicked night. I want to get that joke out of the way. It's a dated joke because there is no Nicodine anymore, is there? Uh so people who are older go, I remember that.
Okay, so he comes at night.
Now why? Why did Nicodemus come at night?
Well, the obvious reason would have been... is Nicodemus. Everyone knows him. He's the guy that's supposed to have the answers. He didn't want to be seen talking to Jesus.
That could be the reason. Another reason could be that, well, Jesus was a busy guy and Every day was filled with activities. He was raising the dead. He was healing the sick. He was giving the...
greatest teachings ever given. teaching in parables so much. And at the end of the day, he would be exhausted. But Nicodemus did not want a moment with the Lord. He wanted a conversation.
with Christ. He effectively wanted an interview. And so he came at night. Point number two. Better to have a weak beginning and a strong finish.
than the opposite.
So Nicodemus didn't have the strongest beginning. He kind of comes under the cover of night. Has this conversation with Christ, but in the end, He came through for Jesus. In the end, Nicodemus, along with a man named Joseph, of Armathia. uh came and claimed the body of christ publicly.
That was a very unpopular and even dangerous thing for the two of them to do. But it's even said, Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night. came with Joseph of Armathea to take the dead body of Christ. and bury it.
So There are some people that have a strong beginning. but they have a bad ending. and the Christian life is compared to a race on more than one occasion. And the key of this race that we're running Is not only to win to the best of our ability, but it's to finish it well. The Apostle Paul said, I want to finish my race with joy.
Then he wrote to Timothy, I fought the good fight, I kept the faith, I finished the course. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me in that day. And not to me only, but to all who love his appearing. Finishing well. Maybe Nicodemus had a weak beginning, but he had a strong finish.
Consider this. Judas Iscariot was an apostle in good standing. While old Nicodemus was groping his way in. But in the end of our Lord's ministry, Judas betrayed Christ and Nicodemus came through with flying colors. Um Important insights today here on a new beginning.
as Pastor Greg Laurie is offering a look at Nicodemus in his message, Jesus and the Moral Man. It's important to think about our own spiritual journey. Are we searching? Have we found what we've been searching for? Are we going to finish well?
Pastor Gregg, maybe somebody would like to make a change in their relationship with God today. They'd like to find what Nicodemus found. What would you say to them? I would say that God is just a prayer away. You know, it doesn't take years to become a Christian.
It doesn't take months. Frankly, it doesn't even take hours. It can happen so quickly. It just starts with... You saying to God, I know I'm a sinner, I know that You love me?
I know that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and pay for those sins and then to rise again from the dead. And I want him to come into my life.
So here's my question to you: Have you done that yet? Because Jesus, who did die on that cross and rose again from the dead three days later, is alive and standing at the door of your life right now, and he's knocking, and he's saying, if you'll hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in. Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to know that when you die you will go to heaven? Do you want Christ to come into your life right now?
If so, why don't you just stop whatever it is you're doing and pray this prayer with me? You could pray it out loud. You can pray it in the quietness of your own heart. But pray this prayer. to God.
Say, Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. but I know that you are the Saviour. who died on the cross for my sin. and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin, and I turn from it now.
and I choose to follow you. From this moment forward. I ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Listen.
If you just prayed that prayer, the Bible promises that God has heard your prayer and has answered that prayer. The Bible says that we will confess our sin. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So. God bless you. You've made the right decision. The decision to follow Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah, that's right.
And listen, as you begin to live this new life, we want to send you something to help you get started off right. It's Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's an easy-to-understand translation. plus hundreds and hundreds of study helps, especially for those who are new to the faith. It'll answer the questions you may have.
So get in touch for your New Believer's Bible. We'll send it free of charge. Just call 1-800-821-3300. Again, that's 1-800-821-3300. or write a new beginning box 4000.
Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. And, Pastor Greg, we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We're touching lives for eternity. And we're really thankful for our friends who see the fruit of this ministry and invest so this work can reach even further, isn't that right?
Absolutely. When you invest in harvest ministries, you're not going to be able to invest You're investing in the souls of men and women. Boys and girls, and what is the value of a soul?
Well, let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife? your son or your daughter. Or your mommy, your dad?
Or your best friend.
Well, I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable.
Well, listen, God says all souls are mine. God loves us and sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with Him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, Than in the work of the kingdom of God.
So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in harvest ministries. As we continue on to fulfill the great commission. Yeah, that's right. And you can make your donation right now at harvest.org. or write us at a new beginning box 4000.
Riverside, California, 92514. or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300.
Well, next time, more insight from this encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus in the message Jesus and the Moral Man. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins.
