Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast, and happy Monday to all of you Bible people who observe Mondays. That's right. That's everybody. I think. Hey, did you know they're thinking about changing the work week. I've heard that kicked around for quite a while. Not a chance, man. It's been seven days from the beginning of time. That's what happened. Oh, the work week? Yeah. Well, okay. No, I haven't heard that. Like they're, they've, a lot of people are saying, let's go to a four day work week. Oh, four tens. Yeah. I've seen stuff like that before. Yeah. I don't know I'd before that. Would you? I would do it. I was trying to think if that would even work as the church. Are you okay? There you are. Just, it's rearranging my seat here. You are doing something. It's hot in here. Are you still mad because we lost our first episode yesterday hot. I wasn't mad about it. I was pretty much unfazed. Were you, I, yeah. I sensed that I didn't sense that you were upset, but, well, you said I'm upset right now. I'm not frustrated. I feel fine. I'm just watching you slam your chair around. I'm warm. That makes me upset. Getting hot and sweaty does not make my day, dude. I'm not sweaty yet, but I'm getting toasty around the corner. I don't have any heater on or anything in here. It's just a lot of hot air in this office is all, I didn't say who I'm saying normally the temperature in the office is fine. Okay. But you know what, I'm glad that you're in this one and I'm in the other one. 'cause this one gets more afternoon sun. Which is hotter. Yeah. And they, in the morning. It's perfect. Do you do like it rather frigid in the office? I like it. I like it cooler. It keeps my brain cool. Not relationally, just temporarily. Yeah. Tempera, temp, tempera early. Yeah. Yes. Climate lee, whatever. So are we doing the four tens here? Is that what the plan is? I don't think so. No. We're not gonna do that. No. It doesn't quite work for us. We'd have to do, I don't know if a sector would work for I people, I've heard comment on it. Fire firefighters do things like that. That weird schedule. They do three, well, yeah, three days on nurses. Yeah. Same thing there. But yeah. But like the production sector and everything like that, truck drivers, it would. Throw a lot of things in for a loop, you'd have to have widespread acceptance, and then everyone does. It's kind of like daylight savings time, which nobody likes. No, but everyone does it so it works. Although we get to fall back soon, man. I don't remember when. I don't know. I'm still hoping that our governor pushes through the legislation for us to just stick with one of 'em. I don't even care which one at this point. Just let me have one. Although there's one that would put us three hours different from California, I don't care. California's dead to me. I'm just kidding, guys. I'm just kidding. I love you guys. I was gonna say, Bruno and Nani are not gonna like that. Yeah. You're not gonna get peanut butter balls from Cherie next time. Yeah. I don't wanna compromise that. Yeah. I do not wanna compromise that. No I would just like to stay on the same time. Okay. That would be great. Alright. Fair enough. Alright hey, let's jump into our DBR. We are in John chapter two through John chapter four. John two through four. So John, chapter two is, it opens with a familiar story. Again the changing of water to wine. And there's a lot of questions here. Was he talking about replacing the purification system because there the purification jars that were filled with water and then he changed it to wine. Was he making a statement there? It maybe but Jesus is revealing part of his identity here. So we need to set the stage. The reason this is a problem is this was a massive point of indignation and shame for the family that was hosting the wedding. And Mary clearly loved this family. It evidenced by the fact that she was invited. She had a, a. Pretty significant role in this, that she would be able to go to Jesus and ask Jesus to intervene. And so Jesus is gonna do this even though his first rebuff of Mary's request is, seems stark. Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. First the word woman was a term not of rebuke and. Pejorative nature like it is today. This was a common way to address someone. And so Jesus it may not have been the common way to address your mother, but some have even said this may be Jesus indicating that his identity is shifting. That his purpose in his main role is not that of Mary's son anymore, but that of the son of God that he's shifting over to. Fulfill that rule still, he responds. When she responds, I think faithfully and says to the servants, do whatever he tells you. He does this miracle. And I think it's less about maybe there's layers there. John is known for multiple layers of meaning. So it. Definitely could be that he's pointing out the purification rights are gonna be replaced. That it's not about the law anymore. Jesus is here to do something new, the wine, the celebration, the joy but Jesus is doing this and he does it, I think more for his disciples and the servants that were part of this than for anyone else. Because the disciples see this and he manifests. It says in the Bible, he manifests his glory to them through this sign. So he's showing these freshly called disciples that that following him is worth it. Because they're gonna see some pretty amazing things. Not worth it from an entertainment perspective, but worth it from the perspective of, man, his power is on display in what he's doing here. Yeah. Baptists have only taken a slight issue with this text and that it's mistranslated. Many Baptists understand that the way it should be translated is that Jesus turned the water into grape juice. There it is. That's what happened. There it is. Besides that, it's a great text. Yeah. Yeah. Verse 11, it says, this is the first of his signs that Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory. Now we just read about another sign yesterday. We read about the man with the para paralysis being lower, lowered down. We've read about him healing people at Peter's mother-in-law's house. So it seems like maybe chronologically this might be out of order a little bit here, but. Nonetheless, this is where we find ourselves reading it, but I don't have a reason to doubt that this is true. What John says that this was the first miracle that he did. 'cause John was here. John was present with him, and so it seems like this one probably pre preempted the other ones that we've read about so far. From here, the Passover of the Jews, it says in verse 13 was at hand. And so that was one of the feasts that required the presence of all Jewish males. And so Jesus, in perfect obedience to the law, went up to Jerusalem there and he finds the temple had been overrun. At least the court of the Gentiles, the outer courts where the Gentiles could go to worship had been overrun by these money changers and by people looking to make a money, make a dollar, make a dropout, whatever the money was. Off the people come to the temple to worship God, and they were gouging prices for buying the sacrifices there. It's like trying to get gas by the airport. You're gonna pay way above market value for these sacrifices there. They're changing out money and charging interest to, to say, okay, you can bring your foreign money here. We'll give you the temple money, but we're also gonna charge a little bit off the top here. So Jesus isn't having it. And he forms a whip of cords and it says he drove them out of the temple along with the animals and the. The beast. So Jesus is using a whip here. On people. Yep. To drive them out of the temple. That's what I would do. And he's overturning the tables and all of this. And the reason being is because he loves the holiness and the glory of God. And this was demeaning that, and he was not standing for it. And so he's his passion. And that's what it says in the text. The disciples, remember this, the deal for your house will consume me. His passion for his father is on clear display in this encounter. Real quick, this is presented in the other gospels at the end of Jesus' ministry. Is this at the beginning of Jesus' ministry too or is John moving it forward? The, yeah, so that's the question. Are there two cleansings or is there only one? I tend towards there being two that bookend his ministry. And I think this is the first one and there's another one that takes place later on. Right on. Yeah. After this, it says that many followed him. You'll notice that towards the end of chapter two. And yet Jesus was skeptical of them. The Greek plays off. He did not believe in their belief because he knew it was in the heart of man. So Jesus is gonna have a lot of people that initially flocked to him who. He knows whether or not their faith is genuine. And that's a sobering reminder to us to make sure that our faith is genuine, that we're not following Jesus for the wrong reasons, but that we're following him, surrender to him as our Lord and the Savior, and for the right reasons. Chapter three, familiar, probably the most familiar chapter in the gospel of John, perhaps, and that is the interaction when Nicodemus comes to him, it says by night there, and he says, we know that you're from God. For no one can do the things that you're doing unless he's been sent from God, and Jesus tells him Nicodemus I tell you the truth, unless one is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And a common theme in John's gospel that we'll see over and over again is that Jesus is gonna try to get to the spiritual level, and his audience is gonna stay on the physical level. So Jesus is trying to convey that the need for regeneration to be born again. To this man, Nicodemus and expecting Nicodemus would understand this. And I think expecting that because of passages like we read not too long ago in Ezekiel the new covenant language, the new heart, the being given new life, the spirit being placed within the washing and the water, all of these things. And Jesus is expecting Nicodemus to be able to track with them and Nicodemus can't. And so Jesus then goes to press even further and says if you can't understand, if I've told you earthly things, verse 12, how are you gonna understand the heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man. And then he begins, I think from here to explain how regeneration is possible. And that is the most famous passages in John as Moses lifted up the surface in the serpent, in the wilderness, so much the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 3 16, 4. Gods love the world that he gave his only son. Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. I think Nicodemus is being. Todd, this is how regeneration is possible. Nicodemus, you asked how can a man enter into his mother's womb? It's not physical rebirth. Jesus has said earlier, it's spiritual rebirth, and that comes this way. It comes through the son of man being lifted up so that you might have eternal life. Okay, two follow-up questions. Number one, what does it mean to be born again? And clearly Jesus is saying here, it's essential to be a Christian. So how does someone know if they've been born again and what does that mean practically? Yeah. Paul's gonna pick up on this concept of being a new creation in Christ. And even Romans chapter six is gonna talk about the fact that we have been buried with him by baptism into his death in order that we might walk in newness of life. So there's a freshness. I was talking with somebody recently to just say, who we were prior to Christ when we're at the bema seat. That's not brought up. That's not there because that's part of the old that's gone, that's been taken outta the equation. It's who we are as we have been made new, we've been given new life, regenerated. The spirit has given us new life in Christ and we are now able to walk in obedience to him. And that's what we're dealing with there at the assessment of the beam. A seat of Christ is how we walk as Christians, as believers. So how do I know if I've been born again? Have you believed in Christ John three 16? Have you trusted in him for eternal life? Have you repented from your sins and put your faith there? And then, much like John the Baptist, confronted the religious leaders, we're gonna bear fruit in keeping with that faith and keeping that with repentance, with that repentance. And so, second Peter, chapter one we talked about this at least in community groups. I can't remember if I hid it in the sermon or not, but verses five, I think I did verses five through 11 when Peter says, supplement your faith with these things. And confirm you're calling an election by practicing these things. So I think one of the evidences of our new birth is we see that transformation in our life. So is there an experiential subjective sense in which you people talk about all the time? Oh, I, when I was saved things, suddenly things were so different. There was the changes all over. I suddenly grew in love for the scripture. I wanted to be at the church I all these different. Experiential and subjective things happen to them. Is that consistent? Is that what John is getting at when he talks about going from darkness to light and from being dead in your sins, that, that's Pauline language, but being born again, is that something that every Christian should expect and to what degree? Yes, our affections are gonna change. Yes. Our desires are gonna change. But it's hard to blanket statement that, because everybody's got a different testimony. And so for the person that's been strung out on drugs their whole life, that then gets saved the contrast is gonna be so stark and so evident in their life that you're gonna be able to look at them and say, wow, that's amazing. The kid that's been brought up in the church their whole life and their main sin is self-righteousness. Which is just as deadly as being strung out on drugs your whole life. The change, the contrast may be less noticeable for that one. And so that's why I think it's, we can't, as a church prescribe this is what the change has to look like. Should there be a change? Yes. Should your affections change and your desires change? Yes. To what degree is going to change based on, on. Who you are and how God's working in your life. Yeah. This is a unilateral event being born again, the regeneration is the technical term for this process or this experience. This is something God does. This is something you can't force. When, I guess here's another question. This is related to the second question, but it's still part of the first. When does being born again happen in relation to the rest of your salvation? It's. Imperceptible from a human, from the human eye. But regeneration does proceed. Faith. We have to be born again in order to put our faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. A dead body can't do anything right. A spiritually dead person can't do anything. So the spirit in part's life causes us to be born again. And part of that then is the ability to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. That's all part of the package of conversion. It's, that's why I say it's imperceptible from the human eye. You can't look and say, okay, this person got born again, and then a week later they, they put their trust in Jesus. This is all happening instantaneously from our perspective. Yeah. But it's God's work that precedes our work. So someone shouldn't freak out then if they're not Sure. Am I born again? I'm not born again. This really isn't a question for you, your job. From God's perspectives, repent. Put your trust in Jesus. Believe in him. It's not for you to say, I Lord, I wanna be born again. Help me be born again. Your job is to put your trust in Jesus. Not to say, I need to be born again. That's not your job. You can't make yourself be born again any more than you can make yourself be born in the first place. Yeah, you're just the passive recipient of this process, and this is God's work on your behalf. Okay, second question was Nicodemus born again? Was he a Christian? I believe by the end of John's gospel, we see evidence that he was, he's there at the cross. He's helping with the body being taken down from the cross. I think Nicodemus does get saved. Yes. Yeah, that sounds pretty cool. Yeah. And he'd be one of the few people who's a Pharisee, who seems to have a legitimate faith in Christ, which is kind of a warning. Yep. Yep. The rest of John chapter three, you have a conflict arise between the disciples of John and and the disciples of Jesus. Although more the disciples of John they're jealous for John's sake. They love their teacher. They love the one that they've been supporting. And they say, Hey, Jesus is baptizing more people. And John says, great, that's awesome. That's why I came out. He must increase and I must decrease. So John clearly understood his message, but what's fascinating is God uses this because. Jesus is gonna catch wind of this, and this is gonna preempt him to move and he's gonna move. And from here in John four, it's gonna say that he has to pass through Samaria. Now that's, he has to, because this is part of God's will, God's plan, the Jews would often actually cross over the Jordan River and pass and circumvent Samaria because they didn't want to risk defilement. In going through the land of the Samaritans, Jesus instead goes straight through Samaria, stops at a well there in Ssar. He sits down and he encounters this woman. And I've said earlier, I think in yesterday's episode, this is the first person that he's going to reveal his messianic identity to. He's going to encounter this woman and pursue her first. He does so with this idea of, Hey, you need to ask me for water. 'cause he had asked her, Hey, can I get a drink? And he's gonna tell her, you should be asking me for water and I'll give you water that you'll never thirst again. And again, she stays on the physical level. She says, sir, where's this water? I want this water. So then he goes further after her heart. He says, why don't you call your husband? And she says, well, I don't have a husband. He says, yeah, you're right. You've had five and the guy that you're with right now, not your husband. And she then. Tries to shift the subject because she's uncomfortable in our sin and says, okay what about places of worship you, Jews, worship over in Jerusalem? We Samaritan's worship here. What's right? And Jesus goes with her there and says, you know what? It's not about that. It's not about which mountain, but it's about the worshiping the father in the right way, God, a spirit and desires those to worship him and worship him in spirit and truth. So that's what you needed. Do and then she, the light bulb goes off for, she goes I know when the Messiah comes, he's gonna reveal all this. And Jesus says, I who speak to you am He. The rest of the chapter is all about her testimony. Going back, telling the other people in Samaria all about this encounter. They come back, they spend time around Jesus and they end up believing in him as well. So it's an unlikely first. Person for him to reveal his identity to and one of the most effective first evangelists and ambassadors for Christ. It's an unlikely person that we find here in John four. Yeah. This is such a cool narrative. I love what Jesus says in verse 34. He says, my food is to do the will of him who sent me to accomplish his work. And this is when Jesus is saying, look, his disciples like. Aren't you hungry? You haven't eaten yet, and Jesus is saying There's something better than food that I've got, and given how hyper palatable our food is today, I just think it's really cool that Jesus is saying there's something better than even the most tasty sandwich that you can have, or the best brisket that you can enjoy doing. God's will is more flavorful and more desirable, and more enjoyable, and even more sustaining than the best meal that you can enjoy. Yeah. Let's pray in that we're done with this episode. God, we thank you for this example and just a reminder that all of us were unlikely converts at some point in time. None of us deserved it. None of us have merited it. And yet, like you came after Nicodemus, like you came after the woman at the, well, Lord, you came after us with the saving grace. Of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we're so thankful for that. May we be like this woman at the well and go and tell as many people as we can that we found the Messiah and that they can find him to, and we pray that you'd save others through those endeavors in those efforts. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Keep your Bibles tune again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Bye bye.

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Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said