Ex-Men

Ex-Men

John 3:1-7

“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

Let me first explain the title of this message. The term “ex”, as it relates to society, is someone with whom a person was once associated with; often used in a romantic way, as in ex-girlfriend, ex-boyfriend, ex-wife, or ex-husband. The term “men” in our title does not relate to just men, but is a non-gender term that means “mankind”; so ladies don’t be offended because you think that I have excluded you; but know that as part of mankind you are included. So now that we are clear on the meaning of our title, you may be wondering why we have a subject relating to being someone’s ex and how that will tie to Jesus speaking about being born again. The answer to that is simple; before you were accepted the gift of salvation we were Satan’s girl or boy friend. Before we were redeemed by the blood of Christ Jesus we were the devil’s plaything. So, when we accepted the gift of salvation that is offered by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we became the devil’s ex. And for those of us who have confessed the name of Jesus as our Lord and Savior and have repented of our sins we carry the glorious distinction of being ex-men. And we all can become ex-men when we change our way of thinking because Paul tells us this in Romans 8:6.

“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

And he also tells us this in Romans 12:2.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

So as long as we hang on to the material things of this world, living a life without Christ Jesus we will remain united with the devil being his plaything.

A Pharisee in the time of Jesus was a member of the group of Pharisees, a religious and political group that insisted on following the laws of God as interpreted by the scribes. It is this group of people that Jesus spoke condemnation upon in Matthew 23. It is this group of people that Jesus labeled as hypocrites and later rejecting them because they would not accept the fact that they needed a savior. Because of this group’s behavior and rejection of Jesus as the Messiah He has this to say to them in Matthew 23:13-14.

“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”

What Jesus is saying is that the Pharisees in their literal observance of the laws put stumbling blocks in front of others, causing them to error in their way, making them destine for hell just as the Pharisees. Additionally, the Pharisees would extort the widows and poor causing them to go deeper into debt and end up becoming someone’s servant. Also, the Pharisees are one of the groups that demanded that Jesus be put to death. So you can see why Jesus did not have a very high opinion of them.

It is from this group that one of their leaders came to speak with Jesus, and even though Nicodemus opens the conversation with flattering words notice that Jesus gets right to the point and ignores the flattery, hitting Nicodemus right where it hurts…telling him that he needs to be born-again, with the word “again” being a Greek word that means “from above”. So what Jesus is this, “Nicodemus, you need to stop thinking that you can change yourself by following laws. But stop and let God change you into the person that He wants you to be.” So, to be born-again means that we give up our old ways and habits of believing that we can change ourselves because Jesus tells us this in John 15:5.