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.
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
For this to happen all we need to do is stop thinking that we are good and ask God to bring about a change in us.
We need to know that we can be ex-drinkers, ex-lairs, ex-fornicators, ex-abusers, ex-smokers, and ex-drug users and abusers when we take Jesus at His word:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
Our ability to be an ex girl or boy friend of the devil hinges upon our decision to accept the gift of salvation that is offered by Christ Jesus, and we know this because Paul tells us so in Romans 10:9.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
An ex-man we can be when we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord over thee.
In the year 1829, a Philadelphia man named George Wilson robbed the U. S. mails, killing someone in the process. Wilson was arrested, brought to trial, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. Some friends intervened in his behalf and were finally able to obtain a pardon for him from President Andrew Jackson. But, when he was informed of this, George Wilson refused to accept the pardon. The sheriff was unwilling to enact the death sentence – for how could he hang a pardoned man? An appeal was sent to President Jackson. The perplexed President turned to the United States Supreme Court to decide the case. Chief Justice Marshall ruled that a pardon is a piece of paper, the value of which depends on its acceptance by the person implicated. It is hardly to be supposed that a person under the sentence of death would refuse to accept a pardon, but if it is refused, it is then not a pardon. So George Wilson must be hanged. And so he was executed, although his pardon lay on the sheriff’s desk. So, too, do some of us reject the gift of salvation by refusing the pardon offered by the sacrificial blood of Jesus.
From this story we can see how the devil can keep from united with him, destine for a eternal life in the lake of fire. How he can whisper those sweet nothings into our ears causing us to reject the help that Christ Jesus came to give us.
Know this, Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy; he comes: to steal your joy, to kill any hopes you have of having an abundant life, to destroy your chances of living with the Father in heaven for eternity. And we are told this in 1 Peter 5:8-9.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”
Scripture tells us in Ephesians 6:12.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
So know that we are in a spiritual warfare with Satan and trying to win this battle by your own will causes you not to be an ex-man.
Satan does not want you to be his ex, so he will try any and all things to get you stay with him. Just like an abuser who beats you up and then tells you how sorry they are for what they did, but later on they do the same thing all over again. That is what the devil does to us when we have not taken hold of the hand of Jesus, he treats us like dirt but whispers in our ear that he is the best we can get. Here is an illustration of this as we listen in to a meeting with Satan and his demons.
The story is told of a time when Satan held a strategy session for detouring those who were close to salvation. “What shall we do?” asked Satan. A daring demon stood and shouted, “I have it! I know what we can do! We can tell men there is no life after death that they die like animals.” Satan’s face fell as he answered, “It will never work. Man is not ignorant, even atheists admit of times when they sense a tomorrow after death.” Another demon spoke, “Here’s the solution! Let’s say there is no God or if there ever was, he is dead – because even if he started the universe, he has left it now.” Satan replied in dismay, “That won’t work either; most of them know there is a God, even though they don’t seek him.” Other ideas were presented, but none brought hope to Satan and his underlings. Finally, as they were about to give up, one demon leaped in glee, “I have it! A sure solution!” The other demons crowded around to hear the plan. “Go tell them that God is real and the Bible is God’s Word.” A gasp came from the astonished group as the demon continued, “And tell them that Jesus is God’s Son and frees men from sin.” The other demons were horror-stricken, thinking that their associate had gone bananas, until, with a smile, he added, “Then tell them that this is not the best time to choose Christ. Help them make excuses for delaying their decision. Tell them there is no hurry!” The demons danced in delight, realizing a workable plan has been discovered.
To be ex-men we need to resist the devil and make the choice to serve the Lord today, because we are not given a guarantee on the amount of time we have here on earth. The devil wants you to stay with him, but Christ Jesus wants you to be the devil’s ex. Scripture tells us that we need to make good use of the time we have here on earth, because when we die we will have to answer for our stewardship of our lives. And one of the questions will be: why did you decide to not accept the pardon from Christ Jesus? If we want to avoid having to deal with that question we need to be born-again; we need to be transformed and turn from our wicked ways and be saved by the blood of the Lamb. We need to renew our minds and start having a mind like Jesus, a mind that continually looked to our Father in heaven. Tell the devil today that you choose Jesus and become an ex-man.
