May 21, 2006

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How Can I Experience God?

John 3:1-17

            I just spent a horrible week in the Ozarks.  Two friends and I planned a canoe trip and had been preparing for months.  If you followed the weather two weeks ago, you know there was a line of storms that kept sweeping through the South, one right after the other.  Our campground had to be evacuated because of flooding, and the Current River which we had hoped to canoe and camp on was closed by the Park Service.  We drove to Kentucky trying to find a place to put our canoes in the water, and finally found a swamp where we paddled for less than an hour before another storm came and rained us out. 

            There are poisonous snakes in the area, and I told the other men with me that we needed to be cautious, because with all the rain, there was not a snake in the area that was still in its hole.  The other guys were studying a map of the area and I walked over to a clump of bushes with only sport sandals on my feet.  When I turned around there was a snake, just inches from the back of my heel.  I jumped about four feet straight into the air. 

            No one had to tell me to get away from that snake as fast as I could.  I did not stop and look it up in a snake identification book before I decided what to do.  I did not pause to plot my course.  I just jumped and ran.  I knew what I needed to do to be saved.  No one had to encourage me.  There was a clear and present danger, and I was doing everything I could to move away from it. 

            There is a way in which we are all in a similar, yet perhaps more subtle danger.  We are in danger of existing, but never living.  We are in danger of being religious, but never really knowing God.  We are in danger of knowing about God, but never experiencing him.  We are in danger of living only for this life, and not being prepared for what is to come.  This does not seem as dangerous to us, but it is the plan of our spiritual enemy to lead us away from God and keep us from experiencing him.  The Bible says, “The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray” (Revelation 12:9).  The danger from this serpent is that we will be led astray from our real purpose in this world — to know God and live for him, and be separated from him in the world to come. 

            So this morning I want to give a very simple message about how a person experiences God.  Sometimes even sincere people who have grown up in the church do not understand what it means to experience God, or how to make it a reality in their life.  This was the case with Nicodemus, the man in our scripture this morning who was a Pharisee.  He was a religious leader in Isreael, and yet he did not understand what it meant to know God.  He was a good and religious person.  He was knowledgeable of the Scriptures.  But he thought that a relationship with God was all about performance.  He thought that the better he was at keeping the rules, the closer to God he was. 

            Jesus confused Nicodemus when he said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3).  Jesus was talking about a relationship with God, and Nicodemus was thinking in terms of following rules.  Jesus was talking about an experience with God, and Nicodemus was used to thinking in terms of obedience to God.  Jesus was talking about entering into a new kind of experience — a birth into the spiritual world, and Nicodemus did not understand the spiritual world and what it meant to be born into it.  Many faithful church people today are mystified by it as well.  So let’s line this out as simply as we can. 

            Where do you begin?  Let’s say that a person either knows they have been living away from God and wants to come home, or they are just unsure of whether they have been, as Jesus said, born anew spiritually.  Where do you start?  How does a person come to know God and experience him?  There are a few simple steps.  The first step is: Confession.  This is simple, but it is also difficult.  It is simple because it is simply a matter of admitting that we have failed; it is difficult because it is a matter of admitting we have failed.  Our tendency is to want to justify ourselves and explain our behavior.  We want to compare ourselves with others, but God calls us to be honest and admit our sin, confessing it to him, and possibly to others as well.  The last thing we want to do is to take an honest look at our sin and face the wrong things we have done.  We don’t like to admit we are wrong.  But this is exactly what we must do.  King David gives us the model prayer when he said: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge” (Psalm 51:1-4). 

            John wrote to the early Christians saying, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 John 1:9-10).   The book of Proverbs says, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). 

            If we confess our sins. . . not if we hide our sins.  If we confess our sins. . . not if we pretend we have none.  If we confess our sins. . . not if we insist that no one can tell us what to do.  If we confess our sins. . . not if we are blind to them.  If we confess our sins. . . that is when we find forgiveness, and not until. 

            But what if you can’t even remember all of them?  What then?  It is not that you have to enumerate each and every thing you have done.  It is that you are honest and acknowledge that you have sinned by thought, word and deed.  You come humbly and honestly to God asking for his forgiveness for your rebellion.  This is what Nicodemus seemed not to be able to do at this point.  He kept wanting to get into a theological argument with Jesus.  I can’t tell you how many times this has happened with me.  Someone will come to me with the pretense of wanting to know more about God, and instead of hearing what the Word of God says, they want to argue.  They want to skirt the real issues and avoid having to confess their failure.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  This is the wonderful promise of God. 

            The second step is: Repentance.  There are many people who would like a ticket to heaven.  They would like to shoot up a quick prayer asking for forgiveness and have everything be all right.  I would not recommend waiting until your dying breath to get right with God.  I wouldn’t suggest asking God for his forgiveness and then continuing to do as you please.  Jesus began his ministry with these simple words, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2).  To repent means to have a feeling of deep regret that turns you from sin and changes your heart so that you desire to do the will of God.  You change from doing your will to doing God’s will.  You want to follow God’s way rather than having your way.  You fix your love on God.  You lose your fascination with sin and want to be done with it.  You don’t just want your sin forgiven, you want to have the power to overcome it. 

            Repentance does not mean that we will never sin again, that is impossible for us as humans, but it does mean that when we do sin we continue to turn from it.  Brennan Manning tells this story: “The late [Christian] musician Rich Mullins taught me an invaluable lesson about the true meaning of repentance.  One rainy day he got into a blistering argument with his road manager, Gay Quisenberry.  Angry words were hurled back and forth, and Rich stormed out the door.   Early the following morning, Gay was awakened from a sound sleep by the loud buzz of a motor outside her house.  Groggy, she looked out and saw Rich mowing her lawn!”  Mullins sinned in his attitude and in his actions, but he turned from it and made it right.  Repentance is not a one time event, it is a daily experience. 

            This repentance leads to new obedience.  Jesus said, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.  He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.  When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built” (Luke 6:46-48).

            The third step is: Conversion.  An experience with God is not something we manufacture, in fact, it is impossible for us to manufacture it.  It is supernatural.  Conversion is not something we do for God.  It is something he does in us.  He changes our heart.  The prophet Jeremiah explained conversion like this: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33).  In the New Testament Paul put it like this: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). 

            Eventually, Nicodemus evidently experienced a conversion, in spite of his initial spiritual dullness and resistance.  We read of him defending Jesus before the Pharisees as they were plotting against him — earning him a severe rebuke (John 7:50-51).  He also shows up after the crucifixion of Jesus and helps Joseph of Arimathea anoint the body of Jesus, wrap it and bury it (John 19:38-40).  Both of these acts were done at great personal risk, and possibly got him expelled from the Temple.  Something had happened to the heart of Nicodemus.  He could have held on to his title as a religious teacher in Israel and resented that Jesus was trying to teach him something, but he humbled himself and experienced a new birth.  No one can bring about their own conception and birth, this is the gift of God.  The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).  Again it says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).  As Jesus said to Nicodemus: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:5-6).  You have a physical birth that brings you into this physical world, but then you need to be born into the spiritual world.  And this is the work of God.  It happens as you invite Christ to live inside your heart. 

            The final step is: Faith.  What good does it do for God to forgive you if you do not believe that he has done what he said he would do?  You must exercise faith.  You must believe God.  You must believe that he has forgiven you and given you new life and the kingdom of heaven.  Paul said, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). 

            What if your spouse sincerely loved you and frequently told you that he or she loved you, and you refused to believe them?  How would it make them feel?  How could you have a meaningful relationship without having faith in their love?  It is no less in your relationship with God.  The Bible says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). 

            So often, people will say that it is not possible to know whether you are right with God and have heaven as your home.  This would be true if we were basing our relationship with God on our ability to be good.  But we are not trusting in our ability to be good, we are trusting God’s goodness — his grace and his love for us.  If we are trusting ourselves, then we will never be sure, but if we are trusting God, then we are full of assurance.  The Bible says, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).  If it were not possible for us to know that we are right with God the Scripture would not make this wonderful promise.  God does not want to keep us guessing.  He is not out to keep us in suspense and full of guilt.  God is expressing his love to us in countless ways and wants us to receive it and respond to it. 

            The man we refer to as Saint Augustine was a leader in the church approximately 400 years after Christ.  But he was not always a saint.  He lived a life of lewd debauchery prior to his conversion.  Not long after his conversion and his new relationship to Christ, he was walking down a street in the city of Milan, Italy where he lived.  As he walked, he came across a prostitute whom he had known very intimately.  She spoke to him, but he would not answer and continued to walk.  She was surprised and called to him again, “Augustine, It is I!”  He never looked back or broke stride, and simply said: “Yes, but it is no longer I.”  He had the assurance that not only did he now have an experience with God, but that he was a new man.  A change had taken place.  The old was gone because the new had come. 

            This morning I invite you to experience God.  It is as simple and as difficult as confessing your sin, turning from it, asking God to do a supernatural work in you and placing your faith in him.  If this is your desire today, I invite you to pray this prayer with me:

My loving God, I confess to you today that my life has not always been what it should have been.  I know what my sin is, and I am not only sorry for my sin, I turn from it and turn to you in this moment.  Cleanse my heart, oh God, and make me new.  Give me a heart that will love and follow you.  Thank you for forgiving me and coming into my life.  I believe you and trust you.  I give you my love and everything I have and am.  In the name of Jesus Christ I pray.  Amen.

Rodney J. Buchanan

May 21, 2006