John writes his gospel with the aim of showing that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20:31). He does this in a number of ways:
1. By making some very direct theological statements concerning Jesus; the most profound is that he makes
Jesus equal with God (John 1:1-18; cf. 5:18).
2. By telling us
about some of the signs that Jesus did. By this He proved that He had the
ability to do things that only God could do. Nobody spontaneously makes wine
out of water (2:1-11); nobody feeds
5000 people with only 5 loaves and two fishes (6:1-15). Nobody suspends the laws of nature by walking on water (6:16-21). Nobody raises people that
have been dead for 4 days, to life (11:1-44)
3. By recording some
of the profound conversations that Jesus had with various people (i.e. with
Nicodemus here, and with the Samaritan woman at the well in Chapter 4). In
these conversations Jesus reveals what He calls ‘heavenly things’ (3:12).
He reveals the way into the kingdom of
God (3:3, 5), a kingdom infinitely
bigger than geographical Israel. In these conversations He invites people to
believe in Him (3:16, 18) that they
may enter into eternal life. During the
course of these conversations it becomes very clear how ignorant Jews (Nicodemus)
and gentiles (The Samaritan woman) were about these things. Many in our world
are just like that. People’s understanding of God and of Christ and of the work
of the Holy Spirit is too small. Our understanding of the serious effects of
the fall is stunted and the nature of our sin is underrated. Most people
believe that they have the capacity to work out their salvation through good
works. Most people believe that they are going to heaven.
Our text focuses on the conversation of a Pharisee named
Nicodemus.
He comes to Jesus by night, perhaps for fear of being seen. The preceding
context is important here. In John 2:23 we read that Jesus performed
more of His miraculous signs in Jerusalem during the Passover feast. They are
not recorded - see the comment in Jn.
20:30. The result is important to note: "many
believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.”
Nicodemus was one of these
many who saw these miraculous signs being done. He says to
Jesus, "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 him." And we, in our own
minds may be thinking, "this man is
a convert. He is one Pharisee who has come
to believe in Jesus, because he
saw the signs.” But, not so! John 2:24-25 says, [1]
“But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, for He knew all people and needed
no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in a man."
Now what did Jesus know about these so-called believers, like Nicodemus that caused
Him to not entrust Himself to them? The
answer is given in our text. Jesus knew that Nicodemus, the religious man and
leader that he was, was not born again. Jesus knew what was in Nicodemus. The
problem with religious men like Nicodemus is that he is not born
again. He does not really know God. He does not know what this kingdom of God
is all about.
And, so without much
further ado, Jesus tells him, “Truly,
truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (3:3)
Now Nicodemus is really confused.
Jesus is speaking here of the necessity of a birth. The only birth he knows of
is the birth which a woman gives to a baby. So what is this ‘born again’? Bewildered he asks a sort of logical
question, “How can a man be born (again)
when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
(3:4). So Jesus repeats himself,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God”. He is
repeating the same thing, but He adds a phrase, ‘born
of water and the Spirit’.
The subject is still the regenerating
work of the Holy Spirit, but what is the meaning of the water? There are a number of views here. We
will not elaborate on them all. Both, water and the Spirit often refer symbolically in the OT to spiritual
renewal and cleansing[2].
That’s what John came to do (see John 1).
He called people to spiritual renewal and cleansing through baptism in water.
The Spirit baptism he left to the Messiah (1:33),
but both pointed to the same thing- a renewal, a cleansing, a washing from the
horrible effects of sin.
And now we must also refer to Ezekiel’s prophecy, which is an allusion to the new covenant. Here God
says through Ezekiel, 24 I
will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring
you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you
shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will
cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will
put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give
you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause
you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezek. 36:24–27)
With the context of John 1 (John’s baptism) in mind, and Ezekiel’s
prophecy pointing to the new covenant (the Spirit baptism associated with
water), we can be fairly sure that this is what Jesus had in mind. Without the
spiritual washing of the soul (symbolised in water baptism), accomplished by
the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, no one can enter God’s kingdom. And so Jesus explains this further to
Nicodemus: “Nicodemus, in order to enter
the kingdom of God you must not only be born once. You must be born twice. Your
first birth is flesh - and it gives you a human nature. The second birth –
gives you a spiritual nature.” In fact, it replaces that which was lost in
the fall through sin (Genesis 3). So, "do
not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again “(3:7). In order to see the
kingdom of God (3:3), and to enter the kingdom of God (3:5), you must be born again.
The mystery of the new birth is now explained. “Nicodemus,
the wind (the Spirit) blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do
not know where it comes from or where it
goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. It is a sovereign work of the
Holy Spirit, in which you have no part – just like you have no part in your
first birth” (3:8).
You do not
initiate your new birth any more than you give birth to your own body. You do
not initiate your spiritual birth any more than Lazarus initiated his
resurrection. The resurrection of Lazarus to new life was owing to one thing:
the word of Jesus Christ—“ Lazarus, come
out!” [John 11: 43]. The word that makes people come alive, is the
Word of Jesus, as it is applied by the
Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is
upon the message there is an explosion of life. The Word and the Spirit give
new life to dead hearts. When the gospel is preached and the Holy Spirit says,
“Let there be life”, the eyes of the
heart are opened, and a person is born again! May it be so today!
Nicodemus is now utterly confused, “How can these things be?”(3:9).Jesus says to him, “Nicodemus, you are a
spiritual teacher in Israel , and
yet you do not understand these things?” (3:10).
What we learn here in John
3:3-10 is Jesus’ view of “what is in
man”. The people that were marveling at His signs, and even this religious teacher of the Pharisees, Nicodemus, have no true
perspective of those Scriptures which they claim to search. They have no true idea
who God is and what the kingdom
of God is. They have no understanding of
the person and the nature of the long prophesied Messiah, who is right here
before their very eyes. If the truth be told … they are dead.
Jesus however does not leave Nicodemus without an answer, “You must be born again!”
What is the nature of a man who is not born
again?
He is mere flesh. Flesh in John 3:6 refers to human nature out of
touch with God. It results in all sorts of problems, described in Galatians
5:19-21: “The works of the flesh)
are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity,
strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before ,
that those who do such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God."
“Flesh gives birth to
flesh.”
Who is mere flesh?
All people, since all are born in this
way. All people, everywhere, by nature, are cut off from God. "We
have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23). Apart from being
born again by the Holy Spirit, all of humanity is, from God’s perspective, totally depraved. There is no sufficient moral good in any of us to make us
acceptable before this holy God[3]. The flesh may have the capacity to compose beautiful music, and send spaceships to Mars, design and build and
invent wonderful things - but all these achievements are of no moral value
in God’s sight. Wherever man does not humbly rely on God for power, the product
of his brain is an idol (Rom. 14:23-
Whatever does not proceed from faith –
even my preaching to you - is sin).
Since religion is such a common substitute for the real thing , i.e the new birth, each of us ought to examine
ourselves to see if we are truly born of God (2 Cor. 13:5). I say this with trembling… but many, many people in
our churches are utterly minimalistic
when it comes to portraying the born again life, in terms of loving God, loving one another… I fear for religious people in our churches.
These words of Jesus must have rocked Nicodemus’ heart and soul.
Jesus’ words must have pierced his
hearts and they must have humbled this
ruler of the Jews “… Nicodemus,
you are a spiritual teacher in Israel, and yet you do not understand these
things? Truly, truly I say to you (3rd time in this conversation), we
speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen .” Jesus
is including John the Baptist or the disciples in the ‘we’ (cf. John 1:14,15) , but you (Plural –
meaning the Jewish people whom Nicodemus
represented) if I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you
believe if I tell you heavenly things?”
Jesus had employed earthly metaphors such as birth (for the
new birth) and the wind (for the Holy Spirit), and yet Nicodemus, and those whom he represented refused to believe (3:12). How will they possibly understand and accept a still more
direct language, like “I AM YOUR CREATOR- THEREFORE COME TO ME
AND I WILL HEAL YOU FROM YOUR BLINDNESS, DEAFNESS AND HARDNESS OF HEART?”
Jesus knew what
He is talking about, for His own origins were from heaven. He descended
from heaven. He is, right now, the
ascended Christ (3:13).
Which brings me to my final words. Jesus is preparing Nicodemus for a work of grace : "In fact,
Nicodemus, I am telling you now that I
am here
to do a great work for all who will believe."
The OT under Moses has left
a great illustration for us in Numbers 21:9 ff. When Moses used the image of an upraised snake in the
desert, to be looked at, and so to save from death those that were bitten by
snakes, Jesus saw Himself in this picture as the One lifted up on a cross to save all those who would look to Him and believe in Him.
Jesus, lifted up on the cross for us to behold is a far greater saving achievement than Moses.People healed from their snakebites will die again. People who look to Jesus for the healing of sin's lethal effects will live for eternity.
All this leads us to that great statement in John
3:16, perhaps the most quoted verse in
the Bible. I will have to leave this for next time.
Dear friends, Christ has been clearly
portrayed before you. Who is He to you?And those of you,
who are still half committed and religious, how will you
escape the coming wrath if you continue
to ignore this Christ?
What will you do
on the day of His coming?
This is an invitation
to believe in Jesus – His person and work! Embrace Him, love Him with all your
heart soul mind and strength.
[2] cf. Num. 19:17–19; Isa. 4:4; 32:15; 44:3; 55:1; Joel
2:28–29; Zech. 13:1
[3]
See Isaiah 6:1-7- Isaiah overcome with the holiness of God
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