John: How do you enter the Kingdom of God?

Jason Plumer

First Baptist Church Litchfield

John Youth • Sermon • Submitted 10 months ago • Presented 10 months ago

Faith

Kingdom of God

Regeneration

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You must be born again to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:1-3)

John 3:1–3 ESV

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “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.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

What is the kingdom of God?

This is another way of referring to the messianic age that we were looking at last week (see Isa. 9:1–7; 11:1–2). The prophets saw it coming at the end of history, presided over by David’s Son. ‘“To see the kingdom of God” was to participate in the kingdom at the end of the age, to experience eternal, resurrection life’ (Carson, p. 188).

You must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:4-8)

In verse 3, Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be “born again.”

What does it mean to be “born again”?

To be born again is to be regenerated, to be made alive.

John 3:4–8 ESV

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind 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 who is born of the Spirit.”

Let’s Look back in the OT.

By the time of the exile the prophets had begun to teach that it was impossible to be one of God’s people if the problem of one’s sin had not been dealt with. Here, in verse 5, Jesus refers to Ezekiel 36 which teaches that sin is the problem facing God’s people. The solution, in Ezekiel 36, comes when past sin is cleansed away by the sprinkling of water and, for the future, when God puts His Spirit in people’s hearts, giving them a new desire to obey Him.

Ezekiel 36:25–27 ESV

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.

Ezekiel is quite clear that God is the only one able to do all this, and also that He is doing it for His glory

Ezekiel 36:32 ESV

32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

Notice too that the ‘you’ in verse 7 is plural - Nicodemus represents all humanity and all Jews in particular). Spiritual life and membership of God’s kingdom requires sin to be dealt with, by washing and by the indwelling of God’s Spirit. Nicodemus should know that sinful human flesh can only give birth to flesh, and that the work of God is essential for dealing with the problem of sin in human beings.

He should know what Jesus teaches in verse 8, that rebirth is entirely a matter of God acting through His Spirit. The illustration in verse 8 is therefore very apposite: just as no-one can control the wind, so too God’s Spirit is beyond the control of man (cf. 1:3). We may not be able to control the work of the Spirit,

but we can certainly see its effect - we see it every time someone is born again.

How do you know if someone if born again?

You must believe upon the Son to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:9-15)

John 3:9–15 ESV

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

The snake in the desert:

When God’s people rebelled against Him, he sent a plague of poisonous snakes upon them in an act of righteous judgement. Whoever was bitten by one of the snakes died. But in His mercy, God also provided a means of escape from under his judgement.

Moses was to build a bronze snake and ‘lift it up’ on a pole. Whoever looked to the snake (a demonstration of trust in God’s provision of rescue) was delivered from His wrath and lived

Nicodemus is still confused as to how a person can be washed and given life. Jesus rebukes him and asserts His own authority as the true teacher of Israel: Jesus has authority as the Son of Man who alone has come from heaven. He is an eye-witness of what He is talking about. As He teaches He answers Nicodemus’ question: this washing and rebirth is only possible through the Son of Man coming from heaven and being ‘lifted up’ (by God) on the cross.

The Son of Man is one of Jesus’ most common descriptions of Himself. The OT depicts the Son of Man as the glorious heavenly figure who will rule forever (Dan. 7:13–14). Jesus adds to this, describing the Son of Man as the revealer of God (3:13) and as the crucified one (3:14).

‘Lifted up’, in John’s writing, always combines two meanings, the physical lifting up of Jesus on the cross and His exaltation (see Carson, p. 201). To give Nicodemus a parallel to His own ‘lifting up’, Jesus refers to an incident in Israel’s desert history, in

Numbers 21:8–9 ESV

8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Just as the dying Israelites had needed simply to look at the bronze snake set up by Moses, as the only way of accepting God’s solution to their plight, and so survive, so now ‘whoever’ believes in the Son of Man, lifted up on the cross, will have eternal life.

Jesus is already anticipating His death; He is the gateway to heaven.

We are also learning more about the nature of the response that God wants: the object of our belief is to be the Son of Man on the cross; that is you must believe upon the Son.

Faith is necessary (John 3:16-18)

John 3:16–18 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

16–18 Why faith in God’s Son is necessary. Jesus has just told Nicodemus that believing in the Son of Man is the key into God’s kingdom. This passage begins with the word ‘for’, indicating that the verses will explain why faith in God’s solution is necessary.

Negatively, it is necessary because Jesus entered a world that was already hostile to God and was already condemned - those who do not believe will perish.

Positively, belief in God’s Son is necessary because God does not enjoy the death of the wicked.

He did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but because He wanted to provide a way for people to be saved - that is why He sent His only Son to die for the very people that had previously rejected Him, and that is why we must believe in Him. (‘World’, in John’s writing, refers to rebellious humankind under God’s judgement – see Carson, pp. 122–23, on 1:9.)

The kind of faith that Jesus has been talking about in verses 9–15 is a trust in this specific and objective act of rescue by God. It is not some subjective inner feeling, but a real trust in the real work of a real person which has real consequences. (The ‘gift’ of God’s Son in 3:16 is closely tied to the ‘gift’ of being a child of God in 1:12).

People will reject the Son (John 3:19-21)

19–22 Why people reject God’s Son. Given that God has acted in this way, it sounds preposterous that people should reject His offer of life. But John forces us to face the fact that many do; he contrasts the love of God for a rebellious world in need of salvation (v. 16) with the love of humans for darkness and flight (vv. 19ff).

Our natural human response to God is to run from Him, and from His light, because we know that we are rebels and we want to remain rebellious. People do not reject the gospel because they belong to the wrong race or culture, or because they do not have enough evidence at hand to satisfy their intellect. The decision to reject the gospel is always a moral decision: we do not want the true nature of our own deeds to be exposed (verse 20), and so we reject the words of Jesus.

This goes some way to explaining the attraction of the crowds’ sign-based belief: the signs do not themselves force me to face the fact of my sin - believing in them is therefore more palatable. It is when my sin is exposed that I most want to lash out against Jesus - we hate Him because He says that our deeds are evil (7:7). Verse 21 makes it clear that those who do accept the gospel do so only by God’s merciful intervention, which takes us back to the truth of verses 1–8.

John approves of this message (John 3:22-36)

John 3:22–36 ESV

22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized 24 (for John had not yet been put in prison). 25 Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” 31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Although the Baptist is mentioned again in 5:33-36 and 10:41, this is his last appearance in the narrative. He was announced as a witness in 1:6-8, gave testimony in 1:15 and 1:19-34 and now concludes his testimony about Jesus. Here, his ongoing ministry is interrupted by an argument about purification. The exact nature of the discussion is kept from us because we do not need to know it! What does matter is the role that the Baptist is fulfilling - both in person and in the context of John’s Gospel. The issue is, ‘Is it right that people are going to Jesus?’ John gives a resounding, ‘Yes’. The radical claims that Jesus has been making about Himself are authenticated by the Baptist - Jesus really is the bridegroom, the Son who has come down from heaven (in the original language it is clear that Jesus, just like the new birth in 3:3 is ‘from above’). He is the one upon whom the Spirit rests (cf. 1:32-34), and therefore He is able to utter the very words of God (3:34). [Some have questioned whether verse 34 refers to God’s gift of His Spirit to Jesus, or to His later gift of the Spirit to all believers. The context demands the former understanding - we are being encouraged to believe in the words of Jesus in order that we might gain life.]

Entry into God’s kingdom is dependent upon one’s belief in Jesus. Therefore, whoever believes in Jesus has life, but whoever rejects Him stands under God’s wrath (cf. the Baptist’s role 1:6–8). These verses contain John’s authentication of Jesus’ teaching and, at the same time, summarize the major themes of the chapter.

Application

1. How do you feel about God’s loving act to send Jesus to die on a cross?

No matter how ‘religious’ we are, our membership of God’s kingdom, our possession of eternal life, depends entirely upon God’s loving action in sending Jesus to die on the cross.

2. Have you been born again? How do you know?

We are no different from anyone else, we are rebels who need to be cleansed and indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. Rebirth is essential, and we need to trust in the Son of Man lifted up. If we have realised this, it is entirely due to God’s work, through His Spirit, in opening our eyes to spiritual realities. There is no Christian alive who does not have the Holy Spirit, for his or her regeneration has been ‘done through God’ (v. 21) and because of God’s love. This should both humble us and focus our faith on God’s loving rescue.

3. Why do people reject Jesus? Are you rejecting Jesus?

Those who reject Jesus (however religious, intellectual or apathetic their reasons) do so because they are rebels. Jesus, and faith in Him, is the fulcrum on which balances the eternal destiny of every single person.

Do I really believe this about the world?

Do I believe that the world loves the darkness of its own evil?

Do I believe that belief in the death of God’s Son is the only way that people may be saved?

There are many in the church today who minimize the problem of sin and therefore fail to understand the exclusivity of the cross. This passage should bolster our belief in core gospel truth and motivate us to go on believing in Jesus and His words - true belief.