Sermon Tone Analysis

Today we are picking up our study of the Gospel of John in chapter 3.

This is probably one of the most popular sections in the whole Bible.

It is the meeting of Nicodemus with Jesus.

It is the portion of scripture where we find the expression, “Born-again”.

The big question today is,

“What does it mean to be born again?”

This used to be a term used by evangelical Christians.

Over the last few decades it has been adopted by others including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics, cults, and even the secular world.

But each of these groups have a different interpretation of what it means to be born again.

Today, we want to look at what the Bible says about being born again.

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The setting: Jesus has begun his ministry.

He was in Judea, where John was baptizing and John the Baptist declared him to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

He took his first disciples with him, who were from Galilee back there for the wedding recorded in John 2, and the beginning of his ministry in that region.

Then, John records his going to Jerusalem for his first Passover during his ministry years.

I believe this was around 27 AD.

Why do I bring this up?

One of my goals when I teach the bible is to encourage you to read and study for yourself.

I want to encourage us all to read the Bible and believe what it says.

Read it in context, and pay attention to the details in the context.

Why is this important?

Well, in preparing for last week when we talked about Jesus’ reaction in the temple, I found that there are good Christian authors who have written good commentaries, that were actually saying that what John records here is actually the same thing that Matthew, Mark and Luke record in their gospels occuring at the last Passover Jesus attended, the one during which he was crucified.

They reasoned that Jesus would not have done this twice.

They reasoned that the priests would have prevented it a second time.

That sounds good and logical.

But they basically cast doubt on believing what John recorded.

And, I believe, they do not pay attention to the details.

In John, he records a response from the Jews, the priests that were running the show, challenging Jesus authority to ‘cleanse’ the temple.

Let’s read it.

Did you notice the detail that John put in this account?

Just like John put in that Jesus went to the Jewish Passover—and I believe that was on purpose where the scriptures before all referred to it as the Lord’s Passover—so also, I believe John recorded the response, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple...” The temple was started in 19 BC. 46 years would put this occurrence in 27 AD, the first year of Jesus’ ministry years.

What is the point?

The point is that many of you have study bibles and other helps.

Just because you read something in the study notes, do not take that for granted.

Read the scriptures for yourself.

Look at the context.

Look at the details.

Ask, why was this written the way it was?

Ask what God is trying to communicate.

Typically, the scriptures are clear when read in their context.

And in this case, these well meaning men, and Christian brothers, I believe cause people undo doubt of the word of God, simply because they want to alleviate some logical argument, that if Jesus did this once, the priests would have stopped it from happening a second time.

When studying God’s Word, read it for what it says.

Do not rely on some man’s logical explanation.

Read it for what it says, in context.

Compare it with other scriptures.

Scripture will not contradict scripture.

Look for the details, and let the Word speak for itself.

That is important in the passage we are going to look at today as well.

So, please join me in reading John 3:1-21.

And whenever studying God’s word, I believe we should ask God to teach us.

The Holy Spirit’s job is to lead us into truth.

Let’s ask Him to do that this morning.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee.

Pharisees were men who had a high regard for the law.

They saw what was going on in Judaism as led by the priests, and the lack of zeal in the people.

They wanted to lead the way back to being true followers of God.

They took the law of Moses and studied it to find all the rules and regulations.

Then, they set boundaries to avoid breaking those laws by adding more traditions.

Like not working on the Sabbath.

They reasoned to avoid breaking that law, they would not tie knots.

But women needed to tie their sashes on their clothing of the day.

So, the exception was women could tie their sash.

But what if you went to the well, and needed to tie the rope to the bucket?

Well, they couldn’t tie a knot, so they would get their wife’s sash and tie it to the bucket to get their water.

Now, that is ludicrous, but real.

They were searching for what would make them a holy people again.

Some really wanted to be holy.

Of course, some just wanted to be ‘holier than thou’ (you see this through the gospels).

However, I believe there were some that were truly seeking what could make them holy, as God required.

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus would not have been a part of the ‘bazaar’ at the temple.

That was run by the priests who were primarily Sadduccees.

Sadduccees did not hold to a literal interpretation of the scriptures.

Pharisees did.

Nicodemus was also a part of the Sanhedrin.

This was a group of 70 leaders of the Jews.

The High Priest was the presiding leader of the group, along with the chief priests.

It was a mixture of leading priests, and scribes who were predominantly Pharisees.

So Nicodemus was a man who had high regard for the Word of God, and of high reputation and status among the people and the Pharisees.

Jesus gives us further insight in verse 10 when he called him, “Israel’s teacher.”

So, Nicodemus knew the word well.

This man, saw what Jesus had done when he cleansed the temple, and what he did afterward, which likely included healings and teaching since that is the pattern Jesus followed in his ministry.

Nicodemus, I believe, was hungry.

He was searching for what would truly make him holy.

He knew the word better than probably almost everyone else since he was regarded as Israel’s teacher.

But, he was missing something.

I think he knew the word, and asked like David,

But the problem is, when one is really honest with himself, who is blameless?

Who does only what is righteous?

No one.

So how in the world are we going to be with the Lord?

How will we dwell with Him? How will we be a part of His kingdom?

So, with that question in his heart, he sees Jesus acting in zeal, he sees Jesus performing these signs showing he is from God.

So he comes to Jesus to learn.

How can I be with God in His kingdom?

I believe that was the real question in his heart, because that is what Jesus, who knows all men’s hearts (remember John 2:24-25), told him.

The literal translation of the word ‘again’ here is from above.

This can be used similarly in English when we say, ‘from the top’.

So, it can have the inference, ‘again’.

But I think Jesus is really meaning from above.

This is not something that takes place naturally here on earth.