Jesus and Nicodemus - Part 1 (John 2:23-3:21)

The Gospel according to John  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Before you leave this morning, grab a few bags of cookies from the kitchen—give them out to your neighbors, friends, and family as an invitation to our Advent services
Starting next week, we’ll take a break from the Gospel according to John and we’ll shift gears and focus on Advent. The next month of services will be intentionally focused on preparing our hearts for the celebration of Christmas.

Call to Worship / Scripture Reading

Romans 10:5–13 ESV
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Prayer of Repentance and Adoration
Pray for the repentance of sins
Give thanks for God and for who he his
Give praise to the Father for the opportunity that we have to worship him.

Introduction

This morning, we’re continuing in our series through the book of John and we’ve just studied through the cleansing of the temple and in discussing the cleansing of the temple, we actually hit several different topics including anger, giving, the purpose of the church, and then this prophecy that Jesus gives concerning his resurrection, which provides a sense of hope for us as believers because it gives us assurance that if he has promised to do something, then he will. This would include everything that God has said would occur in the end times—the bodily return of Jesus Christ, the millennial reign, the judgement seat, and the eventual new heaven and new earth AND this would include the promise of salvation to those who repent, call on the name of Jesus Christ, and believe in him.
Now, I’m reiterating this, because last week’s section is connected to the section that we’re studying today; in fact, the first three verses that we’ll look at today is a transition into this conversation with a man named Nicodemus. And in this conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus, Nicodemus is essentially carrying on this idea of belief that John is writing with. Let’s read the passage and then we’ll dig into the passage.
John 2:23–3:15 ESV
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. 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.” 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.” 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.
As we study this passage, we’re actually going to take it in four sections the first of which is the transition from our study on the cleansing of the temple last week to the message of salvation given by Jesus to Nicodemus this week: (1) 2:23-25, is a transition and in this transition we’ll see a group of people who the Bible says believed because of the miracles that Jesus performed and we’ll learn that the type of belief that they exhibit isn’t actual, true belief; once we finish this transition, we’ll find three statements that all begin with the same phrase, “truly, truly” and that phrase will divide up the rest of our sections (2) 3:1-4, Truly, Truly, You Must Be Born Again (3) 3:5-8, Truly, Truly, You Must Be born of water and the Spirit; and (4) Truly, Truly, if you aren’t ready to believe the earthly things, you aren’t ready to believe in heavenly things. All four of these sections will give us a robust idea of what Jesus means when he says that you have to be born again—and in doing so, we’ll get a pretty straightforward idea of what salvation is, how we obtain it, and what the heavenly things that Jesus refers to are.
Prayer for illumination of God’s word
Give thanks for the Word of God and the privilege we have to study it.
Give thanks that God has spoken to man because he loves us
Pray for wisdom and knowledge from the Holy Spirit to understand and apply the word of God.

Jesus Knows What is in Man (2:23-25)

John 2:23–25 ESV
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Now, because this is more of a transitional statement than it is the point of the passage, we aren’t going to spend a tremendous amount of time on this. Nevertheless, remember, last week Jesus had just gotten into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and this passage continues his time in Jerusalem.
The Bible doesn’t exactly say how long he had been in Jerusalem for the Passover, but Passover itself is just over a week long (it’s an 8-day festival) and John 3:22, states that after this conversation with Nicodemus he and his disciples left and went into the Judean countryside, so more than likely, the Passover had ended by this point and this is along with the conversation with Nicodemus probably occur in between the Passover and going to the Judean wilderness.
And what Vs. 23, is telling us is that during the Passover Feast, Jesus was apparently teaching and preaching and performing miracles—and because of the miracles that Jesus performed “many believed in his name.”
The issue is that this form of belief that these people are exhibiting isn’t true saving belief. Vs. 24, says that “Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people.”
There is a play on words here, between the belief that the people exhibited and Jesus not entrusting himself to them—in Greek, belief and entrusting both come from the same root word πιστευω, which literally means “I believe.”
And the idea that John is trying to get across is that Jesus did not believe in their belief or put a different way, their belief in him did not result in commitment; the type of belief that they had because of witnessing his signs would be similar to the type of belief that we have when we see illusionists perform a magic trick—they believed enough to find entertainment in him, but they didn’t actually believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
Colin Kruse, sums it up well with this, “Evidently, the belief of these people, based upon witnessing the signs Jesus performed, was shallow and inauthentic. Perhaps it stopped at wonderment and did not progress to commitment.”
And Jesus knows the shallowness of their inauthentic faith, “because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”
Whereas they could probably trick other people into thinking that they believed, Jesus could recognize the shallowness of their belief, simply because he knows all things.
Which is an interesting thought to reflect on as we transition into the idea of salvation and being born again.
That while these people believed in an inauthentic, wonderment type of way, Jesus knew their hearts; just like he knows all of our hearts.
Keep this in mind as we continue in the passage.

Truly, Truly, You Must Be Born Again (3:1-4)

John 3:1–4 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.” 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?”
The first two verses are essential because they tell us the situation behind what is occuring. They give us the setting and the initial interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus
Let’s start with Nicodemus—the Bible says that Nicodemus “was a man of the Pharisees” and a “ruler of the Jews.”
Now, in the Gospel according to John, this is actually the first mention of the Pharisees and because it is a word that we throw around a lot without actually defining it, we need to take a moment to explain what it meant.
The Pharisees were an influential group within Judaism in the 1st century AD and BC. They were known for their stringent application of the Law on themselves and on everyone around them. The word Pharisee literally meant, “separated.”
The Pharisees were mostly middle-class businessmen and they along with the sadducees led the nation of Israel when it came to their worship of Yahweh. In particular, you could think of the Pharisees as popular theologians of their day.
Now when it came to theology, the Pharisees accepted the written Word of God as inspired by God—and at this point in time, that meant that they accepted the Old Testament as inspired by God, but unfortunately, they also gave equal authority to oral traditions and they would regularly add their tradition to the Scriptures.
So while they had a number of good doctrines, like the inspiration of the Bible, the resurrection of the dead, the sovereignty of God, and the free will of man; because they elevated their oral tradition to the same level of authority as the Bible, they’re false teachers.
And in the Bible, they had become people that were hypocritical and prideful and that were typically self-righteous and smug.
But here’s the thing, not only is he a man of the Pharisees, he was a ruler of the Jews, which places him in a different category of Pharisees—particularly those that were part of the ruling party called the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was made up of Pharisees and Sadduccees along with the high priest, and they acted as a sort-of supreme court for the Jewish people.
And this is the type of man that is coming to see Jesus—knowing all of this about the Pharisees and knowing that Nicodemus is part of the Sanhedrin itself. Now the question is why did Nicodemus come at night rather than during the day? John doesn’t exactly say, but there has been plenty of speculation as to why Nicodemus would do this
The most common assessment was that he was fearful of what other Pharisees would say.
Another speculation is that as a serious Pharisee, he would’ve been up late at night studying Scripture anyways and it would have just been normal for him to do this.
Both of these ideas lack evidence. It is suggested by many commentators that the time of day isn’t really the point and John only highlights it for one specific reason—he utilizes the concept of night to highlight unbelief.
Gerald Borchert— “Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Although seasonal and day/night designations can properly be understood as time notations in this Gospel, they usually are more importantly also symbolic representations of the spiritual temperature of the people in the story (e.g., 10:22–23; 11:9–10; 13:30). As indicated in the Prologue, light and darkness are conceived as opposing principles (1:4–5) with darkness in John illustrating the negative aspects such as the realm of Satan, error, evil, doubt, and unbelief. Some interpreters might suggest that Nicodemus came to Jesus “at night” (3:2) to prevent detection or alternatively that (as an intense rabbi) he studied late into the night, but most commentators are agreed that the reference to night is a picture of a man who was in an uneasy state of unbelief or doubt.”
Nicodemus came at night because he didn’t yet believe in Jesus as the Messiah, but he did believe in Jesus as a teacher and he believed in Jesus as a respected teacher.
Vs. 2, “Nicodemus said 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.”
This sentence that Nicodemus speaks tells us what Nicodemus believed about Jesus at this particular point in time.
Nicodemus calls Jesus Rabbi, which is a Hebrew term of respect for teachers—this tells us, first off, that not only did Nicodemus respect Jesus as a teacher; Nicodemus respected Jesus as a colleague, because remember, Nicodemus as a Pharisee, a spiritual leader of the Jews would have been a teacher as well.
Nicodemus states that Jesus is a teacher come from God, for not one can do the miracles that Jesus does—and this is where he truly betrays his lack of belief in Jesus as the Messiah.
Nicodemus believes in Jesus as a teacher and he even admits that as a teacher, Jesus had to have come from God because Jesus can perform miracles.
Notice that he states that Jesus is a teacher come from God and that he isn’t God himself.
In essence, he believes good things about Jesus, but he doesn’t actually believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
His belief in Jesus at this point in time, stops here. And thus, like the people in 2:23-25, he does not possess the saving faith that is required.
And this is where the first “Truly, Truly” statement comes in. Vs. 3, “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. 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?’”
Jesus makes a statement that solidifies the nature of salvation by comparing salvation to physical birth. I recently heard a sermon by John MacArthur on this text, and he posed the question, “what did you do during your own birth?” And he states the question is absurd because babies don’t do anything during their birth and that’s the point that Jesus is making.
As Christians, we believe that salvation is by the grace of Jesus Christ through faith alone—Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (KJV)
What this means in Ephesians 2:8 and in John 3:3, is that our salvation is accomplished through Jesus Christ. We don’t work for our salvation—Jesus saves us by his grace.
And it is our willingness to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and our willingness to believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead that brings us to salvation through Jesus Christ—just like Romans 10:9-10 says.
And what Jesus is saying is that unless you believe and you come to God to be reborn like a baby—you will not see the kingdom of God. Because our salvation is through grace and faith alone; not by our own work or merit.
Now of course, because Jesus’ statement is odd and doesn’t make sense without knowledge of how salvation works (which remember Nicodemus doesn’t yet), in 4 “Nicodemus said to [Jesus] ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’”
Nicodemus is thinking from a purely earthly standpoint and because he isn’t thinking from a spiritual standpoint, he can’t make sense of what Jesus is saying.
Jesus continues in the conversation in Vs. 5

Truly, Truly, You must be born of water and the Spirit (3:5-8)

John 3:5–8 ESV
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.”
And this is where Jesus gets a little more vague and it becomes a little harder to understand him. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” What exactly does Jesus mean when he says that we need to be born of water and the Spirit?
I’m actually going to suggest that he’s not referring to two different things—he states, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit” If he was referring to two different things, wouldn’t he have said “unless one is born of water and of the Spirit?”
My suggestion is that Jesus isn’t trying to differentiate between water and the Spirit, but he’s using water as a metaphor. In the Old Testament, water and the Spirit are utilized to denote one thing—And example of this would be in Ezekiel 36:25-27, God says, “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. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
In Ezekiel 36:25-27, God utilizes water to clean them from their uncleaness, as well as to cleanse them from their idols and to give them a new heart. Well clearly, sprinkling clean water in a purely physical sense would cleanse them from idols or give them a new heart.
But if you’re thinking of water in a metaphorical sense in Ezekiel 36:25-27, and you’re equating the work of the Holy Spirit with the idea of water, “I will sprinkle the spirit on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 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. And I will put my Spirit within you.”
Both water and Spirit is speaking of the same thing, the working of the Holy Spirit. And this same figure of speech is utilized throughout the Gospel according to John
4:10, Jesus tells the Samaritan women that if she understood who he was, “[she] would have asked [Jesus], and he would have given [her] living water.” Clearly, this water isn’t physical water, its a spiritual water that is represented by the Holy Spirit. Later on in the account of the Samaritan woman, Jesus states that anyone who drinks physical water will be thirsty again, but anyone who drinks of the living water will never thirst again.
In John 7:37, during Jesus’ last Passover on earth, we read “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now again, if you’re thinking in a physical sense, this makes no sense, but then in “John 7:39, the Bible explains, “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believe in him were to receive.”
He isn’t trying to get us to strain at gnats to determine what he means by being born of water and the Spirit, he’s trying to get us and to get Nicodemus to understand that until you are born spiritually, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.
And he further explains this by saying, 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.”
Jesus is essentially telling him two things (1) this is clearly not a physical birth and (2) to not be surprised that it is a requirement for people to be born again.
Its clear that he isn’t speaking of a physical birth because he makes the statement, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” he’s clearly differentiating between the two. The physical only gives birth to the physical; the Spirit only gives birth to the spiritual.
And Jesus flat out says that the fact that we all must be born again shouldn’t surprise us. Well, why shouldn’t the need of being born again surprise us? It really goes the whole way back to Genesis 3. In Genesis 3, we have the account of the fall of mankind into sin. Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
When we read that passage, we typically think of the death that is being referred to as a physical death—and physical death is a part of what God meant when he said that there would be death involved with eating the fruit of the tree.
But in addition to this physical death; there is a very real spiritual death—and Romans 5:12 teaches us that because of what Adam and Eve did, “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the Law.” and then continued in Romans 5:17, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”
What I’m getting at is that because of the sin of Adam and Eve and the fact that sin is transmitted to each person because of that issue, we all are spiritually dead until we receive the gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ—until we are born again.
and John 3:8 expounds on that with an analogy that explains that how this happens is something that we won’t understand “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.”
And in this analogy that he gives of the wind, he states that people feel the movement of the wind and they hear the rustling of the wind, but have no clue how it come from or where it goes. And this is exactly how the Holy Spirit works in those who are born of the Spirit.
We hear the Holy Spirit, we see his movements, but we have no clue where it goes or why it does the things that it does. We don’t know how the Holy Spirit brings us to new life, but he does. And when we are brought into new life we can then see the Holy Spirit working around us.
So, what Jesus is getting at is, first and foremost that in order to see the Kingdom of God, you must experience a spiritual birth. And this spiritual birth is through the Holy Spirit. Now, of course, the idea of a spiritual birth through the Holy Spirit is a confusing topic, especially since the passage itself teaches us that we’ll see the Holy Spirit moving, but we won’t understand it and because it is a confusing topic, Nicodemus doesn’t understand any of it and his lack of understanding bring us to our final “truly, truly” statement.

Truly, Truly, if you aren’t ready to believe in earthly things, you aren’t ready to believe heavenly things (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.
In confusion, Nicodemus asks one more question, “How can these things be?”
And Jesus answered essentially by pointing out his inadequacy as a teacher, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” Or put another way, how can you teach people spiritual things that you don’t even understand?
Jesus isn’t referring to a lack of knowledge in how the Holy Spirit works to bring people into new life—he’s actually talking about the overall process of needing to be born again. How can Nicodemus teach Israel if Nicodemus doesn’t understand the idea of a new birth?
And he doesn’t stop there, in Vs. 11, Jesus says, “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.”
And that’s the real issue—Nicodemus understands everything in an intellectual or even academic way, he had heard what Jesus knew and he had seen Jesus bear witness.
The issue isn’t a lack of knowledge in the case of Nicodemus—he knew all the facts
The issue is that “he did not receive their testimony.” Or in other words, despite knowing all the information that was available to him about Jesus Christ, Nicodemus still didn’t believe.
Which is an important distinction that we need to remember today—knowledge of God is not the same thing as knowing God and until your knowledge of God becomes knowing God, you haven’t experienced the new birth that the Bible speaks of multiple times—you’re still spiritually dead.
An example of this would be Jesus’ statement in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Jesus in Matthew 7 is defining a group of people who knew all the right things and were even preaching and teaching and doing great work. They had the knowledge to preach and teach and do the work, but they didn’t actually have the belief that leads to salvation.
They knew Jesus like Nicodemus knew Jesus and that form of knowledge without belief isn’t sufficient for salvation. Knowledge of Jesus without belief in Jesus always results in spiritual death. True salvation comes through faith.
Jesus says that that they had spoken of what they knew and they had bore witness to what they had seen, but Nicodemus still hadn’t actually believed; and then in Vs. 12, Jesus says this, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Let’s break this last piece of Scripture down before we jump into application
Jesus poses a hypothetical question, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”
And what Jesus is saying here is that the concept of the new birth is what he calls an earthly thing—and there’s some pushback on that because we think of the new birth being a spiritual birth, which it is; but as DA Carson points out, Jesus probably considers this an earthly thing because the new birth—the concept of being born again happens while we’re on earth.
Jesus is essentially stating that if you can’t handle learning the earthly things, then you can’t handle learning the heavenly things. Or put in a different way. The new birth is what the author of Hebrews calls an elementary doctrine; until we understand and believe the elementary doctrines of Christianity, there is no way that we’ll understand, let alone believe the heavenly doctrines that Jesus refers to in John 3.
Jesus continues in Vs. 13, “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man
Now this seems like an odd thing for him to say, but remember that he just said that there were heavenly things that Nicodemus couldn’t learn because he hadn’t believed in the elementary things
There are two meanings for this one sentence. The first is that since he is the only person on earth who had been to heaven; he is the only person who could truly teach heavenly things—in essence, Jesus is giving the credentials that the Jews were asking for in last week’s message.
The second is in relation to the final two verses.
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
Jesus uses this illustration from the Old Testament concerning a serpent in the wilderness that Moses lifted up.
And just as a reminder, let me refresh your memories: in Numbers 21, the Israelites had spent almost 40 years wandering through the wilderness and Numbers 21:4 says, “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.’”
And as a consequence of their sin, the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, which attacked the Israelites and killed many of the Israelites; and the Israelites repented from their sin and asked Moses to “Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents . . “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.”
So Jesus, in his illustration in John 3:14, is making the statement that he is like that serpent being lifted in the wilderness, which contrasts the physical nature of the healing in Numbers 21, to the spiritual new birth that Jesus provides when people simply believe in him.
The implication out of all that Jesus has spoken through John 3:1-15 is this: until Nicodemus sees Jesus as the Son of Man lifted up like the serpent in Numbers 21, until Nicodemus believes in Jesus as the Messiah; he cannot and will not enter the kingdom of God. And I think this is a great place, as we start wrapping up, to start talking about application.

Application

The overarching statement that Jesus is making to Nicodemus and then to us by extension is that until we believe in Jesus Christ, we will never enter into the Kingdom of God. And from John 2:23-25, which was that transitional statement that I briefly mentioned at the beginning of the message, we learn that Jesus knows what is in man.
Which means that Jesus knows what is in your heart and in conjunction with this conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus—Jesus knows whether or not you actually believe in him or not. Take this seriously because it involves your eternal soul.
My first application point is really more of a warning. Despite the fact that we live in a post-modern society in which most people believe that it doesn’t matter what you believe; the Bible specifically states that unless you’re born again of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
So, let me ask you, have you been born again? Have you been born of water and the Spirit? Have you come to know Jesus Christ as the Son of Man lifted up as a substitutionary atonement for your sins?
If you haven’t, let me call you to repentance from your sins; look to Jesus as your Messiah; and believe in him that you may have eternal life with him.
Until you do believe in Jesus Christ, until you receive the testimony of Jesus Christ, the testimony of the disciples and the apostles and believe in Jesus, you cannot and will not enter into the Kingdom of God.
For those of you who do believe, take time this week to give thanks that Jesus has made a way for you to be in the Kingdom. Give thanks for what Jesus has done for you and give thanks for his willingness to be lifted up on a cross for your sin.
Now, for some more specific application, would include this:
Truly, Truly, you must be born again. (3:1-4) — We see Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews coming to Jesus by night to speak to Jesus because he had seen Jesus perform great miracles. When he speaks to Jesus, he respectfully calls him Rabbi and state that he has to have come from God because of these great miracles.
Let’s start with his position in life—Nicodemus as a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews was in an elite group of people. He was respected, he was trusted, he was rich, and he had power and authority.
And yet, when he sees Jesus, he still humbles himself to come and speak to Jesus and what we learn from later passages is that Nicodemus actually comes to believe in Jesus Christ.
What this shows us is that even with great respect, great power, and great authority; it is still possible to admit that you’re wrong about something, to repent from a former lifestyle, and correct the direction of your life.
If you’re letting your lifestyle getting in the way of actually following Jesus Christ, let me call you to repent, turn to Jesus, and follow him.
The Bible tells us that Nicodemus came to Jesus because he had seen the signs that Jesus performed and what we learn is that faith in the signs doesn’t equate faith in Jesus Christ.
In a similar way, we can think that we’re saved because we have faith in good things, but if that faith isn’t in Jesus Christ, we don’t actually have true faith—we have a shallow belief that doesn’t result in salvation
And we can have that faith or that belief in good things—we can have belief or faith in a person, a pastor, or a church. We can actually have faith in the Bible as a book; but if our faith and our belief isn’t actually in Jesus Christ, we’re just as unsaved as any unbeliever. It is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ that saves.
Let me call you to consider what you actually have faith in—are you a Christian because you like church or you like what the Bible says, or maybe you like the fellowship you have with other people in church? Or are you a Christian because you truly believe in Jesus Christ.
And if you don’t actually believe in Jesus Christ, let me call you to repent of your sins, believe in your heart, and call on the name of Jesus Christ—a man cannot save you, a pastor cannot save you, a church cannot save you; it is only belief in Jesus Christ that saves you.
Truly, Truly, you must be born of water and the Spirit. (3:5-8)—We’re told that we need to be born of water and of the Holy Spirit and then Jesus makes the statement that we won’t understand exactly how being born of the Spirit works, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes or where it goes.”
And if you’re like me, the fact that we cannot completely understand how something works, can really bug you—in fact, there are people who refuse to believe in God because they can’t understand how God works; but let remind you that God never says that we’ll understand everything.
And there are things even in the Bible that we aren’t meant to understand—such as how exactly it is that we’re born again. And yet, the Bible tells us that we are to be born again through belief in Jesus Christ.
So, an application point for this section is this: give thanks for God bringing you to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and then take some time reflecting on things that you don’t understand about God—reflect on those things, and praise God for them and praise God for him.
Truly, Truly, if you aren’t ready to believe in earthly things, you aren’t ready to believe heavenly things (3:9-15)— in this last section, Jesus asks, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” and Jesus essentially states that until we believe in the elementary things, we will never believe in the heavenly things.
So my initial question then is, do you believe the elementary things of the faith? And you might be thinking, well what are the elementary things of the faith?
Hebrews 6:1, gives us some insight—the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God; instructions about washing; the laying on of hands; the resurrection of the dead; and eternal judgment. All of those things are basics about Christianity that everyone should believe and know.
In addition, I would argue that what is typically referred to as the fundamentals of the faith, would be elementary things that we should all know and believe—So, things like the inspiration of the Bible; the creation of man; the incarnation and virgin birth of Jesus Christ; his claim to be the Son of God; the atonement for sins by his death on the cross; the resurrection; the new birth; regeneration; and eternal life are all elementary doctrines that we should believe and know.
So, my encouragement for you is this—take time this week to think over the fundamentals of the Christian faith and be sure that you know them—be sure that you actually know what you claim to believe when you call yourself a Christian.
And if you find yourself weak in knowledge of a certain part of doctrine, let me encourage you to not settle with deficient knowledge, but seek to learn more and to grow. And of course, if you need help as you try to learn these things, seek help from mature believers who do their best to teach only the Scriptures.
In addition, Jesus states that just like the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
During this week, take time to reflect on the eternal life that has been granted to you through belief in Jesus Christ.
Give thanks for that gift, praise God for that gift; and never take it for granted.
In short, make sure that you truly believe in Jesus Christ—that you’ve been born of water and the Spirit, that you’ve been born again; reflect on the privilege that God has given us to enter into the Kingdom of God simply be believing in Jesus Christ and give thanks and praise God daily for that gift. And lastly, take time to reflect on the fundamentals of the Christian faith—be sure that you understand what they are and be sure that you actually believe these things. And if you need help understanding these things, seek help.
Pastoral Prayer
Give thanks for Jesus Christ providing a way for us to be born again of the water and the Spirit.
Praise Jesus for the gift of eternal life
Pray that those here would be established in knowledge of their faith and those that are wavering would seek help from those with spiritual maturity.
Anticipate the coming Kingdom of God.
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