John 3:1-3
The Message
John’s is the unusual gospel. The other three are referred to as the
synoptic gospels because they are so similar. Each of them, with
their own emphasis and style, details the story of Jesus’ life. John
does that too, but the Holy Ghost did not lead him to give a
chronological record of Jesus’ life. Instead, John picked out a few
miracles Jesus did and a few lessons that Jesus taught and detailed
those to his readers, sometimes spending an entire chapter or more
around one event.
In this account, a Jewish Rabbi, Nicodemus, came to Jesus at night.
The way that Nicodemus came makes us think that he did not want
others to know that he was coming. A conversation ensued. While we
do not know how their meeting lasted, we do know John spend the
entire chapter summarizing it and what they discussed is still being
discussed even to this present hour.
This morning, let’s consider that account.
I. A Spiritual Statement
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye
must be born again.
A. It appears that near the beginning of their conversation
together, Jesus made that statement to Nicodemus.
1. It was given to Nicodemus, but it is for everyone.
2. If you want to see heaven, you must be born again.
3. Chances are very good that you know what they means.
a. It has been 2,000 years since it was given and you are
in a church, so we should know it.
b. \\#4\\ But Nicodemus did not. It was the first time
he—or anyone else—had ever heard it.
c. So Jesus explained it to him.
B. What is the New Birth?
1. It is a spiritual birth.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into 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 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be
born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell
whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is
every one that is born of the Spirit.
a. Jesus’ overall emphasis here is that the first birth
is not sufficient.
b. Some people think that the phrase, "born of water,"
has something to do with baptism, but I believe the
context clearly shows it does not.
(1) Our first birth was of "water."
(2) \\#6\\ He is emphasizing that what is born of the
flesh (through the water birth) is fleshly and
so faulty.
(3) \\#12\\ He tells Nicodemus that He had been
teaching of "earthly" things. You can’t get
much more earthly that being water born.
(4) To be honest, there is no reason to think
anything Jesus said in this section of Scripture
had anything to do with water baptism.
c. No, Jesus’ point was the first birth was insufficient
and we must be born again.
d. From the beginning, Jesus tells us that the second
birth is a spiritual birth. (Jesus used the word
"spirit" 4 times \\#5-8\\.)
2. Spiritual births are produced by the Holy Spirit of God.
a. The Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament but
not very much.
b. And up to this point, the Lord has not spoken about
the Holy Ghost either so some explanation of Him was
due.
John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not
tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so
is every one that is born of the Spirit.
c. The Holy Spirit is like the wind.
(1) WIND
(a) You can’t see the wind.
(b) Most of us can’t explain the wind.
(c) But when the wind shows us, you can feel it
and see the effect.
(2) HOLY GHOST
(a) We can’t see Him.
(b) We can’t explain Him. I don’t know when He
will deal with people or why He deals with
some for so long or with so much force.
(c) However, we can feel Him, and we can see His
effect.
3. And while no verse here tells us, just like the water
birth brings us into an earthly family, the spiritual
birth brings us into God’s family.
a. It is because of this image that Christians call God
our Father and He refers to us as His sons/daughters.
b. Jesus was telling Nicodemus and us that we must have
that born-again experience and be brought into God’s
family.
II. Sovereign Explanations
A. Nicodemus was a teacher of God’s law, but he had never heard
anything like what Jesus was saying.
John 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him,
How can these things be?
1. And to be honest, it is no wonder.
2. Nothing like this was taught in the Old Testament.
B. So Jesus gave Nicodemus some added details on what causes the
new birth. As it turns out, there are some things which will
aid in birthing people into God’s family.
1. Lift up Jesus.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up:
a. Adoration
(1) Adoration is our love and worship.
(a) To love Jesus is to put Him ahead of all
other loves.
(b) To worship Jesus is put oneself down while
exalting Jesus.
(c) These two both help us to understand Jesus’
statement.
(d) We must sacrifice ourselves to lift Jesus
up.
(2) Every Christian must examine himself to see what
things are more important to us than Jesus.
(a) Look at your loves, your hobbies, the things
you spend your money and time upon.
(b) If you cannot find anything, ask those who
know you the best and who will be brutally
honest.
(3) To lift up Jesus, He must be first in our hearts.
b. Demonstration
(1) To lift up Jesus, He must be first in our lives.
(2) If we are lifting up Jesus in our heart, people
will see it in their lives.
(3) Some people like to say, "My religion is
personal. It is just between me and God."
(a) That is a copout given by people who do not
live right and don’t want to be called on
it.
(b) No one is asking you to put on airs or be
arrogant or haughty, but if Jesus is first
place in your heart, He will be see in your
life.
c. Proclamation
(1) People can’t drink from a fountain that they do
not know exists.
(2) Someone has to make people aware of Jesus.
(a) Who He is.
(b) What He has done.
(3) That is our job.
(a) By the way, it is the only job we have.
(b) I’m afraid we aren’t doing ours much better
than those "You had one job" memes on
Facebook.
(4) We lift Jesus up with our words.
2. Teach them that God loves them.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
a. Interestingly, all of this was revelation to
Nicodemus.
(1) \\#10\\ He was a master of the Old Testament, but
he did not know anything about the love of God.
(2) The Old Testament taught the justice and finality
of God. It did that through the law and some
harsh penalties.
(3) However, that is not all there is to God. He is
also THE God of love.
b. Even though this truth has been known to the world for
2,000 years now, it has largely been lost.
(1) I have been considering how truth is lost this
week.
(2) Truth, once deeply loved, seems so easily lost.
(3) I see a cycle:
(a) Truth heard and believed.
(b) Truth loved and defended.
(c) Truth taken for granted.
(d) Truth neglected.
(e) Truth compromised.
(f) Truth denied.
(g) Truth lost.
(h) Truth despised.
(4) We are in the "Truth Lost and Despised" Stages.
(a) That seems strange, but truth—especially
spiritual truth, can never be merely
forsaken.
(b) For people to have been exposed to it and to
walk away from it, they must first hate it.
(c) That is why—as far as I know—every
country that has ever had a spiritual
awakening becomes so cold to the gospel.
(d) Germany, England, Austria, Switzerland,
Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Wales, Scotland,
Spain, Portugal. (Reformation)
(e) Now the US.
(f) Every one of these nations now has either an
apathetic or a negative view of God love.
3. Tell them to believe.
John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life.
a. More and more I see that we have to point out the
necessity for faith in Jesus Christ even among those
who call themselves Christians.
(1) There are good moral people with their own set
of beliefs and even their own religions.
(2) However, being good, being moral, even being
devout in religion does not save you.
(3) You must believe the truth:
b. There are two categories you must believe:
(1) Things that must be believed about Jesus.
(2) Things that must be believed about what Jesus
did.
c. Even as I have worked on this message, I have
considered that some things may not have to be
believed, but they cannot be disbelieved.
(1) We must believe Jesus is God or, at the least, we
must not disbelieve that Jesus is God.
(2) We must believe that Jesus was sinless, or at the
least, we must not disbelieve that Jesus was
sinless.
d. We must also believe some things about what Jesus did.
(1) Jesus died for our sins.
(2) Jesus rose from the dead.
(3) Jesus will save us if we believe, repent, and ask
Him to do so.
4. Tell them to turn from evil.
a. We cannot leave repentance out of our message and
Jesus did not leave it out of His.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that
light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his
deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God.
b. Many a believing soul will go to hell because he did
not repent of his sin.
III. An Eternal Result
John 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which
at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought
a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred
pound weight.
40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound
it in linen clothes with the spices, as the
manner of the Jews is to bury.
A. This is taking place at the burial of Jesus.
B. It appears that at some point, Nicodemus—the Nicodemus who
came to Jesus by night—became a follower of Jesus Christ.
1. He came secretly.
2. He believed secretly.
3. He lived secretly.
4. But Nicodemus will be a secret Christian no longer.
C. This is Nicodemus’ coming out.
1. It was his display of adoration, the beginning of his
demonstration, and the starting of his proclamation.
2. He got the message that Jesus gave him.
Have you?
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