John 3:1-22
A problem with preaching a familiar passage is that people can think, “I have heard this before.” But the beauty of Scripture is that there are new windows to be opened and new lessons to be learned that had not been seen before. My prayer is that this will be true of this well-known Scripture of John 3.
- YOU CAN BE RELIGIOUS BUT LOST
For those who have attended Sunday school or been attended church for a while, Nicodemus is probably no stranger. As we look at him today, though lived long ago, we might still find some similarities in ourselves.
Nicodemus was “a man of the Pharisees.” There were about six thousand Pharisees in Jesus day. They were a very religious group who focused on the details of the Law. There religion was however very external, filled with do’s & don’ts. The majority of them opposed Jesus and condemned Him as an imposter.
Nicodemus was also a man of high rank. He was described as “a ruler of the Jews.” This implies that he was a member of the seventy-person Sanhedrin. He was also spoken of as “Israel’s teacher.” He was a highly respected man.
Although most of the Pharisees did not even investigate but outrightly rejected Jesus, Nicodemus was reasonable. He said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. He was not a believer at this point, but he recognised that the sign which Jesus was doing indicated that He came from God.
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. In all likelihood, this was to not be seen by his fellow Pharisees. He was afraid to be seen with Jesus.
Jesus reinforced Nicodemus need to be born again. This makes it clear that Nicodemus was spiritually dead and in need of regeneration. Since there was no spiritual life in him, Nicodemus got confused by many things Jesus said. For example:
v4 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?”
v9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
v10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
Nicodemus was smart and well educated but he lacked spiritual understanding. God’s Word tells us that unbelievers are blinded by Satan, and do not understand spiritual truth.
With the credentials he had Nicodemus would have thought he had good reason to be accepted into the Kingdom of God He was a Jew, a descendant of Abraham. He was a Pharisee, a member of the most religious group, seen as experts in law! He was also seen as the main teacher in Israel.
There are many who think. “I am a good person, I live a good life. I try to obey the ten commandments. I have never done anything bad like murder. I grew up in a Christian family. I have been baptised. I attend church most Sundays and I serve in the church. I should be OK.”
What does God say to all this? Well here are some staggering Scriptures:
There is no one righteous, not even one (Rom 3:10;
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; (Is 53:6)
God says we are all sinful.
For the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23)
God says that the punishment for our sin is spiritual death. Eternal separation and eternal judgment from God.
The apostle Paul tells us that God does not save us on the basis of the righteous things which we do (Titus 3:5). Like Nicodemus, we can be religious, but lost.
- WE ARE ALL CALLED TO LOOK AND LIVE
In verse 3 we are told that Jesus answered Nicodemus. But notice that no question was asked! Jesus must have read his mind, and knew the question which was on his mind (see John 2:25).
v3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
By nature, we are all blind spiritually and needing sight. We are all children of devil and need to become children of God. We are enemies of God and need to be reconciled. We are dead spiritually needing spiritual life (to be born again).
Jesus says:
v5 unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Our physical birth gave us physical life. We need a spiritual birth to give us spiritual life. Jesus again said, you must be born again. He is saying this is not an option but the only way to be saved.
For those here who are believers, what a precious thought this is – to be born again. The apostle Paul says:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Cor 5:17)
After using a birth illustration or lesson, our Lord now turns to a different picture – that of the wind. In Cape town we have a lot of wind and can relate to this. Knowing the direction of the wind is easy. We can see this by the way the trees are swaying. But the source and final destination of the wind is impossible to determine.
Jesus said, the same is true with the new birth. This is a work of the Spirit of God. We can't see the Spirit, like we can't see the wind. But we can see where the Spirit of God has been working. We see changed lives! Regeneration and transformation is a work of the Spirit. He causes the new birth.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope (1Pet 1:3)
Regeneration is a miracle. The Spirit of God causes us to be born again.
Nicodemus responded by saying, “How can these things be?” (v9). Jesus then goes on to give the basis for the new birth and point us to his work on the cross. The Son of Man must be lifted up (on the cross).
v14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
This well-known incident is taken from Numbers 21. Israel became impatient when they were told they would have to go around Edom to get to the Promised Land. They complained and God judged them by sending snakes which would bite them. Many died. After repenting God said they were to erect a bronze serpent on a pole. If anyone was bitten by a snake they could look to the serpent and would be healed and live. This was a sign of faith and also a type, or picture of the our great Saviour and Healer who was coming.
We have all been bitten by the poison of sin. The consequences we have seen are devastating. But there is hope for us if we look to our Saviour on the cross:
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed (1 Pet 2:24).
Why would God be so interested in saving us? This is a difficult question! How quickly we glance over the first few words of the most well known verse:
v16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Why did God love us? This is a real mystery. The hymn writer agrees:
Amazing love how can it be that Thou my God should die for me
The term “whoever” indicates the door is wide open to all - Jew, Gentile, male, female, slave or free. The message of salvation is for all who live on this planet.
Our active response is “to believe.” We are to have faith and to trust in Jesu work on the cross. Faith is not a “work,” but a response to the offer of salvation.
The blessing of the new birth follows. We have “eternal life.” This does not begin after we die, but from the moment we trust Christ to save us. It is an unending state of bliss in the presence of God.
There is also “no condemnation.”
V18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned,
We receive a full pardon! We are cleansed, forgiven, and nothing will ever separate us from the love of God!
Jesus said that the Light has come:
v19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Most people hate the light because it shows their sin and they don’t want to change.
v21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
But for believers, we love the light. We love the truth and we seek to obey the Word. Our lives are changed, and it becomes evident to all that God has worked in and through us.
Have you ever wondered what happened to Nicodemus? John has two other passages that speak about him. In chapter 7 Nicodemus rebuked the Pharisees for not hearing Jesus before condemning Him. He was criticised and mocked:
v52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too?”
Nicodemus was changing side!
In chapter 19 Joseph and Nicodemus buried Jesus. Nicodemus brought 75 pounds of spices to the burial. It looks like Nicodemus was now a new creation. He was born from above!
C.H. Spurgeon has been referred to as “the Prince of Preachers.” He has an amazing testimony, which speaks well to this passage in Scripture. I will close with this:
SPURGEONS TESTIMONY
I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Church. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people’s heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved....
The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach…He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was—"LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH" (Isa. 45:22)
He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimmer of hope for me in that text.
The preacher began thus: "This is a very simple text indeed. It says ‘Look.’ … it is just ‘Look.’ Well, a man needn’t go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look.
"But then the text says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Ay!" he said in broad Essex, "many on ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. You’ll never find any comfort in yourselves… Look to Christ. The text says, ‘Look unto Me.’ "
"Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin’ on the cross. Look unto Me, I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sitting at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! look unto Me!"
When he had . . . . managed to spin out about ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger.
Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, "Young man, you look very miserable." Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, "And you will always be miserable—miserable in life and miserable in death—if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved." Then lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but look and live!"
I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said—I did not take much notice of it—I was so possessed with that one thought . . . . I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, "Look!" what a charming word it seemed to me. Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away.
There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, "Trust Christ, and you shall be saved."
Friends, this is the message from our text today. Look to Christ on the cross. Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Have you trusted Him to save you? Have you looked to Christ on the cross?
