Scripture Reading:

• John 3:1-21
• Eph. 2:4-10

Opening Prayer:

Father God, we thank you for the honor and the privilege we have to gather here this morning to celebrate the gift of salvation made available to us through Christ. I pray that as we enter into this time of preaching, that you would give me words to speak. I pray that you would open up hearts and minds to receive your word. May all that is said and done be for your glory. Amen.

Introduction:

We are in the third week of our sermon series, “Who Do You Say That I Am?” where we are focusing on how different people encountered Jesus and answered this question for themselves. 

1. First we saw Simon Peter, who understood Jesus was holy and sent from God, but who struggled to understand what He would want from a common and sinful fisherman like himself. 
2. Last week we focused on two wealthy men, the rich young ruler and Zacchaeus the chief tax collector. We learned how the love of God will transform our hearts if we set aside our idols and welcome Him in. 
3. This week we will be focusing on Jesus’ encounter with a powerful Pharisee named Nicodemus. 

Now the title “Pharisee” has become synonymous with legalism in our modern day vernacular, but it is important that we realize this was not how people saw the Pharisees in Jesus day. From what we know of the Pharisees, they were a religious group that had a high view of God’s Law. They tried to live their lives in close accordance with the scriptures, which sometimes meant they took the application of God’s Law too far. When we see the Pharisees mentioned in the New Testament it is usually in conflict with Jesus over the right application of a particular Old Testament commandment, but that is not to say that all Pharisees were against Christ. Many of them thought Christ was a dangerous false teacher, but there were other Pharisees who were not quite sure what to make of this miracle working rabbi from Nazareth. We also know that more than a few Pharisees eventually became Christ followers. In fact, most of the New Testament was written by a Pharisee turned Apostle named Paul, including the passage from Ephesians we read earlier. For now, let’s focus on a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who sought out Jesus under the cover of night. 

New Birth:

Right off the bat we are told a few things about Nicodemus. First, we are told that he was a Pharisee. Second, we are told that he was a “ruler of the Jews” (John 3:1). Some commentators think Nicodemus may have been a member of the Sanhedrin, making him something akin to a senator today. Others think that when John says he was a “ruler of the Jews” this was merely a way to show that he was a man of influence whose words carried great weight among the people of Jerusalem. Jesus himself would refer to Nicodemus as “the teacher of Israel” (John 3:10). Either way, Nicodemus clearly wanted to speak with Jesus, but did not want to do so in the light of day. Which is why he came to Jesus under the shroud of darkness. And finally, we know that he he knew that Jesus was from God: 

“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.”

John 3:2, ESV

Nicodemus refers to Jesus as “Rabbi” (or teacher) rather than “Lord”, which may be a sign that Nicodemus was not yet sure if Jesus was the Messiah he claimed to be. Clearly Jesus was from God, the miracles made that clear, but what type of man was he? Was Jesus a prophet like Elijah? Was he another forerunner of the Messiah like John the Baptist? Or, was this truly the Messiah, the Son of God, whom Israel had waited for all these centuries?

Jesus answers Nicodemus, but not in the way Nicodemus expected. 

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:3, ESV

Jesus does not directly tell Nicodemus, I am the Messiah, but he begins by teaching what must happen for a man to enter the kingdom of God (which the Messiah would bring about). Nicodemus was trying to understand Jesus, but he struggled to grasp what Jesus was saying to him: 

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?”

John 3:4, ESV

Nicodemus’ confusion makes sense for a Pharisee who tried to live his life in full accordance with the Law of God. If God commanded a tithe, then he would tithe ten percent and beyond. If God said not to work on the Sabbath, then he would strictly avoid doing anything that might even remotely be considered labor (which included things like writing, cooking, or even lighting and extinguishing a candle). But if what Jesus says is true then one had to be born again. If you saw everything through the lens of works that you had to perform, then it makes sense to wonder the same question Nicodemus wondered. 

How can a person be born again? The word translated as “again” has several possible meanings in Greek. It can mean essentially to start over, and do it all again from the beginning. While many of us might wish we could have a do-over, we know life doesn’t work that way. It can mean, to do something for a second time, which is how Nicodemus was thinking when he said “Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus, however, was not talking about something we do. He was talking about something that is done to us by God. 

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 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.”

John 3:5-8, ESV

Whenever Jesus spoke about spiritual things he liked to use earthly images and parables, but here he makes it clear that he is not talking about a second physical birth. I know some people do not like to talk about the physical process of human conception and birth, so I will not go into those details, but when a baby is born physically they are born of water. Women still say “my water has broken” to indicate that the birth of their baby is imminent and they need to get to a hospital as soon as possible. 

Jesus says that he is not talking about second physical birth, but a spiritual birth. This new birth is a bit like the wind, in that we may not be able to see it happen in the same way someone might witness the physical birth of a child, but you can see its effects. When a person is born again of the Spirit, we can see the effects of God at work in his or her life, much like we can see the effects of wind without seeing the wind itself. 

Nicodemus still struggles to understand this. It is is so different from his way of thinking: 

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 

John 3:9, ESV

Nicodemus’ question is almost the exact same question that Mary, the mother of Jesus, asked the angel when she was told that she would bear the Son of God. “How can this be?” It is not a question of doubt, but a question of one who does not understand but wants to understand. What Nicodemus needed was not intellectual understanding, but the transformation of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul, who was also once a Pharisee like Nicodemus, would later write to the church in Corinth:

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Corinthians 2:14, ESV

Jesus then tells Nicodemus that he needs to open his mind to spiritual things that are outside of his control and understanding: 

Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 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. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

John 3:10-12, ESV

Ironically, even those of us who claim to know and worship God can still succumb to worldly thinking. It is not a bad thing to seek understanding, but when we deal with God we need to realize that some things will be beyond our grasp and beyond our control. That is one of the reasons why we call it faith. There are many things we can see and understand, but there are also many things that we cannot fathom. 

Jesus himself says: 

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 

John 3:13, ESV

Essentially what Jesus is saying is that the one who comes from heaven can speak with authority of heavenly things. This was also Jesus’ way of telling Nicodemus that he was, in fact, the Messiah – the Son of Man – sent from heaven to save mankind. 

And in the very next verse he gives Nicodemus a glimpse of how this salvation will be won: 

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.

John 3:14-15, ESV

If I were to ask you what your favorite book of the Bible was, I would venture to guess that no one here would say the book of Numbers. Even the name “Numbers” sounds boring. However, a Pharisee and a teacher of Israel like Nicodemus would have been very familiar with this Old Testament book. 

When Jesus talks about Meses lifting up a serpent in the wilderness, Nicodemus would have known that he was referring to the account in Numbers 21, when the children of Israel had sinned against God and as a result God sent poisonous serpents into their camp. The people repented of their sin, and God heard their prayers. He told Moses to carve a bronze serpent and to place it on a tall pole in the middle of the camp. Anyone who looked upon the bronze serpent would be healed from the serpent’s venom and live. 

Now if you read that passage in isolation, it would seem like a weird moment in Israel’s history where the people sinned, God punished them, and for some reason they had to look at a snake statue to be healed. Jesus, however, gives this account a new meaning that changes everything. 

The people of Israel were dying of the serpent’s poison, just like people today are poisoned by sin and the lies of Satan, who took on a serpent to tempt humanity into their first sin all the way back in Genesis 3. Jesus was going to destroy the works of Satan and heal the people of their sin by being lifted up on a cross and taking on our sin and guilt. 

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV

Just as Israel was to look to the bronze serpent and find healing, so do we look to Christ’s work on the cross as our healing and deliverance from sin and death. Now there is very little chance that Nicodemus understood all that Jesus was saying, but when he witnessed the crucifixion of Christ as we are told he did (John 19) I am certain that he remembered this conversation and finally understood what this had all been about. 

Jesus speaks what is almost undeniably the most famous and often quoted sentence ever uttered. 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16, ESV

God’s Love

We quote John 3:16 so often that we might be in danger of losing just how scandalous of a claim Jesus makes. Love is who God is, and he acts in accordance with His nature. He does not love only those people who love Him. In fact, we are told that:

We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:9 ESV

Nicodemus, and in fact many Christians today struggle to wrap our minds around the truth of God’s love. We do not change ourselves to be loved by God, but we are transformed when our souls are awakened to the love that God has had for us all along! 

We must also remember that God’s love is not an inactive feeling, but it is a love demonstrated over and over again in the grace, mercy, and blessings we receive every day. At the same time, God’s love is seen ultimately and most fully in the person and work of Jesus Christ. 

Finishing out this teaching, Jesus says:

“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. 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. 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. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 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.”

John 3:17-21, ESV

There is so much to say here, and unfortunately very little time to say it. God sent His Son into the world to save the world from the consequences of their sins. Christ did not come to condemn us, because we were already condemned. Christ came to shine light into darkness, to reveal the truth about God and man, and to call anyone and everyone to turn to him in faith. Those who place their faith in Christ will be saved, not because they were good, or clean, or pure, or righteous, but because they placed their faith in what Jesus Christ accomplished for them on the cross. This is the gospel that transforms lives and saves souls. 

Have you come to know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, not just intellectually but in a spiritual and heart transforming way? Have you been born again? It is my hope and prayer that each and every one of us here this morning has had the opportunity to experience this unfathomable and love of God, and as we conclude our message we will have an opportunity for anyone to respond in faith. You can come down to the front and speak to me during our time of decision following, find me after the service, or reach out to me sometime during the week, but if you feel the Holy Spirit at work in your heart I encourage you not to hesitate too long. Take that step of faith so that we can begin this journey together. Let us pray. 

Prayer of Decision: 

Father God, we thank you for the goodness of your gospel. I pray that your Spirit would move in the hearts of any here this morning who are still hiding in darkness. Help them to step out into the light of faith. Open up their hearts to see the truth of your salvation, and the goodness of your love. Bless us Lord we pray, Amen!