Sunday Morning Service - John 3 - Pastor Gilman
I'm going to read it to you and then I'm going to say what's obvious, and then we'll
dig down to what may not be quite as apparent.
Dear Lord, our heavenly Father,
Each day we are at a cross road choosing to press on in our own way or to give our destiny to you in our hearts and minds and accept your will for us. Give us today the bread of life as we ponder your words..
Bless this bible study and all of us who are walking in your way; those who are struggling. Help us keep before us your example of perfection and give us your light to live by as we minister to others.
We ask these things in Jesus’ name..
Amen
John chapter 3 verse 1.
John writes, "Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You have come from
God as a teacher, for no one can do these things that You do unless God is with him.
'Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'
Nicodemus replied, 'How can a man be born when he's old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?'
Jesus answered,
‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into 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 be amazed that I said to you, "you must be born again. "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.'
Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can these things be?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?'"
Five times in this passage we have a reference to being born again, or born from above.
The word anothen , from the Greek used in the original script, can be translated as "again" or "from above," and both are applicable.
Jesus is saying that for anyone to enter the kingdom of God, the realm of salvation, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, that person must be born from above, born again. This is the doctrine of regeneration and at the very heart of understanding salvation.
It was years ago that the most publicized and recognized evangelist, Billy Graham, published a book and that book has been a staple in the evangelical world for all these twenty-five or so years and it's spun off a lot of other resources. It was originally published in 1977…
The title of that book is “How To Be Born Again” ; it's a how-to book, How To Be Born Again. That book gives steps to being born again. The approach is well-intentioned, of course, and it does call for repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but that book and its title fail to capture the understanding witch is embodied in the principle that Jesus is teaching here.
The whole point of this text, in John 3, is that something must happen to you that you don't participate in. How can that be we might ask and what good is it if it is not our choice to be born again?… There is no how to be born again. There are no steps to being born again. Nowhere does Jesus tell Nicodemus, do this, say this, pray this.
Nowhere does He tell him how to be born from above, how to be born again. Yes, it says a man must be born again. And in verse 8 He says to Nicodemus, "You must be born again," but that is not a command,
that is a statement of fact. God's kingdom is only for people who have been given God's life. Let me repeat that.. God's kingdom is only for people who have been “given” God's life… It is a gift from God.. it is God placing his spirit within you that allows you to be born again. To have new life and to be a spiritual being who is fit to enter the kingdom…
With this we will have within us the “light of Christ” and we will be a light in the world. The light is not ours but is also a gift from Christ,, as He is the light of the world, when we are born again…It is a glorious gift, life changing from the inside out and will give us the coveted prize of eternal life with the Father…That’s what it is to be “Born Again”..
How does Baptism fit into this picture? Here’s how:
Just note that Catholics and protestants, and different protestant denominations have different views on this subject. However, baptism was an ancient Jewish practice that John the Baptist performed long before it had any association with Christianity. It is now, and always has been only an “outward” sign of an “ inward intent” to live a new life. It does not of itself confer anything, upon us.. For those who use the term “born again” to mean a change of heart to live by direction of the renewed spiritual nature in Jesus Christ rather than the old nature of flesh, water baptism is the outward sign of that commitment. But understand that Baptism is “our” choice..Our decision… Our commitment… Being “Born Again has nothing to do with our choice ..It is God’s decision, God’s choice and it is God’s greatest gift…
When Jesus had John baptize Him, He was not “born again” at that moment; He did not “become a child of God” or spiritual , at that moment. He was already both. He was performing the old Jewish tradition of Mikveh –which signifies beginning a new life. It was the first day of His open ministry as a man of God. As the Son of Man..
You can't live in His kingdom unless you are a partaker of the divine nature, unless you are a new creation. And the analogy is so simple and so basic that we can readily understand it..
The analogy is founded in “birth”. And everybody gets that. I’ll just outline the context for you…
You did not participate in your own birth. There are no books out there that say how to be born physically. You don't have anything to do with that and that's the reason our Lord used this analogy.
As you play no role in your physical birth, you play no role in your spiritual birth in terms of being “Born Again”.
That's the point of the analogy. Jesus is saying the kingdom only opens to people who know it's one hundred percent a divine miracle and who forfeit all efforts to participate or thoughts that they can earn it. We can’t earn it, we will never deserve it but only through God’s Love for us, his mercy and compassion will we ever receive it…And then and only then will he give us a new heart and place his spirit within us..
The kingdom is open? What do we mean by the kingdom?
The Kingdom is the realm of salvation, the way to God, forgiveness of sin, eternal life, heaven, blessing in time and eternity--all that is part of the kingdom of salvation; all of that is available only to people who are born from above by an act done by God in which they don't participate but await and pray for God’s mercy.
Theologians say this is monergistic rather than synergistic. This is a work of God apart from man. The sinner then must be the recipient of a divine miracle that comes down from God, and there are no steps, there is no how-to that applies.
That is the simple, clear, unmistakable point of using the analogy of birth rather than some other analogy. Again I say, you don't do anything to contribute to your physical birth, and you don't do anything to contribute to your spiritual birth.
This conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus is about “regeneration”, the new birth, which has three identifiable features;
#1 ….There is the sinner's worry, we see that in Nicodemus.
#2…. There is the Savior's Word.
#3…. And then finally, the Spirit's work, and we're going through the conversation looking at those features.
The message again, so you don't miss it, the kingdom of salvation, forgiveness of sin, eternal life, heaven, is open only for those who abandon all self-effort to earn their way to heaven. It's a work of God. It’s not something you can earn. It’s not even something we deserve and we receive it only through his grace and mercy.
Now let's go back to the conversation.
First, the sinner's worry.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know You have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these things that You do unless God is with him.'" I’m repeating this because the mechanics of this conversation is very important…
Let me just give you a brief review. Nicodemus is a Pharisee. Pharisees were an elite group of students of the Old Testament Law who obeyed that Law as well as all the rabbinic traditions that grew up around that Law, fastidiously. They were the most devoted of all Jews to the Old Testament and every bit of their Jewish tradition. They were isolationists. They wanted nothing to do with the hoi-polloi, the populace, the people. In fact, later in the gospel of John you will find that they deemed the entire population apart from themselves to be cursed. They saw the people as the ignorant and the cursed.
They didn't see themselves as in some kind of a role of ministering to people; they simply isolated themselves. They were the arch-hypocrites; they were the archetypal hypocrites of all hypocrites.
They were whitewashed on the outside and full of dead men's bones on the inside.
MATTHEW 23:27-32
Jesus said “ You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.”
They pretended to be religious and lead people to heaven. And actually they created sons of hell.
They multiplied sons of hell everywhere they went because they themselves were sons of hell.
Nicodemus is described in Matthew 23 as one of those whom Jesus pronounced a series of damnations upon and curses on. Nicodemus would be like the apostle Paul before his stunning conversion; who when giving his own testimony about what it was to be a Pharisee says that he was zealous for the Law, that he was blameless before the Law, that he kept every tradition and he marched to the steps that the Pharisees required in every tiny detail, tithing even tiny little herbs.
They were fastidious about their religion, but they were hypocrites. A fictional character like one of them, like Nicodemus, we see in Luke 18.
He is described by our Lord. The Lord creates this imaginary Pharisee and this Pharisee goes into the Temple to pray and he says to God, "I thank You that I'm not like other men. I thank You that I'm not like this sinner or crummy tax collector.
I fast. I tithe everything that I possess. I do all these good things." That's a Pharisee, that's Nicodemus.
He's not just one; he's at the top of the pile. Verse 10 says he's the teacher in Israel. Pharisees were teachers anyway. He's “ the “ teacher in Israel. He's the most illustrious, the most noble of teachers, the master teacher. He's a member of the Sanhedrin, according to chapter 50. He's a part of the Jewish council of seventy. That was a very elite group of people that were the Supreme Court of Israel. He's an Old Testament expert. He's intelligent. He's bright. He's immensely successful. Traditions tell us that he was one of the three richest people in the city of Jerusalem. His wisdom, his ability to think and reason and do his business had made him extremely, extremely successful and wealthy. He had it all. And, of course, from the Pharisees viewpoint, he was thought to be blessed because of his riches; they loved money. Jesus said they loved money.
He became extremely rich…In his heart he knew he was a fake, however, and he knew he was a phony, and he knew he was a hypocrite; Religion on the outside. Empty in his fear, doubt; anxiety tearing up his soul.
Here's his problem. Who does he go to? He's the teacher. Then he comes across Jesus and guess what? Jesus is a teacher at a higher level than he is because he's never done a miracle, he's never seen a miracle, he's never seen anybody who did a miracle, or met anybody who saw a miracle. So he comes to Jesus and he says, "Look, we know You have come from God."
In his own heart he knew he was not right with God . But he knew Jesus was from God because of the signs that He had done, the miracles He had done. Finally here was a teacher above himself. And his heart cries out for some reality. And so he comes with that introduction. That was the statement on his lips, but Jesus knew what was in his heart, so Jesus ignored what he said, and said to him...in the third person, "Truly, truly...truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Jesus is telling him that you're not going to get one foot in the door unless you're born again. Why does He say that? That has nothing to do with what Nicodemus said in his initial introduction to Jesus. The reason Jesus said that was because He knew the sinner's worry. He knew what was worrying Nicodemus. How did He know that?
Go back to verse 24, "He knew all men." Verse 25, chapter 2, "He didn't need anyone to testify concerning man, He Himself knew what was in man." And here's the illustration of it. He knew what men thought. He knew the longings and desires of their hearts explicitly. Here's a loyal religionist. This is a Pharisee. This is a legalist of legalists. He's reached the apex of Judaism and he's not in the kingdom and he knows it and his heart is full of fear. He has no peace or he would not be with Jesus. He has no joy in spite of his riches. He has no sense of assurance or forgiveness because he did not have the love of God within him. And in his heart he's crying out, "What do I do? What do I do? Or what do I stop doing?" 'Cause all he knows is "do"; it's a works system. And our Lord says to him, "Nobody enters the kingdom who's not born again," which is to say you've got to go all the way back and start all over. And we know that this comment simply says : all accumulated religion, all accumulated morality, all accumulated human goodness adds up to zero...absolutely zero without God, it is meaningless. So there he is in zero condition and he knows it.
That's the sinner's worry. Now we came to the Savior's Word in verse 3. And He says, "Unless one is born again, or born from above, he cannot see or enter, or participate in the kingdom of God." That's regeneration. You have to be born. You have to have a new nature, new life, recreation. And we looked at that in detail, not by the will of man, chapter 1 verse 13, not by the will of the flesh, not by human blood, but by God. We looked at James 1 that it is God who gave us life. We looked at Ephesians 2, made alive together with Christ. We looked at Titus 3, the washing of regeneration. We looked at 1 Peter 1, begotten again. We looked at all those passages in the rest of the New Testament, and there are many,
many more that point to the fact that salvation is a work of God. It is a divine miracle that comes down from heaven in which we do not participate. We didn't participate in our election before the foundation of the world and we do not participate in our regeneration in time. That's a work of God.
So now we go back to the story.
So let's go back to verse 4.
How did Nicodemus respond to the statement of Jesus in verse 3, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God?" And He was talking in the third person; they're having a theological discussion; it hasn't gotten personal yet. Preachers have said, "Well, Nicodemus doesn't get it. He doesn't have any idea what Jesus is talking about. He's very confused." So in verse 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he's old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Some people think he's being sarcastic. Some people think he thinks this is ridiculous, this is a joke. You can't be born again. That this shows his ignorance and he's sort of scoffing and laughing at it.
That's not correct.
That's not at all what we have here. He knows Jesus just read his mind. He doesn't say to Jesus, "Why did You bring that up? Why are You talking to me about the kingdom? Why are You talking to me about this?" He doesn't ask that. He knows Jesus just read his heart. And he knows Jesus just said, "You can't get in the kingdom by anything you do any more than you could bring about your own birth."
This man lives in a world of analogies. The rabbis--that was their world, the world of analogies, illustrations parables, word, pictures, parallels, philosophy. He's brilliant. He's the teacher in Israel. He's spent his entire life in theological discussion and dialogue. He completely understands what Jesus said and why Jesus responded the way that he did….
He gets it 100 percent. And he jumps right into the third person discussion and he says, "How can a man be born when he is old?" I'll use your analogy. "He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" That proves that he totally understood what Jesus was saying.
Jesus was saying you come into the kingdom but you can't earn it, YOU can’t make it happen..It’s totally in God’s hands… He gets it.
Jesus doesn't tell him how to be born again. He knows better than that. Jesus is telling something that there are no how-to's for.
He understood it better than most evangelicals, I'm afraid. If an unsaved hypocrite, part of a false religion, can in one conversation grasp the simple truth of the doctrine of regeneration, why is the church so confused about this? Where have we all been? And why do so many preachers tell people the steps they can take to be born again? He was reacting as any legalist would react.
He is thinking "Are you kidding me? I've spent my entire life doing things to get into the kingdom, now you're telling me the only way into the kingdom is by means of something that I have nothing to do with." ;Something that I have no control over?
Here's the heart of the gospel of grace, isn't it?
All he had ever known was, you earn it, you achieve it by religion, ceremony, ritual, morality, human goodness. That's why Jesus says, "Truly, truly," because He's saying essentially, you've been caught up in the damning lie of Satan that you can earn your salvation. And I'm telling you the truth, the truth. He is hearing for the first time in his entire life, and he's had lots of theological discussions.
For the first time in his entire life he’s hearing that God has to do something in his soul that is a work of creation, that comes down from above, that he does not at all participate in. That being born again is a matter of perfect selection.. A gift from God… He had to have been stunned by this, absolutely stunned.
Jesus could have framed it all differently but He doesn't.
Down in verse 10 Jesus says to him, "Are you the teacher in Israel and do not understand these things?
How did you get to that position if you don't understand these things?" He does not let Nicodemus off the hook but Nicodemus gets it… Jesus read his heart and his words pierced it..
, verse 5, "Jesus PUTS IT ANOTHER WAY , 'Truly, truly I say to you"unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
Water--Spirit, ; have you heard that?"
Traditional sermons on this have said, "Well, water and the Spirit means this: the water is human birth because we say prior to the birth of a child the water breaks. And so you have to have a human birth, a physical birth, and then a spiritual birth. So you must be born of water--that is physically born, and then born spiritually."
Really!
That would mean Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, "First of all, Nicodemus, you have to exist.
You have to be a person because non-persons can't be saved." That's ridiculous.
Furthermore, we in this modern world speak about the water breaking. The Hebrews never used that expression. He wouldn't know anything about that. This is not clinical. He's not talking about that.
Others say, "The water is baptism." That's very popular.
Commentators go on for pages because you have to since it's not here, their trying to invent it. And they come up with Christian baptism, which didn't show up until the second chapter of Acts. Nicodemus doesn't know anything about Christian baptism.
He's giving him a hint.
Where did Nicodemus live and move and have his being--in what? The Old Testament…
He knew the Old Testament. He probably had massive sections of the Old Testament memorized.
He was very familiar with the prophets. He knew it. Water and Spirit; where would his mind naturally go?
Go back to Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 36.
Here is a principle bound up in one of the most marvelous passages in the entire Old Testament which describes God's saving work in application to Israel.
But it's the same saving work in application to Gentiles as well throughout history, as
well as Jews who come to faith in Christ. Here's how salvation works.
Ezekiel 36:25, notice the "I wills."
Why?
Because this is a work of God.
This is that monergestic work of God from heaven, and you will notice five times, "I will."
God speaking: "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean.
I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you."
There, friends, is the water and the Spirit.
The water and the Spirit is simply a reference to the creation, the new creation, the regenerating
work of God that He does by His own in the heart of a sinner, and here He's promising
one day to do it not only in individual Jews and Gentiles, but one day for the whole of the nation Israel.
I will put a new heart in you, a new Spirit in you, remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I'll put My Spirit within you. I will cause you to walk in My statutes.
I will, I will, I will, I will, I will,
and then "you will be careful to observe My ordinances and you will," verse 28, "be My people and I will be your God."
That's the water and the Spirit.
This great, epoch New Covenant passage of Ezekiel 36 would have been so very familiar to Nicodemus.
He would have known it well. And then he would have known chapter 37 well where God looks at the future salvation of Israel and in verse 3 He says to Ezekiel, calling him Son of Man, "Can these bones live?" Dry bones illustrating Israel's spiritual deadness. "Can these bones live?"
"And I answered, 'O Lord, God, You know,' and He said, 'Prophesy over the bones and
say to them, "O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, behold, I will cause ruach , Spirit, breathe to enter you that you may live."'" In other words, God will give life in the future to Israel. He will save them not only as individuals but as a nation.
Verse 12 of that same chapter: "Thus says the Lord God, 'I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves, my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.
I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I'll place you on your own land and then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, declares the Lord."
That is sovereign work of God, giving life in the future to the nation of Israel.
That's His promise to the nation, and that's His plan and means for salvation for you and I and every individual as well. It is a work of God.
Nicodemus knew that passage, he knew those Ezekiel texts. He knew the words but he did know the Word. He didn’t know God…
Anything we do as fleshly beings or humans can only bring about more humanness as Flesh begets flesh . You can’t get from flesh to spirit.. spirit comes only from God……
We look for this spirit.. we pray for it.. Jesus told Nicodemus.."The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.'
We can feel his presence but it is as intangible as faith itself . Through prayer we are blessed to be in his presence and feel his love. Through our willingness to depend on Him He can give us a new heart, his spirit and eternal life..
I would like to continue but in the interest of time we’ll need to break here.
Next Sunday morning from John 4 we will begin with the story of the Samaritan woman. When she drew water, she met the Lord Jesus, who asked her for a drink. From her exchange with the Lord Jesus, she recognized that He was the Messiah foretold in the prophecies. First, Jesus reveals himself to a Samaritan woman at the well, which is remarkable since Samaritan women were regarded by Jews as impure. Therefore, Jews were forbidden to drink from any vessel they had handled. But Jesus asked her for a drink….
Lord thank you for this time and this fellowship. We are grateful for your Word and your enlightenment. We are ever thankful for your patience with us, your love for us, for your grace and mercy shown to us, endlessly..
Bless this study today and touch each one of us in special ways so that we may walk a little closer to you. Help us to become one in spirit, grant us the gift of righteousness and allow us to carry the light of Jesus within us.
We ask these things in Jesus’ name
Amen
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