Well, it's good to see all y'all
out tonight. Add to your prayer list, Ham
Husky. Put that on Sunday's list. Let's begin our worship service
tonight for hymn number 205. Sextet, so let's sing it. Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law
and bruised by the fall, grace hath redeemed us once for all. Was for all, O sinner, receive
it. Was for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Now are we free, there's no condemnation. Come and he saves us once again. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Children of God, O glorious calling,
surely His grace will keep us from falling. Passing from death
to life at His call, blessed salvation once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Lean to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Hymn number 291, God me old,
thou great Jehovah. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but thou, almighty,
hold me with thy powerful hand. Bread of heaven, of heaven. Feed me till I want no more. Feed me till I want no more. Open now the crystal fountain. Let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through. Strong deliverer, strong deliverer,
be thou still my strength and shield. Be thou still my hope. When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxieties subside. Bear me true. The swelling current
land me safe on Canaan's side. Songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to thee. I will ever give to thee. You have your Bibles turned to
the third chapter of John. We'll read verses 1 through 4. John chapter 3. There was a man
of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same
came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, We know that
thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered
and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we bless you and thank you for
your word, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our
path, the entrance of which gives an understanding to the simple. We are thankful for God-given
faith that enables a believer to lay
hold of the things in scripture, to trust in the merits of Jesus
Christ and believe the promises therein. We thank you for salvation. We
know because you have revealed to us our condition by nature. In our carnality, we hated you.
didn't think of you, cared not for the thoughts of you. But you and your grace and your
mercy visited us, gave us a new heart and a new mind, and gave
us faith to believe, to understand and appreciate
that 2,000 years ago on Calvary's tree, Our Lord, our Master, King
and Savior, gave His life and died for the death that we owe
you for our sin. It was made to be sin for us,
healing no sin. And by His great sacrifice, we
have been made the very righteousness of God in Him. We could not believe these things
were it not for faith. or that you didn't give us the
ability to believe. What a wonder it is. Ever let
us be thankful and remind us always of what a sinner we are
by nature. And we are saints by your choice
and by your appointment and by the work of Christ. We pray for
those who are sick and those who have lost loved ones. uh... and make us ever thankful that
you included us in your great purpose of salvation. Help us now to worship you, we
pray in Christ's name, amen. As we saw last time, there's
a contextual language connection between the last verse of chapter
two and the first verse of chapter three, and that connection is
the word man, to which the lord did not commit himself and needed
not that any should testify of him because he knew what was
in man the first verse of chapter three says there was a man that's
the connection that's made and the significance of this language
connection is that our lord did not need this man that's in chapter
three he did not need this man he knew his heart he did not
need him to testify of him he knew this man knew his mind,
so when he was speaking of not needing man to testify of him,
Nicodemus falls into that category right away. That being clear,
all that follows is born of what our Lord knows of this man, and
all men who by nature are born without spiritual understanding,
are void of spiritual truth. What we find of this man is that
he fits the description precisely because this man who the Lord
needed not to testify to him comes to testify to him. So that's
the connection that is made. He came to testify of man of
Jesus Christ. That's what it says in verse
2. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi,
this is his testimony, Rabbi, We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him." He was ignorant of what he was
saying, as our Lord said to him. And this is a common error among
proponents of religion. Such think that they know something,
readily speak of what they think they know, but cannot know anything
having to do with the Spirit of God. You can know a great
deal about religion and know or know anything about God. I
knew a great deal about religion for many years. I even knew the
doctrines of grace and preached them before I met Christ. You
can do that. I knew some things, thought I
knew some things, but found out I didn't know anything because
we know that the natural man receiveth not the things of the
spirit. Neither can he know them nor discern them for they are
spiritually discerned. while the spiritual man understands
and knows all things, yet is known of none." The fact that
he was ignorant of spiritual things will be utterly proven
in this dialogue that we'll be covering in the weeks to come
between him and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we learned several
things about this man. His name was Nicodemus, which
is a combination of two words, victory and people, and is commonly
interpreted to mean a conqueror. So this man was considered by
those who knew him to be a conqueror. He was a Pharisee. Now there are eight different
sects of the Pharisees, each having to do with how these men,
by their will, overcome sin. That's the whole sect of the
Pharisee. And the different ones use different means, they thought,
to make them able to overcome sin or to do away with sin or
not be sinners. Some examples of that were the
bleeding Pharisee who, in order not to lust, walked around with
his eyes closed and often bled because he was prone to bump
into walls and trees and such as that so he was always bleeding
called the bleeding pharisee but he didn't lust because he
didn't look he thought he had overcome lust which is actually
in the heart not in the eyes but since he didn't look he felt
like he had overcome it another was the mortarboard pharisee
you know what a mortarboard is one of those graduation hats
more or more first you or more or more had any pool over his
point of view so not to look on this is how you overcame this
is the first three years as a person is action and behavior believes
that he can be without c category first thing that could be much
worse is not no use one of those a Now, except for a few, Pharisees
were constant enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the entire
chapter of Matthew 23 is a dedicated declaration of their vileness
and hypocrisy. But there is no indication that
Nicodemus despised Christ. It is just simply not there.
His words imply a genuine interest in Christ, though at this time
not a saving interest in Christ. I said at this time because there
is a scriptural indication that Nicodemus would become a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also said of this man that
he was a ruler of the Jews, a ruler of the Jews. This is not a governmental
position as Israel at this time was ruled by Rome. His rule was
in the realm of the Jewish religion and as such would have been a
member of the Sanhedrin, may have been a magistrate or something
like that, but he was a ruler of the Jews. He was a man of
substance, a man of renown among his community. And finally we
learn that he came to Jesus by night. He came to Jesus by night. Now the reason for this will
be discerned in the latter part of this conversation down between
verses 18 and 21 in this chapter. For him it was probably an issue
of safety because it was frowned upon for a Pharisee to hang around
Jesus of Nazareth. and many Pharisees that later
believed on him did not publicly confess him because of the fear
of the Jews. That is recorded in the Word
of God. It also was a common practice to, when speaking to
one who was of reputation and power, such as this ruler, it
was done privately. You did not approach them publicly,
you spoke to them privately. Paul spoke in that language over
in Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2 and verse
2 he says, and I went up by revelation and communicated unto them the
gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them
that were of reputation. So that was the way it was done.
It was a common way to do it. Less by any means I should run
or had run in vain. So he talked to those of reputation
and power privately about these things. So that's possibly why
Nicodemus approached Jesus by night. However, even as a believer,
this act of coming to Jesus by night became a defining adjective
phrase for Nicodemus throughout scripture. Like Rahab was ever
named the harlot. Rahab was a child of God. She was a saint. She was in the
lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great-grandmother of the
Lord Jesus Christ. she was always called Rahab the harlot all the
way through Scripture. The reason was that she was a
child of God. She was a sinner saved by grace. A sinner saved by grace. Nicodemus
had a phrase attached to his name throughout Scripture. Look
at a few verses from John chapter 7. verse 45 it says, Then came the
officers of the chief Pharisees, and they said unto him, Why have
you not brought him, that is, Jesus Christ? And the officers
answered, Never a man spake like this one. They went out to arrest
him, but they were astonished at the way he spoke. then answered
them the pharisees, are you also deceived? He has deceived you
too. Have any of the rulers of the pharisees believed on him?
But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. And Nicodemus
said unto them, He that came to Jesus by night. So that's
how he's described, being one of them. Does our law judge any
man before he hear him and knoweth what he doeth? and they answered
and said, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look out of Galilee,
ariseth no prophet. And every man went to his own
house. He stood for Christ, kind of. It wasn't a bold statement, but
he said, we don't usually judge anybody until we at least hear
them. They were out to kill Jesus Christ,
and they accused him of being one of his followers, which he
was, but for fear of the Jews. He didn't say anything about
it. Look over at chapter 19 of John. John chapter 19 and verse 38.
It says, And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, our Lord, has died,
and they have taken him to the gravesite. after this Joseph
of Natharia being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for the
fear of the Jews, brought a basalt pilot that he might take away
the body of Jesus. And the pilot gave him leave,
and he came therefore and took the body of Jesus. And there
came also Nicodemus, which at first came to Jesus by night.
That's a defining characteristic of this man nicodemus is that
he came to jesus by night and the importance of that you will
find as we look at this passage of scripture the importance of
that becomes much more important than just why he came you know
to try to explain why he came he came to jesus by night and
there was a reason why he did and our lord will illuminate
that in days to come now in verse two nicodemus does what christ
does not need from man He testifies of Christ. His testimony was
respectful, and there is no indication that Nicodemus was anything other
than sincere. In the arena of flesh, however,
sincerity and a dollar will buy you something that costs a dollar.
Sincerity is worth nothing, nothing at all. He referred to Jesus
by the title of Rabbi. Now this was an important title.
This was a title of honor. a title of honor and designated
one who was an esteemed teacher and a master of doctrine. That's
who you call Rabbi. And I'm sure that this title
had been often applied to Nicodemus himself, I'm sure. And his use
of it asserted that he and Christ were of the same ilk. At this
time, however, among the Pharisees, it was a way to exalt oneself,
to be called Rabbi. our Lord when laying the axe
to the root of the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23. He described them this way in verse
5, He says, But all their works they do to be seen of men, and
make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their
garments. the pharisees wore priestly garments. They weren't
priests, they were pharisees. They weren't Levites, they were
pharisees, but they wore priestly garments. The phylacteries, of
course, were little boxes that they attached to their clothing
that had Bible verses in them. And that would make them holy
to carry around the Word of God. And the borders of their garments,
that was actually part of the high priest's uniform, that blue
ribbon that went around the bottom of the garment of the high priest. It was to represent he was close
to heaven. These guys, they kept spreading
the whip on that garment, on that blue ribbon, because the
bigger the ribbon was, the closer they were to God. So they did
what they did to be seen of men. And they loved the uppermost
seats, uppermost rooms in the feasts, and the chief seats in
the synagogue. They got the front row. They
didn't want no cheap seats for these guys. They sat there so
everybody could see. And greetings in the marketplace,
and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. that's what they wanted,
they wanted to be called rabbi, teacher, doctrinal master. But
be not ye called rabbi, he said to his disciples, for one is
your master, even Christ, and all your brethren. No man in
the church is a master save for the head of the church, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, so don't give these
titles to yourselves. He further testified Nicodemus
did, that he knew that Christ was a teacher come from God. What was he saying? God sent
you. He said, well, that's certainly
a compliment, and I believe to Nicodemus he was complimenting
the Lord Jesus Christ. But instead of saying that he
knew, he said, we know. we know that could have been
what we call it which a lot of preachers without saying i know
something i'll say we know something but i think that he this this
simply means that jesus christ at this time had become the object
of great interest to the pharisees and uh... probably a person that
was discussed a great deal among the pharisees now the reason
they had come to this conclusion was based on the fact that jesus
had performed many miracles Back in Chapter 2, verse 23, it says,
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast
day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles that
he did. So Nicodemus had seen this, too,
along with his cohorts. To his understanding, such wonders
can only be accomplished by one who is from God. That makes sense,
doesn't it? satan can his minions can too
says that in scripture he will do great wonders and mighty signs
but they believe that he could do miracles he was probably the
messiah and they felt like they knew it he knew he said we know
that thou art a man come from god for no man can do these miracles
unless god be with him God was with him. He knew, they knew,
because they had seen miracles. And the word they used is, we
know, the word is Edo. And that word means I've seen
this with my own eyes. I've seen this with my own eyes.
This was Nicodemus' testimony of what he had seen with his
own eyes. Now he had seen these things,
but our Lord said in 1 Corinthians concerning his people, concerning
the chosen, first great chapter two he said
yes where i have for it is written i have not seen your her neither
has entered into the heart of man the things which god had
prepared for them that love him but god hath revealed them unto
us by his spirit for the spirit searches all things yea the deep
things of god so it so to see these things as god would have
men see them or have his people see them they must have the spirit
of god He said we've seen these things and he's about to find
out he didn't see nothing or he couldn't see what he needed
to see when he saw all these miracles. Thus begins the lesson,
the teaching, the doctrine of the difference between the flesh
and the spirit and the great impassable gulf fixed betwixt
the two. Our Lord does not say that Nicodemus
could not see the miracles that unless he was born again he could
not see that the miracles were done by God. what he couldn't see is that
it was done by God. Jesus Christ is God. He cannot
see that those miracles are about the kingdom of God. That's what
the Lord said. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the same word, Edo. the kingdom of god what is the
kingdom of god? is he talking about an earthly
kingdom? is he talking about a city state? is he talking about
a country? the kingdom of god is a phrase
used by john the baptist and by the lord jesus christ and
by the disciples when they went about preaching repent for the
kingdom of god is at hand the kingdom of god is here what does
the kingdom mean? the word simply means this the
kingdom of god means sovereignty sovereign here means he said
make a name as you say you see these miracles but you don't
see the sub means the absolute right to what he didn't see he
saw the Jesus about it see standing right before him in the night was God, the sovereign ruler. His deity was not able to be
seen by Nicodemus. He cannot see. He cannot see,
he said. He can see Christ, but he cannot
see who he is unless the spiritual miracle of the new birth occurs.
Being a practitioner of the Old Covenant, the concept of the
Spirit was of little consideration. As the law dealt with human behavior
in Mary, it didn't deal with something that you couldn't see.
It dealt with what you could see. And so he just says, I've
seen you do this. The concept of a kingdom was
political rather than spiritual, and thus the Messiah would come,
they thought, and set up an earthly kingdom. That's what they thought. But when our Lord was questioned
by Pilate, he says, are you a king? He said, thou sayest, but my
kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom, my rule, doesn't
come from earth. It comes from heaven. Being born
again, seeing Christ as God, was simply out-sacking and making
people misunderstand. He didn't understand. How can
you understand spiritual things if you're not a spiritual man?
You can't do it. This is proven by Nicodemus' response. You must
be born again in order to see the Kingdom of
God. That's what was told. What was his response? Nicodemus
saith unto the Lord, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? plain and simple. Verse 6 says,
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. And this is what our Lord will
begin to teach this man. And he don't get it. He don't
receive it. He don't get it for a while. He gets it sooner or
later, but not right now. The flesh and the spirit, the
old covenant and the new covenant, cannot abide in concert cannot
abide in concert and can never be combined or even found to
be an association that's why we don't preach old covenant
language we preach new covenant language we don't say something
can happen for you we tell people something has happened for his
people it's a whole different thing we don't tell you to do
something or try something or come somewhere we tell you that
someone came and died and redeemed his people and that's the difference
between old covenant language and new covenant language we
don't tell you you can be saved we tell you somebody has been
redeemed and you might be one of them if God gives you faith
to believe it we will consider this next week
as we look at the new birth and it has nothing, zero zilch, nothing
to do with the flesh. The new birth has nothing to
do with the flesh. People, I think, reasonably but
mistakenly call it regeneration. It's generation. It's life generated by God. It's
not remaking something that already exists. This is what Nicodemus is going
to learn about. He's going to learn how it takes place. Father,
bless us for understanding. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.