As the Lord may be pleased to
help us this morning, I would like to direct your prayerful
attention to the words we read together in the third chapter
in John's Gospel. I'm going to take as our text
verses 14 to 17. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal
life. 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. For God sent his Son into the
world not God sent not his son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might
be saved. That is John 3, verses 14 to
17. In the second chapter in John's
gospel, we have the first miracle that the Lord Jesus performed. He turned the water into wine.
It's worth noticing that he said to those when they said
there is no wine, Jesus said to them, fill the water pots
with water. And they filled them up to the brim. They didn't know
what Jesus was going to do. But they obeyed his command.
What Jesus told them to do, they did, not knowing the outcome.
And what a blessing there is in obedience. And this they proved,
because it says here that... And he said unto them, Draw out
now, and they bear it to the governor of the feast, and they
bear it. And when the ruler of the feast
had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence
it was, but the servants which drew the water knew, the governor
of the feast called the bridegroom, and said unto him, Every man
at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have
well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the
good wine, until now. The Lord Jesus is God. He's able
to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we can ask or think,
according to the power that works in us. Now, that was the first
miracle that Jesus performed. In the third chapter, we read
And we have here the divine words of Christ Jesus himself in verse
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. The first miracle is in chapter
two, but we read in Chapter three, the miracle of grace, the greatest
miracle of grace in the history of this world. God sent his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world. He came, according to
the prophecies in the holy scriptures, and he brought with him God,
in the form of a man, came to this world. He lived as a man. He uniquely lived a perfect life.
No one before the Lord Jesus has lived a life of perfection,
and no one since has lived a life of perfection. He only is the
way of salvation. He only is the fulfillment of
that Passover lamb. You know in the Old Testament
Passover and we read in the context here how that the Lord Jesus
observed the Passover and he did right up until the Lord's
Supper was introduced the night before he gave his life a ransom
for many. At the Old Testament Passover
they had to select a lamb without blemish from the flock. If someone
brought a lamb that was bruised or injured, was lame or unfit,
that was rejected. It was only a lamb without blemish
that was accepted. Our Lord Jesus is the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the world. And what a wonderful
blessing it is that these things are made known to us. It is in
Him alone that there is a way of salvation. God so loved the
world that He gave. He gave our Lord Jesus to this
world. And this is the fulfillment of
those words in the Holy Scriptures right back in book of Genesis and we have these
wonderful truths in John chapter 3 and verse 15 and 16. You young people notice chapter
3 John chapter 3 and verse 15 reads this. Whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have eternal life. What a gift. to believe in the
Lord Jesus, and to have eternal life. If we go back to Genesis
chapter three and verse 15, we read these words. Remembering
that Adam and Eve had sinned, they took of that forbidden fruit,
and God made it very clear to them, he only gave them one commandment,
Of all the trees of the garden, you can eat, but of that one,
you will not eat, because if you do, in the day that you eat
of it, you will die. They didn't drop dead straight
away when they took of it, no, but they lost their life that
they had known with God. Sin had separated them from God.
But we read these words. Before they were cast out of
the Garden of Eden, Genesis chapter three and verse 15, we read this.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy
seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel. What this means is the serpent,
the snake, that tempted Eve, and then Adam, partook of the
forbidden fruit, that serpent, the devil, is still on this earth. He is now. He's doing all the
wickedness he possibly can. But the Lord Jesus came to this
earth and he lived. He lived that life of perfection
and he gave his life on that cruel cross to pay the price
for sin and in so doing having paid the price for sin he has
made a way of salvation which was promised right through the
Old Testament and brought to pass in the life and finished
work of the Lord Jesus and the finished work of the Lord Jesus
has bruised the devil's head, bruised the serpent's head when
it refers to the seed, that is, the promised one. And notice
it's not seeds, it's seed, singular. One person, the promised one,
right back in the days of Abraham, when Isaac was born, he was the
son of promise, and through Isaac and Jacob and the tribe of Judah,
and the royal line of David, you can follow the family tree
right through to the Lord Jesus Christ. That promise is fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus. And the devil who brought sin
into the world, he is injured, he's an injured foe. That's why
he's in pain and he's doing all the damage he can. But his day
will come where he'll be cast away forever and ever. Now, this
glorious gospel is made known to us and it would seem to me
that this gospel that we read of the Lord Jesus is made known
even straight after the fall of mankind and sin coming into
the world. This gospel of the Lord Jesus
was preached in the Garden of Eden. What a blessing that Adam
and Eve, before they were thrown out of that garden of paradise,
and you imagine gardening there, no thorns, no thistles, there
would have been no disease, gardening must have been a great pleasure,
mustn't it? But sin came into the world and death by sin, and
yet the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and he is our
hope of salvation. And therefore, ours is to look
to Him and seek for that wonderful blessing of knowing Him as our
Savior. Whom to know, we read, is life
eternal. Now God's wonderful blessing
is that these precious truths the
Lord Jesus proclaimed to this man Nicodemus. Now Nicodemus
was a man who was high up in the church life in those days. He was a Pharisee and the Pharisees
originally were given the responsibility of keeping God's word and maintaining
the truth of it, which was a good thing to do. But before the Lord
Jesus came to this world, they'd gone off the pattern. They were
making up new rules. And you children might do a smile
if I tell you that they were inventing so many rules that
people could hardly keep up with them. And their idea was if you
kept all the rules, you would be saved. But we're not saved
by keeping the rules, are we? We're saved by trusting in the
Lord Jesus Christ who alone has lived a perfect life. These Pharisees
made a rule that if you went for a walk on the Sabbath day
with a walking stick and you dragged that in the soil, you
were breaking the law because you were actually cultivating
the ground. You were tilling the ground with
your walking stick. And that's how they were inventing
more and more rules. Now, ours is to trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we obey the Ten Commandments
as best as we can because that is God's Word. Those Ten Commandments
The first are to God and the others are to our fellow human
beings. But this man Nicodemus, he was
one of these Pharisees. But God set his love upon him. He thought originally that the
only way he could get to heaven was by keeping all the rules
and doing all the right things. And it says he was a man of the
Pharisees named Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews. And
this same man came to Jesus by night. We're not told why he
came by night. It might be because he didn't
want other people to see him coming to Jesus because the other
Pharisees had despised the Lord Jesus. And we read at the beginning
of John's Gospel of the Lord Jesus that he came unto his own,
that is his own people, and his own received him not. They didn't
want to know him. No, but what we do read in that
same chapter, that same verse is that as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God and daughters
of God, even as many as believe in his name. Now what a blessing
all these things are. And before us this morning that
we might have our hope in the same Lord Jesus who spoke to
Nicodemus. He came to Jesus by night, he
came with a question, and he referred to the Lord Jesus as
rabbi, that is, teacher. 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. And there are three things here,
beginning with the letter K, that if you're writing things
down, the first is we know. The word no begins with K, K-N-O-W. We know, that's in verse two.
And then in verses three to five, we read about the kingdom of
God, the kingdom of God. And then as we go on to the 10th
verse, we read another word beginning with K, and that is this. Jesus answered and said unto
Nicodemus, Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these
things? Knowest not these things? Verse
10, you'll find that. Now, what Nicodemus did know is, And
he said, we know, he was most likely speaking for some of the
other Pharisees as well. What they did know is, and what
they believed, that Jesus was a teacher come from God. Otherwise
he wouldn't be able to do all these things. He most likely
looked back in the Old Testament to Elijah and Elisha, who spent
their life performing miracles. I think, Elisha performed twice
as many as Elijah, but they were all, that was all under the power
of God. But then Jesus turns away from
that. 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. Nicodemus said unto 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? 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. And then
Jesus makes a distinction. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. Yes, when we are born, naturally,
We see these dear little babies here. They're born and their
life is a natural life. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. The new life, the born again
Christian has a new life, a new spirit, put there by God that
which we cannot receive except it be given us from heaven. But
God in his mercy gives it and that's why we should pray on
for the souls of those who as yet are not in the kingdom of
grace because God is he who does answer prayer. And what a blessing
it is that we sometimes sing that God knows all about us. He knew all about us even before
he created the world. We read these words. "'Twas fixed
in God's eternal mind "'when his dear saints should mercy
find, "'from everlasting he decreed "'when every good should be conveyed. "'Determine was the manner "'how
eternal favours he'd bestow, Yes, he decreed the very place
where he would show triumphant grace. So it was fixed in God's
eternal mind. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit in the eternal council of the Godhead
had decided to save lost souls. Who they were, we can't put names
to it, but God knew. God is omniscient. That word
omniscient, you young people, you know what science is. Science,
I think, means knowledge. And omni means all things, or
all. And so if you divide the word
up, it's omni-science. And so God has all knowledge,
omniscience of all things. And he could look into the future
and he could know the very time and place where someone would
hear his word and come to trust in him and be saved. Now that
is being born again. New life goes into the heart
and soul of a person. they're awakened to a felt sense
of their need. I'll just share with you the
fact that right back in the 1950s, I was
a young lad coming up to 16 and I had a good friend, a close
friend, and he spent months and months, he was so keen on machinery
He restored an old motorbike and got it running beautifully.
And he and I were sitting together, like you boys are, you three
sitting along the front. We were there on the Lord's Day. And before the next Lord's Day, that
close friend of mine was in eternity. Thankfully I've got a copy of
something he wrote at school which said exactly where his
heart and soul was. He hadn't shared it with anyone
but he was asked a question at school and he wrote a page about
what he believed and it was a wonderful blessing to his parents to know
that he had an awakened soul. It spoke, that event spoke to
me. If that was me suddenly taken into eternity, where would I
be? All I knew was I'd be lost because
I hadn't come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, whosoever
believeth in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Have eternal
life now. The promise of it is the essence
of it. It is God at work, living in
our heart and soul. And that life will go on through
this life and for eternity. These things awaken me. And God
does work in this way. And he knew exactly all our future
pathway. And I think if I sat down and
thought about it, I can think of six or seven of my contemporaries
who were all affected by that same tragedy, and they've come
to know our Lord Jesus Christ. God has his own way of working.
But what a blessing it is that he does work. He doesn't leave
us to ourselves. No, he enters in to our life.
with power from above. So this well-known word was spoken
to Nicodemus, Nicodemus who came to see Jesus and to find out
all about him. The Lord Jesus said, marvel not
that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. This is the only
way to eternal life. It is not by however hard we
work in trying to keep all the rules and regulations. It is
only our Lord Jesus who has done this. When, if you read in the scriptures
about the transfiguration, Peter, James and John were there on
the mountain and they saw a wonderful glimpse of the Lord Jesus glorified. We read that his raiment shone
like the sun and he was dazzling to look upon because he was glorified
and then there was a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased, hear him, hear him. And that was God the Father speaking,
and Peter, James, and John heard the voice from heaven. And they spoke about him after
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. I think you'll find it quite
early in John's Gospel. Here we are. Chapter 1 and verse 14,
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory. the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. We beheld his glory. They saw the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Peter and James also mention
it in their writings a little later on in the scriptures. But
they did. They were first-hand witnesses
of what they saw. But this man, Nicodemus, the
wonder is that he came to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he came
as a seeker. What a blessing it is. And it
was God who constrained him. It was God who moved him to seek, to know the Lord Jesus. It's not a case of one day he
suddenly thought, well, who is this Jesus? I'll go and find
out. He might have thought that, but
he didn't realize the power of God was moving him in that direction. But to those that come to Jesus,
what a wealth of blessings there are there. Because Jesus dealt
so kindly with him, He was firm, yes, but he was so friendly. He said, the wind bloweth where
it listeth. Well, it does, we can't control the wind. Thou
hear'st the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh
and whether it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. And Nicodemus saith unto him,
how can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things? If you, Nicodemus, are a master
in Israel, you should know the Old Testament and the law of
Moses, and be able to answer questions quite easily. And surely
you would have known about the children of Israel when they
were going through the wilderness wanderings and their times of rebellion
against Moses and against God. And at one time their conduct was so bad that God sent those fiery snakes among
them. What happened? We read these words. And they journeyed from Mount
Hor by way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom. And
the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
And the people spake against God, and against Moses, wherefore
have ye brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For
there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul
loatheth this light bread. That was the manner that God
had miraculously provided. They complained about that, and
God sent that manner so faithfully all the while they journeyed,
And it kept going until they got to the promised land. God
fed them and God feeds his people in their souls right until we
enter into heaven. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people and they bit the people and much people of
Israel died. Therefore the people came to
Moses and said, we have sinned. The pain that they were enduring
convicted them of their sin. They were aware of their sin,
they knew it. We have sinned for we have spoken against the
Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
Moses made intercession for them. He was between the people and
God, a type of the Lord Jesus. And the Lord said unto Moses,
make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall
come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon
it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass. Now brass is a mixture, I think,
of copper and zinc. and brass is quite a hard metal
and it polishes up beautifully, like a mirror. And that's what this serpent
was made of and it had to be put up on a pole. And it came to pass that if a
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass,
he lived. These people, and there were
a number of them, a great number, I think it's something like 600,000.
That's a lot of people, isn't it? And there was Moses out in
the hot sunshine with this long pole with a serpent, a snake
on it that he'd made. And that was made of brass which
would have shone in the sunlight. What we read is God's promise
was fulfilled. Those who were bitten and in
pain and poisoned with these snake bites, if they looked to
that pole, that serpent shining in the sunshine, if they looked,
they lived. If they didn't look, they died.
If they looked, they lived. Now there might have been some
standing right at the back, 600,000 people is a lot. They might not
have seen it clearly. But with the sun shining on it,
they would have seen the reflection, they would have seen it shining.
And they looked and they lived. The promise is everyone that
looked lived. We may not see Jesus as clearly
as we would love to. But if we look to him as the
only way of salvation, we read, those that look to him lived. And those who look to Jesus,
they live. And therefore, what a blessing
it is that in the Old Testament we have such a wonderful teaching
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. even if we cannot see clearly
and know all we would love to know about Jesus. If we look
to him, he will look down upon us in mercy and favor. He said, I love them that love
me and those that seek me early shall find me. What a blessing
this is. And so this man, Nicodemus who
came to Jesus by night. He was told about the new birth
and this Jesus taught him in two ways. Verse six tells us that which
is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. And so the first thing is the
vital need of the new birth, born from above, a gift of grace. The Jews expected Jesus, the
Messiah, to come with great pomp and ceremony. But no, Jesus came
and he is approachable. He was approachable enough that
Nicodemus came to him and was welcomed. And Nicodemus is talking
with him. And the theme of the Lord Jesus
is, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while
he is near. And that wonderful verse that we find that the Apostle
Paul taught those Corinthian believers years ago, he said,
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For he says,
we have this treasure in earthen vessels. We are but earthen vessels,
aren't we? We are formed of the dust of the
earth. An earthen vessel is made from the clay soil. But it's
an earthen vessel, it's made of earth. And we are but earthen
vessels. We're formed of the dust of the
earth, and yet the treasure, the love of God and his wonderful
grace that he puts into the hearts and souls of his people, is a
treasure. And what a treasure it is. And
so Jesus teaches Nicodemus that it's not the keeping of the law
that will save us, no, a personal knowledge of Christ as our savior,
the new birth, the beginning of a new life built upon that
solid foundation of the finished work of the Lord Jesus. Of the
foundation we read, can no man lay than that is laid, that is
our Lord Jesus. And then he speaks of the spirit
and the water. Water is life, isn't it? I remember talking to someone
who lived in Southern Europe and the area doesn't get much
rain and he said they didn't talk about the weather like we
do. No, they talked about the level
of water in the well because water is so vital. When you think
about it, Everything depends on water, doesn't it? To drink,
to wash with, to water the crops. Water is so vital. And we could
go on and on making a list of things that are totally dependent
on water. And so the life of the Spirit
of God in us is so vital. There's no life without it. And secondly, this new life in
the Lord Jesus gives his people a new affection, new aims, a
new hunger, a new thirst. And all this is because of this
blessing of grace from heaven. Heaven is the eternal home, a
home which will have no end, forever and ever, given to us
by our Lord Jesus, our Saviour. And this blessing of grace from
heaven is the eternal home of all who love him because he first
loved them. These precious truths are made
known to us right through the scripture. You think of that
young lady Ruth who came back from her native land of Moab
with her mother-in-law, Naomi, and she and her sister-in-law, they walked together with Naomi.
And then Naomi stopped and she said, well, one has gone back. Are you going
back to Moab? Go back with your sister-in-law,
Ruth. was changed. God was at work
in her. And what did she say? She turned
to Naomi and she said, where thou goest, I will go. Thy God
shall be my God. And she said, where thou goest,
I will go. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge.
Where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried. Her
testimony was that she'd come to trust in the same God that
Naomi knew as her savior. And the wonderful blessing is
that Ruth eventually arrived back in Bethlehem. She went to work in the field
of Boaz Then she married Boaz, and if you go back in the line
of the family, I think she was King David's great-grandmother.
And of course, of the same family, the Lord Jesus was born. But
Ruth, God worked in her. Her wonderful testimony was,
thy people shall be my people. Thy God, my God. And so, may the Lord bless his word to
us this morning and may we know the same Lord God who was teaching
Nicodemus these precious truths and this wonderful blessing which
can only come by the wonders of grace made known to us in
our Lord Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. Christ only is the way of salvation. May the Lord bless his word to
us this morning. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn from
Hymns for Worship, number 156, Psalm 23. The Lord's my shepherd, I'll
not want. He makes me down to lie. In pastures
green, he leadeth me the quiet waters by. Hymns for worship
number 156, tune 851. ? Of my shepherd thou not worn
? ? He makes me down to lie ? ? In pasture's green he giveth me
? ? Of thine waters ? ? My soul He doth restore again
? ? Let me to God doth make ? ? Within the powers of righteousness ?
? Give for His own ? O thou art with me, O man, thy
Lord, as though he comforted still. My table now has vanished, in
presence of my curse. My head now dust with open oil,
and my cup overflowing. Goodness and mercy all mine, me, and in God's house forevermore
my dwelling place shall be. May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God our Father and the fellowship of
the Holy Spirit be with us each and all who love the Holy Word
everywhere. Amen.