The title of our message today
is Salvation by the Triune God Alone. And I put the word alone
on there to emphasize that our salvation is by God's grace alone. It's because of Christ alone,
and it's through the operation of the Spirit of God alone, giving
us faith alone to receive what Christ has done. It has nothing
to do with who we are or our contribution. because it's God's
work. And if we consider our fallen
state and the perfections of God's holy law and the price
that God paid for our redemption and what we're going to find
in John chapter three here, the impossibility that we can influence
God or even participate in what he's doing to save us, we'll
see that God's salvation is his work alone. And it has nothing
to do with our contribution. So let's look at John chapter
3. Let's read together the first
16 verses. I'm sure that you have read or
heard these verses read a number of times throughout your your
life, and John 3.16 has got to be the most well-known scripture
in all of scripture that I'm, as far as I've seen, but yet
I think it's probably the least understood, the least understood,
especially if you read the context here. And that's the sad, sad
part of Christianity today, is that Christianity, the word Christianity
is used to describe people who oftentimes do not know what it
means to be a Christian. Isn't that sad? John chapter
three, let's read it. There was a man, in fact, let's
read the last three verses of John chapter two because they
go together. Now, when he, Jesus, was in Jerusalem
at the Passover in the feast day, many believed in his name
when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit
himself to them, because he knew all men, and needed not that
any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man." Now
we start with chapter 3. He knew what was in man. There
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. We're going to take
the general statement that Jesus knew what was in man, and now
we're going to take one specimen Nicodemus, one man. 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. He acknowledged He came to Jesus
and acknowledged that God was with Jesus and did miracles only
God could enable a man to do. Verse 3, Jesus answered and said
to 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? Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of
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. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
where it pleases. And thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered
and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and
said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these
things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and
you receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things,
and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of
heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man which is in heaven. 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." These are God's words.
And God takes this man to open to us our own heart before Him. Here was a man, he was recognized
by his peers, those of his associates, those he was with all the time
as a man of God. He was recognized publicly as
a teacher of God, Nicodemus. He was a man of the Pharisees.
He was the very best that the Jews had to offer as a man who
would be pleasing to God, one who would be accepted by God,
one who would know God, and one who would be near to Him But
the thing is, and the irony is, is this man did not know God. Isn't that surprising to us?
In the last part of John 2, many saw the miracles Jesus did and
believed in Him. It says they believed in His
name when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not
commit Himself to them, because He knew all men. And Nicodemus,
like them, believed Jesus so far as the miracles went. Nicodemus believed. He said,
notice in verse 2, we know He was a Pharisee. He is admitting
here that the Pharisees knew that Jesus was a teacher come
from God because no one could do the miracles that He did unless
God was with Him. He was a teacher from God. He
could work miracles because God was with Him. And they knew that.
And yet, Nicodemus believed him that far. He came to the Lord
Jesus Christ by night, which we'll have more to say about.
But he came to him by night, and he talked to him, not as
a man would speak to God in the flesh, But as a man would talk
to another man of his peers, another rabbi, we know you're
a man sent from God, a teacher sent from God. He didn't say,
I'm a teacher. But Jesus said, you're a master
of Israel. So he was a teacher and he gives
him that honor that they would give one another. He calls him
rabbi. Rabbi, we know that you're a
teacher sent from God. But Jesus very graciously addresses
Nicodemus here. It's interesting that Jesus did
not commit himself to all those at the end of John chapter 2.
But here's a man who was a Pharisee, obviously who himself thought
he was pleasing to God. He comes to Jesus by night, having
heard him. And yet Jesus takes time, not
only time, but he uses his conversation with Nicodemus in order to teach
us what we are and the way God operates in order to save each
one of us. This is the way God saves us.
This is how he does it. And when we see in Nicodemus
what Jesus does, the first thing we see here is that the Lord
Jesus Christ takes Nicodemus down, down, down, down. I didn't count them, but there's
about seven different ways in this chapter that the Lord Jesus
brings Nicodemus down. And it's painful. And did you
notice how many times Jesus used these words, verily, verily?
You can take this as truth without any hesitation, with all of the
assurance, this is the way things are. And he's emphasizing it.
Because Nicodemus, he said, we speak what we know. We speak
what we've seen. And you haven't received our
witness. Obviously Nicodemus wasn't hearing,
he wasn't understanding. He didn't receive, he didn't
believe, he didn't obey the message. And so Jesus says, Verily, verily
I say to you, what a condescending grace is this! It's like God
says in Hebrews chapter 6, By two immutable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, in order that we might have
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on
the hope set before us, God swore by Himself, by two immutable
things, Jesus says here, verily, verily. And you can understand
it in a couple of ways. It's most assuredly true And
He is the Amen of Scripture. Jesus is the Amen. He's the One
God. He's the Word of God. What He
says is God's mind. It's God's will. It's what happens. There's no possibility of it
not being true. And so the Pharisees, they made
themselves teachers of men, teaching them the doctrines of men. But
Jesus comes as the teacher, and he says to Nicodemus, verily,
verily. Now, the first thing we see here
is that in verse 2, that besides in verse 1 where Nicodemus is
a ruler of the Jews, he's the best the Jews have to offer,
but we see in verse 2 that he came to Jesus by night. Now,
I don't know what was actually in his mind. I think that he
might have come because as a Pharisee, as a master of Israel, by night,
if he came to Jesus alone, then he wouldn't have the open surgery
that the Lord Jesus Christ performed on men who came to him and asked
him questions. He wouldn't suffer the humiliation
of being brought low in front of a crowd. But this tells us
something else about the way God operates. He doesn't come
to us as people often do in a crowd. They debate in a crowd. It's
almost like they banter back and forth between themselves
for a common cause, like a mob rule, in order to get their way,
in order to prove their point. Even though it may not make a
lot of difference to them personally. It's just an arrogant way of
establishing an argument. But the gospel comes to us individually. It comes to us personally. And
the first thing we see here is how the Lord Jesus brings Nicodemus
down, down, down. Look what he says. to his response,
to Nicodemus' adulation, to what he says to him, Rabbi, we know
you're a teacher come from God. Nicodemus thought that was praise,
high praise to him. But it was not high praise. It
was an insult. It's true he was a teacher. It's
true he came from God. It's true God was with him. But
he was so much more than a teacher come from God. And that's what
Nicodemus failed to see. He had such small views of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so Jesus addresses him straight
on. He doesn't come off to the side
and sort of give him a gentle He says, Jesus answered him.
And he didn't ask a question, but he answered him. Because
we all have questions and we can't even sometimes formulate
our questions. So Jesus answered him and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. First, what we see here is that
Nicodemus, when he came to the Lord Jesus Christ, he could not
see the kingdom of God. He was not yet born of God. And He thought like the Jews
thought. They thought that God loved only
the Jews. He says in Deuteronomy how He
loved them above all the peoples of the earth. In Deuteronomy
chapter 7. I've loved you above all the
peoples of the earth. I've loved you for my name's sake. And Nicodemus,
who was a master of Israel, misunderstood The expression of God's love
for the nation of Israel, he should have understood it as
an expression of God's love for His true Israel, the people of
God He had chosen in Christ. But he didn't understand that.
He applied it to himself, to the nation. And he thought that
God loved him. And that he was in the Kingdom
of God because he was a Jew. And he understood the kingdom
of God to be the nation of the Jews. He thought that when Messiah
came, he would set up his king on earth over the nation of Jews.
And that he would rule over the Gentiles in favor of the Jews. That's what he thought. And he
thought that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would only come
when the Jews made themselves ready And he thought he was ready. He was the Pharisee of Luke chapter
18 who trusted in himself that he was righteous. He paid tithes
of mint and rue and cumin and all the spices. He made very
exact measurements of what he did in order to be just right
before God. And none of that made him any
better before God. He was lost. He could not see
the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom of God? What
is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is the dominion
over which Christ reigns. Remember last week in Luke chapter
11 we saw that Satan rules in men's hearts. And men are born
into the kingdom of darkness. But the Kingdom of God is the
Kingdom of where the Lord Jesus Christ reigns in Heaven. He reigns
in Heaven and in the hearts of His people by grace. And this
is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Light. It's where
Christ rules. And His rule Not only is reigning
in our hearts and in heaven, but it's all of the truth that
comes to us from the King. It's His Word. It's the rule
of His Word in our hearts by grace. And it's His rule in our
hearts by grace. Not only in our hearts, but in
heaven itself. And so, Nicodemus knew none of this. He knew nothing
about what it meant to truly worship God. He was lost. And
Jesus tells him this. Straight up, the first thing
He tells him. You cannot even see the Kingdom of God unless
you're born into it. You have to be born of God. Now,
Nicodemus had never considered this before. Nicodemus said to
him in verse 4, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? This
is both a question and an argumentative response. The Pharisees were
known for their arguments against Jesus. They would always put
opposition up. The Sadducees did this. How can
the resurrection be true if a woman is supposed to stay married to
her husband and if he dies and marry her brother and they didn't
have children and finally seven husbands later, seven brothers
later, she dies and whose husband will she be? And they try to
disprove what Jesus said by their little arguments. And this is
what Nicodemus says. Born? You talking about being
born? How can a man be born when he's old? And he brings out the
absurdity of it. be born again from his mother's
womb? That's not possible. Surely he
must be incorrect when he said these things. And that's why
Jesus says in verse 5, verily, verily, I say unto you, except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. Now, the first thing Jesus had
said to Nicodemus was, you can't see the kingdom of God. Now he
says, you can't enter the kingdom of God unless you're born of
water and of the Spirit. And let's go on. Verse 6, That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. Nicodemus had been born a child
of Abraham, but he received his sonship to Abraham by natural
birth. Because he had received that
by natural birth, all that he was in himself was a natural
man. He was a man who had received
from his father, tracing it all the way back to Abraham even,
a physical human nature. But the human nature every one
of us receive is a fallen human nature. That which is born of
men is nothing more than a man can produce its flesh. And it's
not just flesh in a neutral way, it's the carnal mind, it's enmity
against God. It's opposed to God. It cannot
be subject to the law of God. And so Nicodemus, I mean, Jesus
tells Nicodemus, you cannot see, you cannot enter, and all you
are is flesh, and nothing more than flesh. You have to be born
of the Spirit, of the Spirit. And he had said, water and the
spirit. And we're going to get to that in a minute. He says
in verse 7, marvel not, don't be surprised that I said to you,
you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
or wherever it pleases. And thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit. What does Jesus
do here in this chapter? Well, He not only brings Nicodemus
down, and He keeps doing this, we'll see it in a minute, He
keeps bringing him down. In all the things he previously
trusted, he takes away and removes them, because they were empty
and vain confidences. But not only that, but he tells
him that the way that a man enters, the way that a man sees, the
way that a man becomes born of the Spirit, is something in which
he can do nothing. Just like a baby is born of its
parents contributes nothing to that birth process. He's absolutely
passive in it. Here Jesus says the operation
of God is something a man cannot control any more than you can
control the wind by holding your hand up. You can't tell where
it's coming. You can't tell where it's going.
You can't control God in this matter. You're out of the equation. That which is born of the Spirit
is when God the Spirit births a man into the Kingdom of God.
God does it, you contribute. In fact, you don't even experience
it. You're not even aware mentally
and consciously of the moment in which God births you into
His Kingdom. You're not even cognizant of
it. You see the effects of it. But the birth itself is something
God does. Ezekiel chapter 37. God told
Ezekiel, do you see this valley of dry bones? And he says yes.
And he says to Ezekiel, can these bones live? And Ezekiel says,
Lord, thou knowest. And God said, prophesy to these
bones and say unto them, thus saith the Lord. And Ezekiel prophesied. And the bones lived. Now, it
was God's Word that did that. It was God's power. Ezekiel didn't
do anything. He just simply conveyed the message. He sent forth the command. God
Himself, it was by, not by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.
This is the way the new birth happens. It's of the Spirit of
God. The Spirit of God gives a man
life, He gives him a new nature, not flesh, but a new nature,
a spiritual nature. This is the work of God the Spirit.
You see, this is a proof text to show us that we receive life
and all things that we experience because of the new birth, we
receive them from the Spirit of God. What did Jesus mean when
he said you had to be born of water and of the Spirit? Remember in Ezekiel chapter 36,
God said, I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall
be clean from all your sins. How are we clean, cleansed from
all our sins? There's only one way in scripture
that we're cleansed. It's by the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So to be born of the water means
to be born because of the blood, but with reference, with an object
of our faith in the blood of Christ. So we see that also by
several other things in scripture. Remember 1 Peter 1.23, he says,
let me just read that for you. 1 Peter 1.23. He says in verse 18, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead
and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God."
Verse 22. Seeing you have purified your
souls. Do you see that? You have purified
your souls in obeying the truth. And what is that obedience to
the truth? It's faith in Christ. Faith in His blood. He just got
through talking about we're redeemed by Christ, the precious blood
of Christ. You've purified your souls in
obeying the truth, in believing the Lord Jesus Christ through
the Spirit. unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, that means of a man, flesh,
but of incorruptible, of the Spirit, by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth forever. And what is the word of God?
Verse 25, the word of the Lord endures forever, and this is
the word which by the gospel is preached to you. God's Word
is preached. God's Word is held before the
eyes of our understanding by the Spirit of God when He gives
us life and it becomes the object of our confidence. We become
persuaded of it. And we look to Christ, and that
is the effect of His Word being brought to us and life being
given to us by His Spirit, so that we see and we trust the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the effect of the new birth.
Look at James 1 and 18. It says here, our souls were
purified in 1 Peter 1.22 by faith in Christ. And that, we know,
is the operation of God's Spirit giving that to us. But in James
1.18, it says, "...of his own will..." The will he's speaking
about is the will of the Father. If you read verse 17, but he
says here, "...of his own will begat he us..." Begat means to
be birthed. He birthed us with the word of
truth, and that is the gospel, that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. We're born of the Father by the
Spirit. through the preaching and the
hearing of the Gospel, and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's what Jesus is talking about. It's the same thing He
speaks about throughout Scripture. Where the clean water is sprinkled
on our hearts, that's the action of God taking the things of Christ,
applying them to our conscience, and purging us from the dead
works of trusting all that we did before, like Nicodemus. Look
at one more verse, Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 14. I'll read from
verse 12. He says in Hebrews chapter 9
and verse 12, "...neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood, he, the Lord Jesus Christ, entered in
once into the holy place, Where's that? That's in heaven. "...having
obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls
and of goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, Now that was the lesser,
now the much greater. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? This is what the application
of the gospel of Christ does. It purges our conscience. It's
the application of what Christ has done to our hearts, and in
believing that, we're purged of our sins by our experience. So back to John chapter 3. Jesus
tells him, whatever the spirit does, you can't see it. You don't
know where he's coming. You don't know where he's going.
Because it's the sovereign work of God. And you cannot influence
him. I looked today on the internet
before we came. And I typed in, how to be born
again. I was not surprised. The internet is full of advice
on how to be born again. There are books written how to
be born again. One of the links I saw there
was 14 steps in how to be born again. But the message here in
John chapter 3, if it teaches us anything, it teaches us that
this is not a formula, this is not a recipe that men follow.
This is the operation of the sovereign God. Why did Jesus
tell Nicodemus you need to be born again? Not because that
was the thrust of all of his messages. Jesus didn't go around
preaching like most modern evangelicals do today. The big message is
you must be born again, you must be born again. People don't even
know what that means to be born again. Do we even know what it
means? There's books written on it,
on the internet, there's articles. You could just keep reading about
this and you would read and read and read and you would probably
not understand any more about being born again than Nicodemus
understood here. Because this is the work of the
Spirit of God. to be born again. But why did
Jesus tell this to Nicodemus? Because he thought his first
birth to Abraham was all that was needed. He corrects that
and said, no, it's not enough. You have to be born of God. It's not the children of the
flesh, in Romans 9, 8, but the children of the promise that
are counted for the seed. And God gives those children,
the children of promise, His Spirit, and they look to Christ. And that's the message here.
It's the operation of God's Spirit, not the operation of man following
a formula. And how we take the plain Word
of God and twist it and make it say exactly what it's not
saying. to as Nicodemus thought it was. That was the delusion
he was under, that because of something that he was or something
that he could do, he could make himself see the Kingdom of God
or enter the Kingdom of God or be pleasing to God. But this
chapter is teaching exactly the opposite. Bring him down. You can't see it. You can't enter
it. You're only a flesh. And here
he says, it's the operation of God's Spirit. It's way beyond
your reach. You can't achieve it in any way. God has to do it. And so Nicodemus
in verse 9, it's like he throws up his hands and he says, how
can these things be? And that was the last question
I think we hear of Nicodemus here. Nicodemus is at the end
of his rope. He just says, how can these things
be? And I think that that question
was probably the first question that Nicodemus asked that really
exposed the fact that now he's ready to hear. Now he's ready. You've taught, you've said that
I can't see. You said I can't enter. You said
I'm only a flesh. You mean all of my Jewish religion
means nothing here? And you've got to be born of
God's Spirit? I've never heard this. I've never heard this.
How can these things be? And Jesus says in verse 10, He
answered him again and He said, Are you a master of Israel? And
knowest not these things? What was that? He's bringing
him down further, isn't He? You are blameworthy. You put
yourself in the place of a master of Israel. You're the one teaching
the people of Israel, God's people, and you don't even know the basic
truth of how men see and enter the kingdom of God. That is the
work of God's sovereign spirit. And then Jesus brings in these
wonderful words in verse 11 and following. He says, Verily, verily,
I say to thee, We speak that we do know, and we testify that
we have seen, and you receive not our witness. What I'm about
to tell you, Nicodemus, is something that I've been telling you. I've
been telling you, and I know what I'm saying. And guess what? You haven't heard it. You haven't
believed it. You haven't received it. What
does that mean? Jesus is telling Nicodemus, you
are a disobedient unbeliever. It's your fault and you're blameworthy. I've said the truth and you haven't
seen it. You haven't believed it. I've
told you what I've seen. And verse 12, if I've told you
earthly things, And you believe not. How shall you believe if
I tell you of heavenly things?" Now, Jesus has been speaking
here of the new birth, and that's a heavenly thing. But He's using
these comparisons of wind, and you can't see it, and you can't
control it, and you don't know where it's going, and all these
things. He uses the comparisons of water. And so, Nicodemus didn't understand
those things. And he says, if I speak to you
these earthly things and you believe not, how will you believe
if I tell you heavenly things? The only way a man can believe
heavenly things is if the Spirit of God reveals them to him. Look
at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Again,
our salvation depends on the work of the Spirit of God, and
His work is His work, and it's sovereign and free. It's not
something we produce. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 14, But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have
the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is everything
the Lord Jesus Christ came to do to fulfill His Father's will
to save His people from their sins. The Spirit of God takes
the things of Christ and He holds them up before the eyes of our
faith that He gives to us and persuades us of them and then He shows us these things and
explains the things of Christ, so that becomes the object of
our confidence and faith. But he says here, in verse 13,
he tells Nicodemus, Well, first of all, in verse
12, remember the whole Old Testament? What is the Old Testament about?
If you were to look, we were at home with our kids and stuff
this Christmas, and they had these different things they were
dragging out from their old childhood times. Puzzles and stuff, and
they were trying to solve these puzzles. When you look at the
Old Testament and you read it, what do you see there? How do
you explain it? How do you explain Elijah raising
a widow woman's son from the dead? Or Elijah providing oil
by God's power through his word providing oil and bread for this
widow woman and feeding her until the rain stopped. Or how do you
explain why Elijah called fire down from heaven? Or how Moses
hit the rock and the water came out? Or how the blood was sprinkled
over the doorpost of the Israelites? or how that Isaac was spared
being killed by Abraham because God would provide. How do you
explain all these things in the Old Testament? How Joseph's brothers
sold him into slavery and how his suffering there and eventually
interpreting the king's dream was the salvation of his brothers.
How do you explain all those things? How Mordecai and Esther
and all the Jews were saved from the Persians? There's only one
way. It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The gospel. What does it say
in 1 Corinthians 15? I have declared unto you the
gospel, by which also you are saved, if you hold in memory
what I have said to you, what I have preached to you, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, how He was
buried and raised again the third day according to the Scriptures.
All of the Bible is explained by the Gospel. All of the Bible
is about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when Jesus says, I've
told you earthly things throughout the whole Old Testament, I've
told you earthly things and you haven't believed it. It's like
he said to Lazarus after he had died, he said, can you send Lazarus
back from the dead? The rich man said, can you send
Lazarus back from the dead and preach to my brothers so they
don't come to this place? And the Lord said to the rich
man in hell, He said, They have Moses and the prophets. They
have Moses and the prophets, if they will not hear them. How
shall they believe if one goes back from the dead? And here
Jesus is saying, I've told you earthly things, and you believe
not. All the ceremonies, and the laws,
and the events, and the histories, and the people of the Old Testament,
the characters, their role as kings, and priests, and servants,
and prophets, and all those things are teaching one thing. How that
Christ must die. and be buried and rise again
in order to save his people from their sins. That's what the Bible
is about. It's the gospel. And so in verse
13, Jesus takes just two things. He begins here to explain. In
verse 13, look at this. No man has ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is
in heaven. This is one of those verses which, when you read it,
is like a mouthful of words, and you don't even know what
you're saying when you read it. It doesn't matter what translation
you're reading. This verse can mean nothing to you unless you
compare Scripture with Scripture. Why did Jesus say this to Nicodemus
at this point? Why did he say, no man has ascended
up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven? Because, what
did Nicodemus say? We know you're a teacher come
from God. He thought, he must have thought,
that Jesus was a man like him. But somehow, God had taken him
and given him a revelation like God had given Moses. And God
had sent him down to teach them, maybe from heaven. And Jesus
says, no. No man has ascended up to heaven.
God has never raised up a man from earth to heaven, given him
his word, and sent him back down to teach men. Elijah was raised
from the earth to heaven, but he didn't return. So was Enoch. He didn't return. It's never
happened that way. And it's not happening now. But
this is what has happened. Even though a man hasn't ascended
up to heaven, He who stands before you came down from heaven because
He was from heaven. He wasn't from the earth. He
was from heaven. And if you read Romans chapter
10, what you'll find, in fact, let's go ahead and take the time
to read that. And this is a quotation even from the Old Testament,
but it's explained here in Romans chapter 10 in the context. And
this I think is what helps us understand verse 13 of John 3,
Romans chapter 10. He says, the context here of
Romans chapter 10, look at it with me in verse 1. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. For I bear them record, they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, not according to
the truth known in their hearts. They don't understand it. For
they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." And now, verse
5, he's explaining this by quoting from the Old Testament from Deuteronomy.
And he says, For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of
the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise,
Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is,
to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the
deep, that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what
saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach." What is he saying here? That don't think in your
heart. Faith says this is what faith
is. He says this is not what it is.
Don't think in your heart who can ascend into heaven. Because
that's why Christ came down. Or who shall descend into the
deep. That's what Christ did when he descended into hell and
then rose again. Not into a place we think of
as hell, but under the wrath of God. Who is it that descended? Who is it that ascends? It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Why did He do this? Because He's
the only mediator. In doing this, in fulfilling
the will of God, He established our everlasting righteousness.
That's what He's saying in these verses here. Christ fulfilled
God's will and His fulfillment of God's will is the righteousness
of His people. It fulfills the law. It's the
culmination. It's all the law talked about.
It's everything that the Israelites didn't understand because they
didn't have the knowledge of the gospel. They were ignorant
of God's righteousness. Ignorant of the gospel. Ignorant
of Christ. And Moses says, this is what
faith is. Don't say, what can a man do
in order to approach to God? It requires a mediator who has
done it all. And that's why it says, if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you'll be saved. Because
He's the one who has to do all the work. And so back in John
3 in verse 13, Jesus is telling Nicodemus, no, no man's ever
gone up to heaven and gotten God's word and come back down
here. That's only, there's only one mediator between God and
man. It's the man, Christ Jesus. And He is the one who came from
heaven and fulfilled the will of God and ascended back up to
heaven in order that He might reign and rule over all things
and bring that salvation to His people. And so that's what He's
saying here. And then in verse 14, Jesus gives
Nicodemus another object lesson from the Old Testament. He says,
verse 14 of John 3, And you know you're familiar with this. As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. First of all,
in verse 13, what did Jesus say to Nicodemus? About him being
brought down. About his ability to be saved.
No, only the Spirit of God can birth you into God's kingdom.
And in verse 13, and only Christ can be the mediator between God
and men. And here in verse 14 he explains
how the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled his role as mediator. He says
in verse 14, Why was the serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness? Why? Because the people didn't want God's rule. They ate the manna and they were
fed up with manna. They got tired of the manna.
They got tired of Moses. They got tired of God. They didn't
like what God was doing and they started speaking against Him.
What were these people who needed the serpent to be raised up on
the pole? They were the murmurers and the
complainers and the unbelievers, weren't they? These were the
people who were speaking against God and they were bitten by the
serpents. These flying, fiery serpents
had bitten the people and they were dying. Many of them had
died. And God tells Moses, not by accident, make a serpent of
brass. And so he had to get out the
fire and his hammer and beat out a serpent of brass and shape
it into a serpent. Moses pounding the brass in the
fire making a serpent and then putting it on a pole. It teaches
us that for sinners who were under the wrath of God, God had
His law smite His Son and hang Him upon a cross. And Nicodemus
didn't know anything about this. He just thought it was some kind
of a miracle in the Old Testament. He didn't even see the Gospel
in it. But Jesus says, no, as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so, This is one of those things where
all of your senses tingle in your body when you hear the interpretation
from the mouth of the Son of God, who is the Word of God,
who has been in heaven, came down from heaven, fulfilled God's
Word, and teaches us what it is. He says, the Son of Man must
be lifted up. cursed by God for his people,
made sin, and made under the law. And Moses is that law. And he was like the serpent was
beaten out of brass from the fire. Christ was cursed by the
law of God, put to death at the hand of God, given over to the
enemies of God in order that they would have their will and
murder him according to the scriptures. And in his death, It was a death
of substitution. The serpent was lifted up and
those who were bitten were told to look at that serpent. He says
in verse 15, just like they were commanded who were bitten Nicodemus,
you've been bitten. Nicodemus, you're no different
than those Jews who murmured in the wilderness against God,
against His manna, Christ, and against Moses, His law. The one you claim to trust, you
didn't understand, and you're actually against Him. But the
Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life. They were commanded to
look, and Jesus says, whoever believes. Jesus says, look at
John chapter 6 and verse 40. John 6 verse 40, and this is
the will. of Him that sent me, Jesus said. This is God the Father's will,
who sent me, God the Son, into the world, the Son of Man, that
every one which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have
everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
You see, the Lord makes it impossible for Nicodemus to birth himself
into God's kingdom. But when it comes to faith, He
shows us that faith, you know, we, I'm afraid that the religious
world, because they are, we are so naturally, I was going to
say they, but we, because I include myself by nature, we are so inclined
to think that salvation comes by something that we do, that
we make faith a work. But the Lord says, whoever looks,
whoever believes. Those two are synonymous, whoever
sees the Lord Jesus Christ and believes on Him. What did He
say in Isaiah 45, 22? Look unto Me, look unto Me, all
the ends of the earth. Stop looking at your bitten wounds. Look away from yourself. Abandon
all hope, your birth to Abraham, your works, the kingdom of Israel,
all the things you formerly trusted in. It's all rubbish. Scrape
it all off the table and leave the table empty and look away
to Christ. What do you see? Look at Him.
See what He's done. Faith is no work at all. It's
looking to Christ. Faith divests itself of everything
and sees outside of itself, there's the Lord Jesus Christ who's done
all this. Look at Isaiah 53. What does Isaiah 53 do for you
when you read it? Do you see yourself in Isaiah
53? Only as a sinner. You see the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ who is suffering, wounded for
our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, stricken for
his people. Look at verse 11. What does Isaiah 53, 11 say? He shall see. Who? God the Father. He shall
see of the travail of his soul." Whose soul was in travail? The
Lord Jesus. God the Father would see the
travail of the Lord Jesus, of his soul. And what? He would
be satisfied. Satisfied. What a, what a, what
a word. That God the Father, in all of
the holiness of his being, God the Father would be satisfied.
And then it says, by His, by the Lord Jesus Christ, by His
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for He
shall bear their iniquities. What knowledge? The knowledge
of God's will. The knowledge of what it took
to redeem, to reconcile His people to Himself. He, by His knowledge,
will justify His people. Because that knowledge is what,
that understanding of what God required is what He came to do
and fulfill. It's by His blood that we're
justified. And that's what Jesus is telling Nicodemus here. Look
away. Look to what God has done. See
how God has looked upon His Son and been satisfied with Him.
And receive the testimony of Scripture from the Spirit of
God concerning His Son. Now, Nicodemus had asked the
question, how shall these things be? And what did Jesus answer
him? He got him to the message that
he needed to get him to. This is what the Spirit of God
does. He raises before us the testimony of what Christ has
done. He lifts our eyes into heaven.
And he shows us in heaven, there's the true tabernacle. There's
Christ on his throne. Why is the tabernacle in heaven?
Because there Christ offered His blood to God and God received
it. God was satisfied. Christ obtained
eternal redemption for us. All His people were set free
in that one offering of the Lord Jesus Christ to His Father. He
takes His eyes off Himself, off His heritage, off His works,
off of everything on earth. And gets them to look in heaven.
Look at Revelation chapter 11. Revelation, this is where I was
referring to. Revelation chapter 11 and verse
19. And the temple of God was opened
in heaven. And there was seen in the temple
the ark of the testament, and there were lightnings. I'm sorry,
there was the ark of his testament. Thank you. Let me read the whole
verse again. And the temple of God was open in heaven, and there
was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. And there were
lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great
hail. Because it is his testament. It's the testament that Christ
fulfilled. Remember what he said to his
disciples? This is my blood. Drink this. This is the new testament
in my blood. And there was seen in His temple,
it's Christ's temple, the Ark of His Testament, and He's the
one who fulfilled it. It says in Hebrews chapter 8,
verse 1, now, of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum.
We have such a high priest who is set On the right hand of the
throne of the majesty in the heavens. I think I've got that
right. It's in heaven that our eyes
are directed. It's outside of ourselves. But
Nicodemus was told, Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again.
Doesn't that point his eyes back to himself? No. It points his eyes to something
he can't obtain. It has to be done by the sovereign
work of God. And how do I know that God has
done this work in me and for me? Because He raises our eyes
to look like the bitten Israelites to the Lord Jesus Christ in the
wilderness. And to see our need of Him. And
to see all of God's salvation in Him. That's the evidence of
the new birth. And then we can say, how did
I come to this persuasion? How did I come to this view that
all of my salvation, all of my acceptance, all of my hope, my
life and everything is in the Lord Jesus Christ? How did I
come to that persuasion? Why do I have this saving faith? Why am I born again? Why do I
have a Savior who shed his blood for me? Turn to Jeremiah chapter
31. Jeremiah 31. Remember I told
you the title of our sermon is Salvation by the Triune God Alone. Jeremiah 31. He says this in
verse 3. He says, The Lord hath appeared
of old to me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Now, the love of God doesn't
change. It's from eternity. And when
we ask these questions, why do I now believe? It's because the
Spirit of God has given you the eyes to see, an understanding
to rest on Christ alone. But why was I given the Spirit
of God? Because Christ died. But why
did Christ die for me? is because I've loved thee with
an everlasting love. And look at the next word. Therefore,
with loving kindness, have I drawn thee. Here we have the love of
the triune God for his people. I, the Lord, the triune Jehovah,
have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness, the love of God is in Christ, have I drawn thee. He's pointed our eyes to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's brought us down. He made
us to see that we can't see, we can't enter, we don't know.
We're born of flesh. We're just like the Israelites,
born. We're disobedient and unbelief. And now, He says, He's drawn
us because of His everlasting love for us. But look at John
3.16 now. Look at John 3.16 and see what
it says. This is the Gospel. He says,
for God so loved the world. God? God the Father. God the
Father so loved the world that He gave That's what his love
did. He gave his only begotten son. Who's that? The Lord Jesus Christ. And why did he give him? Well,
because as Moses lifted up the serpent, he had to be lifted
up. God didn't spare his son. He paid the price of heaven.
The treasure of heaven was spent in order to pay the cost our
sin required to reconcile us to God. He loved his people with
an everlasting love. And He gave His Son for them,
that whosoever believeth." Why do we believe? Why do I look
to the Lord Jesus Christ? It's because the wind has blown,
the Spirit of God has given us eyes to see and a heart to know
and understand and perceive that the Lord Jesus Christ is all
my hope and all my salvation and God is satisfied with Him.
He's done for us what is necessary to make salvation all the work
of God. God the Father, it was His eternal
love, it was His eternal will, and it was for His purpose that
He sent Christ into the world. It was Christ's work for us.
He laid down His life, took on our humanity and laid down His
life and was risen again in our humanity. and sits in glory. And He, in glory, sends His Spirit
to convince us that what He's done is all God requires for
sinners. And He draws our eyes to that.
He says to all those who believe this, he says, they have everlasting
life. Now Nicodemus was obviously under
the impression that he already was in God's favor. But when
Jesus spoke to him, he took away all that he trusted in and pointed
him to Christ, and he was left there with Christ alone. He was
left with nothing but the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you reach
verse 16, you realize that if you read it in the context that
the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to Nicodemus about the world
here. What did Nicodemus think the
world was? the world of the lost, the world of the Gentile nations,
those who were outside the kingdom of Israel. He knocks every prop
and he says, not only can you not see, have not entered, are
disobedient in unbelief, and are just like the Israelites
who were bitten in the wilderness, but also, also, you have to be
saved in the same way that the Gentiles are saved. Because God's
love, Christ's death, and the Spirit's work is the only way
anyone can be saved. And so he points him to the great
work of the triune God. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit in our salvation. In verse 16 it contains
the whole thing, doesn't it? This is what God has done for
us in Christ. And this is how we understand. Did Jesus give his life for more
people than God chose? Did God choose only some people
to be saved and yet Christ died for more than he chose? Would
that make any sense at all? Why would the Son of God be sent
into the world and die for everyone in the world if God only chose
to save some in the world? Or, why would the Spirit of God
only draw those God loved from everlasting if Jesus died for
everyone? Or if He only died for some,
why would the Spirit of God draw all men? And if God loved everyone,
and Jesus died for everyone, and the Spirit of God draws everyone,
then why are only some saved? You see, all these things all
point to the simple fact that salvation by God has a purpose,
it has a people, and it has accomplishment. And God does it for His people
with a specific intent in mind. And He completes what He intends.
He brings it to a full completion in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
because of God's eternal love. Because He loved His people,
He drew them. Isn't that what he said in Jeremiah
chapter 31 verse 3? And all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. All therefore who are taught
of the Father come to me. They're all taught of God. Can
any that God teach not come to Christ? It can't happen. What does this teach us? If we
think that John 3.16 is teaching that God loves everybody, Jesus
died for everybody, and we just have to believe to make it all
work, we've missed the whole message, haven't we? We've missed
the message because we don't, we would not, like a Nicodemus,
stand there in our open mouth awe, thinking, I was lost. I was lost. Blind and ignorant
and disobedient and lost. no different than the world and
the Lord Jesus Christ has taken time and spoke to me and He's removed the blindness from
my heart and shown me that all of my salvation is in Him alone.
That's what he's come to this conclusion. So when Joseph of
Arimathea and Nicodemus go to the cross to take Jesus' body
down from the cross, what do you think Nicodemus did when
he took that body down? He first looked at Him. And he
was reminded, I know he had to be reminded of these words, as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. And he saw Him lifted up, like
the thief on the cross, saw the King of glory, bloodied and weak
in humiliation. And yet, by faith, Nicodemus
goes to Him And takes that body, and his body, the weight of his
dead body, falls into his arms. And he sees in him that he was
lifted up to bear away his burden. And he's looking to Christ. And
everything in his salvation is seen in Christ. He's not thinking
about what he did. He's not thinking about where
he was born, or what he learned, or all those things. He's looking
at the Lord Jesus Christ. outside of himself to an accomplished
salvation, and this is the work of the Spirit of God. This is
what God does. Our experience of grace is to
look away to Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you for this new birth that gives us what we cannot do, a confidence
in Christ, a looking to Him, and looking away from ourselves
and trusting in nothing but what He has done for us and what you've
done in Him. Lord, help us to see and believe. Give to us this eternal life.
Wash away our sins. Give us this righteousness. Clothe
us in the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ. Put us in Him.
Let us be found in Him. And help us, Lord, to know by
your Spirit that He is all. not look for an experience, not
look for a second blessing, not look for a further development
in our lives that we might have confidence in, a feeling, or
something like that, but to look always and only to the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.