Well, I'm thankful for the growth
of the pulpit. I'm just kind of curious what's
next. It's good to be back with you.
Alright, John chapter 3. Our subject of this evening is
The subject I want to deal with is more than a teacher. Our Lord Jesus is in nicknames
needs. He needs more than a teacher. Look at the 11th verse, John
chapter 3. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that
we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye perceive
not our witness." At the end of verse 11 is sort of a shocking
statement. The Savior says, you receive
not our witness. In other words, you don't receive
our record. You don't receive our testimony. That word receive is an interesting
word. Look at John chapter 14. Our
Savior uses the exact word, the same word here in John chapter
14. And this is a passage that you're
also very familiar with, John chapter 14. He says this, and
this is of course when he's speaking to his disciples, speaking to
them words of consolation. They were agitated, they were
greatly troubled, and he says this, and I'm not going to read
all of this, but just the third verse. He says, if I go, he's
already said, I go to prepare a place for you. And I don't
think he's specifically intending that he's going away to heaven
right then, but rather he's going to prepare a way or a place for
you by his death. Because we don't have a place
with God apart from His death. We don't have any place with
God. We don't have any inheritance.
There's no heaven for us unless He goes to the cross. Unless He's our substitute. Unless
He's the sacrifice. So He says, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you. Receive
you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. This word
receive is identical to the one over in John chapter 3 and verse
11. And the Savior is saying this,
and this will help us to understand the word. The Savior is saying
to His disciples here in John chapter 14, I'm going to come
again and I'm going to welcome you unto Myself. I'm going to
embrace you. Literally, I am going to take
hold of you and I'm going to bring you to Me. Now we know
He does that in death, when He comes for His people.
He takes hold of us and He takes us unto Himself. We would grasp our loved ones
and we would keep them here. But the Savior says, I'll take
hold of you and I'll bring you unto Myself. That's in death. This is also His second coming.
He will come and embrace us. He will come and lay hold of
us. Lay hold of all of His people
and take us home to glory. So you go back over here to the
third chapter of John and verse 11, when he says, you receive
not our witness, it means you don't embrace our witness. You don't reach out and take
hold of the testimony of God. That is that glorious report
of the gospel. And the word witness, it does
mean report. It does mean the record. This
is the record God has given us that life is in His Son. He that
hath the Son hath life. And our Lord Jesus says to Nicodemus,
who is a master of Israel, he's the master teacher of all of
Israel, He says unto him, you don't embrace our witness. Our Lord Jesus is Himself the
very true and faithful witness of God. Everything He says is
the truth. In fact, He not only speaks the
truth, He is the truth. He is the full embodiment of
truth. He is God's truth incarnate. But He says to Nicodemus, you
don't reach out and grab me. You don't reach out and hold
me. You don't reach out and embrace me. You don't embrace the witness. You don't welcome the truth. You don't take hold of our witness. You don't take hold of our message. You don't take hold of our testimony. Now note the verse begins this
way, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I say unto you, who is the
one speaking? Who is the one actually doing
the talking? Well, it's the Lord Jesus. And
of the Savior we know, never a man, never a man spake like
this man. Not Moses, who was the chief
spokesman for Israel. Not David, who was the sweet
psalmist of Israel. Not Solomon. He was Solomon. He was the wisest of men. But
not Solomon. Not Isaiah, who is the evangelical
prophet. Not even John the Baptist, who
is the forerunner of the Messiah. No man spake like this man. And yet, Nicodemus did not receive
that which he spake. He didn't receive his record.
He didn't receive his report. He didn't receive that witness
that Christ Jesus gave, his own testimony. You'll notice the
Savior says this, We speak, we know, and testify, and we have
seen. The we, as we said last Wednesday,
may refer to the Trinity. And indeed, He is the spokesman
for the Trinity. Or the word we, it may refer
to those of the Savior's own people. That is, those that He
has revealed the gospel to. Because He is God's spokesman,
as well as our spokesman. He's both. He's the one who communicates
God's Word to us and He's the one who communicates all the
thoughts and desires and prayers and words of our hearts to God. He is God's spokesman to us. He is our spokesman to God. He speaks for the Father. He
speaks for the Spirit. We read in Hebrews the first
chapter, And we all know this, that God will not speak to, and
God will not be spoken to, by any son or daughter of Adam
aside from a mediator. There's got to be a spokesman. If God's going to speak to us,
God who is a consuming fire, if God's going to speak to us,
He's got to do so if we're to live. It must be through a mediator. And if we're to speak to God,
God who is, as I just said, a consuming fire. And we're full of sin. We're full of iniquity. If we're
going to speak to this God, it's got to be through a mediator.
We've got to have a spokesman. God has a spokesman. We have
a spokesman. And the spokesman is the Lord
Jesus, the Christ of God. He's the spokesman for God. This
is typified with Moses and Israel. You remember when God gave the
law? Oh, it was a fearful experience
for Israel. Thunder, lightning, the very
sound of a trumpet, an earthquake, smoke coming out of the mountain.
And the Israelites stood afar off. They backed up. And they
said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear. But let
not God speak with us, lest we die. That is, Moses, whatever
God's will, whatever God's pleasure, whatever God's Word is for us,
we just cannot bear to receive it directly from His lips. You speak for God to us. And that's the way it is with
Christ Jesus. He speaks for God to us. And everything God's got to say,
He says through the Lord Jesus. He is God's spokesman. And our Savior, He's the one
by whom we deal with God and by whom we speak to God. We come
to God in, through, and by a mediator. We have an advocate. That's what
John says in 1 John chapter 2. We have an advocate with the
Father Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the mediator of the new
covenant. He is our advocate, our spokesman. As Job said, our daysman. He is the mediator of a better
testament. There has to be someone who comes
between God and the sinner. There's got to be somebody to
bring God and the sinner to a state of reconciliation. Now God doesn't
have to be reconciled. We've got to be reconciled. You
see, here's the issue, here's the problem, it's us. It's not
a problem with God. Because He's never changed. He's
the infinite God of unchanging days. I'm the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. But we've got
to be reconciled. Somebody's got to do something
for us and to bring us to God. This someone comes between the
guilty sinner and the just and holy and righteous God. It has
to be somebody who is acceptable to God. Someone who is worthy
to enter into the presence of God and stay there. And stay
there. Someone who is suitable. Someone
who is qualified to be the representative of sinful people. We're unfit
to come into God's presence. We're unworthy. We're not qualified
to come to God. And God being the consuming fire
that He is, if He draws near to us, we're going to be consumed. What I'm saying is sinners need
somebody to stand in the gap. Somebody in the middle. Somebody
who can, as it were, reach out and touch God and satisfy all
of His demands. His demands of perfection and
holiness and righteousness. And somebody who can endure and
satisfy the penalty of God's broken law, which is death. And
yet somebody who would be bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh. Somebody who would descend from
heaven, and mingle among men, and be likened to sinful flesh,
though without sin himself." But Nicodemus doesn't see this. He doesn't understand. All he's
interested in, according to the second verse, is a teacher. We
know that thou art a teacher come from God. He didn't even
say the teacher. He just said you're a teacher
come from God. As though you're just one of
many teachers. And we know you come from God
because of the miracles that you do. But He's more than a
teacher. And Nicodemus needs more than
a teacher. He needs somebody to save Him.
He needs somebody to redeem Him. He needs somebody to reconcile
Him to God. More than a teacher. That's what
we need. More than a teacher. And you
see in this passage of Scripture, our Lord is teaching, isn't He? He is teaching. What did He teach
Nicodemus? You must be born again. But did
Nicodemus get it? Did he understand the teaching? No. And it's obvious he didn't
understand because he said, well, can a man enter in the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Oh, Nicodemus, you need
more than a teacher. You need a revealer. And you
even need more than a revealer. You need somebody to come to
you in quickening power. You need to be raised from the
dead. You need a reconciler. You need a mediator. You need
more than a teacher. But that's all he's looking for.
We know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can
do the miracles that thou doest. But He's more than a teacher.
He's more than a teacher. He's the Lord of glory. He's
God incarnate who's come to save His people from their sins. Nicodemus. He's an ignorant man. He's in darkness. He's blind. And he's a perfect example of
religious humanity. That's right. Nicodemus, he's
a perfect example of religious humanity. He's educated. He's moral. He's a man of high
position. He's a man of high culture. He's
a strict observer of the ceremonies of the law. He's a Sabbath day
keeper. He's a stickler for religious
ordinances. He's a ruler of the Jews. He's
a member of the Sanhedrin. He's the master teacher of Israel,
but he's altogether ignorant of spiritual things. He's altogether
ignorant of this man who stood right in front of him, who is
himself the way to God, the truth of God, and the life of God.
This one who must take him into the presence of God, Nicodemus
just says, I know you're a teacher, But, oh, Nicodemus, you need
more than a teacher. You need more than a good example. You need more than somebody who
will teach you life's lessons. You need a Savior. You need righteousness. You need someone who can justly
forgive you of all of your sins by His own substitutionary death. He is more than a teacher. He
is more than a teacher. Now, Nicodemus, he ought to have
known Messiah's mission. And Messiah's mission is to save
sinners by his sufferings and death. And then after his death,
he would enter into his glory. That's the fulfillment of Old
Testament prophecies. Being a Pharisee and having studied
the Scriptures, Nicodemus ought to have recognized the Messiah. That Messiah would be the seed
of a woman and born of a virgin. Nicodemus should have recognized
Him. Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Nicodemus should have recognized
Him. That He would be of the lineage
of Abraham. That He would be a descendant
of Isaac and Jacob of the tribe of Judah. Nicodemus should have
recognized Him. That he's the son of David, Messiah
is. That he'd be born when the scepter
had departed from Judah. That this Messiah would spend
some time in Egypt, during which there would be a great massacre
of infants in Israel. He should have recognized this
messenger who came to prepare the way for the Messiah. That's John the Baptist. The
Old Testament says that this Messiah would be called the Nazarene. He would speak in parables. He
would be declared to be the Son of God. But Nicodemus doesn't
recognize Him. All of these clues to His identity,
all of these evidences that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and
Nicodemus didn't pick up on a one of them. Why not? Because he's dead. He's dead
in trespasses and sins. And our Lord said to him, he
must be born again. You need more than a teacher.
You need a life giver. That's what you need. Nicodemus,
he doesn't come to the Savior as a needy sinner. He doesn't
look upon Jesus of Nazareth as being the Messiah, the Savior
of sinners. He only approaches Him as a teacher
who's come from God. Like the rest of the Jewish nation,
and like all men by nature Jew and Gentile, Nicodemus, with
all of his religious advantages, was ignorant of, he was absolutely
unconscious of his own sinfulness. He didn't know that vast distance
between him and a holy God. He doesn't know his real spiritual
needs. He just wants a teacher, that's
all. And he didn't realize that he
needed wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And they were all to be found
in that man standing right in front of him. Oh, he recognizes the fact that
he needs a little further instruction because he says, you're a teacher
come from God. I need a little more instruction.
I know most everything that is to be known, but there may be
something you can kind of help me with. He imagines that he has only
a few very shallow issues and needs. Like the Laodiceans, he
thought that he was rich and increased with goods, and in
need of nothing. But he didn't know that he was
wretched. That means afflicted by sin and
obnoxious to God. Wretched and miserable. One to be pitied, not admired. Nicodemus thought himself to
be the man in Israel. Everybody admires me. I'm Nicodemus. I'm the master teacher of Israel.
Everybody stands in admiration of me. Oh, Nicodemus, you're
miserable. You're one to be pitied, not
admired. One to be looked down upon, not
looked up to. And he's poor. Not literally,
because if you read the historians, they'll tell you that he's one
of the wealthiest men of his day. That's as far as this world's
goods are concerned. But he's a spiritual pauper. He's poor. He has nothing to
eat but all the husks of false religion. He's got nothing to
wear but self-righteous rags. And he owes a debt to God he
could never pay. He's poor and he's blind. He
is blind to the saving knowledge of God that is necessary, which
is to be found only in Jesus Christ the Lord. He is blind
to the way of salvation, altogether by grace, conditioned upon the
obedience unto death, even the death of the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He is ignorant. He is blind. He is blind to the
way of salvation. He is blind to the boundness
of his own heart. He's blind to the necessity of
the work of redemption and then the work of regeneration. And regeneration isn't merely
an improvement of what's there. But regeneration is God giving
life. God giving life. and flows out
of and is a result of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. Why does God accept sinners?
Because we are regenerated? No. Because we have been redeemed.
And it's because we've been redeemed and reconciled to God, and because
everlasting righteousness has been established by the substitution
and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore the Spirit of God on
the basis of who Christ is and what He's done, He comes into
the heart and He quickens us. He makes us alive. Nicodemus,
he's so blind. And he's naked. He's naked. Sin has stripped him of all spiritual
clothing. And man's own righteousness will
not cover our nakedness. And that which we are by nature
is destitute of the righteousness that we've got to have. The righteousness
that's only to be found in Christ Jesus. Nicodemus, he doesn't
approach the Lord Jesus as being the way to God and as the door
to salvation. He comes to Him only as a teacher. Not the teacher, but a teacher
come from God. And he wouldn't receive the witness
of the teacher. I know you are a teacher. And
our Lord Jesus begins to teach him. And then the Lord Jesus
reading this man's heart, He says, you won't receive my witness. You have said I am a teacher
come from God, and I have been teaching you, but you have not
learned it. You have not learned it. You
don't get it. That is the problem with Nicodemus. It's like I said, He's dead.
He's dead. Look back at chapter 1, verse
18. He wouldn't receive the testimony or the witness of Christ Jesus.
Chapter 1, verse 18. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. He hath
told Him out. Our Lord Jesus is telling out
who God is. And Nicodemus doesn't hear Him. Christ Jesus speaks on behalf
of the Godhead. He came to reveal the Father.
He has fully declared the name of God, the nature of God, the
perfections of God, the purpose of God, and the promises of God.
He's come to speak the counsels of God, the covenants of God.
He's come to speak the Word of God and to do the works of God.
It's our Lord Jesus who makes known the thoughts of God and
the determinations of God to our heart. It's the Lord Jesus
who spreads abroad the love of God in our hearts. He makes known
the mind of God and the will of God and the way of God concerning
salvation to His people. Look at chapter 3 and verse 31. Chapter 3 and verse 31, He that
cometh from above is above all. And these are the words of John
the Baptist. He that is of the earth is earthy and speaketh
of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is
above all. And what he hath seen and heard,
that he testifieth. And no man receiveth his testimony. That's what he said to Nicodemus.
You don't receive the witness. You don't embrace. You don't
reach out and take hold of the truth and embrace it to yourself. And John the Baptist says the
same thing. No man receiveth his testimony. And no man ever will if left
to himself. He never will. You don't receive the testimony
of God. You don't receive the record
of God. You don't receive the report
of God. We know that our Lord Jesus is
the truth. In Revelation chapter 1, He is
said to be the true and faithful witness. But men don't believe. They don't believe the report.
Look over to John chapter 10. Look what He says to the Pharisees. Over here in John chapter 10.
This is where he speaks about the sheep and himself being the
shepherd. Look at John 10 and 25. Jesus answered them, these Pharisees,
these leaders of the Jewish religion. He said, I told you, because
they've said, if thou be the Christ, in verse 24, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believe not. The works that I do in My Father's
name, they bear witness of Me. But you believe not. You don't
believe the witness. You don't believe the record.
You don't believe the testimony. You don't embrace it. And the
reason because you believe not is because you are not of My
sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep hear My voice. You see,
the sheep will embrace the truth. The sheep will take hold of the
truth and not let it go. And the reason the sheep take
hold of the truth and not let it go is because the truth of
God takes hold of them and won't let them go. You see, He takes
hold of us first. And then when He takes hold of
us, then we take hold of Him. There's a mutual embracing. But
it's not our hold on Him that keeps us safe. It's His hold
on us. But these, these religionists
of the day, they wouldn't receive His Word. There's no reception
of the Gospel. Look at John 12 and 37. John
12, 37. But though He had done so many
miracles before them, They were eyewitnesses. He did the miracles
right in front of them. Yet, John 12, 37. Yet, they believed
not on Him. His word wasn't received and
He wasn't received. He's the promised Messiah. He is the Son of David. He's
the heir to David's throne. He's the one prophesied in the
Old Testament. He is Emmanuel, God with us,
but He wasn't received, He wasn't embraced, and His Word wasn't
received nor embraced. What He had to say wasn't taken
hold of by the natural man. I thank God some do receive Him.
And He says that in John chapter 1 and verse 12. Having said that
He came unto His own and His own received Him not, But as
many as received Him, thank God some do receive Him. Some do
embrace Him. Some reach out and take hold
of the blessed Savior and see in Him everything that their
soul needs and everything that God requires. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He the power to become the sons of God. Even
to them that believe on His name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. Our Lord speaks to the Trinity.
Go back to our text here in John 3. Let me show you something
here again in this verse 11. He says, Verily, verily, of a
truth, of a truth, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know,
and testify that we have seen, and ye perceive not our witness."
The word ye is not singular, it is plural. He is speaking about other people
besides Nicodemus. It isn't just you. The word ye,
look it up, it means several people. In fact, all of the Jewish
leaders. You receive not our witness. My, what guilt rests on them. Oh, the seriousness of unbelief.
These were people who were supposed to be the leaders of the Jewish
religion and in fact they were. They were the ones who taught
the people. They were the ones who supposedly set the example. He says, you receive not our
witness. Which leads me to say this. Don't be discouraged when people
don't believe the gospel when you said it before them. Don't
be discouraged. They didn't believe the gospel
when it came forth from the lips of the Savior himself. Don't be discouraged. Men didn't
receive him. If they didn't receive His message,
so don't be surprised and don't be amazed and don't be discouraged. Don't get down in the dumps when
people don't receive us and don't receive our message. Our Lord is that prophet of whom
Moses spoke in the book of Deuteronomy. But they didn't believe Him.
And the only way they would ever believe Him And His message and
the only way people today are going to believe us and the message
that is of God is that they are born again. This is what He says. This is what He is teaching.
I mean here is, you are talking about the teacher of all teachers. Here He is. I mean He knows the
truth. More than that, He is the truth.
He gives life, but more than that, He is life. He leads men
to salvation, but more than that, He is salvation. And He stands
right before Nicodemus, but He says, you and all your cronies,
you and all your buddies, you don't receive the witness that
I set before you. And the only way that they ever
would is if He gave them life. The only way they're going to
believe us, the only way people are going to receive this message,
is if the Lord, God of glory, the Holy Spirit, takes the Word
of the Gospel, and using that, performs a miracle in the hearts
of people. So don't get discouraged. Just
keep on preaching the Gospel. Your neighbor, your friend, your
loved one, your brother, your sister, whoever it is, just keep
on talking to them about Christ. And maybe God will be pleased
to quicken them, raise them from the dead. And let me give you
this, and I'll quit, look at verse 12. He says to Nicodemus,
John 3, 12, If I've told you earthly things and you believe
not, how should you believe if I tell you 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." Now let me ask you.
Is it possible for a man to receive heavenly truths? Yes. But he must be instructed by
and he must be made alive by one who comes down from heaven.
That's the Lord. Yes, the Lord. And remember,
John's intention throughout this book is to set forth the Deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? We know that. We've studied
that already. He's showing us that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Christ of God. Where did He come from? He came
from above. He came from heaven. He came
down from heaven. Well, even though He came, or
since He came down from heaven, is He still God? Yes, He is. He's still the omnipresent God
because He says, even the Son of Man which is in heaven, Nicodemus,
as I speak to you right now, I'm in heaven. Well, how can
that be? He's God. He's God over all,
glorious forever, without beginning or ending, without mother or
father or anything like that. From old eternity, He's God.
He dwelt with the Father. He said, I was by Him in the
book of Proverbs. It says, I was by Him when these
things were made. In John chapter 1, in the beginning
was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not
anything made that was made. Where did He come from? He came
from heaven. He came from heaven to do a heavenly
mission. To do a heavenly job. To finish
a heavenly work. which is the work of saving his
people from their sin. He's gone back to heaven. And
here's what he does today. He uses the same gospel message,
the same witness that he gave forth, the same report, the same
testimony. He uses this to the salvation
of His people. So, we just keep preaching. We just keep setting forth the
Word and He's got to do the work. So don't get discouraged. Don't
get discouraged. Our Savior priests, they didn't
receive what He had to say. They're not going to receive
what you have to say unless our Lord's pleased to do a work of
grace in the heart.