So the Lord Jesus had a lot of
interactions with people while he was on earth. Very interesting
interactions. A lot of different people. The
woman at the well and the rich young ruler. But I think that
one of the most interesting probably is the interaction with Nicodemus
in John 3. Really, this passage, which a
lot of people don't realize, goes all the way from the first
verse to the 21st verse. It captures 316 within the context
of him talking to Nicodemus. A lot of people don't realize
how long the passage is and all that it contains. It really,
by itself, gives a lot of answers about who Jesus is and how salvation
is attained. in this one passage. You really
wouldn't have to go outside John 3, 1 to 21 to understand everything
you needed to understand. It's a great way, I think, to
witness to someone is just to describe this one passage, this
one interaction of the Lord Jesus Christ with Nicodemus on earth. Answers all kinds of things.
For instance, it answers who Jesus is, the Son of Man and
the Son of God, the Only Begotten, all of those are in this passage,
the natural state of man, the new birth and the role of the
Spirit, the sovereignty of God, the necessity of the cross, judgment
versus salvation, faith, the sinful state, along with darkness
versus light and evil deeds. All of that is in this passage.
So let's just go down through the verses and look at what this
has to say. Let me read it as we go. I think you know the passage
very well. We won't read it all at once together, but we'll read
it as we go. Now, there was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. So who was this man? His name was Nicodemus, and he
was a ruler of the Jews. If you look also at verse 10,
you see a very interesting fact that really hadn't caught my
attention till now. Jesus answered and said to him,
are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?
Actually, that definite article is there. Are you the teacher
of Israel? Nicodemus must have been a very important man. He
was evidently in the Sanhedrin, which probably had about 23 people
at that time in it. He was a ruler of the Jews. He
was some kind of super teacher. And so what happened to him later? There are two other verses that
give insight. And of course, we all have the
question, did he really become a Christian ever or not? I believe
he did. John 7, 50. We have him. Nicodemus, he who came to him
before, being one of them, being one of the Sanhedrin or one of
the rulers, said to them, our law does not judge a man unless
he first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it? They
answered him, you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search
and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee. So he's actually
taking up an argument for Jesus in the Sanhedrin or with his
fellow leaders to try to say to them, give this guy a little
more break. You're not treating him fairly.
So that's insightful. Then look at chapter 19, verse
39. This is after the crucifixion. It says, Nicodemus, who had first
come to him by night, and that's interesting, also came bringing
a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. So they took the body of Jesus.
This was Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, the secret disciple. So those are the two men who
took the body of Jesus and dealt with it. Well, I believe he has
to be a disciple by this time. Now, he may have been a secret
one, like Joseph of Arimathea, but he must have been a disciple
by this time, if not exactly in the intercourse with Jesus
at that time. Now, there was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus
by night. Why did he come to him by night?
Was he working all day and just didn't have a chance? Or did
he come under the cover of darkness? That's probably what's implied
here. And later on when it mentions it, remember it says it again,
this is the man who came to him by night. And it's in the context
of maybe the secret coming of them to get the body and all
of that. So he evidently came to him by night to just kind
of do it discreetly and not shout it to all of the Sanhedrin that,
hey, I'm gonna go ask Jesus about a few things. And said to him,
Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for
no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
So he's, I don't think he was saying this to butter him up
because he didn't mean it. I think he was saying this because
he did mean it. He was attributing to Jesus at
least the fact that he was giving him the honor of teacher. And
why? Because of the signs Jesus had
been doing. Those signs were done for a reason.
They were done to prove that he was divine. And here he was
getting some of the fruit of that in Nicodemus. What did Jesus say back to him?
So he was curious. Nicodemus was curious. He was
showing honor, but not full knowledge. And he was recognizing the signs
or miracles that he had either heard about or seen some that
was interesting him. Verse three. really a pretty
off-the-wall answer that Jesus gave to him. Jesus answered and
said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Well, this, okay, put yourself
back in the Jewish world back then, having a knowledge of the
Old Testament, And all of a sudden, this teacher comes forth with
this. It's a rather, it's a completely new concept, right? There's nothing that I can see
in the Old Testament that's really plain about being born from above
or born again. So Jesus coming forth with a
brand new idea here to the whole world. Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Is that a command? No, definitely
not. It's a statement of fact. It's
not in the imperative in Greek. There is no way that you can
make a command out of this. It is a statement that it is
necessary, the Greek word is dei, it is necessary Unless one
is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So he inferred
from Nicodemus' questions that Nicodemus was interested in the
kingdom of God. And he was, I think. And then
he said, no one can get into the kingdom of God unless they're
born again, or born from above. Now, this Greek word, anothan,
does have several meanings. It either means again, or it
means from above. You take your pick. And I don't
know exactly which it is here, although there is a lot of reference
following about above. So I might tend to that side
of things, but it could be either. So what has the world, the so-called Christian
world, done with this passage. They've completely contorted
it and changed it into a command. And Billy Graham command that
you need to be born again. And how do you get born again?
By trusting in Jesus. So we have it totally backwards.
Whereas this passage teaches that you are born again and then
you have faith to trust in the Lord, and other passages. So,
all I wanted to say on this verse was, it's not a command, it's
not a command to be born again, it's a necessity that if you
ever want to see the kingdom of God, it's a must that you
be born again. And you see that also in verse
seven. He repeats it again. Instead, this is a testimony
to God's sovereign act. It's regeneration, it's the new
birth, and then faith. And so this is completely new. If we could just realize that
in this passage, how new a concept this is. So Nicodemus is learning
a lot here. Now, verses four through seven
is the natural versus the spiritual birth. Nicodemus said to him,
how can a man be born when he's old? He cannot enter a second
time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? Now, this was
a smart man. Obviously, he didn't think that. He was kind of just
talking, just raising the issue, saying to Jesus, let's talk some
more about this, because I'm not getting it yet. You can't
enter your mother again and be born. So Jesus answered, truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit,
He cannot enter the kingdom of God. Okay, so a little more knowledge. I don't believe the water here
is baptism, but it could be. I think the water here is the
water of physical birth. The water sack and all of the
experience we have around the natural birth is a water thing.
But he says, and this was to be in the context, okay, Nicodemus,
the need is not just to be born naturally or of water, but it's
to be born of the spirit. So now he's introducing the idea
that it is the Holy Spirit who is the agent of this new birth. Once again, a new idea. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. So, so far we've learned that
you can't get into the kingdom of heaven except this new or
birth from above, and that it's the Holy Spirit who's really
doing that. And then in verse seven, do not
be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. He probably
was amazed. And that's why Jesus said to
him, don't be so amazed. This is the way it has to be.
Now, verse eight, the wind, now, that's the word pneuma, okay? The wind, pneuma, blows where
it wishes and you hear the sound of it but do not know where it
comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of
the pneuma, spirit. So the Greek word pneuma can
mean spirit and it can mean wind. So here you have it used both
way and obviously it's a play on words in this verse because
it has so much meaning that way. Now, how do you know then the
first use of it is is wind and not spirit? Well, because he
uses this verb blows, which is P-N-E-I, newt and I. So that's
definitely a word meaning blows. And you wouldn't say the spirit
blows. So this part of the verse definitely
means the wind blows where it wishes. And you hear the sound
of it, but not know where it comes from, or where it's going.
So is everyone who is born of the pneuma spirit. What a wonderful
verse this is, to the sovereignty of God. Nobody can channel the
wind, even in our modern society. Yes, we can, I guess you could
say we can channel it in a way, but it's gonna blow where it
wants. And God is going to save who he wants. And his spirit
is going to work on who he wants. And that's this whole verse.
It's the sovereignty of God. It's wonderful. Nicodemus said
to him, how can these things be? He's really reeling by now. And he's been amazed, and now
he's asking, how can it be? So in verses 9 through 12, we're
going to see knowledge and faith. Actually, what you need is revelation.
You need the work of the Spirit to understand this stuff. That's
the answer, Nicodemus. How can these things be? Jesus
answered and said to him, are you the teacher of Israel and
do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we
speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you
do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things
and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly
things? No one, now another truth, no
one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven,
the son of man. Wow, that is another, blasphemy
to to the Jews right that he came down from heaven declaring
equality with God declaring the divinity equal with God because
that's what that means so he's now claiming the Lord Jesus is
claiming to be the Son of Man who will will ascend into heaven
because he descended from heaven. He came down directly from God
and he will go back directly to God the Father. Then, verse
14, and this is the throwback to the Old Testament passage
that Nicodemus would have known so well. As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. So now he's heading into the
sacrifice of all time, the cross. So you see how the whole gospel
is coming to us in this one passage. He said where he's from, that
he's divine. He said how you must be born
again or from above to see the King of God. And now he's saying
how the price is gonna be paid for all of this. And it's harking
back to the Old Testament passage in Numbers 21, a wonderful passage
about what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness when
they started grumbling and disobeying God, and he sent the serpents
among them. They started biting them and
killing them. And remember, he told Moses to make and raise
up a brass serpent on a rod, in the midst of the camp, and
that anybody who looked up at that rod of that serpent on that
rod would be healed of that snake bite, of their snake bite. They
did it, and it happened. So now he's saying, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. direct reference to the crucifixion.
So that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. So now we get eternal life and
it's through faith. And whoever has faith in this
son of God who's gonna be lifted up on the cross will have eternal
life. So the crucifixion and eternal
life and the role of faith. Four, and here we get to the
most famous verse in all the world out of the Bible, so misquoted,
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. It's all in the context of the
talk with Nicodemus. Love, now we have love, God's
love is being exhibited so much that he sent his monogenes son,
only begotten. So much written about this word,
monogenes. Its emphasis is not on the begotten. You know, you get your critics
to say this means that Jesus was begotten. No, it doesn't
mean he had a start or a beginning. This word, it was used in the
older Greek of the phoenix bird who rose out of, it was a one-of-a-kind
bird, the phoenix. Here are the other uses of this
word monogenes in the New Testament. Luke 7, 12, the widow of Nain's
son, he was an only son. Luke 842 was the only daughter,
only daughter. In Luke 938, the only, another
only son. Then in John itself, John 114
and 18, let's turn to that. It's important that we see how
this word is used in John's own writings. John 114, and the word
became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory, glory
as of the monogenes from the Father, full of grace and truth. Then, in verse 18, no one has
seen God at any time, the only, the monogenes God, now, there's
a variant reading here, the King James has God, but other, you know, texts found from early
on have son there. The only begotten son. So it's
questionable whether that one is God or son, but same difference.
Monogenes, either God or son, who is in the bosom of the Father,
he has explained him. Then 316 and 318, we've already
seen that, it's going to happen later in verse 18. And Hebrews
1117 of Isaac, Isaac was the only son, because Ishmael didn't
count, in 1 John 4, 9. Those are the uses of monogenes
in the New Testament. So, I believe the main emphasis
is unique son. It's the unique son. Now, there's
a lot written about eternal generation, I know, and all of that, and
that's great, but probably too much for me to understand, so
I just kind of take it to mean the unique son. Verses 17 and
18, judgment versus salvation. For God did not send the Son
into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved
through him. Now we have salvation, that idea.
He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe
has been judged already. because he's not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. So in his talk with
Nicodemus, he's ending up with the importance of faith and that
you must believe in me, in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's saying,
in the only begotten Son. to have this eternal life. So he's putting it all on himself,
saying who he is, that he's the entrance into the kingdom and
that you've got to believe in him. This is the judgment that
now, in verses 19, we get into darkness, evil, sin. the whole darkness of man. This
is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men
love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were
evil. For everyone who does evil hates
the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds
will be exposed. This is sin. This is why we don't,
in our natural state, come to the Lord Jesus. But he who practices
the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested
as having been wrought in God." That's a perfect tense. It's
past with continuing results. So there's another mention of
the sovereignty of God. If any of us do any good works,
namely in this context, believing in Jesus Christ, it's because
it was wrought by God before. Faith was given to us. It's not
our doing. And so this whole passage is
a tremendous recount of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in one
potent conversation with a very important man in Israel who came
to Jesus to find out the spiritual side of life. He got all the
answers. And then, of course, the question
is, was he elect or not? I believe he was. Great passage, and I think it's
worth our study even more and our use maybe when we're talking
to people.