I can but perish if I go. I am
resolved to try. For if I stay away, I know I
must forever die. Oh, but if I die with mercy sought,
when I the king have tried, this were to die delightful thought,
as sinner never died. Oh, I believe I'll come to him. God give you grace now to come
to the Savior. John chapter 3. We have before us here one of
the most important of all portions of Holy Scripture. God the Holy
Spirit in the first 21 verses of this third chapter of John's
Gospel has recorded and preserved for us the conversation between
our Lord Jesus and Nicodemus, that well-educated, highly respected,
learned master in Israel. This is very important because
nowhere in Scripture are we given stronger, plainer statements
about the new birth and salvation by faith in Christ alone. Nowhere in scripture are we given
plainer, stronger statements about those things that are essential
to the saving of our souls. In the first part of our Lord's
conversation with Nicodemus, he declared the necessity of
the new birth, asserting that we must be born again. We must
be born again because without the new birth, no man can see
or understand anything spiritual. Except you be born again, you
cannot see the kingdom of God. Until a person is born again,
he has no ability or capacity whatsoever to understand anything
spiritual, divine, or heavenly. You must be born again, or you
cannot see the kingdom of God. And we must be born again because
without the new birth, we are unfit to enter into heavenly
glory. Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Except you be born from above, except you have a holy nature
imparted to you, created in you, except Christ be formed in you,
you cannot enter into heaven's glory. And then having declared
the necessity of the new birth, in verse 8 our Savior showed
Nicodemus and shows us that this new birth is an act of God the
Holy Spirit in absolute sovereignty. The wind bloweth where it listeth. 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. The wind is invisible. You can't see it. But you can
see where it's been. So it is with God the Holy Spirit.
The wind is sovereign in its actions. It is beyond man's control. It doesn't consult with us and
it's not regulated by us. So it is with God the Holy Spirit. God declares, I have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. If the wind of God blows your
way, it'll be up to Him. That's what he says. The wind
is irresistible. When it blows in its power, it
sweeps everything before it. Nothing stands before the wind
of God. And so the Spirit of God, when
he comes in his mighty saving power, breaks down the will of
man, subdues his nature, conquers the man himself, and breaks down
his prejudices, sweetly forcing him into the arms of the Savior. sometimes apologize for preaching
grace, you know, and I hear preachers now, we don't we don't mean to
suggest that God forces you to get saved against your will.
Oh, yes, he does. He most certainly does. If he
didn't force you against your will, you'd never be made willing
in the day of his power. He sweetly constrains believing
centers to come to him by giving us faith in his darling son.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto
thee. Now in our text this morning,
John chapter 3 verses 9 through 21, our Lord's conversation with
Nicodemus continues. His doctrine of regeneration
is immediately followed by his doctrine of justification. He
tells us how sinners obtain God's salvation without works of any
kind by faith in Christ alone. And after declaring the necessity
and the nature of the new birth to Nicodemus, this man Nicodemus
answered, verse 9, and said unto him, How can these things be? Now that's my subject this morning.
How can these things be? How can you? be saved? How can I? How can you be born
of God? How can I? How can you enter
into heaven's glory and find yourself accepted in the presence
of the thrice holy God eternally? How can I? How can these things
be? I'm going to show you five things
in these verses. I won't be long on any of them,
but I want you to see them. Our Lord addresses the matter
of Nicodemus' spiritual ignorance as it was displayed in his folly. And then in verses 12 and 13,
the Lord Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about heavenly things and earthly
things. And then in verses 14 and 15,
he shows us another necessity. Not only is the new birth necessary,
he tells us that the death of Christ is necessary. And in verses
16 and 17, he shows us the cause of it all. It is the love of
God. And then in the verses 18 through
21, he shows us that this salvation is obtained by faith alone. All right, let's begin then in
verse 9. How can these things be? The
very first thing set before us in this passage is a glaring
display of spiritual ignorance. Here is a man, much like men
in our day, who was a master in Israel. A master in Israel. He was learned in all matters
of religious tradition. Learned in all matters of religious
thought. Fully acquainted with all the
theological trends of his day. A man of letters and degrees
who was utterly ignorant of all things spiritual. How can these
things be? Verse 10, Jesus answered and
said unto him, Art thou a master in Israel? Are you the head honcho down
at the synagogue? Are you the master who teaches
preachers how to preach? Are you the theologian who teaches
other theologians? and knowest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and
testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. When
Nicodemus was told about the new birth, and our Lord began to explain
to him not only its necessity, but it being the sovereign work
of God the Holy Spirit, Nicodemus was dumbfounded. And his question,
how can these things be, reveals the ignorance of all men by nature. Even well-trained, academically
superior men, men who are highly honored in the world, are ignorant
spiritually. I don't know how to state things
as bluntly as I really want to state them. I hear folks talk about religion.
And when I hear them talk, if I'm not angry, I want to laugh
in their faces. I just want to laugh at them.
I want to laugh out loud. I'm talking about brilliant folks.
I just want to laugh. Because when they open their
mouths, They display ignorance, utter ignorance of all things
spiritual. They demonstrate the fact of
Solomon's words in Proverbs 419. Listen, the way of the wicked
is darkness. And they don't even know what
they're stumbling. They trip and fall and don't have a clue
what they're falling over. Because their understanding is
dark, They're alienated from the life of God through ignorance,
the ignorance that's in them, because of the blindness of their
heart. If we would understand the things
of God, we must be taught of God. We must be born again by
God's Spirit. Even though God became incarnate,
and stood here in front of Nicodemus and talked to him about earthly
things, earthly spiritual things. He spoke to him in language of
a man. Nicodemus would not receive our
Savior's words, and he didn't understand them. Even preachers
and teachers and religious leaders and theologians are often ignorant
of divine truth. And the fact that a preacher
graduated with honors from a very highly reputed theological center
is no indication that he knows anything about God. Turn to John
chapter 6. Let me look at a couple of verses
with you. Our Lord Jesus says, No man can
come to me, verse 44, except the Father which hath sent me
draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written
in the prophets and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. Our Savior declares
that the only way anyone will ever come to me is if they're
taught of God and he declares that all who are taught of God
shall come to me. They will learn of God. Nicodemus
was one of those pastors in Israel who had long since ceased to
feed the Church of God with knowledge and understanding, but rather
fed themselves. The blind were leading the blind,
and both were falling into the ditch. The successes of these
men are abundant in every age, and we have an abundance of them
all around us in our day. They demonstrate plainly, the
natural man receiveth not the things of the kingdom of God,
or the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned. Now look
at the next verse, and you'll find out why they don't understand. John chapter 3, verse 11. After chiding Nicodemus for his
ignorance, the Lord blamed him for it. Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, we speak that we do not know, and testify that We
speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive
not our witness. Now the reason sinners do not
know the things of God is twofold. It's twofold. First, they're
without the ability to discern things spiritual. I've often
said to you, no need to get too upset with a blind man because
he can't see. They just can't see. No need in getting angry
with him. I do not mean, however, that
he is not to be blamed for not seeing. I do not mean that he's
not to be blamed for his ignorance, because his ignorance is willful
ignorance. You see, not only is it true
that folks do not see and understand the things of God because they
have no ability, but they refuse to believe what God reveals plainly
in His Word. It's not just that they can't
believe, they won't believe. And they can't believe because
they will not believe. Turn to John chapter 5. None
are so blind as those who will not see. As we believe God's
Word, as we believe God's revelation of Himself, we understand that
which is revealed. And there's no understanding
until you believe. Let me see if I can illustrate
it. By faith we understand that the
worlds were framed by the Word of God. Now, most of you folks
have been to school and you've been taught some of the nonsense
with regard to evolution. Our children go to school now
and they, in kindergarten, you know, they're just convinced
the world's billions of years old and, you know, it just has
evolved from this, that, and other, from some form of life
that was less than pymal ooze, all this stuff just came into
being. And some of you look at me like, well, you fool, don't
you believe that? No. What does it take to believe
that foolishness? I mean, what kind of imagination
does it take to come up with it? And what kind of incredible,
incredible, baseless confidence in that imagination does it take
to believe it? To believe that the ordering
of the planets and the ordering of the seasons, and the decoration
of the field, and the shape of the snow as it falls from the
sky. All of that, let alone your physical being. Let alone that. Well, this all happened by an
explosion out yonder somewhere billions of years ago and there
was this stuff that just started to evolve. And here we are. Wow, isn't that profound? And
smart folks believe that stupidity. Smart folks believe it. And they
laugh at us for we declare God created the heavens and the earth. They laugh at you. What they don't understand, I'm
laughing at them. And I'm not surprised that they're
laughing because they're insane. Insane with rebellion and unbelief. Preacher, don't you tell me I'm
insane. I'll tell you worse than that. Just give me a chance.
You're heapsight worse than insane. You're willfully insane. with
rebellion and unbelief, willfully so. By faith, we understand. Why don't you believe that? Well,
God said in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Oh, man, that makes sense. Now I understand how this happened.
There's somebody out yonder who is my heavenly father, the God
of omniscience and omnipotence. who in great wisdom, skill, and
power devised all these things in intricate detail in his own
purpose and created things as they are and rules them exactly
according to his purpose. And so I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. I went to a doctor a few years
back. I've had this surgical hernia
here and My wife was getting concerned with it, and so Dr. Henderson sent me over to this
doctor in Lexington, and we sat and talked a little bit, and
he said, well, your stomach is designed with a lining, and the
lining is designed, those are the words he used, the lining
is designed to plug a hole, and the lining has done what it was
designed to do, the hole was plugged. And I thought, that's
good, that's good. I'm fearfully, and wonderfully
made. And I believe God. We understand
God's revelation as we believe God's revelation. And there is
no understanding until there's believing. I don't care how logically
it's presented. I don't care how well-argued
it is. I don't care how factual it is.
No one understands anything spiritual until he believes on the Son
of God. John 5, verse 40. Our Savior
says, Ye will not come to me that ye might have life. I receive
not honor from men. But I know you, that you have
not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name,
and you receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him you will receive. It doesn't matter what he teaches.
It doesn't matter what he says. It doesn't matter how foolhardy
his propositions are. You'll receive him. He comes
in his own name. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another? and seek not that honor that
cometh from God. All right, second, our Lord Jesus
here shows us earthly things and heavenly. In verse 12, this
might seem a little confusing, but listen carefully. What are
those earthly things and those heavenly things of which our
Savior speaks? If I've told you earthly things, and you believe
not, excuse me, if I told you earthly
things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you
of heavenly things? And he proceeds to tell us of
heavenly things in verse 13. Earthly things? What earthly
things has he been talking about? What's he been talking about?
He hadn't been talking about politics. He hadn't been talking
about economics. He hadn't been talking about
Raising your family. What's he talking about earthly
things? He's talking about things done on the earth Earthly things
he's referring to the new birth He's talking about that which
God the Holy Spirit does for sinners in this world by which
he fits them for heavenly glory. I Nicodemus ought to have known
about these earthly things, about the wind of God, from God's prophets
in Ezekiel 36 and 37. If he did not believe God's word,
however, about these things, about God giving His Spirit in
you, putting His Spirit in you, and causing His Spirit, like
the wind, to blow upon you and cause you to be raised from the
dead. How could he believe if he were told of heavenly things? Our Lord says, if you don't receive
what I say concerning earthly things, it's useless for me to
tell you about heavenly things, but I will interject something
here. Unless, unless God, the Holy Spirit, takes the word I
speak to you and seals it to you. So you know what he did? He proceeded to tell him about
heavenly things. Look at verse 13. And no man
hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man which is in heaven. What on earth is he telling us?
Nicodemus, nobody has ever gone up to heaven except that man
who came down from heaven. Now remember the order. He talks
first about someone ascending up to heaven. And then talks
about himself, the Son of Man, who's come down from heaven.
And then he says, by the way, I'm still there. What? I can see Nicodemus now. He's scratching his head. What
on earth are you talking about? And you know what? I sit there
and look at that scratch my head too. Well, what are you talking
about? He's talking about himself. Before ever he came down from
heaven, he ascended in heaven as our surety and mediator. And that which is accomplished
on the earth in the new birth is accomplished because of what
He accomplished in heaven as our surety, the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, by which we were justified and
sanctified and glorified before ever the world was made, by which
we were forgiven before ever we entered into sin in the fall
of our father Adam. He says, I've ascended already.
And because of that, now I've come down here. I've come down
to the earth, and while I'm here on this earth, all the while
I'm here, I'm still in heaven. I'm still seated at the right
hand of the majesty on high, not in my divinity alone, but
as the son of man, as the God-man mediator, the representative
and covenant surety of my people. Well, wait a minute, Brother
Don. Didn't the Scriptures tell us that Enoch was translated? He went to heaven? Yep, it does. Doesn't the scripture say that
Elijah was translated to heaven? It does. Well, what's the Lord
saying here? No man has ascended up to heaven
except the Son of Man that came down from heaven. Does that mean
then that no one has ever gone to heaven before him? Is that what it means? And there
are folks who dare say so. They'll tell you that God's saints
in the Old Testament were in something shortly, slightly different
from purgatory in some limbo state until the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus. But he didn't just say no man
ever has. The implication is no man ever
could. No man has ascended up to heaven, but he came down from
heaven. Christ and his church Together
are one Christ and one man and one person. He's the head, we're
the body. And we ascended with Him and
sat down with Him before ever the world was made. And these
are the heavenly things that are at the root of these earthly
things. We enter into heaven as did Enoch
and Elijah, as did all the saints of old. Those who were in heaven
before our Lord came into the world were there because they
had ascended with him. And we are there because we have
ascended with him. And we shall be there because
we shall ascend with him. Verse 14, our Lord spoke of another
necessity. He had said, except you be born
of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.
The new birth, this new creation, is the imparting of a divine
or eternal life. It's having a new righteous nature
imparted to us and created in us by God the Holy Spirit. But
before any sinner can be born again, are you listening? Before
any sinner can be born again, Before any sinner can have a
new righteous nature given him, by which he is fitted for glory,
there is another necessity. Justice must be satisfied. The
Son of God must die. There's no other way by which
God Almighty can save your soul and mine. Verse 14, 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. Eternal life cannot be bestowed
by God upon us until God does something for Himself. Brother
Scott Richardson used to say, and said it often, God's got
to do something for Himself before He'd do anything for you. God
must do something for himself before he can do anything for
you. He must satisfy his own justice. He must be just, a just
God, or he cannot be our Savior. And Jesus Christ is that sacrifice
by whom justice is satisfied. Turn to Isaiah chapter 53. The
sacrificial work of our Lord Jesus Christ is the basis of
the Spirit's operations and the ground of God's gift of eternal
life. Isaiah 53, verse 4. Surely He
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem
Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And here's the
result. With his stripes we are healed. He suffered all the horror
of God's holy wrath and the fury of God's justice as our substitute. And having satisfied the justice
of God, having swallowed up the wrath of God, having put away
our sins by the sacrifice of Himself, we are now healed by
His grace. It is the Son of God, the Son
of Man, who must be crucified. Not just one who is God, for
God could never suffer. Not just one who is man, for
man could never satisfy, but the God-man who can both suffer
and satisfy. The Son of Man who is one with
us in the nature that sin and in the nature that fail. He suffers
the wrath of God and suffers the wrath of God as one who is
infinitely meritorious. infinitely effectual, whose worth
is of infinite value. And so he has satisfied the justice
of God for us. To illustrate it, our Lord refers
us to Numbers 21. You don't need to turn there,
but if you want to, later it's in Numbers chapter 21. The children
of Israel had murmured against the Lord, and he sent fiery serpents
among them. And the serpents bit the people. And the bite of these serpents
brought death. And the people said to Moses,
we've said against God, you entreat the Lord for us. And Moses entreated
the Lord for the people. And God said, Moses, you make
a serpent like those serpents and make it of brass and hold
it up on a pole. And it will come to pass that
everyone that looks to that serpent will be healed of the bite and
the sting of death from the bite of the fiery serpents. And it
says, as Moses lifted up the serpent, even so shall the Son
of Man be lifted up. That's not what he said. Even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. How come? Because without Him
being lifted up upon the curse tree, there is no way God can
forgive sin. No way God can be just and justify
the ungodly. No way God can look on your soul
and forgive your sin. But now, because Christ has been
lifted up, because He's been lifted up specifically as the
object of curse, Do you know there was just one animal in
all God's creation specifically that God said is cursed? The
serpent. The only one. The only one. The
curse reaches to the whole creation but God said concerning the serpent,
cursed is the serpent. And so our Lord Jesus is properly
represented by the brazen serpent. The cursed thing. Because Christ
being made sin for us was made a curse for us. And the result is this, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life, eternal life. The truth set before us here
is the very foundation stone of our faith, substitution. Christ's death is our life. His cross is our title to heaven. Christ lifted up and put to shame
at Calvary is the ladder by which we enter into the holiest and
descend at last into heavenly glory. We're sinners, but Christ
suffered for us. We deserve death, but he died
for us. We're guilty, but he bore our
guilt. We're debtors, but he paid our
debt. And this is the good news of
the gospel we believe. This is that upon which we lean
while we live. And to this we cling when we
die. Fourth, verses 16 and 17. Our Savior shows us the cause
of it all. For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. The very same word in verse
15, translated here everlasting, is there translated eternal. I wonder why. I think it's because
our translators determined that It would be inappropriate to
say for sure which. Eternal or everlasting. Well,
we don't really have eternal life because it's just from everlasting.
We get it from the time we're born again and then it's ours
from now on. But the word means eternal. Because we do have eternal life. Christ is our eternal surety.
and we are eternally one in Him, and we eternally live in Him,
and we come to experience life in time everlastingly by faith
in Him. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. John 3.14 declares the remedy
for sin. Christ must be lifted up. John
3.15 declares the result. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life. John 3.16 is the reason. For God so loved the world that
he gave. The cross of Christ is the display
of God's righteousness, holiness, justice, and truth. But don't
ever forget, it's more than that. It is the display of God's indescribable,
infinite love for sinners. When did God love? He loved past
tense from everlasting. How did God love? He so loved. Who can measure the immeasurable?
The love of God that passes all knowledge and understanding. Oh, the height and length and
breadth of the love of God. It reaches up to heaven. It stretches around the world
and it stretches back to eternity and stretches on to eternity. God so loved the world that he
gave. is ever giving. It's ever giving. Amy's fixing to get married.
You learn to love that man that way or don't marry him. Ever
giving. Not taking. Not receiving. Giving. giving, ever giving. And this is how He loved us.
He gave His only begotten Son. He gave the darling of His heart.
He gave His Son for us. Herein is love Not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. It is not that Christ came down
here and died to get God to love us, but Christ died for us because
God loved us. T'was not to make Jehovah's love
toward his people flame that Jesus from the throne above a
suffering man became. T'was not the death which he
endured nor all the pains he bore that God's eternal love
procured, for God was love before. He loved the world of his elect
with love surpassing thought, nor will his mercy e'er neglect
the souls so dearly bought. And here's the benefit of God's
love. That whosoever believeth on him
should not perish. Now, because of Christ's sacrifice, any sinner in all the world,
ah, but I'm not talking to them right now, any sinner in this
room You. You, Larry Brown, if you believe,
won't perish. Won't perish. But have everlasting
life. Oh, well, you're telling us that
our faith gives us life. That's what we've been saying
all along. Oh, no. No, that's not what the Lord
said. He said, He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting
life. Faith in Him is the fruit and
the result of the life He gives. Our faith no more gives us life
than our faith justifies our souls. Our faith receives that
which He has done for us both at Calvary and in grace. But
still it stands, whosoever believeth, on the Son of God shall never
die. Never die. Who is it God loved? The world. Now try to put yourself in Nicodemus'
shoes. Nicodemus is a proud, arrogant,
self-righteous Pharisee, a Jew. And this is how they would pray.
Lord, I thank you that I'm not a woman, a dog, or a Gentile. And that's how they thought.
Lord, I thank you that I'm a Jew. The very same thing as if you
spoke to a white supremacist and declared to him that God
loves black folks just like he loves white folks. Or if you
spoke to a black supremacist and declared that God loves white
folks just like he loves black folks. What's our Lord saying? God loves sinners. As yonder in the world The world. Nicodemus understood by the word
world just exactly what religious folks do today. There's us and
the world. Us and the world. And the Lord
says to Nicodemus, God's love is not limited to you, your race,
and your religion. God loves sinners scattered in
the four corners of the earth, wherever they're found. Find
me a sinner. Find me one. I'll tell him up
front, God loves you. He chose you. Christ died for
you. You're saved by God's free grace. Find me one. See, you
wouldn't tell a man that. Find me one. Well, brother Don,
everybody's sinners. Go ask them. Sit down at that
dinner, wherever you go to lunch, and you hear some fools talking
about religion, ask them if they're sinners, and listen to them qualify
it. Well, sort of. I would exactly
use that kind of language. But sort of, yeah. I've done
some wrong. Who is it that God loves? He
loves His elect, scattered through all the world. And these are
they who believe on His Son. Verse 18. Our Lord Jesus declares
to us that sinners obtain all the blessedness of salvation
and eternal life in Christ by faith alone. He that believeth
on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. You who believe, for you there's
no condemnation. Because Christ was condemned
in your stead. You who believe not, you're condemned already. You were born condemned. Born
under the curse. Children of wrath by nature,
even as others. Because you believe not, your
condemnation and guilt is continually aggravated by your willful, obstinate
unbelief. Christ didn't come to condemn,
you were condemned already. Christ came that the condemned
might live. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world. And men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light. that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought of God, wrought in God. We continually come to Him who
is the light, and His light casts light upon
our souls. And believing on the Son of God,
he declares that we are born of God. There's just one question
to be answered, not what do you do. I'm so tired of hearing folks
point centers to what they do. So don't you think works are
important? And not near as much as most
folks do. Aren't you scared folks are going to start behaving badly?
No. Everybody I know behaves pretty
badly. You too. What's the place of works in
this thing? No place. No place. No place for works. None whatsoever. Oh, you've got
to qualify that. Okay. None at all. No place. One question. Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? Do you? Well, I don't have all the knowledge
you folks have. That's not the matter. That's not the issue.
Well, I don't understand things as fully as I think I ought to.
That's not the question. I don't feel my sin as much as
I ought to. Me either. Well, what's the basis then of
your hope and your assurance and confidence before God? I
believe on the Son of God. You know what that means? I have eternal life and I shall
never perish. Oh, God give you that faith for
Christ's sake. Amen.