All right, John chapter 3. This man Nicodemus, he was a sincere man. Turn to John 7, verse 50 a moment. He was a decent, devout, religious
man, but he was a sincere man. In John 7, verse 50, we find
him defending. He was with the Pharisees, but
he was defending our Lord and his people. All the people and the rulers
were against our Lord. And here in
verse 50, Nicodemus saith unto them, he that came to Jesus by
night, being one of them, being one of the Pharisees, Doth our
Lord judge any man before it hear him, and know what he doeth? Then answered they unto him,
Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look, for out of Galilee
ariseth no prophet. Every man went to his own house,
but somehow he calmed that counsel. Then in John chapter
19. John 19, verse, after our Lord
had died on the cross, John 19, verse 39. And Joseph of Arimathea
went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus. Let's read
verse 38. John 19, 38. And after this,
Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus. This might apply to
Nicodemus, too. But secretly, for fear of the
Jews, they sought Pilate that he might take away the body of
Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. He came, therefore, and took
the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus,
which at first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture
of myrrh and aloes, a hundred-pound weight. took they, these two
men, took the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with
the spices in the manner of the Jews and buried it in Joseph's
tomb. So the man's interesting. He's a devout, religious man,
but the thing Nicodemus did not understand was that eternal life
and salvation was not in the law, not in the ceremonies. not in the Jewish traditions.
That's where he thought they were. He's like that other Pharisee
that says, I tithe, I give alms, I fast, I keep the law. Like Saul of Tarsus, you know,
he said, there was a time when concerning the law, I was blameless. And this man didn't understand
that salvation wasn't in those things. He didn't understand
that salvation is in Christ. You understand that, and I do.
He didn't. We understand that salvation is in Christ, his blood,
his righteousness. He's our substitute. And this
salvation is ours by a union with Christ. And that union with
Christ is through faith in Christ. And that faith comes by being
born again. It's a gift of God. It comes
by the word of God. He didn't know those things.
So this conversation took place. We read it a moment ago. Now
look at verse 12. And our Lord said in verse 11,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we know, that we
do know. We testify that we have seen. And you receive not our witness.
Now Nicodemus, if I told you earthly things and you didn't
believe me. How should you believe if I tell
you heavenly things? Now the Lord said that to him
in answer to a statement he made back here in verse 9. Nicodemus
answered and said, how can these things be? How can they be? How can a man be born again?
How can a man understand the kingdom of God? How can a man
enter the kingdom of God? How can these things be? And
Christ said, if I told you earthly things and you didn't believe
them. What's he is telling you heavenly things? You won't believe.
Now I ask you this question. What are the earthly things he
told you? Have you ever thought about that? This, we have the
whole conversation right here. Between Nicodemus came, Master
we know your teacher come from God. Christ said something, he
answered. Christ said something, he answered.
Christ said the third thing and he answered. And then Christ
said, I told you earthly things and you didn't believe them.
What were the earthly things he told you? So here's the first
one, verse 3. Jesus answered and said, I say
unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Man is a sinner. Man's dead in
trespasses and sins. Man died in Adam, by one man's
sin entered the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men. And he's a helpless, hopeless,
dead sinner with no understanding of spiritual things. No understanding
of God. He died in Adam. Now, Nicodemus,
that's an earthly truth. That's something you ought to
understand. That's something you ought to know. That's something
that's revealed throughout the scriptures, that something happened
in the Garden of Eden. It happened to Adam, it happened
to all his posterity. We died, we're dead, we're not
spiritual. Nicodemus had read Genesis 1,
2, and 3. How man lost the truth and lost
the way to God and lost the life of God. He died. And here he comes and speaks
to our Lord and our Lord said, Nicodemus, accept a man's recreated,
regenerated, born again. He can't understand. He can't
see. He can't hear. He can't enter
into the things of God, spiritual matters. That's an earthly truth. That's a fact. But you don't
believe that. And Nicodemus said, well, how
can he be born? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb? Here's the second earthly thing Christ
taught him. He said, Nicodemus, verse 6, that which is born of
the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the flesh.
If you entered your mother's womb six times and were born,
you'd be born six times a dead sinner. You can't give yourself
life. Nobody else can give you life.
Life is from above. Listen. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh. It'll stay flesh. That's a fact.
That's an earthly truth. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. That which is born of the word and born of God and
born of the truth That's spiritual. And here's earthly truth that
you don't believe. Man's dead. Hopeless, helpless,
dead sinner. Appeal to him all you want to,
but he's still dead. Braggle on him or curse him,
he's still dead. Preach the gospel to him, he's still dead. Urge
him to do things for God, he's still dead. He's going to stay
dead until he's born again. And that new birth is from above. That new birth is not of the
earth. It can't be accomplished here. You can walk them down
the aisle, you can put them in the pool, you can feed them the Lord's
table, you can give them communion, you can bless them, you can pat
them on the head, knock them on the floor and cover them with
a blanket, they're still there. But God can give them life. And
God does it through the Word. They're born, that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. That which is born of the water
and the blood, the water and the blood. Let thy healing stream
which flows, from thy riven side which flows, be of sin the double
cure, save from wrath and make me pure. Water and blood, born
from above. Now that's a fact, but you don't
believe it. And my generation doesn't believe
it. They don't believe man's lost. You can't get a man saved
if you get him lost. A man won't be found if he's
lost. You've got to believe that. So
what's the use of me telling you how a man can be found if
you don't believe he's lost? What's the use of me telling
you how a man can live if you don't believe he's dead? What's the use of me telling
you how a man can know God if he thinks he already does and
got him a false God? That's two earthly things that
I told you and you don't believe. Now here's the third one. Verse
8. The wind bloweth where it pleases. The wind bloweth where it will.
And you hear the sound, but you can't tell whence it's
coming. You see the results, but you don't know where it came
from. And you can't make it come. You can't blow wind, rain come
down. Can't do it. God sends the wind. And so the third thing I told
you is that salvation is of the Lord, that he'll save whom he
will, he'll call whom he will, he'll quicken whom he will, he'll
be merciful to whom he will. It's not of the will of man,
it's not of the will of the flesh, it's of God. The wind, who's
the wind? Well, when Ezekiel stood on that
mountain, and saw that valley of dry bones,
dry, bleached, parched, barren bones, been dead a long time. And the Lord said, Ezekiel, can
these bones live? Ezekiel knew they were dead.
He knew they were powerless. God said, can they live? He said,
Lord, you know. Ezekiel knew these earthly things.
He said, you know. He said, preach to them. And
he said, I preached to them. And bone came to bone and so
forth and so on, but they were still dead. And the Lord said,
Ezekiel, they had no breath in them, they had no life in them.
The Lord said, Ezekiel, prophesy to the wind and cry, O breath
of God, O breath of God, breathe on these things. And he said,
I prophesy, and the wind blew. And the breath of God came upon
them, and they stood up, the great army, and lived. Now then, that's these earthly
things. See, the Bible is an earthly book. It's written by
men. God inspired them, but they wrote it. The Bible can be read
by an earthly man, is written by an earthly man, tells all
these The scripture is earthly, but the understanding of it is
heavenly. That's the difference. And the
preachers this morning, preaching the Bible, say he preaches the
Bible. All of them do. All of them do. In some way. But the understanding
of it is spiritual. So Nicodemus, verse 12, I told
you earthly truth, man's dead. I told you earthly truth, he
cannot give himself life. I told you fact, God can. And that's clearly written throughout
the pages of God's word. And how should you believe if
I tell you about these heavenly blessings and this glorious good
news and spiritual truth in the Redeemer? 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, several things here. Number one,
our Lord is saying no man can ascend up into heaven, and no
man can penetrate the hidden counsels of God. Can you, by searching, find out
God? Can you find out the almighty
unto perfection, and there's no other way to know him but
unto perfection? What can you do? It's deeper
than hell. What can you know? It's higher
than the heaven. No man can ascend to heaven and penetrate the hidden
mysteries and counsels of a holy God. worms in the dust and flesh
and confined to this old earth. Will
God pardon sin? Will God show mercy to the guilty? Can he be clean as born of a
woman? If a man dies, shall he live
again? How can God be just and justified? How are we going to find out
these things? invade heaven. No man has ascended
to heaven. All of our information is here.
But one day, listen, no man can ascend to heaven but he that
came down, he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man, Son of God, Son of Man, Almighty God, eternal God in
the flesh, Son of Man. He that descended is the same
that ascended, and he that ascended is the same that descended. Even
the Son of Man, now watch this phrase, which is in heaven, which, even while here speaking to Nicodemus,
the Son of Man is in heaven. Heaven is his habitation. Heaven
is his residence. Heaven is his throne. Earth is
his footstool, but he rested there. He was made for a little
while lower than the angels, and he alone is qualified. He
alone is qualified to reveal these heavenly things. But I've
got to, I've got to ascribe to and believe the earthly things,
the Word, the to learn these heavenly things.
Here's the remedy. Christ will give it to him. Here's
the key. Here's the gospel. How can these
things be? He tells him. Do you reckon Nicodemus
heard him? I hope he did. I hope he did. But the new birth is an impartation
of divine life by the Spirit of God, by the power of God,
and it's imparted to men. by faith in the Son who was lifted
up. That's what he's going to tell
us in verse 14. And, Nicodemus, as Moses lifted
up that serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. Let's turn to Numbers 21 and
see what happened in the wilderness. Now, Nicodemus knew these things. He probably memorized this scripture. He knew these things. He was
a teacher. He was a rabbi. He was a master.
He was a ruler of the Jews. And the Jews had murmured, and
the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people. And much people of Israel died.
You get the picture. There are fiery serpents all
over the camp, biting the people. All of them died. Most of them
died. Many died. Much people. Therefore the people
came to Moses and they said, we've sinned. We've spoken against
the Lord and against thee. Pray to the Lord that he'll take
away these serpents. And Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said, Moses, make thee a fiery serpent. Make this
vile serpent in the likeness of the serpents that bit the
people. Make it in the likeness of the
serpents. And lift it up on a pole. And
it shall come to pass that everyone that's bitten, when he looketh
upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass.
He made one. Put it on a pole. It came to
pass if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld a serpent
of brass, he lived. Now the fiery serpents had bitten
the people and they were dying and they were dead and dying.
And Moses made a serpent of brass in the likeness of the serpents
that had bitten the people. And this word made is used twice
here and our Lord in the word uses it frequently. Christ was
made sin for us. He was made flesh and dwarf among
us. He was made in the likeness of
flesh and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Christ came down here and was made sin, made in the
likeness of flesh. And as the serpent was lifted
up on a pole, Christ was lifted up on a cross. The Jews expected
their Messiah to be lifted up on a throne, and he is. But he must be lifted up on a
cross to redeem the people who will make up his kingdom. He
was lifted up and he was wounded for our transgressions and burns
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and by his stripes we're healed. And it says, and
everyone that looked lived. Now read John 3 again. Now hear our Lord. So he's telling
Nicodemus something he knows. You remember Moses lifted up
that serpent? Even so must the Son of Man,
not the Son of God, though He is the Son of God, but He's a
man. The first Adam, we died. The second Adam, we lived. The
first Adam, death. The second Adam, life. But He
must be crucified. He must obey the laws of man
for our righteousness. He must bear the penalty of sin
and justice, our atonement lifted up. Now here's the result. That's
the remedy. As Moses lifted up that serpent,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up on the cross. He must. And
here's the result. That whosoever believes in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. It will come to pass that
everyone that's bitten, when he looks, and a fellow, before
he looks, believes. He believes and looks. That's
why he looks, he believes. Look to Christ. Look to me and
be your Savior. I don't look to him, but I look
away from everything else. I look to Christ alone. Look
and live. Their dying condition was real.
Their helplessness was real. God's promise was real. They
believed and lived. Our sinful condition is real
from the garden of Eden. Our helplessness is real. God's
word is given and it's real. The promise is true. He that
looks lives. That's the remedy. But I'll tell
you this, a man's got to be convinced of the needs before he'll look
to the remedy. The heavenly truth comes to those
who understand the awful earthly facts. That's right. Now here's the reason for all
this. The lifting up of the Son of
God, that's the remedy. The result is whosoever looks,
without a doubt, will live. And the reason is, for God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. The reason
for salvation is not found in us. The reason for salvation
and redemption is not found in anything we do. The reason is
found in our God. The Son is lifted up. And whosoever
looketh shall live, because God loved. That's why, because God
loved. God loved the world. God loved. God sent his Son. God sent his
Son to the cross. It pleased God to bless him.
The atonement is not the cause of God's love. It's the effect
of God's love. Christ didn't come down here
to get God to love us. He came because God did love
us. God did not give his Son and
then love us because Christ died for us. He gave his Son because
he loved us and Christ died for us because God loves us. Love
precedes grace. And it's not found in us. Herein
is love, not that we love God. He loved us. He gave his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. And listen, verse 16. God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth in him, Jew or Gentile, male or female, old or young,
drunk or sober, preacher or prisoner, smart or dumb, wise or unwise,
he will not perish. That's a promise. You can't look
to Christ and perish. Now you can look to your church
and look to the law and look to your preacher and look to
your experience and look to your feeling and look to anything
else and still perish, but you can't look to Christ and perish.
He that believeth on him should not perish. He shall not fail. God's love, the tense of it,
God so loved, he's always loved. The magnitude of it, he gave
his son. The design of it, that he should
redeem a people. And the benefit of it, he's going
to do that. He's not going to perish. And the blessings of
it, they're going to have eternal life. I don't want to perish, but I
also want to live in glory. See, they'll not perish, but
have everlasting life. They'll not perish. That's good
that I won't perish. But it's even better that I'm
going to live always. Verse 17, God sent not his Son
into the world. This is our Lord talking now.
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. Let's
understand something loud and clear here now. You don't say this, but other
people do. Someone says, well, are you saying
That if I don't believe in Jesus Christ, I'll be forever lost? Are you saying that if I don't
believe in Jesus Christ, I'll be forever lost? No, I'm not
saying that. I'm saying you're lost already. You may never hear the name of
Jesus Christ. You may never think anything
about Him. You're still lost. You're not lost because you don't
believe in Him. You're lost because you're a sinner. You're a criminal. You're a traitor. You walked
the name of God under your feet and cursed God, did everything
He told you not to do. You're a rebel against a holy,
merciful, loving King. And you're not going to be lost
because you don't believe on Christ Jesus. You're already
lost. Christ didn't come to condemn
this world. He that believeth not on the
Son is condemned already. He's condemned before he ever
heard of Christ. Other people say, well, you mean
to tell me, are you saying that if I don't believe in Christ,
I'm going to stand someday at the judgment guilty before God?
No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying you're already standing
there guilty. Christ can change your state,
but your state's as it is. We're not lost because we don't
believe the gospel, we're lost because we're born in sin, love
sin, and walk in sin. That's the reason. Unbelief does not condemn men,
it adds to their condemnation. It adds to it. It adds to it. God didn't send his son, get
that truth now, into the world to condemn the world. Men were
lost before he came. Men were dying before he came.
Men were sinners before he came. He came to save. That's why he
came. I've come that they might have
life. I've not come that they might
be damned for not believing on me. I've come that they might
have life. They're already damned. I came to save the lost. I didn't
come to get them lost. I came to save them, found that
which is lost. Now let's read verse 18, and
let me show you something here. He that believeth on Christ is
not condemned. There's no judgment to them who
are in Christ. I'm looking out over this congregation to which
I've preached for many, many years, and the Lord has been
pleased to redeem you and give you an understanding of the gospel. that you know the living God,
and you're not condemned. There's no judgment, there's
no condemnation to them who are in Christ. Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemneth? Christ
died, yea, is risen again, who is exalted, who makes intercession
for us. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, cannot be condemned, will never be condemned, will
never be embarrassed, will never be ashamed. But he that believeth not is
condemned already. Is that what it says? He's condemned
already. The law has tried him and found
him guilty. What the law says, it says to
them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped, all
the world become guilty before God. He's already condemned.
Justice has, the law tried him, the law found him guilty, justice
sentenced him to death, and it will be carried out. Well, what
does this word preacher mean? What's this word mean here, preacher,
because? Look at verse 18. Let me read
it carefully. 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. Well,
the sinner's guilty, right? His condemnation is just and
true. That's right. That's why he's going to be eternally
lost, because he's a sinner. because he sinned against God.
Unbelief is the deadliest of all sins, but that's why he sinned,
because he didn't believe God. But another significant reason
why he'll hear God say, depart from me, and why he'll be lost,
is he has no mediator. He has no intercessor. He has
no savior. He's condemned because he has
no mediator. He's condemned because he's a
sinner. Well, that will condemn us too. No, it won't. We have
a mediator. You can take all the people in
the world and gather them before God. The sea gave up the dead,
and death and hell gave up the dead, and all men stand before
God. And he says to those on the left
hand, depart from me, I never knew you. Why? They're sinners,
but these were too. They sinned against God, but
these were dead too. But he's going to say to them,
enter into the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. What's the difference? They've got a mediator. They've
got a righteousness. They've got a savior. They've
got a bled atonement. They've got a mediator. They
don't. So he that believeth on the Son
is not condemned because he's got a mediator. He that believeth
not is condemned already because he has no mediator. Do you have
a mediator? You have one who stands, old
Roland Hill. Roland Hill dreamed that he died. And Roland Hill was a famous
preacher back 200 years ago in England. He dreamed he died.
And he found himself at the judgment in a big, wide, huge valley.
He stood on his tiptoes and there were people everywhere. People
everywhere. This is a dream. People everywhere. And you heard
a voice. Magnificent, powerful voice.
And people were being judged. Being judged. Out of the things
written in the books. No mediator. And he thought,
well I'm alright. I believe on the Lord. I believe
on Christ. And he sat down on a rock. And these names kept
being called, and he didn't pay a whole lot of attention, but
in a minute he heard his name, Rowan Hill! And he said, all
the life drained out of me. This is a dream. Sweat broke out all over me. Rowan Hill! And he said, I tried
to get up. I tried to stand, I couldn't.
And I heard a voice say, here. And he said, then I perked up,
I thought, who's this other rolling hill? There's another rolling
hill. And he said, I looked, and there he was, the Lamb in
the midst of the throne. The Lamb as if he had been slain.
Unto him who loved us and gave himself for us, who washed us
from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests
unto God. He said, I'm rolling hill. I took all of his debt
and his punishment, paid his debt, satisfied the law, set
him free. Enter ye, blessed, into the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Why? Amediator. So the Son of Man didn't come
to condemn this world. It's already condemned. It came
to save. And he that believeth on him
is not, cannot, will not be condemned, because he's got a One who's
ever lived it to make intercession. Mediator. There's one God and
one Mediator. Take all the religion you want
to, Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Baptist, Methodist, Protestant,
ball them up into one, do what you want to with them, but there's
one Mediator. Between God and me, and that's the man Christ
Jesus. If He's your Mediator, and your Lord, and your Savior,
and your Substitute, and your Righteousness, and your Blood
Atonement, and your Hope, you're not condemned. But he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he has no mediator.